It's him radio Thanks for tuning in. HamTalk
Live will be on the air shortly. Please stand
by. This episode of HamTalk Live is brought to
you by Tower Electronics. For cables, connectors
and more, call 920 -435 -2973 or visit pl -259
.com and by The Ham Station. Get your new radio
or antenna by calling 800 -729 -4373 or go to
hamstation .com. Good evening, everyone. It's
time for HamTalk Live. It's episode number 77.
Quarter Century Wireless Association recorded
live on Thursday, August 17th, 2017. I'm your
host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. Thanks for tuning in
to this episode of HamTalk Live. Tonight we're
joined by Ken Olke, VE6AFO. and the president
of the QCWA, and we'll take your calls live in
just a few minutes. Last week, Dave Given's K5RSI
was here to talk about the Huntsville HamFest
coming up this weekend. And if you missed that,
you can listen anytime. Just go to HamTalkLive
.com or you can go on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher,
Google Play, TuneIn, SoundCloud, or you can even
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Today, this morning, I found out that Hammy,
the HamTalk Live mascot, is going to make an
appearance at Huntsville on Saturday, so be sure
to look for him and get your picture with him
and send it to us. And if you're down there in
Huntsville, make sure you say hi to Hammy. He'll
be wandering around on Saturday for a little
bit so that'll be nice and get your questions
ready to go about QCWA and we're going to interview
Ken here a little bit and then you can call us
and that number to call whenever I tell you it's
time to call is 812 -NET -HAM -1 812 -638 -4261
or you can Skype us at HamTalk Live. You can
also tweet us. at HamTalk Live as well. So I'll
be back with Ken right after this word from Tower
Electronics right here on HamTalk Live. This
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ham talk live with neo rap yesterday my xyl said
she'd leave me if i didn't give up ham radio
over Thanks to Scott and Jill at Tower Electronics
for sponsoring the show once again. They're going
to be in Huntsville this weekend. Plan on seeing
them and picking up some connectors from them.
And you can too, down in Huntsville. Or you can
give them a call at 920 -435 -2973. Also, they'll
be in Shelby, North Carolina on September 1st,
2nd and 3rd. So you can catch them there. You
can also visit their website PL -259 .com. Again,
the number to call them. is 920 -435 -2973. And
just tell them you heard it on HamTalk Live and...
look forward to seeing them this weekend. We're
on the air every Thursday night at 9 p .m. right
here at HamTalkLive .com. Ken Olke, VE6AFO, was
born in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada and became a
radio amateur at the age of 15 in 1961 and received
this call sign VE6AFO. He's been married to Lindaloo
VE6LGO for the past 49 years and currently live
in California. Calgary, Alberta. Ken's held several
executive positions in C -A -R -A, A -R -L -A,
C -R -R -L and R -A -C and he was the president
of R -A -C from 1999 to 2001 and he became a
director of QCWA in 2006 and he served as vice
president from 2006 until 2008 and became president
in 2012 and he's still serving in that capacity.
as an automotive service technician. He and his
wife owned and operated an automobile service
outlet for 20 years and then worked as a ground
equipment technician for what's now known as
Jazz Air. And Ken's a life member of the ARRL,
the RAC, the QCWA, and a current member of CARA,
SARACCC, and several QCWA local chapters. He
enjoys rag chewing and volunteers at the military
museums, demonstrating Morris Code for school
tour groups, and many, many other things. So
Ken, thanks for taking time out to be with us
tonight on HamTalk Live. Well, thank you Neil.
It's a real pleasure Being interviewed by a QCWA
member Neil. Yeah I'm really proud to be on your
show. Well, thank you. And yeah, I'm glad to
to be a QCWA member as well and QCWA has been
around for quite a while. So why don't you tell
us a little history of how QCA was started and
what the criteria is to become a member of QCWA.
