I’ve been curious about the T2LT “flower pot” antenna for a while. It’s fed from the bottom and attached to a sturdy PVC pole. I can easily hoist it into a tree, and it has a low wind load, so it could go on top of a flag pole again.

I built it at the SPARC Elmer night from some 75-ohm TV cable I had laying around. I taped and cable-tied it to a thin bit of PVC, and I adapted the feed point from 75ohm TV cable connector to SMA. I had built it long to allow tuning, but it tested to be just about right for 146MHz when I put the VNA on it.

My Week in Radio

• CQ WW RTTY contest
  • 70 contacts in one afternoon
  • a little antenna maintenance in the middle
• using pulleys in the tree for cleaner rope work in trees, learned from field day setup

Others

• WA3VEE, Ron:
  • worked with Drexel club to get them back on the air next month
    • lapsed license
  • all the antennas off the garage to fit in parking garages
  • offering a tech class licensing course
  • offering tech class and VE session for Drexel as well
  • developing a General course
• K3KB, Alan:
  • planning a move and getting rid of some things
    • not a builder/experimenter anymore
    • may bring some things to the breakfast
  • new retirement community location will have limitations
  • was a pretty active home brewer
• KC3YSM, Steve:
  • 40M is hopping
• AF3Z, Jim:
  • SKCC event this past weekend
    • used PennTech TR45L, QRP CW
    • 40M, 80M, 20M
• W3KZG, Scott:
  • sorting and selling some radio gear
  • doing repairs again
  • printing some power-pole mounts to retrofit radios
• KC3OOK, Bill:
  • Nets
  • 985 has been active
  • Thanks Chuck for teaching PL-259 plugs.
    • some factory connections were loose
• KA3GLI, David:
  • bought the ARRL Grounding and Bonding Book
  • also got an 80M extension for his EFHW
  • picked up a heat gun for building teh efhw
  • purchased a replacement fan for another VHF/UHF rig
• NA3CW, Chuck:
  • never had good luck with factory-installed connectors
  • always does his own
  • PMAM net
  • testing Joe’s tuner at 1KW.
• KC3RFG, Jim:
  • check in on ECARS mobile
• WA3KFT, John:
  • fighting coax, intermittent connections
  • maybe a broken coax switch
  • “Waters” manufacturer is long gone
  • need to find a worthy replacement
• KC3SQI, Wayne:
  • need to reassemble 10M antenna when the weather improves
• W3GMS, Joe:
  • Dylan is working on new broadcastify connection
    • it’s currently just humming and not working yet

Questions

• K3KB, Alan:
  • Looking for recommendations for a single wire antenna for an HOA. He may be able to stretch a wire to another building about 80ft away.
  • KC3SQI, Wayne:
    • look at EFRW with a tuner
    • could do an inverted-L
  • AF3Z, Jim:
    • Random is not really random.
    • avoid resonant to be able to multiband.
  • KC3NZT, Harvey:
    • likes resonant EFHW
    • has a 78-ft that may fit
    • hit the tuner for the other bands
    • radiates from the center, so the height of the ends doesn’t matter so much.
  • KD3EE, John:
    • lots of fun to be had as a builder/experimenter
    • 80M EFHW is 133ft, 40M EFHW will be 66ft.
    • 73ft is a EFRW.
  • K3KB, Alan:
    • don’t give me too much credit as a builder
    • lots of it has faded away
• NA3CW, Chuck:
  • Listening to CW on 40M late at night, there are 3 stations sending really fast, messy, swinging bug CW. It’s hard to copy. Does anyone know much about it?
  • W3DIB, Greg:
    • encryption by syncopation
  • AF3Z, Jim:
    • may have heard it
    • can’t copy it either
    • sloppy encryption?
  • K3KB, Alan:
    • brother used to listen to a station broadcasting scripture to go to sleep
    • is this broadcast or amateur communication?
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • has heard of “great lake swing”, but that is still copyable
• K3EMI, Randy:
  • Bringing up a big power supply with a variac, the power supply has a meter on it that sticks in the winter probably due to static charge. touching it with a wet finger to discharge it releases it.
  • WA3KFT, John:
    • put a wire mesh over the front of the meter and ground it, hardware cloth with 1/4-inch squares.
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • seen it lots of times over the years.
    • wipe it with a dryer sheet
  • WA3KFT, Ron:
    • has a vis-meter that does it as well
    • tribo-electric effect in polystyrene
    • rubber band a grounding strap mesh to part of the face
  • KC3RFG, Jim:
    • laying a wet paper towel on LCD helps those displays when they’re stuck in cold winter
  • KC3SQI, Wayne:
    • mix water and soap to spray on it
  • W3KZG, Scott:
    • staticide spray
    • static guard (tm)
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • anything you try, be careful of solvents in a spray
    • test it in as spot
  • K3EMI, Randy:
    • thinking of staticide from digikey
    • likes the idea of wetting a dryer sheet
    • new problem in this house and shack

