QSO Today Podcast - Interviews with the leaders in amateur radio

Amateur Radio and The Boy Scouts of America merged in a new and strong partnership under the leadership of Jim Wilson, K5ND, through his promotion of the annual Jamboree on the Air, the largest single scouting event in the World. Jim is Eric, 4Z1UG’s, guest on QSO Today.

When Craig Thompson, K9CT, wanted a place to spend a contest weekend with his amateur radio friends he built a multi operator contest station on a rural property, not far from his home in the city. Drawing on the experience and expertise of other multi operator contest station owners, Craig built his ultimate man cave.   Craig discusses his amateur radio story and the details of building this stat...

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a QRP CW operator, founder of the “Skeeder Hunt”, an outdoor QRP contest, and a blogger with many stories to tell and observations to make about amateur radio.  Larry joins Eric, 4Z1UG, in this episode of QSO Today.

Phil Anderson, WOXI, founded Kantronics in 1971 to build wiring harnesses for automobiles. The company morphed over time to become one of the premier manufacturers of terminal node controllers or TNCs for amateur packet radio. Now retired, Phil is as active as ever pursuing new avenues in ham radio. Phil joins Eric, 4Z1UG, in this episode of QSO Today.

Maybe the ultimate home-brew project is to build the modern “KWM4” based on the Collins KWM2, then soup it up, like a hotrod, with an Arduino microprocessor, a digital synthesizer, and a digital display. This was and is Pete Juliano, N6QW’s dream rig. Pete joins Eric, 4Z1UG, for a conversation on home-brewing, construction technique, and ham radio on QSO Today.  

  Lance Collister, W7GJ, has had a fascination with VHF,  six and two meters,  for over fifty years, when he had a Heathkit Twoer and a three element yagi. Now Lance travels to the far corners of the Earth with his Elecraft KX3 to bounce his six meter signal off of the moon. Lance tells us how he does it in his conversation with Eric, 4Z1UG, on QSO Today.

  Chuck Adams, K7QO, is working the world with his single channel 20 meter transceiver just to show that he can. CW is Chuck’s mode of choice because of its efficiency and as a gateway to making ham radio affordable to anyone. Chuck shares his ham radio life, his Manhattan Muppet board construction method, and how to copy call signs at 140 words a minute, with Eric, 4Z1UG, on this episode of QSO T...

  Who could imagine that an offer to build fifty experimental SDR radios called the SDR1000 would turn into an order for five-hundred units in the first year launching Gerald Youngblood, K5SDR, into the SDR business.  FlexRadio Systems was launched,  in 2003, on the kitchen table of K5SDR's Austin, Texas house to become the premier ham radio supplier of turn-key SDR radios.  Gerald joins Eric, 4Z1...

  The book,  SOS at Midnight, by Walker Thompson, inspired Glenn Elmore, N6GN, to become an amateur radio operator. Son of a Caltech physicist, Glenn follows in the family’s tradition of careful research and documentation of his experiments in WSPRnet for VHF and UHF propagation, and his use of quad-copters as a sky hook for his surface wave transmission line experiments. Join N6GN and Eric, 4Z1UG...

  According to Joe Shupienis, W3BC, a “real ham” is an active ham, who takes part in any aspect of the hobby. Joe is the founder of the Quad Counties Amateur Radio Club, over 40 years ago, and he continues to lead the hobby with his ham radio blog and contributions to the club newsletter. Besides being active on the air, Joe is the ARRL WPA club coordinator under Section Manager, Tim Duffy, K3LR....

Becoming a top contester in the World of amateur radio is about skill, practice, experience, and a great station according to Pat Barkey, N9RV. Pat combines all of these attributes, including his SO2R, single operator two radio, station,  to be one of the top contesters in the World. Now he is the editor of the National Contest Journal, a professor at Contest University, and Eric, 4Z1UG’s, guest o...

  For some hams, amateur radio provides an opportunity to not only work DX, but to travel the world on DXpeditions of all kinds.  My guest on QSO Today,  has visited over 60 countries during his ham radio career.  Wayne Mills, N7NG, was also inducted into the CQ DX Hall of Fame and is the founder of DX University.  He is Eric, 4Z1UG’s guest, this week,  on QSO Today.