Right, Neil. First of all, I'd like to tell the
audience that you yourself were standing by in
the wings until you were licensed exactly 25
years and on the year. Yeah, on January 1. You
didn't even miss a day on January 1. 2001 you
joined the organization when you were licensed
25 years and I'm sure our listeners may or may
not know that you were a very young ham when
you got into amateur radio at five years old.
Now about QCWA, well it all began during a 10
meter roundtable one Friday evening in November
of 1947. Now when you think about In 1947, the
sunspot numbers were up around 210, as compared
today. Sunspot is about 11. So imagine 10 meters
was pretty hot. Although these were local amateurs
in New York. The state of New Yorker, I think,
talking amongst themselves. So they were licensed
25 years. came up with this idea. We've been
licensed 25 years, maybe we should start an organization
for those who were licensed 25 years or more.
So the idea originated with this 10 meter round
table and by December 5 of 1947 a meeting was
held in the upstairs room of Papa's Restaurant
on 14th Street in New York City. gathered were
34 young men who unknowingly were going to make
amateur radio wireless history. And of course
that history today, and we're celebrating our
70th anniversary this year, is the Quarter Century
Wireless Association. And that's how it all started,
Neil. All right, very good. So the big requirement
is that you've been licensed for the 25 years
and I think actually it was a little bit earlier
because I think the rule is the year of that
happening so if I remember right I got in at
age 29 I wasn't quite 30 yet well that's correct
we take the year that you were licensed not necessarily
the month so you could have been licensed in
December of that year, but you can join in January.
And I might add, you do not need to be continuously
licensed. Some got their novices and didn't upgrade,
therefore lost their license, and then come back
into amateur radio later. And we count that first
year you got your novice license, so it doesn't
have to necessarily be 25 years continuous. Okay,
very good. Well, QCWA has been pretty active
in a lot of efforts to help AMRADIO and we're
going to talk about some of those tonight and
the first is the youth activities and my friend
Carol Perry WB2MGP is involved with some of that
and one of the things that QCWA has taken on
in the recent years is the Young Ham Lends a
Hand Award winner and Carol announced the winner
this year right here on HamTalk Live and we're
honored to have this year's winner. He's going
to be calling here in just a minute and we'll
have him on here so tell us about the youth activities
and then we'll talk to Ryan here in just a second.
Now you bet, Neil. When I took the chair of president
in 2012, my goal was to have QCWA reach out to
our young amateur radio operators and youth.
As you know, Neil, we have a terrific scholarship
program and each year we have a lot of applicants.
For 2017, we had 24 applicants. and awarded $36
,000 in that program. But it felt we needed to
be a little more outreaching. And when Carol
Perry came aboard as director of QCWA, and I
knew of her, of course, past, engaged with youth
for many, many years, I decided I should start
a standing committee in QCWA. known as the Youth
Activities. And I have Carol chairing that naturally,
along with some good committee members who understand
youth. So with that, some of the programs that
we'd like to support are like Young Ham's Lend
a Hand, which you're going to have Ryan there.
We just recently had the board approve a donation
to the YDXA, the Youth DX Association, for their
goals to send young amateurs on expeditions.
There's thus what we have been doing in the past
few years there, Neil. Yeah, they just got back
from Costa Rica and had a chance to talk to some
of those guys on the youth DX adventure down
there. And it's glad to hear them on the air
and they were getting some. Some good pile -ups
while they were down there. Well, the Youngham
Lenza Hand Award winner, Ryan Cutshall, KD9DAB,
is on the line with us tonight. So let's talk
a little bit about the award and what he did
and how he received that. Good evening, Ryan.
Howdy, Neil. Thanks for having me on tonight.
Yeah, so can go ahead and talk a little bit about
the the award here Yes, right good to talk with
you in person and I Can't recall whether we met
at Carol Perry's youth forum there or not. Do
you recall meeting me? I don't believe so. I
haven't been able to make a youth forum in the
past couple years. I've been to Dayton. I've
been to the instructor forums the past... I was
there two years ago. I couldn't make Dayton this
year, unfortunately. So it's a pleasure to meet
you and talk to you for the first time. I appreciate
it. Yes, and I'm sure Neil's going to ask you,
but with regard to what you actually did to...
