Amateur Radio and the Electrical and Computer Engineering Laboratory Curriculum: Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Amateur Radio Licenses are now available completely online for students with no cost.

Dennis Derickson; Chuck Clayton Bland; Marcel Stieber; Kevin Annik Shin-Wheeler

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Zone IV Conference
Location: Vancouver
Publication Date: May 12, 2022
Start Date: May 12, 2022
End Date: May 14, 2022
Conference Session: Poster Session
Tagged Topic: Conference Submission
Page Count: 2
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44715
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/44715
Download Count: 46

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Paper Authors

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Dennis Derickson California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

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Dennis Derickson is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at California Polytechnic State University. He received his Ph.D. , MS, and BS in electrical engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of Wisconsin and South Dakota State respectively. He got his start in Electrical Engineering by getting his amateur radio license in 1975.

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Chuck Clayton Bland Cal Poly, SLO Electrical Engineering Department

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Prof. Chuck Bland graduated from the Cal Poly electrical Engineering Department in 1982 to start a career with Motorola Solutions implementing Public Safety Communications systems. Thirty-five years later he returned to Cal Poly as a Lecturer in the Electrical Engineering Department. Chuck is a long time member and supporter of the Cal Poly Amateur Radio club. He and his wife Darla have two kids and a granddaughter.

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Marcel Stieber Cal Poly Amateur Radio Club

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Marcel Stieber is an Electrical Engineering alumnus of California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. He was a former President and is current Industrial Advisor to the Cal Poly Amateur Radio Club (www.W6BHZ.org). His Masters Thesis is titled: "Radio Direction Finding Network Receiver Design for Low-cost Public Service Applications." Marcel was licensed in 2008 and received his Extra License in 2010. Marcel regularly volunteers at local repeater workdays as an RF technician and tower climber and was appointed as an ARRL Technical Specialist in 2021. He is an ARRL Life Member and has helped license over 1700 hams since 2009, mostly recently working to develop processes and train teams using fully-remote examination methods using ExamTools. Marcel has taught numerous classes including: Introduction to Electrical Engineering for Non-Majors and an Advanced Digital Communications Lab. Marcel currently works as an Electrical Engineering Systems Lead at Amazon Lab126 in Sunnyvale, CA and serves on the Cal Poly Electrical Engineering Industry Advisory Board.

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Kevin Annik Shin-Wheeler Cal Poly Amateur Radio Club

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Former President and current Vice President of the Cal Poly Amateur Radio Club at the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. Responsible for campus student amateur radio testing for the last two years. Accredited volunteer examiner and session manager for the Greater Los Angeles Amateur Radio Group VEC, involved in remote testing since September 2020.

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Abstract

The Federal Communication Commission has authorized a range of frequencies to be available to the general public for radio experimentation since 1912. The amateur radio community has been active in many developments in radio science since its inception to current times. Amateur radio activities and the Electrical and Computer Engineering curriculum are well matched for hands-on laboratory experiments. The COVID-19 era in 2020-2021 has now made it easier than ever for students to get their radio license. FCC examinations are now offered completely online with multiple offerings each week starting in 2020. Online examination sessions are offered at no cost to the student in many cases.

This presentation outlines how it is easy to offer a Laboratory assignment activity for students to get their technician class FCC amateur license in the university environment. It also gives several examples of compelling laboratory activities that are associated with amateur radio.

How do students get their technician amateur radio license? The key starting point is the web site www.hamstudy.org. The hamstudy web site provides a learning environment where students can go through the 400 FCC examination questions. Flash cards are available for study that include explanations for each answer. Students typically need about 6 hours of study to become proficient at either memorizing or exercising logic for each test question. Hamstudy then provides sample 36 question practice exams to make sure that students are ready to pass the exam. A score of 26/36 is required to pass the exam. Students can then go to the hamstudy exam appointment feature to set up their online examination via ZOOM. These examination appointments are available many times a week and students should be able to find a time slot quickly that fits into their busy schedule. Getting an amateur radio license can be a key assignment as part of the university laboratory activities.

