W3GMS Thursday Night Roundtable

This week’s 985 Roundtable asks two deceptively simple questions that turn into a full-blown tour of everyone’s winter prep, attic adventures, mast-tilting parties, and HF ambitions:

“Do you plan on doing any antenna work this winter?”

and

“Will you spend more time on the air or in the shack over the holidays?”

Operators check in with everything from balanced-line dipoles in the wind, planned 220 installs, attic VHF builds, and dreams of hex beams, to ground-mounted vertical experiments, six-meter beams resurrected from tree-trunk disasters, and classic Mosley and Cushcraft gear waiting for spring. Many are gearing up for seasonal operating—CW marathons, AM ragchews, DX chasing, BK weekend operations, and even all-night Thanksgiving HF sessions.

There’s also repeater progress updates, Winter Field Day prep, new site leadership roles, mast-tilt work parties, and a surprise cameo from a guitar providing a nightly “E” note. Newer hams share their first steps into HF, while seasoned operators offer practical antenna wisdom, maintenance tips, lightning worries, and the eternal truth that a loose dipole is better than a snapped one.

A relaxed, detailed, and jam-packed Roundtable full of stories, humor, technical insight, and the classic 985 camaraderie that keeps everyone coming back each Thursday night

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

Good evening, and welcome to the 146.985 Roundtable.

I am Joe, W3GMS, located in Ursulton, 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 the 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 is 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 an 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 who are watching an 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 time 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.

Okay, let's see here.

The question for the session this evening is, do you plan on doing any antenna work this winter?

If so, what work do you have planned?

Second question.

Over the holidays, do you intend to spend any more time working on your station and/or operating on the air?

So that's two questions for this evening. I thought it was kind of apropos since we're heading into the beautiful season of winter.

Okay, so that's two questions for this evening. I thought it was kind of apropos since we're heading into the beautiful season of winter.

Okay, so we're going to take a look at the next one.

Okay, we'll now start with the short-time check-in list. Short-time digital stations using Echolink or All Star. I will leave a long pause to make it easier for your check-ins. Digital stations, please call now. And we'll start compiling our list.

...UA-3 VEE on All Star in Lebanon, New Jersey.

KAV3 ZUV short timer via Echolink. That's Kilo Bravo 3, Lulu, uniform Victor Adam in Romansville.

...I copy you, Ron. WA-3 Victor Echo Echo in Lebanon, New Jersey. And I hope you're having a nice time over there. I can assure you, your kitty cats are being very, very well taken care of. And Adam, good to hear you. KB3 ZUV.

...KB3 ZUV. Last call. Let's see. Do we have any more digital check-ins? That would be on All Star or Echolink. This is W3 GMF.

Victor Echo Echo in Lebanon, New Jersey.

And I hope you're having a nice time over there.

I can assure you your kitty cats are being very, very well taken care of.

And Adam, good to hear you, KB3ZUV.

Last call, let's see, do we have any more digital check-ins?

That would be on All Star or Echolink.

This is W3GMS.

We're hearing no more digital stations.

Now we'll continue with the RF check-ins for the short time list.

Just the short time list.

Any analog RF stations.

W3GMS.

Not hearing any RF stations on the short timer list.

We'll now go to the full regular check-in for those that have some time to stick around.

So, initially, we'll start with digital stations.

That is, All Star or Echolink.

Please call W3GMS.

Whiskey 8, Charlie Romeo Whiskey, CR.

Very good.

Good to hear you, CR.

W8CRW acknowledged.

And you're on the top of the list for the regular check-in list.

RF stations that would like to check in.

Those stations that can stick around a while.

This is W3GMS.

NA3CW.

WA3 King Fox Tango WA3 KFT.

KC3 SQI KC3 Sierra Quebec India.

KC3 Oscar Oscar Kilo.

Alpha Foxtrot 3 Zulu.

The following stations, WHCRW, checking in digitally, followed by RF check-ins NA3CW.

Good evening to you Chuck.

John WA3 KFT, Kentucky Fried Turkey, sounding good.

Wayne KC3 SQI, hope you're doing well.

And Bill, down there near Oxford KC3 OOK.

And last but certainly not least, Jim AF3 Z.

Additional calls for the regular check-in list. I'll take digital or RF. W3 GMS.

KD3 BWL.

Kilo Delta 3.

Bravo Whiskey Lima.

Frank NX2.

This is W1RC. Good evening to all.

Very good.

Well, good evening to you Frank.

KD3 BWL.

And nice to hear you.

And Mr. Mike, W1RC.

Fantastic.

Glad you were able to check in this evening from Marblehead, Massachusetts.

The land of Texas.

At least that's what they always told me.

So anyway, I'll answer the questions after all of you answered the questions.

But we'll start off with a short timer list, which will be WA3 VEE portable over there in Lebanon, New Jersey.

Followed by KB3 ZUV in the growing metropolis of Romansville, Pennsylvania.

And then we'll go to the additional stations.

W8CRW, NA3CW, and this will be the order.

WA3KFT, KC3SQI, KC3OOK, AF3Z, KD3BWL.

That's Frank.

And last but certainly not least, Mr. Mike, W1RC.

Last call. Any additional stations? W3 GMS.

Okay, hearing nothing. Let's get started on the short timer list.

So, Ron, when you're done, turn it over to Adam, KB3 ZUV.

And then Adam, when you're done, please turn it over to me.

WA3 Victor Echo Echo.

With KB3 ZUV all wrapped up on the short timers list tonight.

This is W3 GMS.

Very, very good, Joe.

Thank you so much.

W3 GMS and the Thursday night round table.

WA3 VEE portable two over here about 60 miles west of New York City.

And about 30 miles east of Allentown, Bethlehem and that complex.

And we're attending a wedding of my youngest son, which will be tomorrow.

The rehearsal was today.

And we had a very nice lunch and recovering from a dinner here.

So, I'm the only one awake right now.

So, I'll make this short.

That's why I'm on the short time list.

Everybody else has crashed.

And so, first of all, my hat's off to Martha.

And I am quite sure that she is doing a very fine job and having a good time doing it, I'm sure.

I got a couple pictures to prove it from her.

So, thanks again.

Many, many, many, many, many thanks.

It's a big relief.

No question about it.

And the cats are not stressed because they're not in cages in some pet hotel someplace.

Anyway, Joe, great questions tonight.

Yes, I do intend to do antenna work over the wintertime.

And if it's any winter like we've had the past few years, I'm hoping it should be relatively moderate.

There will be, I'm sure, snow and cold times.

But in the moderate times, I need to put up a 220 antenna.

And I need to do some maintenance work on the X300 back at the VEE shack and antenna yard.

And I need to check the loss, the line loss on that, return loss, et cetera.

It looks really good on the radio, but it never, you know, I need to look at that a little more.

Stand by.

Yeah.

And I also need to look at some six-meter stuff for sure.

So that's in the offing.

I've got a lot of work in the upstairs attic above the house to do.

The only reason I'm using the attic is because I don't really want to have a tower.

And also, the attic is the highest point on the property.

So that should get me some good results, even though I will have some attenuation through the roofing shingles, et cetera.

And so, yes, the answer is absolutely yes.

And also, more work in the shack to do with the antenna work comes connecting the radios up.

So I've got some VHF, UHF stuff I need to do there.

And a couple patch panels and things like that.

You and a few others may remember those small patch panels I had stripped and repainted by Chester County coatings, which I highly recommend, by the way, over in Honeybrook.

Those will be pressed into service.

And so that's what will happen there.

So with that, yeah, the wedding is tomorrow, so we'll be leaving here in this area first thing Saturday morning to get back to the house.

Again, many thanks to Martha for all that she's doing there, for sure, on behalf of the kitty cats.

So we will turn it over to Adam, and I will listen as long as I can here, but this will be my final transmission.

But I'll be listening.

KB3ZUV in Romansville.

WA3VEE Portable 2 over here in Lebanon, New Jersey.

