WEBVTT 00:00:09.019 --> 00:00:11.859 Thanks for tuning in. Hamtalk Live will be on 00:00:11.859 --> 00:00:29.800 the air shortly. Please stand by. Thanks for 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:32.539 tuning in. Hamtalk Live will be on the air shortly. 00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:37.750 Please stand by. This episode of HamTalk Live 00:00:37.750 --> 00:00:41.390 is brought to you by Tower Electronics. For connectors, 00:00:41.770 --> 00:00:47.210 cables, and more, call 920 -435 -2973 or visit 00:00:47.210 --> 00:00:53.070 pl -259 .com. And by ICOM, heard it, worked it, 00:00:53.350 --> 00:00:58.329 logged it. Visit www .icomamerica .com slash 00:00:58.329 --> 00:01:02.170 amateur for more information about ICOM radios. 00:01:39.659 --> 00:01:42.640 Good evening, everyone. It's time for ham talk 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:48.000 live episode number 226 new kits for CW recorded 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:53.060 live on Thursday September 3rd 2020 I'm your 00:01:53.060 --> 00:01:56.219 host Neil rap WB nine VPG. Thanks for tuning 00:01:56.219 --> 00:01:59.840 in to this episode of ham talk live tonight We're 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:04.579 joined by Joe Eisenberg K zero in EB and we'll 00:02:04.579 --> 00:02:08.330 take your calls live in just a few minutes Last 00:02:08.330 --> 00:02:12.210 week here on the show R .J. Bragg used to just 00:02:12.210 --> 00:02:16.610 call him R .J., but R .J. Bragg, W -Y -7 -A -A, 00:02:16.610 --> 00:02:20.250 was here to talk about the Come and Get Wyoming 00:02:20.250 --> 00:02:24.009 special event coming up here in just a few days. 00:02:24.009 --> 00:02:27.449 If you missed that, you can listen over at HamTalkLive 00:02:27.449 --> 00:02:30.610 .com anytime or on your favorite podcast app 00:02:30.610 --> 00:02:35.289 or on YouTube. And you can catch us on W -T -W 00:02:35.289 --> 00:02:40.030 -W on the rebroadcast Saturday afternoons at 00:02:40.030 --> 00:02:42.770 about 3 30 p .m. Eastern Time and the frequency 00:02:42.770 --> 00:02:48.509 for that is five zero eight five a .m. again 00:02:48.509 --> 00:02:52.330 WTWW Saturday afternoons about 3 30 it's the 00:02:52.330 --> 00:02:56.150 rebroadcast so we're not live so you won't be 00:02:56.150 --> 00:02:58.870 able to call in during that show but you can 00:02:58.870 --> 00:03:03.849 listen over there and Hope you do. Well, get 00:03:03.849 --> 00:03:06.030 your questions ready to go. If you're listening 00:03:06.030 --> 00:03:08.069 to us live on Thursday night, you can give us 00:03:08.069 --> 00:03:09.789 a call after the interview. Let me give you the 00:03:09.789 --> 00:03:12.990 phone number so you have it ready to go. Not 00:03:12.990 --> 00:03:15.969 time to call just yet, but have it ready to go. 00:03:16.110 --> 00:03:32.229 It's 859 -982 -7373 859 -982 7373. That's the 00:03:32.229 --> 00:03:34.169 phone number. We'll open up the phone lines a 00:03:34.169 --> 00:03:37.789 little bit later in the show and you can tweet 00:03:37.789 --> 00:03:39.909 us whenever you want because I'll just check 00:03:39.909 --> 00:03:44.719 that as I can. throughout the show and that's 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:49.240 at ham talk live over on twitter and if you're 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:52.099 on speaker you can type a comment in and that'll 00:03:52.099 --> 00:03:55.319 come up as well so i'll be back with joe right 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:59.039 after this word from tower electronics right 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:06.020 here on ham talk live jerry what's up man i've 00:04:06.020 --> 00:04:08.639 been seeing you at sunbucks in a while i used 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:10.840 to see you every morning getting coffee what's 00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:14.639 up Well, I can't afford SunBucks five days a 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:18.560 week anymore. I had to spend my money on PL259s. 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:21.120 You know, those antenna projects I've been meaning 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:24.720 to do. I had to do them before my HOA finds out 00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:28.220 I have antennas. That's too bad, Jerry. I miss 00:04:28.220 --> 00:04:31.120 seeing you and catching up over coffee. You should 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:34.560 get your PL259s from Tower Electronics. They 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:42.769 have great stuff. Jerry, you're back! Oh, QRM 00:04:42.769 --> 00:04:45.449 heterodyne frappuccino. That's a good choice. 00:04:45.910 --> 00:04:48.149 How's it going? Did you get all those antennas 00:04:48.149 --> 00:04:52.050 up before the HOA police showed up? Yeah, I got 00:04:52.050 --> 00:04:54.730 them all done. Thanks for telling me about Tower 00:04:54.730 --> 00:04:57.949 Electronics. Now I can have my coffee. I just 00:04:57.949 --> 00:05:01.089 saved a bunch of money on my PL -259s by switching 00:05:01.089 --> 00:05:04.040 to Tower Electronics. Don't get caught without 00:05:04.040 --> 00:05:08.240 PL259s. Visit Tower Electronics online at PL 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:12.379 -259 .com or at a ham fest near you or give them 00:05:12.379 --> 00:05:17.500 a call at 920 -435 -2973 and be sure to pick 00:05:17.500 --> 00:05:20.240 up some power poles, adapters and cables too. 00:05:21.660 --> 00:05:24.379 You're listening to Ham Talk Live with Neil Rapp. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:28.120 Yesterday, my XYL said she'd leave me if I didn't 00:05:28.120 --> 00:05:51.600 give up ham radio. Over. Welcome back to HamTalk 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:54.620 Live. Thanks to Scott and Jill at Tower Electronics 00:05:54.620 --> 00:05:57.620 for sponsoring the show tonight. They help bring 00:05:57.620 --> 00:06:00.180 you HamTalk Live each and every week. You can 00:06:00.180 --> 00:06:09.259 visit them online at pl -259 .com. And back with 00:06:09.259 --> 00:06:13.199 us tonight is Joe Eisenberg, KZeroNEB from Lincoln, 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:16.120 Nebraska, and is well known for his kit building 00:06:16.120 --> 00:06:20.379 expertise. He is well known for his picture shows 00:06:20.379 --> 00:06:23.519 of Hamvention as well. He's the longtime kit 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:27.680 building editor at CQ Magazine and often makes 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:31.899 his presentations and kit builds at HamFest conventions 00:06:31.899 --> 00:06:36.079 and club meetings and Joe started off at an early 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:41.959 age Back in 1969 as a ham and of course that 00:06:41.959 --> 00:06:44.600 he's the guy at Dayton with the dr. Seuss hat 00:06:45.529 --> 00:06:48.610 If nothing else so Joe welcome back to the show. 00:06:48.610 --> 00:06:51.329 It's been a little while actually Yes, it has 00:06:51.329 --> 00:06:53.529 Neil I I thought it was only a few weeks ago 00:06:53.529 --> 00:06:55.709 and it turns out it was March So I'm glad to 00:06:55.709 --> 00:06:58.750 be back on and and Scott and Jill from tower 00:06:58.750 --> 00:07:01.790 electronics I highly recommend them because I 00:07:01.790 --> 00:07:04.610 tell people to have plugs jacks connectors and 00:07:04.610 --> 00:07:07.389 so forth for their kits that they build and they're 00:07:07.389 --> 00:07:10.889 the place to go All right. Well, there you have 00:07:10.889 --> 00:07:16.089 it Are not out on the ham fest tour again. I 00:07:16.089 --> 00:07:19.649 got a couple of them in and then Nothing going 00:07:19.649 --> 00:07:23.089 here. So hopefully we'll have some ham fest but 00:07:23.089 --> 00:07:28.850 pl -259 .com Don't let that stop you Well, we're 00:07:28.850 --> 00:07:32.370 talking a little CW here tonight at least start 00:07:32.370 --> 00:07:36.670 off with we'll see how time goes here, but We're 00:07:36.670 --> 00:07:40.769 talking about a couple of CW kits tonight. So 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:45.100 You can do this stuff. You're a professional 00:07:45.100 --> 00:07:48.360 former professional broad change. I mean broadcaster. 