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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
And good evening. Welcome to the famous 985
roundtable. I'm Ron, WA3VEE, located in Westchester,
Pennsylvania. And I'm honored to be, and I
mean that, honored to be your host for tonight's
roundtable. Stand by.
Sorry about that. We meet every Thursday evening.
Crazy over here. At 8 p.m. on the W3GMS Parkesburg
repeater, 146.985 MHz. The PL tone is 100 Hz
on the input. For tone squelch, for those
who use it on receive, 94.8 Hz. So take a
look also at the repeater website, w3gmsrepeater.com.
It's just over there myself. There's a lot
of good information over there. Besides this
roundtable, this repeater also hosts the 985
workbench on Monday evenings at 8pm. The workbench
focuses on answering technical questions as
well as exploring topics related to setting
up and operating your station. Newcomers are
always very welcome here on 985 and especially
during these nets. They are all encouraged,
they and all amateur radio operators are encouraged
to check in. If you can't stay long, feel free
to call in during our short time check ins
at the beginning of the round table, which we
will start very shortly. Our discussions here
are informal, passing the mic around in the
order in which stations call in. So I encourage
you to note who checks in right after you, so
you will be able to turn the mic over to them
when they finish, when you finish your comments.
We usually begin with a question, and I've
got one tonight here, a couple different parts
to it. got a question, hopefully it will evoke
some pretty good discussion. That's our discussion
starter. You can answer that if you wish and
or comment about other subjects as well. If
you have any suggestions or questions about
the roundtable, contact Phil, KC3, CIB, or
Jim, AF3Z, both are good on QRZ.com. Be aware
that on occasion a repeater experiences intermod
interference. Please run maximum power or
be prepared to check in digitally through EchoLink
or All-Star. We want to hear you. To be able
to use EchoLink and All-Star on 985, you need
to register with us. Directions for doing so
can be found on the website, w3gmsrepeater.com.
Also, when the intermod is present, before
starting a transmission, give a short call,
am I getting in okay? And I will let you know
if you are or not. Again, it's good when you
hear the intermod and I'll advise when I hear
it, high power, echo link or all-star. Those
are usually the killers of the intermod. Now
don't be too quick to talk, pause a couple seconds
before hitting the press the talk switch.
This is good repeater etiquette. It's good
practice overall and pause is especially
helpful to those on All Star and Echo Link.
You do click the push to talk button, wait
a second before starting to talk. We don't want
to miss what you have to say. Takes a moment
for the repeater to process your PL tone. It's
especially true for digital. Also, we're almost
to the questions. The repeater has a three-minute
timer. If you talk for more than three minutes
without letting up on your mic, the repeater
completely shuts down until you release your
push-to-talk switch. So every two to three
minutes, release the mic button just like this
for a moment, and then you can continue to talk.
You don't need to let the repeater carry your
drop. OK, finally, after all that housekeeping
stuff and intro and pre-ramble, Just a couple
of really quick announcements. DineAfi breakfast
tomorrow morning for all those who have RSVP'd,
yes. It will be good to see Jen at the Brass
Eagle because her and her husband Mike were
kind enough to visit us during field day.
So my question to Jen will be is she still
willing to serve us after some of the crazy
stuff we were doing during field day. So should
be a fun time tomorrow at the Brass Eagle.
Okay, also another announcement, Leon AA3LH
after the roundtable will be on 7280, single
sideband, plus or minus. He is in Colorado
with Gene right now visiting his family. So
7280, right after the roundtable here. Just
got that note tonight. Okay. Tonight's question.
One word and then I'll tell you the question.
Cars. cars or vehicles of travel. What led
you to buy the vehicle you are currently driving?
What were the, all puns intended, hope Jim's
listening, what were the driving, sorry about
the pun, driving factors in that decision?
What additional features do you wish your
current vehicle had? Talk about reliability.
Is it reliable? What will your next vehicle
be? And what would your ideal vehicle be?
So those are the questions tonight. All about
your mode of travel. Talk about the horse.
OK, let's start with check-ins. So let's go
with digital short time. This is the short time
portion. So we'll call for digital first, then
RF. So all those short time check-ins, those
who can't stick around for very long. for
one reason or another. Digital short time check-ins.
is WA3VEE. This is the 985 round table digital
short time check-ins. Please call now.
This is KV3 ZUV short time via echo link that's
Kilo Bravo 3 Zulu uniform Victor, Adam mobile
in extant
3 Juliet alpha Mike W3JAM
You're not hearing anything on the All-Star
side of things either. So, acknowledging,
Adam, KB3ZUV and W3JAM, additional digital
check-ins, All-Star or EchoLink, please call
now.
Okay, nothing heard. RF short time check ins.
RF or digital. RF or digital short time check
ins. This is WA3 VEE and this is the 985 round
table. Please call now.
C-3RFG, Jim and Malvern.
W3KZG, just saying hi, can't stay in, but we'll
listen. Good evening everybody, W3KZG.
short time list here we've got KB3ZUV, W3JAM,
K3DZM, KC3RFG, and W3KZG in and out. Scott
if you change your mind or you can stick around
certainly absolutely welcome. Glad to have
all the check-ins. One more time digital or
RF check-ins for the short time list this is
WA3VEA please call now.
Nothing heard. The question for tonight, cars
or vehicles of travel? What led you to buy
the vehicle you have currently? What were the
driving factors? What additional features do
you wish it had? that it didn't have perhaps?
Just elaborate a little bit. And what will
be your next car? KB3ZUVWA3VE.
All right, Ron. Good evening. W. Three. V.
E. And the Thursday night roundtable at this
is Adam KB three ZUV mobile currently in Exxon.
And we it is a it is an appropriate night
to talk about wheeled travel. I just got done
doing a bike ride after work. We have the
Chester Valley Trail right by my office and
I've kind of gotten hooked on riding it. So
I did another 11 miles on the Chester Valley
Trail tonight. But I'm going to be heading
home just about out of daylight here. I mean,
I do have headlights on the bike, but that's
more for other people to see me rather than
rather than for me seeing things. But yeah,
we'll be loading up the bike in the van. That's
my loan. My my my last gas burner. My Kia
Sedona minivan. They don't really have a good
electric minivan out there. Kia is trying
to make one the EV9, but it's not really a van.
It's more of a full-size SUV, sort of like
a competitor more to the Tahoe or Suburban
rather than the minivan. Volkswagen has one.
is massively, massively overpriced and it has
bad range. So we still have the gas-burning
minivan for now, which is great for toting the
bike around though. Though eventually I think
I need to get a proper bike rack. And the
reason for that is that Um, just this past
weekend, as part of a, Cub Scout activity,
we had the pack one 52 Marshall tin Cub Scouts,
uh, summer bike ride. And Lexi was super,
super, super motivated to participate in that
bike ride. And she actually finally got the
training wheels off. So the training wheels
are off and she is, she's peddling, peddling
on two wheels and no, no further assistance,
uh, uh, several miles. And she, did another
ride on the Struble trail in Downingtown.
Um, uh... or a couple days ago as well so she's
uh... she's up and running around i know you're
a big fan of cycling when you're not behind
uh... behind the wheel of your toyota know
you're a big toyota fan uh... but uh... anyway
moving on to the question itself what uh...
other car see i'm driving the gas burning van
tonight but my main car is the uh... well you
mentioned that you you mentioned your horse
why the electric course i'd be electric uh...
ford uh... mustang maqui and we will will pass
it over to a man that has real horses biological
horses. But the reason I picked that one is
because I knew it would be compatible with
the Tesla charger and yet I didn't have to
deal with all of the Tesla headaches. It integrates
better with my Apple smartphone. The CEO is
an ordinary guy and not some sort of Bond
villain. I can take it to a regular I could
take it to a regular dealership and get it
worked on. And as a matter of fact, I'll be
doing that tomorrow. I'll be going to effort
to twin pine Ford to get my free annual inspection
and tire rotation and get a couple of recalls
worked at. I had been very reliable. I've had
one, I have one very minor issue with a wheel
bearing. So I've had the car almost two years
now. It'll be two years in October. One minor
issue with a wheel bearing that was, that was
fixed under warranty. uh... the factory warranty
is going to run out in a couple years i'm actually
considering buying an extended warranty and
considering sticking with the car for the long
haul uh... they haven't really come out with
anything that's really better since then there
there may be something uh... by the end of
this decade uh... you know better battery technology
or a better charging system with we shall we
shall see i'm in kind of a waiting he noted
making my payments and everything is hunky
dory with the car knock on wood As far as what
features do I wish I had in the car? Well,
really the only thing I wish is that it was
easier to put a ham radio in the vehicle. It's
actually quite difficult to do it. CR, we'll
probably be hearing from him later. He's really
going all out to put a ham radio in his EV,
which is he has a TIA, is about the competing
model EV6. And he's done quite a bit to get
it working, but they give him a hard time when
he takes it into the dealership. They're like,
what's that? Are you going to worry you and
I'm not saying it was a horror story in his
part, but I saw the hardship that he went through
and I'm like, this is just not, this is just
not worth it. I could, if I really wanted
to go ham radio mobile again, while I've got
my, I've got my, you know, I've got my digital
on my phone here or I could, or I could just,
or I could just put something in the van if
I really, if I really wanted to, although this
van is a 2008 and the air conditioning just
went bad in it. I've got a wheel bearing going
bad in this one as well. And that's, this one
won't be covered under warranty because the
the van is 17 years old. But you know, my next
my next purchasing decision, that was the last
one. I have another EV, I have a Nissan, and
that's on lease and that has to go back next
summer. So that goes back in July of 26. And
I really haven't given it a lot. I've given
some thought but I haven't given a lot of thought
that's mainly going to be my wife's car. We
will be getting another electrical car just
because we have all the charging equipment in
our house. So it's going to be some really
hard decisions about whether we I get a new
one and go on a lease again or we get another
or we get a used one because the the resale
value on EVs right now is totally cratered
because gas is cheap these days but I can still
charge cheaper than a gallon of gas. So we
have a year to make up our minds and a year
is a long time in terms of the used car marketplace
so we'll see how things develop and see how
things shake out. I'll probably have a lot
more to say about it next time we have this
question on the roundtable whenever that is.
