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Every Thursday evening at 8pm the Crew of 146.985 W3GMS/R get together on air to host a weekly informal net with varying hosts and topics
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good evening, happy Thursday. This is W3MFB and this is the 146-985 Roundtable. My name's
Mike, host for tonight's Roundtable. We meet here every Thursday evening at 8 o'clock on
the W3GMS Parksburg Repeater, 146-985 and the PL tone is 100 Hz. For those that like to use
tone squelch, please use 94.8 Hz. Right off the bat, I think I heard it a minute ago, I
think I heard on the squelch tail a little bit of Intermod. So those that, if there is
a lot of information, please use Full Power if you can or if you have permission you can
check in on All Star or Echo Link. Please take a look at the Repeater website located at www.w3gmsrepeater.com.
emsrepeater.com. Lots of information about its users, antenna projects, information about
the repeater and the people that use it. Wealth of information. It's in there. Full power
time. I just heard it on that squelch tail. Besides the round table, this repeater also
hosts the 985 workbench on Monday nights at 8 o'clock. The workbench focuses on answering
technical questions as well as exploring topics related to setting up and operating your station.
Newcomers are always welcome, very welcome, encouraged to check in. If you can't stay long,
feel free to call in during the short time check in list at the beginning of the round table.
We usually have informal discussions, passing the mic around in the order of which stations
call in. So I encourage everybody to write down, especially, you can write down a whole list,
but especially who's before you and who's after you so you know who to pass the mic to.
ask the mic to. You begin with a discussion question. As a starter, you can answer the
question or you can talk about whatever you wish. Whatever you wish on the topic or not.
If you have any suggestions or questions about the round table, you can contact Phil KC3CIB
or GIM AF3Z. They are both good on QRZ. Now, don't be too quick to talk. After you hit the PTT button, pause for a second or so so we don't miss your full call sign. It's especially helpful for those on All Star or Echo Link. Don't forget there's a two to three minute timer on the repeater. Make sure you unclick and go on and on.
There's a three minute timer on the repeater required by the FCC. Once again, this is Mike, Thorndale Mike, or Cowan Township technically. Thorndale Mike, W3MFB for the Thursday night round table on W3GMF 2 meters repeater. Tonight's question is a simple one. Just one question tonight. What other modes of ham radio do you operate
What's your favorite? And what's your favorite? So besides talking on 985 or the repeaters, what other modes of operation do you operate? And what's your favorite and why? So that's the question.
Now I guess we'll start with the short time list. Digital only please. Short time list for the Thursday night round table. All Star, Echo Link, please call.
This is a Kilo Bravo 3 Zulu Uniform Victor. KB3ZUV. This is Adam via Echo Link. Currently mobile or I guess I would say remote in New Hampshire. So KB3ZUV slash one. How's it going, Mike?
Adam, good to hear you out there. Sorry about that. Sorry. The wife's checking in on 11 meters. She's telling me she's on her way home. Sorry about that, Adam. Yeah, sounds great. In New Hampshire. Brilliant. Any other digital check-ins for the short time list? Please call.
Are there any RF stations, RF or digital that wish to check into the Thursday night round table? For the short time list, any station anywhere, please call.
This is KD3BPI, mobile.
Can you say the call phonetically? KD3, I heard, and I just need the rest.
Certainly. Kilo Delta 3, Bravo Papa India. Simon here, mobile.
I appreciate that. Thank you, thank you. I totally would have butchered the last three. Awesome, awesome. Any other stations, RF or digital, for the short time list? One more call and then we'll go to Adam.
Question tonight. What other modes of amateur radio do you operate and what's your favorite?
So, over to Adam, KB3ZUV in New Hampshire, remote, on Echo Link. Over to you, Doc. Take it on.
All right, Mike. Thanks. 73MFB. KB3ZUV slash one here on the roundtable. Current location is Bartlett, New Hampshire, where the ski season is underway.
I had some extra vacation days that were going to expire at the end of the year if I didn't use them.
I'm here by myself. Rachel is at home with the girls. The girls are not allowed to play hooky from school just yet.
So, I'm up here staying at a motel from the... It's got a fresh coat of paint on. It's not that bad.
Current temperature here is 5. I'm going to be getting down to about 0 overnight.
Bitterly, bitterly cold.
And it should be back up to 7 when this chairlift starts spinning tomorrow around 9 a.m.
I'm about 10 miles away from Mount Washington.
Although, it's very overcast right now. I can't actually see the mountain.
Although, I'm here for a couple days, so I may be able to see it later this weekend.
But it feels like the middle of winter here right now.
I realize there's some atmospheric stuff going on.
I think it's supposed to get cold back down in Pennsylvania tomorrow as well.
So, I'm going to enjoy some time here by myself getting my ski legs under me.
And then we'll do a trip with the family later this month after Christmas.
So, on to the questions.
I think it was favorite modes on HL.
People know I like the digital modes.
The digital modes are a little controversial.
Maybe not as controversial as they used to be.
I think some people try them and they know right away that they don't like them.
But other people try them and are skeptical.
But then they start to enjoy them.
I mean, I really enjoy just about everything in the hobby.
So, I try not to, you know.
I mean, what little CW I've done, I've enjoyed that.
I know a lot of people are going to give a big thumbs up to that mode.
But I think as far as the modes, I actually really used to like PSK-31.
I don't think the activity on that is quite what it used to be.
I think FT-8 kind of ran away with it.
I also really like Whisper, which is only barely a mode.
It's really mostly just sending beacons back and forth, which is really interesting.
So, I think you could just say, if I'm not talking on 985, I do prefer digital on HF.
Although now that I have an antenna and an amplifier, a single sideband is actually kind of enjoyable as well.
More enjoyable than it used to be now that I actually have a good antenna and can put 250 watts into it.
Which is, again, I know some of you AM guys are, you know.
You're going to hear some people saying that one, too, Mike, is AM.
Because that's an interesting, you know, the sound quality on that sounds great when you have some good mics and so forth.
EQs.
But, yeah, digital for me when I'm not on 985.
And I hope everybody's having a good start to their December.
And I had a good Thanksgiving last week.
Sorry, I couldn't make it on the roundtable last week.
I wanted to make sure that I could make it on this time around, even though I'm remote.
With that, we'll say 7-3.
And turn it over to KB3BPI.
Take it away from KB3ZUV.
7-3, clear.
KB3B3ZUV. This is KB3BP. Am I getting through all right?
Here you are, Simon. Go ahead.
Perfect. Thank you.
Yeah, I hopped in my car after grocery shopping this evening and I heard the call for check-ins.
I thought I was going to be missing the net tonight.
But I'm happy to sneak in there.
I'm just heading south on Route 100 right now.
Just past the on-ramp for the 30 bypass here in Chester County.
I really should know what township this is, but sorry to say I don't.
But anyway, on to the question.
I am a technician only.
So I only have ever operated in voice.
No other modes.
Though it was really cool to hear from KB3ZUV about the different modes and their characteristics.
I do have memories of a digital mode with Ron, WA3VEE.
He demonstrated it quite well at Deltec a few years ago.
And it sounded like this crazy sing-song.
Just the, I guess, phase modulation or something.
Frequency shift keying comes to mind, FSK.
But maybe I'm just putting knowledge onto memories.
I can hear in my mind what it sounded like.
But haven't had the chance to operate in that mode.
Not yet, at least.
But hopefully in the future.
And with that, I will send it back to NetControl.
And I don't think I got your call letters, but I believe your name was Mike.
So I'll send it back to you.
And 73 to all, I'll be listening.
And once I get home, I'll power up my radio and listen to the rest of it.
But I'll be on the short time list for this evening.
So thanks again.
And 73, this is KD3BPI.
Clear.
KD3BPI.
Simon.
Awesome.
Thank you for checking in.
It's great to hear you.
And be careful driving.
Watch out for the crazies out there on 30.
I live on 30 between the bypass and business 30.
So trust me, I know.
But it's great to hear you.
If you get home, you want to check in again, feel free, man.
We'll be here.
So great to hear from you.
Great to hear from Adam.
Up there, north 5 degrees.
I was telling the bride on the other radio that it's 5 up there.
Oh, my God.
I know it's supposed to get cold down here over the nighttime hours.
So I'll be waking up to probably maybe the 20s, low 20s, teens maybe.
So there we go.
All right.
So I guess we're going to move on on the 146-985 roundtable to the folks that can stick around for a while.
We're going to start with digital, of course.
All-Star or Echolink.
This is W3MFB.
Please call.
Whiskey 8, Charlie Romeo Whiskey, CR.
Got you, CR.
W8CRW.
Any other station?
All-Star or Echolink.
Wishing to check into the Thursday night roundtable.
Alpha Charlie 2, Echogolf.
Name's Eric.
Good to hear you, man.
Any other digital stations wishing to check into the Thursday night roundtable?
Nothing heard.
Sorry.
Nope.
It's a white speck.
Nothing heard.
Nothing heard.
Just like to leave a pause in there just in case.
Some stations call in because I don't have digital.
So if you hear any other digital stations out there, please let me know.
W3MFB.
One second.
Any RF stations wishing to check into the Thursday night roundtable, RF or digital, leave some space in there for me.
And please call now.
W3MFB.
AB 3AP, Mike in Avondale.
Quiet evening, W3GMS. Good evening.
Kelo, Charlie, 3. Oscar, Oscar, Kelo.
NA 3CW.
3MFB. All right. Well, let me see who we got right now and if we need to make any corrections.
So we got Whiskey 8, Charlie, Romeo, Whiskey, CR. Alpha, Charlie, 2. Echo, Golf, Eric. Alpha, Bravo, 3. Alpha, Papa, Mike. Is that correct?
That is correct, Mike.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My years, 25 years of manufacturing and listening to 90 decibel machines isn't helpful.
All right. Then we got Joe, W3GMS. We got Bill, KC3OOK. And Chuck, NA 3CW. Any other stations wishing to check in to the Thursday night round table, 146-985-PL100? Please call W3MFB.
KC3, KZG.
KC3, KZG.
I've got you there, W3KZG. So for the moment, let's see here. The question for tonight is, besides your activities on 9A5 using the repeater, or other repeaters I should say,
what other modes of amateur radio do you use or operate, and what's your favorite? So I guess we'll start with CR, and then we'll move on. Down the list, we've got WHCRW, AC2, EG, Eric, AB3, AP, Mike, W3GMS, Joe, KC3, OOK, Bill, Chuck, NA3CW, and Scott's our tail gunner, W3KZG.
So over to CR, Whiskey, Charlie, Romeo, Whiskey, it's all you, man. Pick it up.
Very good, Mike. Thanks for taking the chair tonight. This is CR. Good evening, all. Let's see. I'm on my favorite mode right now. I have access to other things, but when it comes down to it, I enjoy this mode the best. Let's see. Mike, Avondale Mike, AB3, AP. Pick it up. WHCRW.
