Amateur Radio Courses at Universities in the United States!

 Some time back I had read about a VU educational institution offering a course for amateur radio, aimed at passing the ASOC examination and becoming radio amateurs. Hence I was quite intrigued by the thread on QRZ forum mentioning about amateur radio courses at professional engineering institutions in the United States of America. The initial post by W0PV detailed Carnegie Mellon University  offering courses in Amateur Radio with college credit. The post had cited an article from the News and Events Section of College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Electrical and Computer Engineering division. The post was titled as "Amateur Radio for Aspiring Professionals". According to the article, the 20 students who enrolled in the 'Introduction to Amateur Radio' course were thrilled when they made their first contact with other amateur radio operators during the field day class. So this is another way of bringing more Youth on the Air in amateur radio!


There are several positive student experiences worth reading in the article. AA3TZ, Tom J Zajdel, teaching professor of electrical and computer engineering has been teaching at the course since 2022. Though the course is open to all students of Carnegie Mellon University, most of those who attend are engineering students. They are expected to pass the US Technician Class amateur radio licensing exam which gives them access to some of the amateur radio bands. Of course, those who are interested can pursue their studies further and qualify for the General or Amateur Extra grades of examinations with much more operating privileges in the US. Carnegie Tech Radio Club is active with the callsign W3VC. The article is well illustrated with pictures on field day activities of great interest to radio amateurs in general.

W0PV goes on to mention that Carnegie Mellon University is not the only US University which offers a course on amateur radio. Wiess School of Natural Sciences at the Rice University at its Department of
Physics and Astronomy also offers a course on the Physics of Ham Radio. That course is open to all undergraduate and graduate students. This course also aims at passing the Technician level of amateur radio licensing exam in the US. The course instructor is Professor Patricia Reiff, W5TAR who is also the former (founding) Director of the Rice Space Institute. Text book recommended for the course is Ham Radio License Manual Fifth Edition by ARRL. Rice Ham Radio Club operates with the callsign W5YG. A field trip with a balloon launch is also there on the course agenda! Let me hope that more Universities in the US and around the globe will follow suit and offer courses in amateur radio to bring more and more Youth on the Air.

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