Everyday Ham Podcast: Amateur Radio Conversations
Welcome to the Everyday Ham Podcast, where three friends dive into the world of amateur (ham) radio with a casual, lighthearted twist. (Visit www.everydayham.com)
From discussing what we're working on, current events, and lessons learned to sharing our gripes and off-topic banter, we bring a mix of fun, relatable conversations and radio expertise.
Whether you’re a seasoned operator or new to the hobby, join us for engaging chats that celebrate the quirks, challenges, and joys of being on the air.
Everyday Ham Podcast: Amateur Radio Conversations
2026 Ham Radio Predictions: New Rigs, Community & What's Next
What does 2026 have in store for ham radio? A year into the podcast, James (K8JKU), Jim (N8JRD), and Rory (W8KNX) turn up the dial with a forward look at the hobby's near future — grounded in real gear, real operating, and real community.
We start in the shack with winter POTA prep, a feather-light 33-foot mast, a fiber-fueled network overhaul, and a pair of pristine rotary phones begging for a ham project. Then we get into the predictions.
On the gear side, we share our predictions for what hardware might be on the horizon — what we'd love to see from the major manufacturers and where we think the industry is heading.
But hardware isn't the whole story. POTA and SOTA remain the heartbeat of growth because they lower the barrier to entry and make radio feel alive. We share why portable operating will keep rising even as solar conditions tighten.
At home, we're betting on a repeater revival — AllStar links, creative nets like SSTV nights, and "leave no call unanswered" as the culture shift that keeps VHF/UHF useful and welcoming. College clubs are buzzing again, and the formula scales: be kind, run practical events, and meet people where they are — on-air, at meetups, or on Discord.
AI comes up, minus the hype. Think helpful, not magical: audio-assisted logging, smarter noise control, and developer tooling that speeds up ham software. It's another tool, like a good tuner — valuable when it saves time and stays out of the way.
We wrap with personal goals — Extra class ambitions and a fresh pull toward CW — and a reminder that every license class is valid. The hobby thrives when we celebrate each step and keep the airwaves friendly.
Connect with us:
🌐 Website: https://www.everydayham.com
📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everydayhampodcast/
💬 Discord: Join our community at everydayham.com
What rig are you hoping to see next? How will you help revive your local repeater? Drop your predictions in our Discord or in the comments!
Don't miss a single episode! Follow the Everyday Ham Podcast on your favorite podcast platform (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, and more) and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Short show intro audio clip
Short outro audio clip
The Everyday Ham Podcast is hosted by James Mills (K8JKU), Jim Davis (N8JRD), and Rory Locke (W8KNX) – three friends who dive into the world of amateur radio with a casual, lighthearted twist.
Follow us at: Website: https://www.everydayham.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everydayhampodcast/
Good evening, everybody. It is December 2nd, 2025, and this is the one year mark for the Everyday Ham podcast. We have officially done twelve of these episodes, unbelievably. So we are glad to have you if you are still listening here in December, our first year of fully podcasting. Uh, we still have lots of ideas coming, so I will reassure you. Uh, if you're looking to find us here on the web, you can find us at theeverydayham.com. You can find us on many of our different socials, including Instagram and Facebook and Discord, and wherever else you find all of the podcasts that you like listening to. So I welcome you tonight. Uh I have my esteemed colleagues uh W8KNX Rory from North South Lion and K-8JKU all the way up there in Clarkston, Michigan. Uh, this is NHJRD, uh, your host again this evening uh here in the South of South Lion in Grid Square EN82 EK. And we do welcome you to the show. Uh we have a couple of things to chat about this evening, but before we jump fully into it, I'll ask you guys what is happening in the shack. We just got through Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Tell me something that is going on in your shack. James, you go first.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I didn't spend any money on Black Friday, so that that's a first. I resisted the urge. There was some good deals out there, some masks for uh POTA that were actually at a decent price for once. So killer. Yeah, maybe that's a future buy, but I actually more have a question to the audience, and it's gonna be hard to show for the audio only folks, however. Yeah. Um I'll try to give you an audio description.
SPEAKER_00:I just say paint paint the picture with words.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, thank you. So I have in my hand a rotary phone that is new old stock.
SPEAKER_00:James is holding up a cardboard box with a rotary phone inside.
SPEAKER_02:And he's doing his best Vanna White impersonation. So I got I got these rotary phones. I got two of them. They are in pristine condition, and and the ask to the audience is I need to know what I can do with these. Rory's suggestion was just put them in your house. That doesn't sound fun. Uh, I want to do something more ham related with them. Uh, who doesn't love a crisp rotary phone? And that, let's see if we can get it on mic here. That uh that sound when it when it turns. I heard it. That's fresh. So that that's what's going on lately here. Uh nothing else. Trying to enjoy some last pota before Christmas hits, and uh I'll be inundated with kid stuff at Christmas time. So all the joy and fun of that. So, Rory, what do you got going on?
SPEAKER_00:No new purchases here. I did well on Black Friday. The only thing purchased here was a new Apple TV box for my living room. But that that's not exciting for ham radio. But in the ham radio world, I am looking forward to uh cold weather poda, as as we've discussed in the past. Um, most of us up here in Michigan aren't too afraid of cold weather poda. Uh, if you do it on a on a reasonably sunny day, that little bit of solar when you're sitting in your car makes it makes it comfortable enough. Running the car once in a while makes it comfortable enough. You can get in and out and do your do your contacts and and get in and out of the park. So I've had some of my best activations in the winter. I did do uh a quick, what was a very quick 100 Q so uh activation out here at Island Lake in uh Southeast Michigan here a couple weeks ago. I was surprised they just kept coming, but the bands were there. The bands were part uh were cooperating, the people were there, and and it was good. James, I'll throw it back to you though, because you do have a tool for winter poda that you've just seen.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, you're you're right. So you are gonna be dropping on the YouTube channel here shortly our favorite things of 2025. And my bonus item was a heated seat map or uh mat here for when I am winter poding, I can roll this out and I can heat my tush and I can be happy and warm while collecting those QSOs. So check out that video too, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, for those of you listening, it's essentially an accordion-pleated uh uh mat uh that has little warming wires inside of it and it's battery powered. So uh if you're looking to keep your butt warm uh and actually your core warm as you're podoing, a great option.
