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Every Monday Evening at 8pm Eastern Time, the W3GMS/R Crew get together on the repeater at 146.985Mhz and discuss technical questions and sometimes do lessons related to Ham Radio for newer Operators to learn from experienced Elmers. The Workbench was set up to be a safe place for any technical questions to get asked and good answers to be given.
Good evening, and welcome to the 985 workbench. My name is Wayne Hunter, and my call is KC3SQI. I will be tonight's host for the workbench. I'm located in Kimblesville.
We meet every Monday at 8 p.m. on the W3GMS Parksburg repeater, frequency 146.985 megahertz. The PL tone to access the repeater is 100 hertz. For those who use tone squelch on the receive, the repeater transmits a squelch tone of 94.8 hertz.
Newcomers are very welcome. We encourage all stations to check in.
Take a look at the repeater website, located at www.w3gmsrepeater.com. It has lots of information, including technical articles, pictures of 985 users in action, and repeater adequate hand history.
Please be aware that on occasion the repeater experiences intermod interference. Please run maximum power, or be prepared to check in digitally through Echolink or AllStar.
The instructions for how to sign up for Echolink or AllStar are on the repeater website.
We do really want to hear you, so if you have problems reaching the repeater on good times, please check in with W3GMSrepeater.com and get signed up for Echolink or AllStar access.
Here on the workbench, we focus on answering general amateur radio questions and discussing topics of radio theory and operation.
Additionally, we invite each station to give a brief rundown of what you did in amateur radio this past week.
Soon I will be taking check-in.
Soon I will be taking check-ins.
When checking in, please indicate if you have a question for the workbench this evening.
Even if you don't have a question, please check in.
After all stations have checked in, we will first share what we've done in the past week using a roundtable format.
So please, write down the call of the station that checks in right after you.
When you have finished your comments, turn the mic over to the next station.
Once we have all made our comments, we will start the question and answer portion of the workbench operating as a directed net.
If you don't remember or didn't catch checked in right after you, turn the repeater back to myself, KC3SQI, and I will help you out and keep things moving.
I will call for the first question in the list to be presented and then for stations wishing to answer that question.
Wait to be recognized by net control before beginning a transmission in the directed net.
This will help us handle the questions efficiently and keep the net running smoothly.
Please leave a good pause between transmissions.
This is so that other stations and emergency communications can break in or break in and give us comments.
This is especially important for helping all star and echolade stations participate.
Then, once you do leave the space, click, wait for about a second, then talk to ensure that we don't miss the beginning of what you say, such as the prefix of your call.
Also, let up on your PTT from time to time, something like this.
There is no need to let the carrier drop.
The repeater has a FCC required three minute timer.
If you transmit beyond three minutes, the repeater will lock up and it will lock out you and everyone else until you release the PTT.
During the question and answer time, please remember to turn it over to net control when you have finished your comments.
Before we begin, we would like to thank our roster of workbench hosts for volunteering to help make workbench go.
If you'd like to try hosting the workbench, please reach out to Jim AF3Z or any one of us and we will help you get on the schedule.
Lastly, please join us this Thursday at 8 p.m. for the 985 Roundtable.
At this time, we're going to start the check-in process.
Remember to indicate if you have a question for the group.
We will start off with digital stations using Echo Link or All Star.
We will wait long enough to ensure that all digital stations have time to call in.
Digital stations, please check in now.
Whiskey 8, Charlie Romeo Whiskey, CR.
No question.
in.
Are there any other stations other than WHCRW, Digital, All Star, or Echo Link, wish to check in to the workbench? Please call now.
Thank you.
All check-ins. Please call now.
Whiskey Alpha 3, Victor Echo Echo, WA3 VEE. Sounds like we have Intermod also on tap for us this evening. So if you have high power, use it. Or digital.
We have a Kilo Charlie 3, Romeo Fox Golf, Jim in Malvern. No questions, Wayne.
Kilo Charlie 3, Romeo Fox Golf, Jim in Malvern. No questions, Wayne.
Kilo Delta 3, Go Echo. I'd like to break in.
Kilo Delta 3, I did not get your last part of that transmission. It was very broken up and very noisy. Could you do that again, please?
Could somebody else help me with that? I got KD-3 Echo and then it just got wiped out.
Yeah, it was John. KD-3 Echo Echo. Double E. Okay. Yeah, the Intermod kinda got you there. Okay, we'll continue all check-ins for the workbench. Please call KC-3-SQI.
Alpha Foxtrot-3 Zulu. KC-3-Oscar-Oscar-Kilo.
KC-3-GLI Gulf, Lima, India. I do have a question. I think it could be answered quickly by anyone interested in answering.
W-3 KZG.
NA-3 CW, no questions.
Kilo Delta 3 Alpha India Sierra, no question.
Kilo Delta 3 Alpha India Sierra, no question.
