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Every Thursday evening at 8pm the Crew of 146.985 W3GMS/R get together on air to host a weekly informal net with varying hosts and topics
(...)
Anybody home? This is NA3CW.
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NA3CW, WA3KFT, all is quiet.
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W-H-C-R-W.
(...)
Ooh, worried about Jim. Unless it was just my email, I did not see an announcement for today's NetGo album.
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On the email.
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You know who's scheduled?
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I think that, yes, I did it last week. We had the stores before Field Day. So it will be Luke and Joe.
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N3CRE. Is there no workbench type?
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This is the roundtable night.
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Um,
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well, let's see.
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Where's my script?
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I think I've, I don't recall,
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I haven't hosted the roundtable for years, but just do the workbench.
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So, Luke or Joe, are you about? This is NA3CW.
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Well,(...) I guess I'll take it upon myself since it's 5 after 8.
(...)
Good evening.
(...)
And welcome to the 985 roundtable. I'm Chuck, NA3CW, located in Parksburg, the host, apparently, for tonight's roundtable. We meet every Thursday evening at 8 p.m. on the W3GMS.
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Parksburg Repeater, 146.985 MHz. And the PL tone is 100 Hz, and tone squelch is 94.8.
(...)
Take a look at the repeater website, located at www.w3gms.repeater.com. And besides the roundtable, this repeater also hosts the 985 workbench on Monday nights at 8 p.m.
(...)
And it focuses on answering technical questions as well as exploring topics related to setting up and operating in a station. Newcomers are very welcome and encouraged to check in.(...) And if you can't stay long, feel free to call in during the short-time check-ins at the beginning of the roundtable.
(...)
Our discussions are informal, passing the mic around in the order in which the stations call in, so I encourage you to note who checks in right after you, so you'll be able to turn the mic over to that station when you finish your comments. We usually begin with a question of the starter of the session as a discussion starter. I don't have one at the moment. You can answer that if you wish or comment on other subjects as well. So if anybody's got one, let me know. If you have any suggestions or questions about the roundtable, contact Phil, KC3CIB, or Jim, AF3Z. Both are good on qrozet.com.(...) Be aware that occasionally the repeater experiences intermod interference. Please run maximum power or be prepared to check in digitally through Echolink or AllStar. We want to hear you. To be able to use Echolink or AllStar on 985, you need to register with us. Directions for doing so can be found on the website, w3gmsrepeater.com. Also, when intermod is present before starting a transmission, give a short call like, "Am I getting in okay?" And once the host, me, confirms that, then you can share your longer comments.
(...)
Now, don't be too quick to talk. Pause a couple seconds after hitting the press-to-talk switch, and this is a good repeater etiquette, and the pauses are especially useful, helpful, to those on AllStar or Echolink.(...) And when you do click the PTT, wait a second before starting to talk. We don't want to miss what you say, such as the first part of your call.
(...)
It takes a moment for the repeater to process your PL tone. Also, the repeater has a three-minute timer. If you talk more than three minutes without letting up on your mic button, the repeater completely locks out until you release your PTT, so nobody can use it until you let go. So every two to three minutes, release the mic button for just a moment like this, and you can continue.
(...)
So,
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we'll skip the question of the session, until we get one.(...) But let's go with short-time check-ins for Digital, Echolink, or AllStar, and I will leave a long pause to make it easier to check in.
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Digital, short-time stations, please check in now. This is NA3CW.
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Okay, thank you, Adam.
Do we have any other short-time check-ins with Digital? Please call in now. Okay,
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do we have any other digital or RF check-ins for a short time? This is NA3CW.
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Okay, do we have any other digital or RF check-ins for a short time? This is NA3CW.
(...) (Silence)
Well, Adam, it seems like you're the short timer.
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So, let's hear from you. KC3 to KB3ZUV.
(...)
It was delightful being with you and your kids the other day. That's the old day. KB3ZUV, NA3CW.
(Silence)
(...)
Yeah, Chuck, that's right.
(...)
Good evening to you and good evening to the roundtable such as it is. There might not be that many people here.(...) NA3CW, KB3ZUV.
(...)
On the AllStar side tonight.(...) And yeah, I mean, I guess that was pretty much what I was going to do. I was expecting if there was going to be a question tonight, it was going to be about what did you do for field day. I had a limited amount of time, so I wanted to maximize the most of the small amount of time that I had, and that meant getting the kids involved and keeping them interested.
(...)
So, for those of you who are not there,
(...)
a field day or maybe you were at a different field day. I was at the 95 field day this past weekend, and my older daughter did five contacts on GoDA, and my younger daughter did one. Very heavily coached by yours truly. Both of them really, although the older one was getting the hang of it by about the third or the fourth contact. She didn't need me to prompt her. She knew to give the class and the section and things like that. She was starting to figure it out. So, we might have to bring her back next year.
(...)
The younger one, the five-year-old struggled a good deal, but we still pretty much said what I told her to say.
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And we got through, and there was a lot of QRM during her contact, too. So, actually, we had to go back and forth with that other station in Michigan probably about five or six times. But, yeah, it was a lot of fun.
(...)
The weather was nice. It wasn't perfect, but I would say it's nice enough. I mean, you could have some really bad field day weather, and it was certainly not bad weather last weekend.(...) And it's going to be more good weather this weekend for Independence Day. I'll be going into the city tomorrow morning to see the fireworks in the city over the Van Tranquilin Parkway. So, that should be a lot of fun.
(...)
So, yeah, good to see you. Good to see you and Joe and Ron and Rob and Greg and Corbin and Jim and Bill.
