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CQ QRS
What happened
e

Do QSOs

using

RagChew

last Tuesday, and a reminder for the next net.
SDRs

e The magic

of beer

e Talking and

doing

count?

e¢ Jordan

adds to our Christmas

e Anew

exciting weekly quiz

present wish

list

e The Spiral spiral
e Tecsun

SDR at Araluen

Phased

Antenna

Reminder

back in service

Paradox

for 12Dec23

CQ QRS

Another bumper edition of RagChew this week - including an exciting new
idea to encourage

more reading - yeah | know... just what you need right?

So we had an outstanding

net on Tuesday, despite quite strange conditions.

Some signals were well down on what we'd been experiencing

lately, but

at least we didn’t start with a cacophony of static crashes like the previous
few weeks.

| counted

20 stations on or listening this time - c’est bon, non?

Thank you to those who make the time to be on as often as possible - not
only are you giving our team

members

opportunity to practice real CW
but isn’t it great fun?

and lots of anonymous

in real (and often real tough) conditions,

| don’t know about you, but it seems that | feel

among friends every Tuesday when

| hear our team chatting away to each

other, or just calling CQ and giving it a go.
Here’s this week’s

listeners an

list of stations

heard:

Thank you maties.

RSS

5Dec23 CQ ORS Net
Total active stations this week:

Total QSOs (rote that this tigure wort be comect - 505 may be counted twice or more}

Instructions:

Existing Users:
Go down

te the line with your callsign on the left (Column A). Use the slider on the right hand edpe of the screen te seroll down,

Ifyau can't ste the lines, expand the spreadsheet downwards by clicking on the battom of the windew and dragging dowrwards,
Move acreds te OS01 (Couric C), click on the cell and select the callsign of the first G50 you had or heard.
Mack text - Q5Led, Green

text - heard but not worked,

Hue

text - incomplete G50 [not O5Led).

Repeat the O50 entry against the other station's row.
Moving to the next cell te the right in your row far the secand O50 ete
Ifyou hear someone just calling 00, find them on the list in Column.
If you hear or work sameone net in the left hand column of drap-down
-

and then enter OQ in Column B.
list, contact Stuart or Mark and advise;need to be copy/pasted).

We'll then update the spreadsheet (the spreadsheet has hidden formulas that need te be copyspasted).
‘Stuart:

Stujens5 @emailcom

Mark:

mark bosmnaB@ielbud.cor

Ctrl-S to save the spreadsheet when done.

Ifthe spreadsheet is tao confusing, send the list of your contacts and heard stations te Stuart or Mark te update the spreadsheet (te make it easy, you could take a phota of ye
New

Users:
Contact Stuart or Mark (click on email address above] and ask for your calign (or name if unlicensed) ta be added.
Inchide a list of callsigns heard or worked, and we'lladd the GOs.

MY CALL

Calling CO,

-CO.or Listeningif no CC)

VK1TE/m

gso1

Oso2

Qs503

WK2KI

VESET | VEGJDM |

gso4

gso5

Os06

Oso7

oso8

gso9 | Q5010 | Q5011 | Q5012 | 5013

VK5PH

VKBFN | VEFKPC | VK6JIDM | VK6P2T

VKSFD | VK3DBD

VEK2A0E
VK2BHO
VK2BHO
VK2GAZ
VR2IK
VK2KI

VK3DBD | VK1TE/m | VK3ACU |

VKSET

VKSFD

VK6IS

VE6OI | VEGHRC

VEK2NV
VK2WEO
VEK3ACU

WE2KI

VESET

VELTE/m |

VKSET

VE3ADR
VKSBTY
VK3BU
VK3CLD/p
VK3DBD
VK3KO

WKSCZ
WKSET

VKSPH

VK2KI

VKSFD

VKITE/m|

VKSPH

| VK3ACU | VK3DBD | VKITE/m | VKGPZT

VKSIP
VESKFG
VKSPH

VE2kI

VK6FN | VK3ACU |

VKSET

VESFD

VEBIS

VKGFN

WREIS

VESPH | VEGAAY |

VK6KD | VKGHRC | VKOPZT

VEBIS

VK6FN | VK6KHZ |

VKSET | VK6PZT |

VK6GATB
VK6AAY
VKGBEK

VKG6CK
VK6DEV/p
VEK6FN
VK6GAL
VK6HRC

VK6KD

VK6OI

VEK2KI

VK5ET

VKBKD

VK6IR
VKGIS

VKGFN | VEKGKHZ | VKBAAV |

VK6JDM

WE2KI

VRK6KD

VEBAAY |

VE6KHZ

WREIS

VK6KD

VK6IS

VEKOFN | VK6PZT

VK2KI

| VK6PZT

VK6KQ
VK6LD
VKEMK
VEK6EMU

Listening

VK6NC
VRKENT
VKGNW
VK6P2ZT

VEGHRC |

VKSET

VE2K!