Become a recipient of the young ham lends a hand
but QCWA was Pleased to be able to sponsor that
and we're pleased that you're the winner there
Ryan Yeah, I really appreciate the The nod there
and I was kind of caught by surprise because
Neil just kind of told me after I won that he
had nominated me but You know, do you want me
just to kind of explain now what yeah Yeah, so
Back when arrives with Neil's club a couple years
back. I really started with the whole service
mentality We had a prince or a librarian from
one local elementary schools Contact us because
she knew we were into amateur radio and one of
the books they were reading to fifth graders,
I believe they were, it talks about amateur radio.
Well, most of these kids don't know what that
is. So she wanted to kind of have a hands -on
experience, get them into the book and into the
technology. So she actually contacted Neil and
Neil had me go and I For two years, I went and
gave a presentation to about 80, well, elementary
school kids. I brought handhelds and I put up
the slinky antenna and gave them a kind of a
rough go around of what amateur radio is and
what we do with it and just really got them all
interested. And it was really cool to see all
the faces all their faces light up and all of
that because they whenever I would take the feed
line for the slinky I Would put it in her hand
and of course I had the radio off and everything
and I would I'd say you're the antenna now and
they thought that was so cool that they're like
Wow, I'm the antenna because normally you think
of you know your vertical that's up on the roof
and I was like nope you're you're my antenna
right now and so they they were loving it they
loved every bit of that so I got to do that for
two years and that was really really cool and
um I really enjoyed that and then also I've been
active just in volunteering in general but also
trying to incorporate radio within my service.
I've actually, I just got certified as an EMT
nationally and in the state of Indiana. And so
last year, before that, I was a first -aider
for a local EMS club at IU. And so we were, so
that was all volunteer based and I was kind of
working on getting communications set up for
them just so that Whenever we do run events such
as the little 500 bike race we can be able to
communicate easier and The end goal is to provide
better public safety and so By volunteering and
doing that and then trying to get the radio involved
in that just All of that but it's kind of what
I feel like Got me the award. I've never really
Fully talked about what I've done. I guess Neil
saw Everything in me and I guess you guys saw
a lot of it in me also Yeah, you know you you
were also pretty instrumental in helping other
students get on and Some people at field day
you were helping Yeah, a blind ham and you helped
him learn how to use the radio That was That
was very cool. Yeah, I was what is a three years
ago at field day we were me and a Couple friends
that I brought out they weren't into ham radio,
but I told them come out here We can pull an
all -nighter out at the park and talk to a bunch
of people so they decided to come And as we're
running the go to station, Neil pulls up an older
gentleman and he was visually impaired and he
wanted to get into radio. And not only did he
just kind of want to do like VHF, UHF, handhelds
and stuff like that, but he wanted to do HF.
He wanted to be with the big guys. And we weren't
going to let his disability... stop him from
that and so by using the uh... the voice readout
of the frequency and that on one of the radio
he was able to make contacts on the go to station
uh... just sit right there and whatever he he
started making runs and his face whenever he
saw that he could do something that everyone
else is doing it was great to see and eventually
he uh... He was able to get a radio, get his
license, and he's on the air somewhere. You've
helped set up a lot of things and even crawled
through my attic in a couple degrees. Ryan's
done a lot for that and Ken, I know QCWA has
sponsored this. for a good while and I thank
you for sponsoring that because Ryan here was
very deserving as have been the past award winners
and Ryan's just the latest example of that. Yeah,
I'm sorry, go ahead. Yeah, go ahead Ken. Yeah,
indeed I'm pleased to actually hear. Right from
Ryan's own words what he what he did during this
he he worked hard for that stipend and and the
previous award winners to I know they did great
things and that's the reason they got the the
Young Hamlands a hand award there Neil Yeah,
so that's just another example of some of the
things that the QCWA is involved with and Ryan
thanks for coming on and talking about it and
congratulations again and very deserving and
have a good second year at Indiana University.
