QSO Today Podcast - QSO TODAY AMATEUR RADIO PODCAST

K6ARK

9/21/2024

Episode 519 - Adam Kimmerly - K6ARK

Adam Kimmerly, K6ARK, discovered amateur radio almost by accident through his participation in the San Diego Mountain Rescue organization. Adam’s ham radio interests evolved from VHF to HF SOTA, or Summits on the Air, learning CW, and reaching SOTA Mountain Goat status. The need for light weight kits to carry to the most difficult to reach summits demanded new expertise in antenna design and construction with 3D printing. K6ARK tells his ham radio story in this 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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K9YNP

7/20/2024

Episode 511 - Jim Halfpenny - K9YNP

Jim Halfpenny, K9YNP, spent his career in the great outdoors tracking wildlife, educating and leading groups into the wilderness all around the World and in Yellowstone National Park. Ham radio has always been a parallel track of interest and education. For K9YNP, serving his community with Montana Tour bike race and mountain marathon support through the Rocky Mountains keeps his ARES team at the top of their game. K9YNP is my guest in this QSO Today.

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VA2BBW

12/9/2023

Episode 479 - Ante Laurijssen - VA2BBW

Ante Laurijssen, VA2BBW, enjoys the simple amateur radio art of chasing DX and making contacts on CW, and operating QRP, from Gatineau, in Southwest Quebec, Canada . When operating POTA, Ante taught himself to send CW with his left while recording his log with his right hand. VA2BBW is the Radio Amateurs of Canada Awards Manager, enjoys giving back to the hobby, and is my QSO Today.

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AA0Z

9/16/2023

Episode 467 - Kyle Krieg - AA0Z

Kyle Krieg AA0Z, says that radio, in his case CB Radio, was the pre-internet social network that he used with his friends in his mid-west rural town. Imagine American Graffiti with radios. Eventually learning that amateur radio can take Kyle to a higher level, AA07 jumped in completely, immersing himself in POTA - Parks on the Air, portable operation, software defined radio, and remote control. We both agree that ham radio contesting should be even more gamified and we discuss all of these topics in this QSO Today.

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K0NR

2/25/2023

Episode 440 - Bob Witte - K0NR

Bob Witte K0NR is the active ham that you want in your community. Bob lives in the Colorado Rocky mountains, operates SOTA on the “fourteeners”, maintains and operates the local repeaters, and mentors new hams. K0NR is a frequent contributor to the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo and will be a presenter next month. This interview is one that I conducted with Bob more than five years ago, and I am delighted to play it again with the help of Ben Bresky, who edited and remastered the audio.

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VK5PAS

1/7/2023

Episode 433 - Paul Simmonds - VK5PAS

Paul Simmonds, VK5PAS, now a retired South Australia Police detective, is a relatively new ham, along with his wife, Marija, VK5MAZ. They have taken the hobby to new heights by operating in the great outdoors of South Australia, participating in WWFF, SOTA, POTA, and other outdoor amateur radio operating events. He collects certificates, QSL cards, and new friends, around the World, in pursuit of amateur radio. VK5PAS is my QSO Today.

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W0CP

12/24/2022

Episode 431 - Walt Stinson - W0CP

Walt Stinson, W0CP’s love of shortwave listening, amateur radio, and electronics led him to a career as an entrepreneur and founder of ListenUp, in Denver, Colorado. Walt remained on the cutting edge of the consumer electronics industry leading to his induction into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame. W0CP enjoys working DX, contesting, and now Summits on the Air from the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Walt is my QSO Today.

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N7RR

5/21/2022

Episode 401 - Bruce Prior - N7RR

Bruce Prior, N7RR, loves to operate SOTA in Washington State’s great outdoors where he has cataloged for SOTA all of the available mountain peaks in the state. I had the great pleasure of spending an afternoon last week with Bruce in Washington, activating Mt. Walker in Washington’s Olympic Mountain range. My first SOTA activation where I learned the basics of SOTA activation. This was a great opportunity to get to know my guest in this week’s QSO Today.

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NJ7V

1/1/2022

Episode 382 - Charlie Brown - NJ7V

Charlie Brown, NJ7V, is over three times a mountain goat, a title that comes from over 3000 SOTA activation points. Of course this means achievement and expertise operating portable from mountain tops across Arizona and the West. NJ7V will share his amateur radio story, secrets to SOTA success, and some ideas on how to build a local SOTA organization in this QSO Today.

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OH8STN

12/11/2021

Episode 379 - Julian White - OH8STN

Julian White, OH8STN, operates outdoors in Finland's Arctic Circle and records, on his popular YouTube Channel, his expeditions with his compact but sophisticated simulations of grid down communications. Julian is a natural teacher and his channel may be one of the best ways to understand how and what to pack to take into the wild. OH8STN is my QSO Today.