VKBIS

VK6Q)

VK6FN | VKGBEK

VK6IS

VKBKHZ | VKGHRC | VK6PZT

VK6KD
VK2KI

| VKBHRC

WKG6TY
VK6XU
VK6YV

Listening

VR7WW
VE7KPC

VESET

|WKITE/m | VK3DBD

VK7ZA.

Reports

& Comments

So here’s this week’s
From

Craig VK3CLD/p

at Jindabyne

reports.

NSW:

Hi Mark, very doubtful I'll be on air tonight as we have terrible, terrible
winds here in Jindabyne, so no wires can be put out, nor my vertical raised
at this time.
Cheers,

Craig....
[Hi Craig.

| can’t remember,

are you already able to use the KiwiSDRs to

listen in when you can’t get on?

I can point you in the right direction if

you're not already a user of this great network. Hope you can listen in and
give me an update on who you hear mate].
All good on SDR’s Mark. Truthfully, | am knackered and will be retiring to
bed very early. Climbed up to Kosi summit yesterday and it buggered me
and my ham mate. Today it blew harder than | have ever experienced ina
long time. My squid pole is now in the garbage bin... just shattered. Lucky |
always Carry a Spare haha.
VK3CLD/P
[Bad luck mate.

Unfortunate thing about Haverford poles - look nice,

cheap, quick delivery, made in Australia - but it seems not quite strong
enough.
From

I’ve broken several too].

Richard VKG6HRC

Hello Mark.

at Padbury:

This week's report from downtown

Padbury.

Stations heard :
VK6IS
VK6FN
VK6KHZ
VK5ET
VK6PZT + Brief QSO
VK6KD
VK6QI

+ brief QSO

VK2KI

(using WA SDR for RX) + brief QSO

Conditions variable with QSB

making

life difficult, thanks to all on the net

last night especially to those that responded to my calls.
night was a KX3 at 15W and an American
Monitored

my signal via VK6SR

My setup for the

Morse Equipment mini paddle.

remote and the VK6QS

SDR so knew my

almost QRP setup was working to a degree. Sent out CQs at intervals and
then responded to a few with the results in the log. Staying around until
near the end of the session paid off and managed

to catch up with Mark

before he collapsed!
Had a Post-Morseum with Max and Mark via AllStar through the VK6RLM
Lesmurdie

repeater on Wednesday

morning to compare

notes;

| was happy

to report | was not imagining things and | did indeed actually hear John
VK5ET early on in the evening;

thanks Mark. All in all | am

and benefiting from our QRS net.
Many thanks for being there everyone,
73
Have a great week
Richard VK6HRC...
Richard’s Elecraft KX3 and mini key.

cheers

really enjoying

Hi Mark - it has just occurred to me that my log should be amended

for the

VK2KI entry, as | was hearing you direct but you had to listen on the remote
to complete the contact.
Allin all lam

Is it right for me to log the contact that way

really enjoying and benefiting from the QRS net.

Many thanks for your work,

cheers

Richard.
[Hey Richard.

| disagree.

You were hearing me direct - and able to read

some of the Code despite the tough conditions;

| happened to use the SDR

to helo out - so it was part of my station.... just happened to be a tad closer
to you and a /ot quieter than my receiver here!

| don’t think there’s any

sheep stations invo/lved.... be really proud that you’re now able to have CW
contacts under real and really trying conditions, even if | cheated a bit - HI/!]
So funny - of course no high stakes involved!
component,
Cheers,
From

silly me.

Nearly forgot the having fun

Well said - | can relax now.

Richard.
Baz

VK6MU

Had a listen around
about 20 wpm

at Calista:

last night. Only heard 1 VK6FN.

He was calling CQ at

so | gave him a miss.

Baz
VK6MU

[Baz was one of our originals when the practice QSO net was started - great
to hear that you were listening mate.
That would have been Max at Manjimup that you heard.

