This episode of HamTalk Live is brought to you
by Tower Electronics. For connectors, cables,
and more, visit them at a hamfest near you or
call 920 -435 -2973 or online at pl -259 .com.
Good evening, everyone live from Bloomington,
Indiana and the sound of a snoring cat Sam talk
live episode number 113 We're going shopping
at hamvention with Bob w50 v Recorded live on
Thursday, May 3rd 2018. I'm your host Neil rap
WB 9v PG Thanks for tuning in to this episode
of ham talk live tonight. We're joined by Bob
Naumann, W5OV from DX Engineering, and we will
take your calls live in just a few minutes. Last
week here on HamTalk Live, Carol Perry, WB2MGP,
and Mason Matrezzo, KM4SWI. They were here to
talk about the Youth Forum coming up at Hamvention.
So if you missed that, you can still catch that
whenever you want at HamTalkLive .com or on a
podcast app near you. We're also over on YouTube
and you can find that show and tune in. And for
those of you who were out in the Walmart parking
lots last week, I hope you enjoyed it. I certainly
did and we look forward to talking about that
more. a little bit later, but tonight we're continuing
our Hamvention preview on the show and we will
do that every week until the Dayton Hamvention
coming up. Before you know it, it's May 18th
through the 20th and we'll preview an event that
is happening each evening. And don't forget our
Hamvention Eve episode where we'll give you all
the information you need for your journey. out
to Xenia. Traffic, weather, parking and more
will be live from the Spring Hill Suites Dayton
South Miamisburg in the meeting room and if you
haven't made your hotel reservations yet and
you need a place well Spring Hill Suites has
a few rooms remaining so Be sure to give them
a call at 888 -850 -6391 or you can register
online at Marriott .com. Spring Hill Suite, Dayton,
South Miamisburg is the official Hamvention home
of HamTalk Live. Well, get your shopping questions
ready to go after we talk to Bob for a little
bit. We'll give you a chance to call in. I'll
go ahead and give you the phone number. We're
not ready for you just yet, but we'll give you
that phone number so you have your dialing fingers
ready. It's 812 -NET -HAM -1 812 -638 -4261 or
you can Skype us at HamTalk Live or of course
you can tweet us. We're at HamTalk Live on Twitter.
And if you're on Spreaker, you can put a comment
in there and that'll pop up on the screen here.
So we'd love to hear your questions tonight about
shopping at Hamvention. So I'll be back right
after this word from Tower Electronics right
here on HamTalk Live. This episode of HamTalk
Live is brought to you in part by Tower Electronics.
Tower Electronics has been the Ham's Dime Store
since 1978. When you need connectors, mobile
and handheld antennas, cables, or adapters, visit
Scott or Jill at a HamFest near you. Or you can
order online at pl -259 .com or call 920 -435
-2973. Stock up on those supplies like PL259
and end connectors, SMA adapters, audio cables,
soldering supplies, mobile antennas, and hamsticks.
Their silver -plated end connectors are even
used on the International Space Station. Tower
Electronics carries MFJ, Comet, Daiwa, OPEC,
Workman, and HamPro products. And don't miss
their 0 % off sale going on now. Tower Electronics
online at PL -259 .com. Proud to sponsor this
episode of HamTalk Live. Your host, Neil Rapp,
may be too radial short of a full ground system,
but he's back now with more HamTalk Live. Thanks
to Scott and Jill at Tower Electronics for sponsoring
the show again tonight. They help bring you HamTalk
Live each and every week. Coming up, HamFest
-wise, Saturday, May 5th, there's Cedarburg,
Wisconsin, and Sunday, May 6th, Sandwich, Illinois.
And of course, they'll be at HamVenture May 18th
through 20th. They'll be in building three, spot
3501. They've got four spots there. at 3501 and
then outside they're also on the curve just to
the east building 3 at 9113 and just look for
the big yellow blimp and you can also call if
you need some of their stuff it's 920 -435 -2973
or online at pl -259 .com if you can't make it
to Hamvention you can check them out that way.
Well, our guest tonight is Bob Nauman, W5OV.
First licensed in 1973 and on the air he enjoys
contesting, VHF, DXing and digital modes and
rag chewing pretty much in that order, I believe.
