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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
It's 8 o'clock, it's Thursday, and that means
it's time for the Thursday night roundtable.
Good evening, my name is... in the Alima and
my call sign is KC3CIV. That's Kilo Charlie
3 Charlie in the Abravo and I will be the host
for tonight's Thursday night roundtable. We
meet here every Thursday at 8 p.m. here on
the W3 GMS repeater located in Parsburg on
a frequency of 146 decimal 9A5 and the PL tone
is 100 hertz. For those that are capable of
doing tone squelch on receive that PL tone
is 94.8. Take a look at the repeater website
located at www.w3gmsrepeater.com. Lots of great
information on there. I encourage you to click
around and check everything out. And you can
also sign up to receive notices on stuff that's
going on here with the repeater. Besides the
roundtable, this repeater also hosts a 985
workbench on Monday evenings at 8 p.m. Where
the workbench focuses on answering technical
questions as well as exploring topics related
to setting up and operating your station. And
Monday's workbench is going to be hosted by
Greg, W3DIB. 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 round table.
Our discussions are informal, passing the
mic around in the order at 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. And we usually begin with a
question. As a discussion starter, you can
answer that if you wish or comment about something
else as well. If you have any questions or
suggestions for the roundtable, you can contact
myself, KC3CIB, or Jim, AF3Z, and we're
both good on QRs and... Be aware that on occasion
the repeater experiences intermod interference,
please run maximum power. Or be prepared to
check in digitally through EchoLink or All-Store.
If you are that on 985 with EchoLink or All-Star,
there are instructions on the website on what
you need to do to access the 985 repeater through
any of those digital modes.
Also, if we do get the intermod before starting
a transmission, give a short call. Am I getting
in okay? Once the host confirms that, then you
can share your longer comments. And don't
be too quick to talk. It takes a second for
the repeater to process the PL tone, so when
you hit your push to talk, wait a second and
then start talking. That way we don't miss,
say, the prefix. of your call sign or the first
word of your comment. The repeater has a three
minute timer. All you gotta do to reset is just
to quickly let up off your push to talk. You
do not have to let the repeater drop, something
like this. Get right back on your push to talk
and you got another three minutes. Okay, so
at first we will start with our... Short time
check-ins I will call digital stations first,
then regular RF stations after that for
short time, and then after we run through our
short time list we will go to our regular check-ins
after that.
So before we get things started, does anybody
have any priority use for the repeater before
we get things going? This is KC3CID.
Okay, here and nothing, will get things started
here.
I am ready. Digital Stations, wishing to
check in to tonight's Thursday night round
table. Round table. Short time, short time,
stations only please. Digital, Digital Stations,
please call.
Also, I forgot to mention, it's also good to
leave about a five second pause in between
transmissions. Don't be that guy who jumps
on the push to talk right after somebody stops
talking. This allows our digital stations
a chance to break in if they have a comment
as well. any short time stations, digital or
RF. Police call now.
This is KB3Z.
Good evening Phil, good evening all, is Whiskey
3 Juliet Alpha Mike W3JAM. Jeff here in northern
Chester County.
Okay, I acknowledge Adam, KB3ZUV and Jeff, W3JAM.
any additional short time stations wishing
to check into tonight's Thursday night roundtable,
please call KC3CIV.
Okay, hearing nothing, we will get things started
here. Here's a question to start things off.
What was your first transceiver when you became
involved in ham radio?
that would you would you recommend that rig
to a new ham or if you were way back in the
day when uh...
Rick, would you recommend?
came involved in ham radio and would you recommend
the rig to a new ham or what rig would you
recommend? W3ZUV. This is KC3C IBA. Then send
it over to Jeff, W3JAM after you're done.
Good evening.
And it, man, is it...
We've had frumpa, frontal passage, and we did
have about an inch and a third of rain here.
I have to go out and read the official Coco
Ross rain gauge that I've got in the side yard
now. I'm not a member of Coco Ross or the reporting
network, but I did buy one of their rain gauges
to supplement my Davis Vantage Pro II that I've
got here as well, and probably will. start
reporting precipitation into the Coco Ross network
with that official Coco Ross approved rain
gauge high high. Anyway, good question Phil.
Good evening to all. And I'm seated here comfortably
speaking, which is something I could never do
in studio A. But you know, my first rig, when
I got on the air in 1977, my first rig was a
Heath kit. It was a Sugar Baker 101. It was
80 through 10 meter. Sideband CW transceiver,
was kind of part of the SB series before
the 102 came out. Had a tube in the VFO, it
hollow state design of course, it was a tube
rig. And I did not put it together myself. I
got that rig from Amateur Electronic Supply
in Milwaukee. And I think the technician out
there, Mr. Miles Cundy, was the one who put
it on the bench. It was from their used stock
and he put it on the bench, checked it out
and sent it my way. And lo and behold, late
June or July of 1977 it arrived. And by that
time I had just gotten my general class ticket.
was originally licensed in March of that year
as a technician. You would have thought I would
have been on a band, HF included, certain
privileges anyway, but certainly on VHF or
higher, exercising my technician class privileges,
but no, I was not. So my first transceiver
was not VHF, UHF, anything of that nature,
it was HF. I had saved up to buy that rig,
might have cashed in some savings bonds that
were gifted to me as a kid from my grandparents.
