W3GMS Thursday Night Roundtable

In this episode of the 985 Roundtable comes from the W3GMS 146.985 MHz repeater and centers on a deceptively simple question that opens the door to amateur radio history: Do you own an ARRL Handbook—and if not, what radio books shaped your learning?

Operators from across Pennsylvania, the U.S., and Canada share perspectives on classic and modern technical references, from early ARRL handbooks and antenna texts to commercial licensing manuals, vintage tube-era engineering books, and modern digital libraries. The discussion highlights how knowledge has been passed down through generations of radio operators, how learning styles have shifted from print to digital, and why foundational theory still matters.

The conversation also weaves in updates from the field day site, antenna work in progress, Winter Field Day planning, repeater activity, and community events. As always, the tone is informal, educational, and collaborative, reflecting the mentoring culture that defines the 985 Roundtable.

Format: Open roundtable discussion
Net: 985 Roundtable on W3GMS 146.985 MHz
Recorded: January 8, 2026
Host: Joe, W3GMS

What is W3GMS Thursday Night Roundtable?

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

Thank you.

I'm Joe, W3GMS, located in Urseldon, Pennsylvania, and I will be the host for tonight's roundtable session.

We meet every Thursday evening at 8 p.m. on the W3GMS Parksburg Repeater, 146.985 MHz.

The PL tone is 100 Hz.

For tone squelch on Receive, use 94.8.

Take a look at the repeater website located at www.w3gmsrepeater.com.

Besides a roundtable, this repeater also hosts the 985 workbench on Monday evenings at 8 p.m.

The workbench focuses on answering technical questions as well as exploring topics related to setting up and operating your station.

Newcomers are very welcome and encouraged to check in.

If you can't stay long, feel free to call in during the short time check-in at the beginning of the roundtable.

Our discussions are very informal, passing the mic around in the order in which the station's called in.

So I encourage you to note who checks in right after you, so you will be able to turn the mic over to that station when you finish your comments.

We usually begin with a question, a discussion starter.

You can answer that if you wish and comment about other subjects as well.

If you have any suggestions or questions about the roundtable, please contact Phil, KC3 CIB, or Jim, AF3Z, and both are good on qrz.com.

Be aware that on occasion 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 check in using Echolink or AllStar on 985, you need to register with us.

Directions for doing so can be found on the website.

Once again, w3gmsrepeater.com.

Also, when the intermod is present before starting a transmission, give a short call.

Am I getting in okay?

Once the host confirms that, then you can share your longer comments.

Now, don't be too quick to talk.

Pause a couple of seconds before hitting the press-to-talk switch.

This is good repeater etiquette, and the pause are especially helpful to those on AllStar and Echolink.

When you do click the PTT button, wait a second before starting to talk.

We don't want to miss what you say first.

The repeater takes a moment for the repeater to process your PL tone.

Also, the repeater has a three-minute timeout timer.

If you talk for more than three minutes without letting up on your mic button, the repeater completely shuts down until you release your PTT switch.

So every two to three minutes, release the mic button just for a moment, and then you can continue.

Tonight's question for the session is, do you have an ARRL handbook?

If not, what other radio books do you have?

And please limit the listing of the books to five books maximum.

We don't want to hear every book that the hams have been in ham radio for 50 or 60 years, every book that they have.

So again, do you have an ARRL handbook?

If not, what other radio books do you have?

And limit five books maximum.

So that takes care of that.

And at this point in time, we're going to start the short-term check-in list.

Short-term or short-time check-in list.

Please call W3GMS.

Oh, this is KN3I.

Whiskey 3, Juliet Alpha Mike.

W3JAM.

Victor Echo 5, Sierra Delta.

KB3, ZUV, via Echo Link.

That's KB3, Zulu Uniform Victor.

Adam in Romansville.

Very good.

I acknowledge KN3I, W3JAM.

And a wonderful check-in from up there in Canada.

VE5, Sierra Delta.

Welcome on board.

And it's a real pleasure having you check in here tonight.

And KB3, ZUV.

And what I did tonight is I combined, I didn't specify digital check-ins and analog check-ins.

I wanted to see how it would work.

And everybody left enough time that it seemed to prove successful.

So, one more time.

Any digital or analog check-ins for the short-time list?

This is W3GMS.

K3KB.

SW1RC.

Acknowledge K3KB and W1RC. Last call, any additional stations? For the short time list, either digital or analog.

This is W3FES, Fred Coatesville.

Got you, Fred. And that was the last call. I trust everybody checked in. So the order on the short time list will be KN3I, W3JAM, Victor Echo 5 Sierra Delta, KB3ZUV, K3KB, W1RC, and W3FES.

That's our short time check-in list for this evening. Again, my question for the session is, do you have an ARL handbook? If not, what other radio books do you have? And limit that list to five books maximum.

KN3I, W3GMS.

Good evening. This is KN3I, John, in Phoenixville on All-Star. And Joe, thanks for everything. Great Peter and him being net control. And hello to everybody.

so yeah I've got an ARRL handbook

so I guess that handles that

I've got probably

I don't know at one point I seem to be trying to collect one for every year they made

