HRWB 188 - RF Amplifiers with Don K9AQ

In this episode, our resident expert on writing ham radio gear reviews, Thomas, K4SWL, walks us through the process of writing a good ham radio review.  How can you tell a good review from a bad one and tips for how you can write good content. Vince gives us some great tips when it comes to buying used gear.  How do you find it, evaluate it and figure out a fair price.  

In this episode we meet Len Koppl, KD0RC, the designer of the Teensy Maestro remote control head for a Flex radio.  Len is a professional software developer and project manager and brings many decades of technical experience and ham radio hands-on to his projects. In tis episode we learn about multiple projects including the Teensy Maestro, an open source hardware remote control head designed to control a Flex radio.  Based on the Arduino Teensy microcontroller, we learn about Len's journey of development and some of the interesting technical challenges he faced in this project.

In this episode we have an extended conversation with Kirk, NT0Z and Paul WD9GCO. Kirk is the Amateur Radio columnist for The Spectrum Monitor; former columnist for Monitoring Times and Popular Communications; Author of Stealth Amateur Radio (www.stealthamateur.com) and former QST Assistant Managing Editor. Paul is a news anchor for Amateur Radio Newsline and the professional announcer for the Ham Radio Workbench podcast. Kirk and Paul have some great stories and general ham radio wisdom to share with our listeners.  It's so much fun to spend time with them that this turned into the longest episode we have recorded, and that's saying something !

In this episode we meet Richard Desaulniers, VE2DX.   Richard has been licensed since 1990 and has a background in emergency communications serving at disaster events in Quebec. He enjoys hunting DX, Island Activations and DXPeditions. Richard is also an experimenter and founded VE2DX Electronics in 2020. With the founding of the company, he wanted to create inexpensive and simple electronic products to help the Ham Radio Community. Among his creations are products like TrueTTL, TrueCIV, and TrueCAT thes were implemented and applied to all VE2DX Electronics Design creation to help eliminate problems with RFI, EMI, Signal Loss and other signal issues, thanks to Heavy Shielding, RFI filtration of Power, Signals and Grounds, Signal processing, and signal automatic leveling. Join us in a great conversation with Richard VE2DX, Vince VE6LK and Thomas K4SWL.

In this episode we talk all about our second on the air operating event, Ham Radio Workbenches On The Air.  We had so much fun the last time, we decided to do it again.  We talk about whats on our workbenches and go over all the details about operating HRWBOTA. The operating event will be Sunday March 16.  For all the details go to https://hrwbota.com We meet Alan, N7AKG, the developer of the Ham Radio Instant Scoring Service, HISS, that allows operators to create their own contests and show scores in real time.  We also meet Andrew, KC2G, the developer of several interesting projects including the HRWBOTA tracker web site.

In this episode we meet Patrick, KJ7SZU, the owner of the company that makes the digital clock and information device, Geochron.  The mechanical Geochron clock has been around for over 40 years.  When Patrick saw his first mechanical Geochron clock he was hooked !  He was so impressed with the idea that he bought the company and completely remade the Geochron as an internet connected information display device on a large screen 4K video display. Join us for this fascinating story all about Patrick's journey to the present time with the Geochron. 

In this episode we meet Rosy Schechter, KJ7RYV, ARDC Executive Director, John Burwell, KI5QKX, 44Net Program Manager and Rebecca Key, KO4KVG, ARDC Communications Manager. ARDC, Amateur Radio Digital Communications.  The ARDC manages the IP address space that starts with 44 and they are the funding source for millions of dollars in grants every year to benefit amateur radio. Learn about what the 44 Net is, how it can be used by radio amateurs and how the ARDC manages their grant funding process.

In this episode we talk about how to prepare for Winter Field Day and field operating in cold weather in general.  Winter Field Day is a great operating event for individuals and clubs.  Its a great excuse to get out and operate when it, brrrrrr, cold outside !  

In this episode we meet Vance, KV4P, the designer of a radio module that connects to your Android phone and turns it into a 2m FM HT.  Vance is a professional UX (User eXperience) designer and brought his years of design knowledge to the project.  The result is a modern take on how a hand  held 2m radio should work in addition to the convenience of intergration into your mobile phone that you carry with you every day.

In this episode the tables are turned and George, KJ6VU, becomes the special guest.  The topic is how he designed his station control system.  The station controller is used to monitor and control key components in your remotely controlled ham radio station.  The station controller can also be used to monitor and control a repeater system or any other critical equipment. We will discuss what you need for effective remote station control, how George went about designing his control system and how it works.  Topics include the system architecture, circuit and physical design and selection of key components like the microcontrollers that run the system and the node red software environment that provides the user interface. The station controller will eventually be offered as a commercial product for sale through his company Sierra Radio Systems.