Category Archives: Podcast

Amateur Radio, Amateur Radio Organizations, Amateur Radio Relay League, Education, Event, Event, Hamfest, Morse Code, Podcast

QSO Today Ham Expo review

From 00:45 August 8 (5:45 August 7 local time), until August 9, I attended the QSO Today Ham Expo. This exposition was a virtual event on the Internet hosted on theVFair.com web site. There was quite a few sponsors of the event including the American Radio Relay League, ICOM, Gigaparts, RFinder, Flex Radio, RT Systems, Elecraft, and several others. There were others that did not have “booths.” I searched the parking lot for the tailgate hams, but could not find any.

I did get a chance to discover some organizations I did not know existed. One is Youth on the Air.

Some presentations in the form of videos may have been transferred to YouTube. Marcel Stieber AI6MS posted some of his QSO presentations on his YouTube page. He also has videos on ExamTools—a remote amateur radio licensing test system. His presentation on Fully-Remote Amateur Radio Exam Administration is well worth watching.

Ward Silver N0AX gave a good presentation on Bonding and Grounding. There are several videos with him on different amateur radio topics on YouTube.

I also liked the presentation of the CW Ops CW Academy. Eric Silverthorn NM5M gave a great brief on the four-stage program the academy offers. I received feedback from one student who really enjoyed their program. I hope to be able to take the course in the future.

The Exposition is closed now, but for the next thirty-days people who got tickets can still check in and watch, or re-watch, videos of the presentations. I do not know if you can now “sign up” and check in now that it is over.

At the beginning of the Expo I got to Zoom with the ARRL headquarters in Connecticut.
Of course the Exposition is far from the fun of attending an actual convention. Conventions will no doubt return when COVID ends on November 5. I can see the VFairs platform being useful into the future, however. The QSO Today Exposition boasted over 26,000 and that will be difficult number to beat.

I was also able to hold a QSO with Bill KQ1S; a fellow member of the Coconino Amateur Radio Club. He discovered that there was a list of participants in the QSO Lounge and found me to start the QSO. There was no easy way to find a person at the Expo. If they did not go to the QSO lounge, you could not search for them. The QSO chat between Bill and me was through a Skype-like set up. The problem was you could not move it around the screen so you could see something else.

The Q&A sessions after the presentation were on Zoom. You could ask text questions, but chat, your video and audio were not functioning. That is understandable, of course, since you are not answering the questions. The Q&A sessions were recorded so I believe they are available

Amateur Radio, Amateur Radio Organizations, Amateur Radio Relay League, ARES, Education, Flagstaff, News, Podcast

Amateur radio podcasts can help with the learning curve

At a meeting of the Coconino Amateur Radio Club in Flagstaff, Dan SHEARER, N7YIQ, introduced the club to the ARRL® podcast The Doctor Will See You Now—also known as The Doctor Is In.

As I perused the Google Play Store with my Android phone for something else, I found something interesting. There are several apps which lead you to amateur radio podcasts.

I found one called—interestingly enough—Ham Radio podcast. I downloaded it at our Williams amateur radio club meeting. It not only accesses the ARRL® Doctor Is In, but the ARRL® news feed and ARES® newsletter, as well.

I also found one for what I thought was the Arizona Emergency Information Network. It turned out to be the Maricopa County Emergency Network. Interestingly it is taken from their over-the-air emergency Network.

There is one called AmateurLogic.TV. This one apparently gives lessons in amateur radio and licensing exam information. Currently they are running a course for the General license. I haven’t listened to a full podcast yet.

There are several others that look interesting. One is Linux in the Ham Shack. If you are interested in an alternative to Windows, Linux is just that. With some effort you can run some Windows programs under Linux. It is better, however, to simply download the free Linux programs available online and stay away from Windows.

Another nice feature (If you have the memory) is that you can download many of the podcasts to listen off-line. They are MP3 format so you can transfer them to CD and listen to them as you drive.

The one thing I noticed about the app is that it takes some time to buffer and start the podcast. That could be because I am using a cheap ZTE phone that does not even allow you to move apps to the SD card. If your Android phone or tablet has a decent amount of internal memory and speed, the buffering process might be shorter and thus the podcast might come up quicker. My cheap ZTE phone tends to take time buffering the podcast. Also I cannot transfer the app to my SD card.

I am only reviewing one of the several apps that access amateur radio podcasts. You can download others and experiment.

Amateur radio is what you make of it. If you just want to get the license and sit on it, you can do that. I know of people who got a license and never use it which is really sad because they are missing a lot. Maybe you obtained a license just for emergency use. There are those of us, however, that like to try new things: Explore new areas of the hobby. Along with the many amateur radio magazines and articles on the Internet, podcasts may help you do just that.

SEE ALSO:

  1. “ARRL® The Doctor is In” Podcast Guide Now Available
  2. Here are 9 Great Ham Radio Podcasts