WEBVTT 00:00:09.390 --> 00:00:12.230 Thanks for tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on 00:00:12.230 --> 00:00:30.170 the air shortly. Please stand by. Thanks for 00:00:30.170 --> 00:00:32.909 tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on the air shortly. 00:00:33.210 --> 00:00:48.359 Please stand by. This episode of HamTalk Live 00:00:48.359 --> 00:00:52.100 is brought to you by Tower Electronics. For connectors, 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:55.420 cables, and more, visit them at a ham fest near 00:00:55.420 --> 00:01:03.780 you or call 920 -435 -2973 or online at pl -259 00:01:03.780 --> 00:01:39.640 .com. Good evening, everyone. It's time for Ham 00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:45.439 Talk Live. It's episode number 104. The Collegiate 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:48.359 Amateur Radio Initiative recorded live on Thursday, 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:54.379 March 1st, 2018. I'm your host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. 00:01:54.420 --> 00:01:58.019 Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Ham Talk 00:01:58.019 --> 00:02:03.000 Live. Tonight we're joined by Andy Malusi, KK4LWR, 00:02:03.019 --> 00:02:05.959 and we'll take your calls live in just a few 00:02:05.959 --> 00:02:08.349 minutes. Last week here on the show, Michael 00:02:08.349 --> 00:02:11.750 Coulter, W8CI, was here to talk about the progress 00:02:11.750 --> 00:02:15.310 of changes coming to this year's Dayton Hamvention. 00:02:15.509 --> 00:02:18.490 So if you missed the show, you can listen anytime. 00:02:18.689 --> 00:02:22.289 You just go to hamtalklive .com and you can listen 00:02:22.289 --> 00:02:25.789 right there, live on demand, or you can catch 00:02:25.789 --> 00:02:31.550 us on a podcast. services like Apple Podcasts, 00:02:31.610 --> 00:02:34.770 Stitcher, iHeart Podcasts, Google Play, or TuneIn, 00:02:34.830 --> 00:02:37.669 or SoundCloud. We're also available on YouTube. 00:02:37.770 --> 00:02:41.110 You can subscribe to us at all of those as well. 00:02:41.710 --> 00:02:44.389 And it'll show up on your phone every single 00:02:44.389 --> 00:02:47.810 week. So get your questions ready to go about 00:02:47.810 --> 00:02:51.750 the colleges. And after we talk to Andy for a 00:02:51.750 --> 00:02:53.509 little bit, you can give us a call. I'll go ahead 00:02:53.509 --> 00:02:58.879 and give you the phone number. It's 812 NET ham1 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:03.180 that's 812 -638 -4261 we're not ready for calls 00:03:03.180 --> 00:03:05.719 just yet we're going to talk to Andy for a few 00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:08.780 minutes first and then we will take a break and 00:03:08.780 --> 00:03:11.379 then we'll come back and take your calls but 00:03:11.379 --> 00:03:16.439 that's the number to have ready 812 -638 -4261 00:03:16.439 --> 00:03:19.419 you can also Skype us you can find us at HamTalk 00:03:19.419 --> 00:03:22.879 Live on Skype and you can tweet us or Twitter 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:26.280 handle is at HamTalk Live And so I'll be back 00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:28.879 with Andy right after this word from Tower Electronics 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:33.180 right here on HamTalk Live. This episode of HamTalk 00:03:33.180 --> 00:03:36.259 Live is brought to you in part by Tower Electronics. 00:03:36.460 --> 00:03:38.879 Tower Electronics has been the Ham's Dime Store 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:42.259 since 1978. When you need connectors, mobile 00:03:42.259 --> 00:03:45.539 and handheld antennas, cables, or adapters, visit 00:03:45.539 --> 00:03:49.120 Scott or Jill at a HamFest near you. Or you can 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:55.300 order online at PL -259 .com or call 920 -435 00:03:55.300 --> 00:04:00.319 -2973. Stock up on those supplies like PL -259 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:03.599 and end connectors, SMA adapters, audio cables, 00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:31.300 soldering supplies, mobile antennas, The early 00:04:31.300 --> 00:04:34.319 bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:37.149 the cheese. You're listening to HamTalk Live 00:04:37.149 --> 00:04:54.230 with Neil Rapp. Thanks to Scott and Jill at Tower 00:04:54.230 --> 00:04:57.069 Electronics for sponsoring the show again tonight. 00:04:57.889 --> 00:05:00.430 They help bring you HamTalk Live each and every 00:05:00.430 --> 00:05:03.629 week. This weekend, they'll be at the Cave City, 00:05:03.629 --> 00:05:07.990 Kentucky Ham Fest on Saturday and Toledo, Ohio 00:05:07.990 --> 00:05:11.750 on March 18th. April 6th and 7th, they'll be 00:05:11.750 --> 00:05:14.430 in Belton, Texas and on April 7th, they'll also 00:05:14.430 --> 00:05:18.610 be in Stoughton, Wisconsin. So catch them at 00:05:18.610 --> 00:05:22.550 a Ham Fest near you or give them a call at 920 00:05:22.550 --> 00:05:30.589 -435 -2973 or visit them online at pl -259 .com. 00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:33.170 Tell them you heard it on HamTalk Live and thanks 00:05:33.170 --> 00:05:37.269 to them for all they do for us here. And tonight 00:05:37.269 --> 00:05:42.170 on the show is Andy Maluzzi, KK5LWR. He's the 00:05:42.170 --> 00:05:44.629 past president of the Gator Amateur Radio Club 00:05:44.629 --> 00:05:47.529 at the University of Florida in Gainesville. 00:05:47.910 --> 00:05:50.990 He's currently a systems engineer for Walt Disney 00:05:50.990 --> 00:05:54.389 Parks and Resorts in Florida. Andy became a ham 00:05:54.389 --> 00:05:57.550 in 2012 at the coaxing of his brother, Anthony 00:05:57.550 --> 00:06:02.569 KD8RTT. Andy's undergraduate work was down the 00:06:02.569 --> 00:06:05.990 road for me in Terre Haute, Indiana at the Rose 00:06:05.990 --> 00:06:09.389 -Hulman Institute of Technology and he recently 00:06:09.389 --> 00:06:12.189 received a Master of Science and PhD in Electrical 00:06:12.189 --> 00:06:14.189 and Computer Engineering from the University 00:06:14.189 --> 00:06:17.420 of Florida. Andy is originally from Westlake, 00:06:17.420 --> 00:06:20.639 Ohio, which is just west of Cleveland and has 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:23.920 lived in Redmond, Washington and Austin, Texas, 00:06:24.180 --> 00:06:27.420 in addition to his two college stops. And Andy 00:06:27.420 --> 00:06:30.800 is a key leader in the ARRL Collegiate Amateur 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:33.459 Radio Initiative, a group that has been formed 00:06:33.459 --> 00:06:36.720 to share ideas and promote and rejuvenate amateur 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:40.319 radio clubs in colleges and universities. in 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:42.759 North America. And a few years ago we even had 00:06:42.759 --> 00:06:45.839 a chance to publish an article in QST about School 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:48.540 Club Roundup or more like Andy did and I sent 00:06:48.540 --> 00:06:51.980 him some stuff and so did Troy. So Andy, good 00:06:51.980 --> 00:06:55.279 evening and welcome. Good evening. Good evening. 