He’d slow down to

match you had you fired up the FI-991A and given him a call.
And by the way, Max Is always looking for someone to have a CW rag chew
with outside of the net.

Interested?

I! can put you in touch;

| reckon you’d

get on well with Max - he’s a real card - and he’s been licensed forever like
vous et mois!

Have a listen on the VK6RLM repeater (146.750) between 6

and 7 each week-day morning and you'll hear Max (and sometimes me,
David, Richard and others of our net team as well) - if you want to say

g’day and suggest a CW contact.

(I think he’s also often on the Shavers’

Net at 8:30 - 3610 or 3605 or some such).
Hope | hear you calling CQ QRS on our net again soon mate.
And

speak of the devil... from

Max VK6FN

Cheers].

at Manjimup:

As it turned out, | really got into the swing of of the net on Tuesday.

| had

been delayed working at a broadcast transmitter site at Bridgetown bloody cyber keys!

Anyway,

| finally got home and was plain tuckered out -

Helen suggested that | put my feet up and have a beer.

I'll havea
beer.

| ok: I'll have a
beer and
scrambled

eggs!

Well that was all it took - | was ready for some fun on 80m and jumped
early.

Unlike previous weeks, the band was quiet... in fact | wondered

whether there was a problem with my antenna - there was just no noise only about $2-3.
Although the noise was low - so were the signals.

| worked

was only RST 559 (normally 599), then Mike VK6AAV
David VK6KD

at RST 589.

| struggled with Richard VK6HRC

only RST229 to his RST 599.

Peter VK6IS who

RST 579, followed by
and gave him

| also heard Richard VK6PZT at 579, but unlike

every other net for the past few months, absolutely nothing at all from over
East.
Cheers,

[Thanks for your report Max;

glad you had fun mate.

have a beer handy on the hot nights?
From

Peter

VK6KPC

Perhaps we should all

Cheers, mb]

at Evandale:

Hi Mark,
On Tuesday | heard VK5ET, VKITE/m

and VK3DBD.

| was trying a new old radio (a Racal SynCal) with about 5 W CW output.
Synthesised AM and USB and LSB with 1kHz channel steps and for CW,
transmits a tone 1 kHz above or below the selected frequency.

Running on 3x 6v lantern batteries which are starting to go flat;

waiting on

an adapter plug so! can run set from an 18V LION Ozito power tool battery.
Should be on air again next week.
Cheers
Peter VK/7KPC
This is what | was using:

[Thanks Peter.

Love the green and red pieces on the handset - good for

Army use - Midvale School for the Gifted - (old Far Side cartoon - HI)!
/ heard your callsign at one stage, as did the station | was working - it had a
warble on the keying (frequency pulling on key-down - or maybe auroral
scatter?) - probably your expensive lantern batteries doing a dolphin.

The

power tool battery is a good idea - where on earth would you get an
adapter for that?

Then again, the tools are cheap - perhaps sacrifice a

second hand one - HI/?]
From

Peter VK6IS

Hey.

A bit more activity was heard this week:

- vk6fn,, vVK6OKhz,,

at Wundowie:

vVK6aav,, vK6kd,, VK2ki,, vVK6pzt,,

Peter.
[Thanks Peter - our net just wouldn't be the same
From

Paul VK5PH

without you there!]

at Glen Osmond:

Hi Mark, | was not receiving too well on Tuesday night from home as there
was a fair amount of local noise. | also could barely hear Max VK6FN
through the Ironstone Range SDR and | was struggling even to copy his
callsign;

thanks for trying to assist.

| was able to copy Jordan VK3ACU
think that | would
home

rig.

a little better through the SDR but | don’t

have been able to manage

a conversation through the

And for local contacts, the stalwart John VK5ET came up and was an easy
copy at 5dB over 9. A
who was coming

little later | was able to converse with Allen VK5FD

in at 10dB over 9 and his signal sounded

sweet at my

QTH.
Thanks for all of your efforts and it is great to see so many getting on air.
73
Paul
VK5PH...

[Good report Paul - thank you.

Interesting that you were struggling to hear

people - you were coming in well to NSW.
at home and at the SDR site?

Did you have a lot of noise both

(For those who do’t know, Paul owns the

Ironstone Range KiwiSDR Site in Adelaide). Signals in WA and here seemed
to be down a bit, but | was surprised that you couldn't hear Max - he puts
out a fair signal with his 160m dipole.
From

Richard VK6PZT

Cheers].

at Dalyellup:

Three contacts for me on Tuesday Mark:
e VK6HRC

- Richard

- 539 Sent 589 rcvd First contact with Richard for

me
e VK5ET John

- No luck lost contact half way thru

e VK6IS Peter - 589 Sent 5NN
e VK6KD
Had some

David - 559 sent

rcved

579 rcvd

bother with my antenna

on Tuesday.

initially.