Let's keep things moving. like I said, Ron,
were asking about mechanical horses. We'll
send someone, send it to someone with a real
horse. W3JAM from KB3. that UV73? Claire,
good night.
All right, very good, Adam. KB3ZUVW3JAM.
where the horse
or on premise.
I'm Gray, it'd be great to saddle them up and
be able to take them out on the trail, do
some trail riding. Used to be able to trail
ride out the back part of the property.
here. You can still come out, you can still
go out. as it used to be. So it's interesting
question, Ron. We actually have, I'll just
speak to, well, we have four vehicles here
at present.
was a Honda CR-V, a 2015 Honda CR-V. I'd gotten
it. I haven't bought any new cars in years.
In fact, I think 1992 might have been the last
time I bought a new car. Everything else has
been a used vehicle. In fact, I got the CR-V
down at Carsense, well, what used to be called
Carsense, and what they used to call Euclid.
Now they seem to There is an tester springs.
kind of goes with like Kimberton.
name of the town so from Euclid it became Chester.
That's where I got the CRV and I actually traded
in my Azusa rodeo. I had a 2001 Azusa rodeo
that it was literally falling apart as I drove
it on the lot to trade it in. It was on its
last legs. It wouldn't pass an inspection due
to frame corrosion. needed a lot of work.
said that's it. Time to jettison. So why did
I get it? I got it because it was affordable
and honestly no other reason than the reliability
seemed to be pretty good. It's actually the
touring model and it had some plus ups in
it. One of the bigger ones was it had an
upgraded audio system. So truth be told, it's
probably because it had the upgraded audio
system. I figure if I'm going to drive on a
trip I at least want to better audio system
and it has AM stereo for what that's worth.
I used to be big on AM stereo but not much
anymore but I always used to play around with
that. The other vehicle I have
is a 2008 Lexus GX470, AKA the tank. been super
reliable. bought that second hand as well at
a place over in Downing Town. I forget the name
of that place where I got it and I don't know
that they're still there. But it was over in
Downing Town where I picked that up and the
reason I bought that vehicle and that's been
super reliable all these years. I've had that
since 2013. I've had that vehicle since 2013.
I think I traded a truck Dodge Ram 1500 pickup.
That was my dad's. got that when my dad passed
away and I had that for a number of years and
then I traded that in over there at the place
in Downing Town and with some cash got
the Lexus. And I got the Lexus because, believe
this or not, because it was one of the dogs,
our dog Jake the Lab, aka the mayor of multiple
daycares. He was kind of a rescue special
needs dog. separation anxiety and I had to take
him to daycare every day before work and
pick him up. And now that vehicle is super easy.
It's a tank and it pulls one of the horse trailers.
It was set up... So how's that? Toyota Tundra.
That's why I that video. I don't have any plans
to do any kind of anytime soon. I don't know.
We do have an F-250 Super Duty.
extended cab in the shorter bed. on the back
of it too. But we had gotten that out at Steven's,
or at Woodcrest in Steven's PA. That guy's got
a lot of trucks and stuff out there. It's a
diesel. Diesel's really had much better luck
pulling the big horse trailer. We got a couple
of horse trailers here and that pulls the big
one real nice. The gas engines just crap out,
have all kinds of issues after pulling those
trailers. The diesel's the way to go. So we
have the 6.7 liter Power Stroke engine in that
and that's been... We just had some issues
with it, but by and large that's been pretty
trouble free. sports car, my wife's S2000,
which is, that's a real peach. Very nice little
sports car, the Honda S2000, and I'm not
allowed to drive it. So there you go. And
that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I'll
say seven three to the group, I'll be listening.
wrapping up for the evening. K3DZM to take
it. W3JAM.
K3 DCM. So my current personal vehicle is
a 2019 Ford Ranger. Really the only reason
I got it was because I didn't really need a
full-size truck at the time and my old Ford
Taras show that I had had blown up on me. Piston
number three I think it was decided to put
two nice size holes in the engine block. So
unfortunately that car had to get sold on Marketplace
and I needed a personal vehicle which unfortunately
for how little I drive my personal vehicle
because I have a work vehicle I wish I would
have waited a little bit and just not had a
personal vehicle because for the money that
I paid for my Ranger I could have waited like
a year and a half and just probably gotten either
a nicer Ranger or maybe even an F-150. Not
that I need the full size F-150, but now that
I'm starting to do more and more truck stuff,
like hauling things, pulling trailers, it
wouldn't necessarily be terrible to have a
little bit of a bigger truck. But I'm not complaining.
I did manage to get my truck paid off in about
a year, so I'm not really hurting too much
about it. I knew that when I bought it, the
prices were going to go down probably sooner
than later and sure enough about six months
later prices started coming down and then about
another six months after that we got our new
administration and Ford decided to just start
cutting their prices. Like I said, if I'd have
waited about a year and a half, give or take,
I could have gotten either a really nice like
Lariat Ranger or I probably could have gotten
an F-150.
Other than that, it's just more of a utility
vehicle to me. It's a gasser, so I am looking
at possibly getting myself an EV, either through
building one or just getting one. I'm really
banking on that slate, if anyone's heard of
it. It's supposed to come in around 20k,
but that was before the tax credit just got
cut, so we'll see how that goes in the next
year. But I am really interested in that because
it comes bare bones and I'm the type of person
where I want to build my own stereo setup,
I want to put a radio in and isolate it. I
want to put all my stuff in and I don't need
the big companies to tell me what they think
I need. I just need a vehicle. And I have
really come to like these hybrids and these
EVs since my last two work vehicles have been
hybrids. I had a hybrid Honda CR-V and recently
it had a major issue with actually the gas
engine. It was in a shop for a while and because
it was in a shop I ended up getting a new Ford
Maverick that is also a hybrid and my CR-V
is getting given to one of our new IT guys to
use. So I am keeping this Maverick and I like
the Maverick a lot. That hybrid engine...
It's hard to explain. Because it's not dealing
with gears, there's no slop, there's no...
As soon as you ask for any little bit...
Dylan, you're still with us? K3DCMWA3VE? I
find that I just really like it. Plus when
you start getting into those full electrics,
the maintenance gets super low, know, no oil
to change, no gears, nothing like that. you
basically just have to keep an eye on your
brakes. battery at that point and your tires
of course because those are important but
that's just regular stuff nothing really can
go wrong I guess the electric motor could
seize somehow or melt but if it melts they
got bigger problems I think and I think you
know what are most people getting a battery
you know even if it's not ten years if that's
the only thing you have to replace lithium batteries
are only going to get cheaper and as Adam said,
lithium is probably going to get replaced here
soon with all of the newer technologies that
have already come out in the last few years
that are starting to get commercialized in
other parts of the world and mass produced
and as we all know, once that happens, gets
cheaper and cheaper. After driving hybrids,
I would really love to get myself an EV.
either by building one or just buying one
if that slate can really hit that 20k price
target. But I probably won't get rid of my
Ranger just because I still want to be able
to do actual truck stuff. I still want to
be able to pull heavy trailers, know, do all
that kind of stuff. The EV would be more of
like my daily driver. So like I said, I really
have come to like those electric drive trains
and they're just... to go wrong with them
and unlike my brother I'm not really a gear
head. I'm a computer nerd so I would much rather
have something that I basically don't have to
worry about it and if the battery goes bad
I can replace that or maybe in maybe one day
I could even build one myself. Would not trust
myself to do that right now though. But anyway
that is all for me I am getting off here so
I can go to the gym in the morning before work.
