WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.799 This episode of HamTalk Live is brought to you 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:06.339 by Tower Electronics. For connectors, cables 00:00:06.339 --> 00:00:09.939 and more, visit them at a hamfest near you or 00:00:09.939 --> 00:00:18.420 call 920 -435 -2973 or online at pl -259 .com. 00:00:51.560 --> 00:00:54.579 Good evening, everyone. It's time for ham talk 00:00:54.579 --> 00:01:00.020 live. It's episode number 107 CW ops with Rob 00:01:00.020 --> 00:01:05.840 K6 RB recorded live on Thursday March 22nd 2018. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:10.120 I'm your host Neil rap WB 9 VPG Thanks for tuning 00:01:10.120 --> 00:01:14.079 in to this episode of ham talk live tonight. 00:01:14.219 --> 00:01:18.780 We're joined by Rob at Brownstein in K6 RB And 00:01:18.780 --> 00:01:21.200 we will take your calls in just a few minutes. 00:01:21.819 --> 00:01:25.159 Last week here on the show, John Mills, KC9 BRX 00:01:25.159 --> 00:01:29.620 was here to talk about Skywarn Nets. And if you 00:01:29.620 --> 00:01:34.060 missed the show, you can listen anytime at HamTalkLive 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:38.439 .com or on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeart Podcasts, 00:01:38.519 --> 00:01:41.319 Google Play, TuneIn, SoundCloud, or even YouTube 00:01:41.319 --> 00:01:46.239 and lots of other. podcast players if you want 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:49.159 to catch the podcast version of the show. So 00:01:49.159 --> 00:01:52.340 get your CW questions ready to go. After the 00:01:52.340 --> 00:01:54.959 interview, you can give us a call. The telephone 00:01:54.959 --> 00:02:01.400 number is 812 -NET -HAM -1. That's 812 -638. 00:02:04.009 --> 00:02:06.810 If you'd like to give us a call, you can do that. 00:02:06.890 --> 00:02:09.530 Don't do that just now because we won't be able 00:02:09.530 --> 00:02:12.590 to answer your call. But later on, that is the 00:02:12.590 --> 00:02:16.550 number so you can have that handy. It's 812 -638 00:02:16.550 --> 00:02:21.969 -4261. So I'll be back with Rob right after this 00:02:21.969 --> 00:02:25.610 word from Tower Electronics right here on HamTalk 00:02:25.610 --> 00:02:28.550 Live. This episode of HamTalk Live is brought 00:02:28.550 --> 00:02:32.229 to you in part by Tower Electronics. Tower Electronics 00:02:32.229 --> 00:02:35.449 has been the Ham's Dime Store since 1978. When 00:02:35.449 --> 00:02:38.169 you need connectors, mobile and handheld antennas, 00:02:38.449 --> 00:02:41.629 cables, or adapters, visit Scott or Jill at a 00:02:41.629 --> 00:02:44.990 HamFest near you. Or you can order online at 00:02:44.990 --> 00:02:52.729 PL -259 .com or call 920 -435 -2973. Stock up 00:02:52.729 --> 00:02:55.949 on those supplies like PL -259 and end connectors, 00:02:56.370 --> 00:02:59.550 SMA adapters, audio cables, soldering supplies, 00:02:59.770 --> 00:03:02.550 mobile antennas, and hamsticks. Their silver 00:03:02.550 --> 00:03:05.469 -plated end connectors are even used on the International 00:03:05.469 --> 00:03:08.789 Space Station. Tower Electronics carries MFJ, 00:03:09.030 --> 00:03:13.110 Comet, Daiwa, OPEC, Workman, and HamPro products. 00:03:13.349 --> 00:03:16.930 And don't miss their 0 % off sale going on now. 00:03:17.229 --> 00:03:21.530 Tower Electronics online at PL -259 .com. Proud 00:03:21.530 --> 00:03:25.500 to sponsor this episode of HamTalk Live. We're 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:27.800 not sure what's up with the fifth dentist, but 00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:30.039 four out of five dentists recommend listening 00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:55.530 to HamTalk Live. Thanks to Scott and Jill at 00:03:55.530 --> 00:03:57.909 Tower Electronics for sponsoring the show tonight 00:03:57.909 --> 00:04:02.810 to help bring you HamTalk Live. April 6th and 00:04:02.810 --> 00:04:06.569 7th they'll be at Belton, Texas and April 7th 00:04:06.569 --> 00:04:10.069 they'll be at Stoughton, Wisconsin. April 14th, 00:04:10.069 --> 00:04:13.650 Mobile, Alabama. April 21st, Gainesville, Florida. 00:04:14.169 --> 00:04:16.970 And April 28th in Calhoun, Georgia. And of course, 00:04:17.069 --> 00:04:19.670 then they'll be at the Dayton Hamvention. You 00:04:19.670 --> 00:04:21.769 can always give them a call, though, if they're 00:04:21.769 --> 00:04:29.040 not at a ham fest near you. at 920 -435 -2973 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:34.379 or you can visit their website at PL -259 .com 00:04:34.379 --> 00:04:37.860 and tell them you heard it on HamTalk Live. Our 00:04:37.860 --> 00:04:42.870 guest tonight is Rob Brownstein, K6RB. Rob was 00:04:42.870 --> 00:04:49.350 first licensed in 1958 as KN2UMU at age 11 and 00:04:49.350 --> 00:04:52.029 after upgrading to general a year later and then 00:04:52.029 --> 00:04:55.649 extra class in 1970 he moved to California in 00:04:55.649 --> 00:05:00.569 1973. With the move came a new call sign in 1982 00:05:00.569 --> 00:05:07.990 to NS6V and then in 1997 K6RB which is his current 00:05:07.990 --> 00:05:12.370 call sign and Rob operates a lot of CW splitting 00:05:12.370 --> 00:05:14.730 his time between rag chewing and contesting. 00:05:15.389 --> 00:05:19.550 He has a modern SO2R single op two radio station 00:05:19.550 --> 00:05:24.050 and a vintage station as well. He's a member 00:05:24.050 --> 00:05:26.329 of the Northern California contest club, the 00:05:26.329 --> 00:05:28.889 first class CW operators club. And tonight we'll 00:05:28.889 --> 00:05:33.529 be talking about CW ops, which he's also a member 00:05:33.529 --> 00:05:37.370 of. And he is also a mentor advisor and teacher 00:05:37.370 --> 00:05:43.569 in the CW Ops Academy. And in 2017, last year 00:05:43.569 --> 00:05:47.250 at the Dayton Hamvention, he received the Technical 00:05:47.250 --> 00:05:50.810 Achievement Award from the Dayton Amateur Radio 00:05:50.810 --> 00:05:53.810 Association. So Rob, thanks for joining us on 00:05:53.810 --> 00:05:57.759 HamTalk Live tonight. My pleasure. Well, we want 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:00.740 to talk about CW Ops a little bit. So tell us 00:06:00.740 --> 00:06:03.939 about the organization and how it got started 00:06:03.939 --> 00:06:08.459 and what the goal is of having a group for CW 00:06:08.459 --> 00:06:16.439 operators. Okay, so CW Ops was conceived of around 00:06:16.439 --> 00:06:22.600 November 2009 after a bunch of rag -choo -cusos 00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:28.670 with me and about 11 other guys. We