WEBVTT 00:00:09.889 --> 00:00:12.710 Thanks for tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on 00:00:12.710 --> 00:00:30.649 the air shortly. Please stand by. Thanks for 00:00:30.649 --> 00:00:33.390 tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on the air shortly. 00:00:33.689 --> 00:00:43.439 Please stand by. This episode of HamTalk Live 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:47.179 is brought to you by Tower Electronics. For connectors, 00:00:47.579 --> 00:00:50.539 cables, and more, visit them at a hamfest near 00:00:50.539 --> 00:00:58.859 you or call 920 -435 -2973 or online at pl -259 00:00:58.859 --> 00:01:33.920 .com. Good evening, everyone. It's time once 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:36.780 again for ham talk live. It's episode number 00:01:36.780 --> 00:01:43.159 120 field a Q &A 2018 recorded live on Thursday, 00:01:43.180 --> 00:01:49.620 June 21st 2018 I'm your host Neil rap WB 9 VPG. 00:01:49.620 --> 00:01:53.280 Thanks for tuning in to this episode of ham talk 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:58.230 live Tonight we're joined by Bart Jahnke W9JJ 00:01:58.230 --> 00:02:02.829 and David Isker N1RSN and we'll take your calls 00:02:02.829 --> 00:02:07.370 live in just a few minutes. Last week Dr Ralph 00:02:07.370 --> 00:02:10.770 Fedor K0IR was here to talk about the adventures 00:02:10.770 --> 00:02:14.669 to Bouvet Island. attempting to complete yet 00:02:14.669 --> 00:02:17.430 another DXpedition. If you missed that show, 00:02:17.569 --> 00:02:19.810 you can listen anytime. Just go to HamTalkLive 00:02:19.810 --> 00:02:22.969 .com and you can listen to any episode there 00:02:22.969 --> 00:02:26.229 or you can catch our podcast edition over on 00:02:26.229 --> 00:02:29.210 Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, I Heart Podcasts, Google 00:02:29.210 --> 00:02:32.590 Play, TuneIn, SoundCloud, or your favorite app. 00:02:33.110 --> 00:02:36.610 And we're also on YouTube. So get your field 00:02:36.610 --> 00:02:39.250 day questions ready to go. After the interview, 00:02:39.250 --> 00:02:42.129 you'll have a chance to call in or tweet in. 00:02:42.460 --> 00:02:45.199 If you call us, I'll give you the telephone number. 00:02:45.219 --> 00:02:48.039 It's not time to call just yet, but that phone 00:02:48.039 --> 00:02:56.979 number is 812 -NET -HAM -1, 812 -638 -4261, or 00:02:56.979 --> 00:03:00.639 you can Skype us, or Skype name is HamTalk Live, 00:03:01.159 --> 00:03:05.469 and you can tweet us. at HamTalk Live on Twitter. 00:03:06.090 --> 00:03:08.569 And we want to hear from you tonight. We want 00:03:08.569 --> 00:03:11.810 to take all of your last minute questions and 00:03:11.810 --> 00:03:14.530 we want to open up quite a bit of time for the 00:03:14.530 --> 00:03:16.810 calls and the tweets tonight. But we have plenty 00:03:16.810 --> 00:03:19.710 to talk about. So I'll be back with Bart and 00:03:19.710 --> 00:03:22.349 David right after this word from Tower Electronics 00:03:22.349 --> 00:03:26.969 here on HamTalk Live. Hey, honey, have you seen 00:03:26.969 --> 00:03:31.819 the PL 259s anywhere? No, I haven't. Come on 00:03:31.819 --> 00:03:37.180 kids, let's go! There's just one place to go 00:03:37.180 --> 00:03:43.860 for all of your connector needs. A giant warehouse 00:03:43.860 --> 00:03:46.780 of connectors and adapters for every occasion. 00:03:47.219 --> 00:03:49.460 Thousands to choose from in every shape, size, 00:03:49.580 --> 00:03:51.939 and color. And they have antennas, soldering 00:03:51.939 --> 00:03:55.319 supplies, cables, meters, and more. Where do 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:57.479 you go if you want to buy a connector at a fraction 00:03:57.479 --> 00:04:04.580 of retail cost? And this weekend only, take advantage 00:04:04.580 --> 00:04:07.680 of our Special liquidation sale. Buy nine solder 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:11.060 -type PL -259s. Get the tenth one for just one 00:04:11.060 --> 00:04:18.939 penny. They make great Christmas presents. And 00:04:18.939 --> 00:04:21.439 what better way to say I love you than with the 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:26.319 gift of a PL -259. Tower Electronics. Tower Electronics. 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:30.839 Tower Electronics. Hi, I'm Scott Cole, KB9 AMM, 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:33.899 president of Tower Electronics. I like the company 00:04:33.899 --> 00:04:36.399 so much that I bought it. Tower Electronics, 00:04:36.699 --> 00:04:39.600 coming to a hand fest near you, or online at 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:43.800 PL -259 .com. And we're in the yellow pages under 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:47.160 amateur radio connectors. My, wherever did you 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:51.060 get that lovely PL -259? Tower Electronics, PL 00:04:51.060 --> 00:04:57.949 -259 .com. or call 920 -435 -2973. Do we sell 00:04:57.949 --> 00:05:02.230 PL259 connectors? Who is the most dangerous person 00:05:02.230 --> 00:05:05.449 in the world? A ham with some wire, a potato 00:05:05.449 --> 00:05:09.290 gun, and an idea. Now, here's Neil Rapp with 00:05:09.290 --> 00:05:22.709 more Ham Talk Live. Tower Electronics will be 00:05:22.709 --> 00:05:25.870 in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, South Milwaukee on July 00:05:25.870 --> 00:05:29.670 7th. August 5th will be in Berryville, Virginia. 00:05:30.149 --> 00:05:36.290 Or go to their website PL -259 .com. Well tonight 00:05:36.290 --> 00:05:40.290 we're joined by Bart Yonkey, W9JJ. He is the 00:05:40.290 --> 00:05:43.990 ARRL contest branch manager. He's served in that 00:05:43.990 --> 00:05:48.329 role since January 2016, but he's no stranger 00:05:48.329 --> 00:05:52.139 to ARRL headquarters. Bart started working at 00:05:52.139 --> 00:05:56.420 ARRL in 1985 as the editor of the ARRL repeater 00:05:56.420 --> 00:06:02.019 directory and from 1989 till 2005 he was the 00:06:02.019 --> 00:06:06.279 volunteer exam coordinator manager at ARRL. He 00:06:06.279 --> 00:06:08.439 spent 10 years working in the customer service 00:06:08.439 --> 00:06:10.920 manufacturing sales and support and information 00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:14.459 technology fields in the Midwest and on the East 00:06:14.459 --> 00:06:19.160 Coast after that and now he's back with the league. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:24.439 David Isker, N1RSN, is a newcomer to ARRL, an 00:06:24.439 --> 00:06:27.139 amateur radio. He became the communications manager 00:06:27.139 --> 00:06:31.279 at ARRL in October and was just licensed in April. 00:06:32.019 --> 00:06:34.860 David has an extensive background in media relations 00:06:34.860 --> 00:06:37.899 including 20 years at the University of Hartford 00:06:37.899 --> 00:06:40.939 as the director of media relations and spent 00:06:40.939 --> 00:06:44.000 four years as the editor of the Hartford Business 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:48.819 Journal. He also spent two years As the Hartford 00:06:48.819 --> 00:06:51.879 bureau chief for Thompson Reuters news service 00:06:51.879 --> 00:06:55.540 so Bart David welcome to the show. Thanks for 00:06:55.540 --> 00:07:02.660 joining us tonight Well, we've been been talking 00:07:02.660 --> 00:07:06.439 here about what to talk about and and again we 00:07:06.439 --> 00:07:09.720 want to get as many questions in as we can because 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:13.120 You don't always have the luxury of being able 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:20.000 to ask the source of you know. Hey what's the 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:24.199 ruling on this what's the clarification on this 00:07:24.199 --> 00:07:27.699 and if you if you do that a lot of times you 00:07:27.699 --> 00:07:31.439 know you gotta do that well in advance so tonight's 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:35.350 kind of the one of the. One of the last opportunities 00:07:35.350 --> 00:07:38.370 you're going to have to ask those questions So 00:07:38.370 --> 00:07:41.110 we want to make sure that we give plenty of time 00:07:41.110 --> 00:07:43.730 for that But we're going to get a few of the 00:07:43.730 --> 00:07:47.069 must -do things out of the way here first and 00:07:47.069 --> 00:07:52.189 and Bart We're looking at rule changes for everybody 00:07:52.189 --> 00:07:55.990 who's done this for years and and you know did 00:07:55.990 --> 00:08:00.060 all the rules last year Just a few minor tweaks 00:08:00.060 --> 00:08:03.980 again. Just kind of like last year Let's go over 00:08:03.980 --> 00:08:06.519 just what the little tweaks were to the rules, 00:08:06.519 --> 00:08:10.800 but pretty much. It's the same thing It sure 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:17.319 is Neil and in a nutshell we approached it Annually 00:08:17.319 --> 00:08:21.160 as we do first based on the aero board of directors 00:08:21.160 --> 00:08:25.199 reviewing Field day as an activity and determining 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:31.649 what new or different activities or modifications 00:08:31.649 --> 00:08:34.629 to the rules are required during this last review 00:08:34.629 --> 00:08:37.850 period. They did not have any. So as we approached 00:08:37.850 --> 00:08:40.070 the new year, we went in, we changed the dates, 00:08:40.070 --> 00:08:44.190 of course, and made some slight tweaks to the 00:08:44.190 --> 00:08:48.330 safety officer checklist just to help people 00:08:48.330 --> 00:08:51.590 who felt that it was a little confusing in some 00:08:51.590 --> 00:08:54.509 areas. Basically, we just wanted to make it clear 00:08:54.509 --> 00:08:58.700 for their use. that we're looking for them to, 00:08:59.779 --> 00:09:04.360 in a nutshell, attempt to meet all of the criteria, 00:09:04.519 --> 00:09:07.240 but we're not expecting them to be able to. We 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:10.799 just want them to take their best shot at having 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:12.980 a safe operation and answering the questions 00:09:12.980 --> 00:09:20.779 on the checklist. And anything else? That's it 00:09:20.779 --> 00:09:24.139 for this field day. Of course a number of questions 00:09:24.139 --> 00:09:28.519 have come up about how things can be incorporated, 00:09:28.779 --> 00:09:30.759 especially from the digital mode standpoint. 