Thanks for tuning in. Hamtalk Live will be on
the air shortly. Please stand by. This episode
of HamTalk Live is brought to you by Tower Electronics.
For connectors, cables, and more, call 920 -435
-2973 or visit pl -259 .com. And by ICOM, heard
it, worked it, logged it. Visit www .icomamerica
.com slash amateur for more information about
ICOM radios. Here we go Good evening, everyone.
It's HamTalk Live, episode number 193, Holiday
Gift Ideas and Ham Holiday Traditions. Recorded
live on Thursday, December 12th, 2019. I'm your
host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. Thanks for tuning in
to this episode of HamTalk Live. Tonight we're
joined by Katie Allen, WY7YL. from Ham Radio
Outlet, and we'll take your calls live in just
a few minutes. Last week, Bryant Rascal, KG5,
HVO was here to talk about the December Yoda
month. And if you missed that show, 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
630 p .m. Eastern Time. So get your questions
ready to go for Katie. We'll be talking holiday
gift ideas tonight. If you're listening to us
live on Thursday night, you can call us after
the interview by telephone at 812 -638 -4261.
We'll give that number out again here in just
a minute. It's not time to call just yet, but
we'll give it to you so you have that number
ready to go. You can also tweet us at HamTalkLive
on Twitter. So we'll be watching that throughout
the night as well. We've already got some tweets
firing around. But again, the phone number is
812 -NET -HAM -1. 812 -638 -42. So I'll be back
with Katie right after this word from Tower Electronics
right here on HamTalk Live. There's just one
place to go for all of your connector needs.
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And this weekend only, take advantage of our
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They make great Christmas presents. And what
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TOWER ELECTRONICS! Hi, I'm Scott Cole, KB9 AMM,
President of TOWER ELECTRONICS. I like the company
so much that I bought it. TOWER ELECTRONICS,
coming to a hand -fest near you or online at
PL -259 .com and we're in the yellow pages under
amateur radio connectors. My, wherever did you
get that lovely PL -259? TOWER ELECTRONICS, PL
-259 .com or call 920 -435 -2973. Do we sell
PL259 connectors? All I want for Christmas is
to listen to another episode of HamTalk Live.
Thanks to Scott and Jill at Tower Electronics
for sponsoring the show. again tonight to help
bring ham talk live your way each and every week
they will be at plant city florida the ham fest
there just outside of tampa this weekend that's
the 13th and the 14th plant city florida you
can catch tower electronics or you can visit
them anytime over on their website at pl -259
.com Katie Allen, WY7YL, is a former ARRL staffer
who now lives in Wyoming, and she is the social
media manager for Ham Radio Outlet. She is also
the co -host of the W5KUB Amateur Radio Roundtable,
which airs live on Tuesdays at 9 p .m. Eastern
at W5KUB .com. She's a member of YLRL. She has
earned her DXCC and is a frequent poster of cats
in the ham shack. Is there a hashtag for that
now? I think there might actually be. I was thinking
we had a hashtag for cats in the ham shack. You
know, I think there's a thread on QRZ that has
cats in the ham shack. That might be it. Maybe
that's it. Well anyway, Katie, welcome to the
show and we'll keep posting more cat pictures.
Absolutely. Well, I have no shortage of them.
I have about 10. So it's not a problem from my
side. Yeah. Now, Ali, she, she just, you know,
is just the one and she makes an appearance on
the show here every once in a while. You'll hear
in the background, but I ran across an old video,
uh, from when I was, uh, probably six years old
or so, maybe still five. And I was copying code
on the air and the cat was sitting on top of
the radio and just started batting the top of
my pencil while I was trying to copy code. And
it is hilarious. You'll have to go over to YouTube.
You'll have to share that. Yeah, it's on YouTube.
It's on my QRZ page. So you'll have to check
that out. But yeah, the cat was just trying to
copy code for me, I guess. Well, you know, hams
can be difficult to shop for because we'd all
love to say, well, you know, A nice ICOM 7610
would be a really nice gift. But a $3 ,000 radio
may not always be in the budget, so we're a little
hard to shop for sometimes because some of the
stuff we want is kind of expensive. So let's
start off with some... Holiday gift ideas for
the ham that won't break the bank. All right.
Well, I definitely can do that for you guys I
had some fun shopping around on our website at
ham radio comm to to get some ideas and you know
We obviously we all love those shiny new HF rigs
and dream about having one under you know in
our new shack But you know because there's so
many facets to ham radio that there really isn't
a shortage of affordable gift ideas out there
and What's really kind of great also is that
sometimes your can your family can find some
neat things that are great? to not only have
in your shack or for out of shack activities.
