HRN 464: Superbowl Weekend Filler

/

No Sunday night show this weekend because 🏈 (only the ‘Big Game’ takes us off… usually we ignore football). But we have bits and pieces. And the weekend’s not over (it’s Saturday afternoon as I - Gary - type this, so who knows?). Hopefully this will tide you over until the next big show.

But for now… I was on the phone with my original ham radio mentor from way back in the early 60’s. Back then he was Bob K9ZGT. Today he goes by his middle name, Winston (or Win), but to me he’ll always be Broken Old Bottles Bob. We talk about our early days a bit and what he’s been through. One of the chat room comments was ‘He’s an interesting guy’ - and so he is.

Then I booted up the studio, hoping Kyle could find some bandwidth down in Orlando (his phone is struggling) for a live shot. Hasn’t happened yet. We’ll be back if he can do it. Meanwhile, David popped up while working on his ARES group’s emcom trailer, so we get a quick tour. It’s pretty visual, but it’s on the podcast feed, too.


HRN 463: The China Balloon (and Ham Radio?)

/

This is the PROMOre

Bill Brown WB8ELK started launching near-space ham radio balloons in 1987. I think he can tell us more about this balloon from China than we’re getting from CNN. Joining Bill is Todd McKinney KN4TPG, a Masters student in Atmospheric Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Todd got interested in HAB (High Altitude Ballooning), and got his ham license so he could fly balloons with APRS and WSPR transmitters. Together they have insights on the Balloon from China that you won’t hear in the mainstream media. And then we talk about what’s happening on the balloon front in ham radio.

LINKS:

Bill’s website: WB8ELK.com

Bill’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@WB8ELK


HRN 462: Angry Radio Relay League

/

Our guest is Ria Jairam N2RJ, podcaster, YouTuber and Director of the ARRL Hudson Division. Ria’s kind of getting picked on at the ARRL (our words, not hers). She tells us about that trouble and a division in the ranks of the Board falling along lines of transparency vs secrecy. We’ve heard that before when a Board Code of Conduct tried to silence Directors who disagreed with policy passed by the board. Listen to Ria’s take. Ask your Director to explain what’s happening. That might be interesting.