Amateur Radio Roundtable Webcast

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"Background

W5KUB.COM webcasting began in 2001 and has come a long way since those days of experimentation, low bandwidth. crude webcams, and operating with zero funding.  Tom Medlin got his ham license in 1964 and was issued the Novice call of WN5KUB.  Within months, he also obtained his Technician license. During those days you could hold both the novice and tech at the same time. This allowed you to work the HF Novice bands on CW and work voice (AM) on 6 Meters.  Later he received his General and Extra Class license. Tom also holds the former FCC First Class Radio Telephone license with Radar Endorsement. It is now called the General Radio Telephone license.  Tom Is also a Senior Member of the IEEE.  The early webcasting days were mostly for fun and an attempt to stream a long road trip or ham event so his friends could watch. Later he realized that there was a possibility to use this webcasting to help spread word about ham radio, to help others see many different aspects of the hobby.  He realized that there are many hams that are very young and could never travel to hamfests. There were also many others that could not enjoy this ham experience due to sickness, age, financial issues, long geographic distances.  So that is where the real webcast service to ham radio was born.  It was to let all these other people be a part of ham fests and special ham radio activities even if they could not attend. The webcast of hamfests and other events became very popular. Over the years the webcast has had viewers in over 150 countries, with tens of thousands watching a single event like Hamvention.  W5KUB.COM awards about $10,000 in prizes to online viewers every year."