73 to everybody. good hearing from everybody
and Ron thanks for hosting as always K3DZM
and I will be clear back over to hey Ron because
Scott came after me someone else came after
me sorry I wasn't really taking notes because
I was working on a project as well trying to
get it done before I went to bed did I K3DZM
clear Dylan, thank you so very much and we
have the intermod folks so if you have high
power go to it or if you have digital go to
that. Jim, it's your turn. KC3RFG WA3VE with
the 985 round table.
UA3VEE, thank you Ron, this is KC3RFG, Jim here
in Malvern. We had a very nice earlier QSO
between you and myself and W1RC around lunchtime,
that was very nice. And then unbeknownst
to you, probably later, unless you were monitoring
in the afternoon, I answered Dylan's call,
because there was a little bit of noise and
I thought I heard K3DSM, thought it was Gene,
so I came back to him and then realized it
was DZM Dylan. And at the time we talked, we
had a very nice QSO, but did not know that I
really knew him. I looked him up on QRZ and
once I saw his picture, I realized, hey, I know
him from either the 985 Breakfast or Field
Day, something like that. we're already kind
of acquainted. Dylan, if you're going to be
at the breakfast tomorrow, I'll be there. So
we can have a little face-to-face. But that
was a very nice QSO. Anyway, we had a great
time. Let's see. I'm going to have to give
you a two-part answer because... Those of you
who know me well, that know my vehicle, know
that I spend 99 % of my time in a work truck.
But 1 % of the time is the XYL's car, which
is sort of the family vehicle. we've had a Honda
CR-V, then a Honda Pilot. Now we're back to
the Honda CR-V, the 2025 model. And we've just
kind of always stuck with them. Once we had
gone, we always had American-branded cars before
that. Once we went to the Hondas, we just found
them to be so reliable and hold their value
well, good gas mileage, low maintenance. We
don't put lot of miles on cars anyhow, so that's
not usually a problem, but we just kind of
stuck with them. Just like, you know, we don't
put the number of miles on that or my work
truck that you would do wrong with your Toyota,
no way. But that's the reason we stuck with
the Hondas. Now the work truck is just a basic
2000 and... 2010 Ford E250, your basic old
work truck. It's been a workhorse all these
years. We've always stuck with the Fords. I
would not buy the new style at all. I don't
like them at all now that they're all European
design, smaller wheels. Every person I've talked
to has complained about how they operate. They're
terrible in the winter and lots of other problems
they've had with them. Let me drop it here
a sec.
So we're glad that we have an old one and we're
hoping to only get another year or so out of
it. Anyhow, it's 15 years old so it's got lot
of rust out along the bottom. But I can't
complain about that. They're only really made
to last about 10 years. But anyhow, for the
last five years I've had a dual band, 70 centimeter
and 440 radio in it for quite a while.
That's served me well but then it finally got
weak recently. and I put my old CHAC radio,
which was a Nikon 2730, and that's doing much
better now. I think it was actually more power,
I it's 50 watts, and a fresher magnet mount,
5-8 on the roof, that seems to be doing pretty
well. But just in the last three or four months,
I have added HF capability too with the hustler
bumper mount and several different change out
resonators for 80, 40, and 20. do enjoy checking
into the E-Cars net at lunch time, so that's
really nice to be able to do as well. I have
an 891 and tuner in the truck for that. So
I seem to be pretty well covered now, and
I very much enjoy riding around and listening
to that stuff when I get time to. I don't
spend a lot of time on the road, but a lot
of frequent trips back and forth. So between
HF and the 985 activity, it's very nice to
keep you busy during the day.
Pretty much it from here, I will say 73, all,
I will have to get going, but I will monitor
for a while as well before I check out. So
over to Scott, believe, W3KZG from KC3RFG,
730. think Scott was in and out, I will give
him a chance if he does want to respond. Scott,
if you're in and out, just stay silent and
we'll move on. That's not a problem at all.
So W3KZG, if you care to make any comments,
WA3VE with the roundtable.
whatsoever. just make a couple really quick
comments here before I call for additional
short time check ins. But Adam, if you ever
want to do a few miles on the trail, just let
me know. I'll be delighted. I'll pop the Q5
Cannondale back in the van, which is why I
have a van. I'll comment more on that at the
halftime. But in any event, just let me know.
CVT over 600 times over last 10, 12 years on
that trail. almost 10,000 miles. So my favorites
also for sure is my home trail. And Jeff,
very good on your comments as well. And also
very, very good Dylan and Toyota. Keep an
eye on Toyota because they've got some of the
best hybrid technology allegedly out there.
So no doubt about it. One last call for short
time check-ins, any mode. This is WA3VE. This
is the 146-985- Roundtable check-ins, short
time, last call, please call now.
November 3, Romeo Bravo Golf.
KC3HQ, good evening everybody. Alpha Alpha
3 Lima Hotel.
Very, very good. Left a lot of time in there
for any additional check-in. So acknowledging
Jeff from Plymouth Meeting, N3 RBG, and from
Colorado, KC3HQZ Gene and AA3LH, great to have
you guys along. And the question for tonight
is cars. What led you to decide on the vehicle
that you... purchase that you drive right now.
What features do you like? Which do you wish
you had? And what will your next vehicle look
like? Jeff, glad to have you on board. N3
RBG, welcome to 985. Don't think we ever worked
before. N3 RBG, and you can turn it right
back to me when you're done and I'll pass it
on. WA3VE, your comments please and welcome.
WA3VE, this is N3RBG. Good evening, this
is Jeff from Plymouth Meeting. And yeah, first
time checking in on the net. Been listening
there for a bit and I thought the question
was interesting. I love listening to the answers,
so I wanted to pop in, introduce myself,
and make it quick here. My vehicle of choice
right now is a Ram 1500. The reason I decided
to get that was I wanted to get a V8. You know,
it's going to come to a point, I think, that
they're going to stop making them. So I really
wanted to have one, enjoy it for a while. At
the same time, I wanted to make sure I had a
vehicle that I could reliably get around and
wear. In the past, I had a lot of vehicles,
more than I care to say. And I kind of bounced
back and forth between something kind of sporty
that didn't do too well in the winter and then
something practical. So this was like a nice
balance to that. And also my first pickup,
so I'm really tickled with it. It's a traditional
classic pickup, two door, short bed. And I
just love having the V8, nothing like a V8.
Next vehicle, well. If I have to go back to
something practical again, it would probably
be a Subaru. I really enjoyed a Subaru I had
in the past and in present. It really drove
great, great gas mileage and just a great vehicle.
Okay, so that's all from here. I'll send it
back to neck control and then we'll go out
to the folks traditionally out in Gobbler's
Knob but out in Colorado, KC3HQZ and AA3LH.
So, back to neck control. Good evening all.
N3 RBG WA3VE with the roundtable. Boy, you
have a booming signal into the repeater and
also you are almost dead full quieting down
here, no surprise in Westchester. So whatever
you do in the Plymouth meeting on the input,
whatever you do in the Plymouth meeting is phenomenal.
That's really great. Without further ado, let's
turn it over to the two gobbling travelers,
AA3LH and KC3HQZ. Leon Gene, go ahead and pick
it up. This is WA3VE.
Thanks, Ron W. A3V. OK, teacher H, he said,
the vehicle I have now is OK. It's bigger
than we had when we had kids. We had three seats.
And I said, for goodness sakes, we needed that
when we had children. Now we don't have any.
We don't have any kids around. They're all
big enough to drive, the ones that live close
to us. And so I don't need three seats, but
it's very nice when you want to haul things
because you just lay that one seat down and
you have a whole big back there. The only thing
I don't like about it is it doesn't have four
wheel drive. And we didn't know that when we
got it. we thought of all, um, Trailblazers
are four wheel drive. When we found out there
are a few of them that are not, and we happened
to find one. It also does not have cruise control,
which is one thing too my next vehicle is going
to have. And it will have four-wheel drive.
So what makes, I don't know, get whatever
we can get into and I just drive them. So I
don't have a particular thing. We've had all
kinds of vehicles, but it will have four-wheel
drive and it will have cruise control, that
much I know. JKC3 goes to AA3LH. All right.
Thank you. KC3HQ.
You might have timed out on his note there.
Let's hang in here for just a second. This
is WA-3 VEE.
Did I time out? Am I okay now, Ron?