The presentation will outline several low cost laboratory experiments that use Amateur Radio to give students direct experience with the radio spectrum. RTL-SDR software defined radios and nano-VNAs were purchased by students as part of the laboratory preparation. The RTL-SDR is priced at $25 and the nano-VNA is priced at $60 from Amazon. RTL-SDR software defined radios in conjunction with SDR Sharp spectral monitoring software allow for a general purpose receiver that covers the 100 kHz to 1.5 GHz frequency range. The nano-Vector Network Analyzer provides for scattering parameter measurements and a general purpose radio frequency source at frequencies from 10 kHz to 3 GHz. Students were required to take the FCC amateur radio licensing test over the period of the laboratory. A first “hands-on” experiment was to create a broad-band VHF and UHF discone antenna using 12 gauge wire and a BNC panel mount connector. The nano-VNA is used to verify that the antenna the student designed and built was well matched to the 50 ohm input impedance of the RTL-SDR. Students then monitored several radio services including signals from their mobile phone. A next step was to monitor the low frequency spectrum in the 0.5 to 30MHz range where ionospheric propagation is possible. A 14 MHz wire dipole antenna was created and tested with the nanoVNA. The RTL-SDR receiver is configured to receive WSJT4 weak signal transmissions on the amateur radio band at 14.074 MHz. Students were able to identify ionospheric signals transmitted from several continents even though the signal-to-noise ratio was well below 0dB. Students were able to get a wide exposure to the radio spectrum as part of this experiment series with connections to amateur radio.

The intent is to provide a poster presentation at the conference. The poster will cover the new on-line procedure for FCC amateur radio licensing. Amateur radio related ECE laboratory experiments will be demonstrated live.

Citation
Format

Derickson, D., & Bland, C. C., & Stieber, M., & Shin-Wheeler, K. A. (2022, May), Amateur Radio and the Electrical and Computer Engineering Laboratory Curriculum: Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Amateur Radio Licenses are now available completely online for students with no cost. Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Zone IV Conference, Vancouver. 10.18260/1-2--44715

TY - CPAPER
AB - The Federal Communication Commission has authorized a range of frequencies to be available to the general public for radio experimentation since 1912. The amateur radio community has been active in many developments in radio science since its inception to current times. Amateur radio activities and the Electrical and Computer Engineering curriculum are well matched for hands-on laboratory experiments. The COVID-19 era in 2020-2021 has now made it easier than ever for students to get their radio license. FCC examinations are now offered completely online with multiple offerings each week starting in 2020. Online examination sessions are offered at no cost to the student in many cases.

This presentation outlines how it is easy to offer a Laboratory assignment activity for students to get their technician class FCC amateur license in the university environment. It also gives several examples of compelling laboratory activities that are associated with amateur radio.

How do students get their technician amateur radio license? The key starting point is the web site www.hamstudy.org. The hamstudy web site provides a learning environment where students can go through the 400 FCC examination questions. Flash cards are available for study that include explanations for each answer. Students typically need about 6 hours of study to become proficient at either memorizing or exercising logic for each test question. Hamstudy then provides sample 36 question practice exams to make sure that students are ready to pass the exam. A score of 26/36 is required to pass the exam. Students can then go to the hamstudy exam appointment feature to set up their online examination via ZOOM. These examination appointments are available many times a week and students should be able to find a time slot quickly that fits into their busy schedule. Getting an amateur radio license can be a key assignment as part of the university laboratory activities.

The presentation will outline several low cost laboratory experiments that use Amateur Radio to give students direct experience with the radio spectrum. RTL-SDR software defined radios and nano-VNAs were purchased by students as part of the laboratory preparation. The RTL-SDR is priced at $25 and the nano-VNA is priced at $60 from Amazon. RTL-SDR software defined radios in conjunction with SDR Sharp spectral monitoring software allow for a general purpose receiver that covers the 100 kHz to 1.5 GHz frequency range. The nano-Vector Network Analyzer provides for scattering parameter measurements and a general purpose radio frequency source at frequencies from 10 kHz to 3 GHz. Students were required to take the FCC amateur radio licensing test over the period of the laboratory. A first “hands-on” experiment was to create a broad-band VHF and UHF discone antenna using 12 gauge wire and a BNC panel mount connector. The nano-VNA is used to verify that the antenna the student designed and built was well matched to the 50 ohm input impedance of the RTL-SDR. Students then monitored several radio services including signals from their mobile phone. A next step was to monitor the low frequency spectrum in the 0.5 to 30MHz range where ionospheric propagation is possible. A 14 MHz wire dipole antenna was created and tested with the nanoVNA. The RTL-SDR receiver is configured to receive WSJT4 weak signal transmissions on the amateur radio band at 14.074 MHz. Students were able to identify ionospheric signals transmitted from several continents even though the signal-to-noise ratio was well below 0dB. Students were able to get a wide exposure to the radio spectrum as part of this experiment series with connections to amateur radio.

The intent is to provide a poster presentation at the conference. The poster will cover the new on-line procedure for FCC amateur radio licensing. Amateur radio related ECE laboratory experiments will be demonstrated live.

AU - Dennis Derickson
AU - Chuck Clayton Bland
AU - Marcel Stieber
AU - Kevin Annik Shin-Wheeler
CY - Vancouver
DA - 2022/05/12
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Amateur Radio and the Electrical and Computer Engineering Laboratory Curriculum: Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Amateur Radio Licenses are now available completely online for students with no cost.
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/44715
DO - 10.18260/1-2--44715
ER -