Current Stage: Funding
Stages:
Develop Plan -> Funding -> Acquiring Equipment -> Building -> Launching
Overview of ARET
An Amateur Radio Education Trailer (ARET) will enhance the ability of ARROW members to give back to the community and advance the public’s understanding of Amateur Radio and related technologies.
Both adults and students attending events that the amateur radio education trailer is at will see a working amateur radio station, learn about the equipment, technology, and services this amateur radio provides to communities. The Amateur Radio Educational Trailer will provide ARROW members a mobile space to provide demonstrations and teach those who are interested in Amateur Radio with a focus on younger people.
Education Activities
Educational activities developed by the team will use resources from the American Radio Relay League (ARRL, scouting handbooks, STEM programs, subject matter experts, and other relevant resources based on the topic. The Amateur Radio Education Trailer will permit the team the means to provide both instructional training as well as true hands-on experience with actual working equipment and materials.
This approach to understanding starts with simple activities and builds on those activities. This develops the team’s skills/activities, uses activities to get new volunteers to the program, and protects against the team feeling overwhelmed. The current groups the team will focus on providing educational activities for are as follows:
New Amateur Radio Operators – “You received your license now what?”
The focus will be training sessions multiple times a year for amateur radio operators that just received their license or have had their license for some time but are not sure what to do. Participants of local exam sessions would be invited to attend as well as promoting this activity through social media, fliers at amateur radio events, and US postal mail fliers.
Amateur Radio Operators expanding their capabilities or knowledge.
The focus will be to conduct training sessions that give hands on experience with setting up and operating different amateur radio bands/modes like: UHF, VHF, HF, DMR, Winlink, Voice, FT8, CW, SSTV, and others. Training in emergency communication, radio net control, passing radio messages, and others that will support amateur radio served agencies.
Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Boy Scouts
ARROW club members have already been supporting the scouts and would like to offer more activities to them. The Amateur Radio Education Trailer will enable the team to take the station to scouting meetings and/or camp outs and conduct various educational activities at different venues. Requests from the scout leaders have been to support activities around the Radio Merit Badge, Jamboree on the Air (JOTA), and the cub scouts STEM NOVA program.
Community
An Amateur Radio Education Trailer permits easier access to community support by having a simple and efficient way to bring the station to where the community activity is located. In initial conversations with community leaders the team will be able to bring the trailer to different schools, community events, amateur radio events, and quickly deploy an amateur radio station where needed.