This episode of HamTalk Live is brought to you
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for more information about ICOM radios. With
Neographer, here we go Welcome to Hamtok Live
Call in last stop, Neil's your guide Hamtok Live,
here we go On Hamtok Radio Hey, good evening,
everyone. It's time for ham talk live. It's episode
number 269 the portable ops challenge 2021 recorded
live on Thursday, August 26 2021 I'm your host
Neil rap WB nine VPG. Thanks for tuning in to
this episode of ham talk live tonight. We're
joined by Dr. Scott Wright KZeroMD and we will
take your calls live a little later on in the
show. Last week Faith Hannah Lee KD3Z and Don
Wilbanks AE5DW were here. to talk about the 2021
Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award. So if you
missed that show, you can listen anytime at HamTalkLive
.com or on your favorite podcast app or on YouTube
and be sure to catch the rebroadcast of HamTalk
Live. every Saturday afternoon on WTWW. That's
5085 on your AM dial. And again, that's Saturday
afternoons at about 3 .30 PM Eastern time. So
we're going to talk about the portable ops challenge
tonight. So get your questions ready to go. If
you're listening to us live on Thursday night,
you can call us after the interview. I'll let
you know when it's time to call. uh... but let
me give you the phone number so you can have
it ready to go it's eight five nine nine eight
two seventy three seventy three again the number
eight five nine We'll give that out several times
later on in the show. Also, you can tweet us.
I'll be watching that tonight. It's at HamTalk
Live on Twitter. And if you're on Spreaker, you
can type in the comments and we'll see that as
well. So I'll be back with Scott right after
this word from Tower Electronics right here on
HamTalk Live. Thanks for choosing Tower Electronics.
How may we help you today? We have PL259s, we
have in connectors, we have SMA adapters, we
have BNC adapters. What can I show you today?
Where's the tower? Well, we don't actually have
a tower with us. But we have all kinds of things
you can use with a tower. We have power poles,
antennas, soldering irons and meters. Where's
the tower? Ma 'am, that's the name of our company.
We can't haul towers to all the ham fest across
the country that we visit, but we have almost
every connector and adapter you would need to
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don't think there's a tower back there. I really
don't. Tower Electronics, visit us at a HamFest
near you or call 920 -435 -2973 or see our whole
catalog at pl -259 .com. Sorry, one thing we
don't have is a tower. Running barefoot is for
the beach. We're cranking 1 .5 trillion nanowatts
right here on HamTalk Live. Welcome back to HamTalk
Live. Thanks to Scott and Jill over at Tower
Electronics for sponsoring the show tonight.
They help bring HamTalk Live your way each and
every week. Coming up, they will be in Shelby,
North Carolina at the HamFest there, September
3rd, 4th, and 5th. Findley, Ohio, September 12th.
Peoria, Illinois, September 18th and 19th. Belvedere,
Illinois, September 26th. Belton, Texas, October
2nd. Then they've got Crestview, Florida on October
9th. Check the schedules, make sure those are
still going with our COVID situation, but you
can catch Tower Electronics anytime at PL -259
.com. So welcome back and tonight, Dr. Scott
Wright, KZeroMD joins us on the Orlando Amateur
Radio Club and hamcation Zoom line. Dr. Scott
Wright is an excellent contester. He's been on
several de -expeditions and is the past editor
of the National Contest Journal. He works for
the Mayo Clinic teaching cardiology, which often
lets him take his ham radio with him to all kinds
of cool places. He's based out of Rochester,
Minnesota, and is a graduate, of course, of the
University of Kentucky. And that's the University
of Kentucky, by the way. So good evening, Scott.
Hey, good evening, Neil. What a pleasure to join
you and be on the number one ham radio talk radio
show in the United States. And I continue to
be amazed that your broadcast tower has 1 .5
trillion nanowatts. Wow. It's amazing how we
do that. You'd think that would be illegal, but
it's not. No, you've got a license. I know. Yeah.
Well, and there's no interference with your neighbors.
