Qso Today - A Conversation For Amateur Radio Operators

Frank Howell, K4FMH, has a love for radio and electronics that goes back over 60 years, but is only a recent licensee.  Frank serves as the ARRL Assistant Director of the Delta Division, and avid ham radio journalist, and podcaster. He makes a great case for recruiting retired people into the hobby by the energy, volunteerism, and technical devotion that he discusses in this QSO Today. 

Dennis Kidder, W6DQ, is an amateur radio renaissance man, a collector of the game changing radios from pre-World War 2  to the present. He enjoys 80 meter AM on his Collins broadcast transmitter and working 10 Ghz SSB with the San Bernardino Microwave Society.  Dennis is the co-author of Arduino Projects for Amateur Radio and a sought after speaker at ham radio events. W6DQ is my QSO Today

Paul Andrews, W2HRO, re-entered amateur radio, after a 35 year break,  by working FM satellites with a Yaesu portable and a dual band antenna.  Experimentation with a simple moon bounce array led to bigger and better antenna arrays, power amplifiers, low noise preamplifiers, higher frequencies, and more QSOs.  

Burt Fisher, K1OIK,  raised a stir and perhaps the ire of many hams with a 2008 YouTube video critical of amateur radio operators and their operating practices. While it is easy these days to have conversations with anyone who shares our opinions and beliefs,  it is more difficult to have conversations with people who do not share our views. K1OIK tells his ham radio story and shares his opinions that led to the controversial video and the rest of the story in this QSO Today.

Ralph Fedor, K0IR, has participated in at least 15 DXpeditions to the most remote parts of the World. Ralph shares his amateur radio story leading up to his DXpedidions, the opportunities, the lessons learned, and the avoidance of fate off of Bouvet Island in 2018.  K0IR took a break from preparing for the upcoming Pitcaryn DXpedition in October for this QSO Today.

Eric Sears, ZL2BMI, who joins me from New Zealand,  is famous for this 80 meter QRP double sideband rig that he designed and documented in the 1980s for his personal use when “tramping”  in the forests and mountains of New Zealand. Eric’s stated design philosophy and rigs proved to be robust and foundational for other QRP rig builders, especially in the southern hemisphere through the years.

Gordon West, “Gordo”WB6NOA, may be one of ham radio’s most well known ambassadors and promoters of our amateur radio hobby today.  Through his books and courses over the years, Gordo, has licensed thousands of individuals to become amateur radio operators. Gordo tells me that this is the first time that he has told his ham radio story from the beginning in this episode of QSO Today.

John Nowacki, W3NA, was a teenager in the early sixties when we won a contest to name a popular amateur radio line of antennas that are still sold today.  John shares his ham radio story that began with a friendship more that sixty years ago that continues to this day. Now a retired physics teacher, W3NA, chases DX shares his ham radio activities with his fellow NERDS.

Dr. Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, is the 2019 Dayton Ham of the Year because of this contribution to the amateur radio art though his combined professional interest in ionospheric physics and the amateur radio modes, such WSPRnet and FT-8,  that build big data bases of propagation data. HamSCI is an organization founded by Nathaniel on this concept. Nathaniel tells his ham radio story leading through Svalbard and McMurdo Station in Antarctica, to a National Science Foundation grant to HamSCI that arrived during the recording of this QSO Today.

Philip Lazar, K9PL, is the editor of the K9YA Telegraph monthly newsletter, a wonderful journal of technical articles and ham radio history.  Like many budding amateurs, Philip’s story began with the gift of a shortwave radio receiver and listening to the shortwave bands. A ham operator for over 40 years, Philip likes CW, vintage equipment, QRP, and kit building.  Getting on the air is key to Philip’s ham radio success and is the subject of this QSO Today.

Jeanne Socrates, VE0JS, who, once her current voyage ends hopefully at the end of August,  will have the distinction of being the oldest person to sail solo around the World without touching land or getting any help of any kind while underway. This interview conducted by satellite phone to Jeanne somewhere in the South Pacific near Tahiti. Ham radio has been key to Jeanne’s voyages and this one especially. VE0JS shared her ham radio story in this QSO Today.

Phil Erickson, W1PJE, sits on a million watt UHF transmitter at the MIT Haystack Observatory, where he studies the atmosphere and radio propagation.  Phil is a long time radio guy but a newcomer to amateur radio. As you will hear in this QSO Today, the tools, modes, and technology of amateur radio are complimenting the research achievements of scientists like Phil, W1PJE.

Dino Papas, KL0S, leads the Williamsburg Area Amateur Radio Club in Williamsburg, Virginia, using the leadership skills that he acquired after 26 years in the US Army.  Dino is a frequent contributor to amateur radio magazines, including QST, offering his unique and needed perspective on our ham radio hobby. Along with his wife Toby, KL0SS, Dino provides a ham radio maker space in his garage to share his knowledge and resources with his fellow hams.

Ray Heffer, G4NSJ, commandeered the family shortwave radio, as a kid,  to further his interest in shortwave listening and ultimately amateur radio. Ray made his career as a television, radio, and audio visual equipment repairman, and now specializes in the repair and restoration of 1940’s vintage AM radio sets.  I found this endeavor to be fascinating and Ray has created some clever and novel solutions to keep these radios entertaining their owners in the QSO Today.

Steven Bible, N7HPR, made a career in the US Navy, spending almost two years under water on the Trident submarine.  Steve is a long time contributor to TAPR, the Tucson Amateur Packet Radio Corporation, perhaps amateur radio's "Bell Labs".  Steve and I discuss his ham radio storym the developments of TAPR, and TAPRs contributions to advancing the state of the art in amateur radio.

Rod Moag, W5NDS, interests in radio and electronics paralleled an interest in American Folk and country music leading to advanced degrees in Linguistics and South Asian languages.  Ham radio plays a solid role throughout this story as it weaves it way in and out of Rod’s professional career. Rod’s musical career and performances are one of the diamonds in this episode of QSO Today.

Rich Zwirko, K1HTV, was quickly bitten by the DX bug in the late fifties and has gone on to log just about every DX entity on every band. Rich made a career of radio serving as a teenage broadcast engineer in his hometown of New Haven, Connecticut, and later ended his career at the Voice of America in Washington DC.  Getting on the air is Rich’s mantra that he shares with us in this QSO Today

Glenn Johnson, W0GJ, began his ham radio journey as a teenager and from his love for chasing DX, has since been to many DX entities around the world including Heard Island, an attempt last year to land on Bouvet Island, and an upcoming DXpedition later this year to Pitcairn Island.  Glenn’s interest and determination to provide these rare DX entities along with this DXpedition group, is worth the weeks at sea, sometimes in terrible conditions. Glenn was able to break from his preparations for Pitcairn to spend this QSO Today.

David Reed, W5SV, began his ham radio story in Mexico at the age of 6, and was undoubtedly one of Mexico’s youngest hams at age 7.  W5SV has a rich and interesting story that includes stints in electronics technology, advanced education, as a US Marine Corps pilot, and as homicide detective. The twists and turns in this story makes this QSO Today an interesting ride.

Mark Ziegler’s ham radio story began as a  youngster that moved him into a career as an electronics engineer with the famous Bell Laboratories.  Now retired, Mark enjoys operating from an RF quiet QTH in rural New Hampshire. Wind power is WA2ILB’s alternative power source of choice and is one of the subjects that we discuss in this QSO Today.