WEBVTT 00:00:11.549 --> 00:00:14.369 Thanks for tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on 00:00:14.369 --> 00:00:32.310 the air shortly. Please stand by. Thanks for 00:00:32.310 --> 00:00:35.070 tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on the air shortly. 00:00:35.289 --> 00:00:44.030 Please stand by. This episode of HamTalk Live 00:00:44.030 --> 00:00:47.850 is brought to you by Tower Electronics. For connectors, 00:00:48.149 --> 00:00:53.890 cables, and more, call 920 -435 -2973 or visit 00:00:53.890 --> 00:00:59.490 pl -259 .com and by The Ham Station. Get your 00:00:59.490 --> 00:01:05.390 new radio or antenna by calling 800 -729 -4373 00:01:05.390 --> 00:01:42.439 or go to hamstation .com. evening everyone this 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:46.459 is ham talk live episode number 19 field day 00:01:46.459 --> 00:01:51.079 q &a with Sean Cutsco KX 9x recorded live on 00:01:51.079 --> 00:01:55.980 Thursday June 23 2016 I'm your host Neil Rapp 00:01:55.980 --> 00:01:59.900 WB 9 PPG and thanks for tuning in to this episode 00:01:59.900 --> 00:02:04.000 of ham talk live this evening Sean Cutsco KX 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:07.359 9x is here from the American Radio Relay League 00:02:07.689 --> 00:02:10.669 And he's going to talk all about field day, so 00:02:10.669 --> 00:02:13.629 we'll take your calls live in just a few minutes. 00:02:14.270 --> 00:02:17.349 Last week on the show, Dan Romanchuk KB6NU was 00:02:17.349 --> 00:02:20.050 here to talk about the new extra class license 00:02:20.050 --> 00:02:23.909 test pool and teaching one day and weekend technician 00:02:23.909 --> 00:02:26.449 classes. If you missed that show, you can listen 00:02:26.449 --> 00:02:29.930 anytime at HamTalkLive .com or you can listen 00:02:29.930 --> 00:02:33.090 to the download on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, 00:02:33.289 --> 00:02:36.460 TuneIn, or SoundCloud. and it's also available 00:02:36.460 --> 00:02:40.340 on youtube get all your field day questions ready 00:02:40.340 --> 00:02:43.039 to go this is your chance to get those answered 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:46.819 you can call us on skype at the username ham 00:02:46.819 --> 00:02:50.000 talk live or you can call us by telephone the 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:57.400 telephone number is 812 net ham one 812 -NET 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:03.599 -HAM -1. That's 812 -638 -4261. You can also 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:06.639 send us a question via Twitter. Our Twitter handle 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:11.699 is at HamTalkLive. Next, Sean Cutsco, KX9X on 00:03:11.699 --> 00:03:14.560 the topic of field day. right after this word 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:17.639 from Tower Electronics right here on HamTalk 00:03:17.639 --> 00:03:20.379 Live. This episode of HamTalk Live is brought 00:03:20.379 --> 00:03:23.460 to you by Tower Electronics. Tower Electronics 00:03:23.460 --> 00:03:26.780 has been the Ham's dime store since 1978, bringing 00:03:26.780 --> 00:03:29.400 connectors, antennas, cables, and other parts 00:03:29.400 --> 00:03:32.060 to the world. Scott and Jill travel the country 00:03:32.060 --> 00:03:34.539 bringing their store to you at HamFest, but you 00:03:34.539 --> 00:03:40.180 can also order online at pl -259 .com or by calling 00:03:40.180 --> 00:03:47.020 920 -435. 2 -9 -7 -3. Stock up on those supplies 00:03:47.020 --> 00:03:50.479 like PL -259 and end connectors, audio cables, 00:03:50.900 --> 00:03:53.699 mobile antennas, and hamsticks. Their silver 00:03:53.699 --> 00:03:56.159 -plated end connectors are even in use on the 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:59.039 International Space Station. Tower Electronics 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:03.439 is a dealer for MFJ, Comet, Daiwa, OPEC, Workman, 00:04:03.659 --> 00:04:07.229 and HamPro technologies. Tower electronics online 00:04:07.229 --> 00:04:11.629 at PL -259 .com. Proud to sponsor this episode 00:04:11.629 --> 00:04:15.770 of HamTalk Live. A flashlight is a case for holding 00:04:15.770 --> 00:04:19.029 dead batteries. Now, here's Neil Rapp with more 00:04:19.029 --> 00:04:36.120 HamTalk Live. We'd like to thank Scott and Jill 00:04:36.120 --> 00:04:38.300 at Tower Electronics for sponsoring the show 00:04:38.300 --> 00:04:42.040 tonight so we can bring you HamTalk Live. We'll 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:44.819 be at the Oak Creek, Wisconsin HamFest on July 00:04:44.819 --> 00:04:51.540 9th. Call 920 -435 -2973 or visit their website 00:04:51.540 --> 00:04:56.459 at pl -259 .com. Be sure to listen every Thursday 00:04:56.459 --> 00:04:59.879 night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time right here on HamTalkLive 00:04:59.879 --> 00:05:02.730 .com. And if you missed the show, you can download 00:05:02.730 --> 00:05:05.889 the podcast from the website and most popular 00:05:05.889 --> 00:05:10.709 podcasting websites. Sean Kutzko, KX9X is the 00:05:10.709 --> 00:05:13.189 former contest manager and currently the media 00:05:13.189 --> 00:05:16.490 and public relations manager at the American 00:05:16.490 --> 00:05:20.449 Radio Relay League or ARRL, the National Association 00:05:20.449 --> 00:05:23.949 for Amateur Radio. Sean enjoys portable operations, 00:05:24.689 --> 00:05:28.610 satellites and QRP the most at this time. He's 00:05:28.610 --> 00:05:31.189 an avid DXer and has had the chance to be the 00:05:31.189 --> 00:05:36.189 DX several times. Sean was licensed in 1982 and 00:05:36.189 --> 00:05:38.730 is originally from central Illinois, actually 00:05:38.730 --> 00:05:42.009 not too far away from me, and attended the nearby 00:05:42.009 --> 00:05:44.949 University of Illinois. Sean has been on the 00:05:44.949 --> 00:05:51.670 ARRL staff since 2007 and notably he's the world 00:05:51.670 --> 00:05:55.649 famous drummer. For the world famous spurious 00:05:55.649 --> 00:06:00.149 emissions ban. So Sean Welcome to ham talk live. 00:06:00.329 --> 00:06:03.550 Hey Neil, how you doing? I'm doing excellent 00:06:03.550 --> 00:06:06.629 Thank you so much for for coming on. We've got 00:06:06.629 --> 00:06:10.009 two days until field day. So hopefully everybody 00:06:10.009 --> 00:06:14.709 has that some of their plans made at least and 00:06:14.709 --> 00:06:17.970 Any last -minute details? Hopefully we can help 00:06:17.970 --> 00:06:21.930 them out with that tonight. Oh, I hope so So 00:06:21.930 --> 00:06:25.449 tonight we want to focus on field day. So we're 00:06:25.449 --> 00:06:28.350 going to try to limit our discussion to that 00:06:28.350 --> 00:06:32.170 But first I I have to tell this story about how 00:06:32.170 --> 00:06:37.689 I met Sean I had the opportunity to to go to 00:06:37.689 --> 00:06:42.529 ARRL headquarters several years ago for the Teachers 00:06:42.529 --> 00:06:47.050 Institute and the Teachers Institute is by far 00:06:47.050 --> 00:06:50.110 the best professional development I've ever been 00:06:50.110 --> 00:06:56.089 to as an educator. It was an entire week in the 00:06:56.089 --> 00:06:59.769 conference room out at league headquarters and 00:06:59.769 --> 00:07:04.129 we went through all kinds of stuff to show the 00:07:04.129 --> 00:07:07.529 kids, to build for the kids, to have them build, 00:07:07.750 --> 00:07:11.329 to do all these things. And it was just the best 00:07:11.329 --> 00:07:14.569 thing. And I absolutely loved being out in Newington 00:07:14.569 --> 00:07:17.329 because on lunch I could sneak over across the 00:07:17.329 --> 00:07:20.110 parking lot to W1AW and operate for a while. 