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we go! Welcome to Hamtop Live! Call in, let's
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Greetings, everyone. It's time for another episode
of HamTalk Live. It's episode number 301, the
Youth DX Adventure 2022, recorded on Sunday,
July 17th, 2022. I'm your host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.
Thanks for tuning in. To another episode of ham
talk live tonight, uh, we're joined or today
rather we're joined by candice ke8 mms tj ko4
ffa brennan k6 bfl and jim ab8yk live from carousel
there on the youth dx adventure as We're recording
this program, so we will talk with them live
in just a little bit. Last time here on the show,
it was Vance Martin, N3VEM, who was here to talk
about the summer of parks on the air. So if you
missed that show, you can listen anytime at HamTalkLive
.com or use your favorite podcast app or you
can just play it on YouTube or you can catch
the rebroadcast of HamTalk Live. On WTWW, that's
50 .85 on your AM dial Saturday afternoons at
about 3 .30 p .m. Eastern Time. And we want to
thank WTWW for carrying the show. And I'll be
back with the Youth DX Adventure Crew right after
this word from ICOM America, right here on HamTalk.
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If at first you don't succeed, skydiving isn't
for you. You're listening to HamTalk Live with
Neil Rapp. Welcome back to ham talk live Well
out on the island of carousel today. We have
Candice ke8 MMS TJ ko4 FFA Brennan k6 BFL and
of course our friend Jim storms AB 8 YK and they
join us on the Orlando amateur radio club and
amcation zoom line All right. We're here live
from Carousel with the, or I'm not in Carousel,
I just got home from Jamaica, but I'm back here
in Kentucky, but the Youth DX Adventure Team
is in Carousel, and we're live here with Candice,
KE8, MMS, TJ, KO4FFA, and Brennan, K6BFL, and
one of their, team leaders, Jim Storms, AB8YK,
and we want to update you a little bit about
the Dave Kulture Memorial Youth DX Adventure
2022. So, Candice, you've been on the air here
for, was this the third day? Yes, I have. And
how are things going on the bands? Things are
going all right. Thursday night was a little
rough because it was just the beginning and then
believe, what is today, Sunday? Yes. All right.
So Saturday was a little rough. We had some storms
in the morning and it kind of caused us not to
get as many contacts as we expected on Saturday.
So it got a lot busier last night. But other
than that, it's been going pretty well. And then
we did hit 6 ,000 this morning. That was really
exciting. Uh, other than that though, it's going
pretty good. So lots of pileups. Yes, a lot.
Yeah. Yeah. That's always the fun of, of doing
the youth DX adventure. You get all those pileups
and uh, so that that's really cool. TJ, how about
you? How are things going for you on the air
so far? They're going great. I was on 20 meters
earlier today and working some pileups and then
I was also on 15 for a little bit there but Conditions
have been pretty great today. We've had a ton
of contacts today yesterday was Was a rough start
but later into the day we started to get a ton
of contacts All right, well That's, it's really
good. And yeah, I know we, we had a, one of those
little, little storms pop up in Jamaica and boy,
it wrecked all kinds of havoc around. I was glad
I just had my aero antenna and could bring it
in. So I didn't have to worry about it too much,
but, but yeah, it's great that things are improving
here as time goes on and how much longer will
you be on the air? Hopefully we'll be on all
today, but tomorrow we're going to operate for
a little bit and then maybe take a break. We're
hoping to beat the last year's record from 2018.
