WEBVTT 00:00:10.830 --> 00:00:13.570 Thanks for tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on 00:00:13.570 --> 00:00:27.250 the air shortly. Please stand by. This episode 00:00:27.250 --> 00:00:30.850 of HamTalk Live is brought to you by Tower Electronics. 00:00:31.269 --> 00:00:35.530 For connectors, cables, and more, call 920 -435 00:00:35.530 --> 00:00:42.270 -2973 or visit pl -259 .com. And by ICOM, heard 00:00:42.270 --> 00:00:47.509 it, worked it, logged it. Visit www .icomamerica 00:00:47.509 --> 00:00:51.210 .com slash amateur for more information about 00:00:51.210 --> 00:01:25.189 ICOM radios. Hey, good evening! Good evening 00:01:25.189 --> 00:01:29.150 everyone, it's time for HamTalk Live. It's episode 00:01:29.150 --> 00:01:35.450 number 208, the story of a tour of the Begali 00:01:35.450 --> 00:01:39.930 Key Factory, recorded live on Thursday, April 00:01:39.930 --> 00:01:45.409 16th, 2020. I'm your host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. 00:01:45.450 --> 00:01:49.890 Thanks for tuning in to this episode of HamTalk 00:01:49.890 --> 00:01:56.980 Live. Tonight we're joined by Dr. Jim Mara. N5HZ 00:01:56.980 --> 00:01:59.159 and we'll take your calls live in just a few 00:01:59.159 --> 00:02:01.920 minutes. Last week here on the show Vance Martin 00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:07.819 N3 VEM was here to talk about parks on the air. 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:11.180 If you missed that you can go over to HamTalkLive 00:02:11.180 --> 00:02:14.379 .com and listen to that anytime you like or on 00:02:14.379 --> 00:02:17.699 your favorite podcast app or YouTube. You can 00:02:17.699 --> 00:02:23.590 also catch HamTalk Live on WTWW shortwave That's 00:02:23.590 --> 00:02:30.889 5085 A .M., 5 .085 Saturday evenings at about 00:02:30.889 --> 00:02:34.870 6 .30 p .m. Eastern Time. Well, before we get 00:02:34.870 --> 00:02:38.669 started with Jim tonight, talking about the Begali 00:02:38.669 --> 00:02:43.729 Keys, I want to remind you that the Apollo 13 00:02:43.729 --> 00:02:48.539 50th anniversary special event from the NASA 00:02:48.539 --> 00:02:53.500 amateur radio clubs is ending tomorrow. And the 00:02:53.500 --> 00:02:56.719 NASA clubs have been on the air since Saturday 00:02:56.719 --> 00:03:01.039 and tomorrow is the last day. So if you want 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:04.120 to work them, you've got one more day. If you 00:03:04.120 --> 00:03:09.340 work in one KSC from Kennedy Space Center, it's 00:03:09.340 --> 00:03:12.819 likely to be on a satellite. And a shout out 00:03:12.819 --> 00:03:18.180 to Kevin Zari, KK4YEL. who is operating in one 00:03:18.180 --> 00:03:24.580 KSC from home with the pandemic going on. And 00:03:24.580 --> 00:03:27.840 he's got this neat little box rigged up that 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:31.080 makes the Quindar tones. Now that's the little 00:03:31.080 --> 00:03:34.120 that you always heard at the end. It's kind of 00:03:34.120 --> 00:03:38.669 like a courtesy beep, but it's Not duplex, it's 00:03:38.669 --> 00:03:41.729 simplex. But we used to hear that so much on 00:03:41.729 --> 00:03:44.990 the Space Shuttle audio and the Apollo missions 00:03:44.990 --> 00:03:47.330 and all that kind of thing. So I had a chance 00:03:47.330 --> 00:03:51.409 to work him on AO -91 yesterday, actually, and 00:03:51.409 --> 00:04:32.269 here is what it sounded like. I'm amazed how 00:04:32.269 --> 00:04:34.410 there's all that static at the beginning and 00:04:34.410 --> 00:04:36.850 you can hear that little Quindar tone. You can 00:04:36.850 --> 00:04:41.449 hear it right through the static. A good example 00:04:41.449 --> 00:04:44.649 of how CW gets through the static a whole lot 00:04:44.649 --> 00:04:49.649 better than voices. So thanks to Kevin for that 00:04:49.649 --> 00:04:53.269 and glad to get him in the log for the Apollo 00:04:53.269 --> 00:04:58.750 13 50th anniversary special event. And again, 00:04:58.870 --> 00:05:02.189 one more day. Get out there and work those NASA 00:05:02.189 --> 00:05:06.250 clubs. Check the spotting clusters. They'll be 00:05:06.250 --> 00:05:10.730 listed there. So get on and work that special 00:05:10.730 --> 00:05:13.509 event. All right. Well, we're going to talk some 00:05:13.509 --> 00:05:16.689 Begali Keys tonight. So get your questions ready 00:05:16.689 --> 00:05:20.889 to go. If you're listening to us live on Thursday 00:05:20.889 --> 00:05:23.660 night, you can give us a call. And we'll do that 00:05:23.660 --> 00:05:26.300 after the interview but let me go ahead and give 00:05:26.300 --> 00:05:28.699 you the phone number so you can have it ready 00:05:28.699 --> 00:05:33.699 to go and call in and ask your questions or chime 00:05:33.699 --> 00:05:36.639 in and join the conversation. You can do that 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:50.100 by calling 859 -982 -7373. Again it's 859 -982. 00:05:51.899 --> 00:05:56.279 7373. So keep that number handy and we'll open 00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:58.379 up the phone lines a little later in the show. 00:05:58.779 --> 00:06:01.500 You can also tweet us. You can tweet us anytime 00:06:01.500 --> 00:06:03.660 because it'll sit there until I can get to it 00:06:03.660 --> 00:06:07.660 on the screen here. It's at HamTalk Live on Twitter 00:06:07.660 --> 00:06:11.180 and if you're on Spreaker you can type there 00:06:11.180 --> 00:06:13.720 in the comments and I see we have a couple of 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:17.639 those already. Looks like Troy W9KVR is here. 00:06:18.139 --> 00:06:21.160 So we're kind of getting the usual crowd on the 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:24.100 comments in Spreaker, so that's kind of fun too. 00:06:24.699 --> 00:06:28.660 So we'll take a look at those and talk to Jim 00:06:28.660 --> 00:06:31.899 when we come back after this word from Tower 00:06:31.899 --> 00:06:37.879 Electronics right here on HamTalk Live. Thanks 00:06:37.879 --> 00:06:41.000 for choosing Tower Electronics. How may we help 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:44.959 you today? We have PL259s, we have in connectors, 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:49.279 we have SMA adapters, we have BNC adapters. What 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:52.379 can I show you today? Where's the tower? Well, 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:55.709 we don't actually have a tower with us. But we 00:06:55.709 --> 00:06:58.149 have all kinds of things you can use with a tower. 