This 4-day Intensive will include 2 days over Emergency & Off-Grid Radio + an Introduction to HAM Radio, and 2 days over Water Purification Systems. This course will be held at our Taos, NM campus.
**Both courses include access to an online module to be completed prior to the on-site course.
Water Purification Systems
Dates: August 14th & 15th, 2025.
The Water Purification course is a 2 day hands-on hybrid course held at our Taos, New Mexico campus. Students will have access to a pre-recorded module (8 hours) as a primer. The module can be accessed remotely 4 weeks before the start date of the on-site workshop.
Learn all the fundamental steps of building a water purification system using a slow-sand filtration method. Students will work with an existing system to learn the ins and outs of equipment, how to maintain a system over time and how to purify harvested water into safe drinking water.
This course covers several methods of purifying water, and the focus of the hands-on workshop is what goes into building a full-scale slow-sand filtration system as one of the simplest, most sustainable, and most complete methods of filtering water from biological (and other) contaminants. Students will utilize resources that are possible to acquire in any environment, making this a highly practical skillset.
Clean, safe water is fundamental to good health and our very survival. In this course we will cover the common sources and types of contaminants that may find their way into your water supply.
This hybrid course will cover:
- Threat of waterborne disease
- Making water safe
- Common contaminants
- Building a slow-sand filtration system
- Maintaining existing filtration systems
- Various filtration systems
Emergency & Off-Grid Radio + Introduction to HAM Radio
Dates: August 16th & 17th, 2025.
Having your own effective communication system can be a critical tool in a medical or post-disaster situation. What would you do if your cell phone coverage was down in a natural disaster? How can you run communications with family or friends during an extended power outage?
Because you can’t talk on the radio without power, we have detailed instructions on building battery backup systems not only for the radio, but for your home so that you won’t be literally left in the dark during an emergency.
We will dive a little deeper into the world of radio and important concepts on the operation of radios and then move into how to setup a radio dispatch site to assist during an emergency.
The Introduction to HAM Radio section of this course will help to answer many common questions such as what HAM is, how it is used, and how to become licensed.
This is a 2 day on-site course with an additional remote module that will be made available to students prior to the on-site course.
The downloadable HAM module will cover the following:
- Battery backup systems
- Operation of a radio
- Setting up a radio dispatch site
- HAM radio teaching resources for getting your license
- Where and how to take the test
- The overall principles of HAM radio
- HAM radio organizations
- **organizations that emphasize post disaster/disaster relief
- Licensing
- Frequency ranges
- Levels of certification
The 2 Day On-Site Course
The Emergency Communications Onsite class is designed to provide you with hands-on experience in the world of Amateur Radio. Under the guidance of our experienced Extra Class HAM instructor you will learn and practice the following skills and projects:
- Basic soldering skills
- Building improvised batteries from common items to allow you to power LED signaling devices, run a radio, or charge a cell phone
- How to modify the antenna mounts on existing radios to accept any antenna you can build.
- Various antenna builds such as:
- – Coax dipoles
- – Ladder lines
- – J-poles
- A direction finding yagi
- Dispatch center setup and operations
- Direction finding fox hunt using the antennas you built
- Additional discussions in Emergency and off-grid communication subjects
No radio or electronics experience is needed. This course is a complete hands-on and skill building session. We will teach and build all the skills you need in only two days and students will be able to apply them in any environment.
