Ham Radio Now podcasts are the audio from our television programs (on YouTube.com/HamRadioNow). The shows are all about the hobby/service of Amateur Radio, but there are several types of shows all mixed up among the episodes. Some are talk shows, some are seminars and forums, and there's a mini-documentary now and then. The talk shows make the best audio listening, but you'll get something from almost all of them. We'll rate the "radio" quality in the show descriptions.
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HRN 258: 5 Watt Field Day
The Field of Beams was in Orange County, North Carolina for a couple days toward the end of June - yes, Field Day - set up by hams from the Durham FM Association and the Orange County Radio Amateurs. You'll find their call sign, W4EZ in the #3 spot in the Top Ten box in 2015, and a few other top ten's in previous years. An impressive showing, especially considering their 9A 5 Watt battery class.
The only thing that might shade this accomplishment is that the #2 operation, K6EI in California, was also 5 watt battery, with 11 stations. (The #4 operation, W5YA, was also 5 watt battery with just 3 stations!)
KN4AQ hit the road to visit this operation and see how they did it. He didn't have to hit the road too hard. W4EZ was just a few miles west of his home. So he added one more group, the Alamance Amateur Radio Club K4EG to the trip. This group may not end up in the top 10 box, but they have just as much fun.
In the last third of the show (around 1:02:00), Gary plays all the video he shot at one of the W4EZ CW stations (a totally expert operation) and one of their Phone stations (with a new, young ham having all the classic difficulties, "amplified" by the QRP power level).
This episode is pretty visual, being a mostly field production, but the interviews and operating audio should hold your attention. There's a short CW segment in the middle of the Dave Snyder W4SAR interview that's captioned in video, so if you don't copy fairly high-speed CW, you'll miss that assistance. But in the full CW segment toward last third, Gary verbally describes everything that's happening.
We'll give this episode a C+ Radio Grade.