Dates and Times

COURSE Cancelled

if you would like to be put on our waitlist for the next advanced course, please contact .

Location

Most classes and the exam will be held at:

Delta Emergency Operation Centre Training Room (near Boundary Bay Airport)
Fire Hall 4, 7978 Churchill Street,
Delta, BC V4C 2L9

May 11, 2024 class ONLY will be held at

North Delta Safety Building

11375 84 Ave, Delta, BC V4C 2L9, Canada (map)

Prerequisite

An Amateur Radio Operator Certificate with at least a Basic Qualification is required before taking the Advanced Qualification for amateur radio.

Cost

The registration fee for attending the course is $130 and includes the cost of textbooks, copies of the slides, online quizzes, light refreshments, and the final examination. You will be on your own for lunch and bringing a packed lunch is recommended. Instructors volunteer their time for the hobby we all love.

Course Details

In response to the need for training, both to gain the Advanced Qualification for amateur radio, and to expand the level of technical knowledge within the amateur community, the Delta Amateur Radio Society (DARS) is offering an Advanced Amateur Radio Operator Certification Course.

Delta ARS has been providing amateur radio training for 20 years and the classes are provided by experienced radio amateur operators, who all hold the advanced qualification. We expect to have at least three instructors available in each class.

Read testimonials from former students

The Delta ARS Advanced Course is newly revised based on the latest advanced question bank and written by our course instructors. It follows on from the successful Basic Radio Course. The course will cover all the topics that are included in the advanced exam, with a focus on understanding concepts rather than the memorization of questions/answers. Students will be encouraged to use the online advanced practice exam to hone their understanding of the different topics.

Those wishing to undertake the Advanced Qualification are expected to attend all course sessions, as well as invest significant out-of-course time studying the materials and using the practice exam. The course is intended to facilitate the student’s learning process and needs personal investment in order to successfully achieve the Advanced Qualification through the exam.

Class attendance is mandatory and self-study as an alternative to missing a class has historically proved inadequate to make up for the learning gap. Should a student believe that they will be unavailable to attend one or more of the sessions, then they should NOT register for this course and plan to take the course at a later date.

Students willing to undertake the course sessions, and who will personally commit to active study and preparation time are encouraged to register.

Questions concerning registering for the course can be addressed to the Course Coordinator.

Tentative Schedule

Curriculum

The curriculum for the course includes the following topics:

• 1. Advanced Theory
  • 1-1 time constant – capacitive and inductive
  • 1-2 electrostatic and electromagnetic fields, skin effect
  • 1-2 series-resonance
  • 1-4 parallel resonance
  • 1-5 quality factor (Q)
• 2. Advanced Components and Circuits
  • 2-1 germanium, silicon, gallium arsenide, doping, P-type, N-type
  • 2-2 diodes – point-contact, junction, hot-carrier, Zener, etc.
  • 2-3 transistors – NPN/PNP
  • 2-4 field effect transistor (FET), JFET, MOSFET
  • 2-5 silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCR)
  • 2-6 amplifiers – classes A, AB, B, and C
  • 2-7 amplifier circuits – discrete and IC
  • 2-8 operational amplifiers, properties, and applications
  • 2-9 mixers, frequency multipliers
  • 2-10 digital logic elements
  • 2-11 quartz crystal – properties and applications
  • 2-12 advanced filter circuits – AF, RF
• 3. Measurements
  • 3-1 AC – peak, peak-to-peak, average, RMS
  • 3-2 PEP, PEP relative to average power, PEP relative to the voltage across the load
  • 3-3 dip meters, signal generator
  • 3-4 crystal calibrator, marking generator, frequency counter
  • 3-5 oscilloscope
  • 3-6 meters, multimeter, power meter
• 4. Power Supplies
  • 4-1 transformer and rectifier circuits, voltage doubler circuit, PIPs
  • 4-2 filter circuits, bleeder resistor functions
  • 4-3 linear and switching voltage regulator circuits
  • 4-4 regulated power supplies Transmitters, Modulation, and Processing
• 5. Transmitters
  • 5-1 oscillator circuits, phase-locked loop (PLL)s
  • 5-2 RF power amplifiers
  • 5-3 transmitters, neutralisations
  • 5-4 AM, single sideband, linearity, two-tone tests
  • 5-5 FM deviation, modulation index, deviation ratio, deviation meters
  • 5-6 FM transmitter, repeater circuits
  • 5-7 signal processing – AF, IF, and RFs
  • 5-8 codes and protocols, Baudot, ASCII, parity, CRC, X.25, ISO layers
  • 5-9 spread spectrum – frequency hopping, direct sequences
• 6. Receivers
  • 6-1 single, double-conversion superheterodyne architectures
  • 6-2 oscillators, mixers, tunings
  • 6-3 RF, IF amplifiers, selectivity
  • 6-4 detection, audio, automatic gain controls
  • 6-5 performance limitations – instability, image, spurious, etc.s
• 7. Feedlines – Matching and Antenna Systems
  • 7-1 antenna tuner/transmatch, impedance matching circuits
  • 7-2 velocity factor, the effect of line terminated in non-characteristic impedances
  • 7-3 antenna feed arrangements – tee, gamma, stubs
  • 7-4 current and voltage distribution on antennas
  • 7-5 polarization, helical beam, parabolic antennas
  • 7-6 losses in real antenna systems, effective radiated powers
  • 7-7 ground and elevation effects, vertical radiation (take off) angles
  • 7-8 radiation resistance, antenna efficiency, beamwidths
  • 7-9 waveguide, microstrip lines
• 8 – Preparation for the Examination
  • 8-1 exam requirements
  • 8-2 preparing for the exams
  • 8-3 techniques in writing multiple choice exams

Questions concerning registering for the course can be addressed to the  via the form.