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Hey, good evening, everyone. It's time for HamTalk
Live. It's episode number 142. The 3916 Santanet
recorded live on Thursday, November 29th, 2018.
I'm your host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. Thanks for
tuning in to this episode of HamTalk Live tonight.
We're talking about the Santanet and we'll take
your calls in just a little bit. Last week, we
were not on the air due to Thanksgiving, but
the week prior to that, Michael Colley, W4MCA,
was here to talk about the Orlando hamcation.
So if you missed that show, you can listen anytime
at HamTalkLive .com. or on your favorite podcast
app or on YouTube. And just a reminder that those
ham talk live limited edition may the grid square
be your shirts have been mailed to those that
pre -ordered and did get a few extras to bring
the cost down. So if you still want one didn't
order in advance. I have a few extras of adult
sizes, small to two X still available. So if
you want to order a shirt, go to our link on
Facebook or Twitter. And you can go to HamTalkLive
.com as well and check on the show schedule link.
There's a link to a Google form there to fill
out your information and information how to PayPal
the cost of that. And also thanks to Tanner Jones,
W9TWJ, we're going to give away a free HamTalk
Live. May the grid square be yours shirt. So
stay tuned for that and get your questions ready
to go. After we talk here for a while, we'll
open up the phone lines at 812 -NET -HAM -1.
It's 812 -638 -4261. You can also send a question
by Twitter. Our Twitter handle is at HamTalk
Live and I'll be back right after this word from
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At HamTalk Live we have a million dollar request
guarantee. You give us a million dollars and
we'll do a show about whatever ham topic you
request. Guaranteed! Thanks to Icom America for
helping bring you HamTalk Live each and every
week and some great deals on some Icom radios
out there right now so be sure to check those
out. Tonight we're talking about the Santa Net
and our guest is running a little late here so
we'll... Give him a few minutes to get in here,
but we'll be talking about the 3916 Santa net
this evening and We'll be joined by Pete Thompson
Ke5 Ggy He works in broadcasting media and marketing
every day and leads the team at McHugh Media,
an advertising and marketing firm in Dallas,
Texas. And prior to launching McHugh Media, he
worked in radio as a general manager at KWRD
and KSKY in Dallas, and as a programmer and air
personality at KDWB and WLOL Minneapolis. B -94
Pittsburgh, KAFM, and Y -95 in Dallas. And at
night, the place to find Pete is 3 .916. He's
on there from 7 to 10 p .m. Central time for
the rag -shoe crew, the tailgaters, the freewheelers.
They even have some trivia nets. Some friendly
groups that are always welcoming New Ham. So
make sure you check out their website at 3916nets
.com. It's 3916nets .com. And in the end of November
and December, they always host the Santa Net.
And Jill Combs says, Santa, stop here. We're
in West Union, Ohio. And she says she'll leave
a pizza and an ice cold beer on the coffee table.
So we've already got competition to, uh, to get
Santa over here. So we're, uh, we're waiting
on the call from, um, From Pete and we'll get
him on here and hopefully we'll get we'll get
Santa on here as well, but Things are are kind
of busy tonight. They're on the San and that
just finish it up and I Think we've got Pete
on the line right now. So good evening They're
late than ever we have we have just a couple
things happening here. Yeah Okay. Well, we're,
we're glad you're here and, uh, just, uh, read
your intro here and everything. Uh, so we'll,
uh, we'll jump right in. So, um, another year
has gone by and, um, the, the Santa nets are
back up and running and you just, uh, rushed
off of there. So, uh, tell us about, uh, the
39 16, uh, Santa net and, uh, you've been going
for a week now. Yeah, yeah, so we started the
day after Thanksgiving a Black Friday and we're
on every night at 730 p .m. through it including
Christmas Eve and Santa that actually started
in a very humble form about 13 years ago when
I had a young boy at home He must have been.
Let's see 13 years ago. He was probably eight.
Yes, and I was on 3916 talking to some friends
one night. It was a fact. It was Christmas Eve
And somebody mentioned, hey, what if you relay
in Santa for me, and I can relay in Santa for
you, and so on. And it was born that night. It
was pretty incredible. And from there, we've
grown it every year. It's been pretty fun. The
next year, we added a few more nights. I think
we did it for a week. And then after that, we
Uh, after that, we, uh, you know, we went for
a full 30 days and then we started getting net
control relays and, uh, it's been amazing. So
anyway, it's been fun. And then the reception
from the ham radio community has been tremendous.
