I am joining the QCWA just so that I can take part in this program……Dan

From Amateur Radio Newsline Report #1552, May 11, 2007:

Los Angeles, CA. (May 7, 2007): In a joint statement issued today the leadership of the Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. (QCWA) and Amateur Radio Newsline, Inc. (ARNewsline) have announced that QCWA has become a co-sponsor of the Roy Neal, K6DUE, Amateur Radio Mentoring Program®. This is a post-licensing educational service created by ARNewsline in January 2004 and designed to pair new hams with veteran amateurs in hopes that some of the established ham operator skills can be passed down to new generations.

The program is loosely based on a similar program created by Broadway choreographer/ performer Ann Reinking through her own educational foundation, the Broadway Theater Project. This is a Florida based training program connecting students with seasoned theater professionals. If we may quote Ms. Reinking:

“Its sort of an un-written law or rule in the world of dance that you pass on what you know. This particular craft is at its best when its passed from one person’s hands to the next.”

According to ARNewsline Executive Producer Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, what Ann Reinking says about “dance” applies equally to our world of Amateur Radio. Maybe more so, because, for decades the knowledge and tradition of our hobby/service was passed down from seasoned operators to newcomers, one on one.

“Amateur Radio is a tremendously complex arena”, says Pasternak. “We have licensed hams who are truly experts in numerous fields ranging from bouncing radio signals off the moon, to writing complicated software which enables new forms of two-way communication. We want to take advantage of that talent pool to help educate the next generation of operators, and generations to follow.”

The success of the program has been such that the number of people seeking post licensing assistance has risen far faster than the number of available mentors. This has meant long delays for some who have placed requests. The addition of the member base of the QCWA makes available close to 10,000 highly skilled radio amateurs as potential mentors, each with a minimum of twenty-five years of experience in the hobby.

“This is a good deal for all of Amateur Radio,” says QCWA President John B. Johnston, W3BE.

Johnston, a retired career FCC employee and Dayton Radio Amateur of the Year award winner believes that it is important to keep ham radio traditions alive:

“We in the QCWA are the elder statesmen and stateswomen of Amateur Radio. We are the people who have spent a sizeable chunk of our lives learning the artistry that goes with being a radio amateur. We know how a radio works. We know how an antenna works. Most of all we know that Amateur Radio can only survive if it passes its combined knowledge on to the next generation of radio amateurs. By becoming a co-sponsor of the Roy Neal, K6DUE, Amateur Radio Mentoring Program® we place the QCWA in the enviable position of being the vehicle to hand off the combined knowledge and traditions of our members to those new hams who will carry this knowledge on.”

Under the agreement, ARNewsline will continue to solicit those looking for assistance and maintain the database that matches those desiring assistance with a mentor willing to assist. Willing members of the QCWA will be asked to register by e-mail to mentor@arnewsline.org stating their name, call, location, contact information and area of expertise. As request for assistance are received the person asking will be referred to the person closest to him/her who holds the qualifications and knowledge to assist. John Johnston believes this to be a program that all in QCWA should be a part of:

“This is a chance for each of us to leave our own personal legacy within ham radio. If we do so, we assure the service of another generation of skilled and caring operators who will be a true asset to the service. I urge all of you to sign on.”

His words are echoed by ARNewsline’s Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF. He says that while Amateur Radio includes world-class experts in a number of specialties, there are literally thousands of hams who have operating skills also worthy of passing on. For example, contesting is very popular, said Pasternak. Yet it is a tough nut to crack for a beginner.

“Contesting is also intimidating. Good contest operators often are able to contact four stations per minute for hours at a time. The great ones can do even better. How they are able to do that is a skill that should be passed on through mentoring”, Pasternak said.

Two large pools of Amateurs are needed to make mentoring work. First, there must be a group of volunteers who have a skill and are willing to share their time. The second group is made up of the large number of beginners who want to learn.

Newsline and QCWA are now seeking applicants for both groups, said Joe Eisenberg, K0NEB, who oversees the databases: “Send us an e-mail if you’d like to be a member of either group”, said Eisenberg. “The mentoring address is mentor@arnewsline.org Tell us your name, call letters, address with zipcode, phone number, when we can call.”

“The project’s namesake, Roy Neal, K6DUE, was himself a mentor. He helped strengthen ARNewsline and mentored me to become a better writer and producer,” said Pasternak. “The program is a lasting tribute to Roy’s efforts on behalf of all radio amateurs.”

Amateur Radio Newsline Inc. and the Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. are both 501 (c)(3) federally-designated not-for profit corporations. Contributions to the QCWA, and/or ARnewsline are tax deductible.

