WEBVTT 00:00:09.570 --> 00:00:12.390 Thanks for tuning in. Hamtalk Live will be on 00:00:12.390 --> 00:00:30.329 the air shortly. Please stand by. Thanks for 00:00:30.329 --> 00:00:33.090 tuning in. Hamtalk Live will be on the air shortly. 00:00:33.310 --> 00:00:38.250 Please stand by. This episode of HamTalk Live 00:00:38.250 --> 00:00:41.890 is brought to you by Tower Electronics. For connectors, 00:00:42.270 --> 00:00:47.729 cables, and more, call 920 -435 -2973 or visit 00:00:47.729 --> 00:00:53.509 pl -259 .com. And by ICOM, heard it, worked it, 00:00:53.869 --> 00:00:58.829 logged it. Visit www .icomamerica .com slash 00:00:58.829 --> 00:01:02.689 amateur for more information about ICOM radios. 00:01:34.189 --> 00:01:37.030 Hey, good evening, everyone. It's time for another 00:01:37.030 --> 00:01:40.969 episode of HamTalk Live. It's episode number 00:01:40.969 --> 00:01:46.430 144, the Be Loud contest station recorded live 00:01:46.430 --> 00:01:52.290 on Thursday, December 13th, 2018. I'm your host, 00:01:52.430 --> 00:01:57.109 Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. Thanks for tuning in to this 00:01:57.109 --> 00:02:00.709 episode of HamTalk Live. Tonight we're joined 00:02:01.079 --> 00:02:08.259 by Steve Nardussi W9SN and Fred Dennon WW4LL 00:02:08.259 --> 00:02:12.460 and we'll take your calls live in just a few 00:02:12.460 --> 00:02:17.120 minutes. Last week Keith Baker KB1SF was here 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:20.740 to talk about AMSAT through the years. and if 00:02:20.740 --> 00:02:22.740 you missed that show you can listen anytime. 00:02:22.979 --> 00:02:27.139 All you have to do is go to HamTalkLive .com 00:02:27.139 --> 00:02:31.379 or your favorite podcast app or YouTube and you 00:02:31.379 --> 00:02:35.860 can play that. A reminder about the shirts that 00:02:35.860 --> 00:02:38.460 are on sale right now, the HamTalk Live limited 00:02:38.460 --> 00:02:42.199 edition shirt. May the grid square be yours. 00:02:43.099 --> 00:02:45.680 If you ordered one of those, I should be caught 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:48.719 up with all of those. uh... so those should be 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:53.449 arriving uh... If you just ordered one in the 00:02:53.449 --> 00:02:56.949 last few days But most of those have already 00:02:56.949 --> 00:03:01.389 arrived But I do have a few extras left now the 00:03:01.389 --> 00:03:05.490 size large is sold out But do you have a few 00:03:05.490 --> 00:03:10.289 small medium XL and 2 XL still available so if 00:03:10.289 --> 00:03:14.229 you want one of those just go to our link and 00:03:14.229 --> 00:03:17.069 We've got that on Facebook and Twitter. It's 00:03:17.069 --> 00:03:20.870 the first link there on those or you can go to 00:03:20.870 --> 00:03:24.789 hamtalklive .com and click on the show schedule 00:03:24.789 --> 00:03:28.590 link and there's a link at the top there to order 00:03:28.590 --> 00:03:31.509 your shirt and at the end it will tell you how 00:03:31.509 --> 00:03:35.349 to paypal the cost for that but we will be giving 00:03:35.349 --> 00:03:40.319 away two of those tonight hopefully Tanner Jones, 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:45.360 W9TWJ donated one to give away. So thanks to 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:49.219 Tanner for doing that. And also the ICQ podcast 00:03:49.219 --> 00:03:53.939 crew. So we'll try to give those away again tonight. 00:03:54.919 --> 00:03:57.800 So get your questions ready to go and you call 00:03:57.800 --> 00:04:00.340 in and we're just going to take the first callers 00:04:00.340 --> 00:04:03.860 on the shirt. So all you have to do is call the 00:04:03.860 --> 00:04:05.919 phone number. So let me give that to you. So 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:10.569 you have it ready. It's 812. net ham one that's 00:04:10.569 --> 00:04:15.469 eight one two six three eight four two six one 00:04:15.469 --> 00:04:20.689 um and we're going to take the first two callers 00:04:20.689 --> 00:04:23.870 tonight for the shirts so have that phone number 00:04:23.870 --> 00:04:26.670 ready don't call it just yet because we're going 00:04:26.670 --> 00:04:30.129 to talk to uh to Steve and Fred here a little 00:04:30.129 --> 00:04:32.790 bit first, so you get to know what they're talking 00:04:32.790 --> 00:04:38.990 about. But it's 812 -638 -4261. If you'd rather 00:04:38.990 --> 00:04:42.649 tweet us, you can do that. We're at HamTalk Live 00:04:42.649 --> 00:04:46.170 on Twitter. And if you're on Spreaker, you can 00:04:46.170 --> 00:04:48.370 get into the chat there and we'll watch that 00:04:48.370 --> 00:04:51.610 as well. But I'll be back with Steve and Fred 00:04:51.610 --> 00:04:54.750 right after this word from ICOM America, right 00:04:54.750 --> 00:04:58.759 here on HamTalk Live. For the love of the holidays, 00:04:59.079 --> 00:05:01.639 surprise your favorite ham this season with the 00:05:01.639 --> 00:05:04.279 gift that's on their hot list. The holidays are 00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:07.040 just around the corner and ICOM has plenty of 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:11.959 cheer for everyone. The IC7610, the SDR every 00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:14.639 ham wants and just in time for the holidays. 00:05:14.860 --> 00:05:17.699 This high performance SDR has the ability to 00:05:17.699 --> 00:05:20.819 pick out the faintest of signals, even in the 00:05:20.819 --> 00:05:23.819 presence of stronger adjacent ones. 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Powerful yet easy to use, the ICR30 00:06:07.740 --> 00:06:10.439 is packed full of features you have come to expect 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:13.620 from iCom. The perfect stocking stuffer, the 00:06:13.620 --> 00:06:16.899 ID51A Plus 2 provides new modes for extended 00:06:16.899 --> 00:06:20.319 D -Star coverage. Enjoy integrated GPS, independent 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:23.839 AM FM receiver, and free Android apps. For all 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:26.740 of these products and more iCom radios, visit 00:06:26.740 --> 00:06:30.759 icomamerica .com slash amateur. for more information. 00:06:31.399 --> 00:06:34.500 It's not the amount of power, it's the size of 00:06:34.500 --> 00:06:49.819 our tower. HamTalk Live. Thanks again to Icom 00:06:49.819 --> 00:06:53.100 America for sponsoring the show tonight. I'll 00:06:53.100 --> 00:06:56.420 bring you HamTalk Live each. and every week. 00:06:56.660 --> 00:07:00.160 Check them out at icomamerica .com slash amateur. 00:07:01.399 --> 00:07:05.339 And our guests tonight are Steve Nardu, CW9SN, 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:08.980 an active contester participating mostly in CW 00:07:08.980 --> 00:07:11.399 and Ready contests. He's helped and installed 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:15.240 three contest stations with antenna station design, 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:18.560 engineering, and software modeling. He's a former 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:22.040 CEO of a small wireless company. Prior to its 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:25.300 acquisition and now focuses on contest station 00:07:25.300 --> 00:07:29.740 building and design, in 30 years he reached the 00:07:29.740 --> 00:07:34.819 top of the honor roll at $349 for DXCC. He owns 00:07:34.819 --> 00:07:37.939 and operates a winning contest station on a high 00:07:37.939 --> 00:07:41.779 hilltop in northeast Tennessee. holding two US 00:07:41.779 --> 00:07:45.079 records. Many top three finishes and continues 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:48.519 to push the limits with his four tower installation 00:07:48.519 --> 00:07:54.100 and many antennas. And Fred Denon, WW4LL is an 00:07:54.100 --> 00:07:56.819 active contester, primarily operating multi -op 00:07:56.819 --> 00:08:00.420 in all modes. And he's the former president of 00:08:00.420 --> 00:08:03.740 the Muncie Amateur Radio Club in Muncie, Indiana. 00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:06.480 and the former president of the Porter County 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:09.720 Amateur Radio Club in Valparaiso, Indiana, the 00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:13.500 two -time president of the Georgia Contest Group 00:08:13.500 --> 00:08:15.779 and was just elected to serve as a third term 00:08:15.779 --> 00:08:19.689 as the president. He's a former member of the 00:08:19.689 --> 00:08:22.930 Society of Midwest Contesters and now operates 00:08:22.930 --> 00:08:25.430 a single tower station just south of Atlanta, 00:08:25.430 --> 00:08:28.629 Georgia He's a retired administrator from the 00:08:28.629 --> 00:08:31.829 Federal Railroad Administration and for the last 00:08:31.829 --> 00:08:34.350 10 years He's worked as an expert witness railroad 00:08:34.350 --> 00:08:38.970 consultant and owner of a railroad construction 00:08:38.970 --> 00:08:42.289 business So Steve and Fred welcome to ham talk 00:08:42.289 --> 00:08:46.789 live and we've got a all Hoosier Cast tonight 00:08:47.809 --> 00:08:50.669 Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having us here, Neil. 00:08:53.250 --> 00:08:56.029 Yeah, we've got, we've got all three of us from 00:08:56.029 --> 00:08:59.389 Indiana originally. So I don't know what that 00:08:59.389 --> 00:09:03.240 means, but we'll find out. I guess. Well, you 00:09:03.240 --> 00:09:06.460 guys have been setting up a top class contest 00:09:06.460 --> 00:09:10.220 station in Maine and was able to hear a little 00:09:10.220 --> 00:09:14.000 bit about it down at Huntsville this year. So 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:17.100 walk us through the process of building this 00:09:17.100 --> 00:09:20.559 station in Maine when you guys aren't in Maine. 