W3GMS Monday Night Workbench Net

This episode of the W3GMS 985 Workbench centers on two core skills every HF operator eventually has to master: antenna matching and understanding propagation. Hosted by KC3NZT, the group works through real-world antenna questions and demystifies solar data that directly affects on-the-air results.

The first half of the discussion focuses on non-resonant vertical antennas, including the Eagle One design, and when un-uns, choke baluns, radials, and remote tuners actually matter. Operators break down impedance behavior by band, explain why some verticals demand transformers while others don’t, and highlight practical strategies to reduce feedline loss and RF problems in multi-band setups.

The second major topic dives into Solar Flux Index (SFI), sunspot cycles, and space weather. The group explains what SFI actually measures, how it impacts HF propagation, why geomagnetic indices matter, and where to find reliable solar data. Recommended resources and real operating experiences help connect abstract numbers to real band openings and closures.

As always, the Workbench blends theory with hands-on experience, offering clear explanations without marketing hype. If you’ve ever wondered why an antenna “should work” but doesn’t—or why the bands suddenly light up or die—this episode delivers answers grounded in practice.

Recorded live on the W3GMS 146.985 MHz repeater

Weekly Workbench – Mondays at 8 PM Eastern

Topics include: vertical antennas, baluns and un-uns, radials, feedline loss, SFI, space weather, and HF propagation

What is W3GMS Monday Night Workbench Net?

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.

Good evening and welcome to the 146.985 Monday Night Workbench.

My name is Harvey KC3NZT in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and I will be your net control operator for this installment of the workbench.

The workbench is a directed technical net that operates every Monday night at 8 p.m. on the W3GMS repeater in Parksburg, Pennsylvania.

The goal of this net is to answer questions and discuss topics of a technical nature to further the aim of amateur radio.

Information regarding the repeater, its owner, repeater operating practices, and our regular get-togethers both on the air and off can be found at the website www.w3gmsrepeater.com.

The repeater uses a minus 600 kHz offset and is accessed with a PL tone of 100 Hz.

There is a 3-minute timeout timer on the repeater.

Please let off your push-to-talk for a moment if your transmission will exceed the 3-minute timer so it can reset, like this.

Please wait about one second between hitting the push-to-talk and speaking.

Otherwise, we can miss the first part of your transmission.

Occasionally, the repeater has InterMod present.

Please run high power or be prepared to check in digitally.

If InterMod is present, please call out and ask the host if you are making it so we don't miss your transmission.

Tonight, we will begin with digital check-ins followed by RF check-ins.

When you check-in, please indicate if you have a question for the net.

Once check-ins have completed, I will begin by asking stations to make a brief comment on what you did this last week in amateur radio in a roundtable-style format.

Please note the station that follows you in the rotation so you know whom to address following your comments.

After general comments, I will begin the directed question portion of the net.

Newcomers are very welcome, and we encourage all stations to check in even if they don't have a question.

Participation is key, so please share your experiences if they pertain to the question being asked.

Let's begin. This is Harvey, KC3NZT, asking for digital check-ins. Please call now.

Whiskey 8, Charlie Romeo Whiskey, CR. No question.

Thank you.

AC-3RFG, Jim in Malvern, no questions, Harvey.

AB-3AP, Mike in Avondale with no questions.

NA-3CW, no questions.

AC-3O-OK, no questions.

Alpha, Alpha-3, Lima Hotel, have a question.

Ski Alpha-3, King Fox Tango, no questions.

AC-3, Mike Foxtrot, Bravo, no questions.

Alpha Foxtrot 3, Zulu, no questions.

AC-3MAI, Joe in Downingtown with a question.

AC-3, King Fox Tango, have a question.

Frank and I are both members along with Tim and a few others here at QP,

a few others, members of Pottstown Area Amateur Radio Club.

That's how I know Frank.

And Frank, for some reason, your signal is awfully weak,

and it should not be from where you are.

So we'll need to talk about that maybe at the next Pottstown meeting or whatever.

But anyway, with that, that's all that's going on here.

Look forward to the questions tonight.

And we'll turn it over to Jim over there in Malvern.

KC-3-RFG to transmit with the group WA-3-VEE.

WA-3-VEE, thank you, Ron.

This is KC-3-RFG, Jim in Malvern.

Thank you, Harvey, for hosting the workbench this evening.

Much appreciated, especially in your chilly garage.

Extra appreciated, let's say.

Not too much to add here on Inham Radio either.

The normal daily nets is about all I've been doing.