And dad might have helped out a little too,
as I recall. But that was a great rig for
me and was kind of, it epitomized amateur
radio because I could not have imagined having
anything except a tube rig and being on HF
at that time. And I absolutely loved that and
I had that for a few years and probably encountered
many of the typical problems that one did and
satisfyingly was able to rectify a lot of
the issues myself. There a few vexing ones
that came along that I needed some help with
but for the most part I was able to troubleshoot
most anything that went wrong with that rig
and it often did. So good things. But yeah,
that was great. And I think I eventually did
get on two meters. And I'm trying to think probably
maybe before 1980. Well, no, it might have
been, yeah, it was before 1980. And it was a
crystal controlled rig. As I recall, it was
a Midland. I want to say 13.5. I always say
5.09, but I think that might have been the
220 rig. It was the crystal controlled two meter.
rig that was similar to that. And I had a
number of popular transmit-receive pairs when
I bought it. I think I got that rig over at
the South Jersey SJRA ham fest. I that was
what they used to call it. It might still be
called that in Mullica Hill. It's always a great
ham fest. It used to go a lot. I think I purchased
that rig there. So that was my foray into two
meters. to say you're not going to find much
in the way of crystal controlled rigs anymore
for two meters or any band for that matter
but I would recommend obviously for HF, most
any of the modern popular rigs, hard to go
wrong with any of them and if you're getting
on VHF, UHF, probably something with at least
50 watts which most every mobile rig has I
think these days. This is the rig I'm on right
now has 85 watts. This is the 3185 with the
receive preamp and audio signal processing.
of the latest four rigs from Yezu. And I've
pretty much stuck with Yezu rigs over the years.
I find the audio and so forth tends to be set
up the way I like it. Sometimes a little on
the loud side, but there's nothing wrong with
that. I know some of the icons and stuff seem
to be a little light, maybe. function of deviation
being set to narrow versus wide, who knows,
but not generally found that with Yeezy rigs
and that's why I like them to include the
A57 that I'd gotten from Joe. But that was
my four ray into amateur radio, the Heath
kit. And by the way, the power supply that
I built the power supply for at the HP 23,
that did not come with the rig, I had to procure
that and build that. Which I did. It was a
project in 1977, like I said, probably late
June, early July. A good friend of mine, who
I always thought would become a ham and never
did, was studying along with me and another
guy, my buddy WB3GUS. There was actually three
of us that were studying. Kind of quasi on
our own to get our tickets, our licenses. And
two of us did, one did not. The gentleman
who helped me with the power supply build was
very into it and was very into electronics
in general at that time when we were in high
school. He never did get his ticket, at least
not that I'm aware. I've lost touch with him
now. But I don't think he ever did get his
amateur ticket, which is a shame. But it was
a lot of fun building that. didn't actually
get it at the time. I probably still could have
gotten it from HeathKIT directly. I built
a number of other things. never built a rig
from HeathKIT, but number of accessories,
power supplies, clocks, things of that nature.
Nothing really too big though. But I did
the HP-23B. I've since upgraded that power supply
with, I forget what they call it, the HP-23R
or something. That was an upgrade that came
out some years ago. basically replacing some
of the old electrolytics and a few other things.
I did that and the rig is, that power supply
is still operational and very usable. In fact,
I have an SB 102 now that I'm not using at
the moment. I have to troubleshoot it. It's
got some issues, but I did have that on the
air from time to time, probably in the last
15 years or so. So anyway, that's the deal
out here in Studio B. Phil, I'm going to go
back to listen mode and probably switch over
to All Star when I go back in so I can listen
out to the rest of the roundtable. KC3CIBW3JAM.
Okay, thanks Jeff. Thanks for your comments
and thanks Adam for your comments as well.
Any additional short time stations wishing
to check into the Thursday night roundtable,
please call KC3CIV.
Okay, hearing nothing, we will go into our
regular check-ins. Those people that can stay
around for a little while here on the roundtable.
So we're going to start with our digital stations,
regular check-ins, Echo, Link, or All Star,
please call.
W1CLK.
Now it's W1BLK. Is that Bravo Lima kilo?
28 Leber Kilo.
Thank you. Any other additional Echo Link
or All-Star? Check-ins, please call.
They see three FQI.
Okay, gotcha Wayne, KC3SQI. digital station.
Okay, RF stations wishing to check into tonight's
Thursday night roundtable, please call. Whiskey
Alpha 3, Victor Echo Echo, WA 3.
Got it. WA3 King, Fox, Tango, WA3, KFT, John.
and A3CW.
KC3OK.
Blue Victor 3 to the ex-Golf Bravo.
V3 KZG.
Alpha Foxtrot 3 is.
and three C-R-E.
Let me run through the list as I got it. We
may have had a double with Ron there.
We got W1 CLK. KC3SQI WA3BEE WA3KFT NA3CW
KC3OOK KV-
KZG
into the night stairs.
You hit CRW, I double and run.
Kilo Delta 3 Alpha Papa Romeo
Alpha Alpha 3 Lima Hotel.
Thank you. One last call for additional stations.
C-R-W, I double we run. See ya.
AF3Z
again.
recommend that rig to a new ham or what rig
would you recommend to a new ham
This is KC3 CIB in the...
WKC3CIB, this is W1CLK, thank you. And first
I have to apologize, I realized I was actually
on the GMS VHF repeater when I did that, that
I wouldn't make a liar out of myself, I've
switched over to my All-Star node, which they
had just set up for me, so I am a newcomer.
nice to meet everybody. My name is Bill, I'm
in West Brandywine Township and where we actually
didn't get a lot of rain, only maybe a third
of an inch, just a lot of wind. And, you
know, stayed mostly dry. As for your question,
my first radio after I got licensed was
a, actually I made a little kit for WWV, this
is a little receiver. That was kind of fun.
But my first legit transceiver was an FT-891
on HF and just a little handheld for VHF,
which actually turned out to be damaged when
I got it. And that was why I was never hearing
anybody because no one was hearing me. And
we realized when I...
Basically in any tone, a little 25 watt base
station. I'm really happy with them. They're
pretty versatile. I can do digital modes on
them and do all the things I like to do. So
I'm having fun with that. Anyway, great to
meet everybody. Looking forward to hearing
from the others. This is W1CLK. I'll toss it
over to, I think it was KC3SQI.
