All Episodes
Foundations of Amateur Radio — 592 episodes
The things you hear when you least expect it.
What does expertise look like?
Failure is a dirty word
Building a new resource: How do you get into Amateur Radio?
Telling Stories to Strengthen a Community
Bald Yak 20: More Pi with the Soap
Bald Yak 19: SoapyAudio adventures
Why not use LoTW?
Some days are like running in place ...
Keeping track of your adventures
Dealing with Complexity
What does amateur radio bring to your life?
You don't need an excuse to make noise!
What's in an S-unit?
Where is the spark .. gap?
Bald Yak 18: Everything Everywhere All at Once?
Bald Yak 17: Adventures in Radio Data Systems
Bald Yak 16: How do you decode FM?
One step forward ... three steps back.
Bald Yak 15, Playing with Radio .. now with software
How to go about documenting your setup?
Transmitting into a dummy load .. for a year .. on purpose.
How to become a radio amateur today?
Building a shack: Part 8 - Will it ever end?
Building a shack: Part 7 - Powering your shack
Building a shack: Part 6 - Noise
Building a shack: Part 5 - Antenna Shenanigans
Building a shack: Part 4 - coaxial cable alternatives
Building a shack: Part 3 - the ingress of coaxial cable
Building a shack: Part 2 - How much space do you need?
Building a shack: Part 1 - Setting the Scene
Bald Yak 14, choices and software flexibility
I have a problem .. with logging.
How to make our hobby and community resilient?
A new year with new services to the public .. in 1905
What do you call that .. radio?
On the origins of the RF circulator
Going around in circles, one-way.
Bald Yak 13, Monitoring the Sun .. small steps
When your hobby revolves around electricity ...
Preparing for an outing
Where is the fun in that?
Playing with Radio
Amateur Radio has literally changed my world view
How small is small?
Bald Yak 12, getting raw data from a remote receiver
Using an SDR as measuring equipment
Listening to local RF via a web browser
Decoding distant signals over the web?
What can we activate today?
Using Amateur Bands for other purposes
There's promotion .. and then there's Amateur Radio
Decoding a signal ...
Antenna modelling with genetic algorithms.
The ARRL incident of May 2024, a year later
The Art of decoding a signal.
Random Serendipity
Can you be a Professional Radio Amateur?
What's really happening at the IARU?
What do you think you're doing?
How does your member society represent itself?
A brief introduction to the HamSCI community
Can we figure out how much the Sun really affects propagation?
Being an amateur without either radio or antenna
Becoming Mode Agile
Playing Games On-Air
What is Amateur Radio really about?
What is the difference between a Dummy Load and an Antenna?
Echos from the past, 150 ms ago
Bald Yak 11, the goo between hardware and software
DX on a dummy load?
What's the story you'd like to tell yourself?
Bald Yak, universe 10, how does all fit together?
Bald Yak, droplet 9, fosphor and the impertinence of software
Bald Yak, arena 8, paying attention to the details
Finding your path in this hobby
Bald Yak, scene 7, building a circuit without burnt chicken smell
WSPR beacon QSY to 15m
Ham Challenge
Bald Yak, scene 6, chaos will reign
Bald Yak, scene 5, debugging
Bald Yak, week 4, time
Bald Yak - week 3 - Push To Talk
Bald Yak - week 2
Bald Yak - week 1
Suddenly there were 700...
Why does your Wi-Fi connection drop out when cooking lunch?
A new radio every week ...
Unexpected miracles ...
The venerable QSL bureau
Amateur Radio connects you in unexpected ways
Surprising ideas that change you forever
What does an actual minimal set-up look like?
How effective is the IARU?
Dark Sky for Amateur Radio
The history of our hobby
Adult Fans of Amateur Radio
Keep It Simple Stupid
How to lose more than half of your membership?
In the beginning was the contact
Internet access across HF radio
What kind of hobby is amateur radio?
Does the IARU actually represent you?