00:07:20.529 --> 00:07:22.949 That's always a big attraction. But yeah, right 00:07:22.949 --> 00:07:25.889 across from the conference room in a little hallway, 00:07:26.050 --> 00:07:30.259 there's this little office. And and I've been 00:07:30.259 --> 00:07:35.839 in your new office at one point Before you you 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:39.379 had that position. So I know the office space 00:07:39.379 --> 00:07:43.579 is is much nicer now I'm thinking about renting 00:07:43.579 --> 00:07:50.759 some of it out as a putting green Really? He's 00:07:50.759 --> 00:07:53.720 got just a little bit bigger office than the 00:07:53.720 --> 00:07:56.199 one he used to have but anyway, yeah, he had 00:07:56.199 --> 00:08:01.129 one of his old, Illinois Ham radio license plates 00:08:01.129 --> 00:08:04.410 hanging up on on the wall and and so every day 00:08:04.410 --> 00:08:06.990 when we took a break I would go out in the hall 00:08:06.990 --> 00:08:11.889 and I kept seeing kx9x on on the license plate 00:08:11.889 --> 00:08:17.029 and I'm like Now wait a minute. I know kx9x. 00:08:17.189 --> 00:08:22.720 That's not him And I'm like I'm gonna go talk 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:25.360 to this guy at some point because when I was 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:31.360 when I was a Young ham, you know in my well preteens 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:35.120 One of the things that I would do is I was really 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:41.740 really into two meter FM DX, which is kind of 00:08:41.740 --> 00:08:46.779 strange I guess but we had we had a boomer up 00:08:46.779 --> 00:08:51.779 and There's about 50 feet high and an amplifier 00:08:51.779 --> 00:08:54.320 and everything and I was always trying to see 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:56.919 what repeaters I could get and I made little 00:08:56.919 --> 00:09:00.700 index cards and Had them in this little box and 00:09:00.700 --> 00:09:04.419 I would write down the frequency in the offset 00:09:04.419 --> 00:09:07.460 you know and the call sign and the location of 00:09:07.460 --> 00:09:11.500 every repeater I had ever hit and Then I would 00:09:11.500 --> 00:09:16.110 make notes on When I could get it and when I 00:09:16.110 --> 00:09:19.970 couldn't and one of the repeaters that I Found 00:09:19.970 --> 00:09:23.830 that I could only get some times was one in Seymour, 00:09:23.830 --> 00:09:26.129 Indiana Which is actually just down the road 00:09:26.129 --> 00:09:31.220 for me now where I live now And the Seymour Indiana 00:09:31.220 --> 00:09:35.940 repeater was on 145 .43 and it was the KX9X repeater. 00:09:36.360 --> 00:09:40.519 And so I just always heard that call sign. And 00:09:40.519 --> 00:09:43.440 so I talked to the guy a lot. Whenever I would 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.320 call in, he was usually the guy around that would 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:50.539 give me a signal to report. And so I got to know 00:09:50.539 --> 00:09:55.940 him fairly well on the repeater. and he passed 00:09:55.940 --> 00:09:59.039 away and the repeater actually went silent for 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:03.620 a long time. Finally they reorganized and brought 00:10:03.620 --> 00:10:08.220 it back up. So Sean got ahold of that call and 00:10:08.220 --> 00:10:11.740 so I duck into his office during break and he 00:10:11.740 --> 00:10:15.899 has no idea who I am and I go in there and say, 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:21.799 where'd you get that call sign? And I got that 00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:24.559 when the vanity program first up it opened up 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:29.940 in November of 96 and I just I chose it because 00:10:29.940 --> 00:10:33.159 I like the symmetry of it Yeah, it's a great 00:10:33.159 --> 00:10:37.120 call sign. Mm -hmm. I had no idea that the person 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:40.919 who owned it before me I did a little bit of 00:10:40.919 --> 00:10:43.480 research into the the gentleman who had the call 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:46.860 before me But I had no idea that he had a repeater 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:50.879 So the story that you just told is a new story 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:52.799 to me. So thanks for sharing that. I always like 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:55.460 I always like finding out, you know, researching 00:10:55.460 --> 00:10:58.000 calls because, you know, the vanity program has 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:00.379 been in play for so long now. It's it's it's 00:11:00.379 --> 00:11:02.179 interesting to track the history of how some 00:11:02.179 --> 00:11:05.720 of these call signs have have come come come 00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:07.620 along and how they've evolved and who's picked 00:11:07.620 --> 00:11:10.639 them up. Well, I I went out on a search this 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:13.970 afternoon when I got home. and was trying to 00:11:13.970 --> 00:11:17.090 find the guy's name, and I finally found, I think 00:11:17.090 --> 00:11:21.629 a 1983 call book online, and I finally found 00:11:21.629 --> 00:11:26.429 it. It was Leroy Woodard from Seymour, Indiana, 00:11:26.590 --> 00:11:36.009 KX9X. So that's the story of meeting Sean, and 00:11:36.009 --> 00:11:39.850 every time I've seen him since, I always make 00:11:39.850 --> 00:11:43.549 it a point to say hi. And the rest is history. 00:11:43.909 --> 00:11:46.649 And the things have been great ever since. Absolutely. 