The Spark Gap

On 17 January the Meridian Amateur Radio Club Volunteer Examiner team held an FCC Amateur Radio Service Licensing Examination.

10 People earned their "ticket" as a result of a Technician Licensing Class held at Rush Hospital on the weekends of 10 and 17 January. Overall, this makes the success rate for students of the two-Saturday prep course 83%.

Congratulations are due to the class members, David Dearing (Philadelphia), L. D Harrison (Waynesboro), David Bonner (Meridian), Dick Tinsley (Lauderdale), Michael Williams (Meridian), Jonathan Williams (Meridian), Ross Brewster (Meridian), Madison Boyette (Meridian), James Gardner (Meridian), and Bethany Peters (Meridian), who passed. L. D. Harrison also passed his General Exam.

Josh Smith joined the exam session from Livingston, Alabama, and earned his Technician Ticket.Cory Johnson of Newton County, made the journey to Meridian to take his General class exam. His trip was well worth it, in that he upgraded from Technician to General Class.

Fred Gray couldn't stand the pressure anymore, so he took and passed the Extra Exam. Guess we will have to find something else to pressure him about. How about becoming a VE, Fred?

Congratulations to all the successful candidates, and we hope those who didn't pass this time will try again soon. Anyone with questions about future classes or exam sessions can e-mail w5fq@arrl.net , and it'll be forwarded to the appropriate person. This is your chance to influence dates and times of future sessions, so let us hear from you.

73, Rick AE5FE

Results from the recent VE session showed up on the FCC web site about an hour ago. I've pasted them below. All listed received Technician Class privileges, except the 3 otherwise noted. Congratulations to all and thanks to all who helped make this possible. Russell Brown, W5RB

WB5BNV Fred Gray    Extra
KE5AXT Michael C. Johnson    General
KE5YWR Gardner, James E
KE5YWS Boyette, Madison N
KE5YWT Williams, Michael J
KE5YWU Brewster, Ross H
KE5YWV Williams, Jonathan R
KE5YWW Tinsley, Charles R
KE5YWX Bonner, David E
KE5YWY Peters, Bethany L
KE5YWZ Dearing, David E      GENERAL
KE5YXA Harrison Jr, LD
KJ4JCA Smith, Joshua C

Mississippi QSO party will be held on Saturday February 28 from 9 AM to 9 PM local time. Hams from all over will be looking for that rare Mississippi County or just a QSL to complete WAS. Make your plans to put in a few hours to make someone happy or renew acquaintances with old friends. Complete rules are on the Section Web Site at www.arrlmiss.org. Note one addition to the rules: Each log must include a scoring summary showing the number of QSOs made, the multiplier, and score. Logs without a scoring summary will be considered as a check log.

I have been teaching a General Class license class for the past five years. The first year, I had five students, the next year 35! This year, I have only five again.

Not being a pedagogical genius, it never really occurred to me until last year to give my General Class students a project to work on while we slogged through the material. Last year, some of them built little QRP kits. Not only was that fun, it was educational. Some of them had never even soldered before!

Since last year's project worked out so well, I am asking this year's students to do some kind of project, but one that they choose themselves. Here’s the short list that I came up with:

* Build a kit like my students did last year.
* Build a 2m beam. At our first meeting, one of the guys noted that while he could hear a repeater about 30 miles away from his QTH, he wasn’t able to hit it with the 5/8-wavelength vertical he was using. I suggest that he build a Cheap Yagi (http://www.fredspinner.com/W0FMS/CheapYagi/vjbcy.html).
* Download some antenna simulation software and analyze a dipole or vertical antenna. MM-ANA (http://mmhamsoft.amateur-radio.ca/mmana/index.htm) is free and looks to be a pretty good program.
* Learn Morse Code. Being the CW geek that I am, how could I not suggest this?

I wanted to give my students a bigger choice, so I asked the readers of my blog for more suggestions:

Kenneth, W6KWF, replied, "Hands down the most useful and most successful projects I’ve built have been 2m J-poles. I’ve built both the 1/2-in. copper tubing and TV line variants, and use both as my primary antennas. The TV line one is nice because I live in an apartment, so when I need a good antenna, I tie a magnet to the top of it and stick it to my upstair neighbor’s balcony. It’s a very forgiving antenna."

Zeke also like the idea of building J-pole antennas. "You didn’t mention the age group/groups you are working with," he said, "but have you thought about a hands-on project such as a j-pole for 2 or 6 meters. It would give them an opportunity to feel the pride that follows an involved project. Furthermore, the J-pole is a pretty good antenna."

John N8ZYA, said, "I like the [idea of learning CW].it’s like learning to play the guitar or piano. A skill that can be used your entire lifetime!"

Robert suggested, "How about building a 20 meter delta loop? I am very inexperienced when it comes to antenna building, but a friend suggested this for working DX on 20 meters and it worked out really well. In fact, my first contact on it was Spain!"

I would love to offer my students even more choices. If you have a suggestion, please e-mail it to me at cwgeek@kb6nu.com. Thanks!