WEBVTT 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:13.380 Thanks for tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on 00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:31.320 the air shortly. Please stand by. Thanks for 00:00:31.320 --> 00:00:34.079 tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on the air shortly. 00:00:34.359 --> 00:00:52.509 Please stand by. Thanks for tuning in. HamTalk 00:00:52.509 --> 00:00:54.950 Live will be on the air shortly. Please stand 00:00:54.950 --> 00:00:59.990 by. This episode of HamTalk Live is brought to 00:00:59.990 --> 00:01:03.369 you by Tower Electronics. For cables, connectors, 00:01:03.450 --> 00:01:10.510 and more, call 920 -435 -2973 or visit pl -259 00:01:10.510 --> 00:01:14.590 .com and by The Ham Station. Get your new radio 00:01:14.590 --> 00:01:20.590 or antenna by calling 800 -729 -4373 or go to 00:01:20.590 --> 00:01:56.159 hamstation .com. Good evening, everybody. It's 00:01:56.159 --> 00:02:01.180 time for HamTalk Live, episode number 57. The 00:02:01.180 --> 00:02:06.079 National Contest Journal and the N9RV Contest 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:09.900 Array. Recorded live on Thursday, March 23rd, 00:02:10.180 --> 00:02:14.460 2017. I'm your host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. Thanks 00:02:14.460 --> 00:02:17.539 for tuning in to this episode of HamTalk Live. 00:02:17.699 --> 00:02:21.460 Tonight we're joined by Pat Barkey, N9RV, the 00:02:21.460 --> 00:02:24.580 editor of the NCJ, and we'll take your calls 00:02:24.580 --> 00:02:28.840 live in just a few minutes. Last week, Rob Macedo, 00:02:28.979 --> 00:02:33.120 KD1CY, and Lloyd Colston, KC5FM, were here to 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:36.400 talk about the voice over IP version of the Hurricane 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:39.180 Net. And so if you missed the show, you can listen 00:02:39.180 --> 00:02:42.680 anytime. Just go to HamTalkLive .com or you can 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:46.629 check us out on the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, 00:02:46.629 --> 00:02:49.430 Google Play, TuneIn, SoundCloud, or your favorite 00:02:49.430 --> 00:02:53.449 podcasting app. And we're also over on YouTube. 00:02:54.729 --> 00:02:57.270 So we'll get your questions ready to go for Pat. 00:02:57.629 --> 00:03:01.610 We'll talk to Pat for a while, and then I will 00:03:01.610 --> 00:03:04.610 let you know when it's time to call, and we'll 00:03:04.610 --> 00:03:07.750 take your phone calls live on the show at 812 00:03:07.750 --> 00:03:14.669 -NET -HAM -1, 812 -638 -4261, or you can call 00:03:14.669 --> 00:03:18.750 us on Skype. The username is HamTalkLive. You 00:03:18.750 --> 00:03:22.810 can also tweet us. We're live on Twitter, and 00:03:22.810 --> 00:03:28.099 our Twitter handle is at HamTalkLive. turn the 00:03:28.099 --> 00:03:31.039 sound down on the game watch watch the game and 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:33.960 it's between games anyway here so uh we just 00:03:33.960 --> 00:03:36.800 watched a close one and uh hope you're enjoying 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:40.180 that if you're into basketball like we are and 00:03:40.180 --> 00:03:44.479 um we'll come back and get started with pat right 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:47.539 after this word from the ham station right here 00:03:47.539 --> 00:03:51.210 on ham talk live This episode of Ham Talk Live 00:03:51.210 --> 00:03:54.669 is brought to you by The Ham Station. For over 00:03:54.669 --> 00:03:57.729 37 years, The Ham Station has sold new and used 00:03:57.729 --> 00:04:00.610 radios, antennas, accessories, and equipment 00:04:00.610 --> 00:04:04.449 to hams everywhere. Give Dan or Jeff a call at 00:04:04.449 --> 00:04:10.969 800 -729 -4373 or order online at hamstation 00:04:10.969 --> 00:04:14.530 .com. HamStation carries all the major brands 00:04:14.530 --> 00:04:18.310 like Icom, Yezu, and Kenwood, and they have a 00:04:18.310 --> 00:04:22.129 wide selection of radio scanners, MFJ accessories, 00:04:22.470 --> 00:04:25.569 Heil sound products, amplifiers by Mirage and 00:04:25.569 --> 00:04:29.040 Ameritron, Cushcraft antennas, and more. Easy 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:32.420 online ordering is at HamStation .com or call 00:04:32.420 --> 00:04:38.079 1 -800 -729 -4373 to place an order and talk 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:41.120 it over with the experts. The HamStation, proud 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:45.180 to sponsor this episode of HamTalk Live. Two 00:04:45.180 --> 00:04:47.740 antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got 00:04:47.740 --> 00:04:51.139 married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception 00:04:51.139 --> 00:04:54.379 was excellent. You're listening to HamTalk Live 00:04:54.379 --> 00:05:16.519 with Neil Rapp. Welcome back to HamTalk Live, 00:05:16.660 --> 00:05:19.500 the HamStation as you covered. For both new and 00:05:19.500 --> 00:05:23.259 used equipment, give Jeff or Dan a call at 800 00:05:23.259 --> 00:05:29.399 -729 -4373 or go online at hamstation .com, tell 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:32.220 them you heard it on HamTalk Live. We're on the 00:05:32.220 --> 00:05:34.980 air every Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern time 00:05:34.980 --> 00:05:37.540 right here at hamtalklive .com. And of course, 00:05:37.540 --> 00:05:40.079 if you missed the show, you can catch us on the 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:46.360 podcast or on our website. Pat Barkey, N9RV of 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:49.480 Bonner, Montana is a well -known contestor and 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:52.259 became the 15th editor of the National Contest 00:05:52.259 --> 00:05:56.939 Journal. In January 2015, Pat's been contesting 00:05:56.939 --> 00:05:59.899 since he was 11 years old and continued to be 00:05:59.899 --> 00:06:02.300 active in radio sport through college at the 00:06:02.300 --> 00:06:05.779 University of Michigan and graduate school and 00:06:05.779 --> 00:06:10.839 his adult life. His day job is as an economist 00:06:10.839 --> 00:06:14.139 directing a business research center at the University 00:06:14.139 --> 00:06:18.459 of Montana since 2007. Pat's a life member of 00:06:18.459 --> 00:06:22.040 the ARRL and has operated for many of the biggest 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:25.300 contest stations in the United States. He spends 00:06:25.300 --> 00:06:29.879 most of his time on CW and right now he's spending 00:06:29.879 --> 00:06:35.620 some time on vacation. In fact, I think I can 00:06:35.620 --> 00:06:40.060 hear the ocean waves now. That's right, I think 00:06:40.060 --> 00:06:43.279 I think they're They're sounding pretty good. 