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An interactive newsletter for volunteer instructors teaching Amateur Radio licensing classes.
When most folks earn the technician license, they often feel like they know nothing about ham radio even though they hold a license to transmit. In 2008, several new hams commented on their desire to learn more about antennas, and several more experienced hams chimed in with "me too" type comments.
Several of us talked over ways to present antenna information, and we concluded that there was simply too much material for a club meeting presentation. The idea formed to organize a workshop with several speakers on antenna subjects. I sent an email message to Ward Silver, N0AX, and asked if he would be willing to do a talk on antenna theory and practice. He agreed after we negotiated a date that would work for him and us. Then I invited Ralph Javins, N7KGA, to talk on emergency and portable antennas, which he agreed to do. A third speaker was unable to attend, so we stayed with two speakers and then held a question and answer period after Ralph spoke.
Planning and good speakers make the difference between success and failure. Key aspects include the following:
As in real estate, location matters. We were able to secure the use of a large church facility for the seminar on the desired date. The venue should handle the number of people you expect. Low or no cost helps reduce costs. Since we had no venue cost, we did not charge any admission fee to participants.
Publicity matters, too. Hams and interested folk will not attend an event they do not know about. Our club PIO, Lisa, KE7HPW, created a flyer that we posted in various places, and she send email notices to many area clubs and individual hams.
We had plenty of help setting up chairs; we set up 300 chairs and had 165 attend. A conflicting funeral took many club members there. Many attendees were from the local area, but some travelled several hours to attend.
Well-prepared speakers who hold the audience's interest provide an enjoyable learning experience. When planning the session, try to find knowledgeable speakers for their assigned topic. If speakers must travel some distance, you might offer to pay all or part of their travel costs. We did that for the Antenna Seminar, and asked attendees to donate to a fund for that purpose. The club was willing to pay the difference.
Keep the program on schedule. Start and stop at posted times, introduce the speakers appropriately, and manage questions. In some workshops, certain individuals ask all the questions, which often cause other attendees to lose interest.
In 2009, we decided to try a different educational approach. We concluded that offering a set of classes from which participants could choose would provide more choices that a single general session with multiple speakers. Several of us selected a set of topics and sought instructors for each class. Since the venue could support four teaching stations, we organized the workshop with a general session followed by three simultaneous class periods with four classes during each period. We found a building for the program, set the event date, decided on general topics for each class, and then sought out instructors for the classes. We found instructors for most classes quickly, but several classes required multiple tries. Publicity went to attendees of the Antenna Seminar, clubs in our nearby ARRL sections, club members, and many local hams.
A few days before the event, we discovered a previously unknown event conflict that took a number of club members elsewhere, which affected attendance. However, we had 85-100 attendees (some arrived late) and folks liked the classes. Many expressed dismay that two classes they wanted to take occurred at the same time; that is a difficult situation to solve. Our classes focused on the basics: how to get started with the activity. We felt the event successful enough to do it again in 2010.
Our current class, which started Oct 16, 2009, had 43 at the first of four class sessions. We passed out a questionaire (home brew) that asked how each student learned about the class, ham radio interests, and age group in decades. After class when we had a chance to review the questionaires, we were pleasantly surprised to find that nine of the 43 students learned about our class from our posting on the ARRL class database. Previous classes usually had 2-3 students from that source, but to find over 20 percent from a simple database listing was nice! Most of us who instruct talk with many people to find those who are interested in a class, but we cannot talk with everyone. I highly recommend that instructors post their classes at least a few weeks before their class so those who find the ARRL might also find the class. One other observation: 25 percent of our students came from Oregon (I live in Washington across the Columbia River from Portland) because they could not find any classes listed there. I know there are classes taught in Oregon, but if the classes do not appear in the database, interested folks will not learn about the class. Because we advertise our classes, we have students who drive many miles for each class. Instructors: register your classes, and you just might be amazed at the results. We need more interested students to increase the number of hams in the country.