Well, very good. You've, you've, um, had a good
run at this. And so we want to tell people how
they can talk to Santa on the net and is there
anything they need to do to get ready? And of
course, we got to remember about third party
agreements and all that kind of thing. But tell
us how people can get on the net and how they
can get some kids to talk to Santa. Yeah. Yeah.
So it's easy every night at 7 30 p .m. Central
is when we start. And you can you can do a pre
net check in by going to CQ Santa dot com CQ
Santa dot com. That's where you give your name
and and and basic information on the children.
That you want to have on the air and third -party
rules and regs supply of course glad you brought
that up so you would ID and ID is third party
and do all those things that you would normally
do with a non licensed person in your shack unless
of course the the child that you're connecting
with Santa is a ham and we have an increasing
number of those every night Seems like we have
one or two a week that come in it's pretty incredible
Yeah, there's there's more and more of those
and we need those so we're glad to to see that
happening and Glad to know that they're showing
up. That's a that's a good sign. So How how are
you Doing with the net so far how's your check
-ins been and How busy have you been here already
this year? It's been good. Of course, the day
after Thanksgiving was very busy. Tonight, I
think we had two or three check -ins, so it wasn't
very, very busy. And that's typically what happens.
We start out busy right after Thanksgiving. And
then we hit kind of a lull and it'll pick up,
you know, generally on Fridays and Saturdays
because people are off and they've got time to
get the kids in the shack. But it's been, it's
been good. We're projecting over 800 children
talking to Santa this year. So that'll be, that'll
be good. Yeah. Yeah. We're excited about that,
but our biggest challenge has been the band conditions,
as you can imagine, because they're so long.
We really have to be strategic so the young people
can connect with Santa, and really what we do
is have relays all over the country. So tonight,
I'm looking at tonight's relay check -ins, and
these are stations that are strategically positioned
throughout North America that can relay in the
voice of Santa. We had seven. So these are all
volunteers, generally from the 3916 nets that
give up their time to make sure that young people
can be connected with Santa. Without the relays,
and this is what we discovered early on, without
relays around the country to facilitate the connection
with Santa, it was tough for one or two people
to do it. So as long as we've got East Coast,
West Coast, a couple of people in the middle
of the country, There it's it's it's very doable
even on the worst of nights because somebody
can usually hear a young person trying to get
in Now it's hard to get that that grid square
JJ zero zero It's hard to get up there Yeah,
yeah, it is indeed. Although I talked to effect.
I'm looking at the QSL card right now Over the
weekend. I talked to Scott Shepherd Victor Yankee
won Charlie Oscar who is in the Yukon territory
not far from Santa and he is a actually a member
of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Wearing
the red uniform. So yeah, that was fun over the
weekend. We had a lot of fun with that In fact,
it happened right after Santa and that so seemed
very appropriate But no, we're having a lot of
fun with it. And I just want to encourage anybody
out there That is listening to the to the podcast
tonight to the webcast to think about children
in your life, whether they are neighbors or your
relatives, grandkids, nieces, nephews, the children
of people you work with, anybody that is of that
age that could be really, really entertained.
And it makes their Christmas when they come on
the air and they talk to Santa. It also is just
a big deal for the parents and the grandparents.
They get equal enjoyment of it as well. It seems
like every year we've streamlined and improved
the process of the over -the -year check -ins
or the over -the -internet check -ins. This year
we've got one portal to go through to sign up
and that's made the check -in process much easier.
CQSanta .com. We used to have a couple of different
ways including emailing me directly. So now that
that's... It's been streamlined, that's better.
We also record every Shanta Net. So after the
Net, it gets posted at CQSanta .com. And that's
nice because a lot of times families want to
have a copy of it, so you can download a copy.
It's just we upload it to YouTube and it's available
within about 10 minutes of the Net getting over.
But it's been a lot of fun. And 13 years later,
we're still cooking and having a good time. You
know, it's also a real camaraderie experience
for the 3916 nets. Got a lot of people that come
together and look forward to this. We have several
people that really don't check into the nets
much except for Christmastime. One of our net
control relays out of Michigan doesn't come on
during the summer or the fall or the spring,
but he comes in for Santa Net and is a big part
of what we do. It is fun. I would direct anybody
who is interested to check out our website for
3916 Nets. That's 3916 NETS .com. We have a Facebook
page and that's easy to find. Just go to Facebook
.com and search 3916. And we are also on NetLogger.
