It's More Complicated Than That!

Amateur Radio in School

I’m presenting a forum at the Huntsville Hamfest about the ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology, and specifically about the amateur radio program under way at Bob Jones High School in Madison, AL. The forum is in Salon 5 at 10:00 Saturday morning

Two years ago, I started talking with teachers at BJHS about an amateur radio program. Over this summer break, eight teachers from the Madison school system attended the ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology. We are in the process of forming the amateur radio club at BJHS, and we have a lot of momentum going.

If you are interested in bringing amateur radio to a school near you, I think there are four key things that you need to do. The first is to have a contact within the school who understands the potential of the program and will support it within the school system. The second is to have the support of your local amateur radio club. Third, read the ARRL material about the program and make contact with Mark Spencer at the ARRL. Finally, make contact with individuals who have already championed this program in local schools. I was helped in my efforts by Ed Tyler, KI4GKS, who helped set up a program at Pell City High School.

Preparedness and amateur radio

We’re very lucky in Madison County and in the entire state of Alabama to have a capable group of radio amateurs who are involved with the emergency and disaster response planning at both state and county levels. We train and work with these agencies, and have a good working relationship with those agencies. Post-Katrina, radio amateurs from Alabama provided valuable service for months in the disaster areas.

Recently, there was a full scale statewide interoperability test. Here’s a good article about it. This test was designed in part to test integration of amateur radio operations with the state’s extensive communications capabilities.

My participation was limited to checking my station, making sure my generator would start, and checking in as available for service. That doesn’t sound like much but when you consider that hundreds of other people across the state are doing the same thing, you can see how quickly communications can be established after a disaster, even if everything is down. Everything. Power, telephones, cell phones, and internet.