WEBVTT 00:00:08.530 --> 00:00:11.349 Thanks for tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on 00:00:11.349 --> 00:00:26.960 the air shortly. Please stand by. This episode 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:30.559 of HamTalk Live is brought to you by Tower Electronics. 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:35.240 For connectors, cables, and more, call 920 -435 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:41.979 -2973 or visit pl -259 .com. And by ICOM, heard 00:00:41.979 --> 00:00:47.219 it, worked it, logged it. Visit www .icomamerica 00:00:47.219 --> 00:00:50.920 .com slash amateur for more information about 00:00:50.920 --> 00:01:25.409 ICOM radios. Good evening, everyone. It's time 00:01:25.409 --> 00:01:31.390 for HamTalk Live. It's episode number 166, Equinox, 00:01:31.590 --> 00:01:34.170 a science fiction book with Ham Radio recorded 00:01:34.170 --> 00:01:39.870 live on Thursday, May 23rd, 2019. I'm your host, 00:01:39.989 --> 00:01:44.670 Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. Thanks for tuning in to this 00:01:44.670 --> 00:01:47.549 episode of HamTalk Live. Tonight we're joined 00:01:47.549 --> 00:01:52.489 by author DM Barrett. In for ECW and we'll take 00:01:52.489 --> 00:01:56.209 your calls live in just a few minutes. Last week 00:01:56.209 --> 00:01:59.069 we were live in Dayton, bringing you the last 00:01:59.069 --> 00:02:03.049 minute details about Hamvention and, uh, hope 00:02:03.049 --> 00:02:06.290 you've recovered. It's taken a couple of days 00:02:06.290 --> 00:02:09.069 to get everything back in place and caught up 00:02:09.069 --> 00:02:12.379 on all the email and. and all that kind of thing, 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:15.439 but finally starting to recover from Hamvention. 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:18.599 So I hope you were able to enjoy it. And if you 00:02:18.599 --> 00:02:21.039 couldn't go, I hope you were able to at least 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:25.979 enjoy some of the media that were there over 00:02:25.979 --> 00:02:28.460 Hamvention weekend. And if you missed the show, 00:02:28.599 --> 00:02:31.860 you can listen anytime at HamTalkLive .com or 00:02:31.860 --> 00:02:35.379 on your favorite podcast app or on YouTube. And 00:02:35.379 --> 00:02:40.750 of course, we're rebroadcast. on WTWW 5085 a 00:02:40.750 --> 00:02:44.610 .m. Saturday evenings at about 630 p .m. Eastern 00:02:44.610 --> 00:02:48.849 Time so you can check that out. One thing coming 00:02:48.849 --> 00:02:52.150 up I want to remind you 100 watts in a wire or 00:02:52.150 --> 00:02:55.229 as we called it last week 100 wires in a what? 00:02:57.659 --> 00:03:00.740 tune up activity. It's going to be field day 00:03:00.740 --> 00:03:03.500 before too long and tune up is kind of check 00:03:03.500 --> 00:03:06.699 out your antennas get some reports and and just 00:03:06.699 --> 00:03:09.159 get on the air and there are some prizes involved 00:03:09.159 --> 00:03:11.759 and some other things so that's June 7th through 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:15.819 9th. So that's coming up so if you're interested 00:03:15.819 --> 00:03:19.819 in running the tune up with the 100 watts and 00:03:19.819 --> 00:03:22.979 a wire folks. June 7th through 9th is when that 00:03:22.979 --> 00:03:26.180 will take place. We'll talk more about that here 00:03:26.180 --> 00:03:28.879 in the next couple of weeks as that gets closer. 00:03:29.580 --> 00:03:32.979 So tonight, Dennis Barrett, Dr. Dennis Barrett 00:03:32.979 --> 00:03:36.419 in for ECW is with us. We'll talk about his new 00:03:36.419 --> 00:03:40.280 book, so get your questions ready to go and we'll 00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:42.060 give you the phone number for that. If you're 00:03:42.060 --> 00:03:46.819 listening to us live on Thursday night, You can 00:03:46.819 --> 00:03:50.520 give us a call later on in the show after we 00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:53.439 do the interview and that phone number to call 00:03:53.439 --> 00:04:04.620 is 812 -650 -9556 tonight again 812 -650 -9556 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:07.620 is the phone number to call or you can type to 00:04:07.620 --> 00:04:11.199 us on Twitter. We'll check at HamTalk Live on 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:14.080 Twitter as the night goes on. And if you're on 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:16.899 Spreaker, you can type to us on there as well. 00:04:17.319 --> 00:04:19.980 And if you're listening to the podcast or the 00:04:19.980 --> 00:04:23.100 rebroadcast over on WTWW, we're not going to 00:04:23.100 --> 00:04:26.160 be there because it's Thursday night now. And, 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:28.639 um, you'll be hearing this at a different time. 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:31.819 So I'll be back with Dennis right after this 00:04:31.819 --> 00:04:35.399 word from icon America right here on ham talk 00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:38.920 live. Create your own band opening. ICOM's newest 00:04:38.920 --> 00:04:42.860 SDR transceiver, the IC -9700, is coming soon. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:45.899 This radio is bringing direct sampling to the 00:04:45.899 --> 00:04:50.839 UHF -VHF weak signal world. The IC -9700 all 00:04:50.839 --> 00:04:53.980 -mode transceiver is loaded with innovative features 00:04:53.980 --> 00:04:57.319 such as dedicated amateur satellite operation, 00:04:57.620 --> 00:05:00.779 color touchscreen, D -Star capability built right 00:05:00.779 --> 00:05:04.139 in, RF direct sampling on the 2 -meter and 70 00:05:04.139 --> 00:05:06.639 -centimeter bands, Dual independent receivers 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:10.560 capable of full duplex operation as well as dual 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:14.779 watch and 100 watts max power on 2 meters, 75 00:05:14.779 --> 00:05:18.000 watts max on 70 centimeters, and 10 watts max 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:21.850 on 1 .2 gigahertz. Pack your bags because the 00:05:21.850 --> 00:05:24.790 Dayton Hamvention is coming up from May 17th 00:05:24.790 --> 00:05:27.550 to 19th at the Green County Fairgrounds and Expo 00:05:27.550 --> 00:05:30.910 Center. You can see the latest and greatest ICOM 00:05:30.910 --> 00:05:33.769 gear and meet hams from all over the world. Visit 00:05:33.769 --> 00:05:38.629 www .icomamerica .com slash amateur for more 00:05:38.629 --> 00:05:43.189 information on ICOM radios. Ham talk live now 00:05:43.189 --> 00:06:00.610 with 30 % less calories and no trans fat. Well, 00:06:00.610 --> 00:06:03.490 thanks to ICOM for bringing you HamTalk Live. 00:06:03.509 --> 00:06:05.509 It was good to hang out with them at Hamvention 00:06:05.509 --> 00:06:08.490 this past weekend. Obviously that's not coming 00:06:08.490 --> 00:06:11.149 up this weekend anymore, but it's good to hang 00:06:11.149 --> 00:06:14.410 out with them and be at the ICOM booth there 00:06:14.410 --> 00:06:18.610 for a while. And they were showing off all kinds 00:06:18.610 --> 00:06:21.550 of good things and giving away some stuff too. 00:06:21.610 --> 00:06:24.790 My goodness. So hope you had a chance to check 00:06:24.790 --> 00:06:27.790 that out. But if you haven't, go over to icomamerica 00:06:27.790 --> 00:06:32.170 .com slash amateur and you can see all their 00:06:32.170 --> 00:06:37.649 new goodies. Well, tonight with us is Dennis 00:06:37.649 --> 00:06:42.110 Barrett, PhD, a retired engineering and management 00:06:42.110 --> 00:06:45.290 consultant that resides in Land O 'Lakes, Florida. 