Action. We've got Eric. Alpha Charlie 2 Echo Golf is next.
It's all right. It all works out in the end. This is Alpha Charlie 2 Echo Golf. Name here is Eric. I'm out in East Petersburg. Good night to be on the radio. Stay warm.
Modes. Favorite modes. When I was back on HF about 10 years ago, my favorite modes kind of evolved into PSK31 and SSTV. A little bit of SSB in there, but...
SS... Both those modes. PSK31, I like the conversational nature of it. Usually, you could find someone who is willing to...
to RAGCHU. And... The SSTV... It was fun, because I could take photos and, you know, share them with others. And it was just interesting to see the kind of photos that would come back and forth. So...
That's my vote. Um... With that, I will pass it on to Mike. I believe the call is AB3, uh, MFP. I hope I copied that right.
RO3, Alpha Papa, Mike. Avondale. Sure turn.
Thank you, Mike. AC2, EG, Eric. This is AB3AP. Also, Mike. And, uh, good evening all. And, um... Yeah, I think, you know, overall my favorite mode is CW. As to why...
I think there are a couple reasons. Even though I'm 11 months into retirement now, or mostly retirement, I still go in two days a week, my job involved digital modes. So, 40 hours a week of digital modes. Uh, a nice escape with CW. But, even before I was doing pure radio work, I still, uh, gravitated to CW.
I think, uh, something about the minimalism about it. You know, the hardware is simple. The, uh, mode of communication is simple. And yet, you chat. And with that narrow bandwidth, you can chat far and wide. So, uh, that's a big appeal. But I will say, I...
I will work sideband. And I do enjoy hearing, uh, the, the emotion in voices or the accent. So, you know, I'm not CW only, but that is my favorite. And, um, I've been told I have to address some, uh, cabinet issue of some sort here. So, I'm going to listen.
But I'll make this my one and done. And, uh, send it over to you, Joe. W3GMS. AB3AP.
Uh, maybe the cabinet issue is maybe you have another ham station set up in a cabinet. And, uh, the plate current's a little high and you have to re-resonate it by dipping it. AB3AP. Hi, Mike. Good to hear you. W3GMS. Busy guy. Uh, busy, busy guy. It seems like we don't get to talk early at all. Because, um, you're just a busy guy. And that's fine. Enjoy it. Uh, let's see. What else was I going to mention? Uh, good evening to everybody, Mike. Um...
Um, great to hear you. Um, if I, my memory serves me corrected. And then not too distant past, you were also, uh, the round table host. So, maybe you're, I think the other time you were helping somebody out. And now it's probably your slot. Uh, great question. Well, everybody probably knows mine. My favorite mode is AM, amplitude modulation. Because I like to hear how somebody really sounds in person.
if I was having a cup of coffee with them. My second favorite mode is CW. And I did teach that in the military.
And, uh, somehow I, I desperately want to carve out more CW time. But, uh, CW, I think is great. I think I, I equate CW with running. The more you do it, the better you get at it.
You know, everybody can talk. You know, everybody can talk. But everybody can't do CW. So, that's my philosophy with that. And what's my third mode? Um, oh, uh, scientific setback. Better known as SSB. Uh, SSB. With a lot of stations, it hurts my ears because of the audio quality.
It sounds very nasal. It sounds very nasal-ish. Almost like they have a, uh, a, a, a clothespin on their nose. And I can't enjoy hearing the docile tones of their natural voice. And I have no appeal to any of the digital modes. Uh, probably my least favorite one would be FT8.
And, uh, it really annoys me how FT8, they treat the same way as sideband and CW for DXCC and all these other modes because it's much simpler, uh, to work stations on FT8 compared to the other modes. So, I think they, they need to have DXCC and, you know, like FT8 DXCC. But that's just my personal thing. I don't, I have no issue with people using it. I have just no desire to use it at all.
So, that's that on that. Uh, over to you, Bill. KC3-0-OK. Uh, this is W3-GMS.
W3-GMS. KC3-0-OK. Thanks, Joe. Mike, thanks for taking the chair tonight. It's good to hear everybody on here. Well, I guess my answer is, um, I really don't know, Mike. I am still a tech. And my plan is to stay that way until my,
uh, station is up and operating. Then I'm going to take my test. I'll probably be able to answer that. I'm anticipating the answer is AM. I know Joe knows that. Um, I, I grew up kind of listening to that, uh, string sound, the single sideband. So, I look forward to working it. Um, but I don't really have any favorites yet. Uh, I wish I could work CW. And, um, well, I just don't know how that's going to work.
out. But, uh, but, uh, that, that's about it for me. So, I'll turn it over to Chuck.
And A3CW. KC3-0-OK.
Thank you, Bill. KC3-0-OK.
And A3CW. I was a little delayed getting in because I was, um, I had my receiver in, um, block tone mode. I get a lot of, um, splash up from the, the repeater down the Chesapeake Bay.
And it's very annoying, but this rig does not have split tones. So, what I have done is, uh, on, just to make it easy to select, on the VFO side, um, I put a receive tone on.
And that's what I monitor. Now, when I want to talk to somebody, I punch up the memory, which is the button next to it.
And, uh, that puts me back in, uh, in transmit capability.
So, I had not, uh, pushed it into transmit mode yet.
Uh, yeah, modes. Well, it's funny. Favorite is a funny word. It's kind of like all and never and that sort of thing.
Uh, if you go by hours operated, it's probably FM.
But if you go by, uh, preference, it's AM for the reasons that Joe just said.
It sounds like the people you're talking to.
Um, is, and I'm equipped for it now.
Um, I've got a very good microphone and, uh, some decent audio equipment.
Not much, but it's decent.
And, uh, the rig is decent. I modified it to be so.
And I've got an amplifier for when I'm on 75 meters.
Uh, which you kind of really need on 75.
Because everybody's got one. Plus, it tends to be noisy, especially in the summer.
Um, I just enjoy AM. I can make the bandwidth anything I want just by turning a knob.
Um, or moving some sliders on my EQ.
And, um, I enjoy listening to other people's, you know, very nice rigs with excellent audio.
And there's, and there's, there's a lot of AM rigs that do not sound excellent.
But, uh, the ones that do are a pleasure to listen to.
So I like that.
But as far as utility purposes, the next one in line is sideband, uh, because of what it can do.
I don't often get on sideband.
But I got nothing against it. I just, you know.
It's like the, uh, the commercials for the most interesting man in the world.
I'm not always on sideband.
But what I do, um, I like to work DX with it.
Because I don't need a whole lot of power.
Because anything that I can hear through my local noise, uh, it's good enough signal that, good enough signal path that I don't need the amplifier.
But this, uh, town full of, uh, of cracked insulators and solar panels and railroad noise and all that sort of stuff.
And then everybody's bad, um, wall work power supplies.
So, wah, wah, wah.
So it's, uh, by preference it's AM.
By utility it's FM.
And then, uh, cover sideband and occasionally CW.
I have worked PSK 31 and I'm set up for it.
Except most of the time I don't hear anybody.
And I've never, uh, gotten on to FT8.
I have no intention to.
I have nothing emotional against it because it gets people on the air.
But it just does not interest me at all.
So, um, that's my rant.
And, uh, over to Scott.
W3KZG.
NA3CW.
Thanks Chuck.
This is W3KZG.
Hope everybody's doing well.
The moon.
If anybody hasn't seen the moon tonight, you should walk outside and take a look.
It's pretty spectacular.
Um.
My favorite mode is going to be back from my CB radio days.
It's going to be AM.
Um.
There's some, uh, export.
Amateur.
They're, they're sold as amateur radios.
Uh, and we can use them as licensed AMs.
Which is nice.
So, I'm glad I kept some.
Uh, they are actually designed pretty much just for AM.
And they sound pretty good.
Um.
Me and Mike, uh, MFB were actually talking about this the other night.
Uh, some of them sound spectacular on AM.
Whereas the other modes that they have, eh, they're okay.
But, um, I think there is some, uh, of the export slash CB radios that actually sound way better on AM than most ham radios do.
Especially multi, multi, uh, band ham radios.
But, uh, yeah.
AM is definitely where it's at.
FM sounds good.
But, uh, AM definitely has a more fuller sound.
And you can get, um, I don't know.
It just, just sounds more warm.
And, uh, inviting.
So, that's what I have.
Uh, I think I'm the tail gunner.
So, I won't miss my shots.
So, I'll send it back to, uh, Mike, MFB.
This is W3KZG.
Thank you, Scott.
Yeah, yeah.
We were talking about that AM.
Yeah, the export radios.
Yeah, I would, yeah.
I would have to say the same in that respect.
When I'm in the mobile, uh, the any tone.
It's just.
It's, I don't even.
I have the deck.
The carrier.
Sorry, I wanted to say the deck key.
But the carrier, right?
I have it set to like 10 watts.
And she'll swing up to 60 to 80.
I mean it.
And I've had good reports on 10 meter.
Uh, good reports on 10 meter.
On the AM portion.
From people that I've caught.
When the conditions are really good.
And, uh, for some odd reason.
Even at this hour.
The conditions are awesome.
SFI 220.
Sunspot number 165.
And, uh.
Uh.
Yeah.
Starting at 15 meter and 17.
And saying at night time.
Good.
Uh.
And 20 and 30.
Good.
So.
Interesting.
Interesting.
But yeah.
Um.
I am basically a phone guy.
I love.
I love voice.
I'm a rag chewer.
I love talking to people.
So.
Besides using.
95 and the local.
70 centimeter repeaters.
I just like talking to people.
So.
I'm on FM a lot.
And then also.
On AM.
For.
A little bit of 10.
When there's folks out there.
And then 11 meter obviously.
But I do use FM on 11.
And then.
I've used FM on 10 meter.
When the conditions allow.
And there's that repeater down in Texas.
What is it?
29 640 or something.
That pops in every once in a while.
Especially in the summer.
Um.
Sideband I do like.
And.
You know.
The history of sideband.
When I.
For me.
Personally.
I remember.
Watching.
Now mind you.
I was just born in 77.
New Hope.
Star Wars.
New Hope.
Which is technically in the series.
The fourth episode.
But.
It came out in May of 1977.
I was born in October.
Um.
But.
So I wasn't around for when.
People were going to see it in the theater.
But.
There's a part in there.
When they're attacking the death star.
Uh.
The imperial death star.
And the X-wing fighters are talking to each other.
And then they're talking to the rebel alliance.
The base.
And what they did.
In the movie.
For the audio.
They ran the.
The pilot's audio.
Through.
Uh.
CB radio.
On sideband.
And they just tweaked the clarifier a little bit.
And I heard that when I was a kid.
And I would hear.
I watched that movie hundreds of times.
And then.
Years and years later.
You know.
Hearing it.
On our radios.
Where you can adjust the clarifier.
And uh.
Tweaked somebody's voice.
And be like.
That's what they used.
And then I actually looked that up.
That's what they did in the movie.
The film.