I've been busy outside splitting wood for the woodworking.

We've been working on the road for the wood stove.

And we sure have been going through it lately with this.

And we're going to go through some more the rest of the week.

But we've got a good supply.

And I just did some preventative antenna maintenance,

checking tension on the dipoles and such,

after all the wind storms we've had.

So tweaked everything up, and hopefully we're good for the next storm.

We'll see how it goes.

Alright, with that I will send it over to, I believe it's Mike, AB3AP from KC-3-RFG.

KC-3-RFJ, AB3AP.

Thanks, Jim, and good evening all.

I had a pretty light radio week.

I was on 985 a handful of times.

Not on HF even once.

Doing other things related to Christmas.

And a super quick comment for Ron, your woodwork and electronics and vice versa.

Somehow that triggered an old memory.

We might recall a big story about the great seal, the wood carving given to maybe a U.S. Embassy by Soviet kids

that had a passive cavity resonator, I believe, going by fuzzy memory.

And what an ingenious combination there.

I'm sure you're not doing that.

Chuck, over to you.

NA3CW, AB3AP.

Thank you, Mike.

AB3AP, NA3CW.

Well, I don't think Ron's going to be bugging anybody, at least not that way.

So, the Weekend Ham Radio.

Some mobiling.

Some 985 in the car, not in the car.

And PMAM net, rounding up the troops in the pre-net on 75 meters.

Had a good bunch yesterday.

And also, I started working on actually putting wires into the interface box, kind of a power injection box that's going to go into Joe's tuner system, where it injects 12 volts into the control system, sort of at the patch panel where the cables come in from the outside.

And so, it provides control power for the control head, which is at the operating position, and for the control circuits out at the tuner in the little building at the base of the tower.

So, I've got four 9-pin D-sub connectors to wire up, a relay, and a 12-volt inlet.

And I've got the first two 9-pin connectors wired up and ready to go in the next two.

And I collect dead, especially computer interfaces and switches and boxes and whatnot for their cabinets.

This particular one was a video switch that was in our church.

The no longer needed, and the pieces that I talked to are no longer functional.

But this thing was beautifully made.

I hated to take it apart to scavenge the cabinet, but I did, because it has four 9-pin D-sub.

Actually, it was four 15-pin D-subs for VGA connections.

But I took the board out of it, and I have some parts that I'm going to take off that board.

And I got the replacement 9-pins in there.

So, making progress again.

Finally got a computer I was working on for a long time out and delivered.

So, back to ham radio.

Over to Bill, KC-3-0-O-K, NA3CW.

NA3CW, KC-3-0-O-K, workbench crew.

Harvey, thanks for taking the chair tonight.

It's good to hear you.

As far as me, not real active, I don't think.

I have the usual 9-8-5 nets and activities.

I did host the south control for the simplex net on Saturday night, and continued to get some good data on the new antenna.

And I am extremely pleased with how it performs.

I think it's a combination of the antenna and having it properly balanced 50 ohms on the coax.

It's making a huge difference.

Other than that, I've been working on, I made the panel to hold the rotary switches for the rack cabinet.

So, with five bird rotary switches, I'll be able to send any antenna to any radio, either HF or VHF and UHF.

So, I'm going to be painting that tomorrow.

I may have some questions for Chuck about that.

But that's about it here.

And I turn it over to the dude up on the hill.

AA3LH, KC-3-0-OK.

This is the dude, AA3LH.

That guy on the hill.

The hermit on the hill.

The gobbler on the hill.

Whatever.

But it's me.

Oh my.

This past week, I'm playing it.

Play around.

This is the time of the year, folks, I play around the antennas that I travel with.

Make sure that they work.

That is the goal.

Make sure, before I decide to go traveling anywhere, that everything works as good as I can get it to work.

And so, I was playing around a G5 RV.

Put a...

Excuse me.

Put a choke.

Put a choke bound on it.

Between the end of the ladder line and the coax.

And yeah, that seemed to make it better.

People seemed to hear me.

People that I was talking to, and it seemed to say I'm coming in better than what I was.

That's what I was doing this past week.

Playing with that antenna.

Doing things to it.

Uh, okay.

Next thing goes in.

Another turkey.

Another guy that...

A turkey that survived Thanksgiving.

Mr. John.

KFT.

Go ahead.

AA-3-OH.

AA-3-LH.

WA-3-KING FOX TANGO.

Kentucky Fried Turkey.

Okay.

Well, uh, I'm not sure.