SPEAKER_02:And people are, by the way, are just gonna start to think if you're if you're watching here, that I just have this magic box of items sitting over to my left here as I reach into nowhere and pull that magic string. I've seen it.
SPEAKER_01:James has to sit in a lot of meetings at work, so he just uh he's ordering things while he's waiting.
SPEAKER_02:I got a lot of things.
SPEAKER_00:I've seen your workspace over there where you're sitting. You do you do have a lot of fun stuff around there. So um the the only thing upcoming, and I think a lot of us are working on this, that is the the 12 days of QRZ contest. And uh last year I did manage to get contacts on all bands 160 through 70 centimeters, nice, including 220 and including 60 meters. So I was able to get 12 contacts at some point during this this fun. That was impressive. It was uh I'm I'm gonna try and do it again, we'll see. But uh it's a fun way to get on the air and play on the different bands and see how far you can stretch your uh very, very not good antenna. Jim, what's going on over there at the other end of South Lion?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I I uh did make the uh sort of uh Black Friday specials video, and uh a lot of you folks uh did check that out, so I was excited to see that. Uh in that video, I said that I was gonna buy a few things and I did uh control myself to some extent, but ended up with the POTA Explorer 33 mass. So that's brand new in the shack. Got it today. FedEx delivered it. Gigapart's always rapid with their shipping, uh, which is awesome. And I unboxed it. I I uh extended it in my bedroom, which is the biggest room in the house, and uh decided that it wasn't big enough to uh extend that mass fully. It's a cool mast. It's super light. I can't believe how light it is for being a 33-foot mass. Uh, can't wait to get it out in the field and see how it performs. And uh, so that is one of the new things. The other thing is, and and Rory joked, uh, we kind of go a little astray, but we're technology nerds here. And uh, so if you're watching, I'm holding up a Ubiquity uh 16-port PoE uh light network router. And if you know anything about Ubiquity, uh essentially it's the Apple of networking products these days. Uh, it is awesome stuff. Uh, it is expensive to some extent, but it is uh very controllable. And us uh armchair admins at home uh get really excited when we put all of the uh ubiquity goodies in our stack of networking. Get lost in that UI. That's right. There is some really cool stuff. And you're probably asking, Jim, why did you put Ubiquity in the house? And the answer is I it just recently uh ATT upgraded us to fiber here in the neighborhood. So that makes podcasting a little bit easier because uh we can get a gigabit up and a gigabit down now, which makes uploading videos a heck of a lot more fun uh from my computer. So I'm basking in the fun of Awesome Network. Uh it's been a long time coming here in South Lion. And uh if you're not uh on the fiber bandwagon yet because it's not at your location, uh, I hope that in the future it becomes available because it is really cool. So Ubiquity, uh, the new uh slang word in the house. I'm uh climbing around in my attic, putting up new APs and wiring new things, and uh, I've been having a real blast with that. So that's all I got.
SPEAKER_02:So, okay. Well, let's move into the main show topic then. So being December on the cusp of 2026, we thought a good show topic would be is what are our predictions for 2026 and beyond? And that was it. So I got a little bit of a slide here, uh some slide materials. Uh, and I what I want to do is go through them with you guys, and I want to see what you think is gonna happen here in the future. So why don't we go ahead and get that started? And the first category I have is new rigs on the horizon. So we're talking all about hardware and radio predictions and what we see coming. So before we go into it too much, uh, I'm just kind of maybe focusing on some of the major manufacturers and what recent releases they've had over the last three years. This is not an all-encompassing list, so everyone calm down if a radio wasn't listed here. But we saw a handheld, the THD75A by Kenwood released in 2023. We saw Elicraft release the KH1, the mobile CQ machine that it was. Uh, we saw in 2024, ICOM released the IC7760, the base station mega rig uh with remote operation. We also very nice. We also saw, and that was one they teased heavily at Hamvention prior and everything as well. Uh, we also saw Yezu release the FTM 150R mobile, and they also had some other mobile radios released in their lineup. 2025, we saw the FTX1 series released. Biggest release of the year. Biggest release by far at the year. Also a lot of, I don't want to say controversy, but uh some ups and downs in terms of the city.
SPEAKER_00:We made we made some controversy about that one.
SPEAKER_02:We sure did. I was and then we also saw uh Flex Radio release the Aurora series, uh, and then the IC7300 Mark II. I think at this point, Jim, you showed somewhere as a official. Yeah, they made two.
SPEAKER_01:They made 2025. They actually hit their date. Amazing um the government unshut down from the last time we talked to you guys here on the podcast uh here in the United States. If you're listening outside the U from the U.S., uh, we appreciate you. And uh yeah, it got through the FCC, it's approved. And in fact, uh Chat Radio this afternoon sent me an email. They said they have three in stock. I checked right before the pod, and all three of those have been sold. I think if you have a pre-order for the 7300 Mark II, it's probably gonna be on the way in short order too.
SPEAKER_00:If you're one of those folks that pre-ordered and got one, let us know. We'll be we'll be happy to hear from you of what your initial feedback is on that. Certainly reach out to us in in one of the one of the methods that we use Discord or email, even we'll be curious to hear from you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we're we're not a show with uh new radio money for all of them. Uh so yeah. Definitely give you your feedback here. Yeah, I know you do your part, Jim. You definitely do your part. So let's move into the questions here. So the first one is related to will Kenwood finally release the TM D750A. I'm giving you a lot of it. And this is a radio?