Right. Exactly. None at all. So we're talking
a little bit about using. power or not using
power tonight uh as we're talking about the portable
ops challenge and and what makes this a very
unique contest is uh the way that it's set up
to kind of equalize out those people who are
running 1 .5 trillion nanowatts um and those
who are only running you know 100 billion nanowatts
so or maybe even five billion nanowatts. So why
don't you talk a little bit about it? I know
it's in its second year now. So just kind of
remind everybody what it's about and how this
is different from a traditional or at least what
most people would consider a traditional contest.
My pleasure. Thanks again for inviting me onto
your show. When I was editor of the National
Contest Journal, it became clear to me that We
needed to grow the ranks of contesters, but we
were bumping up against some limits that were
challenging to deal with. We have so many ham
radio operators who live in covenant restricted
homes or live in cities and apartment buildings
or condominiums or other places where it's just
not possible to get a tower from tower electronics
and put up an antenna. Like your pet you like
your ads by the way, but anyway, so I put it
in one of my editorials a couple of years ago
I asked that the contesting communities please
consider and propose some ideas of how we could
engage urban contesters Throwing out ideas like
should we do a worked all boroughs contest for
New York City? or should we do a special urban
parks on the air contest and Despite all of the
interest by a number of clubs to promote contesting,
no one really picked up that baton and did anything
with it except one individual from Jackson, Mississippi,
Dr. Frank Howell, K4 Fox Mike Hotel. And Frank
thought it was a good idea. And Frank's, of course,
an accomplished sociologist and demographer.
He fully understands the trends of aging in the
contest community and the need to have new fresh
blood, so to speak, not just fresh meat for sweepstakes,
but fresh contesters for a number of events.
So he put together an international committee
of hams from Asia Pacific Rim, from South Africa,
from the United States, from Europe, including
some very prominent contesters, prominent soda
activists and portable operators, and said, let's
pick up Scott Wright's challenge and see what
we can do. And so his group, and I was on the
initial steering committee, designed something
called the Portable Operators Challenge. And
this is the second year. It's a contest event
designed to allow a more level playing field
between those who have, as I do, and many other
contesters, a tower and yagis, and those like
you, Neil, who live in a home with a covenant
restriction and who really will have trouble
just getting a dipole up without it being too
stealth. or my good friend and neighbor K4IU,
Fred, who has covenant restrictions and can only
use wires, or those who want to operate portable.
And so the contest is designed to create a level
playing field by scoring it on the concept of
sort of the kilowatt per kilometer, rather, per
watt using exchanges. And it will give extra
credit for those who are running low power or
QRP power, as you said, five billion. For those
who might be running full legal power in the
United States, which is, as you pointed out,
1 .5 trillion nanowatts. And for those who, like
me, struggle sometimes with all those 10 to the
minus 9s converting them, we're talking about
1 ,500 versus 100 versus 5 watts or even less.
So it's designed to really level the playing
field like golf handicap does. It's a contest
that really encourages activity. Can you get
on? Can you make contacts? allows those who run
low power or portable operations to really be
competitive to potentially win their section
or win the event. It certainly takes nothing
away from super stations like K3LR and K9CT and
W3LP .L or others, but it also allows individuals
like K4SWL, Thomas Witherspoon, who operates
portable exclusively and does an amazing job.
to compete and potentially win. And so it's really
designed to give individuals a chance to get
out and operate and to have some fun over the
later day weekend. And that's what it's all about.
We're really promoting it and we hope that we
can see several hundred people join this year
and take part in it. It's something that maybe
will stick and grow and we can ultimately get
some contesters from. you know, major metropolitan
areas like Los Angeles and New York and Houston
and Dallas, etc. who really are stranded. They
get out in the parks and operate and just have
fun for four hours, eight hours, or 12 hours.
Okay, well we've got a little audio clip we're
going to play, which is an advertisement kind
of thing, a promotion for the event, so let's
take a listen. Whatcha doing? Feeding the chickens.
