Thanks for tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on
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ICOM radios. Hey, good evening, everyone. It's
time for HamTalk Live episode number 197. Big
changes coming to the National Contest Journal
recorded live on Thursday, January 23, 2020.
I'm your host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. Thanks for
tuning in to this episode. of HamTalk Live. Tonight
we're joined by my good friend, Dr. Scott Wright,
KZeroMD, the editor of the National Contest Journal,
and we'll take your calls live in just a few
minutes. Last week, Michael Colley, W4MCA, was
here. Talk about the Orlando hamcation if you
missed that you can listen anytime at hamtalklive
.com or your favorite podcast app or YouTube
or catch the rebroadcast on WTWW 5085 a .m. Saturday
evenings at about 6 30 p .m. Eastern Time. Well
this is episode 197 and 200 will be here before
you know it looks like That's going to land on
February 20th. So be sure to tune in that night.
We're going to have some giveaways. In fact,
I just got a box from ICOM today. So we've got
some giveaways planned from ICOM. I'm going to
pick up some prizes from Tower Electronics this
weekend over at Collinsville at Winterfest. And
LDG Electronics is sending a tuner. So we're
going to give away several things. And so you
need to listen live and call in and win. So February
20th, keep that on your calendar and maybe you
too can win. So get your questions ready to go.
If you're listening to us live on Thursday night,
you'll have a chance to give us a call after
we talk to Scott for a little while. We'll announce
the phone number once again to call and that
number will be 812 -638 -4261. That's 812 -NET
-HAM -1. You can also send your question via
Twitter. The Twitter handle is at HamTalk Live.
I'll be checking that throughout the evening
and of course if you're on Spreaker you can...
Type into the comments there that'll pop up on
the screen as well. So again, keep that number
handy 812 -638 -4261 and You can give us a call
So I'll be back with Scott right after this word
from tower electronics right here on ham talk
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
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.com Tower Electronics, the Ham's Dime Store
since 1978. This portion of the show sponsored
by our mystery sponsor, a product so good they
are paying us not to advertise it on this program.
You're listening to HamTalk Live with Neil Rapp.
Thanks to Scott and Jill from Tower Electronics
for sponsoring the show tonight. They help bring
you HamTalk Live each and every week. They will
be at Arcadia, Florida this weekend on the 25th.
They'll also be in Collinsville, Illinois at
Winterfest over by St. Louis, and I look forward
to seeing Jill over there. So I'll be over there
doing some... Youth on the Air promotion and
we'll be giving a couple of little lightning
talks and then Sterling N0SSC and I will be conducting
the youth forum at noon over there. So if you
get a chance stop by and stop by Tower Electronics
and of course, they'll be at Hamcation as well.
February 7th, 8th and 9th, but you can visit
them anytime at PL -259 .com. Joining me tonight
is Dr. Scott Wright, KZeroMD. He is the editor
of the National Contest Journal from Rochester,
Minnesota. Scott works for the Mayo Clinic, teaching
cardiology, which often takes him abroad, where
his ham radio habit can go with him. Scott is
an excellent contester, has been on several de
-expeditions, and we met when we were kids in
Louisville, Kentucky, taking a test in front
of the FCC examiner, so... He's in his third
year now as the editor of NCJ and has added some
great content to the bi -monthly publication
from ARRL. And we're going to talk about some
some new things that are coming to NCJ yet this
year. And he is a graduate of the University
of Kentucky. So Scott, before I let you talk,
we have to play the UK fight song. Except I'll
probably get named for a copyright violation
because it's probably a violation. But Scott,
welcome back to HamTalk Live. Thank you, Neil.
It's a pleasure. Should we do the cat's cheer?
I don't remember that. You know, the C -A -T
-S. Cats, cats, cats. Well, this year the season
is not as exciting as it could be because of
the way the team's playing. They're doing okay,
but I'm afraid coach Cal may have a, uh, uh,
shall we say a health incident if they continue
to play. You may need your cardiology services.
