About Us
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 the word about ham radio, to help others see many different aspects of the hobby. He realized that many hams are very young and could never travel to hamfests. Many others 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 hamfests 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.
Webcasting has allowed us to meet many different people. After talking to Astronaut Wheelock 30 times in one month while he was on the ISS, Doug was invited to be on one of our webcasts and made his first appearance on W5KUB.COM in 2011. Since then he has joined us and been a co-host on the show several times. He will be joining us again at Hamvention 2016 as co-host.
The webcast expands
Kathy, Tom, Tim Allen
Our set in the ABC studio
Our webcast has been called upon to do several special events
One such event was going out to Hollywood and spending a week on the ABC studio stage of "Last Man Standing" featuring Tim Allen who plays a ham radio operation on the show. Tim did, in fact, just pass his Tech test but wanted to keep it a secret that he had his license. Tom and Kathy met with Tim one evening after the show practice and Tom was able to get permission from Tim to break the news on our special webcast that he had received his license.
Numerous other webcasts have occurred over the years with special topics such as DMR, D-Star, Arduino, Balloon Launches, etc.
Weekly Show
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In February 2015 we started a weekly ham radio show on Tuesday nights called Amateur Radio Roundtable. The quality and format have greatly expanded over the year. This program brings in special guests from around the world through remote video connections. The show has call-in telephone lines and a chat room where users can ask questions or give comments during the show.
In addition to the show on video, the audio is also simulcast on famous international shortwave station WBCQ "The Planet" on 5130 kHz reaching shortwave listeners in many countries.
Funding for all the webcasts has been paid out of personal expense and it is becoming apparent that we can not continue to grow and put on the webcasts that our viewers want without financial help. We have not decided how to handle this yet, but it will probably be through donations.
W5KUB.COM wins major award for service to the amateur community
In May 2015, W5KUB.COM was honored to win the Special Achievement Award which was given by the Dayton Amateur Radio Association at Hamvention. Our webcasting was selected because of the work we do to promote ham radio to those around the world, that for many reasons, may not be able to enjoy the ham radio experience. Whether it is financial problems, geographical distances, too young, or ill, our webcast allows these people to be part of this exciting hobby.
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Who We Are
Tom Medlin, W5KUB Host
Freddy Diaz, YV5QF Engineer
Kathy awarding prizes at Hamvention
2016 History making webcast of Heard Island DXpedition.
Amateur Radio Roundtable made history as the first time a live interview of a remote DXpedition was brought in to a ham radio show. Heard Island and Amateur Radio Roundtable were successful by having live video interviews from the bottom of the world for three consecutive shows in March and April.
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