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There you go Good evening, everyone. It's HamTalk
Live episode number 250. It's the last man standing
going QRT with a bang special event recorded
live on Thursday, March 11th, 2021. I'm your
host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. Thanks for tuning in
to this episode of HamTalk Live. Tonight we're
joined by... Lou Maggio, N02C, Sally Rosato,
K2RYD, and John Amadeo, AA6JA. And we'll take
your calls live in just a few minutes. Last week,
Jim Wilson, K5ND, was on the show to talk about
VHF contesting. and roving. If you missed the
show, you can listen anytime at HamTalkLive .com
or on your favorite podcast app or on YouTube.
And WTWW rebroadcasts HamTalk Live every Saturday
afternoon at about 3 30 p .m. Eastern Time. That's
five zero eight five on the A .M. dial. A couple
of things before we get started. Phil Ross, AB8PR
has been told that unless a matching kidney can
be located from a living donor soon, it will
require dialysis and that's a time -consuming
intervention that's not really considered a cure.
So Christian K0SDH and Alex W7HU are turning
their respective YouTube channels. into an awareness
campaign, the Papa Phil Challenge, in hopes of
finding a donor. So check them out. It's 100
watts and a wire for Christian and W7HU Alex
on YouTube. And you can find the Papa Phil website
at PapaPhilCan .com. They'll be on 17, 20, 40,
and 80 meters from March 13th through March 20th.
sharing Phil's story and using the special event
call sign K4P and the hams will be calling for
contacts on Sideband and FT8 and special event
cards are available as well as a downloadable
digital certificate. So check that out and check
out their Papa Phil challenge shows. over on
YouTube. So that's coming up here in just a couple
of days. Also coming up in a couple of days,
it's the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo. It returns
this weekend, March 13th and 14th. As part of
the speaker lineup, ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA
will deliver the keynote. That's on Saturday,
March 13th from 12 to 1 Pacific Time. And he'll
be talking about some current ARRL initiatives
for the current generation of hams. So check
that out. Okay, well we're talking about last
man standing tonight. The last episodes are being
produced and recorded and shot. And they're going
to be finishing up the series, which has a little
ham radio in it. And we're here to talk about
that tonight and a special event celebrating
the end of that. So get your questions ready
to go. If you're listening to us live on Thursday
night, you'll be able to call in a little while.
We'll let you know when it's time to call. But
I'll give you the phone number so you can have
it ready. It's 859. 982 -7373 again it's 859
-982 -7373 it's also on the website and all our
social media and everything and we'll announce
that several times again before it's time to
call but you can also tweet us it's at HamTalkLive
on Twitter we'll watch that if you're on Spreaker
you can type in the comments that's kind of like
a chat area So you can do that as well and I'll
be back with Lou, Sally and John right after
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What's that call sign again? WB9VPG. That's right,
Delium 9 -Bainte Pterodactyl Nat, right? HamTalk
Live! Welcome back to HamTalk Live. Tonight,
Lou Maggio, NO2C, Sally Rosato, K2RYD, and John
Amadeo, AA6JA join us on the Orlando Amateur
Radio Club and Hamcation Zoom line. Lou and O2C
and his wife Sally K2RYD are arranging the operations
of the Last Man Standing Special Event. Sally
created the 12 Days of Christmas Special Event,
and Lou the Christmas Birthday Special Event.
And Lou and Sally are members of the Great South
Bay Amateur Radio Club in Long Island, New York,
and are also operators for the 13 Colonies Special
Event. Originally from Long Island, John Amadeo
started in amateur radio as a Tech Plus in the
early 1970s and quickly upgraded to General.
He moved to Los Angeles in the early 80s where
he ultimately upgraded to Extra and changed his
call recently from NN6JA to AA6JA. John has worked
in the entertainment industry as an editor, director
and producer for the past 30 years. He's produced
familiar shows like Titus, Arrested Development,
Samantha Who and Sports Night. And he's currently
producing Last Man Standing starring Tim Allen,
which is now in its ninth and final season on
Fox and is nationally syndicated. So Lou, Sally
and John, welcome to the show. You've all been
on the show before, but not together. So It's
great to have you all here once Thank you, how
are you? Doing just great and really excited
about this special event there's been a lot of
work and planning going into this to make it
big and Really happy to talk about it a little
bit tonight Let's actually John you sent me a
copy of the promotional video this afternoon
Why don't we go ahead and play that and then
we'll come back and we'll start talking a little
bit about The special event very good If you're
a fan of Tim Allen's TV series Last Man Standing,
you'll have a final chance to contact the show's
amateur radio club station before it goes QRT.
