Field Day Disappointment? Why We Think ARRL Needs to Evolve (+ FTX1 Final Update)

What happens when the "Super Bowl of Amateur Radio" meets poor band conditions? The Everyday Ham team breaks down their 2025 ARRL Field Day experience with honest reflection about what worked, what didn't, and why it still matters.

Despite challenging propagation that made 20 meters nearly useless, our South Lyon Area Amateur Radio Club (SLAARC) field operation managed 680 QSOs with 16 operators including several first-timers making their debut HF contacts. The camaraderie and mentorship moments proved more memorable than any score could reflect.

Our equipment choices sparked fascinating discussion about the evolution of field operations. We deployed simple yet effective antennas including Aerial-51 off-center fed dipoles on SOTA-beam masts and a remarkable military surplus 40-meter vertical built from scrap aluminum by silent key Larry K8UT that outperformed expectations. All stations used FTDX10 radios - a choice we explain after detailing our final journey away from problematic FTX1 models and praising Ham Radio Outlet's exceptional customer service.

The most thought-provoking segment explores whether POTA is replacing traditional Field Day. With outdoor portable operation now happening year-round, we question how ARRL might evolve Field Day to maintain relevance, particularly addressing the controversial 1D station rules. An 82-year-old ham's perspective that "POTA is the future of ham radio" launches us into examining the balance between contesting, emergency practice, and social connection.

Join us for laughs about Jim's abandoned attempt to backpack a DX10 to Mackinac Island, heated debates about "please copy" Field Day etiquette, and news about our exciting guest for Episode 8 - someone from one of the "big three" manufacturers you won't want to miss!

Subscribe: https://www.everydayham.com

If you enjoy the Everyday Ham Podcast, please leave a five-star review - it helps others find us and keeps this conversation growing.

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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/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Everyday Ham Podcast everyone.
This is Episode 7.
We are in July, close to Fourthof July weekend.
I'm James K-H-A-K-U and I'mjoining me today are my co-hosts
Rory W-A-K-N-X and JimN-A-J-R-D.
Before we want to get started,I want to just remind everyone
how to connect with the EverydayHam community.
First, the best spot to visit iseverydayhamcom.

(00:22):
You'll find links to ourpodcast episodes, youtube videos
, as well as our Instagram andDiscord channels.
So be sure to go out there andfollow us for a little short
snippets and what we're workingon.
And, again, as always, if youlike what you're hearing today
or watching today, please take amoment to hit that like and
subscribe button.
It really helps others discoverour content and it would do us

(00:42):
a great favor.
Also, if you're feelinggenerous and you're on a
platform such as Apple podcast,spotify, go ahead and leave us a
five-star review.
Again, if you like what you'rehearing and what we're doing, it
helps the community out a ton.
Jim had a great idea also and Iwant to thank everyone that
participated.
We actually got some everydayham patches made with a nice

(01:03):
Velcro backing.
We made them for ourselves, butwe had a couple extras and Jim
thought it'd be great to givethose away as a prize to some of
our audience members.
So thanks, jim, for that ideaand thank you everyone that also
submitted your names for theraffle.
But to maybe get started, wecan talk a little bit about what
we've been doing in ham radio.
Rory, maybe start with you.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
Well, one thing I think we should bring up right
off the bat is we are officialW8EDH.
We have a everyday ham amateurradio club club call we do, and
all of the things that go withthat we have started to put
together.
We do have a QRZ page started.
We do have the POTA accountstarted, so I would expect we'll
be doing some combined POTAefforts at some point.

(01:45):
It's more or less a club forthe three of us and probably
some of our best friends to havesome fun with once in a while
and just to do some fun thingsand have the chance to do that
Additionally.
I just finished and actually ithas some errors so I guess I'm
not quite finished but I startedputting together the All-Star
side of that.
We will have an all-star hub upin the cloud that will be open

(02:08):
to the public.
You can join into that club andmaybe down the road that will
be attached to some physicalhardware somewhere, but we're
not going to put the antennabefore the horse for that, so
we'll see Just some fun stuffthere.
Otherwise, around my shack itwas field day weekend, which
we'll be talking about as we getinto the episode here, but that

(02:29):
has been about it.
We did have James' shack visit.
We actually had the mic checkvideo that came out last weekend
, I believe, and that was a funtime.
The three of us all gottogether and got a 2-meter 440
antenna up on the roof at James'house, so if you've not seen
that video, take a look atYouTube.

(02:51):
It was a good time.
You can see the three of usbeing complete.
I don't even know what the wordis, not coming up with.
The one I want but we're notgood at doing things is
basically what it comes down to.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
If you ever dreamed of seeing this guy awkwardly
crawl around the roof thenthat's the right episode for you
, but we got it done.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
It was a good time and it was a successful
installation, Jim.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
I feel like that was a pretty representative
experience overall, likesomebody that you're only going
to put an antenna up once.
In most cases right.
We made do with the things thatwe had at James' house,
including a tote that we emptiedjumper cables out of some rope
that he was using to guy anantenna out with a wrench that I
threw at his face at some pointto try to get the rope into the

(03:38):
right location.
It's all stuff you shouldprobably go check out in the mic
check video.
But yeah it stuff.
You should probably go check outin the mic check video.
But uh, yeah it, it was.
Uh, it was a heck of a time anduh, james is now on the air and
that's uh, that's somethingthat we can check off the box.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
And uh hear james on the local repeater and I've
joined a total of one net, soI'm making good use of it.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
In the last week I've had it, so technically, we're
on the thursday night roundtable as well, which I know is
not a directed net, but it istechnically established to get
together.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Not a net, but yeah, it was a good time.
Thanks again for helping withthat.
Maybe on the club topic, wenever realize how much paperwork
and accounts you have toregister for when you start your
own club, but also our buddy.
Shane is one of the membersthere as well, so it's
definitely a good time for thefour of us.
Shane is one of our admins.
Slash good friends.
That helps with some of theback end stuff for the podcast.

(04:27):
Thanks, Shane.
Shout out again to Shane.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
K-Fate BWN.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
You'll see us on.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Now, if we shout out Shane, we have to shout out the
unlicensed Jade over there.
And who gives all sorts ofideas to Shane but doesn't get
licensed.
So I have a whole list of ideasfor Thursday Night Roundtable
topics from her, but she's noton the air.
But I know she listens to thisonce in a while so I figured I'd

(04:52):
throw that shout out there aswell well, I'll tell you I am in
a foreign place.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
If you are watching the podcast for our seventh
iteration here, you'll noticethat the background looks a
little bit different and youmight recognize it from our
hamvention special where we werein my camper during the big
rainstorm.
No rainstorm.
Up here I am literally on July4th doing vacation mode here in
Gaylord, Michigan, on the back40 acres of my father's property

(05:19):
, KC8 NTE.
So yeah, we're out hereenjoying a family reunion
experience and I've got the Yetimicrophone with me and we are
testing this microphone.
So if you like how it soundsbetter than the one I usually
use, let us know in the commentsbelow.
And I'm using a MacBook that Igenerally use just for logging

(05:40):
and other ham radio programmingpurposes.
So not a great webcam, Iunderstand it, but it's been fun
.
I do have aspirations to get theradio out here, probably
tomorrow, depending on whatlooks good.
The weather is supposed toparticipate the remainder of the
week.
So I think I'm going to headback up to Otsego Lake State
Park, try to get my name to thetop of the POTA list over there.

