Like the successful “Ham Bootcamp” program sponsored by the Nashua Area Radio Society, The Consortium was formed out of a need to mentor new amateurs in the Providence, Rhode Island area. And like Ham Bootcamp, it, too has had to adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bob Beaudet, W1YRC, and Jim Johnson, K1GND, formed the idea for The Consortium back in 2007. “Listening to the Scituate 146.76 repeater over time, I noticed that several newer hams who were talking about antennas, matching networks, transmission lines, grounding methods, mobile noise remedies and dozens of other common issues were making lots of mistakes in their theory and assumptions. They didn’t even understand most of the terms they were using.”
Since the start of the pandemic, K1GND and W1YRC have switched to weekly electronic tutorials. “Until the restrictions permit us to resume sessions of the Consortium […], Jim K1GND and I are providing electronic material to continue providing Basic Radio material in order to remedially provide knowledge that we all missed working our way up to getting our license.”
They eagerly look forward to resuming in-person meetings at the Asia Grille in Lincoln, Rhode Island as soon as it is safe to do so.
For more information about the Consortium, visit <http://w1ddd.org/consortium.html> or check out The Consortium article in the April, 2018 issue of QST.