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K5ZD

6/18/2016

4 Comments

 

Episode 098 - Randy Thompson - K5ZD

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It's not often that we think of amateur radio contesting as a sport.  It is according to my guest today a radio sport, one that has international competitors who have the experience and training of Olympic athletes in the sport of ham radio contesting. Randy Thompson, K5ZD, was bitten by the radio sport bug early in his ham radio career and is one of the top contesters in the World today.  Randy is my guest on QSO Today.

Show Notes
Listen to Podcast
K5ZD Resources:
  • K5ZD Website
  • YouTube videos, “Elements of SO2R featuring Randy Thompson”

DX Brings Danger, by Walter A Tompkins

Ameco Code Practice Record

First License: 1973,WN5JWT, Novice, Houston, TX
Later Licenses:
  • 1974    WN3VWJ, WA3VWJ    Pittsburgh, PA
  • 1975    JA1YZK (club)    Tokyo, Japan, Advanced Class License
  • 1976    AB5QDW    Houston, TX
  • 1977    WA4ZHU, K5ZD    Miami, FL

Elmer:
 Tom Morrison, 
K5TM

Tom Taormina, K5RC
Gordon Fogg, N5AU
Tim Duffy, K3LR

First Rig:
  • Heathkit HR10B Receiver
  • Allied Knight T60 Transmitter
  • Two crystals

Rig Upgrades:
  • Swan 350 Transceiver
  • Yaesu FT-101 Transceiver
  • Drake C Line
  • Kenwood TS-930 Transceiver
  • Icom IC-765 Transceiver

Current Rig:
  • 2 X Elecraft K3 running SO2R
  • Writelog logging software

Education: University of Texas, BSEE

Radiosport - formal competition between radio amateurs

Summer 78 QSO Worked All Europe Phone, long path to New England

Randy Thompson, Technology or Sport,  1988 for CQ magazine

DX Cluster - online alert service

CW Skimmer - multichannel CW decoder and spectrum analyzer program

“Great operators were great hunters”

World Radiosport Team Championships

K7SS - founder
NCJ -
K1DG - organizaing

Contact Sport,  a novel by Jim George

The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl 
Obsession
, by Mark Obmascik, A book about bird watching.


CQ Worldwide contest

CQ Contest Hall of Fame, 2008, Randy Thompson K5ZD

National Contest Journal

A Sleep strategy for DX contesting, By Randy Thompson, K5ZD

Amateur Radio Contest Calendar

Best starting contest: Field Day

Bencher Paddles - nice paddles for operating CW

Internet of Things

eham.net website

Bill Fisher W4AM (SK), co-founder of eham.net

Advice to new or returning hams:  Try Stuff.  

The RSS Feed for all audio content from QSO today is available from here. 
​
​Please join our QSO Today community by pressing the button below. It is the best way to suggest guests and topics, and provide feedback to Eric, 4Z1UG.
Join the QSO Today Community
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Heathkit HR-10B Receiver
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Allied Knight Kit T-60 Novice Transmitter
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Drake C Line - T4XC and R4C
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K5ZD Ham Shack
4 Comments
jack wilde
6/18/2016 04:11:20 pm

where do i find the plans for the flagpole antenna????

Reply
Eric 4Z1UG
6/19/2016 09:53:34 am

You get a link to the download when you join the QSO Today community mail list.

Reply
Schmoopy
6/20/2016 10:28:23 am

Putting critical infrastructure online via IoT is a very dangerous thing to do.

I suggest you checkout ShodanHQ and do a search for any of your products and you may be surprised to see that those MRI's, traffic lights, and other critical infrastructure that have the convenience of IoT are also quite convenient for hackers to access.

Great interview. Thanks kindly to the both of you for taking time to share.

Reply
Nick, WA5BDU
6/23/2016 06:39:39 pm

Good interview & yet another major aspect of ham radio covered. I'm a sporadic contester and am always amazed at the energy and work ethic of the hard core guys.

Reply

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