I'll try it again. This is A30H. The front wheel
bearings in the bus are oil-based, so they
have oil in the wheel wells. We have everything
that's good. The exhaust pipe is hung up by
the clothes hanger bracket. It's been replaced
by a proper bracket. The tires are good. The
super singles look real good. You have 110 pound
of air in them. So, Rod, you're good to drive.
different curve. drew a tractor trailer for
more years than I care to talk about. uh,
I drew whatever the ball was pulling and we
drew that. uh, you look for comfort. Will
you look for things that you like and think
that that you didn't like? He tried to stay
away from the balls, tried to stay away from
those things, but driving, but coming out
here, we didn't have a tractor trailer. We have
a Ford E350. It is a one ton van. was pre-owned
by Martin's Flooring. Now we bought it because
we wanted room to travel. I wanted to be able
to sleep in it, put a bed in it, sleep in it,
haul clothing around, haul food around. So
we had, so we like our E350. It does not have
As she said, four wheel drive, it does not
have a cruise control because they did not put
them in the E350 work trucks. It has a big
5.4 Triton engine in it and maybe I hang up
and do this again. Hang on a second.
So, good God.
LHWA3VEA, we'll give it one more try here at
Leone and we'll see if we can come back to
you during the regular session.
Our internet out here is very weak. About one
bar and it drops out every once in a while.
But I would look for comfort. A trucker meets
my needs. We buy the next one. It may be a
bus that we use to travel the country. That's
what I don't want all you guys heard. I know
the internet out here is bad. So it's that.
We're going to say... I know where you rot,
don't think anybody's after me, so we're going
to WA3 VEE. This is Alpha Alpha 3, Lima Hotel.
Thanks and safe travels out there. did make
a mention earlier. I don't know if you heard
it or not, but you'll be on 7280 after the roundtable
tonight where 40 might finally be going long
in your direction. We'll see what happens. All
very, very good. So thanks for all the comments
for the short timers. We're going to take regular
check-ins now from those who can stick around
for a while. So this is WA3VE. This is the 985
roundtable. And we are looking for digital
regular check-ins. Those who can stick around,
digital check-ins, please check in now. W1RC,
good evening everybody.
N3 CRE.
So we have W1RC and N3CRE. Charlie, I don't
know if you're on digital or not. We call for
digital check-ins, but hang in there anyway.
And so additional digital or now RF check-ins.
Please call now.
WA3 King Fox Tango WA3 KFT Kilo Charlie 3,
Oscar Oscar Kilo.
NA3CW Whiskey 8, Charlie Romeo Whiskey.
Charlie 3 Yankee Whiskey November.
HV3, SQI, Kilo Charlie 3, Sierra Quebec, India.
EF3Z, if you copy me on RS.
We have W1RC, N3CRE, WA3KFT, KC3OOK, NA3CW,
WHCRW, KC3YWN, I'm going to come back to that
in a second, KC3SQI, NAF3Z, Jim, full copy
on you, KC3YWN. Is that Scott from Centerport?
Great, good Scott. Good to have you on board.
Welcome to the 985, Parksburg, Pennsylvania
repeater. W3GMSrepeater.com. of information
over there. Glad to have you. I don't think
we've ever worked before, welcome. Welcome
to the Parksburg, Pennsylvania repeater. So
additional check-ins, digital or RF. This is
WA3VE. Please call now.
Okay, the list one more time and it's the roundtable
portion so please pass it on to the person
that follows you in the check-in list. W1, if
you forget, just turn it back to me. W1RC,
N3CRE, WA3KFT, KC3OOK, NA3CW, WHCRW, KC3YWN,
KC3SQI, NAF- Okay, the question again for tonight.
What led you to the decision to buy the current
vehicle of travel that you have, whether it's
a van, a truck, a car, a horse, whatever it
is, a land boat, whatever. What features did
you like that drove you to that decision? What
additional features would you like to see and
what was your car, your next vehicle of travel?
W1RC up in Marblehead, Massachusetts. It's
your turn, Mike. WA3VE with the roundtable.
Yeah, good evening, Ron and the whole gang down
there. Boy, you got the whole gang on here
tonight. A nice night going. I'll answer the
question. Right now, my car of travel is a
2007 Toyota Prius. And the reason I bought the
Toyota Prius is because the car that I was
driving before this was a Ford Crown Victoria
police interceptor. the cost of gas was getting
to be very high and I figured you know what
I don't need to be driving this great big hunk
of the police car anymore. It's costing a
lot of money and blah blah blah they don't
make them anymore. Had a chance to get a beautiful
2007 Prius second generation which is the
one that the people that know about them they
kind of like the second generation a lot so
I got this one with 120,000 miles from California.
So, no rust, it's a car. I really like it
and I hope it lasts me a long time. Some of
them have been known to do for 500,000 miles
if you take care of them. There's lots of
sites online that learn how to do stuff for
yourself. Let me just reset.
Like the battery for example, you go to the
dealer and the battery will charge you anywhere
from $1,500 to $3,000, $4,000 to replace the
battery. Well, you don't have to do that. If
you can use a voltmeter, you can measure the
voltage in each of the cells. And if only two
or three cells are bad, you can get new cells
online, on eBay, anywhere else for about $35
each.
If you're at all handy, they're a good car.
I also have another car that I like too. have
a couple of cars. I have a 2001 Mazda Miata,
which I love. It's a little two-seat sports
car convertible like the one I used to drive
back in the 60s and 70s. Great car, I love
it. Good car, I'm not getting rid of it. I'm
not getting rid of either of them. So that
sort of answers your question for tonight. Passerover
to N3CRE and the Thursday Night Roundtable
from W1RC in Beautiful Marvel Hit by the Sea.
N3CRE, okay, W1RC. Yes, my current car is a
2020 Chevy Bolt, which I bought years, with
10,000 miles on it. Right now I have 85,000
on it. Previously I had an electric car back
in 2015. I had an early Leaf, that I bought
on a Lease. I ran that for 36,000 miles. My
gas car, my hybrid thing is one electric car,
one gas car. My gas card is a Toyota Venza
all-wheel drive. The ball. Great car. In fact,
I never had any problems with the lead. I've
ended up putting almost 130,000 miles between
the two cars. It's interesting. The whole time,
I've never used outside charging. I've only
ever charged that to have. I have my own, what
do call it, phase two or? Type-T charger here
at the house. My only repair has been I packed
into something, broke a taillight on the leaf
and it cost me $24. I've had no brakes, no
mufflers, no fart plugs, no emission testing.
Now, of course, I did have to have, back in
the day, did have a charger put in the house.
And probably by the time I got done with that,
with the electrician and everything, probably
was, think, around $1,200 or so. So there
is a cost there. The state of Pennsylvania
next year is going to start charging us because
the fact we're not doing road tax. So that's
going to affect me a little bit. But an assurance
cost are probably slightly higher. But really,
I've had no problems. Chevy Bolt, I did have
the battery replaced at $30,000. They gave
me another warranty, 200,000. So I'm good to
130,000 as as the car keeps running. And so
far, very, very happy with electric cars. My
next one would be probably an all-wheel drive.
like the four dual motors. I like all-wheel
drive because every now and then I go into
the mountains. Resetting here.
I like electric cars. I understand the bolt
has been on and off being not doing and doing
it. I understand right now the plan is at the
end of this year, they're coming out as a
2027. To get the cost down, they're using a
different type of battery technology, which
is supposed to be cheaper than lithium. I heard
the gentleman say about replacing a cell. I
don't know if you want to replace a cell in
an electric car not because when I had my
bolt, when they did the battery check, recycle,
the thing weighed 900 pounds. Of course,
it's all attached underneath the car. And
it was interesting that it was not an easy
repair to make to drop down the battery pack
and put a new one in. But everything's been
done. No problems. None of the recalls that
I hear tests are going through all the time.
The only thing is, of course, I don't have Apple,
so I have Andrew Auto for navigation. So if
you don't have cell settings, then you don't
have navigation. Other than that, I'm very
happy with it.
I guess that's all I'll say right now and I'll
turn it over to WA3KFT.
W-A-3-C-R-E-W-A-3-K-F-T. Okadook. Well, I have
a tendency to hang on to my cars. I currently
have a Honda CR-V 2008 and I just broke 90,000
miles. So I don't drive a whole lot. I haven't
done any long distance driving in the last
couple of years. Everything is local. I'm
retired so I don't have the back and forth
to work bit to run up the miles. And the
likelihood that I stay with Honda is because
my son is a Honda car salesman. So I don't
necessarily get a big discount, but it does
put money in his pocket.
Ford Falcon before that and we ran that over
and over and over and over and after that,
that was a 1960 Ford Falcon and then I followed
that by a 1968 Dodge Dart and I hung onto
that one for a long, long time also. So I don't
beat up the vehicles and the minor maintenance
I do myself. Major maintenance, I'll let somebody
else take care of it. But hey, you make sure
the fluids are right, the battery is charged,
you don't have corrosive materials in the
engine compartment or the battery or on the
car. Wash the winter snow salt off and hey,
they last a long time. And especially if you
can grudge keep it. Mine is a little bit too
big, it won't fit in the garage. Besides, the
garage is full of other stuff. So, we're going
to stick with it. I'm not in a hurry to get
rid of it. I like it. It is a little high
off the ground, so I get good ground clearance
and so forth. So, easy to handle and whatnot.