Is that what you're saying? You may need someone's
services. Uh, but you know, it's, it's, it's
always a bad year for Kentucky fans unless the
wildcats are in the final four. I hate to say
it, but that's true. You know, you're not, you're
what number 18 in the country and, you know,
won most of your games and it's a bad year. Yeah,
it's a dismal season. Oh, so true. John with
you. Congratulations on coming close to the 200th
episode. I'm looking forward to that show. I'm
hoping I can win a PL two 59 from tower electronics,
but I know those will be high demand. And I do
remember those days before the FCC examiner and
Louisville. Those were scary times, but, uh,
we got through that. And as they say, a lot of
water has gone down the Ohio river since that
time. That is true. And, uh, you know, Jerry
Freebo turned out to be a really good friend,
but at the time he was. One of the scariest people
I think I ever met that Examiner and I mean he
he he didn't crack a smile No, they were they
were all serious. They were the G men of those
days But let's just say that one of the great
changes in ham radio is the volunteer examiner
program Yes, most definitely Well, we've got
you here tonight to talk about NCJ. So we'll
We'll get to that. So how's, how's NCJ going?
This is what, year three? For year three, it's
going by quickly in some respects. It's been
a fun project. The journal's going well. We have
a reasonably solid subscriber base of almost
2000 paid subscriptions. It's the subscriber
base falls every year by Oh, 10 to 30 subscribers,
unfortunately, as contesters fail to renew, largely
because they become silent keys or they go QRT
in the nursing home. I'm really pleased with
the last several years, Neil. You and others
have enriched the content dramatically. We made
an intentional focus when I became editor to
bring you on board as the contributing editor
for next -gen contesters. That's had a real impact.
We've had a number of next -gen contesters on
the cover, and we'll continue to promote new
contesters, whether they be new at age 12 or
new at age 82. We'll welcome all new ones. The
journal's got some new features as well. We have
sort of new technology now with Ned Stearns that
started earlier last year, and Ned's doing a
marvelous job. He followed on the steps of Mark
Aker, K6UFO, who did remote contesting for about
a year and then decided that he'd really written
all that he could and wanted to take a break
and just go back to managing the ready sprint,
I'm sorry, the NAQP ready full time. So he's
doing that. And the solid, you know, contributing
editors, including the deputy editor Fred Reganetter,
K4IU, and all of those who write every issue.
I can't name them all because I might forget
someone and I don't want to... insult anyone,
but they all contribute greatly in the readership.
It's nice to hear from the readership. So the
feedback is always welcome and I think based
on the feedback I'm getting and others are getting
that the contest community at large is still
appreciating what NCJ is doing. Well, what are
your biggest challenges with the journal except
for getting the next -gen contestor's editor
to submit his articles on time? Well, I have
a secret weapon for that individual contributing
editor. I call Julie and she makes sure he gets
them out The biggest challenges editor is the
time It's 20 to 40 hours per issue of my own
time and there are times and months that I'm
extremely busy With work and my research activities
and it can be stressful I've had to take time
out of contesting to do the journal, which I
regret, but it's the only way to make the equation
balance. Sometimes it gets a little scary when
you don't have any new content, but the contest
community writ large has always come through
for me. Almost everyone's written an article
that I've asked. I've got a couple of hams who
have some... potentially tremendous articles,
but they can't seem to get over writer's block
and I I regret that because I've heard them speak
at contest you in other places and I know what
they have to say is so meaningful and the other
hard part really is that Once everyone sends
me their material, I have a really tight timeline
of about 10 days, sometimes five days, to get
it all to the managing editor so that he has
adequate time to write it, format it, get it
to the headquarters in Newington so the professionals
there, like Matty Weinberg and others, can get
it formatted and then sent to the printer. Believe
it or not, we need a long timeline for this.
We ask you and the other contributing editors
to get the material to me by the 10th of the
month, two months ahead of the print date. January
10th for the March issue and Rick Lindquist will
finish his editing probably around the end of
the month and then the formatting editors in
Newington really have about five or ten days
at most to finish it all up so they're constantly
laying it out working on it many times they will
contact us and say we're five pages over who
can we cut and then of course that leads to some
disappointed feelings by the writers but they've
been good sports and understand and We've had
plenty of content generally, and for example,
the March issue had 70 % of its content already
created by overflow from January. But the May
Journal doesn't have any content, so if you're
out there and you want to write an article for
NCJ and be published in the world's premier radio
sport journal, send your ideas to me or to K4IU,
and we'll vet them and get back to you and help
you get an article together. That's been the
hard part and the tough part, I think, the biggest
challenges. Yeah, so we just finished up well
or I just finished up the March Contribution
and I know you've got a few of those kind of
coming in here, but I Was just thinking the next
one is May that's dating Right and it's due in
March right before your spring break. Yeah, so
You know here here we are in January and we're
already thinking. Okay, we got to write an article
that's going to come out right before hand -vention.
