WEBVTT 00:00:10.679 --> 00:00:13.500 Thanks for tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on 00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:27.260 the air shortly. Please stand by. This episode 00:00:27.260 --> 00:00:30.839 of HamTalk Live is brought to you by Tower Electronics. 00:00:31.260 --> 00:00:35.539 For connectors, cables, and more, call 920 -435 00:00:35.539 --> 00:00:42.280 -2973 or visit pl -259 .com. And by ICOM, heard 00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:47.479 it, worked it, logged it. Visit www .icomamerica 00:00:47.479 --> 00:00:51.219 .com slash amateur for more information about 00:00:51.219 --> 00:01:03.439 ICOM radios. Here we go, welcome to Amtopi, call 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:26.000 in, let's talk, Neil's your go - Hey, good evening 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:30.099 everyone. It's time for ham talk live. It's episode 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:34.780 number 224 the portable operations challenge 00:01:34.780 --> 00:01:39.859 recorded live on Thursday August 20th 2020 I'm 00:01:39.859 --> 00:01:44.219 your host Neil rap WB 9 VPG Thanks for tuning 00:01:44.219 --> 00:01:47.319 in to another episode of ham talk live tonight. 00:01:47.319 --> 00:01:52.370 We're joined by Frank Howell K4 FMH And we'll 00:01:52.370 --> 00:01:55.629 take your calls live in a few minutes. Last week, 00:01:55.890 --> 00:01:59.810 Tad Cook, K7RA, was here to talk about Solar 00:01:59.810 --> 00:02:03.209 Cycle 25. And if you missed that show, you can 00:02:03.209 --> 00:02:06.930 listen anytime at HamTalkLive .com or on your 00:02:06.930 --> 00:02:10.289 favorite podcast app or on YouTube. Or you can 00:02:10.289 --> 00:02:15.930 catch the rebroadcast of HamTalk Live on WTWW. 00:02:16.610 --> 00:02:23.310 That's 5085 AM. And they play that Saturday afternoons 00:02:23.310 --> 00:02:27.710 about 3 .30 p .m. Eastern time. So you can always 00:02:27.710 --> 00:02:30.689 catch the show a couple of days later over on 00:02:30.689 --> 00:02:36.069 WTWW. So thanks to Ted and the gang over there 00:02:36.069 --> 00:02:40.669 for playing the show on Saturdays. All right, 00:02:40.729 --> 00:02:42.650 we'll get your questions ready to go for Frank 00:02:42.650 --> 00:02:46.800 if you're listening to us live. Here on Thursday 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:50.759 night you can give us a call after the interview 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:53.080 is over. I'll go ahead and give you the phone 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:55.979 number now so you can have it ready for when 00:02:55.979 --> 00:03:06.229 we announce that. It's 859 -982 -7373. Again, 00:03:06.530 --> 00:03:13.550 859 -982 -7373. You can also tweet us. It's at 00:03:13.550 --> 00:03:16.789 HamTalk Live on Twitter. If you're on Spreaker, 00:03:16.830 --> 00:03:19.689 you can type in the comments and we'll get that. 00:03:19.830 --> 00:03:22.229 So all kinds of ways to interact with us tonight. 00:03:23.490 --> 00:03:26.689 And again, Frank Howell, K4FMH, will be with 00:03:26.689 --> 00:03:30.009 us right after this word from Tower Electronics 00:03:30.009 --> 00:03:35.740 right here on HamTalk Live. Thanks for choosing 00:03:35.740 --> 00:03:38.740 Tower Electronics. How may we help you today? 00:03:39.319 --> 00:03:43.180 We have PL -259s, we have N -connectors, we have 00:03:43.180 --> 00:03:46.680 SMA adapters, we have BNC adapters. What can 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:49.939 I show you today? Where's the tower? Well, we 00:03:49.939 --> 00:03:53.120 don't actually have a tower with us, but we have 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:55.400 all kinds of things you can use with a tower. 00:03:55.860 --> 00:03:59.039 We have power poles, antennas, soldering irons 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:02.319 and meters. Where's the tower? Ma 'am, that's 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:04.889 the name of our company. We can't haul towers 00:04:04.889 --> 00:04:07.050 to all the ham -fests across the country that 00:04:07.050 --> 00:04:09.689 we visit, but we have almost every connector 00:04:09.689 --> 00:04:12.250 and adapter you would need to connect your antenna 00:04:12.250 --> 00:04:14.370 that's on your tower. I don't think there's a 00:04:14.370 --> 00:04:17.990 tower back there. I really don't. Tower Electronics. 00:04:18.250 --> 00:04:21.350 Visit us at a ham -fest near you or call 920 00:04:21.350 --> 00:04:27.209 -435 -2973 or see our whole catalog at PL -259 00:04:27.209 --> 00:04:30.029 .com. Sorry, one thing we don't have is a tower. 00:04:31.009 --> 00:04:33.970 The grass may be greener on the other side, but 00:04:33.970 --> 00:04:36.230 at least we don't have to mow it You're listening 00:04:36.230 --> 00:04:52.129 to ham talk live with Neil rap Welcome back to 00:04:52.129 --> 00:04:54.790 ham talk live. We'd like to thank Scott and Jill 00:04:54.790 --> 00:04:58.089 at tower electronics for sponsoring the show 00:04:58.089 --> 00:05:00.209 tonight. They help bring you HamTalk Live each 00:05:00.209 --> 00:05:03.389 and every week. You can visit them anytime at 00:05:03.389 --> 00:05:07.209 PL -259 .com. They had a couple of HamFests there 00:05:07.209 --> 00:05:10.930 that kind of snuck in, but they're back home 00:05:10.930 --> 00:05:15.709 for a while. So give them a call or stop by their 00:05:15.709 --> 00:05:22.670 website, PL -259 .com. My guest tonight is Frank 00:05:22.670 --> 00:05:26.370 Howell. He's a professor emeritus from Mississippi 00:05:26.370 --> 00:05:29.769 State University and an adjunct professor at 00:05:29.769 --> 00:05:32.829 Emory University. He's been a shortwave listener, 00:05:33.810 --> 00:05:36.810 a DXer and antenna builder since he was eight 00:05:36.810 --> 00:05:40.149 years old. At age 20, he led the construction 00:05:40.149 --> 00:05:43.910 of two radio stations, professional. broadcast 00:05:43.910 --> 00:05:47.310 radio stations, served as the news director at 00:05:47.310 --> 00:05:51.269 WXLX before attending graduate school and pursuing 00:05:51.269 --> 00:05:54.470 a career as a college professor. Frank became 00:05:54.470 --> 00:05:59.449 a ham at age 58, excuse me, in 2010. He lives 00:05:59.449 --> 00:06:04.029 in Ridgeland, a northern suburb of Jackson, Mississippi, 00:06:04.029 --> 00:06:08.209 and he is a part of the ICQ podcast, podcast 00:06:08.209 --> 00:06:12.079 team, if I can talk. He's also been on the QSO 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:16.040 radio show on WTWW, where you also hear HamTalk 00:06:16.040 --> 00:06:22.589 Live. and also on the W5 KUB round table. So 00:06:22.589 --> 00:06:26.250 here's a little clip about the portable ops challenge 00:06:26.250 --> 00:06:28.389 we're going to talk about tonight. I do like 00:06:28.389 --> 00:06:31.490 operating my ham radio rig outdoors, but on contest 00:06:31.490 --> 00:06:34.490 days, well, the super stations always seem to 00:06:34.490 --> 00:06:36.670 win. So here's the deal. The steering committee 00:06:36.670 --> 00:06:39.850 has taken a bulldozer to level the playing field 00:06:39.850 --> 00:06:45.009 between the big guns and the little pistols. 00:06:45.930 --> 00:06:49.449 in the Fox Mike Hotel portable ops challenge, 00:06:49.670 --> 00:06:53.750 October 3rd and 4th, 2020. See foxmikehotel .com 00:06:53.750 --> 00:06:56.850 and click the POC tab. Will you take the challenge? 00:06:58.410 --> 00:07:01.810 All right. So will you take the challenge? That's 00:07:01.810 --> 00:07:06.149 the question. Frank, welcome to Amtok Live. Neil 00:07:06.149 --> 00:07:08.550 thank you for having me. Your podcast is one 00:07:08.550 --> 00:07:11.730 of those that's in my podcast list and I listen 00:07:11.730 --> 00:07:14.089 to each and every episode. I want to thank you 00:07:14.089 --> 00:07:17.129 for everything you do. It's tough following Tad 00:07:17.129 --> 00:07:21.709 the Sun God Cook. That was a great show. It was 00:07:21.709 --> 00:07:24.009 everything I could do at the beginning of the 00:07:24.009 --> 00:07:26.810 show. You know when I said last week here's what 00:07:26.810 --> 00:07:28.870 you missed. You know if you missed the show it 00:07:28.870 --> 00:07:31.870 was everything I could do not to put one of those 00:07:31.870 --> 00:07:35.199 nicknames in there and say You know, Tad walking 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:40.680 on the Sun Cook, you know, that was fun. I enjoyed 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:45.019 it. In fact, I've got a package sitting right 00:07:45.019 --> 00:07:48.060 here in front of me that's got Ted Cook's name 00:07:48.060 --> 00:07:50.879 on it. I ordered more shirts so he could get 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:52.899 a t -shirt. So it's sitting right here, ready 00:07:52.899 --> 00:07:55.939 to go in the mail to him. Good deal. It was a 00:07:55.939 --> 00:07:58.360 lot of fun. Well, you're here and we'll have 00:07:58.360 --> 00:08:02.279 some fun with this tonight. And, you know, you're 00:08:02.279 --> 00:08:05.160 a former professional broad chaser, I mean broadcaster. 00:08:05.800 --> 00:08:09.720 And so, you know, we're used to this radio thing, 00:08:09.740 --> 00:08:14.110 so. let's talk that's that's what we do and uh... 00:08:14.110 --> 00:08:16.230 you've got a new contest called the portable 00:08:16.230 --> 00:08:19.910 operations challenge and it's a very unique setup 00:08:19.910 --> 00:08:23.009 so tell us about the setup of this tells about 00:08:23.009 --> 00:08:26.709 the contest and and what inspired you to do this 00:08:26.709 --> 00:08:29.930 well of course portable operating inspired it 00:08:29.930 --> 00:08:33.409 basically but i enjoy getting into uh... uh... 00:08:33.409 --> 00:08:35.590 contest thank you so parties field day and things 00:08:35.590 --> 00:08:39.919 like that And when I talk with other ham operators, 00:08:40.220 --> 00:08:43.279 particularly those who operate portably, you 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:45.019 know, we'll talk about contests and they'll go, 00:08:45.080 --> 00:08:47.480 yeah, I enjoy doing it. It's kind of thrilling 00:08:47.480 --> 00:08:50.620 getting there in the chase, try to get into a 00:08:50.620 --> 00:08:53.480 pile up, but you know, just never going to win. 00:08:53.539 --> 00:08:55.559 The Superstation is always going to dominate. 