NES Amateur Radio (HAM) Club

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I'll volunteer to help with the class and licensing. I was a VE at one time and taught a few classes.

Awesome, thanks Mark. I've taught several friends one on one, and I was a teaching assistant in grad school, but I haven't taught a ham class to a large group. It'll be a great help to have someone who's been there done that.

I was about to become a VE when I was at school in Worcester, but never got back to it after I moved back to PA between school and work.

My original thought was to do this at my house, but at this rate we'll outgrow my space soon. I haven't really looked at the geographic dispersal of the group so far yet. Does Westford work for most people? I sent a PM to KMaurer (on the board at Westford Sportsmen's) about the possibility of running the class there. If that doesn't work out (for the club, or for the group), does anybody have any location ideas?
 
I would like to get in on this, was a hf radio operator in the service.I would like to do the class and test.
Funny still know my bases call sign and it has been 20 years
 
I have a Technician License

KB1IOE in Chelmsford

I got licensed about 5 years ago so that I could talk to my Dad while he was up in Lovell, ME. He's got land up there and spent one summer clearing trees by himself with a chainsaw. There is a home up there now, but at the time he was camping in the back of his truck.
We were all nervous that he'd cut his leg off or something and nobody would know so I got licensed. We talked every evening on the radio, Just to check in with him.
I can't remember where the repeater was, but I had a 5 element yagi on the roof and he sounded great.
I'm in a new house now and just have a copper J-Pole now.
It's been a couple of years now since I've fired it up.
 
I'd be interested in a class. I use to be big into the citizens band. I had a TRC-433 all peaked and tweaked. My handle used to be Ironman.
 
Shameless plug

I was browsing here and thought that this might be of interest.

http://northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=32161


My Dad was a Ham for many years before his death and gave this YEASU FT-757 Gx to me, hoping that it would entice me to get my licence.
I used it for receiving only and just never got interested enough to go for the licence.

It is available for trade.

Jack
 
Count me in please. I'm a newbie... and I've been thinking about getting licensed for SHTF uses...

But if the S never HTF... at least we can all get together over the airwaves the next time NES's server goes down for 12+ hours!

Hanwei
 
ME TOO!!!!!!
I even went as far as buying the book a couple of years ago "Now you're talking!"
If this fits into my schedule I'm there. Then I can register my truck with my call sign and not have to pay the yearly renewal fees ;-) here in RI
 
This thing's turning into a monster! I hope it holds together and we can get some folks their "tickets". I think eventually all the licensed folks are goijng to have to do some brainstorming on how to plan this.

In the mean time, I'd like to point the interested folks to http://www.arrl.org, and specifically What is ham radio? for a brief overview.

I quickly scanned some old pics I found, including some of my QSL cards from contacts I've had. Nothing in particular, I have several hundred, these are just some of the more interesting ones. I even found a couple old Field Day photos.


http://picasaweb.google.com/markdavidschneider/HamRadio
 
>>buying the book a couple of years ago "Now you're talking!"<<

I'll tell ya, that book's been around a lot longer than a coupla of years ago! [grin]
 
This thing's turning into a monster! I hope it holds together and we can get some folks their "tickets". I think eventually all the licensed folks are goijng to have to do some brainstorming on how to plan this.

Yeah, I had no idea how much this would take off. My current thought is to hold it on a Saturday at Westford. I'm thinking late April / early May. That should give enough time to plan, while getting it in before people get really busy for the summer. I'd like to come up with a list of dates in the next week or so. Then I'll run the idea by the WSC board on the 17th and see what dates are available.

I'm not sure how long a class will take. I've gotten people through enough to pass the test in less than an hour, but that's teaching to the test pretty heavily. My gut feel says about 8 hours for the class (with a few demos and plenty of Q&A time), plus an hour for the testing and paperwork. Mark, does this sound realistic? I've ordered the ARRL instructor manual, which has a bunch of lesson plans and logistical info in it. Once this is in, I want to have a discussion with Mark and any others who want to help with teaching to plan out the class.
 
I'll tell you how out of the loop I am -- I just had to search the League site to get up to speed on the current license structure. I knew the code was long gone, but I didn't know it's only Technician, General, and Extra now.

I'd suggest first off, to greatly simplify the process, to limit this to only the Technical license -- this should be only for people who aren't currently hams. I'd also make it a requirement for folks to buy the The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual before hand, so everyone's using the same resource.

I haven't looked at question pool materials in almost 15 years, but from what I know of the old structure, I'll assume that the new technician written is about like the old, which would make the theory pretty basic, and the hard part being the rules and regulations.
The earlier the students get their copies of the books and do what they can on their own, the more successful the class will go, of course. The hard part is striking a balance between getting into too much technical detail on the theory, which isn't the intent of the service, and just cramming for the test by trying to teach the question pool. As I recall, the Instructor's Manual is a great tool for finding that balance.

Now, can anyone who's currently a VE refresh me or bring me up to the present on what *I* need to do to become a VE? Do I still just join a VEC such as W5YI (is he still around?).

I think this can work. I don't want to pick up tha ball and run with it, but we seem to have enough licensees on here to get a pertty effective team going. Wether we can do that in two months is another story, but if the presently-experienced guys can get us old timers up to speed, we could pull it off.

Also, Westford might not be convenient for everyone, or the schedule might not work. If that's the case, people should go to ARRL Home Page. At the top is some links to Classes, and Exams, which will bring up a search function to organizations who do these services already.
 
How does one find a class like this that might be more local to me? Thanks

The best way is to find a local club and ask them. http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/club/clubsearch.phtml has a search for clubs affiliated with the American Radio Relay League (basically the ham equivalent of the NRA). Many clubs run classes, and all of them could point you to something.

Another option is a web based class http://www.arrl.org/cce/courses.html#ec010. I have no experience with this course, so I don't know any more about it.
 
Jar - two things:

1 - I'm interested in the class and exam; I bought the Radio Shack Technician's book several years ago, and nothing looked too difficult. Just never had the time, I guess.

2 - if WSC doesn't come through, I can get you a place in Grafton with room for at least 30-40 students at very reasonable cost. If you're interested in this venue, PM me for details. (it's the same place that the OC class is being held).
 
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