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Oh, my goodness. Who else? Harvey. I saw Harvey for a quick minute there. I saw Phil for a quick minute there. I definitely saw just about him for a quick minute there, just about everyone I wanted to see.
(...)
So, what is Adam? KB3 is at UV and H3CW.
(Silence)
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Maybe he'll come back.
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So,
(...)
yeah, we had a delightful time with Adam and his girls. And, yeah, they did okay. I mean, that was, you know, real contacts. I was there. I saw it.
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So, that's all the short timers. And thank you, Adam, for that. And so now time for regular check-ins.
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We can hang around a while.
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And so, do we have any regular check-ins for a digital or all-star? Digital or all-star regular check-ins? Please call H3CW.
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(Silence)
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Whiskey 8, Charlie Romeo Whiskey.
(Silence)
W3KZG.
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(Silence)
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Okay, do we have any more long hanging around folks on digital,(...) echolink or all-star? Please call.
(...)
(Silence)
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Hey, Chuck. I'm going to be just checking in. I'm not, I haven't stuff to do, so I'll just be listening on the side, but I just wanted to check in and get you paid. I know you're not even the host, but you're doing great.
(...)
Everybody have a good night.
(Silence)
Yeah, I gotcha, Scott. In and out. So, yeah, have a good night.
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Okay, do we have other digital or RF check-ins long-term? Please call on H3CW.
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(Silence)
KC3O, okay.
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(Silence)
KF3Z. King Fox Tango WA3KFT.
(Silence)
KF3YSFQI.
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(Silence)
OUA3VEE.
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(Silence)
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KF3Z.
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(Silence)
I'll stop here. So far I got CR, WHCRW. Got W3KZG on the side.
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Got Bill, KC3OOK.
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Got Jim.
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I got you in that double, AF3Z.
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Got John, WA3KFT.
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Got Steve, KC3YSM.
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And Wayne, KC3SQI in another double.
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And WA3VEE. Any more check-ins for long-term for the roundtable? Please call on H3CW.
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(Silence)
N3CRE, Charlie.
(Silence)
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Okay, so again,
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WHCRW, pass it on to Bill, KC3OOK.
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To Jim, AF3Z.
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To John, WA3KFT.(...) To Steve, KC3YSM.
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To Wayne, KC3SQI. To Ron, WA3VEE.
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And Tail Gunner so far is Charlie, N3CRE.
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So I guess the question at hand is, did you go to field day? And if so, what kind of time did you have?
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So over to,
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let me do one last check, either digital or all-star, and I'll give it a long wait this time, or RF.
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This is N3CW.
(Silence)
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Okay, sounds like Wayne is it. So over to CRW, WHCRW in the roundtable, NA3CW.
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(Silence)
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Very good, Chuck. Thanks for stepping up to the plate tonight.(...) Joe and Luke are probably out doing something, maybe building a desk.
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Anyway, yes, I attended field day. I was a helper, and it was interesting. The water hand-washing station went together with George and a couple other people. We wired it up, and it worked well.
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What else is going on? I didn't stay overnight. I left and came back in the morning.(...) I won't stay overnight unless I get some better accommodations.
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With that, let's go to Bill, KC3OOK, WHCRW.
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Thanks, CRW, KC3OOK, and thanks, Chuck, for stepping in and taking the chair tonight.
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I would have, but Candy's been away all day, and she's due to make a touchdown any moment.
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CW guy, AF3Z, KC3OOK.
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(Silence)
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Very good, Bill. First of all, Joe and Luke aren't fully responsible for not being here or knowing they were hosting tonight.
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I got home from field day, and I had a great time at field day. I did a fair amount of operating and some logging and some picture-taking and stuff, and so it was good. I enjoyed it.
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I got home from field day, and I was going out that evening, so I quickly put out the reminder stuff for the workbench on Monday.
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I said, "I'll have to remember to do this later for the roundtable." When I heard you, Chuck, and then I heard people say, "Thanks for stepping in."
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I said, "Who was supposed to host?" I couldn't remember. That's because I never set it up this week, so I apologize for that. Chuck, thank you for stepping in. I've been gone all day. I left about six this morning and just got home just after eight o'clock here.
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Anyway, that's a scoop for me. The CW was fun, as always. I got to work with Luke,
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doing CW for a while. He was doing some of this ending. Also, John KN3I, John,
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he did some CW operating. I was logging for him, so that was cool, too. So that's it from me at the moment, and John, WA3KFT over to you, AF3Z.
AF3Z, WA3KFT. Okay. I was active at field A, different location.
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Used an old radio, an ICOM 730,
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one of the early radios that had a Nixi 2 readout, additional readout.
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And ran 40-meter sideband,
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and very noisy. Man, it just did not let up.
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It was noisy, noisy, noisy.
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I have no idea how many contacts I made.
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We do computer logging, and it's networked, so everybody is in the soup. I don't know whether the GoDA station was separate or not, but toward the end I saw 180 QSOs logged, but I'm sure that's not all.
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So we had a lot of dipoles strung up, and we were at a Methodist church, a block off of roots, so a group of us would prefer to go to the old site that we've been using for years and years and years. Last year it was booked with someone else, so they were forced to go somewhere else. And this year they decided to do it in that Methodist church parking lot.
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It was not a problem on Sunday morning.
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There were plenty of empty spaces in the parking lot for the parishioners as well as all us hams messing around. So my generator got one heck of a workout because it ran for 24 hours straight.
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We were careful about adding the gasoline as it was running,
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and topped it off when we could, and knew that it was going to hang on. It is a long run generator. I think the tank has five gallons or so,
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and I only had to add an extra two and a half gallons, otherwise it ran for the whole weekend.
