Hamvention 2026: Recap, Reactions, and a Brewing Showdown

A concept radio with "almost nothing" on display managed to dominate Hamvention 2026, and we can't stop talking about what that means for the future of ham radio. We're fresh back from Dayton, a little punchy, and ready to unpack the best conversations we had with vendors, makers, and listeners who recognized our voices across the noise of the fairgrounds. If you care about where mobile rigs, repeaters, and digital features are headed next, this recap is loaded with real impressions and honest skepticism.

We dig into the biggest manufacturer moments first: Yaesu's DR-3 repeater direction and the next steps for System Fusion, Kenwood's long-awaited TM-D750A progress and why "ship it later" can be the right call when firmware isn't ready, and Icom's X-026 concept strategy that had people cheering, arguing, and even storming away. We debate whether asking the community for feedback is a bold move or a frustrating tease, and why market size, R&D timelines, and expectations at Hamvention don't always align.

Then we get practical with gear that feels closer to daily use, especially the Icom ID-5200. We talk interface upgrades, smart mobile touches like auto-dimming, and the big headline that grabbed our attention: native APRS encode and decode via firmware update. We also zoom out to the rest of the show, from Four Days in May and small vendor innovation to CW key makers, swap meet pricing, and what the flea market "junk scale" looked like this year.

If you like this kind of grounded ham radio coverage, subscribe, share the show with a friend headed to their next hamfest, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Then come hang out with us in Discord and drop your take: is the X-026 hype brilliant or annoying?

Short show intro audio clip

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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/

Transcript

Post-Hamvention Welcome

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome into the Everyday Ham Podcast. This is the special post-hamvention show. We're all a bit punchy. Well, Jim and I are. James didn't make it down this year. We missed you down there, James. Some personal issues there kept him from joining us, but we're lucky to have him on the home front. He did a lot of work for us with the with the podcast and getting things uploaded and edited and cleaned up for us from home. So that's much appreciated. So very good on all of that. So hand venture is over. 2026 hand venture has come to a close. We had a good year. Years past, we've we've boiled every day. It was uh mild. I would say mild, a little bit of rain here and there, but can't complain about that.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

But uh we had some uh good conversations with a lot of people. Special thanks to all the people that that heard Jim's voice from afar and said, You guys are from the podcast. And uh a couple of you I didn't catch the calls, so I'm not gonna call out anyone by name, but certainly thanks for saying hi. And um, you know, as time goes on, if you see us at any of these events, make sure to stay say hi, and you'll get one of those stickers that uh Jim has in front of him there on his on his mic stand. So very good. So our our goal with this one was to uh take a look back at our ham venture experience. And ham venture this year for us was pretty high level. You've probably already seen some of our videos that uh are already posted, but certainly want to

Listener Run-Ins And Vendor Thanks

SPEAKER_00 1:25

say special thanks to a few of the reps from the big the big companies, uh of course uh Ray N9JA from ICOM, John N9UPC from Yesu, and John W6 GPS who is working with Kenwood. Jim also wants to shout out the folks at ABR. We got a special gift from them at their table. They had an exceptionally good, good weekend at uh at Hamvench, and I went by there looking for some coax and and they didn't have any. And that's a good album. Sold out. They had a they had an excellent, excellent weekend. I'm I'm so glad for them. And uh that seemed to be the trend. A lot of the people who hand make or create their own stuff sold out of their stuff, and that's that's good. I'm glad I'm glad everybody was making a few bucks and uh everybody was doing well.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

So I will say, since we're on the topic here, Rory, uh, it was very pleasant to uh to be met with uh very open arms by all of the reps that we talked to this this time around. Last year, uh uh The Everyday Ham was a brand new uh idea uh that we had conceived. We had only been doing it for a couple of months, so we didn't go down there expecting that uh anyone uh would would take any time to talk with us. And so we kind of uh we we sat by the side and watched uh what everyone else was doing, and we learned a lot. Uh we took what we learned and uh sort of developed it through the year. And so this year it was really refreshing to go in. Uh we went in uh, you know, well dressed and professional, and uh we wanted to get some information for you guys that take the time every month out of your day to listen. Uh, and that's what we did. And uh we were we were welcomed and uh got a lot of cool talks and information from those vendors. So big thank you uh if you are listening out there uh you had some role in that. We do appreciate it. And uh we hope to bump into you again at some of those shows. But I just wanted to say that out loud. It was it was nice to see uh everybody being so open and and and and uh able to share with us uh in this one.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Certainly we had a chance to go back, go through and showcase a couple of new items at uh hamvention, and we put out videos about those items. Yezu, of course, with their up-and-coming uh DR3 repeater series and

Yaesu DR3 And Kenwood TMD-750

SPEAKER_00 3:25

the next generation of System Fusion, which should be interesting. I think more information on that's to come, but uh they're taking that to the next to the next chapter, and uh we'll see what that is. Kenwood, of course, how many people uh yep, there's the flyer from Yezu, and uh that's exciting to see them continuing to improve and upgrade on their repeater line. Kenwood, Kenwood got uh a lot of love and a lot of hate just because uh the radio's not out for sale yet.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

It's been in the oven for a while. It has been in the oven for a while. Uh yeah, TMD 750.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

TMD 750, of course. I was able to hear my own voice come out of one of those that was actually working. Serial number one was sitting there under glass. Kenwood is looking at uh September for that.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

So we're hoping that it has FCC approval. So they they are definitely on the verge.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Yeah, we're down the street as they're tidying up some things with the firmware. I think uh all of the big companies have learned, and even some of the smaller companies have learned, keep an eye on your firmware, make sure you're good to go before it hits the street.

SPEAKER_03 4:30

Yeah, we took we took some folks to task last year uh for stuff that came out half baked. And honestly, when we're talking about the big bucks that uh us uh amateurs are spending on the gear, it does need to be more ready for prime time. And I'm actually happy that Kenwood uh put the brakes on this thing uh and said, nah, it's not ready yet, and uh we'll push it out when it is. So I hope that that means that we have a great quality experience when that thing comes out of the box. Uh Rory, you got to see it. I got to see it firsthand. Uh it has a lot of positives for certain. Uh, and there are some stiff competitors coming up in the market as well that we learned about uh in our continuing uh treks through the building.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

And uh, of course, we spent some time with with Ray and the others at ICOM. Now that was speaking of competition. That was uh that was an exciting stop for two items. The X026. I'm

Icom X026 And The Concept Debate

SPEAKER_00 5:18

excited. Jim, tell me your thoughts on the X026.