00:08:56.259 --> 00:08:59.259 And a little head hanging there. And I got to 00:08:59.259 --> 00:09:03.080 thinking about, well, I taught a course for a 00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:06.509 number of years on the sociology of sport. Published 00:09:06.509 --> 00:09:08.750 research on the effects of being a high school 00:09:08.750 --> 00:09:13.590 varsity athlete on the editorial board of the 00:09:13.590 --> 00:09:16.409 Sociologist sport journal yada yada yada academic 00:09:16.409 --> 00:09:19.429 stuff on sports. I got thinking about amateur 00:09:19.429 --> 00:09:25.169 radio calls contesting a radio sport It's reflects 00:09:25.169 --> 00:09:30.570 a lot of differences in radio gear He or she 00:09:30.570 --> 00:09:35.019 has the best gear tends to win And I think we've 00:09:35.019 --> 00:09:38.019 just sort of edged into that through sort of 00:09:38.019 --> 00:09:41.360 a competitive nature. Not everybody can have 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:45.779 the Superstations say that K3LR, TMW has in Western 00:09:45.779 --> 00:09:49.120 Pennsylvania, 12 transceivers, one for each man, 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:53.360 a rack of SDRs on PSK Reporter, feeding up where 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:55.700 the spots are to each station and so on and so 00:09:55.700 --> 00:09:59.120 on. And there's nothing wrong with building a 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:01.299 Superstation. If you've got a few hundred thousand 00:10:01.299 --> 00:10:03.879 dollars that you can do it, Why not? Nothing 00:10:03.879 --> 00:10:07.220 wrong with that. But the thought occurred to 00:10:07.220 --> 00:10:11.000 me, well, we have the same kind of sport difference 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:15.360 in other sports besides radio sport. Golf is 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:19.639 one of them. I'm a golfer. I enjoy playing. I'm 00:10:19.639 --> 00:10:22.460 not very good. I've cursed a couple of times. 00:10:22.500 --> 00:10:24.320 I'll admit that, but I've never thrown a club. 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:27.759 I enjoy it and I enjoy trying to get out there 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:32.840 and compete. And what happens in golf is that 00:10:32.750 --> 00:10:38.610 a player's history, recent history, in how they've 00:10:38.610 --> 00:10:42.669 scored, they've shot, on what difficulty of a 00:10:42.669 --> 00:10:45.690 course that they've tended to play goes into 00:10:45.690 --> 00:10:48.850 a handicap index. And so if you and I were playing, 00:10:49.029 --> 00:10:50.669 Neil, and you're a scratch golfer, that means 00:10:50.669 --> 00:10:54.909 you've got technically a handicap of zero. Par 00:10:54.909 --> 00:10:57.730 for you is probably 72 holes, if that's the par 00:10:57.730 --> 00:11:00.549 for the course. Well, let's just say I shoot 00:11:00.549 --> 00:11:03.070 about an 82 or so or somewhere in there. Well, 00:11:03.070 --> 00:11:05.490 then that means that I would get a stroke every 00:11:05.490 --> 00:11:09.950 hole and I could shoot bogey one over par and 00:11:09.950 --> 00:11:12.950 you could shoot par and we'd tie. So that's how 00:11:12.950 --> 00:11:15.409 golf handicapped. So it occurred to me in working 00:11:15.409 --> 00:11:19.649 with my portable ops team, you know, as you take 00:11:19.649 --> 00:11:22.809 a break or after it's over, you start talking 00:11:22.809 --> 00:11:24.830 about things. I thought, you know, what really 00:11:24.830 --> 00:11:29.549 makes a difference? between a big contest station 00:11:29.549 --> 00:11:34.250 and a portable ops station. Now bear in mind, 00:11:34.490 --> 00:11:37.389 all contest stations are not alike, very far 00:11:37.389 --> 00:11:40.289 from it. Not many people have a Tim Duffy type 00:11:40.289 --> 00:11:43.629 station. Tom Roush down in Barnesville, Georgia 00:11:43.629 --> 00:11:48.110 has an antenna field that most broadcasters would 00:11:48.110 --> 00:11:51.509 die for. Probably eight or nine towers last time 00:11:51.509 --> 00:11:53.889 I checked on Google Earth. And there are many, 00:11:53.990 --> 00:11:59.259 many others. What can we do to try to level that 00:11:59.259 --> 00:12:03.240 playing field to make it more about radio sport 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:07.480 than radio gear? Now that's the idea and we can 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:09.559 talk some more about that keep keep the questions 00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:11.740 coming, but that's the basic idea where it came 00:12:11.740 --> 00:12:14.120 from Well, i'm going to take exception with you 00:12:14.120 --> 00:12:18.360 on on just one thing Okay. Now now when I went 00:12:18.360 --> 00:12:21.980 to college, I was actually pre -med Yeah, and 00:12:21.980 --> 00:12:26.860 so I I had to take a pe elective Yeah Actually 00:12:26.860 --> 00:12:29.720 two I took bowling and the other one I took was 00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:33.820 golf Yeah, and I told everybody that I was taking 00:12:33.820 --> 00:12:36.960 golf because it was a required subject for my 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:42.179 major Right because I was pre -med now if you 00:12:42.179 --> 00:12:46.779 had seen me on the golf course When I was taking 00:12:46.779 --> 00:12:51.919 that class I Would be getting like five strokes 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:57.580 a hole so so there's no way There's no way I'd 00:12:57.580 --> 00:13:06.100 be at scratch. No way. It was more divots than 00:13:06.100 --> 00:13:11.000 anything else. Golf can be a very humbling sport. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:14.039 Yes it can and it can really hurt your forearms 00:13:14.039 --> 00:13:20.799 too. Especially when you hit the ground all the 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:24.659 time. But anyway, I like the idea of level in 00:13:24.659 --> 00:13:28.220 the playing field, you know, because there are 00:13:28.220 --> 00:13:32.419 times when, you know, that it's outmatched, you 00:13:32.419 --> 00:13:35.679 know, and in sports, you know, that happens. 00:13:36.980 --> 00:13:38.820 You know, that's why we have, you know, division 00:13:38.820 --> 00:13:41.019 one, division two, division three in college, 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:44.480 you know, and even within those there are, you 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:48.200 know, people who are outmatched. And so I like 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:51.740 the idea of level in the playing field. So how 00:13:51.740 --> 00:13:54.740 are you level in the playing field between a, 00:13:54.740 --> 00:13:59.500 you know, a K3LR or a K9CT or, you know, how 00:13:59.500 --> 00:14:01.720 are you level in the playing field between those? 00:14:02.539 --> 00:14:06.139 Okay. First thing I want to do is to get a steering 00:14:06.139 --> 00:14:11.320 committee comprised of some pretty good contesters. 00:14:11.710 --> 00:14:15.629 as well as some really good portable ops, because, 00:14:15.889 --> 00:14:18.649 Neil, I'm a sociologist and statistician, so 00:14:18.649 --> 00:14:22.730 you think about the cultures around contesting, 00:14:23.070 --> 00:14:25.169 and you go to contest university, you kind of 00:14:25.169 --> 00:14:27.870 learn about the cultures, the beliefs, do it 00:14:27.870 --> 00:14:30.809 this way, not that way. Here's what the real 00:14:30.809 --> 00:14:33.409 inside baseball game is, this, that, and the 00:14:33.409 --> 00:14:35.970 other. And you can go to contest university and 00:14:35.970 --> 00:14:41.830 learn an awful lot about the... culture of Contesting 00:14:41.830 --> 00:14:45.289 well portable ops have a different culture how 00:14:45.289 --> 00:14:47.909 to put your equipment together to be light There's 00:14:47.909 --> 00:14:50.669 different venues for that whether you're a soda 00:14:50.669 --> 00:14:53.490 climber to kill climber and so on so on so I 00:14:53.490 --> 00:14:58.350 put together a an amazing Steering committee 00:14:58.350 --> 00:15:02.090 and it's on our website There are some what I'd 00:15:02.090 --> 00:15:04.590 call blue -collar contesters like Bill Barnes 00:15:04.590 --> 00:15:11.700 W3CB Mike Duke, K5XU, blind since birth in the 00:15:11.700 --> 00:15:14.559 public broadcasting arena and a 50 -year ham. 00:15:15.259 --> 00:15:19.360 Don Field, United Kingdom, editor of Practical 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:24.620 Wireless Magazine and president of the UKDX Foundation. 00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:29.000 You know, Neil, I had to cut his resume so it 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:32.440 would... be somewhat in the ballpark for everybody 00:15:32.440 --> 00:15:39.620 else. Don is an amazingly accomplished DXer and 00:15:39.620 --> 00:15:44.200 contestor. DXpeditions and so on and so on. Tommy 00:15:44.200 --> 00:15:48.840 Hozerakis, VK2IR in Australia. Tommy is a hoot. 00:15:49.059 --> 00:15:52.580 He is extremely enthusiastic. He loves contesting. 00:15:53.100 --> 00:15:56.490 He has a company. They're in telecommunications 00:15:56.490 --> 00:15:58.470 and he's the president of the Hellenic amateur 00:15:58.470 --> 00:16:03.309 radio association in Aussie land Eddie Layton 00:16:03.309 --> 00:16:06.409 portable operator Eddie is best known for the 00:16:06.409 --> 00:16:10.789 concept of radar rapid deployment of amateur 00:16:10.789 --> 00:16:14.090 radio So he gets out in the bush. He actually 00:16:14.090 --> 00:16:18.509 has a practice field Where he lives in the bush 00:16:18.509 --> 00:16:22.940 to practice? rapid amateur radio deployment. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:25.879 So Eddie Layton, who's in the Hall of Fame for 00:16:25.879 --> 00:16:28.580 the South African Radio League, is one of the 00:16:28.580 --> 00:16:32.179 leading portable ops around. Bill Lippert, AC0W, 00:16:32.259 --> 00:16:35.340 he lives near Austin, he's a very active contester. 