Developing A Roster For An Amateur Radio Class

By Allen Batteiger, WB5WNG
Tuesday, Aug 28, 2007

Here is a great idea for other instructors to get the names of people interested in Amateur Radio to sign up for a class. My email program (Thunderbird) allows me to copy the contact email into a list that I then use to email class notices to. When people sign up for the class, I take the contact form and move it to a class folder. I then create a new list for that class. This allows me to email the class as a whole (like congratulations---here are your call signs). I have setup a sign-up page for my classes. This page is then linked to the three clubs I work with. This sign-up page has allowed over 200 people to sign up for current or future classes. I use the email addresses given in the page to create a mailing list based on the class they are interested in. The information provided gives me the basic contact info required to allow me to follow-up, and make sure the info is getting out. I also register my classes on the ARRL www site. Typically, I get 90 percent of my class from people who have signed up for information on the class. The other 10 percent comes from the ARRL www site. http://www.rtsi.com/~WB5QNG/inforequest.html This is a simple sign-up script with a php script to handle the email. The original base form came from Alan, N5NA in Midland. Maintaining the script is pretty simple. A couple of minutes to update the class lists---then to ftp it to my www site.

Licensing Instruction with an Emergency Communications Focus

By Rick Ward, WH6FC
Thursday, Aug 16, 2007

Aloha Rose-Anne,

Following up on your questions, we charged $25 per student and $25 for the licensing manual. I chose the $25 figure based on trying to recover estimated expenses. My actual expenses were much higher though due to having to purchase a data projector and screen. Originally I had hoped to borrow a projector but it fell through at the last minute and became unavailable. I will be charging $40 per student for all future classes.
Even at this fee,I will need to have 3 more sessions of this size to recover costs. However, due to the enthusiastic response from the class I already have 2 more sessions scheduled. The class in February started with 17 attending. Dates were Feb. 26, 27 and 28th. 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM but actually ended at 5:00. This number was a large group for the space we had available. All students had the book for preparing for the course 3 weeks in advance. I am not sure how many took the time to prepare. I have 16 signed up for the class scheduled for April 7,14 and 21st. They will have time for homework in between sessions.
I am pursuing federal grant money through our County CD to help reduce the cost to future students in licensing courses and to help with continuing education and training through ARRL sponsored programs such as ARECC. We have at least 70 more unlicensed people in this isolated community that need to have radio communications capabilities due to their involvement with our community disaster plan. In addition to the non hams there are over 30 licensed hams that could benefit from ARECC. In my area of responsibility as an ARES DEC we have 5 other similar communities in South Hawaii. There are over 40 other communities in the 3 other ARES districts in this County.
In preparation for our 3 day course I encouraged all students to own an ARRL Ham Licensing manual (for future reference) but offered to help them borrow if they could not afford one. I donated two books to our community centers private library (most recent version). I also helped to have three books donated to our public library from previous students that have upgraded to General and Extra (first printing). So far 90% have purchased manuals to own.
We had 3 guest instructors participate besides myself during the February class. Bob Reischel NH6WH lectured for 3 hours covering electrical principles with my assistance. Earl Laver KH6EL lectured with my assistance for 1.5 hours covering nets and operating procedures and Dennis Smith NH7OI took 1.5 hours on emergency comms and ARES also with my assistance.
I pre-loaded pertinent info from various websites onto my laptop for display in the classroom during lecture. Using the projector we showed demonstrations of HF rig control, PSK31, satellite propagation software and Echolink operation. We also used the power point demonstration provided by the ARRL instructor manual. I had a copy of an old ARRL DVD license course and had planned to use it strategically but never did. I believe that material to be too out of date due to recent changes in the question pool.
We primarily used the ARRL instructor manuals syllabus but added 4 additional hours on emergency comms, message handling and directed nets. We added a few other lessons not in the ARRL syllabus and shortened some that pertained to HF. 1) All of our students had pre-purchased handheld radios prior to the class and I held them till the second day of class. I spent an hour guiding them through programming their new Yaesu VX170's for simplex and repeater operations. We then allowed them to use them in a simulated Emcomm directed net scenario maintaining third party rules. 2) I used topographic propagation software to show coverage areas of all of the local repeaters to enhance the learning curve for our students. With the software you can quickly show the variation of handheld coverage to mobile antenna coverage for example. This lead into: 3) Having everyone building their own emergency tv twin lead j-pole. I will be providing all the materials but the students will do the cutting and soldering at a future date. We did not have time to include this in the February class but I hope to include it in future classes.
After concluding the course our local VE team arrived and set up a test session in the familiar classroom setting. They used pre-stocked test materials. In addition to the class attendees we had 2 walk-ins who had self studied for Technician and 2 for upgrades, one to General and one to Extra. As each applicants test was graded and confirmed to be a passing grade, along with congratulations, Dennis NH7OI asked them each to sign our ARES application. They all joined willingly since EmComm was their primary motivation to attend the class.
I was very pleased to see we had a 100% pass rate of those that tested. I had 1 student drop out on the second day and another on the 3rd. Both said they were ill and will attend a future class or challenge the test at a future session. They were both in their 80's. The rest of the group was very varied. Age was between 14 and 83. The majority averaged in their early thirties. We had 4 YL's attend. Amongst our class attendees were community leaders, laborers, volunteer fire fighters, office workers and one professional fireman. Our community is located in a very rural area with a population of around 6000. It is predominantly agricultural and retirement oriented. We are considered to be in a high risk area of the Island of Hawaii due to active volcanoes and our remote location that has very few public services available.
I consider this licensing process to be ongoing as all of the students need further help and encouragement. I would like to see some go on to General to gain HF privileges and beyond. I have spent several hours individually and with small groups elmering our new Hams to program and use their radios and answering other questions. We are planning on continuing their training through ARES exercises. I can only consider this to be a success if they actively participate in and are assimilated into our existing amateur community.
Thanks for asking about our program and I apologize for going into so much detail in response. I feel, though, that this info could be helpful to you in your professional position. I certainly coulduse all the help I can get.
Aloha and 73 de WH6FC Rick Ward

