Think this is interesting as a supposed list of top 25 Ham Radio YouTubers out there. Surprised to find out that I knew about a couple of these people but got no clue about the rest. Anyway, my point of interest is in this day of AI produced pablum, artificial narrators and images vacuumed up from the web along with drawn out self-promoting podcast wanted to see if there was any kind of ranking. Interesting to note that Mr. Carlson's Lab did not make the list but maybe that’s not considered Ham enough? https://videos.feedspot.com/ham_radio_youtube_channels/
If I were you, I would not waste your time watching almost any of them.... The experience will leave you far less intelligent then when you first hit the play button. However Mr. Carlson will expand your knowledge leaps and bounds with just one video, let alone if you were to watch the many he has produced.
I tend to agree with Tony on this one. Many of the popular ham radio YT channels are a combination of clickbait, ragebait, prepper apocalypse nonsense, compensated product reviews, and mindless podcasting about either tired subjects or problems that usually don't exist. I'd recommend spending your time studying things like radio engineering and the actual application of the radio art. You'll be smarter for it.
An old but informative video I've watched many times is one by Frank Rutter where he demonstrates antenna radiation patterns. The preview will not show on here but the "watch on YouTube" link within the preview frame will take you directly to it. If anyone ever asks me "How do antennas work?" I always suggest viewing the above video at least once. 73, Mark...
Don’t spend much time being influenced, to me the best part of the Tube is as a resource for learning how to do things. Recently had to change the valve body in my trucks transmission and there are several good tutorials about that. In addition, I have put up a lot of videos about restoring and operating old military radios and have fun with that. I receive no income and just do this because it’s what I like to do, use to do a lot of web pages but today everything is YouTube. Always curious, not because I want big numbers too but just want to know what it is that determines how stuff gets huge numbers and how that happens. Nothing I do gets big numbers like that stuff but I am curious why some videos get thousands of views and others are lucky if they get a dozen, and what that says about the people out there viewing this stuff. An example of the kind of stuff I do: I do enough stuff that YouTube sends me a monthly report on new subscribers, minutes viewed and the like along with their suggestions like in my case they say to put more interaction up front?
If you want to increase your "interactions", I have heard plastering your face on the video thumbnail with your mouth wide enough to drive a bus through it, pointing at the antennas on those two radios on the ground pretending to be shocked they exist.....will undoubtably help you. Kidding aside, I say keep doing what you are doing. Maturity and demonstrated knowledge may not get you the "influencer" numbers like those on that list, but unlike some on that list, it will allow you to maintain your integrity and avoid demeaning yourself in search of the next click or view.
David Casler has had a lot of solid videos over the years actually teaching radio and electronics. I like Kevin Loughin's videos quite a bit as well. KB9VBR does pretty decent videos as well and even though he has a site selling antennas, he's not pushing that nonstop. I also respect what Josh over at Ham Radio Crash Course is doing to get newcomers into the hobby and he's not all that cringy like a lot of the other mainstream faces in the HamTube community.
Of those on that list, I've enjoyed Dave Casler, Kevin Loughin, KB9VBR, Raisa, and the RATPAC videos for years. I've seen a few of the others as well, and a number of channels not on that list too. I think it's great that many of us can share knowledge of and love for our hobby. Lots of great ideas, explanations, experiments, and know-how. It's like a great bug club meeting, only no politics, no clicks, it's available any time, and no membership dues.
Don't forget the "special" Prime Day deals some YT influencers have discovered for you. Some will literally change your life -- if you use their affiliate links.
Some of these people would shill a nickel out someone living in a cardboard box it they could..... You would be hard pressed to find any better experts at separating you from your money.
Think in my next video I will try to ask for money, What the hell if they can get money why cant I? never occurred to me that any real money can be maid from this stuff but then again I have never been accused of being smart. When it comes to money and finance I can proudly say that I have been able to run at least three business into the ground. Lets try treating YouTube as a business and see if I can wreck that too.
It is my understanding you basically make squat from YouTube itself, unless your like Mr. Beast and have 500 million subscribers, etc. Where these folks make their hustle money from is by incessantly pimping their audience for "donations"....i.e. Superchats, the previously alluded to affiliate links, channel memberships, buy me a coffee, Pateron and probably other schemes I am not even aware of..... So never believe the double-talk when they or others tell you they make no money "off of YouTube", in theory they are 100% correct because what they will never admit is.... They actually make all their money off of you.
Also, the larger channels make some of their $$ from YT AdSense ads that pop up. Mostly makeup ads and life "improvement" products. Usually not topic related.