Thank you very much Neil. Thanks for having me
on again. I look forward to calling in again
and Ken thank you very much again and I just
want to say thank you to not just you but the
CQWA because you guys have been doing a lot for
youth and radio which I mean I'm huge into and
just seeing more and more hams care about the
younger generation it's really inspiring and
it really keeps me going just having all the
support that you guys give all of us younger
hams so I just wanted to personally say thank
you for everything you do and what your organization
does. Well, thank you ever so much for your kind
words Ryan and with that Before you leave I encourage
you to continue applying for QCWA scholarships
Will do yeah, and I mean I'm not in this For
the money or anything like that I mean we're
all in this because we love the hobby and we
just want to keep it keep it going so Just keep
doing the great things you guys are doing It's
encouraging to all of us. And, uh, thank you
for everything. Thank you. All right. Ryan Cutshulk
89 DAB seven threes and, and we'll see you and,
uh, we'll, uh, be talking to you soon. All right.
73. Thanks, Neil. All right. Well, before we
go to break, there's, there's one other thing,
uh, Ken, I want to talk about it and that's,
uh, QCWA made, uh, a donation to the International
Space Station for the ARIS program on the International
Space Station for getting that radio replace.
So tell us a little bit about that. Yes, well
you're right Neil. When QCWA was reading online
and the pleas for donations to support supply
a new radio to replace the broken Ericsson, which
is used extensively for school contacts. And
I might share with you, Neil, that I myself personally
have been involved with five school contacts
with the International Space Station, the first
one being 2005. I can't believe all these years
have gone by already. I put it to the board that
this is something that I believe QCWA should
support. It's our youth. The youth are very influenced
by speaking with the International Space Station
from schools because I've experienced it. And
so we decided it was a good idea to donate for
this cause. So yes, QCWA made a significant Donation
and we're very proud and pleased of the I Guess
you might say the accolades we got for for their
support. We keep hearing about it all the time
to you Yeah, it's it's a big project and Glad
that you guys were able to help out on that Well,
we're gonna take a quick break and then we'll
be back and we'll open up phone lines We'll open
up for calls here and talk a little more about
the QCWA with Ken right after this word on HamTalk
Live. Whether you're traveling to a ham fest,
a public service event, a radio club meeting,
or you're even at work on vacation or at a sporting
event, we want to see where you're having fun
this summer. And to make it even more fun, take
a picture at that place with Flat Hammy. Flat
Hammy is a printable version of the HamTalk Live
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Snap a picture with Flat Hammy in it and then
send it to us on social media or by email. The
directions are right there next to Flat Hammy.
And watch our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
feeds for fun pictures of Flat Hammy all summer
long. To print out your copy of Flat Hammy, just
go to our Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram feed,
or you can go to HamTalkLive .com and click on
the link to the show schedule. You'll see the
link to Flat Hammy at the top of the page. Enjoy
the summer with Ham Radio, Flat Hammy, and Ham
Talk Live. Oh, yeah. You're talking Ham Radio,
baby. You're listening to Ham Talk Live with
Neil Rapp. Join the conversation. Call us on
voice with Skype at HamTalk Live or give us a
call at 812 -NET -HAM -1. That's 812 -638 -4261.
Now here's more HamTalk Live. And welcome back
to HamTalk Live and flat hammy pictures have
been coming in all over the place. And we just
got some from that Youth DX adventure down there
in Costa Rica. So be sure to check those out
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in a while, too. Just search for Ham Talk Live
on there. And remember, not only will Flat Hammy
be at Huntsville, but the real Hammy will be
at Huntsville this weekend. So if you're there,
make sure you get a picture with him there as
well. And we'll have Flat Hammy around, too.