(06:02):
I'm not too far off.
I know it sounds crazy, but avery underactivated state park
here in Michigan, right off ofthe freeway there, and then I
think I'm also heading over tothe East Jordan Fish Hatchery
again, which is actually not toofar from where I'm at here in
the camper.
So two that I'm targeting toput another activation on the
books for get the DX10 out andwe'll see how that goes with the

(06:25):
band conditions, the way thatthey continue to be.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
They've been better.
I was checking out the solarreport for today and it seems
like right after field day ended, sunday, sunday morning, 20
meters started to open.
We'll talk about field day.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Thanks, son.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Day or two.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
It's been slowly getting better.
So basically it just wasn'ttime to ruin field day for some
folks.
But right, yeah.
So at us, you're looking at us.
1531 at seagull lake state park, one gym is.
Jim is fifth in activator q.
So's, that's right.
You're only uh nine behind ourfriend, terry uh w8tmb, who is
uh, who is a friend of thechannel, and and certainly I
think you might pass him withone activation.
You will pass him with oneactivation.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, I would have to get 10.
But if I get much more than 10,I'll be very thrilled with the
way things have been goinglately on my activations.
I've been walking away with 15or 20 and being pretty happy
about that taking longer than Iremember.
A couple times coming up hereI've been able to swing into
that Otsego Lake State Park and,just you know, 30 minutes have

(07:29):
a full activation plus some.
So it'll be really interestingto get down there.
Of course it'll be much busierbecause it's the summer.
That is a boating park,primarily In the winter.
It's pretty quiet and that'sbeen.
I've been able to sneak in toactivate someone sometime around
Christmas last year andsometime late in the fall last
year as well, when it was reallyclosed up.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
Winter activations at boat docks.
Fall or winter activation atboat docks and state parks.
Some of the best spots you cango Usually has the real estate,
no one to trample on yourantenna wires and you are
sitting pretty with a good view.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
It was me and the DNR officer that were in there and
he was curious what I was doing,but otherwise very friendly.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
But that's where I'm at.
Even at Island Lake, our localGemini, the South Lyon area,
brighton area park.
It's not local to James, he'stoo far away from here.
What was that?
Oh, the fish area, the fishaccess area, whatever it's
called.
That is also the same dealthere.
It's the fall and the autumn, avery nice place to activate.

(08:31):
Unfortunately, they close thatarea in the winter at that park,
so that's kind of a bummer.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
But that's what's up with me here and, like I said,
different background, differentmicrophone, different setup.
But hopefully we're stillbringing it to you here on the
Starlink tonight and I'm reallyhappy to be with you guys, James
what's new with you in HAM?
Well, we'll talk a little aboutit.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
So I got my ID5100 sitting here next to me, so
that's hooked up to that brandnew antenna on the roof.
I also have a brand new FT-DX10sitting here and Jim.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Do you want to tell them why?
Yeah, I think that it's timefor us to close the book on the
FTX1, and we'll make this onequick, because I think we've had
a lot of, perhaps, fun with theFTX, or a lot of the fun at the
FTX1's expense.
Perhaps here's the deal.
James and I, both, after thelast episode, attempted again to
make those radios work for usAnother week after that and

(09:27):
finally I gave up and I calledHam Radio Outlet out in
Milwaukee I have a good contactthere and I said, hey, this
radio, for whatever reason, justis not working.
Here are the things that I'vefound.
Ham Radio Outlet just said noproblem, why don't you just send
it back to us?
We would be happy to get yousquared away.
We don't want you to be unhappywith the situation.

(09:48):
So they took it back noquestions, even though it had
been run.
No restocking fee, which wasreally nice of them, and they
sent it back to Yesu for furtherdiagnosis.
So that was nice to hear.
It wasn't one that went back onthe shelf to be resold.
We were happy to hear that HamRadio Outlet treated us right.
They treated, I think, thesituation correctly and made

(10:10):
sure that we were whole on thesituation.
So, yep, my FTX1 is now back atYaesu being diagnosed and
hopefully in the future they canlearn more from it.
But with all that being said, Idid cash out of the FTX1 market
and, before anybody asks orposts, it was before the most
recent update which, I believe,dropped just a couple of days

(10:33):
ago.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
Saturday or Friday evening, I think it was.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Right before field day, I believe, they dropped a
second update for the FTX1.
Remember they came with a rapidfirst update and that second
update had a slew of actuallyidentified bugs that they listed
out in the release notes.
I always appreciate goodrelease notes I said last time I
was disappointed with theinitial release Didn't give us
much detail on what they hadfixed.
This one did.
It outlined each of the thingsthat they worked on and so I

(10:58):
hope that those folks that wereable to get that installed on
their FTX one that it made itbetter, that it made it work the
way you wanted it or expectedit to work.
But nope, I had already sentmine back by then.
I think James in the same boat,he followed suit with me.
He talked to our ham radiooutlet friend as well and he did

(11:24):
also return his FTX1.
So I just wanted to clear theair on that.
We have moved on from the radioand both of us still kept Yesu
and the family here.
We have two new DX10s toannounce which I think are
Yesu's best HF radio for themoney.
No hands down, no doubt aboutit.
I'm thrilled with my DX10.
The DX10 is what I sold to buythe FTX1 and I'm glad to have

(11:44):
one back in my box for POTA andfor shack use.
It's just an excellent radio.
So closing the book on that andhappy to report that both of us
were not only made whole butalso happily made new owners of
FTDX10s, which are now in ourpossession.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yeah, so I also second the Ham Radio Outlet
Milwaukee store and again, we'renobodies.
Just because we have a YouTubechannel, no one knows who we are
at the HRO or anything likethat.
So this is a special treatmentand prior to this they were also
always very nice folks in thereand deserve that kind of
recognition and respect that wegive them Good service and I do

(12:21):
appreciate that from them aswell.
I did take the credit I wasgoing to get.
I got this FTDX 10 based on alot of the feedback from
everyone else.
I needed to update my basestation, so I took the
opportunity to do it and Iwouldn't say I'm out of the FTX
1 market completely.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
I think in a few years.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
It's a form factor.
We talked about it.
It's a form factor, I like.
I like the ICOM 705 as well.
I'm not a QRP operator, but Ilike the ability to be mobile
with it, the versatility thatcomes with it.
I know it's a joke on theforums, they'll probably be an
FTX1D and.
Exa in a year or so maybe, butI will consider it in the future

(13:01):
.
But again, it was a lot ofmoney tied up in a radio I
wasn't enjoying using.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Or making work.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
That's why I made the switch now or making work yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
Or making work.
It wasn't just enjoyment,simply put, it was not just
enjoyment that caused me to sendit back.
Right, there's a differencebetween a radio not functioning
properly and a radio that I'munhappy with and I can mentally
make that distinction and say,hey, you know what, you got
excited, you bought the wrongthing, but the radio works
perfectly.
Right, there's a differencebetween that and what we got
there and that I wanted to sayout loud.
There I think we acknowledgedand confirmed that there were

(13:34):
issues there that neededsquaring.
So anyway, but I love whatJames said there.
Asterisk, right, everyday ham,we appreciate everybody that
checks it out, don't think thatanybody at Ham Radio Outlet?
is real familiar with N8JRD orK8JKU, so this was more just
saying hey, this is my story,what do you think?
And they said no, let's makesure we take care of you.

(13:56):
The only thing that they askedof me was that I send a letter
back with my radio indicatingall of the issues that I had
experienced and what I had doneto rectify them.
Since I had talked with support, that's what I did.
I just basically printed out aletter with all that information
, and he said that they wouldforward it, along in the box
with the radio, back to Yesu.
So I appreciated their handlingof that situation.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
And I think the last straw for me was I started to
have the transmit issue, whereit cut off on 40 meters, and
again I wasn't enjoying myselfand I think it's a hobby that I
should enjoy.
So I said, okay, I'm going togo get a radio temporarily, but
we also found out.
We'll put maybe an asteriskhere as well, because it's
speculation.
We personally didn't go throughthis experience.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
A lot of hearsay.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
Yeah, that there is maybe a fix for that
intermittent transmit issuewhich requires you sending your
radio back to Yaesu.
It's a touch-and-go sort ofoperation and then they send it
back to you, apparently fixed.
So if you are experiencing thatissue out there, maybe it's an
opportunity to call Yaesusupport and see what they can do
for you.
But again, we personally didnot go through that process.