Okay, over to you Bill. KC-3-OOK from WA-3,
King Fox Tango. WA3KFT, this is KC30K. Thanks,
John and Ron. Good question. I can't imagine
what made you think of this
Well, for the truck I have now, the Tundra,
I was not in a hurry.
took my time and did a lot of research. I looked
at consumers' reports and the main factors
for me were comfort, fit, finish, and specifications,
reliability.
for
Looking at this, this is late 2013. The Chevy's
and Ford's, I'm not that tall but my legs are
long. I the seats all the way back, all the
way back to be comfortable and had very little
head room.
GMC, Chevy, and Ford, and I looked at the Toyota
and just looking at the...
Toyota.
big factor you spend so much time in the truck
I really wanted comfortable seats and I like
seats. I my legs to be out forward. I like to
be sitting up in a chair. Big one.
many years, many years, but I'm very happy
with it. what I would get next. I'm really
hoping to keep this going. It's got 170,000
on it and it really is.
So 170, another 30,000 miles is probably a...
years.
look at another one, might probably be the Tacoma.
I really don't like the lower seat in that,
but as I get older, I don't need to wait. I
actually used to use my truck and kept it loaded.
But so probably for me, the hybrid Tacoma would
probably be the choice. And Ron, put me at
the end of the list for the second round. I
have a phone call to make. So I will turn it
over to Chuck and HRECW, KC30. OK.
And good evening to everybody and welcome to
Scott. Yeah, KC3YWN. And I have not talked
to you either, Jeff and 3RBG in Plymouth meeting
and echoing what Ron said, you're putting
an act of a signal from Plymouth meeting. I'm
out here at Parksburg, which is just, you
know, this side of the prairies. and you're
putting in a very good signal over here. whatever
you're doing, keep it up. Cars, I have a 2016
Chevy Malibu. I've had Chevy's for a long
time and I find I can take care of them. I can
find parts for them and The only mistake I
made was getting Patty's jet first generation
Chevy Cruze The second generation Chevy Cruze
is a whole different car and my Malibu is a
very different car from the 2015 Malibu They
did a total redesign for Gen 9 Malibus so
unlike many Chevy Sedans, it actually has
a backseat you don't have to apologize for.
It's got a big trunk. It gets good mileage,
at least on the road. I just came from a road
trip. We went up to Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
to see the, you know, just basically a change
of scenery. We saw the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon
and drove around the... the backwoods there
for a while and also the next day was yesterday
we went up to the Corning Museum of Glass which
is an amazingly interesting place. It's a huge
place and there's a reason why they give you
two days on the ticket. There's a lot to see
and you would not believe all the things that
have been made out of glass, both artistic
and technical and how many thousand years back
glass making and making items of glass has
been done. It's just astonishing. Anyway,
cars. So it's got a 1.5 liter turbo, four
cylinder. It's got a good bottom end. It
does anything on the road that I've ever wanted
it to do. You're not going to take it to the
drags except to visit the drags. It's got
decent acceleration, gets decent gas mileage,
it's decently comfortable. It's been a good
car. I just rolled over 99,000 miles on it.
I've had it since 2017. And the only thing
other than tires, brakes, fluids, filters,
that kind of jazz, the only thing I've had
to do unusual was I recently had to change
the rear knuckles on the suspension because
there's a bushing on there that wears out. which
is fair enough for the crappy roads we have
around here, but you can't replace the bushing,
have to replace the whole knuckle. So I sucked
up my courage and I did it. That's been the
only mechanical problem I've had. Now when
I first got the car, it had a couple of production
faults to it that had water leaks, which I
eventually tracked down and fixed. And in the
process of doing that, that's why I have a
quarter wave NMO mount in the middle of my
roof, because I had to pull the headliner down
to deal with a leak. So since I fixed that,
took care of the water leakage problem, mechanically,
performance wise, it's been a very satisfactory
car. Why did I get that instead of one of
the Japanese brands? Because at the time, it
cost about half of what the Japanese brands
did for a one-year-old car. And I thought,
okay, I'll give it a shot. So I got this thing
for $15,800 and it's been a really good car.
It's not spectacular, but it does what it does
very well. And what would be my next car? Who
knows? But if I were to get the latest model,
they stopped making it because, nobody's buying
sedans, even though the roads are full of sedans,
all fired and made. But the last version they
made was a 2025 and You know, they're around,
might pick one of those up used. The last new
car I got was 1977. I never bought a new car
since. And I haven't bought a new computer since
my Commodore 64. I do very well with used equipment.
Patty's car is a Gen 1 Chevy Cruze. I wish I
never bought it. It's not a... She loves it.
mean, it rides very well, handles very well,
does everything very well, except the engine
is prone to two things. One is water leaks,
which I've had to fix. And also PCV problems,
which can result in blowing out all your oil
seals, which it has not done yet. It's a 2013
and it's got like 78,000 miles on it. So I would
not have any trouble getting a gen two. cruise,
which my daughter just bought actually and she
loves it to pieces. We'll see how long it lasts,
but it's a total redesign, totally different
engine. It's basically the same engine that's
in my Malibu except 1.4 liter instead of 1.5
and like I said, it's done me very well.
So I thought briefly about Patty's next car
being an electric, but I asked Harvey for
his opinion on that and he told me too much
detail information to say, yeah, we're not
quite ready for that one yet. So, that enough
of me and over to CR, WHCRW, NA3CW. Chuck and
Ron, thanks for taking the chair tonight and
Scott welcome welcome KC 3 YWN welcome Scott
Let's see vehicle. Actually, I have two vehicles.
I have a old Tacoma Toyota Tacoma, it's a 2007
and it has 256 It's been a good truck. Now that's
not saying it's never been in the shop because
it was in the shop for seven months once for
a new frame. But Toyota fixed it. Didn't cost
me anything other than the inconvenience of
not having it for seven months. And for the
past week, I've been moving brush and I've
moved over 2,000 pounds of brush to sec with
using the truck in the past week. For pleasure
driving though, I do have an electric vehicle
now. I don't laud them, they're okay. I like
it for driving. The drivability is great.
It's good on the mileage for the electricity
using instead of gasoline. But as Chuck said,
Harvey said, they're not ready for prime time.
So if you do buy an electric vehicle, I would
suggest you still have a gas vehicle in reserve.
With that, let's go to Scott. KC3YWNWHCRW.
UACRW, KC3WN, thank you and thank you to all
for the warm welcome. Centerport, in case you
don't know where it is or you've never heard
about it before, is in the very north end of
Berks County. As I look out my window, I can
actually see into Schuylkill County. So I'm
a little bit far away. On the car, what a great
question. So the car I'm driving right now
for work, this is the latest one we got, is
an Audi A5. It's a 2021. I bought that because
I drive back and forth, I'm still working, I
drive back and forth across the state, all
the way up to Pittsburgh, a couple times, sometimes
a month, I get up to Williamsport and all
over the place. So I wanted something that was
fun to drive, otherwise a drive would drive
me crazy and I wouldn't last at my job. that's
why I got something that I would want to get
into every day. And it gets good mileage, that
was sort of a side effect, I wasn't really
caring about that. And I also wanted the four
wheel drive or the all wheel drive because
when you drive across Pennsylvania, you can
experience all four seasons on the same trip.
It's crazy how that is. So I wanted something
that was, you know, I wasn't worrying about
traction. The features I like, it's quick,
it's very maneuverable and the info attainment
system fits the way my mind works. I don't
have to struggle to figure out how to use it.
just, for whatever reason, that design works
for my brain wire. If I could have another
feature in it, what I would like is that it
would drive itself. Maybe full self-driving,
but like out in the turnpike, I'd just like
it to take over for an hour and let me just
relax. The next car after that, I'm not sure
I probably would get, when I'm not working
anymore, I don't need that car and then it's
probably pick-up truck time. So I think that's
pretty much it. Again, thanks for the warm welcome.
I will try to make it on Thursday nights when
I am. When I can, won't be every week. Because
I'm still working for the man, I've got to
get up at 0 dark 30. So I'll probably be going
to bed shortly here. But I will pass it over
now to KC3SQI, KC3YWN.
Thank you, Scott. KC3YWN, this is KC3SQI. I
have two cars. I have a 2018 Toyota RAV4 and
the other one is a 1993 Ford F-150.
Kind of like John, I use cars. to fall apart.
that I've had a... Honda Civic.
you know, 13, 14, 15 years out of a Honda Civic.
almost to Philadelphia every day to go to work.
lots of violence, but now we had eight.
Ford when we bought it in... and in five years
it's had 8,000 miles.
too much driving, probably won't get either
one of the new cars. The pickup is more of
a tow the boat and take trash and... stuff
around that's about all it does. So anyway,
that's where we're at, not looking for new ones
and really don't need another car. So with
that I'll turn it over to Jim, AF3Z, this is
KC3SQI.