the ARRL sent

published one but I realized

that was foolish so I sort of have a smattering

through the years I like to

kind of compare how it's evolved

and I don't know what the latest one is that I have

it's not the very latest

I don't like spending money on anything really

but I think it might be 2016 or something

I picked it up in a used bookstore

so radio handbook's pretty good

from SAI W6

I think it's SAI I forget

there's some books by the Radio Society of Great Britain out there

I have a few of those

and Frederick Terman's Radio Engineering Handbook

he has a few different variations of that that he wrote with other folks

it's an old timer

pretty good book if you're into vacuum tube technology

but it also has basic stuff

so that's about it I didn't do a whole lot this week in ham radio

working on restoring my Ranger and a Viking Valiant and a DX100

got them sort of lined up trying to find time

so that's it let's send it over to J.A.M. Jeff

this is KN3I

okay very good John KN3I

from W3JAM

on walkabout

I found one outdoor cat

I was giving them some treats

the other one disappeared

but multitasking per usual

and still on hiatus from my choir rehearsals on Thursday night

so very glad to be able to hop on to the round table

which on the short timers table

the smaller table is pretty big tonight

but good to hear you John

John of course my neighbor

on the other side of Ellis Woods Road

and somehow or the other manages to have a Phoenixville post office

whereas I have Pottstown

but yes

the

I do have an ARRL handbook

I have several in fact

much like

much like John KN3I

I've got them

not one for every year

but I think I have one for every decade

going back to the 1940s

so I

A for the informational value of them

but also to see what was what

back in that particular time

in case I need a good AM transmitter design

a pair of 813s modulated by a pair of 813s

or something of that nature

I can look it up in the ARRL handbook

or so I suppose

but anyway there you go

and I have a number of other radio books

have a lot of the stuff that I brought home from Lockheed

when I retired

various projects over the years

when I

notice a lot of the military folks that I worked with

always had their pro gear

when they rotated in and out

they always took their pro gear with them

so I have a lot of pro gear

that is now in Tupperware tubs in my barn

probably three Tupperware containers full of it

probably should let it all go

but I hate to get rid of good technical information

that one time did serve me well

and I have other miscellaneous things too

from TQ publications

a couple of really good radio books from them

and maybe some other things

that I'm not thinking of clearly right now

but yes

great question

and the library is full

perhaps too full

from the perspective of some

so anyway

I will listen out here

I am multitasking as per usual

but I will listen to as much of tonight's roundtable

as is humanly practicable

7-3

and happy new year to all

if I didn't say that already last week

from W3JAM

so over it comes to the Great White North

VE5SD to take it

W3JAM

Yeah, W3JAM

and the multitudes of Draco 5 Sierra Delta

Yeah, good evening to everybody here

and happy new year

all the way around

and hope you guys all had a great Christmas

and New Year's

in Saskatchewan here

it's a cool day today

I haven't looked to see what the temperature is

but I suspect it's around

maybe 10 degrees Fahrenheit

something like that

and we've got a few feet of snow on the ground

and to answer your questions

oh yes

I have quite a number of editions

of the radio handbook

and a lot of printed

ham radio books

and more recently

in the last number of years

I've kind of gone to Kindle

and PDF versions

so I've got hundreds of books

that I can look at

on my iPhone or iPad

so it makes life a little bit easier

and we do have a lot of bookshelves

the old style books

but you know it's ironic

how you get used to that digital device

and never go back as often

with the other books

I'm finding at least

so thanks for letting me pop in here

I'll be listing out

and I apologize

I forgot the call sign of the gentleman I had to pass it to

but I'll be listing out here

just in the middle of making supper as well

so multitasking

so back to the next gentleman in there

Victor Echo Feist here Delta

and thanks for letting me pop in

okay VE5SD

this is KB3ZUV Adam

here in Romansville

and we got a Canadian ham on there from Saskatchewan

and speaking of Canada

I am back from Canada

which is why I missed the round table

while I was busy doing Christmas with my family two Thursdays ago

and then last Thursday

I was on vacation in Canada on New Year's Day

having a fancy dinner

I was in Quebec

with Rachel and the girls

we were doing a ski vacation

and we were having dinner at a fancy French restaurant

in Magog, Quebec

at this time last week

so I missed two round tables in a row

both they fell on a Thursday

and major holidays

and was busy doing stuff with the family

but it's good to be back from Canada

we had a lot of fun

it was very cold

it actually feels quite warm here by comparison

although I know it's actually still kind of chilly out there

but good to be back

and happy new year to everyone in the 985 community

Joe, to answer your questions about ARRL publications

I have three handbooks

I have the 2013 ARRL handbook

which I bought when I re-licensed

I was like, well, let's get caught up on things

so I had that in a nice hardcover

and then I have since gotten two used older handbooks

John KFT gave me a 1978 one in paperback

he gave that to me, I don't know, maybe like two or three years ago

it was in very good condition

and then I found at a ham fest

maybe Mullica Hill two years ago

a 1999 handbook

and the guy was in hardcover

and the guy gave it to me for like $3

and it was basically pristine

so I've got three decades covered

the 70s, the 90s, and the teens

I actually saw that ARRL has the 100th anniversary

which I think they came out with two or three years ago

that's actually on clearance in paperback

for not a lot of money

and honestly, since I haven't bought a new one in 10 years

I should probably pick that one up

so thank you for the reminder

to get that before they're gone forever

our 100th anniversary handbook

seems like a pretty good one to update

I know the 2013 one I have

is the 90th anniversary

so it seems like

I think it was Jeff was saying earlier

it seems like it's something that

would be good to pick one up

I think there's a certain amount of content

that gets repeated year to year

but after 10 years

I think they've pretty much

cycled through

and it's all pretty fresh at that point

that being said

I guess the other ARRL publications I have

is I do have an operator's manual

and I have an extra class study guide

or would be the other two ARRL publications I have

but that's five

three handbooks and two other publications

so I think I've got the question covered pretty well there

once again

have a good evening

let's keep the round table moving

and send it over to

Alan K3KB from KB3ZUV

7-3 clear

thank you Adam

KB3ZUV

this is K3KB

and Joe thanks for allowing us to use your repeater

I haven't been on in a while

so happy new year to everybody

I'll get right to the question

I've got

yeah

an ARRL handbook

it might be on parchment

or it might be on stone

I'm not sure

it's pretty old

so I go back

to the 70's

Kentucky Fried Turkey

I'm an old timer

but

so I've got one of those

I've got

I think

a Radio Shack

handbook

or manual

that says

five watts

to a thousand

that takes you from

the citizen's band

to amateur radio

and

I'm pretty sure

I think it's called

five watts

to a thousand watts

so it's

basically

gets you

everything you need to know

about getting a license

and that's

that's what I pretty much used

to get into

ham radio

because I liked radio

when I was into

citizen band

but got tired of it

like a lot of people

and I've got something on

FM repeaters

I'm not sure exactly

what the title is

I think it's an ARRL publication

but it's about

you know

getting

you know

access to repeaters

and protocol

and

good matters

and what not

on repeater usage

I'm sure I've got

a bunch of others

most recently

I like to

get digital

publications

because I can

keep track of them

a lot of the

publications I have

are like PDF files

digital files

and I

I'm not sure

exactly how many

I have

but I've got

quite a few

especially on things

you know

technical issues

that I'm interested in

so with that

I think that about

covers it

and over to

W1RC

this is K3KB

pick it up

yeah K3KB

and the Thursday night

round table

this is

W1RC

and say

good evening to everybody

and

special hello to

V5SD

out in Saskatchewan

boy I thought it would be

a little bit colder

than that out there

minus 10

that's warm

for you guys

at this time of year

or you know

30-40 below

Fahrenheit

the kind of stuff

anyways

it's good to have

another Canadian

on the repeater

because

my Canadian call

V2X Ray Lima

V2XL

although I live

down here

in the US

but

I'm Canadian

living in the US

so there you have it

books

yes

I do have

an ARRL

ad book

I've got a few of them

I've got

the 1965 edition

which is the one

I used

when I was studying

but

I didn't like it

very much

I had a much

better book

it's called

Electronic Communication

Robert Schrader

let me reset this

now the edition

I had was

I think

it was

this was in

when I was

studying

it was written

for

as a textbook

it was written

for

radio school

for people

going to get

commercial licenses

radio telegraph

or radio telephone

become ships

radio operators

and stuff like that

it's extremely

well written

it explained

a lot of the

concepts

in terms

that even I

could understand

them

I learned

so much

from that

book

they've had

several other

editions

have come out

until he

passed away

I also have

a collection

digital

books

manuals

I collect

them

I have

a couple

thousand

of them

and

I'm not

going to

go through

all the

titles

and I'm

not going

to discuss

any other

book titles

but

electronic

communication

Robert Schrader

if you want

to learn

how radios

work

and how

to operate

them

I recommend

that book

look around

online

you'll find

them

they're there

they're on

ebay

I think it's

fifth

sixth edition

is the current

one

you don't need

the current

one

you want

one from

the 70s

or so

where they're

real heavy

on vacuum

tube

knowledge

and stuff

if you're

interested

in boat

anchors

that's my

transmission

and I also

have

didn't take

note of

the station

that followed

I'm sorry

I'm not

very good

at that

but I'll

turn it

over to

him

W1RC

Fred that would

be you

W3FES

good to hear

you

W3GMS

thanks Joe

sorry about

that

W1RC

thanks

good evening

all to the

day

happy new

year

yes I do

have an

ARRL book

from 1992

to when I

was getting

licensed the

first two

licenses

so and I

also have a

ground book

too good

stuff

very good

stuff

great breakfast

this last

month

the turnout's

getting better

and better

and it's

always a great

time

thanks Joe

for the use

of the repeater

I'll say

73 to all

have a great

new year

talk to you

soon

73 from

W3FES

very good

Fred

let me just

take one

last call

for any

additions to

the short

time list

and then I'll

make some

comments and

then we'll

move on to

those that

can stick

around a

while

W3GMS

any short

timers

very good

okay well

great comments

I really

enjoyed that

I was

I've been

very busy

today so

that question

I thought

of that

question about

seven minutes

before the top

of the hour

at eight o'clock

and usually

Martha can

think a pretty

good question

but she was

just coming up

with blanks

tonight

anyway for my

collection I

of course I have

the museum and I

have the library

down there that the

Amish folks are

building will be

building and my

QST collection

starts in 1929

and I have I would say 95% of the handbooks from 1929 to say maybe 2000.

