W3GMS Thursday Night Roundtable

Bill (KC3OOK) hosts the W3GMS 146.985 Thursday Roundtable with two prompts: what do you want to learn (or learn more deeply) this year, and what’s something you learned that you thought you’d never use—but did. The group ranges from ham topics like CW, antennas, verticals and ground systems, test equipment, FM satellites, and discrete RF design, to real-life learning like time management, estates/probate, teaching while learning, and even picking up acoustic guitar. The night also includes a quick incident report and fix for Echolink/AllStar connectivity, plus the usual mix of practical advice, project updates, and good repeater camaraderie.

What is W3GMS Thursday Night Roundtable?

Every Thursday evening at 8pm the Crew of 146.985 W3GMS/R get together on air to host a weekly informal net with varying hosts and topics

Thank you.

My name is Bill and I'm operating from my home in Oxford tonight and I will be your host for tonight's roundtable.

Before I go on, just let me check if I'm getting in okay.

Bill.

Thank you, Chuck.

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

The PL is 100 hertz and for tone squelch on receive, use 94.8 hertz.

We encourage you to take a look at the repeater website often.

It's located at W3GMSRepeater.com.

I do find myself referring to it quite often, actually today.

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

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

And your host this coming Monday night will be on the W3GMSRepeater.com.

Newcomers are very welcome and encouraged to check in.

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

Our discussions 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 that station when you finish your comments.

We usually begin with a question as a discussion starter.

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

If you have any questions or suggestions or questions about the roundtable, please contact Phil, KC3CIB, or Jim, AF3Z.

Both are good on QRZ.

Be aware that on occasion, a repeater experiences intermod interference.

Please run maximum power or be prepared to check in digitally through Echolink or AllStar.

We want to hear you.

To be able to use Echolink and AllStar on 95, you need to register with us.

Directions for doing so can be found on the website, again, w3gmsrepeater.com.

Also, when the intermod is present before starting a transmission, and this is very important, give us your call.

Am I getting in okay?

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

Now, don't be too quick to talk.

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

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

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

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

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

Also, the repeater has a three-minute timer.

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

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

Tonight's question for discussion is, and we have two of them.

And I have to say, I find that hams in general are a pretty inquisitive bunch.

It kind of goes along with the hobby.

But this question, or both questions tonight aren't really just related to this hobby.

It could be anything.

So the first question is, is there anything you would like to learn or learn more about this coming year?

And it could be radio.

It could be any topics.

Is there anything you would like to learn or learn more about, learn in more detail?

And the second question is, is there anything that you had to learn that you thought at the time you would never use,

or actually turned out to be so?

So those are our questions for tonight.

So now, we'll start with short-time check-ins.

Short-time digital stations using Echolink or AllStar.

I'll leave long pauses to the next one.

And I'll leave a little bit of a pause.

I'll leave a little bit of a pause.

And I'll leave a little bit of a pause.

I'll leave a little bit of a pause.

I'll take one more call for digital short time check-ins.

Any short time digital check-ins please call.

Alright, well nothing heard.

Let's go to RF check-ins.

RF or digital check-ins.

Anyone for the short time list, please go ahead and call now.

It's KC-3-0-OK.

This is W3SCY Whiskey 3 Sugar Charlie.

KV3KZG put me on the short time list there, Bill.

KV3ZUV, that's Kilo Bravo 3, Zulu uniform, Victor.

All right, I had W3SCY, W3KZG, and KB3ZUV.

Last call, are there any others for the short time list?

Okay, we'll go ahead and get started.

We'll start with you, Luke.

You can turn it over to Scott, and Scott, you turn it over to Adam.

And again, is there anything you'd like to learn or learn more about in detail this year?

And also, is there anything that you had to take in school that you didn't thought you used, but you actually do?

So, over to you, Luke.

W3SCY, KC3OOK.

Excuse me, Luke.

Can I pop in here for one second, Bill?

Thank you, Chuck.

NA3CW, I just got a text from Matt N4MRW asking if the repeater was down.

I said no.

He says I can't connect via Echolink or All Star.

So, to whom that may concern, I just got that in.

Go ahead, Luke.

NA3CW.

Okay, Chuck.

Good to hear you.

And good to hear everybody else on the net tonight.

And Bill, KC3OOK.

Thanks for hosting tonight.

Let's see.

I guess I'm still in school.

So, one question doesn't apply too much.

And learned this year in ham radio.

Probably just some radio theory knowledge.

Pretty broad answer there.

And let's see.

This week in ham radio.

I have tried to get on CW a bit.

And I have.

So, I've been doing some listening.

This weekend, I actually want to get on and start making contacts.

That's something I need to do.

And not too much else going on here.

So, we'll turn it over to Scott.

This is W3SCY.

Did you turn it over to me, Luke?

Okay, go ahead.

I've got a lot going on over here.

I'm going to make mine short.

Things I'd like to learn this year.

Maybe some more patience.

I don't know if you can learn that.

But, I don't know.

There's a few things.

But, I can't recall some of them right now.

So, I'm going to make it short.

And, I hope everybody has a good weekend coming up.

It's going to be cold.

And, be prepared for a little bit of precipitation, I think, tomorrow.

But, not too much.

We'll send it over to you, Adam.

This is W3KZG.

7-3, everybody.

Have a good night.

All right.

W3KZG.

KV3ZUV.

Here on the round table.

Here on RF.

Five watts on a handheld with a rubber duck.

Because, as Chuck and A3CW's remarked, Matt is having issues with digital.

I also am having issues with digital.

Can I get a signal check?

Is everyone able to hear me okay?

KV3ZUV.

You're making it in just fine, Adam.

Five watts and a rubber duck.

It's pretty much a dummy load.

It's a resident dummy load attached to the handheld here.

But, yeah.

Echo Link and All-Star were not working for me either.

But, like I said, fortunately, I had the handheld sitting on the desk.

