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ICOM radios. Hey, good evening, everyone. It's
time for HamTalk Live. It's episode number 198,
Bill's Birthday Bash, recorded live on Thursday,
January 30th, 2020. I'm your host, Neil Rapp,
WB9VPG. Thanks for tuning in to this episode
of HamTalk Live. Tonight, we're joined by Don
Wilbanks, AE5DW, and we'll take your calls live
in just a few minutes. Last week here on the
show, Dr. Scott Wright KZeroMD was here to talk
about changes to the National Contest Journal.
If you missed that show, you can listen anytime
at HamTalkLive .com or on your favorite podcast
app or over on YouTube. And you can catch a rebroadcast
of HamTalk Live on WTWW 5085 AM. Saturday evenings
at about 6 30 p .m. Eastern time well next week.
I won't be here I've got to work. I've got to
announce a game and that's my it seems like once
a year I have a Thursday night game to announce
so I won't be here next week, but I'll be back
on Thursday February 13th and We've got a very
special guest you won't want to miss so make
sure you catch that and then on february twentieth
it's episode number two hundred of ham talk live
and we'll take a look back at the first one hundred
ninety nine episodes and uh... have some fun
to give away some fabulous prizes icon sent uh...
three swag bags to give away and tower electronics
uh... sent me home from uh... the collinsville
ham fest with uh... Packages of PL 259s power
poles and more to give away and then LDG electronics
is going to give away a $200 tuner in honor of
the 200th episode So be sure to tune in live
on February 20th and you could be a winner So
get your questions ready to go. If you're listening
to us live on Thursday night, you can call us
after the interview I'll go ahead and give you
the phone number now though. So you have it ready.
It's eight one two six three eight 4 2 6 1 again
8 1 2 6 3 8 4 2 6 1 or you can tweet us it's
at ham talk live on Twitter and I'll be back
with Don right after this word from icon America
right here on ham talk live new year new savings
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radios. Your host, Neil Rapp, may be too radial
short of a full ground system, but he's back
now with more HamTalk Live. Thanks to Icom America
for bringing HamTalk Live your way each and every
week. Visit them at icomamerica .com slash amateur.
And tonight we have with us Ham Radio's Don Wilbanks,
AE5DW. How do you get to be the official Don
Wilbanks of Ham Radio? Well, there's only one,
but I have a button that says I'm not Wilbanks.
So I don't know. You tell me. I don't know. But
I've heard that before it's ham radios It's when
you know, you're big time. It's quite the conundrum
Neil Well Don joins us once again tonight from
picking you to Mississippi, you know him from
amateur radio news line and ham nation His day
job is working at I heart media the radio station
group in New Orleans producing commercials and
was on the air for a good while, and he's a native
of Shawnee, Oklahoma, first licensed in 1995,
next class license holder, active volunteer examiner,
and he shocked me to the core a couple of months
ago. He sold his Firebird. What was up with that?