kind of thought 00:06:28.670 --> 00:06:33.189 about a new CW club that had what we consider 00:06:33.189 --> 00:06:35.990 to be unique aspects, which I'll describe in 00:06:35.990 --> 00:06:41.790 a second. And by January 1, 2010, just a few 00:06:41.790 --> 00:06:45.329 months later, we launched. And at the time of 00:06:45.329 --> 00:06:50.720 launch, we had 127 members. Today I saw that 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:56.579 we just invited number 1997 to join the club 00:06:56.579 --> 00:07:03.100 and that represents 71 countries, so it's taken 00:07:03.100 --> 00:07:07.160 off probably a Thousand times more than any of 00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:10.480 us ever assumed it would but it's very gratifying 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:12.879 to have been part of it and a founder of the 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:18.759 group now You might say well gee Does Ham Radio 00:07:18.759 --> 00:07:21.879 really need another CW club? After all, there's 00:07:21.879 --> 00:07:26.019 SKCC and FIS and FOC. What do you need another 00:07:26.019 --> 00:07:30.560 CW club? That's a legitimate question to ask. 00:07:31.579 --> 00:07:36.180 What we concluded, the 12 of us, was that some 00:07:36.180 --> 00:07:39.920 of the clubs really had no standard for what 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:42.259 you had to be able to do to get in. You just 00:07:42.259 --> 00:07:45.899 had to sign up and pay your money. And some of 00:07:45.899 --> 00:07:50.060 the clubs had very strict standards. But what 00:07:50.060 --> 00:07:55.120 was missing was any mentoring program that would 00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:58.420 help people achieve those standards. That was 00:07:58.420 --> 00:08:03.420 my motivation. And so we started CW Ops for the 00:08:03.420 --> 00:08:07.420 express purpose of having a club that was devoted 00:08:07.420 --> 00:08:12.600 to CW and CW Arts. But a main facet of the club 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:15.709 was going to be this mentoring program, which 00:08:15.709 --> 00:08:21.509 we now call CW Academy. All right. Very good. 00:08:21.509 --> 00:08:27.810 And so your goal is to, um, train people to achieve 00:08:27.810 --> 00:08:32.590 those, those criteria then, um, as a CW operator. 00:08:33.269 --> 00:08:37.450 Correct. And, you know, I was thinking about 00:08:37.450 --> 00:08:41.730 it this morning in a way CW ops is like the, 00:08:41.730 --> 00:08:44.860 the elephant. with the blind people groping it. 00:08:45.019 --> 00:08:46.860 There are some people who, when you say, what 00:08:46.860 --> 00:08:49.659 is CW Ops? They go, oh, those are the guys that 00:08:49.659 --> 00:08:52.740 do that contest three times a day every Wednesday 00:08:52.740 --> 00:08:57.539 at 30 words per minute plus, and take up a big 00:08:57.539 --> 00:09:00.399 swath of bandwidth for an hour, and then the 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:03.750 band goes quiet. And that's one aspect. And then 00:09:03.750 --> 00:09:05.750 there were people who go, oh, I never heard about 00:09:05.750 --> 00:09:07.570 that. But aren't they the guys who have that 00:09:07.570 --> 00:09:10.269 free program where they teach Morse code? Oh, 00:09:10.269 --> 00:09:14.190 yeah. So I mean, there's different aspects of 00:09:14.190 --> 00:09:18.409 the club. But I think the one that is most commendable, 00:09:18.570 --> 00:09:21.610 from my perspective anyway, is the CW Academy. 00:09:22.029 --> 00:09:24.889 And as you pointed out, Neil, the goal of that 00:09:24.889 --> 00:09:29.370 is to help people either learn Morse or improve 00:09:29.370 --> 00:09:33.799 their skills. Excuse me, the ultimate goal is 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:36.000 if they're interested in joining the club to 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.600 help them get to a point where they meet the 00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:41.159 qualifications. So let me tell you what those 00:09:41.159 --> 00:09:44.919 are. Being able to send and receive 25 words 00:09:44.919 --> 00:09:49.360 a minute. Now you probably remember when the 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:52.740 FCC had incentive licensing and in order to get 00:09:52.740 --> 00:09:55.399 the highest class of license, you had to send 00:09:55.399 --> 00:09:59.009 and receive 20 words a minute. So we're actually 00:09:59.009 --> 00:10:03.610 requiring more than what you required to do the 00:10:03.610 --> 00:10:07.950 amateur extra. And the reason is we feel after 00:10:07.950 --> 00:10:12.090 much discussion that if you can't copy 25 and 00:10:12.090 --> 00:10:16.230 send 25 words a minute, then you really are not 00:10:16.230 --> 00:10:19.909 going to be ideally competent to have a long 00:10:20.820 --> 00:10:24.340 conversational QSO because much slower than 25 00:10:24.340 --> 00:10:27.519 gets cumbersome. And if you go much above it, 00:10:27.559 --> 00:10:29.700 then you're going to run into people who can't 00:10:29.700 --> 00:10:34.259 copy it. So 25 is kind of a sweet spot. Okay. 00:10:34.340 --> 00:10:39.440 Very, very interesting. Well, um, on the website 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:44.139 that you, um, have for CW ops, that's CW OPS. 00:10:44.649 --> 00:10:48.470 org. You have a ton of resources. You've got 00:10:48.470 --> 00:10:52.610 everything from software to contest information 00:10:52.610 --> 00:10:56.970 and the CW Academy is one of the things that 00:10:56.970 --> 00:11:01.210 I hear about the most. So tell us about how somebody 00:11:01.210 --> 00:11:05.029 could join the Academy and get in there and get 00:11:05.029 --> 00:11:10.970 up to that 25 word a minute speed. Okay, so originally 00:11:11.480 --> 00:11:14.480 When we first started the club, as I said, in 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:20.159 January 1st, 2010, we had some ideas for what 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:23.600 we wanted to do post launch. Number one was have 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:29.620 a weekly event, which we call CWT. Originally, 00:11:29.860 --> 00:11:32.539 it was once a month on a Wednesday, three different 00:11:32.539 --> 00:11:35.639 times for an hour each time. That's now grown 00:11:35.639 --> 00:11:39.840 to 52 weeks a year. An hour time three times 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:42.659 so a hundred and fifty six events per year which 00:11:42.659 --> 00:11:47.059 is by far the most of any kind of contest or 00:11:47.059 --> 00:11:52.840 