Tag: college ham radio

Response to W9WSW: Revitalizing Your College Ham Club from the Point of View of W0EEE

Go read this post.

Do it before reading this.

I hope Scott, W9WSW doesn’t mind hijacking his post, but I really think it’s one of the best guides to college ham radio clubs I’ve seen, and it was exactly how Barry KC0YDZ and I revitalized W0EEE after a four-year lull. I want to take his guide and go by the numbers with all the experience I had with W0EEE.

Scott serves the Michigan State University Amateur Radio Club W8MSU, and really leads by example. Go check out their Facebook page, twitter and website.

The list:

1. Go where the action is

Aka use modern social media tools to build an online name for yourself. It’s imperative to do this because hams going into college will search for “<college name> ham radio club” when looking for a suitable school.

Facebook. Twitter. Website. Bonus points for Instagram or Flickr or other photo joints, and YouTube.

Even with all the modern media sites, your alumni will always prefer email. Clubs should always have a newsletter or meeting minutes email sent to the alumni to remind them that their alma mater is active. This gives them a sense of accomplishment that their work in the club was worthwhile and leads to more engagement (aka donations and sponsorships) from the alumni base.

I’m only partially speaking for myself, as an alumni. When I was a member, the alum bothered me for updates. I gave in, and it was a very good thing – see the next section for why.

2. Update your shack

A basic HF station is a must-have, which means pursuing a relationship with the University facilities department to allow for an antenna (see #8.2).

Also keep your shack clean. Having a shack that looks like this might mean it’s super active, but clutter can be deterring and stress-inducing.

People are very willing to donate used equipment to clubs, so it behooves the club to follow step 1, 6, and 8 to make your alumni and community aware of your activities. It’s rarely a good idea to solicit donations (read: beg) unless you’re really pressing for equipment. We got:

  • FT-1000MP
  • FT-897
  • TS-850s
  • FlexRadio 5000A

Just from having an frequently updated alumni email list (see #19) and good relationships within the EE department (see #8.2).

3. Build cool club projects

We collaborated with IEEE to create the “Hide and Seek” program. Imagine an easter egg hunt, but with low-power 80m beacons instead of easter eggs hidden throughout campus. Participants are given a small receiver which begins beeping within 30ft of a beacon. They find and keep the beacons which have various point values assigned to them based on their difficulty. This was a huge event for both W0EEE and IEEE, because not only could you participate for points to bid on things like XBox games and quadcopters, but also learn how to design, layout, procure, and solder the beacons and receivers together.

There’s tons of other stuff that’s out there to build, so my other recommendation is to have tools and an electronics workbench for members to use.

Full of surplus and hand-me-downs from the EE department labs, this fully-stocked Electronics workbench was super convenient to have.
Full of surplus and hand-me-downs from the EE department labs, this fully-stocked Electronics workbench was super convenient to have.

4. Be aggressive in seeking out potential members

#3 was a big draw for meetings. So was free pizza.

Free Pizza. The #1 attraction for college clubs.
Free Pizza. The #1 attraction for college clubs.

I took money out of my pocket to buy pizza for meetings and used personal print quota to print flyers for meetings and events. It was worth every penny to me. Costs were recouped eventually by paying myself back (keep your receipts!) from money gained through donations and membership costs. Which brings me to #20.

But first lets continue with W9WSW’s list:

5. Hold weekly open shack nights

YES.

Know one thing when holding meetings: consistency is KEY. Students are regimented individuals, who prey on consistency so they can efficiently schedule their busy lives.

5.5 Pick a good time to meet

For years W0EEE meetings/open shacks were at 7pm on Thursday, and like a contest station running CQ, this was our time to meet, which was not contested by other big clubs and teams. Eventually, a bigger station ran W0EEE off frequency, so the time had to be changed.

Use When2Meet to plan a time to meet if your current time isn’t working so well.

And if you have to cancel a meeting, don’t forget to let everyone know as soon as possible.

Bonus points for streaming your meeting (see #16).

6. Brand, brand, brand

Branding is important.

It helps to have an artist sometimes.

Branding is really important. And it’s easy to ignore it, thinking your totally awesome programming or events will make up for the lack of having logos and flyers.

