All right , all right , all right , welcome to the Liffrey and Ham Stream . I'm Eric call sign N1JUR . Tonight we got a bunch of regulars and , as we kind of alluded in our thumbnail , there we're gonna be doing an AMA tonight , so we're gonna let you guys on the chat ask us anything and if not , we're just all gonna sit here staring at each other .
So you know , you decide how this is all gonna play out . But , as I said , you know you guys have the floor , so feel free to ask us anything . If not , we're just gonna probably talk about some great pod activations that I know a few guys , you guys have done recently and you know just kind of see where it kind of goes from there .
But without further delay . Like I said , I'm Eric call sign N1JUR and you're with Liffrey and Ham and I'm with hey it's Paul KF4TPY .
Mike N2MAK .
Cool . Well , hey , thank you for joining us , mike , we are a little short staffed here . Todd , who will be joining us soon , he's running around with the kiddos doing a few things there , and Ryan , as we mentioned in other podcasts , is currently flying . So , oh , cool to see you there , kevin , that's awesome . And so , you know , feel free to .
You know , jump in here , but you know we don't really have a format . This is again like an AMA and a happy hour , so we're just gonna kind of hang out and talk about Poda and Ham Radio and anything else . That kind of you know leads us down those good old rat holes there .
So , you know , kind of with that , I mean , you know , I think the big thing right now that seems to be hot in the chat is , you know that , do we now have to start styling our park activations with shirt and ties ?
I mean , you know , mike is kind of setting precedence here and I'm getting a little nervous because , you know , I'm just getting into the T-shirt gang and all of a sudden I feel like I'm behind .
So you know , I don't think Mike's thunder on the video there , but I think , you know that was an awesome video and I was pretty impressed , obviously , with the attire there , but you know what was your take on that one . You're getting a lot of you know flack for wearing a tie .
I mean everyone's got their sponsorship deals . They , you know , they talk pods , tid , radios , gigaparts , you know , and stuff . So there's nothing left . So you know , I just roll with JC Penney . You know , what do I know ? But no , I was . I do a lot of traveling this time of year .
I'm in Rochester , which is Western New York , it's the Finger Lakes region , but I'm out and back to the Albany region quite a bit the first quarter of the year and you know I had an opportunity to hit up a new park and I just I went straight for meetings .
I thought about going to the hotel , right , and because my car was parked right there I could have gone in and changed . You know what ? I don't have much time . This park closes at sundown and you know I try to be responsible , especially when I'm going places .
I don't know that I and I had never been to this park and I got there and I probably had like an hour less realistically , and it was enough time to do . You know , 30 minutes on the air , quick setup , take down . But you know , I'm glad I didn't change because , number one , it's definitely attracted a lot of attention .
But ultimately , you know , I got a chance to do a Pota 3 for plus . It was an island , so it was actually one of the US islands for the US Islands Awards program . So you know , there's a lot of people , including those in Pota , that aren't just hunting parks , they're hunting islands and stuff .
So it's always fun when you can , you know , combine multiple things . I've done some potas and sodas , you know , and stuff . And it's nice when you can hand out multiple references to people because you know , without the hunters , you know we don't get to do some of the things that we do .
But yeah , and I've done that like a handful of times , you know it definitely priored it because I've only been doing YouTube videos for a year now , but I've definitely done it . You know , a number of times where I'm traveling and I just I got an opportunity to stop off at a new park . I got I was chasing what did they call it ?
The 100 unique parks , and I got them back in the fall . But you know , anytime I was on the road , work family always looked for an opportunity where I could , you know , sneak in a new one . And you know I realized I don't usually have a lot of time for activations anyway , I'm squeezing it in between work and the kids .
And so you know , if I got to go , you know I took my suit jacket off at least . I mean , the weather's nice , but you know I could do without that and you know and say what not , but yeah .
I was thinking maybe , if you're , like you know , going for a different demographic or trying to create your niche market , maybe you just change ties and kind of get like the creative Christmas ties of flashlights and stuff like that . You know , canada and Tena might be the new thing with a tie . You know , you never know .
Yeah , I was joking in the chat on a clubhouse last night that you need to get one . You know , like the Henry Yorkey's got the Faragey antennas made out of the Faraday clock you know I was like I'd love to get a Faragey tie , you know , and maybe , and even if it's for just like 1.25 meters , I'll take .
I'll actually put a tie to work if it does 220 , trust me , like Nice , you know that's a good idea .
Hmm , now you got me thinking .
I don't know how healthy that would be for you , though , to transmit on a tie that you're wearing .
Oh , yeah , I know .
Yeah .
That would be an oopsie .
Yeah , I thought they were just joking about , like you know , maybe I'd do a bolo with some coax and , like a connector you know , hold it together and stuff , you know , at the end of the day it's a hobby and this is fun , so you know , as long as everyone's out there having fun and getting a good kick out of it , that's all that matters .
If you're okay , man , I might actually have to take this and run with it a little bit on my next video , when I do another poda and it's gonna be , you know , kind of going really crazy . It's like how do , how do you know , use a tie in emergency ? You know kind of situations and you know we'll it in Tuna . We'll be the next few videos .
That'd be really cool .
Yeah , yeah , yeah , and you know . So you know it was a tie Kevin mentioned . I've been out in the sweater vests before you know .
I was sporting .
I agree , yep yep , and it's you know . I'm not the only one , though . Simon VA7 , bix , he does a lot of poda and live stream . I think he's got he's out at a park live streaming right now .
Hello , he's gone right from gigs , you know , and he's done activations where , I mean , he looks like a bond villain , almost like you know , and stuff , and he's , like you know , borderline tuxedo in the back of what looks like a Jaguar . Oh yeah .
You know , it's a character for sure I love him because I love him . When he did a live stream and he like in between he was playing saxophone or no , it's trumpet , I think it was and I was just like what , what this guy's got my attention ? I can't . It's like a like a slow moving car wreck .
You're just gonna keep watching the whole entire time because you never know when it's gonna be . You know something's gonna change or happen , so it's pretty cool . So I guess from the like .