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:46.860 My spring break was last week. So I can't even 00:06:46.860 --> 00:06:50.800 Can't even imagine that but anyway former Bloomington, 00:06:51.019 --> 00:06:54.339 Indiana resident Pat is here. Welcome to ham 00:06:54.339 --> 00:06:58.420 talk live Thanks, Neil. Happy to be here Yeah, 00:06:58.420 --> 00:07:03.459 so we were talking earlier about Old times in 00:07:03.459 --> 00:07:08.360 Bloomington and I kind of Got here after you 00:07:08.360 --> 00:07:11.699 had left and everything but it's good to have 00:07:11.699 --> 00:07:17.339 that Hometown connection here on the show. Well, 00:07:17.339 --> 00:07:20.699 we want to talk a little bit about your antenna 00:07:20.699 --> 00:07:25.149 array and in fact posted some pictures on our 00:07:25.149 --> 00:07:28.490 Facebook and Twitter and Instagram feeds from 00:07:28.490 --> 00:07:31.709 his picture on QRZ .com so you can also go to 00:07:31.709 --> 00:07:35.209 QRZ .com and look up N9RV and he's got a picture 00:07:35.209 --> 00:07:38.689 of that that array it's pretty impressive but 00:07:38.689 --> 00:07:41.230 first we want to talk a little bit about the 00:07:41.230 --> 00:07:44.129 National Contest Journal that you are the editor 00:07:44.129 --> 00:07:48.990 of now and I should mention that just a couple 00:07:48.990 --> 00:07:53.879 of weeks ago I was Interviewing a group of guys 00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:55.939 that are they're coming on the show here soon 00:07:55.939 --> 00:07:59.420 that have this this song And we've played the 00:07:59.420 --> 00:08:03.980 song on the show before actually but they they 00:08:03.980 --> 00:08:06.660 they played it for me again, and it's coming 00:08:06.660 --> 00:08:10.220 up on on the show and They seem to have this 00:08:10.220 --> 00:08:15.240 idea that All they have to do to get on the cover 00:08:15.240 --> 00:08:19.810 of the National Contest Journal the NCJ is is 00:08:19.810 --> 00:08:25.050 sing a song about it. So when Ward Silver in 00:08:25.050 --> 00:08:29.170 Zero Way X was a guest, he was on here talking 00:08:29.170 --> 00:08:31.589 about that. We're going to have the band on soon 00:08:31.589 --> 00:08:34.789 talking about their upcoming concert. So tell 00:08:34.789 --> 00:08:39.269 us all about the cover of the NCJ and how you 00:08:39.269 --> 00:08:41.409 can be on the cover without writing a song about 00:08:41.409 --> 00:08:45.769 it. Well, all you got to do is send me something 00:08:45.769 --> 00:08:50.509 that's cover worthy. I mean, The NCJ is the publication 00:08:50.509 --> 00:08:54.149 for contesters. It's an old -fashioned publication. 00:08:54.570 --> 00:08:56.690 You know, you pay your money and it comes in 00:08:56.690 --> 00:09:00.850 the mail. People say, why aren't we online? And 00:09:00.850 --> 00:09:03.210 we're a magazine. You know, we're kind of an 00:09:03.210 --> 00:09:06.929 old -fashioned print publication. So the folks 00:09:06.929 --> 00:09:10.389 on the cover are by and large the folks that 00:09:10.389 --> 00:09:14.210 are in the contesting sport, ideally folks that 00:09:14.210 --> 00:09:17.350 send me contributions of things that we can put 00:09:17.350 --> 00:09:19.929 in the publication. It's a long -lived publication. 00:09:20.570 --> 00:09:23.610 It's been published by the AWRL for quite a long 00:09:23.610 --> 00:09:25.649 time, but it wasn't always published by the AWRL. 00:09:25.769 --> 00:09:29.129 It was actually just started by contesters themselves. 00:09:30.230 --> 00:09:33.370 There was a time when I've talked to some older 00:09:33.370 --> 00:09:37.669 editors, previous editors of the NCJ, and they 00:09:37.669 --> 00:09:40.330 would put it all together on their computers 00:09:40.330 --> 00:09:43.909 if they had one. And before that, it was different 00:09:43.909 --> 00:09:47.500 technology. It was printed down in the corner 00:09:47.500 --> 00:09:50.059 and stuffed envelopes or stuff. Now, I'm happy 00:09:50.059 --> 00:09:53.019 to say that AWRL does a lot of that work for 00:09:53.019 --> 00:09:56.500 us. But the bottom line on the NCJ is that if 00:09:56.500 --> 00:09:59.840 you're in contesting with all humility, you should 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:05.120 subscribe to the NCJ because that's where your 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:09.860 cohorts, your comrades, your peers are sharing 00:10:09.860 --> 00:10:13.480 their secrets and their stories. You'll be inspired, 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:15.779 you'll be entertained, and you might even learn 00:10:15.779 --> 00:10:21.539 a thing or two. Very good. And so as editor, 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:27.019 you go through the articles and try to pick out 00:10:27.019 --> 00:10:29.879 some things, water some things that you're looking 00:10:29.879 --> 00:10:35.200 for to include in the journal. Well, it's always 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:37.779 been a mixture, and every editor is taking a 00:10:37.779 --> 00:10:41.179 different tack. But by and large, we're looking 00:10:41.179 --> 00:10:46.279 for a mixture of content about operating, about 00:10:46.279 --> 00:10:49.700 technology, and about contesting as a sport in 00:10:49.700 --> 00:10:52.580 terms of the strategy. And also, you know, a 00:10:52.580 --> 00:10:54.460 few war stories here and there don't hurt at 00:10:54.460 --> 00:10:57.519 all. So we try, we have a number of regular columns. 00:10:58.600 --> 00:11:00.820 The columns take up things that are really specific 00:11:00.820 --> 00:11:04.139 to contesting. You know, things as esoteric as 00:11:04.139 --> 00:11:07.299 what kind of chair should you sit in? or what's 00:11:07.299 --> 00:11:11.480 the secret to staying up 48 hours? To things 00:11:11.480 --> 00:11:15.019 like, you know, managing your station, cutting 00:11:15.019 --> 00:11:18.419 down on interstation interference. We've had 00:11:18.419 --> 00:11:23.320 some just outstanding interviews with legends 00:11:23.320 --> 00:11:27.299 in our sport who really have so much wisdom to 00:11:27.299 --> 00:11:30.659 share with us. We bring that to the printed page. 00:11:31.299 --> 00:11:34.039 It's a publication. There's a lot of places you 00:11:34.039 --> 00:11:36.840 can go and read about contesting. But I think 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:39.899 the NCJ stands out as something that's just really, 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:42.840 I think, and this is not just my doing by any 00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:44.659 means. It's a huge team of people putting this 00:11:44.659 --> 00:11:48.019 together. I think the NCJ is what I would call 00:11:48.019 --> 00:11:52.320 crafted. It's really, we try to select things 00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:54.980 which we think will be valuable for readers, 00:11:55.100 --> 00:11:57.460 and we put them together in a way that we hope 00:11:57.460 --> 00:12:00.320 is interesting, readable, and very professional. 00:12:02.659 --> 00:12:07.379 Excellent. While we're talking about information, 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:10.340 you know, as simple as what kind of chair to 00:12:10.340 --> 00:12:12.379 sit in and that kind of thing, one way that you 00:12:12.379 --> 00:12:15.860 kind of get a crash course on all of this is, 00:12:15.860 --> 00:12:19.379 of course, Contest University. And once again, 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:22.620 Tim Duffy, K3LR is going to come on the show 00:12:22.620 --> 00:12:26.539 here before Dayton and give us a little preview 00:12:26.539 --> 00:12:29.440 of what's coming up at this year's Contest University. 00:12:30.039 --> 00:12:33.320 But in addition to your work on the NCJ, you've 00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:37.259 been able to speak there and developed a glossary 00:12:37.259 --> 00:12:40.899 for Contest University. So tell us a little bit 00:12:40.899 --> 00:12:43.840 about some of your presentations that you've 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:47.220 made there and the glossary. Well, mostly I've 00:12:47.220 --> 00:12:49.120 done the glossary. I haven't done presentations. 