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we go, welcome to Hamtok Live Calling Let's Talk,
Neil's your guide Hamtok Live, here we go on
Hamtok Radio Hey! Good evening, everyone. It's
time for HamTalk Live episode number 270, CQ
Worldwide and the new youth category recorded
live on Thursday, September 2nd, 2021. I'm your
host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. Thanks for tuning into
this episode of HamTalk Live. Tonight, we're
joined by John Doar, K1AR, and we'll take your
calls live in just a few minutes. Last week here
on the show, Dr. Scott Wright, KZeroMD was here
to talk about the Portable Ops Challenge. If
you missed that show, you can listen anytime
at HamTalkLive .com or on your favorite podcast
app or on YouTube. And you can catch the rebroadcast
on WTWW 5085 on your AM dial Saturday afternoons
at about 3 30 PM Eastern time. And that portable
ops challenge is coming up this weekend. So,
uh, Give that a shot if you so desire. We'll
get your questions ready to go here about CQ
Worldwide. We'll be talking about that tonight
and again specifically the youth category, but
we may... branch out a little bit on that. If
you're listening to us live on Thursday night,
you can give us a call during the second half
of the show. I'll go ahead and give you the phone
number so you can write it down, have it ready
to go, punch it in, and rip the knob off. Here
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on Spreaker type in the comments and That'll
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Faraday box, here's Neil Rapp with more HamTalk
Live. Welcome back to HamTalk Live. Thanks to
ICOM America for sponsoring the show. Make sure
you visit them often at icomamerica .com slash
amateur. Welcome back to HamTalk Live tonight.
John Doar K1 AR joins us on the Orlando amateur
radio club and hamcation zoom line. John was
named the CQ Worldwide DX Contest Director in
2018 and he's been a member of the CQ Worldwide
Contest Committee since the mid 70s. He was also
CQ Magazine's contest editor from 1989 until
2011 and he's a two -time WRTC medalist. He was
elected to the CQ contest hall of fame in 1997.
So John, welcome to the show. Oh, it's, uh, I'm
very glad to be here and, uh, appreciate the
invitation Neil, uh, looking forward to tonight's
talk. Well, you know, fall is, is, is upon us.
It's not quite here yet. The temperatures are
starting to get a little bit better. Uh, but
that means it's, it's getting time for CQ worldwide.
And, and, uh, as my friend, Dr. Scott Wright,
uh, KZeroMD says, uh, you know, it's a, it's
a good chance to, uh, to get your DXCC in a weekend.
Uh, but we're going to talk a little bit about
something new that's come to CQ worldwide as
well as some other contests. And that's the,
uh, youth category. So tell us a little bit about
how this all got started. Well, you know, it's,
it's, it's funny when we, uh, we think about
the fall and things cooling down in the, uh,
in the conscious world, that things are actually
heating up and, uh, particularly in the CQR wide,
which is, uh, I think, uh, disputably the, uh,
the largest, uh, contest, uh, in the world, probably
if you judge it by the number. participants or
a number of logs that we receive. You know, literally
many millions of QSOs are made in every contest
when you add them all up with all the stations
participating and 18 ,000 logs and all of that.
And one of the legacies that I kind of inherited
when I took over the reins of directing the contest
back in 2018 was the fact that CQ Worldwide has
always been known as kind of a trend setting
contest that we have innovated lots of things
perhaps for the first time in the world of contesting.
And I think the idea around doing something with
youth is very consistent with that philosophy
and that legacy that has been with us for so
long. And if you think about it, most most hams
that are a little longer in the tooth, which
sadly includes, I guess, most of us. You know,
the question that we're asking ourselves frequently
is simply, what can we be doing to encourage
more youth participation in ham radio? And I
have a bit of a more narrow lens in that not
only am I interested in youth and ham radio,
but also youth and contesting in particular.