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So I have no idea how many QSOs we made,
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or what the DX was like, or anything else. I was on 40 meters. KC3YSM, Steve,(...) WA3KFT.
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Thank you, John. WA3KFT.(...) This is KC3YSM, and I did not make field day. Unfortunately, I had a commitment across the other side of the country. I was in Colorado last week for six days and got home.
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I pulled in late Monday evening, kind of got stuck at the Philadelphia airport.(...) They actually closed the airport for two hours. Fortunately,(...) we landed right after they finished, where they opened it up. We only circled the airport for, I don't know, 30 minutes or so. But after three and a half hours in the plane and then another half an hour, it kind of drives you crazy. It's not good on the old back.(...) It's not fun sitting for an hour drive to the airport and then three and a half hours in the plane and then a driver another hour to get to where you're going, but all very good.(...) Regarding field day, boy, it seemed like there's a lot of moving parts for summer field day, comparing it to winter field day. I have read the emails. There's a lot of online chats and
a lot of things going on. So I gather it went
very, very well and hope to be able to be there for next year's summer field day. Certainly great to be home and great to hear everybody this evening. So with that, Wayne, I'll toss it over to you, KC3SQI. This is KC3YSM.
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Thank you, Steve. KC3YSM, this is KC3SQI.(...) Now I did not make field day this year.
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Hopefully I'll make it next year. We'll see if I can try to get around all of the doctors to that.
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Glad everybody else had a good time and it went so well. So we'll try to make it next year and see what we can do.
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So with that, I'll turn it over to Ron, WA3VEE. This is KC3SQI.
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Good, Wayne. Thank you so much. I turned out my monitor here and there. We go. That's better.
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KC3SQI in the group, WA3VEE. Good to hear everybody on here.
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Boy, where do we begin? It was a great field day all the way around.
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Chuck, first of all, thanks for doing the duties tonight. I'm not sure what happened to Chuck and Luke. I do know that Luke spent the day over at Joe and Luke. I know that Luke spent the day over at Joe's and he was going to drop Luke off.(...) They were going to leave his place at 4, so I don't know what happened.
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There's a real big sinkhole between Joe's and Luke's, I don't know, but nonetheless.
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But anyway, thanks for doing the duties tonight. All very good.
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Heavens.(...) Well, from a logistics standpoint, first we had over 30 visitors, at least the ones that signed the log, besides ourselves, and also 985ers who came who were not normally involved directly with the field day setup operation or help.(...) That's great.
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And so that went fairly smoothly. I still have to reconcile. I still have to send emails and thanks to all those who did attend who were on our list, which is what I want to do. Stand by.
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And so there were a few people who were new hams, some people who want to be hams, which is great.(...) And it's good to see some old familiar faces as well, especially people like Zach,
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Casey3wk. So that was all very good.
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But at the Steeckwish visitor we had Eric Rowe come and visit us, and that's thanks to Matt,
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KV3JGB, and that was a good conversation. Eric is interested in learning more about amateur radio. We spent quite a bit of time with him. It was a good conversation. So good to get that exposure of ham radio to a county commissioner.(...) So a guy right at the top in the counties. That was very good.
(...)
And let's see, very happy with the GoToStation. Again, Chuck, thanks for your help there. Absolutely. I thought that went very, very well. Probably the most active GoToStation that we've ever had. The breakfast was good. Profusely thanks, Gene and Leon, for that. That was great.
(...)
A lot of work, of course, but the beauty of this one is that it was a complete team effort. Everybody did something. Everybody who was involved did something.
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And that something in some cases, in most cases, was quite significant.(...) And I know I speak for Joe and George and all of us, but thank you so much.
(...)
I believe overall, now this is just total opinion, not hard data by any means, but I believe we had over 1,400 contacts counting those who could credit us from any operations that they did at home.
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So anyone, Wayne, I know you've operated before from home.
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For one, if anyone has operated from home during field day and you have not submitted your logs, please consider crediting Whiskey 3 Romeo.
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And one of us can help you through that process for sure, how to do that. That would really help us also. So we have a good chance of finishing better than we did last year, although the main object was to have fun, and I think everybody really enjoyed this one.
(...)
One last comment before I turn it over to, let's see,(...) Charlie.
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If anyone has any photographs,(...) Jim, I got yours. CRI got yours. Thank you so much. And Scott, if you're listening, I got your one single photo. That's good.
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And that one's better than none, and that's great. If anyone has any photos that they would like me to consolidate and put on the SmugMug link that you know I use,
(...)
please send them over to me. My email address is good on QRZ,(...) and most of you have my phone number. So get over to QRZ,
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send me an email, and I could tell you how to get those to me the best bet. But in short, Dropbox right now or Google Drive works very, very well.
(...)
With that, save any other comments for the next round.
(...)
Charlie, your turn. N3 CRE to take it. W-A-3-V-E-E.
(...)
Okay, Ron. N3 CRE.(...) Likewise, unfortunately, I didn't make Field Day. I did make Winter Field Day, but not spring. I had some other commitments. I know. I promised Joe I'd be there, but other things came up. But I'm glad to see everybody had a good time. Seemed like you made a lot of contact. And you got a great site there to assemble and make a lot of transmissions.(...) Other than that, I don't have much to say. 73's, I'll stay listening. I guess I'll turn it back to Chuck,
(...)
host.
(...)
N3 CRE, W-A-3-W.
Thanks, Charlie. N3 CRE, N-A-3-C-W.
