This episode of HamTalk Live is brought to you
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we go, welcome to Hamtok Live Call in, let's
talk, Neil's your guide Hamtok Live Here we go
on Hamtok Radio Hey, good evening, everyone.
It's time for Hamptalk Live. It's episode number
213. Do not reveal today. Recorded live on May
21st, 2020. Let me get this microphone thing
going here. Let's try that again. There we go.
So if you didn't understand that, good evening,
everyone. It's Hamptalk Live episode number 213.
Tued up for field day, recorded live on Thursday,
May 21st, 2020. I'm your host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.
Thanks for tuning into this episode of HamTalk
Live. Tonight we're joined by Christian Kudnick,
K0STH. And we'll take your calls live in just
a few minutes. This is what happens when I move
my laptop and take it with me and disconnect.
microphone settings get changed. That's not good.
All right. Well, last week we had open lines
and we were joined also by Eric Elwell, KD4BNT,
and Michael Coulter, W8CI, and Paul Brown, WD9GCO.
And we were just missing Hamvention last weekend.
And so we had a little fun with that and talked
a little bit about what we were missing out on.
And if you want to catch that show and you didn't
get it last week, You can listen anytime at HamTalkLive
.com or on your favorite podcast app or on YouTube.
And of course you can catch the rebroadcast over
on WTWW 5085 a .m. Saturday evenings at about
630 p .m. Eastern Time. Just a couple of quick
things before we get to Christian here. I want
to make an announcement from Dustin Thomas, N8RMA.
He dropped me an email to say that the annual
State of the Hobby survey is now online. So the
more people we get to take this survey, the better
the results are going to be. So we'd really like
for people to take this. And we talked about
this on an earlier show about, you know, it does
have some limitations because of the sample size
and that kind of thing. We'd really like to get
the sample size up. So if you can take the survey
and just answer some questions about your ham
radio experience in the last year, that would
be really helpful. There's about three weeks
left to participate and there's just a lot of
things, you know, if you need statistics to prove
things or back things up or figure out. audiences
and that kind of thing. This is really the only
source we have at this point. So please take
the survey and spread the word about it if you
want to hear more about the survey and how it's
used and how it's developed and all that. Tune
in to episode 199. Number 199 is about that and
I put the link to the survey in this show description
here on episode 213. that you're listening to
right now so you can get the URL because it is
kinda long. But if you just look up State of
the Hobby Survey you'll find it but that link
is there and it's also on our Twitter and Instagram
and Facebook pages so you can get the link direct
to the State of the Hobby Survey from there.
And also want to mention that John Amadeo A6JA
dropped me a note and said that Last Man Standing
has officially been renewed for the third season
on Fox and I think that's the ninth overall.
And that should start showing up on your TV screen
probably around January or so. So congratulations
to the Last Man Standing. team and the Last Man
Standing Amateur Radio Club and we'll be hearing
them on the air for yet another TV season. So
congratulations to them. You'll be hearing more
about that as we go. So we're going to talk to
Christian tonight. Get your questions ready to
go about the Tune Up event. We talk about that
on this show every year. So we're going to talk
with Christian about it tonight. If you're listening
to us live on Thursday night. You can call us,
the phone number to call in when we get to that
point is 859 -982 -7373 and I'll give out that
number again several times. Before we get to
the call -in segment of the show, but if you
want to write that down and have it ready, it's
859 -982 -7373. You can also tweet us. It's at
HamTalkLive on Twitter. If you're on Spreaker,
you can type in the comments and we'll get to
those. And I see Troy W9KVR is already online.
So that's great. And we appreciate all those
people who've been Checking in with us live on
Thursday night pretty regularly lately. So it's
been a great thing. All right. Well, I'll be
back with Christian and we'll do that right after
this word from ICOM America right here on HamTalk
Live. Get out and be active with ICOM's new IC705
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icomamerica .com slash amateur for more information
about ICOM radios. If a man says something in
the woods and there are no women there, is he
still wrong? You're listening to HamTalk Live
with Neil Rapp. Thanks once again to ICOM America
for bringing HamTalk Live your way. Be sure to
check them out at icomamerica .com slash amateur
and check out all their deals. And some news
about the 705 coming out I believe. They've got
an anticipated date on that now so check that
out as well. And HamTalk Live is on the air every
Thursday night 9 p .m. Eastern Time. HamTalkLive
.com. And tonight, daring to come back to the
show once again, is Christian Kudnick, KZero
STH. Christian is originally, if I can talk,
from Baltimore, Maryland, and now resides in
Metro St. Louis, Missouri. He's a veteran broadcaster,
a two -time Emmy -winning producer, a regular
contributor to Amateur Radio Newsline. In fact,
he has the lead story on the one coming out in
the morning. Just finished that up a while ago.
And the creator of the 100 watts and wire podcast.
And he's got a new one now. He has a second one
called our 73 and it's about some of the Mcom
things with ham radio. And we're going to talk
about that a little later on tonight as well.