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:50.899 I'm thousands of miles from Dayton, so it's a 00:12:50.899 --> 00:12:54.659 little difficult for me to do that. But the glossary, 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:58.919 Neil, is really I don't know whose idea it was. 00:12:58.980 --> 00:13:00.919 It might have been my idea. I really don't remember. 00:13:01.100 --> 00:13:02.559 And it's another one of those group efforts. 00:13:02.580 --> 00:13:04.419 And I slapped my name on it, which is always 00:13:04.419 --> 00:13:08.220 fun. But it really reflects the fact that when 00:13:08.220 --> 00:13:10.860 people approach anything that is specialized, 00:13:11.659 --> 00:13:14.220 and ham radio contesting can be very specialized, 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:17.200 there's a little bit of a barrier there in terms 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:19.340 of understanding what people are talking about, 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:21.759 just getting through the terminology. So that's 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:24.639 the point of the glossary. So everything that 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:28.820 veterans in HF operating especially, but contesting 00:13:28.820 --> 00:13:30.879 overall, everything that veterans would take 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:34.139 for granted. Everyone understands what a band 00:13:34.139 --> 00:13:37.299 opening is. Everybody understands what a fluttery 00:13:37.299 --> 00:13:40.720 signal is, or everybody understands what an off 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:43.580 time is in a contest. But in fact, people that 00:13:43.580 --> 00:13:47.600 have never been really immersed in contesting, 00:13:48.019 --> 00:13:51.320 like some of us have been, really these terms 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:54.669 don't really mean much. The idea was just to 00:13:54.669 --> 00:13:57.490 put together a set of terminology. I think the 00:13:57.490 --> 00:14:00.769 thing is up to like 28 pages now. It's grown 00:14:00.769 --> 00:14:04.850 to include everything from the basic technical 00:14:04.850 --> 00:14:08.129 terminology that's used in contests, contest 00:14:08.129 --> 00:14:13.470 rules, propagation information. The latest expansion, 00:14:13.590 --> 00:14:16.509 which will show up in the CTU this year, is all 00:14:16.509 --> 00:14:19.789 the stuff associated with remote radio. So all 00:14:19.789 --> 00:14:24.120 the terminology used in... and explaining, understanding, 00:14:24.620 --> 00:14:27.960 and really perfecting the art of operating your 00:14:27.960 --> 00:14:32.600 radio station via the internet so that you're 00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:35.620 operating your ham radio but you may not be sitting 00:14:35.620 --> 00:14:40.600 right next to it. So, for instance, maybe a term 00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:43.320 that a lot of people wouldn't be familiar with 00:14:43.320 --> 00:14:48.340 otherwise is stacking. So you have something 00:14:48.340 --> 00:14:52.720 in there about stacking. Yeah, I mean that's 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:55.120 that's part and parcel. I mean everybody knows 00:14:55.120 --> 00:14:58.679 that you know ham radio is in radio contesting 00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:01.659 is a competition and Part of that competition 00:15:01.659 --> 00:15:03.559 is putting together a signal. It's gonna beat 00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:05.500 everybody else out or at least beat out most 00:15:05.500 --> 00:15:09.019 of the people and You know gain antennas as part 00:15:09.019 --> 00:15:12.539 of that stacking antennas, which typically means 00:15:12.539 --> 00:15:14.679 vertical stacking all the horizontal stacking 00:15:14.679 --> 00:15:18.919 is also possible is Been part of the contest 00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:22.139 toolkit for going on three decades Perfected 00:15:22.139 --> 00:15:25.779 by W2 PV, by the way, in the early eighties really 00:15:25.779 --> 00:15:28.320 pioneered and really pushed that into the mainstream 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:31.600 in terms of, you know, kind of the must have, 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:35.179 uh, weapons in the, in the contesting arsenal. 00:15:35.740 --> 00:15:38.120 And, uh, you know, stacking is something that, 00:15:38.120 --> 00:15:41.080 uh, we know about except for if we're new, we 00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:46.559 don't. So let's explain it. Very good. And speaking 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:52.320 of stacking of antennas. You've got quite the 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:55.899 the array out there of antennas and that picture 00:15:55.899 --> 00:16:00.899 again, it's on our social media feeds and on 00:16:00.899 --> 00:16:07.019 Pat's QRZ calm page in nine RV You can take a 00:16:07.019 --> 00:16:09.620 look at that but tell us about that array and 00:16:09.620 --> 00:16:13.019 your your station set up and how do you get all 00:16:13.019 --> 00:16:17.259 those things? Up there at once and control them 00:16:17.259 --> 00:16:23.539 all Well, my station is not the biggest in the 00:16:23.539 --> 00:16:26.620 country by any means, but it's probably the biggest 00:16:26.620 --> 00:16:28.700 in Montana. But even there, it's a close race. 00:16:29.879 --> 00:16:33.399 So basically, there's two parts to it. Well, 00:16:33.399 --> 00:16:36.600 there's probably three parts. One, which is increasingly 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:39.279 challenging, I suspect for many of the audience, 00:16:39.379 --> 00:16:42.120 like everybody, is finding the real estate to 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:46.820 do it. And from my point of view, that certainly 00:16:46.820 --> 00:16:50.429 has a lot of obstacles in terms of zoning and 00:16:50.429 --> 00:16:54.350 covenants and so forth. But the goal is, you 00:16:54.350 --> 00:16:56.809 know, you don't need to solve the world of covenants 00:16:56.809 --> 00:16:58.570 and zoning. You just need to find one place you 00:16:58.570 --> 00:17:01.649 can put up your antenna. So if you commit to 00:17:01.649 --> 00:17:04.009 it, it can be done. I think I was pretty fortunate 00:17:04.009 --> 00:17:06.930 to have about five and a half acres where I am 00:17:06.930 --> 00:17:10.190 in western Montana. The second is getting the 00:17:10.190 --> 00:17:12.450 equipment, getting the gear and so forth together. 00:17:13.349 --> 00:17:15.269 There's a nice tradition in ham radio, which 00:17:15.269 --> 00:17:17.809 I always liked and having started in ham radio 00:17:17.809 --> 00:17:20.089 when I was pretty young and pretty much penniless. 