Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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, W3MFB here. Welcome to the Thursday
night roundtable, 985 roundtable. This is Mike,
Thorndale Mike, host for tonight, filling in
for Jack. He had to save the world, so here
I am. We meet every evening here Thursday at
8 o'clock on W3GMS Parkesburg repeater 146985.
PL tone is 100 hertz. And for those who use
tone squelch, Please use 94.8 hertz.
This repeater also hosts the 95 workbench on
Monday nights at 8 o'clock. The workbench
focuses on answering technical questions as
well as exploring topics related to setting
up your gear, your operating station, how to
build an amplifier, fix your antenna, or
non-ham radio related questions. So check out
Monday night at 8 o'clock and don't forget
Thursday nights as well. Newcomers are very
welcome and encouraged to check in. If you
can't stay long, feel free to call during these
short time check ins at the beginning of the
round table. And we'll put you at the top of
the list, get you in and out in no time. The
questions are informal, passing the mic around
in order in which the station calls in, so
I encourage you to take note of who checks in
right after you and before, of course. So
you'll be able to turn it over to the next station
in line when you finish your comments. Now,
it's pretty informal, like I said, we usually
begin with a question as a discussion starter.
You can answer that if you want or you can comment
about other subjects as well. Any suggestions
or questions about the roundtable, please contact
Phil, KC3CIB, or Jim, AF3Z. Both are good on
QRZ. Now don't be too quick to talk. Pause a
couple seconds before hitting the PTT button
or the press the top switch. This is good etiquette
and also we don't want to like say the beginning
of your call sign, or only getting the last
couple letters, or just missing the sentence
altogether. So press. the PTG button, wait a
second or so, and then start talking. lit up
on your mic every two or three minutes or so
just for a moment. don't have to, so you don't
time out the repeater which has a three minute
timer. And so that's pretty good there. This
is W3MFB once again, Thorndale Mic hosting
the 985 roundtable. Tonight's question for
discussion is, get your pencils ready, have
you ever built your own antenna? Okay. And
for what band? I mean, it even could have been
a Wi-Fi antenna. It doesn't matter. Have you
ever built your own antenna? For what band that
you were using it on? And how did it go? Just
tell us about your experiences about building
your own antenna. So that's the question for
tonight. And I guess we're going to start to
get my pad out here. We're to start taking
short timers. For digital, meaning All-Star
or EchoLink, please leave a little space in
there. So any for the short time list of 95
round table, digital, All-Star or EchoLink,
please call. This is W1RC Mobile. Short time
is first. When I get home, I'll check back
in and I'll be longer time. How's that?
you
Oh, I'm still transmitting.
This is KV3ZUV short timer via echo link. That's
Kilo Bravo 3 Zulu Uniform Victor. Adam currently
in Bounding Town Borough. All right, so Mike
hung up. Good, good, good, good. Adam, I got
you there. Any other digital EchoLink or All-Star
for the short time list, please call.
Nothing hurt, so we got two. We got W1RC, Mr.
Mike, and KV3WV, Adam. And the question, once
again, is have you ever built your own antenna
for amateur radio or whatever? And what was
the band that you used it on? And how was your
experience with it? So over to Mr. Mike,
W1RC, W3MFP.
Yeah, W3MFP and the Thursday night roundtable
is W1RC. Sorry about that. I'm not quite sure
why my push to talk stayed on. It's supposed
to let go and I let go of the button, which
it does. So I can't say why it stayed on. But
anyways, good evening, everybody. I'm sitting
in a parking lot here at the market. I got to
go back in, but I'll be home soon. And to answer
the question, oh, yes, I built plenty of antennas.
fact, I don't think I've ever bought an antenna.
Yeah, well, yeah, did actually. I bought a
vertical. But I made many antennas, mostly
HF antennas, wire antennas, 75 meter dipole.
The last one I put up was 130 foot NFED,
long wire here in Marblehead. And it works just
fine. It's just measure out 130 feet and get
it up as high as you can. basically it. I sometimes
fail to understand why people even buy antennas,
but I guess the convenience of a wire antenna,
I really have to measure it, you know, that's
how it goes. Anyways, turn it over to the next
station in line and I'll be standing by W1RC
in Salem, Massachusetts.
Okay, Mike, thanks. W1RC, KB3, ZUV, mobile in
Downing Town in the parking lot, running
some errands after work. And Mike, W3MFB,
thanks for taking the chair tonight. Subbing
in, I think, I saw that email go around, you
jumped on that. So should have responded.
Well, it's just as well that I didn't, I haven't
substitute hosted in a few years. It turned
out I actually had a really rough day at work
today, so I would not be in a good mental state
for, uh, for hosting. Um, there's a lot, a lot,
a lot going on, a lot going on at the office.
Um, lot of, uh, Wall Street, Wall Street, uh,
um, shenanigans going on with my company. So,
uh, we'll leave it at that. We'll leave it at
that. I still have a job. So, so, but it's,
it's some, some days I wonder, uh, anyway. Have
I built an ad actually I'm on the opposite
of Mr. Mike. I actually buy most of my antennas
and I've only ever built a couple. I built
a when I was more active on 70 centimeters
back in the day I actually just took a coat
hanger and I found a connector and I just
kind of and I even if I had like a ground plane
I might have just used a I might have just used
a cookie sheet or something like that but
I told I totally. I totally unraveled and straightened
out and clipped with a pair of side cutters,
a coat hanger. So I had a coat hanger antenna
for 70 centimeters. And it worked well, all
the 70 centimeter repeaters in Chester County.
needed to hit my Thorndale. Mike, you and I
have talked on the one 447-075 to AA3VI machine.
We've actually had a couple of QSOs on that
machine. So yeah, that worked pretty well.
Um, and I guess the other thing is, is, know,
I, I, I have, and I still have most of the
parts of it. It's in probably like three different
parts boxes. Now I had the buddy pole, which
is you do buy it, but it's very modular. You,
you buy, when you buy the buddy pole, it's just
a bag full of parts and you kind of construct
different antennas. You know, there's it's a,
it's a, it's a box full of connectors and whips.
and you really need to assemble. It's like some
assembly. So it's like partly you buy it, but
at the end of the day, it doesn't work unless
you hook it up to an analyzer and make sure
that it's actually resonant. it's half buy and
half create. It's not like a hustler or like
one of those steppers where there's a button
that you push and a coil. It's like you really
have to you really have to set everything up
from scratch. it kind of count. would say it
kind of counts as building. Yeah. You hook
up coax to it and things like that. And it
doesn't count as like, you know, what Joe and
some of the other guys do where, you know,
you're building your ladder line and then you
have a wire. I guess I've done that too, as
I've hooked up random wire to the KX3, the KX3
has an amazing internal tuner. And so Joe
actually gave me a, I guess it's like a double
bit, like a banana BNC connector. and you
just undo the leads and you just put random
wires into it and then you just hit the tune
button and it tunes it right up. So I've had
a couple that are like quasi built, right?
But the whole like, one thing I haven't done
is I haven't done like QST will say, oh, well
here's how you make a J-Pole out of some like
copper. copper pipe that plumbers use and
here's how you bend the knee. And here's how
you solder it together and you know, measure
it out and hook that that I that I have not
that I have not done like a classic. I've not
done like a classic follow this follow this
guide from QST to build to build your antenna.
It's always been experimenting with the box
of buddy pole parts or hooking up a random
wire or cutting up a coat hanger just just
like random random stuff. So it's like a half
answer. I would say though most of what I do
is like I do like pre-built and pre-assembled.
I mean, heck, I will hook those up to the
analyzer as well just to make sure that they're
working, just to make sure that they're resonant.
So, all right, enough rambling from me. Let's
get back to the round table. And Mike, I don't
know if you did the non-digital short timers
or if you want to turn it over to the RF side.
But it's good to hear everybody else here enjoying
this little brief respite of summer before the
next heat wave hits us in a couple days. enjoy
it. Enjoy this lovely evening while you can.
73 KV3ZUV clear. Good night. Alright Adam,
thank you, thank you for the weather report,
that's awesome. Thanks, I didn't know that.
But tomorrow's Friday for us working stiffs.
And for your retired people, well, every
day is Friday. No, I didn't get to that yet,
so we're gonna go to it now. Any RF or I
guess digital check-ins for this short time
list on the Thursday night roundtable 146.985.W3GMS
repeater. So any short timers, RF or digital,
please call W3MFP.
Three KZG, short time.
Kilo Delta 3 X-ray will be in and out. Have
a great night.