SPEAKER_03 5:23

It was exactly what I thought we would expect there, right? I didn't think we were I didn't think that we were getting a functional display. I didn't think that we were getting a functional box. I see what you're doing there, by the way, and I saw Ray doing it over and over. I'm not because I have stopped all weekend for it. Uh, and my answer is it is exactly what I expected them to bring. Uh was their approach well received by uh the folks that were uh there at the show. I think that it was a big hype generator for ICOM. We said before the show, and I I think we can own this as the Everyday Ham podcast that we thought X026 stole the show. There was no one else at the show if X026 was there. And to be very honest with you, I think that we fell somewhere in the middle with our our feelings out the other side. The the product is still very much being conceived. Uh, and the reason that they brought that to the show was to try a whole new approach, and and that was to get feedback from you out there listening as to what you're looking for in a radio that would go in your mobile. This is a whole new this is a whole new approach. And and honestly, James called it the concept car. James, I think that is very apt. If you've ever been to the, we're of course in Detroit, Michigan. Uh so we've all been to the auto show year after year.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

Capital of the world.

SPEAKER_03 6:34

That's right. And we've all seen the coolest cars ever that are never making it to production, right? These are the things that are out there to generate conversation, uh, to show the future of the hobby, in the case, you know, motoring. Uh, and that's the same thing the X026 was. It was a thought-provoking demonstration uh in some regards. James, what do you think? I I I see you making uh a sort of eh.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

So what people maybe don't know about concept cars as well. Sure, and and I'm sure many do, is they're not really metal. I understand. No. They're basically foam or some other material just made to look like real cars. So they're they're fake. They're they're basically all fake. They don't have engines in them, they get pushed out onto stage, and that's about it. Sounds like the episode 26. That was the why why I used that example. The only difference between from someone that wasn't at the show, the 26 versus a concept car is at least the concept car has a little something they're advertising. It's gonna be a new SUV, it's gonna be a new, it's got these fancy new seat belts or some new ADAS technology.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

It had a couple knobs.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

It had not, but it had it had nothing. Like I I'm not I I understand the concept. I appreciate that the listening to user feedback, believe me, that to me is more important than anything. Um but it was a warm helping of nothing. And I could see why people are a little upset. Uh I mean I have a 3D printer sitting right over there, and I could have came up with the same marketing display that's not. Certainly not.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Send it in, they want to see it.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Yeah. So I touch on it. I don't know. I'm disappointed. I'll leave it there. So uh I would disappoint just a little little spice on top, a little something, a little seasoning.

SPEAKER_03 8:11

I'll say one thing here. So disappointed because you didn't see more, or disappointed in the idea of the product?

SPEAKER_02 8:18

Tell me the direction you're going. Okay. We are now gonna produce an HF and a VHF UHF radio. That's the direction we want to go in. So you wanted more guidance than than the even ICOM was able to offer. You know, you don't have to tell me exactly what I'll have, what the chips are gonna be in it, what firmware, software it's gonna run, is it gonna be detachable and be like a FTX one with the Optima behind it? I don't need all those details. But I'd like just a general direction of where you think your roadmap or strategy is heading to. And I would have been okay with that on the case, because then I could envision around that case. But there's nothing my mind's eye has to season that up.

SPEAKER_03 8:55

Okay. I'm gonna let Rory go because I know he has lots of thoughts here. But I want to just say ICOM's marketing folks are effing jeans. Brilliant. We have already spent more time talking about the ICOM X026, a product that doesn't exist yet uh than any other. Still won the show. My opinion is it did exactly what you want.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Go, Royhead. Rory go ahead and tell us what you're doing. So I I am very, very much in the minority on being excited and okay with with this approach. Now, you can look on the comments on our video of my chat with Ray. Uh you can look at all the other comments online about about people and and you know, some people are biting in and giving their thoughts on what what this should be. Some people are are are being all sorts of nasty because they they offended. But but Ray did share with us that uh we we probably will hear something by Friedrich Savan, and we probably will hear something by Tokyo. Neither of those shows are that far away. So I think it's only a a very short period of time before we actually do get to see the direction ICOM is going. Um I think their their caution in because these are in and we've talked to Ray before. Our first chat with Ray, I believe, um, and maybe our chat with it at Hamcation in Florida, I believe I asked the question about um, you know, how long, how much time in RD on these things. And and these radios don't move big numbers like automobiles do. I mean, people people tend to forget that. This is not a big market. There has to be a great deal of caution.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Uh our own ham radio bias probably makes us think it's a big market, but scale it's not.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

The the big crowd of people that was crammed into the Green County fairgrounds there in the middle of Ohio.

SPEAKER_03 10:34

Well, it's probably about 35,000. So put that in scale. Put that in your scale when you're thinking about how many radios you can sell if one of the biggest events is a 35,000 person. And and that's not ballid events at all. It's just saying the scale of the market is different uh than many other technologies.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

So their their caution and their approach to this, you know, is very important to them as a business. And and it probably sounds like I'm I'm um, you know, I have their back on this one. That's because I do. I I enjoyed the chat with Ray. As soon as he started throwing the questions right back to people, I was all in. And it pissed people off. People were leaving the booth, people yelled, I drove all the way from New Jersey for this bullshit, and someone stormed off. I I and that was that was that's that person should find another hobby. Well, that's probably true too. Just wait a couple months for the other big shows and we'll know what they're doing. If not, go buy a radio that already exists. You know, I I'm just glad to see ICOM is is taking a look at it, and that's kind of where I was going with. I was talking about the market share, their long future. Whatever this is is going to be around for a while. Think about the 706s and the 7000s that are still around. They're not new for sale, but uh, whatever this is will be around for a while.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

ICOM launches products and they hang out on the market. Go ahead, James.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

Yeah, and and icom, let's also admit, iCom usually launches good products. I don't I don't see many misses from an ICOM. Also, uh, people always complain that to Rory's point, no one ever listens to feedback, no one ever wants to know what the customer wants. This is a very niche group of individuals that like certain things, so at least they're taking in that perspective. Uh, but to Rory's other point of these events are coming up very quickly. Friedrichsoffen ham is on June 26th. That is, and then the Tokyo ham fest is August 29th. So we're not far away to see if they start to produce a little bit more seasoning on top of that concept.

unknown 12:30

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

I mean, I I'd imagine we're still just to be just to not disappoint myself. I I imagine we're still going to be seeing a plastic box by those shows. But by then I assume we'll we'll start to see an actual model number and an actual capability, you know, at least high overview. So we'll see where they go. But uh, I'm excited. I uh I always get excited about new things, but we'll see what happens. So um that was good. Also, Icon, we can't we can't forget about the 5200 um ID 5200 that was on display, of course. That's uh they're only they're only making a kind

ID-5200 Hype And Native APRS

SPEAKER_00 13:06

of suggestion that that will be out this year.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Um no FCC approval yet, though.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

No FCC approval yet. Waiting. Um and they don't know the timeline on that. I I I gathered reading between the lines that it's in for FCC approval, it just has not come out of FCC approval yet.