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Do we have any other, before we get into round two, do we have any other check-ins, either digital or RF, and I'll wait a bit in case we have any digital in there? Please call N3 CRE.
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Alpha 3, Lima Hotel. Out from under the bus.
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Thank you. Gotcha, Leon. Anybody else?
(...)
(Silence)
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Okay, I guess you're it, Leon. You're the new tail gunner. So, what are your thoughts about Field Day? N3 CRE, W-A-3-C-W.
(Silence)
Chuck and the Parksburg Repeater Group.
(...)
Well, first of all, I gotta say this first. First of all, the U-Joints look okay. I checked for play, and them, they look good. They're all greased up, looking well. The King Pins are looking real good. Both joints are great.
(...)
And brakes are adjusted, so you can drive away, Chuck. You got 100 part of air in those super signals in that bus, and she's ready to motor.
(...)
Having said that, okay, as Joe would say, the exhaust pipe isn't dragging. Nope. We found some clothes, angle wire. We got the Z-hole tied up with some extra antenna wire. Got all wired up. What about Field Day?
(...)
I attended two Field Days,
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two different groups.
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And the 95 group was much, much bigger than the other one, much better organized than the other one that I was at.
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And I, to say that, had a lot of fun. I enjoyed it. You know, you talk about radio operators, you want to talk about food, right? So, food was very good. I said to my wife sitting over here.(...) And I enjoyed it. I got to run a Yaesu DX10.
(...)
Yaesu DX10, I wanted to see what they are. I got to operate one of them. I can make some tubes. That's no problem. But Sunday afternoon,(...) I got to make, I actually got to make a fish wave. One contact wasn't a dupe. Everybody else you know, well, there's dupes, dupes, dupes, dupes. But it was a lot of fun anyhow. Had a lot of fun doing that.
(...)
And we look forward to it. The Winter Field Day, doing some more cooking for you guys. So, come with a big appetite, come. Field Day, Winter Field Day.
(...)
I believe that's all I have for now. I just back to you, Chuck. So, NA3CW, A8300H. Thank
you, Leon.
(...)
A8300H, NA3CW. Well, it was quite a field day for sure. And while it was hot, it kind of got to me there at the end of the wrap up on Sunday afternoon. But it was not as hot as last year or two.
(...)
So, we'll take it.(...) And John, I concur on the noise. 40 was just noisy.
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It seemed like the receiver was just noisy. And I know that's not a noisy receiver.
(...)
We had the 710,(...) the AZU 710, to go to station. And it was just noisy.
(...)
But we,
(...)
and the signals weren't that strong either.
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But we muscled through it.
(...)
And, yeah, I was really, really pleased by the number of visitors and how many people we got on the air.
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And, extra gold star. Too bad he's not on here tonight. Extra gold star for Joe.(...) Yeah, KC3,(...) his call fell out of my head.
(...)
Joe was logging from the first minute to the last and coaching like crazy and just a real trooper. He just really, really sat in there. And he wasn't really interested in operating, but he was logging faithfully and quietly coaching other people, hams and non-hams alike, on how to get on. So, he did very well on the MAI, KC3 MAI.
(...)
I really enjoyed the hand washing station.(...) In that kind of conditions, it's easy to get your hands kind of sticky.
(...)
You know, you eat, you get sticky, and you handle cables, and they get kind of grimy. And you got, you know, lead deposits from the insulations and all that kind of stuff. So, it's nice to be able to just wash your hands. I really liked that.
(...)
I was really pleased. We had 30 signed in visitors. That was excellent.
(...)
It was a team effort.
(...)
We had rounded up between the BSK from the estate, COACS and people's voluntary COACS. We had plenty of COACS to do what we needed to do. And Joe supplied all the barrel connectors, and there's one missing because it's on my dresser. It didn't make it from my pocket back to the Joe's bucket. But other than that, they were all accounted for, and that was great.
(...)
So, you know, there's always, we'll have postmortem about this mid-July, but overall, I think it was a pretty successful operation. A lot of work, but a successful operation. So, before we go around to any more check-ins.(...) Digital or RF, please call any 3CW.
(...)
W1RC.
(...)
Whiskey 3, Juliet Alpha Mic, W3JAM. W1RC.
(...)
W1RC, W3JAM. Okay, gotcha, Mike. W1RC and Jeff, W3JAM. So, Mike, we're talking about, well, field day, of course. And I just wondered if you had any comments or any other comment on that regard. So,(...) Mike turned it over to Jeff, W3JAM, and then back to me. W1RC, NA3CW.
(...)
Yeah, very good, Chuck. Well, thank you for taking over the roundtable tonight. You're doing a great job, as always.
(...)
And I had to work. It was my last day at work, on a 13-month project, so I kind of had to see how many hours I could get in. I worked till 11 o'clock at night finishing up and, you know, doing reports and packing up all this stuff to send back to them. So, it wasn't for nothing, but I kind of missed field day, and that was sort of toying with the idea. It'd be kind of fun to drive down there and see all you guys and do field day with you, but not this year. But maybe next year, we'll see. It's quite a ride, though. That's the problem. It's quite a ride, as Joe will attest, because when Joe comes up to near fest, it's the same thing. So, we'll see.
(...)
Anyways, I'll turn it over to Jeff to W3JAM and the Thursday Night Roundtable from W1RC in Marblehead, Massachusetts.
(...)
OK, very good, Mr. Mike. W1RC,
(...)
W3JAM out here this evening in Studio B, Chuck.(...) It's usually where I set up shop.
(...)
I'm just getting some stalls ready for tomorrow and flipped the big switch on.
(...)
