WEBVTT 00:00:10.250 --> 00:00:12.990 Thanks for tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on 00:00:12.990 --> 00:00:28.079 the air shortly. Please stand by. This episode 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:31.679 of HamTalk Live is brought to you by Tower Electronics. 00:00:32.119 --> 00:00:36.359 For connectors, cables, and more, call 920 -435 00:00:36.359 --> 00:00:43.100 -2973 or visit PL -259 .com. And by ICOM, heard 00:00:43.100 --> 00:00:48.299 it, worked it, logged it. Visit www .icomamerica 00:00:48.299 --> 00:00:52.060 .com slash amateur for more information about 00:00:52.060 --> 00:00:59.259 ICOM radios. It's Ham Radio, with Neograb, here 00:00:59.259 --> 00:01:05.200 we go! Welcome to Hamtop Live, call in last time, 00:01:05.560 --> 00:01:09.819 Neil's your guy! Hamtop Live, here we go, on 00:01:09.819 --> 00:01:29.840 Hamtop Radio! Good evening everyone, it's time 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:34.060 for another episode of HamTalk Live. It's episode 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:39.480 number 207, the Support Your Parks event, recorded 00:01:39.480 --> 00:01:46.640 live on Thursday, April 9th, 2020. Boy, I'm a 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:50.560 year behind. I'm your host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. 00:01:50.599 --> 00:01:54.900 Thanks for tuning in to another episode of HamTalk 00:01:54.900 --> 00:01:58.429 Live. Tonight we're joined by Vance Martin. N3 00:01:58.429 --> 00:02:01.730 VEM and we'll take your calls live in just a 00:02:01.730 --> 00:02:04.510 few minutes. Last week here on the show, Michael 00:02:04.510 --> 00:02:08.569 Coulter, W8CI, was here to talk about the cancellation 00:02:08.569 --> 00:02:13.210 of Hamvention and the new QSO party. And if you 00:02:13.210 --> 00:02:15.789 missed that show, you can listen anytime at HamTalkLive 00:02:15.789 --> 00:02:19.229 .com or on your favorite podcast app or over 00:02:19.229 --> 00:02:23.900 on YouTube. And you can always catch the rebroadcast 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:27.800 of this show on Saturday evenings at about 6 00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:34.819 30 p .m. Eastern Time on WTWW that's 5085 a .m. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:37.360 So we're gonna talk to Vance here in a little 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:41.419 bit about some Parks on the Air stuff and that's 00:02:41.419 --> 00:02:45.180 coming up in July But there's something coming 00:02:45.180 --> 00:02:48.860 up this weekend actually that I need to make 00:02:48.860 --> 00:02:54.349 you aware of And that is going to be Saturday, 00:02:54.509 --> 00:02:59.849 April 11th through the 17th of April. I got a 00:02:59.849 --> 00:03:03.389 note from Dr. Rob Suggs about the NASA on the 00:03:03.389 --> 00:03:06.509 air. The NASA clubs will be on the air. They're 00:03:06.509 --> 00:03:08.729 going to be on the air from their homes though 00:03:08.729 --> 00:03:13.289 with all the quarantine stuff going on. But they 00:03:13.289 --> 00:03:17.849 will be using the NASA club call signs. to commemorate 00:03:17.849 --> 00:03:22.870 the 50th anniversary of Apollo 13. So they're 00:03:22.870 --> 00:03:26.030 not planning any NASA wide certificates or the 00:03:26.030 --> 00:03:28.770 score tracking like they did for the NASA on 00:03:28.770 --> 00:03:31.969 the Air event, but they will be celebrating the 00:03:31.969 --> 00:03:36.030 50th anniversary of Apollo 13. Again, that's 00:03:36.030 --> 00:03:40.349 Saturday, April 11th through the 17th of April. 00:03:40.770 --> 00:03:45.189 And there will be opportunities for QSL cards 00:03:45.189 --> 00:03:49.449 from those clubs. Just go to their site on QRZ 00:03:49.449 --> 00:03:53.129 .com and you can find the specific instructions 00:03:53.129 --> 00:03:56.729 on QSLs. Those are not really standardized. So 00:03:56.729 --> 00:04:03.349 check out whichever one that you work and you 00:04:03.349 --> 00:04:05.770 can find out that information. There will be 00:04:05.770 --> 00:04:10.289 news on their website, nasaontheair .wordpress 00:04:10.289 --> 00:04:14.870 .com and also on their Twitter feed, which is 00:04:14.870 --> 00:04:20.439 NASA. On the air so check that out and you can 00:04:20.439 --> 00:04:25.459 catch the Locations of those stations on the 00:04:25.459 --> 00:04:30.120 DX spotting sites Starting on Saturday. So if 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:34.319 you want to work one of those Apollo 13 Special 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:38.360 event stations they will be on All right. Well 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:40.439 get your questions ready to go about parks on 00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:43.120 the air and we're going to talk to Vance about 00:04:44.609 --> 00:04:50.290 a plaque award event that he is coordinating 00:04:50.290 --> 00:04:53.490 this year. So we'll talk about that here in just 00:04:53.490 --> 00:04:56.870 a little bit. So if you have some questions, 00:04:57.050 --> 00:05:00.910 we'll give you a chance to call in. We'll talk 00:05:00.910 --> 00:05:03.730 to Vance first and then we'll take a break. And 00:05:03.730 --> 00:05:07.550 then after the break, we'll take your questions 00:05:07.550 --> 00:05:12.579 live by phone, by Twitter. And here on Spreaker, 00:05:12.699 --> 00:05:16.339 the platform where the show is streaming, there's 00:05:16.339 --> 00:05:19.139 comments. So we'll be watching the comments there 00:05:19.139 --> 00:05:24.339 as well. So to find us on Twitter, it's at HamTalk 00:05:24.339 --> 00:05:28.660 Live and call us on the phone. Let me give you 00:05:28.660 --> 00:05:30.740 the number so you can write it down. We're not 00:05:30.740 --> 00:05:34.199 ready for calls just yet, but I'll give you the 00:05:34.199 --> 00:05:37.060 number so that way you have it ready to go. It's 00:05:37.060 --> 00:05:49.839 859. 9 8 2 73 73 8 5 9 9 8 2 73 73 is how you 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:53.740 can call and join in the conversation. So keep 00:05:53.740 --> 00:05:56.560 that on hand. I'll give that out again in a little 00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:59.420 bit and I'll be back with Vance right after this 00:05:59.420 --> 00:06:03.759 word from ICOM right here. on HamTalk Live. Get 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:08.680 out and be active with ICOM's new IC705 and its 00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:12.490 optional multi -function backpack. The IC705 00:06:12.490 --> 00:06:15.490 is your perfect QRP companion as you have base 00:06:15.490 --> 00:06:18.069 station features and functionality at the tip 00:06:18.069 --> 00:06:21.029 of your fingers in a portable package covering 00:06:21.029 --> 00:06:24.490 HF 6 meters, 2 meters, and 70 centimeters. 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The grass may be greener on 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:29.560 the other side but at least we don't have to 00:07:29.560 --> 00:07:32.240 mow it. You're listening to HamTalk Live with 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:53.980 Neil Rapp. Welcome back to HamTalk Live. Thanks 00:07:53.980 --> 00:07:57.819 to ICOM for bringing the show your way. Visit 00:07:57.819 --> 00:08:04.220 them at icomamerica .com slash amateur. We're 00:08:04.220 --> 00:08:07.160 on the air every Thursday night, 9 p .m. Eastern 00:08:07.160 --> 00:08:11.600 time at hamtalklive .com. And tonight joining 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:17.089 us is Vance Martin, N3 VEM. He became aware of 00:08:17.089 --> 00:08:19.910 ham radio as a teenager when he stumbled onto 00:08:19.910 --> 00:08:23.170 some of his dad's old radio books, but didn't 00:08:23.170 --> 00:08:27.350 become a ham until April 2014. He passed his 00:08:27.350 --> 00:08:33.929 extra in 2015 and is working on CW skills. Spent 00:08:33.929 --> 00:08:38.210 a lot of the first years on the air from a mobile 00:08:38.210 --> 00:08:41.570 station, but now he has a nice shack at home 00:08:41.570 --> 00:08:45.600 and that he's built and Still does a lot of mobile 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:48.700 and portable operation