00:16:36.279 --> 00:16:40.899 Stuart Thomas, KB1QHS, Stuart just wrote the 00:16:40.899 --> 00:16:44.360 book on portable operations published by ARL. 00:16:44.899 --> 00:16:47.960 Paula Ushin, who's up near Chicago, she's a very 00:16:47.960 --> 00:16:52.740 active soda summit. She is what's called a mountain 00:16:52.740 --> 00:16:56.360 goat, and no, that's not a sexist term, she happens 00:16:56.360 --> 00:17:00.639 to be a very nice lady, but that is a goal you 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:04.920 reach in soda, mountain goat. Thomas Witherspoon, 00:17:05.099 --> 00:17:08.039 who is one of the most prolific writers about 00:17:08.039 --> 00:17:11.200 portable and QRP operations, has the website 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:17.859 qrpeer .com and swelling .com. operates portably 00:17:17.859 --> 00:17:20.740 almost every day up in the mountains of North 00:17:20.740 --> 00:17:24.359 Carolina. And finally, we have Dr. Scott Wright, 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:27.500 editor of the National Contesting Journal, a 00:17:27.500 --> 00:17:30.859 physician at Mayo Clinic, and he's leading the 00:17:30.859 --> 00:17:34.619 convalescent plasma effort there centered at 00:17:34.619 --> 00:17:37.319 Mayo Clinic to try to help out with the COVID 00:17:37.319 --> 00:17:41.460 -19. So I may have skipped a couple of members 00:17:41.460 --> 00:17:46.630 of my portable ops team, Mike McKay in 5DU. and 00:17:46.630 --> 00:17:50.890 Thomas Gandy in 5WDG. Thomas is the Can You Hear 00:17:50.890 --> 00:17:54.190 Me Now guy for AT &T over several states. He 00:17:54.190 --> 00:17:58.490 is the network engineer manager. His team here 00:17:58.490 --> 00:18:02.049 in Ridgeland actually plans AT &T's network for 00:18:02.049 --> 00:18:05.829 four states. If you want to site an antenna, 00:18:06.430 --> 00:18:09.470 Thomas is your guy. He's got all the stuff there 00:18:09.470 --> 00:18:11.410 in a computer didn't tell you where to put that 00:18:11.410 --> 00:18:15.690 tower and of course our friend and yours Ed Durant 00:18:15.690 --> 00:18:20.230 DD5 LP in Germany. He's a native of England Ed 00:18:20.230 --> 00:18:25.029 has absolutely done a Tremendous amount of work. 00:18:25.049 --> 00:18:29.029 I don't think we would be at launch this calendar 00:18:29.029 --> 00:18:34.509 year if it were not for Ed Durant and Ed is I'm 00:18:34.509 --> 00:18:37.690 not sure what his title in the solar world is. 00:18:37.890 --> 00:18:41.369 I don't know if he is a sherpa or a mountain 00:18:41.369 --> 00:18:46.150 goat, but he's up there. He's way up there. He's 00:18:46.150 --> 00:18:50.950 also with Amateur Radio Newsline. The first thing 00:18:50.950 --> 00:18:55.049 that I did was to put together a team who could 00:18:55.049 --> 00:18:58.990 think about these matters in a very experienced 00:18:58.990 --> 00:19:02.490 and educated way and let's blend these two cultures. 00:19:02.730 --> 00:19:04.829 Because they're gonna look at things very differently. 00:19:04.829 --> 00:19:08.769 Okay, so that was step one Step two we did something 00:19:08.769 --> 00:19:12.470 that Neil I don't see much at all If you do, 00:19:12.509 --> 00:19:14.930 please tell me because I've looked a little bit 00:19:14.930 --> 00:19:18.490 Most contests will have what the scores are the 00:19:18.490 --> 00:19:20.170 scores are calculated, but they don't tell you 00:19:20.170 --> 00:19:22.650 why we're gonna count You know multiplier for 00:19:22.650 --> 00:19:25.470 CW ops why well we want to promote CW Well, there's 00:19:25.470 --> 00:19:27.829 nothing wrong with that at all, but there's no 00:19:27.829 --> 00:19:30.690 kind of rationale. So one things did create a 00:19:30.690 --> 00:19:35.369 theory of the contest. How's the contest organized? 00:19:35.609 --> 00:19:39.069 So the theory then gave us some of the metrics. 00:19:39.650 --> 00:19:42.690 Now, you've got portable ops and what we call 00:19:42.690 --> 00:19:46.569 QTHers. I know QTH stands for location, but just 00:19:46.569 --> 00:19:49.450 for a mnemonic, if you're a QTHer, if you're 00:19:49.450 --> 00:19:52.589 operating in a permanent station, whether it's 00:19:52.589 --> 00:19:55.710 your home, your second home, somebody else's 00:19:55.710 --> 00:19:59.150 home, but you're in a fixed and permanent station. 00:19:59.559 --> 00:20:03.660 A portable op in our definition is one that uses 00:20:03.660 --> 00:20:07.980 no permanently installed amateur radio infrastructure 00:20:07.980 --> 00:20:12.519 with the exception of AC or mains current. You 00:20:12.519 --> 00:20:14.339 can be in a park and get, you know, courtesy 00:20:14.339 --> 00:20:17.599 AC. We're good with that. So that's kind of our 00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:21.220 working definition. We ran down the path of... 00:20:21.099 --> 00:20:23.759 Can you do patio port? Oh yeah, I hooked up my 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:27.700 beam to my FTA -17 and worked in Europe. Well, 00:20:27.700 --> 00:20:30.500 that kind of violates the spirit, right? But 00:20:30.500 --> 00:20:32.920 how do you get at that? So we felt like the no 00:20:32.920 --> 00:20:36.359 permanent thing. Alright, how do we calculate 00:20:36.359 --> 00:20:39.900 scores? I work unique on the contest, okay, I've 00:20:39.900 --> 00:20:44.700 got a contact. Well, we changed that. It's the 00:20:44.700 --> 00:20:48.599 kilometers per watt that you use to work somebody. 00:20:48.940 --> 00:20:51.940 Now, you can be in another continent, and I'm 00:20:51.940 --> 00:20:58.000 using a kilowatt, and you can be in the next 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:02.119 town, and I'm using QRP. We'd have to do the 00:21:02.119 --> 00:21:05.420 math with the numbers, but the QRP person just 00:21:05.420 --> 00:21:09.240 might get a better KPW score there. You just 00:21:09.240 --> 00:21:14.900 have to do the math. rather than having all the 00:21:14.900 --> 00:21:19.000 power that the law allows. So kilowatts or kilometers 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:24.200 per watt is the basic score. Okay, now what we 00:21:24.200 --> 00:21:27.640 did on the different modes, now what many contests 00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:29.799 do is they say, okay, you can't put these together, 00:21:29.859 --> 00:21:32.759 they're just different. Everybody will do FTA, 00:21:33.420 --> 00:21:37.259 Bob's your uncle, they're gonna win. Why? It's 00:21:37.259 --> 00:21:42.759 the difficulty of making the contact to us. So, 00:21:42.779 --> 00:21:46.539 phone is the most difficult with everything else 00:21:46.539 --> 00:21:49.240 being equal, conditions being exactly the same, 00:21:49.700 --> 00:21:53.279 phone, whether it's sideband or AM, probably 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:57.980 not FM, but phone is the most challenging, followed 00:21:57.980 --> 00:22:01.880 by CW. CW can get in there where phone can't, 00:22:02.119 --> 00:22:05.619 but wow, digital and especially the Joe Taylor 00:22:05.619 --> 00:22:09.859 variety, FT8 and FT4. You don't even have to 00:22:09.859 --> 00:22:12.380 hear it with the human ear. It can be below the 00:22:12.380 --> 00:22:15.440 noise level and still be recoverable So if you're 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:18.880 working digital you get a multiplier on that 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:24.859 KPW of one or nothing if you work in CW you get 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:28.460 A multiplier, I think it's of two and then for 00:22:28.460 --> 00:22:30.839 phone I think it's three but I'll have to check 00:22:30.839 --> 00:22:33.420 the table that Ed and I put together. But you 00:22:33.420 --> 00:22:35.799 see the point is you get a multiplier on that 00:22:35.799 --> 00:22:38.960 depending how difficult the mode is. Okay, well 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:41.420 that tends to level a little bit of playing field. 00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:45.099 Okay, how do you deal with a tremendous number 00:22:45.099 --> 00:22:50.980 of transmitters and operators and the little 00:22:50.980 --> 00:22:54.720 one person, guy or gal? Okay, one transmitter. 00:22:54.759 --> 00:22:58.019 How operating QRP? Well, let's just face it. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:00.359 You can be there, Neil, and you can be chugging 00:23:00.359 --> 00:23:03.180 along, little engine that could. You are calling 00:23:03.180 --> 00:23:06.339 CQ. You are working every contact that comes 00:23:06.339 --> 00:23:08.380 back to you, no matter where you're running. 00:23:08.619 --> 00:23:12.740 Five watts, 100 watts, or 1 ,000 watts. But if 00:23:12.740 --> 00:23:15.039 there's another person with just two stations, 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:18.539 and they're constantly at it, who's gonna do 00:23:18.539 --> 00:23:22.099 better? In all likelihood the two transmitters 00:23:22.099 --> 00:23:25.039 so we started out by saying you can have as many 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:27.960 transmitters as you want But we're gonna divide 00:23:27.960 --> 00:23:30.019 your total score by the number of transmitters 00:23:30.019 --> 00:23:34.019 you have so the K3LR can have 12 and Neil operating 00:23:34.019 --> 00:23:39.740 with that five watt You knew ICOM 705 that you're 00:23:39.740 --> 00:23:44.000 probably gonna talk about at some point You know, 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:48.809 there you go You know, you can use one, you can 00:23:48.809 --> 00:23:53.509 use a dozen, but it's the per transmitter production. 00:23:53.650 --> 00:23:56.869 That seems more about sport than about gear. 00:23:57.130 --> 00:23:58.509 Okay, well, the steering committee said, all 00:23:58.509 --> 00:24:01.369 right, let's be fair. Let's don't go crazy. So 00:24:01.369 --> 00:24:04.990 for this first year, because we don't know, because 00:24:04.990 --> 00:24:09.470 let's face it, two transmitters over one is a 00:24:09.470 --> 00:24:12.670 jump. Well, it's three. that much better than 00:24:12.670 --> 00:24:15.049 two and it's four and so on so there may be a 00:24:15.049 --> 00:24:18.720 non -linear impact in the number of transmissions 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:21.559 you have. So we said, okay, let's do the first 00:24:21.559 --> 00:24:24.460 year. Let's just restrict it to two transmitters. 