Well, are you going to take the challenge? Yep,
I plan to. You? I'm thinking about it. What about
the big guns? Think they'll win? They didn't
last year. But then, they didn't show up either.
Is that why you're feeding the chickens now?
Yep. Champions are never afraid of competition.
Will you take the challenge? See FoxMyCotel .com
stroke challenge. So, kind of a lighthearted
look at it, but it comes across as a fun thing,
but definitely conveys the idea. Yeah, it does.
It's designed to get operators like me and others
who have stations who can score a million or
two million points in the CQ Worldwide Contest
to get on and make some contacts with those who
are really antenna. Challenged or low -power
challenged and the website that Frank is on the
ad is not quite what I What is correct? Let me
give you the correct website. It's Fox Mike hotel
comm forward slash challenge forward slash. That's
Fox Mike hotel And that's F O X M I K E H O T
E L not abbreviated Fox Mike hotel comm forward
slash challenge forward slash that will get you
right there or just go to Fox Mike hotel comm
and then You can link to it in one click, which
is what I do each time. Yeah, we're hoping we
can get some contesters out. In fact, Neil, I've
sponsored a plaque for the Society of Midwest
Contesters and a plaque for Minnesota Wireless
for the member in each group who scores the highest
provided 25 or more join the contest. And so
we're hoping that we can get some hands on from
the Midwest for sure and create some activity
and just have some fun. Sounds like a great plan.
So tell everybody how they can participate. So
let's talk a little bit about bands and modes
and the exchange and time and date, all that
important stuff. Right. Well, the contest is
going to be Labor Day weekend, September 4th
and 5th. You can find all of this at contestcalendar
.com and look on September 4th and 5th. The exchange
is simply your grid square. So I live in EN34RA,
that's Echo November 34 Radio Alpha, and I'll
be sending EN34, I think it's your four -digit
maidenhead grid square. The logging, major logging
programs are ready for it. N1MM was kind enough
to... created a special edition for the contest.
You can use phone, CW, or digital. And most points
come from a phone contact, obviously. Second
most points, CW, and third most points, digital.
You could have one transmitter or two, but your
points are divided by the number of transmitters
that you run. So if you're running two transmitters,
your point score will be divided in half. to
sort of level the playing field there. And it
will be on the contest bands, 160 through 10,
which realistically for this contest will likely
be 80 through 15 given the status of sunspot
cycle and where we are with solar flux. And if
we have any residual sequelae from the solar
flares that are hitting in the next day or two.
the bands may be really hot, and 10 meters may
open, and then all bets are off. And if the big
guns show up, they may find themselves in a David
versus Goliath battle with the little pistols
actually winning. And so I plan, I've had an
ICOM 705 for about a year, and I plan to put
my 705 out on our screened -in porch, put up
my... buddy pole or put up a 20 meter out the
delta dipole that I had taken on vacation, string
it up in one of my trees, run the coax into the
back porch and just spend four hours enjoying
it. Let me give you the exact time, if I may,
of the hours. Yeah, I was looking at the website
here. uh... there are four or i'm sorry three
four -hour periods as well so that it's only
you know uh... four hours at a time so uh...
be sure to explain that uh... as you go through
those times. Sure, so on September 4th we uh...
the contest runs 800 Zulu to 1159 Zulu so uh...
remember 800 Zulu will be uh... uh... let's see
that's uh... quite early in the morning for me.
So GMT zero zero for me is seven. So if I had
eight hours that that's three a .m. to twelve
hundred which would be seven a .m. and then it's
again at sixteen hundred Zulu to nineteen fifty
nine on the fourth and on the fifth it's zero
zero zero zero which is eight o 'clock eastern
seven central five pacific six mountain two oh
four hundred which would be approximate eleven
p .m. central midnight eastern etc. It's designed
to have three, four -hour blocks. You do not
have to operate all three blocks. You can operate
one block, two blocks, or three blocks. Just
get on and enjoy it. It's designed, though, at
different times because it's a worldwide event.
