Taking a vhf/roc course this week...any info for a guy who's never used/listened to a vhf radio. I am fluent with the phonetic alphabet (due to previous military training), but like what sort of questions, written or verbal would be on a test. What gave you the most trouble understanding etc. Just looking for a heads up. This is only a 2 night course with the test on the 2nd night
-
-
Its easy dont worry just listen and learngo-
-
Do your homework. Study homework questions. Practice distress calls
Mayday
Security
Pan Pan
One of these will be on the exam.
Remember the most important thing.
" The person who wrote the exam never used a radio and does not have a clue"
Good luck
John McLellan White Rock BC
"Halifax Jack"
1999 2855 383 stroker BII
MMSI 316004337Comment
-
Radio traffic in our area goes from none to wall to wall people talking, depending on whether the fish are biting. Know your alternate channels if the radio is jammed.
The classes will teach you professional communication with the CG and other boats.
The one point I would like to make is that you need to know where you are, or the names of certain locations, before you try to communicate a problem to the Coast Guard. This is easier now that we have GPS. Just read off the Lat Lon.
Comment
-
+1Ofishal wrote:
Its easy dont worry just listen and learngo-
It's not that hard at all.
Comment
-
Call your local Canadian Power Squadron office and see if you can get your hands on a "Maritme Radio Course", Student's Note Book. This may even be the manual that the course is taught with. It's a great book to have, and if you don't use the radio much, it's a great review source when you can't sleep at night. You know your phonetic, so that'll save you a lot of time. Practice making the Mayday and Pan Pan calls. You'l be asked to do a spoken one on the test.
Bob Hawes.
Kelowna, B.C.
1998 Trophy 2052 WA
4.3 Vortec, A1 G2Comment
-
canadian radio laws are different than the US......but....for gods sake...make sure your gps and vhf are tied together with the dsc system enabled and get your mmsi number or equal to canada.........in an emergency ...it can save your life....
don't ask how I know...
:arr arr
Comment
-
Agreed.hfxjack wrote:
Do your homework. Study homework questions. Practice distress calls
Mayday
Security
Pan Pan
One of these will be on the exam.
Remember the most important thing.
" The person who wrote the exam never used a radio and does not have a clue"
Good luck
I repeated the course about 5-6 years ago to add the DSC endorsement. There's nothing on it that's hard to understand. Just some memory work. Be sure you practice the mayday relay. It was on the practical exam for more than 1/2 of the class I sat through.
Comment
-
MMSIs are issued in Canada too. The difference is that here they are issued by 1 government agency instead of 1 agency and 1 NGO.seapuppy wrote:
canadian radio laws are different than the US......but....for gods sake...make sure your gps and vhf are tied together with the dsc system enabled and get your mmsi number or equal to canada.........in an emergency ...it can save your life....
don't ask how I know...
:arr arr
I'm a big proponent of setting up the GPS and radio for DSC comms, but if you don't, you can still transmit an effective mayday, pan pan or securite.
Comment
-
I don't want to hijack this one but I do want to comment....in an emergency...(and I found this out last summer)....you don't have time to try and find out where you are....figure out what the gps location is...and broadcast your location......unless your experienced at calling mayday's....an emergency happens fast...you don't have time...hitting that red button and having your position broadcast immediately by the coasties was amazing.....within minutes....I had 6 boats next to me taking marsha and the kids off and ready to take me if the boat sank........believe me.....getting that radio and gps and mmsi number is one of the best things a boater can do....whiskywizard wrote:
MMSIs are issued in Canada too. The difference is that here they are issued by 1 government agency instead of 1 agency and 1 NGO.
I'm a big proponent of setting up the GPS and radio for DSC comms, but if you don't, you can still transmit an effective mayday, pan pan or securite.
:arr arr
Comment
-
You should do fine with just the course material. It is not much different than the training we recieved on radio proceedures from the CFk-townguy wrote:
Taking a vhf/roc course this week...any info for a guy who's never used/listened to a vhf radio. I am fluent with the phonetic alphabet (due to previous military training), but like what sort of questions, written or verbal would be on a test. What gave you the most trouble understanding etc. Just looking for a heads up. This is only a 2 night course with the test on the 2nd night
Comment
Comment