April 4, 2024 • 29 mins
Welcome to Episode 33 of the Ham Radio Guide Podcast hosted by Marvin (W0MET). Dive into a blend of the latest FCC developments, the wonders of a solar eclipse, and progress updates of the M17 Project. Also, tune in for a detailed walk-through of the ARRL Hamfest Schedule and an array of intriguing topics from the amateur radio world.
In light of sudden job loss due to budget cuts, Marvin explores his prospective ventures in podcast and YouTube content development besides potential IT opportunities. In this extensive landscape of ham radio, Marvin offers a candid review of the Cyber Acoustic sound bar and discusses a growing interest in Morse code within the ham radio community. He also shares his personal experiences with a MMX Multi-band Morse code transceiver.
Get a taste of outdoor amateur radio with detailed reviews and performance reports on Dakota Lithium batteries. Learn more about their unmatched performance across various outdoor environments and why they are Marvin's choice for all outdoor adventures. Marvin also shares insights, experiences, and useful tips from his Parks On The Air (POTA) activations using the Icom 705 and the Mag Loop antenna during a particularly busy band day.
Take a deep dive into the world of ham radio with updates on setting up a communication trailer, , managing battery power and wiring in setups, and the necessary considerations about solar panels, battery usage, power levels, and amp requirements. Get to know more about synchronization between the age and usage of batteries accompanied by detailed insights on the Victron MultiPlus Converter.
Stay updated with this week's main stories from the amateur radio world, including updates about the CORES commission registration, the last solar eclipse of its kind in the U.S., and the funding and functionalities of new hardware released by the M17 Project. Lastly, discover the upcoming HamFests around America that the Ham Radio Guy will grace and possibly broadcast live from. Send your queries or comments about this episode to w0met@thehamradioguy.com.
SHOW NOTES
Links mentioned in the podcast
https://www.preppcomm.com/products/mmx-multiband-morse-code-transceiver
LINKS
https://ve9kk.blogspot.com/2024/03/whats-going-on-with-morse-code.html
Cyber Acoustics sound bar https://amzn.to/43M4lfE
http://www.arrl.org/hamfests-and-conventions-calendar
Affiliate Links
ABR industries – Coax
https://abrind.com/?sld=save10hamradioguy
County Comms - Every day carry items
http://countycomm.com/THEHAMRADIOGUY
Dakota Lithium – LiPo batteries – 11 yr warranty
https://dakotalithium.com/?rfsn=7897114.6bcfa3 use Coupon Code: Thehamradioguy
Radioddity - mobile/HT’s
American Filament
Americanfilament.us Use Code HRG to save 5% up to 2 spools.
NEWS
https://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-to-require-two-factor-authentication-for-cores-users
https://www.arrl.org/news/amateur-radio-stands-ready-to-support-eclipse-operations
https://www.ardc.net/wp-content/uploads/217-M17-Press-Release.pdf
All news is sourced from the ARRL, AR Newsline, POTA, Amateur Radio Weekly and other sources around the country
<Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
These headline stories will come to you in a moment, along with this week's
topics about FCC Strengthens Cores, the Solar Eclipse Highlights, the M17 Project Update.
We will visit the ARRL Hamfest Schedule and talk about the Solar Eclipse and so much more.
That's all straight ahead, so stay tuned.
Music.
(00:25):
Hello and welcome to the Ham Radio Guide Podcast. I'm Marvin and my call sign is W0MET.
Whether you're an experienced ham or just getting started, this podcast is for you.
We're bringing you the top latest of topics, news and information in all things
amateur radio each episode right here to this show.
This is episode number 33. three, get your podcast and subscribe to them.
(00:49):
And we appreciate that by all means.
Well, we're going to be talking about the solar eclipse a little bit.
It's kind of some topics in the news this week. It's our main topic.
But before I begin, I wanted to share a little bit that due to the current state
of economy, I'm being let go and losing my job due to budget cuts.
(01:09):
And so, you know, I'm looking at considering several different options, different employers.
I'm looking at going, you know, podcasts and YouTube content development side,
maybe do that a little bit more, get some more supporters hopefully in there
and, you know, see where that can take me.
I'm not sure how this will work long-term for getting an income and,
you know, you know, maybe I'd need to get a part-time job as well.
(01:32):
And maybe in IT, there's some, you know, field positions out there I could look at.
You know, the job market right now is just not real great at this time.
So it's a little bit of a challenge. I started applying to several postings.
Things haven't heard a lot back or, Hey, you know, I would hire somebody else
or, you know, we're, you know, just not proceeding forward with your application.
I've heard a couple of those as well, but you know, I'm sure I'll find something
(01:55):
before my time runs out with my current employer that would give me,
you know, some days here to, to figure some of that out.
But, uh, if you happen to know someone who is hiring and, you know,
an IT service manager or network guy, you know, I'd appreciate any leads that
you might have forward them over to me at W zero MET.
At thehamradioguide.com.
(02:16):
So, you know, we'll see where that goes. I'll continue to update you on that.
So I was going to try and get something out last week, and that was kind of
some disturbing news, and so I wasn't really expecting that.
And so my podcast was kind of delayed on getting that one out last week,
and my apologies for that. But, you know, it's part of life.
It happens. It's the way it goes.
(02:37):
Anyway, I'm going to try to get some applications out and stuff is what I was working on.
But, you know, that's life and the way it goes. So, again, we'll get through
this and hopefully we'll have a good outcome and make even better,
you know, on the way out here than what I've got currently. Maybe it's just
to find a better job along the way.
Well, one of the products I always talk about, something I've been using,
(03:00):
and I'd like to share those out with you.
And one of the things I want to touch on is a product I've been using for quite
a while now, found on Amazon.
Cyber acoustic sound bar that attaches to a monitor.
Now I have a Mac studio and you know
computer and I was looking for an external speaker because my computer is currently
mounted under my desk and so I wanted something that didn't take a lot of desk
(03:21):
space something that sounded good and I didn't have to have you know another
wall wart or power wire wall plug you know plugged in causing more RF on something else.
So I happened to find a USB powered one.
So again, I don't want to have to worry about, you know, having the extra wall plug there.
It also has Bluetooth capability and I'm providing a link here in my show notes,
(03:47):
which can be found on patreon.com forward slash the ham radio guy.
And it's currently, you know, 29% off. So about 30% discount, so not bad.
And, you know, I've been using this and really like it. And even considering
looking at getting maybe a second one for my other computer that I use on the
ham radio side versus the office side.
So something to think about, but a really good, you know, recommended computer speaker.
(04:11):
If you don't want to have the two, you know, small ones sitting on each side
of your desk, whatever left and right, it's more of a soundbar.
I really like it and hope that you'll look at it as well and consider it.
If you are looking for something for some type of new computer soundbar,
trust me, It's been great. Well, on to some other stories.
First of all, I wanted to say thank you.
(04:32):
I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Thank you to each and every listener,
each and every download that has happened over the past roughly two years.
I started this really about three years ago, but it was very casual,
very basic, something I was kind of doing for Fight on the Side in July of 21.
And now I'm trying to produce these about every two weeks. and I've surpassed
(04:55):
over 5,000 downloads. So thank you for that.
Again, it really means a lot to me. I appreciate each and every one of you that
listens to this podcast, to this channel.
And one of the things I mentioned in my last podcast, I was giving away a radio
up on 10 Patreons signing up for my Patreon channel.
(05:18):
And I have the radio on hand and again, hope to be giving that away very soon.
So I hope that you'll continue to support this podcast. I can go through another
5,000, maybe another 5,000 after that. that I plan to continue to keep this podcast going.
And I hope you'll continue to support this podcast by subscribing and downloading
more episodes as I produce them.
(05:41):
So I appreciate you helping keep this podcast alive by joining today and hope
you get an opportunity to win the FTM 300 radio again that I'm giving away.
Another thing I found in a blog post this week for some interesting news,
and it's something I've kind of recently picked up myself, And that's why I
found this article interesting.
Again, I'll provide a link to this in the show notes, but it was seen from this
(06:05):
blog reading I've been reading about that CW seems to be on the rise within,
you know, the ranks of ham radio.
And I'm not sure what that may have to do with parks on the air.
I've seen a lot more parks on the air doing CW.
I'm not familiar with summits on the air in terms of how they do it or what they do.
But, you know, obviously those programs have become very more popular and,
(06:25):
you know, maybe more folks are realizing you get more bang for your buck with
CW than you can with phone or maybe FT8.
And so, you know, it seems like CW is on the rise.
I know some people that have really picked it up a lot lately and started running
with it and trying to learn a lot more.
And one of those persons being myself.
I recently purchased a MMX multi-band Morse code transceiver and it was from
(06:53):
a company called Prepcom and it was, I want to say a couple hundred bucks, something like that.
I don't remember the exact price I paid for that. I'll try and find a link and
put that in the show notes as well.
You basically plug that into your radio, you plug it into a keyboard,
and you plug it into this transceiver device, and it will code and decode Morse
code for you, and you can type it back and respond.
(07:15):
Now, is that true Morse code? No, it's a little cheating. I won't disagree,
but I'm hoping to kind of, I've always had a hard time with some of the letters
and trying to figure some of those out and distinguishing the dits and the das
and the pause between each character and letters.
So it's like well maybe this is a way for me to start picking up on
some of those and hearing things i'm very much a hearing type of
(07:37):
person and maybe i can pick it out there's like oh that must be an e you know
i see that now i'm you know reading a crowd coming across the screen so i haven't
played with it a lot but hoping to kind of do a bit more with that so we'll
see where that goes and i'll keep you apprised of that and hoping to do a actual
video on that so speaking of some videos,
some items coming up on the channel to include an SWR meter review.
(08:03):
I've got the Dakota lithium solar panel and the Dakota lithium battery view,
the ABR316 cable comparison against their ABR240.
And I played with it a little bit this last week on a pod activation,
which I'll talk about in just a minute with my newest antenna,
which still not quite sure of.
(08:24):
And that's the the alpha delta antenna mag loop
so or the alpha antenna mag loop
is what it is so my alpha antenna out of
kansas and so i don't know why i put delta loop in my notes but uh it is a mag
loop and i was very kind of frustrated on how much it took to really fine tune
(08:46):
the radio and i kind of got it in once i thought i can probably make a little
bit better i tuned a little bit and it was way off again.
I mean, I'm getting like SWR is like 10, you know, and above.
So I try to tune it with my rig expert device and try and tune it in that way
that wasn't working so well.
I think you really need the radio to, you know, the whole thing with the mag
(09:07):
loop is you find the loudest noise you can, and then you may have to fine tune
it a little bit, you know, from there left or right.
And that's the whole thing. You don't know whether you need to go left or you
need to go a little bit right and does it take a quarter turn or do you do just a barely a hair turn.
So it's very, very defined for something like having doing FT8 might be a perfect
(09:31):
for that or maybe some type of PSK31, maybe a JS8 call. It might be perfect for that sort of thing.
But having to, if you want to really move around the bands, this is not the
antenna for you to do that.
So this is really set up for me to be able to do some more FT8 from an iPad
with SDR control through the Icom 705 in a hotel room.
(09:51):
That's what I really want to set up for, for doing some of my travels.
But, you know, I've got to find the right tripod for the MagLoop as well because
it's got to be able to stand up about four feet and five feet in the air roughly as well.
So anyway, still trying to figure some of those things out.
Got a lot in the works, a lot in the future here going with the podcast,
(10:11):
a lot of different things to talk about, some of the things I will share in videos as well.
So if you haven't joined my YouTube channel, feel free to subscribe over there.
Thank you for all the subscribers that have maybe listened to the podcast and
join the YouTube channel as well.
I appreciate that. I hope you continue to provide good content around some of
those things and going from there.
Well, speaking of batteries and more content, I don't want you to settle for
(10:36):
less when it comes to outdoor power and doing those podo and soda activations.
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Join the ranks of satisfied outdoor enthusiasts, professionals who use Dakota
Lithium from anywhere from boating and camping and, you know,
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(10:57):
So, you know, upgrade your power game today. And, you know, I highly recommend
that you choose the code of your life.
Battery of choice for outdoor use. I'm not saying bionic is bad,
but I've really started to like the Dakota Lithiums.
And I love them. I want to find the phone goes off in the middle of a podcast
(11:17):
and it says I need to kind of a little nightly alarm.
But you know, it's got power pack performance. They're lithium iron phosphate
batteries, boast high energy density and long cycle life.
Ensuring you have the power you need whenever you need it. Whether you're camping,
fishing, hunting, or powering off-grid, they have you covered.
Built tough for the great outdoors.
I've been carrying my battery now with me for several weeks on some outings.
(11:41):
And, you know, they're definitely designed to withstand the toughest conditions,
extreme temperatures and rough terrain.
They are rugged, certainly lightweight and compact. So I carry a little 10 amp
hour battery in my backpack and it fits great in there.
So they're really a perfect companion for any adventure.
And, you know, with versatile solutions from 100 amp hour battery for your shack
(12:02):
to a 10-amp-hour battery for a pod activation.
They have every option you need, again, for powering the small devices to large
energy storage systems.
So look at Dakota Lithium. You can find a link to my Dakota Lithium page and
get a discount using the Ham Radio Guy code.
And I'll, again, find that notes on my Patreon page, forward slash the Ham Radio Guy.