And so I picked out a few items that I thought
would be. fun to share and I've also I'll be
tweeting them out for everyone as well so anybody
who's listening and hanging out on Twitter you'll
have an easy time finding them. So one of the
first things I thought was really kind of cool
is this neat little lantern and spotlight from
Nebo and I have to say I never forgot it because
I nearly blinded myself at a ham fest checking
one out once because I opened it up the wrong
way. But I tend these things are bright because
they've got a 300 lumen lantern and 120 lumen
Spotlight and the lantern itself lasts nearly
eight hours if you're running it on high and
it's nice and small it you know opens up to a
whopping eight inches when you're all done and
it's only like 17 bucks when all is said and
done and You know, like I said, that's something
that you could use anywhere. Not just in your
ham shack And then, I was still thinking about
lighting because it's always an issue in the
shack, whether there's always corners or different
places that need better lighting. If you have
a shack like mine where you have shelves with
books and all kinds of stuff happening, there's
always something you're having a hard time finding.
Well, West Mountain Radio has this really pretty
slick little LED light strip. I saw this when
we were in Milwaukee for the HRO Super Fest earlier
this fall, and they had them on display in their
booth. These LEDs... provide some consistent
lighting. They produce little to no heat and
you know they're great not only in your shack
but you could use it in your car and a truck
camper and a boat and I tell you I am not kidding
these things are bright. I was you know laughing
with Ed from West Mountain Radio when we were
at Superfest checking it out and he says these
things he says he was actually a little surprised
he says these are super popular people are really
liking them and they're nice and bright and you
know and again with LED you have no problem in
the shack. So I'm gonna go a totally different
route now. Here's a really neat stocking stuffer
idea. Seven bucks is a great price for a stocking
stuffer. This is an item called bongo ties. Now
you might have seen this if you ever pop into
any of the HRO stores or at a ham fest for example,
but basically they're a cable tie that has this
awesome grip and has these little Bits of bamboo
on the end and you can use it on so many different
things not just the cables in their shack, but
I've used it actually for when I'm traveling
and I need to wrap up the cable of my hairdryer.
I mean, but it works out really well. Tim, who's
the owner and CEO of the company, he sent me
a bunch of them to give away last year. I think
it was that hamcation. And not only were people
excited to be able to pick up a couple to take
home, but I had so many people say, Oh, you know
what? I have these. Every time I stop in the
store, I always pick up an extra bag because
they're so useful for so many things. And again,
you get a pack of 10 of them for like, you know,
six ninety five or and makes a great little stocking
stuffer. And again, it's something you could
use for not just hammy stuff, but it's an easy,
simple gift that you can use for so many different
things. And there's always a cable that needs
to be secure. Absolutely. They multiply. they
do you know and and I just was thinking you know
when I was just down at our Plano store not too
long ago and and I was taking some pictures of
this nice display of those and I'm like You know
I really need to bring home some of these and
then I managed to go home without any in my you
know within my shopping bag like So that was
one of the reasons I thought about it today.
I'm like, you know Another idea I thought no,
this is a little bit more expensive. We're getting
closer up to like the hundred dollar range But
this is a really neat thing power works has this
crimp bag It's got a power pole crimping tool
for 15 30 and 45 amp contacts It's got an interchangeable
accessory die set and it comes in this really
neat nylon bag I mean obviously everybody's idea
brink baking breaking the bank is a little bit
different. But this would be obviously a little
more significant of a gift. But this is something,
again, that anybody could use because we're always
needing that kind of a tool in the shack or around
the house. And then I thought one last thing
would be kind of fun to share as a neat gift
idea. And it's the MFJ World Map Clock. Now hopefully
you'll check it out when I am tweeting it out
here so you can see what this looks like. This
is really a nice looking clock. It's got an LCD
world map on it where you can actually change,
like select an area on the map and it'll let
you know what the time zone is on that part of
the world. You can have it display in either
12 hour or 24 hour displays. Everything in our
house is the 24 hour time zone. So you can keep
an eye on all of that. It's really attractive
and it makes a nice gift at about $40. There's
kind of a variety of some neat ideas that you
could suggest to a family member or friend if
you were looking for a neat gift. We go anywhere
from $7 up to $100. I think those are some kind
of fun things that aren't so difficult for a
family member who's maybe not a ham to try to
figure out what to get you because if they're
not familiar with your radio or your microphone
needs or... things like that, then these could
be some really handy gifts that anybody could
use in their shack. Yeah, some of those gifts
get kind of kind of touchy because you know,
you got to get this the right version for the
right rig and Right kind of stuff and and so,
you know, it's kind of easy to get the wrong
thing But but with these I think you've made
some great choices there because you know everybody
can can use the flashlight everybody can use
the wire ties, you know and and There's just
a lot of things that we don't always think about
that yeah okay that that you know would be a
really great gift for a ham. Right and you know
and then also whoever might be buying for you.