00:17:20.569 --> 00:17:25.009 It's called Stroudging. So most of my antennas, 00:17:25.390 --> 00:17:29.170 all of my antennas except one are homebrew. All 00:17:29.170 --> 00:17:31.890 of my towers are secondhand. I bought them used, 00:17:32.029 --> 00:17:34.970 I took them down. I acquired stuff for a long, 00:17:35.230 --> 00:17:39.440 long time. The station I have in Montana is is 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:41.880 actually almost the same as the station I had 00:17:41.880 --> 00:17:44.059 back in Indiana. I spent 14 years in Muncie, 00:17:44.299 --> 00:17:46.160 Indiana, a little bit north of you there from 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:48.980 Bloomington, Neil. And I had pretty much the 00:17:48.980 --> 00:17:53.420 same stuff. And I brought it out to Montana, 00:17:53.619 --> 00:17:56.119 and I ended up putting most of it all back up. 00:17:56.640 --> 00:18:02.700 So it really is a... I like DX Contest, so it's 00:18:02.700 --> 00:18:05.619 a contest designed for DX... Excuse me, it's 00:18:05.619 --> 00:18:08.589 a station designed... to be competitive in DX 00:18:08.589 --> 00:18:12.890 contests, so that involves stacked antennas, 00:18:13.029 --> 00:18:15.390 mono banders on rotary towers. I have two rotary 00:18:15.390 --> 00:18:19.130 towers. One has my antennas for 20 and 40, and 00:18:19.130 --> 00:18:22.289 the other has my 15 and 10 meter antennas. I 00:18:22.289 --> 00:18:26.349 have some other stuff as well, but that's what 00:18:26.349 --> 00:18:28.750 I like. I tell you, quite honestly, if you want 00:18:28.750 --> 00:18:30.769 to spend a couple hours on what makes me tick 00:18:30.769 --> 00:18:33.130 in terms of ham radio, and you probably don't, 00:18:33.250 --> 00:18:36.019 but I would say that... The challenge of putting 00:18:36.019 --> 00:18:38.799 all that stuff up is what really floats my boat. 00:18:39.319 --> 00:18:43.059 I mean, I really like the planning and the implementing 00:18:43.059 --> 00:18:45.680 of contest station building. And quite honestly, 00:18:45.720 --> 00:18:48.200 when you get it all done, there's a part of me 00:18:48.200 --> 00:18:50.759 that's kind of bored. Yeah, operating the contest 00:18:50.759 --> 00:18:53.559 is fun, and I do a lot of it. But quite honestly, 00:18:55.039 --> 00:18:57.440 part of me wishes that I could buy the adjacent 00:18:57.440 --> 00:18:59.319 10 acres and put up two or three more towers. 00:18:59.940 --> 00:19:04.329 Not that I need them, but it's fun to do. plan 00:19:04.329 --> 00:19:06.690 to plan it, plan to execute it, and then see 00:19:06.690 --> 00:19:12.210 how everything works. So talking about this, 00:19:12.309 --> 00:19:15.109 you know, and designing it and planning it and, 00:19:15.109 --> 00:19:18.910 and getting all of that going. Let's say somebody 00:19:18.910 --> 00:19:24.349 wants to start a contest station and wants to 00:19:24.349 --> 00:19:27.210 start putting together some kind of an array 00:19:27.210 --> 00:19:30.880 of like that. What's your advice for that? Well, 00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:34.740 my advice is is really simple and that is Get 00:19:34.740 --> 00:19:37.920 connected with somebody who's done it. So I can 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:40.079 tell you having lived in the Midwest for a long 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:42.279 time All the years I was in Bloomington, you 00:19:42.279 --> 00:19:45.240 know, I never I never had a station I lived in 00:19:45.240 --> 00:19:47.680 apartments most of the time I lived there but 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:50.160 I did happen to know a contestor in the southeast 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:52.660 side of Indianapolis to the call sign of W9RE 00:19:52.660 --> 00:19:56.500 and W9RE has a very big station much bigger than 00:19:56.500 --> 00:20:00.920 mine and I learned a lot from Mike. I learned 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:03.259 a lot from other people both before and after 00:20:03.259 --> 00:20:06.220 Mike. But that would be the classic example. 00:20:06.460 --> 00:20:08.859 You see, first off, you see what's involved. 00:20:09.619 --> 00:20:13.119 And secondly, you learn some things about everything 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:17.599 from, you know, what you can and what you can't 00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:20.619 economize on. I mean, hams are cheap, as we all 00:20:20.619 --> 00:20:22.539 know. I'm cheap. You're probably cheap. I mean, 00:20:22.539 --> 00:20:24.200 if you're a ham, by definition, you're cheap. 00:20:24.200 --> 00:20:26.599 Yep. Yep. But there's certain things you don't 00:20:26.599 --> 00:20:28.630 want to be cheap on. Clearly, you know, you don't 00:20:28.630 --> 00:20:30.309 want to be cheap on guy wire You don't want to 00:20:30.309 --> 00:20:33.410 be cheap on on the quality of your your mechanical 00:20:33.410 --> 00:20:36.670 equipment and so forth. So That that would be 00:20:36.670 --> 00:20:38.470 my advice. There's other approaches. I mean, 00:20:38.470 --> 00:20:40.210 there's the checkbook approach and there's nothing 00:20:40.210 --> 00:20:43.970 wrong with that it's whatever floats your boat 00:20:43.970 --> 00:20:47.029 as you say, I mean, but My well I could say my 00:20:47.029 --> 00:20:49.730 advice if you were asking my advice would be 00:20:49.730 --> 00:20:54.529 to learn what it's about visit collaborate and 00:20:54.529 --> 00:20:57.579 Get to know someone who's got a big station So 00:20:57.579 --> 00:20:59.640 you can learn the lessons that they already know, 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:01.779 and then you'll start out that much further ahead. 00:21:01.799 --> 00:21:04.579 And you'll also learn, for example, what kind 00:21:04.579 --> 00:21:09.400 of maintenance is involved. I once heard someone 00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:12.259 say, and I hear this quite a bit, someone said 00:21:12.259 --> 00:21:15.420 that, well, working DX isn't a challenge if you 00:21:15.420 --> 00:21:20.319 have mono band stacks. And my rejoinder to that 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:23.140 is you have no idea what the challenge of putting 00:21:23.140 --> 00:21:27.450 up mono band stacks is. And it is a challenge, 00:21:27.549 --> 00:21:29.269 not just putting them up and keeping them up 00:21:29.269 --> 00:21:33.910 and all that sort of thing. So, you know, it's 00:21:33.910 --> 00:21:36.549 not for everybody, but, you know, that's one 00:21:36.549 --> 00:21:38.769 of my passions in NCJ, by the way, not to connect 00:21:38.769 --> 00:21:40.569 too much back to what we were talking about earlier. 00:21:41.470 --> 00:21:43.990 But if you're a station builder and if you're 00:21:43.990 --> 00:21:46.390 even, dare I say, addicted to station building 00:21:46.390 --> 00:21:49.509 and addicted to station hardware, you're the 00:21:49.509 --> 00:21:52.529 kind of person that goes to Dayton and sort of 00:21:52.529 --> 00:21:55.170 blows all their money on buying stuff for your 00:21:55.170 --> 00:21:58.819 station. You'll get a lot of it out of NCJ. It's 00:21:58.819 --> 00:22:00.839 not as good, like I say, as getting the old station 00:22:00.839 --> 00:22:04.460 builders personally, but you're definitely talking 00:22:04.460 --> 00:22:07.039 to your own kind when you're in either environment. 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:14.779 So walk us through, if you would, let's just 00:22:14.779 --> 00:22:18.039 pick one. We'll say that you're a 40 and 20 meter 00:22:18.039 --> 00:22:21.700 tower. Walk us through what you've got up there. 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:28.920 Sure. My station is in a, I'm surrounded by 100 00:22:28.920 --> 00:22:32.839 foot tall ponderosa pines. I have a rotating 00:22:32.839 --> 00:22:36.420 tower, it's made out of Rome 55. It's guide four 00:22:36.420 --> 00:22:40.599 times. It's rotating system is by a company which 00:22:40.599 --> 00:22:42.980 has long since defunct. It's a company called 00:22:42.980 --> 00:22:46.920 Towercraft. I think they only made about seven 00:22:46.920 --> 00:22:49.420 or eight rotating systems, but I was lucky enough 00:22:49.420 --> 00:22:51.160 to be able to buy that from someone that was 00:22:51.160 --> 00:22:54.200 moving away. I took it down, I got a good deal. 00:22:54.779 --> 00:22:57.240 So it's rotated by a prop pitch rotator at the 00:22:57.240 --> 00:23:01.220 bottom. It's got four guy rings, and so the whole 00:23:01.220 --> 00:23:04.660 tower turns. And on that tower, I have four Yagis. 