00:09:22.220 --> 00:09:25.240 Well, it's been a challenge to get everything 00:09:25.240 --> 00:09:28.799 going. And we had to make a lot of decisions 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:31.179 on this project. Fred and I come together and 00:09:31.179 --> 00:09:34.379 decided that we're both contesters. We're about 00:09:34.379 --> 00:09:38.720 five hours apart. And so we wanted to build something 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:41.639 very unique, something that we liked. We both 00:09:41.639 --> 00:09:45.179 are remoting into each other station as needed. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:49.559 So it made sense for us to build a nice remote 00:09:49.559 --> 00:09:52.779 station for both of us to use. And with all the 00:09:52.779 --> 00:09:58.419 decisions, first was finding the land and that 00:09:58.419 --> 00:10:03.659 became a challenge. And so we had one failure 00:10:03.659 --> 00:10:06.200 on a land purchase up there. It turned out to 00:10:06.200 --> 00:10:09.120 be some paperwork issues, but we boiled it down 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:12.220 to 25 different properties around the state of 00:10:12.220 --> 00:10:16.460 Maine. And all of these properties had to meet 00:10:16.460 --> 00:10:19.320 multiple criteria, including they had to have 00:10:19.320 --> 00:10:22.500 a good internet connection. The land had to be 00:10:22.500 --> 00:10:26.049 accessible. It had to be on grid, close to power. 00:10:26.850 --> 00:10:30.070 We wanted a rural location also so we didn't 00:10:30.070 --> 00:10:32.929 have a lot of noise. And it also had to meet 00:10:32.929 --> 00:10:35.450 our software criteria. We run software modeling 00:10:35.450 --> 00:10:38.230 on all the properties that we looked at. So we 00:10:38.230 --> 00:10:40.409 wanted to make sure that what we were going to 00:10:40.409 --> 00:10:44.090 do was going to be successful. So we gathered 00:10:44.090 --> 00:10:47.009 the list and actually we went and visited all 00:10:47.009 --> 00:10:49.529 these properties up there. So it took some time. 00:10:50.059 --> 00:10:52.720 And we listened to the noise floor while we were 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:55.440 there. We actually used some AM radio and some 00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:57.980 different things that we had where we could listen 00:10:57.980 --> 00:11:01.759 to the noise floor there. And we eventually found 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:03.960 what we believe was the perfect site. It was 00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:08.120 a six -month process. And it turned out to be 00:11:08.120 --> 00:11:12.139 the closest ham radio station in the United States 00:11:12.139 --> 00:11:14.059 to Europe, as you can get. We're all the way 00:11:14.059 --> 00:11:17.220 in a very northeast corner of the state. In fact, 00:11:17.379 --> 00:11:20.360 it's so far Northeast. It's, it's actually closer 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:23.320 to London, England from this location than it 00:11:23.320 --> 00:11:27.399 is to Los Angeles. So Europe's a local call up 00:11:27.399 --> 00:11:32.059 there. And I'm guessing a homeowner's association 00:11:32.059 --> 00:11:36.759 is probably figured into that too. You didn't. 00:11:38.809 --> 00:11:41.090 This was rural enough that we didn't have to 00:11:41.090 --> 00:11:42.929 worry about that too much but we went ahead and 00:11:42.929 --> 00:11:45.210 did all our legwork and we contacted the county 00:11:45.210 --> 00:11:47.409 and made sure we told them everything we're doing 00:11:47.409 --> 00:11:49.870 and they made us fill out some paperwork and 00:11:49.870 --> 00:11:51.889 some diagrams of what we're going to do and they 00:11:51.889 --> 00:11:53.970 actually proved everything and signed off on 00:11:53.970 --> 00:11:57.049 it so we did this in confidence knowing that 00:11:57.049 --> 00:11:58.649 you know nobody was going to say anything to 00:11:58.649 --> 00:12:02.590 us later and it's far enough removed from town 00:12:02.590 --> 00:12:06.350 that the local town that's up there so it was 00:12:06.350 --> 00:12:11.259 fine. This property here met all the basic requirements 00:12:11.259 --> 00:12:13.480 that we wanted the software modeling turned out 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:16.600 to be the best of all 25 that we did the the 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:19.600 takeoff angle there was incredible In fact, we 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:22.100 shared some of this information with our antenna 00:12:22.100 --> 00:12:26.659 manufacturer Ken guard of W3 JK of JK antennas 00:12:26.659 --> 00:12:29.279 and I sent him some of the modeling over he was 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:32.340 pretty impressed He said he's rarely ever seen 00:12:32.340 --> 00:12:36.039 Property like this before so we were quite excited 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:39.480 about it So once we got all the paperwork done 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:41.500 and, you know, the purchasing of the property, 00:12:42.759 --> 00:12:47.039 it basically got done in under four months. And 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:52.679 it was a fairly fast project for us, but we kind 00:12:52.679 --> 00:12:54.360 of gathered everything and got it all together. 00:12:55.159 --> 00:12:56.700 The first thing we had to do was clear the land. 00:12:56.860 --> 00:12:59.480 We had to cut the driveway in. It took a couple 00:12:59.480 --> 00:13:01.139 culvert pipes out there. There's a little bit 00:13:01.139 --> 00:13:02.960 of water that had run through, so we wanted to 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:05.730 get that squared away. We had to put buildings 00:13:05.730 --> 00:13:07.830 in, had to get utilities out there, so there 00:13:07.830 --> 00:13:10.889 was a time frame that all had to come together. 00:13:12.110 --> 00:13:15.629 After that was completed, we went back and during 00:13:15.629 --> 00:13:19.169 that time we actually dug all the holes for the 00:13:19.169 --> 00:13:22.269 towers and the concrete anchors and got that, 00:13:22.309 --> 00:13:25.889 so that way it could be curing before I made 00:13:25.889 --> 00:13:28.889 the next trip back. So, you know, a lot of plane 00:13:28.889 --> 00:13:32.789 time and travel time. We hauled tower up there. 00:13:33.669 --> 00:13:35.330 And it wasn't just a little tower. It was a really 00:13:35.330 --> 00:13:40.710 big tower. So, the next part was basically just 00:13:40.710 --> 00:13:42.090 erecting the towers and putting them together. 00:13:43.370 --> 00:13:47.070 We selected JK antennas. We did real severe modeling 00:13:47.070 --> 00:13:49.570 of Everything that we did so we use software 00:13:49.570 --> 00:13:51.909 on everything and we work real close with Ken 00:13:51.909 --> 00:13:56.070 guard w3jk and Really glad that we did so he 00:13:56.070 --> 00:13:57.990 actually beefed up our antennas a little bit 00:13:57.990 --> 00:14:01.710 more so than what? A normal buyer would probably 00:14:01.710 --> 00:14:03.990 get just because of the icing and the wind load 00:14:03.990 --> 00:14:05.570 conditions that we're going to have up there 00:14:05.570 --> 00:14:07.929 and then it's a pretty extreme environment up 00:14:07.929 --> 00:14:12.710 there, so after you know, months and a lot of 00:14:12.710 --> 00:14:15.129 hours of this, we made our choice on what we 00:14:15.129 --> 00:14:18.269 wanted to do. We wanted really large stacks on 00:14:18.269 --> 00:14:21.289 the higher bands and we wanted some high gain 00:14:21.289 --> 00:14:24.250 antennas on the lower bands too. So we didn't 00:14:24.250 --> 00:14:26.049 really want to cut any corners. We wanted to 00:14:26.049 --> 00:14:27.909 have something that we could all be proud of 00:14:27.909 --> 00:14:31.789 and use and be successful with. And we also wanted 00:14:31.789 --> 00:14:33.870 to do some things on non -contest bands. We wanted 00:14:33.870 --> 00:14:35.669 to, you know, like to play around on six meters 00:14:35.669 --> 00:14:38.450 in the work bands. And with those, we wanted, 00:14:38.450 --> 00:14:41.620 you know, lots of elements. high elevation and 00:14:41.620 --> 00:14:44.500 some high game. So at this point it became a 00:14:44.500 --> 00:14:46.759 race of time because in Maine you don't have 00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:51.100 a whole lot of warm weather. It gets cold pretty 00:14:51.100 --> 00:14:52.940 quick and they have a lot much longer winter 00:14:52.940 --> 00:14:57.059 than that than we do. So we really had to get 00:14:57.059 --> 00:14:58.659 it in gear if we were going to get it up because 00:14:58.659 --> 00:15:00.980 we wanted to be ready for this contest season. 00:15:02.350 --> 00:15:04.710 So we hired a crane that was tall enough to reach 00:15:04.710 --> 00:15:07.230 our top antenna, which is over 150 feet. So it 00:15:07.230 --> 00:15:10.029 had to be a really tall crane on the tallest 00:15:10.029 --> 00:15:13.330 tower that we put up. And in short order, the 00:15:13.330 --> 00:15:16.269 crane actually got the towers put up pretty quick 00:15:16.269 --> 00:15:19.509 and got all the top antennas. We got mass pipes 00:15:19.509 --> 00:15:21.909 on both of those. We used the largest three inch 00:15:21.909 --> 00:15:24.509 chromoly mass we could get. Multiple thrust bearings 00:15:24.509 --> 00:15:28.590 on them and really big rotors up there. So It's 00:15:28.590 --> 00:15:30.549 been it's been great so far. So we've been real 00:15:30.549 --> 00:15:33.509 happy with it and they got all those all those 00:15:33.509 --> 00:15:36.789 up for us and The towers were extremely heavy. 