And, you know, at the end of the day, It was
very clear as we started talking about this amongst
the CQ Worldwide Contest Committee that everybody
felt that CQ Worldwide in some way had to do
its part. Now, some of you who are familiar with
the Worldwide Contest may recall that we've created
a rookie class several years ago. We call it
a rookie overlay, if you will. And that was maybe
the beginning of that. The problem with having
just a rookie uh... designation is that somebody
can still be uh... you know in their seventies
and have just got their license magically uh...
so they're hardly youth but they're still qualified
as a rookie so in terms of youth we really weren't
addressing it head -on we're kind of doing it
off the side if you will and uh... i think we
all felt more needed to be done so you know rather
than having uh... a bunch of folks sort of sit
in a smoke -filled dark room and come up with
something. My thinking was that the best way
to understand how youth tick and how they would
respond to something in the context world would
be to actually ask them. And that's kind of a
revolutionary concept to ask and listen in today's
world, but that's exactly what we did. And I
consulted with two guys in particular, LU &FAM,
Luke and DK6SP, Phil, Philip. And I asked them
just some very basic questions about how do we
deal with youth. And they gave me some pretty
interesting information that we took back to
the contest committee that resulted in some of
the things that we've now decided to do. And
what surprised me was that even in today's world
where printed media is rapidly fading into the
sunset in many ways. The idea of seeing your
call sign in print in a magazine like CQ Magazine
or QST is still in the minds of you, it's still
a very big deal. And particularly in the conscious
world to actually call them out and to take them
seriously and to give them a designation in the
contest results is something that nobody's really
doing in a broad scale and something that would
have a high impact. And that kind of surprised
me that that mattered any more to kids in particular.
The other kinds of feedback I got was, you know,
there was a Philip in particular mentioned how
one of the highlights of his ham radio career
of everything he did was the time he got a CQ
Worldwide rookie plaque. He got a plaque in the
mail and it's proudly on his wall and all the
things he's accomplished in the years since he
first got his license. The thing that he is most
proud of is looking at that plaque and it's a
real motivator he says for him when he's operating
and seeing that thing and realizing that, wow,
this is a contest that actually considers younger
operators, it takes it seriously. And we just
wanted to jump on that and grab it even more.
So with all that in mind and realizing that we
had a tremendous opportunity here, we discussed
a little bit about what is the real potential
out here? Is this all just kind of wishful thinking?
And really at the end of the day, The driver
of all of this is that there's already tremendous
YOTA, as it's called, Youth on the Air activities,
including some of the things that our host here
sponsors, that is Evolva with Camp and other
things. And there's literally in the tens of
thousands across the globe of young ham operators.
many of which that would probably get more active
in contesting if they had more motivation to
do it. And it was the collective opinion of both
Luke and Philip that if we actually created something
special for them, which we've done, then we would
begin almost immediately to see literally hundreds
of participants. some of which are already playing
in the contest, but never bothered us to mail
a log in because the attitude is why bother?
Well, now they can mail it in. Now they can get
their call and friend in a very special way.
And we're really exciting because now the marketing
machine is going to be starting mostly through
the IARU organizations around the globe, promoting
the fact that there's now an opportunity for
youth to be highlighted in the CQ Worldwide in
a very special way. I can't wait to, when I write
the contest results for next year, one of the
things we're going to do as an example is I'll
have at least one or maybe even two little sidebar
articles that are going to be just focusing on
a youth operation and not necessarily the winner.
It's going to be more a story of somebody who
is maybe 16 years old who operated his first
contest. and just wants to tell that story for
other people to hear. And getting that in print
will be a game changer for sure for that person.
I think a game changer for youth and a game changer
for for the contest. So with all that being said,
at the end of the day, it was not a hard sell
inside the contest committee to really get full
endorsement, to move ahead and address youth
head on. And that's exactly what we've done.
Yeah, I think the hardware is Definitely still
a motivator, as Phillip mentioned. I had an article
that just came out in NCJ this month about Brazil
and how they give out awards and have some of
these youth categories. And in some of the Yoda
meetings, you know, Lucas was really pushing
for, you know, let's do something to recognize
these people. So I was really glad to see that
CQ Worldwide jumped on board as well as NAQP
and some others of getting. This youth category
going and recognizing our youth because they
often feel very alone And that's one of the things
that that really struck home and doing Yoda camp
this summer was That you know these these kids
actually were meeting other ham kids for the
first time and It really made an impact. So Let's
talk a little bit about the logistics here. How
does the youth category work? How are these young
people going to submit? Their scores so that
they are marked as a youth entry Okay, well that's
That's certainly part of the equation for us,
and it's part of the equation for the contest
in general. We have done a lot of work to simplify
the process of submitting logs, at least at a
CQ Worldwide, and frankly the process has been
adopted by many, if not most, of the major contests
now. The days of taking down and writing paper
logs and making a copy and putting in an envelope
and mailing it to some PO box that train has
left the station a long time ago. And it kind
of transitioned to an email process, which for
many years was effective. But we've taken it
now to the level of being able to actually submit.