My Week in Radio

• CQ WW RTTY contest
  • 70 contacts in one afternoon
  • a little antenna maintenance in the middle
    • poking at un-un
    • reinstalling counterpoise
• PSKFest
  • 3rd place in QRP class (of 4 people)
• fixed some connections in or near the house to fix some 2M antenna performance
• using pulleys in the tree for cleaner rope work in trees
• New R1CBU 0.32.2 firmware for the X6100
• loaded frequencies into the scan on the quansheng to watch for those new satellites Tom’s been emailing
• APRS getting much better on RT-880G with alternate firmware
• loved to hear about practical guid to IRLP into KA3TKW

Others

• K3EA, Greg:
  • RTTY contest
  • CW contest
  • NA QSO Party for RTTY upcoming
  • state QSO parties are coming up, good for WAS
  • 17 and 20M will have best propagation for DX
  • hamclock backend is going away
    • alternatives are in the works
    • https://openhamclock.com - web based
• WB3LNY, George:
  • Hamcation in FL
    • nearly as big as hamvention
• KC5DRI, John:
  • Hamcation in FL
    • meeting people
• WE3ARE, Paul:
  • Hamcation in FL
    • lots of swaps and gadgets
    • large vendors
    • saw demos of https://amateurrepeaterdirectory.org/
• W3TUG, “Tug”/Ray:
  • Hamcation in FL
• VE3HOH, Pete:
  • Chris Casper demoed meshtastic for another club
  • wants to get into it
  • has openhamclock running
• KA3TKW, Tom:
  • UMK-1 satellite: got a good pass and posted SSTV photos
  • RS-18: 437.950 downlink for SSTV. 10 or 11pm tonight, then 10 or 11 am in the morning
    • then done
  • amsat website -> satellite resources -> current satellite status
    • added these new SSTV satellites
  • chinese space station will have ham radio soon
    • 145.825 / 436.510 down
    • and another
  • ham lunch last thursday: hibachi buffet
• K3DMM, Denny:
  • some satellite contacts from within the house
  • QRZ 250 certificate
    • 20% confirmed on SSB
  • AnyTone AT-890UV
    • a friend has a video using full duplex on the HT for satellite.
• KC3NWN, Jim:
  • using a president washington on 11M
  • XFM program for satellite
  • elwood of ham clock SK
• KA3TKW, Tom:
  • IRLP How-to
    • buy an IRLP node for $250-500
    • get a node number assigned
    • 9204 is the one 21 is connected
• KK4KKW, Steve:
  • some HF work down in Florida
    • good contacts
  • contacts harder up here
• N7JMS, John:
  • FT8
  • listening on 21

I brought down the Slim Jim with its existing halyard that’s slung over a branch in the front tree. I used the that halyard to pull a throw weight and pulley on a new line into the same spot. I dropped the pulley straight down from high spot in the tree, and pulled the halyard out completely. I ran halyard line through the new pulley and hoisted it back up into the tree. Now the Slim Jim hangs free instead of tangled up through the tree.

The Slim Jim in the tree wasn’t working, so my APRS radio had gone quiet. I started testing with the nanoVNA before going out in the cold to check the connections. I found the lead inside was not passing any signal. The connector at the radio was pulling off the cable, so I could push it back together and re-crimp it. I got away with the easy fix.

