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WA7YUL
This is a class of 4th grade students in 1977 at the Northern Arizona University Elementary School in Flagstaff, Arizona. Bob Ower, WA7YUL, taught at the Elementary School from 1972 to 1980. After receiving an amateur radio license in 1973, Bob soon began using amateur radio in the elementary classroom as a teaching aid. In this picture, Bob is holding the microphone of a Tempo One tranceiver as the class posed for a photo for the University newspaper. Among the activities that took place in Bob's classroom were dx contacts in Europe and Japan. When a station was contacted, the other ham would answer questions from the class and tell the students something about his country. The students would use a globe with a string attached to plot a line from Flagstaff, AZ to the location of the station contacted. The students were delighted when they received a QSL card from the station.
The students also participated in a regular weekly schedule with a station in Iowa, operated by a former NAU graduate student, Dr. John Bury, then WB7QOI, now KL7QZ in Alaska. John would invite a small group of elementary school students to his house one afternoon a week after school, and they would play chess with Bob's students via amateur radio. Since they only had about 30 minutes each week to play chess, it would sometimes take many weeks to complete a game.
Bob also taught Morse code, as well as some basic radio/electronics theory to the students, and, as a result, during the years that Bob taught at NAU Elementary School, several students were licensed as amateur radio operators. Some were inspired to go on to careers in radio communicatons, electronics and computers.
The Rig at WA7YUL
Bob's current station consists of a Kenwood TS-B2000 using both a Kenwood RC-2000 and a Northgate PC to control the tranceiver. Bob also has a Kenwood TM-D700A dual band vhf/uhf mobile rig and a Kenwood TH-D7A(g) dual band vhf/uhf HT.
Operating at WA7YUL
Bob currently has two main interests in amateur radio: county hunting and traffic handling.
When his schedule allows, Bob monitors the County Hunter's Net on 14.336. Having worked many counties from Flagstaff, and also mobile in years past, Bob is now working counties from his current location in Prescott, Arizona.
Bob has also been interested in traffic handling since he was introduced to amateur radio during high school. His friend, Don Oelze, former W7SIX, relayed traffic for the Arizona National Guard at a time when they were deployed on a mission on the northern Arizona border. Bob assisted Don in writing down messages and making telephone calls to the Prescott National Guard Armory. In the 1970's, Bob became a member of the Arizona Traffic and Emergency Net (ATEN) and served as a net control station for that net for a number of years. Although career pressures and family moves forced Bob to become inactive with that net, he is now a regular check-in to ATEN. The net meets every evening, 7:00 MST, on 3.992.
Memberships
Bob holds the following memberships:
>ARRL – Life Member
>Yavapai Amateur Radio Club (YARC)
>Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA)
Favorite Links
International Internet Leathercrafters Guild
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