No, no, no, that's 2020.

I would say I have that large percentage.

And the only reason I have it is for my library.

But I do like the older ones.

There's really great information in the 29s and the 30s and so forth and so on.

So anyway, that's that.

My first handbook, my parents got me as a Christmas present when I was 12 years old, which was back in 1964.

So I have my original Christmas present, 1964 ARL handbook.

In fact, I picked up a second copy because mine is worn to the threads.

I've read that thing and read that thing and read that thing.

And back when I was a microminiature kid, it's very sentimental.

So that's my answer to the question.

KN3I, John, very good to hear you.

I was going to give you a phone call sometime.

I haven't heard you on the repeater.

I think you still have some family guests in.

Maybe that's what's been taken away from 985.

But great to hear you.

And I'm sure you have a bunch of ARL handbooks, as you confirmed, and very good on working on the boat anchor restoration.

Excellent.

W3JAM.

Oh, you sent me an email.

I think it was either yesterday or the day before.

I've been swamped.

But the answer to your question about the offer to me is a definite yes.

So I'll pick it up from you at whatever next breakfast you can make.

And keep in mind, we had 52 in attendance for our Christmas slash holiday 985 breakfast.

And I think the numbers are really, really going to be good for the January one as well.

Again, it's the third Friday of the month at 9 o'clock.

And the gifts came in.

The big, big, mega-buck gift came in that was stuck in the shipping with the shipping folks.

And I couldn't present it at the Christmas slash holiday breakfast.

We'll be presenting that in January for the January breakfast.

It's been very good, Jeff.

Yeah, I still have a lot of books from work and everything.

And I threw a lot of them away, but a lot of them, like magnetic design and some of the intricacies of switch mode power supply design,

I still have those.

I kept some of my material science books because I really like material science.

I thought I wasn't going to like the course, but it was a fantastic course and others.

So I have my favorite course books.

The rest I can't.

Derek, wonderful to hear you.

VE5, Sugar, Delta.

Derek is a longtime listener via All-Star to 985.

And many times when I look at the pie chart, he is on there.

And I tell him, get on and talk a little bit.

So I'm thrilled, Derek, that you've gotten on tonight.

And you sound excellent.

Excellent signal.

Audio quality and everything on All-Star.

And Derek has some repeaters up in his neck of the woods, as well as our All-Star connections and probably a lot more.

So sometime we'll have to get him on here so he can give a little dissertation on his communication system up in his neck of the woods.

So wonderful to hear you, Derek.

And I'm sure you do have many books.

KB3ZUV, Adam, glad you had a great trip up to Canada.

Martha and I are talking about a Canadian trip.

I've been to a few spots on business in Canada, mainly Montreal.

But, you know, we haven't seen a lot of it.

We did take a cruise, and they did stop at a few ports in Canada, and we really like that a lot.

So that's on our to-do list.

Very good on three handbooks.

And the 100th anniversary edition, maybe you'll plunk some cash for that one.

And that would be good.

And you have the operating manual for the extra class.

I wonder if it's expired.

I'm not sure.

Maybe you do have an extra class license.

I forget how far you propagate it down the amateur radio ranks.

Alan, great to hear you.

It's been a long time, and happy new year to you.

And yours?

I keep asking George when he mows lawns in your neighborhood, do you see Alan?

Nope.

Don't see you hiding your hair up him.

So I guess you've been indoors largely.

But very good on the handbooks.

And the Radio Shack handbook, 5 watts to 1,000 watts.

That sounds like an interesting one.

I've never heard of that.

Let's see here.

And I guess the 5 watts to 1,000 watts you used as you were getting into ham radio.

FM and repeater.

I believe that's a softbound book.

3 GMS for identification.

And I have that same one, too.

In fact, I use it as kind of a guiding light when I was designing 985.

That FM and repeater handbook has been around for a very, very long time.

And it's good.

It's very good.

1 RC, Mr. Mike.

Yeah, I'm sure you have a few handbooks kicking around.

And Robert Slater.

Did you say?

I think so.

And I'm not aware of that book.

So that sounds like a good one.

When I was studying for my commercial FCC license, I largely used the Amico series.

The Amico had a really, really good series of technical books preparing you for the examinations.

In fact, I used the Amico more than the AORL books when I was preparing for Novus, General, Advanced, and then ultimately Exeter.

So I don't know whether any of you folks have used the Amico books, but I liked them very much.

3FES, Happy New Year to you, Fred.

And I hope you're doing well.

And it was great, great seeing you at the Christmas slash holiday gathering.

And make some more of them, you know.

And very good on the 1992 handbook.

And thank you for the comments about the breakfast.

So that does it for that.

So at this point in time, it's when I grab another sheet of paper,

and we will start the list for the folks that can stick around a little while.

This is W3GMS.

We have nobody that's going to check in tonight on the long-term list.

W3GMS, last call.

And then, Thorndale Mike.

Great to hear you, Mike.

W3MFB, who's checking in on Echo, Echo Link tonight.

Very good.

Well, that's it.

I've allowed enough pauses.

If you're late to the game, I'm sorry.

So, let's see here.

We have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

We had eight stations tonight on the short time list.

For a total of nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen.

So, the head count is eighteen check-ins.

That's pretty good.

We had a very, very busy and good list for the short time ones tonight.

So, the rotation will be WA3, Victor, Echo, Echo.

NA3CW, Sir Luke or Lucas, KC3SCY, N3QNC, AA3LH, KC3OOK.

Bill, great to hear you.

AF3Z, KA3GLI, good deal David, KC3ZLI, and W3MFB, our tail gunner.

One last call, any additional stations?

Nothing.

Let me see a short report from GMS before I start.

I'll put myself on the list.

We had a great day today up at the Field Day site.

A bunch of us were up there, and George did a, WA3LVR did an excellent job of taking his air cannon

and getting it over some very, very tall trees.

And we had Tim there.

We had Chuck there.

We had myself there.

We had Ron there.

We had George there.

And CR.

Can't forget about CR.

And I don't see CR on any list here tonight.

So that's kind of strange.

Yep.

I don't hear, I don't see CR on any of the list.

Let me just take a standby.

CR, are you with us tonight, or did we wear you out today?

We're out.

But anyway, it was a very productive day.

Long day.

A lot of time up at this site.

The weather was absolutely perfect for getting all the new lines over the trees.

And with all kinds of challenges.

And it was just a good day.

Next step would be to actually hoist up the dipoles, which is easier said than done with

all the foliage and the other trees in the area.

But I'm sure it'll get done just like they got all the lines over the trees.

George has a wonderful, wonderful air cannon.

And it just does a great job.

And he's a very, very good shot, too.

So those antennas are way up in the air.

Okay.

WA-3 VEE, number one slot.

NA-3 CW.

KC-3 SCY.

N3 QNC.

AA-3 LH.

KC-3 OOK.

AF-3 Z.

KA-3 GOI.

KC-3 ZLI.

And W3 MFB.

Pick it up, Ron.

W3 GMS.

Great seeing you today.