Now recognize Scott, W3K.G and Barry, KG3X in
and out. Thanks for showing your voice. It's
good to hear you out there, bud. So we'll got
you in and out, so no big deal there. So over
to Scott, W3K.G. Question tonight, have you
ever built your own antenna for what bands
and how was your experience? Over to you, Scott,
W3MFP.
Thanks for doing it tonight, Mike. I'm just
crawled out from under my...
I just got done running a couple of beads of
weld, so kind of hot and sweaty and sitting
around hot steel, was kind of getting to me,
so I had to get out from under there and I...
Here we go. Have I ever built my own?
I would say probably four, two meter and...
little will.
for your the length of the whip. It actually
works. or those and used one on the mobile.
laying around here and they were really they
worked really well. And the other antenna that
I built was my dipole that I have.
It's long, it goes from one corner of the property
all the way to the other corner of the property
and then it's...
tubing and zip.
to a piece of PVC pipe that acts... Each leg
and each leg. to the radial antenna part is
all continuous one piece.
Turn it back over to you, Mike. This will be
one and done.
Yeah, because...
Yeah, good to hear you. Yeah, I remember that.
I remember you telling us about the little
Wilsons. You had it on the car the first time
I ever went to a breakfast and you told me
about it. yeah, that's brilliant. Really great
to hear. So Barry's in and out. Any other short
timers for the 985 roundtable? Analog or digital,
please call.
So those people that can stick around have
a good time on the roundtable here. We're
going to start with the digital check-ins please.
EchoLink or All-Star. I'm not sure if there's
anything else, but yeah, any digital check-ins
that can stick around for tonight's roundtable,
please call.
Whiskey 8, Charlie Romeo Whiskey, CR.
W8CRW, W3MFB, any other digital check-ins?
Please call.
your PTT buttons ready. Any analog check-ins
that wish to stick around tonight or digital,
any analog stations that wish to stick around
for a Thursday night roundtable, please call.
in A3CW. KC300K.
We'll see if I got double AF3s.
2, 3, GMS
W-A-3-V-E-E, W-A-3-K-F-T, John. N-A-3-C-W,
Chuck. K-C-3-O-OK, Bill. A-F-3-Z, Jim. And
the man himself. W-3-G-M-S, Joe. Any other
check-ins for the Thursday Night Roundtable
on 146-9-8-5? All-Star, EchoLink, Analog, please
call.
We'll go fishing later. R8CR, it's all yours,
man. W8CRW, W3MFP. Question, have you built
antennas? And for what bands? And how is your
experience with building them? W8CRW, the
mic goes to you, W3MFP.
Thanks Mike, good evening all, this is CR.
And I have built a few, 2 meter, 1.2, and
I built 140 aviation bands. For a while I
was listening to aviation, not listening
to the aviation, but watching the airplane tracking
and I forgot exactly what it was called. But
that was probably the neatest one. The antenna
radials were about four or five inches long.
That was really neat to build. I just mounted
it right outside the window and it works great.
I just lost interest in watching the airplanes.
So with that, let's go to run. W-A-3-V-E-E-W-H-C-R-W.
Very good, Sear. Thank you so much. WACRW and
the group, WA3VEE over here in Westchester.
And Mike, thanks for hosting tonight. All very
good. Very good question. Simple question,
but a very, very, very good one. But before
I answer that, let me put out an announcement
here. I think all of you have seen the notice
by Joe that Paul, N3RBN's brother, had passed
away. and two things. First of all, if you
haven't seen it, please take a look at it.
The O-Bit is in there. The viewing is going
to be, I thought it was going to be originally
in Pottstown. It's not. It's going to be over
in East Gosian Township on Line Road, which
is just, if you're heading towards Paoli, it's
off Paoli Pike just before Bryn Mawr Rehab.
So that's 11 o'clock on Saturday. All the
details are in the O-Bit. I plan on attending.
and at least partially representing 985 or
wholly representing 985 over there in person.
pretty sad. remember working Paul on 5-2 Simplex
aeronautical mobile as his brother flew their
sport aircraft. And this is the brother who
did that. He was the pilot. So please consider
offering some condolences to Paul. If you would
like to contribute to flowers, stand by. contribute
to flowers. Joe in his email mentioned that
he sent a nice flower arrangement on behalf
of the 985 repeater group, All of Us. If you
would like to contribute to that, you can
send anything that you feel like giving to
me. I'm good on QRZ and I will make sure that
Joe gets it for sure. So I wanted to make sure
that that was out there. So make everybody
aware that... of Paul's loss there. very
sad and my condolences and sympathies go to
Paul and his family. Okay, antennas, yes indeed
many, many, In fact, I had my students building
antennas. The short story is like CR, while
I was going to engineering school at Drexel
during my EM waves or electromagnetic wave series,
which is par field theory basically as we
know it in EE. I also built a cubical quad
for the aircraft band and I was able to receive
118.5 and what that frequency is is the tower
frequency for Philadelphia and it only puts
out a few watts because all the communications
are aligned to sight pretty much to aircraft
up in the air but I was able to receive that
on that cubical quad in Wilmington at my parents
where I was living at the time. also built
many, dipoles. Stand by.
echo Mr. Mike and wondering why anybody would
ever buy a dipole antenna. But in any event,
as part of the course also what I used to do
is I used to have my students actually measure
out using the 984 over the frequency in megahertz
and allowing for velocity factor and everything
else, we would actually build antennas and
then using the K3 DTS call sign, we'd go out
in the parking lot, erect them, very poorly
of course, because they couldn't have really
any masking out there, and we would actually
communicate. And they thought that was the
coolest thing, and I resolved it in several
of them getting, well, more than several,
a couple dozen of them getting their amateur
radio license. So many, many antennas, no
doubt about it. So John, I know you've never
built an antenna in your entire life. WA3KFT
to take it. WA3VE.
W-A-3-V-E-E, W-A-3-K-F-T in the net. Oh, come
on.
I have built a lot of antennas and they are
in the air. Well, except for one. I made a
two meter, three element quad and wood framing
and so on and I used... indoors in an apartment
house that got me a directional two meter antenna.
The pole I used was one of these spring loaded
poles between the floor and the ceiling. Sometimes
you have pole lamps and things like that.
and with plexiglass in between can be a room
divider. So I just bought one pole. And I don't
know where the pole is, but I know where the
quad is. It's hanging in the ceiling here in
the basement. But I built an 80-meter dipole,
and it's still up. A double element. One element
is for the low end of 80 meters. The other end
is for the high end of 80 meters. because at
the time I was very active in Air Force Mars
and their frequency was just above 4.0 megahertz.
I have a 40 meter fan dipole that I built and
that's going across the backyard. I have
three elements, 40 meters, 20 meters, and 10
meters. So it's considered a fan dipole. Build
a two meter ground plane. And with the four
elements for the ground plane, I actually
ran a wire on the ends all the way around so
it looked like a skeleton of an umbrella with
a vertical antenna on it. I built two coaxial
collinears, one for 220 and one for 432. Those
are on top of my tower inside PVC pipe. I built,
I said before the quad, I had to make a list
here. There's no way I could spit them all out
from memory. And one of them that I built in
the basement of my first house, and it is currently
on my tower here, on my second house, was a
six element, six meter beam on a 20 foot...
That one came from the A-R-R-L. I think it
was, and it was made from pieces. I salvaged
a TV antenna and that gave me the three rear
elements, the driven element, a director and
a reflector. And then I found some other tubing
and I put three directors in front of it. So
that's on a 20-foot boom. and I've had very
good success with that six meter beam. yeah,
half of the antennas I have up in the air
I built. I did not purchase. So over to Chuck,
NA-3CW, WA-3KFT.
Very good, John. WA3KFT and A3CW. I saw when
you came before me, I thought, well, I got
time to do some things. Because I knew you were
going to have a long list. Well, I got one
too. And Mike, thanks for driving the bus.
And also, it was a great question because
it kind of dragged me down memory lane. Different
places have been and antennas have made. Let's
see, up on the shelf at the moment I got a 2
meter tape measure antenna 3 element Yagi for
fox hunting. We used to do that on Guam a bit.
I've made a 220 ground plane out of the
standard SO239 connector. I'm in Virginia in
my backyard. I was in an HOA, but I had trees.
So I had a disguised 20 meter full wave loop
up in the trees as well as a copper J-pole
on the roof that kind of looked like plumbing.
They worked pretty well. On Guam at home, I
had the driven element of a TA-33 up on a 22
foot pipe that was laid in the backyard for
Chain Lake Fence. top rail. So I stood that
up and kind of strapped it to the edge of the
house and used to work the states with it. I've
built a couple of broadband receiving loops
with preamps in them. Phil has one of them.