A brand gives your organization a major edge in competing with other interests, aka, homework, studying, and other student organizations. It shows an essence of personality and professionalism.

A logo of our mascot, Joe Miner, was edited with permission long ago for use by the radio club. Unfortunately W0EEE doesn’t have a proper logo, though I tried to make one once in PowerPoint. It’s ugly as hell.

Oh god its hideous.
Oh god its hideous why did I do this.

How do you avoid having ugly logos? I suggest going to r/freedesign or fiverr and work with a professional. Otherwise, keep it simple!

msuhamradiologo-300x155
Like this.

Branding is not just logos. It’s keeping to the promise of the product you’re delivering. That product is an amateur radio experience. Having consistent meetings, participating and leading regular events, and staying true to your clubs mission is all part of that hook.

7. Get people licensed

This year W0EEE began a licensing class, and its in progress. It is one of the best moves to make

Until then, the Rolla Regional Amateur Radio Society (RRARS) held classes, and did test sessions about 5 or 6 times per year in the electrical engineering building on campus.

It also helps if you can subsidize the cost of licensing, and better yet incentivize it with free handheld radios, 1 year of free membership, or something entirely different. This comes at a cost though, and depends on what money your club has in the bank.

8. Make Connections

90% of knowledge is knowing the right people. And 90% of the time, your alumni are those people.

For example, here’s some notable people from Missouri S&T:

Knowing these guys have been immeasurably helpful in the revitalization of W0EEE, especially Ward since he always was willing to help and kept my motivation up with his impressive knowledge of ham radio and his deep understanding of the state of the hobby.

8.1 How to find your alumni

  1. Go through your university’s alumni department records.
  2. Go through any old HF logbooks you may have lying around
  3. Search QRZ. For example, search “<college name> site:www.QRZ.com” like this: https://www.google.com/search?q=rolla+site:www.qrz.com. Bam. TONS of alumni there.

8.2 Build relationships with the university – student funding, faculty, facilities, department chairs…

This should be #1. You won’t be able to install anything, do events with the university, promote meetings, order pizza, get roof access, get student funding, find avenues for equipment and monetary donations, and much much more if you don’t network.

A good piece of advice is to develop a rapport with your EE department chair. This can make or break a radio club, and in the case of CalPoly, really make the club and subsequently get HUNDREDS of students licensed through ham radio based curriculum. That’s awesome!

9. Create an endowment to provide ARRL memberships to student hams

I think this should go the other way – the ARRL should provide memberships to student hams by default. If Chick-fil-A can giveaway a free sandwich every Thursday with every meal, the ARRL can subsidize a handful of memberships for students. Perhaps lite memberships without QST, OR send extra copies of QST to the college radio club for students to read and give students members-only access privileges to the ARRL web.

10. Have a visible presence at campus events

W0EEE at Missouri S&T's fall MinerRAMA
W0EEE at Missouri S&T’s fall MinerRAMA

Every university has events for student organizations to show their stuff. Ours is called MinerRAMA outside in the Fall, and in the spring there are about five Preview, Registration and Orientation days (PRO days) which are a low-key version of MinerRAMA that takes place indoors.

On the table, we have our old sign, QSL cards, tons of radios and CW keys, our awards,one HF rig on and monitoring 14.300, and a tablet running SDR software or digital mode software, or WebSDR, and a tri-fold sign with a bunch of photos and information.

11. Put an APRS beacon on your mascot

This is creative! W0EEE’s never done this, but W8MSU has…we should try it!

12. Great clubs have great programming

 

W0EEE was heavily involved with IEEE and often did technology demos to dozens, sometimes hundreds of students. W9WSW’s text hits the nail on the head.

13. Repurpose recent ham magazines as giveaways

W0EEE has a lot of QSTs...this isn't even half of them.
W0EEE has a lot of QSTs…this isn’t even half of them.

W0EEE has a backlog of QSTs going back to the 80s and they’re for use by members to read, although we’re tempted to trash them all. What better way to get rid of them than through a giveaway? Although they’re not quite recent…so.

#9 tells you my opinion on how ARRL should approach student membership.

