Hamming it up
Cibola man broadcasts lava lessons to S.C. school

ABOVE: Advanced ham radio operator Dennis Dixon gives a class in local geology over the ham radio to Alene Wilkins's eighth grade class in Summerville, S.C., Tuesday in Grants. Dixon and Wilkins met over the aire as ham hobbyists and came up with the-distance learning science segment. BELOW: Dixon talks with students in Wilkins' eighth-grade class in Summerville, S.C., Tuesday in Grants. — © 2008 Gallup Independent / Helen Davis

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Helen Davis
Cibola County Bureau

SAN RAFAEL — From dawn till early afternoon Tuesday, Denis Dixon held down his seat in an 8-foot by 8-foot room to bring alive images of the Malpais to people all over the country and perhaps the world. First, he presented a lecture during class time for students in South Carolina, then talked to other hams about the lecture and the Malpais, then presented the lecture, or “tour” to more students near the Atlantic Ocean.

Dixon, vice president of the Cibola County Amateur Radio Club N.M., met science teacher Alene Wilkins over the air doing what amateur, or ham, radio operators do — talking to people everywhere over the air. Eventually, it came out that Wilkins is a science teacher with a ham club and radios at her school, and Dixon lives in a volcanic area and has an avid interest in the geology of the area. Teaching about the Malpais and volcanism right from the Malpais was the obvious thing to do.

The task Dixon took on was to use ham radio to bring what could be a dry set of facts to life, speaking to eighth-grade science students in Summerville, S.C., right from the field. Dixon soon discovered he and the class had company from many other places, as other ham operators who had overheard the class or heard about it from friends began “dropping in” to listen when the lecture was scheduled, one class session during the Summerville class’s science semester. Dixon said, “Others started calling in and helped keep the frequency open.”

A scheduled conversation is not a sure thing, besides other conversations that might occur on the same frequency and cause interference, radio conditions can prevent communication.

“We were pretty lucky today. The conditions were good,” Dixon said. “Voices change as conditions change,” he added to explain why students sometimes sound different from one moment to the next.

Wilkins’ students use visual aids to follow the lecture. In the beginning, the lessons on volcanos, lava tubes and how the area was build up were mostly discussion, but as Dixon and Wilkins have worked with the lecture over the past few years, they added a large poster with a satellite image of the lava fields and cinder cones, brochures provided by Leslie DeLong of the U.S. Park Service in Grants, and images from Google Earth.

With Google Earth, Dixon can direct students to features under discussion and get confirmation if they are following. Students can tell him if they are lost on the image and get help in finding the right spot because both the class and Dixon are looking at the same image at the same time.
In his “eight by eight room,” which houses his plus-level operator equipment, Dixon has a copy of the same poster the students use as well as copies of the same park service brochures. Students and long distance teacher keep together step for step through the lave beds.

After taking the students up cinder cones, down lava tubes and through the Ice Cave, and the Malpais of very old trees growing in the relatively moist lava environment, different kinds of lava and how they are formed, and history, Dixon signed off as the class was over for the eighth graders.

Then the other hams sign on. Doug, from Ocala, Fla., called in to say, “I really enjoyed the tour. It really helps to bring it home.” Doug is a Tony Hillerman fan and said the live tour helped him understand the area a bit better. Others said their school had tuned in or they wanted to do something like this with their schools.

“We got an overwhelmingly positive response from the ham community listening” Dixon said. People asked, “When is your next tour.”

“The world opens up from an eight by eight room,” Dixon said.

Information: The Cibola County Amateur Radio Club N.M. meets once a month in Grants and offers licensing tests. Call Denis Dixon at 285-4154 from more information.