W3GMS Thursday Night Roundtable

Host: Phil (KC3CIB)
Topic: “Your Longest Contact” – Distance & Mode on 2m and HF

This week’s roundtable was all about pushing the limits of radio contacts and swapping stories from across the bands. Operators shared their most impressive QSOs — from 60+ mile 2m simplex contacts and ISS passes to mobile FT8 hits into Australia and 10,000-mile HF DX. Highlights included satellite contacts into Venezuela and Puerto Rico, rag-chew sessions with stations in Western Australia, and fun special event QSOs like the “Largest Teapot.” Many also reflected on the joy of rag chewing versus contesting, with some managing global contacts using just a few watts.

Beyond the airwaves, the conversation turned personal with antenna projects, tower plans, and even a hilarious rant about disastrous painting contractors — proving once again that ham radio is as much about community as it is about signal reports. As the days get shorter, the group looks forward to bigger nets, better propagation, and maybe finally catching that elusive Antarctica contact. 73!

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

I was sitting here writing an email, letter, whatever, back to a buddy in Indiana.

And, yeah, I'm hearing a little crunch after the squelch, you know, tail.

But I think it stopped right in here.

It was pouring a little while ago.

So everything got a drink again.

Back to you.

Yeah, we had rain, but ahead of you guys.

I think I was talking to Joe when it kind of quit.

I forget what time it was, 5, 5.15 or something.

But it had a few waves with some pretty heavy rain and some strong wind right at the beginning of it.

But it has gone by, and I guess you got it.

Sorry to pass that along to you.

Well, maybe you're glad to get the rain.

We needed some here.

Very good, Mike. Good to hear you.

I was just watching a YouTube video.

Toots Kielmanser.

I already said his name.

Belgian harmonica player.

He was out of this world.

Playing with an orchestra.

He played jazz.

Very interesting guy.

I played a little bit.

I still could.

I haven't played it for a while, but I play some harmonica.

Nowhere near in the same lake.

Same kind of instrument I play, but nowhere near him.

Back to you, Mike.

That is brilliant.

Yeah, they're really fun to listen to.

When somebody knows what they're doing, right?

I forget the guy's name, but he was the band Blues Traveler.

Nineties band.

And the lead singer, he played harmonica on a lot of tracks.

It was really good and really fun to hear.

Dave Matthews, they would use it as well.

But yeah, no, that's great.

Yeah, I never, I wasn't one for playing it.

Putzed around with it a little bit here and there, but never got it down.

I think I could play a few songs on the tin whistle, and that's about it.

But nothing great like Bob, our buddy Bob.

Nothing great like him.

But yeah, that's great.

That's great.

Yeah, you can find all sorts of stuff out there.

So it's guitar.

You got yourself the harmonica.

Any other instruments there, Jim?

You may want to check the time, guys.

Me, 801.

Just give him a chance to swallow.

Yes, all the time.

Thanks, guys.

Over to you there.

What's his name?

Phil.

KC3, C-I-B-A-F-3, said.

Thank you, guys.

Does anybody have any priority traffic for the repeater before we start the round table?

Seven o'clock.

Flash out.

That's priority traffic to me, Phil.

Evening.

My name is Phil.

My call is KC3, C-I-B.

And I am located in Westchester.

And I will be your host tonight for the 985 Thursday night round table.

We meet here every Thursday evening at 8 p.m.

Here on the W3 GMS repeater located in Parksburg, Pennsylvania on a frequency of 146.985.

And the PL tone is 100 hertz.

For those that have a good time.

For the 5-year-old, I encourage you to go to the repeater.com.

There's also a spot on the repeater.com.

There's also a spot on the repeater's website to sign up for notices, emails, so you know what's going on here through the website.

Or you can email Joe to get on the user list.

But if you are a user on 985, you're probably on the list anyway.

Because he does send out emails.

Um, stuff that's not really pertaining to the website.

But, uh, lots of great stuff for sale and stuff like that.

Um, let's see.

Besides the round table, the repeater also hosts the Monday night workbench.

And that is also at 8 p.m. on Monday nights.

And that is the place for answering technical questions as well as exploring topics related to setting up, operating your station.

And just any general, uh, questions you have, uh, that is the time and place to ask them.

Okay.

Um, so when you hit your push to talk, wait one second.

That allows the repeater to process the PL tone.

And if you're too quick to talk after you push your push to talk, we will miss, say, the first syllable or the prefix of your call sign.

Also, in between transmissions, it is good repeater etiquette.

To leave a few second pause in between transmissions.

Um, so, uh, this allows for anybody who wants to break in with any comments, any emergency or priority traffic.

Um, and it also, most importantly, allows the digital users to, um, to break in as there is a little bit of latency, uh, when you're using the digital modes.

Speaking of digital modes, which is Echo Link and All Star, if you would like to be added to the list, please contact Joe.

W3 GMS.

And he is good on QRZ.

Uh, let's see here.

Um, we do have a little bit of Intermod on the repeater right now.

I don't think I still hear it.

Um, please run full power or have, uh, a digital mode in your back pocket.

Because, uh, if, if it does get bad, um, before you talk, just, uh, key up and ask if you are readable.

And that way we're just not listening to a bunch of, uh, Intermod garbage.

Also, the repeater has a three-minute timer.

So, you gotta let up on your push-to-talk every now and then.

Otherwise, you will time out the repeater and then we will hear nothing.

And all you gotta do is momentarily just release your push-to-talk.

You don't got to let the carrier drop, something like this.

Get right back on it and you got another three minutes.

So, our check-ins, um, at first I will call for our digital check-ins and RF check-ins for short time first.

And then after that we will go to our regular check-ins.

Those that will typically stay around until the end of the round table.

Which usually lasts about two rounds.

Sometimes we call it the 73 round.

But, um, so, if you can't stay too long, please check in on the short time list.

And even if you're just out there and you just want to check in and out, please do so.

We'd like to know, uh, who's out there.

Okay, I don't hear any Intermod right now.

So, we should be good.

For now.

So, let me grab my piece of paper here.

Okay.

So, at first I will take digital check-ins for short time.

All-Star or Echo Link, please call KC3 CIB.

KB3 ZUV, mobile, short time, via Echo Link.

That's KB3 Zulu uniform, Victor, Adam, in West Bradford.

Gotcha, Adam.

Any additional short time digital check-ins, please call.

RF check-ins, short time, please call.

There is somebody trying to get in.

We apparently still do have some Intermod there.

So, you are not making it in.

We will circle back around to you, so please hang in there.

Any short time check-ins, please call.

AB3AP.

Yeah, I was holding off a little, hoping he would make it through.

Yeah.

Okay, gotcha there.

Mike?

Uh, so, let me see if I hear any Intermod.

The station trying to call in.

Try one more time.

Please.

Okay.

I'll circle back around to you once, Adam.

And...

AB3AP.

That makes their comments.

So, tonight's question.

What was your longest contact made on two meters?

And what mode was that?

And...

If you do have HF capabilities, what was your longest contact and mode?

So, our short time stations tonight are KB3ZUV and AB3AP.

Um...

And then, we will circle back to the other station that was trying to check in.

So, over to you, Adam.

KB3ZUV Digital Mobile.

This is KC3CIB in the Thursday Night Roundtable.

Okay, Phil.

Good evening.

KC3CIB.

This is KB3ZUV.

Here.

Mobile.

Short time.

Echo link here on the roundtable.

And, uh...

Thanks for taking the chair, Phil.

And, uh...

Good questions.

I don't think...

I don't think I've ever answered this.

I know, you know, we've been doing the roundtable for long enough now that sometimes we do have to recycle the questions.

Especially as, you know, we get new hosts in that want to put their own spin on the question.

We get new...

We get new users of the repeater.

Uh...

But I don't think I've ever answered this one.

Longest contact on 2 meter and also on HF.

Um...

I want to say...

I had one time...

I...

Um...

There was some skip on 2 meters once.

And I want to say maybe this was on the mark repeater.

Or it might have been the Philmont repeater.

Um...

And through the Philmont repeater...

I forget if I was...

I might have done it on Simplex.

Um...

I might have worked Monmouth County, New Jersey on, you know, 146.52 Simplex.

There was a really hot day about 10 years ago.

And people were like, oh, we got some tropoducting.

And there was an opening over the Mid-Atlantic.

And just people were coming...

People were coming in.

Uh...

I don't know if I were to measure...

And again, I'm mobile.

So I'm not in front of like a map.

I can't really see what the distance is from here to like Freehold, New Jersey.

But I remember talking to a guy.

And this was when I was still living at the bottom of the hill in Thorndale.

So I didn't even really have a good antenna.

But I was just talking...

I was just talking on Simplex to a guy in Freehold, New Jersey on 2 meters.

So that was FM.

That wasn't sideband.

Um...

However, that may still not have been my long time.

I was just talking to my longest contact.

I also remember...

Um...

In 2021...

When I got back into skiing for the first time...

From the top of Blue Mountain up above Allentown...

Um...

I was able to key up 985 from my mobile rig in my car.

So if you were to measure the distance from...

From...

From Parksburg to Blue Mountain ski area up above Allentown...

That's actually the county line between Northampton County and Carbon County.

Um...

What that was...

That may be as far as Monmouth County, New Jersey.

So those would be my two longest.

And I'd say each one of those had to be at least...

Had to be at least 60, if not closer to maybe even 70 miles.

Um...

On two meters.

And obviously both of them...

Both of them FM.

Um...

So...

There you go.

That's my best...

That's my best answer to...

Now again, that's...

That's...

That's VHF.

I've actually had a longer contact on UHF when I was in college.

My college is repeater.

I actually did...

Um...

Pittsburgh to Long Island, New York on UHF.

But that wasn't the question.

The question was two meters.

So...

Um...

And then...

Uh...

HF.

My longest contact period.

So that would be any...

Any...

Really any...

Uh...

HF banner mode.

Uh...

Was...

Uh...

FTA digital.

Weak signal digital.

30 meters.

Uh...

Multiple contacts to Australia.

Uh...

I guess maybe the furthest one would have been someone...

Uh...

VK2.

Or VK3.

Which I think is Melbourne.

Some guy in Melbourne, Australia.

Because, you know, the further south you go in Australia, the further away it is, right?

Uh...

Latitude-wise.

From...

Our latitude.

But, yeah, it would have been...

Would have been VK land on...

Uh...

30 meters.

FT8 digital.

That would have been, I don't know, maybe about seven or eight years ago when I was really

trying to do as much as possible on...

