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Good evening everyone, it's time for HamTalk
Live episode number 231 Postponement of Orlando
hamcation and recorded live on Thursday, October
8 2020 I'm your host Neil rap WB 9 VPG Thanks
for tuning into this episode of ham talk live
tonight. We're joined by Michael Colley W4 MCA
and John not in for JTK and we'll take your calls
live in just a few minutes last week here on
the show Christian Kudnick K0STH was here to
talk about the 100 watts in a wire podcast fallout
event that actually started about an hour ago
and runs through this weekend. So if you missed
that show, you can listen anytime at HamTalkLive
.com or on your favorite podcast app or on YouTube,
or you can always catch the rebroadcast of HamTalk
Live on shortwave on WTWW 5085 AM. And that takes
place Saturday afternoons at about 3 .30 PM Eastern
time. Apologize for being just a minute or two
late here. Skype decided to collapse all of a
sudden. So, uh, we're, we're, we're zooming it.
So we got, uh, playing beat effect and we've
got John and Michael on the line and ready to
go. So, uh, get your questions ready to go for
them. If you're listening to us live on Thursday
night, you can call us after the interview and
let me give you that telephone number. So you
can have that ready. It's not time to call just
yet, but we'll give you the phone number so you
have it. And then, uh, we'll announce when it.
It's time to call. The phone number is 859 -982
-7373. Again, 859 -982 -7373. You can also tweet
us. It's at HamTalk Live on Twitter. If you're
on Spreaker, you can type a comment in and I'll
be back with Michael and John right after this
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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. Icom has some great rigs
out there. 705 is now shipping. Check them out
at icomamerica .com slash amateur. HamTalk Live
is on the air every Thursday night. Right here
at hamtalklive .com. Joining me tonight are Michael
Holley W4MCA and John Nott in for JTK Michael
is the chairman of the Orlando hamcation for
the fourth year and he's served as seven years
As the tailgate chairman six years as IT chairman
and a year in finance and hamcation is sponsored
by the orlando amateur radio club and john not
in for jtk is the president of that club and
he is the commercial vendor co -chair and one
of the arrl liaisons for hamcation so we welcome
john tonight as well uh john usually usually
hides when we offer him the microphone but but
tonight we've got him. So guys, thanks for being
on the show tonight. Wish it was under better
circumstances, but thanks for being on. Thank
you for having us on tonight, Mark. Or I'm sorry.
I'm fixing to type to Mark. Sorry. Yeah, you're
typing to Mark. I saw Mark. He's doing it in
here. I did the same thing. I'm looking at Mark
and talking to you. Well, you weren't supposed
to be on the show again this soon now, you know,
we give you some time on the show but You weren't
supposed to be back for a while and then all
sudden things Changed and I know that on this
show you made a promise that if conditions existed
that required the cancellation of hamcation that
you would make it early enough to You know allow
people to make Changes to their plans. And so
this week here we are. So tell us about those
decisions that led up to, uh, the canceling the
event in February. All right. Um, first let me
say it was a very difficult decision to make.
Um, I've always joked that I hate to be in, um,
Dara and Huntsville shoes. And, uh, it finally
happened to us here. Uh, we were lucky enough
to be. one of the first events this year and
was able to get it in just barely, but being
one of the first events next year, it kind of
bit us in the butt. But with that said, pretty
much after contact with ARL and our vendors,
some of the vendors were starting to cancel already,
even trying to line up volunteers, everything,
all the negative items were getting more than
the positive items for the show. So with ARL
and us, we both decided that it would be best
to postpone hamcation and the ARL National Convention
until 2022 because of that. Just like I said,
it's a lot goes into it. A lot of items. Most
people just think it's the COVID item. It's not
only that, it's people that we work with. The
fairgrounds what type of stipulations we would
have to have to have a show even our Outside
vendors that we come in for like convention services
Other vendors that we use someone's still closed.
