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hamstation .com. everyone this is ham talk live
episode number 27 it's the huntsville ham fest
preview recorded live on thursday august 18th
or 18th 2016 i'm your host neil wrapp wb9 vpg
thanks for tuning into this episode of ham talk
live tonight we'll be joined by charlie emerson
in for okl the chairman of the huntsville ham
fest We'll preview all the exciting things happening
in Huntsville this weekend and take your calls
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this episode of HamTalk Live. If at first you
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listening to Ham Talk Live with Neil Rapp. Welcome
back to Ham Talk Live, the Ham Station. As you
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out our Facebook page and our Twitter feed to
search for Ham Talk Live. Charlie Emerson in
for OKL is the chairman of the Huntsville Alabama
Ham Fest. The Huntsville Ham Fest slogan is the
world's friendliest ham fest. And I can vouch
for that personally. The ham fest is held on
the third weekend of August each year in the
Von Braun center. The Huntsville ham fest features
several commercial vendors, a flea market, a
youth lounge, top name speakers and the amateur
radio news line young ham of the year award presentation
all under one roof with air conditioning ample
parking directly below the von braun center embassy
suites connected by skyway next door and plenty
of elevators and good food and vendors it's no
wonder it's one of the favorite ham fest in the
world their ham fest uh website is ham fest dot
org charlie welcome to ham talk live Well, thank
you very much man and good evening to all of
your ham fest ham ham talk live audience there
and and would encourage everybody to To listen
in there may be there may be some people Broadcasting
from from the Huntsville ham fest if you need
any other information you might go to www .hamfest
.org like Neil said there a while ago and Prowl
around on there. We got our prizes and all of
that stuff uh... going in it looks like uh...
this year man we're gonna have a a really big
show or a bigger one than we normally have one
of the biggest uh... events for us at the uh...
ham fest is uh... is the uh... the professor
uh... is going to be with us uh... he's uh...
uh... and and i think he he he wears that uh...
that big hat oh i know and uh... and all of them
robed in the whole bit oh yeah man and i'll tell
you what i am really looking forward to to seeing
him here it's uh... It's his first time to come
to Huntsville as his profession. He's visited
Huntsville, but Gordon hadn't been and worked
the way that he's doing here. So he's going to
put on a seminar that is really interesting.
I don't believe I've ever seen one. It's called
Teaching the Teachers. And he's going to tell
everybody or show everybody his methods for people
that want to be Elmers, people that want to teach
ham radio, want to get people into the hobby
and all of that stuff. Gordon West will have
a great show down here for us this coming up
weekend there, Neil. We're lucky to have him.
Oh yeah, Gordon's always very entertaining. Of
course, we're talking about Gordon West, WB6NOA,
the Gordon West radio school, and I'm sure he
will have all kinds of silly antics and all kinds
of good information down there at Huntsville.
So just go ahead and fill us in on what's happening
this weekend at the Amfest, what other big things
are happening there at the Vaughan Braun Center.
Well, we've got three young hams. We've got the
Hiram Maxim Young Ham of the Year and we've got
the Alabama Young Ham of the Year. I don't have
their names up here at the moment, but you can
catch them on our website and get the names there.