00:06:46.050 --> 00:06:49.230 He's the author of the science fiction book Equinox 00:06:49.230 --> 00:06:53.569 that has taken amateur and shortwave radio into 00:06:53.569 --> 00:06:57.149 the cultural mainstream and its version of a 00:06:57.180 --> 00:07:01.980 limited alien invasion storyline. And it's, uh, 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:05.899 the book is available on Kindle, Amazon and Barnes 00:07:05.899 --> 00:07:09.019 and Noble. So Dennis, good evening. Welcome to 00:07:09.019 --> 00:07:12.839 HamTalk Live. Well, thank you, Neil. I'm excited 00:07:12.839 --> 00:07:16.160 about being here and I appreciate the invitation 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:19.180 and, uh, look forward to, you know, having a 00:07:19.180 --> 00:07:22.009 discussion with you. Yeah, well, let's talk a 00:07:22.009 --> 00:07:25.990 little bit about the idea for how this book came 00:07:25.990 --> 00:07:30.370 about equinox How did you get the idea to write 00:07:30.370 --> 00:07:36.649 this? Well, the the book is based on two source 00:07:36.649 --> 00:07:41.470 materials one is a Revelation chapter 9 is primarily 00:07:41.470 --> 00:07:45.990 9 1 through about 11 where the book speaks about 00:07:45.990 --> 00:07:49.410 an actual locust invasion of five months and 00:07:49.389 --> 00:07:52.569 how it will happen and what its effect will be. 00:07:52.910 --> 00:07:55.649 It doesn't say how it ends up, but apparently 00:07:55.649 --> 00:07:59.490 it ends up favorably. And then there's a Cherokee 00:07:59.490 --> 00:08:03.930 rattlesnake prophecy of the 1800s, early 1800s, 00:08:03.930 --> 00:08:08.269 which speaks to two constellations being at war, 00:08:08.410 --> 00:08:11.389 two groups in two constellations being at war. 00:08:11.649 --> 00:08:17.209 Could very well just be an astrological situation. 00:08:17.629 --> 00:08:20.589 There's a lot of things in that that's relevant 00:08:20.589 --> 00:08:23.949 to this. So one day I decided I would come up 00:08:23.949 --> 00:08:26.589 with a storyline. I did not intend to write a 00:08:26.589 --> 00:08:30.310 book. I intended to write a narrative that could 00:08:30.310 --> 00:08:34.850 be turned into a television show. And that's 00:08:34.850 --> 00:08:39.370 what brought me to this. The Ham radio part was, 00:08:39.370 --> 00:08:41.990 I think, necessary to the storyline because you've 00:08:41.990 --> 00:08:44.590 got a group of resistance people that's founded 00:08:44.590 --> 00:08:49.409 at a shortwave station. shortwave and, um, amateur 00:08:49.409 --> 00:08:53.789 radio seemed like logical tools in this, um, 00:08:53.789 --> 00:08:58.649 resistance movement. Okay. Well, yeah, let's 00:08:58.649 --> 00:09:01.570 talk a little bit about how ham radio ties into 00:09:01.570 --> 00:09:07.389 this storyline. Well, it's, it's patterned after 00:09:07.389 --> 00:09:10.970 the station, you have your, uh, show broadcast 00:09:10.970 --> 00:09:14.950 on, on Saturday afternoons, WTWW. Those folks 00:09:14.950 --> 00:09:18.649 are amateur radio operators. who are at a shortwave 00:09:18.649 --> 00:09:22.090 station. I spent time there, and they have a 00:09:22.090 --> 00:09:28.009 radio station there, and being a worldwide radio 00:09:28.009 --> 00:09:31.090 station on the international shortwave, they 00:09:31.090 --> 00:09:34.990 pick up on the situation in Florida, the disaster 00:09:34.990 --> 00:09:38.629 that's taking place there, and they get on the 00:09:38.629 --> 00:09:42.049 radio, which was an ICOM 7800, by the way. I 00:09:42.049 --> 00:09:45.240 guess that's the... the brand of choice of the 00:09:45.240 --> 00:09:49.440 resistance. They talk to some hams in Florida 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:52.360 and see what's happening. They begin to report 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:55.379 what they've got. There's pretty much a shutdown 00:09:55.379 --> 00:09:58.820 of the national media and everything because 00:09:58.820 --> 00:10:05.080 of the nature of the disaster, the blast. And 00:10:05.080 --> 00:10:10.039 one of the guys becomes a... an actor of sorts, 00:10:10.259 --> 00:10:12.639 he becomes the colonel, the leader of the resistance, 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:15.399 just to kind of talk about, ultimately becomes 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:19.879 the real colonel that leads the fight. So that 00:10:19.879 --> 00:10:24.299 was the genesis of it. Ham radio was used throughout 00:10:24.299 --> 00:10:30.929 the book. It's not a CQ magazine article. If 00:10:30.929 --> 00:10:33.549 you want that, Rich puts out a real good magazine. 00:10:33.549 --> 00:10:40.110 Yes, he does. I'm pitching for Rich, but if you're 00:10:40.110 --> 00:10:44.529 expecting to go in and find 50 % about Ham Radio 00:10:44.529 --> 00:10:48.110 and 50 % about the plotline, it's not there. 00:10:48.909 --> 00:10:52.690 But what it does, I think, is people who are 00:10:52.690 --> 00:10:59.850 interested in sci -fi, religious fiction. Alien 00:10:59.850 --> 00:11:02.690 invasion fiction, science fiction generally, 00:11:03.049 --> 00:11:06.889 post -apocalyptic fiction. It puts ham radio 00:11:06.889 --> 00:11:10.470 and shortwave in a very positive light, and it 00:11:10.470 --> 00:11:13.350 shows, hey, if things really get bad, here's 00:11:13.350 --> 00:11:16.809 what you can count on. Shortwave radio to keep 00:11:16.809 --> 00:11:21.090 you informed, and ham radio to keep the people 00:11:21.090 --> 00:11:24.309 that are on the ground informed, especially when 00:11:24.309 --> 00:11:29.039 nothing else is available. I think when people 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:33.019 say it blends science fiction with amateur radio, 00:11:33.320 --> 00:11:37.039 I think that's a good term. It is blended. But 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:40.259 it is not exclusive ham radio. It's not one of 00:11:40.259 --> 00:11:45.240 the books you can buy from ARRL. Uh, with the 00:11:45.240 --> 00:11:48.779 schematics in it, it tells you how to build things. 