Being a Maverick is part of the deal
Planning for Contest Success
About Australian Callsigns
How does the IARU work?
Problem Solving or How to Access a Radio Remotely?
Identity in Amateur Radio
Long Wave Radio
The ARRL incident of May 2024
The origin of our amateur bands
On the nature of Inspiration ..
Automatic FM DX decoding
A place for everything and everything in its place..
The origins of the International Amateur Radio Union
Weaving radio into your life.
RF is all around us ... starting your own station frequency survey
It's all just text!
Are you up for a global party?
What's with all that lack of noise?
The skyhook dilemma ...
Technology at its finest ...
The Art of finding an operating location
Getting things done .. or not.
Writing to the regulator about amateur beacon and repeater licenses.
What is amateur radio as an emergency response?
What is the right mode for emergency communications?
What is a repeater or a beacon ... really?
New arrangements for Australian Amateur Radio
How to see 56 MHz of bandwidth...
The Art of operating QRP
Finding the right frequency.
It's the little things ...
The visibility of our radio community.
Report on Radio Harmonic Power
What about promoting the hobby?
Spontaneously getting out and about ...
Failure to simulate ...
Let's compare the same antenna in different locations...
Let's talk about reciprosity...
Let's talk about gain ...
Let's talk about noise ...
How much does your coax and antenna matter?
Gadgets on Demand
All the power in the observable universe expressed in milliwatts ...
Between decibels and milliwatts ...
Wet and Blue adventures with coax ...
Checking attenuation numbers ...
How much attenuation is enough?
Starting to measure spurious emissions ...
Gathering Data rather than Opinions ...
Jumping into the unknown ...
How fast is Morse code?
Will the real inventor of Morse code please stand?
Is Morse really built around the most popular letters in English?
Adventures with Morse Code
The nature and ownership of information
Asking a professional in the community...
Planning and making lemonade
Where is your community and how resilient is it?
What is our legacy?
Accolades in Amateur Radio?
A Linux contest logger ...
Considering the language of our community ...
Measuring the Solar Flux Index at home ...
Propagation during the 2023 Solar Eclipse
Doing the same thing over and over again ...
Why is radio regulated?
The antenna system
How much antenna is enough?
Lost in space ...
The Contester In Me...
What's with a negative SNR?
Acronym not found ...
Antenna Testing Day ...
Are all spiky antennas the same?
Some Amateur Radio ABCs ...
Do you really know when the best time is to go on air?
The evolution of software in radio ...
Path loss and very small numbers ...
What is the difference between handheld, mobile and a base radio?
What should we be learning?
Where does propagation data come from?
What's the weakest signal that WSPR can decode?
One Volt ...
Which way did it go?
Morse is dead ... long live Morse!
Attenuators, the missing link...
How low can you go?
The nature of learning things...
What's in a VFO?
My Virtual Workbench
A plan for distributed SDR decoding
The sedentary myth of radio.
Setting a little personal challenge ...
This space left intentionally blank
The Amateur's Code for future generations...
The Patriot in Amateur Radio
Finding balance in Amateur Radio
Being friendly in Amateur Radio
Progressiveness in Amateur Radio
Loyalty in Amateur Radio
Consideration in Amateur Radio
A code for amateurs
The microphone gain game ...
What's with the repeater offset again?
Take a long hard look at our community ...
Much Ado About ...
The power supply connector dance contest...
Defining a standard on Contest Scoring
If you had money, what would your amateur adventure look like?
How to isolate and by how much?
Smith, the chart to end all charts ...
Can you build an all HF band concurrent WSPR transmitter?
What are the rules for calling CQ on a repeater?
The Thunder and Lightning that destroyed my station ...
When should I go on air?
Augustin-Jean Fresnel, Zeppelins and a picket fence ...
The Science of Amateur Radio
The art of troubleshooting the digital world.
How far can you go?
After the chaos ... building the ideal shack
In the beginning there was chaos...
Planning for an emergency...
Why do we communicate?