He occasionally operates from Antigua, where
his call sign is V260. He's operated from Bonaire
as well, and he enjoys riding motorcycles, playing
bass guitar, taking digital photography, and
fishing some fresh water. And Bob's a life member
of A -R -R -L, member of Radio Club of America,
QCWA, North Texas Ton Test Club, Lone Star DX
Association, SOC, Smirk and Fist. And he's on
the CQ Worldwide Contest Committee. And Bob is
the National Sales Manager for DX Engineering.
So he's one of those lucky people that ham radio
is his job, too. I wish I could get that gig.
Good evening, Bob, and welcome to HamTalk Live.
Hi, Neil. Great to be here. And yeah, ham radio
has pretty much been my entire life since I became
aware of it. I'm glad to talk about it and glad
to be here with you tonight. Well we're going
to talk some shopping tonight and of course you're
on the selling end of things and and so you know
we see that side but we want to talk a little
bit about what to look for so You've got some
insight on some of the new things that are going
to be coming out and things to look for that
maybe we haven't seen before or maybe haven't
noticed before at Hamvention. So what do you
know about what to look for that's going to be
new this year? Well, there's going to be lots
of things new. And, you know, that's what everybody
goes to Dayton for or now Xenia. is to see what
is new and You know a lot of new things are announced
there. Many of them are not pre -announced You
may have seen the ad from Kenwood radio. For
example, they've shown a draped box of some sort
hinting that they're coming out with a new radio,
but we really don't know And in QST, I've been
trying to rip that cover off of the radio And
it just didn't work. That's right. It just ripped
up the magazine. So I'm anxiously awaiting that
one to see what they have. Yeah. Well, there's
a lot of people are, and of course, you know,
at DX Engineering, we get phone calls every day
from people and they figure we must know, you
know, because we sell Kenwood. So they figure
we must have some you know, some insight as to
what's going to be under that cover. And we've
been told nothing. And I mean that literally.
I mean, we weren't even told they were going
to put the ad in with the shroud over whatever
it is. But they'll have some new stuff. Many
other manufacturers will. And that's part of
the fun of hunting around to see what is new.
And every year we have people who come to our
booth. And of course, you get to know people
after a while. I've been going to Dayton myself
every year since 1980. And I've been working
there for the past 12 or 15 years. And so I've
gotten to know a lot of people. from both just
casual attendance as well as working and so you
make you know some acquaintances where you see
people once a year and it's always nice to get
reacquainted but they often say hello and then
they say what's new and so you know we spend
a lot of time showing people what's new and that's
what we try to focus our rather considerably
sized booth on is showing off our new products.
DX Engineering has got a bunch this year. We've
added the Clifton Laboratories products to our
product line with preamps and high performance
preamps and so forth. So that's one thing. We've
got a lot of other new products, some stuff for
tower work, some switching devices, and you name
it, bandpass filters, all kinds of things. And
we'll be showing all those off. And of course,
we have some publicity coming out about most
of that stuff just before Dayton. And so people
can kind of have a guide of what to look for.
We do have some new antenna models. We've got
a new 160 modification kit for extending the
range of an 80 meter vertical to 160, which a
lot of people have been clamoring for for a long
time. And that's a nifty device that we'll be
showing off there. We've got a new prototype
of a rotator shock absorber. That we're going
to be showing and looking to get comments on
for people as well as You know, we've got some
some other enhancements. We've got some upgrades
for your rotators some heavy -duty bolt kits
and Some new Nivus NVIS type antenna kits that
are in demand and so we're hoping to meet some
needs from the folks that are doing that communication
mode, as well as some other really, really cool
high -tech stuff that I can't really reveal yet,
but the information on that will be out very
soon and we'll be showing some very, very cool
things at our booth. Now, if it's a handheld
radio that does D -Star and DMR and P25 and Fusion,
that would be wonderful. Not asking for much,
am I? No, not at all. You know, there are some
devices available that allow you to actually
interface between those different digital systems.
Unfortunately for me, you know, being involved
in this game for 45 years, you know, all this
new high -tech digital VHS stuff is not really
my bailiwick, but it's some pretty cool technology.
It's very complex. And, you know, the capabilities
of networking over those systems is pretty impressive.