00:07:48.759 --> 00:07:53.860 So So Go go for it. Tell us about this first 00:07:53.860 --> 00:07:58.959 CW kit Okay, Neil. The first one is It's a Morse 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:02.019 code practice kit and it's put out by the North 00:08:02.019 --> 00:08:05.379 Fulton amateur radio league Which is from the 00:08:05.379 --> 00:08:11.840 Atlanta metro area north side of Atlanta And 00:08:11.840 --> 00:08:15.980 NFARL .org is their website. And they sell these 00:08:15.980 --> 00:08:19.500 kits, I think, for about $10. And it's got two 00:08:19.500 --> 00:08:22.759 coin cells in it that power it, one transistor, 00:08:23.060 --> 00:08:26.720 a little beeper, an LED, a switch, a couple of 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:29.879 resistors, and a touch button and a jack. And 00:08:29.879 --> 00:08:33.179 that's pretty much it. And it fits, it's designed 00:08:33.179 --> 00:08:36.179 to fit exactly inside an Altoids tin. And it 00:08:36.179 --> 00:08:38.700 has a jack so you can plug in an outside key 00:08:38.700 --> 00:08:42.360 so you don't have to use the touch key. But it 00:08:42.360 --> 00:08:45.320 does fit in an Altoids tin and it looks wonderful. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:48.399 And I'll be featuring this kit in the October 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:52.940 edition of CQ Magazine. And it's a great kit 00:08:52.940 --> 00:08:56.039 for several reasons. One, it's an easy way to 00:08:56.039 --> 00:08:59.639 learn code. And number two, it is very, very 00:08:59.639 --> 00:09:02.779 simple to build. Yes, you're soldering parts 00:09:02.779 --> 00:09:06.539 on a circuit board, but most are very easy to 00:09:06.539 --> 00:09:11.820 put on and It goes together definitely in less 00:09:11.820 --> 00:09:15.600 than an hour and It's ideal if you're doing a 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:18.720 group kit building experience because it's great 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:20.860 for first -time builders because the parts are 00:09:20.860 --> 00:09:23.840 spaced quite a ways apart So you're not going 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:26.240 to have so much trouble in dealing with a crowded 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:29.639 circuit board very low cost, very easy to put 00:09:29.639 --> 00:09:32.179 together. I'd say the most difficult part is 00:09:32.179 --> 00:09:35.120 when you mount it into an Altoids tin, if you 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:38.039 decide to do that, you have to drill like five 00:09:38.039 --> 00:09:41.659 holes in it, four for the mounting screws and 00:09:41.659 --> 00:09:50.000 one for the external key jack. But if you're 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.000 doing a group and you have somebody who's got 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:54.419 a drill press or something and can make a template, 00:09:55.109 --> 00:09:59.889 they can drill these very quickly and Altoids 00:09:59.889 --> 00:10:03.950 tins are really kind of tricky to drill so what 00:10:03.950 --> 00:10:09.330 I did was I Used a punch to make an indentation 00:10:09.330 --> 00:10:13.490 then used a Dremel to Pop the first little hole 00:10:13.490 --> 00:10:15.889 in there and then a regular drill to make it 00:10:15.889 --> 00:10:18.309 the right size And that seems to do it the best 00:10:18.309 --> 00:10:20.789 without tearing that very thin aluminum. That's 00:10:20.789 --> 00:10:25.240 in the Altoids tin but Like I said, you can just 00:10:25.240 --> 00:10:27.299 close the lid and everything and everybody thinks 00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:29.519 it's just altoids and you open it up and there's 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:32.139 your kit. And I'm going to turn it on. Like I 00:10:32.139 --> 00:10:35.000 said, it runs on two of these coin cell batteries 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:38.860 like in your remote controls. And we'll see if 00:10:38.860 --> 00:10:47.080 we can make it beep. And there you go. It lights 00:10:47.080 --> 00:10:50.960 up a blue LED and there's also a red LED on the 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:54.320 touch module. Now the touch module has a couple 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:56.679 surface mount parts on it, but those are already 00:10:56.679 --> 00:10:58.919 done for you. All you have to do is solder a 00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:01.879 three pin connector to that touch module and 00:11:01.879 --> 00:11:05.340 then solder that to the board. So it's not difficult 00:11:05.340 --> 00:11:07.659 at all and it's a great deal for a first -time 00:11:07.659 --> 00:11:10.919 kit builder. So once again the North Fulton amateur 00:11:10.919 --> 00:11:16.399 radio league from Fulton County, Georgia nfarl 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:20.019 .org and I'm pretty sure it's around $10 and 00:11:20.019 --> 00:11:22.960 From what I hear they're already getting orders 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:26.700 based on Just my social media mentions of this 00:11:26.700 --> 00:11:30.539 kit and it will be in the October edition of 00:11:30.539 --> 00:11:35.600 CQ magazine So there we go, and so I actually 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:39.399 was visiting down there and and Audrey and and 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:43.559 Jack a Couple of our Yoda kids are in the North 00:11:43.559 --> 00:11:48.740 Fulton Club, so That's a cool little kit for 00:11:48.740 --> 00:11:52.500 yeah, and it's a great one and and like I said 00:11:52.500 --> 00:11:55.539 if you're doing a group kit build experience 00:11:55.539 --> 00:11:58.940 or something That's pretty much an ideal kit 00:11:58.940 --> 00:12:03.210 for that The next one is called the Morso Reno 00:12:03.210 --> 00:12:07.009 32, which is at the opposite end of the spectrum 00:12:07.009 --> 00:12:10.610 in terms of complexity, in terms of Morse code 00:12:10.610 --> 00:12:17.889 trainers. And this one costs $100 roughly. It's 00:12:17.889 --> 00:12:20.870 actually 85 euros, and it goes up and down a 00:12:20.870 --> 00:12:24.389 buck or so with currency fluctuations when you 00:12:24.389 --> 00:12:28.429 order it and put it on PayPal. But what this 00:12:28.429 --> 00:12:33.470 does Because it has an OLED display and it's 00:12:33.470 --> 00:12:39.070 based on an Arduino Nano and it will Let you 00:12:39.070 --> 00:12:43.429 use it as a regular keyer and keyer radio It'll 00:12:43.429 --> 00:12:46.309 let you send with a straight key or with paddles 00:12:46.309 --> 00:12:50.250 and it will decode what you're sending You can 00:12:50.250 --> 00:12:53.090 also plug a receiver into it and it will decode 00:12:53.090 --> 00:12:57.049 what you're hearing Which is pretty sweet It 00:12:57.049 --> 00:12:59.809 comes with paddles. They're touch paddles. It's 00:12:59.809 --> 00:13:02.049 just made from printed circuit board material 00:13:02.049 --> 00:13:07.330 and plugs right into the kit. You can plug headsets 00:13:07.330 --> 00:13:10.649 into it so you can listen quietly. And it has 00:13:10.649 --> 00:13:13.350 two antennas. One's a tiny little curly cue and 00:13:13.350 --> 00:13:17.029 one's a bigger kind of a whip. And what that's 00:13:17.029 --> 00:13:22.370 for is it lets you transmit and receive CW wirelessly. 