QSO Today Podcast - Interviews with the leaders in amateur radio

Joe Reisert, W1JR, continues to pay forward, the kindness of his early ham radio mentors, with his contributions to our amazing hobby. Amateur Radio paved the way to a successful career and amazing encounters, Worldwide, with people and technology. W1JR tells his amateur radio story in this QSO Today.

Wayne Yoshida, KH6WZ, has been an active ham since the 1970s, growing up in Los Angeles. Wayne is a home brewer, especially microwave equipment on 10 GHz, and has taken our amateur radio hobby to the Maker Faire in the Bay Area for live demonstrations. As a technical writer and Contributing Editor to CQ Magazine, Wayne is in one of the best places to experience just about everything in ham radio.

Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, is a third generation amateur, beginning her ham radio journey in elementary school. Her interest in microwave circuit design and computers led her to a successful engineering career and now a board member of AMSAT. Michelle is an advocate for open source applied to satellite design fueling future generations of amateur spacecraft. W5NYV is my QSO Today.

Rob Suggs, NN4NT, is a space scientist at NASA, specializing in outer space environments that protect our astronauts from the hazards of space including space junk and debris. We discuss NASA, Apollo space technology, and amateur radio in this QSO Today.

Rick Miller, N1RM's ham radio story began at McMurdo Station in Antarctica and weaves its way through Russian submarine hunting to operate APRS on the back of a Harley Davidson motorcycle, on a grand tour of the United States. N1RM will fill in all of the open spaces in this QSO Today.

Ralph Haller, N4RH, started his ham radio journey as a nine year old with a knack for electronics leading to his first amateur license at age 9. Within a few years, Ralph earned broadcast engineering licenses, radio station jobs, education, and a career at the Federal Communications Commission. N4RH was the driving force behind many of the FCC initiatives that have had a lasting impact on radio amateurs in the USA and around the world. N4RH is my QSO Today.

Stan Johnson, W0SJ, started his amateur radio career in high school. A scavenger of junk, and a kid with the knack, led Stan to electronic project building with his collected parts. These skills filtered and honed through the Air Force and the Bell Telephone Laboratories. Stan would say that his involvement in amateur radio resulted in a life of curious exploration.

Bob Weed, W7SCY, was born and raised in the Oregon Cascade Mountains over eighty years ago. In this retirement, Bob has returned home to an area that has always been subject to fire, mudslides, earthquakes, and active volcanoes. W7SCY shares his seventy plus years as a radio amateur that includes his interest in traffic nets and emergency operations in his area, in this QSO Today.

Ria Jairam, N2RJ, discovered amateur radio on her native Caribbean Island of Trinidad back in the 90s. As an immigrant to the United States, Ria pursued a degree in Electronic Engineering and learned from great ham radio mentors. Now an electronic security professional, mother, active ham radio operator and contester, Ria was recently elected ARRL Hudson Division Director. N2RJ tells her story and the ham radio issues that interest her in this QSO Today.

Keith Schlottman, KR7RK, is not only a mountain goat, he is also a super sloth. Terms like this are not endearing, however if you are a SOTA activator or chaser, then you know how important these terms are to SOTA operators. KR7RK tells his ham radio story in this QSO Today.