And I'm like, okay, let's do this RF.

I did not have the 50-watt mobile hooked up.

And as far as the questions, what am I looking to learn or what am I looking to pick up in the hobby this year?

Ah, you know what?

I have a radio I still need to learn.

I got a used ICOM 7300.

And I think I just really need to learn my way around the interface of that radio.

I got it last year.

I hooked it up.

I powered it on.

I took one spin around the menu.

And then I immediately got distracted with other stuff.

So just learning some new equipment and just, you know, maybe getting another antenna set up.

I only just have the one antenna set up.

So I guess that's not something to learn, though.

Read an antenna book.

Maybe learn about a better type of antenna that can be used at my place.

Sorry, but I don't really have too much time to think about the question.

I'm just making sure I can get a signal out and participate on the roundtable.

With that, I'm going to send it back to NET.

Stay warm this weekend, everyone.

You know I'm going to be out there playing in the snow.

But everybody else, stay warm out there.

73-KC3-0-OK, KB3-ZUV-Q.

IP92.168.1.169.

KB3-ZUV, KC3-0-OK.

Thanks, Adam.

It sounds like we had some kind of digital activity there, so we may be back up.

Before I go on, I'll just say, is there anyone else that would like to join us for the short-time list,

either digital or RF?

Please go ahead and call now.

It's KC3-0-OK.

I did log into Echo Link just out of curiosity.

AF3-ZUV.

All right, Jim, did you say you are logged in on Echo Link?

I'm reporting that I did log in.

I am on RF at the moment.

Okay, very good, very good.

Well, I will go ahead and we'll acknowledge the short-time check-ins.

Luke, good to hear you tonight.

Yeah, I'm not surprised.

You're going to be learning a lot of radio theory.

You have quite an immersion in it and a really fantastic teacher.

So, he's got a good year ahead of radio theory.

And, Scott, W3KZG, patience.

Yeah, couldn't we all use that?

Couldn't we all?

But it's good to hear you tonight.

Yeah, well, we were ready for the cold in this last go-around, so I think all our preparations are there.

But I hope it goes well with you down there, too.

But I know you're pretty well equipped.

And Adam, resourceful, made it in on the HT.

There was a little bit of fried eggs on your signal, but 100% copy.

So, you know, learning about the 7300, I think just recently Harvey was talking about that, maybe on the workbench.

And, yeah, really the way to learn that is just sit down and take hours and just push the buttons and go through it and figure out all the things it does.

It's probably better to do it that way than the manual.

So, and also the antenna book.

And, yeah, I think we could all spend time, no matter how much experience we have, reading that is helpful.

So, with that, we'll go ahead and we'll see who wants to be in here for the longer term.

And, again, we'll start with digital and echo links, all-star check-ins.

Our question tonight is, is there anything you would like to learn more about in ham radio or any subject?

Learn or learn more about in detail.

And also, is there anything that you had to learn that you thought you wouldn't use but you end up doing?

This is KC3-OOK taking regular check-ins.

Please call now.

GMS with an announcement.

Joe, please go ahead.

Just want to let you guys know that Echo Lincoln All-Star is back up.

One, I had to reboot the Pi, which is the first time ever I've had to do that.

And that brought it up.

And we found out one station was linked to the East Coast hub.

And we had hundreds of stations on 985 through that hub.

So, Martha did her administrative thing.

And she disconnected the station that was bridged over to the East Coast hub.

So, we should be in fine shape now.

End of announcement.

W3GMS.

KC3-OOK.

Well, thank you, Joe.

And thank you, Martha.

I know she is quick on that.

So, with that, we'll go ahead and take Echo Lincoln All-Star check-ins for the regular round table.

Please call now.

It's KC3-OOK.

KC3-OOK.

Here is N4MRW.

I've got N4MRW and KC3-OOK.

Thank you.

AC3SQI.

I've got N4MRW and KC3SQI. Are there any other digital or echolink stations?

Well, nothing heard. Well, we'll go ahead and take RF check-ins or any other digital stations come along. So, if you'd like to get on the log, please call now. KC3OOK.

Alpha 3, Victor Echo Echo, WA3, VEE.

Whiskey 8, Charlie Romeo, Whiskey.

NA3CW.

November 3, Quebec.

November, Charlie.

N3QNC.

AF3Z.

3GMS.

A3GLI.

Alright, left a good pause there.

Well, so far, here's the list.

We got a pencil, jot it down.

We start with N4MRW, KC3SQI, WA3VEE, W8CRW, NA3CW, N3QNC, AF3Z, W3GMS, and KA3GLI.

So one last call.

Anyone else out there, please call now.

Alright, well we'll get it started here with Matt.

And again, Matt, the question is, is there anything you'd like to learn or learn more about in detail this year?

Is there anything you had to learn you thought you wouldn't use, but you actually did?

So N4MRW, KC3OOK.

I'm Matt down here in North Carolina.

Well, never actually thought about that.

I know it's kind of a weird statement in itself.

But, well, I've never really figured out I would be doing background checks and teaching my coworker a database at the same time that I'm learning.

So I'm using about five different databases to do my job.

So I learned the same time she is, but I'm the one teaching her now.

So I'm learning and she's learning at the same time.

Other than that, not too much going on down here.

A little warmer, got it up to about 40 degrees.

Most of our ice/snow has gone.

So we'll see what the next one brings.

Other than that, I'll send it over to KC3SKY, I think.

This is N4MRW.

OK.

Thank you, Matt.

And N4MRW, this is KC3SKY.

Yeah.

All of my antenna theory that I learned to how to design antennas that don't radiate, I am now starting to try to put that together to figure out how to make all of these new antennas that I'm working with actually radiate.

So that's kind of a fun one.

And for the person that was asking about learning the 7300, one of the things that I found, I found a net on YouTube, and it's called 7300A to Z.