00:06:55.319 --> 00:06:58.579 Thank you for having me. Yeah, thanks for coming 00:06:58.579 --> 00:07:03.180 on and been talking to several of the people 00:07:03.180 --> 00:07:09.100 in the Cary field and Wanted to get you in here 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:11.500 this evening and talk a little more specifically 00:07:11.500 --> 00:07:14.939 about it So why don't you tell us about to carry 00:07:14.939 --> 00:07:20.360 and how that came about? Yeah, so the collegiate 00:07:20.360 --> 00:07:23.920 amateur radio initiative Under the American radio 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:27.939 relay league really sort of came out of a sort 00:07:27.939 --> 00:07:33.180 of a grassroots grouping on Facebook, so sterling 00:07:33.180 --> 00:07:39.250 Fellow ham He started a Facebook group just for 00:07:39.250 --> 00:07:43.470 college clubs to talk about the problems of college 00:07:43.470 --> 00:07:46.490 amateur radio. It's a unique beast because in 00:07:46.490 --> 00:07:48.629 today's society, students are walking around 00:07:48.629 --> 00:07:50.350 with radios in their pocket, but they don't really 00:07:50.350 --> 00:07:52.189 realize it. They all got cell phones and they 00:07:52.189 --> 00:07:53.649 assume they can call anywhere in the world and 00:07:53.649 --> 00:07:58.699 do pretty much anything with them. The technology 00:07:58.699 --> 00:08:01.819 is accessible to everyone, but they don't really 00:08:01.819 --> 00:08:06.980 realize the art and the science behind it. Some 00:08:06.980 --> 00:08:09.339 are stronger, some are weaker, and it just went 00:08:09.339 --> 00:08:12.500 by student interest. We've all struggled there. 00:08:12.620 --> 00:08:14.839 When I led the Gator Amateur Radio Club at UF, 00:08:14.860 --> 00:08:16.360 we'd have some good years and we'd have some 00:08:16.360 --> 00:08:17.920 rough years in terms of student involvement. 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:22.399 This was a forum for us to group together, and 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:26.930 then the league came along and said, foster this 00:08:26.930 --> 00:08:28.449 you know part of the league's mission is to continue 00:08:28.449 --> 00:08:32.070 to grow amateur radio and You know college hams 00:08:32.070 --> 00:08:34.610 and you know even younger. You know are really 00:08:34.610 --> 00:08:37.210 the future of the hobby so they came in Sort 00:08:37.210 --> 00:08:40.210 of helped manage the page has also given a lot 00:08:40.210 --> 00:08:43.950 of PR boost to it And really sort of made it 00:08:43.950 --> 00:08:47.470 loud especially dating back now, you know over 00:08:47.470 --> 00:08:50.490 a year now and making it loud so that we sort 00:08:50.490 --> 00:08:54.149 of have some funding behind it as well as you 00:08:54.149 --> 00:08:58.389 know some PR to make it happen. That came really 00:08:58.389 --> 00:09:01.649 through the Ed Schneider gift to the league, 00:09:02.269 --> 00:09:07.740 which his call is W1YSM. and he came from Yale 00:09:07.740 --> 00:09:10.000 Medical School and he worked with Tom Gallagher 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:15.000 and they started this endowment for college clubs 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:17.679 with the league and that kickstarted everything. 00:09:18.460 --> 00:09:21.580 So far, we've had really some amazing growth. 00:09:22.179 --> 00:09:25.500 The Facebook group was just a few of us in the 00:09:25.500 --> 00:09:27.500 beginning, relatively close -knit group of people 00:09:27.500 --> 00:09:30.340 that knew each other from other things and now 00:09:30.340 --> 00:09:33.990 we're talking. you know, over 700 members in 00:09:33.990 --> 00:09:35.909 this group. And I was actually doing the numbers 00:09:35.909 --> 00:09:38.830 before hamcation. And, you know, from just the 00:09:38.830 --> 00:09:40.450 posts on there, it looks like we've had over 00:09:40.450 --> 00:09:44.250 six clubs form, or at least announced that they've 00:09:44.250 --> 00:09:47.169 reactivated on that group just in the last year 00:09:47.169 --> 00:09:49.309 alone. And I think a lot of that comes through 00:09:49.309 --> 00:09:51.649 having the support of, you know, that great group 00:09:51.649 --> 00:09:56.090 of hams to make it happen. In the high school 00:09:56.090 --> 00:10:01.659 realm, I get a lot of questions, you know, of 00:10:01.659 --> 00:10:04.480 you know how do I get started with a school club 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:07.139 and how do I how do I do this how do I do that 00:10:07.139 --> 00:10:11.340 and and so there's some support activities that 00:10:11.340 --> 00:10:15.279 you know we do uh which school club round up 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:18.899 which you and I kind of met through um is one 00:10:18.899 --> 00:10:22.659 of those uh but for the colleges there there 00:10:22.659 --> 00:10:26.259 really wasn't a whole lot there to to start with 00:10:26.259 --> 00:10:31.009 and so this group has uh has kind of let people 00:10:31.009 --> 00:10:34.629 share ideas and and what works and what doesn't 00:10:34.629 --> 00:10:37.669 and and and you come up with some interesting 00:10:37.669 --> 00:10:41.370 ideas and and like You know Scott Westerman was 00:10:41.370 --> 00:10:47.289 on the show W9 W SW and he he was telling me 00:10:47.289 --> 00:10:52.450 about the APRS on the on the mascot for the college 00:10:52.450 --> 00:10:56.389 and you know people could actually track him 00:10:56.389 --> 00:10:59.870 on football games and find him to get a picture. 00:11:00.649 --> 00:11:05.710 What a cool idea. And if some others had been 00:11:05.710 --> 00:11:08.870 able to share that, who knows where it could 00:11:08.870 --> 00:11:12.169 go. And there are just a lot of things like that. 00:11:12.370 --> 00:11:16.690 Small things that might spark an interest and 00:11:16.690 --> 00:11:21.070 give some exposure to the radio clubs on campuses. 00:11:21.810 --> 00:11:25.090 Yeah, I mean one of those Opportunities is definitely 00:11:25.090 --> 00:11:28.149 the overlap with some other, you know activities 00:11:28.149 --> 00:11:31.330 right now It is very very popular in the engineering 00:11:31.330 --> 00:11:33.509 field to look at satellites and to look at space 00:11:33.509 --> 00:11:36.610 it's a really difficult problem to put something 00:11:36.610 --> 00:11:40.370 in orbit and It's also really difficult to get 00:11:40.370 --> 00:11:42.370 spectrum to talk to your thing that you put into 00:11:42.370 --> 00:11:45.309 orbit So amateur radio offers a really unique 00:11:45.309 --> 00:11:47.250 opportunity and I know Amstats partnered with 00:11:47.250 --> 00:11:49.629 universities for a while now and making that 00:11:49.629 --> 00:11:52.769 happen but even students on campus are using 00:11:52.769 --> 00:11:54.610 as an experimentation platform. They're doing 00:11:54.610 --> 00:11:58.870 high altitude balloons with APRS tracking, you 00:11:58.870 --> 00:12:01.769 know, really just sort of. starting to integrate 00:12:01.769 --> 00:12:05.149 the hobby in some really cool ways into other 00:12:05.149 --> 00:12:07.529 parts of their curriculum or co -curricular activities, 00:12:08.429 --> 00:12:10.190 which I think is doing wonders for the hobby 00:12:10.190 --> 00:12:13.070 and bringing new people in. I know at UF a large 00:12:13.070 --> 00:12:16.909 contingent of our group actually came from our 00:12:16.909 --> 00:12:19.429 SwampSat group and we actually had two ground 00:12:19.429 --> 00:12:21.149 stations because when we launched the satellite 00:12:21.149 --> 00:12:22.970 they wanted to have a backup ground station and 00:12:22.970 --> 00:12:26.960 all that. That was a huge motivating factor in 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:31.980 terms of making the club active and loud. this 00:12:31.980 --> 00:12:33.500 Facebook group really provides the opportunity 00:12:33.500 --> 00:12:35.340 to suggest those sorts of things or to coordinate 00:12:35.340 --> 00:12:38.399 things. Most recently this past Tuesday night, 00:12:38.759 --> 00:12:41.580 technically Wednesday morning at midnight on 00:12:41.580 --> 00:12:46.299 talk group 9500 on Brandmeister DMR, there was 00:12:46.299 --> 00:12:49.220 a college net and sort of making that happen, 00:12:49.299 --> 00:12:51.679 new ways to connect with hams. So it's really 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:53.440 done wonders for that connection. And then also 00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:55.980 like at events, being able to recognize hams, 00:12:56.279 --> 00:13:00.049 having swag special for hams, college hams. and 00:13:00.049 --> 00:13:03.230 really sort of promoting, you