New "Beyond the Repeater" Course in Beta Testing

NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 25, 2003--The latest course from the ARRL Certification and Continuing Education (C-CE) Program is flying through beta testing and will soon be available to the public. "VHF/UHF: Beyond the Repeater" delivers on the promise of its title, immersing students in the smorgasbord of operating in the world above 50 MHz beyond FM voice.

"Most of our testers went through the course fairly quickly, partly because it's such a good read," said C-CE Coordinator Howard Robins, W1HSR. "The testers really found nothing dramatically amiss--just typos mainly--and the input we've been getting has been very positive." Beta testing of the course materials began February 26 and will continue through April 4. Initial registration for the first class is tentatively set for May 19. The course will be designated EC-008.

One tester said the new course "covers a lot of ground and is very thorough." Another commented that the course had reinvigorated his interest in satellite operating and direction finding. "The APRS [Automatic Position Reporting System] unit was very informative," another beta tester chimed in.

QST Editor Steve Ford, WB8IMY, authored the course. He said its purpose is not only to reach out to Technician class licensees but to open new operating vistas for anyone who has not ventured beyond the local 2-meter machine.

"This course shows what else there is to do with VHF and UHF," Ford said. "There's the challenge of 'weak-signal' operating, the novelty of amateur television (ATV) and new frontiers in meteor-scatter work and Internet radio linking. This brings new life to the old hand-held radio."

The course features a variety of Internet resources, audio and visual materials, and even an on-the-rocket launch video utilizing ATV. Further, course activities were designed with the typical ham's budget in mind, recognizing that most amateurs have modest station equipment.

The new course will join seven others now offered by ARRL's burgeoning Certification and Continuing Education Program. In addition to three levels of Amateur Radio emergency communications courses, there are classes in Antenna Modeling, HF Digital Communications, Satellite Communications and Radio Frequency Interference.

The tuition for VHF/UHF: Beyond the Repeater (EC-008) will be $65 for ARRL members and $95 for nonmembers.

To learn more, visit the ARRL Certification and Continuing Education (C-CE) Web page.

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