So that lead time creeps up on you. It sure does.
It truly does. Well, what are some of those highlights
of being an editor that, you know, I'm sure you
had a pretty good idea what to expect when you
came on board. But what are some of the unexpected
things that have come up along the way? Neil,
that's a really good question. probably the opportunity
to meet so many new people who are touched by
NCJ. I've said for many years to the staff in
Newington, you may think you're putting out a
QST, a journal simply about ham radio, but for
a busy, hard -working, sometimes stressed professional
like me, it's a wonderful outlet to relax and
to... Round out my life and to give me something
to enjoy so that I could do my day job better
and NCJ I guess touches the same people the same
way and offers them that it inspires them People
will write and say I'm so happy to see the contest
scores in this issue because I saw my call sign
and that means so much to me and Just the goodwill
of the contest community Fred is Just a wonderful
Deputy editor. We were traveling back from Visalia
together and he was enjoying introducing me as
the editor to all the contesters who got on the
flight out of Fresno Who recognized his call
sign because he's so active in the CW test every
week then he would introduce them to me and you
know, they They'd never met a journal editor
before whether it was QST and CJ whatever or
didn't think they had and That was that was really
cool to see who the journal touches and how much
it means to people And I also think, Neil, that
the opportunity to create new content for the
contest community is a great privilege. You've
been a part of that. Many of the individuals
you work with at K9SOU, as well as at the Indiana
University radio station, the Ham radio station,
and your now Yoda team, including CE2LR in Chile
and Bryant KV5HVO, have all contributed. Marty,
as well. We've been able to get new content for
next -gen as well as trying to help individuals
who may live what we call in landlocked situations
in a small city lot or have to go to a park to
contest. We're creating content that makes it
able for them to understand they contribute equally
to contesting. Not everyone can be like K9CT
or K3LR and have multiple towers and stacked
yogis. In fact, most contesters are not in it
to win they're in it to make a few contacts have
a few hours of enjoyment and maybe work some
new dx so that's really been enjoyable to create
new content and create another vision for another
expanded vision of what contesting can be beyond
the traditional thoughts of you know cq worldwide
a double rl dx to also what can it be for city
dwellers and younger hams well i know one of
the things that's been on your mind for quite
a while and we've talked about it before is getting
a digital version of NCJ going. And I know you
asked for that and there was some time when we
thought it wasn't going to happen and now it
is going to happen. And so what prompted you
to ask for this and get NCJ in a digital format?
That's a really insightful question. I really
appreciate you asking me that because I Do a
lot of work with journals. I'm an associate editor
of one of the most widely circulated medical
journals in the world I've been reading medical
journals for 30 years and reading them digitally
for 15 to 20 and Many years before I became editor
of NCJ I had conversations with Dave Sumner asking
if QST could be digital or be stored digitally
I enjoyed reading the print version, but I wanted
to be able to access QST from anywhere I was
in the world and pull an article up and read
it, not have to carry 10 magazines with me. The
big driver is, Neil, that the publishing world
is going digital. Ham radio contesters will be
the last group to ever be fully digital. We will
drag them kicking and screaming into the 21st
century because they want the print. Most of
them want the print. I understand that and I
respect that. I like to read printed newspapers,
but it's impractical, largely. So I have learned
to read journals and newspapers on 24 inch monitors
and to synthesize the material and almost all
the medical journals that I read are not digital.
They make print versions, but those get tossed.
And I've even offered to double my dues to my
cardiology groups that I belong to if they will
quit sending me the printed journals because
they really are taking a lot of effort to recycle
and... and to be a good environmental steward.
So the printing world is going digital. Even
the journal I'm an associate editor on, we've
been told you're to be prepared to go fully digital
in just a few years. Secondly, I think NCJ should
be a worldwide resource. I still believe it's
the premier journal of radio sport globally.