00:13:22.750 --> 00:13:26.759 One is called LoRa which is low radiation. UHF 00:13:26.759 --> 00:13:31.139 and it's in the 433 megahertz band but it's license 00:13:31.139 --> 00:13:35.419 free because of the the power and the FCC definition 00:13:35.419 --> 00:13:38.799 of the device. It's basically a part 15 device 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:43.139 but it also has a full power Wi -Fi transceiver 00:13:43.139 --> 00:13:46.519 that works in the 2 .4 gigahertz Wi -Fi band 00:13:46.519 --> 00:13:49.899 and so you can actually connect it to your network 00:13:49.899 --> 00:13:53.470 like at home. And then if you open a hole in 00:13:53.470 --> 00:13:56.350 the firewall according to the instructions for 00:13:56.350 --> 00:14:02.610 a particular port, you can actually transceive 00:14:02.610 --> 00:14:05.690 with somebody else on the internet outside of 00:14:05.690 --> 00:14:08.789 your network. So you can actually, with the Morcerino 00:14:08.789 --> 00:14:12.470 32, you can transmit and receive Morse code through 00:14:12.470 --> 00:14:14.690 the internet to somebody else who has another 00:14:14.690 --> 00:14:18.549 unit like this. Say you look at it and if you 00:14:18.549 --> 00:14:21.289 ever saw my pictures of this thing, it's immensely 00:14:21.289 --> 00:14:24.629 complex There's lots of surface mount parts and 00:14:24.629 --> 00:14:27.110 stuff and guess what you don't have to put any 00:14:27.110 --> 00:14:30.210 of those on the board All you got to do is the 00:14:30.210 --> 00:14:32.909 through hole parts. How many parts do you have 00:14:32.909 --> 00:14:36.970 to solder? 11 no toroids to wind or anything 00:14:36.970 --> 00:14:39.610 I'd say the most difficult is dealing with the 00:14:39.610 --> 00:14:43.429 display because the very thin fragile glass is 00:14:43.429 --> 00:14:47.470 used for the OLED display and so you have to 00:14:47.470 --> 00:14:50.230 be really really really really careful to not 00:14:50.230 --> 00:14:54.269 crack it and so there's a few tricks you can 00:14:54.269 --> 00:14:57.509 use to get the plug -in strips lined up with 00:14:57.509 --> 00:15:00.009 the main board and then solder them properly 00:15:00.770 --> 00:15:03.710 And I go through that in an article that I'm 00:15:03.710 --> 00:15:07.629 writing for the November edition of CQ Magazine. 00:15:07.909 --> 00:15:12.509 We'll cover this kit. It has a lot of different 00:15:12.509 --> 00:15:17.129 functions. Like I said, it will send random characters 00:15:17.129 --> 00:15:22.210 to you, random English words, and random normal 00:15:22.210 --> 00:15:27.269 CW abbreviations like CUAGN and stuff like that, 00:15:27.389 --> 00:15:32.009 or RST. It will send you all sorts of abbreviations 00:15:32.009 --> 00:15:35.529 that we use on CW and you can copy those and 00:15:35.529 --> 00:15:38.409 you can look on the screen to check your word. 00:15:38.809 --> 00:15:41.389 And you can even scroll back several lines. I 00:15:41.389 --> 00:15:47.149 found that out. You power this thing with a micro 00:15:47.149 --> 00:15:53.259 USB type cell phone charger. And that puts in 00:15:53.259 --> 00:15:55.980 more than enough current to run this thing. You 00:15:55.980 --> 00:16:00.700 can also get a small battery pack and a lot of 00:16:00.700 --> 00:16:05.519 hobby shops for these micro size quadcopter drones. 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:09.340 There's a particular style of pack that you can 00:16:09.340 --> 00:16:12.440 plug right into this. Now what I did was I made 00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:16.620 my kit in such a way that I have that plug in 00:16:16.620 --> 00:16:20.340 there. And so I can plug in the battery pack. 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:23.559 and power it if I wanted to if I had one but 00:16:23.559 --> 00:16:25.539 for right now since I don't have it the wire 00:16:25.539 --> 00:16:28.299 just sits there underneath the case and I just 00:16:28.299 --> 00:16:30.500 plug in a normal cell phone charger but if you 00:16:30.500 --> 00:16:32.740 have one of those little battery packs for a 00:16:32.740 --> 00:16:35.820 cell phone to charge it you can actually power 00:16:35.820 --> 00:16:38.259 this kit from one of those as well as long as 00:16:38.259 --> 00:16:41.960 you just have a micro usb output so that's the 00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:45.320 morcerino 32 and that comes all the way from 00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:49.419 Vienna Austria in Europe and if you order it 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:52.919 It can take any words from one week to three 00:16:52.919 --> 00:16:54.860 weeks for it to get through the mail depending 00:16:54.860 --> 00:16:58.120 on what's going on with the pandemic So Neil 00:16:58.120 --> 00:17:02.480 there's two kits Believe it or not with one having 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:05.799 just a couple more parts than the other but being 00:17:05.799 --> 00:17:09.319 super super simple and inexpensive and another 00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:11.819 one that's ten times the cost and about ten times 00:17:11.819 --> 00:17:17.180 the features but only 11 parts to solder All 00:17:17.180 --> 00:17:21.369 right, sounds like a couple of great kits and 00:17:21.369 --> 00:17:25.309 some good practice over the internet with the 00:17:25.309 --> 00:17:29.089 with the more expensive one you can just get 00:17:29.089 --> 00:17:32.990 on Wi -Fi and do some some practice without all 00:17:32.990 --> 00:17:36.250 the the band noise and everything to get trained 00:17:36.250 --> 00:17:40.369 and and then you can start tackling the the noise 00:17:40.369 --> 00:17:45.519 so some excellent choices there, and I look forward 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:50.220 to seeing those in CQ Magazine coming up soon 00:17:50.220 --> 00:17:55.859 in the next couple of months. Sounds good. All 00:17:55.859 --> 00:18:00.240 right. Well, we're going to take a break here, 00:18:00.259 --> 00:18:03.559 and we'll come back. We've got a couple of questions 00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:05.619 for you already, and we've got some other stuff 00:18:05.619 --> 00:18:08.799 that we're going to talk about, so we'll do that. 00:18:09.509 --> 00:18:13.690 And yeah, we've got a bonus kit to talk about 00:18:13.690 --> 00:18:16.809 tonight and some other stuff going on with Joe. 00:18:16.970 --> 00:18:20.349 So we'll come back and do all of that after this 00:18:20.349 --> 00:18:24.130 word from ICOM America right here on HamTalk 00:18:24.130 --> 00:18:28.519 Live. Get out and be active with ICOM's new IC 00:18:28.519 --> 00:18:32.500 -705 and its optional multi -function backpack. 