Course curriculum

  • 01

    Radio Basics

    • Read This First

    • Intro to SAR radios

    • Is a "cheap" radio ok?

    • Care for the radio and battery

    • Basic Operation: On/Off, Volume, Channel, Push To Talk, Replacing the Battery and Installing the Antenna

  • 02

    Terms, Technology & Technicalities

    • Frequency

    • Modulation

    • Basic (Carrier) Squelch

    • Tone Squelch

    • Channel

    • Licenses and Legalities
  • 03

    Range, Relays & Repeaters

    • Determining and improving communications range

    • Teammate relay to improve range

    • Repeaters and Simplex/Duplex Communications
  • 04

    Using radios in the field

    • Carrying & protecting your radio

    • Methods to improve radio range
  • 05

    Sounding good when you key the mic

    • Privacy & Professionalism

    • Prowords, codes & phonetics

    • How to call & answer on the radio; closed loop read back for critical communications
  • 06

    Supplemental Materials

    • NIRSC Basic Wildland Fire Radio Training - Powerpoint

    • US Fire Admin - Voice Radio Guide

    • The ITU Phonetic Alphabet

    • How to get a ham radio license

    • NIFOG Ver 1.6.1 2016 (obsolete)

    • NIFOG Ver 2.0 (8/21)
  • 07

    Review Quiz

    • Exam

Reviews: Understanding Radios for SAR

Donna Cramer

5 star rating

“Good. More indepth than SAR Radio classes I have taken in past. Nice format for online class With the video sections explaining concept and showing examples.”

“Good. More indepth than SAR Radio classes I have taken in past. Nice format for online class With the video sections explaining concept and showing examples.”

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Herberta Nicol-Blades

5 star rating

“I'm easily confused by the technical side of radio operation. I really appreciate how straightforward you made it with the visuals as well as the examples of speaking on the radio.”

“I'm easily confused by the technical side of radio operation. I really appreciate how straightforward you made it with the visuals as well as the examples of speaking on the radio.”

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Marcin Feldman

5 star rating

“Hi. This course is a really good way of explaining what is going on with radio communication. Strongly recommending. ”

“Hi. This course is a really good way of explaining what is going on with radio communication. Strongly recommending. ”

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