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
Hamvention 2026 Survival Guide: Strategy, Gear & The ICOM X-026 Reveal
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The fastest way to waste Hamvention is to treat it like a random walk. We're getting ahead of Dayton with the game plan we wish we had on day one: how to pace the weekend, when to hit the flea market swap meet, how to avoid the worst lines, and why the forums can be the most underrated part of the whole show.
We also catch up from our shacks, because real ham radio life is never just shopping. Rory shares lessons from the Michigan QSO Party and why CW contesting is the best training ground for finally hearing callsigns at speed. James brings the portable angle with travel radio, Parks on the Air stories from Hawaii and the Grand Canyon, and what it takes to make a station work when you're far from home. Jim talks simple antenna building with a 9:1 setup and what he's learning by hosting a club System Fusion repeater and helping keep local machines on the air.
Then we get into the big Hamvention gear energy: ICOM's X-026 concept has the internet buzzing about a mobile rig that could merge HF with VHF/UHF in a clean install. Kenwood's TM-D750A is still the question everyone wants answered. And Yaesu staying quiet has us all guessing what comes next in handhelds and battery life. If you're heading to Dayton, you'll leave with practical tips you can use immediately and a checklist mindset that keeps the weekend fun.
Subscribe for our Hamvention field coverage, share this with a ham who's traveling to Dayton, and leave a review if the show helps you plan smarter.
What's the one thing you refuse to miss at Hamvention this year?
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73!
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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/
Welcome And Hamvention Month
SPEAKER_01Good evening, everybody. It is NHJRD, and it is time for another full-length experience here on the Everyday Ham podcast. It is episode 17, which means we've been doing this for far longer than we ever expected to be doing it. And if you're out there still listening to us at this point, we certainly do appreciate you. Certainly had a few new uh members join us this month and uh excited to see that. And uh also a fairly decent response to the uh space-related episode last month. So if uh you enjoyed that, we do appreciate you taking a little break from the ham radio uh as we explored a little bit of the outer reaches of space. Here tonight with uh the esteemed colleagues, as always, W8KNX, Mr. Rory. And hello, Kilo8, Juliet Kilo Uniform James from North of Here. And of course, I'm an H A R D uh in my normal shack setting here this evening. So welcome everybody. Good to get the uh gang back together. Uh James has been on quite a bit of travel. Rory's been busy with business, and I've been doing, I don't know, other things. So uh nice to have everybody all in one place again for the uh episode and uh welcome you both this evening to the big 17th episode. Tonight's topic, of course, no surprise if you're out there in uh Radio Land. It is hamvention month. It is May. That means we are going on a radio adventure down to Dayton this month, and uh looking forward to that. Only nine days plus a little bit of time uh until all of us uh make the uh trip down there to Dayton to uh set up our camp and also go check out all of the cool things that are happening at the Dayton. So we're gonna talk a little bit about Dayton here, uh, talk a little bit about strategy if you're going to Dayton, maybe paint a few pictures about uh the ways to hit up all of the cool things that are happening at Hemvention. And uh we're speaking from a little bit of experience this year. Last year, when you uh sat down with us for the first time, uh, it was most of us uh going for number one. At least it was my first time. So excited about that. But how about we go around and see what's going on in the shack this evening? And I'm gonna start with Rory tonight. Rory, go ahead. What do you got going on, buddy?
Socials Discord And Shack Check
SPEAKER_03Well, first, let's not forget to encourage everybody to uh check out all of our socials and like and subscribe and leave comments for us on the video. That's all very important to us. We read them all. Jim usually responds to them all before anyone has a chance to even see him. But uh but we we do appreciate that. We have our Discord community as well, and it's uh, you know, I don't know the counts, but we I think we're right about a hundred people there, but a handful of regular regular folks in there in the general channel, and uh it's a fun conversation. A couple folks in there lately. Uh Katrina K5GRR has been uh on board with us on the on the Discord for a couple weeks. She's been bringing some good chatter in there as well as Steve KFA DYB, a couple people that we've enjoyed having on board on the Discord. So certainly take a moment to chat to check it out if you haven't already. Uh it's not something where you're gonna find a whole bunch of conversation, but just a little bit of chatter here and there, especially in the morning hours over coffee. So my shack is the same as it's been. I haven't uh done a whole lot here at home, but I am just coming off of uh a couple weekends ago, Michigan Cuso party had a good uh it was a kind of a kind of a slow Cuso party for me. I uh was down in in Lenaway County, Michigan, uh southeast of Hudson in Lake Hudson State wreck, and uh went down there with the camper, took the camper out for the first go, which was uh a good, good, successful trip, good uh test run and uh just a little bit of mud. It was very muddy experience. The campground was uh waterlogged and soggy, but uh I managed to get uh I had pulled it up here, but something came up in front of it. 128 QUSOs in the Michigan Cuso party. So not my personal best, but I will have had a higher score this year with having uh multipliers on CW that I wouldn't have had. So uh uh so 32 32 CW contacts, 96 on phone. So I had uh 60 multipliers to counties and states. Uh it was the band conditions were rough.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna ask, how were they?
SPEAKER_03Um the the uh 40 meters for in-state was was a hair too long to get Michigan contacts during the day. A whole lot of Wisconsin and Minnesota, but not much Michigan. And it wasn't until 80 meters came into came into action in the evening that uh I was able to get the Michigan counties that I did. But uh 80 meters did well. The um the the park I was dealing with some RFI and and I I kind of isolated, I'm sure some of it is in the camper because that's the nature of of uh low quality electrical connections in a camper, but for now. I think uh for now. But I think uh there was some neighboring noise and some other things going on, but not enough to uh not enough to deter me, and I had a good time. I uh think and I don't know what the plan will be for next year. May not disclose it in advance, we'll see, but uh we're thinking we're over next year. I'm thinking I'm gonna find a central point to uh to center out of and uh go go do over and do multiple counties in a day. So that's what's uh going on here. Uh James, what's uh way up there in Clarkston? What's going on in your shack?
SPEAKER_00You know, I have not done much ham radio to maybe loosely quote the great movie of Spaceballs. I ain't done bleep. So uh I as mentioned previously, traveling a little bit. Uh I did take a radio with me. Uh so I was I was trying to get my uh FX4 CR up and running, uh, but I I failed at that quest. Nothing to do with the F for uh the CR itself, uh, but I threw my 891 in the bag and the Mag Loom antenna, and I was all amped up to do some hotel FT8, FT4 and see what I could get. Um got it up, I think, of the week I was traveling one night. Uh the rest of it was all filled with work meetings and obligations. So maybe as I was lugging at home, I was like, well, that maybe didn't seem too value add there, but the one night was magical. Uh other than that, I was just trying to gear up for the the great ham venture here and getting all prepped and um getting ourselves ready for some everyday ham content. So I I was spending some time preparing for that. So hopefully we'll be able to bring everyone some really good videos and some different angles uh than maybe the normal YouTube content out there. Uh so that's at least the objective.
