HR2.0 - Training the Next Generation of Ham Radio Operators with Steve Goodgame, K5ATA

REPLAY:
Tonight I welcome Steve, K5ATA, from the ARRL Learning Center onto the stream to talk about some upcoming training ideas from the ARRL to get new people interested in Ham Radio.
Support ARRL Education here - https://www.arrl.org/GiveToSTEM
Student ARISS Contacts @AdvancedTechnologiesGroup

 

*****
(Five stars!)

 

Twenty years ago I tried to have my school district embrace Amateur Radio only to be blown off.
Administrators didn't see the importance of radio technology.

 

I tried to plan an ARISS educational contact at my old school a few months back. I could not get much support. I tried another school, same result. Last week I met another school principal, but I did not talk about ARISS. The office room had a working robot model made by the school kids. Told him about amateur radio satellites being made by school students elsewhere. Not sure whether I could kindle any interest. Waiting to see if I get a call some time in future or if at all I get a chance to meet him again!

 

Wish I was there to help you! We put together a solid proposal at my kids school and we are getting ready for a contact next year. I had to twist some arms but got it done.

 

Of course, I am quite hopeful that we will get an opportunity in this region soon. One VU friend in the North is already into the process a bit more. There was one organized in that region in 2012.

73 de Jon, VU2JO

 

You YouTuber's did a fine thing with that telethon. Getting kids involved is an uphill struggle but we must persevere. Sort of like running a club for the first time - we keep throwing out ideas and trying new things. Someday we'll hit on the secret sauce that works.

Mark N4BCD

 

I personally think the "secret sauce" to integrating gen Z and A into the amateur radio hobby is likely broadening our scope beyond just "ham radio" and into STEM in general, which is touched on in this video. It's not just a "ham radio" club-- it's an "advanced technologies group"! When we open our eyes to all possibilities, not only will we see more advancement in amateur radio but communications technologies, physics, computer science, and engineering in general!

Speaking as someone who grew the amateur radio club in college, it is very hard to sell this hobby with "amateur radio" alone as it means so little to people my age. But when you actually demonstrate the outcomes and activities, without dumbing down the background, people start to get really excited. There truly is so much to learn.

We have a bright future ahead! As long as we're supportive and accepting of everyone working hard, we'll have good things coming our way!

 

You are quite right. Even when I started a club at my college as a post graduate student in 1985 or so, it was called "Amateur Radio and Electronics Club". Currently we may have to name it as "Amateur Radio and Technology Club" or something like that. Incidentally, my 5 year old grandkid is much more interested in my LEO satellite operations than anyone else at home. Keeps on pushing me to homebrew new beam antennas! Our common interest does not stop with satcom. We are into amateur astronomy as well and my son is being pushed to buy a telescope and he keeps it as an incentive for studying well to achieve some learning targets!

 

I believe if an amateur radio club or class is presented well and set up well, there are massive numbers of youth that would love to obtain their amateur radio license. I also believe amateur radio is a great out for students struggling in challenging inter city and family situations.

I serve as a teacher in California's public school system in Stockton, CA. Our city has one of the most diverse racial mix in our entire nation and is also one of the most violent cities in America. I also have friends that serve as teachers in different school districts near me and they too have set up amateur radio clubs on campus. The response has been absolutely amazing. Every student in the GETA class at a local nearby high school studied, took and passed the Technician exam last month. They have set up all their antennas including satellite and are in the process of building their first satellite. I am convinced with the proper preparation and presentation, there are large numbers of youth that would love to become amateur radio operators.

I wanted to start an amateur radio club at my school last year. I took a poll of 5th and 6th graders. I gave them a basic explanation of what amateur radio is, then explained the requirement to study and pass the exam, then some of the fun activities amateur radio operators can do. Then I took the poll. I received close to a 75% positive response from our 5th and 6th grade students. They were excited and asked me to set up the club. So I had over 150 students wanting to join the club.

I went to my administration and asked if I could start a club. They were very supportive and told me they would look into the options. One week later they suggested I start the club as an afternoon class in our BRIDGE program. So that would entail preparing for approximately 30 students per class. I felt totally overwhelmed and uneasy with that large of a number of students in an amateur radio class with only me as the instructor. I requested they let me start with 5 students as an experiment. Unfortunately, this was not possible, so put everything on hold. Yes, I could have contacted the local amateur radio club and asked for help, but as I looked more into the details [finger printing, background check, etc.] I began to shy away from starting the club. I was also concerned about working with adults that struggle to interact positively with children and students.

I am posting this post to let people know that many, many, many youth are interested in amateur radio and are willing and able to do the work. Last, funding is also easily available as well [administrators told me all costs would be covered]. If you have the time, patience, stamina and a good adult team to help you, you can easily have a very positive impact upon youth today.

AJ6XW

 

I wonder why you considered 30 as an overwhelming number? You could have just given it a try. Or was it multiple batches of 30 students each? I have studied in undergraduate classes with 200 students each and the current number of seats there is 225. Our teachers used to manage it! Of course, we were divided into batches for practicals.

On a side note, I have bookmarked your post on fan dipole as it is on my short list for a homebrew project.

 

Hi Jon! In all honesty, to keep it fair, I would have had to make it available to approximately 150+ students. That is a large load of students and to make the program work with excellence, for one person, that would have been totally overwhelming. My other concern was what if some wacko contacted one of the students with a new license and took advantage of them.

 

I see people downplaying this a lot when it comes to students on the air, but it really can't be understated how real this risk is. I've personally had two particularly relevant experiences-- I was regularly verbally harassed with sexual language on VHF/UHF by a guy that lurked the repeater I used for my net, which could have invited physical danger had my home address been public. When the Air Force shot down our pico balloon, UFO conspiracy theorists showed up at the school of one of the kids that had their callsign on the site.

It's a shame the FCC won't go the way of foreign agencies and make public addresses public-- but in the meantime, club callsigns are a great workaround that can involve everyone.

 

Thank you for sharing! I like the idea of club callsigns too. In fact one day I would like to pioneer an amateur radio club with its own special call sign. Most of my fellow teachers told me the risk the social media, phone messaging, etc. is a much greater risk than amateur radio. I didn't challenge them but it still bothered me that I could unintentionally place some young children at risk by creating a large amateur radio club at our school site. I decided to play it safe and not go forward with it.

But the main point is there are massive numbers of students that would love to join an amateur radio club and obtain their licenses. I believe their numbers are much, much greater than most people realize.

There was another thread here with people complaining about the amateur radio operators numbers decreasing at an alarming rate. One thing is for sure...it isn't the result of a lack of interest with students today.

 

I've tried to get a couple of technical colleges involved and they're not interested in Amateur Radio. Even after explaining at length, the response is as if I'm like a fortune teller or a snake oil merchant. They just don't understand what radio is and does and why it's relevant. Unfortunately radio now is so ubiquitous in society that it's taken completely for granted. When you tell them mobile phones and wifi is literally radio, they don't believe you, or they believe you but think, yeah, so what? These people you're trying to talk to on the radio... why don't you just try phoning them then, what's the big deal? Trying to muster interest in amateur radio is like going, hey, look! I've got a spoon, how cool is this?!

Yeah, I've given up trying to get other people interested. One person told me the only way it could possibly interest them is if they would be allowed to broadcast, which you can do on a live stream anyway.