This is AF3Z. Good evening everybody. Good to
hear you all. Scott, KC3YWN, welcome aboard.
Good to hear you.
N3RBGM if you're still on. Jeff, think that
was. So anyway, I have two cars and I, enough,
have two RAV4s, 2007, 2013, the 07, we bought,
me and my wife and I, bought that, barely knew,
or knew, I forget. Anyway, we liked it and Ginger's
mother, They had something, I forget what,
and they really didn't like it. So they got
a ravine for it. And before too long, he died
and she had bad eyesight and she couldn't drive
anymore. the 2013 was about three years old,
but only about 3,700 miles one other thing.
And we paid her like blue book value, but I
had a... VW Passat 2000 VW Passat and it had
220,000 miles or something on it and I was
hoping to get it 300,000 at least. Not like
it had stick shift and it was fun to drive.
But with our car becoming available years old,
we only got 4,000 miles on it and another one
with 220,000. It just seemed like it was...
So we actually donated the... to somebody
and then we got took on her other RAV4 so I've
got both of them and want to keep them going.
The reason and the older RAV4 is kind of my
pickup truck. When I trim stuff and take it
to the local compost place I throw a tarp in
the back and fill it up and it holds a good
bit of stuff and just get there and drag the
tarp out. The car is clean and stuff. So anyway.
The reason we got a RAV4 originally, we looked
at the CRV as well, but at the time the dealer
couldn't get one in, so we went with the RAV4.
But the primary reason was it was good for
going camping. When we'd go camping, we'd fill
the car up with equipment. And even with
just the two of us, we really needed a bit of
space. So that was our primary thing. Gas mileage
I guess was part of it anymore. I don't even
remember what we get on it. And Toyota because
they had good track records as far as repair
and all that stuff, maintenance. So that was
the primary stuff involved. And if I get a new
car, I only pay attention to car makes and
models when I'm looking for one. After that
I forget about it again and I'm not into cars
and such. So I just want something that drives
and does what I need it to do. So I might,
it depends how long it is, I'm really hoping
to keep these going for a good while. So I
don't know what I would get next. Maybe gas
mileage and maybe electric, who knows. I don't
know what I'll be looking for when that comes.
I don't know what my next car will or would
be or might be. I don't plan too far ahead.
I do some research around the time I'm looking
for one and as I said, I forget it after that.
So that's about it from here. Seemed to me
there was some other comment I was going to
make but I'm not sure what. And Ron, thanks
for hosting tonight and back up to you. Oh,
I know I was going to comment on... Leon's way
out west somewhere, but somebody was still
crawling around underneath the bus, so I'm not
sure who that is. WA3VEE AF3Z.
The timely word from our sponsor, very good,
excellent, excellent, excellent. All very,
very good. Well, of course, I think you guys
know, sorry, microphone got twisted around
here through no fault of my own. A bunch of
fur on the console tonight. This is WA3VEE.
You're listening to the 146.985 roundtable.
And the question tonight is all about cars.
Why do you have the vehicle that you currently
have? And what made you buy that? And what
features did you like? And which ones would
you like to have more of? What would your next
vehicle be? So all about cars tonight here
on the 985 round table. You guys probably
know I am in the market for a replacement for
my very, very dear and beloved 2005 Toyota
Sienna, affectionately referred to by many
as the Porcupine because it has seven antennas
on top and the replacement will probably be
something from the 2018 to 2020 vintage,
another Sienna. And the first day it will
look like a Porcupine, I guarantee you. So
all very good. and I'll probably start my search
in earnest tomorrow for that. the engine
is absolutely wonderful in this van. It has
over 315,000 miles, very little rust, if any.
The transmission's starting to make some very
interesting nonsensical decisions. The right
axle is not in good shape, so I've to make sure
that I get to take care of this before that
deteriorates. And I have what N2HM refers
to as a 50-50 air conditioning system. Wind
is down 50%, 50 miles per hour. So the evaporator
has leaked all of its freon out. So that's
very costly to fix. So it's gotten to the point
to where even though the engine is in great
shape, it cruises easily at 70, 75 miles an
hour, does not burn any oil. I've always
taken care of the oil changes. The guys here
in Westchester, I take it to the local mine
key and they've kept my vehicle, my Sienna
and my Weiss until that got rear ended out
in Gap back in January. to the tune of, they've
kept these things on the road to the tune
of almost 625,000 miles between us both. So
all very, very good. anyway, that's the latest
story. So I just said, well, gee, what features
and how can we, what can we do here with these
questions? So that's the first thing I came
up with. So anyway, again, this is WA3VE
and all very good comments here. And let's
see, looking for my teleprompter here because
it has switched screens on me, again, through
no fault of my own. Okay, before we start
round two, let me go ahead and check again
if there are any additional check-ins, digital
or RF, for the 985 roundtable. Again, this
is WA3VEE. Anyone else wishing to check in,
please call now. Whiskey 3, Mike Foxtrot Bravo.
33KZG
Well, let's go ahead then. Mike, glad you're
joining us. Scott, welcome back for sure.
W3, or correction, yeah, W3MFB. If you didn't
hear the question, again, cars, why do you
have the vehicle you have? What features did
you like? What would your next vehicle be?
W3MFB, and you'll turn it over to Scott, W3KZG.
Mike, go ahead, W3MFBWA3VEA. Yeah, question.
Thanks for driving the bus. just caught, I was
on the phone for like two hours and then came
over here and heard you guys talking. So interesting,
interesting. I have a 2014 Subaru Impreza base
hatchback. Bought that because I used to have
a 2002 LS Blazer. I've never driven a Japanese
car before and the Subaru is the first one.
But I've always had American cars and that
LS Blazer, I swear, was a lemon. And during
the gas crunch, when gas was at 480 a gallon,
I was regretting having that vehicle for sure.
I put in a lot of money in that thing and it
just kept breaking down. So I had it for 12
years, but... It seems like I have cars and
then I run them to the ground pretty much. And
then I'll figure out the rest after that. But
enjoying the Subaru and why I bought it because
of the all-wheel drive and the gas mileage
at the time. Highway 30, 38, give or take. City
down here in the valley running around 26 miles
to the gallon, give or take. So that's good.
and the Albo Drive, even though it's only 5.1
inch off the ground. I've gotten through so
much snow and ice with that thing. It's hilarious.
When we've had, even when we had like really
thick snow and the plows would go through Route
100 and 113, I would wait for a big... big truck,
a big Ford or Chevy to go battle-assin' through
a plowed snow drift to cut a hole so I could
get through. that Subaru just never stopped.
So the all-wheel drive in that is really good.
And the traction control, other than that,
it feels like I'm driving a go-kart half the
time because it's so low to the ground. The
only thing I don't like about it is it is low
and having passengers like my mom who's 80
plus and then even the bride get in and out
of it, you kind of drop into it. That's why
I call it a go-kart. But if I would get something
again, I probably would get the Crosstrek like
Jack has, which is a little higher off the ground.
Knowing that I know what the issues are with
the Subaru, then... They really aren't that
bad from what I've had to replace knock on
the desk We just get the cross track which
is just a little taller different suspension
bigger tire obviously a rim and and stick to
that because it really is a good little car
and I'm now looking for a truck and blowing
gas on that and not hauling anything and the
hatches, the hatchback, you could fit a lot
in that. when we go camping and whatnot, we
fit all our gear and all that stuff into it.
So it's yeah, that's that's it for me there.
I don't think I would go honestly. I'm sorry
to say this, but I don't think I would go back
to an American car. I've just had so many problems
with Ford, Pontiacs, Buick's, Chevy's. What
else? Yeah, that's about it. Mostly Oldsmobile,
that's the other one. But yeah, know, too
many problems over the years and they just don't
change. So anyway, over to Scott. W3KZGW3MFP.
KZG and 95 Round Table. Good evening everybody.
many cars to go. owned so many different cars.
The newest vehicle I have is a 2013 F-150 that
I bought, used. Let somebody else take that
$20,000 hit on the initial buying. It's got
83,000 miles on it now at the point, but I
use that truck mainly for trips and towing.
kind of sits at home most of the time and I
drive one of my other six cars that I own.
I end up acquiring cars cheaply. I don't think
I've ever paid more than $1,500 for any other
vehicle that I own.
My truck was the only vehicle that I bought
with a loan. All the other ones were cash,
$1,500 or less. And that's probably 15 or more
cars that I've owned over the years. The six
I have right now, one's a 74 Ford F100. That
was my dad's when he passed away. I acquired
that. I have an 88 Ford Ranger that I've had
for probably 13 or 14 years. Those two vehicles
are tagged as antique and no longer require
inspections through the state or registration
renewals. You pay a one-time registration fee
and it will, you never have to do it again,
which is nice. And then the other four vehicles
are kind of daily drivers. I kind of flip-flop
between them. They were... that I either
acquired for free because they had issues or
high mileage. And then the last two cars I
bought cheap because the engines were bad
and I swapped in slightly used junkyard engines
and I've just been driving them ever since.