SPEAKER_00:Yep. That that's a radio I have new money set aside for, new radio money set aside for. Now I've been waiting for this radio since I I saw the first mock-up of it. Even before we even knew what it would do, we we were guessing something about it. I I I enjoyed how it looked. I enjoyed I enjoy a Kenwood product. Kenwood products tend to be a little bit top notch. Top notch for sure. So even before I knew what it could do, I wanted it. So uh finally, last year at Hamvention, we were able to chit-chat with the guys at Kenwood and learned a couple more things about it. And they had said, you know, what were they saying at that point, fourth quarter of of 2024?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they had to go back, they had to go back to engineering because of uh parts that were no longer available.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but uh they were they were I would say almost promising this quarter, but we we haven't seen it yet. Now that could be a lot of reasons. They could have gotten lost and the government shut down with FCC acceptance and so on. But uh my vote at this point, it's uh it's Christmas time and it's not here. I'm going with uh invention would be my my wager.
SPEAKER_02:And and Jim, really quickly, explain for those that don't know what is the 750A? Explain the the explain the radio a little bit to them.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, the uh I mean the THD750 or uh the TMD 750 is just basically an iteration of the handheld with a little bit more power behind the uh behind the box, right? So mobile radio, yep. You're exactly right. So if you're looking for a radio and you've already used something like uh Ken Wood's TH uh D74, the handheld, or the D75, the one we just mentioned uh recently here on the channel, uh, you're gonna get that same experience. The UI looks very similar, uh, but it's gonna be in that mobile form factor, right? The brain box will sit under your driver's seat or wherever it goes uh in your car of choice. Uh, and then you put that nice uh color display head up on the dashboard, and you've got all those controls at your fingertips. And what really stands out for the TMD 750A for us at least, I think, is that availability of 220, which we are seriously lacking uh in many of the modern mobile hand uh mobile rigs that we can buy with our money today. There are not any real modern mobile rigs that offer that 220 band. So if you're looking to light 220 back up, and I say use it or lose it, as do many, uh, if you're uh keeping your tabs on the amateur radio community, uh, I hope that this uh is a resurgence for the 220 band when it drops here, uh whenever that might be. And I agree with Rory. Uh, I'm gonna go ahead and tack it on since we're on the question. Uh, I think it's gonna be hamvention. There's no other time for Kenwood to launch this with as much fanfare. Uh, and it's also the time when folks are arriving with money to spend on new radio.
SPEAKER_02:You guys don't think that they may sneak it into hamcation? Again, this is a radio that has had a long runway of release scheduling, right? I'll have my I'll have my new money in my pocket, new radio money in my pocket. They gotta be eager. They're missing the holiday market, right? Right now, they're missing the holiday market around the world. I I think they're gonna be eager to catch those people with maybe a little extra spending money in their pocket come February, and maybe Hamcation is when they they start to sell it.
SPEAKER_01:I I love the I love the idea. The sooner the better, in my opinion, for this radio, because there are folks that are waiting with reservations uh that are gonna be happy to uh replace whatever they've got in their car right now uh with a much more triband capable rig. Uh I think that uh as soon as Kenwood delivers it, they're gonna sell out of these things. But uh, you know, it it it for me, it makes a lot of sense to launch it at one of the big events, uh Orlando Hamcation. I haven't been there yet. I'm looking forward to going with you two uh this year. Uh we're gonna be down there at Hamcation. Uh so once I get a lay of the land, uh I hope that I hope that it's there. But I I'm expecting it's gonna be hamvention. That's my that's my guess for next year. James, I hope you're correct though.
SPEAKER_02:I I have another provocative question for you guys.
SPEAKER_01:Oh boy.
SPEAKER_02:Uh we knew they had to go back to RD and redesign uh components issues, uh, which means it's been delayed. We have not heard anything about this radio through multiple hamventions now at this point as well. So we're we're all the way through 2025. Is this a radio that is on the horizon or or on the list that could potentially be cut and unreleased? Oof.
SPEAKER_01:That would be disappointing. Let me do that. Let's go to Rory for the his take on that.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know what my take is. I don't know that I have a formal take. I think the risk involved and the loss involved, they've got to recover some of those costs. Yeah. I I I think they've got a lot of time. And I don't think it would look good for Kenwood. Would they really take that risk and and you know, kind of uh just just do that to their brand? I don't I don't know that that's something they would do. Um it's uh I don't know that I I think it'll be a thing. I don't think it'll die. If it has I I wish I had some data. I'm trying to think. That's what I'm kind of hesitating. I'm trying to remember if there's ever been a tease like this that didn't didn't surface. And I'm sure there has to have been one, but uh that would be that would be a big embarrassment for Kenwood, I think.
SPEAKER_01:I actually I think you're probably on the right track here. When I think about this, what is what what new product has Kenwood really launched to the ham community in any recent past? And I'm not counting the the D75 uh because it really was just a rebadge of that D74 with a few much-wanted features. I'm not saying uh that the D75 wasn't a great handheld and it wasn't a great radio in general, but realistically, Kenwood has not freshened up their line with anything in the uh memorable past that I can recall. So I uh I suspect that, like Rory said, uh we're in at the point of uh no return here. The uh costs spent on research and development uh are sunk, and there is no way that we're not gonna see this one come out. Uh they've got they've got pre-orders taken, they've got folks that are chomping at the big to get this one in their car. I I suspect we're we're not at the not at that risk level yet, but unless uh we don't know something about Kenwood that you do, James, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02:No, well I'm gonna say we got three hands right here that are salivating to maybe get that radio in their vehicles. So I think that's a a pretty good sign that I think that they'll want to bring it to market. Um the other thing, maybe this is pure speculation. I'm hopping on the speculation train, choo choo. Um I wonder if they saw the FTAX1 release and said, you know what? Uh we better put this back in the oven here, let it cook a little bit longer, and then we'll release it when it's when it's 100% ready to go, all the firmware matching the software, you know, the hardware, etc. And maybe that's why they're also delaying the release a little bit longer, because they don't want to botch what I think is a critical release for them.
