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. Here
we go, welcome to Amtopi Calling let's talk,
Neil's your guy, Amtopi Everyone, it's time for
HamTalk Live, episode number 294. It's another
HamVention preview episode. It's the Youth Forum
preview recorded on April 15th, 2022. I'm your
host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. Thanks for tuning in
to this episode of HamTalk Live. We'll be joined
by Carol Perry, WB2MGP in just a little bit.
Last episode, Lee Hite, K8CLI, was here to talk
about the Voice of America Museum open house.
during Hamvention. If you missed the show, you
can listen anytime at HamTalkLive .com or on
your favorite podcast app or on YouTube. Or you
can catch the rebroadcast of HamTalk Live over
on WTWW Shortwave. That's 5 0 8 5 a .m. Saturday
afternoons at about 3 30 p .m. Eastern Time.
So I'll be back with Carol right after this word.
from Tower Electronics, right here on HamTalk
Live. Hey honey, have you seen the PL 259s anywhere?
No I haven't. Come on kids, let's go! There's
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schedule will be in Cedarburg, Wisconsin on April
30th and Sandwich, Illinois on May 1st and of
course at Hamvention, but you can visit them
anytime at PL -259 .com Jennifer I guess I'm
ready to leave. Andy and Herb went down to get
the Cordova. Have you remembered everything?
I can't be sure. You're driving to Dayton. Where
you'll be staying at the luxurious Hotel Ocean
View. In Dayton. Now, Jennifer, tell me again,
why am I making this trip to Dayton? All the
information you need for your trip to Dayton.
It's HamVention Preview here on HamTalk Live.
Welcome back to HamTalk Live. Tonight, Carol
Perry, WB2MGP joins us on the Orlando Amateur
Radio Club and Hamcation Zoom line. Carol taught
ham radio at Intermediate School 72 in Staten
Island, New York for 30 years. And now she travels
across the globe, speaking to hams about involving
young people in ham radio and using it as a teaching
tool. Carol is the recipient of the 1987 Dayton
Ham of the Year Award, the 1987 ARRL Instructor
of the Year Award, the 1991 Marconi Wireless
Memorial Award, the 1993 QCWA President's Award,
the 1996 RCA Barry Goldwater Amateur Radio Award,
the 2009 -2012 RCA President's Awards, and the
Carol Perry Educator of the Year award sponsored
by Hamcation that's named in her honor. So Carol
is also the Director of Youth Activities for
both the Radio Club of America and the Quarter
Century Wireless Association. Well, Carol, welcome
to HamTalk Live. Thanks for coming back. Oh,
absolutely. It's always a pleasure to speak with
you, Neil. Well, we're getting ready for Hamvention
and everybody's excited that, you know, it's
coming back. It's been two years and it's finally
time to prepare for the trip to Hamvention. And
so we've been talking about different things
that are going to take place during that weekend
and one of the big things are your instructors
forum and the big one, the youth forum. So we
want to talk a little bit about that and give
everybody an idea of what's going to happen and
kind of wet your interest a little bit to come
to these events. So let's start off with the
instructors forum. I know that's on Friday. uh...
and always attend that and you always have some
great speakers there so tell us a little bit
about uh... the instructors forum okay thank
you neil well every year we welcome people who
are instructors slash teachers of youth groups
it does not have to be uh... a uh... a specific
teacher in a classroom to come to this forum
to benefit from it. It just has to be somebody
who's interested and wants to get ideas how to
form a group of youth to work with them with
radio. It could be scout masters, and it could
be a church group that's putting together a youth
activity group with radio. And again, it's to
share ideas. of how to recruit and to retain
young people in amateur radio. And we always
try to have an interesting speaker that can perhaps
share really good ideas. And this year I have
invited Bob Indurbitsen, NQ1R, who is the director
of public relations and innovation at the ARRL.
Now, he's not coming there as a promo to sell
or anything like that. He is coming specifically,
because he and I discussed this, to speak about
those two facets that I just mentioned. Are you
looking to get ideas of how to get a youth group
started and what materials would be available
for you and he will discuss the ARRL resources
including the Teachers Institute and share ideas
of what the League is offering in the way of
free resources or manuals or books, etc. That
can be bought if you wish, but it's not going
to be a sales promo. It's going to be uh... to
help people get started or get good ideas about
working with young people on radio well it sounds
great and that's going to be friday morning from
ten thirty to eleven thirty right that is correct
in room number four in room number four okay
and that's the one that's behind the track I
don't remember correctly. Yes, yes. So Bob will
be there to share some of that kind of thing
and you always have some interesting things to
pick up and I picked up a lot of things along
the way over the years to help my ham radio clubs.
