KØNR: Radio Enthusiast

I’ve been blogging here and there about the TWiT Network’s Ham Nation show. I kept thinking that one of these days, I should pop into the TWiT Brick House Studio in Petaluma, CA for a look. I often travel to Santa Rosa for business, flying into San Francisco International Airport and driving up Highway 101 right past Petaluma.

When I noticed the announcement about the TWiT ham radio open house that was on the same weekend that I would be in Santa Rosa, I thought: Coincidence? Maybe. Fate? Probably. So Spousal Unit K0JJW and I swung by TWiT Headquarters late on Saturday afternoon.

The TWiT Ham Radio Station

Bob Heil K9EID and Leo Laporte W6TWT posing in front of the ham radio gear

It was great to chat with Bob Heil K9EID, Leo W6TWT and George W5JDX for a few minutes. I met a number of other hams that included Mike WT6H and Randy K7AGE (sorry, I don’t have everyone’s name & call written down). You may know K7AGE by his extensive collection of ham radio videos on youtube…if not, check them out. George W5JDX has been on Ham Nation multiple times now and has his own set of videos on amateurlogic.tv.

The TWiT studio with some of the ham radio crew hanging out.

The radio guys were commenting about the high noise level on HF but I didn’t get a clear picture of the spectral content and what bands were affected. Things were actually pretty quiet by the time we arrived, but take a look at the video that K7AGE put together with footage from earlier in the day. It really shows the studio and the activity during the day.

The Ham Nation show is still finding its legs but gets better every week. It is clearly having a positive impact on amateur radio.

73, Bob K0NR

Lots of important stuff spewing forth from the Internetz.

TWiT’s HamNation netcast keeps on going, so give it a look.

The debate continues about potential likely interference to common GPS receivers from LightSquared’s proposed adjacent-channel transmitters. See this recent article  on the problem. If you want to dig deeper, the detailed documents are referenced here. LightSquared and the GPS industry are blaming each other. I tend to put the responsibility on the FCC, the regulatory agency that is supposed to keep spectrum and interference issues under control. This problem could be avoided by the use of basic EMC engineering but the FCC seems to be driven more by politics than engineering.

I have been playing around with Google Plus and, so far, I like it. It may be the optimist in me that says there must be an alternative to Facebook. If you need a G+ invite, send me an email: robtwitte at gmail.com

On twitter, I asked for suggestions on a big hamfest that is an alternative to Dayton. Most replies were for these:  HamCom in Dallas, TX; Hamcation in Orlando, FL; Pacificon in Santa Clara, CA. Well, HamCom is out, as it conflicts with the ARRL June VHF QSO Party (the biggest VHF contest of the year). You’ve got to be freakin’ kidding me!! The other two look pretty good.

73, Bob K0NR

Ham Nation is On the Air, or should I say On the Network?

I previously posted about Bob Heil (K9EID) hosting the Ham Nation netcast on the TWiT network. The show is off to a great start with the first few episodes: The History of Ham Radio, Emergency Communications and Ham Radio Basics. You can view Ham Nation on iTunes or go to the TWiT website.

Check it out.

73, Bob K0NR

Leo Laporte first caught my attention when he hosted the cable TV show, The Screen Savers, on ZDTV. He has a great way of talking about technology topics, using his own personal knowledge and leveraging his team of bright techies. Recently, he has been focused on creating the TWiT Network, named for the flagship netcast, This Week in Tech. (TWiT calls the shows netcasts, not podcasts.) Leo saw the opportunity that came with the technology shift to streaming audio and video over the internet as an alternative to conventional radio and TV broadcasting.

There are a number of ham radio podcasts out available, although many have struggled to stay current. The phenomenon of podfading is very real, since it is a real challenge to produce interesting content week after week, month after month. See my previous posts on ham radio podcasts here and here.

The TWiT network has been expanding, moving from audio to video technology. Loic Le Meur shot a very interesting video of Leo touring his new studio which is still under construction. This gives a good idea of where Leo is headed with TWiT.

I often wondered whether TWiT would try doing a ham radio netcast. According to this press release, the answer is YES.  Leo has tapped Bob Heil, well-known ham radio dude and founder of Heil Sound to lead HamNation. Leo recently interviewed Bob on the Triangulation show. (Watch this video, really good.) Bob Heil is an excellent choice for HamNation—he has the passion and knowledge of a real ham radio enthusiast. His first guest is scheduled to be legendary Joe Walsh, ham radio operator (WB6ACU) and screaming guitar player for the Eagles.

This could be a really good thing for the amateur radio hobby, so I wish them well.

- 73, Bob K0NR

There are many email lists devoted to amateur radio topics, in particular on Yahoo Groups. These email forums are a great way to learn and exchange information. Usually these lists are created to hit a particular topic of interest. Over time, people stray off into other areas and start posting topics that are not appropriate for the forum. Eventually, the moderator steps in and shuts down the off-topic conversation.

What can happen next is the off-topic posters claim their right of “freedom of speech” is being violated. “This is America, and we have freedom of speech.”  (Kind of an odd statement since the internet is worldwide, not just a US concern, but I’ll set that aside.) This just happened a few days ago on an email list I use.

It has become all too common to hear people claiming “rights” that don’t really exist. US citizens might want to read the US Constitution once in a while, so they know what it actually says about freedom of speech:

First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The US Constitution basically says that Congress cannot establish laws that abridge (limit) the freedom of speech. The amendment focuses on what the government is allowed to do to restrict the citizens. It does not mean that a citizen has the right to have their speech published in the local newspaper, sent through an email list, or posted on another person’s web site, etc. Newspapers, web site owners and moderators of email lists make decisions every day on what type of “speech” they are going to allow in their communication forum.

73, Bob K0NR