They're not sure when they're gonna be open back
up So all this weighed in on our decision to
postpone the show this year Yeah, I know you
know, all kinds of other shows, not just ham
radio shows have run into, um, you know, some
issues of, you know, are the, are the people
going to come or the vendors going to come or
people going to cancel and the ones that have
gone ahead a lot of times, you know, all of a
sudden vendors start canceling and, and now you're
left with You know a Balance sheet that that's
not going to work and you're and you're gonna
have significant issues and then You know you
have all kinds of other issues with you know
having a drop in the show and how things are
going and So I know it's it's a tough decision
to make But, um, it's one that you had to make
and, um, you know, you, you saw the data and
it came in and kind of, you know, told you what
to do. It sounds like. Yeah. We were trying to
hold off until our original date was December
1st, so go or no go date. Um, But after everything,
pretty much in a matter of two weeks, everything
hit us all at one time with all these different
issues that were coming up to host the show.
And our ultimate goal was also that we didn't
want to put on a show that we've come. Everybody's
comes to hamcation expects a certain standard,
and we didn't want to lower that standard down
for one year. based on what type of restrictions
we would have. We don't think people would enjoy
the show. Uh, and then the same time, like you
said, vendors, stuff like that was already canceling
and without vendors, we're not going to have
visitors and without visitors, the vendors ain't
gonna want to come. So, um, it's one of those,
um, hard decisions, but we did make it. And,
um, um, but I'm not sure if John had anything
to add about that part. Well, I just want to
add real quick too that there's it's like Michael
said it's a very heart -wrenching decision and
the other parts that we have to think about too
is excuse me is the volunteers the vendors and
the visitors that do come their health and their
safety Plus there are some things that we never
even took account for that That we never even
thought about was some of the vendors that we
deal with or to come to the show Being that they're
in other states. They have HR laws that they
have to deal with And some of these HR laws don't
allow them to send employees out during a pandemic
so they wouldn't be able to come be able to sit
there and and have or be part of the show, because
they wouldn't be able to send any of the their
employees and stuff with them. So those are things
that we had to think about, too. And it was it
was a weighing decision that we just had to sit
there and make. It is it's a difficult decision.
Like Michael said that none of us wanted to make
that decision. We thought, you know, we skim
by in 2020 by what we joke with the skin of our
teeth to have the show. Because shortly after
the show was over with in February, this one
pretty much United States started to shut down
and we thought well we'd be lucky enough we will
be one of the first shows in 2021 and have a
good show again and stuff but you know we're
just not there yet to the point that it's uh
people are feeling comfortable enough to travel,
you know, travel either by plane or through state
lines. There are restrictions yet where some
people have to quarantine once they go back home.
So there's so many different things involved
in the decision that is tough. And one of the
even the tougher parts of the decision was Hamcation
and OERC, Orlando Amateur Radio Club, donate
to a lot of the clubs and nonprofit organizations
locally who send volunteers to help put on hamcation.
So the volunteers get to donate their hours back
to their choice of a nonprofit organization.
And, you know, we send out checks after hamcations
over with and to help support these clubs and
stuff. So, you know, the impacts that are involved
is tremendous. And those are all things that
we had to weigh in that decision. Yeah. And,
you know, that's an issue with all kinds of nonprofits
and organizations is trying to raise money when
things are still shut down, to some extent, at
least. And, you know, I'm sure that's gonna be
a big impact there but on the other hand you
know you got to do what you got to do and this
you know it sounds like this was was pretty much
handed to you you know that you know if all of
these resources are not going to be available
at a level that you know is is conducive to having
the show then you know there's there's not much
choice Exactly. And I'll also say to why this
stuff happened the last two to three weeks. That's
we've been Michael and I have been on zoom meetings
after zoom meetings after zoom meetings, talking
to our executive. Committee for Hamcation to
the Board of Directors of Orlando Amateur Radio
Club, to the staff at AWRL, to other vendors,
to our national, or excuse me, our Director for
ARL here locally in our state of Florida. We've
been talking with everybody about this. And it's
just, it's amazing. I mean, the support that
we've gotten has been tremendous. So our commercial
vendors have been very supportive. Everybody's
looking forward to 2022. Most of them like us
can't wait till it gets here. I mean, I hate
to wish away 2021, but I'm ready to put on a
show and we got to wait an extra couple of months
now. Yeah, we've got fall break coming up next
week. And I remember last year was my first flying
experience and came down to Orlando and then
we're just kind of sitting here going, Ooh. That
sounds really nice. I'd like to go but it's just
it's not it's not there yet and so we're staying
home but you know it it's a tough decision but
numbers are you know coming down some right now
You know, maybe they'll go back up again. You
just don't know right now. And so we're anxious
for 2022 to get here to, you know, be able to,
to come down. It's just, uh, you know, it's a
shame that this happens, but, um, that's, that's
the situation we're in. You mentioned a little
bit about the eight RRL national convention also
being postponed. Let's talk a little bit about
how this impacted the national convention side
of things. And, um, you know, now we're postponing
two years in a row. Yeah, the, um, ARL actually
approached us also when we were talking about
this that the hotel that they were going to use
They had deadlines there to be able to be made
also So they pretty much It cost a lot of money
to put on the show for ARL for them to bring
down everybody for a national convention And
the later they waited they're in the same boat
as us the later they waited the more penalties
they were going to get by the hotel, uh, so it
was actually sent to their executive committee,
uh, executive board, um, to get it approved to,
uh, postpone the national convention for this
year and hold it in 2022. And it was approved
unanimously by the board up there to do that.