I'm not sure.

Okay, well, the typical nets and what have you, and working a little bit of DX, the 10-meter band has been open, and we got things like North Texas, Brazil, come on here, South Dakota, Oklahoma.

The 10-meter band has been very nice to us, and believe it or not, when the band is open like that, it's not crowded, mainly because people don't know that the band is open.

We have a daily net from 1 o'clock to 2 o'clock on 28-435, and we are very well known out in the Midwest for using that frequency in the hour of 1 o'clock to 2 o'clock Eastern time.

We've worked North and South Dakota, we've worked Alaska, we've worked California, Texas, very common, Colorado, Louisiana, and so forth.

So, very good band, especially when the band opens and there's somebody out there that realizes it.

We haven't had any pile-ups lately, but it's a fun thing.

Very unpredictable from day to day as to what's going on.

Okay, Mike, wake up.

K3, MFB, from WE3, Kentucky Fried Turkey.

John wrote it down as K3.

Alright, it's Whiskey 3, John.

Whiskey.

You know, like Jameson's.

W3, MFB, just hanging out.

Good to hear everybody.

Roundtable and Roundtable.

Had to double shot.

Double shot Thursday over the last week or so.

That's interesting.

You had me think, staring at the map, John.

I was like, I still need Idaho and Utah.

I'm never on when somebody from there is on.

I need to check into the, uh, oh, what is it?

The 7188 crew, or whatever.

And see if there's anybody there.

Or just call CQ for those states.

And then I'll be done.

But anyway, I think it goes over to Jim.

AF3Z, W3, MFB.

Good evening, Mike.

And everybody.

AF3Z.

Thanks, Harvey.

And, uh, John KFT.

You didn't have to wake Mike up with, uh, Leon and then you.

We all had our game way back already.

You guys are both powerful coming in here.

And, uh, so anyway.

Uh, I almost drowned out my guitar, in fact.

Um, yeah.

AF3Z, if I didn't say that.

Uh, not a whole lot here.

Uh, last week was a real busy week for me otherwise.

Even my usual CW contacts here locally.

Uh, we missed about five or six days in a row.

Got on this morning.

And that was the first time in a while.

But that was good to exercise my fingers again.

It's amazing how quickly you can sort of slip.

And, uh, start to figure out how to do things.

But otherwise, not a whole lot going on here, radio-wise.

Uh, so that's it.

Joe, good to hear you tonight.

KC3MAI AF3Z.

AF3Z, KC3MAI.

Yes.

Hello, Jim.

And hello to the rest of the group.

Harvey, thank you for hosting us.

This week in ham radio for me, uh, was, uh, a little bit, I tried to be a little bit more

disciplined with myself.

Trying to learn CW, and I, I've, I've been trying to be a little more disciplined daily

with some regular study sessions, which I did.

I think I'm up to about nine letters now, so I'm, I'm happy about that.

So that's progressing pretty well.

Um, other than that, that's, that's pretty much it.

Frank, I'm going to give you the baton.

KD3BWL.

KC3MAI.

Thanks, Joe.

Frank was in and out, so, uh, in case Frank wants to check in, uh, or, uh, give us some

comments, go ahead now, Frank.

But, uh, he was in and out.

Nothing heard.

Uh, my week was pretty light in ham radio.

I did check my QRZ.

Uh, I guess the link, you would say, from, uh, Logbook of the World, uh, importing into

QRZ to see if I got that Galapagos station on the 10 meter, well, I guess it was, uh, the

worldwide contest a couple of weeks ago, or whatnot.

And, uh, they did not confirm on, uh, QRZ.

So, uh, I really wanted that Galapagos.

Definitely got them.

I just, some people don't use QRZ for, for logging, so, um, unfortunately.

But, uh, that's about it for me.

Uh, with that, I do have two questions down from, uh, AA3LH, Leon, and KC3MAI.

Joe, uh, are there any other stations that, uh, want to throw their hat in the ring for the question portion, or are there any other check-ins that would like to get on the list?

Please call now.

It says W3FES Red in Coatesville.

All right, we got you on the list there.

Do you want to give us a brief comment, uh, on what you did this last week in radio, and then we'll head into our question portion?

Good evening, all. Thanks for taking the net there, Harvey.

I built, uh, put together a diamond, uh, D-130, and what, uh, D-N has, D-N connector.

A discount.

It's a heck of a performer on six meters.

And 220, 440, and two meter, and it's a heck of a scanner antenna.

