WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.660 This episode of HamTalk Live is brought to you 00:00:02.660 --> 00:00:06.040 by Tower Electronics. For connectors, cables, 00:00:06.259 --> 00:00:12.980 and more, call 920 -435 -2973 or visit pl -259 00:00:12.980 --> 00:00:17.660 .com. And by ICOM, heard it, worked it, logged 00:00:17.660 --> 00:00:22.879 it. Visit www .icomamerica .com slash amateur 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:31.760 for more information about ICOM radios. Here 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:37.740 we go, welcome to Amtopi Calling let's talk, 00:00:38.020 --> 00:00:58.119 Neil's your guy Amtopi, here we go Hey, good 00:00:58.119 --> 00:01:02.520 evening, everyone. It's time for Ham Talk Live. 00:01:02.740 --> 00:01:08.560 It's episode number 276. HamFest challenges recorded 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:12.980 live on Thursday, October 14th, 2021. I'm your 00:01:12.980 --> 00:01:16.719 host, Neil Rapp, WP9BPG. Thanks for tuning in. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:19.799 To this episode of HamTalk Live, tonight we're 00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:24.120 joined by Michael Coulter, W8CI, Michael Colley 00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:29.200 with this new call sign, W4ORL. and Mark Brown 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:32.579 in for BCD and we'll take your calls live a little 00:01:32.579 --> 00:01:35.659 later in the show. Last week, Dr. Scott Wright, 00:01:35.700 --> 00:01:38.700 KZeroMD was here to talk about how to get started 00:01:38.700 --> 00:01:41.840 in contesting. So if you missed that show, you 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:45.260 can listen anytime by going to hamptalklive .com 00:01:45.260 --> 00:01:48.760 or you can find it on your favorite podcast app 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:53.680 or you can also listen to it on YouTube and you 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:58.739 can catch the rebroadcast. Ham talk live every 00:01:58.739 --> 00:02:01.799 Saturday afternoon at about 3 30 p .m. Eastern 00:02:01.799 --> 00:02:07.920 time over on WTWW shortwave that's five zero 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:12.300 eight five on your am dial and so thanks to them 00:02:12.300 --> 00:02:17.860 for carrying the show and Here tonight if you're 00:02:17.860 --> 00:02:21.659 listening alive You'll be able to give us a call. 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:24.580 So get your questions ready to go for these three 00:02:25.210 --> 00:02:27.110 I'll give you the phone number here in just a 00:02:27.110 --> 00:02:29.810 second so you can write it down, type it in, 00:02:29.990 --> 00:02:33.650 have it ready to go, but we'll talk to them for 00:02:33.650 --> 00:02:39.129 a little bit first. That phone number is 859 00:02:39.129 --> 00:02:57.060 -982 -7373. Again, 859 -982. You can also tweet 00:02:57.060 --> 00:03:00.219 us, it's at HamTalk Live on Twitter and you can 00:03:00.219 --> 00:03:03.120 comment on Spreaker as well if you're logged 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:05.939 in there and I'll be back with Michael, Michael 00:03:05.939 --> 00:03:09.699 and Mark right after this word from Icom America 00:03:09.699 --> 00:03:13.960 right here on HamTalk Live. Contest remotely 00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:17.000 or from the comfort of your own home, ICOM has 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:19.900 the perfect base station ready for action. The 00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:26.060 IC9700, IC7610, and IC7300 SDR transceivers are 00:03:26.060 --> 00:03:28.560 top of the line and are the first choice for 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:31.319 contesters across the globe. Robust base stations 00:03:31.319 --> 00:03:33.560 like these cut through pileups letting you work 00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:36.620 the bands and record those contacts. 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This high -performance SDR can pick 00:04:18.569 --> 00:04:20.550 out the faintest of signals even in the presence 00:04:20.550 --> 00:04:24.730 of stronger adjacent ones. The IC7610 from ICOM 00:04:24.730 --> 00:04:27.350 is a direct sampling software -defined radio 00:04:27.350 --> 00:04:29.810 that will change the world's definition of an 00:04:29.810 --> 00:04:33.389 SDR transceiver. It has RF direct sampling, 110 00:04:33.389 --> 00:04:36.949 dB RMDR, independent dual receivers, and dual 00:04:36.949 --> 00:04:40.589 digit cell. And the IC9700, you can create your 00:04:40.589 --> 00:04:43.389 own band opening with it. This transceiver radio 00:04:43.389 --> 00:04:46.689 brings direct sampling to the UHF VHF weak signal 00:04:46.689 --> 00:04:49.209 world. This all -mode transceiver is loaded with 00:04:49.209 --> 00:04:51.589 innovative features that are sure to help keep 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:54.779 you busy, faster processors, higher input gain, 00:04:55.100 --> 00:04:57.480 higher display resolution, and a cleaner signal. 00:04:57.740 --> 00:04:59.980 It has a 4 .3 -inch color touch screen, real 00:04:59.980 --> 00:05:02.660 -time spectrum scope and waterfall smooth satellite 00:05:02.660 --> 00:05:05.540 operation with 99 satellite channels with dual 00:05:05.540 --> 00:05:09.040 watch operation and full duplex operation in 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:12.399 satellite mode. Visit icomamerica .com slash 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:15.500 amateur for more information on ICOM radios. 00:05:15.959 --> 00:05:20.259 This is your announcer Andy Morrison, K9AWM. 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:22.980 Why else would I be talking like this? You're 00:05:22.980 --> 00:05:40.120 listening to HamTalk Live with Neil Rapp. Welcome 00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:44.439 back to HamTalk Live. Tonight, Michael Coulter, 00:05:44.500 --> 00:05:50.079 W8CI, Michael Cawley, W4ORL, and Mark Brown in 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:54.420 for BCD. All join us. On the Orlando Amateur 00:05:54.420 --> 00:05:58.300 Radio Club and Hamcation hotline, Michael Coulter, 00:05:58.300 --> 00:06:02.360 WACI, is the official spokesperson of the Dayton 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:06.220 Hamvention. Michael resides in Zeno, Ohio and 00:06:06.220 --> 00:06:08.860 is past president of the Dayton Amateur Radio 00:06:08.860 --> 00:06:13.060 Association and former Hamvention general chairman 00:06:13.060 --> 00:06:17.480 back in 2011 and 12. He is currently the treasurer 00:06:17.480 --> 00:06:19.920 and a board member of DARA and the finance chair 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:25.420 for Hamvention. Michael Colley, W4ORL, is the 00:06:25.420 --> 