The other one's in my backyard.
Over the years, many dipoles, 20, 40, 80, I
made a six meter delta loop, which is currently
in my garage. 20 meter ground plane I had in
my backyard in Westchester Just piece pipe
two pieces of Aluminum tubing sitting on a
fiberglass pole With ground plane wires that
would have and they went out to slope down.
I went to the ground almost Tied off on cinder
blocks, so I'd have to move those every time
I needed to mow My wife didn't like tripping
over the meter I built a C.A.G.E.S. built a
moxin rectangle for TV channel 14 to hunt down
a interference on Guam. We ended up tracking
it down to a bad transmitter at the main headquarters
of the cell, one of the cell companies there.
I also have 136 megahertz moxin built with
on two, it's made of wire on two yardsticks
in an X pattern. And I use that for tracking
down noisy power poles, of which I have one
at the moment down at end of the street. When
Joe and I were young in Limber, we made a five-element
wide-space 40-meter wire beam up at the hill,
which is now where the repeater is. And we
used to terrify people on the West Coast with
that thing. see any others. others, but that's
enough. So I built a bunch of antennas. yeah,
it's, antenna is one of those things where it's
easier done than said. mean, they're not that
hard to design. Everybody's been designing antennas
since the dawn of time. just take a design,
build it, put it up, it'll work. You'll work
stations. So there you go. So enough of all
that, and over to... Bistroville, KC3OOK,
NA3CW.
NA 3CW KC 30K.
It really forced me to learn.
entitled to Chuck's block that he has at the
top.
him but
Yeah, I have built most of mine. I guess I
did.
more like hooking up than building a...
Did have a ground...
It never worked very well and I knew nothing
about radios, so that might have had something
to do with it. there with a dipole, think a
40 meter dipole. When we lived up in Lansford,
we were in downtown and I ran a wire, I had
a second floor shack and I ran my wire out
the front window, off to the left, across the,
half of the front of the house, down back
along the side of the house and then a neighbor
on, faced the back street behind us, so our
back door's not. right against each other but
were catty cornered from each other. He let
me hook up and it was a tall building, it was
like about three stories so my random wire
went up from the back corner of my house up
to his floor and used that with a tuner. And
I think the tuner is built out of parts from
an old DX100 transmitter by the way. Hub W3PTM
I think was his call up in. area had given
me this old boat anchor. I didn't have a
boat so I made a tuner out of it. I don't know
what else but anyway that was the story on
that. And I've had various kinds of wires but
I ended up really drifting towards using a
tuner and just some sort of dipole whether
it's coax or balanced line fed and doesn't
have to be tuned to any precise frequency and
it's best not have it with a resonant. That's
another story too. So anyway, that's what I've
done. VHF and UHF, I have never, I don't think,
built an antenna for those. I've never had much
up in the air until the beam that I've got
now. But HF has always been wires. Easy, I've
had fan dipoles, regular dipoles, inverted
V's. I have a 10 meter vertical dipole out back
now. regular dipole, vertically hung into
trees. So all kinds of shapes and sizes, the
wires are fun to play with. I enjoy getting
them on the air, getting them loaded up, however,
seeing where they'll work. Joe, I had to
look at my list. Good to hear you tonight.
W3GMS AF36.
Good Jim, AF3Z and the 985 roundtable W3 GMS.
Thanks for sitting in the captain's chair
Mike, great great question tonight. It's almost
a question that you could have put on the workbench
on Mondays because we could dig deep into this
one. Well I'll try to summarize my comments.
Chuck already mentioned one thing with the
big wire beam pointed towards the west coast
up at the what is now the repeater site. And
I know whether you were around Chuck, but we
put a three element beam for 75 up there as
well. And Harry always had a reference dipole.
So it was like a power switch, a bakelite power
switch on the side that controls relays. And
he just got the sheepish, sneaky grin on his
face. And we'd go from the reference dipole
to the beam. And the beam just performed unbelievably
well. I often kid it and I say, you know Harry
why this thing works so good as I think the
worms up here are resonant on 40. That is such
a great 40 meter location. So that was that
and that was my first shot into wire beams,
wide space and all that kind of stuff. So let's
say as a young radio amateur I put up a dipole.
It was actually a fan dipole. Although I'm
not sure why it was a fan dipole because I
didn't have any 40 meter crystals in my 75 meter
crystal. I don't think double to the right
novice portion of 40, but there was some something
about I put up a 40 meter dipole. Maybe I saving
my money to buy a crystal. Back then, everything
was crystal controlled. 75 watts, not output,
but input was the max power. And I got an official
observer card which says I was a bad boy because
they heard me on 40. when I was on 80. So I
said, well, I know why that's happening. So
I took the fan dipole down and just put the
80 meter dipole and no more official observer
reports. So that was that. All my HF pretty
much has been wire antennas. I favor dipoles
because they're balanced. I've been using open
wire line for 50 years. I love it. I realize
everybody can't use it. because of the physical
situation and things like that, but I just
love open wire line. If you couple that with
a good low-loss tuner, you've really got it
made in the shade, and you have the most efficient
multi-band antenna alive. So that was that.
So moving up to when my mentor told me to build
the repeater, all the initial antennas on
the repeater were Phelps Dodge Super Station
Masters, and you don't build them. Well, you
can't build them. but they're not real easy
to build. So that was a purchase. And I think
at the time, back in 75, they were $1,500 for
one antenna. That was a lot of money. But then
when I put the six meter repeater on on 5,299
up at the hill, I built a transmit antenna
and a receive antenna for six. And I settled
on a vertical dipole. inside a plastic housing
and they really worked well. I had one plastic
housing at the top of 110 foot tower up there,
which is no longer there. And I had the other
one on an 80 foot tower, which is, I don't
think there. So I had vertical separation
between them. I still needed this monstrosity
of a duplexer, but I built them and they worked
really well. And that is where I learned that
velocity factors matters because I had the
things pruned and tuned perfect. They're made
out of half inch copper water pipe. And then
when I slid them into the plastic sheathing
to protect them from the elements, you know,
the resident point changed all over the place.
That was due to the velocity factor difference
because of the material that I put them in.
Let's see, at home here, I did have a six
element high gain. 10, 15, and 20 meter beam
up. I did not build that, I bought that. And
of course we have all the VHF, UHF, Yagis for
all the linking stuff and all that kind of stuff.
For the repeater to give all star and Echo
Link and all that. So I think that's pretty
much it. least that's enough to talk about.
So over to you Mike, W3MFB and the Thursday
night round table. W3GMS. 3MFB, alright,
alright, good. I like to hear everybody's story,
you know. And I like that Chuck said, went
down memory lane. That's what I wanted to hear.
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. I guess I'll
answer the question. Seeing that I have to.
Yeah, so I've attempted to build some stuff
over the years, but not perfected like some
of you folks, but... the six meter dipole
and that was fun and it worked pretty well.
Had it in the attic over the garage and that
was a bad idea because the RF got in the house
all over the place. Over the beakers I had
these, all right back in the day, quick story,
back in the day had software, had a buddy
of mine, he was an IT guy, he still works at
Kennet Consolidated School District. Bobby,
he built a computer for me so I could record
and make my own music. A fun little hobby
I had for about 10 years or so. Anyway, so
I had these really great computer speakers
that you would plug into your desktop or whatever.
Big sub-author, that thing will shake your
house. And some tweeters and whatnot. So anyway,
the six meter in the house and all the 50
megs was coming through the speaker. sounded
like Darth Vader. The wife was bugged out
and everything. So but yeah, let's learn to
put it outside, you know, so we did that and
everything was fine But it's like up and down.
I don't have a permanent spot for it Right
now I got to think about that still to this
day a couple verticals for try and sake,
quarter wave ground planes I should say. with
some... 6 gauge solid copper wire and then
built that through a plan that you can find
on the internet with all the particulars.
And that worked pretty well. That was fun to
play with. I built it for 220 and was using
it on the HD and it worked pretty well. Got
into a few repeaters, had a few Q-Suits on
it, and then all of a sudden I was like, oh,
I'm going to cut this for GMRS. And I did.
So I just kind of shortened everything up and
it worked fine for that. Other than that, not
too much else. I dabbled with thinking about
doing a two meter dipole coax connections.
All of these things were coax connections. But
I did make one out of some copper pipe for
GMRS as well, which was basically a dipole in
the vertical position. either way. And that
worked pretty well, and I still have that in
that attic over the garage. Just haven't really
touched it in a while. But yeah, that's about
it there. Just, I guess random wires, that
would be fun. I do have a manual tuner here.
