The first step in amateur radio in order to use a transmitter is to obtain a licence, and to achieve this you will need to pass the Foundation exam. We at Cray Valley are fully committed to helping you get on the air easily and quickly and we run a Foundation course over two Saturdays that will enable you to train and take the Foundation exam.

Cray Valley Radio Society has fully qualified instructors with many years of valuable amateur radio experience, and every candidate has an allocated personal mentor to help them every step of the way. The course is comprised of presentations on essential theory of radio and electronics by the instructors. The  practical assessments are not only part of the course but will actually help you in many ways in your early days on the air.

The exam consists of answering just twenty six questions in fifty five minutes, and if you achieve nineteen correct answers you will have passed. About a week later you will receive the official results from the RSGB and will then be able to apply to Ofcom for your licence and your unique Foundation callsign which you will use on the air when you are transmitting.

Once you have your licence you can then set up and use your own station to talk to other amateurs all over the world using many of the amateur bands and with ten watts of power. After passing the exam for the foundation licence, candidates will have one year free membership of the Cray Valley Radio Society.

We have had great success with candidates at Cray Valley and if you are prepared to do the work required then it is highly likely that you will be successful. We have all facilities available at our meeting place to conduct the course instruction, practical sessions and exam in a friendly and informal environment and we particularly welcome candidates who are disabled.

You can either obtain the RSGB book " Foundation Now" by ordering on-line from the RSGB shop and paying the cheaper fee or we can supply you will a copy on the first day of the course. We also highly recommend the "Exam Secrets" book also by the RSGB which is useful at all three licence levels.

Our Februrary 2018 Foundation course resulted in ten candidates passing and we look forward to hearing them on the air soon with their new M6 callsigns.

The next Cray Valley Foundation course will be in February 2019  - see above table for earlier options with the South East Tutors group of clubs

The next step up the ladder is the Intermediate licence and this will give you more privileges and also more responsibilities as a radio amateur. The main advantage of stepping up to the Intermediate Licence is the increase in permitted operating power as you will be able to go from the ten watts of the Foundation Licence, up to fifty watts. As an Intermediate Licence holder you will have access to all the amateur bands (apart from 5MHz/60m).

At Cray Valley we run an inclusive Intermediate course comprising of presentations and all the assessed practical assessments that need to be completed ahead of the examination held on the last day of the course. The course is similar in structure to the Foundation course but is run over three weekends (normally on Saturday). The middle weekend session is devoted to  9 of the 10 practical exercises that form part of the exam assesment.

Important: The 10th practical excersise - a simple radio related construction project. At Cray Valley we ask candidates, once registered for the course, to complete the project ahead of the course Saturday sessions. This approach has been found to work well as more time can be allocated to the project and with the help of an assigned one to one mentor candidates are better able to appreciate the construction and electronic aspects of their project.

As a consequence of this approach it is essential that candiates register as early as possible to allow your choice of project to be approved by the lead instructor (Chris, G0FDZ) and to be able to completed the project ahead of the main course.

Not only do we at all course levels provide training facilities to enable you to obtain your licence but we also help you after the course to get the best out of your station and fully enjoy your new privileges. We have fully qualified instructors with many years of valuable amateur radio experience and every candidate has an allocated mentor to help them every step of the way.

We have had great success with candidates at Cray Valley and if you are prepared to do the work required then it is highly likely that you will be successful. We have all facilities available at our meeting place to conduct the course instruction, practical sessions and the exam in a friendly and informal environment and we particularly welcome candidates who are disabled.

You will need to obtain the RSGB book " Intermediate Licence - Building On The Foundation" and we highly recomnend the "Exam Secrets" book also by the RSGB if you don't already have a copy. Both books can easily be obtained by ordering on-line from the RSGB shop.

The final rung up the licencing ladder is the Full licence and at Cray Valley we are fully prepared to help you with this last step. As one of the few clubs in the UK that actually provide a Full licence course, we are well experienced in instruction at this level.

The Full licence gives you the complete range of privileges and responsibilities, and you will be able to transmit at up to four hundred watts of power. One of the most useful Full licence facilities is the ability to be able to use transmitting equipment abroad using the CEPT privileges which lets you operate for a limited period of time in most European and many other countries around the world.

Our Full licence course is of the intensive type and takes place over three Saturdays and is followed by the exam during one following evening or weekend. Leading up to the actual course we provide two math’s primer evenings and an Intermediate run through revision Saturday. It is desirable that you do some self study before attending on the actual course, but we will cover all aspects of the syllabus. Although this type of intensive course may not be suitable for everyone, all the candidates that we have had on previous courses have said how much they liked this format.

We have had great success at Cray Valley at the Full licence level, and rather than trying the distance learning course that is available, you may wish to consider our intensive course if you want to achieve your Full licence quickly. We don’t ever say that the Full licence course and exam are easy, but at Cray Valley we will do all that we possibly can to help you pass, You must however be prepared to invest a good amount of time and effort in your studies. As at every level of courses that we run, you will have a mentor allocated to you who will do all that they can to help you with understanding some of the more detailed technical issues.

We have all facilities available at our meeting place to conduct the course instruction and exam in a friendly and informal environment, and we particularly welcome candidates who are disabled.

You will need to obtain the RSGB book " Advance - the Full Licence Book" and we highly recommend the "Exam Secrets" book also by the RSGB if you don't already have a copy. Both books can easily be obtained by ordering on-line from the RSGB shop.

At our recent Full licence course, seven candidates were successful and have now obtained their M0 callsigns.

Foundation Course Attendance
November 2011

Collin Wooff G3SPJ Lecturing to
Full Licence Candidates
January 2012