How you enter

Share a link your favorite episode of The Amp Hour; guest episodes are usually a crowd favorite. Tag @TheAmpHour (if applicable) and put the episode number on there somewhere. Here’s an example:

You can share this with people on social networks like:

• Twitter (@TheAmpHour)
• Facebook (The Amp Hour page)
• LinkedIn (our “company” page)
• Your company’s internal network (Yammer, etc)
• An email to co-workers

You MUST email a screenshot (and link, if applicable) to contest@theamphour.com

This is to save our time, as there’s no guarantee we’ll be able to go through each individual social network and compile your entries. If you don’t email in a screenshot of the share, you won’t be entered.

Bonus Entry

We will give a “bonus” to anyone who does a particularly creative way to share your favorite episode. Please be mindful of good taste (nothing like graffiti or anything like that). A “bonus entry” will put a second entry into the hat. This will be at Chris and Dave’s discretion.

The post Our 2017 Scope Contest first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

Remember: the most important thing is to remember to bring boards or projects to show to other people. If you’d like to RSVP, leave a note in the comments with your first name (just to track roughly how many people). 

• Where: The Oxford Scholar
• Date: April 18th, 2017
• Time: 6:00 pm local time (running until approximately 9 pm)
• URL: theoxfordscholar.com.au
• Address: 427 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000

The post The Amp Hour Meetup in Melbourne, April 18th first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

Food and drink will be available for purchase and we’ll be doing some giveaways for people that attend.

The most important thing is to remember to bring boards or projects to show to other people. If you’d like to RSVP, leave a note in the comments with your first name (just to track roughly how many people). 

• Where: Pyrmont Bridge Hotel, rooftop terrace
• Date: April 11th, 2017
• Time: 6 pm local time (running no later than 11 pm)
• URL: http://www.pyrmontbridgehotel.com/
• Address: 96 Union St, Pyrmont NSW 2009

The post The Amp Hour Meetup in Sydney, April 11th! first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

The most important thing is to remember to bring boards or projects to show to other people. If you’d like to RSVP, leave a note in the comments with your first name (just to track roughly how many people). 

• Where: Fork and Brewer
• Date: April 1st, 2017
• Time: 4 pm local time (running until approximately 8 pm)
• URL: http://forkandbrewer.co.nz/
• Address: 20 Bond St, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand

The post The Amp Hour Meetup in Wellington, 4/1 first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

The most important thing is to remember to bring boards or projects to show to other people. If you’d like to RSVP, leave a note in the comments with your first name (just to track roughly how many people). 

• Where: Galbriath’s Alehouse
• Date: March 30th, 2017
• Time: 6 pm local time (running until approximately 9 pm)
• URL: http://alehouse.co.nz/
• Address: 2 Mt Eden, Grafton, Auckland, NZ.

The post The Amp Hour Meetup in Auckland, 3/30 first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

Like last time, we will be sending you a link to a Skype chat room for the show. Callers can then figure out who will be calling in first, second, third, etc. Plus you get to chat with the other callers in the chat room. Meet new people!

Call in show #5 will record on Wednesday July 13th, around 8:30 pm EST (Look up your local time here). Here are the three ways you can ask a question (in order of preference):

1. Email us at feedback@theamphour.com with the title “SCHEDULE CALL”. (most preferred method) with a hint towards your question. Send us your Skype name and we will email you directions on further steps. Please look up your local time (link above) to make sure you can talk between 8:30 pm and 10:30 pm EST.
2. Email us at feedback@theamphour.com with the title “ASK QUESTION”. We will answer this on air.
3. Send a recording (video or audio) to feedback@theamphour.com with the title “PLAY MY QUESTION”, which we will play on air

Obviously we love when we can actually talk to people directly, but any of these 3 methods will work for us.

If you have any thoughts or questions….well, sign up to ask them on air!