We have stations planning to be on from Europe,
from the Middle East, not from Africa that we're
aware of, but we hope, and certainly Australia,
the Pacific Rim. And so we want to be able to
have the hours available to allow propagation
between North America and Australia for sure,
Neil. And that's the reason why it's at different
times of day. Now, people who are really contest
aficionados will say, you're having this event
on the same days as the CW Open. That's true,
but it's at different times. So those of you
who are in CW Ops, I issue you a challenge as
a lifetime CW Ops member. to spread the love
about CW by operating the Portable Operators
Challenge during your off times from the CW Open
and make some contacts and talk about your love
for CW. So again, September 4th and 5th, 0800
GMT to 1159, September 4th, 1600 GMT to 1959
GMT, and then September 5th, 0000 Zulu to 359
AM Zulu on September 5th. All right, and you
know and the four -hour blocks are a little more
manageable, you know, it kind of gives you a
chance to To take a break and do some other things.
Like you said the CW open You know running, you
know 48 hours or even 24 is a Challenge in itself.
So this is a way to kind of shorten that a little
bit That's right. And you know, it's Labor Day
weekend. So for all of us in the United States,
we're going to have time off with family. I personally
plan to operate four hours. I don't think I'll
do all three four -hour blocks because it's Labor
Day weekend and I want to do some things with
my family. It's a nice contest design so it doesn't
rob your family of you for an entire holiday
period like CQ Worldwide often does over the
Thanksgiving weekend. Or the ARRLDX sideband
contest frequently does for Valentine's Day weekend.
And so yeah, four hours is a nice time frame.
If you like it, you can get back on a second
four hour shift. And what we have learned about
contesting is that contesters prefer shorter
contests. There are the diehards like me who
do enjoy 40 an hour contests, but they are fewer
and fewer each year. And younger operators especially
love shorter contests. They can get on, they
compete, and they can be done. And this contest
is designed for that. And we hope to have a large
youth contingent from Europe on this contest.
So hopefully your listeners like Kelo Call 5
Hotel Victor Oscar, and all of those who came
to the Yoda camp, like my contest club's champion,
Keese, and others will get on and be a part of
this. And, you know, maybe the youth will show
we adults up. Who knows? We'll see. I'll tell
you what they are. really on fire right now.
They have been doing some stuff after the camp
and just kind of been reading the messages fly
by and it's just amazing what they're doing.
So it wouldn't surprise me to hear several of
them on during this contest and others. So let's
look back at last year and give a little idea
of how it went last year and what changes were
made to improve things for this year. Last year
we had pretty sparse attendance and participation
because the contest was held on the same weekend
as the California CUSO party and we realized
that strategic issue a little too late to change
the date. the California QSO team was very worried
that operators would create interference and
confusion for their contesters, but none of that
happened. So this year we surveyed all of the
posted contest dates and went with what we thought
was a contest time that would allow outdoor weather
that was appropriate or as close to ideal as
possible for the northern and southern hemispheres.
and was not on a weekend with a major contest,
like the California QSO party or the CQ Worldwide
RIDDI contest or CQ Worldwide sideband contest.
And we had a working group who picked the date
and then another working group who worked on
the rules and revised the rules and the logging
programs so that we're ready. And we've really
promoted it a lot. Frank has bought ads, journals.
It's been promoted on a number of social media
podcasts, including the number one podcast, HamTalk
Live, and of course, Time Nation as well, and
others. And, you know, it's been on the ICQ podcast,
I've heard it talked about there. And so we're
hoping Martin and his son and some of the other
hosts of the ICQ podcast will get on and we can
have a Q so with them. So I think, you know,
for everyone who like me, Has a has a small rig
a low -power rig or a portable rig like, you
know You're missing field day if you need another
field day experience We'll call a few friends
over and provide a pizza or some barbecue on
Saturday afternoon of Labor Day weekend and put
an antenna up in the tree and get on for four
hours and just Have fun or invite invite an operator
over who's not active because they don't have
a station and let them enter at one point with
a station that you set up in your backyard or
your driveway. And there's no penalty for using
home power in this contest or no advantage to
using a battery. It's all based on the amount
of wattage you're putting out. But just have
some fun and try something new. And the winners
of this contest did not qualify for the WRTC.
