William, M7WHB – aged 10

My dad is a radio amateur so I have watched him talk to people and I thought that looked interesting. I’m not at school due to COVID-19 and thought that it would be good to learn a skill instead of just doing schoolwork.

Before I decided to do the online learning, I looked at “Alex’s adventures in amateur radio” on the RSGB website and that was quite helpful. I read the Foundation Book and did the Essex Ham/Hamtrain online course. My dad helped me with the bits I didn’t get!

The Technical Basics was tricky for me as there were things I hadn’t done at school like the power triangle and Ohms law. I really liked learning about propagation because I’m interested in science and space. I didn’t really find any of it easy, some bits like EMC were just less hard!

I had a chat with Bob, my invigilator, a few days before the exam. He told us what to expect and how it would work. He was very helpful and explained everything really well. The actual test was quite hard – I had to show Bob around my bedroom by moving my computer to make sure I didn’t have anything hidden to help me. He gave us all some good advice about how to tackle the exam and reminded us to read the questions carefully. The TestReach programme is really simple and I didn’t have any problems using it. I liked that I found out I had passed as soon as I had finished. I celebrated my pass by jumping on my bed…then I remembered Bob was still watching!

At the moment I am enjoying using digital voice on 2m to talk to people near me as well as all over the world via the internet. I am also getting more confident talking on the radio and I’m learning to use my Dad’s HF radio which has lots of knobs and buttons.

Next I would like to have a go sending SSTV pictures and maybe data modes. I’m going to be doing more stuff portable if it ever stops raining!

None of my friends are interested in amateur radio at the moment. I have talked to them about it and maybe if they could come and see it working that might get them involved. My school doesn’t have an amateur radio club. I hope that we are going to taking part in JOTA in cubs/scouts as that would be good fun.

Category: GOTA2C: Licensee stories