So I like single sideband.
I like how.
You can.
Talk to somebody.
Anywhere in the world.
And it will get through.
Uh.
I like.
Having rag shoes with folks.
Of course.
Making contacts.
Is fun.
To.
To interesting places.
But then.
If you get a second.
If you get a second.
You can.
You can.
Ask them.
How are they doing?
What's the weather?
What are they into?
Or whatever.
And uh.
Besides the normal.
Five and nine.
Or whatever.
But.
I just like talking to people.
And it's fun.
Meeting new people.
Inspiring others.
You know.
And uh.
You know.
Even today.
I had.
I had a gentleman.
Come up to me.
At the gas station.
Asking about the antennas.
On the car.
And we were.
Having a.
A quick.
Chat about amateur radio.
And uh.
You know.
People are.
You know.
We've all been there.
CR's been there too.
Uh.
Where people ask.
Are you talking to the aliens?
And things like that.
I just love the camaraderie.
That this service has.
Uh.
That we're all in it together.
Man.
Woman.
And child.
You know.
It's just great.
Um.
So that's my answers.
There.
Uh.
So.
This is Mike.
W3MFB.
On the.
146.985 round table.
W3GMS repeater.
Do we have any other check ins.
For the round table.
Please call.
W3MFB.
This is W1RC.
Uh.
Good evening to everyone on the net.
From Marblehead, Massachusetts.
And I heard you there, buddy.
Uh.
But we had a double in there.
Do we.
The other station checking in.
With Leon.
Can you please call?
W1RC.
Checking in.
From Marblehead, Massachusetts.
Good to hear you.
W1RC.
New tail gunner.
So we got Alpha Alpha 3.
Lima Hotel.
Leon.
And W1RC.
Mike.
Any other check ins.
For the Thursday night round table.
PA3NUO.
Tom.
Hey Tom.
Is it KA3NUO?
You got it.
KA3.
November uniform.
Oscar.
Tom.
Good to hear you.
Great to hear you.
Again.
Um.
Any other check ins?
Kilo.
Victor 3.
Juliakoff.
Bravo.
Matt from Valley.
Hello.
Victor 3.
Can you say again?
Kilo, Victor, 3 Juliet, Golf, Bravo.
Alright, I got that part.
Thank you, Matt, for putting up with me asking again.
Any other check-ins?
This is KD3BPI again.
Just doing a quick check-in.
Made it from just fine.
KD3BPI. I'm glad you're home safe and warm in peace, Simon.
So I'll put you in there again.
So that's cool.
Anyone else?
So, hey, fellas.
So we got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
That's awesome.
I love extra check-ins.
So the question for tonight is, besides using the repeater, 985,
or any other repeaters that you may use,
what other modes do you use,
whether digital or slow scan TV, whatever,
what other modes do you use and operate,
and what's your favorite?
So over to Leon, 8A3LHW3MFB.
KC3HQZ, just saying hello to everybody.
I don't have comments for this,
so I just wanted to say good evening.
Talk to you now.
KC3HQZ.
All right.
Yeah, yeah.
She only runs repeaters.
Occasionally, she'll run some 10 meters,
but she's a repeater operator.
But anyway,
I had to comment about her.
I had to comment about me.
Come on, Mike.
I'm getting out from it under that bus there.
That cold wind's a-blowing.
My goodness.
We just grabbed the whole exhaust pipe.
It didn't move,
so we figured Joe's clothes hanger wire is working just fine.
Everything looks good under the bus, Mike.
Just remember it.
I had to run in this wind,
cold wind,
to go with that mighty fine cup of coffee there.
I squeezed the cup too hard,
and the lid came off of my cup,
and the wind blew away.
So I'm on there without, you know.
I don't want to go slap the guy in front of me
so don't hit the brakes too hard,
or else, you know, my coffee might hit somebody in the back
that wouldn't appreciate a hot cup of coffee.
Well, so much for the b-crap I had, that is.
Let's go on to real things.
Sideband.
Lower sideband.
When I was a C-beater,
we run upper sideband.
We had, you know, 40-channel radio.
Well, we had one of those radios.
But we run a lot of upper sideband then,
so I got my technician license.
We ran on 10 meters upper sideband.
Well, I got a general.
There was this guy called Dave Phillips.
He was Whiskey 3, Charlie Whiskey Echo.
He's down, he's down silent key,
and he got me on the 40 meters.
And we run 40 meters.
That's lower sideband.
I had never, really never been on it.
And we were talking lower sideband, lower sideband.
And now we run a lot of 40 lower.
And we run 80 meters.
And that's lower sideband.
No, it's not CW.
I'm not that good with it.
But it's fun to listen to and catch where I can catch him.
Some of the guys, like AF3 said, just fly across the keys.
We can't listen to him.
But that's my story.
I run a lot, a lot of lower sideband on those two bands that they have.
And that's kind of where we're at with that.
So, Mike, we'll slam on the brakes.
Back then, uh, uh, uh, Mr. MFP, this is A3OH.
I mean, no, no, no, no, it goes over to the W1RC.
I'm all mixed up here, Mike.
My coffee's slopping a little bit.
W1RC, Mike, go ahead.
A3OH.
Yeah, very good evening, Leon, and the rest of the roundtable on the W3GMS repeater.
This is W1RC.
Well, uh, favorite mode for listening to and operating, uh, is good old Hi-Fi YAM.
Uh, uh, you gotta have the right receiver for that.
You gotta have one that's, can open up the band pass to, uh, 12 kilohertz at least, uh, to enjoy the Hi-Fi component.
And then, uh, 6 would be a good, uh, bandwidth, uh, narrow it down because of conditions.
But listening to a good, uh, well-worked, uh, Hi-Fi AM transmitter like some of the ones you hear on, on 75 and 40, it's a real pleasure.
And the one I like least is the digital audio that you find on VHF and UHF, DMR and D-Star.
All of those, oh, they sound horrible.
They just make me dizzy.
So, you know, that's the best and the worst of it as far as W1RC is concerned.
So I didn't get the call of the fellow who checked in after me.
So I'll turn it back to NetControl and let him play traffic cop.
This is W1RC, Marblehead, Massachusetts.
AA3LH and W1RC, Leon and Mike.
All right, Leon, howdy, howdy, man.
Don't slap that coffee around.
It goes over to Tom, KA3NUO.
It's all yours, W3MF.
Thank you, Mike.
Am I coming through okay?
Great, man.
Sounding good.
And on the reverse.
I can open up my window and you'd hear me fine.
Just hello to everyone.
And my radio is just a two-meter radio.
That's what I have.
So it's just two-meter Tom here, I guess.
Kind of fits me because I'm just about two meters tall.
I think I'm, what is it, six feet, five inches.
So that's close enough to two meters.
So that's what I run here and I enjoy it, especially the Parksburg.
I learn a lot when I listen in on it because it is already past my bedtime.
I'm usually up between two and three in the morning.
So tomorrow I have off.
That's why I can finally check in.
And I don't know who goes after me, so I'll pass it back to Mike.
K-A-3-N-U-O.
K-A-3-N-U-O.
Tom, yeah, I think I cracked the window.
I think I heard you out there.
For sure, for sure.
For all you folks that are wondering, yeah, Tom's my neighbor.
He's pretty much around the corner.
So, yeah, we met a couple years ago.
You pulled up on me while I was walking in the Giant.
And I was like, oh, I didn't even realize because you wouldn't know.
Like, if Tom lived in an HOA, which we do not, you wouldn't even know.
You wouldn't even know that he was an operator.
So he's totally stealth.
But, no, that's brilliant.
That's brilliant.
So it goes over to Matt.
Kilo, Victor, three.
Julia, golf, bravo.
Pick it up.
This is W3MFB.
W3MFB, thanks, Mike.
This is KB3JGB.
Yeah, I mean, I'm still pretty new to the hobby, so single sideband is pretty much what I run on HF and then obviously FM here.
That's pretty much my mode.
So I mean, I'd like to get into some other things.
But, you know, still learning and learning.
So not much else to say, I don't think.
So I think I'm a tail gunner anyway.
So I'll get back to you, Mike.
KB3JGB.
KB3JGB.
KB3JGB.
Matt.
Matt.
Matt.
Alright.
No problem at all.
I'm going to pass it over to Simon real quick.
He's back at home now.
So KD3BPI, Simon, W3MFB.
W3MFB, KD3BPI.
Thanks for giving me a quick chance to say hello again.
I'm on my home rig here.
Not much different from my mobile rig.
I just have a Yaesu FTM150R.
Got it brand new from DX Engineering earlier this year.
And that works great in the mobile.
But I have an ICOM IC2820H, which is a mobile rig.
But suffices just fine.
And fits with the licensing restrictions, of course.
The only thing, I think I'm missing out on 220.
And if I'm not mistaken, there are a couple of other bands in HF that are open to technician operators.
But I'm not sure exactly what those are.
Anyway, it's cool to hear so much about AM, though.
I didn't even think of AM as an amateur radio operation.
But I suppose I just overlooked it.
I always thought of, of course, a single sideband.
But I thought that was just for CW, not for a phone.
But now that I think about it, I should have guessed that.
So, really cool to hear about.
And especially Star Wars.
That's a neat bit of trivia.
I should have written down you said that.
But whoever did, thank you.
Because it makes so much sense.
I've heard, I've listened to airplane traffic now and then.
Which, of course, Unicom and all those channels are AM.
And I thought it sounded like some of the droid voices.
And, of course, the, if I'm not mistaken, the communication between the spaceships.
So, that was a really cool thing to hear.
But now I'm itching to get on, get my general, and get on AM to see what that sounds like.
Because that would be really cool to just listen to.
And listen to CW, of course.
That's continuous wave.
Though I'm sure NA3CW enjoys a good bit of continuous wave, too.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Anyway.
All right.
Well, thanks again, Mike.
I'll send it back to you.
W3MFB.
This is KD3BPI.
KD3BPI, W3MFB, and the growing group on the W3GMS repeater roundtable.
That's awesome.
Yeah, no, it's good, too.
Yeah, you know, it's funny, because I wish.
I mean, I don't have any Yagis here, but I have had, I have made AM contacts with friends,
you know, local AMs on AM 2 meter.
I do have a shock-in-the-box radio, so I'm able to do that.
6 meter AM, Wednesday nights.
All right, so they start on sideband on 50.130 at 8, I believe, and then at 8.30, it's the mark group.
Then at 8.30 or so, give or take, they go up to 50.400.
John KFT would know this best.
And then they're on AM 6 meter, which, as a technician, you guys have full privileges, which is great.
And 6 meters is always fun.
But, yeah, they're on AM as well.
So, 2 meter, I've made a couple of local contacts, one official, distance-wise, but I was using a vertical.
So, I was losing a little bit, but it wasn't a far contact, so it wasn't that bad.
But as a technician, you still have 10 meter sideband from 28.3 to 28.5, 200 watts max.