Kilo Delta 3 Alpha India Sierra, no question.
Okay, I will call for more check-ins here at the end, but for now we'll go down the list.
I have W8CRW, WA3VEE, KC3RFG, W3QP, KD3EE, AF3Z, KC3OOK, KC3GLI, W3KZG.
W3QP, KD3EE, AF3Z, KC3OOK, KC3GLI, W3KZG, NA3CW, KD3AIS.
Any corrections to those? Please call KC3SQI.
Yes, Wayne. This is KW Alpha 3, GULF, LIMA, INDIA, KA3GLI.
Thank you for the correction on that, and I have you down for a question.
Okay, any further logins for the 985 ground table, I mean workbench, please call now.
Okay, um...
I'm going to call now.
Okay, um...
I'm going to call now.
Okay, um...
I'm going to call now.
I'm going to call now.
I'm going to call now.
I'm going to call now.
I'm going to call now.
I'm going to call now.
I'm going to call now.
I'm going to call now.
Okay.
Um...
We'll, uh...
Start off with...
What you did...
For HAM Radio this week.
Uh...
W8CRW...
Take it away.
KC3SQI.
Very good, Wayne.
Thanks for taking the chair tonight.
Good evening, all.
This is, uh, CR.
This week in HAM Radio is a pretty standard week.
Uh...
985 activities, some, uh, Red Rose, some, uh, Salem over New Jersey, and, uh, just normal things.
Back to net.
No, excuse me.
me. Ron, pick it up.
W-A-3-V-E-E-W-H-C-R-W.
Good, C.R., thank you so much.
W-A-3-V-E-E and the workbench
neck. Wayne, thanks for sharing
tonight. All very good.
A little busy over here, actually.
On Wednesday, I had a chance to get
together for breakfast with the Pottstown
Group up at the Whiskey
Quebec, the W-A-Q
Diner, which is right
in back of the horrible freight
place, Harbor Freight,
up there in Pottstown,
almost right on 100.
And then after that, I went up to the
Pottstown Amateur
Radio Area
Pottstown
Area Amateur Radio
Club Repeater
up on what's called Fancy Hill
just west of Boyertown, all the
way up there. So I found out
that I took some pictures up there for the
trustee, Bob Rex, new Passes Along.
Joe, if you happen to be listening in the background,
Passes Along is very, very, very dearest
regards. And so also checked into their UHF net on Sunday nights at 730.
So their UHF repeater up there, 44355 is coming in better down here than their 212 meter repeater,
which is interesting. So shared with Bob the What's My Path terrain profiler, which is a really cool website. I think a lot of us are familiar with that. And found out that literally it is all downhill, very much so from that site all the way down here to the VEEQTH in Westchester, in West Ocean.
Township. So that explains a lot. And also over the weekend worked a really great contest. The PAQSO party worked about 63 to 67 counties and also got a whole bunch of surrounding states. So accumulated a little over 10,000 points in that one and enjoyed working out with my 7610. Probably one of the very first times that I'm not a contester in general, but that is one I do like to work. It's a lot of fun.
Because it actually gives us an opportunity to see what we can work in case there is a regional emergency. Stand by.
Any event, that was a lot of fun. And also, oh heavens, let's see, worked a few other things going on as well. So that was all very, very good over the weekend. And don't forget, October 19th, next Saturday, is the RF Hill Ham Fest up in Percocet. A little far for some people to travel, but still a very good ham fest.
And if I want any details on that, email me. I'm good on QRZ. And of course, at the end of this month, for any additional people wanting to do some DX, there is the CQ DX Worldwide Single Side Band Contest.
So that will pass it over to Jim. KC3RFG, WA3VEE.
WA3VEE, KC3RFG. Thank you, Ron. This is Jim here in Malvern, PA.
Not much to report on the radio front this week. The usual 985 activities and not much else happening in the shack this week. So I will pass it right on over to Tim.
W3QP from KC3RFG.
W3QP has been a little crazy, but I've done a little bit of radio.
The first thing I'll tell you about is, back in August, I picked up an LDG tuner at a ham fest.
And I guess it was two weeks ago, I finally sat down to see how it worked.
And it's a single button that does multiple things on this thing.
And it was not working the way I thought it should work.
And after much fumbling around and thinking that I was dumb, I decided to take the button apart and dump probably too much deoxid in it.
And magically, it's working as appropriately.
So I was pretty excited about that. I don't want to say I fixed it, but I'm happy it's behaving itself.
Last week, I spent the week up in Vermont doing summits on the air.
I believe I activated eight different summits.
A whole lot of miles of hiking. Had a tremendous amount of fun.
There was a summit to summit QSO party two weekends ago.
I made a lot of summit to summit contacts. That was a tremendous amount of fun.
And I always like getting out to the mountains, so that was nice.
