99 Hobbies

Jeff's Walk

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:28:06 PDT

Today I talked with Jeff Johnson, VK4XJJ on the phone about his cross-country walk.

He had ham radio along for the ride -- among other things.

Jeff was raising money for charity in the process of this 2,500 km "walkabout".

Show notes (many lifted from Jeff's site):

www.jeffswalk.com

eBook now available. Five months backpacking over 2,500kms across Oz with 5W FT-817nd US$5.

DeafBlind
Association (NSW) Inc.
www.dbansw.org.au

D*STAR with Cal

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:51:06 PST

Today I talked with Cal, WA1WOK about D*STAR. We discussed the past, present, and future of the hobby (AM, SSB, digital modes) and specifically how D*STAR fits in.

You can get in on the ground floor of this new part of amateur radio, if you want to. Listen in and you will get an idea of what to expect with this new mode, with the help of guys like Cal who can show you the ropes.

Show notes:

http://www.dstarusers.org
http://www.dstarinfo.com
http://www.washcoares.org/d-star/index.html
http://www.icomamerica.com/amateur/dstar/
Promotional video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8PYZOc9L9o
Cal's email address is his callsign at arrl.net

My hamfest vacation - part two

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 11:50:12 PST

I talked to quite a few people at the Orlando Hamcation 2009, covering lots of ham radio subjects, as well as some not-so-technical things. What a great time, and in the winter sun! Kick back and enjoy this one. It's a little long, nearly 25 minutes, but close your eyes and pretend that you are in Florida.....

Show notes:

www.ten-ten.org
www.lidomounts.com
www.farcircuits.net
www.hamtestonline.com
Brenda's Catering

My hamfest vacation - part one

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:17:32 PST

I stopped in Richmond, VA on the way to Florida, and visited the Richmond Frostfest 2009. It was a decent-sized hamfest held on the international raceway.

I talked to several very interesting people who have done some unusual things with ham radio. This was a lot of fun!

Show notes:

Dominion DX Group web site
ARRL listing for local clubs
K-9 Alert Search and Rescue Dogs, Inc
VA Dept. of Emergency Management - Terry's email addr
Zuni Maritime Foundation

Learning by kit-building

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 08:16:12 PDT

Last November I spoke with Rich Mitchell, N3III about his award-winning article in QST in November, 2007. It is always memorable when you are speaking with someone who has such passion, and also who loves the hobby like this. This one was so much fun I couldn't stop. Run time is long.

Rich is http://www.qrz.com/n3iii
November article in QST (won the Cover Award for the month) (you may need to be an ARRL member to access this)
http://www.arrl.org/qst/2007/11/mitchell.pdf

New blood

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 08:17:15 PDT

This morning I joined our monthly breakfast with the PART radio club. I had a chance to interview Kimberly Stewart, KB1PZG, who was licensed in February of this year. She is bright, articulate, and shows an obvious passion for the hobby. I think we will be hearing a lot about her as the years go by.

Links: PART of Westford: www.wb1gof.org

The Radio Club of JHS 22, NYC

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 05:24:12 PDT

Tonight I had a nice chat with Joe Fairclough, WB2JKJ. Joe is the president of the Radio Club at JHS 22 in New York. We discuss the club and what they do, and also talk about how you can get involved. A great story.

This one is a little longer than usual, and worth every second.

Show notes

www.wb2jkj.org
Apple Slices Newsletter is at home.triad.rr.com/michaelbest/

Your own podcast?

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 05:18:36 PDT

Have you ever thought about doing your own podcast about amateur radio? It's easier than you may think. I discussed this with Mark Jensen, KB2EGB, who just recently returned from a podcasting exposition. Mark gives some tips and suggestions about how you can get started making podcasts!

Digital modes: Can you do it? Yes.

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:08:52 PDT

I was shooting the breeze with my friend Joe, WY3T, on the telephone and the subject of PSK came up. You guys know Joe already (previous podcast)

Joe had told me about his recent foray into the digital modes. While we were talking, I asked him if I could turn on the podcast machine to record this conversation, and what you hear now is the answer. Awesome. Very fun.

Show notes:

CQ magazine
Rigblaster

Your signal

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 19:35:32 PDT

Hi Everyone.

