Educational Benefits of Amateur Radio in Schools

EDUCATIONAL

BENEFITS OF AMATEUR RADIO AMATEUR RADIO TECHNOLOGY SERVICES (ARTS)

RECOMMENDATIONS

FOR CURRICULUM

AARS-KL

One interesting method of communication, amateur radio, also referred to as ham radio, meets the criteria of a disciplinary core curriculum because of the many features and domains it involves.

Students can learn wide range of subjects in electronic,space science and communications.

Electronics circuits,signal processing.

Study of the ionosphere & communications systems.  Unit Small textconversions.  Physical sciences, earth and space sciences.

Small textEngineering technology and mathematics.   

A document by Biju Gopi Thilaka, VU2HBI Founder of AARS-KL- Visit us at www.aars.in,mail to us : qso@aars.in

INRODUCTION Education Service have explored the use of radio in the classroom almost since radio technology entered into the mainstream of society, yet radio remains a relatively unused mode of instruction. This article describes several radio applications and summarizes several radio activities for the classroom.�

ADAVANTAGE OF AMATEUR RADIO Amateur

Radio

provides

important

societal,

educational,

and

emergency

communication services to the community. Modern networked communication systems are delicate and interdependent, and often fail during natural disasters.

Traditionally, trained Amateur Radio operators have provided communication support to government and relief agencies in times of national disaster. This has been recognised by many governments who now include Amateur Radio operators in formal disaster drills.

Modern Amateur Radio encompasses digital electronics, computing, building and launching satellites, bouncing signals off the moon, pioneering new digital modes for weak signals and many more areas of modern electronics and communication.

Amateur Radio has tremendous educational value for science and technology students. The Amateur Radio community has an active schools program where school students have been able to build satellites, learn modern software coding techniques, and even talk directly by radio with astronauts on the International Space Station.

Like most high technology areas these days Amateur Radio operations, equipment, and software is developed and carried out by a global community. If Australia is to benefit from all the opportunities Amateur Radio has to offer, then spectrum allocation and technical standards need to be harmonised with global standards.

Many countries around the world recognise that Amateur Radio provides important societal, educational, and emergency communication services to the community.We are very proud to say that “Active Hams are fully well trained First responder Hams in India, who can manege provide medical first-aid during a disaster,The Active hams Group is AARS-CRV ( Community Rescue Volunteer) We are well trained under Kerala Fire & Rescue Department at Kollam under the Guidance of the District Fire Officer K.Hari Kumar.

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION: The Indian government was so impressed by the amateur radio response to the

Nepal earthquake, that they are planning a number of amateur radio-equipped emergency operation centres.

Modern networked communication systems are delicate and interdependent, and often go down during natural disasters. Traditionally, trained Amateur Radio operators have provided communication support to government and relief agencies in times of national disaster.

In September 1979, during the flash floods at Morvi due to the Machhu dam burst in Gujarat, more than a dozen amateur radio stations of western India activated emergency radio stations to pro-relief agencies, government officials and victims of the disaster in the cities of Rajkot, Baroda, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Similar services were rendered by hams during the cyclonic storms in Saurashtra and a number of times in Andhra Pradesh-a state prone to cyclonic storms following weather distrurbances over the Bay of Bengal.

You might recollect the earthquakes in Uttar-Kashi and more recently at Latur in Maharashtra and adjoining areas where ham radio operators provided the essential communication network for coordinating and organising relief operations, arranging medicines, food and clothing for the affected people. This specialized technical sports or hobby is very much a national asset like any other nongovernmental public service organisation (e.g. the Red Cross). Ham Radio has reestablished its importance during the recent Orissa disaster (the devastating cyclone), when all the communication facilities broke down.

Amateur radio has proven itself a reliable and robust backup during emergencies.

Many countries now involve amateur radio operators in earthquake and national disaster drills.

MODERN AMATEUR RADIO Many people have an out-dated view of Amateur Radio. Modern Amateur Radio encompasses digital electronics, computing, building and launching satellites, bouncing signals off the moon, pioneering new digital modes for weak signal and many more areas of modern electronics and communication. It also has tremendous educational value for science and technology students.