But, like, you basically can get on that portion of HF.
If you know CW, a word from our sponsor, you can get, and this is for you, Simon, if you know Morse code CW, you can get on 15 meters, 40 meters, and a little bit of 80 meters.
So, I'm not sure if you know CW or not, but if you can, you can get there.
So, there's that.
So, I guess this is going to be round two, and we'll go back to CR.
With any comments or anything you'd like to say, feel free.
This is W3MFB.
Over to W8CRW to take it.
Thanks, Mike.
Well, you know, like I said in the first round, I like FM, and there's, I guess, a couple reasons.
I find it to be user-friendly, and it's also user that you can actually meet in person and continue your relationship, even though you don't have to talk.
And an eyeball cue so is always great.
Eyeball cue so.
Mike, why do I keep saying Mike?
Eric, AC2EG.
AC2EG.
Your turn.
W8CRW.
Thank you, W8CRW.
This is Eric off of Charlie 2 Echo Golf.
I had to chuckle when CR was talking.
He was talking about FM.
I'm here thinking, no static at all, if you remember that Steely Dan song.
Anyway, we have Intermod instead.
I'd like to throw out a little question, because, as I mentioned before, I really did enjoy PSK31 back when it had a following.
And I'm kind of off HS these days for HOA reasons.
But when I get back on it, I think there's a mode called JS8 call, or JS8, that may have more of a PSK31-like experience.
And if anyone can enlighten me on that, I'd like to learn.
So, thanks in advance.
And with that, I will pass the microphone over to Mike.
AB3 AP.
This is AC2EG.
W3 Alpha Papa.
Mike, are you still there?
I had a bounce, but that's okay.
Mike, if you're still in there, if you're out in the distance, we'll be waiting for you.
So, I'll pass it over to Joe.
W3 GMS.
W3 MFP.
Good.
Thorn down Mike.
W3 GMS.
Ursulton, Pennsylvania.
And, Eric, I'm not sure if we've worked or not, but great to hear you on 985.
We probably have.
I'm not sure how you're getting in the repeater, whether you're getting in the repeater via RF or Echolank or All Star.
But, anyway, I noticed, you know, I always have to give audio reports out.
When you were transmitting, it almost sounds like you were using your phone, and I heard a message come in, and it was actually louder than your audio.
The other thing is, the audio tends to be very muffled.
So, I don't know whether it's a microphone issue or what it is, but it's just not clean and clear.
It's copyable.
I mean, I can understand what you're saying, but you may want to look at that a little bit and see if there's an obvious reason.
I've found that sometimes people will use some aftermarket microphones from China and other places, and they're just nowhere near as good as the original mics that come.
And, you know, the original mics are a lot more expensive if it goes bad, but the imported microphones are generally not very good.
But don't let any of that deter you from getting on my repeater, because we'd love to have you and the activity that you represent here on 985.
And I won't even talk about deviation.
Some of you guys are only deviating 2KC.
Leon is deviating almost 8KC on peaks and to the point where it's actually distorted.
So, Leon, you've got to back it down there.
Back it down.
And on FM, more audio, once you get above 5 kHz, is not good.
So, everybody wants to sound as good as they can.
And low audio is really not good.
But nobody has, very few people on the repeater have the proper level of deviation, probably 20% of our users.
Anyway, on the digital side, I have some automatic gain control amplifiers, and I can kind of do that.
But, Leon, you have so much audio.
I don't have enough dynamic range in my AGC circuit and the audio conditioning on 985 out to the Internet.
But you're just slamming it.
So, Gene sounds wonderful.
Gene sounds absolutely fantastic on your rig.
So, just write on a card.
Gene can just read what you want to say.
Well, your primary job is to check the back of the bus and make sure the tailpipe's not dragging it.
Make sure the coat hanger I gave you is holding up the pipe.
Anyway, I have to take tomorrow's trash day and recycle day, so I have to take it down to the bottom of the driveway out by the road.
So, I am going to do that now.
Mike, thanks for picking things up.
Excellent job.
Excellent question.
And it's all good, as somebody would say.
That might be a saying that you say a lot.
It's all good.
And it really is.
But it was interesting to hear people's favorite modes.
So, and the other thing is I wanted to comment about some of the modern ham rigs don't sound that great on AM.
That's true, but some of them sound absolutely fantastic.
The ICOM 7300 sounds wonderful on AM.
And a lot of people don't know how to adjust a sideband rig for AM.
If it's a 100-watt transmitter, the maximum carrier power you can run is 25 watts.
And then you judiciously have to turn up the mic gain and not overdrive things.
Ideally, you have a scope.
It's a really, really big, big beneficial tool to have for AM.
And some rigs will do 100% and some will not.
If you can only do 60% or 70% clean, that's better than 100% distorted.
So, anyway, another plug for AM.
I host the Antique Wireless Association PM.
That's afternoon and evening AM net every Sunday at 430 currently.
And Chuck, NA3CW, does the pre-net show for me before the actual net starts at 4 p.m.
The frequency is 3835.
3835.
And, Simon, you've got to get your general.
I can't believe you don't have your general.
Hot shot double E like you.
And I know you've been a ham for a while.
So, you've got to get your priorities right there and get that big G.
And then I'll get a sick rod on you.
And he'll bug the heck out of you until you get your extra.
So, anyway.
The KC-300K.
Take care, guys.
Have a good evening.
W3 GMS.
KC-300K.
And I know I am one of the ones with the narrow modulation.
That is one of my pet peeves on the 9700.
Tonight I'm on the Kenwood.
It may sound a little better.
Yeah.
I'm curious.
They have the new 9700 Mark II coming out.
I doubt that that will have adjustable modulation for FM.
It does for single side bands.
But, anyhow, as far as your question, Mike, I'm just more analog than digital.
I have FT8 on there because I just wanted to learn it.
Because I like to learn.
I like to experiment.
But I never use it anymore.
The one digital mode to me that I think is of value is the Vera FM.
And who knows, maybe someday when I get on HF I may try.
Vera AC, which is the HF version.
It's basically email and attachments and all the things you can do with your email on the Internet,
except it can be done just radio to radio.
And I think that's a valuable tool that you actually can send messages.
Because, you know, FT8 is just making an exchange.
That's it.
But that's about all I have for tonight.
I'll be sitting here listening out.
So I'll turn it over to Scott, W3KZG, KC3OOK.
Thanks Bill, W3KZG.
I think my favorite mode is voice.
Mainly.
That's what I mainly do.
I haven't done any digital work.
And I don't know CW.
So voice is all for me.
And I like chit-chatting with people on the radio.
It's fun to share ideas and talk about things.
It's good conversations.
But I'm actually sitting here at the workbench assembling my Shari Pi hat node.
All-Star node.
Soldering it together to the Raspberry Pi.
And assembling the unit.
And that's what I'm doing while I'm listening to everybody else.
But I'll say 7-3 to everybody tonight.
This will be my final.
And I think people came in after me.
Mike.
But I didn't keep track of anybody.
So I'm going to send it to you, Mike.
And you can go from there.
W3MFB.
This is W3KZG.
7-3, everyone.
Scott, have a good night.
Joe, have a good night.
And it goes over to Leon, AA3LH.
Pick it up, Mr. Driver.
W3MFB.
Man, Mike.
Thanks for letting me talk in this repeater tonight.
Shattering TTT.
That cold air out there.
Mighty fine coffee.
I just, I hate to see it slopped away.
This is A-3-O-H.
I don't want to see that coffee slopping around somebody else in the back.
You know, because somebody hit the brakes.
You drove.
You were a good driver tonight.
I've been drinking this nice, warm cup of coffee.
Feeling so good.
One hand on the microphone.
And I know I got a hard-driving mouth.
If I backed the radio back, you wouldn't hear my wife because she's a quiet, spoken person.
And so we share the radio.
And that's the way it is.
I hope I'm sounding better.
I have the microphone a little bit further away.
Yeah, I just kind of got an LSB.
And that's kind of where we're at.
We just kind of like that.
I don't have a lot more to say about that.
They talk about running AM and upper sideband on CB.
But, yeah, we are stuck at lower sideband.
And we kind of got off the 40-meter band.
I'm not on there a lot.
I run 80 meters now.
And that's just kind of where we get stuck at when I get on.
I do that.
I also do it in the morning when I get on.
I don't do a lot of evening 80 meters with all that other stuff goes on.
That goes on.
And other guys trying to be a CB or on 80 or on 40.
I just don't go for that.
All right.
It goes over.
Over to W1RC.
A3OH.
All right.
Mr. Mike.
W1RC.
Are you around still?
All right.
All right.
Mr. Mike.
Mr. Mike.
W1RC.
Just checking again.
Are you still there?
It's all you, man.
If you're there.
Ka3NUO.
W3MFB.
This is Ka3NUO.
And I don't have anything more to say about the 2 meter.
That's my only radio.
Enjoying the cool weather.
Makes it feel like Christmas.
But by December 26th, I'm saying, how many days till spring?
I guess as I get older, the cooler weather seems like it's colder than it should be.
So that's why I like the spring a little bit more.
And other than that, I don't know who was after me.
I have my radio in a little plastic bin.
I'm sitting on the floor.
In the dark.
And that's my ham shack.
So I don't know who goes after me.
So back to you, Mike.
This is Ka3NUO.
No worries.
No worries.
It's all good.
It's all good.
You're on the radio and you're here.
And that's all that matters.
So it goes over to Matt.
KiloVictor3JullietGolfB.
This is W3MFB.
And the Thursday Night Roundtable.
W3MFB.
Thank you.
KV3JGB.
I don't have too much to add.
I mean, I guess I do like voice.
I like talking.
I think that is quite fun to talk to people.
I mean, making contacts real quick is fine.
But one time I talked to a guy in Idaho or something for a half hour on 15.
That was just really cool.
We were just talking, talking, talking.
So that was fun.
So I really enjoyed that.
I'm getting into CW.
I really haven't done much on the radio yet with that.
I wouldn't mind doing some digital modes.
But FT8 doesn't really interest me all that much.
It's just like, hey, you're there.
Hey, you're there.
And it's like, eh.
I'd like to get into some more, some of the older modes where you can actually send text or something like that.
That fascinates me a lot more than just, you know, pinging, basically.
But I think that's going to be it for me.
I'll also say 73.
And I'm sorry.
Sorry, Mike.
You're making you work hard today.
I forgot to write down who was after me.
Put the kids to bed here.
So I will hand it back to you.
KB3JGB.
KB3JGB.
Matt, no problem at all, man.
Don't worry about it.
That's what we are.
I'm here for.
Right?
So all good.
All good.
So our short timer is our tail gunner.
He was looking out for us in the front.
And now he's watching our rear.
KB3BPI, Simon, W3MFP.
W3MFP, KD3BPI.
Yeah, that's for sure.
Best as I can.
I'm sitting here and actually working on my 3D printer in between the check-ins here.
So don't have a gun.