and he is coordinating 00:08:48.700 --> 00:08:52.820 the support your parks event for the parks on 00:08:52.820 --> 00:08:56.799 the air program this summer. And that's why we 00:08:56.799 --> 00:08:59.740 have him on the show tonight. So Vance, welcome 00:08:59.740 --> 00:09:02.919 to the show. Yeah, thanks, Neil. Thanks for having 00:09:02.919 --> 00:09:07.460 me and thrilled to be on. Well, you you you've 00:09:07.460 --> 00:09:10.580 been a caller or a longtime listener first time 00:09:10.580 --> 00:09:13.480 caller last time so now you're second time caller 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:19.960 so We'll we'll get you back on here. So You know 00:09:19.960 --> 00:09:24.000 the national parks on the air program Was a big 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:28.159 hit and we've had a plethora of different events 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:31.460 and one of my favorites, of course was the the 00:09:31.460 --> 00:09:34.899 famous Walmart parking lots on the air. And actually, 00:09:35.059 --> 00:09:39.000 I did an impromptu Walmart parking lot on the 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:44.500 air contact yesterday. In fact, I got a Shawn 00:09:44.500 --> 00:09:50.200 KX9X from a Walmart parking lot. on one of the 00:09:50.200 --> 00:09:52.120 satellites. And then there's lighthouses on the 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:54.440 air. There's mines on the air, islands on the 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:57.799 air. Somebody even had Dollar General parking 00:09:57.799 --> 00:10:00.340 lots on the air. There's all these on the air 00:10:00.340 --> 00:10:04.019 things. And so you've got just parks on the air. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:07.080 It's not national parks. It's all parks. It's 00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:09.899 just parks on the air. So before we get into 00:10:09.899 --> 00:10:12.000 this specific event that you're coordinating, 00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:15.259 let's hear a little bit in general, just about 00:10:15.259 --> 00:10:19.580 the whole parks on the air program. Sure thing. 00:10:19.980 --> 00:10:23.559 Yeah, so so basically parks on the air got started 00:10:23.559 --> 00:10:26.179 because there was there was a lot of folks myself 00:10:26.179 --> 00:10:29.139 included that wanted to continue the type of 00:10:29.139 --> 00:10:31.460 activity that we had had so much fun with during 00:10:31.460 --> 00:10:34.820 national parks on the air and Jason Johnston 00:10:34.820 --> 00:10:36.860 was the the one who kind of had the vision to 00:10:36.860 --> 00:10:39.559 hey, let's put something together and coordinate 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:43.120 and make a like a an evergreen parks on the air 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:45.220 program something that just kind of runs runs 00:10:45.220 --> 00:10:48.269 continually like the other programs so So Jason 00:10:48.269 --> 00:10:50.830 was the one with that vision. He pulled together 00:10:50.830 --> 00:10:54.870 a group of us as volunteers to help build the 00:10:54.870 --> 00:10:57.789 database and the website and all the other infrastructure 00:10:57.789 --> 00:11:01.230 stuff to basically support running an ongoing 00:11:01.230 --> 00:11:04.470 program like that. And really the idea was to 00:11:04.470 --> 00:11:07.149 create a program so we could all just have fun. 00:11:07.309 --> 00:11:10.830 So we set out to essentially mirror the rules 00:11:10.830 --> 00:11:13.570 that existed for national parks on the air. So 00:11:13.570 --> 00:11:15.990 10 contacts from a park equals an activation. 00:11:16.429 --> 00:11:18.769 But we also wanted to include state parks just 00:11:18.769 --> 00:11:20.629 to make it more accessible. So that's why it's 00:11:20.629 --> 00:11:23.330 the generic parks on the air. Just so there's 00:11:23.330 --> 00:11:26.389 more places folks can go and play portable radio. 00:11:27.309 --> 00:11:29.590 So in the interest of fun and accessibility, 00:11:30.470 --> 00:11:32.730 the program doesn't have a long list of rules. 00:11:33.330 --> 00:11:35.269 Basically, you just have to be inside the boundary 00:11:35.269 --> 00:11:38.269 of a park and make contacts to earn activator 00:11:38.269 --> 00:11:42.070 credit or make contacts with somebody in a park 00:11:42.070 --> 00:11:47.370 to earn credit as like a hunter. So folks can, 00:11:47.370 --> 00:11:49.649 you know, start at parksontheair .com and click 00:11:49.649 --> 00:11:52.649 around their stats and links to get registered 00:11:52.649 --> 00:11:56.169 and things like that. Really one of the main 00:11:56.169 --> 00:11:59.789 differences from the old National Parks on the 00:11:59.789 --> 00:12:03.210 Air program was that with POTA we added a list 00:12:03.210 --> 00:12:06.049 of certificates or achievements that folks can 00:12:06.049 --> 00:12:09.490 work towards for activating or hunting certain 00:12:09.490 --> 00:12:13.990 numbers of parks, activating or hunting Parks 00:12:13.990 --> 00:12:16.149 certain numbers of times making park to park 00:12:16.149 --> 00:12:18.970 contacts. So basically things that that you can 00:12:18.970 --> 00:12:21.690 kind of accumulate over time to earn certificates 00:12:21.690 --> 00:12:25.409 So that's that's the quick high level summary. 00:12:25.409 --> 00:12:28.090 Really. It's just a program to Get out in the 00:12:28.090 --> 00:12:33.110 park play radio and uh and have fun And I think 00:12:33.110 --> 00:12:39.370 you know, um Sean and norm's idea of the national 00:12:39.370 --> 00:12:44.330 parks on the air also kind of created an awareness 00:12:44.330 --> 00:12:49.990 with a lot of the park management so that they 00:12:49.990 --> 00:12:52.669 knew what was going on and you know people would 00:12:52.669 --> 00:12:54.669 kind of check in and tell them what was going 00:12:54.669 --> 00:12:57.450 on and so I think they're a little more comfortable 00:12:57.450 --> 00:13:01.049 with this happening just because it's more of 00:13:01.049 --> 00:13:03.110 a common thing now and they know that we're not 00:13:03.110 --> 00:13:06.480 just bunch of weirdos showing up with all this 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:08.720 well, okay, maybe we are a bunch of weirdos, 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:12.340 but But we're showing up with all this radio 00:13:12.340 --> 00:13:15.580 equipment and stuff In the middle of their park 00:13:15.580 --> 00:13:17.799 and so they've got a little better idea of what's 00:13:17.799 --> 00:13:22.500 going on Yep, yeah for sure. It's there's certainly 00:13:22.500 --> 00:13:26.460 more and more Rangers and facilities that are 00:13:26.460 --> 00:13:29.039 kind of aware of ham radio operators and what 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:33.269 we do And it's a neat way to interact with park 00:13:33.269 --> 00:13:35.649 rangers too, because at the end of the day, the 00:13:35.649 --> 00:13:38.870 rangers are, they're just other people that are 00:13:38.870 --> 00:13:41.690 also curious about what's going on. So I've had 00:13:41.690 --> 00:13:43.830 a, personally, I've had a lot of neat conversations 00:13:43.830 --> 00:13:46.190 with park rangers just being out and they'd swing 00:13:46.190 --> 00:13:48.149 by, oh, what are you doing? And you talk to them 00:13:48.149 --> 00:13:52.230 a little bit and kind of get the little ham radio 00:13:52.230 --> 00:13:55.250 cell in to expose more people to ham radio. And 00:13:55.250 --> 00:13:57.669 once in a while you'll stumble on a park ranger 00:13:57.669 --> 00:14:00.720 that's also a ham. That happened to me once up 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:02.840 in Connecticut, stumbled on a park ranger that 00:14:02.840 --> 00:14:06.279 was an inactive ham. So I actually got to show 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:08.700 off some of my radio gear to the park ranger 00:14:08.700 --> 00:14:12.240 and rekindled some interest there. So yeah, it's 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:13.919 definitely something that they're becoming more 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:16.720 and more aware of. We do tell people, you know, 00:14:16.940 --> 00:14:19.840 respect the rangers. You know, if somebody isn't 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:21.620 sure about what you're doing, is a little uncomfortable, 00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:25.200 just... Kind of respect and obey, and we can 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:28.200 always, it's easier to be polite and explain 00:14:28.200 --> 00:14:32.200 later than to try to push back if somebody isn't 00:14:32.200 --> 00:14:36.019 sure about what you're doing. Yeah, good advice. 