My Week in Radio

• SWR trouble with HF antenna last week was a bad connection outside the window
• Operating on RF, since I’m mobile on a hill after camera club meeting
• APRS radio went quiet, so my slim jim seems broken

Others

• WA3VEE, Ron:
  • hosting upgrade classes soon
  • look for article or whatever: “listening to jupiter”
• W3MFB, Mike:
  • 10-10 contest over the past weekend
    • good conditions
    • Europe
• KC3OOK, Bill:
  • working on sub-panel for ham shack
• W3KZG, Scott:
  • doing radio repairs while it’s cold out
  • installed radios in larger rolling rack: 30U
• KA3GLI, David:
  • reading the W1MFB Antenna Notebook
  • building EFHW un-un
  • visited RadioShack in New Holland
• KC3NZT, Harvey:
  • got online confirmation for Galapagos
• AA3LH, Leon:
  • Roosters Net
  • working 80m and 40m, extra portion
  • will work on antennas next week when warm
• AF3Z, Jim:
  • FYBO (Freeze Your Buns Off) QRP contest over the weekend

Questions

• KC3OOK, Bill:
  • What’s the difference between ceramic and plastic potentiometer trimmers?
  • WA3KFT, John:
    • ceramic may be for VHF/UHF applications
    • moisture may detune a circuit being adjusted
  • W3KZG, Scott:
    • he has cheap plastic kit with lots of sizes. it functions fine.
    • 6-8 plastic screwdrivers
    • cheap is fine for light use
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • has plastic, never tried ceramic
    • materials matter for trimming variable capacitors
    • any material is fine for pots
  • WA3VEE, Ron:
    • How sensitive are some of these circuits?
  • W3KZG, Scott:
    • tools are non-conductive and non-inductive
    • some pots can be shorted
  • KN3I, John:
    • GC Electronics kit should be really good; known name.
• AA3LH, Leon:
  • He has a G5RV doublet for travel, and it tunes hard on 80M. If he added 10ft to each leg (51-ft legs to 61ft), would it help, and how would he need to adjust the 37-ft?
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • simulate it
    • stay away from quarter wave feed lengths
    • probably ok with tuner
  • W3GMS, Joe:
    • for the standard lengths, the impedance is around 50 ohms, so only needs the 1:1 balun.
    • may need to trim the ladder line
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • G5RV is 3/2 wave for 20m, so it work well there + other bands.
    • extra length will detune it for its intended use
  • W3GMS, Joe:
    • look into the “improved G5RV” - better tune
    • adjusting probably won’t get you much
    • add more open wire line and eliminate coax, and it’ll be an efficient doublet
• KB3ZIM, Bob:
  • Did anyone work AM Rally? He got 30 contacts and had a blast: 10m, 40m, roundtables
  • KN3I, John: just a few hours in the afternoon on 40m
• KC3NZT, Harvey:
  • Testing diodes in a rectifier before a coil:
    • Had to measure the current to calculate the resistance, since he couldn’t isolate anything.
    • Is there a better way to test coil resistance through the diodes?
    • How do diodes fail?
  • WA3VEE, Ron:
    • Diodes usually fail shorted
  • WA3KFT, John:
    • diodes change resistance with the amount of current
    • isolate the diode and use DC with known resistor
    • measure resistive drop across diode
  • W3KZT, Scott:
    • need to isolate diode from the coil to measure
    • resistance in coil

I was seeing high SWR and started needing the tuner for the 80M EFHW. I checked/reseated connections at the wire and un-un with no change. I started testing down the line, and found that the outside connection to the pass-through cable was bad: it started pulling apart. I replaced the window pass-through, and now SWR is good again without the tuner.

I loaded the nicsure 5.14.01 firmware from the patreon onto my RadTel RT-880G. It changed storage stucture, so I needed to do a factory reset before installing. I found the RMS software does weird things importing chirp files or reading from the radio. I needed to sort out erroneous CTS codes, reverses, etc in the RMS.

The radio is receiving APRS really well off the outside antenna, and I’m seeing lots of good decodes.

