LA HABRA : School Puts on Airs for Ham Radio Day

People from throughout the United States and Canada reached out over the airwaves Wednesday to touch students at Imperial Middle School during the school’s annual Ham Radio Day.

The event highlighted an unusual school course in amateur radio operation that is designed to turn children on to radio operation, as well as to electronics and geography.

“We are one of the few schools with a ham radio course,” Principal Betty Bidwell said.

The school’s 750 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders were allowed to wander among the tarp-covered tables where volunteer radio enthusiasts, most of them retirees, chatted with ham radio operators in such far-flung places as Canada and Texas, as well as with other nearby operators.

“It’s very exciting to listen to other people and I think I would like to try the class,” said eighth-grader Maria Garcia, 14.

Since the program, open to seventh- and eighth-graders, began three years ago, 27 students have received radio operators licenses from the Federal Communications Commission and can now broadcast and receive messages all over the world.

“I like that I can talk to people in different states and countries,” said seventh-grader Larry Miller, 11, who has been in the class since September and planned to take the FCC test for his license later in the day.

In addition to the broadcasting, other special equipment such as hand-held radios and a system to link computers by radio were on display Wednesday. But even an exhibit on Morse code, lacking the high-tech glamour of other equipment, piqued some students’ interest.

“It’s seems exciting to learn, because I would like to know what all the beep-beep means,” said sixth-grader Ricardo Reyes.

Paul Barron, a retired chemicals company manager, and Floyd Nicholson, a retired radio broadcaster, organized the class and the annual event three years ago with the help of fellow hams from the Western Amateur Radio Assn. in Cerritos and the Downey Amateur Radio Club. The two men volunteered their time to teach the course at Imperial for the first two years before science teacher Granville Yoshina earned his FCC license last year.

Yoshina, who now teaches the course, said he hopes Wednesday’s event will attract more interest in the class, which has 11 students this semester.