FJ Versatuner, 941 Delta. So I guess I could
do what Adam was saying before and just put
some random wire on there and play with it.
But yeah, I just thought it was a good question
and I figured some, you know, everybody would
have a yarn about it. yeah, so that's what we
did. So here we are, Thursday night roundtable
on W3GMS's repeater 146.985. Still looking for
check-ins and I know Mike up there in Massachusetts
said he would be back home soon. So we'll listen
out for him. Are there any other? People that
would like to join the roundtable tonight, please
call analog or digital. It's your choice. W3MFB.
for Mr. Mike there, maybe he's not back on
his errand yet, but we will be here and listening
for sure, W8CRW to take it, W3MFB. Very good,
Mike. In the interim between round one and
round two, I have a honeydew request, so I'm
no longer on the digital side. I'm on RF on
one of those homemade antennas right now in
the basement workshop. So I believe it's working.
Is it working? and you're loud and proud, loud
and proud. Go ahead, see ya. Good, so now
this is one of those homemade two meter antennas
and I believe on this one I used some 1 1⁄8
inch bracing rod to put together the dipole
and they work well and easy to make. And
while you were thinking about it, on HF I have
a G5 RV that's been down now for a long time.
So I have my random wire sticking out on the
end of the radio and it worked well enough
that I didn't talk to Leon last week. So I'm
in no rush to fix the G5RP because there are
other jobs to do first. With that, let's go
to Ron. W-A-3-V-E-E-W-H-C-R-W.
W-A-T-R-W and the group W-A-T-R-E-V-E-E. Well,
not much more to add here. Oh boy, just man,
many antennas, many antennas. Also, what I like
about doing the antennas is actually the analysis
as well. The performance analysis that is. Of
course, designing, like Chuck said, they're
pretty much established. The kinds of antennas
that I do here, I've done at the college and
so on. are pretty standard so they've been,
as Chuck said, they've been designed since
20 years after dirt was invented, definitely.
what I like is the, okay, how does this perform?
How can I get the bandwidth to be broader?
How can I increase the gain or how can I
get this thing to perform better? those are
kind of the fun parts of it also besides just
building. And of course there are some antennas
like the one you're hearing me on right now
that I'm transmitting with the X300. Those are
not easy to build so those are purchased.
So a lot of times the verticals are the ones
that, the more complex verticals. Quarter
waves of course are simple, they're trivial.
If you don't mind throwing a good white shirt
on the ground, you take the iron or the steel
wire coat hanger that that shirt was hung on,
you make it straight, you put 18 inches, measure
it to 18 inches, you put some radials around
it, and you got yourself a two meter antenna.
That kind of stuff impressed my students.
They couldn't believe it was actually that easy.
said, well, that one is. That's all you really
basically need. And of course, also, Like
I said, the analysis is fun with the antenna
analyzers and so on. And getting it just right
is always fun also. Understanding that a lot
of these analysis tools work well into 50 ohms
and very often that's almost never what you
have when you get started. So with that, John,
you and Chuck, of course, and Joe, quite a
list, of course. all kinds of variations and
everything. And yep, you're sounding good,
John. And CR, you're also sounding good through
the repeater. Over to you, John. And thanks
again, Mike, for doing this tonight. WA3KFT
to take at WA3VE. WA3VEE and the net, WA3KFT.
I forgot a couple. I made a six meter two element
beam and a wooden boom and I put loading
coils in the elements. Basically I just had
a driven element and a director or maybe
it was a reflector, I forget now. and it was
used for transmitter hunts. I needed a six
meter beam that I could put in the back seat
of my car. Well, one element for six meters
is big. It's almost six feet long. But if you
put loading coils in it, you can shorten it
up so that it's only about two and a half feet.
And that's exactly what I did. The center part
was stainless steel and On the ends I had some
ceramic insulators which I wound a coil around
the insulator and then on the outboard side
I just put solid copper wire. What's nice about
it was you could fold it up and throw it in
the back seat of the car. And I also have a
two meter tape measure beam for transmitter
hunts and so forth. But early on I did a lot
of six... meter transmitter hunts. And just
having a six meter dipole full size, you either
had to put it on the roof of the car or you
had to disassemble it and reassemble it every
time you wanted to use it. So like I said,
I made one that had solid pieces in the middle
of the elements, heavy copper wire on the ends
and I could fold up the... wire and throw it
in the backseat of the car. Still have that
antenna too. But we used to have transmitter
hunts once a month during the summer.
Fair game was a five mile radius of the parking
lot of S. Klein's. Well, S. Klein's isn't there
anymore. I forget what store it is, but it was
the big shopping center at the end of the media
bypass just before you got to Route 320. That
was the starting point. And a five mile radius
was fair territory. Well, five miles from there.
was actually Walber's Restaurant on the Delaware
River. So, you you had a lot of geography.
You could go hide a transmitter. But the
transmitter hunts were miles traveled multiplied
by the minutes that it took you to find it.
And I've managed to get five trophies because
I won five different. transmitter hunts
on six meters over the years. W-A-3-C-W, Chuck.
NA-3-C-W. W-A-3-K-F-T.
Give a little pause for the cause, WA3KFT and
A3CW. Oh yeah, let's see. Oh, I made an antenna
for Sun and Law, Matt, and for MRW back when
they had something resembling a teeny tiny
little backyard. I made a wooden frame and
got some fiberglass tubing and stood that
up and put a length of soft copper tubing.
like was like 3-8 tubing up in it. And then
had a remote tuner, old ICOM AH-2 tuner built
into a box right at the bottom of it. And
then had some random radials that went out
along the inside of their fence, because they
were in a townhouse cluster in an HOA. So...
He was actually able to get on the air and
work stations, but they have since moved to
where that's not even possible. So the remains
of that are in my shed. It did work though,
and it hurt very well. Talk about the tape
measure. Yeah, we did quite a bit. I and my
kids, we did a lot of fox hunting on Guam.
And we found a couple of interesting factoids
about fox hunts. One is nobody looks up. And
so you can do some interesting hide and plain
sight things if you put them up high, like
just above head level. And my daughter was very
good. I could get them in the neighborhood
pretty quickly. It could be anywhere on the
one side of the island. It could be anywhere.
I could get them in, say, the last 100 feet
very quickly. And then it was a matter of whether
we radioed direction founded or just eyeballed
it. And the Fox was a 50 caliber ammo box
painted brown. had a rubber duck on it. And
so my daughter was excellent. She found it
on top of cinder block walls. She found one
on the crook of a tree because nobody ever
looks up. for anybody that's going to hide
a Fox, there's my tip for the day. Yeah,
antennas are. There's two kinds antennas. There's
permanent antennas and temporary antennas.
And if you're doing a temporary antenna, you
can slap an amazing amount of just stuff together
and make it work. It will radiate. mean, W loads
radiate somewhat. Now, if you're going to
build for the ages, you're going to build for
ice storms and hurricanes and whatever, you've
got to go about mechanically thinking about
it a different way, especially if trees are
involved. Slapping together something temporary,
anything works. I've heard of guys, you know,
they visit their cousin or whatever and they
brought a radio but didn't have an antenna.
They wanted to get on HF. So they went to
like a tractor supply and they bought a roll
of that white tape they used to make temporary
electric fences out of. It's got a... several
stainless wires that run along the length of
this white tape. And so he made a dipole out
of the tape and it's not the most efficient
because it's stainless, but it radiated. They
jiggled electrons with it and it spat out photons.
I think the best one was, I think it was
Timtron, Joe. WA-1 Henry Yellar, one of the
most interesting people in the world. He went
to visit a cousin and so they didn't have any,
he had a rig but didn't have an antenna. So
what he did was he took a length of rope and
he soaked it in a bucket of highly salted
water. And then after a while, took it out,
still wet of course, hung it up. And I worked
a bunch of stations with it until it dried out.
And then they took it down and soaked it in
the bucket again. And they did this several
times. and they had a great time with it.
Almost anything will work for a temporary antenna.
So that's good news if you just want to play,
learn, and get a feel for it. If I do this,
then this happens. People get afraid of making,
well, I don't know how to make the optimum antenna.
Who cares? Make a temporary one, and you'll
find that you will zero in on the optimum a
whole lot faster. So enough of my preaching.
Over to Mr. Bill. And Mike, again, thanks for
the question and being there. KC30OK and A3CW.