Final thing is, I'm cleaning up the shack. I've got all kinds of computer stuff that's just been sitting around for a while.
And trying to clean house. So if anybody's interested, I'm good on QRZ.
Drop me a note. I've got a wireless router. I've got a Ethernet router.
Power over Ethernet. I've got an old computer that I'm dropping Linux on right now that seems to be working pretty good.
A couple of different odds and then shoot me an email and we'll do it. We can work out. I don't want much for it, but a couple of bucks to go spend on radio equipment.
That is all for me. So over to KD3EE. This is W3QP.
Thanks, Tim. This is KD3EE. I switched to digital. Am I coming in okay?
I'm doing real good. John, go ahead.
I was off on vacation last week on a cruise where they don't allow radios. No ham radios explicitly.
So I practiced copying CW with the Morse Maven app.
It uses the Coke method to build up all the symbols. So I got through all the symbols and now I'm doing like whole words slowly.
I need to break the habit I have of repeating the sounds in my head, especially for the similar letters like F and L. Those always trip me up and it takes me too long when those come around.
So I'm still practicing. I listened to the PAQSO party, but I didn't participate. The timing wasn't quite right.
And I had to, I found, I came home to find all my fixed antennas around the house. Kind of messed up. I was also confused by a local repeater not working so well. They were experiencing some power problems. But in the end, I had some bad connection on my Yagi.
And one entire antenna, the ground plane had fallen out of the tree, broken. So I had to put that all back together, untangle some things and get it, get everything operating again, which everything's 100%.
I will hand off to Jim, AF3Z. This is KD3EE.
Alright John, excuse me, Wayne, am I getting through okay? I haven't heard much Intermod lately.
You're fine, Jim. KC3, I'll be quiet.
Very good, thank you Wayne. Thanks for hosting. Appreciate it very much.
And yeah, I've had a quiet week, ham radio-wise as well.
I had a number of friends actively in PAQSO party, and I managed to avoid it completely.
Had a grand dog with me for the weekend and other stuff going on, and my mind just wasn't into that this weekend.
Had a little bit of CW, the guy that I get on with normally, we've been missing each other more than catching up with each other.
But when he didn't show up, then I'd tune around the band and operated a few CW stations that were on 10 meters around midday.
So anyway, that was good. But otherwise, not too much.
So, Ben, over to you. KC3OOK AF3Z.
KC3OOK. Thanks, Jim. Wayne, thanks for taking the chair tonight. It's good to hear you.
And for me, not super active. I was on the 95 nets.
Saturday night, I did south control for the simplex net, and even running reduced power, I thought propagation was pretty good.
I worked seven different counties, including Dauphin to the north, and Maryland, Hartford, and Anne Arundel.
So that was a lot of fun, actually.
Other than that, working here in the shop, just finished the riser for the operating station tonight.
It's all put together. I'd have to just wheel it back there.
And I guess the only thing I did was, Scott and I were up at Joe's for an hour or so on Tuesday, just doing some finishing touches on the tower base.
So that's about it for me.
And I'll turn it over to David.
K-A-3-G-L-I.
K-C-3-O-O-K.
Okay, there are K-A-3-G-L-I here.
Yeah, let's see.
I guess I'll get my location here.
I'm on the Welsh Mountain in between New Holland and Whitehorse.
And as I mentioned last week, I'm working on getting my ducks in a row as far as getting back in the ham radio goes.
And I was able to get my ground rod installed this past week.
And I ordered a throw line to help me get some wire antennas up in some trees.
So I'm looking forward to that activity.
I'm also starting to think about where exactly I plan to put my station down in the basement.
And also the precise electrical service that I need to run to where that station will be.
So, yeah, at some point, I guess that'll be the biggest stumbling block to get everything up and running.
So, anyway, Wayne, I'll turn it back over to you.
I apologize.
I totally forgot to write down the next guy's call sign.
W3KZG.
I'm going to turn it back over to you.
I'm going to turn it back over to you.
I'm going to turn it back over to you.
I'm going to turn it back over to you.
I'm going to turn it back over to you.
I'm going to turn it back over to you.
Okay.
No problem, Dave.
W3KZG.
This is KZ3SQI.
W3KZG.
Scott in Nottingham.
Hope everybody's doing well tonight.
What was it?
Not this past Saturday, but the one before.
I assisted with the crew to help Joe's tower swap out.
And then I don't know if it was Monday or Tuesday, Bill.
He got me thinking.
I can't remember.
We went up and finished some last-minute things on the tower base.
But other than that, not much ham radio stuff going on here.
Although I did pick up a nano VNA for myself.
I didn't have one, and I wanted one.
They were on sale on Prime Day, so I grabbed one.
And so that's pretty much it.
It goes over to Chuck, NA3CW.
This is W3KZG.
Alpha Alpha 3 Lima Hotel on the caboose.
