In making a course selection(s), you need to know there are three classes of amateur radio license that you can receive, Technician, General and Amateur Extra. To receive a Technician license you must pass the FCC Element 2 exam. To receive a General license you must pass Elements 2 and 3, and to become an Extra you must pass Elements 2, 3 and 4. So it is best to start with a Technician class first, and work your way up. Morse Code is rather an optional skill that will increase your ability to communicate. But like learning a musical instrument it takes a lot of time an practice, but once learned is something you'll have for life.
In 2020 all classes moved to Zoom for obvious reasons. We are still working to adapt our club house to allow us to do hybrid online and in-person classes. This year we switched from Zoom to Google Meet, which means all you need is a web browser, a computer microphone, and perhaps a computer cam (which is optional).
This year classes are Wednesday nights, with all classes being 2 1/2 hours in length beginning at 6:30pm and ending around 9:00pm. Technician and General courses will be 9 weeks each. Because Morse Code is optional for all classes of license, instead of running our own Morse Code classes we now suggest you contact the Long Island Morse Code Club for such training. Frankly, they do a better job of it, and it saves our time for training those who want a new license or upgrade.
We will not be offering an Amateur Extra Class this year. The test and text for this class change(d) July 1, making it impossible for us to update the 1800 PowerPoint slides needed to teach this course in time. We expect to continue the Amateur Extra Class in 2025.