In the fall of 2002 a few people asked about classes, so the project was started. The timing to get classes in time to clear the holidays made launching difficult. However if they were advertised for the first full week of January we could complete before school was out. We used Radio Shacks, fire stations anywhere free and good exposure. The reason the for the long lead time is we were using a 12 week class two hours per week and testing on the 13th. One of the candidates obtained a training room where he worked. After flyers, talking it up on the nets and in the newspaper we netted 23 students. Hams volunteered to instruct, professional presentations using power point along with show and tell props. Yet at testing we had lost about half of the class. About the time the classes were over the Aiken Prep school contacted the club about being more involved in community. A meeting with the head master and we gained a classroom plus a testing site which is still on going. With a stable home the class was shortened to 12 weeks total, more props and hands-on added. Still at testing the drop out rate hovered around 50 percent. One of the better retention rates showed up when a general class with a Morse code class. The most surprising was the extra class, which held about 80%. The technician class on DVD was introduced and when it went on sale my encourager and teaching partner AE4UX Charlie Miller bought a copy. We both were skeptical that a self-taught course would work. When it came in Charlie asked me to review it, I did making notes. It was concluded that the DVD is a powerful tool especially when combined with a knowledgeable instructor. Since many of the entry-level candidates only have a cursory level of Amateur Radio the ARRL CD hosted by Walter Cronkite was used as an introduction in place of the ARRL/King Schools introduction. W4MPY Wayne Carroll loaned a copy of an old Bell labs Similarity In Wave Behavior that puts visual to standing wave ratio, matching impedance and more was inserted before the ARRL DVD section on antennas and transmission lines. The student time and drop out rate had been a discussion so with the new material a new schedule. Two Saturdays with a full day on the first and a half-day on the second. Then testing on the afternoon of the second the results were amazing a 90% Pass rate. This was the pattern for several classes. About this point the USC Office of Public Health Preparedness became a partner providing funding for a meeting room with breakfast items, lunch and materials. Then DEHC joined the partnership they requested that classes be changed to back-to-back days. It was felt that this would not provide any study time and would result in poor performance. So a compromise was reached a Friday and the following Monday the pass rate held at about 90%. During a class some interested Hams from Charleston SC audited the class they then put their own approach to the class . They dropped both introductions and the Bell labs. They also did a back-to-back Thursday and Friday. They used the DVD presentation exclusively and did practice tests just before the actual examination, the pass rate went higher than ever before. The most fun and good success was when a broadcast of the class was accomplished with the Department of Health (DEHEC) studios and put out over the South Carolina Educational TV system. About 84 sat for the class in the 8 districts. When the results were in 78 new hams. The broadcast was aided by Elmers at each of the sites receiving the class on the air. This was held on a Friday and the following Monday with testing Monday afternoon. Thank God for the retired hams that made this happen. Short-term memory seems the best for the group of hospital personal that are being trained. This may not hold for the general publics not used to training as health care are accustomed. Lessons learned, problems encountered: (1) Including lunch keeps time on track as well as providing bonding and the accountability to continue; (2) Operators under 18 cannot be used due to liability issues with the hospitals; (3) Highlighting the correct answers without the letter index aids; (4) On line tests need to be with the exact wording as in the question pool, viz: AA9PW.com which also provides a bar graph of the question groups so study may be applied to the weak areas; (5) Taking extensive notes detracts from learning; (6) Doing on-line tests alone with no other study causes the wrong answers to be studied with the correct. It still seems that watching the video, a few short notes along with highlighting the correct answers and follow up study is the best all around approach. Thanks to: North Augusta Belvedere Radio Club, Aiken Preparatory School, N2ZZ Jim Boehner, USC Office of Public Health Preparedness, SC DEHEC
Here is a great idea for other instructors to get the names of people interested in Amateur Radio to sign up for a class. My email program (Thunderbird) allows me to copy the contact email into a list that I then use to email class notices to. When people sign up for the class, I take the contact form and move it to a class folder. I then create a new list for that class. This allows me to email the class as a whole (like congratulations---here are your call signs). I have setup a sign-up page for my classes. This page is then linked to the three clubs I work with. This sign-up page has allowed over 200 people to sign up for current or future classes. I use the email addresses given in the page to create a mailing list based on the class they are interested in. The information provided gives me the basic contact info required to allow me to follow-up, and make sure the info is getting out. I also register my classes on the ARRL www site. Typically, I get 90 percent of my class from people who have signed up for information on the class. The other 10 percent comes from the ARRL www site. http://www.rtsi.com/~WB5QNG/inforequest.html This is a simple sign-up script with a php script to handle the email. The original base form came from Alan, N5NA in Midland. Maintaining the script is pretty simple. A couple of minutes to update the class lists---then to ftp it to my www site.