For more information please contact John B. Johnston (W3BE) – QCWA (john@johnston.net) or Bill Pasternak (WA6ITF) – ARNewsline (newsline@arnewsline.org).

Earlier in the year, Jack, WT8N, my partner in the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum project suggested that we try to get more Scouts interested in ham radio. He looked up the requirements for the radio merit badge, and then we met with the program director, James McLellan, of the local council about holding a radio merit badge session.

Each of the hams participating got this cool patch from the Boy Scouts. (Photo: Jeff Zupan W8SGZ).

The program director, James McLellan, was very enthusiastic about having us do this. Jack originally thought we’d do this at the museum, but McLellan suggested that we hold this event at Camp Munhackie, located about eight miles north of Chelsea, MI. He also suggested that we hold it on the last Saturday of March. This was a good date, he said, because later dates would conflict with the Scouts’ camping activities. McLellan also suggested that we set up a number of “activity stations,” each covering one or two of the merit badge requirements. These would all prove to be good suggestions.

For one thing, we did not anticipate the turnout that we would get. In fact, Jack was worried about getting anyone to show up at all. Well, about a month before the event, McLellan contacted us and said that 12 had already signed up. This number steadily increased over the course of the month. A week before the event, McLellan reported that 77 had pre-registered! It’s a good thing that we didn’t press to hold this at the museum. They don’t have the classroom space to handle that many kids and their parents and troop leaders. When all was said and done, McLellan had counted 105 Scouts who had checked in!

The suggestion to set up several “activity stations” was also a good one. This really worked out well, with the scouts going from one station to another. That way none of the stations was overloaded.

Jack decided that there should be five stations:

1. This station covered merit badge requirements #1 and #2. The topics covered included basics of radio—including how radio waves are propagated—and callsigns. There was also an introduction to Morse Code, with three keys and a code practice oscillator available for the Scouts to play around with. Jack, WT8N, and George, K8GEO, manned this station.
2. This station covered requirements #3 (the electromagnetic spectrum, DX vs. local signals, and the FCC) and requirement #4 (how radio waves carry information). Bruce, KD8APB, and Patrick, KD8DZB, were responsible for this station.
3. This station cover requirements #5 (safety precautions) and #6 (schematic diagrams and electronic components). Glenda, N8KPL, and Steve, WB8WSF, set up and ran this station.
4. This station covered requirement #7A, 5 and 6 (how to make emergency calls, HT vs base stations). Mark, KD8AOM, and Jeff, W8SGZ, were responsible for this station.
5. This station covered requirements #7A, 1 through 4 (license requirements, Q signals, and actual QSOs), as well as requirement #8 (describing a typical amateur radio station).

I manned station #5 with Mark W8FSA. At our station, we had the club’s IC-746PRO connected to a 40m inverted-V antenna that we set up outside. We were lucky in that the lodge has big, screened windows. We were able to easily remove the screen and snake the coax out to the antenna. Also fortunate for us, 40m was in decent shape, and we made a bunch of contacts.

The lodge at Camp Munhackie was more than big enough to accomodate the 100+ Scouts and assorted parents and Scout leaders. (Photo: Jeff Zupan W8SGZ).

Shortly after the antenna went up, I contacted NX2ND on CW on 7040 kHz. This station is aboard the USS Ling, sitting in the harbor of Secaucus, NJ. I took our working another special event station as a good sign. After I mentioned that I wanted to make sure that we could make phone contacts, the NX2ND operator, Howie, suggested that we both QSY. After a couple of minutes, we also worked on phone on 7232 kHz.

After that, Mark did most of the operating, and I was kept busy explaining things to the kids. I had made charts explaining some of the material, and I was really glad that I did so. There would have been no way that I could individually explain everything to the kids.

I was also kept busy signing the Scouts’ merit badge applications. Every requirement had to be dated and initialed on the forms. Then, after they had completed all of the requirements, Jack or I had to sign off on the form. This not only required two signatures, but also writing down our addresses and telephone numbers! I personally signed 62 of these applications.

This really was an overwhelming experience. For one thing, I never anticipated such a big turnout. For another, really was impressed with the scouts. They worked very earnestly on meeting all of the requirements, which were not easy. For example, they had to draw schematic symbols for three different components, and then match a real component with the schematic symbol. To meet each of the requirements, they had to do something similar.

They also asked very good questions, and I think some of them were genuinely interested in amateur radio. At the very least, we’ve given them a glimpse of what amateur radio is all about and hopefully sparked their interest.

Here’s a cool video of an International Space Station contact at the Bradley Bourbonnais Community High School in Illinois.

Thanks to Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, the ARISS mentor for the high school.

NOTE: If you’re using a Mac, you may have to jump through some hoops to get this WMV file to open up.