Introduction to the terms of contesting
It beeps!
What happens when you plug it in?
How to compare radios
Pictures can say more than words
Testing your radio's audio frequency response
What's in a Dream?
Bringing an upconverter into your life
When I said Parrot Repeater ... I likely had a different picture in mind.
Products made from unobtainium
Leaving the hobby ...
What testing equipment is essential?
How does your gear measure up?
Getting Amateur Radio propagation data at home
Amateur Radio and the art of getting started ...
One Timezone To Rule Them All
The Rebirth of Homebrew
Defeating the Pitfalls of Predicting HF Propagation
What have you been up to in Amateur Radio lately ... Gary VK2OVA
The Ripple Effects of making change ...
How to run an SSB contest without using your voice ...
The inherent redundancy of a compromise antenna
Standard Information Exchange in Amateur Radio
You in the community ...
The sun shines on our hobby in unexpected ways.
We need more glue in our hobby ...
The Fox Mike Hotel Portable Operations Challenge
What's in a sound?
Taking your shack mobile
What's in a unit?
Being an equipment custodian
All the things that aren't amateur radio...
The diversity of our hobby is breathtaking.
How are contests scored?
Share if you care...
What Open Source means to our hobby and why it's important.
What mode is that?
When you share the hobby grows ...
Here be Dragons, venturing into uncharted territory ...
Removing technology for a change
What radio should I buy as my first one?
Bringing chaos into order
Streaming a dozen repeaters with an RTL-SDR dongle
Soldering Irons and Software
Getting started on WSPR with a PlutoSDR
Ergonomics in your shack
How much bandwidth is there?
The massive physics phenomenon just over eight minutes away ...
The dynamic nature of your shack
When you just have to try things ...
Portable experiences ...
The remote edge...
Making observations
Word of the day: software
How many hops in a jump?
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Running out of things to do ...
What's in a prediction?
Changing of the guard ...
The Vagabond HAM
The APRS of it all ...
The other radios in the world ...
The impossible task
Testing a link, on a band, at a time.
When will it ever end?
If you want to do HF in an apartment, where do you start?
2m reciprocity and other assumptions
Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance
When one WSPR receiver just isn't enough
For that one special event ...
It lives ... crystal radio with three components
The excitement is palpable ...
Antenna testing in the field.
The making of a Crystal Radio
An ionospheric monitoring service at home
csdr will rock your world ...
New day, new mode ... SSTV
Simplicity among the complexity ...
Yak Shaving ...
What is so different about using software for signal processing?
When you run into a pounce ...
After channelling your RTTY ...
Channelling RTTY
How much do you really know about your radio?
First Digital DX contact!
What do you talk about?
What's the point of this hobby?
Homebrew radio for the 21st Century
What is a repeater offset and how does it work?
Your antenna is a filter (of sorts).
If you WSPR and nobody hears you ...
Using something for an unexpected purpose can give you many great rewards.
How to pick a field operating position?
The humble coaxial cable
The antenna and coax you use matter.
Buying and using pre-loved equipment
How much is a bit worth?
So, you want to be an amateur?
Permission to be curious
First ever digital contact!
When was the last time you played?
Breaking the isolation one QSO at a time.
Listening from the ground up
What level of preparedness are you at?
On the shoulders of giants we stand.
All bands + All modes + All countries
The impersonal nature of digital and other myths
The chicken and the egg, which comes first, the antenna or the radio?
Exploring an understanding of filters and circuits.
How I care for my connectors
How I host a weekly amateur radio net for new and returning amateurs
Is this frequency in use and other lies we tell ourselves.
The lessons we teach.
What's in a plan?
Where do you start?
What does Amateur Radio mean to you?
Lamenting the decline of the hobby.
How did you get here?
The SDR earthquake will change our hobby forever
Morse Code and You
What's in a Whisper?
Putting a radio in a car.
Where is North?
In pursuit of a challenge
First Solo
World Wide Radio Operators Foundation
How to make contesting interesting to an audience?
