WIRELESS ELECTRONICS COURSE - Beginner Level

For Scouts, Home School, or After School students in grades 4-12, AND parents, this IN-Person wireless electronics course will prepare you to take the Amateur Radio TECHNICIAN license exam. Parents are encouraged to participate with their students.

Amateur radio (or “ham radio”) is used by people all over the world to communicate. Some people use ham radio for emergency preparedness, to provide communications support for community events, to report on severe weather and natural disasters, as a social activity, and even occasionally to contact crew members on the International Space Station!  Watch these videos from the American Radio Relay League.

Students Are Free: This course is FREE for students in high school or younger by using the code ARISS22 when you check out from your shopping cart. Students who pass the FCC license exam will get a free hand-held amateur radio. Parents are also FREE and are encouraged to take this workshop with their students.

BENEFITS FOR STUDENTS

Students will learn about radio wave propagation, the electromagnetic spectrum, layers of the ionosphere, electronic circuits, radio operation, electrical safety, antennas, and so much more!

Students will learn how to solder electronic circuits and build an FM radio receiver to keep.

On the final day students will take a 35-question FCC radio exam and become licensed amateur radio operators! The license is valid for 10 years and easily renewable. This is a great addition to anyone's resume or college application.

For many students, ham radio is a gateway into STEM careers such as Electrical Engineering, Space Exploration (many NASA astronauts are licensed amateur radio operators!), Emergency Management, Radio Systems Specialist, Aerospace Engineering, Medical Fields such as X-ray/MRI technicians.

DATES FOR SPRING 2025 WIRELESS ELECTRONICS COURSES FOR TECHNICIAN LICENSE

Note that these are in-person classes because some of the material requires hands-on soldering or experimenting. However, we MAY provide Zoom access on days when driving might be hazardous.

($400 for non-members, but students and accompanying parents are free - see info below.)

Eight Fridays, MAR 21, 28, Apr 4, 11, 18, May 2, 9, 16, 2025, 4:30-7:00 PM.  Optional review and exam on MAY 23, 5:00 PM. (A snow day pushes everything to May 30.) (Bring a sandwich dinner, if you like.)

Students Are Free: This course is FREE for students in high school or younger by using the code ARISS22 when you check out from your shopping cart. Students who pass the FCC license exam will get a free hand-held amateur radio.

In addition to registering for this workshop, please fill out the Student Permissions Form.

Included with course: You will get downloadable lecture study guides and charts, FREE access to our weekly Online Radio Shop Talk sessions, FREE enrollment in any of our Morse Code classes, and a guest pass to the Sci-Tech Radio Rooms and online radio club meetings for 3 months. Students will keep any soldering kits they build and keep the portable ham radio upon successful completion of the FCC radio exam.

COURSE SYLLABUS

Day 1. FCC Rules & Definitions (§1) and hands-on practice with radios
Day 2. Radio Wave Characteristics (§3) and soldering your FM radio
Day 3. Electrical Principles (§5) and soldering your FM radio
Day 4. Electrical Components & Functions (§6) and soldering your FM radio
Day 5. Modulation & Modes (§8) and programming radios
Day 6. Radio Operating Procedures (§2) and practice with radios
Day 7. Antenna & Feed Lines (§9) and Radio Station Setup (§4) and practice
Day 8. Station Equipment & Troubleshooting (§7) and Hazards & Safety (§0)
Optional day 9. Review, FCC TEST, and distribute free radios (Test can be taken on other days as well.)

OTHER COURSES AND LICENSE EXAMS

We administer ham radio exams both online and in-person, having proctored nearly 2,000 exams over the past decade. We’ve taught amateur radio classes for over 15 years with tremendous success. Hundreds of people have taken our classes with 99% having passed the exam to become licensed operators. We offer classes for all three levels of ham radio licenses: Technician, General, Amateur Extra, as well as Morse Code.