(12:28):
Well, I kind of mentioned this a second ago, and I told you I had the mag loop
tuning issues on a recent poda activation.
And again, I spent about an hour and a half out there roughly playing with it.
I finally tried to switch over to a 32 foot mast with a 40 foot,
or I'm sorry, an infed half wave antenna.
(12:51):
And I tried to use the Icom 705 to make some contacts there.
And I really found that, you know, I'm powering the the Icom 705 with 10 watts
using a, you know, a Dakota lithium battery.
And I think part of it was there was a single side band contest going on over
the weekend. It was worldwide.
The bands were wide open. I mean, they were just great. It was great propagation over to Europe.
(13:18):
And so I had a lot of power, a lot of stations just sending a lot of power this way.
And it was really hard to get out on 10 watts and really hard to hear.
Now I did move over. I kind of closed that system down, moved over to my truck.
I've got a hundred watt mobile eight 91 inside there, try to throw a bunch of contacts there.
And it was really hard to just get through. So I'm not sure if it was just the
(13:41):
bands, you know, maybe as a location, but I know other people have operated
from this park as well and had really good luck with it.
So I think it was just really the band conditions and maybe the weak fact that
it had a single side band worldwide contest going on and the bands were just great.
It was just everybody was on there playing around and it was really hard to
make those contacts. Yeah.
(14:03):
I think the fact that everything else is going on, it was just hard to get out
and find a band that didn't have your, you know, you're trying to not get into
that three kilohertz band spectrum with somebody else.
And you're even going to, you know, like 14.279, 550 and, you know,
still was getting interference from other people, just, you know,
up band, you know, a couple notches.
So, but, you know, the whole point of that was just, you know,
(14:27):
something I, you know, those are some real struggles that people can deal with
and that you can have. have.
And, you know, as much as I did become frustrated over it, it was a lot of learning
curve with it too, especially pulling out a brand new antenna, a 705.
I have not used a lot with a lot of time, not had a lot of time with it yet.
And, you know, using 10 Watts on a poda activation on a weekend that people
(14:48):
are using, you know, thousand Watts plus.
So if you have those activations, again, I will upload that log still.
I have not done it yet, but I will upload it and give the three or four people
who I did contact have give them credit for that park and show that that it
was an attempted activation there at least.
So I'll be back again to try that. Hopefully a better weekend, better conditions.
You know, it was a nice day overall, probably in the high 40s,
(15:10):
low 50s with some sunshine, but it was just still a challenging weekend for that.
And, you know, if you do have those type issues or events that happen,
just go back and try it again and maybe spend some more time with you in your
garage, looking at the antenna, playing with it, testing it at home,
just trying to make some random contacts first, which I probably should have done.
But again, I got the antenna right before I left. I've been two weeks in Wisconsin here.
(15:34):
That's part of it. I wasn't in the home studio either. And so another reason
for the delay in some of the podcasting here and some of the videos coming out.
But, you know, I hope that, you know, if you have something like that happen,
I'd love to be able to hear about it as well.
And how you reacted to it and, you know, what type of antenna radio were you using?
And, you know, how familiar with the radio and the antenna were you prior to going out?
(16:00):
Well, kind of interesting that I've talked about my trailer several times, building this out.
Here it is now, end of March and beginning of now of April.
And field day is going to be upon us before I know it. And it's going to be
just be around the corner here at the end of June.
And, you know, I bought my trailer and oddly enough, my brother bought one about
(16:24):
the end of Hamcation in February on his way home from Florida.
And bought the exact same trailer and he's really
doing amateur radio on the road you can certainly follow him
on there he hasn't got a lot of videos posted on there yet for the video for
the trailer review but or the build-up of it that he's doing but he's got lots
of videos out of it yeah i know he's been recording those and you know of course
(16:46):
i've been trying to do not necessarily convert mine to a camper cargo trailer
but you know storage and be able to use it for communication communication,
through field days and winter field days, things like that.
And so some new items I've been exploring around that would be one of the items
would be the Victron MultiPlus Converter.
It will take that 110, convert it to DC, and also charge your battery at the same time.
(17:08):
So not a cheap item, anywhere from like 800 bucks to 1300 bucks,
depending on which model you want, how many volts and amps you want out of it,
whole nine yards, but should be a good item to have in there.
And then as he's kind of working on his, I'm seeing the amount of wiring going into it.
And we're talking about, you know, hey, if I want to run a toaster,
I'm running, you know, two or three radios in there.
(17:30):
And I've got a microwave or I've got a refrigerator running.
And, you know, maybe you've got some type of network switch.
You've got a computer. You've got a computer monitor.
How many amps is that really starting to take? And so it makes me start to think
about some of those things and the amount of power level and amps being used. used.
And then how's my solar panel playing to that? How many, you know,
(17:53):
I have a hundred amp hours of battery in there currently.
Maybe I need to look at getting another hundred amp hours in there.
And of course, then you look at batteries and, you know, again,
do I have enough battery power with a hundred amp hours alone? Probably not.
If I were to go off grid, but one of the things about the batteries is that,
you know, they should be about the same time and age.
(18:13):
So if you bought one in February, don't go buy one, you know,
a year later and add to it. Can you? you? Yes. Could you? Yes.
But you want your batteries to be roughly expiring about the same time and have
about the same amount of usage put to them.
So I would highly recommend when you're doing a trailer build like this,
that you do put, you know, two batteries together about the same time and nothing
(18:35):
less than a hundred Watts minimum that you're purchasing for that.
And, of course, the Dakota Lithium does have a very nice 109-power battery.
I'm using it on a shack, and, you know, I would recommend that as well.
But, you know, you also don't want to do, like, a Dakota Lithium battery and
maybe another brand of some sort.
I'm trying to think what I have off the top of my head in my trailer,
(18:56):
which is a different Dakota Lithium prior to me being introduced to them.
My brother's got, like, a Redotto battery in his. He's got two of them.
So you don't want to be mixing batteries necessarily either because they do
have different compositions on some of the light bulb batteries,
very similar, but I think they do have some different compositions.
And then, of course, you don't want to mix a 50-amp-hour battery with a 100-amp-hour battery necessarily.
(19:19):
Not that you can't, but you want them to be about the same roughly,
especially when you're doing them maybe in, I'm trying to think,
is that going to be parallel or series?
Are you trying the negative to the negative and the positive to the positive?
I should know that off the top of my head. And I just, my brother and I were
just talking about that the other day, but anyway, as we tie those together
(19:41):
and then, you know, solar panels coming in and should I get another solar panel?
I've got 200 watts up there right now, you know, looking at his system,
he's got like almost 700 and you know, his, his amount of power he's got coming
on his, on his Victron solar controller is incredible.
