Conquering the Mic: Overcoming Fright and Finding Friendship in Ham Radio

So whether you're a regular listener or first time guest , we're excited to have you here and we appreciate your support and thanks for tuning in today's episode . So let's get into the show . I and thanks for tuning in today's episode , so let's get into the show . I'm your host . Name's Eric Call sign's N1JUR . I'm with my co-hosts .

Woo-hoo , we are all wearing our official employee , uh , you know , uh issued uh clothing and , as we see , paul has been modeling our hand . Radio makes me feel dumb , and that's okay . Shirt . Todd is wearing our official iso , that guy , those guys up north in new hampshire shirt .

They are all over there on our shop and uh waiting for you to go over there and grab uh be part of the Live Free and Ham family , as you all . We'd like to thank a few folks that have actually purchased Frank S , who is our latest one . He grabbed our Live Free and Ham Classic Tea .

Thanks again for sporting us , frank and all the rest of those that have bought other stuff . And as I continued on , we are in April . We're going to have some great guests lined up Our April stream . If you're a big Alaska fan , uh , we're going to have Jeremy KL , seven EC on to talk POTA and uh ham radio in Alaska .

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We appreciate those , so we're going to start to integrate those in soon , and so keep an eye out for that . But , as always , let's head over to our regular segment here called . And now for something a little extra with Todd W1STJ . All right , well , this is . You've heard it . This is where we help Todd study for his extra class license .

In each episode , we pick three questions from the extra class pool to test his knowledge and hoping he gets his upgrade .

If you'd like to follow along , you can always head over to hamstudyorg , which is a great resource to help you prepare for your test and is recommended by three out of four volunteer examiners , because the ADA was unavailable for comment at the time of survey .

So , without any further delay , I'll hand it over to our VE Quizmaster and I will be his Vanna this evening . Go ahead , paul .

Hamstudyorg is always an excellent resource for getting your ticket , and if you've recently received your license or you got upgraded , let us know . We'd like to recognize you on the next episode for your hard work and effort , and you can always email us with that information at livefreeandham at gmailcom , and we'll surely mention you on the next show .

All right , so , as our usual segment here , we're going to talk about our ham radio week , and so we'll just kick things off here . And , paul , you seem to be one in a great place there . We'll pass it over to you . So how's your ham radio week been ?

I'm currently at an undisclosed location in Pittsburgh , new Hampshire , and I've got a beautiful view of the total solar eclipse , where we will be in totality tomorrow . Solar eclipse where we will be in totality tomorrow .

Uh , so I I'll be uh set up outside with the eight 91 and the reliance and fed half wave , uh , to do the um solar eclipse QSO party and , uh , I I'll be running whisper for a little bit as well . Um , I'll be running whisper from my house as well , uh , so that way I can , uh , I can send along the data from both the partial eclipse and the totality .

But , yeah , I'm really looking forward to doing a whole lot of radio tomorrow .

So I was a month early and I started looking at what extra one by twos were available , started looking at what extra you know , one by twos were available , and N1OG became available on March 8th , and I was .

I had my heart and soul set on being number one , oscar the Grouch , and so I applied at 6am on March 8th , and on the 26th I was granted my call sign . I will forever now be known as incredible n1og incredible congratulations .

Those are very tough to come by these days , especially the short supply on them , and you know I uh it's inspired me to think about upgrading my call , but I'm , you know , uh , we'll , we'll table that one for later everyone knows you're like super famous now eric .

Didn't work and I lost Eric's weight to the gun that he the antenna cannon that he gave me . So I know exactly where well I know the area it is . I just so I know exactly where well I know the area it is . I just don't know exactly where it is in that area .

Uh , so I bought a slingshot and uh , tomorrow morning , before uh , we do , eric and I are going to go out and do uh activation during the eclipse .

I am going to try to launch a fishing weight with fishing line , with a , with a newly purchased wrist rocket that I will be launching into my tree to get my antenna back up so I can start using my uh flex in the shack again . So that's what's been going on . Haven't didn't do an enact , haven't done an activation in a while .

So I am really looking forward . Tomorrow it's going to be like 65 degrees , which is going to be sweet . Took the day off and , um yeah , so today I got everything ready , or last night and this morning I got everything ready and I am , uh , all packed , charged and ready to go sweet .

Um , yeah , one thing I was thinking of , uh , what you know , since we've been talking about the lost uh , you know , weight , shot weight I was like there's gonna be some technology we can put in here .

I'm thinking , you know , maybe I can load them with AirTags or some RFID tag or something like that , so you can easily track all these things that we lose .

So by the time this show airs it'll be way past that , but we'll definitely , I'm sure , be reporting on our progress . I'm not going to be doing any official whisper tests or anything like that with Todd . I think we're just going to get out and see what the bands can do , and we will be live streaming that .

So hopefully you get a chance to tune into that and be a part of the fun that will definitely ensue . I think we're going to be running a couple antennas and hopefully , knock on wood , cell service does stay up and we can record it and get it out to the stream . And if not , hey , whatever , we'll just have fun with it either way .

So I'm looking forward to that . I guess for me , my ham radio I haven't , like like everybody else , done a whole lot . I've been , uh , you know , kind of just trying to get some stuff ready for the channel , as I'm getting close to a thousand subs . So , you know , hopefully you guys can come join and hang out with me .