00:11:47.049 --> 00:11:51.269 So you started out in your little bitty office 00:11:51.269 --> 00:11:55.809 as the contest branch manager. That's true. And 00:11:55.809 --> 00:12:01.570 then recently you decided to take on the big 00:12:01.570 --> 00:12:06.259 shoes of the public relations manager. That is 00:12:06.259 --> 00:12:11.960 true. I was promoted if you will in 2013 after 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:16.259 the previous PR manager Alan Pitts retired and 00:12:16.259 --> 00:12:19.220 I took over at that point in time and It's been 00:12:19.220 --> 00:12:22.139 a lot of fun because I've as contest branch manager 00:12:22.139 --> 00:12:24.679 you focus primarily on contesting. That's what 00:12:24.679 --> 00:12:28.149 that job is But as PR manager you have to learn 00:12:28.149 --> 00:12:30.789 about all facets of ham radio and you have to 00:12:30.789 --> 00:12:33.950 promote the hobby in general and that has been 00:12:33.950 --> 00:12:38.389 a great education for me and it has been Wonderful 00:12:38.389 --> 00:12:42.370 to meet folks from all across the hobby all all 00:12:42.370 --> 00:12:45.070 different interests and and I really couldn't 00:12:45.070 --> 00:12:49.190 be happier. It's just great Yeah, and and you're 00:12:49.190 --> 00:12:51.950 the perfect person to have on tonight because 00:12:51.950 --> 00:12:55.129 you you've been in that contest manager seat 00:12:55.980 --> 00:13:00.519 For many years and then now you're this the big 00:13:00.519 --> 00:13:05.539 PR guy So it just made total sense to to ask 00:13:05.539 --> 00:13:08.559 you to come on the show. So we're so glad that 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:13.320 That you're here Before we dig in here. Why don't 00:13:13.320 --> 00:13:18.840 you share? Your story about your very first Oh 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:24.580 God my first field day. Oh goodness. Okay Well, 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:31.200 let's see. I got licensed in April of 82, 1982. 00:13:31.820 --> 00:13:37.360 I took my novice test thanks to the University 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:39.940 of Illinois club, the Sinton Amateur Radio Club, 00:13:40.100 --> 00:13:43.379 W9YAH. Hello to anybody at the club if they're 00:13:43.379 --> 00:13:47.519 listening tonight. And I was asked by the club 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:51.539 members in Champaign, Illinois, if I would be 00:13:51.539 --> 00:13:56.340 their novice station. for field day in 1982. 00:13:56.639 --> 00:13:59.059 And I said, of course, and I had no idea what 00:13:59.059 --> 00:14:02.320 I was getting myself into at that point. A bunch 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:09.399 of college kids hanging out at this place west 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:12.860 of town, west of Champaign -Urbana, in this little 00:14:12.860 --> 00:14:18.039 dinky town called Bondville. And there was a 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:21.980 research station there that had an extremely 00:14:21.980 --> 00:14:26.350 large uh... antenna that was uh... several telephone 00:14:26.350 --> 00:14:29.730 poles in a giant circle and it had an observation 00:14:29.730 --> 00:14:32.809 tower uh... like you would find out like a fire 00:14:32.809 --> 00:14:35.690 observation tower uh... in uh... in national 00:14:35.690 --> 00:14:37.450 parks or something like that that had a you know 00:14:37.450 --> 00:14:39.149 you had to climb up to the top of it and it had 00:14:39.149 --> 00:14:41.690 this ten by ten room about a hundred and twenty 00:14:41.690 --> 00:14:45.610 feet uh... above the above the ground and this 00:14:45.610 --> 00:14:48.990 whole area was known as the bird cage and uh... 00:14:48.990 --> 00:14:51.830 it was some sort of research facility uh... by 00:14:51.830 --> 00:14:55.690 the University of Illinois, I believe. And, and 00:14:55.690 --> 00:14:57.889 so they they said, we're going to do field day 00:14:57.889 --> 00:15:00.230 from the birdcage, bring your radio with you, 00:15:00.230 --> 00:15:03.590 and we'll set up shop in this little 10 by 10 00:15:03.590 --> 00:15:07.129 room 120 feet above the Illinois prairie. And 00:15:07.129 --> 00:15:11.470 I said, Sure. So I logged my Heath kit HW 101 00:15:11.470 --> 00:15:15.929 and that big power supply that it had up these 00:15:15.929 --> 00:15:18.389 stairs and got tucked away into the corner and 00:15:18.730 --> 00:15:22.330 With the help of the engineering the the engineering 00:15:22.330 --> 00:15:24.809 guys the double -e guys from the university. 00:15:24.830 --> 00:15:31.870 I threw a giant dipole off the top of this Platform 00:15:31.870 --> 00:15:35.950 there was a platform above the 10 by 10 building 00:15:35.950 --> 00:15:39.210 on this observation tower and we threw all the 00:15:39.210 --> 00:15:42.509 dipoles and wires off the off the top of that 00:15:42.509 --> 00:15:48.500 and just a nice array of slopers And they put 00:15:48.500 --> 00:15:50.360 me in the corner of the room and they said, okay, 00:15:50.519 --> 00:15:53.899 go to it and see how many extra bonus points 00:15:53.899 --> 00:15:55.940 you can get us as the novice station this year. 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:00.740 And so I jumped on 40 and 80 in the novice bands 00:16:00.740 --> 00:16:04.759 back then and worked what seemed to be a ridiculous, 00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:09.240 never -ending pile up of stations in my memory. 00:16:10.059 --> 00:16:13.820 And I... I felt completely overwhelmed and I 00:16:13.820 --> 00:16:16.779 felt like I was sitting on a de -expedition to 00:16:16.779 --> 00:16:20.700 herd island or something like that and in preparation 00:16:20.700 --> 00:16:24.059 for Being on tonight's show. I actually dug out 00:16:24.059 --> 00:16:27.309 my log book uh... from from field day back in 00:16:27.309 --> 00:16:28.970 nineteen eighty two and i counted them all up 00:16:28.970 --> 00:16:31.649 and i worked sixty two stations in twenty four 00:16:31.649 --> 00:16:35.429 hours i'd been licensed for three months in it 00:16:35.429 --> 00:16:38.370 uh... it was the the most activity that i had 00:16:38.370 --> 00:16:41.690 on on the radio up to that point and uh... and 00:16:41.690 --> 00:16:46.230 it it just seemed uh... like a cacophony of Morse 00:16:46.230 --> 00:16:49.929 code at that young point. So 14 years old, 62 00:16:49.929 --> 00:16:54.070 contacts in 24 hours, and I just ate it up. It 00:16:54.070 --> 00:16:57.370 was thrilling. And there were all kinds of other 00:16:57.370 --> 00:16:59.769 mishaps and adventures that took place that only 00:16:59.769 --> 00:17:03.690 occur on field day. They asked me to be a human 00:17:03.690 --> 00:17:07.190 antenna rotator for an Oscar satellite pass, 00:17:07.450 --> 00:17:11.150 and that was a comedy of errors. I had no idea 00:17:11.150 --> 00:17:13.500 what I was doing. It was like it was like something 00:17:13.500 --> 00:17:16.460 out of the Keystone Cops, you know, and book 00:17:16.460 --> 00:17:18.920 pointed over there. Look up higher. No, turn 00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:20.839 it this way. And it was just it was terrible. 