We’ll be holding another of our very successful Amateur Extra Class License courses the first 2 weekends of January. The schedule is as follows:
Sat. 1/3 0800 - 1700
Sun. 1/4 1100-1700
Sat. 1/10 0800-1700
Sun.1/11 1100-1600
Testing: Sunday 1/11 1700 - 1800
The cost is $45 for MakeICT members and $50 for non-members. It will be held in Classroom 2.
I have opened up the class to those who already hold their Extra Class licenses to be able to “Audit” the course at no charge as a “refresher”. This is being done as a service to those who got their license several years ago and feel they need to “catch up” with current happenings.
If you already hold a General Class amateur license and want to upgrade, this is a great opportunity. This course is very rarely taught in person so it’s a somewhat unique opportunity.
If you already hold an Extra Class license and wish to audit the class, send an email to randy.reynard@makeict.org. There will be limited seating for auditing students.
I’m sorry, I just saw this - looking for something else. ARRL is the Amateur Radio Relay Leage, the organization that represents Amateur Radio Operators in the US. There are 3 “Classes” of Amateur Radio Operators:
Technician Class - the entry level. At this level operators have the ability to use FCC Regulated amateur radio frequencies, mostly to talk locally with some very limited access to longer range communications frequencies. The knowledge test for this level is based on elementary electronics, basic rules and procedures. Some people equate this to getting your “High School Diploma” in Amateur Radio
General Class - This is probably the most useful of the Amateur Radio licenses- holders get access to frequency bands throughout the RF Spectrum. The knowledge test at this level is more in-depth covering more electronics, world-wide propagation, higher power operation and international communication rules. This is the “Bachelors Degree” level of the hobby.
Extra Class - This is the highest level. It gets into deeper theory of radio communication, and significant study of the art. Holders of this license get access to ALL frequencies and modes of operation and are considered experts in the field. It is the “PhD” level of the amateur radio program.
All levels are, in a way a “license to learn”, just at progressively higher levels. You must complete the levels in order from Tech to General to Extra.
We are fairly rare at MakeICT in that we actually teach an Extra Class course. It’s rarely done because of the complexity of the program and a lack of qualified teachers - not that people don’t have the overall knowledge, but not so many have the teaching skills to present it.
I would be happy to have an in-depth conversation about this if you’re interested.
Let me know how I can help. I’ve been teaching Ham Radio Classes at MakeICT for over 2 years. And now, we have a MakeICT Ham Radio Club (“MakeICT Amateur Radio Club” is the official name). We’ve had over 100 students, and they have well over a 90% pass rate on their FCC Amateur Radio License exams.
I would be happy to go into more depth about ham radio and what we do with you. Here is a link to the ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League, our national association) and their information about Ham Radio. See if that’s a good starting place for your understanding:
