W3GMS Thursday Night Roundtable

Bill KC3OOK hosts a lively edition of the W3GMS 146.985 Roundtable, where the opening question—“Tell us about something you’ve built”—launches a flood of great stories. From vintage transmitters, homebrew shack equipment, woodworking creations, and test gear, to clever fixes, shop projects, and even an old electronic mousetrap, the group shares memories and maker-spirit from across the hobby. The net also features updates on local projects, repeater progress, antennas, and upcoming events, with plenty of good humor and camaraderie throughout. Another warm, memorable Thursday night on 985.

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

Good evening and welcome to the 985 roundtable. My name is Bill and I'm located in the shop here in Oxford tonight. I'll be your host for tonight's roundtable. We meet here every Thursday evening at 8pm on the W3GMS Parksburg repeater 146.985 megahertz.

The PL tone is 100 hertz and for tone squelch you'll receive 94.8 hertz. We encourage you to take a look at the repeater website located at www.w3gmsrepeater.com. Besides the roundtable, this repeater hosts the 985 workbench on Monday evenings at 8pm. The workbench focuses on answering technical questions as well as exploring topics related to setting up and operating your station.

And I believe this coming Monday night your host will be Harvey KC3NZT. Newcomers are very welcome and encouraged to check in. If you can't stay long, feel free to call in during the short time check-ins at the beginning of the roundtable.

Our discussions are informal, passing the mic around in the order in which stations call in. So I encourage you to note who checks in right after you so you will be able to turn the mic over to that station when you finish your comments.

We usually begin with a question as a discussion starter. You can answer that if you wish and comment about other subjects as well. If you have any suggestions or questions about the roundtable, contact Phil, KC3CIB, or Jim, AF3Z. Both are good on qrz.com.

Be aware that on occasion the repeater experiences intermod interference. Please run maximum power or be prepared to check in digitally through Echolink or AllStar. We want to hear you. To be able to use Echolink and AllStar on 95, you need to register with us. Directions for doing so can be found on the website, w3gmsrepeater.com.

Also, when Intermod is present before starting a transmission, give a short call. Am I getting in okay? Once the host confirms that, then you can share your longer comments.

Now, don't be too quick to talk. Pause for a couple seconds before hitting the press-to-talk switch. This is good repeater etiquette, and the pauses are especially helpful to those on AllStar and Echolink.

When you do click the pit button, wait a second before starting to talk. We don't want to miss what you have to say.

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

Also, the repeater has a three-minute timer.

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

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

In the pre-ramble, we normally give the question now. But I'm going to wait and take the short-time check-ins, and then we'll give the question.

We'll now start short-time check-ins. Short-time digital stations using Echolink or AllStar.

I will leave a long pause to make it easy for you to check-in. Digital stations, please call now.

This is KC3, SCY. Kilo Charlie 3, Sierra Charlie Yankee.

I've got you, Luke. Are there any other digital stations for the short-time list? Please call.

Okay. Well, we left a good long pause there. So now let's take the short-time RF check-ins. Short-time RF or other digital stations. Please call now.

Okay. Well, I know I'm being heard because Luke responded to me. So we'll make one last call, then I'm going to get the question. Any other short-time check-ins, please call now.

Okay.

Okay. Well, with that, Luke, you are it. You're heading it off, and you're the tail gunner for the short time. So we do have a question tonight, and it is, tell us about something you have built. And I stress about, just don't tell us what you built. Tell us about something you built.

And that doesn't have to be bricks or mortar. It could be a woodworking project. It could be a car. It could be an organization or a nonprofit. It could be anything that you have built. Anyway, at all. But just tell us about it. So with that, we'll turn it over to you, Luke. And I know you probably have a lot of things to pick from. So KC3, SCY. This is KC3, OOK.

Alright, Bill. Thanks for hosting. Something that I built, I'd probably go with my 1929 TNT transmitter. And that's a pretty fun building. And I used that on the AWA Bruce Kelly event, which is coming up in less than a month.