Don't have a gun, sorry to say.
But I have some plastic.
I have plastic discs I've been printing so I can fling those around.
But, yeah, thanks to JoeW3GMS for the encouragement to get my general.
I tried to do it.
I don't know if he's still listening, but I'll say anyway.
I tried to do it my first time, but I neglected to study.
So I got my technician, but not my general.
Sorry to say.
I think I was one question off.
It was pretty, well, it was not smart on my part.
I'll just say that.
But that was only in August or July.
It was July.
So still, I'm enjoying technician.
And, yeah, thanks for cluing me in to the other bands that are open for AM and such.
I've been looking at an ICOM IC706 Mark II.
You mentioned John WA3KFT.
Is it W3KFT?
He says it's Kentucky Fried Turkey.
So that's what I remember.
And he uses a 706.
IC706.
So I've been keeping my eye out for them.
I figured that would kind of get me covered once I get the general ticket.
And I did have a comment for KA3NUO.
I was walking back from my car tonight, and my fiance was saying that it's actually record lows for this time of year.
So I thought that would be somewhat validating.
It is actually very cold out there.
It is very cold indeed.
It reminds me of shoveling snow mid-January.
Which, uh, usually, well, I'm from Delaware.
And down there, it's rainy at about 50 degrees this time of year.
So for it to be this cold is just...
Ooh!
I'm up in Westchester now for reference.
Anyway.
I think that's enough from me.
So I'll send it back to you.
WA3MFD.
Or W3MFD.
Sorry, I'm adding the A.
But a 732 all, and a have a good night.
And thanks for hosting W3MFD.
This is KD3BPI.
Back to the day.
W3MFD.
Yeah, you were adding the alpha in there for Ron.
Yeah.
I was hoping to hear him and AF3Z tonight.
But we shall see.
We shall see.
706.
Mark 2.
Scott, maybe you should email Simon.
I don't know.
I don't want to impose.
But I remember we were talking.
Anyway.
So.
This is the end, second round of the Thursday night roundtable.
Your host, W3MFD.
Are there any other late check-ins that want to get on the list?
Join the conversation?
Say hello?
Hang out?
Whatever.
Please call W3MFD.
I was between Bill and Scott.
I distinctly remember that mistuned sideband in the Star Wars movie.
I saw it in Longview, Texas in a drive-in.
First run.
And.
I remember.
I remember.
I remember when I left.
I just kind of, you know.
I was driving along and I just wanted to pull back on the steering wheel and take off.
I was so engrossed in the movie I didn't even notice the music.
And it's full of music.
But it was kind of interesting.
I didn't remember it.
But I do remember that mistuned sideband.
And I thought at the time, you know.
Hey, these guys can go, you know.
Beyond light speed.
Why can't they tune in their sideband rig?
Well, that was it.
Back to you, Mike.
N3CW.
N3CW and the group W3MFD.
Chuck, I am so sorry about that.
I must have been looking at the computer or something when the boys were going back and forth.
But, yeah, I think they did that, you know, for theatrics, you know, on the film, exactly.
And that's interesting.
You didn't notice the music.
But, no, it was a great film.
I loved the first, well, four, five, and six, you know.
New Hope Returns, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Those are my favorites out of all the other series that they've had.
But that's brilliant.
I'm sorry about that, Chuck.
No problem.
Thanks for coming in again and saying your piece.
It's great to host 985.
You know, I love being on the repeaters.
I love chatting with everybody here, making new friends, and putting everybody's call sign into memory.
And that's what it's all about.
We have a great group here on 985.
And it's growing.
And that's what we need to continue to do is to tell other hams or other friends.
You know, I was trying to do that this week.
Saying I'd be here hosting and see if we get people to check in.
Hold up for a second.
Somebody mentioned Vera.
Vera is like email.
I think Bill.
Bill, were you saying that, I think.
And I didn't know that.
So I wrote it down.
And I know Ron does the Vera.
And also our buddy, he doesn't get in here much, but Frank, N3FLL.
He does the Vera with the W3EOC crew on the 70, Chester County 70 centimeter repeater links.
He does that as well.
And we were talking the other day, him and Frank and I, I was going into work Wednesday morning.
The, uh, Frank does, I guess he's, I'm not familiar, but I guess he, uh, he's like a control operator or just kind of moderates the wind link for our area on 40 meter in the mornings on Wednesday.
So you could usually catch Frank, N3FLL on the EOC link system in the morning.
So if you're driving to work, you could go say hi to Frank.
Uh, I was hoping someday, I'm not sure who's early risers.
I know CR, you're not up that early when I'm driving to work, but, uh, I was hoping we'd get some more folks.
I used to talk to Paul, N3RBN in the morning sometimes.
And, uh, I'm usually on the road around between anywhere between seven, like 10 after seven or, or like 7:15 or so, give or take, maybe later because of traffic.
But there's, and Jack, K3YVQ, I catch him on his way to work when he used to work at, uh, Lukens or whatever they called it now.
Um, but it'd be nice to catch some early birders out there on the machine.
We really have, Joe, thank you very much if you're out there listening.
And Martha, I know you may be listening.
We really have a good thing going here on, on, uh, on this repeater.
And, uh, I'm happy and honored to be a part of this group.
And I'm really happy to have all the people that checked in tonight.
So that's great.
Uh, use it or lose it, you know?
Um, we're all here for each other.
We have, uh, team, team building and, and, and we help each other out with antenna work and other projects or interests.
Um, the camaraderie here on 985 is awesome.
So, um, so that concludes, you don't have to go.
You don't have to go.
But that concludes the Thursday Night Roundtable on 146.985 W3GMS Repeater.
Don't forget to check out the website, www.w3gmsrepeater.com.
You can find out a lot of information.
Uh, Simon, go check that out.
Uh, you'll find a lot of information on, on amateur radio and the repeater and the user groups.
And you can listen to podcasts from the user groups.
The, the, the old guard, I should say.
The, the, uh, the heavy hitters.
They have hour-long podcasts about the users and about their amateur radio experience.
It's really interesting.
Mike W3MFB down here in Cowan Township, or as Joe likes to say, Thorndale Mike, saying 73.
God bless and, uh, have a good week.
And we'll hear from you soon.
On 985.
Take care.
W3MFB, Claire.
W3MFB, KD3BPI.
W3MFB, W3MFB Simon.
Hey Mike. Hey, so I'm surprised to hear you're in Thorndale. I'm over here in Westchester and I can hear you as good as I can hear Ron. Ron's right over the road. Right over in, uh, West Gershon. I'm in East Gershon Township. And I can hear him just as well as I hear you. What, what kind of rig do you have? Back to you.
Cool, yeah, I just like scroll through and hit you on the reverse.
I'm picking you up about at S6.
Now, mind you, if I was on the top of the hill, you'd probably be like 40 over,
but I'm down here in the valley.
If you know where the Thorndale Inn is, on 340, I'm pretty close to that,
or the bypass exit for 340, right down here in the valley.
So I have a 600-foot hill, give or take, to my south.
Which is blocking most of your signal.
But I do hear you on the reverse, which would be 146.385.
So I'm running a, currently I'm running 40 watts into a Yaesu FT-991 Alpha,
so a shack in the box, HF, VHF, and UHF, all mode.
Uh, yeah, and the antenna is about, at the base, about 28 feet, middle, 30-something.
So, it's a tram 1480, so it's about, I think, 6.2 dB gain on the antenna.
So the ERP, I'm not quite sure, but I had to do some math.
But yeah, that's what we're running over here.
Uh, back to you, sir.
That makes sense.
That makes good sense, having a big ol' antenna there.
Yeah, I actually lived out past where you are for a year.
I rented a house out in, um, West Callen Township, off of Cambridge Road.
Um, a friend of mine, his parents lived out there, and they had a piece of land that had two houses on it.
And, uh, so I rented one, they lived in the other.
So I'm very familiar with that exit.
In fact, a funny story, that exit, when I was moving to Westchester,
I had to use that 340 exit right near you, because my mattress was about to fly off the trailer.
I looked in my mirror, and it had elevated, and I was like, that doesn't look great.
So, um, yeah, familiar with that corner of the world.
And, yeah, you have a great signal coming out of the valley there.
It's so, a topography there.
I never realized just how much a valley it was until I drove through it every day.
And it was like, huh.
That is, uh, you go down, and then you come back up,
and then I would get off at 82, the 82 exit, and then head up 340 north of Coatesville.
So, um, uh, yeah.
But, yeah, great antenna.
Great antenna. Definitely can hear it just fine.
I just have, uh, what, a three-foot little antenna here.
I think it's got 5 dB gain for 2 meters.
It's a, it's a comet.
I really should write down the, uh, model number.
I got it at a ham fest.
It was $75.
And I just have it.
I'm renting an apartment right now with my fiancé.
And, uh, I just have it sort of hung in the gutter there.
But it does well.
It does, it's a lot better than the mag mount on a cookie sheet that it replaced.
So, anyway, back to you.
You're doing good.
You're doing good.
Like I said, if I was up in West Bradford, which is the 340 heading south, but it's all uphill,
I got a couple buddies.
A couple of hams up there.
A couple CB radio operators up there at the top of the hill, uh, heading towards Highland Orchard.
And, uh, yeah, I'd probably have you, like, 40 over, no problem.
But, uh, I didn't think I was going to be a radio operator when I moved here.
So, uh, that's, hey, hey, it is what it is.
But I was here for a reason.
Because if I didn't come down here, I wouldn't have met a technician on the CB radio.
And I wouldn't have got my hand license.
So, it is what it is.
So, that comment, are you on the first, your apartment, are you on the first floor or the second floor?
Actually, on the third floor, thankfully.
Um, it was when I moved out of the house in Kurtzville.
Um, I had, I was engaged at that point.
And so, my fiancée was like, let's just come on, move in.
And she was already on the third floor.
So, that, that worked out quite well for my aspiring radio operation.
I had just got my license at that point.
So, it was like, oh, well, you wouldn't mind if I use the gutter on the balcony.
So, there it is.
And amazingly, um, hotel, not hotel, apartment management, they haven't gotten on us yet.
I think it's subtle enough that, um, they just, they just don't look twice.
But, um, yeah.
Thank you.
F3Z.
I was on the reverse, my bad.
Never ask permission.
Just do it.
And if they ask, just play dumb.
Um, but yeah, no, that's cool.
That's cool.
Yeah, you might have to go, uh, yeah, you might have to, uh, when you get general there, you
might, and, and so on and so forth, if you're still there, uh, you might have to use that gutter
as your antenna, but you might have to use that gutter as your antenna, which you can do with a nine-to-one ballon.
Uh, and you're on the third floor, you wouldn't have a crown, but you could use a counterpoise on the balcony.
Um, but yeah, I've used my, uh, rain, downspouts and rain gutters for, uh, HF antennas.
Now, for HF, I have the radio I'm talking on now, which is up here in the shack, second floor.