00:06:58.790 --> 00:07:01.850 We have power poles, antennas, soldering irons 00:07:01.850 --> 00:07:05.149 and meters. Where's the tower? Ma 'am, that's 00:07:05.149 --> 00:07:07.689 the name of our company. We can't haul towers 00:07:07.689 --> 00:07:09.850 to all the ham -fests across the country that 00:07:09.850 --> 00:07:12.470 we visit, but we have almost every connector 00:07:12.470 --> 00:07:15.029 and adapter you would need to connect your antenna 00:07:15.029 --> 00:07:17.149 that's on your tower. I don't think there's a 00:07:17.149 --> 00:07:20.769 tower back there. I really don't. Tower Electronics, 00:07:21.110 --> 00:07:25.209 visit us at a HamFest near you or call 920 -435 00:07:25.209 --> 00:07:30.750 -2973 or see our whole catalog at PL -259 .com. 00:07:30.930 --> 00:07:34.790 Sorry, one thing we don't have is a tower. This 00:07:34.790 --> 00:07:37.189 portion of the show is sponsored by our mystery 00:07:37.189 --> 00:07:40.290 sponsor, a product so good they are paying us 00:07:40.290 --> 00:07:43.529 not to advertise it on this program. You're listening 00:07:43.529 --> 00:08:10.680 to HamTalk Live with Neil Rapp. Ah, a little 00:08:10.680 --> 00:08:14.839 Italian music here to set the mood for talking 00:08:14.839 --> 00:08:20.089 about begali keys from Italy tonight. Thanks 00:08:20.089 --> 00:08:23.329 to Scott and Jill at Tower Electronics for sponsoring 00:08:23.329 --> 00:08:26.850 the show to help bring HamTalk Live your way. 00:08:27.970 --> 00:08:30.350 They're not on the HamFest Tour because of the 00:08:30.350 --> 00:08:33.850 pandemic, but you can find them online anytime 00:08:33.850 --> 00:08:42.679 at PL -259 .com. Well, joining us tonight is 00:08:42.679 --> 00:08:48.240 Dr. Jim Mara, N5HZ, and he lives in Meadoway, 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:56.600 Louisiana and was first licensed in 1952 as WN3UEY, 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:01.639 and he was a Naval Reserve radio man in 1955. 00:09:02.259 --> 00:09:05.000 Jim attended Penn State University and the Tulane 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:08.179 University School of Medicine. He was on active 00:09:08.179 --> 00:09:12.320 duty with the US Navy Medical Corps from 1965 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:16.320 to 1967. He did his residency and fellowship 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:18.860 at the Tulane Charity Hospital in New Orleans 00:09:18.860 --> 00:09:24.419 from 1967 to 1971. Then he was in private practice 00:09:24.419 --> 00:09:28.399 of internal medicine, rheumatology, and rehabilitation 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:33.429 until his retirement in 2008. He's also a retired 00:09:33.429 --> 00:09:36.190 captain of the U .S. Naval Reserve Medical Corps 00:09:36.190 --> 00:09:38.870 and took a trip a few months ago to Italy and 00:09:38.870 --> 00:09:44.070 toured the Begali Morse code key factory and 00:09:44.070 --> 00:09:46.710 has some updates about how they're dealing with 00:09:46.710 --> 00:09:51.389 the pandemic. And for some pictures, you can 00:09:51.389 --> 00:09:55.549 see those on an episode of Ham Nation. It's number 00:09:55.549 --> 00:10:01.379 429 back on November 20th. 2019 was when Jim 00:10:01.379 --> 00:10:04.419 was on there and you can see some of the things 00:10:04.419 --> 00:10:07.379 that we're going to talk about here on HamTalk 00:10:07.379 --> 00:10:11.799 Live tonight. So Jim, welcome to the show. Thank 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:15.879 you, Neil. I appreciate being here. Yeah, you 00:10:15.879 --> 00:10:19.220 had a very interesting picture show on there. 00:10:19.460 --> 00:10:22.159 And since this is radio, we can't see all the 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:25.190 pictures. So We told everybody how to find those, 00:10:25.370 --> 00:10:28.850 but we've got a lot of things to talk about tonight 00:10:28.850 --> 00:10:32.649 in addition to what was on the Ham Nation show. 00:10:33.049 --> 00:10:36.110 So you can get your visuals over there and we'll 00:10:36.110 --> 00:10:40.529 get to answer some of the listeners' questions 00:10:40.529 --> 00:10:45.070 and that kind of thing over here and we'll do 00:10:45.070 --> 00:10:48.230 that. So first, just tell us about your trip 00:10:48.230 --> 00:10:52.750 to Italy and your impressions of the Bagali factory. 00:10:53.500 --> 00:10:59.379 Okay, okay. Well, in August of 2019, Lynn and 00:10:59.379 --> 00:11:04.240 I did a trip to Northern Italy, six cities. And 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:07.299 our first stop was in Lake Garda, which happened 00:11:07.299 --> 00:11:10.700 to be about 30 minutes from Brescia or Salatica, 00:11:11.480 --> 00:11:14.679 where the Vigali factory is. And I thought, hmm, 00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:20.279 this has got to happen. So it's a 30 minute drive. 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:23.620 So we took a couple of buses and a taxi and we 00:11:23.620 --> 00:11:28.100 got there. So just as an orientation, the Lombardy 00:11:28.100 --> 00:11:34.299 region is the cradle of Italian industry and 00:11:34.299 --> 00:11:40.720 factories, Beretta gun company, fashions, weaving 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:46.299 materials, wines, other types of guns. It's also 00:11:46.299 --> 00:11:48.919 the epicenter for this virus thing that's been 00:11:48.919 --> 00:11:54.830 going on now. But as far as its productivity, 00:11:55.029 --> 00:11:58.429 it's always been very productive and it's really 00:11:58.429 --> 00:12:01.990 the breadbasket, at least for taxes, for Italy. 00:12:02.730 --> 00:12:07.909 So we did our little trip there and got to the 00:12:07.909 --> 00:12:12.169 outside of the factory and it was kind of underwhelming 00:12:12.169 --> 00:12:15.190 looking at it. And then I realized it was for 00:12:15.190 --> 00:12:18.559 safety reasons. And then there were dogs greeting 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:24.500 us, guard dogs. And so once we were recognized 00:12:24.500 --> 00:12:28.519 and invited in, it was a totally different picture 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:34.320 inside their factory. It is just a wealth of 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:38.840 hobbies and construction work, family and social 00:12:38.840 --> 00:12:42.000 life, food and wine. It's kind of like a second 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:47.320 home to them. And that's how we started our visit. 