Upcoming Classes Offer a Better Way to Enter Amateur Radio
The Internet, with it's seemingly endless supply of amateur radio information, has changed the way today's aspiring candidate becomes a ham. In years past, a person who wished to enter the fun world of amateur radio had a much more difficult road to travel in acquiring the knowledge necessary to gain a license.
Not so many years ago, future Novices and Technicians had few learning opportunities. Those who were lucky enough to be the family member of a ham, probably already had some resources around the house. For the rest, they could sometimes find a terribly inadequate, and often out of date, license manual tucked into the stacks of their local library. Many others would plop down sizeable chunks of money for ham radio mail order courses. For those hams living in an area with active ham clubs and who were also willing to play a waiting game, there were the yearly 12 week licensing classes.
These days people want instant gratification. It is much more common for a person to log into QRZ.com or some similar site and spend a day or two memorizing the test pool questions and answers. This allows them to gain a license and little else. The number of people who have earned an amateur radio license and then never once keyed a radio is unbelievably high.
The "Get On The Air" rate is much higher among those new hams who actually attended some form of licensing class. The enthusiasm displayed by the mentoring hams at these classes is contagious and tends to affect those in attendance.
Even a simple one day Question Pool Review puts newcomers in the presence of seasoned operators. Review classes place the burden of pre-learning the material on the student and serves to help them across any difficult areas they are having. One such review will be held this Saturday, January 10th at the Round Table Pizza, 5150 Mae Ann Avenue, in Reno. Seasoned instructor David Book KD7YIM will go over all 426 questions in the new Technician Class pool. More information can be obtained from: [email protected]
Ratcheting things up a notch is a special 3-day Martin Luther King weekend HamCram and license session at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. Beginning on Saturday January 17th and cumulating with an on-site VE session on Monday January 19th, this class also relies on a fair amount of self-study by the candidate.
Often, wrongly referred to as the Nellis Radio Amateur Club classes, this course is conducted by an independent instruction team. The Nellis RAC does not sponsor this activity although all of the instructors and examiners are members of NRAC.
Dennis Simon, Jane Garwood, Stewart and Becky Moss, Gene and Lorrie Dunford, Sean Sheehan and the rest of the instruction team have designed this course specifically for those individuals who have a little bit of basic electronics knowledge. Information about this 3-day class and regular upcoming classes can be found HERE.
From a more traditional standpoint there will be weekly Saturday morning classes beginning on January 17th, 11:00 a.m. at the Salvation Army Corp building in Pahrump. With an emphasize on the fun side of amateur radio this series of classes will be especially well suited for both young people and adults who have little or no knowledge of radio and electronics.
Assistant Director and veteran ARRL Instructor John Bigley N7UR will be aided by Calvin Groom KE6OEH and Leo Marchetti AD7DP. The are no fee's and the classes are opened to anyone interested in ham radio. Instruction manuals, materials and supplies will be provided free of charge, courtesy of N7UR. Contact Leo Marchetti (775) 990-3379 for more information.
Not so many years ago, future Novices and Technicians had few learning opportunities. Those who were lucky enough to be the family member of a ham, probably already had some resources around the house. For the rest, they could sometimes find a terribly inadequate, and often out of date, license manual tucked into the stacks of their local library. Many others would plop down sizeable chunks of money for ham radio mail order courses. For those hams living in an area with active ham clubs and who were also willing to play a waiting game, there were the yearly 12 week licensing classes.
These days people want instant gratification. It is much more common for a person to log into QRZ.com or some similar site and spend a day or two memorizing the test pool questions and answers. This allows them to gain a license and little else. The number of people who have earned an amateur radio license and then never once keyed a radio is unbelievably high.
The "Get On The Air" rate is much higher among those new hams who actually attended some form of licensing class. The enthusiasm displayed by the mentoring hams at these classes is contagious and tends to affect those in attendance.
Even a simple one day Question Pool Review puts newcomers in the presence of seasoned operators. Review classes place the burden of pre-learning the material on the student and serves to help them across any difficult areas they are having. One such review will be held this Saturday, January 10th at the Round Table Pizza, 5150 Mae Ann Avenue, in Reno. Seasoned instructor David Book KD7YIM will go over all 426 questions in the new Technician Class pool. More information can be obtained from: [email protected]
Ratcheting things up a notch is a special 3-day Martin Luther King weekend HamCram and license session at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. Beginning on Saturday January 17th and cumulating with an on-site VE session on Monday January 19th, this class also relies on a fair amount of self-study by the candidate.
Often, wrongly referred to as the Nellis Radio Amateur Club classes, this course is conducted by an independent instruction team. The Nellis RAC does not sponsor this activity although all of the instructors and examiners are members of NRAC.
Dennis Simon, Jane Garwood, Stewart and Becky Moss, Gene and Lorrie Dunford, Sean Sheehan and the rest of the instruction team have designed this course specifically for those individuals who have a little bit of basic electronics knowledge. Information about this 3-day class and regular upcoming classes can be found HERE.
From a more traditional standpoint there will be weekly Saturday morning classes beginning on January 17th, 11:00 a.m. at the Salvation Army Corp building in Pahrump. With an emphasize on the fun side of amateur radio this series of classes will be especially well suited for both young people and adults who have little or no knowledge of radio and electronics.
Assistant Director and veteran ARRL Instructor John Bigley N7UR will be aided by Calvin Groom KE6OEH and Leo Marchetti AD7DP. The are no fee's and the classes are opened to anyone interested in ham radio. Instruction manuals, materials and supplies will be provided free of charge, courtesy of N7UR. Contact Leo Marchetti (775) 990-3379 for more information.