logs online on in our case at cqww .com and there's
a very simplified and walk you through it kind
of process where you don't have to be a contest
or or any of that just answer some basic questions
have your your log file handy and it'll even
go through the process of validating the format
so if something's messed up in the log by accident
or whatever we can correct that. before you even
submit the log. So that infrastructure has been
in place now for quite a while. And that's exactly
how we have, for example, started to collect
logs in the rookie category that we set up a
while ago. And also the classic entries, which
in the CQ Worldwide is a 24 -hour, somewhat argue
the opposite youth where the... For folks who
don't want to operate the full 48 and want to
still have a competitive environment, we created
this idea of a classic entry, which is a 24 -hour
entry in CQ Worldwide. And that allows people
who choose to do other things on the weekend
besides the radio or simply don't have the stamina
or desire to want to sit there for the full weekend,
they can participate in that way. So all that
infrastructure is in place. The technical term
that we actually call this is not a category,
but an overlay. So I wouldn't get too hung up
on the terminology, except to say that what we
have done is create, similar to what we did for
Rookie and Classic, we've created a youth overlay.
And when you submit a log in the contest, it
will be submitted just like any other log. Uh,
and you will be asked a question, um, just as,
as you are, if you were submitting a rookie or
a classic, which is, are you a youth entry? And
you can check the box and we'll, we will ask
people, uh, what year they were born. And that's
not because we're, we're out collecting information
on people in today's environment. But, um, that
was one of the questions that we had to ask was
what is, what is youth? Uh, you know, is it.
Is it 18? Is it 25? You know, in ham radio, it
seems like if we'd meet somebody who's 40 or
45, we'd think he's like a youngster now. So
the fear was that we didn't want to get it to
be so young that we excluded a whole bunch of
people and kind of defeated the purpose of what
we're doing. So that was one of the questions
I asked the guys when we met. And the kind of
universal answer was the steak we put on the
ground is 25. So if you are 25 or younger during
the contest weekend, you are youth. And if you're
26 and older, well, you're old. So it'll be very
black and white. But if you want to actually
take a look at the website, we haven't actually
brought all this up live yet on the youth side,
but it will be ready for the contest. Just to
see how the log submission process kind of works,
it might be worth a spin to take a look at cqww
.com slash logs .htm or just the pulldown menu
on submitting a log. You can kind of play around
with it. The results will be like every other
year in the sense that they'll be available.
in April 1st of the following year for Sideband
and May for CW. And a lot of people ask, you
know, why does it take so long to do the results?
And the reality is with about 90 to 95 % completion,
we actually could publish the contest results
about a week after the contest, believe it or
not, because we have all the data and we have
enough. logs submitted because the deadline is
only five days from the, from the contest that
we can process with our computers and software,
the logs and get them to a state where we kind
of know the results, right? Now there's obviously
all the checking and the cross checking and all
of that still takes time, but the real driver
for us and frankly, for most contests, isn't
so much when are we done? but it really is subscribing
to the publishing deadlines of whoever sponsors
the contest. So if it's an ARL contest, they
have the same issues where they may be done,
but the publishing of the results is slotted
for a certain month and a year, every year, and
that's when they do it. And given there's so
many different contests in the world of CQ and
ARL, You know, we really don't have the luxury
of kind of just moving the chess pieces around
because if we move it one way or the other, then
we're going to impact something else. So we get
the, what we call the raw scores or the high
claim scores are out there usually within a week
after the contest or so. And the final results
will be out in April, May. And for the first
time for youth now, You'll be able to flip to
the results and you'll be able to see a whole
section that'll be titled youth. Um, and in that,
in that subcategory or overlay, you'll see all
the entries and I'm really hoping and praying
to literally be hundreds of them. We'll see how
it goes, but, um, there will be a section just
for you. And, uh, that is hopefully going to
be one of the draws to make this thing attractive
out of the box and to grow in the future. So
that's where we're at. Great. Sounds great. All
right. So yeah, the line seems to be 25. So,
uh, yeah, you know, but when, when you're, you
know, when you're 15, 28 does sound old. So,
you know, whatever. Um, well, uh, one more thing
here before we take a break, uh, along, you know,
with that. that overlay, we mentioned that, you
know, there's some hardware that comes along
with that. So, so tell us a little bit about,
you know, is this just one plaque or, you know,
what, what, what are the awards here? Well, you
know, the, the awards are kind of a statement
in some ways on how committed we are as sponsors
to a particular aspect of the contest. You know,
for example, if there, if there's no you know,
winning awards like plaques in our case, then
that's kind of telling the world we're not that
serious, right? So in the case of the youth category
or the youth overlay and youth category, I wanted
to make a statement and I think a statement we
have made and that is that we have created 14
new awards or new plaques are going to be available
starting with the 2021 contest. Now, to give
you some context of that, there's between phone
and CW combined, there's about 170 or so plaques
available in the secret worldwide. A lot of plaques,
right? But 14, I mean, we're creeping up on 10%.