SPEAKER_01:You could you could listen to the everyday ham every once in a while and think that we really just dislike Yesu, and I have to chuckle at that a little bit since everything that I own is basically Yesu. So we are hard on Yesu, but it's because uh they've produced some extremely nice products. Uh, and so if we are uh using them as the butt of the joke, the FTX1 was one of those ones that did come out a little early. I hope that I I think that it's it's a case study for sure. Uh it came out a little bit too fast. It came out with bugs, and I think when Kenwooden delivers this, uh, with the exception of I think there was a battery issue on the THD 75 where the battery meter didn't show an accurate representation of the battery, which was resolved with a firmware release. Um, you know, they've been pretty good about releasing mature software on the radios that they launched. So it's an interesting piece of speculation. Rory?
SPEAKER_00:I was looking, I think they're the newest Kenwood radio in the Kenwood line is their HFTS 990. I think that's the newest one. So they they do they have had a release in the last couple years. Um I I'm not sure the year, but so that's that's their latest new one. But okay, but the the I don't know. I'm you got me wondering, James, is are they really gonna do that to us? I I can't I can't see it happening. I just hope they're being careful.
SPEAKER_02:We're gonna move on to the next question. However, the general consensus is the 750A is gonna be released. You two think it's gonna be released Hamvention May timeframe 2026. I'm saying Q1. Q1 2026. All right, all right. That that's not Hamvention. Right on the cuss. That's like right after it, right after. But I say end of end of Q. All right. Sounds good. Okay, so next question here is who's gonna have the next big release of radio? So this could be taking the 750 out of this real quick, because we talked about that one. We're talking HF flagship, big handheld release, new hot QRP radio from Alacraft, anything new in the mobile space as well. What do you what do you guys think's coming?
SPEAKER_00:That's a hard one because ICOM has their HF flagship that's just uh out a little over a year at this point. The Mark II coming out, and the Mark II's coming out. 772's out.
SPEAKER_02:Let's say the Mark II's out now. It's December. It's out.
SPEAKER_00:Mobile's ICOM's already announced the 5200.
SPEAKER_02:I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna tease you with something here. I'm gonna put something else out in the air. All right. FTX1. Mark II. Do we see FTX1A one? I I mean we we talked about it when they originally released it. That that felt like maybe it was a hardware iteration and that they've done that in the past. You know, do we do we feel that that may be a direction? Do we are they're gonna maybe release a I don't know, more flagship an 891 replacement, a more true 891 type replacement.
SPEAKER_01:I'm gonna say a couple I'm gonna still say a couple things out loud here. First, so I think that uh on on the HF radio front, I think we've seen a lot of our big releases that we're gonna see for about two years now. I I will be surprised if we see any major flagship HF radio releases here, with the exception, of course, of the Aurora, which I know is still shipping. And I do think that's an exciting radio for different reasons, right? Aurora brings what we already know from S uh smart SDR to the table, but it adds the extra 500 watts. So I'm I'm a little um it's a little pigeonholed for me, but I think for HF flagships, uh Yesu's gonna be the next one due uh in revising their their high-end 101D and MP models uh because 7760 has introduced the idea of more modern connectivity uh with a removable head, uh, a power unit that can be removed and made more easily attached to your antenna system if you're a contester. So I see Yesu uh following some suit uh of not only ICOM but uh uh Flex Radio here uh in in their next uh big flagship HF radio release. So I don't see it happening anytime next year. What I will say is, and I haven't heard much on this at all, is I think that the uh Yesu HT uh lineup is due for a bit of an update. The FT3 and the FT5 were essentially very similar radios. Uh the FT3D has been around for quite some time. The FT-5 only really uh added a better speaker to that. If you've compared both of them side by side, I didn't believe that it would make a big difference, but I've got an FT3 and a 5. Uh and the 5D did improve the speaker significantly. What it didn't improve was battery life. It is dismal on the FT5D. Uh if you plug your FT5D in on the bake, uh yeah, charge it up in the morning and then leave for hamvention. By the end of the day, if you're doing APRS stuff, C4FM stuff, and talking on the on the radio, that battery is pretty much flat. Uh so what I would love to see here is a new HT from Yesu that offers some of these things. And what I would really like to see is to slim that thing down. Uh, it is 2025. Miniaturized electronics are clearly a thing. Uh yeah, we've got we've got a lot of bulk in these radios. Uh, bring those things down a little bit. So I I I would be really excited to see a new HT uh showing from Yesu next year. I think that that's a more approachable project size-wise for them because there are some recyclable things like the software interface and whatnot. Um, but that is where I would like to see. And I will also say the ICOM IC 5200 uh is definitely gonna be a big release. I don't know if we're gonna see that uh at hamvention this year, but I am hoping later in 2026. And I do think the ID 5200 is gonna make a big splash uh in the scene. There are big ICOM fanboys out there, uh, and it looks like a sharp rig. So I suspect that's gonna be big too. I agree. Three predictions in one here.
SPEAKER_02:No, I agree with you, and I think iteration, I think this is the year of iterations. They're gonna come out with some revised models. Uh I think you're gonna see now that the Mark II has HDMI, that is now gonna push the market. You're gonna see some I.O. port updates and please USB-C and handhelds. USB C. Please USB C and handhelds.
SPEAKER_01:That's what we need. Thankfully, we've jumped over that that uh that point, right? The European market has basically mandated that USB-C be available as a standardized charging option, which is why I think a lot of our manufacturers are adopting it because it makes it easier to bring it into bring your radio into that market, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And they're used to adopting USB-C into other electronic platforms. So therefore, you have engineers now that can bring that standard into the ham radio world a little bit more easy.
SPEAKER_01:Which and I can hear people shouting at their podcast or their screen right now. What USB C, what a bit what's the big deal, right? It's not only for charging, right? It is for data connectivity, it's for the USB sound card, it's for programming your radio. It is a multi-use port that serves a tremendous amount of purposes and it simplifies uh your connectivity stack in the shack. So if you're telling me charging, please let me have one cable for charging too. Yeah, if if you're telling me, Jim, I don't care if it has USB C, that's bullshit. I I'll I'll call you out right now. I I think that USB-C uh it is a bog standard, it should be an expectation at this point as we move forward with the remote.
