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Every Monday Evening at 8pm Eastern Time, the W3GMS/R Crew get together on the repeater at 146.985Mhz and discuss technical questions and sometimes do lessons related to Ham Radio for newer Operators to learn from experienced Elmers. The Workbench was set up to be a safe place for any technical questions to get asked and good answers to be given.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Great, Jim. Good to hear you too. AF3Z and group WA3VE.
I was and MA3Z.
In a moment of panic I grabbed my phone.
I moved on.
I moved on.
I moved on.
Well, Ron, did you say you're ready to jump in?
We could get started.
We could get started and then if he shows up, he could carry on.
Yeah, I went with yesterday.
Yesterday was Sunday.
I talked to him yesterday and he was, well, he even announced he was the host at the round table on Thursday because he was the host there.
So, good chance he will be here.
So, good chance he will be here, but you never know what comes up in life.
So, good chance he will be here.
So, good chance he will be here.
So, good chance.
I'm delighted.
In fact, what I'll do is I'll get started and I will call occasionally for him to see if he's on board.
And, yeah, I'll go for it here.
Just give me one second here and I'll be here in about maybe 15 seconds.
WA3VE.
What's that call sign again?
What's that call sign again?
I'll be...
What's that call sign again?
I'll be...
I just had to grab the right stone tablet and a sharp chisel to write with.
All right, very good.
Good evening.
Welcome to the 985 workbench.
I'm pinch hitting for Greg, W3DIB.
My name is Ron, WA3VEE, and I'll be your host, at least for the moment, tonight for this
edition of the workbench.
I'm located in Westchester, Pennsylvania.
We meet every Monday at 8 p.m. on the W3GMS Parksburg Repeater, 146.985 megahertz.
The PL tone to access the repeater is 100 hertz.
For those who use Tone Squelch on Receive, the repeater transmits a squelch tone of 94.8.
Newcomers are very, very welcome.
We encourage all stations to check in.
Take a look at the repeater website at W3GMSRepeater.com.
There's lots of information there, including technical articles and pictures of 985 users in action,
and our activities as well.
Please be aware that on occasion the repeater experiences intermod interference.
Please run maximum power or be prepared to check in digitally through Echolink or All Star.
We want to hear you.
To be able to use Echolink or All Star on 985, you need to register with us.
Directions for doing so are on the website W3GMSRepeater.com.
Also, when the air mod is present before starting a transmission, give a short call.
Am I getting in?
Once the host, being me, or if Greg is able to get on board, he might have gotten tied up with an issue at his work, and that's not a problem.
Fully understand.
Once the host confirms that, then you can share your longer comments.
Here on the workbench, we focus on answering general questions of radio theory and operation.
Additionally, we invite each station to briefly comment on your amateur radio activity in the past week.
When checking in, please indicate if you have a question for the workbench.
If you don't have a question, still check in.
After all stations have checked in, we'll first share what we've done in ham radio briefly during the past week using a roundtable format.
So please write down the call of the station that checks in right after you.
When you have finished your comments, turn the mic over to that station.
Once we have made all of our comments, we will start the Q&A session, a section of the workbench operating as a directed net.
I will call on a station that indicated having a question, and then for the stations who wish to respond to that question.
Wait to be recognized by net control, me, before beginning a transmission.
Again, also, check to make sure you're being heard.
And I'll try to keep an eye on the squelched tails to see if InterMOD is present.
We'll advise if I detect it.
This helps us handle the questions efficiently.
It keeps the net running smoothly.
At times, it helps for two stations to go back and forth to help clarify or get additional information about a particular question.
Feel free to do that as needed and pass it back to me, net control.
Okay, a couple housekeeping things before we get started.
Don't be too quick to talk.
When you want to make a transmission, click your PTT button.
Wait a second or two before beginning to talk.
Generally, it's good repeater etiquette and procedure.
And it's especially good here on the workbench and also on Thursday Night Roundtable to allow our digital stations to check in.
Also, repeater has a three-minute timer, which is required by the FCC.
So every two to three minutes, release your mic button, especially if you're on RF like this.
Just for a moment, and then you can continue.
You don't need to let the repeater carrier drop.
Okay, before we begin, I want to say thanks to all of our fellow workbench hosts.
They're the ones that make this happen.
If you'd be interested in hosting the workbench, please contact Jim, AF3Z, or any one of us, and we'll help you get started.
It really is, I've said this a million times, it really is a lot of fun for sure.
Lastly, please join us this Thursday at 8 p.m. for the 985 Roundtable.
Okay, finally, after all that, we're going to get started, but I want to also pause just for a second and see if Greg's around.
W3DIB, this is WA3VE.
Greg, are you available?
Nothing heard, no problem at all.
Very happy to do this tonight in Greg's stead.
Okay, so digital stations.
I'm going to call for digital stations first, and then we're going to go to RF.
So digital stations only.
Digital stations only.
Those using Echolink or All Star, please call now.
This is WA3VE.
Digital stations only.
Okay.
Whiskey 8, Charlie Romeo Whiskey.
We are.
No questions.
I have no questions.
W1RC.
Good evening, everybody.
No questions.
Station again, please.
Thank you.
Good evening, everyone. This is K3OU. KD3EE, Kilo Delta 3, echo, echo.
So far, we've got CR, WACRW, Mr. Mike, W1RC. We've got Manny. Great to have you on board, Manny. K3OU. And we have John, KD3EE. Additional digital check-ins before we go to RF. Please call now. This is WA3VEE, and this is the 985 workbench.
Nothing heard. Let's go to RF check-ins. RF check-ins, please spread them out. This is WA3VEE. Please call now.
Kilo Bravo. NA3CW.
Alpha Foxtrot 3, Zulu. Kilo Charlie 3, Oscar Oscar Kilo.
Kilo Charlie 3, Mike Foxtrot Bravo. No question. In and out. Thank you.
JL3, November Zulu Tango, no question.
A3GLI.
A3KZG, no question.
JL3, JLB, Matt from Valley, no questions.
JL3, JLB, Matt from Valley, no questions.
KC3-O-O-K, W3MFB, in and out.
Thanks for checking in, Mike.
We'll put you as in and out.
So, Bill, you'll turn it over to Harvey.
KC3-O-ZT, KA3GLI, Dave, W3KZG, Scott, and Matt, KV3JGB.
One last call for check-ins.
Digital or RF before we get started?
This is the 985 Roundtable.
This is WA3VEE.
Please call now.
Kilo Delta 3, Alpha India Sierra, no question.
Alpha 3, Kentucky Fried Turkey.
WA3 KFT, John.
Nothing heard further, so here's the list as we have it.
From the very top.
W-HCRW, W1RC, K3OU, KD3EE, K3KB, NA3CW, AF3Z, KC3OOK, KC3NZT, KA3GLI, W3KZG, KV3JGB, KD3AIS,
WA3 KFT.
Unless I missed it, there are no questions.
Does anyone on that list have any questions or there are any errors or omissions?
Please call now.
This is K3OU.
I do have a question.
WA-3-VEE. Take it away.
Before I get started, did you hear that there was someone who said they had a question?
Not. Person with a question, please give me your call sign.
K3-OU.
I'm sorry, yes, yes, yes. Okay, got you down here for a question.
Okay, CR, thank you very much for pointing that out. I do appreciate that.
So, WHCRW, WA-3-VEE. Start us off.
Very good, Ron. Thanks for taking over for Greg tonight.
Good evening all, this is CR.
This week in ham radio, just a normal week. Nothing special, 985 and some other nets.
And so with that, let's go up to Massachusetts.
Mr. Mike, your turn. W1RC, WHCRW.
Now, this is W1RC in beautiful Marblehead, Massachusetts.
Good evening to everybody. I hope everybody's enjoying the holidays and had a good Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or whatever you want.
Festivus for the rest of us. I like good stuff and looking forward to the new year.
I do not have a question. I will stand by in case there is a question that maybe I can answer.
So, back to net. This is W1RC in Marblehead in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
K3OU WA-3-VEE. Mani, you're up.
Thank you, Ron. K3OU. I had a pretty uneventful Christmas. I had a lot of family over and spent some time with them.
Kind of an unusual situation here. My wife experienced a fall, fell down during walking out about a month ago and broke her ankle.
So, I've been spending most of my time taking a lot of time off, working through her convalescence, getting through that, including surgeries and so forth.
So, it's been a pretty quiet Christmas. Not the usual amount of running around that I would normally do.
But, everything's getting much better, so that's good.