SPEAKER_01I don't want to gloss over it here, James, but you were in the Grand Canyon and you did have a radio, correct? Before you before you di descended into the canyon for your hike, you did have a radio. So tell us a little bit about that part of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, thank you. So I I guess my my last month of traveling has been in Hawaii. This is gonna sound horrible, everyone, and poor poor, poor me here. Whoa is James this evening. Whoa is James. Yeah, where where in the world is James? So I I went on a family trip to Hawaii that's been planned for some time, so that was a lot of fun. Got an activation in out there, uh, two parks, loved it. Awesome to see. Uh, learned how to operate in more remote conditions than I'm I'm used to in the great state of Michigan being in the Midwest. Uh, so had some life experiences there. Uh I was saving my 100th unique activation park for the Grand Canyon. So I went backpacking in the Grand Canyon two weeks after Hawaii. Uh, got my activation in outside the rim. Uh, we were setting up in the campground right there, so I was able to get that uh Grand Canyon National Park activated. For me, that was kind of cool to make it 100th. I'm a little bit of a nerd on that, but that's pretty cool. You know, yeah, yeah. Uh so I was pretty excited there. Then I I backpacked the Grand Canyon for four days. So that was awesome. Lots of really cool photos. Uh, maybe I should post some of those in the Discord, but people probably don't want to see my my boring share some of that.
SPEAKER_01That'd be pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00Uh and then I got home Friday, got right on a plane on Sunday, and I headed to Germany, Poland, Italy, and France for uh a wild week of work trip. So it was pretty much nonstop, and that's why I wasn't able to get on the radio much, and then home. So I've basically just been playing catch up with the family, because as you could probably imagine, my wife is super thrilled about all this traveling.
SPEAKER_01Uh she was with you in Hawaii, so she was with me in Hawaii and the kids.
SPEAKER_00But you know, the the Grand Canyon excursionslash the work trip uh, you know, maybe pushed it a little bit, but she's been always more than supportive. Uh, but a lot of adventure, a lot of radioing. Uh the 891 has seen some miles now. Uh I I'd love to go back and try to see how many miles I've flown with that radio, but I really can't stress that enough. I love that radio. It's not the lightest radio, but it's durable. It it squeezes in a bag when you need to cram it in there, and uh it does the job. And and so it was a good time.
SPEAKER_03We've all we've all used that radio at this point.
SPEAKER_01So we have, yeah. It's true. Went to Florida with us too. And Rory, I do want to mark the uh occasion here. Uh your Michigan Cuso party was your goal for your CW training, was to be able to activate Michigan's Q so party with CW, and you did that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'm still still only searching and pouncing. I'm still not quite confident enough to sit there and call CQ. And I I need I need to just do it. Uh friend of the podcast, Rob and um N1RWJ. Um, I think we we've shouted him out before. Uh he's he he's got ahead of me on that. He's done now POTA activations calling CQ, and he's absolutely right. Uh you just you just have to do it. I mean, and I'll do it. We'll get there. Um, I think I could have because I uh another friend Frank NFA DM, you know, he got 80 CW contacts in an hour on the Cuso party, you know, just by calling CQ, and and he was in, I believe he was at home in Oakland County, which is not rare for the Cuso party. Um I don't know. So I I just have to do it and and open my ears and turn the brain up a little bit and I can do it.
SPEAKER_00You just gotta jump into the pool, Rory.
SPEAKER_03I will. I uh it'll just it'll just happen. One of these days I'll it's it's how I do anything. I drag my feet, drag my feet, and then and then jump in eventually.
SPEAKER_01So I will say that uh I think it's been a nice friendly competition between you and Rob, uh both uh operating CW and chasing each other uh in the parks, too. I know that you've you've gotten Rob a couple of times with the key. Uh and give credit to Rob as well. We'll call him out. Uh he wrote an article for the QRPer. So if uh you are following the QRPer.com, uh you could find N1 RWJ's article there, published uh his first POTA activation. Don't wait to try it. So go check that out. We'll give him a little shout-out on that one because it was a neat read. I enjoyed seeing it. And uh Rob is all about uh QRP activating and running that CW key.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I was pleased to I saw his spot pop up that day. I just happened to be sitting here and uh turn the dial and I was able to get him on his first uh CW activation and he he was going slow. I had uh I because I I send about 20, come I send comfortably about 20 words per minute. I don't don't receive that well, but I I do okay at at 20 sending, so I had to slow it down to to work him because he was working about eight, eight words a minute. Hey, and and I'll tell you what, it is slow, it is hard to slow it down. I I uh I did have to send a few ditts and and he did give me a question mark on the first go because I I who knows what I actually sent. But um yeah, we I was glad to get him in the log. That was cool. I did I did actually he did get a rare QSL card in the mail for that. I did send that out the other day. I don't I don't send them very often, but I thought that that occasion uh warranted that, so I got one out the door for that.
SPEAKER_01At this point, you should get like 20 of them gold-plated little uh WKNX cards and send them out so that they're real. Swanka cards. Yeah, you like that.
SPEAKER_03I probably I probably sent 10 or 15 QSL cards in my life.
SPEAKER_01That's I have one.
SPEAKER_03You too. I have one. Yeah. No surprise there. A few when they're requested, but other than that, I don't I don't send them. Well, that's cool.
SPEAKER_00We need we need everyone in the chat though to encourage Rory to get out there and and get that first activation in there. Get it in the books. That's all you need. A hand venture would be a perfect spot.
SPEAKER_03I I know though, because the the other thing that I guess back in the shack, there's been a number of uh of other QSO parties and other contests the last few weekends. And uh this past weekend was the seventh area Cuso party, so all West Coast stations. I did that completely CW. I did not have a phone contact in that CUSO party. I I could I understand these these people that to me used to be crazy that they would enter enter contests and would not pick up the mic. Uh I I contesting by CW is definitely the way to go, is in my opinion. It's it's it's relaxing, it's easy, and uh you you can get quite a few in a log very quickly. So I I don't know about the people sending 35 and 40 words per minute. They're they're they're living elsewhere.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say that seems less relaxing to me, but but they're they're capable. It's impressive.
SPEAKER_03But the amazing thing is though you hear it, you you you still hear it. Once you learn and you're listening to CW just by by rec in instant recognition of each letter, you actually do I couldn't copy thirty-five words a minute for a long time. What did Spencer tell me?
SPEAKER_00Spencer told me it's like listening to music to him.
SPEAKER_03I believe it.
SPEAKER_00He just hears the melody basically and it translates.
SPEAKER_03And that that happens. You can I can pull a call sign out of that now fairly easily. It might take a couple tries at that speed, but it's gotten tremendously easier. And actually, that's a tip I would share with anyone. Get your feet wet in the contest. Go go copy call signs in a contest environment. Go send in a contest environment. And suddenly that thing where people say you start hearing the letters, you you start hearing the letters. That's no joke. So I I have a long ways to go, but it's um I'm glad I've spent uh it's probably six months on this journey so far. Um I'm glad I did it. And I set aside upgrading to extra. That was something I wanted to do by invention. Somehow the CW bug got me, but uh here we are, and we'll still do extra this year.