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:33.580 And we may address that here separately under 00:09:33.580 --> 00:09:35.019 questions. So I don't know if you wanted me to 00:09:35.019 --> 00:09:37.779 go there quite yet. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we'll hang 00:09:37.779 --> 00:09:40.120 on to that, but yeah, FT eight, I know it was 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:41.700 going to be something. And when we'll be sure 00:09:41.700 --> 00:09:47.159 to, to talk about that, um, David, um, you know, 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:50.139 field day is one of our biggest on air events. 00:09:50.539 --> 00:09:54.799 And, uh, it's not just an on air event. It's 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:58.500 a public outreach. It's one of the times that 00:09:58.500 --> 00:10:03.639 we get to kind of show people what hams do. So 00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:07.259 what advice do you have for groups that are participating 00:10:07.259 --> 00:10:11.460 to let people know what we're doing and invite 00:10:11.460 --> 00:10:17.039 them out to the field day sites? Well, Neil, 00:10:17.259 --> 00:10:21.580 as we talk, you know, literally 48 hours, I guess, 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:28.220 from or so from field day. A lot of the work 00:10:28.220 --> 00:10:32.279 should have been done already by groups to reach 00:10:32.279 --> 00:10:35.240 out to members of the media, the traditional 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:39.620 media, newspapers, radio, TV stations to let 00:10:39.620 --> 00:10:43.860 them know where you are, what you're doing, what 00:10:43.860 --> 00:10:47.779 you have planned. Hopefully folks have been making 00:10:47.779 --> 00:10:52.019 that contact. We've been sending out information 00:10:52.019 --> 00:10:58.740 to the PIOs throughout amateur radio to try to 00:10:58.740 --> 00:11:02.559 make them aware and give them tips and tools 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:06.000 to do. But a lot of it comes down to now what 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:09.740 you can continue to do on social media. Um, to 00:11:09.740 --> 00:11:14.080 be sending out, um, and posting information on 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:17.580 Facebook, on Twitter, um, to make people aware 00:11:17.580 --> 00:11:20.860 in the, in the general community. Um, all of 00:11:20.860 --> 00:11:22.980 the, all of the people that are following you 00:11:22.980 --> 00:11:25.879 or that might be looking in, uh, in your feeds. 00:11:25.899 --> 00:11:27.740 And there are still some reporters that are on 00:11:27.740 --> 00:11:30.840 social media as well. So it's a good, uh, good 00:11:30.840 --> 00:11:35.480 way to, to do a last check with them, but, um, 00:11:35.480 --> 00:11:37.340 we encourage people, there's still time to sign 00:11:37.340 --> 00:11:40.960 up and join. the, uh, the face, the field day 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:44.220 Facebook group that we've set up. Um, we're, 00:11:44.500 --> 00:11:47.399 we're adding people to that every day. So we, 00:11:47.500 --> 00:11:49.480 we encourage groups to make sure that they're 00:11:49.480 --> 00:11:52.299 signing up to that so that they can, uh, share 00:11:52.299 --> 00:11:54.559 what they're doing and see what everybody else 00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:57.299 is doing. It's a great, uh, a great community 00:11:57.299 --> 00:12:00.080 gathering point for, uh, for people to be aware 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:04.559 of. And we want to make sure to mention the hashtag 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:08.720 because it always seems like there's. you know, 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:11.440 a dozen different hashtags going around. So make 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:14.580 sure you, you mentioned the hashtag. Yeah, we 00:12:14.580 --> 00:12:18.620 we've set up an official hashtag, which is hashtag 00:12:18.620 --> 00:12:24.759 ARRLFD. So if you put that on, if folks put that 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:27.799 on their posts, number one, we'll be able to, 00:12:27.799 --> 00:12:31.139 to collect that. And then we can share that out 00:12:31.139 --> 00:12:36.970 over the, the broader ARRL Facebook feeds. And 00:12:36.970 --> 00:12:42.070 that way, they can see what other people are 00:12:42.070 --> 00:12:43.649 doing. We're going to be trying to share as much 00:12:43.649 --> 00:12:47.210 as they can. So it creates more of a community. 00:12:47.450 --> 00:12:51.230 But yes, use that hashtag, because we want to 00:12:51.230 --> 00:12:54.289 share as much as we can over our network. And 00:12:54.289 --> 00:12:57.830 when you put that hashtag on, it allows us to 00:12:57.830 --> 00:13:00.950 grab that information and put it out on our feeds 00:13:00.950 --> 00:13:07.139 as well. So hashtag ARRLFD. Okay, very good. 00:13:07.500 --> 00:13:11.500 Now, you know, this happens a lot and this is 00:13:11.500 --> 00:13:15.360 something that Bart mentioned. You know, sometimes 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:17.860 media outlets don't pay any attention to what 00:13:17.860 --> 00:13:21.039 you send them and then you don't get anybody 00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:25.480 to cover the activity. David, should they just 00:13:25.480 --> 00:13:28.240 give up and not bother next year? What's the 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:32.480 strategy on that? Oh, absolutely not. And in 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:35.649 fact, actually, I would suggest that even for 00:13:35.649 --> 00:13:38.970 a TV station or the newspaper, you could still 00:13:38.970 --> 00:13:42.190 call them tomorrow and ask them if they're sending 00:13:42.190 --> 00:13:47.750 anybody. But in future years, if they don't come 00:13:47.750 --> 00:13:51.350 this year, it may not be anything that you did. 00:13:51.409 --> 00:13:55.490 It may be that there was just so many other events 00:13:55.490 --> 00:13:59.649 going on or other conflicts that they had that 00:13:59.649 --> 00:14:04.460 they could not get there. So don't give up. Try 00:14:04.460 --> 00:14:08.139 it again next year and also take a look at what 00:14:08.139 --> 00:14:11.940 you sent them. Maybe there's a way to punch it 00:14:11.940 --> 00:14:16.779 up to, um, for TV stations, especially give them 00:14:16.779 --> 00:14:19.840 more of a sense of what the visuals are going 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:22.740 to be. Talk about the rigs that you're setting 00:14:22.740 --> 00:14:26.440 up, what kind of antennas, where your group is, 00:14:26.620 --> 00:14:30.580 everything that you're doing. Um, and, and keep 00:14:30.580 --> 00:14:33.850 in mind. Again, like I said, TV requires good 00:14:33.850 --> 00:14:37.529 visuals. So try to make sure that you offer them 00:14:37.529 --> 00:14:39.809 the visuals and maybe you'll have better luck 00:14:39.809 --> 00:14:42.850 next year. But I think the thing is to keep trying. 00:14:43.830 --> 00:14:48.870 And I would also say it's important to, we obviously 00:14:48.870 --> 00:14:53.049 use field day as a way to really get attention. 00:14:53.409 --> 00:14:56.210 But there are things that you can do throughout 00:14:56.210 --> 00:15:00.070 the year to develop relationships with reporters, 00:15:00.460 --> 00:15:04.679 Um, and assignment editors at, um, at newspapers 00:15:04.679 --> 00:15:07.120 and TV stations throughout the year. So that 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:11.059 when they, you send them your field day stuff 00:15:11.059 --> 00:15:13.500 and you follow up with a phone call to them, 00:15:13.500 --> 00:15:15.919 they're much more receptive to it because they 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:18.220 know who you are. They are, they already have 00:15:18.220 --> 00:15:21.580 a relationship with you. So I would, um, I would 00:15:21.580 --> 00:15:24.840 recommend doing that as well. And I like what 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:26.960 you said about, you know, don't give up because 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:29.580 you know, they may have had so many other things 00:15:29.580 --> 00:15:33.120 to. to cover that day that, you know, it's not 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:37.159 there. If you haven't worked in broadcast media 00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:41.700 and journalism, you may not know that there are 00:15:41.700 --> 00:15:46.299 these things called slow news days. And so I 00:15:46.299 --> 00:15:49.820 was in Cincinnati a few days ago and was watching 00:15:49.820 --> 00:15:54.620 the TV station and one of the top stories was 00:15:54.620 --> 00:15:59.429 that This diner chain called frishes is switching 00:15:59.429 --> 00:16:04.889 from Pepsi back to Coke again Now now for people 