Ham Radio Workbench Podcast

In this episode we catch up with our good friend and show regular Thomas Witherspoon, K4SWL, to find out how things are going in the disaster recovery from hurricane Helene.  We are also joined by our good frend Josh Higgins, K7OSH, from the Hoodview ARC and discuss what we should do, as amateur radio operators, to prepare for disasters.  

In this episode, our dear friend Thomas, K4SWL, tells us about the devestation in North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.  Thomas shares his family's esperience and his advice for emergency preparation.  We had so many interesting topics to talk about regarding emergency prep, workbench style, that we are going to do a follow up episode with our top tips for emergency prep sometime in the coming months.

In this episode we meet Adam Kimmerly, K6ARK, and avid outdoorsman, hiker, and ham radio operator.  Adam has achieved Mountain Goat status by earning over 1,000 points in the Summits On The Air program.  In addition to his outdoor adventures, Adam, a professional mechanical engineer, has designed some very innovative antennas, CW paddles and other cool ham radio accessories.  Adam also has a very good YouTube channel.  You can find him by going to "K6ARK Portable Radio" on YouTube.  You can find Adam's products on his web site at k6ark.com  

In this episode we meet Pat Hensley, W5WTH, a prolific designer and project builder.  Pat has made several intersting radio and non-radio related electronic projects and he features them on his blog site WhiskeyTangoHotel.Com Some of Pat's projects are very useful and some are just plain fun.  Many projects are a blend of hardware (Arduinos, Raspberry Pis, etc) and software (c, Python, etc).  Pat publishes all of his source code for us all to learn from.  If you want to be inspired to build your first project you have come to the right place. 

In this episode we bring back Rick England, KC6UFT, the designer of the 18650 battery tester.  In a previous episode, Rick told us all about the need to test 18650, and other batteries, under load to determine their health.  Rick has refined his tester design and shares his experiences and learnings with us on this episode.  You will learn all about the proper way to test these popular lithium batteries and plans for making the testers available.

In this episode we meet Morten LB0FI, Kjetil LB4FH, Tobias DL3MHT, and Bård (Bob) LB5JJ from the European Ham Radio Show on YouTube.  Walt, K4OGO, was not able to make the show this time. The European Ham Radio show is hosted by Morten and the team talks about many aspects of ham radio on their weekly YouTube show.  Topics include radios, antennas, homebrew and a big dose of portable operating.  We were invited to join them on their show a few months ago and had such a great time, we wanted to introduce them to our HRWB audience.  We hope you enjoy the discussion of ham radio from a European perspective.  

In this episode we talk with Alan Wolke, W2AEW, an expert in electronic test equipment.  Alan has a fantastic YouTube channel where he educates us about test equipment, circuit design and electronics theory.  Alan talks about the projects on his bench and discusses the use of various types of electronic test equipment and has advice for setting up your own electronics workbench.

In this episode we meet Scott, N1VG, the owner of Argent Data Systems.  Scott is a long time maker and innovator that has brought several ham radio and commercial communications products to market including TNC's (Terminal Node Controllers), APRS trackers, weather stations and even a LED illuminated hula hoop ! We talk about Scott's inspiration, design and manufacturing process and learn what it's like to start up a ham radio businses from scratch. 

In this episode we meet famous YouTuber, Randy, K7AGE, and Hoodview ARC VP Josh, K7OSH, to talk about our Field Day experiences and what makes a good club Field Day event.  Josh is the Field Day Chairman of the Hoodview ARC and organized a great FD event.  Randy came up to join us for the FD weekend, did some operating and shot some great videos of the event.   The rest of the HRWB crew described their Field Day experiences from mobile to portable.  We discuss what worked and what could be improved. Hoodview ARC Randy K7AGE YouTube channel

In this episode we bring back our good friend Dan Quigley, N7HQ, to talk about restoring older radio equipment.  Should you return an old radio to it's original state or repurpose the chassis for a more modern project with the look and feel of a classic radio of the past?  We explore various approaches to restoring radio equipment including tools, test equipment and process. Dan is the director of strategic programs at Flex Radio and brings decades of professional engineering and ham radio experience to the discussion.

In this episode we meet Colin Vallance, KC8DHY, a professional network engineer who also manages the WiFi network at DefCon and other events.  We talk with Colin about how to set up your network in the ham stack.  We also have a round table discussion about our plans for Field Day 2024.

In this episode we meet Hamilton Carter, KD0FNR and his daughter, Hamie Carter, KO6BTY.  This amazing father / daughter team have build and deployed multiple creative radio projects.  One in particular, Project TouCans, puts a QRP transciever right at the dipole antenna feed point eliminating coax cables and communicates with the operator's station over Bluetooth. Follow along on thier radio adventures on their blog page at https://copaseticflow.blogspot.com    

Kirk Kleinschmidt, NT0Z, has a deep background in radio and communications having spent over 30 years writing about radio.  Kirk is a former Assistant Managing Editor for QST by the ARRL, aughor of the book Stealth Amateur Radio and has been a regular columnist for Monitoring Times and Popular Communications.  You can follow Kirk today in his regular columns appearing in the Spectrum Monitor electronic magazine.  Kirk offers up his perspective on amateur radio in this episode.

This is a special edition featuring Mike Walker, VA3MW from Flex Radio, telling us all about the newly announced Flex 8400 / 8600 radios.  Mike is at Hamvention 2024 and took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to tell us all about the new radios.

In this episode we have our good friend, Dr. Doug Millar, K6JEY, join us to talk about multi meters, what they do and buying recommendations.  Every ham radio operator or DIY electronics fan needs a good multi meter.  But should you spend $20 or $200 on a meter and what's the difference?  Doug explains it all.

In this episode we meet Daniel Winn, WV1T, a very active portable ham radio opertor.  Daniel was searching for a way to filter out strong local signals when operating in the field and he started building stub tuned filters with coaxial cable.  This simple and cost effective approach is a great way to build notch filters that can significantly reduce unwanted interference from transmitters operating at the same location but in other HF bands.  This is a great technique for Field Day and similar activities.  Daniel holds an extra class amateur radio license and is a professional electrician.

In this episode we meet our good friend, Dr. Charles Powell, NK8O.  Charles is medical doctor specializing in neonatal infant care.  In addition to his professional accomplishments as a doctor, musician, and head of a medical non-profit organization, Charles is an avid portable radio operator and has logged many thousands of contacts from all over the US while participating in POTA and World Wide Flora and Fauna events and from exotic locations while living in Africa. Charles is an inspiration to us on many levels and a great friend.

In this episode we meet Mark Herbert, G1LRO, designer of the Universal Radio Controller.  We talk all about ham radio project building and Mark's journey of discovery as he envisioned the URC.  Taking an idea, overcoming challenges and turning it into something that people can use and be inspired by.  

In this episode we have two great interviews.  We kick things off with Dr. Scott Wright, K0MD, who clues us in on the latest hapennings in the world of contesting.  Technical innovations, operating tips and ways to encourage new hams to take up contesting.  Scott is a great ambassador and spokesperson for amateur radio.  We also interview Don Johanneck, a technican at Digikey, who redesigned the original Digikeyer project kit designed by the founder of Digikey, Ron Stordahl 50 years ago.  Digikey is one of the largest electronics parts distributors and is named after Ron's keyer project.  

In this episode we meet Ben, VE6SFX, who was licensed just a year ago and has already pushed the bounderies of antenna design and construction with an energetic and creative approach.  As a professional special effects and prop maker for the movie and TV industry, Ben has come up with novel construction methods including a cloth J-pole, mobile slot and other interesting antenna ideas.