Gotcha, Leon.
AA3LH.
This is NA3CW.
Good evening, everybody.
Wayne, thanks for driving the bus.
Let's see.
I had 985 activities.
Otherwise, pretty quiet.
I had, for a second week, because Joe's antennas are down, I took the net control for the AWA PMAM net on 75 meters Sunday.
So I did two weeks of that, but Joe will be firmly back on the air next time.
And had James, our fairly new ham at our breakfast, and Mike, K3SNL, over here.
James is on his way to Kenya for three weeks.
And he has a TS-920 like I have.
And so they wanted to, they needed a test rig for logging and operational software for the, to use with James' TS or FT-920 in Kenya.
And so most of the time was spent getting Windows to talk to the cable, the interface cable.
It's one of those converters from USB to 9-pin RS-232.
But eventually they succeeded and got software running, and so the computer could talk to the radio and vice versa.
So that was a success.
So he's off to Kenya.
Off to Kenya very soon.
He plans to work the CQ Work the World contest.
I think it's his weekend.
And if you ever wanted to work DX, this is the one, because they come out of the woodwork.
DX everywhere.
And plenty to go around.
So just be prepared for pileups.
So over to Tim, KD3AIS and A3CW.
NA3CW, thank you, Chuck.
This is KD3AIS, Tim in Melbourne.
I didn't expect to have anything to report this week as I was traveling on business in Salt Lake City.
However, I did talk with two very long-time business colleagues in the financial planning world
and learned that they are also long-time ham radio enthusiasts.
So I'm learning that there's no limit to the reach of ham radio.
And I do have a question for Wayne when you have the list.
But I will pass it over to AA3LH on the caboose.
This is KD3AIS.
Thank you, AIS.
Thank you.
This is AA3LH.
Well, how about the caboose?
Because it's too wet to be under the bus checking everything out.
We're going to just assume that everything is good from last week.
And that we'll ride in the cabooses today where it's a whole lot drier.
I'm getting soft in my old age or whatever.
And I got to ride inside of under instead of underneath checking things out.
This past week, I developed a problem.
I key up my HF radio.
And it would die.
Just everything would turn off.
I'd turn off the power supply.
I'd turn it back on.
Then the radio would work.
Make a long story short, I spent two days trying to troubleshoot that.
I heard what it is.
There was a connector.
Yeah, where they had two wires come together.
That connector was bad.
I had to go ahead and redo the connector.
Now it's working fine since.
That.
I spent two days off and on playing with that because the radio would mess with it a little bit.
The radio would work for a day or so.
And I would do it all over again.
But only one radio.
So this is strange.
But that's what it was.
It was a wire connector.
It got tired.
And we had to go ahead and put another one on.
I got tired of working.
So this is A3OH from the dry caboose.
Back to KC3SQI A3OH.
Okay, Leon.
Okay, Leon.
Thank you.
Are there any more check-ins for the Monday night workbench.
please call KC3SQI.
Please call KC3SQI.
KC3SQI KB3ZIM.
Bob here in East Fallowfield Township.
Good evening, everyone.
I have no traffic.
I'll be listening.
I'll be listening.
No questions.
Nothing like that.
I hope you're all getting accustomed to the fall weather and staying dry.
And with that I'll turn it back to net control from KB3ZIM 73.
Okay, thank you.
Are there any more check-ins for the 985 workbench.
Please call KC3SQI.
QI.
OK.
Thank you everyone.
I had a little bit of hammer radio work this week. One of the things I did was when I put the 80 meter off-center bed dipole up, I just threw the rope over a limb in the tree.
And I really don't like to do that because I do want to be able to get the antenna down should I need to for repairs or whatever else I want to do.
So I used the antenna rope to pull a pulley over the limb and put the dipole rope through the pulley and pulled everything back up to the top and got it all tensioned again.
So that made it a little bit better.
And have been doing a little bit of 10 meters, not much, but a little bit.
Other than that, not much going on on my end. So are there any other check-ins? Please call KC3SQA.
Uh, did someone try to check in? I got a squelch brake, but I didn't get any...
audio.
Okay.
Okay.
Um, quick comment before we turn to the questions. Workbench participation is most important. We encourage all stations to make comments and observations and share experiences.
Don't assume that your level of experience and knowledge isn't enough. We can all learn from each other and contribute to our discussion. So pick up the mic and have some fun.
Also, do not think that your question is too easy or too simple for this forum.
Often, those simple questions have the longest answers you can find. So, um, just participate and, uh, sometimes all of us can learn.
Okay. Now, we will begin the roundtable session, uh, starting with KA3GLI.
Please, uh, ask your question. KC3SQI.
KC3SQI. KA3GLI.
Okay. Thank you, Wayne. My question is regarding weatherproofing coaxial connectors. I had occasion on the job a couple years ago where I needed to do this and I bought something called coax seal, but I was not happy with it. It was not very pliable at all.
