I was watching your SOTA meet up at pacifico mountain, and right in the middle you pointed out that you had tried several slick antennas but the old wire dipole was the best that day. That proves the point that your observations are strait from your experience and opinion not from what a sponsor wants you to say. If you were getting bucks to say something of course you would say the new whiz bang 2000 antenna was the best. So with that statement you got my respect. That is the worry of some of the big sponsor channels is they are not going to tell you an honest unbiased opinion, they are going to feed you the product they are being paid to push. We are all used to advertising but YT can be different after all it comes off as a club or friendly weekly chat to get the word out on a hobby and sometimes it is but it is also used by others as a biased stealth sales pitch. The upside as some have mentioned is getting HAM radio out there to more people and that is needed. The downside is possibly new HAMs being steered towards high priced gear so they overspend or don't get into the hobby because they think they need the new whiz bang 2000. One would do well to remember YT is not a charity organization it is a business and even if you put a video of your kittens online and don't want any money at all YT will get their advertising in there! Also beware of people who are supposedly doing unbiased reviews but never say anything negative about gear they were given to review.
It would be awesome if Julian was on. I would say he was probably the one that got me into the hobby. Josh (KI6NAZ) helped me get ready to sit the exam. I am a total noob to ham radio. I would not be in the hobby at all if did not watch these guy on you tube. The funny thing is I was watching a video from the Warrior Poet Society on ham radio and the next video was Julian's. Julian was doing the RaDAR challenge. Then I was hooked. I had know idea that was part of the hobby. All I knew was older people talking to other older people they don't know on the radio.
I have to agree This is a hobby It is for fun learning and new tech development Its not for profit if it were it would not be amature radio it would be commercial radio
I normally avoid the comment section on QRZ because it gets so negative, but to those who don't believe there should be any monetization in the Ham Radio youtuber space, I've been making videos now for 4 years. I started to learn the art of video or film making. I've continued because of all the incredible people Ive come into contact with, helped out on their Ham Radio journey and met in person. My videos are geared more toward the new ham, the everyday ham (read non technical person) much like me. A lot of people enjoy my fun, non judgmental, not too serious approach to the hobby. Now, as far was youtube productions are concerned, my goal each week is to produce the highest quality video I can make. It has to compete against millions of other videos on the platform. Each 10 to 15 minute video I make takes approximately 30 hours to produce from start to finish. In addition to simply making videos, I'm fully engaged as most of the other creators are in my community. I spend on average each day responding to comments, answering emails and taking phone calls from viewers with questions ranging from how to get started in the hobby to how to reprogram their hotspot or radio. Yes, my videos are monetized by default. Youtube and video making is a cottage industry. I have spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours building, maintaining and trying to perfect a production studio within my ham shack. Lighting, sound, video, editing suites, it all takes time and money. Not just me, but every creator in the space. None of us are getting rich on youtube. For a channel of my size with about 100,000 views a month Youtube pays less than $500 per month. If I were in it for the money, I'd be doing something else. The position that its somehow bad for creators who literally spend 30 to 50 hours a week doing everything every TV show out there does without the huge budget and staff is ludicrous. That's the same as saying a radio or antenna manufacturer should charge only for materials, because otherwise he would be profiting from ham radio. Creators produce a product. It's like any other product on the market. We just happen to give our product out for free. Yes, believe it or not watching a youtube video is free. You get to choose which videos have value to you and which do not. That's the essence of a free market. I, along with each of the other creators on the youtube space have literally brought thousands of new hams into the hobby, introduced countless people to ham radio and help individuals along their own ham radio journeys every day. To those that lament we add nothing to the hobby, I ask what have you done for the hobby today?
I cant speak for everyone but I don't think it was meant for the ones that make videos that have adds posted by You tube on their video I think it was meant for the ones that make a career out of making the videos and reviewing things in a positive light no matter what just to get the freebies and perks For example the Xiegu G90 it may work well and have a lot of bang for the buck but lets face it the quality fit and finish is poor at best yet it gets talked up as just great Are we really willing to throw honesty out for a free radio or another dollar I think that's the point that was trying to be made
I have zero issue with Youtubers (or any other form thereof) monetizing their efforts. It's hard work and you should make money for your efforts. There are several ham radio Youtubers (I won't name names good or bad) who I feel are of good character and I enjoy their videos and trust their points of view for the most part. Of course, the opposite is true also. The only issues I have is when one of these content creators do so with less than reputable intentions. If you are reviewing a product, you should specify any compensation you are getting up front to do the review and any questionable demands by the vendor in respect to that review. (ie, it must be in a positive light, etc) If you are going to make a technical statement. You should preface it with your knowledge level and whether you are in fact an expert or not. (most people aren't and being in a hobby for 20+ years also doesn't automatically make you an expert) To the last statement. I've been studying quite a bit on the science behind, and the building and testing of the different balun types, chokes, etc lately. I cannot tell you how many times I read declarations from people (websites, videos etc) claiming they are right and others are wrong. The hilarity of opinions around guanella baluns is a good one. From what I can tell. Most of the people publishing de facto statements about guanella baluns aren't even experts, yet they have no issue making declaratory statements about them as if they were. There are two very popular ways to make guanella baluns and one of them produces a compromised 4-1 balun that suffers from common mode current. Yet ham guy a) says guanella baluns do not work and are junk while ham guy b) produces detailed technical testing that shows one version is junk, while the other works as intended. Anyway, back on topic. The problem is, like IQ. The top of the character bell curve for the human race isn't very respectable. A majority of people do not have any issue being deceptive if it helps their cause. (monetarily, respect wise, or what have you) There are those that do adhere to the principals of character in their work. For those guys, please continue creating ham radio videos / content. I will watch them if they are of interest to me!