Um, so with that, they're still planning for
next year or for 2022, they're going to have
the, um, training tracks on the Thursday, February
10th, still at the same hotel, the DoubleTree
by Hilton. More information will be announced
in 2021 about that from ARL. So they're still
full board with doing the national convention
in 2022. Okay, so we're just putting everything
on hold. Going with 2022 for their side of things
then. Correct. Um, and then that's the same way
it'd be, uh, since we did cancel this year and
didn't have a full show, it will still be our
75th show. Um, so it will still be our 75th anniversary
and the ARL national convention. All right. Very
good. And, and I know that on your website, you've
already kind of alluded to. some activities to
happen during that weekend. So can you share
what you know so far about some of those activities?
Yeah, we're trying to keep our name out there
during the weekend and trying to bring something
to the ham community also at the same time. So
we've come up with actually it's going to be
called the 2021 Orlando hamcation special edition.
We're actually going to, we're looking to host
some unique webinars, uh, that we can, that would
be hamcation. Um, the webinars are going to be
webinars you've never seen before. So it's not
going to be the same webinars that everybody's
doing at your, uh, local meetings currently,
because everything's on zoom and all of these
webinars are being done by everybody. Uh, these
are all going to be webinars you've never seen
before new content, uh, for the show. We are
also looking at holding a hamcation Q so party
Hamcation Q so party that we can also During
Hamcation weekend and the last thing is still
to be determined yet, but we're gonna try to
host some live prize drawings during the event
also for the special edition of hamcation. Actually,
what we're planning on is doing, um, live, um,
prize drawings in between the webinars every
hour, just like you would be at hamcation. Okay.
Very good. Well, that sounds like, uh, like some
cool stuff and new content is always good. And
so I hope those plans go well. And you do have
a little bit of time to get that ready since
you've had to make this decision a little bit
earlier. You've got a little bit of time to put
all that together. Yeah, that's one, I guess,
good thing about doing it five months ahead by
postponing. If we would have waited until December,
there's no way we could have did anything. for
February at that point. So now we have some time
to actually do something and try to do something
for the ham community at the same time. Very
good. Hamcation SE, I like it. Well, we're going
to take a break and when we come back, we're
going to take your calls and your tweets and
comments and all that kind of thing and talk
a little bit more with Michael and John right
after this word from Tower Electronics right
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get that lovely PL259? Tower 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. Welcome
back to HamTalk Live. Tower Electronics are going
to be down the road from me, hopefully. November
7th, if Bedford, Indiana isn't cancelled at that
point. And then Fort Walton Beach, Florida is
also still on the books, November 13th and 14th.
But of course, any time you want, you can visit
them at PL -259. And you can visit HamTalk Live
Thursday nights, 9 p .m. Eastern Time at HamTalkLive
.com. And be sure to check us out on Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram. And it's time for your
phone calls right now. If you have a question
for Michael and John, give us a call at 859.
