TTP Unplugs from IT

Parking lot full, exhibit hall barely open, breakfast burrito in hand. Recorded on October 17 at Pacificon 2026, the Bay Area's hamfest run by the Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club (MDARC). This is Hamdom Thoughts' first on-location episode. No studio and no mixer, just a picnic table outside the show.I sit down with KK6USY Chuck of Ham Radio Adventures, and Todd Fitzsimmons, W6TCF, a hamfest regular I seem to run into a lot at Pacificon. What starts as small talk turns into a tour of the hobby's guilty pleasures:radios still sealed in their boxes a year after purchasea handmade antenna mount that only one person has ever managed to break (we're not naming names, but IYKYK JP)a DIY tiny case that's become a collector's itemwhether SOTA has gone quietif a fireman eating a donut is breaking some kind of codeThere's also a fox hunt going on in the background.Fair warning: it's outdoors, it's noisy, and I'm chewing. Grab a coffee and pull up a chair.

TJ, K9KJ, never meant to learn Morse code. Then he walked into his uncle's Field Day and heard a room full of grown men cheering over "Nebraska." Thirty years later he's working the world from his truck, bouncing signals off the moon from his driveway, and letting the neighbors wonder if he works for the NSA. Ask his wife what the dish is for and you'll get a different answer.Links:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@k9kjInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/_k9kj_/Blog: https://blog.k9kj.com🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.coNext Up by Terry Devine-King, https://t.lickd.co/l/3j8GKMkV8lE

Jim Perry, WT1W of FEPLabs Radio, is back on Hamdom Thoughts. He was last here in June 2022, back when he co-hosted Coffee and Ham Radios. We swap Dayton roommate stories, he tells how he went to Extra and where the FEP name came from, and then we get into the wave of new ham software, including his antennacalc RF exposure calculator (which I sent a couple of pull requests to) and my Pat Winlink front end, Phat. Jim also announces on the show that one of his other new desktop apps will be released as opensource. We opine on UI/UX, clunky radio menus, why ham radio is a hobby and not a service, and why a yellow vest doesn't make you very useful at a fire scene.Links:FEPLabs Radio on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FEPLabsRadioFEPLabs Radio on Twitter (X): https://x.com/FEPLabsRadioAntennacalc RF Exposure Calculator: https://github.com/WT1W-Actual/antennacalcPolished Ham Airmail Tool (Phat): https://github.com/denmojo/phat🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.coSmokin' In The Boys Room by Mötley Crüe, https://t.lickd.co/l/4M90gQkOaXo

Hamdom Thoughts is back, and the first guest of the revival is a returning fave: KT7RUN Gaston Gonzalez, The Tech Prepper. Gaston first joined the show in January 2021, back when he was KT1RUN and EmComm Tools was still in its very early stages. Last September he left a 23-year career in IT to run The Tech Prepper full time. We catch up on what that change has been like, on Release 7 of EmComm Tools, and on the year he spent going deep on Reticulum. He explains his monthly shortwave show on WRMI and WBCQ and we nerd out about analog tools for a while.Links:The Tech Prepper on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetechprepperWebsite: https://www.thetechprepper.comEmComm Tools Community: https://community.emcommtools.comTTP's Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thetechprepperInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetechprepperGitHub: https://github.com/thetechprepperIf you're using Apple Podcasts, please leave a review of this podcast!Also, please send in your podcast topic ideas or guest interview suggestions!🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.coPARANOIA by HEARTSTEEL, League of Legends, BAEKHYUN, Tobi Lou, Ozi, Cal Scruby, https://t.lickd.co/l/YzVE8aW0Z3w

Three years of silence? Just a long intermission. The transmitters are officially fired up, the signal is clear, and AD6DM is back. Hamdom Thoughts is NOT dead! Tune in as we resurrect the podcast and kick off a brand-new chapter of discussion.

