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Do you make them?  Are they successful?  Will you make New Year’s resolutions for 2012?  What about resolutions geared specifically towards amateur radio?

If you’ve been listening to the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast for the past few years, you know the January episode features a few suggested New Year’s resolution ideas geared towards the amateur radio hobby.  This January will be no different and episode 51 will provide you numerous ideas for your very own New Year’s resolutions.  Of course, I’ll also share some of my own with you and provide a follow-up on how successful I was with my 2011 plans.

Again, amateur radio specific resolutions could be anything from upgrading to a new license class, trying a new mode, learning CW, volunteering in your community via ARES, RACES etc. or even something as simple as joining a local amateur radio club.

If you are thinking of specific amateur radio New Year’s resolutions of your own, please email me with your idea and how you plan to accomplish it.  I’ll read some of the suggestions during episode 51.

Until next time,

73 de KD0BIK

A few days ago I recorded and made available the 50th episode of the practical amateur radio podcast.  A few hours later I started coming down with cold-like symptoms and spent a few days resting to try to get ahead of this prior to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  I’m glad to report I did manage to get just slightly ahead and at least appeared to be alive and coherent.   Thank God for cold meds, chicken noodle soup and my wonderful wife. 

If you’ve been around from the beginning, you already know I started PARP in May 2008.  The 50th episode wraps up the 4th season and I truly look forward to 2012 and many, many more episodes.

Episode 50 is devoted to SOTA or Summits On The Air.  I realize I’ve recently blogged about and have also talked a lot about SOTA.  While the activity is certainly a new passion, I realize there is much, much more to the hobby.  However, based on comments I’ve received from listeners via email, Twitter and Facebook…I know many have an interest and wanted to discuss the topic so you might plan and conduct your own SOTA chasing and/or activations. 

PARP is available and you can subscribe via iTunes, Zune or stream directly from MyAmateurRadio.com.  Want to stream on the go from your favorite smart phone device?  You can do that as well from our mobile site.

Finally, as a Christmas gift to my family and I suppose to the podcast, I now own a small HD Sony video camera.  I do plan to create some supplemental video content for PARP and will also document some (perhaps) all of my SOTA activations. 

Thank you for listening. 

Until next time….

73 de KD0BIK

The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast, episode 48 is now available to download or stream.  You can subscribe via iTunes, Zune or stream directly from MyAmateurRadio.com.  Want to stream on the go from your favorite smart phone device?  You can do that as well from our mobile site.

In this episode I discuss all that awaits those US Technician class operators once they upgrade to the general class license.  Of course, I’m talking about the world of HF.

As a member of both the ARRL and RSGB, I share what I feel is the importance of both belonging to and supporting our national organizations.  I discuss briefly the RSGB upcoming extraordinary general meeting taking place on 19 November and encourage all RSGB members to educate yourself and vote.   Links are provided in the episode 48 show notes available here.

During our featured website segment I introduce listeners to the DXCoffee.com website.  Tomas Mesta, K6THM provides the featured Elmer Connection article on MyAmateurRadio.com.  Finally I round out some of my own amateur radio adventures in the last month.  Thank you for listening. 

Another episode of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast is available for streaming or download.  In episode 46 I discuss the JT65 mode and JT65-HF software.  In addition, I introduce listeners to the new Elmer Connection on the MyAmateurRadio.com website and share my good news on the extra upgrade and discuss plans of becoming a volunteer examiner (VE) to further give back to the hobby. 

Please look for the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast in iTunes or direct from MyAmateurRadio.com.  Have an iPhone or other smart phone?  You can also stream direct from my mobile page.  I hope you’ll listen.

73,
Jerry KD0BIK

The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast (PARP) is an amateur radio or ham radio podcast I created in 2008.  Like many, I discovered podcasts when I purchased my first iPod and was introduced to the world of iTunes.  I subscribed to many podcasts in those early days but it wasn’t until after I got my ham ticket in 2007 that I discovered amateur radio related podcasts.  I decided to launch PARP as a mechanism for giving back to the hobby I love so much.  The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast is a podcast about all things ham radio.  While geared towards the brand new ham or someone interested in getting into the hobby, I do cover a wide range of topics which have even inspired individuals who have been in the hobby for many years, to try out and find they truly enjoy some of the newer modes.

If I remember correctly, I created this blog several months before the podcast was born.  While both have suffered over the years due to my sometimes hectic work and life schedule, I’ve tried to keep both going and never allow either to duplicate each other.  I really think of this blog as more of an extension of my radio hobby and the podcast more of the educational mechanism for Elmering new and prospective hams alike. 

In any event, I just released my 45th episode and you can download it via iTunes (just search for the practical amateur radio podcast) or you can stream it direct from my podcast website.  A site designed for smart phone users is also available.  The topic for episode 45 of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast is, So you have your technician class license, now what?  I encourage the newly licensed ham to join a local club in his/her area and get involved.  In addition, I’m a strong supporter of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and encourage all to join and support this organization.  I also share many of the exciting things a new tech class license holder can get involved with. 

As it is with every episode, I encourage all listeners to share the knowledge learned through my podcast episodes with others.  The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast, creating Elmers one podcast at a time. 

73,

Jerry
KD0BIK