know, and providing 00:13:03.230 --> 00:13:06.389 schools with the, you know, the tools to sort 00:13:06.389 --> 00:13:09.230 of make a club happen. You know, it's nice to 00:13:09.230 --> 00:13:11.730 have, you know, stickers or giveaway stuff when 00:13:11.730 --> 00:13:14.309 you do like a career fair or a student activities 00:13:14.309 --> 00:13:17.590 fair or that sort of thing, you know, or for 00:13:17.590 --> 00:13:19.529 alumni. So, you know, there's also been some 00:13:19.529 --> 00:13:21.330 of that, which has really been helpful. And there's 00:13:21.330 --> 00:13:22.950 been a lot of exchange of ideas on the group, 00:13:23.049 --> 00:13:25.509 which is just really what I think led to the 00:13:25.509 --> 00:13:30.320 success in the last year. Excellent stuff. Now 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:33.600 we've talked a little bit about what the league 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:39.080 has done to promote this and give some PR for 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:42.059 the initiative and everything and kind of come 00:13:42.059 --> 00:13:46.480 in. What other kinds of support is the league 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:51.340 offering through some of this money that's come 00:13:51.340 --> 00:13:54.889 in from the donation that you were talking about 00:13:54.889 --> 00:14:00.570 and what are some ways that ARRL supports schools 00:14:00.570 --> 00:14:02.750 that are out there that are trying to make this 00:14:02.750 --> 00:14:06.710 happen. So some really cool things that have 00:14:06.710 --> 00:14:09.490 happened has been forums Specifically targeted 00:14:09.490 --> 00:14:12.169 at college students at ham fest all over we had 00:14:12.169 --> 00:14:13.750 one at Dayton last year. We've had a couple now 00:14:13.750 --> 00:14:16.950 at ham occasion I know box bro has had a couple 00:14:16.950 --> 00:14:19.590 so I mean You know the league has come out in 00:14:19.590 --> 00:14:22.049 force sort of saying you know Not only do we 00:14:22.049 --> 00:14:24.149 want to you know give you on -campus tools, but 00:14:24.149 --> 00:14:27.129 we also want to give you You know a forum within 00:14:27.129 --> 00:14:29.669 the ham community as well, and then also the 00:14:29.669 --> 00:14:33.460 league has provided You know Different materials 00:14:33.460 --> 00:14:36.259 for getting hams licensed. We have given away 00:14:36.259 --> 00:14:39.519 lots and lots of books at our talks We've given 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:42.620 away, you know operator handbooks We've given 00:14:42.620 --> 00:14:44.559 away, you know licensing guides and all that 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:46.620 and raffle them off specifically, you know focus 00:14:46.620 --> 00:14:49.259 that college students Either to help college 00:14:49.259 --> 00:14:51.320 students, you know increase their license and 00:14:51.320 --> 00:14:54.960 move from tech to general or general extra or 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:57.659 to use it as a way to get students into the club. 00:14:59.100 --> 00:15:01.960 I think that those sorts of things are really 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:03.759 invaluable because if you think about the cost 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:07.820 of a book from the league, it's $50 for the handbook 00:15:07.820 --> 00:15:10.679 and it's a great resource. But again, going to 00:15:10.679 --> 00:15:12.299 the size of college clubs and the funding they 00:15:12.299 --> 00:15:14.559 typically get from their schools, that can be 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:18.419 difficult to obtain. Unless you have some alumni 00:15:18.419 --> 00:15:21.080 or something like that to donate that, it's really 00:15:21.080 --> 00:15:24.710 difficult. thing and it really helps motivate 00:15:24.710 --> 00:15:27.289 the club to do different things. Getting an antenna 00:15:27.289 --> 00:15:29.909 booking like the Wires Classic antenna books 00:15:29.909 --> 00:15:33.850 are great for really motivating a club and being 00:15:33.850 --> 00:15:35.610 able to give away some of that stuff at the different 00:15:35.610 --> 00:15:38.389 events has really been fantastic from the league's 00:15:38.389 --> 00:15:42.269 end. Just besides the PR of promoting it but 00:15:42.269 --> 00:15:45.029 just providing useful materials that turn directly 00:15:45.029 --> 00:15:47.210 into student activities and student activities 00:15:47.210 --> 00:15:51.710 is how you grow the club. And let's talk a little 00:15:51.710 --> 00:15:54.830 bit about growing the club and maintaining activity 00:15:54.830 --> 00:15:57.549 From year to year and that's something we were 00:15:57.549 --> 00:16:00.990 talking about just before the show came on of 00:16:00.990 --> 00:16:06.429 how you maintain a group from one year to the 00:16:06.429 --> 00:16:11.889 next to the next when You know the The turnover 00:16:11.889 --> 00:16:15.250 is pretty high because students are only there 00:16:15.250 --> 00:16:18.549 for a limited amount of time. So how What are 00:16:18.549 --> 00:16:23.950 some of the suggestions that you offer to keep 00:16:23.950 --> 00:16:29.029 things going from year to year? You know, one 00:16:29.029 --> 00:16:31.789 of the things that sounds like it would do really 00:16:31.789 --> 00:16:34.730 well, but doesn't really turn into things, is 00:16:34.730 --> 00:16:38.210 regular meetings. Or meetings just for... administrative 00:16:38.210 --> 00:16:41.909 or unstructured. Things that do phenomenal year 00:16:41.909 --> 00:16:43.789 over year is when you decide to actually do a 00:16:43.789 --> 00:16:46.389 specific thing and you announce that. So if you 00:16:46.389 --> 00:16:48.409 say, we're going to make a two -meter yagi, a 00:16:48.409 --> 00:16:50.330 tape measure yagi that I'm sure we've all done 00:16:50.330 --> 00:16:52.289 before, or if you haven't, you should definitely 00:16:52.289 --> 00:16:56.330 try it. But it's a simple, relatively inexpensive 00:16:56.330 --> 00:16:59.970 project. We would have three or four people show 00:16:59.970 --> 00:17:02.610 up to our regular weekly meetings at UF. We did 00:17:02.610 --> 00:17:04.490 that. We had like 35 people show up. And I'm 00:17:04.490 --> 00:17:05.769 like, where are these people coming from? They're 00:17:05.769 --> 00:17:09.640 coming out of the woodwork. Those sorts of things 00:17:09.640 --> 00:17:11.559 where there's something tangible and they understand 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:15.160 and they learn something is really cool. Piggybacking 00:17:15.160 --> 00:17:19.339 on really new technology also helps. FT8 this 00:17:19.339 --> 00:17:21.220 last year has been huge in the amateur radio 00:17:21.220 --> 00:17:23.240 community, but also been huge in the college 00:17:23.240 --> 00:17:25.680 community because it's a relatively accessible 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:28.000 digital mode. It's something that doesn't require 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:29.940 the best antenna yet doesn't take as long as 00:17:29.940 --> 00:17:34.839 JT65. College students were doing skids and all 00:17:34.839 --> 00:17:38.880 that all over. FT8, you know, and I saw multiple 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:41.319 schools posting in the Facebook group saying 00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:43.500 hey, we're gonna be on FT8 tonight, you know 00:17:43.500 --> 00:17:46.400 work us and that sort of thing and that really 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:49.460 helps too and then Probably, you know the most 00:17:49.460 --> 00:17:53.440 awesome You know way to include and grow your 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:55.579 club to include others and grow your club is 00:17:55.579 --> 00:17:58.200 to piggyback on other events Wherever you can 00:17:58.200 --> 00:18:00.400 so tailgating before football games. I know there's 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:02.779 been some great success Down here in Florida. 