It was mine, Joe.

Indeed.

Seeing everybody.

Great to be back in action here after the holidays.

And all the sicknesses and everything else.

W3 GMS and the Thursday night 985 roundtable.

WA-3 VEE over here in Westchester.

Very, very good.

Yes, it was a very good day today before I answered the question.

And I put out the, I sent you and Keith and everybody involved pictures of the SWR measurements I made on the tri-band beam.

Obviously, you're welcome to circulate those as well as some photos from our potato gun shoot today.

And yes, George is a master at that.

I can't believe how high up we got those there.

So, field day folks, we're going to have some good antennas up there.

There's no question about it.

And so, come on out and operate with us for sure.

Last weekend, last full weekend in January, 24th, 25th.

And we are registered on the Winterfield Day site.

And I'll be getting publicity out this weekend.

And also some invites for sure.

Okay.

So, my goodness.

Mr. Mike, I am so glad that you mentioned Electronic Communication by Robert L. Schrader.

That's the name, Schrader.

And that was my very, very, very first in my entire career, my very first electronics textbook.

And that was in Delaware Tech back in 1969.

And I still have that very book.

Of course, very treasured.

And that was a great book for commercial licensing preparation.

However, to do the license prep, I used Milton Kaufman for my second class in 1972.

And again, in 19...

And Edward M. Knoll for second class and first class in 1974.

So, there's a couple books there.

And yes, I do have the ARRL handbooks.

I have a number of them from notable years.

For instance, the year I was born and the year that I started my career, etc., etc.

So, that takes care of that.

Let's see.

So, I think that's it for the questions.

I'll turn it over to Chuck here.

And maybe you give a read on how things went today.

I had to leave to get home and feed some critters.

That's for sure.

NA3CW.

To take it.

WA3VEE.

NA3CW.

WA3VEE.

NA3CW.

Good evening, one and all.

Good to hear everybody on here.

Joe, could you give me a brief repeat on the question?

Because I came down a little bit late.

Actually, Patty was the one that...

I was involved in something.

Patty says, aren't you going to talk to the guys?

I said, oh, yes.

I ran downstairs.

So, what's a brief restate of the question, please?

Not a problem.

And thank her for reminding you.

Do you have a copy of an ARL handbook?

If not, what other radio books do you have?

Limited to five books max.

I put that last statement in in case John KFT broke in.

Go ahead.

Gotcha.

NA3CW.

I have a 2014 handbook.

It's the most recent one I have.

I also have a 1943 handbook.

And it's interesting from 1943 to 2014 how much of the really, really fundamental stuff is the same.

Just the same.

I mean, same pictures and everything.

I have an ARRL antenna physics book.

I've got an ARRL antenna book.

I've got a couple of copies of Hints and Kinks.

I've got Transmission Line Transformers, which I will not ever let my hands off of.

And I've got an old, I'm going over five, but sue me.

And I've got an old copy of Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur by Wes Hayward and Doug DeMaw.

And old guys will know who they are.

So we had a busy, full, challenging day getting ropes and pulleys and halyards up in the trees.

Now they're up there.

They're higher than they've ever been, I believe.

But the 10,000 little fingers of sticks and twigs and foliage grabs at everything and really makes a challenge.

Not to mention, that hillside is like working on a roof that's covered with rocks, ball bearings, and ankle-deep leaves.

So it was tough for us old fossils getting around.

At one point, I tripped over a branch that was buried under leaves and went flat face down.

I didn't hit my face.

But I came up totally unscathed, not even a boo-boo on my knee.

So, yeah, the next go-around, we will put dipoles in the air with a representative piece of coax to tune them in.

So I anticipate an hour to an hour and a half per antenna.

And then we'll get the coax lengths and run that coax out, divide them up, and Scott will get some and I'll get some.

We'll put connectors on them.

So the, I think the most difficult part and the most difficult scheduling part is now done.

So there you go.

So over to Sir Luke, KC3SCY and A3CW.

All right, thanks for turning it over to me, Chuck.

This is KC3SCY.

And Joey, thanks for hosting the net and letting us use the repeater here.

So for the, we'll get right to the question.

Yes, I do have a couple handbooks here.

I have two or three from the early 30s and then two or three from the 40s and two or three from the 50s.

And then I think I have one from 1964.

And so I've been reading those and they have a lot of good information on them, in them.

And then I have tons of other books here.

So lately I've been working on my transmitter I've been building for a ham down in Delaware.

And transmitter is 95% done.

And the power supply, that's what I've been doing here.

I've been drilling holes for the transformer and the choke.

So I kind of have everything, all the meters and transformers and the choke laid out.

And the font style clips.

The only thing I haven't really laid out is the filter cap and I forget what it is.

It's a 10K 5 watt resistor or something.

And I also need to figure out where that's going.

So I'm working on that here.

And I've been working on my Max audio processor.

So we'll keep it moving here.

And we'll turn it over to N3QNC.

This is KC3SC1.

Well, thank you there, Sir Luke.

I'm assuming that's the way we're addressing you now, Sir Luke.

This is Joe, N3QNC, here in Gap.

Great to hear about everyone's day here today.

That's really great.

I'm certainly enjoying this near spring weather.

I'm calling it the spring of deception.

Just to remind us that there's 11 seasons here in Pennsylvania, not just four.

Quick story on the ARRL handbook and other affiliated books that relate to the radio.

My grandfather, K3OWI, who has long since been a silent key, had quite the extensive library.

And when he passed, my father and I, N3UO, we went down there to pick up some radio equipment and such,

and only to find that, due to some family dynamics, they actually discarded all of it.

So he had an entire basement that was just chock full of radio equipment.

He was actually a merchant marine.

Long story there.

But stowed away as a sailor, went down to Antarctica, and was also stationed in Alaska.

I used to speak to my grandmother on CW way back in the day in the 50s.

So long lineage there.

And missed opportunity as far as getting extra literature.

Myself, I do have the ARR handbook.

From 1993, when I was originally ticketed.

And then I got it again in 12.

And it looks like I also have it from 2020.

And those are the only ones I have.

I do have some really interesting books from W5YI, when the no-code first came out in technicians in the early 90s.

A lot of interesting stuff there.

So yeah, and special thanks, Joe.

Thank you very much for hosting.

And these are the repeater.

And AA3LH to take it.

And 3QMC.

Thank you, K3QNT.

All right, this is AA3LH.

Yeah, bus.

Get under that bus again after this cold weather.

Look at what all the salt did to that bus.

Oh, it ate the wires off.

I hope the exhaust stuff.

Oh, my goodness.

What all that salt did.

All that repair worked on over the next few weeks.

Well, all right.

So much for the wheel bearings looking good.

Then the engine oil good.

The truck's got lots of fuel.

So, Joe, put the fuel down.

Put that fuel to the tool, Joe.

All right.

Yes, I have.

I have an ARRL handbook.

I have an ARRL antenna book.

And I have an ARRL.

It's only going to mention three.

It's radio antennas for small spaces.

I like that.

When I travel and go places and see what I can put up and what I can put together and assemble so I can talk.

Those are the three books that I have.

I got this radio antennas for small spaces.

And when we'd sign up for ARRL and renew your...

And they would send you a little gift for paying your $49 in it.

And they would send you that and you would end up with a gift.

So, I got several of those.

But, yes.

Yes, I do use the radio books, the antenna books.

And try and make an antenna as good as I can make it for what it is.

And that...

So, the books are helpful.

I mentioned that one about the radio antennas for small spaces.

For newer people here who are on it that maybe...