Less than a month. So it's going to be fun to operate. That's the only CW radio, though. You can modulate it if you build a modulator for it. So I build a bunch of other stuff. We're currently working on building a riser for my desk.

But that's not finished yet. It's getting pretty close. So anyways, Joe, if you're listening, congrats on getting up your tower. It looks good. It's in the picture from the email.

So I don't have too much else to add, so I'll turn it back to you, Bill. If I didn't already say, thanks for hosting. This is KC3, SCY.

Well, thank you, Luke. It's good to hear you. And yeah, Luke, I'd already written down the 1929 TNT. I sometimes try and guess. So very good on that. And I know that Bruce Kelly is coming up. And CW, but your CW proficiency is going way up. So I know you're going to have a lot of fun with that. And I know you've got the riser in progress. And you'll be getting to that again, I guess, pretty shortly.

So it's good to hear you tonight, Luke. And I'll just say now, we look forward to hearing you next Thursday night when you host the roundtable. So with that, we'll go ahead and take check-ins, regular check-ins for folks who can stick around longer. And again, we'll start with Echo Link or All Star stations only, digital stations only for the regular list. Please call now. This is KC3-0-OK.

W1RC in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Good evening. No traffic.

Whiskey 8, Charlie Romeo Whiskey, CR.

One more call for the regular list for digital stations, Echo Link or All Star. Please call now.

Great. Well, nothing heard. Well, RS check-ins or other digital stations. And space them out. Thanks.

WA3 VEE Whiskey Alpha 3, Victor Echo Echo.

WA3 King Fox Tango, WA3 KFT.

W3AB3AP, Mike in Avondale.

W3GMS.

NA3CW.

KC3SQI.

Alright, well I'll go through the list as I have it and then we'll make one more call, see if anybody else is out there. So we start off with W1RC, Mr. Mike, WCRW, WA3VEE, WA3KFT, AB3AP, W3GMS, NA3CW, and KC3SQI. Are there any other stations? And so, go ahead and call now.

*Burps*

Last station, I had all noise. I don't know if anybody else could copy that on input. I don't know if that was you, John.

KD-3EE. Try one more time again.

KC-1-3EE.

Only copied a kilo. Can anyone else help me there?

I got a SWA-3-VEE. I got a KC-1, believe it or not. So I'm not sure if that's one of Mr. Mike's buddies up there who's getting in on a very weak all-star echo link or not.

But that's all I got. Go ahead.

Well, thank you, Ron. Thank you. I only got the kilo. So the kilo Charlie-1, if you can hear us, we'll try and pick you up again at the end of the first round and see if you can make any corrections and get in. So, I'm going to make one last call. Anyone else wants to get in before we start, please call now.

Hey, Bill. This is Phil. This is Phil. KC-3-CIB. Just got home. Please mark me down. This is in and out. 7-3.

Thanks, Phil. We got you.

Thanks, Phil. We got you. Thanks for checking in. Have a great night. I'm sure you'll probably be monitoring.

Hey Bill, this is Phil, KC3 CIB. Just got home, please mark me down, it's in and out, 73.

Thanks Phil, we got you. Thanks for checking in, have a great night. I'm sure you'll probably

be monitoring, so we'll recognize KC3 CIB in and out. So here's the list as we have it. W1RC, WACRW, WA3VEE, WA3KFT, AB3AP, W3GMS, NA3CW, KC3SQI, and KC3 CIB in and out. So we'll turn it up to you Mr. Mike.

And our question tonight is, tell us about something you have built and tell us about it. So, W1RC, KC3OOK.

Oh, KC3OOK. And the W3GMS985 roundtable. This is W1RC. Well, let's see, what have I built? Lately? Hmm. Well, what have I built?

Lately? Hmm. Well, what have I built? Well, I can't really think of anything I've built lately, but I have built stuff in the past, of course.