SPEAKER_03 13:22

So asterisk on all the things you hear on the EDH podcast. These are only our thoughts, not icons.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Right. Yeah, that's that that that my last comment was very much reading between the lines of of some comments that were made. But uh 5200, uh a couple people I spoke to uh since hamvention have already said, oh, it's just a new 5100. I don't need that.

SPEAKER_03 13:43

Yeah, I'm hilarious on this. I'm hilarious on this one. The 5200 blew me away. I thought like 5200 was a killer rig. And I understand you're you're out there banging on your screen if you're the 220 uh stalwarts saying it doesn't have one and a quarter meter. What's new about it? It's just another 5100. It we always knew that's what they were bringing. It's an updated 5100 that has a much modernized interface, a much more streamlined control head, an interface that we're all familiar with in the 9700, the 7300 Mark II, the 705, the things that are out there selling gangbusters right now, you're gonna be able to run that on your dashboard. So for me, getting my fingers on it, I loved it. It was it was very refreshing for me. I didn't get to poke the Kenwood yet with my own fingers. I saw it, of course. I love that it has uh one and a quarter meter, but putting them both next to one another, price is gonna be a big factor for me. And uh I'm also very excited to say, and I know you've already heard this if you're if you if you're in tune with the 5200, that we're getting native APRS. And for me, yeah, that was the buy no buy feature for this guy. If I was gonna get one, it had to have integrated APRS decoding and encoding capability with a 1200 baud uh modem. So I'm happy to say uh that they have confirmed. Uh we thought that it was gonna be a soft pedal, like a maybe, maybe, maybe. There was an actual confirmation that said firmware update coming with APRS integrated, not not DPRS, not D star based APRS, uh nothing funny, no extra hardware required. She's gonna be broadcasting and decoding APRS right on the radio. That is cool.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

In a firmware update, though.

SPEAKER_03 15:21

That's right. That's right. My presumption would be uh that that's probably a day zero type update. Uh if if if I'm not mistaken, that doesn't feel like uh something we would long wait for, but uh we'll find out. But uh yeah, I I was actually pleasantly surprised. Uh the ID5200 checks a ton of boxes. Sure, there are some things that I think the 500 still does better. And I've said those things, I'm vocal on them. You know, connect your microphone directly to the head. Certain mobile installations absolutely benefit from that. It gives more flexibility, right? When I have the connector not right on the side, absolutely. Why is it why is it on the side of the 7750 where I can see it? The funny thing is, flip it around the 5200 and guess where it is? It's on the side. But guess what they did? They inset it enough that the cord disappears around the back, so you don't know it's there. Smart. Smart. It looks sharp. And and those are little, little, little touches uh that make it really cool. Does it have a speaker on the head? It doesn't, right? And it doesn't have the microphone connection, but it has one cable that runs up there. The GPS is integrated, so it's gonna get nice view of the sky from wherever you mount it on your dashboard. Lots of lots of cool stuff with the ID 5200. James, you weren't there, but you saw vicariously through us a lot about it. What'd you think?

SPEAKER_02 16:33

If there's one radio from the show that made me jealous I wasn't there, it was the 5200. Hey. And I have a question, because you guys are both there and you're talking to people. Are we brewing for a second half of the year showdown between ICOM and Kenwood here? Is this shaping up to be a real hunting?

SPEAKER_00 16:50

That's exactly what's happening. I and and again, this is I would love that. This is pure speculation I on on my part. Um, I almost wonder if them iCom doing what they did with the X026 wasn't to keep ICOM buzz going, anticipating the 750 being available at hamvention. I I wonder if that was a card they tried to.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

I'm nodding vigorously because I agree, Rory.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

I I think I think that was something ICOM was concerned about, and that's why they started this this quick ramp up to the new product of the of the 026. So that isn't what happened, but it's they sure got their buzz out of it. I think there will be a lot of people, there will definitely be a showdown between the uh 5200 icon and the 750.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

It wasn't nobody had that in their their bingo on their bingo card, right? No one thought that these things were gonna likely drop at the same time because we've known about 750 for so much longer. And so really, uh if if 5200 year and a half, exactly, if 5200 does release around the same time, the it it really benefits us, the consumer, but it's a bummer for a Kenwood who uh had that big jump start there, right? Uh had the opportunity to get that radio out there and steal up some bucks. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Both of them have such dedicated fan bases, it's true, it's true. And the 5100 audience will will probably look at upgrading to the 5200, and you got the the Kenwood loyalists out there that love the radios, and honestly, it looks great. They both look like great radios. Here's a competition begin.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

Here's a simple thing that the 5200 did that I think is so smart, right? And Rory knows what I'm gonna say here. There is an ambient light sensor integrated into the front panel. So when you get in your car at night, the baby it dims down automatically without you having to set a timer and say, oh shoot, uh it's now it's the time change happened, you know, uh a week ago and I forgot to change that. And your radio's burning your irises out while you're driving down the road, right? It's just little stuff like that. It's quality of life stuff. And you know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of Apple doing those little things that make the products a little bit nicer to use. I hate to say I hate to make that comparison, but you're paying Apple prices for your iCom.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

Well, you're paying iCon prices too.

SPEAKER_03 18:59

Counterpoint, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:00

I made these comments when when we were looking at the the 7300 Mark II. You know, they they made some simple changes, HDMI, a couple of the I.O. changes were things people were looking for. It's it's the same thing with the 5200 versus the 5100. You mentioned the um the auto dimming that will be part of it. Uh there will all the APRS, we mentioned that. A couple of those those types of things. Wi-Fi capability to to be able to uh Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, yes.