00:06:29.199 chairman of the Orlando Hamcation. He served 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:32.240 for seven years as the tailgate chairman, six 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:35.779 years as the IT chairman, and a year as finance 00:06:35.779 --> 00:06:38.939 chairman. And he's been doing the general chair 00:06:38.939 --> 00:06:41.980 for quite a while here now. And Hamcation, of 00:06:41.980 --> 00:06:44.459 course, is sponsored by the Orlando Amateur Radio 00:06:44.459 --> 00:06:48.439 Club. And Mark Brown, N4BCD's chairman of the 00:06:48.439 --> 00:06:51.879 Huntsville Hamfest. Mark works at one of the 00:06:51.879 --> 00:06:54.720 high -tech government contracting firms there 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:58.279 in Huntsville, Alabama. And he's been the president 00:06:58.279 --> 00:07:01.399 of the North Alabama DX Club, the Huntsville 00:07:01.399 --> 00:07:04.300 Amateur Radio Club, and is a member of both the 00:07:04.300 --> 00:07:07.819 Tennessee and Alabama Contest Group. So guys, 00:07:08.019 --> 00:07:10.819 it's great to have you all back again on the 00:07:10.819 --> 00:07:14.139 show together to talk a little bit about some 00:07:14.139 --> 00:07:19.279 HamFest. So good evening. Good evening, Michael. 00:07:19.790 --> 00:07:26.269 And, uh, Michael and, uh, and Neil. Yep. Good 00:07:26.269 --> 00:07:31.069 evening, everyone. Just evening. So, yeah, we, 00:07:31.069 --> 00:07:34.970 we just do Michael squared. I think is we get 00:07:34.970 --> 00:07:37.709 both of them in here. Well, we're going to start 00:07:37.709 --> 00:07:42.209 off with Mark, uh, because Huntsville, uh, did 00:07:42.209 --> 00:07:47.779 take place, um, in August. And so. Uh, that's 00:07:47.779 --> 00:07:50.259 kind of the latest news. So we're going to start 00:07:50.259 --> 00:07:54.079 with Mark. So, so I know, you know, there were 00:07:54.079 --> 00:08:01.639 more challenges, uh, the, uh, the, uh, variants 00:08:01.639 --> 00:08:06.600 of, of, of COVID -19, uh, the virus that causes 00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:10.699 it, I should say, uh, Have been kind of up and 00:08:10.699 --> 00:08:14.620 down and and so kind of caught a bad time there, 00:08:14.620 --> 00:08:17.980 but you were able to still Go ahead, so tell 00:08:17.980 --> 00:08:21.860 us how things went and and What were some of 00:08:21.860 --> 00:08:27.579 the challenges of making that work? Well Neil 00:08:27.579 --> 00:08:30.220 thanks for thanks for having us all on the show 00:08:30.220 --> 00:08:34.419 tonight we we had a We had an interesting year, 00:08:34.620 --> 00:08:39.120 all of us, as far as HamFest. We started back 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:43.460 in January. Normally, we start much earlier than 00:08:43.460 --> 00:08:46.100 that, but with COVID and everything. Back in 00:08:46.100 --> 00:08:48.440 January, we had more questions than answers. 00:08:49.259 --> 00:08:52.440 And so we queried our Vaughan Braun Center and 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:55.539 Embassy Suites, our partners, and a non -binding 00:08:55.539 --> 00:09:00.100 survey of the vendors. The indicators that we 00:09:00.100 --> 00:09:02.240 heard back, the answers we heard back from the 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:04.980 VBC, the Von Braun Center, the indicators were 00:09:04.980 --> 00:09:07.820 positive. There was pent -up demand by the vendors, 00:09:08.460 --> 00:09:12.179 by the visitors. The vaccine rollout was occurring 00:09:12.179 --> 00:09:15.600 nationally. The infection rates were going down. 00:09:16.299 --> 00:09:19.200 The VBC told us the relaxed social distancing 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:22.840 rules for an indoor mass gathering were such 00:09:22.840 --> 00:09:27.000 that we were able to plan 12 -foot aisles. One 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:30.399 of the big enablers was them allowing us to use 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:33.700 extra space in the South Hall so that we could 00:09:33.700 --> 00:09:37.720 spread things out safely. And so when we got 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:39.860 all that stuff back together around February 00:09:39.860 --> 00:09:42.919 15th, the declining curve and the infections, 00:09:43.620 --> 00:09:46.019 we announced in a press release that we would 00:09:46.019 --> 00:09:48.840 go for launch. And I think I appeared on your 00:09:48.840 --> 00:09:51.480 show just a few weeks later to talk about this. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:55.129 And all summer, things went really well. And 00:09:55.129 --> 00:10:00.830 then around July 20th, the Delta variant of COVID 00:10:00.830 --> 00:10:05.509 -19 started to rear its ugly head. And it was 00:10:05.509 --> 00:10:07.570 a pretty steep slope and everybody was getting 00:10:07.570 --> 00:10:11.169 very concerned. By then, pretty much the train 00:10:11.169 --> 00:10:14.450 had left the station. So we focused on what we 00:10:14.450 --> 00:10:17.929 could do to maintain a safe and successful event 00:10:17.929 --> 00:10:21.950 because everybody's travel plans were set. We 00:10:21.950 --> 00:10:25.460 had booked uh... the uh... the venue and it was 00:10:25.460 --> 00:10:27.500 just one of those things we couldn't we couldn't 00:10:27.500 --> 00:10:30.419 stop the train at that point and uh... it was 00:10:30.419 --> 00:10:33.299 uh... it was a very busy a very tumultuous a 00:10:33.299 --> 00:10:36.200 couple of weeks prior to the uh... prior to the 00:10:36.200 --> 00:10:38.980 event uh... but you know when i stood in the 00:10:38.980 --> 00:10:41.639 spiral staircase out outside the uh... south 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:43.720 hall in the in the what we call the pre -function 00:10:43.720 --> 00:10:47.440 hallway and saw the saturday morning crowd and 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:51.799 uh... I thought, darn it, we made it. This is 00:10:51.799 --> 00:10:56.179 gonna work. We had a great crowd and we opened 00:10:56.179 --> 00:10:58.799 the doors at nine o 'clock and it was a great 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:03.340 ham fest. We had a few vendors that pulled out 00:11:03.340 --> 00:11:05.919 prior to the event, but for those that were there, 00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:10.440 they had very good sales. The forums were very 00:11:10.440 --> 00:11:12.940 crowded. We had a bunch of YouTubers that were 00:11:12.940 --> 00:11:16.799 there, many of them their first time to Huntsville. 00:11:17.149 --> 00:11:20.690 And they covered the event very well for us. 00:11:21.169 --> 00:11:25.309 The league had a huge presence. Bob Interbitsen 00:11:25.309 --> 00:11:29.450 and several others from headquarters. I can't 00:11:29.450 --> 00:11:34.330 recall the guys, the new president. He was there. 