Well, you know, I've yeah I had a 78 Trans Am
for those of you who don't know smoking the bandit
car and I Have had it for 11 years and I got
to the point to where I was putting about I don't
know a couple of thousand miles on a year if
that It's it's spent Most of the time sitting
in the garage. I would drive it to work occasionally
like maybe you know a couple of times a year
and the only reason I drove it to New Orleans
to work was because you know we have Free secured
parking because we own the building there downtown
but I Did I rarely had I think I made one or
two car club cruise nights and picking over the
last probably Maybe I've maybe made I've maybe
made five cruise nights over the last three years
So I just I didn't drive it and the only time
I drove it was to cruise in the coast and that
was like for two or three days Where I'd put
the majority of those miles on it the annual
miles and it's like you know what I money's tight
right now I don't have the money to take it to
the next level to do some maintenance on it that
needs to be done some restoration needs to be
done and better for me to let it go to someone
who has the same passion for it and can take
it to the next level and luckily I found a guy
who who is doing exactly that It's been gone
just a little over a month now about six weeks
And it's in the Orlando, Florida area and the
guy just texted me back. He said hey, it's uh
he's addressed some of the mechanical issues
and some of the cosmetic issues and he loves
it just as much as I as I did he's always wanted
one of those cars and he's about my age and you
know a huge smoke in the bandit fan and he's
got it and It's great and now I was able to buy
a vehicle for my son for Christmas, which just
totally shocked him. And I have now a 2008 Saturn
Sky Roadster, little convertible, and just love
it. And it's a car that I can, you know, if I
want to drive it to Dayton, I can drive it to
Dayton. If I want to drive it to Huntsville,
I can drive it to Huntsville. So never could
do that with a Trans Am, but I can do it with
that Saturn. So yeah, that was part of it. It
was time for it to go to a new home. That's what
it was. I mean, I miss it, but you know, better
for the car. Now, I remember making the haul
from Indiana. to orlando in the firebird it's
not exactly the most comfortable ride in the
world it's it's not in style well yeah yeah but
but how long ago was that That wasn't in a four
-year -old like the muscle car either, you know,
so yeah Yeah, that was that was over 20 years
ago. So yeah, and the Saturn is the five -speed
So I got a stick again, which is a lot of you
know, my own Trans Am I had a I had a 73 Trans
Am with a four -speed 455 in a four -speed and
that car was way too much fun. So having my little
Saturn. It's like a half a Corvette. It's a four
-cylinder It looks like a Corvette kind of it's
a it's a five -speed stick and it's a two -seater
Roadster and it's just a it's a kick in the pants.
I love that car That's good. I'm glad glad you're
able to Get something that was a little better
for for your long drives back and forth and and
hope that all works out and I'm sure Tyler's
gonna enjoy his new oh he loves it yeah yeah
he's yeah he's he's loving it so now we just
have to sell his his other car his older car
so get rid of that thing get it out of my yard
but that's not why they called let's not talk
about cars anymore let's talk about let's talk
about the amateur radio news line It's a radio
club and the first activation of wa6 ITF, which
of course was Bill Pasternak's call sign the
founder of ham nation his birthday is coming
up What would have been his 78th birthday? Coming
up on February 7 Which happens to be a Friday
night. So like last week. I was looking at the
calendar. I'm like hmm, maybe the perfect time
to do a first activation of the ARN ARC with
that call sign. So that's what we're gonna do
So I've dubbed it Bill's birthday bash I spent
all of 15 seconds thinking that up so yeah, so
So time well spent there we go So so give us
the details here on on where we can find people
and what's gonna happen and everything with the
bills birthday bash Yeah, well we we we started
up We've been thinking about doing a news line
Ham Radio Club for some time and just finally
decided to you know get off the pot and do it
and first off you know Bill's call sign was still
active so we had to get his daughter Kelly and
his wife to sign off on releasing that call sign
to us which they were more than happy to do and
that you know with their blessing so we got WA6ITF
once we actually had a car first call sign was
KI5 something or other and we said we're not
even going to activate that until we get WA6ITF
so we officially got that last year sometime
and we've just been sitting on it looking for
a time Convenient time to activate and I just
I just happened to I Don't know. I didn't I didn't
remember that Bill's birthday was coming up I
just happened to look up his obituary and I and
I thought wow his birthday is is Like right around
the corner. Let's and it's a Friday night. It's
the perfect time to do that and I thought well
that's yeah, so that's what we're going to do
and Yeah, so we're gonna have a good time with
that. But anyway, so it's it's the AR and ARC.
You can look us up on QRZ. Just look up WA6ITF
and the QRZ page is active and basically we are
collection of current and former Newsline staff
members and we are periodically going to activate
WA6ITF and this first activation is it's not
a special event. I mean, it kind of is, but it's
not. It's really informal. We don't know where
we're going to be. It's just from Friday the
7th through Sunday sometime. Newsline staffers,
current and former, are going to get on the air
with WA6ITF. And I've encouraged them to spot
themselves on DX Summit. We're going to be on
HF. We're going to try to do some D -Star, DMR,
system fusion. And echo lake just and it's not
organized it's wherever somebody wants to go
just go and spot yourself on the x summit and
start calling cq. Newsline w a six i t f and
that's pretty much it will talk to anybody we
can we're working on qsl cards. So hopefully
we'll have some qsl cards that we're going to
send out amanda alden from ham nation k one ddn.