So NetLogger is open every night for the for
the early nets on 3916. And I don't know if you've
talked on the air about our nets every night,
but we've got a seven o 'clock net called the
Rag Shoe Crew. And then 830 is the tailgaters.
Nine o 'clock, we do trivia. And then at 10 o
'clock, and these are all central times, 10 o
'clock, it's the free wheelers net. Yeah, I just
briefly mentioned those, but that was actually
what I wanted to... to talk about a little bit
or the nets and mention that you know you guys
are always welcoming new hams into those and
having a good time on there and I know I think
it was a year or two ago we talked for amateur
radio newsline about the tailgaters net and some
of the nets and the trivia net and some of those
things and you guys have a pretty good time on
there so and I know Eric in nine KDB was telling
me to be sure to say hello and we're always out
playing. Oh, yeah, so we have to get in. He's
a regular. He's a regular. Yeah. Yeah. It's been
really, really a trivia has been a real, real
interesting experience. We, uh, we do it seven
nights a week at nine o 'clock central, and it
is a lot of fun. Um, usually two of us presented.
I'll, I'll do the first half and then uh... station
out of weatherford k f i b s p mike does the
second half but uh... it's been a lot of fun
we've we found a lot of people uh... come to
the net because of trivia we've also um... we've
also uh... seen that there's been a lot of uh...
a lot of activity uh... you don't come into the
neck as a network i don't know if you guys use
that for any of the next you do but networkers
men a lot of fun we get a lot of foot traffic
new people on because of that Yeah, that's a
great tool. In fact, we did an episode on that.
So if you're interested in how to get going on
that, you can look up that episode. But NetLogger's
a great way to share what's going on while the
net's happening. So that's always a good thing
to have there. Pete, I'm jumping around here
on the script a little bit because I don't want
to do this next thing until I... talk to you
during the break here, but I was wondering maybe
what the most entertaining contact you've heard
on the Santa net. I'm sure you get some that
are interesting. Yeah, yeah. You know, right
off the top of my head, you know, we've had kids
with a straight face ask for a new car. and those
were the you know the the kids maybe fourteen
fifteen things like that uh... one young boy
asked for fifty caliber uh... rifle uh... fairly
fairly large caliber for young boy but uh...
let's put it this way i wasn't my first gun but
uh... you know we and then you know we do i'll
tell you what we do get that we have to be careful
of the usual get the uh... the request for uh...
you know an exotic animal or uh... i want a uh...
you know i want a uh... a ferret or a macaw you
know a parrot and uh... we have to be careful
not to uh... you know santa has to be careful
not to promise uh... the uh... you know these
kind of gifts so uh... we we usually uh... santa's
very diplomatic insane law You know, I can make
sure that we have to talk to your parents about
that one, something like that. But, you know,
generally it's just great. And I tell you, the
highlight for me has been the number of young
people that get in, and as a result of Santa
Nat, you know, as a result of an HF contact and
seeing firsthand how the magic of Ham Radio works,
they get their license. So it has been, you know,
that part has been tremendous. And I would...
estimate that through the years we've you know,
we've probably Well, I bet 10 or 15 maybe children
young people have gotten their tickets I talked
to a gal in Florida who got her extra ticket
as a result of you know, she didn't get started
out at extra but I think she tested all the way
up over two or three years and She checked in
with us maybe three years ago for the first time
on Santa net. So that has been a big part of
our I'd have to say our motivation in doing it
because it's adding to the ranks of amateur radio
operators. Wow, that's a great way to do that
for the right people. Anytime you can generate
interest at whether it's, you know, getting them
licensed or just making them aware of it even
is always helpful. And I know we've had a couple
of guests that come on the show and say, well,
you know, maybe they don't get a license, but
maybe they're the president of the homeowners
association in a few years and they need to know
what it is. Yeah, well, that's a good point.
I hadn't even thought of that. Yeah, it's just
good for ham radio to do that. Like just like
field day, you know field day is great for ham
radio. Yeah, sure is. All right. Well, we're
going to take a break and I'm going to check
here with Pete on a couple of things and we'll
come back and we'll take your calls and we're
also going to give away one of those shirts tonight.