9 8 2 73 73 again 8 5 9 9 8 2 73 73 Or you can
tweet us. It's at am talk live and if you're
listening to us on WTWW or on the podcast edition
Sorry, we're live on Thursday night. So you won't
be able to reach anybody on the phone lines and
actually we are going to start off with a phone
call already so good evening mark welcome to
him talk a lot of you do you know i didn't have
a lot of our earlier i got you on the other two
mark okay this is mark and for bcd from the huntsville
alabama hang fast and i wanted to say hi to michael
and john out there Hello, Mark. Hey, guys. I
remember we were together in February, down at
your last hamcation. And, you know, the COVID
-19 was in the news, and we treated it with some
light concern, but never to the degree that things
transpired through March, April, and the rest
of the year. And, of course, we got the call
from Jack Gerbs in March that Dayton Hamvention
was cancelled, but you know here in Huntsville
we continued to think with our hearts and Be
hopeful that our August event would would come
to pass But but like you things all came together
You know the question about how many visitors
would come from other states how many vendors
would show up? Your volunteer base, you know
hundreds of volunteers are needed for a large
ham fest And finally the venue the capacity limits
that the state of Alabama was putting on us and
probably the the fairgrounds where you host hamcation
they all came together and Well, we all know
it's a gut -wrenching decision, but I just call
them to say I know you guys Really thought long
and hard about it, but you made the right call
No mark just like I said earlier the I thought
I would never be put in a position of Jack and
you at the time to actually even talk about canceling
hamcation. So yeah, it was a tough decision.
I believe now after it's all done and over with,
it was the right decision to make. But yeah,
like you said, I mean, everything fell pretty
much together all at the same time. I guess we're
kind of lucky everything happened at once and
we learned everything pretty much in a one two
week period, uh, compared to spread out for several
months and really delaying the obvious that was
going to happen. Um, but yeah, it's hard. Um,
and, um, like you said in February, we're pretty
much, uh, talking about it, but not that much.
And then even when, um, Huntsville got canceled,
um, for this year, we're like, oh, we're going
to keep going with our show, just like you were
saying when, uh, Hamvention got canceled. So.
Yeah, but it is hard. Are your volunteer corps
keeping a positive outlook? They are. I sent
out an email to all the volunteers also letting
them know everything that happened and got a
lot of positive feedback from the volunteers.
uh, agreeing with what I did because a lot of
them weren't even sure if they're going to be
able to make it. Um, just like everybody hates
to see the show, um, be postponed, but like most
people know, probably 75 % of the amateur population
is considered high risk for age or medical issues.
Um, so a lot of them didn't want to be put into
predicament to volunteer all of them probably
would have because you know how hams are they
volunteer and help out but a lot of them didn't
want to be put in that predicament so by us postponing
that kind of answered their prayers pretty much
yeah and it's interesting to hear tonight with
with your guys taking this proactive decision
several months out You'll be able to plan some
alternative activities come February of next
year. And my best wishes for the success there.
And also, we'll see you guys. We'll all get together
in Dayton. Let's just keep our fingers crossed
for the next big one. 73, guys, thanks. Thanks,
Mark. Thanks, Mark, for calling in. OK, bye -bye.
Bye -bye. 859. 982 -7373 is the phone number
if you'd like to call in, we'll get you on here.
We do have a lot going on in the comments here
tonight and John W4USF wants to know for... Now
you're gonna blame me for calling it hamcation
se Yeah, it does it does it's exactly what is
it going for I am occasion 2021 se do hams need
to register to access The webinars and if so,
how do they do that? And I'm guessing it's it's
too early to ask that Yeah, more information
will be made public within next I would say within
next month or so of how you would register and
What the actual webinars will be once we get
them lined up? But I'm I can pretty much say
there will be a reservation or registration for
each webinar So just keep a look out at our website
www .hamcation .com Okay, very good and We'll
look for that registration for Hamcation SE.
