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Amateur Radio Classes

NARC offers training for the Basic Certification, Advanced Certification and Morse Code. Please check the NARC Events Calendar for upcoming course dates.

Morse Code is no longer required to get an Amatuer Radio certification, but many Amateurs continue to enjoy using morse code, often hotly defending the utility of retaining morse code.

Basic Certification

The Basic Certification is where a prospective Amateur Radio operator or Ham starts. At the end of the course, there is a 100 question, multiple choice exam. The passing mark is 70%. Passing with 70% or better gives the new Ham access to all bands over 30 MHz. If you pass with 80% or better, you will have access to all the amateur bands.

We offer the Basic course in two forms - fifteen weeks of one night per week (two hours per night) and a two full weekend condensed course. The cost is $75.00 which covers the Radio Amateurs of Canada Basic Study Guide, course materials and a one year membership to NARC.

The Basic course is offered in Spring and Fall, and can be provided at other times if demand warrants. We currently are running a Basic course, which will run until mid-May, based on the expected schedule.

Advanced Certification

The Advanced Certification grants additional priviledges, such as running higher power, operating in-band repeaters (you'll learn what that means in the Basic course!), modifying equipment etc.

The Advanced course is offered periodically - when we have enough bodies. We currently have an Advanced course running, which will finish by the beginning of May.

Informal Morse Code Training

Informal Morse training is offered after the Thursday evening New Hams Net on the VE6NHB 2 metre repeater on 145.410 Mhz. Morse code training commences at approximately 8:00 pm. If there is sufficient demand, we can offer a more formal course.

Hands-on Workshops

We also plan to present some hands-on workshops on antenna basics, operating on the HF bands, basic construction techniques etc.

Please contact training@narc.net to enroll in a course, to find out when the next course will run, or for further information.

If you'd like to volunteer to help present classes, or have suggestions for other classes or workshops, we'd love to hear from you!