00:18:02.779 --> 00:18:06.220 I believe UCF has done that a few times I know 00:18:06.220 --> 00:18:08.740 at UF, we actually partnered with the other SEC 00:18:08.740 --> 00:18:11.079 schools. So we're talking like University of 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:14.339 Tennessee, those sorts of things. And we would 00:18:14.339 --> 00:18:18.220 do on the SEC championship game, we would do 00:18:18.220 --> 00:18:20.599 a special event. And we get a lot of students 00:18:20.599 --> 00:18:22.119 that want to work that, because it's a relatively 00:18:22.119 --> 00:18:25.700 low pressure thing to do a special event. And 00:18:25.700 --> 00:18:27.619 it's relatively high visibility. And it gives 00:18:27.619 --> 00:18:29.240 you something fun to do, something to talk about 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:32.900 with everyone. you know on the air you know the 00:18:32.900 --> 00:18:34.299 gators might not have been the strongest team 00:18:34.299 --> 00:18:36.319 the last couple years but you know it was still 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:38.539 something fun that you could uh to talk about 00:18:38.539 --> 00:18:40.839 and uh you know pretty much everyone loves college 00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:42.880 football so it was an easy instant connection 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:46.140 um for new hams and i think that that's you know 00:18:46.140 --> 00:18:47.880 the biggest thing is getting a new ham on the 00:18:47.880 --> 00:18:49.660 air and sort of breaking down those barriers 00:18:49.660 --> 00:18:52.819 and you know Building an antenna is great because 00:18:52.819 --> 00:18:55.519 you've given them a tool, which is usually a 00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:58.119 great way to start. But then the next step is 00:18:58.119 --> 00:19:00.960 giving them reason to get on the air and making 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:02.920 them feel comfortable. So having a low barrier 00:19:02.920 --> 00:19:06.480 to entry like college sports really helps. Yeah, 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:09.480 and I would say in the SEC, my beloved Kentucky 00:19:09.480 --> 00:19:15.279 Wildcats, they could get involved in this. But 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:18.519 in football, we're never in that conversation. 00:19:19.420 --> 00:19:24.299 I don't think that's going to work. They're a 00:19:24.299 --> 00:19:26.799 confident game for the Gators. I'll put it to 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:31.440 you that way. Yeah. That's an understatement. 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:37.700 Well, anyway, those are some ideas that are out 00:19:37.700 --> 00:19:42.680 there to help keep activity going. And we've 00:19:42.680 --> 00:19:46.069 also talked a little bit about Just being out 00:19:46.069 --> 00:19:49.430 there in the community and like we go out and 00:19:49.430 --> 00:19:52.750 try to Talk to some of the elementary schools, 00:19:52.789 --> 00:19:55.329 you know so that those kids know a little bit 00:19:55.329 --> 00:19:57.549 about ham radio before they get to high school 00:19:57.549 --> 00:20:01.630 and and you were talking before the show to about 00:20:01.630 --> 00:20:06.769 up at uf Going out into the community and and 00:20:06.769 --> 00:20:10.150 always you know being there so that you're visible 00:20:10.150 --> 00:20:13.680 so that when those kids were come to college 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:16.819 they they knew what it was yeah we would definitely 00:20:16.819 --> 00:20:18.700 do that if there's like the boy scouts want to 00:20:18.700 --> 00:20:20.779 do radio merit badge we would offer up our station 00:20:20.779 --> 00:20:23.200 get them up there get them on the air that sort 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:26.819 of thing we do local marathons yeah i mean you 00:20:26.819 --> 00:20:29.140 know and that also drives club activity because 00:20:29.140 --> 00:20:31.400 it's something with a very specific purpose um 00:20:31.400 --> 00:20:33.019 and students will come out to that and they'll 00:20:33.019 --> 00:20:34.619 say oh yeah i know exactly what i'm getting into 00:20:34.619 --> 00:20:38.279 this is going to be fun so yeah it's a great 00:20:38.279 --> 00:20:40.460 way to sort of build the future and keep a club 00:20:40.460 --> 00:20:44.690 active Some great ideas there. Well, we're going 00:20:44.690 --> 00:20:48.670 to take a break and when we come back We'll start 00:20:48.670 --> 00:20:51.490 checking the tweets and the messages and take 00:20:51.490 --> 00:20:55.029 your phone calls So be sure to give us a call. 00:20:55.029 --> 00:20:58.509 We've got a couple of Public service announcements 00:20:58.509 --> 00:21:01.210 to get in here But we'll be back with Andy right 00:21:01.210 --> 00:21:04.529 after this word from the National Voice of America 00:21:04.529 --> 00:21:07.490 Museum of Broadcasting and amateur radio newsline 00:21:07.490 --> 00:21:10.809 right after this on ham talk live The National 00:21:10.809 --> 00:21:13.730 Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting, located 00:21:13.730 --> 00:21:16.690 in Westchester, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati, 00:21:17.170 --> 00:21:21.190 is only two minutes off I -75. The museum is 00:21:21.190 --> 00:21:23.829 the former home of the Voice of America Bethany 00:21:23.829 --> 00:21:27.190 Relay Station. Tours are now available every 00:21:27.190 --> 00:21:29.809 Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p .m. Eastern 00:21:29.809 --> 00:21:33.869 time. You can see the control room. a 200 ,000 00:21:33.869 --> 00:21:36.829 watt transmitter, and the most comprehensive 00:21:36.829 --> 00:21:39.990 collection of inventions by the iconic Powell 00:21:39.990 --> 00:21:44.130 -Crosley Jr. Also on display is a huge antique 00:21:44.130 --> 00:21:47.849 radio exhibit and R .L. Drake's personal collection 00:21:47.849 --> 00:21:51.930 of most every Drake amateur rig ever made. This 00:21:51.930 --> 00:21:55.190 is a unique opportunity to see amateur radio 00:21:55.190 --> 00:21:57.829 in action and have a chance to get on the air 00:21:57.829 --> 00:22:04.289 from WC8VOA. Admission is only $5 a person. The 00:22:04.289 --> 00:22:08.230 museum is located close to historic WLWAM and 00:22:08.230 --> 00:22:11.349 tons of shopping and restaurants. Take a trip 00:22:11.349 --> 00:22:16.269 to the VOA museum or visit us online at voamuseum 00:22:16.269 --> 00:22:19.869 .org. Nominations are now open for the amateur 00:22:19.869 --> 00:22:23.089 radio newsline, Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF Young 00:22:23.089 --> 00:22:26.410 Ham of the Year Award. I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW. 00:22:26.549 --> 00:22:28.970 Since 1986, we've had the honor of celebrating 00:22:28.970 --> 00:22:30.990 the accomplishments of Youth and Ham Radio when 00:22:30.990 --> 00:22:32.730 we want to know about your exceptional young 00:22:32.730 --> 00:22:35.069 ham. You'll find the rules and a nominating form 00:22:35.069 --> 00:22:38.349 by clicking the Y -H -O -T -Y tab on ARNewsline 00:22:38.349 --> 00:22:41.289 .org. Fill it out, send it in, and we'll see 00:22:41.289 --> 00:22:43.430 you and an amazing young ham at the Huntsville 00:22:43.430 --> 00:22:46.740 Alabama Ham Fest in August. Thanks, and 73. from 00:22:46.740 --> 00:22:51.259 amateur radio news line. Join the conversation. 