Qso Today - A Conversation For Amateur Radio Operators

Jonathan Naylor, G4KLX, pioneered the opening, to amateur radio operators, of D-Star and later other digital repeater modes including DMR and Yaesu system fusion by writing software that could be implemented on Arduino and Raspberry Pi hardware for the creation of multi-mode repeater and hot-spot controllers.  G4KLX shares his ham radio story with Eric, 4Z1UG, in this QSO Today.

AMSAT, the Amateur Radio Satellite Corporation, has launched over 95 satellites into space since 1961.  Keith Baker, KB1SF, former President and now treasurer of AMSAT speaks and write on amateur satellites, what is happening now, how to get started, and how to get involved.  Keith shares is wealth of satellite knowledge in this episode of QSO Today.

Joel Wilhite, KD6W, who has a long history in amateur radio, telephony, and amateur radio TV.  As you can imagine, amateur radio TV has advanced from the slow scan memories of the early 1970s to high quality digital television delivered by repeaters and internet linked networks.  Amateur radio digital TV and microwave roving are a few of the topics discussed with Joel, KD6W, in the QSO Today.

Riki Kline, K7NJ, has a long and interesting ham radio career, from humble beginnings in Las Vegas, Nevada, as a teenage ham,  to his current QTH on over 40 rural acres in Utah. Riki also lives in Israel, part time, in the village of Na’aleh, overlooking Israel’s coastal plain and the Ben Gurion, Airport.  K7NJ shares his perspective as an amateur radio operator who frequently works from either side of the World, likes to chase DX and operate contests in this QSO Today.

Along with a successful career in California high-tech, Paul Gacek, W6PNG, became an amateur radio operator.  Finding that it challenged his mind and created opportunity to learn new things, Paul discovered SOTA, Summits on the Air, and outdoor operating.  California has over 4000 SOTA peaks, and that is a good start for W6PNG, my QSO Today.

David Malin, AA6RV, spent over 20 years working for the City of Los Angeles as its Emergency Coordinator and Emergency Administrator for the Port of Los Angeles.  Now retired, David a lot to say about emergency preparedness and the minimal steps that we should all take to be ready in case of disaster in this QSO Today.

Phil Sittner, KD6RM, has a ham radio story that goes back over 50 years, from childhood. Still living in Northern California, Phil builds his own radios and test equipment, operates CW on 80 and 40 meters, using antennas optimized for his city lot in an HOA neighborhood where antennas are forbidden. We harness Phil’s extensive technical expertise and hear his ham radio story in this QSO Today.

Denny Berg, WB9MSM, has a fascination for old rigs, including the Swan 500 HF transceiver, ham shack software that enhances his on the air user experience, and a love for just getting on HF and operating.  One of the first to get DXCC operating FT8, Denny has a positive, “can-do”, attitude that brings success to both his personal, professional, and amateur radio life.

In episode 33 of the QSO Today podcast, Dr. Greg Latta, AA8V, was described as a renaissance man, a master home-brewer who designs and builds the old tube rigs and fabricates the beautiful metal enclosures that encase them.  Greg is also a college physics professor who says that vacuum tubes are one of the best ways to provide to students a visual representation electrons in motion. We reprise and update this QSO with AA8V.

After running maritime mobile from his 40 foot sailboat for many years, Arnold Ziegel, W2HDI, switched to power boats and all of the challenges to amateur radio brought on by the new boat.  Not deterred by these challenges, W2HDI discovered remote control operation, over the Internet, from his new boat. We dive deeper into Arnold’s ham radio story and remote operation in this QSO Today.

While exposed to amateur radio at an early age, it was not until Mark Rosenberg, 4X1KS, got his first license and upgraded quickly within a few short months, in Memphis, Tennessee.  In Memphis, Robert Barbee, W4AMI, became Mark’s ham radio mentor driving Mark to satellite excellence. Now in Israel, Mark is active in just about every on-air activity, as well as being the consummate fixer and home-brewer.  4X1KS is my QSO today.

Ken Oelke, VE6AFO, stepped up to the plate for his local amateur radio club and ended up making leadership in local and national Canadian amateur radio organizations the major focus of his ham radio activity.  Ken is now the president of the QCWA, the Quarter Century Wireless Association, when not operating both CW and SSB, or fixing one of his broken rigs. VE6AFO is my QSO Today.

Stephen Hicks, N5AC, is vice president of engineering for Flex Radio, is deep in to SDR or software defined radio, likes to chase grid squares in his microwave rover, and observes the growth and trends in our amazing amateur radio hobby.  From Steve’s position on the cutting edge of technology, he has a lot to say in this QSO Today.

Tom Wright, NN2X, grew up in the sixties in the foster care system.  Amateur radio provided a way out of the system and into the US Army and a career in satellite communications.  Tom loves his family, the digital modes, especially the new FT8Call, and helping kids escape poverty by training them for careers in information technology. This QSO is packed with little jewels as NN2X shares his ham radio story.

In addition to his may hobbies and interests, Ray Poularas, VK2GRP, restores vintage military surplus radios back to new condition by carefully tearing down the chassis to the bare metal and rebuilding, sometimes remanufacturing the parts by casting, milling, or 3-D printing.  Ray goes into great detail on his processes and also shares his time management tips that bring him success in all of his pursuits in this QSO Today.

Mike Bryce, WB8VGE, collects and restores the old Heathkit and Drake rigs that we remember from the 60s and 70s, works QRP on his favorite Ten-Tec transceivers, and has enough solar electric power to run everything.  WB8VGE shares the background of all of these things and his current view of the state of ham radio in this QSO Today.

As an eleven year old, watching his dad put pins in a World map while working DX, Bernie McClenny, W3UR, became hooked on ham radio and working his own DX.  Bernie has made working DX, not only his hobby, but his profession as well. Bernie is the publisher of The Daily DX, and author of the monthly QST Magazine column, How’s DX.  We will get into W3UR’s ham radio story and his unusual collaboration with his neighbor this QSO Today.  

Kevin Parmenter, KG5Q, caught my attention from an article that he published in QST Magazine, August 2017 about the Flightaware system.  I was intrigued with the article that leverages our technical ability against a services that uses crowd sourced receivers, in private hands, Worldwide,  to track commercial and military aircraft to display their location, speed, and altitude on Flightawares website. KG5Q joins be to discuss his ham radio story and the Flightaware system in this QSO Today.

Frank Brickle, AB2KT, took a professional path to music composition at Princeton. He combined his musical composition skills with his technical knowledge of computer programming and background in amateur radio to develop the first software defined radio (SDR) software used first by the US government and later by private industry.  Frank AB2KT is a noted classical music and opera composer and a pioneer in SDR technology.

Justin Johnson, G0KSC, tells his ham radio story and how it led to the founding of his company,  Innovantenna, and his approach to antenna designs, that maximize signal to noise rather than gain to produce amazing results. If you are re-considering your antenna system, then you will enjoy this QSO Today with G0KSC.