Subject: HamRadioNow Update for January 2015
Happy New(ish) Year, everyone... I left off the December update with Episode 174. I just put Episode 187 online. Get details on all of them at HamRadioNow.tv <http://www.HamRadioNow.tv> . Many of the new ones are from the DCC, and Episode 187 wraps that up with the Saturday Banquet talk by FlexRadio CEO Gerald Youngblood K5SDR, titled Accidental Company - The Making of FlexRadio. It's a very interesting review of what he calls the "inflection points" – the critical decision and risk moments – he encountered on the way from startup to highly successful company. Episode 182 is a chat with TV Producer Dave Bell W6AQ. Dave's recently published a book, World's Best Hobby, a memoir about his life in both ham radio and television, and the points where they intersect. Dave produced or directed just about all the significant Ham Radio oriented videos and TV shows until our current crop of Internet upstarts took over with the newly-affordable production tools. Episode 186 is my own story, recorded January 11, 2015, 50 years after my first ham radio QSO as novice WN9NSO. I spend two hours talking with a ham who appeared early and often in my novice logbook, as we review what ham radio looked like to us in 1965. BACKGROUND NOTES: HamRadioNow contributions for 2014 totaled around $7000 (not counting the $8000 KICKSTARTER for the DCC video production). Many podcasters would envy that total. I'm grateful myself, and often impressed by the interest you all show in the program. Many of you are very dedicated fans! On the other hand, I started out with the goal of making HamRadioNow a real (if small) business. We're about to start the 4th year, and $7000 (or $15,000, including the KICKSTARTER), 1/3 of which is eaten up by expenses, does not make a business. Not even the part-time one that averages the 15 to 25 hours a week that I estimate I put into the program. No, I'm not announcing the end of the show. It does mean very little "field production," especially if travel is involved. Fortunately for this year, I've got several trips worth of stuff in the hopper waiting for me to edit, so there will be some yet to come. But Skype interviews will be more prominent. That's what I'd planned all along. I just kept running into fun stuff to go shoot. I'll still probably make Dayton, but I've turned down a lot of invitations to hamfests all over the country. Hmmm, everyone would like to see me, but nobody's offering to pay my expenses! What can you do about it, if you're so motivated? Convince Google that I'm worth funding. Heck, I'd even do it for Yahoo. But I insist on editorial independence. For anything less than $100k/year. Above that, and you've bought me. Yes, I have a price. Or do what I've always asked... spread the word. Here's a test: Ask a random sample of hams if they've heard of the HamRadioNow tv show. If they ask "What channel is it on," you know they're a lost cause. But I'm guessing the general answer will be "no." That means that there just may still be an untapped audience of hams who will appreciate the show the way you do. If so, I think they're unreachable by any of the means I have at my disposal. They are doomed to wander the wilderness, unenlightened by the knowledge you possess. As a further test, ask if they know about Ham Nation. If it's still "no," it's time to despair. All is lost. Give up, and be satisfied with whatever meager gruel I can dish out going forward. Fill in the gaps with AmateurLogic and TXFactor. See you in February! 73, Gary KN4AQ -- HamRadioNow.tv Gary Pearce KN4AQ 508 Spencer Crest Ct. Cary, NC 27513 [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> 919-380-9944 www.Ham <http://hamradionow.tv/> Radio <http://hamradionow.tv/> Now.TV <http://hamradionow.tv/>
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