Okay, Ron, good evening.

WA3VEE along with Joe, W3GMS.

Good evening to you, and good evening to everyone else on the round table.

KB3ZUV here in...

That's right, Joe.

The rapidly growing town of Romansville.

Oh, I think we've reached the limits.

I think that the township is...

The township was pumping the brakes on Embryville.

I think there's going to be another 20 houses going in, and they might...

That might be the last houses built in the township for a few years.

So we have 20 more houses, and then I think Romansville will be maxed out population-wise probably for the next few years anyway, at least until they're done redeveloping Embryville, where they used to have the state hospital.

They won a...

Right there on Strasburg Road.

It was a real eyesore for quite a while.

I haven't talked with George.

George was right across...

George was right across the street from...

Right across the street from there.

But, you know, they want to turn that into a township park.

And I know the scouts are also going to try to get...

Maybe set up a little campsite there as well.

So we need to see how that turns out.

But back to my QTH.

Antenna projects this winter.

I'm keeping an eye on the weather.

I have that balanced line...

Sorry, I meant to say NFED.

It is not NFED.

It is balanced line, fed right in the middle.

It's a doublet, you know, dipole.

And it is whipping around in the wind.

It's been pretty windy these last couple of weeks.

And it's holding up pretty good.

I did notice I'm getting some slack in the parachute cord that's holding it up.

And I'm like, hmm...

I need to tighten that up.

And I have some like ratcheting tree straps kind of tying it down.

So as far as like antenna work, I think I'm going to need to tighten that up.

But like right now, it's like, you know, there's going to be more wind over the weekend.

And it's like, nah, you know, maybe we'll let that go a little bit longer.

Because it's not super...

It's not sagging too much.

Because I know if you get it too tight, that can be worse than it being not tight enough.

So I'm just kind of watching it.

I might spin the dial.

I spun the dial on 40 three weeks ago.

And it's just really good on 40.

Some of the other bands like 20, it's not so hot.

But I mean, 40 is just a really solid band in general.

So I'm pretty happy with it there.

I check into some nets on HF every now and then.

The OMIS, the OMIS, if you...

I'm sure, I'm sure, you know, they like to collect...

They like to collect states on OMIS.

And I think you might have heard I talked to Alaska on 17 meters.

I checked in on this pretty good antenna on 17 meters.

Honestly, it might be a little better on 17 than 20.

So yeah, so there's that.

I don't have too many other projects planned over.

I still need to do a good VHF/UHF antenna for the house.

I have all the parts for it.

I just need to figure out where I want to put it.

I was on VH...

Joe, there were some issues with Eichel.

Like you must have got them sorted or maybe they sorted themselves out.

But I did do RF on the round table last week.

And that worked pretty well.

Although I still still doing the MagMet.

I still need a permanent VHF antenna.

I'm thinking I might put something nearer to the house for that rather than out.

It might keep VHF/UHF inside the house.

So I think the interference is not as much of an issue with VHF/UHF as it is for HF.

For HF, I think I still want to be out in the shed.

Because I feel like that's a little bit more susceptible to interference.

So like, especially from like LED light fixtures and things like that.

Whereas VHF seems to put up with that electrical garbage a little bit better.

So, hope everybody is enjoying their autumn.

And I got all sorts of fun travel plans for the holidays.

Joe, one of these years we'll have to catch up and you guys have to tell me all about your travels in New Hampshire to hang out with Mr. Mike at Neerfest.

I've been finding myself considering more trips to New Hampshire, both for winter sports.

But then I'm reminded every time I go up there, I drive past where Neerfest is.

And I'm like, I need to check that out.

I remember, I actually went to their website the other day to see where exactly in New Hampshire it is.

It looks like it's a lot more like southern New Hampshire, a lot closer to Boston.

So, we'll have to talk with you more about that.

We'll have to talk with you more about that when the time is right.

But as it is now, let's keep it moving.

And Joe, I had to send it back to you.

I was about to send it to CO, but you said send it back to you.

So back to you, Joe.

W3GMS and KB3ZEV73 clear.

Joe, I'm going to send it back to you.

A bunch of antenna work, a 220 antenna, some X300 maintenance, six-meter stuff.

I know you've been talking about some antennas in the attic.

And you have a great location.

When I dropped Martha off there, because we stopped at your place so she could take care of the kitty cats on her way back from Ocean City, New Jersey.

We were down to Ocean City, left on Monday, and we got back as exactly the appointment time

for the first feeding of your kitty cats.

So that worked out really well.

And then while she was doing that, I went over and got a bite to eat over in Westchester and then came back.

And when I came back, the garage door, of course, was open.

And I looked at those beautiful powder-coated racks that I gave you.

And I'll tell you, I have several which need to be done.

And I will definitely use Steve and his group up there in Honeybrook, the coatings, because they just do great work.

Of course, they did all the work here on the tower and the base plate and all that kind of stuff.

But just super job.

And the texture is just magnificent.

And it's the first time I saw them.

So they were so nice.

And Martha, as she was leaving, I said, you've got to go back in the garage and check these out.

And, you know, obviously she was thrilled at the quality of the rack.

And, yeah, the VHF, UHF, connect in the patch panels.

And I think amateur stations are never really done.

I think they're in a constant state of changes and things like that.

I've never seen anybody that says, geez, I haven't touched my ham station in the last 30 years.

Seems like we're all doing things from time to time.

More later on my ham plans for the winter.

But I love the season.

And let's see, Adam, great to hear you from Romansville.

It's interesting.

A little bit of trivia for you for Romansville.

Yeah, you're a young guy and a new ham, relatively new.

And I'm not sure you ever heard of Barker Williamson or not.

But Jack Williamson, one of the co-founders of B&W, wife, was born and raised in Romansville.

And she was just a fantastic, fantastic lady.

Jean.

And she has passed.

And, in fact, she passed before Jack Williamson, W3GC, passed.

And I think Martha just got home from her kitty cat duty.

So, anyway, that's that.

Let's see here.

Yeah, dipole.

Well, if the trees move around a lot, and I guess you have your antennas in the trees, it's better to have them a little loose rather than too tight.

Otherwise, you'll get up one morning and they'll be on the ground.

So, a little loose is better than too tight.

And you can always put a cement block or something on one of the lines to any kitty reports?

Ron's on here.

Hang on a minute here.

Very good.

Okay.

She says she's getting rid of pumpkins.

Anyway, yeah, she's coming through the family room with some Halloween pumpkins.

Not fake ones, but real ones.

So, anyway, she says kitty cats are doing great.

Let's see.

That's the comments on the dipole.

Yeah, good VHF, UHF.

I don't think I've ever, well, maybe once or twice heard you on the repeater on the RF side from Romansville.

I would recommend something like an X510 on a mast, maybe off of a gable bracket or something like that.

You don't have to get the thing way up in the air, and it'll do everything very nicely for what you want to do.

And Nearfest is near Manchester, New Hampshire.

Manchester, New Hampshire.

So that's where it is.

It was previously in Deerfield, New Hampshire, which was on one side of New Hampshire, or Massachusetts.

I'm sorry, on one side of Manchester, and now it's on the opposite side of Manchester.

And Mr. Mike can tell you the town.

I was there once at the new location, and I have no clue what the town is called, but it's all on the website.

Okay, so thanks for the check-ins.

For the short-time list, you folks, I'll see you next time.

Have a nice evening, and I look forward to putting it all together a little bit later.

Okay, for the long-term list, it's WHCRW, NA3CW, WA3KFT, KC3SQI, KC3OOK, AF3Z, KB...

excuse me, kilowatt delta 3

kilowatt delta 3

bravo whiskey lima, that's Frank, down in the

extant area, and W1RC

W8CRW, W3GMS

in the 146.985 Thursday night

round table.

Very good, Joe. Thanks for taking the chair.

Taking over for

I forgot his name. Oh, thanks for taking the chair.

And this is CR, and let's see, winter activity for antennas.