And I'm trying to think of something that I could use as an example. And I can't really think of anything right now. I just got home. I had a very long day today. And I'm really, really crapped out. So you'll forgive me, I hope. Guys and gals. But I'm not really with it tonight. I just walked in the door. And left the house at 6 o'clock this morning.

And I had a gig for a couple of days. A very interesting one. I was on a mock jury, which is an interesting thing in itself.

And it pays very well. It's only for two days. And you pretend that you're a jury and the lawyers do the case and everything. And then you and your jury mates reach a verdict. And it's a long story. But I'm tired. I've had it. So with all due respect, I'm going to just sit this one out tonight.

Thank you.

Very good. Thanks for taking the chair, Bill. Yeah, I'm trying to figure out what can I talk about that's not too boring. Let's see.

On my latest vehicle, I was looking to mount a 2-meter, 70-centimeter antenna. And I tried a glass mount. And it was not satisfactory at all. And it's still on the vehicle, but I don't use it.

And I'm online just cruising around looking at different things. And I see this antenna mast that a guy had put on his truck. So I looked at that and I said, you know, maybe I can adapt that to my vehicle.

So after a lot of trials and tribulations, that's what I did. I built a mast for my 2-meter, 70-centimeter antenna.

It gets the antenna up in the air. And it works great. With that, let's go to Ron. WA3VEE, WHCRW.

Thank you very much, CR. I hope to see you tomorrow at the breakfast, as well as everyone else. Very good. And I'll start off by saying, Bill, great to hear you tonight. Thanks for doing the net control ops. I can't wait to hear your list.

I wonder what you're going to pick. I'm dying with curiosity here. But this would be good. Hopefully, you'll be able to make it to the breakfast tomorrow morning also. It'd be great to see you and congratulate you and Chuck in person, along with Joe, on the great, great tower work, for sure.

Okay. My goodness. I don't know where to start. Well, actually, I do. I've built many, many, many things, of course. A lot of wood stuff over the years and recently.

And in progress, too, as well. But the one I want to talk about here is actually pictured on QRZ. And it is the console, part of the console I'm actually sitting at right now.

One long, Bill, you asked a very dangerous question. You said, talk about it. I'll make this brief, I promise. I'll keep it to less than three hours.

One Sunday night, one rainy Sunday night, my good friend, lifelong friend, Alex, KC3WEK, who's never been on the air because he's had real medical issues and strokes and everything else.

But when we were late teenagers, 19 years old, 19-ish and so on, he got very frustrated with me trying to put two pieces of wood together.

In my parents' basement, he lived right down the street. This is down in a little development called Ashley Heights, very near Newport, Delaware, next to Banning Park, Middleboro Manor, that kind of thing.

Anyway, he said, look, let me show you how to build a base for a bookcase. Bill, you're going to love this story.

So bottom line is that he showed me how to do joinery that very night. And the wood I was trying to put together is exactly what's pictured in a section on the QRZ page called one of the early WA3 VEE stations.

And it was, he called it Philippine mahogany. Well, it's not really mahogany. It's really Luan or Marante.

And it looks kind of like mahogany, but not quite. But it is a very, very fine wood, and at least in my application.

And it worked very well in building a kind of like a wide bookcase that held a lot of my radios that you will see on QRZ.

And that was the basis for my woodworking, and I never looked back. There are many, there are several bookcases which are in the other room, which were built in 1978.

And they are still hale and hearty today. And I've been making bookcases and bases for cabinets almost pretty much the same way, with very fine joinery, using calipers, believe it or not, to get the depth right for the dados and the rabbits and things like that.

So that was the very first start of woodworking for me. And I've built, oh, I don't know, literally probably hundreds of things since then, I'm quite sure.

From clocks to Grand Library upstairs, to this actual station, and so on. And one last thought on this.

I thought I heard snoring, which I wouldn't be surprised. Anyway,

I'm sitting at a table that has a one inch wide band around it of this so-called Philippine mahogany, basically Luan.

