Transcriptions for 2026-01-26

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Beers, holds a free Morph code class every Wednesday night, 6pM at the Golden Beaver Distillery still house at 2420 Park Avenue. All are welcome to come learn morph code W6R, H, C repeater check three.

Los Angeles link up.

System7 link up.

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That's. Nine Link check in. This is system four. Link shack innovation. This is system 19. Link check in on AC power at 19, paused all the way to 60.

The year's monthly general membership meetings are held on the third Monday night of the month at the Butte County Public Library, 1108 Sherman Avenue in Chico. Doors open at 6pm and the meeting starts at 7pm all are welcome. W6RHC Repeater Check 1.

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The Gears Net will be held Tuesday night starting at 7:30pm all amateur radio operators are welcome to join in on the net W6 RHC repeater check 2.

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System32 link up.

Speaker A: What somebody calls kkv. I have the thing laying face down.
Speaker B: Well, flip that handy 180 degrees. I saw the pictures. Yike. So we're still running on some kind of antenna up there that you probably should find.
Speaker A: Yeah, we're on one of the poles that didn't get damaged.
Speaker B: Yeah, so ours is still there. But the only downside, or downside, let's
Speaker A: make that plural, is the phasing harness on the CP408. There's phasing harness that's come loose from and the dipole.
Speaker B: Just laying right on top of his eyoles just, you know, stuck right on it.
Speaker A: That would explain above the 30, 35%, things like an hour and six watts going forward.
Speaker B: Yes, indeed, that explains that. So thank you there. I guess the link north is okay then for the antenna. F20 and 0F got Yagi that's sitting up there right below it. Okay, well, I guess there's a lot of work to be done.
Speaker A: Are you going to be involved in
Speaker B: that or is that going to be done by someone else or. No, 100%.
Speaker A: Me and some contributors you have.
Speaker B: All right, well, let me know how it goes. I don't know if I can get down there or not, but we'll see. Thanks for your update there and I'm glad you're okay. And the equipment is for the most part. Okay, so take care at 33. Thanks.
Speaker A: Had to switch radios. Yeah, the other one died. Left it on all day and forgot to put it in the charger. So I got a couple of squeezes out of it. So anyway, the wifey's a little Olinko always works as a backup, saying, yeah, I'll be 100% involved. There's a few people that offered to help contribute. So I'm buying a new superstation master and it looks like I'll be ordering it through Cali maybe this week.
Speaker B: Okay, we need to organize a GoFundMe for that or something.
Speaker A: I'll let you know. We've got some contributors over on this side of the pond and on the coast that they were willing to contribute. So if we fall short, I'll let you know.
Speaker B: Okay, well, stay safe and well grounded. More weather coming in, so wear those conductive boots that ground you.
Speaker A: Very good. Well, thanks. Yeah, this would explain why I can walk around the house with the HT and hear a little bit of swishing before I could never make a swish, you know what I mean? So, yeah, and that coupled with the more than third reflected power for what it's Worth, man, it's radiating less than 1 watt, so all things considered. Yeah.
Speaker B: Okay, well, we'll get WD6Q00 on tap Finals Restoration member there, so I'm sure he's activating all possible resources.
Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. I have an external MICOR VA that I would most gladly utilize for the project. All we have to do is program the radio, the transmitter to put out about 3 watts instead of 25 or 30. So if we set it to 3, we can let the repeater just coast along and run. Cool. And let the micro or PA do the work. I've got a separate PA and power supply this set aside for whenever we get around to doing it.
Speaker B: Yes, that would certainly work and probably help out Grantly. Unfortunately, I don't think I have any of that programming stuff. I bet our good friend 106 MBC has that in his library.
Speaker A: Yeah, we've been considering doing that for a while. And if we run on battery power, the PA drops offline and just runs off the exciter, which no big deal, but can't see. Running the PA on batteries, that would probably be no bueno. Not really necessary.
Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. That sounds like a great plan there.
Speaker A: Yep. Probably have to run it by the collarboard, but anyway, that would be my choice since we're making stuff happen. Yeah, the only thing we really got to wait for is American powers. They claims that instead of just fixing the one pole, they want to replace all four of them, which, hey, as long as they don't overload these, they're not going to snap. Right. The one that snapped was just, you know, grossly overloaded and that's the reason why it went. But I noticed next to my attendant up on top, there was a fire camera that was up there, arms there
Speaker B: but
Speaker A: dangling out of it. But the camera's gone.
Speaker B: Yeah, either carried off by the wind or maybe it accelerated towards the ground and one of the local flora or fauna has taken off with it.
Speaker A: Yeah, the wind up here is brutal, man. When I worked for cable tv, got up here, same type. So start the generator. When I opened the door, the vehicle, the wind grabbed it, yanked it right out of my hand and slapped it right up against. Much better, you know, mess up the hinge and everything, but brutal wind analog, wind zero to 100 that carried live on Channel 8. And we watched the wind and the thing that just took a peg at 100 miles an hour for, you know, minutes at a time. And that's when we really cringe.
Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. The weather has become Definitely more interesting lately, so.
Speaker A: Wow.
Speaker B: Yeah. Stay safe when you go up there and let us know. Good to hear from you and Kayla.
Speaker A: Yeah, a company man went up there today. Rockin and old buddy man, Aladdin of a band. They come along for the ride and actually couldn't make the last stretch. Yeah, there was a big rut in my teeth the first time I took my teeth up there and haven't been up there over two years. My bad. But anyway, actually I was getting hung up on a rock down a rut. So it's like, nope, I'm gonna stop here and we hike the rest of the way. So anyway, there you go.
Speaker B: All right, sir.
Speaker A: Unit 7 3. And now you know the whole story. WTKV for sepic.
Speaker B: Okay, thanks, Mike. I had to wait for this system 16 ideas here. All right.
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker B: Best to be able to get there safety, but safely. But also be able to get back safely. So good to see you there. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Other details as they become available. 73 is there. Stay safe on the coast. And.
Speaker A: Yeah, even pulled the AC power. Make sure the battery was working and everything was good. So 73. And this is funny, this little tiny Olinko handheld is actually putting out more power than the repeater is. And isn't that hard to imagine. So 73wd68.
Speaker B: All right, thanks, Mike. Stay safe over there. I got to go do some other stuff here, but good to talk to you, 73.
Speaker A: Good day.

