QSO Today Podcast - Interviews with the leaders in amateur radio

Bob Allphin, K4UEE, was my guest in Episode 79 over 5 years ago.  As he is one of the speakers in the next QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo, his ham radio story would interest today's listeners.  K4UEE has traveled the World in pursuit of activating DX entities that are isolated, desolate,  and uninhabited.  Forty in total.  Out of his love for travel, he has been to 126 countries during his lifetime. I...

Jerry Weisskohl, AC4BT, always had a love of radio and short wave listening.  He got a late start in amateur radio but thinks that the art and practice of CW, or Morse code, is exactly what quiets and relaxes the mind after an engaging day as a computer scientist.  AC4BT has taken lead roles with CWops and CW Academy and is my QSO Today.

Peter Butler, W1UU's ham radio journey began with the purchase of a J38 code key and a trip to the library.  Sputnik inspired Peter to a career in microwave engineering reinforced by this ham radio interest.  Peter is the Vice President of CWops and actively involved in sharing his love for CW and good operating practice with the hundreds of amateurs who are signing on to do the same.  W1UU is my...

Mel Swanberg, WA6JBD, has a love of radio that goes back to his childhood.  Growing up in Southern California, Mel found his Elmers and Mentors that led him into a career in the land mobile business  and public safety radio.  Mel is the former president of the Cactus Intertie, perhaps the largest point to point full duplex amateur radio network in the World. Other interests include microwave commu...

Clint Turner, KA7OEI, is an experimenter, builder, and operator on all bands and modes.  He shares his background in microwave communications, EME or Moonbounce, and his involvement in the Northern Utah Web SDR Project, an amazing on-line resource hams who want to listen to all of the lowbands with waterfall display at the same time.  KA7OEI is my QSO Today.

Tim Deagan, KJ8U, loves to build just about anything to try out a new tool, and he has an amazing assortment of tools to support his construction of amateur radio antennas as well as Burning Man like propane powered visual displays.  KJ8U is a maker, and since ham radio operators were the original makers, Tim's cross-over between the maker community and the amateur radio community is just natural....

Joe Reisert, W1JR, continues to pay forward, the kindness of his early ham radio mentors, with his contributions to our amazing hobby. Amateur Radio paved the way to a successful career and amazing encounters, Worldwide,  with people and technology.  W1JR tells his amateur radio story in this QSO Today.

Wayne Yoshida, KH6WZ, has been an active ham since the 1970s, growing up in Los Angeles.  Wayne is a home brewer, especially microwave equipment on 10 GHz, and has taken our amateur radio hobby to the Maker Faire in the Bay Area for live demonstrations. As a technical writer and Contributing Editor to CQ Magazine, Wayne is in one of the best places to experience just about everything in ham radio.

Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, is a third generation amateur, beginning her ham radio journey in elementary school.  Her interest in microwave circuit design and computers led her to a successful engineering career and now a board member of AMSAT.  Michelle is an advocate for open source applied to satellite design fueling future generations of amateur spacecraft. W5NYV is my QSO Today.

Rob Suggs, NN4NT, is a space scientist at NASA, specializing in outer space environments that protect our astronauts from the hazards of space including space junk and debris. We discuss NASA, Apollo space technology, and amateur radio in this QSO Today.

Rick Miller, N1RM's ham radio story began at McMurdo Station in Antarctica and weaves its way through Russian submarine hunting to operate APRS on the back of a Harley Davidson motorcycle, on a grand tour of the United States.  N1RM will fill in all of the open spaces in this QSO Today.

Ralph Haller, N4RH, started his ham radio journey as a nine year old with a knack for electronics leading to his first amateur license at age 9.  Within a few years, Ralph earned broadcast engineering licenses, radio station jobs, education, and a career at the Federal Communications Commission.  N4RH was the driving force behind many of the FCC initiatives that have had a lasting impact on radio...