00:11:34.509 --> 00:11:37.210 It was Rick Roderick was there with his wife 00:11:37.210 --> 00:11:41.009 Holly. Several folks from the league. The Delta 00:11:41.009 --> 00:11:43.830 Division director. The Southeastern Division 00:11:43.830 --> 00:11:47.360 director. So we had a good league presence. So 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:51.740 we pulled it off. The Youth Lounge was a little 00:11:51.740 --> 00:11:54.679 more visible this year because we kind of changed 00:11:54.679 --> 00:12:01.240 things around and it was a huge success. We had 00:12:01.240 --> 00:12:08.139 help from Flex Radio with a company called Remote 00:12:08.139 --> 00:12:12.080 Ham Radio where they set up a couple of remote 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:14.919 stations where people could could get on the 00:12:14.919 --> 00:12:18.940 air controlling a station remotely. And so the 00:12:18.940 --> 00:12:21.940 youth lounge was just an unqualified success 00:12:21.940 --> 00:12:25.240 this year because it was more visible. And that's 00:12:25.240 --> 00:12:28.720 a lesson learned for us that we're gonna continue 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:31.980 to try to do that because I think we estimated 00:12:31.980 --> 00:12:34.980 125 kids went through the youth lounge on Saturday 00:12:34.980 --> 00:12:38.120 and Sunday. And I know, Neil, you're very heavily 00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:45.590 involved with the... The youth youth camp for 00:12:45.590 --> 00:12:48.929 for the kids and maybe I'll talk some more about 00:12:48.929 --> 00:12:51.809 that But we're already looking forward to to 00:12:51.809 --> 00:12:55.360 Orlando in February Dayton, of course, in May, 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:58.000 and we're already planning Huntsville Hamfest 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:02.419 2022. So we did take some time off afterwards 00:13:02.419 --> 00:13:06.039 to decompress, but we just had our first meeting 00:13:06.039 --> 00:13:09.820 a couple of days ago, and we're already planning 00:13:09.820 --> 00:13:14.039 for 2022. Back to you, Neil. All right, yeah, 00:13:14.039 --> 00:13:17.779 I got some live reports from the youth lounge. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:22.460 Now that we've got this community of of young 00:13:22.460 --> 00:13:28.940 hams in yoda we get live updates on online all 00:13:28.940 --> 00:13:32.700 the time and so we saw what was going on down 00:13:32.700 --> 00:13:36.659 there i know we sent some banners and some stickers 00:13:36.659 --> 00:13:42.019 and some drawstring bags and some stuff to give 00:13:42.019 --> 00:13:46.490 away down there and I know they were very happy 00:13:46.490 --> 00:13:51.250 to put that on. Sounds like things went as well 00:13:51.250 --> 00:13:56.330 as they could. I know, like you said, there were 00:13:56.330 --> 00:13:59.970 some people who felt like they had to cancel 00:13:59.970 --> 00:14:05.830 out. That's where we are right now. Hopefully 00:14:05.830 --> 00:14:11.870 things will continue to improve. So what I want 00:14:11.870 --> 00:14:14.610 to do right now is just kind of go around the 00:14:14.610 --> 00:14:19.570 horn and Michael Colley, let's start with you 00:14:19.570 --> 00:14:22.509 since since you're the next up chronologically 00:14:22.509 --> 00:14:29.309 here about what the challenges are and you know, 00:14:29.330 --> 00:14:33.389 you can even talk about what you did last year, 00:14:33.389 --> 00:14:37.909 you know to during the weekend of What was supposed 00:14:37.909 --> 00:14:42.330 to be hamcation? And then you know some of the 00:14:42.330 --> 00:14:45.549 challenges that that you're having to plow through 00:14:45.549 --> 00:14:54.309 here for hopefully 2022 Yeah, first let me congratulate 00:14:54.309 --> 00:14:57.389 mark on a wonderful show hamcation was there 00:14:57.389 --> 00:14:59.889 with a booth and he was right when the door is 00:14:59.889 --> 00:15:04.149 open pretty much for the first I would say four 00:15:04.149 --> 00:15:09.039 hours We were non -stop at our booth. Our booth 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:12.580 was actually one of two booths you saw right 00:15:12.580 --> 00:15:14.480 when you walked in the door, so we got everybody 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:18.259 right when they come in. And it was very crowded, 00:15:18.539 --> 00:15:23.159 very good show, large aisles, everybody was safely 00:15:23.159 --> 00:15:26.730 distanced. Stuff like that in there. So it was 00:15:26.730 --> 00:15:30.529 an excellent show around applause to mark and 00:15:30.529 --> 00:15:34.370 his group for Actually holding probably the only 00:15:34.370 --> 00:15:41.629 large hand fest in 2021 Thank You Michael So 00:15:41.629 --> 00:15:48.730 as for our event we did hold a Virtual hand fest 00:15:48.730 --> 00:15:53.129 it went very well. It was very well perceived 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:58.139 Everybody loved all the the forms that we did 00:15:58.139 --> 00:16:02.399 online that we made available to everybody So 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:06.860 everybody loved the prizes that we give out So 00:16:06.860 --> 00:16:11.639 that pretty much kept our game out there for 00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:17.919 2021 But we're in full swing for 2022. It is 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:21.539 our 75th show and it will be the ARL National 00:16:21.539 --> 00:16:27.330 Convention for 2022 So right now we're pretty 00:16:27.330 --> 00:16:29.750 much getting everything booked up all the hotels 00:16:29.750 --> 00:16:32.549 or we partner with them already. Everything is 00:16:32.549 --> 00:16:36.950 live on the website Some of the things I know 00:16:36.950 --> 00:16:38.490 one thing you asked some of the things that we're 00:16:38.490 --> 00:16:42.269 running into I'll put this out there for everybody. 00:16:42.750 --> 00:16:46.710 That's planning ham fest coming up Make sure 00:16:46.710 --> 00:16:51.860 that you Get everything booked early They haven't 00:16:51.860 --> 00:16:55.940 been shows for so long People are going back 00:16:55.940 --> 00:16:59.779 to having shows now and the availability of stuff 00:16:59.779 --> 00:17:04.339 equipment trying to get equipment in The other 00:17:04.339 --> 00:17:07.000 big thing that our shows are gonna run into now 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:10.279 is availability of prizes It's very hard to get 00:17:10.279 --> 00:17:12.200 some of these ham radios because there's none 00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:15.960 in stock anywhere So these are things the challenges 00:17:15.960 --> 00:17:19.700 we're gonna run into especially for our event 00:17:19.700 --> 00:17:23.079 and I'm pretty sure hopefully it'll be a lot 00:17:23.079 --> 00:17:25.680 better by the time Hamvention gets here but it 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:28.619 could be something they could run into is just 00:17:28.619 --> 00:17:32.500 availability of everything yet. And the other 00:17:32.500 --> 00:17:35.339 thing that you really have to look out for now 00:17:35.339 --> 00:17:38.740 is the availability of volunteers with the virus 00:17:38.740 --> 00:17:41.359 still out there and I don't see it being gone 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:45.440 by February. Just got to make sure volunteers 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:47.920 feel safe to come out and make sure you have 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:55.039 enough volunteers for everything. So, that's 00:17:55.039 --> 00:18:01.380 pretty much it for us. There is a couple new 00:18:01.380 --> 00:18:04.019 things that we are going to be doing this year. 00:18:05.700 --> 00:18:09.480 One of them is we're partnering with ICOM. They're 00:18:09.480 --> 00:18:12.119 going to be sponsoring our special event station. 