QSO Today Podcast - Interviews with the leaders in amateur radio

Charles Powell, NK8O, would argue that an early interest in radio and communications aided him in making a transition from professional French Horn player to pediatric doctor rather than suffer the mid-life crisis.  Charles likes just about everything that ham radio offers including POTA, CW, kit building, old rigs, and operating his own DXpeditions from exotic locations around the world.  NK8O an...

Jonathan Taylor, K1RFD, has reached his 50th year has a ham radio operator, is the creator of Echolink, one of the first amateur radio Voice over Internet Service linking amateur radio stations, the receiver of technical innovation awards, and author of "VoIP: Internet Linking for Radio Amateurs", now in its second edition.  K1RFD checks all of the ham radio boxes for operating, homebrewing, softw...

Lanny Aldrich, K1LEC, began his professional career as a third generation commercial dairy farmer in Vermont.  Amateur radio was his hobby that he pursued at a steady pace to pursue DX, build operating skills, and contribute to the hobby by just being involved.  Just his advice on antennas is a prize from our conversation.  K1LEC is my QSO Today

Martin, Marty, Buehring, KB4MG, discovered amateur radio in private high school growing up in Chicago, Illinois, and went on for a career in electronics engineering following the development of semiconductors from basic transistors to Large Scale Integrates circuits and ASICS.  Marty believes that ham radio clubs are key to ham radio success.  KB4MG is my QSO Today.

Richard Gutknecht NZ2I, is a second generation amateur radio operator, catching the bug at an early age and getting the Novice license at age 15. Answering his country's call to duty, Rick joined the Air Force and became an active ham while stationed in Germany.  Now retired, Rick enjoys getting on the air, volunteering for his amateur radio club, and now producing and co-hosting a podcast on curr...

William Thomas, WT0DX, was inspired by an early interest in electronics, amateur radio, building Heathkits, to spend a career as an engineer and inventor, with over 150 patents, in the electronics and  ultimately the cable television industry where he was given the Cable TV Pioneer award by the National Cable Television Association.  Bill is the co-inventor of the Interactive Program Guide still f...

Ram Muthukrishnan, VU2JXN, while growing up in India, had a difficult time finding any information about amateur radio in the libraries and magazines.  It was not until Ram attended university that he met licensed amateur radio operators and could pursue the hobby.  CW is Ram's favorite operating mode, especially after attending CW Academy.  He modified his SSB only BitX transceiver to operate CW...

Mark Wohlschlegal, WC3W, knew at age 12 that amateur radio would set the course of his life pursuing  engineering degrees leading to a career in big system and equipment sales and marketing.  An additional love of flying, boating, and motorcycle touring kept Mark and his family active outside of work.  Now retired, WC3W operates a remote HF station, in Florida,  with a partner and describes it all...

Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT, while inspired at a young age to ham radio, it wasn't until after a successful career as a professional writer and journalist that she re-discovered amateur radio in 2014.  Her ham radio history was pretty thoroughly covered in a recent Ham Radio Workbench podcast a few weeks ago.  Our conversation explored her professional history leading to her reporting for Ham Radio N...

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.

Don Westacott VE6HQ, believes that his early foundation in amateur radio contributed to his professional success through the multiple disciplines and out of the box thinking that is amateur radio.  After a successful career and an expert in subsurface measurements and remote sensing for the petroleum  industry, Don now likes to work 20 meters and refine his test equipment bench using the latest lo...

Steve Stroh, N8GNJ, has always enjoyed the confluence of computers, data communications, and amateur radio from the earliest days of AX.25 packet radio to the current AREDN and SDR (software defined radio).  Steve uses his Zero Retries newsletter on Substack, to communicate the amazing amateur radio technology developments in data communications that does not get covered in the standard amateur ra...