00:15:36.789 --> 00:15:41.669 These are rone 65 and they're solid leg. So I 00:15:41.669 --> 00:15:44.710 think they're around 5 ,000 pounds piece and 00:15:44.710 --> 00:15:48.340 so they you know took them up we wanted all fill 00:15:48.340 --> 00:15:49.919 a strand guy wires on them because we didn't 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:52.820 want any steel to interfere with our stacks and 00:15:52.820 --> 00:15:55.179 our antennas because we put antennas down the 00:15:55.179 --> 00:15:58.620 tower too. Then the next thing we had to do is 00:15:58.620 --> 00:16:03.039 get buildings out there. So we had local contractors 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:05.879 that had framed up the inside of our buildings 00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:08.000 and insulate them really well. We don't have 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:10.720 to worry about air conditioning up there. It's 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:13.299 the heat because it gets extremely cold up there. 00:16:13.659 --> 00:16:18.340 So we installed security cameras, lights, heating 00:16:18.340 --> 00:16:22.220 We put racks in there because all of our radios 00:16:22.220 --> 00:16:25.639 and amplifiers all set in a full rack We use 00:16:25.639 --> 00:16:29.460 flex radios We got bandpass filters that we mount 00:16:29.460 --> 00:16:32.860 on the wall and a lot of small items but we can 00:16:32.860 --> 00:16:35.220 all rack mount most of this stuff so it worked 00:16:35.220 --> 00:16:40.059 out real well for us and the results was Well, 00:16:40.059 --> 00:16:42.259 it was nothing short of spectacular. We were 00:16:42.259 --> 00:16:45.399 really happy with the results all this time and 00:16:45.399 --> 00:16:48.039 work and things that we had invested in this 00:16:48.039 --> 00:16:51.039 thing, in the modeling and everything. It turned 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:53.679 out really good. We were quite pleased with it. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:57.200 The things that we can hear up there are just 00:16:57.200 --> 00:16:59.980 incredible. We can actually hear Europe coming 00:16:59.980 --> 00:17:05.460 in. You know at noon 12 31 o 'clock. They're 00:17:05.460 --> 00:17:06.819 they're rolling in some days a little better 00:17:06.819 --> 00:17:09.480 than others sometimes at 1 30 We're here in Europe 00:17:09.480 --> 00:17:12.519 at 10 and 15 over which is you know something 00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:14.920 you just can't get from anywhere else I've heard 00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:19.720 in the United States, so It was really cool You 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:21.859 know, but we're not done. We actually ran out 00:17:21.859 --> 00:17:26.269 of time because Mother Nature Uh, dictated that, 00:17:26.809 --> 00:17:29.069 so we're planning on going back up in the spring 00:17:29.069 --> 00:17:32.769 and installing, um, some big stuff on one 60. 00:17:32.809 --> 00:17:34.849 We're going to do a full size four square. We're 00:17:34.849 --> 00:17:37.609 also going to do another one on 80 meters. And, 00:17:37.670 --> 00:17:40.069 uh, we got an intent up now for 80 meters. Uh, 00:17:40.170 --> 00:17:42.210 it's, it's just a single antenna, but boy, it's 00:17:42.210 --> 00:17:44.009 a monster. We've got it way up high in the air 00:17:44.009 --> 00:17:46.670 and it's, it's a lot of gain on it and it's switchable 00:17:46.670 --> 00:17:48.549 in direction. So we're, we're quite happy with 00:17:48.549 --> 00:17:53.890 it. But, uh, now when you. Set this up. Obviously 00:17:53.890 --> 00:17:57.049 you're, you're looking at operating it remotely 00:17:57.049 --> 00:18:01.029 most of the time. Did you go ahead and set up 00:18:01.029 --> 00:18:03.309 a little bit of a shacks to where, you know, 00:18:03.369 --> 00:18:06.329 if you decided, Hey, let's, uh, you know, let's, 00:18:06.450 --> 00:18:09.670 let's go up to main for this contest and we'll 00:18:09.670 --> 00:18:14.650 just run the contest from there. Well, absolutely 00:18:14.650 --> 00:18:20.529 not. This contest season typically starts in 00:18:20.529 --> 00:18:23.289 the colder months and come warm months, there's 00:18:23.289 --> 00:18:25.450 not much contesting. In the warm months up there, 00:18:25.549 --> 00:18:29.890 it's nice. It's 80, 85 degrees, but there's not 00:18:29.890 --> 00:18:32.170 much contesting going on through the warm summer 00:18:32.170 --> 00:18:35.180 months. Uh, it's, it's pretty treacherous. We 00:18:35.180 --> 00:18:37.359 got cameras that I can actually log into and 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:39.119 look at it. In fact, right now there's over two 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:41.539 foot of snow on the ground right now. The locals 00:18:41.539 --> 00:18:43.700 tell me that the, uh, the windshield will drop 00:18:43.700 --> 00:18:47.400 down sometimes, um, you know, below 50, 50 below 00:18:47.400 --> 00:18:49.960 zero up there. Uh, and that's not too uncommon. 00:18:50.099 --> 00:18:52.880 So it's a, it's a pretty brutal environment and 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:54.480 I doubt I'm going to be able to drag anybody 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:56.839 1500 miles up there into that to, uh, to want 00:18:56.839 --> 00:19:04.359 to contest. All right. Well, um, We've got a 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:08.400 few questions coming in and we want to save those 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:11.500 for the question and answer segment, but one 00:19:11.500 --> 00:19:15.599 person here did mention, and this is Dick Bean 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:21.359 said, that's in a rare grid as well. It is. FN 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:30.339 67. We made friends with a couple of hams up 00:19:30.339 --> 00:19:33.279 there. One was a border patrol agent. And one 00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:38.859 was a local policeman there. And we're only about 00:19:38.859 --> 00:19:42.759 1 .2 miles from the Canadian border. And we share 00:19:42.759 --> 00:19:48.720 the same grid with them, FN67. And so they tell 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:52.460 us that they get besieged with email requests 00:19:52.460 --> 00:19:59.160 to make skids so people can work that grid. Yeah, 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:04.420 so that just adds that much more To the station, 00:20:04.460 --> 00:20:08.579 so that's that's pretty cool Well that we kind 00:20:08.579 --> 00:20:11.859 of got on the the idea of doing the show from 00:20:11.859 --> 00:20:15.519 a comment from dr. Scott right key zero MD that 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:19.259 Kind of talked about you guys had noticed some 00:20:19.259 --> 00:20:24.619 differences in a build between a DX er and a 00:20:24.619 --> 00:20:28.589 contest er so let's talk about those Differences 00:20:28.589 --> 00:20:32.210 a little bit and how how does that affect these 00:20:32.210 --> 00:20:36.670 builds? Yeah, he's right about that if we wanted 00:20:36.670 --> 00:20:40.529 to build this Station as a DX or we would have 00:20:40.529 --> 00:20:42.990 done things differently and and actually a much 00:20:42.990 --> 00:20:47.269 more simplistic way But being contesters and 00:20:47.269 --> 00:20:49.710 we want to contest that that you know increase 00:20:49.710 --> 00:20:52.710 the cost the time and the complexity of the station 00:20:53.609 --> 00:20:56.890 So the way we typically contest, Fred and I, 00:20:57.869 --> 00:21:00.549 we like to run in multi. Now we also do some 00:21:00.549 --> 00:21:03.450 single ops, but we like to run together as a 00:21:03.450 --> 00:21:05.369 team. We've got a core group of guys that likes 00:21:05.369 --> 00:21:10.769 to contest with us. So this required a second 00:21:10.769 --> 00:21:14.829 tower and more antennas. And we want to be able 00:21:14.829 --> 00:21:19.119 to do. guys on another band or even on the same 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:22.920 band so we had to separate our towers for interference 00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:28.420 we had to put you know bandpass filters in so 00:21:28.420 --> 00:21:30.200 we basically asked ourselves what would be the 00:21:30.200 --> 00:21:33.940 perfect setup for multi contest teams so this 00:21:33.940 --> 00:21:36.059 second tower was designed to have antennas fixed 00:21:36.059 --> 00:21:40.039 in prime directions and assisted with the top 00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:42.380 antenna that would rotate and pair up with them 00:21:42.380 --> 00:21:47.400 for a stack. So we can actually, with just flipping 00:21:47.400 --> 00:21:50.759 a switch on our computer screens in our house 00:21:50.759 --> 00:21:53.599 wherever we are at, we can flip a stack in in 00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:56.180 this direction, this direction, or whichever 00:21:56.180 --> 00:21:58.059 one we want. We got four directions we can flip 00:21:58.059 --> 00:22:00.859 it into, which makes it kind of nice. And so 00:22:00.859 --> 00:22:03.789 we've got a... 10, 15, and 20 on that tower that 00:22:03.789 --> 00:22:06.710 we can rotate around and flip into a stack. We 00:22:06.710 --> 00:22:10.769 also have a four element 40 up there. So that 00:22:10.769 --> 00:22:13.890 can assist in picking up malts and more contacts. 00:22:14.950 --> 00:22:17.670 And that's a big help. On our main tower that 00:22:17.670 --> 00:22:20.089 we have up there, it's a little bit taller tower, 00:22:20.750 --> 00:22:23.609 40 meters is our workhorse on that band. So we 00:22:23.609 --> 00:22:27.150 installed a four over four Yagi stack at 140 00:22:27.150 --> 00:22:32.140 and 70 feet. And to where we've got The second 00:22:32.140 --> 00:22:34.740 tower has a 40 meter jagging. It's up at about 00:22:34.740 --> 00:22:39.259 120 feet and it can rotate. This way our run 00:22:39.259 --> 00:22:41.779 station on the main tower can be focused on running. 