[music]
[music]
[music]
Let's play a game. You don't even have a
call.
Step like a man. They give us a call.
They give us a call.
Like a man. They give us a callite.
Give us a call.
Beat out of step
or beat it.
Let's play a game. They give us a call
sign.
>> All right.
>> What's up, everybody? Well, hopefully
that was fun for you all. my uh my kid
after we we got up because he was trying
to find uh ramen in our in our food
preps. Uh he's like, "Why is your back
all sweaty?" It's like, "Uh, [laughter]
brother, I was just
threw a thing doing live CW." Oh, buddy,
how what just happened there? Good lord.
I just lost a pen that I really like. Oh
well, I'll find it again. Anyway,
switching things up. We're going to
Voodoo, an American stout from Left
Coast Brewing because um I earned it.
Boy, howdy. I I earned it. How's it
going everybody? We uh we got started
early so I I might wrap up early too
because um my son
oldest is in middle school and he is on
he has a class an extracurricular that
is literally they run their own
television channel. It's the school's
name television is the name of the
station and they make videos and do a
whole bunch of stuff. And my youngest
um his teacher told him that one of the
most
influential sci-fi movies and cinematic
of sci-fi movies is a 2001 space odyssey
from Stanley Kubri. And I agree it's
very picturesque, but we got through 45
minutes or so of it and it was it was
getting pretty late so we went to bed.
So, we still have a a a majority of the
movie to go, but the idea of a
10-year-old and 13-year-old sitting down
and watching a 2001 a space odyssey to
me is crazy because it's like it's it's
a slow movie. It's a it's a really slow
burn. So, uh if they want to watch it,
it's like, "Yeah, sure. Sure. I'll watch
it with you." So, we'll we'll see how
that goes. If they behave themselves
long enough, uh to allow that to happen.
But yeah, how's it going everybody? That
was fantastic. Was able to do three
contacts I think in the end. I think I
added three contact three people to the
to the BKG. Now I I think it's not they
they have to go through the the formal
vetting process. So they they may not
make it to my downline just yet, but uh
we'll see how it goes. [laughter]
But that was really cool. It was cool to
have Forest on the chat as well. and we
may do some kind of live stream with him
in the future if he's down on this kind
of stuff because this is a lot of fun.
This is breathing an interesting new
youthful energy into ham radio that I
think a lot of people like and have
really been enjoying. I think it's funny
to kind of take the whole pyramid scheme
concept and kind of turn it up on its
head. I think that is that's a really
really funny funny thing to me. Uh let's
see. Did you tell them this movie Steve
Jobs saw and dedicate and decided to
make the iPad? I did not I did not say
that. If that's true, that's that's
hilarious. But, okay, the reason you're
here is we answer ham radio questions.
We want to answer your questions,
particularly if you are new to ham
radio. Obviously, we just got done doing
something that's fairly non-standard,
right? The BKG is something kind of new
and interesting. So, if there's people
that want to ask BKG questions, I'll do
my best to answer them, but there's also
a fantastic uh Brass Knuckles gang
Discord that you can go to off of the
website that is linked in the video
description. Good. Okay.
Let's join our discord link is in the
video description. Voice chat and text
chat. If you go to let's see there are
let's see there are go. Is it go? No
it's not go. It's not go. There it is.
That's go. Uh livestream and livestream
chat and then you are in the chat. How's
it going everybody? Can you hear me?
Maybe. Uh oh.
Somebody talk.
Oh, hold on. Hold please.
I don't have the audio set right.Oop.
>> Hello.
>> We can hear you.
>> Hello.
>> I can hear you. How is it going? Hey,
Forest is in the chat even. So,
>> what's going on everybody?
>> What's up, Josh?
>> I'm doing good. I'm I earned my stout,
my beer that I'm drinking.
>> Yeah, I I uh I issued you your uh your
Q3 quota attainment. You actually
exceeded, so I issued you the bonus.
Forgive the the live publication. It was
meant to be confidential, but
congratulations on
>> Thank you.
>> your downline expansion.
>> Would you say I'm outstanding in my
field forest?
>> Yeah, you exceeded expectations. I'm
actually filling out the performance
review right now. [laughter]
>> Good, good, good. I appreciate that.
Thank you so much.
>> Make sure there's a TPS report on that.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Make sure you got the
cover sheets. Did you get the cover
sheets done? We got to have those right.
>> Better than being on a PIP.
>> Uh, it is better than being on a pip for
damn sure. Uh, but no, I definitely
earned this beer. That was stressful for
a moment, but not so bad. That was
pretty good. Everybody went really slow
for me, so I appreciate that. [laughter]
>> Yeah, I'm not going to lie. I I was
really curious ahead of time how it
would go, and I just wanted you so bad.
I wanted you to get one. That's all I
wanted for you. I mean, you had five.
So, on the record, you had five live on
stream, but three were new members. So,
we issued three new BKG members
>> number, sorry.
>> But I wanted Josh, I wanted to share.
So, I I issued the emails with their BKG
number and November Juliet 5-ray
was one of the three that you worked
that was brand new. So, his name's Ryan.
>> Mhm.
>> And he emailed me back and he said,
"Dude, that was my first ever CW CW
contact."
>> That's you
first contact live on stream. And I told
him, I was like,
>> I would have never had the courage to do
that.
>> That's awesome. That's super cool.
That's super cool. He did it. He did it.
It's probably more my fault than him. He
did probably better than I do. So, great
job, man. That's awesome. I hope he
joins us on the Discord if he wants to.
feel free. The link is in the video
description. So, I actually am kind of
curious for the people that did make
contact, if they do join us on Discord,
at least in the YouTube, on the
Facebooks, tell us what um radio you
were using to make the contacts. I'm
kind of curious what your setup was
like.
>> And man, I was trying. Sorry I couldn't
make contact with you.
>> Uh I know we can. I think it's just
because you don't have access to that uh
exterior antenna.
>> Funny thing, the net's over now, so I
could go could have hooked up to it now,
but I couldn't hook up to it then. So,
we'll have to plan ahead next time.
>> Yeah. Well, we can I I know that we can
get you in. So, we just we just need to
do it when we got some time. Or maybe if
we wait a little bit, we can do it
towards the show. Getting slow. Just bug
me about it in a little bit.
Oh, cool. We got uh E- Rock with a lot
of ones just passed my technician exam
20 minutes ago. Thanks, Josh, for all
the great videos. Well, congratulations.
And he's got the sharing gun, so watch
out. He he he actually just uh cheated
because he's using his sharing gun.
That's some uh deep Naruto lore there
for anybody that's uh that knows.
[laughter]
All right. So, who's here for the first
time that would like to say hi or ask a
question. It can be about the Brass
Knuckles gang. Actually, I'll just say
if you have Brass Knuckles gangs
questions, just ask that. You don't have
to be a first-timer, but we are trying
to give priority to first- timers with
first-timer questions um or just wanting
to say hi. So, if that sounds like you,
come forward now, please.
Reminder too, if you're new here, you
got to go into Discord and set a PTT
button. I I feel like I jumped in a
little quick without be giving you my
normal spiel in the front there, but uh
you got to set a PTT button. Set up
speakers, headphones are recommended,
and a microphone of some kind so you can
talk. You can use your phone, but make
sure you turn on PTT.
All right, so questions. Go ahead. Uh
Fletch, is that you? Go for it.
>> Yeah, I was really like your 9700 how
you were showing that off. It look very
cool.
>> Yeah, I have that configured for
satellites and so I didn't want to
change anything. Um that main and sub
the flippity floppity that that's for
when I'm doing uh linear sats. The way I
have that set up with the um the SAT
controller box. So I I didn't want to
mess with it as much as I could. It was
working, so I didn't I didn't want to
mess with it. But yeah, thank you very
much. Appreciate it.
>> Nice. I have one stacked above my 7300
Mark II. It makes a great shack setup.
>> Oh yeah, for sure. The 7300 Mark II, if
if only all radios could have HDMI
output for audio and video, my life as a
creator would become so much easier.
All right. Anybody else in here for the
first time that would like to say hi,
ask a question, or anybody who wants to
ask a question about the uh Brass
Knuckles gang, go ahead.
>> I started shy
>> I started things pretty early um than I
normally do. So that's probably we
haven't coalesed yet, but uh but yeah.
Yeah. Let me check my DMs really fast.
Oh, Mark, I see what you're doing out
there. I saw the video. Snow cones.
Appreciate that, man.
No way.
Oh, I just saw uh I just saw Mark's
picture. That's freaking cool. That's
really cool. I just saw what they were
doing to to contact me. [laughter]
Why don't you share that? Are you in the
chat? Just share that in the uh the live
stream chat. Did they already post it?
>> It's in the meme chat.
>> Oh, it's in meme chat. Okay, hold on.
Let me show you guys what they were
rocking.
So, they they went up on the building
roof and pointed at me. [laughter]
They got it done.
Uh, here's a good question. I'll take
some questions from the chat room. Uh,
what happened to the podcast? I get the
guess the new job got you too busy.
Super busy. I'm very busy and the kids
are older and scouts. Scouts actually
takes a lot of time um to be honest with
you. So, between that and preparing for
every weekend, by the time I get to a
Friday, um, I'm exhausted. I'm just just
totally tanked. And normally the podcast
we would start recording at 1000 PM and
wouldn't end until like two in the
morning in some cases, sometimes later
and with my editing. And so I just I I
haven't It's me, man. I'm just getting
older. I just don't think I can hang
like I used to. I'm not cool anymore. Um
I don't know. I don't know. Maybe we'll
see how it goes because I don't have the
980 anymore either. So every other
Friday I was able to sleep in that
Friday which helped. But yeah.
Oh yeah. Seaglass is sad because Leia
was one of the few women I would hear in
ham radio. Is she still studying for her
extra? What do you think? [laughter]
What do you think?
Um
Oh, here here's a really good one. Um,
Greg Whitten. Okay, Greg says, "Hey, I
got a question. I work in AV,
audiovisisual, and my job is throwing
out a bunch of 120 ohm DMX cable." So,
that's the Rough Rider cable. I'm
wondering if the high ohms would make
the cable work less good. I'm new to
this. Looking for receive, not transmit.
So receive might be okay but um you're
not giving 50 ohms to the receiver and
the receiver is expecting 50 ohms.
So if it's receive only um try it try it
and see. Oh man, watching from a brewery
sounds awesome. Good for you.
Oh, here's a good one for Forest because
uh this is a a really good question from
R uh Arus. So, Arus is asking, "What are
the relationships between the BKG and
the QRQ looking like right now?" You
guys were sharing a table at Huntsville.
So, what is what does that mean? Is
there future collaborations a foot?
>> Great great question. So the predominant
relationship is I started th those are
two clubs I started the only two clubs
I've started and BKG was again inspired
by
you know Adam K6K Mark KD7DTS I saw
those guys on YouTube doing soda and I
just thought it was so cool that they
had like the quan and they were making 2
meter CW cusos and it's it's so funny
because everyone in 2 meters says the
same thing they say oh well the 2 meter
band is is dead on CW like 2 meter CW is
dead. I I sometimes tune to it but I
never hear anybody. And so that was the
idea behind BKG was well actually you're
the person that can change that and
that's now what's happening. And then
QRQ crew was the result of I'm a brand
new CW op. So I got on the over CW just
two years ago and I wanted to increase
in speed and proficiency. So I started
that club. But at the Huntsville Hamfest
that was the first time ever where we
said do two birds with one stone. If you
make a 35 word per minute cuso on the
Quan on two meters, you could join both
clubs at the same time. And I actually
gave away three uh bucket hats that were
reversible. They had the BKG and QRQ
logo on them. So I gave away three to
the first three guys that in fact Maggie
11 years old. 11 years old and North
Carolina was one of them to join. It was
awesome.
>> Yeah, Maggie was very proud of it too. I
saw I saw them walking around wearing
it. It was really cool.
Um let's see. We had a question.
Where was it? Ah. Um, 2E0 JML asks,
"When is the BKG UKD expedition going to
happen so I can learn CW before it
lands?" Is there any UK BKGs? Maybe from
Huntsville or somewhere perhaps.
>> I believe we have one and that is Hans
Summers from QRP Labs. So, everyone that
knows the QMX or QCX
>> Mhm.
>> he is a BKG member. So, he was jumped in
by DL9,
uh, the the Palm Radio, Palm Pico
Paddles. So,
>> I don't Is Hans is he does he reside in
the UK? I know QRP Labs.
>> Yeah. Isn't it in Turkey?
>> Um, Tur he I don't think he's from
Turkey. I could
>> I know he's not from Turkey, but I think
I know my QRP radios my QRP Labs radios
ship from Turkey, so I imagine he's
through there throughout the year.
>> Yeah. Big big correction here is like
Turkey is maybe not where he lives. He
might be there a lot, but I don't know
where he resides if you catch. Not not
forest. I'm I'm talking to chat too. Um
I don't know. I don't know the answer to
that question.
Pompico though is from Germany, right?
Yeah, we have we have four members in
Germany now, which is crazy.
>> Hans is in Minand
Europe. There you go. I don't even know
where Minand is to be honest with you.
That is a very American thing to say. I
really don't know where Minand is.
Ah, he's German. Okay. There is
speculation that he is from Deutsland
proper. So there you go.
Oh. Um, boy howdy D. Messa with a P with
a with a surprise Pikachu face. Does
anyone know of QRP Labs shipping
updates? The updates I've seen seem to
be out of date. Are you following the
website? Uh, what is the thing? So, are
you just talking about shipping kits or
shipping a completed kit radio? Those
are vastly different things.
Oh, I do have some showand tell, too.
got a couple things. We'll get to the
contraptions in a minute, but
Oh, just kits. Oh, brother. I don't
know. They're usually as fast as
international travel is fast from when I
order, but it it can take upward like up
to a month uh when I get kits from them.
So,
okay.
Um Okay. Now that we've waited a little
bit, give a little bit a little bit of
time. catch a catch your breath, get get
logged into the Discord. There's anybody
here for the first time that'd like to
say hi or ask a question on voice. And
if you have questions on the BKG club,
that is welcome too. Go ahead.
Oh, nobody. But we do have Jer here says
Josh and team listening live now from
the gym in Tokyo. Just wanted to say
thanks for the HRCC. I got my technician
in April a general in August. My dad has
been a ham for eons and getting into the
hobby and has helped me connect with him
more. Great times. Congratulations. Are
you uh a native to native to Japan or
are you on travel or what's what's going
on there? You have to tell us some uh
radio stories when you come back from J
Japan. I hear if you go to uh Akihabara,
that is where all the ham radio shops
are and they are impressive. Very
impressive. And if you're into video
games, that's also the spot to go.
Okay. Any questions from anyone
anywhere? Go for it. We'll take them
live until we get things cooking here.
>> I got a downline question.
>> Oh, okay. Roll it with the downline.
>> I'm about to go to an event with like 20
or 30 hams. Most of them are not in BKG.
I'm going to try and jump as many of
them in as possible.
>> Heck yeah.
>> Is it better to have a wide downline or
a deep downline? Like I get one person
and then we just chain all the way
across or do I get them all myself?
Oh, interesting.
Forest, uh, that's probably a question
for you. Is there a minmaxing game to be
played with the downlines?
>> Yeah, my first question is, what Ivy
League school did you attend with that
PhD level pyramid scheme? Uh, [laughter]
question.
I
>> It's not a pyramid scheme, remember?
>> Right. It's not uh man. So, so I'll let
me share this. So, if you go if you go
to bkg.club right now and click on
downline,
you'll you'll see the top 10. So, we
publish the top 10 and you'll actually
see two people in the top 10 that have
no indirect downline. They only have
direct, meaning they've recruited people
that have not
spread the the BKG, uh, not not
evangelized or or spread the gospel, I
should say.
>> And on the one hand,
I'm so proud of them for going out and
getting direct recruits. On the other,
ideally, your recruits go out and and,
you know, get more people into BKG. So,
um, the the inverse is true, though,
too. There are some people that have
early on in BKG that recruited a couple
people and have massive downlines
because those people went out. So it's I
don't actually have an answer to that. I
I think it's a it's kind of a spectrum
and ideally you get a lot of direct but
then your direct also recruit.
Obviously,
>> since there's no direct payoff uh for a
wide downline,
it doesn't matter. I don't think
speaking in uh if it was a real pyramid
scheme, you know, like how some of those
work, you know, like you want a deep
downline and you still want all your
downlines to go get downlines and so on
and so forth until you've conquered the
whole earth. Um I don't think it
matters. Do you count them both for the
top 10? You count indirects and directs.
>> We just count directs. So
>> Oh, well there you go. That's it.
>> But but but Josh, have you have you
clicked on the outbreak button yet? Go
check that out if you haven't seen it.
>> Where's the outbreak button?
>> It's uh top right. It's right next to
Discord at the very top.
>> Oh, outbreak. Okay.
>> Oh my gosh. Okay.
Wow. Wow. That's so cool. So, how does
this vi now we have virilent?
[laughter]
Okay. How does this work? Explain this
to me.
>> So, so kudos to November niner hotel
Oscar Justin. I I think he set this up.
But if you if you scroll down, this
actually gives a different view of the
downline. So, there's a most I I can't
pronounce that word, but it's it's kind
of the pandemic uh
>> viology.
>> Uh yeah. And and you'll notice that that
I think it shows the top eight that
shows people with the actual biggest
downline. So it's not direct, it's just
downline. So you'll people you'll see
people in there with three direct or
nine direct. So it's a completely it's
kind of the opposite of the other
downline page, which I love. So we we
represent both on on the website.
>> Oh, that's hilarious. So how does what
how does it how what's the factor
difference for a viral outbreak versus
just straight downline?
So, I don't know, but if you go, it's
most violent carriers. So, if you scroll
down a little bit, it shows you those
top eight. So, those are people. So,
obviously, anybody that ever joins BKG
is in my downline as a result of me
being BKG. But then
>> those next eight are actually the people
that have had [snorts] the next biggest
downlines as a result of the people they
jumped in recruiting people underneath
them. And so it have
>> you have an advantage of being one of
the earlier members. So like my good
buddy Gabe, shout out Gabe, WN7JT, one
of the best CW ops in the world. Uh
shout out Pacific Bugnet on 40 meters
Thursday nights. Gabe, he worked me on
my soda today. He was BKG7. I worked him
on my layover from Tokyo at this Seattle
airport. He drove to the Seattle airport
to join BKG early on. HE WAS AN EARLY
ADOPTER.
>> OH, that's so cool. Yeah. So his his
downline's massive as a result because
that was the first time BKG left Utah.
>> Wow.
Wow.
So KK7D,
right? Looks like they kind of went on a
tear. So I I think Rollola, the answer
to the question is you want to you still
want to get everybody in your downline,
but you want to help all of your
downlines to get downlines.
>> Now it's sounding like a pyramid scheme.
Yeah, because I mean at the end of the
day, I love the viology, but the vyology
is still co-built off of you. So, NA7DO
has looks like a couple of people in
their downline, but thanks to WI7M that
led to KK7D, that's when you got this
big push that happened uh gosh, between
April and September, they picked up a
ton of members. But if then what Forest
says is true, your top eight or your top
10, that's straight directs. That's just
based on directs.
>> Does that make sense?
>> Absolutely.
>> I like that.
>> Oh, go ahead. I was going to I was going
to say something about Becky, but uh Go
ahead.
>> Oh, no. This is Becky. [laughter]
>> I know. I know. But I was going to say
something about Becky, but go ahead,
Becky.
>> Well, okay. So the story is if your
spouse is also a BKG member, you don't
tell him about the pyramid scheme until
you've got a ton in your downline and
then he figures it out later.