SPEAKER_02:I can tell you right now as I have this FT5D in my hand. I have no idea where this barrel jack charger is for this. Well, I'm looking at my table. Yeah, barrel jacks to find one that fits there and works. Got to put it in the USB-C charging.
SPEAKER_00:I'm looking on my table here. I've got I've got the Kenwood D74, I got a DMR handheld, and I got the ICOM ID51. Three different chargers. I mean, it's it's it's such a nice thing to get to one. I think it saves a lot of electronic real estates to get all those functions into into one plug where you where you can do it. It's uh uh you want the you want the uh the Yezu to do a smaller handheld, maybe, maybe USB's their uh you know what they need to do. Yeah, I I have a whole box of of chargers for this NASDAQ. Abandoned charger. It's crazy.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's it's the old spaghetti spaghetti in a box that you grew up with with all the DVI ports and eight you know, VGA port cables and everything else that was custom. It's time to it's time to catch on. Standardize.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, wait, did we talk QRP?
SPEAKER_02:We can talk QRP. Do you got some QRP predictions?
SPEAKER_00:Is the 705 gonna have a reboot? Ooh, that's a good one.
SPEAKER_01:And and you're you're banging on the door even with a 705 Mark II with USB C updates, right? Because it didn't come with USB C out of the gate.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you walked right into what I was thinking, Jim. I was thinking that we have the 7300 with the Mark II. Are we gonna see a 705 Mark II? Yep.
SPEAKER_01:All right. And and you can upgrade the the existing Mark uh 705. So if you have one, there are boards out there, go upgrade it. It makes your life easier.
SPEAKER_02:Always. All right. Next major topic here is who's calling CQ? We are nothing but without the ham radio community and what everyone brings. So we want to talk a little bit about what we see in this area in the future. So this is always one that we hear a lot about. There's a lot of telethons out there to raise money for this cause, to get teachers educated, to get more people on the air. There's scout teams that have events, but will ham radio attract younger operators in 2026?
SPEAKER_00:I don't know if it's because I'm paying more attention, but it seems like the college clubs in this the Michigan area have had a resurgence in popularity. And I don't know if that's happening everywhere, but we we all know folks that are very active with the University of Michigan Amateur Radio Club and the Michigan State University Amateur Radio Club. And both of those clubs are are pretty active right now. Uh Michigan State has just done a big update to their station, a whole bunch of new coax, a big update to their repeater system. And they're in they've been playing in a lot of the big contests from W8SH lately. Um, I don't I'm curious if that's happening everywhere. POTA, of course, is bringing in. We see a lot of younger folks uh doing parks on the air because they see their family members doing it. That's a lot more attractive to than some, you know, and I I shouldn't make fun of it because it's very it's it's uh a legacy thing in my family, but you have old Uncle Joe in his basement with all his stuff, but maybe going out to the park and and doing radio in the park is a bit more attractive. So I I feel like we're we're reaching out to the younger group a bit more. That's just my I I could just be seeing it that way. I don't know. What do you guys think?
SPEAKER_01:I I do think that we're in a lucky spot here in Michigan and in the metro area. Uh this club, particularly, that all of you know that we're a member of the South Lion area amateur radio club uh is a vibrant club as it goes. And uh recently, uh a bunch of new hams in the 20, late 20, 30 range that have joined up, you know, guys that are um a little younger, that are fresh and getting into it. Uh and and the nice thing is uh we still have the folks that have been doing it for a while to uh mentor those folks and give them the good information on how to do the things. Uh so I think we are in like the the perfect storm of situations here. We are in between two excellent universities, both the University of Michigan and Michigan State. Uh choose your poison, uh, whichever one you like, go green, go blue. Uh and I think both of those clubs are reflective of just a very active ham community in the metro area. I think when we think about other states around the United States that are less uh population dense, maybe are not as lucky to be uh in areas with that younger crew, uh, it's it's the picture looks a little bit different. But I do encourage you, if you're hearing this podcast, uh, to think about the folks that you interact with daily and see if you can attract some folks. And and Rory's a fine example of this uh at his work. Uh he's uh pulled in a number of interested parties uh just in his conversations about the things that he does, uh folks at work that have gotten interested in and said, Ah, I could think I could do that. And and they've gotten on the radio. So we've gained some folks that way. And and you can you can be out there sort of uh being the evangelist for ham radio uh in in many different ways. You don't have to force it down folks' throats. But uh when you see somebody that likes technology, it likes doing uh fun things with electronics, uh talk about ham radio with them. See, maybe if you could find a buddy, uh get uh those repeaters a little more active. James, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02:No, I I was gonna say I purposely didn't define what is a young operator on purpose. Because I think it means anywhere your your geographic area to yourself, it means something different. I I think for ham radio, the main focus of recruitment really should be the 30 to 40 year olds, the ones that have a little bit more dispendable income, usually in their their lives about that point. They're kind of revisiting hobbies that brought them joy. They maybe are looking for ways to relax and kind of explore new things and meet friends. Yep, yep, make friends. Because I think one advantage of our club is two things. We we really do respect our Elmers that have been with the club for a very long time. They mean a lot to us and they should, and they help us and they help us grow and be better hams. Uh, but also all the club members, Elmers and the younger groups, everyone embraces each other. There's no judgment, there's support. We have a very broad uh vibrant Discord community, which we know is not for all the members. Uh some of the older Elmers, you know, they don't really like to use the Discord, and that's okay. They they understand that that's maybe something for others and they they kind of support it and work on their own way. But there's a vibrant network that we've built of all the members of that club. And I think that's one of the main thresholds. And also, I think number two is not even just young operators, just be cool. 2026 should be the mission of just be cool. Don't be a sad ham, be a happy ham. You can just talk to people about ham. Radio, even my brother-in-law, who is not necessarily a technical person, I was talking to him the other day and he was looking up soda because I talk about ham radio all the time and doing parks, and he likes hiking and and going on the mountains in Colorado. And he was like, Oh man, yeah, I I there's a four-pointer right by my house. I'm like, wait, what are you doing? I was shocked. Like, what are you talking about?
