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. It's
Ham Radio, with Neographer. Here we go, welcome
to Hamtop Live. Call in, let's talk, Neil's your
guy. Hamtop Live, here we go, on Hamtop Radio.
Hello everyone and welcome to am talk live episode
number 288 We're at the Orlando Hamcation. I'm
your host, Neil Rapp, WB9VBG. Thanks for tuning
in to this episode of HamTalk Live. Tonight we're
joined by Michael Colley, W4ORL, a little later
in the show. Last time, last episode, Keith Schlottman,
KR7RK, was here to talk about the 1010 International
Net. So if you missed that show, you can listen
anytime at HamTalkLive .com or on your favorite
podcast. app or on YouTube and don't forget WTWW
will rebroadcast HamTalk Live Saturday afternoons
at about 330 p .m. Eastern Time. That frequency
is 5 .085 on your AM dial. Again WTWW is 5085
AM. And you can catch us Saturday afternoons
about 3 30 p .m. Eastern time is when they usually
run that. So check us out there as well. Well,
yeah, coming to you from Orlando, Florida, where
it's it was a nice 70 degrees and not a cloud
in the sky. Everything was just just great when
we got here and went to hamcation a little bit
and. set up our youth on the air booth. We'll
talk more about that, but I also got a chance
to run into a few people, Joe Eisberg, KZeroNEB,
and some of the Lee family, and some others.
So it's great to see John Nod and Michael Colley
again, and Mike Banigan at the show. you know,
to kind of check it out. So we're going to talk
a little bit about that. And Michael was kind
enough to sit down with me for a few minutes
late this afternoon and tell us the latest on
hamcation, which opens in the morning. It opens
up at 9 a .m. on Friday. So we'll talk about
that and I'll be back live from hamcation right
after this word from ICOM America. right here
on HamTalk Live. Now is the time to spice up
your ham shack with ICOM's new ID52 handheld.
Now shipping. This radio is perfect for staying
in or venturing out and working your favorite
bands this winter season. The ID52A is now shipping.
ICOM's newest handheld amateur radio is a VHF
-UHF dual bander with D -Star and FM dual mode
functions. This radio supports conventional FM
communications and D -Star Simplex repeater regional
and worldwide calls over the D -Star internet
gateway. The ID52A is the first amateur radio
handheld with a full color 2 .3 inch waterfall
display and the ability to send photos over D
-Star with a connected Android device. Other
features include a wideband receiver with a guaranteed
range of 144 to 148 and 440 to 450 MHz, integrated
GPS including grid square location, micro SD
card slot, micro USB connector, and IPX7 waterproof.
Calling all hams, don't forget to find ICOM's
booth at the 2022 Orlando Hamcation, February
11th through the 13th, 2022. For more information
about ICOM radios, go to icomamerica .com slash
amateur. 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
Live Recorded live that is from Sonny Orlando,
Florida We're here for hamcation and we're going
to talk to Michael Colley W4ORL the general chairman
of hamcation in just a little bit but This was
really Really nice to be able to come down here.
My schedule has kind of changed with some of
the career changes lately and was just really
happy to be able to kind of break away and get
here because I haven't been down here before
and I know it's a great show and so we flew down
this afternoon and got everything set up over
at the Youth on the Air booth. So we have a booth
there and we'll be giving away some stuff. showing
some video from last summer and kind of making
people aware of the Youth on the Air program
and what all is happening with that. So if you
are at Hamcation, come by. I will be at the booth
most of the day Friday and then I'll be there
for part of the day Saturday and then we actually
have a forum right after Carol Perry's Youth
Forum 1245. in the tent number two and we'll
give you an update on youth on the air there
as well. But make sure you stop by and say hello.
That's Saturday and then Saturday night we finally
get to have the ceremony for the Educator of
the Year Award for 2021 and for 2022. So excited
to meet the other winner that will be recognized
on Saturday night. So, you know, the weather's
pretty good, which, which, you know, it's Florida.
So they usually have some pretty good weather
and like I said, 70 degrees. And it looks like
we might have a little rain here and there, but
you know, that's kind of Florida too. You know,
there's a little bit of rain here and there,
but it looks like it's, it's going to be a great
weekend. So. I'm really impressed by it. I'm
anxious to see all the people and I'm really
glad to be here. So I know one of our sponsors,
Tower Electronics, is here. I've been talking
over the phone with Scott and Jill. I look forward
to seeing them as well. uh... but uh... they're
here and and many of the other vendors are here
so uh... we're gonna make this one uh... shorter
episode tonight uh... i know this is the first
one that we've done uh... not live on thursday
at nine p m eastern time like we've done for
the first two hundred and eighty seven episodes
uh... so this one is going to be a little uh...