They don't have to necessarily know what your
specific radio brand is or your specific interest
or you know, for example right here sitting on
the on my side of the shack next to me is my
MFJ voice here and Got it set up for the contest
for sweepstakes and then we had a problem on
my side of the shack so I didn't end up using
it but the 10 meter contest is coming up this
weekend and I'm going to get it ready because
I want to play in the contest. Well, I was thinking
that'd be a really neat idea, but unless you're
somebody who's going to sit on the air for hours
on end or maybe you don't use voice at all, you
don't want to necessarily say, well, that's a
great idea for everybody. And that's why I was
trying to pick out something that would be some
ideas for people. So no matter what they like
to do with their hand radio, it's something that
they could probably use. Oh, yeah. Well, let's
talk about some some of the other things maybe
a little more expensive here But there's some
good deals going on. So let's talk about I know
there's there's several special deals going on
for this Holiday season, so let's talk about
some of those and how that might make shopping
a little bit easier Yeah, you betcha well we
did we just had obviously we we've all survived
Black Friday and Cyber Monday and Green Monday
and whatever all those days are called. I think
new I think new holidays keep getting Invented
every year, but yeah, of course we want to make
sure that we provide the best deals for everybody
all the time But especially holiday times we
do what we can to knock down the prices as low
as possible And so we've got some special holidays
happenings and if you go to our website at ham
radio comm you'll notice there's an neat little
holiday banner right there at the top and all
you have to do is click on it and it'll give
you a list. We've got, it says, HRO's extra holiday
deals. So when you open up that page, you're
gonna see a listing of quite a few items. For
example, like the ICOM remote control software,
the BA one, it's on sale now for basically $110.
Or if you wanna grab a really nice HF rig, the
ICOM 718, between the holiday discounts and a
rebate, you can get yourself a nice little compact
transceiver for $540. And that is a good solid
radio that is not going anywhere and it's just
one of those staples that you know you can't
go wrong with. Another example, like the Kenwood
TS -480 SAT. Now, this is a 100 watt transceiver
with a built -in antenna tuner. It's normally
about $1 ,100, but with all of the holiday savings,
it's now $839 .95. That one is really nice too
because it's really built for the DXer and but
it's such a nice neat little compact radio and
so that's something you know someone might be
interested in checking out and and then of course
Yesu they've got like almost a dozen items that
have rebates available on them right now. For
example if you wanted to grab the FT -70DR handheld
For 155 bucks, you can get on System Fusion,
get on UHF, VHF, and then you could get a $30
rebate from Yesu. So by the time you're done
with all of that, you've got yourself a really
nice new little handheld for $125. And then,
of course, because it's Yesu, they have three
-year warranties on all of their items. So, I
mean, it's totally a win -win for everybody.
It's just, you know, that's just a brief sampling
of some of the things that are there. But if
you go to hamradio .com again and you just click
on that holiday banner right at the top of the
page, you can check out all of the specials that
are there. And those will be going right through
into the holidays. So any last minutes? If you're
if you live close to a store and you really want
to make sure you get something in time then I
highly recommend that you pop into one of our
locations and and check stuff out and of course
we have our display areas with the live radios
hooked up to antennas so if you've been really
kind of wondering how a radio operates you can
go in sit down and twirl some knobs and test
her out and It's really a fun way to be able
to get a good idea of what you like about a radio
and and have a side -by -side comparison so if
you've been You know weighing out, you know one
radio versus another this is a really good way
that you can go sit down and check it out All
right, and then uh, let's talk a little bit about
you know, I think there's some items that just
Every ham should have Maybe it's tools. Maybe
it, you know Here's I don't know. So What are
some things that just? Every ham should have
one of these Well, you know, you know, I'm glad
you asked me that question Because I just happen
to have a couple I just happen to have a couple
of ideas But you know, I have to I have to start
out by saying if you had asked me that a year
ago I would have something totally different
in mind, but Because recently I've been playing
around with some new things. I'm kind of stoked
about these SDR plays now You might have seen
that I just did a video for ham radio outlet
on our YouTube page About getting the SDR play
RSP 1a setup It's like three minutes and I hooked
it all up downloaded the software and got that
up and running and I tell you what? It is really
slick. We you know, it's funny because my husband
watched the video and he's like I want one of
those. And I said, well, get online and buy one.