So here's my thing with Iota as like we did a seven park road , todd and Iowa back , and we accidentally came across a park that was also islands on the air and we were only alerted by one you know contact . How many Iota contacts did you make ? Did you keep track of that at all ?
or Well , it's not Iota . And the first time somebody reached out to me about when I was going out to do a poda and I scheduled it in advance because it was something that had been activated often and everything . And usually if I'm doing rare ones , like in 18.0 or something like that , I'll schedule it on the poda app .
I know in advance before I'm going out somewhere . I've never been and that hasn't been done before . Other ones that have been done plenty of times , like where I was the other day , like you know , I get there when I get there and I'll spot myself . But and I initially I signed up for Iota .
I thought it was Iota , but there's , iota is different and US Islands the US Islands Award Program is what it's called and it's a lot more lax as far as what needs to be done and stuff . And and you know everyone that I contacted , you know if they want to claim credit kind of like soda you know they got to submit . You keep track of it on your own .
It's really low key for that . So , and the difference like the US Islands , they're obviously US Islands , but they can be based in a lake , which I did one back at the end of the summer , early fall . That was a rare wildlife management area in the Finger Lakes . That was an island on Candidate Lake and only accessible by boat , obviously being an island .
But this one is a river island . This was in the Hudson River so there were bridges to get over there and it was real easy . But a US Islands Awards Program is fun . It seems kind of low key . I don't pay too much attention to other one .
If I'm going out to a park and I know it's an island because this one People's Island it's in the name of the park , right Like .
I did a quick Google search and I was like , okay , the island numbers , you know , and Y 027R , make a note of it with the park numbers so that when I get there I'm good to go and if people want it I can hand it out to them and if they don't care , they don't care you know , yeah , yeah .
Well , it was good to see you on the stream there , Kevin , glad to have you join in . I love making contact with this QRP net and I , you know I try to get on there from time to time . So thanks for joining in , kevin . So the funny thing with IO like I never really as with all of the other parks is like in beaches .
On the air is another one too , and because you know I'm on the East Coast , you know that's like there are beaches everywhere you go , and so I started to kind of dive in that program a little bit and I got really turned off by it because it just became so much of a burden to kind of be part of it that it was like I'll just go activate on a beach
and not really , you know , make a big deal out of it . But you know , is that kind of your feeling with IONs on the air too , or was it more just , you know just very little things ? No , when I thought , about it .
I was like , okay , this is just like another thing . What I've done and what's made you know Ham Radio Fund for me is combining POTA , which was , you know , my first thing .
My big love is POTA , but combining it with other activities , and so , whether it's I've done some joint POTA sodas , obviously , pota with some of the US islands , but also going out , like I do the VHF contests in January , June and September and I'll go combine that with POTA or soda and I look for ways to combine things and it makes it a little bit more
fun . But it's also a good way to learn too , like doing the VHF stuff . I've learned a lot about you know , bands and modes that I , you know , would seldom use for typical POTA activations and stuff , and it keeps it fresh .
Yeah , that's actually funny is the whole thing with the like . I saw your video when you did on the VHF contest part of it , and I was really inspired .
Then I remembered , as I did a couple of them , that overall around , at least in the New England area , 5.2 tends to be pretty dead in general and the only really we can pull like my success for that stuff was hey , hop on the repeater , see who's there , put a word out .
Hey , come over to 5.2 , work me , kind of thing , and so I felt that that was a lot too much effort . But you did an awesome job like that . I mean you kind of worked it with the contest too that was going on at the same time , right , yeah , yeah , the last one I did .
I didn't do any HF , I just did six all the way to 70 centimeters when I had capabilities for .
And there's a big active VHF group and we're not the only one , but we got a good size one here in Western New York and it spills over into Southern Ontario as well and so and all that's like within easy range even at 705 QRP levels for doing two meters , six meter side band and stuff like that .
And it teaches you things about how important an antenna is , like I've used . I started off using dipoles for two meters but then when I got the elk log periodic , you see a difference that an antenna with gain that's got some direction makes and stuff . But there's an active group out here and there's always lots of things going on .
We have regular weekly nets on two meters , six meters side band during the week , so there's always people locally . If I hop on six meters at a park , I can probably at least get one local if I wanted to . So it's nice , but I know that that's not the case . It all comes down to location , location , location and some areas .
Geography is gonna work against you with VHF and UHF and also just like ham densities . If you don't have a lot of hams or there isn't a lot of interest in a particular region , then it's too bad , it's not gonna work .
Well , you certainly got me thinking , because so I've been planning the family . We're taking our annual trip down to Florida in April and so we're stopping in DCs so we can go see the sites in DC , but we're also gonna stop at the Chikoteague Island wildlife refuge there in Virginia .
And so I told the wife , I said listen , I said I don't care , we can go wherever you want , we can stop wherever you want on our way down to Florida , but I want at least a couple of parks along the way so that I can get a couple more states activated . And so I should be able to get to Virginia activated and North Carolina activated in April .
But to be in an island .
That really makes me . I'm gonna have to look into that and welcome Todd .
Yeah , Sorry guys , a little late night . Got here as fast as I could .
No problem , we'll ask him . Make sure all of the AMA questions are directed right at Todd and you can take it towards him .
Well , I was even able to check in on our net too . So I was like I'm like , hey guys , I'm almost home , one and done , tonight gonna do a live stream , so and I pulled in .
Go ahead and read it , Todd . Go ahead and pick it up , Paul .
Yeah . So Jeff wants to know what would you suggest for the best telescopic mask ? Now , that's a question that I also would like to answer too , because I've been weighing the soda beams versus the DX Commander and there's a couple really well made telescopic masks . So what are you guys using ?
Ooh , okay , well , I'll take that one , but that's kind of a loaded question . But I guess my question and I always do this , as I'll throw a question back to Jeff what type of activating are you gonna do ? Are you more of a soda guy or are you more of a polo guy , or are you just looking to ?
You know you're setting up in park areas , out in the beach , open areas . Throw that in the comments and I'll kind of add to it what I use . I've got two masks . My big , you know behemoth mask is my DX Commander .
Was that 17 meter or 20 meter , can't remember exactly what it is , but that's pretty much the same mask that's in the expeditions and the classics and stuff . And then I have a smaller version with my beach kit , which is more of the soda beams , soda six mask , which is super small , super light , only like 10 meters , and that one's a little .