NA 3CW, KC 3 OK. Yeah, great question. I've
been listening and...
didn't answer part of your question was how
did it work and the answer to that part is
it's unknown because the Amstack isn't set up
yet but I have it on very very good authority
that it's going to work just
I the only other I can say, I built the antenna,
it seems like I rebuilt it alone. 6B2 boomer.
actually, I think, have re-drilled and re-done
every...
about why we're talking it. be them setting
up a beam because it's one thing to set it
up in the...
Thank you, Bill. AF3Z here. Yeah, I thought
of another one that I made. Well, I thought
of two of them. One, this goes back to the 1980s.
I think that was in last century. was seeing
plans somewhere for maybe three element quad
or something for two meters and I slapped
something together but one of the things I learned
in that
For some of these things, mechanical stability
is very important. If it's too floppy, the
impedance...
remember making that and made it out of wood
cross pieces and stuff but I didn't do a good
job of building it. I don't think it ever really
flew. The other thing I made, and this worked
to some degree that I've never really tried,
it was mainly for kicks. I had a little bit
of quarter inch copper tubing or something.
I made a mag loop, but for two meters. So this
thing is like about a three inch diameter little
copper coil. And for the capacitor, I just
had what they call a gimmick capacitor. I
think it was two pieces, short stubs of like
twin lead. And oh yeah, I just remembered.
Twin lead, you know, like TV twin lead. And
I drilled a hole through the end. the one end,
well the outer end is floating in free space.
Well, anyway, it was out there. So I can't
just...
The capacitor hooks to a little break in the
loop. so one of these little tabs of twin
lead connect to the one side and the other connects
to the other. And you vary the capacitance
by how far apart these two tabs are sticking
back into the loop. And so I drilled a hole
through the installation between or through
these two tabs of twin lead. They might have
been like three inches long or something. And
then I used a nylon bolt that I could, and
like it with a wing nut on it. And it was made
so it had some tension to it so I could adjust
the capacitor by tuning that nylon bolt, small
little nylon bolt that went through. So it
was very much building a little antenna. And
I remember trying it out in the driveway and
talking to somebody here on 985. But it just
sits down in the closet down there. It was
kind of a fun thing. I had made another time
I saw a mag loop kind of thing in an article
and it was made out of coax and you made two
loops and again I didn't make a good enough
frame for it and so getting it to match and
stay in a spot was very, very difficult. And
that's another one that I never really worked
on again. I have a temptation to do pretty
sloppy construction unless I really try hard.
So. Back to you there, Joe, once again. W3GMS,
AF3Z. Okey dokey W3GMS, I know everybody,
would you please look at your email if you
did not file the comments so we can retain
the 420 to 430 megahertz, I'm sorry, the 430
to 440 megahertz portion of the band. I suggest
you file that. We had a lot of people in the
first, but first filing, but they've extended
the filing. I think it's August 2nd, so if
you haven't done it, it's real simple. Open
my email, read the blurb. Copy and paste Ron's
blurb into your response if you agree with it.
And then hit the FCC when you get on their
website, which there's a link for their website,
and you cut and paste the blurb there. And
then you fill out some other stuff and you're
done. And I did go back and look at the FCC
website and my comments are there. So wanted
to mention that. also, Ron, thank you for bringing
up the situation about Paul's brother. Paul
had two brothers. I think the brother that
died that passed away, what was it, six months
ago a year, I think he was the pilot that...
rode with, know, and he'd operate aeronautical
mobile on 985. This brother, his core skill
set was as a musician and things like that.
and that's kind of in the obituary, so I think
it's the other brother. Now, the brother that
just passed, he also loved flying as well,
but I don't think he and Paul built a plane
together like Paul did with his other brother.
So, you know, and if you look at it, not to
dwell on things, but he lost his father. He
lost both brothers within probably what, year.
And that's tough duty. Anyway, I wanted to
mention that and thanks for bringing that up.
Yeah, well, there's no perfect antenna, so
don't even try to achieve it. Every antenna
is different based on your situation, but
do not let it deter you from putting an antenna
up, even though you know. it's not a very
efficient antenna because you're on workstations.
So that's just kind of the way it is. You know,
we read the textbooks and we said, oh yeah,
that, that, that, that, that, that, that,
a lot of times people just don't have either
the property or the supports or whatever to
put something about more theoretically perfect
up, but do not allow that to deter you. Keep
in mind too, anytime you add a coil to an antenna,
you introduce loss. And mind you, when you're
working a mobile antenna, you can't have a 62
foot vertical on the back of your 55 Chevy.
So you have to have a coil. You have to a loading
coil. And that's fine. But anytime you have
to add anything to an antenna, the efficiency
goes down. You can control the loss through
the wire pretty well. We all know that the pattern
on the wire is because of the skin effect.
Most of the electrons are on the surface. So
there's various wires that cater to that well.
But if you took a 12 gauge wire and then you
compared it to a 28 gauge wire on a fixed station,
you know, there's considerably more losses for
the 28 than the 12 now. Are you still going
to work stations? Absolutely. The other thing,
last, and I'll get off my bandwagon on that,
the only disadvantage of open wire line is an
antenna tuner. Because the antenna tuner has
L's and C's and it has loss. So some antenna
tuners are better than others for controlling
the loss. And it's been some time ago, maybe
two, three years ago, but QST put all the
marketable antenna tuners in the lab. think
this was when Bob Allison, the lab tech, was
there, lab engineer. And it was really interesting
to see the losses with the tuner. So that's
another loss. Now it's a manageable loss. Because
if you build it or if you buy it, you know
what things to look for to try to make sure
that the loss is minimized based on the topology
that they've used. So there you go on that.
W-73, thanks Mike. I just planted all my flowers
outside. I've had these flowers for a couple
weeks and the poor flowers are either gonna
croak or they're gonna get planted. So was out
there with a flashlight, planting the flowers
and they're all done now. So we'll give them
a good drink of water in the morning. W-3MFB,
W-3GMS, now clear. Alright, thanks for the fly...
Great, great, great, great comments. Awesome,
awesome. You know, quick PSA here from W3MFB.
469852 meter repeater, W3GMS owned and operated
and we all contribute a verse. hey, if you're
out there listening, I'm not talking to you
guys, I'm talking to the people listening out
there that maybe just got their license, maybe
you're thinking about getting their license,
maybe wondering what the heck Ham Radio is.
This is a great group. This is a great group
in the area, Chester County and surrounding
area. You're not going to find, we're not
really a club. Joe calls us the 9-8-5 family,
you know? You got your brothers, your cousins,
your uncles, your grandpas, and the like, your
friends, your family. You know, this is a great
group to be part of, of the amateur radio service.
Because we all do it. We all do each other
a service by teaching each other about amateur
radio and life in general. we're there. Amateur
radio operators are there in case there's an
emergency. That's what this was all about.
This is why it was created. So I suggest that
if you're interested in amateur radio, you
check out www.arl.com. or dot org I should
say, I'm sorry. look into maybe getting your
technician license. They have a book that's
published, teaches you all about the source
material, has the questions for the question
pool because there is a test, but if I can
do it, you can do it. And you can make new
friends, learn a bunch of things, and serve
others with the amateur radio service. Sorry
Joe, PSA, just... just saying because you know
there's people out there listening and there's
people out there interested as well. from
our sponsor W3MFB, last comment. Chuck nailed
it on the head there about the gentleman that
didn't have the antenna, got the rope, it in
the salt water and I was just watching Walt,
salty Walt, talking about being next to the
ocean and using the ocean. the salt water as
a reflector, you know, how it kind of just shoots
the URF out into the ionosphere. I did the
same thing. I was at Aaron's house, KC-3KZB.
Haven't heard that call in a while, but I was
at his house one day with my Zygoo and a little
jumper I made with some lobster clips and
some wire. And I coaxed, had a short run of
a 17 foot coax, and I hooked up to his wider
fence with the giant pylons, you know, the posts
that were where animals would be, that was
all around his property, this bit of his property.
And I was, he was putzing in the garage doing
some car stuff, and I was out there sitting
in the grass in the driveway, hooked up to
his wider fence, got on 80 meter, tuned in with
the Zykoos internal, Zygu or... Seizure or
however they say it internal tuner got on 80
meters in the broad in the evening I should
say so people were on there Made a few contacts
and it was just is more of like a QSA. Hey,
how you doing? Can you hear me kind of thing
and Yeah, his wire fence and he comes out.
He's like, yeah, what are you doing? He's like,
what are you doing my fence? So I'm like, oh,
hope that made an antenna, know, it's on the
ground. It's totally compromised out the wazoo,
but He heard me talking to these guys in upstate
New York, passing in around X a little bit.
And we were just passing it back and forth,
having a little conversation. And I was just
trying to show him that, like, hey, anything
could be an antenna, as long as it's metal,
of course. But I just learned a salt water
rope can actually do it too, so that's brilliant.