>> That was exactly I didn't know I was
going to look to see if you were in the
chat to throw to you. So Becky has been
used like been worked a ton of people at
the Huntsville Hamfest and then that's I
think among other things but what what
brought her to the top and she used her
call site for all of them. [laughter]
it. So Mike is the good, you know, I
have to give credit to Mike. He is a
great teacher. So he needs to be on that
side to help everybody get into my
downline. [laughter]
>> There you go. There you go. He's
facilitating. He's helping to
facilitate. I love it. So Forest, help
me out. What happened to to my downline?
Does it is there a cooling off period?
Do they have to pass the the fiveday
waiting period before they're they're on
my uh my website line here? [laughter]
>> Yeah, good question. So, our website
updates a couple times a day. So,
sometime later tonight, the website will
update and this is one of the biggest
updates we've ever experience. I I I'm
not kidding you. I think we had 11 or 12
people join just during from the start
of the live stream. So, uh there will be
an exciting update. I think the website
right now reflects
what is it like 555 on the roster.
Um
>> yeah.
>> Yeah. No, 552. Dude, we're at 585. So
>> Oh my god.
>> A massive
>> Yeah, there's gonna be a massive push uh
tonight. So it'll be fun to see
tomorrow.
>> Oh, that's super cool. I love it.
Excellent. Well, lots of fun. Um I don't
know. Oh, couple of things to go back
on. Uh let's see.
our our traveling ham in Tokyo had an
update.
Native Alamian.
Uh so persons in Tokyo watching us on
the gym or in the gym. Thanks. Uh living
in Japan for 15 years.
Wow. Went to uh uh Akuba last week to
pick up some gear. Not on the air yet
though. Waiting for a reciprocal
license. And then the comment which gets
cut off on Discord, but um it was
not on the air yet. Re Japan loves their
paperwork. Okay, I can believe it. So
very cool. Um let's do a fun let's let's
pivot to gear. Actually, I will ask, is
there anybody waiting to ask a question?
Come now before we pivot to uh to a gear
discussion.
>> Hello.
>> Hey, go ahead. So, I've been uh bugging
you a lot in the uh chat lately. Have
you guys had a chance to uh try out APRS
on the air?
>> Uh I was introduced to it on a live
stream a couple weeks back, but have not
done it yet. Have not.
Are you participating in it?
>> Oh, yeah. It's uh it's a lot of fun. You
know, if you can't get out to a park,
you know, you're on lunch and you have
your radio with APRS, you can literally
just whip it out, do the message the bot
CQ, and it'll tell you who's activating.
You send them a message. It's it's real
quick and has points, and it's
surprisingly addictive for how simple it
is.
>> Is it all done within an APRS radio or
an app, or what do you have to do to get
started?
>> It's all done through uh an APRS radio.
Um, like you can't use the APRS.io
app or anything like that. At least as
far as I know.
>> Okay.
>> Um, but you can go to their website and
it has like who's active and stuff. And
it's kind of a cool website. It has like
the bar of how long it's going in a
chart and you can see at which time a
certain person made contact with them
and is waiting for confirmation and
stuff like that.
>> Oh, interesting. I can Yeah, I I pulled
it up there. We did pull this up a
couple of weeks ago.
I should try that out. So, I'll
>> think I was probably the one who uh kept
messaging you then on the live stream.
Not going to lie.
>> Uh goes on the air over RF from anywhere
and works chasers. They call bot sits in
the middle, relays messages between host
and chasers and logs every Q. So, as it
happens, you have to have a bot. What's
a bot?
Uh, it just kind of it's it's uh I think
it just gathers it, you know, kind of
like how the weather bots on APRS will
message stuff like that.
>> Yeah. Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. So, there is
a bot is what it's saying.
>> Yeah. It's It's really fun. Honestly,
it's uh I've been yelled at many of
times, but I spent too much time on it.
>> Really?
Host OP from the track at our high
school. K6 is on the air from DM. Oh,
okay. I I I will do this. Uh I'll try to
do something quick on this because this
looks like fun. I I guess I
misunderstood it. Um okay, good. Let me
uh let me look into that more.
Appreciate it. Appreciate
>> I'd definitely read the instructions and
reread it. And you can actually uh click
on people who are actually it'll have
their chat log of what they're saying.
So you can kind of get a hint on how to
do it because my first try doing it, I
kept messing up and not sending the
correct stuff. You know, you have to hit
a like do CQ and it'll get you the list
of people operating. Then you uh message
Chase with that call sign. Mhm.
>> Uh and then once that happens, it'll
relay a thing to you basically saying to
beacon your your location,
>> just regular beacon like on APRS
>> and uh then they'll get the notification
that they're being chased and then they
will reply to you which will confirm the
call and uh then you get the point.
>> Wow, that's really cool. Okay,
interesting. Fun little back and forth.
Um I'm I'm curious. You can't use a Kiss
TNC to an app to do it though or you
just haven't tried?
>> I haven't tried, but I I want to say I
saw something that said you couldn't. Um
but I'm not 100% sure. Um I' I've just
been doing it on my FT5D.
Um which so you know, nothing. It really
sucks honestly to send the messages on
there, but uh
>> yeah,
>> it's fun.
>> Not
it's its own thing. Um, the Kenwood has
that nine key thing that I don't I don't
like doing the T9 uh for text messaging
anymore. Uh, now that we have
touchcreens with keyboards, I feel like
that's good enough. So, I'm curious on
what radio I would use for that because
I know that the Icon does KISS TNC work.
So, I I should be able to do all of that
there. So, I would hope that that would
work, but Okay. Well, yeah. Thank you
for the reminder. Appreciate it.
>> Yeah, no problem. It's pretty new, too.
I think it came out like in the end of
July. So, I mean, the people you see are
basically the ones that are always
activating. You get a couple people from
Germany and England doing it and some uh
um like South Korea and stuff, but it is
actually a lot of fun and actually
prefer you use the uh that Kenwood
because how much easier it is to type
on. But uh yeah, I've just been wanting
to ask you about that for a while
because it actually it's a lot more
people doing it. It's pretty fun. But uh
thanks for uh having the live stream and
thanks for having me on. Thank you. I
appreciate that. Uh, so Mark Valiant
Heisenberg asks, "Are we talking real
radio here via real radio waves and not
through the cell phone like with Zello,
which is just an app and everything runs
in?"
Yes, real radio. We're talking about
real radio. I was just doing Morse code
over uh VHF before we got started with
the after chat. So, yes, real real
radio.
Yeah, right. No fun allowed. This is the
internet. I know, right? Um, okay. So,
gear talky stuff. Um,
couple of things. First, this isn't for
making a contact, per se. What's the
right way to do this? How do I want to
do this?
Um, I think we'll just go overhead real
fast, even though it's a bit dark
because I had to move my lighting
around. But there's my traveler. So, I
uh picked up a
Omniixio.
Have you guys seen an Omniixio? You
familiar with this?
Um anyway, so it's a
it's a metal plate that you stick down
and then it's got these little legs that
have magnets on them.
Yeah, the Omni Fixo has helped me uh
build three QDXs.
>> Yeah. And these are helping hands,
so they they can pivot and they've got
fun little claws. I'm going to use it on
my next build for a hail hound. They
look like they will be
fantastic. Uh absolutely cool. Amazon
has like a copy a clone of the Omni
Fixio, but the Fixio has a ball joint on
the bottom so it can pivot and the
magnets are are very strong. So, I'll be
using that in the future uh for sure for
some of these builds that I have coming
up that you'll see more of on on video.
But, okay. Uh I will talk now. Let's
see. Let's say
your weirdest thing you've ever used in
a contact for radio transmission. So,
antennas,
radio software, what is the weirdest
contraption you built? Anything along
those lines. It's kind of an open back
and forth dialogue here. And I will show
a thing that I've been rocking now for a
couple of live streams.
This is a Sony
Ryos
and it is a Peltier
neck cooler [laughter]
and it works surprisingly well. So, it
goes behind your your neck like between
your shirt and just at the base of your
neck and then these little arms kind of
go under your shirt. I've been wearing
this for weeks and I don't think anybody
has really noticed.
It works really well with our heat wave
that we've been going through. Um, I've
been I've been loving it. Absolutely
loving it.
There's a companion app and a little
dongle. I should wear it on my forehead.
I kind of need it on my forehead.
Rayon Pocket. Let's see if it pulls up
right now.
Yeah. So, it's got a little exhaust
port. So, there's that that little port
that sticks out of the top is the
exhaust port for this. So, yeah, it's
Hold on.
Of course, it's not going to it's not
going to connect now that we're now that
it's it's live.
Now that I'm live, it doesn't want to
talk to anybody.
So, what's interesting about uh
Peltieras is back in the
286 386 486 days, one of the options was
a Peltier cooler. Oh, it stopped. Did it
die? Did it die?
Oh, did I run the battery down on it? I
probably did.
Oh, no.
how
I charged it before we went live.
Anyway, um it runs for about eight hours
depending on how uh strong you have it
going and it there's a little exhaust
port. It has like super cooling and then
there's just like chilling like just
relaxing cooling. Um I'm going to take
this on a POD activation for sure.
Come on.
Let's see if this will plug in and
charge.
There we go. It's charging.
Uh oh. Can I turn around, show you from
the back? Yeah. Yeah. Let me put it back
in.
So, I put it into place
and then the little rubber arms go under
the shirt.
and my sweaty back because it's really
hot here. So, Oh,
that's it.
So, you look like you have an exhaust
port. You look like uh my kid was
saying, "I look like I have been taken
over by some alien technology symbiote
thing that's um mind controlling me."
And I went, "You're right, Ben. That is
exactly what happened.
Luke Skywalker had it better not
exhaust. Exactly. Exactly.
Yeah. So, there you go. Who else has a
fun contraption or the weirdest thing
that they've used doing a summits on the
air activation?
>> Does it have to be summits?
>> Oh, sorry. I said summits on the air.
Any radio activation? Thank you for the
clarification.
>> No. So,
the British Rob got me to here at the
house. So, it wasn't on an activation or
anything, but he got me to try a ladder
line fed um DX Commander.
>> Oh,
>> and uh I managed to tune 160 m on a
rapid.
>> How How does a ladder line fed DX
Commander work? Because that's ground
mounted for the feed point. So, where do
you put the ladder line?
So, I I used uh 1 foot stakes that I 3D
printed and I I led it along the ground.
450. This is for This is 450. This is
before I was making 600 ohm.
>> Mhm.
>> But, uh I just basically mounted it to
the plate, right? Like went down from
the stake and mounted it to the plate
and it worked perfectly.
>> Oh, I see. So, you gave it just a little
bit of elevation above ground and that
was that was good enough,
>> right?
That was pretty cool. I made a contact
one contact on FT8 with the 160.
>> What?
>> I mean, that's that's still good. The
fact that there was even somebody out
there to work on that.
>> Yeah, it's pretty popular here in
Seattle. The 160 is.
>> Is it really? Oh, wow. I didn't know
that. That's cool. Um Brett Glass in the
comments says, "Alex loop, a mag loop
that folds up into a little bag for
POTA." Yes.
it it can be a little frustrating to use
a mag loop in the field.
But
yeah, having just a little backpack, you
just bring it out, boom, boom, you're
off and running. Yeah, that's true.
That's fun. Who else? Anybody have
anything else? It doesn't have to be in
the field. It could just be at home or
anything fun. Go ahead.
>> A uh a soda warm. This is Forest KI7QCF.
And uh shout out the Alex loop. Uh my my
good buddy Aaron W4 ARB at Tuskegee
National Forest in Alabama uses the Alex
loop all the time in his YouTube videos
when I was learning CW. I used to watch
him. Uh when I was at the highest
elevation summit I've done this year in
2026, which is Montesano State Park, uh
near Huntsville, Alabama. That's a joke.
That was the lowest elevation summit
I've done this year. That is not
>> I had [laughter]
I had a couple Gosh, I I feel bad. I
forget their call signs. I had a couple
guys show up and they brought I I swear
to you it was like they had a $50 Home
Depot budget to build a CW key and it
was a plank of wood with a 2x4 across
the top and a couple bolts and it was a
legitimate straight key. They wired it
up and I hammered out a couple cus on a
2 by and it was heavy. I mean, that
thing weighed like uh, you know, 15 lbs
or something, which is quite heavy for a
CW key, but that was probably the
weirdest thing I've used. And that was
an actual uh, Summit that I got some cus
on.
>> I I remember that key. And yes, it was a
a a chunky boy. And it was literally
like, you know, Home Depot
lumber that they cut with some with some
threaded threaded rods to build the
whole thing. It was really cool.
>> Yeah. All things considered, it was uh
functional, so that's all that matters.
>> Yeah, there you go. Well, my uncle's in
the chat. [laughter]
Hey, Josh. Another great show. Well,
thank you very much. I appreciate you.
That uh that's awesome. Thank you, Jim.
Uncle Jim, appreciate it. Weirdest thing
that Shannon has ever used was a
Christmas light antenna inspired by my
Christmas light live stream. Um, but it
wasn't on POTA. And also made a 160
meter FT8 contact on that. That is
really impressive. That's awesome. Good
for you. That's super cool.
Someone posted a picture of my husband.
Oh, Tyranny. Uh, Tyranny posted a
picture of an umbrella that I also own.
The Gossamer Gear light trekking
umbrella. This thing is really cool. I
didn't realize it came in a different
color. I really like the gold color,
actually. It's really lightweight. It
doesn't fold down. It's just kind of
like a stick. Um, but it's all carbon
fiber. It's extremely light, and I use
it most often when I'm picking up the
kids and it's raining. That's about uh
most I use it. But it's lightweight.
Fits in my uh truck in the little side
pouch thing. Uh, and yeah, it's they're
pretty cool.
Not not too bad at $43 for something
that's fully carbon fiber with UV
reflective material.
Good pick.
>> Hey, uh Matt C6AM. I got one for you,
Josh.
>> I'd love to hear it. Go for it.
uh was at a buddy's place one time out
in uh Nebraska and ham alert was going
off and uh didn't have an antenna with
us so we ended up cutting a length of
barb wire off the fence for uh 20 m.
>> Hey now there you go. And were you how
many contact did you make any contacts
on it or how'd that go?
We we successfully made the contact from
uh Nebraska down to uh Dominica. Yep.
>> Wow. That's very cool. Good job on 20.
And was that on um was that voice?
>> It was 20 meter sideband. Yep.
>> Very cool. Nicely done on that.
All right. Who else? Anybody else has a
uh fun contraption radio or software
they've used for on the-ear stuff?
>> KI5 PLO.
>> Yeah, go for it, man.
>> Figured I'd actually give the call time
this time. Uh it's not really too crazy,
but I built one of those tape measure
Yaggy antennas and with a bow bang and
switching back and forth on frequencies,
I was able to talk to astronauts on the
space station with that tape measure
Yaggi.
Wow. So, a a lot of people can't say
they've actually talked to astronauts.
So, that's that's really cool. Your the
other end of that cuso is very
impressive. That's amazing.
>> Yeah, I got a I got extremely lucky. I
don't know how he got me on the pass
because there was a lot of other people
and I was using a tape measure Yagi, but
yeah, it was a Kaiel Lindrid. his
personal call sign, uh, K05
MOS. And a little interesting thing that
I figured out on my own, if you ever do
talk to an astronaut on the space
station, uh, if you send him a QSL card,
at least he did for me, uh, to his
personal uh, you know, thing for his
call sign, he actually sent me back a
bunch of pictures and an autographed
picture of himself and a thank you
letter.
>> Wow, that's really cool. I'd frame that
or all of it. I'd frame all of it and
put it up somewhere. I love that.
>> Yes, it's a it's in it's in the shack.
It is it is a prized possession next to
the uh the QSL card from the space
station.
>> Yeah, I love that. That's really cool.
Well, thanks for sharing that one.
That's a really good example. Uh James
post literally what I think is like
honestly every time I can break out a
solar panel when I'm when I'm doing
radio, I I love that. It It's Oh, is
this This is a picture of tank radio.
What is that? Your solar panel, James?
That is That is my setup that won the O
uh Texas Go kit challenge.
>> Yeah. So, talk to me about this. You got
the solar panel obviously, which I see,
but then I noticed this little purple
tent you've got. Is that your operating
station?
>> Yes. There is an IC75 and a G90
underneath that. Um I covered
uh 440 all the way up to 40 meters with
that setup. That's awesome. Great job.
>> There's a DX Commander out of the
picture. Um,
what else is interesting? Oh, the
interesting thing, the the shade is
actually kind of what I wanted to show.
And the Red Rider
>> wagon.
>> Yeah, I noticed you have a galvanized
trash can on that. Is that uh
>> That is an EMP trash can inspired by
some guy named Josh.
>> There you go. [laughter] I like it.
That's really cool. Um, yeah, that whole
setup's great. I love it. I love it.
You're dual wielding drinks there, too.
That's That's the right way to go.
>> Uh I think one of the solo cups was for
the the tickets for the voting.
>> Sure. I don't know what the other one
was for.
>> Sure it is. Sure.
>> It it it was in the morning when we did
this.
>> Uh okay. All right. I hear you. Right
on.
>> It only stops a few of us.
>> Yeah. Um, if there hadn't been a
9-year-old
and brothers and sisters and the mom
right there, I would have never won the
challenge one and I wouldn't have uh I
basically spent an hour and a half
talking radio to two different sets of
youngans and it was a blast. Um, I don't
know that I made a contact other than 2
meters at the place because the bands
were awful. But it was a lot of fun to
do that.
>> This is a good reminder too. Uh coming
up pretty soon is Jambburye on the air.
It is the weekend before Halloween.
I think I think that's how Joda works.
Um, so if if anyone is inclined,
keep uh keep that in mind because uh
that's a perfect time to if you have
scouts you know or you're involved in a
troop, see if you can set up just a
quick little afternoon tag up in a park
somewhere, set up radios and you're
you're good. Oh man, Joshua
>> K2 BSA is that uh
>> K2 BSA. Well, K2BSA is a is a call sign
that is very active in uh Joda. They
have a website, but the actual Scouting
America website is the is where you go
for any overarching details. The reality
is is if you have, you know, if you got
your paperwork all together and you're
actively involved with a troop, then
this is easy. just go set up in a park
somewhere, you know, post in the email
group chat or whatever, however you
communicate with the scouts and let them
know that you'll be doing something like
that. And uh and yeah, there you go.
They can talk to other scouts. I would
advise if you are uh if you know a scout
that's taking the radio merit badge and
they need contact time, if they need to
work cus,
Jamre on the air is a fantastic time to
do that. That is a that is a great time
to make that happen.
So Joshua, are you uh are you on voice?
Here we got a Oh, he's not
he's not actually in voice, but we have
to show his uh Is that Jojo Siwa?
The Jojo Siwa uh bag here
with his with his Is that a QMX?
What radio is that? Wait, what radio is
that? The case is not what I expected. I
think it's QMX. It's just a 3D printed
case.
I like that there's a socket in there
for some reason, too. That's That's
good. You got the just Okay antenna.
Awesome.
What's the socket for? Oh, it's the It's
a weight for throwing a line into a
tree. [laughter]
[laughter]
It just hit me. It just hit me. Um, I do
have a bag, too. My My favorite bag. Let
me Let me show you my Let me show you my
favorite bag, which I think I've only
used in videos a couple of times.
It's a little small. I could I can make
a kit fit. I think I'm I'm pretty
confident I can. Uh but it's my uh
Goretama bag. [laughter]
I love that, too. That's awesome.
>> [laughter]
>> Yeah, obviously some some Goretama fans
in the uh in the chat.
>> Hey Josh, on the shade that I have, I
think it's on my qrper.com,
one of my uh postings for uh Thomas.
There should be a link in there for the
Amazon for that little shade thing for
the radios.
>> Oh, excellent. Okay, cool. I love that.
Uh, Jonathan posted Jonathan, you want
to walk through this is a cool little
kit. Very, very nicely done. Very clean.
What What do we got going on here?