So there's no pressure here to win because the
trip to Italy has been decided. And Neil, you
and I are not going. Yes, we are not going. That
is true. We did not qualify. Yes, yes. It was
close. It was close. Yes, by that much. Yes.
So, you know, there's always this, you know,
back and forth of, you know, Life's too short
for qrp and and and you know qrp Makes most efficient
use of what you have and you know, so you're
gonna be heard better with with You know an amplifier
You're not going to be heard quite as well on
You know 100 watts or on qrp So You can expect
that you may get more contacts with the higher
power, but this really makes you think about
which one do I want to go for and where do I
want to set that power level. To make most use
of the time so so what are your thoughts here
amplifier or no and a QRP or 100 watts? I Think
if you have a home station But you don't have
a portable antenna array or you cannot build
a dipole by the time of the contest use your
home station and You know a hundred watts if
you're gonna do CW or Really or FT8 you're gonna
use sideband 100 watts usually is fine, but if
you need the amplifier just kick it on I I have
started enjoying QRP operating a lot more than
I thought it's not like operating with 100 watts
or with a You know 1 .5 kilowatts. It's different
you wait for the pile up to thin out before you
can work the station, but We were on family vacation
in July in western North Carolina and I took
the 705 and a dipole and a tuner and I threw
it up in a tree about 30 feet off the ground
and let it slope down and inverted V fashion.
SWR wasn't perfect so I tuned it out and I worked
one night on CW. I worked in Argentina. That's
about, I don't know, 5 ,000 miles. It was amazing.
with the five watts of power. So I think I said
I had almost 1 ,000 miles per watt. And that's
kind of cool. But I missed a lot of Europeans
who couldn't hear me because I wasn't strong
enough. And I worked a lot of US stations. So
it depends on what you want to try out. If you've
never done QRP, do you have an interest? Well,
try it for four hours. See what you can do. If
you have a home station, try one period at 100
watts and one period at higher power. Have some
fun. you know your score is going to count based
on your highest power use so before you kick
on the extra power make sure you really want
to do it but if you if you need to do it go ahead
i i think it just depends on what you're doing
you know last year when the 705 was new to me
i got on the worldwide rcq worldwide ready contest
running qrp and i worked a lot of europeans on
my yagi so You can do a lot with qrp with good
antennas, and I have a friend w0gj who frequently
wins number one us CQ or a double rl 160 running
qrp And this is a guy that has multiple full
power amplifiers in his shack, but he also enjoys
qrp So life isn't too short for qrp Life is and
life is ready for ham radio get on and enjoy
you know and if you're mark brown and you're
listening tonight and you've got that nice Kenwood
TS 990 that will run 200 watts. I'd crank it
up to 200 watts if I were Mark. Just enjoy it
and have some fun and sort of enjoy all the nice
positive comments you're going to get from being
at the Huntsville Hanfest and all they did. Well
said. Alright, well it's time to take a break
so we'll do that and we'll come back with Scott
and talk a little more and we'll start taking
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Give us a call at 859 -982 -7373. Again, the
number to call is 859 -982 -7373. Or, if you'd
rather type than talk, tweet us at HamTalk Live.
Now, here's Neil Rapp with more HamTalk Live.