I've seen this guy. In Iowa, he's a QRP guy
on YouTube. He even hooked up a live corn stalk
and made contacts on 20 meter. So yeah, know,
anything could be an antenna. I figured this
would be a great question tonight, and I'm glad
everybody had a great time answering the question.
And yeah, so that's that. This is Mike, W3MFB,
Thorndale Mike. Any other check-ins, last
check-ins that want to get on the list, maybe
contribute a verse yourself, please call
W3MFP. Number three Oscar bill foxtrot.
W3OGF, W3MFD in the group. Go ahead, John.
an answer to the question, I never built any
antennas and thanks for hosting Mike. And
as usual, I'm just listening to a very informative
conversation. 73N, for your GF.
Thanks for popping in. appreciate it, buddy.
That's great to hear you here tonight. Any
other check-ins for the Thursday Night Roundtable
before we close the door? This is Chris, KD3
EMS. Thanks for the late check-in. As far as
putting on antennas, I'm a new ham, so really
the only antennas we played with was analog
TV antennas. know, wrapping wire around door
handles and stuff like that to get a better
signal. So, that was my experience back in
the 80s. But other than that, this is my first...
to hear you buddy. Jack, you know Jack and
Jack knows you and all that jazz. Hey Chris,
I got a quick question for you buddy. Did you
go to St. Joe's Elementary? I did not, grew
up in East Fallowfield, so I went to East Fallowfield
Elementary, the old school that's still there
now, and then into South Brandywine and then
Cache.
I'm the host of the roundtable tonight. I
know you're first and last, so I apologize
for the question. Went to that Catholic school
at elementary with a gentleman, same name,
had to ask, and when can I get the chance?
All right, Chris, thank you so much.
call any other late check-ins for the Thursday
night roundtable just to get on the list.
Well, this was fun, gentlemen, and thank you
very much for coming out. And don't forget,
Monday night, next Monday, 8 o'clock, the workbench.
And I'm not sure who's hosting. Unfortunately,
I don't know. And I'm not sure about next Thursday
for the roundtable. But please use Joe's machine.
Got to make that electric bill go spin, spin,
spin. And thank you very much for letting me
pop in here for Jack. I went down to his station
where he's volunteering firemen down by Hopewell
Road and 322. Got a tour of the place. It's
it's a brand new station and learned a lot
from him, so that's brilliant. So we wish him
well and say prayers for him. So this is W3MFB
for the Thursday Night Roundtable, concluding
it. Have a good night. Tomorrow's Friday and
keep playing radio. W3MFB, good night.
Thanks Mike and I'll be doing the Lord Willin
and the Crick Don't Rise. I'll be doing the
workbench on Monday night. So hope lots of
people sign in with lots of questions. NHECW.
Thank you, Chuck, and I appreciate you hosting
that. That's awesome.
I'll be sticking around and listening.
CRW, W3MFP, you still there, bud?
Mike, really good tonight.
to say you're wall to wall in treetop toll.
Good on the CB lingo. Yeah. That was just
a little hint that I stuck on the fascia board
to get out. I was on five watts and it works.
Don't use it a lot, but if I'm down in the
laboratory working on something, it's convenient.
What? Man, you were so quiet.
can hit the repeater on an HT if I'm lucky
sometimes. So that works.
That's great. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. It
makes me think like I have the, I have these
ideas like, but it's, it's, you know, I don't
particularly like the summer. I like the summer
for t-shirts and jeans and shorts and stuff,
but like, I don't know. It's just, it's not
the same anymore. I guess. I don't know. But,
uh, looking for cooler weather, looking forward
to that. But I have some ideas like Aaron's
like remember Aaron's ad in downtown, right?
So they have the, next to the Honda place,
where he's at, where he works, there's the
curb park across the street, and the skateboarders
are there and whatnot, but across the way,
where the gazebo is, they have a giant flagpole.
I'm like, huh, I wonder if I could hook that
up to a nine to one, run some co-acts through
there, and pray to God that I don't get arrested,
because I know how downing town cops are. and
hook it up to my car and then clamp the flag
pole to my CB antenna and use it with the Zygoo
to get on like 160 or not in a day. mean the
winter time's one thing, but maybe 80 meters
or whatever. Had to do it in the evening or
something. and then 40 and see if that would
work. Use the tuner on the Zyko because that
thing would tune Aaron's fence, as you know.
But yeah, things like that. Jim talked about
stuff like that, I don't know, four years ago,
probably now, about hooking up to random things.
So I always see that poll and I'm like, yeah,
what are these days? I just don't want to get
arrested. If you could figure a stealthy way
to do it when there's nobody walking around,
good luck. But yeah, they probably wouldn't
appreciate it, you know.
Yeah, oh man. It's always something broken,
Mike. That's what took me away from the digital
way. She comes in and says, can you...
goes back to you. W3MSB WHCRW.
Yeah, I'll think of a way. I will think of a
way. Even if I gotta just pretend I'm picnicking
right on the lawn there with the backpack and
I'll even put out some food just in case. Or
just become friends with a cop, I guess would
probably be the best way to do it. Take the
long road on it, the wrong route. I did find
out from people that knew about the flagpole
and they said it was 85 feet. So that's good
to know. for some math I guess but yeah we'll
figure it out we'll get it on the air at some
point because I'm crazy enough to do it or
try it anyway so but yeah yeah there's always
something to fix for sure you doing all right
otherwise? 3Z Okay, and go ahead Jim.
I preface my comment by I don't know what I'm
talking about because I haven't built those
kinds of antennas. Maybe it's a gamma match,
I'm not sure. But the flag pole is probably
not well insulated from ground. So you probably
want to make your connection, yeah, have a
ground connection, but then have the, like the
center conductor connection up some distance
up the side of the pole. I don't know, maybe
you could get a magnet or a... rope or something
tied around the pole to hold your connection
up. And you could vary it up and down a little
bit to get the good match. I've thought about
doing that too, but I've never done it to
a flagpole like that. But I would think if
you don't just attach the connection to the
bottom of the pole, but up a little higher it
might go better. Back to you, Mike. Yeah,
you know, there is, I guess about four feet
up or so. There's some connections, I don't
know, like brackets or something that are welded
onto the pole itself, right around the level
where the gentleman or lady would be hoisting
up the Old Glory, you know? So, yeah, there
is stuff that's there. And I've seen guys do
this on YouTube where they would do that. They
would... hook up to a flag pole or a lamppost
or something of that nature and then put the
other clamp to their mag mount antenna and
then run it into either a tuner or the radio
with a tuner and it seemed to work out. So yeah,
it's just, I'm not worried about that part.
I'm worried about, you know, hooking up to,
I'm not worried about hooking up to the flag
pole. I'm just worried about the authority.
I get hooked up wrong with the law. I reduce
the air.
Very good, Jim, hooked up with the law. That's
appropriate. Very good. Guys, I gotta get
back to what I was doing. Good chatting with
you. And I just thought of another antenna
I made. I made a six meter J-pole out of some
copper pipe. That is the one antenna that
never worked well. I mean, I still have it.
It's out in the shed. I don't think I got it
up high enough in the air, so. That's something
I need to think about. Maybe I can get that
back up in the air and try again see if it'll
work. But that's another one that I made.
And that's the only one I made that was not
really successful. At least not yet. 73, W3MFB
and the group, WHCRW. Talk to you guys later.
Wouldn't you only have to get it off nine
feet off the ground? I mean, if it's a J pulley,
I'm sure you use it for FM, right? It's uh,
nine or ten feet would be good, but I gotta
come up with a better way to get it up in the
air. But that was one I made. I used copper
pipe and it's still assembled and it's in
the shit. Something to think about one day.
Talk to you guys later. God bless. I was
just curious. Thank you. you. AF3ZW3MFB. Yeah,
very good to see you, Aaron. Good to hear you.
My question, you know, I have to come back to
this, but I was wondering if you got much of
a good match SWR-wise. that might be an indicator
of something. anyway, yeah, all kinds of interesting
things. I never did this either, Mike. This
is kind of a funny one, but where we lived
down by Conestoga, were, in the early years
anyway, there were train tracks went by and
no trains ran on it anymore. And they want long
wire, you know, try to load up the train tracks.
But I never got around to doing that either.