But I have a little 20-watt Zygu, or however you say that, G90, and it has an automatic tuner in it.
Automatic tuner in it, and it's up to anywhere from 1 watt to 20 watts.
It does CW, digital, AM and FM, upper and lower sideband.
Great radio.
Less expensive than a 705 or whatever the new version is that they have.
And, uh, it has an automatic tuner, which the 705 does not, which is totally weird if you're going to spend 13 or more hundred dollars for, uh, a radio,
and you're not going to have an automatic tuner inside the radio, which is completely, I don't understand it.
But anyway, so the Zygu, G90, uh, I've used that with a nine-to-one, on-one, or ballon, on-one.
LDG, Lima Delta Golf, they make them.
They make one-to-ones, four-to-ones, nine-to-ones, and, uh, some, uh, chokes, I think, as well.
But anyway, uh, hooked that up to, uh, my downspout.
Put a ground on it, and then I also experimented with a counterpoise, and I was able to get on HF, no problem.
And that little radio tuned up the gutter, no problem.
Or the, I like to call it the gutter, but the downspout and gutter.
Uh, it's tuned up my chain-link fence.
I've tuned up a water tower.
I've tuned up, uh, my buddy, who's, who got me licensed.
Uh, he's got a, a fence on these, uh, railroad ties going around his property.
I tuned up his fence and talked to guys in New York State on 80 meters.
I mean, that radio's brilliant.
But anyway, enough of that.
But, yeah, you could use your, uh, your downspout or your gutter or, uh, at the apartment, uh, and tune it up on the radio,
and then it's like a total, uh, stealth antenna.
KD-3, BPI, W3MFB.
F3Z.
Guys, let me see if I got it.
Mike and Simon, good to hear you.
Uh, Mike, I heard you just starting to start up the, uh, round table, and my phone rang.
And I just got off the phone, so sorry I missed it.
Uh, but I, I had the radio on and turned down here, but the, uh, S meter was continuing to show a good signal in there,
so I thought maybe the round table was still going, but, uh, sounds like I missed it.
But, uh, yeah, an old friend from way back, also from Williamsport now, uh, he and I hadn't talked in ages,
so we talked an hour and 20 minutes or so.
So, uh, Simon, over to you.
KD-3, BPI, AF3Z.
Hey, AF3Z, KD-3, BPI, good to hear you.
Hey, I was wondering, but, uh, always good to catch up with old friends.
Glad, glad you had the time to do that.
Yeah, I, the question of the net was, um, uh, what is your favorite mode of operation, uh, for ham radio?
So, I'll, I'll pass it back to you.
I'm curious what your favorite mode is.
Uh, AF3Z, KD-3, BPI.
Go ahead and tell him, and then I'll give my version.
Go ahead, Jim, it's all you.
I was, I actually, uh, I actually said, uh, cause Simon checked in at, uh, short time list.
He was mobile.
And then, uh, I told him when he gets home safe, check in again and I'll put you down on the list.
So, he was our, uh, he was our first line of protection and then our tail gunner.
So, over to you, Jim.
Yeah, what other mode of operation, which I know, but do you use other than the repeater?
And, uh, what's your favorite?
Uh, AF3Z in the group, W3MFB.
See, that ID came in there just in time.
Uh, yeah, I figured you knew it.
Most people will probably sick and tired of hearing me who have been around a while.
But anyway, my favorite mode is CW, Morse code.
And, uh, by straight key, by bug, by iambic keyer, and all that kind of good stuff.
Uh, any way I can send it, I enjoy doing it.
And for me, Morse code is like music to my ears.
I just like the sound of it and, uh, enjoy, enjoy doing it.
Uh, tonight, uh, I forget what.
I don't know what time it was.
But I was sitting here, and I had to rig on, and, uh, just sort of listening.
And this was on 10 meters.
Uh, and all of a sudden, I heard AF5Z calling CQ.
I'm AF3Z, and this was AF5Z.
And actually, he and I worked each other a couple times before.
He's in the straight key sentry club, as I am as well.
So we had worked a couple times.
It was more like contest QSOs, you know, no real rag chew at all in there.
So we were on for half an hour together.
And, uh, using straight keys.
And it turns out he had an, um, has an Omni, uh, Tentec Omni 6.
I couldn't think of the number.
Which I have one, too.
But right now, it's sitting on, uh, Ron VEE's shelf.
Uh, I tried to repair it, and it just was working worse by the time I was done trying to figure it out.
So he said he'd take a look at it sometime.
Uh, so anyway, he had the same kind of rig, and so we were talking about and other stuff.
But, yeah, Morse code and the low bands was really my, my first love.
But, uh, I, I really enjoy getting on here, too.
FM, I don't do, I don't have any other equipment for anything but FM on 2 meters and 440.
And right now, I don't have a 440 kind of antenna, uh, either in the car or here.
So 2 meters is my band.
But, yep, that's my, my favorite mode.
Uh, and, uh, sometime I was listening to some sideband contesting.
And, uh, I much prefer the noise you get on CW when there's, you know, a lot of activity, or even the bands are noisy,
than hearing all that side splatter and stuff from nearby, uh, sideband signals.
It's just more offensive to my ears than the, the Morse code style of, uh, noise.
So, anyway, there you go.
Back to you, Mike.
Oh, no, I hear you.
Yeah, that could be when there's contests going on on sideband.
And, and, uh, Simon, listen, Alf, you'll hear it someday.
But, like, yeah, you get people on top of people, and they're just, for the limited band,
with, I could totally understand that.
Totally understand that.
That's why I like non-contest DJs.
Um, but you could always hide out on 12 meter or 17 meter where there's no contesting.
And, uh, you could just chill and have a rag chew with somebody, which is nice.
But, yeah, great to, great to hear you, Jim.
You're officially 15, uh, check-in.
And then, uh, we'll take it.
I'm, uh, keeping the list open while we're talking.
So, it's all good.
It's all good.
It's great that you, you know, you came in here.
Uh, so over to Simon.
If you're still there, bud.
Uh, KD3BPI, W3MFB, the group.
W3MFB, this is KD3BPI, and the group.
Uh, yes.
Uh, AF3Z, it's cool to hear, um, someone whose favorite mood is Morse code.
Now, I admit, I don't know Morse code.
I know a little bit.
I started to learn using an app on my phone.
But, um, I won't say I lost interest.
I just didn't keep up with it.
I went back to it, um, last week after, like, a month hiatus.
I had forgotten about half of what I learned.
I think I got to, well, I think I got to, um, the, the four, the four stroke letters.
I'm trying to think of a good way to put it.
I did P.
I think P is the last one I remember.
But, either way, didn't stick with it, and so I've forgotten it.
But, I will admit that Morse code has always appealed to me from a practical perspective because of how little bandwidth it uses.
And, um, Mike, hearing you talk about the pileups, and you as well, Jim, um, it's, it does seem to be actually a good consideration.
Because I suppose if, you know, voice, I remember reading, uses a lot more bandwidth on, um, HF, I guess in single sideband.
And this is just my understanding of it, so, so correct me if I'm wrong.
Um, but, so it seems like, you know, if you're doing truly long distance HF or trying to get conversations, you know, shoehorn in there to one person,
CW would be a very, uh, very usable and useful skill.
Very useful skill, in fact.
So, I'll stick with it.
It's good.
So, cool to, cool to hear it's still being preferred, even now with digital moods.
Though, Jim, I, I, um, I really relate to, uh, the, uh, oh, what's it called?
The, the, it doesn't sound good to your ear.
Ha ha.
Um, now it's going to sound weird, but I remember on the phone, and this is the, the new, this is like, uh, I'm trying to think of what era this would be.
Something like, um, uh, well, it would have been like early 2000s is when I first used the telephone.
So, it was after the analog age I've read about, you know, the old analog switching equipment.
It was after that, but at the same time, nowadays, whenever I hear a recording or, like, a pop song that has a bit of fern, it had, it, it hits that nostalgia.
Because, like, the sampling rate and everything, it just made this very, uh, neat sort of compressed sound that sounds good.
And it's like warm memories.
Um, but the digital stuff is just a little bit, the over, over ham radio, I don't know what it is.
It's DMR and all that, it just isn't, it doesn't have that pleasing, that pleasing sound to it.
Anyway.
Anyway, I've held the mic long enough.
I'll send it over to you, AF3Z, KD3BPI.
Yeah, very good, Simon.
And, uh, don't get too close to Joe, he might convert you to AM.
Uh, but, uh, yeah, the old amplitude modulated signals, you know, have a much nicer sound, audio-wise, than, uh, sideband does.
Uh, when I was getting into ham radio, sideband was, you know, coming in and becoming more popular.
Uh, and the way I learned about it, you know, you took right on the bandwidth stuff.
I think sideband is around 3 kilohertz bandwidth.
So that would make AM, like, around 6 kilohertz.
6 kilohertz.
I think that's about right.
Uh, and Morse code, I don't know.
It's sort of funny, but the faster you're sending, it's a little wider bandwidth.
Um, Simon, you probably are familiar with, uh, Fourier analysis.
Um, but when you think about a square wave, and all the frequencies makes up a square wave,
uh, anyway, the faster the switching on and off goes, you create more, uh, a wider signal.
But I don't know how wide it is on CW.
It's obviously much narrower than sideband.
So anyway, that's the way I remember learning about, uh, sideband.
And it just made sense to me that you can get more signals in the band and all that.
Uh, but I was not thinking about the sound of it.
For some people, they really enjoy the sound of AM.
And I must admit it sounds good.
I don't do much phone on HFM right now.
I don't even have, well, the rig I have will do it.
But it, uh, I don't have a mic with the right connectors on it and stuff.
So I haven't used it on sideband in years.
Uh, so anyway.
And, uh.
There's that guy on CW again.
Um.
But yeah, CW, uh, and learning it.
You know, you were talking about that.
Uh.
It's been a couple years since I learned it.
I first did for Boy Scouts, Simon.
And Mike, you may have heard this before.
Uh.
But my brother and I, he was three years older than me.
And in Boy Scouts, for something we did, one of the things you could do for a mare, a badger,
or one of the, one of the ranks or something.
But it was learn and send a message with code.
So we did Morse code.
My dad had been a radio man, trained as a radio man in the Navy.
And, uh, so he sort of taught us the code.
Uh.
But then he and I, at a camp out, won a competition in sending messages with flags, but Morse code.
And so that's the way I started, which doesn't help you learn to hear it on the radio at all.
Uh.
But then I got into ham radio, and, uh.
So I, my first ticket was in 1967.
That might have been a couple years before you were born there.
Uh.
But anyway, 67, and I had to learn five words per minute code.
And then I got my general about a year later.
And that was 13 words a minute.
Uh.
But then I was just sort of at that level for a long time.
In 79 is when I got my current license, and I had been inactive and let my license expire even.
Uh.
So in 79, I had gone to electronic school, so I had the theory in my head.
