The Northern California DX Club (NCDXC) has announced an initiative aimed at getting more new Technician and General class radio amateurs active on HF. The NCDXC Elmering Project will launch in mid-September.

“Looking around the room at local club meetings makes it very clear that we are all aging,” NCDXC’s John Eisenberg, K6YP, said. “It is critical to the ongoing life of our hobby to recruit new blood into our ranks. We all know this, but it is difficult to organize and take effective action to start programs to introduce new people to the joys of HF operating. We can’t generate new DXers until we have new HF operators.”

NCDXC said its Elmering Project is aimed squarely at swelling the pool of new HF operators and getting them on HF. After some introductory classes are three curriculum tracks —General License Exam Preparation, HF Operating and Station Building, and Advanced Topics. Students sign up only for the classes that interest them; instruction will be at the participant’s skill level. The club said classes will cover such topics as advanced HF phone, CW, and digital mode operating skills, propagation analysis, and antennas. Some classes will be taught using Power Point presentations delivered to a student’s computer via WebEx.

“Participants need no special software, as WebEx allows each user to see and hear the presentation and participate in the two-way audio stream,” Eisenberg said. “Students may be local or on the other side of the country.” Additional instruction by personal Elmers will take place at the Elmer’s shack, where students will gain on-the-air experience using the skills they’ve been learning.

“Our goal is to put new hams on the air on the HF bands and give them the tools to enjoy the many aspects of the HF experience,” Eisenberg said. “Some of our instructors are great teachers; others are operators with many years of SSB, CW, and digital mode experience, while others enjoy building state of the art equipment.” Classes will be taught at the individual participant’s level.

“We will strive to make each class fun. We want each participant to succeed!” Eisenberg said.

More information about each track and the classes it contains are on the NCDXC website. PowerPoint presentations will be available on NCDXC website too.