He's got, he's only using like four amps off his whole system with everything
(20:01):
powered on right now, which is crazy, but he doesn't have a refrigerator or
computer in there yet or monitor.
But you've got a bunch of radios in there, all the lights. All those things
have to be taken into consideration. So something to think about,
just some stuff along the trailer there.
Those are my kind of topics for the week. And there for the highlights,
let's get into a little bit of news.
Music.
(20:25):
Here are the stories for release as we come to air with edition number 33.
The Federal Communications Commission has announced an upcoming change to the
commission registration system, system, also known as CORS.
That licensees used to pay an application or regulatory fees,
manage or reset a password on an existing FRN, or request a new FRN beginning
March 29, 2024, multi-factor authentication will be implemented.
(20:49):
Users will be prompted to request a six-digit secondary verification code,
which will be sent to the email address associated with each username.
The user will then need to enter the code into the CORS before they can continue.
In a public notice, the FCC said this change will make the system more secure.
This additional layer of security will further safeguard against unauthorized
(21:10):
access, thereby enhancing the overall integrity of information contained within
the core system and improving the security of user data.
The FCC recommends that users confirm their access to their username and account
email and to add a secondary email address if need be.
And, of course, going to be our main story of the week here coming out of the news.
(21:30):
Yes, the solar eclipse with just over four days to go for an event that will take our breath away.
For those that are going to be in the area to see it, it's kind of bypassing
the edge of me. I won't be able to see it when I'm back in Massachusetts.
I don't think I'd even see it in the parts of Wisconsin I'm in currently.
But the solar eclipse that will be seen across North America covering 13 states
(21:52):
will occur on Monday, April 8th. It will be the last of its kind in the U.S. for the next 20 years.
Hams across America are asked to participate in a study about how the ionosphere
functions by getting on the air to help scientists in a series of ionospheric experiments.
The Solar Eclipse QSO Party is an opportunity for amateur radio operators or
(22:13):
hams to operate during the April 2024 eclipse before, during,
and after they pass over North America.
Using various modes, CW, voice, and digital two-way transmissions,
kioskos made during the event will contribute to scientific studies focusing
on the ionosphere's reaction to the eclipse, and the study should lead to a
(22:33):
better understanding of the interactions between the sun, ionosphere,
and radio wave propagation. propagation.
The HamSci Citizen Investigation has presentations for hams interested in participating
on Wednesday, March 27th, 8 p.m. through 5 p.m. and that same day at 10 p.m.
Eastern through 7 p.m. Pacific.
Both 30-minute presentations will be held on Zoom and will feature HamSci's
(22:54):
Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science.
The presenters will take your questions during the presentation.
So I actually kind of passed already at this point,
but that is available out there as well for viewing if
you'd like to go find that and again i
won't be in the viewing area of that
solar eclipse at that point i will be missing that but maybe we'll try and take
(23:18):
part in the solar eclipse qso party during that time to see how those transmissions
go so and i'll be using the world radio league logging program online world
radio league.com provided to you by ham prep.
It's an online logging system only at this point. They're still providing enhancements
to it and hope that you will take and join today.
(23:41):
You may become one of the founding members of Ham Radio Prep.
You can choose your level of support that you want to choose to help them to
continue to develop that program.
I have discussed it on one of my YouTube channels. I think I'll be doing a future
video on it a little bit more.
I've been playing with it a little bit more. I logged in myself,
created an account, and hope that we'll see you on there. And it's pretty interesting.
(24:04):
They've got these leaderboards going by week and month.
It's really slick. You can see different contests on there.
And as they continue to build and develop those.
So I hope that you will join World Radio League on hamradioprep.com to look
at that logging software and see how it works.
Again, it's online only. It's got to be web-based, internet accessed.
(24:27):
But I know they are working on an offline version as well. that you can come
back to later and upload your files to, etc.
So, you know, take a look at it. It's well worth it. I've enjoyed it so far.
M17. I think we've talked about this briefly once on the channel many episodes
ago, but, you know, they have been supported by a grant from the Amateur Radio
(24:49):
Digital Communications.
They're unveiling a new hardware for amateur radio operators included in the
release of the Module 17, transforming radios into the M17 transceivers and
the OpenHT, a pioneering open-source SDR handheld transceiver.
Additionally, they introduced a remote radio unit, a UHF-FM M17 repeater,
designed for close antenna placement.
(25:10):
Module 17 undergoes significant enhancements, while OpenHT supports versatile
transmission capabilities.
The RRU facilitates an improved RF performance and integrates Raspberry Pi interface software.
All hardware is developed from an open-source design, design reflecting M17's
commitment to innovation and community collaboration.
(25:30):
Founder, we'll forgo the first name, Akaz Marski, emphasizes the project's aim
to free amateur radio users from proprietary digital voice modes.
So I've not explored with M17 much. I haven't played much with it.
It's one of those things I would like to get into, but only so much time to
be able to get into those things and play with some of it. So.
(25:53):
You know, I hope that if you have played with it or you've gotten into it a
little bit more, maybe you're willing to come on the channel here and talk about it a little bit more.
And maybe it's something we get in, somebody having come on the show and have
them share a little bit about M17 and what that project exactly means.
So I would love to be able to reach out to them and see if that's something
that's possible for them.
Oh, well, that is all the amateur radio news I have with release date of April 4th, 2024.
(26:18):
So that is what I have for news this week. Again, if you have any comments or
questions, a segment or some feature you'd like to have on the podcast here,
please reach out to me at W0MET at TheHamRadioGuy.com.
You know, if you're looking for all things ham radio, visit TheHamRadioGuy website
over at Patreon.com forward slash TheHamRadioGuy for informative content,
(26:39):
product reviews, exciting blog posts.
You can join my YouTube channel or join the conversation on your favorite podcast
platform to stay up to date with the latest trends and news in amateur radio
and ham radio world. world.
Connect with us on Twitter, at TheHamRadioGuy, for even more updates and engaging interactions.
And don't miss out on the fun and knowledge sharing. Subscribe to TheHamRadioGuy podcast today.
(26:59):
So again, I appreciate you being out there, 5,000 downloads.
Absolutely ecstatic about that and really do appreciate that.
Well, we've got future upcoming HamFest, and check out the ARRL HamFest schedule page.
Again, you find a link on the show notes, ham, patreon.com forward slash the ham radio guy.
And April 12th and 13th, the Greene County HamFest 2024, hosting the ARRL Oklahoma
(27:23):
State Convention in Claremore, Oklahoma.
April 20th, the Delmarva Amateur Radio and Electronics Expo,
hosting the ARRL Delaware State Convention.
And, of course, May 11th, the ARRL Nebraska State Convention in Lincoln, Nebraska.
And the following weekend, May 16th through the 18th, I believe it is,
the Hamvention in Dayton, Ohio, will be hosting the ARRL National Convention in Ohio there.
(27:49):
So, again, there's some local HamFest near you. I hope you can attend one of those.
And if you haven't been near one, I know there's also, I didn't mention it, I forgot.
NearFest is up in New England area. It's in Deerfield, New Hampshire.
And that will be coming up, I believe, like April 24th and 25th.
So if you're up in the New England area, I will be there as well,
(28:11):
at least for one of those days.
It's a Thursday, Friday this week, this year, and the beginning of the spring
here because they couldn't get the Saturday event due to a conflict.
But I hope that you get to see me there. I will be doing some live broadcasts
from there if I can, depending, again, on that cell signal and how it works out.
Well, if you enjoy the podcast, we appreciate if you become a subscriber wherever you get your podcast.
(28:33):
You can rate and review the show, go to our Spotify or Apple podcast.
You can just go old school and tell your friends and neighbors and family,
anybody you might want to hear this podcast and listen in.
If you're on the road or traveling, it makes a great, you know, passing of time as well.
If you're on social media, be sure
to follow us on Twitter or patreon.com forward slash the ham radio guy.
(28:54):
And you can listen to YouTube version of the W0MET channel as well.
Hope that you learned something this week and that will help you in your ham
radio operations. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them on
Twitter or the podcast platform and email me at w0met at thehamradioguide.com.
Well, as always, this is your ham radio buddy in the chair and on the air,
(29:15):
the ham radio guy. I say see ya.
Music.
These headline stories will come to you in a moment, along with this week's
topics about FCC Strengthens Cores, the Solar Eclipse Highlights, the M17 Project Update.
We will visit the ARRL Hamfest Schedule and talk about the Solar Eclipse and so much more.
That's all straight ahead, so stay tuned.
Music.
(00:25):
Hello and welcome to the Ham Radio Guide Podcast. I'm Marvin and my call sign is W0MET.
Whether you're an experienced ham or just getting started, this podcast is for you.
We're bringing you the top latest of topics, news and information in all things
amateur radio each episode right here to this show.
This is episode number 33. three, get your podcast and subscribe to them.
(00:49):
And we appreciate that by all means.
Well, we're going to be talking about the solar eclipse a little bit.
It's kind of some topics in the news this week. It's our main topic.
But before I begin, I wanted to share a little bit that due to the current state
of economy, I'm being let go and losing my job due to budget cuts.
(01:09):
And so, you know, I'm looking at considering several different options, different employers.
I'm looking at going, you know, podcasts and YouTube content development side,
maybe do that a little bit more, get some more supporters hopefully in there
and, you know, see where that can take me.
I'm not sure how this will work long-term for getting an income and,
you know, you know, maybe I'd need to get a part-time job as well.
(01:32):
And maybe in IT, there's some, you know, field positions out there I could look at.
You know, the job market right now is just not real great at this time.
So it's a little bit of a challenge. I started applying to several postings.
Things haven't heard a lot back or, Hey, you know, I would hire somebody else
or, you know, we're, you know, just not proceeding forward with your application.
I've heard a couple of those as well, but you know, I'm sure I'll find something
(01:55):
before my time runs out with my current employer that would give me,
you know, some days here to, to figure some of that out.
But, uh, if you happen to know someone who is hiring and, you know,
an IT service manager or network guy, you know, I'd appreciate any leads that
you might have forward them over to me at W zero MET.
At thehamradioguide.com.
(02:16):
So, you know, we'll see where that goes. I'll continue to update you on that.
So I was going to try and get something out last week, and that was kind of
some disturbing news, and so I wasn't really expecting that.
And so my podcast was kind of delayed on getting that one out last week,
and my apologies for that. But, you know, it's part of life.
It happens. It's the way it goes.
(02:37):
Anyway, I'm going to try to get some applications out and stuff is what I was working on.
But, you know, that's life and the way it goes. So, again, we'll get through
this and hopefully we'll have a good outcome and make even better,
you know, on the way out here than what I've got currently. Maybe it's just
to find a better job along the way.
Well, one of the products I always talk about, something I've been using,
(03:00):
and I'd like to share those out with you.
And one of the things I want to touch on is a product I've been using for quite
a while now, found on Amazon.
Cyber acoustic sound bar that attaches to a monitor.
Now I have a Mac studio and you know
computer and I was looking for an external speaker because my computer is currently
mounted under my desk and so I wanted something that didn't take a lot of desk
(03:21):
space something that sounded good and I didn't have to have you know another
wall wart or power wire wall plug you know plugged in causing more RF on something else.
So I happened to find a USB powered one.
So again, I don't want to have to worry about, you know, having the extra wall plug there.
It also has Bluetooth capability and I'm providing a link here in my show notes,
(03:47):
which can be found on patreon.com forward slash the ham radio guy.
And it's currently, you know, 29% off. So about 30% discount, so not bad.
And, you know, I've been using this and really like it. And even considering
looking at getting maybe a second one for my other computer that I use on the
ham radio side versus the office side.
So something to think about, but a really good, you know, recommended computer speaker.
(04:11):
If you don't want to have the two, you know, small ones sitting on each side
of your desk, whatever left and right, it's more of a soundbar.
I really like it and hope that you'll look at it as well and consider it.
If you are looking for something for some type of new computer soundbar,
trust me, It's been great. Well, on to some other stories.
First of all, I wanted to say thank you.
(04:32):
I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Thank you to each and every listener,
each and every download that has happened over the past roughly two years.
I started this really about three years ago, but it was very casual,
very basic, something I was kind of doing for Fight on the Side in July of 21.
And now I'm trying to produce these about every two weeks. and I've surpassed
(04:55):
over 5,000 downloads. So thank you for that.
Again, it really means a lot to me. I appreciate each and every one of you that
listens to this podcast, to this channel.
And one of the things I mentioned in my last podcast, I was giving away a radio
up on 10 Patreons signing up for my Patreon channel.
(05:18):
And I have the radio on hand and again, hope to be giving that away very soon.
So I hope that you'll continue to support this podcast. I can go through another
5,000, maybe another 5,000 after that. that I plan to continue to keep this podcast going.
And I hope you'll continue to support this podcast by subscribing and downloading
more episodes as I produce them.
(05:41):
So I appreciate you helping keep this podcast alive by joining today and hope
you get an opportunity to win the FTM 300 radio again that I'm giving away.
Another thing I found in a blog post this week for some interesting news,
and it's something I've kind of recently picked up myself, And that's why I
found this article interesting.
Again, I'll provide a link to this in the show notes, but it was seen from this
(06:05):
blog reading I've been reading about that CW seems to be on the rise within,
you know, the ranks of ham radio.
And I'm not sure what that may have to do with parks on the air.
I've seen a lot more parks on the air doing CW.
