Julian White, OH8STN, operates outdoors in Finland's Arctic Circle and records, on his popular YouTube Channel, his expeditions with his compact but sophisticated simulations of grid down communications. Julian is a natural teacher and his channel may be one of the best ways to understand how and what to pack to take into the wild. OH8STN is my QSO Today.
I like Julians vids, He is laid back and makes the subject matter the center of attention, not himself. The information comes right away instead of the clowns who take 15 minutes to say 30 seconds of info. If you look at it overall he is copied more than most other hams when it comes to content. He does a vid and within days 3 or more posers do the same subject matter. I had questions about one of his vids and got a personal few paragraphs explaining within a day or so. Just overall a great guy.
Oh yea,Julian is a class act. He doesn't need to make silly faces like one of the posters here. I've gotten a lot of good ideas about my favorite type of ham operations from him, portable. Even though I'm not into the digital aspect of ham radio, his portable ops are top notch,,,,TNX JULIAN,,,,,,,,,,,,
I actually enjoyed that particular podcast. I have to say a couple things though about what he said on clubs. Many people when they come right into ham radio don’t know what they want to do. Those that have an idea what they want to do, who go to a club to try to find some help. The club may not have expertise in that part of the the hobby to be able to help them properly. When I got my ticket and I wanted to learn something about Digital back when RTTY and Amtor was big. I went to the club for help the only one in the area knew anything about it was a 16 year old kid. if the club didn’t have that kid they would have no expertise in that area. So sometimes the new guy has to become the expert in the particular field and become the leader in that area for the club.
My only problem with Julian's operations off grid is that their so good that the real problem is that when the grid goes down no one else will be equipped to talk to him and he will be all alone The world has gotten so used to the communications grid that even hams barely have a grasp on true QRP methodology. I have been practicing a lot of off grid comms and I am ex military and there is still stuff I am learning. It never ends. I feel bad for those that are taking ZERO initiative. People tend to think that they are always going to have electricity and internet and food and water. But woe to he who doesn't prepare in both mind and practice.
"the real problem is that when the grid goes down no one else will be equipped to talk to him and he will be all alone " Not everyone. It so easy to build a 100 watt solar powered 12v setup now. Ko6kL
Sure for you and I and a handful of others. Its true to actually admit, "everyone" is kind of a stretch. But you get my point I am sure. We can loosen up the "everyone" a little more to be real. I also have a mobile HF setup now that is pretty killer. So I have 100 watts on the road with a Scorpion Screwdriver as well as 10 watts plus whatever QRP amplifier I want to toss at it, backpackable 705, that fits in my main bug out kit. I also have powerfilm solar panels and have been using them for a while now. They are epic technology for what you get. What I have been practicing is rapid deployment of my antenna, rapid tuning, rapid storage, get my butt moving again to avert potential threats.
This may be why Julian strongly suggests that all hams make operating portable a priority, to increase their technical knowledge and operating proficiency under stress.
Eric love the podcast. Enjoy portable ops, last POTA running QRP CW Equipment: Kx3 9ah lifepo4 120w foldable panel Buddipole charge controller Mpas 2 HAMRS for logging Almost 200 q’s in the log.
