RICHMOND AMATEUR RADIO CLUB SCHOOL

RARC Amateur Radio License School Registration, classes, and exams are held at the Bon Air United Methodist Church, 1645 Buford Road, Richmond, VA 23235. Please enter the church from the West Bon View Drive side of the building. Signs will be in place to direct you. Classes will be offered for all license class including CW and Electronics for Hams. For details on the classes and registration, see hyperlink located at the bottom of this page. For details call Helen or Mike Ratcliff at (272-7167). For inter-active maps see http://maps.yahoo.com/

Fred Berger, K4LJF gives his disertation on the theory of realativity and other dark secerets of Ham Radio. Chee! Fred will this be on the test.

Luther Harlow, KG4USK is giving the potential new hams their first look at the possibilities of using Satellites on authorized portions of the Ham Bands.

The RARC school was formed in middle 1960's and has served since to graduate many students. The school was originally founded by James Bolton, Jr. WA4WJG and Francis (Buck ) Buchanan WA4WJH. The following is a excerpt of an interview with the founding fathers of the school:

I am Jim Bolton WA4WJG, Buck Buchanan WA4WJH and I got our Novice licenses in 1964, Ted Mathewson W4FJ gave us our exams, he later gave us our Technician exam after which we finally after much work and a couple of tries at 13 wpm we got our General Class licenses. we had no license classes in those days and we knew how hard it was to get the code and theory without the advantage of classes, we even dit dahed the menu at Bill's Bar-B-Cue to each other. So we decided to start a Novice Class.

The first location was Pine Camp on Old Brook Road at Azalea Ave. Buck who hated the code with a passion taught it anyway and I taught the theory. We set up the code up as audio visual, sending each letter a number of times while displaying the letter. Our track record was 90 to 100 % of those who finished the class passed. If memory serves me right the next location was William Fox School on 2300 Hanover Avenue, then the next location was Westhampton School. When we started we did it on our own, we were members of both VARA (Virginia Amateur Radio Association) as well as RARC for a while it was an effort of both clubs until VARA disbanded.

I don't recall how long we were there but it was quite a few years, Mac Crush helped us for many years and then he took over when we retired, when Mac died Ray Roberts took the reins. I came back for awhile and taught the code and Dennis Wyman taught the theory. I don't know if the order is correct as my memory banks are not as good as they used to be. I am glad and I know Buck is too that the classes we started are still going strong

The school is run for two session each year starting in the fall and will offer various levels of instruction dependant upon the demand and needs of the students. Technician, Morse Code, General and Extra classes are generally held each session. The school will be held in it's new location starting Fall 2004 at the Bon Air United Methodist Church located at 1645 Buford Rd. Richmond, VA. Students must pre-register for class and may do so by contacting Helen Ratcliff, KC4KHH at (804)272-7167.

Instructors are the core success of the school and we were fortunate to have a select set of very capable staff to teach each of the classes. Each of the instructors conveyed a wealth of knowledge to their students and helped to make their students successful passing into the early rights of amateur radio. It is amazing what some of their skills are, everything from building antennas, working on complicated math problems to commons sense approaches to setting up your own radio station. A special thanks for a job well done!