You know, I've seen them demonstrated, but sadly,
you know, we've got multiple standards and none
of them talk directly to each other. But my understanding
is that there are some new devices that allow
you to navigate that impasse. And so I'm sure
there'll be some things around about that as
well. Well, that's something we'll look for and
I still remember telling this story. I was six
years old when I got my technician and we got
a Kenwood TR -7400A and it had a synthesizer
in it. It wasn't limited by crystals. You could
dial in the frequency and I was talking to my
dad and I said, you know, it would be really
cool if they had a handheld. that you can punch
that in. Oh, they'll never be able to get a synthesizer
that small. They'll never have that. It's just
never going to work. And now we've got all these
hand -helds that are a tenth of the size of that.
You just punch it in and you go. So maybe someday
we'll get one with all that on it. Of course,
there'll be 20 other standards by then, too.
Well, I'm kind of hoping that they'll pull it
all together and we can have people using the
different brands of radios capable of talking
to each other in a meaningful way, but that's
that's not happening yet, but It's it's pretty
cool. I know the you know, the D star network
that you know an icon and Kenwood radios is all
over the world and I've got friends in Germany
that are very avid users of those systems and
they carry on conversations with people here
in the states all the time. I think that kind
of networking capability is really impressive.
I'm kind of hopeful that that sort of sophisticated
technology may be something that might attract
some younger folks back into our hobby. When
I got started, I was 14, and back around the
same time you got started, Neil, I guess, I remember
that Kenwood 7400A with the rotating dials for
each 10 kilohertz and so forth positions of the
dial. Um, and I had a similar radio. Mine was
an icon 230. Yeah. Back in 19, uh, well that
was 1976. I think when I got my icon 230, um,
and that was, uh, actually was a very good quality
radio, but it was limited to 146 and 147. Yeah.
And I remember this. It was, uh, it became obsolete
pretty quick when they added one 45 to the repeater
bands. Yeah, it did. And I remember the 7 ,400.
That was one of the big selling points was it
had that and the other ones didn't. And that's
exactly when I got into hammer radio was 76.
So Yeah, we've come a long way and thankfully
so. I've got my eye on that shroud over the Kenwood
box and then I've got the drool already running
over the ICOM 7610. So we're going to have to
check that out over at Hamvention. Well, let's
move on to some some deals. So what, what, you
know, for somebody who's looking for a deal,
why do you suggest that might be the best deals
at Hamvention this year? Well, that's a, that's
a good question. I, you know, honestly, I think
the best deals to be had are probably out in
the flea market. Um, the, uh, Inside with the
commercial vendors, the prices are generally
about as low as they can possibly be until a
vendor decides to actually sell stuff below cost.
The margins on radios are very small and there
may be a few dollars discount one way or the
other at Hamvention. But I think the big bargains
are looking for some really good used equipment
out in the flea market. But there are some deals
to be made on new equipment. For example, the
approach that we at DX Engineering take is that
we offer a discount on a dollar value purchase.
If you purchase over X dollars, you get you know
why dollars off and it's not on a specific piece
of equipment so you can apply that that deal
to whatever you might want to purchase and so
we it makes it actually makes it easier for us
and I think it makes it easier for for our customers
because they can apply that discount to anything
they want and but there's all kinds of neat stuff
available there and I hope that this year I'll
actually get a chance to get out and do some
rummaging through the fleet market and see what's
out there and as you know we're all of us who
are involved in putting on the Hamvention are
all you know, hoping for the best as far as the
weather is concerned. And, you know, the results
last year were pretty good considering how awful
the weather was. So, you know, it doesn't have
to improve much to be a whole lot better. That
is true. Yeah. I mean, honestly, it couldn't
have been much worse. I mean, I guess we would
have had to have you know, tornadoes actually
touching down on the Green County fairgrounds
for it to be any worse than it was. I mean, I
don't think we could have gotten any more water.