00:11:49.740 --> 00:11:52.639 It doesn't tell you how to build the icon. I 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:55.419 see 7 ,800. So now you're not going to, it's 00:11:55.419 --> 00:11:56.779 not going to tell you how to build one, but it 00:11:56.779 --> 00:11:58.679 will take some good radio and they use it in 00:11:58.679 --> 00:12:05.360 a tight. So you've kind of blended it in and 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:08.419 it makes me think of some of the things I do 00:12:08.419 --> 00:12:10.960 and some of the conversations we have on this 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:14.419 show about, um, bringing new people into ham 00:12:14.419 --> 00:12:17.279 radio and bringing young people especially into 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:19.379 ham radio because that's that's pretty much what 00:12:19.379 --> 00:12:24.799 I do is You know, you may not get everybody licensed 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:29.820 you may not get Everybody being a ham radio operator, 00:12:29.879 --> 00:12:32.919 but if they're aware of ham radio and what it 00:12:32.919 --> 00:12:35.080 does You know, sometimes those people like, you 00:12:35.080 --> 00:12:38.559 know end up on homeowners association boards 00:12:39.769 --> 00:12:44.570 Yeah, you are exactly right, Neil. One of the 00:12:44.570 --> 00:12:50.789 things about the book, Equinox, is it's selling 00:12:50.789 --> 00:12:56.649 to a non -Ham audience. I'm looking at the numbers 00:12:56.649 --> 00:12:58.490 and where they're coming from. The first two 00:12:58.490 --> 00:13:01.230 weeks, the book was number one in Germany, an 00:13:01.230 --> 00:13:04.029 English book that was number one in Germany, 00:13:04.149 --> 00:13:06.450 number two in the UK, number three in the US. 00:13:06.669 --> 00:13:10.190 number three in Canada, number five in Australia. 00:13:10.750 --> 00:13:14.830 And it stayed there kind of like a camel with 00:13:14.830 --> 00:13:18.950 a lot of humps. It goes up and down. But it's 00:13:18.950 --> 00:13:25.389 touching a genre that is not populated by a lot 00:13:25.389 --> 00:13:29.629 of ham operators. And as I look at the people 00:13:29.629 --> 00:13:32.789 that are ham operators that are buying the book 00:13:32.789 --> 00:13:35.320 or downloading the book, It's a lot of people 00:13:35.320 --> 00:13:39.139 that obviously don't read a lot of e -books and 00:13:39.139 --> 00:13:41.700 may not read a lot of books generally. Now, I'm 00:13:41.700 --> 00:13:44.259 not being critical because I prefer to read a 00:13:44.259 --> 00:13:47.279 non -fiction book over a fiction book most of 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:50.379 the time. But I think it is getting to a lot 00:13:50.379 --> 00:13:54.500 of people who are not in the avocation. They're 00:13:54.500 --> 00:13:58.399 not in the hobby. But they do find out that it 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:03.169 is important and necessary at times. Well, let's 00:14:03.169 --> 00:14:05.350 talk a little bit about how the book's doing 00:14:05.350 --> 00:14:09.230 and how people can get a hold of it. You had 00:14:09.230 --> 00:14:12.190 it out here for just really a short time and 00:14:12.190 --> 00:14:15.990 it's really kind of taken off. Neil, we've been 00:14:15.990 --> 00:14:22.090 out about six weeks and it's done great. Just 00:14:22.090 --> 00:14:25.549 a couple of weeks ago, it dropped a little bit 00:14:25.549 --> 00:14:31.090 for the last few days. It's still in the top 00:14:31.179 --> 00:14:38.259 25, 20, 25 books in the genre. But it sold, my 00:14:38.259 --> 00:14:42.399 wife told me this morning, a little over 7 ,000 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:46.539 copies. 98 % of those are the e -book version, 00:14:46.700 --> 00:14:50.299 and the rest is the paperback version. There 00:14:50.299 --> 00:14:55.059 are 800 ,000 to a million current e -books on 00:14:55.059 --> 00:14:58.259 Amazon. And it's disputed as to whether it's 00:14:58.259 --> 00:15:02.649 800 ,000, 900 ,000, a million. Look before the 00:15:02.649 --> 00:15:07.850 show we were 64 ,000 of all ebooks that they 00:15:07.850 --> 00:15:12.710 sell and that puts us in the top 8 % Now the 00:15:12.710 --> 00:15:17.509 no when I got to number three in the genre Excuse 00:15:17.509 --> 00:15:20.570 me number four in the genre and I was at number 00:15:20.570 --> 00:15:24.450 three The book that that was having the hardest 00:15:24.450 --> 00:15:28.970 time to overcome was a book written in 1995 by 00:15:28.970 --> 00:15:33.070 two gentlemen Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, the 00:15:33.070 --> 00:15:37.289 book's called Left Behind. There's been a movie, 00:15:37.950 --> 00:15:39.850 an older movie, and then there was a reboot of 00:15:39.850 --> 00:15:45.269 that movie in 2014. So in order to get on up 00:15:45.269 --> 00:15:49.429 on the charts in the religious fiction, religious 00:15:49.429 --> 00:15:53.110 science fiction, I've got to get past those guys 00:15:53.110 --> 00:16:02.330 and that's gonna be a... There's a lot of fans 00:16:02.330 --> 00:16:05.690 of that left behind series. Oh, it's great. It's 00:16:05.690 --> 00:16:07.929 really good. I watched the movie a few weeks 00:16:07.929 --> 00:16:11.610 ago, the rebooted movie. One thing I wanted to 00:16:11.610 --> 00:16:15.929 talk just a little more about is about criticisms. 00:16:16.370 --> 00:16:19.710 And there are some valid criticisms about this 00:16:19.710 --> 00:16:23.889 book. One of the things that, that people found 00:16:23.889 --> 00:16:30.409 out is when you download this book I It's set 00:16:30.409 --> 00:16:35.669 by Kindle to play on a cell phone on a Kindle 00:16:35.669 --> 00:16:39.789 on a computer screen on a tablet an iPad It goes 00:16:39.789 --> 00:16:43.629 up as a PDF which locks the format Nothing can 00:16:43.629 --> 00:16:48.110 change when they get it and put it in the downloadable 00:16:48.110 --> 00:16:51.990 format You'll get aberrant spacing in some of 00:16:51.990 --> 00:16:54.669 the words. You'll get extra line occasionally. 00:16:55.009 --> 00:16:59.970 It's very distracting. It's not my editing. It 00:16:59.970 --> 00:17:03.269 has nothing to do with me. It's just the way 00:17:03.269 --> 00:17:06.470 it is. They've discussed this on QRZ thread, 00:17:07.029 --> 00:17:10.509 and people explain this, but I want to get it 00:17:10.509 --> 00:17:15.029 out there that it's a... It's not a romance novel 00:17:15.029 --> 00:17:18.490 that you set on the beach and read while you 00:17:18.490 --> 00:17:21.269 rest and this is one you need to Spend a little 00:17:21.269 --> 00:17:24.410 time with and that's that's terrible if I could 00:17:24.410 --> 00:17:28.609 do something about that formatting I Would but 00:17:28.609 --> 00:17:31.430 if you read it and you like what you're getting 00:17:31.430 --> 00:17:35.470 Order the paperback. I know it's more expensive, 00:17:35.470 --> 00:17:39.069 but it is formatted perfectly So there is there's 00:17:39.069 --> 00:17:41.750 a criticism about that that that's justified 00:17:41.980 --> 00:17:44.400 There's some other criticism. Some people don't 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:48.079 really care for the storyline. One guy said that 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:52.299 