Whose family owns a print shop they are doing
the qsl cards for us and if you've seen the any
of her qsl card She does excellent work. She
did the ham nation What I call the ham nation
century special events the ham nation 100 200
300 for the 100 200 and 300 episode she designed
those qsl cards and she's An amazing graphic
artist and designer. So I know that what she
does for us is just going to be really, really
good. So that's kind of it. So be listening,
check out DX Summit and just search WA6ITF in
the search box on DX Summit and find out where
we are and come get us. That's kind of it. This
is going to get us celebrating. And with the
Newsline crew, you won't have any trouble getting
one of us to talk to you. Exactly. Especially
if you get Paul Brown. I mean, yeah, he'll talk.
Yeah, Paul's, you know, leopard. Yeah, he'll
drive. And he has those, um, those signed autographed
pictures, you know, of himself. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
So maybe you can get one of those, but don't,
don't, don't send it to the, to the club address.
Send it straight to Paul for the request on that.
Cause we want no part of that. We don't want
any part of Paul, but we're kind of stuck with
him Because you know I mean we're not paying
him so we can't really fire him We're gonna fuck
go into the phone lines a little early tonight
Because here he is Actually good evening Paul,
you know Good evening. Oh he had to come defend
himself No, he didn't Yeah I hear myself being
trash -talked. And that's something new? No,
not really. But I thought I'd take the opportunity
to kind of get in here and defend myself a little.
Oh, okay. Yeah. Oh, we didn't say anything that
wasn't true, did we? Well, I actually know. See?
No, really, you're a good guy as far as you know.
As far as I know. That's what I'm going with.
It's on my Christmas card. So Paul are you Paul
one of your plans? Yeah, are you excited? I am
I'm so I'm seriously excited. I'm pumped Yeah,
I mean this is this is like my second time doing
a special event I was just involved in that 12
days of Christmas thing as one of the The bonus
stations and that was that was the first time
I got on the air and people actually wanted to
talk to me. Yeah, so I you know, I kind of got
a taste of that and I'm like hey You know, I
put my call out there people actually want to
come back to me which I'm not really used to
So yeah, and and the fact that we're getting
to do this as a club now is it's just really
cool And you know, like you said the fact that
we get to keep bills call You know and legacy
active and get get that call gets to stay out
there and get used that's really special to all
of us Yeah, and his daughter Kelly was just absolutely
thrilled that we were doing this I mean she was
like she would send me email. She's like I'm
crying So many tears of happiness right now,
and I just emailed her a few minutes ago and
told her what we're doing And she's like oh my
god. I have a surprise for you Regarding that
where can I send it so I have no idea what she's
sending, but she's sending me something uh...
i i i gave her my address cuz you know that i
guess that's that's the one that you are said
page but course will share it with with everybody
but uh... yeah i mean it where i'm just so pleased
as bill uh... you know i mean i got involved
with newsline literally within a couple months
of getting licensed uh... back in ninety five
so and this is my twenty fifth year and so twenty
five years is a ham twenty five years association
with bill he's been gone the last five and there's
not been a day Don't think that I haven't wanted
to pick up the phone and ask him something so
to be able to keep keep that call sign alive
and And keep his legacy going in in this way.
I mean we're doing what we can with newsline,
but to do it this way as well I think bill would
just be thrilled I know I know Kelly his daughter
Kelly is just beside herself with joy great and
for me It's the closest I get because I didn't
I never had the opportunity to meet bill now
I've been which i've been licensed now coming
up on forty three years which understand how
that's even possible cuz i'm only thirty two
yet um... but uh... back when i started uh...
if you don't belong to the marissa illinois amateur
radio club we used to have uh... westlink carried
on our repeater every week yeah and that was
that was back in the old days when we had to
dial up the auto patch and call into the answering
machines righto you know i i you know i started
listening to that way back then in the fact that
i get to actually be part of this now pretty
cool whether you are not i can't speak to that
it's um... it's definitely an honor to be involved
in in something i mean you know think about it
news lines been going for you know for dad as
we say for decades and counting uh... and to
uh... to be able to keep that keep that going
is something special and it's a it's a real privilege
and i got to tell you i mean i'm i guess i'm
kind of seen as the the i don't know the leader
of the band or something maybe just because i've
been with it for so long 25 years now or just
because it it's my face that you see on ham nation
every week doing doing news line and i'm the
one who gets to go do the young ham of the year
i'm just kind of the face of it but you know
it's a We are a team in every sense of the word,
and there is no I in team, so I'm certainly not
the one in charge. We're all equally in charge.