ARRL DEC for South Hawaii

Errata for ARRL Instructor's Manual and CD

By Ronald S Handrop, KC6HMX
Friday, Jul 20, 2007

I am teaching ham radio to Civil Air Patrol Cadets ages 12-20.

I bought the ARRL Instructor's Manual with CD and this was a great way to start a class. The CD has a bad PowerPoint slide showing that EHF is lower in frequency than SHF. Over all the slides were a good start, I added pictures and more slides. The Manual has two mistakes: page 69, question 31 has no question, only answers, page 54, wrong answer for exam 1, question 6, not A but B. The correct reference question is shown below which has the answers in a different order:

T1B07 (A) [97.107]

When are you allowed to operate your amateur station in a foreign country?

A. When there is a reciprocal operating agreement between the countries B. When there is a mutual agreement allowing third party communications C. When authorization permits amateur communications in a foreign language D. When you are communicating with non-licensed individuals in another country

Technician class

By Gerald Cardwell, N4KTB
Monday, Jun 30, 2003

Our club, Kingsport/Bays Mountain Amateur Radio Club, located in Kingsport TN, sponsored a Technician license class which I taught and will share some experiences with you. Our class ran for seven consecutive weeks, with a one hour session on Thursday evening. A practice test, with the help of a VEC, was given on the sixth evening and the actual VEC test was administered on the seventh evening. The only aid used was an easel. We displayed the ARRL Azimuthal World map, Repeater Directory and demonstrated a two meter repeater contact. We licensed 11 new techs, with two failed and two no-shows for the test. Our club is still working with them. I ordered 15 "Tune in the World with Ham Radio" books and scheduled two chapters per week. The students must commit to reading and studying at home. The class time was spent going over problems. The amount of information covered during these few hours is very intense so keeping focused and on subject is very important. This is not the time for telling tales and exploring complicated theory. Stick to the book. I invited students to stay after the session and work on problems. There were not many stay overs, except just to chat. I explained the schedule very carefully the first evening so the students knew what to study even if they missed a session. This worked very well. I even told them they didn't have to attend the sessions at all if they wanted to take the book and study at home. Some of the more experienced students did opt to miss most of the sessions and were sucessful. We charged the students $15 for the book, and the only other expense was for the VEC test. Couples were allowed to share one book, for one price, if they wished. Students were impressed with the TITW and were delighted to be able to keep it for reference. Next time I may opt for a 90 minute class session with the same number of sessions. I am planning another class this fall, with the new Tech question pool. Good luck with your class! 73, Gerald, N4KTB

Weekend Classes

By Karl F Larsen, K5DI
Thursday, Mar 27, 2003

What are Week End Classes?