14. Setup a Remote Rig that students can check out

The easiest way to get students on the air is to direct them to WebSDR and now, the home of OpenWebRX, SDR.hu.

If your club has a PC-controlled HF station (better yet a FlexRadio), you should remote-ify it. This makes it fun and easy for members to play radio from the comfort of their dwelling. It’s pretty complicated to set this up, and you also need to worry about lightning protection and FCC regulations.

15. Create Special Events Stations

In other words, operate outside, and post it to your university events calendar. Don’t forget to get permission if needed. Typically, we discover we needed permission after the fact. It’s okay to beg for forgiveness 🙂

16. Stream your meetings

Heck yes!

My recommendation is to use Google Hangouts to allow people who don’t want to leave their room or alumni to join meetings, and have them posted to YouTube afterwards as a sort of digital trace of work done. This falls into #17 too.

17. Create a digital resource library

W0EEE has a google drive accessible by members, which contains all the meeting minutes, rosters, presentations, photos, documentation and manuals, logs, website information, design information, and more. Missouri S&T is closely integrated with Google Apps & Services, and it basically gives teams near unlimited storage. If you don’t have this, I recommend buying a Dropbox or Google Drive account for use, or if you’re handy, setting up a “shack server” if your IT department allows it.

18. Reach out to the ARRL

This falls under #8 too, especially since N0AX was a close advisor to the club and was directly connected with the ARRL. The league was quick to provide free promotional materials (flyers, pens, bookmarks, stickers, etc), licensing books, and handbooks. I went to Dayton one year, and they literally sent me off with a stack of books and said “Here. This is for W0EEE.”

 

Extra Stuff:

19. Keep Alumni Engaged

Alumni are a source of inspiration and motivation through expertise in both technical and historical fields. It’s hard to move forward when you walk into a room full of tens of thousands of dollars of ham radio equipment, all with various history, electrical modifications…and even then you might not know you have a storage outbuilding on someones farm somewhere, or club antennas installed on a tall TV tower dozens of miles away.

Alumni are also a primary source of help, both hands-on, like winning CW sweepstakes (thanks Ward), consultation, and most of all, funding.

20. Keep Costs Low

This goes without saying: because college students are cheap.

21. Be transparent

This is good advice for every endeavor. Being open, honest, and transparent allows for better relationships with members, faculty, the college, and alumni. This is done through regular newsletters, social media updates, lots of photos, and

22. Have a club repeater, and Echolink it, and run a net, and use it.

Our club has this, and we’re guilty of basically never being on it. This frustrates some people. Try to make it a priority to run a short weekly net, perhaps just after your regular club meetings. Be friendly too.

23. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from everyone

Speaking for all collegiate ham radio clubs, we alumni are eager to help in any way.

 

Amateur Radio in College Leading to a Career – A Testimonial

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I got my extra-class license in 2007, at age 16. I studied for the tech, general and extra licenses in band class, in literature arts (where I also wrote a winning essay contest), and at every waking hour of my time away from school and other extra curricular activities.

I learned about trigonometrical impedance calculations (a.k.a. phasors), P-N junctions, oscillators, transistors, and some calculus and more all before my senior year of high school.

I applied for only a few colleges – Truman State and Missouri S&T (formerly University of Missouri – Rolla). Only one of these had a ham radio club. Can you guess which one I attended?

Missouri S&T(alone).bw

It was not until my junior year when I realized my college curriculum has taken me beyond the extra class license test. Although the classes were much greater in depth (and much more important for me to pass!), the Extra class license greatly prepared me for my studies in Electrical Engineering.

During my first week of college I joined the ham radio club, WØEEE. I spent all 4.5 years in an executive position, and taught myself circuit design and layout techniques and software, how to install a repeater (including a D-STAR repeater), and participated in contests, public service, and other clubs like IEEE, Solar Car, and the Mars Rover Design Team and the Satellite team where I designed telemetry and wireless networking systems.

Mars Rover electrical team and I making aggressive electrical modifications and repairs to Phoenix
Mars Rover electrical team and I making aggressive electrical modifications and repairs to Phoenix.
The 2014 Mars Rover "Phoenix" after having survived said modifications.
The 2014 Mars Rover “Phoenix” after having survived said modifications.