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:55.059 Call us on voice with Skype at HamTalk Live or 00:22:55.059 --> 00:22:59.559 give us a call at 812 -NET -HAM -1. That's 812 00:22:59.559 --> 00:23:28.529 -638 -4261. Now here's more HamTalk Live. Ham 00:23:28.529 --> 00:23:30.930 talk live is on the air every Thursday night 00:23:30.930 --> 00:23:35.630 at 9 p .m. Eastern time right here Ham talk live 00:23:35.630 --> 00:23:38.490 comm and be sure to check us out on Facebook 00:23:38.490 --> 00:23:42.869 Twitter and Instagram And it's time for your 00:23:42.869 --> 00:23:45.289 calls now if you have a question for Andy give 00:23:45.289 --> 00:23:47.890 us a call at eight one two net ham one That's 00:23:47.890 --> 00:23:51.690 eight one two six three eight four two six one 00:23:51.690 --> 00:23:55.210 or you can Skype us at HamTalk Live or tweet 00:23:55.210 --> 00:23:58.109 us at HamTalk Live. We've got a couple of comments 00:23:58.109 --> 00:24:01.049 on the website as well to get to. But first, 00:24:01.349 --> 00:24:04.390 we do have a caller on the line and no surprise, 00:24:04.650 --> 00:24:07.730 Sterling. Good evening. No surprise. Hey, you 00:24:07.730 --> 00:24:10.650 hear me okay? I hear you just fine. This is Sterling 00:24:10.650 --> 00:24:14.809 Coffee in Zero SSC that we were talking about 00:24:14.809 --> 00:24:19.470 earlier. Oh, yeah. A little bit later, I think 00:24:19.470 --> 00:24:22.490 you guys mentioned the DMR net. It's kind of 00:24:22.490 --> 00:24:25.069 a funny story. We started that. A couple of us 00:24:25.069 --> 00:24:26.589 were up at night, at midnight, and we're like, 00:24:26.670 --> 00:24:28.769 why don't we have a net? And we all kind of like 00:24:28.769 --> 00:24:31.509 pulled each other on our GroupMe chat saying, 00:24:31.650 --> 00:24:35.460 you know, what do we do? EchoLink, DMR. Discord 00:24:35.460 --> 00:24:37.700 or where you know VoIP kind of things, you know, 00:24:38.119 --> 00:24:40.140 and we ended up with DMR and it was surprising 00:24:40.140 --> 00:24:43.200 because you know It's a digital radio and there's 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:47.819 a you know a buried entry to that But surprisingly 00:24:47.819 --> 00:24:50.240 DMR is super popular. It's like it's like hype. 00:24:50.259 --> 00:24:53.839 It's it's it's like everywhere Triple E put up 00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:56.359 a DMR repeater a lot of a lot of other clubs 00:24:56.359 --> 00:24:59.400 been putting up DMR. It's it's kind of cool I 00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:02.099 think it's a good mix of you know technology 00:25:02.099 --> 00:25:05.859 as well as you know amateur It definitely forces 00:25:05.859 --> 00:25:08.019 you to experiment a bit to get it right. Yeah, 00:25:08.019 --> 00:25:10.839 absolutely. Me personally, trying to put a code 00:25:10.839 --> 00:25:14.660 plug in my GD77, it's just a pain and I almost 00:25:14.660 --> 00:25:16.980 bricked the radio. I had to call radiodity to 00:25:16.980 --> 00:25:19.720 be like, help. But I eventually got it fixed 00:25:19.720 --> 00:25:22.880 and it's cool to have that challenge. I do agree 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:26.140 with that. And they're also pretty cheap. But 00:25:26.140 --> 00:25:28.259 yeah, we had it at midnight. A lot of people 00:25:28.259 --> 00:25:32.220 came on. And but there was a consensus that it 00:25:32.220 --> 00:25:34.599 was a bit late for most and we turned the midnight 00:25:34.599 --> 00:25:36.039 net into an informal net and now we're having 00:25:36.039 --> 00:25:39.660 it on Tuesdays at Whatever six or seven or eight 00:25:39.660 --> 00:25:43.440 Eastern something like that. Yes Yep, and there's 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:47.160 a group. There's an event inside the Carrie Facebook 00:25:47.160 --> 00:25:50.839 page. Yeah, so check out Yeah, I just wanted 00:25:50.839 --> 00:25:53.900 to relay one thing from Tripoli that that caught 00:25:53.900 --> 00:25:56.619 my eye today on their their chat Tonight, they 00:25:56.619 --> 00:26:00.700 had a licensing session, and they had 15 applicants 00:26:00.700 --> 00:26:06.460 come in, and 16 elements were passed. Apparently, 00:26:06.539 --> 00:26:09.259 I think that math works out that 14 New Ham's, 00:26:09.380 --> 00:26:12.319 there was one New Ham general who passed the 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:14.319 tech and the journal at the same time, and then 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:17.059 an upgrade to general. So big round of applause 00:26:17.059 --> 00:26:21.339 for the W0EEE. ham radio class and a test session 00:26:21.339 --> 00:26:24.480 there. They've been also doing a PCB class that's 00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:26.660 been on their Facebook and I've been poking around 00:26:26.660 --> 00:26:30.099 on the Facebook group me on Cary. One of the 00:26:30.099 --> 00:26:32.940 really good examples of what can we do with this 00:26:32.940 --> 00:26:36.380 collegiate ecosystem. I think the PCB class is 00:26:36.380 --> 00:26:40.759 one of those perfect examples. Yeah, it's really 00:26:40.759 --> 00:26:43.700 got good overlay with other curricular activities 00:26:43.700 --> 00:26:48.140 and provides a good. low barrier to entry or 00:26:48.140 --> 00:26:51.079 natural sort of overlap with amateur radio. So 00:26:51.079 --> 00:26:52.980 yeah, that's been really fun to watch. And it's 00:26:52.980 --> 00:26:56.039 all Ham's doing it too. It's the Triple E Radio 00:26:56.039 --> 00:26:59.119 Club doing it entirely. And it's KiCad, so it's 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:02.440 open source, free software that you can download 00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:05.380 and learn how to make printed circuit boards 00:27:05.380 --> 00:27:08.279 and schematics and learn a little bit of electrical 00:27:08.279 --> 00:27:12.440 theory as anybody. You can go on the Triple E 00:27:12.440 --> 00:27:16.079 WZero Echo Echo Echo Facebook page. and or pcb 00:27:16.079 --> 00:27:21.680 .w0ee .radio is where all of the pdfs presentations 00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:24.319 and stuff is stored so if anybody wants to check 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:28.880 that out please do all right well thanks for 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:31.380 uh thanks for calling in sterling and and we'll 00:27:31.380 --> 00:27:33.180 we'll keep you around here for a little bit if 00:27:33.180 --> 00:27:36.839 you uh are willing um we've got a few messages 00:27:36.839 --> 00:27:42.460 here from troy simpson w9kvr who's the um, trustee 00:27:42.460 --> 00:27:46.900 over at W9GRS and they've been underwater. Uh, 00:27:46.900 --> 00:27:48.819 they've, they've been out of school because of 00:27:48.819 --> 00:27:51.000 all the flooding. So he says he's drying out 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:53.579 here. Uh, but one of the things that he noticed, 00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:57.279 um, the, uh, collegiate participation in school 00:27:57.279 --> 00:27:59.880 core roundup has gone up in the last few years. 