Lucid Optical Services Ltd

We still have places available on our next City & Guilds 3668 Unit 2 Fibre Cabling course at Lucid Training Centre on 20-24 November 2023, so call or email if you can make it for these dates.

For this next 3668 course we can also offer delegates the chance to take our new “OA Level 3 Award in Fibre Optics Installation and Testing” at no extra cost. This Level 3 qualification can be taken at the same time as the City & Guilds 3668 – Lucid is effectively teaching the course at level 3, and the OA award recognises this.

The ECS has now formally approved the OA level 3 qualification for the full ECS Infrastructure Installer (Level 3) card, so this course will give a full card rather than the “assistant” card currently available with just the 3667/3668 Fibre Installation. In addition, the OA level 3 qualification is approved for MOD ELC resettlement funding.

Hence our 3668 courses now gives you the best of both; the well-known industry standard City & Guilds 3667/3668, as well as an option for a full ECS card and any funding requiring an OfQual regulated Level 3 qualification.

Call or email for a price if you are available next week and would like to provisionally reserve a place. If you cant make it for next week, we have another course running 11-15 December 2023.

We have finally found the time to upload the first batch of our backlog of trainee comments from our course feedback forms – here are a few examples from 2023:

I was a bit nervous before the start of the course, since I have no experience in this field. All I knew was the Army in my 22 years of work. Our tutor Alistair was really helpful in every way you can imagine. Very professional and down to earth person. I really learned a lot on the course which hopefully will guide me on my venture into my new career as a civilian. A big thank you to all the staff at Lucid with the course and all that was involved. Nice food by the way. I would recommend Lucid to anyone looking to go down the career of fibre and will definitely recommend to my mates leaving the army soon.

William was great, his enthusiasm helped me to learn what was required. I wish I would have had more teachers liked him at school.

John is a really great trainer. I really enjoyed myself and I learned a lot. Everything I wanted to and more. A really great course and in a good environment.

For the full list see our feedback page at http://www.lucidos.co.uk/about-lucid/course-feedback-reviews/ – remember, we post all comments, both excellent, good and more critical!

The request we get most often on the feedback forms is for more time with the testing equipment on the last day of our City & Guilds fibre courses; unfortunately, when we have to cover the full syllabus including exams and practical assignment, there is just not any more time available within the 5 days. Extending the course to 6 days or more would not be practical or cost effective. But – we do run a 3-day Advanced OTDR course which a lot of our trainees go on to attend later on!

We are very excited to be running our OA Level 3 accredited “Networks Planning & Design (FTTX)” as a public course for the first time at Lucid Training Centre on 6-9 December. We have run several versions of this for our corporate customers over the years, but this will be an opportunity for anyone who would like to book the course as an individual – or just don’t have 6 colleagues who can all spare the same week for a corporate course!

The Network Planning and Design (FTTX) course covers all the aspects to considering in design and planning of a fibre network, including issues specific to both core and FTTX networks.

Alternatively, if you are looking for more of a top level overview of the latest networks technology and options, we still have places available on our “Advanced Fibre Networks Technology” course next week, 6-9 November. This is our original advanced fibre course, covering topics such as fibre types, DWDM, Raman and EDFAs, dispersion compensation, optical components, ROADMs, and all the rest of the 3-letter abbreviations in fibre optics, and now also includes an Open Awards Level 3 qualification.

Both courses will be taught by John Colton, our technical director and the most experienced trainer in the subject in UK, and probably worldwide.

Please contact us at info@lucidos.co.uk or on 01539621219 for course details, prices and availability.

Our world leading 5-day fibre installer courses now carry two qualifications:

1. The City & Guilds 3668 Level 2 Award in Fibre Cabling; the industry standard in UK, and respected worldwide
2. The Open Awards Level 3 Award in Fibre Optics Installation & testing,
   approved for both the full ECS Infrastructure Installer (Level 3) card, and for ELCAS funding

Likewise, our 4-day copper datacoms courses now carry two separate qualifications:

1. The City & Guilds 3668 Level 2 Award in Fibre Cabling; the independent industry standard in UK, and respected worldwide
2. The Open Awards Level 3 Award in Fibre Optics Installation & testing,
   approved for both the full ECS Infrastructure Installer (Level 3) card, and for ELCAS funding

The pictures below show examples of the new certificates – if you, or one of your employees, need a full ECS card, please call or email for course dates.

And the same for copper datacoms

We still have places available on our next City & Guilds 3668 Unit 2 Fibre Cabling course at Lucid Training Centre on 13-17 June, so call or email if you would like to be one of the first to get the new 3668 Certificate.

The brand new City & Guilds 3668 Scheme is similar to the industry standard 3667, just updated to include the latest developments. The main difference to note is that the 3667 “External Fibre” and “Internal Fibre” units have been combined into one 3668 “Fibre Cabling” unit, covering the same material as the two previous units. Just the way Lucid have been teaching it for the last 10 years anyway.