00:16:04.889 --> 00:16:08.309 in Cincinnati that may be a big deal, but still 00:16:08.309 --> 00:16:10.950 I didn't think that was quite the top headline 00:16:10.950 --> 00:16:14.809 that's what you call a slow News day and you're 00:16:14.809 --> 00:16:18.190 more likely to get on on those slower news days 00:16:18.190 --> 00:16:20.570 when sometimes, you know Everything's happening 00:16:20.570 --> 00:16:24.070 at once and and so it may just be it just wasn't 00:16:24.070 --> 00:16:27.860 the year for you That's absolutely true. I mean, 00:16:27.879 --> 00:16:31.379 you know what we find with especially with TV 00:16:31.379 --> 00:16:35.679 stations They tend they tend to be a little have 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:40.399 a fewer personnel on working on on the weekends 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:44.039 and So that you know, there's only a limited 00:16:44.039 --> 00:16:47.440 number of things that they can cover So if something 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:50.220 big happens if a tractor trailer truck rolls 00:16:50.220 --> 00:16:53.779 over on on the interstate or there's a major 00:16:53.779 --> 00:16:57.809 fire you know, no matter how good your event 00:16:57.809 --> 00:17:00.669 is going to be, it's going to be nearly impossible 00:17:00.669 --> 00:17:03.649 to get them because all the TV crews are going 00:17:03.649 --> 00:17:06.390 to the fire or going to the, you know, to see 00:17:06.390 --> 00:17:09.869 the highway shut down or whatever it is. So again, 00:17:10.009 --> 00:17:13.410 it may not be you. It may just be that there 00:17:13.410 --> 00:17:15.650 was so much going on that day that they couldn't 00:17:15.650 --> 00:17:19.309 get there. So, you know, it doesn't hurt to do 00:17:19.309 --> 00:17:21.490 some, you know, like I said, self -reflection, 00:17:21.670 --> 00:17:24.460 take a look at the materials you sent and see 00:17:24.460 --> 00:17:27.240 if there's ways that you can spice them up for 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:31.259 next year. But also after field day, you can 00:17:31.259 --> 00:17:34.079 start contacting those people again and maybe 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:36.980 during the summer you have other activities going 00:17:36.980 --> 00:17:40.220 on. You can start developing relationships with 00:17:40.220 --> 00:17:44.420 them so that when field day comes around in 2019, 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:47.279 they know you and they'll take your call and 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:49.460 they'll know that you're going to provide them 00:17:49.460 --> 00:17:53.549 something worthwhile. So, um, so, you know, relationship 00:17:53.549 --> 00:17:56.230 building goes on year round and that, you know, 00:17:56.470 --> 00:17:59.549 you can certainly start that the day after field 00:17:59.549 --> 00:18:03.769 day is over. All right. All good information 00:18:03.769 --> 00:18:07.190 there. And, uh, David or Barty, either one of 00:18:07.190 --> 00:18:09.869 you, uh, let's talk about the, uh, field day 00:18:09.869 --> 00:18:12.970 locator here for a minute. That's a, an important 00:18:12.970 --> 00:18:20.259 tool to find a field day location near you. I 00:18:20.259 --> 00:18:22.859 guess I'll grab that one quick. Field Day Locator. 00:18:23.480 --> 00:18:26.259 So we have this great Google Maps tool called 00:18:26.259 --> 00:18:28.039 the Field Day Locator. And you can find that 00:18:28.039 --> 00:18:34.160 off the ARL's website under the Field Day link. 00:18:34.819 --> 00:18:36.539 And when you scroll down on your page, you'll 00:18:36.539 --> 00:18:38.440 see Field Day Locator. Click on it, and you'll 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:41.519 come up with a great interactive Google Map tool, 00:18:41.980 --> 00:18:45.500 which will then allow you to, if you're the media 00:18:45.500 --> 00:18:48.240 and you're looking to find out where there are 00:18:48.299 --> 00:18:51.500 field day locations in your area. You can type 00:18:51.500 --> 00:18:53.920 in a city and state or if you know a little more 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:56.839 about the group, you can also even type in a 00:18:56.839 --> 00:19:00.079 call sign and find out information about that 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:03.819 particular group. You'll see red pins on the 00:19:03.819 --> 00:19:06.779 map and choose one that's in your area or choose 00:19:06.779 --> 00:19:09.359 several. When you click on it, it will blow up 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:12.779 and expand with contact information about the 00:19:12.779 --> 00:19:15.859 group that's putting on a field day near you. 00:19:16.029 --> 00:19:20.670 with the name of their group, the contact person's 00:19:20.670 --> 00:19:23.470 name and telephone number, address information, 00:19:23.750 --> 00:19:26.490 etc. to help you find one of those locations 00:19:26.490 --> 00:19:31.029 or multiple ones. And again, we certainly can't 00:19:31.029 --> 00:19:33.650 put in enough plugs here to entice the media. 00:19:34.309 --> 00:19:37.289 Here's your chance to visit multiple sites that 00:19:37.289 --> 00:19:40.589 might be in your coverage area. Okay, very good. 00:19:40.890 --> 00:19:44.329 And one last thing here before we go and take 00:19:44.329 --> 00:19:47.210 a break and look for some calls and some tweets 00:19:47.210 --> 00:19:50.410 from all of our listeners. Theme for this year, 00:19:50.589 --> 00:19:55.029 you want to say something about that? So as people 00:19:55.029 --> 00:19:57.769 have seen, certainly from the ham radio community, 00:19:58.970 --> 00:20:02.069 each year we have our Field Day logo. A couple 00:20:02.069 --> 00:20:06.920 of years ago the logo was associated with the 00:20:06.920 --> 00:20:09.160 National Parks on the Air activity, the brown 00:20:09.160 --> 00:20:11.759 logo with the boot symbol, which is typically 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:15.359 a hiking symbol. This year, because we have an 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:18.180 association with our International Grid Chase 00:20:18.180 --> 00:20:22.000 for 2018, we have the Grid Chase logo showing 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:26.240 a checkered, if you will, moving pattern of grids 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:30.579 with a focus of field day. We can talk more about 00:20:30.579 --> 00:20:33.490 the Grid Chase later, but In conjunction with 00:20:33.490 --> 00:20:36.049 this year's field day, we're also promoting the 00:20:36.049 --> 00:20:38.950 year -long activity of making contacts with as 00:20:38.950 --> 00:20:42.410 many different one -degree latitude by two -degree 00:20:42.410 --> 00:20:46.619 longitude grid squares worldwide. All right, 00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:49.000 very good. Well, we're going to take a break, 00:20:49.059 --> 00:20:52.200 but we're going to come back and take your calls 00:20:52.200 --> 00:20:56.019 and your tweets and Skype calls right after this 00:20:56.019 --> 00:20:58.599 word from the National Voice of America Museum 00:20:58.599 --> 00:21:02.480 of Broadcasting right here on HamTalk Live. The 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:05.039 National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting 00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:08.779 located in Westchester, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati 00:21:08.779 --> 00:21:13.259 is only two minutes off I -75. The museum is 00:21:13.259 --> 00:21:15.880 the former home of the Voice of America Bethany 00:21:15.880 --> 00:21:19.259 Relay Station. Tours are now available every 00:21:19.259 --> 00:21:21.900 Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p .m. Eastern 00:21:21.900 --> 00:21:25.960 time. You can see the control room, a 200 ,000 00:21:25.960 --> 00:21:28.880 watt transmitter, and the most comprehensive 00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:32.059 collection of inventions by the iconic Powell 00:21:32.059 --> 00:21:36.200 -Crosley Jr. Also on display is a huge antique 00:21:36.200 --> 00:21:39.940 radio exhibit and R .L. Drake's personal collection 00:21:39.940 --> 00:21:44.039 of most every Drake amateur rig ever made. This 00:21:44.039 --> 00:21:47.259 is a unique opportunity to see amateur radio 00:21:47.259 --> 00:21:49.920 in action and have a chance to get on the air 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:55.400 from WC8VOA. Admission is only five dollars a 00:21:55.400 --> 00:21:58.400 person. The museum is located close to historic 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:02.240 WLW AM and tons of shopping and restaurants. 