SPEAKER_01:He looked up the points nice.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he was looking at even how to maybe get license and stuff like that. So just embrace it. Uh, I think the only way this hobby will die is if people make it a hobby that isn't attractive or kind to other people. Welcoming is not welcoming exactly. Better, better, better way to say that. So be cool, 2026. Then uh let's continue to grow the hobby.
SPEAKER_00:And that leads me to the line that I stole from from Cecil from California, WD6FZA. That the line I've stolen for our area is leave no call unanswered on the repeater. You hear a new ham on the repeater. Some guy's got his new where are we at now? Kilo Fox strategy call signs in Michigan. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:It is all KF8 sign.
SPEAKER_00:I think that's where we're at. You hear some brand new KF8 call, you know, in Michigan or or different letters wherever you're at, but you have some brand new guy, just got his radio. He's trying to make his first call. Don't leave that guy unanswered. That that's that's how you lose people from day one. Um, it might not be the favorite cuteso you ever make with someone. It might be rough. They may not know what to talk about, but you know, give them a couple minutes of your time. It won't hurt you.
SPEAKER_02:Grace. Um, I I think before we go on to the next question here, uh, I was gonna make one one last point as well. Uh, I think a good topic for us in the future on this this podcast, because we really do love talking about the ham radio community. Uh, tell us what what your club does well. How are you attracting new members? What tools are you doing to retain new members? Uh, how are you growing as a ham? Share that information with us. Put it in the comments, send us an email. We'd really love to know and sort of share those best practices back to the community as well. Because we have a way of doing it, and there's definitely a lot of other ways to do it as well.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, this year is probably one of the most exciting ones. I have not been around the Slart Club for very long, but uh, I'll tell you, we have 20 plus people that are going to ham venture this year. We have an entire leg of a campground booked full of club members that are going to party and go buy radios and talk radio and learn about radio and PODA and just do cool stuff for a whole week down in uh you know at the hamvention. And that's going to be uh really the types of things that we're looking for is what events are you doing? How are you drawing folks into your club? Uh and if you're looking to get a club started, feel free to ping us and ask us some questions, right? We've got some really cool events that we've uh started here uh that have attracted uh crowds like of all ages, right? We said uh folks show up, uh they have dinner, they have a beer, we we socialize, we talk radio. So we have a lot of fun with that. Go ahead, James.
SPEAKER_02:All right. So moving on, uh the who's calling CQ topic. Will Poda slash soda continue to dominate the activity in our hobby?
SPEAKER_01:I will I will say that I am still very uh bullish on PODA as far as it goes. I think that there's still lots of interest here. I think that this uh continues to be one of the reasons that the resurgence of ham radio has really been as vibrant as it has been in the last couple of years. And kudos to the PODA community and also the folks that have uh put the hard work in on the website to make sure that that's a high reliability website uh that works the way you expect it to do, uh, allows you to log and make contacts all around the world because PODA is not just in North America. We know a lot of our audience here is in North America, but it's a worldwide event now. Uh, and if you're not a DX contester, uh PODA is really that way that you could dip your toe, get on the radio, feel some achievement from doing the things that you're doing, uh, and kind of have something to show for it, right? Some cool awards, uh, some cool ways to show uh the activity that you're doing beyond just uh logging contacts, right? And and when we think about old school ham radio, right? My dad kept a paper log book and I love it, right? Uh not I don't think any of his QSOs are are logged online uh to this day. And he he brings out his paper log every time he does, and and I I love that for him. But in this day and age, I think as we attract that new crew, uh the connected uh aspect of ham radio really uh is huge. And so Poda for me has really found that magic mix of connected, but also still rocking the ham radio old school, right? Doing sideband, playing CW, getting out on FT8 and trying new modes. Uh that's what I love about it. Soda, the same thing, right? Uh soda is just a more challenging version of PODA. I don't mean that in a bad way. I think this is for the guys that like doing that harder version of uh PODA, and I love that too, right? So I think this will continue to be an awesome activity. I think we're gonna be faced with some new challenges as the solar downturn starts to happen, right? The solar maximum has passed us at this point. Uh, we've seen challenges on the bands. Uh, so you're gonna find that the bands that are working are busier uh for PODA, and you need to be uh very mindful and respectful of how you're using your license when you're operating PODA. There are folks that want to use those bands for all kinds of reasons. Uh so when you're out there doing it, uh let's make sure that we continue to adapt and use the bands the best way that we can as it becomes more challenging. So those are my thoughts on PODA. Rory, what do you think?
SPEAKER_00:Two two things come to mind for both PODA and Soda. It's it's such a small barrier to entry, and it proves a couple things. People say, Oh, I I want to get into ham radio, but it takes all this equipment, all these antennas, all this power to get into ham radio. Poda and soda proves that wrong right away. You can get out and do a park. If you if you're you know, if you don't have the income for a brand new radio, you could go buy a used radio and take it out to the park with your wire antenna and be on the air and be talking to the world. And and people ask me when I tell them that, they're like, Oh, you're just trying to sell your hobby by saying it's that easy. Yeah, no, it it is it is actually that easy. Um, you you can you can be on the air with with a secondhand or third hand or wherever you got it from radio.
SPEAKER_01:I love second hand.
SPEAKER_00:And and and a wire. Um, and I think that ease of getting on the air, and for we've discussed it before too. It all these folks that can't get antennas up at their homes for one reason or another, put it go throw an antenna up in the park and get on the air. I think it's it's opened the door to to break down some of those barriers and cost and and logistics that some people have struggled with. So uh I I had my activation out at Island Lake here locally a couple weeks ago. Three stations I worked were were first-time activators. There's there's new people doing it every day. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. My my short answer here is yes. And yes, and while while I was uh reading that question, I could almost hear the groans of non-PODA fans and contesters alike out there. And uh but yes, I I think PODA and Soda will continue to be sort of a mainstay in the hobby in 2026, and I think the growth it will will continue to go up there. Uh Rory, I'm gonna start with you on this next question. Uh and do I just we can keep it brief?