The week -long KA -6 LMS radio special event
starts on March 24th at 0000 UTC and runs through
2359 UTC on March 30th. This will be an all -mode,
all -band event. Fans will have the opportunity
to work the bonus one -by -one stations K6L,
K6M, K6S, W6L, W6M and W6S. Stations from every
call sign area will operate as KA6LMS -0 through
KA6LMS -9 and KA6LMS -VE, providing nationwide
and international coverage. The remote operators
are a virtual who's who of ham celebrities, contesters,
and podcasters. Many will live stream their operations.
Check spotting sites like DX Summit for pop -up
operations on any day and at any time during
the event week. We expect the on -stage radios
to be in operation from the studio in California
on Saturday, March 27th at 1800 UTC using 20
meters and on Sunday at 2200 UTC using 40 meters.
If you're a fan of digital modes, Saturday, March
27th is your day. At 1700 UTC, KA6LMS will be
using D -Star on Reflector 12 Alpha, hosted by
the Papa Repeater System. At 1900 UTC, the D
-Star action moves to Reflector 30 Bravo, hosted
by Georgia D -Star. At 2300 UTC, AmateurLogic
.tv will host the KA -6 LMS Multi -Mode QSO Party
using All -Star, DMR, D -Star, NXDN, P25, Echolink,
HamShack Hotline, Wires X, and Yesu System Fusion.
KA -6 LMS QSL cards will be available for stations
who contact the stage directly or through relay
stations. Special event certificates, including
clean sweep endorsements, will be available via
download. The KA -6 LMS radio event is sponsored
by the Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club's 12
Days of Christmas team and K2 Heroes teams in
association with AmateurLogic .TV, the Papa Repeater
System, and Georgia D -Star. And of course, Last
Man Standing and KA -6 LMS have always been powered
by ICOM. For more information, go to www .gsbarc
.org slash LMS. So that was a familiar voice
there Jim Dameron and a TMW the voiceover guy
on the on the promo so it's always good to hear
Jim's voice and John that that is the summary
and We were talking while that was play used
like yeah, the special event needs an instructional
video So that was the audio from it. We'll post
that online here and I know it's out there already
so we'll talk about where you can find that a
little bit later but first let's take a little
look back at the KA -6 LMS club and station on
the set of Last Man Standing and let's talk about
some of the highlights and special operators
you've hosted over the years and I know you've
been working on kind of a video collection of
a lot of that right recently. Oh, yeah. I mean,
I don't think I can list them all. We've had,
you know, nine years of operation on that stage.
It's true that on Last Man Standing, Tim Allen's
character Mike Baxter is a ham radio operator,
fictitious call sign K -0 -X -T -T, and many
people know that the X -T -T stands for formally
Tim Taylor from Home Improvement. but there isn't
a ton of actual ham radio on the show. There
are some episodes that feature ham radio. But
we were all hams on the show. You know, I have
35 hams on the show, and we had this amazing
equipment from ICOM and from antennas from Comet
and some antennas from Radio Waves. And the missing
link was some LMR 400 from ABR Industries. And
we hooked all that stuff up. And when we did
that, we had a pretty amazing ham radio station.
So we, the club members, started using it. And
then we invited a lot of local Southern Californian
guest operators. And then as it turned out, Hams
will fly to California to operate that station.
So we've had guest operators from almost every
part of the United States come and spend an hour
with us during our dinner breaks. working stations
around the country. So it's been kind of an amazing
anomaly on a television series to have a working
ham radio station. And it's been a lot of fun
for us and hopefully our viewers that are ham
radio operators. And I guess the culmination
of all that as we get ready to put the show to
bed is this special event where we will have,
Lou will tell you in a minute, probably 50 or
60 special operators. as K6 LMS, one variant
or another, and we will be on the stage and we'll
be on HF and all kinds of digital modes to work
our fans for what may be, who knows, the last
time. You just never know with our show and with
TV the way it is. And I guess that's the short
story, Neil. All right. Well, you've you've actually
had like some test sessions and, you know, you've
added a lot of hams through this. Oh yeah. You
know, when, when you run a TV show, you have
a lot of technical people, sound people, video
people. Uh, so it's not a surprise that some
of them were already ham radio operators. But
as the, as we got into the ham radio thing and
started talking about equipment and putting equipment
on the set, some of our crew members, especially
our office people who have a lot of time on their
hands, quite frankly, became interested. So we.