Uh...

On...

On the digital modes.

FT8 was pretty...

Was brand spanking new back then.

And...

It was like...

It was like a...

It was like a big...

Big free-for-all on the bands as everybody was kind of feeling out what they...

What they could do with it.

So, yeah.

Australia digital.

And, uh...

I'm gonna say...

Um...

Jersey Shore or, uh...

Or, uh...

Blue Mountain.

So, yeah.

Long answer to the question.

But, uh...

Good one, Phil.

Hope everybody's enjoyed staying dry out there in this, uh...

Soggy...

Soggy Thursday.

Ah, well, we kind of need it.

We need a little...

A little bit of rain to, uh...

Replenish those, uh...

Uh...

Replenish those reservoirs.

But, uh...

Let's keep things moving and send it down to Avondale.

Um...

Uh...

Mike.

Haven't...

Haven't heard...

Haven't...

I had to chat with you.

So...

So we'll have to talk about those old, uh...

Old-timey, uh...

Digital deck computers one of these days.

Mike, it's been a minute.

AB3AP from KB3ZUV.

7-3.

Clear.

KB3ZUV.

In the group.

AB3AP.

Thanks, Adam.

Yeah.

We'll have a nice long chat about those.

And, uh...

It's funny, you know, the way we interpret words.

When you pose the question, Phil,

I took it to mean length of time as longest.

And I think you probably meant the way Adam interpreted it.

The, uh...

Farthest in distance.

Which is an easier one to answer.

Because I'm really not sure what my longest in time QSO was.

But on two meters, definitely, I'd have to say, the ISS.

The International Space Station.

That was brief.

But, uh...

You know, I was ecstatic afterwards.

Because I didn't use a special antenna.

Just a vertical.

And managed to make that happen.

Dumb luck.

HF.

Um...

You know, China, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, all that.

It reminds me of the old joke.

How...

How far can you run into the woods?

And the answer is halfway.

Because after that, you're running out.

So, once you've reached halfway around the world,

you're...

You're on the short side.

And I'm on the short time list tonight.

Because my wife just returned from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

So, I should spend time with her while she's still conscious.

Trying to get readjusted to the time zone.

Back to you, Phil.

KC3 CIB.

AB3AP.

Hey, thanks, Mike.

And I hear the Intermod in there.

So, uh...

We'll go through our...

Uh...

Some more check-ins.

And then, uh...

We'll circle back to the other station that was trying to get in.

Any additional short-time stations wishing to check in before we go to the regular check-ins, please call.

Get HCRW, mobile, and out.

It's W1RC.

Number 3, on the boat.

Okay.

That was tough.

I got W8CRW, mobile, in and out.

Thanks, CR.

I got Luke, KC3SCY.

Then, at the last station, all I got was Oscar Golf.

Please try again.

Okay, this is November 3, Oscar Golf, Foxtrot.

Okay, November 3, Oscar Golf, Foxtrot.

Got to fix my writing.

My F looks like an R.

Okay.

Any additional short timers?

The GMS.

Let's see.

Got you, Joe.

GMS.

The station after Joe.

W1RC.

Okay.

Got you there, Mr. Mike.

One last call.

Additional station.

Short time.

Please call.

Okay, so we got WHCRW, that was in and out, then we got KC3SCY, then N3 Oscar Golf Foxtrot, then W3GMS, then W1RC.

So Luke, KC3SCY, what was your longest contact made on two meters and what mode?

And if you want to expand on that, continue on with your HF contacts.

Over to you, Luke, KC3SCY, KC3CIB.

I'm Phil, thanks for hosting.

This is KC3SCY.

Well, I'd say my longest HF contact is, I don't know, either somewhere in Australia, I guess.

I've worked a bunch of stations, 10 meters, sideband in Australia and New Zealand.

I've worked some in Japan, but I think Australia is probably farther.

And then, so that was 10 meters, HF.

Two meters, I was at the top of Mount Washington with the mag mount on the car.

And I think I had about 15 watts.

And I worked from the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire over to some place on the coast of Maine.

It was 112 miles.

So that was pretty good.

And the guy was still pretty strong.

I think he was about an S5 or something.

He sent me a QSL card so I can go check that.

So anyways, here I've just been drilling some holes for this 1929 transmitter I'm building.

So anyways, it's over to N3.

I didn't get the whole call sign.

Oscar Gull Foxtrot, I think.

This is KC3SCY.

This is November 3, Oscar Gull Foxtrot.

My brother's contact was on 2 meters sideband with 80 watts and a 3T film in the corner shaft in Chicago, Illinois.

What I see is a catch on.

KC3SCY is running.

I'm going to turn it over to 73 N3OJF.

Not a problem.

It goes to W3GMS.

This is KC3CIV.

Phil, thanks for sitting in the captain's chair tonight and rounding up the herd, so to speak.

We don't have Intermod tonight.

That's another noise.

We have a lot of amplitude noise.

Maybe it was related to the rain and the winds and power line and other stuff.

But yeah, there was a bunch of grunge on the squelch tail.

But it wasn't the Intermod grunge, so that's good.

OGF is typically pretty weak into the repeater.

I think he's using an HT and a rubber duck or something out of Downingtown.

But anyway, let's see here.

I've got a really busy evening getting a lot of stuff done, so I will be listening through the duration.

But this will be my only transmission.

One minor correction.

If you want to get on the Echolink or All Star list, get on the 985 website and look how to do it.

You do not send me your request.

You send my wife, Martha, the request.

And her email is on the website.

So one minor correction on that.

Let me see.

Two meters.

I really have two meters just to get into my repeater.

There's been times when the band is open that I've worked all over the place.

But it's mainly I use it just to get a 985.

And that's that.

My real interest is HF.

Back when I was in my DXing mode, I had a six-element beam up 60 feet for 10, 15, and 20.

And I literally worked all over the world.

So the furthest one away, I'm not sure.

But I worked a ton.

And then I said, wait a minute.

I'm a rag chewer.

Why am I working all this DX that millions and millions of people have already worked?

So that's the deal.

And, Mr. Mikey, I was listing on All Star.

And I was going to, when it was my transmission, I was going to make sure you got picked up.

The best time when you're on the digital side is to check in when they call the digital check-ins.

Because there's about a 10 or 15-second delay.

But when you're trying to check in with the analog, with the analog having priority, it's very, very difficult.

They usually take the DX or the digital check-ins at the beginning of both the short-time list and the regular list.

So just an FYI, which you probably already know.

It's really, really hard once the net has started and most of the stations are analog because they have priority.

And it takes seconds and seconds of delay to get the digital side in.

Okay, that's it for me.

Take care.

Good evening.

And we'll look forward to talking to you all a bit later.

W1 Romeo Charlie, over to you.

W3 GMS.

Take care.

Yeah, W3 GMS.

And the Thursday night roundtable is W1RC.

Yeah, I would like to check in with the digital stations.

But the truth of the matter is that I tuned in late.

And they had already taken those check-ins.

And so I figure I'd check in with the short-timers.

And eventually I got in.

But, yeah, it's frustrating.

It's hard.

What are you going to do?

I just got back from Deerfield.

I worked at the fair today.

It poured rain all day.

So we just sat around in the meeting room, which is the room where they give the VE exams or where they used to.

And hung out and enjoyed myself and ate good food and, you know, just sat there and hung out.

That's all you can do when it's raining at the fair because nobody's out walking around when it's pouring rain.

Hopefully tomorrow it'll be nicer.

So that's what I did today.

I think the question was, was my longest DX on 10 meters?

I think that's what it was.

I guess Australia, New Zealand.

But as far away from here as you can get from where I was at the time, you can get.

I like 10 meters.

10 meters is great.

I was doing 10-meter FM for a while, which was also a lot of fun.

So I think that was the question.

I don't know who to turn it to, so I'll turn it back to the net control station and let them take it.

This is W1RC in Marblehead, Mass.

Hey, thanks, Mr. Mike.

Thanks for checking in.

Great hearing you.

Great hearing you from Marblehead, Massachusetts, tonight.

Okay, one last call for any additional short-time check-ins.

That one station that was trying to get in earlier,

please try again.

Any short-time stations, please call.

Okay, hearing nothing, we will go to our regular check-ins now, our regular check-in list.

And as always, we will call for the digital stations first.

So any regular check-ins, digital, echo link, or all star, please call KC3 CIB.

Any digital stations wishing to check-in to the Thursday night roundtable, please call.

Okay. Hearing nothing, we will take all check-ins, RF or digital, for our regular check-ins for the Thursday night roundtable. Please call.

Charlie 3, Zulu, Lima, India, KC3, ZLI.

Gotcha, Sean. I think somebody doubled with you. Who was that station?

May have been me, AF3Z, because I knew Ron won't be here until later, AF3Z.

And AF3CW.

KLOJARLY 3, OSCAR, OSCAR, Kielo.

SKY 3, Mike Foxtrot, Bravo.

AF3CW.

I'm going to go high.

Let's see if I got it.

Okay, I'm hearing a lot of the New Jersey repeater tonight.

Must be a little bit of a band opening.

But let's see, I got KC3ZLI, AF3Z, NA3CW, KC3OOK, W3MFB, W3KFT, and KC3SQI.

If I miss somebody, please call on the next call out.

And any additional regular check-ins for the Thursday night round table, please call now.

How many rounds I can go, but I will like to check in.

This is KC3NZT, KC3NZT, KC3NZT, Zulu, Tango.

Okay, gotcha, Harvey.

One last call.

Additional check-ins.

Okay.

Hearing nothing, we will go through our list here.

So for a regular check-in, so we got KC3, Zulu, Lima, India, ZLI, AF3Z, NA3CW, KC3OOK, W3MFB, W3KFT, KC3SQI.

And KC3NZT.

So, Sean.

Sean.

KC3ZLI.

What was your longest contact made on two meters and what mode?

And I'm not sure if you are HF capable or 10 meters with a technician license.

What was your longest HF contact if you, well, this is for anybody.

So, over to you.

KC3ZLI, KC3CIB.

KC3ZLIB, thank you.

My longest contact on two meters has been through the repeater and that's just locally.

And I am, I do have my general, but I haven't made a ton of long distance contacts.

I think the furthest was maybe upstate New York, maybe Virginia, but not much.

I'm still trying to get my antenna situation figured out.

But, you know, I've been listening more than I've been trying to make contacts on HF.

So, it's mostly 40 meters.

But, yeah, not a ton.

But, yeah.