(14:59):
We chose the path of leastresistance, which was just to
return the units.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
I would also ask if anybody did have it sent back
and knows what was changed ormodified.
We would love to know, becausewe were trying to collect that
information to tell you guys onthis podcast, and thus far
information is fairly scarce onwhat is being done to these
radios other than send it backand we'll make a change.
So we don't know why you cannot make the change yourself via
firmware.
It appears to require somelevel of hardware interaction

(15:28):
from the manufacturer, themothership.
That's what we know, and so wewould love to learn more so that
we can give you a fuller story.
Rory, you had something.
I'm sorry I cut you off.

Speaker 3 (15:36):
I had exactly what you just said.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Oh, okay, well, there you go.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
That's what happens on the Starlink.
Yeah, I was hoping that wewould get some feedback from
somebody who took theopportunity to return it and see
what their experience was withthe Yaesu support process and so
forth.
So yeah, definitely, Ifsomeone's done that, I'd love to
hear about it.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
I have a non-FTX story because I want to give a
transition point before we gointo the main topic, which will
be exciting.
Today I went to Mackinac Islandand guess what happened?
I did not take my radio because, as I was packing my backpack,
I put a DX10 in, and then I putan Atos 25 in, and then I put a
20-amp-hour lithium-ion batteryin, and pretty soon my pack

(16:18):
weighed close to 23 pounds and Istill had to spend the whole
afternoon riding around, whichis insane, which is insane.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
You even attempted that.
So for those that don't know,Mackinac Island it's an island
up in the northern east side ofMichigan.
It is known.
Notoriously there are novehicles outside of emergency
vehicles on that islandHorse-drawn carriage Strictly
bicycles, horse-drawn carriages,walking.
Those are your options, and youhave to take a ferry, a boat to
get there and then walk aroundeverywhere.

(16:45):
The fact that he loaded a DX-10into a backpack and said this
is something I'm going to tryfor a minute, I'm going to strut
around and see how it feelsit's kind of nuts that that was
where you started.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
But that's my opinion .
Go ahead, Rory.
What do you have on this?

Speaker 3 (17:01):
If you go again, you're allowed to take my 891.
I'll just put that out there.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Well, 891s exist, or an FTX1.
I was just going to say.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
So here's the full circle right.
Had I had a working FTX1 Optimait would have been a mint
opportunity to detach the fieldhead with the battery and put it
in my pack and it would haveweighed three or four pounds and
I would have comfortably wentacross on the ferry and I would
have gotten off and I would haveset up my ATOS 25.
It's a pretty light antenna andI would have been the strange

(17:33):
person in the middle of theharbor doing a poda activation
and getting my Mackinac Island.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
But sadly I visited Mackinac Island there are.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
It's a twofer right.
If you set up in the rightplace, you can activate the
harbor and the state parkbecause the whole island is
essentially the park and it's areally cool place.
If you haven't gotten somebodyon Mackinac Island, it's not a
very frequently activated parkjust because of, again, the
logistics of getting a radio outthere and having a place to set
it up.
We do have a club member, kn4al.
We've had him on as a guesthere that has done it himself,

(18:02):
here, that has done it himself,and I appreciated his dedication
to the cause as I was puttingmy FDD-X10 into a backpack and
deciding that I didn't want tobreak the front knobs off,
carrying it around all afternoonwhen I wasn't doing radio
things.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
I think Jason used the foldable wagon to take his
equipment over to the island Iwas going to say, if you're a
private pilot, you could takeall the equipment you want,
because there is a small airporton the island as well.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
There is.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
None of us are that category of hams.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
We do have a private pilot in the club, though.
Well, we'll have to think aboutthat at some point.
Anyway, I just thought that wasa funny story.
There was A situation where anFTX one would have come in handy
.
I did not have it in my kit.
Rory, I agree with you.
I think the 891 would have beenthe second best option, and it
still exists on my Christmaswant list or my Thanksgiving
Black Friday list or whateverthe next big day of discounts is

(18:56):
.
At some point I'll probablyhave to get one.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
But field day just happened, guys, and I think
Super Bowl of amateur radio justoccurred.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
Hopefully everyone got out and was able to
participate.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
I spent some parts of all the days out there the
setup day, the Saturday full dayand then the Sunday teardown
day.
So, as all of you listenersprobably are aware, we're all
very active members of the SouthLyon Area Amateur Radio Club
here in South Lyon, michigan andwe were operating November 8th,
sierra Lima, out at field dayfrom Brighton State Rec at the

(19:31):
McGeezy cabin little littlecabin, little off the grid cabin
in the park, cool little spotand we had a pretty mediocre
field day.
By the numbers it was, I think,one of the slower ones for me
since I've been a ham andcertainly, yep, it's my personal
personal lowest as far ascontext is concerned.

(19:52):
But you know that doesn't meanand and I'm I'm the optimist
when it comes to this it doesn'tmean that it was a bust at all
there were.
There were a lot of positivesabout the weekend and I think
we'll get into some of that um,but the band conditions were
poor and 20 meters it was.
It was rough.
20 meters for 20 meters, to benext to useless for a good chunk

(20:13):
of the daytime hours kills thescore.
40 40 held on for the most part, but 20 20 just wasn't there um
10 10 was not there um 10wasn't there all weekend, and it
was barely there for FT8, too.
So here's some low numbers fromthe South Lion Club.
So a total of 680 contacts forthe whole weekend 680.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
Which, by the way, is what?
50 or 60 below our last year.
Score our 2024 score.
Yes, 2024 score.
So it was less, even than lastyear.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
And Rory will give this, this stat, but a lot more
operators too.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
Go ahead yeah so, and as far as the bands were
concerned, uh, 40 meters was themuddy band for us, with three
339 contacts there, and thenonly 155 on on um, on 20 meters,
a few on 15, a few on 10,that's wild 13, 13, only 13 on
10.
That's um no's wild.
No one was able to get sixmeters to do anything for them.
They did try for a little while.

(21:08):
We really didn't have adedicated antenna for six, but
we wanted to try it just to seewhat we could do.
And then the bummer for me, andI always look forward to 80
meters in the nighttime.
I enjoy it because it's notsomething I get to do very often
here at home because I'm notset up for it, because it's not
something I get to do very oftenhere at home because I'm not
set up for it.
It didn't really wake up for me.
I stayed out there at the siteuntil 2.30.

(21:29):
When I left at 2.30, jasonKN4AL got up and picked up the
80 meters and after I left hegot about 30 contacts on 80 for
the rest of the nighttime.
So you know, it was kind of abummer and you wanted to know
how many operators we had outthere.
I kind of a bummer and youwanted to know how many, how
many operators we had out there.
Um, I have to count, uh, 16, 16operators, and that does not

(21:50):
include um, one unlicensedfellow that came out with, with
his uncle and that would havebeen uh, kate, mrd mike um, who
a lot of people are familiarwith his his youtube channel, of
course, um, but he wasoriginally from the this area in
michigan, I think, uh, westbloomfield or commerce township.
So he still has family in thearea and he took the opportunity

(22:14):
to bring his nephew out, whichwas super cool and his nephew
was, uh, super interested, um,and he got on the air.
It was he got on 40 meters, Ithink, sat with uh, did he sit
with you?

Speaker 1 (22:26):
James, yeah, it was me.
It's always cool when you canshow someone that doesn't do ham
radio ham radio and they'remaybe a little excited about it.
So that was pretty cool.
It's a rare opportunity hamsget to have and I appreciate
that.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, it was also nice to have him come out.
K8mrd, that is on fridayevening, which is our setup
evening generally.
But I will also say that rorymentioned record numbers for our
operators, but we had justrecord turnout in general at the
field day site for the southline area amateur radio club and
, uh, mike k8D I'll just callhim by his first name.

(23:06):
I only met him just for thefirst time on Friday evening a
real nice guy and uh, he did avideo on the South line area
amateur radio club and our fieldday site and I think that it
was a really um ingratiatingvideo.
Uh, you know one that uh, itwas very nice to hear uh good
things about the club that hehad of started in and I think
that we also got our restarts inright, it's just, it is a

(23:29):
really awesome club.
So if you haven't checked outhis video, we'll give him a
little plug right here.
He did a real nice walkthroughof our field day site out there
at the South Island Area AmateurRadio Club in McGizzy in the
Brighton State Recreation Area.
So go check it out if youhaven't looked at that yet.
It'll give you a really goodidea of what we were working
with, and I will also say outloud that at the end of our

(23:50):
event we always ask, on theSunday evening net that follows
field day, how did it go right?
And we had an excellent turnoutfor the Sunday evening net and
a whole bunch of really positivefeedback on it being a
well-organized experience, on itbeing an accessible experience
for new hams that came out feltlike they were okay to be able
to operate radios.