Leave some bread crumbs behind
Lessons Learnt
Going on an outing
Planning for an outing
Boating adventures
Gate-keeping, special people and bullies.
New Entrants are Everywhere
What's in a Watt?
It broke and now what?
What's in a word?
How far can I talk on radio?
What's allowed on our bands?
Your Software Defined Radio around the home
The Software Defined Radio vs. Traditional Radio choice
The Regulator
From Milk to Direct Conversion in a Software Defined Radio
Milking Software Defined Radio
When digging gives you more understanding, the magic of software.
Software Defined Radio offers another path to the same information.
Digital Origami in Software Defined Radio
SDR: How many colours inside a Software Defined Radio?
SDR Sample Rates: How fast is fast enough?
Software Defined Radio is fundamentally a different way of looking at radio spectrum
How does a Software Defined Radio or SDR work?
Antennas out of sight and out of mind ...
Fragility of Communication
When you hear a distress call ...
Overcoming Microphone Anxiety
The Station Log
What's in a Chirp?
Creativity comes with practice
All the power in the world and not enough battery!
More WSPR adventures
Modern Tools for a Modern Hobby
How effective is your station?
How to select a mobile operating location
Brand New Callsign
The reported death of Amateur Radio due to FT8 is an exaggeration
Fan Vertical Antenna
Empirical evidence and the scientific method
QRP EME project update #1
What are you proud of?
Contest Headphones and glorious HF SSB
How do I get a better antenna?
When does knowing more make it harder?
Are you an Elmer?
When failure doesn't matter ...
The Golden Age of Amateur Radio is Now
Everything you wanted to know about amateur radio but were afraid to ask!
Get on air and make some noise ...
Celebrate accomplishments
Everything you know about dipole (calculators) is wrong ...
Random bits of wire ...
Is man-made noise really vertical?
Antenna Polarisation and you
Cloud Warming in style or what is NVIS?
How can I talk to my friend?
Nothing like the standard of Morse Code ...
How to start your own net ...
Getting Started ...
The mysterious three phase power ...
Water and Electronics a match made in hell ...
Heated Elements and Circuit Boards
The Contesting Coin Toss for the rest of us
Programming Repeaters ... Revisited.
Which repeaters should I put into my hand held radio?
How to get the best Amateur Radio gear?
The Power for your Radio
Get a Contesting Buddy
Logging of a Different Kind
The Internet of Digital Radio
How to find other Amateurs on Air
How does a waterfall display work?
Why do you contest?
Preparation for an outing ...
SWR assumptions
Learning on 2m FM
Shakespeare and Coax Stub Filters
Experience comes from doing ...
eBook Volume 6 - short
You and the IARU
Coax Loss vs Connector Loss - now with more coax
eBook Volume 5 - short
Coax Loss vs Connector Loss
Amateur Radio Minimalism
eBook Volume 4 - short
What improbable antenna solution works?
What criteria do you have for your ideal shack?
eBook Volume 3 - short
What do you know now that you would have liked to have known when you started in amateur radio?
How should I promote my contest?
eBook Volume 2 - short
Antenna gain and polar chart magic
Just enough radio ...
eBook Volume 1 - short
Virtual Radio
eBook Volume 6
Building a better community?
eBook Volume 5
What is amateur radio?
eBook Volume 4
No Onno, it's not slippery and other lessons ...
eBook Volume 3
Amateur Motto: Do No Harm
eBook Volume 2
How does Single Side Band work?
eBook Volume 1
60 years of amateur radio
Leave judgement outside the shack ...
How can you measure what frequency your radio is on?
How does a Temperature Compensated Crystal Oscillator work?
What did you hear last week?
Hearing very weak signals
Radio signals don't travel in straight lines
What to pack for a Contest?
Ladder Line is not Evil
Organisation around your shack
A transistor radio curve-ball ...
Tropospheric Ducting explained
Storing your Amateur stuff ... everywhere.