>> So, um, just for the thing, this is not
my kit. I actually just copied and
pasted this from QRP. This Thomas
Witherspoon did this, um, the other day.
um he took a um he was talking about how
one of the issues you can have with um
go bags is that if you go with something
like a um a low pro bag, which is what I
use for like my um me and him both use
that for our uh our KX2, then if someone
if you're in an area where the car theft
is a thing, they see that like, oh,
there's a camera bag. And they'll break
into your car. But if you like do like a
lunchbox or um in this case a Peanuts um
themed um pencil case, then they'll just
think it's a lunch box or a pencil case
and they might not mess with it. So she
he found this at the um store for like
four bucks and made a TR25 um go bag out
of it. Um and I thought that was pretty
cool and he was showing off um the um
cute looking um uh lunchbox and I
thought I'd show that considering it he
just posted about it.
>> Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that. Um,
it also it also is evident that Thomas
not only being a bag connoisseur is also
a battery connoisseur because that that
night core he has on the side there is
the new one that they came out with and
I know people have been um upgrading to
that. I'm at the point now where I'm
like I'm giving away my old battery
backups to people to like justify my
buying of more batteries and I'm like I
think I'm impacting the environment at
some point. Like I have to make sure
these go to a home where people are
going to actually use them.
>> So you got to be careful with that.
Everybody
uh breaking up. Yeah. Go ahead,
Jonathan.
>> Yeah, if you wanted to know um my
typical go bag is a um is a fanny pack
uh where I keep my CFT1 and related um
stuff in it.
>> The Autramra if you will. I like it.
Very good.
Um, breaking up the action a little bit.
MK2 Brett asks, "Are there any BKG
operators in Australia?"
Looks like Forest just left. So, I don't
know. This is a great opportunity to
join the BKG group on their Discord and
ask that question. If you take the link
in the video description to the BKG
website, there is a link for their
Discord.
Cool.
Um, let's see.
>> Hey, do you want to know what the best
go bag going?
>> Best go bag going. What is it?
>> Honda Ridgeline.
The Honda the whole truck is the best go
bag. Yeah,
>> you bet.
>> Yeah.
I don't think it uh I don't think it's
as good as my Ford F-150 Lightning with
a with a trunk in the front and a bed.
You can't beat that.
>> I've got a trunk in my trunk though.
>> Yeah, but it's not lockable, is it?
>> Oh, yeah. It's lockable.
>> Oh, it is. Okay, that's pretty good.
>> Yeah, mine's
>> It's under the trunk. Mine's weather
sealed and has plugs inside the trunk.
>> Well, I I cannot top your goaround
battery thing because [laughter] the
battery is killing me. But
>> I got my own battery. I just roll around
with it.
But uh I do the Ridgeline The Ridgeline
is a is a handy vehicle for sure. Oh, I
see now. See, he just posted this so
we'd see his tickets here on the side.
See, he's he's showing his tickets right
there on the left side. I see what you
did there.
Uh
Jody with uh What am I looking at? Are
you Oh, it's a lightning arresttor.
Oh, wow.
What? Wait. Okay, hold on.
>> It's a real lightning artor.
>> That's a real lightning artor,
>> not a fake one.
>> No.
That's
um what does he have this connected to?
My jank fence lightning arresttor on
vertical.
>> He has it connected to his propeller
hat.
>> Ah
yes.
Look at that vertical though. Look at
that setup he's got. That's pretty
impressive.
He's got that DX engineering ground
plate with a boatload of big chunky
wires coming off that thing. Look at
that.
Jody, what the heck kind of vertical are
you running?
>> I I don't I don't
>> I don't
>> That was an MFJ 43footer.
>> 43footer. All right. So, you were doing
What's the max that got down to? 40.
>> 40.
>> Yeah. With the coil there in that white
box, I go I can go 160 with like 10
watts. 80 up to 100 watts before it
starts, you know, arcing over.
>> Oh, there you go. Uh, but like what was
it most effective at? Like 40 and
higher.
>> Yeah, but uh 60. Yeah, 60 is pretty
reliable.
>> Mhm.
That's pretty slick. Is that what you
use now?
>> Uh I use that to transmit mostly and
then the MIDI mag loop to receive for
the most part.
>> Mini mag loop for receiving. Do you see
a a big difference between the vertical
and the and the mag loop on reception?
>> Oh, yeah. I live right on top of a
electrical pedestal transformer, so I
needed I needed mag capability.
>> There you go. Right on. I like it. Uh,
we have a video entry. So, this is from
seven or AK6qi.
He has
What is he doing?
He's got APRS
on a
What is going on? What Why must you do
surgery on that radio? What What was the
purpose of that?
That's I Please explain in the chat what
you have done to your radio, sir.
And then Rick.
Oh wow.
So it's a Cobra 142
with an external frequency output. So
it's got some kind of mod done to it
because it's not on channel or he
>> That's a common mod.
>> The frequency counter.
>> It It just shows it's a frequency
counter or is it
>> frequency counter?
>> Oh, just displaying frequency counter.
>> Why do you need that if you're just
channelized?
because you can wobble the channel
around with with the with the other mod.
>> Oh, I Okay, there it is.
>> There it is. That's That's what I was
>> You hear me?
>> Yeah, I can hear you.
>> Okay, so uh that Cobra I've had since
probably 1988
and uh it was freak to to go outside the
40 channel CB band. But the current
modification, let's go up into 10 meters
so I can cover the entire technician
portion of 10 meters.
>> There you go. There you go. Does that
have an echo mic to go along with it or
what are you what are you rocking along
that
>> on that front?
>> No, it's I use a Turner plus two on
that. The Turner plus two SSB.
>> Nice.
Oh, that's cool. Uh, you still take it
out every once in a while, you said.
>> Yeah. And every time I do and I tell
somebody when I'm talking on it, it's
it's like, what? Really? It's And it's
got great audio. You should hear it on
the air. This it's fantastic on the air.
It sounds wonderful.
>> I love it. Thank you for sharing that.
Uh, Brooks dropping a a sweet picture of
the moon here. We had a full moon
yesterday. Oddly enough, it was also the
Harvest Moon Festival. Oh, wow. You can
even see the edges down here of like the
crater. See that? Good picture. Really
cool picture with the shadowing on the
side. That's super cool. Nice. Nicely
done, Brooks. Uh Harvest Moon Festival
was last night.
It It's in line with the full moon. And
we sat outside for a little while and
took in the brightness of the moon. It
was incredibly bright. So, we could see
the the rabbit in the moon here because
I think it's Is the rabbit coming up? I
don't know. Anyway, there you go. Okay.
>> The moon was very big
>> this morning.
>> It was very big. Very big. Oh,
>> I saw it on my way to work.
>> There's RF Nomad's signed picture from
the astronaut. Well, is Oh, he's
American. Okay. American astronaut.
That's very cool.
I love it. All right.
Who else? Anybody else with a a fun
contraption they've built or worked to
get on the air?
>> Are we just posting jank stuff?
>> What's that?
>> Are we just Are we just posting jank
stuff? Are we
>> uh If you If you used it on a radio and
you got on the air with it, yeah, go
ahead. Jank it up.
>> Okay, let me have a look.
[laughter]
I'm trying to think of some of the other
weird things I've used. I guess I
obviously just tuned up random crap. We
got to do that all the time, right?
Oh, Tierney is asking, "Is this tiny
essay cool?
Is it cool?" Well, we'll be the judge of
that.
Uh, yeah, that is a that is a cool tiny
essay. So, um,
if you have all the little bits, no,
this is
Yeah. Yeah. I I I think the the one
thing,
so, so yes, and I don't know that it
comes in other ways, but, but hear me
out on where I'm going with this. That's
that's kind of cool. It all fits in or
most of it. The stuff you care about.
You need the jumpers. The jumpers are
important. And you need a little guitar
pick. You need the little antenna.
Um, yeah, all all of the above is good.
I kind of like that picture the most, I
think. But what you're going to end up
wanting to get
with a um with a tiny essay is
attenuators.
Attenuators are going to be the the the
item that you'll need. So if you are
working with a
um let's see you want a 10 watt
50dB about for a so for me I go a little
bit higher so a 10 watt 50 dB attenuator
if we spell it it'll be even better
uh 10 watt 40 dB
50 watt watts more than you need. 100
watt.
So, finding these that are actually like
good is a little tricky. If you have to
go up to 50, you know, let's go up to 50
dB. No, I did say 50 dB.
The problem is though is you're saying I
said 50 dB and it's showing me 50 ohm 10
dB. So, you have to be really careful on
on what that. So, that's a 10 watt 40 dB
which is not bad. Uh, this is a 50watt
50dB attenuator. So, that's not bad,
even though it's a little big. Let's
pull that up.
So,
pretty good.
And then along with that, because now
you're 50 dB, you got to bring that up a
little bit. So, you'd go with a um
attenuator pad set
and then something like this. New pad
set is is good because um what it'll do
it's it doesn't take any it'll they'll
take two watts. So you'll just blow them
up but they add one 2 3 6 10 and 20 dB
attenuation.
So how you use this and go back and you
can go back and watch the whole saga of
the of the mini bow fang to get the full
picture of how you should be using the
tiny SA.
Tiny SA needs to have some automatic
attenuation and it needs to be within
the realm of 10 to 20dB.
So what you do is you take your radio
and you plug the 50dB attenuator close
to it. You can use a jumper if you want.
You plug that in and then you are going
to add pads in the form of six, eight,
10. And you can stack them on the tiny
SA side because you don't want to blow
them up. You don't want the RF to go
into that. You want the RF to go into
the big thing and the heat sink, the
attenuator, right?
You just add pads until the tiny SA
shows between 10 and 20 automatic uh dB
added, automatic attenuation, and then
that's that's your sweet spot. That's
what you that's what you test against.
SMA is going to be preferred. So maybe
this 50 watt is probably not the way to
go. It would be better if you had
something.
These little push button ones are great,
but see, it doesn't say what the what
the wattage is that it handles.
So, just just look around until you find
something that will work.
Uh, let's go back.
I want something a little bit bigger.
Now, wait.
58G 100 watt. Oh, that's that's too big.
You don't need that. Unless you're doing
like 50 watt radios and that's a whole
different that's a whole different game
there.
Uh what if I say SMA
50 watt 10 dB. See not enough not enough
dbezas there. You need more.
You could use this pad set to bring it
up because that'll take the power. 50
watt, 10 dB,
10 watt, 10 dB. If you stacked all those
pads, it' get you up there. Um Oh, wait.
There you go.
Yeah. 10 watt,
40 dB for $20. It's SMA connectors. And
uh and there you go. That'll do it.
I actually don't know what I have select
there. Hold on. Hold, please.
Oh, that's why.
So, let me drop the link there if you're
interested in that for that guy. And
then
the pads. The pads.
And I like these little new Alexa. We
tested all these. Of course, every one
individually you should test them. But,
you know, that's
that's just how she goes. Um, they were
they were good. the ones we tested, we
characterized all of our attenuators
when we were working on the mini uh bow
fangs, but yeah, there you go. Cool.
All right, back to the contraptions.
Let's see.
We got a couple of interesting ones.
Okay, Jody, explain yourself. Is that a
shovel? What am I Is that a [laughter]
shovel?
>> Yeah, just a normal spade. I got tired
of of digging slots and shoving the
wires under the grass. So, I put that uh
wire rope clip on the end. And if you
water your grass enough and it's soft
enough, you can just push the wire IN
WITH THAT.
>> OH, I GET IT NOW. SO, the little slot,
you put the wire into the slot and you
push it in.
>> Yeah, exactly.
>> That's sick.
>> That's
>> I'm gonna steal that.
>> That's pretty smart, dude. [laughter] I
don't know here, but that's pretty good.
>> You drill the hole just so it's in the
perfect spot so that the wire clip can't
rotate. It's locked in by the U-shape.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. It holds
>> Oh, that's so that's so funny. That is a
good contraption right there. That
simple and effective contraptioning
you've done there, sir. Congratulations.
>> I I couldn't find anything janky that
I'm allowed to post. Um, okay. Okay.
>> Well, wait. Is it bad? Like, is it gonna
break it?
>> Oh, okay. Don't post that.
>> J2E0 JML says his mast has an
interesting history.
>> Are you Are you on that? You can
>> Yeah, you are. You want to explain my
terms?
>> Explain yourself here.
Oh,
>> I don't hear you. I want to check your
mic.
You're keying up correctly.
It almost looks like a military mass
we're looking at with guy plates already
on them, which is kind of cool.
I can't hear Jay. He's keying up, but I
can't hear him.
Nope.
Still no. It's probably in your um in
your settings for Discord.
What should I comment on? Comment above
that. Okay, let me look up.
>> Comment above the mask.
>> Oh, Jay, I still can't hear you.
Oh,
uh, Limits 3DRC said, "Just getting into
ham radio. I'm 12 and you're such an
inspiration. Trying to get my technician
and general license. Just got a bow
fang. If you have any recommendations
for HF radio, would love it. Boy,
limits. You know, the uh you know, the
the the question we got to ask is what's
your budget?" That's really what it
comes down to is how much you want to
spend not just for the radio but like
allin what's your all-in pricing. So if
you drop that in the chat I'll see it
and I'll
uh they they added do you recommend any
HF radios? Yeah I recommend a ton of
them. It depends on your budget and go
real cheap, real expensive.
>> Nothing yisy.
Um, I mean, I I'm not a huge fan of the
FTX1, but like I like the FTDX10.
I think that's a cool radio.
>> I actually agree. But don't tell anyone.
>> Yeah, it's it's good. Oh, Jay, still
nothing, buddy. [laughter]
I can see you trying. I can see you key
it up.
Well, we'll come back to Jay when he
when he gets it sorted out.
I don't hate Yau. I have multiple
radios. I'm just He asked about HF.
I'll be back. Jay says, "Okay, come on
back then. Come on back then."
Um, yeah. I don't I I never want to
assume like what people's budget are, so
I'd rather they just tell us, but like I
can start out super low and just work my
way up. Like I have links in the video
description for uh Radio
and there's a coupon code that you'll
get a discount. I think it's anything
over $65, you get a coupon, like a
discount, a G90,
particularly for a person buying a G90,
>> a younger person that can see that
screen, their eyes aren't, you know,
screwed up. That's going to be great for
you. Um, even their even cheaper model
is is is not bad, but if you got the
extra scratch, I'd just say G90 without
knowing you better or knowing what your
goals are. You probably will not be
illerved by the G90.
>> G90 is a great place to start. I love
it.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, considering what you
get for the money all baked into that
box, it's it's really hard to beat. It
It really is. There's There's really no
other game in store for that. Somebody
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait. I I I didn't add this to the meme
roll.
>> Oh gosh, I have to find it now. So, in
the HRC ham memes
>> G90.
>> Yeah, the This is the best This is the
best selling point [laughter] of a G90
right there. That's it. That's all you
need to know. That's all you need to
know. [laughter]
>> G90.
>> I just love that.
I love that picture so much.
>> G90.
>> G90.
>> G90, dude. Um
>> G90.
>> It just that picture cracks me up so
much. Conductive. [laughter]
>> Oh yeah, that one. Yeah.
So, the the reality is I like I haven't
got my hands on the new Shaggu. There's
very few of them. Um Steve has it, which
you probably all have noticed because
Steve gets a radio and he he treats that
thing like an orange that he has to get
absolutely every drop of juice out of.
And I respect it. Respect the game. But
he has worked so hard for radio. Like
you see that guy in their booth hustling
his ass off at every hamfest with
Radiottity. So I respect it. totally
respect it. But they sent it to him and
honestly he's he's the right guy to get
that radio early anyway because you know
he he like hacked the 6100 to hell and
back. He's done a whole number of other
things um all within the radios there.
And so yeah, totally totally makes
sense. He's got it. And a lot of people
were in the comments saying, "Oh, but
it's only like a 10 to one tuner." So
guys, I everybody needs to remember if
you go from like 50 watts to 100 watts
of tuning, like when you start dipping
into that space, the tuners get big.
They get big. The everything you need to
effectively deal with 100 watts is
bigger than the case for for that new
Shaggu. And the fact that they put a 10
to one is pretty good.
>> So is it more than sorry? It's 3 to1.
It's a 3 to1 match.
>> Oh, it's 3 to1.
>> Yeah, 3 to1. So, it's it's just like a
100. It's just like a 7300 or a Yasu or
whatever, right? It's a it's a 3 to1.
I'm not surprised by that. That doesn't
surprise me.
>> Well, the the 7300 will do more. Put an
emergency.
>> Well, yeah, but now you're down to 50
watts, right?
>> Yeah.
>> So, the same game, right? Just all
they've done is just lowered your power
output and increased your antenna
matching.
If you're running a base station, you're
probably going to be running an antenna
tuner anyway.
>> Uh, not me. I like What do you mean?
>> Well, it depend depends on what your
setup is. But
>> that's true. That's true. I I guess if I
if I really wanted to get into 80
meters, I would probably need a tuner
and have have done that in the past.
Have to do that.
>> Comment.
Go ahead. Comet.
>> Yeah. So, I think that the the a lot of
that hate with the um like the the about
the tuner on on the 7250 has to do with
the fact that um um there there's
there's there is a lot of hate with um
Shu radios, but I think the one thing
that SHU um absolutely um nails every
single time is their tuners.
>> Mhm.
>> So, they've kind of built a reputation
of um they might not be best in certain
things, but their tuners are world
class. Mhm.
>> So, we were kind of like all of us were
kind of expecting the the 10 to one and
um that kind I personally I think that
would have given it them a um really
good um uh edge over other 100 watt
radios cuz now you cuz now um with the
3:1 you're kind of you know putting
yourself in the same class as like the
710, the 7300, the FDX10 and those kinds
of radios. So then you have to make a uh
it just makes it much more difficult to
um make that um make that sell
>> completely
>> when there's um similar ones that can
give you the same um or better
performance.
>> Very well said. When you look across the
aisle and you see a Yau 710 for under
$1,000, it's like like what's the what's
the the selling point? Is the is the big
screen a selling point? For some people,
yeah, for some people that will actually
be a selling point. Is it enough for
them to kind of like muscle into the the
the cool crowd, if you will, of the 100
watt base stations? Possibly. Possibly.
And at some point they kind of had to
make this move anyway to to try and see
if they could muscle their way onto the
100 watt space. But the practicalities
of tuning you antenna matching just do
not really allow that adaptive of a
tuner to be slammed into a 100 watt
radio box, still meet the price point,
and still be within a size that people
will find acceptable. It's it's a really
crazy balance. If they took if they took
what the radio is, threw a 100 watt
tuner into it that would allow for 10 to
one and the size of the box would
probably have to increase as well to be
able to fit it all in. I doubt it would
be under $1,000.
I I doubt it. I think it would be 1,200
if not more. I I think they'd have to
cheat and roll it back to 10 watts uh
and not tell you that they're rolling it
to 10 in their tuning cycle.
>> Uh yeah, I mean that honestly that's
another option too. I I think that we
probably don't do a good enough job or
sorry not we I don't think the ham radio
companies do a good enough job of saying
like yeah we can do 10 to one but we're
going to lower your power output all the
way down to 10 watts. It should just do
that and then have a note somewhere that
says because tuning, you know, because
transmatch, because all of the work
we've done on the back end here for you
instead of somebody just saying, I want
my 100 watts. Here we go. Boom. And then
throwing it into it and like, "No, dog.
You can't you can't do that on the, you
know, the soda can antenna that you
built that's in your backyard."
>> Josh, can I point out, have you have you
seen you you're familiar with like the
LD LG tuners? the LTG 100.
>> Am I
>> like if you pulled that out and looked
at that board, it's about the same size
as the tuning board in like a 7300.
And I think LTG just hit the mark with
that. I have one and I love it because
if I use it with a Chameleon, I need to
have that like five or 10 to one in
order to use a Chameleon multi-band.