It's, you know, I'm pretty new.

So, you know, not bad.

I'm not bad.

So, but I like listening.

I try to get out there sometimes.

But, you know, I'll get there.

But I'll pass it along to AF3Z, KC3ZLI.

Okay.

Very good, Sean.

Thank you.

And, yeah, no apologies for not getting farther.

And when we do get farther, it's more the credit of the atmosphere and the ionosphere and all those things.

They're subsets.

Well, anyway.

Propagation is the main thing.

It's like a surfer can't surf without waves.

But, anyway, very good.

Thanks to you very much, Sean.

And thanks again, Phil, for hosting.

And I was like Mike.

I was thinking he meant time frame.

But, long as QSO on two meters, I remember working a guy in Virginia.

He used to get up into some of the Lebanon or Lancaster repeaters.

I forget.

But, I don't remember if that was through the repeater or direct.

But, anyway.

And, yeah.

I'm going to go to the next question.

I don't remember if that was through the repeater or direct.

But, anyway.

HF-wise, like some others, I've worked Australia and New Zealand.

And that's probably about the farthest you can get.

I don't know if I've ever worked in China.

But, I don't think they're quite as far, anyway, from here.

So, that's been it.

But, it's always amazing to me.

One time, I worked, I think, European Russia it was, with like two watts or something.

So, when you hit the waves right, you can really get someplace.

And, that's about it from here.

So, Bill, KC3.

Oops, nope.

Chuck, NA3CW, AF3Z.

Thanks, Jim.

AF3Z, NA3CW.

The I-2 was thinking longest.

How long was that?

Uh, um...

I do remember a rather long QSO.

Actually, just because I ran out of road.

With a, with someone who used to live in Parksburg.

And, he would launch off into these 20-minute transmissions.

So, I got, you know, one transmission lasted halfway to Parksburg.

And, uh, he finally let up about the time I hit the border.

But, that, that was a long QSO.

But, my most distant QSO was, um, a station in Western Australia.

About 45 minutes worth.

Other stations in the U.S. were going berserk.

But, it was somebody, and I've mentioned this before, that had a 200-foot high rotating mast with four, five-element wide-spaced monoband 20s on it.

And, uh, he was definitely doing the heavy lifting on that QSO.

And, we chatted for about 45 minutes.

And, uh, because he, he and I knew some people and, and things in common from Pacific Broadcasting.

So, that, that was, uh, that was again one of those ones where if you go any farther, you're on the way back.

So, over to Mr. Bill, KC-3-O-O-K and A3CW.

KC-3-O-O-K.

Uh, thanks Chuck and Bill.

Thanks for taking the chair tonight.

And, uh, yeah, I think Bill, probably most people know, I do enjoy two-meter simplex.

Um, and I guess my farthest contact, you know, I just looked it up, was actually FT-8.

And that would have been to Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, which is about 730 miles.

But, um, two meters, I think my farthest one is Harvest, Alabama.

And, uh, looking here, I've worked 10 states on two meters.

And, uh, a total of 14 when you add in the FT-8.

I had a day where, oh, on FT-8 it was just lit up.

I worked Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

One right each after the other, and they were chasing me.

So, um, but that, that's about it.

I've been able to work up and down the East Coast.

The only thing I've really got west is I have worked, uh, West Virginia on, uh, two-meter simplex.

But that's about as far west.

So, I'll turn it over to, uh, Mike, W3MFB, KC-3-0-OK.

W3MFB, sorry about that.

Sorry about that before, Joe, uh, if you're still listening.

But, uh, when I was chatting with Jim about harmonicas, uh, my computer toolbar at the bottom, I guess.

Hold on for a second, pause this.

Watching Top Gear here.

Love that show.

The original, anyway.

Um, so yeah, my computer froze at the bottom.

And, uh, it said it was seven o'clock.

I had two after seven.

I was like, what?

It's seven o'clock.

And then my phone dinged, and I saw it was eight.

So, sorry.

Sorry, Phil.

Um, let's see here.

Uh, yeah.

Two meters furthest contact.

And a word from the sponsor.

Um, I, yeah.

Yeah, I'd have to say the ISS as well.

250 miles up.

Uh, running vertical.

Uh, was able to work it on the, uh, the repeater, uh, one time.

And then, uh, but only talked to a guy in Jersey.

So, you know, it is what it is, but I was able to use the Yesu and, uh, with the Doppler shift, figure it out. And it was fun.

Um, nowadays I occasionally, uh, catch it by accident.

There was a pass a day ago or two, um, that I caught when the Regalism scan.

The sideband on two meter, I guess, personally, here at the house.

Uh, 88 miles, uh, to the, to Jersey as well.

Um, so that was fun.

Uh, and that's me running a vertical.

So, it is what it is, uh, for now.

Uh, for now.

But, uh, on field day, that was, that was a lot more fun.

But I couldn't give you a distance.

Um, because of the beam and everything, so.

And the Yesu, so that was fun.

Um, Simplex.

Uh, uh, I don't know.

Just Delaware, I guess.

Uh, but not too, too far.

I've tried it, but, uh, you know, with band openings and stuff.

Maybe, maybe a little bit in central Pennsylvania, but I can't remember right off the top of my cone.

Um, HF.

Uh, I think for Union Island is one.

Uh, right off of, uh, Madagascar there.

That's, that's, I know that's a long one.

That's a 10,000 mile one.

Um, I think.

Now, not a confirmed, but Roger down in New Zealand heard me on, uh, 12 meters one time during that propagation, uh, group.

That they started on 17.

Uh, but yeah, so.

You know, it's, and I, I kind of like what Joe said about Rag 2 and I like Rag 2 as well.

Uh, I don't, I don't, I don't really, like, go for the stations, go for the DX stations.

Yeah, I'll try to work one if, if I hear them, but I, I usually just hunt around for potas and sodas if there are any, uh, the lighthouses on the air.

I love, I love making a contact to those special event stations that are out there.

Uh, those are always fun.

And I think the most funniest one was the, the largest teapot.

That was just crazy.

I was like, what?

He's like, oh yeah, check out Cure's Edge.

You'll see a picture of it.

I'm like, okay.

It's like the size of a Cape Cod house.

Um, but yeah, you know, it's just, I'm not a contester, but I will participate.

Uh, field day and stuff with you guys.

And then, you know, but it's like VHF, UHF, you know, I'm thinking if there's a contest like there was not too long ago,

uh, definitely partake in such.

Uh, I worked some two meter side band just the other day.

Or not the other day, maybe a week ago or so, because there was a contest going on.

So, gotta take advantage of it when it's coming.

And then, and then I guess the next one's in January, uh, for VHF contest as they go.

Um, but yeah, yeah, that's about it.

Um, I, oh, and maybe like 10 meters down to like Mike was saying, 10 meters down to, uh, southern tip of, uh, South America.

So, hopefully someday I'll catch, uh, Antarctica on, uh, that's a goal.

That's, that's the one goal there.

Antarctica, uh, on 20 or whatever they usually park on.

Anyway, um, oh, John KFT.

Uh, W3KFT, W3MFT.

W3MFT.

W3KFT.

Alrighty.

Uh, well, not good.

Uh, my amplifier doesn't like my radio tonight.

So, hang on a minute.

Okay.

Uh, let's see here.

Uh, I, I don't, don't remember any long distance contacts on two meters.

Uh, I have operated a lot of, uh, January VHF contests.

Uh, I've had my license for 59 years and I have participated every year in the January VHF contest.

So, I've always been on six and two meters.

So, I may have, may have done some great distance on two meters, but don't remember.

Uh, on 10 meter sideband, and we have a net one o'clock, seven days a week on 28, 4, 3, 5.

Which happens to be, for whatever reason, a DX frequency.

All the foreign stations want to park on it.

And when that happens, like today, we move down to 28, 3, 3, 3.

Uh, but, uh, on 10 meters, I managed to work two people in Alaska.

And I worked another station, uh, around Johannesburg, South Africa on 10 meters.

So, I think those are probably my longest distance ones.

I do remember talking to a station in Italy.

Uh, I've talked to stations in, uh, uh, England.

Uh, don't remember other foreign, uh, other European countries.

Uh, not offhand.

Uh, there are far and few between on my log.

Uh, but, uh, I guess I spend most of my time domestically.

Uh, uh, east of the Mississippi.

Heh heh heh.

Mostly.

But, uh, uh, uh, for instance, at this point in my, uh, KFT log, I have over 700 CUSOs this year.

So, it can't say I'm not radioactive.

Okay, Wayne.

KC3 SQI.

WA3 KFT.

Okay, thank you, John.

WA3 KFT.

This is KC3 SQI.

Okay, two meters.

Uh, I don't do a whole bunch on two meters other than, uh, let me see.

Parksburg, uh, Landenburg, or I mean, uh, Lancaster.

And I did one, well, Lancaster is probably farther than Elkton, Maryland.

Uh, so, not a whole bunch on, uh, extra on two meters.

But, uh, for HF, I'm not exactly sure.

I haven't looked up the exact distances on them.

But, Chile is, southern Chile.

Uh, little island off of Japan, between Japan and China.

Uh, Russia.

Uh, don't know which way we're going around the world to get there either.

So, uh, but those are about my longest ones.

So, with that, we'll turn it over to, uh, Harvey, KC3, NZT.

Thank you, Wayne.

And good evening to everyone on the round table tonight.

I haven't checked into a round table in a minute.

So, this is fun for me.

Um, thanks, Phil, for taking the chair.

Um, for two meters.

I think my farthest, I'm looking right now.

Uh, I'm only going off of confirmed contacts.

But I think my farthest, um, internationally would be Venezuela twice and Puerto Rico once on two meters.

That was sideband.

And that was via satellite.

And then, um, I just was looking at grid squares to see which ones look not normal.

And I think my farthest one is Kilo Echo 5 Kilo Tango Uniform.

It says a thousand miles.

I think that's Mississippi, I think? MS?

Um, so I think that's probably my farthest.

There's another one on here that's Kentucky.

Um, so that's as far as I've gotten on two meters.

I think that's, uh, um, that would be about five years ago.

So that was not really sunspot, uh, being high.

But, uh, you know, it counts all the same.

And then on HF, I've definitely gone, uh, over 10,000.

So across the world, I've got a couple of, uh, New Zealand and Australias.

Um, at the home station, I also have an Australia that was mobile.

On the screwdriver with the 705.

So that was while driving.

And, uh, the operator said they could hear that I was driving.

Because it would go up and down.