And there's molding. It has an inset, a sunken inset of black formica, or the plastic laminate, that's a trade name.

And to melt the two together, there is homemade molding, made out of the same Luan material.

That was the very first molding I ever made.

And I should have kept the really rickety, very much rickety, almost a toy router table that I used.

It was a Sears special.

And they had Sears best, and I think this was Sears worst.

But in any event, that's one of the very first things radio-related that I built.

And it's been really fun melding electronics and woodworking together all of these years.

So, John, tell us about the shack you built, or something else.

WA3VEE. WA3VEE. WA3KFT.

Well, you hit the nail on the head.

Yeah, I built a shack. It's in the backyard. Most people call it a shed.

I couldn't resist that one, Rod.

12 by 12!

And 8-foot walls.

8-foot walls because plywood comes 4 by 8.

So, I did a little bit of thinking ahead of time and plotted things out.

And didn't waste very much lumber getting that shed built.

Holds the lawnmower and garden tools and lots of other stuff.

Table saw and what have you.

But, in terms of electronics, the first thing I built was a crystal set.

I guess I was in Cub Scouts when that happened.

Early Boy Scouts.

And the next offshoot from that was a two-tube regenerative receiver that used plug-in coils.

And it came with two coils.

One was a standard broadcast coil and the other one was a shortwave coil.

And that shortwave coil covered the 40-meter band.

We are talking early 1950s.

So, at that time, amateur radio bands were predominantly CW and amplitude modulation.

And this particular radio was a regenerative receiver.

So, if you...

The regen control, if you turned it up too far, it would squeal at you.

If you put it up just about right, it was perfect for copying Morse code.

And it had no difficulty at all demodulating amplitude modulation.

Many years later, I traded it away so I don't have it anymore.

But, uh, uh, I had a problem with that radio.

It quit working.

And I had no test equipment whatsoever.

So, studying the Allied radio catalog, there was a thing in there called an RC bridge.

An RC tester.

And I thought, well, wait a minute.

All I have is two tubes.

But I got a lot of resistors and capacitors underneath that chassis.

So, my second kit was the RC tester.

To this day, I still have it.

And occasionally use it.

And, uh, I started poking around and things looked good and looked good.

And there was one electrolytic capacitor in there.

And when I tested it, it was bad.

So, I mail ordered it from Allied radio.

And remember, the whole entire order was 68 cents.

And I got it in a padded envelope.

Installed it.

Fixed the radio.

So, early troubleshooting.

And still, at that point, did not have a multimeter of any kind.

That came many years later.

Over to you, Mike.

AB3AP.

WA3KFT.

AB3AP.

Thanks, John.

And that reminds me,

even though, as I think many of you know,

I've retired in December,

I'm still going into work two days a week.

And we turned on the vector signal generator

and heard a pop

and smelled burning popcorn,

or maybe a little worse than that.

Opened it up and saw

a very blackened and

bursted capacitor.

So, I know what you went through.

I think for me,

the first radio-oriented thing,

substantial thing,

that I did was a kit.

Not the same as suffering through

calculating a bias transistor

or a coupling capacitor,

but, you know,

still it has its own challenges.

I built an Elecraft K2,

and it took several weeks.

And I still remember

that, uh,

some of you might know the band

Twisted Sister.

The lead singer,

Dee Snider,

was a DJ

on a local station.

I think it was WMMR,

but I wouldn't swear to it.

Could have been WMGK.

And, uh,

so for weeks on end,

I remember listening to him DJing

while I was soldering away,

and Elecraft does a very nice job

of, you know,

you build a certain portion,

and then some of what you build

are components to test,

uh, the, uh,

the sub-system

that you've just completed.

So it was a lot of fun,

and it was the next thing to magic

to finally, uh,

power it up

and start talking

to people around the country,

around the world.

And, um,

yeah, I, I know I had another comment.