(24:14):
I saw more new hams this yearthan I did last year, which I
was really excited by, and Ithink we were speculating going
into this one.
That was what we would see andthat we wanted to see, so it was
awesome to see that actuallycame to fruition and I was just
all around really excited.
I didn't get to spend as muchtime at the site as I would have
liked because I had a tripcoming right after it.
So I believe I only got 10contacts, all of them eked out
on 20, if you can believe that,I made the station work for me

(24:37):
just barely, but I guess I got aPOTA activation if you're going
to count that as a park.
I needed 10 to get there, sothat's exactly the number that I
got.
Then I said, okay, that's that.
I tried to get back on later on, but there was a few folks that
were interested, so off I went.
Really nice field dayexperience, james, go ahead.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
First off, Jim is the event chair for the South Lion
Amateur Radio Club, so you gaveyourself a well-deserved pat on
the back there, and I also wantto second that you did a great
job.
Also thank you to all the Slarkmembers that came out and made
that a really cool experience.
Everyone helped, Everyonechipped in, Everyone was
bringing food to share.
It was honestly one of the bestradio events I've been to, so

(25:21):
thank you everyone for that.
I was there all three days.
I left a little bit early onSunday because my wife was a
little sick of me doing radiostuff.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
We had a busy lead-up week too.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
Which is completely understandable.
But it was fun and I appreciateit.
I just wish the bands were alittle better.
I kept looking at the scoreboardbecause I was trying 20, and I
was looking over at NAJRD on theboard, I'm like, well, I can
beat that.
Four hours later I still hadn'tbeaten it and I was like, well,
okay, I'm going to go do otherthings.
So Sunday morning I came backand I was astonished with the

(25:57):
magic of radio again, because Icould actually one hear people
on 20 meters.
Nice, they could hear me alittle bit as well.
So I was actually starting toget a few contacts.
And then I said you know I'mgoing to pop over to 40.
40's open that money band overthere, and I got a few more
there as well.
But it was a good time.
I really had a great time.
Mike was delightful.
He actually helped set up aswell on that Friday.

(26:17):
So if anyone thinks he's notsomeone that's going to get his
hands dirty.
He did.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
Yeah, and yeah, that was about it, rory, what was?
Uh?
I was just looking back at thenumbers here and out of out of
that, out of the, out of theactivators there the poda in me
is is sneaking out out of theparticipants in field day uh,
five of them just off the top ofmy head.
This was their first field dayand uh, one for sure.
Wadkm mike made his first hfcontact ever there and so he was
thrilled.

(26:46):
He got bit by the radio bugover again.
He's been a regular on ourlocal two-meter repeater during
drive time.
But it's a different bug thatbites you when you turn on HF
and start spinning the dial anddoing some sideband work.
So he was able to do that, andI thought of something else that
you guys were talking to In myload numbers.
I was able to do that, and Ithought of something else that
you guys were talking to In myload numbers.

(27:07):
I was able to do something else.
I was able to sit with peoplethat this was their first time
there.
We had a gentleman come out whohas not yet gotten his license.
He came out Saturday.
I was able to take him around,show him the antenna farm, show
him the setup and you knowthat's pretty rewarding too.
It's not all about the contacts.
It's not all about the contacts, it's about the people, and a
couple people were curious aboutmy ATOS antenna.

(27:28):
They've all heard the story ofpeople who say the ATOS is awful
and other people tell the storythat old W8KNX there plugged it
in and had it going in fiveminutes and it works fine.
So everyone has to come out tothe Jeep and see it installed.
So I had a couple of those too.
But that's the fun part too.

(27:48):
You get to share and talk andthat's really just as important
to me as the counts and thescore.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
Yeah, there's four stations and there were what?
15 people out there on Saturdayafternoon, right.
So four stations full.
But there was lots ofconversation about radio, radio,
adjacent topics, what projectsfolks were working on, what
they're hoping to do with theirradio in the future, show and
tell of radio equipment that issitting on the table or out on
someone's vehicle.
That's again the magic of thefield day, right?

(28:17):
It's a whole lot of differentthings.
It's not just operating radiobut, ultimately it is that
informal contest and, like jamessaid, numbers, uh, this year
not as good as last, but I thinkthat band conditions also
different than last time around.
So go ahead, james.
What do you have?

Speaker 1 (28:33):
well, I was gonna say let's let's get into a little
bit of the nerdy part of fieldday.
Let's talk about the equipment.
So we had our tenna farm, rorymentioned.
We had our inside of the cabinwhere we were set up with our
radios.
First year with all the sameradios, that's right.
We're really plugging theFTDX10 this episode.
But, that's what we were usingfor the excellent receive,
quality and usability from somenewer members Front end

(28:55):
rejection too.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
Man, there's four radios sitting next to one
another.
You need something that's notgoing to talk back into the
radio next to you.
It does excellent.
That's one of the reasons thatwe went to that radio over a
7300.
Right, it does better in noisysituations, busy situations than
any other radio that we haveavailable to us.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
So yeah, sorry, I got excited in total.
No, you're okay in total.
We had.
Well, let me count it one, two,three, four, five.
A ten is going.
Well, that's a five.
Right there.
We had a vertical, the 40 metervertical.
Rory, do you want to explainthat one, because it's a pretty
special club radio I don't knowthat I can.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
So it's, it's uh, scrap aluminum.
It is scrap aluminum andvarious military surplus.
So, uh, larry k8 ut, who'swho's a silent key was a?
Uh was a member of the southlion club.
Some people might be familiarwith that call sign.
He was very involved in a lotof technical writing on.
A member of the South Lion Club.
Some people might be familiarwith that call sign.
He was very involved in a lotof technical writing on a lot of
ham radio software, the N1MMlogger.

(29:52):
He was quite involved with thetechnical writing on that.
All of Steve N8AR Kits for Hamsstuff.
The Morty, which was Larry'sproduct, the Morty Ritty, keeter
, keer, ritty, ncw, keer.
So Larry was a tinker.
Larry liked to make things workand he was smarter than most

(30:13):
anyone.
But he also liked to buildstuff.
So somewhere along the way andI was not active at this time
somewhere along the way he had abunch of scrap aluminum that he
decided to make into a 40 metermeter.
Is it a full wave vertical?
Is that?
Is that?

Speaker 2 (30:29):
I asked.
It's a quarter wave verticalsomebody made fun of me, because
a full wave on 40 would bequite large yes, I think I heard
you it would be, wouldn't it?
Yeah, it would be quite largewe're not good at ham radio.

Speaker 3 (30:42):
It it would be.
I heard you ask that and Ithink that's why that was in my
head, so I'll just blame you onthat.
Good move, Sure Quarter wave,and it's built on this tripod.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
I mean, if you get online the military poles.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
Huge military poles on a huge tripod with a couple
of radials on it and it worksexceptionally well it does.
When I was out there with Shaneat KFA BWN we were
disassembling at the end of theweekend I'm like you know what I
want one of these.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
If I had a spot for one of these.
Everyone says that too.

Speaker 3 (31:14):
I would want one of these in my yard, and it looks
like something from a sci-fimovie.
It does.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
Like the Halo video game.
It's pretty freaking cool and Iwas going to say we even weigh
it down.
We put about 300 feet of coaxon that bad boy as well, because
we have to set it up kind offar away from the cabin and it
still outperforms any antennafor 40 meters I've ever used.
That thing is a monster.

Speaker 3 (31:42):
Yeah, I had a good half hour activation before
field day officially started.
We were we keep talking aboutpoda while we're talking about
field day and I guess we shouldshould clarify if it wasn't
clear.
We do our.
Our field day is at brightonstate recreation area, which is
a poda park officially a podapark.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
Yep, we're not cheating we're we're able to.