SPEAKER_03 19:27

TNC built in.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

It's a KISS TNC with 9600 baud capability, win links, so these are are all the things that people people have been looking for. So, you know, they do listen. I I think people think that the the approach of of what do you want in your X026 is kind of odd, but I I do tend to believe they're listening at what what the users are looking for.

unknown 19:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

It's an evolution. The 5200 is an evolution of an already good radio. The 5100 was a great radio, it wouldn't have been around as long as it was if it wasn't, right? That is the summary of this story. And the 5200 just takes that thing to the next level. You know, it's like going from the OG iPhone to the iPhone 3 where we finally got the faster internet. So the 3G? Yeah, that one was that one. Yeah, the one that actually had a reasonably fast modem. Well, it while I was waiting for my uh YouTube videos to load on that first one, remember? So I I don't know. I'm I'm hung up on that Apple comparison, but it is really funny to me. There's a lot of reasons that I think the 5200 uh is gonna be a very exciting radio. Uh not limited to, but here's a prediction for you guys, and I'm I'm comfortable throwing it out here. I st I think the 5200 is gonna be cheaper than the 750 still.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

I think so.

SPEAKER_03 20:37

I think so. In in this market right now, like I said, there are only so many bucks that the uh the amateur has. I think this the 5200 is gonna have a price advantage on top of being a very sexy looking product.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

So now the Kedwood, the big advantage there is it has the APRS, it has the Bluetooth, it has the Wi-Fi right as well. And it's Tribander, and that's the one thing the 5200 isn't. And the front facing speaker on the head, big speaker on the head. This is why I'm saying I'm pumped. Let them come out at the same time and let's see. Because I think it's gonna be a really good competition. I I don't think people lose. I don't think ICOM or Ken would really lose in this. No. I think they have some choices. I think both radios hype each other up. It's like, you know, you you help a brother out and you you build each other up a little bit, and I think that's gonna be a really good comparison.

SPEAKER_03 21:23

I love it. Uh I I think that uh I don't know what one I'm going to buy yet. Am I going to buy one? Very likely. I'm going to be a sucker and buy one of the two. I have three of the 500s. I'm going to swap one out. The truck I have decided is the platform. It's bigger. Uh it will facilitate these new big color displays more appropriately. Uh, and so the truck's gonna get it. Is it gonna be the 750 with Tri Band? I already have the antenna bought because I didn't want to be on the back end of that, or is it gonna be the fifty two hundred with its sweet, sweet APRS integrated? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

So I'm wondering if I will because I have a fifty one hundred in the house and a fifty one hundred in The car. So whether whether it be a 5200 in the car and a 750 in the house. Ooh, I like it. We'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_03 22:07

Sell it all and buy one of each.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Moving on from the mobile radio game, though, here. What what else do we have that you can showcase for me since I wasn't there?

SPEAKER_00 22:20

So we we spent a lot of time wandering around the buildings.

Show Floor Finds Beyond Radios

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Wireman was missing. I I have heard mixed things of why they weren't there. Nothing that I've had confirmation on, so I'm not going to speak to that. And I understand they only canceled a couple weeks before Hamvention.

SPEAKER_03 22:41

So again, I think it sounds like a family matter, uh, and somebody's trying to keep the business going. Uh let's let's wish for the best on them and uh hope that uh whatever they're dealing with they can get through. Uh it is a well-regarded company. I heard a number of our club members say that they miss them at the show. It's where they collect all their jumpers and adapters and little things that they need uh to make it through the next year.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

So we uh we made a good stop through uh Flex Radio. They had they had products for sale. You know what? We we should have walked through their back uh walked through there again to see if those boxes were gone. I'm sure they were.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

They had Were they did they have Aurora?

SPEAKER_03 23:15

A U 510 and 520s on the shelf ready to buy. Like walk walk up and buy it. Walk up and buy it.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

Yep. They did not have many. Twelve?

SPEAKER_03 23:24

Uh there was a stack. I have a video of this as well. I'm trying to remember. There's probably about 12. There was there were stacks of four, four, four. There might have been, there might have been closer to sixteen or twelve. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Limited on the 520s and especially limited on the M's, which have the big glass panel on the front of them as well.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

Did you did you walk up and shake it, the box?

SPEAKER_03 23:43

They were behind, of course, the table. There was no touching those babies unless you were ready to be able to do it.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

But she did claim that one had already sold. When we were talking to her, she said one had already sold, so I assume they were already in there. Um But we had a brief chat with them.

SPEAKER_03 23:57

Uh just said hello and and took a look at uh Tony from the polar modulation uh Tony Brock Fisher, who we interviewed. You can go back and look at our video on that. Uh, if you're interested talking polar modulation in the Aurora, uh he was there. Uh we saw him uh supporting the release as well. And the same uh little experience where they have the uh brick down on the key. Uh and uh nice uh heating up the uh the 500 watts uh into that dummy load. Uh it was running all ham finchin. So they they were uh milking that to a little display uh showing just how efficient that Aurora is.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

Uh let's see who else who else did we take some time to at least say hello to uh throughout the show. I did make a purchase at Sign Man, they're always there. Uh made got my license, got my license plate frame for the uh for the camper. So there I did make a couple purchases at at Hambench. You can't see I didn't spend any time.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Trickling in here, Rory.

SPEAKER_03 24:47

Uh I know there was a diamond triband antenna. I know there was a couple of other little things. I want to roll it back actually. Uh so we jumped into the big the deep end here with all the big uh announcements that happened at the show. But the night before everything got going, Rory and I made our way up to four days in May. And let me tell you what, uh, if you didn't check our content out on that, it was wall to wall in there at eight o'clock when it kicked off the vendor

Four Days In May Highlights

SPEAKER_03 25:10

experience. Now, in classic ham fashion, uh everybody was there an hour early because that's just how hams do, right? And so when we rolled up at uh the time it was supposed to open, well, most of the stuff was already picked over, but that's okay because everybody was loaded up in there at eight o'clock. Uh it was really neat. It was kind of a who's who of uh small vendors uh showing off uh things like the Pactena, uh cool like uh evolutionary parts, uh, new things uh that 3D printed that are small, small volume. Rory Rory really summarized it well. Like, what is FDIM for a vendor event? But it's also a social event, right? There are so many people there that you want to say hello to uh that you haven't maybe seen since last year at that time. So it was cool to walk around uh and high-five some folks, get a little information. I will thank Spooltenna, uh, who took uh graciously some time during that extremely busy event uh to talk to us about their new spooltenna ultra. James, I believe you have one of these uh and we may be looking at it.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

I do have one. I plan on doing a little bit of a quickie review with it. I also have the original spool tenna, which I don't know the official, well, yeah, you have it. Gen 1 spooltenna. But anyway, uh initial implement like uh impressions of the spool tenna ultra positive. Uh, I think for me it fixed a lot of the problems that the original had, which was it was heavy. Yeah, so for a backpacking or Pota Adventure, it wasn't something I was taking. I would I'd defer to my pack tenna, but nice improvement. I liked it. Good job. It seems like a good antenna. I'm gonna get out in the field, I'm gonna test it.

