W3gms

My week in Radio

• I saw aurora for the first time, and I got some nice photos.
• I visited K3IR tower sight in Mount Joy during PA QSO party
  • I listened to people contesting, but didn’t participate.
• TYT TH-9800: 50W into the tape measure yagi, tried it on the roundtable, still have work to do
• I threw my main 71-foot EFRW higher into another tree.
• I watched my flagpole and yagi in the wind
  • walked it down while I had a kid here to help
  • scoping a new location for it as a tilt-up attached to the house
  • collecting pieces for some experiments in engineering

Questions

• W8CRW, CR:
  • National Electronics Museum is hosting a class for general license.
  • How far from the mast should a vertical yagi antenna be installed?
  • Can it be installed 45-degrees to be used for both horizontal and vertical?
    • WA3VEE, Ron: some have had success at 45 degrees for satellites.
    • KC3SQI, Wayne: 45-degree will lose you 1.5dB
• WA3VEE, Ron: what is the ideal thickness for a bus-bar to which you’re mounting a lightning arrester.
  • KC3RFG, Jim:
    • 1/4-inch minimum. thicker won’t hurt anything.
    • mechanically strong (bolted) instead of soldered
    • woven ground strap is best, but 6AWG stranded is good.
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • avoid inductance, so use strap or bar, not wire
    • no right angles, no coils, no spirals
• KC3RFG, Jim: Hearing ignition noise on HF on battery or on truck power. How best can one eliminate that noise?
  • KC3SQI, Wayne: Remove the mast from the coax and see if you still have the noise. If it’s still there, then it’s coming from power cables. Try a better ground directly to the battery. On vehicles that rust, bolts don’t ground so well after a while, so then you get lots of grounds connecting back through the antenna.
  • KC3KZB, Aaron: go for a short ground, and keep ground wire away from ignition wires
• KC3SQI, Wayne: What’s the mechanical strength for 1.5-inch conduit?
  • WA3VEE, Ron: See Ugly’s Electrical Reference.
  • KC3RFG, Jim: that’s right.
• KC3WWC. John: I like that I can build my transformers and cut, measure, and test wire antennas, Is it practical to build, iterate, expand a homebrew yagi?
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • blatant plagarism: they’ve been around for a long time.
    • modeling programs, manuals, existing antennas.
    • different goals: gain, bandwidth, front-to-back ratio examples in the antenna book
    • software
    • moxon antenna: 2 element yagi with bent ends, massive front-to-back ratio
      • great for direction-finding: forward to get in the neighborhood, then reverse to find the null where it disappears
      • not much gain though
• W8CRW, CR: Is there a program for windows to map out a computer network?
  • W3DIB, Greg:
    • there are lots of tools to probe and fingerprint machines to try to disclose the host OS.
    • also ping, angryping, etc.

My Week in Radio

• I saw some antennas at the Ham Fest, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy any. I’ll build.
• I passed extra at the Ham Fest
  • I guess enough workbench discussion sunk into my brain.
  • Found I can download and search a copy of the entire ULS database like some of those other helpful websites that show available callsigns.
• POTA along the Susquehanna River.
  • Normal FT8 to get to 10 contacts.
  • 1 CW contact, and it wasn’t painful.
  • I tested out my newest printed EFHW antenna winder.
• Running and comparing Meshtastic and APRS more
  • Why use it?

Other News

• WA3VEE, Ron, PA QSO Party this weekend.
• KC3SCY, Luke, switched his loose couple radio from diode to cat whisker.
• KC3ZSJ, Gary, is playing with new antennas.
• W3FES, Fred, has a new FT-60R
• AF3Z, Jim, is headed to Cornwall Ranger Station for PA QSO Party