But we cannot sell subscriptions overseas because
it's outrageously expensive. We're talking over
$100 typically for someone in Europe or South
America to subscribe and then have it delivered
by mail. and a digital subscription, really they
can download it and look at it and even print
it out on their own paper for nothing more than
what it would cost to just have the print subscription
in the United States. And finally, I think NCJ
should be the number one resource that contesters
of all skill sets and skill levels go to for
material. And I'd like to broaden the content
of NCJ even more. I'd like to have it good for
lifelong learning. I'd like to see NCJ offer
beginning contesters a lot of practical tips
and skill sets to how to learn and understand
things more in depth, to be a forum for you to
mentor people who want to bring young people
into contesting, for groups like the Nashua Amateur
Radio Society to be a part of, Fred and his wife
and their team in New Hampshire to talk about
how you get all kinds of people active into contesting.
And to be able to do that, we just can't, there's
just not enough money. in ham radio let alone
in the entirety of the United States to print
all of that material every month or every other
month and So we can easily expand our focus and
content and offer more if we do it digitally
because it's just the cost of editing and Formatting
to make it digital versus the cost of printing
it. So those are the three drivers publishing
worlds moving to be digital the desire to see
NCJ read widely in the world and have worldwide
contributors like we have from South America
now with CE3CT and then a need to be able to
push more content out to help people on a just
-in -time basis so that the web is the ideal
place for that. So those were the three reasons
that I started advocating for digital NCJ and
I began that soon after I was made editor. And
I had an agreement with Barry Shelley, who was
the former CEO and now the current CEO of the
ARRL, to come to Newington and talk with him
about it and to pitch the idea. And Barry, as
you know, was the CFO for the ARRL for many years,
so he knows where every penny is buried in the
league. And he's a good steward for Ham Radio.
He does his best to free up every available resource
to promote the hobby. And I contacted Howard
Mikkel and the spring, in the early spring in
March, if his first term is, his only term is
CEO, and ask if we could have a discussion, sit
down and have a discussion that Fred and I would
pay our own ways and come to Newington to meet.
And Howard declined, instead commissioned a survey
that Steve Ford managed to then survey people
who have recently turned in a contest score to
the ARRL. And based upon the survey results,
Howard felt there was not a business case for
a digital NCGA, so he turned us down in the spring
of last year because he was concerned that the
subscriber base was going to continue to dwindle,
that there was not widespread support. It was
about 50 -50, frankly. It was 45 in favor, 55
said they would not pay extra, 45 % said they
would pay for a digital version. And he felt
that that was just too risky given the precarious
nature of ARRL finances. Howard declined and
we had to live with that situation. Ultimately,
Steve Ford, in his very kind and insightful way,
brokered a compromise that we could potentially
put the PDF of NCJ on the web and then figure
out a way with IT security to let current subscribers
access that. But before we could get League resources
dedicated to develop the IT pathway, Howard and
his executive team at Newington had decided that
the ARRL needed to enhance the value to membership
for the $49 a year dues and they could do that
by allowing access to QST on the air, QEX and
NCJ as digital subscriptions to any league member.
And so much to my surprise, I learned in December
from Steve that Howard had proposed that we go
forward with a digital NCJ and a digital QEX.
I really credit N2RJ, Ria Jiram, for working
behind the scenes as a director. I'm sure she
built a coalition of our directors for the league
to support this. And I think just time and common
sense prevailed and they finally saw the value
equation of this. And I credit the staff at Newington
with making... Making the case successfully with
Howard that I was unable to make an email Well,
we're looking forward to that happening and Do
you have a projected timeline for that to to
take place I do I do do you have a drum roll?
I don't Okay, well, but I don't I've got an electric
shock Oh, let's not do that. We don't want any
cats or humans injured in this broadcast. Okay.
I'm told that we can, we can give you applause
afterwards. How's that? Okay. You know, I can
always say valve. Yep. Yep. You can say, yep.
Oh, you said it. Yep. Anyway, we think the May
-June issue will be the first issue that comes
as digital. So for the current subscriber base,
thank you for subscribing. Please keep it up.