Or people living in HOAs and stuff that they can't put up.

Big antennas.

I recommend that book for that.

All right.

It goes over to Mr. Bill.

KC3.

Oh, okay.

The guy with big antennas.

A3OH.

KC3OOK.

Thank you, Leon.

Before I go on, am I coming in okay tonight, Joe?

I'm on the little antenna.

I would say you're coming in like a box of rocks.

That's the rocks in my head you hear rattling.

Well, good evening, everyone.

I guess to answer the question first, yes, I have one.

And it's a 1972.

And quite appropriate for the old radios.

And I do refer to that quite a bit.

And the other four I will list is a free book at Joe's that Chuck strongly recommended.

And I have been reading it.

It's very good.

It's called The Beam Antenna Handbook by William Moore, W6SAI.

And from years ago on here, another recommendation, which is The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill.

I have the third edition.

That, I must admit, is pretty advanced for me.

And I also have one copy of the ARRM Antenna Handbook.

And the fifth one, even though it's not a book, I don't know what you would call it.

Maybe a booklet.

But thanks to Joe, I have a fairly extensive collection of electric radio.

And for many, many years, it's pretty complete.

I don't know how many.

I might be wrong when I say 200, but if it isn't 200, it's not far off.

So those are mine for the list tonight.

And it sounds like you guys had a great day today.

And I would say any time you're working with trees in the woods with rope, that sounds tedious.

But great job, guys.

So with that, I'll turn it over to Jim.

A-F-3-Z-K-C-3-O-O-K.

Okay.

Very good there, Bill.

Thank you.

A-F-3-Z here.

A couple quick comments.

Chuck talking about that hill at the field day site.

I have skinned some knees and stuff up there, too.

Avoided serious injury, but that is terrible trying to walk around up there and work up there.

So anyway, that's part of the security system.

When they attack over the hill, they'll all fall down.

And the other thing, Joe, I guess we'll see a Brinks truck at the Tin Bird at the next breakfast to hold that Megabucks gift in secure space.

Anyway, I don't have many books anymore.

I have reduced my library as such.

And when I need some, I tend to go online looking for it.

But I do have a handbook.

I bought a new one in 2010.

That's at least 10 years ago.

One volume, hard bound, the whole bit.

So I have that.

And unfortunately, I've got to confess, I don't crack it open very often.

And then I have another book that I forgot about.

And I think it was Chuck's recommendation one time.

Bruce Vaughn, NR5Q, wrote a book called Surviving Technology.

I've got it in my hand here.

And so I want to dig into that again.

I had started it a while ago, and then it got lost in a shuffle somewhere.

So those are the two books I can think of.

I used to have some others.

But again, I have lightened the load, and I don't have many books anymore.

One other, oh, okay, a lot of my activity at the moment is helping to coordinate operators

for the Strakey Century Club's anniversary event in January, K3Y, as a special call sign.

And so that means I do some operating on the air, but a lot of it's dealing with email and computers

and scheduling people and that kind of stuff.

So that's going on at this point.

And speaking of operating, two things today came, one in the mail and one in the email.

But Strakey Night was a lot of fun this year, and I had some real good contacts.

But I got an email today speaking about Canada from DE3 Delta November, Victor, go 3 Delta November.

And we had a nice contact.

He was using the QMX.

I forget who put that together.

He built the kit.

And 5 watts out.

That was on 40 meters, I believe.

So anyway, we had a very nice contact, and then I got a really nice email from him.

So that was cool.

And I got another one speaking of Massachusetts, if Mr. Mike's listening.

This was from Cape Cod.

I got another QSL card and a written note from a guy up there, N2 Kilo Tango Charlie, N2 KTC, Rob.

Another good contact I had, and he wrote me a special note along with the QSL card.

So that was fun getting those today.

So there you go.

And after me it goes to David.

Yeah, that's right.

K-A3-G-L-I AF-3-Z.

All right.

Thank you, Jim.

AF-3-Z, K-A3-G-L-I.

Well, let's see.

I have three or four copies of the handbook.

I recently got the latest version, which they call Handbook 101.

And they sell that in two versions.

There's one in a standard format, or I guess there's also an electronic version as well,

that I was able to download once I made the purchase.

So the one format is the standard where everything's all in one book.

The other format is they broke it into a six-volume set.

And I like the concept of that, so I got the six-volume set.

And let's see.

Just real quickly, I also have a few antenna books and a few discrete NARF design.

books and I also have a copy of the Art of Electronics that Bill mentioned earlier.

And I really like that book.

I've used it a lot through my career.

It's just got...

I'd call it, I guess, a general electronics design book.

It's got a whole lot of stuff in one place.

And so it's pretty convenient for that.

Let's see. I guess I'll send it on down here to KC3ZLI. This is KA3GLI. And I'm sorry I totally forgot your name.

Hopefully I'm getting your call sign right. KA3GLI. Yeah, this is KA3GLI. Sean of Westchester. No worries. I pop in every now and then. It's an interesting topic. I'm fairly new. I only have one... I have one hard copy of a book. And it's the Extra Class...

the Extra Class license manual from the ARRL that I got. But recently I just came across a book on eBay. It's the... I don't know what edition it is, but it's the... you know, the antenna handbook.

But I got it for fairly cheap on eBay. Because I just don't know that much about antennas. And I want to learn more. So I'm looking forward to getting that. Other than that, I just have the Technician and General handbook. But they're all... those are... Kindle versions. So...

But, uh, yes. I don't know. Like I said, I'm a new guy pretty much. So... I don't have many hard additions of anything. So... With that, I will pass it to...

Uh, the man, Joe. Uh... W3GMX. KC3ZLI.

Good, Sean. I'll save my comments for you in a little bit here. We have one more station that broke in, uh... Uh, as our new tail gunner. Thorndale Mike. W3MFB. W3GMX.

This is W3MFB. Checking in on Echo Link tonight. Up at Mama Bear's house. I got my mother here. Sitting here listening to the whole first round so far. Mom, go ahead and say hi.

Hi, guys. It's very interesting listening to all of you. Good luck.

All right. So, yes. So her and I have been listening. That's why we're checking in on Echo Link. And in the living room. And it's been nice hearing everybody.

Uh, to answer your question, ARRL books. The only two that I have are the technician manual. I guess the 20... Well, I took it in 2019. Uh, that early manual. And then, uh, my general manual as well. Uh, the last version is not the current one. Uh, and besides that, the magazines that you gave me, Joe, QSTs and whatnot. I know that's not ARRL, but that's as vintage as I can get.

as I can get and knowledge that I will not get rid of and I'm still flipping through them to this day.

So that's it for me. I'll pass it over to Joe, our host of the Thursday Night Roundtable, W3GMS, W3MFB.

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. And your mother sounds fantastic on the radio.

Could she be so kind as to let me know what her name is?

I'm Marianne Byer, Michael Byer's mom.

And it's a pleasure to have you on my repeater here. You really, really sound good.

You need to get a radio license and you can join us here.

But it's a pleasure. I've never had the opportunity to say hi to you.

And we know Mike fairly well. He's been on the repeater here quite a bit.

And a wonderful addition to the 985 fraternity. We're like a big old family here.

So I'll save the rest of the comments later.

Okay, let's see. What sheet am I on here?

Okay, very good. Let's try to get through these relatively quickly.

Oh, it's 9.03 so we're not running too much into overtime.

Ron, very good on the ARL handbooks.

And I'm sure you have a bunch of printed material.

I always like, you know, people mention the internet and online stuff.

And I use that too from time to time.