So, so welcome back. We're good evening. I was
just going to say You know you have so many smart
people, I mean they're incredibly bright and
insightful and I get the call and I'm like, somebody
backed out. Who backed out? It has to be. So
the inside joke is that Neil will call me when
someone backs out and it's like Regis was to
David Letterman. But let me say... Neil, if people
don't know, you've got a ton of friends, right?
But they probably know this already. You're one
of the most genuine hams and people that I've
met in this whole thing, this whole thing. We
joke and we tease a lot. You've been one of the
most consistent friends since I got into the
hobby, and I appreciate you. How about that?
Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that,
Regis. can't follow that but really yeah i don't
know okay okay i guess that's it good night everybody
oh wait no i guess we got a show to do i think
i'm mixing up my uh that was uh carson that was
carson's ending yeah i'm getting married this
week right but uh the covet damn covet yeah next
next saturday was supposed to be but uh we actually
got some good news today there we were actually
uh Actually just got word a little bit ago. We're
headed to a drive -in concert Really next Saturday
the day with that we were supposed to be Getting
married Michael W Smith is putting on a concert
at a fairgrounds down into south of Nashville
and We got tickets. So we're going Cool. I'm
glad things are starting to back up a little
bit and people are you know? starting to get
out of the house we really needed that it was
oh yeah we get so we're going to a drive -in
concert which has got to be you know one of the
first drive -in concerts that's that's just and
you're gonna go you're gonna get a speaker sit
next to you and uh some minutes take some breath
no no it's it's on fm they're doing the fm transmitter
thing so you turn your radio on That is our instead
of the little speaker thing There you go. I like
that. Well good for you. I'm glad you'll be here
and you guys took it to adjust and So you're
getting closer still though. You're getting closer.
We're gonna get there out there, but I'm I'm
happy for you guys We got the the paperwork done
yesterday, so we'll be we'll be ready to go and
Does it feel different when you get the paper,
right? I mean, I'm married and all, it's been
a long time. Yeah. I mean, it's different because
it's like you got a paper, you know, and it still
needs a signature on it, but at least you got
a paper that says you're going to. Signature
do you need on it? The officiant has to sign
it. You didn't need, you know, your bra to sign
it. Yeah. What's hard to like, you know, by the
state of Missouri, in my case, and the eyes of
God. But how have you been going throughout this
COVID? You're not doing the school. Did you move
online? Yeah, we went online. So I've been teaching
that. I'm actually still on the clock during
the day. for another two days, I guess, for tomorrow
and Tuesday to get grades done, late work and
meetings and that kind of thing. But it's pretty
well, pretty well wound down. I had a staff meeting
yesterday, but it was kind of cool. I was actually
in the staff meeting while Julie was driving
me down the road. It was kind of cool. That is
cool. And then you're so attentive. They're business
on the top. You've got your Malibu shorts on,
on the bottom, tie, blazer on top. Right. Exactly.
So fake. It's great. But those poor kids, they
can't walk this year. That's, that's a bit of
a bummer for them. They've worked really hard.
Yeah. Yeah. We did a video for them and they're
going to have a video graduation here. Next Saturday
and that kind of thing and I had to laugh one
of my former students graduated from college
and they did the walk through so he set up the
TV in his in his living room and put on his cap
and gown and had somebody record him walk across
the front of the TV as they read his name That's
great. I feel for But they're taking it, you
know, this is a weird time. We don't know. Our
parents knew of, and our grandparents knew of
troubled times like this, but you know, you and
I don't know anything about this. We know about
different things, but a pandemic? Good grief.
Yeah. Yeah. It's just, it's just a whole different
game and we don't know what the fall is going
to look like either. That's kind of been the
topic of discussion lately is, okay, now what
are we going to do in August? And so. We will
see. Well one thing that we're gonna do in June
How's that for segue? I love that was a Professional
that was a good one that it was a segue probably
not as much but So one of the things we are gonna
do in June June 12 through 14th is Tune up now
you've been doing this for a while. Tell everybody
about tune up and and how it's gone in the past
and are you changing anything for this year?
What's going on with TuneUp? I appreciate that
and I know you're busy but I would love to have
you on the team this year and I mentioned team.
It's a little bit different this year. It's our
fourth year of doing the TuneUp. We do an activity
in the spring and then we do one in the fall
and the one in October is called the fallout
and it's just an effort to get outside, try to...
activate and it's the same for the tune -up it
happens a couple of weeks before field day i
love field day it's probably the most popular
activity or event and the league does such a
great job with it but it you know if you're running
a 100 watt station it's not insurmountable but
it's tough to hold a frequency down and if you're
operating with your club on field day you know
you may be assigned to do a shift you're going
to be on 20 meters but you've built this really
great antenna you know so you want to you'd like
to hang it and try it out well the tune -up gives
everyone an opportunity to you know test their
own gear go out there a little bit away from
field day but you know get your antennas get
your radios get your power if you're adding some
solar energy or something to your you know kit
for either like the parks or your MCOM work.