That event right there is going to be pretty
good, no doubt about it. It's just all kinds
of things going on. We've got a really big slate,
just a good line up of ham radio related stuff
here with the forums. And I'll tell you what,
one of the most interesting ones to me that's
gonna be, of course all of them are and they're
great and everything, but Dr. Monty Bateman who
is a real good friend of mine and somebody that
I... eat lunch with every Tuesday as he's our
youth director. uh... youth lounge director and
uh... and he's also going to do he's a lightning
expert and uh... he can tell you what the real
deal is uh... as far as uh... what what's what's
good and all of that stuff to try to keep the
uh... uh... lightning out of the shack and and
what what uh... he knows the difference between
the real stuff in the snake oil so uh... you'll
be you'll be letting everybody know about that
but there's there's just uh... an awful lot i'd
i'd encourage anybody that uh... wants to see
what's going on on in the forums to go to our
website, hamfest .org. Look on the left -hand
side and come on down to forums and click on
there. And you can get all the information. You
can download and print the schedules and all
that stuff where you can make your plans for
where you want to be at any time. And our forums
lead is Tom Duncan. And Tom has done just a great
job of lining everything up and doing that. We've
had one of the guys retire, Johnny Warner, that
he had done this. Gosh, I don't even, I think
since the Huntsville Ham Fist got started in
Huntsville. as the Huntsville Hamfest in 1980,
but it was going before that, and the Hamfest
was going from Huntsville to Muscle Shoals to
Florence, and that may not be right, but it was
going to three different places, and so anyway,
it finally wound up over here in Huntsville,
and Don Tunstall, just a brilliant guy, him and
Johnny. set up the idea to have the Huntsville
Hamfest and so Johnny retired and Tom Duncan
has taken his place but I always want to try
to remember Johnny and all those and another
one that's retired a little bit from us is Dave
Givens who does the flea market and he, Dave
had done it for 30 -something years, man. And
them other guys Johnny and all them other guys
man, they've been doing it all at time now There's
one other guy that's come in to take Dave's place,
which is Jim spikes But other than Jim, I'm the
young guy man. I'm the new kid on the block I
mean, I've been doing it a little while now and
all that but all the other guys to Dave Givens
and Art Davis is Art Davis is just a brilliant
genius man i i'll be listening but uh... i'll
tell you man again really knows how to how to
do a layout and uh... and he's been doing it
for years and years and years and he's just a
he's always a man i'm not kidding you so i don't
know what we do that'll or and uh... and and
david jim and and therese uh... frost is uh...
the uh... secretary treasurer and uh... so i
mean you know that we get we got other people
to do other things and all we got uh... warn
Alfred and his wife Karen that take care of all
of our food and everything. We feed everybody
honey -baked ham sandwiches and turkey. And boy,
some of the best cookies you ever put in your
mouth, man. I mean, they're really good. And
so we feed everybody and do that. But that's
some of the people that do that. And I don't
want to leave anybody out or anything. But we've
got a good, tight, dedicated you know, group
of folks that put on or make the decision for
the ham fest. And we're just fortunate to have
that situation to where we don't have to reinvent
the wheel every year. And I'll tell you another
thing too, is we don't have the constraint of
showing a big profit to anybody, so. We give
money away to different organizations and clubs
and even individuals at times. So if we get back
down, if we spend the money, I tell people all
the time, man, that if we make money... I spend
that stuff like a drunk sailor, man. I mean,
I give everybody money, man, for that. And we
try to spread the stuff around there a little
bit and all that. And it works out real well
to our benefit, man. No kidding. We're just glad
to do it. And so anyway, that's basically the
way the Huntsville Hamfest works. We don't have
a whole lot of people breathing down our neck
about how much profit we make, you know, because
if we do make some, we get back down to what
we call our comfort zone or our level of comfort
with the money and all of that. And then we just
start all over again. So, you know, we, you know,
luckily and fortunate and blessed that the Huntsville
Hamfest has done as well as it has and even through
some trying times with the economy. All of that
kind of stuff we've grown a little bit every
year. We get new dealers in, we get people in.
We're up to over 5 ,000 people in two days. And
so we're just very blessed indeed to have that.
And it's people that like yourself and others
that get the word around. So thanks a lot for
what you do here, Neil. I tell you, I'll start
tuning in. I didn't, I didn't, I've never heard
of it, you know, but I'll start tuning in and
seeing what's going on. So man, we really appreciate
you doing this. Oh, no problem. We're glad to
do it. And yeah, we are kind of new on the scene.
We started the show in mid -February. And so
we are kind of new out there. So we're glad that
you were agreeable to doing this here. I know
that you've got a lot going on right now, just
a day before the setup. two days of of nothing
but hamfest and and it does take a crew to make
all that work you can't do it all by yourself
although I tried to do a small one almost by
myself for many years and I understand the efforts
that it takes and you were telling me that before
the show that you've got a whole bunch of volunteers
this year you named off a bunch of them but how
many How many volunteers do you have to run the
ham fest this year? Well, I don't know exactly.