00:14:36.899 --> 00:14:38.860 Well, let's talk a little bit about this event 00:14:38.860 --> 00:14:41.860 that you're coordinating, which is the support 00:14:41.860 --> 00:14:46.500 your parks plaque event. So tell us all about 00:14:46.500 --> 00:14:49.340 that and how people will be able to participate 00:14:49.340 --> 00:14:55.429 in that. Yeah, it's something that I'm really 00:14:55.429 --> 00:14:59.149 excited about because it's an activity that I've 00:14:59.149 --> 00:15:01.649 spearheaded. This will be the third year now. 00:15:02.830 --> 00:15:05.549 When I talked about the different awards and 00:15:05.549 --> 00:15:07.350 certificates that are available through Parks 00:15:07.350 --> 00:15:10.889 on the Air, one of them is just called Support 00:15:10.889 --> 00:15:14.370 Your Parks. Support Your Parks is actually something 00:15:14.370 --> 00:15:19.230 we do quarterly. We do one with every season. 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:24.340 winter, spring, summer, fall, the Portier Parks 00:15:24.340 --> 00:15:27.980 events. And essentially what started about three 00:15:27.980 --> 00:15:32.299 years ago in the summertime event, we decided 00:15:32.299 --> 00:15:35.379 to add an extra twist and basically say, hey, 00:15:35.539 --> 00:15:39.919 let's coordinate this plaque event to kind of 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:43.100 add some excitement and maybe draw in some new 00:15:43.100 --> 00:15:49.159 people. So back in 2018, we had our first plaque 00:15:49.159 --> 00:15:52.230 event In conjunction with the summer supports 00:15:52.230 --> 00:15:55.610 your parks and in 2018 we just had two plaques 00:15:55.610 --> 00:15:59.649 available. It was a Most contacts for an activator 00:15:59.649 --> 00:16:03.409 and most contacts for a hunter Then last year 00:16:03.409 --> 00:16:05.809 we added some more categories because there was 00:16:05.809 --> 00:16:07.990 a lot of interest and a lot of folks wanted to 00:16:07.990 --> 00:16:10.929 wanted to sponsor plaques so we had eight categories 00:16:10.929 --> 00:16:14.490 last year and this year in 2020 there's going 00:16:14.490 --> 00:16:19.509 to be 11 categories, so 11 plaques up for grab, 00:16:19.970 --> 00:16:22.350 which are basically most contacts for an Activator 00:16:22.350 --> 00:16:25.830 and a Hunter, most voice contacts. We have an 00:16:25.830 --> 00:16:29.730 N2CX Memorial, which is a CW contacts for an 00:16:29.730 --> 00:16:31.629 Activator. Then there's a Hunter version of that 00:16:31.629 --> 00:16:35.330 also. And we do a digital contacts awards. Then 00:16:35.330 --> 00:16:37.990 there's one we call Rover, which is for activating 00:16:37.990 --> 00:16:40.610 the most unique parks. So for folks that are 00:16:40.610 --> 00:16:43.940 familiar with... Like vhf, you know grid chasing. 00:16:43.940 --> 00:16:45.860 It's kind of the parks version of that, you know 00:16:45.860 --> 00:16:48.379 trying to bounce between as many parks as you 00:16:48.379 --> 00:16:51.620 can during the event Then chaser is the the flip 00:16:51.620 --> 00:16:55.460 side of that for hunting the most parks And then 00:16:55.460 --> 00:16:59.019 lastly there's a a club category for the club 00:16:59.019 --> 00:17:02.840 that makes the most contacts as a group of three 00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:07.339 or more operators, so It really started as a 00:17:07.339 --> 00:17:09.880 really just a passion project myself and and 00:17:09.880 --> 00:17:13.730 one other active POTA member said, hey, let's 00:17:13.730 --> 00:17:16.490 put the money for the plaques and do this. And 00:17:16.490 --> 00:17:19.049 it was real popular. So I said, hey, I'll keep 00:17:19.049 --> 00:17:21.589 coordinating this, but we'll need to find sponsors 00:17:21.589 --> 00:17:23.970 to help pay for all the extra plaques. So that's 00:17:23.970 --> 00:17:28.910 what we did. So this was a chance to add to the 00:17:28.910 --> 00:17:32.210 hardware to put up on the wall and also a chance 00:17:32.210 --> 00:17:37.210 to just get out and operate. And, you know, it 00:17:37.210 --> 00:17:42.920 sounds like a fun time. And I know that you know 00:17:42.920 --> 00:17:48.319 in doing my research here you You know kind of 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:51.460 headed up getting those plaques going so so thanks 00:17:51.460 --> 00:17:55.920 to you for for doing that so Let's say you know 00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:58.859 somebody goes out and and make some contacts 00:17:58.859 --> 00:18:04.079 and of course logs those Afterwards How do they 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:06.859 submit their logs and how do they apply for the 00:18:06.859 --> 00:18:10.960 awards and all that kind of thing and get a chance 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:15.920 to get some new hardware? Yeah, so we've tried 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:19.039 to make it really as easy as possible to participate. 00:18:19.099 --> 00:18:22.900 So it's just, it follows all the standard POTA 00:18:22.900 --> 00:18:27.180 rules and log submission stuff. So as an activator, 00:18:27.400 --> 00:18:29.180 you go out to the park, you make your contacts, 00:18:29.900 --> 00:18:32.900 do your logging. any way that you're comfortable 00:18:32.900 --> 00:18:37.160 with. So most folks will use logging on the computer. 00:18:37.380 --> 00:18:39.220 Some folks will do handwritten logs and then 00:18:39.220 --> 00:18:40.819 type them into a computer when they get home. 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:43.700 Really the only requirement is that you get your 00:18:43.700 --> 00:18:46.519 logs into a program that'll spit out a standard 00:18:46.519 --> 00:18:52.039 ADF file. And then after the event ends, we give 00:18:52.039 --> 00:18:54.660 a couple -week window and those logs just get 00:18:54.660 --> 00:18:56.980 emailed in. So when somebody registers on the 00:18:56.980 --> 00:18:59.660 website, they go under their... call sign on 00:18:59.660 --> 00:19:01.740 the website and there's a link to email in the 00:19:01.740 --> 00:19:05.160 logs. So you click that link, drop your login 00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:08.839 in that email, and it gets sent in. And it's 00:19:08.839 --> 00:19:11.980 really as easy as that for activators. For hunters, 00:19:11.980 --> 00:19:14.920 it's actually even easier because all of the 00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:18.079 hunter activity is actually based on the activator's 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:20.440 logs. So all hunters need to do is make sure 00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:23.200 they're registered on the website at a time and 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:26.700 they'll get their credits automatically as folks 00:19:26.700 --> 00:19:29.569 start submitting their logs. So participation 00:19:29.569 --> 00:19:33.450 is pretty straightforward. The plaques themselves 00:19:33.450 --> 00:19:37.670 are really nice plaques. I worked with a local 00:19:37.670 --> 00:19:40.349 trophy shop here in the town where I live. So 00:19:40.349 --> 00:19:44.150 they're a real nice black piano finish wood with 00:19:44.150 --> 00:19:47.069 an 8 by 10 textured black aluminum plate has 00:19:47.069 --> 00:19:50.140 a fancy silver border around it. There's pictures 00:19:50.140 --> 00:19:53.019 of those plaques from past events on the website 00:19:53.019 --> 00:19:56.240 where folks can go to check those out, but they're 00:19:56.240 --> 00:19:58.119 a neat thing. They're definitely a nice piece 00:19:58.119 --> 00:20:00.240 of hardware to have hanging on the shack wall. 00:20:01.720 --> 00:20:04.660 And remind us of the address of the website again? 