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:53.460 Well, tell us a little bit about how all this 00:12:53.460 --> 00:12:56.320 production happens there at the factory. That 00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:59.860 everything is just engineered to perfection. 00:13:01.139 --> 00:13:04.220 Yes, it is. You know, I keep thinking about this. 00:13:04.700 --> 00:13:08.460 And, you know, the bottom line that makes these 00:13:08.460 --> 00:13:13.620 keys so special is Mr. Magali himself. He's such 00:13:13.620 --> 00:13:19.960 an artisan and he just is a constant perfectionist 00:13:19.960 --> 00:13:24.500 in everything that he does. He showed us our 00:13:24.500 --> 00:13:26.960 first step when we walked in, he opened these 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:29.919 drawers up and there was all these designs and 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:36.179 drawings and prototypes of keys and they just 00:13:36.179 --> 00:13:39.240 reworked these things and reworked them until 00:13:39.240 --> 00:13:44.200 the mechanics is perfect. and it also has to 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:48.620 work under different conditions perfectly. For 00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:52.299 example, we know the parts are like a heavy base, 00:13:52.860 --> 00:13:57.659 it has levers, bearings, magnets, gold contacts, 00:13:58.379 --> 00:14:02.820 and the outside is polished finished. So, and 00:14:02.820 --> 00:14:06.320 even the magnets have to be matched to go into 00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:10.460 the individual keys. And the beauty part of this 00:14:10.460 --> 00:14:12.700 whole thing, the arty part of the whole thing, 00:14:12.740 --> 00:14:16.620 in addition to on the outside, are these polished 00:14:16.620 --> 00:14:20.159 finishes that I think some of the Sloan contractors 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:24.220 for some of the gun companies actually make these 00:14:24.220 --> 00:14:28.500 and they fit them in there. The machinery is 00:14:28.500 --> 00:14:32.740 very heavy duty in their rooms. When the drill 00:14:32.740 --> 00:14:36.779 starts drilling, nothing moves but the drill. 00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:40.919 The machines are just very, very heavy. I'm not 00:14:40.919 --> 00:14:43.580 used to seeing that kind of thing. And they're 00:14:43.580 --> 00:14:47.480 constantly recalibrated by Mr. Biggally, down 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:52.519 to the microns. He also has, we saw, a large 00:14:52.519 --> 00:14:57.779 inventory of parts, so that there's also an inventory 00:14:57.779 --> 00:15:03.299 of keys, but also parts. So everything is just 00:15:03.299 --> 00:15:05.799 beautiful in these little cabinets and everything. 00:15:07.139 --> 00:15:11.200 The Begali hands are on every step, right down 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:14.860 to the cardboard box that they send the keys 00:15:14.860 --> 00:15:18.240 out to you and they're signed by Mr. Begali. 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:23.860 I mean, he's just a very credible man. He was 00:15:23.860 --> 00:15:27.759 also the winner of the 2019 Hamvention Technical 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:31.340 Achievement Award, which sort of tells you how 00:15:31.340 --> 00:15:36.309 other people think of him as well. Yeah and they 00:15:36.309 --> 00:15:40.190 always make the trip to Hamvention and you can 00:15:40.190 --> 00:15:43.370 check out some of the keys there and visit with 00:15:43.370 --> 00:15:47.250 them and that's always an attraction over at 00:15:47.250 --> 00:15:51.389 Hamvention. This year we won't have that luxury 00:15:51.389 --> 00:15:56.309 but you had a chance to spend pretty much the 00:15:56.309 --> 00:15:59.509 whole day there. Tell us a little bit about some 00:15:59.509 --> 00:16:03.009 of the hospitality you were able to enjoy while 00:16:03.009 --> 00:16:06.649 you were there as well. Oh my gosh, yes, I mean, 00:16:07.330 --> 00:16:11.289 it was just, it was a wonderful day. We probably 00:16:11.289 --> 00:16:16.490 got there around 10 .30 in the morning and like 00:16:16.490 --> 00:16:20.950 I said, inside was just total Italian warmth 00:16:20.950 --> 00:16:27.409 and congeniality. We sort of casually walked 00:16:27.409 --> 00:16:31.210 around and saw a few things and then suddenly 00:16:31.210 --> 00:16:36.340 the table was set. for aperitivo, which is wine, 00:16:36.460 --> 00:16:40.879 cheese, bread. And so we sat down and had some 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:43.220 of that. And I'm not used to drinking wine at 00:16:43.220 --> 00:16:47.080 10th or 11 o 'clock in the morning, but I did 00:16:47.080 --> 00:16:50.639 it. Gratefully, I did it. And then his friend 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:55.960 Fabrizio came over, who's a high -speed telegrapher, 00:16:56.179 --> 00:17:02.340 IK2 UIQ. And he was interesting to talk to. And 00:17:02.340 --> 00:17:05.160 we thought, actually, we thought the aperitivo 00:17:05.160 --> 00:17:08.099 was going to be our lunch. And we saw a few more 00:17:08.099 --> 00:17:11.279 things as we walked around, the inventory, the 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:13.720 big machines that I just discussed and everything. 00:17:14.500 --> 00:17:20.119 And so we saw his ham stations. He has a ham 00:17:20.119 --> 00:17:23.720 station in there. And we saw his collection of 00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:28.099 books and the book he wrote. And he showed us 00:17:28.099 --> 00:17:31.579 some of the toys he makes, electronic. He likes 00:17:31.579 --> 00:17:36.140 to build things. So we thought, well, we had 00:17:36.140 --> 00:17:38.279 lunch now. I wonder what we're going to do next. 00:17:38.599 --> 00:17:39.980 And then I wonder what we're doing next. And 00:17:39.980 --> 00:17:42.960 suddenly, we were shuffled off to this wonderful 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:46.559 Italian restaurant for actually to have lunch. 