 Welcome to the RF Elements unlicensed podcast. I'm your host Caleb Nour and we're joined with our co-host Tossos Hey, what's happening everybody? What's going on? So Tossos? What are we doing? Why are we here? What's that? I don't know man Well, I think we were just like chit-chatting once we brought you on board and said you know what? We should start doing some sort of podcast some video cast and some video blogs and let's just let's just start talking about Things that happen in the industry and what we have going on. So here we are Cool, cool. That works for me. So, you know, there's a lot to talk about RF Elements is obviously an antenna company, but we're so intertwined with all the workings of the Wisp industry and We focus a lot on education. We think it's really important You know smart customers a good customer for sure But you know, there's so much more than that been only education aspect of things so You know, you've got the more more history more background here Tossos You know, what do you think about our educational efforts and what do we do as a company to help? Guide the Wisp industry as a whole. Yeah, I mean We've been doing a lot over the last five now plus years really in doing this You know education is a really big part of what we do at RF Elements for the industry itself I mean really, you know, we're not we're known as the horn company But we're so much more than just horns, you know, the education starts You know with what we did with Wisp Traveler where we tried to go and educate other users by bringing Exposure to experienced users and how they're using our products and how it's helped their networks to where we've gone with inside wireless, which is you know, kind of a another industry first Where you know, we're trying to really, you know break down the barriers and knowledge, right for Some of these really complicated technologies and you know, RF and antennas has always been, you know Kind of Greek to everybody from from that standpoint. So kind of Yeah, you like that you like that. So yeah, so the the inside wireless You know video series again really takes on a lot of these roadblocks and helps the user base become More educated on how these things work and that overall helps them operate their Wisp and understand The technologies that they're using now and the technologies that, you know Come out in the future to really build a solid foundation and you know One of the most important things, you know, that a wireless operator needs to understand is how the wireless works that they're using So that's a another another thing and you know, kind of like what we're doing here, too, right? This podcast is really to again, you know expose the industry More to other interesting topics not just RF But what's you know really happening that we got funding going on right now with our golf and you know All those other types of government grants that are available for people Spectrum is constantly changing. We got Wi-Fi 6 coming. So I mean this is just it's almost endless what we can talk about But those are just probably some of the you know, the starter topics You know that we'd have on the show for example, very cool. Well, you know, people might be asking Why would you do a podcast? You know, you guys primarily do a lot of YouTube videos Which are awesome my personal opinion But you know why this podcast format and why are you doing both and the way I think of it is, you know, YouTube's great Watching the video sitting down and you know learning is a great way to Definitely pick up some tips and things like that But I really enjoy the podcast format because I spent a lot of time, you know driving spent a lot of time out walking You know away from a desk Whether for work or personal reasons and you know as we all know wisps are extremely busy folks So, you know, I think it's a good opportunity for us to be able to share some information And if they want to sit here and watch the video awesome great You can see our lovely faces, which is obviously the highlight of anyone's day But but also we're going to do the video, you know traditional or excuse me audio traditional audio for get format as well and That way people can listen as they're going between sites or going about their day and pick up a few hopefully nuggets of information So that's one, you know thing I really like about a podcast format and the second thing is that By its nature is a lot more informal, you know when we do a scripted product launch or An unboxing or an intro video or something like that, you know, it's very formal very scripted and laid out really well whereas this is a informal sort of Super flexible format right so, you know, it's really cool to say one day We're going to talk about horns horns horns and nothing else or maybe we'll talk about a product release or you know Some other thing that that ties in directly to us But maybe the next day we're talking about like he said funding things going on how noise affects Various things multi-user Mimo we'll get in a conversation about that or whatever I want, you know It's extremely flexible and it also means that you know, not only are is it gonna be us sitting here and coming up with a Format but you know, we want feedback from folks in the world, you know our customers and people that aren't our customers You know, what do you guys want to hear us ramble on about definitely? I mean for for me You know what I always look for and and trying to kind of you know, push the company forward as well as you know Not everybody, you know