Marine electronics installers and engineers in Europe are set to benefit from recognised industry qualifications, as the NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) brings their basic and advanced certification courses to the European market.
The NMEA 2000 Basic and NMEA 2000 Advanced courses will be run in June. The Basic NMEA 2000® Installer Training is aimed at beginners, covering the basics of building NMEA 2000 networks.
The NMEA 2000® advanced course focuses on installations, setup, and diagnostic troubleshooting of moderately complex NMEA 2000® networks. The class is exclusively taught in person and consists of a presentation followed by “hands-on” training and a class lunch.
Until now, only those either living in the USA or those willing to travel to the States have been able to gain the qualifications. This is because there is a practical assessment to complete before advanced certification can be awarded.
The purpose of the hands-on portion is to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate proficiency in the ability to build, configure, backup network files, and evaluate network conditions using the diagnostic tools shown in the class.
Josh Keets, Solutions Engineer at industry-leading NMEA specialists, Actisense – based in Poole, UK – has been commissioned by the NMEA to deliver the training courses.
Mr. Keets will deliver the NMEA 2000 Basic course on Monday 18th November and NMEA 2000 Advanced course on Friday 22nd November, on either side of the METSTRADE show in Amsterdam.
Mr. Keets – himself a certified NMEA Trainer – explained, “It’s incredibly exciting to be able to bring these valuable NMEA courses to the UK, making them much more easily accessible to the wider European marine electronics sector.
“I had the opportunity to deliver the NMEA 2000 Basic and Advanced courses in Amsterdam at METSTRADE last year, and I’m thrilled to be back there this year, as well as offering these to those in the UK too.”
In terms of subjects covered, he also commented, “The training features NMEA 2000® certified products from major manufacturers such as Furuno, Garmin, Raymarine, Actisense and Maretron – This allows students to get familiar with some of the instruments they will come across in the field, instilling confidence and understanding of how these products operate.”