00:18:32.619 --> 00:18:36.519 The IC -705 is your perfect QRP companion as 00:18:36.519 --> 00:18:39.279 you have base station features and functionality 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:42.220 at the tip of your fingers in a portable package 00:18:42.220 --> 00:18:46.259 covering HF, 6 meters, 2 meters, and 70 centimeters. 00:18:46.500 --> 00:18:49.660 This compact rig weighs in at 1 kilogram or just 00:18:49.660 --> 00:18:53.279 over 2 pounds with RF direct sampling for most 00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:56.809 of the HF band. an IF sampling for frequencies 00:18:56.809 --> 00:19:01.029 above 25 megahertz, and a large 4 .3 inch color 00:19:01.029 --> 00:19:03.589 touchscreen with live band scope and waterfall. 00:19:03.849 --> 00:19:07.990 It runs 5 watts with a BP272 battery, 10 watts 00:19:07.990 --> 00:19:12.670 with 13 .8 volts DC. You have sideband, CW, AM, 00:19:12.930 --> 00:19:16.269 FM, as well as full D -star functions. The touchscreen, 00:19:16.829 --> 00:19:20.089 micro USB connector, Bluetooth, wireless LAN, 00:19:20.529 --> 00:19:23.650 integrated GPS with antenna and GPS logger, the 00:19:23.650 --> 00:19:26.690 micro SD card slot, speaker mic, comes standard 00:19:26.690 --> 00:19:30.450 and supports QRP operations. And the perfect 00:19:30.450 --> 00:19:35.019 accessory for your IC705 optional backpack LC 00:19:35.019 --> 00:19:39.000 -192 with a special compartment for your IC -705 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:42.359 and room for accessories for soda activations 00:19:42.359 --> 00:19:46.000 are just today in the park. The IC -705 has now 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:49.380 received FCC certification and we expect product 00:19:49.380 --> 00:19:52.299 to be shipping to dealers by the end of September. 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:56.720 Visit icomamerica .com slash amateur for more 00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:00.869 information on ICOM radios. Join the conversation. 00:20:01.210 --> 00:20:07.450 Give us a call at 859 -982 -7373. Again, the 00:20:07.450 --> 00:20:13.650 number to call is 859 -982 -7373. Or, if you'd 00:20:13.650 --> 00:20:16.910 rather type than talk, tweet us at HamTalk Live. 00:20:17.309 --> 00:20:20.710 Now, here's Neil Rapp with more HamTalk Live. 00:20:22.140 --> 00:20:25.279 Here's the snap, Rapp takes the rig, he breaks 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:28.839 through the pile up, he's on 80, now 40, now 00:20:28.839 --> 00:20:34.880 20, 15, 10, 2 meters, touchdown Hamtok Live! 00:20:57.860 --> 00:21:02.420 Welcome back to HamTalk Live. Icom America is 00:21:02.420 --> 00:21:05.519 online at icomamerica .com slash amateur. Make 00:21:05.519 --> 00:21:09.519 sure to check them out and check out HamTalk 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:14.920 Live on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. you 00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:17.359 can see what's going on with the show and all 00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:20.740 that kind of thing and of course our website 00:21:20.740 --> 00:21:23.920 HamTalkLive .com where this show comes your way 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:27.000 every Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:30.180 and it's time for your calls now so if you have 00:21:30.180 --> 00:21:33.059 a question for Joe give us a call right now at 00:21:33.059 --> 00:21:45.359 859 -982 -7373 again 859 982 -7373 or tweet us 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:48.420 at HamTalk Live. We have some tweets already 00:21:48.420 --> 00:21:51.059 and some comments on Spreaker. If you're on there, 00:21:51.059 --> 00:21:53.799 you can type into the comments. And if you're 00:21:53.799 --> 00:21:58.000 listening to us on WTWW or on the podcast edition, 00:21:58.019 --> 00:22:01.519 we're not live. So sorry. You won't be able to, 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:04.660 uh, to call in. All right. Well, we've got some, 00:22:04.660 --> 00:22:08.000 uh, some things to talk about. Uh, but, uh, you 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:10.619 know, speaking of, of ICOM, you've got, you've 00:22:10.619 --> 00:22:18.180 got a new Yes I do. Thanks to the fast service 00:22:18.180 --> 00:22:25.839 from HRO I have an IC 9700 in my shack and just 00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:28.720 starting to get things like the local repeaters 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:31.900 and simplex frequencies and stuff into the memories 00:22:31.900 --> 00:22:34.279 and then I'm going to start loading the satellite 00:22:34.279 --> 00:22:38.670 memories here shortly and We're going to play 00:22:38.670 --> 00:22:42.029 around a bit and do some two meter sideband and 00:22:42.029 --> 00:22:45.150 so forth and FT -8 during the VHF contest. Really 00:22:45.150 --> 00:22:48.410 look forward to it. And the 9700 is a great radio. 00:22:49.009 --> 00:22:54.250 Oh, it is. I am drooling over one. I'm just thinking 00:22:54.250 --> 00:22:58.569 for satellites, you know, built in recorder and 00:22:58.569 --> 00:23:06.460 everything all in one box. It's just, yeah. must 00:23:06.460 --> 00:23:09.519 acquire at some point. And if you know how to 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:13.960 run a 7300, it's the same. Oh yeah. Yep, it is. 00:23:14.460 --> 00:23:20.019 It's the same and just love it. Sounds good. 00:23:20.220 --> 00:23:23.619 Well, we've got some things to talk about here, 00:23:24.059 --> 00:23:28.680 but we have some tweets. and some comments. So 00:23:28.680 --> 00:23:31.539 let's jump into those. And again, phone lines 00:23:31.539 --> 00:23:42.099 are open 859 -982 -7373. So give us a call and 00:23:42.099 --> 00:23:44.859 we'll get your questions answered here by Joe 00:23:44.859 --> 00:23:47.039 Eisenberg. He's here with NEB, the kit building 00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:51.619 editor from CQ Magazine joining us tonight. So 00:23:51.619 --> 00:23:59.200 let's see. First of all, John W4USF wants to 00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:03.539 know, what has been your most favorite kit to 00:24:03.539 --> 00:24:08.240 build? Actually, the favorite one I had was probably 00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:11.180 one of the most well -documented instructions 00:24:11.180 --> 00:24:14.779 and everything of any kit that I built, and that 00:24:14.779 --> 00:24:18.539 is the Ellicraft KX1. I did that several years 00:24:18.539 --> 00:24:21.200 ago. It has a very high parts density, so it's 00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:23.839 definitely not a beginner's kit, but it was my 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:28.750 favorite because Uh, it is so explicit in the 00:24:28.750 --> 00:24:32.210 directions and very much step by step and stage 00:24:32.210 --> 00:24:35.670 by stage. You can test it along the way. And, 00:24:36.349 --> 00:24:39.069 um, just an excellent CW transceiver. Of course, 00:24:39.069 --> 00:24:41.329 they don't make that one anymore, but the KX 00:24:41.329 --> 00:24:45.309 one was my favorite to build. Okay. There you 00:24:45.309 --> 00:24:49.109 go, John. And, uh, so maybe you can build one. 00:24:49.309 --> 00:24:52.950 All right, Brett, W Y seven B G wants to know. 