RYA VHF SRC Marine Radio Online Course

The RYA Short Range Certificate is the minimum qualification required by British law to use a VHF and/or a VHF Digital Selective Calling radio on any British flagged vessel fitted with a radio. That includes both fixed sets and handheld radios using international channels.

The certificate shows you understand how the radio works and how to use the correct procedures. It is the ticket skippers and crew need before they transmit on a marine VHF in UK waters.

The VHF radio is an important piece of safety equipment on board any boat, and it is important to understand how they work and to use the correct procedures. Unnecessary transmissions could, for example, block out a Mayday distress call.

Once you know the channels, the distress language and how Digital Selective Calling works, you can speak clearly to other vessels, harbours and the Coastguard without cluttering the airwaves.

Course topics include the basics of radio operation, the correct frequencies to be used, distress, emergency and medical assistance procedures, and making ship to shore communication. You also cover Digital Selective Calling using simulators.

The syllabus includes the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons and Search and Rescue transponders. The exam includes a short written test as well as the practical radio work.

You complete and pass the online course in your own time, then receive an online certificate. The exam itself is sat at the classroom in Menai Bridge, where the radios and DSC simulators are ready for you.

When the course is taught as a classroom day it is generally examined the following day. Either way, the qualification is the same Short Range Certificate.

The exam is held at 40 High Street, Menai Bridge. You will use training radios and DSC simulators, and the exam also includes a short written test so the examiner can check the procedures as well as the button-pressing.

The classroom is in the town itself, a short walk from where the boats are moored, with Pay and Display parking across the road. Wear comfortable clothing for a classroom session.

Yes, if you purchase new equipment. All new VHF sets are either fitted, or can be interfaced, with DSC, allowing calls to specific vessels. The old Restricted VHF licence does not cover that DSC equipment.

This course upgrades you to the GMDSS Short Range Certificate, which is the current qualification for both ordinary voice calls and Digital Selective Calling.

Digital Selective Calling lets a radio make a targeted digital call to a specific vessel or to the Coastguard, rather than only broadcasting on a voice channel. All new VHF sets are either fitted with DSC or can be interfaced with it.

GMDSS is the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System that sits around those radios. The course also covers EPIRBs and Search and Rescue transponders, so you know how those distress tools fit together if you ever need them.

No. The online modules use RYA simulators, and the exam at Menai Bridge uses the training radios and DSC kit in the classroom. You do not need to bring a handheld or a fixed set with you.

If you already have a radio on your own boat, the procedures you learn here are the ones you will use on that set once you hold the certificate.

Anyone who will operate a VHF or VHF DSC radio on a British flagged vessel. That includes powerboaters, sailors, RIB skippers and crew, and anyone buying a new DSC set who still holds the old pre-1999 licence.

No previous radio experience is required. The course starts with the basics of operation and builds up to distress, ship to shore calls and the GMDSS kit you may carry on board.

The course and the exam sit with Seawake. The actual licence is paid directly to the RYA once you have passed the online course. That licence fee is separate from the course itself.

When you have completed and passed the online modules you receive an online certificate. The exam at Menai Bridge then completes the Short Range Certificate.