CQHQ

More than just a Ham radio blog.
CQHQ
is an informative, cynical and sometimes humorous look at what is happening in the world of amateur radio.

Tuesday, 27 April 2010

Bedtime Stories

I was hoping to do a little piece about amateur radio podcasts. There are quite a few out there and some of them are quite good and I have mentioned them before, but the latest batch I downloaded all seem to suffer from being patronising in the extreme. Delivered in a droning monotone mid-American drawl some were so irritating I turned them off quite quickly. Some of them seem to be merely audio blogs ("My mother-in-law was visiting this week so the shack was out of bounds") and not even good ones. Why one needed to broadcast (potentially) to the world that he only worked one station in a big HF contest, while following it up by advice on how to set up a effective station, I do not know? How can you take someone like that seriously, even if the advice was sound? Some of them simply repeat stories from Southgate ARC Newsline, ARRL and RSGB with little or no original material. I must say I am amazed at the amount of stuff out there and there is something for everyone. I will not name anyones podcasts as being unworthy of a listen because it is just my opinion and at least these people, however anal I find their oratory, are trying to spread the word about amateur radio. My advice is search out, download, listen and make up your own minds. There are some gems out there that can make a long car journey seem like it was over too soon, but beware there are some that may make you fall asleep at the wheel.

2 comments:

  1. No actual recommendations then? I must admit I haven't tried any podcasts myself. I guess I just find the written word more convenient. I can usually tell at a glance if a blog post is going to be interesting, and most of them only take a minute of my time to read, at the most. I can't be bothered to sit and listen for 5 or 10 minutes to something that may not turn out to be all that interesting.

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  2. No recomendations as I was not too impressed with this latest lot. Some of those like SolderSmoke that I have recommended in the past are quite good. My idea is to download them to a re-writable CD and listen while driving, although every time I start listening I seem to be called by someone on 2m/70cm and I would rather talk.

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