Well, my HF antenna is still laying on the ground, not

physically on the ground, but I've been remiss.

Jack, yeah, you're taking over for Jack.

And if the weather is good and I feel like it, maybe I'll get it back up in the air.

As little as I've been using HF, my single wire up in the tree does the job.

And coming up at the end of the month, I do have an antenna project.

SimplexNet is scheduling a homebrew antenna session on the 5th Saturday of this month.

And I have one, but I think I'm going to move it from its current location to a better location to see how far I can get out with it.

They're looking for homebrew antennas on the 5th Saturday of this month.

And that's about it for me.

Let's go to Chuck, NA3CW, WHCRW.

I had to wait for Joe to get done sending CW.

WHCRW, NA3CW.

Well, let's see.

Antenna work, none planned.

Yeah, we'll just leave it at that.

None planned.

We'll see where life takes us.

Holiday operation or working on a station.

I'll be working on a station, but not mine.

I'll be working on Joe's.

I'm back on the tuner project.

I made a cable last night.

One of the four, the last of four interconnects between the interface box and the actual tuner plate.

So those are done.

So now I have to make interconnections to get back to, from the interface box, back to the controller.

And then I can put some voltage on there.

And if the parts don't let the smoke out, then I will start doing some testing.

So hopefully the light that I'm seeing at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train.

So over to John, WA3KFT, NA3CW.

NA3CW, WA3KFT.

Let's see here.

Ah, okay.

I'm safe.

The overload light is off, so I'm in good shape tonight.

Don't plan on doing any antenna work.

Not unless something comes down.

I do have 14 antennas decorating the estate here.

That also means 14 coax cables coming into the shack.

I also have 13 coax switches around the place, too.

So we just have to make sure that the switches are in the right proper position for what we want to get done and so forth.

So we kind of go from there.

Over the holidays, I think I'm going to probably be spending time in the basement discovering what I have in boxes that I haven't opened in a long time.

Sorting some stuff out and what have you, that type of thing.

And I have been doing a little more operating.

I will say 40 meters, 10 meters, and VHF.

So we spread the wealth around.

Haven't been on 80 for a while.

That would be fun to try.

Likewise, 20 and 15.

So we have the apparatus.

We have the skyhooks.

It's just a matter of twisting the knob to get to other places to see what's going on.

By the way, 10 meters was open today.

We were talking, what was it, Texas or Oklahoma?

I forget which now.

But nice signals.

And the crazy thing was the DX station had an S9 and my local station in Plymouth meeting was only an S6.

So I'll say skyward propagation is much, much better than ground wave when it happens.

Over to you, Wayne.

KC3SQI from WA3KFT.

Thank you, John.

WA3KFT.

This is KC3SQI.

And best of wishes for everything for you, Ron, and your son.

Take it easy.

And we'll see you when you get back.

Okay.

Antenna work.

Yes.

I still have to complete putting my new mast in and getting the two meter off of the roof of the garage in a little bit farther away than three feet from the back of the TV antenna.

And may make a little bit more, or a little bit less interference on the TV channels.

And then once I get done with that, then I start looking at hex beams and rotors.

figuring out if I really want to go that way.

And if I do, best ways to mount it onto the mast and go from there.

So, as for doing more operating during the holiday,

probably not.

I'm going to be taking some of my exercise associates who keep me from doing too much and killing myself doing exercises with weights and stuff.

and taking them to Longwood and letting a few of the non-resident University of Delaware students see what we've got around here.

So, with that, I will turn it over to Mr. Bill, KC3-00K. This is KC3-SQI.

KC3SQI, KC3OOK.

Thanks, Wayne.

And good to hear you tonight.

And Joe, good to hear you.

And good to have you back in the rotation again.

I think we're up to once every nine weeks now.

And also, before I forget about it, Ron, congratulations on the wedding.

Have a great time.

And if you're still listening, when you get ready to do the attic work, let me know.

Winter sounds like a great time to be working in the attic.

Well, the question is, yes, timely for me.

Antenna work first.

Yes, I do have plans.

And Joe, I'm going to get an email out to you tomorrow morning to distribute to the group.

Because I would like to, in the near future, get some friends together and tilt over my mast.

And change the antenna.

I'm going to take out the Diamond X510, which is not working at all now.

And replace it with a Diamond X700.

And thanks to Joe.

And so I need some help with that.

We'll be getting an email out on that.

And then while we do that, I'm going to move the Jim pole that holds the dipole over to the other side of the scaffold tower.

And that will give the ladder line just a nice, clean, free sweep over to the, well, over to a pole and then back to the building.

And then that leads to the second question.

Is operating and working the ham shack over the holidays?

Yes to both.

At least I hope so on both.

The ham shack is coming along.

The rack cabinet's ready to start gluing up tomorrow morning.

And once we get the antenna in, I'll be able to start firing up some of these boat anchor receivers.

So at least I'll hopefully be doing some listening over the holidays.

So that's about it for me.

And I'll give Jim some time to pick up his guitar and put it in his rack there.

And I'll turn it over to AF3Z, KC-3-0-OK.

KC-3-0-OK, AF3Z.

Good evening, everybody.

And hi, Joe.

Thanks for hosting tonight.

And unfortunately, the guitar is still in the corner in its case.

But I'll probably get it out after I'm done talking here.

I just was running downstairs putting stuff from the washer into the dryer and things like that so far.

So anyway, very good.

And I didn't hear the questions, but I gathered what they are.

I don't have any antenna work planned.

I forget.

I think it was Joe.

Yeah, Joe.

I think it was Chuck that said, unless something comes down, no.

And the second part of the question about operating over the holidays, the main antenna work I need to do is get the antennas working, not in able to work, but actually transmitting signals.

I haven't been on the HF too much except for 10 meters locally here as well as around the world a bit.

But usually in conjunction with when I'm on with the other guy locally here, and then I'll tune around and see what else is out there.

But my 80-meter roughly doublet that's up there hasn't been used too much lately.

But there is a definite forecast for a lot more activity.

Just got signed on again this year to help coordinate the operators for the third call area in the Street Key Century Club's January anniversary month.

It's a month-long activity thing.

So I'll be helping to coordinate operators using the special call sign, and also I'll be doing a good bit of operating myself.

So January is always one of my busiest or the busiest month for me in getting on HF and on CW.

So that's basically mine.

Today, I'm not a great goal setter, but occasionally something just inspires me when I get to work.

Today I did a good bit of vacuuming and dusting and cleaning and all that kind of stuff.

And when I vacuumed in the shack here, I thought, boy, I really need to get at this.

There's a number of things I need to do in the house here, and that should be some of my key operating.

Still trying to get rid of stuff and clean stuff up.

So there you have it.

Frank, good to hear you again tonight.

And I'll pass it over to you.

KD-3-B-W-L-A-F-3-Z.

A-F-3-Z.

Jim, thank you.

This is KD-3-B-W-L.

Just a congrats to Ron and hope things continue to go well with the wedding.

And thank you to Joe for sitting in the chair and taking care of the net this evening.

As far as antenna work is concerned, I'm a pretty new ham.

I've got my license in September.

So my experience has only been on VHF and UHF, cruising the repeaters.

And I have an antenna in the attic.

It's a Diamond X-30 that I put up there.

And so what I would really like to do as far as antennas in the future is to get into HF and start doing some DX.

I just bought a Yaesu FT-991A that I'm itching to try out.

And I did pass the general.

So I will be researching some HF antennas coming up.

And I'll be thinking about just putting up a portable vertical-type antenna maybe.

And just having it up during when I operate.

Because I really am a little bit timid about putting things up on the roof and worrying about bonding and lightning arresters and that sort of thing.

So that's kind of what I'll be doing, just kind of be doing some research and then maybe picking up some kind of an HF antenna.

I might also be looking into a mobile rig as well because I really don't have anything there.

So that's kind of my plan for the near future.

And so I will pass it on to Mike.

W1RC, this is KD3DWL.

