Members of the Algonquin Amateur Radio Club in Marlborough took time from their busy lives to chat with students at the Hudson High School over AARC’s 440 MHz repeater. The Hudson High School ARC is under new leadership: Lynda Chilton, KC1RWC, the HUD-TV Cable Access TV Director, and Troy Lefebvre, KC1RUC, of the school’s Business and Technology Department.
Outgoing club leader and W1HUD trustee Reed Prior, W1TF, is still involved supporting the new instructors through the transition.
“We had to store the equipment away as we work through the logistics of reconnecting the antenna to new location in the building. We hope to set it back up in the future but we have to discuss it at a later date,” says Lefebvre.
The students use a handheld Baofeng radio to make the contacts with the Algonquin ARC members.
Ken Horton, KA1GFN, the Algonquin ARC’s treasurer and newsletter editor, spoke to three or four students on Friday, December 9, 2022.
“They wanted to know how long I had been in Amateur Radio and how I become interested.”
Ken says one student also asked if he had any suggestions on the best way to learn Morse code.
“Not being a Morse code person, I couldn’t offer much as far as suggestions other than to practice.”
The students’ questions were not limited strictly to Amateur Radio,” reports KA1GFN.
“They also asked some questions on sports which I came up with the best answers that I could for not being a sports person. They asked which sport I liked watching the most; I don’t really watch sports but if were to watch any, it would be baseball. They asked what baseball team I like watching the best. Being from New England, it would be the Red Sox. I guess, though, the idea was to get them to talk.”
“We run a program that we call ‘Enrichment,'” says Troy Lefebvre. “Each day there is time allocated for academic support or enrichment which are fun topics for students to learn more about. We currently have ham radio enrichment on Fridays.”
KC1RUC says the ham enrichment topics have included:
- Amateur Radio – Define it, types, licensing, AARC, resources, local events
- Repeaters – Define, local groups, resources, how to set up your transceiver for a repeater (Baofeng), net events
- Echolink – Define it, its uses, demonstration
- Connecting /Conversation- Mainly with members of AARC or Reed Prior (W1TF)
“It is out hope, based on what we know now and our set up, to continue with the information listed above and expand as Lynda and I learn more. This coming summer, we hope get our General class licenses, revisit the equipment and antenna set up and expand the offering in the fall of 2023.”
Troy says the biggest challenge they face is “continuing to get good numbers for enrichment. They have been going down as of late, but of those that do come they are really interested. I would like to have a solid foundation throughout the year and ideally, have it in place for the fall.”
Hudson High School is a public school enrolling about 950 students in grades 8-12. It is located in the New England town of Hudson, MA, about 27 miles (43 km) west of Boston. We offer a broad general education curriculum, including about 155 elective courses to meet widely varying student interests.