SPEAKER_00You're enjoying the hobby. That's all that matters. Yep. Is it N8AP, by the way, Spencer? That's uh you're talking about? Yeah. Yeah, thank you. We'll call it. We'll call out Spencer from the club. Uh boy Spencer.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Uh big, big time CW CW open. Uh it doesn't necessarily surprise me that slowing you down once you get that rhythm is uh a difficult thing. Rhythm is strange like that. You get a you get a speed and uh a feel for it, and I I imagine that it just kind of comes out that way. So uh very cool. It's it's fun to see all of the uh the CW. I was watching Ham Radio Crash Course, another uh channel that we always love uh mentioning because Josh does such a tremendous job with that. And uh they had the uh HRCC campout, uh, I think it was last weekend or something, and uh the big part of that they were uh spending uh doing some CW contacts there in the park. And it was fun to hear uh the guys just sitting there running the key with all the background noise of the uh of the uh get together and and seeing just how adept they were at doing it. Then there was a few uh few issues along the way too, but uh it's it's really fun to see all the CW ops uh that are out there making it happen.
Travel Radio And POTA Milestones
SPEAKER_03Uh well Jim, you came out and visited me for a night at the at the campground for CUSO party, and I I worked a handful of people CW while you were sitting there. And and you can you can hear it, you can sit and be talking to someone, and and I can't, you know, I couldn't do more than a couple CUSOs while while having a conversation with someone in the same room, but you can you can turn your ear and and get one or two in the log and have no problem talking to someone and working CW at the same time. It's it just it just kind of becomes a thing.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, yeah. I would I would a hundred percent agree. Yeah, it was fun to come out. I uh only came out for one night. I had a uh uh another uh engagement that I had to do on Saturday, so I wasn't able to stay both nights, which was the original plan. So I actually didn't run in the CUSO party at all, but uh did take the uh G90 down there and uh took my uh antenna that I've been sort of uh dabbling with the last uh couple of weeks in building uh constructing a little uh N FID nine to one interchangeable antenna that uh you can slap together. That video is coming, I think, but uh this has been my my project lately uh here around the shack, which is uh building, I'm calling it affectionately the Squaretenna, but uh that's just a joke. Uh it's it's it's a uh it's an N-Fed. We're gonna workshop that name. Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna workshop that one. It's like the the Homer car, right? Uh anyway, this is uh this is an antenna that I've been working on. It's kind of neat. And uh I uh you know came up with the design infusion and uh printed out, of course, the the top and bottom, gone through the couple revisions of that. And so that's kind of what I've been up to over here. Less radio, more uh playing around in the designer and uh and playing with antennas and building some a couple of things. So having a lot of fun with that. I posted some fun pictures of the uh prototype of it, and uh I do have plans to uh pull it all together into a sort of video. I know there's a lot of antenna videos out there, and you uh have certainly your selection at your fingertips to go check out, but uh it'll be a fun one because I think it'll be very beginner focused. So if you haven't built yourself a N Fed or a nine to one, it is very easy to do. Uh and uh we may make the designs available so folks can download and print out their own antenna and uh throw the parts in there. It really didn't cost much, I'll be honest with you. Probably the most cost in an antenna like this little nine to one, which has about 53 feet of wire on it, is actually the wire. The wire is always the most expensive thing, right? So uh so that's a that's been a neat project here in the N8 JRD shack. Uh it's been fairly quiet otherwise, tax season over here, so uh got those taxes paid and uh trying to scrounge a few pennies so that I can take them to Hamvention, which we're gonna talk about in just a few minutes here. But uh uh putting the pennies together there. So I've been sort of on the uh the lockdown for spending on big uh radio purchases, but uh have been making the best of it anyway, doing a lot of digital ops. Uh I did get uh Bon Air, which uh I was on the air here just recently. I think he wrapped up yesterday, actually, was his final day uh running on the air uh and got that one confirmed in my DXCC. So that was a cool one to get on digital. Um not one that I had before. It's uh it becomes exceedingly difficult after you reach a certain threshold uh on DXCC to get those those fresh and new ones. You can chase them by band, but uh getting those real new ones that you've not gotten on any band uh becomes harder and harder as you collect all of them. And and I'm only 120 away uh through it, so there's still lots out there. But uh uh it's been kind of fun doing that. And I will talk a little bit about uh also suddenly having a repeater under my desk, which is right over here. You can't see it, but underneath my desk is But just trust us, it's there. It's there. It's uh there's a fusion repeater under my desk now, and that is actually a club-owned asset. The uh N8SL repeater here, our 70 centimeter machine is now co-located here at the N8GRD shack temporarily uh until we can put it into a better home. But uh that was fun. Uh Rory and I went up and collected that uh from its previous location. Uh it had been put off the air uh for certain reasons, and so we thought uh to keep the coordination fresh and uh to respect the uh coordination that we have, we brought it down here, got it back on the air. And uh it's been really interesting to see just how poorly it performs on the antennas that I'm able to provide for it. But uh I have given it my best shot to uh at least keep it available for locals around here, and it's been fun to play with a little bit. It's also nice to have access to all the uh the hardware because if you haven't actually spent time working with a repeater, there's a lot of uh details behind the scenes that you begin to understand when you can get your hands on it and understand how things are connected and how they they interwork uh between those those different components.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, I think uh I think having it hands-on, having it in front of you helps understand uh quite a bit of of how little I always joke how how complex but how simple a repeater is.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_03You know, even uh even at a major repeater site, we uh collectively we've all been helping take care of the the main two-meter repeater here in South Lion, and we had a failure on that. Our our our chief engineer Steve NADAR, of course, to the rescue, but uh Jim and I tagged along to help out with that uh last week, I believe. And uh, you know, that that repeater, of course, it's it's larger, it sits in a in a full full-size rack, but it's it's the same components when when it comes down to it. It's it's not a complicated machine.
SPEAKER_01Nope.
SPEAKER_03But at the same time, there's a lot going on.
SPEAKER_01So click the click the link here, we'll link the video where we went and visited the repeater.
SPEAKER_03The uh but the the 440 machine at your house, uh that's good enough for around town. I'm glad it's on the air and uh we can have some fun with it in the meantime.
SPEAKER_01It's a fusion-capable machine, and it's uh also in mix mode, so we can run FM or fusion, which is neat just to be able to uh use some of that system fusion stuff uh on our Yesu rig. So I'm happy to have it here. I've learned quite a bit uh just uh in observing Steve N8AR and uh working on the two-meter machine. We went from two repeaters on the air for the club to one, and then we went to none for a week, and that was strange because we were all trying to coordinate a simplex net on our late night round table on Thursday. Uh we're not not in practice. Uh we should do more uh emergency preparedness in that uh regard, but uh than putting the uh the main machine back on the air and uh in good capacity, I think, at this point, and having the 70 centimeters. So we went from two to one to none to two again in short order, so kind of a fun uh thing to do. But uh that's glad to check in uh with everyone around their shacks. It sounds like things are in a bit of stasis, uh, stasis rather uh as we uh head our way into hamvention, and I'm not surprised at all because most of us do pause our spending between Christmas and hamvention as we get there and see what is going to be announced. And so I mean hamvention is Christmas, right? For Hams, isn't it? It really is the it is one of the biggest events. I appreciated the uh Hamcation break uh from all of the winter up here because that was kind of like a mini Christmas and it was an awesome vacation with you guys. But uh going to Hamvention is gonna be a blast. I'm uh excited to take the camper down. We got a huge crew of folks going with the NAD uh NADSL Club uh and it's just gonna be an absolute blast. And to give you guys some idea here, we'll put uh put a little bookmark here.