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:16.900 So if you want to check out the new 7610 and 00:18:16.900 --> 00:18:20.200 a 9700, that will be in our special event station 00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:22.440 during hamcation so people can come check it 00:18:22.440 --> 00:18:25.599 out. And one of the other big things we're doing 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:29.140 this year is we're partnering with hamstudy .org 00:18:29.140 --> 00:18:34.720 and exam tools, and we will be doing 100 % paperless 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:38.599 exams at hamcation. So when you come in, you'll 00:18:38.599 --> 00:18:42.099 pre -register, you'll come in, pick up a tablet, 00:18:43.069 --> 00:18:45.710 put your information in, you will take the exam 00:18:45.710 --> 00:18:48.950 on the tablet, everything is graded electronically, 00:18:49.450 --> 00:18:54.329 and pretty much you leave. So that's one of two 00:18:54.329 --> 00:18:56.769 things that's coming up that's gonna be exciting 00:18:56.769 --> 00:19:02.150 for hamcation in 2022. Wow, that's a cool idea 00:19:02.150 --> 00:19:06.509 to have that and makes the grading that much 00:19:06.509 --> 00:19:11.329 quicker. and keep from passing papers back and 00:19:11.329 --> 00:19:15.609 forth. So that's a great idea. So sounds like 00:19:15.609 --> 00:19:20.150 things are progressing pretty well there. And 00:19:20.150 --> 00:19:25.150 then we go to Michael Coulter, W8CEI, for the 00:19:25.150 --> 00:19:28.410 big one, which is now just up the road for me. 00:19:29.349 --> 00:19:33.230 So how are things coming along? I know planning 00:19:33.230 --> 00:19:36.289 Hamvention is a year round thing no matter what. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:42.259 Absolutely. Let me say a few things first. I 00:19:42.259 --> 00:19:45.619 want to say hello and a thank you to our 700 00:19:45.619 --> 00:19:51.460 -plus volunteers and I'm happy to be sort of 00:19:51.460 --> 00:19:54.660 representing them on this program. And Mark, 00:19:55.140 --> 00:19:57.859 congratulations to you and your team for an absolutely 00:19:57.859 --> 00:20:01.559 outstanding event in the face of a whole lot 00:20:01.559 --> 00:20:04.220 of issues when the variant was really rearing 00:20:04.220 --> 00:20:07.589 its face there. You guys marched ahead with it 00:20:07.589 --> 00:20:12.349 anyway. And Michael, I am absolutely looking 00:20:12.349 --> 00:20:18.210 forward to coming down to hamcation. And it should 00:20:18.210 --> 00:20:22.009 be another wonderful event. And it sounds like 00:20:22.009 --> 00:20:24.150 you're really doing some new innovative things. 00:20:25.289 --> 00:20:27.269 And Neil, to you, thanks for having us on the 00:20:27.269 --> 00:20:31.589 program and doing this together. And congratulations 00:20:31.589 --> 00:20:34.170 to you, Neil, on all the great work that you've 00:20:34.170 --> 00:20:38.420 done with Yoda. Now, as far as intervention goes, 00:20:38.539 --> 00:20:43.059 you know, we have 30 ,000 plus people usually 00:20:43.059 --> 00:20:47.680 show up and it's growing. We have already had 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:49.779 several meetings doing a whole lot of things 00:20:49.779 --> 00:20:53.519 right now in preparation for it. One of the exciting 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:56.200 things is, you know, there's a building there 00:20:56.200 --> 00:20:59.339 where we have a lot of the youth activities and 00:20:59.339 --> 00:21:02.640 presentations and that building is now air conditioned 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:06.380 and we worked to make that happen between the 00:21:06.380 --> 00:21:10.319 Dayton Amateur Radio Association and the Green 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:12.779 County Expo Center. So we're pretty excited about 00:21:12.779 --> 00:21:15.720 that to have some air conditioning in there. 00:21:16.180 --> 00:21:19.059 And the lighting's been upgraded in several of 00:21:19.059 --> 00:21:23.039 the buildings. There's some new fans. The air 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:25.279 movement equipment has all been updated. And 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:28.819 that's a big deal to move that air through there. 00:21:30.140 --> 00:21:33.940 So I think that as we move along, there'll be 00:21:33.940 --> 00:21:36.680 more and more exciting things that we will reveal. 00:21:38.059 --> 00:21:40.579 And, you know, having lost Handvention for two 00:21:40.579 --> 00:21:44.460 years is, boy, it's almost unthinkable. But it 00:21:44.460 --> 00:21:48.180 happened. But we had to do that because there's 00:21:48.180 --> 00:21:51.380 so much forward planning and our event is very 00:21:51.380 --> 00:21:54.859 international in nature. And at that time, we 00:21:54.859 --> 00:21:58.039 weren't able to have people coming in from all 00:21:58.039 --> 00:21:59.460 over the world who couldn't even come in from 00:21:59.460 --> 00:22:02.880 Canada. So we knew that and we knew the planning 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:06.140 was going to be, you know, a lot of people were 00:22:06.140 --> 00:22:08.819 still questioning back at the time. So we had 00:22:08.819 --> 00:22:12.700 to cancel relatively early to give people a chance 00:22:12.700 --> 00:22:17.619 to make plans and not spend a lot of money at 00:22:17.619 --> 00:22:20.799 that time. By the way, I also want to thank WTWW 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:24.200 for their work in getting your programs out, 00:22:24.359 --> 00:22:28.809 Neil. So back to you, Neil. Okay, well, you know, 00:22:28.809 --> 00:22:33.450 that's a great update and sounds like the fairgrounds 00:22:33.450 --> 00:22:36.609 has taken advantage of some of the downtime to 00:22:36.609 --> 00:22:40.630 to make some upgrades and and yeah, I know the 00:22:40.630 --> 00:22:44.309 air conditioning was So loud in the youth form 00:22:44.309 --> 00:22:46.890 we couldn't couldn't hear a lot of times and 00:22:46.890 --> 00:22:49.289 so it sounds like that's been rectified now, 00:22:49.289 --> 00:22:56.920 so that's That's great news Mark let's Mark Brown, 00:22:57.480 --> 00:23:01.200 let's shift the focus here a little bit to 2022. 