System7 link up.

We6axm receiver.

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

Gears holds a slow speed Morse code net on 40 meters every Thursday night starting at 7pm Frequency of 7.44 plus or minus if the frequency is in use. All licensed amateur radio operators are welcome to join in the next W Fix. RHC Repeater Check 3.

W e6axm receiver.

Mike, you out there? Wfp.

Wp6axm repeater.

W6 RHC Repeater Check 1Amateur Radio News Line Report Number 2517 with the release date of Friday, January 23, 2026 to follow in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The following is a QST A Severe Solar Radiation Storm Disrupts HF Communication US Lawmakers Propose Restoring Funds to Voice of America and in New Zealand Q codes are on the move. All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report number 2517 comes your way right now from around the world. This is Newsline, Amateur Radio's first independent on the air News and Bulletin Service. Now reporting from Wadsworth, Ohio, here's Stefan Kinford here. Our top story this week is the most severe solar radiation storm in more than 20 years. It began on Monday, January 19th and lasted through much of the week. The National Weather Service declared the storm to be at an S4 level, a degree of severity not seen since October of 2023. S4 is the second highest level of this type of storm. The storm severity which exceeds exceeded that of the one in October of 2023 disrupted the HF ban, challenging ham radio operators while creating spectacular auroral displays. A bipartisan agreement among the US Lawmakers could restore the government's financial support of Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and other federally funded news services. Kent Peterson, KC0DGY has that story. U.S. lawmakers and Washington, D.C. have reached a deal that would fund the Voice of America giving its parent organization, the U.S. agency for Global Media, an estimated $653 million. That figure is considerably lower than the annual $860 million provided previously to the agency as described on the Radio World website. The funds would also pay for restoration of operations for Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. A minimum of $30 million is earmarked for medium and shortwave programming by the Office of Cuba Broadcasting. The deal is part of a larger spending bill, the National Security Department of State and Related Programs Appropriations Act. It has the support of both parties in Congress and its funding plan goes against the White House's executive order from last year which shut the international news services. Even if the measure receives final approval from the House and Senate, it will still require the President's signature. This is Ken Peterson, KC0DGY. The NASA's Artemis 2 mission began its long awaited journey to the moon and back on Saturday 17 January with the Rockets rollout onto the launch pad at the Kennedy Space center in Florida. Three of the four astronauts who will be aboard have their amateur radio licenses. Travis Lynch, M3ILS, tells us what's up next.

Speaker A: 01:46 00:85, this is Kilo Oscar 6 Bravo Charlie Zulu doing a test.
Speaker B: Axm receiver.

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System21.

W e6a x n receiver.

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Of today. Fresno link up.

W e6a x n repeater.

Speaker A: This is W7X Ray Zulu calling the Oroville Amateur Radio Society. Sunday night Net. This net meets Sunday evenings at 8pm local time. Good evening to all. This is Jim, your net control for the evening. And let's see who's out there. Stations wishing to check into the net, Please call now. W7X Ray Zulu,
Speaker B: Kilo9 Mike, Yankee, Strut,
Speaker A: K6hfp,
Speaker B: 6, bravo, gulf, yankee, paul and kalutha. K6hfp. Not sure if you got me there, Jim. I double with Paul, K6g I t.

Of your day.

System32 link up. It.

Please. Got a little cockpit problem with the software. W7XZ.

Speaker A: I will be out here at about 7:30 tomorrow morning Monday and we'll be listening for your call in if you are up and about. Plus AMC gso I'll wait for your
Speaker B: response on the phone.

