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By Pete Kemp, KZ1Z
Students love to communicate. They don't want to be left out of anything! To harness this energy and take advantage of middle schoolers' desires to know what students are doing everywhere, radio e-mail fills the bill. While Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) can pass e-mail, one needs a modem and a computer to receive mail. Using packet Amateur Radio, you can utilize the ARRL National Traffic System for delivery via a friendly telephone call or communicating directly with schools who are packet radio ready-to-go!
A basic packet radio set-up consists of: VHF transceiver, antenna, computer/software or data terminal, Terminal Node Controller (TNC). Portable set-ups consist of: laptop computer, TNC and hand-held radio.
Radio junk mail ties up nets, clogs up packet frequencies and computer space on packet radio bulletin boards. So you will want to have useful messages. Some areas to consider include: Interdisciplinary work combining Technology and Language Arts, Computer Science, Art, Science and Math. You are limited only by your imagination. Surveys requesting information on a variety of subjects such as political straw polls, musical groups or other student issues will spark a responsive cord among them. Data retrieval for scientific interpretation or math statistical work is an excellent first project for packet e-mail. For example, you may ask participants to send the high and low temperatures for their area on a specific day or week, identifying their geographic location by using longitude and latitude. The data may be used for drawing charts and graphs in Social Studies, Meteorology or Math. Share the data for doing spreadsheet work in Computer Science, and transforming the data into a variety of graphic representations.
Celebration messages are a lot of fun--students send messages to other students to wish them all the best during holidays, after the school has received an honor or won a sports event. ASCII graphics spice up messages via non-NTS circuits. Keyboard art can be used on packet radio. Long pictures aren't appreciated. Software and TNC developments allow for ANSI picture transfers, but be sure the format is compatible--don't send control characters which may be misinterpreted by non-compliant systems.
_ \`\|/ / H A P P Y T H A N K S G I V I N G
o o \ \ | //
|/\\__\_\|// From
/ ======,
\ _---,' Pete, KZ1Z and the BEARS
| | Bethel Educational Amateur Radio Society
/\ /\ Bethel Middle School
Bethel, Connecticut
73
/oo\
/oooo\
/oooooo\ All the Best of the Holiday Season!
/oooooooo\
/oooooooooo\ from
/oooooooooooo\
/oooooooooooooo\ KZ1Z and the BEARS
/oooooooooooooooo\
|| the Bethel Educational Amateur Radio Society
|| Bethel Middle School Bethel, Connecticut
NTS, the ARRL-sponsored National Traffic System is an excellent way to send messages. While we often think of packet as the primary method of sending messages, you should not overlook other modes such as APLINK, AMTOR, PACTOR, HF Packet and RTTY. Many areas of the country have long established VHF-packet-to-HF-digital links.
Messages should always be prepared in NTS format (see Appendix A) if you aren't sending a message to a specific amateur radio station's home BBS. Also, get a copy of the ARRL numbered radiograms.
Use of a text editor to prepare your messages off-line. This allows you to verify content, spell check and to generate a bulk-loading text file to upload messages efficiently (see Appendix B). Save your messages in pure ASCII format. Imbedded control characters associated with specific word processing programs will cause problems during transmission and printing. If you plan to upload messages to a local BBS regularly, contact your local Sysops to set up forwarding paths and see what suggestions they offer.
Infusing Radio E-Mail into the classroom offers many opportunities and readily yields positive results. The educational process is enhanced by such hands-on practical activities. Many pen pals, long-lasting friendships and funny stories have been garnered through this medium. Digital communications over radio are a natural for today's students who've grown up with computers, as they begin to understand that the Super Highway of tomorrow extends to the sky, and isn't limited to traditional telephones.