00:17:47.059 --> 00:17:51.000 And it was filled with industrial workers. The 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:55.609 food was delicious. I tried not to drink my wine 00:17:55.609 --> 00:18:03.609 at the lunch and so then they wisely they said 00:18:03.609 --> 00:18:05.750 well we're gonna drive you back to your hotel 00:18:05.750 --> 00:18:08.230 and then we're gonna come pick you up I didn't 00:18:08.230 --> 00:18:11.410 know whether the visit was over or not so he 00:18:11.410 --> 00:18:13.589 said we're gonna drive you back to your hotel 00:18:13.589 --> 00:18:16.309 now so that's nice okay we're ready to go but 00:18:16.309 --> 00:18:20.170 we're coming back to pick you up so we went back 00:18:20.170 --> 00:18:25.430 to our hotel and about, I don't know, six o 'clock 00:18:25.430 --> 00:18:28.630 or so. They came back and picked us up, and we 00:18:28.630 --> 00:18:34.769 went back to the factory. And Fabrizio, the friend 00:18:34.769 --> 00:18:38.769 that I mentioned, his wife, Anna, was cooking 00:18:38.769 --> 00:18:41.809 the whole time we were sleeping, I guess. And 00:18:41.809 --> 00:18:43.890 she prepared dinner for us. And this was all 00:18:43.890 --> 00:18:49.170 outside on tables under an umbrella. And we talked 00:18:49.170 --> 00:18:53.559 all through the night. Mr. Mr. Begali started 00:18:53.559 --> 00:18:58.920 reciting poetry. He writes poetry Recites poetry. 00:18:59.220 --> 00:19:02.799 He does it in a Brescia accent so Lynn and I 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:06.460 can speak a little bit of Italian and I leaned 00:19:06.460 --> 00:19:08.339 over here and I said, do you understand what 00:19:08.339 --> 00:19:14.839 he's saying? And she said no Actually, we could 00:19:14.839 --> 00:19:21.140 pick a little bit of So The hospitality was just 00:19:21.140 --> 00:19:26.299 absolutely wonderful and I think it's something 00:19:26.299 --> 00:19:29.720 that they share with anybody that's a ham radio 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:34.400 operator and that loves Morse code CW and keys. 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:40.900 I think they are really into a lot of pride in 00:19:40.900 --> 00:19:45.619 their work and the appreciation that the public 00:19:45.619 --> 00:19:50.650 gives them for their product. And they're equally 00:19:50.650 --> 00:19:54.829 proud and happy to do all the service things 00:19:54.829 --> 00:20:01.069 that are required. Well, it sounds like a great 00:20:01.069 --> 00:20:06.269 trip and it's probably a good that you're not 00:20:06.269 --> 00:20:12.549 there right now. So tell us what's going on right 00:20:12.549 --> 00:20:16.009 now and how they're doing and what the status 00:20:16.009 --> 00:20:19.650 of the factory is and all of that. Well, we've 00:20:19.650 --> 00:20:23.049 stayed in touch mostly with emails and texts 00:20:23.049 --> 00:20:26.069 and little holiday greetings and so forth and 00:20:26.069 --> 00:20:29.589 I was concerned for them When this virus hit 00:20:29.589 --> 00:20:33.650 because that pandemic is right in that Right 00:20:33.650 --> 00:20:37.769 in their area the last thing that Bruna said 00:20:37.769 --> 00:20:42.690 to me was That they've had no really life change 00:20:42.690 --> 00:20:45.170 and they haven't gotten sick. That's the bottom 00:20:45.170 --> 00:20:50.559 line of everything but The problems are that 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:54.380 they can't evaluate the damage to business at 00:20:54.380 --> 00:20:59.420 this point in time and also the future of Taxes 00:20:59.420 --> 00:21:01.680 are they going to be taxed more a business cost 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:04.140 going to be more they can only know that going 00:21:04.140 --> 00:21:08.779 forward But they are going forward according 00:21:08.779 --> 00:21:13.819 to what the government has told them May 3rd 00:21:13.819 --> 00:21:16.200 Things are going to open up again in their in 00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:19.599 their city So they will begin accepting orders 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:23.920 again, and they're open for production. They 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:28.220 will have the same quality goals as before. And 00:21:28.220 --> 00:21:30.240 when I was there, and I think they keep a large 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:33.940 stock of parts, so they'll be able to hit the 00:21:33.940 --> 00:21:38.619 ground running producing keys for any orders 00:21:38.619 --> 00:21:41.640 that come in. The only thing that she did mention 00:21:41.640 --> 00:21:47.000 was that maybe the engraving of the models the 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:50.000 deliveries might be a little slower but that 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.940 all remains to be seen. Okay well we're glad 00:21:54.940 --> 00:22:00.220 that they are feeling well and safe and hopefully 00:22:00.220 --> 00:22:07.279 this will all end soon and they can get back 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:13.259 to some sort of normal. It's just a rough time 00:22:13.259 --> 00:22:16.440 in a lot of places and that is is one of the 00:22:16.440 --> 00:22:19.880 rougher ones. So thank you for that update from 00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:24.880 them. Well we're going to take a break here and 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:27.279 we're going to come back with Jim. We're going 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:29.460 to talk a little bit more and we're going to 00:22:29.460 --> 00:22:33.170 take your calls, tweets, and comments. Right 00:22:33.170 --> 00:22:36.390 after this word from ICOM America right here 00:22:36.390 --> 00:22:41.569 on HamTalk Live. Get out and be active with ICOM's 00:22:41.569 --> 00:22:45.890 new IC705 and its optional multi -function backpack. 00:22:46.140 --> 00:22:49.779 The IC705 is your perfect QRP companion as you 00:22:49.779 --> 00:22:52.339 have base station features and functionality 00:22:52.339 --> 00:22:55.359 at the tip of your fingers in a portable package 00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:58.900 covering HF 6 meters, 2 meters, and 70 centimeters. 00:22:59.140 --> 00:23:02.339 This compact rig weighs in at 1 kilogram or just 00:23:02.339 --> 00:23:05.980 over 2 pounds with RF direct sampling for most 00:23:05.980 --> 00:23:08.960 of the HF band and IF sampling for frequencies 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:12.720 above 25 megahertz and a large 4 .3 inch color 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:15.420 touchscreen with live band scope and waterfall. 