I am now 126 episodes into the QSO Today podcast. If you are reading this when I sent it, it is New Years’ Eve, 2016. Tomorrow is 2017. I want to share with you a few things that I learned in 2016.
• Being a podcaster, especially one who hosts a guest every week, requires good listening skills. Since I began the podcast, I have learned to listen more intently for the gems that are often revealed. In 2017, I hope to become more comfortable with the “pregnant pauses” in conversations that often lead to a better QSO and not be the one who breaks the silence.
• My education trained me to add up the facts before making a decision; put all of my ducks in a row. While it goes against this way of thinking, my gut often gives me the early warning of the right decision before the facts add up. I am paying more attention to my intuition than ever before. Perhaps this is one of the gifts of being older.
• When adversity strikes, often the pain is intense. It causes an accounting of one’s health, business and personal relationships, and a resetting of priorities. When the pain subsides, the gift is the knowledge of which tasks, challenges, friends and family members are important and sadly and painfully, which are not. In the long run this is a good thing like cleaning out the basement after the flood.
• One of the guests whom I hoped to have on the QSO Today Podcast was Jim Dixon, WB6NIL, who was the creator of the Allstar technology, ROIP or radio over Internet protocol that leverages the Asterisk phone system created by Mark Spencer. I have mentioned a few times that I use this technology, created by Jim, to stay in touch with my ham friends around the world using my UHF repeater. Sadly, Jim passed away this month leaving a void in the Allstar community amongst his friends and the people who knew him. While Jim and I traded emails about coming on the show, it was not to be. He who hesitates is lost.
• The QSO Today Podcast, like some of my other activities, was born out of my desire after my 56th birthday to live my life out “on the edge”, to take risks to do something that others have not done, to preserve the stories of some of the amazing Hams who contributed so much to our noble hobby. I also sing and perform in musical theater, no longer the geeky kid who ran the lights and sound backstage. (the picture is 4Z1UG singing "Colonel Buffalo Bill" as Charlie in Annie Get Your Gun). I can only say that I am sorry that I did not adopt this attitude a few decades earlier. If you are young and reading this message then I advise you to take chances on the edge of your comfort zone. Your life will be enriched.
73, Eric 4Z1UG
• Being a podcaster, especially one who hosts a guest every week, requires good listening skills. Since I began the podcast, I have learned to listen more intently for the gems that are often revealed. In 2017, I hope to become more comfortable with the “pregnant pauses” in conversations that often lead to a better QSO and not be the one who breaks the silence.
• My education trained me to add up the facts before making a decision; put all of my ducks in a row. While it goes against this way of thinking, my gut often gives me the early warning of the right decision before the facts add up. I am paying more attention to my intuition than ever before. Perhaps this is one of the gifts of being older.
• When adversity strikes, often the pain is intense. It causes an accounting of one’s health, business and personal relationships, and a resetting of priorities. When the pain subsides, the gift is the knowledge of which tasks, challenges, friends and family members are important and sadly and painfully, which are not. In the long run this is a good thing like cleaning out the basement after the flood.
• One of the guests whom I hoped to have on the QSO Today Podcast was Jim Dixon, WB6NIL, who was the creator of the Allstar technology, ROIP or radio over Internet protocol that leverages the Asterisk phone system created by Mark Spencer. I have mentioned a few times that I use this technology, created by Jim, to stay in touch with my ham friends around the world using my UHF repeater. Sadly, Jim passed away this month leaving a void in the Allstar community amongst his friends and the people who knew him. While Jim and I traded emails about coming on the show, it was not to be. He who hesitates is lost.
• The QSO Today Podcast, like some of my other activities, was born out of my desire after my 56th birthday to live my life out “on the edge”, to take risks to do something that others have not done, to preserve the stories of some of the amazing Hams who contributed so much to our noble hobby. I also sing and perform in musical theater, no longer the geeky kid who ran the lights and sound backstage. (the picture is 4Z1UG singing "Colonel Buffalo Bill" as Charlie in Annie Get Your Gun). I can only say that I am sorry that I did not adopt this attitude a few decades earlier. If you are young and reading this message then I advise you to take chances on the edge of your comfort zone. Your life will be enriched.
73, Eric 4Z1UG
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