24 - Amateur Radio on the net

 Amateur Radio on the net

There are many good video and audio programmes on the internet about amateur radio. The amateurs who produce these do so mainly on a regular
basis, monthly or weekly, some only “post” on an intermittent schedule – when they have something new to share. You may find them an interesting way to keep up to date with our hobby. I list some of my favourites below and perhaps you can give them a try. Let us all know if you have other favourites.

ICQ Podcast. This is an audio podcast, produced by mainly UK amateurs, they
report the news each week and also have a “feature”. They have 357
episodes online at    www.icqpodcast.com/   but I use a podcast app on my
smartphone and listen on headphones when out walking or on Bluetooth
when driving the car.

The other podcasts I am fond of are:
Ham radio crash course at http://hamradiocrashcourse.com/ for the audio –
but they only have the last 15 or so there, better to subscribe to their podcast
using your phone. This podcast is run by Josh Nash KI6NAZ and his wife Leah.
They ramble on a bit and often stray away from ham radio topics but I find
them entertaining. Josh also produces videos on youtube, and has started
hosting Ham Nation as well as his own content at
www.youtube.com/user/hoshnasi (search youtube for “Ham radio Crash
course”) I rarely watch his videos.

Ham radio workbench has good coverage of technical items as well as “non
expert” talks. Try www.hamradioworkbench.com/ their website is good too.

The Soldersmoke Podcast is mainly about homebrew and hosted by Bill
Meara and Pete Juliano. Bill is found of old valve sets and Pete is a most
prolific builder – approaching 60 SSB rigs! Bill also runs a daily blog at
http://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/ and there is a link there to listen to the
most recent podcast as well as links to older archives, again it is better to
subscribe to his podcasts using a podcast app on your phone or tablet. They
are roughly monthly and have produced 357 podcasts


The videos I often watch include:

Ham Nation. This has been going a long while and used to be available on
some streaming TVs. It is now produced by Josh Nash about every two weeks
within his own weekly YouTube videos. See the link above. Ham Nation has
several presenters (usually at least 4) and each does a slot; the original
presenter is Bob Heil who runs a company making microphones, headphones
and other useful audio equipment. Worth listening to. Other presenters
include Gordon West, Val and Amanda as well as Don. Each is worth
watching.

Amateurlogic TV Another American “show” on YouTube, best watched on
YouTube although their channel carries videos of “Ham College” and recently
“shorties”. I prefer the hour-long programmes that go out about once a
month. There is also an archive at www.amateurlogic.tv/downloads.htm but
try the YouTube first at www.youtube.com/user/gthomas or search YouTube
for “Amateurlogic” The two main hosts George and Tommy also have input
from Emile and Mike. They often cover good technical demos of various ham
radio related topics as well as reviews of gear and software.

DX Commander run by Callum, M0MCX, who owns the DX commander
company (superb DX Verticals). Callum gives out all the details on how to
make his products yourself cheaply or you can buy bits or assembled
antennas from him. A nice guy and a prolific producer, he uses and
demonstrates/teaches how to use the MMANA antenna analysis software
and you can really learn a lot about antennas by following his YouTube
channel and watching his back catalogue. Search YouTube for
DXCommander - since I wrote the article for CONTACT the original DXCommander has been taken down by youtube in March 2022 (so far without explanation) Callum has created a new channel DX.Commander (note the dot)

Waters Stanton presented by Waters & Stanton Ltd usually presented by
Peter himself and often covers making antennas and gear as well as
equipment reviews where they promote the products they sell. Try
www.youtube.com/user/watersstanton/videos

 
I should mention that Martin Lynch also produce videos, often covering what
they have for sale second hand. They are on YouTube at
www.youtube.com/user/MLandSshop

RSGB (www.youtube.com/user/TheRSGB ) During lockdown they were quite
prolific about uploading videos, they also uploaded the presentations from
their 2020 convention. They have over 100 programmes to watch.
TX Factor (www.youtube.com/user/txfactorshows ) only occasional videos
uploaded (27 episodes) but these are professionally produced, the RSGB
sponsor them. They often report on what hams are doing throughout the UK.
They also review equipment.

As I own a SDRplay RSP1A software defined radio I subscribe to two YouTube
channels from SDRplay.

Charlie Morris www.youtube.com/c/CharlieMorrisZL2CTM/videos   his
homebrew methods are inspiring.

M0NTV Homebrewing - Nick is worth a listen too – search YouTube for the
channel.
 

And the list goes on, for example dip into the youtube channels below...
QRP Labs, Ashhar Farhan, W2AEW, W0QE, NA5Y as well as Andreas Spiess
 

As well as these regular channels some of the recent ham radio conventions
have put their content onto YouTube. I “attended” the QSOToday convention
last weekend and they have put most of their presentations online using
Vimeo which is a YouTube alternative. I paid $10 for the convention so their
content is not freely available. 

The GQRP club did put their content online so, if you couldn’t attend on the weekend, they ran their convention you can catch up afterwards. I am a member of GQRP (at £6 a year, you should be too!) but catch up on their 2020 convention at    www.youtube.com/c/GQRPClub/videos    You should also note their 2021
convention is coming up in early September if you want live presentations
with interesting Q&A sessions after each talk (the Q&A is not put up on
YouTube normally). Join up at    www.gqrp.com/index.htm  

That’s all for now, the other internet resource I use is at    https://groups.io/groups where I subscribe to gqrp, RSGBTechnical, BITX20, SDRPlayUsers, qrptech, nanovna-users, nodered-hamradio, ucx, winmor and SoftwareControlledHamRadio. So many toys and so little time...