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:18.400 It runs 5 watts with a battery, 10 watts with 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:22.700 a power supply, it has sideband CW, AM, FM and 00:23:22.700 --> 00:23:26.000 full D -star functions, a micro USB connector, 00:23:26.200 --> 00:23:30.140 Bluetooth, wireless LAN, micro SD card slot, 00:23:30.539 --> 00:23:34.200 integrated GPS with antenna and GPS logger, and 00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:37.539 the speaker mic comes standard and supports QRP 00:23:37.539 --> 00:23:41.359 operations. The perfect accessory for your IC705 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:45.750 is the optional backpack, LC192. with a special 00:23:45.750 --> 00:23:49.630 compartment for your IC -705 and room for accessories 00:23:49.630 --> 00:23:53.430 for soda activations or just a day in the park. 00:23:53.890 --> 00:23:57.450 Visit icomamerica .com slash amateur for more 00:23:57.450 --> 00:24:01.390 information about ICOM radios. Nominations are 00:24:01.390 --> 00:24:03.430 now open for the amateur radio news line Bill 00:24:03.430 --> 00:24:06.410 Pasternak, WA6ITF Youngham of the Year Award. 00:24:06.650 --> 00:24:10.490 I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW. Since 1986, we've had 00:24:10.490 --> 00:24:12.190 the honor of celebrating the accomplishments 00:24:12.190 --> 00:24:14.150 of Youth and Ham Radio when we want to know about 00:24:14.150 --> 00:24:16.589 your exceptional young ham. You'll find the rules 00:24:16.589 --> 00:24:18.990 and a nominating form by clicking the Y -H -O 00:24:18.990 --> 00:24:22.750 -T -Y tab on ARNewsline .org. Fill it out, send 00:24:22.750 --> 00:24:25.109 it in, and we'll see you and an amazing young 00:24:25.109 --> 00:24:27.230 ham at the Huntsville Alabama Ham Fest in August. 00:24:27.609 --> 00:24:31.480 Thanks and 73 from Amateur Radio Newsline. Join 00:24:31.480 --> 00:24:36.140 the conversation. Give us a call at 859 -982 00:24:36.140 --> 00:24:41.960 -7373. Again, the number to call is 859 -982 00:24:41.960 --> 00:24:46.940 -7373. Or, if you'd rather type than talk, tweet 00:24:46.940 --> 00:24:50.539 us at HamTalk Live. Now, here's Neil Rapp with 00:24:50.539 --> 00:25:03.029 more HamTalk Live. Soon, you'll know the rhythm 00:25:03.029 --> 00:25:06.849 of the code a dit is a dot a da is a dash the 00:25:06.849 --> 00:25:22.059 rhythm of the code alpha Bravo a little of Phil 00:25:22.059 --> 00:25:25.759 Collins rhythm of the code for you on ham talk 00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:28.460 live tonight we're on the air every Thursday 00:25:28.460 --> 00:25:32.559 night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time right here at ham 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:35.079 talk live comm and be sure to check us out on 00:25:35.079 --> 00:25:37.279 Facebook Twitter and Instagram and thanks to 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:41.119 icon for sponsoring the show once again tonight 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:45.500 check them out at icon America comm slash amateur 00:25:45.500 --> 00:25:49.829 so now it's time for your call so If you have 00:25:49.829 --> 00:25:53.750 a question for Jamera N5HC give us a call right 00:25:53.750 --> 00:26:06.890 now at 859 -982 -7373. Again it's 859 -982 -7373 00:26:06.890 --> 00:26:09.990 or you can tweet us it's at HamTalk Live. You 00:26:09.990 --> 00:26:13.789 can also comment on Spreaker and if you're listening 00:26:13.789 --> 00:26:18.779 to us on WTWW or on the podcast edition. You're 00:26:18.779 --> 00:26:21.559 not gonna hear us cuz it's it's Thursday night 00:26:21.559 --> 00:26:25.819 and Jim we already have a call on the line So 00:26:25.819 --> 00:26:27.839 we're gonna go straight to the phone. It's a 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:31.440 good evening. Welcome to am talk live Good evening, 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:35.359 Neil. Good evening. Jim. This is Brian kg5 gJT. 00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:40.019 I Had a feeling that was you Brian. How are you? 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:47.089 I'm doing good Good, Jim. You're doing well. 00:26:47.150 --> 00:26:50.150 I've got a couple of questions, though. Uh -oh. 00:26:51.490 --> 00:26:53.930 Could you tell... You mentioned something earlier 00:26:53.930 --> 00:26:56.950 about there were a lot of hobbies at the factory. 00:26:58.549 --> 00:27:00.630 What were they? Did they have anything to do 00:27:00.630 --> 00:27:05.130 with the factory or making things? Brian, you're 00:27:05.130 --> 00:27:09.970 stealing my material, man. Oh, go ahead, Jim. 00:27:10.569 --> 00:27:13.190 I told you. I told you it was a hard charger. 00:27:16.419 --> 00:27:23.980 Well, Brian, at the factory, we saw some of his 00:27:23.980 --> 00:27:26.859 books. He has a very large collection of books. 00:27:27.480 --> 00:27:31.200 Somebody said 10 ,000. I'm not sure, but he used 00:27:31.200 --> 00:27:34.460 to be an avid reader. And he showed us the one 00:27:34.460 --> 00:27:38.180 book, which was the one of the Marconi operating 00:27:38.180 --> 00:27:43.349 manuals that their CW operators used. It's a 00:27:43.349 --> 00:27:45.750 rare edition. You can see a lot of editions that 00:27:45.750 --> 00:27:51.210 look like this, but he showed us that one. It 00:27:51.210 --> 00:27:54.170 was interesting because they used five -letter 00:27:54.170 --> 00:27:58.329 code groups to replace phrases so they didn't 00:27:58.329 --> 00:28:04.769 have to type as much or send as much. That was 00:28:04.769 --> 00:28:08.569 one interesting book that we saw. Then he also 00:28:08.569 --> 00:28:12.400 wrote a book. It's called the story and stories 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:15.859 of radio and it's a little bit of history and 00:28:15.859 --> 00:28:20.759 a little bit of basic electronics but it's all 00:28:20.759 --> 00:28:24.660 written in Italian and in particular in the Brescia 00:28:24.660 --> 00:28:28.700 dialect. It's never been translated into English 00:28:28.700 --> 00:28:30.660 and if there's anybody listening that would ever 00:28:30.660 --> 00:28:32.299 be interested in doing that I think it would 00:28:32.299 --> 00:28:40.980 be a great thing. He also Like I say, he has 00:28:40.980 --> 00:28:46.880 a large library. He experiments with stuff. He 00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:49.940 makes stuff. He had like a spark gap transmitter 00:28:49.940 --> 00:28:52.900 and receiver he showed us. And then he had a 00:28:52.900 --> 00:28:55.380 little steam engine that he made and he explained 00:28:55.380 --> 00:28:59.180 it to Lynn how it goes back and forth and everything. 00:28:59.839 --> 00:29:02.180 And then he has two radio stations in there. 00:29:02.539 --> 00:29:06.359 One's on the first floor. We saw that one and 00:29:06.359 --> 00:29:11.480 he has a bug. Because he liked CW, obviously. 