pseudo contest. We also wanted to have an annual 00:11:52.840 --> 00:11:59.580 contest that. was a CW only contest and one which 00:11:59.580 --> 00:12:03.159 didn't require having multiple towers and yagis 00:12:03.159 --> 00:12:05.960 and amplifiers in order to have a respectable 00:12:05.960 --> 00:12:10.299 score even possibly win it. And so we created 00:12:10.299 --> 00:12:13.840 a thing called CW open which we hold at the first 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:18.679 Saturday of September every year. But CW Academy 00:12:19.309 --> 00:12:21.909 was the one that we knew was going to take the 00:12:21.909 --> 00:12:25.250 longest to roll out because it really required 00:12:25.250 --> 00:12:30.909 a lot of preparation and Originally the idea 00:12:30.909 --> 00:12:34.110 was to create a kind of a marriage Brokership 00:12:34.110 --> 00:12:37.669 where people that wanted help would sign up and 00:12:37.669 --> 00:12:40.049 let us know what bands they can operate what 00:12:40.049 --> 00:12:42.429 days and times and people who wanted to help 00:12:42.429 --> 00:12:44.570 them could do the same and then we would try 00:12:44.570 --> 00:12:50.419 to You know marry them Did not work was a disaster. 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:54.240 I did teach that first semester and I had a small 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:57.039 group of people that I was working with. But 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:59.779 what was interesting, Neil, is that the people 00:12:59.779 --> 00:13:07.259 that signed up for that first CW Academy rollout, 00:13:08.200 --> 00:13:10.659 we assumed most of the people would be people 00:13:10.659 --> 00:13:15.629 who were already CW capable and just wanted to 00:13:15.629 --> 00:13:18.370 improve their skills. And what we found was three 00:13:18.370 --> 00:13:20.769 quarters of the signups were people who did not 00:13:20.769 --> 00:13:25.269 know CW or could not copy it, you know, greater 00:13:25.269 --> 00:13:28.629 than 10 words a minute. And so we said, oh boy, 00:13:28.750 --> 00:13:32.029 we need to have a beginner's level, not just 00:13:32.029 --> 00:13:34.809 an intermediate and advanced level. So we created 00:13:34.809 --> 00:13:38.990 three levels. The beginning level takes you from 00:13:38.990 --> 00:13:42.659 knowing zero code. at the end of eight weeks 00:13:42.659 --> 00:13:46.320 to knowing how to be able to head copy and send 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:49.820 anywhere from 13 to 15 words a minute, eight 00:13:49.820 --> 00:13:53.559 weeks. Then the second program, which we call 00:13:53.559 --> 00:13:56.039 level two, that first one's called level one, 00:13:56.519 --> 00:13:59.879 level two takes you from that point. Anybody 00:13:59.879 --> 00:14:04.580 that can copy above 10 words a minute, but less 00:14:04.580 --> 00:14:06.799 than say 20 words a minute would go to level 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:10.279 two and level two, gets them to a point where 00:14:10.279 --> 00:14:14.019 they can copy head copy conversational qso's 00:14:14.019 --> 00:14:18.059 at 18 to 20 words a minute and Contest it over 00:14:18.059 --> 00:14:21.460 20 words a minute and then level 3 the advanced 00:14:21.460 --> 00:14:25.539 program takes you from that point and our typical 00:14:25.539 --> 00:14:29.919 graduate Can contest at up to 30 words a minute 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:33.639 and head copy comfortably? Conversational qso's 00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:40.259 at 25 so when you finish level 3 you meet the 00:14:40.259 --> 00:14:44.240 qualification to join CW Ops. And I think probably 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:48.700 80 or 90 % of our graduates do so right at that 00:14:48.700 --> 00:14:51.519 point. They're invited to join, they get sponsored, 00:14:51.860 --> 00:14:54.100 and boom, they're in. And the one thing that 00:14:54.100 --> 00:14:56.620 I personally do, and I'm sure other advisors 00:14:56.620 --> 00:15:01.139 do as well, is I always tell my level three class, 00:15:01.500 --> 00:15:04.659 hey, when you graduate in the next couple of 00:15:04.659 --> 00:15:08.049 weeks, I'm gonna ask you to do me a favor. We 00:15:08.049 --> 00:15:11.029 have a ton of people signing up for Level 1 and 00:15:11.029 --> 00:15:14.450 we don't have enough advisors. Would you consider 00:15:14.450 --> 00:15:17.710 advising a Level 1 group? And so it's a self 00:15:17.710 --> 00:15:23.149 -perpetuating program. And at the end of 2017, 00:15:24.169 --> 00:15:28.289 Jerry AC4BT, who manages the program, estimates 00:15:28.289 --> 00:15:33.429 that we trained 3 ,000 hams since 2011. And our 00:15:33.429 --> 00:15:41.169 run rate per year is... probably 400, maybe up 00:15:41.169 --> 00:15:44.450 to 450, because we do three semesters, two months 00:15:44.450 --> 00:15:48.370 at a time, January, February, April, May, September, 00:15:48.570 --> 00:15:55.929 October. And to become a CW Academy student, 00:15:56.309 --> 00:15:58.350 all you have to do is go to the website, which 00:15:58.350 --> 00:16:02.889 you gave the URL at cwops .org, click on the 00:16:02.889 --> 00:16:06.750 tab for CW Academy. follow it to the student 00:16:06.750 --> 00:16:11.070 area, sign up, submit the sign up sheet, boom, 00:16:11.230 --> 00:16:15.009 and you'll hear from Jerry within 24 hours. The 00:16:15.009 --> 00:16:20.350 one thing that we are constantly trying to shorten 00:16:20.350 --> 00:16:28.710 is the backlog. If you signed up today for April, 00:16:28.710 --> 00:16:32.870 May, it's full. In fact, September, October is 00:16:32.870 --> 00:16:37.269 full. So if you signed up today, worst case, 00:16:37.570 --> 00:16:41.490 you're looking at January, February, but we have 00:16:41.490 --> 00:16:43.970 people whose schedules change or their plans 00:16:43.970 --> 00:16:46.730 change, who drop out towards the last minute 00:16:46.730 --> 00:16:49.990 before the classes are constituted. And so slots 00:16:49.990 --> 00:16:52.970 open up. You just never know. But we never have 00:16:52.970 --> 00:16:55.470 enough advisors to be able to do it, you know, 00:16:55.610 --> 00:16:58.450 on demand. And that's ultimately what we would 00:16:58.450 --> 00:17:01.549 love to be able to do. The other thing that we 00:17:01.549 --> 00:17:05.410 did this last semester in January and February 00:17:05.410 --> 00:17:08.930 was we rolled out a new program called Youth 00:17:08.930 --> 00:17:14.430 CW Academy, like Y -O -U -T -H, that is focused 00:17:14.430 --> 00:17:19.309 on people between the ages of 11 and 19. They're 