He says, well, you said in your video you're
bringing one home. I'm like, I didn't really
mean that. You got to go buy it if you want it.
Which he did. So when he got it home, we've got
it hooked up down here in the shack. And, you
know, I used to be kind of of the mindset like,
why would you just want a receiver? Because if
you can't talk to anybody, what's the point?
Well, I tell you what I have, you know, I have
seen the light because all you need is your computer
and an antenna. And it's a what you can listen
to. When you integrate it with the software,
you basically have multiple receivers going on
and you can see what's happening all over the
bands. And with the SDR Play, it also comes as
a duo, which means you can now have a dual tuner
wideband, full featured SDR, and you could simultaneously
monitor two completely different areas of the
spectrum at the same time. Because again, it's
duo, which means you get to hook up two antennas.
And then there's now the newest edition of the
SDR Play family, which is the SDR Play DX. And
that incorporates all the features from the previous
versions, but now you can monitor up to 10 megahertz
of spectrum at one time with three antenna ports.
And, you know, starting from 109 .95... up to
the $219 .95 for the Duo and the brand new RSPDX,
which is about $199 .95. You know, in the couple
hundred dollar range, you can have this really
great receiver action going on in your shack,
and it's, like I said, it's so simple to use,
and the spectrum that it covers is just astounding.
And I really like the idea, say, if you're contesting
or just, say maybe you're searching for one of
these DXpeditions that is out there, maybe you're
on one of your local nets, you can have your
SDR play hooked up, monitor what's going on elsewhere,
do what you want on the radio and then you know
what's happening and then click on over. Right
now we're in the process of setting it up so
that we can also use JT65 and discovered you
have to download a virtual audio cable and hook
it all up. I tell you what, it is some really
slick stuff and I've completely changed my mind
about it after having an opportunity to play
with it and visit with Steve Breitman from SDR
Play while I was at our Play -No store. Really
neat thing to have in your shack and you know,
like I said, if you had asked me a year ago,
it's not even anything that probably would have
popped up on my mind in terms of something that,
you know, a ham should have. But it's definitely
on my list of things that I think is kind of
cool. Now I came home with one of those from
a double URL headquarters that teachers Institute
this summer and and we got we got the the single
version but but we used it to you know like you
said record this whole big chunk of spectrum
and then you can go back and you can you can
pick out whatever frequency you want to listen
to at the time and so you're getting all these
different things so if you you're afraid of you
know missing something that that's coming on
because it's it's you know not exactly on the
right frequency like sometimes you know bulletins
they gotta move the frequency a couple of kc
because you know somebody's on there but with
this you can record the whole thing at once And
then you can pick out what you want to listen
to later. And it's really cool. And we used it
for a lot of the satellite telemetry and that
kind of thing. So you could just record it all,
that it was coming down, and then you can worry
about processing it later. It worked really well.
So what are some of the other things that every
ham should have? Okay, so here I've been playing
around with oh There we are. Sorry about that
Okay, phew. So I was just starting to say another
item that I've actually put on my wish list Because
I've been seeing a lot of it this past year everywhere
between at ham fest in the store on YouTube everywhere
It's the zom spot It is when you pair it up with
the Raspberry Pi It's basically it's your software
and you have a digital hotspot in your house
so if you don't have a repeater nearby for your
system fusion or D star or Motorola DMR radio
No problem because the zoom spot solves it by
allowing you to get into those systems You can
you know buy it as a kit and build it yourself
or buy it fully assembled and you literally give
yourself access to the rest of the world so and
it's really very affordable way to do it. So
let me give you this sweet example. So for about
300 bucks total investment you can get around
the world. So like right now one of our specials
we have going on is a Yesu FT3200DR. It's a 65
watt 2 meter C4 FM digital mobile transceiver.
It's normally about $170 and between the holiday
specials and a Yesu rebate it's now $109 .95.
Okay. Yes, I just said that 110 bucks to get
a nice two meter system fusion radio. Okay, so
now you've got your radio. Oh, and don't forget
because it's the AC you got a three year warranty
on it. Okay, so now you get the zoom spot kit
have a little fun and build it yourself. That's
about $155. So now you've got a fully functioning
digital hotspot and radio in your shack to get
you around the world for about 300 bucks and
What's really super cool is you are, so if you're
on your, it could be DMR, it gets you through
P25, system fusion, DMR, and a couple other modes
that I don't even know what they are, to be honest
with you. I saw them, but I didn't want to talk
about them because I just don't know what they
are. So I need to do a little research of my
own, but I'm like, what does that thing stand
for? So those are a couple other things that
I thought, you know, just give us somebody idea
because so many times I know I see on a lot of
different discussion groups, whether it's like
Reddit or QRZ or just on some of the different
Facebook groups, people want to be able to, you
know, talk around the world, but they are afraid
of some of the prices because, you know, getting
into HF isn't cheap. Obviously, it's, you know,
it is a little bit of investment, but. Something
like having a hot spot, you know, like we're
if you live like I do kind of in the middle of
nowhere fortunately, we do have a couple repeaters
around here, but I Don't have a system fusion
repeater nearby. I do have a D star repeater
nearby So if I had a D star radio, I would be
able to use that but if say I picked up this
nice little 3200 I wouldn't be able to get into
anywhere but if with the zoom spot all of a sudden
I have access to a whole new world with this
nice inexpensive radio. So it's, you know, it's
just another way of looking at some new ways
of doing some things that I think are, you know,
kind of fun and affordable and a way to get you
to try some new things on the radio. And as I
said, you know, these are things like a year
ago, I really didn't even think about or thought
it would be anything I'd be interested in. And,
you know, having some exposure to meeting some
of the guys that created these, like, you know,
one of the super things about with a Zoom spot
is, you know, it's all engineered and created
in here in the US. This is what he does full
-time for a living and has brought it into the
ham radio world and so you know it's just kind
of a neat thing so I think you know and obviously
you know when you talk about the basics There's
so many options out there I could I mean we could
sit here way beyond the time that you have scheduled
for your show to talk about everything that we
all should have because Because ham radio is
so vast, you know, we should all have a an operating
manual. It should all have a handbook we all
need a power supply, but I thought it'd be kind
of fun to take it just a little bit off to the
side and say You know for people to have some
ideas about some fun things they could do Some
great ideas from Katie Allen, W -I -7 -Y -L at
Ham Radio Outlet. And we're going to take a break
right now, but when we come back, we're going
to talk about a lot of these tweets that are
rolling in here tonight. And we'll take some
phone calls. And then we're also going to talk
a little bit about some Ham Radio holiday traditions.
So we'll do all that. When we come back after
this word from ICOM America right here on HamTalk
Live. Wish it. Wrap it! Gift it! Step up your
gift -giving game this year and get your favorite
ham the transceiver at the top of their list.
ICOM offers a variety of high -performance and
innovative products. Make the most of this holiday
season with one of these ICOMs today. The IC7610
is the season to give your favorite ham the SDR
they really want. This high -performance SDR
has the ability to pick out the faintest of signals,
even in the presence of stronger adjacent ones.
The IC7610 by ICOM is a direct sampling software
-defined radio that will change the world's definition
of an SDR transceiver. It has RF direct sampling,
110 dB RMDR, independent dual receiver, and dual
digicel. The IC 7300, ham for the holidays. ICOM
is changing the way entry -level HF is designed.
This high -performance, innovative HF transceiver
with a compact design will far exceed your expectations.
With RF direct sampling, 15 discrete bandpass
filters, a large 4 .3 -inch color touchscreen,
real -time spectrum scope, and an SD card slot.
The IC 9700, this transceiver is at the top of
every ham's wish list. for this holiday season.
Keep your competitive contesting edge with faster
processors, higher input gain, higher display
resolution, and a cleaner signal. ICOM's IC9700
is the pinnacle of perfection. It has a 4 .3
-inch color touchscreen, dual watch operation
and full duplex operation in satellite mode,
a real -time high -speed spectrum scope and waterfall
display, voice recording with an SD card, and
support CWAM sideband ready desto - and more.
Visit icomamerica .com slash amateur for more
information on these ICOM radios. Join the conversation.
Give us a call at 812 -NET -HAM -1. That's 812
-638 -4261. Now, here's more HamTalk Live! If
Denny's is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,
why are there locks on the doors? Now, here's
Neil Rapp with more HamTalk Live. They're also
a proud supporter of youngsters on the air or
Yoda and December is Yoda month and there's Yoda
stations on in all three regions of the world
so work one or all of the Yoda stations around
the world and helps create some excitement about
our wonderful hobby and you can check ICOM out
at icomamerica .com HamTalk Live is on the air
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 and
it's time for your calls now. So if you have
a question for Katie, give us a call. That phone
number is 812 -638 -4261. You can tweet us at
HamTalk Live. We've got a whole bunch of those
to go through here. And if you're listening,
to us on WTWW or on the podcast edition. I'm
sorry, but... We're not here anymore. This is
in the past. So we're not going to be around.
So sorry about that. We're already gone. But
yeah, we're already gone. Too late. But you can
see all the tweets and you can catch up with
everything that we've talked about here tonight.
And we are going to talk a little bit about a
couple of traditions here in just a little bit.
But let's see if we get some phone calls here.
We also have several tweets going on, some people
chiming in with their ideas as well. But one
I wanted to be sure that we catch, the ICOM remote
software, the RSBA1, I think it's version two
now, is on sale. It's reduced from 149 to 109
.99. Bill WZ1L wanted to know when is that holiday
period ending for that particular promotion?
Oh sure that particular special ends actually
on Christmas Day so it expires 12 25 so I would
venture a guess since it's usually if it's by
the day then it's midnight Eastern Standard Time
for that special. And it looks like we've got
it in stock in a couple of stores and so no matter
where you are we can get it to you Okay, yeah,
he mentioned that he was at the store in Salem,
New Hampshire and I guess they told him he'd
have to get it from the Anaheim location so So
they can get that for you wherever Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, it's just a matter of getting it shipped
in from from one location to another and yeah,
that's not a problem at all and That should be
seamless for you bill not shouldn't have to worry
about where it's coming from. We'll take care
of it for you Okay, and we've got several tweets
about antennas, so we'll switch over to antennas
Jeff we 4b says oh, you know, I know a satellite
up Ops, you know, of course an arrow antenna
is is never a bad way to go, you know That to
now and they're handy. Yep They are you can't
go you can you you can use them for fox hunting?
Can't go wrong and you know, he's from he's from
Wyoming. You know that right? Jeff No, not Jeff
Tim. Oh, no arrow antennas there. Oh Yeah, okay.
I didn't mean to throw you off there great. Oh,
okay. I thought Thinking about Jeff there. Okay.
Yeah, that's right. That's right Let's see. We've
got some more antenna things Chris says he's
going to be down at Plant City so he can get
some stuff down there and then AA4CB says everybody
needs a new antenna so you know there's always
some antenna stuff. Carl KD9HQT says what dual
band mobile antenna is better which have the
same antenna gain but the cost is different.
MFJ, Diamond, Is the brand really worth the extra
money? I guess is what he's asking Well, you
know that it's a really good question that you
know I honestly am NOT the right person to answer
because I'm your social media manager Not the
sales experts like our stores Of course, I have
antennas on my cars and I'm also friends with
all of the different manufacturers and they all
have great aspects to them. All joking aside,
what I always tell people is to touch base with
one of our stores because those guys and gals
that work in our stores are the ones that do
this all day long and they know all of our products.
What's mind boggling is how many things that
we actually do carry. I have a Ford F -150 and
an ICOM 7100 and I need to know what kind would
be the best antenna because I don't want to drill
a hole in my new truck or something. Our team
is just on the ball with the right kind of information
because they do this all day long. They would
be the right person to be able to... Guide you
along is in terms of what product would work
best for you where you live what your needs are
and within your budget So that's that would be
my recommendation is to you know to give any
one of our stores a call You know, we have 13
around the country. So we cover all the time
zones for you and Brett wi7bg another another
Wyoming Wyoming him Says an inexpensive HF rig.
He recommends the zygote 20 watts, ideal for
digital remote activation and says HRO is about
450 somewhere in that neighborhood. Yeah, the
G90 and that's a 20 watt multi mode and it looks
like I think we just dropped ship it to you But
it's the first model in that new G series and
it's portable 20 watts 10 to 160 meters and Yeah,
that's one of the newer radios and I know that
it's coming through MFJ and it's pretty slick
little radio I forgot about those. Thanks for
bringing that up Brett because that's another
Another good one out there that I've been seeing
quite a lot of people have been pretty impressed
with us And Brett also mentioned, you know, there's
some personalized ham radio items on Etsy. I
mean, you can find some stuff on there if you
want shirts and, you know, a shirt that says
resistance is futile and, you know, or... Oh
yeah, or, you know, our friends at... Ron and
Amy at Gold Medal Ideas. They, you see them at
all the big ham fest. I've got a few of their
t -shirts and... Call sign hats are always a
great idea as well. And so yeah, there's all
kinds of neat things out there All right eight
one two six three eight four two six one is the
phone number trying to go through all these tweets
We've got a ton of them tonight So, let's see
we've talked about Most of these I believe so
I think we're Think we're pretty scrolling through
my feed here, too. Yeah Oh, oh, I forgot about
the one right before the show actually Wa for
CZD wanted to know has a price been announced
for the new icon 705 qrp or any guesstimate on
that so we'll let you answer that yeah Well,
unfortunately, no not yet and obviously we are
all anxiously awaiting it just like when any
new radio comes out I'll just dying to know what
the price is going to be but I think once I believe
obviously it's usually we're just waiting for
the final FCC approvals and then as soon as That's
done. Then all of the details will be released
and I sure hope we see it at Hamvention next
year. That would be sure nice nice time to have
a new radio out. But that's just me guessing.
