Live Show - Power Couples of Ham Radio

In the basement of dreams . We gather round the mic Talking ham and freedom . It's all we really like . Transmission waves and laughter in the air tonight . Tune in live free and Ham . It's gonna be a sight . We got stories , we got guests , we got truth to tell , breaking all the rules .

I love that song . It's awesome and my you know sincerest thanks goes out to Mr OG over there coming up with some awesome tunage for our intros to Live Free in Ham . You know those in the chat . Let us know . Did you like that tune , you know ? Does it have a catchy rhythm to it ? I'm totally .

It's the Live Free in .

Ham podcast man . Yeah , totally All right . Well , hey , good evening everybody and welcome to the Live Free in Ham live stream for the month of January . Yes , hey , we're in January .

No , I do yeah , I always . I'll listen to each episode two or three times .

Awesome . Well , how about you Todd you a listener ? You're muted .

My friend Unmute we all , there we go , yeah , um , yeah , I got it on , um , I go through it and , uh , I get through it through the week . You know bits at a time when I'm driving . So , yeah , yeah , it's good , awesome , all right . Well , I can't believe .

I gotta finish the first one dude , we're gonna run out of topics . That's my fear . I wake up in the middle of the night going what are we gonna talk about ? I forgotten . We always imagine to make it happen , though .

You know it's , it's well , that's . That's . That's when we could just explore all the rabbit holes that we , that we don't fully fall down .

Well , it's you know . Now I understand Shane's stress . Like you know , if you call yourself a ham radio show , you have to talk ham radio . It's not like you just go down a rabbit hole and talk about absolutely nothing , like you know quahogs or something , I don't know . It's just one of those things . It's a challenge , my friend .

So retirement can't come soon enough .

True that ? True that that countdown timer is probably going to have another set of batteries ? Do that ?

that countdown timer is probably going to have another set of batteries . Uh , put it in by the end of the month . I'll be down . I'll be under 2500 days tick tock , mr rich .

Tick tock , all right . So with that you can always get , like I said , early discount releases and other cool stuff . So what are you waiting for ? You need to head over there , check that out . Come be part of our patreon crew .

uh , well , you well you know , um , I'm , uh , I'm packing some stuff , uh , uh , considering uh taking the show on the road for a little while . Um , so , yeah , so it's , it's been a a bit of uh planning and prepping and uh , but uh , yeah , I'm looking forward to very cool Sweet .

Well then , that's a sounds like a good plan . You know well to keep us abreast on that and let us know when , when the wheel starts spinning there and content starts flowing . That'll be fun . Very cool , todd . How about you ? What's been going on with your hair every week ?

I've been , I think I've , I think I've just gotten over pneumonia Not diagnosed , but I'm not a big fan of doctors .

Self-diagnosed .

Self-diagnosed . I went through the stuffiness and I got the cough and then I had the trouble breathing and then I got to the point where I'd get up and I ran to Wally World and had to pick up a few things . I was probably gone an hour . I needed a four-hour nap . So that's typically what happens when I get pneumonia , which isn't that often .

Sounds good . What about you , Eric ?

How was your ?

week . My ham radio week is probably similar to you guys . It's been a little rough , bumpy week . I haven't played much in the ham radio space , although it's always up in my screens .

water . I got my water . The invisible water . Yeah , the invisible water , it's here somewhere . There you go .

Glenn Mar invisible . It's here , somewhere , there you go , uh , glenn morangi , 12 years . Right , it looks like it's almost yesterday it was it was about . It was about three quarters it wasn't full full .

Well , the good news is , with that glass you can pace it out for longer periods of time instead of something like a thermos . Oh cool , all right . Well , you know we've been kind of fooling around here a little bit .

She's gonna hear nothing . I will know everything that's going on in the world and she will be in the dark the amount of how much she makes fun of me . But you know , it's all . It's all good . Yeah , at least she lets me do it . You know very much , though .

Oh , but you don't know anyone in Australia to call , so I guess you can't we see Julie and Vaughn in the background pointing fingers at each other during that whole cell phone that's the kind of band , that's the kind of banter we go on .

But uh , you know she's very supportive of , of my hobby and she , uh , she's been pretty good with uh in the beginning when supporting our , our uh podcast and show here she , uh , she did a lot of of social media pounding and sent it out to , I think , every ham radio , every ham radio that she could find on Facebook .

They were like who's this living for you ? And ham people , we don't know what the heck you're talking about .

But hey , she'll support us , so that's good , Very cool .

All right . Well then , let's not waste any time . Let me introduce our guests , so I'm going to bring on first Mike and Becky from Ham Radio Duo . Hey guys , hello everybody .

Thanks for having us Very cool .

And we love having you guys , we're so glad that we finally got all this , uh , you know , worked out in paper , um , and we'll have you on . But you know , with that , we , you know , we're gonna bring on julian vaughn here from uh , poter power 2 as well .

We did , yep . Yeah , we both did a back-to-back poda activations . Yeah .

It was a little bit . It was a little bit chilly , but we got out Saturday instead of Sunday and we're like dropped 20 degrees by Sunday . So we picked the right day , but we went to a new place in the same park for us and it was great .

Yeah , and we're from . We're from Alabama , so we're weather webs , so like .

Chili is what like 55? .

In the lower 40s . I mean it wasn't .

Okay , 40s that's t shirt and short weather up here in New .

England . Yeah , that's when my kids it's 14 right now .

It's a ball , for I think it's actually gonna be 14 tonight here , which is rare , but cool , so you guys did you also say yesterday , instead of doing an activation , we did some hunting from the house , so that was fun also okay , cool , nice .

Now you guys assume a helm shack too as well . You just do portable from like the porch .

No , we have a 7300 . And actually when the weather's nice we like to set up like the same poda gear that we use portable in the backyard for practice and also just because we can actually be outdoors and enjoy the weather , but not these days , yeah .

Okay , cool , awesome , be outdoors .

And enjoy the weather but not these days .

Yeah , okay , very cool , awesome , so . So really , I gotta ask from between the two of you and this is , you know , kind of just a lead into something else um , who's the person who makes the most contacts this weekend ?

I think you did , I did , yeah . Yeah , I had 20 cw during the activation but we started getting cold so it was kind of we were ready to wrap it up .

Yeah , and , and in particular , we were using the , the uh , a relatively new radio from uh Jonathan , uh uh , the the CFT one , and so we first used that .

Very cool . Yeah , I heard a little bit about the CFT-1 . It's a nice little radio and it's much different . It's sort of like I wouldn't say a brother or sister to the mountaintopper , but sort of kind of in that same field so yeah .

So the joke is , when there's a female on the microphone , it's like you get what ? 10 dbs more , yeah , so what cw ? How does that ? Work right like okay , right but I did get more contacts so I guess , and higher so all right , true ?

should we ? Should we tell eric ? Should we tell them how you cheat ? No , we're not gonna , we'll talk about that later that that's a thing so you guys , he cheats .

I don't cheat . I have a daughter who has a radio license . We'll get into that later . Um fine , get it out of your system .

Go just hurry up Go , he programs her into his radio and then calls CQ with the recording and then gets all the people calling in and then they're like where's the ?

YL . Yep , yeah Well , I do that only in a break class scenario , so like when the bands are really , really horrible and I can't make sideband contacts . That's when I use that rule , that's where I'm sticking with it and running that way , ain't nobody got time for that Exactly Cool , all right .

Yeah , I think so . I think people comment and especially , I use a straight key Like that is my 100% preference , whether I'm at the house , or portable key Like that is my a hundred percent preference , whether I'm at the house or portable , I use a straight key , so I think people can recognize it a little bit .

Yeah , very cool , awesome , all right . Well , we're going to dive more into that in a second , but so over to to , uh , julian Vaughn there . So you know , you guys obviously are very POTA centric and you know your sideband specific .

Well , how'd you guys do ? Did out play poda ? We did , we absolutely did . Uh , I think we did what , um , in between saturday and sunday probably did close to 300 contacts about that .

Yeah , we went out and we were at mike ross , I don't remember mike ross , it's in keystone heights . We went out there and it was beautiful it it was absolutely gorgeous . So when it's pretty out I like to be outside . So we just we just worked it until it kind of fell apart . So we ended up doing yeah , about close to 300 .

Okay , yeah , oh , yeah , definitely .

I am a crybaby , yep 42 degrees by the way , another one .

Yeah , I got it Okay yeah definitely , I am a crybaby .

I lived in Alaska , but that's a long time ago .

We live in Florida for a reason not because it's 42 degrees .

Okay , we copied that loud and clear .

Yeah , they're not sorry for us .

No Cool , all right . Well , dude , contacts is is quite a an amazing feat now , is that , I assume , just add one given park ? Is that over the entire weekend ? No , okay all right , cool . And how many parks was that over the entire weekend ? Just two , oh , holy crap . Okay , then you're putting me to shame .

He puts my voice on the radio too .

So it's pretty easy .

Good man .

Good man , I think the 7300 , I pre-record her voice on there and just look at him .

It's funny though , because it backfires , because they tell him , I wasn't calling you . There's another station .

Oh yes , I'm sure you've got your regular crowd of regulars too , that I can identify you pretty quickly .

A lot of them are on here right now .

Very cool . Well , dude , that's awesome . So let's kind of get into some of the details . So we'll start with Mike and Becky . So you obviously probably get this question a lot .

So , um , I first got interested in ham radio because of emergency prep kind of stuff . Um , I think the Amazon uh recommended a radio to me and I got it thinking I'll just use this in case there's an emergency . Um , and then , uh , thought harder about it and thought I should probably do this the legit way and and uh and get my ticket .

I didn't really even think I was going to get on the air or get my license or anything , I just thought oh , morse code , that's fun .

So we started watching Ed and Chantel , who do pod activations together on CW , and I thought and I and I kept on just kind of subtly saying you should watch this , you should watch this , you should watch this , and then she finally watched one , and then she's like I guess I could study for that that looks like fun .

Maybe we could do that together , and so I got my ticket . And we just started hunting first , and then we thought well , we like to travel and we like to hike , and let's get out to a park .

And that's kind of how it started Now .

Do you normally just like so , Mike , when you first started out , were you you know you had a QRP kind of kit together , or were you just using your 7300 when you're going out ?

Now , was it more harder on the send side or on the receive ?

On the receive side . So we actually .

I couldn't decode at any speed at all because I memorized all the dits and does and I just couldn't get over that oh , and I I got to be on the fortunate side of that is he learned a different way and said no , try learning this way , and so I learned it differently than he did right from the beginning , and I think that's why I was able to pick it up

Yeah , yeah . I kind of feel like there's there's enough parts about doing just CW and activations that are hard enough that it's like I regularly appreciate that I've got got somebody next to me that can be my other half of my brain , yeah no-transcript shack back in the 90s and um running back and forth .

We live in the ocala national forest out here in florida and uh , so buzzing back and forth , um , we always got a little pickup trucks with cv radios in them and , not knowing nothing about swrs and all that , I burned that radio shack radio slap up and uh , with that antenna that I got from there and went into a cv shop .

Okay , nice , all right , so go ahead . Julie , I know you've got an interesting story in this one .

Well , I was your typical , absolutely 100 . We were married 15 years and I was your stereotypical . Why are you out in the front yard with an antenna ? Our neighbors are talking about you , wife . Um , he , absolutely . Um , I . I removed slowly his ham shack from the living room , from the house .

If you do , you're going to ruin all of your visitors when you do your live streams , because that's a guaranteed dependent when you were watching to see what is Julie going to ? Say when she's actually in the moment .

There's never any telling . It's completely unscripted and it's really just who we are every day . Our , our child thinks that we're nuts . We have a 15 year old and he thinks we're crazy . Um , but he's just , he just shakes his head and he , he uses the YouTube to communicate with us .

Everybody on our channel is busting her chops every chance she gets about I'm busy well , if you know our channel , todd's been studying for his extra for about a year and a half now , so you're all set . You're way out of the car . It's hard , it , it's hard , it is hard .

The problem that I have is time , because if we're not home doing kid stuff , we're in park doing park stuff and the only time I really get to sit down and really I know I know Captain Don , I know Don , and the only time he's a regular bust my chops . But the only time I get to study is like when we're on long road trips .

So we do .

But we really want to get it done before hamcation , so we'll see . Yeah , I know , I know it's a problem , I'm sorry , but he actually just he texted me , says how's the studying going , and I was like I feel like Neo from Matrix . It's just all at once . Thanks , jacob .

But it's just TikTok , Jacob .

It's just TikTok , mr Wick , but I'm doing it . I am . I'm slowly but surely doing it . I am a perfectionist , though , and if I'm going to test , I need to get 100 . If she don't ace it , she won't take it .

I struggle with that . What happens if you pass and they say you pass , but you missed a couple ? Is it going to become null ?

and void . I don't want to know , you don't even tell her , you don't want to know the actual pass-fail rate .

Okay , good , that's fine , I understood .

We're not going to Alcatraz again until we get our general . We tried so hard , I tried so hard to get out the trash and I couldn't on 10 meters by the time I got home from work .

So , paul , what's the phrase about the doctor ?

oh well , all right yeah , no , no , no .

So so it the person that graduates the first year class , the person that graduates the last year class they're still doctor , it doesn't , it doesn't matter , right ? so you need to get uh , you need to get uh . What is it ?

If you want to surpass . And here's a little tidbit if you want to surpass vaughn and get your extra , I'll send you a link for a club that you know is in our local area up here that they do twice a year . They do like an extra in a weekend .

Literally got my extra that you know that sunday so if you ever ask eric how well he uh , he remembers those extra questions . Zero , zero , my friend it's insane .

So when I study I go back through all of the chapters and just retake the test , and the further I get in the study , the the longer that part takes , and I get so angry at the stuff that I don't remember , because it's stupid stuff , right , it's dumb stuff , but , and it's stuff that I'll probably never use . But oh , that's Robbie Robbie .

Yeah , we got a real good following over there .

They're super sweet they are . They are super awesome . We love to hear all of the fun people that come across . I have banter . They love to poke me and say , go Alabama .

And go Ohio . I struggle .

My kids are watching the game right now . I won't even turn the TV on for it .

It's funny , we were actually in a park playing one day and the very last call , and I'm glad I took it because it was the 1000 it was number 1000 . It was a guy from england that was listening to us for like two hours and he goes . I'm just telling you it was the most entertaining two hours of radio . And then we're like I don't know why .

We're just having fun playing radio we still don't understand because people like we're just literally fun playing radio . We still don't understand Because people like we're just literally just sitting there and talking to each other the way that we normally do and so like I all the time I'm like we had we had 1000 views on that video .

I don't understand what you're saying what are the ? What are y'all doing ?

So but it's fun we watch ourselves to just just see he makes faces I don't pay attention to .

Yeah , that's why I thought , you know , I thought just for for fun I would uh take the tech technician license over again . Just see if I failed that oh yeah , I believe I would too I've been doing it for 20 plus years I failed it it .

He goes it's so easy , you can totally take it . You don't even need to study it . I was like yeah , okay .

Well .

I'm just going to say Good news is you're still a general .

They don't take it away .

Can't lose it . Lose my mind .

That'd be funny . But he was studying for his extra . I don't know Are , but he was studying for his extra , I don't know , are you ?

still no , I'm too busy doing this stuff .

That's why I say it's hard to study , because we're either we both still work full time , we have kids at home We've got one in high school and so and he wrestles and he plays football , and so we've got all of those things going on , and if we're not doing that , we are literally in the park .

Paul , go ahead If you guys got anything to throw in , keep going .

Well , all right . So we heard about how Julie and Vaughn got started and we heard about how Mike and Becky got started , but , like , where are you guys at now , right ? So , like I always say , this is an adventure in ham radio right , where we start out is nowhere near where we're going to end up in the end .

at now Sorry for the little questions .

Maybe breaking it apart into pieces , uh , so on the CW front , um , uh , it feels like well . So for me personally , like once she got interested in it and we were practicing together and all that kind of stuff , that just like unlocked stuff for me .

But then my biggest challenge I if these little QRP radios , the little QCX , you get on a waiting list for months to get one that's built and I thought Almost a year . Yeah , almost a year , and I said , well , I'll build it .

at this point , I'm just going to you , know you guys can take the show . I'm going to leave . That's impressive , becky . Awesome , I think .

for me , though , it was more about the journey of learning , the journey of trying , the journey of CW . Like you , you can't expect one of the things we say . You can't expect to be a rock star . You know , you don't go buy a guitar thinking you're going to be a rock star on a weekend . Like you have to enjoy practicing and we enjoy practicing together .

So yeah , there's one one day that I was , uh , uh she she plays , plays golf on a regular basis in a lady ladies league and she was off playing golf and I thought I'll play radio . And I was playing radio , calling cq , and then she answered .

We didn't even think about it . That was our first actual . We could log cuso on the air because why , would we get on the air ? With each other Cause we're together most of the time . So , yeah , it's , it's been a journey , but it's happened quick .

And before we just sat back and was like I didn't hear anything . Now I have to ask really quickly , like as a parent and , I know , always trying to find ways with my wife to be able to communicate under the radar with my kids I have you done the CW ?

like on the table and the kids are like what ? The hell are you doing ? I have no idea what we're saying and like and they'll say something like y'all are so weird . Yeah , that's are so weird . Yeah , that's .

They're just so weird .

Yeah , but kind of like speaking a foreign language . We'll even be out at a restaurant and we'll want to say something that maybe we would normally whisper or something . We just say it in Morse code I'll feel him tapping on my leg and I'm like what are you doing ?

Oh , wait , hold on .

Yeah , Mike's in a movie theater with a hand on the knee and all he's doing is basically CQ , CQ . Very cool , Awesome . Go ahead , Todd Paul , fire away man , all right .

Well , what about ? Yeah ? What about Julianne Vaughn ? Oh well okay , your journey .

I have to just say this I'm a I'm a Becky fangirl . I am so impressed with all the things that she does .

She's you are so smart and I'm a general , but I can do it . I did it , you can do it . Yeah , I'll help you .

We'll do it , I can do it . So I did do something brand new this week . I have definitely gotten better at pulling out . You know , now that we have the Facebook going and I'm logging into the software system and uploading and doing all of the different pulling it out , I write it on .

It's fine , you can play with the foot coax . You know you can get it down to a foot , you're fine , and the problem is you know that that coax is expensive , you'll learn you'll learn , but see , you started her on a good set because you started with the best connectors . Those evo connectors are freaking like a cakewalk to put on .

So , yeah , you started good , nice , nice job there . I got a whole full of them . Love those connectors .

It's amazing , so I was really proud . Those are my two really technical , but yes , as far as picking out call signs and stuff like that and hearing through static and through noise floors being able to pull out , I get really excited . When I get one right and he's wrong , that makes me very happy .

On many levels , I'm right and he's wrong . Yeah , that makes me very happy . On many levels , I'm right , you're wrong .

We literally is a competition . Sometimes I swear Because I cheat , though because I'm watching the comments oh yeah , yeah and listening , and so I'm catching up . I'm catching that call sign is Whiskey Ate , charlie Papatango .

I think he's the master of the universe . I'm like how did you even hear that ? Later on he tells me I read it on the screen .

Very cool Our followers are awesome .

They're watching while they're trying to get us in the logbook . It's great For me , though , I had two great Elmers coming up through the ham radio hobby . Really , it's not even a hobby , it's a lifestyle anymore . Amen to that , like literally he got me straight into .

I didn't know what it was at the time , I just knew that he wanted it . I contacted the Elmer Clyde . I was like I need a Christmas present Shoot Wow .

TS447 . Oh , okay , ts447 . And so he actually installed the auto tuner into the radio for me , because it wasn't originally a SAT . He found a tuner on eBay and installed it for me and she gifted it to me for Christmas one year .

I saw a W5 TMP in somebody's Facebook and so it's got to be one of the two of you , because it's not us . So I don't know who knows , terry , but I just want to say we know , terry , yeah , we know Terry . Terry runs W5 . He's a regular Huge shout out Terry's freaking awesome Terry is awesome . He does military VE testing sessions for Glarg .

Yeah , he reaches , he gets us probably , I mean , I think , most of the time .

You got to feed the bear before Angry wife angry life . Yeah , I need to be fed . You got to feed the bear before Angry wife angry life .

Yeah , I get it , I get it .

Mike also gets angry .

This is what happens . I'm looking at my watch going . I'm hungry , I'm hungry .

Babe , we're only 30 contacts in we only needed 10 .

So here's a perfect segue , because I know , mike , andy , like the meals that they prepare . My gosh , like I , I feel like ashamed . I've seen some of your videos where you're like , hey , this is what we're preparing for . You know , going out to do a soda , I'm like really , that's like a salad , a chicken and like a two-course meal .

We go out .

Yeah , that happens a lot .

Yeah , that's accurate , we do , we actually we it's really bad . We walk into our normal go before we go poda and our waitress is like this is what you want and we're like , thank you . We walk through the door she puts her drinks on the table .

It's really great . I can get expensive for sure . All right cool .

It does , it really does .

So I got a couple of like we're going to talk a little insider baseball or the questions I think that people are dying to hear , because you guys are . You know , I want to step back a little .

you know , give me a list , kind of thing , but go ahead and christmas in july , like his birthday was yeah you know , last year on his birthday , that's where he got the 7300 and we were joking about it all the time . I think it was um Joe Brett .

Thank you , Joe Brett .

Yeah , exactly .

The checks in the mail . Right , it was slotted across the table . How about you ? Right , the checks in the mail . Right , it was slid across the table . Yeah , how about you ? Julie and Vaughn .

It was really super simple . Well , he actually when I . He was so proud of me when I got my license that he installed Okay . So funny fact I hate wires . I'm in the wrong hobby . I'm aware I hate wires . I'm in the wrong hobby .

I'm aware .

But he installed a completely . It's an AnyTone , but he hid every single wire and he bought me brand new AnyTone with the Bluetooth handheld microphone , and so I wasn't connected to anything . I'm actually getting ready to install a Yaesu , though or not a Yaesu an Icom into the car , because , I don't know , you don't like it . I think is mostly the problem .

In its own . When we travel with our car , it's hard because to program it on the road yeah , not easy . No .

Yeah , and my car is the POTA vehicle , so anytime we are gone , which is every weekend , we're you know someplace new . It becomes an issue Plus , on top of which I'm I'm a little bad about charging things . My phone goes dead regularly , so my handheld goes dead regularly and it drives him nuts .

So the same thing we we were wrestling hard with the Wolf River coil . Oh no we're just back and forth with the wolf river coil and I was having problems with um with getting uh , getting uh the ground . Oh , it was horrific . And every time now it's now it's streaming stuff that's what's giving me problems .

It's amazing .

And Mike over at Flatlanders hooked us up with that and I got it really for her because I could fight with an antenna and fight with an antenna , and fight with an antenna . She's like I'm ready to get on the air . I have no patience . She has the 7300 plugged in , she's got all the batteries ran , she's got the microphones plugged in .

It's easier to spend money . It's not just for holidays and presents anymore . I think we should really get that , because it would make life a lot easier .

You know the Bluetooth module for that icon will be sweet . Dropping hits got it .

I got a couple more . Paul , you want to throw in and talk . I'll keep going . All right , you go .

I'm all team ICOM , you know , as everybody knows . So you know , go team ICOM . Yeah , you do flex over here , my friend .

Okay , well , so funny story about that Funny story about the ICOM thing . Julie , of course she was accepting pretty much anybody on Facebook .

Well , I got a ton of friend requests While we were in the building process of poda poda power . She uh got just ransacked by uh I don't even think that he knows the story yet facebook request .

And he was like what do ?

you mean .

Like Icom right .

And I was like yeah , I was like .

Mr Icom , america ? I didn't know so .

I messaged Ray and I was like I didn't know what you did for a living , but you're missing a market . I need a pink handheld .

You might have more luck with like , but it was .

It was great . It's actually been really really helpful to the channel . Um , if you reached out , he sent us um a metric ton of shirts to give away , sent me a nice little have my little pink icon hat , my little pink icon shirt , and , uh , he's been great he's so wonderful .

He gave us a bunch of uh , poda , um , what's called poda crew yeah t-shirts we give away , giveaways , give away channel , so it's been fun that answers my question then , because I was always curious to see like how , how did I com slide into your ?

you know your your poda there , but uh , yeah , appreciate clarifying that well we are .

We are pretty much icon exclusive we are , except for my any tone , which will be replaced here pretty soon . Yeah , uh , we got the 9700 , the 7300 . We take the other 7300 we've got two 7300s because we don't want to move the one from the base .

Yeah , I'm tired of unplugging that one . So we got a second 7300 , get the 5100 in the truck . I got a 2730 that's going into her car and we're waiting for that black edition 2730 black to come out . It's going to go in my truck because I drive at night . Very cool , all right , I mean that's what he thinks .

So my other question I want to throw in there is what are general conversations like for you guys ? Are they always ham radio focused Like ? Are you always like planning for the next POTA , like adventure , or like when you're sitting around the dinner table or you just talking to each other in the car ? What are those conversations look like ?

I would , I would say Mike , yeah , Like compared to normal people .

I guess that means we're abnormal just like that's all you have to say right compared to normal people , yeah , yeah so welcome to the app line that with the , the , the youtube channel and trying to decide , like , what's coming next and and all in all those kinds of details there's . there's a lot of radio talks for sure , like who's going to edit this part ?

are you A fire ? I get a run .

I'll be right back . We really enjoy doing that . We hunt back to back a lot . So if if we hear someone that we want to get , like they'll hear me come in and I'll hand him my key and he'll he'll do the dit , dit at the end and then he'll send right away and we'll get people back to back .

It's really fun so basically what you're saying is you don't ever talk anything except on radio in some form I mean , there's just perfect aces in my book life stuff , but you know sure , but you know that that's all secondary , I bet , because , like I know , in my thought , when I'm sitting next to my wife and then my truck and the radio is on , I'm always

Vaughn pretty much runs Podopower nonstop . Everything is just constant . So I occasionally have to be like we've got a wrestling match on Wednesday . We have your sister's birthday on Sunday . We have to be like we've got a wrestling match on Wednesday . Um , we have your sister's birthday on Sunday . Um , we have to .

He's golden he doesn't have to think about it .

No , he doesn't have to think about that , literally she she'll call't have to think about that at all .

She'll call up and I'll be like hey , babe , how's your day going at work ? Blah , blah , blah , blah , blah . And she's like I checked out this next park we're going to go to it's going to be great , and we go on vacation . She's already got spring break figured out . Oh yeah , we're going to Charleston .

We're For Thanksgiving . We went to . No , I'm sorry we didn't go to Charleston . We went to . We're going to Savannah . We went to Charleston for Thanksgiving . And we did four , five parks while we were there , yeah , and my poor kid , he's just like oh okay , I actually let him pick where we're going this year , though , because I gave him the option of three .

Very cool .

Yeah , that's what we talked about .

Well , while you're in that area , I gotta say you have to make the trip to Chincoteague Island off the coast of Virginia . There's wild horses , it's a fantastic place to activate you have to have a freestanding antenna but chinkatega island chinkatega .

Okay , there's a place like that just south of jekyll island called cumberland and that's on a bucket list . We're going to try to do that for valentine's day weekend . It's not gonna work too . Yeah , I would freeze to death . All right , I know I'm a crybaby .

What do you guys do in August ? Are you like inside , like not going out ? We're at the beach .

No , we're not at the beach . Then we're in the car with the air conditioner on .

It's true . So it's just like opposite of us , like if it gets really cold and we have to do a park , we're in the car with the heat on .

Just the opposite . In August they'll all be down in Huntsville . Yeah , exactly .

No , that's true . Yeah , we're going to try to definitely do Huntsville this year .

Yeah , if I have to call into work and leave early .

We can't edit that out . It's live .

I'm sorry but you didn't hear it here , first we already have our camp spot , so we're good to go . Oh yeah , slide over and make room for ours , yeah .

I don't know if there's any available left .

Because I think it's pretty much packed up already .

We've actually talked about just going because of the time restraint that we may have . We've talked about just doing a VRBO or something of that nature .

Yeah , last year we locked down , but our spots just doing a VRBO or something of that nature .

Yeah , last year we locked out , but uh , our , our , uh last year we'd locked out and we checked like right before ham fast and there were spots that had opened up . Yeah , Really .

Very cool .

It's the travel that we're concerned with . I think we might actually have to fly in but we already have our spots um uh have our spots um reserved for hamcation .

We're going to be there all weekend , thursday through sunday , awesome , okay . So I got one little more thing . So rsc , so you got into the , the ham radio . You kind of , as a couple you know , realize that you know , hey , you got something to connect with and you know you're both , you're passionate about it and whatnot .

So , uh , so we'd already , we already had a rv travel channel , um , and we've been pouring through all the different like here's best practices , trying to be a YouTuber and all that kind of stuff , and really struggling , trying to get traction , cause it just that was just super duper competitive .

So yeah , and I think I think also you know our travel channel . It's hard to do that when you don't travel all the time , but we have our radio right here all the time , we have a park right here all the time , so the ability to make more content is easier .

first you'll have no problem hitting them up . My phone is constantly blowing up .

I just learned . I just learned my call sign , so I'm working on it me too .

So , yeah , we uh , we're actually in a park down in um pinellas county and um we're actually coming back from a concert , uh , that we went to down there oh yeah , billy strings yep , we went to billy strings concert and um and uh , we stopped in the park on the way home and um , we just set up and the first contact we made this guy was booming in we're

Okay , I didn't think it was going to do anything . I didn't think it was going to do anything . He was like let's do a YouTube channel . You know , that guy in England said he listened to us and I'm like , yeah , well , I mean , that's one guy and he's like yo , but it's fun .

Originally it was supposed to be like . You know the the a little review of the park and then let's talk about our equipment . You know , we got the eco-worthy 30 amp hour lithium ion battery videos on all of that we do and we got the , of course , the , the antenna , roll-up antenna . What powers ? Poda power , you know what . What powers uh was ?

I mean , we hit the wildlife management areas as afterthoughts , but for the most part I like to hit the historic places and so that's .

That's pretty much how we got to take off . Our channel is , uh , the cool parks , the cool equipment , and then us just being silly so , all right , it kind of dovetails because I mentioned it a little bit earlier .

But you know , I really think you guys represent a very good demographic of the hobby and very much , we'll say , missing demographic , because I think a lot of the hobby at least when I've been licensed for 30 plus years and took a 20 , 25 year hiatus in between or somewhere around there , and all through that it was always kind of like I never saw a lot of

Wait a minute . You're saying that a couple can love each other and love the same hobby . Yeah , I can .

Man , I don't have a video for that . Come on Anyway .

They think he's a righteous dude . That's as close as I can get .

So anyway .

So yeah .

And you guys want to kind of take that run . I know it's a heavy , you know . Question .

So for us , we have actually already been labeled , not our choice as the next Elmer's , like we're the next generation of Elmer's .

I'm not , you are , you are , you are .

And we've already been kind of and we've we've already got friends .

What is that saying that you used to say in the beginning a couple that put us together stays together . Where's the t-shirt with that .

Come on , let's go yes , yes , or bumper sticker or something , but yeah , we've already been labeled as the next generation of elmers to to get other couples to come in together and do this hobby with with each other .

Oh , come on well , how about a thousand ? At least ? That's obviously Game time .

I didn't check . Where are you guys at ?

subscriber level right now YouTube .

We are just shy of 900 , I think there is 57 people in this live chat here .

I want all 57 to head over to their page , if you're not already a subscriber , and subscribe . And if you have already been a subscriber , you need to send it to your friends and tell them they need to subscribe . Just to put them over the 1,000 mark .

We forget all the time um . We're at 902 now . Thank you there .

There we go , open another YouTube account .

Go for it .

But at one point we were sitting at I don't know it was- early on . We were sitting early on at I don't know it was like 201 or not 199 .

I think we got like 5,000 views on that .

It was crazy that was intense all right .

So I guess we're doing it wrong by focusing on youtube . We should be focusing on the book of faces .

We're on the book of faces . I have no idea where we're at , nor do I care . I just I prefer our youtube side of things . I can manage that a little easier . Youtube makes the process so ridiculous sometimes , but that's another story for the other day .

The YouTube is great . I just the Facebook is . Actually , it allows me to communicate . You know , I can chat back and forth with our people and talk to them and post onto different sites just to say , hey , we're going to be here , we're going to be giving away shirts , we're going to be at this location . Come by and say hi , that kind of thing .

So how about you and Mike and Becky ?

Let's see . I'll start . I think for us , obviously it's great . We enjoy spending time together . So how fun is it that now we enjoy the same hobby and getting other women involved , I think ? I think there's kind of that stigma of like , oh it's so , it's all technical , it's so hard to do , it's whatever .

And the and the , the people part's just awesome . So , like you know , we get emails all the time and and and . Just like the , she was tickled to death with getting her first Q , uh , uh , qsl cards and um . I think there's like you know , it's , it's , it's fun .

The people part of it .

You know it's really fun yeah yeah , my wife is not a hammer operator and every time I get a qsl card in the mail , she's like you got a qsl card . I'm like yeah , okay . She's like no , you gotta like . She's like super excited about it . I'm like for me , it's just like okay , I'm just gonna put it in my file .

Look at the drawing on this one . Where'd this one come from ? I mean , you know , collect them .

Why did he or she create something . Yeah , exactly , yeah . Yeah , it's a lost art .

It's definitely something that yeah , that's , that's a regular facebook thing for us to put our monday mail call and we'll I'll put a video or a picture or something up of all the qsl cards we got from the week prior and she's holding them all up all excited I get really excited .

I love to get mail .

That's why I love amazon the boxes that come in the mail now the boxes that come in the mail .

It's a whole different ball game , you know , like is it something for the radio ? What is it ?

you know we get excited about it well , it's kind of easy to identify the gigaparts or DX engineering or , you know , qrp or whatever . On the title .

We definitely feel like we're on a mission Tomorrow .

We're getting a 100 amp hour battery coming in , so we're pretty excited about 23 pound batteries .

I'm not . That's pretty light .

I'm shipping it to work .

It'll be fine , cool , paul , you got anything which yeah .

well , now I'm curious which 100-hour battery did you end up going with ?

We got the watt cycle with Bluetooth Very cool , good battery , nice , so go ahead .

We had one battery that died and all of a sudden now we need extra .

Yeah , we were in the middle of a . Of course . Now we have everything going to the battery . It was .

So I gotta , I got a question . We'll , uh , we'll , we'll start with mike and becky , but , uh , so , now that you guys are doing this together , right , what is your favorite part about going to a park together ?

so I think that , um , the definitely the appeal of going out and doing something like we regularly will say once we're out there , like , oh , this is beautiful , like I'm so glad that we got out and did this , like if it weren't for radio , we might be inclined to just , you know , still be inside .

Yeah , very cool , yeah , I think definitely the adventure of just like he said . It's kind of that poke of hey , we should go play radio today and let's go find a new place to adventure . And you know , we have two backpacks and that's all we take with us .

Set up , you know , activate it's great , pack it all up , nice . Yeah , that that is definitely have a you know , a feel to it that you just like you . Just it makes it so peaceful but at the same time so awesome , you know , and so you know , unique . So yeah , I , I can resonate with that for sure yeah , for us , uh , we , um , we really for me .

Anyways , I'm not sure about her , but for me , when we're firing on all cylinders during a live stream and when we're just meshing , we start saying the same things at the same time , in the same inflection , and we like work as one . Yeah , she got her own call sign , I got my own call sign .

Um , my favorite part used to be it is it's it's a really tough call , because I used to love my . I mean , my first love is to go and find new places , learn the history behind the plantation , or learn the history behind the ruins . That's here and battlefield and you know what happened here sugar mills . Sugar mills are one of my favorites .

We have such a big following .

I like pileups .

Of regulars . I'm watching our comments and stuff of all the people that we talk to on the every time we go out . It's the same awesome people that we have . They're great about Teddy and Hippolyto , and I see Josh , I see Jacob and all those guys that are regular guys for us that give us Toby Toby's a machine .

yeah , because teddy's an amazing cook . Yeah , and he always makes sure to tell me what he's cooking . He cooked chili the other day , just because it's true chili and cornbread . I'm ready to go to tennessee facebook helps with a lot of that , though , too , it's , it's like a community it's fun .

That is very cool , okay , so I've got a question . You got anything more you want to throw in there ? Paul , I got a couple more before we get into our .

We're going to do a little bit of a lightning round in a bit .

But my last question I guess it kind of inspired the question . It's like so , from you know , becky and Julie , what would you recommend to other wives Like and other spouses that would be like you know , hey , how can you , how did you get involved ?

I would say probably . The hobby is so big , there are so many different parts of ham radio that you can enjoy . You can be the traveler , the planner , like , if you enjoy going to a park , like you can like , hey , let's go on vacation . Okay , here's try to pick a place that has this and , you know , plan where you're going to adventure the next time .

They just don't really know the entry point right okay and um , there's the thing that she reminds me about all the time with our kids , like when I'm trying to teach them about finance or something , and she's like you just have to wait till they're ready , like I think that , uh , you know , I didn't I never expected to even introduce her to morse code or or

That's awesome . Yeah , I know Love that you brought up the love languages Totally . I think my wife's upstairs listening . I don't know , she's probably screaming at the top of her lungs . I just can't hear .

But it also might be good from the guy's perspective is what are hobbies that your wife does that you're like whatever ? I have no clue . Maybe invest a little in what your wife does outside of your own hobbies and that might kind of turn the corner on your hobbies .

I tried golf .

Here you go , guys . You know those guys that are listening . You know you're getting a little tips here . This is the insider baseball stuff that you want to be hearing . So you know , grouch here . You know what's your love language . My friend , come on , you could throw a little bit more into that . The book's $35 , $40 .

For us it was Bermuda Triangle really . We got to a place . You know our youngest is now in high school , so that is actually . I want to say it freed up a little bit of time , because you know our youngest is now in high school . So that is actually it .

I don't , I don't know that's just who I am , though exactly . Well , you know , I'm the control operator because I'm the one with the license , but she's always got the radio , so it's like that that could change on yvonne .

That could change on you once I get my general he's just never going to talk , although we've had that conversation and I don't know that he would be able to do all of the things that I do , because when I work 10 meters I still log like he doesn't log , and so I'll work and then I'll log , and that that makes a little .

I feel like the content is maybe a little less comical because , I'm a little bit here yeah , yeah , when she's doing a double operator , that's got three parks , and she's got the first operator with their three parks and the second operator with their three parks .

So therefore she has her own mic , you have your own mic , and then when you pass the mic , it's just a matter of a press of a button . You know , make , make things a little simpler .

We're at melbourne ham fest and and a paradigm has a two headset , two foot pedal set up and we love it , but it just doesn't work with the streaming . Also , we have to figure out how to do the streaming . It's going to take some line input and get , get the paradigm headset to go all work together . But we have .

We have that . I can give you a few tips on that . So yeah , we'll talk after All , right , cool ?

So I just take that DJI mic and stick it in your headset , you'll be fine . I did that when I went to go activate W1AW .

I put it right in my headset because that was the only way it was going to work . So it feels really weird to have a little DJI mic sitting in your ear but hey , it worked .

We , we were on the big roads , so we got the big road set and they work really well , I mean they work .

People ask us all the time what are those white things ? I'm like they're mics . I try to answer as they're you know coming across . But they're you know , I mean they work really well . I don't know anything about that kind of stuff .

He does me , he did yeah , I'm hardware , she's software , and it just works Cool .

I don't think he even remembers how to log into POTA anymore .

Alright , well , so let's do a little segue here . We've got a little bit of a fun thing here that we're going to do , so I'm going to kick this off here , all right . Well , this is our little transition called you know , not me .

All right , let's do it Okay .

Ready . So we'll start , just in terms of order . So we'll start with Mike and Becky there and then we'll dive right Into Julie and Vaughn . So , alright , first question of tonight is so who's the gear collector ?

Gear .

It depends on what kind of I'm talking about keys Ham radio gear , or you know , hiking gear , whatever you know , Everything you guys kind of do Overall gear me .

Mike you agree , okay , who's ?

the key client .

Yeah , julie , I need a pink one , right .

This is as close as I could get it's not pink .

So there is a new key out there .

If you go to KMurder's website . He did a review on a key from a guy . I can't think of the name of the key at the moment , but it's customizable down to color Modern Morse , thank you .

okay , all right okay , but yeah , the general , you know , all the general frequencies are open uh , pretty much all day long . We can get general general contacts , uh , 10 meters closes , you know , uh , and and it's on or off like six or whatever , and so it's it's normally me that gets the pile up , okay .

I mean I work them .

Yeah .

You work them . She's still passing the mic . Got to fix that problem there , all right . Next question is who carries the most gear to an activation , any gear . It doesn't really matter if him or you or not . Oh wow , jim man , those fingers pointing everywhere . Julie's the one , she's the puck , wow , okay .

Vaughn , do you carry anything at all ? I actually do .

I normally carry the tripod , the big stuff we have a roll-around we got a roll-around toolbox that we use oh , on wheels .

Okay , so Julie's carrying stuff , but you're pulling stuff , okay , yeah , I see where that one goes , all right , cool . Well , now we know how it really plays out who's the roadie and who's the superstar . We know in that scenario , all right .

I'm going to get my upgrade . Really Okay , you are on live stream here .

So in essence we will hold you to it in a court of hamlock .

I think we'll probably . If we do it , we'd probably do it together , we'd probably study and do it together Because we're both generals . Now that's the same .

You'll take the test together , or you'll just study to the point and then take the test .

Take it at the same time .

Okay .

We'll both pass . We'll both pass .

Becky's been kind of like , hey , she moves that bar every little bit more and more .

It'll be interesting to see how that plays .

You've heard it here guys .

When we stop doing something extra with Todd , then you know he's gotten his upgrade , so we just keep paying attention to the live stream . Or the regular show . You might as well dude at this point . I'll be watching and put it this way . I know Paul's got access to the FCC database , so he'll be paying attention to it more than I will . All right , okay .

all right , the portable setup Interesting .

Okay , nice , okay , interesting , here we go with the next one . Who's the better logger , julie , okay , oh , wow , there's a tie , nothing it depends on who's activating .

If I'm activating , he's logging it on the phone . If he's activating , he's logging it on the phone . If he's activating , I'm logging it on the phone . We both do it .

The question is who is the better logger ? Who gets the contacts and the call signs correctly ?

Julie's got it . We know that , probably you .

Probably . I'll admit , I can hear them pretty good .

Especially with the pileups and stuff . We regularly just look at each other like what the heck . There's that , yeah , and then she'll just pull one out of nowhere and I'm like how in the world did you get that Feel that one ?

out . I think I have a little bit of a musical ear .

And so the different tones of the key , just the different little bit of a musical ear , and so the different tones of you know the key , just the different little bit off frequency or something I can hear . I can stay on the same tone all the way through . It's probably the same with voice .

A lot of times we don't need need to hear call signs . We've heard their voice so much . We already know who it is .

Yeah .

Nice , yeah , that's another reason why you're so easy to catch on with the CW , because you get the musical background . I also live music and also a lot of firearm shooting , because my my job and so I got ringing in my ears really bad all the time . And she picks them out and I'm like , how did you even hear that ?

well , you don't have the you're not hearing the little hum , yep all the time . All right , okay . So who's more organized on an activation ? When you're actually doing an activation , okay , it's like who ? Who forgot the pen ? Uh Okay , who forgot their chair ? Who's got water ? Simple things like that .

I have everything it's like a picnic , very cool .

This is very revealing .

This is impressive If we walk out the door and he says do we have everything ? And I say , yes , it's off , we go .

If I say do we ?

have everything ? And he says yes , I'm like off we go . If I say , do we have everything ? And he says yes , I'm like I'm going to check , yeah , all right .

I was going to ask who's the planner and who's the winger .

I'm the planner , she plans .

I'm winging it , I plan . So that kind of dovetails into .

Yeah .

That kind of dovetails into the forget . Who kind of dovetails into the forgets the most items ?

I'm driving down the road and I'm like Julie , what's the next part ?

You already know we will get in the car and he will literally look at me and go where are we going ?

Isn't that a normal response for a guy ? Where are we going ? What's my next spot ? It's fun to Long for the ride . So who forgets the most items ? On a soda or poda , ah , okay , and what is that item that you most forget ?

antenna oh , it's very oh battery radio stays in her car .

Um , if we have the box , everything's in the box , but it stays in . The most of it stays in the car it's the new media stuff .

That really is probably , um , the new stuff that we just recently added . We just recently got starlink .

We just recently got the other setup camera to show the frequencies we got a radio cam and then we also run the regular face to face cam and the switcher and stuff .

And here's the problem . I don't know enough about any of that yet because he hasn't find it , tuned it to the point where he can teach me . So I don't know what we're missing and what we're not , so it's a problem .

Yeah , and how about you ? Or Mike ?

We try to bring two of everything whenever we we can . It just wow , it's a . And you know , because of the fact that the radios are like this size , a little qrp radio it's possible , um , but it like it never . It seems like it never fails .

Yeah , really a lot of times though it's all the backups are still in the truck . So we kind of have a larger backpack of stuff that's in the truck and then we pack everything we need to take with us to go out to wherever we're going to set up . So sometimes it's just oh , we got to go back to the truck . So it's not too bad , yeah , okay .

So you subscribe very much at a . Two is one , one is none , yeah , excellent .

You said that Okay .

So who's made the farthest to the longest DX contact ? Thanks so far .

Well , it was me until you decided to .

Yeah , I kind of tricked the system a little bit .

Yeah , it was me Actually , I got Hawaii it was me actually .

I got hawaii . Thanks , steve , but I got hawaii . That was a sked , that wasn't a contact .

That was a sked . Yeah , my very first . This is a fun story . My very first contact from a mag mount in a car , um , on 10 meters , was australia my very first . And um , and he had never talked to Australia before , ever in 15 , 20 years that he'd been doing ham radio .

How about you , mike , or Becky ?

So actually that's a great question and I don't know . I know there's one weekend in particular where we , for us , discovered 10 meters , like it was our first time , like doing a poda from on 10 meters , and I know I got Japan and we got lots of Europe .

Yeah . I have one one . We put a video out and I think I had 13 contacts and the first nine were nine different countries legit wow , holy moly yeah , it was wow that's insane .

Yeah , we were .

We were camping at a poda spot so we were hooked up to the rv , so we had our 7300 instead of so I think we were still only on 30 watts , but it was .

I was getting like germany and poland and switzerland and it was crazy oh wow , yeah , and the super fun thing was on the way home we asked , uh , uh , we , we asked ai to summarize each one of the not just the countries but also the city that they lived in , including the industries and stuff , and it was like we had this personalized podcast of all the

Oh , dude , that's awesome Way to leverage AI for good Comments are killing me over here .

Vaughn is cracking up over the comments All right , Since it's a speed round who drives .

Okay , I figured that one All right For the CW folks .

In all fairness , though , she's on Facebook saying this is the park we're going to .

We thank you , Vaughn , for driving . We appreciate it . You're not on Facebook while driving .

We actually do take turns . Turns , though , because we do have a radio in the truck and we like to hunt and have . We've had , I've had cw contacts going down the road on a straight key and sometimes he's like , well , I want to play radio , so okay , I'll drive , I want to play radio okay I'll drive .

Why are you pulling over ? Okay , so this one's going to the cw folks and then I'll talk to sideband in a second . Uh , who's the faster fist ?

so if we're , if we're just talking about pierce , well , actually , so both , both of us are , uh , just philosophically , more about like , uh , making good contacts than than just going after speed .

Yep .

Wow , how many on a straight key ? How many words per minute ?

If I'm relaxed and just sending probably about 18 words a minute , okay yeah .

Good deal , okay , and for our voice , folks , who's got the better ear ?

Yeah .

Pick stuff up , okay , but when it comes to , when it comes to rapid fire , uh , making contacts , I could , I could load up a log pretty quick .

I talk too much .

She likes to chit chat okay , so this one kind of dovetails into this one . So who likes the pile up ? Ah , okay now . Now do you have a technique ? And if you're willing to share that , you know , feel free . But I'm curious to see you know , do you long for the pileup when it doesn't happen , or are you more ?

It happens Like I'll call CQ to start my activation and then I won't actually have to call CQ again . I'll put my call sign out there , but there's almost always one or two right away and then the pileup just starts and it doesn't stop .

Yeah , and for those of y'all that are hunters , it would definitely highly appreciate it if you just adjust the frequency a teeny bit , not too much , but just a little bit . See , otherwise it just sounds like one big tone .

Yeah okay , cool , nice . Now , uh , how about you guys in terms of , uh , potter power ? You guys , uh , you long for the pile up . You want the pile up . You know how do you handle the pile up . Any tips trick ?

it's occasionally nice to get a steady stream , but I I love a good , solid couple 10 , 15 minute pile ups in between , um , and we run it like a net yep , we run it like net , so we'll take five or six or seven calls .

I've taken up to 10 . We work it like a net . We run it like a net , so we'll take five or six or seven calls . I've taken up to 10 before we work one at a time , and then we take another QRZ and we'll take another five or 10 . So we run it like a net .

And we try to the ones that we hear we're like okay , so listen , we've got K A , we've got N , four , we've got . You know well , nancy , I mean we do it phonetically , but you know , we tell them who we've gotten , who we've pulled , so that they stay .

Yeah , sometimes we'll have a pile up and we'll pull five names out of that pile up and then I'll run down and say , okay , we got this one , this one , this one , this one , this one , this one , this one , this one , and you're first and we'll just work down the log again .

So that's literally um uh , right on paper , write them all down .

She writes them down as fast as you can and then , as I'm talking to them , she's logging them into world radio league . Um , that's the , the logging software we use and promote , and , um , so we use that . So that way I can say hey , teddy , it's good to get you in the logbook again . It's been , you know , uh , two whole weeks .

Now , this one is in reference to Todd , because if you've listened to Liffrey and Ham for a while , you know he can never say no to anybody when it comes to ending an activation . When you end an activation , are you able , and who's the person who's able , to actually make the last call and then stop the activation ? Not ?

me .

I think we're both terrible at it . It's horrible . We both feel really bad . Honesty's okay .

Honesty's good , we'll be freezing and there's like a hundred logical reasons why we should go ahead and end , but we're like there's still somebody else out there .

What if someone is waiting and they're not sure it's us ? I should just call one more time and then , if no one answers and we can stop .

You know like yeah , do you understand ? Your radio has an af knob . You can turn that down and it goes away . But anyway , that's just a suggestion . Radio has an AF knob , you can turn that down and it goes away . But anyway , that's just a suggestion .

And we have a long-going joke where we're like when the weather's good and everything's great , whoever's activating will be like all right , last one . And then 15 later . Last one . Sorry , this way , todd , is .

Todd is infamous .

Todd is infamous to like a couple more , a couple more .

I'll be like what .

I'll unplug the antenna because I'm tired .

I'll hit the power button . She's like but there's like three more people calling here's my problem .

It's got to be an even number , it's got to be 60 70 if you get the extra two we got to get eight more yeah , I'm done like a nice number and the rangers are like hey , we like close the gate .

I'm like I just need six more .

It's so here's a nice number and the Rangers are like , hey , we'd like to close the gates . I'm like I just need six more , it's fine . So here's a tip . So when they're live streaming folks .

You're on the chat when they're live streaming , wait till the very end when they make last call and they just keep going and going . The Ranger is going to be like dude , you got to go .

Sorry , we're going to lock yeah we got to work tomorrow morning , yeah he had told me that several times .

He's like we got to work . I'm like I need two more , otherwise we're going to be stuck . I'm just .

I can't put you know 87 in ? Yeah , she will not submit a log with 87 . It's got to be 90 .

I don't like to , and then so the last , which I'm sure it doesn't happen to you guys but I'm going to ask the last question is have you ever walked away from an activation , a failed activation ?

that's still we actually . We actually accidentally , not accidentally . I accidentally planned a rove in St Augustine on a contest weekend and we activated two out of the three but the last one you couldn't get a frequency . We just couldn't find . We couldn't find an open frequency .

And it was at the fort .

We were at the fort in St Augustine . Yeah , go back , oh darn yeah .

We did learn to check the contest calendar , because there were several times where we pack everything up , we hike somewhere , we do everything , then we set up and then we're like this isn't happening today .

Yeah , yeah .

This is crazy . Yeah yeah , this is crazy , yeah yeah . That was a hard school of hard knocks for me . That was the first time I'd ever run into that and we usually operate .

We usually operate low power . So , for sure , if there's a big contest going on where you know , we can hear what you know , we can hear everybody else but they can't hear us .

You know I got a . I got a quick marriage therapy question for the both of you couples . So has there ever been a time where before , during or after your activation you had a disagreement and you had to deal with it during the activation ?

I don't think so .

So , but editing the videos afterwards , there's been multiple times . When I come up to you , I come up to it , I'm like thank you so much for being patient . I'm sorry .

You know , sometimes the camera's just going , even though we're kind of in between a thought or a part where we're going to video , and he's in . I'm yeah okay . Hey , come listen to this for a second . Did you hear what you said to me ?

we're gonna cut that out , but just listen real quick so we're live 100 of the time , so it's like you're's on there , it's too late , and so I have gotten pretty frustrated on live camera , not only with it's hard to activate with me not only with her .

It's fine . But yes , he does get , especially in the beginning . Now he's learned to ignore me a bit , um , he learned to ignore my , my random outbursts of ridiculousness , um , and so that's better .

I've seen it several times and I get all like , be like . Every time I reach out to contact you , it's like , oh , okay , and then your hands covered it and all of a sudden , Vaughn's like what's his name again .

Yeah , yeah , but at the end of the activation we are so in sync you guys don't understand . I mean you guys do , but y'all don't .

It's actually . It's quite a bit of fun , even if we get a little bit , but that is just natural . Who that's ? We do the same thing making dinner together .

Yep .

So , you get out of the way .

Yeah . Our kitchen was small .

I don't want to , you know , sidetrack this anyway , because we've kind of got to wrap up here at the top of the hour . But there was one comment that we had started that I forgot to go back to , and this is for Mike and Becky . Which is higher , the handicap or the words per minute ?

oh , let's see . Um , on the straight , it's on the straight key . My handicap is higher . And then on , if I'm on a paddle , it's about the same okay , what's the ?

golf something golf handicaps about 23 okay , all right , nice , not too bad , pretty close , all right . Well , we've solved that one all right . So , you know , let's kind of wrap up here . A Golf handicap is about a 23 . Okay , Nice , Not too bad , Pretty close , All right . Well , we've solved that one All right . So let's kind of wrap up here a little bit .

So , Mike and Becky , so overall , we're on a mission to . We're having a ton of fun with CW Morse code and we want to share the fun . So we're on a mission to get as many people who are interested to give it a go and if there's any way we can help out , we would love to .

Awesome , cool , okay , all right , julie Vaughn Awesome .

So what do we got coming up , what are we doing um ?

we got winter field day next weekend . We're going to be in the park for winter field day , excited about that , excited about world radio league ham radio prep at um , at orlando hamcation . We're going to be hanging out with them .

But that's fine , cool , awesome . Well , dude , I again thank you guys both for coming on tonight . We appreciate you hanging out with us . It's been awesome and definitely an education . And you know , if you you know you're watching the show , you pick us up a little later on replay . If you haven't subscribed to these guys , head over to them .

And so , paul Todd , you got anything to throw in you want .

Before I close things out , it's just 1.7 degrees outside , just for you Southerners .

Might have to put a hat on no . Yeah .

I'm cool thinking about that .

We thank you all so much for working with us and trying to get this scheduled up . I know it was a lot of difficulty getting us all at the same time and thank you for being persistent and keeping onto us about trying to get this scheduled together .

And Eric Todd , paul , you guys run a great stream , a great podcast and we thank you so much for doing what you guys do . It's been a blast . Thank you so much for having us .

Ditto to what they said over there , it's really fun to kind of get on and meet you guys . Julie and Vaughn , it was nice to actually get to meet you and looking forward to it .

Same .

Absolutely . I told you I'm in awe and impressed by you , Becky . I can't , but I talk too much , so I don't know that I could ever do a key , but it's impressive .

We , but I talk too much , so I don't know that I could ever do a key , but it's impressive , we got a girl crush .

So you know it sounds like you guys are going to be doing a little crossover , so I should be expecting to a lot of channel you know interaction . It sounds pretty cool , especially with you know hamcation and all the other stuff coming up for you guys , so looking forward to seeing all that stuff .

No , I just want to say thank you for both of you couples for coming on . You're an inspiration to us all and obviously now I have to really ramp up my CW skills so that I can get the ham radio duo in the log , Because I've already got Julie and Vaughn .

Paul , you said you knew your call sign , so that's all you need . You can just I'll pick it out , I'll get your call sign Just send a signal , report and a state and we'll put you in the log .

There you go , man , there's your invitation .

All right , I think I can manage it . There should be a video too I want to

see it . If there's no video , then it didn't happen .

This is the way it goes . All right , cool , well , again , it's been awesome tonight . So , with that , if you haven't subscribed to Live Free and Ham , the question is , is what gives ? Come on , you know , join in , be part of the fun Head over .