Dear Friend,
I want to thank all of you who responded to me, both positively and negatively, about last week's QSO Today with Burt Fisher, K1OIK. The comments added to the bottom of the show notes page were articulate responses.
I believe that we are bombarded with news, information, and opinions, that are now curated for us, that we just hear our own "echo chambers". This is especially true if we are on Facebook, Twitter, and other big social media sites. As a result we are denied opinions that are different than our own, often imparing out ability and opportunity to provide critical responses without criticizing the person on the other side.
The conversation and your responses allowed me to reflect on my own good fortune of having the opportunity to engage with so many hams, in so many areas of the hobby, that I often say we are in a "golden age of ham radio". I believe this is true. I also have to acknowledge that there are many hams who don't have this vantage point unless they listen to the popular amateur radio podcasts, like this one, or read the magazines and websites. Ham radio is now a big tent, but many hams may still be stuck in their corner.
My guest this week is Paul Andrews, W2HRO, who came back to ham radio after a 35 year break to raise a family and career. What is interesting about Paul's story is that he follows a course to its end, then builds on this expertise to go to the next level. You will hear that he gets in with a simple handheld rig to work FM satellites, and now he is working contacts on 1296 Mhz by bouncing his signals off of the moon.
This is the essence of what it means to be a ham who is improving on the state of the art. I am grateful to amateurs like Paul who are willing to share what they learn with all of us.
Thanks for listening.
73, Eric 4Z1UG |