So that one was one of the best teaching elements in there because it went pretty much through the entire manual for the 7300 and showed you how to do each of the setups and what it was.

So that one was a real good learning experience for me.

So with that, this thing is talking all right.

This is the first time that I'm on with my new computer after I dumped the cup of tea into the old one.

And with that, I'll turn it over to Ron WA3VE. This is KC3SQI.

Good evening to everybody. Good evening to everybody. Good to be on. I haven't had much of an opportunity to be on the radio too much. I've been so busy.

back here and also back in my old alma mater, Drexel University in downtown Philadelphia,

trying to get the station back on the air, believe it or not.

So more to come on that.

So we may have even just newsflash there, may have even found a potential trustee to take over.

So we'll see, see how that goes.

Anyway, oh, my goodness gracious.

Yeah, I found out that there's more to antenna theory,

and there's more to antennas and coaxial cables and balance and all that kind of good stuff

than I actually realized from the very beginning.

And that's one thing right there.

And so that's that part of the equation.

And the other part is I would like to learn more about antennas, CW and so on.

Yeah, antennas and coax and so on.

CW developed that, finally developed that this year, been saying that for a while.

But trying to devote the time to it with all the other projects is rather difficult.

You have to keep at it.

And, of course, the digital stuff, the Joe Taylor suite and so on,

mostly for teaching and for showing the young ones what's going on there.

That's pretty cool.

That's the kind of stuff they're interested in.

And also, let's see, again, expanding my knowledge, like I said, of antennas and coax,

solar weather, going back to the first question, Bill, and the group,

solar weather was something I never really paid much attention to,

but then said, you know what, I don't know anything about it.

I'm going to do a presentation on it, which I did back in October.

We're going to do a short follow-up in March at Pottstown.

And, yeah, it really does work, and it really is applicable.

So that is one thing right there that is pretty cool.

So that's it from this side on the first round.

So let me turn it over to CR at WHCRW and the group, WA3VE.

Thanks, Ron, and thanks, Bill, for taking it tonight.

Very strange.

At 8 o'clock, the node was working, and I heard you, and all of a sudden, nothing.

And so I said, my radio did?

Then I went over to the RF side, and, oh, Joe's node is down.

But anyway, what I'd like to do this year is get into the FM satellite realm.

I have the equipment.

I just have to set it up and start listening and transmitting.

So that's what my plan is for 2026, see if I can make some progress in FM satellites.

With that, let's go to Chuck.

NA3CW, WHCRW.

Thank you, CRW, HCRW, NA3CW.

Just leave it a little elbow room there in case somebody needed to elbow their way in.

I have found in my life, I've had interesting discussions with people on many things, and lots of things interest me.

And so I've sort of told people my knowledge is encyclopedic, which means 33,000 articles, one paragraph deep.

So some things I try to get a little bit more intimate in.

Right now as we speak, there is a book called, it's a rather old book, well, 70s, I think.

It's an ARRL publication called Vertical Antenna Classics.

It's just a collection of ARRL articles, QST articles.

And I'm learning about ground systems, about radials, about tuned radials, untuned radials, aerial, you know, elevated radials, ground radials.

The reason I'm doing that is I'm thinking about putting in a high band vertical in my backyard.

See if I get better high band coverage, say 20 meters and up, than I have now with my 80-meter inverted V.

See if I get some better low angle and all that kind of stuff.

But in so doing, I need to learn more about verticals and how to manage them, and especially how to manage their ground systems.

So I'm always, always, always learning about antennas.

Absolutely.

Useful, non-useful.

Well, I've had different bits of experience come together in interesting ways, I guess is the way to put it.

I did, for a while I did, ultrasonic power supplies, which are basically switch mode power supplies that were designed to put out, like, 15 or 20 kilohertz pure sine waves to drive high-power transducers with, you know, kilowatt, multi-kilowatt level.

So I learned about switch mode power supplies.

I've never designed a, well, actually I did, but I've designed some special purpose switch mode power supplies.

So that, and then I got at, you know, did other things.

I also was into ion beam milling and etching, where you're doing machining operations in a vacuum chamber, blasting ionized gas at stuff.

And there's all kinds of things you can do with that.

So care and feeding of those kind of machines.

And then also, you know, basic transmitters.

And big transmitters.

And one of the things in big transmitters you deal with is care and feeding of filaments.

On, you know, a $16,000 or $32,000 tube, you want to be nice to the innards.

So all these things came together when I went to Guam, another Guam story.

I went to Guam, and it was the first time I had ever seen a large shortwave transmitter in my life.

And I was supposed to go there as a transmitter engineer.

And so in studying the schematics and stuff, I finally figured out, oh, let's see.

A tetro is a tetro is a tetro.

So I figured out pretty quickly how the transmitter part worked.

But the modulator, which, you know, these were shortwave transmitters but AM.

And in AM transmitter, you vary the plate voltage to the PA, the output tube, in order to make modulation.

And so in studying the schematics, you know, it had tubes in the output, tube driver and tube, you know, 100-kilowatt tube, and powering a 100-kilowatt RF tube.

And it occurred to me, oh, I got it.

It's a low-side buck regulator.

It's a big, big 100-kilowatt switch mode power supply that happens to, one of its references happens to be audio.

So that as, you know, sound came through the system, it would vary the voltage according to the sound, just like a big switch mode power supply.

And then that would modulate the rig.

So I thought, okay, it's a low-side buck regulator.

I understand how this thing works now.

And also I learned how to take care of filaments because ion beam guns have filaments that wear out very quickly.

And how to handle a filament that's been hot as opposed to one that's never been hot.

And things, you know, places that you would, you know, would, you could accidentally abuse a used filament in a $32,000 tube.

Blah, blah, blah, blah.

So the bottom line is no experience is wasted.

You know, you pick up things here and you pick up things there and you snap them together like Lego bricks and you can accomplish stuff.