The ARRL recommended Technician Class is one evening a week for 8 weeks. We used this for many years thinking it was about as good as it gets. But I recall the problem it was getting another teacher to fill in while work had me away from home. I also remember the high drop out rate among students. It was not unusual to have 10 start and 4 take the Exam 8 weeks later. An 8 week commitment is hard to keep.

John Pierce W5FXA decided to try a weekend class and it was a huge success. There were 12 students Friday Evening and 12 students took the Exam and we had 12 new Hams in town Sunday.

So this is why in Las Cruces New Mexico for 8 years we have offered all the necessary classes to obtain the 3 levels of license available to Amateur Radio as Week End Classes. First I will describe the technician class and then show how anything is different at the other levels.

Announce the upcoming class in as many ways as possible starting about 2 months in advance. In the announcement include the cost, dates, where and who.

There are 2 people who do most of the work. We have the Overall Training leader and the Class Leader. The first gets out the announcements and finds the Class Leaders, collects the money and brings the food to the place the classes are held. The Class Leader finds teachers and keeps the class material such as the manuals and the ARRL Video for the Technician.

The Class Leader e-mails out the schedule showing who will teach what when. The Class Leader is at the site most of the time. Teachers come in and do their section and then are free to leave.

The Manual is the Technician Question Pool of 500 questions. I wrote this Manual and every year we go to Kinko's and make as many as we need for the class. We have written Manual's for Technician, General and Extra. These manuals are lay-ed out so they follow the ARRL Video. There is a new Technician pool out and we are writing a new Manual.

Friday at 6:30 PM the class begins with introductions and then the first video and questions following the video. There is soft drinks and chips and apples and oranges available for both students and teachers. At about 8:00 PM we go home.

Saturday at 8:00 AM we begin and launch right into the video. Then questions and answers then a break. Lunch is served at the site and students and teachers enjoy a long lunch. Then more video and questions until about 3:30 PM when we give the students a "real" VE exam made by the VE exam making software. They are given about 30 minutes to work and then they grade each others exam. It's typical that ALL students pass the exam.

Sunday more video and questions until about 10:30 AM when a teacher gives a complete overview of the class with the students. This takes to about 12 noon and lunch is served. The VE team arrives and shares lunch with the others. About 1:00 a VE Session is set up and all the students take the real exam. There are often other non-students who come to the VE Session and take tests they need. It is an Open VE Session.

The tests are graded and the students know how they did quickly. It is not unusual for everyone to pass. We typically are all done with teaching and cleaning up and VE paperwork by 2:00 PM. Everyone goes home.

The General Class is run exactly like the Technician using the ARRL General video and the General Manual. Timing is about the same and we have had very good luck so far with a 90+ percent pass rate.

We have had no student just not show up to class or quit Saturday. There may have been 1 or 2 who had a personal or work disaster that took them away.

The Extra Class has so much material to cover we have made it a two week end class. There is no ARRL video for this class so we are collecting VU Graphs that teachers have made and using them over again. The last Sunday is much like the others except we get done early and we bring radios and things into the class room and demonstrate how Amateur Radio works.

The Code Class is very different. We ask students to start with home study using computer generated code from Morse Academy and learn the characters. Friday we check each student out to see how well they have learned the characters. It's obvious who studied and who didn't. Students who didn't study are asked to leave. Those who did study are tested to find out what they each need. Saturday they are given one-on-one training and we find the Koch trainer, a free software is good for getting to 5 wpm. About 3:00 PM students take a standard VE code exam. It's typical they all pass with many more than 25 correct characters in a row.

Sunday we work on pro nouns and pro signs that always need help. Listen to some real code from a radio. Have lunch. Pass the 5 WPM code test.

The Technician and General class costs $45 and the Extra costs $70 because of the extra food. There is no manual for the CW Class so it costs $30 which is really cheap.

Ham Radio...Planning for the Future - 2002

By Marjorie E Bourgoin, KB1DCO
Friday, Jun 13, 2003

Still available from the ARRL is the 2002 issue of Ham Radio...Planning for the Future (item # 8551). The purpose of this publication is for the authors to share their ideas, thoughts and experiences in hopes that volunteer instructors, teachers and recruiters will gain valuable input for their own Amateur Radio classes, projects and recruiting events. Papers consist of topics written on ham radio recruitment and instruction, focusing on teaching Amateur Radio classes, getting new hams on the air, and recruiting new hams. Titles of interest to volunteer instructors, teachers and recruiters include "Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligence" by K4HMS, "Parkway School ARISS Activities" by KB0WVJ, "Tips of Starting a School Radio Club" by N7UJJ, and "Recruiting High School Hams" by KD5HAW. We hope these and other articles will help you discover fresh new concepts that you'll be eager to put to use.