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:56.740 Do you have a kit for making a red and white 00:24:56.740 --> 00:25:00.180 striped hat? Well, you know I could probably 00:25:00.180 --> 00:25:03.140 do that on the 3d printer, but it would be rigid 00:25:03.140 --> 00:25:06.140 number one and number two. I don't have dual 00:25:06.140 --> 00:25:10.359 Extruders in my printer so I can't do it with 00:25:10.359 --> 00:25:12.880 my 3d printer I can only do one color at a time. 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:16.720 Well you can do white and then put the Like red 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:19.059 stripes with red electrical tape or something 00:25:19.559 --> 00:25:22.980 Yeah, probably could or or paint it or or mark 00:25:22.980 --> 00:25:27.579 it somehow But yeah, I don't have dual extruder 00:25:27.579 --> 00:25:32.779 on this system All right, Jacob kg7 EQ and wants 00:25:32.779 --> 00:25:36.400 to know on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:40.319 most difficult to build What score would you 00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:45.160 give that more Serino 32? Actually, I'd give 00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:49.500 it a 3 or so and The only reason I do that is 00:25:49.500 --> 00:25:54.960 because of how delicate and prone to breakage 00:25:54.960 --> 00:26:00.220 the visual part of it is the display. Very, very, 00:26:00.220 --> 00:26:03.720 very touchy. And I actually broke one when I 00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:07.900 first tried to assemble the kit. And so I had 00:26:07.900 --> 00:26:10.059 to get another one from the manufacturer, which 00:26:10.059 --> 00:26:14.720 took a couple of weeks. So. That would be the 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:18.559 only thing that would make that a three Surprisingly 00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:23.640 for as sophisticated as it is Okay, there you 00:26:23.640 --> 00:26:29.259 go and Jacob also says And I would agree I'm 00:26:29.259 --> 00:26:33.680 still love the X tronic soldering iron recommendation 00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:39.869 Yeah, those have been very good They're really 00:26:39.869 --> 00:26:41.910 good for the money, they hold the temperature 00:26:41.910 --> 00:26:46.589 real nicely, very precise control and I have 00:26:46.589 --> 00:26:49.970 not talked to them lately. I'm going to contact 00:26:49.970 --> 00:26:54.009 them since I'm home a lot more and maybe visit 00:26:54.009 --> 00:26:57.089 them across town here and see what they have. 00:26:57.109 --> 00:27:01.109 They are distributed from here in Lincoln. Yeah, 00:27:01.250 --> 00:27:04.789 they've been very gracious to us for Yoda too 00:27:04.789 --> 00:27:07.609 and really appreciate that. Very great supporters. 00:27:07.930 --> 00:27:12.690 Very great supporters of Yoda. Definitely appreciate 00:27:12.690 --> 00:27:16.829 their donation of the soldering stations to use 00:27:16.829 --> 00:27:21.950 for our kit build coming up next summer. 859 00:27:21.950 --> 00:27:27.029 -982 -7373 is the phone number if you'd like 00:27:27.029 --> 00:27:33.309 to call in and ask a question. 859 -982 -7373 00:27:33.309 --> 00:27:38.809 or you can tweet us or comment and and I I put 00:27:38.809 --> 00:27:41.430 it off I didn't say it but I think we finally 00:27:41.430 --> 00:27:43.869 got the audio issues taken care of because as 00:27:43.869 --> 00:27:48.450 sure as I say it it it's going to act up but 00:27:48.450 --> 00:27:54.509 we've had some terrible terrible audio issues 00:27:54.509 --> 00:27:58.700 last couple of weeks thanks to your friendly 00:27:58.700 --> 00:28:01.839 windows update and found what it messed up. So 00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:06.180 I think we finally got it. Okay, Tripp, K5TRP 00:28:06.180 --> 00:28:08.420 wants to know what was the soldering iron they 00:28:08.420 --> 00:28:11.220 mentioned. So yeah, so maybe you need to fill 00:28:11.220 --> 00:28:14.099 them in a little bit on Xtronic here. Yeah, it 00:28:14.099 --> 00:28:20.299 comes from XtronicUSA .com and this particular 00:28:20.299 --> 00:28:25.000 iron is in the 3000 series. it has a digital 00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:28.740 display it sells for roughly around $60 and if 00:28:28.740 --> 00:28:31.339 you have Amazon Prime you can get free shipping 00:28:31.339 --> 00:28:36.079 on it they do sell through eBay stores directly 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:41.119 also and through Amazon and it has like I said 00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:43.900 digital display you can switch it from Celsius 00:28:43.900 --> 00:28:48.180 to Fahrenheit It has a sponge tip cleaner and 00:28:48.180 --> 00:28:52.299 a nice holder for your iron But it also has a 00:28:52.299 --> 00:28:56.099 brass and flux type tip cleaner on it as well 00:28:56.099 --> 00:29:00.079 and a soldering roll holder So your roll of solder 00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:03.900 does not go all over the table and so forth So, 00:29:03.900 --> 00:29:06.579 you know when you're talking for $60 and getting 00:29:06.579 --> 00:29:09.140 something that's that precise and it takes Haco 00:29:09.140 --> 00:29:14.150 tips So the tips are widely available and they 00:29:14.150 --> 00:29:18.650 also sell extra tips as well. While we're talking 00:29:18.650 --> 00:29:20.710 about soldering irons and we've talked about 00:29:20.710 --> 00:29:23.529 this on the show before, but since we've got 00:29:23.529 --> 00:29:25.930 a couple of people here listening that we're 00:29:25.930 --> 00:29:29.470 not familiar with that talk a little bit about 00:29:29.470 --> 00:29:33.150 having, you know, and instead of just the old 00:29:33.150 --> 00:29:37.559 $2 wood burner, uh, which, which does work. for 00:29:37.559 --> 00:29:41.720 some things. Talk about the advantages of having 00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:47.480 the temperature controlled iron. Well, it's actually 00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:52.259 a real must. And the reason is because the unregulated 00:29:52.259 --> 00:29:54.619 irons get way too hot when they're not being 00:29:54.619 --> 00:29:58.400 used. And when you use them, then they cool off 00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:01.180 and sometimes are below the temperature that 00:30:01.180 --> 00:30:06.500 you want to flow the solder. because they are 00:30:06.500 --> 00:30:10.140 so hot, it can damage the printed circuit board 00:30:10.140 --> 00:30:14.960 by actually melting the leads off of the board. 