I doubt he has things handed to him. This vid is pretty critical of Yaesu Most of the items he uses do not need promotion as they are pretty well known in the community. I found his channel because I had an 891 I was trying to get running of the PI3. His links proved useful. I do get that the YouTube narcissism and profit motive is out of hand but I never got that feel from any of his vids. I think most negatives posted here are just professional stone throwers of which ham radio has an abundance. I use my own discretion on things and unless the poster presents verifiable facts the negativity presented only harms the poster themselves.
Fine. I think otherwise, as do others. Julian could have very easily put an end to the speculation in this thread by responding to this, which was posted very early in the thread: Julian chose not to respond. That's his choice and right. But by not addressing it, the flames of speculation are fanned.
I have been following Julian's channel already way before I got my license. The sheer amount of engineering, fabrication and trying out various techniques, even outside the box - in fact saving a lot of time and money for others while at it - is a very valuable contribution to the community at large. If he does make some profit out of the channel, he darn well deserves it. Personally, I've saved money and learned a lot of stuff thanks to him. I have observed that he does state loud and clear, if some hardware isn't up to the task. In regards to either constructing equipment or purchasing ready-to-run commercial products, I'd like to emphasize that it is really dependent on the individual and his life situation. I used to be a mechanic and relatively skilled at fabricating things, but just the middle age eye vision (lack thereof) alone keeps my soldering iron permanently cold. Heck, it is already difficult to change fuses in the old car or assemble computer parts. Hence, I have rationally given up DIY... also work and looking after extended family takes a lot of time. 73
Ditto. Julian could say he doesn't accept any gratis items to evaluate and there would be howls of skepticism...he could say that he does and his reviews would be called disingenuous. There is no way to convince those who don't want to hear it. 212 OH8STN Ham-tacular videos...looking forward to the next 212.
Fine. In that case, I will consider the "special thanks going to PowerFilm Solar, Chameleon Antenna, Super Antenna, NorTent of Norway, Jordan Sherer, K-Tor LLC, Spider Beam, and Canadian Prepper" I noted at the end of the video were for direct or indirect pecuniary compensation for the, ahem ... reviews.
Might add something to the conversation. Back in the day then-XYL was a food and wine blogger. Sounds like a lot of fun...tastings, free dinners, parties, VIP-invitations, the whole enchilada? The truth behind the facade was that it was a s-load of work bleeding over to my desk as well. It was like having a 2nd job, and despite the fact that there were those suppliers who "gave stuff for free", it never turned out to be a gold mine. She even published a real book by a respectable publishing company, so this was no small operation by any means. Nevertheless we often talked about how much money is all this generating and suffice to say, working as supermarket evening cashiers part-time we would have made at least 3-4 times as much money for the hours consumed. We were lucky to have the costs and incoming cash flow barely balancing each other out. Photography, videos and editing them, writing the story, figuring out the layout, managing the distribution channels, discussions with both suppliers and actual media consumers, dealing with hate mail, hauling equipment back and forth, maintaining aforementioned equipment, - - - the sheer logistics of the operation were a genuine pile of hard work. No wonder it was eventually discontinued, in particular for the fact that while there was world-wide coverage it was just becoming far too expensive money- and time-wise to maintain. We grew tired of having two (what-you-could-actually-call) full-time jobs, especially because it was far from being profitable in terms of money. Also having to spend practically most of the spare time in yet another work-like activity was takin' its toll as well. It is not easy, it is not profitable in terms of what we usually think about effort vs payback, instead it is something a person does for a genuine purpose. Now then, is there any bias? Possibly. Humans have preferences, someone likes Yaesu, others pledge allegiance to Kenwood, I like the funky SunSDR2 Pro I just bought. Maybe-maybe-maybe even Julian is human although I doubt that considering the amount of work he does and may occasionally have a small bias or preference. (If so he tends to mention that openly). I recall quite a few equipment tests by Julian that address pro's and con's in a very open and balanced way. He sure is not hesitant to provide criticism when there are grounds for it. In my books, he is reliable as a source of information.
I have been reading every add on to this thread and don't recall anyone asserting Julian was getting rich on equipment donations or doing the "reviews" for the money. Correct me if I'm mistaken on this. Fine, though he sure is hesitant to address questions posed in this thread.
Well, likely it is me not always expressing myself as clearly as a native English speaker would or not always fully understanding the details in the discussions, I sort of meant that "profiting" in any imaginable way, be it real money as in getting a fair compensation for the efforts or even getting rich, receiving donated equipment or a similar benefit.
Your command of English is superior to that of many American high school graduates. I applaud you for that, and frequently hold our educational system in contempt.
My friend, your command of English is of no concern. You're communicating your points very well. I'll just leave my final statements at this: I don't trust ANY YouTuber that provides "reviews" while not FULLY disclosing the nature of sponsorships, support provided by manufacturers, review samples etc. Most of his videos are, what I perceive to be, paid promotions. I'm not "hating" on Julian for this as I have acquired some knowledge from his videos. I simply stated that he doesn't fully disclose the nature of his sponsorships and this can create very real problems for new and inexperienced amateur radio operators. I've also stated that he doesn't disclose the EASIER and CHEAPER ways of doing the same thing he promotes in his videos. I continue to fall back on his Chameleon Antenna videos....in which he NEVER discloses the ways to build the SAME antennas for pennies on the dollar. He also NEVER updated his Alpha Antenna review for "reasons." More than likely, he never updated his old review because Alpha didn't provide a "review sample" or a paid promotion. This is just my humble opinion, of course. EDIT: "fair compensation" for his efforts "could" result in increased traffic to a particular manufacturer or it could result in prospective operators being turned off of HAM radio due to the perceived costs of a rather simple antenna.
- In regards to English, one does feel obliged to thank late Mrs. Lilley at Carlisle (PA) Intermediate High School back in '85-'86 for providing the ESL classes, that being altogether a different story. Visited local club last night, having just moved in the area a couple of months ago. People with various backgrounds, ages, abilities. While not mentioning this conversation I did think that to each his own, some of us won't be constructing equipment while others almost solely rely on DIY. My biggest achievement this week: figured out that I can increase the font size in the Android mobile While not being able to comment on behalf of anyone else, I do however recognize and understand the various opinions, concerns and observations mentioned in the conversation. Majority of my own ham radio communication is still done with a really simple end fed copper wire at times via a CG-3000, at other times MFJ-971, despite having recently invested more than is safe to mention to XYL in some pretty fancy antenna equipment (currently waiting for assembly in the garage). There is of course that DIY phenomenon deeply rooted in the hobby and it does provide its unique 'look and feel' to what we do. In elegance based on simplicity, it is hard to beat the good ole' copper wire. I have indeed looked at some of the equipment on the market with thoughts revolving around DIY alternatives.
To get ideas for field deployable DIY antennas, you can always get the ARRL Wire Antenna Classics or their Portable Antenna Classics. I also like the out-of-print William (Bill) Orr Wire Antennas or Beam Antennas books, which can be found on Ebay or sometimes one of the used book vendors on the web.