It's a good opportunity to just get out there
yourself. Now of course with the COVID -19 we've
been talking about how it's changed everything
in the world and you know how we're doing things
and there was a question about what's the league
going to do? Are they going to change? And Steve
W7 UDI he's our net control and manager for the
100 watts and a wire Sunday evening net. He was
like you know we could do we could we could do
teams and and people could get together wherever
they are get on a team and um you know just get
on the air and have fun in a team setting so
i know you're busy but the door is open for you
neil if you're there that weekend any time any
band any mode jump on and you know you've done
this before as a solo op and uh we we've taken
time and just work some stations together but
this year we'll come up from different places
we're going to keep going Set up your antenna,
any band, any mode, any time that weekend. This
time if you've put a team together, you get on
the air, it's not a contest, but at the end you
can submit your information, team name, how many
contacts you made, that sort of thing, and a
random drawing. And Neil, in the past, I've done
these, you know, this person wins the battery
from BioNO, this one will win a solar panel,
this one's gonna win an antenna or you know and
we'd have like 14 prizes and I was like you know
we should do this time winner takes all you know
so if you've got a three person four person team
and your name comes out of the random drawing
and you win there you go you guys can decide
who's going to get what or you share it pass
it around but it's mostly an opportunity for
us to get outside in the spring where it's great
you don't have to go out portable But I encourage
you to. We can exercise our equipment. Every
time I set up Neil, I figure something new out.
And it's just like that for me, you know, whether
it's if I am into emergency communication. So
if I get my rig out, get my batteries, there's
always something when I do it that I learn and
I can kind of put in my pocket and go, OK, I'll
change that. Maybe this didn't work out or this
antenna is singing, you know, so the more you
get out there and do it. you know the more you
learn that's that's really the basis for it so
hopefully in June there's no fee you know we're
on an honor system you know and we basically
start you know UTC goes from Friday at 0100 UTC
through Sunday it's 2359 so that's Thursday evening
at seven o 'clock you can start and get on the
air and run all the way up into the net on Sunday
at seven o 'clock central time and submit your
totals have fun get on the air and it may be
a good way around the whole you know clubs are
going to change my club here in the city well
I can't speak for the club but the what my understanding
is now they're waiting to see if the parks are
going to let people gather you know usually they'll
go out to a local park and set up they'll get
the pavilion they've got the permit whatever
they need so right now it's kind of in question
how many people wherever you are who can get
together and I know there's a lot of people out
there like I'm gonna get together with my buddies
I don't care but you know there's a lot of other
aspects at play depending where you are in the
country of course and what the rules of the parks
and the cities and St. Louis is still doing quite
well on the COVID count so some areas of Missouri
are doing better I think we have the The brunt
of the cases, but you'd expect that in a big
metropolis. Now I'm starting to go off, Neil.
Go ahead, fire another question. Well, you know,
it is a waiting game. I mean, we're playing this
with the wedding. We just found out today, Ohio
is going to allow 300 at a reception. So we're
like, okay, then we're covered. We're good. Every
place is, like you said, a little different.
And from what I've been reading from the league
and we're going to have our, our annual field
day question and answer show coming up soon.
So we'll get the official word on everything
a week ahead of time. But, um, you know, the
league's kind of saying, we're not going to,
we're not really going to change anything other
than tell you be safe and, and follow the guidelines
for your area and. You know, you may want to
be thinking about something different this year.
And so kind of goes back to what you're talking
about with, you know, every time you set up,
you learn something new, you get something different.
And so this time is going to be a bit of a waiting
game. You know, a lot of times we've got a plan
set up months ahead of time. We know what we're
going to do. Well, we did this last year. So,
you know, here's what we're going to do this
year. You know, this year, it may be kind of
a last minute call and, you know, it does prepare
you for emergencies a little bit better, I think.
I totally believe. I think the league is saying
the right things and doing the right things.
We talked to Rhea N2RJ. She's a director with
the league and they do feel that this is an actual
emergency situation. So that is true. Now I don't
know how they'll keep score but seeing this coming
down the lane here we realized with the tune
-up that all right let's be flexible enough to
let people you could do the tune -up alone if
you wanted to but what if you couldn't do field
day with your team and like you said field day
and your clubs they are anticipating okay Neil
you're going to go over there and you're going
to pick up the tower you're going to take it
out to the park. christian you're gonna do this
and and there's different roles and people have
different jobs and duties and and all this may
just not be you know you may only be able to
get together so we just anticipated and it was
really steve's idea to introduce of team play
and i love that anyway i think it's cool to uh...
you know more people in the air is really the
goal of the tune -up and if you can get out there
Maybe it's your first time out there in the spring.
You know for me this COVID You know, I've got
like once or twice a week because I'm working
at home. I take a break I'll go out there and
set up the the mast at 25 feet and I'm tinkering
around Fiddling around come back and work really
hard for the company and and and then try it
again on Thursday So I've I've got that but the
camaraderie of field day This year is is absolutely
going to look so much different and I'm hoping
that with the tune -up maybe it'll get you used
to it if if you can't get out there I mean imagine
if you're in you know New York City a club in
New York or New Jersey or you know in those places
you know you're not gonna be you know you're
not just gonna be you know so it is a it's a
hope that you get on the air have a good time
and maybe leading into field day it'll be a buffer
in you know what the rules will be and how they'll
keep score and how will this this all pan out
we just don't know but the tune -up is going
to happen June 12th through the 14th you can
mark your calendars get whatever job you want
pick your team put them together and say hey
we're gonna get on the air you can do it any
time any mode even the the FT8 I don't care it's
all good not a contest All right. Well, I know
we've already got a question about FT8 coming
up. So we'll do that during the question time.