So nearly 10 % of the award base that will be
available in the worldwide will be devoted to
youth. And what was particularly exciting about
this process, which literally just got completed
here within the past week or so, is that I was
able to get sponsors for these plaques. And this
is people like you and me, and also organizations,
that pay real life folding green money to sponsor
these things every year. And I was able to get
all 14 sponsorships subscribed and paid for without
having to ask anybody. So it was simply because
the word got out and the enthusiasm was out there
that I didn't have to try to get sponsorships
for 14 of these plaques, some of which are being
paid over a multi -year period up front. So,
you know, just very, very... rough numbers, $1
,000 just came flying in to our plaque program
unsolicited in the course of probably only about
two weeks. And I can tell you when we get these
things made and distributed, there's going to
be 14 really, really happy guys and gals around
the world. in areas ranging from world high to
North America, all the continents, Africa, Europe,
Asia, Oceania, South America. And they're going
to be very happy to put them on their walls.
And I can't wait to see the pictures. Yeah, exactly.
Those smiles are just priceless. To see those
those smiles. I'll tell you so well done on the
on the awards as well and That's great that you
know, you didn't have to go out there and shake
the trees To get those taken care of. All right.
Well, it's time for a break here so we're going
to take a break and when we come back we'll talk
to John and Talk a little bit more about CQ Worldwide
after this word from Tower Electronics right
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Now, here's Neil Rapp with more HamTalk Live.
Welcome back to ham talk live. Thanks to tower
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and be sure to check us out on Facebook, Twitter,
and Instagram. And now before we go back to John,
as we do each week, We'll hear from N9GSU. He
has some stuff going on, so this may sound familiar,
but here we go with this week's Joke of the Week.
Now it's time for the HamTalk Live Ham Radio
Joke of the Week, a 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'll be the first
to admit not everyone gets my sense of humor.
I tried to send a buddy a joke over slow -scan
TV, but it wasn't well received. This has been
the HamTalk Live Ham Radio Joke of the Week with
Rick Garrett, N9 GSU. Tune in again next week
for another joke from Rick. Ah, there we go.
It just wasn't well received. Well, we would
like to receive your call. So if you have a question
or comment for John, give us a call right now.
Now's the time. 859 -982 -7373. Again, the phone
number 859 -982. 73 73 or you can tweet at ham
talk live or you can type in the comments on
Spreaker and if you're listening to us on WTWW
or on the podcast edition of the show You won't
be able to reach us live because we're doing
this on Thursday night. So we do have a couple
of Messages that have come in so we'll get to
those First of all, Troy W9KVR asks, he says
he hasn't done his homework, but will the youth
overlay be applied to the ready contest as well?
Well, that's a good question. And the short answer
is at the moment, no, and not for any of the
reasons just simply because it hasn't been done
yet. I don't want to speak on behalf of. their
committee and activities. But I'm certain, particularly
when we see the results we're going to get in
the sideband and CW worldwide, that most, if
not all, of the other CQ contests are going to
adopt something like this, certainly in WPX,
for example, and RIDI and so forth. So stay tuned.
Great question. We'll see how it goes. Okay,
very good. And Dr. Scott Wright, KZeroMD says,
big shout out to K1AR for his long -term leadership
in radio contesting and says, John, do you qualify
for the youth category still just asking for
a friend? Thanks. Well, I did some math on that
and it looks like I missed the window here just
slightly by 41 years. Even while directors have
certain privileges, getting into Mr. Peabody's
way back machine is not one of them. So the answer,
unfortunately, is no. All right, there we go.