I run my cars until they are pretty much economically
unfeasible to keep driving. But having a
shop at my house and the know-how and the tools
to repair them really helps out with Ron, I
think you'll be happy in a new Sienna and I'm
glad to see that you're, I would stay pre-COVID
just as a warning. that's for anything, especially
if anybody's looking to buy an RV or a camper
estate pre-COVID campers. That's a big no-no.
But yeah, it's a shame the old girl gave up
the ghost. But I don't know. Have you tried
finding a transmission?
It's hoisted off.
3KZG.
Good Scott, W3KZG, any entire group here. Nice
list tonight. Thanks for joining us here on
the roundtable. WA3VE, well, couple things.
First of all, the evaporator is quite expensive
to replace. The air conditioner goes, you have
to take old dash apart. So that's a $1,700
bill right there. And I've got many tens of
thousands over the years. in this van, it
doesn't owe me a thing. Yeah, it's getting
kind of ratty finally, and that's me saying
that, you can imagine. You guys who know me.
But in any event, yeah, that and the right
axle, and yeah, I actually at one point... Something
crashed, it's okay. No smoke, no fire, so it
must be okay. At one point I did consider dropping
a Trans in there. I could probably get one
for about $3,000 $4,000 used, rebuilt. But in
any event, it doesn't really owe me anything.
So I think it's about time. Like I said, the
reason I bought it to begin with was from scouting.
way back when both of our boys who are now 36
and 31 were of course 25 years younger. so
it, 20 years younger, I'm sorry. And so we
did a lot of scouting, many trips, many memories
over the years. And people said, well, gee,
why don't you just get a truck? Well, this
is a covered truck. It's basically what it is.
I mean, I could load up the back. Right now
there's all kinds of carpentry tools in the
back. I've got everything from my shop bag
to a pancake compressor back there. All kinds,
I've got sole horses back there. I've got
my chop saw all in the van. And it's wonderful
because if it rains, it's covered up. I can,
the beauty is I can actually go vertical where
I could not do that in a truck. it's essentially
I consider it to be. essentially a covered
truck. And like I said, uh, Toyota, I echo
Mike a little bit. I had two American cars.
Well, my father had one. I've only owned one
American vehicle and it's a Ford Taurus. 1995.
And that was nothing but trouble. And I said,
no, we're not doing this again. So we've first
car I ever owned personally was a 1973 Toyota
Corona. My wife had Toyotas. We've had Toyotas
here and we've had incredible luck with them.
They're just very reliable. Everything is designed
very well. and it is looking at it from an
engineering standpoint. Everything is where
it needs to be on the dashboard. And they
just run. If you take care of them, they just
run case in point. OK, very good. So that's
it for the halftime report. Again, don't forget
the breakfast tomorrow morning. We'll get back
to the roundtable here in a second. Don't forget
to join MITE W3MOW for the work bench on Monday
night. And again, don't forget Leon, 7280
on 40 meters afterwards. And hopefully everybody's
gotten the field day photographs. We finished
with about our rough score that needs to be
validated by ARRL was 5,900 points, not as
good as last year, but the big success, we'll
talk about this tomorrow at the breakfast,
the big success was that... We had a lot
of visitors and we'll speak to that tomorrow
at the at the breakfast. So let's run down
all this one time here before we start round
two and then I'll call for check ins. We
have W1RC, N3CRE, WA3KFT, NA3CW, WACRW, KC3YWN,
KC3SQI, AF3Z, and they'll ask me to put them
at the bottom of the list. KC3 OK. We've
got W3 MFB and W3 KZG. One last call. Any
additional check-ins, digital or RF, for the
985 roundtable. This is WA3 VEE. Please call
now.
Additional comments, W1RC WA3VE. After the net,
73A308. probably stepped on you. want to repeat
what you just said because you came in on,
of course, obviously on EchoLink. So Leon,
please repeat what you just said one more time.
I'll give you plenty of time.
I say somewhere around 7.2 840 meters after
the net at the railway.
Good Leon, 7280 after the net sounds great for
Leon. Excellent. Okay, W1RC additional comments
for second round two, WA3VE.
might be Mr. Mike's dinner time. Charlie, pick
it up and we'll come back to Mr. Mike. And
three CRE to transmit with the group, WA3VE,
additional comments.
N3CRE. into it all. I noticed on my electric
car is I is there is a one thing I will say
is the Mowys drops in the winter.
charging probably mid-charge is around 250 miles.
In the winter, it drops down to about 180.
But that meets all my requirements. As long
as I make 120 miles a day, my car is good and
I put... miles one a month.
use charging so I
drops the rate down considerably and all the
charging is done between 12 and 6 a.m.
If you look at the normal peak hour rate of
17 drops it down into the 11-12 bracket during
that time. Of course, the time you use, if you
use it between 2 o'clock and 6 o'clock, then
you're paying 28 cents a kilowatt. So it's four
between 12 and 6, six other times, and then
28 cents a kilowatt if you use it during the
peak hours of 2 to 6. So basically, I don't
tend to use it during that time. In fact, if
I'm going to turn on the oven. I usually wake
up at 6 o'clock.
can't wait for us to get the Chinese cars over
here.
CEO of Ford bought one over and he bought the
comparable model over to his marquee and he
had to figure out how to get, how can they do
a 20,000 less than us?
what's going to happen but I know what would
happen. industries if we left the $19,000
cars commit. One thing on the Toyota electric
car, the NZ4B or something I caught, and I
did look at that because I thought replacing.
And it's interesting that the one feature
I love about the electric cars is one pedal
driving. It is really nice. I like I say, you
never use your brakes. You take your foot off
the brake, the car slows down. and goes to
regenerative braking. That's as long as there's
a charge, it needs charging the battery. When
I leave my house and go down the hill, I gotta
use the brakes because the battery's full.
But the one thing on the, surprisingly on the
new Toyota, it doesn't bring the car to the
full stop. It slows it down, but you still have
to require to use brakes. And I was surprised
that they... And I don't know why they didn't
go to a full, you know, where you could stop
the car. Now you realize you still have to put
the brakes on in an emergency situation, even
though it's got collision assistance. I haven't
tested the collision assistance. Supposedly
what happens is, is it gets too close. It actually
turns on the emergency brakes. But I'd love
to try that sometime, but I haven't found a
way of testing it. But that's it. I enjoy it.
like listening to all the conversations. I'll
turn it over to WA3KFTA and 3CRE. Clear.
W-A-3-K-F-T. Never had nor have I driven an
electric car. I drove a hybrid once when my
car was in the shop and that was scary because
it ran on the electric motor and when I came
to a hill then the engine would come on.
I'll hold on to my Honda CRV. I'll say, relatively
speaking, it's a modern day station wagon.
And I'm forever loading it up to go to a ham
fest or something like that. And I got plenty
of room in it to make that happen. We're going
to stick with it. Alrighty. Over to NA3CW.
WA3KFT.
Thank you, John. Wait, yeah, it's on. WA3KFTNA3CW.
Well, I've had...
My first quote unquote Toyota was actually,
it was labeled as a Chevy Nova, an 88 Chevy
Nova, which was in fact a relabeled Toyota Corolla.
I had to do a head gasket job on that one.
And I had several Toyotas. One, I two Corollas
and a... I went with the little guy. It was
a smaller model stepped down from the Corolla.
I ended up having to do a head gasket job on
that one. I've done three head gasket jobs in
my life and two of them were on Toyota, so
I've got kind of a mixed record with them. Mind
you that, you know, well, they're both very
used and all that sort of thing. Actually, what
my wife would like to get is a brand new, out
of the showroom, 1996 Corolla wagon. And you
say, wagon you say? Well, they didn't make,
I don't think they sold them here, but they
sold them in Asia. And we had one on Guam
and she just loved that thing. And she would
love to have another one, but they don't make
them. And they also had a class action suit
in the early 2000s about engines that would
have, they had an oil problem if you were not
absolutely brumidical about changing the oil.
And my daughter was not one of them and ended
up losing that engine and therefore the car.
So when I came back from Singapore and didn't
have any cars at that point, I looked. at,
I looked up the available used Toyotas at
that point and I'm seeing class action suits.
And I looked at the Chevy Cobalt and I'm seeing
racing parts. So I thought, hmm, so I went
to a dealer, they had two Cobalt, bought them,
we test drove them, we liked them, we bought
them both. And I had the one for 14 years and
my daughter is just the 2006. And... I it,
drove it until it was 14 years old, then I sold
it to Corbin and he put a bunch of years and
miles on it. And my wife's 2005, my daughter,
she's just now replacing it. It's got well
over 200,000 miles on it. So as they say, your
miles, mileage may vary. I'm looking forward
to seeing folks at the breakfast tomorrow. Unfortunately,
Joe will not be among them, among us, but.