But I still like, especially when I'm looking up theory and things like that,

I like to read it out of a book.

I have my yellow highlighter or whatever and I'll highlight certain sections.

And I really enjoy that.

But that's just because I'm an old-time guy.

So the new kids do things completely different.

I like my books.

ACW with a 2014 and a 1943 handbook.

Very, very good.

And Solid State Design by DeVaughn Hayward, Wes.

And I have that.

And that's a wonderful, wonderful book.

And the antenna books can be quite great.

I think one of the antenna books you picked off of one of the tables

when I was liquidating somebody's estate.

But there was a whole boatload of great manuals there.

So that may be where that one came from.

Lucas, 30s and 40s and 50s.

Absolutely.

And probably most of those came from me.

And he has a 1964.

That was the year where I got my first handbook at 12 years old for Christmas.

That was my favorite Christmas present as a 12-year-old young whippersnapper.

Luke, sounds great progress on the W, or correction,

the 1929 transmitter for Bill WF-1L that you're working on.

Luke has taken on a contracting job.

And one of the old-timers didn't want to build his own,

so he contracted Luke to build him a 1929 breadboard transmitter,

all along with the matching power supply.

And he's done a fantastic job on that.

And in addition, bringing him up to the modern world with soldering on printed circuit boards,

he's in the process of putting a Max processor together.

The Max processor is a wonderful processor, which can be used in broadcasting,

as well as on amateur radio.

They sell that processor into both markets.

And the owner of the company gave Luke one as a gift.

And he's having a blast putting the parts in.

It's a very, very busy kit, so it's not for the faint at heart.

So keep going on that, Luke.

Correction, N3QNC.

Hi, Joe.

From Gap.

Another ham in Gap.

In fact, we called him.

I trust he's still living in Gap.

It's Joe Gap.

And Joe Gap is W-A-3-U-M-X.

A very good friend.

We don't talk to him too much anymore.

He used to get on the repeater years ago.

He's pretty far along in age now.

And his wife's name is Carol.

So if you look up W-A-3-U-M-X, United Mexico X-Ray,

you will see exactly where he lives in Gap.

And very good on your family lineage with the CW op.

And I guess it was your, I'm not sure I have the generations correct here,

but maybe your grandfather used to talk to your grandmother on CW.

I didn't, I was writing and I missed that level of detail, but that's fantastic.

So you got some good ham radio genes in your, in you, Joe.

So wonderful.

Leon.

Yeah, you got a lot of repair work to do with that truck.

And, you know, with all this thought, as you said, those coat hangers don't last too long.

So I know you'll get it in good shape and make sure you check the wheel bearings and make sure they're really packed well.

We don't need any burnt wheel bearings, that's for sure.

So keep doing the good work.

And very good on the ARL handbook that you have.

And the radio antennas for small space.

Yeah, that's great.

I don't have a copy of that, but I think that's a very, would be a very, very good book.

I actually like some of the publications that ARL put out as compared to QST.

There's not a heck of a lot of QST that interests me.

I get it because I became a life member at a very early age.

But I think in the book department they've come out with, I think there's more content in the books than their magazine.

But that's just my opinion.

Bill OOK, the 1972 handbook.

And Beam Antenna Handbook by W6SAI.

He is, was, I'm not sure, I think he's a silent key now.

But he was the author of what my mentor called the West Coast Handbooks.

Radio, I forget what the net, we always just call it the West Coast Handbook.

Radio and Engineers Handbook or something like that.

And I have a lot of those in my collection.

And, you know, they cover material in slightly different ways than ARL books cover.

So kind of both books can complement each other.

But, yeah, I was told about those when I was a little kid from Harry W3FDY.

Antenna Handbook, Bill, yep.

And I think you've got great antennas.

So you're going to be a channel master when you get on the air on HF.

And it was my pleasure to give you all the electric radio magazines that I have.

I will have probably other handbooks and some more paper material when I,

when we get to sorting through the stuff for the library.

Because I, I know I have some duplicates in some areas that a lot, a lot of duplicate magazines,

going back to the 20s and things like that.

So hopefully we'll find good homes for those when it comes time to, to let those go.

I want one, but I don't want more than one of anything.

Let's see.

AF3Z.

Jim.

Yeah, we had that all lined up.

There's a, there will be a, two armed officers there to make sure that nobody steals the megabuck yearly 985 award present.

So, yeah, brink trucks will be there.

And we might get extra security in from the local PD.

We'll have to see.

2010 ARL handbook, probably a pretty good year.

I'm sure I have it in my bookcase as well.

Bruce Vaughn, Surviving Technology.

I may have told you about that one.

I'm a big Bruce Vaughn book guy.

He, he writes very well.

And I, I especially like the way he intertwined his life stories into that book of Surviving Technology.

And, um, I believe, and I'm 99% sure this is true, but over Bruce's, uh, lifespan, he built 100 regenerative receivers.

And he has the ultimate one, which he calls the ultimate regen.

And, uh, I have, uh, those for my museum.

It's a really, really nice, uh, uh, regen receiver.

And it's, it's a great book.

It's very easy reading.

Um, and it's, uh, it's, it's good luck.

And he had a, I believe Bruce, he was kind of a self-taught guy.

I, I think he was in the consumer electronic repair, like radio, radio and TV repair and things like that.

Just, just a wonderful history.

Um, anyway, if you get back to that one, uh, Bill, I'm, I'm sure you'll enjoy reading it.

Um, let's see here.

We talked about the, uh, the Brinks truck, uh, Bruce Vaughn.

And, um, I think I skipped a beat.

Pardon the pun.

But the Bruce Vaughn story is from Jim.

And my comments are back to Jim AF3Z on that.

And, uh, the SKCC coordinator.

Yeah, I get a, I get a lot of flack from my AWA CW guys.

Uh, because they, they, um, you know, we only, like the Bruce Kelly event, we get on once a year, 25 watts, maximum input power.

And the self-excited oscillators is 25 watts.

And you're lucky if you get eight or nines out.

And we're always bumping the heads with the SKCC guys on the 1929 event.

So I says, well, what can I say?

So, uh, and unfortunately we can't cross-pollinate with them because, uh, you have to have a 1929 or earlier transmitter.

And you, you certainly built one of those.

But I don't think you operate it this year.

So, maybe next year, right?

And, uh, uh, and very good on, uh, straight key night.

And, uh, some of the emails and QSL cards you got.

And very good on VE3DN, Victor Echo 3 Delta November with this 5-watt QMX kit.

Interesting.

And also N2KTC, I think you said.

You got a QSL card from Rob.

Yeah, I got, uh, a number of QSL cards when I was in the BK event this year, which was back in November.

For those that don't know, BK stands for Bruce Kelly.

And he was one of the founders of AWA back in 1952.

There was three folks that founded it.

And, uh, he was one of the founders.

And, uh, to, uh, to, as an honor to him and a remembrance to him, we have an event where you must use a 1929 earlier transmitter on the air.

You can use any receiver you want.

And, uh, the power is limited to 25 watts input, not output.

And, uh, the stuff in 29 transmitters that were built on boards and things, just as Luke is doing now.

So that's what, I guess I should explain what, Bruce Kelly and why it's called the BK event.

David, great to hear you.

And very good on your three to four handbooks.

Um, and, uh, in various formats.

Um, six volume set.

Yeah, I was aware of that.

And I thought that was a pretty good idea to break up the disciplines like that.

Um, so I, I, I don't have the six volume.

I, I got mine for whatever reason in the, in the single volume.

But, uh, I think that is a really good idea of breaking up the different disciplines in the books.