You know, we printed out the question pool for
technician and we started talking about that
during lunch hours and offered anyone that got
a license, a free handheld radio. And a lot of
people took us up on it. At our height, you know,
of course we'd been on the air for nine seasons,
but we did have a cancellation in the middle.
At the height of our club membership, we had
about 35 people. So that has come and gone over
the years. I don't even have a count in my head
right now of how many people are licensed right
now, but it's enough to support a radio club
and to keep the thing on the air. Of course,
this year was special in a bad way with COVID.
We really couldn't have anybody from outside
the crew on the stage. And matter of fact, even
the crew for the most part is not on the stage.
We're all in face masks and shields and staying
away from the cast members. So, you know, it's
difficult but we still will manage to put on
this event and I think it's going to be a spectacular
thing for our fans and for ourselves as ham radio
operators. Well, it's great to look back at,
you know, a lot of the successes that you've
had with this and getting more hams and getting
some awareness out there and just having some
fun with, you know, all the operating on the
set and it's just it's been a great and intriguing
time that you know when when Tuesday nights roll
around and it's like you know okay they're gonna
be on the air in a little bit and you know sometimes
you could hear sometimes you couldn't it just
you know with the solar cycle but you took to
any means necessary to make it happen. There
were all digital nights and all kinds of things
to really get everybody in the log that you could.
Lou and Sally are experts at getting people into
the log. So we're going to talk to them about
organizing this special event. It's nothing new
for the two of you. been very happy to work for
you all on a couple of special events in the
past, and really looking forward to this one
too. But talk about the process of putting on
this event and what makes this one just a little
extra special. Well, Neil, thank you. This is
Lou Ennott from C. What makes this one special
is I get a lot of emails about people who want
to operate and they want to work us, they want
to make sure they don't miss the opportunity.
One of the things we have learned from the special
events we've done like K2 Heroes and K2M, people
become part of the special event. It becomes...
You know, if they operate as operators for us
with one of the slash call signs or one of the
one by ones, they become part of the special
event. And the other thing that happens is the
people who work us become part of the special
event. And I told John when this whole thing
started, we were going to get special events
within the special events, which we're seeing.
So we've got a group of guys, for example, working
from one land, slash ones, and they'll probably
have their own little slash one thing going.
It's what happens. It's what happens with these
special events because they want to be part of
this final thing. There is no more after this.
They want to be part of it. I get a lot of emails.
You know, I will be on day and night until I
work. Well, I told him you don't have to be on
day and night You were we're gonna be on, you
know, you'll find us and It's a lot of fun doing
it Neil and and John and Sally and I look forward
to it The biggest fun is at the end when the
logs come in which is usually like pulling teeth
a little bit but once we get people to send in
the logs and we get them into the certificate
program and you see that you've got 15 or 20
,000 contacts that were made. Plus we have some
criteria in there for the clean sweep and a couple
other little things that will change on the fly,
of course. But it's just a lot of fun. You are
part of the end. Whether you are an operator
or you are making contact with us, you're part
of it. You do a very good job of getting all
of that together, and we've got the Long Island
connection between the three of you also, so
that worked out really well. John, talk a little
bit about the timing of the special event with
the end of the production of the show. I know
you're in the last episodes here. Tell us kind
of where you are in the timing of all of this.
Sure. We're Monday and Tuesday shooting the first
of the last three episodes. So it's very significant
that we would have this event during the last
production week of the show. The 30th, which
is the last day of the event, is literally the
last day of shooting. So the event is the 24th
to the 30th. Throughout that entire time, we
will be in the process of shooting the final
episode. So it'll be bittersweet. Maybe we will
go down to the stage and watch rehearsal. And
then after the actors leave, we'll get on the
radio for a few minutes and talk to our fans,
hopefully. But it's sort of an anomaly, this
show. No show, to my knowledge, no television
show has ever had a real working amateur radio
station as a part of any kind of a prime time
network television show. So I'm really looking
forward to doing this. And of course, I think
the story that you've all heard, of course, is
that this was a small event and it became a big
event, but I guess it had to become a big event.