it wasn't ham radio enough, that he liked to 00:17:52.299 --> 00:17:56.559 read things like articles in CQ magazine. So 00:17:56.559 --> 00:18:00.900 Rich Moserson may should go out and pull 20 articles 00:18:00.900 --> 00:18:03.539 and do like a Sports Illustrated edition and 00:18:03.539 --> 00:18:09.829 call it the best of CQ or something. He was right, 00:18:10.130 --> 00:18:13.769 you know, I Mean saying what he said, it is not 00:18:13.769 --> 00:18:17.390 a technical ham radio manual But some of the 00:18:17.390 --> 00:18:19.869 but if you want to know about the book you say, 00:18:19.990 --> 00:18:23.490 okay this guy's touting his book Go on qr's they 00:18:23.490 --> 00:18:26.849 they've got an article on a thread There's about 00:18:26.849 --> 00:18:30.069 40 comments on it And I think that Neil that 00:18:30.069 --> 00:18:32.430 would give you a good idea if you hadn't had 00:18:32.430 --> 00:18:35.759 a chance to read the book or thinking about reading 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:37.400 it or spending any money. They would give you 00:18:37.400 --> 00:18:41.259 a good idea about how it is and what people like 00:18:41.259 --> 00:18:44.799 and how they perceive it. And I live and die 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:46.480 about what they say, because they're people that 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:49.160 are hamps and they put their call signs out there. 00:18:49.299 --> 00:18:52.299 They're identifiable online. They're not trolls 00:18:52.299 --> 00:18:56.119 causing problems. But I'm real happy with everything 00:18:56.119 --> 00:18:59.900 right now. But as you know, if you're doing anything 00:18:59.900 --> 00:19:02.380 creative in ham radio, you better have thick 00:19:02.380 --> 00:19:05.470 skin. because only mommy and daddy don't patch 00:19:05.470 --> 00:19:08.410 you on the head and on the back. You don't get 00:19:08.410 --> 00:19:11.529 some criticism if you, if you do anything, but, 00:19:11.809 --> 00:19:15.009 but sit at home and hunker down. Now you can 00:19:15.009 --> 00:19:19.869 talk. Cause I thought, well, I was just thinking, 00:19:19.869 --> 00:19:23.890 you know, if they want a ham radio story, um, 00:19:23.890 --> 00:19:27.390 you know, that's about ham radio, uh, and fiction, 00:19:27.410 --> 00:19:30.509 then it's time to pull out the old, uh, CQ ghost 00:19:30.509 --> 00:19:34.750 ship and, and, uh, Death Valley QTH and, and, 00:19:34.750 --> 00:19:46.549 and, and killed by QRM, but there's a, there's 00:19:46.549 --> 00:19:50.690 a, there's this place for, you know, for this 00:19:50.690 --> 00:19:56.089 and working ham radio into normal. Mainstream. 00:19:56.089 --> 00:19:58.109 Well, I shouldn't say normal because it's sci 00:19:58.109 --> 00:20:01.349 -fi and I'm a sci -fi fan, but, but working it 00:20:01.349 --> 00:20:06.029 into the mainstream so that it doesn't seem like 00:20:06.029 --> 00:20:10.509 it's just some bunch of weirdos out there that 00:20:10.509 --> 00:20:14.130 get on on AM with their big tube radios. You 00:20:14.130 --> 00:20:18.910 know, it's, it's. It's not that way. And so it's 00:20:18.910 --> 00:20:21.470 good to get some of that in the mainstream. Again, 00:20:22.049 --> 00:20:25.950 not everybody is going to get into ham radio, 00:20:26.089 --> 00:20:29.450 but if they have an awareness of it, that can 00:20:29.450 --> 00:20:35.289 be very helpful. That was my whole by including 00:20:35.289 --> 00:20:41.029 ham radio and shortwave into the storyline. Shortwave, 00:20:41.089 --> 00:20:43.849 for example, is not a big deal in most of the 00:20:43.849 --> 00:20:45.529 United States. They're either going to go with 00:20:45.529 --> 00:20:49.609 satellite radio or terrestrial radio. But in 00:20:49.609 --> 00:20:54.130 the rest of the world, shortwave is a big deal. 00:20:54.589 --> 00:20:59.630 The Texan radio company out of China builds 30 00:20:59.630 --> 00:21:04.650 ,000 shortwave sets a day for different people 00:21:04.650 --> 00:21:07.859 that market brands, different brands. So there's 00:21:07.859 --> 00:21:10.019 a lot of people out there listening to Short 00:21:10.019 --> 00:21:14.859 Way. Apparently there's a lot of people reading 00:21:14.859 --> 00:21:20.599 the SWLing magazine or newsletter that comes 00:21:20.599 --> 00:21:22.920 out of North Carolina because they mentioned 00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:25.920 the thing and I think about half of the ham radio 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:31.039 clubs in the country tagged their article and 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:34.690 put it on their web pages. Short way, even though 00:21:34.690 --> 00:21:37.569 we as hams may not recognize it as being real 00:21:37.569 --> 00:21:40.009 important, it's really important in the rest 00:21:40.009 --> 00:21:44.109 of the world. So just because, you know, we don't 00:21:44.109 --> 00:21:46.490 use it just like the public doesn't all have 00:21:46.490 --> 00:21:49.769 radio license, you can still appreciate the value 00:21:49.769 --> 00:21:54.089 and the importance of the hobby and the technology. 00:21:55.450 --> 00:21:58.869 Absolutely. Well, I'll tell you what Dennis we're 00:21:58.869 --> 00:22:01.130 gonna take a break here and then we're gonna 00:22:01.130 --> 00:22:04.250 come back and We'll see if we have some phone 00:22:04.250 --> 00:22:06.930 calls and some tweets. So if you have a question 00:22:06.930 --> 00:22:10.369 Give us a call at eight one two six five zero 00:22:10.369 --> 00:22:13.009 nine five five six or you can tweet us at ham 00:22:13.009 --> 00:22:15.730 talk live and I'll be back with Dennis right 00:22:15.730 --> 00:22:17.890 after this word from tower electronics right 00:22:17.890 --> 00:22:20.970 here on ham talk live Thank you for a lovely 00:22:20.970 --> 00:22:24.650 dinner. Aren't you going to ask me in to solder 00:22:24.650 --> 00:22:28.630 some PL 259s? Well, I do have some from Tower 00:22:28.630 --> 00:22:32.789 Electronics. How can I refuse? Consider the sophisticated 00:22:32.789 --> 00:22:36.769 quality of PL259s from Tower Electronics. From 00:22:36.769 --> 00:22:39.329 soldering supplies to adapters, connectors to 00:22:39.329 --> 00:22:42.509 cables, and all types of connectors, Tower Electronics 00:22:42.509 --> 00:22:46.289 has the parts you're looking for. Well? Just 00:22:46.289 --> 00:22:50.230 one more connector? You know I love your PL259s. 00:22:50.509 --> 00:22:53.230 Then by all means. Take some with you. Don't 00:22:53.230 --> 00:22:56.690 be caught without PL 259s. Visit Tower Electronics 00:22:56.690 --> 00:22:59.750 at a ham fest near you or visit them online anytime 00:22:59.750 --> 00:23:06.910 at PL -259 .com or call 920 -435 -2973. They 00:23:06.910 --> 00:23:09.589 also have ham sticks, mobile antennas and meters 00:23:09.589 --> 00:23:13.910 too. See the whole catalog. Go to PL -259 .com 00:23:13.910 --> 00:23:16.849 Tower Electronics, the hams dime store since 00:23:16.849 --> 00:23:37.180 1978. Ham talk live with Neil Rapp. Well Tower 00:23:37.180 --> 00:23:40.140 Electronics is recovering from a busy ham -vention. 