Amateur Radio

[SUNRAY]

The lack of courses and lack of exams has was a constant source of complaint for many years. Some twenty plus years ago I tried to address the problem of course by setting up some useful courses on line.

AIUI most courses/exams are run at clubs now but of course now the number of clubs is diminishing with the lack of youngsters coming in.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

AIUI most courses/exams are run at clubs now but of course now the number of clubs is diminishing with the lack of youngsters coming in.

Exactly and access was quite chaotic even when there were plenty of well run clubs about, which was why I put the effort into putting the then course material on line. I put the material on-line for home study, for the B, then later added the Foundation, but we never got to the Intermediate.

 

[ericmark]

I did my RAE in Suffolk and the lecturers taught us all on the syllabus, with had distinctions, credits, passes and failures, son did his in North Wales the lecturer said you can pass without knowing this and it's hard, so learn just this and this, no distinctions, no credits, but also no fails, everyone passed.

Often wondered which was the best.

 

[JohnW2]

I did my RAE in Suffolk and the lecturers taught us all on the syllabus, with had distinctions, credits, passes and failures, son did his in North Wales the lecturer said you can pass without knowing this and it's hard, so learn just this and this, no distinctions, no credits, but also no fails, everyone passed. ... Often wondered which was the best.

I suppose it depends upon how you view the issue but, in general, it's usually not too hard to decide which is the better of "learning about all of a subject properly" and "learning how to pass an exam".

Having said that, I suppose it's not necessarily that straightforward, since there will be a wide range of opinions about what aspects of education/training which results in 'qualifying' someone to do do something (e.g. 'vocational' training, or RAEs) is actually relevant to whatever it is one will become 'qualified to do' after passing the exam. Many, perhaps most, of us who have gone through periods of such education probably feel that a fair proportion of what we had to learn (to pass the exams) was 'unnecessary' (but see ** below), in that we have not needed the knowledge in question during our subsequent careers.

Hence, if the lecturer in North Wales was saying that he would not bother to teach things which he didn't feel were relevant to having and using a Radio Amateur's licence, then perhaps he was being sensible. However, I doubt that was the case, and think it much more likely that he was merely teaching 'how to pass the exam' - which is far less laudable!

[** just to be clear, in many/most disciplines, it is (in my opinion) essential that a good grounding in underlying basic principles precedes learning about 'practically relevant' aspects of the discipline and, at least at the time, a good few students consider that as being boring, maybe 'unnecessary' and, in some cases, 'challenging'. However, as said, I personally regard that as essential, and certainly would not suggest that it should/could be omitted. Indeed, as many subsequently come to realise, that 'grounding in underlying basic principles' will usually make it much easier to understand and lean about the 'application' of those principles to practical issues. ]

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

All this talk about RAEs has made me wonder about the nature and purpose of it today.

In 'my day' (nearly 60 years ago), there were two parts to the exam. The first part was all about the regulations and 'Licence Conditions', which was fair enough, and presumably is still relevant today.

However, the other (and essentially 'main') part of exam related to electrical/electronic principles, in particular relating to the design of equipment used by Radio Amateurs. Whilst that was relevant, and very important, in the days of home-brew, I'm far from sure that it's relevant to those who buy commercial 'black boxes' and simply use them. As I recently observed, even most of those who design and build those black boxes probably don't have much of a clue as to exactly what is going on within the 'chips' and 'modules' which they undoubtedly use as the building blocks of their products.

So, I wonder what a 2022 RAE actually looks like (and "why?").

Kind Regards, John

 

[Jackrae]

All this talk about RAEs has made me wonder about the nature and purpose of it today.


So, I wonder what a 2022 RAE actually looks like (and "why?").

Kind Regards, John

See https://rsgb.org/main/clubs-training/training-resources/mock-exams/ for example mock papers

 

[JohnW2]

See https://rsgb.org/main/clubs-training/training-resources/mock-exams/ for example mock papers

Thanks, I'll have a look when I have some moments. Is that, I wonder, going to answer my "Why?", as well as the "What?" ?

Kind Regards, John

 

[Jackrae]

Conversely, or should that be perversely, I wouldn't mind a look at the 'old-style' papers if anyone has them.

 

[SUNRAY]

I did my RAE in Suffolk and the lecturers taught us all on the syllabus, with had distinctions, credits, passes and failures, son did his in North Wales the lecturer said you can pass without knowing this and it's hard, so learn just this and this, no distinctions, no credits, but also no fails, everyone passed.