00:20:05.799 --> 00:20:09.579 Yep, it's just parksontheair .com is the main 00:20:09.579 --> 00:20:11.519 website and you can kind of click through the 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:13.980 menus to get to everywhere you need to go from 00:20:13.980 --> 00:20:18.400 there. Okay, so that's that's where you can check 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:24.579 all this out and you can get out and and Activate 00:20:24.579 --> 00:20:27.920 some of these parks and and if you can't activate 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:31.200 a park then you work one of the parks and I know 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:36.920 I actually had this For when we come back from 00:20:36.920 --> 00:20:40.150 the break, but But we probably ought to go ahead 00:20:40.150 --> 00:20:43.750 and hit this because it's already come up on 00:20:43.750 --> 00:20:46.890 QRZ. I was looking at the announcement of the 00:20:46.890 --> 00:20:51.650 show and there seems to be more, well, not more 00:20:51.650 --> 00:20:55.369 discussion on there than here, but it seems to 00:20:55.369 --> 00:20:58.230 trigger a discussion, which isn't exactly why 00:20:58.230 --> 00:21:00.930 I put it on there. But anyway, there was a lot 00:21:00.930 --> 00:21:05.049 of people saying, wait a minute, I thought all 00:21:05.049 --> 00:21:09.000 the parks were shut down right now. So in looking 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:12.319 at that, there's a lot of places that have shut 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:15.359 down their parks. But then there were places 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:18.400 like here in Indiana where they've done the exact 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:21.059 opposite. They said, you know what, we're not 00:21:21.059 --> 00:21:23.420 going to charge you to use the state parks. We're 00:21:23.420 --> 00:21:25.579 going to just open them up so that way you don't 00:21:25.579 --> 00:21:28.619 have to stop and exchange money and all that 00:21:28.619 --> 00:21:30.279 kind of thing. We're going to open them up so 00:21:30.279 --> 00:21:33.490 that way. you've got some place to go where you 00:21:33.490 --> 00:21:36.509 can spread out and stay away from each other 00:21:36.509 --> 00:21:40.309 and, you know, enjoy the outdoors. So I know 00:21:40.309 --> 00:21:41.950 there's some other states that are doing that. 00:21:42.190 --> 00:21:45.329 So could we address, you know, some of the concerns 00:21:45.329 --> 00:21:51.309 of the COVID -19 implications of this? And it 00:21:51.309 --> 00:21:55.109 is going to be in the summertime. So hopefully 00:21:55.109 --> 00:21:58.970 we'll be in a better shape by then. Yep. Yeah, 00:21:58.970 --> 00:22:02.369 certainly. Yeah. And as we were talking about 00:22:02.369 --> 00:22:05.069 getting stuff rolling for this summer. That was 00:22:05.069 --> 00:22:07.150 obviously part of the conversation that myself 00:22:07.150 --> 00:22:10.509 and the other folks on the admin team had. So 00:22:10.509 --> 00:22:13.549 basically the way we're doing it, and we actually 00:22:13.549 --> 00:22:15.470 put this information on the website, so folks 00:22:15.470 --> 00:22:17.210 go and start clicking around and looking at the 00:22:17.210 --> 00:22:19.509 plaque information, they'll see it. But what 00:22:19.509 --> 00:22:22.950 we decided is there's a lot of park activation 00:22:22.950 --> 00:22:25.170 still going on right now because there are a 00:22:25.170 --> 00:22:27.250 lot of states, like you said, that have really 00:22:27.250 --> 00:22:29.730 actually opened their parks up for folks. But 00:22:29.730 --> 00:22:32.109 there are those that have have completely shut 00:22:32.109 --> 00:22:35.910 down and to make sure The the playing field is 00:22:35.910 --> 00:22:38.230 fair that everybody who wants to participate 00:22:38.230 --> 00:22:42.250 can basically what we decided is that One we're 00:22:42.250 --> 00:22:46.589 going to hope that by by the july date That everything's 00:22:46.589 --> 00:22:49.789 opened back up again But if it's not if if there's 00:22:49.789 --> 00:22:54.130 even a single state that still has park closures 00:22:54.130 --> 00:22:57.430 We'll actually just postpone the event so like 00:22:57.430 --> 00:23:01.500 I said the support your parks we do quarterly 00:23:01.500 --> 00:23:04.380 and the plaques we do along with the summer event 00:23:04.380 --> 00:23:06.900 but if there are still park closures when the 00:23:06.900 --> 00:23:09.420 summer event comes we'll actually just postpone 00:23:09.420 --> 00:23:12.440 three months to the fall event hopefully by then 00:23:12.440 --> 00:23:15.160 everything will be open back up and we can just 00:23:15.160 --> 00:23:16.980 keep going a quarter at a time like that if we 00:23:16.980 --> 00:23:20.279 need to so so our backup is to just make it a 00:23:20.279 --> 00:23:22.339 fall support your parks event instead of summer 00:23:22.339 --> 00:23:27.240 if we have to Okay, very good. Well, it's good 00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:28.980 information because I know a lot of people are 00:23:28.980 --> 00:23:31.660 going to ask about that. So, all right. Well, 00:23:31.779 --> 00:23:34.720 let's let's take a break. And when we come back, 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:39.799 we'll take more of the questions for Vance here 00:23:39.799 --> 00:23:43.640 that are popping in on the comments on Spreaker 00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:47.119 and on the tweets. And we'll take your calls 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:55.029 live on the show at 859. 982 -7373 and we'll 00:23:55.029 --> 00:23:58.210 give you that number again here in just a minute 00:23:58.210 --> 00:24:00.930 after this word from Tower Electronics right 00:24:00.930 --> 00:24:06.599 here on HamTalk Live. Thanks for choosing Tower 00:24:06.599 --> 00:24:10.079 Electronics. How may we help you today? We have 00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:14.579 PL259s. We have In Connectors. We have SMA adapters. 00:24:15.079 --> 00:24:17.980 We have BNC adapters. What can I show you today? 00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:21.400 Where's the tower? Well, we don't actually have 00:24:21.400 --> 00:24:24.500 a tower with us. But we have all kinds of things 00:24:24.500 --> 00:24:27.480 you can use with a tower. We have power poles, 00:24:27.940 --> 00:24:30.440 antennas, soldering irons and meters. Where's 00:24:30.440 --> 00:24:33.740 the tower? Ma 'am, that's the name of our company. 00:24:34.259 --> 00:24:36.839 We can't haul towers to all the ham fest across 00:24:36.839 --> 00:24:39.299 the country that we visit, but we have almost 00:24:39.299 --> 00:24:41.900 every connector and adapter you would need to 00:24:41.900 --> 00:24:43.980 connect your antenna that's on your tower. I 00:24:43.980 --> 00:24:46.319 don't think there's a tower back there. I really 00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:49.779 don't. TOWER ELECTRONICS, VISIT US AT A HAMFIST 00:24:49.779 --> 00:24:55.460 NEAR YOU OR CALL 920 -435 -2973 OR SEE OUR WHOLE 00:24:55.460 --> 00:24:59.400 CATALOG AT PL -259 .COM. SORRY, ONE THING WE 00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:03.259 DON'T HAVE IS A TOWER. NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN 00:25:03.259 --> 00:25:05.480 FOR THE AMATURE RADIO NEWSLINE BILL PASTERNACK 00:25:05.480 --> 00:25:09.180 WA6ITF YOUNGHAM OF THE YEAR AWARD. I'm Don Wilbanks, 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:12.960 AE5DW. Since 1986, we've had the honor of celebrating 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:14.960 the accomplishments of Youth and Ham Radio when 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:16.680 we want to know about your exceptional young 00:25:16.680 --> 00:25:19.039 ham. You'll find the rules and a nominating form 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:22.339 by clicking the Y -H -O -T -Y tab on ARNewsline 00:25:22.339 --> 00:25:25.279 .org. Fill it out, send it in, and we'll see 00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:27.400 you and an amazing young ham at the Huntsville 00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:30.740 Alabama Ham Fest in August. Thanks and 73 from 00:25:30.740 --> 00:25:33.910 Amateur Radio Newsline. Join the conversation. 