Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 7, 1993 TAG: 9310070457
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Or you can call her Jessica.
Or call her Ham, if you wish.
Ham means the most, though. It's Jessica's last name, and it describes what she does. She's a ham radio operator.
And at 8 years old, Jessica's one of the the youngest people in the world to hold an amateur radio operator's license.
Jessica got her license from the Federal Communications Commission after only a couple of tries.
She qualified for the novice (lowest level) and the technician-level licenses, catching up with her mother and father who also hold licenses - Jeffrey (N4ZRO) and Joyce (KD4FKA) Ham.
In fact, Jessica holds the same class of license as her mother, and both are only one step behind her father.
To complete requirements for a license, Jessica had to take two difficult tests. She failed one of them on the first try, she said. She had to take that one over and voluntarily repeated the other test in hopes of improving her score.
She did - scoring 94 out of 100 - but it was not easy.
"It was a little bit hard," she said.
But she's not going to stop at this level.
"I want to go high," she said. "But there is some difficult math."
To go higher, her father said, she must become proficient in Morse code, ohms, watts and formulas for figuring antenna lengths.
Not to mention the theory of radio and the regulations governing operation of an amateur radio station.
Jessica is still working on the Morse code, which has minimum requirements of sending and receiving five words a minute.
"I know a few letters in Morse code, but it needs more work," she said.
Her goal is to get proficient in 13 words a minute, the minimum requirement for the class of license above the one she has earned.
Jessica may have had trouble with math on the radio test, but she apparently does not have trouble with spelling. She said she recently got an A on a spelling test at Mount Pleasant Elementary School, where she is in the third grade.
And she said studying for the radio license was harder than her studies at Mount Pleasant School.
It did not make it any easier that she was still in the second grade when studying for the license and completing the tests. She finished the tests just about the same time she finished the second grade, but the license was not awarded until August.
In her spare time, Jessica cares for her hamsters, which she has been raising for several years. She said she thinks she might like to be a veterinarian.
Her father said he hasn't heard of anyone in the United States as young or younger who has earned a license, but he understands there is an 8-year-old in Australia who has earned a license. A family friend, Missy Garrett of Ironto, completed requirements for a license at age 10.
Jessica's accomplishment so impressed her grandparents, Robert and Marie Ham, that they placed a Milestones notice in the Celebrations section of The Roanoke Times & World-News calling attention to her achievement.
"She has accomplished so much to be so young," Marie Ham said. "She deserves recognition."
Marie Ham said that some of the things Jessica had to learn stumps some adults. It requires talent and hard work for someone Jessica's age to complete something some adults can't do, the grandmother said.
Joyce Ham said her other daughter, 4-year-old Jodie, is following in Jessica's footsteps.
Jodie does make-believe talk on a toy radio just as Jessica did in her younger days, their mother said.
"We're hoping Jodie will get interested, too," said Joyce Ham. But she said the family wouldn't try to push Jodie into working toward a license.
"We didn't push Jessica," Joyce said. "She made the decision herself and she's worked real hard. We're proud of her."
With the class of license Jessica has earned she is restricted to fairly short range but has talked to some friends in West Virginia. And she's looking forward to the day she can talk farther out.
Jeff Ham said he is looking forward to the day he can talk to the space shuttle.
"Most of the astronauts who go up in the shuttle have amateur licenses," he said.
He said the astronauts frequently chat with people on Earth over the ham airways.
The ham radio is far more sophisticated than the well-known CB (citizen's band) radio system popular among truckers and many other motorists.
Amateur radios are much more powerful, Jeff Ham said, and can send signals around the world.
Jeff has made contact with an operator in the Ukraine, and Jessica said she has her eyes set on doing the same thing.
The Ukrainian visitors came to Roanoke through the auspices of the Southwest Virginia Wireless Association, a club of Ham radio operators.
Anyone wishing to follow in Jessica's footsteps can join operator's classes held periodically at the Red Cross office in Roanoke. A series of classes that began Sept. 29 are being held each Wednesday night. Call 989-4334 to sign up.
by CNB