00:23:04.859 --> 00:23:08.160 They're huge Yagis. Three of them are 20 meter 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:12.099 Yagis. They're OWA design. They're monoband Yagis. 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:15.880 They're on 48 foot booms. OWA design is a design 00:23:15.880 --> 00:23:19.259 which K3LR was involved with. It gives you a 00:23:19.259 --> 00:23:21.259 really good performance across the entire band. 00:23:21.380 --> 00:23:24.500 So it's a six element Yagi. I have three of those. 00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:28.599 So the top one is 175 feet. One's at 120 and 00:23:28.599 --> 00:23:32.680 the low one's at 55. And then at 160 foot level, 00:23:33.099 --> 00:23:38.200 I have a four element OWA 40 meter Yagi. I just 00:23:38.200 --> 00:23:40.900 have one. I feel like a poker. I mean, K3LR has 00:23:40.900 --> 00:23:43.500 a three high stack of these things. So I'm just 00:23:43.500 --> 00:23:46.240 a little guy here, Neil, but that beast weighs 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:51.240 about three. 350 pounds and it is a it is it's 00:23:51.240 --> 00:23:54.539 really a performer uh so that's uh that's the 00:23:54.539 --> 00:23:58.140 2040 system the other towers uh also a rotating 00:23:58.140 --> 00:24:00.339 tower 140 feet and it's got a bunch of 10 and 00:24:00.339 --> 00:24:04.640 15 meter antennas out pretty impressive to me 00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:08.880 i'll say that that's uh you may be uh not as 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:13.869 as uh big as k3 lr but uh compared to one or 00:24:13.869 --> 00:24:17.789 two that I've been able to have at a home or 00:24:17.789 --> 00:24:21.849 at school. That's pretty impressive. Well, we're 00:24:21.849 --> 00:24:24.869 going to take a break here and we'll come back 00:24:24.869 --> 00:24:27.910 and we'll open up the phone lines. Take your 00:24:27.910 --> 00:24:30.289 calls and take your tweets. Again, the number 00:24:30.289 --> 00:24:36.950 is 812 -NET -HAM -1. 812 -638 -4261. So we'll 00:24:36.950 --> 00:24:40.009 come back and take your calls with Pat in 9RV 00:24:40.009 --> 00:24:42.990 right after this. from Tower Electronics right 00:24:42.990 --> 00:24:46.670 here on HamTalk Live. This episode of HamTalk 00:24:46.670 --> 00:24:49.730 Live is brought to you in part by Tower Electronics. 00:24:49.960 --> 00:24:52.359 Tower Electronics has been the Ham's Dime Store 00:24:52.359 --> 00:24:55.759 since 1978. When you need connectors, mobile 00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:59.039 and handheld antennas, cables or adapters, visit 00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:02.619 Scott or Jill at a HamFest near you. Or you can 00:25:02.619 --> 00:25:08.799 order online at PL -259 .com or call 920 -435 00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:13.819 -2973. Stock up on those supplies like PL -259 00:25:13.819 --> 00:25:17.079 and end connectors, SMA adapters, audio cables, 00:25:17.380 --> 00:25:20.559 soldering supplies, mobile antennas, and hamsticks. 00:25:20.819 --> 00:25:23.240 Their silver plated end connectors are even used 00:25:23.240 --> 00:25:26.240 on the International Space Station. Tower Electronics 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:30.579 carries MFJ, Comet, Daiwa, OPEC, Workman and 00:25:30.579 --> 00:25:34.279 HamPro products. And don't miss their 0 % off 00:25:34.279 --> 00:25:37.880 sale going on now. Tower Electronics online at 00:25:37.880 --> 00:25:42.279 PL -259 .com. Proud to sponsor this episode of 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:50.200 HamTalk Live. CQ, CQ, CQ, you're listening to 00:25:50.200 --> 00:25:55.940 HamTalk Live with Neil Rapp. Join the conversation. 00:25:56.299 --> 00:25:59.779 Call us on voice with Skype at HamTalk Live or 00:25:59.779 --> 00:26:04.279 give us a call at 812 -NET -HAM -1. That's 812 00:26:04.279 --> 00:26:12.089 -638 -4261. Now, here's more HamTalk Live. Thanks 00:26:12.089 --> 00:26:14.710 to Scott and Jill at Tower Electronics for sponsoring 00:26:14.710 --> 00:26:17.589 the show tonight to help bring you HamTalk Live. 00:26:17.950 --> 00:26:22.170 They're at the Mobile Alabama HamFest and the 00:26:22.170 --> 00:26:28.190 Staunton Wisconsin HamFest on April the 8th and 00:26:28.190 --> 00:26:32.309 Calhoun Georgia on April 22nd and of course they'll 00:26:32.309 --> 00:26:36.109 be at Hamvention but give them a call until then 00:26:36.109 --> 00:26:39.150 or if you can't make one of those their number 00:26:39.150 --> 00:26:47.430 920 -435 -2973 or visit them at PL -259 .com 00:26:47.430 --> 00:26:50.289 tell them you heard it on HamTalk Live and Be 00:26:50.289 --> 00:26:52.490 sure to listen to HamTalk Live. We're on the 00:26:52.490 --> 00:26:55.869 air every Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time 00:26:55.869 --> 00:26:58.910 right here at HamTalkLive .com and check out 00:26:58.910 --> 00:27:00.950 our social media. We're on Facebook, Twitter, 00:27:01.150 --> 00:27:04.250 and Instagram. Just search HamTalk Live, you'll 00:27:04.250 --> 00:27:08.299 find us. It's time for your calls now if you 00:27:08.299 --> 00:27:11.039 have a question for Pat. Now's the time to give 00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:19.279 us a call. It's 812 -NET -HAM -1 812 -638 -4261 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:22.640 or you can Skype us. We're on Skype at HamTalk 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:25.880 Live or you can send us a tweet at HamTalk Live 00:27:25.880 --> 00:27:29.940 if you have a question or a comment for Pat about 00:27:29.940 --> 00:27:34.380 the contesting array or the National Contest 00:27:34.380 --> 00:27:37.539 Journal. Why give us a call? call at 812 -NET 00:27:37.539 --> 00:27:43.960 -HAM -1, and we'll see if we can work those in. 00:27:46.200 --> 00:27:50.359 Pat, while we're waiting on some calls and tweets 00:27:50.359 --> 00:27:53.640 here, what are your plans for the future of the 00:27:53.640 --> 00:27:58.420 NCJ? Do you have any long -term goals that you'd 00:27:58.420 --> 00:28:02.819 like to accomplish there? Well, I'm really I'm 00:28:02.819 --> 00:28:05.400 kind of into my final stretch on the NCJ probably 00:28:05.400 --> 00:28:08.420 this is my third year and It's probably gonna 00:28:08.420 --> 00:28:10.539 be my last year, but I'll tell you what I've 00:28:10.539 --> 00:28:12.339 tried to do already and what I'd like to keep 00:28:12.339 --> 00:28:16.000 doing The first thing I'd like to do is and I 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:18.759 haven't succeeded in this yet And that is to 00:28:18.759 --> 00:28:21.039 make the NCJ a little bit more international 00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:25.079 if you get on particularly on CW you can't help 00:28:25.079 --> 00:28:29.839 but notice that The big nexus of ham radioactivity 00:28:29.839 --> 00:28:35.420 on CW is now in Europe. Europeans are super active. 