I'm going to be doing a live stream when we hit a thousand bunch of giveaways , um , so , looking to have a just little mini party there and hang out and have fun and uh , you know , you know , roll into a thousand subs and , uh , you know , go from there .

So I'm enjoying the wild ride , I think for everybody , you know , especially you guys , hanging out and being part of , uh , obviously , the free and ham , but at the same time , uh , you know , supporting me over and uh , you know , and one J , you know , you're famous when you're just trying to activate a park and it gets interrupted by someone oh , eric , I love

your videos .

You know we're going to talk a little bit about Mike Freight . I think we've all kind of had it in some form or fashion , and I was having a couple conversations with a few new hams and folks that were thinking about doing poda and in those conversations it kind of came up of like oh yeah , the mic stuff .

I'm not quite ready for that , I don't know what to do . And so , as I try to do a lot and I'm sure you guys as well is that we try to provide some encouragement and a little bit of , you know , help to you know , kind of move them towards , you know , trying it out .

And you know , and I know all of us all offer the the opportunity to say , hey , come do a podo with us , because you know , heck , why not ? Why wouldn't I have an excuse to go do another podo ? And you know , let somebody else try , you know , their hand at , you know offering the mic . But you know let's let's kind of break this out a little bit .

As we know , you know mic fright is , you know , a serious thing and you know if it's not treated it can lead to some serious issues later . So you know we want to make sure you get over to your doctor . You know , if you can as early as you can to , you know , basically thwart that .

But all kidding aside , you know we all know like we've always struggled with it . So let's kind of like shape that a little bit Talk , if you guys , I've got a couple of stories on my own that I recall back of how and what I did when I did have Mike Fright . You guys have kind of gone through that yourselves . You guys got any little you know .

like do I do it ? Do I do what they call me ? You know ? So you just gotta push the button and go for it and then you realize it's not so bad . It's like it's , it's not , uh , it's not very bad . But my , I think my more fear was hf . Um , you know , talking on the repeaters . You know it was pretty easy .

I didn't participate in Well I guess I kind of participated in , but I was just a technician and Eric was a station captain and he made me operate like really , like you're doing this , like sit down , take the mic , go for it , and I I didn't know what to say , it wasn't in my head .

I I just I didn't like once they asked me a question but he was right there and you know I made my contact to , uh , I think it was pennsylvania and I was all excited because I thought that was super far . But now I'm like , yeah , well , I don't get too excited about Pennsylvania anymore from New Hampshire , but you know I'll take the contact .

So that was like my first . Really , I was still nervous , right . And then I got my general and then we went and activated our first park that day on the way home and I totally screwed it up . It was terrible . I was mumbling , I had to add things to my call sign , I was saying the wrong , car I was like this is terrible genetics were so far between .

But I got used to making the call and then as I started activating parks and I realized like , hey , I'm in control of this , I can do it any way I want . I just would get into this groove . And I think that the first time I really was like I'm all done with the Mike freight was when I activated that silver Lake . It was a night .

I did a day shift or an evening shift before day and then I went to the night shift and , uh , I was like my first real pile up and I was like in the zone for a good .

I think it was like two hours I was doing it and all I know is when I started it was light out and I was so into logging and making the next contact that I looked up it was like 10 o'clock and it was pitch black and like all I had was my phone for a flash because I didn't think I was going to be there that long .

I think I got like 150 contacts and Eric's texted me good job , job , like everyone in the club's , like you're doing great , keep going , keep going , my phone's blowing up and and that was it . After I did that I was like no problem with the mic stuff .

So I uh , I got pretty comfortable with it and I think the more you do it , the more you uh , the more you are you , you know , the more you're comfortable doing it , the easier it gets and then you don't really think about it just becomes like you know riding a bike , you just get on and do it .

But I did tell you when we did I think we did a live , I don't know you did one of your , your websites that I was on I don't , maybe it was our rover or something and my mother watched it and she goes how did you learn how to talk in that code ? I'm like code , like what are you talking about ? Oh , the seven , threes and then the qrz .

I'm like yeah , yeah , yeah , I'm like it's just , I go , it just becomes . She goes you sound like a professional ? I'm like I'm far from that , mom , but thank you , thanks , mom , yeah how about you , paul ?

I did , you know , ft8 , fl , digi , winlink , vera , you know , I mean any digital mode that I could do is that's what I was into , because I didn't want to get behind the mic .

And then I started after my second field day right , it's the first field day like Todd , I didn't want to really take part , I wanted to kind of take it in , observe and figure it out . So , second field day , I got behind the mic and that is what gave me that drive to get over the fear and and it , it .

It's one of those things where you know , like anything , I always tell my son , right , he's 13 . Nothing is easy at first , right , and anything that's worth doing is going to be a little bit of a challenge . So ham radio is a bit challenging and it's because it's worth doing .

And so once you start getting through that , mike fright , and you start getting a little bit of practice under your belt .

You're listening to what other people are saying and how they're rolling through their contacts in , you develop your own style and so , like , especially now , I love doing parks on the air and , like Todd said , it's great because you're in control , because you're the one calling CQ .

I'll , sometimes I'll take , you know , two , three , four minutes and I'll have a little bit of a conversation with somebody , depending on where they're at . You know , like , if they're in Northern Scotland , I've been learning Gaelic for over a year . And you know , like , if they're in Northern Scotland , I've been learning Gaelic for over a year .