If it comes back to me,

I will share it next go-round.

But for now,

uh, over to you, Joe.

W-3 GMS,

AB-3 AP,

and congrats on the new tower.

Mike, W-3 GMS,

coming in from the kitchen

where I'm sorting,

sorting paperwork,

my favorite pastime.

Uh, thank you, Mike.

It was a lot of work,

uh, a lot of contributions

from great friends,

and overall,

it's done,

it's up,

it's looking fantastic,

as my friend Steve,

W-A-8 U-E-G,

would say.

And, uh,

it exceeded all expectations.

So anyway, uh,

Bill,

thanks for, uh,

sitting in the captain's chair today,

this evening.

Great question.

And, uh,

I could go down a long list,

but I am not going to do that.

I'm just going to talk very quickly

about two things

that I built.

Um,

well, three.

The first one,

I was seven years old,

and I tried to build a 6V6

crystal oscillator transmitter

with a tank coil

wound on a toilet paper roll.

And,

believe it or not,

it didn't work.

at six years old,

I didn't know the difference

between the resistors

and things like that,

and I saw a picture in a book.

So I remember salvaging

old TV sets,

and I just put components

where they look like,

that look like the picture.

And, uh,

this,

that,

and the other.

That was a failure.

But, uh,

got me out of the gate.

Um,

my first amateur receiver

that I built,

or when I got my novice license,

was a Heathkit GR64.

I was,

I guess,

13 at the time,

because I got my ticket

when I was 14.

So I was 13,

and I had a blast

putting together the GR64.

And you can all look up

the GR64 on the internet.

A very minimalistic,

uh, receiver.

But,

it allowed me to work

enough 80 meters

CW contacts

to get my code speed

up to about 15,

16 words a minute.

So I could,

uh,

go down and take the big G,

the big general test,

in front of the FCC.

And at that time,

with the general,

you had 100% all privileges.

So that was a very,

uh,

very big day.

And lastly,

um,

uh,

my,

when I met my mentor,

after I had my ham ticket,

he was an audio nut.

And I am an audio nut.

audio nut.

And,

he had this audio console mixer

that he built.

And I just Googled,

and Googled,

and Googled over this thing.

And he says,

well,

I'm going to show you

how to make one.

He didn't do it for me,

but he taught me

how to do it.

So I had a six channel audio mixer,

uh,

with bass and treble controls,

RIAA equalization.

And for those that don't know

what RIAA equalization is,

it's phonograph equalizations.

and I had a,

uh,

an AB equalizer for tape playback.

And it was quite the machine.

I couldn't afford a really good VU meter,

uh,

like my mentor had.

But I bought one from Lafayette Radio.

It was a Calrad,

C-A-L-R-I-D,

imported meter.

And I still have that mixer to this day.

And maybe I'll bring it to one of the breakfasts sometime.

So,

that's it for me.

I could go on,

but it would be,

uh,

crazy with a big group to,

uh,

go down the list of everything we all built,

um,

and our,

uh,

in our lives.

So,

NA3CW.

So how's it feel to have the tower off your back?

W3GMS.

Sometimes literally.

A tower?

What tower?

Um,

NA3CW.

Yeah,

I've got a lot of heavy lifting on that thing.

I really got tired of carrying that,

several sections of that tower around the yard.

I know Bill did.

So we're,

uh,

finally done carrying it around.

So it's,

uh,

a beautiful thing.

Sitting up there,

aiming straight up.

And it's straight too,

boy,

I'll tell you.

Anyway.

Uh,

yeah,

as a design engineer,

I built a bunch of stuff.

Um,

and a fair bit of it,

um,

relatively lately,

um,

when I discovered,

um,

that I could get PC boards for next to nothing from China.

Well,

courtesy of,

uh,

somebody's tariffs,

um,

that's over until he goes away.

Because now the minimum is like a hundred bucks,

where it used to be five.

So,

I'm not going to run out of the PC board business for a while.