Okay, thank you very much. This is KC3SQI. My
first rig was homemade, hand-built, with parts
out of non-working radios and a whole bunch
of stuff that I could find laying around for
a little bit of nothing. uh... no i wouldn't
recommend that to somebody uh... just getting
started here really was uh... second-time around
uh... my first radio was about saying uh...
here at home if you just need to get all of
it and get started here they're pretty cheap
you can do it But you really should try to
get mobile rig and get a little more behind
it. So, okay, with that, I will turn it over
to Ron, W-A-3-V-E-E. This is KC-3-S-Q-I.
Good Wing KC3SQI and the group WA3VEE Ron over
here in Westchester. there's a couple things
first of all. First, Phil, it's great to hear
you and thanks for doing the net tonight.
And of course the founder of the roundtable.
So glad to have you on board tonight. It's
really, really great to hear you. Don't get
a chance to hear much of you. Although I do
like the fishing pictures on Facebook, that's
for sure. Oh, very good. like to welcome Bill
W1CLK and you're in the neighborhood of George
WA3LVR over there. think it's in West Brandywine
where he is. I don't think it's East Brandywine.
I think it is West Brandywine. So you want
to look him up on QRZ. He's probably a neighbor
of yours. WA3LVR, Low Voltage Radio, Lima
Victor Romeo, Field Day, Summer Field Day Chair.
And also great to hear you on frequency tonight,
Paxton. For those of you who were at field
day, Paxton and his dad visited us and Paxton
made several contacts on the go to station,
the K-3 DTS go to station there. And I discovered
him via the first state amateur radio club
president, former president, Wendy Horn.
W3NRN who probably will be joining us for breakfast
sooner or later. Great group of people down
there. So, glad to have you on board, Pax.
And just one suggestion, make sure you keep
your HT antenna vertical as you move around
because that will get a sweet, like we talked
about before, get a sweet spot, find it, and
stay still. And then, like I said, when you
got back from Resica Falls, we'll get together
and we will talk about a temporary situation
there for your antenna and for your transmission
under an HOA. And that leads me directly
to the question, great question Phil, for sure,
hold on. First rig which I have here 52 years
and 11 days ago when I got licensed, WA3VE,
original issue, government issue, there you
go, was a Tempo FMP 3 watt, crystal controlled,
2 meter transceiver. Like Adam said... I
kind of looked at the radio when he said this
because same situation I kind of got nostalgic
and don't have the original original radio anymore
but also have the copy of it. Certainly it
was way too old and it's crystal controlled
and no PL so no dibs for recommending and what
I would, New Hams of which you guys know I've
done many especially through VE sessions.
My answer to what I would recommend is a lawyer
answer, it depends. And it depends, and I just
took Paxton through this, getting on to VHF,
UHF. If you're in an HOA, pretty tough to put
antennas up, so you're really relegated pretty
much to mobile. If you're going to do mobile,
definitely a 50 watt rig would do it in order
to be able to get into any repeaters at all
reliably and not have people fighting to hear
you. Initially, an HT may work if you have
a decent outside antenna and you're close to
a repeater. But generally speaking, usually
it has to be a 50 watt rig. Usually people
say, well gee, I'm not sure I really would
know if I would enjoy this. So why don't I
just get an HT and hope for the best? Well,
again, There's two issues. First of all, the
first thing you do with ham radio if you're
interested is you listen, listen, listen. And
you get the hang of it just by listening. And
that goes a long way to determining if you really
will like it. So you can jump right into if
you decide from listening that you want to give
it a try. Go right off the bat and get a 50
watt mobile rig. And that would do it.
That kind of negates the argument of, gee, I'll
just try it with a small HT. Because the other
problem is, if you try with a small HT, you're
not able to get into any repeaters. Your tendency
to get frustrated and give up is very high.
So that's kind of where that is. That's enough
from me right now. But great question again,
Phil, for sure. Let me turn it over to John.
This has got to be very interesting. I can't
wait to hear what John has to say. WA3. KFT
to take it WA3 VEE. W-A-3, Victor Echo Echo
from W-A-3, King Fox Tango. Okay, Ron. Yeah,
we've been at this game for a long time. for
those doers. So.
was an HA650.
That was a, and it is a six meter transceiver,
crystal controlled transmit and tunable receive.
All of two and a half watts.
If you put 10 decals in it, you could run it
portable. used a 12-volt power supply. And
for many, many years, that was my six-meter...
radio for the Mobile Sixers Net on 50.550.
And also we had an MRT Net, a Masonic Roundtable
Net on Saturdays, and that was at 51.000. But
two and a half watts. Of course, I had a nice
outside antenna that was 30-some feet in the
air, and that did the trick. First HF set up.
was a used SX-99 Allocrafters receiver and
a Johnson Adventurer that I built from a kit.
And again, that was a CW-only transmitter,
crystal controlled, and that got me on the
novice bands. And I had a cousin up in Pittsfield,
Massachusetts that was a CW operator and a
traffic handler in CW. Donnie W1DWA, W1 delightful,
wonderful, and adorable. He had his license
before I was a teenager. Now he was also. Great.
I've been the same generation as my mother.
My grandmother and his mother were sisters.
He was in my mother's generation and I was
a shortwave listener first and he kind of
edged me on to the ham radio bit. And when
I first got my license, we would meet on Saturday
morning between 7 and 7.30 in the morning on
80 meter CW. I was in an apartment. And I
had a vertical wire. I was in the basement
and a fellow up on the second floor was a CV-er.
And I gave him a coil of wire and I said, tie
this to your window and drop it. So I had
a vertical wire running down the front of the
building that I loaded up on 80 meters with
a homebrew antenna tuner. And Donnie and I
would converse. between 7 and 7.30 on Saturday
mornings in CW. So that was my beginning.
As far as recommending the HA-650, there's
not a whole lot of 6 meter amplitude modulation
anymore. There are a few, but I have relegated
that particular radio to my collecting stock.
I don't know. I like the ICOM 706 Mark IIG.
