Qso Today - A Conversation For Amateur Radio Operators

My QSO Today with Mike Myers, VA3MPM, a very active ham in Ottawa, Canada, and enjoys ham radio through rag chewing on 80 meters, collecting old rigs, participating in his ham clubs, and helping new radio amateurs become successful hams.  Mike is also a musician and shares his interest in tube type guitar amplifiers.  

David White, WN5Y, is a home-brewer from the beginning of his ham radio story, and loves to build receivers for ham radio.  Originally inspired by the designs of the late Lew McCoy, W1ICP, and later Wes Hayward, W7ZOI,  David’s latest receivers are called electroluminescent because he incorporates LEDs as components in the receiver design itself, and not just as front panel indicators.  David shares his story in this QSO Today.

In this QSO Today, Ian Keyser, G3ROO, discusses with Eric, 4Z1UG, his amazing “maker space”, collecting and refurbishing World War 2 vintage spy radios, his top band, 160 mhz operations, and his reflections on ham radio today.

Brooke Allen, N2BA, joins Eric, 4Z1UG, on episode 127 of the QSO Today Podcast to discuss “gamifying” amateur radio to make it attractive to young people, both men and women,  while at the same time understanding what it means to be a ham radio operator to older hams. Brooke touches on the “flow state”, field day at the annual Burning Man event in the Nevada desert , and social skills for nerds.

Since the mid-1970s, Rob Sherwood, NC0B, founded Sherwood Engineering, in Colorado, to build Drake receiver upgrades and to test the performance of amateur radio receivers and transceivers beginning with Drake receivers.  Rob’s list has become the gold standard by which many amateurs, including contest operators, choose their next rig. Licensed since 1961, NC0B shares his amateur radio story with Eric, 4Z1UG in this QSO Today.

As a 2009 QRP ARCI Hall of Fame inductee - Hans Summers, G0UPL,  is an electronic experimenter and amateur radio innovator extraordinaire.  Hans pays careful attention to compact and minimal parts count to achieve the design goals of his homebrew projects. Hans is the owner of QRP Labs joins Eric, 4Z1UG, in a conversation about QRSS slow data transmissions, high altitude balloon transponders, and shares his ham radio and electronic builder story.  

Eric, 4Z1UG, host of the QSO Today Podcast, has an "eyeball" or in-person contact with Eddie Leighton, ZS6BNE, creator of RaDAR, or Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio, in Johannesburg, South Africa during Eric's recent visit.   Eric and Eddie set up and operate Eddie's RaDAR setup while discussing the amateur's options for carrying ham radio equipment into the field. 

Jim Veatch, WA2EUJ, is a three time winner of the ARRL Homebrew Challenge contest where his winning entries pushed the limits of homebrew design and implementation within the financial constraints of the contest. Jim has gone on to create other projects, some of which are now available in kit form, such as the Hardrock 50 amplifier and automatic antenna tuner available from HobbyPCB.  Jim is Eric, 4Z1UG’s QSO Today.

Contest Super Station owner, Frank Donovan, W3LPL, will tell you that his ham radio story began in 1923 when his grandfather collected parts and built single tube receivers for friends and family. These parts and grandpa’s expertise were young franks introduction to electronics and radio many years later. With the support of his radio clubs and Elmers, Frank, focuses on the technology and engineering of great ham radio station design and performance to win contests throughout the year. W3LPL is my QSO Today.

Dale Green, VE7SV, is a  2013 CQ Contest Hall of Fame winner who chases the endless Summer by dividing his time between his homes in Renaca Beach, Chile and Chilliwack, British Columbia.  Dale operates a contest super station for over 20 years in Canada where he has honed his skills to become one of the top contesters in the World as well as a contest mentor and elmer.  He credits ham radio for his love for travel and meeting new people.

Jim Stafford, W4QO, was recognized at the 2010 Dayton Hamvention for over 50 years of ham radio achievements that include mentoring and elmering, QRP building and operating, and revitalizing the North Fulton Amateur Radio League into one of the premier ham radio clubs in the USA. Jim tells his amateur radio story to Eric, 4Z1UG, in this QSO Today.

IIn a country, like Chile, that gets 70% of the earthquakes recorded around the World, hams like Dr. Dino Besomi, CE3PG, have to be ready at a minute’s notice to provide emergency communications when  traditional communications channels fail. Dino shares his ham radio story and the role of amateur radio operators in Chile, with Eric, 4Z1UG, in this QSO Today.

Bill Murray, W9VC, likes to spend his ham radio time building tube type transmitters of his own design from old equipment purchased at hamfests. In addition, Bill likes to rebuild old gear and and operate QRP in the field.  W9VC shares his ham radio story in this episode of QSO Today.

From time to time, one of the listeners to the QSO Today podcast reaches out to me to dialog about something in ham radio often related to a previous episode.  I began a conversation with Gerry Jurrens, N2GJ, that resulted in this QSO Today conversation. Gerry has a wide range of ham radio interests, including QRP and emergency communications, and… he loves to Elmer other hams in the art of amateur radio.  N2GJ is my QSO Today.

Scott Wright, K0MD, travels the World extensively as part of his responsibilities as a doctor with the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. This creates for Scott opportunities to take his portable station on DXpeditions around the globe from China, the Caribbean, to South America.  K0MD shares his ham radio story and some practical advice on this QSO Today.

Bob Witte, K0NR, is an amateur radio blogger with a long history of ham radio homebrewing, repeater building, and operation using many bands and modes.  From his home in Monument, Colorado, Bob is also an excellent Elmer and is a partner in Ham Radio School dot com for teaching the amateur radio basics beyond the first license. K0NR is my QSO Today.

Sometimes, amateur radio can play an important role in shaping the news around World Events.  For BBC correspondent and amateur radio operator, Laurie Margolis, G3UML, it was on amateur radio that Laurie discovered, reported and scooped the invasion by Argentina of the Falkland Islands starting the Falklands war in 1982.  Laurie and I discuss this event and the rest of his ham radio journey in this QSO Today.

Bill Kelsey, N8ET, has a long and interesting amateur radio career beginning in 1962. From his interest in QRP and QRP kits, Bill founded the Kanga Kit Company, creating radio and test equipment kits for the ham community for many years. While Bill is recovering from a recent stroke, he still has projects on his workbench, now using Arduino processors, pursuing UHF moon bounce, and finds time to operate the Digital modes. Bill joins Eric, 4Z1UG, in this QSO Today.

Keith Ranger, G0KJK, now retired from the Church of England, has had a lifelong love of electronics and radio who has never owned a commercially manufactured amateur radio.  Instead Keith builds his own receivers and transmitters, works the World, makes contacts, and rag chews.  He quickly dispels the notion that ham radio is an expensive hobby and demonstrates how to have fun and enjoy the amateur radio hobby for very little money. Keith joins Eric, 4Z1UG, on this episode of QSO Today.

Imagine that you get your dream job out of college, and later as part of that job, your employer wants you to solve a riddle that will take years or never to complete.  For Tom Vinson, NY0V, that dream job for a ham was with the Collins Radio Company, later Rockwell Collins, and the riddle was to find the wreckage of Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra aircraft somewhere in the South Pacific.  He could use the technology and human resources of the company to solve this riddle.  Tom recounts this story with Eric, 4Z1UG, in this QSO Today.