Q. Why is the podcast named ICQPODCAST?

A: Late one Sunday afternoon when Colin was talking to me (Martin B) about podcasting and convincing me we should do it; we needed a domain name. While there are better names I could probably think of now, we needed to get a name and a domain registered.

ICQPODCAST was picked for the reason of the old Morse short code of ICQ = I seek you.

At the time I was not aware of the messaging system called ICQ which seems to now to be less popular.

Q: How many people listen to the ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio Podcast?

A: This answer might surprise you - we don’t know and don’t care!

The show is freely available under a creative commons licence to be republished and shared across the internet on websites, blogs aggregated apps and services and and is broadcast on repeaters worldwide - so an exact number is impossible to calculate.

Because we are a listener supported show, feedback and donations from listeners who value the show are more important than a massive number to sell to advertisers.

This allows us to treat each event and news story separately based on its worthiness, instead of being under the control of the advertising dollar.

Q: Can I advertise on ICQPodcast.com

A: The podcast and newsletter do not take any advertising because we decided our reputation was worth more than a few pounds. If you accept advertising money there is an inferred pressure to be kinder to that companies products when reviewing them even if there are some flaws.

This was unpalatable to us and we find listeners like our honest reviews. While most of the reviews are positive, this is because of our review policy of reviewing an item on merit. Yes, we have done some product reviews which have highlighted poor products.

Q: You have a large team; you must be making a lot of money?

A: Having a large team is an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage is we have diverse opinions from around the world and a team that works together well.

The disadvantage is we are bigger in numbers than most companies we interview at rallies.

Do we make money, well to quote Colin “you can share in our losses if you like”? Donations don’t cover the running and support cost and without all the presenters giving their time for free we could not continue with this podcast. I hate to think just how much the podcast would cost to produce with time, travel and equipment cost if we did not pay for ourselves.

Q: Are you moving from an audio podcast to a video podcast?

A: We started as an audio podcast because of cost and the time it takes to produce a podcast. While video is great and we have made some Youtube videos we are an audio podcast. Our listeners find our audio format great for when they are driving on long trips, walking, in the Gym etc.

Q: Why a news roundtable instead of reading the news?

A: We never intended to be just a news service. National Societies such as the RSGB, ARRL, WIA and many others do a great job at reading the news. We have always tried to pick interesting news stories from around the which your National Society may not run but has an interest to amateurs worldwide.

We like to discuss these topics in a round table format which gives you a varied set of views on each topic. Yes, we do deviate often and many a pearl of wisdom have been shared by both the presenters and listeners feedback

Q: Why Orange?

A: One lucky coincidence is our choice of orange as our show’s identifying colour. Our orange polo shirts makes us very visible when attending clubs, events and hamfests.

Whilst we would like to claim the kudos given to us for this choice, the truth is when launching the show, we had the microphone but needed a background. After finding an image we liked, there was a choice of four colours. Blue (discounted as linked to water), Green (discounted as linked to environmental) and Red (discounted as linked to danger) so we settled on the final colour, Orange.

Q: I Like your Website

A: Many thanks for the compliment. Like the choice of the colour orange, the website wasn’t planned and came about as a happy result of disaster. The original site was built using Joomla, however became too difficult to manage as we developed content due to a lack of databasing skills. This resulted in our then website host shutting down the website.

In a mass panic, we quickly developed a website on Squarespace (we receive no promotion payment from the link) and manually entered as much information as possible into this site. This platform has enabled us to quickly publish information and work on the shows content

Q: What Biscuits does Mrs B Like?

A: Chocolate Biscuits with a cup of decaffeinated tea, a little milk, no sugar

Q: ICQPodcast Expo Rules

Below are our ICQPodcast Expo rules

• As each presenter pays for their attendance to the show - Enjoy the show

• Martin is not to have more than two coffees per day (UK sized cups/UK Strength)

• If Martin does have more than two coffees per day, whoever gave him the third cup accepts responsibility for him, no exceptions.

• Martin is not allowed to be left on his own. Failure to keep him under control will result in commitments being made! (APRS tracker to be fitted?)

• Chris Howard or Martin Rothwell are not allowed to get hungry. There can be issues!

• Our Promise to XYL’s - We only promise to return your husband - they may be broken!! :)

• Any Fast Food Outlet that sells Milkshakes that are not available will lose our custom and face a social media storm. (It has been known for ICQ Podcast Presenters to consume McDonald’s Milkshakes and McFlurry’s for breakfast!!!