00:22:42.660 --> 00:22:44.400 He's got a lot of fixed antennas on Europe because 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:46.539 that's where most of the points come from. Where 00:22:46.539 --> 00:22:49.720 the other tower can rotate and he's got stacks 00:22:49.720 --> 00:22:51.559 fixed in other directions just by flipping a 00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:54.660 switch and he can pick up those malts as he needs. 00:22:55.619 --> 00:22:58.980 So if we were just going to DX We would not have 00:22:58.980 --> 00:23:02.259 put the big bandpass filter stacks in, you know, 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:05.160 multiple radios and we got a lot of tower separation 00:23:05.160 --> 00:23:08.319 between them. So that would have, you know, that 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:10.880 would have made a big difference on the installation. 00:23:12.819 --> 00:23:15.240 You know, right now we've got actually a full 00:23:15.240 --> 00:23:17.859 set of stacks on both towers for 10, 15 and 20. 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:20.279 So they both can run and they both have high 00:23:20.279 --> 00:23:23.200 gain at the same time. And we can actually have 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:26.200 up to three operators operating simultaneously 00:23:27.459 --> 00:23:30.140 So, you know, obviously drove the cost up and 00:23:30.140 --> 00:23:32.740 design up and a little complexity, but we're 00:23:32.740 --> 00:23:35.640 kind of proud of it and it works really well. 00:23:35.900 --> 00:23:37.720 We've been kind of doing some burn in tests on 00:23:37.720 --> 00:23:42.099 it and it works well. So the way it's set up, 00:23:42.140 --> 00:23:45.200 if we want to DX, it's great. If we want to contest, 00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:47.920 it's great. So it appeals to either way we want 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:49.559 to do it. There's times I just want to get on 00:23:49.559 --> 00:23:55.319 just to call CQ and... work into Europe and it's 00:23:55.319 --> 00:23:57.559 incredible. Um, we, we have a lot of fun with 00:23:57.559 --> 00:24:01.579 it. All right. And one, one more thing here before 00:24:01.579 --> 00:24:04.400 we, uh, take a break cause we are, uh, do for 00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:08.119 a break here, but, um, obviously remote operation 00:24:08.119 --> 00:24:13.880 is, is the main focus here. Um, so how do you 00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:19.930 do that? And Who can access the station and is 00:24:19.930 --> 00:24:22.849 it available for you know obviously you too can 00:24:22.849 --> 00:24:28.430 but is it available for others. Well i've been 00:24:28.430 --> 00:24:30.849 playing with remote operation for about ten years 00:24:30.849 --> 00:24:33.049 but not seriously when flex radio come out with 00:24:33.049 --> 00:24:36.470 their six thousand series that that kind of change 00:24:36.470 --> 00:24:38.950 the game that made remote operation more mainstream. 00:24:39.130 --> 00:24:42.369 So, and honestly, I don't even want to buy a 00:24:42.369 --> 00:24:44.509 product today unless we can remote it. I mean, 00:24:44.549 --> 00:24:47.809 a switch or any, a road or anything, we want 00:24:47.809 --> 00:24:51.089 everything we have to be remote. So, and we also 00:24:51.089 --> 00:24:54.930 hate Windows servers. At least I do. I want everything 00:24:54.930 --> 00:24:59.390 all IP based. So, more and more hardware is starting 00:24:59.390 --> 00:25:02.130 to surface and recently we've been experimenting 00:25:02.130 --> 00:25:03.849 with some things with IP switching and things 00:25:03.849 --> 00:25:06.789 like this. So, uh... you know this is made it 00:25:06.789 --> 00:25:11.130 much more easy to to remote and you know and 00:25:11.130 --> 00:25:13.470 ten years ago things were much differently than 00:25:13.470 --> 00:25:16.170 what we have today and now we don't even have 00:25:16.170 --> 00:25:18.269 to rely on a windows server or anything we can 00:25:18.269 --> 00:25:20.950 just log in and go we don't have the issues that 00:25:20.950 --> 00:25:23.609 there's no latency we put in high uh... high 00:25:23.609 --> 00:25:25.769 -end routers up there so there's you know they're 00:25:25.769 --> 00:25:28.390 rated fifteen million packets per second so they're 00:25:28.390 --> 00:25:31.849 they're industrial uh... each station has its 00:25:31.849 --> 00:25:35.710 own uh... internet We have two stations up there 00:25:35.710 --> 00:25:38.390 basically that we got a tower one what we call 00:25:38.390 --> 00:25:40.730 station one and the station two we have there 00:25:40.730 --> 00:25:42.710 of their own electrical service they have their 00:25:42.710 --> 00:25:44.589 own internet service and their own routers and 00:25:44.589 --> 00:25:46.049 everything so they're separate but we can join 00:25:46.049 --> 00:25:49.829 together. So everything is remoted from the amplifiers 00:25:49.829 --> 00:25:52.569 to the rigs to the antenna switching to the stacks. 00:25:54.390 --> 00:25:58.809 So rotors all that had to come into the design 00:25:58.809 --> 00:26:02.559 and. We didn't want to skimp on that. So, you 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:04.420 know, Maine's a long way away, so we wanted to 00:26:04.420 --> 00:26:07.000 make sure that we put in stuff that we knew was 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:11.400 going to work. And my previous career with my 00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:16.460 internet that I had with the company, we had 00:26:16.460 --> 00:26:18.500 different hardware platforms, and the decision 00:26:18.500 --> 00:26:21.740 became easy. We installed rack -mounted cloud 00:26:21.740 --> 00:26:25.119 routers on each tower. These things are incredible. 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:27.539 We've done burn -in tests. We just can't believe. 00:26:27.960 --> 00:26:30.359 After four days, they're just sitting there cranking 00:26:30.359 --> 00:26:35.920 away, just like a radio in your house. So without 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:39.079 having servers up there, it makes life a little 00:26:39.079 --> 00:26:41.940 easier. Right now, we're just enjoying it. We 00:26:41.940 --> 00:26:45.779 call CQ, we create piops in seconds on any band 00:26:45.779 --> 00:26:47.640 that's open right now. It doesn't matter if it's 00:26:47.640 --> 00:26:50.380 40 meters or 10 meters, if it actually becomes 00:26:50.380 --> 00:26:55.140 open. We've been told we're one of the loudest 00:26:55.140 --> 00:26:58.789 stations that they can hear. getting on 40 meters 00:26:58.789 --> 00:27:01.130 at noon in the day and working into Europe and 00:27:01.130 --> 00:27:02.730 breaking pileups. Actually, I worked the Echo 00:27:02.730 --> 00:27:06.410 Papa 6 in Iran, broke over a European pileup 00:27:06.410 --> 00:27:08.609 at 12, 30 in the afternoon, and I couldn't believe 00:27:08.609 --> 00:27:12.809 it. So just using it makes a believer of you. 00:27:13.150 --> 00:27:15.589 But the propagation from there is very different 00:27:15.589 --> 00:27:18.849 from what it is from here. So that's one of the 00:27:18.849 --> 00:27:21.190 big things that we got from the station up there. 00:27:21.809 --> 00:27:25.150 And right now, as far as being able to use it, 00:27:25.289 --> 00:27:28.690 we actually have a core group of guys that contest 00:27:28.690 --> 00:27:32.430 with us. And so we actually have it, and we've 00:27:32.430 --> 00:27:37.490 discussed rental and other guys being able to 00:27:37.490 --> 00:27:40.750 use it. We've got a few guys that want to use 00:27:40.750 --> 00:27:43.769 it that we've left on the station. So basically, 00:27:43.970 --> 00:27:46.089 we're going to have some updates on our website. 00:27:46.569 --> 00:27:49.230 They want to go to be loud us. We'll have some 00:27:49.230 --> 00:27:52.950 updates on there And we've we've discussed the 00:27:52.950 --> 00:27:55.990 rental of this so it's a it's something new and 00:27:55.990 --> 00:27:57.769 we're still working through the you know the 00:27:57.769 --> 00:28:01.349 logistics of this but It's everybody that we 00:28:01.349 --> 00:28:03.710 put on the station from friends to strangers. 00:28:03.710 --> 00:28:06.890 We put a couple friends of ours that you know 00:28:06.890 --> 00:28:10.450 They just couldn't hardly believe how how easy 00:28:10.450 --> 00:28:14.160 it was this software works really well The hardware 00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:16.500 is working well and it's all very fast so there's 00:28:16.500 --> 00:28:18.759 hardly any latency with it. That was important 00:28:18.759 --> 00:28:23.759 to us. Alright, sounds like a great plan and 00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:26.359 you guys will be able to finish that up. Of course, 00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:29.400 I suspect like most projects it won't ever truly. 