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:44.900 They were, they were cooking. So they're gonna 00:23:44.900 --> 00:23:46.819 be off for a couple of weeks, but then they'll 00:23:46.819 --> 00:23:50.400 be back out on the road June the 1st in Newberry, 00:23:50.420 --> 00:23:53.720 Michigan up in the Upper Peninsula. They'll be 00:23:53.720 --> 00:23:55.900 at the Hamfest there and then the Father's Day 00:23:55.900 --> 00:24:01.299 Fest on June 16th in Monroe, Michigan. Then July 00:24:01.299 --> 00:24:03.960 6th, they'll be in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, but 00:24:03.960 --> 00:24:07.319 you can visit them anytime you want. Just go 00:24:07.319 --> 00:24:13.980 to PL -259 .com. And it's good to see Scott and 00:24:13.980 --> 00:24:17.319 Jill out there. And with Hammy, we put some more 00:24:17.319 --> 00:24:19.119 Hammy pictures out there, so you have to check 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:22.240 those out. HamTalk Live's on the air every Thursday 00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:24.819 night at 9 p .m. Eastern time, right here at 00:24:24.819 --> 00:24:27.700 HamTalkLive .com. Be sure to check us out on 00:24:27.700 --> 00:24:30.819 Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and you'll 00:24:30.819 --> 00:24:34.720 see some of those pictures from the Dayton Hamvention 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:38.400 last weekend. So now it's time for your call, 00:24:38.420 --> 00:24:41.109 so. If you've been wanting to ask a question, 00:24:41.230 --> 00:24:47.190 now's the time to give us a call. It's 812 -650 00:24:47.190 --> 00:24:51.750 -9556. If you have a question or you can tweet 00:24:51.750 --> 00:24:54.210 us at HamTalk Live. Let me give you the number 00:24:54.210 --> 00:25:00.789 again. It's 812 -650 -9556. And if you're listening 00:25:00.789 --> 00:25:05.029 to us on WTWW or on the podcast edition, you 00:25:05.029 --> 00:25:08.089 won't be able to reach us live obviously since 00:25:08.089 --> 00:25:12.750 we're recorded by that point. So, uh, then as 00:25:12.750 --> 00:25:15.150 well, we're waiting to see, uh, some of the calls 00:25:15.150 --> 00:25:17.609 here do have a tweet and we can talk a little 00:25:17.609 --> 00:25:20.930 bit, uh, about some of the sci -fi stuff here, 00:25:21.069 --> 00:25:25.549 but, uh, got a note here from bill WZ one L from, 00:25:25.549 --> 00:25:29.170 uh, Amesbury mass and says, uh, not nice to see 00:25:29.170 --> 00:25:31.849 you at Hamvention and it's nice to see stories, 00:25:32.170 --> 00:25:34.349 including amateur radio and we need more. So 00:25:34.349 --> 00:25:37.599 thank you, Dr. Barrett for your recent. contribution. 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:44.779 So that's from Bill WZ 1L. That's excellent. 00:25:44.859 --> 00:25:48.640 And I appreciate that. Well, let's talk a little 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:53.640 bit about science fiction and reality. And we 00:25:53.640 --> 00:25:56.220 kind of, you know, gave a little bit of an idea 00:25:56.220 --> 00:25:58.779 of, you know, there's an alien invasion here 00:25:58.779 --> 00:26:04.079 and radio is used to to do some of the communications. 00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:07.000 But one of the things that I've been kind of 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:10.420 interested in, I'm a bit of a sci -fi guy. I 00:26:10.420 --> 00:26:14.880 like my Star Trek and my Star Wars. I like both 00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:18.200 of them. I'm probably a little closer on Star 00:26:18.200 --> 00:26:21.420 Trek than Star Wars. But, you know, on Independence 00:26:21.420 --> 00:26:26.400 Day and, you know, some of these things. I've 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:29.619 also got this book being that the scientist that 00:26:29.619 --> 00:26:34.519 I am the physics of Star Trek and so it kind 00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:38.380 of talks about okay, what could really happen 00:26:38.380 --> 00:26:43.240 and and What's just there's no way it is it just 00:26:43.240 --> 00:26:46.519 doesn't work in the laws of physics and and so 00:26:46.519 --> 00:26:50.579 it's not going to happen but You know, in society, 00:26:50.599 --> 00:26:53.500 I see a lot of, you know, devices, you know, 00:26:53.700 --> 00:26:55.880 communicators, you know, well, now we have cell 00:26:55.880 --> 00:26:59.220 phones and so it kind of leads us into reality. 00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:03.740 So with your story, do you see anything, you 00:27:03.740 --> 00:27:06.700 know, maybe that could actually happen out of 00:27:06.700 --> 00:27:12.259 this someday? Well, let me make one comment and 00:27:12.259 --> 00:27:16.460 say that you and I like the same kind of science 00:27:16.460 --> 00:27:21.869 fiction, but Really, we're not sure science fiction 00:27:21.869 --> 00:27:26.450 aficionados. Real people who follow the genre 00:27:26.450 --> 00:27:31.049 worry more about the real science and possibilities 00:27:31.049 --> 00:27:35.089 with real science and less about the storyline. 00:27:35.450 --> 00:27:38.170 If you were like the big three's probably Robert 00:27:38.170 --> 00:27:44.349 Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and 00:27:44.349 --> 00:27:48.160 then in our... time lately, Orson Scott card. 00:27:49.779 --> 00:27:53.720 But you know, Star Trek is, Roddenberry pitched 00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:57.700 it as wagon train to the stars. If you look at 00:27:57.700 --> 00:28:01.599 Star Wars, it's more fantasy than science fiction 00:28:01.599 --> 00:28:05.339 because it starts out a long time ago in a galaxy 00:28:05.339 --> 00:28:08.960 far, far away. And none of the aliens or anything 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:14.140 like that are our reality at least as far as 00:28:14.140 --> 00:28:17.039 we know and you know Stargate which is connecting 00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:19.960 to wormholes and traveling around County more 00:28:19.960 --> 00:28:24.359 like Pat the old Western Paladin or have done 00:28:24.359 --> 00:28:29.279 with travel so we're in an arena To where we're 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:33.700 more try to be more entertaining than just science 00:28:33.700 --> 00:28:39.440 But in in my story they do develop some new technology 00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:42.829 that has to do with scrambling Radio frequencies 00:28:42.829 --> 00:28:47.049 and bringing down screens and there's some discussion 00:28:47.049 --> 00:28:51.349 about the way they build a dome over The state 00:28:51.349 --> 00:28:55.089 of Florida that's impenetrable But it's actually 00:28:55.089 --> 00:28:58.829 not it's just you can't see through it. It's 00:28:58.829 --> 00:29:01.710 in other words They fix it reflecting light for 00:29:01.710 --> 00:29:07.269 it. It kindly I Guess it mask the state but the 00:29:07.269 --> 00:29:09.829 real thing about this one is if you read the 00:29:09.829 --> 00:29:14.490 book The book's based on Revelation 9, which 00:29:14.490 --> 00:29:19.509 predicts a locust invasion that this book is 00:29:19.509 --> 00:29:25.710 based on. The prologue discusses whether that 00:29:25.710 --> 00:29:29.769 is a symbolic passage and why it would be, but 00:29:29.769 --> 00:29:32.990 then there's people who believed it was literal, 00:29:33.430 --> 00:29:37.549 and the Colonel, the main character, he always 00:29:37.549 --> 00:29:39.890 thought it was symbolic till they showed up. 00:29:42.420 --> 00:29:46.220 Could it happen? Could the locust actually show 00:29:46.220 --> 00:29:49.900 up and cause trouble? It very well could. It 00:29:49.900 --> 00:29:52.960 did in the book, but there's a line of reasoning 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:56.779 that it's symbolic and it's not going to happen. 