Oh yes, that's a tradition. Every year they have
to beat the previous record. Well, good luck
on that and hopefully some people will be able
to get you here in the next several hours that
you're on. Well, Brennan, I actually got to talk
to you on 15 here about an hour ago. How's it
going for you? You know, everything is a lot
of fun. Like everyone said, propagation wasn't
fantastic yesterday. I believe we had a little
bit of a solar flare come out. But later in the
night, especially 20 meters is open almost the
entire night. So that's a ton of fun on 15, which
you talked to me on today was definitely open
and to Europe and America. So it's been a ton
of fun working on operating down here. Now, you
know, I looked on the website and it said, you
know, a lot of 10, 15 and 20 meters. And then
last night I was able to hear one of your. Parents,
I believe it was or one of the helpers on on
75 Is that everything that that you're doing
or are you on for some 40 or or what's going
on with that? Yeah, so one of the station helpers
you leave Delta Lima eight Oscar Bravo, Quebec
He was on 80 meters last night making a few contacts
We were also on a little bit of 17 meters today
both CW and SSP and we also have a few hundred
forty meter contacts, mostly CW right now. But
our major bands are 10, 15, and 20, and then
CW on 40 meters, and a little bit of a slide
band, and then mostly CW on 17 meters as well.
Very good. And did you do anything with the ready
contest? Or is that part of the failure of the
internet that I'm going to talk about here in
a second? Yeah, unfortunately, we weren't able
to take part in any of the RTTY operations. Okay.
So Candice, tell us a little bit about, you know,
every time you go to do something, there's always
unexpected, unavoidable problems. And so talk
a little bit about what happened with the internet
here. extremely familiar with that, but the,
I believe, uh, we were supposed to get the internet
set up, uh, the first day we were here. And unfortunately
they, they have just not gotten around to it
over at the station. Um, so unfortunately we
haven't had access over there. All right, Jim,
uh, you got any more detail on that? Yes, I do.
Um, The original plan, Jeff Howard came down
early because they were supposed to be installing
it Thursday. And we are on island time, as you're
well -liked to make it. And they didn't show
up. And Friday they were supposed to. And the
bucket truck was broke, so they didn't show up.
And they don't work weekends. So they'll install
it on Monday. and get configured on Tuesday while
we're on the plane. So unfortunately, they're
installing fiber and Jeff worked really hard
in getting it from the top of the big hill through
all the brush and sage brush and nettles and
through the sand and everything down to the pole
and they hooked every house up but his. So it's
been an issue, but as usual, we move on and find
ways to work around it. Yeah, they're actually
installing fiber in our neighborhood right now.
As we drove in from the airport, we saw all these
caution flags in the yards where the coax is
run along the yard from the fiber box. I'm getting
ready to switch and of course today my internet
goes down so yeah there's always always something
but at least the cables will be run for future
operations but you know that's the beauty of
radio I was still able you know I didn't have
internet but I could get on and talk to Brennan
on 15 so It works out really well. It just slows
down the logging a little bit and some of the
spotting. Well, TJ, what's been your favorite
part of the trip so far? Really getting to use
the radios and the antenna system. They've got
a really, really nice antenna system there at
the shack and that was really exciting to learn
how to use and learning how to operate split
was also pretty fun. I've never done that before.
All right, Brennan. Yeah, you know, the biggest,
the most fun part about this was definitely meeting
everyone. So we got to meet Jeff and Uly with
Jeff being the station owner and, you know, really
awesome people. Jeff is super, super nice, as
Uly is as well. I've never met Jeff and he's
an awesome dude, super smart and it's awesome.
He's letting us use his station down here. And
he just has so much knowledge about operations
and his station and everything like that. So
he gave us all some tips on both SSB and CW for
managing the pileups. Oh, that's really cool.
And then that's, that's no small station you're
on there. PJ2T that's a very nice station. Candice,
how about you? What's been your favorite aspect
of the trip? like the thrill of the pileups.
It's a lot different here than it is at home,
just because everybody wants to contact you.
So I mean, Friday night, I had a big pileup.