And, uh, although it did the job, I just, I never had any warm fuzzies about it. Um, you know, as I, as you do with the, the sealing tape, I wrapped it, uh, several times around the connector and, uh, tried to push all the, the layers into each other. And I just, I couldn't get much compression.
I didn't get much compression at all. It seemed like all, all that particular product seemed to do was, you know, maybe a little bit beyond simply sticking to itself. Um, so I'm, I'm curious, um, these days what, uh, what people's favorite method, favorite product is for, uh, um, weather sealing, correct?
Weather sealing coaxial connectors. Uh, this is KA3GI.
Okay. Uh, any, uh, responses for Dave on weather sealing coax connectors? KC3SQI.
KB3ZIM. Go ahead, KB3ZIM. Okay, I've been listening here, and I just wanted to share my own personal experience. I think, and I was busy here in the office, so I didn't catch the call or who it was that was
presenting the question, but I did hear him mention and talk about coax seal. I don't know what to tell you. Coax seal, is that a brand name? I believe there is a brand name, coax seal, and I believe that's what I've used. There may be other, there are silicone type based tapes, sealing tape, and they're not adhesive.
they cling to themselves they don't have any sticky adhesive on they cling to themselves
all i can say is maybe search for something similar of another brand or maybe you got a
bad batch and i say that because i took all of my outdoor connections my ground rod lightning
arrestor and everything wrapped them snugly with coax seal and that has lasted and it looks as good
is the day i put it on there and i put it on there nine years ago so uh uh i'm surprised that you say it
doesn't work for you because it has been spectacular and it's uh waterproofing and sealing and also
long lasting so all i all i would suggest is maybe look for another brand or something like that
the major resellers you know dx engineering and all that stuff have it and um but that self-sealing
silicone tape uh man it has just held up perfectly for nine years running and uh
that's all i can tell you if the if the coax is clean
and uh you got a good wrap on it uh it sure did work for me so maybe there's an alternative or
something that someone can suggest i don't know that's it from kb3 that i am back to net control
uh repeat that last call sign i have a comment for that question
okay go ahead
so i used coax wrap uh a few years ago and it's if you ever have to take it off it's an absolute mess uh if
you have good stuff um i've bought some recently at the ham fest and it seems i don't know if they
changed it or if it's just cheaper suppliers or what but it's not sticky at all and it doesn't seem to
want to stick like you said so what i've been using for your probably six years now um for other things
i found this product it's adhesive lined heat shrink and it's a heat shrink that actually has adhesive
kind of like rtv like built into it and when you slide it over the end of the pl259 you can slide it
all the way up and cover the whole thing shrink it down uh it creates a watertight seal and then if you
ever need to cut it off just take a razor blade and score it down the side and it'll peel right off cleanly
and you won't have any residue left behind and you can undo your connection do what you need to do
slide a new piece of heat shrink on and you can buy it on amazon in all sizes all lengths uh they have
little kits i use it for doing wiring on automotive and trailers and stuff to keep water out of the
connections and it works perfectly and flawlessly to keep moisture and water out adhesive lined heat shrink
and i've been using it on my coax connections for the last few years and i have have had zero water get in
them just to comment uh this is w3kzg back to net control
okay thank you are there any other suggestions or comments please call kc3 sqa cw okay
i will take uh na3 cw and then bill uh right after him kc3 okay thanks wayne na3 cw um i have used coax seal in the past and i haven't tried it lately uh but it worked well for me it you just have to squish it in like clay um but i agree with scott very much it is a mess to take apart
what i've been using for a number of years is stuff called self-fusing tape
um it's sort of like the silicone product that only sticks to itself it it um you you wrap it tightly
uh round and round with this self-fusing tape and um
for that that gives you a really good water seal and then to protect the self-fusing rubber tape from the sun
is then do an over wrap of a good quality like uh scotch electrical tape and uh and wrap that and when i was on guam
which is of course the pacific island and everything wants to corrode
um for for extra belt and braces as the brits say i would i would use this so the self-adhesing self-fusing tape
then electrical tape to cover it up and then i would spray it with clear krylon and so this was out in
salt air for years and years up on a repeater site on top of a 10-story hotel and when i had to do some
antenna work it would just slice right off peel right off and you just just slit it with a razor blade and it
just comes right off and uh everything was as clean and shiny and non-corroded in this ocean environment as as you
could like so back to net na3cw
okay uh bill kc3o okay thanks wayne kc3o okay and i just want to say i use a product called a coax wrap it's a
silicon tape and yes it does not stick to itself uh to start it you have to take the first wrap and go all
the way around your the coax and hold it with your thumb and then you have to take the tape and stretch
it and wrap it over that first wrap completely before you start wrapping it around and stretch it really