00:30:15.740 --> 00:30:20.059 And so the other thing is, is that those, like 00:30:20.059 --> 00:30:22.599 you call them wood burners that you can get for 00:30:22.599 --> 00:30:26.240 five or six bucks, the tips are usually not very 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:29.440 small either. And we're dealing with connections 00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:33.519 that are pretty small. And so by having the controlled 00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:37.700 temperature, you have a much, much, much greater 00:30:37.700 --> 00:30:41.960 chance of success. And let's go into the solder 00:30:41.960 --> 00:30:46.759 a bit too. My doctor's prescription for solder 00:30:46.759 --> 00:30:52.079 is 6337, which is called a eutectic solder. It 00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:55.910 flows a lot better. It wets the connection it 00:30:55.910 --> 00:30:58.150 flows through on a double -sided board makes 00:30:58.150 --> 00:31:02.349 a very strong connection has very little plastic 00:31:02.349 --> 00:31:06.710 state which means that not prone to getting cold 00:31:06.710 --> 00:31:12.009 solder joints And what I recommend is 031 or 00:31:12.009 --> 00:31:18.089 025 thickness rosin core no clean and It makes 00:31:18.089 --> 00:31:21.940 for a very nice looking solder job on the bottom 00:31:21.940 --> 00:31:24.859 of the board you might see little tiny pieces 00:31:24.859 --> 00:31:28.000 of clear flux on there which cleans off very 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:31.720 easily with alcohol but you're not going to have 00:31:31.720 --> 00:31:37.220 those ugly brown blobs of flux that flow away 00:31:37.220 --> 00:31:41.940 from the connection okay good stuff all right 00:31:41.940 --> 00:31:48.970 give us a call 859 -982 -7373 if you have a question. 00:31:50.369 --> 00:31:53.589 Well, we said we were going to throw in a bonus 00:31:53.589 --> 00:31:58.470 kit to cover here. So tell us about this other 00:31:58.470 --> 00:32:02.309 kit. Not a CW kit, though. No, it's not CW. It 00:32:02.309 --> 00:32:05.930 lets you do FT8 and other sound card modes. It's 00:32:05.930 --> 00:32:12.289 called the FT8 Phaser. And it comes from Midnight 00:32:12.289 --> 00:32:15.509 Design Solutions. And you can look them up on 00:32:15.509 --> 00:32:20.220 the web. And the FT8 phaser is a digital mode 00:32:20.220 --> 00:32:25.160 transceiver, but it has a DDS synthesizer in 00:32:25.160 --> 00:32:27.680 it and two buttons on the front panel. The first 00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:31.420 one is defaulted to the FT8 frequency. And there's 00:32:31.420 --> 00:32:34.000 a way to play with the buttons, kind of using 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:36.099 them like a key or paddle in the programming 00:32:36.099 --> 00:32:39.140 mode. You can program the alternate frequency 00:32:39.140 --> 00:32:41.180 button, which is the right button on the front 00:32:41.180 --> 00:32:45.210 panel. And that Can be set for like where FT 00:32:45.210 --> 00:32:49.569 for is like 14 080 or you could set it to? 070 00:32:49.569 --> 00:32:53.470 to get on to the Olivia mode frequency or hell 00:32:53.470 --> 00:32:56.309 Shriver any of the other digital modes this thing 00:32:56.309 --> 00:33:00.289 will do all those it is a single sideband transceiver 00:33:00.289 --> 00:33:03.509 in that it transmits single sideband, but receives 00:33:03.509 --> 00:33:09.660 double and so the idea being that you don't take 00:33:09.660 --> 00:33:12.240 up as much bandwidth when you transmit as opposed 00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:15.900 to the DSB transceiver kits. Now there's four 00:33:15.900 --> 00:33:20.059 toroids to wind and one of them is a bifiler. 00:33:20.180 --> 00:33:23.519 Now the good news is they already twist the wires 00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:26.960 together for you and all the parts actually for 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:30.519 the entire kit are already identified for you 00:33:30.519 --> 00:33:33.480 and pre -taped to these cards that are almost 00:33:33.480 --> 00:33:36.599 the size of like a three by five card. and you 00:33:36.599 --> 00:33:38.880 put them in a shoe box or one of those plastic 00:33:38.880 --> 00:33:42.359 shoe boxes for storage and you can put the cards 00:33:42.359 --> 00:33:44.819 in there and you can pick your parts off of those 00:33:44.819 --> 00:33:47.859 cards as you build the kit so you don't have 00:33:47.859 --> 00:33:50.299 to sort the parts out like I always preach in 00:33:50.299 --> 00:33:53.380 my seminars it's already done for you in this 00:33:53.380 --> 00:33:59.339 kit okay so there you go you get another one 00:33:59.339 --> 00:34:02.980 you get three for the price of two tonight and 00:34:04.660 --> 00:34:07.660 Since it's a free show you got all three of them 00:34:07.660 --> 00:34:11.980 for free so Eight five nine nine eight two seventy 00:34:11.980 --> 00:34:14.199 three seventy three if you have a question about 00:34:14.199 --> 00:34:20.820 those Let's talk a little bit about Well, here 00:34:20.820 --> 00:34:25.800 we go again the pandemic Have you seen any many 00:34:25.800 --> 00:34:29.380 supply issues any shortages anything like that 00:34:29.380 --> 00:34:33.280 going on? I know for a while there was some stuff, 00:34:33.340 --> 00:34:37.730 but Things are news on that front things are 00:34:37.730 --> 00:34:40.309 slowly getting back to normal or at least almost 00:34:40.309 --> 00:34:43.769 normal There are supply issues and lately there's 00:34:43.769 --> 00:34:47.869 been postal delivery issues especially on international 00:34:47.869 --> 00:34:53.269 mail There's just odd shortages that show up 00:34:53.269 --> 00:34:56.170 with certain components and so forth that the 00:34:56.170 --> 00:35:00.889 kit makers have to deal with so It's a lot better 00:35:00.889 --> 00:35:04.960 than it was before But there are still some odd 00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:10.880 supply chain issues. Okay. Well, and I hadn't 00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:13.360 had a chance to tell you this. We got a note 00:35:13.360 --> 00:35:20.139 from the supplier of our Kits for for Yoda camp 00:35:20.139 --> 00:35:22.340 and they said make sure you check the ferrite 00:35:22.340 --> 00:35:24.780 rods because we had somebody to get a bunch of 00:35:24.780 --> 00:35:29.079 these and they were all broken and Jocelyn finally 00:35:29.079 --> 00:35:32.000 was able to go through those last weekend. We 00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:36.679 found four so apparently they had made a bad 00:35:36.679 --> 00:35:41.519 batch and So we did find four that they're gonna 00:35:41.519 --> 00:35:45.000 replace for us, but those are great little meter 00:35:45.449 --> 00:35:48.590 Those are the 80 meter DF kits. Those are very 00:35:48.590 --> 00:35:52.789 good. I have one. Yeah, they're good kits, but 00:35:52.789 --> 00:35:55.090 something just went wrong in the manufacturing 00:35:55.090 --> 00:35:59.150 in the middle of all of that stuff and delayed 00:35:59.150 --> 00:36:02.809 everything and apparently they got it a little 00:36:02.809 --> 00:36:06.190 wrong on the ferrite rods, but we're getting 00:36:06.190 --> 00:36:09.480 replacements for those. So there may be some 00:36:09.480 --> 00:36:11.940 little things like that that, you know, pop up 00:36:11.940 --> 00:36:16.659 and, um, I know I got a shipment, uh, from Spain. 