Antenna Builds And Club Repeaters
SPEAKER_00Hold on, hold on one second before you go into full ham venture mode. Oh I got two shameless plugs I want to just get out there really. Let's do it. One for our man Jim, N A J R D over there, who for the brand. Is going to be on the Q5 Ham radio podcast with Kevin. That's right. Uh W1D E D. Uh so thank you for taking that. You were asked to do an interview with the ham member board. So you interviewed Kevin himself on his own channel, which seems pretty cool. And I think the video is coming out soon, so be sure to check that out. The other selfless plug is the Michigan Poda meetup. So if you're in the area June 6th at Hartwick Pine State Park near Grayling, Michigan, be sure to swing by there as well. That's, I guess, something I have been actually working on, but that seems at the moment like a lot of administrative and less ham for me. But we're we're gearing up. Seems like we're gonna have a really good turnout again this year, so be sure to check it out. And it's conveniently placed after hamvention here. That's right. So a little something to get back in the ham radio pod of spirit.
SPEAKER_01Two weeks after hamvention, three weeks, somewhere right around there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's about three weeks. We probably space it out a little bit. So back to you, bud.
SPEAKER_01Well, no, I I good good call-outs there. And uh I do want to take a second there to recognize uh Q5 channel. If you haven't gone and checked Q5 out, they're well more well known than we are here on the Everyday Ham. But uh I had a blast sitting with Kevin. Uh it was my first time sitting down with Kevin. So uh admittedly, uh, we got a slow start, but I think that we we had a great conversation. Uh got to hear a little bit about what the direction of the POTA board is and what they are looking at doing uh as they move forward and into the future with the program. Uh so it's gonna be a really uh interesting conversation, and that's a series. So check out all of his uh different POTA board members and the conversations he's had with them. But uh hard to interview yourself. So Kevin asked uh somebody here uh from the Everyday Ham on, and that was uh lucky me. So uh enjoyed uh sitting with him. He has a real professional uh channel going over there. And I will also say uh it'll be my third year of attending the Parks on the Air meetup, and uh I've had a blast at all of the ones that I've previously attended. So I'm looking forward to Hartwick Pines. It's a cool campground, no matter what. And uh, if you are in the Michigan area, it really is a day tripable event, even if you do come up.
SPEAKER_00Even if you're not into PODA. Yep, there's so many good hams up there. Again, the best part of ham radio to me is always the people, and there's always good people at that meetup hamburgers, hot dogs, good hangout spot, just seeing what others are doing and talking.
SPEAKER_03So I think Jim's parents are even planning on stopping by. That's how social of an event this is.
SPEAKER_00And it is sponsored by the Everyday Ham podcast. So surprise, guys. I don't know if you knew that, but it is. Nope, we're we're we're top building on that.
SPEAKER_03We'll have stickers ready to hand out.
Plugs Plus Michigan POTA Meetup
SPEAKER_01All right, let's talk about hamvention, guys. I uh want to go into this uh with just the first one, which is there's gonna be lots of new stuff at hamvention, as there is every year, and I'm sure that uh you've already uh been seeing the trickle of information pop out on your news feeds. Uh certainly uh some big uh there's big ramps uh for all the major manufacturers to hamvention because of course they want your eyes in their booth and uh they want you to take your time uh at their booth uh hearing all about what they're going to sell you next. And we appreciate that. That that's part of the excitement of hamvention, but that there's there's many other ways to hamvention. So do understand that although hamvention is a trade show at its heart, it also is a meetup of like-minded folks uh collaborating on the hobby. It's a way to socialize, it's a way to go out and find some equipment that you might need uh for less money than buying new if you want to go out to the swap. Uh, and there's great forums at the ham venture as well. So there's no wrong way to hamvention, as there is no wrong way to do the uh ham hobby in general. And uh, we want to encourage you that uh if it's not just gear that you're interested in, go check out ham vention. It's it's gonna be a blast. I want to preview it by saying next week, uh the everyday ham crew here, uh Rory, myself, and James, are gonna be hard at work. We have a uh a pretty busy schedule ahead of us. And if you were here as we covered Hamcation, our intention is to do very similar on hamvention. So uh do, if you're listening on the audio, check out the Everyday Ham YouTube. It is going to have videos each day uh as we go through the uh event of cool things that we see. And certainly uh we're not going to be able to stop and interview every vendor, nor are we going to want to stop and interview every vendor, but we are going to try to hit the high points, the things that we think are extremely interesting to us. Uh, and we hope that you find those things interesting too. And I know there's a a list being developed already, but also some good walk-arounds, just giving you kind of an immersive feel for the uh the event. Hopefully, uh a walk through the swap, a walk through four days in May, which is a pre a preceding event uh of Ham Vention on Thursday evening. Awesome event if you're not familiar with that. I recommend you go check that out too, and maybe we'll see you there if you're gonna be down that way four days in May. But uh all kinds of cool things to do down at Ham Vention. Let's talk gear because it's the easiest always. And uh, say that there's only real really one story this year. And you can fight me on this one, but ICOM has stolen the show already. It is the X026. ICOM's X026 has been revealed, and certainly you'd be living under a rock if you hadn't seen the reveal. It's making its rounds across all of the biggest ham tube channels. Uh and what is X026? Well, we're gonna play it for you here. If you're watching the video, you'll see what's next uh from ICOM. But it is a mobile radio, uh is what we're seeing. Uh a rendered mobile radio, no real hardware being displayed yet, with a removable head, a large color display in the middle, and four knobs on either side of that display, and not one, but two antenna connections uh for your mobile vehicle or whatever else you might be hooking it to. One appears to be for two meter and seventy centimeter. We don't know anything about one and a quarter meter, two twenty, as Rory likes to say. 220.
SPEAKER_03They're leaving that up to Kenwood.
SPEAKER_01That's right. And there also appears to be a second antenna for HF. So what it looks like we're getting here is the full-on uh all-mode, all band rig uh from ICOM. And I believe the last time that ICOM delivered something like this, correct me if I'm wrong because you guys have been around this for quite a while, uh, was back like the 7000 series, the ICOM 7000.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think the ICOM 7000 and then the 7100 kind of went into that role a little bit with it, but with that control head being the way it was, it wasn't exactly a mobile player. People did use it mobile, but this thing just from the image that you have stopped on the screen right there, uh, I'm excited to see it. I I I'm looking forward to seeing what uh it it looks sleek, it looks like it's gonna look good in a mobile application. Yep. But who knows? Once they do once they show it to us, it might look completely different. Who knows? Icon likes to be sly that way, but yeah, uh we will see.
SPEAKER_01What we can say about it is they're they're kind of promising that we're gonna see an actual mock-up, not just a bunch of boards splayed out under glass this year. And if you remember the was it the X06, the X26, I can't remember what the other project was, but it was essentially uh their other big release, which was a couple of years ago. Uh that was uh the exploded boards and and no real mock-up of case. So I'm excited to see this one. I believe that ICOM has essentially stolen the show as far as uh big hardware announcements go. Uh last year it was all FTX1 Optima, uh, and uh we certainly saw how that played out. Uh, I think that it was a sort of roller coaster, as we all know. Uh thankfully, it seems like uh things have stabilized for a lot of those folks that did stick out that uh that experience, but uh certainly not without its uh continuing woes along the way. But uh X026, you know ICOM's gonna do it right. Uh they usually deliver a very well done product. Uh you know it's not gonna be an inexpensive product either, and I'm suspecting uh that this one tracks right along with the best of them. But uh, you know, there's there's there's not much that can't be said on uh 100 watt HF rig in your mobile uh that also has 50 watts for the other two bands, right? I and I believe that the 7000 delivered that uh pretty readily. So if if that's what we're getting, I think this has a lot of potential um to uh to be quite an interesting one. And it might uh it might take a little bit of that attention off of the other big one that we've all been waiting for, but sort of been left out to dry, and that is Kenwood's TMD 750A.