My Week in Radio

• PSKFest 3rd place in QRP class (of 4 people)
• New R1CBU 0.32.2
  • IF shift feature to move birdies away from your signal
• 2W FT8 to Belgium and back on 40M
• EFHW high SWR, but tuner deals with it
  • too cold to go out to investigate much
  • wonder if it’s water and ice on the uninsulated rope

Others

• KN3I, John:
  • radio on the workbench for repairs
• WA3VEE, Ron:
  • back to Drexel to help get their station back on the air
    • Kiana, a student.
  • K3DTS is closer to having liability insurance for classes
  • working with the balloon team from Drexel and another High School
    • APRS for tracking
    • launch from Nottinghill Farm Park
• W3SCY, Luke:
  • working on CW, 20wpm
  • WFD 2 weeks ago
  • checked into AMPM net on 3835kHz, Sunday, 04:30pm.
• NA3CW, Chuck:
  • PMAM Net: heard KN3I, John and W3SCY, Luke
• KC3OOK, Bill:
  • net control for various nets
  • enjoying crimp coax connectors
• W3KZG, Scott:
  • refurbishing some export 10/11/12M export radios to keep and sell
• WA3KFT, John:
  • various nets
  • lots of check-ins on AWA net, 7237kHz
• KD3AIS, Tim:
  • back from a trip to Germany and Netherlands
  • Looking forward to Ron’s classes
• AF3Z, Jim:
  • SKCC anniversary event is done: K3Y here in the states
    • helped coordinate 17 operators
    • ~4100 contacts
    • 1363 unique operators
    • 300 contacts personally
    • US sweep: 9 call areas + Alaska, Hawaii, PR
• AA3LH, Leon:
  • spoke to Costa Rica
• W3DEN, Dennis:
  • Just moved to West Chester
  • in a retirement community, so antenna restricted
• W3MOW, Mike:
  • fired up raspberry pi hotspot for DMR
  • new vehicle, so radio not setup in mobile yet.

Questions

• WA3VEE, Ron:
  • Students are using APRS to track balloons they launch.
  • using a kenwood HT and phones to track APRS.
  • suggest maybe a beam for tracking it directly
  • What is the range of APRS?
  • Suggestions for tracking?
  • W3KZG, Scott:
    • check with Corbin, K3HXW.
  • KD3EE, John:
    • it’s packet radio, so relayed by digipeaters
    • bridged to the internet, so reliably visible on aprs.fi
    • btech uv-pro is a great, inexpensive radio.
    • seeing DC to Williamsport to New Jersey on my map here
    • I have a fixed antenna for APRS 30 ft in a tree
• AA3LH, Leon:
  • Un-Un at the end of an EFHW, how do they get away without a counterpoise?
  • WA3KFT, John:
    • Needs a good earth ground to be the other half of the antenna
      • stake, water pipe, etc.
      • need a radiating element and a counterpoise
  • KC3RFG, Jim:
    • started with end-fed antennas
    • if you don’t install a counterpoise, it’ll use the shield of your coax as the other half of your antenna
    • choke the coax before it enters the house or gets to the radio
    • proper counterpoise helps avoid RF on the coax
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • he wrote an article on the 985 website
    • not all end-feds are horizontal, any vertical antenna is an end-fed
    • running low power, you don’t need to worry as much about return RF.
    • vertical whips are end-fed
    • horizontal random wire is an end-fed.
    • ground plane or radials of a vertical is a counterpoise
    • person serves as counterpoise on an HT
  • AA3LH, Leon:
    • always uses speaker-wire counterpoises with ham stick verticals
• WA3VEE, Ron:
  • Has anyone interfaced a weather station to NOAA via APRS or via internet connection?
  • W3MOW, Mike:
    • Is this the same integration like Weather Underground?
  • WA3VEE, Ron:
    • Weather Underground and all those other services.
    • Ground Truth Weather
  • W3KZG, Scott:
    • Dylan, K3DZN, has a weather station at the house that’s all linked up.
  • KC3OOK, Bill:
    • Have you bought the Davis View weather station yet
    • It has lots of modules
    • APRS is a module, good for emergency service
    • Can run on a RPi or small computer depending how much you want to do

I achieved 3rd place in QRP class of the 2026 PSKFest with 11 contacts, 2 DXCC, and 8 states for 110 points. Only 4 people had submitted logs for QRP. :)