Today, I welcome a special guest: [Tank does his trademark S9+20 intro]. Frank KG5AHJ, also known as Tank Radio on YouTube, was a previous guest on the show a couple of years ago. We revisit him with some cool updates to his life, his channel, and his ham radio activities. Links: Tank Radio on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TankRadio Tank Depot on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tankdepotone Frank on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KG5AHJ Tank Radio's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TankRadio If you're using Apple Podcasts, please leave a review of this podcast! Also, please send in your podcast topic ideas or guest interview suggestions! You can send messages back to AD6DM™ Hamdom Thoughts: Visit https://anchor.fm/ad6dm and hit the "Send voice message" link to record your messages right from your computer or phone. Your comments or questions might end up on the next episode!

Today I talk with N2MAK Mike, also known as "Never 2 Many Antenna Kits". Mike is New York native, Board of Directors for the Rochester Amateur Radio Association (one of the largest active clubs in the U.S), and an active Parks on the Air ham radio operator. On YouTube, Mike likes to share his antenna tests and POTA adventures, and always seems to be having a great time operating amateur radio. Links: Mike N2MAK on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MikeN2MAK N2MAK on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kennerknecht If you're using Apple Podcasts, please leave a review of this podcast! Also, please send in your podcast topic ideas or guest interview suggestions! You can send messages back to AD6DM™ Hamdom Thoughts: Visit https://anchor.fm/ad6dm and hit the "Send voice message" link to record your messages right from your computer or phone. Your comments or questions might end up on the next episode!

In today's episode I am joined by VK7HH Hayden Honeywood, also known Ham Radio DX. Hayden is active with ham radio the land of Australia, with extensive outreach efforts to increase the number of hams in VK-land and sometimes performing long marathon livestreams on YouTube. Hayden likes to share his discoveries, gear reviews, and radio experiments and recently surprised us American hams by traveling more than 10,000 miles to attend the Dayton Hamvention. Links: Ham Radio DX on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HamRadioDX Ham Radio DX on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HamRadioDX Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/hamradiodx Website - http://hamradiodx.net If you're using Apple Podcasts, please leave a review of this podcast! Also, please send in your podcast topic ideas or guest interview suggestions! You can send messages back to AD6DM™ Hamdom Thoughts: Visit https://anchor.fm/ad6dm and hit the "Send voice message" link to record your messages right from your computer or phone. Your comments or questions might end up on the next episode!

In this long overdue episode, several hams share about Jerry Hildeman, KG6HQD (Silent Key). Jerry was a huge influence in many people's lives through his work as a police officer, his superb videos about Summits on the Air and his indomitable spirit of getting outdoors and "just doing it". He passed in late September after a long battle with brain cancer. A few years before that he stepped back to focus on other creative endeavors, and as news of the cancer came he went straight to God and family and made the most with those most important to him. We can only hope to be as brave, amazing, strong, and impactful as he was. Links: KG6HQD Jerry on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/KG6HQDJerrySOTA You can send messages to AD6DM™ Hamdom Thoughts: Visit https://anchor.fm/ad6dm and hit the "Message" button to record your messages right from your computer or phone. Your comments about Jerry might even be appended to the end of this episode.

Today I am talking with Carlos KD9OLN, also known as LifeAtTerminalVelocity on YouTube. Carlos has made many appearances on various ham YouTuber livestreams and does what many would argue is the most extreme form of making contacts: While falling from the sky at 125 miles per hour. He's not the first to do this, but he's the one I know. Let's get to know him. Links: LifeAtTerminalVelocity on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LifeAtTerminalVelocity Life@TerminalVelocity on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lifeattv Carlos' Website: https://kd9oln.com Buy Carlos a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/KD9OLN Carlos Felix Ortiz / KD9OLN Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/kd9oln If you're using Apple Podcasts, please leave a review of this podcast! Also, please send in your podcast topic ideas or guest interview suggestions! You can send messages back to AD6DM™ Hamdom Thoughts: Visit https://anchor.fm/ad6dm and hit the "Message" button to record your messages right from your computer or phone. Your comments or questions might even end up on the next episode!