HRWB 265 - Hamvention 2026 Debrief and Field Day Prep

Mike VA3MW and I will be at Ham Radio Friedrichshafen this year.  I will be demonstrating our new iShareRadio service in the Flex Radio booth.  Stop by and say hello ! George KJ6VU

In this episode we take a deep dive into Hamvention 2026.  What we did, who we met, what great products we found and more.  At the end we also share our thoughts in preparation for Field Day 2026.  

In this episode we catch up with Randy, K7AGE, and talk about great gadgets for the ham shack.  Randy is a popular YouTuber and very active ham radio operator.  Randy has found some great goodies we would all like in our shack.  Grab your wallet and hover your finger over the buy button in this episode.  

In this episode we meet Lynn Hansen, KU7Q, owner of Lynovation, makers of innovative ham radio control accessories.  Lynn's clever design of remote VFO and control panels for many different models of ham radio gear from all the big radio suppliers is wildly popular.   A lifelong builder and home brewer, now retired from a career working in operations management for the electrical grid, Lynn can now focus on creating wonderful ham radio products that make operating fun !

In this episode we meet Conrad Trautmann, N2YCH, Technical Editor at the ARRL.  Conrad had a distinguished career as a broadcast engineering executive and now works for the ARRL and is responsible for techincal content in QST and other publications.  Conrad's extensive experience in electronics, radio, antenna systems, station construction and management gives him a great perspective on everything from determining what would make for a good technical read to the technical details.  We learn about his role at the ARRL and some of them most interesting topics he has worked on.   We had such a great time with Conrad, we will have him on in future episodes.

In this episode we meet Andy, N0APX, one of the key people behind the amazing logging software called World Radio League.  Andy tells us all about WRL and the future of contact logging and building ham radio community.

In this episode we talk about portable HF antennas for POTA / SOTA / travel and general operating in the great outdoors !  The HRWB team is very active in portable operating.  We all have our favorite antennas and provide advice for the ham radio operator new to portable operating.  

In this episode we meet Aaron, AE0LZ, owner of Modern Morse, a manufacturer of portable morse code keys.  Aaron is professional mechanical design, precision CNC programming and machining, and a very creative guy.  Modern Morse keys are popular for POTA, SOTA, travel and anytime you want a portable high quality CW key.  Aaron shares his journey through the design and manufacturing process for making  his keys.  

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.