00:29:11.980 --> 00:29:14.900 So he had a bug sitting there. And I don't know 00:29:14.900 --> 00:29:17.319 what he had on the other floor. We didn't see 00:29:17.319 --> 00:29:21.500 that. But yeah, those were the main hobbies of 00:29:21.500 --> 00:29:26.259 interest that we saw. All right, interesting. 00:29:26.740 --> 00:29:28.660 All right, Neil, I won't ask any more questions. 00:29:29.359 --> 00:29:31.079 I don't want to steal any more material from 00:29:31.079 --> 00:29:33.240 you. No, go ahead, because you already stole 00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:38.099 my material. All right, well, I got to ask. Did 00:29:38.099 --> 00:29:41.440 you buy a key and was that a special kind of 00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:44.119 thing to buy one there or you didn't get to or 00:29:44.119 --> 00:29:49.500 how did that work out? Well we were we were traveling 00:29:49.500 --> 00:29:53.339 and those keys are very heavy and we had six 00:29:53.339 --> 00:29:58.799 more cities to go and for example like the the 00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:02.900 the bug key it weighs six pounds and I was afraid 00:30:02.900 --> 00:30:07.619 to buy one and And it lug it all around and break 00:30:07.619 --> 00:30:12.500 it. So I waited till I came home and I just ordered 00:30:12.500 --> 00:30:16.000 it directly the way you would order a key from 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:19.539 them. And I got the sculpture. Sculpture one. 00:30:20.299 --> 00:30:26.460 And I got the single paddle. And that was my 00:30:26.460 --> 00:30:30.160 first choice. I liked the signature too, which 00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:34.309 was kind of like gold and had red. had like red 00:30:34.309 --> 00:30:37.410 paddle things on it. I kind of like that one 00:30:37.410 --> 00:30:43.369 a lot too. That was a dual paddle. And yeah, 00:30:43.450 --> 00:30:47.130 but so far I'm very happy with what I got. And 00:30:47.130 --> 00:30:53.210 it's, it's really smooth to use. Awesome. All 00:30:53.210 --> 00:30:56.769 right. Well, I appreciate it. All right, Brian, 00:30:56.809 --> 00:31:00.150 thanks for calling. Good to hear from you. All 00:31:00.150 --> 00:31:02.190 right, Neil. Good to talk to you all both and 00:31:02.190 --> 00:31:07.690 73. And by the way, Brian, you're still the captain. 00:31:08.529 --> 00:31:15.809 I am. My wife will tell you. All right, Neo, 00:31:16.049 --> 00:31:22.869 take care. All right, 73, Brian. Bye bye. 759 00:31:22.869 --> 00:31:27.670 -982 -7373 is how you can join the discussion. 00:31:30.159 --> 00:31:34.839 859 -982 -7373 and yeah we were going to talk 00:31:34.839 --> 00:31:37.380 about the other interests and we've got a couple 00:31:37.380 --> 00:31:40.519 other things that we can talk about but first 00:31:42.050 --> 00:31:46.630 by text, Dr. Scott Wright, KZeroMD, who, by the 00:31:46.630 --> 00:31:49.450 way, is going to be on next week's HamTalk Live. 00:31:49.650 --> 00:31:52.970 We'll talk about that in a little bit. But he 00:31:52.970 --> 00:31:57.309 would like to know about the engraving process 00:31:57.309 --> 00:32:01.390 for the keys. So are you able to, Jim, are you 00:32:01.390 --> 00:32:06.569 able to describe the engraving process? Not too, 00:32:06.569 --> 00:32:10.390 too well. I didn't have my key engraved. The 00:32:10.390 --> 00:32:14.470 engraving process is usually simply with your 00:32:14.470 --> 00:32:19.490 call sign on the side of the key, or depending 00:32:19.490 --> 00:32:22.029 on which key you order, I think they can put 00:32:22.029 --> 00:32:26.150 it on the top. But that's the only thing that 00:32:26.150 --> 00:32:30.450 I recall seeing that was engraved, the call sign 00:32:30.450 --> 00:32:36.180 on your key. Now, do they do that? You said something 00:32:36.180 --> 00:32:39.160 about that may be a slowdown. Do they do that 00:32:39.160 --> 00:32:42.640 there in the factory too? Or do they outsource 00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:45.900 that or what? It might be an outsource thing 00:32:45.900 --> 00:32:53.619 and it would depend on what the condition was 00:32:53.619 --> 00:32:59.480 of the outsource place. When I spoke to Bruna 00:32:59.480 --> 00:33:03.329 today, She said there might be a slight delay 00:33:03.329 --> 00:33:07.269 in those kinds of orders. But she wasn't sure 00:33:07.269 --> 00:33:11.869 yet because May 4th is the day when things are 00:33:11.869 --> 00:33:15.829 supposed to be opening up. And that's a couple 00:33:15.829 --> 00:33:20.430 of weeks away. And I would bet that those people 00:33:20.430 --> 00:33:23.210 are anxious, anxious to get their businesses 00:33:23.210 --> 00:33:27.869 going. So within the next two weeks, that whole 00:33:27.869 --> 00:33:34.980 thought. May not even apply Well Scott would 00:33:34.980 --> 00:33:37.920 also like to know and I think you may have already 00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:40.839 hit all of this but maybe you can elaborate a 00:33:40.839 --> 00:33:46.079 little more the differences between The keys 00:33:46.079 --> 00:33:51.559 like the sculpture and the signature That would 00:33:51.559 --> 00:33:56.140 probably be difficult for me to do I think they 00:33:56.140 --> 00:34:02.559 both I just don't think I can, I would refer 00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:09.840 them to the Magali website where they have a 00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:16.599 catalog of something like 20 different keys and 00:34:16.599 --> 00:34:20.000 it's easy to negotiate, you just click on it 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:25.500 and it will come up with the key, the signature 00:34:25.500 --> 00:34:28.340 if you want to look at the signature. And the 00:34:28.340 --> 00:34:32.800 other thing is that Bruna is readily available 00:34:32.800 --> 00:34:38.099 to email and she will give you a lot of description 00:34:38.099 --> 00:34:45.019 of what one key has over another. I stick to 00:34:45.019 --> 00:34:50.860 the, some people like to order their spring version 00:34:50.860 --> 00:34:55.800 with the springs and I prefer the more skillful. 