I have no idea. But sorry, no, no idea on the
prices yet. I haven't heard anything. But I think
that I think that radio is going to be quite
a hit. Yeah, I think so. It's a very unique radio
and with you know a lot of uh different things
you know practical uses for it um i think that's
uh right that's a great thing now you know i
i'm one of those life is too short for qrp people
but yeah but my husband's the portability the
portability of that thing and and the ability
you know for for uh you know some satellite stuff
Right that could be a good option. So Well, and
if you're just dying to make sure that you on
that one Yeah, and and we do have an option you
can reserve it on our website for $35 so that
when it does finally come in you'll be at that
top of that list and Then that gets you know
put onto the total amount of the actual radio
but so you can you know if you're willing to
unload 35 bucks for now to make sure you're on
the list when that beauty does come out you can
just pop on our website and go ahead and get
on that list you know that happens a lot with
new radios and that way you know because every
time there's something shiny and new out you
know there's always people that want to make
sure they get it first and uh um and don't want
to have to wait so that's the way you do it get
your name on the list all right well um oh let's
see oh something about um please Insert the Baofeng
sound effect now. Oh, I'm not We have the Baofeng
song I didn't I didn't remember remember I didn't
I didn't hear anybody mention the word Baofeng,
but here it is Carl. Well, it's Christmas Okay,
so there it is, okay, let's see we had another
one I need the special discount oh okay that
that that goes to you I think I need the special
discount code okay uh all right so uh eight one
two six three four two six one we're gonna finish
up here so last chance to uh to call in and uh
we're just uh kind of checking over all the tweets
here tonight uh some good participation uh from
the listeners tonight so uh appreciate that that
always makes it Whole lot more fun when people
actually call in or type into a call -in show.
So so that's always good Because then I don't
I don't get distracted by goats on Roomba's on
Twitter, right? Exactly Exactly goats on Roomba's
you heard it first here on ham talk live ladies
and gentlemen All right. Well We want to talk
a little bit about a couple of traditions here,
but before we go and I actually had tried to
get a hold of Pete, KE5GGY, and I wasn't able
to catch up with him. But the Santa Nat is going
on. It's on 3916. And their new website is CQSanta
.com. So that starts at 815 Eastern. So make
sure you check that out and if you want to get
somebody on the air to talk to Santa 3916 and
you can actually I think get on the list at CQSanta
.com ahead of time I think is what's going on
with that. And we've got one more but we've got
a phone call so let's take the call and I believe
this is Mark. Good evening Mark. Good evening
Neil and Katie. This is Mark and for BCD Huntsville
Hamfest chairman. Hi Mark. How are you? I'm doing
wonderful. I decided to call Katie. I didn't
want her to go go off watching goats on Roombas
So I thought I thought I'd break them break it
up a little bit here and you know we're moving
quickly into the busy Christmas holiday season
and It'll probably be the last night I have for
some free time to wish you guys a Merry Christmas
as we celebrate the holidays and pick things
up in the new year. Oh, thanks, Mark. It's nice
to hear you and Merry Christmas to you as well.
Yeah, and Merry Christmas to you as well, Mark,
and great to hear from you as always and appreciate
you calling in. Thanks. We're working hard on
the Huntsville Hamfest website. We hope to roll
that out somewhere between Christmas and New
Year's. Have some new content up there along
with the hotel codes and all that good stuff.