So it's kind of fun to have these little dawnings, you know, little epiphanies in my little brain.

So, enough of me.

Over to N3QNC.

This is NA3CW.

All right.

Hey, thanks so much for that.

Well, like many people said this evening, radio theory and antennas, that was the first thing that popped into my list here on things I want to get better with.

Especially when I listen to some of the things that were out of the past few years here on the 985 machine.

Joe and Ron and CR, you guys, your knowledge far exceeds mine.

So I always think to myself, oh, I'm doing pretty decent.

And then I listened to everyone else and I thought, nope, nope, nope.

I still have plenty to learn.

That's for sure.

But I am slightly encouraged to hear some of these guys.

You guys have far more knowledge than I do.

And you still say, oh, I still want to learn more about antennas.

So it just means I have a lot to go.

And I'd also like to learn a little bit about digital.

I'm more of an RF kind of guy, but I do want to get into the digital modes at least a little bit.

And I do see that there's some usefulness there.

So that's really good.

And after listening to NA3CW there, I can see I definitely have a lot to learn as I explore the hobby even more.

As far as things that I learned and not, you know, didn't think it was going to be useful, and it turned out to be very useful.

I originally was a computer science major the first time I went to college, two lifetimes ago.

And certainly that helped.

But I also was a minor in business management.

And all through my life I've seemed to gravitate more towards business.

So things like accounting principles and managerial principles, those things have always,

Well, I didn't focus on them when I was young.

They definitely were lifelong skills that seemed to follow me here, and I've always found to be very, very handy.

It certainly wasn't my wheelhouse originally.

It wasn't my intention, but definitely it's helped me throughout the years.

And I just recently had a career change as well, and here we are, and it's reared its head again.

So not technical, that's for sure.

But it definitely was a lifelong skill, and it has served me very well.

All right, I don't actually know who I'm handing it off to.

One of the things I need to get better with here.

The list went so quick, I missed it.

So whoever's after me, I'll turn it over to you.

Okay, Joe, let me see if I got it.

F3Z here, Jim.

Good evening, everybody.

Bill, thanks for hosting.

And first of all, I was thinking of you today, Chuck.

I was looking at the QRZ page for AC, or no, maybe it was his own website, but AC2C, Alpha Charlie 2 Charlie.

This is down in Maryland.

He's one of the SKCC guys these days.

But he was on Guam, and I don't remember the years, but he was there with the Navy.

And I don't know if your years would have overlapped or not, but he talked about operating from Guam and everything.

So I thought of you anyway.

Alpha Charlie 2 Charlie.

Yeah, that wasn't his call sign back then.

So anyway, he got around the world with the Navy.

Things I'd like to learn.

This is something I'd like to learn, but I don't have any serious plans of doing it at the moment, but maybe I'll get inspired.

I've mentioned this kind of thing before.

I'd like to be better at repairing things, and I realize one of the main things I lack is real good operational knowledge of circuitry and what's going on.

And I can read a schematic okay, but I don't always know what those things are doing.

So that would be for me getting back in.

I haven't studied, you know, circuit operation and stuff since 1971 or something like that.

That was in the last century.

So there you go.

Something I sort of had to learn, and it has been eternally, so far anyway, eternally useful, unexpected to me.

In high school, I was in the college prep track or whatever, and I took personal use typing because I might have to write papers and stuff and all that.

So that was as far as my mind took it.

But little did I know computers would come around, and I'd be typing to this very day.

So that simple little thing, but boy, has it been useful.

One of the most useful courses I've taken in my life, I guess.

So there you go.

And Joe.

Now, by the way, Joe, that was nice listening to your touch tones there.

And we don't hear that very often here on 985.

W3 GMS, AF3 is it.

Sometimes in Command Central, we do things like that.

W3 GMS.

I didn't even realize All-Star was not working until I heard Chuck come on, and then Martha got on the computer and looked at things.

The root cause problem was the node.

It just quit.

So the pie died programmatically.

But that was easy to fix.

And the second thing, someone on the regular permission list was inadvertently connected to some East Coast node, and we had, it seemed like, hundreds of stations connected.

Now, that didn't cause the problem.

But that was an observation when Martha got on the computer and looked at who was connected and what was going on.

So that's been fixed now.

So there you go.

Let's see here.

One thing I'd like to do, I really, you know, during a microminiature kid in fourth grade, I started playing the trumpet.

And I played until 11th grade.

And I didn't really, you know, a trumpet was okay.

My parents said, you've got to pick an instrument to play, so I picked a trumpet.

Or I think they told me I had to play the trumpet.

But I always wanted to learn the acoustical guitar.

So a few summers, or a few Christmases ago, Martha bought me this beautiful acoustical guitar.

And I would love to learn to play it.

Now, whether we have time this year, we'll have to see.

But, you know, what they say about time, sometimes you've got to make times.

Make time if you want to accomplish it.

So as far as learning, I'm not going to down all the examples in my life, but I'll just give this high-level overview.

Whether you use something or not, I think learning is a requirement.

It does wonders for the brain, expands the brain.

And sometimes you may go back and use some of it or pieces of it or parts of it, and sometimes you won't use it at all.

But the fact that you're learning things, regardless if you use it, I think is a very healthy attribute.

Ka3GLI, W3GMS.

All right, Joe.

Ka3GLI here.

Now I have to add my dittos to the group with antennas.

I feel like I could always learn a little more about those things.

And I would like to learn more also about discrete RF design.

I have two or three books on the subject, and I've had them for years.

And just never seem to have the time to devote much to that.

So who knows if things go right.

Maybe I can turn that around this year for once.

I guess I'll send it back over to you, Bill.

KCOOK, KA3GLI. KA3GLI, KC3OOK. Thank you, David. And before I go on, I'll just ask, is there anyone else out there, maybe you've been listening and would like to join in tonight? Please go ahead and call now.

