In the article published on November 11, 2023, we reported that TARC members helped 5th through 8th graders at St. John Catholic School build six AM Crystal Radio kits. In order that they could hear the stations louder, the Education & Scholarship Committee developed a single-stage transistor (common emitter) audio amplifier kit to connect to their crystal radios forming a transistor radio.
As with the previous kit, there was no soldering required for assembly, so Steve K4OPZ cut the baseboards to mount the screw terminals, and donated perf boards to mount transistor sockets that Ron K4TCP had donated. Jim KO4MNB soldered the leads on to the potentiometers and perf boards. TARC members who volunteered to help the kids build their amplifiers were Glenn WA4NMW, Tim KQ4JVQ, Michael K3ZMD, Helen KJ4UGH, Bob KG4UGE, Steve and Jim.
In a one-hour class time, the six student teams were able to complete assembly, connect their amplifiers to their radios, and pull in three strong stations with only 10′ of antenna wire strewn across the floor inside the concrete parish hall building. The Principal and Teachers have been very appreciative of all our efforts saying the kids are having fun and learning a lot. Hopefully we are grooming future hams – that is how many of us got started.
