Latest / Everyday Ham Podcast: Amateur Radio Conversations / Returning to the Moon: Optimism & Technology that Moves Our Space Needle

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Returning to the Moon: Optimism & Technology that Moves Our Space Needle · Everyday Ham Podcast: Amateur Radio Conversations

• 0:12
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, everyone.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to episode 16 of the Everyday Ham podcast.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_03: I am James, K8JKU, joined here by Jim, N8JRD, and Rory Knx, as always.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_03: So we got a little bit of a good show, I think, for you today.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_03: It's not necessarily all amateur related.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_03: So we're going to have a little bit of a nerd out.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_03: But before we get into that, just a quick reminder.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_03: If you like what you're hearing on the podcast, you want to learn more, if you want to visit our YouTube channel or go to our socials or Discord, go to everydayham.com.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_03: Also, we just posted a pretty good video.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: Is BG2FX building a new 50-watt radio?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: This is the maker of the FX4CR.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_03: So if you're interested in checking that out on YouTube, go right ahead to our main channel at Everyday Ham.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_03: So with that, we'll kick it off as always with a brief around the shack segment.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_03: Jim, why don't we start with you?
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: Well, good evening, gentlemen.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: And uh we find ourselves on the cusp of yet another human achievement uh this evening, which is really, really exciting.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm actually uh gonna have some fun talking about uh Artemis with you guys here in just a moment.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh this one is gonna be a little uh ham light today, but uh I do think this will be a really fun conversation, judging by uh the uh traction that we've gotten in the Discord and all of you guys uh that have met us in the Discord to talk about uh the moon stuff uh that is going on.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: So really, really exciting week here.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's been nice to have some optimistic uh information in the news, and uh it's been really fun to uh to kind of dive back into that pulpy uh science-backed uh information instead of uh all of the politics uh that have surrounded us for uh quite a few months now.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: So I really uh have been enjoying this uh uh sort of distraction uh right now.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: But uh round the shack here in the NHGRD space, it's been a quiet uh week or two.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: I admittedly uh have had quite a bit going on uh here in the uh life and office uh space.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I did turn off the radios last week and take a little break uh from everything.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, I'm telling you guys that because I think that uh sometimes doing a little hard reset from the hobby can be a really healthy thing to do uh because you can come back and be excited about it again.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so this week I turned my radio back on on Sunday evening after I had taken a little break.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I I'm talking about my my VHF UHF rig.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: The HF rig's off most of the time, unless I'm operating FT8 or chasing somebody on PODA, but uh turned it back on and started listening again.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: And it was nice to have a little reset period, right?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: Get uh get some fresh space there.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: It let me focus on some other things that needed to be done, and I think finding that balance between the hobby uh and life is is often a really healthy thing to do.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: But in classic NHJRD fashion, I got back on, I got back interested in radio, and then I bought an uh an Zaiku G90 this afternoon.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: So whoa, wait, that's actually news.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: You did you pulled the trigger because you for those that don't know Jim, he will always share.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_03: He loves searching for bargains, and he will always share the bargain he finds on QRZ or Facebook Marketplace.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: You shared earlier the G90, I thought, on a link.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: I was working and I kind of missed it, but it was deep, it was deep in the message that it was actually purchase.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: It was deep.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: You had to, you had to you had to read read it for comprehension.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: It was I don't know if we're I think I read it twice.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think I read it twice before I said, Oh, that was a purchase.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I don't know if we're proud of our G90 purchase or not, but I I'm I'm kidding.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the G90 has been one of those things that's sort of been on the fringe radar for a long while for me as a uh a really fun little radio to to try out.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: And also I have this vision where uh the G90 is more portable than my DX10 and my big battery and all the big and thin.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: What I have this vision of is it's like I'm going out for the day and I don't know if I'm ever gonna have a chance to radio, but I could throw it in the back of the car with me, right?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll have a little three-pound rig that does 20 watts.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: I know I can do sideband because I'm not a CW op yet.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna be a little wire antenna, probably a nine to one, that's what I'm thinking, a random wire, because it has a great tuner and the Proto 20 mast, right?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: So this is my ultralight vision for the G90.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and that's that's kind of where I grabbed it.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it'll be a fun radio to uh to play with, uh, especially with a couple of neat camping opportunities coming off.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'm hoping to have it for Michigan Cuso party, which I'm sure Rory will talk about in just a minute.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: You don't you don't need to say the price, but do you feel like you got a pretty good deal on it?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I'm always I'm always open on what I pay for things.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: I try to find the the most killer deal possible on on all the things.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh this one was a uh a G90 on the QRZ this afternoon, and the gentleman listed it for$335, which for me, uh in the currently slightly inflated radio cost market, uh seems like a really fair option.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I can remember uh KF8 BWN Shane, our silent partner in the Everyday Ham, if you haven't uh heard of Shane.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: Shout out Shane.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, shout out Shane.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh bought the G90 at last ham venture, and he got a really killer deal, close to I think 350, but he got a few things with it, including the Res Atena and some other things at the tip as well, which was a killer deal.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he got some real, real, real nice deal on it.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: So there have been cheaper G90s sold, but at 335 seemed really fair in the in the market.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it was a brand new in-the-box type of thing where the guy pulled it out because he wanted a POTA.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_02: I think he was 71 years old, I believe is his he said, uh, and he just decided that he wasn't gonna take it out and do it in the field.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: So it was a good opportunity to get a a never used or lightly used G90 that I can play with.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'll upgrade the firmware when it comes and we'll try to build out the ultralight uh portable kit.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: And being very honest, guys, I will say this, and I think this is an upcoming topic.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I have not been doing much PODA lately.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I've been more interested in running the radio in different ways, and so uh I don't know if it's gonna see a ton of PODA, but I do like the idea of being able to take it out with me in the field and just run HF radio wherever I'm at.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: So well, we'll see how it goes.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: But Rory, what's up with you in the shack?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing new in the shack, no, no purchases here.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh I think your purchase there, Jim, is an exciting one.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've always enjoyed that radio.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: I had a chance to be hands-on with Shane's last year at at Caesar Creek Campground after he purchased it.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Very impressed by it for its size, price, and and the whole package.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh it'll be fun to play with.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you have we always talk about this.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Why why do you PODA or why don't you PODA?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it's the ease of the setup.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: For example, my purchase of the ATOS now two years ago, I POTA a lot more.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: All I have to do is go pull up and get on the air.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: When I when I have an hour to spare, if I want to spend my lunch at work, uh this the past weekend, we had a bunch of new parks pop up on the list in Michigan.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: I went and did one of them just because it was easy enough for me to get in and get out.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: The easier you have your POTA setup, the more inclined you are, I think, to do it on a whim where it doesn't take a whole lot of setup planning.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta get this and that.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's just easier to do.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I think your thought on having that in the kit for a quick maybe I'll do it, maybe I won't activation is is an excellent plan.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh in my shack, however, still enjoying, and everyone probably saw the video a couple weeks ago where where Shane and Jim were over here helping me get the uh well, helping me, they were doing all the work, getting getting my antenna up in the tree.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I've been exceptionally pleased.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, I'm going from a a very low performing attic and fed antenna to an antenna that's outside.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you have a little bit of improvement just by getting the damn thing outside, but um the I've been impressed, especially 40 meters, which is you know, I I like a lot of 40 meter time, so uh it's it's been performing well.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: I did hit my uh DX100 on QR Z.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: I have a hundred countries confirmed finally on QR Z.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have I don't have it on um on uh DXCC yet for ARRL.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm still six away there, but uh that's gone up, I believe eight or nine just since that antenna's gone outside.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: Nice, so that's that's the big improvement.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I I really appreciate the support and help and encouragement of getting that up and having me get off my behind and actually doing something.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: So uh very good on that.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's it's Q so party season.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh of course, I'm not a huge contester, but I enjoy contests.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: Last weekend we had uh oh I'm I'm blanking now, Mississippi and Louisiana.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh not not a whole lot in the log, but uh was able to get on the air and and get a few of those on phone and on on uh CW.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: So that was cool.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: This next weekend is going to be a very busy Cuso party weekend.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: We have uh New Mexico, uh let's see, New Mexico, Missouri, Georgia, and North Dakota Cuso parties all this coming weekend.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: So uh of course, hoping to get a few contacts and all of those and have to go through and read the rules and see what the the nuances is nuances are between them and make sure I have everything ready to go.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: But looking forward to that the weekend.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: After that, however, is uh Michigan Cuso Party weekend.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll be down in Lenaway County at uh Lake Hudson State Wreck area.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be out there camping.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: It'll be first trip for the new camper.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: I uh looking looking for the colour.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_03: The weather gets a little warmer for you.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: We're hoping it gets warmer so I can, you know, like use water.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that's important.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: But we woke up to s with snow on the ground here on the seventh day of April.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Two mornings in a row with snow on the ground.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm not for that, but uh that that is what it is.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: So looking forward to that.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I I have CW in the toolbox this year, which I've not had before.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm looking forward to uh to to bumping that score up a bit.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think I'm at a point where I'm gonna be calling CQ and having people come at me with uh with their with their calls, but I'll definitely be searching and pouncing um CW operators for the QSO party.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully I can get closer to a full sweep for uh for counties this year, which I've not done before.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: So looking forward to all those things.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh certainly uh also this this that weekend is also shares QSO Party with Ontario on Saturday and Quebec on Sunday.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll be participating in those as well.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it'll be a busy, busy radio weekend, but uh looking forward to it.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um for the everyday am folks, we have, of course, don't forget, I always encourage people the Discord.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: Love, I enjoy the Discord.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: I enjoy the, you know, it's like I tell people, it's small, but it's mighty.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's a fun, fun group of people on there.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Don't don't come by looking for 24 hours a day worth of conversation.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: You're not gonna get that, but you're certainly gonna get the morning crew, you're gonna get a handful of people that that are all over the place and and certainly uh certainly getting to know each other.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: We've had a chance to meet a handful of people in person when we were down in Florida, and the same will happen in Dayton here in in uh a little over a month.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: So that's uh that's coming up quick.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: But shout out to one of our our newcomers there, Steve Kf8, uh DYB.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: He's been in the morning chat and giving giving some uh perspective on things every day.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Look, I enjoy uh enjoy him.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: I hope to uh hope to meet meet him someday and maybe some others too, maybe down at Dayton.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: I we'll see where where people show up and and they'll find us with our our pig hats and always always say hello because you'll you'll end up getting a pig sticker.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: That'll be from Jim because he remembers to take his with him.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: I never do.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: So there may be a special edition Dayton pig sticker.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Oh so you're saying it, so that that that makes that makes it a that makes it a thing.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: You don't want to let people down.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: You don't want to let me down because I want one.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: Oh see, well, there you go.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: But uh that's uh that's what's going on in the shack and around around town in in general, James.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: So I I've just got back from Hawaii where I did get a chance to do some POTA.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm still a little bit of jet lag, so if I mispronounced YouTube in the opening there, bear with me.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_03: Uh for some reason talking about it.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: You did you did also uh manage to uh omit my prefix on my call site.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm just KMX.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm just I'm just I'm just KNX 1070 News Radio Los Angeles.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that's it.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: We let that be, but that's fine.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm all I'm all about KNX, so that's fine.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry about that.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so I did get a chance to get out there and activate.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I did two parks between the family time.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the solar conditions improved just in time for for me to do some sideband as well as some digital.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I did learn some things, and I know a lot of amateur radio operators that have years of experience are gonna look at me and go, well, yeah, duh.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: However, two my two main takeaways.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_03: The value of a directional antenna when you're in a remote setup or area, uh, that would have definitely been handy.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: I was using the pactenna and my uh 17-foot vertical.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but you know, you just a little bit of patience.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_03: And then the other thing was my battery setup.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_03: So typically, we live in the Midwest, as everyone probably knows by this point in the Michigan area.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_03: We're pretty prime and center for a lot of activities here.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, if I go out to a park and I start calling CQ, usually I'll get my 10 in a pretty reasonable time span.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_03: 20, 10 minutes, nothing, nothing dramatic.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: However, uh, when you're remote, that time scale shifts pretty dramatically to the amount of QSOs you're getting and the time between QSOs.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so my battery management uh definitely was maybe not what I expected.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_03: So I I kind of had to uh learn to charge and just have a little bit more patience in my expectations.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: So again, I'm sure a lot of people that's pretty common sense at this point, but hey, yeah, you live and you learn, and and these are the things I'm learning as I go through this journey here.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_03: Was there a a Walmart stop to get the part you needed on the Hawaiian island?
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_03: So what I learned is normally I'll take my lifeboat.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have your own car.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: So no, I don't have my own car, but I'll take my mobile charger that has the uh cigarette outlet plug for those that that are familiar with that terminology, uh, into the 12 volt there adapter and I'll plug it in and I'll charge my Lipo battery while I drive around to parks or I'm commuting for the day on whatever adventure we're at with the family.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_03: However, the rental car I had, which was a brand new Tahoe, very nice car, uh, does not have the cigarette lighter port.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_03: They have only uh yeah, AC outlets.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's all they have.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: No options.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_03: Interesting.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_03: So I I went on the old Amazon to see if I could buy something.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, shipping to a hotel is never convenient, nor shipping anything to Hawaii is convenient.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so I had to try to make a stop at a uh a Walmart.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_03: Also, shout out to Shane, who was doing the find and store search for me.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you, buddy.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate it.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_03: Uh basically got two clamps that you can go on the battery with the uh female adapter for the AC plug so I could just sit inside like a weirdo with my battery charging my uh hood up clamped on and charging a Lipo battery.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure people were definitely wondering what I was doing.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: But uh it worked.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_03: So hey, that that's that's a win.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_03: I got my battery charged and I got back out there and I was able to complete the second park.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm also heading out to Arizona this weekend.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: So the New Mexico Kiso party is maybe a uh 40-meter option for me here in the future.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_03: Uh as if I can get some time in the evening.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_03: So if you don't have me in your uh ham alerts, put me in there.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I think I'll be activating there.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it's probably gonna be on a Sunday.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm gonna try to activate the Grand Canyon and a couple other parks in the area and see what I can do.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and that's that's really been I've been up to.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_03: And then uh I think I'm off to Europe again as well for work.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: So busy travel schedule.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_03: So please, everyone, bear with me if I am slurring my watch.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: Hawaii, the Grand Canyon, and then Germany all back to back.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: It sounds like you're living in the world.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna be you're we're doing that.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: So back to back to Hawaii for a second.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I uh someday, someday there'll be a Hawaii activation for me.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm guarantee it.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: But so what did you experience with other DX that you wouldn't have normally gotten?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: I know, of course, significantly further west geographically.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: Where was your signal getting?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Did you get any surprises or things you didn't realize you would get while you were there?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh so sideband, working sideband, where FT8 definitely a flood to Japan.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so the time of day I was activating, Japan was online.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um, normally when you're in Michigan, I'm home in the shack here, and I see a Japan station and I have a decent signal report and I can try to work them.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_03: That's pretty exciting.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're pretty much only gray line uh 12 or 15 meters.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's about the only way I get Japan.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_03: Flooded with Japan on FT-8, and I was very excited for that because that's not a normal experience.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: Uh got Indonesia on sideband.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_03: I got some of the islands near Australia, uh in the Polynesia there.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Australia on sideband, a park to park with Australia, which was pretty cool.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: Is that a new was that a new entity for you then in the log for Pota Park to Park?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_03: Was a new new entity for park to park for me as well.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_03: Only my second sideband Australia to contact.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um China, which was exciting for me as well, the Philippines.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: So definitely working more of that Pacific and Asia region, which was uh honestly very exciting.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_03: And uh just learning to hear the calls uh was was pretty fun to see and hear.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_03: So I I enjoyed it.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's the listening to the to the calls, especially on phone, is is a little different.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: If you look back to the my activation out in uh Malibu at Point Doom there, and I was listening to the the Japanese station, it was it was difficult.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's just because we you know our ears aren't trained, it's hard enough on sideband with a weak signal, but our our our ears just aren't trained to to hear those accents over there, so it's it it can be a challenge.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I I I had to do the uh I'm sorry, can you please repeat?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, yeah.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: A couple pronunciation, pronunciation and and the way that the letters uh sound in different languages is always a challenge.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: I find that even when I talk to some of the European stations, Italian stations and in the way that there are, you know, and and French stations for sure.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh right, and they add the add the noise of sideband, add add some you know uh noise on the signal in there, and and you're having a hell of a time, but that's cool.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad China, yeah.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: China's a fun one.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have China in my log at all still, so that that's exciting.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: So I was uh South Korea, a few South Korean stations, which was also very exciting.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: One uh FTA, a couple sideband, so that was also very exciting.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_03: So a lot of new entities for me.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_03: Hopefully, I get some more DXCC here crossed off shortly.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I had to request the new certificate and L O TW uh to basically get the Hawaiian DXCC uh set up.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and then I just sent those logs over recently.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you, everyone.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_03: By the way, I really do appreciate.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm sure not a lot of those people are listening to this podcast, but thanks.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate it.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_03: I try to get it.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: You found James on the Hawaiian.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: So I'll see.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_03: But I think uh the Grand Canyon has a little bit more uh push into into the Michigan region.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_03: So hopefully I'll be able to work everyone here and the club members here shortly.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_03: So with that, let's push into our main show topic.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_03: So this is really just gonna be a nerdfest.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: So again, I apologize for all the people that tune in for that hardcore digest of amateur radio here, but we are talking Artemis.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: They're going to the moon again.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Four, three, two, one, booster ignition, and lift off the crew of Artemis 2 now bound for the moon.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Humanity's next great voyage begins.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: So we can we have sound clips now, folks.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_03: Soundboards are live.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_03: So it we we all know, uh, I'm sure at this point, for all the ham radio operators out there, I'm sure we're all a little bit nerdy here, but we are going back to the moon with Artemis 2, as uh Jim mentioned.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: So this is the first time that uh since Apollo 17, uh 1972, uh, that we have traveled back to go around the moon.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_03: We also broke the distance record for manned space travel.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_03: Uh that happened yesterday, right?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_03: April 6th, yeah, around 2 p.m.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: Eastern time, uh, as the crew was awarded that new uh achievement, which is also very fantastic.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and they're on a 10-day journey and they're testing out a whole bunch of new things.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_03: They're getting a lot of new uh shakedowns of the Orion capsule, uh, which is probably some fun topics we can talk about here in a second.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_03: Let's just get it out of our system.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: The toilet didn't work, it's been broken, it's come back online.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of toilet conversation.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: We've had fun with it.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: They're still having to make sure it's working before they use it every time.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's it's a there is a lot of of toilet discussion for sure.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: There is if I remember correctly, they had a floater or or whatever they were calling it.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_03: They had they had a smell or a weird odor that was coming from what they assumed was the toilet.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_03: They've had general malfunction of the toilet.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and and this is maybe a technology since the Apollo mission we didn't need to improve.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_03: I think maybe we're going back to the vacuum bags or whatever other tool they had in the past.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: There was a there was an excellent quote on uh the level of disgust that the astronauts had with the previous method of uh waste disposal on the uh long missions, and so this was a real uh creature comfort improvement, I think, from the NASA side to uh make it more welcoming.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_02: And also, I think human condition has to be stated as so important when you're on a 10-day mission in the vacuum of space, right?
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: Your mind has the ability, and these folks are vetted, right, to be able to do this and be so focused.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, it it's something that's extremely difficult on the mind.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_02: And so when you can come up with these creature comforts, we're joking about the toilet, but it is one of those things that's really important because it's a human necessity that makes the comfort level higher so that you can focus on those other things.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_02: You know, when you're distracted uh on a project by something that is bugging you, uh it it it causes your project to suffer.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's exactly why we see the toilet as a big uh kind of um improvement on this particular machine.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, even though even though it's an improvement, I I'm sure I was thinking about that just as the general concern for them.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, with it with knowing that it's not not working properly, that I'm sure you know they're going day day to day doing their doing their job up there, and and that's a concern to them of you know when it's when it's time to go down the hall, you know, it's it's is it working or is it not working?
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure that I'm sure that weighs on them.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a whole kind of like you alluded to, it's a whole whole psychological test, I think, to even be in those conditions, being in the capsule for that for that 10 day period, very close quarters.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's I I've been Thrilled to see this this HD video, this high quality video we're seeing from.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's it's been so much fun to sit here.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: I've sat here in the living room not watching anything but that a couple of the nights that they've been up there, and it's it's uh it's just been excellent to watch.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: But to be in those tight quarters and have those what we what we think about is a um probably a minor malfunction.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure it weighs on them up there of whether that's a concern or not, among all the other stressors of of getting the job done.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I think we've gotten to a point uh uh why why I'm so excited about this, right?
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_03: We're pushing new space boundaries.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like space travel, this is by the way, for the astronauts out there, I realize this is a really maybe sad take and not true.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but it's become comfortable, right?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's not not thrilling or people don't view it as dangerous anymore, which is absolutely not the case.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_03: They are working 24-7 to stay not only alive, but to keep that ship going where it needs to go.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so if you have to also worry about your toilet, because what we learned in second grade is everyone poops.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, it's one less thing that you you don't need to deal with.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's pretty, pretty interesting.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: I know I've re done more reading on bathroom use in space than I've ever anticipated in the last couple days.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: So, but you know, you learn something new, I suppose.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's it gives you something to learn about.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: One final thing to note here on toilets, and then we'll move on.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: This mission does not recycle the urine into potable water, unlike the I ISS experience, by the way.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: So they are uh jettising the urine uh into space in this case, uh, and the hard or solid uh fecal matter is being packaged up and brought back.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: So uh this is a uh this is also a new development there uh if you're comparing it to the ISS, where they're in space for long periods of time and needing to deal with similar things.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: The ISS, of course, also has a toilet, so as an awareness statement there.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: But uh yeah, it's a really uh interesting thing that you just said, James, that I want to double back on, which is uh the idea that space became boring somewhere around the 70s.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: We had uh a rapid succession of missions to the moon, uh, and the idea that men could go to space and land on the moon uh somehow became rapidly normalized, which is kind of unbelievable if you think about it.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and with the long departure from the last mission to this one, I think that we've really come to understand that that was never the truth, right?
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they were on the bleeding edge of uh sending those folks to the moon uh with computer power that is rivaled today uh by significant amounts and margins, right?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: So when we look at that, it that to me uh is such an interesting take on it.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: This is always going to be experimental.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_02: We talk about aviation in today's space where uh planes have to be vetted for thousands and thousands of hours before they can carry passengers.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have that opportunity in space.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: Every one of these missions goes up, and we've had what, seven or so, you know, like uh that that are trying to go to the moon this this way.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: Every one of these is experimental, right?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_02: There's no opportunity to vet them at the level, and and we're doing everything that we can to make that, but all of these are high-risk missions, uh, and they're they are all going to continue to be a challenge.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm glad to see us going back uh out into the deeper uh space uh and really experimenting.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_02: I had made a comment, and I I wonder if this will resonate with anybody that's listening out there, as an 80s baby, I'm a 1984-born uh child, uh, my vision of space was always the shuttle, right?
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: No, I had never seen a live moon mission.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: They had all happened before I was born.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so my vision of space was always that we went to space.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and of course, in my child brain, I assumed that the shuttle could go to the moon, but that was never the case.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_02: That was always a very close orbit uh vehicle that never had the intention.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_02: Halo delivery and science missions.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: That was basically its purpose.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_02: So the the idea that the shuttle could go to the moon, that was like impossible, right?
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so when I saw the Artemis capsule sitting back on the pad in this launch, it was really uh something that made me reflect.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: It it's strange to see a capsule rather than a shuttle, right?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: For me, because that's what I I grew up understanding space to be.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I think it's really interesting to put it in perspective.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: The the space inside the capsule is the size of two minivans, essentially parked butt to butt.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, right?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so you that's how much space you have to float around in there, and it's a highly re reconfigurable space, too.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's what I found really interesting, actually.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: They're showing the diagrams of it in the launch configuration with the the chairs and everyone sitting there and the council mounted up in the top.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and then you know you watch the live NASA video.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_03: By the way, if you have not been watching the NASA live feed, you are missing out.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: It's on YouTube, nasa.gov, all the different things.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_03: Netflix even had actually a really nice stream going when they were approaching the moon.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, so a lot of great places to check it out.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_03: But you see it in the different configurations throughout the day.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_03: They they'll even bring out the chairs and lay them flat and they'll they'll rope stuff off.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: And they it's it they have the workout station now as well.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's fascinating compared to what you saw in the old Apollo missions and the film footage inside those cabins.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh way to way to just science and take the advantage of that space that you have, I guess.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_03: We've we have learned some things between then and now.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and you raised a good point too, Jim, that you mentioned the technology that was there.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_03: So we know the Apollo missions, I think it's four kilobytes of memory, is what the guidance computer had before, famously.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and now they are running basically a lot more power.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we have in our cell phones and our ham radios, way more memory capabilities now that just in our daily lives.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_03: But one thing I found interesting as well, uh, just to play you one more sound clip here.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_04: You're gonna see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks, and neither one of those are working.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_04: If you want to remote in and check the optimist on those two outlooks, that would be awesome.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_02: Oh boy.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_05: All right, we will join in on your PCD and we'll let you know when we're done.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: And that stands for personal computer device.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, just interesting.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_03: The the whole new space challenges, uh, not to rag on Microsoft, but of course Microsoft Outlook doesn't work.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh especially who would have thought you'd ever have to call the the help desk for IT support from space.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: That that's that's cool in its own way, but but frightening in a different way.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think um on the on the technology front as well, um, if you look at uh and there's been a few of these photos side by side of of mission control, um, of the earlier mission control that we that we all remember from the earlier missions and and even the the early early historic missions where it's all console-based and and you know very, very rigid with a rather low definition large screen at the front of the room.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then now now you're looking at all these people working at their workstations.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: It almost, I mean, not to minimize it, almost looks like my desk here or at work, but just the leap in technology from from back then to now and and what they're able to do real time, it baffled me.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, and that was one of the things I didn't read up about it too much until they were in progress, but to learn a little bit about the the technology of the the transmissions of data and voice between earth and uh and space, the ability, the stuff they're able to spend send back and forth with video, data, audio, it it baffles my mind because it's it's uh it's just so nice to have.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure it's it's uh going back to the the sanity of the crew, I'm sure it's nice that they have a few of those comforts of home with the technology while they're up there.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure they're not browsing YouTube at night, but uh but I'm sure having that that constant contact, except for the 41 minutes they were around the backside of the moon last night.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: They were um they were uh you know it's been good contact.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: I uh I did ask, and then we'll move on.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: I asked a few people this thought the 41 minutes that they were uh no radio contact.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: Who who do you who was that scarier for?
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think?
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think it was scarier for the people up there or the skip people down down on Earth?
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: I I what what's your thoughts on that?
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_03: Go ahead, James.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_03: I I I would guess the ground crew, because those guys up there are just watching the views as they spin around working, they're they're doing they're working hard and they're just snapping photos and doing all the things.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: The ground crew with that LOS loss of signal that I learned from all the streams I've been watching, uh, you know, they're they're just hoping that that crew comes back around and and everything's okay.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_03: And you're anxiously waiting for that signal to be regained.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I I agree with you completely.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_02: The general level of control from the ground uh of the craft itself is so high that it being disconnected from uh many of the ways that it's being guided, the way that it's that it's being trimmed and and all that that type of thing.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure that the computer on board is able to handle all those things and carry along the package, but uh it it had to be very uh nerve-wracking uh until that thing came back out of the shadow uh to know that uh things had gone the way that we expected it to.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh there certainly weren't little green men on the other side waving uh as as we went by, but uh I I imagine I imagine it was still something to uh to to be in that in that shadow of.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: I would have I would have thought that the ground people would have been very nervous, but then I was watching the the feed of mission control during that 41 minutes, and you see people coming in with their their carry-out bags, and everyone was going out and see people were talking and someone had break.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: Someone right, they they were just they were they were on radio.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure they were very busy, okay, but uh it it sure looked like they they took that 41 minutes to to, but I'm sure that gave them a little healthy disconnect from actually being focused and watching the timer go by for that 41 minutes.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_03: So, why that was all happening too, they kept mentioning uh the updates to the deep space network for the communication arrays they have, which by the way, I we're not gonna go into much detail, but if you love amateur radio, I think you'll love a good Google of the deep space network.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's been fascinating to read about.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_03: So, for those that don't know, it's a worldwide network of spacecraft communication, uh, and they separate it into three main facilities that are always trying to triangulate with the spacecraft, uh especially designed for the deep space.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_03: So there's one in California, Australia, and Spain.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_03: And they're always aiming their antennas at the craft and basically just relaying a bunch of information.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_03: And the Google here is you probably go, Oh, well, yeah, well, that was around during the Apollo missions.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_03: However, they've made a lot of really significant updates to that system, especially in terms of the bandwidth that it can accommodate for all the different data we're seeing.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_03: I've got you on this one.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm excited to talk about it because this is actually where I was hoping we would head.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, because this is very radio adjacent, right?
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_02: S-band communication, like you said, with Deep Space Network, has been around for a long time.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_02: Its maximum data rate is six megabit a second, and that's in an optimal configuration with the perfect radio setup, right?
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and so oftentimes we're not hitting optimal comms.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and this is the first mission that has taken it uh to the next level with this 020 system that was jointly developed with MIT's Lincoln Lab uh and NASA.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a 20-year development project between the two uh to test multiple iterations of the system.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: And this is one of the first that has had uh what is conceivably uh a high bandwidth broadband connection from deep space back to Earth when, of course, the lasers are able to see one another, right?
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: There's a transmitter and a receiver, as with all optical communication means.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and uh the theoretical maximum speed was 260 megabit per second, which is extremely rapid and would allow for 4K data to be streamed back from the craft.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I've heard uh and I'm sure if you've been following any of this, there's a lot of strange comments that have showed up in in multiple feeds and and and multiple comments under uh all the things going on of doubters uh of of us doing the science that we're seeing humans do in this day and age.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, why are the pictures not better?
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_02: And why why did it look better in in 1970 than it looks today?
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of really strange uh comments being made, and I think that you really have to dig far deeper uh to understand the ab the absolutely crazy limitations that they're working around uh and the amount of things that need to be transmitted back and forth between the crewed capsule and the mission control on the ground, right?
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's if if every megabit of data was able to be high resolution video, I'm sure they would love to send back lots of great pictures.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_02: But there's a lot of data that needs to come back, right?
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: Crew health telemetry, craft health, uh, you know, all the different things are coming back from this thing constantly, uh, and we're uploading at the same time new mission directives, updated mission uh guidelines.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_02: You know, there's so much data flowing back and forth uh that we do have to carve out space to send back those cool uh marketing screenshots that everybody really appreciates.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: This morning I woke up to uh the Earth set over the side of the moon.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_02: That is an epic picture, one that I'm sure will be on the internet and and go down in history as one of the coolest things that comes back from this mission.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and that's the reason, guys, right?
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like there is limited bandwidth.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_02: So 020, a really groundbreaking uh way for them to communicate back.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_02: And to give you a little detail here, your uplink from Earth is 20 megabit nominal.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_02: Your downlink is where you get uh all this additional speed, and so it's really interesting to see that they have actually a much thicker pipe for downlink speed, uh, which does allow them to send more of this type of data back.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_02: And there's a one-watt infrared laser mounted on the craft, so you have to think about power being a major factor in this, right?
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, if power was no object, right, you could you could put a huge laser on there, and sure, yeah, I'm sure you could have a huge pipe, but you have a craft that has a limited amount of power, that's why those solar panels are out, that's why the batteries are being charged, and so we have to make sure that all of that is budgeted for.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_02: So we have a one-watt infrared laser uh sending back to ground stations, uh, which are able to transmit at 40 watts uh back up to the craft, and uh those four lasers on the 40 watt output side of it, and they're located in White Sands, New Mexico, and the mountain facility in JPL, California.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_02: So there's two spaces, which means that they're not always able to use this system, right?
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_02: Because we, unlike the Deep Space Network, don't have them distributed around the globe like those other systems.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_02: So these are probably uh less available, I think, than some of those other systems.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_02: But it's a really, really exciting thing to dig into.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_02: If you have a few moments, go check out the O20 system.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_02: There's an absolutely excellent presentation on uh how they developed it and some of the interesting actual radio technology that's being used to encode the data coming back and forth between the the ground and the spacecraft itself.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_02: And uh if if we said that 260 was the maximum, uh, do you guys want to guess what the actual nominal data is that they're using to uh send back from the craft right now?
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_03: 260 is optimal.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh 260 is maximum.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_03: Best.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_03: 260 is maximum.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm gonna oh god, one one one sixty is what I'm gonna probably guess.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_03: What do you think from five?
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_03: Five.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_02: Five.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_02: All right, well, you guys are you guys are at I both ends of the spectrum here.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: One dollar, Bob.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_02: It is it is 80 meg.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_02: So they're getting about 80.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_02: So it's actually still much, much faster than you would expect.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, 260 is is best case scenario.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: And and one of the things that you have to dig into, you go into these documents, it's absolutely mind-boggling.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, the laser itself gets hot as you transmit for long periods of time at high bandwidth, right?
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_02: And so cooling that becomes another challenge of that thing.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_02: Now, in space, of course, we've got the advantage of space being generally cold, uh, but down here on uh Earth, right?
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_02: Cooling those big high power lasers can be a thing too.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: And thankfully on Earth we have a lot of power.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_02: But uh very interesting topic.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, I think that uh that was one of the things that I really had to dig into because I saw some very short-sighted comments uh that were like, Why aren't why aren't they using cell phones?
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_02: Why aren't they just using the global positioning system?
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_02: Let's you're past it.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_02: Let's be clear, those only exist here in the magic of Earth.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: I had to turn off the uh on a lot of those YouTube feeds, turn off the chat on the side because I mean, really, to kind of like a conversation we were having before we started.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: Turn your turn your brains on.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, come on, think about what you're doing.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of NASA has been extremely I think this mission is really, really cool to see them back, uh publishing a lot of really interesting information, taking advantage of the high visibility of this mission to help educate folks and get folks interested in STEM.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_03: They really are.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_03: I've been following the again their feeds and the their presenters, their communications team, uh the the amount of videos and clips and all the things they're posting for free, public distribution on their website.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_03: Amazing.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_03: Hi res.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_03: Check it out.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_03: I think, Jim, you raised another good point though, too, when we talked about the skeptics or things that people were like, well, why is it look different?
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_03: The blue marble photo was another one.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: So they they straight out of Hollywood, right?
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, straight out of Hollywood, and the flat earthers were probably pissed.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_03: So if you remember the blue marble photo is the bright earth at you know, at past going out distance where you can see the full Earth sphere and circumference, and they snapped that beautiful photo in the 70s, and it's bright and it's vibrant and everything.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_03: And then the photo they took this time, everyone's like, well, the earth is dying because it was a it's got a little bit more gray, a little more hazy.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, saw a different continent than when it was captured before.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and and you know, NASA had to come on and say, well, there's a couple factors.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_03: A, this is a much better camera now than we're taking it with.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_03: So it's not color corrected or graded.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_03: This is a high res photo.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_03: The other thing is, well, the sun's positioning is also different between when the photo A and photo B were taken.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, photo A had the sun directly, you know, basically hitting it, and photo B has it a little bit more to the side and back.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_03: So um, you know, it wasn't it was still a beautiful photo when you look at it, but everyone was also freaking out, which got me on the other tangent I went on is tech adjacent here for a second, is the camera system.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_03: Because then I started thinking, well, they got all these cameras and live video feeds outside extended on the solar arms.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_03: What what cameras are they using and and how is this happening?
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_03: And then they started talking about it as the pod, the integrity craft got a little bit closer to uh the moon.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_03: On the radio.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_03: And then they so basically what they have, which is interesting, is 28 cameras that are GoPros.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_03: So they have them mounted on the exterior, they have them mounted on the interior.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, so I guess shout out GoPros, just a consumer grade normal camera that's that's now in space.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_03: So good on you.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh there are astronauts also have access to iPhones, uh, so they're using those for uh just kind of their own personal use, not connected to the internet or cell phone networks or anything like that.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_03: But that was another thing I saw in the conspiracy because the iPhone was on the camera and I was like, oh, they're calling their family.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_03: Uh no, they're there for uh taking photos and videos and and those type of elements.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_03: But then the the really interesting thing was uh they were talking about the main cameras they're using for the moon photos.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and it's a Nikon D5.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I had to look this up because everyone on the the side chat was well, why, why, why?
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_03: It's a 10-year-old DSLR camera, and they said they chose it because uh basically has proven radiation resistance, so they knew it would perform and work.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_03: Uh very interesting.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but you're getting a lot of really good photos uh from some good reliable technology, I think is the takeaway there.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_02: The one thing I'll say on the D5, and then Rory has a thought here, is you also mentioned the D5 being uh 10 years old at this point, right?
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of the DSL camera, DSLR cameras from that time period are so battle-tested uh in various very challenging environments, not only you know, wars, uh uh new news photo photography and all that, but also uh these cameras have extreme high ISO performance.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_02: And when we're talking about working in the vastness of space where there's a lot of uh lack of light, uh that high ISO can help uh bring up uh detail from the dark.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_02: And so really interesting uh to hear that was the choice.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure somebody had a very specific job of identifying the photography equipment that was going to fly on Artemis, uh, and that was a uh heavily weighed decision.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll be really interested to see what more we get when the uh memory cards come back off the craft.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but I'll be honest, some of the marketing folks uh that have published the images even today, uh they're they're doing a bang up job of uh selling me on the idea of uh going to the uh moon in the future.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_02: Rory, go ahead.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you you hit on most of my comments there.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_01: You but you also that when you mentioned memory cards just now, uh there was a a brief back and forth between the crew and the ground trying to establish naming convention of certain things that they were they and I said, well, there's a problem they wouldn't have had on on previous missions.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_01: But that's right, yeah, you hit on on the technology of the camera equipment.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think um I 100% agree on on your comments there.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's just another one of those things that they're going up there to do a certain task and it just has to work.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_01: So there's there's there's no room for a whole lot of of oh, maybe find something newer, whatever the case might be.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure there's also probably a certain amount of time these this crew spent on the ground with that photo equipment, you know, to be familiar with it too.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: So it's there's a lot at play there, a lot at risk because photos are, you know, there's a lot of science going on on this mission, but photos are up there with one of the things they've got to deliver on.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I think they made a good move on on that.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_03: So maybe as we transition here, there are a couple ham-related segments that go with the Artemis as well.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, so I'm sure by this point the amateur radio community is well aware of the four astronauts that have traveled uh on Artemis, uh, three of which hold amateur radio licenses.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_03: So Reed Wiseman, KF5LKT, Victor Glover, KI5BKC, and Jeremy Hanson, KF5LKU.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_03: Uh very close to JKU.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_03: Just give myself a little plug.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so we're we're happy to see them up there in space and and continue that proud amateur radio astronaut trend that we love so dearly.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um I'm I'm also curious, too.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_03: I I know they are testing, uh I learned more about a little bit of a side project.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_03: So NASA actually looked for volunteers to help track so non NASA individuals not affiliated with the space program directly.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_03: To try to track transmissions from the Orion spacecraft on the 10-day journey.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_03: And what they're trying to do is look at a couple things.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_03: One, what type of equipment and who's able to actually do this?
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_03: And is it going to work?
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_03: Is it effective?
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_03: If we run into emergency scenarios, how can we manage this?
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_03: But also, can we look at maybe using more cost-effective and non-special made radio equipment?
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_03: So again, looking at the amateur radio community to sort of uh lend a hand.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_03: So of those volunteers, uh, there was 34 in total, uh, four of which are amateur radio operators selected here to try to do that.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_03: So a lot of people with great specialties.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_03: So amateur radio, uh, you want a practical use of amateur radio and the skills you're you're learning?
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_03: There's one for you.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_02: I actually saw on the topic of this uh in the amateur radio Reddit, which uh tread lightly in the space uh that is Reddit.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_02: Do it a gentleman, a gentleman posting uh his repurposed uh it was essentially a repurposed direct TV dish with a, of course, uh additional uh SDR receiver attached there.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and he was uh using that to get directional uh communication on the uh RTL SDR receiver uh to listen to uh some of these transmissions.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I think this is really cool, right?
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh if we have more opportunities for this thing to be out there at deep space distance, uh there will be more opportunities for us hams here on Earth, who probably will not have the opportunity to fly ever, uh, to experiment with this because there will be the the test bed out there where we can have those those transmissions coming back and forth.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_02: I I have an embarrassing story for you that is very related here.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh on, I believe it was Saturday or Sunday, I'm sitting here and uh I see a spike on my VHF uh band and I I tune over to it and I get uh Houston Artemis as the opening thing that I hear as I tune my radio over to this, and I'm like, what the heck?
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_02: Is this space communication that I'm hearing?
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, I've got a uh Comet GP3 on the roof, so I'm I'm thinking that I'm getting some crazy propagation.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know what's going on, but I'm stoked, right?
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_02: Because I'm hearing because it's the crew talk to the to the ground and I'm like, what is this?
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_02: This is awesome.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it turns out, of course, that the uh Central Michigan Emergency Network here uh had uh linked up the crew communications to the uh linked repeater system.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_02: And so what I had stumbled across was a repeater up in Lansing, which is not nearby, so it wasn't in my program memory, uh, that I was picking up at super, super light uh uh, you know, wasn't wasn't coming as strong.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought it was just the coolest thing ever.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I was excited.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_02: It was a hilariously dumb little story.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_02: And after I found out about it, I connected my own radio up and I listened to with them for a couple of days here.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, just absolutely cool to have that level of transparency, uh, being able to hear the communications back and forth.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_02: And Roy, I think, has some info on yeah.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: I was I was glad that you stumbled across that because I wasn't looking for it on two meters.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: And actually back in the in the uh the space space shuttle era there where we were doing a lot of trips, um it was it was incredibly common for for ham radio ground stations to be retransmitting the audio for the public to to enjoy the ability of listening on on two meters, because you know the general public can either use a scanner or or a ham can use their ham radio to listen in on those frequencies.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_01: So there's those few weird rules and and quirks in and of course the ham radio regulations and and one of them and then one of them they both have to do with broadcasting.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's something that you are allowed to broadcast, you're allowed to retransmit uh space uh transmissions like that.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: And since they wake the crews up with music, that is the one instance where you are allowed to transmit music over the amateur radio bands.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_01: So uh it was a little nostalgic to me because I remember as a as a younger ham, even before I was a ham uh in the 90s, I would listen to it's locally on uh 14513, the uh a group that's loosely related to the central emergency guys.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_01: They would they would uh broadcast that.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I always wondered for the longest time I did the same thing.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: I thought I was hearing it straight from space, and uh somewhere along the way I learned that it that it that's okay to pretend.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_01: But you know what?
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's cool, it's exactly right.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's cool to pretend, it's cool to have that that opportunity, and I'm glad the Central Michigan guys have have spun that up and and made good use of their network to play that for everyone's benefit, because it is a benefit to have that uh there's something special about hearing it at FM Fidelity through a little tiny speaker on your desk because it almost sounds authentic coming through that little speaker.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because it you guys know you guys know what I'm talking about.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, James, go ahead.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and I was gonna say, speaking of the music, they they wake up the crew uh with with music in the morning and then they they give them a special message.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_03: So if you haven't heard them, Jim Lovell gave a message when they had the day they were gonna break the the record for the deep space.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but to give you a little snap of what that looks like here.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_05: We were all eagerly awaiting the chorus.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, we'll try again next time.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I just love this.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_01: They were let down by the ground station.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_03: Oh even even NASA makes mistakes sometimes and leaves them on a cliffhanger there.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, I think it's cool that they they do that.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_03: And if you're listening again in the morning, check out the um the music that they broadcast for that the Artemis crew.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_03: The thing though I'm most excited though, to get back to the amateur radio for a second, is we know the ISS, which has a uh amateur radio station on there and the repeater capabilities, uh they're gonna be decommissioning it, I think, in 2030 is is the current timeline for that to happen.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, which we have our our satellites in space, but the space station's always been a, I mean, just such a cool focal point for the amateur radio group and and being able to make a contact with an astronaut potentially, the school group involvement, uh, when the astronauts reach down to school.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_03: So it's been a great ambassador for the hobby, and I appreciate everyone that makes that possible.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_03: But I'm hoping that this new space interest, getting these amateur radio astronauts out there more and testing some more amateur-related equipment, who knows?
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe a future Artemis launch, we might be able to talk to them on the moon.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and and we'll see.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_03: Fingers crossed on that one, right?
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, I it keep it up.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we appreciate you involving us, and and that's that's where I'll leave that.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh there was some discussion of of putting a repeater on the moon, you know, what whether it was uh just comical.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_01: And and I didn't add my comments to it because the internet's exhausting anymore.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_01: But I was gonna say, well, what are you gonna have?
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: A repeater on the moon with people kerchunking all day and all night and nobody actually using the thing, just like our nothing more repeaters on ground.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: That that's all it would be.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but they have special dimensional bao fang for the colour.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then maybe about 10 p.m.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_01: you get a couple guys talking about, you know, their their uh you know their particular medical problems of the evening, and and uh, you know, it would be just as good as as a repeater on top of any water tower in in any given town, but who knows where we'll go with that.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_02: To comment on the uh message to the uh the Artemis folks, I thought this was a really nice one and also sort of uh uh an interesting situation.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_02: Lovell, before he passed away last year, had recorded something, which I was moved by a little bit, and I thought it was a really interesting message.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_02: He says, Welcome to my old neighborhood.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_02: When Frank Borman and Bill Andrews and I orbited the moon on Apollo 8, we got humanity's first up close look at the moon and got a view of the home planet that inspired and united people around the world.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm proud to pass the torch on to you.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_02: And he went on to uh say to them, and I thought it was killer timing uh by NASA to to drop such a moving piece of commentary.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it played extremely well.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure that the astronauts themselves appreciated hearing it.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_02: I hope that that was the first time they heard it because I think it might move.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_01: I believe it was.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_01: I I I the yeah, the conversation afterwards, which I tuned in as at the end of it, I missed it.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I went back and actually listened to the whole thing.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_01: But that was the comments from the crew that that was a surprise to them to hear that.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_02: It it goes to show that uh honestly, there was so much forethought put into this particular mission, uh, that nothing uh that we're seeing here today uh that looks easy uh was easy at all.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and I guess that's kind of what I I wanted to to sum this whole thing up, right?
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_02: We've talked a lot about all the things that we've seen.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we've had the opportunity to really enjoy some high definition experience of moon, uh moon close passes, uh, and I'm looking forward uh to the future of Artemis Three and Four.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and I hope that we continue to fund this type of uh forward-looking research uh into the potential for humanity to move uh you know further into space uh in the future.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, before we end the day's show, just a couple quick notes.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh they are scheduled for Friday, April 10th, to have a splashdown around 8.07 local time near San Diego.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_03: So if you're if you still haven't checked into the Artemis, that would be a really cool time to go and do that.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the crew is, as we've said, is is live streaming a lot of their stuff up there in space, so definitely check it out.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_03: But one last audio clip before we say 73s, because you talk about something that's moving and get you going, uh, a little bit of their pre-launch from the astronauts.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_05: An integrity launch director.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_05: This is Christina, we are going for humanity.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_05: This is Jeremy, we are going for all humanity.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_05: Your Artemis II crew is go for launch.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_05: Full send.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_03: That doesn't get you pumped in the world of science.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, hopefully the next generation and this generation are inspired.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh but thank you for joining us on episode 16.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_03: We'll be back next month.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_03: And with that, 73.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_03: 7-3.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_02: 7-3, guys.