00:17:21.259 --> 00:17:25.299 So but I learned a lot. And and it was it was 00:17:25.299 --> 00:17:29.099 the first time that I felt like I was accepted 00:17:29.099 --> 00:17:33.829 by. a peer group of people that were older than 00:17:33.829 --> 00:17:36.529 me because we were all amateur radio operators 00:17:36.529 --> 00:17:38.829 and I was the new kid on the block and they were 00:17:38.829 --> 00:17:40.890 actually taking time to welcome me and bring 00:17:40.890 --> 00:17:43.470 me into the fold and help show me the ropes a 00:17:43.470 --> 00:17:47.089 little bit and and I remember feeling a part 00:17:47.089 --> 00:17:51.109 of the group as I fell asleep that night 120 00:17:51.109 --> 00:17:54.490 feet above the prairie on on this observation 00:17:54.490 --> 00:17:57.190 platform above the room with the wind blowing 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:00.640 Fairly hard. I remember I was I was in a sleeping 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:02.859 bag with a mat with a little inflatable mattress 00:18:02.859 --> 00:18:05.660 on the top of it and The wind was blowing so 00:18:05.660 --> 00:18:07.799 hard it I actually had to turn my sleeping bag 00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:10.799 around 180 degrees so it wouldn't suck me out 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:14.460 So just you know that that memory your first 00:18:14.460 --> 00:18:16.619 field day is always just etched into your brain 00:18:16.619 --> 00:18:21.099 and I will never forget that Oh, yeah, I I grew 00:18:21.099 --> 00:18:24.180 up in Vincennes, Indiana and we had this park 00:18:24.180 --> 00:18:27.619 right along the Banks of the Wabash River. It 00:18:27.619 --> 00:18:31.700 was called Kimmel Park. And there's this huge 00:18:31.700 --> 00:18:36.740 outdoor shelter house that was there. And we 00:18:36.740 --> 00:18:41.660 set everything up there. And I always liked it 00:18:41.660 --> 00:18:45.599 because, again, I was a novice at the time. And 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:49.460 so I liked it because I got to use extra class 00:18:49.460 --> 00:18:53.859 privileges. Oh, yeah. I could, I could. grab 00:18:53.859 --> 00:18:57.539 a hold of that microphone instead of my key and 00:18:57.539 --> 00:19:01.839 so I did some CW but but I always like to get 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:04.480 a spot on the microphone because that's something 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:11.339 I rarely was able to do um and so I was um elmered 00:19:11.339 --> 00:19:17.940 by many really good amateur contesters. I wouldn't 00:19:17.940 --> 00:19:22.369 put them in the the class of professional contester, 00:19:22.829 --> 00:19:26.970 but boy, they weren't far from it. And, and I 00:19:26.970 --> 00:19:31.750 remember Steve Sage N09N, which he was WB9UKH 00:19:31.750 --> 00:19:36.910 at the time. And, uh, he was our best operator 00:19:36.910 --> 00:19:40.789 and he took me you know and and and showed me 00:19:40.789 --> 00:19:44.009 how to make a run and he didn't do search and 00:19:44.009 --> 00:19:47.549 pounce he got on a frequency he called and called 00:19:47.549 --> 00:19:51.250 and took them as fast as he could go and a lot 00:19:51.250 --> 00:19:56.750 of my contesting skills came from that field 00:19:56.750 --> 00:20:00.500 day that's That was my first experience with 00:20:00.500 --> 00:20:03.660 contesting, and honestly, my only experience 00:20:03.660 --> 00:20:08.039 with contesting for many, many years. And so 00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:11.200 field day, and we can get into this later, there's 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:13.740 always the debate of, well, is it a contest? 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:20.339 Is it not? To me, it was always a contest. We 00:20:20.339 --> 00:20:23.680 were out there and we were going to... see how 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:26.759 many, you know, pileups we could get and how 00:20:26.759 --> 00:20:31.880 many we could knock out. And I just had a blast. 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:34.759 Of course, I'm, you know, a five -year -old kid, 00:20:34.940 --> 00:20:38.000 six -year -old kid, you know, out there. And 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:40.559 then, you know, I remember a couple years later, 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:45.900 you know, then I had my general and so I could 00:20:45.900 --> 00:20:49.559 be in the general band by myself. You know on 00:20:49.559 --> 00:20:51.799 that. Oh, yeah, that's a seven. That was a big 00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:54.660 deal You know, I could I could be on there by 00:20:54.660 --> 00:20:59.220 myself now and so field day is always a very 00:20:59.220 --> 00:21:02.660 Very good thing. So we want to take everybody's 00:21:02.660 --> 00:21:08.099 questions But before we do that Just give us 00:21:08.099 --> 00:21:12.200 a quick rundown of what's changed this year. 00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:16.599 What's new? Well, I would say there are probably 00:21:16.599 --> 00:21:18.859 two big things that are new this year. We've 00:21:18.859 --> 00:21:21.140 got a couple of new bonuses that are available 00:21:21.140 --> 00:21:26.420 for Class A stations, the club portable folks 00:21:26.420 --> 00:21:30.000 out there. There are two new bonus points that 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:32.319 you can gather. One is a social media bonus. 00:21:32.740 --> 00:21:37.099 So if you are using a recognized social media 00:21:37.099 --> 00:21:40.480 platform, so that's Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. 00:21:42.029 --> 00:21:44.930 platforms of that nature a defined social media 00:21:44.930 --> 00:21:50.130 platform and you send out tweets or status updates 00:21:50.130 --> 00:21:54.150 or video or audio of what's going on on your 00:21:54.150 --> 00:21:56.609 field day site and to help promote your field 00:21:56.609 --> 00:21:58.769 day effort we'll give you a hundred bonus points 00:21:58.769 --> 00:22:01.750 for that And we can also talk about later on, 00:22:01.809 --> 00:22:05.410 if you want, we can talk about the way that the 00:22:05.410 --> 00:22:08.430 social media bonus is also set up to help you 00:22:08.430 --> 00:22:11.670 with your public outreach far beyond field day. 00:22:11.890 --> 00:22:14.369 It's a critical component of the public relations 00:22:14.369 --> 00:22:17.829 messaging that we have available to us in amateur 00:22:17.829 --> 00:22:21.150 radio today. And so we're one way that you can. 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:24.819 get your feet wet with that if you are not already 00:22:24.819 --> 00:22:27.119 active with social media is you can use the social 00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:30.740 media bonus to set up your social media networks 00:22:30.740 --> 00:22:34.980 get a hundred bonus points for for getting getting 00:22:34.980 --> 00:22:36.819 off the ground with social media and then you 00:22:36.819 --> 00:22:39.279 can use all of the skills that you set up and 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:42.039 learn with field day in the real world to help 00:22:42.039 --> 00:22:45.460 promote your club or your or your group so that's 00:22:45.460 --> 00:22:48.390 a real world application of something you learn 00:22:48.390 --> 00:22:50.309 in field day. Field day has been all about that 00:22:50.309 --> 00:22:53.029 for a long time. It gives you a space to try 00:22:53.029 --> 00:22:55.390 something new and then take it into your amateur 00:22:55.390 --> 00:22:58.549 radio career further on down the line. The other 00:22:58.549 --> 00:23:02.410 is a safety officer position for clubs. Then 00:23:02.410 --> 00:23:05.670 we provide a checklist of good safety practices 00:23:05.670 --> 00:23:10.049 that the safety officer can go