Speaker A: Yes, w7x ray zulu cockpit. Problem solved. Anyway, there was a bit of doubling going on. The winners in order of appearance were kb9myf. Good evening jeff. K6hfp. Good evening john. Ko6bgy. Good evening paul. And then we got k06git. Good evening again, ken from the zoom session. Do we have any additional check ins to the net? This is w7x ray zulu. Nothing. Heard a bit of a light turnout here tonight on the first go around. Let's shift into the roundtable mode here and well let's see, we'll go by order of appearance. Jeff, KB9MYF, you'll be leading off, you'll be passing it to Kilo 6, Hotel Foxtrot, Papa. John, you'll be passing it it to KO6BGY. And Paul, from you it'll go to Kilo, Kilo, Oscar 6, Golf, India, Tango. That's Ken. So Jeff, go ahead please. KB9 MYF and the NAT W7X rays alert.
Speaker B: Well, not a whole lot going on here in Orland. I'm hoping to get a multiband HF vertical here pretty soon. And I'm gonna make antenna adjustments to the 10W vertical because when I put it up at the new location it turned out there was a little bit too short. So I gotta take it down and lengthen it a little bit which is easy to do. That's the top part that slides out. It has an allen screw and I'm gonna put my 2 meter antenna up higher. Hopefully about the time I get the multi bins HF vertical. That is if it hadn't been sold before I came up with the money and nothing else really going on ham radio wise. KB9MYS.
Speaker A: Over to you, John.
Speaker B: KB9MYF.
Speaker C: Right on. Thanks Jeff. KB9MYF and the net. This is K6HFP. John up in Oreville. Well, the week flew by for me. Definitely a lot of activity around the world to catch up on.
Speaker A: So.
Speaker C: Man, it's crazy up there. Watched a little bit of football today. Man, those were some wild games. That first game in Denver. Wow. For it to be not snowing at all when the game started to be pretty much a snow globe towards the end. Just the second half was nuts as far as snowing. That was a good game to watch. I think the snow definitely caused the turnout for sure because they sure changed the way they were playing. Both teams changed everything once that snow came down. It was crazy. But other than that, yeah, that second game was a wild one too. Definitely didn't expect to see that crazy fourth quarter there at the end, it was nuts. But no spoilers for anybody that still needs to catch up on it. I'll leave it at that. But yeah, other than that radio stuff, just keep trying to keep up on my studies for extra. Hopefully I'll make it in March and that'll be exciting to to get that out of the way. Other than that, hope everybody has a good week. Stay warm. I'll pass it over to Paul Ko6p Agy in the net, K6HFP K6HFP and the net.
Speaker D: This is Kilo Oscar Six Bravo Golf Yankee, Paul and Calusa. Thanks John. Made a couple contacts on a couple QSOs on the repeater here throughout the week but that was about it. And yeah, just getting ready for the work week starting tomorrow so not much else to report. We'll go ahead and pass it on to Ken Kilo Oscar Six both India Tango this is Kilo Oscar Six Bravo Gold Yankees.
Speaker E: Oh thank you Paul. This is KO6 Tip Ken in Brownsville
Speaker B: where I had a fun yesterday.
Speaker E: I went up to field winter field day up in Grass Valley and I have my new rig, my FT710 and I'm still trying to figure out everything
Speaker C: I can do on it and I
Speaker E: was trying to use my radiology H009 vertical. It's between 10 and 80 meter antenna but the instructions are pretty crap polar. But I was able with that to make five contacts. I got Oregon or Washington a little broken up there but Idaho twice, Wyoming once and Arizona once so it was at least a little entry into it. I learned a heck of a lot from the other Elmers in my class so I had a great time.
Speaker C: I will be doing it again.

Ewjkm60 so my phone turned down, so hopefully I'll be able to hear you.

Cwj, kmc, cso. If you are transmitting, it's apparently weak enough that I'm not able to receive here between my garage and the front of the house. So I may not have a good signal. Receiving very well from transmitting a lot more strongly.

Ko6git and the math w7xz Ken, are you still there? I am still here. Did I drop out? Well you kind of vanished there mentioning the contacts that you made there in Winter field day and then kind of vanished after that for a bit. Do not know what was happening. Jim, I made five contacts, Oregon, Washington one twice into Idaho, once into Wyoming and once into Arizona. Okay, very good. Anything further there? Negative. That was kind of it. I've been playing around with some stuff I got for Christmas and some books. I'm trying to learn a heck of a lot more because while I'm learning my extra myself I don't know if I'm going to be ready for March. Okay Ken, and thank you for that. I'll put out one more call do we have any additional check ins to the net? This W7X rays you look. Nothing heard well. Not too much here radio wise except getting together with three or four friends in the morning on 75 meters for about a half an hour before getting the day started. I'll put it out in the form of QST here that or the Oroville Amateur Radio System Society will be hosting the VE's actually from Yuba Sutter on March 13th in Oroville at our customary venue for our club meetings which is the parish hall, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 1430 Pine St. In Oroville and any anyone listening in here who is interested in upgrading upgrading class of license or perhaps the prospect of new licensee our welcome that evening probably be somewhere around 6pm as far as when we'll get every get things assembled there for having it go on. I'll be putting out some email to that effect along the way. Anyway with that I'll run it back up the line. Does any station have any additional comments for the nat? This W7X Ray Zulu. Nothing hurts. Sounds like maybe we got it done tonight and from the looks of things and all that I think we'll forego any attempts at doing the 10 meter net on 284 50. Anyway I'll put out a last call at this time for any late check ins or any unfinished business before we close the nap. This is W7X rays of the. Nothing hurts. Sounds like we got it done tonight. Thanks to all who checked in to this net will convene again this coming Sunday evening at 8pm local time. This is W7X Ray Zulu signing the Mooreville Amateur Radio Society Sunday night net clear at this time and good evening to all. Thanks for running the net Jim. Have a good night everybody. Have a Good. Good evening. And if you haven't watched that football game, it's a good one. K6HFP. Clear and on the side.