W1RC, very good evening to everybody on the roundtable tonight.

And Ron's still listening.

Congratulations on the wedding and all that.

Everything's under control.

Everything's fine and that's good.

Well, am I going to do antenna work?

Well, you always have some to do.

But I'm not planning on doing a heck of a lot this winter.

I'm not looking forward to winter.

I don't like winter.

I don't like it at all.

And that's why I live by the sea where we don't have much winter.

You know, not much more to say.

Everybody sounds good tonight.

Joe is in fine form holding court.

As is the privilege of the benevolent dictator of the 985 group here.

And what can I say?

I'll turn it back over to Joe.

I've had my turn.

And I'll be standing by W3GMS on the roundtable from W1RC.

Very good, Mr. Mike.

W1RC and the illustrious group here.

This is W3GMS.

Let me just take a pause for the calls and see if we have any additional stations that have not checked in that would like to check in.

So if you're a latecomer, no problem.

W3 GMS, both listening on both digital and RF.

Alpha, Alpha 3, Lima Hotel, out from and under the bus.

Hello Leon and Gene maybe.

Okay, let me see, anybody else besides Leon?

Did you hear the question, Leon? If you didn't hear, there's two questions tonight.

If you didn't hear it and you haven't figured it out, let me know and I'll repeat it for you. Go ahead.

Alright. This is A-A-3-L-H. It's something about antenna work.

And, uh, I'm gonna do operating over the holidays. The answer is yes to both of them. Am I right on that?

Got it. Hit it off, hit that nail on the head.

I'll tell you how it is. Winter time, the leaves are off the trees.

Uh, I can see my antennas and I can drop out of their own roofs. I can drop them and look at them and put them, make sure they're okay for another, hopefully another year.

And pull them back up again. So I'll be doing that here. Not the leaves are finally off the trees. I'll be doing that in cold winter.

And, uh, and, uh, I, yeah, holidays. Yeah, I plan on it.

Probably the holidays do more operating and do more eating and gain some weight probably and all that.

So I'll be, maybe I'll have to run the mouth to run off the, uh, some of the weight off that I'll be putting on.

But, yeah, I have, I have my 135 foot dipole.

And every year we drop it and look at it because it's, it, you know, it's hanging over tree limbs and, and, uh, it's like it is.

But it does okay. Now we have a logger coming in here. Gonna be logging some woods.

And he's supposed to have done that in September. It didn't show up yet.

And so that is, so I'm going to go drop the antennas. And, uh, and, and make sure they're okay.

And put them back up and maybe put them up a little higher maybe. But, uh, that is, well, the plan of doing that one is when that logger comes in,

somebody sees that tenants will have to drop and, uh, and put them up, put them up a tree that aren't, aren't as, aren't as, aren't as round as the ones they're on.

And, uh, do that. But we'll do that. When the time comes, we will do that.

And I understand sometime this winter, I guess the winter time now, he will be going ahead and going through with it with a chainsaw and cutting trees down.

So that will make a nice, nice, nice difference. And getting more antennas out in the open, maybe put more antennas up. Who knows?

But, uh, we'll see. But it's a lot of depends on the logger. As for Thanksgiving, yeah. Yeah, we used to do...

We used to go ahead and stay up all night running HF on Thanksgiving, the, the, the, the eve of it. And I could sleep in Thanksgiving morning.

I did that for, for, for a long time. And, uh, I like to do some of that again, too. You know, just run all night, and see where I can talk to, and do all that.

That is the goal that I have. All right, cause it's back to W3 GMS. Cause the drive away, cause the brakes are adjusted, the tires are up, the, the exhaust pipe is wired fast to the frame rails.

I checked there's fuel in the tank, and the oil looks good in the crankcase. So drive away, Joe, W3 GMS, A3LH.

You, uh, tied up that exhaust pipe, you probably use a good coat hanger, right? And, uh, twisted it around, and, uh, so it's up and not, not dragging on the asphalt.

Asphalt. A3LH in the 985 Thursday Night Roundtable, W3GMS. All great comments here. And I guess before I talk about everybody else's here, which I will very soon, just to highlight on a couple of things here, I'll tell you more about the, more about the, well, I'll do it now.

Martha and I left for Ocean City, New Jersey on Monday. We got back early afternoon and had a great trip. It was cold. It was windy. It didn't matter. We were comfy as a bug in a rug up on the sixth floor of the Flanders Hotel, overlooking the ocean. Get up first thing in the morning, make the coffee, open the windows in the hotel, and listen to the waves crash.

Nothing like it. So nothing like waking up, hearing the waves come in. Seeds were fairly rough. But 985 progress report, I took down all my ICs and vector board and copper bus bars that I make up out of PC board.

And I'm starting to wire the 985 control board that splits the site for the Intermont elimination. And have some more work to do on it. It's not done. But that was fun taking that down and working on it. So that's looking good.

one more step to the Intermot elimination.

This coming week, I'm ordering the 375-watt repeater amplifier from TE Systems out in California.

I'm not sure what the lead time on that is, but it won't be holding me up because we've got a lot of other little things to do.

And some things to do on the link transmitter and receivers and all that kind of stuff, but that'll go pretty quickly.

So we're making progress.

No date, but we're forging in the correct and forward direction.

I'd like to thank Bill, KC3OOK, for coming over and digging a ditch.

I was some help out by the Christmas building because we're extending the 125-foot length of 4-inch PVC underground that I put in like 40 years ago.

to the back of the Christmas building.

So we're working on that, and he has since acquired all the sweeps and extra 4-inch sections and da-da-da-da-da.

So we need to help with that, Bill.

And let's see, probably a lot of other stuff, but I'm going to mosey on it.

Maybe I'll think of it by the time that we go through all your comments.

So antenna work this winter.

Yes, I have located through the 9A tribe user group.

I think it's up to four now.

One email I haven't opened yet because we had limited email access when we were down in Ocean City.

And so I think we have four potential climbers to do some antenna work up at the site,

and I have some antenna work that needs to be done on some link antennas up there

because they're just too close to the tower.

The one link antenna has a very, very high SWR on the transmitter.

So you have the transmitter turned down to about 2 watts, so it won't go into the SWR shutdown.

But I would like that done.

And then in the spring, I'm going to be replacing the transmit antenna on 985

as well as the receive antenna with an antenna that has a little bit low-angle radiation,

a little bit more gain.

And the existing antennas, I think, have been up about 10 years.

So I like to change things before they fail.

I hate having a failure, and then you're going through all kinds of dyrations trying to get.

So I like to.

It's like oil changes.

We change oil here in our vehicles every 5,000 miles with synthetic.

I like to do the same with the things that are outside of the repeater itself.

So anyway, that's a few things in the pipeline.

HCRW, HF antenna on the ground, or I think you said on the ground, but then you say,

well, not really on the ground.

And I know your HF antenna has been down for a while,

but I think you have an NFED that you've been using somewhat to check in on a net that you like on HF.

And very good on the simplex net.

And that's a great idea.

Homebrew antennas.

Discussion on the 5th Saturday of the month.

And you have to let me know how that goes.

So I'm trying to think.

Did you build a J-POL antenna?

You can let me know.

But I seem to remember a J-POL antenna that you put together maybe soon after you got your amateur radio license.

W3 GMS for ID.

Chuck, no antenna work planned.

Poor Chuck.

He was helping me for how many years, Chuck?

On my tower, which is beautiful, standing tall, survived all the winds, no issue.

And I don't expect any issues.

So now he's going from that and he's finishing up the antenna tuner.

So no rush, no schedule on that, Chuck.

We have all kinds of workarounds.

So thank you for that.

And let's see.

Kentucky Fried Turkey.

No antenna work planned.

14 antennas.

Lots of coax.

Yeah, I think I'd have a patch panel down there.

You know, patch panel has a lot lower loss than some of the coax switches.

But to each his own on that, John.

And holidays in the basement.

Discovering boxes that you haven't opened in years.