  Like many of us who got interested in radio as kids, Doug Grant, K1DG, got his start with a crystal radio kit from an ad in the back of Boy’s Life magazine.  Receiving  signals on a wire strung across the back yard was the beginning of Doug’s amateur  radio journey that led him, this year,  to his induction into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame.  Contests are Doug’s passion, and he  operates a Single...

  When it comes to introducing amateur radio to kids, there is no better elmer than Carole Perry, WB2MGP.  Carole captured the imagination of almost nine-hundred Staten Island, New York,  public school kids a year, for almost thirty years.  With this experience and and knowledge, Carole is still a leader in ham radio education through a number of national organizations.  She joins Eric, 4Z1UG, in...

  Bill Meara, N2CQR, rediscovered his love of homebrewing while on professional assignment for the American Foreign Service, in the Azores. He has since traveled the World with his family and ham radio while at the same time building homebrew transceivers using the Manhattan method. Bill joins, Eric, 4Z1UG, in his QSO Today.

  When it comes to building ham radio projects using the Arduino microcontroller, the best person to call is Glen Popiel, KW5GP, author of Arduino for Ham Radio, published by the ARRL. Like many hams, Glen was into computers early and now applies those computer skills to new and fascinating ham radio projects. KW5GP is Eric, 4Z1UG’s, guest on QSO Today. #qsotoday  

When the need to operate portable arose on a family vacation, Budd Drummond, W3FF, fashioned a temporary antenna mast from a painters extension pole and some PVC pipe fittings.  A little more innovation led to the Buddipole system for portable antennas.  A ham for more than sixty years, Budd, W3FF, founder of Buddipole, is Eric, 4Z1UG’s guest on QSO Today.

Volunteering to ham radio organizations and interesting kids in amateur radio is the center of Bob Sterner’s, KB0BS, ham radio activity on the Front Range of Colorado.  Bob shares his insight, with Eric, 4Z1UG, on QSO Today,  gained from his hundreds of hours a year as a volunteer examiner, ham radio mentor, radio club organizer, and leader in the Colorado ham radio community.

  After a career in electronics engineering, Tony Parks, KB9YIG, returned to ham radio, after thirty years, to find it very different than when he first started in the 1950s.  Upon returning in 2000, Tony discovered software defined radio or SDR, where he saw an opportunity to build starter kits for HF SDR receivers that became the Softrock SDR kits.  Tony joins Eric, 4Z1UG to discuss SDR and Soft...

  When attempting to activate a new mountain peak, in Colorado,  for SOTA, Summits on the Air, Steve Galchutt, WG0AT, uses goats to act as his “sherpas” to carry his gear to the top. His goats allow him to make it to the top of the “teeners”, to set up and make contacts.  Join WG0AT and Eric, 4Z1UG on the QSO Today podcast.

  Combining the software development skills from his thirty-five year career in the US Coast Guard and his hearing loss drove David Freese, W1HKJ, into the early HF digital modes and eventually to support GMFSK software. Building on this popular platform, David then went on to develop FLdigi, one of ham radio’s most popular software programs for encoding and decoding digital transmissions. David d...

  Paul Ewing, N6PSE, is the founder of the Intrepid DX Group, who has organized and participated in eight DXpeditions to very rare DX and exotic locations around the World, including Northern Iraq, South Sudan, and Yemen. This gives Paul authority and insight on creation, management, and execution of DXpeditions in ham radio. As a ham radio blogger, Paul shares his reflections on ham radio and is...

  From the very beginning of her ham radio journey, almost 50 years ago, Carol Milazzo, KP4MD, applies the scientific method to her study and enjoyment of amateur radio.  Whether she is modeling antennas for installation in her attic or to using WSPRnet to study VHF and UHF propagation, Carol takes meticulous notes, adds footnotes and illustrations, and now produces video.  This makes Carol a terr...

  For John Langridge, KB5NJD, amateur radio is a way of life, like the martial arts. He demonstrates that our amateur radio license privileges give us the real world opportunities to explore the science of radio.  He does this now in the 630 meter band with an experimental license. John takes us on his amateur radio journey and shares with Eric, 4Z1UG, the discoveries he has made along with way on...

Joe Moell, K0OV, discovered his love for amateur radio transmitter hunting as an 11 year old Novice in the 1950s. This passion for the hunt has led Joe to become the leading expert in transmitter hunting of all kinds including popularizing the European “fox hunt”, or on foot direction finding contests in the USA. He is an author of over 200 articles on “T hunting”,  and is Eric’s guest on QSO Toda...