TGIF Net Transcript 2025-10-17Preamble Good evening from the sandy beaches of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and welcome to the TGIF Radio Net for Friday, October 17th, 2025. My name is Steve, call sign is
W2SHR, and I'll be filling in tonight for Robert Bresman, chief for
WZV, our chief engineer and the genius behind the TGIF DMR amateur radio network. We meet here every Friday night at 830 Eastern, in talk group 31665, the mothership. We find a topic to chat about and chat about anything else that is related to amateur radio. Tonight I'd like to discuss HF antennas. What do you use? What seems the most effective? And for some of us, very important, got any suggestions how we can beat the HOA? During the course of the net, the emergency traffic can be indicated by a triple break, and of course we'll accept that at any time during the net. Also remember that this is a directed net, so please only transmit when you're directed to by the net control station, and when you check in, please say your sign phonetically. For example, I would log in as Whiskey 2, Sierra Hotel, Romeo,
W2SHR. That being taken care of, let's see if we've got anybody with announcements, news, or other important information for the net. If you do, please key your mic now.
Check-in List | Callsign | Name | State | Callsign | Name | State | Callsign | Name | State |
| N6CZE | Gary | California | KB4QCE | Paul | Unknown | KC8USE | Fred | Michigan |
| W3MTN | Doug | Unknown | KA3NGT | Bruce | Unknown | KB8KES | Michael | Ohio |
| NY2S | Tom | New York | KB3JQQ | Scott | Unknown | W8ERJ | Robert | Ohio |
| WB3IHY | Joe | Unknown | K2ANN | Unknown | Unknown | KC8UKB | Eric | Unknown |
| K7DCE | Doug | Arizona | K5GU | Leland | Unknown | NS8G | Jeffrey | Unknown |
| WB3GCK | Craig | Unknown | KE8APO | David | Ohio | WD9HGO | Paul | Unknown |
| K2OZ | Daniel | Unknown | KB7ZZ | David | Unknown | KC9SIO | Steven | Missouri |
| KE8PCQ | Lee | Unknown | K4JFH | Ken | North Carolina | KB7AVT | Joseph | North Carolina |
| KA7DLB | Sharon | Unknown | N8MME | David | Unknown | KB8PFL | Ed | Unknown |
| KB1PZS | Robert | Unknown | WA3LKZ | Thomas | Unknown | KB7BYI | David | Unknown |
| K9FEH | Chester | Unknown | K8LR | Robert | Unknown | KV9Q | Michael | Unknown |
| KD9ITO | Kerry | Unknown | AD2CH | Mark | New York | NP4M | Noel | Unknown |
| WC7V | Bruce | Unknown | K1WMP | William | California | K4WZV | Robert | Unknown |
| KE4TLC | Paul | Unknown | W2SHR | Steve | North Carolina | KD4BJA | Kirk | Unknown |
| VE6PLC | Cliff | Alberta | KF6S | James | Unknown | N4XV | Jonathan | Unknown |
| N9NJS | Lee | Unknown | N4ZWR | Simon | Unknown | KB3PTP | John | Unknown |
| VE5RS | Ron | Saskatchewan | NG5N | Jerry | Unknown | K4WLH | Wesley | Unknown |
| WX4BVP | Brandon | Unknown | N4RJJ | Robert | Unknown | WA1WQC | David | Unknown |
| KF5KHS | Michael | Unknown | | | | | | |
TGIF Trading Post I am hearing the crickets, which means everybody's putting their money away for that 7300 Mark II, aren't you? ICOM is going to get more of your money before Christmas, I can see that now.
Discussion WC7V Thank you, net control. I recently downloaded FreeDV from freedv.org, a digital voice program for HF similar to FT8. It decodes voice down to -2 dB with a 1.5 kHz bandwidth, offering good results for sound card-to-sound card communication. It's available for Linux, Windows, and Apple computers. This is
WC7V back to net control. Thank you, Carrie. Propagation has been poor lately, so I've been using FT8 to stay active.
W8ERJ I was just kerchunking to clear my hotspot. Sorry for the interruption. This is
W8ERJ.
KC8UKB I'm in Ohio with flat terrain, using a 40-foot tower and an 82-foot Alpha Delta inverted V fan dipole with an ICOM 7100. It performs well for Georgia and North Carolina but struggles to reach Florida. This is
KC8UKB. Net control notes Florida has been tough to reach lately, but I connect well with Nova Scotia on 7.238 during early morning hours.
WB3IHY This is
WB3IHY. I live in a townhouse on a 50-foot lot with power lines complicating antenna placement. I use a fan dipole with four elements attached to a 20-foot flagpole and a cherry tree to the north, and three elements tethered to another flagpole to the south, with the longest element wrapping around to another tree. This setup allows me to reach most places, including Florida, effectively with FT8/FT4. This is
WB3IHY.