I hadn't counted them. Uh, but, but it looks
like to me that it's, uh, it, you know, it's
north of 60, uh, you know, that we, of the, of
the folks that we call hospitality. And that's
the ones that, you know, one of the things that
Huntsville Hamfest has got in its favor and not
very many places have, is that you can actually
drive into the Von Braun Center and we got people
and enough people that... that they'll help you
unload your stuff. They'll help you get it onto
a cart. We got carts that we haul the equipment
on and then take you back to your table and help
you get set up. So we got that going for us.
And right now, it seems to be very popular. And
I can understand that because there's still a
lot of old boat anchor stuff that shows up and
all of that. And as you know, man, that stuff
ain't... light and so we we've got a we've got
a big crew and and and and we got a lot of People
that are really dedicated one of the guys I can't
let me spoil can't think of his name right now,
but I got I'm having you know, I have trouble
I'm older I get worse my memory is but anyway,
we got one guy's got his own car. He brings his
own car He is a dedicated troop, man, I'm telling
you. Gosh, what's his name? I can't think of
his name right now, but anyway, we got a lot
of dedicated troops that know what they're doing
and they're eager and determined to get it done
and get it done right. Anybody that needs anything,
we try to help them with it any way we can. Well,
I first started coming about three years ago
for the young ham of the year award ceremony
because one of my students was being recognized
and so I'd checked up on everything and I was
just just amazed and envious because of all the
years that I ran a ham fest and tried to get
a facility and tried to find one that was that
was good for you know what we were doing and
everything and I walked in and um stayed in embassy
suites so I went on the on the skywalk and just
walked right into the ham fest uh parked there
you know I could take my stuff back to my room
lock it up run back you know get some more stuff
over there um and you know go go sit down hang
out for lunch for a little bit come back uh,
go to the ceremony and it really was just the
easiest ham fest to go to because you've got
the embassy suites connected by skywalk right
there. The parking is right underneath the von
Braun center and it was just so easy to, to come
in and enjoy and relax and see people and, um,
hang out and do some shopping and, um, the Youth
Lounge. I still haven't seen a Youth Lounge like
that one, and I can't tell you the impact that
it had on some of my students that have come
there over the years that, you know, it really
helped get them going. And so the Youth Lounge
is just fabulous. So I am very glad that you've
done all that. And you mentioned the carts and
everything. and helping the vendors load and
unload. But you phrase it, the world's friendliest
ham fest. So tell us some other ways that you're
the world's friendliest ham fest. Well, that's
probably the main reason that we do that is that
we help everybody that we can. uh, to, uh, to
do what they're, they're going to do when they
come to Huntsville. And so if there's anything
that anybody needs, we try to try to do our best
to, uh, make that happen. And, uh, and there's
a lot of things that we do that, that I don't
know. I don't know if everybody else does it
or not, but it's just stuff that we've always,
uh, done and, uh, and the move in and all of
that stuff is, is one of them. And, uh, but even
your ticket takers are friendly. Yes, we get
well. Yeah, those ladies are absolutely magnificent,
man. They are the ones that really, that really,
if we didn't have them, they're, they're called
the Haylarks and, and they, you know, there are
some of them that's got, got a little age on
them and, uh, we get, they got a few young folks
sprinkled out in there and all of that stuff.
But, but they're, uh, they've been around a long
time and, and they, they know what they're doing
and, uh, and, and they know what they do. They,
they know how to make, make people smile when
they come in. And, uh, so we're, you know, we're,
we're thankful for the Haylarks. I'll tell you
that. You walk, you walk in and. They're, they're
right there, you know, trying to, to make sure,
you know, where you're going and what's going
on and get you through and space everybody out.
So you can fill out your tickets and get your
button and, and get through there and just, just
the friendliest folks. And so from, from the
beginning to the end, it's, it really is the,
the friendliest ham fest I've ever seen. And,
um, you know, it may not be the biggest, but.
Boy, it is the friendliest and like I said, it's,
it's the most enjoyable, I think, because it
is just, um, just so easy to navigate around
and get to everything. Well, another thing, and
we do catch a little grief about it from time
to time, the tailgate boys. There's people that
really do like tailgates, and they like them
outside. But we're fortunate to be able to have
our flea market inside. We got almost 400 flea
market tables. And, and we don't have to worry
about what's going on outside with the, uh, the
temperature or the, any kind of inclement weather
or, or, you know, anything. And if I'm not mistaken,
it, it's a little hot in Alabama every once in
a while. Yeah. Yeah. They, they tell me it is,
uh, but boy, I'll tell you right now it is. And
then boys down there at the, uh, BBC, they crank
that air conditioning down, and I've heard people
say that you'd be well advised to bring a light
jacket. So, man, I'll tell you, it's nice to
have that kind of condition. It's not that big
and all of that, but we don't have the outside,
but man, we're expecting rain. Uh, this weekend.