Questions

• KC3SZO, Chris: How can I overcome some terrain in the way of my RF?
  • WA3VEE, Ron: Antenna in the attic
  • NA3CW, Chuck: VHF isn’t exactly line-of-sight, so there is hope.
  • KC3WWC, John: Lower YAGI inside had advantages over a higher outside ground plane quarter wave.
• AA3LH, Leon: Let’s confirm repeater settings for this old radio and new antenna going in the car.
• KC3WWC, John:
  • I could change my callsign now.
  • I’ve only used this one for a year, so not super-attached.
  • For contesting, I see the benefit of a shorter call, so I might ultimately consider phonetic and morse weight.
  • How did you choose your vanity call? What strategies should I consider?
  • NA3CW, Chuck: initials.
  • W8CRW, CR: initials.
  • AA3LH, Leon: initials, and wanted an “A” call.
  • AF3Z, Jim: assigned by FCC. Consider how it sounds in CW.
  • WA3VEE, Ron: assigned, and sounds cool.
    • He also has K3DTS for the campus location of his old club.
    • quick and simple for CW
    • 1-by-1 is for special events.
    • easy to understand, so stay clear of confusing letters; V, C, Z, etc.
    • sound in sideband: normal or phonetic.
  • KC3OOK, Bill: assigned.
    • catching phonetic for DX
    • NA3NA was catchy.
    • KC3QQD is funny: Quack Quack Duck
  • Callsign ideas:
    • KD3FN
    • KB3VI
    • KC3VI
    • AA3WW
    • AA3KK

My Week in Radio

• I moved the tape-measure yagi to the top of a 25-foot flagpole in the backyard.
  • 10 W, but not quite doing it.
  • There’s still too much of a hill.
• I upgraded the X6100 baseband, stock firmware, and 3rd-party firmware.
• Some CW
  • barely got 2 CW contacts hunting POTA, but I got into their logs
  • heard AF3Z on 40m out on his trip
  • morsle app to practice copying CW words and call signs
• I redesigned and printed a new antenna winder.
• I heard some AM and some RTTY during contests.
• I cleaned up and organized all the radio stuff from the move instead of contesting.
• I’m going to try for my extra ticket at the next Ham Fest.

Others’ News

• KB3RFG, Jim: all the bands open today in lots of directions
• NA3CW, Chuck: lot’s of AM fun
• AF3Z, Jim
  • spectated some RTTY contesting
  • 10m CW conversations
• WA3VEE, Ron: LMR400 (KMR400) coax is lowest loss practical

Questions

• KN3I, John: How does one make an AM rig sound good? Carrier power, modulation, etc.

My Week in Radio

• Tried some new firmware for X6100, but no good
• Moved Houses
  • installed some antennas
    • 71ft random wire
    • 1/4 wave ground plane
• POTA weekend
  • Michaux State Forest
  • Caledonia State Park
  • King’s Gap Environmental Education Center
  • Pine Grove Furnace
  • Used an EFHW for everything
  • Ran out of battery on Pine Grove Furnace on the second day, so did the whole thing with 1W FT8.
  • Tried calling CQ on CW to see if RBN would pick me up.

Questions

• Charles, KC3SWC: What books about operating do you recommand?
  • Ron, WA3VEE
    • ARRL Operating Guide
    • ARRL: Basic Electronics for Radio
    • Electronics for Hobbyists
  • John, KC3WWC
    • Spend lots of time listening to others
    • Youtube
  • Chuck, NA3CW
    • Lots of people are listening
    • Keep it civil
    • Keep it technical
    • Don’t bore people with aches and pains
    • ARRL Operating Manualy
    • ARRL Handbook
    • ARRL Antenna Book
    • Be helpful
    • Be interesting
• Wayne, KC3SQI: How do you tone squelch for receiving and filtering away QRM from another repeater on the same frequency?
  • Ron, WA3VEE: tone squelch or “split tone”
  • CR, W8CRW: T-SQL = tone squelch
  • Chuck, NA3CW: would be useful when the band opened and a distant DMR is overtaking 985.
• Ron, WA3VEE: Yaesu HTs can only do one of the other, not both.