>> Yeah. So, I think it is possible. That's
my only push back on that. think it is
possible to cram it in there.
>> But yeah,
>> you're telling me that the LDG 100 watt
tuner
>> is the same size
>> 30 watts continuous
>> in the 7300.
>> Yeah, it's not 100 watts for data
though.
>> Yeah,
>> 30 watts continuous.
>> Josh, I would like
>> I would like to point out that um I read
some of the comments and some of the
naysayers in uh Steve's Steve's
comments. I think a lot of them didn't
actually watch the video. I'm not a Shu
fan.
>> That's 100% a YouTube video. Nobody
watches the video. They just call
>> Absolutely. [laughter]
>> Go ahead. Keep going. Sorry.
>> I'm I'm 100% not a Shu fan. Um I'm going
to be upgrading to the 7110 when it
comes out.
>> Uh always been a Yu Yau and Icon guy.
But what I I do have to say
>> is having actually watched Steve's
video, uh the
incredibly less than ideal conditions
under which he tested it with that
non-ressonant carbon fiber whip, the
tuning on the C new 7250
was pretty remarkable for what it is.
>> Sure. So, while it may not be what
everyone wanted in terms of the the uh
momentary testing that he did in the
video in very much less than ideal
conditions with a very much
non-ressonant antenna, it was uh it it
was pretty respectable.
>> Yeah. Um I I watched I think I No, I
watched the whole thing. I haven't
watched all of Steve's videos because
literally he he gets every bit of juice
out of that out of that fruit. Trust me.
Um, but I did watch that one and yeah,
I don't know. I I go back to what I
said. Wait, hold on. Hold on. Wait. I
don't want to lose the train of thought.
You're saying, let me go back. Was it
Rola with the LDG 100?
>> Yeah. I mean, it's plus or minus 2 in on
the border like on the PCB,
>> but it's also cost it's going to cost
more.
>> Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm not arguing
that at all, Josh.
>> Okay.
I I think that's
So, how much is an LDG 100? I don't even
know. Like, what are they going
>> like 200 like 200 bucks?
>> Yeah. So, that's what I was saying. It's
like it's going to turn a$1,000 radio
into a $1,200 radio, right? Or more. And
you could
>> I would I would buy that, Josh. If I
could get a 100 watt base station radio
with 10 to one, I would like I'd buy
that.
>> I see that's
>> all about heat at that point, though.
>> That's the gamble, right? Roll. So, this
is perfect. This is a great opportunity
to talk about this. So that's the
gamble.
Is the market desiring that
the role of buyer I will pay an extra
$250
for 10 to one matching on a base
station.
Is that a an unsold
part of the market?
Oh, definitely
>> enough that enough that enough people
will buy your $1,250
radio instead of the Yau 710 that is
what 900 bucks.
>> I'd argue the other direction for you
that that would drive the market for
antennas. Most people run for resonant
antennas because the best they can ever
get is 3:1. If if all the radios had 10
to ones, more more non-ressonant
antennas like the Chameleon Empass might
become more popular.
>> Well, as someone who actually sells
things to real human beings, you just
made an argument for the smart shopper
and smart buyer.
You have now reduced the buyers of your
radio even further.
[laughter]
You're you get what I'm saying, right?
>> No, no, I'm lost now.
other words.
>> Yeah. So,
Cheu makes a radio. It's 12, let's say
it was $1,250 and it it was a 10 to one
match uh tuner built in. So, you could
you could tune up a non-resin antenna.
You could tune up a ladder line.
I don't even think people go beyond
that. The the majority of the market
does not even look at that. They look at
dollar sign radio G goes burr and then
they buy the thing that's closest and
cheaper. So Yau 710 to me is going to
maintain a much larger market share.
>> Okay. The the largest selling point that
you guys were just touting about the G90
whenever I hear like G90 great G90 go
G90 tuner is immaculate. If they could
have that same tuner that could handle
100 watts in their other in another rig,
they would continue to keep that market.
They already have a market as having the
best gold standard tuner that'll just,
you know, it is conductive, will tune,
right? And so they're kind of shying
away from that now with their new model.
>> Um, yeah, it's a it's a decision they
made. They went for like, you know, real
slick looking 100 watt radio. They could
have just made it look like a 7200 from
Icon and be a 100 watt radio. That
thing's just a tank. Um, and it it does
whatever you want it to do. Maybe that's
the undersold market segment versus a
slick separate screen versus body type
of thing, right? That that's the that's
the challenge is it's like um it's like
take a guess, spin the wheel.
Where do you think you will recoup your
money on? and know that you're not going
to recoup your money immediately.
Almost no radio does. So,
roll the dice. Take take your chances.
>> Yeah, that's fair. And I think it's
going to probably be a fantastic radio.
I mean, I hope it doesn't bomb like the
G-S did.
>> Oh, it's not going to bomb because it
works. It works.
>> It works. The only thing I think that it
the only thing that it's a bit of a
problem is the serial connection. I
think that
I think that should be USB or something
else. I that's a bit a bit jankopotamus
from my point of view.
>> Comment.
>> Yeah. My my only concern is and this is
just with um Shu in general. This is
like just the problem that they they
have is that they are known to be very
very slow for fixing bugs with their
radios. like the um X6200 had a bug with
the um Kier for what I heard and it and
I from what I heard they they they
recently just fixed it like a few weeks
ago and it that so that bug had been
sitting there for at least a year. Um
and so that that that that's the thing
that concerns me is they're super slow
with their firmware updates um when
there are bugs that could be um make or
break the radio type things. So you're
you're not wrong that it took him a long
time on that bug, but I will point out
that she to me fixes bugs faster for
radios that they sell more of. So the
G90 had bugs. G90 has seen a ton of
firmware upgrades, right? So I I think
that the radios that have the market
share are the ones that they put a lot
of their developer time in, which
honestly is also businesssavvy. like
that is where you would put your
developer time on the thing that's
bringing in the most money to make sure
that people continue to be happy and you
quell, you know, the the the outspoken,
you know, the outspoken minority. Um,
also Jonathan, you probably know that CW
operators always take a backseat to like
everything else when it comes to bugs,
right? [laughter]
>> That happens in all in all the
companies. That's just reality. Except
Elcraft. Elcraft is CW forward.
>> Wade wouldn't let that happen.
>> It does seem to me like it would be kind
of like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Like like for me, I'm like, I don't want
to buy the Shaker Radio because um
because of the firmware updates. Um and
if um so it's like, oh well, if it's got
this bug, then I'm going to wait until
it does that. And then they sell less of
them. And then they um that makes them
less likely to do the firmware update.
And you know the the cycle goes goes
round and round and round and then we're
kind of just in this uh where nobody
benefits. It
>> it's the it's the challenge of is there
is there more bugs than the bug can be
fixed because there's other things
they're working on. That's my guess
always. Like when it comes to just
straight up development, your priority
goes to the thing that makes the most
money and that is not a highest money
maker in comparison to
>> the other things they might be working
on. James, you said comment, so I saw
you first. So, go ahead. I know there's
other people, too. So, we'll get to you
all. Don't worry. Go ahead, James.
>> Okay. Our first comment is a lot of
folks don't realize, and this comes from
talking to Steve a lot, um that the
Shagu manufacturing company and the
software company are two different
companies.
>> Makes sense.
>> So, that slows the process down.
>> Sure.
>> Uh a bit.
Um, the other thing that I had a comment
about is so Icon's putting out this
wonderful brand new radio
and it doesn't have a tuner in it at all
and it's banking on a fairly good sized.
Uh, now granted I love the radios. I
like both of them. Um, so
the 7110
doesn't not not only doesn't have a 3:1,
it doesn't have a 10:1. They're
expecting you to buy a like a 4 to $600
box to go
>> Yes.
>> and tune your stuff. Not a LDG, but a Oh
my gosh. Icon AH I don't know what
they're on now. Four.
>> Yeah. I I I think Yeah, the new one. Uh,
yeah. But but they they sell it as a
mobile radio. Mobile radios aren't
expected to have tuners because you're
going to use a screwdriver antenna.
>> Well, here we go. So, Shagu is going
from a highly
um competitive QRP market that is
basically not mobile, but portable only.
And they're moving into a different
market. They're trying to learn and I
give them praise. Um they're doing a
heck of a job.
>> Oh, yeah. I and no one here is taking
anything away from Shgo. I think I think
we're just talking about the facts more
than anything. Um I don't think
comparing this new radio to Icon's radio
is a good idea even though they're a
dual screen, you know, screen separate
from the body. I think you have to look
at 100 watt base stations. I think you
because that's what they're trying to
sell it as. Don't get me wrong, I know
hams are going to be cramming that thing
into their into their Jeep Wranglers. I
I get it. But you have to look at base
station radios and you have to see what
that competition looks like. And and
YSU's frankly been killing it in the in
the HF base station market for a couple
of years now. So that's really the
competition is do I want this um this
sheu with the detached screen or do I
want a cheaper
proven of a legacy of three radios yau
710
it's tough it's a really tough market
they're trying to break themsel like you
know get get a foothold in respect it
respect the game but you know that's
that's a tough market to to break into
>> I I also prudent
>> Sorry, James. Um I think it's also
prudent to point out that what they're
trying to do, what ICOM's trying to do
with the 7110 is not in any way
comparable to what Shyu is trying to do.
Icon is trying to step in and update in
a space where there is no longer a YU
FT857D
where the uh or 897 where the FTX1
was not what Yau wanted it to be. So
it's really two different spaces to
compare the 7110 to the new Shu.
>> Yeah. and the 991A dropped out of the
market. It It's I mean the 7110 is
literally the best shack in the box that
has come out and it hasn't even hit the
market yet.
>> Wait, what now? Say that again. What was
that line?
>> The 7110
is currently the best shack in the box
and it hasn't even hit the market yet.
Um,
sure. They might have they might have
struck it at opportune time because the
FTX was kind of, you know, middling. I
think that I think that'd be the right
weird thing to say. I don't know. By the
way, we don't know how many of these
radios have been sold by these
companies. So, it's really hard for us
to say like, well, that's a winner and
that's not a winner, right? I think
that's I think that's a fair point we
should all come back to. This is
allation.
>> Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
>> Um, you know what I mean? Like I I think
sometimes we we we have a an assumption
about things and it's not necessarily
backed up by reality. So, you know, um
I'm
>> Go ahead.
>> Question. I'd like to know how many G90s
have been sold because they keep saying
that the 7300
>> is the number one selling. I would love
to know what number that is for G90
worldwide.
>> I I think that they say base station
radio. I the G90 might be very close to
be honest, but I don't think they would
qualify it as a base station. I think
that's where the little wiggle room
exists.
They should they should talk about how
many they've sold though. They should
make they should make they should go
full Harbor Freight on this bad boy and
they should make a goldplated G90. I
will buy that sucker immediately. I want
a Harbor Freight ratchet version of the
G90. I can go grab my goldplated Harbor
Freight ratchet right now. I'm telling
you, I wanted goldplated G90
>> clear. Oh, even better. No. Well, but
>> prison edition.
>> I guess it would come down to what the
cost is between the two. But if you if
you made a prison edition G90, it's
going to be like less resilient, less
robust. But I think that's okay. I'm I'm
pretty safe on my
>> head's less resilient.
>> My head is less resilient. That's true.
Am I back?
>> Mhm. You're back.
>> Yay. I had to put headset in. For some
reason, the the mic on the laptop wasn't
working properly.
>> Hide and seek. You said question, but
I'm going to go back to Jay because he
has been toiling to try and figure this
out. So, go ahead, Jay.
>> Right. So, the mast, my dad brought it
from one of the Harrow Club members uh
just outside of London. And the mast was
actually donated to the club by KING
HUSSEIN OF JORDAN.
>> WHOA, THAT IS A COOL STORY. [laughter]
OKAY, I didn't expect that. That's
awesome.
Wow.
>> So, sitting in my back garden at the
minute is uh King Hussein Jordan's mast.
That was cool.
Okay, you know what, Jay, that was worth
it. Thank you for taking the time to
explain that. So, King Hussein of Jordan
was a prolific ham radio operator.
Absolutely killed it on the air. Tons of
pileups, made tons of contacts with
people, a a strong ambassador for
amateur radio. And that's really cool
that you got a piece of his uh amateur
radio legacy there. That's awesome.
I currently have one of his QSL cards
from the contact he made with my father
uh hanging on the wall.
>> That's cool. That's cool. It's like uh
King Hussein of Jordan, Art Bell, the
two Cusos that I I never got that I wish
I I would have had. So,
>> don't don't forget uh Joe Walsh.
>> Well, he's currently alive and I I don't
I don't know when he's on the air. He's
hard to find because he's like an AM
guy. Well, they're touring a um the
Eagles. Somebody at work just told me
that they went and saw him at the Sphere
last week and they loved it. It was
amazing. And they have like 10 more
shows and that's it. Eagles have
officially frozen over. They're done.
They're not going to they're not going
to come back again.
>> All right.
>> I went to that tour when it froze over
the last time. I was there for the last
freezing over and they're back again.
Yeah, that's I remember. And that album
was great.
>> The hell freezes over
>> great album.
>> Um
I want to take a minute because I see
that Limits is in the chat. So our young
ham who just got licensed again,
congratulations to you, sir. Thank you
for watching my videos. I appreciate it.
I think a lot of people are mentioning
the G90 and I think that's a solid play.
It's you said you're 12. I get it. It's
it's not cheap. Um I don't think I I
don't think I saw a budget. Um with that
said, the G90 is a is a good starting
point. The only thing you have to keep
in mind is that the G90 is also going to
need a battery. You know, a lot of
radios require this, so that's not like
a special thing. You're going to need
feed line, coax, and you're going to
need an antenna, right? And so all those
things,
take your time, piece it out, think
about it on what you what you want to
work with. And um but the G90 the G90
would be a good a good way to go from my
point of view. So I just wanted to make
sure I came back to that
>> comment. Okay. Uh yes, now it is time
for the comment. Go ahead.
>> Yeah. So, um, something that, um, might
be helpful is, um, reaching out to, um,
your local ham club or going to a
hamfest because you you will find, um,
good deals on ham radio equipment. You
might be able to get yourself something
nicer. Like, for example, you might even
find yourself like a 7,300 cuz I've seen
those at a at Hamfest for like 500 500
bucks a few times, like right when the
7300 Mark I came out. So, uh, that
that's a great way of getting your hands
on a um new one. If you could also um
reach out to your local club and say,
"Hey, I'm a new I'm a new ham. Um and um
I want to get into HF. Is anyone have a
um like secondhand um HF rig they'd be
willing to sell me?" You probably get a
um good deal on it that way, too,
because that's how I got it when I was
like 15.
>> Yeah, there you go. Good, good points,
Jonathan. Okay, hide-and-seek. Somebody
said question earlier. Or was it
hide-and-seek
or is he just stuck on PTT?
Hideand- seek. You're stuck on PTT.
Somebody said question earlier. I wanted
to come back to that. But um Jay, go
ahead while we wait for figure out who
that was. Um, another thing that he
could do if he looks out to local ham
radio shops, a lot of them will buy in
secondhand equipment and double check
that is working properly and then they
get rid of it at a a reasonably good
price. Um, I know over in the UK you can
save quite a few hundred pounds on on
secondhand radios through the shops. So,
I'm not sure if ham radio outlet do that
over there or just a local
>> main trading company in Texas does great
uh affordable stuff that they check out.
>> Mhm.
>> There you go. Uh question in the chat,
maybe a clarifying point that I need to
do. Dennis asked, "Why does why do you
need a battery for the for a G90?" So,
you don't need a battery. You can just
do a power supply if you want to, but
assuming you might want to run it
portably, then you're going to need a
battery. So, some kind of a lifo
battery. I'd say a 12 amp hour battery
is probably a good place to start with a
with a G90 without getting too big. Um,
and then I'll let you operate for long
enough. But if it's going to be a home
radio, then a power supply. But I don't
know. G90 to me screams portable. So,
that's kind of why I say that.
>> Comment.
>> Go ahead. comment.
>> So, I might be completely wrong. Um, but
I'm pretty sure I saw a thing recently
where you can like do a service where
you can get remote access to HF radios
for amateur radio use. I might be
completely wrong, but I'm pretty sure I
just read something on that earlier.
>> Yeah. Uh there's a a system called
remote ham radio and they actually offer
access to students. I don't know if
there is a cost or if it's free and you
remote into other actual real operator
stations and very powerful stations in a
lot of cases and can make contacts with
people.
>> Yeah. So, there's that. Um, he could do
I don't know the whole logistics of it
like that, you know, but then there's
also the uh the not HF aspect of it,
which is kind of more difficult, but if
he wants to try to make, you know, long
distance quoteunquote contacts, there's
always like a DMR. I know that's very
popular overseas. I I tried it before. I
know all those people send confirmation
on QRZ if he's looking to rack up
contacts like that, you know.
Yeah, that's an option, too.
>> Josh, in terms of uh RHR, if the young
man uh joins the Discord, uh he can
reach out to Contest Daddy here in the
Discord who is affiliated with RHR in
the youth program.
>> So, the only the only caveat I give to
that is there is a lower limit on age
for Discord and we follow that to the
letter. I'm not sure if it's I don't
think
>> I didn't hear his age so I apologize for
that. He's he is 12 years old, so he's a
young man. Um I
>> think you have to be 13. I could be
wrong. Um but we follow that to the
letter and we just want to make sure
that everybody is is doing exactly what
they're supposed to be doing.
>> Um so
>> I I was I was unaware, but uh I'm sure
you can probably uh get him in touch
with uh our friend here in Discord and
uh
>> Well, right now he's just a person on
chat, so no, I can't. [laughter]
>> Gotcha.
>> He could he could DM me on Instagram.
He's also on uh they're talking about
Connor. Um Connor is affiliated with uh
Remote Ham Radio. And I again I I don't
I'm not saying that to try and get
anybody an inn or anything like that.
I'm not offering Connor up to be your
your contact for getting free access to
Remote Ham Radio. That's not what I'm
doing. Um but yes, I can I can put you
two together for that. I don't I don't
normally
he would be a person who could assist
him in getting the information and what
the process is.
>> There you go. Oh, Lucas said it's free.
So, okay. So, maybe you don't even have
to go to Connor. You can just go to
remote ham radio and start there. But
with respect,
um I So, this is me personally. I like
it. I think that as a young ham, you
need to kind of get your hands dirty and
actually work that stuff out yourself.
So, I like the fact of getting you a
Swiss Army radio uh on HF would would be
a G90. If you if you wanted the AK-47,
the Swiss Army knife of radio that that
does all the things and will get you on
the air, it is the G90. That is that is
really the the point that needs to needs
to come away there, I think.
Don't forget the antenna too,
>> of course. Antenna, feed line, I did say
that antenna, feed line, battery, all
that stuff is a factor. Um,
so in other news,
by the way, I'm not mentioning this
because I think our young ham should go
buy an 891. Although it is a pretty
decent radio, it doesn't give you the
features that you'd get with the uh with
the G90. 891s for $669.
That's That's a pretty good deal.
Pretty good deal.
>> Hey Josh, are the IC7100
still on sale or they've all pretty much
been cleaned up?
>> No, they're they're really expensive.
>> What are they?
>> I just bought one for our club to give
away for eight and a half. So I'm not
quite sure.
>> There is a ham radio antenna that makes
you proud right there. That is just a
that
this is awesome. This is a
9 to1 Balon B. Wait, Balon. What am I
looking at here? That's not a balon.
That's not a Bon. That's an unun, son.
Um,
anyway, vice grip to wires on metal and
then
shoot it up the line there with a little
alligator clip.
There's your antenna. [laughter]
That's awesome. I love it. That is
janky. That is J. That meets You know
what? Uh Pat the sound guy, you you met
you understood the assignment. I
appreciate it.
This on the other hand is not janky, not
a contraption. That is a very nice
fitting radio head for that for that Yi
radio. Very impressed.