00:34:57.220 --> 00:35:02.199 skillfully made key that uses the magnets and 00:35:02.199 --> 00:35:06.119 the levers and the ball bearings and not the 00:35:06.119 --> 00:35:09.159 springs. It just is a little different feel. 00:35:09.199 --> 00:35:14.820 It's a little smoother. It's not totally necessary, 00:35:14.820 --> 00:35:19.539 but if you're giving yourself a gift, this is 00:35:19.539 --> 00:35:23.739 the gift you want to give yourself. All right, 00:35:23.739 --> 00:35:30.519 well said. And you mentioned that one had the 00:35:30.519 --> 00:35:33.599 single paddle where they also have dual paddles 00:35:33.599 --> 00:35:37.760 and so there's a wide variety there. Yeah there 00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:44.980 really is and they make so many of them and they're 00:35:44.980 --> 00:35:48.440 all just slight variations that they're almost 00:35:48.440 --> 00:35:53.309 custom made for what you want. And it's hard 00:35:53.309 --> 00:35:55.010 to know that when you're first ordering because 00:35:55.010 --> 00:35:58.489 you have no idea. That's one of the reasons why 00:35:58.489 --> 00:36:02.329 I didn't get my engraved. If I wanted to add, 00:36:02.389 --> 00:36:04.349 trade it off or something and get a different 00:36:04.349 --> 00:36:09.969 model, you couldn't do that easily if you were 00:36:09.969 --> 00:36:18.289 engraved. So yeah, I thought about ordering their 00:36:18.289 --> 00:36:21.150 bug, which is, that thing weighs six pounds. 00:36:22.470 --> 00:36:25.889 and it works beautifully and even thought about 00:36:25.889 --> 00:36:28.710 the straight key but I just haven't gotten around 00:36:28.710 --> 00:36:30.809 to those yet. I'm still playing with the one 00:36:30.809 --> 00:36:38.670 I have. 859 -982 -7373 is how you can call and 00:36:38.670 --> 00:36:42.269 ask Jim a question and he can try to answer that. 00:36:42.329 --> 00:36:46.480 We're talking with Jim Mera in 5HZ about Trip 00:36:46.480 --> 00:36:50.039 over to Italy and the Begali key factory. So 00:36:50.039 --> 00:36:53.260 again the number eight five nine nine eight two 00:36:53.260 --> 00:36:57.280 seventy three 73 and we'll check Twitter here 00:36:57.280 --> 00:37:02.760 once again And make sure we're okay there and 00:37:02.760 --> 00:37:06.679 on the chat we'll check there. Oh, yes on the 00:37:06.679 --> 00:37:11.380 chat Troy W9 KVR says they were supposed to be 00:37:11.380 --> 00:37:14.210 having senior night for track tonight, but The 00:37:14.210 --> 00:37:16.829 next best thing is HamTalk Live, so he's here. 00:37:18.090 --> 00:37:21.449 We've got a first -time listener. Dennis Gregory 00:37:21.449 --> 00:37:24.309 is listening, so good evening to you, Dennis. 00:37:25.889 --> 00:37:29.630 I don't have any trademark thing for first -time 00:37:29.630 --> 00:37:32.769 listener, but I guess I need to have one of those. 00:37:33.869 --> 00:37:37.809 Chris is with us again, AA4CB, so welcome, Chris, 00:37:37.849 --> 00:37:41.820 and thanks to everybody for being... here tonight 00:37:41.820 --> 00:37:45.280 listening and being here live so we can interact 00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:49.139 a little bit here. So that always makes it more 00:37:49.139 --> 00:37:53.119 interesting. So if you are listening and have 00:37:53.119 --> 00:37:59.460 a question, call 859 -982 -7373 or tweet us and 00:37:59.460 --> 00:38:02.460 we can talk about some other things while we're 00:38:02.460 --> 00:38:06.760 waiting here. The Begali Key Factory has an interesting 00:38:06.760 --> 00:38:12.860 history, Jim, in that you know, it started off 00:38:12.860 --> 00:38:17.559 really making machine guns. Tell us about that 00:38:17.559 --> 00:38:24.599 a little bit. Yes, that is interesting. Mr. Begali's 00:38:24.599 --> 00:38:29.360 father apparently was into that and Mr. Begali 00:38:29.360 --> 00:38:32.659 himself then studied under his father as well 00:38:32.659 --> 00:38:35.739 as several other master machinists and he went 00:38:35.739 --> 00:38:39.280 to school for that and everything. They all made 00:38:39.280 --> 00:38:43.619 these precision mechanical parts for guns. And 00:38:43.619 --> 00:38:49.860 then after Mr. Vigali's father died, he went 00:38:49.860 --> 00:38:57.420 into the knitting machine industry. It's surprising 00:38:57.420 --> 00:39:02.260 how that works in that all that knitting has 00:39:02.260 --> 00:39:05.860 to be thread. The threads have to be all knitted 00:39:05.860 --> 00:39:11.940 some way. very precisely to make cloth. And that 00:39:11.940 --> 00:39:16.940 area of Italy, close to Milan, which is one of 00:39:16.940 --> 00:39:19.539 the three fashion capitals of the world, Milan, 00:39:19.699 --> 00:39:22.739 Paris, and New York City. So there's a large 00:39:22.739 --> 00:39:28.300 demand for cloth. And so machinery in that area 00:39:28.300 --> 00:39:35.679 was part of that whole chain of events. and they 00:39:35.679 --> 00:39:39.940 made cloth for Italy, Germany, and the United 00:39:39.940 --> 00:39:44.300 States. Some of the earliest immigrants from 00:39:44.300 --> 00:39:47.460 Italy came from Northern Italy to set up a lot 00:39:47.460 --> 00:39:51.820 of these machines in the United States. And then 00:39:51.820 --> 00:40:00.360 the issues of China, India, and Turkey came into 00:40:02.400 --> 00:40:05.219 substituting the machinery that these masters 00:40:05.219 --> 00:40:09.960 were making. And a lot of that business began 00:40:09.960 --> 00:40:16.460 to disappear. So Mr. Bigale had to find a use 00:40:16.460 --> 00:40:21.219 for his factory. And so he began to reinvent 00:40:21.219 --> 00:40:26.239 himself by thinking about doing keys. He's been 00:40:26.239 --> 00:40:29.480 an amateur all his life starting in like 1964, 00:40:30.340 --> 00:40:35.719 I2R. TF and so it was natural for him to want 00:40:35.719 --> 00:40:38.920 to go in this build something very unique with 00:40:38.920 --> 00:40:42.920 all of his skills So they they they began very 00:40:42.920 --> 00:40:47.780 slowly in 2005 Like all businesses that was disappointing 00:40:47.780 --> 00:40:55.019 at first but his goal was to Totally build something 00:40:55.019 --> 00:40:59.480 that knew it was new and artistic and create 00:40:59.480 --> 00:41:03.789 a family legacy that he could share with the 00:41:03.789 --> 00:41:08.690 whole amateur radio community. Their sales are 00:41:08.690 --> 00:41:14.170 mostly United States, Great Britain, Canada, 00:41:14.329 --> 00:41:17.070 I believe it was. Yeah, but they sell all over 00:41:17.070 --> 00:41:23.230 the world. And it's a total family -run business. 