Norway Introduce Programs to get Kids into Ham Radio
/Norway is planning to introduce a 10 watt Entry Level License that will enable young people 12-13 years old to get started building simple transmitters and receivers
The Norwegian Research Council has given 1 million Kroner (£86,516) to support the project to recruit young radio amateurs.
Within the framework of its program "Strength of children and young people's digital competence and understanding of digital technology", the Norwegian Research Council has allocated 1 million kroner to the project "Radio Communications Technology for Young People".
The project is carried out by NRRL and the Research Institute of Forsvaret (FFI) and the project manager is Torbjørn Skauli, LA4ZCA. The project aims to increase interest in technology and science in schools. The idea is to introduce amateur radio as a kind of "freely chosen work" in the high schools. The project also includes developing an entry-level certificate, that allows 12-13 year olds to get started with amateur radio.
Norway's communications regulator, NKOM, has received clear directives and work is now done to design certificate requirements and conditions. The project has a clear focus on the "makerspace" phenomenon and wants to encourage young people to start by building simple transmitters and receivers. Therefore, you want a low power limit of a maximum of 10W to avoid interference from home-built appliances, Torbjørn, who is a professor at FFI, has previous experience from voluntary "Code Workshops" in the school where children are taught to program. An important challenge for programming, makerspaces and amateur radio is to get dedicated and trained teachers who can drive the business forward once the project has been ended. SSA looks forward to interesting cooperation with NRRL in this area.
