Workbench

My Week in Ham Radio

• CQ WPX RTTY contest
  • Chased 41 contacts
  • Called CQ with no responses
• Played in the front yard getting my existing random wire a little higher in the tree
• Running around 20 minutes before this meeting to try to get my 2m antenna in a place that makes sense. I failed, so I’m on EchoLink.

Others’ Questions

• Number codes? 73, 72 best regards in QRP.
• Recapping equipment
  • Check temperature ratings of capacitors 85C vs 105C
  • Keeping voltage applied regularly keeps a capacitor in good function
  • Try to operate capacitors nearer to their V rating to keep them “formed up”
  • Is anything leaking from the bottom of the caps
  • Signs of problems?

My Week in Ham Radio

• Chuck’s repairs sound fascinating
  • enough basic electronics from childhood to get to general
• HF radio
  • QRP X6100 with 3rd party firmware - R1CBU
  • Maintainer is flaming out
    • ungrateful complaints
    • unhelpful bug reports
  • Source code is available, so some of us may pick it up
  • UI is an app running on a small embedded linux computer
• Flashed new firmware onto my Quansheng UV-K5 HT
• Restrung a random wire
  • From a steep sloper into a tree in front yard to flat horizontal to the shed in the backyard.
  • Patterns in FT8 contacts look a little different
• Learning CW
  • Morse machine
  • All 40 characters they quiz: Koch method
  • Try the feel with a 3d-printed iambic key
  • Next try a different character set: cwops
  • Next more traditional copying exercises

Question

• Often rebuilding and testing antennas
  • On HF, I can test with FT8 and pskreporter
  • See effect of my changes and maybe more propagation conditions
  • For VHF, how variable are the conditions?
  • On the fringe of accessing 985.
  • Slight repositions with unintuitive results
  • What conditions affect propagation to a repeater like this one?
  • What can I measure?
• Requirements for the Scout badge in radio?

My Week in Ham Radio

• FCC/ARRL meeting in Harrisburg
• Activated a state game land park after the meeting
  • 10m
  • near Middletown
  • Lots of west coast
  • Compared vertical whip with jumpered coil vs efrw
• Built more wire j-poles for more permanent mount
  • NanoVNA is lots of fun, since I can now measure and tune any antennas
• Field day at Welsh Mountain with W3RRR club
  • Repack bag yet again for portable op
  • Learned about winlink
  • Operated outside on 80m at 3pm, so slow
• Clipperton on 40m FT8
• Back to learning CW on morse machine at LCWO.net
  • 20wpm
  • Single character at a time, waiting for me to answer before proceeding

My week in ham radio:

• Discovered the 985 nerds podcast
• Watching Clipperton split operation
• Lunch in Harrisburg with ARRL & FCC
• ISS repeater broke squelch @ 2am
• Looking for a Winter Field Day
  • 985 is doing one
  • Will probably check out a more local one, like W3RRR’s event

I pass off to KC3SCY, Luke, or AF3Z, Jim.

We discussed baluns:

• 4:1 balun
• 1:1 balun will let a dipole tune wider on any band
• 9:1 <-> 1:9 can transform for long runs of transmission cable