00:27:59.900 --> 00:28:03.420 And then he ties that directly to the college 00:28:03.420 --> 00:28:07.890 initiative and, and helped, um, when, um, you 00:28:07.890 --> 00:28:11.509 know, the students are able to talk to some of 00:28:11.509 --> 00:28:14.509 those college stations. And Troy, by the way, 00:28:14.509 --> 00:28:17.930 says, good to hear you again, Andy. So, you know, 00:28:17.970 --> 00:28:21.309 there's some connections there. And I know, you 00:28:21.309 --> 00:28:24.150 know, we always talk, you know, on School Club 00:28:24.150 --> 00:28:26.829 Roundup in high school, we always talk to K -5 00:28:26.829 --> 00:28:30.109 LSU. We always talk to Dana down in the physics 00:28:30.109 --> 00:28:32.029 department down there. And so he always sends 00:28:32.029 --> 00:28:34.670 us stuff, you know, and it's even a good recruitment 00:28:34.670 --> 00:28:40.640 tool. Oh, yeah, and I mean for schools, you know, 00:28:40.740 --> 00:28:42.799 especially like college stations I know my when 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:45.279 my brother was up at Rose Holman and he was president 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:48.599 of Rose Tech radio club up there They were very 00:28:48.599 --> 00:28:50.980 very lucky that their station is like five feet 00:28:50.980 --> 00:28:53.839 off a main hallway So they set up a you know, 00:28:54.039 --> 00:28:56.920 basically a public station and work school club 00:28:56.920 --> 00:28:58.759 round up from the hallway And you know got a 00:28:58.759 --> 00:29:02.980 whole bunch of people passing by and just interested 00:29:02.980 --> 00:29:06.440 just by pure, it was going on in the hall while 00:29:06.440 --> 00:29:09.880 they were walking to class. And it's really a 00:29:09.880 --> 00:29:12.980 great sort of definite activity, going back to 00:29:12.980 --> 00:29:14.640 that saying, okay, we've planned, we're gonna 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:16.920 do this activity. And again, it's a low barrier 00:29:16.920 --> 00:29:18.640 to entry. You're talking to people that wanna 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:20.859 talk to students. And that really makes people 00:29:20.859 --> 00:29:23.839 feel comfortable. I have several YouTube videos 00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:28.819 up there, up on YouTube that show, new hams just 00:29:28.819 --> 00:29:30.599 getting on for School Club Roundup for the first 00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:33.059 time. And the fact that people want to talk to 00:29:33.059 --> 00:29:34.680 them, that people are very, very understanding 00:29:34.680 --> 00:29:37.140 of them being new and getting on the air. It's 00:29:37.140 --> 00:29:38.680 just a great way to break down those barriers 00:29:38.680 --> 00:29:42.700 and really drive activity. And then another thing 00:29:42.700 --> 00:29:46.099 that I'm actually working on an article for for 00:29:46.099 --> 00:29:48.559 the next edition of the National Contest Journal 00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:54.450 is the national collegiate championships, which 00:29:54.450 --> 00:29:58.190 was a contest within a contest. You had the colleges 00:29:58.190 --> 00:30:02.849 doing a contest on the North American QSO party 00:30:02.849 --> 00:30:07.630 with live scoring going on in between. And I 00:30:07.630 --> 00:30:11.130 believe Georgia Tech was the winner on that one. 00:30:12.400 --> 00:30:15.299 But a lot of schools participated in that, and 00:30:15.299 --> 00:30:17.819 I'll be interviewing some of those and writing 00:30:17.819 --> 00:30:22.960 that up for an upcoming edition of NCJ. So it's 00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:26.380 another opportunity for colleges to get on the 00:30:26.380 --> 00:30:30.500 air and do a little competition. Yeah. Piggybacking 00:30:30.500 --> 00:30:35.700 on that NCA rivalry. Like I said, I think all 00:30:35.700 --> 00:30:38.440 those are doing really fantastic and I know there's 00:30:38.440 --> 00:30:40.700 been, we've been tossing around some ideas. I 00:30:40.700 --> 00:30:42.460 know Sterling and I talked about last year with 00:30:42.460 --> 00:30:46.819 Triple E as well at Hamvention about even potentially 00:30:46.819 --> 00:30:49.420 a college specific sprint or something like that. 00:30:49.619 --> 00:30:51.579 So figuring out the logistics of doing something 00:30:51.579 --> 00:30:56.420 like that. But I think that the more activities 00:30:56.420 --> 00:30:59.140 like that, the easier it is to drive club activity. 00:31:01.359 --> 00:31:03.480 You know again, I can't harp it enough You know 00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:06.140 if you have good planning for an event and you 00:31:06.140 --> 00:31:07.680 you know are very very specific and not just 00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:10.420 you know Come hang out at the radio station That 00:31:10.420 --> 00:31:12.940 really does wonders for driving activity and 00:31:12.940 --> 00:31:14.759 the more that we can provide as a community. 00:31:14.759 --> 00:31:19.539 I think better Sterling anything to follow up 00:31:19.539 --> 00:31:23.980 with on that. Oh Yeah, exactly. I I also think 00:31:23.980 --> 00:31:25.539 we'll have you having a couple more nets coming 00:31:25.539 --> 00:31:30.380 up like an hf net for sure, but a contest collegiate 00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:32.539 college specific and also just trying to like 00:31:32.539 --> 00:31:35.859 get out more of the I guess college spirit into 00:31:35.859 --> 00:31:38.720 all of the contests that are as many as we possibly 00:31:38.720 --> 00:31:41.299 can and intersperse that between you know finals 00:31:41.299 --> 00:31:44.740 week and test area areas in the year where tests 00:31:44.740 --> 00:31:47.720 are more common than others. I think that'll 00:31:47.720 --> 00:31:51.519 be like a super exciting event or super exciting 00:31:51.519 --> 00:31:55.599 like whole shift for the collegiate side of things 00:31:55.599 --> 00:31:59.700 so yeah for sure and I really love I'll just 00:31:59.700 --> 00:32:03.099 go back to the live streaming introductory things 00:32:03.099 --> 00:32:06.240 and that sort of stuff where we can all share 00:32:06.240 --> 00:32:10.049 it on the carry page. anything that brings us 00:32:10.049 --> 00:32:12.269 together is super powerful and I think it'll 00:32:12.269 --> 00:32:14.329 make for a lot of new hams, a lot of interesting 00:32:14.329 --> 00:32:16.750 hams and a lot of like careers out of this too. 00:32:16.990 --> 00:32:21.390 I just gave a talk to American Public University 00:32:21.390 --> 00:32:25.049 System, they're an online university about the 00:32:25.049 --> 00:32:27.069 impact of amateur radio in my life as an electrical 00:32:27.069 --> 00:32:29.230 engineer and the way, you know, what it can do 00:32:29.230 --> 00:32:34.710 for you as a STEM, you know, soon to be student. 00:32:36.299 --> 00:32:39.079 Potential student right and it was super well 00:32:39.079 --> 00:32:42.420 attended And it was recorded. I don't have the 00:32:42.420 --> 00:32:44.380 recording yet, but I can't post it because it 00:32:44.380 --> 00:32:47.339 was like Closing to their sister their university, 00:32:47.359 --> 00:32:50.500 but I think I'm gonna take that speak speech 00:32:50.500 --> 00:32:53.839 I did and push it around to places like Dayton 00:32:53.839 --> 00:32:55.680 or I'm even going to Friedrichshafen I don't 00:32:55.680 --> 00:32:57.779 know if I'll be able to get a form at Friedrichshafen 00:32:57.779 --> 00:33:00.279 or Dayton at this point, but I do have that in 00:33:00.279 --> 00:33:02.700 my back pocket I think it's really important. 00:33:03.759 --> 00:33:07.460 Ham Radio as a hobby is potentially life -changing 00:33:07.460 --> 00:33:11.359 for good reasons. That's something we brought 00:33:11.359 --> 00:33:15.099 up at the very first Cary Forum when we did a 00:33:15.099 --> 00:33:18.579 hamcation last year was the networking aspect 00:33:18.579 --> 00:33:21.880 of it. For instance, I know my brother Tony. 00:33:24.389 --> 00:33:27.430 He got some of his internships because he was 00:33:27.430 --> 00:33:29.630 a ham, and that came up, and I know you're in 00:33:29.630 --> 00:33:32.970 a similar boat. And it's even come up for me. 00:33:33.890 --> 00:33:36.470 In interviews, people look at that and they go, 00:33:36.829 --> 00:33:40.069 oh, I'm a ham too, or the best one is when they 00:33:40.069 --> 00:33:41.970 start tapping something out in Morse code and 00:33:41.970 --> 00:33:46.910 ask you to. Fortunately, I did the CW Academy, 00:33:46.950 --> 00:33:49.109 so I'm actually much better with my Morse code. 00:33:50.859 --> 00:33:53.039 Yeah, I mean, it's really cool. And I think another 00:33:53.039 --> 00:33:55.799 way that it can really change your life, too, 00:33:55.980 --> 00:33:58.539 is to look at the scholarship dollars available. 