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.

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