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:35.039 be finished but it'll be closer it'll be closer 00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:38.079 so all right we're going to take a break and 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:39.940 when we come back we're going to open up the 00:28:39.940 --> 00:28:42.700 phone lines and take some of these questions 00:28:42.700 --> 00:28:48.660 from Twitter and take some calls live so again 00:28:48.660 --> 00:28:54.259 the phone number 812 -638 -4261 so we'll take 00:28:54.259 --> 00:28:56.619 a break we'll come back and then we'll open up 00:28:56.619 --> 00:28:59.359 the phone lines and take calls with Steve and 00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:01.700 Fred right after this word from Tower Electronics 00:29:01.700 --> 00:29:07.380 right here on HamTalk Live. I'm sorry to bother 00:29:07.380 --> 00:29:09.740 you, but I'm having an antenna party and I ran 00:29:09.740 --> 00:29:13.599 out of PL259s. Oh, come in. Thank you. Would 00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:17.819 silver plated PL259s from Tower Electronics be 00:29:17.819 --> 00:29:20.299 too good for your guests? Those will be fine. 00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:23.869 Thank you. You saved my life the other night. 00:29:24.410 --> 00:29:28.029 Oh, the PL -259s from Tower Electronics? Yes, 00:29:28.029 --> 00:29:30.369 they were very successful at the antenna party. 00:29:30.710 --> 00:29:33.849 My antenna works like a charm. Then, how can 00:29:33.849 --> 00:29:36.470 you ever thank me? I'll try to think of something. 00:29:36.809 --> 00:29:40.069 Don't be caught without PL -259s. Visit Tower 00:29:40.069 --> 00:29:42.710 Electronics at a ham fest near you. Or visit 00:29:42.710 --> 00:29:47.470 them online anytime at PL -259 .com or call 920 00:29:47.470 --> 00:29:52.259 -435 -2973. They have adapters, cables, antennas, 00:29:52.519 --> 00:29:56.819 soldering supplies, and meters too. Join the 00:29:56.819 --> 00:30:00.480 conversation. Give us a call at 812 -NET -HAM 00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:06.680 -1. That's 812 -638 -4261. Now, here's more HamTalk 00:30:06.680 --> 00:30:21.609 Live. You're listening to Ham Talk Live with 00:30:21.609 --> 00:30:39.930 Neil Rapp. Alright, we're back here at Ham Talk 00:30:39.930 --> 00:30:44.400 Live and thanks to Tower Electronics for... helping 00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:47.259 out with the show tonight. They're going to be 00:30:47.259 --> 00:30:51.619 taking some time off. They'll be at Waukesha, 00:30:51.619 --> 00:30:55.960 Wisconsin on January 5th, and then Fort Myers, 00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:58.819 Florida, St. Charles, Illinois, Collinsville, 00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:01.660 Illinois, and Arcadia, California in January. 00:31:02.619 --> 00:31:07.339 So you can give them a call or visit them online 00:31:07.339 --> 00:31:12.180 at PL -259 .com until they're back out on the 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:17.519 ham fest rounds and uh... ham talk live is on 00:31:17.519 --> 00:31:19.720 the air every thursday night at nine p m eastern 00:31:19.720 --> 00:31:22.000 time right here at ham talk live dot com and 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:25.299 be sure to check us out on facebook twitter and 00:31:25.299 --> 00:31:29.680 instagram so now is the time so it's time for 00:31:29.680 --> 00:31:32.980 your calls if you have a question for Steve and 00:31:32.980 --> 00:31:35.559 Fred we're opening the phone lines up right now 00:31:35.559 --> 00:31:43.859 at 812 net ham 1 it's 812 -638 -4261 or you can 00:31:43.859 --> 00:31:48.180 tweet ham talk live and also tonight you can 00:31:48.180 --> 00:31:51.039 win a limited edition ham talk live grid square 00:31:51.039 --> 00:31:54.500 shirt just by calling in and in the spirit of 00:31:54.500 --> 00:31:58.319 Christmas camaraderie between podcast. I see 00:31:58.319 --> 00:32:01.759 you podcast is happy to sponsor one ham talk 00:32:01.759 --> 00:32:05.559 live t shirt for tonight. First audio collar 00:32:05.559 --> 00:32:08.099 to ham talk live and wish all the ham talk live 00:32:08.099 --> 00:32:11.920 listeners a peaceful and calm Christmas holiday 00:32:11.920 --> 00:32:16.559 season and also Tanner Jones W9 TWJ donated a 00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:19.220 shirt to give away tonight along with the ICQ 00:32:19.220 --> 00:32:23.039 crew So two lucky callers tonight will win one 00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:26.000 and the phones are going nuts here. So we'll 00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:30.900 we'll get some questions in here and I believe 00:32:31.559 --> 00:32:38.059 We have a call on the line right now or Okay, 00:32:38.119 --> 00:32:42.559 there we go Maybe we didn't get added. Okay now 00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:45.960 now we have a call on the line and good evening 00:32:45.960 --> 00:32:52.240 Good evening to you Yeah, who do we have here 00:32:52.240 --> 00:32:58.039 Yes, you have Denny WB 9 MSM and Watertown, Wisconsin 00:32:58.039 --> 00:33:01.680 a true Badger All right, very good. Well, we 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:04.980 went a little north of Indiana tonight. So what's 00:33:04.980 --> 00:33:09.000 your question here for Steve and Fred? Yeah, 00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:11.079 I actually have a couple of them there and my 00:33:11.079 --> 00:33:13.859 one question that I have and I'm actually very 00:33:13.859 --> 00:33:18.119 interested to know Has this ever been done before? 00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:21.599 To the extent that they have done this I've been 00:33:21.599 --> 00:33:24.640 listening and I'm just in awe of all that they've 00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:28.299 been doing and it seems like such a complex project 00:33:28.299 --> 00:33:32.670 that I'm just amazed at the complexity of it, 00:33:32.670 --> 00:33:34.789 and I'm just wondering if it's been done before 00:33:34.789 --> 00:33:37.869 to this extent, you know, that they've accomplished 00:33:37.869 --> 00:33:43.910 this. Well, Danny, good evening. We know of at 00:33:43.910 --> 00:33:48.190 least one other individual or group of individuals 00:33:48.190 --> 00:33:52.930 that has done this successfully. And, you know, 00:33:52.990 --> 00:33:56.369 when we first envisioned building this station 00:33:56.369 --> 00:34:00.140 in Maine, We had no pre -design on renting it 00:34:00.140 --> 00:34:04.240 out. It was simply going to be our DX and contest 00:34:04.240 --> 00:34:08.199 station. However, we had several people that 00:34:08.199 --> 00:34:10.900 contacted us about renting the station on a daily 00:34:10.900 --> 00:34:18.500 basis or even for contests. We have the ability 00:34:18.500 --> 00:34:21.360 to get people on the air now, but we've hired 00:34:21.360 --> 00:34:25.239 a software engineer to further enhance that process. 00:34:26.349 --> 00:34:28.590 Anyone interested in renting it out should go 00:34:28.590 --> 00:34:32.050 to our below .us website and give either one 00:34:32.050 --> 00:34:34.710 of us a call and we'll be happy to talk to them. 00:34:35.130 --> 00:34:37.769 But yes, to answer your question, there is one 00:34:37.769 --> 00:34:40.929 other successful company doing this already. 00:34:42.389 --> 00:34:45.230 Very, very interesting. Hey, another question 00:34:45.230 --> 00:34:49.150 real quick. What is the propagation like to the 00:34:49.150 --> 00:34:52.579 West? I know to the East. Uh, you're just spectacular, 00:34:52.579 --> 00:34:54.400 but I'm just kind of curious. Do you get into 00:34:54.400 --> 00:34:58.699 the Pacific pretty well too? Actually, I've been 00:34:58.699 --> 00:35:01.579 on a couple of times into the Pacific and it's, 00:35:01.619 --> 00:35:04.099 it's really quite good. Um, it's, it's actually, 00:35:04.239 --> 00:35:07.420 I've got a, uh, this is Steve W9SN. I've got 00:35:07.420 --> 00:35:10.260 a, uh, a contest station in Tennessee on a, on 00:35:10.260 --> 00:35:13.800 a pretty good hilltop and a good elevation. Um, 00:35:13.840 --> 00:35:16.900 but even towards the Pacific, the, uh, the main 00:35:16.900 --> 00:35:20.179 station we got, we'll beat it. When Japan opens 00:35:20.179 --> 00:35:23.019 up, it's a nice opening. We can run Japan up 00:35:23.019 --> 00:35:25.860 there very, very loud. Those signals up there 00:35:25.860 --> 00:35:28.679 from there will be, you know, 15, 20 over 9 when 00:35:28.679 --> 00:35:30.860 the band is open. It doesn't happen too often 00:35:30.860 --> 00:35:34.340 lately, but we've caught it a couple times. And 00:35:34.340 --> 00:35:37.679 some of the DX pileups out in the Pacific, there 00:35:37.679 --> 00:35:40.519 was an Alpha 35 recently, and there was a couple 00:35:40.519 --> 00:35:43.139 others. I can't remember the calls, but we were 00:35:43.139 --> 00:35:44.900 able to break them on the first and second call. 00:35:45.500 --> 00:35:50.130 It was fairly easy. Last but not least there, 00:35:50.449 --> 00:35:53.210 guys, I'm just kind of curious, will we be seeing 00:35:53.210 --> 00:35:56.949 anything in the QST or will you be doing a YouTube 00:35:56.949 --> 00:35:59.889 at all that shows what the antenna structures 00:35:59.889 --> 00:36:02.690 look like and the area there? I'm just kind of 00:36:02.690 --> 00:36:08.190 curious. You think that's in the plans? We fully 00:36:08.190 --> 00:36:12.130 plan to do that, Denny. We'll have a coming out 00:36:12.130 --> 00:36:15.349 party, if you will, when we roll it out in its 00:36:15.349 --> 00:36:21.670 entirety. right now until we get the total software 00:36:21.670 --> 00:36:23.670 package done. We're kind of doing this in two 00:36:23.670 --> 00:36:27.230 steps. So we'll have an abbreviated software 00:36:27.230 --> 00:36:30.130 package where we could get people on. We can 00:36:30.130 --> 00:36:32.650 get them on now, but it'll smooth the process 00:36:32.650 --> 00:36:37.730 out here in the short term. And then we have 00:36:37.730 --> 00:36:41.349 the development of the web client taking place. 