That's like holiday time.

You know, you open the box and you, oh my gosh.

I forget I even had that.

So, yep.

You'll have fun with that.

That's always fun stuff to go through things like that.

And let's see.

Wayne, very good on your antenna work.

And the mast.

The work you're doing there on the mast.

Yeah, send me a picture of that sometime.

I'd like to see that.

Up and at them.

I think it's up.

But anyway.

And the two meter off the roof.

Hex beam maybe.

Of course, that'll require rotor.

And I hear nothing but accolades for hex beams.

They're kind of low in wind loading.

And a lot of people really like them.

I don't know anybody that's bought a hex beam that weren't elated.

Was not elated with its performance.

And we have one guy that comes to the breakfast.

I think it's Bob.

And he bought a hex beam some time ago.

A good friend of mine up in Maine has one up.

And it stands up to the winners in Maine.

And that's that.

So, you'll work a lot of DX with that hex beam.

But you can also work a lot of DX just with a vertical up on 10, 15, and 20.

Trap vertical.

Put some radials under it.

And you'll be amazed at how well you can work DX there.

And right smack on the ground.

Let's see.

Okay.

Continuing.

Bill.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, Bill has antenna work.

He's going to send me a picture.

And I think we probably, I'm guessing and speaking prematurely, but I think we have the folks to handle that.

If anybody else wants to help with a swap out of Bill's X510 to the Diamond X700,

we'll let you know when that date comes up.

But a simplex guy and a net control on the big simplex net, he's got to have a decent sky hook up there.

Let's see.

And more operating over the holidays.

And I don't know whether you folks have seen Bill's workbench and his operating position for his newly built ham shack.

It's really a sight to behold.

W3GMS.

3Z. Don't forget, this is

the second weekend of the BK event.

I don't know whether you

operated last weekend or not,

but get that transmitter

out that you used last year and at least get on

and make a few QSOs.

Luke has done well. I think he's up to

CW QSOs.

And it's only a CW event.

And that might not sound like

a lot of QSOs, but

this is not like CQ Worldwide

DX Contest.

This is a very, very small

group of people that have

or earlier transmitters.

Either has an original

or built one.

It's not like there's hundreds and hundreds of stations

on. So Luke

is doing very well. Plus he has

a whole other weekend to go.

And yeah,

I'm sure the antenna's fine.

You just have to have the

the time and

to wrap it all together

so to speak and put a signal out.

So very good.

Cleaning mode.

That's good to do.

And

you know, there's an adage.

Somebody told me this years ago.

They said,

did you ever notice when you go to a Hams QTH

how the property looks really bad?

You know, the grass is up about four foot in the yard.

And you go into the inside and the sink is all filled up with dishes.

And, you know,

the trash cans are overflowing.

And there the guy is operating on the air.

So I know that's not your situation.

It's certainly not our situation here.

But it's it's

some Hams are like that.

They do nothing

except operate on the air.

And the rest,

it's just not a priority.

And they're a priority book.

Let's see here.

Frank,

yeah, I think you're

I've heard you on the repeater here.

And I think you're making very, very good progress.

So keep it up.

And congratulations on getting your general.

I'm not sure when that happened.

But kudos to you.

And if you're inclined,

keep hitting the books.

And maybe someday you'll go for the extra.

And then again,

sometimes,

some on some occasions,

people just decide to stop with the general.

So it's fine, too.

So achieve the level that you want to achieve.

And enjoy the hobby.

X30 in the attic.

And need an HF antenna.

And I don't know if you can.

Well, maybe you kind of indirectly handled it.

You're worried about lightning and other things.

Free GMS by having antennas outside.

But there's all kinds of options for antennas.

I highly suggest,

and I think you're already doing it,

but check into the Monday night workbench

here on 985 at 8 o'clock.

Because that's a great place

to ask all your antenna questions.

And you'll get some great antennas,

or great answers,

with quite a bit of validity

to their statements.

So there you go.

Congratulations on getting the 991.

That's fantastic.

And keep at it.

Keep turning the crank

and watch the chicklet drop,

as they say.

Mr. Mike,

no antenna work.

Yeah, well,

that's one way that we're different.

I like the winter.

I don't like the summer.

It's too hot.

Especially in July and August.

But July,

at least my recollection,

is that the past July

was hotter than it was in August.

We had some nice dips

in the temperature

in the month of August.

And I saw that a number of years ago, too.

But I just don't like,

I don't like the heat and humidity.

AA3LH,

checking out the back of the bus.

Let's see.

Winter?

Yep, you've got some antennas

to check in and check out.

That's always a good thing, Leon,

when the leaves drop off the trees.

You know, to check things over.

That's periodic maintenance.

It's the key to longevity with this stuff.

And that way, you know,

when you have a nice winter cold day

with blustering wind

and hopefully a couple feet of snow,

you don't have to worry about your antenna

because you checked it out

and it's up to the task.

Yes, very important for it

to be up to the task.

And that sounds neat.

All night,

an all-nighter on Thanksgiving evening.

That sounds pretty good.

So I used to do that kind of stuff as a kid.

I haven't done it much.

But I especially like to get

and it was always pretty much 40 meters from me.

I'd get on 40 meters

on the AM window

up on the upper part of the band.

And, you know,

I know so many people up there

and we would just have a rag chew

and, gosh,

you'd go through 20 stations or so

of people that you've known over the years

and kind of get reacquainted

and so forth and so on.

So operating during holidays

is an awful lot of fun

and I've always, always enjoyed it.

So I don't know.

Did I answer the question?

Oh, as far as antenna work,

this winter,

as I mentioned,

not for my repeater,

but not for me.

But in the spring,

I'll be putting up a classic

TA-33,

which is on an 18-foot boom.

It's manufactured by Mosley.

3GMS for identification.

And a good friend,

Bob,

WA2VDX,

gave me that.

And Bob is a very good friend

of Rich,

WA2ZPX,

and the thing is

in fantastic shape.

So looking forward

to getting that.

I also bought a new

Cushcraft 6-meter beam

because I want to work Luke

on 6-meter AM

for my QTH to his.

But that's not going to happen

until the spring.

Got enough things to do

over the winter

without that.

I don't know whether

I spend any more time

on the air

over the holidays or not.

I think I would say

I'd like to.

It just depends

what the schedule is

and what we're doing

and so forth and so on.

But I enjoy operating

a little bit more

over the holidays.

And mainly on HF,

but on 2 meters as well.

You know,

on the repeater here.

So that's the deal.

In the snapshot,

Keith, KB3ILS,

has accepted my proposal

that he be Winter Field Day

Chairman.

So for those that are

inclined for Winter Field Day,

which I will be up there

at the site as well,

we're going to be putting up

a bunch of new antennas.

There was a lot of removal

trees on property

where we had a very high

40-meter antenna

and an 80-meter antenna

that wasn't up

as nearly as high.

And all that came down

because it was on

somebody else's property.

So we didn't know.

We thought that was maybe

part of John Lyon's property

there with the storage unit.

so George,

myself,

Chuck,

Keith,

I'm trying to think

who else.

Bill?

Maybe Bill?

I forget if Bill was up there

or not.

Oh, okay.

Pardon me.

I don't want to leave anybody out.

but we have a really,

really good plan

of putting the new antennas up

at a different location up there.

So stay tuned for that.

In addition,

I would like to announce

that Ron has accepted

the position of the chairman

of the Field Day site

for things other than

Winter and Summer Field Day.

George,

WA3LVR,

is still the chairman

for Summer Field Day.

And Keith,

KP3ILS,

is chairman for Winter Field Day.

But we have the site up there

and we want to utilize it.

So Ron talked to me

some time ago

and I thought it was a great idea.

So all kinds of contests on.

Little contests,

big contests,

and we want to

get folks up there.

And everybody's welcome,

but especially a lot of the new hams,

and kind of instruct them

how to do contest work

and things like that.

either sideband,

CW,

digital,

whatever your thing is,

and get more on the airtime.