And it's just a great opportunity for people
to come and learn a little bit about what needs
to go into this to make the chances much higher
of being successful. So I think that's a great
thing. Oh, absolutely. And plus, I will give
access to anybody who wants to afterwards or
when you have thought about it and hopefully
gotten inspired by what you've learned there,
to contact me. If you need any help in any of
the above mentioned things that I said, do you
want an idea how to approach a school principal,
how to approach a school district, how to start
a small group in your church activities, etc.
I always make myself available with the information
of how to contact me through the RCA youth activities
with any question you may have specific to the
situation that you find yourself in. Yeah, always
a tremendous resource. So that's the Instructor's
Forum, Friday, 1030 to 1130, Room 4. And if you're
interested in in teaching ham radio at you know
whether it's a license class or whether it's
a merit badge or uh just just some awareness
just uh you know what ham radio is uh why you
know to young people uh come come and listen
to carol and and bob well Then on Saturday we
have we have the the the big one It's the the
youth forum and you've been doing this for many
many years showcasing young people in ham radio
and This year again at Saturday from 9 15 until
noon and that in that big big room was number
two and You you want to talk a little bit about
the youth forum and then tell us, you know who
should be coming and And what's gonna happen?
Oh Well, Neil, thank you. This is of course where
my heart is This will be my 33rd year of moderating
the Dayton Hamvention Youth Forum and It's always
exciting challenging for me personally uh...
like i said this is where my passion in my heart
is because of the incredible but i call ripple
affect toward the young presenters this year
i have seven outstanding young presenters who
will be giving presentations off speak a little
bit in a while about what they've what some of
them will be and uh... they actually start interviewing
Neil with me in September and This is has come
through the years to be something that we have
in normal times established a waiting list for
because I won't go above seven Three hours sounds
like a long time, but it goes one two zip when
you're actually including almost one full hour
that we devote and have learned to save for giving
out all the prizes that get donated, both for
the presenters and for the audience. So I've
limited it to seven speakers at the most, but
it's an amazing opportunity for networking and
for learning about public speaking and to enjoy
the nagging, I mean coaching. that I give them
through all the weeks leading up to the actual
presentation. So it's a fabulous experience for
young people who should attend. Anybody who wants
to either come to support youth in radio and
technology or anybody who just wants to see what
what the future we hope of amateur radio will
be all about and to come to support these youngsters
who are bringing new ideas, new technology to
this wonderful service and hobby of ours. It's
always great to hear what these young people
are doing. It's amazing some of the things that
they're doing. You know kind of off on their
own a lot of times and um is always inspiring
to hear those stories and like you said for them
it's a great opportunity to to get familiar with
public speaking and and get some coaching and
and that's why it takes a long time you know
that's why they they're meeting with you in september
is because they need to uh to refine their skills
and maybe give some practice presentations to
some local radio clubs or, you know, some things
to prepare this to make it what it is for Hamvention.
So that's a really cool thing. Well, talk about
some of your presenters. You said you have seven
presenters. highlight a couple of those and give
people an idea of of what kinds of things that
you will be talking about okay great and i would
also follow up to what we just said many of these
youngsters who could be from ten years of age
up until eighteen stay in touch with me and after
thirty three years of doing it you can imagine
many of them now have children of their own that
they bring time ventures but many of them stay
in touch with me and go on into the wireless
industry or the technical colleges and Nothing
like they would approach me for endorsements
and letters of recommendation. So we love the
fact that there's continuity as well. That's
a big ripple effect of the Youth Forum. But yes,
okay. I also try to have one notable from amateur
radio who comes in to give a bit of encouragement
to the children, et cetera. And this year I am
going to have Frank Bauer. K -A -3 -H -D -O who
is the executive director of ARIS amateur radio
on the International Space Station and he will
just briefly inform the people in the audience
about the wonderful innovations that they are
coming up with to enable school children around
the world to speak with astronauts on the International
Space Station. So he will be my special guest
presenter. The young people that I have, let
me just, I'll read their names. I have three
groups of siblings, Blake Pearson and Ryan Pearson,
KN4VKY and KN4VKW respectively. who are, and
I've met in person all of these young presenters,
either because they've been postponed with Hamvention
from last year, or because I've met them on the
road, and they're all just fantastic young people.
And they will in particular, they are baseball
enthusiasts. and they're going to be speaking
a little bit about how they made it to Little
League playoffs and their sibling rivalry and
all the accolades that they're involved with
in contesting and other things with Ham Radio.