Maybe we hear Leon come in there, back of the bus. Well, I'll make a few comments just briefly. And when I thought about this question, there were some answers I kind of expected, and we did get some of them.

But I started off with Matt and for MRW. And, yeah, Matt, you said something that really resonated with me. And you're talking about doing background checks and data, and you're actually teaching the person and learning at the same time.

And I think Ron could probably speak to this, but I think you'll find that is part of teaching. I think probably all teachers find their teaching and learning at the same time.

I know when I first got out of school, I was, you know, a day or two ahead of the kids. But it's good to hear you tonight, Matt.

And then KC3, SQI, Wayne, good comments about the 7300. And Harvey had been talking about that just not long ago, just pressing the buttons and figuring out what it does.

As far as I had to chuckle. And I kind of thought you might say this, that, yeah, you spent so long trying to make antennas not radiate that you're trying to unlearn all that knowledge and learn how to make them radiate now.

So good luck with that, Wayne. I know you're doing fine.

And Ron, W3VE, a few comments there. Yeah, the solar weather. I really appreciated what you were talking about that.

And it is interesting, as you said. It was something you didn't know about. You just decided you would learn it and give a presentation on it.

So the other thing that you mentioned was antennas and coax, and I think that's common for all of us.

I have one thought. You mentioned the Learn CW, and I had a conversation with Joe not long ago about that.

And I've actually started back in again, and I'm trying to force myself to just lower my expectations.

And I'm going to try and just start at 15 words a minute now.

So maybe we'll have to find some time and just take the time.

Maybe we can set up some time for 15 minutes a couple times a week.

And, you know, that's, for me, I find setting time.

If I don't have a schedule, then I just don't do it.

And CR, the FM birds. That is great.

And, well, we know we've got a few people on here doing it,

and it would be great to have more people on 985 doing it.

And I would like to learn from you guys.

And Chuck, he said something very profound.

No experience is wasted.

And, yeah, that is really true.

It really is.

And, yeah, taking your combined experiences and putting them all together at Guam,

I've heard you talk about that before.

And it is interesting.

Not to talk too long here, but I started out at one point in my life working for an oil company,

so I knew a good bit about residential boilers and how a boiler works and all the components.

Later on, when I went to the engineering firm,

I was actually on a site with a brand-new, very, very large boiler plant.

You know, massive, like, four-story, you know, clear-story building with these rows of giant boilers.

And I walked around and looked at them and realized they're just big boilers.

It's all the same components.

They're just bigger pieces.

So very good, Chuck.

And, Joe, N3QC, more about theory, more about antennas, the digital modes.

Yeah, there is so much to learn in here.

Accounting, that is a useful tool, I think, for anyone at any time in any endeavor you get into.

Jim AF3Z, you said the one that I was waiting for, which was typing.

I tried to take it.

It wasn't very good.

Took one year of it.

And who would have thought that in 1970 to 2026 we're still using a keyboard.

Everything else has changed, but we still have that keyboard.

And, Joe, music.

I didn't think about that.

But your guitar.

I forgot that you had mentioned you had a guitar.

And I thought there is.

It's just like CW.

So maybe you and Jim will have to do a 15-minute skid twice a day.

But it can't be over the radio.

And last in this, David, KA3GLI.

It's good to hear you tonight.

And antennas and RF design.

Yeah, antennas is definitely the common denominator with all of us.

Well, I've rambled enough.

I'm not going to say too much more other than I would like to learn more about electronic theory.

And I'd really like to thoroughly learn and understand the test equipment I have.

I've been doing a lot of reading.

And it's a lot of information.

But I have to start applying it.

So that's about it going on and off.

So we'll make one more call.

Is there anyone else that would like to join us tonight before we start the second round?

This is KC3OOK.

Please call now.

Okay.

We'll go ahead and just start the second round.

Nothing's changed.

So it's up to you, Matt.

And for MRW, this is KC3OOK.

And that may have been just for one round.

Wayne, over to you.

KC3SQI.

Thank you, Bill.

KC3OOK.

Thanks for taking the chair tonight.

One of the interesting things that I got into early in EMC was I had a job where they really had to keep me.

And so if they didn't have work for me to do in EMC, I would get farmed out to different engineering groups and different departments and everything.

And one of the things that I got into back then was cryogenics and vacuum chambers and trying to learn about them and work with them.

And that knowledge came back around to hit me in the face or rear end.

And when I went to GE and I was suddenly working with two Tesla supercooled superconducting magnets.

So as Chuck said, no knowledge is ever completely useless.

You may not have a use for it right now, but sooner or later you will get there.

And the other thing about MRIs is what all got stuck in the magnets.

Because most people never have to work with an eye bent that big and understand what it can do.

So with that, I will turn it over to Ron, WA3VEE.

This is KC3SQI.

KC3SQI and the group WA3VEE over here in Westchester.

All very good, Wayne, and the group.

Interesting comments and great questions, Bill, for sure.

And let me be one of the first ones to offer help in instructing you on your test equipment for sure.

So whether it gets warmer, we have a whole list of things to do, from antenna parties to going over test equipment and everything.

So, yeah, happy to do that.

Jim, also, I haven't forgotten about your desire to sit down at the VEE bench sometime and maybe go over your TENTEC, which is in very good safekeeping up here.

So, yep, go over that and your 7300 for sure.

I doubt if Adam's still listening, but happy to show anybody the 7300.

It's actually a very straightforward interface.

ICOM does a very nice job.

A lot of people poo-poo the menus, but radios with menus.

And they can be a little tricky, but especially on the HTs, more than the actual console radios.

But the 7300 is really pretty straightforward.

And so I'd like to help whoever wants to learn that there.

Also, I've gotten a pretty strong request for running a technician class license course.

So it's probably going to have to be on Zoom or somewhere in person.

But right now I'm still trying to work on getting liability insurance for the K3DTS so that we can actually hold it somewhere like the Chester County Library or somewhere like that.