I like it. Okay. Uh was there there was
a lot of people that were talking at the
mid earlier uh that we didn't come back
to. Is there anybody that we missed?
Hideand-seek. I think you're breathing.
Can you stop? Can you unkey?
I'm gonna mute I'm gonna mute you.
>> I'm gonna mute you. Actually, I'm just
going to move you. How do I move you out
of here?
>> Move him.
>> He's been moved. [laughter]
>> Any other questions or comments we
didn't get to? What else is going on?
>> I have a question.
Go ahead.
So, I also uh fly hot air balloons and
there's a Albuquerque International
Balloon Fiestas coming up. I'm going to
be the first weekend. I'll be flying my
balloon out weather depending and I'm
planning on trying to make some FM 2
meter contacts while I do that. But, you
know, 2 meters isn't that popular. So, I
I want to make sure I get people, but I
also don't want to advertise it so
people expect it's going to be like some
sort of event or anything. So, I'm not
really sure how to go about that because
anytime I've brought it up in the past
to people, they're expecting like custom
QSL cards and all the stuff about it.
>> Who wait, who's expecting custom QSL
cards? Who who told you that?
>> Of of course the wonderful people on
Facebook.
>> Don't listen to them. You can do
whatever the hell you want. You should
post it all over the place.
>> Okay. Yeah, that's that's what I was
thinking, too. And I'm gonna do that
obviously, you know, but I just didn't
know if the best thing would be to do
that because I don't want it to be a
massive event because it's it's anything
that's ballooning. It's insanely weather
permitting. So, I mean, I can get there
and we could do nothing the entire time
or we could get up to 6,000 ft and see
how far we can get out, you know?
>> Yeah. I I think you should explore
posting it wherever you want to and
explain that
weather permitting. Balloons don't do
the things there. There's no controls.
They go up, they go down. That's about
what what type of control you got under
those things. That's that's all you have
to do. And um I wouldn't I wouldn't hold
back from it. Maybe some Facebook groups
I wouldn't post in. There's most
Facebook groups I wouldn't post in now
that I think about it.
>> Um
>> Josh, you you need to jump him into
LeBron knuckle game so that he can jump
other other people.
>> Yeah. Where where where is where is your
balloon launching from? Right.
[laughter]
Right now I'm in Oklahoma, but I'll be
flying out of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
That's where uh the balloon fiesta is
the largest in the world. There's I
think I think this year it's 700
something balloons that we'll be flying
out.
>> Yeah, I I definitely am not You will not
be able to hear me from my home
[laughter]
in Albuquerque.
>> What?
>> No, definitely too far.
>> What was
>> I'm scrambling for a pin. What's your
call sign?
>> Kilo India 5 Papa Lima Lima, but I'm
also not versed at all in CW
unfortunately.
>> That's okay. That doesn't matter.
>> Um, I'm out of Enid. And the reason I'm
asking that is cuz
uh we've got several the RORs, radio
rors are just north of Enid and they're
in the gang. They're they're sub 100.
Well, that's good. We uh I'm not I'm not
flying this weekend, but we have a
balloon fiesta going on this weekend in
Arcadia here in Oklahoma. And if I was
with how high we get, we definitely
would be able to hit Enid from it.
>> Well, I'm just trying to figure out a
way to get you connected so that when
you are in Albuquerque, you could
possibly do brass knuckle gang stuff
from the air.
So, are you good on the Z?
>> Yeah, I'm good on QRZ. Um, I just need
to get versed in CW in seven days, I
guess. At least enough to be able to,
you know, make it work.
>> Well, I mean, you saw me today,
hopefully. I suck, so, you know, don't
worry about Don't let that stop you. Um,
>> I barely know the alphabet, so I'm with
you. Now, I I think the I think the
important thing to keep in mind, this is
a really good question when it comes to
like who to tell about your ham radio
event where you could be at an altitude
that people will hear you way beyond.
Are you doing HF? Are you just doing
VHF?
>> I'm going to do VHF. But there is
actually another massive problem I just
uh I literally just realized is uh
>> people who do ballooning love to spend
all their money on their balloons but
love to cheap out on radios and a lot of
them use bow fangs and they don't really
care what frequency they're on. So I
wouldn't be surprised if when I get up
there 2 meters is basically gone for
people trying to communicate down to the
ground in an aircraft. Uh maybe. So that
that's your other thing is don't I think
I think you're I think you're being
overly concerned about some of this
stuff. I think you just say we will be
doing a balloon launch, the largest in
the world or you know in the United
States in Albuquerque and if you were in
and around that area I am going to
attempt to make cusos with people on
VHF.
Um I will be on the simplex frequencies
and you can list a couple of frequencies
maybe five right five frequencies for
people to try and if there is activity
of you know interference is happening at
the same time move to the next one it's
okay I I I think um you shouldn't you
are doing something cool and if people
don't think it's cool then ignore them
and they don't need to participate the
people that think it's cool will
participate and you will have fun with
those people and For everybody else, you
can ignore them. Here is my I'm giving
you the coupon of ignoring. You can
ignore the people who don't think it's
cool because it doesn't matter what they
think. You're doing something that's
cool. You enjoy it. You do what you want
to do. And you are using social media to
find people that might also find that
interesting. That's totally fine thing
to do.
>> And I do it.
>> Yeah. I'm definitely being overcautious
with it too because uh little bit a
little bit.
>> Oh yeah. Because it's also one of those
things that who knows if I I'm planning
on it happening, but with the events
being in the air and stuff, it totally
might not happen, you know, especially
weather permitting.
>> Sure.
>> And uh
>> you know, I'm not going to be first
pilot or second pilot flying because I
miss uh main registration myself. So,
I'm just going to be basically a student
pilot because I'm still a student pilot
operating whenever they give me the
chance. So, you know, who knows? They
may start yelling at me to grab the
burners. I won't be able to do anymore,
but I'm hoping that I'll have some time
to actually get on the air and do it.
I'm definitely probably going to run
APRS.
>> You get to be uh first champagne
captain. That's what I would do in a hot
air balloon is I would be uh the chief
champagne captain. I would be the ones
that would that would pour the champagne
out for everybody. That's That's what I
would do in a hot air balloon.
>> We do that at the end if it's your first
time flying. They do the uh balloonous
prayer and uh you get on your knees to
drink a cup of champagne with your hands
behind your back. Then you get dowsted
with uh whatever they have on hand. I've
been dowsted with coolers full of milk
when I do this massive cow balloon out
there.
>> Okay. Well, I don't want the cooler full
of milk, but if you douse me in
champagne and make me drink a full cup,
like I'll hold my arms behind my back.
That's fine. I don't have any problem
with that. That's It sounds like a good
group. Sounds fun.
>> [laughter]
>> Sounds real fun.
>> Josh wants to be the second mate.
>> I I don't even want to be the second
mate. I want to be chief champagne
captain. That's all I want to do. I
don't want to I Don't give me a burner.
Don't Don't give me any of that. Let me
just Let me just ride it and play radio
and drink champagne. That would be my
goal.
>> Yeah. You know, the best thing about it,
too, is if I run APRS, I'll finally get
to use that uh balloon icon.
>> Yes. Yes. There you go. You actually you
should definitely do AP at the very
least you should actually wait
you should do APRS ODA. You should look
into this APRS Oda thing that we were
talking about earlier.
You should do APRS Oda from a balloon.
>> That is a good idea. I'm going to spend
I have that FT5D. So I'll be spending
the entire hourong flight trying to
reply to one message with that stupid
screen. No, I I I think I think you can
figure it out. I think you'll do pretty
good. Look into it. Look into I think
that might be the way to go. That might
be Yeah, I think I think that might be
the way to do it is APRS Oda. Maybe
there's a spots page that you can post
there like or uh not spots. Spots is
when you're actually active. Um
an alert. I don't know. They probably
have their own nomenclature for that,
but like an alert page like, "Hey, I'm
going to be literally in a hot air
balloon around uh Albuquerque."
And then just do that. Do that. And then
you don't have to listen to anybody. You
just you do your thing.
>> Yeah. Comet,
>> go ahead. Comet.
>> Hey Josh, uh replying to that uh the
APRS Oda, doesn't the FT 5D like the 3D
or the the FT3 where you can do
pre-programmed
uh messages? So, you just bring up your
messages, pre-program, and then you can
send it that way.
>> You can pre-program. Yeah. In that
radio.
>> And then also Josh, uh, I was listening
to your live stream. This is Joe.
>> Hey, what's up, man?
>> Painy Joe.
>> Bainy Joe. I remember you, buddy. How
you been?
>> I'm I'm up in I'm doing good. Up in
Apple Valley now. And I was actually
hearing one of the guys sending you CW
up here on my 705 with a with a signal
stick.
>> Man, I'm bummed out. But if you were
high enough in Apple Valley, you
probably could have heard me.
>> I did not hear you at all.
>> Man, that's crazy though that you could
hear the other.
>> Well, not really. I was hearing
something faint. But like I was in my
living room.
>> Yeah. Oh, in your living room you could
hear me. That's not bad. Something even
faint. I'll take
>> solar on the roof. So my noise floor is
crazy. But uh but the 705 I I got it for
a deal. 550 with the B no and the that
adapter that accepts the
the SO259 or whatever. 239.
>> What? How did you get such a good deal
on a 705? That's insane.
>> Someone died.
>> No, he's uh he's a good friend.
>> Okay.
>> And he bought it from his son. His son
needed money. He used it. His son maybe
used it a 10 times. My buddy used it
twice.
And he put on Facebook like two weeks
ago. He goes, "Hey, I'm selling this." I
DM'd him and he gave me the the buddy
discount because he wasn't gonna sell it
for 800 and he gave it to me for 550.
>> I would have bought a 705 for 800 and I
don't need another 775.
That is a
>> And he's right there in Cypress, too.
He's right near you.
>> Oh man. Dude. Oh, dude. You got a sweet
deal. That is a fantastic deal.
>> He's selling the Is it the old 7200? Uh
the icon.
>> The big brick. The huge brick. I was
just talking about that radio. Yeah. How
much do you want for that?
>> 400.
>> Well, for my price, I could tell them I
want it. If you want it, [laughter]
>> that's a pretty good deal. If you need a
100 watt base station, that's not a bad
It's very um It's very prepperish. It's
a prepper radio, right? It's It's like
mil. It looks mill standard when you
look.
>> Yeah. It looks like army radio.
>> It looks like an army radio.
>> It's awesome. I mean, if I had the extra
money, I would have gotten it, too. But
>> I think the 705 is the right play. That
is a fantastic deal for a 705. You you
scored with the battery. That's awesome.
>> Oh yeah, I've been loving this. I've
been I've already set up on DAR. I've
been making contacts for my patio. I
mean, I've done FT8 on it already. I
mean, it's just been really cool.
>> Yeah, it's great radio. Makes things
really easy. So, yeah, that's awesome.
Oh, it's great. And it's good to hear
from you, man. I don't think I've heard
from you in a little while. So, I hope
you're doing well.
>> Yeah, it's been so long where I'm barely
catching up to January of 2024 on the
podcast. Well, sad news. We're not
recording it right now. We're on a long
hiatus. So, enjoy the time.
>> The last couple episodes from March, I
think, was the last one, right?
>> Yeah.
>> And I left a voicemail before I figured
out you guys weren't doing anything.
>> Oh, no. I I don't even want to look at
the inbox. I don't even want to look at
it. It makes me sad. But, um Yeah. I I
thank you. Appreciate you, man.
>> Yeah. So, if I'm in Bunn Park on
Thursday, I'll try to hit you up. Maybe
we'll try to do that. Uh the next couple
>> Yeah. Um DM me on Discord. When I'm at
work, I don't check my phone really that
much, even though I have it on me. Um
>> I have to I I would have to be at home
to have a decent enough setup to be able
to actually hit you, but Buena Park's so
close that that should work. It so it'
probably be Are you going to be around
in the evening?
>> Yeah. Yeah, I'll be in the evening and
like up the street from Knots right
there in Orange Thorp and Western. Yeah,
we we should be able to hit each other
no problem. Assuming you get outside or
you got an antenna on the roof kind of
thing.
>> Oh, I'll bring my uh my J my uh was it
the Jong? Uh
>> yeah,
>> antenna.
>> An edong Jpole. If you like throw it up
throw a line into a tree and hoist it
up, that would do great. That'd be that
that would do really well.
>> All right, man. Well, I appreciate you.
Thanks.
>> Yeah, most definitely. It's been a while
since I've been able to get on a on a
live.
>> Um, all right. Any other questions? Uh,
anything we got to hit before we start
saying hi to our friends out here on the
YouTubes.
>> Hey, you told me to come later about the
Hawaii trip. Um,
>> yes, please. Set up.
>> Yeah.
>> Um, you want to do that later? Later?
>> No. No. Let this is now. Now is the
time. Go ahead.
Okay, we're planning a trip to Hawaii.
We want to do POTA and just want to know
what the consensus is for loadout uh
from whomever. I've got an 705 and I can
get a 706 Mark 2G if I need to. Um
I guess traveling to Hawaii, I need 12
amp hour to fly.
>> Uh for batteries, I've got the X
Commander Expedition. I've got a couple
of different
>> Oh, okay.
>> uh verticals like a 17 foot whip and a
I've got the uh chaw.
I don't know what that thing's called
with a coil at the base.
>> Um
>> but you had told me that 15 and 20 is
probably 20 is as high as I'm ever going
to go. So
>> yeah, I because again in Hawaii
you're trying to get across the ocean
whichever direction you're going and it
seemed like the best bands for me to
activate
parks on the air was 15 meters. That was
the most um that was the best bands best
bet for your your day and the time of
day you were getting out there. Would
I be better off with two whips like uh
going Salty Walt style?
That lightning was right out the window.
>> Two whips like a parasitic reflector
type of thing.
>> Correct. Would that would that work
better? Um so if I bought the
>> No, it it will depend on where the POTA
is that you're activating.
Well, there's this place that's uh
>> What time is it right now in Hawaii?
>> It is
>> six hours difference. No, is it six?
Is it 6 hours difference to Hawaii? So,
it's two. That can't be right.
>> Local time is currently 17.
>> Hold on.
>> So,
>> cuz like cuz like right now you'd be
working me from Hawaii.
Just saying.
>> So if I was on Wiki Beach pointed south
to Australia
>> roughly.
>> Yeah.
>> Then it's uh 17 20 m 15 meter type of
contact.
>> Yeah, that's right.
>> Hold on. Hold on.
>> Doc, get out of here. Get out of here.
Are you like Are you still in pain? Is
it the same amount of pain?
>> Yes.
>> Okay. matter how many painillers that
take.
>> Oh my god. Okay, I'll get you more later
after the live stream.
>> Can we watch the movie?
>> Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Okay. Sorry about
that.
>> Uh, so what do we figure out the time
difference? It's 5:00 p.m.
>> So, three hours. Three hours difference.
>> Okay. Three hours difference.
>> That makes more sense.
>> Um,
yeah. So, like for me, most of my POTA
activations, my best chance if I wanted
to get the mainland of the US, I had to
get out kind of early. I had to be a
little bit before noon.
Um, but I got a lot of contacts on FT8
into Asia. A lot. That was actually a
saving grace is Japan.
Japan came through, man. Like on 50
meters on FT8, Japan was pretty good.
So, do keep in mind that you may need to
dip into the digital arsenal. So, make
sure you got like 705 will be fine for
that. Um, but here's my caveat.
I went there like during a very very
serious solar storm. It was three days
of complete RF blackout and only after
it started to soften was I able to make
contacts on on 15 meters. And I used a
50watt transmitter with it was a
transmitter with an amplifier for that.
You might have way better luck than me.
You might have way better luck. I don't
know.
>> Would I be Would I be better off with
the G90 than the uh 705?
Maybe.
>> Only for the increased power. Maybe.
Maybe. Oh, we got uh wait. KH6WI is in
the chat. Says middle of the day is
horrible in Hawaii. I I I would I I
guess I would agree because most of my
contacts are made in the morning and in
the afternoon,
but I was also solar storming. So, it's
it's really hard for me to say that
that's a that's a really good example.
Um
>> if I can offer up a little advice, Josh,
if you don't mind,
>> I'll let you hold on one second. Um a
100 watt transmitter might not be that
bad. assuming you can do FDA with it.
You might that might be the way to go.
But okay, what is the piece of advice?
Go ahead.
So any type of vertical dipole array uh
or parasitic reflector like what you're
talking about uh salty wel this project
uh anything that gives you more
directional signal over salt water is
always going to get further because what
you have to keep in mind is it's a
diminishing angle over salt water at one
at a point in that distance over the
salt water it's going to perpetuate low
angle.
So, you're going to get further and
that's just going to be better with
directional antenna. The other thing is
um two things actually uh North America
there's actually, believe it or not,
there are a lot of people and a lot of
new amps who have struggled heavily with
Hawaii. Uh so the G90 that extra bumping
it up to 20 watts would not be a bad
idea. Uh there would be a lot of people
who would appreciate that. You get a lot
of contacts. As to the JAS, I'll warn
you, they've swarm. If you work one,
you're going to work the entire country
>> which will help you activate the park.
So that's fine. Um what uh island are
you going to?
>> I'll be at Wiki Beach. Oh,
>> actually um W86wi is probably the better
person to talk about POTA at those at at
the parks there. I believe he was in and
around Oahu. So, the thing to keep in
mind with a multi-element setup is these
are parks where people are at and a lot
of them are beaches and you might not
have the free real estate, if you will,
to set up a parasitic element, a
reflector,
if you catch my
>> I total totally understand.
But if you can,
>> so basically bring two and if I get to
use it, thumbs up, hurwah.
>> Oh, you know what? This is this is from
experience. So KH6WI has spent a ton of
time in in Hawaii and has activated a
ton. And he says he would take the G90
or the 705 over the G90 simply because
of the voice memories. So you can call
CQ over and over again without having to
say it yourself. You just hold the
button down, you have a recorded CQ
call. That is more important than the
extra 10 watts from his point of view
because that's like half an S unit. So
that's that's not that big a deal.
>> I totally By the way, Eric's on my short
list of PMs asking these questions, too.
>> I was going to say Eric is the right
person to ask this. I I'm I I I went
there like if I had gone there on a
completely normal day, I might be a
better source of information,
>> but I was clawing my way through. You go
back and watch all those videos. I was
clawing my way through every contact
because of that solar storm. It was a
nightmare.
>> Yeah, that looked like torture actually
to me. But I've been there before. Get
out to a photo park, set everything up,
30 minutes in and I literally hear the
band just go ploop and make zero
contacts. So,
>> oh yeah, White Geeky is not POTA. I I
get that. Aahu, though, there's there's
probably other POTA spots you can go to.
>> There's actually one right Oh, okay. Go
ahead.
>> Just real quick, my advice is is from
the perspective of someone who's um
their Hawaii plays
regularly for plays radio while I'm
there. So, just for what it's worth.
Matt, you're uh it it sounds like you
switched to another mic. It got real
roomy. I can barely You're It sounds
like the mic's not by you.
>> Yeah, sorry about that. Something came
unplugged.
>> There it is. [laughter]
>> Okay.
>> My advice, my perspective just comes as
somebody who's regularly in Hawaii,
Pacific Islands, including, you know,
the Western atals, Midway, so on for
work.
>> So, I do play radio while I'm out there.
So just from the perspective of someone
who's not a resident but who does play
out there
>> do uh so let's see goes to the ATLs uh
goes to Midway. Do you ever go to
Quadrilene?
>> I have basically been everywhere out
there.
>> Okay. All right.
>> I'm not going to guess his profession.
>> Yeah. Yeah. We don't have to. We don't
have to. We're not doing that.