Aloha Rose-Anne,
Following up on your questions, we charged $25 per student and $25 for the licensing manual. I chose the $25 figure based on trying to recover estimated expenses. My actual expenses were much higher though due to having to purchase a data projector and screen. Originally I had hoped to borrow a projector but it fell through at the last minute and became unavailable. I will be charging $40 per student for all future classes.
Even at this fee,I will need to have 3 more sessions of this size to recover costs. However, due to the enthusiastic response from the class I already have 2 more sessions scheduled. The class in February started with 17 attending. Dates were Feb. 26, 27 and 28th. 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM but actually ended at 5:00. This number was a large group for the space we had available. All students had the book for preparing for the course 3 weeks in advance. I am not sure how many took the time to prepare. I have 16 signed up for the class scheduled for April 7,14 and 21st. They will have time for homework in between sessions.
I am pursuing federal grant money through our County CD to help reduce the cost to future students in licensing courses and to help with continuing education and training through ARRL sponsored programs such as ARECC. We have at least 70 more unlicensed people in this isolated community that need to have radio communications capabilities due to their involvement with our community disaster plan. In addition to the non hams there are over 30 licensed hams that could benefit from ARECC. In my area of responsibility as an ARES DEC we have 5 other similar communities in South Hawaii. There are over 40 other communities in the 3 other ARES districts in this County.
In preparation for our 3 day course I encouraged all students to own an ARRL Ham Licensing manual (for future reference) but offered to help them borrow if they could not afford one. I donated two books to our community centers private library (most recent version). I also helped to have three books donated to our public library from previous students that have upgraded to General and Extra (first printing). So far 90% have purchased manuals to own.
We had 3 guest instructors participate besides myself during the February class. Bob Reischel NH6WH lectured for 3 hours covering electrical principles with my assistance. Earl Laver KH6EL lectured with my assistance for 1.5 hours covering nets and operating procedures and Dennis Smith NH7OI took 1.5 hours on emergency comms and ARES also with my assistance.
I pre-loaded pertinent info from various websites onto my laptop for display in the classroom during lecture. Using the projector we showed demonstrations of HF rig control, PSK31, satellite propagation software and Echolink operation. We also used the power point demonstration provided by the ARRL instructor manual. I had a copy of an old ARRL DVD license course and had planned to use it strategically but never did. I believe that material to be too out of date due to recent changes in the question pool.
We primarily used the ARRL instructor manuals syllabus but added 4 additional hours on emergency comms, message handling and directed nets. We added a few other lessons not in the ARRL syllabus and shortened some that pertained to HF. 1) All of our students had pre-purchased handheld radios prior to the class and I held them till the second day of class. I spent an hour guiding them through programming their new Yaesu VX170's for simplex and repeater operations. We then allowed them to use them in a simulated Emcomm directed net scenario maintaining third party rules. 2) I used topographic propagation software to show coverage areas of all of the local repeaters to enhance the learning curve for our students. With the software you can quickly show the variation of handheld coverage to mobile antenna coverage for example. This lead into: 3) Having everyone building their own emergency tv twin lead j-pole. I will be providing all the materials but the students will do the cutting and soldering at a future date. We did not have time to include this in the February class but I hope to include it in future classes.
After concluding the course our local VE team arrived and set up a test session in the familiar classroom setting. They used pre-stocked test materials. In addition to the class attendees we had 2 walk-ins who had self studied for Technician and 2 for upgrades, one to General and one to Extra. As each applicants test was graded and confirmed to be a passing grade, along with congratulations, Dennis NH7OI asked them each to sign our ARES application. They all joined willingly since EmComm was their primary motivation to attend the class.
