Amateur Radio in Education at the Naval Academy
Bob Bruninga, WB4APR

AMATEUR RADIO is used in the Naval Academy's Aerospace labs to conduct various hands-on experiments with satellite technology at low cost. The photo shows then acting NASA Administrator Admiral Steidl being briefed on the LABsats the students use in our Aerospace curriculum. The next two photos show the Academy's first and second satellites, PCsat launched in Sept 2001 and PCSAT2 attached to the outside of the Space Station in July 2005.

AMATEUR SATELLITES: Using innexpensive off-the shelf amateur radio equipment these small working satellite models include RF hardware suitable for actually working from orbit. There are more than 70 Amateur Radio satellites that have been launched since Sputnik in 1957 and the Naval Academy has built 5 of them.

PUBLIC SERVICE: Most people think of HAM radio as those individuals that can still communicate after natural disasters beacuse their equipment is independent of the complex interdependent consumer systems which overload at the first hint of trouble. But in addition to public service, a more consistent and routine application of Amateur Radio is in education where it gives teachers, educators and students personal access to the airwaves. Without an Amateur Radio license, individuals cannot experiment in any way with any kind of electroncs communication device. Yes, they can buy numerous toys and phones and gizmos at their local electroncs store, but they cannot then experiment with them in any way other than the specific purpose with which they were licensed.

THE LICENSE: An Amateur Radio license is like a National Park Permit for the hiker. Just like the hiker who is then free to explore the vast wonder and beauty of the park without damaging it, so too is the licensed Radio Amateur able to explore the Electromagnetic Spectrum and experiment without impact to others through his demonstrated knowledge of radio techinque. The only thing "amateur" about Amateur Radio is the FCC's definition of "non-pecuniary interest", meaning the experimenter cannot benefit monitarially from his use of the spectrum. Similarly, this is what keeps the logging companies and mining companies from decimating the national parks.

SEARCH AND RESCUE: A special application of Amateur radio and GPS was developed at the Academy for tracking individuals and vehicles. Not only is this used for our boats on summer cruise, but also it is used across the country for tracking all the assets during a search and rescue. Annually we track the Academy's 130 mile run of the Army/Navy game football to Philadelphia. The communications system for these experiments consists of only a laptop interfaced to a small Amateur Radio.

FLIGHT HERITAGE: The five successful Naval Academy Satellite designs that are completely dependent on their Amateur Radio heritage are shown below. By operating in the International Amateur Satellite Service, they are available to any other schools, universities or students worldwide for experimentation. This commonality encourages colaboration with other schools making similar compatible systems.

Without access to the experimental spectrum available to licensed Radio Amateurs, it would be impractical to build these satellites. Radio spectrum, especially satellite spectrum is worth Billions of dollars on the commercial market and student experiments would not stand a chance. Our other student Amateur Satellites are ANDE, RAFT, and MARScom.

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