In addition, for this next 3668 course we can also offer delegates the chance to take our new “OA Level 3 Award in Fibre Optics Installation and Testing” at no extra cost. This Level 3 qualification can be taken at the same time as the City & Guilds 3668 – Lucid is effectively teaching the course at level 3, and the OA award recognises this.

The ECS has now formally approved the OA level 3 qualification for the full ECS Infrastructure Installer (Level 3) card, so this course will give a full card rather than the “assistant” card currently available with just the 3667/3668 Fibre Installation. In addition, the OA level 3 qualification is approved for MOD ELC resettlement funding.

Hence our 3668 courses now gives you the best of both; the well-known industry standard City & Guilds 3667/3668, as well as an option for a full ECS card and any funding requiring an OfQual regulated Level 3 qualification.

Yesterday the ECS Steering Committee approved the OA Level 3 Awards in Fibre Installation and Copper Installation, for the full “Infrastructure Installer (Level 3)” ECS card, rather than the “Infrastructure Installer Assistant” ECS card that is currently available based on the City & Guilds 3667 or 3668 Level 2 Awards.

If you are interested then call or email us for further information

At Lucid we can now offer the brand new City & Guilds 3668 Scheme, replacing the 3667 scheme.

The content is similar to the 3667, just updated to include the latest industry developments. The main difference to note is that the 3667 “External Fibre” and “Internal Fibre” units have been combined into one 3668 “Fibre Cabling” unit, covering the same material as the two previous units. Just the way Lucid and most other training companies have been teaching it anyway.

We are running a 3668 Unit 2 Fibre Cabling course on 23-27 May at Lucid Training Centre, and we still have places available, so call or email if you would like to be one of the first to get the new 3668 Certificate.

In addition, for this next 3668 course we can also offer delegates the chance to take our new “OA Level 3 Award in Fibre Optics Installation and Testing” at no extra cost. This is a formal level 3 qualification that can be taken at the same time as the City & Guilds 3668 – Lucid is effectively teaching the course at level 3, and the OA award recognises this.

We have just had a couple of postponements for the 5-day City & Guilds 3667 Combined Unit 1,2,3 Fibre course at Lucid Training Centre in Cumbria next week 6-10 December 2021, so we now have spare places available. This is our last 3667 fibre course before Christmas, so if you are interested please email office@lucidos.co.uk or call us on 015396 21219 as soon as possible to reserve a place.

This year we had a new external verifier from the Open Awards. As well as ticking all the right boxes, he included the following comment:

Your overall assessment of the centre.
Lucid Optical Services Limited is a specialist training company offering technical training courses in fibre optics, copper communications system cabling, laser and LED safety. Specialising in photonics has led to the development in advanced optical testing courses, laser safety training
courses, qualifications and software packages, plus advanced photonics technology (theory and practical) training courses. Lucid believe in accrediting the specialist courses that they deliver and in so use a number of awarding organisations Open Awards being one of them. Each course is
delivered by highly skilled and specialist trainers, who teach, monitor and manage the various courses accredited by Open Awards.
Good Practice / Key Strengths.
Highly skilled and experienced trainers and assessors
Robust and to date courses delivered to current industry standards
Sufficiently challenging assessment methods set at the correct level
Thorough IV and AIV system in place
Recommendations for further development.
None

We’re recruiting and we don’t do that often! If you’re a skilled and experienced comms cabling installer who would like to pass on those skills, or perhaps already an experienced trainer, then Lucid would like to hear from you. We don’t recruit often because we have an exceptionally low turnover of training staff and most have only left us when they’ve retired. We offer the ability to work from home when not training or needed for a meeting, with a very competitive reward package. To hear more or apply please call us or email your CV to info@lucidos.co.uk We train all over the world, but most of the work is in the UK. A valid driving license is a necessity.

City & Guilds have just announced the following regarding their 2382 “18th Edition” qualification:

Amendment one to the 18th Edition Wiring Regulations will shortly be published in 2020 and will be available from both the IET and BSI websites.  It will be a free-to-view document and will contain an amended Section 722 of BS 7671. We will accommodate the new amendment in the existing award and on-screen exam.
If learners are downloading the amendment from the IET/BSI website they will be permitted to use it in the relevant exams and assessments. 

This may be helpful to anyone who plan to take the 18th Edition, City & Guilds 2382 exam at Lucid; for our prices and more information see
our 18th edition page

And a happy New Year from us all at Lucid!
As usual, we are not sending Christmas cards but are donating to charities instead. This year our chosen charities are the North West Air Ambulance, Kirkby Stephen Mountain Rescue Team, and the Garsdale Red Squirrel Group which helps preserve one of the last pockets of red squirrels left in England. We will donate £2.50 to the charity of your choice from the three above, just let us know which you’d prefer.

