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Current Feature Articles   Feb 08 Youth@HamRadio.Fun: Ham Radio 2.0   Feb 05 Surfin': Viewing the New Star of Ham Radio   Feb 02 300 Feet of Cooperation   Feb 01 ARRL In Action: What Have We Been Up to Lately?   Feb 01 It Seems to Us: Where Are the Spots?   Jan 29 Surfin': Radio-Spotting Through the Windshield   Jan 27 Amateur Radio Quiz: Blasts from the Past   Jan 26 Hamming on High   Jan 22 Surfin': My World Is a Radio   Jan 15 Surfin': Addicted to the Internet ARRL Products: Circuit Design (More) ARRL's Hands-On Radio Experiments -- Over 60 basic electronics experiments from the pages of QST! Introduction to Radio Frequency Design -- Basic RF concepts (with some related analog subjects) for the amateur or engineer. Power Supply Handbook -- Gain the knowledge and confidence you need to build and use power supplies. A must have for your bookshelf! Do-It-Yourself Circuitbuilding for Dummies -- A fun and easy way to start building circuits for your projects! Discrete-Signal Analysis and Design -- A clear, step-by-step approach to practical uses of discrete-signal analysis and design, especially for communications and radio engineers.

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This week, we visit a two-pronged Web site that helps Boy Scouts get the Radio Merit Badge and helps counselors assist Scouts in meriting the badge.

K2GW's Radio Merit Badge Web site assists Boy Scouts in obtaining the Radio Merit Badge.

Gary Wilson, K2GW, noticed that the old Radio Merit Badge Web site developed by AA6J has been unavailable for some time now, so he developed a new Radio Merit Badge Web site to assist Boy Scouts in meeting the Radio Merit Badge requirements, also providing free instructional materials for Radio Merit Badge counselors.

According to Gary, "The best way to learn about radio is by doing, but this site will help you learn a bit beforehand, so you can get on the air even faster! And you'll be able to pass your requirements easily when you do meet with your counselor." Gary's 30 years of experience as a Radio Merit Badge Counselor for a few hundred Scouts is the foundation of this Web site.

Although AA6J's Web site seems to be offline, there are a couple of other Radio Merit Badge Web sites that you may find helpful: the Merit Badge Research Centers Radio Merit Badge Web page and the online ARRL Scout Handbook.

By the way, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Scouting movement, and Boy Scout Week begins next Sunday (February 4-10), so now is an appropriate time to begin working on your Radio Merit Badge or helping Scouts to get their badges.

Until next time, keep on surfin'.

Editor's note: Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, writes Surfin' on a weekly basis, rain or shine, snow or ice, VLF or UHF. To discuss cool stuff with Stan, especially if it's related to radio, send Stan e-mail or add comments to his blog. By the way, every installment of Surfin' is indexed here, so go look it up (whatever it may be).

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