Anyway, it's time for your calls now and we've
got a couple new people on the chat here. I want
to welcome them, and thanks for tuning us in
tonight. But if you have a question for Ken or
a comment, now's the time to call. So let me
give you that phone number again. It's 812 -NET
-HAM -1. That's 812 -638 -4261. You can give
us a call. You can also Skype us if you'd rather
Skype. We're at HamTalk Live. Or you can send
us a tweet. over at HamTalk Live as well and
we'll be talking to Ken here for another 15 minutes
or so so if you get a chance why give us a call
or or tweet or any of those would be fine and
Dr. Scott Wright KZeroMD says congratulations
to Ryan on on the award from QCWA and good luck
with the studies at IU. So that's from our friend
Dr. Scott Wright. So again the number is 812
-638 -4261. It spells Net Ham 1 in area code
812. So give us a call and chime in here. And
Ken, let's talk about some of the other things
that QCWA does. I know you've got a tremendous
publication that goes out all the time and so
tell us a little bit more of some of what QCWA
does for its members. Well, you're right. The
printed magazine was replaced about five years
ago now. The printed magazine was a quarterly
and it was replaced with a digital monthly. It
consists of about 22 to 24 pages a month. A lot
of it is chapter reports from our various chapters
worldwide and We always are looking for feature
articles. We have some good ones in there and
one thing that the This was created some years
ago. We have an excellent members only web page
and like they say membership has privileges so
We allow it for members to get in behind and
look at what we have all archived We have a lot
of history the archive there and passed QCWA
journals with a lot of history there. Other efforts,
as I explained before, we have a terrific scholarship
program that is probably one of QCWA's strongest
elements that we can brag about. Of course, you
have to be a licensed amateur radio operator
to apply. It's administered by the Foundation
for Amateur Radio, FAR, in Maryland. And they
administer that program, and we just provide
the funds for the ones that they choose, the
applicants that receive the scholarship awards.
Local chapters roles, interestingly back in the
early days of QCWA there were no chapters. It
was everything based in the state of New York
and there was people, members who were outside
of New York were starting to wonder how they
could be more closely involved. People like in
California wouldn't be making a trip to New York
for a meeting. because all the meetings were
held in New York at the time. So hence, our chapters
started. Our first chapter was chapter one in
Cleveland, Ohio. And we have 224 chartered chapters,
of which not all are active. About 110 are active.
There's a lot that have come and gone, but they
still remain. The chapter number is never, ever
reassigned. So, we rely heavily on our chapters
to, I guess, be about the word advertising for
QCWA and to bring in more members. I might say
our largest chapter overseas is the chapter 106
in Germany. They're a very huge chapter with
many members, so great support from that group,
Neil. And as I just start my next three -year
term in September as president, I've always got
my thinking camp on what other efforts QCWA can
support. I've always got my mind open, and I'd
like to present these ideas to the board. And
of course, Everything as in every organization
is democratically run, so if the board says yes,
then it's a go. If the board says no, then we
have to come up with a different idea. Alright,
very good. Well, give us a call. 812 -NET -TAM
-1 is the number 812 -638 -4261. We have time
to take your calls, so give us a call and join
us here tonight. talking about the Quarter Century
Wireless Association. And Ken, if there's somebody
out there listening that has been a ham for 25
years and they haven't got around to joining
QCWA, and I know we talked about this the other
day, that you had some that just... joined and
they've been hams for, I don't know, 50 years
or something, and they hadn't joined. So if there's
somebody out there that's been a ham for 25 years
and eligible for membership, what would you say
to them to have interest in joining QCWA? Well,
that is a good question, Neil, and I would say
this. The Quarter Century Wireless Association
may not be for everyone, but I might say that
if you're active in amateur radio, and you're
doing things, and you've been licensed 25 years
or more, I believe it's an organization that
you should support. I might say the membership
has multiple year membership, and if you do three
year membership, it's only $18 .30 a year. So,
in that regard, it's fairly economical to belong
to QCWA, and once you belong, I might say that
you're going to share membership with some very
important people that are shakers and movers
in amateur radio. I could name a lot, but it
would take me all night and I would miss somebody
important. Like Neil. I can mention Neil, Neil
being a QCWA member. And I think if you try it,
I think you'll enjoy it. You'll enjoy our digital
magazine. And I know there's writers out there.