So I mean, if, uh, if it was outside or whatever,
I've, I've seen the weather and all of that stuff
just tear other places up, man, that, uh, that,
that didn't have a big, you know, a place to
put everybody, you know, and, and, and, well,
Dayton, for instance, man, you know, what happens
up there when the weather gets bad, man, boy,
everybody gets in. Everybody's inside. Yeah.
Everybody's inside. And, uh, you know, that's,
uh, you know, speaking of Dayton, I never have
seen, excuse me, I never have had them to request
this before, but they're gonna have a booth here
at Huntsville. The Dayton Hamvention folks are
gonna have a booth here in Huntsville so that
people can ask their questions and get a picture
of the map of where they're going and they just
wanna try to... Clear up some of the confusion
and, and, uh, answer some questions and show
you some pictures and all that stuff. And I think
it's great, man. I really do. We're, we're tickled
to death man. Oh, sure. Yeah. I, I've been, uh,
communicating with them some as well. And of
course, they're just kind of overloaded right
now with all the changes coming up. And I had
planned on doing a virtual tour over there. And
then they said, well, somebody already beat you
to it and it's going to be on ham nation. And
it was on last night. But you know, They've got
a lot to to clear up and I know one of the things
that they mentioned was that there's just a lot
of wrong information running around right now
and so I Wholeheartedly agree with you that we
just need to be a little patient and wait and
let them figure out things and and then we're
gonna also do some preview of that on this show
and We've already talked to them about doing
something This winter after they've had a chance
to to put some things together. So that's great
that they're coming down there to To hopefully
clear up some of that Right, right. So what one
last thing I got to do before we take our break
is me being a former broadcast radio guy and
a guy that announces sports and stuff and and
now I'm doing the the radio show here. I always
notice your PA announcer because I'm a PA announcer.
That's kind of how I got all my start into broadcasting.
And you've even got the world's best Hamfest
PA announcer down there. Tell us a little bit
about him. Well, you know, I really, to be honest
with you, I don't know a whole lot about him.
I mean, you know, he shows up and you know, he's
one of them that we don't have to Do any coercing
or anything like that, but Doug Childs is his
name, and I can't remember his call, but Doug
Childs, and boy, he does. He does a good job.
He's got that situation there. He's been doing
it a long time, you know, and our prize director,
Jordan Townsend and him worked together. Of course,
they got another helper up there as well. Craig
Simmons, I believe, and I think Craig's gonna
help them this year. But anyway, those two work
together and they run the prizes and he makes
the announcements and Doug is real good about
being very aware that when the PA comes on, if
somebody's trying to sell something to somebody,
man, they can't hear it. I mean, they have got
a fantastic sound system down there and sometimes
it's overwhelming. We try to cut it back and
all that, but Doug... Doug really is very careful
about what he announces and how long that he
announces those things. We're just tickled to
death, man, and proud of old Doug. He does a
good job. He's got a good personality. You're
right, man. He's the best I've ever heard, man.
He honestly is. I'm not trying to... you know,
uh, say, you know, anything or anybody's bad
or whatever, but man, I'll tell you what, I'm
like, you know, Doug's bet about the best I ever
seen. Oh, he is. And we'd always laugh at that.
You know, the, the, uh, young ham of the year
award, which was one of the main reasons that,
that I'm coming down there. Uh, and you know,
it's going on while the ham fest is going on.
And so he, you know, he would try to get everybody's
attention and everything. And then somebody come
up to him and say, well, you know. Why you got
that thing turned up so loud for? We're trying
to have a ham fest here. And it's like, well,
we're trying to honor this kid here. That's done,
you know, all this amazing stuff. So he, he,
he always handled it very well though. He is
easy. He's man. He's a good one. No doubt about
it. I don't know what we'd do without him. You
know, there's a whole bunch of people that I
don't know what we'd do without, man. I'm not
kidding you. I mean, we, we, we got some dedicated,
uh, folks that are, uh, that know what they're
doing and they're willing to do it and all of
that stuff. I don't have to tell nobody nothing.