In my junior year, I was offered an internship at the Very Large Array Radio Observatory in New Mexico. I accepted, and spent 8 months there, installing antennas, studying RFI, learning about radio astronomy, and participating in the Socorro and New Mexico Tech amateur radio clubs. The Socorro, NM population is literally 10% hams, and the Radioshack is staffed by two hams and features a station behind the counter! See more of my VLA experience at my A Zero in Five Land blog.

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I participated in “SmartRock” research, which was to be a device that would record its position and movement underwater, and transmit that data back to the surface wirelessly – through up to 30 ft of water – to study and prevent erosion and scouring from destroying bridges. I studied all manner of ways to do this including ultrasonic, light, RF, and inductive coupling. I also was responsible for a power supply design using supercapacitors.

Then I got a job. I was accepted before I even graduated.

Over the last 5 years I’ve been in various roles in the aerospace industry, from a communication systems team that’s in charge of a huge number of avionics, including HF/VHF/UHF voice radios, to working on hardcore electrophysics and antenna design problems. The reason why I got this job, and the ones before it was that the experiences I had were listed on my resume. A resume-reading robot found the trigger word set for this particular requisition: ham radio.

Or maybe it was just radio…who knows, but as a part of the interview process, ham radio was mentioned a LOT.

My college and career goals was made possible by amateur radio, and that is the number one reason why I promote this hobby like I do. As a collective we are slowly realizing that ham radio is an excellent segway into a number of career fields (not always involving electrical engineering and radio), and there is huge potential energy in this hobby for young people, but there is not yet a person to push the ball down the hill.

That person may not be me, and it may not be just one person, so hopefully this story helps you understand the technical merits of ham radio and inspires you to be the energy in your radio club to do more for high school and college student amateur radio clubs.

Collegiate Ham Radio is on fire today!

Today was a maelstrom of emails, reddit posts, facebook messages, ARRL articles, some more emails….all thanks to this article: http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-acting-as-catalyst-in-college-radio-club-revitalization-campaign

I posted it to the amateurradio subreddit, where it got some discussion. Then, another post, nearly simultaneously popped up on reddit regarding interest in a “University/Colleges on the Air” – of course they couldn’t call it Schools on the Air, as that would compete with the other SOTA, but that’s besides the point.

There are a lot of college and university amateur radio clubs out there, both active and defunct. There have been attempts to collect interest, either through collegiate contests or sub-contests (such as the Intercollegiate Championship that hasn’t been going on since 2011), online communities (like CollegeARC developed by Brent and Bryce Salmi from Rochester Institute of Technology K2GXT, but went defunct sometime in mid to late 2013 after they graduated), and now the Dayton Hamvention Collegiate Dinner and the Collegiate Ham Radio Operators Facebook Group.

I have great interest vested in these topics. Throughout my ARRL Youth Editorship, I poked and prodded ARRL to do more to promote amateur radio to colleges, and vice versa.  It cam in the form of free books, promotional materials, and licensing materials, but never have they showed the support they are featuring in the article.

ARRL provides a large amount of grants and scholarships totaling many tens of thousands of dollars – or more – but many of these scholarships often go unclaimed! This is because too many don’t know about them.

Promoting amateur radio in colleges is a huge untapped resource for both the hobby, and the STEM economy. Every technical job I had was resultant of something ham radio related, and it’s obvious that it the hobby has huge merits in electrical and computer engineering and computer science.

Plus, as mentioned in the article, colleges are super competitive! College football wouldn’t be a thing if they weren’t!

Although I don’t agree with the name “Ivy + Amateur Radio” as an all-inclusive invitation to colleges and universities across the world to join up, I still think the ARRL is doing collegiate ham radio a great service to show support, especially from the CEO level. After all, a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.

I hope to see something great come of this! Conference championships? Colleges/Universities on the Air? A yearlong QSO party for colleges? Incorporating “college” category into large ARRL contests like sweepstakes and ARRL DX? Revamping school club roundup? Tons of ideas.

Please feel free to contact me at n0ssc@arrl.net or comment below if you wish to talk college ham radio. Or send your support straight to the ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher NY2RF, himself!