00:36:41.369 --> 00:36:44.989 And it'll make life much easier for everyone 00:36:44.989 --> 00:36:49.059 to to log in at that point in time. Yeah, we'll 00:36:49.059 --> 00:36:55.360 be doing full page spreads and QST. I just want 00:36:55.360 --> 00:36:57.780 to compliment you guys on this. It sounds so 00:36:57.780 --> 00:37:01.639 exciting. I just like I said, I'm in awe. So 00:37:01.639 --> 00:37:04.139 I thank you very much for taking my call and 00:37:04.139 --> 00:37:07.360 taking my questions. I appreciate that. And I 00:37:07.360 --> 00:37:09.480 look forward to maybe sometime talking to you 00:37:09.480 --> 00:37:13.280 guys on it. Very, very good. Thank you very much 00:37:13.280 --> 00:37:16.869 for calling in, Danny. Yeah, 73. And again, good 00:37:16.869 --> 00:37:19.090 luck with this project. It sounds really, really 00:37:19.090 --> 00:37:22.750 exciting. Thank you. 73. All right. And Danny, 00:37:22.949 --> 00:37:25.449 we'll send you that, uh, ham talk live t -shirt 00:37:25.449 --> 00:37:28.929 from, uh, the ICQ crew. So congratulations on 00:37:28.929 --> 00:37:31.769 that. And thanks for calling in. Yeah. Do you 00:37:31.769 --> 00:37:34.469 know what size? Yeah, I'll, I'll get with y 'all 00:37:34.469 --> 00:37:37.309 to email afterwards and we'll, we'll, uh, drop 00:37:37.309 --> 00:37:40.130 you an email. All right. Sure. Thanks a million. 00:37:40.449 --> 00:37:43.969 Okay. Take care, Neil. All right. Your next program 00:37:43.969 --> 00:37:49.130 too. All right, thank you. 812 -638 -4261 is 00:37:49.130 --> 00:37:51.090 the phone number and the phones are really lighting 00:37:51.090 --> 00:37:55.030 up. We've got another call from a little ways 00:37:55.030 --> 00:38:00.070 up north. So good evening, Paul. Well, good evening, 00:38:00.070 --> 00:38:04.550 Neil. How are you? I'm good. And good evening 00:38:04.550 --> 00:38:08.670 to you as well. Steve, I'm in Valparaiso, Indiana. 00:38:10.309 --> 00:38:13.739 Yeah, hello. And I understand that you, being 00:38:13.739 --> 00:38:15.840 the former president of the Porter County Amateur 00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:20.420 Radio Club, I am the current president of the 00:38:20.420 --> 00:38:23.500 Porter County Amateur Radio Club. Hey, Paul, 00:38:23.500 --> 00:38:28.000 this is Fred, WW4LL. That was me that used to 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:31.559 live in Valpo. Oh, it was you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:38:31.880 --> 00:38:34.940 When were you president of the club? Well, I 00:38:34.940 --> 00:38:43.170 was up there from 83 to 95. I had various seats 00:38:43.170 --> 00:38:47.130 with the club there over the years, and I can't 00:38:47.130 --> 00:38:48.949 tell you exactly which year it is, but I can 00:38:48.949 --> 00:38:51.949 tell you we were still in the old tech building. 00:38:51.949 --> 00:38:54.610 I don't know if you all are still meeting there 00:38:54.610 --> 00:38:59.829 or not. Oh, well, depending on which old tech 00:38:59.829 --> 00:39:04.510 building, most of them are gone now. But now 00:39:04.510 --> 00:39:07.010 I've only been president this year, but I saw 00:39:07.010 --> 00:39:12.449 that and I thought that was cool. This station 00:39:12.449 --> 00:39:15.329 you're putting together, all of these big contest 00:39:15.329 --> 00:39:21.269 stations are amazing. And just to see the technology 00:39:21.269 --> 00:39:24.670 and what it takes to put all of those radios 00:39:24.670 --> 00:39:27.289 and all of those antennas in one space and make 00:39:27.289 --> 00:39:31.530 them work is always fascinating to hear. So this 00:39:31.530 --> 00:39:38.550 is a cool story to be following. we're always 00:39:38.550 --> 00:39:41.869 getting beat by the guys on the East Coast, and 00:39:41.869 --> 00:39:45.889 they were good operators to boot. But, you know, 00:39:46.110 --> 00:39:48.289 having been down to the Caribbean a number of 00:39:48.289 --> 00:39:53.849 times to operate, the pileups were amazing down 00:39:53.849 --> 00:39:57.110 there, and some of the rates were extremely high. 00:39:57.329 --> 00:40:00.170 And then, you know, we didn't experience that 00:40:00.170 --> 00:40:02.690 so much from the southeast here in the Midwest, 00:40:03.349 --> 00:40:06.570 there in the black hole. But when we went out 00:40:06.570 --> 00:40:09.650 the main, It was a new experience for us. It 00:40:09.650 --> 00:40:14.369 was much like being in the Caribbean. So it's 00:40:14.369 --> 00:40:18.710 just a different world up there. Very good. Well, 00:40:18.750 --> 00:40:21.030 good luck with all this. And I hope everything 00:40:21.030 --> 00:40:24.670 goes according to plan and be very interested 00:40:24.670 --> 00:40:27.590 in working it. Well, thank you very much, Paul, 00:40:27.590 --> 00:40:30.510 for calling in and say hello to the boys in Valpo 00:40:30.510 --> 00:40:34.010 for me. Will do. Absolutely. We have a meeting 00:40:34.010 --> 00:40:38.650 coming up in a couple of weeks. Paul around we 00:40:38.650 --> 00:40:41.590 D9 GCO one of the voices you hear on amateur 00:40:41.590 --> 00:40:44.309 radio news line. Thanks for calling Paul You're 00:40:44.309 --> 00:40:46.769 welcome Neil. Have a good evening All right, 00:40:46.809 --> 00:40:49.110 you two and the phones are still lighting up 00:40:49.110 --> 00:40:51.650 like crazy and and we've got mark Brown in for 00:40:51.650 --> 00:40:56.250 BCD on the line So good evening mark Good evening 00:40:56.250 --> 00:41:01.190 Neil and for BCD Great program tonight. I tuned 00:41:01.190 --> 00:41:03.469 in a little bit late. Good evening, Steve and 00:41:03.469 --> 00:41:06.829 Fred Just a couple of questions. You may have 00:41:06.829 --> 00:41:09.849 covered these, but I'm guessing from the description 00:41:09.849 --> 00:41:13.190 of your towers and radios, I'm guessing you're 00:41:13.190 --> 00:41:17.449 going to be multi -two or unlimited. Well, we 00:41:17.449 --> 00:41:20.469 have our choice. We could run multi -single, 00:41:20.690 --> 00:41:23.309 multi -two. Multi -multi would be a little difficult 00:41:23.309 --> 00:41:26.300 for us right now, but uh... we're we're looking 00:41:26.300 --> 00:41:28.579 at the possibility of being able to do that but 00:41:28.579 --> 00:41:30.719 you know that takes a lot more operators and 00:41:30.719 --> 00:41:33.440 it's a little out of our uh... comfort zone from 00:41:33.440 --> 00:41:35.960 what we've been doing obviously uh... but we're 00:41:35.960 --> 00:41:38.260 real comfortable with multi two and multi single 00:41:38.260 --> 00:41:41.159 wow that's great and i i'm sure you guys will 00:41:41.159 --> 00:41:43.159 work out the latency on the uh... the internet 00:41:43.159 --> 00:41:45.960 there but uh... i i tuned in like i said a little 00:41:45.960 --> 00:41:48.420 bit late but i can relate uh... you know to you 00:41:48.420 --> 00:41:51.260 guys uh... uh... working europeans at midday 00:41:51.260 --> 00:41:53.900 on forty meters uh... i operated a couple years 00:41:53.900 --> 00:41:56.880 ago from k three l r and uh... it's just a real 00:41:56.880 --> 00:41:59.460 treat uh... it's really incredible the propagation 00:41:59.460 --> 00:42:01.880 difference uh... you see up there in the northeast 00:42:01.880 --> 00:42:05.119 compared to buy home q g h in that in fayetteville 00:42:05.119 --> 00:42:07.739 tennessee and fred's over georgia probably uh... 00:42:07.739 --> 00:42:10.860 similar propagation there but uh... are you guys 00:42:10.860 --> 00:42:13.300 planning i heard the uh... another caller ask 00:42:13.300 --> 00:42:15.360 if you were planning to do a youtube or anything 00:42:15.579 --> 00:42:19.000 My question is, are you planning to unveil this 00:42:19.000 --> 00:42:23.059 with further detail at Xenia, either in a forum 00:42:23.059 --> 00:42:31.079 or at Contest U? We've not spoken to Tim Duffy 00:42:31.079 --> 00:42:37.960 about doing anything at Contest U. However, we 00:42:37.960 --> 00:42:40.760 have been asked to speak in a couple of different 00:42:40.760 --> 00:42:49.820 podcasts like this. We want to get all the components 00:42:49.820 --> 00:42:55.619 smoothly operating before we do a total rollout. 00:42:56.539 --> 00:43:00.920 There will be an unveiling of sorts when we're 00:43:00.920 --> 00:43:04.980 up to speed with everything, Mark. Excellent, 00:43:06.059 --> 00:43:09.199 excellent. Have you guys consulted with Craig 00:43:09.199 --> 00:43:12.920 K9CT? I know he's running flexes in a contest 00:43:12.920 --> 00:43:15.960 environment. Have you have you learned from him 00:43:15.960 --> 00:43:19.719 on this on this project? We have talked to Craig 00:43:19.719 --> 00:43:23.179 a number of times over several months and Craig's 00:43:23.179 --> 00:43:27.980 a good friend and we we email periodically But 00:43:27.980 --> 00:43:32.039 you know, we've talked to flex radio directly 00:43:32.039 --> 00:43:35.880 and we've talked to To Craig about some of his 00:43:35.880 --> 00:43:38.659 experiences as well and and he's a great guy 00:43:38.659 --> 00:43:42.460 and he's very willing to To share so we appreciate 00:43:42.460 --> 00:43:46.159 that very much Excellent. Excellent. Well, you 00:43:46.159 --> 00:43:48.360 guys, uh, I'm, I'm drooling over the description 00:43:48.360 --> 00:43:51.000 of your two towers and, uh, I just can't wait 00:43:51.000 --> 00:43:53.679 to hear, uh, what, uh, what more this thing, 00:43:53.679 --> 00:43:56.139 uh, this, this station can do it in a contest. 00:43:56.199 --> 00:43:58.360 You guys, uh, have really put together something 00:43:58.360 --> 00:44:00.820 special here. Have fun with it and good evening. 