If we were going to do two hours on one day,
maybe that wouldn't have served the purpose of
getting our fans who have tried so hard maybe
over the years to contact us the opportunity
to contact us. And there are just so many paths
into this station. Of course, we all want to
work everybody on HF and CW and single sideband,
but there's also, you know, RIDDI and FT8 and
every digital mode you can possibly name will
be hit, you know, not just the big ones, D -Star,
DMR and Yeasu System Fusion, but things like
All -Star and Hamshack Hotline, you know, just
every crazy digital mode you can imagine. will
be a part of this event. So it should give everyone
that has ever wanted to contact us an opportunity
to do that. Well, and I remember, you know, you
set up a schedule with with the kids at school,
and we recorded that. And that was a special
day for them that they were able to talk to the
set and even were able to fire off a video of
the contact so we can see what it looked like
on the other end and that was just so cool and
so I'm glad that you know this will give everybody
a really good chance of of contacting the show.
Well, Lou and Sally, we're going to take a break
here in a minute, but first we need to tell everyone
where to find more information about the special
event and how to work these stations and get
the certificate and all that. So fill us in on
those logistical details here. Well, if you want
information, Sally K -12RD, if you want information
on the Last Man Standing special radio event,
you can go to www .gsvarc .org, stroke, let me
see, I can't read that. LMS. LMS. And that's
Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club, Long Island,
and you go there and you can watch the video,
you can watch. You can read everything and it's
a really great thing. And I just want to mention
that when John contacted Bob K2TV at Gisborne
and he and Bob forwarded the email to us about
having a two -hour, three -hour event, we looked
at each other and he said, is this guy kidding?
We need at least a week. And so that's what it
turned out to be. And don't forget also, and
the link for the certificate, by the way, Neil,
you asked about that. The link to the certificate
will show up on the list on this page once we
get the logs in. One of the things that we have
learned the hard way is if you put the link up
one second after the special event starts, you
will be getting emails saying it's not working.
Yeah, we usually tell people, put up on the QRZ
page that the certificates would be available
after a certain date. We give ourselves a month
to get all the certificates and all our logs
and logged and everything good. And it's amazing
how people say, I worked all 12 stations. I didn't
get my clean sweep certificate. My name's not
there. I worked with W2D. Where is it? And I
get emails up the wazoo looking for the clean
sweep and who they were. and then I better get
the certificate. These people, they have such
a great time. Yeah, the certificates are a big
deal. We spend a lot of time. The certificate
for this event, which you almost can see it in
John's promo. That's not the final version, but
it's close. And we put a lot of time in with
that certificate. There's a lot of database behind
the scenes because it has to figure out a lot
of stuff. And of course satellites. Let's not
forget the satellite guys. They they will be
they will be involved in this So I heard moon
bounce is gonna happen to maybe maybe we hope
we're hoping that he's gonna operate of course
timing becomes a big deal and You know Neil one
of the things is just underutilized Semaphore,
you know, we're looking for I'll tell you what,
I'll climb up on a big hill and see if you can
see me from Indiana. How's that? That sounds
good. We do have a set of flags, so we're ready.
In all seriousness, we don't care how you communicate
with us. The satellite thing, when we first did
satellites with, I think it was 12 days of Christmas,
Frank didn't expect the kind of response he got.
And then, Neil, you operated satellite for us
on 12 days also. So it really was a surprise
how popular it became. As a matter of fact, interestingly
enough, we actually had a Canadian family, a
family of three, was able to work our special
events on a single pass of the satellite. Yeah,
they emailed me to set up a date and a time that
they can do that. And they got it done. And Frank
got it done. Frank got it done. So again. People
put a lot of value on these certificates. They
you know, it's one of a kind now another thing
is Neil and you can cut me off whenever you want
but but We don't have a time limit on when you
can collect it The certificates are up there
for many many years. You can just go there and
get them So don't panic if you didn't get to
certificate right away. It's not going anywhere
Our servers are big and they can handle it. Yeah,
they're still picking up stuff Very good. Well,
that's some great information there again Great
South Bay amateur radio club GSB arc org slash
LMS is where you can find all the details. So
they'll be on HF they'll be on D star DMR you
name it it's going to be on and You just got
to you know, check the DX Summit, the DX Clusters.
Check out the web page and you'll be able to
find these stations pretty easily. Alright, well
we're going to take a break and when we come
back we're going to take your questions at 859
-982 -7373 and Twitter and on Spreaker and all
that stuff with Lou, Sally and John right after
this word from Tower Electronics right here on
HamTalk Live. Hey honey, have you seen the PL259s
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Electronics, pl -259 .com or call 920 -435 -2973.
Do we sell PL259 connectors? 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.
You're listening to Ham Talk Live with Neil Rapp.