Stand by.

And you need a certificate of insurance.

So it's a long story, but nonetheless, it has nothing to do with me.

It's the companies.

I'll give you an example.

ARRL has insurance, and they want money first before you see the policy.

Don't work that way.

Sorry.

Let me see what I'm signing up for.

I can't believe it, actually.

I'm right here on the site right now.

I can't believe that they're actually asking for money before they even tell you what the T's and C's and what they're going to cover.

So forget that.

It's been interesting trying to find a company where it's reasonable as well as trying to understand what's being covered and who's being covered.

Anyway, long story, but nonetheless, sometime for breakfast I'll fill people in about what's going on there.

But anyway, I will be doing some classes.

They'll probably have to be on Zoom for a while.

But nonetheless, we'll get rolling with this probably within the next few weeks.

Not much else to report here.

I'm going to listen out.

I do have a phone call to make here, and someone called me earlier, so I need to get back to them.

But I will be listening in the background.

Let's see here.

It is CR.

WHCRW and the group to take it.

WA3VEE73.

Thanks, Ron.

Well, I don't have a whole lot more.

As I mentioned, I picked up the equipment last year, and life happens and things get in the way.

So, like I said, I'm going to give it a shot again this year.

Chuck, your turn.

NA3CW, WHCRW.

Thank you, CR.

WHCRW, NA3CW.

Talk about things that you have to learn but maybe don't want to.

I'm in the process of learning the probate process when somebody passes away.

I've mentioned on the air, my mother-in-law, I think, is on her final approach.

I just don't know exactly when.

But somewhere along the line, we're going to have to deal with her estate.

And it's not big.

It's not complicated.

But the process sure is.

This afternoon, I downloaded 17 forms from the will's office in Chester County.

17 forms.

Just to get familiar with some of what's required.

Oh, boy.

So, I'm going to have to learn that one.

And several of our group have been through that process.

And so, I will be consulting with you when the time comes.

Bill, as far as learning your test equipment, just say the words.

We can have sessions on whichever pieces you want.

One of the ones that, to me, is indispensable is a scope.

Obviously, you have to have a multimeter.

But after that, it's a scope.

When I was getting paid for it, I would use a scope to measure anything just short of, you know, the voltage on a AA battery.

And I would use it for all kinds of stuff.

And I still use it.

I used, I figured out how to use my scope, which is 150 megahertz scope.

And between that and the spectrum analyzer, and use it how to, or figured out how to use it to calibrate RF watt meters.

And sensors, that sort of thing.

So, there's, that's, you know, if, you know, to me, you wake up in the morning, eat breakfast, and then you go use your scope.

It's just a very, very useful thing.

You want to know what's going on with a transmitter, use a scope.

If you want to know, you know, where signals start and stop in a piece of equipment that's not working, you use a scope.

There's just all kinds of ways you use a scope.

So, yeah, as you can tell, that's real high on my list of pieces of test equipment to use.

There's, if you've got a good scope and you've got a good meter, look out world.

So, there you go.

And that goes for anybody.

I have a, you know, reasonably good test bench.

And I know Ron certainly does.

I have, I don't hold a camera of Ron's collection, but I got some stuff.

And the best thing is learning how to use it.

You can put a piece of, like, precision woodworking equipment in my hands, and you'll get a certain amount of output.

You put it in Bill's hands, you get a whole different level of output.

And it's not the machine, it's the hands that are running it.

And so, just take, you can take some of the simplest test equipment and use it in some of the most interesting ways and do all kinds of good stuff with it.

And you don't have to spend a zillion dollars on a lot of specialized stuff.

So, there's my tire radio test equipment.

So, good to hear from everybody.

If you're still listening, Matt, thanks for raising the alarm on Echo Lincoln All-Star.

And Joe and Martha, thanks for fixing it.

And Bill, thanks for driving the bus.

And 73 to everybody, and I'll listen out.

N3 QNC.

Go for it, Joe.

This is NA3CW.

NA3CW, N3 QNC.

All right.

Thanks so much for that.

Sorry you're dealing with those health issues and the final approach.

And I know that can be very difficult.

I have to deal with that myself.

And sorry you're going through all that.

But it sounds like you have a good support network.

And that's probably the most important part during all of it, during those difficult times there.

I don't have a whole lot to add this evening.

You did mention a good scope.

And I did just recently pick up a really interesting piece of gear.

It's called the Pocket.

It's about the size of, I don't know, three half dollars stacked together.

Very small.

It has two retractable leads on it.

And it actually Bluetooths to your phone.

And the phone does all the front end work.

And it's a basic oscilloscope.

A little multimeter.

It doesn't do AC.

But it does DC up to, I think, 60 volts or something like that.

And very, very handy.

I've used it on a couple of photo activations now.

And even if it's for something simple, just to check continuity.

You should pull this thing out.

Very, very handy.

So I thought that was a slick piece of gear.

To use the firearm analogy, the .22 in your pocket is better than the .45 you left at home.

And so I found it to be tremendously useful, even if it's just to check a good battery or, like I said, check for continuity.

Or in my case, I was also looking for some activity on a particular IC.

So basic scope.

Just what I needed without having to run out some toolbox.

And because my house is 10 pounds of stuff in a 5-pound bag ever since my little ones were born.

So I don't have a dedicated bench these days.

So for me, very, very handy.

All right.

I'll turn it over to you, AF-3Z, N3QNC.

I'll be listening for a little bit.

But good night, all 7-3.

Okay.

Thank you, Joe.

N3QNC.

This is AF-3Z.

And, yeah, a couple people have mentioned what I almost put on my list of what I'd like to learn.

But I think I've already flunked enough times on that one.

Back in my career, a couple of times, I went to time management seminars type things.

The one I remember pretty detailed-wise, I was living up in Lancerd up near Tamakwa.

And it was down in Allentown.