SPEAKER_03 26:35

Again, maybe it's a theme this year. It was like this idea of like evolutionary design choices. The Ultra took all the things that the original did, right? Stick it on a pen, reel it up, right? Pack it in your pocket, and it just did it a little bit better, right? Made it a little smaller, made it a little bit more portable, made it lighter. Uh, and one of the cool things that we found out about that was that they're using the same core inside. So, really, powering handling shouldn't be compromised, even though that design got a lot smaller in the water. A little thinner wire, right? And even little things like the protective uh hoop over the back of the BNC connector to protect the actual red radiating uh connection inside of that. Uh, really thoughtful little changes there uh that certainly made uh the spool tenant neat. I don't own one yet. I'm waiting for James to tell me whether or not the ultra is a buy. It is a hundred and sixty-nine doll outside the show pricing, so it isn't it not a cheap antenna. Uh and the existing one lives on at least for now. At least for now, I have a hunch that that one won't be uh for long for the world after people get on the ultra bandwagon uh for I believe $139. So Spooltenna will thank them. Uh they are followers of the channel, at least on some of our socials, and uh they have supported us along the way. And it was nice to uh to talk with them a little bit about the product. Uh none of that has been given to the Everyday Ham. We have purchased all of it ourselves, so we are giving you an honest opinion.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

We've never been given anything, just to be very clear at this point. So we're happy to buy our own products.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

We spend all of our money buying it all ourselves.

SPEAKER_02 27:57

Just like real hams. Degenerate, maybe. Degenerate ham.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

That is okay.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

To the detriment of my wife.

SPEAKER_03 28:02

Uh, what other things at FDIM while we're on the topic were cool? You saw the video, James, Rory, you were there. Anything else at the FDIM event that really knocked your uh socks off, or perhaps Kate MRD.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

So that was uh that was good to see him and say hi.

SPEAKER_03 28:16

Classic, the whole thing is a who's who of those types of uh folks, right? Uh I suppose I guess you could put us somewhere in that classification. We're much quieter than some of those groups are, but uh we did say hello and we always love uh meeting him.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

Everybody's very gracious, you know, in the and another fellow alumni of the South Lion Area Amateur Radio Club as well. That's right. That's right. So that was good. Uh other than that, no, I mean if you're if you're a hand that doesn't love crauts, you know, you're gonna probably spend a little bit of time at the four days of May event.

SPEAKER_03 28:44

It may not be for you, but if you want to get in there and mix it up, it it seemed like a lot of fun, a lot of kits, uh a lot of little things to buy and not an open bar, but you can go out and get yourself a couple of cocktails if you need them to loosen up before you head into that craziness. And there were certainly people partaking there, uh and then heading out to the lobby to continue on their evening.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

Yeah, that's a whole a whole thing. But certainly certainly all the QRP and all the all the lightweight stuff, certainly a lot of things to see there. And you know, they're the people that's the best part of it, I think. The people at these tables are the people that have created these products and and and and had, you know, it's their invention. So to sit and talk with them or s or go over thoughts on the product, those are the smaller ones that are still in development mode in a lot of cases. It's they're they're interested to hear about the feedback for sure. So uh definitely a good event to attend. Who else uh back at uh hamvention there at the at the main show? Yep, who who else did we see that uh that stood out? I know we uh we did I did finally stop and play for a few minutes at the Bigali stand. Yep. Send some no purchases though?

SPEAKER_03 29:47

No, no Bigali purchases.

CW Keys And Small Makers

SPEAKER_03 29:49

They were loaded up again this year, and uh we watched uh all the white boxes, which is what they just unmarked white boxes with a sticker on top, Bigali keys, uh loaded up when we got there initially. And of course, by the end of the show, every one of those darn things was sold. They are beautifully constructed keys. There's nothing you can't say about the Bagali line of keys. I don't know anything about sending CW. I have a key up here that is only $60. It's my little Zygu key. Uh you can chuckle, but uh you put your uh you put your fingers on a Bagali, you can actually feel the difference, even as a no-brained uh ham. So really cool keys. Um, you know, we we stopped by N3ZN. We talked about uh N3ZN a little bit in another one of our videos that we just recorded. Uh really cool keys as well. I had no uh transparency on his uh products, but Rory uh spent some time and we have some video of him talking with the uh gentleman at N3ZN talking about how he sends uh code and then him actually uh suggesting that A, he tried something different, and B uh pointed you in the direction of a product.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

You can't uh you can't change how you learn, though. It's so hard once you learn to send a certain way. You you can't change how you send. For me to go from uh from a paddle to a straight key is is next to impossible at this point. Um some people uh squeeze the paddle in order to get the dot it uh sound of what you would get in a C. For example, dot it dot it comes when you're holding the the paddle together. I do one side then the other, as as a lot of people do. It's all how your brain is trained, and and we were we were chatting through it, and it's it it becomes a mind. Your mind, your brain, my at least my brain, I'm not not good enough at many things at all, so that's not natural to me. So uh I do it how I did it. But that was a fun conversation for sure. Um and his his keys, um I like it. Yeah, I was very, very impressed with the quality of his keys too. They they felt good in the hand, and he has a good selection straight keys uh paddles as well as smaller PODA type paddles as well. So uh they look very nice. Yeah, definitely worth a look if you're interested in that.

SPEAKER_03 31:53

Modern Morris was right next door. Uh of course, his paddles are very well regarded. If you could find yourself actually getting one delivered, uh if you got one at the show, I think you'll be really happy with it. Uh, we saw them both uh at uh FDIM and at Hamvention. So uh I think those uh are really well regarded. One of the club members actually ended up buying one, and uh I toyed around with the idea if he had an orange one, even though I No no CW to grab one while I saw it there, but I did not uh go down that crazy bandwagon yet. Maybe next year, uh if I actually learn at least a few letters like my call sign, all five of those.