[laughter]
>> Uh no. I I do appreciate where you're
coming. Is there a for for anybody who's
operated Hawaii, is the north side of
the island or the south side of the
island better? Should I should I
literally if I if I can do directional
if I'm on the north side, I want to go
basically north uh because there's, you
know, mountains, a ridge between us, but
I don't know how much uh there is to
that scheme or thought.
>> I I wouldn't I wouldn't get too caught
up on that. If you're trying to do pota
activations, are you trying to activate
pas?
>> Yeah, I'll be at a pota park.
>> Yeah, just just try and hit up all the
podas. I don't know how long you're out
there, but I tried to do like two to
three a day. Didn't succeed in all of
them, but uh I tried them. Just just hit
them all. Don't worry about the
location.
>> Yeah, I'll I'll do as many as I can. But
and and I'm I'll be honest. I might just
do one. If if I get a pile up, I might
just sit at the one place and enjoy
myself the whole time instead of trying
to rove or do anything crazy.
>> I I gotta say if if you're going to
Hawaii and you have to go to an island
and you want to make sure you activate,
go to the big island and go to Moanaaya.
That is like you will activate from
Moana. I activate it on everything.
Single sideband, CW, FT8. I talked to
Adam on in San Diego on CW. That is the
cuz that is an impressive summit to go
to and the park is like the visitors
center and there's picnic tables all
over. Like that's the that there you go.
If you have to activate Hawaii, go to
Mona.
>> Thank you, Josh. I appreciate it.
[laughter]
>> But why I love Aahu, too. Go to uh
James.
>> Go ahead. Sorry.
>> I'm sorry. No, no, my apologies. I'm
half deaf. I apologize, Josh.
half deaf and goes to all the islands.
He's narrowing his profession further,
folks.
>> Everybody [laughter] in Discord has
figured it out. Anyway, uh what I will
say to you, James, is uh I agree with
Josh. If you're just doing POTA, don't
worry about where you're reaching. But
if you are interested, remember cardinal
directions aren't necessarily accurate.
If you do a search, there is a ham and
and uh Josh probably knows his call sign
and probably has the link, but there's a
ham that uh has a great circle mapper
uh that will allow you to see the
headings.
>> Yes, absolut
map. That's all I search for. Yeah,
there's there's a there's a great h
great uh set out there put out by Ham if
you are kind of interested in the proper
directions to to focus if you want to.
Um that is out there and that'll help
you.
>> Oh yeah, I'll go I'll go look at that
here pretty quick. Uh I I've been
pulling carpet this whole time we're
doing this. So uh when I get a chance I
will pull an asmthal map for
>> I love it.
>> I love it. That's awesome.
>> Okay.
Josh, can I tie a couple things together
real quick? Uh,
>> tidy little bow. Go for it.
>> Very tidy. Very tidy. Uh, speaking of
Pacific Islands, uh, Young Hams, uh,
Morse code and all of the above, uh,
just don't forget, uh, led by members of
the HRCC community. It's only 550 days
now until the VK9XY
de Expedition to Christmas Island. That
is a youth expedition.
uh led by a number of members from the
uh HRCC
uh Discord and HRCC community.
>> Fantastic segue. I will be having Max
and Connor on a live stream here in the
future to talk about that. So stay
tuned. Yes, good.
>> If anybody wants to check it out, it's
uh Victor Kilo9 X-Ray Yankee 2026vk9xy
20226.com.
>> I love it.
What's the next one?
>> What's the next?
>> Great kids. Really great kids. The f
future of the hobby.
>> Yeah. Did you have another one? I
thought you said you had other loose
ends.
>> Nope. That was it. That was
>> You only have one ribbon. You can't tie
a bow with one ribbon. No, I'm just
kidding. [laughter]
>> Well, it's it's a beautiful ribbon and
uh it's again, it's an all youth
>> It's a beautiful ribbon. It's the best
ribbon ever.
>> It's being led by uh you know uh by Max
and Connor. uh their advisors going with
them. W6ZT, Greg Marco, and WZ GJ, Glenn
Johnson, legendary DXers. Um but it's
it's also very proud moment because they
are uh most of them uh very active
members of HRCC. So
>> they are Max is insane, too. Max is been
to freaking Bouvet, which is just
insane. I hate that when I try and do a
a Trump thing that it ends up sounding
like Bernie Sanders. I don't know what's
going on with my I need to listen. I I I
need to like I need to so I can flip
into the voice.
>> Bernie's arguably better.
>> I I I like the Bernie accent more
personally than the Trump accent, but
you know, I I'm also a little bit more
equipped to do that. I don't know why,
but my my voice
>> understand.
>> I Hey, get twist my arm. Bring me to a
sugaring shack. I'm I'm down. Um
>> Hey Josh, it's Russ.
>> How's it going?
Um, so I'm here on Hawaii.
>> I would recommend
>> um if you man who's going to come here
to Hawaii, maybe reach out to one of the
Oxcom folks because they do have a
station in the fishbowl of Diamond Head.
So, if you can persuade them to let you
get onto the station there, you can be
in a park
on a 100 watt transmitter um with a you
know, a big powerful signal. So, just an
idea there. Um but yeah, you need to
work on your Bernie Sanders thing. Um I
have a house up up for sale in Vermont
if you want to buy it.
>> Um my Bernie Sanders is not bad. It's my
Trump that's a problem. So, let me let
me show this really fast. This was my
this was my radio kit that I brought to
Hawaii. And I I kept it together because
it's actually padded. It's it's good to
go. In there is the QRP station, the 50
watt radio. Um, this is smaller. So,
somebody said earlier,
somebody said, "Why not bring the FTX?"
So the FTX is going to be QRP or 10
watts or 100 watts and you have to bring
the Optima for that. This at 50 watts is
way smaller and being half an S unit to
100 watts is is not that big. But going
from 10, 20, 40, 80. So you get a full S
unit if you go to 50 watts and it's not
that much bigger. So that's why I went
with the 50 watt um jobber. So, there's
that. Also, since um since somebody
mentioned
Hawaii and so they still have civil
defense is still huge in in Hawaii.
I got uh a random email
from the showrunners
of
Storage Wars and they Okay. Seriously?
Okay. Fine. Fine. Okay, hold on. We have
to pause this for
Nope. Get it. Get get back.
>> You can't know this.
>> Did I do it right? Okay.
>> If mommy comes home, you better hide
that immediately because she's going to
be mad. Close the door. Close the door.
There you go. So, Storage Wars contacted
me and they had uh a shed, like they
they got a a storage container with ham
radio equipment.
I'm not going to go into any of the
details. You'll have to wait for the
episode and I'll figure out how we can
share the link and do all that stuff.
They make little clips on YouTube. I'll
do a response and all that fun stuff.
Um, I shot the video. It's already done.
But while I was there, there was a young
uh lady who I believe is from Hawaii. I
could I could tell from the look, the
tattoos, you know, and her her dad um
ended up they were talking and she was
like, "Oh, my dad's in civil defense in
um in Hawaii." And I was like, "No way."
And she's like, "Yeah." She's like,
"Actually, he could he possibly hear us
like from here on this radio?" And I'm
like, "Yeah, it's entirely possible.
We're in a bad location with where I set
the antenna up, but it's possible. We
should try." Okay, I'll just cut to the
chase. We didn't We couldn't work her
dad. But civil defense in Hawaii, he is
the voice on the radio when they cut
over and they do the emergency
announcement for Civil Defense. He's the
voice. He's the guy who records the
audio clips. And I was like, "Dude, when
I was in Hawaii, I was like, "This is
awesome. Why aren't we doing this
everywhere to tell people to be more
prepared and like what how much food
they should have and how much water?
That's our dad." And I was like, "Your
dad's awesome. Tell him that you're, you
know, tell tell your dad that he's
awesome." [laughter]
And yeah, it was cool. We took a couple
selfies. It was great. Um, yeah. So,
that was that was uh something I did a
couple weeks ago. [laughter]
Okay.
Uh, wonder why. Yeah, Hawaii still has
civil defense because they need it
because they're a first line of defense
in the Pacific Ocean and they have
ridiculous amounts of weather that they
have to deal with. Just to name a few
name a few things.
Okay.
Um, where are we going now? I think uh
any this is last call for questions
because we got to start saying hi to our
YouTube friends.
Anyone anywhere?
>> This is the last thing I promise.
>> No, you're good. Go for it, man.
>> I'm sure you've answered this a million
times. Um I had to be away from your
streams for a minute, but uh
>> How dare you?
>> I'm sorry. Please forgive me.
>> How dare you?
>> Um but uh you know, I just picked up an
FTM 510. Uh, I don't plan to be a Yazu
fanboy. I promise. Uh, just
>> I like Yau. [laughter] So many people.
Oh, okay. Continue. Please do not imply
I don't like Yu. Go ahead.
>> No, I'm not.
>> Poison the will. [laughter]
>> I'm not I'm not implying you don't. It's
just crazy how much people seem to not
like them for some reason. But I got my
first HF and uh was a Yazy, so I like
them. But I just bought an FTM 510. I
just installed it today, posted it and
all that stuff. But I'm I was wondering
what's the big difference between this
radio, the FTM 510 and like the IAD 5200
besides the massive price increase
because my understanding it's really
just the name DAR and um a bigger
screen.
>> Uh good question.
So, it is a bigger screen
and it has a KISS TNC, a terminal node
controller, so that you can access it
via Bluetooth or USB if you want to do
nonvoice things like data over uh VHF or
UHF. There's not a lot of radios that
offer that. the Kenwood does which is
also very expensive and the icon does
which is also the first time that they
are doing a foray into this into this
space. So this is this is kind of new
for for icon. They have not uh just
given Bluetooth control to operators
like this before.
>> So it's really just the data modes I
guess and the Bluetooth options and the
screen I guess. Everything I said
really.
>> Yeah, we got to be careful. So data
modes like DAR, right? DAR data voice is
less popular than YU system fusion. Yau
system fusion is a more embedded
technology. They have more repeaters,
you know, they they put stuff up in the
states.
I'm talking about data like pushing
actual data like data from a phone or
data from a computer. The YU is not
going to really do that in the same way
that the Ken would or the Icon does. Is
that worth the price difference? I don't
know. That's up for you to decide. Um,
the screens on both of them or the head
unit is bigger. The screen on the Icon
is the biggest and then you'd have to
fight over the 750 or the the 510 being
the bigger one. I don't really know. Um,
to be honest with you, the 510's fine. I
own one of those two and it's it's a
it's a good radio. It's in my go box. I
I don't think I'll probably take it out
of there because it it does APRS things
just fine. Um the key entry is a little
funky. APRS on the 510 is is is not is
not enjoyable, but I would argue that
it's not very enjoyable on the 750
either. We're hoping that with the big
screen on the icon when they release the
firmware for APRS that it uses the full
query keypad on the screen and then
that's going to be the that that will
that will be the best option if that's
what you want to do.
>> Yeah, it's uh I've just been wanting
that for a while. I don't know. I
literally just got this FTM 510. I love
it. I installed it and it it fits like a
glove in in my little truck's cubby. So,
I'm I'm very happy with it so far. I
haven't had a single problem. But yeah,
I've just been wondering about that. But
I guess it's just one of those things.
>> It's like a lot of stuff. I got to be
honest,
most of the radios function exactly how
you'd expect them to function on the
air. They sound good. It comes down to
user preference for how the radios work,
the the user controls, what you have to
do day in and day out on the radio. A
lot of people just like, "Yeah, this is
good enough and I'll go for it." Some
people are a little more pnicity than
that and they have preferences that they
want and you know for those people that
one brand is going to be better than the
other.
But in a lot of cases they're they're
somewhat interchangeable at the end of
the day uh for whatever it is you do and
for certain people. I I can see that.
>> Yeah, that's an interesting thing. I
think a lot of it name too and the
prestige or whatever. But that's all I
had. Thanks for the live stream and have
my daughter yelling at me so I gotta go.
But thanks.
>> You're welcome. I am now have the second
child bugging me for more time.
>> Hey, I'm actually the first child
>> or the second child to ask. You are the
first child. That is true. Okay, go
ahead. Comet.
>> Sorry, I was going to say the FTX1 has a
full corded keyboard. So when you're
doing APRS, it does that. Does it do
KISS? No, like the 750 I have. But it it
does have a full corded keyboard.
Uh the you're talking about the FT the
FTX
>> the FTX1.
>> Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Um
wait, you're saying the 750 doesn't have
a kiss TNC? What are you talking about?
>> No, I saying the 750 does have KISS DNC.
The FTX1 doesn't have Kiss.
>> Correct. Yeah. When you APRS, you don't
really need Kiss, right? Because you're
just doing it on the def on the device,
the radio itself. But if you're doing
APRS then you um you know you need a
keyboard on an external device. So what
I was saying? Um, well, it depends,
right? If if the company of the radio
manufacturer will float an open Kiss
TNC, then we can use our iPhones, our
tablets, our computers to access that
TNC, whether it's over USB or Bluetooth,
whatever. if it is
APRS only within the radio like Yau. Yau
doesn't generally give you TNC control
or access to anything uh at the at the
packet creation level. Um then you just
have to use what's on in on screen. The
Yasus do not give full TNC control. It's
it's all based off of an FPGA where they
do the programming.
>> Gotcha. I thought that was just only for
APS, but I learned something. Thanks
Josh. I didn't know you could do other
digital modes via there was a Bluetooth
thing that Kiss.
>> Uh yeah I I do wind link over packet on
both those radios.
>> I need to go down that rabbit hole.
>> Yeah, I mean that's Yeah, that that's an
option. Or just literally connect to a
packet BBS and communicate to an old
school packet station that still exists.
There's there's tons of them out there,
so you can still do it, which is pretty
fun.
Okay. All right. We have uh we have hit
a line here. Oh my gosh. Hold on. So, I
have Let's make sure I'm not screwing
something up here. So, let me let me
dive in and check some stuff.
What? I don't know what that means. So,
I have to come back to that. Discord
just sent me a message. That's not good.
Uh, thank you, Frank. Frank, are you in
the chat?
Did I miss the uh the Frank chat? Hold
on. Where's Frank at? Where did he send
that? 7 p.m. That's been a little while.
Okay. Um, I'll try and work through this
the best I can. We have a number of our
ham radio friends still in the chat
here. So, starting with Bill Ham Radio
Tectonics, how are you doing, sir? Are
you on the air with us?
am. Hear me out.
>> Hey, what's up, man?
>> How you doing, Jack? Uh, very
interesting chat tonight. I didn't have
a lot to add, but uh I always learned
something. How's it going, man?
>> I'm good. Um, I'm I I feel energized
from my three, you know, brass knuckle
gang contacts that I that I've added to
the uh to the gang.
>> Nice, nice, nice. Uh, Brass knuckle, I
believe I'm 275 or 276.
So, uh, I'm part of the gang and I'm I'm
not going to talk about it unless I'm
talking about it. [laughter]
>> That's right. That's right. Um, for
those of you that don't know me, name is
Bill Bravo India Lima Lima Kzero Whiskey
Hotel Whiskey and YouTube channel is Ham
Radio Tectonics. Just dropped a video
that, uh, you guys kept me company with
this wonderful chat while I was editing
it. So, uh, go on over there and watch
it after you leave us today.
>> Bill, you must, uh, you must educate me.
How do you both listen to a live stream
and edit at the same time? How can how
does one bifurcate their mind to be able
to do those two things at the same time?
>> Most of it I did earlier before but like
cutting out the and the
>> Oh, this is like clean up.
>> Yeah, it was it was just clean up. Most
of the actual putting it together and uh
yeah, I did it earlier. So
>> I I cannot imagine trying to edit a
video while trying to watch a live even
a live stream. I I can't I have to lock
in. I'm I'm like laser beam. I have to
focus otherwise I'll be off into the the
weeds in in a minute. So, thank you
though. Regardless,
>> years ago, I was uh in law enforcement
and I had uh one radio uh running in the
car, one on my ear, and people talking
at me. And I learned to sort of like
hear well, you know, hear
a bunch of different things. and then
focus on one
>> to listen to attention to. But
>> your mic is coming in and out. Are you
on your mic, Bill? Are you on your mic?
>> I'm gonna Well, I'll get out of the way
because that's probably my internet. But
thanks a lot, guys.
>> No, no, that just got way better. I
don't know what you did, but that fixed
it. You were just It sounded like you
were away from your microphone.
>> Oh, I don't know what that was, but
before it happens again, I'm just going
to say see you with the next guy. Come
on.
>> Oh, I appreciate you, Bill. Thank you so
much. All right. Uh, next I think Forest
took off. So, going down the list of ham
radio creators in the chat. I think the
next one's Jonathan. Is there anybody
who has a YouTube channel before
Jonathan wants to give a shout out for
themselves?
Okay, I think it's Jonathan. Jonathan,
what's going on with you, man?
>> Uh, actually, a lot's been going on. And
I've got like three updates um for
everyone.
>> I love it.
>> Yep. So, um it's in regards to three of
the products that I I sell. Um the um
first one is the amic paddles.
Um I've been constantly trying to get
these the paddles such that when you put
them on anything magnetic that they do
not move. And um thanks to um Aaron
Bowman's help um I was able to um make
it so it doesn't move anymore using ring
magnets. kind of like the pty key um
cheap keys. Um so that that'll be coming
soon. Um in about a week I'm going to be
dropping off a bunch of stuff at at
Hamfest to my um to Dan and he'll we'll
be um making those changes there. That's
the first update. So version three of
the new paddles. The second one is the
um CFT1 half upgrade um that'll be
coming out next. That'll be coming out
in about a week. Um, I'll be sending one
your way um uh Josh for your CFT1.
>> Thank you. I'm I'm uh
>> Yes, I love it. Thank you.
>> And the third thing is um the mini mics.
Um I was not expecting how popular they
would be. Um so I thought I might as
well expand the um expand the mini mics
so that they um or a so that there's
versions available for other radios. So
I just tested yesterday um a the um IC75
variant. I just designed a um Yazu
variant and I need to um I need to get
the um cables for the uh for the Shu V
Shu um cable. I tested that and it works
too. So for this it's just a matter of
ordering cables and everything will be
good. Um but that'll be coming in um
that's going to take some time because I
have to order them and that's going to
take like a month or two.
>> Yeah. When um when I when I got that
from Huntsville Hamfest and Right.
Right. It was Sun Huntsville, right?
When I got the
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. Um and and you showed me how small
it is and can switch between the QMX and
the KX2. I was like, "Oh, that's
perfect." Cuz now you are the smallest
mic that can switch between the two
easily and I put that in my little uh
you know, haul video. That was awesome.
Great. Nicely done. Very cool. I love
the fact you had all the colors, too.
That was awesome.
>> Yeah, I expanded the colors based on
demand. And since um it's a circuit
board, it's super easy for me to iterate
on it. So I was um able to just copy
that design, just add a resistor and
some capacitor, like capacitor and two
resistors. And then now it works for the
705. And then um same thing with the
Yazu version. Yazu uses [clears throat]
um dynamic KN microphone. So I had to do
a little bit of playing around with
that. But yeah, it's just that and a
special cable and um they work with
that. And I actually I crimped up a
cable for my G90 and tested it that way
and it worked perfectly. So, just need
to order a cable and then the standard
microphone will work with that.
>> I love it. Um, so curiositywise,
so 705 and Yau radios, they have
specific wiring that's different from a
QMX or a KX2 for instance, right? Is
that is that true?
>> Yeah. So, with an electric microphone
element, you have you have the
microphone, but you also have to give it
a um voltage bias.
>> Mhm. And so like devices like the KX2
and the QMX and so on go ahead and
handle the voltage at the bias inside
the radio. So all you got to do is just
literally um it's just connect point to
point. So it direct direct connection to
your um Electra element and you're good
to go. Icon and Yazu have um well Icon
uses an Electra Element on their
microphones but um they have the um but
they handle the VI bias in the
microphone um the hand mic and same with
Yazu. Yazu uses a dynamic mic, but they
do provide a 5volt bias that you can
use. So, um I have to have that bias
circuit inside the microphone.