So we'll deal with that. And then field day,
our annual field day Q &A show is usually that
Thursday right before field day. And we had planned
on being live from Yoda camp that day. So we
scheduled it a week earlier. So it's probably
good because it is going to look a lot different
this year than past year. So June 18th is our
field day question and answer show here on HamTalk
Live and Paul Bork will be here from the league.
He's in charge of putting together the rules
and everything for field day and and and collecting
the results and everything and and Scores and
yeah, it's not a contest but it keeps right so,
you know But anyway June 18 field he will be
here I Think it's safe. You say it's not a contest
because if you made it a contest because you're
more tuned to contest that's a whole different
log submission thing it's a whole different beast
when it becomes a contest so and i know that
field day is you know that's a whole that goes
back before the uh you know uh is it a contest
is not a contest and some you know has a lot
of different opinions but uh for us we keep it
a not a contest thing because you know there's
a lot more paperwork with filing you know Logs
and going through that whole process. So random
drawing it is and if you're interested You can
visit the website 100 watts and a wire comm click
the activities tab It'll let you know all about
that You can bookmark it that way when you you
do your gig that weekend and you can submit your
totals right there on the site Okay. Well, we
are going to take a break But we also want to
talk about your new podcast, Hour 73, which is
based on some of this EMCOM stuff that we're
talking about, so it ties right in. But let's
do that after the break. Let's go ahead and do
that and then we'll come back. We'll talk about
Hour 73 and we'll take all the questions that
have come in so far and we'll take your phone
calls right after this word from Tower Electronics
right here on HamTalk Live. Jerry, what's up,
man? I haven't seen you at Sunbucks in a while.
I used to see you every morning getting coffee.
What's up? Well, I can't afford Sunbucks five
days a week anymore. I had to spend my money
on PL -259s. You know, those antenna projects
I've been meaning to do. I had to do them before
my HOA finds out I have antennas. That's too
bad, Jerry. I miss seeing you and catching up
over coffee. You should get your PL -259s from
Tower Electronics. They have great stuff. Jerry,
you're back. Oh, QRM Heterodyne Frappuccino.
That's a good choice. How's it going? Did you
get all those antennas up before the HOA police
showed up? Yeah, I got them all done. Thanks
for telling me about Tower Electronics. Now I
can have my coffee. I just saved a bunch of money
on my PL259s by switching to Tower Electronics.
Don't get caught without PL259s. Visit Tower
Electronics online at pl -259 .com or at a ham
fest near you. Or give them a call at 920 -435
-2973 and be sure to pick up some power poles,
adapters and cables too. Join the conversation.
Give us a call at 859 -982 -7373. Again, the
number to call is 859 -982 -7373. Or, if you'd
rather type than talk, tweet us at HamTalk Live.
Now, here's Neil Rapp with more HamTalk Live.
We put the ham in HamTalk Live. Thanks, Tower
Electronics! for sponsoring the show again tonight
they'll be back out on the ham fest tours soon
but you can find them right now at pl -259 .com
and ham talk live is on the air every thursday
night at 9 p .m eastern time HamTalkLive .com
and be sure to check us out on Facebook, Twitter,
and Instagram. And it's time for your calls now.
So if you have a question for Christian, give
us a call at 859 -982 -7373. Again, 859 -982
-7373 or you can tweet HamTalk Live. and if you're
on Spreaker you can type comments in and if you're
listening to us on WTWW or on the podcast edition
you won't be able to reach us. It's Thursday
night right now and we're recording this. So
Christian K0STH is with us. He's the host of
100 watts to wire and hour 73 and we're going
to talk about that in just a moment but first
we do have a caller on the line. So we're going
to go to the phone. So Valparaiso, Indiana. Hello.
Hello. How are you? Hello. Hi, Christian. Um,
actually, I mean, we, we, we should, we should
introduce Paul. Call in meant to call your cell
phone. This is Paul Brown. Oh, is that what that
is? This is Paul Brown, WD9GCO, and we were doing
the Larry King thing earlier, so that's why I
did the... Valparaiso, Indiana, hello. I made
it back from Xenia. You made it back from Xenia
last week. Yeah, that was a quick trip. Yeah,
I know. Anyhow, yeah, our club was originally
planning on... a neighboring club was going to
do the full... Set up overnight field day thing
and we were going to participate with them And
then this all happened And I just found out that
that club is still intending on trying to set
things up to be safe and do it but There is still
a very real concern Especially I don't know how
you know other clubs. I assume that a lot of
other clubs are fairly similar to ours where
the membership tends to skew older and I'm you
know I would be concerned about a lot of the
members of my club realizing that it's completely
up to them but I would be worried about their
health so I'm planning on doing the tune -up
from home it's perfect I think that's You know,
we were just anticipating this could be the way
for field day, although field day, I mean, I
think you raise a great point. When we were talking
about, back on, I don't know what episode it
was on 100 Watts and a Wire, we were talking
about, I predict it. I'm not trying to be a hero.