So Ron will come up

with a calendar list

of when various contests

will be on.

And we're hoping

to get some of the clientele

on 985

up to the site

and enjoy some contest operating

or maybe special event operating

or whatever.

So that's coming up

and Ron's driving that ship.

Okay, let me take a standby

and see if we have

any additional stations.

Leon was the last one

to check in.

But see if we have

any additional stations

for the Thursday night.

146-985-Roundtable,

please call

W3-GMS.

Kilo Charlie 3,

Zulu, Lima, India,

KC3, ZLI.

Sean,

I haven't heard you

in a long time.

I think I did

a few weeks ago,

but I couldn't get on

because I was doing

something else.

Hi, Sean.

Good to hear you.

I'll add you to the list.

Any others besides Sean?

Sean, real quick,

do you have any antenna work

planned for the winter?

If so, what do you have planned?

And the second question is,

over the holidays,

do you spend more time

working on your station

and or operating on the air?

So that's the two questions.

So I'm going to turn it to you

since you just broke in.

and please turn it to

CR-W8CRW when you're done,

to Chuck NA3CW,

to WA3KFT,

to KC3SQI,

to KC3OOK,

to AF3Z,

to KD3BWL,

to W1RC,

and AA3LH.

And let me look at my list.

I don't think anybody checked out

of the regular full-time list.

So, the regular list here.

So that's the deal.

Over to you, Sean.

KC3ZLI,

W3GMS.

W3GMS, KC3ZLI.

Thank you.

Yeah, I haven't been on

in a couple weeks,

but I figured I'd turn the radio on

and see if you guys are still up.

My two-year-old has been

very unruly

at bedtime lately,

so,

and I've had a ton of work to do.

Yeah,

speaking of antennas,

I have an NFED

that I just have

hanging in my yard,

and it's not up the way

it should be.

That's one thing I need to do,

and then,

speaking of people

that are on the net,

I need to talk to Wayne,

KC3ZLI,

about the math

that he was generally offering

to donate to me.

Sorry about that, Wayne.

I just,

I've been pretty busy.

We had to put my dog down recently,

and it was a horrible thing,

and just a lot of stuff going on,

but I will get back to you via email.

And then,

during the holidays,

I'll probably be monitoring

and listening.

I'm usually more of a listener.

I haven't, like,

jumped on that much on HF,

but,

I mean,

obviously,

I got on the net

every now and then,

but,

yeah.

With that said,

yeah,

I have some plans.

I don't know

if I'm going to get them done,

but we'll see.

You know,

it's always that.

And then,

I will pass it to CR,

KC3ZLI.

are you still with us?

HCRW, W3GMS,

your turn.

sorry,

Joe,

I got involved with a job

while you guys were talking.

You know,

I do have a homebrew antenna.

It's a six-meter antenna,

and it's been out in the shed for years.

When I first put it together,

the SWR looked good,

but it just didn't work,

and I have really no way

to get it up high in the air.

So,

that's my homebrew antenna

that I haven't used in years.

With that,

I'm going to say 73 to all.

I'll be listening out,

and I'll turn it over to Chuck,

NA3CW,

WHCRW.

Thanks,

CR.

WHCRW,

NA3CW.

Antenna work,

yes.

Something I'm thinking about

trying a 10-meter vertical

in my backyard.

I have a bunch of tubing

I can do.

Just

when I get the last mow done,

I think I got one more mow

to figure out

to finish up,

and that'll be bad on that,

that I can run cables

across the yard

and trip people and stuff.

So,

I'm thinking about

trying out a 10-meter vertical

and see if I can

do better on 10 meters

than with my

80-meter inverted V.

And by

simulation,

the high bands

are just not good for that

because an inverted V

has quite a bit of

vertical

energy going straight up,

which gets you

absolutely nowhere

on 10 meters.

So,

I'm thinking about that,

but not thinking very hard.

I have other things

I want to get done,

certainly indoor things

like working on antenna tuners.

But,

yeah,

I am contemplating that.

I haven't had a vertical

in decades.

When I had my house

in Westchester,

I had,

or Westtown,

just on the edge

of Westchester,

I had a full-size

quarter-wave

ground plane

on 20 meters.

It was up on a

fiberglass pole.

The base of it

was about six feet

off the ground.

and I had four

sloping radials

above ground,

of course,

and going out

to cinder blocks,

which I would,

you know,

move in when I wanted

to mow.

And it was over wet

ground,

and it worked like

gangbusters.

I had my GT 550 Galaxy,

and it worked

really,

really well.

Tuned well,

broad.

So I think I might

give that a spin.

Like I said,

I've got some aluminum

hanging around

in and behind my shed,

so I think I might

give that a spin.

But it's going to have

to be nice weather

to do that.

But,

Bill,

as far as your work

party for doing

your antenna work,

sign me up,

and we'll get her done.

So with that,

I guess Ron would

probably not still be

listening at this point,

but I wish him

and his son well

in the new adventure.

And I hope it's just

the beginning of

a very long time

together.

So 73,

and over to John.

WA3KFT,

NA3CW.

WA3KFT.

Okay.

Well,

I have experience

with two different

six-meter beams.

The first one

was a Cushcraft

five-element,

and that one met tree trunk

when the crane operator

swung it

and broke all the booms

on my four beams.

That was about three,

four years ago.

We had a tree removed.

They got all the branches

and everything moved.

Crane operator

sat in my driveway,

and they were picking

stuff up in the backyard,

swinging it over the house

and dropping it

in the street.

and we got down to the last

two pieces of the tree trunk.

Now,

this tree trunk

is about four feet

in diameter.

And they cut the trunk

in half,

and I'll say

the top half of it

was,

I'll say,

four feet in diameter

on the bottom

and cut off branches

on the top.

And he had that

on the crane,

and for whatever reason,

I don't know

what or how,

but he swung it

toward my antennas

instead of away,

and broke all the booms.

Well,

one of which was a

five-element

Cushcraft six-meter beam.

And,

uh,

I dug out,

uh,

one of,

uh,

my antenna books,

and lo and behold,

here is a nice,

beautiful

six-element,

six-meter beam

on a 20-foot boom.

So,

uh,

I literally

home-brewed,

uh,

an entire six-meter beam,

uh,

using,

uh,

some parts

from the busted-up

beam,

but,

uh,

none of the elements

are one piece.

They're all two pieces.

And the way I did that

was I have an aluminum plate

that's about three inches wide

and 18 inches long,

and a U-bolt

holds that plate

onto the boom.

and that gives me

a nice,

flat surface

that I could anchor

elements.

And,

uh,

if you look at my,

if you look at the photograph

of my antenna,

you'll see little rectangles

all along the six-meter beam,

and that's what it is.

and I used, uh,

miscellaneous tubing

and what have you

to construct all the,

all the elements.

Dimensions,

right out of the ARRL publications.

And, uh,

it has served me well.

Uh,

I had it up, uh,

at my first house.

And, uh,

when I moved here,

I had access to a

five-element cushcraft.

So I used that

until the, uh,

tree surgeon

destroyed it.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

And then dug out the old one

that I had before

and put that one up.

So, uh,

it's still up.

Uh, the last time I,

I put any tower,

any antennas

on top of a tower

was,

I guess, uh,

some four or five years ago,

something like that.

And, uh,

I have climbed the tower since.

But, uh,

I prefer the,

the other way.

Uh,

I use an extension ladder

to get almost

to the top of the tower.

And then once

at the top of the tower,

then I'll climb

down the tower,

not the ladder.

And, uh,

that's how I painted it before.

You know,

ladder, get,

to get up,

take the ladder away

and I'll paint my way down.

And, uh,

it's,

it's reaching the point

that I need to do

some tower painting.

Uh,

don't have any

rush spots on it

that I can tell.

Uh,

that's a good thing.

Uh,

the tower,

the tower was galvanized

and it,

it has been painted

before.

So, uh,

the paint is wearing off.