So we'll do that when we come back after this
word from Tower Electronics right here on HamTalk
Live. I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm having
an antenna party and I ran out of PL -259s. Oh,
come in. Thank you. Would silver -plated PL -259s
from Tower Electronics be too good for your guests?
Those will be fine, thank you. You saved my life
the other night. Oh, the PL -259s from Tower
Electronics? Yes, they were very successful at
the antenna party. My antenna works like a charm.
Then how can you ever thank me? I'll try to think
of something. Don't be caught without PL259's.
Visit Tower Electronics at a ham fest near you.
Or visit them online anytime at PL -259 .com
or call 920 -435 -2973. They have adapters, cables,
antennas, soldering supplies, and meters too.
Join the conversation. Give us a call at 812
-NET -HAM -1. That's 812 -638 -4261. Now, here's
more HamTalk Live. A flashlight is a case for
holding dead batteries. Now, here's Neil Rapp
with more HamTalk Live. We're back here on HamTalk
Live. Thanks to Tower Electronics for helping
to bring you HamTalk Live. They're in Ocala,
Florida this weekend. That's Friday, Saturday
at the Ocala Ham Fest. And then they'll be at
Plant City, Florida just outside of Tampa on
December 7th and 8th. And you can always find
them at PL -259. HamTalkLive's on the air every
Thursday night, 9 p .m. Eastern Time at HamTalkLive
.com. Make sure you check us out too on Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram. And we're gonna take
your calls here in just a minute. So let me give
you that phone number. It's 812 -NET. ham one
that's eight one two six three eight four two
six one and uh... you can also tweet us or at
ham talk live on twitter and uh... tonight we're
going to give away one of those limited edition
Red Square shirts just for calling or tweeting
in tonight. So Tanner Jones W9TWJ donated that
shirt to give away. So we'll do that tonight
as well. So tweet us, call us. We'd love to hear
from you and ask a little bit about the Santa
Net. and fortunately tonight we've been able
to work out a link up there to JJ00 to the North
Pole and Santa is also joining us tonight so
good evening Santa and how are things up at the
North Pole? Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas everybody!
I tell you it's cold up here. It's cold but you
know what warms my heart? is when I get to talk
to good little boys and girls on the radio. We
just got off of 3916 and the boys and girls have
been very good this year and we're getting ready
to have a very Merry Christmas. Well, Santa,
I gotta ask, uh, am I going to get any nice ham
equipment this year? Oh, let me look at the list.
Um, you know, I, I, there must be a mistake.
I don't see your name on the good boy list. Oh,
no. Uh -oh. And you know who else isn't on there?
Don Wilbanks! Don Wilbanks is on the list? He's
on the bad boy list. Oh, he's on the bad boy
list. Okay, well, alright. No gift for him. Oh,
oh my goodness. Well, I think he was hoping the
Saints would win tonight, but I don't know if
that'll happen. That's why he's a bad boy. Well,
how about some good propagation? Can we get that?
Well, I tell you, that's the biggest challenge
we have at the North Pole. But thanks to the
guys on 3916, they have stations all over the
place. So we're able to talk to the good boys
and girls every night. But it's a great time
up here. And you know what? It's been so nice
to put me on the air. I think I'm going to bring
you a present just for you. What would you like?
What would be at the top of your list? Oh, I
think the The IC -7610 would be a real nice gift.
Oh, that's one of my favorite radios. I mean,
I use a 7300, but one of these days I'm hoping
Mrs. Claus gets me a 7610. Yeah, that would be
really nice. Those are both really nice radios.
And so that would be great if you could get one
and get me one too. No. Well, I better go because
Santa's a busy man this time of year. And I'm,
I have to admit I'm watching the Cowboys and
the, and the, uh, what's had other team from
New Orleans or something like that. Cowboys bands
up here at the North pole. Go Cowboys. All right,
Santa. Thank you so much for joining us tonight
and, uh, have a great. Merry Christmas and, uh,
and a happy new year and thanks for talking to
all the kids on the 39 16. I think he's been
hitting the eggnog a bit. I mean, from the sounds,
but I think he's doing something there. I'm not
sure what's going on. Maybe you need to cut Santa
off. Maybe a little too much caffeine. Something
is going, something is going on out there. I
do, I do appreciate his, uh, his support of the
Dallas Cowboys and that is appreciated. Well,
give us a call here if you're listening at 812
-NET -HAM -1. That's 812 -638 -4261 if you have
a question or comment about the Santanet. And
we'll check over here on Twitter as well. And
I see KG5GJT wants to thank Tanner. for donating
the shirt and he's been giving out a bunch of
grids and now giving out some shirts, so he may
end up ham of the year. Okay, we've got a call,
I think. Nope, it says missed call. Okay, so.