SPEAKER_00Well, and Kenwood has promised, so I checked the vendor listing because if you remember at Hamcation, that was a thing. They're gonna be there, they're a confirmed vendor on the vendor listing.
SPEAKER_03They were confirmed at Hamcation too until we got there.
SPEAKER_00So but they but they this time, so I I I'm prepared. I got I got the map for the actual uh diagram here of the Hamvention Fair. They are scheduled to have 505, so I'm sorry if you're you're not watching, but they got three booths in a row, so three little square boxes. This is in building one 1603, so building one. Okay. They got basically an L shape, almost an aisle and a quarter. Wow. So basically the equivalent of one aisle.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's a big setup there, Rory. I think they're gonna show. And they're gonna have a radio for sale. That's my speculation.
SPEAKER_03I think I think that's all space that that could very easily go to uh uh vendors such as Kits for Ams when when they don't show up.
Big Gear News And Price Guesses
SPEAKER_01Oh boy, I love it. The Kenwood TMD 750A. We did get uh some actual footage of this from the uh Japan ham fair. Uh and so if you have gone down the more obscure uh YouTube, uh if you've gone off just the uh standard English YouTubers that uh you'll generally find in your feed, uh there have been some actual reveals on the TMD 750A. It is real. Uh it is coming.
SPEAKER_00We saw it at hamvention last year. We did in a mock-up under glass in a mock-up unit. But it was a mock-up unit. I mean, it looked like it would it looked like a unit that could go to production. I know, again, repeating, but they said that they had to go back to engineering for some component shortage issues. So they went back and they re-engineered some things, but it looked like a unit that was ready for production, to be fair to them.
SPEAKER_03That was made on the verge of production. It was made out of foam and had a light bulb in it. Anyway. It wasn't.
SPEAKER_00I mean, it's it's hard to capture that level of disappointment.
SPEAKER_03I was bummed. I I I I was bummed. So they they've they've they've made me a little agitated, we'll say. But uh hopefully they're there. Hopefully we can see it. I think it'll be there. I think uh if it's not here, they're they're losing a lot of a lot of okay.
SPEAKER_00Big question, Rory.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You think it's gonna be there? Under glass, year two in a row, or outside the glass? Hands on. I'm going to I'm going outside the glass.
SPEAKER_01I it it'll 100% be out from under the glass.
SPEAKER_00West Japan connected to an antenna or West Japan hamfare had a functional unit on display.
SPEAKER_01People could push the buttons on the display with their own hands. They weren't they weren't behind anything. It was there. It is it is ready now.
SPEAKER_03I'll take a I'll take a risk and I'll go functional and ready for sale. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I I think it's buying it.
SPEAKER_03I'm not I'm not buying it, no.
SPEAKER_01Oh boy. That's a big that's a big turn from last time.
SPEAKER_03Not uh well, not at this time. I'm not I'm not there's no big purchases at ham hamvention for me this year. So uh not buying it at this time, uh unless I come home with a something from our our friends over there at Buddy Pole, but that's a separate thing.
SPEAKER_00By the way, we need to talk because I think I might have the same hankering that you have for I don't I shouldn't do it.
SPEAKER_03Uh, there the responsible adult in me says there is no large purchase this year.
SPEAKER_00There's no responsibility at hand venture.
SPEAKER_01For those listeners that don't know what uh Rory and James's insider trading is all about here, uh the Buddy Hex uh is both on their mind and also perhaps going to steal a thousand bucks out of their wallet.
SPEAKER_00More than a thousand bucks, so one thousand four hundred with the masks at least.
SPEAKER_03So if you want to uh if you want to know about Buddy Hex, you can uh I'll point somewhere. I'm not good at this game. Someone can put a link somewhere at the video of the interview we had with them at Amcation, which is very cool. So I don't know. I long story short, I'll just I'll I'll I'll tell you all my personal details. Usually the radio purchase is dependent on the bonus at work. Usually that is dependent on the annual review. Guess what's not scheduled till after hamvention this year. So I I don't know.
SPEAKER_01You're gonna have to get HR aligned with hamvention moving forward, Rory. Give me their phone number, I'll call them.
SPEAKER_03It has been for it has been for all the previous years going down there. This year it's not. So I just I uh that doesn't mean I can't buy something.
SPEAKER_01I I it would be responsible not to.
SPEAKER_03I'll just be a little more responsible, but when you see me come home with a large box, don't make fun of me because anything can happen.
SPEAKER_00I love it. I'm gonna I'm gonna go back really quickly to the uh X026. So the IC7100, right? That that's the closest comparison, we believe.
SPEAKER_01The current current living comparison, although the IC7000 is probably closer to what it's going to be.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. HF, VHF, UHF, base station, a lot of people mount it for mobile. Its current retail price is$1,199.95 on DX Engineering. If if they were to launch this radio without we have no specs, nothing. What what do you think the market rate's gonna be right now? You were to get$17.99.
SPEAKER_01$17.99. It's gonna be optima priced for sure.
SPEAKER_03What are we at for um$7,300 Mark II right now?
SPEAKER_01$14.99, I believe, is the going right.
SPEAKER_03I I was so I was gonna go$15.99, but$18.99. Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. It'll it'll be uh four or five hundred dollars more than the seventy three hundred Mark II.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I I I mean, again, it's uh it's ICOM. They produce a good product. I do believe Jim is right. This product will be when it launches, I think it will be a good launch product. I I think you're pretty safe trying to buy it on a a day one or pre-release.
SPEAKER_03Here's the thing there though. You're asking me about the 750 Kenwood and spending a chunk of change on there. I I need to see what this product is because you guys are all aware I've been talking for a period of time about adding an 891 into a permanent fixture at the cockpit of my vehicle.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_03If this product can solve my my two-meter and 440 situation and HF in one control head nicely mounted in the driver's cabin of my vehicle, we might have a new problem. It's more than just the bonus. There's a lot going on in my brain. It's more than just the bonus timer.
SPEAKER_00There's layers to this.
SPEAKER_03It's more than anything else. There's a lot going on. So no decisions can be made yet.
SPEAKER_00Mark II is currently uh$14.99 on DX Engineer.
SPEAKER_03I I say four or five hundred bucks more than that for this product.
SPEAKER_01I have no doubt$1,800 minimum on this thing. Uh I it it is going to be chock full of all the good goodies that uh ham wants in a mobile rig, and it's going to have a nice big color display. Look at the IC7000, which was really ahead of its time on the city.
SPEAKER_03That display was beautiful at that time.
SPEAKER_00So I suspect Go ahead. I was gonna say, I'll take the opposite of the prices right. I'm gonna say 2,000. Okay. I I wouldn't be surprised.
SPEAKER_01I honestly wouldn't be surprised by that. And uh honestly, when this launches, I do think this has some big staying power. It'll be really curious. But uh there Optima would be the only other thing in this class right now if you wanted something mobile like that. Uh right now you can certainly uh work an Optima mobile installation, but uh this one seems to be tailor-made uh to that rather than being an afterthought, which is unfortunately what the uh Yesu mobile uh experience turned into.