00:25:34.190 --> 00:25:40.450 Give us a call at 859 -982 -7373. Again, the 00:25:40.450 --> 00:25:46.670 number to call is 859 -982 -7373. Or, if you'd 00:25:46.670 --> 00:25:49.930 rather type than talk, tweet us at HamTalk Live. 00:25:50.309 --> 00:25:53.849 Now, here's Neil Rapp with more HamTalk Live. 00:25:54.809 --> 00:26:00.190 HamTalk Live with Neil Rapp. Hey baby, I'd love 00:26:00.190 --> 00:26:21.930 to be in your grid square. Tower Electronics 00:26:21.930 --> 00:26:27.589 is at home in Green Bay riding out the COVID 00:26:27.589 --> 00:26:31.829 -19 quarantine. They'll be back out on the Hamfest 00:26:31.829 --> 00:26:36.470 tour soon, but in the meantime they're still 00:26:36.470 --> 00:26:42.809 open for business. Just go to PL -259 .com and 00:26:42.809 --> 00:26:46.109 you can check out their full catalog and place 00:26:46.109 --> 00:26:51.390 an order. Give them a call or order online pl 00:26:51.390 --> 00:26:57.049 -259 .com HamTalk Live is on the air every Thursday 00:26:57.049 --> 00:27:01.089 night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time right here at HamTalkLive 00:27:01.089 --> 00:27:05.309 .com and be sure to check us out on social media 00:27:05.309 --> 00:27:09.369 Facebook Twitter Instagram and YouTube and it's 00:27:09.369 --> 00:27:11.670 time for your call so if you have a question 00:27:11.670 --> 00:27:17.990 for Vance give us a call right now it's 859 -982 00:27:18.269 --> 00:27:29.950 73 73 859 982 73 73 or you can tweet us it's 00:27:29.950 --> 00:27:32.329 at ham talk live on Twitter and if you're listening 00:27:32.329 --> 00:27:38.809 to us on the podcast version or on WTWW you won't 00:27:38.809 --> 00:27:42.150 be able to reach us because we're recording this 00:27:42.150 --> 00:27:47.660 live on Thursday evening So we won't be there. 00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:51.960 So. All right. Well, let's bring Vance back in 00:27:51.960 --> 00:27:55.000 here and we're going to talk about some some 00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:00.099 portable operating tips here in just a bit. But 00:28:00.099 --> 00:28:04.079 we got a tweet here that's that's come in Vance 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:10.900 that says, why is your guest so awesome? Who 00:28:10.900 --> 00:28:14.180 was that from? I think that was from Vance in 00:28:14.180 --> 00:28:18.279 3 V E M. You heard of him? Yeah, well, we might 00:28:18.279 --> 00:28:20.299 want to uh, we might want to double check that 00:28:20.299 --> 00:28:26.980 guy's credentials. I'm not sure. Oh my goodness. 00:28:27.720 --> 00:28:30.759 Well, if you have a question, you can tweet us 00:28:30.759 --> 00:28:34.259 it's at ham talk live. And again, the number 00:28:34.259 --> 00:28:41.980 859 -982 -7373 And let's go to the comments here. 00:28:42.579 --> 00:28:44.980 We've had a ton of comments and I really appreciate 00:28:44.980 --> 00:28:48.599 we're kind of getting a usual crew on the comments 00:28:48.599 --> 00:28:52.619 here. And the interaction is what the show is 00:28:52.619 --> 00:28:56.039 all about. So we want to thank everybody for 00:28:56.039 --> 00:29:00.539 being in there tonight. Joe KZeroNEB mentions 00:29:00.539 --> 00:29:05.119 that the IC705 is going to be delayed. That's 00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:09.119 ICOM's new little bitty QRP rig, which would 00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:13.319 be great for parks on the air. So it looks like 00:29:13.319 --> 00:29:15.359 it's going to take a little longer than expected 00:29:15.359 --> 00:29:20.000 with all this chaos going on. So it's going to 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:23.700 be a little bit longer before that's out. And 00:29:23.700 --> 00:29:25.980 we've got a bunch of other things here, but we 00:29:25.980 --> 00:29:29.099 have a phone call. So let's go to the phone. 00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:34.319 Hello. Welcome to HamTalk Live. Hi, Neil Vance. 00:29:35.380 --> 00:29:38.630 How are you this evening? Good. Who do we have 00:29:38.630 --> 00:29:43.230 here? This is Carmen. It's me again. Oh, hi, 00:29:43.230 --> 00:29:48.430 Carmen. How have you been? Been good. How are 00:29:48.430 --> 00:29:54.529 you? Good, good. In regards to the subject here 00:29:54.529 --> 00:30:01.650 tonight, POTA, over the years, I've had the opportunity 00:30:01.650 --> 00:30:05.390 to work about 10 different POTA stations, okay? 00:30:06.259 --> 00:30:10.059 And one of the things I'd like to suggest, i 00:30:10.059 --> 00:30:13.339 .e. going forward, is that whoever these folks 00:30:13.339 --> 00:30:18.819 are who decide to set up a POTA station, they 00:30:18.819 --> 00:30:22.619 should put all the info on their QRZ page ahead 00:30:22.619 --> 00:30:28.000 of time. Because many times, you talk to these 00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:31.660 folks, you get the number that they're at, okay? 00:30:32.250 --> 00:30:36.250 You go to their QRZ page and there's nothing 00:30:36.250 --> 00:30:41.670 that they're on a photo adventure, okay? All 00:30:41.670 --> 00:30:45.069 right, Carmen, can you turn your speakers down 00:30:45.069 --> 00:30:49.309 there? Oh, I'm sorry, I apologize. We're getting 00:30:49.309 --> 00:30:53.829 a delay there. I apologize, okay. No problem. 00:30:55.170 --> 00:30:58.450 Yeah, that's my suggestion is these folks who 00:30:58.450 --> 00:31:02.180 are going to go out into the fields, and operate 00:31:02.180 --> 00:31:05.480 a POTA station, they should put all this information 00:31:05.480 --> 00:31:09.880 on their QRZ page ahead of time. So the people, 00:31:09.880 --> 00:31:13.019 when they go back, look up their QRZ thing, and 00:31:13.019 --> 00:31:16.400 they're not scratching their head. Also, they 00:31:16.400 --> 00:31:21.759 should have on their individual QRZ page the 00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:27.099 link that Vance gave us tonight, which was poxontheair 00:31:27.099 --> 00:31:33.829 .com. Yeah, that's that's the link Okay, now 00:31:33.829 --> 00:31:37.910 that's a great page One of the things if it's 00:31:37.910 --> 00:31:41.970 possible, okay to do on that page If there's 00:31:41.970 --> 00:31:45.349 really like a search window where a person could 00:31:45.349 --> 00:31:48.990 go in and put in the that one of them or the 00:31:48.990 --> 00:31:54.190 typical numbers that You would get For instance, 00:31:54.190 --> 00:31:57.609 I recently worked somebody and they gave me a 00:31:57.609 --> 00:32:05.509 K If they had a search window on that page and 00:32:05.509 --> 00:32:08.470 where it took you right, bingo, right to the 00:32:08.470 --> 00:32:11.029 location with all the information about K -2028, 00:32:11.309 --> 00:32:17.910 that would be great. Vance, you want to talk 00:32:17.910 --> 00:32:20.829 about that? And I know you've got some postings 00:32:20.829 --> 00:32:25.049 of stuff on the website actually. Yeah, yeah, 00:32:25.049 --> 00:32:28.799 for sure. Yeah, so the QRZ pages that's um, you 00:32:28.799 --> 00:32:30.299 know, that's something that is definitely a good 00:32:30.299 --> 00:32:33.619 suggestion. Um, you know, the POTA is a program 00:32:33.619 --> 00:32:36.740 that's that's open to to anybody. So there's 00:32:36.740 --> 00:32:39.599 uh, there's four thousand and some registered 00:32:39.599 --> 00:32:43.480 users. Um, so for the most part, you know, most 00:32:43.480 --> 00:32:46.079 the activators, you know, each person that's 00:32:46.079 --> 00:32:47.599 going to go out kind of does their own thing 00:32:47.599 --> 00:32:49.839 as far as announcing themselves and what info 00:32:49.839 --> 00:32:53.160 they share. So the the folks that are most active 00:32:53.500 --> 00:32:56.039 You'll find that they usually do have some information 00:32:56.039 --> 00:32:59.140 on their QRZ pages kind of pointing you back 00:32:59.140 --> 00:33:01.279 to POTA information and things like that, but 00:33:01.279 --> 00:33:05.740 there are certainly folks that don't. So I personally 00:33:05.740 --> 00:33:08.700 don't mind just