When the Cal Poly Amateur Radio Club (CPARC) hosted its quarterly Amateur Radio test session this month, 91 individuals turned up to earn their Technician tickets. That broke the club’s previous record of 53 new licensees in the fall of 2010. The October 19 session was the largest in the history of San Luis Obispo County, California, the club says. CPARC President and electrical engineering senior Shaun Koide, KH6EI, credited the school’s Electrical Engineering Department.

“The Electrical Engineering Department has been instrumental in making clubs like ours successful this year,” he said. EE Deparment Chair Dennis Derickson, ACØP, responded, “It’s been wonderful to give students access to such a great hobby that really exemplifies Cal Poly’s learn-by-doing philosophy.”

Active in public service, the club maintains an emergency communications station on campus for the San Luis Obispo Emergency Communications Council (SLOECC). The station is equipped with emergency power and radio gear to support public safety agencies for the event of a disaster.