SPEAKER_00Well, we we were told, I'm not listening I don't need to get onto the Optima here for a second. We were told there would be no extension. That's what I'm saying. It wasn't made for mobile mounting. And then oh hey guys, it's made for mobile mounting now. Go ahead and just throw it in there while we try to work out our other bugs.
SPEAKER_01But I want to move this thing forward because we got so much in the ham venture. Yeah, let's go, let's go. And I love our fire on on this. Big three though. Icon it is certainly gonna have a huge thing to show us this year. I'm excited. They're gonna take the show.
SPEAKER_03Because they should also have the 5200 mobile out for for for Tanzan this time too. Icon Icon booth is gonna be hopping. I have to go one more on this new new uh new 026 before we move on. Do it. The other the other thing I'm hoping to hear what their solution is, and and of course, in that mock-up video that they showed, are they gonna have an ATES uh uh similar product to the A-Test?
SPEAKER_01Automatic tuning HFN would be awesome.
SPEAKER_03To go with it. Are they gonna try and enter that realm on their own or or what will the answer be there? I'm very curious about that.
SPEAKER_01Tons of money in that space, uh, if you ask me, and they would be smart to jump in there.
SPEAKER_03I think it'll be very interesting to see where they're headed there. All right.
SPEAKER_01That's a good call, Rory. That's a good call. So ICOM, top of the stack. We know that one's gonna be big. Kenwood certainly has a sleeper hit still uh in their back pocket. We're hoping that that thing is material. It can be purchased at some point this summer. I'm I'm hearing murmurs of Q3 now, gentlemen, so I'm actually a little skeptical we're gonna buy, but I do think it's gonna be functional. Uh and Yesu, mum is the frickin' word this year.
SPEAKER_03So Yesu dude was teasing you at Hamcation, though.
SPEAKER_01He was. And uh I think that was mostly a good uh conversation and engagement uh tactic uh on their front. But uh their only tease at Hamcation was the uh potential for an updated handheld uh device. And uh certainly we know that the FT5D at this point getting a little bit long in the tooth. Uh certainly uh radio that uh has been very well received, has sold a ton of units. We know lots of folks that have the uh 5D in their stack of uh handheld radios. I own one, James owns one, Sit and Murray has one. Everybody that I know has a Yesu handheld. So I mean, I'm sure it sold gangbusters for them. So there's there's definitely money in handhelds. Uh, but uh that was the only thing that they were teasing as a, hey, that one's getting a little bit old. Perhaps there'll be something new. Um but I don't know how you how you innovate in that space unless you're bringing us another band or you're bringing us something else interesting. If it's another dual band system fusion handheld, it's gonna be hard to for me to get real excited about it right now unless we go way smaller form factor-wise, or we bring something absolutely bonkers to the table that I haven't fathomed yet. And and I don't know what that would even be. But I would love to see a smaller radio from from Yesu because that's where I think there's a there's a hole in the market right now.
SPEAKER_00I love a VX, a VX update. Yeah, I hope.
SPEAKER_03With USB C charging. USB well, charging in general. That was what I was just gonna address is whatever they introduce, I hope they look at their battery capacity. Some of the the the some of these handhelds right now, the newer ones, battery capacity out of the box is is awful.
SPEAKER_01Brutal. You've got GPS running, you've got big color screens now, you've got five plus watts on the Kenwood, you're putting out eight on some of the bands, uh, and you've got APRS modems running. I mean, there's a lot of technology behind the scenes. And although uh we've been using lithium-ion, Yesu's been using it for ages, as far back as 2000 that I can remember with the VX5. I mean, uh your energy density there is uh uh certainly still an issue. So I think there's optimization options, but uh Yesu's been quiet uh on this front. We've seen no major leaks. Last year was really their year with the FTX one.
SPEAKER_00So well they released the FTX one before hamvention, if you remember. The press release and everything was announced prior to. So the fact that they're quiet a week before is probably not a good sign for a major release. You would think there'd be a ramp if there was a or they learn their lesson a little bit and they're just trying to smooth it out. All right, well, here we go. We'll see.
SPEAKER_01So the there's your roundup of the major manufacturers at Ham Vention. And like I said, if you're not a gear head, well, I don't believe you because everybody that operates ham loves gear. So that is all on that topic. And there'll be lots more to uh to tune into. We will certainly be working our way uh toward the icon booth to get an interview with Ray uh as we sit down and see the X026. Uh Ray has uh been real good to us uh as of the Everyday Ham podcast, and we're hoping to uh grab a few minutes of his time. Certainly not going to expect uh a long and in-depth conversation. Yeah, he's gonna be a little busy, yeah. We will certainly be bringing you at least some early coverage on that. This is a good X-026 uh as soon as we get there on Friday morning uh in the uh in the space. So look forward to that, and that'll be an exciting one to drop next week. So moving beyond the vendor show, uh I would love to know, you guys, uh some other things that you can't miss at Ham Vention. And I'm gonna tell you a funny one that I have right out of the gate. Last year we talked all about Rory's uh disdain for the lack of coffee vendors at uh the ham vention. Uh show up in the morning, and if you haven't brought your cup of coffee, good luck. You might be in the line all day waiting for your coffee to get there. They improved that, I think. Uh in fact, James bought me a cup of Java uh as we got started. So thank you, James, and uh had ample coffee. But uh my favorite was uh actually lunchtime around a ham vention. And I'm gonna tell you uh there was a couple of great food trucks that showed up uh midday at ham venture. They were hit there most of the morning and through the afternoon, but uh I really enjoyed the taco truck. And so I was curious, guys, uh, when it's time for a break at Ham Vention between all the things you're doing, what was your favorite food out there? And uh let's get a little light-hearted conversation there for a second.
SPEAKER_03Oh boy. What was the so what was the uh it's a I don't know that it's a taco truck, but the what I've done it two years in a row. It's on the side near to the ice cream dude. Whatever truck's over there.
SPEAKER_00Yes, bourbon chicken.
Food Water Flea Market Strategy
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, that's that's who it is. You get that, yeah, that's right. You get it out, you can get it over rice, all that stuff. It's very good. That line, of course, you gotta be prepared to spend 20 minutes in line. But uh I I do uh I do afford that line once. Uh there's all sorts of things. I mean, it it's that's one thing to the to the um the the hamvention folks. The even in the couple years I've been to the show at its current location, the uh the food trucks and that central court area has has improved the experience a ton. So I'm sure there will be new food options this year. They might be going from three to five coffee vendors. Who knows? They're they're better than that one year there was. One. There was some there were some angry folks.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I think we're dreaming for five coffee vendors now, Mary. Is that where we're at in this time?
SPEAKER_03I mean, it was so bad that first year when I was driving up there, I stopped at McDonald's on my way in just so I wouldn't have a problem. I mean, coffee's required.
SPEAKER_01But the line to get into the place, by the way, is cars and cars all the way out past the gas station, down the road, out past the fair. I mean, you're miles out uh and you're waiting in line to get in there on the first day.
