For the second year in a row, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend the American Radio Relay League Teacher Institute in Newington, Connecticut. This summer I attended TI – 2 from July 8 – 12th. Thanks to the generous donations of ARRL members, I was afforded the chance to further explore ways in which I can bring Amateur Radio into the classroom.
The second year of Teacher Institute helped me delve further into Remote Sensing and using radio to bring Space into the classroom. Throughout the week, seven other participants and I were offered the chance to operate W1AW, take tours of the ARRL Headquarters, and learn new ways for us to bring HAM radio alive for students.
Over the course of the week, Instructor Matt Severin brought participants through building a remote sensing buoy using an Arduino and sensors that included GPS, Pressure, Altitude, and Temperature. Participants programmed their buoy to relay information through the APRS system. Using a Yaesu FT-60R and 12-volt battery, the buoys were set outside overnight. Each participant’s buoy sent over 20 hours of data through APRS. Participants then copied the data into Excel and created several graphs that showed the change in temperature inside and outside the buoy over the course of time. We were also able to see the health of the battery and other measurements over the course of the same time. I believe one use for my new buoy will allow me to have students utilize local data while studying statistics in mathematics class.
Participants also explored how amateur radio could easily be brought into the classroom through the use of SDR radio. By connecting an SDR to a laptop in conjunction with the program HDSDR I was able to hear local radio stations, the NOAA weather updates, and packets being transmitted through the air.
The item that I found most exciting was the use of our new Arrow Antennas to make satellite contacts. During the course of the week, participants went outside of headquarters several times to attempt contacts through SO – 50, AO 91, and AO-92. Being rather new to ham radio, I found this very challenging as the airways on a good pass are very noisy. I also discovered that I am far too polite to interrupt others. To get over this, myself and another participant took our radio and Arrow antennas back to the hotel and attempted a contact in the early morning. I am pleased to report that I was able to make my first satellite contact on SO-50 at 7:10 am in the morning. Okay, I stand corrected. It was really my second satellite contact since I did get to contact the International Space Station with my students last December.
Another thing I found interesting was using my Arrow and SDR radio to collect data packets from the passing satellites. On one pass AO-91 turned on its picture transmission so that we could attempt to collect the packets. I was able to collect 6 of the packets but did not get a picture. We then looked at the telemetry that we were able to collect from the satellites.
On the last day, we once again used the APRS system. This time we used the MAREA protocol to send commands to the same Arduino robots that we built last year. With a few extra pieces we were able to send our robots’ instructions to move forward, backward, left, and right. The MAREA protocol was a great demonstration of how NASA controls rovers that have been sent to the moon and Mars.
I would like to thank all of those ARRL members whose contributions made these two years of professional development possible. I will remember this forever. It was even more special to me as the first day of this workshop landed on a day that many others dread. I turned 40 on July 8th. While I was not with my family, I gained a whole new family of educator friends that I know will continue to support each other as we bring Amateur Radio to a whole new generation. Thank you, Ally, Kris, ARRL, and the Nashua Area Radio Club Members who continue to support me through my continued discovery of Amateur Radio.
Dan, AC1EN