Speaker 3 (32:00):
We're able to log, log our poda contacts as the
club and the individualoperators, as we do field day.
So, um, while we're out there,um, yeah, that's, that's the
case.
But yeah, that 40 metervertical is something else, it
it?

Speaker 1 (32:13):
it looks ridiculous, but it works well yeah, yeah,
and we simplified the rest ofthe setup as well.
So we didn't do any towers oror really massive construction
projects.
This year we stuck to a prettytypical parks on the air,
multi-day operation if we weregoing to go camp somewhere and
what we'd set up.
So we had our 12-meter sodabeam mass basically set up and

(32:36):
we had an antenna.
So Louis had on his an 8LEK, hehad a band hopper that did 80
meters up to 80 meters, so hehad that set to 80 meters.
Then we also had two, one oneach of the SOTA-B masks, ariel
51 antennas, which are anoff-center fed dipole.
Usually very good performanceout of those.
They are slightly compromised,but they are also why am I

(33:01):
drawing a blank on the wordshere?

Speaker 2 (33:02):
real quick guys Resonant on some frequencies
that yeah, they're tunerless,right, the aerial 51s are
tunerless, which is reallyimportant when you're operating
multiple radios without extrahardware, right?
And and of course we, we willsay dx10, of course gives you
three to one match, so it canmake up for a little bit of, uh,
edge band, uh, you know,mismatch v square wise, but uh,

(33:23):
you know it's, it's not, it'snot a 10-to-1, it's not a major
tuner, right?
So it's a big difference.
It's a big reason why we chosethe Ariel 51 as an effective
multi-band antenna for our setup.

Speaker 1 (33:35):
And then the last antenna we had was a classic
NFED half-wave.
We just had it set up leaningin a mast up against a tree and
then we used that for 10 metersbasically.
So that was the setup, simple,pure to the point.
At one point we actually had togo swap out one of the Ariel
51s because we didn't believeband conditions were really that
bad.
So we went outside, we madeRory I think it was you we were

(33:58):
like please stop operating 20meters.
It wasn't like you were gettingmuch anyway, no, it didn't hurt
my feelings at all, you know, Ijust had to stop yelling into
the mic for a minute, yeah.
And then we actually tore itall down, put it back up.
We're all excited.
We took SWR readings the wholenine yards.
We thought feed line issue, atenner issue, we weren't sure

(34:19):
and nope, it was just bandconditions, the sun was angry
and that's what happened I thinkwe did the classic ham fix,
which is to over complicate itby over fixing it right.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
Why not replace the entire antenna if, if we're
having problems, it can'tpossibly be that the bands just
aren't cooperating?

Speaker 1 (34:35):
it has to be something that's not us when?

Speaker 3 (34:37):
is 20 meters not usable in the daytime?
I mean, that's that's so rare,I know, but apparently saturday,
a field day, that that's thecase.
A lot of people might be sayingthat's a very simple antenna
setup for a field day.
Don't you want to put up atower?
Don't you want to put up a beam?
Don't you want to do this?
Don't you want to do that?
Well, we'll go back in historyand the Southland Club does own

(34:59):
two towers and two beams, Ibelieve, but the rotors and all
the things to be able to do it.
We could still do that entirelyset up for field day and put up
towers.
That's right.
The discussion.
We've had a lot of discussionabout this and it comes down to
sure we're probably losing alittle bit of advantage being
able to shoot a bunch of powerto the west coast to get the six

(35:21):
and seven call area stations,and that actually shows on our,
our log that we were.
We were pretty weak intosouthern california.
Um, I was, I'm always happy towork uh, the stations and and
all the sections in californiaand the six stations and all
that, but didn't get many ofthem, um, so you kind of have
that.
You can call that a handicap?
But I don't.

(35:42):
I don't really think it is, um,because you end up by
simplifying the antenna setup towhat we've done, your setup and
teardown is quicker and it's aton safer too.
I've always had a lot of concern, and I was just listening to
something I don't know, maybeHam Radio Newsline or one of

(36:02):
those broadcasts where they weretalking about people showing
pictures of their field they setup and people not operating
safely no hard hats, no gloves,no people wearing flip-flops
trying to put up a tower.
So you've got to think about it.
It's a safety thing too.
It's a time efficiency andsafety thing, and we would hate

(36:23):
to have something happen tosomeone.
Safety thing too.
It's a time efficiency andsafety thing, and we would hate
to have something happen tosomeone.
And there's there's terriblestories out there on field days
of yesterday that bad thingshave happened with those.
So I think I am a big fan ofthe simplified setup and I think
you know, band conditions aside, it worked just fine yeah, I
had a little bit of beam envy.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
I won't say, I won't lie.
Uh, james and I both went outto the Lark Field Day site in
Cahokta Township.
I believe I pronounced thatcorrectly.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
Yeah, Livingston Amateur Radio Club.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Livingston, lark.
Yep, and they did have twobeams set up, but one of them
had a little lean and James andI both were like okay, but it
was three guys.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
Stay on this side of the entire thing.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
Yeah, it was three guys and they muscled that thing
up there and it was quite asetup, right.
It was a multi-element massivebeam up probably a good 30, 40,
40-plus feet probably, and theyhad it all guyed out.
I mean, they spent a good fouror five hours setting that thing
up.
And what Rory said is 100% true, right, if you don't have the
right folks with the rightknow-how, setting something like

(37:31):
that up can be an endeavor thatperhaps your club isn't willing
or interested in gettinginvolved in, and it also has a
major time investment in doingso.
Right.
And what we decided was, forthe joy of operating and for the
joy of our sanity, we were notgoing to invest the time in
constructing beams.
I don't think that there's atime down the road where maybe
we might reconsider that there'sa very likely there might be

(37:53):
the right group of folks thatare engineering minded, that
have the right equipment and theaccess to that equipment.
You know trucks and trailersand things that can make that
easier.
Let's bring it back Right.
But right now, with the folksthat we have and the equipment
that we have and the space thatwe're working in, those types of
things don't make sense for us,and I think that I agree, you

(38:13):
leave some points on the boardwhen you don't go massive beam,
but also it's field operation.
Let's not lose the spirit offield day, which perhaps is part
of where we're going with thisconversation in a little bit
here.
Let's not lose the spirit ofthe field day, which is to say
you're out in the field workingyour radio.
How do you set it up?
How quickly can you set it up?

(38:34):
How can you make it work foryou if this were an emergency
situation?
Right, this is a little bit ofa role play for something like
that.
Down the line, james, you havea thought, go ahead.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
Well, I was going to say, as we were talking about
all the safety, now go watch thevideo of me climbing around on
a roof where Jim throws a wrenchat my face.
Watch us live that example tothe fullest, that'd be great.

Speaker 3 (38:54):
I fell out of my attic a couple months ago, so
there's that I do want to callout.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
We are not perfect.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
I do want to call out the gentleman that made a
comment on that video, by theway, and I'm sorry I don't know
his name, but you'll know it ifit's you.
He said a fall arrest harnessis not an expensive piece of
equipment and it can be boughtalmost anywhere by a normal
person and I actually read thatand I said you know what Damn,

(39:20):
that's a, really that's a smartcomment.
And I actually I get up on myroof probably more frequently
than most folks do.
I will actually be looking intowhat I need to buy one of those
, and I may just have to tie itoff to my truck on the other
side of the roof when.
I go up so that if I do go down,at least I'm not hitting the
ground right.
Somebody can call the firedepartment and they can bring

(39:42):
the ladder truck out and rescueme.
At least I haven't broken allof my bones when I fall off my
third story roof, right.
So I appreciate that person wholeft that comment.
Fall rest harnesses those areavailable.
They are not ridiculouslyexpensive.
A normal Joe who's operating upon the roof and wants to make
changes on a semi-frequent basisis definitely probably going to

(40:02):
find that to be a really smartinvestment.
So plus one if you're that guywho left us that comment, thank
you for putting some sense intous.
It was a very astute comment onthat video.