Stan Johnson, W0SJ, started his amateur radio career in high school.  A scavenger of junk, and a kid with the knack,  led Stan to electronic project building with his collected parts.  These skills filtered and honed through the Air Force and the Bell Telephone Laboratories.  Stan would say that his involvement in amateur radio resulted in a life of curious exploration.

Bob Weed, W7SCY, was born and raised in the Oregon Cascade Mountains over eighty years ago.  In this retirement, Bob has returned home to an area that has always been subject to fire, mudslides, earthquakes, and active volcanoes.  W7SCY shares his seventy plus years as a radio amateur that includes his interest in traffic nets and emergency operations in his area,  in this QSO Today.

Ria Jairam, N2RJ, discovered amateur radio on her native Caribbean Island of Trinidad back in the 90s.  As an immigrant to the United States, Ria pursued a degree in Electronic Engineering and learned from great ham radio mentors.  Now an electronic security professional, mother, active ham radio operator and contester, Ria was recently elected ARRL Hudson Division Director.  N2RJ tells her story...

Keith Schlottman, KR7RK, is not only a mountain goat, he is also a super sloth.  Terms like this are not endearing, however if you are a SOTA activator or chaser, then you know how important these terms are to SOTA operators.  KR7RK tells his ham radio story in this QSO Today.

Jim Moss, N9JIM, portable 6, spends his ham radio life above 50 Mhz.  He has made contacts on every band above 50 MHz and is now working in the 122 Ghz band.  If you are considering a new and different frontier, N9JIM tells his amateur radio story and how to make the transition to VHF and Microwave in this QSO Today. 

Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, discovered amateur radio as a kid, like many of the QSO Today guests.  One of his desires was to work at the ARRL, where he started his career and has been for 29 years.  Bob shares his ham radio story and speaks about the ARRL and what he has learned about amateur radio in this QSO Today. 

Steve Masticola, WX2S,  took a 30 year vacation from amateur radio to pursue his life.  Now he is back.  WX2S loves to operate in the field, necessitated by living in an HOA.  This has created a new passion for SOTA, Parks on the Air, and QRP Fox Hunting.  All this and more in my QSO Today with WX2S.  

Jim Heath, W6LG, has been a ham for over 56 years.  Jim is an Elmer's Elmer with an amazing You-Tube channel, with over 30,000 subscribers. Jim not only reviews the basics of amateur radio, and he makes that content up close and personal, reflecting on his years of experience as an amateur radio operator.

Bill Salyers, AJ8B, had a great ham radio start as a kid in the Seventies.  Bill loves to work CW to pursue DXCC and just to ragchew and communicate.  He hones his skills with the help of CWOPS and is open to the opportunities afforded by all of the new digital modes.

Eric Silverthorn, NM5M, has a great ham radio story, especially at the beginning with the support of his family for this ham radio interest.  Eric was a speaker at the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo and gave a fine talk on CWOPS.  You can tell in these weeks that I want to make sure that you know the Expo speakers and that is why NM5M is my QSO Today.   

Marcel Stieber, AI6MS, contributed three talks to the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo earlier this month, on topics that included remote administration of amateur radio exams, wireless networks for emergency communications, and lithium batteries and their care and feeding.  He uses his amateur radio license and the opportunities it affords to advance the state of the art, contribute to his community, a...

Michael Walker, VA3MW, joins me from the Canadian State of Ontario where he started his ham radio journey. Getting into ham radio as a kid, Michael's interest in amateur radio and technology led him through a technical career.  He  is now widely known as FlexRadio's inside sales person, and he is a frequent guest host on the Ham Radio Workbench Podcast.  VA3MW is my QSO Today.  

Mark Smith, KR6ZY, has been a ham since the mid-nineties and finds problem solving and building electronic equipment  his special  area of our ham radio hobby.  A trained and graduated computer engineer, Mark resides near the Central California coast.  Mark is a frequent contributor to the Ham Radio Workbench Podcast, and has his own YouTube channel.  KR6ZY is my QSO Today.