And I heard your melodious tones on the roundtable, so I wanted to jump in.(...) While the jump in was good, I likewise missed field day this year and had a couple of things working against me. Number one was all the work here with our three extra guests of the equine variety that have been with us since early April. One of them actually went home,
(...)
but we still have two young horses in addition to the two we normally have.
(...)
And that's been quite a bit of work. And then I got worn down by a cold, particularly bad one, that just really, really did me in. And I didn't have any energy or motivation to do much of anything, but kind of keep up with the work here and survive.
(...)
And here we are. So luckily, all is well, much better now.
(...)
And down to just four horses. One had actually left, so still have the two guests.(...) So we'll see for how much longer. For how much longer I don't know. And as far as field day goes,
(...)
I was remiss in not offering to the group COACS. I guess I didn't mention it earlier on because I thought the COACS situation up at the field day site was in. I know that COACS was being procured.
(...)
And I thought that had been done, or I guess it's still in process. I would have gladly offered some of my stuff,(...) which I had brought out the last couple of years. I have plenty of it. And you're always welcome to it if you ever need it.
(...)
So that's a standing offer that goes without saying. And also, if you needed a rig, I would offer one of mine as well.
(...)
So I didn't make it this year. I'm hoping to get back with the program next year. I did miss it. I'll say that. I missed it, not being a part of it. And I had actually hoped, Chuck, to have my 857 here that I'm on now. Well, Joe's former 857, now my 857 here in Studio B with my off-center fed dipole and actually make some contacts on HF and donate to, or anywhere, I guess really, for field day and donate them to W3R. And with my state of affairs, I just didn't even get to putting the OCF up. I've got it built. I've got everything ready to go. I've got some en masse and supports for it, know where it's going. It's a matter of getting it in the air, and I just haven't done it. So that'll be coming along here,
(...)
hopefully soon.(...) I don't, I miss not having any HF capability at the moment.
(...)
So it sounds like, from what I've heard, all the things you were talking about, Chuck, and I've heard a few others talking about it, it sounded like it went fairly well. I know we did get knocked out of commission here on Saturday night.
(...)
I presume you did down in Ludwig's corner as well. We had a thunderstorm roll through here.
(...)
And it certainly would have knocked me off the air. I didn't even fire up this rig out here because of proximity lightning and stuff, and had to basically shut everything down and ground the antenna.
(...)
So that was a no-go for a part of Saturday night. I know the weather was generally acceptable, but there were some frisky thunderstorms, we'll just say, going through the area.(...) So, Mike, it's not a distance problem for me. I think I'm only about seven miles as the crow flies, or as the car drives, maybe less as the crow flies to the field day site from here.
(...)
Anyway, those are my comments, Chuck, and good to hear you. And back to you, NA3CW, W3JAM.
(...)
Very good, W3JAM, NA3CW. Any last call in for round two?
(...)
Okay, nobody can say we didn't wait.(...) So for round two,
(...)
we had a couple dropouts here. So we got to begin with CR, WHCRW, turn it over to Bill, KC3OK,
(...)
AF3Z, WA3KFT, KC3YSM,
(...)
KC3SQI, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, W3KF, WA3VEE, Charlie Sine,
(...)
Leon, NAA3LH,
(...)
Mike WNRC and Tail Gunner is W3JAM.(...) So back to UCR for round two. This is NA3CW.
(...)
Very good Chuck. I'm going to say 73 to all. I look forward to the autopsy meeting. I have a couple of comments and with that we'll catch you on the next one.(...) Bill, pick it up. OOK, WHCRW.
(...)
WHCRW, KCC300OK, thanks CR. Have a great night. And for me, don't have too much more.
(...)
Yeah, I agree. I think there are a lot of improvements to the setup. I think it's getting significantly easier each year and that's the way it should be.(...) I don't have bonus points added up yet. Look forward when George gets back he'll probably touch base with Travis and maybe like last year, we'll also get together, sit down and I think it was in Lionville and we'll total everything up. And Ron, I think I know you've told me you've got I think all the documentation between you and I, I think we have everything for the bonus points.
(...)
I haven't seen totals. I have to assume we did have at least five youth under 18. Sounds like it and it sure looked like it. So if that's the case, that's great. There's five contacts with 20 points each.(...) So that's about it for me. I got a new side. I just was really happy to see how many visitors were there, how many youth were there and there were older people there that getting on the air. So I think it was a success period. So with that, I'll say 73 everybody have a good night and I'll turn it over to Jim. AF3Z, KCC300OK.
(...)
Excuse me, AF3Z, yeah, very good. Yeah, I agree Bill. I was amazed at how many people came through, how many visitors, how many got on the air.
(...)
The GoToStation crew, Chuck and I guess Joe, KCC3MAI as you were talking about for logging there. So very good.
(...)
And
(...)
when I was on, I was on 40 meters the whole time.(...) Of course, on CW you've got narrower filters and stuff and signals sounded pretty good and I didn't notice unusual noise but I wasn't really paying attention either.
(...)
But for a while, where was I? Maybe I was logging for somebody on Sideband.
(...)
Yeah, I was I think. And after a while, listening to the Sideband signals when they're slicing off frequency from you, you know, they go real high screechy kind of thing.
(...)
And my ears got tired of hearing all the Sideband hash and noise from all the stations around us. But anyway,
(...)
so even on a quiet band during a contest, Sideband's frequencies are probably noisy.
(...)
But we had a good time and I was mainly on Saturday night late into Sunday morning early.
(...)
And yeah, it was good. I had a good time with it.
(...)
Oh, and the storm, Jeff, I think you mentioned the storm.
(...)