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VA6MPM

10/30/2021

Episode 373 - Paul Mower - VA6MPM

Paul Mower, VA6MPM, treks across the Canadian Rockies, often for days at a time, alone. Faced with the prospect of being out of touch in the wilderness, amateur radio connects Paul to the outside world when he is far beyond his cellular telephone coverage. Paul has figured out how to travel light with maximum usability and enjoys working SOTA, Summits on the Air, from some of the most remote outposts in the world. VA6MPM is my QSO Today.

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HB9NBG

8/21/2021

Episode 364 - Rene Lutz - HB9NBG

SOTA Operator Rene Lutz, HB9NBG, has the Swiss Alps as his challenge to conquer as many summits as possible with his partner Carine, HB9FZC. Together they operate their successful rural Swiss ham radio sales and service center that attracts ham radio tourists. Rene and Carine document their amateur radio adventures on their popular YouTube channel. HB9NBG is my QSO Today.

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KR7RK

10/24/2020

Episode 324 - Keith Schlottman - KR7RK

Keith Schlottman, KR7RK, is not only a mountain goat, he is also a super sloth. Terms like this are not endearing, however if you are a SOTA activator or chaser, then you know how important these terms are to SOTA, Summits on the Air, operators. KR7RK tells his ham radio story in this QSO Today.

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WX2S

10/3/2020

Episode 321 - Steve Masticola - WX2S

Steve Masticola, WX2S, took a 30 year vacation from amateur radio to pursue his life. Now he is back. WX2S loves to operate in the field, necessitated by living in a Revolutionary War era village with antenna restrictions. This has created a new passion for SOTA, Parks on the Air, and QRP Fox Hunting. All this and more in my QSO Today with WX2S.

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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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NK6A_Reprise

7/25/2020

Episode 312 - Don Minkoff - NK6A

Amateur radio is a big tent with an appeal for every amateur’s special interest. Once a QRO DX operator, the new magic of ham radio for Don Minkoff NK6A, came from turning down the power to QRP levels and getting out of the QTH to the great outdoors and working SOTA, or Summits on the Air. Don shares his ham radio story and so much more in this re-mastered reprise of episode 158 QSO Today.

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VK3HN

4/18/2020

Episode 298 - Paul Taylor - VK3HN

Paul Taylor, VK3HN, loves to operate QRP, SOTA, or Summits on the Air, with his homebrew pocket-sized multi-band transceivers that he designs and builds in his home workshop. Paul enjoys a weekly 160 meter AM net using his homebrew 200 watt solid-state AM transmitter. VK3HN is my QSO Today.

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W6PNG

12/1/2018

Episode 226 - Paul Gacek - W6PNG

Along with a successful career in California hightech, Paul Gacek, W6PNG, became an amateur radio operator. Finding that ham radio challenged his mind and created opportunity to learn new things, Paul discovered SOTA, Summits on the Air, and operating from the field. California has over 4000 SOTA peaks, and that is a good start for W6PNG, my QSO Today.

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AA6RV

11/24/2018

Episode 225 - David Malin - AA6RV

David Malin, AA6RV, spent over 20 years working for the City of Los Angeles as its Emergency Coordinator and Emergency Administrator for the Port of Los Angeles. Now retired, David a lot to say about emergency preparedness and the minimal steps that we should all take to be ready in case of disaster in this QSO Today.

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AB2KT

8/24/2018

Episode 212 - Frank Brickle - AB2KT

Frank Brickle, AB2KT, took a professional path to music composition at Princeton. He combined his musical composition skills with his technical knowledge of computer programming and background in amateur radio to develop the first software defined radio (SDR) software used first by the US government and later by private industry. Frank AB2KT is a noted classical music and opera composer and a pioneer in SDR technology.

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G3CWI

3/9/2018

Episode 188 - Richard Newstead - G3CWI

Richard Newstead, G3CWI, as an avid outdoor radio enthusiast, co-founded SOTA or the Summits on the Air program. When he needed the right gear to take to the mountaintop, Richard had to create and import his own equipment, ultimately resulting in the creation of his company, Sotabeams, our new sponsor on QSO Today. Richard’s story includes operating from a research station in Antarctica during the Falklands war to the founding of Sotabeams our new QSO Today sponsor.

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N6KR and the Bay Area Meetup

6/10/2017

Episode 149 - Wayne Burdick, N6KR, and QSO Today Bay Area Meetup

On my recent trip from Israel to the USA, to attend the Dayton Hamvention, I stopped in the Bay Area to visit with Wayne Burdick, N6KR, and long time childhood friend, and co-founder of Elecraft, to catch up, discuss the KX2, and working HF from the field. That evening Wayne and I attended the QSO Today Bay Area Meetup where I asked the participants their name, callsign, and the most exciting thing that they think is happening in ham radio.

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