So,

time to give it

another coat.

Uh,

that tower

that I used

for the beams

was planted

in cement

in 1974.

And, uh,

I have not had

any problems

with the tower.

Antennas and rotors,

yes.

but, uh,

once we redesign

things a little bit,

very few problems

at all.

So,

with that,

over to Wayne.

KC3SQI,

WA3KFT.

uh, thank you,

John.

WA3KFT,

this is KC3SQI.

John, uh,

my wife and I

were kind of

the hospice

for our, uh,

dog rescue group

for about seven years.

So,

um,

understand

the, uh,

dog and

everything like that.

Don't worry about it.

The, uh,

antenna mast

is not going anywhere.

So,

I may, uh,

drop it

and, uh,

do that.

But, uh,

do not worry about

the problems.

We will get it, uh,

taken care of,

and we'll take care of it,

uh,

for you.

And then

we can talk about,

uh,

doing some, uh,

uh,

coils and stuff

for beam

or for, uh,

coaxes

and for some

HF antennas.

And

if you need any help

with, uh,

working with the

vertical,

let me know.

And we can,

uh,

do that too.

So,

with that,

I will just, uh,

turn it over to,

uh,

Bill,

KC-3-OO-K.

Have a good evening

everyone.

This is 7-3.

And I'll listen out

to KC-3-S-Q-I.

KC-3-S-Q-I,

KC-3-OO-K.

Well, uh,

talking of antennas,

I have daydreamed for a while,

and, uh,

Joe made the comment about

the, uh,

ground-mounted vertical

as well as Chuck.

And, um,

I've often thought,

even though I have two towers,

there's only so many places

you can put antennas.

And I thought a,

a ground-mounted vertical

would be an interesting one

to play with sometime.

Uh, my daydream is,

it would be interesting

to see what a

ground-mounted vertical

on the top of this

big metal roof

would do.

so,

but that's down the road.

We have enough things

that are started right now.

But, uh,

speaking of things

that are started

but not finished,

uh, Joe,

I will, uh,

look at my schedule

and, uh,

let you know

when I have some times

that are open

to see, uh,

how it works with you.

And, uh,

as long as it's not raining,

uh,

maybe we get that,

uh, pipe run over

and, uh,

and back till.

That would be a nice

accomplishment.

Uh,

so I'll try and do that

tomorrow as well.

And a couple things

I gotta sit down

and send emails on.

And, uh,

someone mentioned

that this Saturday

the, uh,

homebrew antenna.

I think that is going

to be an interesting one.

Uh,

I suspect what we're

going to have

is a lot of antennas

with low gain,

J-poles,

or directionals.

I know there's a lot

of tape-mission yagis

out there.

So, uh,

I think it'll be

interesting,

excuse me,

especially as a neck control.

Uh,

I'm thinking if this works,

it's really going to

require the, uh,

the operators to, uh,

take part in relays as well.

Most people just put out

their call sign

and wait for the, uh,

neck control to hear them.

But on this one,

I think we'd, uh,

it would be an interesting

exercise.

We'd be using the, uh,

second R in A-R-R-L.

So,

and one other last thing.

I know you've been doing

this for a long while,

but that one tower

that's set in concrete,

it's been there a long while.

Uh,

and there is some rust

around the outside,

so you never know

what's inside.

I'd,

I'd put a rope on it

partway up

and just give it a good

tug here or there

and, uh,

before you climb it,

just, uh,

be safe.

Just be safe,

first and foremost.

So,

that's all I've got.

So with that,

I'll turn it over to Jim,

AF3Z,

KC3OOK.

All right,

thank you there,

Bill.

AF3Z here.

And, uh,

I don't have a whole lot

more to say.

I do have the guitar

in my lap.

This won't be music.

This will just be a note.

So there you go.

That was an E

for the evening.

And, uh,

anyway,

not too much

to report here.

Um,

just been busy

with all kinds of stuff.

And, uh,

enjoying my CW

locally and worldwide.

And, uh,

all that kind of stuff.

I still,

I guess I said this

on Monday night

with a workbench,

but, uh,

I still get a kick

out of having

a little wire

hanging from a tree

outside and talking

to people out

in the middle

of the Pacific

on Marshall Island

or the Marshall Islands

or whatever that is.

And stuff like that.

Uh,

it never gets old

for me.

And so,

been enjoying that.

And, uh,

the CW,

that's something else

that doesn't grow old

for me.

It's just a real kick

for me.

So nothing new

that way.

But, uh,

having a good time

over here.

And also doing

some propagation

with a little white ball

at times.

This afternoon,

I was checking out

its propagation

in the, uh,

fairly high winds.

and, uh,

if you're not sure

what I'm talking about,

I had the golf course

totally to myself.

Nobody else

was out there

but me.

And I had a good time.

I didn't get all

18 holes played

by the time

it got dark,

but I got about

14 done,

I guess.

So, anyway,

uh,

let me see.

Back again

to Frank.

KD3BWL AF3Z.

AF3Z KD3BWL.

Jim,

I was reminded,

uh,

the great,

of a great conversation

we had

a few weeks ago

where I learned

about your career

and your volunteer activities.

That was really

great to hear.

uh,

it's been

terrific hearing

the discussion,

uh,

this evening

and I really

appreciate,

uh,

hearing about

everybody's antenna

issues and,

uh,

plans.

And I really

don't have anything

further to,

uh,

comment about

this evening

except to

wish everybody

a terrific

rest of the evening

and a great

weekend.

And, uh,

I'll say 73

to everybody

and pass it

along to

Mike,

W1RC.

This is

KD3BWL.

Mike,

he's probably

on the telephone.

W3GMS,

you there,

Mr. Mike?

Mike?

probably got a little

long for him,

so he's off doing

something else.

uh,

Leon,

why don't we hear

Jean tonight?

How's Jean doing?

AA3LH,

W3GMS,

and don't forget,

a week from tomorrow

is the 985 breakfast,

so put it on your

calendars,

I'll be sending the

notice out

on Tuesday.

so, uh,

pick it up,

uh,

pick it up, Leon.

AA3LH,

W3GMS.

AA3H,

KSI,

good evening,

everyone.

I'm sitting here

kind of,

being dozing off

and on,

and, uh,

just had a busy

day today,

and kind of

nerve-wracking,

so,

it's, uh,

taking its toll,

but I wanted to

say hi.

So, and I'm

we're planning on

being with you

for breakfast

next week,

too, I think,

so,

we'll get to see

us all then,

too.

KC3H,

QZ.

Fantastic, Jean,

great to hear you.

Glad you and Leon

are going to make

the breakfast,

uh,

a week from tomorrow.

That is great.

You know,

we're coming up

with a big

Christmas breakfast,

uh, here pretty soon.

So, time is

marching on.

AA3LH,

W3GMS.

All for us,

probably,

we put, uh,

you carry a little

wise grip in your

pocket,

then you put

new coat hanger

wire on it,

wire that baby

fast to the,

to the frame rails.

Put some duct tape

on the one airline

so it will quit

leaking air,

but you're good to go.

You know,

that's not leaking

now,

so you're good to go.

After a while,

we'll replace that,

that airline.

But right now,

right now,

if it don't leak,

it's gotta work,

right?

Yeah.

Joe,

one thing I was

wondering,

the PAQSO party,

would 985 be

interested in being

a host

to the party?

I wouldn't be

any interest,

now the Red Roots

did that,

that was a lot

of fun.

we were out there

all weekend,

that was Saturday,

so I guess we,

we weren't on all night,

I think it was hours on that,

but I watched what,

that's which contest

I'm talking about here.

I'd be something,

get the guys together,

I'll do it,

be a,

be a host

of the PAQSO party.

a lot of fun,

I ran six meters

for,

for Saturday and Sunday,

but that was a lot of fun,

just sitting there,

running the radio,

having a lot of fun,

so,

that'd be something

to consider.