I do have a question. Let me just mention that I'm in Northern Maryland in the town of Bel Air.
But, I do have a question. And, the question is -- let me see if I can phrase this correctly.
Obviously, I'm on All Stars, so I'm still working on getting my shack set up.
But, one of the critical questions I have is looking at the new rigs and looking at my budget.
I'm kind of settled on a couple of options here. One being the Yaesu FTDX-10, known, of course, as a hybrid software-defined radio.
And, the ICOM 7300, which is, of course, a full software-defined radio.
So, the question I have is, does anyone have any experience with either of these two transceivers?
They both seem to be very high quality, at least from what I've read.
But, I just want to see if I can get some input from the group before I lay down the dollars on one of those.
So.
Yeah, Mandy, what we'll do is -- the way we work here is that -- we'll put your question on the shelf for the moment.
And, we'll hold that to the second half of the workbench here.
And, we will address those -- or address that question. So, hold tight. And, then, we'll get to that question.
That's an excellent one, by the way.
In the meantime, let's continue with the round table. And, John, your turn.
I can't get over how good that question is. KD3EE, WA3VEE, your turn.
Thanks, Ron. This is KD3EE, John in Landisville.
I didn't do a whole lot in the past week. But, I did gift one of those tiny little HF radio receivers to a friend's kid.
So, give it a year and we'll see if he follows in my path and ends up licensed.
It comes with the little whip antenna and the little loop antenna.
And, I added a wire antenna with some alligator clips so that he can string that across the yard or across the room and clip it on to the antenna and enhance the -- you know, do a little bit better.
Let's see. I don't know that I've spoken to Alan, K3KB, but you're up. This is KD3EE.
Thank you, John. KD3EE.
This is K3KB. I haven't been on in a while. And, since I've been on, a lot of familiar calls, but also quite a few new calls. So, it has been quite a while.
I haven't been radioactive, per se. No transmissions. I have been busy in the shack. My wife wants to move. I don't want to move. But, she's thinking about something that requires less maintenance.
But, that inspired me to -- because I looked around the house. I said, "If I move, holy smokes, I've got so much stuff." So, I've been sort of cleaning and gathering things that I haven't used with all my hobbies.
That includes some radio-controlled aircraft that I'm sure I won't be flying again.
I'm sure I will be flying, but I've got a bunch and other support equipment that I don't think I'll be using.
I'm not sure I'm going to be building any more planes, but I also have some electronic radio equipment,
a scope and signal generator, dip meter, and a whole bunch of stuff, and projects.
I'm not sure what they were, but at this point I pulled them out of the box.
I didn't recognize the shell, but didn't recognize the circuitry.
At one point I was a builder, experimenter, and I packed them away a long time ago, and I'm pulling boxes out.
So I've got a whole bunch of stuff that if I can make the next ham radio breakfast or one of those events,
I'll bring them up and people can pick over and take them if they want.
Otherwise, they may wind up in a landfill.
Anyway, I'm just doing a lot of house cleaning.
It involves some ham radio stuff.
Also, I've got some old handhelds.
I'm not sure.
The batteries are no good, and they don't even have a tone transmission for repeater operation,
but I probably won't be using those again.
Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Let's see.
I think NA3CW is up next.
Very good.
Pick it up.
This is K3KB.
Thanks, Alan.
Just leaving to see if anybody popped in.
This is NA3CW.
Yeah, terrifying with the thought you have to move if you've been well-established in a place.
We've been in this house longer than any place that we've ever been except for the houses we grew up in.
But it's our seventh house, and we've, you know, moving a lot when we're doing overseas work and stuff.
Your whole life had to fit in one 20-foot container.
And so that kept us from getting too acquisitive of stuff.
We had to get rid of a lot of stuff the first time we moved, but after that was always got to fit in that 20-foot container.
So I think we've got more than we'll fit in a 20-foot container now, but it's still relatively one-layer deep.
We don't have, you know, shelves and shelves of boxes and boxes, and, you know, we don't have an attic full of stuff
because we don't have an attic that's workable.
We don't have a basement.
So anyway, 985 activities at the bench working on interconnect cables for the Joe Tuner project.
So I can finally light that system off and see if the smoke comes out.
And that's about it.
So over to Jim, AF3Z, NA3CW.
All right.
Very good.
Thank you, Chuck.
AF3Z here.
Good evening, everybody here on the workbench.
And, yeah, thanks for picking it up there, Ron.
Yeah, my week has been kind of normal.
Not a whole lot of activity, but there was one little spot.
Saturday I was on with a friend up here on 10-meter CW for a while.
He's a whole 10 miles away on 10 meters.
And after that, I was tuning down across the CW portion of 10 meters and very, very few signals.
And I was working around here cleaning up the shack and stuff.
And it is in pretty good shape at the moment.
But I had to rig on, and I heard somebody calling CW pretty strong, not super strong, but nice, solid signal.
So I responded.
I couldn't resist responding to the CQ.
I mean, I said CW, I meant CQ.
Responded to his CQ and turned out to be an ex-American, so to speak.
But he lives up on an 8,000-foot mountain in central Mexico now, XE1RCQ.
He and his wife moved down there when they retired or something like that.
So that was a fun little contact.
And then I was tuning around a little later, and I thought I heard a prefix of JM7.
And sure enough, JM7, Oscar Lima Whiskey.
Juliet Mike 7, Oscar Lima Whiskey.
And as I guessed and remembered or whatever, that was Japan.
And he was down in the noise for sure.
I did call a couple times, but other people were getting him.
I wasn't.
And so I just left it on.
I was back to work.
And the signal finally came up, so it was more like a raft on top of the noise,
just floating a little above the noise most of the time.
So I called him a bunch of times.
Nobody else was responding.
And then all of a sudden he said, QRZ.
And he really worked to copy.
And we did have a nice little contact then.
So I worked to Japan, which was fun.
And at the end, my fist really went south.
I really fumbled with the, excuse me, with the key here.
But in the modern age, we'll see, or with email, I mean.
I decided to send him an email, thank him, and also apologize for my code really getting messed up there.
And he wrote back very simply and shortly.
I don't know if his English is all that, you know, developed or whatever.
But anyway, he responded.
And he thanked me.
And he said he's always glad to work the east coast of the United States.
And I never really thought about that.
But the west coast is obviously closer.
And I guess they work the west coast a lot more.
But that was fun anyway.
Suki was his name, I guess, S-U-K-E.
And so that was a bright little spot in my ham activity for the week.
Working Penren, which is 10 miles away, and then central Mexico, and then Japan.
And that was like 5 to 6 o'clock in the evening on 10 meters.
So, Bill, down to you.
AF3Z here over to KC3OOK.
AF3Z, KC3OOK.
Thanks, Jim, Ron.
Thanks for stepping in and taking the chair tonight.
And I've been nowhere near as radioactive as others on here.
Just a little bit of activity on 985.
A little bit of rag chewing, which is always fun.
And I guess I hosted the Lancaster County Welfare Net.
That was just last night.
Other than that, it's mostly just working here on the shop.
I did finish the rack cabinet today.
All the equipment's in it.
And it's in place in the ham shack.
It's good enough.
And it's done.
Now we're on to the next project.
But that's about it for me.
And I'll turn it over to Harvey there in Malvern.
KC3RNZ.
KC3OOK.
Thanks, Bill.
This is Harvey.
KC3NZT in Malvern, Pennsylvania.
Good evening, everyone.
And thanks for taking the chair.
Ron, my week in ham radio has been mild.
But I did get the wire back up in the air last week.
I think it was on the workbench.
I was tying up some new fusible links out of fishing wire for the long wire.
So the fishing line breaks instead of ripping something off the house.
Got it back up and had to test it out.
You always have to test it out.
And all bands were open, which was kind of nice.
I love seeing that when there's people on 6, 10, 15, 20, 40.
All of them.
Got some DX in on some of those bands just to make sure everything's working great and everything was.
So I did do some operating.
Not very much, but some.
But it was still all DX over the pond.
So that's nice.
Other than that, I think my week has...
I think that's it.
So I'm going to turn it over to Dave.
It's a new call sign for me.
I hope you go by Dave.
I'm turning it over to KA3GLI.
This is KC3NZT.
All right.
Thanks, Harvey.
I don't think we've spoken in particular.
KC3NZT, KA3GLI.
I actually prefer David, but no big deal.
I just want to say I hope everyone had a great Christmas.
We'll have a great New Year's Eve and day coming up here before we know it, I guess.
Let's see.
Not much of anything happened with me the past week.