I think it was on 20 meters to our tee. Unfortunately,
there was still a pileup, but we were just exhausted
and had to go to bed. But I really enjoy meeting
everyone. It's really nice seeing more youth
in ham radio. just because back where I am at
home, I really don't know a lot of youth. And
then just getting to know everybody and the weather
out here is absolutely gorgeous. The view is
beautiful. So all of that is just, it's icing
on the cake, really. But yeah, it's beautiful
here. Yeah, it's interesting that you bring up
that, you know, getting to know other youth because
this is a recurring theme. You know, with Yoda,
the youth on the air that I have been directing
for a couple of years, that's one of our big
things is we want to get everybody together and
get to know each other. And it sometimes, you
know, youth will really feel isolated. We have
some youth. uh... in the hobby and service but
they don't always know about each other you know
it it's rare that i go to a club meeting and
there's not at least one young ham the thing
is they feel like they're the only one young
ham and and there are thousands out there it's
just a matter of of getting to know each other.
So this is another great opportunity to get to
know some of the other youth and you get to learn
a whole lot about each other when there's only
three or four operators. I know in the past we've
had some pretty incredible grilled cheese makers
and we found out all kinds of things about about
everybody. So, what's the secret talents here,
Candice? Do we have any of those this time? I
don't know. I mean, Brennan is really good at
CW. He's been knocking that out of the park,
but I do not have any secret talents, unfortunately.
And I don't know about TJ. TJ, do you have any
secret challenge you want to tell us about? Well,
this is really my first time operating for a
really long period of time. So that's pretty
exciting. I've only been licensed for about two
years now. Very good. Brennan? Hello? Any secret
talents that you found out about Candice or TJ?
You know, with Candice being a lady, her voice
travels a lot or seems to cut through the radio
waves a lot more. So I guess her secret talent
has been able to make a dead band come alive
again with a massive pile up. TJ and I will just
be on the radio calling for 15, 20 minutes at
times during a slow point and not get any callers.
And Candice can jump on and get a pile up within
minutes. Yeah, it's that extra 3 DB. Just give
her extra 3 DB. Yeah, go ahead. Candice, she
was operating and we were trying to get up to
6 ,000 and they had brought food out and Candice
stayed on for an extra while trying to get up
to that 6 ,000. It's a day. Yeah, we were Brendan
and I Brendan and I were operating he was on
15 and I was on 20 and we were going back and
forth and it was like a thrill like all the what's
it the build -up anticipation yeah, like it was
just We're looking at each other like, who's
going to get it? Who's going to get it? Who's
going to ring the bell? And then everybody's
videotaping you. And you're just like, who's
going to get it? And of course, nobody, nobody.
I couldn't get anybody. And then printing violence.
There were just moments, like a minute of just
no one calling who the last contact. And then
all of a sudden I just got one person. It was,
I was so nervous trying to get that 6 ,000th,
6 ,000th contact. Are you starting to speed up
there? Yeah. Yuli cut off the amplifier on Candice
last night. We were shutting off the station
for the night, and Candice still wanted to operate,
and everyone else was going to bed. So Yuli came
up and shut off the amplifier. Yeah, I mean,
it was about, like, what, 12, 30? Yeah, it was
12 o 'clock. It was like 12 o 'clock in the morning.
was keeping everybody up they're like no Candace
you're done you're done. Well that's part of
the fun of going on these trips you know you
don't have any any real set time schedule it's
that island time it can work against you but
it could work for you too you know so you can
stay up and make contacts. Alright, well we're
going to take a break here and when we come back
we're going to talk with Jim a little bit about
the program and some of the fundraising and that
kind of thing and how you can help and all the
QSL information and that kind of thing when we
come back right here on HamTalk Live. Thanks
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We have SMA adapters. We have BNC adapters. What
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.com You're listening to HamTalk Live! And welcome
back to ham talk live. Hey, be sure to check
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our website at ham talk live calm well before
we get back to the folks down in carousel it's
time for The HamTalk Live Joke of the Week. I
was doing a parks on the air activation and when
I got back somebody had complimented my parking.