SPEAKER_00 32:25

You you know it. You just have to remember it. I just practice. You've learned it.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

I just need to practice.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Just make sure you know a question mark too that comes in handy too.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

And I I have a question. You you know I'm a sucker for some crazy ham radio products like the Inflaytenna, which by the way, I still have not used yet, and I would love to get out there, or the ham radio kite, which we have a lot of summer products. We got to go out there and touch the stuff.

SPEAKER_03 32:49

We do need to get those things out. N9X, was that the guy that uh made the the the strip of antenna, the Faraday J pole uh N9AX? We were he had a flea market booth, although he was selling, of course, new product uh as well. So we saw him there. He also has the uh the the antenna rope as well that's it embroidered in the Faraday cloth embroidered into the nylon rope, yeah, which is pretty cool. Yeah, so that we saw him out there, lots of lots of those types of things. Uh there was uh Watts Electronics, I believe he's out of uh Eastern New York. Uh he sells lots of uh bird slugs. I did actually buy one bird slug while I was there, so the 100-watt one specifically so I could fill in in case uh Steve didn't uh remember his uh in the kit, so I'll be helping with repeater testing if we need it. Rory, I have a hundred watt VHF slugs.

SPEAKER_00 33:34

Excellent, very good. UmTech was there, and I I wish we would have had a better chance to get to their table. They have a uh a new product, I believe, that was there for taking a look at, and I don't don't know much more than that. HF radio, right?

SPEAKER_03 33:49

You're talking about the uh SDR style HF radio, big big screen, yep.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

Yeah, they were they were going through that with people. TenTech, of course, there's a long following of Ten Tech uh enthusiasts. Um Ten Tech's one of those companies that's had different different phases of life, I believe, different ownership along the way. Yep. And uh but a lot of longtime followers. I I there's a couple of their they're not the original era, but they're how do I want to say their middle era? Probably the the 90s, early 2000s radios that uh there's there's a few of those I'd like to get my hands on, at least one of them at some point. So I'll always have my eyes open there.

SPEAKER_03 34:26

Um they still command prices too, so those are you gotta be ready to spend a little if you want one of those guys. Kind of like the old VX VX8R chase that I have.

SPEAKER_00 34:35

Yeah, it's definitely something you have to be prepared to spend on. Who else did we see? We saw um all the vendors, of course. I'm trying to run through in my head the the people we saw. Ham Radio Deluxe was there, but their setup is always people that won't need support. You're able to get real-time support right at hamvention. That's always a a cool theme, thing for people using that software package. Uh who else? Uh James, who would have some been someone you would have been looking for if you were you had been there?

SPEAKER_02 35:04

No, I actually have a question. Was the ARL there and the Royal Canadian Amateur League was there too?

SPEAKER_00 35:10

Or the Royals were there, the Canadians that were there, and the uh and the ARRL was all there.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

Any anything exciting in either of those exhibits? Couldn't tell.

SPEAKER_03 35:21

We walked, I walked through it, I think just in passing on the second day, I was kind of cutting through it. Uh, didn't take a real long opportunity to actually browse the booths. A lot of the ARL stuff, to be honest with you, uh is is long running things. There's long runways on that. So oftentimes I think conversations need to have been started uh with your section manager, with the folks that you interface at the c at the club level, uh, so that you can keep those things moving along. It's certainly nice to network with those folks, but uh it the way we are right now as a uh club, WADEH, uh I don't have those connections and I didn't have any real reason to be in the booths, but uh, you know, uh I'm I'm neutral on on ARL uh things. I will give them some kudos uh as part of the NADSL club, a member, a paying member of that club. Uh we did actually receive an ARL grant for uh some equipment uh to help uh further the VE testing procedures that we have uh in South Lions. So uh thank you to the ARL ARRL uh for that uh that grant. And I think that will be helpful uh to make testing more accessible to folks uh in the digital way uh and get quicker results uh so that we can get uh folks licensed more rapidly. So that's cool. Um, you know, but uh other than that, no, it didn't spend a whole lot of time um at the ARL booth directly.

SPEAKER_02 36:34

So no, but I'll I'll be back. Oh, I do have one last question. How was the coffee situation? And what did you guys get for lunch? And that's the end of my questions.

SPEAKER_03 36:44

Yeah, I was gonna say on the on the I'll talk about the the the thing because I brought the strange question up, everybody laughed at me, and then I found out it was a whole thing. The chicken was there. You could get the chicken, the buzz was the same about the chicken, but the burrito truck was there. The same folks, less mariaches or whatever, still there. That's not how you say it. I know if you're out there and you could say it correctly, please do correct me or laugh at my terrible pronunciation. But their burritos were just as killer as last year. They're so generous. Uh and uh for $14 I ate them both days, and I had no regrets uh on that topic. Nice. And uh you can comment on coffee. Coffee is a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 37:19

I don't require their coffee because since I had a uh towable studio apartment with me, I made my own coffee every morning. So did not purchase coffee.

SPEAKER_02 37:30

Uh maybe next year I'll be back. I'll be able to partake in the hamvention coffee experience. And then uh hopefully Huntsville in the future here, and then I'd still one day love nothing more than to get to Friedrichsoffen and check out the uh Friedrichsoffen ham fair as well.

SPEAKER_03 37:47

So Friedrichsoffen can happen this year, I don't think, at least not for me, but maybe if you're there for business. Uh I think either that or Tokyo would be really cool. I think uh the German hamfare though was probably more accessible uh with the connections you have, James. So uh that could be a some that could be something that we could plan for uh certainly uh a bigger reach for uh such a small channel like ours, but uh it would be really enjoyable to travel with you gentlemen, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 38:11

And uh he's proposing ten hours in a car, so that's right.

SPEAKER_00 38:16

It's a it's a short drive.

SPEAKER_03 38:18

If we still have the podcast after that, we'll we'll we'll know what's you'll know if it dissolves after the uh Huntsville drive.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

I I mean you just could you'll have to just deal with my driving for ten hours.

SPEAKER_03 38:27

Well, if you want to drive for ten hours, that means I could sleep.

