RYA Marine Radio SRC - VHF Courses in Keyhaven, Lymington
Duration: 1 day (10 hours)
Max. students/instructor: 12:1, usually up to 6:1
Cost: £65 (course – member pricing) + £76 (exam payment to the RYA)
A radio is an important piece of safety equipment on board and it is vital to understand the correct procedures. This course and exam is for anyone who owns a fixed or handheld marine VHF radio to operate it legally. Students will be provided with a copy of the RYA VHF Handbook.
If you would prefer to study at your own pace, then it is possible to take the RYA’s Marine Radio SRC (VHF) course online via a commercial centre for a similar price to an in-person course, and then book the final assessment at KYC when you are ready – email us if this is of interest.
RYA Marine Radio SRC (VHF) Radio Course Syllabus
- Using marine DSC VHF equipment
- Operator and Radio Licensing
- The GMDSS system
- Radio rules and regulations
- Basic radio language and protocols including technical procedural words (e.g. station calling, over, say again, etc.)
- Correct use of different channels
- Calling other stations by voice and DSC
- Sending a DSC Distress alert, Mayday call & message
- Sending a DSC Urgency announcement and Pan Pan call
- Sending a DSC Safety announcement and a Sécurité call
- The NATO phonetic alphabet
Pre-course learning
As the length of the course is mandated to be 10 hours, we provide 3 hours of pre-course reading and self-directed learning. This helps us to save time on the course, but contains content that will be covered in the exam at the end of the course, so it is essential that you complete this ahead of your course. This will include reading, as well as an open-book test covering channel selection and usage, the format of a Mayday call and message and other theory elements.
How long does the assessment take?
This depends on how many people are being assessed on a course. The written assessment typically takes about 20-30 minutes and the practical assessment between one and two hours. This means we would expect a course and assessment that are run on the same day to finish around 6.30 pm.