I ended up coming down with the crud and still trying to shake it, but little improvement every day.
That's positive anyway.
And let's see.
Before that happened, I was able to get my smoker outside.
I pulled, let's see.
Well, I guess a day prior, I pulled three pork butts out of the freezer and hickory smoked those guys.
And then we gave some of that to a couple of neighbors.
So, fortunately, I was able to get through that before I started feeling really terrible.
But that's the way it goes.
I'll send it down to you.
Here's Scott.
W3KZGKA3GLI.
W3KZG.
This week in ham radio, I've been working on the ham shack, trying to get it back in order and get all my equipment back up in here.
It's been a five-year ordeal.
Other than that, for ham radio, that's pretty much it.
I'm just listening to the repeater.
So, I'll just keep it moving.
We'll go to KB3JGB.
Over to you.
W3KZG.
Thank you.
W3KZG.
KB3JGB.
A little bit of action on HF.
I got Patrick to make a contact here.
I think it was just New York, but still pretty cool.
He was actually interested, which was kind of cool.
For him to turn around and say, oh, I'd like to give it a shot on my radio.
So, that was kind of neat.
And then I've done a couple meet and greets here with my new CW class.
I'm starting that next week.
CW Academy fundamental class.
So, kind of going from just learning the letters and numbers and punctuation and now actually
getting, actually be good at CW, making contacts.
And I think that's it for me on the radio.
And I believe I hand it over to KB3AIS.
KB3JGB.
KB3JGB.
This is KB3AIS.
Tim in Melbourne.
I didn't do much this week at all in ham radio other than listen to HF while I was doing
other things at work as I do year-end for my financial planning that I do as a profession.
And I do have a question later after Manny's question.
So, with that, I will turn it over to John.
W-A-3-K-F-T.
This is K-D-3-A-I-S.
This is W-A-3-K-F-T.
Okay, Tim.
Very good.
We've been playing radio on a regular basis here.
And this past week, we managed to do a little bit of DX.
I hang out on 10 meters from 1 o'clock to 2 o'clock on 28435.
And we managed to get Oklahoma City and Austin, Texas.
Come on, where's the rest of them?
Oklahoma.
So, the 10-meter band has been nice to us.
And some of these people we haven't talked to in a year.
Or more.
I'll say, usually in the summer, 10 meters opens up and we get good DX and what have you.
Some of these people we haven't talked to in a year and a half.
So, it's great to get reacquainted with the ones that we ragged you with before on 10 meters.
We hang out on 28435 from 1 o'clock to 2 o'clock every day.
It's called a retired group.
So, we can mess around with radio at 1 o'clock in the afternoon.
Okay.
Back to you, Ron.
Another retiree.
WA3 VEE.
WA3 KFT.
You know what, John?
Might be retired, but I'm busier now than when I was working.
That's all good stuff, though.
Excellent.
WA3 KFT and the entire group.
WA3 VEE.
Let me give a call for additional check-ins.
This is the 985 workbench here on the W3 GMS repeater in Parksburg, Pennsylvania.
And I just want to call for any additional digital or RF check-ins.
Anyone who wants to get on the log here before we get into our Q&A session.
This is WA3 VEE.
Please call now.
Nothing heard.
We have two questions tonight.
We have one from Manny, K3OU.
And we have one from Tim, KD3AIS.
So, Manny, to restate your question again briefly, why don't you go ahead.
K3OU.
WA3 VEE with the workbench.
Thank you, Ron.
Thank you, Ron.
Excuse me.
K3OU.
The question I have is, as I'm working to build up my shack here from essentially zero to gain some HF capability,
two transceivers kind of stand out as something that's within my budget and would do the things that I think I'd like to do on HF.
One is the Yaesu FT-DX10, which is advertised by Yaesu and is designed as what they call the hybrid software-defined radio.
And the other is the ICOM 7300, which there's now a 7300 Mark II version, which I'm not sure it's shipping yet, but it's the latest version.
And that is, of course, designed as a full software-defined radio.
So, the question I have is, from a performance standpoint, which of these two transceivers would be the best in terms of pure performance?
And that's what I'd like to know before I lay down the money.
Of course, there's more things than just performance.
There's ergonomics, perhaps, ease of operation, other factors.
But just in terms of performance, which of these rigs would be the way to go?
They're both priced about the same, so there's not much difference there, but I want to know.
And there's a lot of stuff on YouTube about this, but I'd like to hear from the group if anyone has some experience on that.
Back to you, Ron.
Very, very good.
So, who wants to take a first crack at this?
This is WA3VEE.
KFT.
Good, John.
WA3 KFT.
Take it away.
WA3VEE.
And K3 Ocean Uniform.
Manny, this is WA3 King Fox Tango.
And I have been using an ICOM 7300 now for about five years.
And I like it.
It's easy to use.
And I know that there's a lot of features that it has that I haven't used.
It does have a built-in antenna tuner.
So that when you swap bands and have a different load on there, push button and it'll peak up and good to go.
Sometimes I use a linear amplifier with it.
Sometimes not.
It just depends what I'm doing and so on.
And especially if you change bands or if you move within a band some great distance, you'll want to push the antenna tune button.
Yes, it'll tune for an antenna, but it'll also tune a match going into an amplifier or whatever.
And you will find out real quick by the S meter, which is also an RF output meter.
And if it's tuned properly, when you speak, it will be full scale.
And if it's matched, it'll be full scale.
If it's not matched, it won't get you full scale output.
So push the button again and retune.
But I like it.
I have grown up with a lot of other radios.
I have had my license for more than 50 years.
We're approaching 60 years of being licensed.
So I started off with split, separate receiver and transmitter.
So you had to zero beat if you wanted to be on the same frequency with everybody.
And those pieces of equipment were all analog.
There was nothing digital about them.
So I certainly enjoyed the 7300.
So that's it from here.
WA3VE, WA3KFT.
Good. Excellent comments, John.
Anyone else to answer Manny's question about Yaesu IC7300 or...
Correction.
ICOM.
IC7300 or Yaesu FTDX10?
3C?
3NZT.
For Harvey, there was a station in there.
That station, please proceed.
3KB.
Thank you, Ron.
I have a 7300, but I think I've had it since...
19...
Yeah, 19.
Since 2018.
I still don't know all the features.
And I haven't used it much lately.
And unlike John, I don't use the internal tuner.
Because I only have one wire.
John must have a better antenna that matches.
But I have one wire.
And so I have an external tuner that just makes the radio happy.
And I upgraded the tuner a little while ago.
Well, maybe a year or so ago.
And it's got a variable inductor.
So it doesn't have a switch inductor.
So I can change the inductance variably.
But what I wanted to mention is...
Manny, what do you mean by performance?
Can you describe what you mean by performance?
Is that the signal?
What kind of specs do you mean by performance?
And maybe that would help others give you some better feedback.
Back to you, Ron.
WA3VEE, K3KB.
I think you were next.
But let me turn it over to Manny here to answer Alan's question.
K3O-U-WA3VEE.
Hi, Alan.
That's a good question.
And I think what I mean by performance is mainly the receiver specifications.
Of course, that's going to be probably the number one consideration in a transceiver.
Of course, the transmitter performance as well in terms of the typical specifications there, clean signal.
But I think really the performance would be looking at receiver specs.
And that's going to be the most important consideration I would look at.
There's also other things, of course.
The displays and those sort of things.
But really, how well can the receiver pull out a weak signal?
And how well can the receiver reject adjacent signals?
So that would be the things that I'd be looking at, Alan.
Back to you, Ron.
K3O-U.
Very good.
Okay, Harvey, let me turn it over to you for your comments.
KC3NZTWA3VEE.
Thanks, Ron.
I've said it before, Manny.
Probably not to you.
So I hope I don't sound like a broken record.
But I think both of those rigs are in the top tier.
There are a lot of variables when it comes to a ham radio station.
And I think the differences between those two rigs are probably measurable.
But as far as observable, maybe if you're a top 1% contest station, perhaps.
They're both extremely competent rigs.
But I will say that from my perspective, I own a 7300.
And what led me towards that is I did this before I purchased.
And I've done it since then.
I am a 40-year-old millennial.
I grew up in an iPhone age.
And I never once had to crack the manual on the IC7300.
It just made sense.
Everything I wanted to do, I just did what I thought was intuitively right.
And it worked.
It just, everything made sense.
Like I said, never once cracked a manual.
I've never had that experience with the Yaesu's.
The reason I bring that up is because I think more than the minute differences in receiver
and transmitter performances, which although they may be measurable, I really don't know
how consequential they are in use.