Uh, I'm picking up the new 800 megahertz system from Delaware County out here, Coatesville, so I'm very happy with this antenna.

Especially since I'm stealth.

Excusely stealth indoors here, so.

Doing the best I can.

Back to you. Have a good evening, all.

This is, uh, W3FES Red from the Coatesville.

All righty, very good.

Well, we can move over into the, uh, question portion of the net.

We're going to start off this evening with Leon, AA3LH.

Uh, over to you, Leon.

Please, uh, let us know what your question is.

KC3, NZT.

All right.

Thank you, Harvey.

This is AA3LH to start out.

As I mentioned earlier, it's the time of the year I play with antennas to make sure that they work,

get them as good as I can get.

Traveling antennas we're talking about.

I have an Eagle 1 antenna.

That the directions say, if it's freestanding, it needs a 49 to 1 unbalanced to unbalanced,

or a 64 to 1 unbalanced to unbalanced.

Well, I put radials on, on this thing.

Wires, you know, 20 feet long, 30 feet long.

I put radials on.

Even if they're only 15 feet long, do I still need an unbalanced to unbalanced transformer?

That is my question.

Back to net control, AA3LH.

Excellent question.

I actually have one of those as well.

Any comments for Leon and the group?

The Eagle 1, in case people aren't familiar, that's a vertical, but it's not resonant.

It's about 30 feet tall and has provisions for mounting radials.

It is fed by a SO239 directly at its base.

Comments for Leon.

Please call now.

This is KC3NZT.

CW.

Go ahead, Chuck.

Does it need the transformer?

Depends.

If it's just 30 feet of conductor and radials, say, on 40 meters, it's a low impedance, and no, you don't want that.

And if it's, say, you know, 20 meters, maybe you do want it.

Or 15 meters, maybe you do want it.

You know, the driving, it's, you know, a vertical is a vertical.

So, assuming you've got a radial system, you've got a ground reference.

So, if it's a quarter wave or close to a quarter wave, it's going to be a low driving impedance at the base.

Because a quarter wave at the other end of a quarter, you know, the top of the antenna is open circuit,

and the bottom of the antenna is a quarter wave away.

So, it's going to be a low impedance versus a high impedance at the other end.

It's the open end.

If it's a half wave, the top is open, and therefore the bottom is open.

High impedance.

So, you need to drive it with a high impedance source.

So, my question is, do they delineate any difference between bands on whether to use transformers or not?

Back to Ned, NA3CW.

Good, very good.

Leon, they didn't give any other additional information in the instructions regarding that, did they?

No, Harvey, the instructions said just to make it freestanding, like in a tripod base, you need the transformer.

You need one of those transformers to make it work.

But when I put radials on it, do I still need to follow those transformers?

That is the question.

I know if I don't put any radials on that, I would need it, or they recommend a 49 to 1, at least that much.

But I put radials on that.

I mean, radials make an antenna better, let's face it.

I've played with it for a long time, but it does make it better.

But I never put an unbalanced transformer on it.

I was wondering if that would help.

That was my question.

Back to Ned, Control A, 308.

We'll open that back up to the group there, Leon.

I can give you some of my experience with that.

When it comes to the non-resonant verticals, I run them the same way you are,

with radials of a random length on the ground.

I have never found the impedance to be that far off with that length of wire with 30 feet as a vertical.

The impedance to be so wild in order to need a 49 to 1.

Most of the antennas that I've seen that are of a similar design are running either a 9 to 1 or a 5 to 1.

And if you use any kind of antenna analyzer or nano VNA, you can do some back-of-the-napkin math on which is more appropriate for the bands that are desired.

But in general, the goal would just be to get the match low enough so that you're not taking such a lost hit on the coax between the antenna and your tuner,

or the tuner inside your rig.

So if the impedance is wildly mismatched, then your tuner in the rig isn't going to do anything.

It's going to not like it.

But if you have an outboard tuner or an automatic tuner with your rig, you're still going to take that loss,

that hit on the effective radiated power by the coax eating up that juice because the match is so wild.

So on most of the non-resonant verticals I've seen that are in that length range,

a lot of people are just running a 9 to 1 or a 5 to 1 un-un,

just to get it reasonable enough for that 3 to 1 inside your rig to be able to handle it from there,

or your outboard tuner to handle it at the rig.

So that's what I have seen.

Any other comments for Leon?

Please call now.

This is KC3NZT.

TW?

The ideal in a situation like that to multi-band it would be to have a remote tuner,

an automatic tuner at the antenna out at the base.