00:22:02.680 --> 00:22:06.119 Take a trip to the VOA museum or visit us online 00:22:06.119 --> 00:22:14.930 at TheOAMuseum .org. CQ Field Day. CQ Field Day. 00:22:16.109 --> 00:22:36.759 This is HamTalk Live with Neil Rapp. HamTalk 00:22:36.759 --> 00:22:38.779 Live is on the air every Thursday night at 9 00:22:38.779 --> 00:22:40.960 p .m. Eastern Time right here at HamTalkLive 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:43.500 .com and be sure to check us out on Facebook, 00:22:43.660 --> 00:22:46.799 Twitter, and Instagram. And it's time for your 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:49.339 calls now, so if you have a question for Bart 00:22:49.339 --> 00:22:53.380 and or David, give us a call. Phone number 812 00:22:53.380 --> 00:22:59.839 -NET -HAM -1. That's 812 -638. four two six one 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:04.039 or you can Skype us or tweet us we're at ham 00:23:04.039 --> 00:23:10.579 talk live on Twitter as well as on Skype now 00:23:10.579 --> 00:23:13.059 we've come up with some more stuff and one of 00:23:13.059 --> 00:23:16.160 the things that Bart just mentioned are some 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:18.859 of those public service announcements that the 00:23:18.859 --> 00:23:21.640 ARRL has and David you've got a couple of new 00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:29.029 ones we did we created new both audio and video 00:23:29.029 --> 00:23:32.930 PSAs, which are actually on the, you can get 00:23:32.930 --> 00:23:37.730 to them right on the Field Day website, arrl 00:23:37.730 --> 00:23:43.730 .org slash field dash day. If you scroll to the 00:23:43.730 --> 00:23:45.750 bottom of that page, you'll see the bullet point 00:23:45.750 --> 00:23:50.579 for PSAs and you can see both the. 30 second 00:23:50.579 --> 00:23:53.880 and 60 second audio and video PSA's that people 00:23:53.880 --> 00:23:58.500 can download and provide to their organizations 00:23:58.500 --> 00:24:01.960 or to media outlets that might be using them. 00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:06.339 We also, we were incredibly fortunate in the 00:24:06.339 --> 00:24:09.519 past year, and this isn't specifically Field 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:12.920 Day related, but we had Joe Walsh, the guitarist 00:24:12.920 --> 00:24:17.339 from the Eagles, did some PSA's for us. He came 00:24:17.339 --> 00:24:24.920 to visit W1AW at ARRL headquarters and he's a 00:24:24.920 --> 00:24:27.640 tremendous, you know, he's not only a great guitarist, 00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:29.980 but he's a great ham radio operator as well and 00:24:29.980 --> 00:24:34.319 has a tremendous collection of vintage radio 00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:39.619 gear. And he's also was very Um, very kind to, 00:24:39.619 --> 00:24:43.539 uh, to ARRL and to W one AW. So he, he gave up 00:24:43.539 --> 00:24:46.539 his time to do some PSAs for us. And those are 00:24:46.539 --> 00:24:50.319 up on, uh, on the ARRL website as well. If we 00:24:50.319 --> 00:24:54.240 wanted to, wanted to listen to those. All right. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:57.019 Very good. So be sure to check those out. And, 00:24:57.460 --> 00:24:59.680 uh, we do have a couple of, uh, questions coming 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:01.779 in. We've got a whole list of things we can talk 00:25:01.779 --> 00:25:05.640 about, but, uh, let's get to, uh, everybody's 00:25:05.640 --> 00:25:11.059 questions here first. This one comes in from 00:25:11.059 --> 00:25:16.980 KC5FM. What's the deal with FEMA Region 10 having 00:25:16.980 --> 00:25:21.759 an exercise on 60 meters during field day? Bart? 00:25:23.500 --> 00:25:26.740 Well, funny you should ask. That was mentioned 00:25:26.740 --> 00:25:30.759 to me in passing. It's an activity that we're 00:25:30.759 --> 00:25:34.079 discussing right now for potentially for next 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:38.799 year. We haven't worked out the details of how 00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:45.460 it might be conducted. Again, the 60 meter allocation 00:25:45.460 --> 00:25:50.099 is just five channels. So it's not a field day 00:25:50.099 --> 00:25:54.799 designated frequency range, but if some sort 00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:59.690 of arrangement in conjunction with FEMA and a 00:25:59.690 --> 00:26:03.509 couple of other agencies might be able to be 00:26:03.509 --> 00:26:06.410 established. Who knows? We might be able to introduce 00:26:06.410 --> 00:26:11.210 some sort of an event tying amateur radio operators 00:26:11.210 --> 00:26:16.250 to, oh I guess for no better example, but to 00:26:16.250 --> 00:26:20.230 have some means of collecting information from 00:26:20.230 --> 00:26:23.329 these FEMA groups. I don't know if they're going 00:26:23.329 --> 00:26:27.190 to do bulletins that we would copy or they might 00:26:27.190 --> 00:26:31.079 do transmissions. It's just, it's in its infancy 00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:34.240 right now. Anything I offer at this point would 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:36.220 be conjecture because it's got a long way to 00:26:36.220 --> 00:26:39.900 go. And I don't necessarily know what our role 00:26:39.900 --> 00:26:42.740 might be, but that was one of the, it's come 00:26:42.740 --> 00:26:45.839 up for conversation at the moment. Okay, very 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:49.000 good. And I hadn't heard about that one. So Lloyd's 00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:51.740 out there keeping track of all that stuff. 812 00:26:51.740 --> 00:26:56.299 -638 -4261 is the phone number or give us a tweet. 00:26:58.900 --> 00:27:03.240 and let us hear from you. We do have one other 00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:06.599 one that I shared with you guys earlier from 00:27:06.599 --> 00:27:10.279 Ed, DD5LP, since it's two o 'clock in the morning. 00:27:10.500 --> 00:27:12.599 He didn't want to get up at two o 'clock in the 00:27:12.599 --> 00:27:15.380 morning to listen to the show. So he said his 00:27:15.380 --> 00:27:18.299 question ahead of time and said, given that so 00:27:18.299 --> 00:27:21.779 many smaller hamfests are having difficulty attracting 00:27:21.779 --> 00:27:26.240 attendees, Where field day continues to attract 00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:31.180 both young and old hams and non hams? What do 00:27:31.180 --> 00:27:34.160 the experts think about maybe combining these 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:36.880 two club organized activities into one and have 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:40.420 a local ham fest at the contest site? Either 00:27:40.420 --> 00:27:43.720 you know coinciding with field day or maybe another 00:27:43.720 --> 00:27:47.000 contest Some ham fest in Australia are still 00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:49.480 referred to as field day. So maybe they're trying 00:27:49.480 --> 00:27:54.559 to tell us something Well, it certainly is a 00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:59.039 suggestion and I think, you know, with the continuing 00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:04.400 challenge that our hobby and community has in 00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:08.140 generating enough free time for what we want 00:28:08.140 --> 00:28:11.059 to do with all the other demands on people's 00:28:11.059 --> 00:28:15.920 lives from work to family to other society activities 00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:19.900 that they're engaged in, sometimes the question 00:28:19.900 --> 00:28:23.569 that comes up is Do we hold any event? I'm not 00:28:23.569 --> 00:28:27.589 talking about ARL, I'm talking about these amateur 00:28:27.589 --> 00:28:30.210 groups in general who have their field day, if 00:28:30.210 --> 00:28:33.509 you will, flea markets, or they've had some other 00:28:33.509 --> 00:28:36.150 social events and the turnout is limited and 00:28:36.150 --> 00:28:38.630 they're saying why should we bother? You know, 00:28:38.630 --> 00:28:41.430 it really does beg the question, what if we were 00:28:41.430 --> 00:28:45.430 to start combining activities? And I will sort 00:28:45.430 --> 00:28:47.829 of make that as the foreign focus right now. 00:28:48.049 --> 00:28:52.850 If they're having a problem or a challenge, attracting 00:28:52.850 --> 00:28:56.029 uh... people uh... you know getting getting people 00:28:56.029 --> 00:28:58.569 interested bringing them out uh... you know certainly 00:28:58.569 --> 00:29:02.289 if we use the a r l field example it's the largest 00:29:02.289 --> 00:29:05.690 activity we have annually and since we track 00:29:05.690 --> 00:29:08.509 participants as a part of our reporting we're 00:29:08.509 --> 00:29:10.890 talking about thirty five thirty six thousand 00:29:10.890 --> 00:29:14.269 participants you know by far just blows the numbers 00:29:14.269 --> 00:29:17.509 off of anything else that goes on in united states 00:29:17.509 --> 00:29:19.890 and and probably foreign amateur radio as well 00:29:20.029 --> 00:29:23.829 So again, if these foreign communities, amateur 00:29:23.829 --> 00:29:27.750 radio groups, organizations are having a problem 00:29:27.750 --> 00:29:33.430 attracting people to join them, and if they've 00:29:33.430 --> 00:29:35.789 got two or three individual activities that have 00:29:35.789 --> 00:29:39.029 low turnouts and you can get maybe a larger turnout 00:29:39.029 --> 00:29:42.009 out of a single one, what's the harm? Nothing 00:29:42.009 --> 00:29:44.710 ventured, nothing gained. Try it, see what happens. 00:29:45.269 --> 00:29:47.529 I'll offer one twist, and I know that this is 00:29:47.529 --> 00:29:49.730 happening maybe even more so this year than others. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:52.420 There are clubs across the country where they 00:29:52.420 --> 00:29:54.519 found getting enough attendance at field day 00:29:54.519 --> 00:29:57.640 was challenging. So some of them have decided 00:29:57.640 --> 00:30:01.099 to reach out to neighboring clubs who might have 00:30:01.099 --> 00:30:03.259 done an individual activity in the past and said, 00:30:03.380 --> 00:30:05.619 hey, how about we do a group activity? And I 00:30:05.619 --> 00:30:07.059 think you're going to find that on the air during 00:30:07.059 --> 00:30:09.579 this field day where there is now maybe even 00:30:09.579 --> 00:30:11.339 more so. And if you look at the QST results, 00:30:11.539 --> 00:30:14.019 you'll see this. You'll see the names of clubs 00:30:14.019 --> 00:30:16.819 concatenated together because they've grouped 00:30:16.819 --> 00:30:21.079 as two or three or four, even five. or more organizations 00:30:21.079 --> 00:30:23.460 deciding to do a group field day rather than 00:30:23.460 --> 00:30:29.500 individually. We had that here. Yeah. Yeah, Neil, 00:30:29.619 --> 00:30:32.180 I want to, you know, sort of follow up on what 00:30:32.180 --> 00:30:34.660 Bart said. I think, I think there are some things 00:30:34.660 --> 00:30:39.380 that maybe Hamfest and others can look at, at 00:30:39.380 --> 00:30:43.460 what field day does. I think part of it is because 00:30:43.799 --> 00:30:47.240 Field day, you know, we keep talking about this 00:30:47.240 --> 00:30:50.059 and and it's in our you know our promo messages 00:30:50.059 --> 00:30:53.660 and things But it really is ham radio's open 00:30:53.660 --> 00:30:57.880 house, you know, we pay particular attention 00:30:57.880 --> 00:31:02.920 to inviting public and we have You know the the 00:31:02.920 --> 00:31:07.720 go to get on the air stations Set up a lot of 00:31:07.720 --> 00:31:09.660 you know, a lot of clubs are setting those up 00:31:09.660 --> 00:31:13.500 as part of as part of field day. So I think You 00:31:13.500 --> 00:31:16.180 know, just a reminder that, you know, to be as, 00:31:16.180 --> 00:31:19.720 as open and as welcoming to the general public, 00:31:19.720 --> 00:31:23.319 um, as you can and let them know that that's 00:31:23.319 --> 00:31:26.119 an open house. I think that's part of the reason 00:31:26.119 --> 00:31:29.519 for field days success is cause we really put 00:31:29.519 --> 00:31:33.380 a lot of effort into inviting the public to come. 00:31:33.559 --> 00:31:36.039 And that, that may be something that folks doing, 00:31:36.039 --> 00:31:39.140 you know, smaller ham fest might look at to make 00:31:39.140 --> 00:31:41.269 sure that they're. that they're really reaching 00:31:41.269 --> 00:31:44.210 out to the general public and not just to their, 00:31:44.509 --> 00:31:49.329 um, not just to amateur radio operators. And, 00:31:49.410 --> 00:31:53.289 and I told you guys before the contest or says 00:31:53.289 --> 00:31:57.390 in me says, no, you gotta run that score up, 00:31:57.390 --> 00:32:00.910 you know, you gotta win. And, and, you know, 00:32:00.970 --> 00:32:03.589 for some people, this is the only chance to do 00:32:03.589 --> 00:32:08.119 a, you know, a multi multi -contest and and so 00:32:08.119 --> 00:32:10.400 you know you've got that too but the thing is 00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:15.039 there's there's room for all of this and what 00:32:15.039 --> 00:32:18.559 works in one place may not work in another and 00:32:18.559 --> 00:32:22.200 Neil yeah keeping in mind that field day is not 00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:27.079 a contest but secondarily it's you have to each 00:32:27.079 --> 00:32:30.880 group has to ask their self both from the perspective 00:32:30.880 --> 00:32:33.460 of what are we going to do socially amateur radio 00:32:33.460 --> 00:32:36.400 wise and what are we going to do community -wise, 00:32:37.299 --> 00:32:39.400 is when you're doing your planning, you have 00:32:39.400 --> 00:32:41.940 to ask yourself, and this is maybe the first 00:32:41.940 --> 00:32:44.200 question to ask, is it going to be about the 00:32:44.200 --> 00:32:46.740 journey, or is it going to be about the end result 00:32:46.740 --> 00:32:49.859 destination, and how do we define those two pieces 00:32:49.859 --> 00:32:53.519 for what we're going to do? Yeah, yeah. And, 00:32:53.519 --> 00:32:56.759 you know, I've gotten into those discussions 00:32:56.759 --> 00:32:59.279 before of, you know, is it a contest, is it not 00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:01.380 a contest? Yeah, okay, I know it's not a contest, 00:33:01.400 --> 00:33:03.519 but there's still a score, you know? And so, 00:33:03.720 --> 00:33:07.210 you know, Other people use this as a social event 00:33:07.210 --> 00:33:09.730 and, and that's, you know, and like I said, I 00:33:09.730 --> 00:33:12.890 think it really comes down to what, like you 00:33:12.890 --> 00:33:15.130 said, what do you want to get out of this? What 00:33:15.130 --> 00:33:19.950 is your, what is your goal? And, and so there's, 00:33:19.950 --> 00:33:25.509 there's all kinds of opportunities here. And 00:33:25.509 --> 00:33:29.509 I think actually, I will say, uh, we got time, 00:33:29.670 --> 00:33:33.579 but I think we're in a. You know, amateur radio 00:33:33.579 --> 00:33:37.420 is actually in a great spot right now at the 00:33:37.420 --> 00:33:41.980 current time to increase our awareness and to 00:33:41.980 --> 00:33:45.660 bring more people from the general public into 00:33:45.660 --> 00:33:51.200 amateur radio with everything that we went through 00:33:51.200 --> 00:33:53.819 last year with all of the natural disasters that 00:33:53.819 --> 00:33:58.170 occurred. and they were terrible things. I mean, 00:33:58.190 --> 00:34:03.089 I don't mean to minimize how terrible things 00:34:03.089 --> 00:34:07.049 were in Puerto Rico and Houston and the wildfires 00:34:07.049 --> 00:34:10.070 in California and all the things going on, but 00:34:10.070 --> 00:34:13.769 it did raise awareness of the role that amateur 00:34:13.769 --> 00:34:18.809 radio plays in that. And so I think it did pique 00:34:18.809 --> 00:34:23.050 a lot of people's interest in amateur radio and 00:34:23.050 --> 00:34:26.000 so that we're finding that now when you talk 00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:29.400 to people about amateur radio, they have more 00:34:29.400 --> 00:34:32.900 awareness and understanding than, than we've 00:34:32.900 --> 00:34:36.000 seen in the general public in some time. Yeah. 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:39.360 And that's, that's always a good thing. Okay. 00:34:39.460 --> 00:34:42.440 We've got a couple of more tweets here. Uh, Laura 00:34:42.440 --> 00:34:46.860 Goudreau tweeted back, uh, with Lloyd and us. 00:34:47.289 --> 00:34:51.730 and said that we are opening the 60 meter interoperability 00:34:51.730 --> 00:34:54.250 net at the direct request of several amateur 00:34:54.250 --> 00:34:57.469 operators so they can practice on the weekend 00:34:57.469 --> 00:34:59.530 but they are running the net a little earlier 00:34:59.530 --> 00:35:04.349 in the day so that there's only a two hour overlap 00:35:04.349 --> 00:35:07.429 and that again that was at their direct request 00:35:07.429 --> 00:35:11.489 of several hams so it looks like they are trying 00:35:11.489 --> 00:35:16.110 to have that opportunity there for people who 00:35:16.110 --> 00:35:19.510 can do that and keep the overlap down to a minimum. 00:35:20.050 --> 00:35:24.710 So just a little follow up there on that. 812 00:35:24.710 --> 00:35:28.809 -638 -4261 is the telephone number or tweet us 00:35:28.809 --> 00:35:33.650 at HamTalk Live. We've been enjoying some questions 00:35:33.650 --> 00:35:37.230 here and some comments tonight on Twitter, so 00:35:37.230 --> 00:35:41.210 keep them coming here. Bart, one of the things 00:35:41.210 --> 00:35:45.730 that seems to always come up is what class should 00:35:45.730 --> 00:35:50.269 we be? A lot of the club stations, they're used 00:35:50.269 --> 00:35:53.889 to that, but especially home stations. So can 00:35:53.889 --> 00:35:57.650 you run down some of those harder to figure out 00:35:57.650 --> 00:36:01.809 and maybe not as used classes so that people 00:36:01.809 --> 00:36:04.369 know how they should classify their stations 00:36:04.369 --> 00:36:10.510 and setups? Absolutely. So we want to keep the 00:36:10.510 --> 00:36:13.449 explanation simplistic to begin with. And the 00:36:13.449 --> 00:36:15.590 way to do that is to write down on a piece of 00:36:15.590 --> 00:36:20.809 paper the letters A, B, C, D, E, F. So when you're 00:36:20.809 --> 00:36:23.570 figuring what your field day exchange, your designation 00:36:23.570 --> 00:36:26.710 is going to be, you start with those letters 00:36:26.710 --> 00:36:28.809 and then you figure out how many transmitters 00:36:28.809 --> 00:36:32.010 you're going to have used simultaneously. If 00:36:32.010 --> 00:36:34.409 you're a home station, generally it's just one 00:36:34.409 --> 00:36:37.329 transmitter. And finally, it's your ARRL section. 00:36:37.630 --> 00:36:41.550 So if I'm a home station and I'm in Connecticut 00:36:41.550 --> 00:36:43.989 and I'm going to use one transmitter, I know 00:36:43.989 --> 00:36:47.889 that my category is D for a home station on commercial 00:36:47.889 --> 00:36:51.389 power and I know that if my home station is going 00:36:51.389 --> 00:36:56.289 to use a battery or solar powered or a generator 00:36:56.289 --> 00:36:59.469 or hydrogen powered or wind powered, it's going 00:36:59.469 --> 00:37:01.329 to be under emergency power and the category 00:37:01.329 --> 00:37:04.010 for that is E. So we've just taken care of home 00:37:04.010 --> 00:37:08.780 stations either D commercial or E, emergency 00:37:08.780 --> 00:37:13.460 power. Working our way backward, you've got C, 00:37:13.820 --> 00:37:16.679 and C is exclusively for stations that move, 00:37:17.039 --> 00:37:19.539 so it's a mobile station. Generally just one 00:37:19.539 --> 00:37:22.920 transmitter, so one C, and then you report the 00:37:22.920 --> 00:37:24.619 section that you're currently in while you're 00:37:24.619 --> 00:37:28.480 traveling. Working our way backwards, we've got 00:37:28.480 --> 00:37:32.639 B stations, and A and B are interchangeable only 00:37:32.639 --> 00:37:36.139 in the number of participants. So a B station 00:37:36.139 --> 00:37:39.900 is a portable station, is not at home. It has 00:37:39.900 --> 00:37:43.519 no access to the conveniences of a home station. 