W3RGA's Homepage

About W3RGA

Synopsis

Hi, my name is Pat, my callsign is W3RGA. I'm a ham radio nerd and computer geek. I share some information here about me and my ham radio hobby. I've been a ham for more than 20 years. Most of my friends are hams, and the hobby has greatly enriched my life.

Ham radio is a lifelong hobby that contains hundreds, if not thousands, of sub-hobbies under its umbrella. To learn more about the greatest hobby in the world visit the American Radio Relay League.

Website

During the COVID lockdown in 2020 I decided to learn a little HTML and build a simple homepage.

Timeline

1990's:  As a teenager, I was a CB operator, AM DXer, and scanner enthusiast. I would go to the local bookstore every month to get the latest issue of Pop Comm.

1999:  I purchased my first PC with money I saved from my high school job, this started a passion for computers and networking.

2003:  I was licensed as KB3JKV and was active on 2M FM and EchoLink (affiliate link).

2006:  After a period of inactivity, a friend at work, Randy KB3DZL, encouraged me to get active in the hobby again. Thank you Randy!

2007:  I got interested in weak signal VHF and started teaching myself Morse code (affiliate link) so I could work more DX on 6M.

2008:  I upgraded to General and received my W3RGA vanity call.

2009:  I dipped my toes into VHF Contesting.

2010:  I put a 20' piece of wire out the window and made my first HF contacts.

2011:  I became fascinated with RTTY, it was my favorite mode for about a decade. I still enjoy RTTY very much today.

2014:  I got interested in APRS (affiliate link) and packet radio.

2016:  I began exploring more serious contesting (affiliate link), see the Contesting section⇣ of this page for more info

2017:  I was honored to be asked by John K3MD to join the prestigious Frankford Radio Club.

Today:  HF contesting is my focus but I still dabble in many other aspects of the hobby.

Work

Fresh out of high school in 2000, I joined the Bingaman & Son Lumber team. I've held many positions over the years, but since 2015 I have been serving as the nightshift production supervisor at the main Kreamer headquarters. We are a global supplier of premium hardwood products.

Station

I try to keep my station as simple and low maintenance as I can with just 100 watts and a wire.

Rig

Elecraft K3S transceiver

Elecraft P3 panadapter

Bose, QuietComfort headphones (affiliate link)

Antlion Audio, ModMic Uni (affiliate link)

HamGadgets Ultra Pico Keyer

CW Morse LLC Outdoor Pocket Paddle on a 4"x4" bench block (affiliate link)

N4BKY & N4FFF Duo Straight Key One

TX Antenna

True Ladder Line 125' doublet, inverted V @ 35', 100' of 600Ω open wire ladder line

100' of 600Ω open wire ladder line

DXE-TFK46-HD fiberglass mast

KF7P anchor stakes

Atwood Rope, 550 Paracord (affiliate link) guide/support rope

Balun Designs Model 1151 1:1 ATU current balun

LDG, RT-100, remote antenna tuner (affiliate link)

Balun Designs Model 1115 isolation baluns

75' of LMR-400 (affiliate link) with DXE Next Gen Connectors

Balun Designs Model 1115 isolation baluns

(Four total) 12-turn RG400 (affiliate link) chokes wound on 2.4", Mix 31, Ferrite Toroid (affiliate link)

RX Antenna

W6LVP Magnetic Loop mounted on the side of a tree 4' off the ground

DXE-RXFC-75 feedline choke

200' of quad shield RG-6 (affiliate link)

DXE-RXFC-75 feedline choke

Palomar CMNF-500-50 common mode noise filter

Turn Island Systems 60 MHz Filter-Preamp

Mini-Circuits, splitter (affiliate link)

Palomar CMNF-500-50 common mode noise filter

Mini-Circuits, splitter (affiliate link)

Accessories

Red Pitaya SDRlab 122-16 see the RBN Node section⇣ of this page for more info

Airspy HF+ Discovery used mostly as an N1MM spectrum display

Samlex SEC-1235, 14V supply (affiliate link)

Powerpole Distribution Block (affiliate link)

APC, 1500VA, UPS Battery Backup (affiliate link)

