HARC Technician license Class

HacDC entry-level (Technician) Amateur License test preparation class

Dates and Times

The class will be held at the Space on two consecutive Saturdays: February 11 and 18 from 1 to 4 PM. The following Saturday: February 25 at 9 AM (sharp) will be be the exam at the Winterfest at the Northern Virginia Community College Annandale Campus.

Resources

• The target exam is at the Vienna Wireless Society's "Winterfest": http://www.viennawireless.org/winterfest.php

• The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) definition of the Amateur Radio Service: "The amateur and amateur-satellite services are for qualified persons of any age who are interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest. These services present an opportunity for self-training, intercommunication, and technical investigations."

• The ARRL Technician License manual and study guide: http://www.arrl.org/ham-radio-license-manual . Please look over this resource carefully before class.

• A free license manual for the Technician class: http://www.kb6nu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/2010_Tech_Study_Guide.pdf Please look over this resource carefully before class.

• Some links to free online practice exams: http://www.eham.net/exams/, http://www.qrz.com/ht/, http://aa9pw.com/radio/

• FCC Amateur Radio Page: http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/index.htm?job=service_home&id=amateur

• FCC Part 97: Regulations pertaining to the Amateur Radio Service: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_10/47cfr97_10.html

• The entire Technician class license pool, of which 35 questions will be randomly selected for your exam: http://www.ncvec.org/page.php?id=349

• We will be viewing the HamCRAM presentation and answering questions. You can preview the presentation here: http://w9pe.us/ . Your comments on improving or replacing this presentation are greatly appreciated.

• Recommended reading is John Delvoldere (ON4UN)'s operating ethics materials at his web site: http://www.ham-operating-ethics.org/ . Not only will it give you good recommendations for being a good citizen on the air, it will also give you an excellent overview of the various facets of modern Ham radio. There is an excellent manual in PDF format you may wish to have available when you start using your new license.
  • ON4UN is in Belgium, check out the station web page: http://www.dxwatch.com/qrz/lookup.php?c=ON4UN

• Founded in 1914, The American Radio Relay League (AARL) is the national association for Amateur Radio in the USA. Today, with more than 156,000 members, ARRL is the largest organization of radio amateurs in the United States. Check out their web site: http://www.arrl.org.

• A short video: Richard Feynman describes "waves", including radio, light, heat, etc. in a very sensorial (as in Montesssori education) way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU8PId_6xec

About the class

Add another tool to your Maker toolkit: an Amateur Radio License. Amateur Radio Operators (Hams) have a long history of "Homebrewing": building their own equipment and experimenting in the hopes of making it work better, and the community has grown a tremendous breadth. There is tremendous overlap between the Ham and the Maker communities.

HacDC has it's own club license: W3HAC, which we originally obtained to use ham radio for position tracking during our balloon flights using APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) on VHF and UHF frequencies; designing and building our own lightweight transmitter for the balloon payload. We have many Hams here, some with quite advanced licenses, and a bi-monthly meeting to discuss technical aspects of radio-based communication and build stuff.