I wanted to give something to the hobby, something I could offer such as time or an extra pair of hands however my hips and back are really quite painful so not too much in the physical exertion please 🙂
In the past 12 months there have been a couple of places on the RSGB board of directors which I investigated putting my name forward for – after having some brief discussions over email with a couple of the current directors about what was required its probably too early for me and if I’m honest, only being licensed for a short ish time I need to learn and understand more about the RSGB and also what the hobby is about, not just what I personally find interesting. The other limitation is living on an island – commuting for the monthly board meetings would be quite arduous from here, not to mention expensive for the RSGB and there is only so much you can do over a conference call – so what to do?
Then it came to me – not everyone likes the ‘club’ environment or can make the regular meeting patterns / days… so could I give anyone 1-1 (or 1-??) type coaching for the Foundation & Intermediate licences – I think I could – I find the academic sort of stuff a battle so I can understand where others may be struggling. Knowing how I did it and what worked for me, especially when working my way through the Full licence syllabus all being pretty fresh in my mind I can surely pass on ‘the knowledge’ to others… and of course all done with a sense of humour and a little bit of banter along the way – its a hobby after all eh! its gotta be fun!! An added bonus for me is that the more I teach the more I learn 🙂
Therefore I approached the RSGB back in February 2017 to be come a Registered Assessor and after receiving my confirmation of acceptance in the March away we go…
My initial plan was to offer an extra curricular activity for the school my two go to (R-Y11) – I approached them, gave them some basic information and have now hopefully sown the seed but its been left a little on a back burner at the moment… I should give it a little chase really, however softly softly… time will tell…
In the mean time I’d been badgering a friend of mine (with much more technical ability than I) in to sitting his exams – whilst he is far more knowledgeable on the tech stuff there are obviously many other things about the hobby that require learning that are a little different to knowing V=IR or P=IV or even Xc = 1/2πfC etc such as the important licence conditions etc – so we have met up a fair few times, played radio, worked our way through the practicals, reminisced about the good old days, drank tea and bish, bash, bosh on the 7th December 2017 he sat his Foundation and Intermediate exams – WELL, he was supposed to…. sadly due to an administrative error back at the RSGB where they apparently only sent Intermediate papers for the couple of people sitting both the Foundation & Intermediate, the exam session couldn’t be held – mistakes happen, we can’t all be perfect like me 😛 – as most of you will know, you cant take the Intermediate exam without firstly taking (and passing) the Foundation so the date has had to be re arranged for next year – and once these exams are sat i’ll update my site 🙂
In my continuing one man attempt to increase the population of MU hams and local radio activity, last week another person contacted me who I had spoken to ages ago – he’s been a SWL for years and I had suggested to him that its not that bad and with the Foundation licence he can open up a whole new world of the radio hobby that without a licence he wouldn’t be able to explore (other than through CB and possibly PMR) – We met on Monday 4th December (in the pub, its a tough job but someone has to do it eh!) and now I have another student. 🙂
This teaching experience isn’t new to me as I’ve taught quite a few primary school aged children (Y1 – Y6) about photography and also explained to a lot of adults some of the theory behind how to achieve better results in different situations, I am no photography expert though nor radio obviously however, hopefully my ability to imparting some knowledge about radio and also the way I go about it will be something people like.. time will tell, fingers crossed 🙂
If you have an urge to do something positive for the hobby then why not investigate about becoming a Registered Assessor or even taking on one of the many other voluntary roles the RSGB need help with – a good place to start to see whats available is to have a look on the RSGB website.
All the training books pictured above for the Foundation, Intermediate and Full licences (and more) are available from the RSGB website too… http://rsgbshop.org/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Training_19.html
If you are reading this and are in Guernsey and would like to meet up then give me a shout, I like Guinness and I believe it’s going to be your round!? 😉