So let's hope we don't have that this year. Yeah,
absolutely. And we already put in that order,
so hopefully that weather will, shipment will
come in. Speaking of shipping, Should people
look for Hamvention and then what might just
be better to just call up and order it and have
it shipped? What would be your suggestion on
that? Yeah, that's a really good question. It's
something that we get a lot of phone calls. You
know, people want to know, well, what kind of
deals are you going to be offering there and
should I wait? And, you know, it's really hard
to say because, you know, the market is very
dynamic. And, you know, we don't know what our
competitors' pricing is going to be, usually
until the first day of the show. And, you know,
so they kind of set the price. for a specific
model of radio and you know everybody seems to
follow suit you know for following whoever has
the lowest price because you don't want to miss
a sale because you're not willing to cut to the
same level but one of the things that a lot of
people do and you know we encourage this actually
especially for folks who don't live in Ohio,
is to not take merchandise home with you and
instead have it shipped to your home state outside
of Ohio. And by doing so, you avoid the Ohio
sales tax. uh... and uh... which uh... you know
the uh... state of ohio is uh... very diligent
about uh... trolling the uh... convention grounds
and uh... you know the uh... as with most states
that uh... have a sales tax uh... uh... nowadays
there uh... very very intent on uh... collecting
all of that that they can and uh... So that's
one reason to consider Having your stuff shipped
even though you place your order there You know
if it's shipped to your home state, you know,
you don't have to pay sales tax but we Also have
some folks who come in from from outside the
United States and You know, their mission is
to get something to take home with them on the
plane So, you know, we offer the opportunity
for people to call ahead of time. And we have
a cutoff of next week Friday where, you know,
if they want to pick something up at the Hamvention,
they place an order by next Friday. We'll have
it there ready to go. And a lot of our DX friends
take advantage of that type of a situation. And
they're, you know, more concerned about the safety
of transporting a fragile item or perhaps avoiding,
you know, even greater costs of importing stuff
through normal carriers into some foreign countries.
So there's a lot of different ways to get the
best deal as far as avoiding unnecessary costs.
But there's always a deal at the show. A lot
of products you don't get special pricing on.
As I said, we don't generally do special dating
pricing on individual products. But we have a
thing that if you're at the show and you're in
our booth, you're eligible for a percentage discount
on your purchase over a certain dollar threshold.
And that'll be announced at the show, of course.
And we have a lot of people who come and see
us. It's strange. The only time they purchase
anything from us is at Dayton. And we have all
of their records available to us while we're
online. And we say, oh, let me type in your call
sign here, Joe, and look at your account. And
sure enough, the last purchase was a year prior
at Hamvention. Well, it's pretty cool that you
can Pull that up there at Hamvention and and
find out all that information and save some time
and Some some good ideas there. Well one last
thing here before we go to the break and we do
need to get to the break here but You know, this
is the second year the Greene County Fairgrounds
Do you have a strategy? For somebody coming in
saying, you know, okay. What is it that I absolutely
have to see? uh... because you know the old place
we we knew oh yeah this person's over here in
this place is over there and you turn and you
turn left the cheesecake on a stick and you know
it itself yes now we don't know all that yet
we got a better idea of what what's your strategy
here for uh... doing some shopping well uh...
you know i think the uh... the strategy hasn't
changed that uh... You know, the one I developed,
like I said, since 1980, when I've been going
to the Hamvention, is my first thing is to look
around at the commercial exhibits in, you know,
now in Buildings 1, 2, and 3, to see, you know,
the major manufacturers and dealers and see what's
going on there. Kind of get that out of the way
first And then then I try to get out and spend
time in the flea market and Really spend some
time looking carefully at what's available out
there You know over the years, you know the assortment
and quality of things has Changed a little bit,
but you know Dayton is still a place where you
can find anything in ham radio and that flea
market is you know likely to produce You know
a big Transmitting tube for an amplifier you
might have or a common zest line or You know
a special microphone adapter that you can't find
anymore that you know the company might have
gone out of business and You know the the the
flea market there is known for having a great
assortment of stuff and So I would say commercial
exhibits Flea market if the weather's bad go
back inside to the commercial exhibits And if
it lightens up again, right back out there in
the flea market. And take your time. I think
it's, you know, if you walk too fast, you'll
miss stuff. And there's a lot to be seen. There's
a lot of neat people out there. And that's another
thing, is that, you know, the people at Hamvention
is really what make it all. memorable thing to
do and you know say hello to some of the people
who are selling stuff and You never know you
might might make a new friend while you're there,
too sounds like a good plan and That's against
kind of what I've tried to do is hit those commercial
buildings first and then and look around so sounds
like a good plan well, we're gonna take a break
and when we come back, we're gonna Talk about
some upgrades for your station that you might
be looking at and we'll take your calls live
and see what you all have to say about doing
some shopping at Hamvention. So I'll be back
with Bob right after this word from the National
Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting and Amateur
Radio Newsline right here on HamTalk Live. The
National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting,
located in Westchester, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati,
is only two minutes off I -75. The museum is
the former home of the Voice of America Bethany
Relay Station. Tours are now available every
Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p .m. Eastern
time. You can see the control room. a 200 ,000
watt transmitter, and the most comprehensive
collection of inventions by the iconic Powell
-Crosley Jr. Also on display is a huge antique
radio exhibit and R .L. Drake's personal collection
of most every Drake amateur rig ever made. This
is a unique opportunity to see amateur radio
in action and have a chance to get on the air
from WC8VOA. Admission is only $5 a person. The
museum is located close to historic WLWAM and
tons of shopping and restaurants. Take a trip
to the VOA museum or visit us online at voamuseum
.org. Nominations are now open for the amateur
radio news line, Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF Young
Ham of the Year Award. I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW.