These people who are attending HamFest, who are
doing field day, they're in the, you know, they're
advanced age. I mean, I'm going to say that politely.
They're our elders in our community. at the time
it did not feel safe and I still don't really
think it's safe to get so many people together
as for this and you know it's I don't know it's
a tough thing I get it I totally get the wanting
to open things up and something that's happening
in smaller towns it makes sense it makes sense
to open it up but in st. Louis grabbing all these
folks and bringing them out and dealing with
that it's You know, it's a little scary right
now. For TuneUp, you can be anywhere you want
to be and select your team. I wonder if you're
going to get together with any members of Amateur
Radio Newsline. We haven't discussed it. I'm
not sure we like each other that much. That part's
true. We're going to send Paul back to Xenia
again. You went down there to file a report,
right? It's a great gig. Yeah. It was a great
report. Five words. They didn't cancel Hampton.
But yeah, because for your average field day,
it's almost impossible to realistically maintain
the six -foot distance. You're setting stuff
up. By its very nature you're going to need like
two people holding up a mast or something while
somebody's pulling down guy wires or while you're
operating You got one guy operating one guy logging
It's really difficult to You know work in do
entries when you're sitting six feet away from
the guy who's operating So I'm not sure how it's
going to work and for personal reasons for family
health issues I can't risk it. I can't risk,
I mean, I'm okay, but I can't risk being that
guy who picks something up and brings it home.
I think that's a... What happens? It's okay.
You can't wear a, I mean, you're gonna wear a
mask? I mean, you have to wear a mask, and you're
gonna take calls in a mask? You know, I get both
sides of the argument of we gotta, we're gonna,
we're gonna, we're gonna do it. But, you know,
you gotta really... Play smart and it really
ties into where you are. I mean, it just, it
really does. And I care for my in -laws as well
with a compromised immune systems. They won't,
don't want to at this point head back to church.
They don't want to go to the market. And so my
wife and I are taking care of those things for
them now and they're relatively healthy. Not
super old at all. I mean, they're in their mid
seventies, but they've got conditions that, you
know, you get this thing and that's it. So, you
know, it's an individual's thing, but it will
undoubtedly look different this year. Yep. I
think, you know, it is a chance to practice,
well, what if we get called up in a pandemic?
I mean, what if we have to deal with this? And
so maybe you're not putting up a mast. How are
you going to do that? And so I can see that.
But it's going to take a lot more thought and
a lot more planning. And I think a lot of people
will just opt for the home station, which is
kind of what I'm thinking right now. But we'll
just wait and see, you know, what's going on
at that point. Try with the team and see how
you feel. Put a team together and check your
results and see how you've done and you know
a couple weeks later you'll see how field day
pans out but in case your town doesn't do a field
day like you're accustomed to the sharing of
the food and the meals and the camaraderie and
those working with your friends you know that's
the hardest thing for Xenia was that you couldn't
go see your friends it's a it's a change it feels
like you've been robbed and it sucks I get it
I know it but you know we have to really think
this through and time will tell what it'll look
like and so that's why we shaped TuneUp this
year to be a team thing although you're not physically
together you can keep your own scores and and
you know if you're pulled in the drawing and
you win something cool you guys can share the
the prize but that's the thought. I think it's
a very good idea for a number of us news line
folks to Because we've started doing the Zoom
meetings just because all of a sudden I've realized,
hey, we've got this tool. Why don't we use it?
And I think it would also help bring us together
as a family to do this. So I think it's a very
good idea there. Well, thank you, sir. I'm proud
of you. I like it. You have a nice voice. Thanks,
Paul, for calling in. Appreciate it. All right,
Neil and Christian. Thanks. Good night. Good
night, Paul. 859 -982 -7373 is the phone number.
If you'd like to chime in, please do at 859 -982
-7373. We also go over to the Twitter machine
here. Brett WI7BG has a question for you, Christian.
He says, this year will the tune -up use an exchange
that's possible to do on FT4 and FT8? Well, thank
you for that question. As it turns out, with
those modes... The exchange is just suggested.
Let me put it to you that way. We're talking
a call sign. If people have a 100 watt ID, cool
your state. A true signal report would be nice.
Now I know the 100 watt ID would be difficult.
Couldn't do it. So don't do that part. Just move
on. It's not so strict that you can't do that.
Just get on the air and have fun. You know, call
out that you're working the tune up. I know you
wouldn't be calling out on that mode, but just
do what you can within the mode and that's fine.
It's not a rule. I don't think there is a rule.
And it's an honor system with your contacts.
So it's, you know, that's all. The answer is
go ahead and change it to fit whatever mode you
need to. Okay. There you go, Brett. So yes, you
can do FT4 and FT8. You can just drop the part
of the exchange that doesn't work. Now for field
A, that's a whole different answer. So we better
point that out. But for field day, yes, you have
to do the exchange because we've had that conversation.