I would say something like antenna systems might be much more consequential or band conditions.
But you're going to have to play with the user interface on either radio pretty constantly.
And so my recommendation would be is go someplace where you can actually play
with them even if they're not hooked to an antenna, almost like in demonstration mode.
And I think most people that I've talked to, one or the other, makes sense to you.
There are people out there that are the same way with the Yaesu rigs.
They never had to crack the manual because it just makes sense to them.
And if all of the features, all the capabilities of both of those very capable rigs, if you're
able to intuitively use them to their fullest capacity, I think it's going to improve your
ham radio experience a lot.
Things like being able to intuitively use dual band pass filters, which scope looks better to you.
I'm a big proponent of band scopes.
I love them.
I still don't think anyone's done the band scope better than the ICOMs.
But I know people that say the same thing about the Yaesu's.
So since you're going to be interacting with the radio constantly to use all these features, your
transmit bandwidth, your receive bandwidth, the notch filters, automatic or manual, all these things are going to be
interacted with so often that even if you have one that is maybe, you know, a tenth of a percent better in one area that you're interested in, if it's hard to use, you may find that you're less likely to use it.
So that would be the only thing that I would say is I don't know if it's still that way, but it used to be that ham radio outlet had them out, powered up, not necessarily hooked to antennas.
They were hooked to something.
a dummy load and you could at least sit down, you can spin the dials, you can touch the functions, you can work the menus and see which one speaks to you.
Because there are a lot of features that you're going to have to manipulate in order to take advantage of them.
So that would be my recommendation.
Back over to that.
This is KC3NZT.
Very, very good information here all the way around.
Additional comments from Annie.
This is WA3VEE.
K-A-3-G-L-I
Whiskey 8, Charlie Romeo Whiskey
Very good, we'll get David, and then David, turn it over to C-R-K-A-3-G-L-I-W-A-3-V-E-E
Alright, thanks, Ron. K-A-3-G-L-I here.
I was just thinking, since Manny is concerned about the specs,
one thing I know that I would personally do is download each manual,
and I would make hard copies of the actual specification pages,
and then just go down line by line, doing a direct comparison from one to the other.
And, yeah, I like the hard copies for that because it's a lot easier just to lay them both out side by side,
for me anyway, and I think that would be worthwhile to see exactly what those technical differences are.
Let's see. Yeah, over to you, C-R. This is K-A-3-G-L-I.
Very good. Manny, spec-wise, I believe the FT-DX10 is a better radio.
There's a guy named Rob Sherwood who does this kind of spec comparison,
and the FT-DX10 came out number three.
And so you could look that up, but, you know, radios are like something that's very personal.
So even though it has better specs, you might like ICOM better.
So get the specs, and somebody said go down to HRO where they have them out,
and you could play with it and figure out which one you like better.
Back to net.
Very, very, very good. All the way around.
Additional comments? This is WA3VEE.
NA3CW?
Great. NA3CW, WA3VEE. Go ahead.
Yeah, this is all very good.
Harvey, I really appreciate what you said because you have to, you know,
you have to interact with the thing.
One thing that is not necessarily obvious is radios sound differently.
There's some rigs that I like to listen to, and there's some rigs that get on my nerves.
Just listening to the audio quality or the, you know, what it does with filtering or whatever.
And there is a case where you want to hear it hooked up to an antenna.
And Ron's, I forget, was it the 991?
There's one of them that has this digital growl to the audio that I just don't like it.
I was using Ron's 710 on field day, and it is pleasing to my ear.
I've always liked the sound of Kenwood radios, any that I've tried anyway.
I haven't heard all Kenwood radios, but I like the sound of Kenwoods.
The other thing is a radio is kind of a tool.
It depends on what you want to do with it.
You know, if you're going to be a, you know, put your spurs on and go dig in for DX or contesting,
where you're really cramming in amongst all the high power stations,
and you're only a couple of KC off and all that kind of good stuff, that's one kind of radio.
Another one is more of a generalist radio.
And I have not used either of these rigs, so I'm just speaking in terms of generalizations.
The 7300 impresses me as being more of a generalist radio, but certainly, as Harvey says, a friendly radio.
The DX10, I have no idea.
I never touched one, and maybe someday I will.
But in any event, as has been said, it is a personal preference thing with a lot of regards
to whether the user interface appeals to you, whether the sound appeals to you.
and whether the friendliness versus the drop-dead performance makes a difference on your usage case, as they said.
Back to Nett, NA3CW.
Very good.
I agree with Chuck.
Absolutely.
You have to listen to it.
And, yes, Chuck, it is the 991 that has the digital growl to it.
You have a 710, the FTD-X10, and the 7300 all sound to me to be very, very good sounding rigs.
Additional comments before I throw my own two centavos in here.
This is WA3VEE.
KC3OOK.
KC3OOK.
WA3VEE.
Thanks, Ron.
Well, it's a great question, and a lot of great answers, too.
And, yeah, I really like Harvey's.
And as CR said, going down to HRO and putting your hands on them is a good way.
And a couple thoughts.
But one is, will there be any of those radios at Winter Field Day?
Because that's coming up in a few weeks.
You can come up and put your hands on them and actually operate it.
The other thing, Ron, I'm going to turn this over to you.
But talking about performance and spec, as Harvey said, I think they're both really, really good.
And you have to be a little careful just looking at the specifications on the literature.
Because I have found in my own instance, like you'll look at a radio, and one will say it has a lower sensitivity,
so it should have better received.
And in comparison, sometimes one with a slightly higher one actually works better.
But what I was going to turn to you, Ron, and ask you to address maybe is, Ron did a pretty detailed analysis of my 7300.
And maybe you can talk about, you know, just the specs and the performance and how they relate.
Because Ron did a real detailed analysis of that.
So back to you, Ron, WA3VEKC3OOK.
Bill, I will open it up for more questions, or more comments, but let me address Bill's comment there.
Manny, I'll send over to you the SmugMug link for the performance that I did on Bill 7300.
I will qualify that by saying it's pretty much just output.
I did not look at the input at all, although I could have, but I did not do that.
My quick comment is that to answer another question of yours, Bill, is we will have both that field day.
I have a FTDX10 here.
And I also have a 7300.
Excuse me, one second.
And over this little bit of thing we had going on over here for sure.
Watch out for the flu, indeed.
Anyway, getting back on point.
So I will have both there at field day.
I think there will be at least two, maybe three FTDX10s.
And those have been great performers over the years.
And, Manny, I know that you acknowledged the receipt of what I sent you there that I think someone else had mentioned.
I think it was CR.
Rob Sherwood of Sherwood Engineering has receiver test data.
And the FTDX10 is one of the top five rigs that he's evaluated in terms of receiver.
And what makes it so good is the design of the hybrid.
It's a hybrid SDR and superhead.
And the other thing, the other advantage, at least that I have, and a lot of you guys are going to chuckle at this because it has to do with monitors.
Mr. Monitor over here.
But in any event, I'm looking right now at the monitor output for the FTDX10 I have here on the console.
And if you have failing eyesight like I do, believe me, this really helps.
The 7300, at least the vanilla 7300, does not have that.
I think they added it to the Mark II because a lot of people were complaining that the 7300 didn't have it.
But that's one thing right there.
The scope on the FTDX10 is wider.
And I find that really comes in handy because you can actually see stations on the spectrum.
You can see what's there around you.
Particularly helpful when you're in a contest or you're doing field day or something like that, I found.
One last comment.
I agree that the 7300 is more of a pretty well-featured starter rig.
Not to say that it's only for people who are just getting into HF at all.
Many of us, as you heard, have 7300s and we've been around for decades in AM radio.
So not to say that, but it's not nearly as featured as the FTDX10.
So take a look at the specs I mentioned there on Sherwood Engineering.
And if you can't get a hold of any at HRO, I think that's an outstanding, outstanding suggestion.
Talk to Bob, Brian, or Tom down there.
And Ron, Brian, or Tom.
And tell them, hey, you want to see both rigs.
I'm pretty sure they have them out there so you can actually get touchy-feely and find out what's going on.
Additional comments for Manny.
This is WA3VEE.
W3GMS.
W3GMS.
I knew you weren't going to stay on the sidelines, Joe.
How are you?
And welcome.
W3GMS.
WA3VEE.
Please.
Very good.
I'll say good evening to everybody on the workbench.
And I actually just turned the HT on and heard the conversation.
And I couldn't let this one pass because I think, as usual, I have definite opinions.
