This episode of HamTalk Live is brought to you
by Tower Electronics. For connectors, cables,
and more, call 920 -435 -2973 or visit pl -259
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we go! Welcome to Hamtop Live! Calling Let's
Talk! Neil's your guy! Hamtop Live! Here we go
on Hamtop Radio! Hey! Good afternoon, everyone.
It's time for HamTalk Live episode number 322
Huntsville HamFest 2023, recorded live on Thursday,
August 3rd, 2023. I'm your host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of HamTalk
Live. Today we're joined by Mark Brown in for
BCD from the Huntsville HamFest. Last time here
on the show Junie in one D. You see was here
to talk about her duck mochi being at hamvention
and her YouTube channel ham and quackers So if
you missed that show you can listen anytime ham
talk live calm or on your favorite podcast app
or on YouTube Well Huntsville's coming up. I'm
getting ready for for all the stuff. I've got
to do down there, but Mark Brown and for BCD
has been working at this for a very long time
and we're gonna talk with him about the Huntsville
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At HamTalk Live, we use commercial breaks to
debate where the seeds for seedless watermelons
come from. Now, here's Neil Rapp with more HamTalk
Live. Welcome back to HamTalk Live. Today, Mark
Brown. N4BCD joins us on the Orlando Amateur
Radio Club and Hamcation Zoom line. Mark has
been the chairman of the Huntsville Hamfest for
several years now and is an accomplished contestor
among other things and recently retired. So he
has even more time now that he can put into the
Huntsville Hamfest as if he wasn't putting up
Uh, enough numbers already. So Mark, thank you
for joining us on the show here. Uh, just a couple
of weeks away and, um, we're getting excited.
We are too. Thanks Neil for having me on the
show tonight. So I, in fact, I got my, uh, my
little postcard. Well, I actually wasn't a little
postcard as a big postcard in the mail. here
a day or two ago for the club and advertising
the world's friendliest ham fest and that's indeed
what it is. So tell everybody about Huntsville
for this year. Well, I'm glad to hear you received
the card. The out of state ones went first. The
in -state Alabama one should arrive in the next
couple of days, but glad to hear those are going
out. The Huntsville Ham Fest is in our 70th year.
Back in 1980 or 81, prior to 80 or 81, the Hamfest
bounced between three North Alabama cities, and
it was known as the North Alabama Hamfest. And
when the Vaughan Braun Center was built, the
downtown civic center in Huntsville, Alabama,
the Hamfest was there, and it was such a resounding
success that Huntsville bought out the other
two cities and it became thereafter known as
the Huntsville Hamfest. And so we were literally
an inaugural tenant with the VBC. We go back
as far as they do. And so it's a great relationship.
When we needed to expand a couple of years ago
for COVID, we took the entire South Hall, 120
,000 square feet of indoor air conditioned space.
And it was so well received by the visitors,
vendors, everybody liked the wide aisles. We
decided to find a way to keep it, and we are
again this year. So we managed to squeeze another
block of flea market tables, and we still have
a waiting list. We've sold out the entire flea
market. I think we're up to 420, 430 flea market
tables. It's going to be a sea of new and used
equipment, over 50 commercial vendors, a lot
of clubs, POTA, on through the Georgia QSO party,
Parks on the Air, they're doing a thing this
year, kind of like Ohio does, state parks on
the air. So lots of clubs, lots of organizations,
lots of forums. We have some great forums. I
would I would compare our forums to the quality
of what Dayton and Orlando have. We have such
a pool of talent here in Huntsville from doctors
and professionals in the defense and space industry.
So we just have a great, great lineup. And we've
published the schedule. for the end is description
for the forums. We're going to do another update
this weekend just to correct and refine some
of the points in there and modify the schedule
somewhat. The League confirmed to us that they're
going to be doing an ARRL member forum. I think
that'll be at noon on Saturday. So that kind
of completes the roster and we'll get that schedule
out there as long, including the online program.