around and help 00:23:10.049 --> 00:23:12.650 ensure that your field day site for your club 00:23:12.650 --> 00:23:16.269 or your group is going to be as safe as it possibly 00:23:16.269 --> 00:23:18.650 can. and you can earn a hundred points for that 00:23:18.650 --> 00:23:20.450 as well. We can talk about that a little bit 00:23:20.450 --> 00:23:24.609 if you like. And something else that's noteworthy 00:23:24.609 --> 00:23:27.910 is 2016 is of course the year for National Parks 00:23:27.910 --> 00:23:30.630 on the Air through the ARRL. This is the 100th 00:23:30.630 --> 00:23:32.970 anniversary of the National Park Service and 00:23:32.970 --> 00:23:35.369 we have the National Parks on the Air year -long 00:23:35.369 --> 00:23:37.609 event that's going on. And I've heard from many 00:23:37.609 --> 00:23:40.109 stations that are going to be setting up their 00:23:40.109 --> 00:23:43.319 field day site. at a National Parks on the Air 00:23:43.319 --> 00:23:48.019 eligible site. There are 484 NPOTA sites for 00:23:48.019 --> 00:23:51.880 2016 and I know of several folks that are setting 00:23:51.880 --> 00:23:55.240 up for field day at a National Parks on the Air 00:23:55.240 --> 00:23:58.799 site. So we can talk about combining field day 00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:00.500 and National Parks on the Air if you want to 00:24:00.500 --> 00:24:02.839 do that as well. And you know, the irony of that 00:24:02.839 --> 00:24:05.819 is that Kimmel Park that I was talking about 00:24:05.819 --> 00:24:09.480 where I went to field day the first time is less 00:24:09.480 --> 00:24:11.900 than a mile away from the George Rogers Clark 00:24:11.900 --> 00:24:15.299 Memorial, which is one of the national parks 00:24:15.299 --> 00:24:19.059 on the air. So, yeah, I'm going to try to activate 00:24:19.059 --> 00:24:22.900 that one some of this summer myself, run back 00:24:22.900 --> 00:24:26.660 down to the old hometown and figure that out. 00:24:26.980 --> 00:24:29.420 So anything else new before we take a break? 00:24:29.660 --> 00:24:32.259 Oh, I'd say those are the big big ticket items 00:24:32.259 --> 00:24:37.940 for 2016. OK, well, some of the new changes have 00:24:37.940 --> 00:24:40.460 prompted some questions, so we want to give you 00:24:40.460 --> 00:24:45.000 a chance to ask those. So we're going to stop 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:47.819 the interview as much as we can at this point 00:24:47.819 --> 00:24:50.859 and give you some time to call in and ask those. 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:53.200 So we're going to take our final break and we'll 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:56.279 be back to take your calls about Field Day with 00:24:56.279 --> 00:25:00.890 Sean Kutzko. KX9X right after this message from 00:25:00.890 --> 00:25:04.049 the HamStation. This episode of HamTalk Live 00:25:04.049 --> 00:25:07.589 is brought to you by the HamStation. For 35 years, 00:25:07.690 --> 00:25:09.950 the HamStation has brought new and used radios, 00:25:10.210 --> 00:25:12.650 antennas, accessories and equipment to the amateur 00:25:12.650 --> 00:25:16.250 radio community. Give Jeff or Dan a call at 1 00:25:16.250 --> 00:25:22.410 -800 -729 -4373 or order online at hamstation 00:25:22.410 --> 00:25:25.250 .com. HamStation carries all the major brands 00:25:25.250 --> 00:25:28.500 like Icom, Yezu and Kenwood. Shop from a wide 00:25:28.500 --> 00:25:31.779 selection of radio scanners, MFGA accessories, 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:35.539 HileSound products, Mirage and Ameritron amplifiers, 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:39.240 Cushcraft antennas, and more. Easy online shopping 00:25:39.240 --> 00:25:42.519 and fast shipping are waiting for you at hamstation 00:25:42.519 --> 00:25:50.240 .com or call 1 -800 -729 -4373. The Ham Station, 00:25:50.579 --> 00:25:53.420 proud to sponsor this episode of HamTalk Live. 00:25:55.090 --> 00:26:01.430 CQ. CQ. CQ. You're listening to HamTalk Live 00:26:01.430 --> 00:26:07.289 with Neil Rapp. Join the conversation. Call us 00:26:07.289 --> 00:26:10.609 on voice with Skype at HamTalk Live or give us 00:26:10.609 --> 00:26:17.329 a call at 812 -NET -HAM -1. That's 812 -638 -4261. 00:26:17.589 --> 00:26:22.740 Now, here's more HamTalk Live. Welcome back to 00:26:22.740 --> 00:26:25.180 HamTalk Live. The HamStation has you covered 00:26:25.180 --> 00:26:28.380 for both new and used equipment. Give Dan or 00:26:28.380 --> 00:26:33.900 Jeff a call at 800 -729 -4373 or go to HamStation 00:26:33.900 --> 00:26:36.700 .com and be sure to listen to the show every 00:26:36.700 --> 00:26:39.240 Thursday night, 9 p .m. Eastern, right here on 00:26:39.240 --> 00:26:42.420 HamTalkLive .com or check out our Facebook page 00:26:42.420 --> 00:26:45.599 and Twitter feed to search HamTalk Live. It's 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:48.200 time for your calls. If you have a question about 00:26:48.200 --> 00:26:50.640 field day, this is your chance to get it answered. 00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:53.960 give us an audio call on Skype at HamTalk Live 00:26:53.960 --> 00:26:57.220 or you can call us by telephone again the number 00:26:57.220 --> 00:27:04.519 is 812 -NET -HAM -1 that's 812 -NET -HAM -1 to 00:27:04.519 --> 00:27:07.160 ask your field day questions. Sean is here to 00:27:07.160 --> 00:27:10.420 answer as many field day questions as he can 00:27:10.420 --> 00:27:13.819 and if he can't he'll even get back to you so 00:27:13.819 --> 00:27:17.339 please give us a call and maybe it's scoring 00:27:17.339 --> 00:27:22.210 a set up some strategy Ask away about field day. 00:27:22.250 --> 00:27:26.150 That's what we're here for We actually do have 00:27:26.150 --> 00:27:30.890 our first question already from Twitter Katie 00:27:30.890 --> 00:27:37.269 W Y7 Y L asks if reddit counts as social media 00:27:37.269 --> 00:27:41.210 Wow, that's a great question. Thanks Katie for 00:27:41.210 --> 00:27:45.859 the question Reddit is is one of the largest 00:27:45.859 --> 00:27:49.259 online communities that's that's out there But 00:27:49.259 --> 00:27:51.420 I would not consider it to be a social media 00:27:51.420 --> 00:27:53.759 platform the same way that I would say Twitter 00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:56.400 or Facebook so I would say that reddit would 00:27:56.400 --> 00:28:01.079 not posting your videos or to To reddit would 00:28:01.079 --> 00:28:03.119 not necessarily account for the social media 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:06.019 bonus if you can however post your videos to 00:28:06.019 --> 00:28:08.900 say Facebook or Twitter or Instagram because 00:28:08.900 --> 00:28:11.940 you have that an instant kind of connection you 00:28:11.940 --> 00:28:15.000 can establish relationship and friends and followers 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:18.740 with Facebook and Twitter, and you can have interactions 00:28:18.740 --> 00:28:22.200 with them that way. So I would say that Reddit 00:28:22.200 --> 00:28:24.319 would probably not count for the social media 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:28.500 