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Old December 4th 07, 03:35 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.moderated
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Default Followup on my Tech class

I was going to followup to the original article that I posted on October
22 but I no longer have it locally.
In that article I asked for advice on teaching an entry-level ham
radio class, and the resulting thread was a big help. I appreciate the
comments. Here's a short status on how things went.

The class consisted of six sessions held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so
it lasted three weeks. The last session was the Thursday before
Thanksgiving, so we took that week off, then the students asked for a
review session the Tuesday after Thanksgiving before the exam, which was
Thursday, November 29.

Five new hams came out of the exam session, plus one upgrade from the
local ham population (General to Extra). Seven people took the test, so
two didn't make it. Of the two, one of them missed by only one question
so he decided to try it again that night; the second attempt didn't work
for him either.

Here's the real shocker for me: The VE team mailed the package back to
the ARRL on Friday (11/30). The calls were in the FCC database
yesterday (12/3). The ARRL couldn't have received the forms before
yesterday, so that means that on the same day that the paperwork reached
the ARRL the calls were issued. I went to the FCC website yesterday
just to be sure that I remembered how to do a search by name and was
astounded when the entries for these new hams showed up. That's impressive.

Other comments: I liked the format of six 2-hour sessions. The
students also expressed their approval, but that's not too useful since
they tend to be self-selected; only people who can fit six sessions into
their schedule were there. I found that I could cover two of the
sub-elements from the pool in a bit over two hours and had time to
present general background information and also go over the specific
pool questions.

I was reasonably satisfied with how the presentation broke out in terms
of covering concepts and reviewing specific pool questions. We had time
to do both, and I felt that both were valuable to the students.

All in all, I found it to be a rewarding experience for me, and the look
on the face of one of the students when she was informed that she had
passed the test was, as they say on the TV commercials, priceless. Now
the next step is to get these new hams on the air.

73, Steve KB9X

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Old December 4th 07, 07:43 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.moderated
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Default Followup on my Tech class

"Steve Bonine" wrote ...
I found that I could cover two of the sub-elements from the pool in a bit
over two hours and had time to present general background information and
also go over the specific pool questions.

I was reasonably satisfied with how the presentation broke out in terms of
covering concepts and reviewing specific pool questions. We had time to
do both, and I felt that both were valuable to the students.


Thanks for the followup report. Do you have an outline or
teacher's notes that you could share with others who want
to do a similar project?


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Old December 4th 07, 09:36 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.moderated
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Default Followup on my Tech class

Richard Crowley wrote:
"Steve Bonine" wrote ...
I found that I could cover two of the sub-elements from the pool in a bit
over two hours and had time to present general background information and
also go over the specific pool questions.

I was reasonably satisfied with how the presentation broke out in terms of
covering concepts and reviewing specific pool questions. We had time to
do both, and I felt that both were valuable to the students.


Thanks for the followup report. Do you have an outline or
teacher's notes that you could share with others who want
to do a similar project?


All the materials that I used in the class are available at
http://www.beebear.com/RadioClass/

I quickly admit that there is very little original material there. I
used material that is available on the net from several sources, adding
my own flavor. I apologize for a lack of instructor notes (like the
100-foot extension cord and the paddle/keyer used as instructive aides)
but it never occurred to me that anyone would ask. If anyone wants the
actual source presentations (there are PDFs on the web site) drop me an
email.

73, Steve KB9X
(Also known as "BeeBear", as you might guess from the URL)

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Old December 14th 07, 02:27 AM posted to rec.radio.amateur.moderated
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Default Followup on my Tech class

In article ,
Steve Bonine wrote:
The class consisted of six sessions held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so


This also works as a weekend -- Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, testing
on Sunday, for people who can be motivated enough to read the ARRL book
outside class.

Here's the real shocker for me: The VE team mailed the package back to
the ARRL on Friday (11/30). The calls were in the FCC database
yesterday (12/3). The ARRL couldn't have received the forms before
yesterday, so that means that on the same day that the paperwork reached
the ARRL the calls were issued.


The ARRL uploads into the FCC database directly, which assigns the calls.

Laurel VEC, which does Hamvention in Dayton, posts the calls of people
who take the test Friday ON SATURDAY. I asked how they do this, was told
Laurel gives the Dayton VE team authority to upload data themselves.
Sweet. The database is offline on the weekend, so Saturday testees have
to wait until Monday.

ARRL VEC side of operations has their heads on straight. Now if they
gave tests for free and let their VE teams upload ...


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