Tag: KC1CWF

Phasing Line Podcast Episode 2: We’re Sweeping Up After Sweepstakes

Two thousand downloads what what what holy crap! I never would have imagined…that’s awesome! Thank you all for listening! 😀

Since this seems like it’s a pretty cool thing, we’ve decided to keep doing it and have released another episode. Marty and I ramble on about sweepstakes, contesting, operating massive stations, YOTA, college ham radio, etc. Et Cetera is kinda the main theme of this podcast…

Marty did most of the editing and I tried to spend less time mastering it than the last one, which took me about 8 hours straight to get all the levels and EQ just right. This time, didn’t do any of that. And it still sounds pretty alright! Adobe Audition is so much better than Audacity at quickly editing, trimming, and mastering audio, all collaboratively, plus I’m still technically a student so $20/month is killer for Creative Cloud! #iamashill

I’m working on problems with Stitcher and iHeartRadio but feeds are working fine on iTunes, Pocketcasts, Overcast, YouTube, RSS and at http://phasinglinepodcast.com.

I’m super pumped at the next few episodes – we already have a few guests lined up and some exciting news in the world of ham radio’s next generation.

So somewhere towards the end of this ep is a massive plug to give us money, and we both feel like we have to explain ourselves a lot because it’s like, the second episode and we’re already begging for your change. Well. Stuff’s not free. 🙁 But we think we provide value to you that is worth not only your download but your (voluntary) dollar. That said, we’ll never make this a for-profit pay-to-play show, and we’ll also refrain from extensive adverts and ridiculously long and annoying solicitations. We’ve got better things to talk about!

We’ve set up a Patreon account for listeners to contribute to the show so we can keep it up. Patreon is basically a fancy facade for Paypal, that lets us host rewards for your contributions. Marty has some t-shirts that need giving away!

Click the logo to go to the Phasing Line Patreon.
Click the logo to go to the Phasing Line Patreon.

Web hosting, Libsyn, email accounts, online storage, and Adobe Creative Cloud (we use Adobe Audition to collaboratively edit, and it saves us a whole heck of a lot more time than using Audacity) all told cost us about $50 a month. We’ve got a goal of only $30 a month. If we can’t recoup the costs, that would suck. The show will go on, but we’ll have to be creative in how we do stuff since we’re pulling all the nice things out for Phasing Line, but it would ultimately limit the growth of the show. 🙁

So, with 2000 downloads, we feel that at least a few of you would be willing to throw us a few coins. 🙂

Speaking of coin, if you prefer bitcoin: 1LCmJSb3CSdJSxEFdghRpSCC59gJq5HD5u

Disclaimer: We will be thoroughly open, honest and genuinely transparent regarding any contributions made to the show. All contributions will be read out on the show unless you wish to remain anonymous.

 

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Phasing Line Podcast – Episode 1!!!!

Our hard work has come to it’s end. We have published episode one of The Phasing Line Podcast. It was originally about an hour twenty, but cuts and removal of um’s and uh’s shaved it to just under 45 minutes.

Find it on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocketcasts, Overcast, and at http://phasinglinepodcast.com or right here:

 

We attempt to talk about who we are, winning cookies in CQWW, packet spotting and pileups, contest operating and logging techniques, ARES and some of the bad things about ham radio, Youngsters on the Air, and cats.

I wanted to have a two-guys-and-a-mic style podcast about ham radio, without any script or topic – just winging it. It’s focus is on whatever comes to mind, as well as the progression of the hobby…aka youth in amateur radio. We plan on doing interviews, giveaways, and for now we intend keep it ad-free because ad’s suck! Until we need more bandwidth, at least. If you’re so inclined to donate, email Marty or I, and we’ll be happy to talk about buying me a Flex 6700 or Marty a couple dozen IC-7300’s since he’s in to that single-operator, twenty-radios sort of contesting. 🙂

Let us know how we did and how we can improve! Tweet at us at https://twitter.com/phasingline or email us – we’re good on QRZ!

And also find us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/PhasingLinePodcast/
About the hosts:
Sterling, N0SSC: 24 year old electrical engineer from St. Louis, Missouri who’s in the hobby for contesting, youth engagement, and just about everything else. He’s a former ARRL youth editor. http://n0ssc.com

Marty, KC1CWF: The infamous “chicken with fries,” Marty is a 14 year old ham radio genius from Waban, Massachusetts who loves contesting, DXing, building stations and mentoring others. https://chickenwithfries.wordpress.com/author/kc1cwf/

Contest Modernization

I have an idea that I just want to get out the door before I forget.

Contest Modernization.

First of all, check out CQContest.net.

It’s kind of complicated at first, but it’s actually really cool. It’s a real-time contest score tracker. You can see the scores and band breakdowns of radio contesters in real time as a contest is going. I don’t have a users guide handy, but it behooves you to click around and see what is happening on the site. There is TONS of data and analytics on every station. I recommend getting an account so you can access anything that says “user” on the side.

Now, go check out CJ Johnson, WT2P’s YouTube Channel where he livestreams contests. They’re not very exciting, and don’t get many views. For example:

Put 2 and 2 together.

I propose Contest Modernization be a movement to publicize and further gamify ham radio contesting. The live contest score server is the “hub” and each contester can choose to livestream their operation on Twitch.tv.

If you want to do this, I suggest getting OBS (which is a free livestreaming program other Twitch gamers use) and a Twitch account, and hook up your station and PC in such a way that listeners can hear RX and TX audio as well as your voice for commentary, and see your face, your score summary, your logger, and if there’s room, a CQContest.net summary or something.

I would love to demonstrate, but I don’t have a contesting station or the time to make it happen in a short time-frame, so hopefully this post suffices and WT2P or Marty KC1CWF can do it.

I think this would be a great boon to youth engagement. Just look at Twitch.tv. Hundreds of thousands of people watching other people play video games. I think there may be a market in there for us hams too.

And if ham curmudgeons think this will cause the HF bands to be even more crowded, they’re right. IMO, they should be!

Bottom line: contesting is gaming, young people like gaming, so combine the contesting market with the gaming market, and reap the benefits.

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