00:37:43.900 --> 00:37:47.260 It doesn't have access to the antennas, the radio 00:37:47.260 --> 00:37:49.320 equipment that's in the home station hooked up 00:37:49.320 --> 00:37:52.260 or ready to go. It doesn't have access to the 00:37:52.260 --> 00:37:55.539 facilities of a home, such as the kitchen, the 00:37:55.539 --> 00:37:58.860 sleeping arrangements, the bathroom. A and B 00:37:58.860 --> 00:38:02.139 are portable stations and they... idea is the 00:38:02.139 --> 00:38:04.460 uh... these is this is not a convenient way to 00:38:04.460 --> 00:38:06.760 set up in your backyard this is about getting 00:38:06.760 --> 00:38:09.719 out into the wilderness uh... operating from 00:38:09.719 --> 00:38:12.159 the park operating from a fire station operating 00:38:12.159 --> 00:38:16.039 from a municipal center uh... operating from 00:38:16.039 --> 00:38:18.519 a mountain top operating from the farmers field 00:38:18.519 --> 00:38:23.900 these are all portable uh... locations that are 00:38:23.900 --> 00:38:27.719 unassociated with any formal uh... otherwise 00:38:27.719 --> 00:38:31.920 radio station location Carrying that on, the 00:38:31.920 --> 00:38:34.380 difference between a B station and an A station 00:38:34.380 --> 00:38:36.920 is a B station is limited to two participants. 00:38:37.719 --> 00:38:41.420 So an operator and a helper is two participants. 00:38:41.920 --> 00:38:44.679 Two operators is two participants. Two operators 00:38:44.679 --> 00:38:48.139 and a helper moves it to class A. Class A is 00:38:48.139 --> 00:38:51.320 three or more participants. The typical club 00:38:51.320 --> 00:38:54.940 or larger field day group is going to be an A 00:38:54.940 --> 00:38:57.650 station. So then once they know that they are 00:38:57.650 --> 00:39:00.409 either in A or B as a portable operation, they 00:39:00.409 --> 00:39:01.929 figure out how many transmitters they're going 00:39:01.929 --> 00:39:05.610 to have in simultaneous use. That'll be the number 00:39:05.610 --> 00:39:08.489 preceding the alphabetical character. And finally, 00:39:09.269 --> 00:39:12.829 their ARRL section is the last part of the exchange. 00:39:13.389 --> 00:39:17.190 So for example, if they're operating portable 00:39:17.190 --> 00:39:21.449 with 10 people and they're in Western Massachusetts, 00:39:21.880 --> 00:39:23.599 and they're going to have three transmitters 00:39:23.599 --> 00:39:27.039 on the year their exchange will be three a massachusetts 00:39:27.039 --> 00:39:30.099 or three a uh... i'm sorry western massachusetts 00:39:30.099 --> 00:39:34.059 with three eight w m a arm but what did we forget 00:39:34.059 --> 00:39:38.400 uh... class f class f is eo c stations these 00:39:38.400 --> 00:39:41.679 are stations that formal uh... arrangements with 00:39:41.679 --> 00:39:44.800 an eo c they may be operating from an eo c they 00:39:44.800 --> 00:39:48.019 may have a mobile unit that is provided by the 00:39:48.019 --> 00:39:52.010 eo c and as a formal uh... arrangement to use 00:39:52.010 --> 00:39:55.090 the mobile station in some capacity you know 00:39:55.090 --> 00:39:57.369 if they if they have this great relationship 00:39:57.369 --> 00:39:59.869 with their own eo c and they say hey we have 00:39:59.869 --> 00:40:02.409 an exercise coming up we'd like to be able to 00:40:02.409 --> 00:40:04.909 use your mobile unit may we have your permission 00:40:04.909 --> 00:40:07.570 to use that in conjunction with the eo c they 00:40:07.570 --> 00:40:10.190 get that in writing and they document it and 00:40:10.190 --> 00:40:13.210 they are then an eo c station and the famous 00:40:13.210 --> 00:40:15.630 true the number of transmitters in their section 00:40:15.630 --> 00:40:20.119 complete their exchange Okay, so there you have 00:40:20.119 --> 00:40:24.280 the rundown and the clarifications of all those 00:40:24.280 --> 00:40:28.159 classes, so you know what to do. But again, most 00:40:28.159 --> 00:40:31.179 home stations, if you're just plugging in to 00:40:31.179 --> 00:40:34.960 the wall, one delta, one D, and then go from 00:40:34.960 --> 00:40:37.900 there. To supplement that, Neil, one additional 00:40:37.900 --> 00:40:41.000 piece. Some people say, well, what if we're a 00:40:41.000 --> 00:40:47.489 3AB or we are some sort of a concatenated uh... 00:40:47.489 --> 00:40:49.989 uh... state -of -the -class and what they're 00:40:49.989 --> 00:40:52.769 confusing is the QST listings with the actual 00:40:52.769 --> 00:40:55.670 on -the -air transmission. The on -the -air transmission 00:40:55.670 --> 00:40:58.829 is the single alphabetical character. How we 00:40:58.829 --> 00:41:02.730 show stations in QST after the event uh... is 00:41:02.730 --> 00:41:05.829 further defined there uh... how they operated. 00:41:06.190 --> 00:41:09.889 If they were a a commercially powered portable 00:41:09.889 --> 00:41:14.070 station they might see something like 3AC or 00:41:14.250 --> 00:41:18.869 2BC, for example, a portable station on commercial 00:41:18.869 --> 00:41:22.710 power, they might see 2B1B, which happens to 00:41:22.710 --> 00:41:29.250 be 2B2B, for example, would be two transmitters, 00:41:29.590 --> 00:41:32.889 portable operation, two participants on battery. 00:41:33.369 --> 00:41:37.409 So these extended class designations are only 00:41:37.409 --> 00:41:40.789 in the published results. They're not what you 00:41:40.789 --> 00:41:46.489 use for your over -the -air exchange. Very good 00:41:46.489 --> 00:41:53.230 Bart, thank you for clarifying on that. 8126384261 00:41:53.230 --> 00:41:56.170 is the phone number or tweet us at amtalklive. 00:41:57.150 --> 00:42:00.010 We're starting to run out of time here. We may 00:42:00.010 --> 00:42:03.699 go a little bit over tonight, but. We'll get 00:42:03.699 --> 00:42:06.360 some other things in here as we can. But if you 00:42:06.360 --> 00:42:09.000 have a question, please give us a call. Give 00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:12.360 us a tweet here real soon, because we're just 00:42:12.360 --> 00:42:16.880 about to end the program here this evening. But 00:42:16.880 --> 00:42:21.260 again, we'll keep going here. In fact, we may 00:42:21.260 --> 00:42:24.719 do the short version here, the Reader's Digest 00:42:24.719 --> 00:42:28.639 version of these. Do you need to register before 00:42:28.639 --> 00:42:33.619 you operate, Bart? Negative. You just in this 00:42:33.619 --> 00:42:35.780 especially important for home stations. You just 00:42:35.780 --> 00:42:37.860 get on the air You operate you understand what 00:42:37.860 --> 00:42:41.360 your exchange is and you go ahead and make contacts 00:42:41.360 --> 00:42:44.519 Groups that would like to invite the public can 00:42:44.519 --> 00:42:49.420 use the field day locator to Attract the public's 00:42:49.420 --> 00:42:52.119 attention. And by the way, we have fifteen hundred 00:42:52.119 --> 00:42:54.599 and four field day sites currently registered 00:42:54.599 --> 00:42:59.429 Wow Wow, that's a lot. And let's talk about modes. 00:42:59.610 --> 00:43:02.550 I did say we were going to talk about FT8 later. 00:43:03.010 --> 00:43:06.630 So let's get that in. Any restriction on modes? 00:43:07.070 --> 00:43:11.269 And let's focus on FT8 because there is a little 00:43:11.269 --> 00:43:15.449 different way you need to do that. Sure. So to 00:43:15.449 --> 00:43:19.469 begin, all amateur radio modes are permitted 00:43:19.469 --> 00:43:22.050 in field day. That doesn't mean they'll be easy 00:43:22.050 --> 00:43:24.050 to use, but it means that they're permitted. 00:43:24.380 --> 00:43:26.739 Now if you carry that forward, and obviously 00:43:26.739 --> 00:43:30.619 the digital realm is now where we have the, you 00:43:30.619 --> 00:43:32.860 know, it's the latest, it's the new, it's exciting. 00:43:33.320 --> 00:43:35.559 We've got newcomers whose motivations are more 00:43:35.559 --> 00:43:38.820 digital than analog. So, you know, step forward 00:43:38.820 --> 00:43:45.119 to FTA for the moment. We didn't put any significant 00:43:45.119 --> 00:43:47.760 promotion into FTA. In fact, we were more reactive 00:43:47.760 --> 00:43:50.219 than proactive. And the reason is is because 00:43:50.219 --> 00:43:53.480 FTA right now is not designed to be able to support 00:43:53.480 --> 00:43:58.639 multiple different exchanges in normal operation. 00:43:58.699 --> 00:44:01.639 In other words, signal reports and some other 00:44:01.639 --> 00:44:05.059 component. It's basically set up under the premise 00:44:05.059 --> 00:44:09.119 of grid squares. So an RST in a grid square is 00:44:09.119 --> 00:44:12.659 the typical reports that you will see on FTA, 00:44:12.980 --> 00:44:18.099 most often at HFFTA. Certainly the VHF contestors 00:44:18.099 --> 00:44:21.159 will tell you that FTA has a place in what they 00:44:21.159 --> 00:44:24.159 do. There is a specific mode called North America 00:44:24.159 --> 00:44:27.539 contest mode. It's unique in that it only exchanges 00:44:27.539 --> 00:44:30.260 grid squares. That's not typically what you're 00:44:30.260 --> 00:44:33.059 going to find during this field day, but just 00:44:33.059 --> 00:44:35.159 be aware that if you start seeing information 00:44:35.159 --> 00:44:37.599 that looks a little weird, like a grid square 00:44:37.599 --> 00:44:40.099 that's on the opposite side of the earth during 00:44:40.099 --> 00:44:43.829 the exchange, It probably means that one of you 00:44:43.829 --> 00:44:45.710 is on the standard FTA, and the other one's got 00:44:45.710 --> 00:44:48.449 the North America contest mode enabled, and either 00:44:48.449 --> 00:44:51.889 one of you needs to toggle that off to be able 00:44:51.889 --> 00:44:54.690 to do that part of the handshake. But keep in 00:44:54.690 --> 00:44:56.849 mind that the field day exchange that's required 00:44:56.849 --> 00:44:59.570 is the transmitter count, the class, and the 00:44:59.570 --> 00:45:01.690 section. Now, how do you do that in the current 00:45:01.690 --> 00:45:05.650 FTA, which defaults to grid squares? Joe Taylor 00:45:05.650 --> 00:45:08.610 and his group point out in one of their FAQs 00:45:08.610 --> 00:45:13.280 for FTA, that TX5 sequence, so you got TX1, 2, 00:45:13.280 --> 00:45:16.280 3, 4, and 5. In the TX5 sequence normally used 00:45:16.280 --> 00:45:19.460 for 73, you've got up to 13 characters of free 00:45:19.460 --> 00:45:23.079 text that can be used. So if you are using it 00:45:23.079 --> 00:45:27.400 during field day and wonder how you can exchange 00:45:27.400 --> 00:45:30.539 the required field day information, put it in 00:45:30.539 --> 00:45:36.900 TX5, so you'd say 3AWMA73. and you hope that 00:45:36.900 --> 00:45:39.900 the other station gives you a similar TX -5 response. 