Description
Duration: 8-10 Hours of Course Work Online
Cost: €150 Online Course Access with EBook
€150 Online Course Access with Course Handbook Posted Out
Access: The access is valid for 6 months. An additional 6 months is available with a €50 admin fee.
Eligibility: You must be 16 years of age or older to be eligible for examination
Validity: The RYA SRC Operators Certificate is valid for life
Exam fee: The online course payment does not include the examination fee. The exam fee is €85 and is payable directly to the RYA by clicking on the following link:
https://www.rya.org.uk/courses-training/courses/specialist/Pages/src-exam.aspx
Alternatively, you can pay for the examination on the day by bringing €85 in cash with you. We do not have a credit card machine at the exam venue.
What is the SRC Course?
This is one of the more important one day courses run at Irish Offshore Sailing. It is essential for any yachtsman, or dinghy sailor to understand how to operate a marine VHF radio. Upon successful completion of this course, candidates are awarded the RYA vhf operators certificate. This allows you to legally operate a VHF onboard a vessel, and is an essential component of the Yachtmaster Coastal and Yachtmaster Offshore Exams.
The course covers the different uses of a VHF in the maritime world. You will learn the rules and regulations governing radiotelephony, how to assess different situations where a vhf is used and how to operate the vhf to make these calls. The course also extensively covers the use of Digital Selective Calling (DSC)
This course while run as an RYA course is accepted by the Irish Sailing Association as pre entry for all ISA instructor training courses. It also meets the requirements of charter companies throughout the Med and Caribbean who require that the skipper of the yacht is in possession of a VHF operators cert. The certificate also meets the requirements for Professional Yachtmaster Skippers looking to get commercially endorsed through the RYA.
The RYA VHF Course Handbook (G31) is included in your online course fee. You can obtain this as an ebook or as a paperback book posted to your home.
Is the course for me?
To find out if you are suited to doing an online course, the best thing to do is to take a taster of the course by clicking on the link below. This will also make sure that the device you are planning on using to do the course is compatible with the course. Course Taster Click Here. The one thing we do urge our students is to try and complete the course efficiently. Try to dedicate 2-3 good hours (with short breaks) at a time. Aim to complete the course in 3-4 sessions. Try and login when you are not too tired, and ready to absorb the course content and fully engage with the interactive course.
How the online course works:
1. Pay online above or by internet bank transfer, email us for our banking details.
2. Fill out a booking form by clicking here
3. Log into the online course and begin. Once you have made payment, you will receive an email which will give you a username and password to access the interactive online course material and begin making your way through the online course. If you have selected the ebook you will receive an email with a link and a code where you can download the course handbook. If you have selected a paperback book, then it will be posted to the address left by you on your online payment or on your booking form.
4. Once you have completed all the exercises, you will be given a chance to take the pre knowledge quiz. Upon successful completion of the quiz with a pass rate of 60% or higher, you will be given the course completion certificate which you download and print. This makes you eligible to sit a practical and written examination at our centre.
If you have problems or questions during the course you can send us an email to info@irishoffshoresailing.com and we will respond promptly.
5. Select an examination date and send us an email. We run examinations every 7 weeks immediately after a classroom based course, at our base in Dun Laoghaire, so you can avail of your examination with us at these times. Send us an email to confirm your attendance for examination. You do have the option to take the examination at another RYA centre if you wish. You need to inform of us this by email, and we then need to send the exam material to this centre by post.
Examination:
Attending for examination: It is important that you have recently reviewed the course material before presenting for examination, you can log in at any time during the 6 months to avail of the practice material or indeed to resit the whole course if you wish prior to the examination. Learning the phonetic alphabet is an integral part of this.
We normally run our examinations in Dun Laoghaire. We will give you exact joining instructions when you notify us of your intention to attend for examination.
When you attend for exam bring the following with you:
- Your online course completion certificate
- Exam application form printed, this is your proof that you have paid for the examination. From the link above
- A passport photograph
- Pen and Paper, to sit the written examination
The examination consists of a short written exam of 28 questions mostly multiple choice questions. The practical examination takes no longer than 20 minutes and consists of demonstrating your ability to use the VHF Radio generally and your ability to execute exercises relating to Digital Selective Calling (DSC).
Exam Hint: The phonetic alphabet; the 10 commandments of what is permitted and not permitted on a vhf; vhf range for yacht-yacht, yacht to motorboat, yacht to shore etc.; channel allocation (i.e what channels are reserved for specific purpose, and what are good for ship to ship communication); the structure of a mayday message MIPDANIO; and the Pro words eg. Securite, Pan-Pan, Seelonce etc, all regularly feature in the exam. Students should make sure to memorise these topics before the exam. They are visible on the following pages of your Handbook: 10, 20, 29, 40 42, 45,
Upon successful completion of the examination, your examiner will process your paperwork and the RYA will post out your SRC operators certificate to the address on your exam application form.