They don't make it anymore. They make a 7100,
which is a clone of it. certainly, because
it's all the bands in a small box. And that's
what's nice. And 100 watts on HF. 50 watts
are better on VHF. But it does have 6, 2, and
432 in it. as well as 160 through 10. So the
7100 I would point people to. It's a small rig
and... I will say replaces the... one that
I use all the time.
Other flavors, I'm not particular. I have Kenwood,
Icom, Yeisoo right in front of me here, and
I use all of them. But I also use Hallacrafters,
Johnson, National, oh shoot, Gonset, and
so on. Some of the oldies but goodies. So
whatever floats my boat at the time. Over
to you Chuck, NA-3CW. WA-3 King Fox Tango.
Pause for the cause, WA3KFT and A3CW. I was
a long time before I actually had a transceiver.
Another one of these antique people. When I
started out in radio in 1968, I was 15. And
I'm the fifth kid of a carpenter, so I didn't
have any money. So I relied on the charity
of others. So I had variously a Heath Kit, AT-1,
CW, and I was a novice. So it was all CW, was
all crystal control. HeathKit AT1 with 807
running 20 watts, 25 watts. a, a couple
odd, I had a Globescout 65A, which was a pretty
good little transmitter. I had an HR1 transmitter,
receiver, ham radio, ham bands, receiver, HeathKit.
Basically, DEF is a stump on the high bands,
but did OK on the low bands. And then later
I had a geriatric Hammerlund SP400 receiver.
And that's the rig that I earned, the receiver
that I learned to work on electronic stuff
by. Sort like my first car was the one that
I learned how to work on cars by. Let's see.
First actual transceiver was a gift from our
mentor, Harry. Klag FM76. It was a 220 megahertz
machine. There was a 220 machine up on the
hill. It was 10 watts. By the time I got
the driver's license, I could put it on the
car seat and use it in the car. I had a good
time with that rig. was crystal controlled 10
watts. transceiver, HF transceiver, was a
Galaxy GT550. That was a hybrid rig, had some
solid state and some tubes. Had two sweep tubes
in the output. And if you don't know what sweep
tubes are, was the high, they're relatively
high pulse power tubes that were used in the
high voltage section of old colored TV sets.
and sweep what had to do with sweeping the
beam back and forth in the old TV. So that's
what it had, 550 watts PEP input. So it had
a big mouth. also, it was a pretty good receiver.
It was sensitive, not terribly selective, but
I had a lot of fun with that. My first solid
state rig was a TS-140S Kenwood. And I still
have it here right in front of me and it still
works fine. Later I went to a Yezu FT920 and
I got in extensively to modify the audio for
AM. So that's kind of my early path. Something
on the class of the TS140 I think is a good
starter rig. I use it as a standby rig mostly,
but it's a good starter rig. It's not real
big. It's at 100 watts and you can... You can
pick these things up for a couple hundred bucks
and they work fine and you can work a lot of
ham radio with them. So enough of that, over
to Bill, KC-300K and A3CW.
KC3CW, KC3OK. Thanks, Chuck.
Well, my first radio was... using it.
made.
C3O.
Back you still with us? This is KC-3CIB. here
sorry I was
3GGB.
you had and whether you would recommend it.
My first one, my handheld, was the Yee-Soo
FT65. Like somebody had said, I kind of looked
at the bow things. anybody wants them but I
just I looked and I'm like I you know I wouldn't
have a good experience to make sure I had a
good experience and I had you know they're cheap
that's all he can afford I think that makes
sense you know I'd rather you get get the hobby
one way or another but for me I want to go
just a little bit nicer a little better quality
a little bit of auto quality so I want the
FT65 it's worked well I still have I still use
it know as Ron W A3VE said it's a closer repeater
it works well So yeah, that works really great
for me. I would recommend it. I would recommend
getting a handheld mic though, because the
built-in mic is not great. So I tend to actually
use it with the handheld mic over the built-in
one, because it's just that quality is not
great. It's kind of meant to be a little waterproof.
So the first mobile rig is with an FT, which
is actually what I'm talking on here, the ASU
FT500DR. I really, like it. It's probably
a high. highest mobile rig they make. But
I really, like it. I love the color screen.
I love the features. I love the dual tuners.
I use the heck out of it, all the scanning
feature. It's me really, really long. It's
really nice to put in a car because it has
a remote control head and the body goes in the
trunk. I think I've talked it up. I will hand
it over to, I believe, W3KZG. This is KV3JGB.
3KZG. Good evening everybody, hope everybody's
doing well. first ham radio rig, I had some
what they would consider export rigs before
I had a license because I was a big CB here
back in the day as Phil would agree with. I
would say the first dual band 2 meter 70 centimeter
rig was actually a balfang. because I wanted
to see what the repeaters were around the
area and I found this repeater and that's where
this all started for me. I was just listening
until I got licensed and then the radio collection
snowballed from there. My first mobile rig,
which I would highly recommend, was a Yezu
8900R, which I still have. It's actually
a quad band rig.
hear me now. Now you dropped out after you said
about the 8900R being a clot band rig. my
radio just like shut off.
G. in the shack. the mobile radio...
and I would highly recommend any ham that
wants to get an HF rig to get the DX.
to New Ham's, you don't have
actually have ten or more ham radios, whether
they're dual band or HF, and not a single one
of them ever was brand new. They were always
bought used. And just like a car, let somebody
else take that initial hit and then you buy
it used. We'll send it over to you Jim, AF3Z
this is W3KZG.
Alright, thank you Scott. Good evening to you
and everybody. And thank you Phil for hosting
here. Um, AF3Z. Yeah, I'm another old codger.
My first license was in 1967. I think it was.