Here's the snap rap takes the rig he breaks through
the pileup he's on 80 now 40 now 20 15 10 2 meters
touchdown hand talk live Welcome back to HamTalk
Live. Thanks to Icom America for sponsoring the
show. And they also bring HamTalk Live your way
each and every week. Check them out at icomamerica
.com slash amateur. and be sure to check out
HamTalk Live on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
And we're on the air every Thursday night at
9 p .m. Eastern time right here at HamTalkLive
.com. Well, before we get back to Scott and your
phone calls and tweets, it's time for the HamTalk
Live Joke of the Week. Now it's time for the
HamTalk Live Ham Radio Joke of the Week, the
part of the show where Rick tells us a ham radio
joke. The HamTalk Live Ham Radio Joke of the
Week is brought to you by QRM Labs. Now, here's
Rick Garrett in 9GSU with today's HamTalk Live
Joke of the Week. I talk to a ham nearly every
morning on the local repeater. He's at work when
he chats and he runs the iron machine at the
local dry cleaners. I guess you could say he's
a smooth operator. 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 I can hear is that song,
Smooth Operator. I was thinking the same thing.
Rick is he comes up with the most clever and
unique jokes. I think Yes, he does So tune in
for another one next week and thanks for it for
doing that and he's a smooth operator There we
go. All right. Well, it's time for your call
So if you have a question or a comment, give
us a call right now Now is the time eight five
nine 9827373 for those of you spelling at home,
that's UKY9827373 or you can tweet us at HamTalk
Live and if you're listening to us on WTWW or
on the podcast edition, you won't be able to
reach us live because we're doing this. on Thursday.
So let's take a look here. We do have a tweet
here from a familiar voice. RJWY7AA says that
he and the famous WY7AA Elco, yes the El Camino,
the car that can't decide if it's a truck or
a car, which RJ's taken this thing all across
the country on all kinds of portable ops. A lot
of them on satellite, but he says he and the
Elko will be out in. on a county line mobile
for the Colorado QSO party on September 4th.
So he's wondering, uh, can he participate in
the Colorado QSO party there on, on the county
line? Um, or, uh, the Fox Mike, uh, hotel challenge
simultaneously. Okay. So, um, he said, if not,
I'll do one on Saturday and the other one on
Sunday, but, uh, can he do both here, Scott?
RJ, you certainly can do both. Please do and
I encourage everyone to work RJ and give him
lots of cues in the Colorado QSO party as well.
Just submit your portable operator challenge
log separately from the Colorado QSO party challenge.
I bet the burgundy El Camino is quite a car.
to quite a vehicle for operating portable. No
onboard computers to knock out with any RF interference.
It's reliable. Neil, I want to correct one thing
I said. The frequencies are 80 through 10. So
those of you who are really excited about operating
mobile 160 for this contest or portable 160,
just work the Colorado QSO party on that band,
but work us on POC with 80 through 10. And if
you work 160 mobile, I want to see that antenna.
You need to send a picture. Yeah, the coil is
approximately the diameter of the roof of the
car. You may have to be do like a fire truck
and have those those little feet that stick out,
you know, to keep it from toppling over the whole
car. I often thought, you know, uh, wouldn't
a fire truck be a great antenna support platform?
Oh, it would be. And a snorkel truck, even better.
Oh yeah. And a crane and a building site, even
better. Yeah. And it's not exact. Well, I guess
it's kind of portable. Not what you typically
think of as portable, but it's very portable
because it's stationary. So yeah, RJ You can
do both and and he's out there on the county
line so that way you can get two counties at
once and I'm sure that people will be glad to
hear you on there So so get out there in the
Elko and go go go so Thanks for writing in and
listening tonight If you have a question or a
comment about the portable ops challenge give
us a call at eight five nine 9 8 2 73 73 or tweet
this at ham talk live and again if you're on
Spreaker you can type in the comments and we'll
get that as well So we've talked a little bit
about This I know you have been busy Doing some
renovations in your shack and you told me you
were out in the heat just a little bit ago making
some more renovations. So what's the latest on
the K0MD antenna farm? Well I've grown frustrated
with my 80 meter four square because I seem to
top out about 35 to 40 DXCC entities per big
contest so I have replaced my force 12 vertical
dipoles the Sigma 80s with the full size 80 meter
verticals. I bought four from DX Engineering.
They make really high quality things and two
of my good friends in the hobby have used this
vertical inner four square array and I am excited.