>> Ah, gotcha. Okay. Well, there you go.
So, okay. There you will have specific
options for everybody on your website.
And what is your website? Give the shout
out there.
>> Yeah, it's hamgadgets.com.
>> hamgadgets.com. Good URL. Good catch on
that one.
>> Yep. Um it's um uh I I just make the
kits and then um radio Dan W7RF handles
sales. That's that's that's what he does
for his day job is he sells ham radio
kits. So I have a day job um uh with
similar to what your day job um very
similar. But um uh since I do that I
just I just I just bring him a box of
the stuff and he sells them on my behalf
and then we both um split the profit and
both of us win.
>> I love it. I love it. Well, thank you
for joining us. I appreciate it and
thank you for for continuing to dabble
in all these spaces and explore. I love
it. So, and thanks Jod for posting
hamgadgets.com in the chat. So, all
right. Next and next down the list. Who
is next? Uh I think it's K6J
uh Ge the Hillbilly Ham. How you doing,
man?
>> Is he there?
>> Hey, Josh. We're doing pretty good. Hey,
what's up?
>> Yeah, I'm still here. I I'm still here.
I made it tonight. Um, not a whole lot's
going on. Finally got cool weather, so
got out and did a POTA today. Um, also
working on a video series on the G106.
Um, so that's the kind of stuff that we
got going on right now. And I can't
remember who it was in the chat earlier
talking about balloons. Well, he's in
Albuquerque and he might want to go down
to Oklahoma's. Remember Shane also flies
hot air balloons from ham radio
clubhouse.
>> Well, no. Jay is going to Albuquerque.
But Jay, where are you from? Where do
you launch out of? Or is it not Jay? Who
am I thinking of? It's not Jay.
Oh, he might be gone. Who is our balloon
guy?
>> He might be gone.
>> No, it's RF RF Nomad. He's here. Where
Where are you from? Like right now?
Where do you
>> Oklahoma City?
>> Oh, yeah. So, do you know Shane?
I know a Shane, but the Shane I know is
I believe he's in Plano, Texas.
>> No, Shane um Shane from the Ham Radio
Clubhouse is a hot air balloon pilot as
well as a fixedwing pilot.
>> Yeah, he's not in Oklahoma though. I
think he's in he's in Texas. He works
for Southwest, doesn't he?
>> Oh, is he in proper Texas? Okay, my bad.
My bad.
>> Yeah, he's in Texas, but he's actually
at the Oklahoma event. going to be at
the Oklahoma event. He's going to be at
Albuquerque, too.
>> Yeah, you should catch up with Shane, RF
Nomad. You guys would you you guys would
be You'll have a great time.
>> I had no idea he was a ham, but I've met
him lots of times if it's if we're the
same Shane. But, uh, yeah, we have an
event. It's actually, uh, my instructor
and all of our friends who are doing it
right now, but I have a few sick kids,
so I'm stuck at home.
>> I wonder.
>> Yeah, because Shane Shade will be there
at the event this weekend. Are you on
the ham radio clubhouse Discord? You
might want to join because Shane's on
there, right? You can catch him there,
right? Everybody, someone correct me if
I'm wrong.
>> Yep, you can catch him in there. It's
OBF. He changed his YouTube channel to
OBF Workshop.
>> So, uh, go go find him. OBF Workshop on
YouTube. O, um, Oscar Bravo Whiskey, you
know, Oscar Bravo Workshop and Oh,
sorry. Oscar Bravo Frank. No, Foxtrot is
the right term. Uh, workshop. There you
go.
>> Yeah, I'll look them up right now. I If
it's the same Shane I'm thinking about,
then I've known him for a few years
without no idea.
>> Oh, if it's that Shane, I would be
shocked because he's pretty ham he's
pretty ham radio forward. Um, so that
would be awesome if if you guys didn't
know each other. That'd be super cool.
>> Yeah, that'd be hilarious. I'm I'm going
to check right now. I'm actually
probably I'm just going to text my
instructor.
>> Wait, wait. Pull up pull up pull up his
site. Okay, hold on. Um, what was it?
What was his uh whiskey? What was what's
his channel?
>> Oh, OBF Workshop.
>> OBF Workshop.
I don't know that I have
>> also on Instagram. He's Hell yeah
Balloons. That's
>> He's not on YouTube. He's not on YouTube
like that.
I'm seeing to right now. [laughter]
OBF Workshop does not come up as a
channel. What was his channel before
that?
>> It's QBF Workshop. Quebec Bravo Fox.
>> Ah, here we go.
>> See, he doesn't put his fa There he is.
I found him.
Oh, that's too much. That's Tamoth's
opening.
That's Shane. There he is. We found him.
That's Shane.
There's a picture of him in a place with
actual weather.
>> Going to it now. Hold on.
>> Uh, go to what is Winter Field Day in
Texas. So, he's Yeah, he's
>> That's him. That's him. I know this man,
>> dude. He's a huge ham. He's a huge ham.
He's big.
>> Oh my god.
>> Yeah, he's he's big in h radio. Check
him out, dude. That's nuts. Oh, you got
to Okay, please reach out to him about
all these things that you want to do on
on air balloon hot air balloons. I'd
love to help you. I have thoughts, but
this is the man that knows. This is the
man.
>> That is crazy. I've known him for many,
many years through my instructor and
I've talked to him a few times. I had I
had no idea. That's actually insane.
Yeah, Shane. I'm not going to say his
last name, but yeah.
>> Yeah, don't say his last name. Don't
Don't Yeah. Give him that.
>> If you want to verify who it is with the
personal question, ask him if he's
dropped a 7,300 lately.
>> I don't want to hurt.
>> Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do
that. God, guys, come on. Make them
friends. Don't Don't make them enemies
out of the gate.
>> Oh, he laughs about it. He
don't do that. Don't do that. Come on.
Come on. Come on.
>> Yeah. Frank owns that radio now. Uh,
there you go.
That's why Frank sounds so screwed up on
the air. No, I'm just kidding. I I'm
just kidding. Okay. Well, thank you,
man. I appreciate you. Um, next is Mark
Hughes, who we who we didn't we didn't
get the I I got to get him in the
downline. I I gotta I gotta I gotta
collect the Boondock Echo in the
downline. But how you doing, Mark?
>> Did I hear boondock echo?
>> You did, sir. When we were doing that, I
had just come off of rockets and radios
with Tim. I was running the Firewatch
net for an hour because the guy who I
thought was going to run it ended up
being in Portugal and he's like, I'm too
far away for 440. Like whatever. Um,
[laughter]
and I I just couldn't focus. And I was
doing everything I could with the
antenna, but you know what I think the
problem was?
>> Breakin.
[gasps and sighs]
Oh,
>> was off cuz I was practicing whenever it
was and I it just didn't even click till
after
>> because you had the 705. Yeah, you had
to push the breakin button.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> Whoops. So, I think we I like How could
How am I not hearing you? Cuz otherwise
I would have put the firewatch on
another. It doesn't matter. Uh I'm okay.
How you doing? [laughter]
>> I'm good. I'm good. Um I swear I swear
we will get you.
I I swear we'll get you in the BKG
because you like literally I I don't I
think we could probably do it on
handhelds. That's how far away we are.
We're so close. Really reasonable.
>> It wasn't making sense why we weren't um
to me anyway. So, but oh well. Um when
was the last time we talked? Did we have
a live stream last week?
Where was I last week?
I don't think I was. Wait, where was I
last week?
I don't even know. Oh, no. I was camping
last weekend. Yes. No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I I ran a uh a premiere. Yeah. Yep.
>> Perfect. Okay. So, uh La Habra Heights
Firewatch. Um we had a fire up here. It
actually burned a couple houses.
>> A real fire. A proper fire.
>> A real fire. And um I ended up being net
control for that event. And we were
putting out updates every 15 minutes.
and you know, so
a little exciting, but um we made it
through that. We're getting ready for El
Nino and we did that purchase of those
radios that I shared you with and some
of them came in today. So, we should
talk offline and I'll get you a couple.
>> Yes, sir. I'm going to work out some
giveaways on those. I think the radios
that shall not be named right now. But
Mark, let's talk about that for a
second. Just give me your give me your
highlevel thoughts on the El Nino talk
here in Southern California. Obviously,
we've already seen the impact of like
almost zero hurricanes in the Atlantic
Ocean region, and people say that that
is there is a relation to our El Nino.
We're going through the biggest possibly
ever. What are you worried about
slashpreparing for?
>> Great question. So, we know there's a
ton of energy in that ocean and that's
going to generate rain and that rain is
going to go somewhere depending on where
the jetream takes it. That could be a
nothing burger for us or could be a huge
deal for us or it could be a normal for
us. But we also know Southern California
doesn't have a great infrastructure to
deal with those hundred-year floods.
>> Yeah.
>> So, what we're doing is just reasonable
preps. Um, we're going to do a sandbag
workshop at the park for old people who,
you know, can't necessarily take care of
it themselves. Um, at our firewatch
meeting, we were telling people um about
food prices. We anticipate those going
up just because of everything that's
going on. The El Nino could shift
weather patterns to where crops don't
grow in the usual spots that they do.
Um, nothing too crazy. You know, we're
not building arcs, but we're just trying
to teach common sense. You know, common
>> all those animals on board right now. We
got to get all those animals.
>> You know, clean out your gutters, clean
out your drains. Um, and have
have a community around you that can
help you if something happens is the
most important thing.
>> For real. Yeah. Well said. Very good
highlevel approach. Um, I didn't really
think about the food shortages, but
yeah, there could be panic buying.
>> It's time to leave Earth
>> and in and considering California
doesn't get hurricanes and there is a
potential that hurricanes will make
landfall this year uh because of this El
Nino, I I just want everybody to
understand the El Nino that is on track
right now is the largest ever
experienced ever in this area. And every
time we have a big El Nino, it's a lot
of rain, which fastmoving water, if
you've ever listened to the podcast, is
one of my my greatest fears. I fear a
lot of things, but fastoving water I
fear above all other things because uh
as a very strong swimmer, I understand
that mother nature and water moving
quickly will take out human beings in no
time. No time flat. You have no chance
in fastmoving water. You can't deal with
it. Yeah,
>> we are having a meteorologist. Uh we'll
be at our La Hover Heights City Hall on
the 3rd at 10:00 a.m. So, you're welcome
to join or I could give you the rundown
after they leave, but they're supposed
to give us regional forecasts for what
to
>> when is that?
>> What to better October 3rd.
>> Would they allow recording?
>> Sure, we it'll be recorded anyway in
YouTube. So, yeah, if you wanted to do
that, I'm sure that I could get get you
affirmative, but I'm sure it'd be fine.
Um, let me Okay. October 3rd. Hold on.
Let me let me uh We should probably talk
offline.
>> Yeah,
>> because that's Saturday next week. Okay.
>> Yeah.
>> Right. Okay. Cool. I might be
>> So, um, in Boondock World, I made an
application I call AI slop. Um, which is
automated inspection.
What was it? Inspection, sensing,
observation, listening, and processing.
Basically, I connected a um a large
language model to an SDR
so you can ask it questions like what's
the loudest frequent, you know, the
loudest radio station around me right
now? Is there any action on FTA?
>> Um, so I did that as a live stream,
although time permits, I'll make a a
video on it. But it was just
>> making fun of people who were making fun
of my thumbnails mostly. Um,
>> I like it.
>> Other than that, man, we're still moving
forward. um trying to land clients and
make money.
>> There you go.
>> Well, good for you. Keep getting out
there. Um I I I love hearing the updates
week to week. So, thanks for sharing
with us. And uh let's let's talk offline
about potentially next week. What What
time is the meeting?
>> 10:00 a.m.
>> Oh, that's actually doable. Okay, that
might be fun. Okay. Yeah, let's talk
about that. All right, man.
>> Cool. All right, bud. We'll see you.
>> Appreciate you next. right underneath
him. You know what's really sad is Mark
uh KD7DTS has now swapped out the HRCC
logo uh for the BKG gold skull that he
has right now. Mark, how do you how do
you answer for this? What are you What
are you doing out here?
>> You know, I have split loyalties, Josh.
I split loyalties.
>> I can see that.
>> It depends on which gang leader I am
following. I switched it back for
tonight. We'll we'll be HRC.
>> Oh, I see that. Okay. Okay. Yeah, you
you've redeemed yourself. Okay.
>> And then [laughter] we will resume gang
activities.
>> That we'll resume gang activities. Fair
fair point. I appreciate that there can
be two gangs in this town like the
Sharks and the Jets and then we can work
together in harmony. Maybe
>> the important part is to know both of
the synchronized dances.
I love that you dialed in on the sharks
and the jets and focused on the fact
that it's the the switch play the
switchblade knife thing is a dance. So,
I love that. I love that you dialed in
on that. Amazing.
>> It's We all have our hyperfocus. Um
Josh, I'm so excited that I got to talk
to you twice today on more on me.
>> That was awesome.
>> Mark, I I I don't want to assume through
CW. I can't tell if Mark is angry via
CW. I haven't seen Mark angry, by the
way. I've never seen him angry. Um, but
he came back at me so many times for
grid and I kept giving him DF13 and he
kept giving me that grid question mark
and I'm like, I don't understand, Mark.
I don't get it. I don't understand.
>> And [snorts] then later he's like, dog,
I need six characters. And I'm like, ah
crap.
>> Well, okay. So, there were two things
about that. First, DM13
is by Joshua Tree.
>> No. What do you mean? I'm in DM13,
aren't I?
>> I think you're in DM03.
>> Oh, was I Did I just totally f that up?
>> So, so if you had been in DM13, I
>> I'm totally DM03. I'm totally DM 03.
>> I was like, this may be my best 2 meter
contact of the month.
>> Amazing. Amazing.
>> But where is Josh?
>> Where am I? Where is Josh? Where is he?
>> But you said, you know, where is Josh?
You know, you travel. I don't know.
Maybe I'm getting some like crazy.
>> Maybe I'm a Who knows? Who knows? No.
Yeah, it's DM03 and then everything else
I told you with the uh closer adjacency.
[laughter]
>> Yeah. So, that was awesome. And then
there was some confusion about how BKG
does not need grids. Doesn't need them.
Totally unnecessary.
>> I blame Becky. I blame Becky to be
honest with you. This is
>> Becky's fault.
>> I'm gonna I'm gonna throw it out to Mike
and Becky. Um, I I didn't want to make a
big thing out of it. I didn't I I
absolutely went to the shot caller
though when I saw this going down in
Huntsville. Mike and Becky making a lot
of contacts. Mainly Becky making a lot
of contacts. And I went up to to Forest
cuz he was there like he was there at
the pavilion. I was like, "Hey, just for
my clarification, do we need the grid in
the Cuso to jump people in?" Cuz I
thought that was the thing. and he was
like, "Yeah,
um, we're I think we're okay without it
right now." And that was that was kind
of how the conversation went. It was a
longer conversation about other things,
but that was kind of the like we don't
need grids right now. We don't need
grids for BKG.
>> No grids. And I don't remember if I gave
you a hard time or not when I jumped you
in, but I think I may have made you send
a grid.
>> Um, I I think you did, but I I don't
think you gave me a hard time about it.
It didn't feel less hard time than the
hard time from today,
>> if that makes sense. [laughter]
>> I I did ask you for your grid for I was
recording video, by the way.
>> I thought you were I assumed you were. I
assumed you were. So, I'm going to roll
up in the in the joke track here. I get
it. I I totally get it. I totally get
it.
>> I think I may actually have had five
minutes of 4K footage of me just being
really confused.
>> Fantastic. I I'm so excited to see how I
sound on the other end
>> with my 100 watt radio. Yeah, because
the 100 watt radio blasting to a summit,
so I'm assuming it sounds fantastic.
>> Yeah,
>> I'm just sitting there going I I think I
was giving you a question mark back at
some point like
what
>> I think my favorite thing that you sent
for the entire exchange was Roger. Roger
question mark.
>> Yeah, absolutely. Yes, I hear you. Also,
I don't know what the hell you're
talking about, man. What do you want?
>> Phenomenal. Anyway, but because I was on
a soda summit and you get points per
kilometer of distance.
>> Yes.
>> I need the six-digit grid, not
fourdigit. I get it.
>> So, I was like, Tim, I got to get this.
>> I get it. Um,
>> I get it.
>> By the way, Tim was with me. Uh, and you
also made contact with
>> I did. I did. After I fig I figured that
out. I'm like, oh, he's talking about a
se second operator. I'm like, okay,
okay, we'll we'll get the we'll get
that, too. Yeah. And and Tim is one of
my favorite uh ham radio YouTubers
because he is a canonical meme lord and
the way that he hikes and activates is
exactly what you would expect from
somebody with a vicious sense of humor
about ham radio.
>> There you go. I like it.
>> So, uh I I'll probably put out a video
about that. I haven't put out a video in
a couple months, but this one is just
funny enough. We're going to release it.
>> Oh, you have? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[laughter] So there. Yeah, there you go.
I'm in there. I'm in the log.
>> Definitely got you in the log. Yeah, it
was a really good day on 2 meters and uh
coming home to watch the live stream was
was pretty fun. That was a good one.
>> I'm shocked that I I got Well, I got
you. So, you literally made a contact
from the roof of your of your home that
you were
>> Yeah. So, my my complex that we live in
technically doesn't really allow radios.
Um, but you know, it's a flexible
concept
>> and I don't have line of
>> Yeah. And I don't have line of sight to
you. And our balcony is currently under
reconstruction.
>> Mhm.
>> So, I just threw everything in my soda
backpack, ran up the fire escape, and
operated from the top of somebody else's
condo.
>> Perfect. Perfect. And it worked. I could
hear you.
>> Yeah. And nobody caught me. It was
great.
>> Yeah. Well, that's the best way to do
radio.
>> Yeah.
Yeah, the I the first time I tried to
get you, I was using a 5/8 whip and a
twin chung and that did not work for
some reason. And then we set up with 857
with a three element Yagi and it was
much better.
>> I I I noticed the difference. I
[laughter] I could notice the
difference. It was You made it no
problem. I I heard you without any
issue.
>> Yeah, I went back and watched that piece
of the live stream. We were definitely
uh causing audio problems. We It was too
much power. it. Hey, you know, honestly,
you got to make the contact, right? So,
we did it. We made the contact, so we're
good. [laughter]
>> Yeah, it was awesome. So, anyway, yeah,
life is good. And uh and I finally got
to activate. Um and the bands have just
been fantastic. Um I've been
brainstorming about ways to do a Ryon
only activation. I think that would be
interesting.
>> Yeah. So, I I thought about you today. I
turned on the HF radio when I was
sitting in the shack and I think a Ritty
was going going hot. Oh, I thought if
there was a contest this weekend.
>> It's CQ Worldwide.
>> That's why. Yeah, that's that's why.
>> So, this this would be the time if you
wanted to play around with Ry a little
bit. This is the this is the time to do
it.
>> Yeah, I got set up and uh 14100 that
whole region was just smoking with Ry
today.
>> It was crazy. So, Ry's actually I I
think well I mean I I guess now I can
consider myself an older ham. Um, I I
was there before FT8 and uh PSK31. I use
PSK31
and I use RY too, but PSK31 had a bit of
a novelty with the with the text
chatting kind of thing. Um, Ritty
functioned a little bit differently. You
kind of had a needed to have a bigger
station kind of generally. Um, I've I
participated in a couple of Ry contests.
I know Kyle A0 is really active in in
Riy uh and the contesting there. It It's
a fun mode.
A lot of like little key presses like
boop boop boop do the thing,
shoot my uh shoot my RF all over the
place and we're good to go. But it it
it's a fun mode. It's still fun.