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:27.380 You can have as many operators as you want. You 00:24:27.380 --> 00:24:29.940 can run people in and out of there in 30 -minute 00:24:29.940 --> 00:24:32.680 intervals so you got a fresh voice or a fresh 00:24:32.680 --> 00:24:35.940 wrist if you're a CW op or whatever. You can 00:24:35.940 --> 00:24:38.599 do all you want to. The more that you have in 00:24:38.599 --> 00:24:41.259 the contest as operators, the more fun you're 00:24:41.259 --> 00:24:44.039 going to have. That's a real virtue of field 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:46.559 day, I think. when you got a bunch of people 00:24:46.559 --> 00:24:48.480 and they all get a chance to get their hand in. 00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:53.759 That's up to the individual team. And so you're 00:24:53.759 --> 00:24:55.500 only going to have two transmitters that are 00:24:55.500 --> 00:24:57.640 operating concurrently. Now you can bring a dozen. 00:24:57.799 --> 00:25:00.640 You may blow out a final, you may have one set 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:03.559 up for digital, one set up for CW, and one set 00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:07.200 up for sideband, and all you do is have any two 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:09.720 of them operating at one time. Two concurrently 00:25:09.720 --> 00:25:12.579 max, and if you got two, we'll divide by two. 00:25:12.900 --> 00:25:16.039 Okay, wow, now does that make Neil operating 00:25:16.039 --> 00:25:19.660 with that ICOM 705, how many watts does that 00:25:19.660 --> 00:25:23.359 have now? Is that 10 watts on phone? I believe 00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:26.250 it's 10 on phone, yeah. Yeah, okay, so Neil's 00:25:26.250 --> 00:25:30.690 out there calling CQ with his new ICOM 705 out 00:25:30.690 --> 00:25:33.930 in the wilderness just really working those stations. 00:25:34.690 --> 00:25:37.390 And is that going to be equal to a K3LR, even 00:25:37.390 --> 00:25:40.890 under the other conditions? Well, what we haven't 00:25:40.890 --> 00:25:45.180 got... or the beam antennas with gain, or any 00:25:45.180 --> 00:25:48.000 antennas with gain. You can take Bob Heil with 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:51.839 his wire beams and you get some gain. So it really 00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:54.940 doesn't, and it also doesn't take into account 00:25:54.940 --> 00:26:00.839 that you've got a nice environment to be in, 00:26:00.839 --> 00:26:04.839 in your shack. You probably will have the use 00:26:04.839 --> 00:26:07.680 of an amp if you want it, although I have an 00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:11.039 amp for my portable tape. Not all alike. Having 00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:14.740 a permanent tower with a directional gain producing 00:26:14.740 --> 00:26:17.359 beam is still something we didn't were able to 00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:22.099 get at. Now, you know, it's hard to get your 00:26:22.099 --> 00:26:25.910 arms around that. You trust people. The other 00:26:25.910 --> 00:26:29.809 one is this real mutual attractiveness for home 00:26:29.809 --> 00:26:32.809 -based operators to work other home -based operators. 00:26:33.410 --> 00:26:35.950 And then if you're kind of scavenging late in 00:26:35.950 --> 00:26:38.089 the night, you might get a few of the lower power 00:26:38.089 --> 00:26:40.750 stations that you passed over earlier. How do 00:26:40.750 --> 00:26:43.410 we take that into account? Well, we have another 00:26:43.410 --> 00:26:46.410 multiplier that I, being a statistician, and 00:26:46.410 --> 00:26:49.450 this is a show about electronics, we call that 00:26:49.450 --> 00:26:55.079 a tuning parameter. If you're a QTH station, 00:26:56.940 --> 00:27:00.579 you get a multiplier of 1. If you're a portable 00:27:00.579 --> 00:27:05.440 station, you get a multiplier of 1 .414. I'm 00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:07.980 going to explain why it's that way in just a 00:27:07.980 --> 00:27:13.460 second. Depending on the two people or two stations 00:27:13.460 --> 00:27:16.500 working one another, if you're a QTH station, 00:27:16.660 --> 00:27:20.859 you work another QTH station. Okay, it's a multiplier 00:27:20.859 --> 00:27:24.960 of one, because that's the easiest. In all likelihood, 00:27:25.319 --> 00:27:28.019 that's gonna be the easiest. If you're a QTH 00:27:28.019 --> 00:27:31.140 station and you work a portable station, or a 00:27:31.140 --> 00:27:34.339 portable station that works a QTH station, you 00:27:34.339 --> 00:27:37.920 get a 1 .414, and I won't read all the rest of 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:41.160 the numbers. But if you're a portable to portable, 00:27:42.220 --> 00:27:46.599 you get that one as a multiplier of two. And 00:27:46.599 --> 00:27:49.019 yes, friends, the mathematicians who are listening 00:27:49.019 --> 00:27:52.599 know what is the square root of 2. It is about 00:27:52.599 --> 00:27:58.720 1 .41413562. So what we were doing is saying 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:04.799 this. How much do we need to still equalize the 00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:07.799 portable station relative to the QTH station, 00:28:07.940 --> 00:28:13.480 even after we've equalized power kilometers per 00:28:13.480 --> 00:28:19.130 watt? Even if we've managed the number of transmitters, 00:28:19.130 --> 00:28:23.630 okay, and even after we've kind of equalized 00:28:23.630 --> 00:28:27.269 for the difficulty of the mode to make the contact, 00:28:28.150 --> 00:28:30.809 well, we think a multiplier of two versus one. 00:28:31.150 --> 00:28:36.009 That's a subjective judgment. But we started 00:28:36.009 --> 00:28:39.990 out with... a portable to portable getting a 00:28:39.990 --> 00:28:43.509 multiplier of four and Ed, DD5LP and I actually 00:28:43.509 --> 00:28:47.549 ran some numbers. We made up some numbers from 00:28:47.549 --> 00:28:50.089 he in Germany and I here in Mississippi and we 00:28:50.089 --> 00:28:52.670 kind of used those multipliers to see how that 00:28:52.670 --> 00:28:55.849 would work. I actually did the simulation where 00:28:55.849 --> 00:28:59.230 I generated that log data and ran it through 00:28:59.230 --> 00:29:03.140 that and let me tell you. the portable ops just 00:29:03.140 --> 00:29:06.200 kicked the fannies of the QTH stations when it 00:29:06.200 --> 00:29:10.579 was a multiplier of four. So we tamped that down, 00:29:10.579 --> 00:29:13.759 Neil, and again, it's a guess, it's subjective, 00:29:13.900 --> 00:29:17.880 it's a guess, but that multiplier of two for 00:29:17.880 --> 00:29:21.930 a portable to portable in future years, We can 00:29:21.930 --> 00:29:24.609 bring that down further if if it doesn't seem 00:29:24.609 --> 00:29:26.529 like it's fair. So that's what we call the tuning 00:29:26.529 --> 00:29:29.329 parameter You may not have that station tuned 00:29:29.329 --> 00:29:32.630 in just right but in future years we can change 00:29:32.630 --> 00:29:36.170 that multiplier and We might even increase the 00:29:36.170 --> 00:29:38.089 number of transmitters. So in its sense, we've 00:29:38.089 --> 00:29:41.630 got a theory and then we've got a metric for 00:29:41.630 --> 00:29:45.460 scoring I will tell you one other thing that 00:29:45.460 --> 00:29:49.619 I did being the statistician I am the only Contest 00:29:49.619 --> 00:29:53.519 that I could find with public logs that reported 00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:57.000 the distance of contacts. Now, I know you can 00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:00.539 take the maiden heads and compute the maiden 00:30:00.539 --> 00:30:03.359 head centroid to centroid distance, and I plan 00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:05.299 to actually do some of that. I've actually pre 00:30:05.299 --> 00:30:07.500 -computed all those, have them in a database, 00:30:07.619 --> 00:30:10.059 and I'll do a little research on that in the 00:30:10.059 --> 00:30:13.799 future. But I took the Stu Perry 160 -meter contest. 00:30:14.700 --> 00:30:17.759 They've got the high power of the QRO, the low 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:21.220 power at the barefoot, and the QRP. And they 00:30:21.220 --> 00:30:24.480 have the average distance of all the contacts 00:30:24.480 --> 00:30:27.480 they worked in kilometers. Okay, so this is how 00:30:27.480 --> 00:30:30.440 far you were getting out on the average. And 00:30:30.440 --> 00:30:33.420 then they've got your best DX distance, the further 00:30:33.420 --> 00:30:37.059 station that you worked. And for QRO, barefoot 00:30:37.059 --> 00:30:40.500 and QRP, guess who tended to do better? This 00:30:40.500 --> 00:30:46.660 is not a shocking test, Professor. I'm gonna 00:30:46.660 --> 00:30:50.680 go with the big gun. Yes, the big gun showed 00:30:50.680 --> 00:30:53.380 the big gun, and if you look at these, what are 00:30:53.380 --> 00:30:56.359 called box and whisker plots to show a distribution, 00:30:57.000 --> 00:30:59.140 you'll see that you've got some big guns that 00:30:59.140 --> 00:31:01.700 didn't do quite as well as the barefoot or the 00:31:01.700 --> 00:31:05.099 QRPR, but the medians are clearly in that rank 00:31:05.099 --> 00:31:08.880 order, and the top ends, some of the big guns... 00:31:09.610 --> 00:31:14.670 averaged about 13 ,000 miles. Now I don't know 00:31:14.670 --> 00:31:16.750 how many contacts that one had. I will tell you, 00:31:16.869 --> 00:31:20.150 but I'm just looking at this graph. And on the 00:31:20.150 --> 00:31:22.869 best DX difference, the same thing happened. 