00:28:35.900 --> 00:28:38.759 They got all their own contests. There's so many 00:28:38.759 --> 00:28:41.200 innovations coming out of Europe. The equipment, 00:28:41.720 --> 00:28:45.619 the amplifiers, the tricks, and just the skill 00:28:45.619 --> 00:28:48.799 there. I've had some luck getting some contributors 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:53.799 there. I've tried to have some interviews and 00:28:53.799 --> 00:28:57.259 some columns that really kind of Expose the North 00:28:57.259 --> 00:28:59.279 American contest. There's more than what's going 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:02.319 on there Another thing I tried to do with NCJ 00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:04.940 and I'm happy to say I have been able to do this 00:29:04.940 --> 00:29:07.700 I mentioned it earlier and that's bringing to 00:29:07.700 --> 00:29:10.200 the forefront Some of the people have really 00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:13.480 been the legends in our sport The people who 00:29:13.480 --> 00:29:16.359 if you were getting into contesting today You 00:29:16.359 --> 00:29:18.720 might not have ever heard of them or maybe you 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:21.319 did come across them, but you don't really appreciate 00:29:21.710 --> 00:29:24.210 that there's some folks who are near the end 00:29:24.210 --> 00:29:27.150 of their contest careers who have done enormous 00:29:27.150 --> 00:29:31.750 amount of innovation and mentoring to our sport. 00:29:31.930 --> 00:29:34.089 We just concluded an interview, for example, 00:29:34.230 --> 00:29:37.650 with Lou Gordon K4VX out of Hannibal, Missouri, 00:29:37.769 --> 00:29:41.930 who sadly just became a silent key. And Lou is 00:29:41.930 --> 00:29:45.930 a guy, just as one example, he's a guy who has 00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:48.960 run a multi -op contest station. And the people 00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:51.660 who have graduated, if you will, from his station 00:29:51.660 --> 00:29:54.319 have gone on to be some of the best operators 00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:57.039 in the world. And it's just remarkable. And it 00:29:57.039 --> 00:29:58.839 was great to talk to him. So that was another 00:29:58.839 --> 00:30:04.240 thing with NCJ. A third thing is really, I'm 00:30:04.240 --> 00:30:07.359 a station builder, so that's my bias. So if you 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:09.279 want to talk about putting a station together, 00:30:09.859 --> 00:30:11.880 I really pay attention. I want to learn every 00:30:11.880 --> 00:30:15.509 trick I can. And so I wanted to make sure that 00:30:15.509 --> 00:30:19.470 we brought more station builders tips. I mean, 00:30:19.609 --> 00:30:24.009 some things that will really help you think about 00:30:24.009 --> 00:30:29.609 and maybe even put into place some plans to make 00:30:29.609 --> 00:30:32.069 your station better. Because that's the thing 00:30:32.069 --> 00:30:34.670 that really attracts me about contesting. Contesting, 00:30:34.710 --> 00:30:39.250 if you will, it's an evaluation. Every time you 00:30:39.250 --> 00:30:42.960 run a contest, your hardware is evaluated. And 00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:45.119 your hardware is really the product of your own 00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:49.500 efforts. It's what you put up. So every one of 00:30:49.500 --> 00:30:51.319 us wants to get better. There's always things 00:30:51.319 --> 00:30:54.099 we can improve on. And that's one thing I really 00:30:54.099 --> 00:30:56.440 wanted to bring to NCJ. And that's sort of a 00:30:56.440 --> 00:31:01.880 work in progress. Very good. 812, netham1 is 00:31:01.880 --> 00:31:06.359 the phone number, 812 -638 -4261, or Skype us 00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:10.990 at Amtok Live, or you can tweet us like... Bill 00:31:10.990 --> 00:31:15.009 Stearns in E4RD has tweeted and he wants to know 00:31:15.009 --> 00:31:21.750 about your SO2R setup. I know Bill. Hello Bill, 00:31:21.789 --> 00:31:25.789 how are you? Well my SO2R setup is not really 00:31:25.789 --> 00:31:28.589 revolutionary. SO2R first off stands for single 00:31:28.589 --> 00:31:32.109 operator two radio. I do it kind of the old -fashioned 00:31:32.109 --> 00:31:34.710 way which is the way it's been done for the last 00:31:34.710 --> 00:31:38.279 20 or so years. And I'm sort of a follower. There's 00:31:38.279 --> 00:31:40.579 there's a new wrinkled so to our talk about that 00:31:40.579 --> 00:31:43.680 in a second But my setup is basically I have 00:31:43.680 --> 00:31:47.500 two radios. I have the audio for each radio in 00:31:47.500 --> 00:31:51.539 each ear So I can listen to radio one on the 00:31:51.539 --> 00:31:53.759 left here radio two on the right ear and I can 00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:55.819 of course switch to get both ears in any one 00:31:55.819 --> 00:31:58.980 radio But basically the philosophy and I don't 00:31:58.980 --> 00:32:00.720 know how much your audience is really into this 00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:04.299 but the philosophy of of true radio is very simple 00:32:04.569 --> 00:32:07.849 And that is while your radio is transmitting, 00:32:07.990 --> 00:32:10.950 your brain is not doing anything. You're listening 00:32:10.950 --> 00:32:14.150 to yourself transmit. And so why not use that 00:32:14.150 --> 00:32:17.750 time to do something productive? So in the case 00:32:17.750 --> 00:32:20.390 of SO2R, the way I and many others implement 00:32:20.390 --> 00:32:24.109 it, is while you're CQing on radio one, you are 00:32:24.109 --> 00:32:27.849 tuning around on radio two to find to someone 00:32:27.849 --> 00:32:31.329 else to call. And so during the dead time when 00:32:31.329 --> 00:32:34.009 you have the opportunity, when you're not busy 00:32:34.009 --> 00:32:36.690 on radio one and the station you have lined up 00:32:36.690 --> 00:32:39.549 to call and radio two is is is turned it over 00:32:39.549 --> 00:32:42.809 as waiting for your call you have the the the 00:32:42.809 --> 00:32:44.809 ability and of course this involves computers 00:32:44.809 --> 00:32:47.549 and software and so forth but the ability to 00:32:47.549 --> 00:32:50.549 quickly switch over to radio two make the call 00:32:50.549 --> 00:32:53.869 make the contact and seamlessly go back and seek 00:32:53.869 --> 00:32:57.269 you in on radio one so it's basically some extra 00:32:57.269 --> 00:33:01.190 stuff extra points extra multipliers also extra 00:33:01.190 --> 00:33:04.230 fun from my point of view That's the way we've 00:33:04.230 --> 00:33:07.630 done it. It involves a lot of things involving 00:33:07.630 --> 00:33:11.630 how your station is set up so that you have the 00:33:11.630 --> 00:33:14.789 ability with a kilowatt or 1 ,500 watts to be 00:33:14.789 --> 00:33:17.269 able to say, transmit on 20 and listen on 40 00:33:17.269 --> 00:33:19.710 without the 20 meter station wiping out your 00:33:19.710 --> 00:33:23.670 40 meter rig, et cetera. Really quickly, the 00:33:23.670 --> 00:33:27.049 new way of doing SO2R, which is being just, there 00:33:27.049 --> 00:33:28.609 have been several breakthroughs, and that's where 00:33:28.609 --> 00:33:32.269 you're doing alternating CQs. So you're CQing 00:33:32.269 --> 00:33:35.630 on Radio 1 and Radio 2 almost at the same time. 00:33:35.710 --> 00:33:37.450 You're not literally transmitting at the same 00:33:37.450 --> 00:33:40.309 time, but you're running a pile up on two bands 00:33:40.309 --> 00:33:45.650 at once. It's pretty nerve -racking. You've got 00:33:45.650 --> 00:33:48.150 to get all the timing right, but if you do it 00:33:48.150 --> 00:33:49.950 right, you don't quite get double your rate, 00:33:50.170 --> 00:33:52.109 but doggone close, and the people who are doing 00:33:52.109 --> 00:33:58.079 it are really doing very, very well. That's that's 00:33:58.079 --> 00:34:01.700 a challenge not everybody can pull that one off 00:34:01.700 --> 00:34:06.539 and I hear more and more about it almost every 00:34:06.539 --> 00:34:12.460 day that people are giving it a shot and What 00:34:12.460 --> 00:34:18.750 are what are your? best suggestions for trying 00:34:18.750 --> 00:34:23.750 to do that. Do you find matched radios help or 00:34:23.750 --> 00:34:28.269 anything like that that seems to help the chaos 00:34:28.269 --> 00:34:32.349 of being on two at once? Well there's really 00:34:32.349 --> 00:34:34.130 three things going on. The first is the hardware 00:34:34.130 --> 00:34:36.269 and you mentioned it's part of that. Well you 00:34:36.269 --> 00:34:39.070 don't have to have matched radios but you know 00:34:39.070 --> 00:34:42.130 there's the hardware involved, there's the software 00:34:42.130 --> 00:34:44.610 involved and then there's your brain. Right? 