And they even gave us a metal ruler.

I forget the name of the people that ran it.

But the metal ruler is still on my desk.

But anyway, the main thing I learned about time management, well, the one thing they said at that workshop,

which I approved again and again, is time management is actually a misnomer.

You aren't managing time.

Now, if you get into maybe, oh, now I can't even think of the term.

So anyway, high pollutant physics these days.

I guess you're not managing time, but you're managing how you relate to it.

But you can't manage time.

But what it's really about is self-management.

And that's the hard part.

And I am my biggest problem in many ways, especially on time management.

So anyway, that's my comment on the time thing.

And yeah, Joe, I hope you can get the guitar picked up.

It's probably a question you would ask others when they're getting into the hobby or something here.

But what do you want to do or what do you want to play?

What kind of stuff?

That will determine to some extent how you go at it.

And I just learned with Peter, Paul and Mary songbooks and stuff like that.

I never had lessons.

I've taken some now by way of the computer and stuff a little bit.

But anyway, I've been playing for years and I thoroughly enjoy being able to pick it up and play.

And even the same old songs over and over and over again.

I just enjoy doing it.

Sort of funny.

Let me see.

What else?

That's about it, I guess.

Seems to me there was something else I was going to mention, but I'm not sure what it was now.

And, oh, Ron, no problem on delays and time and all that stuff.

I just talked about me and time management.

So, Joe, over to you again.

W3GMS AF3Z.

Okie dokie AF3Z and the 985 Roundtable.

Bill doing a spectacular job.

W3GMS.

To answer your question, Jim, I like, for acoustical guitar, I like what I call coffeehouse type music.

I like folk music.

I like ballads.

I like soothing music.

You know, like you'd go into a coffeehouse and you'd get a cup of coffee and you have a brownie and somebody's sitting on the stool up on the stage.

And they're just kind of strumming away.

That's the type of acoustical music I like to listen to.

So, I listen to other types of music, but for the acoustical guitar, that's the stuff that always flow to my boat the most.

So, we'll see.

Yeah, it's just a matter of dedicating myself to it.

And I've just been so busy.

So, I'm hopeful that things will dwell down to a slow roar and we'll be able to do some of those things.

But, you know, I got the museum job.

I got the Amish.

Trying to get them back.

Well, not trying to get them back.

They're going to be back very soon to continue cleaning out the one half.

And then I have liquidation of a lot of equipment.

I have the split site repeater stuff to finish.

It's all designed.

So, no more design work.

And I'm anxious to get that going.

And that will probably happen in spring.

In fact, I will say it will happen in the spring.

Not probably.

I have antenna work to need to get done on the 100-foot self-supporting tower up at the repeater site.

We're going to be replacing the transmit antenna, the receive antenna, and one of the link antennas.

And let's see.

And I could just go on and on and on and on, but I have too many projects.

I have been focusing on delegating out some of the jobs around here.

And my wife was thrilled that I called four garage door companies.

That do garage doors and garage door openers.

And, yeah, I could do it.

I've done that kind of stuff before.

It's no problem.

But I called them up.

We had one guy here last night at 7 o'clock.

Gave me an estimate.

I got another email estimate today.

And the third company wants me to send some pictures.

And then if need be, they'll come down and give me an estimate.

So that's that on that.

It doesn't take a rocket science to put up a garage door opener.

But it takes time.

So that's what I don't have right now.

So with hiring people for the museum completion and some of the tasks around the house here, delegating that out,

hopefully that's going to sandwich some more time out to focus on things that are, we'll say, major interest to me.

And keep Martha happy with some of the projects around the house.

So what else?

That's about it, I think.

Great questions.

Bill, you always come up with a nice selection of questions.

And I was going to comment on somebody.

Somebody said something, but I was over.

I'm taking care of an obituary for a good friend of mine that passed away, K4, KRE, Paul, long-time AWA member.

I joined AWA in 1982.

And for those that don't know, AWA stands for the Antique Wireless Association.

And it's a big wireless organization, actually the largest in the world with the largest museum up in East Bloomfield, New York.

And I'm on the board of trustees and other capacities within that group.

One of our oldest members just recently passed.

So take care of getting the obit and getting it into the journal with the editor and a picture and all that so we can let everybody know that Paul is now an SK.

So, Ron, if you're listening, yeah, I've been trying to get a hold of you for a long time.

And I kind of thought, I bet he's down at Drexel.

I bet that's where he's been.

Because normally I hear you on the repeater and I say, no, no, no, no, I'm not hearing him.

He's out of the area.

But anyway, I wanted to tell you about the trip that Martha and I took up to Bill, W2DGB's 98-year-old Bill up in the Poconos.

And we had a fantastic visit with him.

Unfortunately, we had to cancel the hotel reservations.

We normally stay overnight and leave the next morning.

But I was pending for jury duty in Chester County.

And I didn't know whether I was going to have to report until 5 o'clock of that day for the following day.

And I didn't want to gamble it.

So we canceled the hotel reservations, got our money back, and did up and down in one day.

But what a splendid visit with Bill.

And he really lights up when visitors are there.

And we just had a wonderful time.

Okay, let's see.

That's it for me.

Everybody, a happy Thursday evening.

For those working folks, you've got one more day to go.

And then you have a wonderful weekend.

We're going to be taking my daughter Kim and son-in-law Greg, W3DIB, out to the Capitol Grill in King of Prussia as a belated Christmas present.

You know, we had a talk with my daughter.

I said, you know, this gift card stuff and all this kind of stuff, you know, why don't we just go out to a really, really nice restaurant?

Give us a chance to talk, eat some good food, and da-da-da-da-da.

And my daughter loves that type of situation.

She says, sounds good to me.

So that's what we're doing Saturday night.

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

David, sounding good.

Good to hear you.

Hope to see everybody at the next breakfast.

Coming up here in a few weeks.

W-3-G-M-S.

All right.