I'll just be honest with you, man. I mean, all
of the movement, the people and all of that kind
of thing, Ralph Blinn. is our move -in director
and our lead or whatever you want to call it.
And so him and Joe Henderson and John Hilliard
and a couple more people, they make sure that
everybody gets in. And those boys do a heck of
a job. They really do. That was the job that
I started out with, with the Huntsville Hamfest.
I was a move -in director and all of that stuff.
And then things happened on Tunstall. uh, was
what silent key with us. And, uh, so then that,
that pushed me up to the, uh, the president slot
there and, and, uh, and also, I mean, we, uh,
you know, we always get. Cut this thing, of course,
it's not actually true. If you're part of the
Huntsville -Hamfest organizing committee or workers
and all that stuff, kind of like Hotel California,
man, you can check out any time you want to,
but you can't really leave, man. Dave Givens,
man, he's a prime example. He did the flea market
for all those years. It's 30 -something years,
man, that he did that, but he still ... Uh, you
know, he's a vice president as well, along with,
uh, uh, uh, our Davis and, uh, uh, Teresa, uh,
Frost is our secretary of trade. She's board
board member as well. And, uh, but anyway, old
Dave, he's just as active right now as he ever
was. And then he's not, he's not getting away
from the ham fest. He just, he just letting somebody
else do the job that he had, but, uh, Dave did
a swell job for a, for a long number of years.
So did art and, uh, and Johnny and. And, uh,
man, just everybody, uh, it's just something
that Huntsville ham fest is kind of, I can't,
it's grown into, uh, into a pretty good size
ham fest, you know, so we're, we're proud of
it. Absolutely. And you should be, well, it's
time to pay some of the bills here, but we'll
be back with, uh, Charlie and we'll take your
calls right after this message from tower electronics
right here on ham talk live. This episode of
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-1. That's 812 -638 -4261. Now here's more HamTalk
Live. Hey, we'd like to thank Scott and Jill
at Tower Electronics for sponsoring the show
tonight so we can bring you HamTalk Live. Tower
Electronics have been huge supporters of of my
HamFest. I know they're going to be at the Huntsville
HamFest this weekend so make sure you visit Tower
Electronics down there at Huntsville or if you
can't make it give them a call 920 -435 -2973
or their website at pl -259 .com Be sure to listen
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if you missed the show you can download the podcast
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websites. Well it's time for your calls right
now if you have a question for Charlie give us
a call at 812 -NET -HAM -1 again that phone number
812 -NET -HAM -1 812 -638 -4261. You can also
Skype your questions at HamTalk Live You can
tweet your questions rather and you can Skype
us at HamTalk Live as well or just click on the
chat feature there on the website as well. We'll
be watching for all of those and take your questions
about the Huntsville HamFest. I joined this evening
with Charlie Emerson in for OKL taking some time
out of his busy schedule trying to get the HamFest
put together. uh... to uh... join us tonight
and we do have a call here so let's go ahead
and take that hello you're on ham talk live who's
this hi my name is scott i just want to call
and say uh... yeah i've been uh... doing carly
for quite a while and he does quite a good job
at the uh... ham fest and i figure another year
or two we may take his training wheels off yeah
now now now scott i You must have been listening
during the break because Charlie and I were talking
about you during the break. Charlie's lightsaber.
Him and his crew are fantastic. They will bend
over backwards for you. Yeah, Charlie was telling
me about your most recent bailout. Yeah, that
happens from time to time, but it's good to know
that you have friends in the cities when you
travel. And there's nobody like a ham that can
help you out and Linda helping him, especially
when you need it. So, especially when you have
some, some vehicle problems I'm hearing. Absolutely.