Gets their information from the same sources. So we're very active on social media But we have a you know, what we you consider a limited reach because only so many people You know Participate in social media Facebook Instagram, whatever it is to again, you know gain some knowledge Ask questions so on and so forth. So, you know, that that's one avenue, you know Webinars is yet another avenue in which again people receive information, right? So we're very heavy on doing our web webinars globally different time zones even in different languages and stuff YouTube again, some people are visually You know learning people like myself. That's why I love YouTube. I love watching videos I'm not much of a podcast listener kind of guy But like you said, you know, West are always in their trucks They're always in their cars are always driving around going to see customers and you know Just listening to an audio podcast or watching this video wise However, they want to do it is yet another way to kind of reach out there to the the users out there and Deliver information right there's forums There's so many different avenues for delivering information and I believe that the podcast or video podcast is You know our next step in trying to again just reach the masses and share as much information as we can about this industry Well, luckily for you you picked an audio format with someone who is not southern at all and has absolutely no accent So this will make for a very effective way to do this We may need a banjo or something to start playing when you start talking maybe maybe some translators, so Well, we'll put subtitles underneath and it's funny because you know, I grew up in New Jersey And I used to have a fairly heavy kind of you know, New York Jersey type Accent and then I moved to New Mexico. I lived there for a couple of years And now in Texas now I have this kind of hybrid. Hey y'all, you know I'm kind of a thing but I've kind of lost my identity. I have a mix of you know, you know a little bit of everything, right? So talking fast is probably my my biggest My biggest issue. It's not really a twang or hard to understand Yeah, but I think we'll manage we'll get through it. Okay, so I don't know that the auto Subtitle for matters gonna work really well, but we'll see what you can get done. Well, very cool So for those out there that don't know us, you know, more folks probably know you toss us to me Obviously, you've been around a long time, but for those that don't know at all Give us a little bit about your background, you know, who are you? What do you do for RF elements and how do you tie into the industry? Yeah, definitely So I've been in the industry for quite a while. It's actually I was just talking with my wife the other day And I'm like, you know, I'm coming on 20 years soon, you know 15 plus in the industry So I started in the early 2000s about 2004 is kind of like my official launch, right? You know put my toe into the the wisp world By I was at the time I was you know building and creating CPEs for users I mean if you guys remember back then a lot of people that are coming in new or you know complaining about, you know $100 and $90 CPEs, but we had four or five hundred dollar CPEs back then, right? So, you know, I kind of started pushing micro tech in in in, you know, these these Integrated enclosures and stuff like that and kind of bringing the price down to the market for CPEs and APs and different types of enclosures and stuff and then I Transition from that into distribution. So I owned and operated Titan wireless for close to about 10 years or something like that And in my you know again 10 years of doing product distribution I've met so many different suppliers and that's kind of you know, how I started building my relationship or my relationship started with RF elements, I can't even remember how far back that was but was somewhere around 2010 to 2012 or something at some trade show in Prague I met RF elements for the first time and you know back then they were making again, you know Kind of accessories and stuff like that But it was really kind of interesting stuff that they were doing their designs were you know Really good from the like industrial design standpoint and the RF performance and other usability things and so we had again a fairly Long relationship before coming on board with RF elements to say hey, you know, we really want to do something different We're tired of you know building. Let's say the better of mousetrap, right? You know, so everybody else has an antenna enclosure Let's just make one that looks cooler or acts slightly different We want to totally revolutionize things and you know, we got this thing called horns and it's really gonna be awesome You know and that's kind of how I got started They they showed me the product and I said, you know what this is this is pretty cool stuff And you know about I said five six years ago, you know came on board and you know here I am five six years later Cool. So as your title of product evangelists, what is all what all the what all is that entail? Other than the other people at Facebook Why at RF elements again, we we do everything a slight a lot different than than other people titles really are Relevant within within the the company itself. I've worn so many hats for RF elements, you know business development sales distribution blah blah blah blah whatever marketing and you know as I Have grown within the company as far as responsibilities and what we're doing and stuff like that You know, I kind of fell