Broadcast Writer

By Vicki W. Kipp
March 1, 2003
Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) Chapter 24 Newsletter

Would you like to spend a weekend or two learning about amateur radio from knowledgeable instructors in a fun setting? Would you like to learn why amateur radio operators are called “hams”? Would you like to increase your familiarity with the spectrum bands and learn to equate frequencies with wavelengths? If so, this is your chance! 

Members of the U W Space Place Amateur Radio Center (Station N9UW) are holding workshops at Space Place (figure 1) to help people prepare for the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Technician Class and General Class license examinations. 

An Amateur Radio Technician License Workshop will be held on Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18, 2003 at Space Place. There is no charge to attend this workshop. Participants are required to bring the book Now You’re Talking (4th edition, published April 2000) to the workshop. The book is published by the ARRL and can be purchased for $19 by calling 1(888) 277-5289, or accessing http://www.arrl.org. Alternatively, Now You’re Talking (4th edition) may be checked out from the South Central Library System. This reference will remain useful to you after you complete the workshop. It is essential that students acquire the 4th edition of the book because earlier editions will not reflect the latest rule changes.

A technician license exam (cost $12) and an optional 5 wpm Morse Code test will be given at the conclusion of this workshop on Sunday, May 18. The technician license is sometimes called the “no code” license because it does not require the ham operator to learn Morse code. The instructors suggest that existing hams introduce their friends and family to the hobby of ham radio by encouraging them to attend this workshop.  The Space Place Amateur Radio General License Workshop will be held on Saturday, February 15 and Sunday, February 16, 2003.

The benefit of upgrading from a Technician License to a General License is receiving access to all of the spectrum frequency bands allocated to hams, being able to operate in additional modes, and being able to communicate at high power on HF bands with hams around the world. There is no charge to attend this workshop. Attendees must bring the book ARRL General Class License Manual (4th edition, published October 2000) to the workshop. The book is published by the ARRL and can be purchased from them for $15. ARRL General Class License Manual (4th edition) may also be checked out from the South Central Library System.

A general license exam (cost $12) and a 5 wpm Morse Code test will be given at the workshop conclusion on Sunday, February 16. The general license requires the operator to pass a 5 wpm Morse Code test. The Morse code test may be taken on a separate occasion, before or after taking the general license written exam. However, the Morse code test must be successfully completed within one year after passing the general license exam in order to upgrade from the Technician License to the General License. A Morse code workshop based on the Code Quick Morse Code Mastery system will be offered in March 2003. Darryl Lonowski (AB9BB) will present this session. There is no charge to attend this class, but students will need to provide their own copy of Code Quick (available at a reduced cost for this class). 

I attended the Technician and General License workshops in 2001, and found the sessions interesting, informative, and fun. I recommend attending these workshops for many reasons. For starters, complimentary doughnuts and coffee are served (donations are appreciated). Attending these free workshops gave me a chance to learn about the fascinating hobby of ham radio from knowledgeable instructors so devoted to amateur radio that they committed their weekends to teaching their hobby. I met others who are interested in radio communications. We watched an entertaining video that introduced us to the dangers of “RF in the shack”, the expression “Super Ham”, how to say the ITU Phonetic Alphabet, and lots of other ham lingo.

During the workshop, we were exposed to Morse code. Learning how to communicate with Q-signals taught us how to express a phrase in just two or three characters. Some of the concepts taught were applicable to broadcast engineering as well as amateur radio.

After completing the workshops and studying independently, I felt well-prepared for the Technician and General Class written exams. I now have a call sign of my own. As an added bonus during my visit to Space Place, I observed a retired satellite (Figure 2) in the lobby, and spent time in the N9UW amateur radio station (Figures 3 and 4).

Class space is limited so you need to sign up in advance. To register for either workshop, send the following information to Don Michalski (W9IXG) by e-mailing dem@sal.wisc.edu or by phoning (608) ###-####:

· Which workshop you would like to attend
· Your name
· Address
· E-mail address
· Phone number
· Age (Only needed for youth of high school age or younger)

Figure 1. The UW Space Place is located at 1605 South Park Street. 

Figure 2. This satellite from the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO-2) program was launched December 7, 1968 from the Kennedy Space Center. An experiment package aboard the satellite –built at the U.W. Madison Space Astronomy Lab– gathered data on the energy distribution of selected stars and star clusters in the UV region.

Figure 3. N9UW Amateur Radio Station at UW Space Place Amateur Radio Licensing Workshops   

Figure 4. A closer look inside the N9UW Station.