On Saturday, January 7, 2017, I’m going to start teaching an 8-10 week General Class course here in Ann Arbor. The classes are going to run from 10 am – noon, and will probably run through the end of March. (I’m teaching a one-day Tech class on Saturday, January 21, so we’ll be off that day.) If you’re in or near Ann Arbor, MI, and are interested in taking the class, you can get more information here.
I’m going to try something a little different with this class. I think that I’m going to try to stream it. I’ve never done this before, but I’m not breaking new ground here, so I don’t doubt that it will be at least somewhat successful. The CWOps run their CW Academy via Skype, and are very successful with it, so I think that I should be, too.
The first thing I need to do is to choose a streaming service. Skype is an option. Another is oovoo. Oovoo lets you video chat with up to 12 people. If you’ve used other video streaming services, please let me know. At this point, I’m leaning towards oovoo.
When I mentioned that I was thinking of doing this on the Ham Instructors mailing list, one guy mentioned that I should make sure that I pay attention to the audio quality. I hadn’t really thought about that, but he’s right, of course. What good is streaming a class if no one can hear the instructor properly?
So, I turned to Amazon to see if I could find anything useful. One thing that came up was the Pyle-Pro PDWM96 Lavalier Wireless Microphone System. At $12.50, you can’t beat the price, but the receiver comes with a 1/4-in. phone plug, and to connect that to a computer would require an adapter. Kind of kludgey.
So, I turned to Twitter, and Cale, K4CDN, the HamRadio360 podcaster, came through for me. He called on his podcasting buddies, who suggested the Samson SWXPD1BLM5 Stage XPD1 Presentation – USB Digital Wireless System. At $100, it’s a bit more than what I wanted to spend, but other alternatives seemed to cost as much or more, so I guess that I’m just being a cheap ham. Besides, if this works out, I could consider streaming my one-day Tech classes, too.
So, I’m going to try to test this all out next Tuesday (12/27) evening at 2330Z from the space where I’ll be teaching the class. If any of you would like to be on the other end of the video stream, let me know, and we’ll try to hook you up.
UPDATE 1/7/17:
Well, unfortunately, I couldn’t get the streaming to work this morning. When I clicked on the “Start Hangout on the Air,” a new browser window opened, but I never got the “Start Broadcast” button. We were connected to the Internet, but we’re thinking that the connection just wasn’t fast enough to support streaming video.
Apparently, we were connected to the wrong router. After the class, we figured out how to connect to a different router, and I think that we’ll have enough bandwidth next week to do this. Please try again next week.
There is a group on MIQRP that meets on ooVoo. They might be able to comment on use of ooVoo.
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MIQRPCLUB/conversations/messages/5025
What about GOTO Meeting? I know it’s expensive, but you could present material on screen.
I’ve attended online classes through Google Hangouts before. There’s lots of plugins for it. You can also use “Hangouts on Air” so there’s no limit to the number who can join. Then you have to use a different program for chat. I’ve seen https://tlk.io/ used for this. It might help to have someone else keeping an eye on the chat though. Good luck! I’m looking forward to your General class stream.
Actually, it looks like Hangouts on Air is now just “YouTube Live” –> https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7083786
What about Google Hangouts? Everybody has a Google account these days and you can even stream to Youtube.
Let me join the Hangouts pileup. Very easy to use if you ignore online instructions prior to this year when they changed to running under YouTube MyChannel/Video Manager. You can have up to 12 presenters and unlimited watchers. Built in ability for system to follow the speaker or you can assign the focus to a single presenter. You can record the session on YouTube for those unable to make the session, and you can control who is invited. Our club did three webinars in the past few months using it and worked out great. As with any streaming event, the size of the pipe is everything, If at all possible use a wired connection. Will work with WiFi but not as well. If data caps aren’t an issue you can even do it over your phone.