It had come down

some time

Possibly due to parrots swinging on it or biting the point at

which it joined the impedance transformer.

Anyway

| simply stripped the

insulation of the end and wrapped the conductor around the contact;
worked fine but needs replacing.
| was thinking of using stainless steel wire, but | heard its not suitable for
antennas.
[Hi Richard.

Any thoughts?
Glad you got your antenna and running again.

For my home antennas | use 1.2mm stainless steel MIG wire.
on my one-wavelength per arm
into a double-extended Zepp,

Vee Beam,

| had used it

which has now been converted

which is about 100m long;

so far the MIG

wire has stayed where it should be (except when half of one of the huge
gum

trees at on end came down in a storm!).

Because of its relatively low

weight, there’s not much catenary, and because it’s so thin, it’s quite
difficult to see unless the sun reflects off it.

| have read comments about

the resistance of MIG wire compared to copper - but how much lIoss is
added to the radiation resistance component (ie the effective component
that produces radiation of electromagnetic waves) | can’t tell.
The challenges with thin stainless steel wire are:
e

it’s hard as buggery - it’s quite tricky to bend tightly - eg to wrap
around BALUN terminals

e you can’t solder it (I tried the suggestion in AR Magazine about using
automotive rust converter (phosphoric acid) as a flux for stainless...
doesn’t work)
e

it’s easy to kink when you're assembling.

In the Other News section below, Owen

Duffy VK2OMD

has pointed me in

the direction of stainless steel wire clamps to help overcome the soldering
problem.

I’ve ordered some on eBay.

See Owen’s

comments

about balanced feed lines, aluminium

wire and

marine grease below, and also his article here:
httos://owenduffy.net/blog/?p=10864

Lots to think about Richard.
From

David VK6KD

Cheers].

at Ballajura:

G'day Mark
| got on air a bit later on Tuesday night due to some other chores | had to

WNP

finish.

73s

See below my list of contacts and monitoring.
730pm

Listening:

730pm

QSO:

vk6aav & vk6is 3.560mhz

vk6is Peter

7.46pm QSO: vk6fn Max
3.556 MHz 8:10pm

Listening:

8.25pm

3.556MHz QSO:

VK6KD

David

vk6pzt Richard and Peter vk6is

vk6pzt Richard

[Thanks David].
From John VKS5ET at Hope
G'day Mark, managed

Valley:

good group of contacts despite the noisy conditions

here. Interstate signals were heard coming

into VK5 after 10:30 Z.

e VK5PH

Paul,

$599+5

VK5ETs

e VK2KI

Mark,

s 589

VK5ET s 559

e VK3ACU

Jordan,

s 499

VK5ET s 449

e VK3DBD

David,

s 589

VK5ET s 449

e VKITE/M

Claude,

s 599

VK5ET s 229

e VK6PZT

Richard

VK5ET s 229

Good to hear/see that my ZS6BKW
latest changes.

599

was sending out good signals after the

Conditions deteriorated somewhat

later in the evening &

despite fiddling with knobs trying to reduce noise etc, it didn’t help much

@ . Sorry Richard, VK6PZT, | knew you were there but weak sig &
constantly fading in & out, so not good copy. | think you heard some of
what | sent. Once again, only one VK6 station heard. They may come up
later... may have to stay later next time?
73S,
John VK5ET
[Hi John.

Thanks for your report - yes you had a nice signal into VK2.

here 1 can start hearing my own

Over

VK2 signal on the VK6QS SDR South of

Perth around 1000-1030z say, but with the noise here, | can’t hear the
Sandgropers until a bit later.

However things are different from SA - the D-

layer Is still fading as the solar radiation disappears from the ionosphere,
and as discussed in previous RagChews on the apparent one-way
propagation phenomenon

the mode of propagation is tricky to guess (for

me) during the changing conditions.
If | haven’t got enough to do, | should start watching the SDR as the band
opens to see whether my signals get to WA before or after the Croweaters.
Cheers].
From

Claude

Tinderry

VK1TE

who

was

Mobile

between

Pearce

ACT

and

NSW:

Hi Mark,

Quite a positive contrast last Tuesday compared to the previous one, no
statics!
This time, my humble

mobile HF setting, combined

with an accommodating

weather and propagation, allowed me a few QRS QSOs on 80m,
them while driving.

most of

| was using the left side of a dual paddle with my

thumb, without the keyer, as if it were a straight key. | am getting used to it
and it seems
bumpy

roads.

more reliable and easier to control than a proper paddle on
When

over about 20wpm

the thumb gets cramps,

very slow speeds it is quite comfortable and accurate!