And that happens a lot when you travel. It happens
a lot. Yeah, it does. Well, thanks so much for
calling in Scott. And I'm looking forward to
seeing everybody this weekend. I'm looking forward
to seeing you too, Neil, this weekend. And if
you haven't been to the Huntsville Hamfest, you're
missing one of the great ones. Trust me, I've
been to a lot of them. And this is one of the
best ones in the country. Thank you, Scott. We
appreciate it. All right, you got it, guys. Take
care. Have fun. We'll see you tomorrow. All right,
Scott. All right, take care now. 812 Net Ham
1 is the phone number 812 -638 -4261 or chat
or tweet or whatever if you have a comment or
question for Charlie and for OKL from the Huntsville
Hamfest. And we mentioned the youth lounge a
little bit and some of the things that you've
got going on there. Tell us a little bit more
about how that came about and what's available
for kids that may be visiting the Huntsville
Hamfest. Well, again, Neil, that's a good website
item to go and look and see. Monty does a lot
of things. He wears several hats there. He's
also our webmaster. But Dr. Monty Bateman is
the Youth Lounge director, him and his wife,
and two sons. And Monty is, of course, he's a
PhD and he's a lightning expert. He's going to
do a forum for us and all of that kind of stuff.
One of the most interesting things you've ever
seen. But Monty is just a really swell guy. He's
an Eagle Scout, and so is his two sons. And they're
into robotics, just pretty heavy. And they've
had some teams that scored fairly high nationally.
And what they do is they do robotics. And the
main thing that they do, I think, is this time,
Monty has bought a bunch of new soldering irons.
And so Monty... teaches the kids how to solder
safely and teaches them a lot about radio in
general. But he gets down to the basics. And
I'll tell you what, our youth lounge is one of
the really more popular spots in the ham fest.
Man, you know, we got a lot of different, we
got a really diverse ham fest. We've got a lot
of people in the ham fest there that doesn't
have ham equipment. But we know that these guys
bring their wives and their kids and everything
to ham fest now. And you gotta have stuff that
appeals to them as well. And I'll tell you what,
Old Monty has made the Huntsville HamFest Youth
Lounge something that... It's something to behold,
like you say. I mean, he's really doing a good
job with it. And the kids come out of there,
they have a good time, they do fox hunts, they
do all of those things that you see kids do around
Hamfest and all that stuff. So we're very fortunate
to have him and his wife and his two sons. They're
all brilliant people and they know what they're
doing. So the youth lounge is probably next to
none, to be honest with you. I don't know, but
it looks like it's one of the best that I can
see. Well, one of my students, she learned how
to solder at the youth lounge down there. And
that's something that she's mentioned that, you
know, that was, you know, part of what got her
interested in the ham radio and science. And
so, you know, we were really, really impressed
with what they do down there. But, but I'm guessing
from what you said earlier that, uh, that he
might have something to say about one of our
products that we sell here on ham talk live,
wink, wink is zap free. It's this stuff that
you spray on your antennas and it keeps them
from getting hit by lightning. He might, he might
not believe that maybe. Don't know we you know,
I don't know whether he would or not But I know
what I know he knows the real he knows the real
deal. I don't know that Yeah, so we mentioned
him and we mentioned Gordon do you have any other
any other forum speakers that you want to mention?
Oh, yeah. Well, Bob Enderbitzen is going to be
here. He's going to be doing a marketing manager.
And we've got Joe Fairclaw. I know you know him.
And he'll be doing an interview with us. Doug
Raymond, who's the Southeastern Division Director.
We've got Larry Price. We've got Ed Tyler. And
using electronic media to communicate with the
Ham community, to communicate with the Ham community
in general public. It looks like Bob Enderbitzen
is doing a couple of forums for us, and Joel,
let me just kind of turn the page here. Man,
we've got a bunch of them. We've got a Skyward
forum with Robert Boyd. We've got lightning research
at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center with Dr.
Monty Bateman. forums there. We got a YL forum,
Ms. Katherine Andrews, AC4YL. And we got public
service. We got tri -service Mars with Bob Glasgow.
Lightning protection. You know, Monty does two
of them. One of them, he talks just about lightning
in general and how and what and all of that stuff.
And then the other one that he does at a different
time is how to protect your shack. And so that's
the one thing that all of us dread is a lightning
strike. Man, I'll tell you the truth, that is
nothing to one big deal with. We got AMSAT, we
got D -Star Innovations with Ron Schaefer, W4VM,
we got amateur radio ballooning with Bill Brown.