00:41:23.949 --> 00:41:28.079 They're very appreciative of their... of their 00:41:28.079 --> 00:41:30.480 of their sales and their people who buy their 00:41:30.480 --> 00:41:34.239 products and they go to the to the nth degree 00:41:34.239 --> 00:41:38.860 to Just to make everything satisfactory and perfect 00:41:38.860 --> 00:41:45.900 Well, it's a really interesting story that you 00:41:45.900 --> 00:41:49.880 know, you just reinvent themselves and comes 00:41:49.880 --> 00:41:55.400 up with uses of the skills that you know were 00:41:55.400 --> 00:42:00.179 machine guns and knitting and now it becomes 00:42:00.179 --> 00:42:05.079 you know useful in ham radio and there's always 00:42:05.079 --> 00:42:11.159 you know some kind of connection there and it's 00:42:11.159 --> 00:42:16.050 always good to hear those stories. Well, Jim, 00:42:16.170 --> 00:42:19.630 I think we've got everybody's questions covered 00:42:19.630 --> 00:42:23.210 and everything caught up. So we're going to let 00:42:23.210 --> 00:42:26.809 you go here. We're just about out of time. So 00:42:26.809 --> 00:42:31.309 any final thoughts here or anything you forgot 00:42:31.309 --> 00:42:33.849 about that you want to mention? Oh, hang on, 00:42:33.869 --> 00:42:37.630 hang on. Before I do that, Mickey has a question 00:42:37.630 --> 00:42:40.829 here. Is it possible that if I buy a Begali key 00:42:40.829 --> 00:42:47.380 that it will magically help me learn CW? I think 00:42:47.380 --> 00:42:52.960 I know the answer to that. Once you make that 00:42:52.960 --> 00:42:57.699 investment, you will learn the curve. You'll 00:42:57.699 --> 00:43:02.920 be doing 50 words a minute by year. I can't guarantee 00:43:02.920 --> 00:43:07.199 that. I think it is very motivating though. I 00:43:07.199 --> 00:43:10.320 think if you buy a new transceiver, you're very 00:43:10.320 --> 00:43:13.809 motivated. to operate more and play with it. 00:43:13.809 --> 00:43:15.809 And I think it's the same thing with the, with 00:43:15.809 --> 00:43:20.150 a Magale key. If you buy a Magale key, uh, you 00:43:20.150 --> 00:43:23.590 want to possess it. You want to, uh, make it 00:43:23.590 --> 00:43:26.809 part of your hand. So I think that, uh, yeah, 00:43:26.809 --> 00:43:30.510 I think it would, it's, it's motivating. Motivating, 00:43:30.650 --> 00:43:35.969 but it won't magically all of a sudden make you 00:43:35.969 --> 00:43:41.590 a great CW up. Okay. All right. So, final thoughts, 00:43:41.849 --> 00:43:46.530 Jim? I think we've covered an awful lot. I appreciate 00:43:46.530 --> 00:43:50.110 the time. I hope I haven't missed a few points 00:43:50.110 --> 00:43:53.250 that could be of interest to other people. I 00:43:53.250 --> 00:43:58.349 just find that I had a wonderful trip there and 00:43:58.349 --> 00:44:01.670 it was very congenial and I think anybody who 00:44:01.670 --> 00:44:05.090 goes to Italy is in that area. They should go 00:44:05.090 --> 00:44:08.840 visit the big alleys. They're very, very social 00:44:08.840 --> 00:44:12.480 and I think the ham radio is the only introduction 00:44:12.480 --> 00:44:20.659 you need. Sounds like a great little trip if 00:44:20.659 --> 00:44:26.059 you're in Italy. Check them out and maybe you 00:44:26.059 --> 00:44:29.119 can do the tour as well. Mickey says they're 00:44:29.119 --> 00:44:32.539 beautiful and tempting and I would totally agree. 00:44:33.630 --> 00:44:36.829 We will end it on that note, but Jim, thanks 00:44:36.829 --> 00:44:39.909 so much for being here tonight, and we'll even 00:44:39.909 --> 00:44:44.170 thank Brian at KG5GJT, better known as the pot 00:44:44.170 --> 00:44:49.449 stirrer or the captain on Twitter, for suggesting 00:44:49.449 --> 00:44:52.889 that you come on the show tonight. So he's kind 00:44:52.889 --> 00:44:55.849 of the reason we connected, so we'll thank Brian, 00:44:56.090 --> 00:44:59.809 too. But thanks to you for sharing your experiences 00:44:59.809 --> 00:45:02.849 here on HamTalk Live and taking questions tonight. 00:45:03.239 --> 00:45:05.480 Well, it was very enjoyable, Neil. Thank you 00:45:05.480 --> 00:45:09.239 for asking me. As you said, I'm happy that Brian 00:45:09.239 --> 00:45:13.940 introduced us. All right. Well, we're going to 00:45:13.940 --> 00:45:17.960 finish things up here tonight. So that is a wrap. 00:45:18.440 --> 00:45:21.360 for this week's edition of HamTalk Live. Thanks 00:45:21.360 --> 00:45:25.980 to my guest, Dr. Jim Mara, in 5HZ, and everybody 00:45:25.980 --> 00:45:28.760 out in cyberspace for listening and calling in 00:45:28.760 --> 00:45:31.739 and typing in. And I invite you back next Thursday 00:45:31.739 --> 00:45:34.900 night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time. This is late breaking 00:45:34.900 --> 00:45:37.280 news. We just put this together right before 00:45:37.280 --> 00:45:40.719 the show. We're going to have two topics next 00:45:40.719 --> 00:45:45.099 week. As I mentioned, Dr. Scott Wright, KZeroMD, 00:45:45.360 --> 00:45:49.139 who texted in some questions. He's going to be 00:45:49.139 --> 00:45:54.159 here for a brief time to talk about a project 00:45:54.159 --> 00:46:00.510 that he is working on. And also Sam Rose. KC2LRC 00:46:00.510 --> 00:46:03.750 will be here and and the theme next week is going 00:46:03.750 --> 00:46:07.269 to be a very scientific one and and of course, 00:46:07.269 --> 00:46:09.269 you know, if you've been listening and know about 00:46:09.269 --> 00:46:11.590 me I'm a chemistry teacher and so I get into 00:46:11.590 --> 00:46:15.349 the to the the science of some of this stuff 00:46:15.349 --> 00:46:18.230 and We're going to talk a little science next 00:46:18.230 --> 00:46:20.869 week, but we're tying it into ham radio So we're 00:46:20.869 --> 00:46:23.969 going to talk about how ham radio operators can 00:46:23.969 --> 00:46:29.489 actually contribute to COVID -19 research. So 00:46:29.489 --> 00:46:33.690 Scott will be here to talk about his COVID plasma 00:46:33.690 --> 00:46:37.570 project that's going on at Mayo Clinic that he 00:46:37.570 --> 00:46:42.750 is overseeing and spending just about all day 00:46:42.750 --> 00:46:47.159 and all night there working on that. Sam and 00:46:47.159 --> 00:46:50.440 I are going to talk about a program that you 00:46:50.440 --> 00:46:53.539 can put on your computer that helps fold proteins, 00:46:54.760 --> 00:46:57.880 the models of those, and it'll help figure things 00:46:57.880 --> 00:47:01.480 out. So it's the connection between ham radio 00:47:01.480 --> 00:47:08.289 and COVID -19 research next week on HamTalk Live. 00:47:08.469 --> 00:47:12.269 So be sure to tune in for that. And for all of 00:47:12.269 --> 00:47:15.090 our upcoming guests, just go to HamTalkLive .com. 00:47:15.130 --> 00:47:17.210 There's a list there. You can check that out. 00:47:17.449 --> 00:47:19.630 And if you like the show, please leave us a review. 00:47:19.670 --> 00:47:24.610 That helps others find us faster. And Troy says 00:47:24.610 --> 00:47:29.079 it's time for me to get a Pagali. There we go. 00:47:29.619 --> 00:47:41.460 You made a sale there, Jim. So for now, this 00:47:41.460 --> 00:47:47.159 is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, saying 7375, and may the 00:47:47.159 --> 00:48:01.449 good DX be yours. Thanks for watching!