And then I have the Wagner kids, that's Benedict,
AD8FQ, and his sister Agnes. who just upgraded
to AD8IR. She became an extra class. And these
are all young people who in lockdown for the
pandemic discovered new skills and had new adventures
in honing their ham radio experiences and adventures
and new innovations that they came up with via
ham radio. And then I've got Cody Quarless, K
-0 -D -I -E, who is interesting. He's a new ham.
He's 14 years old. And he became totally interested
in digital. And he'll be speaking about the functioning
of APRS and why APRS is important. and what are
the differences between APRF and DPRF. So he'll
be speaking about what he's encountered with
help and support along the way as a new ham radio
operator. And then I've got the famous siblings
Jack McElroy and Audrey McElroy. Unfortunately,
Audrey, even though she's involved with the presentation,
is graduating that day. So Jack will be doing
the actual presentation, but you'll see Audrey
in the visual part of it. And he will be speaking
about how ham radio can be used with high altitude
balloons that go around the world. And that's
a dynamite presentation. Absolutely, and they
They did our high altitude balloon launch at
Yoda Camp last year and I know they're getting
ready for another year and we want to congratulate
Audrey. She's been accepted to Georgia Tech so
we want to congratulate her and kind of the same
kind of thing. She can't be at Yoda Camp because
she's got to start at Georgia Tech. These kids
just keep excelling way too much And as I said
at the beginning Neil I never get jaded I continue
to be inspired I get inspired and motivated by
these fantastic and talented youngsters Yeah,
they just They just keep doing and, and, you
know, and the Pearsons they've been on the show
before and, you know, making it to the little
league world series and they're out there promoting
ham radio during the little league world series.
It's, it's amazing. Uh, so I can't wait to, to,
uh, to see all of them, uh, again and meet. Meet
some of the new ones At the youth forum and again,
that's 9 15 to noon in forum room 2 on Saturday
of Hamvention and I know you couldn't do this
without a lot of help and before the show we
were even talking about, you know, you need a
You know, I always joke with the kids, they need
a wheelbarrow to pull out everything that they
get at this forum. Uh, and so we kind of got
the other perspective. Carol, you've got a, you
know, you've, you need a forklift for all this
stuff. So what a great idea. So tell us a little
bit about the sponsorship and the prizes. Oh,
yes. Well, if anybody needs an added reason to
come and be totally blown away by these young
people at the Youth Forum, we have separate prize
tickets, another donation that comes in from
the Lance Cruz Amateur Radio Club. They work
in conjunction with MFJ for door prizes for the
forum. And they have volunteers that come. We
call my volunteers, the physical ones, the carols
monitors. And they wear yellow ribbon necklaces
with medallions on it so that they are the ones
who help distribute the printed tickets that
Lance Cruz volunteers to give us every year,
separate prizes for adults versus anyone who's
19 or younger. And because I call that audience
every year, the love audience, because when,
and I just gave myself a chill, when we're up
at that podium, you feel the support that comes
from the people who were sitting in that audience.
And so every year, because Ray Novak at ICOM
shares and has always supported my work with
young people in amateur radio, They always donate
the big, big prize, the big door prize that I
reserve for this love audience. Only an adult
can win this year's big door prize, which is
from ICOM, the IC705. That's the all -mode portable
transceiver. That's a really nice door prize.
Very nice door prize. To be won by an adult.
Yeah. Now, ICOM also donates every year a variety
of fabulous gifts for the young people who are
presenting. And this year, each of the young
presenters will be getting an ID52A VHF UHF digital
transceiver. And they can put it in the backpacks
that I have already sent the RCA Young Achiever
patches to the ICOM graphic designers who will
hot sync it onto the book bag and they also get
personalized jackets from ICOM with their name
and call sign on it and all kinds of goodies
go into that bag. And, in addition, as you just
said, Neil, it's like Christmas morning when
you look at when the kids get up there who are
presenters, they also will get from my RCA Youth
Activities Committee, we give each presenter
a $100 check that they can then go out and have
a good time spending on whatever they wish at
the Hamvention. So RCA is a sponsor as well.
DX Engineering has donated 10 $100 gift certificates
to be given out to the audience. Right before
you and I got on this call, my doorbell rang
and Hile Sound, I just received a package for
them. They have donated several fabulous headsets
that will be given out. as door prizes. QCWA,
where I am a director and in charge of youth
activities as well, every year donates money
to be given to the winner, as you know, of a
contest that I run called the Young Ham Lends
a Hand Contest, where we look to encourage the
spirit of volunteerism in our young people. And
you sent me a couple of great nominees as well.
