While I’ve been quite successful with my one-day Tech classes, I must admit that I haven’t been so successful following up with the new Techs. It’s not that I’ve abandoned them, but rather I don’t have a program to really engage them with the hobby. Many of those who have been in my classes have gone on to get advanced licenses and have a lot of fun with ham radio, but I can’t help but think that perhaps I could have helped more.
I would think about offering follow-on classes every once in a while, but I never really had enough time to both come up with a program and then develop the individual classes.
That’s why I got a little excited when I saw the article, “Making a Good hobby Better Through Post-Licensing Enrichment” by Tim Busch, N0CKR in the latest issue of Radio Waves. Radio Waves is the ARRL’s email newsletter that bills itself as, “News you can use for license instruction and radio science education.”
In the article, Tim describes several activities that his club encourages, including a “new ham net” and the Field Day GOTA station, but he also details a program of “mini classes” that will teach specific skills related to ham radio. These include:
- Programming Radios and Getting on the Air
- Soldering 101
- Multimeter 101
- Build and Use a Roll-Up J-Pole Antenna
- Build and Use a Satellite Antenna
- Foxhunts
- Operating Digital Modes: IRLP, AllStar, D-Star, EchoLink, etc.
- Remote Operation
- Software-Defined Radios
- Transitioning from VHF/UHF to HF Operating
- Chasing Awards
- Learn CW
- Contesting
- Build Projects
Tim writes,
Each class is intended to be no more than two hours at a sitting, so they can be held before a monthly club meeting. The variety of subject matter allows many club members to get involved in leading a topic. Materials kits are prepared in advance, so students walk away with practical items they can use at home.
I think this is a great set of classes, and I plan to try some of these in the fall. A couple of other topics that occur to me are:
- Power Supplies 101
- Mobile Operation 101
- ARRL 101
- RFI/TVI 101
Can you think of any other mini-classes that would fit into this program?