Taking full advantage of the opportunity at hand to pull off a license upgrade, 22 students who Jim Andera, KØ0NK, said "seem eager to learn" signed up for the class the Santa Fe Trail Amateur Radio Club is offering this year to area hams, the Extra class.

     Jim is one of five members of the club who are teaming up to teach the class, which got underway the morning of Saturday, January 10 at the Salvation Army facility just east of downtown Olathe. He has been joined in this effort by President George McCarville, WBØCNK, former President Greg Wolfe, KIØKK, former Vice President Larry Hall, KDØRIU, and Mike Stewart, NØTU, who is pictured in the photograph accompanying this story as he methodically works his way through the material to be covered during the first session of the class.

     Jim told me that the instructors are striving to explain the subject matter in what he called "understandable" language since it is "technically deeper" than the material students are exposed to in the General class and by "quite a bit," according to him. He also noted that many of the students in the class do not have "a technical background" to begin with.

     The schedule calls for the weekly class to continue through the morning of Saturday, February 28, after which the club will be offering an exam session the morning of Saturday, March 7. That session is to be followed the same morning by what Jim has described as a "more informal practical information presentation" that will attempt to answer students' "practical questions" while furnishing them with some "food for thought" as they start to make their plans on how best to enjoy the new operating privileges that come with an Extra license.

     Members of the club taught a General class last winter and a Technician class during the early part of 2024.