The post Call in show, Weds July 13th first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

Bring some projects to show off and meet other listeners from the area. If you have any questions, email chris@theamphour.com

The post The Amp Hour (well, Chris) visits Denver! first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

New for this show: You must send in your Skype account name

Call in show #4 will record on Wednesday March 30th, around 8 pm EST (Look up your local time here). Here are the three ways you can ask a question (in order of preference):

1. Email us at feedback@theamphour.com with the title “SCHEDULE CALL”. (most preferred method) with a hint towards your question. Send us your Skype name and we will email you directions on further steps. Please look up your local time (link above) to make sure you can talk between 8 pm and 10 pm EST.
2. Call 1-929-AMP-HOUR and leave us a voicemail. We will play this on air and answer without you.
3. Email us at feedback@theamphour.com with the title “ASK QUESTION”. We will answer this on air.

Obviously we love when we can actually talk to people directly, but any of these 3 methods will work for us.

If you have any thoughts or questions….well, sign up to ask them on air!

The post Sign up to call in (#4)! first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

As we continue to evolve how we do our call-in show, we are offering even more ways for you to send in a questions.

We will have another call in show on Wednesday February 24th around 7 pm EST (Look up your local time here). Here are the three ways you can ask a question (in order of preference):

1. Email us at feedback@theamphour.com with the title “SCHEDULE CALL”. (most preferred method). We will email you directions on further steps. Please look up your local time (link above) to make sure you can talk between 7 pm and 9 pm EST.
2. Call 1-929-AMP-HOUR or 1-855-967-8699 and leave us a voicemail. We will play this on air and answer without you.
3. Email us at feedback@theamphour.com with the title “ASK QUESTION”. We will answer this on air.

Obviously we love when we can actually talk to people directly, but any of these 3 methods will work for us.

If you have any thoughts or questions….well, sign up to ask them on air!

The post More Ways To Call-In! first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

We will be having a call in show with Elecia and Chris White of Embedded.fm this Wednesday January 6th at 5 pm PST / 8 PM EST. Click here to look up your localized time.

We will be doing the show differently this time. We will be calling people directly on Skype and editing the show together after the fact. You need to send the following information to feedback@theamphour.com:

• Your name
• Your location
• Your Skype name
• What you would like to talk about.

We will email all callers before the show starts. You should plan to be available for roughly a 2 hour window as we will be calling people in order.

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments below. Please do not leave your personal information in the comments section; everyone interested in being part of this should email feedback@theamphour.com

The post The Embedded call-in show is January 6th first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

How does it work?

• Call either 929-AMP-HOUR (local) or 855-967-8699 (toll-free). If you’re outside the US, you should be able to call a toll free number for free using Skype.
• We can have up to 5 people on hold. When you call in, you’ll talk to our call screener, who will ask you your name, location and what you’re calling about.
• You will get to listen to the show live while you are waiting for your turn to talk.
• When we patch you in, you will hear a short message and a beep announcing that you are now “on the air”.

Here are some guidelines on good topics:

• A problem you are having with a circuit that you can explain on the air (any question from beginner to expert).
• Difficulties in finding or choosing the right solution to a problem that needs to be solved with electronics (ie. can’t find the right connector, no dev board is narrow enough, etc)
• A philosophical question about making electronics.
• A debate you have been having with a friend or co-worker about electronics.
• Workplace issues, assuming they are still relevant to electronics.

Our producer/call screener will summarize your issue and we’ll pick the ones that best fit the tone of the show as we pick new callers.

What if you can’t make it? Well, we’re now on our second attempt at a call in show, so it’s a decent bet that we’ll try this again. However, you can also call the numbers above and leave us a voicemail! (please also leave us your name and where you’re calling from). If you decide to do that, realize it will just be Dave and I discussing the issue, but it’s still a good way to get your voice on air and ask us a burning question.

The post Get ready for call in show #2! first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

We took (another) week off because of the Thanksgiving Holidays in the US. We’ll be back with call-in shows and guest episodes in December!

The post Turkey Time! first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

Ever since we first started doing The Amp Hour, we’ve talked about doing a call in show. After all, the audience is what makes this an interesting community. We’re all focused on electronics, right? But we work in various fields or spend our weekends doing a wide range of projects; our differences is what makes the stories interesting.

