QSO Today Podcast - Interviews with the leaders in amateur radio

Dino Papas, KL0S, leads the Williamsburg Area Amateur Radio Club in Williamsburg, Virginia, using the leadership skills that he acquired after 26 years in the US Army. Dino is a frequent contributor to amateur radio magazines, including QST, offering his unique and needed perspective on our ham radio hobby.

Ray Heffer, G4NSJ, commandeered the family shortwave radio, as a kid, to further his interest in shortwave listening and ultimately amateur radio. Ray made his career as a television, radio, and audio visual equipment repairman, and now specializes in the repair and restoration of 1940’s vintage AM radio sets.

Episode 256 Steven Bible N7HPR

Rod Moag, W5NDS, interests in radio and electronics paralleled an interest in American Folk and country music leading to advanced degrees in Linguistics and South Asian languages. Ham radio plays a solid role throughout this story as it weaves it way in and out of Rod’s professional career. Rod’s musical career and performances are one of the diamonds in this episode of QSO Today.

Rich Zwirko, K1HTV, was quickly bitten by the DX bug in the late fifties and has gone on to log just about every DX entity on every band. Rich made a career of radio serving as a teenage broadcast engineer in his hometown of New Haven, Connecticut, and later ended his career at the Voice of America in Washington DC.

Glenn Johnson, W0GJ, began his ham radio journey as a teenager and from his love for chasing DX, has since been to many DX entities around the world including Heard Island, an attempt last year to land on Bouvet Island, and an upcoming DXpedition later this year to Pitcairn Island. Glenn’s interest and determination to provide these rare DX entities along with this DXpedition group, is worth the weeks at sea, sometimes in terrible conditions.

David Reed, W5SV, began his ham radio story in Mexico at the age of 6, and was undoubtedly one of Mexico’s youngest hams at age 7. W5SV has a rich and interesting story that includes stints in electronics technology, advanced education, as a US Marine Corps pilot, and as homicide detective. The twists and turns in this story makes this QSO Today an interesting ride.

Mark Ziegler’s ham radio story began as a youngster that moved him into a career as an electronics engineer with the famous Bell Laboratories. Now retired, Mark enjoys operating from an RF quiet QTH in rural New Hampshire. Wind power is WA2ILB’s alternative power source of choice and is one of the subjects that we discuss in this QSO Today.

Exploration of the edge of space, first by astronaut Jordan Kittinger in Project Man-High, began Bill Brown’s, WB8ELK’s, fascination with, adaptation of amateur radio to high altitude weather balloons and later to smaller pico balloons that Bill tracks around the world using amateur radio beacons that he fabricates for his balloon launches.

Vi Barrett, W6CBA, celebrates 70 years as a radio amateur. Vi’s love for radio began with an uncle getting back on their air after the Second World War. Growing up in Southern California, W6CBA became the first female radio dispatcher for the FBI, raised a family, operated phone patches for US servicemen during the Vietnam War.

Jerry Lewine, K6QU, began his career in radio as a young ham in 1959, that led to a career as a broadcast engineer, first as a teenager in his native Pennsylvania, through the Air Force, and later to markets in Hawaii and California. While Jerry’s broadcast radio career sidelined his ham radio adventure for a number of years, Jerry is back with a passion for CW and FT-8 while the current solar cycle is at its low.

George Misic, KE8RN, is an RF and analog engineer by training, a collector of vintage American amateur radio equipment, and an early pioneer in the development of MRI or magnetic resonance imaging machines and whose name is on 38 patents around this technology. George is a frequent author of articles for QST and Electric Radio Magazines.

Jack Worth, WA0QZK, is a retired pastor with over 50 years of amateur radio operating experience who likes to QSO on CW from the Warsaw Telegraph Office. Jack collects and restores antique Morse code telegraph keys and bugs and uses them to work the World and ragchew on QRP and a modified G5RV antenna.

Joe Everhart, N2CX, is well known is QRP circles for his technical contributions and articles in the ham radio magazines. Along with George Heron, N2APB, they produce a live talk show called Chat with the Designers, as well as present at the QRP Event, four days in May, that precedes the opening of the Dayton Hamvention in May. Joe is a builder and ham radio designer, and share some of his insight into home brewing.

Howard Bernstein is the co-founder of the Long Island CW Club along with Rich Collins K2UPS, where they train amateurs of every age to be CW operators over Zoom video conferencing. Howard has a long history in ham radio extending back over 50 years. WB2UZE still has his first Drake line and is a collector of vintage things including old radios and automobiles. Howard is my QSO Today.