bonus. Okay, very good. Well, we've got our first 00:28:28.500 --> 00:28:31.960 question out of the way. 812 NatTam1 is the phone 00:28:31.960 --> 00:28:35.500 number, and we did get a call, but the famous 00:28:35.500 --> 00:28:40.329 Skype group calling thing. So we were playing 00:28:40.329 --> 00:28:42.569 with that earlier and for some reason tonight 00:28:42.569 --> 00:28:46.630 Skype's being Irritable, so if you want to try 00:28:46.630 --> 00:28:51.210 calling back give us a call back Sorry, we couldn't 00:28:51.210 --> 00:28:53.910 out. Yeah, and here it is again, and it's not 00:28:53.910 --> 00:28:56.089 coming up with a group call So if I take it, 00:28:56.089 --> 00:28:59.789 it's gonna It's gonna dump Shawn. So maybe you 00:28:59.789 --> 00:29:03.250 can you can come on Skype Skype. Yeah. Yeah, 00:29:03.329 --> 00:29:10.619 come on Skype cooperate can tweet us or your 00:29:10.619 --> 00:29:14.579 question because Skype's not cooperating for 00:29:14.579 --> 00:29:20.140 some reason. I'm not sure why. So we'll stand 00:29:20.140 --> 00:29:24.259 by here for a minute. Standing by. He's calling 00:29:24.259 --> 00:29:27.279 back Extreme Labs, but they're calling back again, 00:29:27.339 --> 00:29:32.619 but it's still not working. Because this will 00:29:32.619 --> 00:29:37.380 put everybody on hold so I'm sorry try try tweeting 00:29:37.380 --> 00:29:42.079 And maybe that'll that'll get your question through 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:45.519 The what's that tweet address on you? Oh, that's 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:50.660 at ham talk live just at ham talk live If you 00:29:50.660 --> 00:29:56.339 have a question Now I will mention oh oh we have 00:29:56.339 --> 00:29:59.400 it on text actually that will work too, okay? 00:30:01.059 --> 00:30:08.119 Let's see. Where did that screen go to? I saw 00:30:08.119 --> 00:30:15.700 it. Oh, okay. Very good. I know who this is. 00:30:16.140 --> 00:30:21.880 This is Tom Henderson, WU9I. Try again, Tom, 00:30:21.880 --> 00:30:25.220 if you can. And if that... Oh, there we go. It 00:30:25.220 --> 00:30:28.920 worked. All right. Okay. Tom, are you there? 00:30:29.809 --> 00:30:34.549 I'm there Neil. Yeah, you ran into that Skype's 00:30:34.549 --> 00:30:39.349 got this issue with if You try to share the contact 00:30:39.349 --> 00:30:42.549 details and you haven't finished the sharing 00:30:42.549 --> 00:30:50.650 on both sides That oh You'll have to turn down 00:30:50.650 --> 00:30:59.220 your speakers speakers, yeah But anyway Skype 00:30:59.220 --> 00:31:02.440 has this issue when you share contact details 00:31:02.440 --> 00:31:05.759 if both people don't share them Before the call 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:08.539 it doesn't want to do that. So that's that's 00:31:08.539 --> 00:31:11.380 what happened with that So anyway, Tom go ahead 00:31:11.380 --> 00:31:24.609 and ask your question Yeah, I'm there I'm gonna 00:31:24.609 --> 00:31:27.730 hook up earphones because we're looping because 00:31:27.730 --> 00:31:30.190 you got right Yeah, you'll just have to listen 00:31:30.190 --> 00:31:33.069 to sky just listen to listen to sky when you 00:31:33.069 --> 00:31:44.180 call in Hi Tom, how can I help you? Hello He's 00:31:44.180 --> 00:31:47.779 getting his headphones, I guess. All right. I 00:31:47.779 --> 00:31:50.500 can juggle. I can do a soft shoe. I can play 00:31:50.500 --> 00:31:52.519 my card. Yeah, there you go. There you go. We 00:31:52.519 --> 00:31:58.259 can do that. Let's wait here just a second for 00:31:58.259 --> 00:32:01.460 Tom. Trying to see if I had another quick one 00:32:01.460 --> 00:32:06.220 we could throw in here. Yeah, actually, most 00:32:06.220 --> 00:32:09.079 common scoring mistakes. What do you think are 00:32:09.079 --> 00:32:13.380 the most? Common mistakes when a group submits 00:32:13.380 --> 00:32:17.960 their field day report. Well, let's see the first 00:32:17.960 --> 00:32:22.140 one that comes to mind I would say is Whether 00:32:22.140 --> 00:32:26.460 or not they qualify for the battery bonus And 00:32:26.460 --> 00:32:30.960 in order to get the five the the multiplier the 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:33.940 score multiplier of five to your total score 00:32:33.940 --> 00:32:37.559 You need to be using a battery for a power source 00:32:37.660 --> 00:32:41.099 and you need to be running five watts or less. 00:32:41.180 --> 00:32:43.900 Those two conditions must be met in order for 00:32:43.900 --> 00:32:48.339 you to qualify for the five times score multiplier 00:32:48.339 --> 00:32:50.940 in field day. If you're running, excuse me, if 00:32:50.940 --> 00:32:53.200 you're running a generator as your power source 00:32:53.200 --> 00:32:56.619 and you're running QRP, that doesn't count. You 00:32:56.619 --> 00:32:59.339 would only get a multiplier factor of two. If 00:32:59.339 --> 00:33:02.440 you are running a hundred watts and a battery, 00:33:02.859 --> 00:33:05.539 that also only counts as a multiplier factor 00:33:05.539 --> 00:33:08.480 of two. So in order to get the five times multiplier 00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:12.119 score, you must be running both a battery and 00:33:12.119 --> 00:33:15.200 you must be running five watts or less. That's 00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:17.420 probably the biggest question that we get about 00:33:17.420 --> 00:33:21.559 scoring. Okay, very good. Well, I think Tom's 00:33:21.559 --> 00:33:24.660 gonna have to call us back it looks like oh wait 00:33:24.660 --> 00:33:26.759 No, he just he just typed his question here type 00:33:26.759 --> 00:33:29.559 it. Oh, yeah. He says hey Tom We got it right 00:33:29.559 --> 00:33:32.599 here. He says which frequencies and which bands 00:33:32.599 --> 00:33:35.299 are likely to be more active What about solar 00:33:35.299 --> 00:33:38.460 in 12 volts, but not qrp? Okay. Well, we just 00:33:38.460 --> 00:33:41.700 talked about uh... 12 volts but not qrp a little 00:33:41.700 --> 00:33:44.539 bit ago but we'll touch on that again which uh... 00:33:44.539 --> 00:33:46.819 which frequencies in which bands are likely to 00:33:46.819 --> 00:33:50.259 be more active well that's that's a very difficult 00:33:50.259 --> 00:33:52.460 question to answer i mean uh... a lot of that 00:33:52.460 --> 00:33:54.819 is going to depend on propagation to your area 00:33:54.819 --> 00:33:57.440 um... clearly the the meat and potatoes bands 00:33:57.440 --> 00:33:59.380 for field day are going to be twenty meters and 00:33:59.380 --> 00:34:02.099 forty meters uh... the the propagation has just 00:34:02.099 --> 00:34:04.859 been terrible lately as anybody who's been uh... 00:34:04.859 --> 00:34:08.099 active on a regular basis will know Forty meters 00:34:08.099 --> 00:34:12.599 during the day is going to produce a lot of contacts 00:34:12.599 --> 00:34:16.880 for you. Certainly, even during the middle of 00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:18.900 the day, you'll be able to get out three, four, 00:34:18.980 --> 00:34:21.079 five hundred miles if you've got a decent antenna. 