W e6a x n receiver.

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W e6a x n repeater.

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Speaker A: W16H, this is K6KBS. Do you copy?
Speaker B: W E6A X N repeater.
Speaker C: Yeah, go ahead. I heard you.
Speaker A: Hey. Yeah, so I just got back to town and getting ready to head your way and I thought I'd just check and see if you were listening in on the radio.
Speaker C: Yeah, just sitting here watching a few YouTube videos and learning some things. So.
Speaker B: Yeah,
Speaker C: right here by the radio. So you're in town, so it won't be long, huh?
Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. It only took about 40 minutes to get to the place and so it wasn't very long of a drive and it's a really nice, nice facility, so. Yeah, and traffic was pretty good and there's no fog, so driving was pretty easy.
Speaker C: Well, I'm sure glad it worked out that way. Sure beats the fog.
Speaker A: Yeah. So the meeting went well?
Speaker C: Yeah, pretty, pretty quick. Got things approved and people elected and stuff like that. So everything went the way it needed to.
Speaker A: That's great. I'm glad to hear it. All right, well, I'm going to go ahead and sign off now. I'm be home in a little while, so I'll go ahead and say 73, this is K6 KDS, clear on your final.
Speaker C: All right, well, I'm glad you called and look forward to seeing you. And I'll give you a 73. And this is W6P and H, the monitoring.

W e6a x n receiver.

QST, QST, QST. This is KG6KU. Opening segment Valley Traffic System W6RHC Repeater Check 2. The purpose of this is to relay over traffic into and out of Sacramento Valley and to provider stand. Emergency deficit transmission without compressor and control. All stations are requested stay on frequency until K6K located west of boats. Were tripping to be listed. Then roll call follows. Camp 6 so bi, kf6 obi, mike and willows. No traffic. Good evening, mike. Did you guys have a good field day out there? Yes, we did. It was very successful. All right, thank you very much. K, kg6k. Ul call enrollment, no traffic. Kg6tso. Good evening, lester. In the group. This is kg6tso, bessie with no traffic. Kf6djy. Good evening, lester. Cab 6dj, y br. You go. No traffic. Good evening, bruce. Thank you. K6rcs, K6pmt, kilo, echo6, papa, mike, tango, russ and gerber. Good evening, lester and group. And I have no traffic. Davy r. Thank you. Kc6ufe. Kc6ufe. Billing complaint. No traffic. Good evening, lester. Good evening, bill. Thank you. Ks6pww, kn6tww. This is jamie and chico with no traffic and good evening, lester. Ms. Good evening. Thank you very much. All right, we had a visitor check in last night. Indicated he might be able to check in again tonight. So we'll find out. K9k. All right, that's as well as I have it. Do we have any late members or visitors? Check in. K6RCS, Randall and Chico coming in hot with no traffic. All right, Randall, thank you very much for checking in. I appreciate it. Anyone else? No further traffic or check out. This is KG6KO. Closing segment of Valley traffic 2100 hours local time through the W6. Sorry, saving Peter. 146, 25 over. All stations are excused. And I like. And I would like to thank everybody checked in tonight. And to go to the Empire Society for use of care snips. Close at 21,3 over. Time $53 gate to 6K frequency.

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W e6a x n repeater.

W e6a x n repeater.

Kilo oscar 6 kilo oscar november. Is anyone listening? Los angeles link up. K6lnk system 36, snow mountain range.

Kilowatts per 6 kilowatts per November listening.

W6 rhc repeater check 3.

Please. Id. Thank you.

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W e6a x n repeater.

K6lnk system 36, snow mountain range.

System9, link up.

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Los angeles link up. K6LNK system 36, no mountain range.

Deep.

System 9, link up k6lnk system 36, snow mountain range.

Wow. Says it's gonna rain tomorrow. 40% chance they pulled the rabbit out of the out on that one, didn't they? No, I haven't been keeping up on it. Yeah, 40 degrees up in Magalia this morning and the start of yet another Beautiful day. And 6 NTM.

K6lnk system 36, snow mountain range.

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Six o'. Clock. Where'd the morning go? N6 and tm.

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W6r h c repeater check 1.

And6wip. You sleeping in, Mr. J? And 6 npm.

Speaker A: And I'm back up to 1500 watts. And it was doing 2400 at 315 this morning, though. Yeah, 65 watts is what you can put into it. And I was only at 55. I had to turn it way down. Let me see, where am I at right now? About 38
Speaker B: watts to get 1500 watts out. Hey,
Speaker A: I'm on the right frequency.

Sounds like you need the wrong radio. I was going to tell Steve. Sound like you need to clean up the relay.

All right. Oh, they got right.

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Well, back to this radio. Yeah. Well, what do you. What are you thinking? Should we grab breakfast, Mr. J?

Speaker A: Maybe 8 o' clock or something is an hour too soon. Yeah, I'm not quite
Speaker B: that ready, but yeah. Get you out of the house for a little bit. If you come back over here after breakfast, I can load your screen into your. Into your
Speaker A: truck. I'm real
Speaker B: happy with this. 120. The frame is super strong. I. I could just put a couple hooks in the ceiling and never use the bottom legs. But the bottom legs fit and work just. Just fine. You'll see.