So those are some of the questions and comments
that we've had Come in on Twitter again It's
at ham talk live on Twitter or type in the comments
on speaker or give us a call at eight five nine
nine eight two seventy three seventy three Well,
you know we talked a little bit about you know
the need for the youth category, but you know
NAQP just did this and some others. So talk about
the importance of adding this more, more globally
throughout the contest community. Well, you know,
I mean, I think if you separate yourself from
the, um, uh, from the, the world of contesting
and broaden your, your lens to, to ham radio
in general. You know, I don't think they're certainly
the dynamic of youth entering ham radio has changed
significantly. I mean, I got my license when
I was 12 or 13 years old, had my extra when I
was, I don't know, 14 or 15. You know, that kind
of a model is sadly unusual today. And it's not
because ham radio has become a bad thing. It's
just that I think there's so many other distractions
in the world of that community that its appeal
is not quite as universal as it was 40 or 50
years ago. But nevertheless, we still have something
that can be appealing to people of that age group.
I'm convinced of that. And we see that when we
actually get more intentional about it, and not
just wish it to be so, but actually take action
that you know, has some definitive impact and
not just a bunch of ceremonial nonsense. So,
you know, the things that are happening with
the youth camps, for example, are very, very
specific action oriented things that are quite
successful. And it just proves the point that
if we attack it, you know, in a way that is attractive
to that particular community and age group, they
will come. And I believe that the contest world
is something that could be appealing to youth.
We see it in isolated cases. I can think of a
handful of folks, some of which I've even operated
with in contesting, who are really, really good
at the sport of contesting, right? And they just
took to it naturally. Um, and, uh, you know,
in some cases that actually already become kind
of leaders in, in contesting and in one or two
cases, uh, I think they're barely cracking 20
years old, right? Uh, I mean, if you look at,
at, uh, Phillip, for example, DK six SP, I think
he's 24 now. I served three or something in that,
in that range group. I think a guy's like, um,
uh, and in one seat, Marty, uh, who is, uh, I
think now going to be a sophomore in college,
right? So he's kind of in the 20 -ish range,
you know, who's a very, very recognized and active
participant in contesting, right? And he talked
to any of them and they say, well, man, we just
thought this was the coolest thing ever. And
we jumped in, right? Well, not everybody's wired
that way. Okay. So in my view, like anything
else, if you want to grow something, to the community
that is sort of touching it on the edges, you
have to give them a reason to come to the party.
And who doesn't like to be recognized, right?
Who doesn't like to see their, in today's world
in particular, who doesn't like to see their
name in print? Who doesn't like to be viewed
as a group that's taken seriously by people who
are not in their group? And I think all of those
factors combined is what's really uh, driving
the idea that youth and pod testing can be a,
a very, uh, positive result for ham radio in
general. And that's, that's really what's driving
us old guys to, to have somebody that we can
turn this thing over to because, uh, I don't,
I don't know about, about you, Neil, but, uh,
I, I'm not sure I got too many more cycles, uh,
sunspot cycles to go here. So we gotta, we gotta
be thinking about this now and not later. Right.
Yeah. You gotta, you gotta keep it going. All
right, well, let's give out one last call here
for the phone lines They are open at eight five
nine nine eight two seventy three seventy three
or you can tweet us at ham talk live or Type
in the comments and just taking a second here
to look at all that see make sure we haven't
missed anybody But we're going to wrap things
up here shortly. So now's the time if you're
going to jump in eight five nine nine eight two
seventy three seventy three Let's see. Okay,
Troy again says I think unfortunately youth access
to equipment can be a factor and He has youth
that that do really well at his school w9grs
But They don't have access beyond that. So I
know there are some options available. We've
tried the youth contesting program and hopefully
that will expand where youth are invited into
some of these contest stations and even smaller
stations to get on. And then remote ham radio
is offering a lot of remote time for young people.
So there are there are some ways around that.
Anything you want to add there, John? Yeah, you
know, I hear that a lot today, and it's a very
real issue, not only in terms of equipment, but
you know, in terms of, you know, even if you
have the ability to get equipment, a lot of people
now live in HOA restricted areas. putting up
antennas and all of that is a challenge. I would
submit while it's much more complex today than
it was in my day. You know, when I was a kid,
it wasn't like I was flowing in money to just
buy any radio I wanted and put up anything I
wanted either, right? For me, the key to growing
and moving ahead was when I got involved in a
contest club if such a thing is available to
somebody who's younger and really get involved
with people who already had established stations.
