ARRL Education & Technology Program Schools Get Best Buy Te@ch Grants

NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 16, 2004--Four ARRL Amateur Radio Education and Technology Program (ETP) participating schools are the beneficiaries of recent Best Buy Children's Foundation Te@ch grants of $2500. Winning grants were Iowa Street School in Fallbrook, California; Bloomington High School South in Bloomington, Indiana, Astronaut High School in Titusville, Florida, and Northside High School in Warner Robins, Georgia.

An Iowa Street School youngster on the air from the school's ETP-provided ham station, which uses teacher Phil Leonelli's WF6L call sign.

Iowa Street teacher Phil Leonelli, WF6L, says his school has integrated the ETP into its grade 4 through 8 curriculum and works with the Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club.

The school will use the funds to purchase a state-of-the-art computer system as an adjunct to its Amateur Radio station--including the addition of computer logging, transceiver control, packet and ATV capabilities as well as for on-line information retrieval. The Iowa Street School has been a Big Project pilot school since 2001. Some two dozen students attend weekly Iowa Street School Amateur Radio Club meetings, and about half of them are working toward their ham tickets.

Bloomington South High teacher Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, says Amateur Radio is part of his school's chemistry curriculum as well as an extracurricular activity. "Within chemistry courses, Amateur Radio makes the electromagnetic spectrum become alive and tangible to students," he says. The school has been an ETP school since 2001.

Bloomington South junior Katie Hawkins, KC9FFB, operates the school's K9SOU club station while classmate Nicole Aubin looks on.

Days when ham radio is the focus of the class discussion are among the most enjoyable for his students in chemistry, he says. "Many of them enjoy it enough to attend the club meetings and station events on their own time after school," he adds. Proof of their enthusiasm is the fact that many study for and pass their Amateur Radio license examinations.

Rapp said he plans to use the Te@ch grant to purchase a video projector--primarily for classroom and ham radio training course use--and two Kenwood TH-F6A handheld VHF/UHF transceivers plus a programming cable. The handhelds would be available for licensed students to borrow for public service events, direction-finding contests, or other Amateur Radio events as well as for routine communication.

Astronaut High's Bill Canfield, W4RUN, says he and his students were thrilled to learn they'd won a Best Buy Te@ch grant. Integrating ham radio into his classroom has helped to provide his students with an understanding of radio propagation, he explains. "This has lead to the development of a new course at the school entitled Communications Technology." Students will earn a Technician ticket within the first nine weeks of the course and a General in the second nine weeks.

Astronaut High teacher Bill Canfield says all of his students have constructed a code practice oscillator. "They are now working to convert a PC power supply into a 13.8 V, 20 A power supply," he said.

The concept got its start when he was teaching about the industrial revolution and the advancement of technology in his American History classroom. "I would bring in telegraph keys, old radios and radio tubes," he said. "This led to explaining how communication has advanced from Morse code to the digital communications of today."

Canfield says the grant money will enable the school to add a weather station to its ham station for use during Hurricane Watch Net activations. He also wants to expand the ham station's digital capabilities (VHF packet and PSK31) plus add features like satellite tracking and weather fax. Another project, Canfield says, is the addition of a solar power setup to the school's station.

A Northside HS student operates the school's ham radio station. New to the ARRL Education and Technology Program, Northside just received its Amateur Radio equipment.

Jim Fouts, AA4JF, at Northside High says his school also will use its Te@ch grant to add a new weather monitoring station--with Internet and Amateur Radio hookup software--and digital capability to its Amateur Radio club station, K4NHS. The school serves a Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) shelter site. Amateur Radio would serve as the link between the school and the National Weather Service, Fouts said.

The school also purchased two Family Radio Service units with GPS capability for training and use at parades and sporting events.

"The students are very excited about the Best Buy grant materials as well as the ARRL Education and Technology Program equipment," Fouts said. "We are also adding some equipment to our video production capability that can be used in the event of a need for emergency communications at this GEMA shelter site."

The Best Buy's Children's Foundation's Te@ch program awards recognize programs or projects that "creatively integrate interactive technology into the curriculum." The retailer this year awarded $2.9 million to schools across the country. An application is available on the Best Buy Web site.

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