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:07.059 You're probably still balancing the books and 00:23:07.059 --> 00:23:10.259 everything else. I know I just finished that 00:23:10.259 --> 00:23:14.759 with Yoda and that was in July. So I'm sure you're 00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:17.500 still kind of wrapping things up from last year, 00:23:17.500 --> 00:23:20.920 but I know you've already made some progress 00:23:20.920 --> 00:23:26.529 on next year. Yeah, Neil. we looked at uh... 00:23:26.529 --> 00:23:29.490 how we did this year uh... we didn't lose too 00:23:29.490 --> 00:23:33.829 much uh... as as uh... as a ham fest we try to 00:23:33.829 --> 00:23:36.190 operate as a on a break even basis uh... what 00:23:36.190 --> 00:23:40.809 we what we bring in you know goes out basically 00:23:40.809 --> 00:23:43.869 to uh... to support not just the event but uh... 00:23:43.869 --> 00:23:46.690 you know the the local clubs that uh... the volunteers 00:23:46.690 --> 00:23:49.589 are involved with and uh... and various amateur 00:23:49.589 --> 00:23:55.210 radio uh... beneficiaries We had a lowered attendance 00:23:55.210 --> 00:23:59.369 this year. I think we're pleased to say that 00:23:59.369 --> 00:24:05.490 we had 4 ,069 this year, 4 ,069 attendees versus 00:24:05.490 --> 00:24:10.890 the 5 ,088 two years ago in 2019. I would consider 00:24:10.890 --> 00:24:13.569 that a win, the fact that we didn't lose too 00:24:13.569 --> 00:24:17.890 much. We're still solvent. We're able to, we've 00:24:17.890 --> 00:24:22.109 got enough seed money to have the Hamfest next 00:24:22.109 --> 00:24:25.940 year. And so we're happy for that. But we don't 00:24:25.940 --> 00:24:28.619 have an exact figure yet. It's a little too early. 00:24:28.759 --> 00:24:31.700 The financial people are still tallying up the 00:24:31.700 --> 00:24:35.619 books. But to a comment that Michael Colley made, 00:24:36.519 --> 00:24:43.400 we lost three out of 125 volunteers due to the 00:24:43.400 --> 00:24:47.440 Delta variant. Their concern after signing up 00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:52.390 to help us with the event They backed out, so 00:24:52.390 --> 00:24:54.950 that's a metric that I wanted to share with the 00:24:54.950 --> 00:25:00.730 other Hamvention and Hamcation planners. There 00:25:00.730 --> 00:25:04.109 weren't as many as we feared that backed away 00:25:04.109 --> 00:25:07.609 from helping because they really did want to 00:25:07.609 --> 00:25:11.869 see this event succeed. And so a lot of our volunteers 00:25:11.869 --> 00:25:14.750 did show up. They were there for the party. Some 00:25:14.750 --> 00:25:17.690 folks wore masks, some not. It was a personal 00:25:17.690 --> 00:25:24.599 choice. We're thankful that it was a successful 00:25:24.599 --> 00:25:31.299 and safe event. Well, you know, there's a lot 00:25:31.299 --> 00:25:34.640 of tough decisions and none of these decisions 00:25:34.640 --> 00:25:38.299 have been easy. It's, you know, do we go ahead? 00:25:38.339 --> 00:25:41.660 Do we not? And then you kind of got caught in 00:25:41.660 --> 00:25:45.680 the middle of, okay, we're already past the point 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:48.140 of no return here. And so we got to go with it. 00:25:49.760 --> 00:25:56.420 And I'm sure great efforts were taken to make 00:25:56.420 --> 00:26:00.200 sure that it was as safe as possible. And you 00:26:00.200 --> 00:26:02.299 were able to come up with something. And yeah, 00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:07.220 I'd say, is that about a, I can't do the math 00:26:07.220 --> 00:26:10.799 in my head, but the percentage there is not too. 00:26:10.990 --> 00:26:13.430 Not too bad, really, considering what's going 00:26:13.430 --> 00:26:18.589 on that you lost in attendance. Sounds good. 00:26:19.009 --> 00:26:20.910 All right. Well, we're going to take a break. 00:26:21.230 --> 00:26:23.750 When we come back, we're going to talk a little 00:26:23.750 --> 00:26:26.730 more with these three, and we're going to open 00:26:26.730 --> 00:26:29.390 up the phone line so you can give us a call at 00:26:29.390 --> 00:26:37.200 859. 9827373 or tweet us or type in your comments 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:42.000 on Spreaker and we'll answer some questions when 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:45.599 we come back after this word from Tower Electronics 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:49.599 right here on HamTalk Live. Hey, honey, have 00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:54.519 you seen the PL 259s anywhere? No, I haven't. 00:26:54.660 --> 00:26:59.890 Come on, kids, let's go. There's just one place 00:26:59.890 --> 00:27:02.849 to go for all of your connector needs. Tower 00:27:02.849 --> 00:27:05.750 electronics. Tower electronics. 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Tower Electronics. 00:27:49.549 --> 00:27:53.490 Tower Electronics. I'm Scott, KB9AMM of Tower 00:27:53.490 --> 00:27:57.589 Electronics. I like the PL259 connectors so much, 00:27:57.769 --> 00:28:00.369 I bought the company. Tower Electronics, coming 00:28:00.369 --> 00:28:04.769 to a hand fest near you, or online at PL -259 00:28:04.769 --> 00:28:07.589 .com. And we're in the Yellow Pages under... 00:28:07.309 --> 00:28:10.670 amateur radio connectors. My, wherever did you 00:28:10.670 --> 00:28:14.569 get that lovely PL259? Tower Electronics, pl 00:28:14.569 --> 00:28:21.450 -259 .com or call 920 -435 -2973. Do we sell 00:28:21.450 --> 00:28:25.349 PL259 connectors? Join the conversation. Give 00:28:25.349 --> 00:28:31.589 us a call at 859 -982 -7373. Again, the number 00:28:31.589 --> 00:28:37.910 to call is 859 -982 - 73 73 or if you'd rather 00:28:37.910 --> 00:28:41.630 type than talk tweet us at ham talk live now 00:28:41.630 --> 00:28:47.349 Here's Neil rap with more ham talk live. Oh Yeah, 00:28:47.829 --> 00:28:51.549 you're talking ham radio, baby You're listening 00:28:51.549 --> 00:29:09.059 to ham talk live with Neil rap Welcome back to 00:29:09.059 --> 00:29:15.240 Am Talk Live. Tower Electronics will be in Chickasaw, 00:29:15.240 --> 00:29:19.339 Alabama on October 23rd. Stone Mountain, Georgia, 00:29:19.420 --> 00:29:22.980 November 6th and 7th. Fort Wayne, Indiana, November 00:29:22.980 --> 00:29:27.960 13th and 14th. Montgomery, Alabama. Ocala, Florida 00:29:27.960 --> 00:29:30.599 and Plant City, Florida, but you can visit them 00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:39.500 anytime at PL - HamTalk Live is on the air every 00:29:39.500 --> 00:29:41.839 Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time, right 00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:45.359 here at HamTalkLive .com. And be sure to check 00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:49.630 us out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Open 00:29:49.630 --> 00:29:52.769 up the phone lines, it's time for the Ham Radio 00:29:52.769 --> 00:29:55.769 Joke of the Week. Now it's time for the HamTalk 00:29:55.769 --> 00:29:58.890 Live Ham Radio Joke of the Week, the part of 00:29:58.890 --> 00:30:01.690 the show where Rick tells us a ham radio joke. 00:30:02.009 --> 00:30:04.710 The HamTalk Live Ham Radio Joke of the Week is 00:30:04.710 --> 00:30:08.190 brought to you by QRM Labs. Now, here's Rick 00:30:08.190 --> 00:30:12.789 Garrett in 9GSU with today's HamTalk Live Joke 00:30:12.789 --> 00:30:20.700 of the Week. I like to log my contacts on Logbook 00:30:20.700 --> 00:30:23.140 of the World, but since I live on a farm, sometimes 00:30:23.140 --> 00:30:26.180 it's difficult. However, I go next door to my 00:30:26.180 --> 00:30:28.140 neighbor's horse farm because there's always 00:30:28.140 --> 00:30:49.589 a stable connection there. It's a stable connection. 00:30:50.089 --> 00:30:52.029 All right. Well, thank you, Rick, for the joke 00:30:52.029 --> 00:30:56.470 and we'll hear what he has to come up with again 00:30:56.470 --> 00:31:00.609 next week. All right, so it's time for your calls. 00:31:00.690 --> 00:31:03.990 If you have a question for the HamFist crew here, 00:31:04.450 --> 00:31:07.250 give us a call right now. The number again is 00:31:07.250 --> 00:31:15.299 859. 9 8 2 73 73 or you can tweet us it's at 00:31:15.299 --> 00:31:19.359 ham talk live on Twitter and if you're on Spreaker 00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:22.660 and logged in you can type in the comments and 00:31:22.660 --> 00:31:26.000 But if you're listening to us on WTWW or on the 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:28.799 podcast version of the show You won't be able 00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:31.259 to reach this live since we're doing this here 00:31:31.259 --> 00:31:36.180 on Thursday night so We want to talk a little 00:31:36.180 --> 00:31:41.539 bit about how, you know, these three groups are 00:31:41.539 --> 00:31:44.980 kind of supporting each other and helping. But 00:31:44.980 --> 00:31:50.140 I know Michael Colley, W4ORL has, and I'm still 00:31:50.140 --> 00:31:54.740 trying to get used to not saying W4MCA, but has 00:31:54.740 --> 00:31:59.839 something else to announce about hamcation. So, 00:31:59.839 --> 00:32:03.950 Michael, take it away. Did forget to mention 00:32:03.950 --> 00:32:08.650 actually we Actually partnering with the fairgrounds 00:32:08.650 --> 00:32:11.009 and actually making an investment in fairgrounds 00:32:11.009 --> 00:32:14.730 are still at Central Florida fairgrounds by For 00:32:14.730 --> 00:32:19.910 all of our RV visitors that come in Most RV is 00:32:19.910 --> 00:32:23.269 the newer ones take 50 amp connections for power 00:32:23.269 --> 00:32:26.250 and we're actually partnering with the fairgrounds 00:32:26.250 --> 00:32:30.410 to double our Capability of 50 amp connections 00:32:30.410 --> 00:32:35.119 for this year And so currently we had around 00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:39.200 33, 35 of them. And we're actually going to double 00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:43.079 that to above 60, 50 amp connections. All the 00:32:43.079 --> 00:32:45.779 info is on the website. And what we're going 00:32:45.779 --> 00:32:48.799 to actually do every year until we max out our 00:32:48.799 --> 00:32:52.400 connections, we'll be adding more 50 amp connections 00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:55.740 every year. So you have a choice of 30 and 50s 00:32:55.740 --> 00:33:01.150 that you can actually get it. The other thing 00:33:01.150 --> 00:33:06.329 I had was with the national convention on that 00:33:06.329 --> 00:33:09.109 Thursday, they will actually be doing training 00:33:09.109 --> 00:33:12.769 tracks at a hotel locally. So if you want more 00:33:12.769 --> 00:33:16.609 information about that, you can go to arrl .org 00:33:16.609 --> 00:33:22.150 slash expo. That should be live by November 1st, 00:33:22.150 --> 00:33:24.190 where you can actually register if you want to 00:33:24.190 --> 00:33:26.930 take the training tracks. And one of the training 00:33:26.930 --> 00:33:29.630 tracks I do know, and I can mention it, will 00:33:29.630 --> 00:33:34.630 be Contest University, that they actually do 00:33:34.630 --> 00:33:37.109 at Hamvention. They're bringing it to Hamcation 00:33:37.109 --> 00:33:42.230 this year for the ARL training tracks. Okay. 00:33:42.450 --> 00:33:45.750 Well, big news there, so. Thanks for letting 00:33:45.750 --> 00:33:48.890 us know about that and I'm sure the RV crowd 00:33:48.890 --> 00:33:53.390 will be very happy to hear that they'll have 00:33:53.390 --> 00:33:56.390 some more opportunities to get the juice that 00:33:56.390 --> 00:33:59.869 they need. Michael Coulter, let's talk a little 00:33:59.869 --> 00:34:03.299 bit about... the support. I know you, you know, 00:34:03.299 --> 00:34:06.339 uh, you, you kind of host the gathering place 00:34:06.339 --> 00:34:09.539 there that I'm finishing for everybody to kind 00:34:09.539 --> 00:34:12.260 of get together and shoot some ideas off of each 00:34:12.260 --> 00:34:14.920 other. So talk a little bit about the support, 00:34:14.920 --> 00:34:21.360 uh, between the groups. Yeah. I guess that, um, 00:34:21.360 --> 00:34:24.940 it's not a matter of collusion. It's a matter 00:34:24.940 --> 00:34:27.960 of trying to support each other. We don't really 00:34:27.960 --> 00:34:30.659 talk about the financial end of things. You know, 00:34:30.659 --> 00:34:33.500 I've been questioned and I'm pretty tight lipped 00:34:33.500 --> 00:34:36.920 about our financial stuff as and the other guys 00:34:36.920 --> 00:34:40.440 respect that and I respect that part of it. So 00:34:40.440 --> 00:34:43.679 that's an important thing I wanted to get out. 00:34:43.739 --> 00:34:47.219 But what we do like to try to do is support each 00:34:47.219 --> 00:34:52.300 other in ideas and problems that we've had. how 00:34:52.300 --> 00:34:58.219 we see things going because if they are successful 00:34:58.219 --> 00:35:03.619 and we're successful that means that all of amateur 00:35:03.619 --> 00:35:06.099 radio is going to benefit and that's exactly 00:35:06.099 --> 00:35:08.900 what what we're trying to do as a is working 00:35:08.900 --> 00:35:11.739 together as a team you know it's never us against 00:35:11.739 --> 00:35:15.940 them and us against each other and it was that 00:35:15.940 --> 00:35:18.059 way at one time but it's definitely not there 00:35:18.059 --> 00:35:22.469 now And these guys came up with lots of good 00:35:22.469 --> 00:35:29.369 ideas, and it's been a very good kind of working 00:35:29.369 --> 00:35:36.730 relationship. Mark, your comments on that? I 00:35:36.730 --> 00:35:38.789 couldn't agree more with Michael's comments. 