2002 Ham Radio...Planning for the Future (164 pages) retails for $20.00 (plus $5.00 for shipping) and may be purchased through the ARRL. Checks and money orders can be mailed to ARRL, Field & Educational Services, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111, or order by phone with a credit card by calling toll free at 1-888-277-5289.

CW Teaching Tool!

By Marjorie E Bourgoin, KB1DCO
Friday, Jun 13, 2003

If you are looking for a new way to teach your students CW, you should read this article: http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/pdf/0202062.pdf

Using this tool, up to eight students can copy CW at the same time!

The 60 Second Instructor

Friday, Jun 8, 2001

Stephen E. Auyer, N2TKX n2tkx@arrl.net

"Sometimes you have less than a minute to engage someone in a discussion of amateur radio. What do you do?"

Having an operating radio station at Syracuse's Museum of Science & Technology (MOST) has provided amateurs in the Syracuse, NY area a great opportunity to demonstrate their skills to the public. But at the same time it's shown that some accommodation has to be done to meet the public's expectations of a science museum exhibit.

The majority of visitors to this particular science museum appear to be in the 5-15 year old age range. Of course they are accompanied by their parents, and occasionally an older group will stop by the exhibit. But by and large it's a pretty young group that comes to the station.

What we've found is that we have to find a way to deal with visitors that have a fairly short attention span. Now those of you with young children (either at present or in the past) know that a 10 year old doesn't want to sit still for a long time. And many of the other exhibits in the museum tend to be of the kind where a young visitor can walk up to the exhibit, interact with it for 15 seconds, and then move on. So the visitors to the station aren't disposed to a long dissertation on radio wave propagation, emission modes, licensing requirements, or whatever. They want to come in to the station, talk for a minute or two, and then head off to another exhibit. This poses a certain challenge in how we ensure that they will take something away with them that might allow them to continue to follow-up an interest in Amateur Radio. Yes, we pass out copies of the pamphlets published by the ARRL, by the Boy Scouts and by radio manufacturers - but more is needed.

We don't have a long time to interact with the visitors. Because of this, we've come up with is a series of amateur radio related experiments, or projects, that can be begun in the station, and then continued at home, at school, or while riding in a car (as a passenger, not a driver!).

Each experiment or project is written up as a 4-6 page document that deals with a particular aspect of the technology of amateur radio. The visitors will enter the station, we'll talk to them for a minute or so to sound out their interests, and then if it seems appropriate select one or more of the project write-ups. We'll get them started on the project while at the exhibit and then let them go on their way with the information necessary to complete the project at their leisure.

Examples of some projects that we've written up that have been popular with our visitors include:

AM Radio Listening Project - Allows visitors to see how radio waves from local radio stations propagate and how radio wave propagation changes from day to night.

Phonetics & Morse Code Project - Allows visitors to learn the phonetic alphabet and experiment with Morse code.

Satellite Tracking Project - Provides visitors with information on how they can use easily available software on their home computer to track satellites, MIR and the Space Shuttle.

Reduced-size copies of these handouts are attached to this article. Also e-mail request to the author will get you electronic copies in PDF format.

These projects differ from write-ups on similar subject appearing elsewhere in that the science museum projects are "personalized" to the Syracuse area. As an example, the AM Radio Listening Project contains an exercise that lets them map put the boundaries of their local listening area.

Visitors to the station seem to like this approach. They can find out more about several of the technologies involved in amateur radio but at their own leisure. And we've even seen several of our younger visitors take the experiment farther along and use it as a project at a local science fair!

The Weatherford Program

By Lilburn Smith, W5KQJ
Tuesday, Jan 2, 2001

The Weatherford Program

The Amateur Radio Club of Parker County, Texas, and Weatherford College have graduated the latest class of Technician Class radio operators. Eleven new hams passed their examinations. The classes are six weeks in duration. Five weeks are devoted to lectures, and the sixth is the VE-administered exam.

The next program features two Technician classes, a General class, an Extra class and a just-for-fun class titled "Now That You Have Your License - What Next?" to teach operation and simple construction projects.

Students also receive Continuing Education Credits for class attendance. Tuition is kept low through volunteer instructors who are not paid.