Boy….I don’t know if it’s because I have a low-end PC, but I just tried streaming via a Google LiveEvent, and boy was it slow. I don’t think it’s my Internet connection. I’m using AT&T, and I stream video (Netflix, Amazon Prime) all the time with no problems, and I’m wired to the router. Anyone have any thoughts?
I’d suggest checking out Zoom (https://zoom.us/pricing). I frequently use it for conference calls and find the audio to be excellent. It’s $14.99/mo, but allows you to host up to 50 participants. It’s not free, obviously, but I think it’s a great deal for higher quality audio and video.
Jitsi (https://jitsi.org/), which I’ve tried and like, and TruConf (https://trueconf.com/) might also be worth checking out.
Thanks for the tips, Michael. I’m going to be running a test tomorrow, and I’ll report on it here.
I’ll jump on with what everyone else is saying. Google Hangouts.
I’d definitely love to take the class online.
I’m going to give YouTube another try, but I have not had good success with it so far. I’ll e-mail you when I decide how I’m going to proceed with this. The class will start on Saturday, January 7, at 10 am EST no matter what route I decide to take.
Why not just try Facebook Live? A huge audience on a venue that almost all already use with the possibility of immediate feedback/comments/questions. A little advance advertising and you’d be certain to attract a bunch of potential new HAMS!
I just don’t like Facebook.
Too bad, Dan, it’s a huge venue and I have friends in the Commercial radio business who are finally convinced that it’s currently the best way to increase their audience. In any case, I love your idea of doing the class “Live”!
Well, commercial radio and amateur radio are two different things. One tries to appeal to a mass audience (or at least a more mass audience than amateur radio), while ham radio is a more niche market.
I’m fully aware they are two different markets but that’ shouldn’t be a reason “not” to try to increase the number of participants. It was only a suggestion. In any case, I wish you a lot of success.
Amen! No facebook!
I’m with Dan. Facebook is just plain annoying. I won’t go into it here.
I should say, though, that Youtube seems to be the way to go, if you can get it to work. Duo Security, for instance, does their tech talks on YouTube live streaming, and then archive them there on the Duo Security ‘channel’. You could visit them downtown, and inquire what equipment they use. Try watching a few minutes of one of their videos, to get a feel for the way they produce them.
I did another test yesterday, and it seemed to work just fine, so I will be doing it on YouTube/Google Hangouts. The first class has already been scheduled. The URL is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZrQrJWGOZc.
Hope that maybe you taped the class anyway and can upload it like you did with the tech class. It would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for all you do.
73,
Steve
k9bbv
Unfortunately, this first class was not recorded. Sorry.
Any update?
Well, I did end up using Google Hangouts (YouTube Events). Unfortunately, we connected to the wrong router the first time, so that was a complete bust. The second time we connected to the correct router, but it looks like we didn’t have enough bandwidth because the video quality is very poor. The router dropped the connection a couple of times, too, so there are some gaps. You can see what was recorded on my YouTube channel.
Dan,
I looked at, or curently Am looking at your youtube Gen Class #2, several suggestions:
1_I would suggest using a dedicated web camera (not your notebook’s camera) as the whiteboard writing is unreadable, out of focus.
2_Mic seems good (loud) enough for YOU, but it is at times choppy , BUT I almost cannot hear comments/suggestions from students (cannot understand context of your answers/responses) – so you might need a second mic for the students/classes, with on off so unless asking question it is muted so not to interfere with your instructions .
3_Focus is not good (which I think is related to #1 using your notebook camera).
Otherwise, it seems good ! Congrats,
Are you having class #3 on Jan 21st?I can bring snowball USB Mic, wireless lapel Mic, And 1 or 2 USB webcams….what CPU is your Notebook? does the room have ethernet or ??
Please send/post address or email me (or DMR, MI5JAM
into Jax repeater 443.17500, (which converts repeats onto Analog)
73s
M
Thanks for the comments. I’m actually using a Logitech camera, not the laptop camera. I think part of the problem with the video is that the lighting is not very good in that room. It’s certainly not set up to do streaming video.