Welcome back to HamTalk Live, thanks to Scott
and Jill at Tower Electronics. For sponsoring
the show tonight, they help bring HamTalk Live
your way each and every week. They have Fort
Walton Beach, Florida's HamFest coming up on
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.com. And be sure to check us out on Facebook,
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to Lou and Sally and John, it's time once again
for the HamTalk Live Ham Radio 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. I thought I could
rewire my power supply all by myself. Boy, was
I ever in for a shock. But I took it to a professional
and got it fixed and now I'm ex -static. 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. Oh my goodness,
he did it again. I guess we were really in for
a shock on that one, guys. They reported the
show. It's time for your call. So give us a call
right now at 859 -982 -7373. If you have a question
for us tonight, give us a call 859 -982 -7373
or you can tweet us at HamTalk Live. 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 because
we're... We're not here 24 -7, we're just here
for a little while on Thursday night. So a couple
of things here. Let's see, Andy, K7JKA and Ed
at KG8CX are around here. Trying to figure that
out. So anyway, missed when the special event
will be. So that's going to be at the end of
the month. And you've got HF, D -Star, Hamshack,
Hotline, you name it. So all kinds of ways that
you can connect there, Andy. So just check out
the gsbarc .org slash lms and all of those dates
and times are there and we can get you in the
log, hopefully. Well, we have a call on the line,
so let's go to the phones. Hello, welcome to
HamTalk Live. Hey, thanks Neil. I just have something
to say. This is kd2gut I don't ever want to hear
you complain about my jokes again After that
groaner yes, yes after that Aaron is the master
of the pun Well, I want to tell you this this
chat tonight on the show is getting everybody
pumped for this event. What's really neat about
what's going on right now is we're sort of in
rehearsal as we have been, right, for the last
couple weeks between the back and forth with
the emails, with Lou and Sally and John and everybody
and you, Neil, on Discord. We're sort of practicing
getting warmed up and getting ready to hit the
ground running in very short time. The excitement
is pretty amazing. This could outdo 12 days of
Christmas. Lou and Sally, how do you feel about
that? Well, I hope it is the best special event
of the year because 12 days is going to be going
on and on and on. We did the third one this year.
Last Man Standing is one time and it's going
to be spectacular and I'm so happy to be part
of it. Yeah, I have to say too, John, the work
you've been putting in on the videos and all
the production work you've been doing has been
astonishing. This is a An event, yes, it's going
to be on the air, but it's already on so many
platforms. I can't remember any special event
being so far -reaching, certainly in its prep
work, as much as in what's going to be happening,
people live streaming, people going digital.
It's just going to be happening everywhere. Well,
thanks so much. I really appreciate that, Karen.
You know, I started in this business as an editor.
So for me to throw a video together, it's actually
quite relaxing. You know, come home and turn
on the Final Cut Pro and pour a glass of wine
and do a little editing is not a hard thing for
me to do. And I've just got so much footage.
So many people supported us in this ham radio
endeavor. And over the years, we've tried to
videotape as much as possible. And of course,
going through all those, I can only see the things
that I'm missing, the things that I don't have.
But I had so many great people come down to the
show and operate the station. I really felt like
I had to put something together to thank them
and to, as a tribute to them, but also to get
our fans and our ham radio friends to see what
it was like to be on the stage and operate that
station. You know, what most people don't realize
is that was done at our dinner time. So it was
a one hour per week event for us. We would just
very quickly set up the station, get somebody
on the air work, usually, you know, a hundred
people and then tear it all down as fast as possible
because the actors would be standing in the same
spot minutes later in front of a 200 % live audience.
So what a great time we had. And I just trying
to share it with everybody. Yeah, it shows, and
you had said something the other day that I think
has really stayed with me. You had mentioned
that when there's a show or a movie about doctors
or lawyers, you'd mentioned that usually someone
from the legal community or the medical community
is brought in to make it authentic. But bring
in the topic of ham radio and and sometimes a
show or a movie will kind of go off the rails
and play fast and loose with the with the facts
and that this show did not do that and It didn't
I mean it was a triumph for that for that as
well as for showing real ham radio in action
as you say taking that precious hour and making
the most of it and and that's really groundbreaking.