W2SHR I use two homebrew dipoles made from Amazon speaker wire on my 50-foot wide lot. The 40-meter dipole is five feet off the ground on a privacy fence, and the 20-meter dipole is a foot below. I tested a new 20-meter dipole on the west side of my house, away from the electric box, and saw a significant improvement in my waterfall display. Experimentation is key. This is
W2SHR.
K4WZV Antennas require experimentation, as small changes in position or orientation can significantly impact performance. Logging these experiments helps identify optimal setups for different conditions. I prefer a $10 Amazon speaker cable dipole over a 24-foot vertical for cost and performance. This is
K4WZV.
NP4M I started experimenting with antennas after collaborating with a friend. We tried loops, long wires, and MFEDs, but a simple doublet worked best. I recommend building a 40-meter doublet fed with twin leads for excellent results. This is
NP4M.
KB7AVT I’m retired in Elizabeth City and previously lived in townhouses, where I used long wires or speaker wire antennas in attics, fed through small holes with ladder line. A 40-meter doublet worked well for all states two years ago. I also use an MFJ magnetic loop made from a nine-foot copper tube for low-bandwidth, high-signal performance. For portable setups, I connect to rain gutters with an MFJ LC tuner and use a Comet Antenna Analyzer to tune. A homemade 40/80-meter dipole on a 19-foot push-up pole also performs well. This is
KB7AVT.
KE8APO This is Dave,
KE8APO, in Medina, Ohio. I use a G5RV antenna between my house and an oak tree, running barefoot on HF. My HOA is lenient, and a contractor mistook the antenna for a dog run, so it draws little attention. It performs well for my needs. This is
KE8APO.
KB7AVT Since starting ham radio in 1987, I’ve learned the value of experimentation over modeling. I use a Comet Antenna Analyzer and a G90’s SWR sweep for tuning. On FT8, I check PSK Reporter to see where my signal reaches. For RF exposure, I use the ARRL calculator, finding minimal standoff distance needed for 20 watts on 40, 20, or 15 meters. This is
KB7AVT.
W2SHR I recently installed HamClock on a Windows 11 computer successfully after some challenges. It’s a viable option for Windows users. This is
W2SHR.
Acknowledgements Ty Weaver, KG5RKI: Ty Weaver,
KG5RKI, in case you didn't know, Ty is the coding genius behind TGIF, he makes sure that everything runs smoothly, and it's his hard work that keeps us on the air with an amazing amount of reliability.
Andy Nielsen, G7LRR: Some of the other networks that have been going down quite a bit lately, Andy Nielsen,
G7LRR, is Ty's right-hand man.
Glenn Allison, 93MEL: There's also Glenn Allison,
93MEL, he created our international forum page, and even though he's retired now, his work and starting the forum will be remembered always and appreciated.
Forum Management Team: How about our forum management team? You heard some of them earlier,
82CH Mark Rounce, Doug Smith,
85CDK,
83IHY, these guys keep our forums running smoothly by answering questions and guiding the newcomers. TGIF network definitely appreciates you.
Dick Lowen, VE3JAR, and Phil Thompson, VE3RD: We can't forget our brothers from the north, Dick Lowen,
VE3JAR, and his amazing TGIF documentation, his cohort, Phil Thompson,
VE3RD, for his work in the hotspot programming, the net recordings, and making sure that he is TGIF Nexian screen hotspots. Don't forget if you want to hear this and any of the past recordings of the TGIF amateur radio net, you can go to the TGIF.network webpage, select the forum tab on the left-hand menu, then scroll down to Friday night net recordings, and the index will be there in the forum tab, and you can go to the page and get whatever one you want. We've got to thank Phil,
VE3RD, for making these audio recordings possible.
Robert Bresman, K4WZV: It goes without saying that without Robert Bresman,
K4WZV, as our chief engineer of the network, we'd be at a standstill. He brings us together 24/7, 365. Robert, thank you for being with us tonight, keeping the network going, and we're glad to hear that you're on the way to healing, that's for sure.
Close To everyone who joins our net, I can't thank you enough for investing your time with us and for sharing your experiences with us. You make the TGIF radio net special, and you're one of the reasons the community is not only the best EMR network, but one of the reasons that we continue to grow so quickly. As I mentioned before, the topics are tough. Don't forget it's your idea to take this net. If you have suggestions for future topics or activities, please share them. Together we can make sure that the TGIF radio net is fun, informative, and enjoyable for everybody. Thank you again for joining our radio net this evening. My name is Steve, call sign
W2SHR, Whiskey to Sierra Hotel Romeo. We're signing off from the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Join us again next week for another TGIF radio net, Friday night, 830 Eastern, on Talk Group 31665. This is the end of our net for tonight, Friday, October 17th, 2025. The MotorShip Talk Group 31665 back to worldwide amateur usage, 7-3, and remember, thank God it's Friday.