HRN 319: Hamfest Fun... Redux

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A fairly short medley of stories from my local hamfest:

  • Packet is Back. A new take on packet networking. Tadd Torborg KA2DEW describes the 'little' packet network he's developing in the Raleigh area.
  • Smoke & Solder. Engaging new hams in a useful construction project. Justin Pinnex AJ4MJ shows how a very popular J-Pole building project has been refined over more than a decade.
  • Reddit Spy. Gary infiltrates a Reddit meetup. 

The original Hamfest Fun from 2012: https://youtu.be/jxBOOH_usOU

Radio Rated C+. A fairly visual episode. But mostly interviews with B-roll.

HRN 318: Home on the (Antenna) Range

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Antenna Testing is a big part of the various VHF conferences held around the US and the world. They set up an antenna range and compare antennas against a known reference for gain and pattern. Results are published, and while there's little head-to-head competition, there are bragging rights.

Gary KN4AQ visited the antenna range at the Southeastern VHF Society conference, held this year (April, 2017) in Charlotte, NC. He poked around with his camera for a while, then talked to the guy who's been setting the range up for the past decade, Al Tirevold WA0HQQ.

Before and after the interview segment, Gary and co-host David W0DHG talk about the niche phenomenon of SSB and CW on VHF/UHF (and above). Yes, there is more to 2-meters than FM (and DV) and repeaters! Gary's ham-history goes back to the 60's, just before repeaters filled up most of the 144 and 440 bands. He recalls that there was a little SSB and a little more AM activity around 145.0, but mostly it was vacant space.

You might have noted the word camera in the description above. So yeah, this is one of those mini-doc videos, and you'll miss some with just the audio. There's plenty to get from the talky-talk, but those 40-element Yagi's and Loops are impressive. Gary's included all the raw B-Roll footage at the end of the YouTube video.

And that leaves a Radio Rating of C. Hey, it's not a D or an F. Let us know if you think our rating was fair!

HRN 317: BS #8

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Gary KN4AQ, David W0DHG and Marty KC1CWF just ramble on for 90 minutes.

There are a few graphics showing Hamvention® layouts and that's about it to try to steal from the Radio Rating of A. Maybe otherwise it would be A+. Might as well be - Skype freezes make David and Marty into a slide show.

Get all that Dayton stuff on HamRadio 2.0 Episode 82: The Future of Dayton