 |
Ham Radio Jepperdee
28 July 2015 | by 
There is great entertainment value in ABC-TV’s Jeopardy! program. This author sees educational opportunities everywhere; wouldn’t it be great to be able to play a game like this for a club program or for a review session after a licensing- exam course? A student at Siena College provided a template for a quiz game in PowerPoint; our junque box was large enough for construction to proceed. After two full evenings at the workbench, Ham-Radio Jepperdee was born.
My hardware includes push-buttons, lock-out circuitry, lights, and a sounder. DC power is provided by a wall-wart to terminals shown as circles on the left edge of the schematic. I have constructed both a 6-volt version and a 12-volt version of Jepperdee, and I’m currently building a second 12-volt unit. (I gave one to a cousin who is a teacher.)
The electromechanical relays at the heart of the project are not state-of the-art, but they were immediately available. Anyone wishing to build a device like mine may choose to use solid-state circuitry. The speaker symbol on the right of the figure is used to denote an attention-getting alarm.
Although it can stand alone, my quiz-game gadgetry is more fun when paired with Ham-Radio Jepperdee PowerPoint software. Submitted along with this article is a complete game file. Slides 1 and 2 are introductory; slide 3 is instructional; slide 4 is the circuit diagram (perhaps worth describing during a presentation); slides 5 and 6 are the game boards. The rest of the slides complete the game, and they include many features of the familiar TV show.
Left-clicking on any numerical entry on the game board yields a question; the very next frame gives the answer. [Exception: a player may get the Daily Double banner; the slide gives on-screen instructions.] It requires almost no effort to change the wording on any frame of the PowerPoint; the game can be changed as drastically as necessary to suit any purpose.
Ham-Radio Jepperdee (attached) is meant to be entertaining. On ARRL’s web site at http://www.arrl.org/instruction-exam-practice-and-review, one can find several exam-prep Jepperdee games whose questions have been taken from current question pools. These are entertaining and educational.
2 Responses to “Ham Radio Jepperdee”
 Ham Radio Deluxe |
 Ham Radio Prep |
 KB3IFH QSL Cards  Hip Ham Shirts  HamRadioAuctions Reliance Antennas Enigma Shop |  morseDX  Ni4L Antennas  R&L Electronics antennas.us Ears to Our World |
- Matt W1MST, Managing Editor
Answer – Ham Radio Jepperdee
Question – How to make Technician Classes more fun?
We have used this idea at work to make training more interactive. Everyone has a great time plus there were prizes for the winners.
Great job with the circuit Bob. It looks easy enough to expand to more than three contestants.
The HamRadioSchool.com Instructor Resources includes a PowerPoint-based Jeopardy game for the “Rules & Regs” chapter of the HamRadioSchool.com Technician License Course. [ http://www.hamradioschool.com/instructor-resources-video/ ]
We’ve been using it for about five years in the WØTLM Technician Class offering in Colorado. Even sans the electronics, using just eyeballed raised hands in the classroom, it’s always fun. Correct responders get targeted with chocolates, flung by faux-Alex himself. Great idea, and proven to work!
WØSTU