00:17:19.309 --> 00:17:22.210 taught in age peer groups so that any student, 00:17:22.650 --> 00:17:25.569 once this program is fully running, would not 00:17:25.569 --> 00:17:28.069 be grouped with anybody more than two years older 00:17:28.069 --> 00:17:31.890 or two years younger. for the obvious reason 00:17:31.890 --> 00:17:36.829 and so We teach them level one just like we do 00:17:36.829 --> 00:17:39.470 with the regular CW Academy but they learn with 00:17:39.470 --> 00:17:43.049 kids who have the same kinds of experiences and 00:17:43.049 --> 00:17:45.450 knowledge that they have and so they have something 00:17:45.450 --> 00:17:48.849 in common and the goal is once they graduate 00:17:48.849 --> 00:17:51.589 to get them on the air as soon as possible get 00:17:51.589 --> 00:17:54.849 them talking to other young people and ultimately 00:17:54.849 --> 00:17:58.079 recreate the environment that existed in the 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:00.599 fifties and sixties when there was a novice band 00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:04.119 with a lot of young people, well, communicating 00:18:04.119 --> 00:18:06.920 with CW. And then of course we want to give them 00:18:06.920 --> 00:18:09.640 the skills and the protocols and the knowledge 00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:13.900 to be able to do that competently. No, I'm not 00:18:13.900 --> 00:18:17.519 going to get into the whole incentive licensing 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:20.920 argument and the new proposal to change some 00:18:20.920 --> 00:18:26.480 of the entry level license or privileges or whatever. 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:28.980 But one of the things that I keep hearing over 00:18:28.980 --> 00:18:35.519 and over again is it would be nice if we could 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:43.700 find a way to not be so reliant upon a test that 00:18:43.700 --> 00:18:48.579 we would do something with mentoring and Elmering 00:18:48.579 --> 00:18:53.700 and bringing people along. But then it's like, 00:18:53.740 --> 00:18:57.700 you know, like you said, you've already got a 00:18:57.700 --> 00:19:02.500 shortage of advisors to do this. And you've got 00:19:02.500 --> 00:19:05.619 a backlog of people waiting to get into this. 00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:09.420 But I mean, this is addressing that issue that 00:19:09.420 --> 00:19:14.799 you all are providing that training and support 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:20.990 and Elmering that we don't have. I agree with 00:19:20.990 --> 00:19:25.549 you. I think that's crucial and we you know, 00:19:25.690 --> 00:19:27.829 I can't tell you how many emails I've gotten 00:19:27.829 --> 00:19:31.230 since 2011 from people who've signed up for Academy 00:19:31.230 --> 00:19:34.829 Who said I've tried five different words ways 00:19:34.829 --> 00:19:38.029 to learn CW. None of them work for me I'm gonna 00:19:38.029 --> 00:19:40.609 try this one and see what happens and they succeed 00:19:40.609 --> 00:19:44.690 and later when I with my groups and the other 00:19:44.690 --> 00:19:47.210 advisors pull their groups at the end and say 00:19:47.210 --> 00:19:48.950 what worked for you, what didn't work for you, 00:19:48.990 --> 00:19:53.130 what would you change, so on and so forth. Invariably, 00:19:53.630 --> 00:19:57.089 the thing that makes CW Academy a success is 00:19:57.089 --> 00:20:00.950 the human factor. The curriculum and all that 00:20:00.950 --> 00:20:04.470 stuff, yeah, that matters. There's lots of great 00:20:04.470 --> 00:20:08.029 stuff on the web. You can go to learn CW online, 00:20:08.190 --> 00:20:11.970 who one of our members actually did, Fabian Kurtz. 00:20:13.220 --> 00:20:17.680 But it's, you know, it requires you to kind of 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:20.980 know what you need to do next. Whereas with this, 00:20:21.220 --> 00:20:24.819 you have an advisor who is basically assessing 00:20:24.819 --> 00:20:27.859 you every time you meet, which is 16 times over 00:20:27.859 --> 00:20:31.519 the course of two months and saying, hey, you 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:33.720 know, you need to work on this a little bit more. 00:20:33.740 --> 00:20:35.940 Don't worry about that. You have that down and 00:20:35.940 --> 00:20:39.099 so on and so forth. And it's that human factor 00:20:39.099 --> 00:20:42.480 that is the critical factor. That's the success 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:46.380 factor. Well, it sounds like an excellent, excellent 00:20:46.380 --> 00:20:50.920 program. And again, if anyone's out is out there 00:20:50.920 --> 00:20:55.799 that could be an advisor to some of these level 00:20:55.799 --> 00:20:59.200 one classes, especially, you know, to get people 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:02.380 started and free up some people to do some of 00:21:02.380 --> 00:21:06.049 the other levels, why that would be. a wonderful 00:21:06.049 --> 00:21:10.869 thing and a way to mentor more people. And of 00:21:10.869 --> 00:21:14.569 course, young people, that's where a lot of my 00:21:14.569 --> 00:21:18.170 work is. And so I always encourage that. But 00:21:18.170 --> 00:21:21.789 I can't let this go, Rob, because this has been 00:21:21.789 --> 00:21:26.529 something that's been kind of particular to me. 00:21:27.849 --> 00:21:32.089 Because when I got into ham radio, the class 00:21:32.089 --> 00:21:35.029 that I wanted to or that I was going to go take, 00:21:35.210 --> 00:21:37.750 I should say. I don't know that I knew that I 00:21:37.750 --> 00:21:42.789 wanted to do this. But the class that I was going 00:21:42.789 --> 00:21:46.630 to go to with my dad had an age requirement of 00:21:46.630 --> 00:21:52.809 13. And I was five. Now, granted, I was the exception 00:21:52.809 --> 00:21:56.730 at five. There haven't been, but, you know, maybe 00:21:56.730 --> 00:22:00.789 a dozen kids at five years old get into ham radio. 