Gary Vaught, W9TIG, invited CMRA to attend the local homeschool cooperative fair on August 23 at the Columbia American Legion Post facility. Attending for CMRA were Myron Kern, W0ZH; Roy Parker, AA0B; and John Beatty, NO0I.
The fair is held each year at this time as homeschool parents and students begin the school year. Its purpose is to invite individuals and organizations that may be of interest to homeschool participants, such as STEM, Sports, and Educational providers. Our goal was to provide information about ham radio as an enrichment subject for homeschooled students.
A table was setup with introductory hand-out material about Amateur Radio, license requirements, HF, QRP and VHF equipment, and CMRA info. Dee BERGSTRAND, KC0DEO, provided sample adventure books on our table to read about Amateur Radio and encourage and inspire the hobby.
Roy provided a portable long wire antenna, which was connected to the club’s HF radio and setup by Myron for live copy over the air. Roy also brought his QRP radio and his $100 HF transceiver. Kids were attracted to the CW paddle and amplifier and enjoyed trying it out.
We also demoed a UHF simplex contact with John’s HTs.
We collected a list of parents that would like further information and will contact them to see how we can help them. The upcoming fall Tech class was mentioned frequently, and hopefully there will be some kids and parents attending.