hard as you wrap it uh but i've had very good success with it and then of course when you get to the other
end bring it back on itself and just fold it and then i use a good uh 3m like a an 88 electrical tape over
that but i don't find it hard to get off at all uh if you come back six months later it looks like one
fused piece of rubber it doesn't unpeel off itself but um i just take a knife uh like if it's uh connecting
uh two coaxes with a barrel or coax to a bulkhead connector uh where the metal is i just take a knife
and make it slip through it and it'll peel right around and the rest comes off like a uh real soft jacket
on a wire you can stretch it away from the coax and use a pair of small nippers and just nip right down
it comes right off but it looks like one piece after uh a few months so there are my comments uh back to
net kc3 okay okay any more uh comments kc3 sqi
cc3 rfg cc3 rfg go ahead
wayne uh yeah in the past i have used the coax seal and some products like it um and they are tough to
get off later on if you put them directly on they really get it down into the little cracks and they
make it kind of a messy connector if you have to get them off later so what i do what i normally have on
hand is a scotch 33 plus electrical tape i'll make a wrap over the connector with that stretching it and
it stretches well and seals to any shape so a good wrap of the electrical tape and then i will take my
rubber um which is sort of sort of like bill was saying uh rubber self-sealing tape that you uh when
you pull it off the off the roll and stretch it and go around itself it turns into one uh composite
piece of rubber um after it's wrapped so um that later on if you need to get back into the connector
all you have to do is razor knife the rubber down to the plastic layer carefully it'll peel right off
and then of course the plastic you can just get a hold of the uh the end of the tape and unwrap it and
you've never scratched or hurt your connector and that that works well too the plastic kind of acts like a release agent for the uh rubberized
the stuff you're going to put on top so that also works and i usually happen to have that on hand um what someone mentioned about the uh the heat shrink with the ceiling stuff that is really really really good but i just usually don't have it on hand in the right size uh it's more expensive than tape and it's just not usually on hand but i almost always have the rubber tape and electrical tape around so
and electrical tape around so uh that's my comment back in that kc3rfg
comments on uh ceiling uh rf connectors
k3lh was a comment
j leon go ahead
back when I first put up a two meter antenna not the one I have now but the other one just kind of
got some storm damage I got a tube of grease a non-conductive grease that that HRO sold and I
put it on the inside so that the moisture would not corrode and that just lasted because it was
a new place for moisture because things will sweat the condensation gets in there and then the inside of the of the of the probes and that they all they would corrode but that works so nice so that's what I use in that apple because I use seal on the outside and that work well just to consider what happens on the inside when when condensation gets in that's what I would say AA308
okay thank you Leon are there any other comments
okay okay uh yeah I uh I use uh a product called stretch and seal and it's not the
you know the you know the brand name for coax connectors or anything like that it's just uh
uh a silicon tape that you can buy at Home Depot and it does a very good job of it uh like me uh Leon said I got some uh um um um
uh uh I just blew the uh uh uh grease name the type of it but you put a little uh put a little of that in the uh connector I'll remember a little bit and I'll get about to you or I'll send you an email with it uh but I use that on the boat and it goes out into uh both salt and regular water so
uh that uh that works for uh the uh connectors for the uh electronics in the boat and I've had the boat now about seven years and it's I have no problems with the connectors on it so um
electronics in the boat, and I've had the boat now about seven years, and it's, I have no problems with the connectors on it, so.
With that, Dave, K3GLI, does that help? KC3SQI.
Yes, definitely. KC3SQI, KA3GLI. I made a lot of notes here. I definitely appreciate everyone's input, and, yeah, that, I guess, the adhesive-lined
heat shrink. I've actually used that in the past, and it just never crossed my mind that, you know, to apply that to coax.
But, yeah. Anyway, all, yeah, all the ideas sound great. I think pretty much anything would be my experience with the
correct sealine, and, yes, that, that was a brand name that I got that was the actual name of the product. So, um, I guess it's always possible.
Maybe it was a bad batch at the time. Uh, it just wasn't very impressive to me. But, thanks again to everyone. Really appreciate it. KA3GLI.
I'm going to go ahead and see you. Okay. Um, Tim, KD3AIS. Um, would you like to state your question? KC3SQI.
Thank you, Wayne. KD3AIS. Tim, and Malbert. I preface my question with great humility and gratitude for all of the experienced members of the 985 and Joe for donating the 985. And I ask this as an admittedly new person. My question is, I was thinking about un-
I was thinking about unexplained flying objects, UFOs. And my question is, are there some big factors that either haven't been explored, which I doubt, given everybody's knowledge, or are unable to be addressed, that lead to the intermod that is repeated on many nets,
Um, and is just accepted by many, many experienced people as something that just exists. Thank you.
Okay. Dinner mod, um, causes, solutions, and uh, problems. Anybody want to uh, try that one? KC3SQI.