So now, a year after Tom Magliozzi passed away, we’re going to try to honor the Car Talk memory and do a call in show and “answer” some questions our audience has.

Logistics

• Call in time:Nov 4th 7 pm EST/4 pm PST, 12 AM UTC (Nov 5th)
• Call in number: 1-929-AMP-HOUR (929-267-4687)
• Toll free call in number: 1-855-967-8699 (Skype users should be able to call without credits)
• Information you’ll need to give our call screener Gary:
  • Name, including how to pronounce it
  • Location
  • Electronics problem you’d like to discuss with Chris and Dave

What to expect

When you call into the numbers listed above, you will be met with a voice prompt welcoming you to the show. We have a total of 5 call in lines available for callers. If you get a busy signal (remember those?), you will need to try calling in again later in the show. We will record for approximately 90 minutes, but there will also be a message prompt when the show is no longer taking calls.

If you are one of the 5 callers on the line, you will be met by Gary, our call screener. He will take down the information above and answer any questions you might have. Then you’ll be put in the queue.

Call In Show Discussion Format

We imagine some of you are asking, “Why do I need to discuss an electronics problem? Why can’t I just call and talk?”

Well, we need something to focus on during the show and hearing about one of your recent issues with a project or something you need us to help troubleshoot is a great focal point. We’ll pull people from the queue based upon how interesting we think their problem is (motivation to bring interesting problems to talk about).

We’re looking forward to interacting directly with our audience members and getting some of those voices on air.

So it’s live?

We will not be airing the first call in show live, and possibly none of them. Until we get the hang of it, we will be operating as an edited podcast. This will allow us to ensure high quality and (somewhat) snappy dialog. We’ll try to get through as many calls as we can in the amount of time we have for the show. Not all people who talk to Chris and Dave will be guaranteed to appear in the final cut, but we’ll do our best to include everyone.

It’s an experiment

We very likely will have issues this first time through, but we’re excited to try a new format for The Amp Hour. Please consider calling in!

Thanks to Joe Haupt for the picture of the telephone.

The post The Amp Hour Call In Show! (Experiment) first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

Due to Chris being sick this week, we’ll be releasing the show a day later than normal. The Amp Hour release may just line up with your weekend projects, start thinking about them now!

The post Off By One Error first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

Unfortunately no @TheAmpHour tomorrow. @Chris_Gammell is still on a junket, and things are way too busy for me. Next week we'll be back.

— Dave Jones (@eevblog) November 18, 2014

But as a consolation, Dave will have some interesting things to discuss next week!

With Tricky Dick! pic.twitter.com/DwzrrXg2FX

— Dave Jones (@eevblog) November 19, 2014

In the meantime, check out some of our other favorite podcasts:

• Embedded.fm
• The Spark Gap
• Innovation Hub

The post Extenuating Circumstances This Week first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

• Bunnie Huang Interview
• Jeri Ellsworth Interview
• Forrest Mims Interview
• Henry Ott Interview
• Mike Harrison Interview
• Greg Charvat Interview

Or any of the many other episodes listed on our Archive page. See you all tomorrow!

The post Show being moved to Wednesday evening release first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

We have been using LibSyn for a while now and really really love the service they give us. They are our CDN, which means the shows are downloadable reliably and with relatively high speed almost immediately after they get posted. They also offer a service that hosts an app on Android without any cost to us…so we thought we’d try it!

The app does have cost associated with it ($1.99), some of which goes back to LibSyn and some of which comes to us (we’re not expecting much). The best use case that we’ve found so far is that it is easy access to our entire catalog of downloads. In the past, people have lamented that we only hold 25 shows on the RSS feed…this has them all. So if you’re looking for an easy way to listen to all 197 episodes and quickly be notified of other episodes, consider downloading the app. In the future we can push custom content to only those who have the app installed, but this isn’t something we’re planning on doing immediately.

http://www.amazon.com/Wizzard-Media-The-Amp-Hour/dp/B00K7P2LXW/ref=pd_zg_rss_nr_mas_2478843011_6?ie=UTF8&tag=shops101-20

(we also got a $1 credit for Amazon music when we purchased–likely because it was our first purchase–so that could help “offset” the cost).