00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:03.320 Uh, I'll turn it back to Neil and for BCD. Good 00:44:03.320 --> 00:44:07.119 evening. Okay, Mark, thanks for calling in again 00:44:07.119 --> 00:44:09.519 tonight and congratulations. We'll, we'll, we'll 00:44:09.519 --> 00:44:13.420 send you a t -shirt too here. So. uh... graduations 00:44:13.420 --> 00:44:18.099 on that thanks for giving us call again you know 00:44:18.099 --> 00:44:20.699 i've got a we've got another call on the line 00:44:20.699 --> 00:44:22.599 and i know we've got a couple more uh... trying 00:44:22.599 --> 00:44:26.239 to get through so let's see who we have next 00:44:26.239 --> 00:44:31.199 hello mike w nine r n y hello uh... good evening 00:44:31.199 --> 00:44:34.239 mike what's your question there are other guys 00:44:34.239 --> 00:44:37.260 here well i just thought i'd give a testimony 00:44:37.260 --> 00:44:40.090 like i've done uh... a lot of multi -op with 00:44:40.090 --> 00:44:42.389 Steve for over 13 years, and also with Fred. 00:44:43.110 --> 00:44:46.929 And I ran that actual main station from a hotel 00:44:46.929 --> 00:44:49.289 room in Carbondale, Illinois. I live in Jacksonville, 00:44:49.289 --> 00:44:52.590 Illinois. But I ran that about a week ago on 00:44:52.590 --> 00:44:56.530 just one DX -0400 to about from 0100 Zulu to 00:44:56.530 --> 00:44:59.989 0400 Zulu. I made over 50 contacts in Europe 00:44:59.989 --> 00:45:02.309 on 40 meters when the band was not open great, 00:45:02.610 --> 00:45:05.849 and two into Israel sites. And I've ran also 00:45:05.849 --> 00:45:08.469 the contest a couple of times with them. So it's 00:45:08.469 --> 00:45:16.590 a, it's a, an awesome stage. Very good. Hey Mike. 00:45:16.929 --> 00:45:22.190 Hey Fred. All right. Well, thanks for calling 00:45:22.190 --> 00:45:25.190 in about that. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, I 00:45:25.190 --> 00:45:27.269 said Fred, I didn't tell you. I put Mike on there 00:45:27.269 --> 00:45:33.199 the other night. That's one way to find out, 00:45:33.199 --> 00:45:42.159 right? Oh, yeah, it was fun and look forward 00:45:42.159 --> 00:45:44.260 to too much more, but I just want to get a testimony. 00:45:44.280 --> 00:45:46.300 It's a, it's a fantastic station. These guys 00:45:46.300 --> 00:45:49.099 are awesome and they work tirelessly tirelessly 00:45:49.099 --> 00:45:51.059 to get, uh, to get everything going. It just 00:45:51.059 --> 00:45:53.619 works great. And, uh, I'll just leave with one 00:45:53.619 --> 00:45:56.969 comment and that's, uh, want some candy. You 00:45:56.969 --> 00:46:00.670 want some candy, Mike? I do want some candy. 00:46:01.510 --> 00:46:04.110 I'll get out and talk to you guys later. Thanks 00:46:04.110 --> 00:46:06.510 a lot for putting me in. See you, buddy. Take 00:46:06.510 --> 00:46:10.690 care. Thanks for calling. All right, we've got 00:46:10.690 --> 00:46:14.090 another call in line. It's Carl, KD9HQT. Good 00:46:14.090 --> 00:46:20.309 evening, Carl. Hey, Neil and Air 1. I just have 00:46:20.309 --> 00:46:25.349 a question slash comment. But, um, hopefully 00:46:25.349 --> 00:46:27.449 you can hear me because I'm actually driving 00:46:27.449 --> 00:46:30.409 on I -69, so I'm actually in Norfolk, Washington, 00:46:30.710 --> 00:46:35.369 driving home from Heaventown. Um, about the contest 00:46:35.369 --> 00:46:40.469 station, okay, about that, um, when my dad moved 00:46:40.469 --> 00:46:44.710 to the house where my parents lived in 1905, 00:46:45.610 --> 00:46:49.429 my dad's, um, ham shack, where it is located 00:46:49.429 --> 00:46:55.289 now, was once a garage. And when they got rid 00:46:55.289 --> 00:46:59.630 of the garage door and my father converted the 00:46:59.630 --> 00:47:04.489 garage into a workshop, he also converted the 00:47:04.489 --> 00:47:11.809 portion of the garage into a ham shack. So basically 00:47:11.809 --> 00:47:19.590 he, I think sometime in the 90s, he put in some 00:47:19.590 --> 00:47:23.300 installations around the... from the ham shack 00:47:23.300 --> 00:47:29.519 so it can get some pork inside the shack. And 00:47:29.519 --> 00:47:33.139 before he actually moved in, moved into the house 00:47:33.139 --> 00:47:38.659 after he got married to my mother, and if you 00:47:38.659 --> 00:47:42.559 guys want to know, my father called his WP -19WF, 00:47:42.699 --> 00:47:45.659 that is Wimkey Bravo 9, that is Wimkey Foxtrot. 00:47:47.500 --> 00:47:51.179 My father used to live in Baltimore, Illinois. 00:47:51.659 --> 00:47:57.800 which is where my my grandmother's house is and 00:47:57.800 --> 00:48:07.380 And my dad has a 70 foot tower and and currently 00:48:07.380 --> 00:48:16.519 right now he has three VHF and he has one He 00:48:16.519 --> 00:48:20.789 has three antennas he has a two meter single 00:48:20.789 --> 00:48:24.869 size band antenna, a centimeter single size antenna. 00:48:25.829 --> 00:48:28.630 And this is a rare type of antenna that most 00:48:28.630 --> 00:48:32.130 amateur operators don't operate on. He also has 00:48:32.130 --> 00:48:40.789 a 23 centimeter antenna. So that's why I like 00:48:40.789 --> 00:48:47.289 my comment. But the question is, if you want 00:48:47.289 --> 00:48:56.340 to operate on CHF or UHF on testing and the antennas 00:48:56.340 --> 00:48:59.539 were like made as ascendees and the tower itself 00:48:59.539 --> 00:49:06.039 was made as ascendees and would you consider 00:49:06.039 --> 00:49:15.820 to consider consider a station that has like 00:49:15.820 --> 00:49:30.200 five or six transceivers compared to one five 00:49:30.200 --> 00:49:34.179 transceivers and one big tower compared to a 00:49:34.179 --> 00:49:36.599 station that has like two transceivers and just 00:49:36.599 --> 00:49:44.739 a simple dive pole Well, I think maybe getting 00:49:44.739 --> 00:49:46.539 into a little bit of what we were going to talk 00:49:46.539 --> 00:49:50.980 about with Fred with maybe a more modest Setup 00:49:50.980 --> 00:49:54.539 maybe that that's kind of ties into that maybe 00:49:54.539 --> 00:50:01.139 yeah, maybe so If you're asking about, you know, 00:50:01.639 --> 00:50:03.860 what do we suggest for someone trying to build 00:50:03.860 --> 00:50:08.059 a more modest contest station and looking at 00:50:08.059 --> 00:50:10.800 some of the important pieces to include in the 00:50:10.800 --> 00:50:13.340 station, you know, I would say that you focus 00:50:13.340 --> 00:50:16.380 on your selection of the antennas for the type 00:50:16.380 --> 00:50:20.300 of contest that you want to compete in. And I 00:50:20.300 --> 00:50:22.360 think, personally, I think it's the single most 00:50:22.360 --> 00:50:26.119 important consideration. For example, If you 00:50:26.119 --> 00:50:28.880 can't install a tower and you can only put up 00:50:28.880 --> 00:50:33.579 wire antennas, for example, then optimize those 00:50:33.579 --> 00:50:36.420 for the mode that you prefer. You know, the contest 00:50:36.420 --> 00:50:39.340 that you think you can effectively compete in 00:50:39.340 --> 00:50:42.900 and you orient those antennas to, you know, maximize 00:50:42.900 --> 00:50:46.880 your coverage performance. If you can only install 00:50:46.880 --> 00:50:50.179 a short tower, like under 100 feet, then you 00:50:50.179 --> 00:50:53.860 may want to use multi -band antennas. You may... 00:50:53.880 --> 00:50:57.659 If you want to run multi -up with those multi 00:50:57.659 --> 00:51:00.599 -band antennas, then you're going to need to 00:51:00.599 --> 00:51:04.840 consider buying a triplexer. You may also want 00:51:04.840 --> 00:51:07.739 to just specialize in contesting on one band 00:51:07.739 --> 00:51:11.219 and put up a huge rotating 40 -meter beam, for 00:51:11.219 --> 00:51:14.519 example, if you think that that's the area that 00:51:14.519 --> 00:51:20.599 you can be most competitive. The rig and the 00:51:20.599 --> 00:51:23.139 antennas are personal preferences of the station 00:51:23.139 --> 00:51:28.719 owner. But for us, we chose and we like flex 00:51:28.719 --> 00:51:32.800 radio and we like JK antennas. Those work quite 00:51:32.800 --> 00:51:36.500 well for us, but to each their own. Knowing the 00:51:36.500 --> 00:51:39.840 capabilities and the functionality of your rig 00:51:39.840 --> 00:51:43.460 may be the second most important piece to this. 00:51:43.980 --> 00:51:46.340 There's a lot of people out there that own radios 00:51:46.340 --> 00:51:51.059 that are capable of diverse functionality. However, 00:51:51.119 --> 00:51:54.769 some of the owners simply don't fully familiarize 00:51:54.769 --> 00:51:57.590 themselves with the full breadth of what the 00:51:57.590 --> 00:52:01.630 radio will do, what capabilities the radio has 00:52:01.630 --> 00:52:04.489 right in front of them. So those are some of 00:52:04.489 --> 00:52:11.750 the considerations. Yeah, one time my, right, 00:52:12.130 --> 00:52:16.090 especially the antennas that my dad showed was 00:52:16.090 --> 00:52:20.030 because the antennas are horizontal and not vertical 00:52:20.030 --> 00:52:24.960 because of polarization on VHS. There was one 00:52:24.960 --> 00:52:29.139 time my father contacted a, and this was extremely, 00:52:29.219 --> 00:52:32.559 extremely rare, and this probably only happened 00:52:32.559 --> 00:52:36.000 once in a lifetime. My father actually contacted 00:52:36.000 --> 00:52:39.719 a station in Mexico on two meters, but there 00:52:39.719 --> 00:52:45.280 was a huge troppo van opening. And after he contacted 00:52:45.280 --> 00:52:51.119 that Mexico station, a bunch load of US stations 00:52:51.119 --> 00:53:04.099 contacted my father. Because his antennas were 00:53:04.099 --> 00:53:08.300 up like 50 feet in the air, and there was a power 00:53:08.300 --> 00:53:11.719 up, so he only, during the power up, he actually 00:53:11.719 --> 00:53:15.280 picked up a Florida station, and he said to me 00:53:15.280 --> 00:53:20.960 that this was the longest TX on two meters by 00:53:20.960 --> 00:53:29.139 band. Oh, awesome. Good for him. I don't know 00:53:29.139 --> 00:53:33.889 what else to say about that. Carl thanks for 00:53:33.889 --> 00:53:36.510 calling in tonight, and we're gonna try to get 00:53:36.510 --> 00:53:38.670 a couple more in here We're already overtime, 00:53:38.829 --> 00:53:43.690 so we're gonna. We're gonna move along All right, 00:53:43.789 --> 00:53:47.989 73 all right 73. Thanks for calling Carl appreciate 00:53:47.989 --> 00:53:53.030 it Okay, we've got a couple of tweets here to 00:53:53.030 --> 00:53:55.429 address and I think there was one more person 00:53:55.429 --> 00:54:00.730 trying to call in Tucker