… was the conclusion reached by The Trio after they watched the initial broadcast of Ham Nation, hosted by Bob Heil (K9EID) and made available to the world via Leo Laporte’s “Live TWiT.tv” last Tuesday evening. It was only 2:00 a.m., the next day, that Hammerhead woke up our blog team members and urged them to post “something” in recognition of this new show titled Ham Nation.
Although Eagle-Eyes didn’t see a newspaper headline announcing this opening event, it was he who noticed Leo’s TWiT sign posted on his current office/studio, located on Keller Street, in Petaluma – “Our River Town.” The Trio have wanted to visit Leo in his studio for some time now, because it was he who they mingled with several years ago when they first started to blog under the heading – “Our Cyberplace” for PetalumaOnline. This is when Leo was just beginning to help the world understand the potential of the ICT world (Information & Communication Technology).
As it turned out, The Trio (known as Me, Myself, & I) did visit the TWiT studio because they wanted to suggest that Leo talk about Ham radio on his now – most popular TV show. The Trio sat in on the Saturday, May 7th show, just three feet from Leo, to watch and listen to his unique broadcast style. It was during this visit that they learned that Ham Nation was in the works and would be making its debut later in May. What a pleasant surprise!
Me loved the stories that Bob Heil and his guests Joe Walsh (WB6ACU) and Dave Jennings (WJ6W) told when they first became interested in amateur radio as a hobby and earned their Ham tickets in the 50s and 60s.
Myself enjoyed the broad-based review of these earlier years and the fact that many Hams become “friends for life” and how they help out when a major disaster occurs and they step up to the plate as volunteers and provide a reliable communication system, when all else fails.
I choked up at times, because these personal tales reminded him of March 1961, when he earned his Novice License (WN9WEC) while working at the Lorado Taft Field Campus of Northern Illinois State Teachers College. His move to San Francisco, later that year, interrupted any further Ham radio adventures.
However, it was Hurricane Katrina 42-years later, in 2005, that highlighted society’s need for more effective and efficient emergency communications and motivated I to become involved with the Ham world, once again. His new call sign is KI6GOO and he hopes to expand his basic knowledge of amateur radio, as well as newer applications due to the evolution of the digital age.
All in all, Hammerhead thinks Ham Nation will “hit the nail on the head” and attract interest from around the world. Many thanks to fellow Petaluman – Leo Laporte – for making this new broadcast on the TWiT Netcast Network possible, Stay tuned for more blogs related to http://live.twit.tv