Since 1986, we've had the honor of celebrating
the accomplishments of Youth and Ham Radio when
we want to know about your exceptional Young
Ham. You'll find the rules and a nominating form
by clicking the Y -H -O -T -Y tab on ARNewsline
.org. Fill it out, send it in, and we'll see
you and an amazing young ham at the Huntsville
Alabama Ham Fest in August. Thanks and 73 from
Amateur Radio Newsline. Let's have an eyeball
QSO in Dayton. You're listening to Ham Talk Live
with Neil Rapp. Join the conversation. Call us
on voice with Skype at HamTalk Live or give us
a call at 812 -NET -HAM -1. That's 812 -638 -4261.
Now here's more HamTalk Live. The Voice of America
Museum of Broadcasting has their special Hamvention
Hours. They're gonna be open Thursday May 17th
from 1 to 4, Friday evening May 18th from 5 to
9, Saturday May 19th from 1 to 9, and Sunday
May 20th from 1 to 4. You can check them out
at voamuseum .org. And again, the Young Ham of
the Year Award that's coming up at the end of
the month is the deadline, so... Coming down
to crunch time to get those nominations in if
you're gonna do that Well ham talk live is on
the air every Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern
time right here at ham talk live comm be sure
to check us out on all the social media Facebook
Twitter and Instagram and that kind of thing
and It's time for your calls now. So if you have
a question for Bob about shopping here tonight
give us a call that phone number is 812 net ham
one eight one two six three eight four two six
one now is the time to call or you can tweet
us we're at ham talk live on Twitter or if you're
on Spreaker listening live you can Comment and
that'll pop up here on the screen. So I'd love
to hear from you tonight and Join the conversation
with us. Uh, we're with Bob W five O V from DX
engineering, talking about shopping at Hamvention.
So now let's shift gears a little bit. Bob, while
we're waiting, uh, to see if we have, uh, some
questions out there, uh, about station upgrades,
what are some things that you would suggest for
somebody who has a basic HF station, but, um,
looking to, to bump the station up a little bit
more to make those those, you know, DX stations
just a little bit better. Well, you know, there's
a lot of things that people could do, you know,
from upgrading their radio to a newer model or,
you know, as you mentioned earlier, you know,
the new icon 7610 is very popular and is really
a fantastic value. In dollars, it's actually
cheap for the performance level you get. The
standard upgrade stuff is new antennas, adding
an amplifier to your HF station. Is a you know
great way to boost your transmitted signal level
And in that order that is improve your antenna
first and then put a good amplifier behind it
And then of course, there's all kinds of station
accessories That just improve, you know your
creature comforts in your shack You know, this
is something that you find a lot of at the Hamvention.
You know there's a lot of little manufacturers,
guys who are building stuff in their basements
or their garages perhaps or they're trying to
start up a new company and you can find these
things in Dayton because they know that's where
they're going to find tens of thousands of potential
customers. So, you know, new products by new
vendors get launched there pretty much every
year, you know, from headsets and microphones
and foot switches, keyers, you know, amplified
and noise reducing speaker systems. You know
there's a company in the UK called BHI who makes
a really top quality noise reducing DSP type
speaker systems and they'll be in from the UK
and we'll have a booth there in building one,
the same building that DX Engineering is in and
you know that's just one example of you know,
the types of accessory items you can find. I
know, for example, that NRAD that's associated
with VibroPlex is going to be announcing a new
headset, you know, headphones with a microphone
attached for contesting and DXing that I understand
is very high quality. and it will be at a competitive
price. Of course, the industry standard Hile
headsets and microphones will be on display there.