We saw it coming and sort of heard some rumbles or something if I recall and we disconnected antennas and everything.
(...)
And we got very low rain, just about no wind.
(...)
And it really wasn't a big event for us. It seemed to go north so that's why it probably hit two.
(...)
So Greg and I, to be three,
(...)
DIB, DBI,(...) DIB,
(...)
Greg and I were parked next to each other and we talked, had a nice chat through the storm while we were waiting it out.(...) And there was enough non-rain that we were able to have our doors open or windows open to keep talking from car to car.(...) So there you go.(...) John, W-A-3KFT, AF3Z.
W-A-3KFT. Okay, Jim, very good.
(...)
We had five Alpha plus Go to and one fella was in his pickup truck for the entire weekend. I think he cheated. He probably had air conditioning.
(...)
Because he wasn't under a tree. He was wide open spaces in the parking lot.
(...)
But he was using an NFET.(...) I'm not sure what radio he was playing with.
(...)
One of the more modern ones because it was mechanically small, okay,
(...)
like an ICOM 706 or something like that. I don't know.
(...)
But I was using an old one,(...) an ICOM, what is it, 730 I think it is.
(...)
And it has some serious weight to it. But still external 12-volt power supply.
(...)
And we went from there.
(...)
We had three, no four tents,
(...)
four tents set up or canopies, whatever you want to call them. A roof, no sides. Let's put it that way.
(...)
And that kept us out of the sunshine and otherwise wide open spaces. And as I said before, my generator ran for the full 24 hours. We didn't even shut it down when we topped off the gas tank. We got pretty good at that.
(...)
But it has a big five-gallon gas tank and it's long run.
(...)
And didn't quit on us in terms of low oil.
(...)
Now prior to field day, I lost electricity at this house.
(...)
Four days plus an hour.
(...)
Four days straight, no electricity.
(...)
So that generator was running my refrigerator and freezer and a few lights and a fan. And this time of year, it got really hot in the house.
(...)
I didn't have sleepless nights, but restless they were.
(...)
This just way too hot.
(...)
But I certainly tested the generator out. And during those four days, it consumed enough oil. But the low oil cutoff killed the generator. I had to laugh. I had just finished gassing it all up and everything.
(...)
And it ran for about 30 seconds and quit.
And I thought, oh my God,(...) what did I do?(...) But I said, well, that's it. It's the oil. And it was. And it wasn't that low, but it was low enough for the cutoff switch to do its thing.(...) So we added some oil and one yank on the rope and we were back in business again.
(...)
So I pretested the generator for four days straight.
(...)
And so a 24-hour(...) shindig was not a big deal.
(...)
Not for field day anyway.
(...)
We did have two generators, but(...) did not use the second one. We just used mine.
(...)
And as I said, we were 5-alpha plus GoDA(...) and computer logging. And the last time I looked, there were 180 QSOs. But that does not include the GoDA and what they did toward the end of operating and so forth.
(...)
So with that, over to you, Steve. KC3YSM, WA3KFT.
(...)
Hi, John. Thank you very much, WA3KFT. This is KC3YSM. And fortunately, John, you had a generator. Keep your refrigerator running,(...) unfortunately. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to run the air conditioning. It's nothing worse than tossing and turning on a hot, sweaty night. But oh, very, very good. Yeah, it sounds like you guys had a great time at this summer field day. I'm sorry I missed it, but I was busy being a cowboy in Colorado.
(...)
But good to be home. And Chuck, for a fill-in, it seems like you've done this a time or two. So thank you very much. Not much more to say. I'm going to turn it over to who to have here. Wayne, KC3SQI. This is KC3YSM. Clear. Thank you, Steve.(...) KC3YSM. This is KC3SQI.
(...)
Yeah, I've tested my generator
(...)
here at the house a couple times this summer already. When John went for four days, I just got lucky. I only had the generator here running for nine hours.(...) But it's big enough that it can take care of the full air conditioner too. So I didn't really know that the power's off.
(...)
But yeah, just right now, getting my new mast ready to go up. It should be going up this week.
(...)
If this heat will break a little bit, give me a chance to get out there and work in the yard.
(...)
Need to put a cross arm on it up just underneath the top of the mast
(...)
for the 10 meter and 6 meter and drop the offset dipole and put that over to it. And then it's ready to put the winch on it and see if I can make it stand up with everything else loaded on it.
(...)
Okay, with that, we will turn it over to Ron, WA3BE. This is KC3SQI. Very good, Wayne. Thank you much. KC3SQI and the group WA3BE.
(...)
Boy, I've got some good thoughts here that were triggered by some of the comments. First off, I have a travel mug that is a lost and found item. I believe this is from last year's field day and I've watched it. It's been sitting around and if anybody has lost a silver, it's a silver cylindrical travel mug like you would put hot coffee on in in the morning and so on and so forth. If you could contact me if you belong to this travel mug, I'll be delighted to get it to you sometime. That's number one. I found out the name today by visiting the local hardware store in the vicinity up there. I had to go up there to pick up my antenna, my egg beaters and stuff, and so I visited local hardware stores to see what that was all about and I learned that that hill that we're on is called Black Horse Hill.
(...)
I never knew that before, so it's interesting.
(...)
It's north of Exston. It's Bactin Hill, but that is Black Horse Hill. Of course, you pass Black Horse Road on the way up from the south, so there had to be some connection there.(...) Steve, YSM, I will get back to you tomorrow. I was just exhausted yesterday, so I have some thoughts on your question that you asked me. Jeff, if you're still listening,
(...)
