QSO Today Podcast - Interviews with the leaders in amateur radio

SOTA Operator Rene Lutz, HB9NBG, has the European Alps as his challenge to conquer every summit with his partner Carine, HB9FZC.  Together they operate their successful rural Swiss ham radio sales and service center that attracts ham radio tourists.  Rene and Carine document their amateur radio adventures on their popular YouTube channel.  HB9NBG is my QSO Today.

George Dominick, W4UW, focuses on the fundamentals of amateur radio including antenna design, building HF power amplifiers, and the simple fun of getting on the air.  Amateur radio still fascinates George after almost 70 year on the air.  W4UW is my QSO Today.

James, "JB", Anderson, K8OS, will be presenting in the next QSO Today Virtual ham Expo, on August 14th and 15th  on the topic of Vertical Yagi-Uda Array using Wire Elements - Stealth HF Gain on a Budget.  I thought that it would be good to introduce the QSO Today audience to the presenters themselves.  While JB has been a ham for over 50 years, he is also an accomplished electronics engineer and a...

Antoine De Ramon NYeurt, 3D2AG, is one of three hams in paradise, who holds up the CW representation from Fiji, the largest Island in the South Pacific and the second largest island in the World next to Australia. Antoine gave an excellent presentation last March at the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo about operating from Fiji and Rotuma, another island 600 KM North of Fiji.  3D2AG shares his Fiji and...

Chip Angle, N6CA, harnessed an early interest in the bands, VHF to microwave, as a passion that continues to this day.  While he is active on every band, Chip pays special attention to low noise receiver performance on his radios that work well above 10 GHz.  This attention to detail and training from the aerospace industry allowed Chip to start his own company building low noise preamps, filters,...

Andreas Spiess, HB9BLA, is a well known YouTube personality from Switzerland with over 330 thousand subscribers, over 30 million views, and focused on sensors, microcontrollers,  Raspberry Pi programming, and projects that use  this technology applied to amateur radio.  I found Andreas on YouTube as I am preparing my own QO100 geosynchronous satellite earth station, to allow me to work the Quatar...

Tom Perera, W1TP, has a collection of over 3000 Morse code keys and bugs going back to pre-American Civil War, perhaps the largest collection in the World. He displays these keys in his virtual, on-line museum. W1TP shares with me the history of his collection, some interesting stories, and his newest interest and collection of military cipher machines, including the WW2 German Enigma, in this QSO...

Greg Algieri, WA1JXR, began his ham radio journey by asking his dad for a Gillette Blue Razor Blade to make this first receiver, leading to amateur radio licenses, higher electronics education, and an entire career with Raytheon, where he worked in radio and antenna design.  WA1JXR is active in his amateur radio community as a teacher of new and existing hams, restoring boat anchor vintage radios,...

Ted Holland, WB3AVD, describes himself as a cultural anthropologist who creates artistic telegraph or CW keys based on themes that move him, including OZ's Emerald City.  An avid QRP contest operator and local emcomm enthusiast, WB3AVD shares his amateur radio successes in this QSO Today. 

Frank Kollins, WA9CWX, loves to operate CW from multiple operating positions, from restored vintage to the most modern rigs. Frank is a student and teacher of radio history from its very ether-like beginnings, to radio's evolution through World War 2. WA9CWX has an amazing CW key collection and is my QSO Today.  

Marty Woll, N6VI, found his way into amateur radio, along with other high school teens in Southern California's San Fernando Valley in the late 1960s. Interested in CW, chasing DX, and contesting, Marty's ham radio interests evolved to include VHF, UHF, and microwave contest "roving", and now emergency communications.  N6VI has always been a leader in our hobby and is my QSO Today. 

For Peter ODell, WB2D, amateur radio morphed into a professional life at the ARRL during the time of Spaceshuttle STS-9 and the introduction of the first amateur radio broadcast from the Shuttle.  Peter describes his amateur radio journey and the challenges of being a ham radio journalist in this QSO Today.