Receiver audio Bob de Pierre and Bob is just
a man. He is a genius on radios I'm telling you
the truth. He can he can build and fix a matter
of fact. He's got his own RF Engineering company.
We got Ben Lowe who is also a good friend of
mine that will be doing a one -day polar mount
for space tracking tracking and So Ben Lowe has
also got his own RF engineering company. I mean
these guys are are top -notch. They really are
Steven Hicks is gonna be doing Flex 6000 per
DX contesting. And we got the technology behind
the K3S and our other new products with David
Shulff. And I guess that's how you say his name,
not real sure. Got Mr. Joe Eisenberg that comes
here every year. Boy, and I'll tell you what,
old Joe, he leaves out of here with a bunch of
prizes. He buys a bunch of tickets and he wins.
He wins a lot. He really does. Yeah, he does.
Good guy. And here's probably one of the main
events. Gordon West, the Instructor Academy,
and getting started with Amateur Radio with Sholto
Fisher. I guess that's how you say his name.
And then we got Craig Barron's QRP seminar there
in the Shocking Stores. from the heart stores,
there's that stores with Jerry Brown. And then
we got a contesting multi -forum. It's a three
hour Tim Winnegar and he's president of the Alabama
Contest Group. And he'll be talking about multi
-forum contesting. So that's a little bit of
rundown right there. And you know, it's just
a real fast thing, but go to our website hamfest
.org. look on the left -hand side and click on
forums and you can get the full story. So, there
you go. Very good, Charlie. Well, we're just
about out of time, but I do want to mention,
of course, that at 2 o 'clock on Saturday, there
will be the amateur radio news line Young Ham
of the Year Award presentation with our friend
Don Wilbanks, AE5DW. And this year's winner is
Skyler Fennell from Denver. I know he's looking
forward to the trip, been talking to him a little
bit this week and that's always a highlight to
see the young people recognized and that's been
the home of that award down there at Huntsville
for quite some time. Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Well, I tell you, we're very fortunate to have
that. I don't know why they don't do it at Dayton,
but we're very fortunate to do it here, man,
and glad to do it. We try to make sure that we
leave some space available for the winter at
the embassy there next door and get them... squared
away with a room and all of that kind of thing.
So we're very, very fortunate to have that activity
here. Also the Alabama Young Ham of the Year.
I don't have the names. Like I say, man, I tell
you what, I'd have been a lot more prepared for
this if, man, if we wasn't so busy. Man, I'm
telling you, I've been, I don't know what, I
think everybody's kind of waited a little bit
or something, but boy, you talk about here in
the last little bit. Uh, I've been, I've been,
I've been running in circles, man. And I ain't
kidding you. That's the truth. I guess we, I
think I've got everything done, but that I would,
uh, you know, I'd like to talk a little bit sometime
about, uh, the people that, that do those things
and all of that. Uh, Alabama and, uh, young ham
of the year and, uh, and the national young ham
of the year. So, I mean, I really appreciate
them guys doing that here. And, uh, and also,
uh, the gentleman that got the higher maximum.
That's Chris brawl. And you'll see him in the
top hat, I'm sure. He likes his hat. And so he'll
be around there. And we're going to have Skyler
on the show here in a couple of weeks. So you
can tune in for that. And Charlie, we're out
of time. But thank you so much for coming on.
Well, thank you. And we really appreciate it,
man. It's been my pleasure. And I say good evening
to all the listeners there that may be listening
in. And y 'all remember w5kub .com. You may be
able to see some of the critters running around
there. So anyway, Neil, thank you so much, my
friend. And I'm looking forward to you coming.
I had to cancel at the last second. I had something
come up. I just canceled my room today. As a
matter of fact, I really wish I was coming, but
unfortunately had to change that. Well, sorry
about that, but man, I really am looking forward
to getting an eyeball wig as we say. Oh yeah,
we will next time. Yeah, okay. Well, thanks a
lot, Neil. And man, good luck with all of your
adventures here and all of that stuff. And again,
go to www .hamfest .org, prowl around, see what
you see, and come on to Huntsville. All right.
And next week, Ward Silver in Zero AX with the
Yasme Foundation and the Smurry submissions band.
So make sure you tune in next Thursday. For now,
I'll say seven, three, seven, five. May the good
DX be yours.