00:22:01.630 --> 00:22:08.259 But the age requirement was there for 13 years 00:22:08.259 --> 00:22:13.400 old and I came in there and copied code and proved 00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:16.339 that I could do it. And then they said, oh, maybe 00:22:16.339 --> 00:22:20.420 we better let this kid take the test and give 00:22:20.420 --> 00:22:25.180 this a try. And it worked. So you said 11, which 00:22:25.180 --> 00:22:28.660 I think is a good spot because you're catching 00:22:28.660 --> 00:22:35.400 a lot of those kids that are In the majority, 00:22:35.500 --> 00:22:39.680 you know at that younger age But what do you 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:43.160 do for those that are younger? That's a great 00:22:43.160 --> 00:22:47.240 question Neil and it came up While I was teaching 00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:52.500 the first pilot program of YCWA I got a message 00:22:52.500 --> 00:22:59.559 from a fellow who said I have a niece who's eight 00:22:59.559 --> 00:23:05.700 years old and She asked me to tell her what the 00:23:05.700 --> 00:23:11.079 letters are for her name. Her name was L -A -C 00:23:11.079 --> 00:23:15.420 -Y. And so he taught her the letters. And then 00:23:15.420 --> 00:23:19.779 she proceeded after she sent her name, she sent 00:23:19.779 --> 00:23:24.140 his name, which was Malcolm. And he said, how 00:23:24.140 --> 00:23:26.660 did you learn all those other letters? She goes, 00:23:26.779 --> 00:23:29.200 I was listening while you were learning in CW 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:34.619 Academy. When he told me that I said look the 00:23:34.619 --> 00:23:38.359 reason that we Started at 11 and went to 19 really 00:23:38.359 --> 00:23:40.960 had to do with the age peer groups set up that 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:45.579 we had in recognizing practicality that We already 00:23:45.579 --> 00:23:48.539 have a shortage of advisors. We're gonna have 00:23:48.539 --> 00:23:52.519 an even more critical shortage of advisors So 00:23:52.519 --> 00:23:54.579 we have to draw the line somewhere. Let's make 00:23:54.579 --> 00:23:59.019 it 11 That's not to say that if things really 00:23:59.019 --> 00:24:02.130 take off and we start getting kids that are eight 00:24:02.130 --> 00:24:04.930 nine and ten that we wouldn't create yet another 00:24:04.930 --> 00:24:07.690 group but the other limitation and i'm sure you 00:24:07.690 --> 00:24:11.589 had this when you were five is that even though 00:24:11.589 --> 00:24:14.789 we in ham radio morse code we we do a lot of 00:24:14.789 --> 00:24:19.009 abbreviating you still have to be able to spell 00:24:19.960 --> 00:24:22.680 And typically five -year -olds have a lot of 00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:25.920 trouble with that some 11 year olds do so that 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:29.099 that's kind of the other aspect to the to the 00:24:29.099 --> 00:24:32.059 age limitation is we picked an age that we felt 00:24:32.059 --> 00:24:35.559 had enough capability to be able to do what they 00:24:35.559 --> 00:24:40.200 needed to do for head copy skills and You know 00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:43.819 the 19 that may be you know pushing the upper 00:24:43.819 --> 00:24:46.440 limit because by then a lot of kids are in college, 00:24:46.500 --> 00:24:49.420 they've got other interests and distractions, 00:24:49.700 --> 00:24:53.099 but we don't know. We're really going to be trying 00:24:53.099 --> 00:24:57.759 to find out as we push this out where this sweet 00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:00.660 spot is and we may change things down the road. 00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:03.380 It's certainly going to be a work in progress, 00:25:03.539 --> 00:25:07.230 Neil. Well and and you know like I said, I think 00:25:07.230 --> 00:25:12.329 that's a good place to put it Just from the sheer 00:25:12.329 --> 00:25:16.069 numbers that I think you know the numbers below 00:25:16.069 --> 00:25:19.009 that are not going to be zero, but they're going 00:25:19.009 --> 00:25:23.670 to be smaller and with your limitations of You 00:25:23.670 --> 00:25:25.589 know the number of instructors and that kind 00:25:25.589 --> 00:25:28.769 of thing. I think that's a good a good number 00:25:28.769 --> 00:25:33.589 to go for but But yeah, that'll be interesting 00:25:33.589 --> 00:25:39.109 to see how many you get, but there could be some 00:25:39.109 --> 00:25:43.150 possibilities down the road for that. Well, what 00:25:43.150 --> 00:25:48.069 I was going to do with Lacy was teach her myself 00:25:48.069 --> 00:25:51.710 one -on -one so that she wouldn't be in a group 00:25:51.710 --> 00:25:55.680 with kids who were a lot older than her. for 00:25:55.680 --> 00:25:58.539 a variety of reasons having to do with scheduling 00:25:58.539 --> 00:26:01.880 on her and it didn't work out for this semester, 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:06.819 but we may do it in September. And I actually 00:26:06.819 --> 00:26:09.400 have a group that I'll be starting in a week 00:26:09.400 --> 00:26:14.759 or so of three brothers. I think their ages are 00:26:14.759 --> 00:26:20.880 12, no, 12, 10 and eight. So there is an eight 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:23.279 year old in that group. It's a sibling. And they 00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:26.039 were all going to be learning together. So, you 00:26:26.039 --> 00:26:29.099 know, every, every rule was meant to have exceptions 00:26:29.099 --> 00:26:32.359 and this one does as well. So it's not hard and 00:26:32.359 --> 00:26:36.039 fast, but it's kind of a guideline. Sure. Sure. 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:39.400 Absolutely. And that's what it was at, at that 00:26:39.400 --> 00:26:42.240 point. And I realize that that's kind of the 00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:45.170 exception. So That's, uh, that's good stuff. 00:26:45.349 --> 00:26:48.170 Well, we're up against a break. So let me, uh, 00:26:48.170 --> 00:26:50.390 get on with the break and then we'll come back 00:26:50.390 --> 00:26:53.309 and talk to Rob. Uh, we can talk about, um, some 00:26:53.309 --> 00:26:56.450 of the software, uh, available and contests and 00:26:56.450 --> 00:26:59.329 that kind of thing. Uh, but, uh, and I know we've 00:26:59.329 --> 00:27:01.230 had a couple of people try to call during the 00:27:01.230 --> 00:27:03.970 interview part. So, uh, we'll try to get some 00:27:03.970 --> 00:27:06.829 calls in as well. And we'll be back with Rob 00:27:06.829 --> 00:27:09.230 right after this word from the national voice 00:27:09.230 --> 00:27:11.990 of America museum of broadcasting and amateur 00:27:11.990 --> 00:27:15.329 radio news line. right here on HamTalk Live. 00:27:15.589 --> 00:27:18.329 The National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting 00:27:18.329 --> 00:27:22.069 located in Westchester, Ohio just north of Cincinnati 00:27:22.069 --> 00:27:26.549 is only two minutes off I -75. The museum is 00:27:26.549 --> 00:27:29.190 the former home of the Voice of America Bethany 00:27:29.190 --> 00:27:32.569 Relay Station. Tours are now available every 00:27:32.569 --> 00:27:35.210 Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p .m. Eastern 00:27:35.210 --> 00:27:39.250 Time. You can see the control room. a 200 ,000 00:27:39.250 --> 00:27:42.190 watt transmitter, and the most comprehensive 00:27:42.190 --> 00:27:45.369 collection of inventions by the iconic Powell 00:27:45.369 --> 00:27:49.509 -Crosley Jr. Also on display is a huge antique 00:27:49.509 --> 00:27:53.210 radio exhibit and R .L. Drake's personal collection 00:27:53.210 --> 00:27:57.279 of most every Drake amateur rig ever made. This 00:27:57.279 --> 00:28:00.559 is a unique opportunity to see amateur radio 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:03.200 in action and have a chance to get on the air 00:28:03.200 --> 00:28:09.640 from WC8VOA. Admission is only $5 a person. The 00:28:09.640 --> 00:28:13.579 museum is located close to historic WLWAM and 00:28:13.579 --> 00:28:16.720 tons of shopping and restaurants. Take a trip 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:21.680 to the VOA museum or visit us online at voamuseum 00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:25.450 .org. Nominations are now open for the amateur 00:28:25.450 --> 00:28:28.670 radio newsline, Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF Young 00:28:28.670 --> 00:28:31.990 Ham of the Year award. I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW. 00:28:32.130 --> 00:28:34.569 Since 1986, we've had the honor of celebrating 00:28:34.569 --> 00:28:36.569 the accomplishments of Youth in Ham radio when 00:28:36.569 --> 00:28:38.309 we want to know about your exceptional young 00:28:38.309 --> 00:28:40.650 ham. You'll find the rules and a nominating form 00:28:40.650 --> 00:28:43.930 by clicking the Y -H -O -T -Y tab on ARNewsline 00:28:43.930 --> 00:28:46.869 .org. Fill it out, send it in, and we'll see 00:28:46.869 --> 00:28:49.009 you and an amazing young ham at the Huntsville 00:28:49.009 --> 00:28:52.369 Alabama Ham Fest in August. Thanks and 73 from 00:28:52.369 --> 00:29:31.059 Amateur Radio Newsline. Ham talk lives on the 00:29:31.059 --> 00:29:33.839 air every Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern time 00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:36.579 right here at ham talk live calm and be sure 00:29:36.579 --> 00:29:38.859 to check us out on Facebook Twitter and Instagram 00:29:38.859 --> 00:29:43.019 and Right now it's time for your call. So if 00:29:43.019 --> 00:29:46.180 you've been trying to call in now's your chance 00:29:46.180 --> 00:29:49.400 You have a question for Rob about CW ops Give 00:29:49.400 --> 00:29:53.180 us a call that phone number again is 812 net 00:29:53.180 --> 00:29:59.430 ham 1 812 638 4261 Or you can Skype us. We're 00:29:59.430 --> 00:30:02.630 HamTalk Live on Skype and also HamTalk Live on 00:30:02.630 --> 00:30:07.049 Twitter. And you can get a hold of us that way 00:30:07.049 --> 00:30:12.890 as well. And during the commercial break, actually, 00:30:13.650 --> 00:30:16.109 Rob and I were talking a little bit more about 00:30:16.109 --> 00:30:20.230 things and he mentioned about the speed of the 00:30:20.230 --> 00:30:23.170 characters. And Rob, I'm going to go ahead and... 00:30:23.130 --> 00:30:27.069 and take a call here and have that on hold, but 00:30:27.069 --> 00:30:31.250 just briefly, can you speak to what we were talking 00:30:31.250 --> 00:30:35.130 about on the break with the speed of the characters 00:30:35.130 --> 00:30:39.329 and spacing? Right. One of the problems that... 00:30:39.339 --> 00:30:42.960 all of the young people back in the day in the 00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:46.599 late 50s and early 60s had was that they learned 00:30:46.599 --> 00:30:50.839 code proportionately. So when you listen to W1AW 00:30:50.839 --> 00:30:53.220 code practice at five words a minute, the letters 00:30:53.220 --> 00:30:56.859 were sent at five words a minute. We don't do 00:30:56.859 --> 00:31:00.720 that. From level one on, we send the letters 00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:05.700 at 20 word per minute letter speed. We may add 00:31:05.700 --> 00:31:09.730 a little delay between letters. called Fonzwerthing, 00:31:10.190 --> 00:31:15.009 but they don't ever hear letters being sent slower 00:31:15.009 --> 00:31:18.990 than 20 words a minute, which forces them not 00:31:18.990 --> 00:31:22.430 to try to count dits and dots and just to recognize 00:31:22.430 --> 00:31:27.369 the sound of a character rather than try to decipher 00:31:27.369 --> 00:31:31.750 the dits and dots. Yeah, that's uh, and and you 00:31:31.750 --> 00:31:34.150 know it like I said it we're talking to the word 00:31:34.150 --> 00:31:36.890 break at age five That's that was it. You know, 00:31:36.990 --> 00:31:40.250 that was okay Did dollars a and I write an a 00:31:40.250 --> 00:31:43.670 you know, and I knew some some basic words, but 00:31:43.670 --> 00:31:48.640 you know that that made it harder to get up to 00:31:48.640 --> 00:31:52.400 speed. And so I think that you're definitely 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:54.759 on the right track. Well, we've got a phone call 00:31:54.759 --> 00:31:58.759 on the line, so let's go to the phones. Hello, 00:31:58.799 --> 00:32:05.380 who is this? Hi, this is Hank. K -E -0 -C -U. 00:32:05.900 --> 00:32:09.799 Hi, Hank. Thanks for calling in. Hi, how are 00:32:09.799 --> 00:32:15.119 you doing? I'm doing good, Hank. Hey, I've got 00:32:15.119 --> 00:32:20.460 a question for you. How do the teachers and the 00:32:20.460 --> 00:32:25.880 mentors interact with the student? Is it done 00:32:25.880 --> 00:32:31.460 via email, Skype, all on the air, or just how 00:32:31.460 --> 00:32:34.740 is that connection made and maintained? That's 00:32:34.740 --> 00:32:38.579 a great question, and that was really the critical 00:32:38.579 --> 00:32:44.089 piece to the whole CW Academy concept. and uh... 00:32:44.089 --> 00:32:46.990 one of the are early guys in the program double 00:32:46.990 --> 00:32:50.369 u zero u c e a guy named jack ritter who is now 00:32:50.369 --> 00:32:54.970 in as a silent key came up with it and he said 00:32:54.970 --> 00:32:59.589 let's use audio video internet and at that time 00:32:59.589 --> 00:33:02.910 we were using a program called ubu all of the 00:33:02.910 --> 00:33:06.769 all now we use skype group calling but what that 00:33:06.769 --> 00:33:09.990 does is it allows you to have a single advisor 00:33:10.440 --> 00:33:13.240 with up to five students where we can see and 00:33:13.240 --> 00:33:15.500 hear each other, just like we were