But just to be part of this whole thing is just
amazing. And I remember back in 94 when I was
studying for my license, I went and bought myself,
in fact, that's how it started. I was studying
for my ticket actually in 75 as a 15 -year -old,
and then girls in cars, and then 20 years later.
I decided I was gonna get back in a ham radio
when my wife's uncle Had a little ham radio handheld
and I said well guy, you know, I messed with
that 20 years ago And he said we'll get your
license. Okay, I will so I went out to Radio
Shack about myself an HTX 202 and started listening
to the New Orleans repeaters and the first thing
I heard on the Monday night net was this news
program about About amateur radio and being a
broadcaster. I was blown away with the quality
of the first off the the talent and the reporting
and then I found out you know they do the young
ham of the year award and there was a winner
from 93 of the young ham of the year award in
New Orleans and and he says hey you want to you
want to you ever thought about going to the Huntsville
ham fest that's where they do the award I won't
know I hadn't thought about it but yeah that
sounds like fun let's go and he says great I'll
introduce you to bill and it was you know introduced
me to bill long before the ham fest and Bill's
like, oh, yeah, you're our boy. You're going
to be part of this whole thing. So here's what
you're going to do. And I'm like, oh, OK. And
kind of got roped into it. And now it's like
it's funny. Ham radio is the hobby that my wife
has told me. She said, I thought this would be
another hobby of the month. You'd be on to something
else in a month. And now 25 years later, it's
such a huge part of your life. And our son is
now licensed. And it's just it's it's become
Part of who I am and that and and I attribute
that 100 % to Bill Pasternak as he was just one
of those guys He was the godfather. You could
not say no to him he would make you an offer
that you literally could not refuse and There
were only a handful of times that I had to because
of previous commitments tell a man No, I can't
do something, but it it hurt me to the bone every
time I had to do it And that was just the kind
of guy he was he would he could get anybody to
do anything I mean he could sell ice to the Eskimos
You know and it's funny you mentioned the Longevity
of the hobby because I you know I look around
here in the basement it shelves full of various
things I've tried over the years and dropped
And the one that I keep coming back to after
you know 43 years is ham radio yeah, and You
know then then after bill passed away. It sounded
like maybe I could maybe I could help a little
and then I contacted you and somehow you had
a temporary loss of sanity and Invite I think
I was drunk that night You know what I'm really
amazed at is despite the fact that they see Don
space every week They still listen to us. They
still listen. Yeah, they keep coming back. It's
a public service because you can take one of
those screenshots from the amateur radio news
line headlines on Ham Nation. You print that
out and you tape that up to your refrigerator
and it will run every cockroach right out of
your kitchen. Oh, there you go. Thanks, Don Will
Banks. Paul what are your plans for the activation?
When are you going to be on and have you arranged
for your neighbor not to have the Halloween decorations
out creating RFI? Oh the the guy with the spark
gap Skellington across the street must have moved
because I got oh no it's it was a giant like
15 foot high inflatable jack Skellington with
LEDs The flashing circuit inside that thing put
out broadband noise down from from Like the broadcast
band all the way up through 10 meters Wow Yeah,
but he he must have moved because we didn't have
that this year. So yay My plans you might actually
be able to hear I know I've got a I've got a
I'll be on tomorrow evening a little bit later
probably around eight eight thirty central time
i'll be on saturday evening and then uh... i've
got sunday sunday all off so there was this church
it's not this week and it's another week so wait
it's not this weekend no it's the seventh those
next seven kyun actually go okay nevermind i
mean feel free to feel free to go ahead and practice
you really know that you can get Yeah, I'm tired
it'll take a week or so to get the fanatics down,
you know, it's another new call First off, I
mean you're known as QR Paul. So no one's gonna
hear you anyway. Hey, I worked a few people during
that that 12 days of Christmas thing. So Well,
then I will be I'll be on throughout the weekend
somewhat Not as much as I would have been this
weekend had this been the weekend before doing
it But yeah, no, I will be on Friday night when
I get home from because Friday night is our club
meeting. Yeah. And since I'm president of the
club, it's really totally important that I be
there. And then Saturday morning and evening.