We're looking forward to your articles. We could
use a lot of articles to spruce up the magazine,
the digital version that is. And it's easy to
join QCWA. We have a website that you can get
to www .qcwa .org. We have a big button up at
the top there it says join slash renew. You can
do that online either with any of your credit
cards or if you have a PayPal account you can
use that and or if you prefer to just Download
the application fill it in and mail in a check
to our treasurer. That's acceptable, too So there's
several ways you can get involved quickly Okay,
so there you go qcwa .org and you can check that
out online and You guys have had some some booths
at some different places Can you think of any
of those off the top of your head, HamFest, that
they may see some QCWA information? Indeed. Well,
the two largest ones, I guess the largest one,
Dayton Hamvention, which is now in Xenia, we
are always there. And we are always at Hamcation
in Orlando, Florida, and that's in February.
We have some chapters that also put up a QCWA
table, for example at Seaside, Oregon, at that
convention. In fact, I was there this year. Chapter
108 always has a table there. Great venue. That
was an interesting convention. I've heard so
much about it. I was pleased to get there. Also
Huntsville. My memory has gone blank. There's
one coming up in October on the coast of Florida.
Our office manager will be there. The chapters
who actually get out and shake and move, like
myself here in Calgary, Alberta, we have Chapter
151. We don't have any big conventions around
here, but we are always at every flea market.
that is going on so we put up a QCWA booth there
and give out brochures and pamphlets and information
on what QCWA is and how to join it. Okay, so
there you go. There's some places you can check
out and of course the website and you can learn
what QCWA is doing and get involved. Again, Ken,
I want to thank you for coming on the show and
for sponsoring the scholarships and all the youth
activities because that's one of the things that
I'm involved in. And so I see the fruits of that
labor quite often. And the Youngham Lends a Hand
Award and all those kinds of things. And Eris,
and so thank you so much for... helping support
those activities and for coming on the show very
good Neil thank you very much for having me and
I actually was surprised when I got this email
from you asking if I would be a guest on your
show so I'm really privileged and I'm proud to
be able to to be on your show And I wish you
all the luck in your HamTalk Live. Alright, very
good. Well that is Ken Olke, VE6AFO, the president
of the Quarter Century Wireless Association.
And that is a wrap for this week's HamTalk Live.
So thanks to Ken and thanks to Ryan KD90AB for
being here tonight and everybody out there in
cyberspace for listening and tweeting and chatting
tonight. We had some people in the chat so that
was good too. So we invite you all back next
Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time and I
need a double check with Matt but We've got on
the schedule Matt Deutsch, N0RGT. He's the chief
engineer at WWV and there's some new things going
on at WWV and so he's going to talk to us about
that. We've been trying to get him on for a while
and hopefully next week that's the plan. that's
hopefully what we'll have for you next week but
you can always check our website hamtalklive
.com click on the show schedule link and that
will give you the latest list of all of our upcoming
guests and you can see what's coming up in the
future so check that out so for now this is Neil
Rapp WB9VPG saying 7375 hope to see you in Huntsville
this weekend if you're going and may the good
DX be yours. I've completely forgot you're a
ham I don't know your power or the height of
your tower Frankly, I don't give a damn So 73s,
to you and your family I'll be seeing you further
down the law 73s, to you and your family I'll
be seeing you further down the law like a local
up here. Why don't those whistling Mediterranean's
check it with frequencies clear? We're warm and
cozy in our shacks and we have talked about thousands
of things. About shoes, about ships, about ceiling
wax, about cabbages and kings. So 73's, to you
and your I'll be seeing you burning down the
law.