popping into the Facebook group 00:33:08.700 --> 00:33:11.420 or Twitter and just kind of sharing your tip 00:33:11.420 --> 00:33:14.500 because that is a very good idea. On the search 00:33:14.500 --> 00:33:17.059 pages, there's actually some things that are 00:33:17.059 --> 00:33:19.480 already there, but there's also some new things 00:33:19.480 --> 00:33:23.369 in the works just from a... Technology standpoint 00:33:23.369 --> 00:33:27.930 from the main website If you click the the dashboard 00:33:27.930 --> 00:33:30.890 button that gets you to like what we call our 00:33:30.890 --> 00:33:34.049 stats page And that's where all the metrics are 00:33:34.049 --> 00:33:36.710 that show top activators and things like that 00:33:36.710 --> 00:33:39.930 and from that section of the website There is 00:33:39.930 --> 00:33:42.390 a parks section where you can search for parks 00:33:42.390 --> 00:33:46.089 by State by program by entity and things like 00:33:46.089 --> 00:33:48.609 that. So some of that functionality is already 00:33:48.609 --> 00:33:51.759 there Uh, but it's not all yet out on the main 00:33:51.759 --> 00:33:54.839 page. So certainly adding a link to the main 00:33:54.839 --> 00:33:58.220 page for that is not a bad idea at all. So I'll 00:33:58.220 --> 00:34:00.599 actually scribble that down since I'm part of 00:34:00.599 --> 00:34:03.799 the team that manages the websites there. Yeah. 00:34:03.799 --> 00:34:06.960 If you could make it quote as Sesame street as 00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:14.500 possible, it would help out. Sure thing. Tonight's 00:34:14.500 --> 00:34:18.980 contact is brought to you by the letter Q. There 00:34:18.980 --> 00:34:26.699 you go. Look, I've worked a lot of these POTA 00:34:26.699 --> 00:34:29.519 folks over the years, and I usually have a little 00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:33.980 fun with them already. As I end the QSA with 00:34:33.980 --> 00:34:36.639 them, I tell them, have fun out there on the 00:34:36.639 --> 00:34:44.360 potato fields. P -O -T -A -O. Oh, wait a minute. 00:34:44.380 --> 00:34:46.019 I'm on the wrong screen here. Wait a minute. 00:34:46.860 --> 00:34:49.860 Okay, there's my punchline sound effect. I had 00:34:49.860 --> 00:34:54.659 to switch over and get that. Very good, Carmen. 00:34:54.960 --> 00:34:57.500 Well, thanks so much for calling in and the suggestion. 00:34:59.280 --> 00:35:02.079 Well, you know, hopefully it helps out. I think 00:35:02.079 --> 00:35:04.940 it might make it less frustrating for people 00:35:04.940 --> 00:35:08.599 and then they might, you know, feel more excited 00:35:08.599 --> 00:35:14.039 about working a POTA station. Very good. Thank 00:35:14.039 --> 00:35:23.599 you so much. Keep safe with this darn coronavirus 00:35:23.599 --> 00:35:29.380 going around. Oh, I know. Okay, take care. God 00:35:29.380 --> 00:35:32.519 bless to all. Bye. God bless to you, Carmen. 00:35:32.659 --> 00:35:38.449 Thank you. Bye. Bye -bye. Eight five nine nine 00:35:38.449 --> 00:35:40.650 eight two seventy three seventy three the number 00:35:40.650 --> 00:35:45.150 some some some good tips there from Carmen We've 00:35:45.150 --> 00:35:49.269 got some more stuff here on the comments and 00:35:49.269 --> 00:35:55.130 on Twitter. So let's get to those Troy w9kbr 00:35:55.130 --> 00:35:58.449 says we have snow tonight in the flatlands of 00:35:58.449 --> 00:36:02.130 Illinois. So I think actually we may be getting 00:36:02.130 --> 00:36:06.449 some snow here. So it's from 85 yesterday to 00:36:06.449 --> 00:36:10.849 snow. So I don't think we'll have any snow by 00:36:10.849 --> 00:36:15.030 July though. Let's see what else we have here. 00:36:15.409 --> 00:36:19.230 Oh Joe says two to three inches in Lincoln on 00:36:19.230 --> 00:36:22.989 Easter. Wow. Uh, Joe also says case you're going 00:36:22.989 --> 00:36:26.070 to be the, the parks in Nebraska are open, but 00:36:26.070 --> 00:36:30.030 no restrooms and no overnight camping or anything 00:36:30.030 --> 00:36:33.829 like that. Troy W nine KBR says state parks are 00:36:33.829 --> 00:36:39.449 closed in Illinois. Um, so there's, like I said, 00:36:39.489 --> 00:36:42.190 a lot of different things. So check and see, 00:36:42.190 --> 00:36:44.429 you know, cause some, some states just opened 00:36:44.429 --> 00:36:47.590 everything up and some closed down and some just, 00:36:47.590 --> 00:36:49.989 you know, are kind of in the middle. So. Check 00:36:49.989 --> 00:36:56.210 that out. Okay, so Troy also asks, what constitutes 00:36:56.210 --> 00:37:02.710 as a park that can be activated? Now, Troy is 00:37:02.710 --> 00:37:05.469 also a science teacher. He teaches middle school 00:37:05.469 --> 00:37:10.369 and he was on a field trip over in my area, actually, 00:37:10.949 --> 00:37:14.710 at Turkey Run State Park back in 2016 where he 00:37:14.710 --> 00:37:20.329 worked our high school ham radio club. But Is 00:37:20.329 --> 00:37:23.250 there is he's asking you know, is there a standard 00:37:23.250 --> 00:37:26.409 list if you just have a neighborhood park down 00:37:26.409 --> 00:37:29.170 the down the street Does that count what what 00:37:29.170 --> 00:37:31.949 constitute as a park for the parks on the air 00:37:31.949 --> 00:37:36.650 program? Yep. Yeah, so it is a defined list of 00:37:36.650 --> 00:37:39.150 parks and from the website You can go to that 00:37:39.150 --> 00:37:42.630 that stack stats section and then the the parks 00:37:42.630 --> 00:37:45.690 under the parks tab You can find the the lists 00:37:45.690 --> 00:37:49.199 of the the eligible parks But generally, it's 00:37:49.199 --> 00:37:55.079 all federal and state parks that are on the list. 00:37:55.780 --> 00:37:58.360 There are some state parks that are missing, 00:37:58.539 --> 00:38:00.940 but there's actually park administrators that 00:38:00.940 --> 00:38:03.579 are constantly going through. And if there are 00:38:03.579 --> 00:38:05.760 state -run parks that aren't on the list, we're 00:38:05.760 --> 00:38:08.460 slowly getting those added. But but they're pretty 00:38:08.460 --> 00:38:12.059 much all on it does not include. However, like 00:38:12.059 --> 00:38:15.500 county or city parks So if you just have a small 00:38:15.500 --> 00:38:17.940 county park or a municipal park in your area, 00:38:18.159 --> 00:38:22.699 those would not be on the list Okay, very good 00:38:22.699 --> 00:38:28.039 John down in Florida W4USF asks How difficult 00:38:28.039 --> 00:38:31.400 is it to gain approval to set up a radio in a 00:38:31.400 --> 00:38:35.300 park? And are there any environmental impact 00:38:35.300 --> 00:38:40.400 forms to fill out? So for the most part there 00:38:40.400 --> 00:38:45.159 there's no approval required with with Pota being 00:38:45.159 --> 00:38:49.800 Kind of designed to be very accessible a lot 00:38:49.800 --> 00:38:52.900 of a lot of the activators if they're going to 00:38:52.900 --> 00:38:56.980 a park where they think there could be sensitivity 00:38:56.980 --> 00:39:00.420 issues or environmental issues Will often just 00:39:00.420 --> 00:39:02.460 park and sit in their car in a parking lot and 00:39:02.460 --> 00:39:05.619 do an activation from a mobile station but most 00:39:05.619 --> 00:39:09.289 of the time the type of activity we're doing 00:39:09.289 --> 00:39:13.010 doesn't require any special permission. Personally, 00:39:13.130 --> 00:39:17.889 I've always operated under the, you know, activate 00:39:17.889 --> 00:39:20.590 first and ask for forgiveness if somebody tells 00:39:20.590 --> 00:39:23.230 me to stop, but I've never been actually told 00:39:23.230 --> 00:39:25.690 to stop by a ranger. You know, I've had folks 00:39:25.690 --> 00:39:27.289 pass by say, oh, what are you doing? And you 00:39:27.289 --> 00:39:30.929 explain and they're usually fine with it. The 00:39:30.929 --> 00:39:33.070 biggest thing to be aware of, and I'm glad that 00:39:33.070 --> 00:39:35.050 he asked specifically about the environmental 00:39:35.050 --> 00:39:39.210 impacts. because we are encouraging people to 00:39:39.210 --> 00:39:43.170 be out in natural spaces, the one caveat is however 00:39:43.170 --> 00:39:45.789 you're going to set up your station, you do have 00:39:45.789 --> 00:39:51.150 to do it within the rules of whatever rules apply 00:39:51.150 --> 00:39:54.710 for that state's parks. So you generally don't 00:39:54.710 --> 00:39:57.590 have to ask for permission, but I do advise that 00:39:57.590 --> 00:40:01.550 you go to your state's Agency that manages the 00:40:01.550 --> 00:40:03.010 parks and just make sure you're familiar with 00:40:03.010 --> 00:40:06.469 the park rules because as an example there are 00:40:06.469 --> 00:40:09.610 some states that Specifically say no ropes and 00:40:09.610 --> 00:40:13.070 trees or no stakes in the ground things like 00:40:13.070 --> 00:40:15.590 that So just be aware of those rules and as long 00:40:15.590 --> 00:40:18.449 as you're following all of the other parks rules 00:40:18.449 --> 00:40:20.969 You shouldn't have any any issue during your 00:40:20.969 --> 00:40:26.719 activation Okay, very good. Ralph Hess says, 00:40:26.719 --> 00:40:30.380 yeah, there's a list on the website, and he also 00:40:30.380 --> 00:40:34.840 says Vance Martin is awesome. Yeah, Ralph lives 00:40:34.840 --> 00:40:37.519 right down the street from me, and we actually 00:40:37.519 --> 00:40:42.280 ought to give Ralph some credit and some business. 