It's been very popular. We didn't have too many
people taking the printed version, but through
a 2D barcode you can basically download all the
event details. It's about a 13 page document
and you can download it to your smartphone and
have at your fingertips then the schedules, the
prize drawing times, when Bill Brown will be
launching his balloon, his Pico balloon. So all
that stuff at your fingertips through the online
program, and that'll be out probably this weekend.
The DX banquet is in a new venue this year. There's
a museum that's not quite open yet called the
Museum of Information Explosion. One of the defense
contractor founders here in Huntsville has spent
literally a lifetime acquiring old radios, everything
from spark and early regenerative out through
the the all -american five plastic radios of
the of the 70s and 80s. So it's a it's a huge
collection, a huge collection of all the radios
of the different eras, including the big old
living room consuming monsters with the dynamic
speakers. Everything is everything is represented
there. This museum, I go into detail about it
because, like I say, it's not open yet, but it
will be the venue for the North Alabama DX Clubs
DX Banquet. And so seating is limited, but it's
going to be just a great evening for folks to
gather and just be surrounded by this stuff.
The Huntsville Clubs have been meeting there
for about the past year, and each week we see
progress, more radios, They have an oak telephone
booth. I don't know where the guy acquired it,
but it's a full -size, four -sided oak telephone
booth. It's just, it's a sight to see. So Ken
Clarebout, he's the 2023 CQ Contest Hall of Fame
inductee. He will be the featured speaker that
night at the DX banquet. And tickets there are
available at the North Alabama DX club and a
DXC dot org website. Lots of other stuff going
on, of course, card checking. We've got a hospitality
suite over at the embassy on Friday and Saturday
night. Anybody is welcome to drop by from five
thirty to ten thirty. It's after the show, of
course. So there's a place to go after dinner.
You can go and mingle. You never know who's going
to show up. Dayton Orlando guys will be there
myself probably Just you never like I say, it's
an eclectic crowd people come and go so it's
it's a nice place to to stop and visit I did
a count last night. We have 19 youtubers scheduled
to cover the show and That list seems to grow
just about every other day we get another another
person coming in coming in it wants to once to
us do some video at the show. And we're welcome
that coverage. They're a great resource and a
great group of guys. They, many of them camp
out at Montesanto State Park because Montesanto
State Park is a poda and a soda site. And so
these guys go up there and when they're not playing
radio, they're having fun with each other and
just, I guess it's a great experience. What else?
Oh, we've got a couple of new vendors this year.
Repcom builds a small portable radio. They're
also sending us a pretty significant door prize,
one of their big radios. That'll probably be
on Saturday drawing. And another one is 405 Laserworks.
A couple of years ago, Kelly Laserworks. They've
been a fixture at Huntsville and other shows,
but due to health issues, they're not doing shows
anymore. And so we looked for a replacement.
We engaged them at Dayton, and they've agreed
to come down. They do the lighted acrylic signs
with your call signs or whatever you'd like to
have on them. So we're excited to have a couple
of new vendors. But yeah, over 50 commercial
vendors, of course, Gigaparts, HRO, MFJ, all
the main radio manufacturers, Sands Kenwood.
I talked to Phil in Dayton. He said he was 50
-50, but we're still hopeful that Kenwood rejoins
the tour. We did see them in Dayton, but we'd
like to see them in other places. But Ellicraft,
Flex, Yesu, ICOM, of course, they'll all be here.
Lots of good stuff. Yeah, always a great time,
always a great place. The Von Braun Center is
a great venue for this. August in Alabama, indoors
and air conditioning is the best thing ever.
It's just always a pleasure to be there. I get
usually tied up with a lot of youth activities.
