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
.com. And by ICOM, heard it, worked it, logged
it. Visit www .icomamerica .com slash amateur
for more information about ICOM radios. Welcome
to Hamtop Live Calling Let's Talk Neil's your
guy Hamtop Live Here we go on Hamtop Radio Hello
everyone, it's HamTalk Live, episode number 297,
live from Dayton Hamvention 2022, and we're recording
this live on Thursday, May 19th, 2022. I'm your
host, Neil Rapp, WD9 VPG. Thanks for tuning in
to this episode of HamTalk Live. Tonight we're
joined by Paul Brown, WD9 GCO, Eric Elwell, KD4BNT.
and michael kalter w eight c i and uh... if you're
listening to us live uh... it it's late uh...
sorry about that but uh... had a opportunity
to uh... go to a celebration tonight with uh...
dr scott right k zero m d so one of thank him
uh... for having a nice dinner tonight and a
little celebration of his 45th ham -iversary
and his birthday was on Monday, too. So happy
birthday to Scott. Well, anyway, the last episode,
Joe Eisenberg, K -0 -N -E -B was here to talk
about kit building and kits to look for this
weekend at Hamvention. If you missed the show,
you can listen anytime at HamTalkLive .com or
on your favorite podcast app or on YouTube. And
you can catch the rebroadcast of HamTalk Live
on WTWW. That's 5 0 8 5 a .m. Saturday afternoons
at about 3 30 p .m. Eastern time. So we're going
to take a look at weather. We're going to look
at traffic. We're going to look at parking, all
those kinds of things. So we'll be back to do
that right after this word from ICOM America
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information on ICOM radios. Mr. Carlson, I'm
so glad I caught you before you left. I wanted
to wish you a safe and successful mission to
Dayton. Well, thank you, Les. Dayton is where
Mother lives. I know, Les. Coming to you live
from Dayton, Ohio. Here's Neil Rapp with more
HamTalk Live. Welcome back to HamTalk Live. Coming
to you live from Dayton Hamvention 2022 and had
a chance to get out there today and take a look
around a little bit and get things set up for
the some of the youth activities and Yoda booth
and was actually for the first time came in on
Wednesday and and picked up some stuff and dropped
some stuff off. So that was pretty cool. But
it's just really good to see everybody again.
And Paul Brown, WD9GCO, is here. And I haven't
seen him in quite a while. So it's been two very
long years since we've had a hamvention. So Paul,
welcome. Thank you very much. It has been. Let's
see, you stopped up by where I live, right before
the wedding, and we talked. But yeah, it's been...
We haven't been able to do this since, you know,
2019. It's fun to get together with all the people
that you talk to on the air, or you... interact
with on Facebook or or whatever and you get to
see them in person and also for us One of the
cool things is you meet the people who listen
to newsline Because you know when you're sitting
at home recording the thing and you send it out
to Dropbox and on the internet You've got no
idea if anybody is actually listening to it and
when you have people come up and say yeah I listen
every week. It's like all right. It feels like
you're doing something so It was so good to,
you know, you know, as I was trying to set everything
up, of course, but, you know, so, you know, this
person to come up, that person come up and was
like, hi, how you doing? You know, and, and,
and a couple of people who I had no idea who
they were. And they're like, hi Neil, how are
you? You know, I'm like, well, you know, uh,
but, but it was, it was just really good and,
uh, got, got to see. A lot of old friends and
friends of the show and and tonight at dinner
even some of the the former guests on the show
that Some of whom I'd never met before in in
real life Yeah, and and that's that's one of
the things you start to learn when you're a semi
Public personality, I guess we are sort of that
there's people who know who you are because they
listen to you and and and the 2018 I think when
we had a booth It was weird. I had people come
up who asked to take their pictures with me and
I'm like really Me okay I'm just me but yeah,
so I mean it's it's it's interesting and fun
And you know you get to also see the people like
I said that you interact with once a year or
in between It's it's nice to get together. It's
kind of like a gathering of the tribe Yeah, well
the the name this year reunion for the theme
was very Very appropriate and so I know they're
still Still some concern out there about COVID.
And so I know some people aren't going to be
able to make it, but it really is good to see
people again. And hopefully things will continue
to get better over the years. Anyway, I know
things aren't exactly getting better at the moment,
but hopefully. Hopefully another year goes by
and things are better than they are today. So,
well, anyway, enough about us. It's, it's time
to check in on the weather for this year's Dayton
Hamvention. We have on the line here, Eric Elwell,
KD4BNT. He is the chief meteorologist at Spectrum
Channel 1, which I'm happy to say I have here
in the hotel room. I was checking it out last
night. So Eric, what's the invention look like
for this year? Well, Neil, it's looking pretty
hot. Thanks for inviting me on here. Your ambition
forecast is going to be a warm one, I do believe.
