For the past few years, The News has been pushing for more exposure when it comes to training and education for technicians.

With the introduction of “Training Track” last year, we have tried to make technicians aware of how and where they can obtain further education on their trade. (“Training Track” is periodically printed in the pages of The News, but can always be found on our website, www.achrnews.com.)

With weekly training articles, we have also tried to inform our readers on where training is going, what new ideas hvacr departments and schools are implementing, and how technicians can stay ahead of this ever-changing trade and its technological advances.

In this our 75th anniversary year, The News would now like to not only inform you of these developments in training, but also provide a bit of training. That is why, starting with this issue, The News presents to our readers “The Fundamentals.”

This new page, which will become a periodic feature in our publication, will present a new aspect of training each time it appears. Our readers have told us that they would like to not only be informed of training and education, but also find training tips that will help them excel in their businesses.

This page will be a helpful tool for technicians who need a quick reminder on technical concepts or for the contractor who needs to give his or her technicians a crash course on the basics of hvacr.

These pages will also be an appropriate visual aid for instructors who are looking to enhance their classroom presentation.

NATE Lends a Hand

With the help of North American Technician Excellence (NATE), The News will be able to periodically provide this new department. Patrick Murphy, NATE’s director of technical development, will be providing the test questions and information for this feature. Murphy is new to NATE and is currently the president of the Council of Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Educators (CARE). As a member of CARE, Murphy has insight from many other instructors and educators who know what future technicians need to learn in order to succeed. Murphy’s experience with training comes from being an instructor at Union County Vo-Tech School in Scotch Plains, NJ. Through this partnership between NATE and The News, The Fundamentals will present readers with a specific topic or training area. For example, the initial topic is charging air conditioners (see page 50). Readers can test their knowledge by first attempting to answer the questions. At the bottom of the page are the correct answers and explanations. To make this page a success, we ask for your participation. The News would like to know what technical issues are causing difficulty for you, your employees, or your students. Whatever concepts you believe the industry needs to grasp, we will try our best to present it in The Fundamentals. We ask for your suggestions and your feedback.

Siegel is training & education editor. He can be reached at 248-244-1731; 248-362-0317 (fax); siegelj@bnp.com (e-mail).

Publication date 01/29/2001