AD6DM™ Hamdom Thoughts

Jeff, callsign AA6XA is an EE hailing from the SF Bay Area. He likes getting out there with a radio and writing about it. As one of the more active Summits on the Air hams in the area, if you look up peaks in the California area or Sierras, you'll probably find a trip report written by him. Jeff has traveled worldwide, and attributes his 400+ peak activations to "being young and single". With that...

Julian OH8STN is an expat who is very familiar with outdoor operation, and is well known for his deeply researched and well documented offgrid battery and solar builds with an emphasis on emergency communications. Julian's YouTube videos were some of the early ones I discovered that helped me on a journey toward building my own ham radio power solutions. Links: OH8STN Ham Radio on YouTube: https:/...

Steve WGØAT takes the idea of SOTA mountain goat to a whole new level, especially since his hikes often involve actual goats. Steve was an active Search and Rescue volunteer, a retired graphic designer, currently an outdoor adventurer, master CW operator, and an inspiration to hams all over the world with his operating activity and keen handcrafted radio gear. Links: The Elk Bone Paddle:  htt...

Mike was one of the first YouTubers I found online doing videos about ham radio. He's got a sweet radio voice, and can run a pileup like nobody's business. Since he's started, he's been finding creative ways to pay it forward in ham radio, but most of all we enjoy his fun-loving outdoor POTA activations. Links: K8MRD Radio Stuff on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/K8MRDRADIOSTUFF/ Mike's Twitter...

KI6NAZ, Josh Nass, also known as Hoshnasi, is one of the most prolific ham radio online personalities, producing weekly livestreams, countless other videos, a podcast, and a newsletter. He's a thought leader in normalizing this hobby, and has introduced thousands of people to the world of ham radio. Links: Ham Radio Crash Course (HRCC) on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Hoshnasi Josh KI6NAZ on...

Sterling N0SSC is a force in helping the younger generation build skills and foster friendships in ham radio. He wants to make ham radio a fun and worthwhile experience for young people worldwide. By day he works in RF Engineering, and all other times he's publicizing STEM initiatives and connecting hams through his videos and articles online. In this episode we hear about what he's accomplished a...

Forget perfection and just operate! Ryan NN7M indirectly challenged me with his aptitude for CW in our shared CW Academy Level 2 class back in 2018. He is into SOTA, and managed to convince his whole family to get licensed as ham radio operators. Now he's paying it forward by being an instructor for CWOps, and runs an APRS digipeater for the West Seattle area. Peer pressure in learning CW is a goo...

Dan AI6XG used to examine electronics at the sub-micron level. He's big into the DIY and Maker realm, and designs a lot of his own ham shack gear. We talk about his beginnings, how he feels about trespassing for SOTA, and operating remotely from anywhere in the world. Links: Dan AI6XG's website: https://www.ai6xg.com Dan's Twitter: https://twitter.com/AI6XG1 Dan's Big Clock design: https://www.ai6...

Stuart KB1HQS treks the mountains of Maine in his quest for SOTA Mountain Goat. He is the author of the book Portable Operating for Amateur Radio , published by the ARRL . In this episode, he talks about his beginnings, his favorite modes and gear, his Summits on the Air journeys all around the country, as well as his thoughts on satellite communicators and Search and Rescue.  Links: Stu...

Steve K5ATA is an inspiration to us for getting youth into ham radio. He is a teacher for STEM and CS, a bee whisperer, and a Parks on the Air enthusiast (or perhaps just a POTA logger for his daughter who is an active ham). He had a scary fire incident at home and is now a Captain of a local volunteer firefighter department.  Join us as we talk about his projects with Goodgame Ham Radio and...

Jason KM4ACK is a self-made linux hacker. He likes sharing his learnings on YouTube and has helped countless hams operate in the field with one of the smallest cheapest computers available: The Raspberry Pi. He's favors digital modes and QRO field stations. Let's learn how he came to create the Build-a-Pi script, what got him started in portable and EMCOMM operations, and POTA. Links: Jason KM4ACK...

Adam K6ARK creates amazing things. His design engineering background led to some serious coveted antennas and complete tiny transceivers, many of which can fit in your pocket and only weigh several grams. A veteran Search and Rescue volunteer, Adam lends some great advice on failing forward and facing your fears. He also entertains my gear geekery questions, shares some stories, and talks about ho...

Eric K0EAP takes on ham radio operation like he does running a marathon. Consistent operation and breaking pile-ups with QRP, Eric shares his experiences on the chasing side of SOTA, POTA, DX, and general CQ. You'll find him doing Lunchtime on the Air (LTOTA) and hanging out in the CW portion of the bands. K0EAP is very humble but has done much to keep ham radio alive, dit by dit. Links: Eric K0EA...

Kevin W6RIP talks about how his YouTube channel came to be, the difficult and often untouched peaks of the SOTA W6 Southern Sierra Region, and his thoughts when he found himself in a precarious SOTA situation. He also shares how he got into the San Gorgonio Search and Rescue Team, and the things he learned about activating summits in retrospect. This badass ham was an early inspiration for AD6DM.&...

The TechGearJunkie joins Hamdom Thoughts Podcast to talk about his many (Squirrel!) endeavors, post-operation food & beverage of choice, and how he's become a YouTuber. We take a brief departure from ham radio to hear some of his great music, and we banter about the creative process. Links: Greg (TechGearJunkie) KG5OCW's fantastic music: https://soundcloud.com/gmbeatnik Greg's YouTube Channel:...

Don KK4QAM is building an automated satellite tracking system, from microcontroller boards and 3D printed parts, to the antennas used to transmit and receive with amateur satellites. He's one of the original JerryNet members and we talk a bit about those beginnings. Don also built a HF radio BBS system that spans the southeast part of the country. An active builder, Don has helped me in many of my...

Managing a whole state's peaks for Summits on the Air, and hacking code: Rex KE6MT talks about some of his mountain-topping hikes, his tools, inventing a meter with Arduino, and muddy trail running with ham gear. We also talk a bit about my first SOTA activation, which he unknowingly took me on. Rex's website: https://www.ke6mt.us Rex's battery meter code: https://github.com/rexington/readvoltage...

A talk with Charlie NJ7V, a Summits on the Air (SOTA) 2x Mountain Goat award winner and profuse YouTuber (creator of Red Summit RF videos). Learn more about Charlie's journey to SOTA, how to get involved, how to stay safe, and other things in this extreme aspect of amateur radio. Charlie's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/RedSummitRF . Did you know you can send audio messages back to AD6DM...

Tuning around on the shortwave radio bands,  you can discover some cool unknown encoded sounds. Some of these sounds can be identified by sound pattern. In the first part of this episode we go over a few ham radio digital modes and guess what they are. In the second part, we hear a few mystery number stations transmitting their message to field agents worldwide. 

Here I just ramble a bit about starting this ham radio related podcast. Hopefully more to come soon! For an intro on what is ham radio, please check out the Ham Radio Crash Course on YouTube: https://bit.ly/HRCCIntro .