July 4, 2025 • 54 mins
DX Commander Antenna Build
Alpha Antenna - https://www.alphaantenna.com/product/efhw-end-fed-half-wave-6-80-meter-base-portable-endfed-hf-alpha-jpole-sr-antenna/?aff=20
Digging Conduct ideas
Dayton Plans and Happenings
Road Worrier (work traveling)
Road Trips
POTA Parks Sparseness
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Follow me on:
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Alpha Antenna - https://www.alphaantenna.com/product/efhw-end-fed-half-wave-6-80-meter-base-portable-endfed-hf-alpha-jpole-sr-antenna/?aff=20
Digging Conduct ideas
Dayton Plans and Happenings
Road Worrier (work traveling)
Road Trips
POTA Parks Sparseness
Links:
Meters and feet 200' tape measure - https://amzn.to/4jLTQ3l
New Tanker Radio Gear:
Tank US Band Plan Pad - https://quirkyqrphamradios.etsy.com/listing/1657938891
Hoodies - https://grapevineamateurradio.com/products/tank-radio-hoodie-limited-time
Boonie Hats - https://www.gigaparts.com/tank-radio-logo-boonie-hat.html
Sticker Pack - https://grapevineamateurradio.com/collections/combo-packs/products/tank-radio-official-sticker-pack
Help support me by:
Tank Radio Black Out Shirt - https://grapevineamateurradio.com/products/tank-radio-black-out-t-shirt-on-demand-order
5% off selected Items at Gigaparts- https://www.gigaparts.com/nsearch/?lp=KG5AHJ%20INFLUENCER%20PAGE
5% off at Alpha Antenna - https://www.alphaantenna.com/?aff=20
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TankRadio
Buy Me a Beer: https://buymeacoffee.com/TankRadio
PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/TankRadio
Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3mYtddZ
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Follow me on:
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, we're gonna get this kicked off here officially,
Welcome to the Tank Commander's Meeting, the late meeting for
the month of April. I know it's already May, but
I had a lot of things happening, plus more expo.
It's just time slipped away. But we're going to get
it in there. It's going to be two meetings this month.
That's fine. Currently I have Vic and Jeff in the meeting,
(00:33):
and this is where we just kind of talk and
anything about ham Radio, anything about the channel, and or
we just digress into barbecue cigars or what else is
floating our boats. So that pretty much the format in
the nutshell. And we had Vic just talking about he's
loving his DX commander and saying that I should get
(00:54):
mine built. And then also that tails into you know
Jason who gets his bills right?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Oh yeah, I thought you were holding my breath.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yep, yeah, I thought you you uh, Jason? And who
else was the Shane Shane.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
We were going to set up all of our cameras
in like a triangle configuration and have like overhead shots
and front shots and trying to build this stuff together,
and we never really sat down and figured out a time. Actually,
we had a couple of them were like I'm free,
I'm free, and then someone else wasn't free. And I
think it's gone around like that several times where I
(01:34):
think all of us has bowed out at least once,
right as we picked a date.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Well when I have when I opened up the boxes
and looked at all this stuff, I thought, this is
gonna be a little bit more daunting that I want
to deal with. Once I started doing piece by piece,
it went together faster than I expected it to.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
And it's it's pretty simple, right, and it's yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, there's nothing really to it. Yeah, and simple hand
tools if very hardly any hand tools at all that
you need. Strongly suggest sawhorses though, so when you stread
that stretch that thing out, you're going to really appreciate
your back's gonna appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Saw horses. Okay, I was thinking.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Saw horse so you're not bending over on the ground
and try to put it together.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
I was just gonna do it on like the table
and going on.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
A table or whatever. But I had four saw horses
because it's it will stretch out forty feet mm hm. You know,
I had got a forty foot long table. Go right ahead, you.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Know, yep, I have. I bought a meter tape measure
in ten meters. I think it's ten meters. It may
be more than that, probably more than that. And I
was gonna use this for this build, but then Mike laughed.
He's like, yeah, you're gonna need much more than that.
(02:54):
So in another build, I bought a two hundred foot
tape measure. I don't know what that is than meters,
And now I got all the measure I need. I've
used this tape measure a number of times when I
was out in the bout in the field doing and
fed builds and other things. But I really loved it.
(03:14):
I think it's a survey or tape measure.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, I have one is similar to what you're describing.
That's song. It's got inches on one side, it's got
meters on the other side.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Perfect. So because the Colins all his measurements is and meters.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
For the most accurate, they are in meters, although if
you look at the guideline, his first builds were in inches.
He actually had a conversion they were in inches, and
his subsequent builds it seems like they're in meters. From
the instructions. But look at his latest instruction guide and
you'll see where it's an inches and meters in his
(03:53):
latest and oh.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Nice, Yeah, good to give them in us our freedom units.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yes, I love my freedom use.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Dude. I have a T shirt I've been meaning to
wear on the channel for a while. It's downstairs. Me
and my girl found it at a threst store. It says,
wtf is this metric system? And it has a bald
ego on the American flag and the guns and fire
and it is the most awesome shirt and I've been
meeting to wear it every time I see it. I
(04:25):
was like, I want to wear that, and I haven't
done it yet. And I had the perfect overshirt for it.
It's just like the American flag. I bought this one
kind of separately, and then I got that T shirt
and I was like, this is amazing, perfect combo. I
went ahead and linked in the description to the tape
(04:46):
measure that we were talking about. Yeah, I kind of
coming up. I've been talking with Alpha Antenna, and don't
be surprised if I get an Alpha Antenna on the
channel here soon to start talking about I'm looking at
one of their infits and see if I can put
it up a kind of more of a permanent base.
(05:07):
And if these are military grade, I would like to
try to test that see see if they hold up
to what he's saying they can.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Well, all of his stuff is supposed to be military grade, right,
some of it is, yes, some of it.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Some of it's marked as mill and the ones that
marked our mill, then definitely those are military grade. I
thought he was talking about his U E comm and
fed J poles were also mill speck, but I do
not see that listened on his website. So if it's not,
(05:48):
then I'm not going to do that testing. I'm just
going to have it out on the bout and take
it in the put it in the backyard. And I'm
wondering with alpha antenna though, I'm thinking about up maybe
a twenty foot or a thirty foot hole in the
backyard that is probably going to be metal, and how
(06:11):
would that interfere with the antenna, Especially if I get
the one hundred and sixty foot one, I might do
it in an L configuration across the fence line, and
then that's going to be radiating against that metal, and.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, it'll you'll find it eat some of your signal. Yeah, yeah,
you definite will find it eating up some of your signal.
You want to avoid that at all costs if you can.
And that was the big thing in that. A lot
of folks are saying the carbon fibers are going to
do the same problem. The carbon fiber doesn't seem to
be a problem, but definitely metal will.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Did it it's to or truck go ahead, Jeff.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, t o did he did a test? Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Could you put like a foot or two foot piece
of like plastic on top of them, on top of
the and the very tip of it, so you have
that offset.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, you could do that. Yeah, But if you're going
to use un run part of your radiator up, got
the antenta there and run your wire along the side
of that, you're radiating wire along the side of it.
That you don't want to do that, yeah, because guy,
this guy will interfere with that wire. You're radiating wire now,
(07:29):
just a coax, It doesn't care. If it's just a
co x running up that vertical whole, we don't care.
But if you're radiating wire runs along there, it's like
running it along say yeah, yeah, any any metal structures
like your aluminum sided house or something along that line
you want to try to avoid. Now you can put
(07:51):
Now you can radiating elements along gutters. We see all
those gutter antennas all the time. As a compromised antenna,
you may have a problem in ching it a little bit,
but tunor will really help you.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
I was just randomly thought thinking of it because I
was going to try to talk to him about it
and see what his thoughts were. And also since the
one hundred and sixty meter intennts like huge along there's
a several variants that you can do to set that
up and give you different radiation patterns. And I was
(08:29):
just trying to bounce off of his head, like, oh
you can do this or that, or I can you know,
try to do a box where it goes up one
side and then I put it into the tree and
then it comes down the other side for the feelne
but again that it's going to be running against a
metal pole. How long?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
How long is your does your house go length wise?
Like is it wider than I'm I'm wondering if you
if your house is lengthwise, if you could go like
have the coaks go up like one side of the
house to where the feed point. Then go back, go
(09:15):
back to the back corner to the back center of
your property where you have your metal pole and have
like an offset so you're away from it, and just
have it sort of look there to hold it back
to sort of create some distance, and then go like
to the other tip of your house and that would
(09:38):
create the same l but you would be it would
all be horizontal, so you wouldn't be coming down like
a pole.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yeah, that's kind of an option. I do have a
large backyard, so I could probably do that and run
it through some trees. But yeah, there's a lot of
things I can do, but my trees aren't a toys
for limbs coming down, so I was going to try
to stay out of them the best I can. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah, I don't know where versus your house, and and
that's what I was thinking. Yeah, I was thinking if
you'd go from like mhm, yeah, you would have to
probably probably, I don't know if you if you're up
for maybe diagram like where your house is, like put
(10:27):
a put a drawing on on discord. We're like, okay,
this is your this is your house. These are where
the main trees are and stuff like that, and people
can probably come and and.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
A whole lot of people that something.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's different ways of doing it. I
want to pick Steve's brain and we'll see what comes
from there then. I But in the middle of that though,
I am thinking about burying a conduit line, and the
(11:07):
conduit line itself. I was trying to figure out because
my stepdad did this. He buried a conduit line and
like a couple of years later he found that that
conduit just flooded with water. There was a crack somewhere
in a flooded with water, and I was like, how
can I get rid of that, especially because the part
of the land I'm going to bury this conduit in
(11:29):
it slopes down already, so I'm gonna already have a
natural low point in this conduit. I was thinking about
in the lowest point probably where the is going to
come up on the feed line end of the antenna base,
digging extra deep and filling in some rocks and creating
a drainage hole and drilling in some holes in the
(11:49):
elbow bend to allow water out, and then goes into
a bunch of filler rocks. So it could just strain
out naturally, and then I don't have to worry.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
It's a pretty good idea.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yeah, yeah, it's gonna happen on the channel. I overthink this.
