My Week in Radio

I applied for a list of vanity calls that are shorter for DXing and CW weight.

Others

• AA3LH, Leon:
  • visited Colorado
  • talked back to 985
  • greyline propagation didn’t work like it did back in Spring
• N3ILS, Travis:
  • park activations in Seattle and British Columbia
• WA3VEE, Ron:
  • worked AA3LH on 40m
  • migrating equipment from 2005 Sienna van to a 2020 Sienna van
• KC3RFG, Jim:
  • 10M to Venezuela
• W3QP, Tim:
  • 2 SOTA summits in VA, now QSO cards
• WA3KFT, John:
  • 10m open to Florida for a Net at 1-2pm local
• KC3OOK, Bill:
  • woodworking: building tables for the shack
  • hosted Welfare Net on W3RRR last night
• KC3SQI, Wayne:
  • moving antennas to the new mast
• KV3JGB, Matt:
  • trying 2M driving through North Carolina
• KI6OM, Dave:
  • got a new 250-years, call sign PA plate
• NA3CW, Chuck:
  • PM/AM pre-net

Questions

• W3MFB, Mike:
  • G90 is supposed to pull 6A to TX 20W, how small of a battery can he get for it?
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • battery questions can be very complex
  • WA3VEE, Ron:
    • depends how long you’ll TX
    • RX is light
    • 15Ah is probably OK.
    • LiFePo batteries drop off very quickly when they’re done
    • balance convenience
  • KC3RFG, Jim:
    • Has a G90
    • runs on 10Ah battery all day for 1/3 discharge.
    • short QSOs
    • G90 will run as low as 9V
  • W3QP, Tim:
    • all batteries have a max discharge rate
    • Bioenno batteries’ max seems to be about 2x capacity
    • there are spreadsheet to calculate sizes/durations
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • discharge capacity depends on battery chemistry
    • batteries have a “C-rate”
    • 0.1*C-rate is always safe to draw.
    • slow charging is friendlier to a battery
• KC3SQI, Wayne:
  • Has a new tilt-over mast, and is putting hardware in weather-protected box. Should he mount it on the mast or on the ground?
  • WA3VEE, Ron:
    • on the leg would be good for accessibility and maintenance
    • mulched bed around the mast might help protect it from lawn maintenance
    • mount at chest-level, include lightning-arrestor.
  • W8CRW, CR:
    • also mounted 4 ft off ground
    • boulders to protect the area
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • remember to protect the cables into it with conduit for lawn maintenance
    • UV-protect the box too with paint
  • KC3SQI, Wayne:
    • convinced to mount it on the stabilizing arm.
• AF3Z, Jim:
  • Last week, he reported varying voltages as sump and shop vac ran. It sounded like an unstable neutral, and he should get it fixed, or cook appliances. His electrician suggested calling PPL PPL found the problem to be their neutral line, so they left a new transformer next to the house until a crew can come out to replace the line. Things are much better now.
• KI6OM, Dave:
  • Dave’s been operating lots of FT8 on 6M recently. He received an email scolding him for transmitting and not staying in-sync with your other local strong signals.
  • W3QP, Tim:
    • transmitting on someone else’s frequency, you’ll bury them.
  • KC3TYX, Vic:
    • finds a clear spot and “hold TX freq”

I activated the Conoy Wetland along US-4567. I used the 40M EFHW running to the South East. I stayed on 40m, using FT8 and 4W. I got my 30+ contacts calling CQ POTA, and didn’t chase anyone.

I experimented with the counterpoise:

• I saw 1.5:1 SWR with the counterpoise coiled up.
• I saw a lower SWR with the counterpoise unwound.

I got WINE setup to run the software for RadTel. I had to install Mono for Windows inside WINE to make the RadTel CPS and Flasher work: https://askubuntu.com/a/992215 I also got serial going: https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/wikis/Wine-User%27s-Guide#serial-and-parallel-ports

The APRS support on the RadTel RT-880G still seems a bit broken, though. I keep seeing a stray character in the path: “WIDE1_-1” Setting the path in CPS software had the same problem. Setting the path to " WIDE1" makes it show OK in packets.