Okay, Chris, AA4CB says you did the right thing,
guys. I will miss the show and seeing everybody
at Hamcation, but better safe than sorry. And
I'm sure you have a lot of people agreeing with
that. And we have some other supportive comments
here from the Peanut gallery here tonight. So
You know, we're behind you and and we you know,
we're not happy but we're understanding I hope
and You know, I think you've got some some good
ideas for some things to do During that weekend
just to keep things going and and we'll just
hope for the best for the next one Yeah, one
thing we are gonna do this year The Carol Perry
educator of the year award will be still presented
to someone The website is actually still open
for that. If you go to the awards page, you can
still nominate somebody for the award You have
until November 1st. So you still got right around
a month left to nominate people We will be awarding
a winner. Then we will actually present the winner
at 2022, uh, hamcation. So we'll have two presentations
that, uh, during the awards presentation for
that year. Okay. Very good. So you've got the
award, you've got the webinars, you've got, uh,
QSO party, all kinds of good stuff coming up.
So we'll, uh, We'll be interested to hear the
final plans on those and how to get signed up
for all of that here in the next few months as
you put all that together. We really appreciate
your efforts and I know it's a heartbreak but
this is what we're doing these days and so I
appreciate. everything that you've been doing.
Oh, Mark just dropped a message here and says
he just spoke to Carol a few weeks ago and doing
well in quarantine at home and I've had a couple
of indirect messages from Carol as well. So that's
good to hear too. Guys, we're going to finish
things up here because we're on a time limit
tonight. I didn't realize that until we put plan
B into effect. So we're going to go ahead and
finish things up. So any final comments here
tonight before we go? I do. I want to bring up
one thing real quick. Anybody that's purchased
tickets, swap tables, tailgate spaces, RV nights,
even our commercial vendors. Everybody's being
contacted individually by the chairman that's
in charge of their area. So myself and Bob Cummings
to get in touch with everybody in commercial
are. swap chairman or get in touch with everybody
from swaps, so on and so forth. And with all
the directions and information about refunds,
if you want to move it forward to 2022 or whatever
it is that you want to do, so look for that email
and please respond as quickly as possible. We
do want to have everything kind of wrapped up
before the end of the year, although I don't
think it's going to take that long, but we do
want to get everything wrapped up quickly so
we can more or less close the books on 2021 and
start moving forward for 2022. The only thing
I had to add was. Go ahead, Michael. Thank everybody
for all the positive comments out there. We look
forward to seeing everybody in 2022. Also, if
promote another ham fest is actually happening
this weekend, Melbourne Ham Fest in Orlando,
Florida. If you're a local out here, please go
support them. If you feel like going to a ham
fest. Actually in the state, I think it might
be the first ham fest since hamcation that's
actually happening. Orlando hamcation, we'll
have a booth there. We will be talking about
the postponement of 2021 and the national convention
and also talking about the webinars and QSO party
at that also. All right, very good. So yeah,
Melbourne, Florida coming up. this weekend and
I know some of the people in the chat have commented
that they're going as well so best of luck to
them and hopefully they can have a good event
there as well. Well guys I know we're getting
ready to lose our connection here so let me wish
you well and thank you for coming on and we'll
be talking about these activities as you get
those ready to go. Sounds good, Neil. Thank you
for having us. One last thing. Don't forget about
the vendors out there. Since there's no shows
going on, please support them online and buy
radios. Absolutely. Absolutely. So just remember
a lot of these vendors are having to put everything
on hold. So make sure you support them. I couldn't
say that any more emphatically because there
are some that that's their livelihood and so
it's great if you can support them. All right.
Well, we're going to finish up here tonight.
So that is a wrap for this week's edition of
HamTalk Live. Thanks to my guests, Michael Colley,
W4MCA and John Knott in for JTK and everybody
out there in cyberspace for listening and calling
in and typing in and invite you back next Thursday
night, 9 p .m. Eastern time right here at HamTalkLive
.com. And that's also where you can see a list
of our upcoming guests. So be sure to check that
out. And if you like the show, please leave us
a review that helps us Get the word out about
the show. So for now, this is Neil rap WB 9 VPG
saying seven three seven five and May the good
DX be yours Well you came right back to my security
call Your readability five and strength nine
You never once mentioned your weather at all
And I didn't mention mine 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 Frankly I don't give a damn So 73s,
to you and your family, I'll be seeing you further
down the log. Yeah, 73s, to you and your family,
I'll be seeing you further down the log. It's
hard to believe that you're into OD, cause you
sound just like a local up here.