;-)

but at

adel

| just acquired an Australian made

1940 antique Morse key, a WT8 AMP.

Bulky and robust; it could have been designed

by a tank maker.

Its action

IS quite rough compared to the gentle touch of a paddle and | thing it might
be a challenging one for long sessions.

We'll see how it behaves on the

field soon enough.
| was able to hear some VK6s very QRP;
work them

later on.

At some

wonder if you succeeded.

I'd like to find the right spot to

point you were trying to copy a VK6 and |

| received him 219 QSB and could not confirm his

Call sign. Could it be VK6JBM?
Your signal was usually very clean and strong wherever | was between
Canberra and Tinderry, apart from some expected
| was also very impressed
VK5ET

by the 599+20

mobile QSB.

of David VK3DBD

with 20W.

John, with also a strong 599, and Allen VK5FD with a comfortable

579.
It would be nice to have at least one VK1 joining... And why not some ZLs
as we can hear VK2WI

on 3.699MHz on ZL SDRs very well, most of the time,

and with only 35W.
231205
time_on

calls

12:10

VK2KI

name _
Mark

freq

rst_srst rrem

11:10

VK5ET

John 3.55599

11:00

VK2KI

Mark

3.558
3.555

599+20
599

389

QRS

QRS
599

swl

QRS with vk6ojbm?

10:50

VK5ET

3.5

599

SWL QRS

with vk3dbd°

10:50

VK3DBD

David

3.5622

599

SWL QRS with vk5et

10:39

VK2Kl

Mark

3.558

599

489

QRS

10:14

VK5FD

=ALLEN

3.555

579

QRS

09:50

VK3DBD

David

3.551

599+20

599

09:10

VK2Kl

Mark

3.555

579

QRS

Overall a good
time.

569

QRS 20w

mobile Tai-Chi CW session, which can only improve over

Thank you all for being there!

CU next time.

73
Claude
VK1TE

[Hi Claude.

Outstanding report mate - thank you.

Yes that was Donald

VK6/DM near Esperance - complete home brew station. Donald was very
difficult for me to copy this week - Q 5 on QSB peaks and | received his
report, but I struggled to get his callsign every time - luckily Donald was
patient and hung in there until finally | got his callsign on a QSB peak.
Interesting that your noise level was down at S1 when he was on;

despite

putting my double extended Zepp about 40m from my house, it's still
picking up S9+ noise, which my cheap noise canceller may or may not deal
with - but | certainly lose in the order of 200B of signal in the process. |
have a nicer MF/1026 that | bought from a friend's estate, but unfortunately
it arrived faulty - probably need to replace some of the FETs - another job
on the list.
Wow your thumb must be dexterous using a paddle as a straight key
piano player perhaps?

| couldn't imagine getting the rhythm right on a

paddle without the up and down floating wrist action of a key... but it
certainly sounded excellent to me - good job.
| use WT8 AMP keys here for both home and portable.

I'd pulled them apart

and cleaned both the pivot and the return spring, and on one | think | had
to add a little brass screw head to get the spring pressure right. On my
shack key I've added a large thin plastic clothing button between the knob
and the lever arm (see last week's RagChew) - that makes a nice thumb
rest which helos during the 5 to 6 hour long CQ QRS nets!

Now I'm quite

happy and used to the keys.... | suspect with practice and patience we can
get used to anything.
Yes | agree about the ZLs... and VK4s - very strange that we haven't heard
any (1 did have a VK4 calling me a few weeks back, but he or she faded out
and we couldn't crack the contact).
Thank you for your excellent report and your efforts on Tuesday again - it's
great to have you doing that journey on Tuesday nights - and I'm sure when
conditions are right, you'll be a great bait for the Sandgropers.
Cheers,
From

mb]
me

VK6QI

via the
the

VK6QS
VK6CRO

SDR

at Bedfordale

and

On the VK6QS

SDR | heard Max VK6FN

at Brookton,

Remote

the VK6SR

Remote

at Carnarvon:

the burly early bird from Manjimup,

spreading the burley early at 0850z calling CQ, followed at 0900z on the
dot by Shaun VK6BEK at Quinns Rocks on his new diamond-shaped
antenna (see Other News below).
Wundowie,

while 4KHz down,

Max hooked

Ron VK6KHZ

spiral

up Peter VK6IS at

at Yangebup was calling CQ,

followed shortly by Richard VK6HRC

at Padbury.