But actually FT8, I believe, has that capability
now. You have to run it in a special field day
mode kind of thing. I'm not sure about four.
I haven't done four, so I don't know. But you've
got to be able to do that exchange. So that's
for field day. For TuneUp, go for it. Yeah, go
for it. Okay. Yeah, okay. Yeah and Troy W9KBR
says you can set up a customized macro in FT8
and manually add what you want. So you could
you could put the 100 ID on FT8. Thanks for that
Troy. And Chris, AA4CB is in the house tonight.
So Chris, good evening to you. As well as Troy
over in Illinois. He just finished up his school
stuff today so very good and yeah he says in
WSJT Chris says in WSJT you can just add your
your 100 ID number there so we will do that so
okay we've got another call on the line so except
I just hung up on him oops oh he's back Okay,
so so here we go. We're going to do the Larry
King thing again, so Liberty Township, Ohio hello
Good evening Neil good evening Christian, and
thank you Neil for nothing Cincinnati. I'm north
so I appreciate that Quick question for Christian.
You know first. I think the team's idea is a
fantastic idea Is there any limit on how many
10 minutes? team members you should be recruiting
I don't think so you know I don't think so I
think and hello and thank you for that I just
think that you know if you can get a bunch of
people together by all means go ahead and do
that now there's limited prizes so everybody
may not get a prize on your team but you know
that's up to you guys you could share it but
no I I don't think so I think rules are for this
is just you know it's it's off -putting you know
so If you can put a couple of people together,
a few people or more, by all means, go ahead
and have fun. I hope to hear you on the air.
Well, I will certainly do my best to be on the
air that weekend. I should be able to get at
least one day in. And yeah, I appreciate the
tune -up. I think it's a great idea. I've been
participating in it for a few years now. Also,
the fallout. I did one year win that Chameleon
MCOM 3, which is a fantastic antenna. By the
way, I've used it for parks on the air with some
of our club members, and they were always impressed
with, oh, location's not going to be great. We're
not going to get tons of contacts. And we're
there for four hours, and there's 100 QSOs on
the log. So it works really well. All right,
Christian. Well, thank you very much for taking
the call and answering the question. And, uh,
we will talk to you guys on the air. And if,
uh, if Paul Brown's all by himself, maybe I'll
team him up with them. If he'll have me, I mean,
he was an engineer. It was right up the road.
We could have done this right. You know, we could
practice. By the way, I waved at you yesterday
as I drove through Liberty township. I went back.
You didn't see me. I didn't see you. No. And
that's the other thing, too, I was going to say.
I think every club's having the same conversation
of, are we going to be able to do field day?
I know some of our club wants to do it. A lot
of the club members want to do it. I'm also with
Christian and Paul, where I have my youngest
son, Nicholas, as asthma. We're also thinking
care of my in -laws. So we are making you know,
we're being very prudent So I think everything
will be done from here for this year and then
and we'll see how things go from there But anyways,
I will let you get back to the show and thank
you very much for picking me up and we'll talk
you soon enough Thanks, Jocelyn for calling in
no problem. Bye. Bye Eight five nine nine eight
two seventy three seventy three is the number
if you'd like to join in we've got a few minutes
here That you can do that eight five nine nine
eight two seventy three seventy three. We've
got another tweet here from Jacob I like this
kg7 EQ in Christian this is purely for you if
the late musician Prince was still alive How
high could he hang a wire antenna in a tree by
throwing his guitar? He could hang six of them
at a time. And this is a this is a little inside
joke, but I would encourage everybody. And on
the anniversary of Prince's death, I just I love
Prince's music. He was he was there as I was
kind of growing up and stuff. But he played the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a tribute to George
Harrison. And you can find this at the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame YouTube page. and he plays
on, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, a great George
Harrison song, and he plays with Danny Harrison,
Tom Petty, many others are there as well, and
at the end of the performance, which he kills
by the way, you gotta see this, this is amazing,
he takes his guitar off and throws it up in the
air, and it doesn't land, it doesn't come back
down, and I just, you know, it's like, where
did it go? It's the craziest bit. Some may feel
that's a little bit over the top showmanship,
but that's the the Genesis of that question.
He just tosses it up there and it's a it disappears.
He walks off so you can do like a 5 ,000 foot
in fed vertical and just tie it to the guitar
and Rest in peace Prince. There you go. All right,
Jacob. Well, thank you for that and get on get
on the Field day stuff and get on the tune -up
and let's go crazy nice very nice if You say
where I have raspberry beret. Don't look up more
songs. Don't do that I Didn't have to look that
one up now. They're in a little red Corvette.
I know yeah, and you know the oldie station you
can't do that If that's oldies, then wow, I'm
really old. I heard U2, with or without you,
from Joshua Tree from 1987, and it's like, classic
oldies, and it was U2. Oh, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, that is not classic oldies. It hurt
me. It hurt me. And then it's under the boardwalk.
And then Bono. I'm like, no, that's not working.
No. Not an oldie. It's great. But not oldie.
BrettWY7BG says that was an epic guitar solo.
So there. That's right. There we go. All right.
