985 Workbench: 2025-06-30

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

Others

Questions

See also