So QCWA donates money specifically for the winner
who will get a $100 prize. And that gets announced
at the Youth Forum. So they are a sponsor as
well. And all the names of our sponsors, Neil,
are up at the podium to show our appreciation
for what they do and how they've worked and supported
these efforts through. through decades. Yeah,
yeah. They truly have come through in a big way
for the young people and also the prizes for
the not so young people. So it's a lot of fun.
For the more mature and experienced amongst us.
Yes, the more experienced. Yes, exactly. Well,
we're going to take a break here real quick,
but we're going to come back and we're going
to talk a little bit about the Young Ham Lends
a Hand Award with Carol Perry, WB2MGP, right
after this word from ICOM America, right here
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Visit icomamerica .com slash amateur for more
information on ICOM radios. Welcome back to HamTalk
Live. Be sure to check us out on Facebook, Twitter,
and Instagram. And before we get back to Carol
Perry, WB2MGP, about the Youth Forum, we have
our weekly N9GSU 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 have an antique wall
clock on the wall of my shack where I keep track
of world time, but unfortunately both hands fell
off. I guess I can sell it on eBay as a timeless
treasure. Oh boy, well speaking of timeless treasures,
it's time to go back to Carole Perry WB2MGP and
we're going to talk a little bit about the Youngham
Lenza Hand Award. We're back with Carol Perry,
WB2MGP. We're previewing the Dayton -Hamvention
Youth Forum and Instructors Forum that will be
coming up this year at Dayton. And again, the
Instructors Forum Friday, 10 to 30 a .m. to 11
to 30 a .m. in Forum Room 4, out behind the track
there. And then the Youth Forum Saturday, 9 15
until noon. Well, you mentioned that QCWA has
been sponsoring this Young Ham Wins a Hand Award.
Tell us a little bit about the award and what
it's designed to do and what kinds of things
these Young Hams are doing to win it. Well, Neil,
to give credit where it's due, eight years ago,
a fellow ham, Evan Rolick, approached me and
we were speaking about the importance of volunteerism,
which is one of the basic tenets, of course,
of amateur radio and service, and how we could
encourage it. And so we put together this contest.
which has proven to be extremely successful because
we get a lot of nominees each year. Again, to
encourage young people getting involved with
volunteerism. And my goodness, not only do they
step forward with doing things, helping at various
hand events, as I know you know, where they've
helped out with you so many times at all the
major great projects you're involved with. But
they step forward in their local communities
as well and in different rural areas. And I get
all kinds of nominations for kids who are volunteering
with their local emergency communications and
police and fire departments, et cetera. And again,
it would put a smile on anybody's ham heart.
to see that the spirit of volunteerism, which
we look to encourage with this contest, is alive
and well. So I'm happy to be reporting that.
And the winner gets announced at the Youth Forum,
where they will receive, sponsored by QCWA and
RCA, a check for $100. And this year, I confide
To just you, Neil. Hang on just a second. We
got a player. We got our player breaking news
music here because this is, this is breaking
news here. So. okay there we go so we've got
the breaking news music so here here you go I
was confiding to only you that my committee and
I have been so impressed with the number of nominees
that have done fabulous volunteering projects
that we are considering having more than one
winner this year so that will all be announced
at the Youth Forum Well, there you go. So maybe
even more than one. So there it is folks Breaking
news right here. All right. Well Carol You've
done a great job here today of Tell everybody
about what's happening at the Instructors Forum
and Youth Forum at Hamvention. Thank you so much
for being here. Any final words here? Anything
we missed before we go? Oh, absolutely. A big
virtual hug to you for all that you do and all
the coordinated efforts you do with me. And big
thanks as well to the fabulous folks at Dara
who sponsored the Hamvention who just they cannot
do enough to expedite and help in any way that
they can to make sure that these forums are at
optimum efficiency and kudos to all of them and
thanks to all of them as well. Absolutely a great
bunch of volunteers that put all this stuff together
so carol thanks so much good to uh... speak with
you again and look forward to seeing you next
month at the forums and uh... would just can't
wait you'll bet meal travel faith be faith and
i'll look forward to seeing you as well and everybody
else all right well that is a wrap for this week's
edition of ham talk live Thanks to my guest Carol
Perry WB2MGP and everybody out there in cyberspace
for listening and invite you back next time for
another episode of HamTalk Live. For a list of
our upcoming guests just go to HamTalkLive .com
and if you like a show leave us a review that
will help us out. For now, this is Neil Rapp,
WB9VPG, saying 7 -3, 7 -5, and may the good DX
be yours.