00:40:43.000 --> 00:40:46.019 Ralph, I don't know how many radio chefs are 00:40:46.019 --> 00:40:50.900 still in business, but Ralph is the last active 00:40:53.090 --> 00:40:55.809 Shack distributor, you know, we've still got 00:40:55.809 --> 00:40:58.389 one of the last ones around in our in our town. 00:40:59.530 --> 00:41:03.389 Oh Very good. Oh, that's cool Chris a for CB 00:41:03.389 --> 00:41:06.550 says that Florida closed their parks to the public 00:41:06.550 --> 00:41:11.510 on Monday, March 23rd. So Florida's shut down 00:41:11.510 --> 00:41:15.630 at the moment. But again, hopefully that'll that'll 00:41:15.630 --> 00:41:19.190 change by July and Troy says thanks. He was wondering 00:41:19.190 --> 00:41:23.940 about the county park. So That takes care of 00:41:23.940 --> 00:41:29.300 that and let's see let's go over to Twitter Wayne 00:41:29.300 --> 00:41:33.119 Says I'm having a great time with Pota. Just 00:41:33.119 --> 00:41:35.179 want to make a comment. The awards are very easy 00:41:35.179 --> 00:41:38.960 to obtain for hunters stirring at ten unique 00:41:38.960 --> 00:41:44.260 parks and there's up to 300 almost up to 300 00:41:44.260 --> 00:41:48.039 unique parks and He's only been active since 00:41:48.039 --> 00:41:54.559 November. So There you go, and Jason W3PC also 00:41:54.559 --> 00:41:58.719 asked why is your guest so awesome? You've got 00:41:58.719 --> 00:42:02.320 a fan club here, Vance. Yeah, me and one other 00:42:02.320 --> 00:42:09.559 person. Yeah, there you go. Well, we're getting 00:42:09.559 --> 00:42:12.800 close to the end here, so if you have a question, 00:42:12.940 --> 00:42:21.750 give us a call, 859 -982. 73 73 or at ham talk 00:42:21.750 --> 00:42:24.010 live on Twitter or if you're on speaker type 00:42:24.010 --> 00:42:28.030 into the the comments there, but I did ask about 00:42:28.030 --> 00:42:32.909 some portable operating tips and We've had some 00:42:32.909 --> 00:42:39.210 folks on talk about that before but what What 00:42:39.210 --> 00:42:43.050 are your operating tips for going out and setting 00:42:43.050 --> 00:42:47.489 up in a park? Yeah, so probably the the biggest 00:42:47.489 --> 00:42:53.210 tip that that I give to people is Is don't get 00:42:53.210 --> 00:42:57.110 hung up on what the perfect equipment is for 00:42:57.110 --> 00:42:59.210 operating you see a lot of questions like that 00:42:59.210 --> 00:43:02.449 in the groups and on Twitter and things like 00:43:02.449 --> 00:43:06.269 that I tell people the the best equipment you 00:43:06.269 --> 00:43:09.269 have to activate portable is whatever equipment 00:43:09.269 --> 00:43:13.670 you already own You know poda doesn't have Strict 00:43:13.670 --> 00:43:17.030 rules as far as power sources and things like 00:43:17.030 --> 00:43:20.869 that. So whatever you have take it out to a park 00:43:20.869 --> 00:43:23.989 Find a pavilion to plug into AC power if you 00:43:23.989 --> 00:43:26.789 need to and and just have fun. That's really 00:43:26.789 --> 00:43:31.329 my my biggest tip Once you've done a couple activations. 00:43:31.809 --> 00:43:34.710 It's a lot easier to learn firsthand What kind 00:43:34.710 --> 00:43:36.550 of gear you might want to have if you're going 00:43:36.550 --> 00:43:39.079 to do it regularly? But but when you're just 00:43:39.079 --> 00:43:41.199 getting started just just grab whatever you've 00:43:41.199 --> 00:43:43.000 got and get out there and have fun That's that's 00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:46.980 what it's all about Now I'm gonna I'm gonna throw 00:43:46.980 --> 00:43:51.920 one at you here and hope I don't oh, okay, I 00:43:51.920 --> 00:43:55.000 hope I don't Throw you too much of a curveball 00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:58.719 here, but at school we actually went it out and 00:43:58.719 --> 00:44:04.440 activated a county for The Indiana Q so party 00:44:04.909 --> 00:44:08.949 at Brown County State Park and they've got some 00:44:08.949 --> 00:44:12.030 great elevation out there and everything and 00:44:12.030 --> 00:44:18.250 we had a nice setup. We took a buddy pole out 00:44:18.250 --> 00:44:24.690 and we also took a ham stick and the buddy pole 00:44:24.690 --> 00:44:27.050 we just couldn't get it to really work right 00:44:27.050 --> 00:44:31.719 and I guess it was It was too close to our tent 00:44:31.719 --> 00:44:34.260 or something and and all of a sudden we went 00:44:34.260 --> 00:44:37.139 to the ham stick on top of the car and and we 00:44:37.139 --> 00:44:40.000 moved the car around and finally was able to 00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:42.760 To get on the air a little bit with the ham stick. 00:44:43.079 --> 00:44:46.980 So My question would be what kind of an antenna 00:44:46.980 --> 00:44:51.659 setup do you like to do in a park? Yeah, so I 00:44:51.659 --> 00:44:56.820 have Really like three different things that 00:44:56.820 --> 00:45:01.369 I use most often So a lot of times it was just 00:45:01.369 --> 00:45:04.889 a ham stick on the car. I do have a buddy pole 00:45:04.889 --> 00:45:08.769 and then I also just have a push -up mast with 00:45:08.769 --> 00:45:13.070 full -size dipoles. It's kind of arranged like 00:45:13.070 --> 00:45:16.309 a fan dipole, but it's just two elements, one 00:45:16.309 --> 00:45:19.489 for 40 and one for 20. I think you'll find in 00:45:19.489 --> 00:45:22.710 Pota that 40 meters and 20 meters are kind of... 00:45:22.750 --> 00:45:25.409 the money bands they're the ones where where 00:45:25.409 --> 00:45:27.530 most pod activity happens so if you can cover 00:45:27.530 --> 00:45:31.309 those two bands you're good to go. So that's 00:45:31.309 --> 00:45:33.650 actually my preferred one the push -up mast with 00:45:33.650 --> 00:45:37.630 the full -size dipoles because usually you can 00:45:37.630 --> 00:45:40.750 put up a full -size push -up mast in like an 00:45:40.750 --> 00:45:44.010 inverted V without having to worry about ropes 00:45:44.010 --> 00:45:46.429 and trees if you're in one of the states that 00:45:46.429 --> 00:45:50.110 that prohibits that. Depending on the base you 00:45:50.110 --> 00:45:53.440 have you can sometimes you know park a car tire 00:45:53.440 --> 00:45:55.679 on it or something like that to keep it from 00:45:55.679 --> 00:45:58.239 moving around. So that's been the most versatile. 00:45:59.320 --> 00:46:03.000 The buddy pole, I have, I'll be honest, you see 00:46:03.000 --> 00:46:06.539 a lot of fandom around the buddy pole antennas. 