Foundation Licence Training Course

The Foundation Licence is the first of three licence classes that are available for Radio Amateurs. A licence is needed in order to transmit on the amateur bands (although you may transmit on the CB and PMR bands without a licence).

Foundation licence holders may use up to 10 Watts on the most common frequencies and may normally use aerial arrays to boost the effective power of their signal

Dates, times and locations of the course

The course and practical examinations will take place in Hartpury (details will be sent on registration) on Saturday, October 10th 2009 and Sunday, October 11th 2009 from 9am to 5.30pm on both days. The theory examination will take place on Monday, October 12th 2009 in Churchdown School, Winston Road, Gloucester at 8pm.
Dates of next course to be announced.

Cost

The cost of the course is £30. This includes the £22.50 examination fee and course materials except for the "Foundation Licence Now" book.

The book is published by the Radio Society of Great Britain and is available at a cost of £4.99 plus £1.95 shipping from www.rsgbshop.org/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Training_19.html It may also be obtained through Amazon and from other sources.

Course Content

Saturday (9am to 5.30pm) in Hartpury

Introduction
What is "Amateur Radio"
Licence types
The course and examinations
A typical amateur radio station
Frequency bands and band plans
HF and VHF
HF and VHF Propagation
FM and SSB
Setting up the equipment
Receivers
Transmitters
Power Supplies
ATU’s (and low pass filters)
Feeders and aerials
A typical HF/SSB QSO
A typical VHF/FM QSO
Practice sessions
Practical examinations 1 (8f.1), 2 (8e.3, 8e.4) and 3 (8e1, 8e.2, 8e.5)

Safety

EMC and Interference

Licence Conditions

Sunday (9am to 5.30pm) in Hartpury

Technical Basics
Volts, amps, ohms and watts
Units of measure
Ohm’s Law
AC and DC
Frequencies and Wavelength
Transmitters
Receivers
Feeders and Antennas
Decibels
Polarisation
Practical examination 4 (8f.2)

Morse
Practical examination 5 (10)

Mock theory exams will be held throughout the weekend

Monday (8pm to 9pm) in Churchdown School

Theory examination

Registering for the Course

Registration for this course has now closed You MUST complete the application form and send it with a cheque for £30 to Cliff Powlesland, The Ferns, Broad Street, Hartpury, GL19 3BN to arrive by Tuesday, 22nd September 2009. There can be no exceptions to this deadline Cheques to be made payable to Cliff Powlesland (and NOT to the RSGB as it says on the form). The application form can be downloaded from here. As soon as we get your form you will be sent a pack of training materials (on a CD) to study.

Places are limited. We reserve the right to refuse a place without giving a reason. No unacompanied minors - sorry but blame the need for everyone, including the other students, to have CRB checks if under 18s are present.

Before the Course

You MUST:
• obtain and read the "Foundation Now" book ISBN: 9781-8723-0980-4
• read the other course material that will be supplied
• listen to contacts on the Amateur Radio bands (preferably 3.5 to 3.8MHz or 14.0 to 14.25MHz SSB)

What to bring

Who will run the course?

The lead instructor is Cliff Powlesland (G8CQZ). Cliff is registered to teach courses at Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced levels. Cliff will be assisted by other licensed radio amateurs, both in the training room and to provide the other station for QSO practices.

Questions you may have

Why are there two different locations?

The exam must take place in a "public building" and so we cannot hold it in the training room. On the other hand, we cannot use the school except on a Monday evening and so we cannot hold a weekend course here. If we were to book a room in a public building, say at a village hall, for the weekend then it would raise the cost considerably. We hope that this is not too much of an imposition.

Why is the book not included in the course?

Experience has shown that many candidates already have their own copy of the book. In addition there are sources of cheaper individual copies than are available for bulk purchases through the RSGB.

If you have any other questions, please contact Cliff by using the Contact Us facility.