It’s always flattering when someone asks you advice. That’s how I felt when a ham radio club here in Michigan asked me about the one-day Tech classes that I teach from time to time.

In the course of the discussion, the club’s president asked, “Do you ever take your class on the road? Would you consider doing the class for us here?” I was even more flattered. He went on to say that if I would consider teaching the class, then he would try to get the club to pick up my expenses.

After swapping a couple more e-mails, we agreed on a date and that they would pay my expenses. Sounds like it will be fun.

So much fun that I’ll make this offer to other clubs out there. If your club is willing to pay my expenses, I’ll come and teach a one-day Tech class for your club.

Last Saturday, I went two-for-three. No, I’m not talking about my performance on the softball field, but rather what happened at the last one-day Tech class I taught.

This was a very strange class. First of all, I only managed to get five people to register for this class. That’s odd because in nearly all of them to date, between ten and twenty signed up for the class.

Someone suggested that the low turnout was due to the fact that I’d already taught everyone within driving distance that was interested. I don’t think that’s the case, since I still have nearly 60 names on my mailing list.

Another possibility is that it was a football Saturday. Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan, which has the largest American football stadium in the world. The “Big House,” as they call it, accommodates nearly 110, 000 fans, and the traffic gets really bad. There’s some merit to this argument, but while we didn’t have a class in September last year, the one that we ran in September 2008 had 13 students (12 passed).

Whatever the reason, only five people pre-registered. One pulled out a few days before the class, and one didn’t show up , so there were only three in the class.

None of them, as it turns out, did any pre-study. That wasn’t a problem for one of the students, who works as an electronics technician. He only missed two questions on the test.

It was more problematic for the other two, but one of them still managed to pass the test. She scored 29/35. The third student missed by three questions, scoring only 23/35.

This class was also notable in that it was the first time that I got to be a Volunteer Examiner. The three of us administering the test were Mark, W8FSA; Jim, K8ELR; and yours truly. That was an interesting experience, but it’s too bad that we had to tell our third examinee that he failed the test.

The ARRL recently posted the article, “K2BSA: Amateur Radio Fun in the Warm Virginia Sun,” which discusses amateur radio activities at this year’s National Scout Jamboree. It reports:

…nearly 6000 youth scouts — 13 percent of the total Jamboree attendance — received thorough exposure to ham radio, touring the K2BSA station and getting on the airwaves. Six lucky scouts conducted a memorable contact with astronaut Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC, aboard the International Space Station (ISS) before a crowd of Jamboree participants.

ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Director and K2BSA Station Coordinator/Manager Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT said, “We held Technician license classes and two VE exam sessions daily, resulting in 147 new Technicians, 33 Generals and 8 Amateur Extras. 210 scouts earned their Radio merit badges, too.”

They used my study guide, so I’m going to claim some of the credit for the 147 new Technicians.

The item below is from the June 2009 issue of the ARRL’s e-newsletter for registered instructors:

As part of its scheduled review of the General Class question pool, the Question Pool Committee of the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) is accepting suggestions for changes or deletions to the current pool of questions used for the FCC amateur radio General License Class exam. New questions are also being entertained. Members of the QPC shape the pool of questions to fit some basic objectives of preparing licensees to operate within the rules, safely and appropriately for the license class. They also view the 3 levels of amateur radio licensing as an opportunity to prepare licensees with an underpinning in electronics and radio science that starts with a very basic foundation at the Technician level and increases in complexity with each level of license achievement. Each question pool is reviewed on a regular cycle to include any changes in FCC rules and operating privileges and also to align question pool content with current operating activities and technologies. Roland Anders K3RA, QPC Chairman, requests that any changes or new questions be submitted to the QPC mailbox at qpcinput@ncvec.org before October 1 to allow time for consideration. Please be sure to include an explanation of the reason the change/addition is being requested.

I’m happy to announce that release 1.0 of my No-Nonsense, Technician-Class Study Guide for the latest question pool is now available. The question pool that this study guide covers will take effect on July 1, 2010, so if you’re planning to take the test, or know of someone who’s planning to take the test, after this date, then you’ll want to get this new version of the study guide.

As I noted earlier, this question pool is a little more technical than the previous question pool. There are, for example, questions on components and their functions and schematic symbols that were not on the previous test.

I want to thank the hams who helped me produce this study guide by proofreading the draft and offering some helpful comments. They are: K2MUN, KD8IXP, KC8ZTJ, N6QXA, N5IUT, N6KZW, AK5Z, and KE4KPC.

Finally, I’d like to note that I plan to add an appendix to the study guide with links to websites that cover the different topics. If you have a favorite site that covers Ohm’s Law, schematic symbols, contesting, satellite operation, antennas, or any of the other topics for which there are questions, please e-mail me the URL so that I can include them in the appendix.

Thanks!

Download the new study guide.

This is the column I sent to more than 240 ham radio club newsletter editors. If you’d like to get this column for your club newsletter (free of charge, of course), all you have to do is fill out a form………Dan

Tech Test Gets a Little More Technical

By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU

Ever since the FCC dropped the code requirement and the Novice license exam, the Technician Class license has really been misnamed. Being the first license that most hams obtain, it really should have been called the Novice license. The question pool was arguably at the appropriate level for newcomers to amateur radio, being heavy on rules and operating practices, and perhaps a little light on technical topics.

That’s about to change. On July 1, 2010, the question pool for the Tech test changes, and this version has noticeably more technical questions than the previous test. You could say that the Tech test is getting, errrr, a little more technical.

For example, the new question pool contains more questions about electronics components and their functions. In addition to that, examinees must also be able to identify the symbols for these components on a schematic diagram. This is a big change from the previous test, which had no diagrams at all. There are also more detailed questions about transistors and how they work.

There are also questions on how to make basic measurements with a multimeter how to troubleshoot basic problems that Technicians are likely to encounter. One question asks, “What two measurements are commonly made using a multimeter”? Answer: voltage and resistance. A follow up question asks, “What is the correct way to connect a voltmeter to a circuit”? Answer: in parallel with the circuit.

To make room for these questions, the committee dropped questions on operating practices and rules and regulations. In general, these are not big losses, but two questions that I was sorry to see go are the questions on the “basis and purpose” of amateur radio. I think these are very important for new amateurs to learn and keep in mind. (If you don’t recall them, go to http://www.arrl.org/part-97-amateur-radio and review them.)

By the time you read this–or shortly thereafter–the new version of my No-Nonsense, Technician Class License Study Guide should be available. You can download it free of charge from my website, www.kb6nu.com. Look for the link in the right-hand column. It’s currently in the hands of more than two dozen reviewers, who are proofreading it right now.

While it may not be in the initial release, I plan to include a section that contains links to websites that cover topics included in the study guide. That way, students can find more information on a topic, if they choose to do so. If you have any favorite websites that discuss making measurements with voltmeters or how to read schematic diagrams, I’d love to hear from you.

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When not updating his No-Nonsense amateur radio license study guides, you’ll find him on 40m, 30m, 20m, and if we ever get any sunspots to stick around, 15m and 10m pounding brass. You may even hear him trying to get the hang of using the bug he bought at Dayton this year. You’ll find his blog at www.kb6nu.com, and you can e-mail website suggestions to cwgeek@kb6nu.com