SCHOOLS PROGRAM: The Amateur Radio community has an active schools program as part of the STEM initiative,

designed

to

attract

students

to

the

important

Science,

Technology,Engineering, and Mathematics subjects that are so important for our country’s economic development. Through these Amateur Radio activities, school students have been able to talk with Amateur Radio operators on the International Space Station, build Amateur Radio satellites (called Cube Sats), and learn modern software coding techniques for sending digital information by radio. School

children are motivated to take up science subjects when they experience the thrill of talking with astronauts directly using amateur radio.

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION:

Amateur Radio is also used in universities to enable important research. One area often ignored by modern communication companies is weak signal reception.

Many important breakthroughs have been made by Amateur Radio in this area. It is well known that Amateur Radio software was used by the Australian defence vessel Ocean Shield in the search for missing Malaysia Air flight MH370 to detect the minute signals from the plane’s black box.v Closer to home the EPIRB locator used by many emergency services in Australia was developed by an Australian Radio Amateur.

TEACHING THE HISTORY OF COMMUNICATION Students may begin their study of communications technology by reading about some early devices and their inventors. Radios and telegraphs are part of early communications technology history, and Samuel Morse, Guglielmo Marconi, Lee DeForest, Philo Farnsworth, and David Sarnoff were communications pioneers.

The first popular radios were called crystal radios because they used crystals to receive the broadcast signals. Building a crystal radio, either from a kit or from parts, is an engaging, hands-on science activity. In addition to building the crystal radio, earth science and chemistry teachers might consider making the galena crystals that receive the signals. Many early crystal radio listeners made their own galena crystals before radios were sold in stores. Teachers can also use radio assembly projects to help students learn about electricity, wave energy, the electromagnetic spectrum, the earth's atmosphere, and the sun's effects on the earth's atmosphere. Many popular electronics stores have a full range of reasonably priced, easy to assemble electronics and radio kits.

AMATEUR RADIO: PRACTICING HANDS-ON COMMUNICATION SKILLS Many students today build their own web pages; however, students in the 1950s and 60s, built the radios from locally available components. Many engineering students earned amateur radio licenses from the Wireless Planning and Coordination wing (WPC) and built their own ham radio stations. Today, most ham radio operators buy ready-made radio equipment, and many enthusiasts listen to packet radio (connections between radios and computers) or participate in ham satellite communications. Other ham radio operators communicate with the NASA Space Shuttle and the Mir Space Station via amateur radio. Not long ago, the WPC eased the requirements for the entry-level ham license by eliminating the Morse code requirement. Students and teachers can now become Restricted mode operators licence by passing an exams. Plenty of online resources are available for these

exams include the entire ASOC question pool, as well as full explanations for each answer.

School students have earned licenses, however most young hams are in the middle and high school grades (Must have completed 12 years of age to write the exam in India). But in India there are very few schools in the country have amateur radio stations, when we compare the ratio of global school amateur radio stations Students can practice speaking, interviewing, listening, and writing skills in an amateur radio school club or classroom activity. Some teachers use the school radio as the communications link for education. Real-time radio conversations allow students to practice listening and speaking skills-a valuable experience that is not found with an e-mail connection.

INTERNATIONAL SW BROADCASTS: HEARING THE WORLD ON A RADIO Just as an FM school radio is a tool for students learning about local and regional geography, a shortwave radio is a good tool for learning about world geography.

Every country in the world has shortwave radio broadcast stations, and most stations have programming in English, as well as their native language. Beginning with 7th-class social studies curriculum, the study of geography may be enhanced by listening to international shortwave broadcasts. Students will hear news and cultural

programming

that

will

enhance

the

information

found

in

books,

encyclopedias, and on the Internet. Topics such as latitude and longitude, time zones, continents, hemispheres, and the tropics may all be highlighted through radio listening activities.

Writing letters to international stations to give listener reports is a long-standing shortwave listening hobby activity. The writing assignment combines listening and language arts skills. Stations usually reply with letters or special postcards, brochures, posters, key chains, and bumper stickers. Teachers may use these items to prepare interesting displays in a classroom learning center.