We had a antenna raising party a few weekends
ago and a group from the Minnesota Wireless Association
Team South came over and about a dozen people
helped me get all four assembled. But I've been
laying radials Let's see, I have to rate my 240,
Neil, and I'm about 75 done of the 240, and I
presume I have about six weeks left of good weather
to put them in the ground, so I've got to pick
up the pace a little bit before the ground starts
to get a little hard, and it gets too cold for
me to be out working, and we don't have daylight.
We've had wonderful long hours of daylight, but
it's starting to, here in the northern part,
northern latitudes in the U .S., it's starting
now to shorten. Pretty take advantage of that
after working on the weekends when I can I've
also got to replace another antenna on my second
tower My two element stepper broke about three
weeks after using it Yeah, one of the elemental
housing units broke and so I've got to take it
down I'm just gonna replace it with a c3 from
JK and then I'll sell the two element stepper
because it'll be access to my needs at that point
after I get it repaired. So those are the big
projects at the K0MD contest station and hopefully
I'll have a much better signal on 80 and can
work more DX contacts. It's probably the wrong
time of the sunspot cycle to upgrade your 80
meter antenna, but it's been a project that I've
had on the to -do list for two or three years.
It's a ton of work. I have budgeted 120 hours
of labor to do it. And I think it's been in the
middle of over 200 hours by the time I get it
all done. And so it's not a hard, it's not a
project for the faint of heart or for someone
who's time challenged. You've got to really commit.
And I started in April doing it and here we are
at the end of August and we're still pushing
ahead, but slowly but surely. Yeah. Well, uh,
wish you well on that. And, uh, I look forward
to when I can start. putting those antennas up
again. I'm really missing having a working antenna
at home, let alone the tower. So, one of these
days we'll find some land and get that going.
Well, one other thing I want to talk to you about
before you go and we'll make a last call here
for calls at 859 -982 -7373 or tweet us. is that,
you know, we've talked a little bit about this
portable ops challenge, trying to draw in some
of the newer and younger contesters with some
of the rules, the shorter periods, the, you know,
equating the power and the antennas that people
are using in the contest and some other things
that are coming up. that's really big right now
is we're getting youth categories in a lot of
these major contests and now we've got the North
American QSO party sponsoring a youth category.
So give me your thoughts on that. I think it's
good to have categories that encourage contesters
who may not be with high skill levels or significant
station investments. So I'm glad to see a youth
category and I would love to see a first five
year license category so that individuals could
get on and feel like they can compete within
a group that's a level playing field for them.
I think anything that promotes more. contest
activity and gives individuals a chance to win
a certificate or a plaque is a good thing. Contesters
seem to be unique and unified in that they like
rewards. They like to be recognized for their
work. So the more the merrier. And Neil, really,
you are doing an amazing job promoting youth
activities between the K -9 SOU station and all
the youth you mentored in your accomplished career
as a public school teacher to now with the Yoda
events. You're doing a great job. And I think
I heard you say Jocelyn is on the line. Yeah.
Well, we've got Jocelyn KD8 VRX on the phone
line on the hamcation hotline here. So we'll
get to him here in just a second. But on this
you thing, I want to mention that next week on
the show, K1AR John Doar will be here to talk
about the CQ Worldwide youth categories in the
sideband and CW contests. So we've got North
American QSo party now and then CQ Worldwide
sideband and CW. So a little preview of next
week. But yes, let's go to the hamcation hotline
here and talk to Jocelyn KD8VRX. Good evening.
Well, good evening Neil and good evening. Dr.
Wright I just want to say yeah, we took part
in the portable operation challenge the club
and I got a group together and we got on and
It was fun. We had we had a good time We we didn't
realize we went to a park location and didn't
realize we were in a valley till somebody had
to use the restroom and came back and said, you
know, we're right between two hills. We should
probably move location. We weren't doing too
well. And as I've told people, because they're
like, oh, QRP, you know, as we've said, you know,
life's too short. We've all heard it. You know,
take that 100 watt rig. You don't have to run
100 watts. You can dial the power down or if
you need to turn it up, turn it up. It's just
a matter, as Dr. Wright said earlier, is that
QSO worth that? that bump because that's what
you're going to be listed as. But no, we had
a blast. We had a blast. And I like the sessions
this year. I think as mentioned before, we are
probably just going to do one four -hour session
because of Labor Day and people want to spend
time with family now that we can actually somewhat
all get back together again. We certainly want
to take advantage of that. But I appreciate you
being on talking about the Portable Operation
Challenge and really looking forward to it. Thanks
Jocelyn and thanks for your strong endorsement
look forward to working you and let us know what
call sign you're using so I can look for you
and look for me on 20 meters maybe 40 as well
and Congratulations on all the things you're
doing in ham radio you you lead a busy life And
if you can find time for hand radio almost all
of us can Yeah life life has been busy for sure,
but yeah again, I think As you mentioned, I think
having it on short bursts like the four hour
is perfect. I've done a few contests or 48 hours
and at the end I am done. I am spent. I need
a vacation. But this is easy enough to fit in
your schedule. And like I said, we usually go
as a group and we'll be working with the club
call, which will be WC8ZOA. That will be the
club call that we'll be using for the event.
So we're looking forward to it. Hopefully, you
know, weather improves. It's been a little warm
lately. But if we can find some shady spots,
it will be fine. And like I said, really looking
forward to it. But anyway, I just wanted to call
on and say thank you again for promoting the
event and really looking forward to it. Fantastic.
Thanks again. All right, Jocelyn, thanks. All
right, 73, thanks for calling. Appreciate it.
Bye. Bye bye. All right. Well, we're out of time
here, but glad to get RJ and Jocelyn in here.
So thanks for doing that. So Scott, let's just
kind of recap here how people can join in the
fun. Well, you know, the Portable Operator Challenge
will be on Saturday, September 4th and in the
Saturday evening or Sunday, September 5th, the
GMT three time periods each or four hours long.
You can find all of this information at contestcalendar
.com for those dates. Bands are 80 through 10.
Any mode is fine. Phone, CW, digital, your favorite
digital mode, whether it's RTTY or FT8 or FT4.
All of those count. The exchange is just your
grid square. So four -digit grid, four -character
grid square. And then your log, you know, use
N1MM or another logging program like N3FJP. They're
all set up for this. And then submit your score.
All of the details can be found at foxmichotel
.com forward slash portable forward slash. Neil,
thanks again for. having us on to talk about
this for promoting it for all that you do to
provide a wide audience of information about
the hobby of ham radio and either way congratulations
on your tremendous teaching career and now the
promotion to university faculty at two schools
in the greater northern kentucky area that's
quite an accomplishment and quite a testament
to your skills as a chemistry teacher. I am looking
forward to seeing you get a radio station on
the air and getting a tower up and helping you
get some antennas to a meal. So best to you and
Julie and turn it back. Okay. Well, thank you
so much, Scott. Appreciate your kind words. And
yeah, definitely looking forward to getting something
up in the air here soon. And then and then hopefully
get get the tower going at the new location yet
to be determined. So really looking forward to
that. All right. Well, thanks so much. And again,
it's the portable Ops Challenge, FoxMicHotel
.com and check it out. And that is a wrap for
this week's edition of HamTalk Live. Thanks to
my guest, Dr. Scott Wright, KZeroMD, and everybody
out there in cyberspace for listening and calling
in. And as I said, invite you back next Thursday
night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time when John Doar
K1AR will be here to talk about the new youth
overlay category for the CQ Worldwide Sideband
and CW Contest. And for a list of all of our
upcoming guests, go to HamTalkLive .com. And
if you like the show, please leave us a review.
That's all we ask. 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 CQ
call Your Readability 5 and Strength 9 You never
once mentioned your weather at all And I didn't
mention mine We talked and talked