So, the specific thing I want to do is I
want to get enough people to learn how
to do RY that I can take my KX2 up and
use the super secret mode that nobody
ever uses where you can send Morse code
into the KX2 and it transmits it as RY.
>> Oh.
Oh, interesting.
>> And then it receives the ready and then
it displays it in that little scrolling
display on the bottom right.
H
that sounds
>> so you can have fraught with disaster. I
don't know how sensitive that it's going
to be.
>> I think it is exactly the right type of
disaster. The KX2 also has a built-in
filter that seems perfect for this.
>> Okay. Oh, I'm curious now. Um I'll blast
you with some Ry if you want on HF. I
can throw all the uh all the at you
>> and you can test it.
>> Yeah, that that was why I was texting
you this weekend. I I I want to try
this. Okay, let's go.
>> Not the uh tomorrow evening. I we can we
can work something out.
>> I I got to shoot some videos tomorrow in
the morning. So,
>> okay.
>> Sounds like a plan.
>> Yeah. There you go, man. Cool.
>> Awesome. I'll catch you soon.
>> All right. Thank you very much. All
right. Next. Let's see.
Uh
who do we have here? Uh going down the
list here. Mark, Mike,
Rollola. We got Rola still hanging out.
I don't even know what Na Oh, I know
what Nan is. Uh, you're in JBO Hacks
Discord. Is that what Is that the the
tag you're throwing right now?
>> Is that the gang you're Is that the gang
you're lined up with?
>> Trying to rep trying to rep the
different communities. Yeah.
>> There you go. There you go. What's going
on, man?
So last weekend I went to a show in
Chicago which is the international
machining trade show happens every two
years and it's the largest machine. When
that trade show is going on the
McCormack Place Center I don't know if
you've ever been there in Chicago that
the convention center there it is the
largest machine shop in the world.
>> That's amazing. they they will have um
millions of square feet and like for
instance like Mazak a machine
manufacturer they'll have four or five
million dollars in machines in their
booth like powered on and running and
making chips. It's fantastic. It's one
of the coolest shows you can go to,
especially for me being a machinist. So
I went to that and I shot a whole bunch
of video to put on my YouTube and I got
like maybe three videos up. Um, and I
actually had one for me go viral. I some
I took a video of them doing a tool test
where they were just eating through
material through like the stainless
steel material trying to break an
endmill. I was sitting there with one of
the texts like, "Can we break the
endmill? Let's break this $300 endmill."
And he was like, "Yeah, let's go." And
it just kept eating the material away. I
recorded that and I got like 14,000
views. And I was like, apparently I hit
the algorithm right now.
>> Tool chat is big. like dudes and tools
big audience on on like feeds, reels,
all that stuff.
>> Yeah. And I I also then up close and
personal got to see some really cool
rocketry related things. Do you mind if
I post it in the live live stream chat?
You got it. This is fantastic video.
>> Is it not safe for work rocketry?
>> No, no, no. It No, it's safe for work.
This is literally I got Okay, hold on a
second. While you do that, I'll pull up
uh modern mors.com. Oh no, they're on a
break. So keep that in mind, guys. If
you want to know when Modern Morris is
available again, make sure to add your
emails and they'll let you know. But
they are taking a break right now.
They're on a break. Okay, they were on a
break. It's okay what they did in summer
camp.
>> Sorry, I had Yeah, that's a whole
another story. But I I had some
I got some critical feedback on Reddit
that I shouldn't be taking pre-orders if
I can't fulfill them within a quote
reasonable time. And so I was like,
that's fine. I have and just so like I
have like over 300 people waiting on
keys and I am producing them as fast as
I can. So I was like, yeah, you know
what? I want to reduce my own personal
stress. I'm just going to quit taking
orders for a bit. That's fine. And I
will get all those shipped out and we'll
be fantastic.
>> So, this is where you and I differ as as
people. Um, by the way, I love this. I
love this video you're showing. This is
amazing. Okay, so hear me out. I'm going
to pause this for a second. So, what I
would do on this website, which is very
welcoming,
um I would add like a a a snapshot right
here, and it would be the comment of the
person that said, "You shouldn't take
orders if you can't fulfill them." I
would put that right there, right on
top, right up, right there, right there.
if you
>> and that would be like yes I am
>> 7 79 comments. I had a disgruntled
customer
>> who made it made a random post on Reddit
and like the dog pile happened and I
went through about a 48 hour mental
health crisis wondering like what the
heck's going on? What did I do wrong?
>> And I went back and then I was like no I
did the right thing with this guy.
>> He already contact
>> Oh fantastic. I don't want to go into
the whole thing with Reddit because I
don't want to give give them too much
credit there, but it was just one of
those like strange things. I went back
and looked at the emails and I was like,
"No." I said, "You have option one,
which is wait. Option two, I give you
full refund." And he was like, "No,
option three, you push me to the front
of the line now." And I was like, "No,
that's not going to work.
>> That doesn't work. That doesn't work."
So, literally, I I I like what you did
here. I like I like this. I I think this
is fine. I think as individual
manufacturers,
you're it's completely fine to say,
"Hey, we're going to pause the intake of
orders." I think that's completely fine.
But I would, as your mouthpiece, this is
you. This is you, Rola. I would put that
little snapshot right up there on top
and say like, "We're listening to our
customers."
That's what I would put.
>> [snorts]
>> I it's it's like when you I remember I
remember I think several years ago you
had a piece of fan mail that wasn't very
polite and you framed it and put it up
in your shack.
>> It's still there. You can see it in
every one of my videos. I got another
one too. I got another one. Yeah. Um I I
I think see that's the thing is you can
now you can say well we're listening to
our most outspoken customers there.
These are people that um that have come
across my inbox and we see them. We hear
the large voice that is
Reddit and Ham Radio community.
We're listening to the loudest speakers
and the people who get the most votes,
the most updes in the in the Reddit
space and we're we're responding
accordingly. And so then you're like,
boom, binka And it's like, yep, we
hear you. We're going to we're going to
pause.
>> I just don't know if I want to troll the
Reddit crowd right now cuz they're a
little uh
>> it's not a troll. It's not a troll.
You're literally responding to what
they're saying. Like you can't make the
keys faster. There's no mechanism that
you have to make them any faster. like,
"Hey, we heard we're we're going to try
something different. There's a lot of
customers who are outspoken outspoken
commenters. We're going to try just
stopping for a while. We won't uh take
any pre-orders and we're just going to
wait until we get back on top of things
and then we'll start taking pre-orders."
So, you you all that want a key,
you just got to wait for when it opens
back up.
>> Yeah, it's it's gotten to the point
where I almost got scared of posting
anything. Uh,
>> every time you every time you get scared
of posting something, you should just
contact me and be like, "Josh, is this
okay to post?" and be like, "Yes." And
then you don't look at it again. And
then you're fine.
>> That's fair. I mean, like even today, I
want I want I was going to live stream
part of what I was doing this morning
and I I was like, "It doesn't have
anything to do with keys. I'm not gonna
I'm not gonna live stream it."
>> How dare you? How dare you not live your
entire life around manufacturing? The
key that I paid for, I pre-ordered. I am
number 275.
Aaron, why aren't you making my key the
first priority of your life?
>> Like that? Is it like that?
>> Ah, maybe. I don't know. Yeah, I see
weird comments like that. You're making
me feel a little bit better. But okay.
>> Um, good.
>> Actually, I really
>> So, I posted that video. So, so over the
course of 24 hours while I was at the
show, I walked over 14 and a half miles
according to my step count. And I was
just like, cool. I I I got some mileage
under my because, you know, I'm a big
frame guy and I was I was like, that's
fantastic. Yeah.
>> So, then that gave me the confidence
that I signed up. So, there's a in here
in St. Louis, there's a what an
organization called 22 Strong.
>> They provide, you know, the whole 22-day
veteran suicide awareness thing that's
out there. We love that.
>> Um, and I I have had six friends that,
you know, that were veterans that I
served with that succumb to that. So, I
was like, "Cool." They had like a
marathon walk to do and like you set a
goal and you do it. And there was like
400 people this morning. I got up at 4
a.m. So, I'm a little tired right now.
And I got through 10 miles and I had
friends that did 22 miles, but I did
22,000 steps. And I hurt right now. I'll
tell you that right now.
>> 22,000 steps is insane. I don't do that
on a big convention day. I don't do that
on most of my hiking days.
>> That's impressive, man.
>> It was I my joints all hurt and I'm
hoping that it gets better because
tomorrow I begin my 32-hour drive to
Pacific Beach, Washington.
>> Good. Oh, you're going to Pack Beach.
All right. Awesome. That's sweet, man.
Okay, so Erin, I want to show you
something. Okay, I'm going to show you
something right now and I think this
will solve all of your problems. So,
there is another creator out there. It's
Hans QRP Labs and he sells radio kits.
He sells the kits and he also offers a
service that you pay for for someone to
assemble your kit. So, Aaron, I don't
know if you're watching me on YouTube
right now. It's okay if you're not, but
um we're looking at backdated orders for
a built radio from April 17th right now.
And this website goes from that date all
the way down until current day.
And it has order numbers assigned to
every one of them. and people can track
their long arduous path to the top of
the list of when they're going to get
their built radio. The metrics that they
provide is great. Maybe you just need
more data. Maybe you just need to put
people on a big ass list and be like,
"You're way down. Your your your key is
item 200. You ordered it in August and
we're still processing
orders from April, everybody. Erin, are
you are you still working? Are you still
working through orders from April?
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. March and April.
>> Well, then maybe you just need a
website. Maybe you just need a website
that just drops everybody down and be
like, "Hey, this is it. This is the way
it goes."
And this has been going on for years and
people STFU and order and keep ordering.
>> Yeah, exactly. That's the thing. They
just want it faster. I get it. I get it.
But maybe that's the maybe that's the
the trick. Instead of like going
offline, just go 100% transparency and
just drop every order number as a ranked
list and say like we take them in the
order we got them and this is it and
just boop boop boop boop boop boop and
just knock them off. That might be a
great way to do it. What I meant is
people just get it. They order and just
close their mouth and wait.
>> Yeah. I think that that's what I that's
what I battle is like it's going to take
forever. You know, I had somebody be
like, "Hey, I need I need an absolute
ETA." And I was like, "Well, you got two
options. It'll happen someday." Right?
I'm working on it. Cuz if I go, you
know, sometimes for me, it takes forever
for me to say, "I look at email, the
person wants an update. Now I got to go
figure out where they are at. What color
combo was it? When am I going to do the
next batch? Are they in the next batch?
Is this what's happening? And literally,
it's like 8 to 10 minutes for me to
process that per person. And I was
eating up time doing that. And I was
like, okay,
if there's a way I can automate that
system, we'll do it. And I had the ERP
system in the background. I just I
turned the I turned the automatic emails
updates off for like three or four weeks
just so I could fix some bugs because
some people that had like already
ordered and been delivered were still
getting updates and I had to fix those
bugs first. I just those were bugs I had
to fix them.
>> Um and so just but honestly maybe just a
big ass list and be like here's where
everybody's ranked in the order they
purchased. We will get to you as soon as
we can and we'll clear it off as soon as
we can. Yeah, I could just put an order
list up there that the only thing that I
I'll have to make sure that I absolutely
communicate is that sometimes there will
be people like like you might be order
number 1700 and somebody that's like
order 1750 might get their key before
you simply because I'm doing a batch of
20 of this color.
>> Exactly. Yes. Yeah. That was going to be
exactly the comment that I made is like,
yes, orders pertaining to a particular
color might come up before your color.
Don't panic.
>> Yeah, I'll have to put that in bold.
I've also I've also learned that in some
cases people, and I I'm guilty of this
too, don't always read the text. I mean,
I I'll have to like create like a blinky
neon sign for the website. That's
>> Yeah, you got to shake keys. You got to
shake keys and say like, you know, pay
attention. Honestly, like I I like what
Hans does here is there's no ambiguity.
It's like this is the order you made.
This is the date you made. It it nobody
knows what the secret information means.
It's only people with the email for the
order number that means anything to
them. And then it just slowly works up
the list. Like that's it. Like it just
that's how it goes. We're all just in a
queue. And yes, you explain certain
color combinations will come up before
other colors at the top of the list. And
that's just the way manufacturing goes,
everybody. We're all adults and that's
how it works. That's it.
>> And I will be reducing it down to two
different color combinations. After
this, after I get through this and I
turn the website on, you you're
basically it's going to be the Model T
example. I'm going to Henry Ford it. Oh,
see I hate that they're killing your
your creativity.
>> No, but I'm not. So, here's here's my
plan, which is I go to all these
hamfests. And I think that that's what
I'll drive people to Hamfest is like I
will do all the creative stuff and all
the creative colors. And if you want one
of those, you come find me at Dayton,
you come find me at Huntsville, you come
find me at Pacific Con, and I will be
there and I will have the cool stuff.
And so if you have a cool color combo
key for me, people know, "Oh, he
actually got that from him in person."
>> Oh, interesting. I I can Okay. Okay. I
like I respect it. I like it. Thoughts
on uh making a custom build list on your
website with options. You like, you
know, you like like you would have make
custom vans, that kind of thing.
I'd have to charge more just because of
the pain portion of that. And but I sit
there and I'm like I'm trying to keep
the thing affordable. Like uh the my
price has gone up, but that's also
because since I started this, the price
of aluminum has gone up eight times.
>> Well, no, but you set the price. You're
the business owner. Like you just if if
if I wanted to make a custom order, you
charge me more for a custom order. I
expect that. If I'm trying to make a
custom order, that would you know what I
mean? You know what I mean?
>> Yeah. And I'm sure that that would then
that would limit the number of people
that would do it and then I can give put
more time towards that. You know, if I
ended up with 300 custom orders, I'd
lose my mind and pull my hair out.
>> Well, you got to set the price right.
You have to set the price right.
>> Yeah, that's fair.
>> For exactly for your stress and the cost
that it takes upon you to do the thing.
That is a that is a monetary value that
you should bake into the cost of the of
the creative item that you're making.
Yeah, absolutely. This is a fun
conversation. People are getting to
watch business development happen real
time.
>> Yeah. Yeah, man. Cool. Well, okay.
Consider consider this. Consider just
dumping all the information and be like,
you get it when this list is depleted.
Consider it. Yeah. Think about it.
>> Yeah, that's fair.
>> All right, Erin. I appreciate you, man.
Hang in there.
>> Did you see the Did you see the video,
though?
Which one? Yes, I think so.
>> The video I posted. So that Have you
ever seen like stereoiththography laser
printing?
So they were printing combustion
chambers for uh uh rocket motors. Like
that's what I was showing in that video.
>> Yeah. So how does this work? This is
like a
a loose material and then they laser the
crap out of it.
>> Yeah. So, it's basically it's a quad
fiber laser inside of a vacuum chamber
and they have a little arm that sweeps
over and puts a like micron thin layer
of this powder that's like very uniform
beads of the whatever the material is
and then they just melt it with the
laser and then they go back over with
another laser and they build the whole
thing up. That's so cool because then
they could do internal cooling chambers
and things of that nature.
>> I was like I was so spitt with this I
was like I must have one. How much are
they? And they were like, "Oh, they
started
>> 625."
>> Yeah. Yeah. They're hundreds of
thousands of dollars. Yeah.
>> I got to sell a lot of keys. But I did,
while I was at the show, put an order in
for an injection molding machine.
>> Oh,
okay. Okay.
>> Cuz I have a couple of products coming
out next year where the enclosure for
the product I wanted to be injection
molded. And injection molding like
usually is like up 30 grand if you even
want the mold made, right? And I was
like, well, I have the machine shop to
make the molds. I can go get the
training on doing mold flow analysis and
things of that nature. I just now need
the machine. So, I put I put an order in
for a smaller machine that'll do what I
need for the products I have coming out.
So, I'm super excited about that.
>> There you go. Cool, man. Well, I'm I'm
happy you joined us out here and and
talked a little while. I appreciate you
and thanks for uh thanks for being out
there 73 man.
>> Thanks for the platform. I appreciate
it. YouTube.
>> Yeah, absolutely. Um okay, anybody else
want to give a quick shout out or
question? I'm going to wrap things up
here because I got to try and burn down
200 Well, is it uh a space odyssey?
Yeah, we got to blow through that. 2001.
Oh my god, we passed that. That was the
Y2K, right? Uh go ahead. Anybody with
questions, comments, let's take them and
then I'm going to go.
>> I just worked Guam on Ritty.
>> You were Guam on Ritty? That's awesome.
>> I worked Guam on Ritty.
>> That's a sweet contact. Sweet contact.
Sweet
>> on 15 meters.
>> Yeah, that makes sense. I believe it. I
believe it.
>> Yeah. For the time of day where I am.
Yeah.
>> Mhm. Who else? Anybody else? Comment
question. I'm taking them live. I've got
a comment for uh Aaron there.
>> Comment for Aaron. Let's go.
>> Stay off of Reddit. It's a cesspool. And
as far as the grumpy customers go, just
fire them. It's not worth the $100 a
profit for all the aggravation that they
can give you. Like, listen, obviously
I've disappointed you. Let me give you a
refund and I'll go ahead and take you
off our master list so you can never
order again. Have a great day. Goodbye.
Been there, done that, and I love it.
Yep. That's That's where I'm at at this
point.
>> Good man.
>> Yep.
All right. Who else was in there? I
think I saw one other person.
>> Hi, Josh.
>> Hey. Oh, thank you very much, RF Nomad.
Uh, I hope you catch up with Sean. I
think that'll be a lot of fun. I think
you guys will I I think this could be
like some really cool videos that you
guys work out together potentially. So,
reach out to him early before you even
head out there.
Yeah, I had my uh movie or my ballooning
friends uh message him since they're
right next to him and his call sign and
all that for me.
>> There you go. There you go. We already
got the pathway uh there. So, right on.
Cool. All right, guys.
I'm I'm pretty much done.
>> Yeah, go ahead.
>> Just want to say check your DMs. I I
sent you some messages. Um this is Ross
KC5Cnt. Um but uh great uh production
tonight and talk to you again soon.
>> Appreciate appreciate. Okay, so let me
go over here and then I'll make a
comment.
>> I'll take a quick pee. Oh, well thank
Oh, thank you. Oh,
>> wow. That's fantastic. You should post
those.
>> Those are not consumption.
>> What's that?
>> Oh,
I I see. Okay,
thank you. I was going to say, why don't
you just post these, you know, publicly?
These are pretty cool pictures.
I will say nothing. I will say nothing.
Okay. Who was the other person that
wanted to comment? Go ahead.
Oh, I was just going to ask Mark if he
would uh friend me on um here because I
have a very funny story about kitty
snacks or kitty treats or whatever they
are, but I can't friend him and send him
a message.
All right.
I I don't know what to do about that.
>> That's funny.
>> I don't know what to do about
>> Well, I'll tell everybody. I don't mind.
So, a few a month or two ago.
>> No, I got to go. I got to go.
>> YouTube.
>> I I got to go. I'm going to wrap up. I'm
going to wrap up here. James, continue.
You keep telling the story. Mark's here,
so you guys can talk. I'm going to wrap
up here on the Discord. 73 of the
Discord and I will talk to you guys
later. Take it easy. So, okay, I'm out
of there. Uh, let me just say
I gota I gotta go
show my kids a 2001 Space Odyssey.
Again, I appreciate that my kids want to
watch a 2001 Space Odyssey, but
I don't think they understand what
they're in for. So, I'm kind of just in
for the ride. I'm more watching them
than I am the artistful mastery of
Stanley Kubri in the cinematic format. I
don't know. I don't know. We're going to
see how it goes. But anyway, good night
everybody. I appreciate you. 73 and
we'll talk to you real soon. See you.
[music]
[music]
>> [music]
[music]
>> Let's play a game. You don't even have a
call sign. [music]
[music]
Step like a man. They give us a call
sign. They give us a call sign
like a man. They give us a call sign.
They give us a call sign.