Bill Zimmerly writes for both computers and humans and always seeks to make the utmost sense to both. As a professional programmer, his career has spanned more than thirty years in such diverse businesses as roof-truss engineering, statistical biochemical evaluation of herbicides, device drivers for medical instruments, and insurance illustrations. Preferring to stay "as close to the metal" as possible, he is well-armed with detailed programming knowledge and tools like FORTH, C, and Assembler. After retirement, he has taken up writing articles for on-line Journals such as IBM developerWorks, Linux Journal, and books about technology - "Web Geek's Guide to the Android-Enabled Phone" being the first. Rural living in retirement is another of his passions and he calls Hillsboro, Missouri, USA his home.

Jim Conley has run a successful business in the communications industry. Now retired, Jim's company has successfully deployed communications systems, for the U.S. government. The company today remains in the family and continues meeting the needs of the U.S. Coast guard and other portions of the U.S government. Jim's primary hobbies today are, digital mode radio, and microwave communications. Jim has expert knowledge in microwave communications and digital communication, where he builds and lectures on both topics within the amateur radio community. Jim to date, owns and operates one of the finest microwave laboratories in this region of the country. Jim Conley's call sign is n0obg, and he is an active member of the St. Louis Area Microwave Society (SLAMS).

They will cover the recent history of Digital Communications in the HAM radio bands, the progress made with D-Star, and possibly demonstrate D-Star in action using his HP laptop computer running Ubuntu 9.04 Linux and a device called the DV-Dongle. They will also bring a handheld radio that supports the D-Star protocol and, if we're close enough to the D-Star repeater at Monsanto, demonstrate its use too.