Thomas, Tom, Tate, WA7NPX, began his ham radio journey with his best friend in middle school.  The amateur radio hobby can make lifelong buddies as well as develop practical and professional skills.  WA7NPX shares his ham radio story and how it can serve as a springboard for developing expertise in other hobbies as well.

Henry Seidner, WA2ROA,  like many of his contemporaries in the 60s, discovered amateur radio from Shortwave listening and was licensed in high school. Henry  spent most of his professional life living and working in New York City, and travelling the world.  Amateur radio was his door opener allowing him to make lasting friendships.  WA2ROA tells this ham radio story in this QSO Today. 

Larry Tyree, or Tree, as he is known in amateur radio circles, loves to operate contests, work DX on 160 meters, from his 28 hilltop acres in the Oregon forest, near Portland.  Tree is a serious CW operator, where good antenna design, focus, skill, and patience bring the amateur radio rewards.  Tree tells his ham radio story in this QSO Today.

Roland Smith, K7OJL,  entered ham radio almost 60 years ago after the launch of the Sputnik satellite.  His ham radio activity paused for many years as a result of professional relocations and family commitments.  Roland has since returned to amateur radio at a fast and furious pace, operating in just about every band and mode. 

Peter Shilton, VE7PS, became a lifelong chaser of meteor scatter and EME contacts because of a very early acquisition of a Drake receiver and a transverter, at the beginning of his ham radio career.  VE7PS tells this story in our QSO Today.

Patrick (Pat) Brown, AK5TX, has always had a love for radio leading to opportunities from Chicago to Alaska to Texas! Amateur radio was the game-changer for Pat when he suddenly lost his eyesight, almost 20 years ago. Pat is now "More than able, I am Handi-Capable!" He continues his journey including contributing to our art, hobby, craft, sport, and science in the amateur community residing in Tyl...

Dan Marler, K7REX, owes much of his professional opportunities and success to his amateur radio background.  A people person, K7REX, likes to give back to the amateur radio community as an ARRL Section Manager and founder of the RATPAC, a group that does not include Sammy, Dean, and Frank.  Dan tells his ham radio story in this QSO Today. 

Tom Robinson, G0SBW, made a very interesting presentation at the Expo called, "Amateurs Research Poor Radio Communications at the Battle of Arnhem, in 1944", where the British lost this WW2 battle because of poor communications.  I urge you to go view Tom's presentation at the Expo.  I interviewed Tom back in September of 2017, because Tom likes to operate backpack mobile on the English Shore, dra...

When it comes to understanding how antennas really work, then the "go to" ham is Bob Zavrel, W7SX, author of the ARRL book, Antenna Physics - An Introduction .  Through this book, Bob bridges the gap between "how to" antenna books,  and calculus based antenna theory books for engineers.  Bob has a long resume in radio and electronics, is the accidental creator of the Signetic NE602 mixer chip.  Bo...

FlexRadio is the Platinum Sponsor at the next QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo. I wanted to bring back an interview that I had with Steve Hicks, N5AC, VP of Engineering at FlexRadio. Steve will be a speaker at the Expo. Steve is a natural teacher in addition to leading a team developing the most advanced software defined radios for amateur radio. Of course, he also has a great ham radio story that he te...

John Ackermann, N8UR,  was my guest almost 200 episodes ago and is a speaker in the upcoming QSO Today Virtual ham Expo.  John spends much of his time as a proponent of open source, freely sharing both hardware and software designs with the TAPR community. Join us as we discuss TAPR, SDR transceivers, and the issues around open source and the maker movement.

Gerald Youngblood, K5SDR, is the founder and CEO of FlexRadio that is now on the cutting edge of building advanced software defined radio (SDR) platforms for amateur radio, as well as for government, business, and the military.   Gerald is a leader and pioneer in the development of SDR leading to the founding of FlexRadio.  This episode is a newly minted version of the original interview that I ha...

Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, is best known for his satelite QSOs using portable gear from grid squares all over the World.  He documents and captures many of his contacts and the equipment that he uses on his website and YouTube Channel.  WD9EWK is a recent addition to the AMSAT board of directors and is my QSO Today.