Look at how I put my ground wire in there,
buried in the ground literally with little sprinkler covers, so
you can open it up, make sure that's tight and
inspecting to close it, and they don't have to worry
about anyone mowing over it. Over engineered everything. So that's
(12:23):
something I was looking at. I thought about trying to
rending a trench, but I was like, oh, there's a
sprink girl line there already, and I don't want to
disturb that. With all the time I have, now I
can digate my own trench h.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Soil like I hand up in Ohio, though it's mostly
clay and hard to date.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
It is it is so you got that first couple
four inches, which is kind of nice because that's the
top soil the builders put on there. But after that
you got the clay. We'll see how hard it is.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Now. I moved down to Florida, Central Florida. Down here,
you dig, put your shovel in and it's nothing but saying,
so digging is easy down here. Mm hmm, but I don't.
I don't miss digging from Ohio anymore.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, we got to Clay. I know where all of
them at. I installed the whole system myself. So the question,
the question is I know approximately where it's at. I
just and just getting up to it and then getting
around it or probably underneath it without damaging the you know,
(13:34):
the command line, that wire that lungs along with it
for all the turning screws or yeah, so I don't
want to damage that because that's to be a pain
to fix, or I had to fix one of them.
It's I'm gonna tell this story. Me and my dad
(13:54):
installed our sprinkler system, and when we're going to wire it,
I was like, all right, man, start wiring over here.
I'll do these over here. And I and I circle back,
and I was seeing how my dad was wired it.
Since we had everything dug up at the time we're
wiring it. We didn't have the boxes installed. He was
just like pulling the wire tight and wiring it. All
(14:16):
that was going to be way down in the box.
I was like, so if I have an issue, I
got to dig of this whole thing up because we
can't pull the wires out. He goes, it's not going
to have an issue. So half my boxes where the
cylinder to turn it on and off is it's so
tight that if there's any wiring issues you have to
(14:39):
pull it up the ones I did. I pulled enough
wire up and out where I can, you know, work
with it almost at the surface, and then when I'm done,
throw it right back in there and not have a issue.
I'm like, this is what this is what aircraft engineers
A'm not thinking about. Because he was a retired aircraft engineer.
Maintenance maintenance all the time on your aircraft engines are
(15:02):
a nightmare. You got to pull the whole thing apart
to get the one thing. He's like, well, I was like,
uh huh, this is why this is why no one
likes working on engines. But ironically enough, I did have
an issue with one, and it thankfully it was on
a section I did, so I don't know if that
(15:23):
was he did a great job installing all the wire
and I did a crappy job, or I just got
lucky the one that had an issue. I could pull
the mat without digging the thing up.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
There. You go over things in life. Wow, poor guy, Hey,
are you going to be at Dayton Shamfest this year? Yes, Okay,
I'm gonna try to do. I will be there myself.
I'm gonna try to track you down, all right, just
just a touch base, you shake your hand again.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
All that sounds good to me.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
I want to catch you guys down here for Orlando
because I live in Florida. Down here, I couldn't family
things gotten away for that, but I'm gonna try. I
have to go back up to Ohio for some other
family stuff. I'm gonna try to make it up there.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
M hm. So yeah, we'll be there definitely. I'm gonna
say the best bet will be the the Troll Barroll Club,
because that's gonna be Saturday night and we're we're all
probably gonna be up there from six to whenever we leave.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
That's always fun, and that's probably gonna be the best
place to see us because unlike other conventions, it's gonna
be very hard to just randomly run into someone that
you're looking for here because it's just so big. Yeah,
and my game plan are like once I hate I know,
(16:59):
once I go to the outdoor swap meat area, it's
hardly a chance Aton. What's going to find me.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
I'm sameing here like.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Large, and everyone's inside the main buildings. I know I'm
going to be kind of sex sequestered off in that area.
But those buildings, man, there's a lot, it's huge. You've
been there before, yes, yeah, when.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I lived I see, I moved from Cincinnati, Okay. I
was born and raised in Cincinnati, and if it came,
if there was a ham Fest, I was there everyone.
I think I attended the last twelve ham Fest there
when I lived up there. And now that I've moved
to Florida, I moved down here four years ago. I've
(17:45):
been going. I've been hitting all of the whole circuit.
UH ham Casion down here in Orlando, UH Huntsville and
also or Dayton. I hit those three major ones. So
I've been wanting to make a trip out to Texas area.
Do you guys and see a couple of your hand
fest up there. I just haven't gotten it in the time.
Now that I'm retired, I can take the time to drive.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
But the best one, because it was the local one,
was the DFW Handcoon that was one of the larger ones.
All the vendors showed up there and they had a
large ish swap meat area, so floor space wise, I
think it would be compared to Huntsville, Okay. And and
(18:28):
that was like the the one and that was a
good one. Then however, Dayton, that are the COVID happened
and they folded up shops say they don't want to
do it anymore. Other than that, there is a Houston
Hamfest that is kind of like just a giant swap meet.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Is it okay?
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yeah, so is Belton. Belton's a fun one that happens
twice a year. And it's again it's a swap meet.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Well, that could be fun. That could be a fun
road trip. They take two week vacation drive out that
way and visit some handfast and you know, check out
Texas a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
So. Texas is awesome, man, it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Well, I've been. I was stationed at San Antonio years
ago in the Air Force when when San Antonio was
just basically a dream and nothing like it is now,
uh so, because it's grown so much. And I did
some work out of Austin and a couple other places
when I was still a wireless engineer. I traveled out there,
(19:32):
did some some work there. So but now, like I said,
I'm now i'm retired, I got a chance to do
those kind of things.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Mm hmmm hmm, yeah, so nice.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I what feelers you got out for a job? Any
A few.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
I'm looking for yeh. I'm looking for stuff that's around
the software development sides. And since this is recording, I'm
not going to toss out company.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Here, no no, no, no. Yeah, but you don't do that.
You don't shoot yourself on the foot, right.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Yeah. I've been applying heavily this week and I'm just
waiting to see if anything comes up.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
And are you looking for contract work or just a
full time with benefits?
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Full time benefits?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
I love coding, man. I love sitting down and coating
something and getting paid for it. It's really fun. And
if you do something you love, you never work a
day in your life. And it's been that way my
whole career so far. And I don't want to stop that.
AM Radio.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
You're talking to a retired medic firefighter. And I also
a wireless engineer when I retired from firefighter, and I
did wireless engineering Wi Fi work for a better part
of fifteen years and I loved every single minute of it.
So you're if you love your job, you don't work
a day in your life.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
There were some projects, man, I looked forward to go
into the office. I got up early, or sometimes I'll
log it late and just keep on going. It's a
blast the channel on Amazon Radio. I do have fun
with it, but it's not a live and breathe passion.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
No. No, Well, what you're doing here for YouTube and
all that that should show to a perspective employer that
you can work at home and actually be responsible. You
know that this is a good reason for someone to say, oh,
he can't actually do something at home. He's not like
some of these at home workers that I can't. I
don't know what they're going to be doing. Are they
(21:42):
really working or they just sit back there, you know,
stuck it on coffee all day long.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah, or you know they're in the office, but they
just have teams on their phone so they never never
go yellow and just answer emails. But then you know
they're running errands and when you call them, it's all
was noisy in the background. You're like, you're supposed to
be home mother.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Exactly, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Yeah, And my previous career was. We were doing a
government contracting. The company was and hey, when you log
hours against the government, man, they are full work hours.
You're not playing or fudging. Because I enjoyed too many
licensed freedoms to mess that up with a silly felony.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I get that. Oh yeah, Well, one of the companies
I worked for as a Wi Fi engineer, we did
primary work for the VA. We're based out of Virginia
and we did a lot of VA work. So everywhere
you went, you were on the government's time. If you
said you worked an hour, you had better been working
(22:49):
at hour or they'll get you. They will get you.
And they watched us. They watched us tight. But it
was good money, good money and good A lot of traveling, though,
traveling You to traveling, you know, would that bother you?
All traveling?
Speaker 1 (23:05):
You think I travel how many times a year for
this channel? Five? Six?
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, put me on the road. That's why
I told him, throw me on a plane.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Be careful what you wish for. Though. When I was
doing Wi Fi work, my first five years six years
doing that, I was a road warrior. I was home
for maybe a month total, a month and a half
total in four and a half years.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Not that much. But if you need me to go
be in place in a meeting and go meet a client,
maybe do some on the ground coding and rapid development. Yeah,
I'm happy traveling, you know, once or twice a month,
and I do, like for this channel, probably five ish
(23:54):
times a year. I go out and there's like three
ham Fests, three infest and.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
A couple other things.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah, and the the our YouTuber's National Parks Group. That's five.
And then every now and then, you know, random, hey,
all jump in the car and go down to Galaston
because why not, or the undisclosed deer Lease and put
our feet up for a while. Now that's I'm not
(24:23):
gonna say that's jumping on the plane traveling. But you
still got to sit down and pack and think and
all of.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
My stuff, you know, my roadwork was. I was a
road warrior. I drove everywhere I went. I had a
company van that that kept my tools in and all
that kind of stuff. So basically I drove everywhere you
know it was, and I mean everywhere. I was in
forty eight, forty nine, thirty thirty nine states, Yeah, thirty
nine states. I was in the only state I didn't
(24:54):
get to go to wash two states for sure, was
a white and Alaska for work. But I've been to
thirty nine states, including our our, the the Republic. We
got down there in the Caribbean, Uh yeah, Puerto Rico,
so even down there working for him. So I was
(25:16):
a road warrior. Like I said, pretty much, come Monday morning,
I was either on a plane or in my car
driving somewhere. And I didn't get back home till late Saturday.
At the end of the week, got there, washed my
clothes whatever, got back on the road for my next job.
It was harder on a fan. It's harder on a family, though.
(25:36):
But you've been single, you you you have no problem
doing it.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Yep. It's packing to me at second nature. Don't spring
it on me like I need you here tomorrow then
I I I will stream days. I need a few days,
because you've seen if you've been around, and Vic and Jeff,
you know, both of y'all been around. I don't show
(26:03):
it a lot anymore because I watched the analytics. But
packing for a tripulent, I make that a week affair,
all right. Today we are going to be washing all
the clothes, and tomorrow we're gonna be packing the clothes.
I'm not leaving for a week, but technically my clothes
for Dayton right now are packed. They're downstairs in the
(26:24):
blue suitcase with Jason Haates and they're packed. They're all
ready to go. I think I need to double check
the pants and shorts because they're just in my daily rotation.
But all the shirts, all the over shirts are there,
number of socks are there. Everything's already packed. Then another
(26:46):
day I'll focus on camping equipment. If I'm camping, I'll
get the black bag ready. I use the sleeping bags,
the pillows, a little sheet if I need to put
it on the bed. Always always in that black bag.
It never leaves a power cord.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
And the other thing you gotta have when you're camping
shower sandals. Oh and I see some of these showers,
you want them? Then if it's if I need my
solar panel, it goes in the black bag, or sometimes
(27:25):
also the camping stove. Then another day I go out
and buy the food and make sure I have it
all that ready, and then the day of it is
only the only things I pack on the day of
is the sea pat machine into whatever bag I'm carrying.
If it's the blue bag, it's not getting checked. If
(27:45):
it's getting if I'm going on a plane, it's my
green backpack and food. Everything else is usually stacked by
the door. In a staging area. I have several staging areas.
There's the electronic staging area. That that is my downstairs
dining room table, and I clean it off and I
(28:05):
put all the charging stations there. I throw it there,
I make sure it's charged, and then when I'm ready
to pack the electronics, I throw all that in there,
and I know if it's not on the table or
I know. Once I clear the table, I have everything,
and then everything the staging area to go in the car.
Once I see that steering, If that staging area is clear,
(28:27):
I'm ready to go. I don't have to think about
where's that, where's that, where's that bag? Because I do
that so much already. It's just remove these little stress
because I get a little stressed when when traveling, and
it's just mostly because if I lose something and getting
to the airport and getting through the TSA, which I
managed the TSA lately, I went ahead and got not
(28:52):
clear PreCheck, No, what's the other global Entry. Okay, I
got Global entry because I want to do a couple
of international trips. I was inspiring.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I don't have Global entry.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
I've got pre check, yeah, global I was expiring to
go on some international trips. We'll see if any of
those happened. Now, I'd got Global entry because I could
get those benefits and pre check because I refuse to
play for pre check. So if I feel if I'm
playing for the Global Entry, I get pre checked for
(29:25):
free and they don't get the money. Okay, yeah, probably,
probably that's not how it works. But I don't want
to pay to be given the god given rights that
we have and not not. You know, just because I
by a plane ticket means that we got to go
and give up.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Some I'm with you one, dude, mm hmmm. Or time
than the point, I don't even fly. I don't like
to fly anymore. I love flying, but I don't fly
anymore for that very reason.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Put me in my car, Let me drive wherever I
can drive anymore. I just stay stateside, so I don't
even travel out of the country. I've been to Ireland,
loved it, Ben to London, loved it, Ben to Puerto
Rico loved our Costa Rica. Been there, been to Mexico,
been to Canada, been to bon Air, been hot Haiti.
(30:18):
I love traveling then, but I'm not anymore, not with
not with what you got to go through just to
be tet beat checked, to make sure you're you know.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
And once I get through that point and I'm going
to get off my soapbox here, I'm happy again. Like
I I can relax, I can sit down. Even I
could get to the airport hours early, it doesn't matter
to me. I pull out my laptop and if it's
a take radio trip, I'll start editing because I probably
(30:49):
already have footage shot somewhere within that day. And if
it's not, or I already edited at all, oh look,
I pull out my switch and I'll just played my
switch until I get on that plane. I am traveler.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
I was talking to Rob, and Rob I was like, Rob,
you're a part of this Centurion lounge thing, and we
always get to the airport just enough time to get
through security and onto the plane, which stresses me out
a bit, but let's go hit up that lounge sometimes,
so this time we might go and I get a
(31:27):
good taste of you know, the high life, the central life.
Then like you said, uh, road trips. I love road trips.
There's a caveat, though, there's a huge caveat. If we're
driving to get somewhere and all we're gonna do is drive,
(31:48):
do not want to be in the car. I'd rather fly.
I rather pay the money to fly to get there
faster and then just be in the hotel and relax.
As just hands down, I will rather fly. But if
it's a road trip to experience, like to the road
and time, and we don't have to be somewhere by
this time and date, and we we're just heading, you
(32:10):
know more than I want to say five ish hours
driving's okay. And especially when we were doing the Grand
Candian trip, we had a one day of just we
need to get out there and make time. But after
that we're driving. Jason's like, we got nothing to do
today and have tomorrow. If you see something, I was like, cool,
(32:35):
I looked up my phone. Let's take this scene of ground.
And we went the scene of ground and then we
found a Native American reservation. We found the oldest four
and training post still in operations. We stopped about six
times and just like, what's that? What's that? It was
a blast, loved every moment of it. He did too.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Yeah, that's that's the way. That's the way to travel
travel night. Mm hm it is. I love it.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Road trips travel. I'm just taking notes for the topics here.
If you listen to the audio podcast, actually look at
the name. I try to come up with a funny
name for each meeting. So far, I have never ending
and I don't know what the next part is, never
(33:30):
any road trips because never ending came from when we're
talking about the attenda bills at the beginning of the hour,
and I always find something funny to clip it out.
One of the meetings, I pass notes that I have
blackout satellites. Another one's take radio tagging the parks, cigar
(33:52):
or smoking back in October smoking cigar bears. That was
a fun one. Lost the context. You gotta listen to
the episode to see how that works. Okay, I can
do that, but yeah, coming up. I So here's a
(34:16):
heads up for y'all. I there's a good chance rain depending.
I'm gonna try to get out to the park this weekend.
Looking at Saturday, and I'm gonna be trying to test
the antenna or the mass system I put together for
guiding the masks in a area that you don't have trees. Okay,
(34:42):
I kind of featured it before on the d X
Commander mask, but I rebuilt the whole thing for the
PoTA thirty.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
You're gonna be afternoon or morning and Saturday or Sunday.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Probably afternoon Saturday. Okay, that's the only time I think
I have and I will be at a unique park,
so all things goes right, this will be a new
park activating for me.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
They don't have any QSO parties going on this weekend,
do they.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I have no idea. It's it's the it's it's it's
a contest season now. So oh yeah, there'll probably be something.
I will put it out. I will announce it on Twitter,
put me on ham alerts. I don't pop up much
on Hamblerts because I don't have a radio.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Yeah I know you don't, because I've got HAMD alert you.
I've never seen him here.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Really, I do want to get back to the park
the catches. Have you seen the Texas Parks map for PODA?
Speaker 2 (35:55):
No, I don't think I have.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
No. I belly achd about this before. Where is it log?
Speaker 2 (36:03):
You've got so many parks down here, but none of
them count because most of them are Florida parks and
it doesn't count as potus.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Really really all right, So here it is. So I'm
sharing my screen to the audio viewers. I am scrolling
out of Texas and the DFW area which I live, Okay,
and these there's a lot of yellow dots that we're seeing.
But these dots are hundreds and hundreds of miles apart
(36:33):
from each other. Yeah, so for me only for me,
I live in this area. Over here, it's forty minutes
south to get to Cedar Hill State Park, which I
like to activate, or forty minutes over here at the
Plano area to a park that I do activate on
(36:53):
a Cajun And if you see me sitting in a
dinosaur mouth, that is that park in my videos or
I recorded that park like three times, and each time
I was there it was a failed video, So I
probably should not go back. Then up north, the Lakeway
Roberts is an hour and ten ish minutes, so if
(37:16):
you want to do a rove, it's an all day rove.
I've tried this before in the past of going down
forty five and hitting up Cedar Hill and what is
this park Wildlife Reserve Management area that was a old park,
and then we got Fort Boggie and then coming down
(37:37):
to Huntsville, we have the Huntsville area and that is
it's self driving three hours, hitting up every park along
the way. It is an all day to get a
five park rove, which some people can do in under
an hour if they live up in those stupid Northeast
areas like Vermont or Massachusetts. It's just blah. I'm showing
(38:02):
the Boston area and it's just a sea of yellow
in Massachusetts and Rhode Islands.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Just look at all the parks.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Yeah, it's not fair, it's not fair. But yeah, so
that that's my gripe. So you're saying you have the
same thing over here in Florida, Well yeah, okay, go up, Okay, Okay,
I see, okay.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
You look at spring Hill. See spring Hill and Brooksville
on the left on the west coast. I live just
south of Homo Sassa Springs, m h. That's the that's
the area that I live. You know, my pain, Oh
yes I do, Yes, I do.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
There is just yeah, what we don't have a mile
marker how many miles per inch? But yeah, it is
pretty smart. So you're looking at one hundreds of miles
between some of these parks. Got some of them are
close on top of each other, so you might have
a couple two first here and there.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Yeah, if you looked, like the distance from Tampa to
my house is an hour and a half and that's
set at sixty miles Homo Sauce of Springs to Tampa
Bay south of there and is like, you know, sixty miles.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
So you need to get a boat in yeah, Branford
and just float that river and activate everything on the
on the way down because that's just littered with parks.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
And of course you got to fight with the alligators too,
so well.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
You know, you tell them to hold the antenna for you.
They got a big alley, big mouth clap.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Pretty sorry. So I feel your pain, brother, I do
feel your pain. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Well, in in Montana here, yeah, there's a lot of
national forests, but it's like all one national forest.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
So it one is what you're saying, right, Jeff.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
To get to the next natural national forest, it's fifty
miles away, you.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Get yeah, zoom, Oh my goodness, look at that. I
don't see any.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Yellow Yeah, where's the dot? There we go. We got
some loading now. But yeah, they're pretty sparse. But I
think Jeff is right. These are just the l lands.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
So that means the distance between Billings and Laura. That
looks like that's a that's a sixty miles.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
Yeah, it's Billings and it's Billings and Laura is actually
is about is about half an hour?
Speaker 2 (40:44):
Is it half an hour? Okay?
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Yes, some of these not the hatchery. Which one is?
Which one is? I activated Yellowstone National Forest, River.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Scenic No, that sounds pretty No.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
We went up Beartooth Pass, so.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
Yeah, take an angle from that the blue two Billings is.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
I think there's a white road that I think you
went on, Yeah, Blue Waters Hatchery.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Yeah, yep, going up that that that highway there.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Yeah, we took it all the way to Billings. It
was an amazing drive. If you are coming into Yellowstone,
definitely come in through that Bear Tooth Pass. We left
through it, and it was a beautiful drive. However, coming
from Utah and going through all their valleys, Rice Canyon, Ryce,
(41:53):
and then we went through Yellowstone and saw all their
beautiful canyons there and then we left bear Tooth Pass.
We're driving, I'm like, yep, that's a beautiful view. You
want to take a picture? No, I got tons of them,
and you can. You go over the ridge, You're like, oh,
look at that. There's a nice lake down there. You
want to take a picture of that. No, I've seen
(42:14):
stuff like that all week, so definitely take that coming
in because it is very It was. It was a
great drive. It was a great drive. Plus we did
a pull out somewhere and I'm gonna tear this off
and I'm gonna see if I can find the picture.
There's a guard rail on bear Tooth Pass that has
(42:36):
tons of stickers and we all left our sticker there.
So if you're driving that, and if you go back
and look at the videos, there's better evidence of where
it's at.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
So yeah, I'm I'm in western Montana, so I'm over
by uh glasher Nash Ports.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Okay, I've been to Glacier before my radio days. Very beautiful,
but yeah, very beautiful.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
I've been stone And on a trip years ago for
a three week trip out there, and it was beautiful
out there, and I think I came in via ninety.
We were driving across through Wyoming up into Montana on ninety.
That's the way we came in. It was the time
when they had all those massive fires and years ago,
(43:30):
all this years ago beautiful country. Oh my gosh, that
is gorgeous country.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
Yeah, all right, So here's the picture of the guard rail.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
Oh my gosh, it's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
We set up our boda buddy pullstick antenna. I'm smoking
a cigar in the picture and this guards guard. I
swear I haven't been drinking today. This guard rail was
littered with stickers and I tagged it with mine. I
don't have it in my album. I know. I probably
(44:02):
posted a picture in Twitter like this this view. Like
I came across that and we were all looking. I
just shot it out of the car. All right, move on.
I got the picture that's still Yeah, we're looking at
a photo of a lake in the valley. Yeah, just
gorgeous mountains, a little bit of haze.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
Yep, it sure is pretty.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Yes. Then I got a photo of the infant Sinclair dinosaur.
I love Sinclair.
Speaker 2 (44:39):
Yeah, they that that he's cool is every time.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
I see it. Sinclair gas station, I'm like, I gotta stop,
I gotta buy something. This was one meal we made
is out of focus pancakes with bananas and a big
butter chunk in the middle and sausage.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Are that looks like a good trip, fun trip.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
It was a blast activating in Yellowstone. This this we
were in Firehole Road is a one way road in
Yellowstone and the pull out for it far in the hole.
I think it's far in the whole fire in the hole.
Drive no cell reception, No one has cell reception. No
one even had emergency only it said no reception and
(45:30):
nothing nothing, And we were making contacts with amateur radio
of course. Yep. Oh, this was a great trip. We're
going to Colorado this coming year, all right, bears.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
We I've been trying to get the guys to do
a river rafting trip and to the Grand Canyon, the
Grand Canyon, through the Grand Canyon.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
That would be fun.
Speaker 1 (46:03):
They have trips where you wrath through the Grand Canyon guided,
but they're like two thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Whoa, it's like you say that kind of cheese.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
Man Fortnite guide It experience, everything's provided. The reason why
it's so much because it's you get halfway through the canyon,
and then uh, the the river just kind of goes
slack and then it just becomes a float trip and
not a raft trip, so they will helicopter you out.
Speaker 2 (46:40):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
I'm like, you need to do that.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
Wow, that's that Wow. I just don't have that kind
of cast though, you know, since I've retired, don't have that.
It t money. You know, you really watch your dollars, right.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
I posted a picture from going to get groceries last
week in uh the uh tinkers channel in the member
your members channel.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
In the members channel, the encrypted columns and discord. Oh man,
that's your view. Let me show you this.
Speaker 2 (47:21):
Yeah, let's see.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
This Montana mountains everywhere.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
Yeah, that's gorgeous. That is go to love the prairie
grass too.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
Oh all right, Jeff, I'm jealous of you. But on
the other hand, when it snows up there, I will
just laugh at you.
Speaker 2 (47:50):
Oh yeah, they yeah, yes, they do.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Oh man. I don't want to live anywhere else. Texas,
Texas is my home. I might move around her, but
I don't want to leave her. Well.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
I left Ohio because I got tired of the snow
and ice and this poor body had been rough on
over the years. It doesn't like the cold. So I
moved down south and don probably will stay here. My dad,
I do miss. I do miss hills. I do miss
hills and mountains I do do because it's really you
(48:30):
don't have them down here.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
My dad's side of the family is from Indiana, Okay,
and he left Indiana because of the snow on ice.
He's like, I'm tired of it being cold. I'm tired
of it snowing for half the year. I'm getting out
of here. So he came to Texas, and uh, luckily
I am a native born Texan.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
Yes, there you go.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
I I don't have a cowboy hat. I probably should
get a cowboy hat. I love my boonies and what
the cowboy hat is just a natch like a Boonie's
an evolution off the cowboy hat. So I should have
a cowboy hat. What are you getting? Yeah? That is beautiful.
Speaker 2 (49:19):
Yeah, this is a true a Kubra. It's a Saustray made.
Is beautiful. Absolutely, It's got a lot of years on
it's got a lot of sweat on it.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
That's a good hat thing.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
Oh yeah, it's real good hat. So I really like
it's it was pretty. It was pretty expensive too when
I bought it. That's that's my baby, that's my baby.
Speaker 1 (49:49):
Mm hmm. But I love having my tank radio boony hat.
It's amazing and I love boonies there there's so yeah,
I do too.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
I unfortunately have a couple of them nice with my
call sign on them. It's not my call sign on here,
so and they've got a lot of that nice sweat
on there too.
Speaker 1 (50:16):
Oh yeah, I'm starting to put buttons on mine. The
problem with buttons they start falling off, and that irritates me.
I'm like, but I had that for when I went there,
and that buttons for when I went there, or pins.
I'm very hard on myself.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
I say, you remember that kind of stuff, you know,
so I get it.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
Well, we are getting to the top of the hour here. Yeah,
y'all have been amazing to hang out with and uh
we will be doing this again late in the month.
I promised not to push it back again. It just
things got away from me and life happened, and at
one point I just had to focused on myself for
(51:01):
a bit and I dropped everything. And I'm back. I'm back.
I'm sorry. Here happens for really, but y'all I'll be awesome. Man.
I enjoyed this. If y'all want to listening out there,
join us on a Tank Commander meeting live. There is
a Patreon If you go to Patreon and search tank
(51:23):
Radio or the links in the description, you can join
us at the Tank commander level. However, twice a year,
and it's coming up here soon. What is that next month?
Christmas in July or is that Christmas in June, Christmas
in July? Anyways, it doesn't matter. We are going to
(51:45):
have a second all hands meeting and that would be
a supporter at any level. Is uh. We just open
up the doors to all my supporters via YouTube and
also Patreon who come in and we all hang out
together and have some fun.
Speaker 2 (52:03):
That'll be good. Yeah, get to meet some of the
other folks that are supporting the channel.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
Oh, it's fun. It's who I was only originally I
was only doing that in December, but I was talking
to the other commanders, like I really had fun. I
thinking about doing a Christmas in July where we open
it up for a second all hands and this is
y'all's meeting, and do you have any quarrels? And the
vote was no, it's like cool, it's gonna happen twice
(52:30):
a year and now all hands meeting. It's gonna be fun.
And that is gonna be happening next month in June.
Speaker 2 (52:39):
Okay, you don't have a solid date yet.
Speaker 1 (52:41):
No, it's probably just gonna be our normal time on
a Sunday. Actually, I've been meeting to put out a
a meeting date, just like do we need to want
to shift it around. Usually the normal time is Sunday's
at three. I'm not going to be available this coming
Sunday at three, So that's why it's kind of in
(53:04):
the middle of the week. Today is the last Sunday
quite frankly. Yeah, yes, yeah, my over dates last Sunday
at three pm because that's also one of my stream days.
So I come up here do that and then go
down have dinner and come back and do my six
pm a live stream that I'll rolled into Jason seven m.
(53:27):
So it's like my day on the computer. Yeah, yeah,
it is, it is, and I'm usually editing in between. Well,
thank you all for joining. I appreciate it. I'm going
to wrap it up here to all my tankers out there,
thank you, and go forth and conquer, say bye.
Speaker 2 (53:47):
Have a good night, bye now take care.
Speaker 1 (53:51):
Thank you to all my Patreon supporters. You can support
me on Patreon. There's a link in the description below.
And to all my tankers out there, go forth and
co Kirk
All right, we're gonna get this kicked off here officially,
Welcome to the Tank Commander's Meeting, the late meeting for
the month of April. I know it's already May, but
I had a lot of things happening, plus more expo.
It's just time slipped away. But we're going to get
it in there. It's going to be two meetings this month.
That's fine. Currently I have Vic and Jeff in the meeting,
(00:33):
and this is where we just kind of talk and
anything about ham Radio, anything about the channel, and or
we just digress into barbecue cigars or what else is
floating our boats. So that pretty much the format in
the nutshell. And we had Vic just talking about he's
loving his DX commander and saying that I should get
(00:54):
mine built. And then also that tails into you know
Jason who gets his bills right?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Oh yeah, I thought you were holding my breath.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yep, yeah, I thought you you uh, Jason? And who
else was the Shane Shane.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
We were going to set up all of our cameras
in like a triangle configuration and have like overhead shots
and front shots and trying to build this stuff together,
and we never really sat down and figured out a time. Actually,
we had a couple of them were like I'm free,
I'm free, and then someone else wasn't free. And I
think it's gone around like that several times where I
(01:34):
think all of us has bowed out at least once,
right as we picked a date.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Well when I have when I opened up the boxes
and looked at all this stuff, I thought, this is
gonna be a little bit more daunting that I want
to deal with. Once I started doing piece by piece,
it went together faster than I expected it to.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
And it's it's pretty simple, right, and it's yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, there's nothing really to it. Yeah, and simple hand
tools if very hardly any hand tools at all that
you need. Strongly suggest sawhorses though, so when you stread
that stretch that thing out, you're going to really appreciate
your back's gonna appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Saw horses. Okay, I was thinking.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Saw horse so you're not bending over on the ground
and try to put it together.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
I was just gonna do it on like the table
and going on.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
A table or whatever. But I had four saw horses
because it's it will stretch out forty feet mm hm. You know,
I had got a forty foot long table. Go right ahead, you.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Know, yep, I have. I bought a meter tape measure
in ten meters. I think it's ten meters. It may
be more than that, probably more than that. And I
was gonna use this for this build, but then Mike laughed.
He's like, yeah, you're gonna need much more than that.
(02:54):
So in another build, I bought a two hundred foot
tape measure. I don't know what that is than meters,
And now I got all the measure I need. I've
used this tape measure a number of times when I
was out in the bout in the field doing and
fed builds and other things. But I really loved it.
(03:14):
I think it's a survey or tape measure.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, I have one is similar to what you're describing.
That's song. It's got inches on one side, it's got
meters on the other side.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Perfect. So because the Colins all his measurements is and meters.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
For the most accurate, they are in meters, although if
you look at the guideline, his first builds were in inches.
He actually had a conversion they were in inches, and
his subsequent builds it seems like they're in meters. From
the instructions. But look at his latest instruction guide and
you'll see where it's an inches and meters in his
(03:53):
latest and oh.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Nice, Yeah, good to give them in us our freedom units.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yes, I love my freedom use.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Dude. I have a T shirt I've been meaning to
wear on the channel for a while. It's downstairs. Me
and my girl found it at a threst store. It says,
wtf is this metric system? And it has a bald
ego on the American flag and the guns and fire
and it is the most awesome shirt and I've been
meeting to wear it every time I see it. I
(04:25):
was like, I want to wear that, and I haven't
done it yet. And I had the perfect overshirt for it.
It's just like the American flag. I bought this one
kind of separately, and then I got that T shirt
and I was like, this is amazing, perfect combo. I
went ahead and linked in the description to the tape
(04:46):
measure that we were talking about. Yeah, I kind of
coming up. I've been talking with Alpha Antenna, and don't
be surprised if I get an Alpha Antenna on the
channel here soon to start talking about I'm looking at
one of their infits and see if I can put
it up a kind of more of a permanent base.
(05:07):
And if these are military grade, I would like to
try to test that see see if they hold up
to what he's saying they can.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Well, all of his stuff is supposed to be military grade, right,
some of it is, yes, some of it.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Some of it's marked as mill and the ones that
marked our mill, then definitely those are military grade. I
thought he was talking about his U E comm and
fed J poles were also mill speck, but I do
not see that listened on his website. So if it's not,
(05:48):
then I'm not going to do that testing. I'm just
going to have it out on the bout and take
it in the put it in the backyard. And I'm
wondering with alpha antenna though, I'm thinking about up maybe
a twenty foot or a thirty foot hole in the
backyard that is probably going to be metal, and how
(06:11):
would that interfere with the antenna, Especially if I get
the one hundred and sixty foot one, I might do
it in an L configuration across the fence line, and
then that's going to be radiating against that metal, and.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, it'll you'll find it eat some of your signal. Yeah, yeah,
you definite will find it eating up some of your signal.
You want to avoid that at all costs if you can.
And that was the big thing in that. A lot
of folks are saying the carbon fibers are going to
do the same problem. The carbon fiber doesn't seem to
be a problem, but definitely metal will.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Did it it's to or truck go ahead, Jeff.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, t o did he did a test? Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Could you put like a foot or two foot piece
of like plastic on top of them, on top of
the and the very tip of it, so you have
that offset.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, you could do that. Yeah, But if you're going
to use un run part of your radiator up, got
the antenta there and run your wire along the side
of that, you're radiating wire along the side of it.
That you don't want to do that, yeah, because guy,
this guy will interfere with that wire. You're radiating wire now,
(07:29):
just a coax, It doesn't care. If it's just a
co x running up that vertical whole, we don't care.
But if you're radiating wire runs along there, it's like
running it along say yeah, yeah, any any metal structures
like your aluminum sided house or something along that line
you want to try to avoid. Now you can put
(07:51):
Now you can radiating elements along gutters. We see all
those gutter antennas all the time. As a compromised antenna,
you may have a problem in ching it a little bit,
but tunor will really help you.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
I was just randomly thought thinking of it because I
was going to try to talk to him about it
and see what his thoughts were. And also since the
one hundred and sixty meter intennts like huge along there's
a several variants that you can do to set that
up and give you different radiation patterns. And I was
(08:29):
just trying to bounce off of his head, like, oh
you can do this or that, or I can you know,
try to do a box where it goes up one
side and then I put it into the tree and
then it comes down the other side for the feelne
but again that it's going to be running against a
metal pole. How long?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
How long is your does your house go length wise?
Like is it wider than I'm I'm wondering if you
if your house is lengthwise, if you could go like
have the coaks go up like one side of the
house to where the feed point. Then go back, go
(09:15):
back to the back corner to the back center of
your property where you have your metal pole and have
like an offset so you're away from it, and just
have it sort of look there to hold it back
to sort of create some distance, and then go like
to the other tip of your house and that would
(09:38):
create the same l but you would be it would
all be horizontal, so you wouldn't be coming down like
a pole.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yeah, that's kind of an option. I do have a
large backyard, so I could probably do that and run
it through some trees. But yeah, there's a lot of
things I can do, but my trees aren't a toys
for limbs coming down, so I was going to try
to stay out of them the best I can. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah, I don't know where versus your house, and and
that's what I was thinking. Yeah, I was thinking if
you'd go from like mhm, yeah, you would have to
probably probably, I don't know if you if you're up
for maybe diagram like where your house is, like put
(10:27):
a put a drawing on on discord. We're like, okay,
this is your this is your house. These are where
the main trees are and stuff like that, and people
can probably come and and.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
A whole lot of people that something.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's different ways of doing it. I
want to pick Steve's brain and we'll see what comes
from there then. I But in the middle of that though,
I am thinking about burying a conduit line, and the
(11:07):
conduit line itself. I was trying to figure out because
my stepdad did this. He buried a conduit line and
like a couple of years later he found that that
conduit just flooded with water. There was a crack somewhere
in a flooded with water, and I was like, how
can I get rid of that, especially because the part
of the land I'm going to bury this conduit in
(11:29):
it slopes down already, so I'm gonna already have a
natural low point in this conduit. I was thinking about
in the lowest point probably where the is going to
come up on the feed line end of the antenna base,
digging extra deep and filling in some rocks and creating
a drainage hole and drilling in some holes in the
(11:49):
elbow bend to allow water out, and then goes into
a bunch of filler rocks. So it could just strain
out naturally, and then I don't have to worry.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
It's a pretty good idea.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yeah, yeah, it's gonna happen on the channel. I overthink this.
Look at how I put my ground wire in there,
buried in the ground literally with little sprinkler covers, so
you can open it up, make sure that's tight and
inspecting to close it, and they don't have to worry
about anyone mowing over it. Over engineered everything. So that's
(12:23):
something I was looking at. I thought about trying to
rending a trench, but I was like, oh, there's a
sprink girl line there already, and I don't want to
disturb that. With all the time I have, now I
can digate my own trench h.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Soil like I hand up in Ohio, though it's mostly
clay and hard to date.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
It is it is so you got that first couple
four inches, which is kind of nice because that's the
top soil the builders put on there. But after that
you got the clay. We'll see how hard it is.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Now. I moved down to Florida, Central Florida. Down here,
you dig, put your shovel in and it's nothing but saying,
so digging is easy down here. Mm hmm, but I don't.
I don't miss digging from Ohio anymore.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, we got to Clay. I know where all of
them at. I installed the whole system myself. So the question,
the question is I know approximately where it's at. I
just and just getting up to it and then getting
around it or probably underneath it without damaging the you know,
(13:34):
the command line, that wire that lungs along with it
for all the turning screws or yeah, so I don't
want to damage that because that's to be a pain
to fix, or I had to fix one of them.
It's I'm gonna tell this story. Me and my dad
(13:54):
installed our sprinkler system, and when we're going to wire it,
I was like, all right, man, start wiring over here.
I'll do these over here. And I and I circle back,
and I was seeing how my dad was wired it.
Since we had everything dug up at the time we're
wiring it. We didn't have the boxes installed. He was
just like pulling the wire tight and wiring it. All
(14:16):
that was going to be way down in the box.
I was like, so if I have an issue, I
got to dig of this whole thing up because we
can't pull the wires out. He goes, it's not going
to have an issue. So half my boxes where the
cylinder to turn it on and off is it's so
tight that if there's any wiring issues you have to
(14:39):
pull it up the ones I did. I pulled enough
wire up and out where I can, you know, work
with it almost at the surface, and then when I'm done,
throw it right back in there and not have a issue.
I'm like, this is what this is what aircraft engineers
A'm not thinking about. Because he was a retired aircraft engineer.
Maintenance maintenance all the time on your aircraft engines are
(15:02):
a nightmare. You got to pull the whole thing apart
to get the one thing. He's like, well, I was like,
uh huh, this is why this is why no one
likes working on engines. But ironically enough, I did have
an issue with one, and it thankfully it was on
a section I did, so I don't know if that
(15:23):
was he did a great job installing all the wire
and I did a crappy job, or I just got
lucky the one that had an issue. I could pull
the mat without digging the thing up.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
There. You go over things in life. Wow, poor guy, Hey,
are you going to be at Dayton Shamfest this year? Yes, Okay,
I'm gonna try to do. I will be there myself.
I'm gonna try to track you down, all right, just
just a touch base, you shake your hand again.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
All that sounds good to me.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
I want to catch you guys down here for Orlando
because I live in Florida. Down here, I couldn't family
things gotten away for that, but I'm gonna try. I
have to go back up to Ohio for some other
family stuff. I'm gonna try to make it up there.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
M hm. So yeah, we'll be there definitely. I'm gonna
say the best bet will be the the Troll Barroll Club,
because that's gonna be Saturday night and we're we're all
probably gonna be up there from six to whenever we leave.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
That's always fun, and that's probably gonna be the best
place to see us because unlike other conventions, it's gonna
be very hard to just randomly run into someone that
you're looking for here because it's just so big. Yeah,
and my game plan are like once I hate I know,
(16:59):
once I go to the outdoor swap meat area, it's
hardly a chance Aton. What's going to find me.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
I'm sameing here like.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Large, and everyone's inside the main buildings. I know I'm
going to be kind of sex sequestered off in that area.
But those buildings, man, there's a lot, it's huge. You've
been there before, yes, yeah, when.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I lived I see, I moved from Cincinnati, Okay. I
was born and raised in Cincinnati, and if it came,
if there was a ham Fest, I was there everyone.
I think I attended the last twelve ham Fest there
when I lived up there. And now that I've moved
to Florida, I moved down here four years ago. I've
(17:45):
been going. I've been hitting all of the whole circuit.
UH ham Casion down here in Orlando, UH Huntsville and
also or Dayton. I hit those three major ones. So
I've been wanting to make a trip out to Texas area.
Do you guys and see a couple of your hand
fest up there. I just haven't gotten it in the time.
Now that I'm retired, I can take the time to drive.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
But the best one, because it was the local one,
was the DFW Handcoon that was one of the larger ones.
All the vendors showed up there and they had a
large ish swap meat area, so floor space wise, I
think it would be compared to Huntsville, Okay. And and
(18:28):
that was like the the one and that was a
good one. Then however, Dayton, that are the COVID happened
and they folded up shops say they don't want to
do it anymore. Other than that, there is a Houston
Hamfest that is kind of like just a giant swap meet.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Is it okay?
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yeah, so is Belton. Belton's a fun one that happens
twice a year. And it's again it's a swap meet.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Well, that could be fun. That could be a fun
road trip. They take two week vacation drive out that
way and visit some handfast and you know, check out
Texas a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
So. Texas is awesome, man, it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Well, I've been. I was stationed at San Antonio years
ago in the Air Force when when San Antonio was
just basically a dream and nothing like it is now,
uh so, because it's grown so much. And I did
some work out of Austin and a couple other places
when I was still a wireless engineer. I traveled out there,
(19:32):
did some some work there. So but now, like I said,
I'm now i'm retired, I got a chance to do
those kind of things.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Mm hmmm hmm, yeah, so nice.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I what feelers you got out for a job? Any
A few.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
I'm looking for yeh. I'm looking for stuff that's around
the software development sides. And since this is recording, I'm
not going to toss out company.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Here, no no, no, no. Yeah, but you don't do that.
You don't shoot yourself on the foot, right.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Yeah. I've been applying heavily this week and I'm just
waiting to see if anything comes up.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
And are you looking for contract work or just a
full time with benefits?
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Full time benefits?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
I love coding, man. I love sitting down and coating
something and getting paid for it. It's really fun. And
if you do something you love, you never work a
day in your life. And it's been that way my
whole career so far. And I don't want to stop that.
AM Radio.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
You're talking to a retired medic firefighter. And I also
a wireless engineer when I retired from firefighter, and I
did wireless engineering Wi Fi work for a better part
of fifteen years and I loved every single minute of it.
So you're if you love your job, you don't work
a day in your life.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
There were some projects, man, I looked forward to go
into the office. I got up early, or sometimes I'll
log it late and just keep on going. It's a
blast the channel on Amazon Radio. I do have fun
with it, but it's not a live and breathe passion.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
No. No, Well, what you're doing here for YouTube and
all that that should show to a perspective employer that
you can work at home and actually be responsible. You
know that this is a good reason for someone to say, oh,
he can't actually do something at home. He's not like
some of these at home workers that I can't. I
don't know what they're going to be doing. Are they
(21:42):
really working or they just sit back there, you know,
stuck it on coffee all day long.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah, or you know they're in the office, but they
just have teams on their phone so they never never
go yellow and just answer emails. But then you know
they're running errands and when you call them, it's all
was noisy in the background. You're like, you're supposed to
be home mother.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Exactly, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Yeah, And my previous career was. We were doing a
government contracting. The company was and hey, when you log
hours against the government, man, they are full work hours.
You're not playing or fudging. Because I enjoyed too many
licensed freedoms to mess that up with a silly felony.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I get that. Oh yeah, Well, one of the companies
I worked for as a Wi Fi engineer, we did
primary work for the VA. We're based out of Virginia
and we did a lot of VA work. So everywhere
you went, you were on the government's time. If you
said you worked an hour, you had better been working
(22:49):
at hour or they'll get you. They will get you.
And they watched us. They watched us tight. But it
was good money, good money and good A lot of traveling, though,
traveling You to traveling, you know, would that bother you?
All traveling?
Speaker 1 (23:05):
You think I travel how many times a year for
this channel? Five? Six?
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, put me on the road. That's why
I told him, throw me on a plane.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Be careful what you wish for. Though. When I was
doing Wi Fi work, my first five years six years
doing that, I was a road warrior. I was home
for maybe a month total, a month and a half
total in four and a half years.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Not that much. But if you need me to go
be in place in a meeting and go meet a client,
maybe do some on the ground coding and rapid development. Yeah,
I'm happy traveling, you know, once or twice a month,
and I do, like for this channel, probably five ish
(23:54):
times a year. I go out and there's like three
ham Fests, three infest and.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
A couple other things.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah, and the the our YouTuber's National Parks Group. That's five.
And then every now and then, you know, random, hey,
all jump in the car and go down to Galaston
because why not, or the undisclosed deer Lease and put
our feet up for a while. Now that's I'm not
(24:23):
gonna say that's jumping on the plane traveling. But you
still got to sit down and pack and think and
all of.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
My stuff, you know, my roadwork was. I was a
road warrior. I drove everywhere I went. I had a
company van that that kept my tools in and all
that kind of stuff. So basically I drove everywhere you
know it was, and I mean everywhere. I was in
forty eight, forty nine, thirty thirty nine states, Yeah, thirty
nine states. I was in the only state I didn't
(24:54):
get to go to wash two states for sure, was
a white and Alaska for work. But I've been to
thirty nine states, including our our, the the Republic. We
got down there in the Caribbean, Uh yeah, Puerto Rico,
so even down there working for him. So I was
(25:16):
a road warrior. Like I said, pretty much, come Monday morning,
I was either on a plane or in my car
driving somewhere. And I didn't get back home till late Saturday.
At the end of the week, got there, washed my
clothes whatever, got back on the road for my next job.
It was harder on a fan. It's harder on a family, though.
(25:36):
But you've been single, you you you have no problem
doing it.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Yep. It's packing to me at second nature. Don't spring
it on me like I need you here tomorrow then
I I I will stream days. I need a few days,
because you've seen if you've been around, and Vic and Jeff,
you know, both of y'all been around. I don't show
(26:03):
it a lot anymore because I watched the analytics. But
packing for a tripulent, I make that a week affair,
all right. Today we are going to be washing all
the clothes, and tomorrow we're gonna be packing the clothes.
I'm not leaving for a week, but technically my clothes
for Dayton right now are packed. They're downstairs in the
(26:24):
blue suitcase with Jason Haates and they're packed. They're all
ready to go. I think I need to double check
the pants and shorts because they're just in my daily rotation.
But all the shirts, all the over shirts are there,
number of socks are there. Everything's already packed. Then another
(26:46):
day I'll focus on camping equipment. If I'm camping, I'll
get the black bag ready. I use the sleeping bags,
the pillows, a little sheet if I need to put
it on the bed. Always always in that black bag.
It never leaves a power cord.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
And the other thing you gotta have when you're camping
shower sandals. Oh and I see some of these showers,
you want them? Then if it's if I need my
solar panel, it goes in the black bag, or sometimes
(27:25):
also the camping stove. Then another day I go out
and buy the food and make sure I have it
all that ready, and then the day of it is
only the only things I pack on the day of
is the sea pat machine into whatever bag I'm carrying.
If it's the blue bag, it's not getting checked. If
(27:45):
it's getting if I'm going on a plane, it's my
green backpack and food. Everything else is usually stacked by
the door. In a staging area. I have several staging areas.
There's the electronic staging area. That that is my downstairs
dining room table, and I clean it off and I
(28:05):
put all the charging stations there. I throw it there,
I make sure it's charged, and then when I'm ready
to pack the electronics, I throw all that in there,
and I know if it's not on the table or
I know. Once I clear the table, I have everything,
and then everything the staging area to go in the car.
Once I see that steering, If that staging area is clear,
(28:27):
I'm ready to go. I don't have to think about
where's that, where's that, where's that bag? Because I do
that so much already. It's just remove these little stress
because I get a little stressed when when traveling, and
it's just mostly because if I lose something and getting
to the airport and getting through the TSA, which I
managed the TSA lately, I went ahead and got not
(28:52):
clear PreCheck, No, what's the other global Entry. Okay, I
got Global entry because I want to do a couple
of international trips. I was inspiring.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I don't have Global entry.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
I've got pre check, yeah, global I was expiring to
go on some international trips. We'll see if any of
those happened. Now, I'd got Global entry because I could
get those benefits and pre check because I refuse to
play for pre check. So if I feel if I'm
playing for the Global Entry, I get pre checked for
(29:25):
free and they don't get the money. Okay, yeah, probably,
probably that's not how it works. But I don't want
to pay to be given the god given rights that
we have and not not. You know, just because I
by a plane ticket means that we got to go
and give up.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Some I'm with you one, dude, mm hmmm. Or time
than the point, I don't even fly. I don't like
to fly anymore. I love flying, but I don't fly
anymore for that very reason.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Put me in my car, Let me drive wherever I
can drive anymore. I just stay stateside, so I don't
even travel out of the country. I've been to Ireland,
loved it, Ben to London, loved it, Ben to Puerto
Rico loved our Costa Rica. Been there, been to Mexico,
been to Canada, been to bon Air, been hot Haiti.
(30:18):
I love traveling then, but I'm not anymore, not with
not with what you got to go through just to
be tet beat checked, to make sure you're you know.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
And once I get through that point and I'm going
to get off my soapbox here, I'm happy again. Like
I I can relax, I can sit down. Even I
could get to the airport hours early, it doesn't matter
to me. I pull out my laptop and if it's
a take radio trip, I'll start editing because I probably
(30:49):
already have footage shot somewhere within that day. And if
it's not, or I already edited at all, oh look,
I pull out my switch and I'll just played my
switch until I get on that plane. I am traveler.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
I was talking to Rob, and Rob I was like, Rob,
you're a part of this Centurion lounge thing, and we
always get to the airport just enough time to get
through security and onto the plane, which stresses me out
a bit, but let's go hit up that lounge sometimes,
so this time we might go and I get a
(31:27):
good taste of you know, the high life, the central life.
Then like you said, uh, road trips. I love road trips.
There's a caveat, though, there's a huge caveat. If we're
driving to get somewhere and all we're gonna do is drive,
(31:48):
do not want to be in the car. I'd rather fly.
I rather pay the money to fly to get there
faster and then just be in the hotel and relax.
As just hands down, I will rather fly. But if
it's a road trip to experience, like to the road
and time, and we don't have to be somewhere by
this time and date, and we we're just heading, you
(32:10):
know more than I want to say five ish hours
driving's okay. And especially when we were doing the Grand
Candian trip, we had a one day of just we
need to get out there and make time. But after
that we're driving. Jason's like, we got nothing to do
today and have tomorrow. If you see something, I was like, cool,
(32:35):
I looked up my phone. Let's take this scene of ground.
And we went the scene of ground and then we
found a Native American reservation. We found the oldest four
and training post still in operations. We stopped about six
times and just like, what's that? What's that? It was
a blast, loved every moment of it. He did too.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Yeah, that's that's the way. That's the way to travel
travel night. Mm hm it is. I love it.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Road trips travel. I'm just taking notes for the topics here.
If you listen to the audio podcast, actually look at
the name. I try to come up with a funny
name for each meeting. So far, I have never ending
and I don't know what the next part is, never
(33:30):
any road trips because never ending came from when we're
talking about the attenda bills at the beginning of the hour,
and I always find something funny to clip it out.
One of the meetings, I pass notes that I have
blackout satellites. Another one's take radio tagging the parks, cigar
(33:52):
or smoking back in October smoking cigar bears. That was
a fun one. Lost the context. You gotta listen to
the episode to see how that works. Okay, I can
do that, but yeah, coming up. I So here's a
(34:16):
heads up for y'all. I there's a good chance rain depending.
I'm gonna try to get out to the park this weekend.
Looking at Saturday, and I'm gonna be trying to test
the antenna or the mass system I put together for
guiding the masks in a area that you don't have trees. Okay,
(34:42):
I kind of featured it before on the d X
Commander mask, but I rebuilt the whole thing for the
PoTA thirty.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
You're gonna be afternoon or morning and Saturday or Sunday.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Probably afternoon Saturday. Okay, that's the only time I think
I have and I will be at a unique park,
so all things goes right, this will be a new
park activating for me.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
They don't have any QSO parties going on this weekend,
do they.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I have no idea. It's it's the it's it's it's
a contest season now. So oh yeah, there'll probably be something.
I will put it out. I will announce it on Twitter,
put me on ham alerts. I don't pop up much
on Hamblerts because I don't have a radio.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Yeah I know you don't, because I've got HAMD alert you.
I've never seen him here.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Really, I do want to get back to the park
the catches. Have you seen the Texas Parks map for PODA?
Speaker 2 (35:55):
No, I don't think I have.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
No. I belly achd about this before. Where is it log?
Speaker 2 (36:03):
You've got so many parks down here, but none of
them count because most of them are Florida parks and
it doesn't count as potus.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Really really all right, So here it is. So I'm
sharing my screen to the audio viewers. I am scrolling
out of Texas and the DFW area which I live, Okay,
and these there's a lot of yellow dots that we're seeing.
But these dots are hundreds and hundreds of miles apart
(36:33):
from each other. Yeah, so for me only for me,
I live in this area. Over here, it's forty minutes
south to get to Cedar Hill State Park, which I
like to activate, or forty minutes over here at the
Plano area to a park that I do activate on
(36:53):
a Cajun And if you see me sitting in a
dinosaur mouth, that is that park in my videos or
I recorded that park like three times, and each time
I was there it was a failed video, So I
probably should not go back. Then up north, the Lakeway
Roberts is an hour and ten ish minutes, so if
(37:16):
you want to do a rove, it's an all day rove.
I've tried this before in the past of going down
forty five and hitting up Cedar Hill and what is
this park Wildlife Reserve Management area that was a old park,
and then we got Fort Boggie and then coming down
(37:37):
to Huntsville, we have the Huntsville area and that is
it's self driving three hours, hitting up every park along
the way. It is an all day to get a
five park rove, which some people can do in under
an hour if they live up in those stupid Northeast
areas like Vermont or Massachusetts. It's just blah. I'm showing
(38:02):
the Boston area and it's just a sea of yellow
in Massachusetts and Rhode Islands.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Just look at all the parks.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Yeah, it's not fair, it's not fair. But yeah, so
that that's my gripe. So you're saying you have the
same thing over here in Florida, Well yeah, okay, go up, Okay, Okay,
I see, okay.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
You look at spring Hill. See spring Hill and Brooksville
on the left on the west coast. I live just
south of Homo Sassa Springs, m h. That's the that's
the area that I live. You know, my pain, Oh
yes I do, Yes, I do.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
There is just yeah, what we don't have a mile
marker how many miles per inch? But yeah, it is
pretty smart. So you're looking at one hundreds of miles
between some of these parks. Got some of them are
close on top of each other, so you might have
a couple two first here and there.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Yeah, if you looked, like the distance from Tampa to
my house is an hour and a half and that's
set at sixty miles Homo Sauce of Springs to Tampa
Bay south of there and is like, you know, sixty miles.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
So you need to get a boat in yeah, Branford
and just float that river and activate everything on the
on the way down because that's just littered with parks.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
And of course you got to fight with the alligators too,
so well.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
You know, you tell them to hold the antenna for you.
They got a big alley, big mouth clap.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Pretty sorry. So I feel your pain, brother, I do
feel your pain. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Well, in in Montana here, yeah, there's a lot of
national forests, but it's like all one national forest.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
So it one is what you're saying, right, Jeff.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
To get to the next natural national forest, it's fifty
miles away, you.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Get yeah, zoom, Oh my goodness, look at that. I
don't see any.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Yellow Yeah, where's the dot? There we go. We got
some loading now. But yeah, they're pretty sparse. But I
think Jeff is right. These are just the l lands.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
So that means the distance between Billings and Laura. That
looks like that's a that's a sixty miles.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
Yeah, it's Billings and it's Billings and Laura is actually
is about is about half an hour?
Speaker 2 (40:44):
Is it half an hour? Okay?
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Yes, some of these not the hatchery. Which one is?
Which one is? I activated Yellowstone National Forest, River.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Scenic No, that sounds pretty No.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
We went up Beartooth Pass, so.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
Yeah, take an angle from that the blue two Billings is.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
I think there's a white road that I think you
went on, Yeah, Blue Waters Hatchery.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Yeah, yep, going up that that that highway there.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Yeah, we took it all the way to Billings. It
was an amazing drive. If you are coming into Yellowstone,
definitely come in through that Bear Tooth Pass. We left
through it, and it was a beautiful drive. However, coming
from Utah and going through all their valleys, Rice Canyon, Ryce,
(41:53):
and then we went through Yellowstone and saw all their
beautiful canyons there and then we left bear Tooth Pass.
We're driving, I'm like, yep, that's a beautiful view. You
want to take a picture? No, I got tons of them,
and you can. You go over the ridge, You're like, oh,
look at that. There's a nice lake down there. You
want to take a picture of that. No, I've seen
(42:14):
stuff like that all week, so definitely take that coming
in because it is very It was. It was a
great drive. It was a great drive. Plus we did
a pull out somewhere and I'm gonna tear this off
and I'm gonna see if I can find the picture.
There's a guard rail on bear Tooth Pass that has
(42:36):
tons of stickers and we all left our sticker there.
So if you're driving that, and if you go back
and look at the videos, there's better evidence of where
it's at.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
So yeah, I'm I'm in western Montana, so I'm over
by uh glasher Nash Ports.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Okay, I've been to Glacier before my radio days. Very beautiful,
but yeah, very beautiful.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
I've been stone And on a trip years ago for
a three week trip out there, and it was beautiful
out there, and I think I came in via ninety.
We were driving across through Wyoming up into Montana on ninety.
That's the way we came in. It was the time
when they had all those massive fires and years ago,
(43:30):
all this years ago beautiful country. Oh my gosh, that
is gorgeous country.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
Yeah, all right, So here's the picture of the guard rail.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
Oh my gosh, it's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
We set up our boda buddy pullstick antenna. I'm smoking
a cigar in the picture and this guards guard. I
swear I haven't been drinking today. This guard rail was
littered with stickers and I tagged it with mine. I
don't have it in my album. I know. I probably
(44:02):
posted a picture in Twitter like this this view. Like
I came across that and we were all looking. I
just shot it out of the car. All right, move on.
I got the picture that's still Yeah, we're looking at
a photo of a lake in the valley. Yeah, just
gorgeous mountains, a little bit of haze.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
Yep, it sure is pretty.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Yes. Then I got a photo of the infant Sinclair dinosaur.
I love Sinclair.
Speaker 2 (44:39):
Yeah, they that that he's cool is every time.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
I see it. Sinclair gas station, I'm like, I gotta stop,
I gotta buy something. This was one meal we made
is out of focus pancakes with bananas and a big
butter chunk in the middle and sausage.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Are that looks like a good trip, fun trip.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
It was a blast activating in Yellowstone. This this we
were in Firehole Road is a one way road in
Yellowstone and the pull out for it far in the hole.
I think it's far in the whole fire in the hole.
Drive no cell reception, No one has cell reception. No
one even had emergency only it said no reception and
(45:30):
nothing nothing, And we were making contacts with amateur radio
of course. Yep. Oh, this was a great trip. We're
going to Colorado this coming year, all right, bears.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
We I've been trying to get the guys to do
a river rafting trip and to the Grand Canyon, the
Grand Canyon, through the Grand Canyon.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
That would be fun.
Speaker 1 (46:03):
They have trips where you wrath through the Grand Canyon guided,
but they're like two thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Whoa, it's like you say that kind of cheese.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
Man Fortnite guide It experience, everything's provided. The reason why
it's so much because it's you get halfway through the canyon,
and then uh, the the river just kind of goes
slack and then it just becomes a float trip and
not a raft trip, so they will helicopter you out.
Speaker 2 (46:40):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
I'm like, you need to do that.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
Wow, that's that Wow. I just don't have that kind
of cast though, you know, since I've retired, don't have that.
It t money. You know, you really watch your dollars, right.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
I posted a picture from going to get groceries last
week in uh the uh tinkers channel in the member
your members channel.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
In the members channel, the encrypted columns and discord. Oh man,
that's your view. Let me show you this.
Speaker 2 (47:21):
Yeah, let's see.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
This Montana mountains everywhere.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
Yeah, that's gorgeous. That is go to love the prairie
grass too.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
Oh all right, Jeff, I'm jealous of you. But on
the other hand, when it snows up there, I will
just laugh at you.
Speaker 2 (47:50):
Oh yeah, they yeah, yes, they do.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Oh man. I don't want to live anywhere else. Texas,
Texas is my home. I might move around her, but
I don't want to leave her. Well.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
I left Ohio because I got tired of the snow
and ice and this poor body had been rough on
over the years. It doesn't like the cold. So I
moved down south and don probably will stay here. My dad,
I do miss. I do miss hills. I do miss
hills and mountains I do do because it's really you
(48:30):
don't have them down here.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
My dad's side of the family is from Indiana, Okay,
and he left Indiana because of the snow on ice.
He's like, I'm tired of it being cold. I'm tired
of it snowing for half the year. I'm getting out
of here. So he came to Texas, and uh, luckily
I am a native born Texan.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
Yes, there you go.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
I I don't have a cowboy hat. I probably should
get a cowboy hat. I love my boonies and what
the cowboy hat is just a natch like a Boonie's
an evolution off the cowboy hat. So I should have
a cowboy hat. What are you getting? Yeah? That is beautiful.
Speaker 2 (49:19):
Yeah, this is a true a Kubra. It's a Saustray made.
Is beautiful. Absolutely, It's got a lot of years on
it's got a lot of sweat on it.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
That's a good hat thing.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
Oh yeah, it's real good hat. So I really like
it's it was pretty. It was pretty expensive too when
I bought it. That's that's my baby, that's my baby.
Speaker 1 (49:49):
Mm hmm. But I love having my tank radio boony hat.
It's amazing and I love boonies there there's so yeah,
I do too.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
I unfortunately have a couple of them nice with my
call sign on them. It's not my call sign on here,
so and they've got a lot of that nice sweat
on there too.
Speaker 1 (50:16):
Oh yeah, I'm starting to put buttons on mine. The
problem with buttons they start falling off, and that irritates me.
I'm like, but I had that for when I went there,
and that buttons for when I went there, or pins.
I'm very hard on myself.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
I say, you remember that kind of stuff, you know,
so I get it.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
Well, we are getting to the top of the hour here. Yeah,
y'all have been amazing to hang out with and uh
we will be doing this again late in the month.
I promised not to push it back again. It just
things got away from me and life happened, and at
one point I just had to focused on myself for
(51:01):
a bit and I dropped everything. And I'm back. I'm back.
I'm sorry. Here happens for really, but y'all I'll be awesome. Man.
I enjoyed this. If y'all want to listening out there,
join us on a Tank Commander meeting live. There is
a Patreon If you go to Patreon and search tank
(51:23):
Radio or the links in the description, you can join
us at the Tank commander level. However, twice a year,
and it's coming up here soon. What is that next month?
Christmas in July or is that Christmas in June, Christmas
in July? Anyways, it doesn't matter. We are going to
(51:45):
have a second all hands meeting and that would be
a supporter at any level. Is uh. We just open
up the doors to all my supporters via YouTube and
also Patreon who come in and we all hang out
together and have some fun.
Speaker 2 (52:03):
That'll be good. Yeah, get to meet some of the
other folks that are supporting the channel.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
Oh, it's fun. It's who I was only originally I
was only doing that in December, but I was talking
to the other commanders, like I really had fun. I
thinking about doing a Christmas in July where we open
it up for a second all hands and this is
y'all's meeting, and do you have any quarrels? And the
vote was no, it's like cool, it's gonna happen twice
(52:30):
a year and now all hands meeting. It's gonna be fun.
And that is gonna be happening next month in June.
Speaker 2 (52:39):
Okay, you don't have a solid date yet.
Speaker 1 (52:41):
No, it's probably just gonna be our normal time on
a Sunday. Actually, I've been meeting to put out a
a meeting date, just like do we need to want
to shift it around. Usually the normal time is Sunday's
at three. I'm not going to be available this coming
Sunday at three, So that's why it's kind of in
(53:04):
the middle of the week. Today is the last Sunday
quite frankly. Yeah, yes, yeah, my over dates last Sunday
at three pm because that's also one of my stream days.
So I come up here do that and then go
down have dinner and come back and do my six
pm a live stream that I'll rolled into Jason seven m.
(53:27):
So it's like my day on the computer. Yeah, yeah,
it is, it is, and I'm usually editing in between. Well,
thank you all for joining. I appreciate it. I'm going
to wrap it up here to all my tankers out there,
thank you, and go forth and conquer, say bye.
Speaker 2 (53:47):
Have a good night, bye now take care.
Speaker 1 (53:51):
Thank you to all my Patreon supporters. You can support
me on Patreon. There's a link in the description below.
And to all my tankers out there, go forth and
co Kirk
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