I had my novice. Um, and yeah, was a different
day back then. I built HeathKits. I had a HeathKit
DX60 transmitter, an HR-10 receiver, and then
an HG-10B. DFO eventually, but that's what
I started out with and as a novice I started
out out on CW and I was on for I don't know
a year and a half two three years I'm not sure
and then I graduated from high school and stuff
I lost interest and actually let my license
expire so in 79 then I think I'm right in 79
I got interested again in got my current call
of AF3Z. So after that I had, you know, well
it's an extra class call and I had all the privileges
at that point. So at that point I still had
the HeathKits and I got a 2 meter ICOM-280 handheld
and contrary to all the little concerns about
the handheld. It worked quite well for me. In
the car I had a mag mount on the roof so I
had the external antenna. And I don't remember
what I did at home anymore. But there were
enough repeaters around that I didn't have trouble.
And I was using an ICOM-280 for I don't know
15, 20 years or something before I got a mobile
rig. And so all that old stuff anyway I don't
recommend. And number of people have said things
that I would say. one thing and it's been kind
of said. I would recommend really thinking
about what you want to do, interests you,
what got you interested in the hobby in the
first place. The one divide and it depends
on how much money you have, what you want to
spend and all those kinds of things. But
is it the more HF kinds of stuff and talking
to other countries and maybe even learning
CW or whatever? Do you want to do more distant
kinds of talking to other states around the
country or you're more interested locally.
The VHF, UHF works great and I really enjoy
it for getting to know people locally, other
hams in the general area. Of course these
days with the various kinds of networks and
stuff you can also work far away with VHF
and UHF. But you can make that decision. And
like... Scott was saying there, I have had
mainly used rigs over the years and the main
thing there is, not the main thing, but having
a group like the 985 repeater user group, people
around to help you out. If you run into problems,
you know, there's some people around that can
help you sort it out. But I've bought a number
of rigs and have had very little problem with
them over the years, so. That is an option,
obviously there's no guarantees it'll keep
working for you. So if you have the resources
to deal with it, and I think around here we
do, that could be good.
So I don't know much in the way of modern rigs
so I can't recommend any. But also another
one is borrowing. I have loaned radios to
people when they first got started. And that's
a neat thing. Get a basic radio. Somebody can
loan you one. You can try it out. You can
start figuring out what you want and then be
better equipped to purchase something that
really is going to fit what you want to do.
But there are options anyway. So that's it
for me, Charlie, N3CRE, over to you. This is
AF3Z.
N3CRE. First break was a two meter. Got a compliment
of Joe. He got me interested in ham radio
and I ended up, he actually...
Yeah, I can't do AT.
the ASU FTM 500 and using that as a base.
receiver had a swan 350.
built powers.
I guess I'll turn it over to Chuck, W3CRW.
8CRW, CR here. Well, I'm an old guy, but my
first radio was a Baofang. And I didn't keep
it. I mean, I still have it. I didn't use it.
I bought a Yeesu FTM400. I'm still using it.
It's old, but unfortunately, they can't make
them anymore because they can't get the parts.
But if you find one, buy it. It's a good radio.
And, uh... Pick it up. I was in the car at
the time and I don't know who comes after me.
Back to net. WHCRW. No problem CR. Goes over
to KD3 APR. This is KC3 CIV.
you
hear him on the end.
This is Euler's Delta 3 Alpha Paparoneo. Sorry,
think I just doubled with someone there. I
hope my signal's getting in the repeater okay.
You're good right where you're at. Stay right
there.
Right, thank you very much. Listening to it,
this is my first ever 985 net. I really enjoyed
hearing everyone and thank you definitely to
Ron for all the help. Definitely say also field
day was a ton of fun for me. And for the question,
my first ever transceiver, well, I'm using
it right now. It's a little TalkPod 836 Plus.
Very similar to the bow fangs we might be used
to. Just that this one, can do 8 watts, pretty
good handheld, can receive almost anything
with FM, but can transmit on this VHS, UHS band.
I really enjoy it and the battery life is
phenomenal for the 50 bucks I paid for it.
And I haven't much in the way of HS transceivers.
I've used about, I used just a few. I just,
my most recent experience at my scout camp,
we had an Elacraft KX3 and a 100 watt amplifier
and that one was great to use, I was living
in a waterfall, definitely looking forward to
looking for an HF transceiver and I've definitely
been listening to some of the older ones, that
definitely makes me think that the new stuff
is great. I'm gonna pause for a break.
Yeah, and the world of HF, which I recently
explored on Field Day, it's so exciting. definitely,
I was at my scout camp, we had one of the Hoove
radios, which I've definitely heard people
talking about it tonight. Makes me think just
how far technology has come. But that's all
for me. Really enjoy having a little hands-on,
yeah, I would recommend it. Yeah, that's all.
So thank you. don't think there's anyone else
after me. So this is KD3APR. I'm going to turn
it over to KC3CIB. Thank you.
Are you signing out or are you sticking around?
I'm going to have to sign out from here. It's
getting bit late and a bit rainy where I'm
at to keep outside, but thank you for a good
night.
No problem. Thanks for your comments and enjoy
the rest of your evening as well. Any additional
stations wishing to check into tonight's Thursday
night roundtable, please call KC3CIB.
KC3CID Kilo Sierra 4 Charlie Kilo KF4CK
name and location and welcome to the 985 Thursday
night round table. Thank you. My name here
is Bruce. I am in northern Chester County.
And I think there may have been another check-in
that was doubling when sit there. So is there
another station?
This is KC3ZLI, Kilo Charlie 3, Zulu Lima, India.
We got you as well. So Bruce, what was your
first transceiver when you became involved
in ham radio? And would you recommend that,
Greg? Or what would you recommend to a new
ham? Back to you, Bruce, KS4CK. You're your
four, threw me for a loop. But, Northern
Chesa County, very good. Over to you, Bruce.
was licensed down in North Carolina, so I kept
the four-lander when I moved. My first rig
was a secondhand Kenwood HD 2 meter only.
No, I don't recommend it. It was a brick.
But it was the right way to get started because
it was used. It was something to get into
the local repeater and get to know the folks
who then could guide me through, find me
another rig, that kind of stuff. Definitely
need some help. first HF rig I used was actually
the college had a rig that was donated. It
was a Collins S series with a beam on top.