Thanks, Joe.

W-3-G-M-S.

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

Yeah, I have a couple of cents worth of advice for Chuck regarding estates.

I'm currently in the final stages of my mom's estate trying to get the house sold.

But one thing I can advise is that if she has a safe deposit box, you should get that emptied out while she's still around.

That'll save a lot of hassle and headaches.

There's a couple of forms you have to download from the state website.

I think it's, I forget now.

It's either the Inheritance Tax Division or some such thing.

And there's a form you have to take to the bank.

And then there's an inventory that you have to do in the bank.

And then you have to mail the inventory to the state.

And it's just a pain.

I wish I had realized that while my mom was still around.

But anyway, I thought of something else I'd like to learn this year.

And that is a couple of additional stock option strategies.

I started trading those things a couple years ago.

And it's, I guess, to give everyone an idea of what they are.

It's a way to use your nest egg, whether it's, it can be either cash or stocks.

And you use your nest egg essentially as security for these option contracts that you trade.

Each contract controls 100 shares of stock.

Or if you're trading based on cash reserves, it would be the equivalent cash value of 100 shares of whatever stock option that you're trading,

if that makes sense.

And, of course, the point is to make income.

So you can hold all of your nest egg and not sell anything as far as the stocks go,

and not buy anything with the cash.

But you can generate income with the stock options.

And so I've been averaging about 30% to 40% ROI using these things.

And there's something like 20 different strategies that I'm currently using, or I'm competent, I guess, in four to five of those strategies.

So I'd like to pick up a couple more to my repertoire, so to speak.

And something important to note is that I've taken a couple of good courses on exactly how to do this.

And you don't want to dive into this without putting in the time to do that.

And you also want to do your first options trading with a paper trade account where you're not dealing with real money.

And there's a couple different platforms you can use for that.

So just in case anyone's interested.

So with that, I'll say 73, turn it back to you, Bill, KC3OOK, KA3GLI.

KA3GLI, KC3OOK.

Very interesting, David.

And we had a good group here tonight.

And as Jim well knows well, I guess I should say, I really anguish over the questions.

So this was a last-minute one.

But we did learn a lot.

And the thing I like about the roundtable is we learn a lot about each other.

I think this is such a successful group.

But before we close the roundtable down tonight, we'll give a call out and see if there's anyone else out there.

If you've just been listening or tuned in late, you're welcome to call in.

Check in before we close down the net.

This is KC3OOK.

W3JAM.

Whiskey 3, Juliet, Alpha, Mike.

W3JAM.

Jeff, good evening.

Have you been listening?

Do you know what our questions are?

No, I, well, listening to the prior station answering, I believe it was Things You Want to Learn this year is one of them, I think.

I literally just arrived in Studio B.

I got back from choir practice and I have to come out and do a stall check.

So, plus I've got to give one of the horses here, the draft pony, some Timothy Pellett soaked mush, essentially.

He doesn't have any teeth.

Well, he's got summer teeth.

Some are here, some are there.

But I usually give him a little peppermint with the mush, so that's what I'm doing.

Was that one of the questions, Bill?

Something you want to learn this year?

Is there anything you would like to learn this year or learn more about?

And then the second question was, is there something you had to learn that you thought you'd never use and ended up actually using it?

So, back to you, Jeff.

W3JAM, KC3O, okay.

Yeah, well, the answer is there's yes to both.

I'd probably have to think a little bit more about it.

Love if the XYL would let me turn myself loose in her Honda S2000 so I could get proficient with the manual transmission in there.

I've driven manual transmission so infrequently in my life, and I've always felt deficient, not really being proficient at it.

So, I wish she'd, she doesn't, she don't want me to get me anywhere near it because I'd probably ruin her clutch.

But so what, put a new one in.

That's one of the things I'd like to do.

That's kind of like a bucket list item.

But, yeah, there's other things, too, but probably more in the music domain than ham radio or other domains.

But, let's see, trying to think about the other questions.

Something I learned I never thought, yes, definitely there's a lot of things.

I remember learning the concept of, in mathematics, studying like base, you know, base 10, base 2, base E, base, well, not so much base E in grade school,

but base 10, base whatever, I thought, this is stupid, who uses this?

Oh, come to find.

So, that was one of the earliest examples of things.

I'm like, who studies this?

What are you going to do with this stuff?

Well, what don't you do with this stuff?

So, anyway, especially in engineering and computer science.

Anyway, the draft pony's getting a little rammy, Bill, so I'm going to go deliver the mush to him and his buddy,

and I've got to get some stuff for the other two, so I will be listening out.

So, that's my quick take on this evening's answer from Studio B, W3JAM.

Thank you, Jeff.

W3JAM, KC3OOK.

I'm glad you made it in here and that you're our tail gunner tonight.

And you mentioned that S2000 before.

I had a friend that had one.

That is a really unique car.

Really unique.

I can understand why your wife doesn't let anyone drive it.

So, with that, had a lot of fun tonight.

I think we had a total of 14 people here tonight around the table.

So, I want to say thanks to all the stations for checking in to the 985 roundtable.

And, of course, a big thank you to Joe, W3GMS, for making the 985 repeater available for the roundtable.

Of course, you're invited to use the repeater often.

It's a great way to show that 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. here on the 985 workbench, where, again, we will hear Chuck.

And, also, next Thursday night, your host will be Luke Casey, I'm sorry, W3SCY, Whiskey 3, Sierra Charlie Yankee.

So, with that, this concludes the roundtable for tonight.

And, of course, feel free to stick around and keep the conversation going if you'd like.

And run up Joe's electric bill.

So, I want to tell everyone to have a good night, have a great weekend, and I'll say 7-3.

And this is KC3-00K clear.

Good job, Bill.

Have a good evening.

W3GMS.

Thank you, Joe.

And you, too.

And to Martha, as well.

KC-3-00K.

Thank you.

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