And then sometimes on Sunday, I'll be there,
too. So I'll be on. Good deal looking fortunate.
Are you gonna? Do you have any plans? I just
can do hf you to do any any digital stuff with
the D star DMR or Hf I can do DMR except I don't
right now. I don't have a brandmeister who repeater
in my area. Mine are all DMR mark. So yeah I
don't know what talk groups I got that everybody
else can do. Right. Then my DSPAR, DSPAR? That
too, yeah. Yeah, I are an anchor, I speak. My
D -Star hotspot is not quite configured right
yet, so mostly HF. Okay, cool. Well, I can certainly
do D -Star and Fusion. DMR is questionable because...
i just today took my dmr radio with me to work
and and program the code plug with my open spot
i didn't have that done so i haven't even tried
it yet so hopefully we'll see i can i can barely
spell dmr but i can certainly do the other three
so we're gonna have fun even if i mean uh...
whatever even if what we do is wrong we're still
gonna have fun we're still looking forward to
it i tried to explain to people what what our
group is like. And I think we all kind of agree
that for the most part, our online office, like
our Facebook chat group or whatever, pretty much
is the office that we all wish we could work
in in real life. Well, yeah, but just like at
iHeart, I keep my door shut. I mean, you know,
a lot of us have spent, you know, couple of days
with each other over date and and uh... so far
we we still for the most part like each other
so we still talk to you really at the last one
really at the front family to to belong to it
is it's a i was gonna say earlier that uh...
bill would love love love love the staff that
we've that we've uh... put together right now
the current the correct news line staff as we
are bill would absolutely love us So he'd be
right in there on that Facebook or that private
messenger group just stirring up the monkeys.
Believe me That's good. Yeah, I really wish I'd
had a chance to meet him Yep, good guy Good guy.
So I'm excited about the activation and getting
the w a6 ITF back on the back on the radio where
it belongs It's been too long. It's been five
years Yeah Well We're going to take a break and
when we come back, we're going to take your phone
calls and your tweets and probably some more
random ramblings of Don Wilbanks, Paul Brown,
and myself right after this word from Tower Electronics
right here on HamTalk Live. Thank you for a lovely
dinner. Aren't you going to ask me in to solder
some PL 259s? Well, I do have some from Tower
Electronics. How can I refuse? Consider the sophisticated
quality of PL259s from Tower Electronics. From
soldering supplies to adapters, connectors to
cables, and all types of connectors, Tower Electronics
has the parts you're looking for. Well? Just
one more connector? You know I love your PL259s.
Then by all means, take some with you. Don't
be caught without PL259s. Visit Tower Electronics
at a ham fest near you. or visit them online
anytime at PL -259 .com or call 920 -435 -2973.
They also have hamsticks, mobile antennas, and
meters too. See the whole catalog. Go to PL -259
.com Tower Electronics, the Ham's Dime Store
since 1978. Join the conversation. Give us a
call at 812 -NET -HAM -1. That's 812 -638 -4261.