You will also have access to a digital NCJ, we
think, in May. And to all ARRL members who don't
subscribe, you can have access to the digital
version in May, likely. And to anyone who would
like access to NCJ, who might be listening from
Europe, South America, Asia, or even Bouvier,
You can subscribe and join the ARRL for $49 a
year and have access to all of the journals the
flagship journal QST As well as the other flagship
journal NCJ and then of course QEX and on the
air Well sounds great but it's time for a break
so we're going to take a break and We're going
to come back with Scott and take your questions
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radios. Join the conversation. Give us a call
at 812 -NET -HAM -1. That's 812 -638 -4261. Now,
here's more HamTalk Live! IComAmerica .com slash
amateur. Make sure you check that out. ICom helps
bring HamTalk Live your way each and every Thursday
night at 9 p .m. Eastern time. Right here at
HamTalkLive .com. Be sure to check us out on
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well. And
it's time now for your calls. So if you have
a question for Scott, give us a call right now
at 812 -NET. ham one that's eight one two six
three eight four two six one or you can tweet
us at ham talk live several have we'll get to
those here in just a second and if you're listening
to us on wtww or on the podcast version uh you
won't be able to reach us because uh we're live
on thursday night so i'm afraid you won't be
able to uh to reach us on the phone here. But
again, the number 812 -638 -4261. Have several
tweets here. First of all, John N0JSD says, can't
wait to hear what Scott and Neil got in store
for this episode. And tomorrow is my birthday.
Happy birthday, John. So happy birthday, John.
Look forward to working in the next CW contest
John. We need you on the air I heard you had
a little rig trouble with the Yoda event. Hopefully
that's gotten fixed Yeah, we were hoping he'd
get in on Yoda month, but Had some rig trouble,
but hopefully they'll be on for the next one
Let's see. We also have some tweets from Jim
k5 nd says kudos to some guy named Neil I'm on
next gen contesters and scott's wisdom and adding
me into the editorial mix. Wow okay. Well thank
you Jim. It's so nice to hear from you and I
want to commend your listeners to look at some
of Jim's articles in NCJ on being a rover station
for VHF contesting. Jim's an accomplished hand
contester, mentor, leader with the Boy Scouts
and others but took time to write for NCJ and
We're putting his articles on the website so
that people can have access to them going forward.
Jim, thank you for writing and for all you do
to help promote more activity on the air across
all age ranges and spectrums. Absolutely. Jim's
got an incredible Rover set up and it's impressive.
And I started asking him questions the other
day. I'm like, okay, I got to do something. I
got I got to get something figured out on satellite
and and he was also helping me with some some
of the youth on the air stuff so Jim thank you
so much for for all your help and all that you
contribute here and he's also says kudos to the
great editions on VHF contesting and also says
great insight on the digital editions broaden
the reach and open up to more content at limited
additional costs so great work Scott so Good
job. I appreciate Jim saying that and I want
to commend my Deputy Editor Fred Reaganetter
K4IU for bringing the message to me from the
Huntsville Hamfest Group in particular who thanked
us for adding some additional VHF material and
said they wanted to see more so we have intentionally
covered VHF contesting more in NCJ in the last
year or two than probably the last 20 years saw
because we have been missing a real opportunity
to include a large segment of contesters. And
we're going to continue to emphasize VHF contesting.
And Jim, if you have some suggestions for potential
articles by colleagues and friends, please send
them to me. Because May and June is really a
perfect time to put in some more articles about
how to get on for the June VHF contest. And if
any of your listeners, Neil, have thoughts or
ideas, please contact me, kzeromikedelta at ARRL
.net. And we will be glad to consider those ideas
and try to get articles together. Sounds like
a good idea. And you can also give us a call
right now at 812 -638 -4261, 812 -NET -HAM -1.
If you have a question or a comment to add here
about the National Contest Journal with Dr. Scott
Wright, K0MD. the editor of NCJ. We've got one
more tweet here for you from David N4YHC says,
please make sure you keep a print copy option
for now while the online magazines can be handy.
It's a lot easier for me anyway to read a paper
magazine while riding on airplanes and cars and
also sets a better example for our children when
we're teaching. keeping that scream time limited.