But, uh, it worked with 10 watts in the car.

So that was fun.

And then, uh, a couple of Middle East.

But I, I, um, I stopped chasing DX on phone.

Um, before, before the sunspot came up.

So I have not gotten into, uh, a lot of East Asia.

I think I only have like five or six countries in East Asia.

Um, and I do not have China.

So at some point I'll have to, I'll have to fix that.

But that's as far as I've gotten on VHF and HF.

But, uh, there were a lot of HF places that were kind of unique.

That were fun to get.

Um, even though they're not that far.

Places like Raka, Gibraltar and some small islands off the coast of Africa.

Those are always fun.

Especially when they're island, uh, stations that are not permanent.

They're, uh, like maybe not expedition level.

But somebody, you know, trekked out there and brought their gear.

And did something.

And those are always fun.

I like, I like those a lot.

So, uh, with that I think I turn it back to Phil.

This is KC3NZT.

Back over to you Phil.

Thanks, Harvey.

And good hearing ya.

Good hearing ya here on the round table.

Any additional stations wishing to check in to tonight's Thursday night round table.

Please call KC3CIB.

They keep wanting to write Ron's call sign down.

I usually, him or CR, are usually, usually the first.

So, uh, I'll make some comments here.

Um, longest contact, two meters.

Um, one was here on the repeater.

Um, I forget who mentioned, uh, the guy that is probably Jim, um, AF3Z might have mentioned it.

Um, the guy that gets on the, uh, Lancaster repeaters and stuff from Virginia.

Um, I remember talking to him, um, here on 985.

Um, as per...

Um, you guys got some long ones too.

Um, let's see.

Uh, on two meters simplex, um, on 5'2", um, it's probably Allentown.

Um, which isn't all that far.

Um, cause sometimes you can get into the repeater from Allentown.

Um, depending on which, uh, which spot you're actually at.

Um, but it was funny cause I put a call out on 5'2", but I was hooked up to my, um, my loop, uh, horizontal antenna, which is in the attic.

And I just put a call out and a guy came back and said, "Where are you at?"

I'm like, and he's like, he's, I'm like, "Down, down here in Westchester, where you at?"

And he said, Allentown.

He's like, "It sounds like you're right next door."

He's like, "Are you horizontal?"

I'm like, "Yes."

And so was he.

Cause that was the only antenna that he had was a horizontal antenna.

And, uh, so we talked for quite a bit.

Um, I do not remember his call, though.

As for HF, um, Qatar, or some people say Qatar.

Um, I'm not sure what the, uh, correct pronunciation of that, um, country is.

I hear it both ways.

And then, uh, probably a memorable one was into, uh, Asiatic Russia, um, which I think was, uh,

oh, geez, it's one of the stands, uh, countries.

Kazakhstan, I think it was.

And then Australia on FT8, which, you guys talking about FT8, I wanna, I guess, uh, once winter

comes along, I guess I'll get, uh, get, get the HF station set back up some, somewhat.

So, um, any additional stations wishing to check into tonight's Thursday night round table, please call KC3CIB.

Okay, hearing nothing, um, we'll go through our list again from, uh, I'll run through it one more time.

KC3ZLI, AF3Z, NA3CW, KC3OOK, W3MFB, W3KFT, KC3SQI, and then KC3NZT.

Over to you, Sean.

KC3ZLI, KC3CIB.

KC3ZLI.

Yeah, interesting.

I don't know if I have anything further on the question or comments or anything, but yes, I don't know.

It's just nice talking with you gents again, and hold on, I got a list here.

Yeah, I don't know.

I thought I might have a thought, but I think it's gone.

So I'm just going to pass it to AF3Z, KC3ZLI.

All right, thank you, Sean.

And AF3Z here.

Answering the other side of the question, locally, I've had a number of like hour, hour and a half QSOs on CW locally.

I don't know if I've had any that long, but half hour, 40 minutes and stuff like that is semi-common for me.

And I do enjoy the longer contacts that way.

And I enjoy rag chin with somebody, getting there to learn a little more about him.

Some of my funnest contacts have been with a CW op.

And his sending might sound a little sloppy, and I might make some judgments on that.

And then I find out the guy's 95 or something, and was a merchant marine operator or something like that, a commercial CW operator anyway.

And suddenly I have a lot more patience with his sending and really enjoy hearing some of his stories and just hearing about his life.

So it is interesting, the people you run into.

And I enjoy doing an occasional poda and stuff, but I'm always a little frustrated because I'd rather hear a little bit about where they are rather than looking it up online or something and just sending them a number.

But I enjoy them.

They're fun contacts to make, but I still do kind of prefer the rag chew style stuff and really getting into some conversation.

So that's about it here.

But I've got to say that today I dusted and vacuumed the house, and I actually cooked a little more for dinner tonight, so I must be doing better.

All right, who's next here, Chuck?

N-A-3-C-W-A-F-3-Z.

Thanks, Jim.

N-A-3-C-W.

Well, I didn't do much.

Well, actually, I did.

Because I did do much dusting and cleaning, but I did in my sister's house, not here.

I've been over at my sister's house every day this week for multiple hours doing stuff, mostly taking her to doctor's offices as usual.

Shopping and doing laundry and this, not any other.

So today we actually had a plumber come in to put in a laundry or washing machine services so that I could bring in a washing machine so she could have one on her living level as opposed to her basement that she can't get up and down anymore.

So I had a plumber come in from Brewer in Westchester named Sam.

Did a great job.

He did more than two hours than I could have done in two days.

And all professionally done and ready to go.

So the washing machine is supposed to arrive tomorrow between 8 and noon.

And then I got arranged to take it over there on my trailer.

I had it delivered here instead of her place because I wanted to be where I wanted to be there.

I wanted to arrive so I could open it up and make sure there's no dents or dings before I let the guy leave with the truck.

So, and this was recommended by the salesman.

So I'll be taking a trailer trip over to Westchester in the near future and installing this washing machine.

So she'll be able to not have to wait for me to do it because I can run up and down stairs and she can't.

So I haven't been doing much in ham radio other than nets.

Did the PMAM net in various CUSOs driving to and from Westchester.

So if you hear me out there going back and forth polishing Strasburg Road, you'll know where I've been.

So looking forward to kind of a final punch list meeting on Monday about Joe's Tower Project.

And looking forward to the day that we stick that thing on the pad and aim it at the sky.

So it's going to be pretty exciting.

So I guess that's enough from here.

7-3 to everybody.

I will list it out.

And over to Mr. Bill.

KC-3-O-O-K.

N-A-3-C-W.

KC-3-O-O-K.

Yeah, well, as far as Simplex, it's funny.

The bands are open, but there's times when there's really just nobody on.

I think a lot of it's because it happens early in the morning and people are just at work.

I've actually got about, I could say, four call signs that are down in Virginia and North Carolina.

And whenever the bands are open, it always seems to be about the same four of us.

So we just take turns sitting on the side and whoever that's listening can hear us just works one or the other.

But it's a lot of fun when it happens.

So I don't have too much else.

I echo what Chuck says.

See this tower in the air?

I'm going to get myself a good cigar when it's done and sit back and just look at it.

So with that, I'll turn it over to Mike.

W-3-M-F-B.

KC-3-O-O-K.

W-3-M-F-B.

You still with us?

I'm Phil, sorry about that. W3MFB here. Well, sorry, I was preoccupied, my bad. Yeah, not too much else to say, I guess. Definitely, I just hope, yeah, I hope, you know, I know, you know, don't want to rush the seasons and all, but light's going to get dimmer.

Hopefully more folks are going to be on the radio with the colder climate and lack of light and all that, so hopefully the check-ins get a lot bigger and maybe some skeds start happening. I know Ron was talking about that a little while ago, so that would be fun.

And I think I'm good now. I got my six back up for testing and stuff, so we're going to try that.

But yeah, just happy Friday, everybody, tomorrow. Have a good rest of the week, on the weekend, and enjoy life, enjoy radio.

And be kind to your friends and neighbors and everyone else.

So, 73 off, have a good one. God bless, and I'll pass it over to John.

WA-3 KFT, W3MFB. Take care.

W3MFB. This is WA-3 KFT in the net.

Okay. Very good, all the way around.

I don't really chase DX on any of the bands.

If I just happen to be at the right spot at the right time, I'll give them a shout.

10 meters has been open recently, and there's been some good DX on 10.

I've worked a couple.

We have a net on 10 meters at 1 o'clock, 28435, or 28333.

And as I said before, 28435, the DX stations like to park on that frequency.

I don't know why, but they just do.

And for our local nets from 1 o'clock to 2 o'clock, we'll move down to 28333.

But just because we have that net on 435, I will say we're listening on that frequency prior to 1 o'clock.

And in the last few days, there's been DX stations there.

So we snag them if we can.

And otherwise, don't worry about it.

I managed to work all 50 states.

I still haven't applied for the WAS certificate.

But I need to make a list of the call letters and the bands for all 50 of them.

I have, at this point, just a stack of 50 QSL cards.

And have no clue of really what's in there.

Over to you, Wayne.

KC3 SQI.

This is WA3 King Fox Tango.

7th rail.

WA3 KFT.

This is KC3 SQI.

I've been busy on my new antenna mast.

I now have the 10-meter vertical dipole working.

And last night, I was just tuning around.

The band was open a little bit.

I went to New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, and Oregon.

And then I'd been tuning the antenna to see what it was doing.

So I looked down on my 7300.

And I go, wait a minute.

So I punched the button.

And I was running a whole 5 watts out.

So all that was QRP.

And I didn't realize it.

So I think that that antenna is going to do a little bit better than my off-center fed dipole.

And then I tried out the new 6-meter hula hoop antenna, which is a folded dipole around the hula hoop.

And SWR on it, looking across the band from 50 to 54, was at highest 1.7.

So I think that might also work a little bit better than the off-center fed dipole, which I moved 15 feet to the other antenna mast.

And now it doesn't work.

But that might be because the remote antenna switch had all kinds of ants and earwigs and other kinds of bugs and stuff.

flying around and running around in it when I took it apart to put it into the antenna box.

So more troubleshooting to come on that, and then I will get everything back up and running.

I need to move my two-meter antenna now off of the garage roof to the new mast

and go from about 10 foot behind the TV antenna to about 80 to 90 feet behind the TV antenna

and buy a little less QRM to the wife's TV football.

So with that, we'll turn it over to KC3NZT.

This is KC3SQI73 listening out.