I don't have a whole lot

more than that to say,

because I'm waiting

on the logger

to show up

and whack off

some trees

and free my woods

up a little bit

and stretch my wires

a little different,

my radials to my

dipoles a little different,

but nonetheless,

we're working on that.

So,

that's all I have,

so it was back

to W3GMSAA3OH

with the Vicegrip

in the coat pocket.

I just bought

two new pairs

of Vicegrip,

the good brand,

I forget what it is,

Elwin or something like that,

but anyway,

I had two pair

of Vicegrips go bad,

on me within a week,

and those Vicegrips

were very,

very old,

and the spring

came unterminated

in the housing,

and I tried to

put the spring

back in,

but it just didn't,

it didn't stick.

I think it lost

the tab

or the spring

was damaged

or whatever,

and I said,

well,

I'm going to treat myself,

so I bought a smaller pair

and then a larger pair,

because I use

Vicegrips all the time.

I'll even use them

to hold a,

a printed circuit board

that I'm working on

in the vertical position,

and I have

Pana vices

and all this stuff,

but a Vicegrip

is a very handy tool.

Okay,

good to hear you,

Gene,

glad you're going to make

the breakfast,

you and Leon,

and good luck,

Leon,

with having them

do some clearing

of the trees.

I think your idea

is excellent

on the PAQSO party.

as I said,

Ron is the chairman

for all the activities

up at the field day site

other than field day,

so all this stuff,

and I will send him

an email

telling him

about your suggestion,

and that's a good one.

Mr. Mike went on,

Frank,

great to hear you again.

You also have a good evening

and a nice weekend.

Jim,

I like your E,

and I commented

on the BK event.

You didn't say anything,

so,

you know,

if you're around

Saturday or Sunday,

get on the AWA website

under on-air activities

and events,

and you can see

the times

that it runs

and so forth

and so on,

so I think you still

have your Hartley built,

so that would be

an option.

Let's see,

Bill OOK,

I'll tell you,

I've had a lot of luck

with verticals.

I really have.

Chuck,

his elevated radials,

if you don't want

to put a bunch

of radials down,

go the elevated approach,

and there was

a great article

in QST

many years back,

when I say many years,

maybe 15 years ago,

where they had done

a test with elevated radials,

and they really play well.

In my case,

I've never had the opportunity

to do elevated radials,

and under my original

60-foot tower

with a big capacitive top hat

on the top,

I had 120 radials

on the ground.

They weren't all quarter-wave,

they were various lengths,

but let me tell you,

that thing worked

like a banshee on 160.

I worked over 70 countries,

70 countries,

on 160 with that vertical.

And I had various

receiving loops

and things like that

with FET preamps

that I built

based on Doug DeMalle's design.

And I even had

a short beverage,

a very short beverage,

but it's all about

signal-to-noise ratio.

It's not about

the S meter reading.

It's about signal-to-noise ratio.

And that was really fun.

And one night,

I'm on there

working all this DX.

What am I doing?

I'm not a DX guy.

I'm a rag cure.

So I decommissioned it all

and put up a 240-foot center-fed

in the form of an inverted V.

And that's the antenna

that's still up.

But verticals will do great.

And if you want

a good DX antenna

up on the higher frequency bands,

10, 15, and 20,

and don't want to spend much money,

put a vertical.

And Chuck's idea,

just get some aluminum,

any type of conductive mast,

and put a Coke bottle

down at the bottom

for an insulator.

And put some rope guys on it,

and you're all set.

Let's see.

Yeah, let me know

your schedule, Bill.

As long as it's not raining,

we have a few commitments next week,

but there's some holes

in the schedule as well.

And the Amish

are going to be over here

this Saturday.

Manny Zook and his people,

and they're going to start

moving the stuff in inventory

down in the museum

out to the first two garage slots

of the new garage.

cars are in storage.

So they're coming in,

starting it up.

So that'll be good.

That means the sooner

it can get cleaned out,

or cleared out,

it's not dirty now,

but cleared out,

the sooner they can start

with framing it out

and doing the thing.

So anyway, Wayne,

you're the ultimate helper.

I heard all the stuff

you're doing and everything,

and I put down

ultimate helper.

And I do hope we'll see you

at the next 985 breakfast.

Kentucky Fried Turkey.

I remember when you had

that mishap a number

a few years back.

I remember it.

And I remember seeing pictures

that you took of it.

So it's pretty good.

You're not a spring chicken,

and you're still doing

tower work.

So be careful.

But it's great

you're still doing it.

Woody did it up

until about 100 years old,

and at 100,

he gave it up.

But he would only do it

up at the repeater site

when nobody was up there

because everybody would yell

at him to get down

off the towers.

But he was still doing it at 100.

You know,

I can't overemphasize

what Bill had said.

I have seen so many towers,

Rune 25s, whatever,

rust from the inside out.

and that is a critical issue.

Hollow leg towers.

Fortunately,

the commercial tower

where 985 is on up

at the repeater site

is a solid steel tower legs.

But I'll tell you,

you want to really, really,

really be careful

because I can't tell you

how many mishaps have occurred

with hollow leg towers,

moisture getting in

and rusting from the inside out.

You look at the tower,

it looks perfect,

but it's really not.

So be careful.

Let's see.

Chuck's out.

Well, this is the final round,

so we'll wrap things up.

If anybody wants to continue,

they certainly can.

Don't feel you have to run.

It's just I have some things

that I need to tend to

just getting back from

Ocean City, New Jersey.

And CR with his homebrew

six-meter antenna.

You have to tell me about that sometime.

And Sean, good luck

with a two-year-old.

I remember those days.

And your NFED antenna.

And very, very sorry.

Deepest sympathies go

to you and your family

about losing your dog.

That is just,

that's a very, very difficult one.

So, you know,

you have animals.

These things happen,

whether it be a kitty cat

or a dog or whatever.

But that's a tough one.

In time,

you'll learn how to deal with it.

You'll never get over the loss.

But the time,

as time progresses,

you'll learn how to deal with it.

Okay, that's it.

I'm going to close

the 146-985 Thursday Night Roundtable.

You folks continue to chat,

if you like.

And it's been a great session.

Thank you all for checking in.

Thank you for your wonderful comments.

And we will be chatting soon.

W3GMS closing.

The 146-985 Thursday Night Roundtable.

W3GMS now clear.

KC3ZLI, nothing more to add.

I just want to say

thank you for your condolences

and all that.

But, yeah,

I knew I was going to be sad,

but I didn't know

it was going to be

the gut punch that it was.

So I appreciate that very much.

I'll be listening,

but I also got to do some work.

So I'll play 73 as well.

KC3ZLI.

Very good.

Well, the stronger the gut punch,

the closer the relationship

you had with the dog.

If you don't have a gut punch,

even if it's just a little one

versus a big one,

the big one shows

the relationship that you had

with your dog.

So take care.

Mourn the loss.

The pain will always be there,

but you'll learn how to deal with it.

73, W3GMS, clear.

Much appreciated.

Thank you.

Joe, W3GMS,

this is Wayne KC3SQI.

I will not make

this month's

breakfast.

Unfortunately,

I have a conflicting

doctor's appointment,

but

do have

next month

already on the calendar,

and

the

infusion

is not on the same Friday.

hope to see you

for the Christmas.

Take care.

KC3SQI.

Very good, Wayne.

Well, sorry we're missing you

in the November

breakfast,

but

super happy

that you're going to make

the Christmas one.

So come with your

bells and whistles on.

And

we always have a good time.

The Christmas one is,

Christmas-sized holiday one

is very, very special.

So there you go.

And you take care of yourself.

And oh, I wanted to thank you again

for passing along the house

leads on to

Greg, W3DIB.

I haven't talked to

he and Kim about where they are

with looking for houses.

I think they put it on pause

for a little bit

because of the market

and things like that,

but I know they appreciate

and I appreciate you sending them

when you see something

coming down the pike.

very good.

You take care

and

keep

heading in the positive direction.

W3GMS clear.

Thank you.

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