"N9WOS" ) writes:

The first thing that came into my mind when I read that is.
Is there even such thing as a "quiet portion of the MW band"?

The normal AM band has so many multiKW stations running on it that it is
heavily polluted with RF noise.

The solution is actually simpler.

Since realistically the kids don't need to communicate before they actually
can, they need to receiver code practice. There is, again, ample chance
to convey the hobby to them before they pursue licenses, and once they
have licenses pretty much "anything goes" because of the very nature of
amateur radio.

The solution is to get the community involved. These are their kids,
they want them to do well in the world. Presumably there is a radio
station on the reserve specifically for the reservation. So get some
space there to send code (obviously a code practice oscillator into the
microphone input) for a bit. It could even be as simple as
a few sentences every day at a fixed time, the same way Jean Sheppard
wrote of getting secret messages during the "Little Orphan Annie" show.
The reservation near here has bingo games on the air every Sunday night,
so why shouldn't a community that is interested in the success of their
young not see the point of sending some morse code over the local station?

The point isn't to give them amateur radio before the fact, it's to lure
them in.

And if there's no community radio station on that reserve, then I suspect
that's of more value than low power stations that may turn out to be a dud.
Because a community station can do so much for the community. And one might
as well get those interested students involved in the project.

A few years back, at that nearby reserve that has radio bingo, one 13 year
old lamented that there was no library on the reserved. They have a library
now, it carries her name. This is something that is going to last forever
(or hopefully so), and is the sort of thing reserves need. Libraries
are places where people can find those books about radio and electronics
when they suddenly become interested, or lure them in when they stumble
on such things.

Getting the kids interested in science and even specifically electronics
is a good thing. Done well, it will even benefit them if they don't
pursue such things later, because the teaching becomes a catalyst for
other things.

But sometimes one has to look at projects and wonder if they will really
make change, or if they are just neat in themselves but will actually
bomb (because the kids lose interest, or because all kinds of money and
resource is put it into something when there are simpler things to do
the same thing).

Michael VE2BVW