Every cable in the shack has multiple turns through Mix 31 Ferrite (affiliate link)

Computer

GEEKOM Intel Series Mini PC (affiliate link)

BenQ, UHD, IPS Monitor (affiliate link)

Keychron, K3 ver.2, keyboard (affiliate link)

Logitech, Signature M650, wireless mouse (affiliate link)

Software

•   N1MM Logger+ contest logger
•   N3FJP's Amateur Contact Log general logging
•   G3YYD's 2Tone RTTY encoder/decoder
•   VE3NEA's GRITTY RTTY decoder
•   Morse Runner CE code copying practice
•   SDRSharp SDR software for Airspy
•   ARRL's TQSL LoTW upload program
•   Meinberg Network Time Protocol
•   K1JT's WSJT-X FT8/4 encoder/decoder

QTH

I moved into my current Snydertown QTH September of 2003. It's a quiet little borough in Northumberland County with fewer than 400 residents. I love living here, it's just not a good QTH for ham radio.

I didn't give ham radio any thought when I purchased this townhouse. It is located in a valley 200' below the average terrain and the backyard is only 30' wide. Luckily I have enough room to run my 125' doublet north & south.

I suffered with powerline noise for many years. Now, as far as I can tell, most of that is gone. Or it's covered up by all the noise from nearby LEDs, solar panels, plasma TVs and a plethora of cheap switching power supplies...
Without starting a rant, I believe the rising noise floor is the biggest threat to ham radio today. Not only from sources inside our homes but from sources outside that we have no control over.

QRP

I have a small QRP station that I occasionally take out into the field.

Rig

QRP Labs QMX transceiver (80,60,40,30,20 version), with a Tufteln Protection Cover

K6ARK, Mini QMX microphone kit (affiliate link)

HamGadgets Ultra Pico Keyer kit with a KM4CFT designed printables button cover

CW Morse LLC Outdoor Pocket Paddle on a KM4CFT Leg plate & strap

Antenna

Reliance Antennas Bugout Mini EFHW and 80-10m wire assembly

GigaParts Explorer POTA20 carbon-fiber mast and a Tufteln Ground Spike

ABR 25' RG316 coax with ferrites

Logging

KI2D's PoLo app running on my Android phone

Activity

I enjoy CW, RTTY and occasionally a little SSB. And when I want to torture myself you might see me on FT8.

QSL

I no longer send paper cards, please🙏 QSL via the ARRL's Logbook of The World.

Member of

American Radio Relay League.

Frankford Radio Club.

CW Operators Club.

Susquehanna Valley Amateur Radio Club.

Long Island CW Club.

RBN Node

I started running a RBN node in 2017, I enjoy using the RBN and wanted to contribute to the project.

My node is spotting CW on all bands 630M through 6M and RTTY on 80M, 40M, 20M, 15M and 10M.
Also spotting FT8/4 during the two major contests each year.

See the last 100 spots it has sent to the Reverse Beacon Network.

If you have a special use case, you can telnet directly to my W3RGA-# skimmer @ skimmer.w3rga.com  port 7550 (skimmer.w3rga.com:7550)
Otherwise, it's recommended you get skimmer spots from an RBN enabled "retail" DX cluster node.

N6TV has a great presentation CW/RTTY Skimmer & the RBN.

Visit the Reverse Beacon Network website and join RBN-OPS on Groups.io.

Visit my Reverse Beacon Network Top Spotter Page and my Reverse Beacon Network Raw Data Sorter page.

Contesting

Since 2016, contesting has been the aspect of the hobby that has kept me most engaged. However it's getting increasingly difficult to devote a whole weekend to a contest.

I enjoy using the Contest Online ScoreBoard, it adds a real-time racing element to the game.

With only a low wire I keep my expectations realistic. Below↓ is a list of the results I'm most proud of. See all my claimed scores on 3830.

Some contesting resources and information:
WA7BNM's Contest Calendar
WA7BNM's 3830scores
K1DG's Amateur Radio Contesting for Beginners (affiliate link)
K4RO's Contesting 101
W1DED's Contest Crew playlist
My Contesting playlist

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