There was a note under my windshield wiper that
said parking fine. 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. All right, we're back on HamTalk
Live with the Youth DX Adventure team down in
Carousel and Jim Storms ABHYK is here and he
is one of the big proponents of this program
and one of the leaders and also has the the pleasure
of being the the incoming Hamvention chairman
for the Dayton Hamvention the next couple of
years. So Jim, what's your take on how things
are going here this far into the trip? I'll tell
you, Neil, this has been quite a surprising and
pleasant trip other than our travel issues, which
were monumental as everybody knows when they're
traveling these days by air. But this group has
just been phenomenal. I put them right at the
top of the groups we've had in the past. And
we've had some really great ones. But these kids,
they just get on the air and it's litter like
Candice said earlier. It's prying them out of
the chair. They just keep going and going and
going. They're energizer bunnies. I guess, but
they are very efficient operators. There's been
a lot of good comments on the ops and they just
keep going and going and they are really racking
up the cues. Well, that's always great to hear
and I know this adventure has been down because
of COVID and so it's nice for you to be back.
and able to get these kids on the air from a
nice big station somewhere. Well, tell us a little
bit about the fundraising. I can tell you I started
adding up the numbers from Yoda Camp and prices,
oh my, did they go up? And I know yours did too.
So tell us a little bit about financing this
trip. Yeah, we do this all by donation we Will
get money from a lot of different places a lot
of clubs Several organizations and and they they
really help us to do this trip Without them it
just would not happen at all and you're right
expenses have gone through the roof Airfares
went up in our case almost 40 % We got down here
and food is about 20 % higher than it was before.
So we're still waiting on the water and electric
bill to see what those are. The housing we had
a locked in rate from 2019 and I'm not sure what's
gonna happen if we come back again next year
what the housing is gonna run. But we do this
all by donation and you can go to our website,
which is qsl .net. N6JRL and that'll pull up
our website and you can click on the left side,
it'll tell you how to donate. It'll also tell
you how to get a QSL card. So we do that. We'll
print a really nice QSL card and send it out
to people. But that's how we do it. We've got
some big manufacturers that help us out. ICOM
gives us a radio to auction at Hanvention. through
a raffle and that pays a lot of our expenses.
DX Engineering supports us. I hate to start an
angle because I know I'm going to leave people
out. Exactly. Clubs such as Indexa have helped
us out this year and hopefully will continue
to. They've helped us out for multiple years.
Dayton Amateur Radio Association, which I'm a
member of, obviously. is a huge supporter of
it and really helps make the trip happen and
then there's a myriad of other clubs that do
and individuals and if you actually donate as
a business or as an individual you will be on
our QSL card your logos and names listed for
the private people so that's how we finance it
We're going to have to really look tight and
see what the money is going to be next year because
it is getting expensive. And I just want to give
a big thank you to the Caribbean Contesting Consortium,
which is the group that manages and keeps PJ2T
running as a consortium. Jeff is the owner, of
course. But they actually pay the money to keep
the station alive. And when they come down, they
have to pay. But they're nice enough that they
donate that amount for us to operate. They do
not charge us to operate here. We do pay for
water and electric to help offset their expenses.
But they let us use their equipment, let us use
the station. Jeff was up on the tower today painting
part of the tower so they keep it maintained
and keep it in great shape. It's a super station.
Well it's great that you have all that help because
you need all the help to make these big things
happen like this and I'm fully aware of that
with Yoda so it's great that you've done that.
Well you know talk a little bit about plans for
next year. So if there's a young person listening
that wants to try to go next year, how do they
find you? How do they get ahold of you and your
team to apply and to go on one of these trips?
And do you have a location in mind? Okay. At
the moment we had a location, but he asked us
to defer to 2024. So hopefully The consortium
will let us come back again. I have not talked
to them about it yet, but we hope to have a location.
And there's a couple of locations we're going
to investigate as potential new sites in the
future. But it takes a couple of years to work
that all out. Anybody that wants to apply, and
I said earlier I gave you the actual website,
but if you actually Google Dave Calder Youth
DX Adventure, it'll send you right there. and
on the left side that we will be putting up an
application form somewhere probably about a month
or so out so that we can start people applying
for it. The way the funding works is that we
actually pay from the departure point of the
United States as a team to the site and back.