And I had to get my code speed up to 20 words a minute for the extra.
And I managed to pass it.
I sort of faked my way through it.
But, uh, that's a longer story.
I'll leave for another time.
And then I was sort of stuck around, well, 13 to 20 words a minute.
More like 15 to 17 or 18.
Uh.
And then a couple years ago after I retired, this other guy up here and I get on as often as we can.
At least, you know, maybe three times a week or something like that.
And we'll get on for a half an hour or an hour.
And, uh, we just chatted about any old thing.
And some of it's just stupid stuff.
But our main purpose is not to communicate great ideas.
It's just to practice the code.
And that, getting on and really using it on a regular basis for long periods of time like that, has really helped my code.
You know, I wasn't trying to get faster, but I have gotten a good bit faster.
And copying has become a lot more fun.
So that's one of the main things is using it a good bit so that it becomes secondhand to your second nature or whatever I'm trying to say.
Not secondhand.
Uh, so you get the idea.
Uh, but, uh, and we all start out slow and you gradually increase.
But, uh, actually getting on and using it is really what cements it in your mind or whatever.
Uh, so that's enough waxing eloquently on CW for you for now.
But, uh, it is fun.
And that's not for everybody.
Some people don't enjoy it.
But, as I say, it's music to my ears.
And, uh, a good CWQ song really brightens my day.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Simon.
Yeah, Jim's, Jim's, especially on field day.
Jim is the man.
I got to work with him last summer.
It wasn't this summer, but the summer before that field day.
And I was, uh, doing the log, doing the computer, doing the logging for him, uh, for about an hour or so.
And he's, he's a beast on CW.
Uh, great ear.
And, uh, a fast, uh, keer.
Now, I'm just reading this because I don't know jack about CW except for sitting next to Jim during field day.
Uh, so the bandwidth of continuous wave signal is typically around 100, or one, let me just put it this way.
Uh, one kilohertz to 1.5 kilohertz.
But, as Jim mentioned, it varies with speed and the keying characteristics of the signal.
Theoretically, an unbroken CW signal has zero bandwidth.
But keying, it on and off creates sidebands.
And the rise and fall times of the carrier are the main factors determining occupied bandwidth.
The faster, as Jim said, faster keying speeds and quicker rise and fall times increase the bandwidth,
while slower speeds, with more gradual transitions, result in a narrower signal.
So, roughly around 1 to 1.5 kilohertz, maybe a little more.
Because if you're sitting next to Jim, and he's really at it, and he's having a great day,
uh, he'll definitely get up to 30 words or more a minute.
So, there you go.
There's that.
And, uh, it's, it's nice to hear.
I do listen to it, uh, on 40 meter a lot.
I'll just kind of pop over there and listen.
I have a decoder here.
I don't trust the, uh, online decoders.
It's usually not, uh, I guess coming out of the speaker and going into the computer, it really doesn't come out very well.
Uh, you can use, uh, these SDRs.
I use Kiwi a lot.
And, uh, they decode it pretty well.
Uh, which is nice.
They also decode FT8 and FT4 and other digital modes.
So, scan TV and all that.
You can see weather maps coming through, uh, from NOAA broadcasts and things like that.
Uh, maritime, uh, weather maps and things.
So, we'll decode it pretty well, the Kiwi SDR, but, uh, but the, uh, the one on the computer, not so much.
Uh, my Zygu actually does have CW, uh, decoder on it.
It's, uh, not so much either, but you can get the gist of it.
You'll see call signs and things.
Um, it doesn't have the, uh, quick pickup characteristic, I guess, of decoding it.
Uh, over to Simon, uh, well, let me, let me, let me, let's leave a pause for the cause.
See if anybody wants to pop in on the convo.
This is W3MFB before we pass it to Simon, KD3BPI.
Heard.
Uh, Simon, pick it up.
W3MFB KD3BPI was just about to.
Just beat me to it.
That's really cool about, if you go faster, it uses more bandwidth.
Interesting.
I have an interesting, um, not story.
An interesting factoid about that.
So, I, my day job is working with aircraft instrumentation at a small place in Exton, Pennsylvania.
It used to be Innovative Solutions and Support, but we just rebranded to Innovative Aerosystems.
If you look up the website, you'll see some of the, some of the stuff we do.
But there's a communications protocol used on these, uh, in this instrumentation.
It's called AirInc.
That's Alpha, Romeo, India, November, Charlie.
A-R-I-N-C.
A-R-I-N-C.
I think I got that.
And the weird thing about AirInc is that you can choose the slew rate of the signal.
It's a differential signal returns to zero similar to, well, it's a differential signal similar to RS-422 or RS-485, if you're familiar.
Um, but it returns to zero between each, each bit.
And then it also, it also, the slew rate is very closely defined.
And it's exactly for the same reason that, it, basically, it's to prevent it, spurious emissions.
In the same way that quick CW, quick, you know, do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do, that, that, in the same way that that applies more bandwidth, or uses more bandwidth, they have the slew rate slower so that you can, so that it doesn't have as many spurious emissions to other potentially sensitive equipment.
Of course, everything is shielded very carefully.
And, um, you know, grounds are isolated and such.
But, they go down to that, that level of, um, of specification for, um, for AirInc.
So, really interesting to see the, uh, you know, the physics of electronics transcends, transcends everything, at least in this domain.
Um, so that was an interesting, interesting thing to hear there.
Um, but yeah, I think that's, that's, uh, what I have to say for now.
I'll continue to listen, though.
I'm having a good time listening in.
Send it over to Jim AF3Z.
This is KD3BPI.
Yeah, very good.
And, uh, AF3Z here, by the way.
Um, yeah, Simon, when I hear you talk about that stuff, and the networking stuff and all that, I,
I just sort of sit here a bit jealous and, uh, amazed.
Uh, cause I'm not, you know, I haven't.
Well, my electronics, well, I, I went to electronics for two years, 69 to 1971.
And then I went to college, 71 to 75.
And there in college, I was a physics major.
But not a good one, I have to point out.
But anyway, so all my real technical background goes back to 1975 or before.
And, uh, so anyway, I'm, I'm not up on the networking kinds of stuff and the digital modes and, and all that stuff.
Uh, so I, I envy some of that.
But you can only do and know so much.
But, uh, yeah.
The, the 4A analysis, I don't know if you're familiar with that, Mike, but the gist of it, the un, un, un-technical thing is that every waveform, like a square wave, for example, when you turn the CW on and off and the rise times and fall times and all that, uh, every waveform can be, uh, created or it is, uh, I can't think of the right words.
But now every waveform is made up of a certain number of different sine waves of various frequencies.
And so that a square wave, even though it hardly looks anything like a sine wave, is made up of a whole bunch of sine waves.
And the rise times, uh, to make that kind of a waveform, it takes a lot more of the higher frequency sine waves.
So that's why the rise times affect the bandwidth, because, uh, a quicker rise time takes a lot more of the higher frequencies to create that band or that shape of the waveform.
So anyway, it's interesting stuff, but that always amazes me, that you can take a series of sine waves, add them all together, and you end up with a square wave.
It's like, wow. Or any other waveform. Uh, fascinating stuff.
And for me, physics and other stuff, I enjoy it all, but more at a, I guess, a surface level.
I'm not one of these people that really dug into one subject and became an expert on it.
I'm more of a generalist. And I like a lot of different things.
So I guess that was my downfall in physics. Uh, and I don't know if you know this, Simon, but I ended up after college and graduating as a physics major, but for teaching in school.
Uh, then I went to seminary and ended up being a pastor. So, uh, I, uh, when I was in junior high school approximately, I can remember saying, "When I get to 12th grade, that is it. No more school."
And I ended up going for nine years after 12th grade, uh, between electronic school, college, and then three years of seminary.
And I ended up to, added up to nine years. Uh, so there you go. And yeah, some of the CW decoding, and one of the problems with CW and decoding is, depending on how it's being sent,
but somebody sending by hand or using a bug or something like that, uh, oftentimes our ears can judge the CW well, but the decoders don't.
have more trouble with it because it's not, it's not perfect enough. And I've never really used a decoder. So I don't know. They might be doing a lot better than they used to.