I had the honor of operating it next to Joseph
Taylor, Kilo 1, Juliet Tango. I was in the
physics department. He came to visit. So I actually
had a chance to sit next to... the inventor
of FT4 and FT8. was kind of neat. I don't know
that I'd recommend it. I do recommend that
if you haven't, you need to use a tube receiver
at some point to learn what it's, how it
was, how it is, and how far we've come. So
back to NET, this is Bruce, KS4CK.
Okay, thanks Bruce, thanks for your comments
and welcome to 985.
KC3ZLI. Sean, it's KC3CIB.
KC3CIV, I'm a new hand, my first anything
with a handheld bell thing. now I'm talking
about a TYT 7900 that I was graciously gifted
from a KC Wayne, SQI. I think it was KC3, SQI,
yeah.
I don't have much to say in that realm, I'll
tell you the reason, the first, my first...
interest in radio I got from the movie Contact
and the movie Frequency. So that's all I got
to say about that, but it took me a while to
get on here. So I'll turn it back to you.
Good movies. There's another one that I really
like. I can't think of the name of
And you're sounding good on that TYT, by the
way. Any additional stations wishing to check
in, please call KC3CIB.
Okay.
KS4CK and Bill W1CLK. I know I haven't talked
with you guys. Welcome to 9A5. There's the
Thursday night round table. There's the Monday
night workbench. And let's see, there's the
9A5 breakfast, which is the third Friday of
every month at the Brass Eagle. If you don't
receive the emails from Joe, W3GMS, send them
an email and tell them you'd like to be put
on the list. Because we do RSVP and let them
know how many people are going to be there.
Let's see, there's also summer field day and
winter field day. I think some of the guys
recently did a fox hunt and I'm sure there's
probably going to be some more stuff coming
up as well. Welcome to the repeater guys. I'll
make some comments. My first transceiver when
I was licensed back in 2014 was a Yezu FT60R,
handheld, 5 watt handheld.
You know, I was told, hey, you should get a
hand help. Get your feet wet. then you can
go up from there. It was enough to get into
the local repeaters. Marginal to get in
to 985. And I did find 9A5 on the HT, but really
couldn't get a good consistent signal into
the repeater unless I stood in the right spot,
left hand up, right foot out, all that kind
of stuff. And then upgraded to a 50 watt rig.
which helped once I got in a tennis situation.
just because of the distance to the repeater.
Would I recommend it? No. I recommend a 50
watt mobile rig to any New Ham because having
an HT and having limited range could be very
discouraging. I would say that if I did not
find 985 on the HT even though I was marginal
except for when I was mobile here in Westchester,
I don't know if I would have renewed my license.
It was kind of discouraging at first. my
two cents. And the rig I am on now is an ICOM
IC2300 which they don't make anymore as well.
But I do recommend that rig as well. And I
have a 2730A upstairs which is hooked up
to a three element beam in the attic. That
is my Lightning. thunderstorm radio. Let
me call for any additional stations wishing
to check into tonight's Thursday night roundtable.
Please call KC3CIB.
Okay, so our list is still the same except for
KD3 APR that dropped out. So it goes back to
the top of the list, W1CLK. Back to you Bill.
This is KC3CIB. Any final comments or anything
else you want to talk about?
Well, thank you, Phil. Thanks for the warm
welcome. And also to VEE, who mentioned
someone, I wrote down his call, but it was
a few minutes ago and I forget, from the area.
But yeah, he is not far from me at all. I
think I could walk there. So yeah, it's nice
to have some hams in the area. And I've been
playing with some of the folks around here
on Arden and some things like that. you know,
it's really wide hobby and there's a lot of
ways to be involved. lot of ways to have fun
and lot of ways to give back. yeah, looking
forward to meeting him someday. Thank you guys
again for having me. You all have a wonderful
night. 73 from W1CLK.
Yeah, Bill, go see you in KC 3 SQI.
Thank you Phil for taking me out tonight.
Yeah, I'm still working on my new antenna
mast and came across a grounding for...
repeater force for how to ground and do the
station and it has all of the stuff for NEC
and all of that good stuff too. It's a real
good one. The problem is it's 73 pages and
he goes with It defines them once and makes
a TLA or a three letter acronym and then by
the time you get done there's 93 TLA's and so
now I'm going back through it and putting myself
together a list of all of the TLA's and what
they mean.
and i understand what he's saying but i don't
know what he said but the stuff i'm taking
care of that and uh... then uh... once we get
what i get it figured out that i am right
uh... actually talk to the guy or you know
send him an email or whatever and say hey can
I shorten this down a little bit and you know
try to do it something that we could put on
the repeater for you know how to ground the
station properly. But anyway i'm just middle
of uh... changing over the station so that's
why i'm on the back of work but color with
that all turn over to rob w a three b e this
is k three three s q i seven three
Very good, Wayne. KC3SQI WA3 VEE. Yeah, let's
see. Bill, W1CLK. That call is Whiskey Alpha
3, Lima Victor Romeo, WA3, low voltage radio.
His name is George, and great field day
chair, great guy. So... He and his wife Deb
live there right on Horseshoe Pike, right on
the road there. So, yeah, look him up for sure
and tell him my ascension. Anything bad he
says about me is absolutely true. George is
a great guy and like I said, one of the reasons
we have such a great field day, no doubt about
it. And again, welcome, absolute welcome. and
I'd like to work you some more. also, I'm sure
you probably know that we have a breakfast
that's the third Friday of every month at 830
at the Brass Eagle out on Route 30 just east
of Gap before you go down the hill to go down
into Gap where 41 and 30 meet. So more details
on that coming for sure. And you probably want
to send Joe W3GMS an email has to be put on
the list if I talk to him. It's all under the
weather right now but I'll talk to him in the
next couple days. I'll make a mention of your
call sign. of your email on QRZ, then I'll
mention it, Joe, to put you on the list, for
sure. Great to have you aboard. And again,
accident by chance, you're still listening.
