Tommy Gober, N5DUX

n5dux@arrl.net

BP donates radios to seven lucky high school students.

Seven Texas high school students received their first radio as a result of a generous donation from BP, one of the worlds major oil refining companies. The students are enrolled in a new class offering of Telecommunications and Networking at Pine Tree High School in Longview, Texas. I used lessons learned from the ARRL Teachers’ Institute last summer to teach the telecommunications portion of the new state education standards for this class.

The state standards for this Career and Technology type class generally covers the basics of telephone service. With the industry shift to Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, I read between the lines of the education standards and realized that Amateur Radio would provide a more interesting avenue to teaching the content. It would also give the students the ability to branch out into careers in the radio communications and electronics field. The culmination of the radio portion of the class was having the students take their Technician license tests.

The warm-up for the licensing goal was participation in the fall School Club Roundup. The students had an absolute blast and they learned more in that 1 day of hands-on practice than any other day to that point. They learned a number of real world operating skills and were thrilled with contacts in Nairobi and Ireland as well as schools in states from coast-to-coast. Our setup consisted of my ICOM 706MKIIG driving a 20 meter dipole that was run up the halyard of the old school flag pole.

In the midst of our class studying, as an extra incentive, I made a deal with the students that I would get a new handheld transceiver for whoever made the highest grade on Element 2. The deal was struck to keep the guys motivated so they would give the exam their best shot. I figured I could afford to buy at least one handheld transceiver for the class.

VE Day

Test day was fast approaching for the students. I contacted two of my area Volunteer Examiners (VE), Rod Bartlett, N8QVR, and Terry Johnson, KG5WO, to join me in testing the students. Each student passed their Technician exam on their first attempt and one even went on to secure his General class ticket the same day. Another student got within two questions of passing his General exam and has been studying on his own to make another attempt.

After their paperwork was processed, I printed up some simple certificates with their call signs. Their licenses were presented in a small in-class ceremony with other faculty and administrators looking on. The class was excited to see the top scorer win his prize as promised — a brand new dual-band handheld transceiver. Little did they know a radio was waiting for each of them.

Big Oil Has You Covered

“It was an Oprah moment,” one student said in summarizing the donation from BP.

Over the course of the semester, I had stayed in contact with my local ham club, the Longview/East Texas Amateur Radio Club, keeping them abreast of how the students were progressing. I sent out an e-mail to the e-mail list asking if there was interest in donating old, second-hand radios to the soon-to-be hams or if there was interest in starting a pool of money to help the students purchase their own radios. I figured most of the students would be unlikely to be able to afford a new radio, so I tried to line up some sort of assistance.

About a week later, I received an e-mail from Rod Bartlett, N8QVR, and Erik Sandvik, KE5PTV, who both work at a local BP America Production Office. The e-mail simply said: “Tommy, BP has you covered.” It seems Erik had read the e-mail and approached Rod about getting BP involved. So the two of them got the ball rolling within BP and ordered the radios. This was all before they even told me about their plan.

The e-mail went on to explain that Wouxun radios were on order from Main Trading Company, along with a couple of Astron power supplies for HF radios that I had purchased for use at the school after the student’s Roundup experience generated interest in HF.

BP provided each student with a Wouxun KG-UVD1P transceiver, drop-in chargers and a programming kit. Main Trading Company (the vendor) threw in Wouxun shirts for the kids, all of which went into BP gift bags along with other goodies.

The Wouxun radios had recently been reviewed in QST and their low price made them especially appealing for a project like this.¹ The radios were chosen for their dual-band capability. The 2 meter weekly net is the most active but having 70 cm also gives them the capability to monitor and participate in the SKYWARN nets as well. The dual-band capability also allows the students to branch out into satellites and International Space Station contacts with a high gain antenna.

Pine Tree High On the Air

After receiving their radios from our BP sponsors they were on the air almost nonstop from the time the last school bell rang until at least 10 PM. They were having a blast and making plenty of contacts. The outpouring of support is wonderful and surprising. Each contact I listened to had the area hams congratulating the students, encouraging them to continue in ham radio and offering operating tips and tricks. They came back to school the next day telling me about who they had talked to and how long each person had been a ham. They were swapping stories about what works or doesn’t work to get on the repeater as well as who can hear whom in VHF and UHF simplex — perfect learning opportunities.

Of course, the students would be without radios of their own if it weren’t for such a generous donation. We can’t always count on generosity in the future, so I’d like to challenge hams all over the country to get involved with any youth activities in their area and help new hams (young or old) get their first radios. It’s a tradition that we can still carry on in this modern age of (generally) off-the-shelf ham radio.

I plan on growing the class in size and scope. Several students who were not in the class became interested in this “radio thing” and raised many questions after learning of my students contacting Kenya, Ireland, Mexico, Canada, Trinidad, Argentina, etc. When we take my handheld satellite antenna outside, we get some strange looks and even more interest. I look forward to future students getting their tickets from this program and seeing what Amateur Radio has to offer and where it all can lead.

Photos courtesy of Tommy Gober, N5DUX.

Tommy Gober, N5DUX, an ARRL member, holds an Amateur Extra class license and teaches high school Computer and Technology classes at Pine Tree High School. He is a graduate of LeTourneau University and an active member of the Texas State Guard. His Amateur Radio interest began in grade school, but it was not until college that he got his license. Tommy has been an ARRL registered instructor and VE for several years, leading dozens of people toward their licenses. He recently joined the ARRL Education & Technology Program instructor team bringing with him his love of electronics, computer programming, Amateur Radio, communications and passion for both teaching and learning. He enjoys CW, satellites, HF, kit building and portable operations. Tommy can be reached at 3901 Thomas St, Longview, TX 75605-4834.

¹B. Allison, WB1GCM, “Wouxun KG-UVD2D and KG-UVD1P Dual Band Handheld Transceivers,” QST, Nov 2010, pp 52-54.