Then you get rid of the heavy coax loss from running a mismatched load on the coax.

The other thing is just having a choke, you know,

an un-unchoke balance is just a one-to-one in line with the coax, I think, is a good thing regardless.

Even if you have an automatic tuner out at the antenna and you have radials,

it still benefits to have a choke balance on the feed line and also on the control line if there is one.

I did this very kind of thing for Matt and for MRW back when they had some semblance of a backyard,

which was about the size of, I don't know, my bathroom.

And they don't have that situation now, so it's not possible where they are now.

At the time, I made an elevated vertical about five feet high and a wooden base weighted with blocks on the bottom.

And I had a hollow piece of fiberglass pipe.

And I ran copper tubing up inside the pipe.

And, you know, like quarter-inch copper tubing, quarter-inch or three-eighths copper tubing as a radiator.

And I had an automatic antenna tuner right at the base.

And I had RF problems until I put a choke in the feed line and a choke in the control line.

And then you could work all kinds of radio with it on various bands.

They give recommended lengths to avoid.

You don't want to end up with a high impedance feed.

Like, you don't want the length of the antenna to be a half-wave length long at the driving frequency

because it's going to be a super-high impedance to drive, which means super-high voltage in the tuner.

It's not going to like it.

Similarly, you don't want to run super short either.

But in any event, the impedance has changed from band to band.

So just as Harvey pointed out, there's no one-size-fits-all situations if you're going from band to band

with a single non-resident radiator, if that makes any sense.

Back to that.

NHRCW.

Good.

Very good.

Any other comments for Leon?

Please call now.

This is KC3NZT.

Nothing hurt.

I'm turning it back to you, Leon.

Did that help?

Do you have any follow-ups?

Are you satisfied?

A3LH.

This is KC3NZT.

Yes, Harvey.

It was for good action to put a one-to-one choke balance in.

I have a one-to-one choke balance in my G5 RV that we have.

That's been all over the place.

And I have that upright now using that.

And that has improved.

And so if it makes another one improve, I want to put a choke balance on it and go from there.

Thank you, guys.

Back to net control.

A3LH.

Thank you, Leon, for asking the question.

We love the participation.

With that, I'm going to turn it over to our second question of the night, which is KC3MAI.

Joe, over to you for your question.

I have a question about SFI, Solar Flux Index.

I'm wondering if somebody might be able to give me a quick explanation as to what it is, maybe explain how it affects propagation.

Tell me whether or not you have a website that you like that provides that information.

And maybe also explain how SFI might change seasonally.

I'll turn it back to you, Harvey.

KC3NZT.

KC3MAI.

Joe, this is definitely not in my wheelhouse.

Opening it up to the group.

Please call for comments for Joe.

This is KC3NZT.

UA3VEE.

John.

Good, Harvey.

Thank you so much.

KC3NZT in the group.

WA3VEE.

The Solar Flux Index is derived, first of all, is the amount of geomagnetic energy that is emanating

from the sun, from its corona.

And that is caused by all the disturbances from the sunspots.

And, of course, we all know that we're in the middle, or almost at the end now, of the sunspot cycle,

which means that there are a number of sunspots up there.

And what that does to the ionosphere, which is, of course, what we need for the HF propagation, obviously,

is that causes a lot of absorption if it's very, very high.

And if it's too high, it kills radio communications.

It can also enhance radio communications.

And it can also put on a very, very interesting show.

The KP tonight is about 7, and that is a little higher.

So the aurora might be visible out there if you're brave enough to get outside and take a look at it.

So I did a presentation on this.

I'm going to send it to Joe if he's interested to post it on the 985 website.

But I will send you, Joe, MAI, a PDF of it for sure.

I did a presentation in October on this at the Pottstown Area Amateur Radio Club.

Harvey, back to you.

KC3NZT, hope I answered the question briefly.

WA3VEE.

Ron, that's fascinating.

Any other comments for Joe?

Please call now.

This is KC3NZT.

Nothing heard.

Back over to you, Joe.

Do you have any follow-ups, or does that help answer your question?

This is KC3NZT.

KC3NZT, KC3MAI.

No, a wonderful explanation, Ron.

Thank you for doing that.

I'm curious.

Does it have any, like, do the seasons affect it regularly?

The MFP with a comment.

Go ahead there, Mike.

Sorry.

Hey, Joe, you might want to, solar data, right?

You're interested.

Tamitha Scove, Tamitha Scove on YouTube.