SPEAKER_02 38:30

Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine with that. I'll I'm I'm a good sleeper.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

One booth that I look forward to visiting next year as a member Quarter Century Wireless Association. Nice. Nice. I'll hit my twenty-five years. I'll hit my twenty-five years between now and next invention. And and do I need to join that club? No, but do I want to? Absolutely. Why not? Uh quickly, Jim, let's talk about the flea market. What was the I I I struggled to come up with a junk scale this year. Um the I have the commercial gear skews my junk scale. The commercial gear seem to

Flea Market Junk Scale And Deals

SPEAKER_00 39:09

be an on an upward trend, and that affects my automatic junk scale. There was a lot more Motorola, a lot more, a lot more that type of stuff out there as as off-lease commercial equipment for fire, police, all that's public. I'm somewhere about 65% junk out there, I would say. It's might be low. I I don't know. It's it's I'm having a hard time. I've been thinking about this one all day.

SPEAKER_03 39:39

I actually don't think that's uh that bad of score. I I actually uh think you're not too far off. There was actually a lot of nice things out in the flea market this year. In fact, obviously I bought quite a few nice things. Uh, we talked about it in our Hall's video. If you haven't checked that out, it will be posted soon on the uh channel. Uh that's not gonna be an audio only one, so you guys on the audio, I apologize. But I ended up with a uh Clockwork U Console, which is a Raspberry Pi powered computer that's about the size of two uh TV remote controls, if you remember what those used to look like.

SPEAKER_02 40:06

So cool. Super cool. If you don't know them, look them up.

SPEAKER_03 40:08

Quad core, four gigs, RAM, super neat. It runs Linux. Uh I paid $190 out in the swap for it. I was thrilled. It was my first buy of the day, and I started so strong, I was having a blast. And so that was cool. I had no expectation of finding one of those out there. Uh, and the the really the swap got better for me throughout the day. I only really bought one uh super dud, which was my FTM 10R. Uh swore up and down the thing worked. Uh we negotiated a fairly aggressive price, so I was comfortable with the risk associated with it. Uh, it certainly turns on, but it absolutely does not work. And by work, I mean def on VHF and def on UHF. You cannot hear a thing. Uh, and it also does not transmit. I'm gonna take it apart though. I'll put some parts into it and see if I can't restore that. It's too neat uh as a uh a vintage piece of Yesu gear and FTM10R. Go look it up. Uh, it's one of the strangest mobile radios Yesu has produced. Uh they had a lot of interesting design ideas back in the day. It reminds me a little bit of what Yesu's doing with the X026 without HF. But anyway, uh, I think moral of the story on this is pie in the sky pricing was the problem this year in the swap. I saw things that were absolutely asinine for no better. Was it the I Know What I Got people? People that had uh the D75 sitting in there, the box. Yeah, it had clearly been used, and the the thing is priced at $600. You could go into the exhibit hall and buy it on special for $530. FTM 510, R S A R A S P bought it, you know, installed it for a couple weeks, decided it wasn't for them. $650, go into the hall, buy it for $610, right? It over and over, all the new gear that was sitting out there was way, way overpriced. And especially uh HF radio gear like the uh 710 Field, uh the DX10, and some of those other things, uh, it was rare to see a good bargain on those. I did see it a couple of nicely priced DX10s. I saw one at 925, which is extremely fair. If you had the power supply and an antenna system to test that it worked, and that's really the the crux of this is the problem with swap is without a testing center, which a lot of these swaps have now, uh and there wasn't one set up that we were aware of uh at at uh Xenia, uh there's really no way to know whether or not you're getting something. And when you're making a big investment like that, if you're uh a ham that doesn't have that risk uh of if you have that risk aversion, right, you're not gonna buy that. So uh the price really has to be favorable for you to make that risk. And and and buying it sticker is crazy. So, really, for me, there was some cool stuff out there. I absolutely was happy with some of the neat things that I found, including the VX8 DR that I got. But uh uh, you know, that there was a lot of stuff that was overpriced and tons of Motorola gear, like Rory said. Lots of lots and lots of cans and repeater amplifiers and repeater gear this year, which I don't think we saw as much of last year. We were commenting on that.

SPEAKER_00 42:48

And some of those were in excellent shape. Someone looking for those things uh could have come out with a deal. Yeah. Now, Jim, tell us about the item, and there might have been more than one item that you know you made an offer on last year that was still sitting there this year.

SPEAKER_03 43:00

This is this is hilarious. James, you were with me, and Rory, you were too last year on the FTM 10, not the same guy that I bought the broken one from. Another table mid swap. Uh, it had $3.99, rare. It had, you know, with the sign that said it was rare and came with all the accessories in a little plastic tub. And we walk I worked this guy almost all three days, uh, or almost two days last year, stopped by a couple times. We ended up getting down to I think his price was $259. So we came from $399 down to $259. I still, in my opinion, wasn't ready to buy it at that price. And at the end of the swap, I had walked back out there and I said, Hey, it's still sitting here, you know. I have $225 left in my pocket. It was just what I had left in my envelope. And if you've ever traveled with me to the swap when the s when the envelope's empty, that's what where we're at. So I figured I'd make him his final offer. $325 uh $225. He said no to that. Uh guess what was there this year? Same sign, same bin of things, same exact radio. Guess what was there when we left with that same radio. Uh Did you go back and offer two two ten? No, no, yeah, he

SPEAKER_00 44:00

He had his channel. No, Jim won't deal with Jim won't deal with that. Yeah, you only get one chance with me.

SPEAKER_03 44:04

I don't go back and make second offers on things. Once we have an offer, we have an offer. But it wasn't, you know, it's just a principal thing for me. You know, I'm sure somebody down the line, maybe three years from now, will buy that thing for $3.99 and they'll think they got a real score on it. Inflation's happening, gentlemen, so maybe $399 will be the new $225. Anyway, that was a fun one. And uh Shane and I, KFABWN, silent partner of the Everyday Ham, did come up with a really funny idea, which is to take a little invisible ink marker out there and put a dot on all the boxes we think are going to be there at the next swap and the next swap and the next swap. Then you can use your UV light to check and see if it's the same radio. I'm kidding, we're not gonna we're not gonna do that on your radios, but we did think it would be like tagging tires in the job.