Bob Hile will have his normal show with all their
latest products on display and hooked up so you
can test them out and see the performance of
the various microphones. how they differ and
headsets and uh check oh we've lost bob and we
picked up carl here so carl hang on just a minute
all right and we'll see if we can get bob back
on the line live radio at its best Okay, there
we go. Okay. We've got Bob back on the line now.
Sorry, Bob. We had a call come in and Skype decided
to take one and not the other. So you were telling
us about some of the Hile products. Okay. Well,
you know, I'm not sure where I cut out, but the
You know, Bob Heil will have his full show there
with live demonstrations of all of their products.
And I was talking about how good it is to actually
see and be able to touch the products yourself.
And this is another great reason to go to Hamvention,
to see all this really great stuff that you might
see on the internet. or in the magazines, but
you never actually get your hands on it, and
you can at Hamvention. So that's a great reason
to go, and seeing Heil equipment is just one
of the regular stops on the tour of the commercial
exhibits for me. All right, very good. 812 -638
-4261 is the telephone number and Carl KD9HQT
had tried to call in. Try the phone number there
Carl if you would. 812 -638 -4261 and we'll make
sure that we know that works. So try the phone
number there if you would. 812 -638 -4261 And
we'll see if we can get his question in before
we take off. And if anyone else wants to jump
in, again, 812 -638 -4261, or you can tweet us.
We're at HamTalk Live. And we'll try to get your
questions in. What about a contest or what kind
of an upgrade would you think that maybe an active
contest or should be looking for? Well, you know,
this is a specific area that DX engineering is
focused on you know, many of our key clients
are contesters and DXers and You know, we have
all sorts of products that are tailored for that
market and we're announcing a device this year
called the RX share or receiver sharing device,
which is a very high quality system that allows
for more than one operator to listen to a radio
with high quality balanced audio levels and the
ability to actually tie two radios into the one
system. That's something we're going to be showing
this year and I hope I'm still there. Yep, you're
still here. Okay, because I saw Carl was trying
to come in somehow. But that's one product that
I know of for sure because that's one we're bringing.
But there's going to be many, many, many others.
And so no one's going to run short on opportunities
to spend some money. All right. Well, that's
what... Hamvention is about is seeing people
and spending money. So that's, uh, that's some
good stuff there. All right. Well, let's see
if we've got, uh, do we have Carl on the line
here? Yeah. There we go. Sorry about that. Uh,
we were uh... having some problems with skype
with uh... with the group call so uh... go ahead
with your question this is carl katie nine h
q t a m bob this is carl katie nine h q t i don't
live that far from neil so he lives so i live
uh... uh... down the street from him but anyways
i have a couple of questions actually uh... this
is about the vendor prices and this is one of
the things i know and most at Any other Hanfest
is besides Hanvention, and it's about competition
with prices. If there's a 12 -pack of TL259s
for 10 -pack of 259s, one vendor is going to
sell for 12 .50, and the other is going to sell
for 20, it's the same product. for the same quality.
So sometimes it's very hard to choose which vendor
is the best vendor. And also the other question
is that it's about who should you trust about
equipment -wise, especially with my... Used equipment.
