QSO Today Podcast - QSO TODAY AMATEUR RADIO PODCAST

K7NM

8/3/2024

Episode 513 - Lee Barrett - K7NM

Lee Barrett, K7NM, has had a wonderful career, in broadcast radio, military projects, command and control, spacecraft, and medical device development. His early initiation into amateur radio set in motion all that came later in both professional and amateur radio life. From early in his ham radio career, Lee published papers on vertical antenna beam tilt for repeater networks, and well as his most recent “C-Match Method of Phasing HF Vertical Antennas. He was a presenter at the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo, speaks to radio clubs all over the United States, and at the Dayton Hamvention. K7NM is my QSO today.

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K5EM

7/27/2024

Episode 512 - Justin McAllister - K5EM

Justin McAllister, K5EM’s early interest in ham radio in high school, set him on a professional path to electronic engineering for industry, startups, and entrepreneurship. In ham radio, Justin adopted a few favorite areas of special interest. Justin likes to operate satellites with his portable full duplex rig, operate the digital modes both actively and passively, creating new antennas designs, and getting out in nature to operate POTA and SOTA. K5EM is my QSO Today.

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ki4pov

7/6/2024

Episode 509 - Will Harris - KI4POV

Will Harris, KI4POV, followed in his father’s footsteps, from his junior workbench along side his dad’s to become a licensed ham at age 12. While Will did not pursue and engineering career, he has become a prolific homebuilder in the tradition of Doug DeMaw, W1FB, and Wes Hayward, W7ZOI. KI4POV discussed his 5 band homebrew transceiver and the rest of his ham radio story in this QSO Today.

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zl2tw

6/15/2024

Episode 506 - Stuart Watchman - ZL2TW

Stuart Watchman, ZL2TW, hails from New Zealand where he began his early career working for the New Zealand Post Office on telephone exchange equipment, then made the transition to medical school, becoming a physician. Ham radio was an early passion leading Stuart to work in technical positions to pay for medical school and later to leadership positions with the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitter (NZART), New Zealand’s “League”. ZL2TW shares his amateur radio experience in this QSO Today.

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AH6CY

5/4/2024

Episode 500 - Hiroki Kato - AH6CY

Hiroki Kato, AH6CY, was born and raised in Hiroshima, Japan, 20 miles from the epicenter of the atomic bomb blast in August 1945 that killed approximately 100,000 Japanese. Hiroki was fascinated with radio as a youngster and was first licensed in Japan. After moving to the USA, Hiroki continued to pursue amateur radio and began to research and collect the military radios that both the Japanese used to bomb Pearl Harbor, and the radios that were on the Enola Gay, the US bomber that dropped the Hiroshima bomb. AH6CY tells his ham radio story and about these radio restorations in this QSO Today.

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HRWBEP201

2/24/2024

Episode 490 Ham Radio Workbench Episode 201

Eric Guth, 4Z1UG, was a guest at the celebration of the 200th Ham Radio Workbench Podcast. Eric joined George, KJ6VU, Vince, VE6LK, and Mark, N6MTS in a special episode of their podcast that became HRWB episode 201. This recording of that HRWB episode is added to the QSO Today "official record" for posterity.

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G4WIF_2

10/7/2023

Episode 470 - Tony Fishpool - G4WIF

Tony Fishpool, G4WIF, is still active in the United Kingdom's G-QRP Club and contributes to the quarterly Sprat Magazine, is the author of a book on Test Equipment for the QRPer, and numerous articles on equipment building with particular attention to detail and budget. I am pleased to present to you this re-edited and mastered QSO with Tony Fishpool, G4WIF.

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N1UL_2

7/8/2023

Episode 458 - Ulrich Rohde - N1UL

Dr. Ulrich Rohde, N1UL, is a trailblazer in the world of RF oscillator and receiver design. Throughout the past four decades, N1UL has penned more than 60 articles for esteemed publications like QST and QEX magazines. Not only that, but he has also contributed to the field through his books, academic papers, and various articles. Dr. Rohde continues to impact on his family business, the Munich-based Rohde and Schwarz test equipment company, as well as on amateur radio manufacturers such as Icom where he played a key role in the design of the IC-7850. Ulrich Rohde was featured in this month’s QST magazine, and N1UL is my QSO Today.

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G3MFJ_2

7/1/2023

Episode 457 - Graham Firth - G3MFJ

Graham Firth, G3MFJ, joined our amateur radio hobby almost sixty years ago as a kid growing up in Yorkshire, England. Electronics and electronics building was the driver and is still Graham's first love in the hobby. QRP was the natural choice of this builder and a way to avoid television interference to his neighbors. Graham is active in the G-QRP group, builds QRP kits for the group, and still plays a mean bass guitar. G3MFJ is my guest on QSO Today.

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K1WHS

4/29/2023

Episode 448 - Dave Olean - K1WHS

Dave Olean K1WHS, and his brother, started with modest and simple surplus and homebrew VHF rigs, modified and upgraded over a long period of time to operate EME or moon-bounce, meteor scatter, and bouncing signals off of the Aurora Borealis that appears in the Northern skies. Dave demonstrates that one can make a ham radio career out of very modest equipment to solve complex problems leading to real expertise. K1WHS is my QSO Today.