SPEAKER_00:Do I repeat what I what I just said? Do it.
SPEAKER_02:Will repeater activity make a comeback leave 2026?
SPEAKER_00:No call unanswered. When someone gets on the repeater, talk to them and say hello. Nothing is more exciting than the afternoon round table with everyone driving home from work and you have three, four, five or more people and they're just just winding down their day and talking to each other and having a good old rag chew on the repeater. I hope repeater activity comes back. Um, I think a lot of things have happened that will will enhance, will you know, augment the the return of repeater activity. There's a lot more linked repeater systems using All-Star that cover a wider area that gets a wider group of people on there than you might find on just a local repeater. I I think it will. I think that the repeater is the basic backbone to local local ham radio, but help we have to we have to all work together to keep the repeaters active. I mean, and some individuals and some clubs have tremendous investments into their repeater networks. And and if we don't use them and we we leave those the two-meter and 440 and 70 centimeter bands dead, well, the big ol' FCC will come in and say, hey, you guys aren't using that. We might need to use that spectrum for something else. And then you know then it's gone. So so keep the repeaters active, leave no call unanswered, and I sure hope it comes back.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I I've enjoyed doing a lot of repeater stuff uh these last uh this last year. Uh I also uh have enjoyed playing with uh some other sorts of activities, like uh, you know, we've we've done uh nets that have involved transmitting pictures, right? Uh we've done slow scan television on the repeater to encourage folks to try using the repeater other ways, uh, really just to bring up that activity, right? And that's the type of experimental stuff that I think that you you have to try because, again, uh traditionally slow scan has been, you know, HF radio, and uh that's the only way you can send it at distance, or you have a buddy up the road like Rory and I. Uh, we can send SSTV back and forth because we only it only takes a few watts. But when you talk about uh maybe uh doing new things, uh bringing new activities to your repeater to encourage uh the engagement level, to encourage uh building comfort with the repeater uh so that folks do feel uh okay about just throwing out their call and and looking for a response, uh that's that's definitely what I I want to continue to see here. And it's it's tough sometimes, right? Uh because you're it's a busy day all day long. And I think that uh generally speaking, uh it can be hard to answer every call. But I love what Rory's saying here is uh it doesn't have to be a long cue. So even if you say, hey, Rory, uh I I'm in the midst of something or I gotta go in two minutes, but I just wanted to say hello, uh let you know that I was out here and uh hope your drive is doing okay, right? And that it could be as easy as just one call back. At least Rory's gonna call back the next time he gets in his car instead of saying, ah, I'll just turn on satellite radio and listen to a jam instead, right?
SPEAKER_00:So I think uh you you mentioned the slow scan activity on the repeater that we did here. That's one of those things. If you have an idea in your area about an activity to uh to do on your local repeater, reach out to the to the trustee or the club that that operates that repeater. Most people are very open to getting their their assets used and get their repeaters used in the uh radio crawl, almost like a pub crawl, but to different repeater.
SPEAKER_02:So there we go.
SPEAKER_00:That was something that started in in Wayne County, which is essentially Detroit, Michigan, uh during COVID. Um Keith uh oh KD8 ZSK started that up just out of the blue. He got a hold of a bunch of different repeater trustees and said, Hey, we want to do an organized test of who can hit which repeaters and and do it in an organized way and keep a log so people can test their equipment while they're sitting home during COVID. So they took they started out big. They did like a list of 20 repeaters, and you went online to get the list and you did the order and made each stop and someone logged how you were heard into that repeater, and it got a lot of people realizing their systems, their antennas at home got out further or not so far. And uh it was kind of a good test. They still do it now, they don't do quite the long list, but they still do it, and it's a great way for people to test their their home stations.
SPEAKER_01:It also lets you discover some repeaters maybe that you didn't even know were online. Yeah, join a repeat if if there's no such thing, uh check out that repeater crawl in Wayne County, uh, maybe model your own if you have a couple of repeaters around. That could be really fun. Uh and yeah, check in with the repeater trustees too on anything that you're gonna do uh on repeaters, make sure that it's kosher uh before you execute on the plan.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, we're now gonna start to go into our final segment here, which is we're gonna start looking into the crystal ball. These are wild card predictions for 2026, and the first one here is gonna be, of course, in all the buzz in 2025, and it will carry into 2026. We talked a little bit about this before, but will AI change how we operate and become more of an influence in 2026?
SPEAKER_01:Was there a collective groan from the audience when we said AI?
SPEAKER_02:There was a collective groan from this station here. Yeah, AI fatigue is real.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I think when we had Sebastian on the show uh a couple months or so back, he he mentioned figuring we we kind of asked him that in a kind of roundabout way. And he he's trying to think about as his polo platform uh how to make things easier, and AI will answer some of that questions, some of those questions rather. You know, the have the have the sound card on your iPad listening to the contact you're making, and it'll know that you're working the call sign and it'll log the call sign. You know, that's all stuff that's out there somewhere. So I I think uh you you have the smart logging as a thought there. I think that's somewhere we'll see it. Um I I'm I'm not sure. I'm still we're we're at work at like like a lot of companies trying to figure out how to how to best use and how to also control the use of AI within our company. And uh it's it's still new to me. I'll tell you that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:James, what are you thinking on this? I I think the answer is to quote Jim here. Hey I uh yeah, I don't I don't really see it yet in 2026. I think AI is still new to a lot of people. I think sort of the existing demographic of ham radio maybe doesn't lend itself to AI. Uh and I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just maybe not an audience that is adopting AI at a rapid rate here, and that's all I mean by that. Uh so no, do I see it in the future of ham radio and everything we do in our life? Yes. Do I think the current AI bubble in the workplace and everywhere else is gonna sort of, I don't want to say burst, but slow down and and become more of a less of a buzzword and more of just kind of a a thing?