a lot better than they used to over to you mike af3z here
three says in the group w3mf8 uh thanks jim for uh explaining that that's pretty cool but uh
and simon uh yeah you know why your company i was that you worked for i was literally looking them
up they had some job openings on indeed.com and i was looking at them and i think i actually saved
their website in my uh favorites here just to check it out there's a lot of companies in your field
in that general area up there by gordon drive uh and pickering valley feed and farm area
but uh and surrounding area a lot of military contracts that's what i was looking for on indeed
military uh manufacturing i do manufacturing but nothing nothing to that extent just uh basic uh
gaskets actually it's small company mom and pop but we're growing we branched out but uh been there
about quarter century now i can't believe i just said that but it is what it is but yeah i was looking for
other uh manufacturers in the area that's cool that is cool yeah i'm not too technical i wasn't the uh
i'm not the engineer like most amateur radio operators are or physics majors jim but i like how the route you
went with the pastor uh been talking to jim for six years now on the on this machine and uh
and i think we worked once on 40 on voice when you did have a microphone i think but uh yeah he's a great
guy and a good inspiration he's got a lot of a lot of good things to say a lot of meaningful things to say
but actually i gotta get out of here too it's been a long day i was telling the boys i've been up since 5 50
and uh i've been non-stop and i got home at like seven i don't know 7 45 from being out all day running
with mom and helping my sister out taking her to get her mri and then i had to cook dinner for mom and
then run over to dyingtown vintage and the wife and i had a event there to attend to and then i had to book
there and come home so i told you jim that if i needed you i would be uh emailing you pronto if i
needed you to sub but uh i wanted to get here and uh and make sure to do uh jesus slot so i'll uh keep
you in mind for the next time but that's good i'll hope you spring by the time uh we have so many uh
uh enthusiastic uh operators for the round table will probably be spring by the time uh it's my turn
again so i'm going to pass it over to simon if you didn't check out uh and well simon and jim 7 3 guys
thanks for uh sticking around i really appreciate it and uh and i'll talk to you guys soon uh so simon if
you're still there uh kd3 bpi w3 mfb 73. w3 mfb kd3 bpi 73 to you thanks for sticking with us good to talk to
you and get your get your thoughts and uh yeah shoot the shoot the breeze so to speak though i don't know
how much maybe an electron breeze we'll we'll say that we're shooting the electron breeze
oh my yeah yeah it's getting late they're getting late but um appreciate you running the the round table
and uh but jim man oh man to go from i don't want to do any more school in 12th grade to uh to nine more
years man i i i could have never it was i guess i had kind of an opposite well maybe not maybe not my
story after high school was i was going to go and study to be a diesel mechanic um i was just going to go
right into the workforce uh because i didn't think that i could do college and um well my mom didn't like
that idea too much my dad was all for it he was like yeah you know that sounds cool good money made
you know working on trucks and bulldozers and buses and everything um but but yeah my mom said my mom
sent me to uh to delaware technical community college where i ended up meeting uh wa3vee ron um so that was
you know providential and um but but so i did but i tell you by that fourth year of college i was ready to
be done and i got a job and i was i it was so great to work for a living i tell you you know people
especially some kids some of my friends talk about wanting to quit their job and do some odds and ends but um
not me not me not me i almost i'm almost embarrassed to admit it to them because i just love working
especially where i am now you know doing the the stuff with airplanes that's that's pretty cool
that's pretty cool i went from my first job was um a place run by dennis w prather dr dennis w prather out of ud
phase sensitive innovations started there spent two years as an intern one year full-time
and then i worked for a company signal service in westchester they did traffic signals and um
intelligent transportation systems throughout the state of pennsylvania and two years there and now
i just started at this new place um and yeah yeah if you're still there i'm uh w3 mfb
they're growing rapidly quite rapidly and manufacturing is having a hard time keeping up so depending on your
expertise they may may be interested though check their job listings i've seen some new faces so i don't know
if maybe they've already hired people for manufacturing um but yeah i'm in electrical engineering there
and it's it's fun um right now they have me doing uh legacy support on ancient honeywell equipment
so um very interesting indeed but um af3z jim if you're still there i'll send it over to you i'm curious
uh what seminary you went to i have some uh some good friends of mine went to a westminster semin seminary
in um in philadelphia there so i'm curious where you uh spent your spent your extra two to four years
uh af3z kd3bpi yeah very good simon af3z here um and one thing first is uh it's interesting when i got done
or was getting done my senior year in high school i really doubted whether i could do college i was really
not sure about that i was about to it was the time of year when i had to start applying to colleges and i
was in the college prep you know version of things and i was gonna and then it was called virginia polytech
i don't know what it's called now and also pitt was the other place and i was thinking about electrical
engineering because i was a ham by this point and that was a you know a big interest of mine
uh but i was really afraid of it to be honest so i finally confessed to my parents that and we started
looking at options and so instead of heading towards the college i went to what was called
philco tech philco technical institute 219 north broad street in philadelphia and i commuted in there
from paoli i lived outside of paoli so took the train from paoli in there for two years and it was a solid
two years we didn't have summers off but when i went there i discovered i had more on the ball than i thought i did
you know i did very well i pretty much got straight a's there and i didn't have to do too much work at it either
uh if i had homework i could do it pretty quickly uh it's interesting my computer is going
my computer is going crazy here um it recently updated windows and it's been doing some funky stuff
since then uh so anyway uh going to philco i realized i had more on the ball than i thought
and so by the time i was finishing up there two years later in the end of august was when we were
finishing our two-year program and i was in what they called eet electrical engineering technology
they had some other programs like radio and tv repair and stuff like that but i was in the eet program
and i thought you know maybe i could handle college so i went right from there to millersville to college
out here near lancaster and mainly because it seemed logical i guess i was worried what other people were
going to think seemed logical to go from the electrical electronic stuff to uh the physics so that's how
i ended up in that i tried to become a music major at one point got turned down i thought about
what they called educational media back then but basically library stuff and uh what else oh at one
point i switched from a liberal arts or for secondary ed physics to liberal arts and then back again
uh so i switched around a bit and before i was even done i it's a long story but i ended up hitting the
uh pastoral direction uh and it's funny because i one of the professors oh i went to uh with wesley
theological seminary which was down in dc northwest section of washington and uh right next to adjacent to
the campus of american university down there in fact you talk about west westminster or whatever you said but
there's a westminster maryland and that's where the seminary actually started but in the 50s or sometime
they moved to dc when american gave them or sold them some of their land
so that's where i went anyway washington united methodist uh i was in the united methodist church
this crazy computer still sitting here the text was blinking on and off i just scrolled down and back
up and it stopped it so anyway uh sorry for the sidetrack there so that's that's sort of how the uh the thing
went but oh what i started to say was i had a professor there at the seminary who is a physicist as well he had
gone through physics and i don't remember now to what degree or length he went into physics but he ended up
going then and became a professor there at the seminary so uh interesting it seems like a long stretch let me
Let me say one more thing, AF3Z. When I was in college in physics, and also I had sort of rejected church and was far away from that for quite a while. But I was thinking and getting into relativity theory and stuff, and I'd take walks at night and look out, you know, look up at the sky.
And, you know, starting to ponder the celestial distances and just the unbelievable, you know, the fact that I'm seeing a star and the light left that star millions of years ago and stuff like that.
And I came up with a little thing at one point that, and this doesn't hold water, but it's sort of an interesting ponder thing for me. But with relativity theory, as you approach the speed of light, distance is, I guess, perpendicular to your direction.
But anyway, distances contract to zero. And it dawned on me, well, they say God is light, and also that God is everywhere. So if God is light moving at the speed of light, I guess God could be everywhere at once because distances contract to zero.
So like I say, it doesn't hold much intellectual weight, but it shows you what my mind was playing with. And so I was a technical kid, but also wondering about the, what do you call the other stuff? Liberal arts side of things, I guess.
So there you go. Back to you for one more than I need to get off of here. And I'm sure glad you guys were both here when I finally was able to get on. KD3BPI. I almost said VPI. That's Virginia Poly Institute. Anyway, KD3BPI AF3Z.
AF3Z. KD3BPI. Ah, very good. Thanks for sharing.
I'm going to send me a story there. Really cool to hear. I'm glad I wasn't alone in my, um, in my doubt of college. Uh, I guess personal doubt, you could, you could say.
I'm not exactly, I don't know, I think back, I was a bit cranky at that point in my life, I will admit. I will admit a little bit, uh, not sure what the proper term is. Um, something to do with adolescence.
Something like, um, temperamental, um, the word may come to me later. But, um, I wanted to just do something.
Uh, and it turns out that studying engineering, though I can't blame you for being scared of it.
Because, uh, son of a gun, if there were professors like Ron over, I, I kid, of course.
Um, but no, it's like, uh, there's, I've heard stories of other schools. I was fortunate to start at Del Tech, where they're very interested in student success.
Um, but I've heard, when I got to University of Delaware to finish out my last two years, um, the professors were much less understanding and harsher.
And, uh, so it was a kind of a rude wake-up.
And, uh, I don't know that I would have survived had I started in that environment.
I might have just gone and been a mechanic, you know.
And, um, but, um, to go from, I mean, I looked up the Philco School.
What an interesting, what an interesting spot.
Um, it's, uh, it looks like it's still around.
I thought it was the Philco radios, which maybe, well, reading on Wikipedia, that's what it was.
But, I should read, I'm gonna have this bookmarked for later, this, this page here, because that's interesting.
Um, doing EET at Philco.
But then to go to physics.
Now, that's pretty cool.
I gotta admit, that's really cool.
I could have never done physics.
That's, um, it gets into the, like, the relativity and everything.
I enjoy it now.
But at that time in my life, I would not have enjoyed it.
It would have been too, uh, too undefined.
I love, so, I grew up in a very conservative Christian denomination.
Which, you know, I'm not saying, I won't say anything bad about it.
But it certainly inspired in my mind.
A way of thinking that was very black and white.
And, um, I ran with it.
You know, that was what I decided my, uh, my faith and identity would be, um, at that time.
So, I was very, you know, things have to be black and white.
And anything that's not is, I don't know, I'm not too sure about it.
Um, I wasn't much of an intellectual at that time.
And, um, since, since then I've grown.
Happy to report.
And, um, but, but I will say that, um, growing up in that denomination was very, like, it was very, um, uh, I have a good knowledge of the Bible.
So, when you talk about God is light and God is everywhere and things like that, it's, in reference to relativity, that tickled my funny bird.
I'm gonna have to remember that.
I'm gonna have to put that one in my back pocket for later.
Anyway, I already timed it out once.
So, um, yeah, good to talk to you.
Good to talk to you, as always.
And, I hope to talk to you again sometime.
Maybe sometime this weekend.
If I get on, get on the airwaves.
Uh, but, yeah, I'll send it back to you for your final.
KD-3 BPI.
Oh, sorry.
A-F-3-Z.
K-D-3 B-P-I.
Yeah, that's interesting in the way it connected with, uh, black and white way of thinking and stuff.
Uh, I was a questioner from early on in my life.
And I grew up in the Methodist Church, later United Methodist.
And actually, my grandfather, my father's father, was a pastor.
But he retired in, like, 1953, and I was born in 51.
So, I never knew him as a pastor.
But, uh, he was definitely old school, and I was definitely not old school in a number of ways.
Uh, but, yeah, it's an interesting, interesting thing.
And, uh, there's something else I was going to say on that.
But, yeah, I, oh, I know what I was going to say.
I was the kind of person that really wasted a good bit of time in my schooling years.
Uh, because I was trying to get by.
I was trying to pass.
I didn't want terrible grades.
But I wasn't really into what I was studying, is what I'm saying.
Uh, probably if I had spent some more time away from things,
I might have been more interested in whatever I chose.
But, uh, anyway, so there was a lot of physics stuff.
Oh, and when I was going to Millersville...
Uh, a lot of the tests we took were open book, home.
You took them home, take home tests.
And you could use your, uh, your textbooks and stuff.
So, unfortunately, I was smart enough to be able to take the book and the test,
put them together, and figure out how to get, you know, pass the test.
And I did all right in college.
But, you know, I, like I say, I squandered some of the opportunity and didn't really, uh, learn as much as I could have if I would have been doing more than just doing a quick cram session or whatever to try to figure out how to do the problems on the take-home test.
Uh, but, uh, it's fascinating stuff.
But, again, I'm not real good at digging in deep.
And all the math and stuff would be a bit much.
And when I hear some of the stuff they're thinking about and talking about, you know, modern physics and all the astronomy stuff,
Oh, it's mind-boggling.
I enjoy it at the surface level, but, uh, I don't think I can handle the other stuff.
Yeah, Philco Tech was part of the Philco Corporation, I guess.
And I think the school was sort of sold to a place in New Jersey or something years back.
Uh, I don't think it stayed in Philadelphia too much past when I graduated from there, which would have been 71.
The ninth fall of 71 is when I graduated from there, because, like, 69 was when I graduated from high school.
So two years later, 71.
And I don't know how much longer they lasted.
They were having some financial troubles while I was there.
Uh, and that's another long story.
But, anyway, it was a good place to go, and it, uh, it beefed up my own self-confidence enough to give, uh, college a good shake.
And I made it through college and seminary, like you said.
A lot of years.
But I didn't plan it ahead.
It was just step by step, which made it easier, I guess.
All right, good night there, Simon.
Thanks for the chat.
Really enjoyed it.
And catch up with you again soon.
KD3 BPI.
This is AF3Z.
730 AF3Z.
And have a good night, Jim.
And, uh, yeah, hope to talk to you again soon.
KD3 BPI.
Clear QRT.
Thank you.