vhf training. where? how much?

[nick mc]

where can i sit my vhf certification in scotland in the next month or two?
and does anyone know how much it will cost?

i tried the rya website but cant get it to work

cheers

[Nick Hearne]

The site dose work but has to be the slowest site on the net!
I used it earlier this year to fined local VHF schools & contacted them all it worked out in the end!
Nick

[Louise]

Have a look here: http://www.rya.org.uk/training/cours...#UK%20Scotland . I think it was about £95 when I did it last year plus another £20 for the exam. I've seen it cheaper elsewhere though!

HTH

[Mike Martin]

If that fails call RYA Scotland iirc the number is 0131 317 7388

Mike

[Dave B]

Quote from Louise" I think it was about £95 when I did it last year plus another £20 for the exam. I've seen it cheaper elsewhere though!"

My god you lot are getting ripped off,
I run the SRC courses at the Isle of Man Yacht Club along with Mark another Instructor. We charge £25 for a club Member and £30 for a non member, also £20 to the RYA for the Examination and issue of the OTO.

We also can offer 1 to 1 for special needs at the same price.

Anybody needing to take the SRC course should first try Yacht clubs to see if they run the course, many do.

Mark and I also take one course for 12 (the reason for 2 instructors) at the Newtownards sailing Club in Northern Ireland each Winter.

[Louise]

Yeah but, to be fair, your taxation, overheads, etc are going to be very different on the Isle of Man!

[Dave B]

Much the same as yours Louise, yes our tax is lower but almost every thing else is dear

Petrol----------87p/Lt
Diesel----------89p/Lt
Red Diesel------40p/Lt
Milk ------------50p/Pint (or 1/2 Lt if your into europe)

[Louise]

I was thinking more about premises, utilities, etc. When pricing a course, this must be taken into consideration, surely? And tax is a big consideration in my book!

[Dave B]

Our property prices are comparable with the south east of England. Land may be more expensive though. Electricity is available from only one source and is more expensive than the rest of the UK with exception of the Channel Islands who are in the same position as us. So a direct comparison can be made on the pricing of the courses, but remember that the Yacht club is not a private school that only exists to provide a service and make a profit, I have no objections to anybody making a profit, we all have to make a living but with the costs of our hobby going through the roof a saving on one course could mean a days outing on the rib.

Just for comparison the Yachtmaster land based course last year was £95 inc books and practise charts.
First aid course is £25 for a club member
Not sure on the Diesel engine maintenance course but will be around the £25 mark

The club makes a profit on the courses and on the catering during the lunch break (and don’t forget the beer)

The instructors give their time freely but even if we charged it would only put the cost of the course up by £5 to £10 per student.

[Louise]

Thanks for your detailed reply - you do seem to be a bargain! It's just a pity you're so far away! Undoubtedly, as I said earlier, one can find cheaper courses than the one I attended. In fact I was offered a very good deal on one running on the south coast but I chose to attend a course local to me, thus saving petrol, vehicle wear & tear etc. The course was excellent and I considered it to be good value for money.

Edit: just seen your engine - I guess the saving could pay for a month's RIBbing with that engine!

[Louise]

Incidentally, do you use computer simulators or real radio simulators?

[Dave B]

We use laptops with the DSC simulators and hand held radios for the voice procedures

Alison Noise from the RYA produces a very good PowerPoint presentation package for use by the instructor, we took some time to alter the package to suite our needs and to add much more material to the presentation. Now our presentations are geared to the location of the course ie local headlands and navigation marks such as the Chicken Rock Lighthouse or Carrick light in the Isle of Man and Bar Pladdy or Strangford lough in NI

The Simulator works very well with an LCD projector and saves much time allowing us to roll play some communications (or as we call it TIME FOR A LAUGH)

[Paul Glatzel]

My god you lot are getting ripped off,

I think it is rather simplistic to consider that anyone who charges more than you charge is ripping off their customers.

That aside your post highlights an interesting anomaly in respect of where you train and what you pay for it.

Take a similar industry, teaching someone to drive a car or truck. With either of these to learn you go to a commercial centre where you pay commercial rates to buy your training. In this example it is unlikely that physical training space is needed so the only significant cost is the vehicle. The option doesn’t exist to go to a local place down the road (like a club) that in effect is subsidising the operation and thus offering the service at massively reduced rates. Likewise if you wanted professional training on an IT related subject you couldn’t probably find an ‘Instructor’ at his local IT club teaching Windows 2003 Server skills.

Clearly this option does exist in respect of RYA training where commercial centres compete against significantly subsidised operations – often next door to each other. There are plenty of people on this forum who run schools and I would be surprised if they could successfully run an operation were they to charge what Sailing Clubs are able to charge (not just for VHF, as the same holds true for Level 2). Personally I have no issue with this sort of competition and would like to think that we don’t actively compete with such institutions for business, it would be far too simple to suggest that “you get what you pay for” but I think that Commercial Centres specialising in a particular area offer a different proposition to non-commercial centres – even if the ultimate qualification and standard is the same.

If you actually think about the costs of running a decent operation commercially with well specced boats, kit, classrooms, electronics with the ever rising insurance and administrative costs what you’ll actually conclude is that most courses should actually be priced at roughly twice (yes twice!) what schools actually charge. That doesn’t happen and won’t happen because the market of supply and demand won’t sustain it.

As a footnote, does anyone really begrudge paying £80 for a day’s training with a highly qualified/experienced Instructor leading to a recognised qualification – where else could you buy such training for anything like that.

Paul

[Nick Hearne]

Her her Paul, you would be lucky to get someone to do a days odd job around hear for less than £100!
I paid £80 for one to one VHF course this year which I think was well worth it! Split over two evenings to fit in with me as most seam to run on a Saturday when I work.
Nick

[tim griffin]

Originally Posted by Dave B

We use laptops with the DSC simulators and hand held radios for the voice procedures

Alison Noise from the RYA produces a very good PowerPoint presentation package for use by the instructor, we took some time to alter the package to suite our needs and to add much more material to the presentation. Now our presentations are geared to the location of the course ie local headlands and navigation marks such as the Chicken Rock Lighthouse or Carrick light in the Isle of Man and Bar Pladdy or Strangford lough in NI

The Simulator works very well with an LCD projector and saves much time allowing us to roll play some communications (or as we call it TIME FOR A LAUGH)

Do you use the PMR radios as i thought they were frowned upon by Allison reason being anyone with similar type could listen in may think you are in trouble and alert the coastguard especially as you are using local landmarks for the scenarios , the powerpoint presentation is excellent and the pc simulator is also very good mixing the radios with the pc is a good way of teaching IMO and agree with Paul on the costs of running these courses

[nick mc]

i dont mean to be cheeky people but only asked for some info about courses and it seems to have turned into a slanging match.

so come on everyone play nice.

[Louise]

Nah! This isn't a slanging match - just a healthy exchange of views! Or, at least, that's how I see it! No offence meant or taken. It'd be boring if we all agreed on everything!

Anyway, hope you find a course! Good luck with it!

[nick mc]

yea so do i.

thanks nick

[Paul Glatzel]

Nick

Indeed your thread has been a bit hijacked for a somewhat different discussion - sorry! Certainly not a slanging match though.

Try www.seatrektraining.co.uk/ who have a few bases in Scotland

Paul