QSO Today Podcast - Interviews with the leaders in amateur radio

Dennis Blanchard, K1YPP, started his ham radio journey in 1962 at the age of twelve, after discovering an old Hallicrafters receiver in the attic of the family home. Ham radio became a passion that eventually pulled his father and brother into the hobby. In 2007, Dennis combined his love for backpacking and ham radio when he started a 6 month trek of the 2100 mile Appalachian Trail. Dennis joins Eric, 4Z1UG, in his QSO Today to discuss his ham radio life and hiking the trail.

In 1980, when the hospital where she worked had a phone system failure, April Moell, WA6OPS, gave a call to local hams to come provide support. She discovered that hospitals in every community frequently have communications failures that risk the lives and safety of patients. Thirty years after founding the Hospital Disaster Support Communications System, April and her group now provide emergency communications to over 34 hospitals in her area. Join Eric, 4Z1UG, in his QSO Today with WA6OPS.

Join Eric, 4Z1UG, in his QSO Today with Eric Manning, VA7DZ. Eric and Eric discuss the Reverse Beacon Network and the use of the CW Skimmer software as tools for contesting and understanding of real time low band openings. VA7DZ has a lifetime of amateur radio beginning in 1948, in his 5th grade classroom. His ham radio journey led him to a career in computers and computer science, culminating as a professor of computer science and electrical and computer engineering, and to his current ham radio operation at the University of Victoria. Even in retirement, Eric’s ham radio life is rich with experiences and new projects.

After 60 years in the hobby, Martin Huyett, K0BXB, loves ham radio as much as he did when he first started. After a career in electronic engineering, inspired by ham radio, and an operating career that included homebrew slow scan television, 2 meter FM on surplus mobile equipment, and packet radio, Martin has gone back to his ham radio roots and now enjoys a simple CW QSO on a straight key. Join Eric, 4Z1UG, in his QSO Today with K0BXB.

Join Eric, 4Z1UG in his QSO Today with Dean Mertz, K0MKT. Dean and Eric have been friends for almost 40 years after meeting at the local ham radio club, in Southern California. While their lives have taken them around the World, there is always an opportunity, a few times a year, to catch up on ham radio projects and personal lives. As a software engineer and hardware tinkerer, Dean always has an inspiring project to discuss. This time its a web based audio adjustment meter, using the Beaglebone Black, for the local DMR mobile radio system.

Is is possible for ham radio operators to have a broadband wireless network for the transmission of voice, video, and data as a backup, to the Internet and the commercial infrastructures, that we depend upon? Jim Kinter, K5KTF, thinks it is. Jim is the chief evangelist for the Broadband Hamnet group in Austin, Texas. Ham radio broadband mesh networks is the topic of conversation in Eric’s, 4Z1UG, QSO Today with Jim Kinter, K5KTF. Ham radio mesh networking began with the conversion of Linksys home routers, with special firmware, into a robust wideband data network to allow voice, video, and data between hams in the amateur bands. Join Eric and Jim in their QSO Today.

Bob Wolbert, K6XX, owns and operates a multiple position contest station in the coastal hills of Northern California. According to Bob, you need every dB to get contacts in your log during a contest. As the team leader for the US in the World RadioSport Team Championship 2010, he is especially qualified to speak about what it takes to be a great contest operator. As an employee of Elecraft, Bob gets to be a professional amateur radio operator in addition to his hobby operating ham radio. Join, Eric, 4Z1UG, in his QSO Today with Bob, K6XX.

Scott Zimmerman, N3XCC, founder of the W3WAN repeater network in Pennsylvania, joins Eric, 4Z1UG, on the QSO Today podcast, to discuss the FM world of repeaters above 50 Mhz. Coming to amateur radio from a commercial two-way radio background, Scott applies his expertise to maintain a network work of interconnected amateur radio repeaters that provide wide area coverage, international access through the Allstar linking network, and public service in times of emergency. Scott is also a contributor to the Repeater Builder website, the one-stop for any ham who wants to reassign commercial land mobile radios to amateur service.

Bruce Perens, K6BP, is a self described evangelist for amatuer radio. As the creator of the Open Source Definition used for the free exchange of software code, Bruce has appled this to amateur radio towards the development of Codec2 and FreeDV, digital modulation schemes for HF and VHF. Through his new company, Algoram, Bruce hopes to create the ultimate open source handheld software defined radio. As an evangelist, Bruce founded No Code International, where he successfully eliminated the Morse code requirement for amateur radio licenses Worldwide.

You can still build a beautiful tuna can transmitter, especially if it uses vacuum tubes instead of solid state components. Join Eric, 4Z1UG, in his QSO Today with Steve Johnston, WD8DAS, where they discuss Steve’s ham radio journey that includes experimentation in the 630 meter band, restoration of Chinese military radio gear, and the love of amateur radio.