It's a lot easier rather than taking the big handbook off the shelf.

You can just take a slice of it, if you will.

So, uh, very good.

Uh, Sean, good to hear you.

I haven't heard you in a while here.

So, uh, from Perkopsin.

And, uh, very good on your extra class license manual.

Uh, and, uh, the antenna handbook.

And mighty fine, uh, MFB.

Um, mighty fine buckets.

Yeah, memory loss there.

Mighty fine buckets.

And I, I got a kick out of mommy, mommy bears.

Mommy bear, I guess it was.

And it's wonderful to hear your, uh, mother, Mary Ann, on the, uh, on the wireless.

So that's great.

Uh, very good on your ARL books that you have.

Uh, you didn't have a handbook, it looks like, but you had the technician license guy and the general license guy.

And yes, QST is an integral part of ARL. So if you look at QSTs, you will see that they are produced, edited, distributed by the American Radio Relay League. That counts.

Okay, before we start round two, let me just take a pause and see if we have any additional stations that would like to join us tonight. This is W3GMS.

Whiskey 8, Charlie Romeo Whiskey.

We're hearing none other than W8CRW, great CR. We missed you. I called for you. Specifically called for you earlier because it's very unusual for you not to be here.

So I'm going to stick you up on the top of the list and you will turn it to Chuck, WA3VE. I'm sorry. What am I saying?

You will turn it to Ron, WA3VE when you're done and then Ron turns it to Chuck. So great to hear you, CR. It was good seeing you today. Thanks for all your help.

Uh, 8CRW, and I'm sure you heard the question. If not, I can repeat it. W3GMS.

Very good, Joe. Thanks for taking the chair tonight. Good evening all. CR here. Let's see. ARRL publications. I have a 1983 15th edition of the handbook. And I have a 2007 21st edition of the antenna book.

And I also have a study guide for technician, general, and extra. With that, let's go to Ron, VEE, WHCRW.

Good, W-H-C-R-W, W-A-3-V-E-E. Very, very good, C-R. Excellent. This is a very good question, actually, Joe, but yes, I do have hundreds of books over here. Electronics, a lot of radio, you know, certainly for sure, after all these years.

One thing that somebody mentioned, and it's one of the best books I've found in engineering and electronics, and that is The Art of Electronics. Horowitz is one author of that. There's a second author also, I don't remember, but that is one of the very, very best.

If you want to look up, gee, how to design a particular circuit, it's in there. I guarantee it's in there. The other ones, of course, I do have a couple ARRL books.

Chuck mentioned the Antenna Physics book. That's an outstanding book. Very, very good book. I've got some really interesting ones, too, on history of electronics.

I've over-heavy-sized original works for electromagnetic theory. That's in my collection section in the upstairs library, for sure. And let's see, what else is I going to mention here?

Oh, of course. For education purposes, I have the Basic Electronics and Basic Radio Electronics from ARRL. And one last one I'll mention is Electronics for Inventors. And that is really, really, really a very good practical hands-on book.

So those are the ones there. I will say 7-3. And a very good roundtable. Nice list of check-ins tonight, Joe. And as I mentioned, I did put the photos out there to Keith, you, and George. And then you can distribute those to the folks that were up at the site today. So all very, very good. So take care. And we'll say 7-3 from Westchester over here.

7-3-C-W and the group to transmit WA-3-VEE. 7-3, everybody.

7-3, Ron. WA-3-VEE and A-3-C-W.

Joe, the publisher you were thinking of is Editors and Engineers. Editors and Engineers. They're ones that did what we call the West Coast Handbook.

Editors and Engineers Handbook. They haven't made them for years, I don't think. But they had a lot. Whoever wrote that up had close ties with the tube manufacturer, IMAC.

Editors and they had a lot of information on the design and construction of linear amplifiers and big tube type outputs. As well as good solid theory on antennas and a lot of other things. So as Joe said, they complemented the AWRL stuff very well.

Editors and as anybody that's ever been in a classroom knows, sometimes it's good to get a different point of view even on the same subject. Hang on a second. We're back. The book on antenna physics is a good one if you really want to dig in. But the antenna book, the AWRL antenna book, I think, is a very, very good book.

It gets thicker every year. And you know, put it in the bathroom or something. But just go through it page by page. You know, start at the beginning and go through it page by page and consider what you're reading. And go as far as you can before you read it.

in the bathroom or something, but just go through it page by page.

Start at the beginning and go through it page by page and consider what you're reading.

And go as far as you can before you overload, just little by little.

And it's amazing what you can pick up and what understanding about antennas that you can get.

I have virtually no professional training in antenna design or anything else.

And like computers, personal computers didn't exist until several years after I was out of college.

So you just keep learning stuff and you pick it up and you look at books and you talk to people

and you look it up online and as best you can answer your own questions and you learn more.

But it's good to ask questions by the way, but it's also very beneficial to try to answer your own question

by doing some research because it makes it stick better.

So all this talk of books I think is a very good thing, even if the book is an electronic form and online and all that stuff.

A couple of the old books like Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur and Jerry Sevick's Transmission Line Transformers,

they're just so fundamental, so basic to stuff that we do with ham gear, modern or even semi-modern ham gear.

Especially Transmission Line Transformers. It's a book of anything you ever wanted to know and a whole lot you never thought about.

And so I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing.

on this side of magical. They're not magical. They're not even mysterious. But they do what they do because they're made to do it. And if you understand how they were made to do it, what they were intended to do, you can answer a lot of your own questions. As far as, you know, do I need one? Do I care? What kind do I need? Under what circumstances is it going to work and not work? And all those things are in, you know,

none of this is mysterious and new. It's all been published. So, you know, read, read, read, read, read. My advice to the world. So enough of that babble. It was good to have, it was a good time we had today. The weather was very civilized. Very little wind. Actually, probably could have used a little bit more in getting the projectiles from the air cannon to come down. But we made good progress.

eventually. And nobody got hurt in spite of my best efforts. So 7-3 to everybody and I will listen out. And over to Mr. Luke. KC3SCY at A3CW.

This is KC3SCY. Not too much else to add here. Good everybody had a good time getting all the antennas shot over the trees up at the field day site. So we'll be listening out here. This is over to N3QNC.

Okay, great. Thanks so much, Luke. Yeah. I've worked on quite a few titles here that I'm going to reference. That's for sure. I don't have many of these books. So I'm looking forward to looking into some of these.

I do have a copy of the ARRL antenna book I received as a gift a number of years back. But honestly, I don't think I ever actually opened it. So I'm ashamed to say. So I'm going to be looking through some of those. But I am blessed enough to be a member of the magical generation to have an analog childhood and a digital adulthood.

So that said, I love to read things online. But I do find myself easily distracted. And it's creeping away from what I originally was researching. So I do like having the books. I do particularly like some of the old Reader's Digest books. I have one in particular called Back to Basics.

Just referenced that a few weeks back, actually. We were making some changes to our chicken coop and referenced that. I also have a copy of Thomas Klover's Pocket Reference Book, which is outstanding for just general knowledge and the oddball thing that you need to look up.

It's well worn. I've had it for quite a number of years. So it was great hearing from everyone this evening. Like I said, I have quite a few titles I'll be looking and scouring eBay for so I can advance my own library. So I appreciate that.

All right. 7-3. And I'll pass it over to AA-3LH to take it. And 3-QNZ.

I'll wait for the commercial to go away. All right. Thank you. N3-QNZ. Thank you. This is AA-3LH. All right. I have some old magazines. They call them 73. Remember those old CQ magazines? Yeah. We got stuff like that floating around here. They're fun to look at it. And I won 73.