The Weatherford licensing program is successful for a number of reasons. The program is short, lasting only six weeks including the final test period. The instruction is intensive and focused. The materials used are limited to the VEC question pool. The coordinators want the students to get their ham licenses. They have plenty of time to learn more after they are licensed.

The pitfall of most amateur instruction classes is the lack of focus. The class tries to teach the student too much. An old Irish recipe for rabbit stew starts out with " First catch one medium sized rabbit .. ". We try to catch our rabbit, the license, first, and then make the stew, that is teach them to be on the air operators after they have their licenses.

In reviewing the typical study manual, which is meant for classroom work or for studying on one's own, one notices that the book is trying to not only teach the beginning ham the essential information but also the nonessential aspects which are better taught as on the air training. The student is simply overwhelmed with the volume of data he presumably has to learn in order to get his license.

The Weatherford program, on the other hand, sticks to basics. The instruction is a mixture of explanation and rote learning. The lectures cover every question in the pool with a brief but adequate explanation. Then the student is asked to read the questions and the correct answers only until he can answer all the questions.

The trick to learning the answers on the question pool is to read only the correct answer. The student is asked to highlight the correct answer using the letter in parenthesis as the guide. Then he is told to never read the incorrect answer. After reading the correct answer three or more times the correct answer will become familiar material, and when the exam is taken the incorrect answers will be foreign. The method works. A person of average intelligence can pass the Technician exam in only six weeks.

The program is not without its price. The preparation required by the instructor is extensive, and the intense presentation style is exhausting. The instructor must be knowledgeable of ham radio plus classroom presentation techniques. The instructor must maintain control, and avoid the pitfall of excessive student participation. The class is lecture, not discussion, although pertinent questions are taken at any time. The lack of qualified instructors means a heavier burden on the ones who can teach. ARCPC has only two qualified instructors. The college must also approve the instructors. The same instructor should teach all five lectures. The Weatherford technician program has one brief (15 minute) session with a guest to cover repeater basic operation and etiquette and ARES/ RACES net operations.

The student also has a toll to pay. He must listen intently for two fifty minute lectures with only a ten minute break between. The most common complaint is that the material is boring. The lectures were upgraded to a limited amount of show and tell for this last session in an attempt to make the classes more interesting. The experiment was not an unqualified success. The time taken by the demonstrations eats into instruction time excessively.

Another technique is the daily quiz. At the end of each session, the students are given a daily exam consisting of ten questions from the two question pool supplements covered in that lecture. The ten questions are directly taken from the question pool. The student then becomes familiar with the exam process and does not choke up when the final session arrives and the VE team moves in.

The VE team, headed by Allen Griffith, N5AG, is entirely separate from the instruction team. Four volunteer examiners are used. Allen insures that the student has every chance to pass his exam by providing a quiet, professional atmosphere. No talking is permitted in the exam room except the brief exchanges with the VE. The VEC rules are strictly observed. All paperwork is triple checked to insure that the student who passes his exam will get his license in a timely manner.

The methods work. The first class session in May and June had nineteen initial attendees. One elderly lady dropped out because she could not do the large amount or reading required without developing a headache. Of the remaining eighteen, sixteen passed their exam. One of the failures confessed to not doing the assigned homework. The other is a child who has a problem with learning in the public school also. The second session had twenty people registered for the class. Six people dropped after one class. The explanation for the large drop out rate appears to be related to the method of recruitment. The first class was made up of club members and others who wanted to get their license very much. The second class had the same sort of dedicated individuals, but also had a large element of the general public who saw the class in the Continuing Education catalog, with a very low fee, and came out of curiosity. They dropped out when they discovered that a large amount of effort was required. Of the fourteen who took the class, eleven passed the Technician test and got their licenses. One already had his Technician, and passed the General written exam, and two failed the Technician class exam.

Twenty seven new hams have their licenses as a result of the Weatherford College/ ARCPC program. Several of the new hams and a group of others are now taking the upgrade session. The upgrade class is a challenge to teach because it is a mixture of Technicians and Generals, so that both the General and Extra Class question pools must be addressed.

Five classes are planned for the spring semester. The Technician class will be offered twice, plus one General class and one Extra class. The additional class is a just for fun session titled "Now That You Have Your License - What Next? This class covers building a station, operation of a station, contests, Field Day operation, and other aspects of amateur radio. Hands-on construction skills for build it yourself projects and actual on the air contacts from a station are included.

73 Lilburn W5KQJ ----------------