At the SPARC meeting, we heard about Lancaster ARES with W3COB, Doug Rice.

• public service events
  • fun runs
  • motorcycle rides
• work with Lancaster ACS
• Eastern PA section -> section 4 -> Lancaster County
• exercises
  • April Towers
  • Peach Bottom Nuclear Plant
  • Skywarn
  • Firecracker 5-mile Run
• https://lancasterares.net/
• ARRL task book
  • sets standards for training and qualification
• 3 levels, including “basic”
• available trainings
  • arrl.org
  • FEMA
• stay active
  • train
  • participate
    • biweekly nets
    • monthly meetings
    • public service events
  • prepare
• Auxiliary Communication Service (ACS)
  • larger than ARES
  • https://serv.pa.gov/

I saw an opening on 6M just now. I was getting contacts an my 71-foot random wire at home about 1000 miles away: Florida and the midwest. 10M is looking similar, even though the MUF map says only up to 21MHz should work. 15M is getting to Southwest, but it’s mostly like 10M. Later in the day, around 2pm local, 6M is open to Wisconsin more than Florida.

My Week in Radio

• I found the nicest state game land for a POTA: It had parking and a game commission maintenance building, so could sit in the shade.
• I got a replacement UV-PRO which transmits fine on 2M / APRS.
• I’m playing with another cheap RadTel with APRS. It has features from all my favorite radios, but the interface makes the other radios look nice.
• I found 6M open to Florida around noon, then Wisconsin later in the afternoon today.

Others

• NA3CW, Chuck:
  • chasing a noise source in the neighborhood, a pole at the end of the street
• W3QP, tim:
  • operated from assateague
  • got a nasa special event station in Huntsville AL for 50th anniversary of moon landing
• W3MFB, Mike:
  • big openings this evening on 10M and above.
• WA3VEE, Ron:
  • there’s a commercial mobile telephone company looking to use some of 70cm.
  • see Joe’s email for suggested responses.

Questions

• AF3Z, Jim:
  • During flooding in Mount Joy, Jim had his shop vac running continuously in the basement along with sump pump. When sump pump activated, the shop vac would rev up, then when the sump pump turned off, the vac slowed down. He tried later with fridge and meter. When fridge turned on, 125V outlet boosted up to 127V. The microwave on high could cause a jump to 139V.
  • KS4CK, Bruce:
    • 240V comes into the house, plus the ground in the box. If the ground isn’t solid, then a large draw on one leg can cause an increase to be observed in voltage on the other leg.
    • Call your electric company to address it.
    • 13V delta is a lot.
    • It could be anywhere even back to the transformer, so ask the neighbor.
  • WA3VEE, Ron:
    • agrees that it’s a bad ground
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • bad ground can be dangerous

I got the BTech UV-PRO back on Friday, 2025-07-18. This one has a different serial number, so very quick replacement. I restored the configuration from the HT app on my phone. The new radio is seen on https://aprs.fi/ again and I occasionally see APRSDroid report that it’s been digipeated by a nearby node. I tested the transmit power to be 4.8W with the small meter. Power was previously not detected at all by the meter.

I activated US-8843, State Game Land 145. I got 9 QSOs before day change (at 2W-4W) and another 18 QSOs after day change (at 6W). I setup the tactical delta loop, and grounded the black side that passes through the toroid. The feed is the red side. It tuned nicely at about 1.5:1 on 20m and 40m. It was slow going at 2-4W, but I was being seen in PSKreporter.

K3IR/145.230MHz for the Morning Grind was clear, but low power (S3-S5) on the Quansheng and TH-9800 base. It turns out that both antennas were disconnected at the window for overnight storms.

While waiting for the train in Exton, PA, I looked up Amtrak frequencies for the Keystone corridor and found they’re mostly all 160MHz-161MHz, so I scanned there. I didn’t hear train traffic in the time, but I heard Chester County emergency dispatch on 160.185MHz. I can also hear it at home with an outside antenna.