Like I wrote to you after your camp, that
was a great, great rig, no doubt about it.
One last comment here, we talked about first
rigs. Well, first VHF rig I already commented
on, but the first HF rig set. which I still
have and it still works great. And it will,
except for some of the nice bells and whistles
that the newer rigs have, like the 7610 here,
7600, 7300, and the, there was an FT710 that
was at the Goethe station. I've got to go back
and look. Might have been the FTDX10. Oh, the
FTDX10 was the 40 meter station. It was the
710. that was at the go to station, but I recommend
either one of those as Scott has mentioned,
a good endorsement for the FTD X10. Also recommend
the 710 and our very own Tom Casey 3 TMT has
one of those also. I have a Drake C line.
John, I know you just perked up when I mentioned
Drake C line. And like I said, it holds a
very, very, very bright candle to the current
rigs over here. I also have... The Drake Sea
Lion was my very first real HF rig in 1978
when I got my general. did lot of CW contacts
on that. Jim, I hope you didn't fall out of
your chair. But nonetheless, yep, I did a
lot of CW on that and worked about 130 some
countries. So yes, no stranger to CW, except
I'm more rusty than an old... than an old
freighter at this point for sure in CW. It's
a matter of getting back on. So let's see,
that's enough from me. Over to you, John, and
what do you think about that sea line? You
probably have Drake's very first rig, like
Joe. In fact, I think you gave Joe, or donated,
or bequeathed Joe one of those rigs. WA3KFT
in the group. Great roundtable tonight, Phil.
Nice list here, too. WA3KFT in the group,
WA3.
WA3VE, WA3KFT, let's see, there we go.
Drake TR3, TR6, and a 2B. I have a 2B, and
I can't remember what the TR is, whether it's
a three or a six. buried in the back porch
in a big box. And one of them is six meters
and the other one is HF. And at this point
I don't remember which is which or which one
I got. it's almost to the point where name
of brand and I can tell you what models I have
for something like that. down and I made an
inventory list of all the different radios
and transceivers, receivers, and transmitters.
There's a few antenna tuners in the bunch. I
don't think I put those on the list, but I
have...
It was in the 1973 ARRL handbook and it is
for HF and it will work with any HF radio
and it allows you to use anything for an antenna.
And when I say anything, I mean anything.
It has a rotary inductor in it and it has two
variable capacitors. One is a... two gang
and the other is a single. It's like I said,
it's in the 1972 handbook. Toward the end.
And speaking of handbooks, the very first A.R.R.
handbook I got was in 1958. I still have it.
I won't part with it. And I read that. I read
it like a novel and that kind of opened the
door to ham radio for me in terms of all the
different things and so on and so forth. In
1958, building was big. It wasn't so much
that you could run out and go buy a radio.
I'm not even sure. Kenwood and Yesu existed
in 1958. Or if they did, it was very limited
in this country. It was more like Hallacrafters,
National for receivers, for transmitters,
Hammerlin for receivers, although they did make
a transmitter. And I'm trying to think what
some of the others were. My telegraph key sitting
here on the table is a Speed X, Speed hyphen
X. It was a product of EF Johnson. It is a
straight key. It does not have a shorting switch.
And I got it when I was in Boy Scouts. Well,
that pushes it back to the early 1950s. And
I have hung on to that key ever since. It
is bolted to the table. It's not going anywhere.
real antique and it works like a charm. I
have used it on many different transmitters
and transceivers. Right at the moment, it is
connected to my 7300. yeah, I grew up with
novice and tech. In fact, had them concurrently.
I had two call letters. I had a novice call
and a technician call. then the novice was
good for one year and then it disappeared.
That was the end of it. And was a technician
for ten years. And then I jumped from technician
to advanced. I never had a general license.
And then held on to the advanced for twenty-four
years and in 2000 I got my extra. But along
the way I managed to get my commercial. license.
Originally it was called a first class commercial
with a ship radar endorsement. Now it's called
a general radio telephone license. And I worked
at an AM broadcast station. So I got paid
to play radio. So we go from there. Over to
you Chuck. NA-3CW. WA-3KFT.
Take a John WA3KFT NA3CW. Yep, the go to station
had the FT710 and I really liked that rig.
Ron let me mess with it for a while before field
day. I figured if I'm going to be field day
coach, at least I don't know how to work the
radio. And I ended up using it more as a piece
of test equipment because at that time we had
some disagreement between Ron's a bird watt
meter slug and Joe's. So I used that as a
test generator, if you will, so could drive
it with dummy load and measure the voltage across
the dummy load with my scope and come up with
a power calibration. And I'll tell you what,
the calibration, at least on 20 meters, was
spot on. I dialed up 50 watts, I got 50 watts.
I dialed up 100 watts, I got 100 watts. Mind
you, it's not that way on all the bands, but
it was... kind of startling the first time
where you do that power percentage and I dialed
up 50 watts and there's 50 watts coming out
of it. I was like, wow. I mean, that doesn't
sound like a big deal, but most rigs are not
calibrated that closely. And it's, I'm really
not impressed with its speakers at all. Even
their special, bousy-dousy external one. But
when I plugged it into my station's sound,
I have an external amplifier and a couple of
bookshelf speakers and dialed it up to A.M.
and ran the bandwidth out. It sounded pretty
good. I was impressed. So if I was going to
go out there and buy something modern, I would
definitely look into that FT-710. Just cause.
And what Scott said, I haven't... I have bought
a couple of new HTs, I think. I think I bought
one brand new HT. And I have bought one brand
new mobile rig. It was on sale. Other than
that, everything else I've had, all my radio
gear, my test equipment, yeah, test gear,
my computers, they're all used. And I've got
years and years of use out of them and didn't
pay much for them. old is, it doesn't have to
be old to be used. There's some, as was mentioned,
why pay for the initial depreciation? can get,
there's some guys that change rigs like socks,
and maybe more often than their socks. So they're
constantly chugging through equipment through
their stations. the next prices go down fast.
you know, don't, never turn up your nose at
a used piece of gear. Because this stuff can
last for long time. This FT, mean, TS-140S,
all-band, 100-watt transceiver, that's late
80s, early 90s vintage. It works fine. Does
everything you ever did. By the way, I have
a Ultimate Transmatch II. I bought it, again,
very used. It's a beer. And I had to rebuild
the roller inductor to put proper bearings
in it. And I put in some oil light bronze bearings
and stripped and painted the chassis, or the
cabinet, and it looks pretty good. And it works,
too. So again, used can be very, very wise.
And I forgot to welcome Bill. W1 CLK and Paxton
if he's still there KD3 APR. Welcome to 985,
don't be scarce on here. And Bruce, KS4CK had
a nice time with him at the last breakfast
and a man with some skills. So, love to hear
you on 985 more often. So enough from me, 73
and over to another man with some skills. KC3
OK, this is NA3CW.
at A3CW.
about you to actually...
did get the lab table for the ham shack done.
Okay, KV3, JGB, yeah, I won't...
ACFT.
cheap but it is an amazing, amazing rig. I
love using it.
me, at least, it's easy to use, it's easy to
figure out.
use and do what you want. I first use a FTDX10
at field day last
did not need that, but I just loved the way
it worked.
for a first HF rig, I will also recommend the
FT-710. That's it for me tonight, it's getting
late, I should go spend some time with the wife,
so I'll say 73, thank you, and it's over to
W3KZG, if I've got that right, KV3JGB73.
This is W3KZG, had to move to Echo Link. Waiting
on the dog to do her business in the front
yard. But it was good hearing everybody. And
we'll let you everybody go. I'm off work tomorrow
so I'm gonna enjoy a three day weekend. The
weather's supposed to be nice. So everybody
have a good one, 73, W3KZG. Oh man, I ain't
got my list in front of me. I can't remember
who it goes to. Oh, it goes to Jim, AF3Z. This
is W3KZG, 73.
All right, Scott, very good. Yeah, enjoy the
weekend. And I know I'm gonna be enjoying.
Yeah, very good, very interesting and W1CLK
Bill. Yeah, good to hear you in here. And
good to hear you again, Bruce and Sean. Well,
everybody, good to hear you guys. And Paxton,
I'm trying to remember you from field day, but
I might not be remembering, and I have a feeling
you're not listening. Anyway, good to hear
you back on here again.
Yeah, the whole thing of rigs and all that
and equipment.
Like I said before, I like the use thing. like
with anything. It's good to have support around
you when you're trying to get stuff to work
even if it already works. Learning how to
use it and everything. This is a good group
so don't be afraid to put out a call here.
bring some help when needed. yeah, I sort of
choked when I talked about you stuff, because
right now I've got...
probably used rigs on somebody's bench that
need some attention that were beyond my ability
to get it running again. Some things I've fixed,
others I haven't. So that is a possibility,
but there is support around here too, so that's
what I'm trying to say. So that's about it
from here. Good to hear everybody tonight. Thank
you. And I'll say 73 and again, over to you
Charlie, N3CREAF3. Thank you. Nice listening
everybody. I guess someday I'll have to upgrade
some other stuff. But currently I'm just basically
on two meters. So we'll see what happens in
the future. I realize that's all I got. I guess
I'll turn it back to, guess, CR. Are you still
around, RCW? I guess it's you. Are you still
available? Entry CRE clear. Very good. Charlie's
still here for the 73 round. So I will be saying
73 to all and welcome to all the new guys.
Phil, pick it up. W-A-C-R-W. I don't know who
comes next.
No problem CR. Let's see, Paxton signed out
so it goes to Bruce, KS4CK. This is KC3CIB.
Thank you, KF4CK. I have enjoyed the breakfast.
I'm listening on the Monday night net. I
think it was Monday night and so this is Thursday
for me. Also, I took part in the box hunt
that happened on Saturday.
don't have a whole lot of time for ham radio
right now because I'm still juggling too many
other things including children and aging parents
and all that but I forward to getting to know
you all so have a wonderful evening 73 KS4CK
273 there Bruce and yeah, we'll get an eyeball
one of these days
over to Shawn KC3ZLI this is KC3CIB
I'm in same boat as, I forget call sign, but
yeah, I just got my kids. Yeah, was good. I
haven't been on the net in a while, so I've
been pretty busy. But I always appreciate
the group on the repeater, and hopefully I
can...
I'd 73 as well, but I'll be hanging out here
for a while if anybody gets...
station's wishing to check into tonight's...
Kilo Delta 3, Echo Max Sierra, KB3EMS.
call KD3 EMS. You have any comments for anybody?
down.
is Chris here in Whitehorse. uh, no, I just
caught the last tail there of, I guess you're
the radios, first radios. Um, my first was
the very first, uh, was the, of course.
UV5R, good radio to play with and train with.
the end here so just want to say hello to
everybody. Sorry I'm catching you kind of late
here but uh time for kids to go to bed so
it's my time. EMS 73.
Thanks for checking in and thanks for your
comments as well. Any additional stations,
please call.
Okay, here nothing. We'll officially close down
the Thursday night roundtable. Thanks to Joe,
W3GMS, for allowing us to use the repeater
for the roundtable and the workbench. And,
of course, just the general use of the repeater.
Seven-three, everyone. Everyone enjoyed this
weekend. Looks like it's going to be a great,
great weekend. Saturday and Sunday anyway.
Get outside, operate some portable, enjoy
the cool weather, do what you do. This is
KC3CMA. C-I-B-7-3.
Good job, Phil. And Joe, if you're listening,
get well soon. W-H-E-C-R-W.