Ham Radio Workbench Podcast Ham Radio Workbench

Kirk Kleinschmidt, NT0Z, has a deep background in radio and communications having spent over 30 years writing about radio.  Kirk is a former Assistant Managing Editor for QST by the ARRL, aughor of the book Stealth Amateur Radio and has been a regular columnist for Monitoring Times and Popular Communications.  You can follow Kirk today in his regular columns appearing in the Spectrum Monitor electronic magazine.  Kirk offers up his perspective on amateur radio in this episode.

This is a special edition featuring Mike Walker, VA3MW from Flex Radio, telling us all about the newly announced Flex 8400 / 8600 radios.  Mike is at Hamvention 2024 and took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to tell us all about the new radios.

In this episode we have our good friend, Dr. Doug Millar, K6JEY, join us to talk about multi meters, what they do and buying recommendations.  Every ham radio operator or DIY electronics fan needs a good multi meter.  But should you spend $20 or $200 on a meter and what's the difference?  Doug explains it all.

In this episode we meet Daniel Winn, WV1T, a very active portable ham radio opertor.  Daniel was searching for a way to filter out strong local signals when operating in the field and he started building stub tuned filters with coaxial cable.  This simple and cost effective approach is a great way to build notch filters that can significantly reduce unwanted interference from transmitters operating at the same location but in other HF bands.  This is a great technique for Field Day and similar activities.  Daniel holds an extra class amateur radio license and is a professional electrician.

In this episode we meet our good friend, Dr. Charles Powell, NK8O.  Charles is medical doctor specializing in neonatal infant care.  In addition to his professional accomplishments as a doctor, musician, and head of a medical non-profit organization, Charles is an avid portable radio operator and has logged many thousands of contacts from all over the US while participating in POTA and World Wide Flora and Fauna events and from exotic locations while living in Africa.
Charles is an inspiration to us on many levels and a great friend.

In this episode we meet Mark Herbert, G1LRO, designer of the Universal Radio Controller.  We talk all about ham radio project building and Mark's journey of discovery as he envisioned the URC.  Taking an idea, overcoming challenges and turning it into something that people can use and be inspired by.