I don't want to keep this too long, but my miserable
experience at Dougher. Should I trust somebody,
like who is selling a faulty equipment that has
not very much equipment displayed, like not very
many rigs and whatever. I don't want to keep
this too long. Yeah, Carl, let me address a couple
of things. First, thanks for calling. But as
far as pricing of individual parts and things
like that, like a bag of PL 259s, that's part
of the fun of going to Hamvention. You have so
many different choices there. And you can run
around and visit the different vendors and make
note of what price the various vendors are selling
different products for and compare them. And
you probably can do a little bit of playing one
against the other. saying, hey, well, those guys
over there are selling the exact same thing for
10 % less. What are you going to do for me? That
kind of thing. So you can do that. And I would
think that that would be a successful way to
get the best deal. But take some running around
and doing some homework. But if you've got your
sights set on a particular thing, You know, it
may provide you the best value. But the other
thing I wanted to say about things like PL 259s,
be careful what you're buying. You know, one
bag of PL 259s is not necessarily equivalent
to what appears to be the same thing for somebody
else. So, you know, you have to know what you're
looking at. And that applies to used equipment,
too. If you don't have a real good comfort level
with a particular piece of equipment, and let's
say you're not familiar with it enough so that
you can assess its condition by just looking
at it, I would say if you have any doubts, just
keep on walking. I think it has a lot to do with
how you interact with the seller. There are a
lot of people there who are selling things in
the flea market who are very well known. You
know, they're not all faceless, call signless
people that you don't know. Many of them have,
you know, long standing, you know, used equipment,
dealerships, if you will, in the ham radio world
and, you know, are very well known and they have
a reputation to maintain. So, You know, while
there may be some unscrupulous, you know, rip
-off artists out there, they're not all that
way. There are some good people earning a living
and doing an honest day's work out there. And
so I would say, you know, the way you really
have to make a decision is based on your comfort
level with the seller. your comfort level with
the particular product you're looking at, and
your own awareness of what constitutes a good
or maybe not so good purchase decision. Let's
just say, for example, something that I bought
in Dayton many, many years ago was an antenna
tuner. I bought a Drake MN -2000, which they
stopped making decades ago, of course. But the
seller was willing to open it up and let me look
inside, and I could see that it didn't have any
damage, and the price was decent, so I bought
it. I used it for years and years and years after
that. So, you know, I felt very comfortable spending
that money. So it's a personal thing and, you
know, use your best judgment is really how I
would sum it up, Carl. Oh, yes. Yes. Especially
when I bought that power supply. It was a Yeezy
power supply that I got from. It's a very offensive
word. douger but um but um um yeah the the dugger
i meant the um the power supply carried more
than 40 volts so it should be um 13 .7 not 40
so when i when i hooked up the the the power
supply to my uh yadu fd857 um it just fried the
um the um the powering circuits in the in the
rigs so get them my dad now but um but um um
so so for future um hand festives i'm just not
gonna go to dugger anymore because well unfortunately
that happens from time to time but uh you know
sometimes intentional sometimes not but it does
it does uh You know doesn't always end well and
then unfortunately that's That's what happened
with this one. And so like he like Bob says,
you know It's a good idea to check it out. And
I know at hamvention. They've had some I don't
I'm not sure if they have maybe maybe Bob will
know they had some test benches at one point
so you can check things out before you left yes,
and Also, many of the sellers, if they're in
the flea market, they may have a generator where
you can plug stuff in and test it out. Or some
of the guys will let you take a piece of equipment
over to one of the commercial buildings where
you can find an outlet and plug it in and make
sure the thing lights up, that kind of thing.
You know, it's a, it's a mixed bag out there,
but it sure is a lot of fun looking through it
all. All right, Carl. Okay. All right. Thanks
Neil. Yeah. Thanks for calling in Carl. Appreciate
you calling. No problem. We'll see you soon.
All right. All right. Well, I think that's going
to, uh, Finish things up with Bob tonight, but
thanks for coming on. And if you have more questions
for Bob, uh, tell them how they can get ahold
of you. Well, um, I can, um, uh, contact me at
the DX engineering. My call sign w five O V at
DX engineering .com is the easiest way. And,
um, I check my email every day and. be glad to
answer any questions anyone might have. All right,
well that's going to finish it up for tonight.
That is a wrap. for this week's episode of ham
talk live thanks to bob nowman w50 v and everyone
out there in cyberspace for listening and calling
in and come back next thursday night at 9 p .m
our last show before the the ham vince and eve
traffic and parking and weather special michael
kalter is going to be back w8 ci and he's going
to give us the latest updates on how the the
work on the grounds is going and all the last
minute. updates, the latest information that
we can get before Hamvention takes off. So make
sure you give us a listen for that and see how
things are progressing out there at the Green
County Fairgrounds. And for a list of all of
our upcoming guests, visit HamTalkLive .com.
And I do want to ask one thing, if you can, please
leave us a review on iTunes. We need some reviews
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so that people will find the show and so if you
could leave us a review, we'd greatly appreciate
it. So for now, this is Neil Rapp, Now Will You
B9 VPG, saying 7 -3, 7 -5, and may the good DX
be yours. Thanks for watching!