My Week in Radio

• The photos looked great from Bill’s, KC3OOK, antenna party
• https://ft8.live/ for a more responsive visualization of pskreporter data.
• POTA at Susquehannock
  • No digital, only sideband
  • QSO parties for Hawaii, Kansas, and Ohio
  • Bothered someone with a bit of CW badly
• Morse Machine app on Android for practicing
• I finally confirmed 50 states on QRZ.com with Hawaii
  • generally 5-10W
  • mostly digital, some sideband
• I started playing with a couple Meshtastic nodes
  • Impressive range for low power, ~125mW

Questions

• W8CRW, CR: Is there any device that would log a date-time every time you key your VHF/UHF transmitter?
  • W3DIB: string together an arduino, some AI, and voice recognition
  • WA3VEE: pull it from broadcastify
  • K3VIL: newer ICOM has a recording feature
  • NA3CW: security system that can log contacts opening/closing
  • W8CRW: looking for something radio agnostic
• KC3OOK, Bill: Balanced-L vs T-Match network tuner for open wire feed. Is one better than the other?
  • Balanced L = L-C-L and it’s fed on the low-impedance side.
  • T-Match has a wider range, but maybe less efficient.

My Week in Radio

• Iambic Keying
  • Tap, instead of squeeze, since I’m having trouble releasing the paddles in time.
  • Squeeze Keying at Ham Radio QRP
• I started patching and compiling my own firmware for my Quansheng radios
  • building and flashing works
  • my minor change had no effect
• New R1CBU 0.22.0 firmware for x6100
  • whole firmware is like a new radio
  • minor fixes and conveniences
    • peak marger on S-meter
    • nicer scrolling on waterfall
• POTA by the Susquehanna River in Marietta
  • I heard some lighthouse events
  • I spoke to someone on a nuclear ship in Baltimore
  • I ran into a fellow ham and ex-professor from 25 years ago, Paul Ross, W3FIS.
  • It’s so quiet away from my normal desk of computers, I thought noise reduction was stuck ON
• 10m looking pretty open today to California
• I’ve been keeping the blog up-to-date, and I use this net to document my week.

Topics

• Jeff, W3JAM, is having trouble with an MFJ antenna analyzer that’s not being reliable compared to his other analyzers.
• Bill, KC3OOK, is preparing for the weekend’s antenna party.
• Jim, AF3Z, participated in the QRP Skeeter Hunt with his Penntech, 68ft of wire, and a tuner. 5W on 40M got him 25 CW contacts.
• Luke, KC3SCY, is building a transmitter from 1929.
• Tim, W3QP, is planning some hiking and SOTA in Virginia.
• Harvey, KC3NZT, was in PEI (I think) doing a little HF and listing to ship traffic.
• Question from Jeff, W3JAM: What is Supermon and how does one get started?
  • It’s a web-based interfacet to an Allstar node.
  • ClearNode app runs on Android.
• Question from Harvey, KC3NZT: In 120V wiring, does a voltage between 0V and 120V mean a broken or loose ground or common?
  • KC3RFG: Yes! The AC world is different from the DC world.

My Week in Radio

• Watching APRS
  • trying different radios/antennas w/ aprsdroid
  • slim-jim working better with any radio
  • watching logs and better-understanding the structure of the packets
• N3TWT repeater (South Mountain) looks good for “off grid” communication when camping in Cumberland county
  • heard lots of volunteer event activity
  • also heard N3FYI & N3KZ
• moving in September, so scheming new antennas
• maybe noticing a bug on AUBS firmware on Quansheng. I have copy of code to read and see about a fix.
• I tried another firmware, but missing the killer feature: scan on start

Notes from Others

• Everyone went to Kimberton Hamfest
• AF3Z, Jim: wait 30 years, and that shiny new radio will be affordable.