And a U.S. vendor is five to ten to a hundred times more expensive,

depending on which one you look at.

But,

I will have,

uh,

I have one story.

Um,

my first,

what I call,

major design,

product design.

I was just,

I don't know,

uh,

a year and a half,

two years out of school.

I was at SidoBond Ultrasonics.

We made ultrasonic welding machines.

And we used these,

uh,

oscillator amplifier,

um,

called,

they called them power supplies,

power sources for ultrasonic transducers that did plastic welding and metal welding.

And the ones that we were,

were using,

uh,

the power amplifiers came from this place called ENI,

uh,

electronic navigation industries.

And it was a big transistor linear amplifier that would put out 1200 watts.

And we kept getting them in,

in-house,

uh,

from the manufacturer.

And we would integrate them in a cabinet and put an oscillator and some metering and stuff with it.

And sell that as a product to go along to power the ultrasonic welder.

And it had,

uh,

can be machine control logic and stuff in it.

Well,

we got several,

um,

kind of in a bad batch where they were just literally blowing up on incoming QA.

And my boss came in and he said,

you know,

in,

in our,

in our uproar.

And he says,

can you design something like this?

And I said,

yep,

I can.

knowing full well,

I had no idea how to start.

And he stormed out of the room and said,

do it.

Okay.

So that was at the,

uh,

kind of the birthing end of switch mode power supply technology.

When,

um,

high power,

fast,

power,

fast power transistors were few and far between.

And so my,

and I had never even seen a switch mode power supply up to that point,

much less a schematic for one.

But I figured,

okay,

I'm going to make me a,

you know,

our competitors are doing it.

I'm going to make me a 1200 watt switch mode power supply.

They put out 20 kilohertz AC with phase lock loop feedback so that it would tune itself to whatever transducer you plugged into it.

So I had this,

I had this cold little lab in the back of the building.

I was the only double E in the place at that time.

Cause the,

uh,

there were two when I got hired,

one got fired.

basically the minute I set foot in the door and the other one left six months later.

So here I am,

you know,

just green as,

as lettuce coming out of school.

And so I got,

this is my first big design.

So I,

I built this thing.

I wound the transformers,

um,

drilled the holes,

painted the paint,

dealt,

did the whole thing from soup to nuts,

and fired up this breadboard with my handy dandy 1200 watt switch mode amplifier that would put out 20 kilohertz sine waves.

Um,

however,

I failed to notice that the dummy load,

which was,

um,

a stack of Calrod heaters,

that are,

you know,

same thing that you would eat a water heater with or a stove or whatever.

They were,

weren't wired for the 50 ohms,

but they were wired for 25 ohms.

So,

when I cranked this thing up,

I noticed it was pulling a lot of current,

and that loop,

it looked kind of heavy duty on the scope,

but it was working.

And after a while,

I started smelling something burning.

And I looked,

and the wall was being singed by these,

these,

uh,

Calrod heaters that were glowing red.

They weren't supposed to be at that point.

And,

lo and behold,

that thing had been putting out 2500 watts when I designed it for 1200.

So I'm leg.

Wee hoo!

So I go running out,

you know,

open the door,

and I go running out into the shop to announce my triumph.

And the place was completely dark.

Everybody had gone home,

and I was there by myself,

enjoying my,

uh,

the smoke that I just raised from,

uh,

burning the paint on the wall.

So that's my story.

Over to,

let's see,

Wayne,

KC3SQI,

and A3CW.

Okay,

thank you,

Chuck,

and thank you,

Bill,

for taking that tonight.

And congratulations,

Joe,

on, uh,

having a new tower up.

Well,

mine was, uh,

a fairly simple design.

Uh,

it was my first electronics class

in high school.

And we had a,

uh,

new shop teacher

who had done a little bit of electronic stuff.

So,

he decided to teach electronics also as part of shop.

Well,

that was great.