The post The Amp Hour Now Has An…App? first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

https://theamphour.com/chat

It’s hosted on Freenode (#theamphour), so you don’t have to go through the page above, but it’s an easy to remember way to get connected. And I know what you’re thinking…”IRC? How modern!” Whatever, if it works…it works!

So what’s it there for? We’re not sure. We’ve tried lots of different ways of keeping in touch in the past few years. The comments section, the subreddit, social media, that terrible hacker news clone that kept crashing. But for some reason the good ol’ chat room refuses to die and could be a good place to meet and greet and chat about electronics. There are obviously lots of other good places to do that (the EEVblog forum being one of our favorites), but synchronous and asynchronous communication can both be beneficial without stepping on the others’ toes (thanks Joan!).  We can’t promise we’ll be on there all the time, but we’ll try and pop in to hang out with others who might be looking for a place to hang.

So there you have it. Play nice on there and we can chat soon.

The post A Bit Of Two Way Communication first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

One thing we’ve always known is that our site hasn’t looked particularly good. You may recall the old days of what looked like a desk with tools scattered about. And then the most recent green monster, with our old globe logo.

One of the great things about having support from you–our listener–and occasionally a sponsor here and there has been the monetary benefits that come with it…namely being able to hire people who know what they’re doing. Rachel Rivera from RadCastle did our awesome logo (now available for purchase in 4 different colors at The Amp Hour Printfection Store). The folks over at reddit host our makeshift forum/link gathering (after a couple disastrous tries otherwise). Dave and his penguin geeksquad also host The Amp Hour section on the EEVblog forum. And now some WordPress person has designed this theme that will make it look like we know what we’re doing with websites (we really really don’t).

The benefits here are that the navigation should be cleaner for you, across all types of viewing devices. The site is “responsive”, meaning it should look relatively the same regardless of the type of device you’re viewing it on; it will refactor to fit a computer, a tablet or a phone in some semblance of order. There are now ways to see if there are any comments on a post from the front page, hopefully encouraging people to participate in the conversation. And if you don’t care about any of that stuff? You can scroll to the show you want to listen to and play it right from the front page. Oh, and hopefully the page loads a little zippier than in the past as well.

We hope you like the new look and feel. If not, you can always revert to listening via iTunes, other types of podcatching apps, or you can just catch our RSS feed. We look forward to a bunch of great new guests in 2014 and hope you continue to listen to the show!

The post A New Look For 2014 first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

Fear not! We have started another teespring campaign. If we get to 100 shirts, the campaign kicks off and you’ll be shipped a shirt! If not, no worse for wear (heh). The campaign will run until Thursday, October 17th. Get yours today!

http://teespring.com/tah-white

The post White T-shirts Now Available! first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

Submit a story to the /r/TheAmpHour subreddit and if we talk about the link you submit or the topic you’d like us to discuss on the show, we’ll put you into a drawing. We’ll pick one person who submitted a story per show. Your best chance at winning? Submit a link or a topic we want to talk about the entire show! (it’s happened before) Since we don’t want to mess with anyone’s privacy, we’ll notify you of winning by announcing it at the end of the show.

If the same people continue submitting stories, we’ll devise new and wonderful ways to reward people who contribute!

So far, the current story leader is Chris. He will happily give up his throne for good stories though.

The post Ongoing T-Shirt Contest first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.

We will be having a meetup at the Hamvention in Dayton, OH! It will be at a local pub/restaurant after the Saturday activities (and hopefully before any banquets or other planned events). If you can make it, it would be great to meet people!

And just think, if you come meet Chris, you can say you met him before Dave!

Date: Saturday, May 18th

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: City Pub, Dayton OH http://www.yelp.com/biz/city-pub-dayton

The post The Amp Hour Meetup At Hamvention! first appeared on The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast.