This episode of HamTalk Live is brought to you
by Tower Electronics. For connectors, cables,
and more, call 920 -435 -2973 or visit pl -259
.com. And by ICOM, heard it, worked it, logged
it. Visit www .icomamerica .com slash amateur
for more information about ICOM radios. With
Neorep, here we go Welcome to Amtok Live calling
Good evening, everyone. It's time for another
episode of HamTalk Live. It's episode number
two hundred sixty three. Parks on the air, lighthouses
and ducks with Juni in one DUC recorded live
on Thursday, July 1st, 2021. I'm your host, Neil
Rapp, WB9VPG. Thanks for tuning in to this episode
of HamTalk Live. Tonight, we're joined by Juni
Cassone. N1DUC and we'll take your calls live
in just a few minutes. Last week here on the
show, Paul Bork N1SFE was here to take your field
day questions. And if you missed that show, you
can listen anytime at HamTalkLive .com or on
your favorite podcast app. And we also stream
it on YouTube or you can catch the rebroadcast
of HamTalk Live every Saturday afternoon. at
about 3 .30 p .m. Eastern Time on shortwave station
WTWW. That's 5085 on your AM dial. Well, before
we get going here, one sad note and ask for help
tonight. Mark Haynes M0DXR suffered an electrical
fire in his home, which caught on fire and left
him and his family homeless. Mark is a noted
contestor, a past WRTC competitor, and conveyor
of goodwill, as Dr. Scott Wright, KZOMD says.
So if you can help financially, his brother set
up a GoFundMe. I tweeted the link out earlier
today on our Twitter page. Consider giving if
you can. And again, thanks to Dr. Scott Wright
KZeroMD for passing this along, but it's for
Mark Haynes, H -A -Y -N -E -S M -Zero -D -X -R.
Okay. Well, get your questions ready to go for
Junie. We're going to talk some POTA tonight.
If you're listening to us live on Thursday night,
you can call us after the interview by telephone
and I'll give you the number and we'll give out
the number several times later on in the show
when it's time to call. But I'll go ahead and
give it to you right now so you can have it ready
to go. It's eight, five, nine, nine, eight, to
73 73 again 859. 982 -7373 is the phone number.
We'll open up the phone lines a little bit later
in the show. You can send in a question via Twitter
whenever you like. It's at HamTalk Live. If you're
on Spreaker, you can type in the comments and
that will pop up on the screen here and we'll
get your questions answered from Junie and we'll
be back with Junie and her special guest. right
after this word from Tower Electronics right
here on HamTalk Live. Hey honey, have you seen
the PL 259s anywhere? No I haven't. Come on kids,
let's go! There's just one place to go for all
of your connector needs. A giant warehouse of
connectors and adapters for every occasion. Thousands
to choose from in every shape, size, and color.
And they have antennas, soldering supplies, cables,
meters, and more. Where do you go if you want
to buy a connector at a fraction of retail cost?
And this weekend only, take advantage of our
special liquidation sale. Buy nine solder -type
PL -259s, get the tenth one for just one penny.
They make great Christmas presents. And what
better way to say, I love you, than with the
gift of a PL -259. Tower Electronics. Tower Electronics.
Tower Electronics. I'm Scott, KB9AMM of Tower
Electronics. I like the PL259 connectors so much,
I bought the company. Tower Electronics, coming
to a hand fest near you, or online at PL -259
.com. And we're in the yellow pages under amateur
radio connectors. My, where ever did you get
that lovely PL259? Tower Electronics, PL -259
.com. or call 920 -435 -2973. Do we sell PL259
connectors? The early bird may get the worm,
but the second mouse gets the cheese. You're
listening to HamTalk Live with Neil Rapp. Welcome
back to ham talk live tower electronics They're
back out on the ham fest schedule again, and
as I saw in the a WRL Great Lakes email newsletter
here That ham fest sir back with a vengeance
So they're at Oak Creek Wisconsin on July 10th,
but you can visit them anytime anywhere PL -259
Well, tonight, Juni N1DUC joins us on the Orlando
Amateur Radio Club and hamcation hotline. Juni
is from Fairfield, Connecticut, and is a veteran.
She is an avid activator of parks, lighthouses,
and anywhere she can go portable. She's working
on activating parks all over Connecticut. She's
working on activating some lighthouses as well,
and she has 11 ducks. And one of them, Mochi,
will join us later on in the show tonight. So
Junie, welcome to HamTalk Live. Hi, thanks so
much for having me. And a thanks to Phil Temples,
K9HI. He sent me an email probably three months
ago, I think. and said, you need to have Junie
on the show. Now Phil is the New England ARRL
vice director now. He was the section manager
in Eastern Massachusetts and coincidentally,
he's an alum of where I used to teach until about
a month ago, Bloomington High School South in
Bloomington, Indiana. So thanks to Phil for making
the connection here. And then I found out your
friends with... My editor at Newsline Karen Eve
Murray Katie to GT. So we'll have to talk about
her later, but Well, we'll stick to Pota for
right now. So Let's talk about Pota. What what
have you been doing with Pota? Where have you
gone? What do you like to do with with with the
whole Pota thing? So I've basically only been
a general class operator for About a year now
and then I got a zigoo g90 and I use that as
my main radio, you know It gets 20 watts out
there and I'm like an SWR perfectionist I use
a rig expert stick 230 and I have a buddy pole
that I use in the vertical and I just go from
park to park to park and I mean I started in
Connecticut just in my club. I'm a part of the
Greater Bridgeport amateur radio club And that's
really what got me into Parks on the Air. We
did a club activation, and I was like, this is
so much fun. Why am I not doing this? So I knew
about Summits on the Air from my brother, but
I really didn't know about Parks on the Air.
And so once I started, gosh, I started my first
POTA activation was at Sleeping Giant State Park.
I think I got 13 contacts. I mean, it wasn't
like this. my gosh amazing kind of thing but
every time I went it was I was upgrading my equipment
I was trying new things I was it's field day
every time you go out and activate a park so
I started with with just one park and then I
just started going to do it became addicting
I honestly was a hunter at first I was just hunting
stations from my home QTH and I was like man
I really should go out there and do this like
we did with the club and That's what just I got
bit by the bug There is a poda bug, let me tell
you. And it's been so much fun. And I've actually,
now when I go on trips, I am thinking about the
parks that are along my route that I can activate.
I think I'm a put -aholic. I hear you. Yeah,
I did the same thing with satellites a few years
ago. I never got into satellites. And decided,
you know, I'd give it a try. And now every time
I go somewhere, it's like, hmm, what grid line
can I get while I'm on the way, you know, on
the way there? So yeah, I get it. It's addictive.
And you want to just keep adding them up and
check them all off the list. And it's always
more fun if you check them off of a list. So
do you check those off of the list? Actually,
I'm starting my list. So the plan is to activate.
from at least one park in every state. And I
happened to take a trip south this summer and
I managed to get a whole slew of states in there.
And what's really cool about this hobby and about
activating is sometimes I bring my friends along.
And I also had the opportunity and they're not
excuse me They are non hams the friends that
have come along and they think that amateur radio
is the best So it's not just me going out to
a park and doing my thing It's showing them what
amateur radio is all about and I had the awesome
opportunity to meet three different activators
that I've made contact with in two different
locations one was in South Carolina and the other
in Virginia so I got to I got to meet the activators
that I had been making contact with and it's
just a really great way to connect people together
and It's fun. Did I ever mention that it's fun.
It's a lot of fun So you do sideband and I know
Karen kind of slipped the thing that you were
doing, the Long Island CW club thing, learning
CW. Do you typically do sideband then or do you
do digital? What do you like to do? So I am the
voice single sideband for the most part, because
by the time I really have to work on, I want
to feel comfortable. If I'm going to do CW, I
want to be comfortable. that I can send and receive
properly. And at this point, I'm not really that
confident in my skills. I think that once I'm
prepared, once I'm ready for the skills, as far
as doing an activation is concerned, I'm going
to go for it. And it's just going to be this
one time where I go, you know what, it's time
for CW, and I'm going to go ahead and activate
a park doing CW. And probably using voice as
well, single sideband. Otherwise, I do hunt stations
with CW because the exchange is pretty regular.
There's one person that you're going at, so the
exchange isn't that long. I have not done digital
with Parks on the Air yet. I may at some point,
but I don't have the laptop to do so. One that
has a battery that will last long enough. So
once I have that, maybe I might try some digital
modes down the road. But right now, it's voice.
Okay, very good. Well nothing wrong with that
and what You mentioned well you mentioned your
equipment antennas What would you tell somebody
that is just getting started into the whole poda
thing? What would be your advice to them? Well,
I'll tell you one thing there is one piece of
equipment that has been the best thing that I
purchased that really made the difference for
me because I'm low power, you know? And getting
your SWR in my mind is to get it one, I'm that
1 .0 person, as long as you're 1 .3 and below
doing the low power stuff, you're gonna get your
signal out there pretty well. Anyway, but the
Rig Expert 230, and I don't know if I can talk
about, you know, but I highly recommend that.
That has been like a blessing to purchase and
use. I saw it in somebody else's video and I'm
like, this is great The other thing is to get
involved on the Parks on the Air Facebook page
Because there's a wealth of knowledge there or
their slack page I do the I do the Facebook part,
but they are all over the web and just check
out the website get to know it familiarize yourself
with the facts and the they have videos on how
to get started and Just don't be scared. Just
jump into it. I don't think I think field operations
should be a lot of fun. And that is the whole
point is to have the confidence to go out and
do it. Not everybody wants to. But I will say
that I've perfected my field day skills because
of doing parks on the air. Last year, I made
10 contacts. This year, I made 83. And those
were QRP contacts, mind you, five watts. So,
you know, it's It's about advancing yourself
every single time and kind of competing with
yourself and your equipment and knowing what's
going on. Now you mentioned the summits on the
air with your brother and so tell us a little
bit about what you've done with those and then
you're kind of dabbling into the lighthouse thing.
So let's talk about that a little bit. Yeah,
so my brother's gonna laugh. He took me for a
death march over the winter time. We actually
My first summit on the air was him with him at
sleeping giant the first day that I also activated
the park sleeping Well, it's Mount Carmel in
Connecticut. Anyway, so that was my first time
kind of get my hit my feet wet with soda but
the memorable one was going to I don't know,
I just remember Wilson's Gap. It's up on a ridge
line in Virginia over by his house. It was right
before Winterfield Day. And I mean, it was probably
20 degrees, but with wind gusts, it felt like
it was five, maybe even zero. And we're just
hiking up along the ridge line. And, you know,
it really, there was no view. There was no, it
wasn't that exciting. I was just like, when are
we going to get there? He's like, just another
mile it's fine you know another hundred feet
yeah you know it was one of those really that
i did not expect this is gonna take so long anyway
so it was a lot of fun we did enjoy ourselves
and um when we got to the summit which was pretty
much just a point in the woods at the top of
the ridge line um it was on the appalachian trail
uh And we just, he took out his FT818, he uses
a Yesu, and he built a Yagi antenna, and we just
started making contacts. And it was just regular
FM, he started with FM, just on the calling frequency,
and quite a few people came back, and then we
went to, we went to single sideband as well.
So we were on FM first, then single sideband,
we made some contacts, and that was pretty cool
too. But the thing between parks on the air and
summits on the air, the differentiation there
is when you do a summit, you might spend at least
three hours and, you know, you have to get to
the summit, you know, and not all summits are
easy to access. So there's a challenge to get
there. You get there, you do your thing and you
have to time your whole day around this summit.
Whereas parks on the air. I have a park that's
20 minutes from me. If I want to go and activate
for an hour, I might spend an hour and a half
out of my day doing that park. So it's a timing
thing. It's a, you know, oh, are you physically
capable of going and doing that? You know, so
I was totally out of shape when I did the hike.
So yeah, that was I was like, I think I'm going
to be soaking after this. But I did learn a lot.
And even though I just laugh at it, because it's
just like, Typical, you know, hey, come on Junie.
Let's go. Um, okay You know, it was great. It
was good and I'm glad we could add radio to something
that we like doing and uh You said you wanted
me to touch on lighthouses or do you have yeah
talk about lighthouses a little bit. Sure Okay,
so I you know, I really didn't quite get into
the lighthouses thing because parks on the air
kind of took over but what my club did, I had
organized an event because I thought Parks on
the Air was great, and we actually heard a lighthouse
during our Parks on the Air activation. I said,
I wonder what this lighthouses thing is about.
Well, it turns out the person who planned our
POTA event was actually the weekend of lighthouses
on the air. Like, there is a lighthouse weekend
where people go and activate lighthouses all
over the United States. And of course, we're
doing a Parks on the Air activation. I'm like,
What is this whole lighthouse thing about? So
I looked into it and there's the amateur radio
lighthouse society, which is basically a that's
there's like a website you can go to and they
have like a membership and everything and you
go and you activate lighthouses that are within,
you know, their guidelines and everything. So
you can search what lighthouses are near you
and you have to be within visual range of the
lighthouse. Don't quote me on that one. You might
want to check out the website, but I'm pretty
sure that's the rule for them. And yeah, so we
set up at Fairweather Lighthouse in Bridgeport,
Connecticut, and we did a, you know, we had an
activation there and it was a lot of fun. Very
similar to Parks on the Air, but I think mainly
what we were trying to do as a club was try to
educate people around us and just kind of get
people to come in and, you know, see what we
can do. Also testing our equipment. You know,
we try to... It's it's something that's I think
is really important is to know your equipment
and try new things So that was my lighthouses
experience. I brought mochi and Marvel for that
one my ducks They seem to enjoy that we went
they went swimming because we were near water.
We weren't out in the woods, which was kind of
nice So yeah Lighthouses on the air. They have
some awards to parks on the air has slew of awards
and their website has You know, I found it pretty
pretty easy to go through. They're growing exponentially.
So I'm finding that they're kind of they're getting
way ahead of some of these other groups that
are out there or if not at the same level. So,
yeah, it's been it's been a lot of fun. I think
just portable operations in general is just a
fun thing to do. I say fun. Sure. Say fun a lot.
Well, that's that's the name of the game here.
So that's that's quite all right. Well, we're
going to take a break. It's time to take a break
right now. We're going to come back. We're going
to do the joke of the week. We're going to open
up the phone lines and I'll give you the phone
number again. It's eight five nine nine eight
two seventy three seventy three. You can give
us a call after the break. You can tweet us,
you can type into the comments, and we'll take
all of your questions about POTA stuff and anything
else that Juni's talked about tonight. And we'll
meet Mochi when we come back after this word
from ICOM America right here on HamTalk Live.
June kicked off hurricane season, and another
rough wildfire season may be on the horizon when
natural disasters strike. Cellular towers and
power grids can quickly become overloaded and
incapacitated. Emergency comms need to be instant,
reliable, and allow inter -operation with other
organizations and agencies for relief coordination.
Amateur radio provides reliable emergency communications
with the added security of system redundancy.
In addition to our lineup of amateur D -Star
digital HF and analog radios, our ICSAT -100
portable satellite radio and IP501HMLTE radios
are an ideal solution for additional coverage.
Use ICOM's VEPG4 radio over IP gateway to bridge
these radios and more to various modern communication
systems, creating a seamless network. Count on
us. ICOM's ICSAT -100 is the perfect handheld
satellite radio for use outside of cellular or
network range. By operating on Iridium's constellations
of satellites, quickly and easily connect with
other PTT services, even from remote areas. A
mobile version is also available. It has an emergency
call button, AquaQuake, AES 256 -bit encryption,
and a voice recording function. One of many global
coms with the push of a button. The IP501H and
IP501M radios provide instant wide area coverage
over LTE. By using an LTE network, you bypass
the need for a pre -existing infrastructure,
allowing nationwide coverage without the added
costs of building and maintaining your own, and
a mobile version is available. Priority interrupt
calling, individual group, talk group, multiplex,
talk group, and all calls, emergency button,
loan worker, and man down functions, and vibration
alert notifications. over LTE with ICOM's IP510H
and M. The VEPG4 connects all of these devices
and more, even systems operating on different
protocols, with this gateway. The land mobile
and LTE radios to IP communication terminals
and IP phone systems work together to form one
seamless and uninterrupted network ensuring your
coms are received. You can bridge connections
between radio systems, LTE transceiver gateway,
IP phone interconnect, multi -site connection
between VEPG4s, and external equipment connection.
ICOM's VEPG4 is the solution for your interoperability
needs. Visit icomamerica .com slash amateur for
more information on ICOM radios. Join the conversation.
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.
Right now, you could be sitting on a beach, sipping
a drink with an umbrella in it, and enjoying
the good life. But instead, you've decided to
listen to Ham Talk Live. So we thank you, and
now here's Neil Rapp with more of the show. Welcome
back to HamTalk Live. We're on the air every
Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time. right
here at HamTalkLive .com and be sure to check
us out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And
thanks to ICOM for sponsoring the show. Make
sure you check them out at icomamerica .com slash
amateur. Well, before we get back to Junie and
Mochi, it's time once again for the 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 used to sit on the radio for 10 or 12 hours
a day and the doctor told me it was bad for my
back. So now, I just sit on a chair. 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. Well, anyway,
there we go. All right, so that's this week's
ham radio joke of the week And now that that's
over, you know what that means. It's time for
your phone calls So if you have a question for
Juni in one DUC, give us a call right now Right
now at eight five nine nine eight two seventy
three seventy three or tweet us at ham talk live
and if you're listening to us on WTWW or you're
listening to us on the podcast edition of the
show. You won't be able to reach us live because
we're doing this on Thursday evening. So give
us a call if you're listening live right now
at eight five nine nine eight. 72, 73, 73. So
we mentioned Mochi is with you. So I don't know
if we can get Mochi to speak on demand, but introduce
everybody to Mochi. All right, say hi, Mr. Mochi.
What did you say? Really? Is that so? He said
that that joke clapped him up. Did you think
that was funny? Oh yeah, I know. What do you
think of him radio? Do you like amateur radio?
That's what I thought. That's what I thought.
He said he really loves going on activations
with me and I don't know what he's saying. He's
just saying hello to everybody. And he can quack
right through the pileup. Oh, totally. So, so,
so Karen, Karen E. Murray, Katie 2GUT, who, who?
Probably, I'm guessing, is going to be on the
phone line at 859 -982 -7373 pretty soon. But
she was blowing up my phone last night while
I was at the Voice of America Museum working
on Yoda Camp and said that you were to ducks
as she is to squirrels. So tell us a little bit
about the ducks. So when I was a when I was a
kid I actually my brother brought different brother
my oldest brother brought some ducks home and
this one we kept as a pet in the house and I
was like seven years old and I would like Go
to get on the bus in the morning and he would
like chase He would follow me onto the bus and
stuff. He was like imprinted on me. So Really,
I don't know. I guess I just found that love
for them and there was a connection there so
when I got a little bit older I had my when I
was like 13 or whatever I got a few more and
they connected with me and After I was in well
when I was in the service. I really couldn't
have animals so it was really difficult for me
and then when I got out I Just wanted that connection
again, and there is a that imprinting that ducks
do on their owner is incredible It is incredible.
And I hatched Mochi and Marvel from eggs. The
other ducks I got were ducklings that were from
hatcheries, and they go through a lot of stress
before they get to their actual homes. So they
didn't connect with me like I had in previous
cases. So yeah, I hatched these two ducklings,
and Mochi just... has to be with me all the time.
I mean, if he isn't, he will quack consistently.
I used to be in an apartment and I'd leave him.
He knew the sound of my shoes when I was coming
down the hall. I mean, it's incredible how much
he knows that I am mom. And there's a bond unlike
any other animal I've had. So, yeah, that's,
I just opened up my heart to them and they just,
you know. Just quack right in. Yep. Yep. So Mochi
goes with you on your, on your Pota activations
mostly. Oh, you know, when I can bring him, there
are some parks that don't allow animals, um,
or they're, they're restricted during certain
times of the year. But yes, he'll come with me
on parks on the air activations and, uh, he'll
just hang out. I have a truck. He'll hang out
in the back of the truck and just sit right next
to me and listen to me. Yep. He just kind of
hangs out. If someone wants to talk to him, I'll
put him on the air. I don't know what he sounds
like on HF. I know he sounds pretty good on a
repeater, but on HF, I'm not sure if people can
actually hear him. But yeah, yeah, he just kind
of, he's my buddy. Okay. Now what about field
day? Does Mochi go to field day? Okay, so Mochi
came to Field Day this year for a little while.
Mochi and Marvel were in the yard. I have, like,
a fence that I put them in, and then, you know,
when we weren't operating, I'd walk them around
the yard and everything, and because of the plague
of, what are they, the... Cicadas this year.
They were eating all these cicadas all over the
yard. They were loving it So this this field
day was good last field day I did not bring them
because my brother and I operated from a place
that wouldn't allow them. So It was just it was
better this year for them. I guess as far as
staying with me Very good. Well, if you want
to join in give us a call right now at eight
five nine 9827373. And I need to check the tweets
here. So let me check the tweets here real quick.
Tweets. Tweets. Yeah. Yeah. Not quacks. It's
tweets. I'm sorry. Wrong kind of bird. Wrong
one. Well, we do have a call on the line, so
let's go to the phones. Good evening. Welcome
to HamTalk Live. Thank you. I think you've been
expecting me. I have been expecting your call.
Yes, I have. Yes. Hi, Juni. Hello. Hi. This is
a great show and I'm really glad to hear all
of... all of Junie's wisdom in portable operating
because that's the one thing I haven't done that's
still on my bucket list and I promised myself
that I will go portable with Junie. So I'd like
to suggest when it's practical to do so, Junie,
you know what Peg and I have been saying about
a particular landmark out here in Suffolk County,
New York. It is a huge statue. I mean, you can
walk inside it. And it is called the Big Duck.
And you need to activate the Big Duck. And we
need to be there with you. So I'm hoping that
- And you need to send us pictures. Yeah. Yeah.
it's a huge white duck and you you can set up
probably outside and Bring your bring Moki and
whoever else you like and I think that would
be very cool. I I know we've discussed this in
the past. I think it's a great idea I and that'll
be an awesome time for us to To get you on the
air and you know in the portable Standpoint and
you'll get to see like my gear and stuff like
that. So it's awesome I think I actually saw
pictures once you told me about that giant duck
over in Long Island, you know, I never even thought
that I would find a landmark like that, but I'm
sure mochi will be very confused and Maybe he'll
think it's his mom or something. But yeah, no,
I'm totally into that that sounds like a lot
of fun Mochi may think it's a religious shrine.
It may be a kind of duck pilgrimage to the holy
site of the big duck. They don't sell ducks there.
Do they like rubber ducks or anything? I'm not
sure. I've never been... This is a very strange
sentence I'm about to say. I've never been inside
the Big Duck. It's just a very strange sentence
that I'm hearing myself say. So I don't know
what's in there. But maybe we can explore that
together. I look forward to that. You know, the
very first prize we gave away on HamTalk Live
when it first started was a glow -in -the -dark
miniature rubber duck. how i rocked that was
the very first prize we gave away what right
you you got the duck on on the uh on the air
tonight how lucky it wasn't the rubber duck you
know that you you put on your handheld it was
it was it was an actual rubber duck oh it was
a rubber duck it wasn't a rubber duckie antenna
that right really funny because i knew exactly
what he was talking about it was a rubber A rubber
duck not to be confused with the one that goes
on the radio. Oh boy. Oh God. Oh God. I guess
we didn't realize how many ducks were involved
in amateur radio. Yeah, and we could just put
them all in a row. Oh, we're gonna keep going
with the puns here. Oh. Well, Karen's on the
show. I mean, if Karen's on the show, the puns
have to start. Yes. Yeah, we're just, we're just
winging it now. Oh boy. Well, I did just want
to say, Juni, I'm enjoying hearing you. You're
inspiring me all over again to get out there.
So when things settle down and things settle
in, we now have got to do this, take pictures,
report to Neil about it, and really get this
done. All right. I think that this is the plan.
This is the plan. That sounds awesome. I hope
that, just to kind of go along with the inspiration
part, I hope that I am able to kind of get people
to know that you don't have to be a ham for a
very long time to become portable and get an
antenna up at a park or, you know, go out and
do something in nature. It's just a great way
to get out of the house, you know what I mean?
And you're generally not in a space with a lot
of people around you. You can be in your vehicle
and activate. You can be in a field and activate.
So I've actually found that I haven't communicated
with too many people when I'm at the actual spots,
because I know that that's a concern for a lot
of people right now. I've gone to some parks.
Nobody's there. It's been awesome. And sometimes
I meet some people and I just talk with them
briefly about what I'm doing. You know, so I'm
glad that I hope that I can inspire people to
get out there, because it is a great part of
the hobby. It's the sub -hobby, right? Doing
these things. So I'm glad that I can put a little
flame under you there to get you out and maybe
do some portable stuff. So I guess Mochi's the
other counterpart to that. Right, Monge? Yep.
That you have. that you have, I've never activated
with a duck. So that will be another experience
that I do look forward to. I think that will
be a good luck duck. I think we will definitely
have a good luck duck and make some good contacts.
So thanks, Juni, and thanks, Neil, for inviting
Juni on the show. Just wanted to check in and
go forth and quack them up. All right. Sounds
good. Karen Eve Murray, KD2GUT, the editor over
at Amateur Radio Newsline. Thank you for calling
once again and happy squirrels and prairie dogs.
Thank you. We'll activate with those next. There
you go. Squirrels, prairie dogs and ducks. Oh,
there we go. Thanks for calling, Karen. Appreciate
it. Okay. Good night, you guys. Take care. Good
night. You too. 859 -982 -7373 is the phone number.
If you'd like to join in, we have just a few
minutes left. Uh, and, and Juni, I don't want
you to get away without talking about the call
sign. Oh boy. The number one duck, huh? Yeah.
Yeah. So so here's the deal on the call sign
um I actually my prior my previous call sign
when I got licensed was KC one MHV miss high
voltage, and I kind of liked that But I was told
you know if you want to get something cool that
you know Kinda represents you or whatever do
it soon do it fast get a vanity call because
you don't want to have to Go through the log
books and do all that stuff whatever so I decided
to be, well, I was like number one ducks and
then I look and somebody has that call sign and
then I looked up number one quack. I don't know.
And then I saw N1DUC. So come to find out, I
wanted to possibly change to N1DUX if it was
possible, but here's the deal. In CW, right,
when you send your call sign, you send K at the
end, right? So it's N1DUC K, which I thought
was pretty clever. And I'm like, I am the number
one duck, so I'm going to do this. I'm keeping
my call sign. Plus, it's a relatively easy one
to send as well. So I like that. I like that
about it. It kind of just rolls off the fingers
there when you're sending. But yeah, I just.
i don't know i just felt kind of right into the
call sign it does become a little problematic
though uh... doing d x stuff for doing contests
nobody can hear the u and i say uniform uniform
and they're just like what this is so i don't
think try to get around ralph like umbrella people
say united a lot of people say united and trying
to figure out how i how i get my call sign out
there i think a lot of people they struggle with
that uh... you know when they're in the noise
and everything and the bands change you know
it's like a wave um you just hope that the wave
hits and they they finally hear you you know
the proper way so yeah and when do you see quack
quack 73 that was some some good advice uh because
uh here here i am an extra class and a casual
contester And, and 45 years later, and I'm like,
I've had this call for 45 years. I don't want
to change my call. And I've got whiskey Bravo
nine, Victor Papa golf. I mean, is there a worse
call sign out there? I don't know, but I can't
let go of it. It's like, I just moved to a four
land and, and in four UK was coming up and I'm
a big university, Kentucky fan. And I was like,
Hmm. Maybe this is the time but I was like, nah,
I can't do it. Yep. Yep. So number one duck.
And I like the DUC and then the K. I like that.
That's good. Well, tell us a little bit before
you go here about field day. What you did for
field day this year and your favorite field day
story here before we... wrap things up. Oh certainly.
So I operated from Virginia from my brother's
place and we were portable so we were outside
doing all of our stuff via battery power and
let's see we had we were QRP so we were running
five watts and we had a Ziku G90 FT818, Yesu818,
and then the KX3. And we had some homemade antennas,
and we had the buddy pole, and there was a six
meter opening, and I made my first... My first
six meter contact, I think in Tennessee, if I'm
not mistaken, it was crazy. I mean, the propagation
was awesome. So that was amazing. But then it
got even better because I got on his KX3 and
a friend of mine Kevin and one MRI he was on
frequency and he was going to call CQ and we
were able to make a Q so between Connecticut
and Virginia and he said oh I said oh you know
are you gonna use the frequency said no go ahead
try calling CQ so I started calling CQ and I
had this pile up I mean I was this pretty steady
stream of people just kind of coming in and and
talking with me I had a pile up for like an hour
and a half I had people coming So I made a total,
actually the most contacts I made was during
that pile up time. But the battery died in the
radio, poor guy who I was making a contact with,
battery died. So that was it. That was when I
had to end it. I had a total of 83 contacts for
field day, five watts. And my brother was pretty,
he was stoked because he got Alaska on five watts,
which was pretty awesome. So that was his cool
part of his. his portion of it and my cool part
was the pile up and we had a we had a really
awesome time so I really do enjoy field day it's
it's always uh it's always there's always something
to learn you know and uh last year I had 10 contacts
so 83 I'll take it yeah yeah sounds sounds good
and last year was kind of a weird year anyway
so this year was a little more back to normal
but yeah but uh yeah it's a lot of fun Well,
thank you so much Juni for coming on the show
and mochi. Thank you for being on the show and
talking to us about poda and best of luck in
in the future poda activations and I'll see you
further down the log as they say All right. Very
good. Thank you for having me and you have a
great night All right, that is Juni N1DUC and
that is a wrap for this week's edition of HamTalk
Live. Thanks to Juni for being here and everybody
out there in cyberspace for listening and calling
in and invite you back next Thursday night 9
p .m. Eastern Time and to see our upcoming guests
just go to HamTalkLive .com and if you like the
show, 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. We talked
and talked for hours and hours I completely forgot
you're a ham I don't know your power or the height
of your tower And frankly, I don't give a damn
So 73s, to you and your family I'll be seeing
you further down the line 73s, to you and your
family I'll be seeing you further down the line
Down the dog room