Thanks, Wayne. This is KC3NZT.

I haven't been too active in HF or VHF the last couple of weeks, but I will say that I'm reminded by it every day.

I'm sure it's been talked about before, but I haven't been on any of the roundtable type stuff.

But I keep getting these scanned versions of QSL cards in the email from years and years and years ago.

It's like all the contacts have just re-uploaded their logbooks and done it a different way.

So it's kind of annoying, but I guess any way to exchange information, I guess, is okay.

But I don't participate really in that, the email version of a QSL card.

But I'm getting them multiple times a day, every day, and hopefully that calms down soon.

I did want to comment on the longest QSL.

I marvel sometimes at how long certain ham and radio operators can talk about themselves.

I'm not predisposed that way.

But I do remember having some quite awesome conversations on what I call the fill nets,

when we would do simplex on either 10 meters, 40 meters, or 6 meters locally with 985 operators.

And a couple of times there, we talked for probably an hour or two,

and it was a good old-fashioned simplex roundtable.

And that was a lot of fun.

So that's a fond memory I have.

Hopefully we'll be able to do that again soon once Phil gets his antenna in the air.

Hi, hi.

But that's all I have, and it's good hearing you all on the roundtable tonight.

I will say 73, and I think I'm the last one.

So I'm going to turn it back over to you, Phil.

This is KC3, NZT.

Okay, thanks, Harvey.

Yeah, definitely going to have to get something going this year.

Let's see here.

If there are any additional stations wishing to check in to tonight's Thursday night roundtable,

please call KC3 CIB.

Okay, hearing nothing, but I am going to stick around as well.

But we'll close the roundtable out, get rid of the formalities, and then we'll see who's here.

So at this time, I will close the Thursday night roundtable.

I thank everyone for checking in tonight.

For those who are just listening, we encourage you to check in at some point just to let us know you're out there.

You can check in and out.

It doesn't matter.

We'd just like to know who's out there.

And thanks to Joe for the use of the repeater and providing the repeater for everyone to use.

So at this point, I will say 73.

And this is KC3 CIB.

Okay.

I think I got Sean, Jim, Bill, and Harvey left.

Not sure who else is in there.

So, but, man, these past couple days have been very humid, to put it nicely.

I thought we were done with this.

So, Sean, are you still with us?

KC3 ZLI here.

Yeah, I'm still here.

I'm going to be hanging out in the basement for a minute, which is where my shack is set up.

But I'm going to step away for a moment.

Just to clean out some stuff in my car because my wife's taking my car tomorrow to work because I'm going to Elman Park Zoo with her car to go see a drive-in movie with my son.

So that'll be fun.

That has nothing to do with what we're talking about.

But, yeah, I'll be hanging around for a while.

So, I don't know if AF3Z is still there, but it goes back to him.

But I don't know if we're still following the roundtable rules.

But whoever's still there, back to that person.

And if not, back to Net Control.

KC3 ZLI.

I don't know if you're still there.

You didn't choke on your supper there, Phil.

I felt bad for you.

You were trying to shove some groceries down your throat.

I wonder how often.

What your evening schedule tends to be like.

That's probably a good way to put it.

I know when we moved to 8 o'clock, it stretched your time frame a little bit, I think.

But anyway, glad you could make it.

Glad you did make it.

I'm in Tebacut.

Yeah, I mentioned my cleaning operation here.

On CW, talking to my friend up here, I told him, because I've mentioned I need dust and vacuum and stuff.

And I told him today that there might have been fireworks smoke still in the air when I did last time.

One of the dangers of living alone, especially when hardly anybody ever comes in the house,

it's easy to let go of stuff.

You can let go of stuff.

Let stuff go.

And I've been good at that for years anyway, but without accountability built in, it's even easier.

So anyway, I'm glad I finally got that done.

I need to get down to the good old basement shack, which is now my sort of workbench area.

But I've got multiple projects I want to get back to.

And I just keep not getting there due to other stuff.

But that's a scoop here.

After me was Chuck, but I don't know if he's here.

And you said Bill was still here.

So Chuck, if you want, pick it up.

Otherwise, we'll try Bill.

KC3OOK.

This is AF3Zip.

I don't know if he's here either.

MFB, are you here?

Stay all left, Jim.

Harvey, you still here?

Yeah, I'm here.

I'm here.

I'll probably be good for one or two more rounds.

All the kids are in bed.

I remember something somebody said on the, I think it was MFB was talking about how it's getting dark earlier, getting bright, or I'm sorry, getting bright later, dark earlier, that kind of stuff.

Well, I made a mistake and I hired some painters.

And I know some of you guys have had some great luck with work you've hired out.

I haven't.

In fact, I've never been satisfied.

Not once.

And I hate to do it, but time is limited.

But I hired some painters.

They did a terrible job.

So bad that I even told the owner of the business, I said, you're going to have to come see this.

Because it's just going to sound like I'm whining if I tell you over the phone.

So he came out and it was so bad that he fired the whole crew.

But it doesn't get any better.

So everything is left in disarray.

And it's now seven weeks past the deadline I had set for the job, which was, you know, agreed upon a month before the deadline.

So it's been a minute now.

And my bathroom, I had to take, you know, everything, everything was all messed up from the first crew.

So I had to start getting involved, which was the whole point of, you know, of hiring people was for me not to get involved.

But I had to get involved and I started stripping everything off of the walls the way it should have been in the first place.

And so I have been without a blind in my bathroom for seven weeks.

So I have, I've been taking a shower and all that stuff with, with the lights off.

And I'm starting to feel this getting, getting light out later, later in the day.

So I am officially this last week, I've been showering in the dark, completely in the dark, because I don't want to turn the light on and have anybody see me outside.

The windows are aluminum, so I can't magnetize anything.

And there's no easy way to hang up a barrier.

So I think this weekend, that's the project.

I'm just going to grab a big old scrap piece of plywood from somewhere on the property.

And I have to put up a barrier in my bathroom so I can actually use it.

But I cannot stress how frustrating that nonsense is.

Most of what's been occupying my time is trying to get this stuff, you know, buttoned up.

And this is just another contractor I can put on my list over, over a decade.

Never once been happy.

And I hate having to do it myself, but maybe I'm just the worst at picking contractors.

I don't know.

But that's pretty much what's been going on here.

And yeah, so back over to you, Phil.

This is KC3NZT.

As soon as you said that, I'm like, man, somebody with as picky as you, Harvey, slightly OCD.

And critiquing other people's work.

You'll never be satisfied.

I know you too well.

But go get one of those spring tension rods for a curtain.

Just set that up in the window frame for now.

You know?

What's the difference?

You live on top of the hill.

Now that the weather's cooled off.

But the past few days it didn't feel very cold to me.

It was rather warm and sweating all day.

Anybody else out there want to join in?

This is Casey 3 CIB.

I'll pick it up here.

Anybody else?

Yeah, I was curious at this point, Harvey.

Of course, I thought you were going to start saying you were going to be painting.

But is that other guy still planning on redoing the job or whatever?

Or what?

And yeah, a tension rod or a couple hunks of old sheet and a couple hunks of painter's tape or something.

Sounds easier than plywood.

But I had it.

It's funny.

I had a neighbor the other day stop by.

And I have facing the road there's, well the main window and like the living room area.

There are two sides that are kind of normal window widths.

And there are curtains hanging over them.

But the center section is kind of a picture window or whatever you want to call it.

And nothing hanging over that.

And this couple stopped by and the woman said to me something about, she went by early in the morning.

I don't know if it was six o'clock or whatever and there was a light on.

I'm not sure she saw me sitting in there on the sofa or something.

I'm not sure.

And wondering if I had curtains for that.

And I said, no.

She said something about peeping Tom's looking in.

I said, well there's not much to peep at.

And then it was just funny because she was asking about it and I sort of realized that maybe she is one of the major peepers looking in the window.

But there's not much to peep at there.

Now bathroom would be a little different.

But like you're saying Phil, well I've got curtains and stuff there.

But a number of places there are some kind of blinds and you can have them angled up so that if they're trying to look straight in or whatever they're going to see blinds.

But only if you're looking up when you can't see much do you get through there.

But yeah, that stuff is super frustrating.

I haven't done much of that as far as hiring people to do stuff and then having them mess it up.

That would be tough.

And painting is not one of my favorites.

So I really am not a lover of painting.

My daughter says she likes to do it so maybe I'll hire her if I need to.

I think it's back to Harvey.

Leave a pause.

Maybe there's somebody else out there.

KC3NZTAF3Z.

Recommendation for Harvey.

W3GMS.

Be gentle Joe.

I've got to give you a little history.

Hi guys.

Again.

I just couldn't resist because I'm very similar and you're a criticalness, Harvey.

And it takes a lot to please me when somebody does a job.

So because of that I procrastinate and the job doesn't get done because I'm afraid of having a mess on my hands by having somebody else do it.

But anyway, my dad was in the insurance business all his life.

He retired at 55 and he wanted something to do.

And let's rewind the tape.

When he got out of high school he started the painting business.

And my dad was the best painter I've ever seen.

I mean he had the gift.

He knew how to prep.

He knew how much paint to put on.

And people think you can just slap paint on a brush and do it.

He was great and he loved it.

So his father said, well we have an opening at Prudential Insurance.

You'll get benefits.

You'll have time off and da da da da da.

So he did it.

And then he did well at it.

He was able to retire at 55.

So what's he do?

He starts a painting business again.

And to all the people that he sold insurance to.

Commercial clients, residential folks and things like that.

And shortly before he died, he told me, he says that the house, his house has since been sold.

He says, if you ever need any painting done, Cockerham out of Westchester is A number one.

And I don't know whether he is on your list or not.

Not the cheapest.

And I looked at when they repainted the inside of my dad's house and mom's house before they sold it.

And he just did a wonderful, wonderful job.

Great reputation.

So, you know, I'm not saying it's going to be good enough for you or me.

But my dad, which was really critical with painting, that's the firm that he recommended.

Back to you, Harvey.

W3 GMS.

I don't know if I have it spelled right, but I wrote it on the work bench here and it is helpful.

But, you know, Phil is right.

You know, Phil knows me.

I am picky, but I fancy myself as reasonable as well.

And, you know, since it seems to be of interest to the group, I have no problem sharing details.

But, you know, I had two bathrooms that had painted over wallpaper.

It was one of those deals where, hurry, paint the walls, we're going to sell the house type of deal.

So we had no idea there was wallpaper under there.

And it started peeling.