00:31:23.089 --> 00:31:26.769 The same thing happened. But I thought, okay, 00:31:27.009 --> 00:31:31.049 well what if I take those distances and I divide 00:31:31.049 --> 00:31:34.789 it by the power they were using, so I get a distance 00:31:34.789 --> 00:31:38.609 per watt. Don't you need to go to a commercial 00:31:38.609 --> 00:31:41.150 break so we can leave them hanging? I do. We 00:31:41.150 --> 00:31:45.730 are running a little over and yes, we can do 00:31:45.730 --> 00:31:50.829 our cliffhanger here. Right after this. So when 00:31:50.829 --> 00:31:55.329 we come back, Frank will finish up about that 00:31:55.329 --> 00:31:57.950 and we'll talk about some of the support that 00:31:57.950 --> 00:32:00.750 he has and then we'll take your calls right after 00:32:00.750 --> 00:32:04.319 this word from ICOM America right here. on HamTalk 00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:08.660 Live. Get out and be active with ICOM's new IC 00:32:08.660 --> 00:32:12.140 -705 and its optional multi -function backpack. 00:32:12.380 --> 00:32:16.660 The IC -705 is your perfect QRP companion as 00:32:16.660 --> 00:32:18.940 you have base station features and functionality 00:32:18.940 --> 00:32:21.799 at the tip of your fingers and a portable package 00:32:21.799 --> 00:32:25.660 covering hf 6 meters 2 meters and 70 centimeters. 00:32:25.900 --> 00:32:30.119 This compact rig weighs in at just one kilo or 00:32:30.119 --> 00:32:33.299 a little over two pounds. 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The perfect accessory 00:33:14.609 --> 00:33:19.250 for your 705 is the optional backpack LC -192 00:33:19.250 --> 00:33:23.289 with a special compartment for your IC -705 and 00:33:23.289 --> 00:33:26.609 room for accessories for soda activations or 00:33:26.609 --> 00:33:30.490 just a day in the park. Make sure you visit icomamerica 00:33:30.490 --> 00:33:34.109 .com slash amateur for more information on ICOM 00:33:34.109 --> 00:33:37.730 radios. Join the conversation. Give us a call 00:33:37.730 --> 00:33:43.789 at 859 -982 -7373. Again, the number to call 00:33:43.789 --> 00:33:50.329 is 859 -982 -7373. Or, if you'd rather type than 00:33:50.329 --> 00:33:54.069 talk, tweet us at HamTalk Live. Now, here's Neil 00:33:54.069 --> 00:33:58.930 Rapp with more HamTalk Live. Right now, you could 00:33:58.930 --> 00:34:02.130 be taking a de -expedition to North Korea and 00:34:02.130 --> 00:34:04.980 work the pileup of the century. But instead, 00:34:05.299 --> 00:34:08.239 you've decided to listen to HamTalk Live. We 00:34:08.239 --> 00:34:11.260 thank you. And now, here's Neil Rapp with more 00:34:11.260 --> 00:34:33.880 of the show. Welcome back to HamTalk Live. We're 00:34:33.880 --> 00:34:36.179 on the air Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern 00:34:36.179 --> 00:34:39.440 Time, right here at HamTalkLive .com. And thanks 00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:42.559 to Icom America for sponsoring the show. Check 00:34:42.559 --> 00:34:48.559 them out, IcomAmerica .com slash amateur. Make 00:34:48.559 --> 00:34:50.860 sure you check out HamTalk Live on Facebook, 00:34:50.940 --> 00:34:53.639 Twitter, and Instagram. We'll take your calls 00:34:53.639 --> 00:34:56.739 here in just a moment or two if you have a question 00:34:56.739 --> 00:35:06.559 for Frank. Give us a call at 859 -982 -7373 859 00:35:06.559 --> 00:35:11.320 -982 -7373 or you can tweet us at HamTalk Live. 00:35:11.659 --> 00:35:14.840 If you're listening to us on WTWW or on the podcast 00:35:14.840 --> 00:35:17.539 edition, you won't be able to reach us live since 00:35:17.539 --> 00:35:23.500 we're not live, we're recorded. So when we left, 00:35:23.780 --> 00:35:29.170 last time when we left Batman, You were, uh, 00:35:29.170 --> 00:35:31.869 you were talking about the final equalizer. So 00:35:31.869 --> 00:35:33.889 let, let's, uh, finish that up. We're going to 00:35:33.889 --> 00:35:36.369 talk a little bit about sponsors and then we'll, 00:35:36.510 --> 00:35:39.789 we'll go to the phones. Yes, bad man. I've changed 00:35:39.789 --> 00:35:42.550 the equalizers into batmobile. And as we were 00:35:42.550 --> 00:35:46.409 saying last time, yep. Power power gets out there. 00:35:46.530 --> 00:35:49.190 It always has and probably always will. But in 00:35:49.190 --> 00:35:52.829 the Sue Perry contest for 2019, I did this for 00:35:52.829 --> 00:35:55.929 2018 as well. And it's about the same when you 00:35:55.929 --> 00:36:00.820 take that distance. divided by the power the 00:36:00.820 --> 00:36:05.579 QRP folks dominate now I know it's only 160 you 00:36:05.579 --> 00:36:08.320 just one couple of years of a slice of data, 00:36:08.320 --> 00:36:14.659 but it told me that yes the kilometers per watt 00:36:14.659 --> 00:36:17.699 might be a pretty significant equalizer, because 00:36:17.699 --> 00:36:22.400 what it focuses the operator to do is to be efficient 00:36:22.400 --> 00:36:25.599 with power. And what's that thing, Neil, in the 00:36:25.599 --> 00:36:27.699 amateur code that I think we probably took a 00:36:27.699 --> 00:36:31.360 test on, and it says use only as much power as 00:36:31.360 --> 00:36:36.139 you need to make the contact. So it'll be interesting. 00:36:36.280 --> 00:36:39.960 It's something new. It's unique for sure. It 00:36:39.960 --> 00:36:44.480 may flop. It may get popular, but that's part 00:36:44.480 --> 00:36:49.679 of what makes it fun. Well, being a numbers person 00:36:49.679 --> 00:36:54.360 like you, I, I like it. I like playing around 00:36:54.360 --> 00:36:56.860 with the numbers and trying to find a balance 00:36:56.860 --> 00:37:00.599 to equalize all of this out. And, and, um, you 00:37:00.599 --> 00:37:02.960 know, there's always some trial and error. And 00:37:02.960 --> 00:37:06.460 so, you know, I think you've got a really good 00:37:06.460 --> 00:37:08.400 start on this and there might be some tweaks 00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:11.679 down the road, but. But I think you've got an 00:37:11.679 --> 00:37:17.639 excellent start on it. And it should be a unique 00:37:17.639 --> 00:37:20.579 thing. Now, I want to talk a little bit about 00:37:20.579 --> 00:37:23.780 some of the support. But how are you going to 00:37:23.780 --> 00:37:27.280 get all of these numbers from people? What kind 00:37:27.280 --> 00:37:30.420 of numbers are people going to be overwhelmed 00:37:30.420 --> 00:37:33.420 by the logs that they're going to have to keep 00:37:33.420 --> 00:37:37.699 to get all this data? You know Logging software 00:37:37.699 --> 00:37:41.460 is like set the screwdrivers If you're like me, 00:37:41.460 --> 00:37:43.760 you've got that old blue handle screwdriver You 00:37:43.760 --> 00:37:45.840 may have inherited from your granddaddy and boy 00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:48.099 that's your favorite philip screwdriver and you're 00:37:48.099 --> 00:37:51.320 not changing for anything You know, there's some 00:37:51.320 --> 00:37:54.000 hams who have who have those kinds of issues 00:37:54.000 --> 00:37:57.500 about logging software But what we've done because 00:37:57.500 --> 00:37:59.559 this is different because you need to have the 00:37:59.559 --> 00:38:03.599 maidenhead grid square centroid to syndrome and 00:38:03.599 --> 00:38:06.280 the software. You don't have to, but it's good 00:38:06.280 --> 00:38:07.860 for you to do it. You got to have the maintenance. 00:38:08.420 --> 00:38:13.900 We have a ham in Australia who publishes a piece 00:38:13.900 --> 00:38:17.320 of logging software called VKCL. Its first name 00:38:17.320 --> 00:38:20.400 is Mike. I'm just getting to know him, and he's 00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:23.099 doing a custom version for us. Really what he's 00:38:23.099 --> 00:38:26.079 doing is simply adding the PortableOps challenge 00:38:26.079 --> 00:38:30.699 into the free VKCL software. So one of the ways 00:38:30.699 --> 00:38:34.400 of handling that, Neil, is simply, and give us 00:38:34.400 --> 00:38:36.360 about a week, we're testing that now. He's got 00:38:36.360 --> 00:38:38.000 it done, but we're testing it. We want to make 00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:40.860 sure there are not any glitches that we don't 00:38:40.860 --> 00:38:42.960 know about yet. And so you can download that 00:38:42.960 --> 00:38:46.380 software and keep your logs in VKCL. We had a 00:38:46.380 --> 00:38:50.920 volunteer from the N1MM group say, hey, I'm going 00:38:50.920 --> 00:38:53.800 to write a template for a user -defined contest, 00:38:54.059 --> 00:38:58.849 a UDC and N1MM nomenclature. And Al is his first 00:38:58.849 --> 00:39:00.750 name. I won't put him on the spot here, but he's 00:39:00.750 --> 00:39:04.130 promised to get that. If he does, we'll put a 00:39:04.130 --> 00:39:06.489 link to that or maybe have the UDC or something. 00:39:06.710 --> 00:39:10.030 We'll have it there on the page. Now I did talk 00:39:10.030 --> 00:39:13.150 to Scott Davis in 3FJP. Love his software. Have 00:39:13.150 --> 00:39:16.610 a full blown license for all of it. And he said, 00:39:16.710 --> 00:39:19.550 you know, I just can't put the time in right 00:39:19.550 --> 00:39:22.190 now. You know, the field days change because 00:39:22.190 --> 00:39:26.570 of COVID. and I just can't get one done. So he 00:39:26.570 --> 00:39:28.650 said, maybe I can do it in the next cycle. So 00:39:28.650 --> 00:39:33.329 we will not have N3FJP, but we will have a free 00:39:33.329 --> 00:39:37.909 piece of software, VKCL, and we might have an 00:39:37.909 --> 00:39:42.650 N1MM. So we have a Cabrilla format for any other 00:39:42.650 --> 00:39:44.829 logging program, and as long as you have what 00:39:44.829 --> 00:39:47.630 we require, and we defined that on the webpage 00:39:47.630 --> 00:39:51.639 in the exchange, Neil. fairly standard, the maidenhead 00:39:51.639 --> 00:39:55.039 grid squares, which is more common in VHF, UHF 00:39:55.039 --> 00:39:57.659 than is in HF. But we need that for the distance 00:39:57.659 --> 00:39:59.840 per watt. And you might change that power. So 00:39:59.840 --> 00:40:01.500 you got to kind of keep up with that. So it's 00:40:01.500 --> 00:40:05.119 doable in others. And we can take that Gerbillo 00:40:05.119 --> 00:40:08.860 log and we'll do the computations, you know, 00:40:08.960 --> 00:40:12.139 if need be. But I hope it won't be overwhelming. 