It used to be that I could go to Huntsville just
to enjoy the Hamfest and then as the rest of
them have, I keep getting responsibilities. We'll
have a booth there for youth on the air as well
as amateur radio news line, I'm told. uh... we'll
have uh... couple abuse uh... going there uh...
and uh... i know some of the uh... young people
from camp uh... that would just concluded here
couple weeks ago uh... will be there as well
and uh... of course the the youth lounge is is
second to none unskilled so we have to give money
some credit here yet dr dr monty bateman and
his wife gene uh... they do uh... i think they're
in their thirteenth or or 13th or 14th year of
doing the Youth Lounge, and each year it just
gets better and better. And of course the Yoda,
you mentioned, will be nearby. Right beside you,
Neil, also will be the Gota station. Flex is
underwriting, sponsoring the Youth Lounge this
year again, and the Flex system will be set up
via remote, but you'll be able to actually get
on the air at the station adjacent to your Yoda.
Uh, uh, that's always a great time. We, uh, we
enjoyed watching that last year and, uh, and
jumping on, uh, quickly, I think a couple of
times to catch a couple of people we heard that
we knew. Um, but, uh, always, uh, always a great
time and money and his crew put together. some
great soldering activities and some CW bracelets
and all kinds of creative things that the young
people can come do and kind of check out a little
bit about ham radio. And I've always said, you
know, some of my students back in the high school
days learned how to solder at the Huntsville
Ham Fest. That's wonderful. Always a cool thing.
Yeah, the Youth Lounge, they have a couple of
different tables set up for basically soldering
class, soldering lessons, call it what you will.
But then other tables devoted to Arduino and
then others devoted to some other activities.
Robotics. The Brownstone robotics team that Dr.
Bateman is heavily involved with, they'll be
there demonstrating some of the robotic stuff
that they do. And also, speaking of soldering,
I think this is our third year of doing it. We
have an adult solder class. Two sessions, actually,
on Sunday morning. The first one will be proctored
by Kevin Hibbs, our forums chair, and his assistant.
The second one by Joe Eisenberg himself. And
so we will be, this is for adults. So what it's
meant to do is build a through hole solder kit.
It's pretty easy kit, it's simple, but build
something that works instill some confidence
that you can go home and if you find a kit online
or in a store, you have the confidence to basically
buy it and assemble it. So we're very excited
about that because it's been very, very well
received. Yeah, it's always great for the adults
to get in there too. You just never learn to
solder wide, you know. Here's your chance to
do it from a couple of the experts. Lots of cool
stuff going on at the Huntsville HamFest and
we're going to take a break and when we come
back we're going to talk a little more about
some of the things that you can expect at the
Huntsville HamFest and when and where and all
those kinds of things. And we'll come back right
after this word from Tower Electronics right
here on HamTalk Live. His two cents is worth
$37 in change. He once ran a marathon because
it was on his way to Dayton. He works FT8 by
ear. He once worked North Korea on every band
in one minute using only a microwatt. He slowed
down his code speed to work a de -expedition
to 200 words a minute. He is, indeed, the most
interesting ham in the world. I don't always
put on my own PL -259s, but when I do, I prefer
them from Tower Electronics. Stay resident, my
friends. Tower Electronics has all the adapters,
cables, connectors, and yes, PL250 -9s you need
at a Hamfest near you. Or visit pl -259 .com.
And taking a look at the Hamfest schedule for
Tower Electronics, August 5th, they're in Elkhart,
Indiana. August 12th, Huntington, West Virginia.
And then, of course, they'll be at Huntsville,
August 19th and 20th. And then August 31st, September
1st and 2nd, they'll be in Shelby, North Carolina.
But you can visit them anytime, anywhere at PL
-259 .com. You are listening to HamTalk Live.