The wallpaper was on the ceilings.

It was on the walls.

It was on everything.

So I had two bathrooms with wallpaper on them and it had to be removed, skim coated, and then painted.

There was a half bath that just needed painted.

And then the kitchen needed wallpaper removed.

It was like a, I believe it was like a border, but it needed the wallpaper removed and painted as well.

And I have no problem paying top dollar for top quality work.

I just don't like paying top dollar for garbage work.

But when this crew rolled through, they were supposed to do it when I was on vacation for two weeks.

And when I came back from vacation, it was not even close to halfway done.

They told me they weren't going to remove the wallpaper in the kitchen.

So that, you know, that's gone.

And for those three bathrooms, so two full bathrooms, one half bathroom, and then a kitchen, it was $6,500.

And now we're seven weeks past the two weeks they were supposed to do it.

So I guess that's nine weeks from the start of the project.

And it was so bad.

I mean, I'm talking like they didn't even remove, they didn't remove anything.

I mean, there was wallpaper still under the switch plate, face plates.

There was wallpaper all around the toilet paper holder.

They couldn't even bother to use a flathead to remove the toilet roll holder.

Same thing with the towel holder.

I mean, it was awful.

They damaged the brand new cabinets I installed.

I put brand new vanities and countertops, quartz countertops in.

And they damaged the vanities.

I mean, it was dreadful.

Dreadful.

So yes, yes, I admit I am picky, but this was dreadful quality of work.

The skim coating was awful.

There were lumps and waves all over the place.

Every single switch was painted over, including the $50, you know, timed fan controller that I have in the master bathroom.

That was painted over and shit at me, it was dreadful.

So I will absolutely look up Cochran.

I already told the guy, I said, there's a decent chance I just tell you to not come back.

So, I mean, I may very well look it up.

I just, in all of my years, there's only one job.

And it sticks right into my head because it was the only time I said, wow, I really appreciate the work you did because you did a good job.

And that was a roof replacement back when I lived in Norristown.

But something as simple as a roof, you can absolutely screw it up and do a bad job.

And this company was the only time I looked at what they were doing and said, man, I appreciate you because you're craftsmen and you take pride in your work.

Every other time, it's just been gritting my teeth trying to not lose it.

So I will look it up.

I'm not sure how you spell Cockerham, but I will find out and there's a good chance that I may very well do that.

So I appreciate it.

But this has been, it's just been a trial in patience.

I don't do well with patience.

So maybe this is a test.

But I'm failing.

So, I don't know.

It just, it wears on me.

But at the end of the day, you don't have infinite hours.

At some point, you do have to draw the line and say, I need someone else to do this.

And the finish work, I mean, I can build a house in a week.

I've done it.

But the finish work, I can't do it.

I'm not a good painter.

I'm not good at drywall.

So that kind of stuff I always have to hire out.

So this is frustrating because if I were to do it, and I'm not good.

I'm not good at all at this kind of work.

But if I were to have done it, it would have looked way better.

And that's what's frustrating because I suck at it.

But that's my rant.

Over to you, Phil.

This is KC3NZT.

Okay, it's Cockerham, C-O-C-K-E-R-H-A-M.

They're right there, Green Hill Road and Route 100, right across from the Wawa.

So, yeah, I hate myself inside and I always have to go back and, you know.

You do the roof, not the roof, you do the ceiling, which is, you know, say you do it a different shape than your vertical walls, right?

And I'll do that first because that's the hardest.

Then I sit there and I'm too lazy to tape.

And I get all the way around the room and get that looking nice.

And then I'll hit it with the roller.

I'll hit the ceiling with the roller as I'm rolling the walls.

And then, you know, then you gotta go back, get the other paint out, and get a roller out, right?

And pour a little bit in a pan and everything because you can't just brush it, you know, because it'll have a different texture.

So, yeah, I got one spot.

It's still bugging me that I had to touch up.

But I think I'm going to change the color anyway.

I want something a little darker.

But, yeah.

Yeah.

And then, Patma painting.

If you're looking for a one-man, you know, one-man show, he did the outside of my house years ago.

And he did a lot of the houses in my neighborhood, actually.

But he's been around forever as well.

But Cockerham's big.

And they've been...

They've been around, geez.

As long as I can remember them guys have been around.

Let's see.

I guess over to you, back to you, Jim.

KC3C, I mean.

Thank you.

Yeah, painting and me.

I could feel the pain when you talk about that rolling and getting on the ceiling.

My strategy or mental trick to deal with it, and I haven't done a whole lot of it.

Most of it's been volunteering somewhere or, you know, working at the church or somewhere.

But anyway, my trick was realizing that, yeah, that little spot bugs me.

But after it's done, somebody else coming in is probably never going to see it.

And so I trust the fact that once it's done and all that stuff, most people aren't examining those little seams or whatever between the ceiling and the wall.

And it's interesting.

And the name Cockerham, I don't have many around, but there were Cockerhams that lived on Route 30 near Fraser when I was growing up.

And I don't remember much about them.

Maybe I was in school with some Cockerhams or I don't know what other contact we may have had.

But I remember the name and I can even picture in my mind where they lived.

I think they had like a plumbing or well drilling or something like that business there on 30.

Not too far from where the Fraser Bowling Alley was, which ain't no more.

Just go to the Fraser Bowling Alley and turn left, you know.

I wonder how long ago that disappeared out there.

But yeah, I really don't like the whole painting operation.

But it's interesting that when I'm like with somebody, like on a mission trip, we'd be doing painting in a house that had been flooded out or, you know, or those kinds of deals.

And you're working with a group of people in Mount Gretna.

When I was up there, the church had a new addition put on and we saved some money, I guess, by doing painting.

And in those settings, I can do it and I don't mind it as much as I do at home.

So anyway, interesting stuff.

The most, most baddest story I can remember.

Mount Gretna, we were painting the outside of the church as well and drive it.

If you're familiar with drive it.

If you're familiar with drive it, they put drive it on the outside.

It's sort of a foam insulation layer or whatever.

And we were painting that.

And they had scaffolding up to put the drive it.

Oh no, we weren't painting that.

We were painting like the eaves and stuff outside.

And the scaffolding was up for that.

So that was our chance to get up there and paint the eaves.

And in the back of the church, it was like about three stories up or something.

And to get out there, we went out a window onto the scaffolding.

And I went out one time.

I get a feeling in my stomach right now.

My son was down on the sidewalk watching this operation.

I could just see me falling off and him watching me fall to my death.

And I'm laughing now.

But that's truly what I was thinking.

And then a neighbor down behind the church who did construction, he saw me up there.

And he could tell I was at least a bit comfortable.

And I hadn't gotten the very top peak of the roof there where I had to.

He said, "Would you like me to come up there?"

And I said, "Yeah, that would be nice."

So I made it back inside carefully in that window.

And he came up.

He just climbed up the scaffolding and finished that for me.

Forever grateful.

But I just think about that and it just goes right to my stomach.

Over to you, Harvey.

KC3NZT-AF3Z.

Can I pick it up for a final W3GMS?

Yes.

That was a yes.

I think it goes to me, Jim.

And I'm going to sign on this one.

I'm on All-Star right now.

Let me just make sure I have it.

Yeah, Harvey.

Cocker Hammond, I just did the math.

They started in 1945.

It's an 80-year-old company now.

I think the father, the guy that started it, may have passed away.

But I'm not sure of that.

I think my dad, before my dad passed away.

But all his sons were heavily involved in the business and I haven't heard any negative things.

And they've been running it for quite a while now.

But anyway, just wanted to pass that along.

As I said, they're by far not the cheapest one in town, but they have a great reputation.

So I hope it works out.

I hope you can talk to them.

I hope they do work to please you.

And Phil, when I paint a room, I start with a ceiling.

I paint the ceiling.

Because if you paint the walls first and then you paint the ceiling, if you get any little spackles off the roller, it'll hit the walls.

So I always start at the top and work my way down.

And that seems to work out well for me.

And you never, ever, ever, ever paint over top of wallpaper.

That's if somebody wants to do a cheap job.

So you just don't do that.

You just don't do that.

Anyway, you guys carry on.

Have fun.

And good luck with your painting requirement there, Harvey.

7-3.

I think it goes over to you, Harvey.

Pick it up and we'll chat with you all later.

W3 and GMS now clear.

And they're at 5 Green Hill Road in Westchester.

I think Phil already said that, but that's where they're located.

Not that that matters to you, but it's not very far from their facility to your home.

I appreciate that, Joe.

And yeah, I think I may reach out to them because I agree with you.

You never paint over wallpaper.

It's just ridiculous.

So, but I did want to share first one thing for you, Phil.

Remember, the house is fitted with casement windows.

So they're below your knee to above your head.

And the master bathroom faces the street.

And this neighborhood has a ton of walkers in it, especially in the morning.

Especially in the morning.

So there have been a couple of times where I was just trusting.

I was trusting that the physics was on my side and that they could not see in even though I could see out.

So we'll just leave it at that.

It's disconcerting.

But I didn't want to put anything up immediately because this entire time it's, oh yeah, we'll be there in two days.

Yeah, we'll be there in two days.

We'll be there in two days.

So it was one of those things where I was led to believe it was happening and it just wasn't so.

And I kind of got bamboozled because I had used this company.

This company I had used before for the rest of the house.

And they did a phenomenal job.

One of the things I can't stand is painters that tape.

When you're cutting in, especially on a ceiling to wall joint, the tape makes it look more awkward than a skilled person cutting in properly with the right brush and the right skill.

And the rest of the house they did fantastic but then I found out after the fact that this was a company that was newly acquired.

So yeah, I don't know.

I guess I got bamboozled.

But yeah, I'm going to have to reach out to Cockerham I think and get this taken care of.

Especially since they're not willing to take the wallpaper off the kitchen even though that was part of my original walkthrough.

I said this has wallpaper.

I want it removed.

And now it's not being removed.

So I just can't stand it because you know, you got to pay twice now.

But what are you going to do?

So that's, yeah, that's been the event for now.

But exterior painting, you know, I don't know if I've ever heard anyone be totally dissatisfied with exterior painting.

Like you're talking about Jim.

I wonder if those are, they're just drawn to different jobs.

I feel like the residential interior painting is much more hit or miss than exterior painting.

Especially if it's something that involves scaffolding.

I think it's almost one of those things that self sorts.

The more complicated the job is, it kind of self sorts to get different types of people that want to do it.

And I have done exterior painting.

I've paid for it to be done before.

It wasn't complicated by any means.

But I can't say that that's something that I've been dissatisfied with.

But there are many jobs that I have.

But, yeah, I just, I can't stand to do that kind of stuff anymore on my own.

Things like that.

I'll do most everything else.

Plumbing, electrical, carpentry, framing.

That kind of flooring, that kind of stuff doesn't bother me.

But, yeah, I don't know.

We'll figure it out.

Over to you, Phil.

This is KC3NZT.

Thanks, Harvey.

Yeah.

The old wall, painted wallpaper.

Had to deal with that at the old house.

And then there were two walls here that were done.

I stripped, I stripped the ones at the old house, of course.

Then here, I was able to, you know, use, I scored it and sprayed it.

And then, you know, it's just time consuming.

But the last wall that I got to do, I probably only got, I don't know, maybe small.

It's a small section.

And, uh, it must have a couple, couple, uh, coats of paint on it.

So, I'm really not getting, um, you know, using those scoring things, uh, getting into the wallpaper.

It's just, there's just too much, uh, paint on top of it.

But, I was able to get some, you know, a small section down to the drywall.

Then you could work it out, you know.

But then, uh, I'm finding that the, uh, you know, some spots of the drywall are getting messed up, you know, from just getting soft from spraying it and stuff like that.

So, I think I'm actually gonna, um, tear that, the drywall, um, out off of that wall.

It is an interior wall, so there won't be any insulation or anything in there.

So, uh, you know, tear that out.

And then, you know, the only thing is, you know, it just all snowballs from there.

Cause, once you're in there, you, eh, you might as well replace the plumbing in there, you know.

And then, uh, you know, eh, you might as well add, add another, uh, outlet or something like that.

And, you know, it just, just keeps on going, right?

Ha ha.

But, yeah.

Joe, I do, uh, I do, do my ceiling first.

And then, uh, then do the walls.

And, yeah, I'm not a taper.

I, uh, I tend to cut with a brush.

And I can get it looking pretty good.

But you do have to buy a premium brush.

Um, you can't do it with the, with the cheap brushes.

So, that's, that's what I found.

And, uh, but, you know, I was thinking, but maybe try doing it backwards.

Because, do the walls first.

Cause it's easier to tape a vertical.

But then, as you said, Harvey, you know, your, your ceiling isn't exactly flat.

You know?

It has, it has waves from, um, from the joint seams and stuff like that.

So, yeah.

I don't know.

That's, uh, that's definitely a wintertime project anyway.

So, um, over to you, Jim.

This is Casey 3CM.

All right.

Thank you, Bill.

I'm sorry, Joe.

I was thinking you had, uh, just popped in and backed back out.

Didn't mean to cut you out of the loop.

Uh, a couple things that you guys brought back to mind.

Uh, first house we lived in after we were married, uh, belonged to the church where I was at.

But, uh, we were gonna, not going to, we repainted the bedroom.

But it had wallpaper on it.

And, uh, so we're removing the wallpaper.

And I forget how many layers we counted.

This was an old house.

And I think some of it dated back to colonial days, meaning the wallpaper.

You could have done a study, I guess, by the designs.

But it could have been six, seven layers of wallpaper or something like that.

I forget.

It was miserable.

That's all about, about all I remember.

We did get the job done eventually.

But, uh, that's my experience with wallpaper.

And I didn't grow up with wallpaper anywhere, uh, in the house.

It was always just painted.

So that was out of my experience.

And, uh, something else you were talking about.

Tragered something, but I didn't write it down.

Uh, well, uh, when we moved in here, 2016, I guess that was, or before that.

But, uh, we actually settled on the house at the end of September in 2015 and moved in June of 2016.

Uh, so, uh, we had time to, uh, work and get some work done.

So, uh, the, uh, guy who was our real estate guy, he was also a friend of Ginger's from a school where she taught.

And so we had a friend, sort of, uh, well, we did have a friend who was doing the real estate job.

Doing the real estate part of it.

And he knew this couple that, uh, the husband did sort of the handyman stuff, the building remodeling kinds of stuff.

And she did the painting.

So, uh, we hired them and they did good work for us.

Had to replace front windows and some countertops and repainted a bunch of cabinets and various kinds of things.

Uh, and our only really gripe was there were, and still are, a number of, it's got hardwood floor in here.

And a number of speckles of paint on the hardwood floor.

Uh, but unless you're really paying attention, you don't see them.

And so anyway, that was our biggest problem.

But they did good work for us.

I was so glad that I didn't have to do all that painting and stuff.

Uh, yes.

I guess my wife realized that, so, uh, it worked out pretty well.

So, yeah, I'm not the greatest of, uh, not the greatest of, uh, handy people around the house.

And I don't do plumbing.

Uh, I live in fear of doing the plumbing and then turning on the water and having showers where there aren't supposed to be showers and all that.

I've done some stuff like working on faucets, replacing washers and things like that.

But, uh, never done any plumbing and fitting stuff and all of that.

Uh, so there you go.

One thing I, oh, this was humorous, I guess.

But, uh, a few years ago now, I guess two, three, uh, needed to have fixtures replaced in the bathroom.

And I didn't really care about remodeling the bathroom.

So I had this guy come and he's looking around.

Oh, you really ought to do this.

You really ought to do that.

And, uh, he was a salesman, of course.

And he said, I, I realized, uh, or I gather, you know, that you want to just repair it, not, you know, totally remodel bathroom.

But he was having me add putting in tile here and doing this and doing that.

Uh, so anyway, he gave me the figure and finally I called him up and said, you know, you're right.

I don't really want to do much.

I just want to fix what needs to be fixed.

So, I cut the job back to replacing the fixtures.

And, uh, I was very glad I did.

But, uh, I am not one that cares that much.

I want the house to look decent, but I'm not into style and redoing everything.

That's a mess.

Uh, over to you, Harvey.

KC3NZT-AF3Z.

Well, Jim, you're, you're lucky.

You're lucky that you're not too much into style.

I, I really like style.

I'm bad at, uh, conjuring up in my head what I want.

But I'm very quick to know if I like it or don't like it when I see it.

Uh, so I've actually done a couple of projects around here where I've actually paid people to do, to do rendering for me.

Where I can see it on the computer screen before I, uh, decide on it.

Uh, even if they're not doing the work.

Uh, some of the times I'm doing the work, but, you know, I need to see it first.

And, uh, they have the technology and I pay them for their skills.

Um, so yeah, I do kind of care about that stuff.

But, um, but you're right, you know, there is a, there is a little bit of a give a moose a muffin.

Um, so yeah, I do kind of care about that stuff.

But, um, but you're right, you know, there is a, there is a little bit of a give a moose a muffin.

Um, so yeah, I do kind of care about that stuff.

But, um, but you're right, you know, there is a, there is a little bit of a give a moose a muffin.

Type of effect that goes on when, uh, when you get involved in the project.

And that's, that's part of what you're limiting when you, uh, contract something out is, uh, you're, you're not there.

You're not doing it.

Your wheels aren't turning.

You're not thinking about, uh, well, I mean, I'm this far.

Why not?

You know, why don't we just do this?

And it can get out of control.

And I've, I've succumbed to that before.

Turn, turn small repairs into a complete redoes.

But, um, hopefully, hopefully this gets figured out quickly.

I've got, uh, one other thing on the horizon that worries me because it's not something I can do.

Um, the, uh, the electrical line between the main breaker panel and the, uh, the meter has, uh, just eroded all the way through.

The UV has eaten it because it was not put in PVC.

Um, so it's all buried to the meter.

And then it comes up from the ground in PVC to the meter.

So that's all fine.

The, the power company side of it is fine.

Uh, but, uh, on, from the meter to the panel, it's so badly done that if we get one of those sideways rains with, like, uh, really high winds, I actually can get some water leaking out of the meter.

Or, I mean, out of the panel inside the house because the, uh, the casing on the, on the wiring is so bad.

So, uh, you know, that's something I'm definitely gonna have to hire out.

And, you know, I just, the second, the second I know I have to hire something out, I just start getting the, the anxiety of, oh man, here we go.

It's gonna be just another one of those adventures.

But, um, but, you know, what are you gonna do?

Uh, I am happy that the, uh, the peeling wallpaper isn't there anymore.

It was, uh, Joe said, "You never paint over wallpaper."

And that's 100% true.

But anybody that ever installed wallpaper in a bathroom, I just, there's gotta be a separate ring of hell for those people.

I just, I can't wrap my head around it.

Who puts wallpaper in that environment?

I, I just, that, that boggles the mind.

I don't, I don't know what to say to those people.

I just, I can't, I can't even fathom it.

And the, uh, the ugliness of this wallpaper.

I feel like we could compare notes, Jim.

Uh, this was some pretty gnarly stuff.

I don't know if it ever was in style.

I don't know if anybody would ever say that looks good.

Uh, it's, it's pretty rough.

So, um, we'll get through this and then, uh, move on to the next thing, I suppose.

But, uh, I don't know.

Fun times.

It's not like we have, uh, room for, for, uh, for me to do it on the weekends either.

You know, every single room in the house is occupied.

Somebody is choosing it for something at all times.

Um, so, it wouldn't be, it'd be different if this was a spare bedroom that we were messing with.

I could pluck away at it, but no such luck.

Back over to you, Phil.

This is KC3NZT.

Uh, I forget what I was gonna say.

But, uh, yeah.

It's, uh, it's a ton of work.

It is.

It's, it's, and it's, it's, it just snowballs.

At least with me.

Like, you know.

It is, I'm sure it's with you too, Harvey, you know.

Oh, the wallpaper in the bathroom.

That's what I was gonna comment on.

Yeah.

Well, wallpaper was a big, big thing when I was growing up.

Um, everybody, you know, houses had wallpaper from, I don't know.

I don't know when they started wallpapering.

But, uh, you know, there was a ton of wallpaper around.

But, it's the same people, you know, that put carpet in your bathroom.

It's like, you know, the worst place to even put carpet.

Especially, you know, right by, right by the shower and tub.

And, you know, it's not like it's on top of tile or something.

So, uh, you know, your, um, substrate's getting, uh, getting wet as well.

So, yeah.

But, let's see.

Yeah.

Our bathrooms never had, never had carpet in it.

But, I've seen, I've seen people's houses that actually still have carpet, um, to this day.

And, it's like, ugh, really?

That's, it's kind of nasty, actually.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Uh, but, I'm gonna make this one my last, guys.

Jim, uh, I, I typically, uh, get home anywhere from like 6:30 to 7 o'clock.

And then, by the time, uh, I get cleaned up, you know, it's usually 7:30.

Then, I think about, think about making something deep.

But, um, I am, uh, volunteering all this weekend for the MS Society, um, for one of their bicycle rides.

So, I was, uh, busy, um, sending out emails and texts for, uh, Saturday morning.

Tell people to be there at 5:30.

5:30 in the morning in Cherry Hill.

So, um, I was kinda, kinda tied up with that.

So, got, uh, got food started a little late.

And, uh, it just had enough time.

And, thanks for, uh, thanks for, uh, uh, delaying, late, lightly, uh, the, the round table for a minute and a half.

So, very good.

So, I'll say 7:3 to you guys.

Um, good, good catching up.

And, hope to see you guys soon.

It's been a while.

Uh, AF3Z.

KC3 CIB.

7:3, guys.

Very good, Phil.

Yeah, I didn't notice this past the 8:00 hour right away.

But, when I did see that we were past it, I figured a couple minutes won't hurt.

And, it'll give you a little more time to swallow.

Over to you, Harvey.

So, you can say 73.

And, I'm probably gonna get out of here quickly here myself.

But, uh, back to you there, Harvey.

Me too.

My eyelids are heavy.

But, uh, 73 Phil.

And, uh, we'll talk later on, I'm sure.

Um, we'll, uh, we'll try to work something out for, uh, for hunting coming up here soon.

So, looking forward to it.

But, uh, yeah, it was good talking with you guys.

And, um, yeah, that's about all I have.

I think I'm gonna go hit the hay.

And, uh, and, uh, that's about it.

Uh, over, I guess, to you, Jim.

Uh, 73 to you as well.

This is KC3NZT.

I'll be clear on your final.

Thanks, Harvey.

And, yeah, goodbye again there.

What's your name?

Ha, ha, Phil.

Ha, ha, ha.

Anyway.

Yeah, I, uh, we lived in parsonages.

You know, house-owned churches.

All our, pre-my-retirement married life.

So, I didn't have to do much house stuff when something needed to be done.

The church was responsible for it.

And, generally, that worked out.

That can have its downsides, too.

But we had good people to work with.

But, uh, this was the first house that is mine, and I have to deal with it all.

All right, very good.

Thank you, guys.

And, uh, have a good night.

AF3 is that clear.

Thank you.

KA3GLI testing.

Okay, the AF3Z KA3GLI. Name is David. For one thing, I'm wondering what my audio sounds like, and for starters, I'm relieved that I could bring up the repeater.

I tried calling into the net earlier. It just wasn't working. Seems like, the best I can figure, I just thought that I had my PL tone set, but apparently it wasn't.

Great. Those little things do count sometimes. Name here is Jim, by the way. And they're very good, David. Yeah, you're getting in fine. Very strong signal sound.

Sounds strong into the repeater, and audio sounds good. I'm not a great one for comparing, especially when I want somebody else to hear. But if anything, maybe a little hot, but not too much, I don't think. That's why I'm not sure, comparing it to another signal.

But, curious where you're located. I'm out northwest of Lancaster, near Elizabethtown, Mount Joy, if you know Mount Joy. So I've got about 30 miles to the repeater, something like that.

But, anyway, sounding good. It's one of those things I probably wouldn't notice anything if you didn't ask me to give you a critique on it. AF3Z.

Okay, Jim. I definitely know where Mount Joy is. Let's see. I'm sort of halfway between Whitehorse and New Holland on the Welsh Mountain. If you're familiar with that area very much, maybe you know about where I am.

And, yeah, I'm actually this past week I've been on DHF for the first time in about 18 years.

And I'm using 20-year-old radios. And the first radio I was using, it was confirmed to me that I started drifting in frequency.

And someone suggested maybe a thermal issue. And then I, you know, based on that I noticed my fan wasn't really working very well on the back of the rig. So that was sort of a bummer.

And, uh, so I'm on the second rig now. And, uh, so hopefully it's not gonna start doing crazy things on me here. Um, AF3Z, the KA3G-LI.

Okay, David. Uh, yeah, that stuff can be sometimes kinda thorny trying to figure out why it's doing it and then fixing it's another matter. And that's, I have limited skills in those kinds of areas. Um, KA3G-LI. I'm curious, uh, if that was your call signed to you when you got that call. Um, my first license was 1967.

1967, and that was a W—that was a novice, WN3INP, Ida Nancy Peter. And then it was WA3INP, and then I went inactive and lost my license, let it expire.

And this call I got in 1979, and it was the call issued to me when I passed the test in '79. So I've been at it a while, not always terribly active, but I never let my license expire again.

And yeah, I know Welsh Mountain to some degree. I don't know if you were ever involved up there, but there's like a community park or something up there.

And the Red Rose Repeater Group out of Lancaster has held—I don't think of the word—oh, like Winter Field Day and stuff up there.

And I know we went up and helped. They had like a spring cleanup day or something, and so members of the club, we went up and helped out with that.

So I was up there a few times, helping to clean up in the spring as well.

I lived—well, I grew up down near Paoli area, Malvern, Chester County, and then I was up in the coal regions in Lansford, near Lansford, near Summit Hill, Tamaqua, Jim Thorpe, that area.

And then down to Lebanon and Mount Gretna, near Mount Gretna for about 15 years, 18 years. And then down near Conestoga here, near Lancaster after that.

So I've been bouncing around a little bit in this general area. But all that's to say, yeah, I know the Welsh Mountain to some degree.

And I hear it has quite a colorful past, but I don't really know enough to say what it was. But I guess it was kind of a rough town, so to speak, AF3Z.

Okay, I definitely heard that too. And in fact, related to your last comment, we were at church one time, and one of the couples there was talking to us about how they, you know, they, I guess they had a little concern for us since they knew we were living up here.

And so I said to them, well, you know, as long as they don't bother us, they'll be okay. So I think I'm not sure they really understood what I was saying. But anyway, so yeah, it's, there's a lot of new homes going in.

Now, that rough time here was, I think it was over 20 years ago, to be honest, 20 years plus ago.

Anyway, so, yeah, I'm familiar with the community center there. And, let's see.

Yeah, this, this is my original call. Let me reset it.

I think I got my novice in 79. And, uh, I, I'm currently advanced class. And, uh, I did try the extra once, but the code test just absolutely killed me.

So, uh, uh, back to you, K-3-G-I.

Yeah, very good. Uh, yeah, I had my advanced at one point. Well, I told you that I went in active. And during the time I was in active, I went to two years of electronic school in Philadelphia.

Uh, Philco Technical Institute, which, I don't know, it didn't last much longer after I graduated out of there. That was 71 when I finished up there.

Uh, so anyway, I got my advanced at that point. And, uh, I had the theory in my head from going to electronic school.

Uh, I didn't have my code speed up for sure. So, I, I just went and took the test before I left Philly. Uh, and was there, you know, I was there every day pretty much, or at least weekdays.

So, uh, the point is, yeah, I got my advanced license. I also had a first class radio telephone commercial license, uh, that I took. And both of those licenses sat in a folder or whatever. And I never did anything with either of them. My advanced class ticket expired before I ever used it.

So, uh, then around 79, I had graduated from schools and, uh, was married and I got interested again. So I had to take all the tests to do it again.

But, uh, in my early years of ham radio, I did all CW. I think I made one phone contact when I got my general in. I had so much mic fright that I stayed with CW.

And, uh, so anyway, I did squeak by on the code test, but I managed to get that and then got my extra in 79. Uh, since then, my code speed has gone up and down. But right now, I'm retired. I'm 74, they tell me.

And, um, so now I have more time to be on the air and another guy up here and I have been, uh, meeting on CW on a, uh, regular kind of basis and my code speed is up well over 20 minutes, 20 words a minute now. But, uh, I was, like I said, I lucked out.

Actually, what happened back in that point in 79, when you took the code test, you didn't have to provide copy that you had written down. You just had to answer questions on a multiple choice test. Um, when I did my general, you had to have a minute of solid copy. But, it didn't have to do that. So I had a, a, uh, note sheet or whatever, a scratch pad that I had made some notes on.

But, uh, but I copied very little. But I remember a couple questions. I had enough written down to sort out which of the answers was right. But, uh, when I took my sheet up and I took the answers to the questions up, the guy from the SEC looked at me, said, and he looked at the test and my cheat sheet, not cheat sheet, my scratch sheet there, and he said, well, you remembered something.

So I think he knew I didn't really, uh, but, uh, he knew I had also passed the test. So, uh, that was my code history. But I enjoy the code a lot. And, uh, that's the main HF mode I do anymore. And I've gotten over the microphone for, like, two over the years.

Back to you for one more. And then I need to get off of here. But, uh, glad I heard you call. And good to talk to you. Hope to hear you on here some more.

Uh, I don't know. You may even know. But we have that round table net every Thursday night at 8.

And on Monday evenings at night, there's a, uh, round, or not round table, workbench net. So more for questions, answering questions.

Technical questions, operating questions, and all that kind of stuff.

And, uh, uh, some good folks on here. I get on some of the other local repeaters as well. Uh, living in, occasionally, Lancaster and other places.

So, back to you, David. AF3Z here.

Okay, Jim. I plan to be around here on the repeater now and then. Um, uh, let's see. Yeah, I'm, I'm currently studying for my extra test. I'm planning to take that at the, the Red Rose Ham Fest in New Holland. Coming up here soon.

I figure it's about time. But, uh, buckle down, get the upgrade. And, uh, yeah, the, I guess the, the parts of the, uh, the test that I, I find the most challenging are the, uh, uh, the, I would say that the non-electronics portion of the test.

Some of those things, like various digital modes and whatnot, I, uh, just, sometimes I just, I just try to memorize the answer and move on as I'm practicing. So, uh, I don't really have any knowledge, you know, about the digital modes.

Anyway, I let you go there. Thanks for the contact and, uh, good talking with you. AF3Z, KA3GLI.

Very good. Yeah, good to meet you here. And, uh, I have often thought, and I haven't looked at the questions, but I know I couldn't pass the extra test now.

Back in 79, all the digital modes and stuff weren't there. All right. Have a good evening there, and I look forward to the next time.

I might not remember your name, but I'll try to. I'm not good on that stuff. I have it written down here, but we'll see.

KA3GLI AF3Z. Have a good one.

Roger. 73. KA3GLI.

Thank you.

More episodes

Chapters

What is W3GMS Thursday Night Roundtable?