Christmas Hours  
Whilst the office is officially closed from this Friday 21st Dec to Wed 2nd Jan 2019, we will still be maintaining the technical support phone service and monitoring email.
Remember our technical support is free to all of our trainees so if you need help we are there for you.
At times it may take us a little longer to respond to email enquiries. We trust you’ll understand and we wish all of our trainees and business contacts a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

This is Lucid’s original full 5-day advanced fibre testing course, run by John Colton, our technical director who is an acknowledged world expert on the testing of fibre networks, and wrote the first OTDR, CD and PMD courses in the industry over 20 years ago.

The course carries two formal level 3 certificates from a OA, a UK licensed awarding body. The location is Lucid Training Centre in Garsdale, Cumbria LA10 5PE

The course is modular, starting with the “Advanced OTDR Testing” module, followed by the “Advanced PMD and CD Testing” – either module can be taken separately as well if preferred.

We still have a few places available, so please contact us as soon as possible if you are interested – due to Johns other commitments and demands for company courses, we only rarely have the opportunity to run this as a public course.

We have just scheduled an additional Advanced OTDR Testing (OA Level 3 Certificate) course for fibre optics engineers on the 29 to 31 July 2019 at Lucid, for a couple of engineers who need the training before the summer holidays. We have a few more places available on this public course so please contact us quickly if you’re interested. If these dates don’t suit you then there will be more opportunities, but with the industry booming we are struggling to fit in as many advanced public courses as we’d like.

Please note, if you are looking for our full “Advanced Fibre Characterisation Engineer” course, then the 3-day Advanced OTDR forms part one of this course. Module 2, “Advanced PMD and CD Testing” can be taken separately later, giving maximum flexibility.

We have just uploaded the latest batch of trainee comments from our course feedback forms – here are a few examples:

It was a really good training course! I learnt a lot as John is an excellent trainer. It’s obvious his high level of knowledge and experience. The material used was very clear and he was dynamic using examples easy to understand.

Superb! The group had varied levels of knowledge and the course and atmosphere was perfect . I am amazed that such a course, perfect for our needs, was constructed from a phone overview. Training manual was perfect, great book.

Very useful course addressing lots of technical stuff supported by practical and knowledgeable tutor. I would recommend this course unhesitatingly.

For the full list see our feedback page at http://www.lucidos.co.uk/about-lucid/course-feedback-reviews/ – remember, we post all comments, both excellent good and more critical!

We still have a couple more places available on our City & Guilds Unit 4 Copper Datacoms running in Lucid Training Centre, Garsdale LA10 5PE, from 15-18 July 2019.

If you are interested and can make next week, then please call and email us as soon as possible

We are still offering a free 3667 Unit 1 exam with the Unit 4 course, to be taken on the last afternoon of the Unit 4 course.

We have just had a couple of postponements for the 5-day City & Guilds 3667 Combined Unit 1,2,3 Fibre course at Lucid Training Centre in Cumbria next week, so we now have spare places available. This is our last 3667 fibre course before the summer holidays, so if you are interested please email office@lucidos.co.uk or call us on 015396 21219 as soon as possible to reserve a place.

Recently, a Lucid mug has been snapped on its tour of major sporting events and other work locations thanks to Graeme MacVicar. This made us smile and brightened our day so we’ve now chipped in with a photo of a Lucid mug at a major cricket match near our head office.

We’ve seldom given mugs away, so if you have trained with us and want a Lucid mug so you can post a picture of it at your work or travel locations then let us know. We have a few we can supply, but if this trend takes off then we may need to order more…

Here are the latest photos, as posted on LinkedIn:

Graeme has posted a few pictures of his Lucid mug on tour (see link below) as his work has taken him to a few events. If any of you have a Lucid mug then you might like to post a picture of it at your work, although we realise we’ve not given many away.

If any of our former trainees would like a mug then let us know. Inspired by Graeme’s initiative we think we should give a few more mugs away so others can post shots of their Lucid mug at work.

Lucid Mug on tour: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6550624479679131648

We’d like to wish our colleague David Fawcett all of the best for his retirement.

Many of our trainees and business acquaintances will know David as the voice on the end of the telephone line as he has for over 10 years often been the first point of contact for people enquiring about training at Lucid.

Having joined us from the financial services world in January 2009, David has seen around half of the history of Lucid and has been with us for the good and the not so good (or damn right awful!) times.

We know many of you will miss David, and if you want to tell him so then you have until lunchtime. We’re abandoning the office for an hour or two for a retirement lunch out and after that David will be free to dodge the showers and spend some of the Summer indulging his love of cricket (or perhaps more likely history books).

Thank you David for the diligent service and all the cups of tea! We wish you the very best for this next chapter in your story.