I was very pleased to see we had a 100% pass rate of those that tested. I had 1 student drop out on the second day and another on the 3rd. Both said they were ill and will attend a future class or challenge the test at a future session. They were both in their 80's. The rest of the group was very varied. Age was between 14 and 83. The majority averaged in their early thirties. We had 4 YL's attend. Amongst our class attendees were community leaders, laborers, volunteer fire fighters, office workers and one professional fireman. Our community is located in a very rural area with a population of around 6000. It is predominantly agricultural and retirement oriented. We are considered to be in a high risk area of the Island of Hawaii due to active volcanoes and our remote location that has very few public services available.
I consider this licensing process to be ongoing as all of the students need further help and encouragement. I would like to see some go on to General to gain HF privileges and beyond. I have spent several hours individually and with small groups elmering our new Hams to program and use their radios and answering other questions. We are planning on continuing their training through ARES exercises. I can only consider this to be a success if they actively participate in and are assimilated into our existing amateur community.
Thanks for asking about our program and I apologize for going into so much detail in response. I feel, though, that this info could be helpful to you in your professional position. I certainly coulduse all the help I can get.
Aloha and 73 de WH6FC Rick Ward
ARRL DEC for South Hawaii
I am teaching ham radio to Civil Air Patrol Cadets ages 12-20.
I bought the ARRL Instructor's Manual with CD and this was a great way to start a class. The CD has a bad PowerPoint slide showing that EHF is lower in frequency than SHF. Over all the slides were a good start, I added pictures and more slides. The Manual has two mistakes: page 69, question 31 has no question, only answers, page 54, wrong answer for exam 1, question 6, not A but B. The correct reference question is shown below which has the answers in a different order:
T1B07 (A) [97.107]
When are you allowed to operate your amateur station in a foreign country?
A. When there is a reciprocal operating agreement between the countries B. When there is a mutual agreement allowing third party communications C. When authorization permits amateur communications in a foreign language D. When you are communicating with non-licensed individuals in another country
Our club, Kingsport/Bays Mountain Amateur Radio Club, located in Kingsport TN, sponsored a Technician license class which I taught and will share some experiences with you. Our class ran for seven consecutive weeks, with a one hour session on Thursday evening. A practice test, with the help of a VEC, was given on the sixth evening and the actual VEC test was administered on the seventh evening. The only aid used was an easel. We displayed the ARRL Azimuthal World map, Repeater Directory and demonstrated a two meter repeater contact. We licensed 11 new techs, with two failed and two no-shows for the test. Our club is still working with them. I ordered 15 "Tune in the World with Ham Radio" books and scheduled two chapters per week. The students must commit to reading and studying at home. The class time was spent going over problems. The amount of information covered during these few hours is very intense so keeping focused and on subject is very important. This is not the time for telling tales and exploring complicated theory. Stick to the book. I invited students to stay after the session and work on problems. There were not many stay overs, except just to chat. I explained the schedule very carefully the first evening so the students knew what to study even if they missed a session. This worked very well. I even told them they didn't have to attend the sessions at all if they wanted to take the book and study at home. Some of the more experienced students did opt to miss most of the sessions and were sucessful. We charged the students $15 for the book, and the only other expense was for the VEC test. Couples were allowed to share one book, for one price, if they wished. Students were impressed with the TITW and were delighted to be able to keep it for reference. Next time I may opt for a 90 minute class session with the same number of sessions. I am planning another class this fall, with the new Tech question pool. Good luck with your class! 73, Gerald, N4KTB
What are Week End Classes?
The ARRL recommended Technician Class is one evening a week for 8 weeks. We used this for many years thinking it was about as good as it gets. But I recall the problem it was getting another teacher to fill in while work had me away from home. I also remember the high drop out rate among students. It was not unusual to have 10 start and 4 take the Exam 8 weeks later. An 8 week commitment is hard to keep.
John Pierce W5FXA decided to try a weekend class and it was a huge success. There were 12 students Friday Evening and 12 students took the Exam and we had 12 new Hams in town Sunday.
So this is why in Las Cruces New Mexico for 8 years we have offered all the necessary classes to obtain the 3 levels of license available to Amateur Radio as Week End Classes. First I will describe the technician class and then show how anything is different at the other levels.
Announce the upcoming class in as many ways as possible starting about 2 months in advance. In the announcement include the cost, dates, where and who.
