I picked this up from the FT-817 yahoo group. It gave me a chuckle. Anyways, last friday night, Jay Leno put a champion ‘texter’ head to head with two radio hams. Credit to Wayne K6NR for the clip.

Here are a few comments from K6CTW, who was on the
receiving end:

———————————————–

Well to answer some of the questions I have received:

1. Ben was just getting ready to start entering the last 2 words when I
was done.

2. None of us had any idea of the text we would be sending, not only for
the “show” but also for the 3 rehersals (in which we smoked em every time)
3. Chip, K7JA was sending and I, Ken, K6CTW was receiving.
4. The radios were FT-817’s provided by Chip’s company Yaesu and HRO.
Reason for that choice was that we needed the most frequency agile
radios we could get. When I talked to the technical folks, they
recommended we START at 2 meters and go up because of all of the lower
frequency noise and RFI from the other TV equipment. When I got there,
we took out a spectrum analyzer and studied all of the interference
possibilities. I ended up choosing 432.200 MHz because that guaranteed
no RFI from their equipment and we were high enough not to overload
their front ends either. This was then verified and it was what we were
using at the FT-817’s lowest setting.

5. I already knew that 28-30 wpm would easily keep us in front of even
the current world record holder, and also it is the fastest speed that I
can make nice readable copy on paper with a “stick”.

6. The telegrapher “costumes” were the producer’s idea but it was fun
for both Chip and I.

7. In rehersal I, K6CTW had a number of lines which would have really
done a nice job of plugging ham radio and telegraphy however at our last
dress rehersal, they decided to cut them out to make the segment “fit”.
(maybe next time).

8. I decided that I would be the receiver because I’m not bothered by
crowd noise etc.

If you enjoyed the segment, PLEASE email, write, etc. to let “The
Tonight Show” know about it. That way we may have a chance for a bigger
segment next time.
Thanks for the kind comments from all and let’s keep on having fun! (It
is a hobby after all).

73,
Ken, K6CTW