So,

this was back in the 60s,

and photo flash capacitors

had just come out.

And, uh,

so,

we got a bunch of them

off of, uh,

army surplus

and wherever we could.

And so,

we decided to build up

an electronic mousetrap.

So,

we get these big

1,500, uh,

uh,

microfarad,

uh,

photo flash caps in,

and we charge them up

real,

well,

before that,

we,

uh,

soldered,

uh,

copper plates

on the end of the wires.

And we

would, uh,

move them

back and forth

and closer and farther apart

to get

a good enough, uh,

arc

so that

we knew

it would get the mouse.

and so we

put a piece of, uh,

cheese in

and we would charge them up

and leave them overnight

and come in.

And everybody knew

that she just reached down

and grabbed the mouse

by the tail

and pulled it out

and then threw it away.

Well,

that went

very well

for a while

until

the

superintendent

of the school

decided to go in

and check the boiler room

and the heating system.

and, uh,

unfortunately,

there was a mouse

in the trap.

Well,

he didn't know

how to

empty the trap

so he stuck

his hand in

to pull the mouse out.

And, uh,

the mouse trap

went flying

and went out

the window

and he walked

back into

the shop

class

and he

charged all of us

for the window

and then told us

that we would have

not made

any more

electronic mouse traps.

So,

that was a fairly

simple one

to, uh,

design.

The power supply

to charge them up

was, uh,

the biggest problem

and we finally

got one of those.

But,

that was a fun project.

project.

Uh, you know,

very simple,

but it got the job

done.

So, with that,

I will, uh,

turn it back over

to Bill

and maybe the, uh,

person who tried

to check in

after me

can now check in.

so, uh, KC3SQI,

back now.

Wayne, KC3SQI,

KC3OOK.

And before we go on,

we'll see if there's

anybody else

that wants to check in

or if this, uh, uh,

Kilo Charlie one station

wants to try again.

So, uh, anyone else

would like to join us

tonight, please call now.

KC3OOK.

K3GLI.

Alright, I copy.

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

And I have to apologize.

I recognize your voice,

but I can't recall your name.

Here's David.

You're good, David.

Well, thank you

for joining us tonight.

And I don't know

if you've heard the question,

but I'll repeat it for you,

which is just,

and you've probably

figured it out pretty easy.

Tell us about

something you have built.

It doesn't have to be,

you know, construction.

It could be, you know,

a race car,

uh, uh, a non-profit organization.

Anything at all,

but something you've built.

So K-A-3-G-L-I,

KC-3-OOK.

Yeah, okay.

I've been, uh,

listening a few minutes here.

I've heard a lot of good stories.

Well, one time,

we had this dehumidifier

that was driving me nuts.

in a sense that, uh,

it tended to latch on.

And, uh,

of course,

put out all kinds of heat,

really driving up

the temperature in the basement.

And, uh,

so that was frustrating.

So I have to unplug the thing.

And, uh,

I kept, uh,

hoping it would decide

to start working.

I finally gave up.

But I decided,

you know what,

instead of buying a new one,

I think I'll just design

my own controller for it.

So I,

I essentially had a,

a box between

the dehumidifier

and the mains outlet.

And so the,

the box had a humidity sensor

that was interfaced

to a microcontroller

along with an LCD screen.

And, um,

so I could, of course,

read the sensor

and then enter a set point

with some push buttons.

And, uh,

that thing worked great.

And,

and all I simply did was,

um,

turn the mains voltage

on and off

to the dehumidifier

because,

uh,

like I said,

it,

it was always on.

And, uh,

so I ran that thing

for a while

and, uh,

it worked great.

Uh,

KA3 GLI.

All right.

Well, very good, David.

Uh, thank you.

It's good to hear you tonight.

And, uh,

uh,

you're not too far away

over in GAP.

So,

uh,

I'll just make a few,

few brief comments

comments.

And, uh,

we'll go ahead

for a second round

and we can open it up

to, uh,

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