Derickson, D., & Stieber, M. C., & Wu, S. C. (2016, June), First-Year Amateur Radio Licensing for  Electrical Engineering Students  Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.26908

\bibitem{asee_peer_26908}
  Derickson, D., \& Stieber, M. C., \& Wu, S. C. (2016, June), \emph{First-Year Amateur Radio Licensing for  Electrical Engineering Students}
  Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana.
  10.18260/p.26908

Dennis Derickson, Marcel C.E. Stieber, and Stanton Chueng Wu.  "First-Year Amateur Radio Licensing for  Electrical Engineering Students".  2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2016, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2016.  https://peer.asee.org/26908 Internet.  23 Jan, 2025

\bibitem{asee_peer_26908}
  Dennis Derickson, Marcel C.E. Stieber, and Stanton Chueng Wu.
  "First-Year Amateur Radio Licensing for  Electrical Engineering Students".
  \emph{2016 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2016, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2016.
  https://peer.asee.org/26908 Internet.  23 Jan, 2025

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_26908
author = "Dennis Derickson, Marcel C.E. Stieber, and Stanton Chueng Wu"
title = "First-Year Amateur Radio Licensing for  Electrical Engineering Students"
booktitle = "2016 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2016"
month = "June"
address = "New Orleans, Louisiana"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/26908}
number = {10.18260/p.26908}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - 1st Year Amateur Radio Licensing for 
Electrical Engineering Students

In this paper, we describe the results of having all Electrical Engineering Students obtain their amateur radio technician examination during their first quarter on campus as part of an orientation course.  Benefits include students becoming licensed to use Federal Communication Commission (FCC) allocated amateur radio spectrum, introduction to advanced electronics concepts early in the curriculum, increased electronics experimentation, and a sustaining source of membership for the on-campus amateur radio community.  The amateur radio service was created to allow for public use and experimentation of one of our key natural resources, the electromagnetic spectrum.  In order to use this public resource, individuals must pass an FCC examination that is taken from a pool of ~400 publically available technical questions. The first year Electrical Engineering orientation course at (University) has made the technician-class amateur radio examination a required part of the curriculum since 2011.   The local on-campus W6BHZ radio club administers the examination during a 50 minute class period.  The W6BHZ group has FCC-authorized Laurel Volunteer Examiners (VE) administer the examination so that there are now no costs to students.  Students have shown an 85% pass rate for the examination over the last 5 years.  Students who do not pass the examination in class are allowed to re-take the examination for full credit at other examination sites by the end of the course period. Over the last 5 years, over 700 Electrical Engineering students have successfully obtained their amateur radio examination as part of the 1st year orientation class.  Projects created by the amateur radio community were incorporated into the formal and informal curriculum for the Electrical Engineering department to take advantage of the newly FCC licensed students.  Informal assessment of 1st year amateur radio licensing includes strong membership growth in the amateur radio club on campus, increased interest in the RF/microwave/communication concentration of the curriculum, and a devoted group of licensed Alumni who come back to campus each year to participate in communication-related service events for the community.

AU  - Dennis Derickson
AU  - Marcel C.E. Stieber
AU  - Stanton Chueng Wu
CY  - New Orleans, Louisiana
DA  - 2016/06/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - First-Year Amateur Radio Licensing for  Electrical Engineering Students
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/26908
DO  - 10.18260/p.26908
ER  -