The bulk of this episode is an on-location interview with two Raleigh NC area hams who gave a couple of live demonstrations of operating through satellites at the Raleigh Hamfest in April 2017. There's some banter between hosts David Goldenberg W0DHG and Gary Pearce KN4AQ back in the studio. And toward the end Gary announces a Viewer Challenge that we'll detail down below.

The satellite hams are John Brier KG4AKV and Tucker McGuire W4FS. At 19 years old, Tucker is a relatively new ham who first started operating satellites last summer, and quickly jumped into the deep end. John's been around longer, but ham radio satellites and space operation captured his focus, too. He produces videos about it on his YouTube channel, Space Comms.

Gary talked to John and Tucker after they completed their second demo, and he edited a little of each demo into the interview.

There's video of all of both demonstrations on YouTube. John shot himself operating through 'Saudi-Sat' SO-50, a "Mode J" FM crossband repeater (145.850 MHz uplink and 436.795 MHz downlink). John used three cameras (including a GoPro on a headband for a unique view). Gary edited the video and put it on the HamRadioNow YouTube channel as an extra bit of video. See it here.

Gary added two more cameras to the mix to shoot Tucker operating through FO-29, a Japanese satellite that uses a 100 kHz wide 'linear translator' for mostly SSB and CW (and no FM, please) between two meters and 70 cm. There's a few minutes of that demo in this episode, and the whole thing is on John's Space Comms channel.

The 'Incompatible' Challenge

Regular HamRadioNow listeners and viewers have heard Gary's mildish rants about the proliferation of incompatible Digital Voice modes on VHF/UHF (D-STAR, System Fusion, DMR, etc.). His beef isn't so much that there are several modes (that's progress, and will never stop). He's unhappy that the majors don't make radios that operate on multiple modes - just their own (plus analog FM). While we're waiting for the DV4mobile and a Connect Systems HT (both delayed), there are no radios doing 'multimode'.

So he says inspiration struck the other day in the way of a song parody. Check out these new lyrics to the tune of the old Nat King Cole classic, Unforgettable:

Incompatible

Incompatible, that's what you are.
D-STAR, System Fusion.. DMR.
Just buy three HTs instead of one,
So that you can talk to everyone.
Which mode will it be,
When you're calling me?

Incompatible, in every way,
Marketing demands that's how they'll stay.
They could write a little software code,
Make a radio that's multi-mode.
But it seems that's nothing they'd ever do.

Incompatible, they drew the line.
You're in your walled garden, I'm in mine.
I guess we could just go analog,
Leave the future in a misty fog,
FM's not so bad - it's tried and it's true. 

The challenge? Produce a video of you (or someone) singing the song, and post it on YouTube. Provide your own music (piano, guitar, kazoo), don't use an instrumental or karaoke track. And let us know (email kn4aq@arvn.tv).

No prizes. We don't plan on picking a 'winner', but we will play some of the entries on the show. All fame. No fortune.

By the way, we (and you) don't have a license to rip off this song (written by Irving Gordon). And we've learned that it's not technically a parody, which would qualify it for Fair Use. It's satire. (A parody would make fun of the original song. Satire uses the song to make fun of something else). Satire has a weaker claim to Fair Use. It has a little claim, because doing this will clearly not deprive anyone from earning income off the song, and it's all very small potatoes.

Nobody's going to sue you. Worst case, if a music industry robot sniffs out a copyright infringement in your video, YouTube will either monetize it (put ads on it, and the copyright holder gets the pennies that it will generate), or they'll make it silent, or take it down. Don't monetize it yourself!

So if you're game for a little risk on YouTube (and a bigger risk of people judging your performance), belt it out, croon it sweet, jazz it up or tone it down, but sing it! Maybe it will spur IKenSu to make a true multimode radio some day (don't forget CODEC 2).

AUDIO ONLY? After all that, our Radio Rating is... B-. Oh, the video's fun to watch, but not vital. It's radio, after all, so the story is in the sound. Don't tell Gary we said that, though. He spent a lot of time editing that video.