Ridgefield Community Center

Offers HAM Radio Course

RIDGEFIELD — The Ridgefield Community Center’s Lounsbury House is offering an eight-week course on becoming a HAM operator. The instructor is Louis Parascondola, a 40-year veteran of HAM radio.

In the earliest days of radio, every station employed the same wavelength. Government stations, ships, coastal stations, and the increasingly numerous amateur operators all competed for time and signal supremacy in each other’s receivers. Many of the amateur stations, or HAM operators, were very powerful. Two amateurs working each other across town could effectively jam all other operations in the area.

Mr Parascodola’s amateur radio-licensing course will cover all the necessary education needed for passing the federal government’s amateur radio examination. Participants will learn how to operate a radio, lean the rules and regulations set forth by the FCC, and how to send and receive Morse code. Budding HAM operators will also have the opportunity to discuss the integral role HAM radios play in communication, emergency communication, homeland security, and relation to computers. A study guide, Now You’re Talking, will need to be purchased for this course.

The course is offered Wednesday evenings September 24 through November 12, from 7 to 8:30 pm. Cost is $160. For more information, or to register, contact the Ridgefield Community Center at 203-438-6962.