Questions

• W3JAM, Jeff:
  • using a generator, how important is ground?
    • KC3RFG, Jim:
      • already grounded if connected to home.
      • job site may require a ground rod, but doesn’t do much.
      • for field day, generator is the only “reference”, so no need for ground
      • modern generators have GFI built-in.
    • NA3CW, Chuck:
      • don’t let generator run down and stop under load, because it’ll degauss the residual magnetism
  • Heathkit SB102 w/ 6146B tubes. It wouldn’t tune up. is there concern with using 6146W tubes?
    • NA3CW, Chuck: 6146W is the ruggedized version. it should work. neutralize, and you’re good to go.
    • AF3Z, Jim: be sure to check the tubes with a tube-tester
• AF3Z, Jim:
  • cable management while being able to access and change. beat the rats’ nest. Are there good systems for cable management?
    • WA3VEE, Ron:
      • best if you can walk behind the desk
      • everything slides on felt feet, so must have some slack loosely coiled.
    • NA3CW, Chuck:
      • desk 90 degrees to the wall for easy access to the back.
      • garden velcro: can be snipped to any length you need.
    • KC3JAM, Jeff:
      • military systems require being able to get behind things.
• KC3OOK, Bill:
  • Has anyone used DragonOS / Linux?
    • NA3CW, Chuck: Mint, but not Dragon OS.

My Week in Radio

• 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.

Questions

• 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.

My Week in Radio

• Great to see everyone at the breakfast, especially Luke’s loose couplers.
• POTA after the breakfast at Marsh Creek with Vic, KC3TYX
  • 20m was the place to be, but 2 of us operating, so we had to take shifts with our own radios.
• Prime Day Shopping
  • microcord
  • TYT HT for 10w crossband repeater
    • I’m using it now as the repeater
    • Less tethered to the outside antenna
    • Top of the radio/sma is 50C after repeating for an hour on power
  • TinySA
  • Raspberry Pi Zero W kits
• APRSDroid: phone & radio
  • email gateway
  • POTA spotting

Notes from Others

• solarham.com
• Reading Ham Fest coming up
• VE session at Stateline Radio Club

Questions

• KC3WWC: What’s cool about APRS?
  • APRS weather station
  • PWS monitor app to find weather stations near me
  • Other gateway frequencies?
  • Check with CCAR/ARES/RACES nets for their uses.
• KC3WWC: In Galenium detector, how does one know when the cat whisker is right?
  • Joe, W3GMS
    • put on headphones
    • move spring arm with stiff wire (cat whisker)
    • touch it to the galenium
    • move around to find the hot spot where it’s louder
    • germanium diode conducts at very low voltages, so easy
    • loose couplers don’t work so well in a crystal set, since it’s lossy
    • spark era - 1913
    • before galenium, there was a tube with metal filings, a “coherer”.
      • activate a buzzer
      • tap that would fall and reset the coherer
    • after galenium, then audion tube
    • imperative to have a very big antenna to capture as much signal as possible.
    • drive diode into forward current
    • Heathkit made a collectible kit
      • tightly coupled
      • voltage increase in the second coil
      • higher Q, so could be made more selective
    • Luke, KC3SCY, counted 20 different stations one night
  • Chuck, NA3CW
    • fox-hole radio: rusty razor blade, lead pencil, coil, safety pin, oatmeal box, wire
    • galena: ore of lead sulfide
    • immerse the galena in base of lead solder
    • grope around quietly to find magic spot where it works best
    • same thing with foxhole radio
    • uses oxide for detecting, not stainless
    • galena has 0.4V drop, like germanium diode
  • Ron, WA3VEE
    • has a marconi cat whiskey receiver
    • 0.4V can be converted to dBm, and it’s a pretty large signal required
    • predates any amplification
• WA3VEE: What is the most important measure of solar activity we need to consider?
  • most profound affect on propagation?
  • KC3RFP: a-index (9 or lower) k-index (5 or lower)
  • Tamitha Skov website and youtube

985 Breakfast

It was good to chat radio with everyone, and Luke talked about restoring his antique loose coupler radio.

US-1380 Marsh Creek

After breakfast, Vic KC3TYX, and I made our way to US-1380 Marsh Creek for a park activation and to compare notes on how we operate.

The weather was pleasant, and Vic started on 20m with a vertical ham stick and faraday cloth for a ground plane.

I tossed a EFHW to slope from the picnic table up into a tree. I got it in a good spot with the first try. I was on 40m to give him some room, but the band was pretty dead in the middle of the day. I still had a little interference, since Vic was running 100W. I eventually switched to 20m when Vic had enough contacts, so I could finish my activation. Only 15m and 20m really worked for much. I did all digital + 1 phone to another park in Tennessee.