SPEAKER_03So it's And then I guess here's a this is a pro tip I just thought of in picturing that area. So the local uh ambulance crew or fire department, I'm not sure who it is, they have a table there with uh free water refill all weekend long. So if you're if you have your water bottle uh and it's good water, it's it's not you know it's filtered good good quality water, I don't think they get it out of the hose. If they do, well, then then we're all surprised. But that Xenia water is quality, it could be good water, but that's definitely uh something to keep in mind if if you're if you're not wanting to buy a bottle of water, and of course we're we're looking at you know higher prices at these types of things for food and drink. That's just how it works. Standard fair pricing. But certainly bring your bring your bottle and fill up with them uh all weekend long. I'll do that for sure. So keep that in mind as well.
SPEAKER_01I wanted to bring this topic up because I think it is funny. Uh we were talking historically about hamvention, and of course, hamvention's going on 60 plus years now. I think it started back in 50, 52 timeline and uh and moved to moved to Hara Arena somewhere around 1964-ish. Uh so we were talking just recently uh as a uh couple of us about the history of hamvention, and and the reason I brought the food up was uh there were a lot of uh woe stories about uh the poor food at Hara Arena for years. You could get burger fries or a hotnog. Uh, and uh they've certainly uh upped the game at the uh Zenia Fairgrounds. It really is an excellent uh place to go wander around for the day. If you're like I say, wander through the booths, go check out some of the technology that you're interested in, see what your favorite vendors are bringing to the table, pick up a few things that you need to complete your ham kit, uh, get a bite to eat in the middle of the day, and then go check out a uh forum. Go ahead, Jim.
SPEAKER_00Let's walk through, let's walk through our everyday ham typical strategy. A day in the life, if you will.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So tell me if I'm wrong, but let's give the expert tip here. We we come in, we we stop immediately at the coffee cart, we reload on the caffeine. Gotta get started. We then, being us, we're we're well, Jim, especially here, you love to go search the flea. So you go walk the flea market fields because you want to get there and see what's out there. Uh also if you think something's a really good deal, snag it. You got the money and you can try to negotiate with the person, but don't let it sit there because it will be gone. It's not gonna be there when you come back. So we we walk that, right? Yep. That's still on track. We take a little break. We do that until about lunch. We we plow through some bourbon chicken and the tacos, which is a good refill moment. We take our club photo usually at the one o'clock at the flag poles, be there, be squared.
SPEAKER_01Then for the teal shirts this year with the purple ham on the back.
SPEAKER_00Yes, the retro. The South Lion Amateur Radio Club is gone. Retro.
SPEAKER_01If you think everybody's uh a Charlotte Hornets fan, you're looking for the right people. We're out there with our teal shirts and our purple uh ham hocks.
SPEAKER_00That's us, N8SL this year. Look for us. And then we hit the inside exhibits because that time we're hot. We we want to cool down a little bit. Hopefully the weather's cooperating because it is Ohio in you know May. And then we are in the exhibits, we are checking things out, we're shopping, we're getting our miscellaneous components, we're maybe buying a hex beam, and then that's day one. That's day one. Day two, we spend most of the time in the exhibits inside just because we want to go around again, check out more stuff. We're really cramming our bags full at this point because we're not really coming back usually for day three at that point.
SPEAKER_01Nope. Sunday's a quiet day. Sunday's a good opportunity if you're local and you want to avoid some of the hubbub but still want to go in and see the vendor exhibits. That's a great deal. Your next sales are still on. A lot of the swap folks uh clean it up by day three. The folks that are still out there are uh likely sitting on uh what's left over from uh you know the picked over two days before. Uh and then there's piles of junk out there that have been abandoned that someone else is gonna have to clean up. Those are often free goodies, so you can keep your eyeballs on that as well. Uh but day three is a good day if you are semi-local to uh go hit it up. If you've already done hamvention once, but I encourage get in the hubbub of day one. It's a real blast uh to get out there. James.
SPEAKER_03The advantage if you go on Sunday, if you're local, Sunday is free. You you still have to go to the ticket window and get a ticket, but Sunday entry is is free. So if you're if you're not interested in paying the ticket price and you're close enough to make the trip there on Sunday, that's that's one way to get in for free.
unknownYep.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say on the topic of uh, of course, all things flea market, uh, we call it the flea uh for short. Uh it certainly is one of those things that uh you have to use a little strategy on. And and if you are a bargain hunter, you can certainly find some great deals out there. Had a lot of fun doing it last year. I uh have set aside about a thousand dollars in the kitty this year to take out and see what we can gather. Uh I don't know, we'll we'll see how it goes. Um But what I will say is there's two things that really impact your uh fleeability. Uh one of them is if the weather is poor, let me tell you what, those guys are out there negotiating. So if uh if there's threatening weather last year, our first day, uh it was expected that second day was going to be a rain out. Those guys were dealing hard on day one. They were trying to get rid of the stuff uh because they had already hauled it all down there and they were. Any sensible person would be. Absolutely. And so I was I was surprised we went through day one and we made some really good deals. It was awesome to run around and and and there were people that were looking to move some equipment at real r real reasonable prices. Uh, you can use that to your advantage if the weather is kind of strange. Uh, certainly play the flea market that way. The other thing is, uh, like you guys said, if you do see something you like uh that's uh probably an attractive item, it's worth picking it up on the first pass. But if it's something that is a bit more obscure, if you think it's a little stranger and you know that you know you're probably one of the few folks looking for it, I do encourage you to play the gamble game there because you do have the high-end uh advantage of ending up on day two late in the afternoon uh making a much better deal on it. And uh I certainly uh tried to play that game on a couple of different things and made some wins and uh I left a few things behind last year.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you have to expect that on the second pass it's gonna be gone. You can't be uh can't be counting on that.
SPEAKER_00You're really gambling. Yep.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So yeah. What one other thing, uh as a friendly reminder to all our fellow Hams, look under the tables. That's a lot of the good stuff is under the tables. And then also the one of the other famous spots at Hamvention is the sign man, I believe it is. Yes. You can get your badge made. You're official. All your badges and embroidered logo to goods. So you can get your call sign made right there. Actually, really great people, by the way. Still done there. It's a I think it's a family business. Um, they also do the hats, the embroidered hats with your call signs and the t-shirts and all the goodies. However, it gets busy in the beginning of the day. It's it's crowded. Line. Don't wait in that line. Come back towards the end of the day, especially if you're going to be there for day two, because they will make the stuff in the evening and you just pick it up on the table the next day, and you don't have to wait in that long line, and you're still getting those embroidered and customized goodies. So save yourself.
SPEAKER_03I do have something I want from them this year, so I will be I will be stopping by there.
SPEAKER_01Excellent. That that's a good that's a good one. I think that uh if you haven't gotten yourself the little badge, uh it's a cool thing to take to your club meeting, it's a cool thing to have on your backpack just so that folks know who you are, and uh I think it just adds to every every ham nerd needs the badge, guys.
SPEAKER_00You show up you show up to the event, you have the badge, it's kind of cool. It it it is really funny. It just looks super cool.