David Okrent W7DAO, like many hams grew up with shortwave radio, electronic kits, and a radio interest that led to a professional career related to our hobby. David focuses the use of these skills and expertise on emergency rescue and treatment as a military medical corpsman, as an EMT, and providing volunteer support to the  Red Cross.  Contribution and giving back to his community drives W7DAO,...

Kay Savetz, K6KJN, followed his father, Steve, into amateur radio when he entered college and Journalism school at the beginning of the Atari computer age.  Tech journalism is Kay's profession leading him to be the technical historian specializing in amateur radio and communications at the Internet Archive. We deep dive into Kay's interest in amateur radio, technology and communications history, a...

Alan Higbie, K0AV, is a ham over sixty years, with an interest in CW, contesting, working DX, and working 2BSIQ mode.  Alan has developed special expertise in finding RF noise sources around his QTH using a portable SDR receiver, and as a trial lawyer, he has had the opportunity to live in unusual places that lead to unusual ham radio operating events.  K0AV is my QSO Today.

Joshua Wander, 4X4BB, began in amateur radio as a "prepper" where radio is one of the elements of being prepared for disaster, natural or otherwise.  Origionally, Josh was from Pennsylvania, where he grew up, but immigrated to Israel with his family 10 years ago when I first met him.  Josh is many things including journalist on many war fronts, volunteer rescuer of refugees from the Ukraine into I...

Dov Gavish 4Z4DX is one of Israel's best known amateurs outside of Israel, and avid DXer and DXpeditioner. Even before Parks on the Air or Summits on the Air, Dov had a rig in the car ready to go on a moment's notice.  While CW is his favorite operating mode, Dov prefers whatever mode works to make the contact.  4Z4DX is my QSO Today.

Ron Gang, 4X1MK, had his early amateur radio beginnings in Canada, and later immigrated, as part of a group, to Israel in the 1970s, where his amateur radio license, skills, and equipment were highly appreciated and valued.  Always an active amateur radio operator, 4X1MK is willing to try every operating mode. Ron is also a musician and painter who shares his amateur radio story and his perspectiv...

Tony Fishpool, G4WIF, is still active in the United Kingdoms G-QRP Club and contributes to the quarterly Sprat Magazine, is the author of a book on Test Equipment for the QRPer, an numberious article on equipment building with particular attention to detail and budget.  I am please to present to you this re-edited and mastered QSO with Tony Fishpool, G4WIF.

Today's podcast is a reprise of my interview with George Fremin, K5TR in April of 2017.  George is a world class contester and DXer, with years of experience building and maintaining first class multi-operator contest stations.  George gives some important advice on tower safety and working on antenna towers. We also touch on the "flow state" that is achievable during intense contesting rounds in...

I interviewed Dave Casler, KE0OG, in September 2017, at a time when 10 meters was dead, and the discussion of ham radio education was as important then,  as it is today.  Dave creates ham radio Youtube videos from the Western Slope of Colorado to educate and inform his ham radio audience.  Beginning with videos to aid in obtaining ham radio licenses, Dave has created a catalog of how-to videos for...

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. ...

I revisit my 2017 interview with Dave Sumner, K1ZZ. He's the ex-CEO and General Manager of the ARRL, retiring in 2016 after a 44-year tenure where he started as an intern. Today, Dave discusses his views on ham radio, operating methods, and his long career at ARRL.

Dr. Jack Mandelman, K1VT, was my guest in 2018, after meeting him on a DMR talk group.  As my head is down in preparation for the upcoming QSO Today Academy Event, I wanted to bring back this great interview with Jack.  Jack is on the short list for holding the most patents, over 700 Worldwide, in the area of semiconductor physics, while at the same time a successful ham radio operator working DX...

Dr. Frank Brickle, AB2KT, was my guest in Episode 212, in August of 2018, five years ago.  He is both a musical composer and a technology expert. He earned a Ph. D. in Music from Princeton University and has been involved in computer science and signal processing since 1970. He was an early pioneer in development of Software Defined Radio for the US Government, and later by private industry, and w...