00:40:12.820 --> 00:40:14.860 We don't think it will. And we're trying to put 00:40:14.860 --> 00:40:17.780 something out there that's free. uh... that will 00:40:17.780 --> 00:40:20.000 work fine and mike who's the author of the case 00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:22.980 you'll be joining our steering committee next 00:40:22.980 --> 00:40:25.659 week and that he's gonna work with us on getting 00:40:25.659 --> 00:40:28.860 the logs to make sure nobody doesn't put up a 00:40:28.860 --> 00:40:31.260 comma or decimal point the wrong place so to 00:40:31.260 --> 00:40:34.000 speak and we have to check those things i will 00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:37.039 mention that that we've gotten uh... a lot of 00:40:37.039 --> 00:40:41.510 support from multiple continents who are just 00:40:41.510 --> 00:40:44.409 really excited about this. It's okay for me to 00:40:44.409 --> 00:40:47.869 go into how we're endorsed. Yeah, so you've got 00:40:47.869 --> 00:40:53.429 several radio societies around the world working 00:40:53.429 --> 00:40:56.530 on this and in the National Contest Journal. 00:40:57.130 --> 00:40:59.250 So let's talk a little bit about that and where 00:40:59.250 --> 00:41:03.019 we're going to get to the calls. Dr. Scott Wright 00:41:03.019 --> 00:41:08.840 has been a supporter for six months or so. I 00:41:08.840 --> 00:41:11.320 don't want to call them sponsors because there's 00:41:11.320 --> 00:41:14.500 nothing financial necessarily. All they're doing 00:41:14.500 --> 00:41:16.840 is saying, hey, we think this is a good concept, 00:41:16.860 --> 00:41:19.699 so we're giving an endorsement. Scott has done 00:41:19.699 --> 00:41:21.900 that, and in the current issue of the National 00:41:21.900 --> 00:41:24.219 Contesting Journal in his editorial, he actually 00:41:24.219 --> 00:41:27.320 gives a shout out to us. And Scott's just a great 00:41:27.320 --> 00:41:29.280 person. I know he's been on your show before, 00:41:29.539 --> 00:41:33.219 and he's doing some great work. We also have 00:41:33.219 --> 00:41:36.780 the United Kingdom DX Foundation, CDXC, as I 00:41:36.780 --> 00:41:39.980 mentioned, Don Field, the editor of Practical 00:41:39.980 --> 00:41:43.780 Wireless. And DX or Expedition or Extraordinaire 00:41:43.780 --> 00:41:47.550 is the president of that. The South African Radio 00:41:47.550 --> 00:41:50.949 League, they are, Dennis is just very exciting, 00:41:51.170 --> 00:41:53.130 got an email from him a few days ago, he says, 00:41:53.409 --> 00:41:57.690 let the games begin, we're ready. And in Australia, 00:41:57.929 --> 00:42:01.289 what I like to call Aussieville, the Hellenic 00:42:01.289 --> 00:42:03.590 Amateur Radio Association of Australia, HAROA. 00:42:03.880 --> 00:42:07.320 uh... they are good to go and and tommy of a 00:42:07.320 --> 00:42:10.119 rock us there who's their president he he said 00:42:10.119 --> 00:42:12.840 he you know he's gonna abandon his q t h station 00:42:12.840 --> 00:42:15.760 go portable eats he wants to try the s i hope 00:42:15.760 --> 00:42:19.659 we get enough of the the uh... semi big guns 00:42:19.659 --> 00:42:23.320 if not the big guns into it and where we are 00:42:23.320 --> 00:42:26.920 giving away prize mfj has come in with a zygote 00:42:26.920 --> 00:42:29.920 gene ninety which is kind of uh... the hearts 00:42:29.920 --> 00:42:34.750 uh... uh... 10 watt, 20 watt, I guess it is, 00:42:35.429 --> 00:42:39.449 rig that's very popular these days. And so they're 00:42:39.449 --> 00:42:42.969 going to give that as a grand prize to the overall 00:42:42.969 --> 00:42:45.469 winner. And we'll have somebody who actually 00:42:45.469 --> 00:42:48.329 gets the best score and they'll get a plaque. 00:42:48.550 --> 00:42:50.650 Now the Atlantic Amateur Radio Association is 00:42:50.650 --> 00:42:53.900 actually sponsoring a plaque. and we've got some 00:42:53.900 --> 00:42:57.380 members of the board. Now we're gonna have some 00:42:57.380 --> 00:43:02.099 stuff that's gonna go on and I'll talk about 00:43:02.099 --> 00:43:05.199 that later if it's appropriate or if it comes 00:43:05.199 --> 00:43:10.239 up. And we've got some other intrigue that will 00:43:10.239 --> 00:43:12.739 go along. So the October 3rd and 4th this year, 00:43:12.800 --> 00:43:16.099 before we get to that, let me just say one of 00:43:16.099 --> 00:43:17.639 the toughest things our steering committee had 00:43:17.639 --> 00:43:22.989 to do, Neil, is... We wanted to go back to the 00:43:22.989 --> 00:43:26.070 Mayan calendar because we figured the only way 00:43:26.070 --> 00:43:30.070 you'd get enough weekends for the number of contests 00:43:30.070 --> 00:43:32.889 that hams like to have is to go back to the Mayan 00:43:32.889 --> 00:43:36.039 calendar. But since we thought people would really 00:43:36.039 --> 00:43:37.980 get confused, talk about confusing on the logs 00:43:37.980 --> 00:43:40.340 and numbers, now that would confuse them. So 00:43:40.340 --> 00:43:43.659 it's tough. So when we look at the weekend that 00:43:43.659 --> 00:43:46.539 we have, the third and fourth, the weekend before 00:43:46.539 --> 00:43:49.360 you've got CQ Worldwide Ready and the main QSO 00:43:49.360 --> 00:43:51.800 party. The weekend after, the 10th and 11th, 00:43:51.840 --> 00:43:55.670 we got the QRP. ARCI contest, there's a Russian 00:43:55.670 --> 00:43:58.309 RITI, there's a 1010 International. There are 00:43:58.309 --> 00:44:01.010 four, count them four, Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, 00:44:01.210 --> 00:44:04.369 South Dakota State QSO Parties, there's an Oceana 00:44:04.369 --> 00:44:07.710 DX, which is huge, and then there's the FIST 00:44:07.710 --> 00:44:11.550 -CW. So we chose one. Now, unfortunately, the 00:44:11.550 --> 00:44:14.389 California QSO Party is also the third and fourth, 00:44:14.690 --> 00:44:18.570 and there's a German telegraphy contest. There's 00:44:18.570 --> 00:44:21.210 RITI OPS, there's Oceana Phone, and then there's 00:44:21.210 --> 00:44:23.840 another FIST. You know, our steering committee 00:44:23.840 --> 00:44:28.500 just had a hard time, and we hate that it's there 00:44:28.500 --> 00:44:30.820 on the same weekend, but we encourage people 00:44:30.820 --> 00:44:34.519 that we have an eight -hour window that you choose 00:44:34.519 --> 00:44:36.639 when you want to work. It's got to be a solid 00:44:36.639 --> 00:44:38.659 block. You can't just wait for the weather to 00:44:38.659 --> 00:44:41.820 change, I mean, propagation to change, and decide 00:44:41.820 --> 00:44:44.079 to operate again. So you pick your eight -hour 00:44:44.079 --> 00:44:48.219 block, and over that... 48 hours you work it 00:44:48.219 --> 00:44:50.719 now that gives our brothers and sisters across 00:44:50.719 --> 00:44:57.960 the pond in Africa in Australia and China or 00:44:57.960 --> 00:45:01.400 Japan wherever that gives them an equal shot 00:45:01.400 --> 00:45:03.820 at propagation you pick your eight hours over 00:45:03.820 --> 00:45:07.840 over that 48 hours And if you're not doing it, 00:45:08.059 --> 00:45:10.559 give a shout out and work some of those California 00:45:10.559 --> 00:45:13.000 kilowatts. They're going to be doing it all weekend. 00:45:13.420 --> 00:45:15.619 You're only going to spend eight hours with the 00:45:15.619 --> 00:45:19.519 Portable Ops Challenge, so we want to just give 00:45:19.519 --> 00:45:22.460 a shout out to them. We're sorry. Some of them 00:45:22.460 --> 00:45:24.960 are kind of upset, as I understand it, about 00:45:24.960 --> 00:45:26.539 us doing that. We're not trying to write them 00:45:26.539 --> 00:45:29.559 in anybody's parade. It's just darn difficult 00:45:29.559 --> 00:45:33.860 to find a weekend. that you don't have some contest. 00:45:34.099 --> 00:45:36.639 And bear in mind, Neal, while you and I are here 00:45:36.639 --> 00:45:40.119 in the States, this is not a US -only contest. 00:45:41.079 --> 00:45:45.059 The NCJ is just one of four groups who promote 00:45:45.059 --> 00:45:49.219 DXing and contesting, who embrace this idea and 00:45:49.219 --> 00:45:51.719 say, let's give this a shot. We're going to talk 00:45:51.719 --> 00:45:54.519 about you. We're going to hope it works. And 00:45:54.519 --> 00:45:58.659 it's an international thing. And so it's going 00:45:58.659 --> 00:46:01.059 to have, have an opportunity for people to work 00:46:01.059 --> 00:46:03.460 some DX entities that maybe they don't often 00:46:03.460 --> 00:46:10.920 get a chance to. So anyway, I know all too well, 00:46:11.920 --> 00:46:16.960 believe me, trying to schedule things and not 00:46:16.960 --> 00:46:19.860 interfere with something else is, is an impossible 00:46:19.860 --> 00:46:23.170 task. So we had the Mississippi custom party, 00:46:24.030 --> 00:46:27.070 Missouri, Missouri, you know, Missouri, MO, Mississippi, 00:46:27.289 --> 00:46:30.590 MS. They moved to our long standing date and 00:46:30.590 --> 00:46:32.329 we didn't get upset about it. We just said, look 00:46:32.329 --> 00:46:36.849 people, welcome to the bands. MO is different 00:46:36.849 --> 00:46:39.690 from MS. We'll work each other. Use your phonetics. 