We're going to be tracking a couple of chances
for storms. We've got a few around that we've
been monitoring here this evening. And with temperatures
climbing and the humidity climbing as well, some
of these storms could be fairly intense, so we'll
want to look out for that. Storms, any of those
around here overnight, should diminish pretty
quickly. In the morning, we'll get back to sunshine,
and it is going to be the hottest couple of days
so far in 2022, go figure. For both Friday and
Saturday, our high temperatures here at Zina
are going to be up around 90 to 91 degrees, so
inside and... with a fan or some cool air is
going to be nice, drinks some water if you've
got that around because it is going to be quite
hot the next couple of days. We are tracking
a cold front that will come in into western Ohio
maybe as early as Saturday night. That could
bring some storms in Saturday evening and then
the front kind of gets hung up a little bit then
moves off to the east Sunday and the temperatures
start to drop back down. But it is going to be
a warm couple of days here at least for the start
of the weekend will cool off. Once we get past
Sunday and temperatures do dip back into low
7s for highs for early next week. So enjoy Hamvention.
It is going to be a hot one. That is your exclusive
hand talk to live Hamvention weather forecast.
Spectrum News 1, Chief Meteorologist Eric Gilwell,
73 from KD4BNT. All right, thanks again Eric
we appreciate that and again you can catch Eric
on spectrum cable on spectrum news one and that's
across Ohio on channel one and While you're here
in the Dayton area tune that in for continuing
weather coverage So some things coming up at
hamvention. We are going to have our mascot hammy
is back and uh... he will be wondering around
ham vincen on friday and saturday around lunchtime
uh... and we'd love to see your photos with hammy
so if you get your picture with hammy make sure
you post those online with the hash tag ham talk
live and uh... hammy will be given away some
stuff uh... are uh... stickers and our famous
loyal listener club nerd cards and some t -shirts
actually too. So make sure you look for Hammy
if you're here at Hamvention. Well, the weather
is going to be okay in the daytime and sounds
like the evening hours are going to be a little...
A little wet, but it's gonna be hot So it's not
the greatest forecast, but the gas prices Paul
Are are not so great No, they are not Especially
well you now only have like what an hour drive
to get here For me, it's four and a half or five.
So that almost five dollars a gallon that hurts
but Yeah, so I'm not gonna tell you what I paid
when I left northern Kentucky It's not the rate
that's going around here. Let me tell you so
Most places right now are at 449. It's pretty
solidly 449 no matter where you go There are
some as low as $4 .39, but they are kind of few
and far between. So if you see something under
$4 .49, I'd take it. In Xenia, the lowest is
Walmart at $4 .47 in Xenia itself. Costco was
$4 .19. I did that last night, actually. I decided...
Better top off the tank. That's where I'm getting
gas before I go home then. Yes, exactly. That's
where to get gas before you go home. And Sam's
Club, just down the road from us here, is $4
.33. But everywhere else it's pretty much $4
.49. So not real great on the gas prices, but
we knew that. So there you go. All right. Well,
when we come back, we're going to talk to Michael
Coulter, W8CI, the official spokesperson of the
Dayton Hamvention, and we'll talk about some
of the activities and parking and traffic and
all that kind of thing right after this word
from Tower Electronics right here on HamTalk
Live. Thanks for choosing Tower Electronics.
How may we help you today? We have PL259s, we
have In Connectors, we have SMA adapters, we
have BNC adapters. What can I show you today?
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vest near you or call 920 -435 -2973 or see our
whole catalog at PL -259 .com. Sorry, one thing
we don't have is a tower. Tower Electronics will
be at the Dayton Amvention this weekend at Building
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also see them in the flea market in 9 -1 -1 -2.
Just look for the big yellow blimp. but you can
also order online at PL -259 .com and tell them
you heard it on HamTalk Live and maybe they'll
charge you double. Coming to you live from Dayton,
Ohio, here's Neil Rapp with more HamTalk Live.
Welcome back to Ham Talk Live. It's our Hamvention
Prep episode coming to you live from Spring Hill
Suites, Miamisburg, just down the street from
the Dayton Mall. Thanks for tuning in tonight.