The number one podcast amongst all podcasts with
the words ham, talk, and live in the title. And
now, here's your host, Amateur Radio's own, Neil
Rapp. And welcome back once again to HamTalk
Live. Make sure you check us out on Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram. You'll see some things
about the show up there, but right now it is
time once again for the N9GSU HamTalk Live Ham
Radio Joke of the Week. Now it's time for the
HamTalk Live Ham Radio Joke of the Week, the
part of the show where Rick tells us a ham radio
joke. The HamTalk Live Ham Radio Joke of the
Week is brought to you by QRM Labs. Now, here's
Rick Garrett in 9GSU with today's HamTalk Live
Joke of the Week. Because of everybody's schedule
and convenience, we have started having our amateur
radio club meetings via Zoom. It's just so much
easier. In person, I always opened the meetings
with a joke and everybody laughed. But on Zoom
when I tell a joke, nobody at all laughs. I asked
my wife, why is that? She said, your jokes aren't
remotely funny. This has been the ham talk live
ham radio joke of the week with Rick Garrett
in nine GSU Tune in again next week for another
joke from Rick Welcome back to ham talk live.
I'm with mark Brown in for BCD the chairman of
the Huntsville, Alabama ham fest and that's coming
up We haven't given the dates yet and all the
information on how to find out about it yet.
So Mark, let's do that. Let's give out the dates
and times and the website. Yeah, let's start
first with the website, hamfest .org. It can't
be much simpler, hamfest .org. And we're two
weeks from this weekend, August 19 and 20. That's
a Saturday and Sunday. Saturday is 9 to 4 .30
and Sunday is 9 to 3. So it's going to be a great
show and it's coming up quickly. Yep, it is.
And that's the Von Braun Center right downtown
and several hotels surrounding that. And of course
the embassy suites is attached and some of the
forums I presume will be over there at the embassy
suites again. Yes, yes Neil we take a couple
of rooms from the embassy suites and then a few
two rooms there at the von Braun Center very
easy to get Between them via the covered walkway
on the second floor. But yeah, the forums Great
great lineup. Dr. Bateman are you he when he's
not at the youth lounge? He's doing a couple
of great forums one on lightning and the other
on grounding for your station Dr. Rob Suggs,
NN4NT, is going to be doing a great program,
I say great because I've seen it at one of the
local club meetings, on how we talk to the astronauts
on the moon. And when you think about all the
relays that had to occur for a guy in a space
suit on the moon to talk to the lunar module,
that talked to the command module, that talked
back to Earth, one of the ground stations, got
relayed to Johnson Space Center, and the back
and forth communications, switching that whole
transmit receive chain. It's just amazing how
it was accomplished. And Rob was a NASA employee
at the time, is still a NASA employee. And he
talks about what they're doing for the upcoming
missions and how things have progressed from
the days of Apollo into what we're doing today.
So it's a great forum. A couple of POTA forums.
POTA has grown very, very popular. And one of
our locals, K04JVB, Jerry, describes a really
great forum. It's a voyage of discovery. He got
into the hobby barely two years ago and got bitten
by the poda bug. And he talks about what he learned,
what worked, what didn't work. He packed the
room on Sunday last year. We're hopeful that
He gets the same response this year, but then
the other POTA guys, of course, will be covering
different aspects of the Parks on the Air activities.
Of course, the league is doing their member forum.
That'll be noon on Saturday. Joe Eisenberg, sometime
later in the day after the, oh, let me mention
too, the Young Ham of the Year, the Bill Pasternak
amateur radio news line, Young Ham of the Year.
will be awarded on the main stage. I don't have
the time in front of me but that will be sometime
in the early Saturday afternoon time frame and
then of course Joe will be doing his kit building
class later in the day. So yeah, lots of great
forums for just several, just about every aspect
of amateur radio that you can think of. AMSAT,
of course they'll be here and they'll be doing
a forum. There seems to be growing interest in
satellites. Maybe it's the Starlink stuff that's
got everybody's imagination peaked. Somebody's
going to try to figure out how to hack a Starlink
and use it for amateur radio communications.
I don't know. Don't say that. Somebody will do
it. I'm sure that stuff is pretty well locked
down. Yeah, probably so. Um, that, that doesn't
stop some people from trying, I know. Um, but
yeah, we'll, we'll have, uh, have a good time
with a lot of that. And, and Rob, you know, you
mentioned Rob, Rob gave me a tour of his facility
out, out at, uh, Marshall a few years ago, uh,
when we were down and just always, uh, as cool,
interesting, interesting stuff about the moon.
