In early 2012, I began a new on-line video podcast (aka television show) called HamRadioNow. This is sort of a spin-off from my participation as a guest-host on Bob Heil's weekly program, Ham Nation. I had so much fun on Ham Nation, and wanted to do so many more things that I couldn't do there, that I decided to start my own show. Bob stopped asking me to fill in on Ham Nation, but he never told me why.

In the first year, I've produced over 70 HamRadioNow programs (some episodes have more than one program in them). Many of them are talk shows, with in-depth interview/conversations. Some are more documentary-like field produced stories. And some are seminars and forums from hamfests, club meetings, and the ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference. They are all on the web, free to watch, but I ask for a voluntary contribution to allow me to do this nearly full-time, and still eat dinner a few days a week. I hope you'll sample the programs and see if you like them.

HamRadioNow is also an outgrowth of my DVD productions for ARVN:Amateur Radio//Video News. I began ARVN in 2004, and have produced several documentaries (ARDF, Digital Voice, The Last BIG Field Day); a bunch of seminars from the Dayton Hamvention® and the ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conferences; and some tours of the Hamvention. These have all been on DVD, but I'm beginning to pull stuff from that archive and put them on the web, too.

In other news.

You'll also find my by-line in QST now and then. I've written several feature articles and some radio reviews, and a chapter of the Operating Manual.

You'll find me on the air anywhere from 75 phone to UHF D-STAR, most likely mobile. Not much time to get on the air at home. 60 meters is a favorite mobile band, and I'll be on 10 a lot when it starts opening up.

I was first licensed in 1965 at WN9NSO, then WA9NSO, at age 15 in the Chicago suburbs. In the 70's I was part of the Chicago FM Club, serving as President, Newsletter editor and Radio Expo chairman, and doing some work on the club repeaters.

I left Chicago in 1986, spent some time in Arizona and Tennessee, and have been in the Raleigh, North Carolina area since 1990. The KN4AQ callsign was born in Knoxville.

The Raleigh Amateur Radio Society is my home club. I've been president and newsletter editor, and tended the repeaters for about 10 years. I've had to limit my local club participation because HamRadioNow takes up an awful lot of my time. When I can, though, I enjoy participating in public service and emergency communications.

If you've watched either ARVN or HamRadioNow productions, it's no surprise that work in the audio/video production business. I'm currently a freelance video editor and audio engineer, and my clients produce anything from local radio spots to national, network TV commercials. My professional media career began way back in 1969 at WDOR AM and FM in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. I was the worst DJ in the world. That led to a career editing video (starting on 2" "Quad" machines), but since going freelance in 2001 I've been doing mostly audio at SoundTrax (www.soundtraxnc.com) and at the McKinney ad agency using Pro Tools (www.mckinney.com). I have three Sony Hi-Def video cameras, and I use Premiere Pro for video editing.

Finally, I do a little voice-over announcing. You might have heard me as the announcer on the Travelocity "Roaming Gnome" TV and Radio commercials (my series ran from 2005 through 2007).

I am married to Cyndi KD4ACW, and I want to give her a lot of credit for supporting everything I do in and for Amateur Radio.

73, Gary KN4AQ