Speaker A: Yeah, things have been changing. I looked at the gray one, and, yeah, none of this stuff here, especially at this price, they're transparent. But, yeah, I would consider one just like this. There's enough room on the ceiling. I'll show you, show you when you see it, that I could just hang it behind the tv, the normal tv, and. And just bring it out. This one right here, I could. I could actually just leave it up on the ceiling and fold it up on the bottom. It fits underneath the fan and with two more hooks, and it would just be up there on the ceiling. For those people that got speakers behind their screen, they need to have that one that lets the sound
Speaker B: through.

I wouldn't want to cut into the roof. But I see the ones that sit on the table, right? And that's about the right height. I like it. That electrically goes straight up. I'm not sure how they support that at the top, but, you know, they do sell them.

Speaker A: Well this is going to blow your mind. Cash Patel was on a half screen. I went and stood next to the screen, turned my back so Laurie could see his shoulders and my shoulders and he had 6, 8 inches wider than me. That's how big he was on the screen. And then I watched some football for about 20 minutes and I went and watched some cage fighting with soil. Definitely put on when you get here. Mind blowing how big they are. Well, we couldn't get can't remember if it was peacock or what it was. We couldn't get it to password up into the she has added a bunch of stuff to the to the nebula so that we have lots of things to choose from. So we wanted to watch Landman last night. That's the moral of the story. So we moved the big screen over to the side and we started watching Landman and she goes man that TV looks
Speaker B: awful small now. Yeah.

Speaker A: Yeah, I still have some 32 inch kn6mgk. Well, you'd have to look at the
Speaker B: call sign for the club. Right? We are operating as a club, just like you guys should be. Right? So that would be a KG6AR. That's their club call. Like you guys are W6PAR.
Speaker A: So like for field day, that's how you operate, right? Just like ham radio 2.0,
Speaker B: you know? Jason. Yeah, that's his name. He was operating on our field day, but he was like something, something pr, you know, in South Texas. Anyway, the club that he's with. So he was operating. I saw a video. He was operating using the club call.

Speaker A: A cup and a half of coffee and I'm yawning. Maybe I drank too much. Well, I only used to
Speaker B: take one cup with me when I was vlogging, and I'd usually drink half of it when I got to the landing. And then I. When I started feeling a little bit tired or whatever from, you know, being up at 1 o' clock or 2 o' clock and before noon, about 10 o', clock, I would drink the rest of it. Sometimes I'd have to drink water because it would make me tired, too much coffee.

Speaker A: Yeah, I wouldn't throw it away. I'd go pour it in the garden if nothing else. They like coffee too. Yeah, there's no sense in overdoing it. And sometimes I do put, I make it strong even though I just drink a cup probably twice as strong as most people. So yeah, I have to limit myself. No, no sense in getting too used to something. You know, you could tell when you're addicted to coffee because if you don't drink any and you start to get a slight headache or whatever, you know, you've been overdoing it for too long.
Speaker B: John, do you have any of those long CB whips, 11 meter whips or how about those mounts that people used to put on their bumpers and those big huge springs for cb do you have any of that stuff laying around?
Speaker A: Yeah, I think I do. I got two, two different kinds of 102 inch whips. The stainless steel and the Francis. Who, Oh, what the heck was his name? Not coming to me right now. Yeah, he used to love the Francis. I got a brand new Francis in gray and I think I might have a used one in black and I have stainless steel as well. But, but you should remember the badass military one, which I, I hate to see going to waste. Got a big isolator at the bottom. Showing it to you. That's a copper whip military original jeep mount. And I have the 90 degree or 45 degree. Yeah, 45 degree mount on the bottom of it.
Speaker B: Yeah, I don't understand what that means, but is that where you pull it back somehow and so you see the jeep guys have it like it's mounted at the back, but it kind of pulled back towards the front and kind of tied off or something.
Speaker A: Yeah, if you're in an area where you're gonna be slapping the stick. Yeah, that's what they did. Yeah. This has got the, this has got the deal. So you can fold it over, but the 45 degree mount you've mounted to the back of the jeep, that would be straight up and down and then. So then it changes it to horizontal right there. The mount is permanent and there's a big brown 5 inch across by 4 inches tall brown ceramic isolator. You know how they did stuff back in World War II. But it is a copper whip, not quite as flexible as stainless steel. What, what are you trying to use it on? I have a whole bunch of stainless steel whips that have been cut down to 58 and 50 and you know.
Speaker B: Yeah, well, longer would be better. So I like the 100 and something like you said. So what would I use it for? Well, I'd use it for ham radio of course I would figure out something, do something, experiment I want to play with in terms of, of a mobile HF unit using a tuner.
Speaker A: If you're just going to experiment, you're more than happy to take this 102 inch whip. It's never been cut. Still got the ball on you. And you're more than welcome to try that military one too.
Speaker B: Yeah.
Speaker A: If you're going to cut them then. If you're going to cut the 102 inch whip, then I'll get it back from me.
Speaker B: Oh no. Yeah, I wouldn't be interested in cutting anything but maybe pulling it over to support it, you know, like you say, you know it's pretty tall to drive around that way. So I don't know. It was just something I've been thinking about and trying but not many shape ready to. To do anything right now. But sure. It'd be nice to pull up to a parks on the air site and be able to start, you know, putting out my sound right away. Not having to go set up.
Speaker A: Yeah, Ray used to run 102 inch whip without the spring so it was a little less. Most, most people run a 6 inch spring under 102 inch width. That's what they're kind of designed for. But anyway, I got springs and I got ball mounts. Got all kinds of different setups when it comes to the CV stuff. Yeah. Yep, yep. And they all can't. Yeah. Ray used to use a full length 102 inch whip and an ICOM antenna tuner in the trunk. And that worked good for them.
Speaker B: Yeah, something like that. I have a different tuner in mind but yeah, I've heard of people using it to tune a lot of hand bands with just using the tuner and making it work. I'm not saying it's perfect or nothing.

