It’s nearing the time of Churches and Chapels on the Air again! Here in the U.S., Churches and Chapels on the Air (CHOTA) is a fairly new concept. A few years ago, I was fortunate to play a leading role a couple in getting a few operators on this side of the pond to get on the air for this very special event. For over a half century now, it has been led by WACRAL,
Read MorePresenter Opinion - Question Pools Should Make Teaching Classes Easier→
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Last week, I taught a one-day Tech Class at DEFCON, arguably the premiere cybersecurity/hacker conference in the U.S. It was my fourth year teaching this class under the auspices of the Ham Radio Village. This year, there were 66 people in the class.
Read MorePresenter Opinion - One lump or two (or three)?→
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If there’s anything that radio amateurs like to kvetch about it’s licensing. How many license classes should there be? How difficult should the tests be? What kind of privileges should each class get?
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, the debate was incentive licensing. Incentive license was supposed to be an effort to get radio amateurs to upgrade their technical skills. As you progressed up the ladder from Novice to Extra, you received more operating privileges, mainly on the HF bands. In practice, however, it stripped privileges from General Class hams, and so many of them got upset with the ARRL—which backed the program—that I believe it was the start of the ARRL’s demise.
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