Amateur Radio Regulation and Enforcement in Australia is Broken
Which antenna should I get first?
Amateur Radio is about Experimenting and Trying!
How does PSK or Phase Shift Keying actually work?
How does RTTY work?
Qualifications for using a Digital Mode
Mechanical Filters
Contesting Protests
Our Amateur License System is Obsolete
Quick Fixes and Maintenance
What's in a name?
Mobile experiments with high power.
Magic and Curiosity in Amateur Radio
Using an Alex-Loop, very satisfying ...
Getting an elusive contact ... fly-fishing style.
What if the Radio Spectrum was a data souce?
The evolution of our hobby is now ...
Things you can learn from a new operating environment ...
What to say on-air?
Amateur Radio Community Standards
Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder
An Amateur Radio Code of Conduct
What is SOTA?
Adding a stroke to your callsign ...
Life's too short for QRP...
What is a resistor?
Checking your On-Air signal...
If they're shooting at you - you know you're doing something right!
The spirit of our hobby ...
This hobby is dead ... NOT!
Sun-Spots and Amateur Radio
What does MARS have to do with Amateur Radio?
A nifty idea looking for a purpose in 1947 changes the world as we know it...
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder ...
More strange antennas!
Tuning up strange antennas ...
Do we really understand our hobby?
SOTA goat adventures ...
Passion and Politics
Coax vertical dipole and other musings ...
Manufacturer drivel and antennas ...
Messy shacks are the way we do things around here.
Amateur Radio Satellites ... more than two in the sky.
DTMF is something we use regularly ...
The joy of Amateur Radio
Where do you start with this Amateur thing?
What happens if you move the feed point in a dipole?
DX, common ground on a common term?
Propagation is everywhere!
The birth and legacy of IRLP.
Make your own propagation map!
How to melt coax ...
What is SWR?
What is station security?
Unpredictable radio waves ...
Learning from your mistakes ...
Paper Logging tips and tricks ...
The FM Capture Effect and other Amateur Radio magic...
Don't ever yell into a microphone and other neat things ...
The band is dead and there are no contacts to be made...
How old is the mode you're using?
Alternating Current and Direct Current are the same thing ...
After the contest ... the debrief.
How to make contacts during a contest?
The logistics of being in a contest while mobile
Training, Traumatic or Fun, you decide...
How to get started ...
A surprise might be just around the corner...
Harmonics and calling CQ
Lower and Upper Side Band, why is it so?
Logging software ... what to choose?
What can you say on-air?
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Coax impedence, 50 Ohm and 75 Ohm, why is it so?
Q-codes in voice
Operating Procedures
Lucky Lightning Escape
The CAT interface
Bandplans and Edges
What's in a Repeater?
Experimentation is about failure ...
What is the best antenna?
The humble dipole ... contraption.
Sizing your battery.
Where did all the amateurs go?
Reviewing the introduction of the Foundation License.
How to manage your first pile-up.
Have a look or search online at the previous editions of this podcast.
Contesting, something for everyone ...
SDR diversity and Ah-Ha!
We should stop requiring electronics to be amateurs.
Picking better language to talk about our hobby ...
Radios are not quite appliances ...
Fieldstrength and Chickens
Change one thing at a time ...
How to get started in a contest
Tools in my shack
Wet string and 10 Watts
Propagation and reality
Getting started with portable operation
Antenna Calculators
Use it or Lose it ... make a contact today!
Propagation predictions and operating your radio
Every Antenna is a Compromise!
Phonetic Alphabets
What to say in a contest...
1000 hobbies under one roof
Names in Amateur Radio
Do your thing and find friends to play with
Radio Amateur - the local lunatic
Delta Loop for Portable Operation
Hunting for the perfect SWR.
Tuning a dipole, bring your friends...
7Ps of Amateur Radio - be prepared
Cabrillo and ADIF file formats
Amateur Radio FAQ's
What radio should I purchase?
Different soil types ...
Welcome