Uh, try that one? KC3SQI.
CW, if nobody else surfaces?
Okay, check. NA3CW, go ahead.
CW, if nobody else surfaces?
CW, if nobody else surfaces?
Okay, check. NA3CW, go ahead.
CW, if nobody else surfaces?
Okay, check. NA3CW, go ahead.
CW, if nobody else surfaces?
Okay, go ahead.
CW, as the name implies, it's, it's, it's, interaction between two, radio signals acting upon some non-linear element.
Be it, um, transistors in the, in the repeater zone amplifier, or a rusty, uh, bolt joint, or a, um, or two, two wires cross on a power line, something that creates a mixing element.
So two RF signals plus a mixing element creates a third signal that, uh, interferes with the receiver in the repeater.
So, the, there has to be two, two signals, a non-linear element creating a third signal.
The, the problem is, obviously we have control over one signal, that's the transmitter of the repeater.
The other one, we don't know where it's coming from.
I suspect it's something to do with the cell tower that's nearby, but we don't know.
And as far as the non-linear element, uh, a number of tests have been done, quite a few, and quite an effort has been made up to this point,
to try to isolate what's going on.
These have all come up short.
Um, and, and we're talking about, you know, technical kind of studies with real equipment and spectrum analysis and, and, and cavity filters and all that sort of thing.
Um, the, the, excuse me.
There, anything on or around the repeater, the tower, the power lines, uh, you know, across the road, any of the adjacent towers, any of that kind of stuff, any, that, that non-linear element is so far been unfindable and unfixable.
And then as far as the second RF signal that's, that's interacting with our own, it's, whatever it is, it's certainly beyond our control.
Um, so that's why we've kind of, uh, come up with a co-existence policy, um, up to this point.
Now, something that's going to change is Joe has gone to considerable expense and trouble to create an off-site auxiliary transmitter setup, which is in the works.
And, and, and getting Joe's tower up as part of that, that plan, which we hope to do on Wednesday.
Um, in this case, in that case, what we will have will be the, the receiver will be up at the normal repeater site up on the hill.
And the transmitter, an auxiliary transmitter that can be used when needed, will exist at Joe's house.
Um, it won't have quite the coverage probably, uh, up on the, the, the hill, because Joe's location is not as high.
But he can run considerable power there, and since he won't have a repeater, receiver nearby, he can run as much power as he wants to generate, which will help offset that distance, or difference.
When you have the transmitter and the receiver on the same facility, it's more problematic, but if they're, you know, separated by miles, it's not a problem.
So that's kind of the, and so they, what, the way that will work is normally we'll run the repeater, transmitter, receiver, as is right now, except during periods of intermod.
Um, when that happens, we'll be able to use a different channel on your radio with a different PL tone.
And that PL tone will activate the auxiliary transmitter, and thereby eliminating the problem of intermod in the repeater's receiver up on the hill.
Did that all make sense? Back to NET, NA3CW.
Okay. Uh, thank you, Chuck. Are there any other, uh, inputs for Tim?
Call on KC3SQI.
KZG. Uh, does the, uh, I don't talk on many other repeaters. Do they have similar issues sometimes? Uh, with intermod? I never heard it or noticed it.
Uh, yeah, it's a fairly common problem. And, um, trying to, um, as Chuck said, trying to troubleshoot down to where the second signal comes from, and what it is, and how it's getting.
Uh, and how it's getting in is a, uh, it's a, uh, metal mess.
Uh, I've done, uh, many, many, many, uh, off-site things, and it's not just a problem with the repeaters, it's a problem with equipment out in field, too.
Uh, where you've got, uh, equipment that has very sensitive receivers next to high-powered transmitters. So, okay. Any other, uh, comments?
KC3SQI.
KC3SQI.
KC3SQI.
KCW.
Go ahead.
KC3SQI.
Yeah, it's a very common problem in, um, like antenna farm situations where you have multiple transmitters and receivers on the same site.
and in many cases just considered unsolvable.
Now, one thing that helps is because of a characteristic of end connectors to have their center pins kind of suck into the coax.
When coaxes run up a tower, the center conductor and its dielectric can slide down the coax.
And with an end connector, it will take the pin with it.
Suddenly it's partially, and it doesn't have to be much, so it's partially connected.
So you end up with a loose, later corroded joint, and they can be problematic.
And so from what I understand from Rich ZPX is they now use the 516, I think it's 516, no, 1516 DIN connectors.
It's a much larger connector with a big, fat pin that's fixed, so it can't slide out.
And those have become mandatory in commercial multi-repeater installations.
But it's a very common problem, and it's a very vexing one.
Back to net.
Back to net.
Okay, anyone else want to have put input for this KC-30SQI?
Okay, Tim, did that help you understand this a little bit better and figure out why this can be a real problem?