So I think the time that we're going to be spending
on the air operating is both a farewell and a
celebration of that because I think amateur radio
has achieved a new status now as a result of
all of this. Well that's very kind of you to
say that and oh yeah I totally stand behind that
statement. I actually did a I don't know, for
the centennial, the 100 year centennial of the
ARRL in Connecticut, a brief talk about that
concept of when people portray amateur radio
on television and films, it is almost always
the butt of jokes, it's almost always negative,
and it is always completely inaccurate. So the
only thing I really set out to do with our show
was to at least make it accurate. and then hopefully
stop the writers from doing anything negative
because, you know, a room full of comedy writers,
we have 18 writers on the show. So they're not
knowledgeable about ham radio. It took me two
or three seasons to educate people to what ham
radio really was as opposed to what they thought
it might be before we could actually get some
decent ham radio stories. And, you know, it worked
eventually. You just don't want uninitiated people
to talk about ham radio because it's going to
turn the masses off and you know we're a very
small hobby so we kind of need all the help we
can get and at the very least we need to talk
about ham radio as what it really is and what
it really can do and that's what we tried to
do hopefully we accomplished some of it well
i think what ham radio really can do now is give
back and that's what we're doing uh coming up
very soon we're giving back to this show and
all its seasons and what it's been able to do
for ham radio. So it's I'm psyched. This is going
to be amazing. So thank you. You're very welcome.
We're drinking some strong tea and staying up
late to workstations. You got that right. Caffeine,
caffeine for everybody. OK, I'm going to free
up the line. Yep. Going to let other people jump
in. Yes, Neil. Yes, Karen, thank you for calling
in. Katie 2GUT, the editor over at Amateur Radio
Newsline. Thank you, as always, for listening
and calling in and look forward to working with
you on this one, as well as all of the other
operators for this Last Man Standing special,
special event. So take care and I'll be talking
to you soon. Absolutely. You take care now. Have
a good night. Bye bye. Bye bye, Karen. 859 -982
-7373 is the telephone number if you would like
to call in. We have a few minutes left here so
we'll try to get as many as we can and we have
another caller on the line and my caller ID tells
me that this is a familiar voice. So good evening,
welcome to HamTalk Live. Hey, good evening, Neil,
and good evening to Lou, Sally, and John. This
is Jocelyn, KDA BRX. And I just wanted to, not
a question, but I think everybody's looking forward
to this event. I know we're very happy to be
part of it. And as people have said, will we
be able to make a QSO? Are we going to be able
to get a QSL card? And I basically said, if you
can't, you're not trying hard enough because
there's going to be stations all over. So anyways,
I just want to say, hear the voices. It's nice
to hear the voice and looking forward to the
event here coming up just a few weeks away. Yeah,
it is. I think I have to amplify what Jocelyn's
saying. He's so completely right, is that we've
created so many paths into this event on in every
call sign area in almost every mode we can think
of that if this is something you want to do.
And it's not just about last man standing. I
mean, let's be let's be straight about that.
This is about how people make contacts on ham
radio. And it's not a contest. It's just an event.
And if you want to contact us. And we're interplay
with the event. There's a way to do it. If you're
a technician to an extra, if you're a voice operator
to a CW DMR ready satellite, maybe moon bounce.
We'll see. You, you can get into this event and
you should, you should do it. You should try
and do it. And, uh, we appreciate, Jocelyn, we
appreciate that you're participating and so many
people have come, come forward to say, I want
to be a part of this event and be a part of this,
uh, this thing. And, um, I don't know. I don't
know what's going to happen. I'm going to operate.
I'm going to also sit back and enjoy it and just
see what happens. And I'm hoping for the tidal
wave that Lou and Sally are expecting. But I
never expect anything. And I just always hope
for the best. And we'll see what happens. It's
going to be great, John. Yep. No worries. Yep.
Yep. All right, well, I will let you go, but
thank you for being on tonight. And like I said,
we're all looking forward to it. This should
be a fantastic event and looking forward to hear
some more detail. So I will let you go and you
guys enjoy the rest of your evening. 73. 73.
73, Jocelyn. We'll see you in a few days here.
Yeah, bye bye. Bye bye. 859 -982 -7373 is the
phone number, and we'll try to squeeze in one
more here before we go. Oh, actually, we already
have one. So let's go straight to the phones.
Good evening. Welcome to HamTalk Live. Hello?
I heard something. Yeah, I heard a little something.
Hello? Oh, there we go. Yes. There I am. Hey.
This is Bill WZ1L in Massachusetts. Good evening
to you, Neil, John, and Ms. Sally. I just wanted
to call in and say that this is one of the best
things that have come across in ham radio. And
I thank Sally and Luke for helping out with this.
They're avid, I should say avid. Contest is and
whatever so they can handle the pilot I'm going
to try and get on every day and see who I can
work and Look for the special stations and whatever
and do John I just wanted to let you know I Contacted
dead on Facebook and I said, oh did you know
that that man standing is doing a special event?