00:29:57.119 --> 00:30:01.160 So I'll leave that to the Bible folks and the 00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:03.299 sci -fi folks to figure out if they're coming 00:30:03.299 --> 00:30:09.799 or not. They're very creative in the ways that 00:30:09.799 --> 00:30:12.220 they do things in the book. A lot of low tech 00:30:12.220 --> 00:30:15.180 things that will shock you. A lot of twists and 00:30:15.180 --> 00:30:18.920 turns. There's not a lot of subplots because, 00:30:18.920 --> 00:30:22.180 you know, on television, you're pretty well straightforward, 00:30:22.359 --> 00:30:27.599 linear in the presentation. But could it happen? 00:30:29.019 --> 00:30:32.680 Possibly. Could the technology that's being developed 00:30:32.680 --> 00:30:36.140 in the book actually be technology that you could 00:30:36.140 --> 00:30:40.200 mask a whole state? Well, more relevant, could 00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:44.000 you mask a vehicle, make it virtually invisible 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:51.019 to the eye or to a camera? Yes, I'm sure that 00:30:51.019 --> 00:30:55.240 they're doing that at Wright -Patterson and at 00:30:55.240 --> 00:30:58.500 Area 51, and they're probably 30 years ahead 00:30:58.500 --> 00:31:03.049 of what you and I think is cool right now. I 00:31:03.049 --> 00:31:07.289 think this one is more about a storyline than 00:31:07.289 --> 00:31:11.269 it is sometime in the future going to spin off 00:31:11.269 --> 00:31:15.509 a Star Trek pad that turns into 50 years later 00:31:15.509 --> 00:31:19.950 an iPad. But that's the reason I read sci -fi. 00:31:19.970 --> 00:31:22.589 That's the reason I watch sci -fi. I want to 00:31:22.589 --> 00:31:25.190 see what these guys come up with creatively. 00:31:26.180 --> 00:31:28.700 Sounds like we may have to get Dr. Chip Cohen 00:31:28.700 --> 00:31:32.400 W1YW in here on this cloaking thing since he 00:31:32.400 --> 00:31:37.119 invented the RF cloaks. He can hide all kinds 00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:43.220 of stuff. W1YW, I'm going to tell a story on 00:31:43.220 --> 00:31:47.299 him. He actually downloaded the book, read the 00:31:47.299 --> 00:31:50.500 book, and left very complimentary remarks about 00:31:50.500 --> 00:31:54.819 the book on the QRZ thread. And I was quite... 00:31:56.019 --> 00:31:59.940 humbled by, by that. So, uh, you know, I didn't 00:31:59.940 --> 00:32:03.000 go out and solicit to him. I don't know him personally, 00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:06.279 but he did that and it just gives you a good 00:32:06.279 --> 00:32:09.700 feeling. I mean, you, you, you want to hear stuff 00:32:09.700 --> 00:32:15.559 like that. Well, that's great. You kept letting 00:32:15.559 --> 00:32:19.140 me talk and you wouldn't stop. That's what, that's 00:32:19.140 --> 00:32:20.900 what you're supposed to do on this show. It's 00:32:20.900 --> 00:32:27.779 called ham talk live. So that's what we do. Well, 00:32:28.980 --> 00:32:31.220 if you want to talk, give us a call. It's eight 00:32:31.220 --> 00:32:35.000 one two six five zero nine five, five, six. And 00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:38.869 we'll uh, Keep the doctor around here for just 00:32:38.869 --> 00:32:41.029 a little bit longer. So if you want and give 00:32:41.029 --> 00:32:46.190 us a call 812 -650 -9556 or you can tweet us 00:32:46.190 --> 00:32:51.509 at ham talk live. Now, Dennis, you, you've got 00:32:51.509 --> 00:32:55.950 some, you know, some insights on, on people who 00:32:55.950 --> 00:32:58.869 are getting into the, the sci -fi thing. And 00:32:58.869 --> 00:33:01.960 so Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about, you know, 00:33:02.099 --> 00:33:05.180 maybe who your, your target audience is for this 00:33:05.180 --> 00:33:09.019 kind of a book. Well, let me, you know, I always 00:33:09.019 --> 00:33:12.160 hate people that, you know, general patent said 00:33:12.160 --> 00:33:14.920 there's lies, worst lies. I won't say exactly 00:33:14.920 --> 00:33:17.660 what he said and statistics. And I've always 00:33:17.660 --> 00:33:20.099 been afraid of people that would get up and quote 00:33:20.099 --> 00:33:23.099 statistics if they didn't reveal their sources. 00:33:23.420 --> 00:33:28.099 So my source in this, on this point is, uh, The 00:33:28.099 --> 00:33:31.000 short, the science fiction writers of America 00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:34.579 who have, who was articles were been written 00:33:34.579 --> 00:33:39.299 by Orson Scott Card and the Boker reviews. They're, 00:33:39.299 --> 00:33:43.099 they're the one that helps authors and publishers 00:33:43.099 --> 00:33:45.480 and you know, they'll help you do what you need 00:33:45.480 --> 00:33:49.259 to do. But both of those groups say that the 00:33:49.259 --> 00:33:54.400 largest number of readers in sci -fi is 18 to 00:33:54.400 --> 00:33:59.849 50 years old. But as after the age approaches 00:33:59.849 --> 00:34:05.670 55 It starts declining the number from from 50 00:34:05.670 --> 00:34:11.489 from 55 To 60 and 65 it goes down about 10 % 00:34:11.489 --> 00:34:14.530 So there's not a lot of us old spark gappers 00:34:14.530 --> 00:34:17.630 out there sitting around reading sci -fi Maybe 00:34:17.630 --> 00:34:20.530 we're watching it on TV, but but we're not buying 00:34:20.530 --> 00:34:25.159 the books As a genre, sci -fi is, if you go to 00:34:25.159 --> 00:34:28.579 a bookstore, Books of Me and Barnes and Noble, 00:34:28.659 --> 00:34:31.159 go look at the sci -fi section. You say, man, 00:34:31.159 --> 00:34:33.920 they got a lot of sci -fi books there. Well, 00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:36.940 look at the titles and you find out it's more 00:34:36.940 --> 00:34:41.360 fantasy than it is sci -fi. Maybe 80 % fantasy 00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:45.960 type books and 20 % sci -fi because now they 00:34:45.960 --> 00:34:49.320 call it, for the most part, sci -fi and fantasy. 