Speaker 1 (40:13):
And I guess, before we go into our feedback about
field day, of course, if you'relistening or watching, go ahead
and leave in the comments yoursetups, your experiences with
field day, what you foundinteresting in terms of what you
guys as a club or yourself did.
We'd love to know more aboutthe antennas you used, the
setups, photos, whatever youhave.
We find that stuff veryinteresting.

(40:33):
So, of course, please share itand we'd love to work with you
and communicate with you onthose experiences as well.
But let's talk a little bitabout where we feel field day
could be improved for the future.
Why don't we start with you,because I know you have feedback
.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
I found a very interesting post on Facebook and
I think the park's on theirFacebook page.
We all know my thoughts of someof the people that post on that
particular Facebook page.
Some of them are people who Idon't think should be allowed in
public.
This gentleman here that madethis post and its title 2025, my

(41:13):
last field day and I willcredit him this is Mel.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
Snyder Provocative title.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
Mel Snyder, w3pyf, and he states in here that he's
82 years old and he's been alicensed ham since 1957.
So he's got a number of fielddays under his belt, and this is
a very similar conversation, Ithink, to a conversation a lot
of us have had, because Parks onthe Air has become such a thing

(41:40):
.
In the old days, field day usedto be the only time of year
you'd be crazy enough to takeyour expensive equipment out in
the field and turn it on.
Now it's something a lot of usdo every weekend.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
Now Jim's throwing it in a backpack and trying to
catch a ferry to an island.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
And it's really changed the way people look at
Field Day.
And one of his ideas, one ofhis thoughts and I'm kind of on
the same same thought processhis comment here this past field
day in my estimation was thevery worst I can recall.
I wouldn't necessarily say Iagree with that fully hot take.
Yeah, that's a hot take wetalked about, uh, a lot of the

(42:20):
positives moments ago, a lot ofthe social side of it, a lot of
the getting new people out there.
That's, that's fine.
We had band conditions thatwere bad, that's fine.
But I, I don't know that, forme it was the very worst.
But uh, he goes on to talk aboutwhy he felt that way and, uh,
the changing of the rules withthe class d stations, which are
people at home, and the factthat they're able to work each

(42:43):
other for for points.
So you, you do start to runinto a problem where there's a
lot of one delta stationsworking one delta stations, and
it's much easier when you're atthe comfort of your home station
that you work every day, andsometimes you have those beams,
sometimes you have that amp,sometimes you have all the
things.
That's right.
It turns into a lot of power, alot of a lot of noise coming

(43:07):
from the one Delta stationstrying to rack up points on a
contest.
That's not a contest, it'sfield day and I will give my
take on that.
I do feel field day is acontest and I feel it should be
a contest, but that's just how Iam.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
They're publishing rankings, so it's a contest.
They can call it what it is.
It's a contest.
There are results in the backof the QST magazine when they
tally the results.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
It's a contest Now you're going to start an
argument with all the POTA folksout there on that one, but go
on Go ahead, Rory.
Go ahead.

Speaker 3 (43:39):
Rory, you almost got me going on something else.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
I saw the wheels turning.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
I'll try to stay on topic for once in my life, but
he goes on to talk about thePOTA stations and how POTA has
become.
Such a thing is actually a goodthing and it's the people are
keeping it simple by keepingtheir POTA activation simple.
They're getting out and they'repracticing and they're doing
all the goodwill.

(44:05):
Amateur radio.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
And they're experimenting with new things
too.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
And he talks a little bit about what we were talking
about earlier, the Goodwill ofAmateur Radio where you have
people that come out and are newand want to play.
We're seeing that in POTA butwe're starting to see in Field
Day, as clubs seem to havesmaller turnouts for field day,
that's getting harder and harderto have people to welcome the

(44:30):
people that come in and explainto people what's going on.
So it's a lot of things thereand and again.
I shouldn't say this iseverywhere.
I also read a few articlesabout.
You know, essentially and Ididn't bookmark this one, but it
was essentially the perfectfield day experience where a
brand new ham showed up andsomeone brought the guy a cup of
coffee and took him around andexplained everything and offered

(44:51):
food and you know it soundedpretty cool.
But you know, I think we haveto.
Field day needs to probablyevolve and stay a little bit
more current and stay withwhat's happening, and POTA is
what's happening in amateurradio, especially in field

(45:13):
operations right now.
So we'll see what they do.
Um, I know we all have have ourthoughts on ARRL and and what
they do and don't do and and uh,that's.
That's again anotherconversation for another day.
I myself would love to see them.
You know you can't do away withthe one delta stations, um I I
think you need to have acategory for for those folks
that might be homebound oraren't able to get out for one

(45:33):
reason or another but, uh, butyou know, maybe put some power
limitations on them, maybe maybemake it so they can't work each
other um make it.
You know, if one delta station'sworking sites out in the field,
that's great, but when they're,when they're contesting with
know if one delta stationsworking sites out in the field,
that's great, but when they'rewhen they're contesting with
each other, one delta againstone delta and there were a few
of those you know that's theonly people that were making it

(45:55):
through a pileup were the onedelta stations because they were
at home throwing all theirpower at it so go ahead.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
You, you said you know one delta station shouldn't
be able to work one deltastations and I, of course, in my
, in my head, was like, well, ifI'm calling CQ, I almost said
Parks and the Air CQ Field Day.
This is November 8th, sierraLima, and I don't know yet
because I haven't given myplease copy for Alpha Mike,
india.
How are One Delta stationsgoing to know the pulse?

Speaker 3 (46:23):
I've been reaching out to.
You've already missed a step.
You shouldn't turn on the radioand key up right away.
You should have alreadylistened for a few seconds to
the person on the frequency andsee what they're doing.
That's how you know they're aone delta station.
That's not that hard, thisbusiness of people turning in.
That's how you get all this QRMand all this bullshit.

(46:44):
That happens.
People turn on their radio andthey turn on, they turn up their
power and they start keying up.
I'm on the repeater over herethe other day and here comes
some guy in whitmore lakecalling and giving a radio check
while I'm in a cue.
So with someone I mean listenfor a half of a second before
you transmit.
That's how you know one, onedelta station there, or one
charlie station or one whateverstation, I believe right, all I

(47:06):
believe.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
Right, all of this is logged right.
So I would love to see somestatistics, even out of our own
log, because we have that dataset available.
So I would love to see somestatistics on how many 1D, 1e
stations, one stations, wereworked, just out of curiosity.
It won't tell a whole story.
The other thing that'sinteresting to me too, is when I
put it in the perspective ofpoda.
Right, the activator needs tobe in a park for that park to

(47:31):
become active.
Right, and the activator is thesought after radio operator.
In that scenario, right, we canhave activators at home.
Or, I'm sorry, rather, um, helpme with the word, yeah yeah,
yeah hunters at home I'm sorryit wasn't coming to me Hunters
at home, right, that are playingthe sport, right, but they have
a specific position in thatsport right.

(47:52):
And when we think about thehunter, right, the hunter
doesn't sit at home and say youknow CQ Pota from my house on,
you know Clark's court, right,they don't say a sought-after

(48:17):
station because you're running acommercial 1,500 watts out of a
tower that's 60 feet in the airon an antenna that you've spent
thousands and thousands ofdollars with.
Right, the folks that have goneout spent a full day setting up
, right.
We want to encourage thatbehavior and I do think that it
does detract from the idea ofthe field day.
I want those people to continueto play.