Speaker A: Yeah, I want to get out and experiment with, like, FP8 on just a hamstick, too. I've got some hamsticks that I've had ever since I became an amateur radio operator and haven't really used them much except for, like, one time. And I wasn't too impressed, of course, but for digital modes, it might be fine.
Speaker B: KN6MGK, The magic band.
Speaker C: Yeah,
Speaker A: that's pretty much the band I was on.15 meters, and I was with Chris Ed over here. We're doing CW mostly. So I did do some JS8, but that was just for a brief period of time. I got like, 10 contacts on JS8. But anyway, I think our overall count was 85 contacts. So maybe I had half a dozen or so side band. But then the rest were all cw. And we got Alaska, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Leaving someone out here. Mexico, Canada, of course. Heard Japan, but at least couldn't seem to get them to get them to come back. So anyway, a lot of east coast stuff, you know, one calls, two calls, stuff like that. 15 meters. So band was pretty good. South Florida, Florida area. Band was pretty good, but all CW, you know, pretty much. So that was
Speaker B: fun. It was fun. It was actually pretty nice.
Speaker A: Yeah, it wasn't bad at all. Oh, boy. I'll have to give a count that one. Team of two running 20 meters. Jeremy's running 10. Me and Chris were running 15. There was a couple other club members. 2, 4, 5, 6. And then there was Ryan. I'm gonna say there was somewhere. I don't think it quite made 10, because the one that I brought was wife and kids. So you're gonna count that. So let's say it's something like 10, but maybe like eight operators,
Speaker B: something like that. Yeah. The mesh was working pretty good,
Speaker A: too. Had a path into the center buttes, I think. But, you know, I can't say that I was getting out. I was just receiving, so. So. But that. That's something. All right. Yeah. You guys have a great day out that way. I'll just go back to listening. Nice to hear John and Jay. Good morning. And From Chico
Speaker B: Kilo, November 6th, Mike Gold. Kilo.
Speaker C: So did that. Yeah. Good morning, Tea. So did my radio sound all right? Wasn't garbled or nothing on hfj.

Yeah. I still got to put on a shirt and some shoes and that, this and that. But I'm doing the same thing. I'm thinking cozy.

W6 rhc repeater check 2.

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W e6a x n repeater.

So you still in there? And six wip.

6bzd mobile.

And 6wip. And six ribs here.

W e6a x n repeater.

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Speaker A: Well, I'm an antenna expert. I think you should use the biggest antenna you can possibly get on the tallest pole you possibly can get. Yeah. So are you building the antenna? I'm assuming not. So if not, then buy like say a diamond or a comet antenna or something like that. I have quite a few used antennas here that might work too, anyway. Yeah. But a base antenna, if it's in a stationary location,
Speaker B: that would be the way to go. Well, the Club has that
Speaker A: X510. I think they wanted 125 bucks for it. Right now that is a 2 meter 440 antenna with about. Well, I think it's about 8dB gain or 9dB gain on 2 meters it'd be perfect. But it is about 17ft long. So you have to be willing to have one up there, you know, a little bit. But yeah.
Speaker B: Talk about a heck of an antenna. Okay, well, best practices for amateur radio
Speaker A: is, yes, you should ground your station. I've been operating for about five years with no ground like that. I did pound a ground rod in, but have yet to really hook anything up to it. So,
Speaker B: yeah, it's
Speaker A: kind of a hard question to answer when it comes to grounding. None of us,
Speaker B: I shouldn't say none
Speaker A: of us, you know that Jay
Speaker B: and John do it probably. Right. But most of the rest of us probably don't. Yeah. If it's up on the ridge at all. You don't really
Speaker A: need that tall of an antenna like that because you've got height advantage. But lots of others, like I've got some 10 footers here that have like 6 DB gains anyway.
Speaker B: Pretty cool. Yeah. Hey,
Speaker A: good morning to you. I'm not really an expert, but get Dan, he's more of an expert, But I have been dabbling for quite a little bit of time. KN6MGK. Good day to you.

The gears. Monthly informal breakfast is held on the second Saturday of the month at 9am at the Farmer's Skillet, located at 690 Rio Lindo Avenue, Chico. All are welcome to attend W6RHC Repeater Check 3.

System12 link up.