00:46:06.539 --> 00:46:08.699 I have kind of a love -hate relationship with 00:46:08.699 --> 00:46:13.260 my buddy pole. I love it when I'm traveling for 00:46:13.260 --> 00:46:16.340 work and I'm flying somewhere because I can throw 00:46:16.340 --> 00:46:18.780 a rig in my backpack and carry the buddy pole 00:46:18.780 --> 00:46:21.139 bag as my carry -on and it's very easy to travel 00:46:21.139 --> 00:46:26.420 with. but because it is a very shortened, compromised 00:46:26.420 --> 00:46:32.960 antenna, they can be finicky to tune just because 00:46:32.960 --> 00:46:36.900 that's kind of the nature of a shortened antenna 00:46:36.900 --> 00:46:38.619 when you start getting coils involved and things 00:46:38.619 --> 00:46:42.320 like that. So the buddy poles are nice for portability, 00:46:42.719 --> 00:46:46.039 but at the end of the day, nothing beats a full 00:46:46.039 --> 00:46:50.340 -size wire if you can get one up somehow. Okay, 00:46:50.440 --> 00:46:56.230 very good. Troy says they used a TS -480SAT, 00:46:56.369 --> 00:46:58.610 a 12 -volt battery, and a screwdriver antenna, 00:46:59.170 --> 00:47:01.269 but the screwdriver antenna was mounted on the 00:47:01.269 --> 00:47:04.349 roof of the school bus, so he had a ground plane 00:47:04.349 --> 00:47:09.610 there. And Douglas Rice says Monkey Wrench ARC 00:47:09.610 --> 00:47:14.690 loves Vance, so more Vance fan club here. Yeah, 00:47:15.230 --> 00:47:20.900 more folks I'm familiar with for sure. See, that's 00:47:20.900 --> 00:47:23.400 the thing is they see we get listeners by by 00:47:23.400 --> 00:47:25.739 you know, bringing people like Vance on so that 00:47:25.739 --> 00:47:29.239 way, you know People come to hear Vance, right? 00:47:30.260 --> 00:47:32.940 Yep. Yeah. Yeah and Doug I'll give a shout out 00:47:32.940 --> 00:47:36.940 for Doug to Doug's I might have my my titles 00:47:36.940 --> 00:47:39.760 Mixed up Doug's actually on the board of the 00:47:39.760 --> 00:47:42.000 the local club here in town one of the board 00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:44.440 members So the monkey wrenches, you know him 00:47:44.440 --> 00:47:46.519 and a few other folks from the club like to get 00:47:46.519 --> 00:47:49.579 out do some do some poda stuff. So That's the 00:47:49.579 --> 00:47:54.519 Monkey Ranch club there. Very good. Well, hopefully 00:47:54.519 --> 00:47:59.400 people can get out to these parks this summer 00:47:59.400 --> 00:48:04.260 and get on there and activate. And definitely 00:48:04.260 --> 00:48:07.800 people can get on and talk to the ones that are. 00:48:08.300 --> 00:48:11.420 So we just advise everybody to keep an eye on 00:48:11.420 --> 00:48:14.670 the rules and keep an eye on. what's open and 00:48:14.670 --> 00:48:17.969 what's not in your area because it's very different 00:48:17.969 --> 00:48:22.710 depending on where you are and hopefully by July 00:48:22.710 --> 00:48:25.510 we'll get enough UV and heat and everything else 00:48:25.510 --> 00:48:29.530 and we'll be in good shape. But make sure you 00:48:29.530 --> 00:48:32.889 check those out. Be safe. Same thing for field 00:48:32.889 --> 00:48:35.909 day. We're probably going to see a lot of backyard 00:48:35.909 --> 00:48:40.059 activations on field day I have a feeling. Make 00:48:40.059 --> 00:48:43.579 sure you check that out. Let's see. Did we have 00:48:43.579 --> 00:48:46.900 something else on here? Oh Ralph says he didn't 00:48:46.900 --> 00:48:49.559 know this existed. So he'll tune in. So there 00:48:49.559 --> 00:48:52.360 we go. We got we got more up We have another 00:48:52.360 --> 00:48:54.199 call. Let's let's go ahead and take another call 00:48:54.199 --> 00:48:57.219 here real quick Good evening. Welcome to ham 00:48:57.219 --> 00:49:01.460 talk live. Who do we have? This is Wayne. Oh 00:49:01.460 --> 00:49:04.840 Hi, Wayne. Thanks for calling and doing November 00:49:04.840 --> 00:49:06.860 3 Charlie Delta Foxtrot. I was just listening 00:49:06.860 --> 00:49:10.010 to the show here Vance unfortunately, I've never 00:49:10.010 --> 00:49:12.110 made contact with Vance yet, but I have some 00:49:12.110 --> 00:49:14.989 of the other administrators There was there was 00:49:14.989 --> 00:49:16.730 one comment that I just wanted to make about 00:49:16.730 --> 00:49:20.929 the hunters Even if you're not even if you've 00:49:20.929 --> 00:49:23.949 made contacts with with some of the activators 00:49:23.949 --> 00:49:26.570 and haven't registered I would kind of implore 00:49:26.570 --> 00:49:29.309 any of the people that have To go ahead and register 00:49:29.309 --> 00:49:31.570 because there may be an award waiting for you 00:49:31.570 --> 00:49:35.940 With without without even knowing it absolutely 00:49:35.940 --> 00:49:39.380 yeah the the activators logs are all there and 00:49:39.380 --> 00:49:42.199 and just like Wayne said as a hunter to kind 00:49:42.199 --> 00:49:45.199 of unlock the magic all you have to do is register 00:49:45.199 --> 00:49:47.659 so if you've contacted a bunch of stations and 00:49:47.659 --> 00:49:49.840 you register you might see that just like Wayne 00:49:49.840 --> 00:49:52.880 said there there could be a pile of awards just 00:49:52.880 --> 00:49:58.840 waiting for you absolutely absolutely and that 00:49:58.840 --> 00:50:01.159 was uh that was my only comment other than I 00:50:01.159 --> 00:50:05.949 love the program it's It's great for the hunters 00:50:05.949 --> 00:50:11.369 that can't get out or are homebound that can't 00:50:11.369 --> 00:50:13.150 get out but still can talk on the radio. And 00:50:13.150 --> 00:50:17.070 it's a great program for them to hunt these people 00:50:17.070 --> 00:50:22.230 down. All right, Wayne, thank you so much for 00:50:22.230 --> 00:50:25.070 calling in. We appreciate it. All right, thank 00:50:25.070 --> 00:50:33.760 you. 73. All right, well Vance we've kept you 00:50:33.760 --> 00:50:36.400 a little bit over time here so we'll we'll give 00:50:36.400 --> 00:50:40.099 you a chance to finish things up and and then 00:50:40.099 --> 00:50:43.219 we'll get on our way and and hope for the best 00:50:43.219 --> 00:50:47.539 for for parks being open. So any final thoughts 00:50:47.539 --> 00:50:52.690 here? I don't think I have anything extra other 00:50:52.690 --> 00:50:55.070 than just make sure you check out the website. 00:50:55.510 --> 00:50:57.769 We'll obviously keep updated information there. 00:50:57.769 --> 00:50:59.829 So if the dates do have to push out to the fall, 00:50:59.929 --> 00:51:03.530 that's where we'll announce it. And there likely 00:51:03.530 --> 00:51:06.389 will be a couple sponsorship opportunities left. 00:51:06.429 --> 00:51:08.909 So if there's anybody who's really anxious to 00:51:08.909 --> 00:51:13.409 sponsor an award, May 23rd is the official date 00:51:13.409 --> 00:51:16.409 that those gates open up for anybody to throw 00:51:16.409 --> 00:51:18.269 their name in the hat if they'd like to sponsor. 00:51:18.489 --> 00:51:22.530 any of these plaques. But other than that, I 00:51:22.530 --> 00:51:25.150 hope folks have fun with the event and I'm looking 00:51:25.150 --> 00:51:27.730 forward to contacting and hearing a lot of folks 00:51:27.730 --> 00:51:32.349 making contacts on that weekend. Okay and remind 00:51:32.349 --> 00:51:36.710 us the dates again and the website. Oh, so the 00:51:36.710 --> 00:51:41.369 website is parksontheair .com and a lot of the 00:51:41.369 --> 00:51:44.650 statistics are at stats .parksontheair .com and 00:51:44.650 --> 00:51:47.670 the 2020 event is right now scheduled for July 00:51:47.670 --> 00:51:53.050 18th and 19th and that is UTC time. All right, 00:51:53.050 --> 00:51:54.889 very good. Well, thank you so much for coming 00:51:54.889 --> 00:51:57.829 on the show Vance and talking to us about Parks 00:51:57.829 --> 00:52:01.969 on the Air and good luck with the event and all 00:52:01.969 --> 00:52:05.760 the awards and getting all this going. You bet. 00:52:05.960 --> 00:52:09.500 Thanks for having me on. All right. Well, that 00:52:09.500 --> 00:52:13.840 is a wrap for this week's edition of HamTalk 00:52:13.840 --> 00:52:17.900 Live. Thanks to my guest, Vance Martin, N3 VEM 00:52:17.900 --> 00:52:20.260 and everybody out there in cyberspace for listening 00:52:20.260 --> 00:52:23.480 and calling in and typing in and invite you back 00:52:23.480 --> 00:52:27.320 next Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time. 00:52:27.320 --> 00:52:29.719 And for a list of all of our upcoming guests. 00:52:30.190 --> 00:52:34.030 be sure to visit HamTalkLive .com. Just click 00:52:34.030 --> 00:52:36.730 on the link there and it'll take you to that 00:52:36.730 --> 00:52:38.610 page. And if you like the show, please leave 00:52:38.610 --> 00:52:42.150 us a review. That helps others find us faster. 00:52:42.309 --> 00:52:46.070 So for now, this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, saying 00:52:46.070 --> 00:52:50.510 seven three, seven five, and may the good DX 00:52:50.510 --> 00:53:04.480 be yours. Thanks for watching!