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ARVN Amateur Radio Video News  and now, on the web |
 February 28, 2012. Ham Radio Now.TV I was having too much fun (and getting such an ego boost) from my guest-host stints on Bob Heil's Ham Nation. But I realized there was a lot I wanted to do that wouldn't fit in Ham Nation. Add all the Leo Laporte
kool-aid I was ingesting about how Internet based TV was about to take
off, and I realized that there was something I could do to make ARVN
what I really wanted it to be — a topical, immediate source of
interesting ham radio television programming. I could create my own
on-line Ham Radio television program. And so I did: Ham Radio Now. Step one was to create a name, step two was to secure a web domain for that name, and step three was to get some programming. That fell together with the 2012 Orlando HamCation. I don't recall exactly how I came up with "Ham Radio Now," but when I did, I was sure it would already be in use, and unavailable as a dot-com on the web. Wrong! It wasn't in use, best I could tell through extensive Google searches, and the web site had just been released by the previous owner. It was a little tense, as I had to buy it at auction, and I wouldn't know if I got it until the noon opening of the HamCation. Then a curve ball: I won the auction (nobody else bid), but I had to wait another week while the previous owner was offered the opportunity to buy it back. I'd exchanged email with him (a retired broadcast engineer in Florida) and he said he'd hoped to do something with it, but couldn't for health reasons. So I didn't expect him to reinstate it, but I had to wait anyway. The week passed, and HamRadioNow.com was transferred to me. BUT, I really like the domain HamRadioNow.TV better. I think it says more about the program. So that's how I'll be branding it. I needed dot-com because that's how people think. Either will work (and by the way, "ARVN.com" is in a warehouse and they think I'm rich, so forget it). Ham Radio Now is now filling up with interviews I did at Orlando. Soon I'll be recording more interviews, mostly over Skype, with hams in-the-know about topics in the headlines, so stay tuned. There should be something every week, maybe more. I'm not going to stop doing seminars and documentaries. I just needed more to do (cue insane laughter). And oh, yes, to pay for it all. As you'll see on the pig-page, I've come up with the nice, round number of 10,000 hams, $10/year. Can that be done? I don't know. A few of my videos have hit well over 20,000 views. Most are well shy of that 10k figure. But then most are previews or promos, not full programs. We'll see. I don't need everyone wartching everything. Just 10,000 hams who each find enough that they're willing to kick in ten bucks a year. OK, I'm a dreamer. Cyndi's excited. She wants to retire. January 2012. On-Line Video! And now for something completely different from ARVN. With the release of the 2011 ARRL/TAPR DCC video, we're trying something new. We released all those videos on the web (on YouTube). Full length, high-definition video, not just a highlights promo. Now that doesn't make us any money, but McDonalds still expects us to fork over $6 for a Happy Meal (actually, I haven't bought a Happy Meal in... welll... ever. So I'm guessing about the $6. But you get the idea).  So, how do we make money? We ask you to just send it in. See that little piggy bank over there on the right? That's Arvin, our new mascot. Click on him (I think he's a him... not sure), and he'll take you to our contribution page, where you can volunteer to send us some dough. I guess you can call it a shareware approach to video. You send whatever you think the program was worth to you. We're only a few days into it as I write this. I'm gratified by the fact that the average contribution is about $15, even though the minimum is $1.50. Yay, viewers! It's still very early in the process, so I have no conclusions about how well it's working. See me in February. I do know that if this doesn't work, we'll try another on-line option. It won't be as free and easy. December 2011. We have a new domain: ARVN.TV! The 'dot TV' domain became available a few years ago. Moving with my usual glacial pace, I finally got around to buying the ARVN.TV domain this month. Now, the rest of the story (and it looks like I need to start a blog...) The ARVN Story... Ham radio is slowly beginning to embrace
video, about 15 years behind
most other industries.*
We're seeing a ton of crap on YouTube, some halfway decent talk-show
and demo stuff, but just about no fully produced documentary type
programs. I've been a video editor since the early 1970's, a ham since the mid 60's, and with the advent of affordable, high-quality "desktop video" I decided to have some fun documenting various aspects of ham radio by producing the highest quality video programs I could on a shoestring budget. The 2006 ARDF USA Championships is my first full-fledged production. In 2008 I released my second, Digital Voice for Amateur Radio, and I'll throw in a couple of Dayton Hamvention Tours (2007 and 2009), and a bunch of seminars and forums shot at Dayton and at the ARRL/TAPR digital conferences in Chicago. This year sees my newest documentary, The Last BIG Field Day. The list is growing long! What are you doing at your next club meeting? Who's the market? Hams, of course. At less than $25 for the feature DVD's, I think some individual hams would enjoy having a collection to watch and show friends. But mostly I'm seeing clubs latch onto them as meeting programs. I keep the documentaries to 40 minutes or less - that's about as long as most clubs can tolerate. The Last BIG Field Day has a bunch of "bonus" material. Some of the seminars would make good club meeting programs, too. They usually are more technical (answering a common complaint about club meeting programs), and most of them are less than an hour. All the DVDs are extensively indexed so you can find specific topics easily. Perhaps you'll let whoever is responsible for your club's programs know about ARVN! Streaming? Profit? Streaming for Profit? As I've described ARVN to many hams, I get two consistent comments.... The first thing people tell me is that hams are cheap. You'll never get them to spend money on these programs. I have enough experience now to show that's not completely true. As hams discover ARVN, they've been buying the programs. Sales run between 100 and 300 per title, so hardly a runaway success, but enough to keep at it. Alas, ARVN can't be a charity or a free lending library. If I cover my costs and make a little money off of it, I'll keep doing it (the feature programs like "Digital Voice" and "The Last BIG Field Day" take well over 100 hours to produce, so maybe I need to make more than "a little" money off of it). Every year we do a little better. Second, some hams ask if I'll be streaming the videos on the web. My answer: Yes. See the 'blog' above. A few people have wondered if the programs can be played on community access cable TV. So far, the answer is "no." It's still the money deal. Access channels don't pay for programming, and if everybody sees it for free, nobody's going to buy it. If you know a way to make this work for them and me, let me know! You may play them (those that don't have music) over ATV. But you can embed the video I've put on the web on your web site using YouTube's embed tools. Just keep my contribution pitch attached, and please post a link to the ARVN web site, www.ARVN.TV.