I'm back from my summer in China and surprisingly adjusted to the difference in time zones pretty well. My wife and my dog are getting used to my being back home in New Hampshire, and I am excited about seeing my dog again, and being able to get on the air.

I'm just playing around with you. It's wonderful to be back home, for more than a thousand reasons, not the least of which is to see my lovely N1TMZ face-to-face again. We used VoIP, POTS, email, and internet chat using Skype, 9y.com, and some others. A LOT. I missed her while I was gone.

I would like to say thanks to everyone who've emailed me, asking where the podcasts went, and 'when are they coming back?' It is gratifying to know that so many of you enjoy these podcasts. One listener told me, "I listen to you on the train every morning on the way to work." Another guy from Romania sent me email asking when the podcasts will start back up, because he has a translator who knows English, and he wants her to download the podcasts. Another ham asks "would you like to talk to one of our amateur radio experts here in Japan about 99 Hobbies?"

Those made feel pretty good, and it's why I keep doing this.

Thanks.

I will endeavor to pick up the pace and start cranking these out again. There are so many fascinating people to talk to and I can hardly wait to get going. Of the 99 Hobbies I've mentioned, I haven't yet talked about half of them!My desire was to kick things into gear by talking with someone who has a passion for ham radio, who knows what he is talking about, and about a subject that affects all of us who have an amateur radio license.

SCORE!!!!!

As you will see, I went overtime (23:30) and still had some un-answered questions!!! This was so fun.

Here we go!

Last night I had a fun conversation with Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, about his passion: propagation. Of course, Carl is well known as an expert on the subject, having regularly written for Worldradio, QST, and CQ magazines, among others. Check out the picture here of him and his wife Vicky.

Carl and I talked about how and why your signal is able to go from here to there. I think you will be able to hear his love of the hobby.

In one of his answers he uses my favorite radio phrase: "get on the air". Did you hear it?

73,
Dave

Show notes
Email to Carl with questions: [his callsign]@arrl.net
Carl's propagation website is at http://mysite.verizon.net/k9la
CQ magazine at http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/
Space Environment Center at http://sec.noaa.gov
Space Weather at http://spaceweather.com

Net? What is a net?

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Thu, 10 May 2007 11:00:51 PDT

Today I talked with Joe, Wy3T, about getting on the air on an HF net. There are many new HF operators out there, and you may be wondering how to contact new HF friends. Have you ever tried to do this? Check out this podcast.

Show notes

http://www.ecars7255.com

100 pound DXpedition to Monserrat

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 11:10:41 PST

Today I spoke with my friend Scott Andersen, NE1RD, about some of the things that he has done in the 12 months since we talked on 99 Hobbies last year. His "100 pound DXpedition" has taken him many places, and has been a true learning experience -- not to mention a lot of fun. Join me for this one!

Show notes

http://100pounddxpedition.blogspot.com
http://dxpedition-vp2m.com/
http://www.monserrat.co.uk/

DX on the "Top Band"

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 15:20:27 PST

Do you need to be a land baron to operate on 160 meters? Not according to Don Boudreau, W5KFX. Today we talk about some of the reasons why the Top Band can be a lot more fun than many people think, not the least of which is DXing on 160.

Show Notes

Topband? No Way!... But Never say Never, Feb 2007 QST, p.52
The Delta DX Association, www.deltadx.net

RADIO project at Moorpark High School

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 17:51:20 PDT

Tom Baker, NC6B, talks to me about the first- of- its- kind skills class that he teaches at Moorpark HS, near Ventura California. The Radio Amateurs and Disaster Operations (RADIO) teaches skills that include amateur radio, First Aid training, CPR training, Defibrillator, and SERT/CERT certification. They promote the idea that "Teaching our students about preparedness better prepares our community."

Photo is Tom (at left, NC6B) with principal Miyashiro (N6LKI).

Show notes

Great article in the Ventura County Star at http://tinyurl.com/s44z9
The High School's web page is at http://www.mhsweather.org/ and click on RADIO

Weekend goofing off

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 11:53:33 PDT

This is another short podcast. We'll get back to the 'standard' 99Hobbies format soon, but first, this one made me laugh out loud, and I wanted to post this while I had the chance.

