Date: November 2023
Amount: $18,000

The mission of the Ham Radio Village (K0HRV) is to distribute high-quality, innovative amateur radio educational content; offer amateur radio-related hands-on experiences; and provide license testing sessions, both online and in person. With a team of dedicated volunteers, they organize the Ham Radio Village at DEFCON, give talks and demos of amateur radio at events beyond DEFCON, and offer support to the amateur radio community at large. The Ham Radio Village believes that more people in technical fields should have amateur radio licenses and that amateur radio is underrepresented in both the STEM/STEAM and maker communities. Currently, there is little outreach to these communities about the benefits of amateur radio in their fields.

This grant will provide funding to both educate the aforementioned communities on amateur radio and streamline the process of them obtaining an amateur radio license. Specifically, they will reach out to scientific, engineering, hacker, maker, and STEM/STEAM focused conferences where attendees might have an interest in amateur radio (e.g., DEFCON, GRCon, Maker Faire, IEEE Communications Conference). From there, they will apply to, and if accepted, give a related talk and/or teach a one-day Technician Class license course and offer a Volunteer Examiner test session at the event(s). As a result, not only will these newly licensed hams obtain a lifelong hobby that aligns with their professional and technical interests, they can also bring their experiences and ideas to amateur radio, all of which leads to advancing the hobby.

Learn more at https://hamvillage.org/.