into like that the marketing side of things social media was something I was really comfortable with being on camera was something I was really comfortable with, you know public speaking all this other stuff and you know At some point I found that I was like evangelizing horns because I had to you know Kind of sell people not on the product but the concept, you know So it's kind of like religion. Let's say and and trying to get you know our point out there So, I mean, we're just sitting around one day and you know JTR CEO is like, you know what? Yeah You're a product evangelist. You need to go out there and preach the gospel of Born into the technology. I'm like cool. That works, you know, whatever So that's that's how I became the product evangelist and who knows how long that'll that'll stick for but that's that's kind of How it evolved that's what we need to get you some big robes the next way You know when you're up on stage, you're gonna see the flow belt. So That's funny. So a little bit about me. I've been in the industry I went full-time in November of 2004 That was my first full-time whisper industry job employee number one With some dubious paperwork in the background, but I'm sure it's fine. So whatever but I was in the radio manufacturing business much like you you know putting units together and in the tech and the advancement That we've seen over the years has been absolutely amazing. So did that for about ten years or so Left there went to distribution back to radio manufacturing a little bit back to distribution for a while So, you know what 18 years give or take I've been in the industry and I landed RF elements recently just a few months ago and so far it's been super exciting, you know, I I was Drawn to the company for a lot of the educational material, you know when people and I knew who you guys were Just from using you in the past and you had a really good reputation But you know after some conversations and doing some research and seeing the content that was put out the quality of the website Like all these things, you know, it really speaks to the quality of the whole message of what you're doing So I joined My official title as of now is business development director Which is a fancy way of saying that I work for the end user, you know Basically, I am tasked with leading our efforts to educate to inform Our end users that are out there to find new users pitch the sales side of things pitch the tech side of things and Just make sure that everyone's educated up to date and finding where we can provide good solutions So so far it's been a really good fit and I'm super excited where we're going and Other places we have yet to go so Good stuff. Yeah, and that's you know, what a lot of people may not really know is that our relationship has You know, we've known each other for pretty much the same amount of time You know, I kind of really started getting really active in 2004 I remember you and Hal and Matt from back in the deliberate days, right? So I mean we go way back, right? So, you know, some people may think that you're just some newcomer and not to the industry, right? But just to the company like there was no previous relationships there or anything like that But yeah, we we've got a lot of stories. Yeah. Yeah, well, I don't know how many Before long will be out out on our rocking chairs on the porch just shaking my fists at the yards. So Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So a lot of a lot of stories a lot of history there for both of us together And it's it's great to honestly, you know have you on board and for for us to actually really work together With a you know a united front and a united goal. So it's really cool stuff. I'm excited. Yeah, I'm you know I'm really kind of like looking for you know, where does this podcast go? I mean, it's really in its infancy This is kind of just the intro who we are what we're trying to do with this whole video series But I'm I'm really looking forward to Interact with the the users out there. I mean, that's something that I do often and I really enjoy about my job is wanting to know Where the user base wants us to go with this podcast? So I'm interested in getting feedback from everybody out there on you know, what are the topics we should talk about? You know, it should just should this be more technical, right? Should we be talking about theory of radios and tenas and other things or you know, should it be more general discussions? I mean, there's just there's just so much so much we can cover so much we can cover with this this show Yeah, and that's the cool thing about this format is we can make it whatever we want to be and we decide something works great And if it doesn't work and it's stupid then y'all let us know and we'll change it So you'll see some format flexibility as we progress But we'll get home down here in a little bit. So I'm looking at things to come definitely definitely. All right Well, good. So I think this is a good introduction Not too rambly yet, but we should probably cut ourselves off before we get that way But folks look in the talk to us real we're all post the videos on YouTube will throw on our social media channels We've got our Facebook main page RF elements. We've got RF elements English RF elements. That's been y'all Those are great places to track us. We'll be posting these episodes up there and giving you guys ways to reach out and talk to us So I Until we talk to you next time y'all have a good one and watch later. Yeah, stay horny everybody. Stay horny