00:36:16.739 --> 00:36:19.360 Actually, it wasn't electronic stuff, but it 00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:22.840 was like a month late. So there, it just depends 00:36:22.840 --> 00:36:24.920 on where it's coming from. But, uh, there may 00:36:24.920 --> 00:36:28.900 be some, some random things out there, but, uh, 00:36:28.900 --> 00:36:31.420 yeah, I would, I would say not expect the normal, 00:36:31.619 --> 00:36:34.420 normal delivery times for just about anything 00:36:34.420 --> 00:36:37.760 for awhile. But, uh, the good thing is, is that. 00:36:37.840 --> 00:36:41.000 we're home and we're safe and we're able to spend 00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:44.260 that extra time that normally I'd get to see 00:36:44.260 --> 00:36:47.360 all of you people. We can spend some of it building 00:36:47.360 --> 00:36:50.519 kits and then next time I see everybody at HamFest 00:36:50.519 --> 00:36:54.099 you can show me the kits you put together and 00:36:54.099 --> 00:36:58.019 I can take a picture of you with your wonderful 00:36:58.019 --> 00:37:02.170 kit building work. Hey, there we go now that'll 00:37:02.170 --> 00:37:04.030 you know leads me to the other question I had 00:37:04.030 --> 00:37:08.269 was Are you seeing a big surge in kit building 00:37:08.269 --> 00:37:13.760 here? Yes Very much so. Most of the kit makers 00:37:13.760 --> 00:37:16.579 are telling me that there is definitely increased 00:37:16.579 --> 00:37:19.460 demand because people have more time on their 00:37:19.460 --> 00:37:22.900 hands. And especially in the hottest part of 00:37:22.900 --> 00:37:25.780 the summer and colder parts of the winter, people 00:37:25.780 --> 00:37:30.019 stay in their house more in normal times. But 00:37:30.019 --> 00:37:32.659 now they stay home a lot more often anyways, 00:37:32.659 --> 00:37:36.599 because they're not traveling very far. They're 00:37:36.599 --> 00:37:39.619 spending the time to get the right tools and 00:37:39.619 --> 00:37:42.420 the right stuff and have success building their 00:37:42.420 --> 00:37:46.900 kits. And speaking of the tools, Chris, A4CB 00:37:46.900 --> 00:37:51.079 says the 3000 station is great to use. Is YL 00:37:51.079 --> 00:37:54.860 bought one on your recommendation and well bit 00:37:54.860 --> 00:37:58.440 and get the extra tips in different sizes was 00:37:58.440 --> 00:38:06.599 his suggestion. So thanks for that, Chris. What, 00:38:06.800 --> 00:38:09.000 what's your ham fest schedule looking like? Are 00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:15.500 you, are you booking anything here? Dead. I, 00:38:15.500 --> 00:38:18.500 I, I'm not going anywhere. I'm sitting on like 00:38:18.500 --> 00:38:22.800 four or so plane ticket refund, uh, vouchers 00:38:22.800 --> 00:38:26.980 and I've been doing a lot of zooms. In fact, 00:38:27.219 --> 00:38:30.170 I'm almost averaging a couple of weeks. I'm doing. 00:38:30.369 --> 00:38:32.889 So a lot of local clubs are taking advantage 00:38:32.889 --> 00:38:35.289 of the fact that they're doing Zoom presentations 00:38:35.289 --> 00:38:38.230 and they don't have to fly me in. So I've been 00:38:38.230 --> 00:38:41.530 doing lots of Zoom presentations and making recommendations 00:38:41.530 --> 00:38:43.989 for kits for them to build as a group through 00:38:43.989 --> 00:38:49.789 Zoom. And I really I only have one ham fest that 00:38:49.789 --> 00:38:52.289 insists that they're holding it and that's in 00:38:52.289 --> 00:38:55.469 Iowa. But we'll see as that one gets closer. 00:38:56.720 --> 00:39:00.619 But I'm probably not going to go anyways if things 00:39:00.619 --> 00:39:06.380 are going the way they are Yeah And it's it's 00:39:06.380 --> 00:39:10.159 sad because you know I don't get to a bunch of 00:39:10.159 --> 00:39:13.500 ham fats but the ones that I do are really really 00:39:13.500 --> 00:39:18.420 enjoy and It's been a long time since I've been 00:39:18.420 --> 00:39:23.420 to a ham fest in my world anyway. So I'm, I'm, 00:39:23.420 --> 00:39:28.480 I'm ready to, to go back, but, uh, uh, you know, 00:39:28.599 --> 00:39:31.679 we're, we're, we're dealing with it as we can. 00:39:31.800 --> 00:39:35.380 Uh, John W four USF wants to know any Heath kit 00:39:35.380 --> 00:39:39.039 builds in your distant past. Uh, I did a hot 00:39:39.039 --> 00:39:42.159 water seven. I did like three Heath kit hybrid 00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:48.630 phone patches. I did a Heath kit keyer And when 00:39:48.630 --> 00:39:51.670 I was cleaning out stuff, I discovered that I 00:39:51.670 --> 00:39:58.230 have an RTTY interface kit That puts out serial 00:39:58.230 --> 00:40:02.949 data that I have not started and it was sealed 00:40:02.949 --> 00:40:06.789 away So it's one of those unbuilt Heath kit treasures 00:40:06.789 --> 00:40:12.150 and I'm debating putting it together. Yeah and 00:40:12.599 --> 00:40:14.400 Because somebody said well, it's gonna be worth 00:40:14.400 --> 00:40:17.059 a lot more if you don't touch it But if you don't 00:40:17.059 --> 00:40:20.619 do it, what's it gonna do? So it might be an 00:40:20.619 --> 00:40:23.539 interesting it might be an interesting Column 00:40:23.539 --> 00:40:29.679 to write about it comes from the 1980s. Oh Wow 00:40:29.679 --> 00:40:37.340 Yeah, I remember The code oscillator the paddles 00:40:37.340 --> 00:40:42.340 and I found those I was so glad to find those 00:40:42.340 --> 00:40:45.099 because I looked everywhere at my parents house 00:40:45.099 --> 00:40:49.360 trying to find those things and Way back in the 00:40:49.360 --> 00:40:53.000 back of one drawer finally found those paddles 00:40:53.000 --> 00:40:57.920 that I helped build Heath Heath kit that's probably 00:40:57.920 --> 00:41:02.920 been my favorite kit build And I must have been 00:41:02.920 --> 00:41:11.159 like nine eight Something like that. Yep. The 00:41:11.159 --> 00:41:13.239 other thing I've been doing is collecting things 00:41:13.239 --> 00:41:18.960 on my wall. So yeah, we're going to talk about 00:41:18.960 --> 00:41:21.300 that here in a minute. And, and John's like, 00:41:21.519 --> 00:41:23.420 yeah, yeah, that's, that's, that's money. You 00:41:23.420 --> 00:41:27.239 got there in that unbuilt Heath Heath kit ready 00:41:27.239 --> 00:41:33.199 interface. So, that's, that's a tough call there. 00:41:33.500 --> 00:41:37.679 Well, or we're about out of time here, but but 00:41:37.679 --> 00:41:40.079 yeah, let's talk about a couple of things that 00:41:40.079 --> 00:41:43.940 have gone up on your on your wall here. Congratulations 00:41:43.940 --> 00:41:49.099 on a couple of really cool awards. Now I knew 00:41:49.099 --> 00:41:53.360 about the YASME award because that's that's big 00:41:53.360 --> 00:41:56.519 news. But tell us a little bit about the YASME 00:41:56.519 --> 00:41:58.980 award and then we'll talk about this other one 00:41:58.980 --> 00:42:02.480 that I didn't know about. Yeah, the as me award 00:42:02.480 --> 00:42:10.519 the as me foundation Was founded by the Colvins 00:42:10.519 --> 00:42:13.940 who? would take their sailboat all over the world 00:42:13.940 --> 00:42:18.059 back in the 60s and so forth. And I used to listen 00:42:18.059 --> 00:42:20.260 to them as a short wave listener before I even 00:42:20.260 --> 00:42:22.760 got my license. And they went on de -expeditions 00:42:22.760 --> 00:42:25.599 to all these rare islands on their boat. And 00:42:25.599 --> 00:42:30.199 then after they passed away, there was created 00:42:30.199 --> 00:42:34.360 this foundation that finances de -expeditions. 