Ham Talk Live! Episode 144 - BeLoud Contest Station

Let's get LOUD Thursday night at 9 pm Eastern time on Ham Talk Live! with Steve Narducci, W9SN & Fred Dennin, WW4LL of the BeLoud Contest Station in Maine! We'll talk about the construction of stations, how design for DXing and contesting differs, and more! And, we will take your questions and give away two Ham Talk Live! Grid Square T-shirts to some lucky callers!

Tune into Ham Talk Live! Thursday night at 9 pm EST (Friday 0200Z) by going to hamtalklive.com. When the audio player indicates LIVE, just hit the play button!

If you miss the show live, you can listen on demand anytime also at hamtalklive.com; or a podcast version is on nearly all podcast sites a few minutes after the live show is over. Some sites include Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, SoundCloud, and iHeart Podcasts; and it's also available on YouTube.

Be sure to CALL in with your questions and comments by calling 812-NET-HAM-1 live during the call-in segment of the show. You can also tweet your questions before or during the show to @HamTalkLive.

 

Ham radio is the only place where 'being loud' is high compliment!

 

The contesting ethos: "Shout over everyone else."

 

cha ching

 

The photo of the operating desk in this post makes me sad. No knobs, no switches, no buttons, no meters, no blinking lights, no...radios. The only saving grace are what appear to be a few iambic paddles on the desk. But I hope there are radios in there somewhere. There MUST be radios in there somewhere. (Yeah, I know. Off-topic post. Never happens here does it.)

 

I see lots of meters, buttons, and switches on those displays

 

looks boring to me

 

I couldn't agree more. These "glass cockpit" type stations have ZERO character, ambiance, "personality", whatever you want to call it. They don't make me want to sit down and operate; they make me want to walk away.

Maybe even run

 

Love it! free of old junk just used to fill up on shelves and desks .. Free of dustcollectors and unused, or very rarely, used junk. Almost there at my SE3X station. Have keept a Maestro console to have a sort of button and knobs.

By that I take cover and feel happy to be far far away from the angry mob, soon to arrive here in the Zeed

 

Of course there is a radio. The QSO's aren't being done by telepathic vibrations....

 

A cool state of the art operating console

More power to ya!

 

what more is there them owning a gorgeous FTDX 5000 limited?

 

Great that some Hams are setting up remote operation stations. Lot of work and planning are required.. Hope the Main Remote is a success. I like knobs and switches but ham radio equipment is changing. Hams have a lot more options how they like to operate so when I see an old radio station setup or a new computer radio it makes me glad we have plenty of choices. Some people just like to complain better to stay positive because everyone is not the same and Ham Radio is for fun and to enjoy using new or old equipment.

 

My only complaint is that I stare at a computer screen 8-10 hours a day as it is. Last thing I want to do to relax is stare at a computer screen. Bah! Humbug!

 

Contests and money. This is a very good reason to find a more gentile hobby. One where money plays a smaller role. QST honers those who "buy contests" with cover pictures of their wonderful stations with several $15,000 radios connected to several towers, supporting several antennas all housed in a large "shack". Then of course they need several 1500w amplifiers that will run full powers for days. Contests are now forming a foundation for the continuing existence of the ARRL. Numerous new QST pages now support contests. The ARRL invents new contests. The manufactures develop better and better (read $$$$) gear. They advertise in QST and the circle is complete.

We began picking up the thrilling transmissions of Marconi and Admiral Byrd and seeing our name in the local newspaper mentioning this wondrous achievement. It was a "romantic era" Radio was evolving and the general population was equally thrilled when they picked up WLW in Denver! Today, is it an accomplishment, or even recognized that a Ham in Atlanta contacted a station in Ethiopia? No, I can call that Ham on my cellphone I have in my pocket. Radio, especially Ham Radio, has become commonplace. The thrill and romance from itsearly-days is gone and replaced by contests. Struggling through the noise from the appliances in today's homes only to make a contact with the Ham in Ethiopia, who will lie and tell me I am "59", is boring. Should I spend large sums to achieve the top area of the radio contest results?