985 Workbench: 2024-08-05

Mobile APRS is proving to be really short-range
- Couldn’t even spot myself outside at Sam Lewis up on the hill
- Cycled with it, but no traffic
- Needs a real antenna
Some POTA
- Sam Lewis, US-1418
  - found the leading park activator, kn3a, in my spot. :)
  - storms rolling in, so called it quits
  - watched 20m slam shut: decoding 30 signals to 4
- Susquehanna River, US-4567
  - Columbia Riverfront Park that’s open after sunset
  - spanned into the next day…again, so had an incomplete and a complete activation.
Got an FT8 contact to Israel with 5W from home: first Asia for me.
Weekly RTTY Test and FT4 sprint
Ham radio software may not be the most efficient
- fldigi left running but disconnected from radio ran CPU at 95C doing nothing.
- GridTracker likes to burn cpu too when left running.
AB3AP, Mike, on EZ-Hang slingshot: I’ve given up the slingshot and just swing my throw line by hand.
KB3ILS, Keith: there are scripts online for 3d-modeling any size knob you need.

W3JAM, Jeff:
- Does anyone have experience using Drake TR4CW on AM?
- Can you add a noise blanker to this radio?
  - Noise blanker would alleviate pulsing noise from electric fence.
  - Jeff will be getting the entire manual library on CD, which will have information.
KC3OOK, Bill:
- How do you connect a NanoVNA to an open wire feed line?
- WA3VEE: Would you need a balun to start getting close to impedance to match the expected 50 ohm?
- W3JAM: Doesn’t matter so much where it’s tuned, since you use it with a tuner anyway.
- NA3CW:
  - You don’t want it to be resonant anyway, because being resonant will give you the largest extremes to tune when trying to move to other bands.
  - NanoVNA may be limited on the impedance it can read.
  - Dipole should be at least as long as half wave + a little
  - He extended a wire to get it to tune where it wouldn’t.
WA3VEE, Ron:
- SOCO connectors carry 208V. When rewiring those connectors, what’s a good caulk-like sealant that could be used for “potting” the inside of the plugs?
  - Plain bathroom caulk can be conductive.
  - Silicon may breakdown at lower voltage than needed too.

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