Yeah, hey guys, I'm on HamTalk Live right now.
I think you can tune in on the internet. We're
doing a live interview with HamTalk Live, so
if any of you guys are around a computer, check
it out. What's the website for HamTalk Live?
HamTalkLive .com. HamTalkLive .com. We've just
been doing a little discussion about Santa Net.
And Ben, if you don't mind, I'm going to throw
it back to you to kick off the tailgaters. I'll
be back in for trivia. But we just found out
that Santa is a Dallas Cowboys fan. He's rooting
for the Cowboys in this big game tonight, which...
I take it it's very good news. He mentioned that
they're his favorite team of all time. So, hey
Ben, back to you. KE5GGUI. There you go. Live
on 3916 at the same time. That's right. I can't
neglect my duties there on 3916. In fact, I had
missed the 825 break. We have a good time there.
Nah, we're good. You know, the Cowboys are looking
pretty strong here. I have to say that... That
they are making some things happen. Oh Well,
some people are gonna be happy about that Some
people won't mainly here in Texas. Yeah Well
Carl kd9hqt wants to know what he's getting for
Christmas, but Santa broke the connection to
ham talk live so I think Santa was getting, I
think Santa was getting a little creeped out
by old, old guys asking for presents. I think
that, I think that, I think that's the main thing
that there was causing the early disconnection.
Well, the phone number again, one, two, six,
three, four, two, six one. Go ahead. Yeah. That's
the other thing that happens occasionally is
people that, you know, really should let the
kids talk, get in and, you know, like a 50 year
old. dude asking for for christmas presents you
know come on give us a break now now i'm not
sure if i want to know what they're asking for
oh yeah anyway you know that's the the magic
that's the good and bad of 80 meters is that
it's it's a freewheeling band that's the good
news the bad news it's a freewheeling band so
anyway we we we make it we make it work most
of the time All right. Well, we tried well, we're
just got somebody playing with us apparently
So yeah, that's uh, that's that's live radio
at its best So Yeah, you you get a lot of You
get a lot of characters up on 75. Oh Yeah, it's
great though. I wouldn't trade it and and I don't
know I it seems like we we get Generally good
good traffic, you know, there's seasons we go
through there's yeah, there's some there's some
people on on all the bands that you know, probably
shouldn't be We are our motto on 3916 is don't
feed the monkeys So, you know when when when
they come out don't feed them because yeah, that's
that's that's what they want They want to be
acknowledged and if you don't they eventually
go away I've got to get ready for some trivia
here guys you know at nine o 'clock tonight I
got to be somewhat coherent so let me wish you
the merriest of Christmases and I appreciate
the you know the promo here for for the Santa
net and just a reminder 730 every every night
through Christmas Eve at Central Time 730 p .m.
Central 3916 And on the 75 meter band and the
website to connect with us and get your pre -net
check -in is CQSanta .com. CQSanta .com. Okay,
so that's how to get in there on the net. Hope
you can do that. And I think we're going to hold
the t -shirt giveaway for next week here. So
we're going to go ahead and sign off. a little
early tonight and get going. But thanks to Pete
Thompson, KE5GGY for being my guest this evening.
And that is a wrap for this week's edition of
HamTalk Live. Thanks to everybody out there in
cyberspace for listening. and for chatting tonight
and we'll invite you all back next Thursday night
9 p .m. Eastern Time when Keith Baker KB1SF will
be here to talk about some history of AMSAT.
It's AMSAT Through the Years and for a listing
of All of our upcoming guests is visit HamTalkLive
.com. And if you like HamTalk Live, please consider
leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you
listen. It helps others find us faster. So for
now, this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, saying seven
three, seven five, and may the good DX be yours.
Thanks for watching!