00:42:34.539 --> 00:42:38.920 But now they also, since I think 2006 or 2007, 00:42:39.599 --> 00:42:43.889 put out one or two awards called the ASME Award 00:42:43.889 --> 00:42:48.349 of Excellence. And I was awarded that for my 00:42:48.349 --> 00:42:50.449 kit building teaching like we're doing tonight. 00:42:51.030 --> 00:42:54.710 And that was totally by surprise and very, very 00:42:54.710 --> 00:43:00.489 humbling. It was just a total shock. And so up 00:43:00.489 --> 00:43:03.489 on my shelf above my HF rig is this beautiful 00:43:03.489 --> 00:43:06.889 cut crystal globe. And it's not light either, 00:43:06.889 --> 00:43:12.780 it's pretty heavy. Well, that's a great award 00:43:12.780 --> 00:43:17.659 and well -deserved and and then There's the Navy 00:43:17.659 --> 00:43:23.719 in Nebraska Well, you know in Kentucky and you're 00:43:23.719 --> 00:43:26.780 you've been there a few times Kentucky has an 00:43:26.780 --> 00:43:30.119 award called Kentucky Colonel's and you're entitled 00:43:30.119 --> 00:43:34.000 to use the term Kentucky Colonel in your name 00:43:34.000 --> 00:43:38.159 if you have one of those. Well Nebraska has admirals 00:43:38.159 --> 00:43:40.519 in the Great Navy of the state of Nebraska and 00:43:40.519 --> 00:43:43.699 of course we're a landlocked state by three states. 00:43:43.739 --> 00:43:45.820 You have to go through three states before you 00:43:45.820 --> 00:43:49.079 can even touch water from here at least ocean 00:43:49.079 --> 00:43:54.019 or the Great Lakes. So they have the Great Navy 00:43:54.019 --> 00:43:56.519 of the state of Nebraska and actually it's considered 00:43:56.519 --> 00:44:01.429 Nebraska's highest honor and A nonprofit organization 00:44:01.429 --> 00:44:05.349 in Omaha nominated me because they saw a social 00:44:05.349 --> 00:44:09.010 media post about my production with the 3D printer 00:44:09.010 --> 00:44:14.730 of face shields for Lincoln Fire and Rescue for 00:44:14.730 --> 00:44:19.829 the pandemic. And so I get this package from 00:44:19.829 --> 00:44:23.590 Governor Pete Ricketts, and it says I'm an admiral 00:44:23.590 --> 00:44:26.090 in the Great Navy of the state of Nebraska. And 00:44:26.090 --> 00:44:31.429 that sits below my clock. Wow, that's That's 00:44:31.429 --> 00:44:35.489 a neat thing. So congratulations on that as well 00:44:35.489 --> 00:44:41.630 a nice job with all the face shields and I I 00:44:41.630 --> 00:44:44.329 bought one the other day and I'm kind of thinking 00:44:44.329 --> 00:44:47.550 it may start getting put to use next week if 00:44:47.550 --> 00:44:51.889 that's allowable and gotta go back face to face 00:44:51.889 --> 00:44:57.829 to school to work so May pull one of those out 00:44:59.850 --> 00:45:03.190 Yep, they're very worthwhile and I see somebody 00:45:03.190 --> 00:45:07.210 asked about QRS qrp transceiver kids and there's 00:45:07.210 --> 00:45:11.010 a JVG Yeah, there's a lot of them out there. 00:45:11.010 --> 00:45:14.510 I would say for your first qrp transceiver kit 00:45:14.510 --> 00:45:18.949 I would recommend the cricket series of CW transceiver 00:45:18.949 --> 00:45:22.510 kits from the four state qrp group and they're 00:45:22.510 --> 00:45:25.809 just about as simple as a pixie Except for the 00:45:25.809 --> 00:45:29.659 receiver performance is incredible I mean, absolutely 00:45:29.659 --> 00:45:33.579 incredible. And they run on a 9 -volt transistor 00:45:33.579 --> 00:45:37.360 battery. The CW straight key is part of the kit. 00:45:37.760 --> 00:45:41.280 You don't have to wind any toroids because it 00:45:41.280 --> 00:45:45.500 has spiral -wound coils. And it's designed by 00:45:45.500 --> 00:45:51.659 David Kreip, NM0S, who is an engineer for Collins 00:45:51.659 --> 00:45:54.780 Aerospace. That's Collins Radio in Cedar Rapids. 00:45:55.099 --> 00:45:58.869 And it's a very simple CW transceiver it's fixed 00:45:58.869 --> 00:46:01.849 frequency you plug in a crystal but if you have 00:46:01.849 --> 00:46:04.789 different crystals for the same band you can 00:46:04.789 --> 00:46:08.090 interchange those and it has a great like i said 00:46:08.090 --> 00:46:11.989 a great receiver it sounds nice and it runs on 00:46:11.989 --> 00:46:14.489 a nine volt transistor battery and every one 00:46:14.489 --> 00:46:17.989 that we put together as group kit builds puts 00:46:17.989 --> 00:46:23.489 out a full watt of cw and very simple to build 00:46:25.159 --> 00:46:28.320 Well, there you go, thanks for asking the question 00:46:28.320 --> 00:46:36.260 Jim and Good Recommendation those those crickets 00:46:36.260 --> 00:46:40.059 are are pretty cool. They've got a whole line 00:46:40.059 --> 00:46:45.820 Yeah, there's 80 40 and 30 meter versions from 00:46:45.820 --> 00:46:53.840 the forced a QRP group Well, let's check here 00:46:53.840 --> 00:46:56.679 over on Twitter and make sure we've got everything, 00:46:56.780 --> 00:47:00.500 but I think we've addressed all the questions 00:47:00.500 --> 00:47:05.579 tonight. Looks like we have. So, Joe, any parting 00:47:05.579 --> 00:47:10.739 comments here before we go? If you have any questions, 00:47:10.820 --> 00:47:15.619 of course, I'm listed on QRZ and I hope to at 00:47:15.619 --> 00:47:18.619 some point put a web page up that has all the 00:47:18.619 --> 00:47:22.400 links to kits that I mentioned and kit manufacturers 00:47:22.400 --> 00:47:25.880 that make several kits. Try get all that kind 00:47:25.880 --> 00:47:28.519 of listed in one place and keep the data up to 00:47:28.519 --> 00:47:34.679 date. I keep busy with the 3D printer and making 00:47:34.679 --> 00:47:37.559 lots of presentations and I truly enjoy being 00:47:37.559 --> 00:47:41.099 on your show, Neil. Well, we enjoy you being 00:47:41.099 --> 00:47:44.179 here and and we try to do that every so often 00:47:44.179 --> 00:47:47.380 and we appreciate you Jumping in here tonight 00:47:47.380 --> 00:47:50.780 and talking about some CW kits and some other 00:47:50.780 --> 00:47:53.500 kit building stuff and and look forward to seeing 00:47:53.500 --> 00:47:56.219 you It's it's it's been a little while. I think 00:47:56.219 --> 00:48:00.280 it's st. Louis. I think Yeah, I think that's 00:48:00.280 --> 00:48:06.039 what it was in January Yeah, so Hopefully we'll 00:48:06.039 --> 00:48:09.000 we'll get back on the ham fest trail here before 00:48:09.000 --> 00:48:13.619 too long so well we're gonna say that's a wrap 00:48:13.619 --> 00:48:18.519 for this week's edition of ham talk live thanks 00:48:18.519 --> 00:48:22.539 to my guest joe isenberg k0 neb and everybody 00:48:22.539 --> 00:48:24.860 out there in cyberspace for listening and typing 00:48:24.860 --> 00:48:28.619 in tonight and invite you back next thursday 00:48:28.619 --> 00:48:33.500 night at 9 p .m eastern time andy melusi kk4 00:48:33.500 --> 00:48:39.039 lwr and tony melusi kd8 rtt will be here and 00:48:39.039 --> 00:48:41.920 they're going to talk about the collegiate qso 00:48:41.920 --> 00:48:45.789 party so Check that out and for a list of all 00:48:45.789 --> 00:48:50.409 of our upcoming guests, visit HamTalkLive .com. 00:48:50.429 --> 00:48:53.010 And if you like the show, please leave us a review. 00:48:53.489 --> 00:48:57.329 That helps others find the show faster. And, 00:48:57.329 --> 00:49:01.090 um, and it's kind of nice to hear from you. So 00:49:01.090 --> 00:49:03.869 please do that. All right. So for now, this is 00:49:03.869 --> 00:49:10.230 Neil Rapp, WB9VPG saying 7375 and may the good 00:49:10.230 --> 00:49:27.690 DX be yours. Thanks for watching!