And so you know , I'll ask them a Gaelic acut . You know , do you have Gaelic ? Most of the time they don't , you know , but they appreciate the sentiment of me asking , you know , and then it spurs a little bit of a conversation and you know , and it's funny because I'm not a very sociable person I don't tend to agree or get along with people very easily .

I'm somewhat difficult with people socially .

I'm very comfortable now now being behind a radio and having a conversation with multiple people , and so for someone like myself who doesn't want to be physically in a social group where you get anxiety in that aspect , getting over that mic fright is key to finding a little bit of happiness in communicating with others .

Yeah , we're going to dive in a little bit of kind of talking about maybe giving you some tips or tricks that you might be able to use to be able to get over that kind of first hump and we can kind of break those out a little bit , I think , into the realm of like repeaters and local communications communications , and then we'll talk hf , because hf , as we

all know , is a , is a , in my mind , a little easier animal sometimes because it's you know , it can be such a short exchange where the you know repeater , you know lingo , could be , like todd said earlier , you know , after you tell everybody you're , you know who you are and you're 411 , you have to now come up with a topic that you've got to figure out

how you keep this conversation going , type thing . Or you know , you fake the hey , I got a phone call , type thing , or whatever .

So I spent most of my time in the computer lab , electronics room and whatnot .

So when ham radio kind of came around and , uh , I got my ticket , um , I really could only talk on the repeaters and so I very I would say when I first got my first ht I , you know , the first thing I did was fire it up and kerchunk the repeater and then I prayed , after I could chunk the repeater , that nobody would come back .

And of course , you know , the repeater in town was a very active repeater . Everyone was always , you know , using it for commuting . So I should have just really realized that somebody would be like who's chunking the repeater ? And back in those days when you could chunk the repeaters , they got annoyed by it , especially if you didn't ID .

And so I kind of I remember very , very IDing with my call sign and I must've tripped over my words and they're like what do they made me repeat my call three or four times because I just couldn't get it across . And they're like use phonetics . I'm like , oh my gosh , phonetics November one .

It was like , just use your radio , I think would be a good one , you know . So you know , kind of playing those games . I finally just forced myself to just be like you know what I'm going to be me on the radio and you know , that's just kind of how it is .

And if they know me personally , then they'll be okay with having a conversation with those that just think I'm weird . Well , yeah , I'm in the hobby , it's radio , so you're going to be weird anyway .

And so that's kind of how I force myself to have those conversations and and where I learned that later on in life , when you know I now I , I feel bad because I , I hop on our repeater locally all the time , at least three or four times a day , you know , constantly just put my call sign out there , hoping , you know , somebody will respond .

And and I I can almost tell when I get those ones or onesie , twosies of the people you know , and they kind of do it a little bit , knowing that they don't want really that to happen .

I'm gonna be the guy jumping on there , but I'm like I'll happily guide the conversation because I know they're just like trying to like think of the next thing to say , or the you know the right thing to say , or has it gone to 10 minutes yet ? Should I id ? You know that kind of ordeal .

So you know that we'll dive into some of those tips that I got out of that and how to to move . Uh , you know that needle ahead , the HF one . I almost didn't get involved with HF .

Now I know you guys are looking at me like what the heck is wrong with you , but when I first started getting into HF was when Field Day , when I was a lot younger and I had a lot of people in the club who were contesters and so they were the very hardcore guys and so you had to follow format and none of them really gave me a structure to work in ,

like hey , say this and then try that , then say this and try that . And oh , they responded this way . You know , kind of helping you through the two-way conversation .

They just kind of said , well , here's the sheet , follow it to a T and you know , make sure you're hitting all you know , getting your contacts quick , because once you start , you know , putting your CQ out there , people are going to start responding and I I remember you know my first HF contact I stumbled over every you know , and the problem was the club call

sign was like WB1GOF , and so that's a tough one to remember while you're trying to say everything else and I thank God , you know , our club call sign today for our local club is N1QC , which is really easy Queen , charlie , queen , charlie , over and over again .

So having that experience kind of almost shied me away from doing it and become and in those days it was PSK31 and you had to have half a million dollars to be able to put the hardware in to be able to do digital modes .

So you're very much lucky , paul , that you were able to start that , otherwise it would be CW for me and I was struggling with that from the day one .

So , yeah , so HF only got better for me once I finally got , 10 years later , into the hobby and got my general and I remember doing my very first HF alone and , like Todd expressed , it was like I'm going to just do this and I think I screwed up five times I probably didn't log every contact , that I had probably said the order wrong .

Like you know , when you say qrz , qrz , supposed to end , you know the transmission and I can't tell you how many times it . You know irks my gets my goat , as they say . When people go qrz , n1j , you are it's like um , no , it's your call sign , then qrz .

You're basically telling people now they can respond to it and and you're saying it after the fact that you know .

Anyway , long story short , all that you know I do remember I stumbled over it but I , like Todd said you just , you , just you get that passion and Paul used to express that earlier was like we're just like you got to keep doing it , because you're just like this is so awesome I can't stop doing it . So you know , it just gets better .

Vhf , uhf communications , now , anything that you guys , when you first started to do that did you find that you were really like , more concerned with , like , making sure you got all of the right things in place , meeting your call sign every 10 minutes , making sure say seven , three instead of seven threes , you know , or I'm going QRT or going clear , like all

of those little nomenclatures that we kind of use in the hobby , or like all of those little nomenclatures that we kind of use in the hobby . Did you find that you just , you know , adapted to that well and were able to kind of integrate that into the conversations you had with folks , or would you just kind of , you know , really went at it at a different ?