Speaker A: Kn6MGK in the mobile de icing.
Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It was when I grabbed the steel on the gate, it was very hard ice on it. So that was a cold one this morning. And it's slowly increasing from 30 degrees. It's up to 33.1 now as insect go to.
Speaker A: Well, it says 35 sitting here right now inside the truck. And I imagine since that's pretty accurate because it's been sitting all night. So I don't know. But that doesn't mean that the windshield isn't, you know, 32 or whatever because it's frozen over and got the defroster going. It's going to take me probably five more minutes, I would say, at least of engine running.
Speaker B: Yeah, I thought since it's so cold outside, I take a little time here and try to figure out more about that FP8 preset stuff that you gave me and find out what it's actually doing to the radio. Since I'm not, you know, I'm not actually using FT8 and it's doing things to the settings on the radio that I need to know about.
Speaker A: Yeah, but you, you load it into that mode and then, then, then you just go on your JS8 program and do everything like you were doing before and it probably won't work. So. Yeah, but, yeah, I understand you want to delve into understanding what they did to set up that FT8 preset, but when you find out, let me know. I'm curious, but it's not something that I was going to look into consideration, especially it's not my radio. It's the only one. Like even their 7610, they didn't have to do that.
Speaker B: You're saying the 7300 is the only one that you needed to do that with?
Speaker A: Okay, well, I don't, I surely don't know every radio, but at least with icon like friends of mine that have the 7610, they don't have to have a FTA preset to operate, you know, but the 7300 they have, they do. So anyway, I don't know if it was just something with one of the later Updates to Windows 10 or Windows 11 why they've had to come up with that. But anyway, for some reason there's some difference between the 7300 and the 7610 as to why they, they came up with.
Speaker B: Well, it's probably people specifically using Windows too, because, I mean, I didn't have to do anything special for many, many Years. And all of a sudden with this, when this. I think what happened was this machine went from win 10 to win 11. And that's part of the description of what they. When they say you're going to have trouble with the drivers. And on an ICOM 7300 or maybe all the driver, all the drivers, all the icon, seven radios that have that use the icon. Silicon chip, whatever they call that. Silicon chip. UART kind of a thing.
Speaker A: Yeah, all that language is kind of Greek to me, but yeah, like the U, A, R, T or whatever. Yeah, the bridge or something.
Speaker B: I don't know. Yeah. For those who were into electronics, uart, it was always an important chip because what it does is communicate between different modes. In fact, we had to use UART as far back as 19, I think it was 1980 when I was using them, 1986 when I got my deck degree in electronics. We had these little square devices that were used in the classroom and they, they used what they call machine language, which was specifically for intel chips, you know, and machine language was strictly what you would use to. It meant basically ones and zeros. It was down to the basics of digital. And so, yeah, we had to use those. And you were talking with, you were able to talk two chips. You know, you had a microprocessor and then right after that you had the uart. And then right after the UART you had wires going to the next guy. And part of the, part of what you had to learn how to do was make a program, a machine language program that would make it possible for you to talk to the other guys. And the other guys couldn't use your program. They had to write their own and they just had to use compatible stuff. It had to be compatible. And then if you got. Got through that, you passed.
Speaker A: Yeah, for me, what counts is does it work? You know, that's all I care about. Right. I don't really care about the specifics. Behind the scenes, there's getting to be less and less people who do. Right. Care about what's going on. So less and less people with minds like yours, you know, that have more of a, say, some sort of engineering or electronics background like that.
Speaker B: Well, that's the case in the United States, or it was. Now you're going to see changes with that. And the people who are setting up the changes do not even know that they are, that they're making it this way. But the changes that they want are not going to happen unless people become educated and learn how to really do electronics right down to the component level. And because, you know, that's what it takes to manufacture electronics. For instance, they, they outlawed Chinese drones and they said, you know, we can't have Chinese drones in the United States. Security problems. Security problems. Right. Well, the reality is they, what they want to do is they want to make it so that all the drones come from start manufactured in the United States. Well, that ain't going to happen unless we have engineers who can do it. And that's the biggest part of the problem, is that we don't have very many engineers here. And it's a serious problem for the United States. I would have to use the terms dumbing down. Dumbing down. The, the people of the United States saying you don't need, you don't need to know electronics anymore because the Chinese will do it for you.
Speaker A: Yeah, well, even if we wanted to build them ourselves here. Right. We're still going to have to use their components because we don't have a way of manufacturing the components. Right. We sent that to other places too.
Speaker B: No, the part of that bill that was passed that made it or that, you know, declaration, whatever it was from the Defense Department is that we can't use the Chinese components either. We have to be able to build a drone from scratch. And they use security as the reason. And whether there are security problems with. Well, it started out the US Military couldn't use Chinese drones and then the next thing you know, nobody could use Chinese drones. So yeah, we can't use Chinese components at all.
Speaker A: Well, the other problem that we'll have then is okay, we figure out we can build them. So now say that we can build one an hour and China can build 10 an hour, then it becomes attrition. Right. So labor would be the other issue. Right.
Speaker B: Well, that relates to cost and the cost is 10 times right now it's the cost of a drone that, that I would purchase from dji. An American made drone that does the same stuff is going to cost ten times as much. But you know, the war in Ukraine is exacerbating the whole thing because the components both for Russia, Russia is making drones and Ukraine are making drones, but they're using the components and they're using their own programming and they're taking them off rf. They're not using RF anymore. They're using, basically it's like a long fishing line. It's filament. It's, you know, same thing we get our Internet from now, only it's going through the air. And I had one going right over my house you remember when I had that one going over my house that I had to get rid of, get it out of the air because it. If they're left up, then they'll knock and drone down. So, yeah, crazy stuff. But anyway, yeah, it's a complex issue that people are making declarations that don't really understand the problem and the issues are just doing what other people are telling them they should do. And it's crazy. But anyway, yeah, uart. That's how this conversation started. Microprocessor level electronics. Nobody knows how to do it. You're right.
Speaker A: Well, hopefully you get it solved soon. Like to see you back on there since it's one of your favorite modes.
Speaker B: Well, I've gone two directions at once. I'm going into Linux and I'm going. I'm still studying the problem with Windows and it's looking like the Linux part is the most successful. It was the most successful before. The only problem is that I wasn't backing up any of my, my Micro SD cards. And that is a problem. And it's a problem that I talked with Tom about, Mike, you know, Tom, with Carla about. And it started biting the butt of Carla because the Micro SD cards were being used in every All Star radio. So they started failing and we started losing. We lost System seven, for instance. And, and if it wasn't for Ken, and who doesn't. He doesn't really have a complete grasp on what he's. What he's doing there. He doesn't understand much about Linux. He just knows that he's got to write scripts that work with All Star. So it's kind of a crazy deal.
Speaker A: All right, well, I just pulled up. I'm gonna head on inside and grab me some tea. I'll have to say kn6mgk. I'll have to say 73.
Speaker B: Well, I wanted to ask you, how cold is it? Getting up in Paradise. Are you losing plants?
Speaker A: It's warmer there. It's usually a couple degrees warmer at least. So, yeah, inversion layer. Right now I got that fall spring going on. It gets to be warm during the day. So nope, not losing anything in terms of cold.
Speaker B: That is so strange. Okay, talk to you later. N6GRT KN6NZK.