00:34:22.820 --> 00:34:26.539 Twenty meters is always good to check, but the 00:34:26.539 --> 00:34:29.469 thing is... field day is right right near the 00:34:29.469 --> 00:34:32.269 solstice. So that opens up the possibilities 00:34:32.269 --> 00:34:36.329 for sporadic E propagation. So you always want 00:34:36.329 --> 00:34:39.869 to keep an eye on 10 meters and six meters. And 00:34:39.869 --> 00:34:42.230 if things get really, really crazy with sporadic 00:34:42.230 --> 00:34:44.309 E, you can even see an opening on two meters 00:34:44.309 --> 00:34:49.389 as well. So so what I would say that if you're 00:34:49.389 --> 00:34:52.710 if you're running a smaller operation. and you've 00:34:52.710 --> 00:34:54.989 only got the ability to put up a couple of antennas, 00:34:55.110 --> 00:34:59.369 I would consider either one, a multi -band antenna 00:34:59.369 --> 00:35:03.349 such as a G5RV or something along those lines 00:35:03.349 --> 00:35:05.570 that will allow you the ability to get on multiple 00:35:05.570 --> 00:35:09.480 bands based on propagation. uh... and uh... and 00:35:09.480 --> 00:35:12.619 try to maximize your uh... your abilities to 00:35:12.619 --> 00:35:15.400 use multiple modes if at all possible remember 00:35:15.400 --> 00:35:18.039 you can work the same station on the same band 00:35:18.039 --> 00:35:22.119 on all three modes phone cw and digital so uh... 00:35:22.119 --> 00:35:25.380 if you have the ability to uh... to do uh... 00:35:25.380 --> 00:35:29.119 multi modes Even with one or two simple antennas, 00:35:29.380 --> 00:35:31.739 you will maximize your ability to stay on the 00:35:31.739 --> 00:35:35.619 air longer. And propagation, hopefully, will 00:35:35.619 --> 00:35:39.900 not be nearly as much of an issue as the recent 00:35:39.900 --> 00:35:43.579 band conditions would suggest. General, okay, 00:35:43.579 --> 00:35:46.360 so he has a follow -up question. Tom has a follow 00:35:46.360 --> 00:35:48.500 -up question. He says, general related frequencies 00:35:48.500 --> 00:35:51.920 or more amateur extra allocations? Okay, so I 00:35:51.920 --> 00:35:59.210 would say based on that, The the the bands in 00:35:59.210 --> 00:36:02.150 general for field day get packed from top to 00:36:02.150 --> 00:36:05.610 bottom So I I don't think that if you're say 00:36:05.610 --> 00:36:08.130 for example, you're you're a general class operator 00:36:08.130 --> 00:36:10.909 and you're looking to participate As much as 00:36:10.909 --> 00:36:13.010 possible in field day I don't think that you're 00:36:13.010 --> 00:36:16.150 gonna run out of stations to work in the general 00:36:16.150 --> 00:36:19.289 class portion of the band as opposed to finding 00:36:19.289 --> 00:36:21.949 Stations hanging out in the extra class portion 00:36:21.949 --> 00:36:23.690 of the band. Certainly there are going to be 00:36:23.690 --> 00:36:26.679 stations in the extra class portion of every 00:36:26.679 --> 00:36:29.599 band that you work, but field day is such a large 00:36:29.599 --> 00:36:31.519 event that there's going to be plenty of people 00:36:31.519 --> 00:36:35.960 for general class operators to work in the general 00:36:35.960 --> 00:36:38.840 allocations. One of the things I like to say 00:36:38.840 --> 00:36:43.320 about field day is the most ridiculous question 00:36:43.320 --> 00:36:47.000 would be, is the frequency in use? Yes, the frequency 00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:49.940 is always in use. Yes, the frequency is in use. 00:36:50.079 --> 00:36:52.840 Every last one of them and some of them that 00:36:52.840 --> 00:36:57.989 aren't even there. And he's got another question 00:36:57.989 --> 00:36:59.730 here. He's got another one here. Do multiple 00:36:59.730 --> 00:37:02.909 digital modes work too for same station scoring? 00:37:03.210 --> 00:37:09.230 So example, PSK, RIDI, Hell, Hellschreiber, yeah, 00:37:09.230 --> 00:37:13.909 all of that. The field day rules state that all 00:37:13.909 --> 00:37:18.570 digital modes, PSK, RIDI, Hellschreiber, all 00:37:18.570 --> 00:37:20.789 of those different digital modes, those all count 00:37:20.789 --> 00:37:24.469 as digital for the scoring purposes of field 00:37:24.469 --> 00:37:27.530 day. So for example, if you work a station on 00:37:27.530 --> 00:37:31.969 20 meter RIDI and then you hear that station 00:37:31.969 --> 00:37:36.429 again on 20 meter PSK for field day, you've already 00:37:36.429 --> 00:37:38.909 worked that station using a digital mode. So 00:37:38.909 --> 00:37:43.150 that would be a duplicate QSO in that mode. So 00:37:43.150 --> 00:37:45.510 all digital modes are lumped together for the 00:37:45.510 --> 00:37:48.210 purposes of field day under the general term 00:37:48.210 --> 00:37:53.320 digital. Very good and and one that came up in 00:37:53.320 --> 00:37:56.159 our field day planning meeting the other day 00:37:56.159 --> 00:38:00.360 Was we've always had a safety officer here in 00:38:00.360 --> 00:38:03.360 the Bloomington but this is the first year for 00:38:03.360 --> 00:38:07.300 that checklist and we had a discussion about 00:38:07.300 --> 00:38:10.940 the the defibrillator the AED and you had to 00:38:10.940 --> 00:38:15.539 have someone that was trained on that and our 00:38:15.539 --> 00:38:21.139 question was you know if we Miss a few overnight 00:38:21.139 --> 00:38:23.940 hours, but we have one the rest of the time should 00:38:23.940 --> 00:38:28.119 that still count and Why why have the training 00:38:28.119 --> 00:38:32.199 if? We don't have one of those defibrillators 00:38:32.199 --> 00:38:39.550 available Okay, so the new safety officer bonus 00:38:39.550 --> 00:38:43.489 points for Class A stations, for people who are 00:38:43.489 --> 00:38:46.889 not familiar with that, if you download the 2016 00:38:46.889 --> 00:38:50.550 field day packet, there is an area that describes 00:38:50.550 --> 00:38:54.530 the new safety officer multiplier, and there 00:38:54.530 --> 00:38:58.829 is a checklist of various things to keep in mind 00:38:58.829 --> 00:39:02.679 for the responsibilities of the safety officer. 00:39:03.039 --> 00:39:05.719 And we stayed in the rules that the safety officer 00:39:05.719 --> 00:39:08.780 multiplier is not something that you just, you 00:39:08.780 --> 00:39:11.300 can't simply appoint somebody in your club as 00:39:11.300 --> 00:39:15.019 safety officer and give them a wink and a nod 00:39:15.019 --> 00:39:18.960 and call that qualifying for your bonus points. 00:39:19.179 --> 00:39:21.460 There's a checklist of material that we provide 00:39:21.460 --> 00:39:23.579 in the field day packet for things that the safety 00:39:23.579 --> 00:39:27.320 officer needs to work on compliance to make sure 00:39:27.320 --> 00:39:31.090 that your site is safe. As Neil pointed out, 00:39:31.269 --> 00:39:33.269 this is the first year for this particular bonus, 00:39:34.550 --> 00:39:40.530 and perhaps we did not make this clear on the 00:39:40.530 --> 00:39:42.590 checklist that we provided in the field day packet, 00:39:42.909 --> 00:39:47.010 but these items are meant to be general guidelines. 