And we hope we're helping your trip to Hamvention
be more enjoyable. And we'll mention that Kevin,
our sales manager here at Spring Hill Suites,
notified me that Friday night's the busiest night
and he said there were eight rooms left. So there
are a few rooms available if you're coming to
Anvention and didn't get a reservation. There
are a few rooms left for Friday and quite a few
for Saturday. uh... that's uh... the latest on
that so if you're looking for a room maybe that'll
uh... that'll help out well we're going to talk
more ham -vention uh... but first you know what
time it is it's time for The 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. I
was so excited when I heard my wife say she was
going to Dayton to look for an antenna I was
very disappointed when I realized what she really
said she was going to look after aunt Anna 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 Oh
no aunt Anna, what do you think Paul? That was
there have been some bad ones that was definitely
one of them But but I like it was it was Sam
Vincent theme it was Sam Vincent theme so he
gets points for that so All right. Well, Rick
will be back with another, uh, ham talk live
joke over the week next week. Uh, but, uh, right
now we are live in Dayton, Ohio with Paul Brown,
WD nine GCO. I'm Neil rap WB nine VPG. And earlier
today, I had a chance to sit down with Michael
Coulter, W eight CI, the official spokesperson.
for the Dayton Hamvention to talk about traffic,
parking, shuttle buses, and that kind of thing.
So here is Michael. All right, we're here live
at Hamvention with Michael Coulter, WHCI, the
spokesperson of the Dayton Hamvention. And Michael,
I know today's kind of crazy trying to get everything
ready. How are things going so far? You know,
you know, Neil, they're going great. You know,
the ticket sales are amazing. we're getting surge
of ticket sales, which is going to be good for
us, good for all of amateur radio. And it looks
like the weather, although it may be warm, we're
expecting rain only in the evening. So other
than that, it looks really great. Everybody seems
to be getting along. Things are coming together
good. And I'm excited to be here again after
finally to have this reunion after two years
hiatus. Oh my gosh. Yeah, which this always happens
to me. But every time I turn around, I run into
somebody to talk to. But it seems especially
more so this year because it has been two long
years so we're really happy to be back here as
well. So let's talk a little bit about getting
here and the traffic and the parking. So maybe
we'll do the parking first. You have some remote
parking available and then you have some parking
on site. So tell us about that. Right. We have
three offsite places where you can go to. One
of them is in the center of Xenia, what they
call Xenia Town Square. Another one is Xenia
High School. And the other one is Freedom Park.
That's right. And that's over in Beaver Creek.
And you can catch a bus there and be delivered
very close to the main entrance. So very excited
about that. I do want to mention too, Neil, that
on Sunday... Anybody who wants to come, if they're
interested or you brought somebody that said,
you just go on without me or don't want to buy
a ticket, be here Sunday. You can get in free.
You get a special ticket to get in. You won't
be able to win any prizes, but you'll get in
free if you want to see what this is about. All
right. Very good. And they just go to the main
ticket booth to get that on Sunday if they do
that? Correct. And the ticket booths are located
just right outside the main entrance. Okay, and
then so we've got the remote parking and those
buses will be running back and forth all the
time Tell us a little bit about the on -site
parking. Oh We have a large on on site parking
area and actually you can't even see from one
end to the other you know because it goes way
around a corner, but tremendous amount of parking
here, and we have people that will help you get
parked. You won't, parking is free, they'll wave
you right in, they'll help you get to the next
available parking spot, and we do have some golf
cart shuttles if needed. There is a handicap
place, a handicap segment there, and just follow
the signs, but you will have to have the correct
placards to be able to park there. All right,
very good. Any big traffic issues with the interstate
roads in the local area? Actually, we're in very
good shape. A lot of the roads have been repaved,
look great, and in this time of the year, this
is a, and especially I think the next few days.
It'll be a beautiful sunrise, we hope, and when
you come in, it'll be very scenic. This is a
very beautiful part of Ohio, and we're glad to
show it off. We have worked with our Sheriff's
Department, our regional highway patrol post,
as well as the Zuniga Police. to make sure we
have good traffic flow. When I say we make sure
we have good traffic flow, some of the traffic
patterns will be changed and then we also will
have officers will be controlling traffic lights
or actually being in intersections just to be
sure people can move safely to where they want
to get to. To the invention, right? Exactly,
exactly. All right. Well, you know, I've seen
a lot of the buildings here yesterday and today,
and looks like, you know, things are coming together.
