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.

We discussed meshtastic as always. I’ve been seeing more nodes, especially in York.

I re-soldered and terminated my small 1:1 chokes, since the ends had ripped off on last activation.

When activating US-1418, Sam Lewis, I accidentally split the activation across 0000 UTC. Fortunately, I still got enough for the second day. I found some of my chokes broken, so swapped cable around a bit. I threw the 40M EFHW into a tree, and got 12 contacts, on FT8, on 15M and 40M.

I went back to my favorite 71-ft EFRW for the home antenna wire. The EFHW was requiring tuning, so I figured it may not be worth having.

I further tested my UV-PRO to find it was transmitting less than 250mW when set to 5W. I compared it to another radio using a nearby tinySA. I RMA-ed it and mailed it back to BTech for repair or replacement.

My Weeks in Radio

• traveling
  • Chino Hills State Park near Los Angeles
  • 2 activations
  • hiked and biked my gear in on my back
• Field Day QRP, emergency power, on the patio, at home, 50 contacts = 650 pts

Others

• W8CRW, CR:
  • 985 field day
• KC3HQZ, Jean:
  • 985 field day
• AC2EG, Eric:
  • new the group and field day
  • rather build than buy, but using echolink right now
• AA3LH, Leon:
  • mostly dups at field day
• KV3JGB, :
• KC3SQI, Wayne:
  • 10 meter antenna mast assembled and ready to go
• KC3WWC, John:
  • (making it in over RF)
• KC3TYX, Vic:
  • field day in maryland
• NA3CW, Chuck:
  • Field day prep, operation, cleanup
  • PM/AM Net on Sunday
• KC3OOK, Bill:
  • hosted a modified roundtable on 985 simplex, since power was out on repeater
  • simplex net
  • field day
• KD3EMS, Chris:
  • 985 field day observing AF3Z operate along with NA3CW
  • 7-8 contacts
  • need to get general license
• AF3Z, Jim:
  • field day
    • CW with luke
• W3KZG, Scott:
  • 985 field day
• KC3SCY, Luke:
  • 985 field day
  • logging had some trouble
  • pretty smooth, otherwise
  • working on CW
  • planning to chase 13 colonies
    • work them early in the morning
• W3QP, Tim:
  • K3H, Pennnsylania Homestead Festival in Kutztown
    • looking for operators for the weekend
• W3MFB, Mike:
  • heard VHF packet propagation, so made some contacts
    • 6m
• WA3VEE, Ron:
  • 1400 contacts total at field day
  • collecting photos from field day for the smugmug gallery

Questions

• KC3HQZ, Jean:
  • Why does a GOTA station have a different call sign from field day activities?
  • AF3Z, Jim:
    • GOTA is meant to encourage newcomers and guests.
    • It’s a bonus station that doesn’t count in the total simultaneous stations.
    • May be worth more points on its own.
  • W3MFB, Mike:
    • helps keep count of contacts made by newbies and guests.
• KC3SQI, Wayne:
  • Considering changing from a Windom to a Hex Beam (25lbs) with a 1-foot base pole to the rotor, Would a small ChannelMaster TV antenna rotor work without a thrust-bearing at 30 feet?
  • KC3OOK, Bill:
    • Bill is new, but…
    • 25lbs sounds like a lot for an antenna, so might tend toward the better rotor.
  • W3MFB, Mike:
    • Agrees with Bill, spring for the better rotor.
    • Has seen a TV rotor drive lighter (6lb) antennas, but that’s much lighter.
    • TV antennas are only 10lbs or so.
  • N3OGF, John:
    • destroyed a radioshack rotor in high wind with a kushkraft
  • W3ZKG, Scott:
    • rotor doesn’t have a weight spec, but try to keep the rotor as close to the antenna as possible.
    • 25lbs seems heavy.
    • lesser rotors use plastic instead of bearings
  • WA3VEE, Ron:
    • some specs on google suggest 15lbs capacity.
    • consider the extra weight of ice
  • KC3SQI, Wayne:
    • may try the thrust bearing and lighter rotor
• KC3WWC, John:
  • I have a long EFHW for 80M, but it’s hard to get lined up on all bands, so I need the tuner to touch it up for half the bands. If I need the tuner for some bands, is there much benefit to this EFHW over a 71-foot random wire I really liked.
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • RG58 is giving loss
    • Generally, you don’t want to tune high SWR through “thin” coax
    • tuning at the wire would be better
  • W3QP, Tim:
    • It’s normal for EFHW in trees to not necessarily line-up
    • Don’t know efficiencies of 49:1 vs 9:1 vs 64:1. That could make a difference.
    • stack cores to handle more power in the transformers
    • there are ways to measure with nano-vna.
    • it depends what SWR you’re pulling on each band.
    • transformer has different effeciencies on each band.
• KD3AIS, Tim:
  • As a newer ham, not a general yet, listening on Yaesu FT-991A to traffic, is an external screen useful?
  • W3MFB, Mike:
    • He operated the 991A at field day, and the waterfall is pretty low-res, but wouldn’t bother with a larger screen.
    • recommends using ears and turning the dial
    • listen and make sure he can understand the station, write it all down, then contact.
  • W8CRW, CR:
    • agrees with Mike, listen
    • but also has a display connected to his radio as a bonus
  • W3KZG, Scott:
    • also has a DX-10 with the built-in display and an external screen.
    • didn’t miss it on or off on field day
    • use a DDI cable to ensure no feeding voltage back into the radio
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • had Ron’s 710 with the little screen, plugged into a big screen.
    • easier to see settings and meters
    • especially when visitors were trying to see
    • bandscope got sort of useless with higher noise levels
    • for bands that come and go (6m, 10m), it’s good to see intermittent traffic
  • KC3WWC, John:
    • I like the waterfall, so I spot activity, like lots of CW.
• W3MFB, Mike:
  • Are 6M and 2M beams at field day site always available for use?
  • NA3CW, Chuck:
    • as long as it’s up, it’s available
    • it’ll need coax

My Weeks in Radio

• traveling
  • Chino Hills State Park near Los Angeles
  • 2 activations
  • hiked and biked my gear in on my back
• Field Day QRP, emergency power, on the patio, at home, 650 pts

Others

• K3EA, Greg:
  • in charge of antennas at local field day
  • 13 colonies coming up: https://13colonies.us/
  • Marconi Memorial contest
  • see the calendar
  • monitor FT8 or calling on 6M
  • good HF this week
  • Guyana: 8R1TM
  • Russians in Mozambique: C94RRC, C93RRC
  • LotW is undergoing maintenance
• KB9AWS, Bernie:
  • hearing VHF openings in the morning
• KC5DRI, John:
  • conversations with truckers while traveling NC on simplex
  • travel using repeaters
  • got to dayton this year
• KA3TKW, Tom:
  • SSTV coming around july 4 from ISS, watch email
• KK4KKW, Steve:
  • POTA Hunting
  • visited SPARC for field day
• K3DMM, Denny:
  • heard lots of ISS contacts on field day
  • saturday is firecracker hamfest: postal picnic grounds
• KC3NWN, Jim:
  • contact from a mobile at camp right now
• VE3HOH, Pete:
  • local field day in macadoo
• KC3VZU, Bob:
  • setting up a wire antenna and an HF rig
• W3MW, Don:
  • lots of work getting antennas up
  • trying 10GHz, but blocked by foliage

I operated the last 3 hours of ARRL Field Day. My station was at home on emergency power and QRP, so 1E class. I made 50 contacts so that earned me 650pts.