00:39:47.369 --> 00:39:50.210 for things that a safety officer should look 00:39:50.210 --> 00:39:54.309 for. You do not need to meet every single one 00:39:54.309 --> 00:39:56.929 of the items that is on that checklist in order 00:39:56.929 --> 00:40:00.550 to qualify for the 100 points safety officer 00:40:00.550 --> 00:40:04.289 bonus. You should do due diligence and you should 00:40:04.289 --> 00:40:07.030 put forth the best effort that you possibly can. 00:40:07.269 --> 00:40:11.150 But if you don't have somebody on your staff 00:40:11.150 --> 00:40:15.489 who is AED trained or CPR trained, that is not 00:40:15.489 --> 00:40:19.130 going to disqualify. you from the Safety Officer 00:40:19.130 --> 00:40:21.309 bonus points. You should do the best job that 00:40:21.309 --> 00:40:26.030 you can in ensuring that as many of these items 00:40:26.030 --> 00:40:30.159 as possible are checked off for your team. But 00:40:30.159 --> 00:40:33.239 you are not required to fulfill every single 00:40:33.239 --> 00:40:35.079 one of those items on that checklist in order 00:40:35.079 --> 00:40:37.800 to qualify Does that make sense? Very very good. 00:40:38.139 --> 00:40:41.159 We have two minutes left and I have like four 00:40:41.159 --> 00:40:45.239 questions Tom does say that your local Red Cross 00:40:45.239 --> 00:40:48.400 may have an AED course available ours does here 00:40:48.400 --> 00:40:51.699 and it's $25 takes an hour. So it's it's certainly 00:40:51.699 --> 00:40:53.880 good You know, you certainly want to be as well 00:40:53.880 --> 00:40:56.760 prepared as you possibly can be but in terms 00:40:56.760 --> 00:41:00.139 of field day if you don't meet every single one 00:41:00.139 --> 00:41:02.420 of those requirements that we're not going to 00:41:02.420 --> 00:41:04.980 to say you don't qualify for the safety officer 00:41:04.980 --> 00:41:08.539 bonus. You should do everything within your you 00:41:08.539 --> 00:41:10.340 should do everything reasonable in order to meet 00:41:10.340 --> 00:41:13.840 that that that bonus point. Okay, now we're gonna 00:41:13.840 --> 00:41:17.460 have to go lightning around here. W9, MSM wants 00:41:17.460 --> 00:41:20.380 to know about the field day locator, how to get 00:41:20.380 --> 00:41:24.760 to that. Katie also wants you to review the setup 00:41:24.760 --> 00:41:28.570 rules real quick. Okay, and then Tom wanted to 00:41:28.570 --> 00:41:32.010 know about the analog modes which sideband CW 00:41:32.010 --> 00:41:35.389 and digital or the Right. That's those are the 00:41:35.389 --> 00:41:39.070 three main modes that we use for scoring purposes 00:41:39.070 --> 00:41:43.610 side phone CW and digital those are the three 00:41:43.610 --> 00:41:46.130 main Categories for modes and you can work a 00:41:46.130 --> 00:41:49.829 station once on each one of those modes per band 00:41:49.829 --> 00:41:52.250 Okay, there was a question about the field day 00:41:52.250 --> 00:41:56.860 locator. Yes The Field Day Locator is an interface 00:41:56.860 --> 00:41:59.539 that we have on Google Maps that you can find 00:41:59.539 --> 00:42:01.539 on there. You can find a link to that on our 00:42:01.539 --> 00:42:05.519 main website, which is ARRL .org slash Field 00:42:05.519 --> 00:42:08.380 Day. And that allows you to post your group's 00:42:08.380 --> 00:42:11.679 location on Google Maps. And if you are an operator 00:42:11.679 --> 00:42:14.860 that does not have a group to operate Field Day 00:42:14.860 --> 00:42:17.780 with, it allows you to see contact information 00:42:17.780 --> 00:42:20.900 for Field Day groups that are in your area. So 00:42:20.900 --> 00:42:23.219 if you're if you're an operator looking for a 00:42:23.219 --> 00:42:25.289 group to operate field day with the field day 00:42:25.289 --> 00:42:28.150 locator allows you to scan the country and find 00:42:28.150 --> 00:42:31.369 an operating site where that you will be near 00:42:31.369 --> 00:42:36.449 and all of the field day locator sites on that 00:42:36.449 --> 00:42:38.670 map have contact information for them. Last time 00:42:38.670 --> 00:42:40.809 I checked there were over 1 ,500 sites listed 00:42:40.809 --> 00:42:42.949 on the field day locator map across the country. 00:42:44.050 --> 00:42:46.050 Okay and then Katie's other question was the 00:42:46.050 --> 00:42:50.219 setup. rules. Okay, so several years ago, we 00:42:50.219 --> 00:42:53.260 had a lot of concern from folks that were in 00:42:53.260 --> 00:42:55.320 hotter climates, primarily like the southeast 00:42:55.320 --> 00:42:59.579 or the southwest that said 24 hours setup time 00:42:59.579 --> 00:43:03.340 was just too much for them to deal with under 00:43:03.340 --> 00:43:05.880 the heat in the environments that they were in. 00:43:05.960 --> 00:43:09.400 So a few years ago, we extended the setup window 00:43:09.400 --> 00:43:13.869 for field day to begin at zero hours. Friday 00:43:13.869 --> 00:43:18.269 evening, so that'd be Thursday evening local 00:43:18.269 --> 00:43:22.250 time, like eight o 'clock on the East Coast, 00:43:22.650 --> 00:43:23.889 and what would that be, five o 'clock on the 00:43:23.889 --> 00:43:29.789 West Coast. So within the 42 hours of the setup 00:43:29.789 --> 00:43:33.949 window that we have now allotted, every field 00:43:33.949 --> 00:43:37.590 day group is permitted 24 hours of setup time 00:43:37.590 --> 00:43:42.699 within that 42 hour window between zero hours 00:43:42.699 --> 00:43:46.780 Zulu Friday and 1800 hours Zulu Saturday when 00:43:46.780 --> 00:43:49.800 field day kicks off. So within that 42 hour stretch, 00:43:50.139 --> 00:43:52.340 you have 24 hours of setup time that you can 00:43:52.340 --> 00:43:55.400 use in any fashion that you like. Very good. 00:43:55.500 --> 00:43:57.219 Well, Sean, we've got a couple of others that 00:43:57.219 --> 00:43:59.480 came in by email. I'm just going to forward those 00:43:59.480 --> 00:44:03.019 to you. Oh, sure. And we'll get those out. Okay, 00:44:03.119 --> 00:44:06.019 and if anybody anybody who's listening didn't 00:44:06.019 --> 00:44:08.719 get a time to ask their question by all means 00:44:08.719 --> 00:44:13.440 send me an email you can email me at kx9x at 00:44:13.440 --> 00:44:17.159 arrl .org I'll happily answer your question as 00:44:17.159 --> 00:44:19.639 best as I can before you start setting up for 00:44:19.639 --> 00:44:22.760 field day in just a just a few hours All right. 00:44:22.780 --> 00:44:25.179 Well, thank you everyone for your questions and 00:44:25.179 --> 00:44:27.769 thank you Sean for being with us That's a wrap 00:44:27.769 --> 00:44:29.730 for this week's edition of HamTalk Live. I'd 00:44:29.730 --> 00:44:32.710 like to thank my guest, Sean Kutsko, KX9X, all 00:44:32.710 --> 00:44:34.769 the callers and listeners out there in cyberspace 00:44:34.769 --> 00:44:37.329 and invite you all back next Thursday night at 00:44:37.329 --> 00:44:39.670 9 p .m. Eastern Time when Valerie Holtzfeld, 00:44:39.989 --> 00:44:42.909 NV9L, one of the co -hosts of HamNation, and 00:44:42.909 --> 00:44:45.489 an avid DXer will be here to talk about analyzing 00:44:45.489 --> 00:44:48.769 your logs and improving your contest scores and 00:44:48.769 --> 00:44:51.409 how to work those big DXpeditions. So for now, 00:44:51.809 --> 00:44:56.340 this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, saying 7 -3. 75 and 00:44:56.340 --> 00:44:58.340 may the good DX be yours.