But yeah, we're excited about 2020 Huntsville
Hamfest. Of course, I think we'll all be getting
together before that in Dayton and even before
that in Orlando in February. I know I'm looking
forward to the warm weather in Orlando compared
to the snow we had here in Huntsville this past
week. Absolutely yeah, you guys I'm used to snow,
but you guys shouldn't be getting it down there
Yeah, it was it was short -lived, but you know
people looked out the the office windows at about
three o 'clock on on What was it Wednesday? I
think it was and everybody panicked and got on
the road at the same time the roads weren't bad
But the traffic was just gridlock. It was just
it was a fun night home And if it's anything
like it is here the bread and milk were all gone
Right we did not we did not have what they call
a a full -blown liquor store emergency, but Listen
guys, I missed the show tonight I was helping
my wife move Christmas decorations down from
the attic But like I said, I tuned in late just
wanted to give you guys a shout out and Neil
really enjoy the show and We'll pick it up again
next year All right. Thanks Mark. And yeah, actually
I was looking for those hotel codes the other
day So that's that you just answered one of my
questions. So we'll be watching for that information
Thanks Mark. Thanks Mark. Appreciate it Katie.
Best wishes. Happy holidays. Bye. Bye All right,
that's a mark Brown in for BCD. Thanks for calling
in and We've got one last holiday tradition here,
but but Katie first I got to ask Or do you have
any ham holiday traditions to share? You know
We did when we were first married because we
were you know kind of building up our our our
group ham shack here You know consolidating our
equipment. So it's not really a tradition, but
we did have one fun year where both of us independently
called Janet at the Anaheim HRO and ordered something
for each other for Christmas and And so she knew
what we were each getting because she also wrapped
it for us when she When we opened up our presents
on Christmas morning, we were laughing because
the wrapping papers looked familiar. And we had
given each other Heil headsets and microphones.
So we had a happy Heil Christmas one year because
that was literally all that was under the tree
was all ham radio stuff. That was kind of fun,
but that's probably it for our traditions as
it goes. Uh, well, we're going to start a new
one here on the show tonight. Uh, about, about
a week ago or so, uh, we're on Twitter and some
of us that kind of hang out on satellite. So
I'm kind of joke around with each other and,
and Andrew, uh, Northam K E eight FZT, uh, made
an annual post of a song that his daughter Emily
wrote. Emily is 11 years old now and she wrote
this song called the radio jingle. And so she
wrote it out on a piece of paper. And so, you
know, Andrew's like, well, it's that time of
year once again and post the song about ham radio
and working satellites and all that kind of stuff.
And so they had the radio jingle. And so that's
kind of become a Christmas tradition for them.
And so after seeing those lyrics, Josh W3 ARD
was joking about how that song was so much better
than the ham talk live theme song and that i
should take some lessons from her and have her
song recorded with some style so now while we
were joking around as i do a lot of times i took
this as a challenge so tonight with the permission
of andrew and emily I'm now unveiling the professionally
performed and recorded version of the radio jingle
that we'll use throughout the holiday season
right here on HamTalk Live. Two professional
musicians of the band named Gingerside in Bosnia
recorded this and here is the radio jingle right
here on HamTalk Live. Standing in the snow with
a brand new radio Catching the ISS, satellites
are the best A gate on the roof, repeater down
the street What fun it is to make contacts with
everyone I meet Oh, radio, radio, QTSS, Volkswagen
All right, so there you go Emily you wrote the
song now We've got it recorded for you and and
we'll use that here on the show So so there we
go and Josh that'll save you from from hearing
the regular ham talk live theme song for a week
or two anyway, so So there you a couple week
reprieve. Yes. Yes, two week reprieve. There
you go. So Katie it's been great. We're already
over time, but any any final thoughts here before
we go No, I just would really sincerely say thank
you so much for having me on tonight It's been
a lot of fun and we sure appreciate it and like
to say Merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah and
happy holidays to everybody out there in 73 All
right. Well, thank you so much for being here.
We appreciate all your gift ideas and maybe I'll
be looking for some of those things under the
tree. You never know. You just never know. You
never know. And maybe a cat under the tree. Another
one? Well, I don't know about another one. That
could get complicated around here. But maybe
we'll get some more cats of the hamshack posted.
There you go. Sounds good. We got to find that
hashtag. We got to get that. Well, that is a
wrap for this week's edition of HamTalk Live.
Thanks to my guest, Katie Allen, WY7YL and everybody
in cyberspace for listening and calling in and
typing in. And I invite you back next Thursday
night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time for yet another
episode. And for a list of all of our upcoming
guests, visit HamTalkLive .com. And if you like
the show, please leave us a review on iTunes.
That'll help us and help others find us faster.
So for now, this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, saying
7375. And may the good DX be yours. Standing
in the snow With a brand new radio Catching the
ISS Settlers are the best At gate or the roof
Repeat her down the street What fun it is to
make her box one.