So we hope that everybody will come out and enjoy
Hamvention 2022, the reunion. And it truly is.
So any final comments here about other things
that are happening here? in the last few days?
Well, of course, Neil, you know we have some
spectacular prizes, and one of them are grand
prizes worth just short of $20 ,000 donated jointly
by DX Engineering and ICOM, which is really a
wonderful thing, and they support Hamvention,
and they support amateurs. I also want to say
that when you're here, think a volunteer, because
we're all volunteers. There's nobody at Spade
to do anything here. And we do hire outside services,
of course, but very few of those, and we have
such a great volunteer workforce. And so please
thank them, and they're all working hard to make
this a great event for all amateurs. All right,
Michael, thank you very much for your time. I'll
let you get back to your multitude of texts and
phone calls and places to run. Neil, thank you.
It's been really a pleasure, as always. Appreciate
what you do. We're glad you're here. And I know
you're getting ready with some great youth activities
here. And for those of you who can't see this
spot, where he's stationed at for the youth activities,
it's really beautiful. And thanks for all you
do, Neil. 73, everybody. See you here at Hamvention.
Alright, so that's Michael Coulter, W8CI, has
had a chance to speak with him this afternoon
from the Hamvention site and for updates as Hamvention
is going on, you can check the talk -in frequencies.
The primary is 146 .940 and the PL is 123 and
the bulletin loop It's on 145 .525 and also hamvention
.org and the social media accounts. And don't
forget the ARRL events smartphone app. There's
all kinds of stuff in that app. The forum schedule
and people and events that are going on in addition
to the official. Hamvention stuff, so don't forget
about the the smartphone app just search for
hamvention in your app store and Assistance is
also available on HF on mid cars on seven two
five eight so Some of the activities that are
going on this weekend in conjunction with hamvention
uh... we will be attending on on saturday i believe
uh... that's the national voice of america museum
of broadcasting open house for ham vincian guests
uh... that's it uh... westchester ohio just south
of datin off of i -seventy -five tylersville
road so uh... if you haven't had a chance to
you visit the museum and now is uh... is a great
time to go and there's a lot of hands that uh...
you know, combine that with their trips and we
always have a great time there. The museum hours,
they had one to nine today, they have one to
nine again tomorrow and Saturday and then on
Sunday it's one to five. You know, the evenings,
you know, you can spend the day at Hamvention,
then spend the evenings over at the Voice of
America Museum. So check that out. The website
there is voamuseum .org. And Paul, we always
have a good time over there. Yeah, we do. The
first time was 2017 was the first Xenia Hamvention,
right? Yeah, and that's the first time we went
to the museum and we got to tour, you know, in
the condition that it was at that time. And we
get to work the station, the club station that's
there. And that's a lot of fun. But what's really
cool is to see every year we go back to see the
progress they've made on the museum and how it's
improved. And they've made the exhibits nicer
and more interesting. And they've opened up more
parts. You can walk through the transmitter now,
a quarter kilowatt. Transmitter clearly it's
not running at this time But yeah, it's it's
an amazing thing to see and it lists the history
of it So it's it's well worth your time if you're
in the area to get out there and take a look
at it Yeah, sure is so again VOA museum org and
you can check that out now if you haven't heard
yet the Contest university which happened earlier
today and the contest super sweet and all the
Top Band Dinner and all that kind of stuff has
moved. It's no longer in downtown Dayton. It
is now at the Hope Hotel in Fairborn, which is
actually on the Wright -Patterson Air Force Base
campus. And the contest super suite is open from
7 p .m. to 2 a .m. each night there at the Hope
Hotel. And Paul. Had to run some some stuff over
to drop off last night and I will say make sure
you pay attention to the signage Because if not,
you may end up trying to go through the gate
into the Air Force base and When you tell the
guard that you're dropping off stuff at the hotel
they look at you funny and ask you for your ID
and then they escort your car around and when
you get ready to drive off then they give you
your ID back and they say okay here are the directions
do not go through the light do not go through
the light you have to turn at the gate so I that's
what I hear anyway it sounds very specific though
so I I'm guessing this wouldn't have happened
to you because you wouldn't have you wouldn't
have done that. No, not at all And I just I just
realized because it's really tired really late
My brain is tired the transmitter at the VOA
was not a quarter kilowatt, which is Nothing.