out of out of culture because uh... We're just
going to make this a short one tonight. So I
do have for the next two weeks, we are actually
going to record on Thursday night. So we'll probably
be releasing the next two shows on Thursday night
as as those are recorded and then produced. So
we'll be kind of back in the normal. kind of
schedule but we're again making some adjustments
here and not doing so many live shows so just
wanted to to do one here from Orlando so we're
going to take a break right now and when we come
back we're going to hear from Michael Colley
W4ORL and listen to that interview and then we've
got a few other things here before we finish
up tonight. So we'll be back right after this
word from Tower Electronics right here on HamTalk
Live. Jerry, what's up man? I haven't seen you
at Sunbucks in a while. I used to see you every
morning getting coffee. What's up? Well, I can't
afford Sunbucks five days a week anymore. I had
to spend my money on PL -259s. You know, those
antenna projects I've been meaning to do. I had
to do them before my HOA finds out I have antennas.
That's too bad, Jerry. I miss seeing you and
catching up over coffee. You should get your
PL -259s from Tower Electronics. They have great
stuff. Jerry, you're back! Oh! QRM Heterodyne
Frappuccino. That's a good choice. How's it going?
Did you get all those antennas up before the
HOA police showed up? Yeah, I got them all done.
Thanks for telling me about Tower Electronics.
Now I can have my coffee. I just saved a bunch
of money on my PL -259s by switching to Tower
Electronics. Don't get caught without PL -259s.
Visit Tower Electronics online at PL -259 .com
or at a ham fest near you. Or give them a call
at 920 -435 -2973. And be sure to pick up some
power poles, adapters, and cables too. Here's
the snap. Rapp takes the rig. He breaks through
the pile -up. He's on 80. Now 40. Now 20. 15.
10. 2 meters. Touchdown. Hamtalk Live. Welcome
back to HamTalk Live. Be sure to check us out
on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And Tower
Electronics again will be at the Orlando hamcation
this week, and they have some others coming up.
I know Cave City Kentucky's on the list here
soon, and some others, but you can visit them
anytime at PL -259 .com. Alright, well, it's
time to hear from the General Chairman of Or
the Orlando hamcation Michael Colley W4 ORL.
So let's roll the tape. Okay, we're here live
at or the Orlando hamcation and general chairman
Michael Colley W4 ORL is here except except your
yeah, except I'm looking at your shirt. It says
W4 MCA. I keep struggling with that. But anyway,
Michael is here and he's going to give us The
latest news here from Hamcation before it opens
up tomorrow morning. So, Michael, what's the
status of things right now? Right now, everything's
going good. It's been a busy couple days. I would
probably say 95 % of the vendors are set up.
There's actually some still here right now setting
up. A lot of good vendors are going to be here.
So, that's the biggest thing inside. All of our
cells are still open. The website currently you
can't buy anything, but everything is open here
at the gates for RV, telegate, swaps. Ticket
booths open tomorrow at 8 a .m. and the show
opens at 9. Will call opens at 8. So, if you
got your will call tickets, please go to the
east gate for that. Okay, and do you have room
left for any RVs? Yes, right now we're at around
210 RVs on site and we still have a few spots
left. So please, if you have an RV and want to
come, we have a location for you with full power
hookup. Okay, now what about the testing? We
talked a lot about the testing being all computerized
and instantly graded and everything. If people
want to get in on the testing, can they still
do that? Yes, they can. They just come out and
they can register here at site at the testing
location, which starts tomorrow at 10 a .m. So,
yes, there is some room, but just remember it
is first come, first serve. Right now, tomorrow
we have over 60 people signed up to test tomorrow.
So if you get over there, you might have to wait
a few minutes to take the test, but we're gonna
work through them as fast as we can. We have
went to a new system with tablets, so everything
will be electronic. And we have learned that
we can do about double the speed of normal. Handwritten
testing when we do this so we should be able
to keep it flowing fairly good and keep the line
down for waiting To take your test. Well, that's
great So, you know if yet if you're close by
come on down and you can still get in to the
testing to The ham fest and even you can get
an RV parking spot now Michael you were telling
me, you know You had to turn everything off of
the website So, you know, you can't you can't
get in there right now on the website, but but
you can do it all right here correct Everything's
here. So anything that you need just come here
and get it at the gate Also with prizes. We've
had a lot of vendors donate prizes Since they've
come in today. The prizes is currently up -to
-date on the website as of a week ago but as
the weekend goes on we will be adding more prizes
to it you can follow who wins from hamcation
.com and currently we're probably over 150 prizes
to give away over the three days. Wow you've
got a ton of prizes and I knew you were gonna
have a bunch but like you said you've got even
more here in the last few days so that's that's
really impressive. Now, you know, let's talk
about the numbers here a little bit. I know you
said that most of your vendors are here, and
we're sitting here at the Youth on the Air booth,
and I know our neighbors ended up getting the
flu, and so we kind of doubled our space here,
but other than a few, you know, like that that
just had some unavoidable things, you're pretty
well full. Correct. Currently we are probably
99 % full and commercial area. The swaps area
I believe as of this morning only had 10 tables
left out of almost 300 in there. The tailgate
It's hard to say out there, but we can still
fit lots of tailgate outside. We are sitting
on 83 acres of land, so we can fit thousands
of tailgaters if we have to, but our normal is
between 200 to 300 tailgates, spaces outside.
