Ep. 18 – Has POTA Peaked? Campfires, Community, and the Future of Parks on the Air

Ep. 18 – Has Parks on the Air hit its peak? James (K8JKU), Jim (N8JRD), and Rory (W8KNX) debate the future of POTA, from its explosive growth to what the declining solar cycle means for portable operators, and whether the program is in its twilight or just entering its golden years.

The conversation comes fresh off the Third Annual Michigan POTA Meetup, where the guys spent a weekend camping, activating, and sharing campfire stories with about 70 POTA enthusiasts at Hartwick Pines State Park. They talk about what actually brings hams together, why community is the best part of this hobby, and how to find or start a meetup in your own area.

Also in this episode: the Everyday Ham merch store is officially live at everydayham.com, a Hamvention attendance stat correction, shout-outs to Penn (AC8XI) and Rob (N1RWJ), and around the shack updates from all three hosts.

Learn more about the meetup at michiganpotameetup.com, and if you love POTA, consider donating at parksontheair.com.

Don't miss a single episode! Follow the Everyday Ham Podcast on your favorite podcast platform and subscribe to our YouTube channel at @EverydayHam.

Short show intro audio clip

Short outro audio clip

The Everyday Ham Podcast is hosted by James Mills (K8JKU), Jim Davis (N8JRD), and Rory Locke (W8KNX) – three friends who dive into the world of amateur radio with a casual, lighthearted twist. 

Follow us at: Website: https://www.everydayham.com/

Transcript

Welcome and Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Everyday Ham. Today we are going to talk about the Michigan Potom Meetup, which we had the pleasure of participating in this past weekend. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone to visit everydayham.com. There you can find our YouTube channel subscription. So you go in there and like and subscribe to all things. You can also find all our links to our audio podcast. So be sure to go in and leave us a rating there. And also you can find all our social media. We have a really nice, thriving Discord channel going. Uh, we'd love if you're able to join us there. So I am James, K-A-J-K-U. I'm joined here with Rory, W8K N X, and Jim N-H-J-R-D, the man who apparently does not want to turn on the air conditioning. So if you're watching this podcast, you'll notice that as he quoted, I'm shiny.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

So it's it's mopping. It's moppy up in here right now. It's it's warm. I have my water here. Good evening to everybody. It is episode 18. If you have been listening uh at any frequency, you'll realize that we're one week behind our normally scheduled podcast release. But all in good fun, uh, we did have some things that we needed to do last week in preparation for the sponsored event that we held we held, which was the Michigan POTA meetup. As James alluded to, we're going to talk a little bit more about that in brief. But I do have uh some very exciting news uh for the community out there that has been listening, for the folks that are on Discord, uh, after quite a few people asking us questions, seeing us in some of the videos, and otherwise meeting us

Merch Store Launch Details

SPEAKER_03 1:30

in person, uh, and asking us, Jim, how can I buy the Everyday Ham hat, or can I get myself uh some stickers, or can I get myself a mug for the Everyday Ham mug club? The answer is uh the time is now. So if you are one of those people, and we know there are just a few of you out there, uh we are making the merch store happen finally for you guys. It did take a little bit of doing. Uh, we've been exploring uh all kinds of options for bringing uh hopefully some reasonable uh merchandise to you that is decent quality. Uh, and I think we finally landed on a really nice option. So you can head over to everydayham.com and at the top of the navigation you'll find the merch store. So you'll look for the merch button. And uh we have a couple of cool things in there already and uh more things to come, but uh, I'm definitely excited to share with you that we have the host hats available, which is our navy blue hat, Flex Fit, uh, with the embroidered pig on the front. Really cool hat. We really like that one. Uh, it will not uh have your your call sign on the back, it's just gonna be the pig on the nice blue hat, so very understated. You can get away with wearing it to a club meeting or perhaps to your next outing of golf you choose. Uh, we have some other cool things on there: the tactical pig uh trucker hat, uh, which is a Richardson snapback. Uh I was a big fan of that particular model, and so we put it together uh with a little more subdued look. And uh, we also have a polo and a couple of coffee mugs as well. So go check it out. Uh, no pressure if you're not interested in it. But uh, we did have quite a few folks asking about uh where we can get that pig merch, and uh we are happy to say it is now available. So welcome everybody uh tonight and uh Rory, good to see you in the shack. Good to see James uh there uh in the basement where I'm sure it is far cooler than it is over here.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Much cooler in the NHC.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

It's about 90 degrees in my shack tonight, uh, and it is hot.

SPEAKER_04 3:19

So the real question with that temperature does does Becca still live there as she moved on.

SPEAKER_03 3:24

Uh so I just turned on the uh bedroom air conditioning, uh, and we're uh definitely going to be sleeping comfortably in the master bed. That all checks. We're doing what I would consider to be zone cooling right now in an effort to control our energy bills.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Uh and you know the stereotype about Hams being cheap. Doesn't have to be true, right? This is so true.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

I uh I did turn my air conditioner on for the first time when I got home from the meetup on uh on Monday afternoon. That was the first time the air went on in this house. I put it off as long as I could.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

Well, it's not on here yet. I imagine uh based on tomorrow's uh scorching temperature predictions, uh they're expecting over 90 in the Metro Detroit uh region where we are all located, uh, that I'm going to have be probably begging for mercy uh tomorrow, and I may uh be in the basement with my laptop uh working. But uh good to hear everybody. We're gonna do around the shack, and uh I'll just start myself and then I'll pass it over to you, Rory. Uh good, good uh couple of weeks uh after hamvention to play with all of the toys that we uh gathered from our halls.

Shack Updates And Gear Moves

SPEAKER_03 4:28

Got a lot of good feedback on the halls video. It was fun to see some comments there, uh laughing at some of the stupid things we bought uh and uh really enjoying some of the cool stuff that uh folks spent some big bucks on. So thank you all for being an awesome part of the community. Uh come join the uh the conversation in Discord too, because we're having a fun one there. Um, but uh I did end up getting rid of one of the VX uh eight R. So I know you guys will uh gasp here. Um down to three instead of four. Kept the DR series. Oh, what will you do? Kept the DR series so they're easily programmable all with one set of memories instead of having two different things to manage. This is a very ham problem, guys. You know how it goes. You you curate your memory list and then flash it onto your your your your uh handy talkie, and having to do it more than once, especially with the old Yesu products where you have to hold it and get it into memory read mode or memory write mode and then uh send it from the computer, and it's kind of a multi-step process.

SPEAKER_04 5:23

What about the very old days when you had to sit there and put them in by hand?

SPEAKER_03 5:26

Front panel programming, which by the way, I still appreciate. I still appreciate being able to save memories from the panel. Those those those handhelds that we're getting from China that you can't save them without the CPS, those make me angry. They boil my blood. But anyway, uh we got rid of one of those. Uh play a little with the Zagu uh G90. Uh it is one of those things that I think is gonna be a release for me. Uh, it's a neat little radio, uh, but I don't know that it's gonna find uh a home here. I'm getting more excited about the idea of the upcoming BG2 FX uh uh high wattage 50 watt uh rig. And so I'm thinking that I'm gonna hedge some bets that that's coming before the end of the summer here. And uh that G90 is gonna be moving along. So if you're looking for G90, you can certainly uh find me here. Um but uh those are a couple of the things that uh that I held on to uh as far as uh VX8s and otherwise. The FTM10R got moved along. You'll remember I said that one couldn't hear on any of the VHF or UHF bands. I was kind of bummed about that. I did order some parts from Asia, had them uh imported in. And uh one of the first things that everybody said to check was a ceramic capacitor uh in the filter network, uh, which I did replace. I have a real nice uh HACO uh desoldering tool that makes that a really easy process. Pulled that thing out, got the new one put in nice and clean, uh, but no difference. And uh so I uh went ahead and listed it for sale uh pretty much at what I paid for it, plus the parts, and uh moved it along to another gentleman who who had more technical know-how and wherewithal than I did. So hopefully he can figure that one out. Uh, but uh unfortunately I am back on the hunt for an FTM 10. And last but not least, the X3, the X300 went up on the roof, and I'm excited about that because it does give me uh an antenna for every one of the radios in the shack that needed one. The repeater is back on the air. That's a cool video if you haven't gone and checking out. Uh, if you're looking for uh uh an easy way to get an antenna up on your roof, uh do recommend uh going to check that out too. So a couple of things going on here in the shack, no major purchases, but man, am I still thinking about that ID 5200 that we saw at Hamvention. Uh, it's really gonna be a temptress when it finally shows up uh in DX Engineering's catalog. So, Rory, what are you up to, buddy?

SPEAKER_04 7:32

Nothing new in the home shack, but uh being out at the POTA meetup gave me an opportunity to play some more with how to set up radios in the camper and uh had a good time with the 891 out there,

Camper Setup And Listener Shout Outs

SPEAKER_04 7:44

had the antenna up on top, the GP1 with running my old Yezu FT8900, a quad band radio. I only was using it on two of the four bands that it does, but that old radio sings along nicely. But you mentioned the 5200, and uh well, we're waiting for the 5200 so the 5200 can go in the car and the 5100 can go, I think, become a permanent install in the uh in the camper. I do like having a dedicated VHF UHF rig in there. That's uh that's very, very handy. The uh the 891 is still doing well, um, but in in the camper setting, I I I could see there being a time where for the for the semi-portable, not portable camper setup uh having something else in there. So we'll see. We'll see if I acquire something or or come up with something else or move something else around. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

Maybe a 7300 mark too.

SPEAKER_04 8:36

I don't know. I don't know if uh if it needs something quite that substantial. That would be a good pick. That would be a good pick. But we'll see. I certainly have have some thoughts on the on the on the portable setup for the camper as uh as these trips are usually radio-based, and if they're not, well, I still want radios to play with. Um other than that, of course, we want to do our our regular shout-outs, say hello to a couple folks that have been active with the channel. One of them was uh somebody we saw at the uh Michigan POTA meetup and uh Penn KC8. I'm sorry, did the same thing I did when we interviewed him. AC8 XI. Those Alpha Charlie 8x.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

We're good with call signs.

SPEAKER_04 9:12

I am not good with the AC8 calls, but Penn's been a long time listener of of the program, and uh he had a chance to and I've worked him many times on doing POTA around Michigan. He gets around the state quite a bit. Yeah, yeah, uh very frequent activator uh down at Belle Isle and I've worked him many times, never put a face with the name, but uh was was happy to meet him in person and I I think he's gonna try to make it out to our our South Lion Club meeting next week. So uh be good to meet him a little bit more. And uh this is a repeat, but he's been super, super chatty and super helpful to some of our other friends in the in the in the Discord, and that's Rob N1RWJ, who is working towards his activated all parks in Rhode Island. Um and I think he's actually working on uh activated them all on CW is gonna be what it's gonna be when he's done, because he's uh he's been doing a lot more CW than me. So uh good evening to Rob as well. Good good guy, glad to have him on board. So uh that's about it in my shack. I hope to have some more upgrades here this year, but uh that'll have to come later in the year. James, what's going on up there in Clarkston?

SPEAKER_01 10:20

So I think for me, the last couple weeks have been Michigan Poda meetup preparation time. So, like all good hams that agree to support a club or an event, you spend a lot of time uh organizing. I

Prep Mode And Hamvention Stats

SPEAKER_01 10:32

I was actually, Jim mentioned the B2 BG2 FX. Uh as everyone knows, I'm a big fan of my FX4CR here. Uh I was actually working on flashing it with that alternate firmware, the uh what is it, the F5 Bud firmware, B U D. I've seen that.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Yeah, so I was uh I got it flashed. Now I'm just into the fun part of uh calibrating it. And of course I wish I had a little bit more time to be working on that. Uh non-Ham related, uh I've been actually purchased a cheap 3D scanner. So I've been trying to scan like like all nerds that get a new toy, I've been pretty much trying to scan everything under the sun that I can just to see how it works and get used to it. Uh I'm not really sure what I'm gonna use it for, um, but it's a uh what is it? 3D Maker Pro, their their new Fox model. So it's a cheaper, lighter weight scanner that is uh pretty simple to use and decent firmware. So that's what I've been working on that's ham related. Uh one thing for us though, too, we did talk in our last video a little bit about uh we did a ham vention recap, if everyone remembers.

SPEAKER_03 11:40

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

And we were talking about our prediction for the what we thought the uh attendance was. And you guys felt it was a little bit lacking this year, if if you remember correctly. And I think one thing is that we were happily very wrong. So I want to do a our first official stat correction uh on a previous show note. So one thing that we did see is, and uh, and if you're watching on video, I made a little chart here just to help illustrate the point with Jim and Rory, uh, but it was another record. Uh the attendance this year was thirty-six thousand eight hundred and fourteen. So that breathed the 2024 previous high, and we are seeing a steady grow since the uh let's say the two canceled COVID years of 2020 and 2021.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

Let me let me just let make this. I just want to correct. So 2026 is 36,814, and then each of the years is offset. Sorry, yep. No, yeah, we have a typo on our stack correction, but it's okay. It's okay. We'll correct it again and it'll be even more correct. But uh no, it it I was surprised to see 36,814, 37,000, nearly 37,000 folks bought tickets to Amvention this year, but I think that that is the operative term, guys, and I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer on it. I don't think there were 37,000 people at that fairground. I just didn't feel like it was as full as uh 36,000 indicates number wise. So we'll be really, really curious.

SPEAKER_04 13:05

Yeah, that was going to be my comment as well. It it did not feel as packed as as last year or even the year before to me.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Yeah, and and I think another interesting fact, so it got me kind of wondering, and uh this is 2025 because the Friedrichsoffen Ham Fair has not started yet, so ham radio Friedrichsoffen. Um their numbers have been, yeah, it's coming up really soon here at the end of the month. Their numbers have been steadily climbing since COVID, uh, but they have not achieved their uh peak yet, but they are they are going up. Then I also, since we've talked a lot about Huntsville and Tokyo Ham Fair, uh I wanted to see how those compare against each other. So the Tokyo Ham Fair in 2025, uh, you could tell in all this, I was really focusing on 2025, so excuse me for the typo, uh, was 42,000. So Tokyo proudly claims themselves as the world largest ham fest. Uh but the one thing I found interesting when I was trying to actually vet the stats, not the dates, is that they counted as a two-day total. So they take day one and day two and they add them together. Uh so there obviously could be a little bit of overlap there, uh, but still very impressive attendance numbers for that event. Uh and Huntsville, it's it's still in there, Hamcation doing great numbers as well. So we are seeing, I would say, a steady growth in the community of ham radio.

SPEAKER_03 14:22

Yeah, I I'm assuming when you say Huntsville, you're talking about Orlando Hamcation, correct? Yeah, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Yeah. Well, Huntsville was there and Hamcation for Orlando.

SPEAKER_03 14:30

Both are showing pretty good numbers. The the Tokyo Ham Fair drawing 42,000 in in some ways it surprises me, but in others, when I think about visiting Tokyo and the density of population there, and also the interest in technology in general, uh, I don't know if I'm necessarily surprised that folks turn out for something like that that's electronics-based, that's technology based, uh, even if there may not be a direct interest uh just so much as it it's something uh to do.

SPEAKER_04 14:57

The stats I would I would be curious to see the stats uh per capita of of AMS in Japan versus the United States. But I'll tell you, it doesn't surprise me too much because one thing that I notice using parks on the air as as a as a measure, when you get into the evening time and it's it's a little bit different time in Japan, evening time here and different time there. If you look on the PODA spotting page, there's a lot of Japanese stations spotted doing PODA. So it's uh it's there's a lot I think there's a lot more amateur radioactivity, and uh some of that I think has a lot to do with, you know, ja the Japanese uh tend to be uh you know very much into technology and um a lot of the cool stuff comes out of Japan, you know, so it's sure it's not not a good thing. It's definitely culturally in that in that community. Absolutely. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

So I I wanted to transition that into also sort of our meetup topic that we had. So obviously I'm not comparing our Michigan POTA meetup, which I had an attendance

What The Michigan POTA Meetup Is

SPEAKER_01 16:00

of about 70 POTA diehard enthusiasts that came out, some some brand new to the POTA hobby, some brand new to the amateur radio hobby, uh, also some diehards that we've mentioned before that were all there together, sort of talking and sharing their stories about how they activate, sharing some equipment demos, eating lunch together. Uh, and honestly, it really makes putting something like that together worth it. Um, it's never an easy event to organize. Uh however, when when you can get the group and you can start to share stories, it really makes the community probably one of the best parts about it.

SPEAKER_03 16:34

For those people that are listening, James, the POTA meetup is a uh now going on its third year, and it is a small event organized by a local set of hams, including yourself, who uh was kind of one of the uh I idea people behind the original project, along with a number of others. Uh and this particular event uh encompasses not only a group campo, uh, essentially, but also a day uh where we can meet and operate the radio and enjoy a picnic lunch together and like you said, do the socialization. So for the folks that are listening that aren't familiar with the Michigan Poda meetup or you haven't participated in a state meetup of similar fashion, uh think of it as kind of a uh ham radio picnic uh where we uh where we operate the park as well. And it it's a really great idea that you guys put together because uh we have a number of folks uh that are interested in in doing parks on the air. Uh and parks on the air is inherently something that can be a very social way to run your radio, not just for the people that you're talking to on the radio, but for going out in the park and hanging out with your buddies, right? You, Rory, myself, we have done that many times. Uh, and we do it all the time when we when we run into somebody that we know at Island Lake, for example, or uh Mayberry, right? If somebody's activated, we go over and say hello, right? And we sit with them, maybe and activate with them. So I just wanted to give a little context before you go too deep into the uh easier.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

And to be fair too, we're we're definitely not the first meetup or the only meetup that exists out there. So I know that the New York has a very active meetup. In fact, they a couple years ago or the year before, they were at Watkins Glen State Park, which would have been amazing to be at. Really cool. And I was super jealous that I couldn't go over there and go. Um, I know Ohio has a meetup in some other areas as well. So the one difference we kind of benefit from is we have a couple POTA board members that also help organize ours. I think they enjoy getting out there with the community and sharing the hobby and the part of the hobby that they love the most. Uh, and it also helps them kind of connect back and how can we continue to make these type of events and meetups successful? And what lessons can we start to share amongst ourselves to only bolster that crowd forward? Uh so again, it's it's a it's a wonderful event. And and if you I think one of the main takeaways as well is it's not a, as Jim mentioned, it's not a really large event. I'd almost call it like a park takeover. Uh we we just sort of rent the available camping spaces that are there, we pick a day, uh, we get out there, we rent the shelter, and we all just kind of meet up and have hamburgers and hot dogs and talk about ham radio. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 19:00

Um my brother, my brother actually made a comment. He said, I expected when I came in the front gate, I was gonna hear CW go in and I was gonna hear radio static uh humming out of all the windows of the campers. And I said, Nah, it's not quite that big, right? It's it's a it's a more focused group of folks in the campground. And and certainly we've had lots of great turnout and a lot of great campers and lots of activating. You'll know if you were trying to uh use 20 or 40 in the campground, you certainly had to wait your turn in some cases, right? Like there's a lot of people running the radio, but uh no, it's not not nearly as big as as something like uh a Huntsville Ham Fest, right, where they're the takeover of the entire park kind of thing. But uh very cool, very cool event. Go ahead, James.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Yeah. So I know Rory, that was your first time also. It wasn't your first use of the new camper, but your first use of the camper to the meetup. How how'd that go for you?

SPEAKER_04 19:49

You know, the best part of it was not having to rush in and out for a day trip. Um, I didn't get to the first POTA meetup, uh, which was out at uh Sleepy Hollow there north of Lansing. Didn't make it out there, was uh famously not interested in socializing that weekend. Jim still makes fun of me for that one to this time.

SPEAKER_03 20:07

I did invite him. I did invite Mori out. Not surprisingly, he told me no, which is fine. We respect boundaries.

SPEAKER_04 20:12

I seldom I seldom flat out say no. I probably gave you some sort of dismissive answer.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

You said I I might I might if I'm feeling it or something, or basically means no. And remember when your dad used to tell you maybe that was always just no, that was never good.

SPEAKER_04 20:26

Um and then uh last year it was over at Fort Custer, but for one reason or another I I made it a day trip out to the Battle Creek area. This year, of course, the camper was in place and it was uh something to look forward to. An extra long weekend. I added um, you know, I went up Thursday after work, so it was uh a Thursday night through Monday morning trip, which uh an excellent opportunity to go to northern

Campfire Conversations And Why It Works

SPEAKER_04 20:50

Michigan in uh you know early part of summer and enjoy the camper. So being able to be up there and and meet people, you know, see people that I know that I know, of course, from our local community who are up there, but meet people from all over the state. Um it it's everyone loves to share their knowledge and their setups and and you know, what do you do about this? What do they do about that? It's it's just fun to compare notes that way. But like you said, your brother didn't hear much CW. Well, come evening time, people put the radios away and they sit around the campfire and everyone has a good old friendly conversation about anything. There's there's radio chatter, of course, but people like to get to know each other better. People talk about their their work or their career or their lack of career for those who like to be retired already. And uh you know, we reminisce about things uh for you guys, by the way, if you if you're already retired. Absolutely. Um, you know, we reminisce, of course, uh a a silent key name recall sign will come up here and there in those events, and it's always fun to uh to talk about those stories. And yeah, you know, me, I always have have the odd stories about people that are either there or not there to defend themselves, and and those are the fun stories. And uh Jason uh K and Fourier L and and James uh W8ISS were both both went to college together in the Tampa area. Um that's right. And I don't know that they were were at were friends, but they were definitely acquaintances, knew each other down there. Um but they you know they spent a good amount of time reminiscing and catching up on people that they knew collectively down in Florida in the 90s. I mean, that was an excellent chat that they had. You never know what the conversation's gonna be. So that's my my favorite part of it, just getting around people and enjoying enjoying the outdoors and avoiding mosquitoes, of course.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

And they were voracious. Voracious.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

And if those don't know, uh Hartwick Pines is known as a uh pine tree forest, basically. Old pine growth, I think is the technical term. Old growth. Yeah, thank you, Jim. Jim actually grew up well, you didn't grow up in that area.

SPEAKER_03 22:47

38 minutes north of Hartwick Pines. It was a uh elementary school trip that everybody had to take down to the Hartwick Pines and walk the trail. Uh Old Growth, uh, of course, is the wood that uh you can remember when you go to an old home uh and uh when you walk across the floor, it doesn't buckle beneath you because you'd you know it had many years to grow rather than being accelerated by uh all the things. Uh so it's a really neat place to be. Uh and I I really appreciate that big uh tractor that they show at the front as you enter the park, right? With that big, big log cut off and uh how they used to move it uh by uh by horse-drawn uh methods. So it's kind of a neat, neat place. Uh and the really funny thing about that is of course the firewood that you buy uh is cuts cutoffs from the the stuff that they're milling in the park's lumber mill, so you get all the bark and stuff to burn, which is another way they reuse it. So sorry, James, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

No, and I and I actually thought that would be a good opportunity to kind of transition to our main show topic. So the questions I have around the meetup as we get ready for the fourth annual POTO meetup that will take place somewhere in Michigan in 2027. And Rory actually kind of touched on the point I kind of wanted to make was the best part was the bonfire in the evening for me personally. So you do all the work, you get everything set up, and then you just get a chance to sit down and talk to people. And James W8ISS, we were having a big nerd out conversation about Maker Fair in Detroit that used to take place all those years ago, and how he was always there, and we were just talking about the cool stuff that we'd always see at that fair. And for those don't know, I I loved Maker's Fair, and I'm so depressed that it's no longer really accessible to me in the area without a big trip. Yeah. And I and I really wish I could even take my kids there now because I think they, as their first robotics nerds as well, that they would just really get a kick out of it. But anyway, that conversation with James, who have never met in person before, I'm not even sure I've worked James over the radio, uh, but we were able to connect over something that to both of us was pretty meaningful and important. Yep. Then I also look at the meetup. It it brought actually, Jim, maybe this whole podcast started because the first annual meetup, because that's really the first time I I met you effectively. And then you kind of bridged the glue here with Rory and myself as well. Um, so I'm appreciative of that. And then even this Discord that we have for this podcast. You know, one of the best parts of why we do this podcast is we get to talk to a lot of really cool people, see what they're doing, and meet the hams that kind of make this this a great hobby. So to me, you know, when I was sitting down and thinking about the meetup, the cool thing was I sort of, you know, met my people. Amateur radio is definitely a big part of our lives and everything we kind of live for, but it's nice to be able to build a larger community that this hobby sort of offers. So I wanted to talk about again as we're looking forward to future years of the meetup. You know, what actually brings people together in the first place? So when we look at this this this hobby that we call amateur

What Builds A Welcoming Community

SPEAKER_01 25:35

radio, um, you know, what can we do better next year to continue to grow this community that we're starting to form for ourselves?

SPEAKER_03 25:44

Boy, that's a I mean, this is a this is a tough one. It it is a meaty question. I think you uh in classic fashion, lots of preparation, and James, we appreciate you for that. That's why the show is as good as it is. So uh that's a plus one. But uh it's one of those questions that I think when we're talking as an organizing board, right, of the POTA meetup, and I'm not on it, Rory isn't on it, you are. Uh, these are the types of questions that you're looking for feedback on, right? Like what is the what is the the reason that these people opt to make the drive, uh whether it be a day trip or opt to actually, you know, go out and camp with some folks that they may not know all that well, uh, and and and what what brings them out? And and I think the answer is exactly what you you started to describe there, which is the camaraderie around the fire, uh, the like-mindedness, the ability to uh enjoy some stories from folks that are smarter than you in some ways, uh, and your ability to share those stories uh where you have a cool and a fun idea or a thing that happened to you that is just really enjoyable to hear. So that's the reason that I go personally. Uh that was the reason that I joined the first one. Uh, I had no idea uh who James was. I had no idea who any of the club members were, but at the time I was getting reinterested in ham radio two years, two, well, three years, two and a half years ago. Uh, and I saw that the moat the meetup was happening. It was up uh just north of my bit place of business in Lansing, and I said, I'm gonna drive up there and I'm gonna stay overnight. I found the last site in the campground. Uh, and the first thing I did when I parked was grab the dog, put him on the leash, throw a handy talkie in my pocket, and I walked around to all the ham campsites that I could see an antenna in, and I just introduced myself. And I just thought that was a really fun way to like see who was out there, right? And some people were pretty receptive, and some people were like, Yeah, I don't know you, it's fine, just move along, you weirdo. And that's okay, right? Like, but it for me, I think it it really is camaraderie. It's it's being out there doing something that you like to do and knowing that uh that these folks also like to do it. This is kind of a strange hobby, right? If you talk to the general public, and I'll give you a uh a short one from my recent trip to discount tire here in New Hudson, uh, my truck was in getting its tire pressure sensors uh replaced because I bought a new set of tires that had the wrong frequency, which is very radio adjacent as well. 433 megahertz on the new 2026 Ford Super Duty, not 315 megahertz on my vintage 2020 Super Duty. Uh so I had the them swapping the sensors. And as they delivered it to me to drive away, there's a gentleman uh getting his truck as well, and he noticed the antenna. He said, What's that antenna for? Is that C B or something? And I said, Oh no, we're we're amateur radio operators. That antenna allows us to chat, you know, uh licensed hams. And and uh he he was curious about that. Oh, well, well, you know, is it like C B? I said, Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's it's it's it's similar in some ways and it's different in many others, you know. But uh, if you're interested, there's a club that's very active in downtown South Line. And that's the kind of thing. It's you know, it the general public has no idea what ham radio is. A lot of folks uh think of it as uh kind of an old idea. They know their grandpa did it or their dad did it, but they're they've they've totally forgotten about it. And to see uh folks out there that perhaps are breaking some of the uh the norms of of age or uh of of the type of people they expect to see, you know, like the old bearded man sitting at his CW key with the thing on, that's one guy. But there's a lot of different guys out there.

SPEAKER_04 29:04

You're talking about me?

SPEAKER_03 29:05

Well, you might well, you're getting there, buddy.

SPEAKER_04 29:07

I have the beard and I have the CW key.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

I feel like you gotta grow that beard out just a tad more to claim that.

SPEAKER_03 29:13

So so it for me that's that that's it. I I I digress a bit, but like what it really is is is getting folks out there that that are thinking the same way so that you can share some fun about the things that you've learned in the hobby. Go ahead, Rory.

SPEAKER_04 29:24

I think the important thing, and we saw a lot of this this weekend at the POTA meetup, is is just be good to one another. We hear all these stories that we see, especially if you're on the online Facebook groups uh specifically where where people can be behind their hiding bike hiding back.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

From Facebook or be offended by people on Facebook.

SPEAKER_04 29:45

Just you know, be good to good be good to everybody. You know, we we had a we had a group of 70-some people at at a pavilion in northern Michigan, and everybody was talking to everybody. Everybody was interested in uh what equipment people use, how they set it up, and everyone, you know, some people were giving advice or or asking questions. There were a number of people there that set up um a couple couple of the newer hams in our local club, uh Joe WHALN and AdWADDE were set up out there, and they were they were more more thrilled, more than thrilled to get some some feedback from some older hams that that you know wanted to give them some feedback on their setup and what to do better. And and uh I think Ed was interested in in getting um you know started perhaps in CW and one of the gentlemen there had his key to to show them and you know all all those things. It's just the the networking and and the pleasant conversation that comes at an event such as the POTA meetup or most local club meetings. I know we'll always hear about the clubs where nobody bothered to say hello to someone and and that's bad. I mean, we're fortunate we don't have that here. We're uh we're active in a club in an area where we're we're pretty much talking to everybody that shows up. But uh, you know, it's it's uh I think this particular activity with it being as open and welcoming as it is, um, and all types of people showed up, you know, people who uh it's at a campground. We had a number of people that that showed up for the day that had absolutely no interest in camping, but they're still interested in popping in and talking to everybody and spending the day visiting. So it's uh it's all a lot of how we we treat one another as well.

SPEAKER_03 31:24

Well, I I think Rory, that's a really good point. And uh we've all been to the club meeting or the event at a ham radio gathering where somebody is the know-it-all. And I think that one of the things I really appreciate about the POTA meetup is there's a little bit more balance there as far as that goes. Uh, we didn't get as much of that uh conflict, we didn't get as many much of that as uh, you know, I'm the end-all answer. That's what we're looking for from the community. And and think about that when you're out talking to your other hands, right? You certainly are uh probably smarter than I am on many things, amateur radio, but I might have something to offer you as well. So uh I think it's a really good opportunity to try to draw those things out when you're sitting with those people. If you notice that they're operating away, uh ask them about that way and why they like the things that they that they do, right? Uh they use an FT710 field and they're they're operating WSJTX. What power do you run? What it what's your what's your standard operating procedure when you run FT8? Because for me, when I'm out in the field, I'm probably only running 30 watts. And I said, Oh, you're probably running about 30 watts. He said, No, I run 50 watts every time, right? And that's just a totally different thing. That that's just different. That's something that he does, right? And so you have a lot to learn from the folks if you are willing to open uh your uh open yourself a little bit to that. And I think that's really part of the really awesome part of the community that we we saw at the the podi meetup there.

SPEAKER_01 32:40

Yeah, and I think I think you hit the nail on the head, and I pretty sure we've also said this before, is one, if you're interested in learning something, don't be afraid to ask. Um and and the know it all thing. I I know very little compared to the two of you. And I know very little. Right.

SPEAKER_03 32:57

I I we all know a little bit about something.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

And it's not it's nothing to be ashamed about. I'm I'm I'm a little bit newer in the ham radio hobby than than some of you. Um I absolutely am not an electronics person by trade. I'm a nerd by trade, a big, big nerd by trade. But doesn't mean I know all the ins and outs of schematics and electronic designs and how to make things work and improving. And and to me, that's the best part is uh I'm receptive to the feedback. Is you know, if I want to make the connections, I want to keep going. You just said it the best, Jim, is ask questions and and don't be afraid if someone is maybe a little gruff with you, or maybe they don't want to give you the time. And I'm sort of looking at one of the biggest things you hear from clubs right now. So I'm we are we are definitely driving into some of that how to build a better club, how to build a welcoming club. But I but I think that's where the meetup, like being receptive to like a meetup type event is is great. If the club is not working for you, go to some hand fests, go to find find a meetup in your area. Better yet, if there's not a meetup or something that you really find interesting, start to create one yourself. See if people show up. I was just giving it give it a go.

SPEAKER_03 34:00

I was just gonna say that one of the things that you can do, and and uh understand that the first time you do anything, A, it's going to be difficult. 100%. It's not gonna be easy.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Nope. You're learning.

SPEAKER_03 34:10

It's not gonna go perfectly. So just don't expect it's gonna everything's gonna go off with a hit. You might get lucky. You might get lucky. And but C, don't expect that it's gonna go gangbusters on the first thing. You build a channel on YouTube, you don't get 20 million subscribers on the first video you land, right? You you get you get one or two. And then the next time you do it, a couple more people show up, right? Because they talk to Bob, and Bob said, you know, I met with Rory, and Rory, he's got some fun train stories, and he's also a pretty good amateur radio operator, right? Like, and Bob's like, uh he shares that, right? And by word of mouth, you kind of grow that community. It's not gonna be the same in every geo, right? If you're listening out in the plains uh and there's only a few folks per capita per mile, you're not gonna find that same type of thing. But look, look, look, look for those opportunities, I think. And that's that's one of the big things that I enjoyed about that POTA meetup experience.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Yeah. And uh this is gonna be the very HR person inside of me, so I'm sorry if everyone wants to mute their their dial right now. Uh, but you kind of look at what's called the Tuckman model. And I'm sure you've all heard this before uh for team building

Discord Culture And Shared Interests

SPEAKER_01 35:10

activities, you know, forming, storming, norming, and performing.

SPEAKER_03 35:13

Oh god, yes. I didn't know where you were going with it on the the name, but as soon as I heard that, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

It's a cringing is it kind of like saying AI right now?

SPEAKER_03 35:21

No, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

But you know, it you can be in the forming and storming, and it takes a little while to get to the norming and performing, and that's perfectly normal. So give yourself time as you kind of step into this community um and and explore things. And actually, our Discord, not that this is, I guess, a plug, um, but I think our Discord is a good example of that. A lot of those people on our Discord are we all are ham radio enthusiasts, however, we have very different hobbies. And the Discord started as an offshoot of this podcast focusing on amateur radio. Yep. And I think one of the best things that's kind of cool is community-driven feedback. The next group, or I can't remember what channel, I think is what they're called in Discord. Yep. Uh, the first group we created outside amateur radio was pets. Everyone talking about their pets and everything that goes into it. And again, that that's okay if that's something that's important to the community.

SPEAKER_03 36:12

We did add an EDH contest crew channel as well, or I'm sorry, E CW crew channel. So we do have CW crew channel. If you're uh you're a hardcore CW op, you should join and tell us all about how awesome you are or what you're learning uh on the key. But yeah, great, great example there, James. And again, that that's the type of thing that I want to stress is these events are just an opportunity to go out and perhaps network a little bit uh in person, right? Like Rory said, the radios did tend to uh stand by the wayside uh during the core parts of the time that we were together in the under the picnic shelter because actually it's not every day that I get to run into, you know, uh my dad or my mom uh not on the radio or on the phone, right? And they came down and and made an appearance at the uh it was very cool to see your parents.

SPEAKER_04 36:57

And I I you know I uh everyone thinks whatever about their parents and their family, but uh I thought it was it was cool they came down and your your family photo there in the in the shelter was uh was was cool to see.

SPEAKER_00 37:09

So that was that was fun.

SPEAKER_04 37:10

That was uh that was always good. And I I was uh and I I've said this before, but I was very pleased to work your mother on on two-meter simplex.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

So is the family of hams, by the way.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

KD8 C H H KC8 NTE, KC8 T G B, and N H R D. So that's all of the hammer.

SPEAKER_04 37:28

You're the only one with the vanity call.

SPEAKER_03 37:31

I am the only one that jumped to to vanity. Dad, I think, has too many KC8 NTE stickers printed and applied to his equipment to change at this point.

SPEAKER_04 37:39

I think he's just in indifferent about that type of change. You're exactly right.

SPEAKER_03 37:43

Uh NTE was not to exceed, and he always thought that was a cool call. And so that's why he, I believe, uh held on to that one in some regards.

SPEAKER_04 37:50

Hopefully we can get your brother active. It's not outside of his interests either. It's just not his thing right now.

SPEAKER_03 37:56

So yeah, life life is hard. Sometimes uh you got other things going on. Maybe you'll come around. It took me forty forty tell forty years to to decide that I was gonna operate the radio again. So, you know, took a little break twenty years or so. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

What else you got, James, on the topic of the case. No, that was it. I think I think for me, uh I want to also give a big thank out. Big thank out. A big thank you to everyone that helped volunteer. Uh Mike for for creating those bingo cards again. That was pretty amazing.

Volunteers, Bingo, And Meetup Links

SPEAKER_01 38:26

Yeah. Um, he he actually spent the time and effort to do that and talk about getting a community engaged. Uh, give them something to do that is fun to go socialize and also gave you're holding it upside down. Also gave us some free laser engraved. Oh no, it's right side up. Michigan Potum Meetup coasters there. I apparently cannot see straight. Uh but also thank you for the volunteers. Thank you to Mike. Also, thank you for everyone that showed up. Uh it was it was really a great time. Uh, I hope the stories we were kind of sharing here and the importance of the community kind of really highlights that to you. Um, but there's not really much else in the meetup. We're looking forward to the fourth meetup, which again, as I said before, we have not scheduled yet. We're trying to find a location. If you're looking for more information, visit uh Michigan Poda Meetup.com. Uh, you can sign up to subscribe there as well. Um plugging, I guess, a different website than our everydayham.com.

SPEAKER_03 39:19

But you know, well, next year somebody might join us. I do have a I do have a question. In classic NAJRD fashion, I'm gonna pose what I will call a maybe a hot topic, hot button type question on the topic of POTA right now, right? And and we saw a a very good turnout. This was the middle of

Is POTA Nearing A Plateau

SPEAKER_03 39:35

Michigan. It was not specifically close to any one of our borders. You know that we only have a northern border and a southern border, really, because the rest is uh surrounded by lakes, which is a really awesome problem to have a lot of things.

SPEAKER_04 39:46

Wisconsin would would beg to differ.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

Northwest border. You know. But you know, we had folks that drove uh a couple of hours. And and I I know that you guys in the PoTometup crew that that that are thinking about where to put it next, right, are considering that the drive time and the commitment to coming to POTO meetup is not insignificant. And we've talked about this before, hams of all different abilities, hams of of different uh uh times and and schedules, and some are working, some are not, some uh have reasons why they can't sit in the car for six hours or can't fly uh monetarily or otherwise. So it's really thoughtful that it was in a place where it was, you know, it could be a day trip if you wanted it to be. Uh, and folks showed up to it, and we were excited about that. But what this isn't the hot button part of it. I was gonna say, what's the hot button in this? No, this isn't the hot button part of it, right? We had a good turnout. What I'm what I'm saying is we have speculated amongst ourselves, gentlemen, that POTA is in its sort of golden twilight right now, right? As as it it got to that point, I'm again, I know this is a hot button. Let me say it and then you can go ahead and speculate, James. So we know that PODA has continuously grown, right? Exponential growth. If you watched the interview that I did, it's still technically growing, right? Well, I I don't know anything about this year's stats, but if you look at last year's and all the preceding year's stats, exponential growth, right? Massive, massive growth uh as it were, was introduced as a new uh radio sport, and then as it has continued along uh and sold a ton of radios and gotten a whole bunch of new po folks out in the park. But we've speculated at some point that uh we reach a plateau with PODA. And we were curious if we were gonna see any indication of that going into PODA meetup or uh as we entered this sort of 2026 timeline, right? What's what is the next five years of amateur radio sport look like? What is coming next after POTA? I guess that's kind of what I'm thinking is do we do we think that there is that plateau that we're hitting yet, gentlemen? Or do we feel like there's still a lot of room to grow for the next year, two, three? I mean, what's what's your what's your what's your first? I'll go first.

SPEAKER_01 41:53

And I'll I'll answer it by saying this. I don't think it's that hot of a take. I actually will say it's probably a lukewarm take. The only thing I'll have an objection to you saying there is uh you use the word twilight, the golden twilight of PODA. Okay, sure. I would say at this point perhaps the wrong words. Yeah, no, and I would say at this point, PODA is in its golden years. It has definitely seen that sharp increase, especially with COVID and other things. We're getting out and mobile was definitely a uh huge, new, exciting thing. A lot of manufacturers we saw started producing POTA radios and other equipment designed for PODA, the masks and other things that also were the accessories that go with it. Perfect storm of situation, right?

SPEAKER_03 42:32

Situationally, there were people with lots of time on their hands, they needed to get out of the house, and uh they had a hobby that they perhaps hadn't looked at in a long time. A lot of reasons why you'd get back into it, and there was a lot of money to spend at that time uh in in the world. So there's there's there's a lot of interesting things going on. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 42:47

Do I think that growth curve has definitely started to plateau? Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. I I think you're gonna not see the year over year growth at the numbers that you've been seeing for parks on the air. Yep. Um I I mean you've already seen if I look at where where is it gonna expand to, right? So new hams, people getting back in the hobby, people that maybe just want to try POTA for the first time. But a lot of the current active ham base that's interested has probably tried amateur radio at this point. And it's a global program. So we're not gonna expand to new countries or other things as well to get that exponential growth that we've seen. Right.

SPEAKER_03 43:22

It's not like Facebook where you're sending it to the next college and you're gonna get the next you know, group of guys online. It's it it certainly has it's got the folks, at least from the established base, that it's gonna get, right? Most likely.

SPEAKER_01 43:34

And where I see it, where I see it hitting the twilight curve is as the solar cycle kind of goes down, POTA's really built around a lot of uh QRP type operation. That was my next one. That becomes more and more difficult. And and you know, you could see that plateau. But you know, we're still a few years away from that as well. Uh, I think we all should just enjoy the golden years of parks on the air right now with the maturity of the platform, the improvements coming to the new uh website. That was announced at Hanvention. Um that that's my take, Rory.

SPEAKER_03 44:03

I want to put a star on it real quick and just say if you're listening out there and you're like, what a jerk Jim is for bringing up even that POTA is dying. I'm not saying it's dying, by the way. I'm simply asking a question is where are we where are we in the life cycle of POTA? And if we're thinking forward, and I've heard some of the folks say this, uh, and I won't name names because they can own this themselves, but I've I've heard people say, what is after POTA? What what is the next POTA?

SPEAKER_01 44:26

Because and that I didn't even answer that. That'll be really exciting.

SPEAKER_03 44:29

Because I have no idea. Okay, well, go ahead, Rory, go ahead. Tell me what you're doing.

SPEAKER_04 44:32

Well, what is after anything? I mean, uh what is after someone gets tired of uh work doll states or someone gets tired of you know the the DX contests that pop up a couple times a year at Cuso parties, you you find something else to do. But those those particular those particular events that have been around for for decades have not disappeared. I think as long as I I think that sharp increase to where we're at with POTA participation is is probably gonna plateau, but we're not gonna see a sharp decrease that that mirrors that sharp increase. It's there'll be a decrease over time. It won't, it won't, you know, that's just what happens in things. But I think, you know, we still see online, we still see in our own logs every time we go out and do a park or when we're hunting, we're still talking to someone that says this is my first POTA activation. This is my first this is my first month being a ham radio operator. Um, this is my first time doing POTA since I upgraded to General. We're still hearing all these things. So that that downward downward trend might occur in the numbers, but it's not going to crash, I don't believe. If the POTA board, and we're fortunate enough to be be very uh very good friends with you know, people uh Mark uh K at MST. Uh of course I you know I had a very long conversation with him out at the POTA meetup, of course, uh part of it on on video, and we might get something out with that at some point. I don't know if my interview will be worthwhile. We were kind of rambling, but that's all right. And then a little bit afterwards, you know, Mark's Mark's goal, and and you know, he's he's an attorney by trade, is is is the governance and keeping this so that it can be a long-term, long-term thing. It can stick around for a while, it can move on to the next generation and stay alive. The current board is very interested in the long long longevity of PODA and keeping it running and making the improvements and keeping the you know the the model evolving and good. I mean, there's there's talk of awards being improved upon over time and maybe some new awards coming out after a while. They're not they're not done creating the game of PODA. So um I I think we've got a long ways to go. And uh as long as as the business side of PODA, we'll call it that, the board and other things, keep making it is a business at this point.

SPEAKER_03 46:49

Keeping the improvement we can't discount that.

SPEAKER_04 46:51

Right, keeping the improvements that they're they're trying to make with the the um the website and the logging system and and their customer service model.

SPEAKER_01 47:01

The infrastructure alone.

SPEAKER_04 47:02

The infrastructure, yeah. You know, their their customer service model is is uh their help desk is is better than some of these multimillion computer programs, that multimillion dollar computer programs.

SPEAKER_02 47:13

I won't name any names, but uh they replied to my email far faster than some vendors.

SPEAKER_04 47:17

Right. So, you know, they're they're they're running the business correctly, and I I think it'll be around a while. And uh, you know, it's it's something that maybe, you know, and all of our interests and every hobby ebb and flow, and there'll be a time that I won't be going and do up doing POTA as much as I do, but you know, you'll still go out and fire up a radio once in a while.

SPEAKER_01 47:37

And I have may have hit that point, honestly spoken. I have not been going out and doing as many parks as I used to. Life is happening right now, too, James. Like, don't you know?

SPEAKER_04 47:46

Things happen. And and you know, things schedules get hard, but it's still there when you need to find an excuse to go go park out, you know, one one day here or there.

SPEAKER_03 47:56

But uh three bullet points I want oh, sorry, go ahead, Doug. No, go right ahead. Three three bullet points I want to hit here. So, first, I want to say POTA is still free, and it is still somehow running uh without anybody's contribution aside from the donations that folks give it. It is a volunteer organization, right? So we called it a business earlier, I called it a business. Let me own that it is a volunteer organization, it is being run professionally like a business would, and that is important to me. And I think that right now we're in that pot of transition, right? Just like your favorite startup company. If you follow them from the first idea that they had, maybe they launch it on Kickstarter or otherwise, uh, and it gets really exciting and it gets a lot of uh news, and then they start to iterate on that, and there's this exponential growth in the idea of that thing that they've built, right? And then we get to that point where there's no longer so much of that like initial, we can build, keep, build, build, build, build the base, right? We have to now learn what we can do to maintain the base that we've built. And I think that that is where we are, and that's why I asked this question with the POTA board is we're in that sustained period now where it is important for the if infrastructure to become better, right? To become more efficient, to become better so that it doesn't require as much support. And also uh to make to continue to make things interesting. I won't say make things interesting, but to continue to make things interesting for those folks that continue to participate. And the last thing, I said three bullets here, is absolutely the magic for new hams is not going to wear off, right? If I'm a new ham and I've never done PODA, it's still gonna be awesome. It always was awesome. If that's why that's why it's so popular, right? POTA is awesome because it gives me a reason to buy cool shit and go out in the field and run it.

SPEAKER_01 49:37

There you go. Pure and simply said. And I don't think we can underestimate, by the way, if you would like to donate to PODA, you can visit parksonheir.com and you'll see a donate button. Again, they are a volunteer run organization and depend on your donation. So not sponsored, but we do love that. But if you love Parks on the Air, you know, any any bit I know helps them from again getting to talk to some of the organizers of that program, they spend that money in good places. And we can't underestimate the contributions Parks on the Air has made in terms of just the setting the standard for amateur radio infrastructure. So front ends. The website, probably one of the best in the in the business for amateur radio. Uh I mean that amateur radio sites are are basically mocked as GeoCity clones for everything when they find out they want to. But yes, not everyone, but let's be honest.

SPEAKER_04 50:25

I've seen some GeoCiti's quality uh club websites, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 50:29

That's yeah. And and let's also be honest, like some of the manufacturers' USA websites are also not that great. So let's appreciate some of those contributions. But to get back to your question, and I think Rory's spot on. We're in the golden years, it'll ebb and flow. You'll see some ups and downs in the interest of PODA, uh, but I don't see it going anywhere quickly, and I don't really see it being replaced easily either, because I think Jim, you were you're trying to hit on that question. I avoided it earlier.

SPEAKER_03 50:55

The reason I don't it's not that I'm begging for a replacement. I should again begging for a replacement, nor do I I know, nor do I know if there's gonna be one, but I'm I'm always looking forward, right? If we if we're not looking forward, we're in the ground. So just just asking that question very, very uh conceptually.

SPEAKER_01 51:11

It's gonna be, let's say what it's the next big thing, and I think one of the key elements for parks on the air that they have is it's accessible for all hands, all disability types, all people. You know, there's there's state parks, there's white uh wildlife areas. The park if you can, yeah, right. You can you can go to a parking lot and set up, you can sit at a picnic table, you can sit in your car if you if you're you want to, or you have a disability that prohibits you from getting out of your vehicle. You know, there's all types of equipment you can bring from big to small. And I think that's one thing that parks on the air gets absolutely correct. And going back to the earlier part about building a community, they are inclusive and they do it very well. Yep.

unknown 51:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:49

I I I I don't want to bite this one off too big, but I am gonna ask because you touched on it early on, James, and we still have about five minutes that I can play with before you guys start running me uh off with the Grammy uh music here. Band conditions. And and this this was a little bit evident this weekend as we start to see the the downward swing of the solar site. We're nowhere near

Solar Cycle Reality And Mode Choices

SPEAKER_03 52:10

the bottom, right? We're nowhere near the bottom. And I came in when it was hot, hot, hot. You could go to any band and you could basically start calling and you would Ole Olay. Uh you could call anybody and you could get your you know, you 10 contacts.

SPEAKER_01 52:22

This weekend, we have 200 contacts in an hour at one point.

SPEAKER_03 52:26

I sat there getting 250 in many of my early activations. It it's not quite the same right now, and and I don't expect that it may be the same for many, many years at this point, uh, knowing that we are kind of on slightly a downturn of this this cycle, but it will just change how folks operate. And that's what I was going to drive is we may move more in the direction of operating CW, which can break through uh with less power and can go further with the propagation being more limited. We may end up finding that FT8 becomes more de facto than it already is, right? Don't don't don't get in the comments and tell me, Jim, everybody's already using FTA. I understand, gentlemen. I do. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 53:05

We we taught Lewis, N8 L E K, how to use FTA this weekend at the meetup as well. So he'll never use it.

SPEAKER_03 53:12

No, he won't. By the way, N8 L E K going to Alaska. He is planning a fairly significant test stop. Okay, okay. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 53:20

Lewis is going Lewis is going to Alaska on field day weekend. He's gonna be able to make contacts. He'll be all right, you're right. He's gonna be a busy weekend.

SPEAKER_01 53:28

I tried to tell him this, and I said, worst case is you go to a club, you use their directional antennas, and you say hello back to the community, and then you get your 10 contacts, and then you can do whatever you want after that, but you'll be just fine. And I hope I hope he is, by the way. Shout out to Lewis.

SPEAKER_04 53:45

On the band condition thing, I think, Jim, you were heading the right direction. We're gonna have to take all the tools in our toolbox out there. You're gonna have to be prepared to operate on multi-modes, you're gonna have to be able to operate on multi-bands, and you might only get 15 or 20 contacts instead of that 150. And it's gonna be longer and it's gonna take you longer. But you just you it's still the same amount of fun. You're still getting out and seeing parks, areas, locations you've never seen before, in some cases. It just might take a little little work, but uh I I don't like to let band conditions uh dis discourage me. I'll I'll go out and try to activate in all conditions.

SPEAKER_01 54:21

And there's two meters.

SPEAKER_03 54:23

Yeah, there's well, there we go. Are you guys gonna tell me that I have to learn to like new music rather than just stick with my old music?

SPEAKER_04 54:29

Those damn kids and you're the one telling us we need to be progressive and look forward. So I don't know what you're what you're saying over there.

SPEAKER_03 54:36

I I am simply using a uh a very funny little reference there. But no, that's what exactly what I'm saying is is be willing to change, right? Uh the the bands change, uh the technology's changing, and uh be willing to change if you're gonna go out and uh get there in the the tougher band situation. Over the weekend, if for example, we had uh some tough afternoon, uh the band would be there, and uh just as soon as you made two or three contacts, the band would be gone for a few minutes and then it would come back. So uh we had some solar activity this weekend, I believe the night before I left. Uh in fact, they were predicting that you might see some of the auroras. Of course, uh that time has come and gone. I didn't see any myself, but uh it certainly was geometric b magnetically exciting uh in the world.

SPEAKER_01 55:15

We got into the hobby for a challenge and to try new things. Just everyone remember that. It's not all about meeting people. Uh it it's a fun technical hobby as well. So, you know, start to learn new skills, be prepared, make the best of it. I'm gonna have to do that.

SPEAKER_03 55:29

All right, James. Before I let it slide, James is uh having himself a cold beverage here, which I can appreciate since it's 95 degrees in my shack. Uh did I see an everyday ham pig on that mug that you're careful? It is. So what happened is James is holding a blue cup up. It's just a regular blue tumbler like the one that you might have your stadium cup, if you will.

SPEAKER_01 55:51

There we go. Uh so I got these for the Michigan Poda meetup as a fun handout. I got a limited selection of them. Uh however, shipping is not what it used to be. Yep. And therefore, I have a limited selection of everyday.com stadium cups. Not for sale on our merch store, but if you reach out to me, maybe I'll send you one.

SPEAKER_03 56:11

Come join the Discord. We may have a little giveaway uh if you're looking for a uh interesting little cup. Come see us. We might we might have an option. Very, very interesting. I saw them pop up in your uh in your webcam as we were chatting, and it uh it drew my attention. I was uh very much entertained. Gentlemen, I think we're at the uh the bottom of this hour, and uh I like this the time frame that we uh usually maintain here on the Everyday Ham. If you're out there listening, appreciate you joining us again. Love you love for you to join us on the Discord

Final Thoughts, Ratings, And 73s

SPEAKER_03 56:38

like we've mentioned before. Uh leave a comment if you're watching it on YouTube. Let us know what you think of the POTA meetup, the idea of perhaps uh the bands ebbing and flowing, or even uh the hot button issue of what's next after POTA. Take it anywhere you want. We'd love to hear from you down in those comments. I'm gonna say 73s. Gentlemen, do you have any final thoughts for the folks at home?

SPEAKER_01 56:59

I guess for me also, if you where you listen to your audio version of the podcast, if it's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other player, uh please go in and leave us a rating. I cannot express how much that actually helps us. Preferably five stars and more, and maybe a little comment. Uh, but you know, you do whatever brings you joy in this world. And for that, 73s, Rory.

SPEAKER_04 57:20

I'll close with this keep the sad hams away. Always say hi to a new ham on the repeater. 7 3 from W A K N X.