So you want to respond to that? David, it's nice
to hear from you and Union Kentucky. As you probably
can tell, I'm a native Kentuckian. I used to
have a QTH about 150 miles east of where you
are. But the propagation is so good in the purchase
region where you are, and it's nice to work you
in contests. David, I completely agree. I find
it easier to read the print versions when I'm
traveling. without Wi -Fi access and going forward
we will continue to have a print edition of NCJ
as long as the subscriber base is able to maintain
the cost or the ARRL will subsidize the cost.
There are no plans at this time to discontinue
the print edition. I can't commit to that being
the case going forward 20 years but I don't think
in the short term, we're going to have any trouble
with that. And maybe, just maybe we'll have enough
uptick from the digital NCJ bringing new league
members in that the ARRL will make a commitment
to keep it going out in a paper edition as one
option for membership. We'll, we'll know more,
I think, as a new CEO comes on board to see what
his or her vision is for maybe offering more
member benefits, including a print to NCJ. Yeah,
there's always that. feel of the print copy but
then there's the convenience of the digital copy
and and I think you know it's kind of split down
the middle which one people prefer and I kind
of like the digital because I can search it and
I can you know go back in the archives and find
stuff easier but you know there's also something
about you know holding a script in your hand
you know holding the paper and so For right now,
there's both available. Well, John says what
happened to the rig, it was a static discharge
in the rig. Doesn't know what happened, but he's
getting a new antenna soon and an amplifier,
and he's still got his portable set up for now.
So he's still waiting on the rig, but at least
he's got his portable set up. So we look forward
to hearing you on the air. with your main rig
soon. 812 -638 -4261 is the phone number if you'd
like to chime in tonight. This is your chance
to do that. That's what the show is about, is
taking your questions and comments. So give us
a call 812 -638 -4261 or you can tweet us. It's
at HamTalk Live. And if you're listening on Spreaker,
you can comment and I'll get that on the screen
here as well. Well, while we're waiting for calls
to come in and tweets to come in, Scott, let's
talk a little bit about some of the trends in
contesting right now. What are some of the current
trends in contesting? Neil, I'm delighted to
talk about that. Contesting in the United States
is somewhat different than in Europe in this
regard. Europe has seen a resurgence of new contesters
who are, shall we say, 30 to 50 years of age.
Individuals who probably didn't have access to
electronics and just the elegance and beauty
of HF radio that we grew up accustomed to. us
to have because of living in the United States
with its freedom and economic liberty and so
now they're where we were maybe 20 years ago
and so they have active contest clubs and attracting
a lot of youth you know that from go to work
and watching the young people whereas in the
US the younger people with notable exceptions
including some that we've mentioned tonight and
some who have tweeted in are more interested
in digital communication via GHF with the smartphone.
Contesting in the U .S., we know that contesters
are largely older than average hams. The modal
distribution of contesters is, well, the two
largest groups are in their 70 to 79 year bracket
and 60 to 69 year bracket. I received an interesting
figure tonight from Dr. Frank Howell. from Mississippi
who's working on a demographic article for NCJ
and a strategy to help us convince the mature
contesting community that we have to reach out
to even younger adults, meaning 50 to 60 year
olds, to get them in. Because compared to the
population at large, contesters are three to
four times more likely to be in their 60s or
70s than the population would predict. And the
danger of that is that as they get older and
need to move into housing situations where it's
difficult to have a tower and a radio or an antenna,
they are often going off the air and unless something
dramatically changes in life expectancy, those
who are 70, 75 may not be on the air for more
than 10 more years. So we're watching, the contesting
itself is at risk in the U .S. unless we can
get newer hams and sort of younger hams, meaning
under 60 year olds, into contesting. Neil, you
and I are relatively young compared to the average
contestor age and we both have been hamps over
40 years. I think you're gonna have your 45th
anniversary as a ham very shortly and I will
too. So I really would like to see us ask, I
think there are two groups of individuals that
we ought to attract into contesting on top of
the youth that you're working in, Tim Duffy and
Bryant and Marty and others are working to draw
in. And those are recent retirees. who have left
the workforce and now have time on their hands
and are looking for something meaningful to do.