SPEAKER_01It really is funny how well distributed the sign man stuff is. I mean, everybody has one, even if they only run into the sign man once a year at hamvention. Uh and I will say you guys uh hit it on the head, which is put your order in, and then you just walk past the table once it's done and you pick it up. He's got them all out there, it's honor system because who wants a W8KNX badge if I'm N-H-J-R-D? Nobody's taking somebody else's badge, right? So it's all sitting out there. Once yours is done, you can swing by and grab it. So really a cool thing. I think that's one of the kind of staple uh stops along the uh hamvention journey as well. And I'm glad you guys remembered to bring that up. The other thing that I think is is perhaps uh worth a mention here is don't overlook the fact that there is a raffle going on throughout the entirety of the show. And uh last year I didn't check till the very end. But uh, if you are buying a ticket to get into the show, uh it is your raffle ticket, and they raffle off some pretty cool stuff at the convention. It's awesome stuff. So uh last year one of our club members walked away with a uh new crimp and die set uh for uh some coax cable. So he he ended up uh making a win on that one. That was pretty nifty as well.
SPEAKER_00And I think my last big tip is too don't stay only in the main exhibits. Yep. Check out a lot of those smaller other exhibits because there's some really cool, uh, not necessarily always ham related. I bought my niece actually, who does first robotics, a uh they had a programming kit, uh sort of like a Snap Circuits meets a programming online training kit, and it's kind of had a breadboard type interface where you could plug it in and stuff. And I gave that to her and I mean she loved it. And I would have never seen this organization unless they knew the nerd audience that is amateur radio and they were there setting up and stop and talk to them. I mean, there's a lot of really cool, rather, really cool vendors out there. They're a small mom and pop type organization. So don't don't get distracted by the big and flashy. The X026 is going to be there. Make sure you check out some of the other stuff as well.
SPEAKER_01And the small building across from the three major buildings at Hamvention actually houses some of those really interesting STEM uh booths, smaller booths, there's some meshastic stuff that'll be in there, but also a lot of that that other stuff kind of shows up uh in that that smaller building.
SPEAKER_03So definitely check out a lot of those specialized things things like that, the those people really enjoy having conversations about their product and and about their interest in it. That can just be fun, even if you don't know anything about it or you're not interested, and you go past the table, it's not uncommon. Stop and they'll tell you all about it. You'll you're gonna learn something new, and it's usually a really cool interaction with a lot of these people.
SPEAKER_01I think the last thing to say is if you are planning your first trip to Hamvention or if you've done it a couple of times, don't snooze on the uh forums as well. We know for sure that the Parks on the Air folks are gonna be putting on a couple of conversations around the Parks on the Air program, uh, with the opportunity, of course, uh to meet some of the new board members. Uh, like I just talked to Kevin recently here, and I know he'll be down there along with uh many of the other folks like Mike Case and uh Mark Torresian and others uh that are on that board. So if you want to meet some of those folks and uh tell them all the cool things that you've been doing with POTA, I'm sure that uh you'd have the opportunity to bend their ear on that topic. And there are other forums as well uh that are actually a great way to uh take a little break after lunch, uh let your food digest, uh sit in a chair for even 30 minutes, sit in air conditioning, then head back. Yeah, and then head back. We have no idea what the weather looks like uh down in Ohio this coming week. I'm gonna always a gamble.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'm not looking at. I don't even want to know the long-term forecast at this point. But for the forums and for those types of events, the ARRL events app, uh, that's already populated. You can download that onto your iPhone or Android device, of course, and it's already populated with the schedules, and uh that stays updated. And you can even set a push notification for it to remind you that you have a forum that you were interested in going to because you the time can get away from you at Hamvention. But uh the forums are definitely I think there's four forum rooms and uh plenty of room to get in. Some of them do get filled up. I I've seen standing room only a couple of times, but uh POT was standing room only last year.
SPEAKER_01We sat on the floor in the back.
SPEAKER_03I know the the Sunday session with Mike, uh W8MSC is uh going to be focusing on on the next chapter of POTA and and where they're headed with uh the online interface, the the logging system, the database, and all that, which uh he he didn't promise any any sort of working demonstration. He he he wasn't quite sure that that was uh able to be a thing yet, but uh based on how well they maintain the current database, current website, I'm I'm very excited to see where they're taking the next chapter of that. So that's a good one on Sunday. And there's always there's always stuff for the technical folks and the less technical folks. I mean, there's something for everybody in the forums.
SPEAKER_01All right, guys. So a couple of things to think about as you're heading down to ham vention, and I do want to say that for the most part, uh, we're just getting hyped up ourselves here, getting the gang back together here uh in episode 17. But I'm excited to be down there and uh immersed in the ham radio for a weekend of uh excitement with new gear, uh new tech, and uh just hanging out and uh operating the radio all alike. Uh that is gonna be hamvention and it is coming, like I said, in just nine days uh from now. So last call. Anything else that you're thinking at ham vention that you can't miss?
SPEAKER_03Certainly if you see us down there, you'll hear Jim first, but you'll see us second. Uh definitely definitely stop us and say hello. Don't don't be shy. We were we love talking with the people at Hamcation down in Orlando. We had a couple cool meetups with some folks. Definitely say hello. If you're in Caesar Creek, um definitely uh you'll find us. Uh which letter is that loop? I I I know I'm in 117.
SPEAKER_00D loop, I think.
Meetups Health Tips And Sign Off
SPEAKER_03Yeah, D E loop. Yeah, but uh certainly find us uh find us there, pull through, say hello. Uh no problem there. Uh we we look forward to meeting more people and putting some faces to the names. Uh that's that's one of the more fun parts to do on the podcast, is is the people that we meet along the way. So I do look forward to that too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm glad you said that out loud. I'm looking forward to uh running into some folks down there. We met a few folks last year, uh even just a couple months into it. So hopefully we'll bump into more of you. Do have some stickers in the backpack to give away, uh, and we will certainly love to uh put some faces and names, invite you to come have some conversation with us and uh and uh make poor purchasing decisions in the Discord.
SPEAKER_03Well we can help with that.
SPEAKER_00We're good at that, yeah. James, any last thoughts on hamvention? No, just remember it's a uh it's a marathon, not a sprint. Just enjoy the moment.
SPEAKER_02Drink water.
SPEAKER_00I drink lots of water, stay cool, and uh let's let's let's do it.
SPEAKER_01I was I was going to say, and and I think it's worth mentioning, Rory's has extolled the virtues of staying hydrated. I hope it's warm and it is uh one of those weekends that we do need to worry about stay hydrating. If it is cool, uh that's okay. Uh, but sunscreen was the other thing that is always worth it. Yeah. Well, no. Sunscreen was one of the things that I was gonna say. That's one of those things that we uh neglected to pack, and I think we had to go back for uh on that first day. But uh everybody stayed protected. Uh, it's a good way to get burnt up out there if you're wandering around the swap for more than a couple of hours. But uh anyway, we'll be down at Ham Vension. We hope to see you down there too. If you're not, you can live vicariously through the Everyday Ham channel on the YouTube, and uh, we will have many things coming as we do uh on that YouTube channel throughout the weekend, uh, starting Thursday night with the four days in May event, uh, where we'll probably deliver a little bit of content on that, and then moving straight into the Friday morning uh roundup of all the big manufacturers, uh, and then I think Saturday to uh having an opportunity uh perhaps to uh cover some of the forums and maybe uh some of the flea market stuff. I don't know, just give you an immersive experience. So six to eight, I think, is where we're gonna be, but uh hope to see you all on the YouTube or in person. This is an Everyday Ham podcast. We appreciate you coming by again for another listen. N A J R D signing off. Seventy threes. Yep, seventy threes, everyone. Seven three.