This weekend I made a new friend, Jon, from Iceland. Jon has made over 600 QSOs during the Scandinavian Activity Contest JUST during THIS WEEKEND! ( see http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/sacnsc.htm ).

BACKGROUND: I'm tuning through the band and hear Jon ( http://www.qrz.com/callsign/TF3ZA ) calling CQ, so I give him a call. No sweat, easy copy on both sides. He answers me, and I log Iceland, both signals very strong. Very cool. I spot him to the DX network, and a few guys call him. Maybe three people call him. My guess is that most people think they would never be able to penetrate a pile-up for Iceland.

But Jon is calling CQ so often, and no one answers him, that I thought I should make a phone call and see if my friend Scott can work him. Scott lives in a condo, and he doesn't have the luxury of big antennas. In fact, he is not allowed to have any antennas that even would work on 20 meters.

When I called Scott today, he was in a meeting at work. But he answered, and actually went out to his car and gave it a try. He got Jon on his third try.

And then he went back to work.

I think we have our priorities set just fine, don't we?

Oh, and by the way, if you don't think you can make the contact, you should probably give it a try anyway.

73,
Dave
KZ1O

SATERN and emergency communications

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 15:48:34 PDT

No, not a spelling mistake. This is SATERN, the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network. Every year around this time you hear a lot about hurricanes, and you also hear amateur radio volunteers performing public service, providing communications when the usual means fail. You can join them.

At the 2006 Boxboro convention I talked with Joe Fratto, N1RLO, who was manning the SATERN booth. This was another guerilla attack by me, and Joe had no advance notice that I was looking for someone to point a microphone at. Joe was very gracious and talked with me about some of the cool stuff that SATERN does when nature lashes out.

Show notes

SATERN is at www.satern.org
and much contact information is there, for your particular part of the world.

QCWA at Boxboro

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 16:36:01 PDT

Have you been a ham radio operator for 25 years or more? The Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA) wants to hear from you. Chuck, K1IGD explains why.

This conversation was from the floor of the Boxboro convention, and in all fairness to Chuck, I really did stick a recorder in his face and ask him some questions. He did a great job of describing the QCWA in three minutes or less. I want to talk to him again. This was fun!

Show notes

QCWA is at www.qcwa.org
The Boxboro convention is at www.boxboro.org
Chuck's contact information is at www.qrz.com

Boxboro Convention:

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 16:32:41 PDT

While I was at the Boxboro convention (www.boxboro.org ) this year, I bumped into Joel Harrison, W5ZN. As you might expect, he was very busy there, but was gracious enough to spend a few minutes for an interview with 99 Hobbies. What a great guy, and I just really liked his attitude about ham radio and its future. Unfortunately, the recorder was off for a lot of this, but here is 3 minutes of our chat.

As I listened to this clip, I can hear us talking pretty quickly, lots of excitement, and a really fun time. If you have never been to a convention (they are different from a hamfest) you should give it a try.

Only for women: the YLRL

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 09:36:10 PDT

The Young Ladies Radio League (YLRL) is a very serious, very fun, and very active group on the air. Today I talked with Anne Manna WB1ARU about the YLRL and why women should get on the air.

BTW, guys should plan for these contests. Even if we don't get points (sometimes we do), just striking up a QSO will attract others to the frequency, of course.

There are upcoming contests - give it a listen!!!

Show notes

YLRL is at http://www.ylrl.org
WRONE is at http://www.qsl.net/wrone

6320 Miles roundtrip in 60 seconds

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 12:19:35 PDT

Raise your hand if you have never transmitted on 20 meters.

OK, I see a few hands out there. You may not have license privileges for 20 meters, and some of you might be afraid to make that first long distance, DX, contact. This one-minute recording shows you how simple it can be. Scroll (way down) for transcript.

I had never talked to John before this, and we just said "hello" and "goodbye", yet I have a new friend now that I didn't have the day before. We have exchanged a few emails since then (I asked him for permission to post this, and he enthusiastically agreed). Who knows - some day we may meet, or we may not. But either way, ham radio comes through again.

With everything that is wrong in the world today, amateur radio builds bridges between countries and cultures.

