HRN 336 'Episode Name' (Facebook LIVE title test)

/

This was not supposed to be an Episode.

It was just supposed to be a quick test on Facebook Live, checking out the work I'd done in Wirecast to be able to add titles to the video 'live' as I'm recording the show, rather than later in 'post production' (editing). We're tending to do most shows on Facebook Live as we record them, so we needed a title upgrade.

But I'm a wind-up toy. Put me in front of a mic and camera, and I perform. The 'test' ran over 20 minutes, and one of the clever viewers on Facebook said, "It should be a show." So it is. 

The title of this show, Episode Name, came from the 'generic' title I'd built as a placeholder so I could just fill in the title of whatever episode I'd be doing. I was planning ahead... just not for this to be a real episode. And it's still open to debate over whether or not it is a real episode. But at least the placeholder had the 'correct' episode number (336), if not a real date. And if you look carefully at the picture here, you'll notice that there is no drop shadow around the 'Episode Name' title. Wirecast's title maker keeps unclicking the shadow button. Eventually it seems to stick. 

AUDIO: Now the key word here is video. Except for the picture that some of you see in your podcast apps, the titles don't mean squat to you audio listeners. But I don't want you to feel left out. And in an earlier show I wrote that an episode would get a Radio Rating of F only if there was no sound at all. And I am talking here. And there are even a few sound effects. So this is a solid Radio Rating of D.

Scared you there with that bold F, didn't I?

- Gary KN4AQ

HRN 335: Fix It! with AC4ZO

/

Co-co-hosts David Goldenberg W0DHG and Jeff Wittich AC4ZO join Gary to talk about troubleshooting techniques, centered on a problem Gary had with his ICOM 7000 mobile HF/VHF/UHF transceiver. And toward the end, David recounts an ARES drill that dovetailed with a real activation

In this episode, Jeff refers to a compound called bismuth that will lower the melting point of solder, making it easier to remove components from circuit boards - especially surface-mount components. Jeff and Gary visited the properties of bismuth in a previous episode, HamRadioNow #166, when Jeff swapped the driver transistors in Gary's Icom 756PROIII. Jeff will talk about it in a terrible online connection, followed by a telephone connection. Here's a link to Chip Quik. They make up their own name (Chip Quik Alloy), but that's probably bismuth.

Radio Rating? Well, this is a studio show, with Gary's new 3-way split-screen. But Gary set up a working radio in front of Jeff, and took a bunch of still pictures detailing the repair, and you kind of need to see them to really understand what they're talking about.

But that's maybe 30% of the show, leaving you 70% that you'll get fine by audio. Still, we'd feel a little dishonest with a Radio Rating greater than C. Not even C+. We'd like to, but we gotta sleep tonight. 

Below are the pictures Gary took while Jeff worked on the radio (the same pictures you'll see in the video). You can zoom in by right-clicking (or maybe Option-clicking on a Mac, or press-and-hold on a mobile device) to open the image in a new tab.

HRN 334: Field Day TOUR

/

Gary joined NC Section Manager Karl Bowman W4CHX for a tour of 10 Field Day operations in western North Carolina. In between the site visits, they operated as 1C mobile. 

This show is basically a video documentary... a television show. So how much can you get from just the audio? Well, maybe more than you (we?) think. Theater of the mind? We were going to ding this show with a really low Radio Rating because of how long it too to edit the video, but after listening to a lot of it, you know, it's not such a bad radio show. So the Radio Rating is B-. Couldn't see our way clear to a solid B.