All right. And I know what people are going to
ask about the COVID numbers. So let's talk about
that. How are things down here in central Florida
right now? Our COVID numbers are currently way
down. As compared to a month ago, we're 61 %
lower in COVID numbers from a month ago. So we're
doing good down here. There will be no mask mandate
at the show. The masks are highly encouraged
inside the buildings. Outside, of course, is
fine, but we do highly encourage you wearing
a mask inside, but it is not a mandate. We do
have plenty of masks here on property. If you
forget it or do feel like you wanna wear one,
we have them here. We'll have hand sanitizing
stations all around the show also for everybody's
safety. All right, very good. Well, I think we've
hit everything. No big... major road construction
projects or anything going on here to talk about.
So I think we've hit anything. Anything of anything
else that we've missed here? One thing for people
heading in, we do have a talk -in station. It's
on 146 .76. The info is also on our website.
Also, we have a special event station with a
special call sign of W1AW slash four or stroke
four. So please check out the website there and
we will have the information up there what frequencies
they will be monitoring. Also on the website
we do have a list of local repeaters in the area.
I do know that I believe the Deere's repeaters
are currently down. So we have not updated that
on the website yet, but I believe those are down.
So anybody that's visiting the theme parks, a
couple of the other repeaters should reach the
area. but the actual ones on property as deers
are currently down. Okay and well for those who
may not know the abbreviation deers it's the
Disney emergency amateur radio service I believe
yeah so anyway just wanted to make sure that
we mentioned that because you know if you're
going to Disney like we are on Sunday and hope
to get on one of the Disney repeaters they are
down right now so that's why if you try to bring
them up they don't work. So we want to make sure
that we do that. And the talk in frequency here
is 146 .76 with a 103 .5 PL talk. All right.
Very good. Well, I think we've hit it all. Thanks,
Michael, for taking a few minutes away from your
long day here to get everything set up and ready
to go for in the morning and look forward to
a great show here. Alright, thank you for having
me today and I just want to say welcome to Hamcation
and hopefully we'll have about 25 ,000 people
here to check out your booth. Alright, sounds
great. Alright, very glad that Michael had a
chance to speak with me this afternoon and give
everybody an update on what's the latest news
from Hamcation. You know, we talked a little
bit about the Disney repeaters being off the
air. They had, first of all, their trustee had
become a silent key. And then the tower had to
come down. And so they had to relocate. So just
wanted to make sure everybody knew that those
are not available right now. So if you're in
town for hamcation and... We're planning on being
on one of the Disney repeaters. It's not there,
so just like Michael said, use the talk -in frequency
there or any other repeaters in the Orlando area.
Okay, well, before we go, we don't want to leave
out the ham radio joke of the week with N9GSU.
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've
been studying for my extra exam and I had forgotten
how much math was involved. Well, I can do algebra
and a little bit of calculus, but graphing? That's
where I draw the line. This has been the HamTalk
Live Ham Radio Joke of the Week with Rick Garrett
in 9GSU. Tune in again next week for another
joke from Rick. All right. Well, I hope everybody's
enjoyed hearing from hamcation here and Gonna
enjoy the weekend here and also get a chance
to run over to Epcot for a day and and Just just
be the Florida tourist for a day. So really looking
forward to all of that and We'll be back next
week with another show. So for now that's a wrap
for this edition of HamTalk Live. I want to thank
all the staff at the Orlando Hamcation for being
generous hosts this afternoon and this weekend.
So thanks to them and thank you all for listening
and tune in next time when Jocelyn KD8 VRX Mark
K3POE and Peter N4PVH will be here to talk about
the 80th anniversary of the Voice of America
special event. For a list of all of our upcoming
guests, visit HamTalkLive .com. So for now, this
is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, saying 7 -3, 7 -5, and
may the good DX be yours. Well you came right
back to my secure core Your readability five
and strength nine You never once mentioned your
weather at all And I didn't mention mine We talked
and talked for hours and hours I completely forgot
you're a ham I don't know your power or the height
of your tower But frankly I don't give a damn
So 73, to you and your family, I'll be seeing
you further down the line. 73, to you and your
family, I'll be seeing you further down the line.