Now, here's more HamTalk Live! Wow, that's a
really big boat anchor you have there. You're
listening to HamTalk Live with Neil Rapp. Thanks
to Tower Electronics for bringing HamTalk Live
your way. It's good to see Jill this past weekend
and talk to Scott. They are going to be at Orlando
at Hamcation February 7th, 8th and 9th. And then
they'll be in Dalton, Georgia on February 22nd
and March 7th in Cave City, Kentucky. but you
can visit them anytime at PL -259 .com. Hamptok
Live is on the air every Thursday night at 9
p .m. Eastern Time at HamptokLive .com and be
sure to check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram. It's time for your calls. Now, if
you have a question for Don or Paul or myself,
give us a call at eight one two net ham one that's
eight one two six three eight four two six one,
or you can tweet us at ham talk live, or if you're
listening to us on the podcast edition or on
WTWW, you will not find us there because we're
not there anymore. It's Thursday right now about
931 Eastern Time and we're with Don AE5DW and
Paul WD9GCO and myself and we'll kind of pick
up where we left off here but give us a call
at 812 -638 -4261 or you can tweet us at HamTalkLive
and we have a rare text that came into the show
from let me pull it up here from Julie Swigert
I know her hey I like her yeah also known as
my fiance who's actually listening tonight which
is which is kind of impressive but she says hi
Don I miss you I need a Don hug soon say May
30th See she's your fiance, but you'll always
be my girlfriend I Don't know if I'm coming to
Dayton or not. I have no idea. I I don't know
No, she said May 30th. I know I know well if
I can't make it to Dayton. How can I make it
to the other event? That's the problem, but There's
only going to stay two you're going to stay you're
going to stay two weeks and wait for the wedding
No, I don't know what if I can't what I'm saying.
I don't know I might have probably not able to
travel to either of them unfortunately But bring
her to Huntsville. Oh, I'll save a hug up for
now We usually we usually get her down to Huntsville.
So I know you do I know you do she's a sweetheart
You're you're batting way out of your league
with her. No, I know we all put the boat. We
like her better Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much. Oh yeah.
Yeah. I think that goes for everybody except
for the cat. She's, uh, she's fun to drink margaritas
with. Oh, she may, she may, she may get you for
that one. I may not be her boyfriend anymore.
812 -638 -4261. Go ahead, Paul. As I'll see both
of you at both events. Because that's the kind
of friend I am Yeah Yeah, you're rich. That's
your problem Yeah And Andy wants Annie wants
to go down the street to the Voice of America
Museum and operate so Here she is she just chimed
in I need one more hug before I'm married I Can
only be rich or good -looking. I can't do both.
I'm sorry Well what happened There you go. I
don't know. That's my problem. See, clearly I'm
not good at either of them. Exactly. Oh my goodness.
Well, what's been happening here lately with
Newsline? Give us the latest. What's the scoop?
In fact, speaking of, we just released our newscast
like five minutes ago, but Don was talking. Oh,
awesome. I don't know, but I'm going to be anchoring
next week. I'm going to be anchoring for the
birthday show that comes out on Bill's birthday.
I have an anchored news line in a long time,
so it's going to be good to get back in the rotation.
Good to get back in the rotation. Well, you know,
it gives that Paul guy a night off. Yeah, exactly.
Now, Paul, you had this week, right? I had this
week, yeah. So the one that just went up has
my voice on it. Yeah, that's available for download
right now at arnewsline .org Unfortunately this
world this week the What can Karen try to make
us say segment wasn't too bad or otherwise known
as world of DX Bill used to always give me the
hard pronunciation because you knew I could do
it He would literally he would say he would say
listen DX is really really challenging. You're
the only one that can do it so Challenge except
I like to call it the world of unpronounceable
DX Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, exactly But yeah, I spent
a lot of time when I get those DX calls and DX
locations, I try to spend a lot of time Googling
and doing the, how do you say this word? And
that's the great thing about Google is it'll
pronounce it for you. I mean, you know, so with
a native speaker, there are some websites that
will actually pronounce that stuff for you with
native speakers. So you can actually attempt
to get it right, which is important. I get that
on YouTube. There's some pronounce. Oh, I forget
what the name is, but it's pronounced something,
some name. I'll pull it up on YouTube and get
them. And I am a professional pronunciator, you
know. Yes. Well, we haven't got a tweet yet,
but somehow I'm getting another text. What's
with this text thing? We don't give out the text
number. Is it from your fiance about me? No this
one is from Scott Cole KB9 AMM from Tower Electronics
So how many radios did Don have in the Trans
Am? I had one it was an AM FM Did not have a
did not have a ham radio or CB in the Trans Am
Wow Now wait a minute, if it was the Smoky and
the Bandit car, wouldn't it have to have an 11
meter? Well, one would think, but no, I never
did put one in there. I did, now on the 73, I
had a little Hershey Kiss magnetic antenna back
on the trunk lid, and I would bring my HT with
me, but I never did do that with the 78. The
73 got ate by Hurricane Katrina, and I never
did put any kind of radio or mag -mount antenna
at all on the 78. And there's no room in the
Saturn. I mean that thing is dinky So there's
no room for it now It's it's hard to find room
for a for a radio and cars these days well that
Paul had a nice setup when it's a you know It's
a five -speed stick. It's like I had a problem
with that in the Jeep When I had my icon 7 ,000
in the Jeep because it was a manual as well So
I had a headset for the Jeep which worked out
really good But yeah, probably not gonna put
anything in the Saturn either because you're
just no room Paul let's put you on the spot here.