00:34:46.550 --> 00:34:49.309 For many of us it's a limiting factor. So let 00:34:49.309 --> 00:34:52.610 me, without going into too much detail, I mean 00:34:52.610 --> 00:34:56.090 the hardware involves stubs, filters, lots of 00:34:56.090 --> 00:34:57.670 things to help you be able to listen through 00:34:57.670 --> 00:35:00.269 your own transmitted signal. I'll gloss over 00:35:00.269 --> 00:35:03.289 that for the moment and I would just give some 00:35:03.289 --> 00:35:06.449 very bottom -line practical advice. If you want 00:35:06.449 --> 00:35:08.489 to do two radios at contests, my first piece 00:35:08.489 --> 00:35:10.050 of advice is to make sure you know how to do 00:35:10.050 --> 00:35:16.719 one radio first. It's not a tolerant mode, if 00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:19.559 you're not really smooth with one radio, if you're 00:35:19.559 --> 00:35:23.019 not, if your brain is not idle, if you're working 00:35:23.019 --> 00:35:25.199 full time just getting one radio going, you're 00:35:25.199 --> 00:35:27.699 not ready for two. Okay, that's my first piece 00:35:27.699 --> 00:35:30.460 of advice. My second piece of advice is also 00:35:30.460 --> 00:35:33.699 fairly simple, and that is, it's called practicing. 00:35:34.599 --> 00:35:36.940 So a lot of times what involves with two radios 00:35:36.940 --> 00:35:40.320 is you have to have the ability to move your 00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:43.730 concentration from one radio to the other. So 00:35:43.730 --> 00:35:46.769 it's, and that takes practice. So I know some 00:35:46.769 --> 00:35:49.210 of the people that pioneered this would simply 00:35:49.210 --> 00:35:53.050 sit in their radio station with two audio streams 00:35:53.050 --> 00:35:56.530 coming into both ears all the time, which is 00:35:56.530 --> 00:35:58.349 kind of chaotic if you think about it. I mean, 00:35:58.369 --> 00:36:00.989 who wants to have two people talking at once 00:36:00.989 --> 00:36:03.010 to you all the time? It seems like a lot of work 00:36:03.010 --> 00:36:04.750 trying to understand what one of them's saying. 00:36:05.150 --> 00:36:07.050 You want to turn the volume down on one of them 00:36:07.050 --> 00:36:08.869 so you can use all your concentration on the 00:36:08.869 --> 00:36:12.320 second. But the master two radio involves being 00:36:12.320 --> 00:36:15.320 really comfortable with multiple things coming 00:36:15.320 --> 00:36:19.219 at you and having the ability after practice 00:36:19.219 --> 00:36:22.860 for most of us to selectively move your concentration 00:36:22.860 --> 00:36:25.599 from left to the right so that you get the information 00:36:25.599 --> 00:36:31.820 you need to get. So what about splitting the 00:36:31.820 --> 00:36:35.139 headphones in one radio in the left and one in 00:36:35.139 --> 00:36:39.159 the right? Yeah, that's that's uh, you know, 00:36:39.239 --> 00:36:41.719 there's so many boxes out there top top ten devices 00:36:41.719 --> 00:36:44.880 It's got a box and people can homebrew boxes 00:36:44.880 --> 00:36:47.739 and they interface really well with software 00:36:47.739 --> 00:36:51.559 and one mm is a super popular free software package 00:36:51.559 --> 00:36:55.699 very powerful, but there are many others and 00:36:55.699 --> 00:36:59.260 sometimes you you can do things with software 00:36:59.260 --> 00:37:01.280 that really make a lot of sense and a lot of 00:37:01.280 --> 00:37:02.840 people do them and a matter of fact a lot of 00:37:02.840 --> 00:37:04.599 people that beat me do these things so maybe 00:37:04.599 --> 00:37:07.159 i better learn how to do them in terms of using 00:37:07.159 --> 00:37:10.860 that using the software it's a rather predictable 00:37:10.860 --> 00:37:14.199 kind of thing uh you know i don't know if you're 00:37:14.199 --> 00:37:16.780 if you're a contest or neil but you have you 00:37:16.780 --> 00:37:19.219 know you have like let's say a sweepstakes exchange 00:37:19.219 --> 00:37:21.380 it has a long exchange and there's quite a bit 00:37:21.380 --> 00:37:23.730 of time you need to you need to listen to all 00:37:23.730 --> 00:37:25.289 that stuff and you need to get it right because 00:37:25.289 --> 00:37:27.730 if you don't get it right you lose the contact 00:37:27.730 --> 00:37:32.070 points etc versus a contest like cq world wide 00:37:32.070 --> 00:37:34.829 where the exchange is almost meaningless someone's 00:37:34.829 --> 00:37:37.210 going to send you a 599 everybody in contest 00:37:37.210 --> 00:37:39.750 sends you a 599 and then they send a zone number 00:37:39.750 --> 00:37:42.289 and you already know their zone number because 00:37:42.289 --> 00:37:44.690 by copying the call sign right so i guess what 00:37:44.690 --> 00:37:47.510 i'm saying is that there are some contests where 00:37:47.510 --> 00:37:50.570 you really need to bear down at different points 00:37:50.570 --> 00:37:52.210 in time. Of course, you got to bear down to get 00:37:52.210 --> 00:37:54.889 the call. In sweepstakes, you got to bear down 00:37:54.889 --> 00:37:57.889 and get that exchange worldwide. Once you have 00:37:57.889 --> 00:38:02.030 the call, you're fine. So there's a lot of little 00:38:02.030 --> 00:38:07.869 tricks. Take some practice. But it really, once 00:38:07.869 --> 00:38:09.989 you start doing it, it's hard to stop, I'll put 00:38:09.989 --> 00:38:12.989 it that way. And like I say, this horse has left 00:38:12.989 --> 00:38:16.769 the barn, gosh, 20 years ago. like you say that 00:38:16.769 --> 00:38:19.849 the new one is this dual CQing thing which is 00:38:19.849 --> 00:38:23.309 kind of cool and that's kind of my project this 00:38:23.309 --> 00:38:27.070 summer to learn how to do that. Sounds pretty 00:38:27.070 --> 00:38:30.590 good to me 812 net ham one is the phone number 00:38:30.590 --> 00:38:33.230 if you have a question we have just a few minutes 00:38:33.230 --> 00:38:37.309 remaining with Pat in 9RV the editor of the National 00:38:37.309 --> 00:38:41.760 Contest Journal And so feel free to chime in 00:38:41.760 --> 00:38:45.460 at 812 NatTam1 or on Twitter at HamTalk Live 00:38:45.460 --> 00:38:49.880 or by Skype. We're also at HamTalk Live there. 