And PAM radio is a wonderful hobby. It can be
done indoors or outdoors. It can be done in all
seasons. It requires you to mentally think through
issues. And so it helps you to grow. And I think
it keeps you from maybe getting dementia because
you're using your brain more. And it helps you
to have social connections and to stay connected.
And then I think we also should target the 40
to 55 year olds who have completed college and
graduate school and are well established in careers
and have children who are either teenagers or
in college. And it's really a well known fact
that once children hit the teenage years, they
suddenly stop talking to their parents and they
start going to their classmates via Instagram
and WhatsApp and Snapchat and all of those wonderful
tools. The face -to -face conversations go away
and most spouses need their other spouse to take
a break periodically from having conversations
constantly and probably wouldn't mind if they
were on CW or Sideband or Ready or FT8 a few
hours a week. And so I think there are a lot
of people your age, my age, even Fred's age who
would always wanted to be ham operator but never
had time or energy and now they have time and
resources. They just don't know how. I think
we should take Ward Silver's advice and have
some open houses and invite friends over for
a tour of the shack and reintroduce them to Ham
Radio. It's not the way it was, Neil, when we
were young. The radios are largely solid state
now. I don't have to load and dip my HW101 anymore.
And some people like Brett can even copy signals
below the noise with FT8. I haven't graduated
to that degree of sophistication. I'm still a
CW, RIDI, and sideband operator, but boy, it's...
Contesting in some respects has never seen days
as good as they are now. Technology has made
receivers and transmitters and antennas better
than ever. So you could talk further with less
power on a smaller antenna, on a smaller lot,
shall we say, using something like the new stepper
beams that look like a butterfly or you can put
up wires and trees as K4IU does and talk around
the world and all the bands. So you don't have
to have a rotating tower like I have to be successful
as a contestor. You can get by with a tree and
a wire or even we have a ham operator in town,
Mark Kelm, who puts up a temporary loop and can
make a lot of contacts, digital and sideband,
has a wonderful time, fun time contesting. I
think Mark would be a wonderful NCJ or QST story
because he's a gentleman who retired from the
professional printing world as a business executive
from a local newspaper and then picked up ham
radio as a hobby and really enjoys it and he
makes time for everything and ham radio fits
into that time and there used to be a poster
right that said ham radio is not a hobby it's
a way of life and we need to break that myth
it really is a hobby it's not a way of life for
most people. And you can balance your family
and your grandchildren and your work and also
have fun with the hobby. Well, we've got a caller
that's been patiently waiting. So let's go to
the caller. Welcome to HamTalk Live. Hi, Neil
and Scott. This is Dan, W5DNT down in Texas.
And I've got a question for you, Scott, really
two questions. We've all recently heard about
Howard Mikkel's departure from the ARRL following
this weekend's board meeting. What's the impact
of this change on your work, and what are your
dreams for a post -Howard Mikkel future for the
ARRL? Hello, Dan. It's nice to hear from you.
And Dan is really an accomplished HF operator
in DXR in Texas and someone I greatly respect.
So really thank you for the call and question,
Dan. As you can probably imagine, Howard and
I did not see eye to eye on how contesting and
the printing of the NCJ should go, but I respected
his position and didn't really have a place to
turn. And I really never felt that he understood
contesting as well as an ARRL CEO should because
I watched a YouTube video of Howard and Chattanooga
where he talked about the need to develop a distinct
journal for radio sport. on top of the journals
that we have for contesting and experimentation.
And it made me really worry that maybe Howard
didn't understand contesting very well. Dan,
I think an ARRL CEO should be a hams ham. Maybe
I'm spoiled and have such admiration for Dave
Sumner, but Dave Sumner was a good executive
and he was on the air. You could work him in
contests and he was on VHF as well. And I sure
would like to see a CEO who understands contesting,
maybe does some contesting, does some HF operations
as well as two meter income, maybe satellite
work. I know in the last round of interviews
they had a very, had a number of outstanding
applicants, one in particular who sort of checks
all those boxes and I talked with him at Dayton
a little bit about contesting. He'd gotten word
that I had asked about a digital NCJ and had
shared with me that he Had he been named CEO,
he was going to make a digital NCJ part of the
membership benefits, which turns out that Howard
and the team in Newington decided to do. So maybe
they heard about his idea and decided to run
with it. So I think we have a real opportunity
to put a ham operator back in the seat in Newington
who can relate to the average ham who's on the
air and can understand where the hobby is. In
my field of medicine, And I work at the Mayo
Clinic where we have a CEO who's a physician
and a practicing physician. And it's always been
my experience that if the boss does the work
of the everyday people, they better understand
what life is like. And that's why we have such
a great CEO. And I would say if we get somebody
in Newington who's a CEO, man or woman, who understands
the work of ham radio and does ham radio activities,
then the future will be bright. So I'm hopeful,
Dan, that we can get a CEO who will embrace contesting.