00:33:59.220 --> 00:34:01.000 I don't think that we put enough focus on that 00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:05.680 enough. Both the ARRL Foundation offers a bunch 00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:07.519 of scholarships either directly from the league 00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:09.980 or coordinates with clubs, as well as the Foundation 00:34:09.980 --> 00:34:13.079 for Amateur Radio. And while the league's scholarships 00:34:13.079 --> 00:34:18.639 end January 31st, the FAR scholarships are due 00:34:18.639 --> 00:34:21.659 at tax time every year, so it's a very easy time 00:34:21.659 --> 00:34:26.119 to remember when those are due. A lot of those 00:34:26.119 --> 00:34:29.780 dollars could really go to either hams that are 00:34:29.780 --> 00:34:32.260 active in clubs and could benefit from that, 00:34:32.619 --> 00:34:36.739 or going to your wheelhouse there, Neil, students 00:34:36.739 --> 00:34:39.199 that want to get active in amateur radio in college, 00:34:39.280 --> 00:34:42.050 or maybe were active in high school. are at least 00:34:42.050 --> 00:34:44.929 interested in keeping it going forward. That's 00:34:44.929 --> 00:34:47.130 a nice way to sort of give them a reminder when 00:34:47.130 --> 00:34:49.670 they have some hams help and support them in 00:34:49.670 --> 00:34:55.980 their studies. 812 -638 -4261 is the phone number 00:34:55.980 --> 00:34:59.780 if you'd like to join in. That's 812 -NET -AM1 00:34:59.780 --> 00:35:02.559 where you can tweet us or Skype us. We have a 00:35:02.559 --> 00:35:05.280 few minutes remaining here. So if you'd like 00:35:05.280 --> 00:35:08.679 to chime in, please do. And Dr. Scott Wright 00:35:08.679 --> 00:35:13.139 KZOMD reminded me that's the North American Collegiate 00:35:13.139 --> 00:35:16.659 Championship. I didn't get the name quite right 00:35:16.659 --> 00:35:22.230 on that, but that's coming up in NCJ soon. We'll 00:35:22.230 --> 00:35:27.389 talk about that in that forum. But again, the 00:35:27.389 --> 00:35:33.530 number is 812 -638 -4261 if you would like to 00:35:33.530 --> 00:35:42.190 call. What are some resources that are out there 00:35:42.190 --> 00:35:46.519 for? a university that wants to start a brand 00:35:46.519 --> 00:35:50.719 new club or restart a club, what do you suggest 00:35:50.719 --> 00:35:53.880 for getting some equipment to get started on 00:35:53.880 --> 00:35:57.639 that? You know, I think the best way is to look 00:35:57.639 --> 00:36:00.460 at your local clubs and look at what is in the 00:36:00.460 --> 00:36:03.409 area. in terms of just the community itself. 00:36:04.289 --> 00:36:05.869 I know, for instance, in Gainesville, we have 00:36:05.869 --> 00:36:08.489 the Gainesville Amateur Radio Society, K4GNV, 00:36:08.809 --> 00:36:11.469 and that's worked in partnership with the Gator 00:36:11.469 --> 00:36:16.210 Amateur Radio Club, W4DFU, for years. And I know 00:36:16.210 --> 00:36:21.630 most college clubs are within, likely, a community 00:36:21.630 --> 00:36:25.380 of... really a community of hams. There's a lot 00:36:25.380 --> 00:36:30.300 of professors or just engineers or staff members 00:36:30.300 --> 00:36:32.710 at schools that are hams and they just. It doesn't 00:36:32.710 --> 00:36:34.650 come up during the day, and there's more than 00:36:34.650 --> 00:36:36.849 likely a club accessible. So that's a great way 00:36:36.849 --> 00:36:39.650 to start getting on the air, is to just sort 00:36:39.650 --> 00:36:41.449 of partner with that club and say, hey, we want 00:36:41.449 --> 00:36:44.030 to start. And really, all you need to start a 00:36:44.030 --> 00:36:48.429 college club is three friends and register for 00:36:48.429 --> 00:36:50.269 your call sign with the FCC if you don't have 00:36:50.269 --> 00:36:54.389 one already. And a cheap HT is enough to start, 00:36:54.590 --> 00:36:56.969 and you can sort of work your way up from there. 00:36:57.769 --> 00:37:00.769 You know, there's a lot of resources on the, 00:37:00.869 --> 00:37:02.650 uh, Carrie Facebook page in terms of just asking, 00:37:02.650 --> 00:37:05.289 um, other hams, how to do it, how to work through 00:37:05.289 --> 00:37:07.590 student government, um, student government's 00:37:07.590 --> 00:37:09.309 usually a pretty difficult challenge for three 00:37:09.309 --> 00:37:14.869 students. So, you know, having other, yeah. I 00:37:14.869 --> 00:37:17.869 remember fighting that the university of Southern 00:37:17.869 --> 00:37:20.690 Indiana and trying to get, uh, through student 00:37:20.690 --> 00:37:22.610 government. We finally got through it, but it 00:37:22.610 --> 00:37:24.289 did take a little while. Go ahead. Sterling. 00:37:24.559 --> 00:37:26.639 The good thing about that, about having all these 00:37:26.639 --> 00:37:29.139 colleges in one place, is that when you want 00:37:29.139 --> 00:37:33.000 to start a club and you have to deal with student 00:37:33.000 --> 00:37:35.260 government, we have all these boilerplates that 00:37:35.260 --> 00:37:39.320 we've given for funding or for club appropriations 00:37:39.320 --> 00:37:42.860 and actually starting and making the club a registered 00:37:42.860 --> 00:37:47.030 organization. You know freely and quickly as 00:37:47.030 --> 00:37:48.969 possible because you know, we always need more 00:37:48.969 --> 00:37:51.949 clubs I've also seen a lot of people ask this 00:37:51.949 --> 00:37:54.929 question on reddit The amateur radio subreddit. 00:37:55.010 --> 00:37:57.530 There's a lot of college hands on there that 00:37:57.530 --> 00:38:01.309 uh go through a painstaking process of detailing 00:38:01.309 --> 00:38:02.650 their whole club's history and how they dealt 00:38:02.650 --> 00:38:06.329 with it and following through and actually contacting 00:38:06.329 --> 00:38:10.690 that person. And I'm one of those people. There's 00:38:10.690 --> 00:38:13.570 been a lot of that with Triple -E, especially 00:38:13.570 --> 00:38:17.250 with our tower upgrades. I wasn't there at the 00:38:17.250 --> 00:38:19.969 time, but the Double -E building caught on fire. 00:38:20.130 --> 00:38:24.170 And so we had to strip every single tile out 00:38:24.170 --> 00:38:26.860 of the ham shack to get it. deep clean from all 00:38:26.860 --> 00:38:29.000 of the water damage and everything. I think they 00:38:29.000 --> 00:38:31.239 ended up getting carpet out of it or maybe fresh 00:38:31.239 --> 00:38:37.219 tile. No, they got tile. But yeah, just feel 00:38:37.219 --> 00:38:41.219 free to ask and somebody will be like, at least 00:38:41.219 --> 00:38:44.179 three people will be on you in no time because 00:38:44.179 --> 00:38:48.019 all of us really want to help everybody. Amateur 00:38:48.019 --> 00:38:50.400 radio is a very different hobby than a lot of 00:38:50.400 --> 00:38:53.329 college. clubs. You know, for instance, most 00:38:53.329 --> 00:38:55.590 of our stuff is like a capital improvement, right? 00:38:55.670 --> 00:38:57.849 We're going to put something on the building, 00:38:57.909 --> 00:39:00.050 we're going to invest in expensive radios, you 00:39:00.050 --> 00:39:02.690 know, we're not buying pizza and t -shirts, you 00:39:02.690 --> 00:39:06.090 know. So, you know, that's a separate whole thing 00:39:06.090 --> 00:39:08.289 to navigate. Sometimes student government funds 00:39:08.289 --> 00:39:11.210 can't even be used for that sort of thing. So 00:39:11.210 --> 00:39:13.809 sort of keeping that, you know, in mind and that's 00:39:13.809 --> 00:39:16.530 like Sterling said, you know, if someone posts 00:39:16.530 --> 00:39:19.349 with those questions or wants to offer help. 00:39:19.500 --> 00:39:23.059 you know, the carry page is a great way for us 00:39:23.059 --> 00:39:25.980 to, you know, sort of coordinate that. And chances 00:39:25.980 --> 00:39:28.159 are someone else has been through that problem 00:39:28.159 --> 00:39:30.340 before you, so it's nice to not have to work 00:39:30.340 --> 00:39:35.699 through the same problem 15 times. Now, one of 00:39:35.699 --> 00:39:39.300 the things you guys just mentioned was social 00:39:39.300 --> 00:39:43.480 media and the connection to that. And Andy, we 00:39:43.480 --> 00:39:46.940 want to talk a little