00:34:49.690 --> 00:34:54.449 And another statistic, I got this one from Amazon 00:34:54.449 --> 00:35:00.269 itself, confirmed by Volcker, 48 % of all science 00:35:00.269 --> 00:35:05.570 fiction books, whether paperback or e -book or 00:35:05.570 --> 00:35:14.739 audiobook, are bought on Amazon. 48%. Sci -fi 00:35:14.739 --> 00:35:20.300 writers say that their income has gone down considerably 00:35:20.300 --> 00:35:25.880 because there's less people buying science fiction 00:35:25.880 --> 00:35:28.900 books. And you can get into the philosophy of 00:35:28.900 --> 00:35:32.699 why that is, but I think, and here's where you 00:35:32.699 --> 00:35:37.280 get a little opinion, I think that all the sci 00:35:37.280 --> 00:35:40.579 -fi technology that's easily understandable has 00:35:40.579 --> 00:35:44.659 been mined or used. And we get into things now 00:35:44.659 --> 00:35:50.219 in physics and you're a science guy. You know, 00:35:50.340 --> 00:35:53.940 you talk about super colliders and the god particle 00:35:53.940 --> 00:35:59.800 and all these things. It's hard to write a book 00:35:59.800 --> 00:36:04.840 on the emerging science that people can easily 00:36:04.840 --> 00:36:09.280 understand and read and it be entertaining. And 00:36:09.280 --> 00:36:12.159 I think, you know, That's of course you could 00:36:12.159 --> 00:36:14.420 say, well, you guys are not as good as the big 00:36:14.420 --> 00:36:17.659 three. And I'm the first one to admit that. Um, 00:36:18.119 --> 00:36:20.699 but, uh, there's a lot of reasons, but, but science 00:36:20.699 --> 00:36:24.659 fiction is still good genre. It's just not the 00:36:24.659 --> 00:36:30.500 top two or three genres. Okay. Very good. Well, 00:36:30.500 --> 00:36:32.440 if you have a question, give us a call eight, 00:36:32.460 --> 00:36:34.880 one, two, six, five, zero, nine, five, five, 00:36:34.880 --> 00:36:37.239 six. We're going to finish things up here in 00:36:37.239 --> 00:36:40.639 just a couple of minutes. So. Give us a call. 00:36:41.519 --> 00:36:44.920 Dennis, I want to at least mention here before 00:36:44.920 --> 00:36:49.420 we close things down tonight, some of your ham 00:36:49.420 --> 00:36:55.340 radio past with antennas and selling antennas 00:36:55.340 --> 00:36:57.480 and building antennas and you've had a couple 00:36:57.480 --> 00:37:00.360 of companies. Tell us a little bit about Transworld 00:37:00.360 --> 00:37:07.159 and Horizon. Well, in around, you know, 2003, 00:37:08.380 --> 00:37:13.019 2002, I came up with the idea we needed a small, 00:37:13.480 --> 00:37:17.539 stealthy, almost invisible antenna that worked 00:37:17.539 --> 00:37:21.679 off the ground that was easy to, you know, service, 00:37:21.940 --> 00:37:25.900 set up, take down, and that the HOA police wouldn't 00:37:25.900 --> 00:37:30.039 come and haul you off with. So I had an engineer 00:37:30.039 --> 00:37:33.320 by the name of Richard Rhodes. To let you know 00:37:33.320 --> 00:37:37.260 who Richard Rhodes is, if you saw the The next 00:37:37.260 --> 00:37:39.980 to the last Star Trek movie, they introduced 00:37:39.980 --> 00:37:44.539 a little robot called BB8. It was like a little 00:37:44.539 --> 00:37:47.579 orange ball for the head and an orange ball for 00:37:47.579 --> 00:37:52.960 the body. He invented that and took it in his 00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:56.880 company out of Colorado, took it to Walmart, 00:37:56.960 --> 00:37:59.280 and you could go for a few hundred dollars and 00:37:59.280 --> 00:38:02.239 have your own BB8. He did quite well. Of course, 00:38:02.239 --> 00:38:05.829 he does other real robotic products, too. But 00:38:05.829 --> 00:38:09.750 I told Richard what I wanted, and he said it 00:38:09.750 --> 00:38:11.650 wouldn't work. And I said, it's your job to make 00:38:11.650 --> 00:38:15.150 it work. I'm paying you. So we came up with an 00:38:15.150 --> 00:38:18.789 antenna in a modified H form. Looks like a giant 00:38:18.789 --> 00:38:23.809 cap to lie about six foot tall with about 30, 00:38:23.809 --> 00:38:27.750 36, about five foot arm at the top and five foot 00:38:27.750 --> 00:38:30.650 arm at the bottom. And they were foldable. And 00:38:30.650 --> 00:38:35.760 we put induction coils. and relays, 12 -volt 00:38:35.760 --> 00:38:39.739 relays in a box. So when you switch the relay 00:38:39.739 --> 00:38:41.920 with a control box, you can make the antenna 00:38:41.920 --> 00:38:45.639 electrically longer or shorter based on the band, 00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:49.960 and you can tune it by separating slightly the 00:38:49.960 --> 00:38:52.980 induction coils or push them closer together. 00:38:53.739 --> 00:38:58.699 And it was a hit. It would channel 1 ,500 watts 00:38:58.699 --> 00:39:03.590 without any problem. It had a 17 degree takeoff 00:39:03.590 --> 00:39:06.530 angle, which meant your signal would go as far 00:39:06.530 --> 00:39:09.090 as possible before it hit this curvature of the 00:39:09.090 --> 00:39:12.650 earth and shot skyward. So you'd get the maximum 00:39:12.650 --> 00:39:16.050 power on the first bounce. It was low noise. 00:39:16.130 --> 00:39:21.630 It did not require radials. We released it and 00:39:21.630 --> 00:39:26.650 it met with a lot of skepticism. The thing I 00:39:26.650 --> 00:39:28.630 heard was, well, it's a compromised antenna. 00:39:29.010 --> 00:40:00.469 It's a halfway vertical the fifth Most people 00:40:00.469 --> 00:40:02.730 talk on a frequency on 80 meters, don't move 00:40:02.730 --> 00:40:08.690 around a lot. We probably sold 8 ,000 antennas. 00:40:09.329 --> 00:40:12.489 Wildly successful. The reviews on E -Ham and 00:40:12.489 --> 00:40:16.269 when I would talk to people were great. I had 00:40:16.269 --> 00:40:18.929 some many other things going. I sold the company 00:40:18.929 --> 00:40:23.949 to my father -in -law, and he was too old to 00:40:23.949 --> 00:40:25.610 run it. He ran it a couple years, and he said, 00:40:25.630 --> 00:40:28.929 I want to give it back to you. And I said, no. 00:40:29.150 --> 00:40:32.630 Let's get somebody else. So DX engineering took 00:40:32.630 --> 00:40:35.789 it over and, uh, they've been doing well with 00:40:35.789 --> 00:40:38.489 it and, uh, they've been very pleased with what 00:40:38.489 --> 00:40:42.469 happens and it is a great antenna and I don't 00:40:42.469 --> 00:40:50.110 get a penny for that testimonial. All right. 