73,
Dave

Show notes

John's page on QRZ.COM (people never look like they sound - thanks John for the picture!)

----------------------------------------------------------------

Transcript, with explanations in [square brackets]:

CQ CQ DX CQ David Xray [phonetics for DX] echo alpha one whisky xray echo america one whisky xray, qrz dx

[I call him]

kilo zanzibar one ocean [ = kz1o ] thank you for the call good aft... good evening, thank you for the call, you are 5 and 7 [means perfectly readable signal, strong], fifty seven, QRM on the frequency [interference at his end while receiving]. The handle here is John, Juliet Ocean Honolulu November [phonetics for J-O-H-N], John. QSL? [Did you receive it?]

[I transmit my information back to him: name, signal report, location]

QSL [I received everything)], Dave, thank you for New Hampshire, near Boston, thank you for the QSO [conversation], our first QSO. Kilo Zulu one Ocean, echo alpha one whisky xray. Hope to meet you. bye bye.

[I transmit]

See you.

QRZ QRZ DX [who's next?]

Echo Alpha one Whisky Xray
Echo America one Whisky Xray

[end]

Space: The Final Frontier

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:04:24 PDT

This past weekend I was at the Boxboro ARRL convention and bumped into quite a few interesting people. One of those was Barry Baines, WD4ASW, from AMSAT. Barry tells me all about AMSAT and the history of Orbital Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio (OSCAR). Join us, in the lobby of the Holiday Inn near the water fountain, with our feet on the ground as we reach for the stars!

Show notes

AMSAT is at www.amsat.org
Boxboro convention web page is at www.boxboro.org

Whisky One Alpha Whisky ( W1AW )

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 11:56:30 PDT

Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, has been the station manager at the Hiram Percy Maxim memorial station W1AW, for over ten years. Joe keeps the station running and looking great.

Did you know that you can visit the station, and even operate it? No matter what class of license you have, from Novice to Amateur Extra, there is a seat waiting for you. And what a station this is!

I talked with Joe during my visit to ARRL headquarters. He described the station, and a little bit about each of the operating positions. This podcast is a little shorter than usual -- as we were talking, a group of visitors arrived for a tour, and Joe had to get back to business.

As I watched him in action, I could tell he's done this before! Go check it out for yourself, if you can ever get to Connecticut. It will be worth it. Oh, and bring your license and get ready to get on the air. Trust me on this one!!

Show notes

Everything about W1AW is found by starting at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw.html
Update about antenna improvements here

Dave Sumner visits Montenegro

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 15:59:51 PDT

Dave Sumner, K1ZZ is the CEO, Executive Vice President, and Secretary (whew!) of the American Radio Relay League. Today I visited ARRL headquarters in Newington, CT, and had a talk with Dave about his recent trip to the new DXCC entity of Montenegro (which used to be part of Serbia). Sounded like he and his wife Linda, KA1ZD, had a wonderful time! We also talked about how he became a ham, and what he has done in the 40+ years since then.

Show notes

ARRL is at www.arrl.org
Dave's bio is http://www.arrl.org/pio/bios/officials/k1zz.html
Montenegro story is http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/06/28/1/?nc=1

Hello, Radio!

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 14:51:25 PDT

I recently visited ARRL headquarters, and I spoke with Allen Pitts, W1AGP. Allen is the League's Media and Public Relations Manager, and is the driving force for the new Hello campaign (see show notes below). This is the ARRL's first coordinated program of its kind ever, and is designed to get new people into the hobby, both young and old. Bonus: the PSA is appended to the end of this podcast!

Show notes

ARRL is at www.arrl.org
Allen's bio is at http://www.arrl.org/pio/bios/staff/w1agp.html
The "Hello" page is http://www.hello-radio.org

Conversation with Morse

dave@99Hobbies.com (Dave - KZ1O) — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 07:43:21 PDT

Diana Morse, KB3NNP just got her Technician license, and we talk about how she got into the hobby, including all the support from her local club. She loves Morse code because it's fun, and not just because she is related to Samuel Morse, for whom Morse code is named.

Show notes

Morse code practice at www.aa9pw.com
Polar Bears at www.n3epa.org