My Week in Radio
- RTTY Round Up a week ago got me Oregon, the last state I needed for all 50 states for this current callsign
- Strung up the 80M EFHW, found a lower SWR with counterpoise removed.
Others
- W1RC, Mike:
- looking for a 2M transverter for his Elecraft radio
- getting Yaesu Fusion working to check-in to a net
- doesn’t like the audio so much
- W8CRW, CR:
- helping chuck and george at the field day site on thursday
- K3EMI, Randy:
- putting up an OCF dipole on the roof in nice weather
- coax is super-stiff
- KC3SCY, Luke:
- setup the new riser for his desk
- almost done building a power supply for a transmitter he built
- some CW
- excited for WFD
- K9CAN, Kris:
- from Eugene OR
- hosting a winter field day site on a mountain
- working on a new antenna project
- multiband
- modular
- 3d printing parts for it
- doublet pieces
- NA3CW, Chuck:
- Thursday work session at field day site
- 9:30am-dark
- got ropes and pulleys into trees
- next up
- launch the dipoles
- service the beams
- saturday
- cold and dry
- Joe’s tuner is coming alive
- steppers working in one direction and chattering in the other
- feedback POTs reading fine
- Thursday work session at field day site
- KC3OOK, Bill:
- net control for Simplex Net and for Welfare Net
- W3KZG, Scott:
- organizing shack
- repairing and updating an old export 10M rig
- preparing trailer for field day
- W3QP, Tim:
- SOTA trips coming up in February
- AF3Z, Jim:
- SKCC
- scheduling operators
- operated saturday and this afternoon
- worked WA and CA
- SKCC
- KC3SQI, Wayne:
- need to drop the new mast to fix 10M vertical dipole
- TV pre-amp needs service too
- WA3VEE, Ron:
Questions
- AF3Z, Jim:
- For WFD, How do we expect winter weather to effect electronics and radio gear? Any likely failures?
- KC3SQI, Wayne:
- probably no worry here in PA.
- in Rocky Mountains, CO, it did make a difference.
- wire would kink but not unkink, breakage
- NA3CW, Chuck:
- crystals and oscillators will have a temperature coefficient
- transistors won’t care
- operators will be stiff
- LCD screens will slow response, freeze and turn black
- Li-ion batteries will degrade faster
- starting generators can be difficult
- W3KZG, Scott:
- trailer runs solely on battery + solar
- 300Ah 13V battery
- Summer field day used 18% of the battery to run FTD-10 radio for 2 days
- KD3EE, John:
- batteries may need to be swapped to keep warm, like digital cameras
- has seen LCD on radios stop updating in cold
- W3QP, Tim:
- some batteries, like LiFePO, don’t like to charge below freezing
- AC2EG, Eric:
- Commercial-rated (not industrial) laptops can have trouble below 25F. maybe won’t boot.
- W8CRW, CR:
- LiFePO with a good BMS will keep it from charging in damaging (too cold) conditions
- AF3Z, Jim:
- operating CW can be hard in the cold
- WA3VEE, Ron:
- For those in HOA, what might be a successful, inside antenna? Maybe not in the attic?
- AF3Z, Jim:
- Do you really need to be horizontally polarized?
- 10M dipole isn’t huge.
- mobile ground plane verticals
- Do you really need to be horizontally polarized?
- WA3VEE, Ron:
- horizontal will be best, but either way, I guess
- wires taped to the ceiling?
- AF3Z, Jim:
- magnetic loops?
- 16 feet for a dipole?
- W3KZG, Scott:
- 11M dipole hanging in a tree, 6ft from the ground:
similar to hanging it from the ceiling.
- split right off the coax, speaker wire
- just try it
- try a magmount vertical
- try it on a balcony
- near a window: magnetic loop
- 11M dipole hanging in a tree, 6ft from the ground:
similar to hanging it from the ceiling.
- KC3SQI, Wayne:
- use 11M whip antennas, and trim it
- wire across the wall
- work from the balcony
- drop a piece of wire from a higher floor
- outside will avoid inside RFI
- inside can mess with other electronics :)
- W3KZG, Scott:
- may have an 11M whip to donate
- W3QNZ, Joe:
- recycled a pota antenna made of scrap wire and a cobra head
- moved it into the attic
- KD3EE, John:
- may have a loop antenna to lend
- run wires down the hallway or the loft
- use lower power, digital modes, CW, weak signal for results