General-class license course and test coming in late April

The El Maipas VE Group is planning a General-level training class in April and May. The class will run two successive weekends, from 0830-1730, April 27, Apr 28, May 4 and May 5. Testing will be at 1500 on May
5, with the El Malpais VE Group providing the volunteer examiners.

The site will be where most of you took you Tech Class if you took it with us. We will meet at the APD NW Area Command Community Room on the dates specified. All classes will be at the APD NW Area Command Station on Ellison on Cibola Loop (10401 Cibola Loop NW). They have a very nice community room
we have reserved. You can bring food and water in, but if you make a mess, we do not have maid service. There is a microwave, restrooms, and water. We will provide coffee. On the Saturday and Sunday classes, you will have a 1 hour lunch break. There are a lot of food vendors around and in Cottonwood Mall. There is parking in front of the substation and overflow parking across the street at Cibola High School.

We will be publishing a syllabus for those who sign up. The class is free of charge, but the test fee is $14, cash or check on the test date. Of course, as before, it will upgrade you license for the next 10 years. We
recommend you buy the ARRL General License Manual, 8th Edition. It is made in two versions, regular $29.95, and spiral bound $32.95, plus shipping. You can order them directly from the ARRL, or we can order them if you send me a check or cash. I won’t be order lots of extras, as their answers expire July 1, 2019. I can’t afford to stock manuals that will be obsolete in a few months. We can buy them for $24 for regular and $28 for spiral. I have one spiral on hand. You may find them on the internet but be sure you are buying the 8th edition.

There are some study guides available – look at https://www.kb6nu.com/study-guides/ and http://www.ad7fo.com/training.html. They are available but be sure you look at the General Guide. The KB6NU No-Nonsense Study Guide for the General Exam costs $9.97 and when purchased it comes as a PDF. You can buy them yourselves, but beware on the internet as they may not be Eighth Edition, so you will have the wrong set of test questions. As with Tech classes, we will also provide handouts for those who want to sign up with clubs in the local area, repeater maps for NM, and where various nets are on the air.

While you are studying, if you sign up, you can test what you know and what you don’t know by going to www.aa9pw.com.  It is good site to take practice tests, as each time you take one, it randomizes the questions picked and once you score it, you can see what you already know and what is a bit hazy. Some other sites offer practice tests, but we have found some keep repeating the same questions, so that when you sit down at our computers, you see questions you never saw in practice tests.

We will have a VE Team on site the last day to test you. There is a charge for the test – $14 to be paid when you fill out you paperwork. You may pay by cash or by check, payable to Kennie Warren, who is the controlling VEC. She will mail in your application and test sheet showing that you passed the General exam. On test day you will need a picture ID issued by a government agency – driver’s license, military ID, agency ID, and a copy of your existing amateur-radio license. If you have a license you will also have a FRN on you current license. We will also be advertising more broadly that the VE Team will the there for testing, so we may have walk-ins. But they will be tested after the class has finished testing.

Once you sign up, we will be updating you via email or phone, and there will be a sign-in roster for the class. If you email me saying that you want to attend, I would like to have phone contact if there are last minute changes.

Once we have created a syllabus, we will provide that to you when you sign up. That is so you can see what we are teaching and when, so if you have to miss a session, you will know where you need extra self-study.

If you know of others who may want to attend, have them send me email with contact information . The classroom can accommodate 18 people.

Jim Hunter – NM5JH

505-897-2939/505-259-3551 (C)

hunterabq@centurylink.net

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