And he said no, so I sent him all the information
and I told him I said make sure you you check
in Make sure you check in. I says out there in
California. I said, I'm sure that I want to go
and talk to you. So, um, and I want to thank
you, John, for helping produce this program.
Uh, it's something that, uh, the real hams have
enjoyed. So, um, that's so nice of you to say
that. I so appreciate it. We, and we, you know,
I, I'm, I'm from the East coast. So when I'm
sitting here in my, uh, my six call sign area
shack, It's always like a plus for me to contact
people and the ones and twos. And, you know,
I definitely, we have some operators on the,
in the one call sign area, and I hope you'll
be one of the people we contact to the stage.
But I guess I want to say that one of the things
we're going to do, which maybe isn't common,
is that we're going to use a lot of relay operators.
So when we're on the stage, which is the stage
is look, the stage is not an amazing station.
The radios are great. We right now have an ICOM
IC 7300 and an IC 9700. But, you know, the antennas
are compromised and we can only put out 100 watts
or we set all the fire alarms off in the entire
studio. So we have to be careful. But we're going
to have stations all over the country. So if
you're up in the one call sign area and you can
get directly to us, that's amazing. But if you
can't, we're going to have people around the
country that can relay and we can chat back and
forth and make contacts. And we accept all of
those contacts. Contact is a contact as far as
we're concerned. And yet, you know, besides HF,
if you have any digital modes, we're there. We're
ready to hear you on DMR, D -Star, Yesus' Fusion,
Hamshack Hotline, All -Star, EchoLink, anything
you can name. So I appreciate that. And the thing
is, we want to work everybody. We want to work
techs. We want to work actors. If your CW is
your thing and you're at 35 words a minute, we
want to work you. If you're at five words a minute,
we want to work you. So please call us. I will,
John. It's really something that i i really want
to do i i really want to come out to california
to actually the a a taping of the show but uh...
that life and uh... few other things uh... thrown
in in my way i i didn't get a chance to get out
there so uh... i i i wish you luck in which you
well and whatever your future endeavors are uh...
i know that uh... uh... your team there is done
uh... uh... an outstanding job uh... for uh...
producing this particular program and I'll miss
watching it except in syndication so thank you
for all you're doing out there and I'll let somebody
else call in and good evening to you Neil. Oh
thank you so much for calling in and thanks for
all the kind words tonight. Yep good night. Good
night. And and I will agree I would love to have
come out and and John I so much appreciate the
invitation and I wish I could have made it out
there because this truly is a rare opportunity
and it just broke my heart to have to say no,
but In fact, I was kind of hoping maybe you know
uh this this last season would have worked but
covid had other ideas so uh i couldn't even ask
but but i i appreciate you thinking of me and
and you know it's just it's just so cool to have
this and and the special event will give us one
last shot at contacting the station so I have
to ask before we sign off tonight what what's
next will the club just kind of fade into the
sunset and and and dip to black or will it keep
going what what what do you see for the future
of the club Well, you know, that's a that's kind
of an interesting question I'm not sure that
I can totally answer it But there are a number
of people that are a part of this club that are
all active hams and really enjoy the hobby We'll
have the license. That's not an issue We will
not have the set at least as far as I know we
won't you know And who knows this this show has
got such a bizarre lifespan We were on the air
for six years. We were canceled for a year. We
were brought back for two years There are so
many stations that would love to have this show
that nothing is impossible, but it seems like
we will probably be ending in a few weeks. And,
you know, you'll see those shows in the future.
I think we air until May, now the way things
look. But as for the club members, we're still
very much active hams and really enjoy the hobby.
So we could certainly make a series of special
events. And, you know, the passion these days
is for the reboot. So people are rebooting every
show you've ever watched in your childhood. Maybe
there'll be a reboot of the club and maybe there'll
be a reboot. You know, there could be some additional
special events. I know right now, at the end
of a TV production, we usually have a wrap party
where we all come together and you know, have
a few drinks and talk about the show and show
the gag reel and all that stuff. And we're not
going to be able to do that this year, really,
in any meaningful way because of COVID. But we
probably will have something in the future where
we will get together as a crew, even though we'll
all be on different shows by then. And it may
be the same kind of thing for the club. Maybe
we will pick some significant dates, like anniversary
dates, and maybe we'll get together. uh and get
in uh and have some kind of operation or activation
to celebrate the show itself and of course we'll
be in syndication forever as far as i know you're
still watching i love lucy on tv i'm still watching
the you know home improvement is still on the
air and i imagine last man standing will be on
the air for quite a long time So if we can come
up with some significant dates, we can easily
put together an event or at least an operation
for the show and get some guys on the air and
talk to some of our fans. By then, everyone will
have seen every episode in existence. Right now,
Lou and Sally are watching every single episode
of Last Man Standing in preparation for the event.