And... sure what else is going through my
head. My antenna question at the moment now
is my HF inverted V is up about 30 feet or
more at the center in a tree out back and fed
with the open wire line, but it's insulated
wire on it. So it's no big deal, but there's
a branch that's been growing out and the feed
line is, I don't know if it's tangled in it,
but it's all enmeshed with that branch. trying
to think, how can I cut? It's only maybe an
inch and a half, not a big thing. But I thought,
I don't know if you've ever seen them. They're
these little saws that are like a wire with
some kind of rough stuff on it to cut and a
ring on either end of this flexible wire. So
I thought maybe if I can get a line up over
the tree, I could haul up one of those wire
type things and pull back and forth and cut
it off. Or I could get it stuck up there forever,
AF3Z. W3 MFB. I'm familiar with that. It's
kind of like a chainsaw in a way without the
motor and all that jazz. You just put the chain.
Yeah, I've seen those. That's an interesting
concept. You said 30 feet though. I got a pole
saw but it ain't that. It ain't that at all.
It's got a pole saw and a lopper, telescopic
fiberglass pole, but I don't think it goes
that high. Maybe we can get on a ladder maybe
and use the pole saw or a lopper for an inch.
I'd probably have to use the saw. But there
would be some shaking going on for sure.
Yeah, I could see it in my mind, know, but trying
to get up there to cut it down without breaking
anything, without breaking the antenna basically.
Might want to go back to the tree, you know?
Back to the tree where the branch lies, you
know? That's what I'm thinking. Right where
that branch takes off from a larger branch.
It's not on the branch that comes right from
the trunk. It's a side branch or whatever. And
I've got one of those pole saw things too,
but it doesn't get anywhere near there. And
my little extension ladder only goes up, well,
not very high. And there's nothing to lean on.
This is also moderately away from... so there's
nothing to lean a ladder against. So at the
moment it's just going to stay the way it is.
But I look at it, you know, my grand dog, my
son's dog, was here for three days. So when
I'd be out back giving him time to figure out
if he wants to do anything out back, I'd be
there looking up at the tree and thinking, now
could I do it? It would be hard enough just
throwing a line to get it over that branch.
And it'd be easier in the fall once the leaves
are off the tree too. The crazy thing, Mike,
you might have heard me talk about it, for
about, well, they've been out of here now since
early spring, I guess. But for about a year's
time, and I mean a year, they were here working
in my yard with these big bucket trucks, know,
working on the big high-voltage lines going
by. And over the span of a year, there were
all kinds of these trucks and stuff in my yard,
because they would have had to plow down the
fence to get back to it. The right tool for
the job was there, I just couldn't access it.
AF3Z. Yeah, yeah, that is the right tool, but
you know what those kind of guys? Beer always
works. Beer always works. I know I shouldn't
say that on the machine, but you know, it does
work, trust me. I've had lots of heavy, heavy
things that had to be thrown out on the trash
and you just, you know when the, when the gentlemen
show up with the truck and you just pass them
a sixer and you know, they do the job for you.
So. Just bribery sometimes works. But yeah,
no, man. Yeah, we could figure something out
there. But yeah, you know what? You could
always try a slingshot. It's a little more
accurate. I know Joe's got that big, whomping
slingshot with the pole and everything. But
I just use one of those handheld slingshots.
I got it No Lie Harbor Freight. Seven bucks,
but that was like three years ago, so it's
probably 10 now. And some micro, filament,
fish line, not the nylon kind, but the filament.
And a one ounce sinker. And if you got some
good aim, you could practice in the backyard
with some rocks or whatever, getting your aim
and whatnot. But that might be able to tow
it over. I actually have an arborist throwing
weights, those little sort of cloth bags about
10 ounces worth. And some throwing line is
made especially to be slippery to go over the
branches easily. And I can do pretty well with
that. So that I can get that. It'll just take
a while. When I was putting up my inverted
V that I'm talking about, I had borrowed Joe's
slingshot thing and I used that quite a bit.
But it wasn't just a matter of getting one
line up. I could get the center support up
there, but then I had to get the side wires
up and over other branches. It took quite a
bit of time. Now I can have a little chore
to do around the house, I don't feel like...
you know, oh man, it's gonna take me an hour.
I can't tell you how many hours I put in to
throwing things up into that tree and I lost
some of the weights that his little slingshot
thing shoots up there. And you can see the
monofilament fishing line hanging in the tree
from shots that didn't work. So I come experienced
like AF3Z. Yeah, so you know what I'm talking
about. Yeah, the mono... I can't even say
it right now, but yeah, you know what I'm talking
about. All right, yeah, just a suggestion.
I2, last time I used that thing, I remember
putting up a temporary like Chuck was talking
about in the roundtable. And I was trying
to, I was aiming for a certain branch and it
wasn't really a thick one or anything, it was
a thin one, it was a temporary setup. And...
The line broke at one point and I lost a sinker,
a one ounce teardrop sinker lead. But the thing
is I was pretty much shooting straight up, you
know? So it's kind of like that, oh, salsa.
Remember back in the 90s there was a salsa
commercial for Pace? And it was all these
gentlemen outside celebrating and they shooting
bullets in the air. And... Then they were
like, oh no, the bullets! And they all scattered,
you know, because of course, shooting straight
up, bullets were going to come straight down.
And I kind of had that moment. I was like,
oh my god, I don't know where this went. The
line snapped. The sinker went up. God knows
where it went. And yeah, it would be funny
to find out from somebody or God's secretary
someday where that sinker went, because I didn't
hear it. hit anything but yeah I was very
nervous and I ran for cover for sure.
Yes, yes,
I'm trying to think what I'm thinking of. But
yeah, I've had some of those kinds of moments.
forget where it was. I've done this kind of
stuff camping too. I used to use a golf ball
with a screw. I screwed into the side of it
and tie a line to that and throw that up. But
that didn't have as much weight. This arborist's
weight, you swing that a little bit and it
flies quite well. And it's heavy enough to really
pull whatever line you're, you know, for starters.
Well, I don't use a monofilament line with values.
The little throwing line, whatever they call
that. But that pulls it right over, no problem
getting it down. But back in my golf ball days,
you know, it would be over the branch and the
ball would be swinging up there in the area.
It wouldn't come down. Then I'd total pull
it back and it get caught. You did it though,
the way this thing was set up. You used, I
don't remember what I threw with my throwing
line now that I think about it. I guess it was
just monofilament. But anyway. The one system
was you... think I did have a larger line,
but a small line. But at the end you had sort
of a weak link, a very thin amount of filament,
very low, you know, like eight pound or seven
pound or six pound or something, amount of filament
line. And so that way if it got stuck you could
yank it and that line would break and ideally
your weight, your ball would fall back down.
But at times the ball didn't come back down.
And other times we'd be camping and I'd find
that it did finally fall down, you know, a day
or two later. I have thrown many things at
trees. Sometimes I was camping and I forgot
to bring something so I'd find a stick and
tie a line to it and try to throw it up and
over. It's sort of like Chuck was saying about
if you experiment you'll come to the optimum
arrangement eventually. For me so far the optimum
is that arborist's weight. It really does work
well. I haven't lost it yet. I shouldn't say
that, right?
knock on the desk where you're at, not losing
that. For sure, you get the equipment and
whatever works best for you, then that's what
you use, of course. Makes sense. And yes, I've
tried the golf ball with the eye hook and
regular fishing line and a fishing pole. I
caught that from you years ago and tried that
successfully. Not so successfully, of course,
the hangups, of course. But it was fun. And
that's where I went to the slingshot. And
PSA, for anybody looking for the microfilm in
line, I got mine at a relevant eight pound
test, just like Jim said, at Gordon's Hunting
and Fishing Up an Eagle right by the Eagle
Tavern. They're literally right next door to...
the Eagle Tavern on Route 100 there where it
wives out. Little Katasoga on the left, Route
100 going north, heading to the 95 Field Day
site area. So right around there. So you can
get that filament line there. So PSA for you.
Sorry about that. yeah, I've gotten all sorts
of things snug up there. Even pulling the line
over, I use... And it's just paracord from Home
Depot. And it lasts quite a while. It does
seem to dry out over time with the UV light
from the sun. As you know, the sun torches
everything. Yeah, that works pretty well. use
530 seconds. And the biggest thing I've found
that when you're tying the filament line to
the paracord, that as long as you keep it
close to the end of the paracord, and if you
get a lighter and burn off the end of the paracord,
usually it's pretty much... I guess they do
that in the factory, but if you had a cut piece
or whatever, make sure you melt it a little
bit. make sure it's smooth so it doesn't hang
up on anything. And that's the only, that's
the biggest thing there. always, things always
seem to hang up on tree limbs. If you have
a, if you have a non pine tree, I can't remember
which, whether it's deciduous or coniferous.
I think it's deciduous. I might be wrong there.