The team members have to pay to get to our embarkation
site. So there is some skin in the game doing
that and it is a commitment and we ask the participants
to also to work as a work their clubs and stuff
like that to help us raise funds So that's the
big that's the way to do is just go on on the
website and watch it when the application comes
up They can start applying there is a formal
process for that. We review those applicants
and make our selections from that. The other
thing is there's some clubs that we're aware
of that support us greatly that we actively ask
them for participants. And that's how we got
one of the members this time. We had one drop
out because he wasn't able to work on the schedule
for 2019's pushback. So we asked a club member
our club to recommend a person from their club
because it's one that supports us greatly. All
right well that's cool and if you can't remember
any of the address or what to google youth on
the air .org we've got a link straight to you
there so you can go there and see that as well
and as well information about how to donate.
Yes well it's the same thing there is a spot
on there for donations Unfortunately, we used
to take PayPal, but the way PayPal changed some
stuff and some things that happened internally
with us, we have discontinued that. So basically
it's the information how to send a check to me
to get deposited and support it that way. It
is a 501c3 organization that we work through.
So they would be considered tax deductible. Okay,
very good. Well, hopefully some people will continue
to add to that 6 ,000 here in the next day or
so and you have a chance to see the sites a little
bit and then get back safely. I'm not sure how
this happened, but all four of our flights along
the way to Jamaica and back were were early and
and and running on time so i i don't know how
that happened but uh... i hope that uh... the
return trip is just as easy for you all and and
jim out one one more thing uh... you know you're
not doing this by yourself talk a little bit
about your your hosts and your uh... teammates
here okay that the hosts are as jeff howard is
the owner he came down to be sure the internet's
uh... normally he handles just our interface
with the club, their club, to get everything
worked out. He's not usually here, but Uli Feichal,
Dalit Alime, Oscar Bravo Quebec, comes down from
Germany and acts as our host here. He's in charge
of being sure the radios work, that we don't
screw something up and making everything work
when there's issues. So he's our host here. And
with me is Ron Doyle, N8VAR, as an additional
team lead, and Don Dubon, N6JRL, is here also.
Each one of the kids has a parent or grandparent
with them. We do not ask that below 18 kids come
with us going out of the country. without an
escort because I'm not even going to approach
that with customs. But they travel with a family
member who is responsible for them on site and
their well -being. And that's the people that
are involved. And they all work hard. Of course,
when we get down here sometimes it's... the kids,
especially this group, they work on their own
really well. So I get to kind of sit here on
the veranda and watch the ocean go by. Yeah,
I remember Bryant Raskol's mom always enjoyed
the pool time while she was, along with Bryant
on the YouthDX adventure. So yeah, here's the
adults some time to relax a little bit. once
everything's running. Well, Jim, thank you so
much for getting the interview together here
with Candice and TJ and Brennan. And just want
to say thank you to the entire team making this
happen and look forward to hearing about next
year's Youth DX Adventure Group. Very good, Neil.
Thank you for the time to talk to the people.
Look for us on the air through Monday. at about
5 p .m. is when we'll probably go QRT about them.
All right, Candice, TJ, Brennan, any last comments
before we go? Thank you for all the support with
working us on the band. It's been a ton of fun
up here. Yeah, I'd like to thank everyone that's
helping support Dave Coulter Memorial Youth DX
Adventure and allowing me and Candice and Brennan
to come out here. We're very thankful. Yeah.
Exactly what they said. I mean they Thank you
for everything and spread the word as many people
work as possible All right. Well, thanks so much
for being there and thanks for the queue and
thanks for for getting Through all that security
and customs and everything to get down there
to have some fun on the radio so That is a wrap
for this episode of ham talk live. Thanks to
my guests Candice ke8 MMS TJ ko4 FFA Brennan
k6 bfl and Jim storms a b8 yk and I invite everybody
to tune in next time for another episode of ham
talk live. So for now, this is Neil rap WB 9
VPG saying seven three 7 -5 and may the good
DX be yours.