On Jan 25, 9:23 pm, wrote:
All,

I have a situation, and would like some opinions rather than flames on
how to handle it. My wife teaches at a public school just off the
Easter Arizona Navajo reservation. Lately, a junior school science
teacher is starting up a science club and has asked me to provide for
the amateur radio side of the club and be its control operator.

She believes that the kids would be fascinated by the Morse code -
Dxing - Construction end of the hobby, even though Morse is no longer a
required test element.

The kids are mostly Navajo and thusly have a very limited technological
background (hence the reason for the club to stir the interest), so I
need something concrete with immediate payoff to keep their interest
hooked while getting them as ready as I can to write their Technician
exam. The nearest VEC is 4 hours away and I'd rather have as few fail
as possible.

I had thought to start an unlicensed micro-power code practice net
whose range would be limited to about a 30 mile radius, which is about
the size of the local reservation right next to the school.

What I want to do is provide each kid with a popcorn CW transceiver for
the colorburst frequency (3579 khz), a key, a short random wire, and a
battery. That way they could practice amongst themselves with
myself as occasional net control.

My question is this: so long as final output to the antenna is within
the requirement of part 15 unlicensed operation, is part 15 unlicensed
operation allowed within a band normally governed under part 97?
Part 15 operation would easily cover a 30 mile radius on 80M.

If no, I'll run the net under part 15 on the edge of the AM band near
160M.

Thanks in advance,

The Eternal Squire

First, Good SHow on trying to interest the kids.

Secondly, have you investigated 160-190 KHz as an option. The transmit
antenna would be limited in length to a max of 50 feet but the receive
antenna can be tuned dipoles. The transmitter is limited to 1 watt
output so it will be a heck of a lot easier to measure then the Low
power Part 15 devices. If they live in a rural area they should have
little manmade noise to contend with. Tuning the receiver and
transmitter can be done with an oscope and low frequency generator.
The other thing is the receiver can use a block converter with an AM
radio.