W3JAM,
(...)
we've been talking about the coaxial on the air. You probably missed that as busy as you are, but the order for 3,000 feet has been acknowledged. I need to work out the delivery as opposed to the buy truck to my driveway. It'll be about 300 pounds worth of coax,
(...)
and it will be somewhere mid-end of July, so that's what's going on there.(...) The reason that this didn't happen before field day was the manufacturer,
(...)
which is Orion Cable, the parent company of Davis RF, who we order from, they just didn't have it, so it was a supplier issue, not necessarily ours. We just kind of waited because we knew we weren't going to need it for field. We weren't going to be able to do anything before field day, so we just concentrated on other things, but now that is in the works, so that should be coming. There is some antenna work up at the site, we'll probably talk about that before winter field day, we'll probably talk about that at the mid-July hotwash.
(...)
Bill,
(...)
oh okay, if there's anything you need from me, please let me know, I'll be delighted.
(...)
The only time I'm not available is Saturday.(...) I've got some future in-law lunch all the way up in northern New Jersey, I don't know what that's all about, but nonetheless I'm kind of tagging along with that,
(...)
but other than that, in fact I'm even going to miss the VEA session in Delaware,
(...)
so let me know if you need anything, and there's a couple more things here on the list, that's about it.
(...)
I count at least five youth under the age of 18,
(...)
who not only visited but operated to go to the station, so I could come up with those names with no problem at all, and let's see,
(...)
the big event outside of field day,
(...)
going on right now for anyone who is working HF, is 13 colonies,
(...)
very very big event every year.(...) I've worked both, I got what's called a clean sweep, worked every colony,(...) all the original 13 colonies, for both WA3 and K3DTS.
(...)
I'm just about sitting here, figuring out, just completing a log ready to submit it, and also for, there is a special station which is Whiskey Mike 3,(...) Papa Echo November, a WM3PEN, which is run by Filmont Radio Club, and our own W3I. And last story I promise,
(...)
is that when you're working a contest,
(...)
and you know the person on the other end, and I told Steve on Sunday that if I worked him, I would call him out by name.
(...)
You know the other person by name, you say,
(...)
WM3PEN, this is Whiskey Alpha 3, Victor Echo Echo, you're 5'9" Pennsylvania Steve,(...) and that really makes it a lot of fun. So I encourage anyone who wants to have some fun with a really good patriotic event to work 13 colonies.
(...)
Last thought for sure, Whiskey 4 Alpha,
(...)
or sorry, it's either Whiskey 4 Alpha or K4 Alpha, the 250th upcoming anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Nice bunch of guys down south running that as well. So nice HF activity going on here this last couple days in the VEE Shack.(...) Chuck, thanks again, I'm going to say 7'3" and I'll probably listen out here, but time for me to go horizontal.(...) All this HF and DXing, or not DXing, but all this HF stuff, I think ZRF's getting to me.(...) Okay, let's see who gets it next. It goes to Leon,(...) AA3LH, and thanks to you and Gene for feeding us on Sunday. Great to see both of you. AA3LH to transmit WA3VEE.
(...)
Thank you, Ron. I'm glad we could do that for you guys. So WA3VEE, this is Alpha Alpha 3 Lima Hotel. It was a blast. My wife really enjoyed cooking for you guys, and I enjoyed eating there. I had a lot of fun there, so we had a great, great time there.(...) Nice to cool, breathe under the bus, so I had to get out here to keep the microphone. The mic cord is not that long. Oh, by the way, I got to say this, just got to say this, the crappy bra stuff that some of the guys called it, ladder line 450 ohm, ladder line, that is a bra wire that holds parts in the insulation.
(...)
We're using that to go ahead and have the exhaust pipe wired up. Just got to tell you that crappy bra stuff is good for something.(...) If it's not good for transmitting, it's good for holding the exhaust pipe. Just got to say that, you know, get that off my chest.
(...)
Yeah, we had a real good time.(...) There, just hanging out. I know it was hot, but that's the way it is. The wintertime, it'll be cold, and that's the way it is. You just put up with it. If you want to have fun, you got to do what you got to do to have fun. And we had a lot of fun meeting people and talking to people and just being there, working radios was a whole lot of fun. All right, it goes over to W1RC, W1RCA3OH.
(...)
Yeah, AA3OH and the Thursday night roundtable. This will be W1RCO. Kind of interesting, listening to all the people that had a fun time at Field Day.(...) I used to like to go to Field Day. I didn't operate much at Field Day. That's not my kind of operating style. I'm not a contestor, and so I tend to get on and, you know, want to talk to the other station for a while. You can't do that during Field Day. I found that out. Well, I didn't actually find it out. I was down in Rhode Island a couple years ago. My friends at the Providence Amateur Radio Club invited me to come over there. And I went over there and I stayed there overnight. I was with one of my buddies there, and I got up in the morning, and one of the tents was occupied, and the radio was on. I went in and started tolling around. And I said, "Well, behold, I hear a friend of mine on there." And I called him, and I was talking to him. And some guy comes up to me and says, "What are you doing? Who are you?" You know.
(...)
I just sort of looked at him like, "Yeah." You know, and then Frankie, my buddy, came over, and he said, "Who is this guy?" "Oh," he says, "That's Mr. Mike." He said, "What's he doing?"(...) Frankie says, "Pretty much anything he wants."
(...)
I said, "Well, I made one contact." Anyways, he was not happy, but we laughed about that. Anyways, goes over to Jim, W3JAM, and the Thursday night roundtable. This is W1RC.
(...)
Okay, Mr. Mike, 1RC, W3JAM. Very good. Very good.
(...)
Continuing wrapping up my workout here. So the timing is good.