There are 2 people who do most of the work. We have the Overall Training leader and the Class Leader. The first gets out the announcements and finds the Class Leaders, collects the money and brings the food to the place the classes are held. The Class Leader finds teachers and keeps the class material such as the manuals and the ARRL Video for the Technician.
The Class Leader e-mails out the schedule showing who will teach what when. The Class Leader is at the site most of the time. Teachers come in and do their section and then are free to leave.
The Manual is the Technician Question Pool of 500 questions. I wrote this Manual and every year we go to Kinko's and make as many as we need for the class. We have written Manual's for Technician, General and Extra. These manuals are lay-ed out so they follow the ARRL Video. There is a new Technician pool out and we are writing a new Manual.
Friday at 6:30 PM the class begins with introductions and then the first video and questions following the video. There is soft drinks and chips and apples and oranges available for both students and teachers. At about 8:00 PM we go home.
Saturday at 8:00 AM we begin and launch right into the video. Then questions and answers then a break. Lunch is served at the site and students and teachers enjoy a long lunch. Then more video and questions until about 3:30 PM when we give the students a "real" VE exam made by the VE exam making software. They are given about 30 minutes to work and then they grade each others exam. It's typical that ALL students pass the exam.
Sunday more video and questions until about 10:30 AM when a teacher gives a complete overview of the class with the students. This takes to about 12 noon and lunch is served. The VE team arrives and shares lunch with the others. About 1:00 a VE Session is set up and all the students take the real exam. There are often other non-students who come to the VE Session and take tests they need. It is an Open VE Session.
The tests are graded and the students know how they did quickly. It is not unusual for everyone to pass. We typically are all done with teaching and cleaning up and VE paperwork by 2:00 PM. Everyone goes home.
The General Class is run exactly like the Technician using the ARRL General video and the General Manual. Timing is about the same and we have had very good luck so far with a 90+ percent pass rate.
We have had no student just not show up to class or quit Saturday. There may have been 1 or 2 who had a personal or work disaster that took them away.
The Extra Class has so much material to cover we have made it a two week end class. There is no ARRL video for this class so we are collecting VU Graphs that teachers have made and using them over again. The last Sunday is much like the others except we get done early and we bring radios and things into the class room and demonstrate how Amateur Radio works.
The Code Class is very different. We ask students to start with home study using computer generated code from Morse Academy and learn the characters. Friday we check each student out to see how well they have learned the characters. It's obvious who studied and who didn't. Students who didn't study are asked to leave. Those who did study are tested to find out what they each need. Saturday they are given one-on-one training and we find the Koch trainer, a free software is good for getting to 5 wpm. About 3:00 PM students take a standard VE code exam. It's typical they all pass with many more than 25 correct characters in a row.
Sunday we work on pro nouns and pro signs that always need help. Listen to some real code from a radio. Have lunch. Pass the 5 WPM code test.
The Technician and General class costs $45 and the Extra costs $70 because of the extra food. There is no manual for the CW Class so it costs $30 which is really cheap.
Still available from the ARRL is the 2002 issue of Ham Radio...Planning for the Future (item # 8551). The purpose of this publication is for the authors to share their ideas, thoughts and experiences in hopes that volunteer instructors, teachers and recruiters will gain valuable input for their own Amateur Radio classes, projects and recruiting events. Papers consist of topics written on ham radio recruitment and instruction, focusing on teaching Amateur Radio classes, getting new hams on the air, and recruiting new hams. Titles of interest to volunteer instructors, teachers and recruiters include "Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligence" by K4HMS, "Parkway School ARISS Activities" by KB0WVJ, "Tips of Starting a School Radio Club" by N7UJJ, and "Recruiting High School Hams" by KD5HAW. We hope these and other articles will help you discover fresh new concepts that you'll be eager to put to use.
2002 Ham Radio...Planning for the Future (164 pages) retails for $20.00 (plus $5.00 for shipping) and may be purchased through the ARRL. Checks and money orders can be mailed to ARRL, Field & Educational Services, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111, or order by phone with a credit card by calling toll free at 1-888-277-5289.
If you are looking for a new way to teach your students CW, you should read this article: http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/pdf/0202062.pdf
Using this tool, up to eight students can copy CW at the same time!
