Back to school?

[Nashua Area Radio Society]

Hey everyone,

I was discussing things today and it was brought up that perhaps I should look into what type of education is needed to really excel in maintenance and repairing repeaters, radios and public service needs regarding comms.  ARES etc type of knowledge base.

If there is a specific degree or learning area to focus on I would very much appreciate the insight.

 

Thank you.  73.

 

 

[Hamilton]

Hello Paul,

I hope others can give a more specific answer.

Having managed and staffed organizations responsible for these types of systems it was rare to find someone that could address a system from end to end.

We had people that were experts on antennas, RF gear, lightning, electrical code, networks, backup power, dealing with the FCC, and more.

Some had degrees or training in electrical engineering, physics, networks, or other related fields. I had a couple of math majors and one music major and a few of the best had no formal degree. Many of the skills were taught in manufacture’s seminars and at trade conferences.

What the few that knew the systems from end to end had was a passion for the technology, hours of learning about the systems, and a lot of field experience. Many started on the clubs repeater…

[Fred Kemmerer]

Hello Paul,

Repeaters are used widely in commercial and public safety (ex. police) applications. A market leader here in the U.S. is Motorola and they offer training in their commercial equipment.. You can see what they offer here –

https://www.motorolasolutions.com/content/dam/msi/docs/services/learning/2019-na-product-systems-training.pdf

The course outline might give you some idea of what sort of things you need to learn about.

I hope that this helps.

[Nashua Area Radio Society]

Thank you both for the responses. You’ve given me a place to start looking.

 

73

[Nashua Area Radio Society]

Paul-

If you want to excel at RF field maintenance, you need to focus on three things: getting a firm grasp on basic RF principles/theory, getting as much practical experience as you can, and learning from mentors who have been down that road.

My background is Electrical Engineering (MSEE) but I have learned a lot doing RF work both professionally and “for play” with Ham Radio projects over many years. Almost all of the practical knowledge came from Ham Radio. Hands-on is how you get a natural feel for how things work. It’s like that in most things. You can have to throw yourself into it – try to seek opportunities where you can work alongside another ham who’s working on the kinds of things you want to work on.

There are opportunities out there if this is what you want to do professionally.

73,
Dave KM3T

 

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