BENIFITS ON GLOBAL SW LISTNER Radio technology offers a unique way for school teachers to integrate technology into the curriculum. Elementary teachers can help students learn basic electricity and regional geography in entertaining ways using AM radios. Social studies teachers will appreciate shortwave radios as a tool for teaching India and global topics. Science, physics, and earth science teachers can use radios to demonstrate the properties of electricity, wave energy, weather, and the earth's atmosphere.

English and language arts teachers will be able to use radios to reinforce listening, writing, and speaking skills. With a shortwave radio, foreign language teachers can provide advanced students with an opportunity to hear the authentic language demonstrated by native speakers. Teachers without Internet connections will find radios an accessible technology for bringing the world to their students.

BENEFITS GLOBALLY RECOGNISED: The societal benefits of Amateur Radio are also recognised formally by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU): “Incidental to their basic purposes, the amateur and amateur-satellite services have pioneered new and novel techniques for radio reception and transmission using inexpensive equipment with relatively small antennas.

The amateur service and the amateur-satellite service continue to make significant contributions to the observation and understanding of propagation phenomena and to techniques which exploit these phenomena.

Amateur and amateur-satellite station operators continue to contribute to the development and demonstration of spectrum conservation techniques throughout the radio frequency spectrum.

Amateur and amateur-satellite services provide communications during natural disasters and other catastrophic events when normal communications are temporarily

interrupted

or

inadequate

for

the

needs

of

human

relief

operations.Amateur and amateur-satellite services contribute to the training of operators and technical personnel, which is of particular benefit to developing countries. “In times of disasters, if most terrestrial-based networks are destroyed or impaired, other networks in the amateur and amateur-satellite services may be available to provide basic, on site communications capability.

Important

attributes

of

the

amateur

services

include

stations

distributed

throughout the world which have trained radio operators capable of reconfiguring networks to meet the specific needs of an emergency.�

The overview of the Next Generation Science Standards includes a threedimensional framework that has students actively engaging in scientific and engineering practices, using these concepts across the scientific domains, and the inclusion of a focused core curriculum of instruction and assessments to ensure students attain the information they need to succeed.

One interesting method of communication, amateur radio, also referred to as ham radio, meets the criteria of a disciplinary core curriculum because of the many features and domains it involves.

Within the broad field of amateur radio, the inclusion of electronic circuits, transistors, filters, amplifiers, signal processing, study of the ionosphere, solar weather, communications systems, unit conversions, prototyping, and CAD design

targets the physical sciences, earth and space sciences, engineering technology, and mathematics.

Amateur radio can be a key tool for communicating with others for collaborative purposes and learning, as well as for individual and group problem-solving There are social applications of amateur radio, too. These radio networks are used for radio operators, as first responders, to report to agencies during emergencies and natural disasters .Amateur radio networks work when other traditional networks are down. Students also learn the skill of communicating clearly and concisely during a time of crisis, which is an important, life-long skill.

The teaching of the concepts and practice of amateur radio can be started simply, and then built-upon as the students get older.

PROJECTS AND LESSONS There are many examples of amateur radio being used in schools all over the world and each of the projects has a different focus.

We Active Hams Amateur radio Society has set up many program to get amateur radio into our local schools. This would be a great place to start to learn more about partnering with a radio club in local area to get started. In addition, local and regional radio clubs often plan “Field Days�, which allow visitors to both observe and try radio communications with a licensed operator. Field Days are a great way to introduce students to the many aspects of amateur radio.

Promote community-wide understanding of amateur radio communications Promote interest and proficiency in the use of amateur radio communications Conduct activities and programs to advance the general interest and welfare of amateur radio in our community Help students learn the necessary skills for obtaining an ASOC license Help students to enhance reading, writing, mathematics, geography and communications skills Help students learn about electronics and radio communication techniques Have fun with amateur radio RECOMMENDATION Like most high technology areas these days Amateur Radio operations, equipment, and software is developed and carried out by a global community. If India is to benefit from all the opportunities Amateur Radio has to offer, then spectrum allocation import restrictions, import duty/tax and flexibity to operate from anywhere policy standards need to be harmonised with global standards.