SPEAKER_01:It's another tool that you do. It's an expected tool that you end up using. And I I think that's exactly right, James. We speculated that at in one of our first two episodes, I believe, we speculated on what AI could bring to the radio. So it's funny to bring this around again at the end of the first year of this. Uh and I still remain very interested in how we can use that for uh the purposes of filtering, for the purposes of noise control, for the purposes of pulling uh difficult to intel signals out of uh noise like that. So uh I think there's a lot of uh research that could still be used there, but I also am uh it's not magic, right? The the longer we spend with AI, the more we realize that it's been trained on a data set that is very human. Uh, and and what that has done is sort of uh illuminate my level of understanding that AI is only as smart as the folks that it has uh read from and learned from. So it'll be really curious uh to see what this continues to bring. But uh I don't know if we're gonna see like those dramatic uh AI controlled features or anything like that. I agree with James a lot on this. It's gonna be a tool that is expected to be used. It should help us develop software for ham radio quicker. Um, but yeah, I don't think there's gonna be going we're going to the last question here.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. I do think one advantage for ham radio is uh it will help your club send more concise and to the point email messages that are readable for the mass audience. Oh, good. There you go. Yeah. Okay. All right. Communicate better with AI. There you go. The more you know. Last question here, guys. You ready? It is. Will Rory and Jim get their amateur extra license? In 2026.
SPEAKER_01:Oh boy. It it was uh it was definitely one of those things that I think we started the year really fired up about. And uh the funny thing about it, and I almost made a joke earlier on when somebody said that uh if you uh don't like cold weather Poda, well, uh six months out of your year would be shot, right? Uh the funny thing in Michigan is once it gets warm here, uh there are a number of things we're trying to fit in all summer long. That's camping and socializing and radio and vacations, and we really do try to make the most of it. Uh, and I did not get my head in the game, in the book, uh, to do this the real reading and the research that I needed to do to pass my extra. I've uh false started in ham study twice uh on my extra. Yeah, me too. And and I'm not uh I'm not at a point where I would be able to pass it yet. So I I do look forward to getting it, and uh, it is still something that is very, very at the forefront of my head. Uh I would be lying if I said that uh I wasn't trying, but uh it's not at a point where I would I would be able to score them. 2026, Jim. I like it. I I'm gonna go for 2026.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Rory. We'll see. That's a fair answer.
SPEAKER_00:Here's the thing. Okay. Jim painted out very clearly. You know, and and we've all discussed this, it you you get a you get a little bit more bandwidth to use with the extra license than you do with the the general license. You get to talk you get to talk to your friends who decide to do POTA activations for unknown reasons on the extra portion of the bands. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Great on contest weekends.
SPEAKER_00:It's good on contest weekends if that's what you're doing.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:But uh the incentive, the incentive is is not really there for me. I'll do it at some point. I've studied enough that it would probably honestly would take me a month of six weeks of hard studying, and I would be there. Yeah. Um not even not even a problem, but it just needs to be done. We'll we'll get there. We'll get there someday. Something that's uh on my mind for for getting into now, and it may it may become a bigger uh a bigger focus for me than getting my extras. I I've gotten the bite the bite, the bug to to to start playing CW. So um that's that's uh that's got my attention. Really, since we talked to the soda guys a couple months ago on on the podcast, I've I've thought about it more and more. And even even though I'm not gonna be climbing any summits, um I I think I I would there's there's a lot of days I'd like to just sit here and and bang at the key. So we'll see. That's the answer.
SPEAKER_02:And and I want to make one point clear here. There is nothing wrong with being a technician. That's awesome. Being a general is awesome. Being an X is awesome. There all three levels are great, and whatever works for you is where you should be. The only reason I ask Rory and Jim this constantly is A, I know they know the material and they just have to put a little bit of studying in there. And and B, they talk about it themselves also quite a bit, that that's something they want to pursue. So I I will continue to challenge them on when they will do it.
SPEAKER_00:I do have to uh renew my license, which means another 10 years has gone by. I do have to renew in March. So uh I've had I'll I will have had been a licensed Sam for a for a long time at that point. That's uh that's exciting.
SPEAKER_02:Nice. So okay. There there we are. There are our bold predictions for 2026 and beyond. Uh, I think we got some good ones in there. We'll see if they come true. Maybe what we do is next December. Uh instead of rambling for I think about 50 minutes here, we'll just come back and quickly visit. I like did those predictions come true? Yeah. Uh, but hopefully you guys found those interesting. I'd I'd love again to know what everyone thinks is is gonna happen in 2022.
SPEAKER_00:I was gonna say, be brutally honest in the comments. If you think we were way off on something, let us know. If you think we were on on par with something, let us know. If you have ideas of your own, let us know. Let us know in the comments below or uh join join our Discord and and chat with us there. We're there every day. So uh we want to hear from you.
SPEAKER_01:I got one last thing for you guys because we we usually do this, and I I think we missed it this time. I want to call out a few folks uh in the community of Everyday Ham. And so good evening if you've made it this far, gentlemen. I hope you did uh to N1RWJ, Rob, uh, who has been very active in the Discord uh the last month, and uh we love having uh his input in the uh the channel there. And I also want to call out uh Caleb, uh KF0UPB, uh who came to the Discord uh with a problem, uh not a problem, so much as a suggestion, and uh he actually uh helped us uh make the uh Everyday Ham podcast a little bit more accessible to you folks uh that are uh listening to podcasts here on YouTube. So a couple of awesome community members who had jumped in and have been uh chatting with us there on Discord. If you have ideas, bring them to us. We are very open to it. Uh if you've noticed, the schedule for Everyday Ham has uh sort of accelerated. Uh, we are trying to release four videos a month at this point, uh, one being the podcast on the old YouTube. Yep. So there is a lot of bonus content coming out on there. So if you have good ex good ideas, we would welcome those. But uh I want to make sure we took a few moments to recognize a couple community members because uh we do appreciate everybody that comes and hangs out with us there in the everyday ham pod community. We sure do.
SPEAKER_02:All right. So with that, everyone, thank you very much. I hope you have a very happy holidays. I hope you have a great New Year's if we don't talk to you, and with that, 73s.