in a training 00:33:15.500 --> 00:33:19.960 room together. And each one of us has a paddle 00:33:19.960 --> 00:33:23.980 and a keyer. And so we can send Morse code. And 00:33:23.980 --> 00:33:26.960 so what typically happens when we meet, which 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:30.240 is two nights a week, they'll have practiced 00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:32.819 something before the meeting. And as soon as 00:33:32.819 --> 00:33:35.140 we get through, you know, hey, does anybody have 00:33:35.140 --> 00:33:38.799 any questions? No. OK, I'll just say. Based on 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:40.859 what they should have practiced that day. I'll 00:33:40.859 --> 00:33:43.700 say John What's this word and I'll send the word 00:33:43.700 --> 00:33:46.599 and he'll go. Oh, it's such such great and I'll 00:33:46.599 --> 00:33:49.519 go around the group and it quickly assess how 00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:52.640 they're doing and Sometimes I'll even do something 00:33:52.640 --> 00:33:55.779 where I'll send something have them send it back 00:33:55.779 --> 00:33:59.119 to me and then tell me what it is and there's 00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:02.180 a psychological reason for doing that that actually 00:34:02.180 --> 00:34:05.359 helps them learn faster than if they tell you 00:34:05.359 --> 00:34:07.539 what the word is and then try to send it but 00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:10.300 That's a whole other discussion. Was that helpful, 00:34:10.480 --> 00:34:16.440 Hank? Yeah, so basically you need a code practice 00:34:16.440 --> 00:34:19.699 oscillator and a Skype connection on your PC, 00:34:19.860 --> 00:34:23.300 is that right? You need a Skype application. 00:34:24.260 --> 00:34:28.719 You need a PC that has broadband internet. You 00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:32.250 need a paddle. And you need a keyer, not a code 00:34:32.250 --> 00:34:34.889 practice oscillator. You need a keyer. So it 00:34:34.889 --> 00:34:38.250 could be a standalone keyer like an MFJ Econo 00:34:38.250 --> 00:34:40.829 keyer with its little speaker so you can hear 00:34:40.829 --> 00:34:44.849 the mic picks it up. Or if you have a radio that 00:34:44.849 --> 00:34:47.690 has a built -in keyer and a sidetone, you could 00:34:47.690 --> 00:34:50.409 make sure it's not transmitting and just use 00:34:50.409 --> 00:34:53.650 the built -in keyer and sidetone. Anything that's 00:34:53.650 --> 00:34:56.030 going to be audible enough to be picked up by 00:34:56.030 --> 00:34:58.760 the webcam, We'll allow everybody in the group 00:34:58.760 --> 00:35:02.880 to hear what you're sending. Okay, good explanation. 00:35:04.699 --> 00:35:06.539 Great, thanks for calling in, Hank. Appreciate 00:35:06.539 --> 00:35:13.409 it. Good night. Good night. 812 -638 -4261 is 00:35:13.409 --> 00:35:16.329 the phone number if you have a question for Rob 00:35:16.329 --> 00:35:21.530 about CW Ops or the CW Academy at CW Ops Give 00:35:21.530 --> 00:35:24.449 us a call right now. We have a few minutes remaining 00:35:24.449 --> 00:35:34.010 812 -638 -4261 Dr. Scott Wright K0MD says thanks 00:35:34.010 --> 00:35:40.190 for supporting CW operations so Thanks to Scott 00:35:40.190 --> 00:35:44.369 for that. And let's talk a little bit about, 00:35:44.369 --> 00:35:48.869 again, the website. We kind of had to take off 00:35:48.869 --> 00:35:52.409 a little bit. Let's talk a little bit about the 00:35:52.409 --> 00:35:54.630 software that's available and some of the contests 00:35:54.630 --> 00:35:58.710 that you offer once people are up to speed. OK, 00:35:58.710 --> 00:36:01.230 let's talk about the resources, really, is what 00:36:01.230 --> 00:36:07.329 you're talking about. And in the CW Academy area, 00:36:07.849 --> 00:36:11.190 If you follow the arrow to student resources, 00:36:11.210 --> 00:36:17.289 you'll see a whole bunch of stuff mp3 files Booklets 00:36:17.289 --> 00:36:21.030 so on and so forth we have a booklet that says 00:36:21.030 --> 00:36:25.250 how to use Skype for CW Academy that walks you 00:36:25.250 --> 00:36:29.789 through how you set it up we have a program called 00:36:29.789 --> 00:36:33.250 moist trainer, which is for our level one group 00:36:33.250 --> 00:36:36.960 and What happened was originally when I first 00:36:36.960 --> 00:36:40.340 designed the level one program, we didn't have 00:36:40.340 --> 00:36:44.199 a tool. And so there was a program online called 00:36:44.199 --> 00:36:48.159 Morse translator. And I actually wrote a note 00:36:48.159 --> 00:36:50.880 to the guy who did it, a guy named Steven Phillips 00:36:50.880 --> 00:36:53.159 and said, hey, you know, we're using your program, 00:36:53.500 --> 00:36:57.059 but I have to tell people what to type in before 00:36:57.059 --> 00:37:00.639 they hit play. And he said, send me your curriculum 00:37:00.639 --> 00:37:03.829 and I will pre program it. And he did, and he 00:37:03.829 --> 00:37:07.610 created a thing called Moist Trainer. And it's 00:37:07.610 --> 00:37:12.210 specific to CW Academy Level 1. So that's a program 00:37:12.210 --> 00:37:15.949 that anybody can take advantage of. We have booklets 00:37:15.949 --> 00:37:18.730 that walk you through what you do in Level 1, 00:37:18.809 --> 00:37:22.130 Level 2, and Level 3. Anybody can go to the website, 00:37:22.570 --> 00:37:28.150 can download the books, can download the tools 00:37:28.150 --> 00:37:33.420 that we have. We're not in this for profit. The 00:37:33.420 --> 00:37:36.639 classes are free. The advisors don't get paid. 00:37:37.159 --> 00:37:40.199 It's a free program. Our goal is to train the 00:37:40.199 --> 00:37:44.460 next generation of CW operators. So if people 00:37:44.460 --> 00:37:46.880 want to borrow our stuff and use it, God bless 00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:50.440 them. Okay. Let's put the contest on hold for 00:37:50.440 --> 00:37:52.199 a second because we've got another call on the 00:37:52.199 --> 00:37:55.179 line. So let's go ahead and take the call here. 00:37:55.480 --> 00:38:00.949 Welcome to HamTalk Live. Who's this? Hello? Yes. 00:38:01.070 --> 00:38:05.670 Hello? Hi. Hi. Good evening. Is this Neil? This 00:38:05.670 --> 00:38:10.150 is. Hi, Neil. Good evening to you. This is Carmen. 