And Manny, it's a great question, a very good question.
I equate settling on a rig very similar from a user interface as if you're going to buy a car.
When you think, well, I need a new car.
Do I want this car, that car, this car, that car?
You would very seldom buy a car without driving it because there's the feel.
There's the intuitive action of it.
There's the performance.
There's the quality of the ride and things like that.
So it's very, very similar to buying a car.
Sherwood Engineering is great, but it's data.
And you can look at the figures.
I would never, ever, ever buy a rig based on Sherwood list of all the transceivers by itself.
It's okay to look at it and look at the data.
The other thing is you're likely 99% of the time not putting it in an environment where you require the features of a $10,000 or a $12,000 rig.
So that's that.
So I would not, you know, the difference in specification, take sensitivity for an example.
The difference between a tenth of a microvolt and two tenths of a microvolt, you'll never notice.
You will never notice because your noise floor is higher.
And the only time you're going to see a tenth or two tenths of a microvolt, better to copy, is if you put a signal generator into that transceiver.
So sensitivity, there's no junk rigs out there today.
The sensitivity on all the rigs are really good.
Features, human interface are key things.
And I recommend not taking anything from HRO, but you find somebody that has some potential rigs that you think you would like to test drive.
Go to their shack, sit down with a cup of coffee or whatever you drink, non-alcoholic, of course, and go through them.
And I think you'll come to the realization of what you like and what you don't like.
What's the other?
I only had one other comment.
Oh, the 7,300.
I've twisted the knobs on the 7,300.
And for the dollars, I find it a great, great bang for the buck.
And for my use, even though I don't have one, my wife has one, I'd be content with that for a very long period of time.
So unlike Ron, I don't consider it.
I don't consider it a starter radio because it does a lot of things.
It does a lot of things well.
And here again, based on what you want to do, it may be great.
The one thing I can say about the 7,300, and you especially notice it when you're using AM, is through the digital signal processing,
they really, really roll off the low end of the 7,300 in the audio stage.
And that's done in software, and you can't change it.
And that is a negative of the 7,300 on AM.
Now, if you don't work AM, it's no problem.
The 7,300 for out-of-box stock rig sounds fantastic on AM.
It really, really sounds good.
So that's the deal.
Sit down, drive it, and then don't get hung up on specs because in the real world, when you plug a dipole into it or whatever antenna or vertical you use,
your noise level is going to go up, and, you know, it's really the subtle differences are not going to matter.
And just as Chuck said, if you're a contester and you're working really close in with other signals, roofing filters make a tremendous difference.
And I think most of the rigs today have roofing filters, which is the first filter after the mixer of the transceiver.
So that's it.
I just wanted to explain that.
I agree with Chuck on the comments of the Kenwood.
I think Kenwood sounds very, very smooth on their audio, and they have a wonderful transmit audio as well.
And they work great on CW.
Thanks, Ron.
I'll be listening.
WA3VEE W3GMS.
Thank you, Joe.
That's fantastic.
I absolutely agree with you.
Everything you said 100%.
You definitely need to test drive it.
You need to sit down, look for the steering wheel on the VFO knob, and you need to test drive it for sure.
Final comments for Manny's question.
This probably has been one of the best questions we've ever had on a workbench that I remember.
This is WA3VEE.
Final comments.
I've had mine, I guess, maybe five years or so, something like that.
And the number one reason I bought it was it had a spectrum scope.
And you can expand the spectrum scope and really analyze a signal in terms of bandwidth and information within the bandwidth and so on and so forth.
Or you can scrunch it all up and monitor a large section of a band.
I play with it all the time.
And can easily spot signals.
And I don't know about the Yaesu rig.
I don't have a rig that does a spectrum scope.
Except for the ICOM 7300.
And it shows me where the stations are.
And it shows me where the empty spaces are on a band.
So that you can drop in and carry on a QSO and so on and so forth.
But I use the spectrum scope on my 7300 all the time.
It shows me the activity in the band.
Shows the activity around the frequency I'm operating.
And I can expand it.
And I run a number of nets on HF.
And I have had to shift my transmit frequency.
Because there's a nearby station.
And if I use my published frequency I would be too close and interfere.
So I can move up or down a kilohertz or a half a kilohertz or something like that.
So when you start to get crowded band conditions.
The spectrum scope really helps out a lot.
Back to you Ron.
WA3-ZE.
Control tonight.
WA3-KFT.
Very good John.
All the way around.
Well check your email.
I just sent you a picture of an FTD-X10.
I was working at the Field Day site about a week and a half ago.
And I think you'll like the spectrum scope.
Believe me.
It is very nice.
In fact I was up there checking the antenna out.
And George pulled up alongside me.
WA3-LVR.
And he was right there as we were talking to Indiana there on 7189.
Home of 7190.
You'll see it in the photograph.
But it's a very, very nice spectrum scope indeed.
Okay.
Manny, did we give you enough to confuse you and to make you choose a spark rig instead of all the stuff we're talking about?
K3-O-U.
WA3-V-E.
With the work badge.
Thanks, Ron.
Thanks, Ron.
And I want to thank everyone who provided some input.
Excellent points.
All of them.
You're talking to someone who the last time I operated an HF rig was in the late 1980s.
So these rigs here are all like a caveman moving into the 20th century.
I mean, it's just phenomenal what these new rigs will do.
But, again, just appreciate all the input.
It's been very useful.
I really like the analogy that Ron mentioned about driving.
You wouldn't buy a car without driving it, test driving it.
And hopefully I'll have the opportunity to test drive at field day if that works out.
So appreciate all the input.
But well received.
And looking forward to trying them out.
K3-NZT.
Please.
K3-NZT.
WA3-V-E-E.
Sorry, Ron.
I tried to get in there for the final comments.
I don't think I made it.
But I did have one final comment I was going to offer up.
I'm gathering that a lot of the users on 985 are using station monitors and hearing themselves.
I will say that I have never heard myself on my radio.
But I will tell you from doing a lot of DX, I have talked to a number of people in their lulls when they're calling CQs.
So there's a little bit of time.
They don't have a pileup at that moment.
And a couple of people have mentioned that they have different presets on their modern rigs.
Whether they're rag chewing or doing a net on HF versus when they're contesting.
And a lot of people have different presets.
They manipulate their radio to sound different depending on the task that they're doing.
And the only reason I bring this up is knowing what you are interested in doing with the radio could help steer you.
For example, if you're going to do nets and rag chewing with people you know in other parts of the country, for example, the sound quality your radio is putting out may matter a lot more to you than the person that's trying to punch through a pileup.
There are people that have intentionally hot audio.
Things that would offend Joe with his AM radio ears.
They do it on purpose because they're not necessarily trying to sound good.
They're trying to beat other people that are trying to make the same contact.
And I've talked to people that have different presets depending on what they're doing.
And a lot of the nice things about these new radios is you can manipulate them how you will within reason.
Like Joe said, I think it was Joe that said that the low end on AM on 7300 has no bass.
For example, if you can't change it, you can't change it.
If that's really important to you, that should matter to you.
But depending on what you're doing, some of those things may matter more or matter less depending on what you're trying to do.
So a lot of the guys that have great audio because they rag chew and talk to their buddies is different than the contesters that are sometimes intentionally a couple cycles off.
Because the audio gets a little bit weirder and it's easier to pick out their call sign.
So intended use should play into it as well.
If you haven't been into the radio since the 80s, I think you said, 90s maybe.
Maybe you don't know.
But it is something to think about as far as intended use.
Just wanted to throw that out there.
Thanks, Ron, for the indulgence.
Back to you.
This is KC3NZT.
On input.
All the way around.
Absolutely.
All right.
Very, very good.
So, Manny, just let me turn it back to you before I go over to Tim's question here.
Any further comments from you on what you heard tonight here?
This is one of the sessions I think I want to pull off on the podcast, by the way.
There's a lot of good information here tonight for sure.
A lot of good considerations.
K3OU WA3 VEE with the workbench.
K3OU.
Thank you, Ron.
I just want to mention in terms of my use case, I'm definitely not going to be a contester,
so the ability to punch through a pileup is not a consideration.
It's more on the transmit side.
I think it would be more on the use case of just chatting with friends on just a non-contest situation.
So, I think transmit audio quality would be something that would be pretty important.
But otherwise, again, thanks, everyone.
You've given me a lot to think about.
And, again, I look forward to trying these rigs out for real in the field.
Back to you, Ron.
K3OU.
Very good, May.
Well, like I said, we'll have them both up at field day.
And I know Scott has one.
