Wednesday, November 23, 2011

One Big Test Session!


Over 100 freshman electrical engineering students at California Poytechnic University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo took their Technician Class ham radio license exams on November 4th in what is being called one of the largest single test sessions anywhere, and especially on a college campus. Ninety-six of 114 candidates passed their exams. The license exam was offered as one midterm exam option for the 189 first-year students in the school's Introduction to Electrical Engineering course. According to "Newsline," the "Freshman Licensing Initiative" is the brainchild of the Electrical Engineering Department's Chair, Dr. Dennis Derickson, AC0P. Eleven volunteer examiners oversaw the test session. Through quick processing work by the ARRL/VEC and the FCC, the 96 new hams learned their callsigns by the following Monday, November 6th. Dr. Derickson and the Cal Poly Amateur Radio Club hope their success may encourage other colleges to adopt similar programs.