Life Optimized
By Scott Westerman Can a police department gain a positive national following by engaging on social media? Here’s the story of one that did. I’m a huge fan of the Newport Beach, California, Police Department. Not only do they protect and serve their community with professionalism and class, they are…
One of the things that’s most alluring about amateur radio is the ever expanding variety of communication modes at our disposal. From the dots and dashes of morse code to the digital packets that can carry everything from voice to data, there is truly something for every interest. Hams prefer…
My good friend, Dan Romanchik recently wrote about his disappointment to learn that WV7G, who posted a plan for a single tube transmitter had passed away and his web page describing the project had seemingly passed on with him. Enter W5RST, who referenced the Internet Archive, where web content seemingly…
The great thing about a hobby like ours is that there is so much diversity that you can pick whatever niche suits you. From a public perspective, though, there is one branding message that should unite us all: We are the Communication Experts. During Hurricane Harvey, I saw amateur radio…
Being a podcast fan, I’ve loaded my podcatcher with a variety of fascinating ham radio podcasts. My three faves: ARRL’s The Doctor Is In, Cale Nelson’s Ham Radio 360 and Bruce, N9WKE’s DitDit podcast. Bruce, at this writing, is one of the relative newbies to the the podcast constellation. His program…
By Scott Westerman I recently spent some time with Dacher Keltner, a perpetual student of the art and science of emotional wellbeing. He reminded me of one of its great prerequisites: Gratitude.
In my days as a radio broadcaster, one of the most exciting things we did was a “remote”, where we took our gear and our talent out into the community to broadcast live. My good friend and legendary programming consultant, Gary Berkowitz, recently wrote a column about how to accomplish…
What follows is a summary of the War Emergency Radio Service (WERS). Information was gathered primarily from “Fifty Years of ARRL,” an historical record of the League and amateur radio. It was originally posted on the AC6V website. First a bit of background: In 1939 there were 51,000 US hams.…
(Update: June 16, 2019) The “Real” Scott Westerman left us on April 18, 2018, my mother’s birthday. He loved being a Dad. He was my role model for fatherhood and a father figure for countless others during his 92 years. “We don’t get to choose the cards life deals us,”…
Worked All States. It’s the first significant milestone for a radio amateur after passing the General Class exam. No matter what your gear, it’s an achievement that can be earned in a year or less if you play to win. Here’s how. Every state has its own QSO Party, a…