Is it Scott or Dylan?
I think it's Scott.
He actually bought it at the invention, an FTD X10.
And I've got one that I'll have up there.
And I think I may have sent the picture of the spectrum scope over to you.
I know I sent it to John, but it really is a good rig.
There's no question.
So, you'll be able to test drive both of them and see which one you like.
All very good.
So, this is WA3VEE.
And you're listening to the 985 Workbench on W3 GMS Repeater from Parksburg, Pennsylvania.
So, Tim, let's go over to you and see what your question is tonight.
KD3AIS.
Good to hear you tonight.
WA3VEE.
Thank you, Ron.
WA3VEE.
This is KD3AIS, Tim in Malvern.
My question is because I'm listening to Thursday night classes to prepare for the general exam.
And the instructor recommended printing out the ARL radio band chart to be able to refer to.
And when I look at this chart, I was surprised that in the bottom right of it, there's a gray box.
And it says, "All licensees except novices are authorized all modes on the following frequencies."
And it has frequencies on here that are 10 to 10.5 gigahertz, 24 to 24.25 gigahertz, and up.
And it says, "All above 275 gigahertz."
And then I Google and I know Wi-Fi is 2.4 or 5 gigahertz or 6 gigahertz.
And then the higher ones seem like maybe they're used for radar.
So my question is, why are these frequencies on this chart and how do they apply to anyone communicating on ham radio?
And I think that's a great question.
Excellent question also.
All very, very good.
By the way, I hope everybody's got breakfast packed away here at their consoles.
No, I'm just kidding.
These are all great questions.
Comments for Tim on the U.S. amateur radio band plan chart at the way upper end.
WA3VE comments, please.
W3MFB, am I making it?
All right, Mike. Go ahead. W3MFB, WA3VE.
I'm heading northbound out of Westchester, so I was just curious.
Going to jump on the BP here.
I could just say one thing for Tim.
I know go on YouTube.
There's these guys during field day and stuff that they do.
See, they'll get a 10 meter radio.
They'll use a transverter and they'll use a parabolic dish to get on 10 gigahertz.
And what I've seen in the past, they're making contacts with other stations.
And then voice contacts.
And then also people do data.
You could also use that higher frequency rating for satellite work.
But you really have to know what you're doing.
Back to you, Ron. W3MFB mobile.
Good, Mike. Other comments? This is WA3VE.
83EE.
And band plan in front of me here on the monitor.
And yeah, these, there are many, many, many services out there that occupy all kinds of frequencies all over the place.
So these are actual real ham radio bands up there, of course, naturally.
I have seen operations on 5 and 10 gigahertz.
Generally speaking, these are very, very, very strict, almost strict line of sight communications.
And a lot of times what hams enjoy doing, and I'm not sure if our own Tim W3QP has ever fooled with anything higher than 70 centimeters.
But he does a lot of summits work.
And a lot of things like at 5 and 10 gigahertz, what hams generally do is they will do summit to summit or hilltop to hilltop.
You're certainly not going to get a lot of distance.
But they like to challenge of putting things together.
This is an area that is very foreign to me.
I don't know.
The circuitry is very, very minute and very, very detailed because the wavelengths are small themselves.
So the circuits themselves are sometimes a good portion of a wavelength in size because the frequencies are so high.
But, yes, you're up there in the same range as, for instance, GPS operates on 1.2 or 1.5 gigahertz.
5G is a number of various frequencies up in that area also.
I think 6G is up as high as 72 gigahertz.
Certainly these are allocated to those particular services, so we're not interfering with any of that stuff.
We have our own dedicated hand bands.
But the reason that, my estimation is the reason that everyone is allowed full privileges up there is strictly for, to encourage the experimentation.
Definitely.
And the likelihood of interference is probably a lot less than it is in the lower bands.
That's just my input.
Any additional comments?
And, Tim, I hope I answered your question.
Any additional comments for Tim? This is WA3VEE.
KC3OOK. 3NZT.
Bill, when you're through, turn it right over to Harvey. KC3OOK WA3VEE. Go ahead, please.
WA3VEE. KC3OOK. Yeah, my comments real short.
Tim, look at the ICOM IC905. It's a radio for those bands.
So over to you, Harvey. KC3NZT. KC3OOK.
Thanks, Bill. Yeah, amazing transverter setup, the 905 there.
I actually was called away briefly while Mike was talking.
Dr. Daddy had to inspect a boo-boo.
So if I'm repeating someone, I hope I'm not, but I apologize in advance.
I heard someone mention the experimentation. I think that's a big part of it.
I will also say that a lot of hams do experiment with satellite stuff in that range.
There's EME stuff that is in that range. As you go higher in frequency, starting at 1.2 gig and going higher, you do gain some benefits when trying to do long-distance communications like that.
A lot of it done with transverters and amplifiers at the feed point of the antenna because of the wavelength issues that have already been mentioned.
I've messed with 1.2 gigs. That's the highest I've gone. But there are people active in our area on 1.2 gigs.
One of the gentlemen, Jim, that was trying to help me with that, they have a regular 1.2 gig net that they do, I think, bi-weekly down in the Philadelphia area.
And it's quite popular. The benefit for the higher frequencies is the antennas get smaller for lots and lots of gain.
Not only that, but that's for conventional antennas. But you are starting to get into the frequencies where you can start using dishes and experimenting with hyper gain and very, very narrow beam width.
And like Ron said, point to point communication. But when you get to those frequencies, you can start using points that are in the sky instead of terrestrial.
And a lot of the modes that we enjoy today were at some point somebody's pet project that were an experiment. At some point FTA did not exist. And somebody was playing around with it, giving it a go.
And so when you have bands that, you know, we can't encrypt anything, but there are people that operate in high frequency regions that can encrypt, the likelihood of stepping on someone else's foot with a very high frequency signal that is going to be very short in terrestrial terms.
Well, you get to have a lot of people experimenting. So when you can come up with new things, you never know when you got the new FT8, for example. So I think that's why they give all bands, or I'm sorry, all modes, no restrictions except for power.
And they let you play around because there's room to do it. And it could further the aim of communications in general. That would be what I have to offer. Casey, through hands at TVAC. You, Ron.
I said it better. That's excellent, Hardy. That really does sum it up. And I remember back when I got into this 53 years ago, and a junior to people like Joe and Chuck and John, KFT. But I remember those days where 70 centimeters itself was somewhat experimental, as you just mentioned.
So, let me pull it out for one more final comments for Tim before I turn it back to him. This is WA3VE. Final comments for Tim.
WA3VE is it?
I have you. Was there another station in there?
It's WA3MFD again, but I'll wait. I'll be getting in the valley here, so maybe you won't hear me.
Jim, when you're done, turn it over to Mike.
A3Z, WA3VE.
Very good. I'm looking on the screen here.
And not the chart version, but just a listing of band plan and all that.
And under 10 point, about 10.5 GHz, there's an asterisk. And it does say there, you must check sections 97.301, 303, 305, and 307 for sharing requirements before operating.
So, yeah, there's other stuff up there. And obviously, you have to avoid interference. That's been pretty much said before. But if you didn't, I don't know on the chart version, if it has that little asterisk. But that explains that you can't just go and blast somebody else out of the water, so to speak. Even at that super high frequency. Mike, are you audible to us and to you? AF3Z or W3MFB?
W3MFB.
W3MFB, we'll try. I was going to say, Mesh-tastic. I think they do those radio, internet, you know, in case the internet goes down, they do the mesh-tastic. Chester County does it on those higher bandwidths. Back to Ron. WA3VEE W3MFB.
that big. Not Mesh-Tastic, they do. They do high-speed internet between the Pecopsin Tower,
the Charlestown Tower, and the Bucktown Tower. So yeah, that's what they do. They're experimenting
with Mesh-Tastic and also ARDN, and so amateur radio data network. But those are very, very
localized. Some of the guys also, if you're interested in more information in that area,
there are a couple folks up at the Pottstown Area Amateur Radio Club. They meet on Friday
nights, first Fridays. I'll be going up there this Friday. There's a couple gentlemen up there
that also do the very, very, very high frequency. I think it's SHF up there. UHF goes to three
gigs, and some of this is greater than three gigs. I think it's SHF, super high frequency.
In the SHF region, I think a couple of those guys do the point-to-point. Some of it is Mesh-Tastic,
and the rest of it is high-speed data and video up there. The beauty of the video up there is it's
not slow scan. You can actually do fast scan because you have the bandwidth. So Tim, does that answer
your question? Did we give you too much, too little, or did we even answer your question?
