QSO Today Podcast - Interviews with the leaders in amateur radio

For some hams, amateur radio provides an opportunity to not only work DX, but to travel the world on DXpeditions of all kinds. My guest on QSO Today, has visited over 60 countries during his ham radio career. Wayne Mills, N7NG, was also inducted into the CQ DX Hall of Fame and is the founder of DX University. He is Eric, 4Z1UG’s guest, this week, on QSO Today.

Like many of us who got interested in radio as kids, Doug Grant, K1DG, got his start with a crystal radio kit from an ad in the back of Boy’s Life magazine. Receiving signals on a wire strung across the back yard was the beginning of Doug’s amateur radio journey that led him, this year, to his induction into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame. Contests are Doug’s passion, and he operates a Single Operator Two Radio (SO2R) contest station. He shares the details with Eric, 4Z1UG, on QSO Today.

When it comes to introducing amateur radio to kids, there is no better elmer than Carole Perry, WB2MGP. Carole captured the imagination of almost nine-hundred Staten Island, New York, public school kids a year, for almost thirty years. With this experience and and knowledge, Carole is still a leader in ham radio education through a number of national organizations. She joins Eric, 4Z1UG, in this QSO Today.

Bill Meara, N2CQR, rediscovered his love of homebrewing while on professional assignment for the American Foreign Service, in the Azores. He has since traveled the World with his family and ham radio while at the same time building homebrew transceivers using the Manhattan method. Bill joins, Eric, 4Z1UG, in his QSO Today.

When it comes to building ham radio projects using the Arduino microcontroller, the best person to call is Glen Popiel, KW5GP, author of Arduino for Ham Radio, published by the ARRL. Like many hams, Glen was into computers early and now applies those computer skills to new and fascinating ham radio projects. KW5GP is Eric, 4Z1UG’s, guest on QSO Today.

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When the need to operate portable arose on a family vacation, Budd Drummond, W3FF, fashioned a temporary antenna mast from a painters extension pole and some PVC pipe fittings. A little more innovation led to the Buddipole system for portable antennas. A ham for more than sixty years, Budd, W3FF, founder of Buddipole, is Eric, 4Z1UG’s guest on QSO Today.

Volunteering to ham radio organizations and interesting kids in amateur radio is the center of Bob Sterner’s, KB0BS, ham radio activity on the Front Range of Colorado. Bob shares his insight, with Eric, 4Z1UG, on QSO Today, gained from his hundreds of hours a year as a volunteer examiner, ham radio mentor, radio club organizer, and leader in the Colorado ham radio community.

After a career in electronics engineering, Tony Parks, KB9YIG, returned to ham radio, after thirty years, to find it very different than when he first started in the 1950s. Upon returning in 2000, Tony discovered software defined radio or SDR, where he saw an opportunity to build starter kits for HF SDR receivers that became the Softrock SDR kits. Tony joins Eric, 4Z1UG to discuss SDR and Softrock.

When attempting to activate a new mountain peak, in Colorado, for SOTA, Summits on the Air, Steve Galchutt, WG0AT, uses goats to act as his “sherpas” to carry his gear to the top. His goats allow him to make it to the top of the “teeners”, to set up and make contacts. Join WG0AT and Eric, 4Z1UG on the QSO Today podcast.

Combining the software development skills from his thirty-five year career in the US Coast Guard and his hearing loss drove David Freese, W1HKJ, into the early HF digital modes and eventually to support GMFSK software. Building on this popular platform, David then went on to develop FLdigi, one of ham radio’s most popular software programs for encoding and decoding digital transmissions. David discusses his ham radio journey that led to the “FL” line of open source software products with Eric Guth, 4Z1UG, in this QSO Today.