Usually the smooth bark of the tree will let
the line go through the paracord or whatever.
Take it to hoist up your antenna or whatever
but like the pine trees good luck. Good luck
all those rough bark It's just gonna catch up
on everything AF 3Z WF3MFB
deciduous is the correct one where the normal
leafy tree and coniferous, I guess that's
right too, are the ones with cones. So, scones
sound... or something. Anyway, he's like very
good. Yeah, I can, well, yeah, the biggest job
was getting my antenna up out back here. I
had to work on that over a number of days. And
I'd lose heart and give up and then think,
well, maybe I can get it. I'd go back out and
work on it some more. And again, not the center
one as much as getting the lines over other
branches so that I could pull the... antenna
elements out to the sides. had my challenges
with that. And I've used paracord on being
a sailor. don't know if it gets used in other
terms, but the halyard, the line that you
use to pull the antenna up. And I have two
lines. have one line that I the slingshot
thing to get way up in the tree. And that line
I have a... pulley on the end of it. to get
that line, well anyway, so when I pulled that
line up I had another line going through the
pulley and that's when I actually used to pull
the antenna up. So I've got a line that's
tied off down lower on the tree that just has
the pulley on the other end and then another
line that comes down that goes through the pulley
and you use to pull the antenna up. So if
you want to get the first line down, you've
got to use the antenna line to pull it down.
At least if you want to be able to get it back
up again. A while ago, maybe last spring,
I forget, I was thinking that stuff's been
up long enough and it's probably getting chafed
and everything on tree branches. I better replace
it before it breaks. So I got some new line
and replaced both of them. That went pretty
well. I'm going to have to jump off of here
for a number of reasons, some biological. Good
to talk to you, Mike. Thanks for the chat
here tonight. Always fun. W3, and thanks for
hosting too. W3MFBAF3Z. I'll let you go. Go
ahead and get up and go. When you gotta go,
you gotta go. Can't help you there. But yeah,
great to talk to you. Thank you very much for
coming out tonight. And it's great to hear
all the regulars on the machine. We like the
newcomers, but hey, it's great to have the
regulars. And yeah, 73. And thanks for the chat
and CR as well. Thank you very much. And yeah.
I'm gonna get going too. starting to lose the
voice. I got arrested. Gotta start drinking
tea with lemon or something. don't know. AF3Z73,
enjoy. Enjoy life. W3MFP.
V3MFP KD3EMF. KB3EMS, what's going on, brother?
Not too much, not too much. So just going
back to your previous question, I'm assuming
you went to that school?
popped in there sixth grade. what year was that?
Jesus.
was either 87 or 88 and there was a Chris, I
won't say the last name, but you know what
I mean. Yes sir, yes sir. Yeah, so no, I don't
know if you went after that. I actually went
to Shanahan for two years.
think you were just ahead of me. I was class
of 96. Sounds like you were probably what,
94? are the infamous Chris, and I won't say
the last name. Okay, yeah, we went to school
together. I was in your class, bud. Okay, that's
shiny hand. Okay, it's all coming together
now.
When Jack was talking about you, I was like,
wait a minute, I know Chris Biddle, but we
were in the class together, but I don't think
we were like hung out or anything, but it is
what it is. like, I was like, dude, there can't
be, he's gotta be the guy. funny small world.
didn't, I did go to Cooke's Although for the
last two years. So I'll just shine a hand.
cash for 11.
Yeah, brilliant. Okay. Yeah, see, my mom always
tells me I can't go anywhere without running
into somebody I know. So that's brilliant. Okay,
well, hey, good to hear you again and good
to talk to you. That's brilliant. Yeah, ninth
and tenth. So ninth would have been 92 to whatever.
Yeah, 92, yeah. But yeah, we were the only class
that never had a soft pop.
I think that's still continuing to this day.
Yeah, we're gonna catch up on time.
No one.
hopefully be reaching out to you.
Thanks for popping in, I appreciate it. Yeah,
I was like, I don't know, man, I think I know
him. That's brilliant. Yeah, I graduated there
and then worked a little bit, went to Delco
a little bit, went to IMAC. I went to college
at the time before they went to the university.
Worked a lot. I wasn't a school guy, you know?
Not like some of the folks here.
Yeah, I hear you there. Get into your college
for fire engineering.
kind of stuck with that and EMS too. I worked
part time as a paramedic. But yeah, I kind
of stuck with the fire protection gig and that's
still what do now. So yeah, all good, all
good.
Yeah, I really appreciate everything you guys
do on both ends. Paramedic, EMS, and the fire.
Yeah, trauma, don't mind me. My father, cardiac,
27 years. A lot of times, we were up in
the Euclid area, where he was anyway, and
got a lot of respect for, even the cops that
showed up with oxygen bottles and stuff like
that. yeah, you guys always did a great job
and were polite. it might have not been you,
but everybody in your field, I really have
a lot of respect for you guys and gals.
Yeah, yeah, the whole critic arrest stuff is,
uh... Yeah, it can... Department of biggest
thing that we do. Congratulations. I'm off at
Home Depot. Don't want to die.
Yeah, I've had CPR courses and that was part
of the course curriculum is to work the device
itself, the defibrillator, the externals anyway.
Yeah, that's a big thing. I forget what
the cause was around this area. I think there
was some family. They had a kid, I don't know,
he was like 11 years old. And he went into
cardiac arrest on the soccer field. you know,
passed away unfortunately, young, you know,
and I think after a while the parents got
involved with the county and whatnot and started
putting them on fields and stuff, pitches,
soccer pitches and football fields, things
like that, so in the local parks. So yeah,
I've seen them around for sure.
Yeah, unfortunately a of times it takes an incident
to get them in there, but even on TV, like
you've seen the football players and stuff that
went down on the field. It's kind of funny,
we actually see a spike in sales when something
like publicly like that happens. Yeah, so yeah,
it's great talking to you. I'm fairly new. I
just got my ham ticket in, what was it, I guess
around February or so. And really the W3GMS
repeater is what I've been listening to all
the time. it's pretty much what I'm on. I'll
do some check-ins, like the net check-ins.
The siren light one, I'll check in on that one
once in while. The simplex net, the red rose,
I'll check in on that one once in a while.
But this is kind of my home frequency, so
I just kind of listen a lot and try to jump
in when I can. So I've had a lot of radio
experience with emergency services, but nothing
as far as ham radio like that. So a lot of
it did come naturally, but there's just so
much to learn. I mean, I can just tell it's
one of those things that you do for years and
years and years, and you're still learning
more stuff. So it's pretty exciting.
the place to be for that, for learning, you
know. A lot of knowledge here and thankfully
we have a great crew that's welcoming and helpful
and reaching out and get-togethers, eyeballs,
whatever you want to call it. But yeah, I know
you got the experience on the 800-meg system
that you guys run there. Yeah, Jack was, I
was at Jack's firehouse. Uh, about a week and
a half, a week ago, a week and a half ago. And
he was giving me a tour and he handed, we were
in one of the, uh, engines and he handed me
an HT that they, they use, know, and he's like,
I just handed you $7,000. I was like, what?
That's like this HT seven grand. And he's like,
yeah, I was like, holy cannoli. And, uh, you
know, he was telling me about the radios and
whatnot. And I do listen to you guys, uh, through
Chester County. on OpenMegas.com. It's a little
hard because it's digital, you know? It's all
digital sounding, kind of like D-Star or System
Fusion or something like that. But you get used
to it. I think some folks keep their mouth
too close to the mic. But hey, they're doing
something more important than figuring out
how to use their microphone, you know? So there's
that. But yeah, good group here. Yeah, I'll
be here. I'll be on the EOC machines, the Chester
County W3 EOC machines in the surrounding
area. And AA3VI, Adam mentioned before, which
is my local here in Thorndale. So, yeah, that's
about it. But yeah, mostly here. So yeah, we'll
have to send me a send me a email and we'll
catch up a little bit on the side. And really
great to. Really great to hear you, And
I'm just tickled that I was like, yeah, I know
that guy. I swear to God, I know that guy.
So KB3 EMS W3MFB.
W3MFP, yeah absolutely, I'll reach out to you
and we'll definitely catch up. So yeah, so
530 is gonna be here early, so I'm gonna go
73 here and hope you have a great night and
let's catch up. So W3MFP, KG3EMF, 73. 7-3 Chris
have a good night and yeah I'll be I'm gonna
get out of here too three minutes to ten so
alright Joe I tried we spun the dials on the
electric meter have a good one Chris take care
and anybody listening have a good night and
have a great weekend this is W3 MFB Thorndale
Mike QRT