WA3VEE and the group. Thank you very much for all of that. I expected to be overwhelmed, and I just thought, I think it's interesting looking at this chart. It doesn't have that asterisk that I think Jim mentioned, but the fact that, Ron, you mentioned that you remember when 70 centimeters was considered experimental.
70 centimeters is in the gray box with the rest of this, these other bands. So maybe that's an ode to its past. So thank you. I expected to learn a lot, which I did. I appreciate it, and I will turn it back to Ron. WA3VEE. This is KD3AIS.
Very, very good all the way around. Okay, I'm just going to put out one last call for check-ins. Anyone else who would like to get on the log for tonight? This has been an exceptionally interesting session tonight. I was very honored to be the pinch hit host.
Greg, I was very honored to be the host for Greg tonight here at WA3DIB. It's always fun. This is what, by the personal experience, I think it's a great opportunity to be able to get on the log for tonight.
This is KD3AIS.
Very, very good all the way around.
Okay, I'm just going to put out one last call for check-ins.
Anyone else who would like to get on the log for tonight,
this has been an exceptionally interesting session tonight.
I was very honored to be the pinch-hit host for Greg tonight here at W3DIB.
It's always fun.
This is what, on a personal note, folks,
if you're thinking about ever being in that control, this is what makes it fun
because there's so much information that flows around,
and you get to be like the traffic cop a little bit.
It's kind of fun, really, seriously.
So think about it, and if you're interested, again, as we say the pre-ramble,
which I always like that term, the pre-amble, pre-ramble,
contact Jim or any one of us, and we'll get you started.
Okay, one last call for check-ins.
Anyone who wants to get on the log before we shut down tonight, this is WA3VE.
Please call now.
Hello Delta 3, Echo Mike Sierra.
Oh, you're the guy with the little chirp at the end.
Chris, how you doing tonight? KD3EMSWA3VE, any comments for us?
Standby one second.
*POP*
Alright, did that take care of the chirp? That was not supposed to be on. Roger, is it off now?
*POP*
Off now. *laughs* I thought that was an APRS.
Not quite sound on APRS, but anyway, your comments. This is WA3VE, please.
WA3VE, KD3EMS. I do have a quick question, if you don't mind me asking. I think it might be a simple one.
*POP*
Our church is upgrading their security system, as well the radios.
Right now they're using FRS radios, so anybody with a Hello Kitty radio can hear them talking and setting up and everything else.
I was thinking about setting them up with a DMR
simplex system
and my question was would you
think that would probably be the most easiest
cost effective thing
you know certainly not looking for any kind of
P25 system but something
just a little more secure than like your regular
FRS
radios so I was thinking maybe
the Kenwoods set them up for
DMR simplex
so I just kind of wanted to get some feedback on that
question anybody have any comments
for Chris
this is WA3VEE
WC3NZT
WC3NZT
go ahead Harvey
hi Chris
name is Harvey here in Malvern Pennsylvania
the only thing I would offer is that
if you're using DMR my understanding is that
they would all have to be licensed
I understand the desire to get off
of the FRS system for sure
one option that may be looking into
if everyone isn't licensed
would be the MERS system
that is it's power limited
similar to FRS
but it's not so commonly used
in everybody's bubble pack radios
also you are allowed to have
replaceable antennas
which means that there could be a
base station that has wide coverage
to receive everybody's individual radios
but people that are more up on the rules there
please correct me if I've misspoken
but my understanding is the MERS radios are going to be replaceable antennas
which you're not allowed to do with FRS
and they're going to be a little bit less used by the general population
than either GMRS or FRS
so that might be an option for you
they are allowed for people that are unlicensed to use
KC3NZT back to net
that's the 150 region also as opposed to the 462 that FRS
and I like the term colloquy radio
so I'm going to adopt that one
additional comments for Chris
this is WA3VEE
KC3EE KC3EE KC3EEE
great KC3EEE go ahead please
thanks Ron at this point you might want to just look at talking to a commercial radio dealer
because they could set you up with some motorolas
and probably walk you through the process of getting us frequency licensed
then everybody could just be handed a radio I believe
and the church is licensed to operate that
Back to net, KD3EE.
Two good options right there.
So, other comments for Chris?
This is WA3VEE.
Chuck, go ahead, NA3CW, WA3VEE.
I'm being perfectly ignorant of MERS.
I looked it up.
And you did, I think you mentioned something about a repeater.
And you're not allowed to have a repeater on MERS.
That's it, NA3CW.
Very good.
Okay, additional comments, final comments for Chris.
This is WA3VEE.
Go ahead.
I apologize if I said repeater.
That's not what I meant.
What I meant was I'm envisioning a base station antenna on top of the church that all the radios could easily access.
If I said repeater, it was purely out of habit because I'm a 985-er.
I did not mean repeater.
But with FRS radios, you can only talk handy-talky to handy-talky instead of handy-talky to big antenna on top of the church.
That's what I meant.
That's what I meant.
Apologies.
KC3NZT, back to you, Ron.
Not a problem at all.
In fact, GMRS, Tom and I were looking at this at one point.
TMT and I were looking at all this stuff.
As you may know, a while ago.
And the only repeaters that are allowed in the FRS-GMRS area are the GMRS frequencies for sure.
So, yeah, the only thing I'd mention with the commercial is that the big advantage is that anybody could operate under the auspices of the church license.
But at the same time, the DMR is a little more complicated to set up.
But that's about it.
So, Chris, did we answer your question?
KD3EMS, WA3VEE.
KD3EMS.
That was actually very, very helpful.
As you were giving me the answers, I was writing things down here.
And as far as the commercial license, it looks like a MO2, Mike Oscar 2, certificate from the FCC where they will send you the frequencies.
It looks like that's just the one license covers the whole church.
So, yeah, that's some great information.
I already started looking into it with the answers here.
So, I greatly appreciate it.
So, back to you, KD3EMS.
Thank you.
Very, very good.
All excellent.
Well, very good questions tonight, everyone involved here.
So, what I'd like to do is one last call for check-ins.
One last call for check-ins before we close down.
This is WA3VEE.
WA3GMS for a quick comment.
Great, Joe.
Okay, sure.
W3GMS, WA3VEE.
Please proceed.
On just 10 seconds.
My apologies.
I had to switch transmitters here.
Chris, you may want to get in contact with Metropolitan Communication if you're going to go the commercial route.
Metropolitan is very good.
They can get your coordination done.
They can get all the stuff done.
They can supply the equipment.
They can do everything.
So, I don't know whether you're familiar with Metropolitan Communications or not.
They used to do a lot of ham radio installs.
They used to do a lot of ham radio installs, but they have so much commercial business with the fire and ambulance and police and things like that.
They're strictly commercial.
They're right there on Whitford Road between Downingtown and Exit.
That's it, Ron.
I just wanted to give that plug.
I'm not affiliated with them.
I don't make any money out of them from them, but they're a great outfit.
Go ahead.
Back to you, Ron.
Good job.
I'm glad you mentioned them because I'll also further add to that and say that they are one of the chief vendors for the Department of Chester County, Department of Emergency Services.
So, you go by and see some of these towers that they have around, Eagle, Bucktown, Pocopsin, Coatesville, Oxford.
All those towers have Metro-installed equipment on them as well as the stuff down in the bunker down at the Government Services building.
So, very, very, very good vendor.
I absolutely am very thankful Joe mentioned them.
So, one last turn to you, Chris, and then we're going to close down the workbench here.
KD3EMSWA3VEE.
WA3VEE. KD3EMS.
Yeah, that's great.
No, I definitely appreciate that.
Yeah, I was just kind of looking here.
It looks like Metropolitan is right there in Exit.
And there's actually one close to us out here, Triangle Communications in New Holland.
So, I think I'll try both of those and maybe get some competitive quotes there.
So, I appreciate it very much and thank you for stepping in, Joe.
Good, Chris. Excellent.
Okay. I want to say thanks to all stations tonight for checking into the 985 workbench.
Big thank you to you, Joe, W3GMS, for making the repeater available for the workbench.
This has been very, very, very productive and very enlightening for all, myself included.
You're invited to use the repeater often.
It's a great way to show that you appreciate the gift of 985 to the amateur radio community.
Finally, we hope to hear you again this Thursday evening at 8 p.m. for the 985 roundtable.
This concludes the workbench for tonight.
Feel free, however, to stick around and continue the discussion on 985.
Have a good night.
A very happy and healthy new year.
And a great week and weekend ahead.