You know you have to be careful with what intent as you use with that , because you can snap it much easier than say , like the DX Commander .
Yeah , I got three different masks , actually four now . So my first one was the MFJ-1910 or 19 something or there it's a 33 foot or 10 meter mask and that was the first one I got and so it'd be like three , four years going now . You know that works fabulous . You know the challenge with that and it's light too , but it's held up .
You know Northeast Winters , everything , it's not gonna collapse down to a length that is as packable as what I have , the soda beams , carbon six and that is in my you know it's in the side pocket the water bottle pouch for my 705 bag , that thing that'll fit in luggage like carry-on luggage or , and it's stupid light and it's convenient to carry , you know ,
and stuff . But you know the difference is when I'm going out , if I'm using an off center , off center fed dipole or I'm using a dipole that's center fed , you gotta use something that's got , you know , some heft to it . You know , with the MFJ I won't put it in . If you watch some of my videos I talk about the setup .
I'll say you know it's a 33 foot mask and the antenna's going most of the way up but not all the way up , right , because otherwise it's gonna flex too much and I don't wanna deal with that . But what I got in between , though , is I also have the soda beams tactical 7000 HDS . Oh , okay , that is you know .
So the carbon six is gonna be six meters , so like 18 feet or something like that , and that's good for verticals . You know wire verticals . I've got like 20 meter , 17 meter wire verticals . You know short random wire , or you know slope or end feds , but the tactical that packs down small oh yeah , this thing is heavy and beefy thing is just like it's .
It's it's definitely strong , and I used I got that when I started using more dipoles and off-center feds , which I kind of it was like a couple years being a hand before I put up a dipole- and . That makes it nice , because when you have the coax hanging down , you know it definitely adds weight , even even , like you know , rg 174 or something It'll .
It'll create that much more flex . And then so I've got those three and they each have their own , their own place .
It's like it's like in tennis when I find the perfect mask , then yeah , it's not fine , but you know I'm all good , yeah , and I hear I haven't used the DX commander but I hear the DX commander masked , you know , from everyone , they rave about it and and stuff and the build quality and and everything .
I've used the , the tactical six or whatever , which is the , the heavier version of the carbon six and and stuff and that's good it's .
it's small but it doesn't have the height of the 7000 , so yeah , and the end of it tends to be a little thinner than I like and I've already broken mine off at this point for the . This is the carbon six and so , yeah , don't , don't use a heavy antenna if you possibly can and try to stay away from it .
But you know , you can leave it loose and and you got a good , you know Place to either mount it , either , tie it , last you a table , or you got a good stand , I think , of benefit .
Yeah , I snagged for Black Friday one of the Goatcher Telescoping like fishing things .
Yeah , I snagged .
Friday and those go on sale Really good prices . Black Friday , the Amazon Prime days , you know , christmas in July , whatever like sale , you Can wait . I figured you know , for like 25 , 35 bucks . You know to have another option It'd be worth it just to toy around with and I've used it a few times .
You know it's falling over , it's held up but you know , like with the carbon six or something , almost any mass like those last couple of lengths or they're really thin , so it might say it's a certain length but you're not gonna be able to take advantage of all of it .
Yeah , I've got the , the seven meter Tinkara fishing rod , you know and and it works right . But you certainly you probably lose At least three feet at the top where it just bows down .
Cool , I will hopefully . Jeff . That gave you a little insight there . He obviously mentioned we do Poda and I think we kind of did . You know we probably all do more Poda than we do you know soda . I know I don't have the you know six pack for soda quite yet , so working on it , but we'll eventually get there someday .
So Dave wants to know if if it's practical to do Poda QRP on single sideband .
Oh , man , I just did it . You just had a recent one right .
Yeah , I do it all the time . You know what , with anything QRP you learn , you know , you know definitely antenna and Set up and it's your whole station , it's . You know your feed line , you're set up , you know the antenna that you're using . All that stuff matters and but I've done activations , I've done it with .
I've done a couple one-watt sideband activations which I've done . Yep , I did it with first . I did it with the car , the coffee and ham radio is mercury linked dipole . I brought it out , did a one-watt activation in one hour on 20 and 40 .
I tried 10 meters for a little bit it wasn't open at the time but you know I easily got like 20 contacts in an hour with one watt sideband . And then I did it with the N9 SAB off-center fed dipole and I did the same thing 40 , 20 or it was like 40 minutes on 40 , 20 minutes on 20 and then 10 minutes or whatever the math works out to .
And I've done . Well , you know it's not always gonna work out because you got to think about band conditions . You're not gonna want to do a One-watt activation during a heavy contest weekend . You know Frequency pretty easy if it's , if it's busy . But you know if you go out on a quiet time or during the week or whatever , you might be surprised .
You can , you know , hold the frequency a little bit easier and if you got a good setup You'll get it done . Poat is so popular now compared to even just a few years ago it's almost hard not to to get it get get a park activated if you get there and you remember everything .
Funny story is , like I I used to get worried that like I couldn't get spotted if I had had no cell service . And now I like I don't even care , like If I happen to remember that I spotted myself .
Great because , like , as you probably already experienced yourself , mike , and all you guys as well , is that you know , give yourself a couple of shout outs a couple of times is calling ZQ and you'll see how quickly the next hunter Be like yep , I'm gonna spot you . And that just opens up the you know floodgates .
So yeah , well , unless you have an activation , like I did what yesterday , right I ? Because there is zero cell service at this park . Like this park is kind of like the middle of nowhere , like the truck is covered in mud , there is zero cell service . So I just go and and I hope that somebody is gonna spot me .
But I want to say I think I started calling CQ at like Around noon Eastern time and I didn't get spotted until like 1 , 32 o'clock , whoa . But you know , I mean it is what it is . You just keep calling . You know people scroll in the dial , eventually find you .
But it just makes it a little slower .
Yeah , it's true , but that compounds . I mean , obviously , when you get into , like you know where the band freak .
You know the bands kind of just up and down or just really staticky , or you know 20 meters is just , you know , no matter what you get it's , you know it's this noise and not actual like people talking and and that that that could be stressful and painful . But yeah , those are the life lessons you learn .
Like you know , mike said we are running at one watt . You learned how to perform well with your antenna and the gear you have . So you know the days that are really good , you know they are just much sweeter . So I think there was another one in there . Tim , you had a Question there . Did we grab his ? But I see it .
Casey won .
So , anyway , talk a little bit about your potter there while I'm looking for that one , I'm curious to see . You just did that one yesterday , paul .
Yeah , yeah . So and interestingly enough , the contact count was way lower than normal . I finished the activation with 57 . But , to truthfully , I was out there doing a dual purpose thing . So I was testing my new solar power setup and whether or not it'll Provide enough power to potentially charge the laptop as well .
Right , and that that's kind of what I've been working on this week , and you know so I wasn't . I wasn't super worried , you know . I mean I was . I was calling CQ and then , you know , like I'd take a break , I'd mess with the solar panel and then I'd call CQ again and then once I got spotted , people were . People were rolling in .
But yeah , I mean , as long as you're out there and you haven't fun , like that's what matters .
Yep big old FUN Cool . I well , I found that question with Tim he was talking about . His question was is an islands on the air hunter Responsible for logging the contact , or is it like soda ? You know that answer , mike . They keep track of it for the US Islands program .
Yep , I Think the only thing and I haven't had the opportunity to do this yet , but there is a process for Qualifying an island , so and that's when it's done for the first time there's there's some restrictions then that I think the activator has to do . I don't , but I don't think I've been in that situation Before , at least not that I remember so .
But other than that it's it's kind of like . So I think it's like you just keep track of the stuff on your own and that's it pretty low-key .
But Now , and so , from that standpoint , both people have to submit to the program in order to be able to get credit for that . Or is it just personal logging and you know the contact confirmation ?
No , it's , it's . You just keep track of this . There's no submission of the logs or anything .
Oh , you keep it on your own .
Yeah , yeah , like an honor . Oh , wow , the website at all .
Yeah , and that kind of just disconnects the whole like camaraderie of like hey , I hunted you , you worked me , and you know , hey , let's you know , keep you know making contact . So yeah , that's kind of a bummer .
Yeah , most of it like they've got , um , you know , they got it like a slack channel and and and so when I've done the last two island activations I've posted right in the slack . Real quick , hey , I'm heading out to , you know this islands and you know , look for me on the Poda spotting site and that's that .
And yeah , oh , let the guys know and stay keep track of it and that's what I'm gonna have to do when I go down the st John , the US Virgin Islands , three quarters of the islands and that is a pota park .
So every beach , basically every beach that there's basically two towns on it's st John's about nine square miles , and three-quarter of it's a national park and yeah , it'll be . It's also an island , so I'm guessing I could probably just call out Iota Pota .
Everything except soda .
pretty much yeah well , you know there's there's some peaks on there too . So who knows , maybe I can go take a hike and get all three at once , but I don't know how to do some research before I go out there .
Cool , I think you grabbed that question for Bill there .
Yeah , it's a confusing thing and in my video I think I corrected myself on the screen because I kept saying US islands on the air . But it's , it's technically US islands awards program , you know , and I got confused the first time I heard about it and you know I was signing up for Iota and Little .
That I know it's like nope , that's a completely different thing . You know there's so many different on the airs , but yeah , this one .
I don't know if Mike can answer directly .
It might reveal his location , but I Wish I was in this cabin , man , I did , you know , and Michael's out here in Rochester with me . We've done like a lot of potas and sodas together , but now , man , I'm just in the basement with with a weak green screen . That's all Very cool in the dream .
That's what we all do , right , we're hoping for the big one , big score , cool . So funny is , like Paul , you mentioned , you're going down to Florida in April . I got something scheduled probably like beginning of March . I'm actually doing a .
I convinced the family for road trip because it's a baseball season for the son in college , so he's on a road trip all the way down to North Carolina Actually , no , yeah , it's about North Carolina and then he's driving down North Carolina via the team and then driving all the way back up and playing baseball everywhere and anywhere .
So I convinced the family and , and before I even get the words out of my mouth , my wife's like well , how many poda parks do you have on the route going down ? Like what do you mention that ? Well , like when do we want to really leave ?
And so we were kind of talking about you know the timeframes and schedules and and so it's benefited me at this point now because she's like well , we need time to just stretch and stuff .
So as long as I plan those routes , so I hit like one state every way down , you know , I think I'll be in good shape to be able , like you know , add a few to the , the state's list there and in my pota Awards . But you know , I Do the only drawback those .
I looked at the radar and the forecast , seven-day forecast going forward , and it's supposed to be rain and I'm like Rain come on , like you know , of course , but it wouldn't be any different of his baseball right , todd .
Well , listen , if she doesn't want to go , I'll be glad to take her place .
It's not that she doesn't want to go to the pota park , she she wants to go to the baseball stuff . So , like , if I could figure out how to fly her direct and she could just sit with the bus on the team , you know she should be happy , but you know I've got another agenda , as they say .
So Keep , keep an eye on me in the spotting page for that and then hand-alert , so I'll , you know , hopefully be making a couple contacts with anybody anybody for that matter .
Yeah , how far so , how far south when , when we hit your new state , did you do New Jersey ?
yet or that's a good question I've done oh no , actually I don't know if I've done Jersey , let me go . Well , you're kind of you're probably get New Jersey .
You can probably work your way over to Pennsylvania and you could do Delaware , Maryland , Virginia .
North Carolina . I'm gonna check on my boy Sound good .
Yeah , I have not done Delaware , I've not done DC , I haven't done Connecticut , and that's sad because I have family down there and I could probably activate relatively easy Maryland .
I got New England before you did . That's pretty amazing .
Well you eat well , england man , if you look at the map , well you know , if my maps I look up , it's , it's not , but anyway , Only half of Connecticut , right , because the other half is like New York .
You know they're like in New York fans and then you get the . It's like the state split in half . True , the northern half is right .
Yeah , it is that . True , it's a far with that . I didn't think I had Rhode Island . I'm like I've been down in Rural Island three or four times , you know because of my son for college and I know we activated . So yeah , I got that at least . So you know , that's sort of technically New England , right .
I don't have New York yet , so but I'll be getting that this summer for sure .
Hey Rob .
Good to see you in the .
Cooperstown area right .
Yeah , I forget what the taggadot look up the town , but he's got a Memorial Day weekend is a tournament , so we're gonna be down there like the whole weekend . So I'll I'll let you know when it is , and I know there's some parks around there so I'm gonna at least activate there's there's no shortage of parks in New York .
Yeah , well , I was you got to do a little bit more work to make sure it's not like a two-fer or a three-fer and Some of the locations depending where you are . But yeah , let me know and I'll even let you know , if it , if there's a two-fer , three-fer to look for okay , cool , yeah , I did .
well , I did . Issa was telling us there's a park that basically runs up the Connecticut River , all the way from Connecticut , all the way New Hampshire , vermont . It's one huge Park and I did one in Vermont and I did it as a two-fer and it was actually a three-fer . Is this ? Whatever it is ?
He's like oh , you got to look this one up and I looked it up and I'm like the it's huge , it's like the whole Connecticut River and then on either side it just kind of goes all the way down south to Connecticut .
So you always have to check that out because you know when you go on the potum app it doesn't say , oh , you're by the way in two , because the little dot is like way down in Connecticut , but when you click on it and you see where it is , it's the whole . So , yeah , definitely have to look into that .
Yeah , there's a . Really we have a very long Large park in New York , that Erie Canal way national heritage corridor . It's kilo six , five , three , two and , yeah , I actually live in it . It Spant like most . The Erie Canal goes , you know , pretty much across the state of long if you interstate 90 , the New York State , through a and and it's a .
It's a nationally designated park and it includes Pretty much all the towns that the canal passes through . So where , where you think of a trail in poda , you know you think of it . You just got to be a hundred feet from what what the trail is .
But Instead of this being a trail , it's a corridor and it has a map and the boundaries and the boundaries are . That includes multiple towns , multiple counties , just like the Adirondack State Park too , which is huge and it creates a ton of two furs and three furs and Any .
Any of the the local town parks in my town are in the corridor and and would , with their far , you know , qualify and stuff with the park I was at yesterday in Albany , hudson River , the island one was in the corridor . So it's , it's massive and it's it's nice .
We're fortunate to , you know , have have those opportunities but it's tricky and I found out about two furs and three furs . You know , after activating someone , someone lets you know like oh , by the way .
Yeah , well , you know it's . It's funny is like when you get like you're doing an activator and you get a park to park and then they've got like two or three guys .
And then you've got two or three guys say , and then they all it's like multiple parks , it's like you're logging , it's like it's like a half an hour I'm talking , you gotta log every single person , all three of their parks , all three of your parks , and oh , it's crazy . And then hold on , I got a second .
Oh , so do I Like I've been in that situation where I'm like , holy , it's a lot . I mean , you end up getting like 20 contacts and you're just trying to , you know , to work . Oh , ryan , just uh , he got on , he's down in Australia , so it's all finger .
Where's his phone finger head ?
Yeah , come on , paul , get it up there , he's checked in gotta include it .
There we go .
Ryan .
Very cool .
Thanks for joining us , buddy .
Yes , yeah , what do you like ? What noontime there , or something like that the next day , exactly , cool , hey , I did see Matt's chime in there . Uh , and three van , and yeah , I will hit you up if we go through Pennsylvania , either on the way back or on the way down , because we've got a little time in the schedule .
So I'll be in touch with you to see if we can get that two for together . Cool , all right . Well , so any more kind of questions going on ? If not , I see Rob in the chat , 741 . Glad you're on there , Rob , and so I guess , kind of from a standpoint of you know how to phrase this .
So you know , we kind of actually talked a little bit about some of our POTUS stuff . I mean , obviously it's getting warmer weather now and I know , you know , the next couple of days are supposed to be pretty good in terms of stuff , and you guys got anything lined up going forward or you got anything on the plate you want to get done .
I mean , mike , you traveling a little bit now still , are you back home ?
Yeah , no , I'm traveling . I'm going to be out in . Where am I See ? Next weekend I got to go out to Ohio and then I got to be out to Cleveland , come back and then head out to Albany .
So it's like I'm going to go three and a half , three and a half , four hours west , drive home , drop stuff off , head out , you know , three and a half hours east , be on the road a lot I've already done Ohio so and I'm going out with the kids basketball team . It's a trip for the kids , so it's .
You know I'm not going to squeeze anything in other than like when I'm at hotels I always try to do APRS , winlink and stuff from the hotel quick . You know , just just practice . You know , like programming or repeat or manually . You know , just make sure I keep , you know , some of those things kind of fresh .
I think it's always like a fun exercise and it doesn't always work out , but you know it's , it's good practice Well the failures are the types that you learn from right now .
Successes you can only do so much before you get nothing done .
So Mike has a question that says if you can bring one radio and one intended to a park , what would you pick ? So I'll start with this one . If I'm driving to the park and I don't have to hike anywhere , I'll bring my DX 10 and my buddy pole pro , if I'm what .
I was surprised , but anyway , go on . I was the X 10 piece not the antenna .
Well , I'm saying like , if I don't have to hike anywhere or if I'm working out the back of my Jeep , you know that's a great radio but it's a little bit bulky .
If I'm going to be mobile and I have to walk , like , say , to the beach or leave it , you know a couple you know I got to walk with that and obviously the eight 91 and my , my backpack , my my to-go bag , with my POTA bag . You know it's one backpack , throw it on the thing . It's got everything in it .
It's got the antenna in it , the battery and the eight 91 . So that's what I bring , that's what I think is a good one and I think it's a it's a good pick .
Okay , the DX 10 is a little iffy for me , but you know , I agree with everything else . We've used it . I get it . You know , in essence it's a good radio . I just , you know , I'm just not my my go to if I had to bring one radio , one antenna .
But anyway , if somebody else could pick it up and I'll throw in my , you know , two sets of the ring , after I'm going to pick the guy that has his DX 10 all set up and ready to go at the park .
Anyway another story another time . So for for myself , right ? I mean , I've definitely . I've taken the 7,300 down to Florida . I've activated parks with it . It's not a ton of fun , it really isn't , it's . It's such a big radio compared to the eight 91 , which is my POTA radio .
So I don't know , I would say the POTA radio with the reliance and fed halfway it's . It's the smallest form factor that I can get you know , and that's to me . That's what it's all about . Okay , I don't want to lug a . I don't want to lug a big , heavy radio .
So the the flaw in Todd's , you know kind of , you know pivot on what he wants to bring , is that nine times out of 10 , where are you going ?
If you go to a park , you know , then , yeah , the DX 10 , I would say sticks out no problem , like I would take that just in a heartbeat because you know it's a good radio and and and we've done it before and you know the back to your point of our seven , you know seven park Grove . It was flawless when we needed to use it .
But you know if , if I'm going to a park I don't have never been to , I'm in an area I've never been to . You know I'm going to go with the eight 91 , like Paul said . I mean , my 91 is just , it's reliable , it's set up the way I like it , it's pretty much a flip .
Go to you know radio and I can get my setup done and deployed in five minutes or less and and the antenna is kind of questionable . For me it's like is I can go buddy poll , which I haven't really used a whole lot . I mean it's still , it's in my pot of box but it's not in my pot of kit . So I don't usually take it with me .
But I'm a big wolf or a coil guy just because I love that antenna and I've had really good luck with it , so I'll , I'll do that . But even so , if I , if I'm going to a place I don't know and I'm really kind of packing light , you know , and we've got to create a little sound bite for this one .
But you know , I think it'd be my 91 and you know , a certain bug out antenna by a said , you know , reliance and tennis . That that has been , you know , a phenomenal antenna for me and , you know , one of my favorites so far .
I mean , the hardest part for me is just trying to find a good mask for it , but that can easily be resolved with like a , there we go . So so yeah , that's , that's definitely one of my go to . So my antenna would be definitely res if I was going to a place I had no idea and I needed something to get up quick and go .
And then the 891 is , you know , the , the tried and true there .
So yeah , I agree with you that the 891 I've done 90% of my pot is on . So I took the question as not like what's the most compact or your go to . I was like , if you could pick one , what would you bring ?
And so I'm thinking , like you said , a park , that I'm like the rail trail , like I'm in there a ton of times , like I know exactly where I'm setting up . I'm bringing the DX 10 , but if I was trying a new park , you're right , the 891 and that's a . You know , those of you don't have that radio or just looking to get in the pot , it's a great radio .
I mean it is for POTA , it's 100 Watts , it's never let us down . I mean I thought mine was on the spits , like it was turning on and off , and I found out my battery was dead , you know .
And then I plug it back in and come on for a little bit and then I'm like , oh crap , the battery is dead , but it's a great radio and it is compact and it's that's it does . You know , like I said , it fits in a nice little day pack , you know , a school backpack kind of size , and you're good to go . So and it's , and it's pretty hefty .
I mean Eric , and I put what do we put ? What are those like metal guard rails .
The guard rails I forget the manufacturers . But don't get the plastic ones .
Yeah , thank you . We tried doing like we had someone 3D print them and Eric took it on like the first trip and it was broken . I'm like , oh , you must have a defect one . And then I took it on a trip and mine were breaking left and right . And then we're like , yeah , we got to get the metal ones .
So but you know , you put that it protects the knobs and , like I said , I just throw it in the bag and it's been fine . It's pretty heavy duty for radio and it's it's pretty rugged . So definitely , definitely the I . In my opinion , it's probably the ultimate photo radio for all things . And that's why I keep asking YSU and if anyone from YSU is here .
I want an upgrade .
You know I want to . I want a DX 10 mini size or right , with a hundred Watts , with a waterfall and everything .
I'm going to be that one out . So I'm not going to say the YSU , I'm going to go with the 7300 , that I'm picking one radio and and you know , because I'm picking one radio , one antenna , I'm going to go with the 7300 because if I want to run digital it's a heck of a lot easier with the icon versus the YSU .
And I go back and forth and I like to do both things and stuff . And my first radio was G 90 and that was , you know , a whole bunch of cables and finagling to try to get that to work with WSJTX and everything early on .
But you know you can make it work but it's so much easier with the icons so I would , I would pick that and I have the 7300 and the 705 . I'd go with the 7300 because you know it's more , it's more juice . You know you got more power . You don't know what to expect .
But the tuner and I love using I don't use it all the time , but I love that it has the emergency tuner feature on the 7300 . We put it in emergency mode .
It's going to limit it to 50 Watts , which is more than enough for portable , but you're going to get like a 10 to one plus , you know , tuning range and if you , if , if you need it , you know , and you want to make that 80 meter , you know N Fed work 60 meters or something like that , you know you can do it , I've done it and you know I'm done it
just to get a couple quick park to parks on 60 meters or something like that . It's , it's nice to have that option . But for the antenna , you know we encounter all these things like oh , can we put stakes in the ground ? Can we put wires in the tree ? Can I activate from the parking lot ? How much space do I have or not ?
And you know I said it in that last video , the , the Wolf River coils , was my first antenna . It's , it's a good antenna . But what really makes it a great antenna is the flexibility for deployment , because I use it on a mag mount , I use it on the tripod .
I've got one of those clamp mounts that I just clamp onto the picnic table or a fence post and do it that way , and you know it's not going to perform as well as an N Fed , you know , or dipole or anything like that . And I love using wire antennas .
But it's a nice option to have if you don't know what to expect , because you can put it up a couple different . You know ways and you can work multiple bands and stuff . But you know I said earlier with the mass , the same way with the antennas man , if I find the perfect one , then I'll stop buying them , I'll stop making them .
You know , I just got no , you know you had random wire from that . I just bought the reliance one , like after the , the live stream we did a week or so ago and I I'm debating on you know what length I want to do , and I might even do a linked random wire with a few different lengths , like 2941 and 71 and and stop , we'll see .
But uh , you know we get . I operate portable . I don't have anything at home , I don't have a permanent setup . So everywhere I go there's different opportunities and challenges and you just got to be able to adapt . But I'm . 891 is a great radio , g90 is a great radio . 7300 it's heavy . I use it portable a bit .
You know I'm not gonna do a soda with it .
Okay so , but like so , when you say portable , you're doing portable mostly from your car , right , like in that sense with the 7300 , have you ?
done any car picnic table ? Yeah but , I Call it one of you know the ham way . Again , I got one of those collapsible carts from Lowe's and you know that , you know , you see , you know you know the soccer families , you know carrying .
They got the camping chairs and all that stuff and you know I'll , I'll hike in , you know short distances with a you know fair amount of gear that more than I totally need if I , if I need to , but , um , but , ultimately , like the 7300 stays in a pelican case or not , that a patchy one , that the knockoff from Harbor Freight and it's bulky , it's heavy .
I use the 705 more probably because it's everything , including antennas , and the mass is all in like a nice backpack and it's just grab-and-go . But but there's , it's good radio . And I've used , I've used a 91 a few times to . It's nice . You know , I don't know .
It's okay so far .
I've you , I've used , used it from a few others that have had it , and it's like the form factor , when you look at the size of that compared to you know , like what I'm used to with the 7300 , it's like night and day and I mean , if they could , if they could , just you know , like I wish Yezu , who was watching and listening now , because , like you know
, to update , like the 857 , 891 , or , you know , I do like all band , all mode , and and the 857 , which had VHF and UHF . You know there was a new version of that coming out that had a built-in sound card . I don't need a waterfall , you know , especially for mobile or portable , but you have something like that .
That's all mode , um , all band , built-in sound card . It can , you know , work the hell out of the ATOS , which can still do , you know , two , 70 centimeters , but you're not gonna get that with the 891 . I mean that , just I think the pota people would just eat that up .
Yeah , well , it's getting so popular , like you said earlier . I mean I I can't imagine that all these companies aren't looking to kind of , you know , get into that that thing , because I think people that are doing pota are gonna .
You know , they're looking for better radios that are more portable , that can do a little bit more stuff , a little bit easier menu Like . My only downfall with the 891 is like the menu is ancient , right , it's , it's not easy to to kind of Navigate . I mean it's , it's , it's doable , but it's just not as it's not as user-friendly , right .
But , like you said , I've got it set up where I really don't use any of the . I mean I have what I need to do pretty much . I don't never have to fiddle with it , because when you're out there doing a park you know You're pretty much you're either hearing it or you're not .
So but you know any of these companies like if they took like the 705 and they somehow got more like a hundred , made that into a hundred watt radio , like I'd switch , I'd buy that .
Yes , it's funny that you say that , mike , because , like I feel like the Yezu camp is all about , like I wanted to look like the 705 , but I want a hundred watts . I could care less about fusion . Don't put fusion in it . Please , we beg you , don't put fusion in it . But at the same time , like you know , having all mode , all band is like it's .
It's my frustration that you know , and I've said this several times it's like Yezu . Stop making the 710 the field ratio , the field radio . It is not a field radio , it's not , it's a 710 home base station . Stop putting the word field in front of it and making it . You know , playing it up from a marketing perspective , like it's a .
You know , you know it's a great portable radio , it's , it's a big radio and you know it's a great one . I'm not gonna deny it . But you know , at the same time , you're not thrown it in a backpack . No , no , yeah , you're definitely not enough for the investment that's .
That's where , if if I want to take a shack in the box out out in the field , it's the 706 mark 2g .
Yeah , I would say that it's , it's compact , it's .
It's not much bigger than the 891 , but you've got the added versatility of the UHF VHF .
Yeah , yeah . I wish I would see more of those .
We , we better . I mean , that's the only way that the the radio hobby can stay alive is they start iterating and making . You know , if they look at the off , the ignore poda and they're just like you know , whatever , we'll just keep producing what we do .
It's just a , you know it's kind of a slap in the face a little bit , but at the same time it's like also like you know , the people that are making those decisions are . You know they need a change in the regime , I guess stuff . You know it's kind of step . You know , stay with lockstep with that stuff .
But let me get off my soapbox here first . So the one thing with poda too is that , if you look , it's getting more popular , like overseas as well . So we're getting you know , like it started in the United States and now it's like you're starting to see more and more parks pop up .
I'm starting to hear more and more people activating , you know , over in Europe . You know , I mean I even got a park in New Zealand which is , you know , kind of crazy , but I mean I think is , as it grows and it gets more worldwide , I think you're gonna see . I think you're gonna see more .
I think that the companies are gonna have to start really not ignoring it or not addressing and say , okay , we've made enough base stations , we need to start focusing on this mobile stuff , and I think they Probably make more of a profit because I think most guys that are in hams they already got their base station and it's not like they're gonna be going out
and buying new base stations every time a new model comes out , but more , less affordable , like I got like a cheaper , radio , cost wise and portable , mobile , smaller . I mean look at HTs . Every time an HT comes out , there's like half the hams are buying it . So maybe that would happen with the poda .
You know , community , that if a new radio came out People might bag and then have a couple of them . You know , have a couple of portable radios that they might have this To pick from for dependent on what they want .
Well , speaking of newer radios and stuff , you know I hope that and I know it's expensive as hell , but I hope that the new Kenwood HT is selling well because I want them , you know , to continue to . You know , come out with new radios . I think they alluded to maybe dropping a mobile radio , a new version of a mobile radio next , and stuff .
But , um , you know , I do want more people who have 220 , so I do want , you know , more people with a try band . Yeah , but Like you know , if you know , if I hope that they're successful , you know , because I want to see competition , I want to see , I want to see if it's just gonna end up being . Yes , you and I come Going back and forth .
You know that's a challenge . But when you have the G90 , you know that was something that was a lot in an official way , it was a lot in an affordable package . It was my first radio and you got 20 watts , a tuner and a scope which at $400 , was like oh and you know , and that helps kind of push .
I think some of the other manufacturers you have the was the FX4 CR . Now , 20 watts and a redonkulously small form factor . Yeah , and it's phenomenal . You know 20 watts and built-in sound card .
You know you got the built-in sound card .
That's great too and you know , and hopefully you know , these things like help push the others , because we don't get new radios every year or all the time from the big manufacturers .
But hopefully you know the interest that , yes , you know the FX4 , cr and stuff have seen , like you know , help kind of drive the need for these radios that are smaller form factor or are more affordable . All bands , all modes , all these different things .
Like technically , with that FX4 CR and a dipole or a wire antenna and a small battery , I mean you can literally have a whole HF setup in your front pocket . Like really , I mean that's pretty amazing , really pocket sized . Yeah yeah , I mean that's crazy and that and I've seen yours , eric , I think it's just awesome .
I mean I was shocked how it's well built , it's sturdy , it's not like cheaply made and it's got that . It's got everything you need on it . It's just amazing . So , like I mean he's got it . He says , hey , this is my beach poda setup and I was like what do you get ? I had no idea what it was and then I saw it .
I was like , oh , like that thing is awesome .
I did say that . Now it's on YouTube . Thank you , Paul . Yes , I will let you bar it and let you drool over it and then realize that it's on a tanium .
But competition is a good thing . It's good to have choices for everyone's style , everyone's price point . But competition is good and we see it when we've talked a lot about the Wilfrid for coil . There's no shortage of coil antennas out there now . That's a good thing .
You know that there's like that innovation and some of them it's just like a really over premium build quality . Others it's going to be , you know , it's going to come down to the durability or it's going to come down to the bands or price point , things like that . But it's good .
I want to see that competition because it's going to there's going to be more options for people .
Yeah , the only thing just quick sidebar with that is that , like at least in the space , I see and I kind of see this like very big divide , like you've got the big four or big three , however you want to slice it .
I mean , they do their own thing and they kind of do it , like at least my opinion in a vacuum and a lot of times they don't take a lot of feedback per se from the you know the populace and just our you know community as a whole .
But then you've got all of the smaller crew like you're talking about , like the Res and Ten is , you know , like the Wolf of Recoils , the FX4 , sierra guys . They tend to be a lot more agile to be able to adjust to the needs or the demands and a lot of times they're very much you know already in the thick of it .
I think you know if Yehzu spent more time , I mean , obviously we're a small market space , so they've got . You know we're not going to be like the loudest voice . You know that's going to be mobile marine and all of that stuff for them , and you know the public safety stuff . So you know we're not going to be the voices . So a lot of the stuff .
But yeah , I know exactly right . But at the same time , you know it's , you know they shouldn't dismiss us fully . I mean they should be really kind of thinking like , hey , reach out to those folks . I mean the YouTube community is huge with like people doing reviews and stuff .
I'm sure they'd be like , yeah , here's the top five things we think you should do .
Go , do one of the four at least you know , and so you know , eric , I think too is like with the technology and the availability of . I mean , look at the people that are private , not huge companies , coming out with really good products . You know , I think you're going to see more of that .
You're going to start seeing people who are going to come up with designs . You know , like you know , even like the Reds antenna I mean , that's a fairly new antenna and I don't know how long it's been around , but I keep looking at that thing . It's a lot of money , but it is such a it's like a work of art , it's so right . Have you seen it , mike ?
It's just like I'm like , I want that , like that is going to be .
Ryan , can you drive over to Todd's house and just move his mouse over and press . You know pay .
Yeah .
He's having a difficult time .
Yeah , but I mean , but I mean , but you'll start to see , like , even , like you know , eric , you're in your little radio there that the guy , whoever built it in , wherever he's from , where's he from China , or something yeah , yeah , he created that , he took a time , he developed it , made it and now , like you , can't even get it because everyone wants it ,
because it's such , you know , and he made a good quality piece . So maybe we'll see , maybe we'll see some of that , maybe we'll get some some really engineer type quota guys that are like you know what , if they're not going to build one , I'll build one and I'll sell it on Etsy or something , yeah .
Well , I mean , like a croaky PRP , he doesn't sell a radio whatsoever and he's super popular yeah .
He's got some good stuff on there .
Yep , that's for sure . Cool , all right . Well , you know we're getting kind of a little bit past the hour here so I don't want to cut into too much time , but thank you guys for all . You know participate and we love the questions .
Are there any other last kind of AMAs that we want to questions out there , paul , that we want to kind of throw in the ming before we kind of put our last two cents in and wrap things up here ? Yeah , nothing , I can see . No , it looks like everything's pretty clean in the chat . Yeah , exactly , last call , last call , last call , All good .
So yeah , with that , you know it's been fun . You know , mike , thanks for coming on . You know this is an important hit in the background . We're glad to have you on and always enjoy your company and insight . You know love you know it definitely showed a love here to Mike , to his channel and check him out .
It's Mike N2MAK on YouTube and , as always , you know , you've got the Lyft-Free and Ham gang here , myself and oneJUR and Paul's got his channel going there . So , and Todd just started too . So you know , definitely go over here and like his . He's got no videos yet , but , you know , surprise him , give him at least 10 followers .
So you know , maybe he can get with the video . He can get with the video . Yeah , he can be viral of no videos whatsoever .
Working on it . Working on it . It'll be coming up sooner than later . Very cool All right , well , cool .
So I guess with that we'll kind of wrap things up . So , as always , just in closing , you know thanks for joining Lyft-Free and Ham , our live event for February . So I appreciate all the love there and the 17 folks that have been on here and the likes . So definitely keep it coming .
As always , if you haven't subscribed to our podcast , you can head on over to Lyft-Free and Ham and or on any of your . You know we stream on every pod platform . So give us a quick look in the shows , love and subscribe and , if you feel so , led .
You know we've gotten a few , but you know feel free to leave a review on iTunes or head over to our website and comment on any of our previous shows . And we're always on social media . We're on Instagram and Facebook and YouTube . So make sure you're part of all of those channels to stay on top of all of the action that's going on .
We've got some great shows that are coming up soon . So , you know , make sure you subscribe to that feed and , you know , listen in on it . And with that , you know if you want to contact any of us , obviously , mike , how can they reach out to you if they need to or want to .
I'm on Twitter , on social media , but it's my last name , which is Kenner Connect , so if you can spell it like that , you know you're like the amateur extra spell or just like , but you'll find me by . You can just find me a call sign on Twitter and then just the YouTube channel , mike and 2MAK .
All right , very cool . And , as always , you can find all of the hosts here Todd myself , ryan over on livefreeandhamcom . And with that , thank you guys .
Oh yeah , we got you know , ryan , and we're going to have to improve our marketing budget here to make sure we have actually , like , you know , bigger , you know finger foam sticks for Ryan , or something like that . We'll keep working on that idea . So with that , as always , thanks again for watching , and 7-3 . 7-3 guys in .
March .