(48:38):
I just don't believe that itmakes a lot of sense for the
particular event that we'reparticipating in to have those
folks as the stations that we'recalling back to.
They can call us if they wantto, but let's do something
similar to what POTA did, Ithink.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Well, and field day is supposed to be an emergency
communications exercise.
So, having a home station isalso, I think, part of it.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
That's fair.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
That's fair you want to be able to reach out to those
stations and get their cues,those, or have them reach out to
you maybe also.
Uh, but I agree with.
I agree with everything youboth have said to.
You know, I don't really haveany differing opinions I think.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
I think it's fair to say right in in classic everyday
ham fashion, right, we'retaking an idea here and we're
breaking it down a littlefurther, maybe pushing it a
little bit further, making it alittle uncomfortable.
So, so, if you don't agree, letus know down below.
You know what is, what is.
What does field day need tobring folks back out to field
day?
Right, is field day outmoded?
Because POTA is the new fieldday, because POTA offers us more

(49:37):
opportunities to do field dayand do the things that we're
doing at field day with all ofour friends more frequently.
Maybe that's, maybe that's thetruth.
Right, I can go out and podaevery weekend and I can say hey,
if you're a new op and you wantto come see how to run HF Radio
in the field, let's go activatea park any day of the week.
It doesn't have to be on ARRLschedule, it can be on Jim's
schedule, najrd, anytime youwant.

(49:58):
So I would love to hear whatthe folks that are listening
think.
And how does ARRL bring fieldday back into relevance?
I think that there's a certainyou know we're pushing again the
idea here.
How does it become morerelevant when we think that
there is an event that happensyear-round now in Parks on the
Air, that allows us to do manyof the same things.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
And for the ARRL.
I think there's a lot ofopinions right now about the
ARRL and I'd be curious to seehow they respond to the evolving
change of parks on the air andthe criticism of field day, the
enjoyment of field day.
I saw someone post you knowit's my annual club barbecue and
radio day out in the field andthey kind of made that as a

(50:39):
negative comment.
I'm like oh, that actuallysounds kind of awesome.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
I was going to say I had a hell of a time.

Speaker 1 (50:44):
Yeah, so field day can be whatever you want it to
be, but again, I'd like to seehow the air all responds and and
that will also go a long waybuilding back some of that faith
and, let's say, the hamcommunity I just wonder if it's,
if it's frequency related,right.

Speaker 2 (50:57):
The more I break this down, the more I think about
sorry, rory, I think I cut youoff there and it's probably
latency, but starlink, yeah,starlink I.
I just think it's frequencyrelated, right.
Like, think about waiting.
If I say, james, let's tryrunning next year's field day,
you can learn how to operate theradio next year in July or June
, I'm sorry, right?
So we're going to wait.
What 11 months?

(51:19):
Come on, guys, the informationmoves much more quickly these
days, I hate to say it, right,the internet is prevalent.
The way that we operate isdifferent, right?
I think that field day needs totake some pointers right from
other operating methods thatwe're using.
I don't know, I'm curious whatfolks are thinking about it.

(51:39):
I still enjoyed the hell out offield day and I will tell you, I
think South Lyon was amicrocosm of a bigger turnout
than last year, right, in thatwe had more folks turn out.
We had excited folks turn outthat were stoked to be out there
and involved in an active club.
So we probably bucked the trendin a certain way, even though
we didn't score any better thanwe did last year.
We had more folks show up and,honestly, I appreciated that

(52:00):
more than the points.
So that's how I feel about it.
I thought it was still asuccess and I agree with you,
james, if it's just radio andbarbecue, I love it.
Let's do it again next year atthe end of June.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
Rory's turn.
Now Go, Rory.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
Go ahead.

Speaker 1 (52:15):
Rory.

Speaker 3 (52:19):
Well, we all know the ratio of speaking, even when
you're on the local repeater.
Jim's going to give the fullthree minutes on the repeater
every time to my you knowseconds or or whatever it is
that I say, and usually half ofmy transmissions on the repeater
have to do with the traffic I'mdriving in.
So anyway, um, it's just how weare.
That's why this works.

(52:39):
Um, you know, when we wereplanning for field day, I
remember I told you, jim, I saidwe really need to push the, the
cookout portion and make surewe're inviting the entire club
out for the cookout, because andpart of that was my thought
with that was, you know, the,the radio side of it, isn't as
big of a draw as it once was for, for whatever reason, whether
it's poter or other, but let'skeep the camaraderie and the

(53:02):
social side of it and the familyside of it alive and get people
out for for that part of it.
And we had a good turnout.
You know, steve and our friendsteve and 8ar showed up and and
he sat at the table and and andjust talked to everybody.
He didn't touch a radio thewhole time.
I wonder the last time stevewent on hf actually, steve was
doing steve things steve wasloving every minute every moment

(53:25):
hewas telling stories and he got
sitting.
He sat down with Shane, ourfriend Shane KFE BWN, and they
were banging at some commandline stuff on the Sherry and
Steve was learning stuff fromShane and Shane was learning
stuff from Steve and it was justfun to sit back.
I grabbed a beer and sat downand watched them do their thing.

(53:46):
So that's so much of it.
It's you know what I reallylike.
I said earlier it's not allabout the radio.
But let me summarize Mel's W3F,pyfs post here and again Ham
since 1957.
And we hear a lot of the olderfolks in the hobby saying you

(54:08):
know, pota clogs up the airwavesand all that.
But this guy has the completeopposite and I enjoyed his last
paragraph of that.
Pota is the future of ham radio.
I believe I am now 82 andexpect that in the foreseeable
future I might be limited tolocal parks to which I can Uber,
or even an assisted livingtable and mag loop.
So he's ready to keep doingPOTA for the rest of his days.

(54:30):
So that tells you and you should, as long as you you know, and
and and his, his thoughts onfield day were not that, not
nearly that positive, so I don'tknow.
Shout out to you, mel, I don'tknow that you'll ever hear this.
Thanks for your article, andmaybe we'll get you in the logs
someday.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
Yeah, and I was going to say Steve, back to the NAR.
You basically hosted his ownApple Genius Bar.
Laptops started coming out.
He was building Sherry kitswith people and coding and doing
all sorts of stuff and that wasfun.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
I guess we'll throw a plug there.
If anyone's looking for anall-star node, a good quality
all-star node, the best all-starnode, a good quality all-star
node, the best all-star node,that we can say that that is
completely engineered here inthe metropolis of howell,
michigan, marion township, to beexact.
Uh, go to kits4hamscom that'sthe number four and uh, it's a
full service operation.

(55:21):
You can buy the kit, you canbuy it all put together and the
item is warrantied for Steve'slifetime.
I don't know if.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
I'd make any promises on warranties.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
He will live forever.
Oh, I was saying on warranties.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
I don't know if I want to make any promises on
warranties.

Speaker 1 (55:39):
No, that is his warranty.
He's told me the same thing.

Speaker 3 (55:42):
He'll tell you that His daughter and son-in-law were
out at field day and James andI had a good time talking to
them and they reminded us that'shis warranty as well.

Speaker 2 (55:52):
I've never heard him say it.
I can't believe it.
I thought you guys were makingsomething up there.

Speaker 3 (55:56):
Oh no.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
I do have a new item.
I love it.
I love it.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
I did get the new Sherry, based on the Pi 5.
It's in the Neo case.
It has a built-in fan.
That is becoming my primaryall-star node in the house here
and I have started the migrationto ASL 3.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
That's going to be a whole episode in itself one day.
By the way, Rory's take on ASL3 and his inability.
Well, he had a lot of settings.
He didn't want to update hiscustomizations and have to redo
all the work.
That is exactly right, yeah,and I don't blame him there.

Speaker 3 (56:28):
I don't hate it.
I'll tell you that.
It has some advantages.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
It has some advantages.
I have mine running just acrossthe camper here and it is
working Excellent.
It has been working Excellent.
I talked to Rory from the firepit, uh, many, many miles from
the NAD repeater yesterdayevening on the Starlink again.
So it's my favorite campinggear.
That is a plus one from me overhere.
But are you setting this one upwith the Wistie 8 Echo Delta

(56:55):
hotel thing going Is?

Speaker 3 (56:59):
that what this one is , or is this going to be your
primary?
No, it's going to replace myprimary home, one which gets
pretty much nonstop useconnected to something.
So the old one I'm going toactually give to Steve to look
at it has some quirks and I'mgoing to have him look at it and
see what he thinks it likes toreboot for no apparent reason.

(57:19):
I thought it was a power supplyissue.
I don't think it is.
I think it's something in thesherry.
So I am going to take advantageof of the steep lifetime
warranty.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
so and you replaced the pie.
Too right you play.