Follow her on YouTube.

She gives solar weather prediction data.

Usually when there's a flare or something like that, X-flare or something like that,

going on, she'll post immediately.

But she is a space weather, they call her the space weather woman.

If you can't spell, I think it's S-K-O-V-E.

Somebody might know that.

I'm not looking at a computer right now.

But that's what she studies.

And she presents information via YouTube and other social media platforms throughout the year.

And very informative.

Kind of explains what's going on with the sun and how it affects amateur radio and GPS and satellite and whatnot.

She is licensed as well.

So that's my, that's a great way to start learning about solar data and how it affects radio.

Besides just reading stuff.

But that's my comment.

Back to you, Harvey.

KC-3.

Yeah, sorry.

KC-3 NZT W3 MFB.

Well, that's wonderful.

Thank you very much.

Joe, you had a follow-up real quick there right before Mike jumped in.

Asking about something about it changing.

Do you want to go ahead and throw that out again?

KC-3 NZT KC-3 MAI.

No, I was just curious as it related to the seasons.

If the seasons have any regular, you know, effect upon SFI.

WA3 VEE.

Harvey, KC-3 NZT and net WA3 VEE.

There might have been another double in there too.

So when I, after I'm done, you might want to check and see for somebody else in there.

It has nothing to do with the Earth.

We have seasons here on the Earth.

The Sun doesn't have seasons.

It has 11-year sunspot cycles.

And that's where this is all coming from.

It really, truly is, as Mike indicated, space weather.

It's not the terrestrial Earth weather that we know.

So our seasons have no effect on it.

However, the tilt of the Earth has some effect because at half the year,

we are tilted closer to the Sun than we are at the other half of the year.

But nonetheless, that is one thing.

And websites, yeah.

Tamethoscope, S-K-O-V, is one site.

Solarham, all one word, is another site.

And when you get this presentation, you'll have more sites than you wished for.

That's for sure.

So there's plenty of information out there.

And I have a little cheat sheet that I gave out at the Pottstown Amateur Radio Club meeting in October that you could just paste up on your console.

And you could take a look at Solarham, QRZ.

By the way, there's a panel that comes up with those data on it.

KP index, A index, and so on and so forth.

Sunspot numbers and all that kind of good stuff.

You'll see that panel.

I talk about it in the presentation.

Harvey, back to you.

KC3NZT WA3.

VEE.

Excellent, Ron.

Thanks so much.

Ron mentioned there could have been a double in there.

Was there another station trying to make comments for Joe?

Please call now.

This is KC3NZT.

KC3RFG.

Harvey, actually, Ron covered everything I was going to say.

But I'll agree with him.

Solarham.com, which is done by a Canadian ham, is a very good collection of all that information.

Once you learn what you're looking for.

Although some of his individual charts can show you by themselves what's going on.

You need to learn a little bit about the solar, the SFI number, the A and the K index.

And when you do, as I was going to mention, too, it's always in a little box on QRZ and on many websites.

Once you learn what numbers to look at and what they start to mean to you, whether it's good or bad, that it's high or low,

you can find the numbers almost everywhere, including lots of online sites.

But definitely look for a little bit of training on propagation and what the A and K indexes mean online and on YouTube.

And you will quickly learn what good numbers are good to look for on the indexes, especially the A and the K index.

All right.

That was it.

Thanks, Ron, for filling that in as well.

Back to you, Harvey, KC3RFG.

Thank you, Jim.

Any other comments for Joe?

Please call now.

Back over to you, Joe.

Thank you to all.

Nothing further at this point.

I just tried to write down as much as I could as fast as I could.

And I appreciate the input from everyone.

So thank you.

Thank you for an excellent question.

It's always nice to hear about that kind of stuff.

It's kind of magical to me how all that stuff works.

Does anybody else have a question they'd like to throw out to the group?

We still have time.

Maybe a question that you thought of during the workbench.

Please call now.

This is KC3NZT.

Nothing heard.

Are there any other lurkers that would like to check in, get on our list for tonight's workbench, digital or RF?

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This is KC3NZT.

Delta 3, Echo Mike Sierra.

Thanks for checking in.

We have you on the list.

Any other stations?

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3OGF, November 3, Oscar Gough, Fox Track.

Always listening.

N2HM.

Staff, we've got you on the log.

Any other stations?

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Kilo Charlie 3, Yankee India Gulf.

Dave from Lancaster.

N2HM.

Kilo Charlie 3, Yankee Gulf.

Thank you.

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