Well, Christian, we're going to talk about hour
73 and we're already over time. So let me divert
here and tell us a little bit about hour 73.
Real quick and thank you for that. I appreciate
that You know when we hit they I've been thinking
about doing other things I joined the Aries team
here in st Louis in October a part of my passion
for amateur radio is emergency communications
and It's so much to learn but as we got later
in the year, I started to develop a new show
You know some where I could talk about broader
topics and then enter the pandemic and so our
73 podcast that focuses on long -term sustainability.
We're taught to prepare for the first 72 and
usually that's the first 72 hours could be a
power outage and if you're not prepared at the
end of 72 hours you may be looking at a FEMA
camp. So hour 73 it does encompass a communications
element but essentially it's everyday people
looking for ways To be more self -reliant and
we use history. We share ideas and solutions
The Facebook page is growing. It's active now
a lot of gardening stuff people planning their
victory gardens and sharing things like that
But it's getting back to some of that plain simple
living That our ancestors Native Americans early
pioneers they lived a much simpler and happy
life and you know one thing about kovat it's
really slowed us down. We can inventory things
in our house. We can kind of edit the way we're
living. We may not like everything about it,
but COVID really sped this up for me and so I've
put a team together. I love building teams of
just talented smart people and so we're looking
to build our capabilities. for long -term sustainability
in the 21st century. So we're about three episodes
in. It's evolving and it's changing a little
bit. It gets a little better each time. You can
find it on Facebook, Our, H -O -U -R 73. And
it's less doom and gloom. We are sharing ideas
together where normal people can become, you
know, preppers get a weird word and I respect
preppers who are preparing three months out.
But the show we talk about, you know, assessing
your needs, you know, where did you fall short?
We're talking to preppers. Where did you fall
short? Where are some of the aspects of prepping?
Was it your pantry? Was it hard to get? So these
are the conversations, but it's more about everyday
people and not necessarily those who are super
hardcore, buried in the bunker type stuff. We
want to have everybody included, just like 100
watts and a wire. Everybody's welcome. Let's
just talk. So that's that. Thank you for letting
me get that out. I hope you'll check it out.
You can find it on your iTunes or your Stitcher.
Wherever you get your podcast, take a look for
it. And if you dig it, cool. I hope you do. Thanks
for that, Neil. Were you prepared? Have you found?
I mean, not toilet paper now. Everybody's got
enough toilet paper for the non -digestive problem
pandemic thing. Yeah. Do you have any shortages?
Did you find yourself having a hard time getting
supplies? You know, what was it? That's a common
theme here. Where did you struggle? Well, I had
enough toilet paper, but I was starting to worry
a little bit. It was starting to get a little
low. And about that time, you know, it started
to show up if you got to the store, you know,
in the mornings or, you know, if you went it.
Eight o 'clock at night, which is my usual shopping
time. Forget it. Did you change any way of how
you were getting your supplies? Did you go online?
I actually wasn't finding stuff online. So I
actually started going to the store more than
online because it was just hard to see what the
supplies were. Yeah, everybody started going
earlier in the day, too. Yeah, that helps. And
you're getting to that age now where it's acceptable.
And you know what? Put the mask on. You put your
mask on, nobody knows that you're as old as you
are. There you go. You're looking much older,
Neil, and I'm saying that with love, but we're
old. We're the O .M. We're the official. We're
all older than we were when this show started.
And I can get to that toilet paper and those
vegetables faster than a lot of those other older
folks. So you know found that and sanitizer I
had some luckily Julie had had a stash so You
know, I know you'll do to get that but you know,
that's still tough But I kept saying I should
probably go in the chemistry lab and just make
something Well with it nice and seal it up. And
yeah, sure you could do that a lot of people
are doing that I had holes in my pantry. I was
having a hard thing, you know, it's Things are
different to get. I think we've settled in a
little bit now. It's a little easier to get some
of the things, but some of the stores that I
never frequented before have become staples.
And, um, you know, so now I go to Walmart. I
didn't go to Walmart all the time, but now they're,
they've got what I need. They can get what I
need and it's all about my family now. So our
73 .com check it out. I appreciate Neil, you,
uh, given a chance and But these are the conversations
we have, and we take a look at history and how
we've got through some pandemic type things as
a country and throughout the world. And just
trying to simplify things a little bit to be
a little more independent, a little more self
-reliant, because we don't know for sure that
the system is coming to help us. We don't know
this for sure. And for me, it's not anti -government
now. It's pro... building our own capabilities
so we have enough to kind of get through like
those early peoples. Now we had a kind of a prepper
themed club meeting at Southern Indiana Amateur
Radio Association a few months ago before the
whole pandemic thing and he talked about you
know a lot of the supplies that you can get and
how to you know prepare for that and tied it
into to ham radio a little bit but the one thing
that he really really pushed was this life straw
thing and i didn't even know those things existed
but but this thing actually filters out pretty
much anything and everything yeah it's like 99
there's different companies that make them and
uh like a life straw i mean you can go to a pond
or a lake you just don't know and a lot of people
don't think that way but now we are starting
to see You know, we've lived through a bit of
this in several weeks, whether it's 65 days,
whatever it is. And, uh, we're just, we're just
starting to see, you know, where, what needs
do we need? How would we create a plan? And it's
not just me. It's a little different than your
100 Watts and a wire format. I've got a, uh,
over 20 year, uh, police force veteran, an NRA
specialist rifle, you know, all, all these guys
like. I'm surrounding myself with smart people.