What water? What's the big news this week? What
was your your top story this week? Oh sure You
don't remember yeah, do I need to pull up pull
up the script since just came out ten minutes
ago I wouldn't either. I read it, I produced
it, then I set it up. Top story was about hams
helping out with recent earthquakes in Turkey.
Oh yeah, there's been a lot going on there. They
just had a big one over by Jamaica and the Grand
Cayman, and the Cayman Islands too. Big one so
but that was so far down and I think the water
kind of damped it out that it didn't really Cause
much damage. I don't think but that thing was
felt I saw a I saw a location map and it was
all over The Caribbean and all the way up into
up near Orlando, Florida. That was people were
feeling that so that was a big one Seven point
seven. I thought I heard now uh... and we we
we wrap it up with a fun story from our buddy
mike askings about stuff on the space station
so awesome no good you know mike is that mike
is my best friend i've known mike since first
grade he and i grew up together started our radio
careers together he is still at the first radio
station that we both worked at forty one years
ago and the fact that you two have known each
other your entire lives explains an awful lot
about both of you uh... pretty much yeah we are
now sons and their mothers That's what we call
each other, yep. Great guy. Yeah, that's one
of the really cool things about Newsline and
modern technology is back when Bill started this
thing it was all pretty much had to be done locally
or stuff had to be shipped FedEx but now thanks
to the internet we all have basically production
studios in our basements and we just upload our
audio to a common folder and we have You know,
we've got correspondence around the world. Yeah,
so it's it's pretty amazing that that we have
that, you know, ability to do that now. Yeah,
Bill would email me a script. I would cut it
at work on quarter inch reel to reel tape. I
would edit it with a razor blade and splice tape
and then record that to cassette and throw that
in a FedEx box and send it back to Los Angeles
time. So much easier. do it do it all digitally
on a on a computer uh... you do it on a laptop
with a u s b microphone now and then put it on
the drop box immediate and and if something happens
we can change it in media law media i mean we
all we all kind of keep an eye on then we cover
each other's back and anybody can jump in at
any time so yeah we've got uh... we've got correspondence
in australia new zealand and germany and So,
I mean, it's England. Yeah, the UK. Pretty much,
yeah. Yeah. It's a good bunch. It's a good group.
And we've got a new voice on. We got a new voice
on last week. Yep. Who was, yeah, who was that?
Oh, hang on. I'm trying to answer the phone here.
Maybe. Uh oh. We have another phone call. That
Julie calling back to talk to me no It's Jocelyn.
