AmateurRadio.com

Last estimation of the number of Amateur Operators in the US was 700,000. Now we can add another 62 to that number, as those 96 freshmen, out of 114 who took the test, passed and are now licensed Ham Operators.

Photo Courtesy of CPAC Website

The test session also set a new record for the school for how many signed up to take the test. The Electrical Engineering students from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California, gathered on November 4th for one of the largest exam sessions in the school’s history, sponsored by the college Amateur Radio club, Cal Poly Amateur Radio Club. The previous record of 62 students who passed their Tech license, was set in October of this year.

Cal Poly Electrical Engineering Department Chair Dr Dennis Derickson, AC0P, came up with the idea for the licensing initiative to offer the 180+ students in his class the chance to get their licenses. It took 11 VEs almost an hour to administer the test. A little extra incentive was making this test part of their mid-terms. As of Monday, November 7th, the new hams had their call signs in hand.

You can read more on this at the ARRL website. Congrats to the new Hams, and welcome to the fun!

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne