WHKY Interview

The transcription is a discussion on ham radio, also known as amateur radio. The guests, David Coviello and Brad O'Dell, talk about how they got involved in ham radio and the practical uses of it, such as emergency communication during disasters. They also mention the difference between ham radio and CB radio, emphasizing that ham radio requires a license and offers more official and authentic communication. The guests encourage people to get involved in ham radio and mention an upcoming event in May where ham operators can gather, swap equipment, and share food. The host concludes by highlighting the active ham radio community in the Hickory area and providing contact information for those interested in joining. W-H-K-Y Talk Radio, 1290 AM and 102.3 FM. And welcome back into First Talk on W-H-K-Y Talk Radio for the Greater Hickory Metro. This is not Hal Rowe, Rob Eastwood, jumping in here for the final segment. Hal is okay, he did have a commitment, a prior commitment. We had arranged this a couple of weeks ago. So happy to sit in for this final segment on this Wednesday program. And I'm real happy to have the two guests in the studio that I have today because we've got some interesting things to talk about. We're going to talk about Ham Radio. David Coviello, president of W4CVR Ham Club in Catawba County, and also Brad O'Dell, Ham Radio operator and member of the Charlotte Amateur Radio Club. My guests in the studio, good morning, gentlemen. And we'll start with you, David. First of all, how did you get involved with Ham Radio and how did you become the president of this club? What does that entail? Good morning, Rob. So I actually got started into it on the emergency communications side of it because it serves more purpose than just talking to your buddies. It can be used for a wide variety of things. So I got started in through emergency communications side of it, like during disasters and stuff. Specifically, I used to live in South Florida. We had a lot of hurricanes down there. A lot of times phones won't be working, landlines won't be working. The only thing you have is Ham Radio, and the band is called HF Band, and you can actually send information back to the state emergency operations center with a Ham Radio, kind of like fax information or email. So that's kind of how I got started in it. Back in 2019, me and a couple friends of mine, we actually started as GMRS operators, which is like the first step below Ham Radio. Right. And we got interested in it and we started thinking that there's really not a Ham Radio club in Catawba County anymore that's active. So we formed together and started the Catawba Valley Amateur Radio Society and a year to five years later we've been going pretty good. Okay. That's good to hear. Now, Brad, you are a member of the Charlotte Amateur Radio Club. How did you get involved with Ham Radio? What's your route to this spot you're in now? Well, I don't know about you guys, but back during COVID I was really bored. Well, yeah, I could see that. It was kind of a boring time for some people. I found myself pulling back away from all of the online social medias. Right. All of the vitriol and the idea that people were able to say whatever they want. We're anonymous and whatnot. Yeah. That always bothered me. I found myself fighting a lot of ghosts out there. And that was one of the things that was really attractive to Ham Radio. You're allowed to say what proper people are allowed to say in a forum with other proper people listening to it. And there is no anonymous say something and disappear kind of thing. You're kind of held to your word. And I like that a lot. I like the accountability side of having a social medium to communicate with. I mean, the W4CQ repeater, that's the one for the Charlotte Amateur Radio Club. That covers 20,000 square miles. Oh, wow. Yeah. And that's just one repeater. What did you say? There's about 30 of them around here weekly? Oh, yeah. There's quite a bit. You can immediately talk to all of your neighbors with a very entry-level license, something you could study for in a week or two and get. And a radio you can buy for $30 and put in your back pocket. You can talk to a 20,000-square-mile audience and have people talk back to you. There's even linked repeater systems that you can talk from Hickory all the way down to Murrow Beach. Okay. It's called a Fleet Talk System. Okay. Amateur radio. By the way, the amateur radio is the technical name for ham radio. Right. But there's a, you know, so you can link repeaters together and talk to a longer area than just your local area. Global. Global. For the person who's listening now and thinking, I've never really heard of this, this is interesting, they might be already thinking about getting involved in something like this. What do you have to do? Like what kind of equipment do you need to take part in this activity? How I generally do it is because we actually, our club, our club we are in, we meet and con over at the St. Stephens Fire Department on the last Thursday of every month at 7 p.m., and we test on the first Saturday of every month at noon at the same place. So we actually have a test session coming up this Saturday at noon. And what I will generally tell people if you're really interested in the hobby, there's a website to check out, hamstudy.org. You can create an account. It keeps track of your progress. You take practice tests. It tells you what you need to work on, stuff like that. And I generally rule of thumb is if you pass three or four practice tests in a row, that means you're probably ready to take the test and get on with it. Some people will, they try to learn everything and then try and pass a test. I'm more of a hands-on type of person. I passed a test and then kind of got into the aspect of the hobby that way through doing it myself. So it all depends on what you want to use ham radio for. Some people just want to talk locally on a repeater to their friends and their buddies in town, which is perfectly fine. Some people want to use it for like what I would like to use it or am using it for is emergency communications in case, you know, a disaster happens and, you know, all lines of communication are gone. You're still going to have radio waves. They're still going to be there. You can't stop those. So, you know, even if something bad were to happen in this area, your only lifeline left might be a radio in your hand. Right. And, Brad, you can answer this if you'd like. What is the difference or could you tell us the difference? I think some folks have heard of CB radio. What is the difference between CB and ham radio? CB radio is just a very small section of bandwidth within the band plan of radio. So right now we're on 1.29 megahertz AM and we're on 102.3 megahertz FM. So we've got two different bands right there. Right. So CB is 11 meters. CB is 11 meters. That's like, what, 27 megahertz? 27, yeah. And it's very limited. So it's a license-free. So they hold you to, what, three watts? Is that right? I think it's three watts. I'm not sure what the technical one is. There are people that use a lot more than that illegally. Illegally. It's also more of that anonymous kind of thing where you say, my name's Blue Bus. You don't need a license. CB, you use a handle that you make up, you know, in your head. Ham radio, you actually need a license. And your license is publicly made available on the FCC website. Okay. So I'm KK1LL, and I have to identify at the beginning, the end, and every ten minutes during my transmission. So it's far more official and authentic than maybe someone who is anonymously, you know, maybe a truck driver talking about what's going on in traffic. I mean, that's where we all heard of the old CB radios. Right. I think there was even a hit song about CB radios. Yeah. Convoy, I think it was. So I just wanted to really mark that distinction between the two. We're getting ready to come up on a break. In the next segment, I do want to talk to you both about the real practical uses for ham radio, because in this day and age, you just never know, right? Right. And I know, Brad, you also said there's an event you want to promote. So we'll talk about that. That's coming up in May. When we come back, we will take a break. Rob Eastwood sitting in for Hal Rowe in this final segment. This is First Talk. We are speaking with David Coviello, the president of W4CVR Ham Radio and Brad O'Dell, a ham radio operator, a member of Charlotte Amateur Radio Club. More when we come back to First Talk on WHKY Talk Radio for the Greater Hickory Metro. This is First Talk on WHKY Talk Radio for the Greater Hickory Metro. Rob Eastwood filling in this final segment. Hal Rowe, I had to jump out. This is preplanned. Hal's okay. And I am happy to be speaking right now with David Coviello and Brad O'Dell. We're talking about ham radio, amateur radio officially. And given that this is the final segment, as I told you during the commercial break, I want you guys to focus on the things you really want to get out there for the public. So either one of you may start this conversation. But what do you want to talk about next as it pertains to what we've been discussing? I just wanted to say that, you know, a lot of people may figure or think that ham radio is not very active in the Hickory area, but it is very active. And, you know, anyone that is interested in getting involved, they can, you know, by all means get in contact with us at the club. Our website is W4CVR.org. Or you can just look up Catawba Valley Amateur Radio Society. And, you know, like I said, we meet once a month. We test once a month. And if you're interested in getting involved, we can point you in the right direction. And there's an event coming up, correct, Brad? It's in May. That's right. It's May the 4th. It's May the 4th. We're stealing Star Wars days. Yeah, that's right, May the 4th. Yeah, I thought about that when you told me earlier in the green room. It's the first Saturday. So we're at Dallas Park. Some people know that as Bigger Staff Park in Dallas, North Carolina. Okay. It'll be pretty much, you know, from noon to about 3. It's a potluck for all of the ham operators. It's not club. It's not put on by the clubs, but all of the clubs will be there. If you want to see what clubs are in your area, if you've got questions, all that will be there. It'll also be a swap meet with people selling their stuff if you're looking for radio equipment. And then the best part of this is everyone's bringing food to share. So I think last year we had about 70 covered dishes show up along with we run a barbecue while we're there. It's a lot of fun. And like I said, David plugged this club. I'm going to plug the Charlotte Amateur Radio Club. We're carc-nc.us, as in Charlotte Amateur Radio Club, dash North Carolina dot United States. And everything's there for how to sign up. If anybody's wondering, membership's like $30 a year, and I can't tell you how much you get back out of that. It's ridiculous. We're in the Salvation Army building at 501 Archdale in Charlotte, which is a beautiful building. And you guys call sign is W4CQ. That's right. W4CQ is the call sign. It's also the call sign for the big repeater around here that we were talking about. We were discussing the fact that there's a practical application for this. It's not just a hobby. We were joking before we went on the air that the difference nowadays between a conspiracy theory and the truth is about six months, it seems like, all the different possibilities. And certainly I don't really like to delve too far into rabbit holes or apocalyptic theories. But ham radio is one of those, I guess, tools that you can use should something go wrong in terms of a disaster. I know, Brad, you wanted me to ask you your thoughts on the possible zombie apocalypse. I don't know if we're going to have one of those, but I get that a lot. It's a quirky question people like to ask. You get a laugh. But this is the answer I always give on this. The government says if there was an emergency like that, anybody can grab a radio. You don't need a license. And I always say, well, who would you call? Who would you talk to? Who do you know? I mean, I know David. David called me. I said, hey, you want to go on the radio with me? He said, yeah, great. But that's a relationship that I made through the radio. And I have hundreds of local relationships through the radio. People, I've broken down on the side of the road and gotten help. Last month, I left my cell phone at a gas station, and a buddy of mine was close. I was able to call out on the air, and he stopped by and grabbed it. The most important thing about amateur radio is the amateurs. It's the people that are there that know you. If you don't check in in a few days, they're calling you on the phone and asking if you're okay. It's the community. That's what you need in ham radio. And that's what will help you get through that zombie apocalypse. And it doesn't have to be a zombie apocalypse. You mentioned it, about just the EMT aspect of it. You talk about the emergency, the general everyday emergencies that any of us could be involved in. Yeah. In fact, I'm on a local fire department here and been around for about 25-plus years. So I've seen it in action, not just locally, but that's another beauty about ham radio is you can talk across the world. One of my first, we call them, contacts I made was in my driveway with a 10-foot-tall antenna on the roof of my car and a 100-watt radio, and I talked to someone 8,800 miles away in India. Wow. You can talk to Italy, Russia, Spain. I mean, there's no limit to where you can reach. It's fun. It's 99.999% fun, but that last little bit is for emergencies, and it's probably the most important one while it's going on, but I tell you what, we have fun on the repeaters all day long. Well, that's great to hear. We've got about a minute and a half. Any other information you want to get out? Jeff, maybe for those people that are listening now and they say, this sounds interesting, how can people get involved? Like I said, of course, our website is www.w4cvvictor.org, and all the resources available on our website, you can get in touch with us through that, and it will tell you what you need to know to get started with the hobby, and the same for Brad's website. carc-nc.us. And given the enthusiasm I'm sensing from both of you, this is a great hobby to get involved with, isn't it? Oh, yeah. In fact, I'm a Motorola contractor, so not only do I do it for fun, I actually do it for a job. Oh, okay. So there you go. If folks want to get involved, one of those sites. Gentlemen, thank you. This has been very interesting, and I think that this will maybe pique some folks' interest. Hopefully, they'll come to that event in Dallas, North Carolina, in Gaston County, May 4th. Right around the corner. All right, good. Sounds good. Guys, thanks a lot. Appreciate it very much. Thank you. We have been listening to David Coviello, president of W4CVR Ham Club, and also Brad O'Dellaham, radio operator from the Charlotte Amateur Radio Club, and very good information. Well, it is time now for our national anthem. And as always,