So, um, that'll be. A great one, and again, the
Young Ham of the Year Award. I forget if it's
one or two in the afternoon, but we'll be there
for that. The Von Braun Center itself has made
a little bit of a change that people need to
be aware of, so make sure we know about that.
Yeah, Neil, what happened? And I've seen this
in other cities. I visited my kids in Dallas,
my brother up in the Pennsylvania area. Most
of the civic centers and the sports arenas and
whatnot have gone cashless. And likewise, the
Vaughn Braun Center this year, back in February,
they announced that they are cashless. They will
accept... digital forms of payment like PayPal
and these other applications that folks have
on their smartphones, or Visa, MasterCard, major
credit cards. So for parking and concessions,
you need to bring either plastic or some type
of a payment application on your phone. The city
lots, the city lots are both cheaper and still
accept cash. Okay, good to know. And then, I
know you have a ton of prizes, and our friend
Joe Eisenberg, KZeroNEB, will be buying 284 ,563
extra tickets to try to win stuff. But talk a
little bit about your prizes for this year. Well,
on Saturday, the grand prize is the Yesu FT -710.
It's one of the newer radios, and we're excited
about that. and then Sunday is also the ICOM
IC 705 and lots of other door prizes that we
just haven't had a chance to get our hand on.
They're in the mail, they're coming this way.
And we'll be listing those on our website when
we have them in hand and when we figure out a
schedule for when to draw them. But hourly door
prizes, each and every hour there are several
door prizes. DX Engineering, $100 gift certificates,
you name it. It's going to be quite an extensive
prize list. And one of the changes we're making
this year, instead of a weak projector up on
the wall of the von Braun Center, we've purchased
some large screen TVs and stands. to mount them
at some strategic points where folks can better
see a scrolling prize list, AKA like Dayton and
Orlando do. Very cool. Yeah, that's always cool.
Be able to check those prizes and see what everybody
else won. Well, Mark, anything else here before
we finish up? But people need to know about Well,
just a few little things. The YLs traditionally
do a YL breakfast, but everyone is welcome. And
that'll be at the Cracker Barrel on Sunday morning
at 7 a .m. It's just a few miles south of the
Vaughan Braun Center. Of course, I'm just too
busy to even think about going to something like
that. I've mentioned the DX banquet, the youth
license exams both days. license exams start
at 10 a .m. promptly. There's a a curtained off
area kind of around the L shape of the outside
hallway and it's turned into a better place than
where it used to be because it's quieter and
so plenty of room for everybody to take the exam,
and they're very good about grading and getting
the results back very, very quickly. If you take
an exam on Saturday, it's highly likely that
you'll leave with a call sign. It's that quick
sometimes. Of course, that's FCC dependent, but
the guys do their best to get those results uploaded
to the FCC website, and sometimes the turnaround
is just incredibly fast. Yeah, that's always
cool when you can when you can walk away with
it. So great stuff mark Make sure everybody goes
to ham fest org and and checks it out and I will
be Down there along with like I said some of
the news line crew and the in the youth on the
air crew So look forward to seeing you again
in person in just two weeks I'm looking forward
to it also, Neil. It's going to be a great show
again, and all indicators are that it's going
to be one of the best ever. All right. Well,
you heard it here, so make sure you check out
the Huntsville Hamfest. If you can, if you can't,
check out some of those YouTubers going around.
They will bring you all kinds of video from Huntsville.
Thanks a lot, Mark, for taking the time to talk
with us this afternoon and we'll see you soon.
Thank you a bunch, Neil. 73. And that is a wrap
for this week's edition of HamTalk Live. I'd
like to thank my guest, Mark Brown in for BCD
and everybody out there in cyberspace for listening
and invite you back next time for a list of our
upcoming guests. Go to hamtalklive .com and we'll
we'll be there at Huntsville. So say hi, and
for now, this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, saying 7
-3, 7 -5, and may the good DX be yours.