This is WA3VEE saying 73.
And I'll be clear.
Have a good night.
Our workbench, Ron.
NZT clear.
I'll hold a candle to you, though.
You're the best.
You're one of the best net controls, I'll tell you.
Very informative tonight.
A lot of great comments.
Excellent questions.
And some of the simplest questions, like, is this radio better than this one?
Ends up, I don't know, what we spent, about 45 minutes on that at least.
That was just phenomenal.
That was just really good.
Thanks, Harvey, for the great roses there.
KC3NZT WA3VEE.
A good one, I'll tell you what.
If that was happening every night, I'd always race home.
That was fun.
I enjoyed that.
So I appreciate it.
Just wanted to make sure that you knew it.
KC3NZT, I've got to go in and tuck some babies in.
73.
Hey, Harvey.
Hey, by the way, I hope they're all better.
And I hope all the fevers are down.
And I hope you guys have a very happy new year.
WA3VEE.
Definitely better, Ron.
But I've got two escape artists that are in the same bedroom right now.
And that's what I'm getting text messages about.
So I'm going to go put them back in Alcatraz.
73.
Good night.
KC3NZT clear.
Have a good night, Harvey.
As always, you're booming in here on the input for sure.
Take care.
WA3VEE.
How's it going over there?
And how's Amanda doing?
I'm doing...
I'm home now.
I was mobiling before.
I was in your QTH area, give or take.
Yeah, sister fell in the kitchen and hit her head and cracked some ribs.
So she's sitting down at the ER right now.
It's a zoo down there.
But she's okay.
She's all right.
I told her...
I was like...
Because I've got to at least get a nap because I didn't sleep last night very well.
So I told her, I said, I don't care what time you call me to bring you home.
I'll get you.
But yeah, it's a zoo down there.
They don't have any beds.
They don't have...
They're taking people from the waiting area.
It's so bad that after they took her in to look at her, I sat there on Kate Muth's webpage,
emailing them, you know, their team, seeing what they're going to do for the hospital situation in our county and surrounding areas.
Because it's getting quite ridiculous.
I was curious.
What was Chris's question?
I didn't get to catch that.
Then I heard GMRS.
So I was curious.
Well, sorry to hear about Amanda.
And boy, do I know the situation.
The worst ER I've ever seen was Lancaster General.
And I don't mean that in any reflection.
I should rephrase that.
The most populated ER I ever saw was Lancaster General.
Certainly no reflection on the hospital in any way.
Shape or form.
I did not say that properly at first.
I must have counted about a year ago when my sister-in-law was in there, when Deb got rear-ended there on 30, right at 41 and 30.
I took my sister-in-law.
I took my sister-in-law.
I had a lot of medical issues to begin with, just for evaluation.
And I had the chance to walk through the ER.
And I must have counted over 60 people just waiting to be triaged.
And it was like, my goodness, just thought of warm thoughts and prayers for those people.
Because it's like, holy smoke, some of them did not look very good either.
So I can only imagine.
And I've been to the ER room over up this street here at the hospital.
And that's not as big as the one at Lancaster General.
So I can imagine.
It's very well packed in there.
Well, I hope she gets the care.
And I hope she gets seen.
Seen and the care for sure.
And I hope you get some rest for sure.
And if she happens to still be in there tomorrow by chance, if she needs anything, you know I'm right down the street from the hospital here.
So certainly ring me up.
You got my phone number.
You can send me a text message.
Whatever.
I can certainly bop over there.
That's not a problem at all.
W3MFB, WA3VEE.
To correct you, W3MFB.
It's my sister, not Amanda, thank God.
No.
Amanda's at my mom's right now.
Taking care of her.
Keeping her from having palpitations.
So, yeah, it's my sister again.
But, yeah, yeah, I was just, you're right.
So, yeah, I was just a nice, polite email over to Senator Kate Muth.
She's done a lot.
Her and her company have done a lot.
For us, amateur radio operators.
And then also, just recently, they just passed another bill to those companies that want to build those giant AI data centers.
They're going to fit their own bill and not us paying for their stuff.
So, that's a good thing.
But, yeah, I was just curious about Chris's question because I didn't hear it at all.
But, yeah, that's what's going on.
You know, we all get a turn, you know.
And we all get a turn of caretaker.
Back to you, Ron.
I know that well.
Yeah, he was interested in it for his church.
Setting up a communication system, basically, in short.
And we had bounced around.
He had mentioned FRS.
And I like the term he used.
He called them Hello Kitty Radios, which is not far off the mark, actually.
And then somebody had mentioned MERS and also commercial.
And I had mentioned, and somebody had mentioned repeaters.
And then I mentioned, well, the only place you could really do repeaters out of all that stuff is GMRS.
So, what Tom and I were looking at for a while from what Mosey and all that stuff.
So, in any event, that's kind of the gist of the conversation there.
Go ahead.
Okay.
I didn't hear the church part, so that's good.
Yeah, I mean, that's what George, I started going to the church.
George goes to Hopewell, United Methodist, for the last couple months now.
Bible studies, stuff like that.
They've got a lot of nice little programs and stuff.
But, anyway, that's what they do.
They have, what do they call them, shepherds, right?
They're like the welcome committee slash security, right?
And they use FRS.
Everybody's got a walkie.
Everybody's got a earpiece.
And there must be like, I don't know, four to six guys usually on the premises.
And they're real cool and other things.
So, yeah, they use FRS.
And I think they're using Retrievus.
Yeah, Retrievus brand.
It doesn't have like, it must have so many channels on it.
I don't know what their PLs are or anything like that.
But, you know, there's 22 channels on FRS, GMRS as well, shared frequencies, as you know.
But, yeah, they use that.
And it seems to work fine for the one building, you know, inside and out.
So, and they'll go up to two watts.
So, FRS, you got the Hello Kitty radios.
And then you have, you know, you pay like 60 or 80 bucks, whatever it is now.
And you can get the two watts on 14 channels or frequencies or whatever.
And then I think it's channel 8 through 14.
Yeah, 8 through 14 is only half a watt.
So, as long as you pick 1 through 7 and then 15 to 22, you're good.
You're on two watts if you get those radios.
So, anyway, I was just curious.
All right, man, I don't want to keep you.
I'm going to get to bed here in a little bit because Lord knows when the call is coming.
So, thank you, thank you.
I was curious because when you're driving, on key, right, when you're driving, it's great to listen to 985,
especially the workbench or roundtable.
So, thank you, Ron, 7-3, and good job.
WA-3-VEE-W3-MFT.
Very, very good, Michael.
Thanks for the roses also.
And, yeah, excuse me, one second.
You know, I enjoy this.
So, it is a lot of fun.
So, yeah, very, very good.
Well, yeah, thanks for the correction.
I'm glad it's not Amanda, but I'm sorry to hear that your sister is the one with the malady there.
But, like I said, just let me know if you need anything.
I'm right around the corner.
Well, as you get to bed, I'm going to do the same thing here.
And you have a good night.
And keep me posted.
And just one favor.
If you could text me the name of that senator, I'd appreciate it, of that political figure there.
As you mentioned, Nate, they did some good things for Ham Radio.
I'd like to see if they can come up to Field Day to visit us.
So, there is a definite connection there.
So, when you get around to it, text me that name.
I'd appreciate it.
Thanks so much.
And I'd like to get Chrissy Houlihan up there, too, as well, for sure.
I've got to start working on that stuff, like, pretty soon.
Have a good one.
And always good to hear from you.
Thanks for coming in tonight.
And good luck there with this.
That's for sure.
W3MFB, WA3VE.
Real quick, I don't want to have the last word.
I'm just putting a comment.
If you need somebody to get there, I'll give you that address, as well, the name and her website, so you can contact her.
But, for the senator.
But if you need a mayor, I suggest the Downingtown, the new Downingtown mayor.
I believe her name is Erica.
I forget the last name.
But I was emailing her about something, because I was looking at their plan for Downingtown with the water mitigation and the Brandywine River and all that.
It's all on the website.
But her grandfather, we were going back and forth.
Her grandfather was an amateur radio operator.
She doesn't remember his call, unfortunately.
And so there might be an interest there.
So I'll also send you the mayor of Downingtown's email address, as well, Ron.
Okay.
73-W3MFB.
The better.
In fact, one of the supervisors over at West Whiteland also.
So that's another story for another time.
A good one, for sure.
Thanks very much.
I'd appreciate that.
The more the merrier.
Absolutely.
FMFB WA3VE now clear.
Have a good night.
Thank you.
Thank you.