00:35:39.789 --> 00:35:43.250 You know, when we put on our individual handfests 00:35:43.250 --> 00:35:47.150 as hosts, we're very busy. But a couple of years 00:35:47.150 --> 00:35:51.210 ago, I inherited this chairmanship in Huntsville, 00:35:51.690 --> 00:35:55.389 and I traveled to Orlando, and I happened to 00:35:55.389 --> 00:35:59.710 stay at the same hotel as the Dayton contingent. 00:36:00.190 --> 00:36:04.030 And in Orlando, sitting in a hotel with the Dayton 00:36:04.030 --> 00:36:07.369 guys, with Michael, with Jack Gerbs, with Rick 00:36:07.369 --> 00:36:12.030 and the other guys from Dayton, I learned so 00:36:12.030 --> 00:36:15.920 much, and we shared ideas. You know, I was new 00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:20.219 to this ham -vest thing and I learned so much 00:36:20.219 --> 00:36:22.579 from those guys until Jack's wife kicked us out 00:36:22.579 --> 00:36:26.139 of the room late at night. But it was a great, 00:36:26.139 --> 00:36:30.960 great experience. And then the parallel to that 00:36:30.960 --> 00:36:35.239 is up in Dayton, you know, the Dayton guys are 00:36:35.239 --> 00:36:38.469 relaxed and they have extra time and we... We 00:36:38.469 --> 00:36:42.010 talk and we gather. We gather for dinner. We 00:36:42.010 --> 00:36:45.090 stay at the same hotels. And we share ideas. 00:36:45.530 --> 00:36:48.750 Like Michael says, we share ideas. We don't collude. 00:36:49.590 --> 00:36:52.670 And we adopt best practices and just brainstorm. 00:36:53.170 --> 00:36:56.510 And out of brainstorming comes great ideas. And 00:36:56.510 --> 00:37:00.469 I gotta say that it's just been a win for all 00:37:00.469 --> 00:37:04.090 of us to have a close working relationship and 00:37:04.090 --> 00:37:09.340 to know all of these guys. All right, and Michael 00:37:09.340 --> 00:37:14.400 calling Yeah, I couldn't agree more with both 00:37:14.400 --> 00:37:19.559 Mark and Michael it has come a long way Since 00:37:19.559 --> 00:37:25.780 pretty much our first time up at Invention actually 00:37:25.780 --> 00:37:29.360 sitting outside Michael's trailer he wanted to 00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:33.360 get a little powwow of us and Mark and him and 00:37:33.360 --> 00:37:36.840 that's pretty much what started it all And pretty 00:37:36.840 --> 00:37:39.880 much like Mark said every year, pretty much it's 00:37:39.880 --> 00:37:42.280 hard at our own ham fest to do this. But when 00:37:42.280 --> 00:37:45.360 we travel around two years ago, when we went 00:37:45.360 --> 00:37:48.280 to Huntsville, all the guys from there was there 00:37:48.280 --> 00:37:50.940 with their booth, just like we were. And we did 00:37:50.940 --> 00:37:53.099 the same thing. We hung out in the hotel there, 00:37:53.460 --> 00:37:55.380 talked to them at night, trading ideas, stuff 00:37:55.380 --> 00:37:59.079 like that. And then just like when we go to Dayton 00:37:59.079 --> 00:38:02.579 the same thing happens there with Mark and Usually 00:38:02.579 --> 00:38:05.820 Kelly from hamvention. We usually stay at the 00:38:05.820 --> 00:38:07.760 same hotel and same thing happens. We just sit 00:38:07.760 --> 00:38:10.940 around and talk about ideas Stuff that works 00:38:10.940 --> 00:38:14.039 for us that could work for them and even stuff 00:38:14.039 --> 00:38:16.039 that didn't work for us We share that with them 00:38:16.039 --> 00:38:19.039 because it might work for them every ham fest 00:38:19.039 --> 00:38:23.519 different But yeah, I mean and just like Michael 00:38:23.519 --> 00:38:27.639 said we're not out to compete with each other 00:38:29.150 --> 00:38:32.050 If Huntsville does good, Hamvention does good, 00:38:32.250 --> 00:38:36.949 we do good. The amateur radio community thrives 00:38:36.949 --> 00:38:40.170 from that. It makes everybody grow. The vendors 00:38:40.170 --> 00:38:44.949 all grow. So yeah, it's just about sharing ideas. 00:38:45.250 --> 00:38:47.570 And one thing we did start doing that I put out 00:38:47.570 --> 00:38:51.170 there. for a lot of the smaller hamfests that's 00:38:51.170 --> 00:38:54.230 trying to grow, shoot us an email. I'm open to 00:38:54.230 --> 00:38:58.429 help y 'all. Give you ideas. I do know one hamfest 00:38:58.429 --> 00:39:01.610 coming up that we're going to that actually did 00:39:01.610 --> 00:39:05.289 this was Stone Mountain. And those guys actually 00:39:05.289 --> 00:39:07.289 come to hamcation. They have a booth down there 00:39:07.289 --> 00:39:10.590 now. They go around. They talk to my guys. Some 00:39:10.590 --> 00:39:13.630 of them actually shadow some of our chairman 00:39:13.630 --> 00:39:20.369 just to learn. Show that happened in Stone Mountain 00:39:20.369 --> 00:39:23.269 actually grew because of it. They got new vendors. 00:39:23.269 --> 00:39:26.889 They got more people going there So and I'm pretty 00:39:26.889 --> 00:39:29.289 sure mark and Michael's also open to this to 00:39:29.289 --> 00:39:32.329 help other hand fest even grow The more hand 00:39:32.329 --> 00:39:35.789 fest out there the better it is for the community 00:39:35.789 --> 00:39:40.090 All right, well the phone number if you want 00:39:40.090 --> 00:39:46.329 to chime in is eight five nine nine eight two 00:39:46.380 --> 00:39:49.719 seventy three seventy three we are uh... just 00:39:49.719 --> 00:39:52.139 about done here so if you want to do that now's 00:39:52.139 --> 00:39:55.280 the time to do it eight five nine ninety two 00:39:55.280 --> 00:39:59.340 seventy three seventy three or i really appreciate 00:39:59.340 --> 00:40:02.820 you know all of the work that you you all do 00:40:02.820 --> 00:40:06.460 to make these things happen i know when i'm there 00:40:06.460 --> 00:40:09.440 uh... i'm usually running around from here and 00:40:09.440 --> 00:40:15.420 there and Like usual I have 20 places I got to 00:40:15.420 --> 00:40:18.019 be at the same time and so I'm just kind of running 00:40:18.019 --> 00:40:25.460 around but You know, it's it's so Nice to have 00:40:25.460 --> 00:40:30.519 things well laid out predictable You know knowing 00:40:30.519 --> 00:40:34.260 where things are gonna happen what's gonna happen 00:40:34.260 --> 00:40:40.090 and and knowing that you all are Really putting 00:40:40.090 --> 00:40:42.929 forth the effort to make it the best possible 00:40:42.929 --> 00:40:46.730 experience that you can Just makes things so 00:40:46.730 --> 00:40:50.349 much easier. And so I thank you all for that. 00:40:50.590 --> 00:40:54.989 Well We also want to mention one of our listeners 00:40:54.989 --> 00:40:59.130 here tonight John in for JTK is actually the 00:40:59.130 --> 00:41:02.210 one who set all this up so we want to thank John 00:41:02.210 --> 00:41:06.809 for for suggesting the show and and getting everybody 00:41:06.809 --> 00:41:10.000 together and and making it happen. So