Oh But it but it but it won't but it won't let
him through for some reason I'm not sure why
It knows it's him Shame that didn't work for
me. Let me see if I can call him. Yeah, I know
Let me see let me see if I can get Maybe I can
add Jocelyn Jocelyn's probably getting tired
of all my emails. So anyway, if you'd like to
go check out the QRZ page. Oh, there he is. For
the Newsline QRZ page, just look up WA6ITF on
QRZ. Hello, Jocelyn. Hey, Don, how are you? I'm
better now that you've called. Well, you know,
I heard your voice on the radio and or on the
speaker and I had to... chime in uh... as i've
said before uh... i got to uh... he built back
to it bill pasternak but i never got to really
meet him at the uh... the first year we were
at huntsville that you had mentioned we should
go to and uh... you know the rest of history
but i think the special event is going to be
awesome i'm looking forward to working you guys
i'll probably be at the b o a and uh... working
you guys from there but uh... think that's a
great idea and i think it's going to be a lot
of fun We all have a monster signal for sure
then that if you're gonna be at the VOA. Well,
you know we try we try to keep it alive, but
yeah, it's usually good and it's nice to hear
Paul in the background. I know that you and you
and you and Paul were having a discord a little
bit there, but yeah, it'll be fine. Neil and
I are frankly sick of him, so it's you know the
fact that you appreciate him is you know is good
for him. Hey, somebody has to like me. No, they
don't Anyways, I'm gonna let you do Neil. That's
why you know, you don't have the phone lines
open. We can't call in buddy. Yeah Yeah, I don't
know what happened I hit merge and everything
and it just sat here and rang and rang and rang
and rang and rang and I'm like I hit merge So,
I don't know It's guy That's probably why people
are texting you anyway. Yeah You enjoy the rest
of the show I certainly will from my side and
we'll talk to each other and see that they're
very fit All right, brother. J. Listen and you
got the boys and your lovely wife. Give them
give them my love. I just love you guys today
You do the same sir, and you got to hold a seat
open for Paul The weekend of the wedding, you
gotta hold a seat open for Paul, because he wants
on after the wedding. Somebody has to work Karen's
brother. Thanks so much for calling Jocelyn73.
What a great guy. Bye. That's JocelynBrok88VRX.
Aka Chris's dad and that's what we put on that
on the Yoda powerpoint aka Chris's dad So well,
it looks like we're about we're about done here.
So so Don you want to give us a quick recap here
of Where and all that a semi informal special
event wa6 ITF February 7 8 & 9 that is Friday
Saturday and Sunday look for us Look for the
spots of WA6ITF on DX Summit, and if you're going
to send a QSL card, make sure you put a self
-addressed stamped envelope in it, because that's
the only way you're going to get a card back.
And we're working on cards now, and we're keeping
Bill Pasternak's memory alive. WA6ITF, the Amateur
Radio Newsline Amateur Radio Club, on the air,
first activation. So thrilled about that. Well,
there you go, and I'll be on a little bit on
the 7th in that evening time, so I'll be around.
And Paul, any last words here before we go? No,
I think I've said enough. Yeah, we agree. Okay.
Well, I'm just glad that the skeleton thing's
gone. Oh, believe me, me too. Man, every year,
the entire month of October, And part of it,
like November, he'd leave that thing on and just
totally wiped out HF. He's probably working on
a Tesla coil for next year. Well guys, thanks
for being here tonight and talking about Bill
Pasternak, the founder of Newsline, about his
birthday celebration and look forward to hearing
you all on the air next weekend. Can't wait to
wrap. Thank you, sir. Looking forward to it All
right. Thank you guys. Well, that is a wrap For
this week's edition of ham talk live. Thanks
to Don Wilbanks 85 DW and Paul Brown WD9 GCO
for being here and everybody out there that called
in listened in typed in whatever and Invite you
back two weeks from tonight when we'll be back
at nine o 'clock Eastern time And for a list
of all of our upcoming guests, visit HamTalkLive
.com. If you like the show, please leave us a
review. And the Yoda matching fun drive is still
going. We've got until the end of February. So
youth on the air .org and click on donate and
you can donate to help get the youth on the air
camp. Finish out the funding for that. That's
going to be over at the voice of America museum
this summer. So make sure you do that. And also,
before we go, School Club Roundup is coming up.
And since we're not on the air next week, this
is the last show before that. So School Club
Roundup is February 10th through the 14th. So
also look on DX Summit for schools on the air
all week long. Make sure you give them a call.
And they'll be on there looking for as many contacts
as they can get throughout that week. It's Monday
through Friday. So look on DX Summit for those
school stations and give them a call. So for
now, this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, saying seven
three, seven five, and may the good DX be yours.
Well you came right back to my CQ call Your readability
5 and strength 9