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Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society
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8th Jun 2007 Added Chelmsford Weekly News article

CARS School Success

KEGS Foundation Course
CARS Foundation Course-14K ran from 4-Jan to 22-Feb-2007.
A cheerful class above have just received their exam results

At the end of 2006 the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society (CARS) were approached by Penny Bunting of the King Edward VI Grammar School (KEGS), Chelmsford about providing an Amateur Radio course at the school.

Penny is the KEGS Engineering Coordinator and runs the KEGS Young Engineers Club. The club, which is run outside of normal school hours, offers a wide range of engineering related activities to the pupils and Penny wished to include Amateur Radio as one of the activities. Under Penny's leadership the KEGS Young Engineers Club was awarded 'Best New Club' 2006 at the National Young Engineer awards in London last September.

KEGS was founded over 450 years ago and it become a specialist Science College in September 2004. Its high reputation means the school attracts pupils from towns up to 20 miles away. CARS were keen to assist the school but to do so they had to rearrange their already full training schedule for 2007. It was agreed with Penny that CARS would run a six-week Foundation Training course at the school starting on Thursday evening 4th January.

Due to the extensive range of practical assessments, such as the On-Air HF and VHF contacts, needed to get a Foundation Licence the numbers on the course had to be restricted. Unfortunately this meant some pupils were denied the opportunity to take part but hopefully they will be able to join a future course.

KEGS Foundation Course CW Assessment

The course proceeded smoothly and all looked promising for the exam planned for 8th February. Unfortunately that day produced the only snowfall in Essex during the winter! As a result the school was shut down and the exam had to be cancelled. School Half Term then intervened and the exam was postponed until 22nd February, a gap of 3 weeks from the last tuition session. Of the 19 candidates, 17 passed and they will now be attempting the next major hurdle of getting a Licence from Ofcom's new online licensing system!

KEGS Foundation Course HF QSO Assessment

After the exam the course lead instructor Christopher Chapman, G0IPU was presented with a Thank You card signed by the pupils. The age of the pupils on the course ranged from 12 to 18 and the CARS tutors were impressed by their enthusiasm and commitment. They stayed at the school long after lessons had ended in order to attend the course, which ran from 6:30 until 8:30 pm. They were a credit to the school and all fully lived up to its motto "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might" (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

The course could not have taken place without the support of the following CARS members:

Christopher Chapman G0IPU; Murray Niman G6JYB; Carl Thomsom G3PEM
Clive Ward G1EUC; Martyn Medcalf M0VAM; Jim Beatwell 2E1GUA
Brian Thwaites G3CVI; Trevor M5AKA; David Bradley M0BQC
Rhona Chapman 2E1GQL & Patrick Xavier M0XAP.

Related URL's:-

King Edward VI Grammar School
http://www.kegswebsite.org.uk/

KEGS Science Community Website
http://www.kegscommunity.org.uk/

CARS Training Pages
http://www.g0mwt.org.uk/training/



Chelmsford Weekly News



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