(...)
And I was, actually, I have the 985 in this rig and a couple of slots, and I do have the tone squelch active on one of the slots. And I noticed the audio was dropping out intermittently.
(...)
I don't know if there was a repeater issue or something else was going on. Well, something else is going on. Apparently, quite a decent band opening. So every time WS2R in North Jersey comes on, I'm sure you hear that repeater at the field day site here on 985.
(...)
Probably not in the south of Chester County, but certainly in the northern part of Chester County. It is full scale and overtaking the Parksburg repeater tonight, completely wiping it out when it comes on at this location anyway.(...) And that doesn't happen much, but with a decent band opening, that's usually all it takes.
(...)
And that's why I usually like to have a directional antenna available. And at the moment, I do not. So when you have an omnidirectional antenna, you are really at the mercy, well, we're always at the mercy of the propagation gods, but especially when you don't have the option to have a Yagi or something directional. And I see that a lot on some of the UHF frequencies I have programmed in here. Repeaters that are very strong, like, for example,
(...)
the machine over in Lebanon County, which is part of N3KZ, I think that's Eagle Peak, Honey Eagle's Peak. And that booms in here. The problem is, I get multi-path replica copies of the darn thing, and it's unusable 99% of the time. Luckily, I can obviously work through Valley Forger or even some other options, but it's a shame that repeater booms in from Lebanon County, as several others do at this location. Anyway, next year for Field Day for sure, I want to get back with it, hopefully, and be able to operate down there.
(...)
I do enjoy contest style operating, VHF contest mainly, although this year I did not participate in either the January or the June VHF contest, but most years I at least operate in one of them.
(...)
But with me decommissioning all of the antennas on Studio A, this was not one of those years.
(...)
So I kind of missed that this year, but I don't mind that style of operating,(...) and if I can get into a groove, I can usually knock off contacts pretty quick succession. And the idea would be to do that on CW as well. I started messing around with CW at Field Day last year.
(...)
Okay, timeout timer. I still haven't adjusted the timeout on this rig, but probably keeps me honest with respect to 985 timeout. Anyway, Chuck, that's all I have. I'll say 7-3 to you and the entire group.
(...)
And from Northern Chester County this evening, this is W3JAM. Back to you, Chuck.
(...)
Well,
(...)
this is NHRCW.
(...)
Good round table, good round table.
(...)
Before we close down, do we have anyone else that was just hanging around lurking and listening or just tuned in to get on our list? Please call NHRCW.
(...)
Great mic, Foxtrot Bravo.
(...)
Yeah, just turned it on here a little bit ago.
(...)
E3, EMR.
(...)
Silence ]
(...)
We got, uh, got Mike K-3-M-S-D. K-3M-S-D.
(...)
Just had a brain freeze. And KV3-EMS.(...) Mike, you got any, uh, any comments about Field Day before we, uh, shut this number down? Go ahead.
(...)
KV3-M-S-D. Yeah, I had a real fun time and, uh, working the 6-meter, uh, sideband and 2-meter sideband. Uh, a little bit of Saturday, a little bit of Sunday morning.(...) Um, thank you very much, Braun, for, uh, having your radio there, uh, set up for that. And, uh, yeah, it was fun, it was fun. Um,(...) it was cool on 6 because, like, the operators were nice and, uh, it was, you know, far between, but, like, we were able to make the contact, hit enter button on the log, and then chit chat a little bit.(...) And people were telling me, "Oh, turn the beam this way or that way," and you look for these guys up in Staten Island and look for these guys down in, uh, Virginia or whatever. And part of the direction, I just turned it and biz Obazo there they were. So, uh, it was fun, you know, we got to chit chat a little bit and, uh, make the contacts.(...) Um,
(...)
2-meter was, uh, empty, but, uh, had a couple, maybe, like,(...) yeah, two or three or so, I'm not sure. Um, but, uh, it was fun, very good fun. Um, crap, I don't know who it goes to, I'm sorry. Uh, back to you, Chuck. I had A3-CZU in the group. A3-EMS-P.
(...)
Thanks, Mike. Uh, go ahead, Chris.
(...)
A3-EMS, thanks for the late check in here real quick.
(...)
I had, uh, worked a little late today since, uh, obviously we're not working tomorrow, so,
(...)
I think it's some stuff finished up there, but, uh, yeah, field day, great time. Um, had a chance to talk at the work bench for a second there, but, um, we, uh, got to make some decent contacts on 20-meter, and that was my first time on the HF at all. So, that was pretty cool. Um, I was kind of telling Joe, I definitely want to get my general now. Um,(...) I just, field day kind of really opened up a lot of new paths for me that I kind of knew were there, but until you actually experience it firsthand,(...) it's definitely a lot different, so.
(...)
So, yeah, that's my, that's my plan, how to get my general so I can, if there's other bands, and, uh, it was a great experience, and, uh, I know half the people in here were up there and very helpful as well.(...) So, yeah, that's, that's about it though. A3-EMS.
(...) Thanks, Mike. Thanks, Chris, and, uh, good comments all around.
(...)
So, thanks to all the stations for checking into the 985 Roundtable, and a big thank you to Joe, W3GMS, for making the repeater available for the Roundtable. You are invited to use the repeater often, and that's a great way to show that you appreciate the gift of 985 to the amateur radio community.
(...)
And we hope to hear you again on Monday evening at 8 p.m. for the 985 Workbench.
(...)
This concludes the Roundtable for tonight. Feel free to stick around and keep the repeater hot.
(...)
And have a great night, good night, a great holiday weekend.
(...)
7-3, this is N8-3-CW clear.