Posted on 07/06/2008 9:19:40 AM PDT by mylife
Posted on Sun, Jun. 01, 2008 A boy's passport to the world
Six-year-old Cameron Hasson's world just got a little larger.
The amateur radio license he recently earned puts him in touch with folks from all over.
He's a bona fide “ham” – probably the youngest in North Carolina and maybe the U.S., according to his instructor, Joe Hullender with the Gastonia Area Amateur Radio Club.
All that talk going on out in radio land – endless conversations about the weather and gas prices and whatever – Cameron takes it all in.
The world has opened up. He feels more connected. And he also feels closer to his parents: Eric, a computer consultant, and Beverly, a physical therapist at Gaston Memorial Hospital. Studying in the same class, they all earned their amateur radio licenses together.
Ham radio, like fishing, is something I've always admired, but never had much luck with.
Eric Hasson, 46, got the radio bug as a kid in St. Louis. It came from his dad, Jack, who was into citizens band radio during the CB craze of the 1970s – the “Smokey and the Bandit” days.
Eric decided to study for his ham license, but the FCC's requirement of testing for proficiency in Morse code was a brick wall for him.
His interest in electronics and computers grew as visions of being an amateur radio operator faded.
Until the brick wall collapsed. In late 2006, the FCC did away with the Morse code requirement and Hasson started thinking about ham radio again.
The idea kicked around in his mind for a while. Then, in March, he enrolled in a six-week class sponsored by the Gastonia Area Amateur Radio Club. On the first day, Hasson asked Hullender if a 6-year-old could learn the material. The answer was yes. Hasson asked Cameron if he'd like to try for a license. Cameron was game.
Two-way radio had already captured his imagination. He had a CB, a General Mobile Service and Dick Tracy-style Family Radio Service, complete with a Tracy wrist radio.
These radio services, which didn't require a license, gave his son a little more freedom, Eric Hasson said. His parents could check on him when he was out of sight and feel a greater sense of security.
When her husband and son signed up for the class, Beverly Hasson decided she'd join them.
The radio class was held at the Gaston County Police Community Room. Ages ranged from 6 to 76.
The final exam had 35 multiple choice questions; to pass, you had to get 26 right.
Cameron wanted a technician class license – the beginner's level. Hullender remembers his youngest student as “kind of quiet and serious.”
A kid, maybe, but one who was really into the subject.
Every night at home, Cameron was tutored by his dad. They did research together on the computer. They waded through technical material.
“It was hard,” Cameron recalled.
Test day rolled around. Eric Hasson wasn't sure his son would pass.
But he did.
Cameron wants to go up another notch and get a general radio license. He's a smart kid and will probably make it. But even if he doesn't, he's learned about focus and hard work and family togetherness. At 6, he's way ahead of the game.
Awww jeez... radios and guns? ;)
I think the one in the image is on 40mtrs.
You can get one for 80,40,30 or 20 meters.
Listen on these frequencies and you will eventually hear a rockmite.
AVAILABLE FREQUENCIES:
3560 kHz
3579 kHz
7015 kHz
7030 kHz
7040 kHz
7122 kHz
10106 kHz
14060 kHz
/johnny
/johnny
I have a full length dipole up for 160 meters.
I feed it with parallel line (twin lead) and use it with a little tuner on all bands... with good results.
Mostly QRP but sometimes I put 100 watts into it.
Lately I have got the bug to play with long range wifi using some surplus PrimeStar satellite dishes with little USB wifi dongles at the feedpoint.
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=primestar+usb+wifi&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2
My commercial 802.11a (5ghz) links are easily 10klicks/jump.
Lots of fun stuff out there.
Link management is probably the hardest part. 5G is funny on propogation.
/johnny
Thats pretty impressive for such a low power device
It's been so long I don't even know what bands are open during what parts of the day.....
And I gotta do something about the grounding. That antenna has voltage on it, even without a transmitter running.
/johnny
I just talked to a guy on the southseas North Cook Island, American Samoa..It was a very interesting conversation about life on the Island, weather and politics...He wasn't grumpy or old, and code was never brought up.
Talked to a guy in the Ukraine a few days ago..Nice guy. We talked about current events etc. Lots of fun and very interesting.
/johnny
A transformer shouldn’t be had to find
And what could go wrong with a transformer? Its just coils
I bet yer voltage reg went TU hope it didn’t fry anything downstream
Bet a cap went pop
Give me a clear day and a set of semaphore flags !.......:o)
This rig hadn't been fired up in over 7 years. Transformer failure modes can include: Overcurrent because of failed component on the load side; thermal expansion causing tired old varnish on the wire to fail and short; latent fault that finally shorted. And the other reason, that I can't think of... that was probably it.
/johnny
Well. them old caps dry out. Most of the rest of the stuff should be in decent shape.
Well... age does get to everything but old style caps are very suseptable
/johnny
/johnny
Agree......... When I have more time I will set down and give it a try ! Right now I don’t even have time too go help Eaker & HAT Inc kill themselves with fun !
I knew a fellow that fixed a sonar on a sub making a cap out of tinfoil,waxpaper and toothpaste. Son of a bitch got a medal! They would have to have scrapped the mission for lack of parts!
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