With Covid19 restrictions precluding an in-person gathering, the 22nd annual Ham Radio University (HRU) educational conference will be held as a virtual event on Saturday, January 9, 2021 from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm as a GoToWebinar on-line video conference. Registration is now open (see below) for HRU's 14 informational presentations by local experts in a broad range of Amateur Radio activities including: Amateur Radio Emergency Communications; Basics of HF Operating; Communicating Through Amateur Radio Earth Satellites; Remote Station Operating Over the Internet; Software Defined Radios; HF and UHF Digital Communications; and Using RaspberryPi Computers in Amateur Radio. Presented in memory of Ham Radio University founder, Phil Lewis, N2MUN, who passed away in March, HRU 2021 also will be the on-line convention of the NYC-Long Island Section of ARRL. As in years past, participation in HRU 2021 will be free of charge, with an optional suggested donation of $5.00, but advance registration is required for each presentation. Detailed information, including the schedule of forums and advance registration for each one is on line at: www.HamRadioUniversity.org/forums
Looks like a good set of talks, but there are two issues. First, topics I am interested in are scheduled concurrently. Secondly, it's very awkward to register for a conference one session at a time. Wish it were single-tracked and that there was a simple way to register for the entire event!
Bret, Thanks for your comments. The issue of concurrent forums is the same as when we've run Ham Radio University in person for the past 20 years. And in person in recent years it's been even "worse" since we've run seven forums in each of the time lots. The good news this year is that all of the presentations will be recorded and posted after the event on the Ham Radio University web site. In years past, we had the capability to record only a few live presentations. They're posted on Ham Radio University's YouTube channel. Also -- you can register for both forums in each of the time slots, and if you don't care for the one you start watching, you can switch to the other one. With regard to the registration procedure -- that's a function of the GoToWebinar technology that we're using. The way we're using that system, HRU isn't a single event -- each of the forums is a separate Webinar, so a separate registration is required for each." That way, "attendees" can "cherry-pick" the subject(s) in which they're interested, and ignore the others -- the same as they did when we did HRU in person. Hope to "see" you at Ham Radio University. hamradiouniversity.org 73, Mel - KS2G
There's still time to register! Go to: www.HamRadioUniversity.org/forums HRU 2021 Webinar Conference is this Saturday, June 9th 8:00 am to 4:00 pm EST (13:00-21:00 UTC)
Watching it now! Good talks, but the hosts are having trouble displaying video and GoToWebinar doesn't make it easy to switch between concurrent talks. Strongly recommend that the event be "tracked" and/or that it be "single-tracked" next time. (Unlike a physical event, an online event doesn't pay more for hotel space, and the attendees don't pay more for rooms, if it goes on longer. Also, you don't need to find a huge ballroom or auditorium to hold everyone. So, single tracking works better for online events than it does for physical ones. Finally, single tracking gives folks time to take a break during the sessions in which they're not interested.) Also would be interested in seeing the event held on a platform with a "backchannel" (such as Zoom with chat or Twitch with its in-stream chat and IRC bridge).
Thanks for the feedback. This is the first time we've tried this and we'll be reviewing attendee comments, etc. to determine what to do next time around. Note: All of the presentations are being recorded, and will be posted in the Ham Radio University YouTube channel in a week or so.
Thank you for considering these potential improvements! I do intend to view some of the presentations I missed. (Checked the YouTube channel and they were not there yet.)
Yes, it will take a while to get them posted there. I will be posting an announcement here on The Zed when they're available.