I'm not familiar with summits on the air in terms of how they do it or what they do.
But, you know, obviously those programs have become very more popular and,
(06:25):
you know, maybe more folks are realizing you get more bang for your buck with
CW than you can with phone or maybe FT8.
And so, you know, it seems like CW is on the rise.
I know some people that have really picked it up a lot lately and started running
with it and trying to learn a lot more.
And one of those persons being myself.
I recently purchased a MMX multi-band Morse code transceiver and it was from
(06:53):
a company called Prepcom and it was, I want to say a couple hundred bucks, something like that.
I don't remember the exact price I paid for that. I'll try and find a link and
put that in the show notes as well.
You basically plug that into your radio, you plug it into a keyboard,
and you plug it into this transceiver device, and it will code and decode Morse
code for you, and you can type it back and respond.
(07:15):
Now, is that true Morse code? No, it's a little cheating. I won't disagree,
but I'm hoping to kind of, I've always had a hard time with some of the letters
and trying to figure some of those out and distinguishing the dits and the das
and the pause between each character and letters.
So it's like well maybe this is a way for me to start picking up on
some of those and hearing things i'm very much a hearing type of
(07:37):
person and maybe i can pick it out there's like oh that must be an e you know
i see that now i'm you know reading a crowd coming across the screen so i haven't
played with it a lot but hoping to kind of do a bit more with that so we'll
see where that goes and i'll keep you apprised of that and hoping to do a actual
video on that so speaking of some videos,
some items coming up on the channel to include an SWR meter review.
(08:03):
I've got the Dakota lithium solar panel and the Dakota lithium battery view,
the ABR316 cable comparison against their ABR240.
And I played with it a little bit this last week on a pod activation,
which I'll talk about in just a minute with my newest antenna,
which still not quite sure of.
(08:24):
And that's the the alpha delta antenna mag loop
so or the alpha antenna mag loop
is what it is so my alpha antenna out of
kansas and so i don't know why i put delta loop in my notes but uh it is a mag
loop and i was very kind of frustrated on how much it took to really fine tune
(08:46):
the radio and i kind of got it in once i thought i can probably make a little
bit better i tuned a little bit and it was way off again.
I mean, I'm getting like SWR is like 10, you know, and above.
So I try to tune it with my rig expert device and try and tune it in that way
that wasn't working so well.
I think you really need the radio to, you know, the whole thing with the mag
(09:07):
loop is you find the loudest noise you can, and then you may have to fine tune
it a little bit, you know, from there left or right.
And that's the whole thing. You don't know whether you need to go left or you
need to go a little bit right and does it take a quarter turn or do you do just a barely a hair turn.
So it's very, very defined for something like having doing FT8 might be a perfect
(09:31):
for that or maybe some type of PSK31, maybe a JS8 call. It might be perfect for that sort of thing.
But having to, if you want to really move around the bands, this is not the
antenna for you to do that.
So this is really set up for me to be able to do some more FT8 from an iPad
with SDR control through the Icom 705 in a hotel room.
(09:51):
That's what I really want to set up for, for doing some of my travels.
But, you know, I've got to find the right tripod for the MagLoop as well because
it's got to be able to stand up about four feet and five feet in the air roughly as well.
So anyway, still trying to figure some of those things out.
Got a lot in the works, a lot in the future here going with the podcast,
(10:11):
a lot of different things to talk about, some of the things I will share in videos as well.
So if you haven't joined my YouTube channel, feel free to subscribe over there.
Thank you for all the subscribers that have maybe listened to the podcast and
join the YouTube channel as well.
I appreciate that. I hope you continue to provide good content around some of
those things and going from there.
Well, speaking of batteries and more content, I don't want you to settle for
(10:36):
less when it comes to outdoor power and doing those podo and soda activations.
Choose Dakota Lithium and experience the difference firsthand.
Join the ranks of satisfied outdoor enthusiasts, professionals who use Dakota
Lithium from anywhere from boating and camping and, you know,
they really do have unmatched performance and durability and reliability.
(10:57):
So, you know, upgrade your power game today. And, you know, I highly recommend
that you choose the code of your life.
Battery of choice for outdoor use. I'm not saying bionic is bad,
but I've really started to like the Dakota Lithiums.
And I love them. I want to find the phone goes off in the middle of a podcast
(11:17):
and it says I need to kind of a little nightly alarm.
But you know, it's got power pack performance. They're lithium iron phosphate
batteries, boast high energy density and long cycle life.
Ensuring you have the power you need whenever you need it. Whether you're camping,
fishing, hunting, or powering off-grid, they have you covered.
Built tough for the great outdoors.
I've been carrying my battery now with me for several weeks on some outings.
(11:41):
And, you know, they're definitely designed to withstand the toughest conditions,
extreme temperatures and rough terrain.
They are rugged, certainly lightweight and compact. So I carry a little 10 amp
hour battery in my backpack and it fits great in there.
So they're really a perfect companion for any adventure.
And, you know, with versatile solutions from 100 amp hour battery for your shack
(12:02):
to a 10-amp-hour battery for a pod activation.
They have every option you need, again, for powering the small devices to large
energy storage systems.
So look at Dakota Lithium. You can find a link to my Dakota Lithium page and
get a discount using the Ham Radio Guy code.
And I'll, again, find that notes on my Patreon page, forward slash the Ham Radio Guy.
(12:28):
Well, I kind of mentioned this a second ago, and I told you I had the mag loop
tuning issues on a recent poda activation.
And again, I spent about an hour and a half out there roughly playing with it.
I finally tried to switch over to a 32 foot mast with a 40 foot,
or I'm sorry, an infed half wave antenna.
(12:51):
And I tried to use the Icom 705 to make some contacts there.
And I really found that, you know, I'm powering the the Icom 705 with 10 watts
using a, you know, a Dakota lithium battery.
And I think part of it was there was a single side band contest going on over
the weekend. It was worldwide.
The bands were wide open. I mean, they were just great. It was great propagation over to Europe.
(13:18):
And so I had a lot of power, a lot of stations just sending a lot of power this way.
And it was really hard to get out on 10 watts and really hard to hear.
Now I did move over. I kind of closed that system down, moved over to my truck.
I've got a hundred watt mobile eight 91 inside there, try to throw a bunch of contacts there.
And it was really hard to just get through. So I'm not sure if it was just the
(13:41):
bands, you know, maybe as a location, but I know other people have operated
from this park as well and had really good luck with it.
So I think it was just really the band conditions and maybe the weak fact that
it had a single side band worldwide contest going on and the bands were just great.
It was just everybody was on there playing around and it was really hard to
make those contacts. Yeah.
(14:03):
I think the fact that everything else is going on, it was just hard to get out
and find a band that didn't have your, you know, you're trying to not get into
that three kilohertz band spectrum with somebody else.