bit about some ways that 00:39:46.940 --> 00:39:52.090 we can communicate with this age group maybe 00:39:52.090 --> 00:39:56.409 a little little better to recruit those people 00:39:56.409 --> 00:39:59.090 and get a hold of those because in a confined 00:39:59.090 --> 00:40:02.150 environment like mine we can you know put it 00:40:02.150 --> 00:40:04.130 on the announcements and put it on the little 00:40:04.280 --> 00:40:08.039 TV show that's inside the school. But when you're 00:40:08.039 --> 00:40:11.599 on a university campus, it's a lot harder to 00:40:11.599 --> 00:40:14.579 track down even those people who are already 00:40:14.579 --> 00:40:16.860 licensed or have already been in a ham radio 00:40:16.860 --> 00:40:19.559 club. So talk a little bit about interfacing 00:40:19.559 --> 00:40:23.719 with those students. Yeah. So the, the, the problem 00:40:23.719 --> 00:40:25.739 is, is that we got to make amateur radio loud. 00:40:25.860 --> 00:40:29.159 We got to make amateur radio loud to, um, the 00:40:29.159 --> 00:40:31.159 people that are You know sort of younger than 00:40:31.159 --> 00:40:34.159 us and they listen very differently than my generation 00:40:34.159 --> 00:40:35.820 sterling and I pay attention to way different 00:40:35.820 --> 00:40:38.420 things than what our parents paid attention to 00:40:38.420 --> 00:40:40.960 And we pay attention to things differently than 00:40:40.960 --> 00:40:44.400 what current high school students do So it's 00:40:44.400 --> 00:40:46.780 adapting with the time. So obviously social media 00:40:46.780 --> 00:40:50.679 is this huge thing, you know People don't read, 00:40:50.679 --> 00:40:52.440 you know qst like they used to they're gonna 00:40:52.440 --> 00:40:54.539 consume it on a digital platform instead of the 00:40:54.539 --> 00:40:57.219 paper They're gonna be more in tune with twitter. 00:40:57.219 --> 00:40:58.900 They're gonna be more in tune with snapchat. 00:40:59.320 --> 00:41:02.199 So Making amateur radio loud is piggybacking 00:41:02.199 --> 00:41:04.719 on things that maybe aren't directly amateur 00:41:04.719 --> 00:41:07.219 radio related But sharing that on social media 00:41:07.219 --> 00:41:08.940 and at least drawing the connection getting that 00:41:08.940 --> 00:41:11.840 exposure, you know Recently for instance SpaceX 00:41:11.840 --> 00:41:13.739 had the Falcon heavy launch, you know, that's 00:41:13.739 --> 00:41:16.960 a huge deal Everyone was talking about it, but 00:41:16.960 --> 00:41:19.239 the amateur radio community on social media was 00:41:19.239 --> 00:41:22.789 largely silent about it Why I don't know this 00:41:22.789 --> 00:41:24.989 is something that affects amateur radio operators. 00:41:25.150 --> 00:41:28.269 This could help us launch more Oscars. And a 00:41:28.269 --> 00:41:30.630 lot of hams are naturally interested in space. 00:41:30.909 --> 00:41:34.170 As I mentioned before, the SwampSat club at UF 00:41:34.170 --> 00:41:35.630 was very interested in getting their amateur 00:41:35.630 --> 00:41:37.010 radio license because they wanted to put a satellite 00:41:37.010 --> 00:41:39.889 in orbit and they needed the spectrum. So when 00:41:39.889 --> 00:41:41.690 you're on social media and you're trying to promote 00:41:41.690 --> 00:41:44.710 amateur radio, don't just look at it in a vacuum 00:41:44.710 --> 00:41:47.250 and say, I can only post about things that involve 00:41:47.250 --> 00:41:51.289 radio. Look at similar hobbies. A lot of hams 00:41:51.289 --> 00:41:53.510 are outdoors. and they love going to the park 00:41:53.510 --> 00:41:56.630 and operating. Napoto is great for that. So if 00:41:56.630 --> 00:41:59.230 you see something come up about a national park, 00:41:59.269 --> 00:42:02.769 share that. And I'm sure that will get retweeted 00:42:02.769 --> 00:42:04.550 by more than just your amateur radio friends. 00:42:05.449 --> 00:42:07.769 And that really creates that exposure and sort 00:42:07.769 --> 00:42:10.590 of gives people the idea of, oh, this isn't my 00:42:10.590 --> 00:42:12.409 grandfather's amateur radio. These are really 00:42:12.409 --> 00:42:14.550 still an active, vibrant community that's out 00:42:14.550 --> 00:42:17.409 doing different and cool things. And Sterling, 00:42:17.429 --> 00:42:19.710 you've got 40 seconds, but I know what you're 00:42:19.710 --> 00:42:23.159 going to say. Oh yeah, I bet you do. I totally 00:42:23.159 --> 00:42:27.090 agree. Big antennas at your organization showcase 00:42:27.090 --> 00:42:29.829 events always helps. We had a satellite arrow 00:42:29.829 --> 00:42:32.070 antenna. We had CW in the background playing. 00:42:33.409 --> 00:42:35.949 E -connection is our email list serve that we 00:42:35.949 --> 00:42:39.949 have for the whole university. I'm sure most 00:42:39.949 --> 00:42:41.909 universities have something like that. And like 00:42:41.909 --> 00:42:44.409 I agree, events which aren't directly amateur 00:42:44.409 --> 00:42:46.489 radio related and are supported by other organizations 00:42:46.489 --> 00:42:49.329 like IEEE. We did an Easter egg hunt where we 00:42:49.329 --> 00:42:51.630 made the Easter eggs into RF beacons and we used 00:42:51.630 --> 00:42:54.949 a little $2 receivers that we built design and 00:42:54.949 --> 00:42:57.989 built to receive them or advanced or associates 00:42:57.989 --> 00:43:01.409 for computing machinery We did a war Wi -Fi Wardrive 00:43:01.409 --> 00:43:04.849 and got a lot of overlap between the comp side 00:43:04.849 --> 00:43:06.869 department and the Electro engineering department. 00:43:06.889 --> 00:43:11.909 We built cantenna's to detect the un password 00:43:11.909 --> 00:43:15.329 protected Wi -Fi Access on the city. So that 00:43:15.329 --> 00:43:18.090 was a lot of fun and it was huge draw Anything 00:43:18.090 --> 00:43:21.429 that has wireless satellite teams solar car telemetry 00:43:21.670 --> 00:43:24.130 Is something and we started Mars over design 00:43:24.130 --> 00:43:26.469 team and did networking and we've got a lot of 00:43:26.469 --> 00:43:28.489 hams license because we wanted more power on 00:43:28.489 --> 00:43:31.909 our Ubiquiti Wi -Fi bullet so things like that. 00:43:31.909 --> 00:43:36.429 It's a it's a big draw and I set you up but but 00:43:36.429 --> 00:43:41.489 I Set you up for reddit. Oh Yeah, yeah, of course 00:43:41.489 --> 00:43:45.809 always go to the reddit and And the reddit meetups 00:43:45.809 --> 00:43:50.880 at hamcation and hamvention. Mm -hmm I think 00:43:50.880 --> 00:43:52.519 Reddit is one of the best AMERITA communities 00:43:52.519 --> 00:43:54.400 on the internet. It's a bunch of really good 00:43:54.400 --> 00:43:57.699 people. Who are slightly sarcastic, but always 00:43:57.699 --> 00:44:00.739 really helpful. And everything that is just goes 00:44:00.739 --> 00:44:02.940 down. It's like, there's a noise floor at the 00:44:02.940 --> 00:44:05.500 bottom of every page because it's sorted by upboats. 00:44:05.780 --> 00:44:07.480 Don't go down below in the noise floor. Stay 00:44:07.480 --> 00:44:09.920 above the noise. Stay above the noises. Christian 00:44:09.920 --> 00:44:12.559 says, yes. All right. Well, we've got to leave 00:44:12.559 --> 00:44:15.500 it there. We are out of time. That is a wrap 00:44:15.500 --> 00:44:18.320 for this week's edition of ham talk live, but 00:44:18.320 --> 00:44:22.719 thanks to Andy Malusi, KK4LWR for joining us 00:44:22.719 --> 00:44:26.219 tonight and also Sterling. and Zero SSE for calling 00:44:26.219 --> 00:44:29.860 in and everyone out there for chiming in tonight 00:44:29.860 --> 00:44:33.760 and listening and invite you all back next Thursday 00:44:33.760 --> 00:44:37.840 night at 9 p .m. Steve Waterman K4CGX and Phil 00:44:37.840 --> 00:44:41.579 Sherrod W4PHS will be here to talk about WinLink 00:44:41.579 --> 00:44:44.420 and for a list of all of our upcoming guests 00:44:44.420 --> 00:44:47.739 visit HamTalkLive .com. So for now this is Neil 00:44:47.739 --> 00:44:53.599 Rapp WB9VPG saying 7375 and may the good DX be 00:44:53.599 --> 00:44:55.510 yours. Thank you.