So I was like all right , but fortunately I have to say that 99% of all the hams out there are really good people and are not going to . They're going to tell you you don't have to say that on the repeater , you say that on HF or whatever . You don't have to say that on the repeater , you say that on hf or whatever .

You don't have to say it on the repeater , just throw your call sign out there . Someone will get back to you if they're listening and they want to talk . But you know , there is always the one guy that would , you know , could be a jerk about it . But I had a positive experience and I just laughed at it . I said , well , you know what ?

I just took the test and that's what the test said to do . And then , oh , that stupid test , you don't listen to that , but right , that's . I mean , that was one of the things that I did and then , like you have to do that , so I , I learned , uh , by trial and error .

Uh , I use , you know , I I use our repeater probably the most and I just call my call , sign out when I get in the car and I go to work or coming home from work or if I'm just driving around .

And you know some of you guys I've talked to all you guys numerous times and there's other guys in the clubs and I've I've actually been talking to a new guy in um townsend . Uh , he's a technician , I think he's working on his general , but uh , he has . Uh , I talked to his 11 year old son .

Uh , he was with him when I was driving to work doing the night shift and uh , he was all excited about talking . They were waiting for the . I think they were waiting for the , their programming in their radio , the International Space Station . So he was all excited , thinking he's going to hear the astronauts or whatever . So I thought that was kind of cool .

So I talked to him for a little bit and I don't know , I call in . He keeps reaching it back out to me . So he's a but he's we kind of something common . He was in the Coast Guard . He did some like what do you call it ?

Like correction kind of stuff , like police work , and you know , I kind of do that with juvenile probation , so we kind of had to talk about that . Now , paul , I told him about Watson . He trains dogs , but as he says he trains people to handle dogs , which I thought was pretty funny . So , uh , well , yeah , so , uh , yeah .

So he's been like I haven't met him or anything , but we talk on the radio a lot and so it's kind of cool because we have a lot to talk about , because we don't really know each other that much . But I think getting on repeaters is , you know , just just throw your knit , call sign out there . Someone's always willing to talk to you .

Sometimes they want to talk about the weather , sometimes they want to talk about what you're doing today , sometimes they just want to say they got you and then , as a , as a newbie , as someone who's brand new , just call out radio , check , that's what I did no one . if no one was answering me , that's w1STJ radio check .

Everyone's going to answer you for that , and then just start talking to them .

So , like the guys in the Interstate Repeater Society radio in Derry , right , I have talked to all those guys and I don't think I've met any of them in person , but you know , I put my call sign out there and those guys know me . Hey , todd , how's it going ? But you just got to put yourself out there and it's .

You know the repeaters can be fun , especially when you're driving . You got nothing to do , you know you're just looking for something . It makes my commute go quick , uh , whoever I'm talking to . And then there's a .

I found uh , one of the guys found a new repeater in epsom which is , um , it's got huge coverage , like I've gotten it all the way up in Rumney and it's out in Epson , new Hampshire , and I've gotten as far out as Windsor and Hillsborough and down in mass .

So there's a newer ham down there , anthony , and he I do , I do tests with him , so he's always on it . He's , he must monitor it like 24 seven , but I always tell him where I'm at and how I'm sounding and you know where it's at . And he's uh , we've , we found that that repeater is got a huge area and it works really well .

So , uh , so sometimes I'll do that . So I mean , like I said , I I just play around with it and sometimes I just listen . Sometimes I don't want to talk to anyone , I just want to hear like someone's talking about a topic or something Sounds interesting , I'll just listen . So how about you ?

Listening is good , but there's not always a lot of activity , and so what I would do is I would program the repeaters in to the Baofeng right via Chirp and just hit scan and then , whenever it would find something you know that was something I would listen Once I got my license and I started like , well , all right , I'll throw my call sign out there and you

throw your call sign out and maybe somebody comes back and maybe somebody doesn't . But I have no issues whatsoever with somebody who actually wants to make a call , with somebody calling CQ on a repeater . That is how we let people know hey , this is me and I'm calling who wants to talk to me , right ?

So shame on anybody that says , don't call CQ on a repeater , because if you are calling and you want somebody to talk , to call CQ , I don't care , it doesn't matter what mode it is . But I think for me the biggest challenge with local repeaters was when I was on .

Not everybody would be on and so you know , a lot of times I'd throw my call out there and , like you , I'm kind of hoping that nobody comes back , but on the other hand , you're also kind of excited . Well , maybe somebody is going to come back , and you know , you know what are we going to talk about .

But it doesn't matter what you talk about , it really doesn't . You know , like , you're in the same area , you're in the same vicinity , so you both know what the weather is .

So the weather is a non-issue , right , but , like you know , if something's going on in your household or something's going on in your neighborhood , whatever , like I mean , talk about whatever's on your mind , you know , right , um , just yeah , don't , don't , uh , don't , let fear hold you back , because we all started with zero experience , right , and anybody that

forgets that , shame on them , because you , that's . That's the kind of thing that makes new people not want to stick around , is , you know ? Oh well , I jumped on a repeater and some old hat . You know you got mad at me that it's stupid . Like , stop it , just just be nice . Like it's , it's fricking radio .

But in essence , if that's what pops into your head at that moment , that's totally okay to share with somebody . It's not like you know , there's not this script you have to follow , except the fact that the only thing you really have to do according to FCC is ID every 10 minutes . And even then I know a lot of repeaters .

I'm not IDing every 10 minutes and I'm usually like in a conversation with somebody and like 35 minutes in , somebody else will be like , oh yeah , I forgot the ID and they'll ID for me and I'm like , yeah , fine , I'll just keep going . You know whatever , you know whoever's listening . If they want to bust me , fine , but you know , the repeater's ID too .

I mean it's this is you , this is me right and they're not sitting on the repeater like all right , you're busted , you know we're . You're getting a fine , we're coming after you . You're getting sanctioned sanctioned .

I think I had one or two every night . But time is valuable and I don't have that much time anymore to sit around for half an hour hour net . So I try to get on our net and I have a couple other ones and if I'm around the radio or if I'm in the car I'll definitely jump on them .

But if you're afraid to get on a net , listen , go through a couple of weeks of listening to the nets , see how they go , and then just throw it out there and you just tell me brand new is my first net and you know the net control will guide you through it .

And then what I ended up doing is I got on the nets and then I really liked the nets and then I ended up . Someone asked me one of the net controls said , hey , would you be willing to do net control . I said sure , so I tried be willing to do net control . I said sure , so I tried that .

And I just thought , hey , it's my first time , and oh , you did great . You did great because I figured , like they're all saying that , because you know , it's like you know , oh , we want you to be president of the club , but because no one else wants to do it , but I I like doing it , so that's why I do it on sundays . It kind of interferes with us .

So I probably we should probably just move our recording time to like eight , because it used to be like five people , now it's like 15 and everyone has something to say .

It's like five or seven , oh yeah , run in turn on the radio and go so you know it goes with comfort . You know some people like to talk to us , some people just like to listen . But I think that part of radio and ham radio is communication . So that's what we're here for right , like whether we do it online CW .

We're supposed to be communicated and I find that what's really enjoyable for me is when you get to the HF stuff and you're talking to people around the world and you learn things about their culture , their countries , what they're doing .

And it's kind of cool because on HF you're always logging and a lot of guys will have their log up and when they type in your call sign like , oh , we worked each other two years ago , you know yeah .

Um , so we've obviously touched on like the one-on-one in terms of like communication and , you know , not worrying about , like you know paul said , fearing , you know what you say next just kind of kind of let the Elmer or the guy or gal who's pretty seasoned to just kind of lead the conversation a little bit .

The one piece that we may not touch on and maybe you've run into , if you've your relatively new ham is dealing with conversations where you have three or four people in on the repeater . We all trip over it , we all screw it up when someone enters the round . We all screw it up when someone you know enters the round . We all know what that feels like .

But you know we should definitely touch upon a little bit of that . So you know , this is the scenario where you might be in a conversation one-on-one with somebody and all of a sudden two other , three other people want to join in .

They throw their calls in , you know , and then little while to figure that out and I think from that experience we've all had our own .

But I know that's like the protocol and the rule , but like if I'm answering , if eric goes and asks me a question and I'm three down , like I think I should be able to answer that question and then go to that . But it depends on how it's going , it doesn't really matter . Sometimes you get by the time it's your turn .

You got like four questions to answer , so sometimes I always forget one . I have to get on the next round , but there's no . There's no like real rule . It's not like you do something If you skip someone or you go in the wrong order . You just figure it out . And sometimes we just laugh about it and say , oh , we don't even know .

Like what order are we going in ? And then someone will be like all right , this is the order . I mean it's it is what it is .

But to Todd's point , where you know say you know he's third in line and you're first in line and you've got a question directly for him .

Uh , I've been in plenty of those little round robins where it's like , oh , because your question is specific , you know it'll just jump right to the question and then come back to you and then , and then you know who is after you , because you know it took a couple turns to figure out , like , all right , after me is so and so , but then you know it just

comes back to you and you turn it on to the next person and that's it . Like , I mean , I don't , I don't , there's nothing to be afraid of . I guess you know like , while , yes , it can be a little bit chaotic , um , just roll with it , you know .

It's like all right , uh , I'm listening next , you know , and that's actually a good point .

Let's talk , uh , hf here , because , uh , you know , we obviously this is a whole new animal , because I think it's it's not low , it can be localized a little bit , but more so if we all know , and we all do poda , that you know , uh , whenever we get a chance to get out to do it , you become kind of and we all alluded to it a little bit is that

you're open to a larger audience . So there is a lot of strength . I think when you're doing HF because you run the show is basically the way I look at it . And so let's kind of do this in the frame of , say , field day , because field day is a big event , both winter and summer , and usually where we invite a lot of people to come .

In the frame of , say , field day , um , you know , because field day is a big event , both winter and summer , and you know , usually where we invite a lot of people to come in to kind of , you know , experience it in a , you know , in a space that's safe , we'll say , um , at least in our club , I know we're really good about .

You know helping guide people along the way and and get them excited to . You know just keep coming back for more . Um , you know , from a that perspective , when you're encouraging or trying to pull somebody in and they are dealing with mic fright , you know , I mean obviously I , I I abuse you , todd , and I have to apologize again . You know publicly .

Um , you know , for just pulling you in and saying here , go to it . But , um , you know any tips or tricks that you know you've kind of , or experiences that you've had with people .

I know , paul , you've had a great experience in Winterfield Day , if you want to touch on that one , but that you guys want to touch on when trying to get someone in , to try a contact on field day .

They can hear your inexperience coming through the radio and any ham worth his salt is going to understand that there's an experience there and they're going to be patient with you . So you just have a little bit of patience with yourself and don't be so hard on yourself . It will all come in time , you know .

Just don't don't let fear hold you back , because I guarantee you the person on the other end of the radio is not anywhere near as critical of you and what you're saying and how you're saying it as you're doing to yourself .

This is what we're doing , and I think it's like you're passing on because I was there at one point and I know what it was like and I think that will make that ham so much better because he's going to then feel more comfortable about going on .

Now , the one thing I wouldn't do if you were brand new and you have mike freight and you get on hf , don't go on a contest . Those guys are like I still get nervous like they go so fast and if you screw up or you ask a question , it throws off their rhythm and they get all . You can tell that they're like why is this guy ?

But if you are going to do a contest , listen for a long time , figure out what you're supposed to say , figure out what they're looking for and and then do it . I'm not discouraging you from doing it , but I said when I was a brand new general and I got on and I started doing some trying to work , some contests and stuff .

I find myself really pissing people off just because I didn't understand what was going on . But you know what ? It's a learning curve . But I think the guys in POTA are really guys that do POTA and activating parks are really the guys that will help you and get through it , because they're like you and me and everyone else . We're not professional .

At least I'm not a professional . Uh contestor , yeah , but when I'm activating a park and I got a pile up , I sure as hell feel like one .

So , yeah , don't don't even , don't , don't even be afraid to jump in on a contest .

I mean I had , I had an experience with a guy from brazil like pushing 2 000 watts and he was super fast and I screwed it all up and I could tell he was pissed because I threw him off . He was probably working the championship or something . But I mean , like I said , there's also I mean I've talked to guys on HF that are doing live .

Like I talked to this guy I think he was in Italy . He does a live YouTube stream of him activated . It's awesome because you work him and you go back on YouTube and just scroll back and you can hear yourself on how he hears you . So I found that pretty cool to do .

Um , and if you're trying to work them , you could tell them that you're trying to work them . You can send them a in the chat and they'll try to hear you . And then I was kind of like cheating . But you know , if you're looking to hear what your signal sign , what was cool about that is ?

I did that when I first got my flex and someone had told me that the headphones that I was using that it was terrible . So I went out and bought this new headset for my ipad to work by flex remote and I worked this guy and I said , how do I sound ? He says , oh , you sound great .

He goes and I explained the situation and then I was able to go back in here and I was like I got my settings all set . It sounds really good . So there , like I said , that's the type of guy that's out there . He's , he's trying to make as many contacts as he wants .

He's trying to help people , giving people the opportunity to hear what you sound like , you know , calling across the bond or wherever you're . Cause he was working . He was typically had his beam pointed to North America , so he was pointing to North America and we were just trying to get him .

So it was just kind of cool and I've talked to people all over the world and it's it's just been really cool to talk to all these different people . I I , after doing it , I said you know , if everyone in the world was a ham radio operator , there'd be no wars . We're all . We're all cool , everyone gets along .

So funny things with HF as we probably all maybe touched upon a little lately , is that whether you're in field day or you're in doing a pod activation and if you're brand new , one thing that I think we kind of alluded to and I just kind of want to drive home a little bit , is that you'll feel more successful if you have , or you surround yourself with ,

people that love the hobby and love playing radio , because they're going to be , like Paul said , very patient with you and they're going to give you the words or feed you a lot of spoon , feed you a lot of the words a couple of times .

And we had an example we bought a share in a couple episodes prior where we had Winterfield Day and we had a brand new family just got their tickets and they brought their kids along to come to Winterfield Day .

And I remember just sitting next to Todd Sorry , not Todd sitting next to Paul , and you know they were on 10 meters and she was just following the script and Paul was just giving her , you know , little things here and there to kind of tweak or or just make sure , as he heard it . You know she could relay the right information .

There was one instance I think you know , and Paul was saying earlier , where it's like the other operator on the other knew that the kid , their daughter , was on listening and actually making a contact , that he took the time to , you know , congratulate her , encourage her , do the whole entire thing .

And that's , I think , what we're alluding to , is that it might be scary from a Mike Fry perspective , but know that people are going to know that you're just going to be going through those phases and it's okay to not say one thing or miss saying 7-3 , or say 77s or 88s or something really crazy that made no sense .

Or you know when you're supposed to say QRZ , at the very end you say QRT . You know those kind of little trip ups . Know that . You know those codes and all of the nomenclature will come in time . You don't have to stress over knowing you know what you need to say before you say it . Sometimes you just try it and if it sticks it's going to .

You know , jog your memory and you're going to keep redoing it over , repetitive . You know over and over again . So I think all of us you know , know that very well and and do it very much often when we do POTA and you know , uh , field days as a you know , a big example of that . So I'm totally with you on that .

You know if you're , if you're using q , you know the code . Q code , you know , have some of the ones that you use more frequently and just so you can reference it in case you forget . Um , like I said , for me I'm I'm a learner by doing , not by learning .

Like you could give me all the q codes and say , memorize them and I'm still not going to get them unless I start using them . It's just the way I learn , I guess . So I have cheat sheets everywhere . I still do . I got , I got the band frequencies . I've got you . You know the phonetic stuff . I mean it's .

I mean the more you do it , the more you get it and it just becomes like muscle memory . You know , it's like you just start doing it . You're not thinking about it anymore In the beginning . You're always thinking about it . It's like when I was learning how to fly my model airplanes . I was thinking , okay , up , elevator , right , aileron .

Okay , up , up , elevator , down . You know I'm not thinking all this stuff and I'm like , how do these guys do all this stuff ? And like like one day , like the guy I was , he goes , he goes , todd , he because I'm mumbling this to myself he goes , just fly the airplane .

And that was that kind of stuck to me , like I'm like , oh , all right , and then I just started flying . I don't think about it anymore and it's like like as an instructor , you know , I got to put the plane in , like weird things that kids are crashing into people , like doing nose buys in the trees , and I got to .

If I had to think of what I was doing , I'd never get anything done . So it's like now I just fly the plane . So it's like just do ham radio , just get on there and do it . And if you screw it up , you screw it up . But if you need some things to help you out , have it . There's no wrong or right way to do ham radio . There's rules .

They're very basic and even if you screw them up , it's not like you did it intentionally , you know . It's not like you're just out there talking on the radio and you don't have a call sign . You'll get people like that and you know , eric , you and I have had some of them . I think we've done some in POTA . Then there was someone on a repeater .

We just tell them say , hey , you have to be a licensed amateur and this is where you go and you can't be on the radio . Oh , I'm sorry , but for the people watching this and the people who are licensed or who are brand new , this is .

You know , don't be afraid , just have fun with it and then talk to your if you have a question or you think you're doing something wrong . Talk to your people in your club , because I've learned so much just from my club members more than I ever learned on any test or any book I read Because if you have a question they can answer it .

And you know , eric introduced me to POTA and I've learned everything about POTA from Eric . And I remember Paul , remember that first day we went to Silver Lake . You and I were there first . We're report . Remember that first day we went to silver lake , you and I were there first . Like well , what do we do ? And he's like I don't know .

I'm like I'm just waiting for eric to show up . He goes do you have anything ? I'm like nope , all the pressures , but but that was that was like one of the first really experiences . Like you know , we had , you know , both of us there . I think you and I were like kind of like brand new , like well , I don't even know where to start right .

And now it's like you know I'm , I want to take people out . People call me up , say , hey , can you ask you a question about poda ? Or I'm like , yeah , let's go , you know so so all right .

To help them , provide encouragement or direction , or helping these people that are trying to get over the mic fright ? What would you do If there's a couple of things that you can be as a mentor to mentor others to be mentors ?

You know what would you do , or what you know , if there's a couple of things that you can be as a mentor to mentor others to be mentors ? Is that kind of make sense ? You know anything you pass on in that sense to those folks that might be listening that ? You know I've been doing it for a while .

The mic's talking is no big deal , but you know how are they going to help you know or seek out those folks maybe .

So , for those that are experienced and you hear it be patient , stop being a dick , just be patient . Remember you were once there as well .

And I even start , like , especially with the younger kids , you know , giving them the mic and saying , ok , press this . You know , press this and I'll talk . You know , let them feel the . And then they want to go a little bit , more and more and more , and and you just , like you said , be patient , but just offer it to them .

And if they don't want to do it , I wouldn't force them to do it , don't pressure them to do it too much , but like , give them the opportunity to say , hey , you want to try this , this is fun , they might do it .

And then people who are hesitant , you know , you start telling them stories you talk about we talk about podo a lot , and they want to , they want to start coming out , and people start saying , oh , can I come out with you ? Well , you take someone out and next thing , you know , they're like buying podo gear Cause they're like , oh , this was really fun .

You know , this was awesome and that's how you get the . That's how you get it going . I mean , look , we've got guys in the club in our club we're very fortunate that do everything . Like there's guys that just do CW , that really focus on that . They got guys that like to build and redo radios . We've got other guys that like to do HF contesting .

We have other guys that just like to do pole . I mean , everyone does something and there's so much to do in this hobby that you should be able to find someone who will support you and help you .

And you know , I know that there used to be like Elmers , but like I think my whole club has been my Elmer because everyone's kind of taught me a little bit of everything . And that's why I think and you know we had a previous episode where we talked about the importance of clubs you got to find the right club .

You got to find a club that's welcoming and wants to be able to help , and our club has been awesome with that .

They have been totally make you feel welcomed and totally understand the level you're at , encourage you and ask questions and offer to help , and it's just been a really good experience for me and I think I got lucky because I found the right club .

I joined in the beginning a whole bunch of clubs and the bedford club and one uh , and when qc is the club that really fit for me and that's where we all ended up and looking now . Now we're , now I'm doing podcasts . If you said , oh , when you got your ham radio as you think you'd be doing podcasts , I'd be like what ?

Like no , I don't even think I'll be talking on the radio a mic to talk on that .

Next thing , you know he's talking to Italy . I'm like , is that really Italy ? I'm like that quick , you know , he's got a little battery goes . Yeah , he goes . You've never done this before . I'm like , nope , so that was . And sometimes for me it's just exposure , like just show me something cool and I might jump in on it .

But uh , but I'm glad I got in and I'm glad I got over the fear of talking on the mic and I find it very I don't . I don't get nervous doing the nets anymore . Like I said , I used to be really nervous and I'd have everything planned out . Now it's like I just like oh shit , it's five , seven o'clock , five of . I gotta get over there , right .

Well , I mean , it's really what it is . It's like oops , but it's just because I've done so many of them , you just become natural , and it's kind of like when we get on the air if you do it enough , you just become comfortable with it .

So just go at your own rate and have fun with it , and if you don't want to talk , listen and then every once in a while throw it out . There . You know , try to make the contact and see what happens .

When I was growing up it was very much that one on one relationship because there wasn't much of the internet and all of the extra advice that was out there , and and you dealt with just the one . You know one or two club standpoint of as you guys touched upon .

You know , every one of us at some level or another , you know it can be that Elmer and it doesn't have to be that big . You know , glorious title that's out there . It's like , you know , just asking the question hey , what do you like to do ? Do you want to talk ? You know . Do you want to play digital ? You know what interests you .

I mean , I mean , think about it , if you've got an older ham that's been around for 50 years , been a ham for 50 years and he's never done poda or anything , I could technically be an elmer to an extra who's never done poda on working , taking them out and activating a park , right , that that is like . So there's .

It's not like a hierarchy , like , oh , I've been a ham for a hundred years and you know I am the king of ham radio .

And one of the things to have fun , at least for me , is if you're going to get on sideband or you're going to get your ticket and you're going to get on repeater . You got to talk , right . So the nice thing is is you don't have to be seen .

So you sit behind the radio and no one knows what you look like or what you're doing or what you're wearing or whatever like you could be doing . And I find like when I talk to people then I meet them right for the first time , like that's not how I pictured you at all , like that was just not , that was not what I had in my head Right .

But you know , like I said , it's all good and you know , I've made a lot of great friends , like people I hang out with more than I do other friends now .

And my biggest thing with ham radio was like when you tell people you're a ham radio , a lot of them who aren't in ham radio kind of laugh , right , like you're a ham radio , a lot of them who aren't in ham radio kind of laugh right , like what do you do that for ?

But then I I like to talk to him about it and I tell him and then I show him and they're just like , oh , like you just made a contact to Australia . I'm like , yeah , did you hear that ? I'm like that's pretty cool , right , he goes . And what kind of intent . I'm like just a wire , he goes , a wire .

I'm like , yeah , wire , it's strung up in the tree . And he's like , really , I'm like , yeah , like let's see where he is . And I , oh , he was 10 000 miles away . They're like what ? and they start , they start seeing it and then they start getting more and more interested in it .

And that's why I think some people I think we could get more people involved if , if there was more people doing it and introducing people like eric , you and I've been out a ton of parks . When people come up , oh what are you doing ? Oh , I was a cam and I got my ticket . I haven't done in 20 years . And then they see the equipment we're using .

They're like that's the antenna , that's the size of your radio , like just with that , like what , like they're used to , like using like huge things that they couldn't really be mobile and here we are just like popping yeah exactly size of cars so I mean it's , I think , just getting people out there , but get on the radio .

I mean that's what it's all about and have fun with it . And if and if you don't want to , if you're afraid to get on and you have that mic fright , listen , because the more you listen you're going to get the edge to say something .

Someone's going to bring up a topic that you're just going to be itching to say you're going to have to speak up on and just click the damn button and you'll be good to go roger that well , I think that's a good uh ending here in terms of , uh , you know this mic fright topic .

He said for 2024 , I'm setting my goal to get on the repeater more and just put myself out there and start talking and working towards that .

And he did that with me and we had a good almost 45-minute conversation before he had to break to go back to work and I was off doing whatever while I was on the road , but it was good to hear that I was encouraging him and I'm like , dude , you just got to come out and do podas with us . You got to come out and do potas with us .

You got to come out and play radio , just , you know , leaving open end of invitations and eventually one of those will stick someday and you know it'll be just one of those . Things will just set us off , like I did with you guys and you , you know , someone did for me and you know so forth and so on .

So it's , you know , it's a kind of a trickle effect which , uh , you know we all like to see happen , because it just makes the hobby that much better .

You know , encourage them , support them , and all it does is is it benefits , it benefits our hobby , it benefits the new ham and it benefits you for , you know , helping someone , you know get off their feet and get going , because that's what's really important is keeping the hobby alive , keeping people on the air and , you know , and having fun with it .

You know I hate to have a ham radio that says I hate ham radio because everyone no one helps me and I don't know what I'm doing . You know that would be to me a terrible thing . So if you're been around and you get someone or you're on the radio , just think of that the next time you find someone that might be struggling .

Uh , take the time for whatever you're doing and uh and and help them through it and , uh , encourage them to keep going .

But once I got into doing the technician stuff , the general was a little bit easier , and now the extra . Well , that's a little hard , but you can do it and it's not like it's attainable . I have no engineering degree . I've got no computer skills skills , as Eric will tell you . I know how to turn it on and click to the website . That's about it .

Um , I'm clearly not an electrician , um , and the only thing I knew about radio was listening to it . So I never talked on it .

It's just a waste right now , negative , you can bleep that out , but no , what I'm saying is , if you're not , if you're not into , if you're not an engineer or you're not , and you're just're just like , wow , this would be really cool , just go for it .

I mean , I did and like I said I , I got into this totally by accident and I'm just glad it found me . Ham radio found me really is is what happened . And now I'm like totally hooked on it .

Live free and ham . Uh , we love you guys being part of the community and you know , hope , uh , that you know the . The words that we have tonight were some encouragement to get you in on uh and connecting with people that are like-minded like yourself .

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