Often wondered which was the best.

It all depends on the student:
1) How much 'self training' they do alongside the course work.
2) Whether they are taking the course to learn or taking the exam to get the qualification.

As a totally unrelated example; many years ago my stepson joined a Napoleonic group and got a shotgun cert to own/use a musket. As a member of the group he used their musket which was stored at their registered address.
When they went out on a display it was correct for them to move them.
For a display I loaded a couple of dozen muskets into my car the night before, took them home and unloaded them, and a substantial box of black powder into the cupboard under the stairs, then back into the car to take them to the venue next day and a complete reverse of the pattern to return them except it was several nights at home.
Something similar happened several times before I realised the illegality without a certificate holder in attendance. The solution was simple, get certified... which meant fitting a steel cabinet for the 'shotguns' and allocating a building as the black powder factory (due to requesting a license to store 5Lbs) fortunately the police officer who came out for inspection was well versed in the reinactment group and their facilities and wasn't as strict as he could have been when I explained my application.

 

[JohnW2]

Conversely, or should that be perversely, I wouldn't mind a look at the 'old-style' papers if anyone has them.

I have a feeling that they did not release 'actual papers' back then (but I may be wrong, and therefore will shake the dust of my 'old exam papers' folder sometime!) - but I do somewhere have a (60+ years old) RSGB 'guide to the RAE' or somesuch, which I presume includes example questions, if not entire papers - so, again, I'll do some other dust shaking when I have a little time!

Kind Regards, John

 

[Jackrae]

One of the main problems I found with the recent concept of learning and examination via the internet was that there was no 'practical' tuition. So I ended up with a full licence, a nice TX/RX set-up and trepidation about going on the air. You can read all the books in the world and listen to the best tutors in the world but none of it is a substitute for five minutes of actually getting your feet wet (under supervision) in front of either a key or a mic.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

So, I wonder what a 2022 RAE actually looks like (and "why?").

I was shocked at just how simple the Foundation course was, no doubt I would be equally shocked by the present RAE.

[** just to be clear, in many/most disciplines, it is (in my opinion) essential that a good grounding in underlying basic principles precedes learning about 'practically relevant' aspects of the discipline and, at least at the time, a good few students consider that as being boring, maybe 'unnecessary' and, in some cases, 'challenging'. However, as said, I personally regard that as essential, and certainly would not suggest that it should/could be omitted. Indeed, as many subsequently come to realise, that 'grounding in underlying basic principles' will usually make it much easier to understand and lean about the 'application' of those principles to practical issues. ]

A proper grounding in a subject prepares people for when a problem occurs which wasn't included in the essential part of the syllabus. I was shocked (and I am still shocked) by one company I worked for offering completely unskilled employees a 17th Edition one day upgrade course, with no chance of failure. Many of those came out of the course thinking they were qualified electricians. Both the company and the employees failed to grasp the implications of such a course.

 

[JohnW2]

One of the main problems I found with the recent concept of learning and examination via the internet was that there was no 'practical' tuition. So I ended up with a full licence, a nice TX/RX set-up and trepidation about going on the air. You can read all the books in the world and listen to the best tutors in the world but none of it is a substitute for five minutes of actually getting your feet wet (under supervision) in front of either a key or a mic.

That has historically been true of an awful lot of education, since long before it was exacerbated by 'on-line learning'.

There always have, of course, been exceptions (notably apprenticeships etc.) but far too many courses, even those 'vocational' ones taken by those headed for very 'hands-on' professions focussed (sometimes exclusively) on the theoretical/academic, leaving the newly-qualified without any clue as to how to actually do the job they had become 'qualified' to do. At least in relation to some disciplines/professions, that has improved quite a lot in more recent timed. for which we can be thankful.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

One of the main problems I found with the recent concept of learning and examination via the internet was that there was no 'practical' tuition. So I ended up with a full licence, a nice TX/RX set-up and trepidation about going on the air. You can read all the books in the world and listen to the best tutors in the world but none of it is a substitute for five minutes of actually getting your feet wet (under supervision) in front of either a key or a mic.

That was always the case, except now you can get a little practise prior to the RAE, with the allowed 'greetings message'.

 

[JohnW2]

I have a feeling that they did not release 'actual papers' back then (but I may be wrong, and therefore will shake the dust of my 'old exam papers' folder sometime!) ...

I lied - well, at least, they allowed one to keep the exam one had done. Blowing away some dust uncovered this one which I did - you can just about see my circling of the question numbers which I did ...

Kind Regards, John