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General Upgrade Class

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 03/14/2015

On Saturday, March 14th, the long mentioned General One Day Workshop was held at the SPARC clubhouse. This workshop has been in the works for a few months. The following 4 students attended the class:

  • Ray Farmer, KM4GHB
  • Sean Favata, KM4SFF
  • Alfie Shary, KK4MYO
  • Terry Simms, KK4TNA

The 4 students started studying back in January as this was not a cram session. Starting at 8:30 Saturday morning, the students, led by Tom Schaefer, NY4I and his fellow instructors, Kyle N4NSS, and Bob, N2ESP, were well-prepared with all having previously passed online practice exams. The goal of this session was to cover the material to offer a real-world view of it. Rather than just reading about elements on a Yagi antenna, the students were able to review the actual antenna at the club station. While having lunch, the students were able to get a hands-on look at different RF connectors (N, UHF and SMA). Again, the book covers this but giving the students the ability to touch the parts helps cement the concept. Plus it gets them ready for using that they learned on the air.

Kyle, N4NSS demonstrated PSK31 with an eye towards the bandwidth of the signals comparing them to SSB signals. Bob, N2ESP found a DX station and let the students listen to the DX station working split. Similarly, Tom were able to show the students forward and reflected power at the station with a live transmitter rather than simply reading about it. The format of this class clearly worked as their instructor is proud to report that when the SPARC VE team came in at 6:00PM, all 4 students PASSED and are now the new holders of a General class license!

This was a fun class to do as it lets the club help future generations of hams get on HF and enjoy more of what this wonderful hobby has to offer. The goal was to make sure the students feel comfortable using their new privileges. How about you? What’s holding you back from upgrading?

Given enough interest, the club is certainly willing to start a session for the Extra class test. If anyone is interested, please contact Tom Schaefer, NY4I to be placed on a list for a potential weekend workshop. No promises, but if there is enough interest, a similar session could be arranged for the Extra exam.

Thanks to all the members that helped with this class. Special thanks goes to Larry, AL4B for merciless promoting the class on the SPARC net and the SPARC VE Team: Donn, N4KII; Richard, N4BUA; Dave, KR4U; Dee, N4GD and Ron KP2N.

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Published in Licensing and Upgrading

Tom Schaefer NY4I
Tom Schaefer NY4I

Hello. I have been a member of SPARC on and off since 1992. I am the current president of the club. Formerly I was the Vice President under Ron KP2N and a board member for several years. I was heavily involved in the club station working with Ron KP2N, Dave KR4U and John KI4UIP. I was also a contributor to the SPARC Remote station which was used by several SPARC members to either augment their own stations or provide a station to use for those in HOAs or other living arrangements that kept them off of HF. We had quite a few users of the remote utilizing the RemoteHams software. I hope to strike a balance in SPARC between fostering operating skills, teaching new people about ham radio and also offer a great social experience to members that may just come to the meetings for camaraderie. As a general-purpose club, I believe SPARC can cater to all those aspects of our wonderful hobby. I hope you join me along the way...

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