Amateur radio headed to Pickaway-Ross

CHILLICOTHE — Pickaway-Ross Career and Technology Center science instructor David Pentecost has a philosophy that he always tries to live by.

"If you don't take a chance, you don't have a chance," he says.

With that in mind, a recent chance he took in partnership with engineering program instructor Mark Johnston appears poised to pay off for the school and some of its students as they prepare to enter the world of amateur radio — what many people prefer to call ham radio, although Pentecost is not fond of that phrase.

Acting on something that has been kicked around as a possibility for a couple of years now, Pentecost sent a grant request to the Amateur Radio Relay League seeking funds for amateur radio station equipment with the intent of augmenting the engineering program and attracting interested students into the world of wireless communication and other related technologies.

The ARRL announced this week that Pickaway-Ross was one of just four schools across the country to be selected for a grant from the organization's Education & Technology Program. Pentecost said Thursday he was reviewing a letter that would commit Pickaway-Ross to three years of support for the project. A budget containing details of what equipment will be needed to establish an amateur radio station at the school to get some students licensed as amateur operators will also need to be provided in determining the final grant funding amount.

There are several educational benefits to the program, said Pentecost, himself an FCC-licensed amateur radio operator.

"For a student, it's learning about the electromagnetic spectrum and how it works, that would probably be the primary scientific benefit," he said.

It also will expose students to what makes wireless technology work, allow them to explore more deeply into the world of electronics and basic radio system operations and give some the opportunity to earn one of three levels of FCC amateur radio licenses. The first level of licensure is a technician license, which allows the holder to broadcast within a specific range of higher frequencies. The next step up would be a general license, which adds more frequencies to the list, with the highest licensure level being an extra license that permits broadcasting on all frequencies.

Pentecost's hope is that many in the first class of juniors to go through the program will earn their technician license, then as seniors will not only earn their general license but also encourage a new crop of juniors to get excited about the program to help build it beyond the initial three-year period.

Johnston said there is a certain "cool factor" to the program that should make it appealing to students.

"We just made a basic antenna and Dave brought it down (to class) and we contacted somebody down in Jackson and (the students) were just amazed that we could contact somebody with an antenna that we made," he said.

Pentecost and his wife attended a professional development session at ARRL headquarters in Connecticut and, while there, they had the opportunity to take part in several activities showing the range of opportunities that exist with the technology. They built simple electronic kits, programmed robots, uplinked to an amateur radio satellite to connect with a user in another state with a small, handheld radio and antenna, and did a "fox hunt" in which they used radio triangulation techniques to locate a hidden transmitter.

"When you start thinking about radio technology and doing things like fox hunting, you're starting to use triangulation, you're starting to use simple mathematics, you're having to calculate the angle at which you're going to try to hit a satellite as it moves at 17,000 or 18,000 miles per hour past your location," he said. "You're using web-based technology to understand where those satellites are and where they're going to come up over the horizon."

Pentecost also notes the practical applications of amateur radio, including the ability to perform a public service by providing communications during a disaster or power outages or providing logistical support for events, which amateur radio operators do during the annual Tour of the Scioto River Valley.

While Pentecost is not sure how the program will turn out in the end, he is excited about the chance to build what he hopes will be a longstanding tradition students can get excited about at Pickaway-Ross.