It was a quarter megawatt 250 ,000 watts when
that thing was up and working. So but yeah, try
not to drive onto the Air Force Base They generally
frown on that Yeah, typically they do so now
you're only off by you know a few powers of 10
there so you know all right well thanks to ham
vision and contest university uh there will be
a bus from the hope hotel that will take hams
to the front area of ham vision on friday and
saturday um so they will do that until 5 pm on
friday and on saturday and there were not any
other hotel stops on that uh On that trip and
tomorrow night at the hope hotel at ten o 'clock
The band is back together paul after they they
broke up They've decided to come back together.
It's the spurious emissions band tomorrow night
ten o 'clock hope hotel. What do you think? Well,
I think if people don't start calling out for
the bau feng song right from the get -go It's
like the free bird of the ham radio music world,
so that they can't leave until they play that,
just so you know. Thank you. Maybe we should
play the whole song. I don't know. Anyway. Dara
also is opening their clubhouse from 6 to 8 p
.m. That's in Huber Heights. at 6619 bell fountain
road and that's on friday and saturday the collegiate
dinner the collegiate people are getting together
saturday night at 6 15 at bagger dave's in centerville
so you can check that out and Like I said, we've
got youth activities going on at the Yoda booth.
We have a youth social time, uh, from noon to
one on both Friday and Saturday with free snacks
and, and some water and sports drinks. I think
we have, um, and then of course we have, uh,
the youth forum going on and then a couple other
forums going on. Um, and then the, uh, Carrie
forum, the collegiate forum and. Followed by
their annual dinner so Lots of stuff for the
youth as well to to pick and choose from so Paul
that's that's really really all I have now, you
know usually We have you going off and doing
something kind of kind of crazy. So like the
first year we were at Xenia we sent you over
to Hera Arena to to cover Hamvention and no one
was there and then I think it was last time you
went out in the parking lot and we played let's
look for Texans and we didn't find any Texans
so I think we ended up changing that to let's
look for antennas or ham radio license plates
and you were able to find some of those Surprisingly,
yes, there were some cars in the parking lot
with antennas mine included so but yeah Unfortunately
this year it's it's really late and it's storming.
So I'm I'm sorry I'm not gonna go outside and
look for stuff But yeah, it's it's always fun.
That was really frustrating in that first year
though Cuz I'm just standing there outside of
Hera and there's nobody you didn't tell me That
they'd moved the ham fest to another Part of
the area, you know, that's what I get for being
the new guy on the team. Oh my goodness. So we're
gonna, we're gonna have to, we're gonna have
to come up with something next year. You know,
this year we're, you know, we're still kind of
kind of phased out from COVID and all that kind
of thing. So, so yeah, next year we'll have to
come up with a new, new roving reporter. theme
for you to do. Yeah, we can do that. We can do
that. All right. Well, again, if you need a room,
Spring Hill Suites here in Miamisburg has a few
more available for Friday and several for Saturday.
So make sure you give them a call and uh... say
hello to uh... kevin thompson the uh... sales
director here and uh... he'll take care of you
they they take good care of us each and every
year so uh... thanks to spring hill suites miami's
bird for uh... for taking care of our uh... hotel
needs here during hamvention well before we go
tonight uh... let's let's take one more look
at the weather uh... with Erick Elwell, KD4BNT.
Your Hamvention weather is looking hot. We're
tracking some storms though. We may have to dodge
a few of those. That's no stranger to Hamvention
it seems. We'll have to deal with the occasional
storms around here during the night and then
again late Saturday into Saturday night a few
storms could cross as well. Otherwise prepare
for the heat as we head into the afternoon here
both Friday and Saturday temperatures are going
to be up near 90 degrees with mostly sunny skies
during the day. But again at night here tonight
again friday night into early saturday and then
saturday night there could be some storms with
your hand vincian weather i'm spectrum news one
chief meteorologist here regal well seven three
from katie for bnt All right, thanks Eric and
that is a wrap for this edition of ham talk live
live from Dayton I'd like to thank my guests
Eric Elwell Katie for BNT Michael Coulter w8
CI and Paul Brown wd9 GCO and everybody out there
in cyberspace for listening and we even had Troy
Simpson w9kvr listening from uh... you central
illinois so thanks for uh... staying up and and
listening to us tonight and uh... we invite you
back in next time for ham talk live in for a
list of are upcoming guests just go to ham talk
live dot com so for now this is new rapid we
be nine vpg and paul brown w d nine g c o saying
seven three seven five and made the good the
xb yours To you and your family I'll be seeing
you further down the law You're 73 To you and
your family I'll be seeing you further down the
law