I’m trying to find some good Marine Electronics courses, that aren’t all about just checking the box for STCWs. A class were someone could actually learn something. I’ve been looking at Radar and GMDSS endorsements. I’ve came across the following:
http://www.elkinsmarine.com/courses.asp
There doesn’t seem to be any reviews on their classes and I don’t know of anyone who’s heard of them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Maintenance or operator courses?
Anything would be great as long as I’m going to learn something.
Depends what your looking for , and where your wanting to take the training .
If you need it for STCW , QMT in JAX Fl. has a great instructor that teaches Radar , principle , theory , and operational aspects . Guy is good at teaching , if you do not understand it he will find a way to get it to make sense .
Otherwise there are a few books avail. for general knowledge .
As far as GMDSS goes , if you have no experience with radio equip or theory , start digging into any info that you may be able to find , cause the GMDSS class that is taught for STCW should be three times as long as it is for any one not acquainted with radio . The class is fast and includes a lot of stuff that may not make sense at first so it is easy to get left behind . It is also a bit expensive .
Neither subject offers any on line Actual STCW training that I am aware of . Only online study .
PM me if you need any additional info .
M
Technology has sped past the bureaucratic requirements for licensing. I got my second class radio telegraph license mid '70s. All licenses then were administered at the FCC in the Federal Buildings. Late '90’s licensing was farmed out. The independent testing outfits played this as a gold mine. Around the turn of the century when the GMDSS requirements came into play, I contacted Houston Marine for the MAINTAINER’s exam, as they were a designated FCC testing site. I was told I’d have to take their $1000 course to take the exam. It took a half an hour to prove that it was only required for the OPERATOR. I took the exam with radar for I believe $35 total. My license has a 2 digit serial #.
I retired 9 years ago. Looking at all of the new required bullshit, I retired at the right time!
Depending on what you’re looking for it might be worthwhile looking at what Coursera has to offer. They are on-line courses you can do at home I paid $40 a month for the courses I took, there is a trial peroid, if you decide it’s not right you can quit at no cost.
Coureara doen’t create the material, just puts material from various sources in on-line format, there is a huge selection of subjects available including electronics. It has it’s short-comings but I was satisfied with the courses I’ve taken.