2008 Woodie Awards
UCF's amateur radio club reaches overseas
Jonathan Hohensee
Issue date: 7/3/08 Section: News
The contacts the club made came from states ranging from Arizona to Wisconsin to Oregon, and at one point the team managed to make contact with radio operators in Madrid.
The members of the Amateur Radio Club also attempted to communicate with the space station and, although they where able to track the signal of the space station, no one in the space station was able to speak with the Amateur Radio Club at the time.
Communicating with other ham radio enthusiasts was not the only part of the competition - the team also received bonus points for successfully completing certain tasks including generating publicity, educating the general public about armature radio and using no commercial power sources. Instead, the club used solar energy to power their radio towers (which only needed enough power to light two light bulbs) and a solar oven to cook their breakfast.
That flexibility of ham radio makes amateur radio stations have certain advantages over cell phones in many emergency situations. The usefulness of amateur radio technology in a disaster is a situation in which at least one member of the UCF's Amateur Radio Club knows from first-hand experience. During the 2005 earthquakes in Kashmir, a vacationing Charles Harpole, former teacher adviser to the UCF Amateur Radio Club and UCF film professor, managed to use car batteries attached to his radio to help those in the devastated country communicate to loved ones.
UCF's Amateur Radio Club meets every Friday between 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the Engineering Building, Room 456. For details about the club, visit http://www2.mmae.ucf.edu/wiki/UCF_ARC.
The members of the Amateur Radio Club also attempted to communicate with the space station and, although they where able to track the signal of the space station, no one in the space station was able to speak with the Amateur Radio Club at the time.
Communicating with other ham radio enthusiasts was not the only part of the competition - the team also received bonus points for successfully completing certain tasks including generating publicity, educating the general public about armature radio and using no commercial power sources. Instead, the club used solar energy to power their radio towers (which only needed enough power to light two light bulbs) and a solar oven to cook their breakfast.
That flexibility of ham radio makes amateur radio stations have certain advantages over cell phones in many emergency situations. The usefulness of amateur radio technology in a disaster is a situation in which at least one member of the UCF's Amateur Radio Club knows from first-hand experience. During the 2005 earthquakes in Kashmir, a vacationing Charles Harpole, former teacher adviser to the UCF Amateur Radio Club and UCF film professor, managed to use car batteries attached to his radio to help those in the devastated country communicate to loved ones.
UCF's Amateur Radio Club meets every Friday between 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the Engineering Building, Room 456. For details about the club, visit http://www2.mmae.ucf.edu/wiki/UCF_ARC.