SPEAKER_00 44:41

The funny thing is still parked. They're all out there. There's one guy that's down there from the Metro Detroit area, too. He he he hauls the same stuff, swap to swap. I mean, it's it's I'm glad they're having a good time, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 44:54

You can tell people that are there as a repeat business and those people that are there to actually move some things. And those are the people you can make the deals with, right? Uh gentleman, uh his father, uh Silent Key now, unfortunately. Uh lots of gear there that he wanted to move, and right, he was out there making actual deals on things. Things were moving. Uh his his booth went from packed full of stuff to you know one one easy up at the end of the thing. And at the end, I made an offer on uh one of those radios and uh got it for what I asked. And he said, happy to happy to move it along to somebody that wants it. And I said, Great, I'm happy, you're happy, everybody's happy, right?

SPEAKER_00 45:28

So I'm I'm always glad to see. Well, I shouldn't say I'm glad to see, but the the silent key sales, we we've run into a couple of those. The people who are just mostly interested in moving the items along to a to a to a good home knowing they're gonna get used, not not trying to be crazy with the price. They tend to be more successful in in getting things. How how are we feeling about attendance? I I don't know that official numbers are out. My gut feeling says down a hair from last year.

SPEAKER_03 45:55

I agree. I I agree. I think we're gonna be somewhere in the 32,000 range this year, uh, based on the feel of the

Attendance Guess And What It Means

SPEAKER_03 46:01

event. Uh, it wasn't that it wasn't buzzing, uh, but it certainly didn't feel quite as packed, and I'll tell you where my scale is generated from. If you panned across the swap meet space this year, there were so many open spots uh on the track that were totally packed up with people last year. Uh I understand weather impacts that, but this year Friday was favorable, and actually most of Saturday until it started to rain was decent too. So uh, you know, I think there was a few less people here this year. I'm gonna say 32,500, 32,500.

SPEAKER_00 46:30

Yeah, I I had this conversation with someone. I I economy and gl and and and fuel prices make a big difference. I mean, we look at our our fuel from a relatively short drive, a couple hundred miles away in in Michigan, and you know, that that couple of bucks hits the pocketbook for sure. People who are are limited income, fixed income, you know, making a decision, you know, based on a dollar here, a dollar there that they have to decide on, they're not able to put another tank of gas in the car right now. So that that will affect that will affect that. So I think that's a lot to it. Um we'll see what happens. I I think next year uh hopefully we uh see some new products that that people want to see in person, and maybe that buzz will get some people there. James, any other questions on on hamvention? Any hopefully hopefully you weren't suffering from too much FOMO. We uh little bit.

SPEAKER_02 47:22

A little bit of FOMO. Uh I was it was great to be able to help edit the videos and and see everything that was happening. Uh but we'll hopefully be back next year and get right back in the groove.

SPEAKER_00 47:33

We'll add Huntsville to the list and maybe some work magic can happen and you can pop up at Friedrich's offense. Who knows?

SPEAKER_03 47:40

Special thanks to James, though. All the videos you guys saw on the channel, if you're watching there over the course of the weekend, with the exception of the first night, were edited by James. Uh we had a serious uh upload and edit and re-upload uh scenario going. So we were sending data via Starlink mad at us with all the uploading Starlink to ShareDrive to James's editing computer back to the YouTubes uh to get that content out there. Uh we delivered videos during the show. I want to say uh I was really impressed uh with our uh showing. This is a small channel, guys. It's the three of us. We do work full-time jobs uh and we have lots of other things going on. So no one's doing this uh and making any big money here, but uh we had a blast doing it. I hope you guys enjoyed cool coverage.

SPEAKER_02 48:22

Ham.

SPEAKER_03 48:23

Yeah, and and thank you, James, for for editing. I spent uh the first night editing the FDIM video because I thought that would be a challenging one to send to James. I was there, Rory was there, and it was a walkaround video, not a you know, booth interview type video. So I said, I'm gonna edit this, and I forced myself to get through it, but I was up till two o'clock in the morning, and Rory uh and I set a get up and leave by time that was very close to uh three or four hours of sleep for me by all said and done. I was dying on Friday morning, so I was happy to have a bailout on Friday evening uh when James brought out our second group of videos and then a third uh group the next day.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

Anytime. Happy to do my part, even if it's remote. Now I'd love to go there and spend my money next time because that would be a little bit more than a good one. Oh, you will.

SPEAKER_03 49:05

But next year is gonna be a whole different story. And uh again, it'll be a whole different show next year again. And uh, yeah, absolutely. We thank you for joining us here.

SPEAKER_00 49:13

Yeah, for sure. So if you're if you're listening to this in the audio forum on Spotify or Apple Podcast, take a minute, go and rank and leave a review, leave us some stars. It helps a lot. We're trying to uh continue to build the base. We find that

Reviews Discord And Closing 73

SPEAKER_00 49:27

the audio listeners and even talking to some of the people that we ran into at hamvention, there's a lot of you. And and it startles me every time someone said that they drove several hours listening to our voices, but uh yeah, I can't imagine. And the one the one fellow that we that we found told us that he listens to us at 1.8 speed. I I need to go back and listen to that to see how ridiculous that sounds.

SPEAKER_02 49:50

But probably sounds like the chipmunks a little bit, but thank you.

SPEAKER_00 49:53

It probably makes us sound a little better anyway, but uh that's all right. Um and certainly if you're if you're listening or watching on YouTube, like subscribe, and leave some comments there. We enjoy your feedback. Yep, and uh are just a good thing. Join us in the Discord.

SPEAKER_02 50:06

Yeah, it's awesome. Discord's awesome. Thank you to that Discord community, by the way. A lot of growing communities continues to grow all the links.

SPEAKER_00 50:14

It's a good ham community. For sure. All the links to all the things are at everydayham.com.

SPEAKER_03 50:20

And if you have an idea for the show, we are looking for those things as we go through the summer. Uh if you have an idea, send it to CQ at Everyday Ham Podcast, right? Everydayham.com. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, send us an email and let us know. We had uh a couple of folks early on in the podcast uh send us some really good ideas, and we had those folks on to talk, and we would love to have more of that and more of the community involvement here. Uh so that it's not just uh the James James and Rory show all the time. Uh but we hope you enjoy the things that you do here. Uh, like Rory said, join us in the community. Uh come come share what you're working on, come share the things that you're doing, uh, and let the community vibe back with you. We'd love to have it.

SPEAKER_00 51:02

So, with that, this is W A K N X saying seven three.

SPEAKER_03 51:06

Seventy three guys, N A G R D 73, everyone.

SPEAKER_02 51:09

Take care.