Speaker 3 (57:32):
That has a new pie in it to be fair, that was my
first sherry from him.
I I've had that long enough.
I've had it longer than I'vebeen reactive in the club.
I got that from.
I got that from him throughmail, I think at the first part
of covet when we were stuck athome.
It was something I wanted toputz with.
So I want to say, really Augustof 2020.
And that thing's been on theair, connected to a couple of

(57:54):
really busy networks, ever sincethen.
So I'm not disappointed thatthat it's given me any trouble.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
Well, any final thoughts, guys, on field day in
general or the experience thatwe had?
And, like I said, we talk abouteverything on Everyday.
Ham, if you disagree with us,that's okay.
We love to hear yourcounterpoints down in the
comments and we can be swayed.
We would love to have thosethings in our quiver next time

(58:21):
we chat about a topic like this.
Any last thoughts, though, onfield day before?

Speaker 1 (58:25):
we close it up.
My last thought before we closeis what's everyone's take?
Do you please copy or no?
Please copy, no.
I'm sure they're expenses.
What's everyone's take?
It do you?

Speaker 3 (58:34):
please copy or no, please copy no expenses.
So do we, let's, let's, let'sdo a couple things here so
people know what we're talkingabout, because there's people
who have never field date, fielddate a day in their life.
So there there is, of course,as in any contest, there is an
exchange um the.
The one person calls the otherperson.
Oh, I could you know what.
I could go on a whole.
Let me look at the timer.
No, I'm not going to give youguys that class and section for

(58:58):
field day right oh, the peoplewho don't give the exchange in
the right order.
I, I had to give the snarkynovember 8th, sierra lima, your
exchange please, and then theywould get confused.
But that's because they hadalready screwed up and I just
was angry.
But uh, now you guys all knowhave heard anyone who's listened
to this once has heard that Itend to be pretty brief on the

(59:18):
radio and I want to exchange myinformation and I want to move
on, and field day is is noexception.
So, uh, cq, field day, cq,field day, november 8th, sierra
lima.
Someone would reply, reply.
And then you would reply andsay, uh, november 8th, sierra
lima, someone would respond,reply.
And then you would reply andsay november 8th sierra lima for
alpha michigan.
And then you would expectsomething back from them,

(59:39):
nothing more.
I give, nothing more than that.
But there's this thing wherepeople like to say november 8th
sierra lima, please copy foralpha michigan.
What do you need, please copy?
For what else are you going todo with it?
Of course you're going to writeit down.
What do you need, please copy?
For what else are you going todo with it?
Of course you're going to writeit down.
What do you need?

Speaker 1 (59:54):
to say please copy, for I also say 73 and thanks.
So I'm a very Midwesternermoment there.
I don't think anyone, I'm oneOAP away.

Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
I've got a lot of OAPs, but you get a 73 out of me
, but you don't get any thanks.
I'll tell you that.
So let's plug our our bestfriend sebastian and uh yes, at
the polo logging software ham 2kand um.
He had some fun with the pleasecopy, so he made his.

(01:00:28):
Uh, I love this ham 2k polosoftware.
He's improving it every, everyday, like we like we discussed
and uh, and one of the things hedid add this year was the
ability to do field day loggingusing that platform and he did
write into the code.
When you get to the exchange,if someone says please copy for
alpha, you can type in pc4a,meaning please copy for alpha,

(01:00:50):
because that's what they sentyou, and at the end in your log
you could go to the summary taband it would tell you the
percentage of people that saidplease copy.
I love it.
I laughed because that's justsuch a thing that I would have
kept track of.
I do not say please copy, Idon't have it in me.

Speaker 2 (01:01:11):
I like that.
Sebastian has expanded thisproduct even further than we
ever thought it would go plusone to sebastian again.
We'll give him another plughere for free.
We love him, um, and also, thatis hilarious.

Speaker 3 (01:01:21):
When rory said it was a thing that he added right
before field day, I said what Ilove, it's just such a such a
nice little extra yeah, it wasfunny because eric kdrs uh,
president of the southland club,my friend eric he he sent me
that link link of sebastianexplaining that on one of the
other youtube channels becausehe knew that would be right.
In my alley I get a randommessage from eric at quarter to

(01:01:43):
six in the morning with a link.
I'm like what's going on?
And uh, that was that.
He said you got to watch this.
I'm like I'm not even up yet,i'll'll watch it later.

Speaker 2 (01:01:51):
But it was worth the watch.

Speaker 3 (01:01:53):
Eric knows me well enough.
He gave me the time stampbecause he knew I wouldn't watch
the whole thing, nice, nice andI had a really good laugh.

Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
And that was a lousy morning, as most of them are.
Wait, so am I the only pleasecopy guy.
Jim, are you not a please copyguy?

Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
I believe I may have please copied, and then I
started feeling like I shouldn'tbe please copying.
So then I was just like NASL 4Alpha Mike India.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
Do what you do.
Don't think you have to conformto my.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
Oh no, I'll still give my thanks and my please
copy.
Don't you worry about that.
I'll be true to myself here.

Speaker 3 (01:02:34):
Oh boy, so we're coming on to Fourth of July
weekend.
Anyone have any POTA plans forFourth of July weekend?
I am headed north.
I'll be in northern lowerMichigan.
I am going to swing throughwhere Jim's at.
I think I'm going to swingthrough there on Friday.

Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:02:52):
Unless I'm warned to avoid the area at that time I'm
going to do.
I'm attempting to do a rove, Ithink, friday morning between
Alpena and Mackinac.
We'll see what happens.
I've got to make a plan forthat and then I'll swing down to
Gaylord.
That will probably be the plan.

Speaker 1 (01:03:10):
I'll be at home trying to track you doing
fireworks with the kids, andthat's about my plans for the
radio stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:03:18):
You'll be able to see where I'm at.
I'll be on APRS WAKNSX-9.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
I will remind both of you, microphones for audio and
get some B-roll.
It would be probablyinteresting if you guys meet up
on the 4th here for some footage.
I have my mics, I have mytripod and I'm ready and I will
try to record, and I say thatbecause we are all the worst at
that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:40):
We are the worst.

Speaker 1 (01:03:41):
It's the best of times, it's the worst of times.

Speaker 2 (01:03:44):
I'll be trying to get Otsego Lake again and, like I
said, the East Jordan FishHatchery for sure.
So I'm going to try to get myname up the list there and
that's my plan for July 4th.
But, looking forward to it, Ithink I am going to set the HF
Radio up, maybe this eveningafter we wrap this thing up, and
maybe I'll call out with theWhiskey 8 Everyday Ham if I get

(01:04:06):
all kinds of fired up on theseCorona NA beers that I'm having
this evening.

Speaker 1 (01:04:10):
Oh, boy, and I guess before we formally close episode
seven, go get them Episodeeight.
We have maybe a special guestcoming up, someone from one of
the big three manufacturers, sostay tuned for that.
That will be in our Augustepisode.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
Looking forward to it .

Speaker 1 (01:04:28):
Yeah, really, really excited for that.
Hopefully it's a gooddiscussion.
Seems like a great person, sowe're excited to bring that to
you and we appreciate themmaking the time for us as well.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
I was just going to say it is awesome to hear that
we have somebody willing to comeand join us on the Everyday Ham
podcast Deal with all this.
We'll try to be on our bestbehavior for that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:50):
I may have to tone it down just a bit for a guess.

Speaker 2 (01:04:56):
All right guys.

Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
One last reminder.
One last reminder, please,everydayhamcom, please like and
subscribe Five-star reviews, allthe good things.
You can find all ourinformation there, but, jim, you
know 73s guys.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
You can find all information there.
But, jim, you know 73s guys.
I appreciate the from theremote operating station of the
back 40 of the KC8 NTE property.
This is N8JRD signing off forthe evening.

Speaker 1 (01:05:22):
It has been a pleasure that deep radio, that
radio closing Well, 73 from KJKU.

Speaker 3 (01:05:27):
Thanks everyone 73, good night.