Other Ham Videos Out There... *Some of the DXpedition videos are very good. CQ Magazine produced a very professional series of "how-to's" back in the early 90's (you'll see my wife, Cyndi KD4ACW, getting bitten by the DX Bug in the DX Video). The ARRL also has a catalog of videos, some for sale and some they loan free. The ones I've seen are in the "home movie" class of production. Many are available only on VHS and they're getting kind of old. Nothing wrong with that! I encourage you to check the catalogs and look for interesting titles. They can be informative and could make a good club meeting program. And there's more and more video on the web. ICOM is producing their own series, and there's a ton of ham video on YouTube and other individual sites. But still, little really polished production. My customers have told me that ARVN makes a difference they're willing to pay for. I want to give a special plug to this web site: www.amateurlogic.tv. These guys have been putting together a 30 to 45 minute "podcast" video every few months for several years. And they give it to you for free! Production values are a little rough, but they try some neat stuff. They get a little more technical than I usually will. And I've recently discoverd the videos of a young ham, Chris N7ICE. He's going to give me some competiton some day! Find him at his web site: 73s.org. His site is also got something called "social newtorking." You know, I'm well aware of things like Facebook and Twitter. ARVN now has a Facebook page! I see the value, but don't spend much time with it. You go, Chris! In May, 2011, Bob Heil K9EID launched Ham Nation on TWiT (This Week in Technology), an on-line network that features a bunch of technology-related programs. Ham Nation is a weekly one-hour talk show. You can see it produced live on Tuesday about 9 PM eastern. The finished programs are then available for streaming/download. There's not a lot of production — it's mostly live interviews, and Bob's got the juice to bring in the top people. I'm happy to say that Bob brought me in to be the guest host when he's not available, and I love it. Technical Information In 2011 I bought three High Definition cameras, so ARVN is now shooting High Def. The DVD's will be 16x9, but DVDs are still "standard def." I may offer BluRay in the future. Right now everything is "NTSC Standard Definition" - that's 525 scan lines, 30 frames per second. If you are outside North America, you may need a multi-standard TV/monitor, or a converter to play them. However, I have received reports that the videos play fine on computers equipped for DVD playback. I do NOT restrict them for regional DVD playback. If you're outside the USA and you want to give it a try, I'll refund your purchase if you can't get it to play. For those interested, I shoot with a Sony Z5 HDV camera (and two Sony HC9's) (the photo above shows my old PD170), and I edit on Adobe Premiere PRO CS5. I build the DVDs using Adobe Encore. I have a set of wireless mics (two TRAM TR-50 lavs and an EV RE-50 hand mic using Sennheiser wireless TX/RX in the 640 MHz spectrum). This makes "broadcast quality" video with excellent sound. DVD Playback Problems: "Home made" DVDs are notorious for playback problems, usually freezing, stuttering or skipping. Mine aren't immune. I've scoured the web for information, but I've found no universal solutions. I'm trying the best tips I've found: using high-grade 8x blank media, and burning at low speed (usually 4x), and keeping the encoded data rate below 7Mbps. That seems to have done the trick, and I'm seeing very few returns. If you have a problem with an ARVN DVD, let me know and I'll replace it free. I "spot-check" each DVD before it goes out to make sure it plays, but I can't watch them all the way through. And even if I could, DVDs that play fine on one player may have problems on another. "The movies" — the big Hollywood productions and any other program that sells in the thousands — use a different duplication process (called "replication") that makes more reliable playback. If and when ARVN gets to that level (ok, you can laugh now), I'll go to that process. It's actually cheaper "per DVD" to do that, but it starts with runs of 1000. I'm looking at sales of maybe a couple of hundred, so it's out of range. 73,
Gary KN4AQ |
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