And you're even going to, you know, like 14.279, 550 and, you know,
still was getting interference from other people, just, you know,
up band, you know, a couple notches.
So, but, you know, the whole point of that was just, you know,
(14:27):
something I, you know, those are some real struggles that people can deal with
and that you can have. have.
And, you know, as much as I did become frustrated over it, it was a lot of learning
curve with it too, especially pulling out a brand new antenna, a 705.
I have not used a lot with a lot of time, not had a lot of time with it yet.
And, you know, using 10 Watts on a poda activation on a weekend that people
(14:48):
are using, you know, thousand Watts plus.
So if you have those activations, again, I will upload that log still.
I have not done it yet, but I will upload it and give the three or four people
who I did contact have give them credit for that park and show that that it
was an attempted activation there at least.
So I'll be back again to try that. Hopefully a better weekend, better conditions.
You know, it was a nice day overall, probably in the high 40s,
(15:10):
low 50s with some sunshine, but it was just still a challenging weekend for that.
And, you know, if you do have those type issues or events that happen,
just go back and try it again and maybe spend some more time with you in your
garage, looking at the antenna, playing with it, testing it at home,
just trying to make some random contacts first, which I probably should have done.
But again, I got the antenna right before I left. I've been two weeks in Wisconsin here.
(15:34):
That's part of it. I wasn't in the home studio either. And so another reason
for the delay in some of the podcasting here and some of the videos coming out.
But, you know, I hope that, you know, if you have something like that happen,
I'd love to be able to hear about it as well.
And how you reacted to it and, you know, what type of antenna radio were you using?
And, you know, how familiar with the radio and the antenna were you prior to going out?
(16:00):
Well, kind of interesting that I've talked about my trailer several times, building this out.
Here it is now, end of March and beginning of now of April.
And field day is going to be upon us before I know it. And it's going to be
just be around the corner here at the end of June.
And, you know, I bought my trailer and oddly enough, my brother bought one about
(16:24):
the end of Hamcation in February on his way home from Florida.
And bought the exact same trailer and he's really
doing amateur radio on the road you can certainly follow him
on there he hasn't got a lot of videos posted on there yet for the video for
the trailer review but or the build-up of it that he's doing but he's got lots
of videos out of it yeah i know he's been recording those and you know of course
(16:46):
i've been trying to do not necessarily convert mine to a camper cargo trailer
but you know storage and be able to use it for communication communication,
through field days and winter field days, things like that.
And so some new items I've been exploring around that would be one of the items
would be the Victron MultiPlus Converter.
It will take that 110, convert it to DC, and also charge your battery at the same time.
(17:08):
So not a cheap item, anywhere from like 800 bucks to 1300 bucks,
depending on which model you want, how many volts and amps you want out of it,
whole nine yards, but should be a good item to have in there.
And then as he's kind of working on his, I'm seeing the amount of wiring going into it.
And we're talking about, you know, hey, if I want to run a toaster,
I'm running, you know, two or three radios in there.
(17:30):
And I've got a microwave or I've got a refrigerator running.
And, you know, maybe you've got some type of network switch.
You've got a computer. You've got a computer monitor.
How many amps is that really starting to take? And so it makes me start to think
about some of those things and the amount of power level and amps being used. used.
And then how's my solar panel playing to that? How many, you know,
(17:53):
I have a hundred amp hours of battery in there currently.
Maybe I need to look at getting another hundred amp hours in there.
And of course, then you look at batteries and, you know, again,
do I have enough battery power with a hundred amp hours alone? Probably not.
If I were to go off grid, but one of the things about the batteries is that,
you know, they should be about the same time and age.
(18:13):
So if you bought one in February, don't go buy one, you know,
a year later and add to it. Can you? you? Yes. Could you? Yes.
But you want your batteries to be roughly expiring about the same time and have
about the same amount of usage put to them.
So I would highly recommend when you're doing a trailer build like this,
that you do put, you know, two batteries together about the same time and nothing
(18:35):
less than a hundred Watts minimum that you're purchasing for that.
And, of course, the Dakota Lithium does have a very nice 109-power battery.
I'm using it on a shack, and, you know, I would recommend that as well.
But, you know, you also don't want to do, like, a Dakota Lithium battery and
maybe another brand of some sort.
I'm trying to think what I have off the top of my head in my trailer,
(18:56):
which is a different Dakota Lithium prior to me being introduced to them.
My brother's got, like, a Redotto battery in his. He's got two of them.
So you don't want to be mixing batteries necessarily either because they do
have different compositions on some of the light bulb batteries,
very similar, but I think they do have some different compositions.
And then, of course, you don't want to mix a 50-amp-hour battery with a 100-amp-hour battery necessarily.
(19:19):
Not that you can't, but you want them to be about the same roughly,
especially when you're doing them maybe in, I'm trying to think,
is that going to be parallel or series?
Are you trying the negative to the negative and the positive to the positive?
I should know that off the top of my head. And I just, my brother and I were
just talking about that the other day, but anyway, as we tie those together
(19:41):
and then, you know, solar panels coming in and should I get another solar panel?
I've got 200 watts up there right now, you know, looking at his system,
he's got like almost 700 and you know, his, his amount of power he's got coming
on his, on his Victron solar controller is incredible.
He's got, he's only using like four amps off his whole system with everything
(20:01):
powered on right now, which is crazy, but he doesn't have a refrigerator or
computer in there yet or monitor.
But you've got a bunch of radios in there, all the lights. All those things
have to be taken into consideration. So something to think about,
just some stuff along the trailer there.
Those are my kind of topics for the week. And there for the highlights,
let's get into a little bit of news.
Music.
(20:25):
Here are the stories for release as we come to air with edition number 33.
The Federal Communications Commission has announced an upcoming change to the
commission registration system, system, also known as CORS.
That licensees used to pay an application or regulatory fees,
manage or reset a password on an existing FRN, or request a new FRN beginning
March 29, 2024, multi-factor authentication will be implemented.
(20:49):
Users will be prompted to request a six-digit secondary verification code,
which will be sent to the email address associated with each username.
The user will then need to enter the code into the CORS before they can continue.
In a public notice, the FCC said this change will make the system more secure.
This additional layer of security will further safeguard against unauthorized
(21:10):
access, thereby enhancing the overall integrity of information contained within
the core system and improving the security of user data.
The FCC recommends that users confirm their access to their username and account
email and to add a secondary email address if need be.
And, of course, going to be our main story of the week here coming out of the news.
(21:30):
Yes, the solar eclipse with just over four days to go for an event that will take our breath away.
For those that are going to be in the area to see it, it's kind of bypassing
the edge of me. I won't be able to see it when I'm back in Massachusetts.
I don't think I'd even see it in the parts of Wisconsin I'm in currently.
But the solar eclipse that will be seen across North America covering 13 states
(21:52):
will occur on Monday, April 8th. It will be the last of its kind in the U.S. for the next 20 years.
Hams across America are asked to participate in a study about how the ionosphere
functions by getting on the air to help scientists in a series of ionospheric experiments.
The Solar Eclipse QSO Party is an opportunity for amateur radio operators or
(22:13):
hams to operate during the April 2024 eclipse before, during,
and after they pass over North America.
Using various modes, CW, voice, and digital two-way transmissions,
kioskos made during the event will contribute to scientific studies focusing
on the ionosphere's reaction to the eclipse, and the study should lead to a
(22:33):
better understanding of the interactions between the sun, ionosphere,
and radio wave propagation. propagation.
The HamSci Citizen Investigation has presentations for hams interested in participating
on Wednesday, March 27th, 8 p.m. through 5 p.m. and that same day at 10 p.m.
Eastern through 7 p.m. Pacific.
Both 30-minute presentations will be held on Zoom and will feature HamSci's
(22:54):
Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science.
The presenters will take your questions during the presentation.
So I actually kind of passed already at this point,
but that is available out there as well for viewing if
you'd like to go find that and again i
won't be in the viewing area of that
solar eclipse at that point i will be missing that but maybe we'll try and take
(23:18):
part in the solar eclipse qso party during that time to see how those transmissions
go so and i'll be using the world radio league logging program online world
radio league.com provided to you by ham prep.
It's an online logging system only at this point. They're still providing enhancements
to it and hope that you will take and join today.
(23:41):
You may become one of the founding members of Ham Radio Prep.
You can choose your level of support that you want to choose to help them to
continue to develop that program.
I have discussed it on one of my YouTube channels. I think I'll be doing a future
video on it a little bit more.
I've been playing with it a little bit more. I logged in myself,
created an account, and hope that we'll see you on there. And it's pretty interesting.
(24:04):
They've got these leaderboards going by week and month.
It's really slick. You can see different contests on there.
And as they continue to build and develop those.
So I hope that you will join World Radio League on hamradioprep.com to look
at that logging software and see how it works.
Again, it's online only. It's got to be web-based, internet accessed.
(24:27):
But I know they are working on an offline version as well. that you can come
back to later and upload your files to, etc.
So, you know, take a look at it. It's well worth it. I've enjoyed it so far.
M17. I think we've talked about this briefly once on the channel many episodes
ago, but, you know, they have been supported by a grant from the Amateur Radio
(24:49):
Digital Communications.
They're unveiling a new hardware for amateur radio operators included in the
release of the Module 17, transforming radios into the M17 transceivers and
the OpenHT, a pioneering open-source SDR handheld transceiver.
Additionally, they introduced a remote radio unit, a UHF-FM M17 repeater,
designed for close antenna placement.
(25:10):
Module 17 undergoes significant enhancements, while OpenHT supports versatile
transmission capabilities.
The RRU facilitates an improved RF performance and integrates Raspberry Pi interface software.
All hardware is developed from an open-source design, design reflecting M17's
commitment to innovation and community collaboration.
(25:30):
Founder, we'll forgo the first name, Akaz Marski, emphasizes the project's aim
to free amateur radio users from proprietary digital voice modes.
So I've not explored with M17 much. I haven't played much with it.
It's one of those things I would like to get into, but only so much time to
be able to get into those things and play with some of it. So.
(25:53):
You know, I hope that if you have played with it or you've gotten into it a
little bit more, maybe you're willing to come on the channel here and talk about it a little bit more.
And maybe it's something we get in, somebody having come on the show and have
them share a little bit about M17 and what that project exactly means.
So I would love to be able to reach out to them and see if that's something
that's possible for them.
Oh, well, that is all the amateur radio news I have with release date of April 4th, 2024.
(26:18):
So that is what I have for news this week. Again, if you have any comments or
questions, a segment or some feature you'd like to have on the podcast here,
please reach out to me at W0MET at TheHamRadioGuy.com.
You know, if you're looking for all things ham radio, visit TheHamRadioGuy website
over at Patreon.com forward slash TheHamRadioGuy for informative content,
(26:39):
product reviews, exciting blog posts.
You can join my YouTube channel or join the conversation on your favorite podcast
platform to stay up to date with the latest trends and news in amateur radio
and ham radio world. world.
Connect with us on Twitter, at TheHamRadioGuy, for even more updates and engaging interactions.
And don't miss out on the fun and knowledge sharing. Subscribe to TheHamRadioGuy podcast today.
(26:59):
So again, I appreciate you being out there, 5,000 downloads.
Absolutely ecstatic about that and really do appreciate that.
Well, we've got future upcoming HamFest, and check out the ARRL HamFest schedule page.
Again, you find a link on the show notes, ham, patreon.com forward slash the ham radio guy.
And April 12th and 13th, the Greene County HamFest 2024, hosting the ARRL Oklahoma
(27:23):
State Convention in Claremore, Oklahoma.
April 20th, the Delmarva Amateur Radio and Electronics Expo,
hosting the ARRL Delaware State Convention.
And, of course, May 11th, the ARRL Nebraska State Convention in Lincoln, Nebraska.
And the following weekend, May 16th through the 18th, I believe it is,
the Hamvention in Dayton, Ohio, will be hosting the ARRL National Convention in Ohio there.
(27:49):
So, again, there's some local HamFest near you. I hope you can attend one of those.
And if you haven't been near one, I know there's also, I didn't mention it, I forgot.
NearFest is up in New England area. It's in Deerfield, New Hampshire.
And that will be coming up, I believe, like April 24th and 25th.
So if you're up in the New England area, I will be there as well,
(28:11):
at least for one of those days.
It's a Thursday, Friday this week, this year, and the beginning of the spring
here because they couldn't get the Saturday event due to a conflict.
But I hope that you get to see me there. I will be doing some live broadcasts
from there if I can, depending, again, on that cell signal and how it works out.
Well, if you enjoy the podcast, we appreciate if you become a subscriber wherever you get your podcast.
(28:33):
You can rate and review the show, go to our Spotify or Apple podcast.
You can just go old school and tell your friends and neighbors and family,
anybody you might want to hear this podcast and listen in.
If you're on the road or traveling, it makes a great, you know, passing of time as well.
If you're on social media, be sure
to follow us on Twitter or patreon.com forward slash the ham radio guy.
(28:54):
And you can listen to YouTube version of the W0MET channel as well.
Hope that you learned something this week and that will help you in your ham
radio operations. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them on
Twitter or the podcast platform and email me at w0met at thehamradioguide.com.
Well, as always, this is your ham radio buddy in the chair and on the air,
(29:15):
the ham radio guy. I say see ya.
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