00:40:50.130 --> 00:40:52.510 Well, we've got, we do have a couple of questions 00:40:52.510 --> 00:40:56.150 have come in here on Twitter. So let's, uh, Let's 00:40:56.150 --> 00:40:59.570 jump back over to the, to the, uh, sci -fi stuff 00:40:59.570 --> 00:41:03.989 here for a second. Brett W Y seven B G, uh, wants 00:41:03.989 --> 00:41:07.170 to know, do you think that the movie and TV industries 00:41:07.170 --> 00:41:10.349 have ruined the science fiction by commercializing 00:41:10.349 --> 00:41:14.309 it and, or watering it down intellectually? And 00:41:14.309 --> 00:41:18.289 we'd kind of touched on that a little bit. Well, 00:41:18.329 --> 00:41:20.769 let's, let's take a, I'm going to answer his 00:41:20.769 --> 00:41:23.320 question, but I have to get there. Let's take 00:41:23.320 --> 00:41:28.800 a look at an alien invasion storyline. Okay, 00:41:28.980 --> 00:41:33.719 why do aliens invade the earth? Well, number 00:41:33.719 --> 00:41:37.139 one, they want to steal our water. That doesn't 00:41:37.139 --> 00:41:39.500 make sense because if they've got the technology 00:41:39.500 --> 00:41:41.699 to come here and steal our water, they can grab 00:41:41.699 --> 00:41:44.679 a comet and melt it and get all the liquid water 00:41:44.679 --> 00:41:47.199 they want without the grief they'd have to put 00:41:47.199 --> 00:41:49.960 up with for coming here. So I don't like that 00:41:49.960 --> 00:41:53.429 storyline. The second thing, They come here to 00:41:53.429 --> 00:41:57.369 enslave us. Do you really think as much grief 00:41:57.369 --> 00:42:00.550 as a human race is, particularly ham radio operators, 00:42:01.110 --> 00:42:03.829 that aliens want anything to do with us? They 00:42:03.829 --> 00:42:06.329 probably roll up the windows on their spaceships 00:42:06.329 --> 00:42:09.469 when they drive by and tell their kids, be quiet, 00:42:09.769 --> 00:42:14.170 we're at Earth. So they're gonna have artificial 00:42:14.170 --> 00:42:18.389 intelligence, robotics, that don't fly. And the 00:42:18.389 --> 00:42:21.699 third thing is, They come down to harvest us 00:42:21.699 --> 00:42:25.320 and eat us, like in the series V, and I say, 00:42:25.719 --> 00:42:28.340 well, we probably taste like chicken. That might 00:42:28.340 --> 00:42:32.039 be the most viable one of all. But I think we've 00:42:32.039 --> 00:42:35.480 worn out the storylines, and we're not creative 00:42:35.480 --> 00:42:43.800 with the storylines. And it's more about making 00:42:43.800 --> 00:42:46.920 money, not that there's anything wrong with that. 00:42:46.989 --> 00:42:49.829 than it is really producing a creative story. 00:42:50.150 --> 00:42:53.170 But let me say this, Neil. I've got five different 00:42:53.170 --> 00:42:56.030 production companies looking at doing something 00:42:56.030 --> 00:43:01.090 with Equinox. They tell me to do this thing the 00:43:01.090 --> 00:43:06.230 right way, it will be somewhere around $1 .8 00:43:06.230 --> 00:43:11.250 million for a 45 -minute episode, which is an 00:43:11.250 --> 00:43:15.329 hour program. You know, they've got to get a 00:43:15.329 --> 00:43:18.010 return. They've got to make, you know, sell the 00:43:18.010 --> 00:43:21.289 action figures and the cups that Burger King 00:43:21.289 --> 00:43:25.969 and McDonald, it's a fact of life. So he's right. 00:43:27.429 --> 00:43:30.349 They've dumbed it down. The storylines are not 00:43:30.349 --> 00:43:33.949 creative. But what else are they going to do? 00:43:34.530 --> 00:43:39.440 But he's 100 % right. He is. All right. Well, 00:43:39.519 --> 00:43:43.820 thanks Brett for your question. And Carl KD9HQT 00:43:43.820 --> 00:43:49.599 says, his suggestion is that the book should 00:43:49.599 --> 00:43:53.400 be in CW ready. You think you can pull that off? 00:43:54.820 --> 00:44:01.480 Actually, I probably could. Amazon has got a 00:44:01.480 --> 00:44:06.389 company that ACX that turns books into... into 00:44:06.389 --> 00:44:11.010 audiobooks, and they're doing it right now. And 00:44:11.010 --> 00:44:14.090 I don't know how good it's gonna be. The guy 00:44:14.090 --> 00:44:18.050 that they sent to me is pretty good. But that's 00:44:18.050 --> 00:44:23.329 not a bad idea, is to do it that way. Or maybe 00:44:23.329 --> 00:44:27.849 even CW. But that's a novel approach. I think 00:44:27.849 --> 00:44:30.449 there are a lot of hams that would prefer it. 00:44:30.519 --> 00:44:35.900 to be in that format. I like that. Now that takes 00:44:35.900 --> 00:44:39.219 care of your formatting issues. Yeah. Would solve 00:44:39.219 --> 00:44:44.400 them a lot. Of course it may take you a few days 00:44:44.400 --> 00:44:48.980 to copy it, but that's right. We could put it 00:44:48.980 --> 00:44:52.119 up on the, we could put it up on a podcast or 00:44:52.119 --> 00:44:55.380 something and let it play. And, and that could 00:44:55.380 --> 00:44:58.670 get it in, in a, we call it spurts. I'm told 00:44:58.670 --> 00:45:03.010 that this book is seven and a half hours of audio 00:45:03.010 --> 00:45:05.570 book. That's what they tell me based on how many 00:45:05.570 --> 00:45:12.090 words it is. So, uh, maybe, maybe CW would, if 00:45:12.090 --> 00:45:14.670 you could copy fast enough or really, you could, 00:45:14.789 --> 00:45:18.030 you could maybe, uh, uh, be able to cut that 00:45:18.030 --> 00:45:24.750 way down from seven to high five. Well, Dennis, 00:45:24.750 --> 00:45:27.369 it's been, uh, Been a pleasure to have you here 00:45:27.369 --> 00:45:30.230 on the show and, uh, good luck with the book. 00:45:30.289 --> 00:45:33.130 I hope it, uh, continues to do well and, and 00:45:33.130 --> 00:45:36.130 your audio book that'll be coming up and, and 00:45:36.130 --> 00:45:38.170 thanks for, for coming on and telling us all 00:45:38.170 --> 00:45:41.889 about this book. I really appreciate you having 00:45:41.889 --> 00:45:45.130 me now. I appreciate the folks listening and 00:45:45.130 --> 00:45:48.889 the folks that, that, uh, wrote in and had commentary. 00:45:49.489 --> 00:45:52.949 I love hands. I love ham radio. I love being 00:45:52.949 --> 00:45:56.309 around. But they're just like other groups of 00:45:56.309 --> 00:45:58.090 people. There's some at times you could really 00:45:58.090 --> 00:46:04.349 just reach out and choke them. So I'm going to 00:46:04.349 --> 00:46:07.489 have thick skin. I'm going to, I'm going to stand 00:46:07.489 --> 00:46:10.710 there and take the slings and arrows and, uh, 00:46:10.730 --> 00:46:13.389 uh, who knows? That might be a sequel to equinox. 00:46:13.550 --> 00:46:16.769 One of these days. Well, there you go. Well, 00:46:16.769 --> 00:46:19.210 congratulations on the book. And, uh, again, 00:46:19.230 --> 00:46:24.820 uh, wish your continued success with it. Thank 00:46:24.820 --> 00:46:29.480 you, Neil. All right. Well, that is a wrap for 00:46:29.480 --> 00:46:33.179 this week's HamTalk Live. Thanks to Dr. Dennis 00:46:33.179 --> 00:46:36.619 Barrett in for ECW and everybody out there in 00:46:36.619 --> 00:46:38.980 cyberspace for listening and typing in tonight. 00:46:39.800 --> 00:46:42.400 And we'll invite you back next week, Thursday 00:46:42.400 --> 00:46:46.059 night, 9 p .m. Eastern Time. And for a list of 00:46:46.059 --> 00:46:49.980 all of our upcoming guests, just go over to HamTalkLive 00:46:49.980 --> 00:46:52.579 .com. And if you like the show, please leave 00:46:52.579 --> 00:46:55.920 us a review on iTunes. That helps us get the 00:46:55.920 --> 00:46:58.199 word out about the show a little bit faster. 00:46:58.380 --> 00:47:02.079 So for now, this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, saying 00:47:02.079 --> 00:47:08.690 7 -3, 7 -5. And may the good DX be yours. Thanks 00:47:08.690 --> 00:47:26.329 for watching!