thanks 00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.500 to John Nodden for JTK from Orlando as well. 00:41:15.059 --> 00:41:18.360 And let's see over here on Twitter, Karen Eve 00:41:18.360 --> 00:41:24.079 Murray, Katie2GUT says, I'm using my stable connection 00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:27.280 to listen to HamTalk Live tonight, enjoying this 00:41:27.280 --> 00:41:32.219 positive forward looking discussion. So. Thank 00:41:32.219 --> 00:41:35.400 you, Karen, for listening. I knew you'd love 00:41:35.400 --> 00:41:40.119 the stable joke. So there we go. All right. Well, 00:41:40.239 --> 00:41:44.699 I'm looking at the clock and we've got like three 00:41:44.699 --> 00:41:49.679 minutes left. So let me just go around for any 00:41:49.679 --> 00:41:52.579 final comments here. And I guess we're going 00:41:52.579 --> 00:41:57.119 to tie a bow on this one. So let's see. Let's 00:41:57.119 --> 00:42:02.159 go back to Michael Coulter. All right. Well, 00:42:02.199 --> 00:42:06.159 once again, thank you. And thanks to my... Hello 00:42:06.159 --> 00:42:10.360 to John Knott down there in Florida. And really 00:42:10.360 --> 00:42:12.900 you should be on here too. You've done so much 00:42:12.900 --> 00:42:17.420 for amateur radio. But there's so many people 00:42:17.420 --> 00:42:20.599 that operate in different spheres in the radio 00:42:20.599 --> 00:42:24.079 community. And we're just a very small fraction 00:42:24.079 --> 00:42:26.000 of it. You know, the things that you do, Neil, 00:42:26.460 --> 00:42:28.480 and so many people who are really putting a lot 00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:32.130 of time and energy into you know, keeping it 00:42:32.130 --> 00:42:35.230 alive, making it even more interesting and bringing 00:42:35.230 --> 00:42:38.590 on more people. But I'm really happy to be here, 00:42:38.610 --> 00:42:42.610 happy to talk to you guys. And it's true, I am 00:42:42.610 --> 00:42:46.570 good on QRZ. And if anybody has any questions 00:42:46.570 --> 00:42:49.670 that I can help them with, or any one of us, 00:42:50.289 --> 00:42:54.570 just send us an email. All right, very good. 00:42:54.690 --> 00:42:58.090 Well, we're looking forward to Hamvention soon. 00:42:58.090 --> 00:43:04.900 So that'll be great. Michael, let's go to you. 00:43:05.760 --> 00:43:09.800 Pretty much the same thing as Michael said. It's 00:43:09.800 --> 00:43:12.719 thank you for having us on the show. Thank Mark 00:43:12.719 --> 00:43:17.679 and Michael for being here. And the biggest thing 00:43:17.679 --> 00:43:20.699 like Michael always says, just don't forget about 00:43:20.699 --> 00:43:23.280 all the volunteers out there. It takes an army 00:43:23.280 --> 00:43:27.550 to put on these shows. from several hundred to, 00:43:27.550 --> 00:43:31.750 like Michael's case, over 700. We're up to four 00:43:31.750 --> 00:43:33.909 to five hundred now ourselves for hamcation. 00:43:35.530 --> 00:43:38.130 So just remember everybody's volunteers out here. 00:43:38.550 --> 00:43:41.349 We're all working for the same thing to make 00:43:41.349 --> 00:43:44.949 amateur radio better. And if anybody has any 00:43:44.949 --> 00:43:48.329 questions, please email me. And I am good on 00:43:48.329 --> 00:43:52.590 QRZ also. And just again, thank you for everything 00:43:52.590 --> 00:43:57.019 you've done. Neil, especially with the Yoda stuff 00:43:57.019 --> 00:44:01.019 and also looking forward to hamcation in 2022 00:44:01.019 --> 00:44:06.559 and Hamvention in 2022 this year Yeah, I'm ready 00:44:06.559 --> 00:44:11.880 for all of it. I am ready to go so Hopefully 00:44:11.880 --> 00:44:16.159 things will continue on a path where or we can 00:44:17.019 --> 00:44:19.880 uh... get everybody together get the gang back 00:44:19.880 --> 00:44:22.739 together again so that that's uh... something 00:44:22.739 --> 00:44:26.460 to look forward to for sure alright mark i guess 00:44:26.460 --> 00:44:29.690 you're going to get the last word tonight Okay, 00:44:29.809 --> 00:44:32.309 well, thanks Neil and thanks everybody and John 00:44:32.309 --> 00:44:37.090 too for planning and getting this rolling. I 00:44:37.090 --> 00:44:41.230 won't repeat what Michael and Michael said, but 00:44:41.230 --> 00:44:44.449 just to let everybody know that there's, remind 00:44:44.449 --> 00:44:46.769 everybody, there's no substitute for these in 00:44:46.769 --> 00:44:50.909 -person hamfests. You know, I think so much time 00:44:50.909 --> 00:44:52.969 went on when we kind of fooled ourselves that 00:44:52.969 --> 00:44:56.510 these Zoom meetings, these virtual events, were 00:44:56.510 --> 00:45:00.949 a good substitute. in the South Hall when there 00:45:00.949 --> 00:45:03.550 were 2 ,000 conversations going on among the 00:45:03.550 --> 00:45:07.170 4 ,000 people there. It was hard to describe 00:45:07.170 --> 00:45:10.530 the vibe, the feel. And getting a hug from Carol 00:45:10.530 --> 00:45:13.989 Perry, who came down from New York, and the league 00:45:13.989 --> 00:45:16.510 guys that were anxious and happy to get out of 00:45:16.510 --> 00:45:19.570 Connecticut. Getting everybody in one place and 00:45:19.570 --> 00:45:22.210 seeing in -person HamFest again. I'm excited 00:45:22.210 --> 00:45:24.309 for Orlando, guys, and we'll see you in February. 00:45:24.750 --> 00:45:26.829 Thanks, everybody, and I'll back to you, Neil. 00:45:27.990 --> 00:45:30.849 All right, Mark. Yeah, that's it's always a must 00:45:30.849 --> 00:45:34.809 get it get a hug from Carol. So there we go Well 00:45:34.809 --> 00:45:37.550 guys, thank you so much for taking the time to 00:45:37.550 --> 00:45:40.849 be here tonight. We look forward to hearing more 00:45:40.849 --> 00:45:48.050 as the plans continue and Hoping that 2022 is 00:45:48.050 --> 00:45:54.750 a much less challenging year for a lot of respects 00:45:55.980 --> 00:45:59.679 So thanks so much for being here, and that is 00:45:59.679 --> 00:46:03.079 a wrap for this week's edition of HamTalk Live. 00:46:03.139 --> 00:46:06.320 Thanks to my guests, Michael Coulter, W8CI from 00:46:06.320 --> 00:46:10.199 Hamvention, Michael Colley, W4, oh, I put the 00:46:10.199 --> 00:46:15.420 wrong call sign again, W4ORL, and Mark Brown, 00:46:15.440 --> 00:46:18.539 N4BCD and everyone out there in cyberspace for 00:46:18.539 --> 00:46:21.559 listening and calling in and typing in and invite 00:46:21.559 --> 00:46:23.780 you back next Thursday night, 9 p .m. Eastern 00:46:23.780 --> 00:46:27.820 Time. And you can check out our list of upcoming 00:46:27.820 --> 00:46:32.119 guests at HamTalkLive .com. So for now, this 00:46:32.119 --> 00:46:37.260 is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, saying 7 -3, 7 -5, and 00:46:37.260 --> 00:46:49.250 may the good DX be yours. Well you came right 00:46:49.250 --> 00:46:53.530 back to my security call Your readability five 00:46:53.530 --> 00:46:57.989 and strength nine You never once mentioned your 00:46:57.989 --> 00:46:58.050 well -