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Zero Retries Special - NRAO STEM Opportunity
2023-05-28 - NRAO Program Looking for Students 18-20 Years Old to Learn About the Electromagnetic Spectrum
Zero Retries is an independent newsletter promoting technological innovation in Amateur Radio, and Amateur Radio as (literally) a license to experiment with radio technology.
About Zero Retries
Steve Stroh N8GNJ, Editor
Jack Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editor Emeritus
This is a special edition of Zero Retries — Zero Retries 0096 will publish as usual at 15:30 Pacific today.
I no longer have any involvement with Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), but I continue to strongly support ARDC’s activities in Amateur Radio and related fields, especially ARDC’s encouragement of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs.
One of the core tenants of Zero Retries is that Amateur Radio can be a pathway for techies, and especially youth techies, to better understand radio technology through hands-on experience. Such experience can, perhaps, help lead to a career involving radio technology… and the US needs more of those with deep expertise in radio technology.
Thus I thought it especially appropriate to pass along this Press Release in full to Zero Retries readers.
Please forward this unique opportunity to anyone you think might be interested. Specifically, please pass this along to any technically-oriented organizations such as makerspaces and Amateur Radio clubs that involve youth that are potentially interested in technology careers.
A very, very minor disclaimer (though I cannot imagine that it matters…) — The funding for this program from ARDC was a grant proposal during my tenure on the ARDC Grants Advisory Committee. I (enthusiastically) voted to fund it.
Steve Stroh N8GNJ
For more information, contact:
Lyndele von Schill
Director of Diversity & Inclusion, NRAO
lvonschi@nrao.edu
Dan Romanchik, KB6NU
ARDC Communications Manager
858.477.9903, dan@ardc.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NRAO Program Looking for Students 18-20 Years Old to Learn About the Electromagnetic Spectrum
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory program aims to engage BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ students in amateur radio as a gateway to understanding the electromagnetic spectrum.
April 28, 2023—The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is now recruiting the second group of students for their program, Exploring the Electromagnetic Spectrum (and Why Amateur Radio Matters). This program aims to educate emerging generations about the electromagnetic spectrum through an interactive, substantive experience with amateur radio. Funded by a grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), the program focuses on broadening the excitement of amateur radio among BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ students.
NRAO is looking for 20 students, 18-20 years old, with an interest in learning about the electromagnetic spectrum and amateur (ham) radio—including obtaining amateur radio licenses. The program will begin in September 2023 and run through May 2024.
If selected, students will:
Receive a stipend ($4,000 over the 40-week project).
Meet weekly to learn more about the electromagnetic spectrum and how it is used in a variety of STEM fields.
Engage with scientists and engineers using cutting-edge technology and software in their fields.
Receive cool technology and tools.
Learn about important, wide-ranging, and exciting pathways toward STEM careers.
Prepare to take and pass the Technician Class amateur radio license test. To learn more about this program, and to apply, students should go to
About the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a facility of the National Science Foundation (NSF), operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. Furthering NSF’s mission to advance the progress of science, the NRAO enables research into the Universe at radio wavelengths and provides world-class telescopes, instrumentation, and expertise to the scientific community. NRAO’s mission includes a commitment to broader, equitable, inclusive participation in science and engineering, training the next generation of scientists and engineers, and promoting astronomy to foster a more scientifically literate society. NRAO operates three research facilities: the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), which are available for use by scientists from around the globe, regardless of institutional or national affiliation. NRAO welcomes applicants who bring diverse and innovative dimensions to the Observatory and to the field of radio astronomy. For more information about NRAO, go to https://public.nrao.edu.
About ARDC
Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) is a California-based foundation with roots in amateur radio and the technology of internet communication. The organization got its start by managing the AMPRNet address space, which is reserved for licensed amateur radio operators worldwide. Additionally, ARDC makes grants to projects and organizations that follow amateur radio’s practice and tradition of technical experimentation in both amateur radio and digital communication science. Such experimentation has led to advances that benefit the general public, including the mobile phone and wireless internet technology. ARDC envisions a world where all such technology is available through open source hardware and software, and where anyone has the ability to innovate upon it. To learn more about ARDC, please visit https://www.ampr.org.
<end Press Release>
Join the Fun on Amateur Radio
If you’re not yet licensed as an Amateur Radio Operator, and would like to join the fun by literally having a license to experiment with radio technology, check out
Join the Fun on Amateur Radio for some pointers.
Zero Retries Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) — In development 2023-02.
Closing the Channel
In its mission to highlight technological innovation in Amateur Radio, promote Amateur Radio to techies as a literal license to experiment with radio technology, and make Amateur Radio more relevant to society in the 2020s and beyond, Zero Retries is published via email and web, and is available to everyone at no cost. Zero Retries is proud not to participate in the Amateur Radio Publishing Industrial Complex, which hides Amateur Radio content behind paywalls.
My ongoing Thanks to:
Tina Stroh KD7WSF for, well, everything!
Pseudostaffers that write about about “Zero Retries Interesting” items on their blogs that I don’t spot:
Newsletters that regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:
Amateur Radio Weekly by Cale Mooth K4HCK is a weekly anthology of links to interesting Amateur Radio stories.
Experimental Radio News by Bennet Z. Kobb AK4AV discusses (in detail) Experimental (Part 5) licenses issued by the US FCC.
TAPR Packet Status Register has been published continuously since 1982.
Other Substack Amateur Radio newsletters recommended by Zero Retries.
YouTube channels that regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:
HB9BLA Wireless by Andreas Spiess HB9BLA
KM6LYW Radio by Craig Lamparter KM6LYW (home of the DigiPi project)
Modern Ham by Billy Penley KN4MKB
Tech Minds by Matthew Miller M0DQW
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More bits from Steve Stroh N8GNJ:
SuperPacket blog — Discussing new generations of Amateur Radio Data Communications — beyond Packet Radio (a precursor to Zero Retries)
N8GNJ blog — Amateur Radio Station N8GNJ and the mad science experiments at N8GNJ Labs — Bellingham, Washington, USA
Thanks for reading!
Steve Stroh N8GNJ / WRPS598 (He / Him / His)
These bits were handcrafted (by a mere human, not an Artificial Intelligence bot) in beautiful Bellingham (The City of Subdued Excitement), Washington, USA.
2023-04-28
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Portions Copyright © 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Steven K. Stroh.
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