So they'll certainly be up on it. Yeah, we have
been. We've been doing it. There is, by the way,
Uh, we haven't really announced it in any meaningful
way, but there is probably going to be some kind
of a last man standing trivia thing happening
during the event that could result in some last
man standing logo swag. So, uh, stay tuned for
that. I'm sure. Yeah. Well, you know, yeah, I
think, uh, unfortunately. The key operator might
have had a little mishap with the wind and a
tower. You know, Lou and Sally, you could talk
about that, but I'm sure there's a way for him
to get on the air. He is going to be on the air.
Yeah, he has taken the part of his tower down
that came down. He's got an off center fed up
in its place. He can he can push the power out,
so he should be OK. He should be OK. OK, well,
I'd love to see that because. I would I would
be interested to see how the trivia questions
go and what people's answers are to them. He
told me he sent me an email that that he is promoting
it. So he's on the air doing streaming now. Oh,
great. But he's doing it. Great. I know I sent
him a box of giveaway things of, you know, because
we don't have an audience this year, we had quite
a few. You know, when audience members come to
the show, we tend to give them some prizes. And
since we had no audience this year, we had a
few leftover things from last season that I sent
to Peter and he'll be giving those away to the
people that correctly answered the Last Man Standing
trivia. I think that Lou and Sally, you are not
eligible. Oh, but you know what? You sent me
a really cool jacket and I'm going to wear it
every time. Yeah, we'll be on the air wearing
our Last Man Standing. I have my Last Man Standing
hat. I'm drinking my coffee out of my mug. Well,
we're drinking that late at night, hopefully,
while you're working. And we'll get some pictures
of us operating, which is mostly Sally operating
and me logging. He has great radio ears. My ears
aren't as good as his. He can pull them out of
the mud. It takes me a while. Well, it's a team
effort. It is a team effort, when we operate
it's a team effort, yes. Well, John, one final
thing here. What's next for John? I know you've
always got some kind of project in the works,
so what kinds of things are you thinking after
the show? And I know, you know, this is kind
of a time when emotions are high. You know, you're
finishing up and then you've got this big special
event going on at the same time and everything,
but what's next? Well, that's a you know, it's
a tough question because I am offered things
I am Fairly known in my industry. So I'm being
offered things right now and my first choice
would be not to do anything I Mean this is nine
years of one show and Under and they're quite
frankly at least this last year this last year
combat conditions, you know my my My crew and
my staff has really just gone above and beyond
and delivered the show. And my preference would
be not to do anything, but I am being offered
a couple of things now that I might not be able
to turn down. So that's all I can say about that
right now. As we get to the 59 minute mark of
your one hour podcast. the uh... the the clock
is saving you there so uh... so well look forward
to uh... whatever it is that you uh... pick up
next and and maybe you can at least get a little
bit of a break here before uh... Diving into
the the next venture so best of luck with that
best of luck with the Special event really looking
forward to being a part of it and being in it
and just can't wait for it to happen. So Check
out GSB arc org slash LMS. You can watch the
video All the notes are there. So just go to
the website all the information is there and
We've got about 10 days to go or so, so get ready
to go for last man standing going out with a
bang. Thanks so much. Yep, thank you all for
being here tonight. Appreciate it. Lou, Sally,
always great to talk to you. And John, it just
means so much for you to take the time to do
this in the middle of... everything you're pulling
off for this special event and the wrap -up of
the final, or we presume the final season of
Last Man Standing. So thank you so much for being
on. Thank you guys in 73. Thanks Neil. All right.
Well, that is a wrap for this week's edition
of HamTalk Live. Thanks to my guests, Lou, N02C,
Sally, K2RYD, and John Amadeo, AA6JA, and everybody
out there in cyberspace for listening and calling
in and typing in and invite you all back next
Thursday night, 9 p .m. Eastern Time. And for
a list of all of our upcoming guests, visit HamTalkLive
.com. And if you enjoy the show, please leave
a review. you on Apple podcasts or wherever you
listen. That helps others find the show faster.
So for now, this is Neil rap WB nine VPG saying
seven three, seven five, and may the good DX
be yours.