I was going to try to build a kit. I was going to try to build a kit. I'm not sure what the kit was supposed to do anymore. I found out the parts that I needed weren't available anymore. So I was back in the 60s or the 70s. That was out. It involved a radio tube and some other things that just were not available. And so I never built it. But having an old magazine, it's seen.

It is good to go look at them and refresh your memory and learn what they had to offer that led to what we have today.

That's all I really have to say about that.

And while we were all talking here, I got a cough.

But anyway, we got the bus repaired.

And it's good to go.

So Joe, put the fuel to the tool.

It is good to go.

All right, it goes over to Mr. Bill, KC-3-O-O-K.

This is AA-3-L-H.

AA-3-L-H, KC-3-O-O-K.

Thanks, Leon.

Hope you and Gene and all the turkeys up there on that hill are doing good tonight.

I don't have too much more to add.

Sorry, I couldn't make it up there today.

I have one other book that I like.

And it only interests me because I think I'm getting into electronics.

But it's really, it's just the memoirs in the life of an electrical engineer.

It's called, I may have mentioned this before years back, but it's called Brought to You By.

And it's ABC Sports.

And it's a memoir by a fellow named Dan Rappick.

W-A-3-A-T-V.

It's up in Harrisburg.

And a lot of interesting stories we've heard on here from all the fellows on here in their career, some of the Chuck's hiring experiences.

And this is just kind of the experiences and some of the hijinks that electrical engineers can get into.

So that's the only other one I was going to mention as a book.

And I'm going to, my voice is not holding up well.

So I'm going to turn it over to Jim, say good night, everyone.

I'll be listening now.

Let's reset, KC300K.

Okay, very good.

Thank you, Bill.

It was good talking on Saturday at the antenna work party there at your place.

And speaking of Chuck, they were building some dipoles.

And he does very nice work.

I guess a lot of you know that already.

The center insulator and all the connections there looked a lot different on his than they look like on mine.

So very nice, Chuck.

And, Joe, I just was curious.

I just looked it up.

SKCC started out a straight key night, for those who don't know.

People said, boy, a straight key night was fun.

We had to do it all year round.

And so SKCC started 20 years ago.

And at the moment, you get a member number for life.

And I'm sure there's a lot of people with numbers that either don't operate anymore or aren't around anymore or something.

But at any rate, I looked up in the newest numbers, 30,671.

So they've given out 30,000 and a half membership numbers.

And there's people all around the world.

This event, straight key event, covers most of the world.

So anyway, yeah, it's amazing.

And I forget who said it.

It might have been you, Joe, over at Bill's.

But anyway, CW is definitely not dead.

It's alive and well.

We're talking about straight key night.

And, yeah, it's alive and well.

That, I think, is about it for me here.

I'm looking at my notes and not seeing anything.

And, yeah, Joe, it might have been you recommending that book.

But, yeah, I want to dig back into that.

It looks like a fun kind of read and not a hard read.

So we'll let it go at that.

73, everybody.

Good to hear you all tonight.

David, back to you again.

K3Ka3Gli.

AF3Z.

All right, Jim.

Thank you.

AF3Z.

I couldn't really come up with anything else to say here.

So let's say 73s to everybody and have a great weekend coming up and all that.

I'll send it on down to you, Sean.

KC3Zli.

This is K-A-3-G-L-I.

K-A-3-G-L-I.

K-C-3-Z-L-I.

Yeah, I don't have much more to say.

I just need to give a profound apology to Mike W3MFB because I skipped you on the last go around.

And I even wrote it down.

But I'm a little scatterbrained today.

So I apologize for that.

I've been enjoying your YouTube content, by the way.

So keep it up.

And I'll pass it along to you.

KC3Zli.

Jeez.

Sorry.

KC3Zli.

M3.

I'm sorry.

W3MFB.

See, I told you I'm scatterbrained tonight.

M3MFB.

No worries.

No worries, Sean.

No problem at all.

I appreciate the shout-out.

That's awesome.

Yeah, I don't really have too much else to say.

Non-ALRL books.

I do have a couple of ham radio history books.

200 meters and down.

I forget the author.

I don't have it here in front of me.

And then also, it's about the origin story of amateur radio, basically.

And then also, what was it?

I forget, I even mentioned the other night on the workbench.

I think it was the history of ham radio from like 1919 to 1953, I think.

Something like that.

But anyway, those are the other two books I have.

And yeah, yeah.

So thanks for letting my mom get on the airwaves tonight.

And I was telling her all about the repeater and where it was.

And when everybody was calling in, I was saying where they're from.

And she was quite amazed and interested.

She's been on RF before on the W3EOC Eagle machine, talking to Barry, KD3X.

When I've been over here, as you all know, I've been up here a lot.

So I'm staying over tonight.

So it was fun letting her hear the roundtable.

Because she knows I host every once in a while.

So thank you very much.

Thank you all in the group.

And have a great night.

And a great day tomorrow.

Happy Friday.

And for you retirees, every day is Friday.

So 7-3, I'm going to say goodnight now.

So back over to Joe.

W3GMS in the group.

W3MFP.

Hey, very good.

I will not make comments because I do that between the first and second round right in the middle.

The peanut butter sandwich with peanut butter in the middle.

That's my comments.

But I do have just a few things to say.

But I'm not going to comment on everybody's other than I really appreciate everybody checking in.

We had 19 stations tonight.

And that's a respectable amount of check-ins.

And for those that we haven't heard in a while, welcome back to 985.

Thorndale Mike, you mentioned 200 meters and down.

That was written by Clinton DeSoto.

And it's a wonderful, wonderful book.

When I did my presentation on Hiram Percy Maxim at the ARR, I'm sorry, not the ARR, the Antique Wireless Association International Conference up at Rochester Institute of Technology.

I used that as one of my reference books and it was really great.

There's some other books on him.

But if you want a general overview of what was happening back in those days in amateur radio, 200 meters and down is a very, very good book to read.

And let's see here.

The other thing I want to just talk about general books.

I've inherited over the years through state sales and things like that a lot of the Navy technical books, not only on Navy equipment and tech manuals, but Navy theory books.

When you enlist and you want to go into some form of electronics, this is the books that they would use in their schools.

And I've got to tell you, the Navy really, really knows how to do excellent, excellent technical books.

And they're always, always a treat to read.

So if you ever see them kicking around underneath a ham fest table, you know, you can probably get them for 10 cents a piece.

It's well worth purchasing.

And let's see here.

Just looking if there's any other things.

I don't think there really are.

It was great comments.

Thank you all for your inputs.

And I think we did pretty good tonight.

We're, what, an hour and 37 minutes, something like that.

So it's been a good net.

Okay.

Now let me go back to the standardized format.

And, yep, okay.

Here's where I, here's where I continue.

Thanks to all the stations for checking into the 985 round table tonight.

A big thank you to, oh, that's me.

I can't, I'm not going to talk about myself.

Buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh.

You're invited to use a repeater often.

That's a great way to show that you appreciate the gift of 985 to amateur, to the amateur radio community.

Finally, we hope to hear you again on Monday evening at 8 p.m. during the 985 workbench.

This concludes, yes, concludes the round table for tonight.

Feel free to stick around and keep the conversation going.

And if, Luke, if you're still up, we can continue our QSO as the net shuts down here.

W3GMS now clear.

Thanks all.

Thanks.

Thank you.

More episodes

Chapters

What is W3GMS Thursday Night Roundtable?