00:45:40.360 --> 00:45:44.500 If they don't, you can't count them as a statistical 00:45:44.500 --> 00:45:47.019 QSO for field day. That doesn't mean you can't 00:45:47.019 --> 00:45:49.059 have fun with it, doesn't mean you can't experiment 00:45:49.059 --> 00:45:51.280 with it, doesn't mean you can't demonstrate it 00:45:51.280 --> 00:45:54.260 to other people, and it doesn't mean you can't 00:45:54.260 --> 00:45:57.019 be using it in some fashion, but you just can't 00:45:57.019 --> 00:45:59.199 count the QSOs that don't have the valid exchange. 00:46:01.099 --> 00:46:02.940 Okay, very good. Well Bart, we're going to give 00:46:02.940 --> 00:46:06.800 you a minute breather here. David, let's talk 00:46:06.800 --> 00:46:10.159 about the soapbox a little bit and and some thank 00:46:10.159 --> 00:46:15.400 you letters. Sure. Yeah, the soapbox is a great 00:46:15.400 --> 00:46:18.159 opportunity for people to get information out 00:46:18.159 --> 00:46:25.179 there and that's it's on the ARRL website, arl 00:46:25.179 --> 00:46:31.599 .org slash contest slash soapbox. that should 00:46:31.599 --> 00:46:35.039 get you to it and it gives you a chance to put 00:46:35.039 --> 00:46:39.920 comments on. I want to spend most of my time 00:46:39.920 --> 00:46:42.900 though talking about thank you letters and I 00:46:42.900 --> 00:46:45.739 think that's important. I wouldn't say letter, 00:46:45.820 --> 00:46:51.280 I mean I would do email notes but obviously just 00:46:51.280 --> 00:46:54.019 like you would thank the volunteers who came 00:46:54.019 --> 00:46:58.139 out to help you with the setup and with running 00:46:58.139 --> 00:47:03.769 your station. or for field day, you should send 00:47:03.769 --> 00:47:08.050 notes to all of the to any media that shows up 00:47:08.050 --> 00:47:11.250 at your at your event. You know, thank them for 00:47:11.250 --> 00:47:14.630 coming out. I would also say that if you that 00:47:14.630 --> 00:47:19.309 if the to go back even a little further, when 00:47:19.309 --> 00:47:21.489 media show up at your field day, make sure that 00:47:21.489 --> 00:47:23.030 you're there to welcome them. Make sure that 00:47:23.030 --> 00:47:27.010 there's somebody designated to greet them, to 00:47:27.010 --> 00:47:30.670 kind of take them around and and help them understand 00:47:30.670 --> 00:47:33.289 what they're looking at because they may not, 00:47:33.389 --> 00:47:36.090 they may not be aware. They've seen your, your 00:47:36.090 --> 00:47:39.489 email or your press release, but they, um, and 00:47:39.489 --> 00:47:41.389 they're going to cover it and they just don't 00:47:41.389 --> 00:47:43.809 know what they're, what they're looking at. So 00:47:43.809 --> 00:47:45.929 they'll need some guidance and some help when 00:47:45.929 --> 00:47:48.329 they get there. So make sure that you're, you 00:47:48.329 --> 00:47:51.849 have somebody designated to help them, um, explain 00:47:51.849 --> 00:47:54.750 what you're doing, why you're doing it. And, 00:47:54.949 --> 00:47:58.210 um, and give them some information about your 00:47:58.210 --> 00:48:02.489 field day operations. And then once that airs, 00:48:02.590 --> 00:48:06.309 I would send an email note to thank them for 00:48:06.309 --> 00:48:10.170 coming out and for helping to increase the visibility 00:48:10.170 --> 00:48:14.309 of amateur radio. And that's a great way to kind 00:48:14.309 --> 00:48:16.150 of go back to what we were saying at the beginning. 00:48:16.469 --> 00:48:18.829 It's a great way to start establishing relationships 00:48:18.829 --> 00:48:23.849 with folks in the media. When you send them a 00:48:23.849 --> 00:48:26.030 thank you note, they appreciate that, then they 00:48:26.030 --> 00:48:28.409 may get back in touch with you about something 00:48:28.409 --> 00:48:33.050 else later on. So I think sending a note, and 00:48:33.050 --> 00:48:37.710 I would do it primarily by email, you could do 00:48:37.710 --> 00:48:43.070 a handwritten note if you were so inclined. It's 00:48:43.070 --> 00:48:45.750 pretty hard to find how to make sure that that 00:48:45.750 --> 00:48:48.710 gets to the right person where email, at least, 00:48:48.789 --> 00:48:51.630 you know, it will get exactly to who you're sending 00:48:51.630 --> 00:48:57.230 it. So I would I would encourage that. And that's 00:48:57.230 --> 00:48:59.630 that's how that's how great relationships start. 00:48:59.670 --> 00:49:02.309 So I think those those are important things to 00:49:02.309 --> 00:49:06.449 do. All right, Bart, one last thing here. And 00:49:06.449 --> 00:49:13.239 in fact, Troy W9KVR just brought this up on the 00:49:13.239 --> 00:49:15.860 chat here about the go to station. We haven't 00:49:15.860 --> 00:49:17.940 talked about the freebies here, so everybody 00:49:17.940 --> 00:49:20.920 likes free stuff. So let's talk about the freebies 00:49:20.920 --> 00:49:24.139 for a minute. Sure. Did Troy have any specific 00:49:24.139 --> 00:49:26.119 question about go to just general? No, just, 00:49:26.199 --> 00:49:28.599 just to comment. It's good opportunity to add 00:49:28.599 --> 00:49:31.239 a radio to your regular ops. And so, you know, 00:49:31.320 --> 00:49:34.199 you can get some, some youth ops on and that 00:49:34.199 --> 00:49:37.559 kind of thing. Exactly. So the go -to station 00:49:37.559 --> 00:49:40.940 is free. You don't get too many things in life 00:49:40.940 --> 00:49:43.480 that are free and certainly in field day it's 00:49:43.480 --> 00:49:50.460 our free. Here's a way to provide a station that 00:49:50.460 --> 00:49:55.380 the public, that inactive hams, that newcomers, 00:49:55.780 --> 00:50:00.019 newly licensed hams, youth can have an opportunity 00:50:00.019 --> 00:50:03.420 to sit down at and not feel the pressure of I 00:50:03.420 --> 00:50:06.019 have to make contacts because that's why we have 00:50:06.019 --> 00:50:08.840 the stations, these other stations set up. This 00:50:08.840 --> 00:50:12.840 station is exclusively there for them to get 00:50:12.840 --> 00:50:16.340 the amateur radio experience firsthand. It's 00:50:16.340 --> 00:50:19.880 an opportunity for, because there is a control 00:50:19.880 --> 00:50:22.960 operator who is in charge, it's an opportunity 00:50:22.960 --> 00:50:26.099 for any person, licensed or unlicensed, to sit 00:50:26.099 --> 00:50:28.159 down and understand the experience of making 00:50:28.159 --> 00:50:31.300 these contacts. We have an example that we showed 00:50:31.300 --> 00:50:34.980 in a photo in QST last year in the field day 00:50:34.980 --> 00:50:37.199 write up where we had one of the elected representatives 00:50:37.199 --> 00:50:40.920 in the Carolinas, a lady, who was operating at 00:50:40.920 --> 00:50:43.619 that field day site. She wasn't licensed. She 00:50:43.619 --> 00:50:45.840 was a U .S. representative and she wanted to 00:50:45.840 --> 00:50:47.599 find out more about amateur radio and they sat 00:50:47.599 --> 00:50:49.699 her down and they put her on the air and she 00:50:49.699 --> 00:50:51.800 had a great time. They got a photo op. It was 00:50:51.800 --> 00:50:55.559 terrific. So the go -to station is a way to earn 00:50:55.559 --> 00:51:00.059 points for your field day activity. Every 20 00:51:00.059 --> 00:51:04.159 contacts generates 20 bonus points, up to 100 00:51:04.159 --> 00:51:09.840 bonus points per individual. And so you can chuck 00:51:09.840 --> 00:51:13.559 up those points quite readily. Again, it's in 00:51:13.559 --> 00:51:15.820 increments of 20, so 19 doesn't earn you anything, 00:51:16.719 --> 00:51:19.960 but certainly 20 does as well as increments of 00:51:19.960 --> 00:51:25.019 20. We also have a free VHF UHF station, so it 00:51:25.019 --> 00:51:27.880 does not count in your transmitter count. so 00:51:27.880 --> 00:51:31.360 you decide, you know, do we really need another 00:51:31.360 --> 00:51:33.760 station? Well, guess what? It doesn't count against 00:51:33.760 --> 00:51:37.880 you. It's free. And frankly, if anybody's been 00:51:37.880 --> 00:51:40.199 paying attention to the VHF bands right now, 00:51:40.840 --> 00:51:46.019 we had the VHF contest just a weekend ago, and 00:51:46.019 --> 00:51:51.059 the activity was boom, I'm sorry, two weekends 00:51:51.059 --> 00:51:54.599 ago, the activity was booming. Six meters for 00:51:54.599 --> 00:51:58.070 a better half of the the will be uh... u uh... 00:51:58.070 --> 00:52:00.670 north america mostly the on the uh... eastern 00:52:00.670 --> 00:52:04.130 side was racking up contacts some of the stations 00:52:04.130 --> 00:52:08.630 have hundreds of contacts and uh... and two meters 00:52:08.630 --> 00:52:11.269 has prevent uh... presented e -skip in the last 00:52:11.269 --> 00:52:14.409 couple of days so you know field day station 00:52:14.409 --> 00:52:17.429 scattered across the u s uh... it's it's often 00:52:17.429 --> 00:52:21.070 like a vhf contact and so you will find activity 00:52:21.070 --> 00:52:24.460 and two -meter sideband 2 meter digital modes, 00:52:24.900 --> 00:52:29.579 MSK 144 for meteor scatter, FT8 as well, 