HRWB 257 - Origins of Silicon Valley with Paul Wesling KM6LH

In this episode we meet Don WB9CYY and Bob WO6W.  Both avid CW operators with a love of the old style mechanical "bug" radio telegraph keys.  Feeling that the existing CW paddles and keyers sent code that was too highly accurate and lacked any sort of personality, they came up with a very novel way make a modern paddle sound like a bug.  As an introduction we talk about the differnet paddle and key types and then take a deep dive into the development of the bug emulator.  

In this episode we meet Paul Wesling, KM6LH, a Silicon Valley veteran and a chronicler of it's history and the ham radio operators who shaped it.  Paul tells us about some of the key figures from William Eitel and Jack McCullough (EiMac) to Charles Litton (Litton Industries), Steve Wozniak (Apple).  The valley has been a fertile ground for invention and engineering for over 100 years.  Paul walks us through some of the most significant people and inventions that impact our world today.

In this episode, Grayson Evans, KJ7UM, joins us again to talk about designing and building ham radio gear with tubes, or as he refers to them: thermatrons.  Grayson is the author of Hollow-State Design, a book all about tube-type radio equipment.  Grayson also provides basic tube radio kits. Grayson is a great mentor and shares his love for all things thermatron !

In this episode we meet Sebastian Delmont, KI2D, the author of the wildly popular portable logging software Ham2K PoLo (Portable Logger).  Sebastian has a passion for portable operating and has built a very modern, feature rich logging application that runs on cell phones and tablets.  The application started out focusing on the portable op doing SOTA and POTA.  He has added many features including templates for many contests, operator lookup, location sensitive data look up and more.  Sebastian plans to expand the scope of software offerings to include desktop versions as well in the future.  We had a great time talking with Sebastian as you can tell from the length of the episode.  By the end we felt we just scratch the surface.   

In this episode, our very own Paul Braun, WD9GCO, our show announcer, becomes the special guest.  Paul tells us all about his big POTA rove and how he operated HF remotely from a cruise ship. This show also features a large crowd of regulars with an extended workbench segment.  

In this episode we meet Hans Summers, founder of QRP Labs, the makers of the wildly popular QCX, QDX and other great portable HF QRP radios.  Hans tells about his journey through the design process and all details on his latest creation the QMX multi-band transceiver.

In this episode we meet David Gleason, NR9V, who makes radio interface devices to connect to AllStar and other Radio Over IP applications.  We introduce you to AllStar, talk about some of the technical details of the system, and explore the pros and cons of digital voice CODECs.  David's company AllScan offers a veriety of radio interfaces, computers and accessories.

In this episode we talk about our workbench projects AND take a deep dive into gift recommendations for your favorite ham.  Topics include gifts for the workbench, the shack, portable operations and stocking stuffers. Warm up your wallet !  

In this episode we meet Paul, KI7ADC, and Raoul, W7RPS, both avid users of the Icom IC-905 VHF/UHF/SHF radio.  We talk about what attracted them to operate on the microwave bands and what it took to get their portable stations all set up.  Paul and Raoul live in the Portland metro area and have had experience on the ground and mountain topping with the IC-905.  They have explored using SSB, FM, D-STAR and ATV modes on 1.2 GHz, 2.4 and 5.6 GHz. If you have ever been interested in moving up the frequency spectrum to the microwave bands, the IC-905 is a very easy way to get up and on the air.

In this episode we meet Richard Dillman, W6AWO, one of the key people responsible for putting historical shore station KPH back on the air.  In this fascinating interview, Richard tells us about the history of KPH, when it was decomissioned and his efforts to put the station back on the air.  This project is managed by the Maritime Radio Historical Society.  Today KPH is on the air using commercial HF marine frequencies and on the ham bands as K6KPH. Many thanks to our good friend Kevin Mattison, KM6WUM, for pulling this show together.  You can hear more about Kevin and his portable satellite tracker project in HRWB episode 120.