Streaming Amateur Radio Programs Part 2
Let’s continue where we left off last month. At that time, we mentioned the Amateur Radio Round Table and Ham Radio Now.
Amateurlogic. (www.amateurlogic.tv) George Thomas, W5JDX, Tommy and Peter host a monthly program about amateur radio. They are doing their monthly program live, usually on a Friday night around the middle of the month (live.amateurlogic.tv). It is fun to see the mistakes and false starts they do when recording the program. All their programs are available to download to your computer, or you can watch them on Youtube later.
They also have started a Ham College program directed at people who are looking to get their ham license. Check the URL above.
Ham Nation has a number of well-known hosts including Bob Heil, K9EID, the founder of Heil Sound, and Gordon West, WB6NOA, author of the well known amateur radio licensing books. Well produced. You can watch it live on twit.tv Wednesday at 9 pm ET. This is a weekly program. Ham Nation also comes out on Youtube (www.youtube.com) as early as the next day. Type in “Ham Nation” in the search field and you will have access to all past episodes. They have a section of video shorts, reports on propagation and contesting, as well as several other features. They have more than enough feature hosts, so they are now rotating. This makes each program different from the previous one.
Also, don’t forget the Ham Nation After Show Nets on HF and DSTAR if you have one or both of these capabilities. Don’t have either? They announce a web site where you can listen to the DSTAR conversations. The 40 meter net is also on www.hamnation40.net and on www.hamsoncams.com. It is fun to listen to the pile-ups. Occasionally I can break through the pile-ups and actually talk to one or more of the net controllers. My goal is to talk with all the show hosts and net controllers. I have three so far.
TX Factor. This is the latest entry into the amateur radio webcast lineup. This one is from the UK. It is the most professionally produced program to date. It is also the newest. I used to live in England, and I wish I had my ham radio license while living there! Some aspects of amateur radio are different in the UK, but most of what you see applies here, as well. Still, it is fun to see amateur radio from “the other side of the pond”. You have access to all episodes at www.txfactor.co.uk. I wish they had more than one program a month.
YouTube. Finally, there are a multitude of videos on amateur radio on YouTube in addition to the ones mentioned above. Some are excellent, and some not so good. If you search for “K7AGE” on YouTube, there are some excellent videos. Randy has a way of making professional quality videos. His videos are short and they focus on one topic. That makes it easy to find a video on subjects that interest you.
In short, the Internet has a wealth of information on amateur radio. It makes a great tool to broaden your amateur radio horizons, whether you are a new ham or a seasoned operator. Good viewing!
73 de David Harden, KJ4CMY