00:46:39.769 --> 00:46:42.909 So people who aren't from. Around here, you know, 00:46:42.929 --> 00:46:44.849 we'll know who we're talking about and it worked 00:46:44.849 --> 00:46:47.170 out fine that we're not as large as the California 00:46:47.170 --> 00:46:51.269 Q Q support I think they had some 900 logs but 00:46:51.269 --> 00:46:55.010 the Pennsylvania one the week after was is I 00:46:55.010 --> 00:46:57.510 don't know They had maybe 600 logs or something 00:46:57.510 --> 00:47:00.349 according to bill bar. So as you said, it's just 00:47:00.349 --> 00:47:04.119 not easy And as Kermit said, it's not easy being 00:47:04.119 --> 00:47:09.159 green. Yes, exactly. It is not. Well, we are 00:47:09.159 --> 00:47:12.599 actually already overtime, so we're going to 00:47:12.599 --> 00:47:16.519 move along here. We want to take calls at 859 00:47:16.519 --> 00:47:20.920 -982 -7373. We'll see if we can get one or two 00:47:20.920 --> 00:47:24.739 in here real quick and we'll check. But we also 00:47:24.739 --> 00:47:30.269 have a very long distance phone call. from Ed 00:47:30.269 --> 00:47:36.809 Durant, DD5LP. So we're gonna play Ed's phone 00:47:36.809 --> 00:47:40.469 call here. It's like three in the morning, so 00:47:40.469 --> 00:47:43.010 we'll forgive him for sending that ahead of time. 00:47:43.110 --> 00:47:46.349 But here it is. Hi Neil. Hi Frank. Thanks Neil 00:47:46.349 --> 00:47:48.949 for giving Frank some time to publicise the new 00:47:48.949 --> 00:47:52.329 Portable Operations Challenge. A contest I call 00:47:52.329 --> 00:47:54.949 the Thinkers Contest because you've got to decide 00:47:54.949 --> 00:47:57.269 when you're going to take the 8 hour block within 00:47:57.269 --> 00:48:00.150 the 48 hours depending on propagation and other 00:48:00.150 --> 00:48:02.369 factors. You've got to decide what power you 00:48:02.369 --> 00:48:05.269 want to use. You've got to decide lots of things 00:48:05.269 --> 00:48:08.170 about which mode is a better option for you based 00:48:08.170 --> 00:48:10.369 on the handicapping. Whether you go portable 00:48:10.369 --> 00:48:12.730 or operate from your home station. So there's 00:48:12.730 --> 00:48:15.610 a lot of work beforehand to do and then some 00:48:15.610 --> 00:48:18.849 good contesting for eight hours in what is going 00:48:18.849 --> 00:48:21.449 to be an international contest. What I'd like 00:48:21.449 --> 00:48:24.949 to prompt Frank to cover perhaps is contests 00:48:24.949 --> 00:48:28.829 within contests. On the ICQ recording, we heard 00:48:28.829 --> 00:48:31.789 that Frank's contesting group decided between 00:48:31.789 --> 00:48:35.949 themselves to enter the POC and compete against 00:48:35.949 --> 00:48:39.570 each other. And in a similar way, the ICQ podcast 00:48:39.570 --> 00:48:41.550 presenters are doing the same. There's no need 00:48:41.550 --> 00:48:44.230 for any registration, but how about the ARN? 00:48:44.269 --> 00:48:46.670 joining in as well, Neil, what do you think? 00:48:46.730 --> 00:48:51.710 From Ed, DD5LP. Well, you know, the Newsline 00:48:51.710 --> 00:48:55.269 crew's been in on several of these, and Christian 00:48:55.269 --> 00:48:58.829 KZRSTH has, you know, the Fallout and the TuneUp, 00:48:58.829 --> 00:49:02.110 and we've done some of those, and so, yeah, maybe 00:49:02.110 --> 00:49:05.769 we can do Newsline, but Frank, you want to address 00:49:05.769 --> 00:49:12.929 Ed's call here? Ed is the Energizer Bunny. I 00:49:12.929 --> 00:49:17.010 love him. He says what he thinks. I respect and 00:49:17.010 --> 00:49:19.889 appreciate that and we get along just so very, 00:49:20.110 --> 00:49:23.650 very well. And he's also on the ICQ podcast as 00:49:23.650 --> 00:49:25.869 a presenter as well. Andrew got a great idea. 00:49:26.670 --> 00:49:29.809 He probably got a little bit misconstrued, something 00:49:29.809 --> 00:49:33.010 I said. My podcast team is not competing within 00:49:33.010 --> 00:49:35.550 ourselves. We're going to operate as one team. 00:49:36.190 --> 00:49:41.469 However, the steering committee My podcast, my 00:49:41.469 --> 00:49:45.570 podcast, my portable ops team is paying for a 00:49:45.570 --> 00:49:48.250 sponsoring a steering committee championship 00:49:48.250 --> 00:49:50.849 just for the steering committee. Whoever gets 00:49:50.849 --> 00:49:53.250 the best score for the steering committee log, 00:49:53.510 --> 00:49:56.489 we'll, we'll give them a nice plaque. The pod 00:49:56.489 --> 00:50:00.650 ICQ podcast is talking about at edge behest having 00:50:00.650 --> 00:50:04.400 a little you know, game within a game there. 00:50:04.679 --> 00:50:07.900 And so I hope Amateur Radio Newsline will consider 00:50:07.900 --> 00:50:11.199 doing that. I think it will give, you know, a 00:50:11.199 --> 00:50:14.119 lot of options for people to either get outdoors 00:50:14.119 --> 00:50:17.300 and if it's cold or, you know, it could be snowing, 00:50:17.300 --> 00:50:20.780 you know, in Canada and places like that by October 00:50:20.780 --> 00:50:23.079 3rd and 4th. So we'll give you a lot of options. 00:50:23.159 --> 00:50:28.110 I think it's a great idea. Well, we'll see if 00:50:28.110 --> 00:50:32.389 we can make that happen and Let's see here. We 00:50:32.389 --> 00:50:38.849 have a call on the line and I also have a Comment 00:50:38.849 --> 00:50:42.650 on here, but let's go ahead and take the call. 00:50:42.650 --> 00:50:47.269 Good evening. Welcome to ham talk live Good evening, 00:50:47.409 --> 00:50:50.550 Neil. It's Jocelyn KDA VRX and good evening Frank. 00:50:50.909 --> 00:50:53.230 Hey, good evening, Justin. Thank you for calling 00:50:53.970 --> 00:50:56.449 I saw the color ID, but I wanted to keep the 00:50:56.449 --> 00:51:03.550 suspense, Jocelyn. No worries. No, I saw the 00:51:03.550 --> 00:51:06.489 announcement of the contest, and I'm really looking 00:51:06.489 --> 00:51:10.789 forward to it. I have a KX2, and it's really 00:51:10.789 --> 00:51:14.269 fun to take around. Very light, very portable. 00:51:15.670 --> 00:51:19.130 But as Frank mentioned, on many contest weekends, 00:51:19.949 --> 00:51:22.190 nobody's looking for you. Contacts are easy to 00:51:22.190 --> 00:51:26.280 make. Unless you're booming in somewhere, nobody's 00:51:26.280 --> 00:51:29.500 gonna really try to dig the QRP guys out. I think 00:51:29.500 --> 00:51:32.480 this turns the table around and I certainly welcome 00:51:32.480 --> 00:51:35.639 it. It's a different idea and I certainly hope 00:51:35.639 --> 00:51:38.820 that everybody tries it, either from their QTH 00:51:38.820 --> 00:51:41.840 or even portable, but I think it's a great idea. 00:51:42.599 --> 00:51:45.489 Frank, thank you for putting that together. Well, 00:51:45.570 --> 00:51:48.150 it's a team effort and we've got a great steering 00:51:48.150 --> 00:51:50.250 committee, as I've said, but Jocelyn, let me 00:51:50.250 --> 00:51:52.889 underscore your point. Thomas Witherspoon loves 00:51:52.889 --> 00:51:56.190 his KX2. I've got a little Zygoo X5105, but I 00:51:56.190 --> 00:52:01.010 got my eyes on a KX. Number two, the first comment 00:52:01.010 --> 00:52:04.190 with my Portable Ops team as we were eating fried 00:52:04.190 --> 00:52:07.250 catfish at a local restaurant after the Mississippi 00:52:07.250 --> 00:52:10.849 Q -Sum party was this. How did we make it pay 00:52:10.849 --> 00:52:14.590 to operate portable? And I think you just expressed 00:52:14.590 --> 00:52:17.989 it. So that was the first idea, Jocelyn, that 00:52:17.989 --> 00:52:21.190 I took down, pinned to paper. How do we make 00:52:21.190 --> 00:52:23.510 it pay? And you said it. They're going to be 00:52:23.510 --> 00:52:28.369 chasing you if you're operating portable. Yeah, 00:52:28.469 --> 00:52:30.809 because, I mean, I've done a couple of parks 00:52:30.809 --> 00:52:34.329 on the air with the QRP and, you know, it's pretty 00:52:34.329 --> 00:52:37.269 good. But some station that may not hear you 00:52:37.269 --> 00:52:39.050 that's running a lot more power is just going 00:52:39.050 --> 00:52:40.929 to take over the frequency and you're kind of 00:52:40.929 --> 00:52:43.510 tossed to the side. And if you're just in a pile 00:52:43.510 --> 00:52:45.849 up, like I said, unless you've got a really good 00:52:45.849 --> 00:52:47.750 set up, you may be able to break through the 00:52:47.750 --> 00:52:51.650 pile up. But, you know, otherwise you're just 00:52:51.650 --> 00:52:54.369 kind of it's frustrating sometimes, to be honest. 00:52:55.090 --> 00:53:00.090 But those are running all that power. They aren't 00:53:00.090 --> 00:53:02.469 going to get much for that power because, you 00:53:02.469 --> 00:53:06.789 know, as you've already recognized that distance 00:53:06.789 --> 00:53:11.510 for each watt turned the drive down to your amp. 00:53:13.190 --> 00:53:15.090 I don't know if you remember Doc Hollywood, the 00:53:15.090 --> 00:53:17.590 old movie. Get off the interstate, Doc Hollywood. 00:53:17.929 --> 00:53:22.030 Turn down the drive, Doc Hollywood, because it's 00:53:22.030 --> 00:53:25.079 costing you. So that five watt rig, you've got 00:53:25.079 --> 00:53:28.280 Jocelyn. It hopefully will be the powerhouse 00:53:28.280 --> 00:53:31.079 that you might not get as many contacts, but 00:53:31.079 --> 00:53:34.940 they're going to be worth a lot more. Yeah, exactly. 00:53:35.159 --> 00:53:37.539 So anyway, I know the show is running a little 00:53:37.539 --> 00:53:39.579 long and I just want to chime in and say thank 00:53:39.579 --> 00:53:42.820 you for for the different idea on contesting 00:53:42.820 --> 00:53:44.380 and trying to level the playing field. I think 00:53:44.380 --> 00:53:47.280 it's that's fantastic. So thank you very much. 00:53:47.599 --> 00:53:48.980 Thank you so much. Thank you to all your team. 00:53:51.659 --> 00:53:53.920 Thank you, Jocelyn, for the call. We'll see you 00:53:53.920 --> 00:53:57.000 soon. All right. Take care, Neil. Bye -bye. Bye, 00:53:57.039 --> 00:54:01.800 Frank. Bye -bye. Bye -bye. All right. Troy Simpson, 00:54:01.920 --> 00:54:06.000 WE9KVR, wants to know, have you ever thought 00:54:06.000 --> 00:54:10.420 about doing a midweek contest? Now Troy and I... 00:54:10.329 --> 00:54:13.050 We were into the school club roundup because 00:54:13.050 --> 00:54:15.909 we're both school teachers and we have our school 00:54:15.909 --> 00:54:19.849 clubs that do this. And so we're in this Monday 00:54:19.849 --> 00:54:24.389 through Friday thing, which, you know, I know 00:54:24.389 --> 00:54:27.550 it's not a contest. Well, yeah, it's kind of 00:54:27.550 --> 00:54:30.730 like field day. It's not a contest, but there's 00:54:30.730 --> 00:54:34.010 a score. So the kids are going to make it a contest. 00:54:34.530 --> 00:54:37.269 So have you thought about the midweek thing? 00:54:37.710 --> 00:54:41.809 Yes, we did. In fact, we thought about midweek 00:54:41.809 --> 00:54:44.489 to try to avoid, quite frankly, the congestion 00:54:44.489 --> 00:54:47.630 on weekends. We also thought about letting it 00:54:47.630 --> 00:54:50.329 run throughout the year, kind of like the parks 00:54:50.329 --> 00:54:53.590 on the air thing. Running through the year was 00:54:53.590 --> 00:54:56.989 such an overhead to manage. The team didn't have 00:54:56.989 --> 00:54:59.469 it, certainly right now. We haven't ruled anything 00:54:59.469 --> 00:55:02.389 out, Neil. But the midweek thing, here's what 00:55:02.389 --> 00:55:05.710 you run into. Those that are employed and working. 00:55:07.489 --> 00:55:10.110 Perhaps that's one of the small venues of being 00:55:10.110 --> 00:55:12.269 a teacher and teaching ham radio is you get to 00:55:12.269 --> 00:55:16.869 play radio on your job, maybe. After school. 