And what I'm finding more and more is that there's
a lot of stations out there that are sizable
stations that are almost going unused at times
in major contests for whatever reason. that if
somebody wanted to use them or wanted to get
involved, I think if we could figure out a way
to kind of glue those two pieces together, we
could get many more youthful operators to get
involved, both in that way and also in AltyOps
and things like that. I remember, and I would
submit it's no different today, when I was a
college student, I remember driving my car to,
I was able to be a member of the Yankee Clipper
contest club and we had lots of, you know, big
stations and so forth. And I remember getting
invited to several of them over the couple years
in the early days. And just that thrill of driving
my car up to up the hill, which is typically
what it was to some contest station and seeing
these gigantic antennas and towers. And I think
I'm like at a government installation, right?
And this is just a ham station. And I'm thinking
of guys like W3LPL and W2PV and W1ZM and the
list goes on. You know, it was goosebumps time
to be able to do that. And I think the combination
of figuring out ways to get more access to those
kinds of places or smaller stations that are
still very adequate. as well as some of the advances
being made with remote operating, such as what
you mentioned with Ray W2RE and SRI JAR activities
and things like that. You know, there is a path.
And, you know, by the way, one of the great elixirs
to solve all of this, at least a lot of it, in
terms of station adequacy is called sunspots.
And boy, I'll tell you, when the sunspots come
back, and they are coming back, that's what we're
all told, there's going to be amazing things
that can be done with very little for a couple
years. And boy, that's a time to really jump
on the wagon and have some fun. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
I'm really looking forward to some better conditions.
So hopefully that'll be around the corner. Well,
John, thank you so much for spending time with
us tonight to talk about CQ Worldwide and the
youth overlay category and the hardware that
goes with it and everything. Any final words
or any announcements about CQ Worldwide in general
that you want to make? Go right ahead. Well,
I can tell you And I say this to probably everybody
is that even though I've been on the committee
for a long time, I guess I never really understood
truly what was involved until I was put in charge
of it. And it's a pretty significant task, I
have to tell you, but one I enjoy thoroughly
to be able to. you know, be an ambassador, if
you will, for the CQ Worldwide, or maybe even
contesting in general, being able to do things
like this this evening and all of that. And it's
a real honor and a privilege to do that. And
to really be part of a team that's an influencer
in contesting through the vehicle of the CQ Worldwide.
And in this case, I'll just comment on it very
briefly in the interest of time. In addition
to the youth overlay that we created this year,
we also created a new explorer category, which
I would encourage you just to check out cqww
.com and look at that a little bit. And basically
the idea behind that was to kind of remove some
of the traditional category barriers, if you
will, and rules. and allow technology to prevail
and see what people can actually do with technology
and contesting in sort of a contesting sandbox.
And that's the general theme behind that. And
we did this about 10 years ago. It was probably
a little ahead of its time. But now with remote
operating and the pervasiveness of various communication
methods and things and the way radios and computers
and all of it to collectively work. I think it's
going to be fascinating. I don't expect much
more than a few dozen people are going to necessarily
do this. But there's going to be, I think, some
interesting stories that are going to come out
of it, some of which that who knows what an influence
that's going to have on contesting in the future
based on things that they're trying today. So
it's another example of something that we're
doing to try to, you know, Try to lead the pack
and make some exciting things happen. So that's
what we're all about By the way, if anybody wants
to ask questions offline I don't hide my email
or hide behind anything. You can simply just
shoot me a note at CQK1AR At gmail .com and I'm
happy to respond anything that comes my way,
which is generally every day So look forward
to hearing from any and all if you have any questions
you'd like to ask me offline All right, John.
Well, thank you so much for your time, your commitment
to CQ Worldwide and your time here this evening
with us. And I look forward to getting into the
contest season here and racking up some numbers.
So thanks so much and we'll talk to you soon.
All righty. It's been a pleasure and have a good
night, everybody. Thank you for the time. All
right. Well, that's a wrap for this week's edition
of ham talk live. Thanks to my guest John door
k1 AR and everyone out there in cyberspace for
listening and calling in and typing in and Invite
you back next Thursday night 9 p .m Eastern time
right here at ham talk live .com And if you want
to see who's going to be on the show Go there
as well and you can find that and if you like
the show, please leave us a review. That's that's
all we ask so That's all for tonight. So for
now, this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, saying 7 -3,
7 -5, and may the good DX be yours.