QSO Today Podcast - Interviews with the leaders in amateur radio

Paul Topolski, W1SEX, was just meters from ground zero working the communications center, when terrorists struck the 2013 Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring hundreds of spectators and participants. Paul shares with Eric, 4Z1UG, this experience, his ham radio story, and how he continues to make a difference in his community in this QSO Today.

Beginning as a scanner listener, Gary Hoffman, KB0H, discovered amateur radio shares his love of it with his wife, Nancy, N0NJ. Gary is focused on emergency communications where he is the assistant emergency coordinator, operations for St. Louis County ARES. He writes about amateur radio and the human condition on his blog, The Amateur's Amateur. KB0H is Eric, 4Z1UG's QSO today.

My guest today, Brian Clarke, VK2GCE, has been a ham since his childhood in New Zealand, went on to get advanced degrees, built a recording studio in London for Pink Floyd, and now resides in Australia. Brian is a collector of ex-military radios and is a promoter of amateur radio in his spare time. VK2GCE is my QSO Today.

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.