It's not just with radio equipment. It can be medical equipment. It can be scientific equipment. All kinds of stuff. This happens quite often.
KC3SQI.
Thank you, Wayne. KC3SQI. This is KD3AIS, Tim.
And yes, Chuck, that was very helpful. I appreciate your time.
And I learned that as I listen through the day and while I'm working on other things,
I hear Chuck and Bill talking about going on fixing a tower, working on a tower.
It may not even be the repeater. It may be the second tower that Joe is kind enough to pay for and donate.
So it's all greatly appreciated from one new ham to all the others.
And I will send it back to KC3SQI.
Okay. Yeah, it's not intuitively obvious, but it's real and it happens quite often.
So, okay, are there any other questions that anybody wants to try to stump the chumps with?
KC3SQI.
Okay. Having heard nothing, before we close the workbench for the evening,
we'd like to check and see if there are any more check-ins.
If you've just been hanging around out there, lurking around and listening,
please check in so we can get you on the log of KC3SQI.
Okay, it's a little wet for the crickets, so they aren't even making noise tonight.
So, I want to thank all stations for checking in on the 985 workbench.
A big thank you to Joe W3GMS for allowing us to use the repeater for the workbench.
Please remember to join us this Thursday at 8 p.m. for the 985 roundtable.
Remember, use the repeater often. Joe likes to have high electric bills. It's a great way to show that we appreciate the gift of 985 to the amateur radio community.
This is one of the most active repeaters in the area. It is also the only repeater to have a workbench-style net, as well as the roundtable.
This concludes the workbench for tonight. We now return the repeater to normal amateur use. Feel free to stick around and continue the discussions.
Have a good night. A great week ahead. 7-3. This is KC3SQI. Clear.
KD3AIS. KD3AIS. WA3VEE. Are you still around, Tim?
Yes, Ron. Go ahead.
I could not get to the answer to the question here, but Chuck did a very fine job and was more qualified to answer the details about that than I am.
But the concept of a nonlinear element was brought up consistently.
And that is a device, as was very well explained, that is a mechanism by which modulation actually is created.
So when you have an RF signal, you have something like a diode or two dissimilar metals, like a rusted or non-rusted,
two pieces of metal, one rusted, one non-rusted, or two dissimilar types of metal with any kind of corrosion, perhaps,
or anything that can act like a diode or a device that's non-linear.
What we mean by that is that a semiconductor, for instance, if you plot voltage versus current through a semiconductor, it is not a straight line.
That's what we mean by non-linear.
A non-linear device is something that does not have a linear relationship between voltage and current.
That's the essence of how an RF signal is generated.
That's the source of the interfering signal that gets into the input on 985.
That's what we're talking about.
We talk about non-linear device, if that makes any sense.
Go ahead.
Thank you, Ron.
It does make sense, and it's helpful with your additional explanation.
and understanding that all the different potential causes
could also be things as simple as a rusted versus a non-rusted piece of metal.
Then I could understand why it's so difficult to find
and why Joe might go through the time and expense of simply putting up another tower
than trying to find whatever the problem is.
But thank you for taking the time to give that explanation to me, Ron.
I appreciate it.
Very messy hands at the time, and I was upstairs in the kitchen.
So I was listening on EHT, and if I were to try to respond,
I'd have to clean the radio and also be a very noisy signal.
So my apologies for not being able to respond directly to the question.
And very, very, very briefly, at the micro-miniature level, at the molecular level,
what's happening is the current, the RF current is traveling through everything,
through us, our bodies, the air, through the materials, through dissimilar metals or whatever,
sets up a gradient or a barrier at the boundary between the two dissimilar metals.
We have one rusted, one not, for instance, simplistically,
and that's where the RF is actually being generated.
That's one reason it's so difficult.
The other reason is it's very difficult to look at the source of the actual,
the possible source of the interfering signal that is mixing,
is causing a product that is mixing with the input 385,
because the repeater is on at the same time,
and it would basically, the power of the repeater on 985
would basically blow up a spectrum analyzer.
So it's a very difficult problem to analyze.
I hope that doesn't further confuse things,
but just wanted to confirm some of those things.
Again, my apologies to the workbench for not being available to answer that question in real time.
KD3AIS, WA3VE.
Thank you very much, Ron.
As usual, your capability to explain simply and then more complex,
which goes beyond my current ability to understand in depth,
is still much appreciated,
and thank you for not making a mess and taking the time to respond to this later.
I greatly appreciate it.
KD3AIS.
I'm just scanning the low bands over here for looking for some DX,
so no effort on my part whatsoever.
And you're very, very, very welcome, Tim, that's for sure.
Good to hear you tonight on the workbench,
and absolutely excellent question.
Definitely.
Ask more questions like this for sure.
Have a good night, 7-3.
KD3AISWA3VEE.
Tron U2WA3VEE, this is KD3AIS73.
310.
Thank you.