We have a couple of first timers there you informed
me of, so I will be contacting those people
and telling them about their complimentary
breakfast. And yeah, I think the biggest
success we had at Field Day was the visitors.
We just had a massive visitors. We got a lot
of newbies and a lot of go-to people on the
air, and I thought that was great. And I think
that was... I think that was a very successful
concept there with the Gota station. And the
other thing is, I think we got on the air with
a whole lot less heartburn than we did in previous
years. And we're getting better at this. And
I think next year, assuming we don't or drop
dead because we're old, I think we'll do better,
even better yet. So there you go. So 73, good
night to all. I will listen out. And over to
CR, WHCRW, NA3CW.
Chuck, I think on the first go-around I neglected
to mention what type of electric vehicle I
have. It's a Kia EV6. And I like the way the
vehicle drives. It's wonderful vehicle. Unlike
Charlie's, if I set it into the cruise control
mode, it'll set a speed. If the traffic slows
down, it slows down. If you come to a stoplight,
it comes to a complete stop. You don't have
to touch it. In order to resume, you hit a button.
and the car starts up and continues on its
merry way. I don't like it though. I have
difficulty trusting that vehicle to do the
right thing. So I don't use it very much in
that cruise mode. I just don't trust it. The
other thing about electric vehicles is they're
not ready for prime time as far as repairs
and maintenance. know, vehicles where you have
to take them to the shop and they need a week
to figure out what to do to fix it is not good.
And it's happened to mine two or three times.
So that's a problem. The technology is such
that the dealerships don't know what to do.
The factory has to get involved and it takes
time. the other thing is the manufacturers
are very opaque when it comes to maintenance
and repairs. In the old days, you'd have the
Chilton's and you could get a book and figure
out what you needed to do to take care of it
today. There is a service where you can pay
by the hour to get the information, but that's
not All in all, I like the electric vehicle
for how it operates. Would I buy another one?
Yeah, I'd buy another one. Hopefully it'll
be better the second, no, third time. I had
a BMW first. So maybe by the third one I have,
it'll be better. Let's see. Scott, your
turn. KC3YWN, WHCRW.
to Scott in a few moments along with Mr. KC3SQI,
Wayne, additional comments, WA3VE. Can I
jump in here for a second? ahead. NA3CW, I've
been keeping an eye on 40 meters and there
is ongoing traffic on 7280 but from what I'm
seeing here 7275 is open so if Leon is listening
you might keep that in mind. NA3CW, thanks.
Yes, I'm listening. I can slide down to the
right. K-C-O-H.
Okay, do I have it? ahead, KC3SQI WA3 VEE. Thanks
Chuck, by the way, for that. I'm down on 7275
also, and yes, I agree. Wayne, go ahead with
your additional comments. This is WA3 VEE.
Okay, thank you, Ron, for taking the net tonight.
the main reason that I bought the car that
I've got, the RAV4, was it was very low mileage.
It was only 17,000 miles. And it had just come
off of Lease. you maintenance and everything
were up to stuff. And I let somebody else
take the big hit on the... So with that,
that's there. And by the way, Chuck, I spent
most of the day trying to figure out if a coax
was good or whether it was waterlogged or
whatever. And I figured out that when you're
using the nano VNA as... a PTR. putting
blitz bugs in and testing with a blitz bug in
the circuit doesn't make it. So, as soon as
I went to the other side of the blitz bug, had
no problems with the TDR, everything was flat,
the Smith chart. very good so the LMR400 will
stay and we'll go from there. Okay with that
I'll turn it over to Jim, AF3Z this is KC3SQI.
Okay, thank you, Wayne. AF3Z here. Chuck, you
mentioned the oil problem. Our 2007 started
using more oil and I mentioned it at the Toyota
Service Center and the first answer I got was
it's within spec. And I don't know, maybe a
couple years later or something, I was putting
in about a quart every 300 miles and they
came out. I don't know exactly how I found
out. Maybe they mentioned it. they came out
with a recall of sorts. You would take the
car in and they would do an oil change and somehow
they would put a seal on it so they could know
if it was tampered with in the meantime. And
you're supposed to drive it so many miles and
bring it back, which I did. And they said, yep,
you've got the oil problem. So at about 160,000
miles, Toyota rebuilt the engine for me. And
that's the one that's up now at about 220.
So I'm hoping that will keep running for a while.
it took them a while to admit it or get around
to it. And maybe 2007 was one of later years
with that problem. I don't know. But yes, they
rebuilt the engine for us. So that was nice
of them.
Anyway, that's why I tell you the story on that.
And that's about all I have. The joy here
had another one of its big rain days, about
seven inches in a couple hours or something.
So Monday night, I it was Monday evening, I
forget when that was. But had a couple of
shop backs going, my two kids were here and
we managed to vacuum it up. It doesn't get
up to being a plowable amount, just not even
the whole floor gets covered. But there was
quite a few gallons that came in. So that was
fun, but now there's a commercial style dehumidifier
running and it's drying the place out very nicely.
So there you go, that's my other excitement
for the week. So I think it goes to Bill, KC3OOK,
are you back from your call? AF3Z.
Doesn't sound like it, so we'll come back to
Bill also. Mike, go ahead and pick it up. W3MFB.
And then you'll turn it over to Scott, W3KZG.
Mike, your additional comments. This is WA3VE
with the 146.985 roundtable. W3 MFB. Yeah, not
too much else to add. Not that I don't like
American cars, you know, I miss my Buick Century,
1985 Buick Century, three-speed automatic.
The thing was a four-door sedan, you know, but
it was like the first car I learned how to
drive in. And I don't know, it's just solid,
you know. miss... I miss all the steel, miss
all the, it was a V6, I miss all the steel
bumpers and the chrome and you know, that
was, for me that was my antique, you know?
So hey, maybe someday I'll find one and
restore it, but I just loved it. It was silver
and it worked well. Simplistic, you know?
But yeah, I don't know, I, ugh. If I could
have a truck, guess it would probably be a
small, like five and a half foot bed Toyota
Tacoma or something like that. But now that
I hear Scott say, try pre-COVID, I'll remember
that. I will remember that. But yeah, that's
about it. Good to hear everybody on the net
tonight and definitely put an ear out for
Leon out there. So that's also, I'm not even
sure where he's at. Anyway, over to Scott.
W3KZG, W3MFB in the group.
Peace out, Japan.
Very good, give one more try here. W3KZGWA3VE.
Scott, if you're still there.
was on our app so alright very good let's let's
see if we can still pick up W1 RC W1 RC mr.
Mike are you back yet probably probably broke
for dinner WA 3 ve with the roundtable
Nothing heard there either, probably not. Okay,
one last try for Scott. KC3YWN up in center
port. WA3VE. Still there, Scott?
Nothing heard there either. Well, very, very
good. But before we close the net tonight,
what I'd like to do is I'd like to see if anyone
else would like to check in. One last call.
Any mood for anyone who wants to check in,
get on the log for the 146.985 roundtable.
This is WA3VE. Any additional check-ins, please
call now.
Nothing heard. Don't forget the breakfast tomorrow
morning. Take a look at your emails for the
link to the photos for field day. Some great
videos in there. And I think I captured between
myself, CR, Scott, Jim, and others who contributed.
I want to thank them for sending the photographs
over to me. They're all consolidated. Like
I said, Joe put the link out. Take a look.
You might find it very interesting in there.
So in any event, I want to say thanks for
stations, for all, excuse me.
getting a peanut stuck sideways. Okay, thanks
to all stations for checking in tonight to
the 985 roundtable. And a big thanks, of course,
to Joe, W3GMS, for making the 985 repeater
available for the roundtable. You are all invited
to use a repeater often. It's a great way to
show you appreciate the gift of 985 to the
amateur radio community. Finally... We hope
to hear you again on Monday evening at 8 p.m.
when Mike W3MOW hosts the 985 workbench.
This concludes the roundtable for tonight.
Feel free to stick around, keep the conversation
going either here on two meters or like myself,
I'm to take a short break and I'm going to
go down on 40 meters and see if we can locate
Leon. Leon is in Colorado. Mike, know you
mentioned Thorndale. Mike, I know you mentioned
you didn't know where he was. He's out there
in Colorado, in the prairie of Colorado, sort
of like East Central Colorado, my understanding,
visiting his family. So I'm going to be down
on 7275 looking for Leon. Doesn't look like
there's anything there right now, so it should
be a pretty clear frequency. OK, this concludes
the roundtable for tonight. This is WA3VE.
Have a good night, great weekend, 73. This
is WA3VEE and I'm clear.