We've got historians, people who study and research.
So my role is to be the seeker and to be the
everyday person and ask these questions that,
you know, how do we start? Where do we begin?
Okay, this can happen. This is a serious thing.
How will I get my next, you know, grocery bump?
How do I make it through two weeks? You know,
and it's hard when... A lot of our people, we're
telling them, you know, not the show specifically,
but they say, get three days, get the first 72
ready. If you can stock up two weeks of food,
I think we'll be okay. Try to get two. And, you
know, some people have trouble putting a meal
on their plate, let alone a week's worth of food,
two weeks of food in the pantry. So I want to
keep it inclusive to a lot of people and we'll
learn and kind of grow together by using people
who are out there experiencing it. Real -time
preppers, real professionals, emergency. And
every preparedness plan should have a radio.
So there is radio involved in that too. So we
got your amateur radio needs there as well. So
I appreciate that Neil. That's nice. I'm having
a good time with it. We can really open up the
topics. And go toward water and supplies and
you know if you have to stick a straw in the
water in the pond I hope you're hiking I hope
you're camping and you just you've walked so
far that you need a drink and how you pull it
and You're not in a situation where you absolutely
have to depend on that. And what do you do? What
do you do? What do I do to purify my water? We'll
talk about it. Oh Lord Neil me rant and I think
I'm sweating. I got you going and Carl KD9HQT
has chimed in here and wants to know if you've
ever tried the food from a box like HelloFresh
and that's probably an excuse for not going to
the grocery store. I have not tried it. I have
a different diet than many others so if it's
a vegetarian I used to eat fish. So I have a
hard time. This is a great question, by the way.
The MREs, right? So you can you can store them
away and you add water to them. A lot of people
who camp get them. And I have tried. There was
a noodle one I've tried one time. I have to look
deeper at vegetarian options for me and my family.
It's just my needs. If I ate meat now, it would
really tear me up. But that's my my need. So
yeah, but They are selling like hotcakes. They're
selling like a lot of different things. Technology,
certain technology selling now because the world
has moved online. They want to look good. They
want to sound good. People who are selling food
that you can store away for a long time. They're
selling a lot of those too. I have bought like
a cache of seeds. You know, I like to garden.
I grow a lot. So I've I've stocked up in that
capacity to my gardens growing and we're eating
vegetables now from it. So, yeah, but that all
factors into it. A lot of people love those things
and they're selling. That's a big market right
now, Neil. They used to think that for astronauts,
you know, or people that were just going camping,
people are stocking their pantry up with these
meals and they're looking for high calorie, you
know, because you need a certain amount of calories
each day and you can get it, you know, if that's
the way you want to start. Free striped ice cream.
Is that something? Is that in there? That's the
astronaut thing, yeah. Free striped ice cream.
So that's good stuff It's good stuff. I learned
something by listening to your show today. That
was one of the very first Astronaut things that
you could buy you just get it off of the shelf
It used to be kind of hard to find you had to
get it like a museum or something But you have
to mix it now. It's out there what? You mix it
with anything. No, no, you just pull it out and
it's just a little like cube And when the moisture
on your tongue hits it, it turns into ice cream.
Sounds delicious. Yeah, it's pretty good. It's
in a little pouch thing and it works. Troy W9KBR
says he's using MREs for caving trips, so it
works. Many of you just, you know, if you can
boil water, a lot of you see this in camping
more than, you know, in other places, I'm sure.
But do you see people with camping that go up
and they'll boil water? Just add the water to
the meal and you know gives you what you need.
You see it's like the pack You know, you don't
have to cook every aspect you just if you can
heat up your water build a fire There you go.
There's your meal Well there there you have it
and check out our 73 for some more of those conversations
about preparing for That 73rd hour, which it's
kind of cool. It's a It does have 73. It's got
the ham connection there. It's for long -term
sustainability. That's where we're looking past
that first one. FEMA is going to do okay by you.
If you don't start thinking about it, you'll
have a place to go. For the first 72, you run
out of whatever, you might be headed to a FEMA
camp. If you're thinking long -term, you're thinking
beyond that period, and that's what it's about.
All right, well. We're gonna wrap things up here,
but Christian thanks so much for being on the
show again and talking about tune up and our
73 and everything and and we'll catch you again
soon Thank you, Neil. Thank you. Take care. Stay
safe Alright, that's a wrap for this week's edition
of ham talk live Thanks to my guest Christian
Kudnick K0STH and everyone out there in cyberspace
for listening and calling in and typing in and
invite you all back next Thursday night at 9
p .m. Eastern Time. For a list of our upcoming
guests go to HamTalkLive .com and if you like
the show please leave us a review. That will
help others find us faster. So for now, this
is Neil Rapp, WB9 VPG, saying 7375, and may the
good DX be yours.