who will understand its impact on ham radio just
as we have a wonderful impact from mcom work
and emergency services weather spotting satellites
youth promotion and who will do all he or she
can to put resources in to grow contesting to
help groups like what neil is working with the
k9 sou and many other school clubs as well as
like the nashua amateur radio society who have
brought in over 200 new members into ham radio
in the last couple of years who will understand
how to grow ham radio and who understands the
pivotal role that contesting plays and pushing
manufacturers to make better radios. Contesters
like to believe they drive the R &D of ham radio,
HF equipment. It's probably true, contesters
and DXers do. That doesn't mean the radios are
not important to the casual ham. They're very
important. But if we can make contesting better,
we make all of HF ham and VHF ham radio better.
I'm really hopeful that we can turn a page and
we can get a CEO in who will embrace contesting
and try contesting and get on the air and let
us all work him or her a little bit. You know
it was always exciting to work K1ZZ in the contest
and you know I'm sure Dave felt like a celebrity
having so many people call him and I think a
new CEO would find it just as fun. So thank you
for that question. Thank you Scott. Thank you
so much for calling in. All right, well Scott
I think we're about out of time tonight, but
any any final thoughts here before we go? Neil
I just want to congratulate you on your Show
or remember we did the first show together. I
believe now you're on episode 97 soon to make
200 Congratulations, and also Congratulations
to you and your school club for continuing to
do so well and school club roundup You're really
doing an excellent job. If I could just leave
one thought with your listeners about contesting,
it's this. You don't have to be a superstar to
contest. Most of the contacts during contests
are made by casual operators working others.
And if you can only get on for an hour or two
and make 25 contacts, that helps all of us. And
it also helps you because you get better trained
for using your radio for any emergency situation.
If you need help figuring out which contest to
try, drop an email to us at NCJ. We will try
to find someone in your region to help you get
set up and get going. And let us also know what
kind of content you want to read about so that
we can continue to meet your needs to grow your
radio sport skills. Neil, thanks again. And it's
nice to be on in 2020 with you. And that's all
I have to say. I won't wrap it up at all. Well,
Scott, thank you so much for coming on once again
and sharing with us about the National Contest
Journal and a lot of these big changes that are
coming up and hope that things continue to expand
and grow and we'll look forward to seeing it
all happen and kind of kicking off this summer.
And we wish you the best with the Youth on the
Air event. That's an exciting thing, too. Thanks
again, Neil. All right. Thank you very much,
Scott. Well, y 'all, speaking of Youth on the
Air, we have a matching fun drive going on right
now for the Youth on the Air camp through the
end of February. And we sent out some announcements
on that today and was on Ham Nation last night
talking about that. So if you donate at youthontheair
.org, Between now and the end of February your
donation is matched dollar for dollar up to $4
,000 thanks to our generous donor Steve. So make
sure you consider that as a possibility to help
young people learn all about ham radio, including
contesting. There'll be a lot of contesting things
there at the camp. So that's going to finish
it up for this week. That is a wrap for this
week's Sam Talk Live. Thanks to Dr. Scott Wright,
KZeroMD and everybody out there in cyberspace
for listening and calling in and invite you back
next Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time.
We hope to bring you Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH,
to talk about the ARRL volunteer monitor program
next week. So hopefully that will work into his
schedule. So that's our plan. And for a list
of all of our upcoming guests, just go over to
HamTalk Live. And if you like the show, please
leave us a review. That's a real big help if
you will do that. So please leave us a review
wherever you listen. That helps others find us
faster. So for now, this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG,
saying 7375, and may the good DX be yours. Thanks
for watching!