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W0MH

12/31/2022

Episode 432 - Mark Persons - W0MH

Mark Persons, W0MH, was a recent speaker at the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo where he presented “How to build a Broadcast Engineer’s Version of a HF Amateur Radio Station, detailing his home ham radio shack installation meeting broadcast standards. Broadcast radio ran in Mark’s family, and he spent a long and successful career as a broadcast engineer, contributing over 200 articles to professional and amateur radio publications, and is the consummate radio mentor, volunteer and ham radio elmer. W0MH is my QSO Today.

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WA2EJT

8/20/2022

Episode 414 - Joe Long - WA2EJT

Joe Long, WA2EJT, has been a frequent contributor to ham radio magazines for decades including 73 and Electric Radio magazine. Joe loves vintage military transmitters and receivers as well as the best tube type rigs. Like many hams of his generation he was early into computers, PCs, and programming where his knowledge contributed to his career advancement and his enjoyment of amateur radio. WA2EJT tells his story in this QSO Today.

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K0IZ

5/7/2022

Episode 399 - John Raydo - K0IZ

John Raydo, K0IZ, had a great mentor at the beginning of his ham radio story that laid the foundation for John’s approach to operating amateur radio and building radio equipment from scratch. John shares this story and how he now remotely controls and has the noise benefit of his rural Colorado rig when operating from his QTH in Missouri. K0IZ is my QSO Today.

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VE6EY

4/30/2022

Episode 398 - John Fallows - VE6EY

John Fallows, VE6EY, when faced with an urban HF noise problem, applied this knowledge, expertise, and background from his years of experience in amateur radio to find a solution. This solution, John presented, last March, in the last QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo. Every problem leading to a solution has a story, and VE6EY tells it in this QSO Today.

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M0MCX

2/5/2022

Episode 387 - Callum McCormick - M0MCX

Callum McCormick, M0MCX, is YouTube's DX Commander and maker of a line of antennas of the same name. Callum says that he has the best business in the world, is an active ham, on the air, always testing and fine tuning his antenna creations. M0MCX shares his discoveries with antennas and ham radio on regular YouTube postings, growing his audience to over 42,000 subscribers. Callum McCormick, M0MCX, is my QSO Today.

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NT0Z

12/25/2021

Episode 381 - Kirk Kleinschmidt - NT0Z

Kirk Kleinshmidt, NT0Z, has spent most of his professional life working in amateur radio as an editor, author, and contributor to the amateur radio magazines that we have grown to love including QST, ARRL Handbook, Spectrum Monitor, and others. His own book, Stealth Amateur Radio, continues to advise us how to get on the air and enjoy our hobby, even when our living situation is against it. NT0Z is my QSO Today.

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W8TEE

12/18/2021

Episode 380 - Jack Purdum - W8TEE

Dr. Jack Purdum, W8TEE, licensed since 1954, is a prolific author of at least 17 books on computer programming languages and microprocessor projects for amateur radio and is now the Microcontroller Editor at CQ Magazine. This episode is part of my series of interviews to introduce you to QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo Speakers. Jack and Al Peters, AC8GY, are now prolific creators of Arduino projects and gave a presentation last August 2021 on building an HF SSB/CW software defined transceiver, called the T41. W8TEE is my QSO Today.

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WB3AVD

6/19/2021

Episode 356 - Ted Holland - WB3AVD

Ted Holland, WB3AVD, describes himself as a cultural anthropologist who creates artistic telegraph or CW keys based on themes that move him, including OZ’s Emerald City. His workshop is in a converted "Church in the Middle of the Block", a mini artist's colony. Ted is an avid QRP contest operator and local emcomm enthusiast, WB3AVD shares his amateur radio successes in this QSO Today.

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KJ8U

1/2/2021

Episode 334 - Tim Deagan - KJ8U

Tim Deagan, KJ8U, loves to build just about anything to try out a new tool, and he has an amazing assortment of tools to support his construction of amateur radio antennas as well as Burning Man like propane powered visual displays. KJ8U is a maker, and since ham radio operators were the original makers, Tim’s cross-over between the maker community and the amateur radio community is just natural. Tim tells this story in this QSO Today.

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W1JR

12/26/2020

Episode 333 - Joe Reisert - W1JR

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.

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KH6WZ

12/19/2020

Episode 332 - Wayne Yoshida - KH6WZ

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.

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W0SJ

11/14/2020

Episode 327 - Stan Johnson - W0SJ

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.

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NM5M

9/12/2020

Episode 318 - Eric Silverthorn - NM5M

Eric Silverthorn, NM5M, has a great ham radio story, especially at the beginning with the support of his family for this ham radio interest. Eric likes contesting, SO2R operation and is a teacher of the Morse Code at CWOPS and spoke about it at the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo. NM5M advises new and returning hams to explore the hobby, pursue what interests you, and warm up the soldering iron.

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KR6ZY

8/22/2020

Episode 315 - mark Smith - KR6ZY

Mark Smith, KR6ZY, has been a ham since the mid-nineties and finds problem solving and building amateur radio equipment his special interest of our ham radio hobby. A trained and graduated computer engineer, Mark resides near the Central California coast. Mark is a frequent contributor to the Ham Radio Workbench Podcast, and has his own YouTube channel. KR6ZY is my QSO Today.

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WW9JD

5/9/2020

Episode 301 - Rick Dubbs - WW9JD

Rick Dubbs, WW9JD, spent four years at sea in US nuclear submarines, retired as a teacher of junior high school kids, flies drones professionally as a part of his small business, and now has time for his ham radio projects. WW9JD shares his ham radio story and his project details in this QSO Today.

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