About Us

About Us

The Heathwood Hamsters is Heathwood Hall Episcopal School's Youth Amateur Radio Club. We were founded in January, 1996 by Bruce Schweitzer, AE4NO. Our Ham Radio class met every Wednesday afternoon for an hour after school. After this first year of classes, three students passed received their Technician license (W4JAD, KF4JOE, KF4KAW).

The next Fall, the second set of Ham Radio classes were held. This was when the group became known as the HAMsters. Before the first semester was over, one more student received their Technician License (KT4DX). The next Spring,two more received their Technician License (KF4PII, KF4RNB).

The third year of Ham Radio Classes at Heathwood concluded with three new hams; KF4YSG, KF4ZUA, and KF4ZUC.

Our fourth year of Ham Radio at Heathwood did not fully yield any new young Hamsters-but several are half way there. We wish them the best of luck with studying over the summer. We were, however, able to gain another faculty member/school Chaplain, KG4CEW. Another faculy member passed his Novice written, yet has not passed his Technician exam yet.

If you have any suggestions for our classes, please send them to hamsters@qsl.net

Our club members include:

W4JAD-Hamster #1-The HAMster's Webmaster

KF4JOE-Hamster #2

KF4KAW-Hamster #3

KT4DX-Hamster #4

KF4PII-Hamster #5

KF4RNA-Hamster #6

KF4YSG-Hamster #7

KF4ZUA-Hamster #8

KF4ZUC Hamster #9

AE4NO-Faculty Member/Head Hamster

KG4CEW-Faculty Member/Chaplain

Our first club station was personally owned by our advisor, AE4NO, the set up included an IC-706, a multiband vertical, and a G5-RV. Now our station is in a seperate Amateur Radio Room in the new Robinson Center for Science and Mathematics at Heathwood. Our station currently includes:

Yaesu FT-1000MP HF All mode radio

Yaesu FL-7000 solid state HF amp

Yaesu FT-847 All Mode All Band Radio

Yaesu Satellite antenna rotor

Oscar Antenna

440 directional home brew 4 beam antenna for satellite work

Standard C-5900DA tri-band VHF/UHF radio(6,2,440)

Yaesu 800SDX Antenna Rotor

Force 12 C-3 Tri-band HF Beam

Cushcraft R-7000 10-40 meter antenna

Fritzel 10-80 meter dipole

Diamond V-2000 tri-band antenna(6,2,440)

Power Macintosh 5400/180 with Packet, Computer Satellite Rotor, Satellite radio, ISDN internet access, and SSTV capability.

Kam Plus All mode HF/VHF TNC

Astron RS-35M Power Supply

We are always looking for donations of used radios, especially 2 meter HT's for the new Hamsters who recieve their no-code-tech license and are not yet ready to purchase a radio. If you have an item that you no longer need. Please e-mail us about it. Also, remember that all donations are tax-deductible.

We hope you have enjoyed learning about us. Please send your comments, suggestions, and questions to our Webmaster , or sign our guestbook.

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