00:38:50.420 --> 00:38:53.559 I've done some contesting. That's something that 00:38:53.559 --> 00:38:58.699 I look forward to. I'm not the kind of person 00:38:58.699 --> 00:39:05.619 that will sit down for 24 hours straight. and 00:39:05.619 --> 00:39:09.800 go, but I've really enjoyed it. I've enjoyed 00:39:09.800 --> 00:39:14.119 bringing it to the kids at school. We've done 00:39:14.119 --> 00:39:18.219 School Club Roundup, CQ Worldwide, some of those 00:39:18.219 --> 00:39:21.320 contests, and they really enjoy it, and they 00:39:21.320 --> 00:39:25.500 get into the competitiveness of it, and so really 00:39:25.500 --> 00:39:29.530 enjoy it. But I think, you know, I think... I 00:39:29.530 --> 00:39:34.309 could go for SO2R, but I haven't really tried 00:39:34.309 --> 00:39:42.789 that yet in a serious way anyway. So, could be 00:39:42.789 --> 00:39:45.329 interesting. May have to give it a shot. Well, 00:39:45.550 --> 00:39:48.889 that's what I like about contesting is that there's 00:39:48.889 --> 00:39:51.010 always something new to try and it never stops, 00:39:51.869 --> 00:39:54.849 both from technology. From my point of view, 00:39:55.090 --> 00:39:57.630 there's a contest season. I like to take the 00:39:57.630 --> 00:39:59.510 summers off. There's always contests in the summer. 00:40:00.329 --> 00:40:02.530 But the season starts in the fall, as far as 00:40:02.530 --> 00:40:05.269 I'm concerned. And you go into every contest 00:40:05.269 --> 00:40:06.889 season, no matter how many years you've been 00:40:06.889 --> 00:40:09.250 doing it, with something. You're going to try 00:40:09.250 --> 00:40:11.090 something different. You have a new toy, a new 00:40:11.090 --> 00:40:14.869 piece of hardware. Like I say, I think of contesting. 00:40:15.690 --> 00:40:17.909 I mean, let's face it. We're making a phone call 00:40:17.909 --> 00:40:20.130 right now, and we're using commercial technology. 00:40:20.619 --> 00:40:22.880 and it sounds great, you sound great, I hope 00:40:22.880 --> 00:40:25.980 I sound decent, but I didn't have anything to 00:40:25.980 --> 00:40:27.960 do with that. But if I'm talking to you over 00:40:27.960 --> 00:40:31.920 the air, the strength of my signal is, well sure, 00:40:32.019 --> 00:40:34.340 it depends on the ionosphere, but it depends 00:40:34.340 --> 00:40:37.000 a lot on what I did. I put together my station, 00:40:37.260 --> 00:40:39.679 it's my electrons leaving my wire or my hunk 00:40:39.679 --> 00:40:42.579 of aluminum, et cetera. So I think contesting 00:40:42.579 --> 00:40:46.980 gives you a really nice... a way to benchmark 00:40:46.980 --> 00:40:49.440 your station building efforts. I know a lot of 00:40:49.440 --> 00:40:51.400 contesters that actually don't really like the 00:40:51.400 --> 00:40:53.679 contest that much. They like to put together 00:40:53.679 --> 00:40:57.119 their station. It's like going to war. They put 00:40:57.119 --> 00:40:59.860 together their army. They invite other operators 00:40:59.860 --> 00:41:03.880 to come over to their station and see how it 00:41:03.880 --> 00:41:09.139 all works. How did you do? It's not about winning. 00:41:09.199 --> 00:41:11.179 It's about improvement, as far as I'm concerned, 00:41:11.199 --> 00:41:14.559 and it's about the reward you get. from your 00:41:14.559 --> 00:41:21.440 efforts? Sounds good to me. And I think that's 00:41:21.440 --> 00:41:27.420 a lot of the draw of of of contesting is it provides 00:41:27.420 --> 00:41:30.239 a reason to learn how to do some of those things. 00:41:30.260 --> 00:41:33.360 And I think especially, like I said, with my 00:41:33.360 --> 00:41:37.619 students at school, you know, it's it's been 00:41:37.619 --> 00:41:41.980 the reason for learning how to for them just 00:41:42.039 --> 00:41:44.960 Learning how to fill out QSL cards learning what 00:41:44.960 --> 00:41:49.159 five nine is, you know and and how to set up 00:41:49.159 --> 00:41:53.659 the stations How to set up a power supply or 00:41:53.659 --> 00:41:57.559 you know some of those basic things Some of them 00:41:57.559 --> 00:42:02.110 many of them aren't even licensed And so that 00:42:02.110 --> 00:42:05.469 exposes them to it and gives them a chance to 00:42:05.469 --> 00:42:08.869 try it out and and to learn and to put things 00:42:08.869 --> 00:42:12.250 together. And then when they do get on the air, 00:42:12.250 --> 00:42:16.590 why they have that experience and they know what 00:42:16.590 --> 00:42:20.670 they're doing. And that's something that the 00:42:20.670 --> 00:42:24.909 test doesn't always cover. Yeah, and my my advice 00:42:24.909 --> 00:42:28.010 to listeners would be to. Most of that exposure 00:42:28.010 --> 00:42:29.510 comes from field day. I mean, that's a lot of 00:42:29.510 --> 00:42:32.130 people's first experience to contesting. And 00:42:32.130 --> 00:42:35.090 my challenge to listeners would be, OK, field 00:42:35.090 --> 00:42:38.469 day is good, but operate in another one. Operate 00:42:38.469 --> 00:42:40.610 in different contests. Operate one that's not 00:42:40.610 --> 00:42:43.389 field day, one where it's your efforts or maybe 00:42:43.389 --> 00:42:46.809 with friends or whatever. And that's when you'll 00:42:46.809 --> 00:42:51.949 really get hooked. I think I stumbled across 00:42:51.949 --> 00:42:55.010 my first contest by accident. I tuned the bands 00:42:55.010 --> 00:42:58.829 and there it was. it was kind of a magical thing. 00:42:59.329 --> 00:43:01.349 I never really figured out what was going on 00:43:01.349 --> 00:43:05.730 and eventually I put it together. But it's in 00:43:05.730 --> 00:43:07.590 the internet age, we're a little bit better connected. 00:43:07.690 --> 00:43:09.590 You can really figure it out a lot more quickly. 00:43:10.429 --> 00:43:14.329 But the magic is just the same spinning the dial, 00:43:14.329 --> 00:43:16.530 working people with your own stuff. It doesn't 00:43:16.530 --> 00:43:19.579 get any better than that. And speaking of field 00:43:19.579 --> 00:43:21.619 day, and we are out of time, by the way, but 00:43:21.619 --> 00:43:23.940 speaking of field day, we just got a commitment 00:43:23.940 --> 00:43:27.840 from Sean KX9X to come on and do the field day 00:43:27.840 --> 00:43:31.780 question and answer session. Thursday before 00:43:31.780 --> 00:43:35.360 field day at once again this year. So if you 00:43:35.360 --> 00:43:38.500 are out there listening and you do run into some 00:43:38.500 --> 00:43:41.960 questions about field day, why we'll have that 00:43:41.960 --> 00:43:44.219 question and answer session available a couple 00:43:44.219 --> 00:43:48.059 of days before field day. So Pat, thanks for 00:43:48.059 --> 00:43:50.820 coming on the show. We're out of time, but appreciate 00:43:50.820 --> 00:43:54.039 you taking time, especially away from the vacation 00:43:54.039 --> 00:43:57.139 there to join us tonight and look forward to 00:43:57.139 --> 00:44:00.500 talking to you again. Likewise Neil really pleasure 00:44:00.500 --> 00:44:03.440 to get to know you and best of luck with the 00:44:03.440 --> 00:44:06.730 show All right, thanks a lot. That is a wrap 00:44:06.730 --> 00:44:09.889 for this week's edition of HamTalk Live. Thanks 00:44:09.889 --> 00:44:13.849 to Pat Barkey, or N9RV, and everyone out there 00:44:13.849 --> 00:44:16.690 in cyberspace for listening, and Bill for tweeting 00:44:16.690 --> 00:44:19.650 in, and we invite you all back next Thursday 00:44:19.650 --> 00:44:23.150 night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time, when Don Wilbanks, 00:44:23.230 --> 00:44:27.489 AE5DW, our friend, will be here to talk about 00:44:27.489 --> 00:44:31.210 HamNation episode 300 coming up, and of course, 00:44:31.289 --> 00:44:35.039 the 2017 Amateur Radio News Bill Pasternak Young 00:44:35.039 --> 00:44:38.099 Ham of the Year Award nominations. For a list 00:44:38.099 --> 00:44:41.059 of all of our upcoming guests, visit HamTalkLive 00:44:41.059 --> 00:44:45.079 .com. So for now, this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, 00:44:45.199 --> 00:44:50.000 saying 7375, and may the good DX be yours.