Ham Radio Now

In 2012 we brought the Hamvention TOURS under the HamRadioNow umbrella (because it rained a lot). And we toured a lot that year - three shows worth. All with very clunky titles.

This is the second one. We'll squeeze all three into the rest of our May data allocation.

In 2012 we brought the Hamvention TOURS under the HamRadioNow umbrella (because it rained a lot). And we toured a lot that year - three shows worth. All with very clunky titles.

This is the first one (and the shortest). We'll squeeze all three into the rest of our May data allocation.

Gary's not known for prompt editing. He's getting better, but he and Jeff AC4ZO got to the 2009 Hamvention without having edited the 2008 Tour and FCC Forum. So he put'em together in this show. This is an old ARVN:Amateur Radio//Video News show, released on DVD as part of The Dayton Collection, a 3 DVD set. We made a really awkward promo for the set that you can see on YouTube HERE.

The video of the Tour is on YouTube HERE. 

Radio Rating: C because it's another rip from a TV show.

This isn't even a HamRadioNow show. It's one of the first ARVN:Amateur Radio//Video News DVDs we produced — our 2007 Dayton Hamvention TOUR. 

This is the 10th anniversary of that tour, the year Jeff AC4O was a Dayton Virgin – his very first trip to the Hamvention.

So really, we had some storage to burn at Libsyn, and figured a couple of old pre-HRN Dayton shows would do well. We had to rip the audio from the DVD! 

If you want to see the video, you're in luck. It's on HERE YouTube. You don't have to buy the DVD (and we don't have to burn one). For the record, we sold about 150 of these DVDs.

So how useful is the audio? We're always surprised at how well many of these shows 'translate', but again, it always was supposed to be a TV show, and very 'show and tell'. Radio Rating: C.

This wraps up our 2017 Hamvention Tour, recorded Friday, May 19. Gary checked out new stuff from FlexRadio (Gerald Youngblood K5SDR) and ICOM (Scott Honaker N7SS)... Marty was mad that Gary interviewed ICOM without him, but Marty was off exploring the hamfest.

Gary also serenaded Ward Silver N0AX, and caught up with his Indiana Stalker.

Marty returned to rant about Yaesu (no new products), then checked out some big Loop Antennas and Elad accessories.

On Saturday, we recorded four interviews in the SIB (Studio In A Booth) amid thunderstorms and small rivers under our feet. Those will be coming out soon. And with more bad weather rolling by on Sunday, we packed up and bailed out early. Tent City was not a good place for delicate electronics.

We'll be doing a Skype session with Marty and a very jealous David Goldenberg W0DHG to wrap things up. That'll include a little more B-Roll of the muddy flea market and parking lots, and an inpromptu review with Hamvention spokesman Michael Kalter. So stay tuned!

And just like Part ONE, this episode is pretty visual. Another Radio Rating of C-. Hang in there. The Saturday interviews are all talking-head.

Friday morning, Gary KN4AQ spent the morning shooting the TAPR Forum in the nice, air-conditioned forum building. He went in and set up the cameras before the 'fest opened. He emerged to a full-fledged Hamvention, already in progress.

Gary and the Chicken With Fries (aka 'the Kid') toured as much of the hamfest as they could on Friday afternoon, talking to lots of people as they went. Gary even got Don Wilbanks AE5DW from Newsline and Ham Nation to do an interview for him. Give Don a mic and you don't even need to wind him up. 

Gary edited (and edited, and edited) until Friday afternoon hit. At the 45-minute point of the program, he called it Part ONE and pushed the render button. Part TWO will come out as soon as he gets it done, and not a minute sooner.

So... this is a TV show. Yes, there's a lot of talking, but there's also a fair amount of look at that. Which is really hard to do from this audio file. But by now you're used to that. Hit the YouTube when you can, if you want to. Radio Rating: C-.

And the picture some of you see with this podcast? Hey, if you've got Don Wilbanks on your show, you're gonna use him!

Gonna be upfront with you, this is a TV show. Sure, Marty (Chicken with Fries) and Gary banter about the stuff, but mostly you're looking at the Dayton Hamvention® being set up in it's new digs. Kinda hard to say from this end if the radio version is all that worthwhile. So feel free to bail, or wait until you can catch it on the tube. 

Radio Rating: D+ (and the + is only because a D is supposed to be 'nothing worth listening to', and an F is 'hey, the audio went dead. Is this thing working?').

Gary KN4AQ had a massiveish technical failure on his Wirecast system that records and switches the video for the shows (you audio listeners don't care, but it records the audio, too...). So Marty KC1CWF (Chicken With Fries) stepped in to put the show on Facebook Live (on the HamRadioNow Group). That meant Marty took over and declared the show a PhasingLine Podcast.

HamRadioNow co-host David Goldenberg W0DHG and HamTalkLive's Neil Rapp WB9BPG joined in for this free-for-all.

There's really nothing to see except Marty's mad switching of our faces, and a quick look at the tent that the Hamvention is setting up to house Building 6, where the HamRadioNow/PhasingLine booth will be. Just a big, white circus/wedding tent, so use your imagination. And be glad you can't see Marty's mad switching.

Radio Rating: A

A fairly short medley of stories from my local hamfest:

• Packet is Back. A new take on packet networking. Tadd Torborg KA2DEW describes the 'little' packet network he's developing in the Raleigh area.
• Smoke & Solder. Engaging new hams in a useful construction project. Justin Pinnex AJ4MJ shows how a very popular J-Pole building project has been refined over more than a decade.
• Reddit Spy. Gary infiltrates a Reddit meetup. 

Radio Rated C+. A fairly visual episode. But mostly interviews with B-roll.

Antenna Testing is a big part of the various VHF conferences held around the US and the world. They set up an antenna range and compare antennas against a known reference for gain and pattern. Results are published, and while there's little head-to-head competition, there are bragging rights.

Gary KN4AQ visited the antenna range at the Southeastern VHF Society conference, held this year (April, 2017) in Charlotte, NC. He poked around with his camera for a while, then talked to the guy who's been setting the range up for the past decade, Al Tirevold WA0HQQ.

Before and after the interview segment, Gary and co-host David W0DHG talk about the niche phenomenon of SSB and CW on VHF/UHF (and above). Yes, there is more to 2-meters than FM (and DV) and repeaters! Gary's ham-history goes back to the 60's, just before repeaters filled up most of the 144 and 440 bands. He recalls that there was a little SSB and a little more AM activity around 145.0, but mostly it was vacant space.

You might have noted the word camera in the description above. So yeah, this is one of those mini-doc videos, and you'll miss some with just the audio. There's plenty to get from the talky-talk, but those 40-element Yagi's and Loops are impressive. Gary's included all the raw B-Roll footage at the end of the YouTube video.

And that leaves a Radio Rating of C. Hey, it's not a D or an F. Let us know if you think our rating was fair!