w4 FS wants to know 00:54:00.730 --> 00:54:05.079 how Be loud is able to compete with remote ham 00:54:05.079 --> 00:54:09.639 radio comm for contest Considering their own 00:54:09.639 --> 00:54:14.340 main station is a little closer 100 miles closer 00:54:14.340 --> 00:54:18.679 to Europe and the coast so we compared to any 00:54:18.679 --> 00:54:25.420 other stations We might get into some rivalry 00:54:25.420 --> 00:54:29.570 here, I don't know Oh, I mean, I haven't met 00:54:29.570 --> 00:54:32.449 Ray personally. Steve has met him and had dinner 00:54:32.449 --> 00:54:40.110 with him, and they've got it going on. Like I 00:54:40.110 --> 00:54:43.369 said, we started this out for our personal use 00:54:43.369 --> 00:54:47.449 in the beginning, and it's morphed into renting 00:54:47.449 --> 00:54:52.369 it out. But Ray does quite well from Lubeck up 00:54:52.369 --> 00:55:00.269 there. we uh... we don't do it we haven't done 00:55:00.269 --> 00:55:04.309 uh... side -by -side comparisons uh... from that 00:55:04.309 --> 00:55:06.570 from that neck of the woods he's he does really 00:55:06.570 --> 00:55:09.730 well and we're going to do really well and so 00:55:09.730 --> 00:55:12.530 beyond that you know when it comes contest time 00:55:12.530 --> 00:55:15.489 like any other competition it's going to depend 00:55:15.489 --> 00:55:19.349 on uh... you know keeping your butt in the chair 00:55:19.349 --> 00:55:24.050 and uh... uh... an operator skills things of 00:55:24.050 --> 00:55:27.389 that nature and so uh... You know, we wish them 00:55:27.389 --> 00:55:30.889 well and hopefully they feel the same way about 00:55:30.889 --> 00:55:34.769 us. All right. We are going to take one last 00:55:34.769 --> 00:55:37.570 call here. We're, we're running way over time 00:55:37.570 --> 00:55:39.929 here, but, uh, had another one that was trying 00:55:39.929 --> 00:55:42.090 to call quite a bit. So let's, uh, let's see 00:55:42.090 --> 00:55:47.349 who we have on the line here. Hello. Yes. Hello. 00:55:47.929 --> 00:55:50.809 Hi. How are you this evening? Good. Who, who 00:55:50.809 --> 00:55:55.329 do we have here? Uh, Neil, this is kilo one. 00:55:55.690 --> 00:56:02.489 Lima kilo papa. It's Carmen. Carmen. Oh, it's 00:56:02.489 --> 00:56:05.869 good to hear from you, Carmen. Oh, Neil, I just 00:56:05.869 --> 00:56:10.170 want to say to Fred and to Steve, congratulations 00:56:10.170 --> 00:56:14.750 on their endeavor. And God bless them and keep 00:56:14.750 --> 00:56:18.010 safe on those towers. And I want to wish everybody 00:56:18.010 --> 00:56:22.429 a merry, merry Christmas. Steve, Fred, congratulations. 00:56:22.920 --> 00:56:25.599 Hey, thanks, Carmen. And I haven't worked you 00:56:25.599 --> 00:56:29.980 on 40 here in the last few weeks. But I always 00:56:29.980 --> 00:56:32.940 enjoy working you. You're a great CW out, my 00:56:32.940 --> 00:56:39.159 friend. OK. Well, thank you very much. And Neil, 00:56:39.840 --> 00:56:45.900 those two fellows are two top -notch CW rascals. 00:56:46.260 --> 00:56:48.679 That's for sure. God bless to all. And thank 00:56:48.679 --> 00:56:52.139 you. All right, thank you carbon appreciate your 00:56:52.139 --> 00:56:57.880 kind words Take care now All right. Well, we're 00:56:57.880 --> 00:57:00.300 gonna we're gonna finish things up here and there's 00:57:00.300 --> 00:57:02.320 one other tweet I want to mention here before 00:57:02.320 --> 00:57:05.559 we go because Bryant rascals mother Lauren just 00:57:05.559 --> 00:57:13.219 posted a picture of Bryant on be loud US And 00:57:13.219 --> 00:57:18.260 so I know he had a chance to to do some operating 00:57:18.260 --> 00:57:21.639 and saw that picture. In fact, I think it was 00:57:21.639 --> 00:57:25.320 a week or two ago I saw that. So talk a little 00:57:25.320 --> 00:57:29.260 bit about our friend Bryant here. Bryant is a 00:57:29.260 --> 00:57:35.960 bright young man who is being raised by a family 00:57:35.960 --> 00:57:40.739 that I adore. They are really good people and 00:57:40.739 --> 00:57:43.179 they're doing everything right in raising young 00:57:43.179 --> 00:57:46.150 Bryant. who is a fine, upstanding young man. 00:57:46.489 --> 00:57:51.150 He's a great contester. He will be a better contester 00:57:51.150 --> 00:57:56.650 one day. He sets down at my station a number 00:57:56.650 --> 00:58:00.130 of times, and he'll set down and he'll run 40 00:58:00.130 --> 00:58:03.989 words a minute on CW and won't even flinch. So 00:58:03.989 --> 00:58:08.239 they're good people, and Merry Christmas. Uh, 00:58:08.280 --> 00:58:10.539 to the rascal family and, uh, Brian, we look 00:58:10.539 --> 00:58:13.599 forward to, uh, having you seated with us and 00:58:13.599 --> 00:58:18.039 many more contests to come 73. All right. Very 00:58:18.039 --> 00:58:21.679 good. Yeah. He's, uh, he is a good one. So, uh, 00:58:21.760 --> 00:58:24.360 as we finish up here, we, we had some other things 00:58:24.360 --> 00:58:27.199 kind of planned and fortunately we had calls, 00:58:27.239 --> 00:58:30.000 so we didn't get to all of those, but, uh, quickly, 00:58:30.019 --> 00:58:32.960 I know you guys want to mention that. This isn't 00:58:32.960 --> 00:58:38.199 the only build you're working on. You're working 00:58:38.199 --> 00:58:42.599 on some other stations and reviving a station. 00:58:43.059 --> 00:58:46.579 So let's just take a minute or two here to talk 00:58:46.579 --> 00:58:51.059 about some of the other projects going on. We're 00:58:51.059 --> 00:58:55.420 currently down in Lafayette, Louisiana. Dr. Pat 00:58:55.420 --> 00:59:01.679 Sonier, who's a silent key, W5WMU. Anybody in 00:59:01.679 --> 00:59:05.179 contesting knows that call. We're rebuilding 00:59:05.179 --> 00:59:08.760 that station right now. Steve's there currently. 00:59:09.099 --> 00:59:11.760 And I'll be leaving tomorrow morning and headed 00:59:11.760 --> 00:59:15.719 down there. And so we're going to put that back 00:59:15.719 --> 00:59:20.880 on as a memorial station to our friend Pat. You 00:59:20.880 --> 00:59:24.699 know, we've got five other stations, one of which 00:59:24.699 --> 00:59:28.739 is Pat's, that, you know, we're going to put 00:59:28.739 --> 00:59:32.760 back on the air remotely. You know, Steve's station 00:59:32.760 --> 00:59:35.139 is going to be a remote mine here in Georgia. 00:59:36.460 --> 00:59:40.280 Pat's, PJ4Golf, they're on the island of Bonaire. 00:59:40.599 --> 00:59:44.199 has agreed to come on board with us as has Hotel 00:59:44.199 --> 00:59:48.179 Charlie 5DX, and then of course our new main 00:59:48.179 --> 00:59:50.840 station. And then we've got a couple other stations 00:59:50.840 --> 00:59:53.280 in Maine that's going to come on board with us 00:59:53.280 --> 00:59:56.219 here after the first of the year. So we hope 00:59:56.219 --> 00:59:58.800 to have two to three main stations kick in here 00:59:58.800 --> 01:00:02.900 in 2019. Once those are all completed, we've 01:00:02.900 --> 01:00:05.159 got two more stations going on the air remotely. 01:00:06.369 --> 01:00:08.929 From Maine, as I mentioned, and then we've got 01:00:08.929 --> 01:00:12.289 one in Kentucky and another one in Arizona. So 01:00:12.289 --> 01:00:15.650 we're not, we're not letting any dust settle 01:00:15.650 --> 01:00:20.710 here. We're moving out. Sounds like an ambitious 01:00:20.710 --> 01:00:26.090 plan and look forward to hearing how all of that 01:00:26.090 --> 01:00:30.469 goes. I think we've caught up with all the questions 01:00:30.469 --> 01:00:33.190 here tonight, so I'm gonna let you guys get out 01:00:33.190 --> 01:00:36.289 of here. We're, like I said, a little long tonight, 01:00:36.409 --> 01:00:40.030 but it's been great to have all the calls. Appreciate 01:00:40.030 --> 01:00:42.650 all the calls coming in and all the questions 01:00:42.650 --> 01:00:45.269 and some really good discussion from you guys 01:00:45.269 --> 01:00:48.429 tonight some good ideas and and maybe we can 01:00:48.429 --> 01:00:54.170 do another one on on maybe the more modest setups 01:00:54.170 --> 01:00:59.030 for the rest of us that can't join in on the 01:00:59.030 --> 01:01:03.900 on the big guns we can get the the more modest 01:01:03.900 --> 01:01:07.179 ones going and talk a little bit about those. 01:01:07.400 --> 01:01:10.239 So thanks for coming on Fred and Steve and appreciate 01:01:10.239 --> 01:01:13.659 it. And seven threes to you. Thank you very much, 01:01:13.760 --> 01:01:16.179 Neil. Seven three. We appreciate it. Thanks. 01:01:16.239 --> 01:01:18.239 Thanks. And seven threes, Neil and Merry Christmas, 01:01:18.420 --> 01:01:21.969 everybody. Alright Anna, Merry Christmas to you 01:01:21.969 --> 01:01:24.650 both and everybody out there that's listening 01:01:24.650 --> 01:01:28.110 tonight. That is a wrap for this week's edition 01:01:28.110 --> 01:01:31.710 of HamTalk Live thanks to Steve Narducci W9SN 01:01:31.710 --> 01:01:35.369 and Fred Dennon WW4LL and everyone out there 01:01:35.369 --> 01:01:38.409 in cyberspace for listening and calling in and 01:01:38.409 --> 01:01:41.369 we invite you back next Thursday night at 9 p 01:01:41.369 --> 01:01:46.150 .m. Eastern Time when Josh Ward W3ARD will be 01:01:46.150 --> 01:01:49.659 here to talk about high altitude ballooning. 01:01:50.019 --> 01:01:52.239 And for a list of all of our upcoming guests, 01:01:52.460 --> 01:01:57.349 be sure to visit HamTalk Live. And congratulations 01:01:57.349 --> 01:01:59.929 to our t -shirt winners. We'll be in touch by 01:01:59.929 --> 01:02:03.090 email and get those out to you. And thanks to 01:02:03.090 --> 01:02:07.650 Tanner, W9TWJ and the ICQ podcast group for donating 01:02:07.650 --> 01:02:11.829 those to us tonight and appreciate the opportunity 01:02:11.829 --> 01:02:16.670 to give those away. So this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG 01:02:16.670 --> 01:02:20.690 saying seven three, seven five, and may the good 01:02:20.690 --> 01:02:38.659 DX be yours. Thanks for watching!