00:55:18.329 --> 00:55:23.429 I hear you. I hear you. You cut out a lot of 00:55:23.429 --> 00:55:25.909 people at work. We wrestled with that, and yes, 00:55:25.989 --> 00:55:30.150 we thought of it. I don't want to never say never, 00:55:30.429 --> 00:55:34.119 but let's see how this first year goes. And it 00:55:34.119 --> 00:55:37.400 might be that that we could have. I'm not promising 00:55:37.400 --> 00:55:39.619 anything. It's up to the committee. Might be. 00:55:39.679 --> 00:55:42.039 We have two. We have one on the weekends like 00:55:42.039 --> 00:55:44.119 this. We may have another one sometime, maybe 00:55:44.119 --> 00:55:47.219 in the early spring, uh, you know, during the, 00:55:47.360 --> 00:55:49.280 during the week or something, but that's a great 00:55:49.280 --> 00:55:51.400 idea. And I'm making a note of it to come back 00:55:51.400 --> 00:55:55.699 to. And I think we've got some, some bandwidth 00:55:55.699 --> 00:55:58.980 here to do a variety of things, but that's a 00:55:58.980 --> 00:56:03.420 great thought. All right. Well, that's a. Good 00:56:03.420 --> 00:56:06.659 comment, Troy. Thank you for that. And he mentions 00:56:06.659 --> 00:56:12.000 WB9Z down the road, so yeah, another big station 00:56:12.000 --> 00:56:18.139 there. And thanks to John, W4USF, and Chris, 00:56:18.139 --> 00:56:24.989 AA4CB, for being online tonight as well. catching 00:56:24.989 --> 00:56:29.170 up here on some of the comments and Troy mentions 00:56:29.170 --> 00:56:32.250 the eight -hour block helps with with you know 00:56:32.250 --> 00:56:33.969 the people who are working makes it a little 00:56:33.969 --> 00:56:39.510 more fine you know it makes it easier for that 00:56:39.510 --> 00:56:42.130 to happen although you still have they get they 00:56:42.130 --> 00:56:44.489 get to plan your choice with the gray line they 00:56:44.489 --> 00:56:48.550 get to play with the gray line too so yeah so 00:56:48.550 --> 00:56:53.489 lot as Ed said lots to think about when when 00:56:53.489 --> 00:56:58.750 the field is is fairly level so every box I think 00:56:58.750 --> 00:57:02.110 it'll be a great experiment every boxer will 00:57:02.110 --> 00:57:05.429 tell you if you're boxing someone who has a left 00:57:05.429 --> 00:57:08.210 hook you want to wait till they use it and then 00:57:08.210 --> 00:57:10.650 you hit them with a right cross it's as much 00:57:10.650 --> 00:57:13.469 or more about strategy than it is about bronze 00:57:13.469 --> 00:57:19.730 so it's radio sport over radio gear Now, how 00:57:19.730 --> 00:57:22.130 are you going to, we've already talked about 00:57:22.130 --> 00:57:25.530 statistics and everything. How are you going 00:57:25.530 --> 00:57:28.289 to evaluate this after it's over and see if you're 00:57:28.289 --> 00:57:31.030 going to make the tweaks or is that another show? 00:57:32.130 --> 00:57:34.389 Well, it could be another show. What we'll do 00:57:34.389 --> 00:57:37.309 is like a lot of things is because I don't know 00:57:37.309 --> 00:57:39.429 the answer, but what we will do is the steering 00:57:39.429 --> 00:57:42.400 committee. and the log vetting committee, particularly, 00:57:42.480 --> 00:57:44.400 because they'll see all the nuances in the logs. 00:57:44.539 --> 00:57:47.039 And what I plan to do is put all these on maps 00:57:47.039 --> 00:57:52.219 on the foxmikehotel .com POC webpage. You'll 00:57:52.219 --> 00:57:54.579 start seeing some of the results and maps, and 00:57:54.579 --> 00:57:57.420 we're going to analyze this to see, you know, 00:57:57.519 --> 00:57:59.800 kind of what we can make out of the log data. 00:58:00.599 --> 00:58:03.519 And the steering committee hadn't determined 00:58:03.519 --> 00:58:06.639 this, but we're likely to make them public. So 00:58:06.639 --> 00:58:08.780 we're going to really analyze this, maybe more 00:58:08.780 --> 00:58:12.099 than some and not as much as some others perhaps, 00:58:12.699 --> 00:58:15.980 but we'll look at it and we'll look at the timing 00:58:15.980 --> 00:58:18.820 when we offer it. This was our best shot this 00:58:18.820 --> 00:58:22.019 year, but we'll look at it and we want to make 00:58:22.019 --> 00:58:24.760 it better. And if we do have something as Jocelyn 00:58:24.760 --> 00:58:27.300 and quite a number of other people have said, 00:58:29.179 --> 00:58:31.679 You got a good idea. Well, okay. Let's see how 00:58:31.679 --> 00:58:33.940 we can implement it and maybe implement it better. 00:58:34.460 --> 00:58:36.360 We'll get some feedback from contestants. You 00:58:36.360 --> 00:58:38.380 know, they're going to tell you, you should have 00:58:38.380 --> 00:58:41.019 done this instead of that. And we'll probably 00:58:41.019 --> 00:58:43.920 say, you know, you're right. We learned for 2020. 00:58:44.400 --> 00:58:46.699 We're going to make these changes. So we'll broadcast 00:58:46.699 --> 00:58:49.860 that out to our website. And if you, if you just 00:58:49.860 --> 00:58:53.199 can't get a good, uh, uh, speaker, Neil, I'll 00:58:53.199 --> 00:58:57.309 come back and tell you about that. Well, you 00:58:57.309 --> 00:58:59.750 said you listen to the podcast. I'm glad that 00:58:59.750 --> 00:59:03.010 we found another one of the six that do. Well, 00:59:03.110 --> 00:59:06.929 I do and I enjoy it. It's only lists that I listen 00:59:06.929 --> 00:59:11.550 to every episode. When I take trips and stuff, 00:59:11.809 --> 00:59:14.449 my iPhone is doing double time because I'm listening 00:59:14.449 --> 00:59:18.469 to podcasts. You have a great show. I enjoy it 00:59:18.469 --> 00:59:21.539 very much. all right frank we're gonna finish 00:59:21.539 --> 00:59:23.980 things up here but uh... let's do just a quick 00:59:23.980 --> 00:59:27.079 rundown of where to find out about this in the 00:59:27.079 --> 00:59:30.639 dates and just the the the quick synopsis here 00:59:30.639 --> 00:59:33.480 of what's going on and then we're gonna say seven 00:59:33.480 --> 00:59:37.900 three okay if you like pina coladas it walks 00:59:37.900 --> 00:59:41.739 in the rain now i have to say that i had that 00:59:42.480 --> 00:59:46.780 Because of copyrights, I had to cut off the promo 00:59:46.780 --> 00:59:50.599 at the beginning and he had this beautiful promo 00:59:50.599 --> 00:59:54.079 and it's on his website. You can go to foxmicotel 00:59:54.079 --> 00:59:56.920 .com and play it, but it was, if you like pina 00:59:56.920 --> 00:59:59.219 coladas and walking in the rain and that was 00:59:59.219 --> 01:00:02.920 before the part that I had, you know. playing 01:00:02.920 --> 01:00:06.179 here, so yeah, that's where that's coming from. 01:00:07.659 --> 01:00:11.840 Unless you'd rather do that, go to FoxMikeHotel 01:00:11.840 --> 01:00:16.539 .com and click on the POC tab and you'll go to 01:00:16.539 --> 01:00:19.139 the Portable Operations Challenge. We've got 01:00:19.139 --> 01:00:24.619 several pages and as I told particularly myself, 01:00:25.119 --> 01:00:27.500 You know, I don't have a good -looking picture 01:00:27.500 --> 01:00:29.679 of you, Frank, but I do have one that looks just 01:00:29.679 --> 01:00:32.280 like you. And you'll see members of our steering 01:00:32.280 --> 01:00:35.219 committee and their backgrounds. You'll see I've 01:00:35.219 --> 01:00:37.420 tried to put together both portable operators 01:00:37.420 --> 01:00:40.940 of various kinds and statures, as well as a very, 01:00:40.940 --> 01:00:43.239 very good contest, some of the best. And so we 01:00:43.239 --> 01:00:45.460 put those together there. The rules, we've got 01:00:45.460 --> 01:00:47.900 a rules document at the top of that rules page. 01:00:47.960 --> 01:00:50.800 You can click on it and get a PDF. and we've 01:00:50.800 --> 01:00:53.739 got a couple of minor little uh... existencies 01:00:53.739 --> 01:00:56.219 that i'll be changing probably tomorrow and we've 01:00:56.219 --> 01:00:59.619 had some good feedback there box my co -tel dot 01:00:59.619 --> 01:01:04.820 com click on the p o c and come see us and we'd 01:01:04.820 --> 01:01:08.519 love to have you all right there we go well frank 01:01:08.519 --> 01:01:10.900 thank thank you so much for being on the show 01:01:11.539 --> 01:01:13.940 And next time you talk to Ed, give him a hard 01:01:13.940 --> 01:01:16.320 time for me. And I've been trying to get him 01:01:16.320 --> 01:01:19.139 to help me with my Welsh, because last night 01:01:19.139 --> 01:01:23.260 I found out about this town that's in Wales that 01:01:23.260 --> 01:01:26.719 has a name that's like 54 letters long or something. 01:01:27.659 --> 01:01:30.340 And so I'm trying to learn how to pronounce it. 01:01:30.619 --> 01:01:32.840 And so Ed's like, oh yeah, I had to do that in 01:01:32.840 --> 01:01:38.199 McCrammer school. And there's a page and I'm 01:01:38.199 --> 01:01:39.900 from Georgia. So that really means something 01:01:39.900 --> 01:01:43.579 positive I love it. So thank you for having me 01:01:43.579 --> 01:01:46.579 Neil All right. Thank you Frank for being here 01:01:46.579 --> 01:01:51.380 on the show and that is a wrap for this episode 01:01:51.380 --> 01:01:54.840 of HamTalk Live thanks to my guest Frank Howell 01:01:54.840 --> 01:01:57.699 K4FMH and everybody out there in cyberspace for 01:01:57.699 --> 01:02:01.199 listening and calling in and typing in and come 01:02:01.199 --> 01:02:03.900 back next Thursday night 9 p .m. Eastern Time 01:02:03.900 --> 01:02:08.159 at HamTalkLive .com and over on HamTalkLive .com 01:02:08.159 --> 01:02:11.159 you can see all of our upcoming guests and also 01:02:11.159 --> 01:02:13.719 we've got a new load of t -shirts in so if you'd 01:02:13.719 --> 01:02:16.900 like to order one You can do that. Go to HamTalkLive 01:02:16.900 --> 01:02:20.840 .com, click on the Show Schedule and Shirts link. 01:02:21.440 --> 01:02:23.719 I know that's kind of odd, but that's because 01:02:23.719 --> 01:02:27.039 I can't put it on the same website. So click 01:02:27.039 --> 01:02:29.800 on the link there and that'll take you to the 01:02:29.800 --> 01:02:32.119 ordering page and you can get a shirt. And if 01:02:32.119 --> 01:02:34.900 you like the show, leave us a review. That helps 01:02:34.900 --> 01:02:37.659 others find us faster. So for now, this is Neil 01:02:37.659 --> 01:02:43.880 Rapp, WB9VPG, saying 7 -3. 7 -5 and may the good 01:02:43.880 --> 01:02:45.460 DX be yours.