I can only speak to my channel. Yes, some companies send stuff over for evaluation. I make one promise to any company who wants to send over an item. I'll test your item and make an honest review. Thats it. I've reviewed several items that didn't cut it and I'm not afraid to point it out. I usually do it it a pretty funny way and I've got a dry cutting sense of humor. As for my level of expertise, I come right out and tell everyone, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. I equate myself to a backyard shade tree mechanic. Now just because I can't conduct QST level testing on products nor do I want to doesn't make my opinion of a product invalid. I use a product like the majority of users out there, review it as such and I know how to make an entertaining video to explain it quickly at that base user level. I'm sure theres a whole lot of super smart guys on here whom my videos are just simply to basic or filled with too much fun for them. I know my peeps and thats who I make videos for.
To add onto this conversation at the end of it's useful life, I actually am a fan of one or two of the content creators in the referenced group. My decision not to support the group is not a reflection on all of the individual content creators. However, if you're throwing your lot in with other content creators (likely for promotional purposes considering how this video series is being promoted), some people will associate your work with said group.
Agreed with Bob about only being able to speak for my channel, and everything else he said also. To speak to the comment about stating whether or not we should state that we got the radio for free or were paid to review it - I think that is a good idea. My hesitation with doing this is that people will still complain and claim disbelief. So there isn't an option for us, as YouTubers, to make everyone happy. I will say that on my channel - I have never been "paid" to review a product. If someone were to offer to pay me, I wouldn't be above it, but I would want to review the product first. I wouldn't recommend a product to someone watching my channel if I didn't believe in the product. I have received products for free to review. I generally do say that at the beginning of my video, when reviewing those products. What you, the viewer, don't see are those products that I don't review - the ones that "didn't make the cut". I don't want my channel to be about negative reviews and putting products down. If you send me an email that asks about a specific make and model of product, and I have info about it, I will share my honest opinion with you. But that doesn't mean that I have to put it on YouTube. The larger my channel gets, the more offers I get from vendors and manufacturers, asking to review products. I still purchase, with my own money, more than 50% of the products that I review. I see it as an investment in building my channel, so I don't think that monetizing the channel is a bad thing at all. Amateur Radio is the greatest hobby on the planet, why do people view it as so much less-worthy than other hobbies, which have channels that are monetized? I honestly don't understand that way of thinking. It is fine with me if you disagree with my point of view, no one is forcing you to watch my channel. But...one thing I have always tried to do is be honest with my viewers.
Really we are going to have this debate on a site that charges access for ham data... Since you are against monetizing ham radio you must surely not attend any hamfests especially HAMVENTION where they monetize the event by charging outrageous fees to vendors and charge even bigger premiums for a better location and banner placements. You must really dislike Gordon West for the audacity of profiting off the hobby by charging people to become hams. THE SHAME! How about Bob Heil for making money by helping hams sound better on the air. Aren't they self promoters, if they weren't we would never know their names. What about our beloved ARRL, every page of QST is brimming with advertisements. And have you checked out the website? OMG ads on every page! What is this world coming to? People making money off of our beloved hobby, the shame... REALLY? What is the difference between all of the aforementioned and someone who responsibly creates content and monetizes it with an ad? Of course there are charlatans but they are also charlatans who write books, place ads in QST and sell crappy stuff that does not work. But I do not paint every person who makes a product, sells a book or places advertisements with the same brush. Change is good and for the most part these hams are moving the hobby forward with a new generation. For that I applaud them.
"Generally" but not always. Got it. So...you want your channel to only be about positive reviews? Got it. So...not quite 50% of the products you review you've received for free. Got it. "tried to do". Got it.
Correct, I said "generally" but you said "not always". I guess you can just believe whatever narrative you want, though. Yes. Positive reviews of products. Kinda like...the opposite of most QRZ comments. Correct. Should I feel bad about that? It seems like you want to make me feel bad for that, but you don't explain why. Correct. Because like everyone else, I am not perfect. So I try my best to put up honest reviews.