00:38:11.250 --> 00:38:19.309 And my call is K1LKP, Kilo One, Lena, Kilo Papa. 00:38:19.969 --> 00:38:23.869 And I know that old rascal Rob from working him 00:38:23.869 --> 00:38:28.460 on the radio many times. Yes, indeed. You know, 00:38:28.719 --> 00:38:31.480 God bless you, Rob. And you know, Rob, I just 00:38:31.480 --> 00:38:34.519 want to say congratulations to you and all the 00:38:34.519 --> 00:38:38.440 folks from CW Ops. And you know, on the CW Academy, 00:38:39.480 --> 00:38:42.019 you have an excellent mentoring program. I've 00:38:42.019 --> 00:38:45.099 been reading the mail on a lot of your, you know, 00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:49.059 the Academy QSOs that they have on the band, 00:38:49.420 --> 00:38:53.139 and you guys are doing a great job. So have a 00:38:53.139 --> 00:38:57.119 job well done. Thank you, Carmen. I appreciate 00:38:57.119 --> 00:38:59.599 it, and I hope I see you in a whole bunch of 00:38:59.599 --> 00:39:04.159 CWTs. Oh, yeah. You know, Rob, I don't mean to 00:39:04.159 --> 00:39:07.980 tie up this conversation, but, good God, you 00:39:07.980 --> 00:39:15.719 just mentioned Jack W0UCE. That man was an absolute 00:39:15.719 --> 00:39:21.079 humanitarian. For people, for ham radio, he was 00:39:21.079 --> 00:39:25.840 a first -class person. He sure was. Yes, and 00:39:25.840 --> 00:39:29.940 again, you know, you had mentioned about having 00:39:29.940 --> 00:39:34.420 problems getting advisors Don't get discouraged 00:39:34.420 --> 00:39:37.980 hang in there. I encourage you to keep up the 00:39:37.980 --> 00:39:45.039 great work really Our problem Carmen isn't getting 00:39:45.039 --> 00:39:48.449 advisors. It's getting them quickly enough because 00:39:48.449 --> 00:39:51.050 the number of people that keep signing up to 00:39:51.050 --> 00:39:54.969 do level one is growing like a weed and You know 00:39:54.969 --> 00:39:57.869 we had at one point five advisors we have about 00:39:57.869 --> 00:40:00.929 35 now But it's you know it doesn't matter the 00:40:00.929 --> 00:40:03.730 the number of people signing up just keeps growing 00:40:03.730 --> 00:40:09.230 and the the backlog stays the same Well good 00:40:09.230 --> 00:40:11.130 for you. It shows that you're doing the right 00:40:11.130 --> 00:40:13.429 thing. That's the important thing. Yep. Yes. 00:40:13.469 --> 00:40:17.500 God bless you and you know Neil, is Neil here? 00:40:17.920 --> 00:40:23.099 Yeah, I am here. Neil, you know, I partake in 00:40:23.099 --> 00:40:26.719 those weekly events. They have the CW events 00:40:26.719 --> 00:40:30.099 and it's good for somebody my age because it 00:40:30.099 --> 00:40:36.380 helps to clear out the cobwebs. Okay, listen, 00:40:36.400 --> 00:40:38.460 everybody have a great day and God bless you 00:40:38.460 --> 00:40:41.659 for all your hard work. Take care, Carmen. Yeah, 00:40:41.659 --> 00:40:43.659 take care, Carmen. Thank you for calling in. 00:40:43.699 --> 00:40:47.170 We appreciate it. And yeah, I'm still trying 00:40:47.170 --> 00:40:49.570 to get some of those cobwebs cleared out now 00:40:49.570 --> 00:40:57.110 too, because that was 42 years ago. Well, Rob, 00:40:57.150 --> 00:41:00.030 we've got about a minute and a half left here. 00:41:01.170 --> 00:41:04.809 So why don't you run down some of those operating 00:41:04.809 --> 00:41:09.889 activities real quick for us. Okay. CWT is the 00:41:09.889 --> 00:41:13.030 one that we have every Wednesday. And that means 00:41:13.030 --> 00:41:16.710 even if it's Christmas on Wednesday or New Year's 00:41:16.710 --> 00:41:20.090 on Wednesday, there's going to be a CWT. And 00:41:20.090 --> 00:41:23.610 they're at three different times a day, 1300 00:41:23.610 --> 00:41:29.590 Zulu, 1900 Zulu, and 0300 Zulu. They start and 00:41:29.590 --> 00:41:34.570 end in one hour's time. The exchange is your 00:41:34.570 --> 00:41:38.010 name. And if you're a member, your membership 00:41:38.010 --> 00:41:41.550 number. If you're not a member, your state, province, 00:41:41.590 --> 00:41:46.050 or country. That's it. very easy, but boy, if 00:41:46.050 --> 00:41:48.469 you listen in, you'll find out that those guys 00:41:48.469 --> 00:41:52.469 are averaging 30, 30 plus words a minute. And 00:41:52.469 --> 00:41:55.530 so it's going to pull you up by the bootstraps. 00:41:55.829 --> 00:41:59.630 Now, three times a year after the graduation 00:41:59.630 --> 00:42:04.550 of each of the CW Academy groups, we have a commemorative 00:42:04.550 --> 00:42:10.309 CWT where the top speed is 20 or less. And boy, 00:42:10.539 --> 00:42:13.079 it's amazing how many people come out of the 00:42:13.079 --> 00:42:15.320 woodwork to do that one because it's like well 00:42:15.320 --> 00:42:17.639 i don't have to work so hard thirty thirty five 00:42:17.639 --> 00:42:21.139 so anyway we do that three times a week every 00:42:21.139 --> 00:42:25.539 week a hundred fifty six times a year all right 00:42:25.539 --> 00:42:28.480 very good well we have just about twenty seconds 00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:32.139 left here so uh... any any quick final thoughts 00:42:32.139 --> 00:42:36.960 before we take off uh... i appreciate your taking 00:42:36.960 --> 00:42:40.150 the time to talk to us and uh... You know, I 00:42:40.150 --> 00:42:42.469 hope anybody that's interested in learning Morse 00:42:42.469 --> 00:42:45.250 code will get on the website and sign up and 00:42:45.250 --> 00:42:47.769 we'll be happy to give you all the help we can. 00:42:48.730 --> 00:42:50.730 All right. Sounds good, Rob. And again, that 00:42:50.730 --> 00:42:57.730 website is cwops .org cwops .org and a little 00:42:57.730 --> 00:42:59.449 sneak peek, a little teaser here for Amateur 00:42:59.449 --> 00:43:01.630 Radio Newsline this week. It's coming out on 00:43:01.630 --> 00:43:03.989 Friday. I just recorded it and there's a story 00:43:03.989 --> 00:43:08.340 about CW and a hamster. So just Just a little 00:43:08.340 --> 00:43:11.059 tease there. You'll have to check that out on 00:43:11.059 --> 00:43:13.920 on Newsline this week. Well, that is a wrap for 00:43:13.920 --> 00:43:16.539 this week's edition of HamTalk Live. Thanks to 00:43:16.539 --> 00:43:19.440 my guest, Rob Brownstein, K6RB and everyone out 00:43:19.440 --> 00:43:21.980 there in cyberspace for listening and calling 00:43:21.980 --> 00:43:24.860 in and invite you back next Thursday night at 00:43:24.860 --> 00:43:29.880 9 p .m. Eastern Time when Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, 00:43:30.019 --> 00:43:35.000 will be here to talk about AMSAT satellite operations 00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:37.409 and for a list of all of our upcoming and guests, 00:43:37.730 --> 00:43:40.849 just go to HamTalkLive .com and click on the 00:43:40.849 --> 00:43:44.349 Show Schedule link. So for now, this is Neil 00:43:44.349 --> 00:43:49.750 Rapp, WB9VPG, saying 7 -3 -7 -5, and may the 00:43:49.750 --> 00:44:06.380 good DX be yours. The end.