2 meters 00:52:29.579 --> 00:52:33.699 as well as 6 meters, 6 meters 50 .313, 2 meters 00:52:33.699 --> 00:52:39.039 about 144, 140 or so, between 140 and 150. And 00:52:39.039 --> 00:52:42.599 so again, free stations, 6 meters may actually 00:52:42.599 --> 00:52:45.480 generate more contacts than 10 meters does, and 00:52:45.480 --> 00:52:49.619 10 meters may be open. So don't rule out these 00:52:49.619 --> 00:52:54.889 higher bands, they will be uh... activity uh... 00:52:54.889 --> 00:52:58.030 pool uh... places for your station and again 00:52:58.030 --> 00:53:00.130 don't and neil i don't know do you want me to 00:53:00.130 --> 00:53:02.510 touch on the bonuses quickly yeah let's do it 00:53:02.510 --> 00:53:05.909 let's do it real quick so you have a number of 00:53:05.909 --> 00:53:08.610 bonuses uh... starting at the vhs site you've 00:53:08.610 --> 00:53:11.690 got the satellite bonus for making uh... satellite 00:53:11.690 --> 00:53:14.550 contact you've got the emergency car bonus for 00:53:14.550 --> 00:53:16.929 stations that are running that you've got uh... 00:53:16.929 --> 00:53:19.210 the media publicity at david talked about if 00:53:19.210 --> 00:53:21.050 you're in a public location you get a bonus for 00:53:21.050 --> 00:53:23.610 that If you have a public information table with 00:53:23.610 --> 00:53:26.130 information about amateur radio, somebody being 00:53:26.130 --> 00:53:28.590 the focal point, like the person that David mentioned 00:53:28.590 --> 00:53:32.730 who would greet the media or the public and take 00:53:32.730 --> 00:53:35.230 them one -on -one and explain to them why we're 00:53:35.230 --> 00:53:39.969 there. A formal National Traffic System message 00:53:39.969 --> 00:53:44.329 to the SM or SEC is a bonus for that one message 00:53:44.329 --> 00:53:46.510 if you generate it from your field day site and 00:53:46.510 --> 00:53:49.989 send it out. The W1A2 copying the W1A2 field 00:53:49.989 --> 00:53:52.489 day message, which is sent several times during 00:53:52.489 --> 00:53:54.829 the event. Look in our field day packet and you'll 00:53:54.829 --> 00:53:57.269 see the entire schedule of field day bulletins. 00:53:57.989 --> 00:54:00.150 Formal messages, your group can handle up to 00:54:00.150 --> 00:54:04.289 10 formal messages. Sending them, or passing 00:54:04.289 --> 00:54:06.789 them, in other words, being relayed, or receiving 00:54:06.789 --> 00:54:10.289 them for up to 100 additional points. Natural 00:54:10.289 --> 00:54:13.769 power QSOs, if you make up to five natural power 00:54:13.769 --> 00:54:17.230 QSOs, you get a bonus. So this would be a source 00:54:17.230 --> 00:54:19.170 other than your generator. This would probably 00:54:19.170 --> 00:54:21.869 be a solar panel. This would be a wind generator, 00:54:22.530 --> 00:54:25.269 things of that nature. But five QSOs have to 00:54:25.269 --> 00:54:28.630 be made with it. You get additional points. If 00:54:28.630 --> 00:54:30.690 you get an elected official visit, you'll get 00:54:30.690 --> 00:54:34.349 a bonus. If you've invited serve agency officials, 00:54:34.550 --> 00:54:37.650 not that they showed up, but if you have invited 00:54:37.650 --> 00:54:39.230 them, and I should have said that under the elected 00:54:39.230 --> 00:54:41.369 official as well, you don't have to expect them 00:54:41.369 --> 00:54:43.550 to show up. You just have to invite them. You'll 00:54:43.550 --> 00:54:47.179 get a bonus just for taking that to act uh... 00:54:47.179 --> 00:54:52.139 educational activity uh... you have uh... you 00:54:52.139 --> 00:54:54.260 can you want this bonus you need to develop a 00:54:54.260 --> 00:54:59.099 program a limited uh... uh... uh... scope uh... 00:54:59.099 --> 00:55:01.380 probably just uh... short uh... summary of what 00:55:01.380 --> 00:55:03.860 you plan to do administer it this need to be 00:55:03.860 --> 00:55:06.059 something more than ten minutes you know probably 00:55:06.059 --> 00:55:09.159 talking thirty to sixty minute activity something 00:55:09.159 --> 00:55:11.719 that would help them gain knowledge about certain 00:55:11.719 --> 00:55:15.940 aspects of amateur radio building antennas uh... 00:55:15.940 --> 00:55:19.039 setting up a uh... all i don't know setting up 00:55:19.039 --> 00:55:22.659 a uh... a digital station for maybe p star or 00:55:22.659 --> 00:55:25.280 maybe uh... some people have suggested how do 00:55:25.280 --> 00:55:29.599 i get involved with amateur tv uh... i'd suggested 00:55:29.599 --> 00:55:32.659 that the educational activity could be a training 00:55:32.659 --> 00:55:35.880 with uh... first uh... for uh... first aid or 00:55:35.880 --> 00:55:38.420 eighty training uh... in conjunction with the 00:55:38.420 --> 00:55:42.480 state Again, we talked about social media. We 00:55:42.480 --> 00:55:44.920 have a safety officer bonus as well. Somebody 00:55:44.920 --> 00:55:47.400 who's responsible or a couple people who will 00:55:47.400 --> 00:55:52.380 oversee the entire event to maintain a safety 00:55:52.380 --> 00:55:56.099 outlook, a safety perspective. And not last but 00:55:56.099 --> 00:55:58.860 certainly not least, youth participation. The 00:55:58.860 --> 00:56:01.280 number of youth who completed at least one QSO. 00:56:01.679 --> 00:56:04.360 There are bonuses for youth participation. And 00:56:04.360 --> 00:56:07.860 we've been amateurs for a long time, many of 00:56:07.860 --> 00:56:11.179 us, and we realize that we're not seeing as many 00:56:11.179 --> 00:56:14.099 young people you know reach out to people who 00:56:14.099 --> 00:56:16.260 you know are interested in amateur radio get 00:56:16.260 --> 00:56:19.199 them involved uh... if you can engage their family 00:56:19.199 --> 00:56:21.940 bring them to the field eight site uh... be their 00:56:21.940 --> 00:56:25.539 mentor uh... that's probably one of the primary 00:56:25.539 --> 00:56:29.059 uh... focuses for amateur radio right now is 00:56:29.059 --> 00:56:31.920 we need more mentors and uh... uh... that's what 00:56:31.920 --> 00:56:34.719 we had you know decades ago we've kind of lost 00:56:34.719 --> 00:56:37.920 sight on that And if we can now return to that, 00:56:38.260 --> 00:56:39.940 mentoring is probably going to be one of the 00:56:39.940 --> 00:56:43.440 strengths of helping people find their way either 00:56:43.440 --> 00:56:45.559 into amateur radio, back into amateur radio, 00:56:45.760 --> 00:56:48.599 and even through it as a new licensee versus 00:56:48.599 --> 00:56:50.579 they get the license and then they don't go anywhere 00:56:50.579 --> 00:56:54.460 because they don't know what to do next. All 00:56:54.460 --> 00:56:56.119 right. Well, there you have the quick version 00:56:56.119 --> 00:56:57.920 of that. Of course, all of that can be found 00:56:57.920 --> 00:57:03.710 in the Field Day packet. in QST Magazine as well. 00:57:04.929 --> 00:57:09.070 So guys, thanks so much for coming on and we 00:57:09.070 --> 00:57:11.789 appreciate you taking all of the questions and 00:57:11.789 --> 00:57:15.170 putting together some stuff to talk about and 00:57:15.170 --> 00:57:18.210 get people ready to go for field day this weekend. 00:57:20.190 --> 00:57:21.969 Thank you very much, Neil, for the opportunity. 00:57:22.710 --> 00:57:25.170 Gonna be an exciting time, Neil. Thousands of 00:57:25.170 --> 00:57:26.969 hams are gonna be engaged. These are the people 00:57:26.969 --> 00:57:30.780 that don't necessarily engage socially an amateur 00:57:30.780 --> 00:57:32.980 radio any other time of the year. Maybe they're 00:57:32.980 --> 00:57:35.960 housebound, you know, they're older hams now 00:57:35.960 --> 00:57:37.659 who just don't have necessarily the opportunity 00:57:37.659 --> 00:57:39.800 to get out, but they still find their way to 00:57:39.800 --> 00:57:42.980 Field Day. And I've been working on Field Day 00:57:42.980 --> 00:57:46.400 as the program has gone on because I'm doing 00:57:46.400 --> 00:57:49.460 the three hour long Windows update on the laptop. 00:57:52.090 --> 00:57:55.610 We've been multitasking tonight. We let the windows 00:57:55.610 --> 00:57:58.809 update run and so we're for a logging computer 00:57:58.809 --> 00:58:02.090 ready to go. So looking forward to it. I'll be 00:58:02.090 --> 00:58:05.409 operating under K9IU's auspices this weekend 00:58:05.409 --> 00:58:09.050 at field day. We'll be over at the Indiana University 00:58:09.050 --> 00:58:11.289 campus doing that with the high school group 00:58:11.289 --> 00:58:15.579 as well and some others. Hopefully, we'll hear 00:58:15.579 --> 00:58:20.219 you all on the air. So that is a wrap for this 00:58:20.219 --> 00:58:23.219 week's edition of HamTalk Live. Thanks to my 00:58:23.219 --> 00:58:27.199 guests, Bart Yonkey, W9JJ, David Isker, N1RSN, 00:58:27.239 --> 00:58:29.500 and everybody out there in cyberspace for listening 00:58:29.500 --> 00:58:33.059 and for writing in tonight. And invite you all 00:58:33.059 --> 00:58:35.860 back next Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time. 00:58:36.119 --> 00:58:40.119 Marty Soloway, KC1CWF, will be here with... some 00:58:40.119 --> 00:58:43.420 of the Baker Island, the expedition team, and 00:58:43.420 --> 00:58:46.340 if everything gets set up right, yes, we're going 00:58:46.340 --> 00:58:50.739 to come to you live from Baker Island next week. 00:58:50.780 --> 00:58:53.960 So you don't want to miss that and a list of 00:58:53.960 --> 00:58:57.820 our upcoming guests. as always at HamTalkLive 00:58:57.820 --> 00:59:02.159 .com. So I'm going to let you all go. Thanks 00:59:02.159 --> 00:59:04.260 for staying a little longer tonight. And this 00:59:04.260 --> 00:59:08.960 is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, saying 7375. Have a great 00:59:08.960 --> 00:59:12.059 field day weekend. And as always, may the good 00:59:12.059 --> 00:59:13.440 DX be yours.