W e set a x N repeater.

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The Gears Net will be held Tuesday night starting at 7:30pm all amateur radio operators are welcome to join in on the net. W6RHC repeater checked one.

Los angeles link up. K6LNK system 36, no mountain range.

Some can link up.

Speaker A: Kn6iq.kn6iq.n6dxn.
Speaker B: Hilary, I'm doing fantastic. Let me. I only
Speaker A: have the. The link PL plugged in. Let me plug in the. The locals who are not tying up the whole system. Give me one second. Actually forgot what the local PL tone is. I was way off. All right, thanks. Give me one second.

W6 rhc repeater check 2.

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Here's holds a free Morse code class every Wednesday night, 6pM at the Golden Beaver Distillery, still housed at 2420 Park Avenue. All are welcome to come learn Morse code. W6R, H, C. Repeater check three.

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W. At the Farmers Tulip, located at 690 Rio Lindo Ave, Chico. All are welcome to attend.

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Gears holds a slow speed Morse Cognat on 40 meters every Thursday night starting at 7pm Frequency of 7.4plus or minus if the frequency is in use. All licensed amateur radio operators are welcome to join in the next W6 RHC repeater check two.

10 link up L.

The Gears Net will be helping. All amateur radio operators are welcome to join in on the net.

6 wnr mobile w e6a x n repeater.

Fresno link up k6lnk system 36, snow mountain range.

The Gears. Monthly general membership meetings are held on the third Monday night of the month at the Butte County Public Library, 1108 Sherman Avenue in Chico. Doors open at 6pm and the meeting starts at 7pm all are welcome. W6RHC repeater checked one.

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Kme. This is k17. Up.

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W e6a x n repeater.

Here's holds a free Morse code class every Wednesday night, 6pM at the Golden Beaver Distillery still house at 2420 Park Avenue. All are welcome to come learn Morse code. W Fix R, H, C repeater check 2.

W e set a x N repeater.

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Km6h ec monster los angeles link up.

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Speaker A: Anybody
Speaker B: listening on 31 in Southern Cal and 6 MZT calling. One more time. Anybody in the Southland on 31 and 6 MBT calling from Carla 5.
Speaker A: Alrighty. Hearing
Speaker B: nothing. Tne are you out there, Mr. Ken? 6 mt.
Speaker C: N7 DWG station calling. You're kind of fading in and out. A lot of scratching with popcorn. Want to come back?
Speaker B: All right, maybe in a null I bumped the power up a little bit and the popcorn is mostly from the taste Paws radar. But let's see, is this doing any better?
Speaker C: N7dWg still got popcorn, but very audible loud. Hear you real well.
Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. The. The popcorn is inherent to the Comes from the pace Pause radar system in Northern California. So you'll hear that on a lot of UHF systems. Where routes are you located?
Speaker C: N7dwg located in las vegas, nevada.
Speaker B: Okay, copy that. Yeah, you guys get hammered by a different system down there on. I think it's on UHF stuff. I don't hear it on you right now, but certain machines, certain sites, I guess get it anyhow. Alrighty. Well, just trying to see if I could raise the dead from Southern California area, but doesn't seem like it, so. But make sure to come back there.
Speaker C: N7dwg73.
Speaker B: All right, have a good day. N6 mike victor tango, lafayette, california.

System 2 linked up.

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Gears holds a slow speed Morse code net on 40 meters every Thursday night starting at 7pm Frequency of 7.44 plus or minus if the frequency is in use. All licensed amateur radio operators are welcome to join in the net WFIC RHC Repeater Check 3.

W e6a x n receiver.

Two, oh seven. Oscar foxtrot oscar.

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