The Sunday Seminar is the annual deep dive in to a single subject at the ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference. It runs from 8 AM to noon on Sunday as the wrap-up to the three-day event.

In 2016, Michelle Thompson W5NYV and Dr. Bob McGwier N4HY teamed up to paint a picture of what the Future of Amateur Radio (and pretty much all radio) will look like. It starts with smart radios that figure out how to share spectrum with one another, and goes from there. The Ham Radio 8.0 idea comes from HamRadioNow host Gary Pearce KN4AQ, not Michelle or Bob, but he thinks they might agree. Gary makes his case in his introduction to Part One.

We're presenting Michelle and Bob's talk in three parts (three videos/audios), mostly to keep the video file size and compression reasonable. We take our break when they did at the conference. It's a lot to watch, so it's also available in audio that you can listen to on your phone when you're on the go. Here's how to subscribe to the HamRadioNow podcast.

HamRadioNow's video of the DCC is made possible by our KICKSTARTER backers. Thanks to 75 hams who ponied up over $6000 to cover the cost of shooting, editing and producing the 20 videos that make up the conference. 

Part ONE 

Michelle Thompson W5NYV talks spectrum and cognitive radio. She expects technology to really disrupt the radio art in the near future. Just how that happens is for Parts TWO and THREE

In the intro, Gary mentions a pair of TV shows that have a significant ham radio component:

• Before MARS
• Frequency

Part TWO

Bob McGwier N4HY begins his portion of the Sunday Seminar. 

Bob reviews a lot of history as he lays the groundwork for his prediction of a major shakeup in communications (and Ham Radio) that he'll detail in Part Three.

Part THREE

Bob McGwier N4HY makes his case for The Future of Amateur Radio... and why we need it.

Agree? Disagree? The discussion starts now, but like it or not, the technology is right around the corner.

Links:

• DARPA Spectrum Collaboration Challenge