Wish | had more arms and

legs so | could say g’day to the CQers over West, while doing the same to
the Victorian, SA, NSW and Tassy callers that | hear or are working
parallel;

unfortunately,

| can’t practicably be everywhere at once... my

brain can only just receive 1-1/2 CW QSOs (using my stereo mixer to move
the sound between
ears).

ears and for the one I’m concentrating on, in-between

A while later | heard Peter and Ron chatting, and heard Richard

calling Max VK6FN

at Manjimup.

Meanwhile the static crashes were building up in WA (not NSW this time) most were in central and Eastern WA.

Never-the-less,

| heard Richard

VK6PZT at Dalyellup working John VK5ET at Hope Valley, and | heard Peter
working

David VK6KD

Telstra

at Ballajura.

10:04 pm

@ map.blitzortung.org
delay (wsa): eyan

Days ree cena
Gor
ae ane,

7
A

fa
/

Indonesia

Papua|New Guinea
Solomon

Isla

2000 km

4 mM

By about 1230z (2330 my time) | was starting to get a little faded myself so
| did my weekly check for one-way NSW-WA

propagation;

| wound

up the

Southern

Electronics Group Remote VK6SR at Bedfordale and tried as

politely as | could to ask an unidentified non-SEG-member SWL using FT8
on 40m,

if he minded that | take over the Remote;

after getting no reply,

and running out of late night patience, | took the Remote down to 80m.
VK2 to VK6 in QSB was RST 599 and VK6 to VK2 579 - approximately
reciprocal considering the QSB and that | was using a (lossy) noise
canceller on receive here.

| used our WhatsApp

CQ QRS group to advertise

that | was calling CQ from VK6 and Richard VK6HRC

at Padbury called me;

terrific to have my second CW contact with Richard - the 15 Watts from his
Elecraft KX3 and paddle sounding very good.
Also From

me, VK2KI

Extended

Zepp

at Bowning

antenna

from

using

home

my TS-50 and

Double-

and also using the VK1CM

SDR

at Farrer:
While having dinner out on the patio with Ms Elizabeth, | sunk a peak at the
VK1CM

SDR and saw that David VK3DBD

in Yakandandah

was on calling CQ

20 minutes before the net started - keen to check for early propagation
even before dark David?
Once | came inside and cranked up my Kenwood TS-50 transceiver and got
the noise canceller nulled | worked Claude VK1TE/m who was at home and
packing

his ute for the night’s travel to Tinderry NSW.

rag-chew with Jordan VK3ACU

| then had a long

running 20 Watts from Meredith.

| caught up

with John VK5ET at Hope Valley and in parallel could hear David and Claude
having a QSO about 1kHz up.
arranged via WhatsApp;

| then had another QSO with Jordan, pre-

Jordan was running

1000mW

crystal locked up on

3578kHz using his tiny Century Cent transmitter, and receiving on an SDR.
Simple it may have been, and with QSB and noise | could only report RST
379, but boy that little transmitter sounded good - rock solid stable keying.

A little while later | heard Allen VK5FD working Claude, and also heard Paul
VK5PH

at Glen Osmond

calling and calling CQ with a solid RST 599 signal;

tried calling Paul, as did a couple of others, but it sounded like the noise got
the better of him on the night. | also heard Peter VK7KPC from Evandale
before hooking up again with Claude, this time heading South out of
Canberra;

meanwhile

| heard David working John.

| was then by a weak signal, that turned out to be Donald VK6JDM

Esperance. | received Donald’s signal report easily on a QSB peak, but at
RST 289, really struggled to get his callsign - many many “AGN?” and “QRZ
AGN?”

later, | finally got it!

Thanks for persisting Donald - although |

probably should have used an SDR to pick up his callsign, I’m a purist and
kept him honest by asking for all the repeats :) However,
something

interesting while watching

Brookton.

| knew he was using his home

audio oscillator;

| did notice

Donald’s signal the VK6QS SDR at
brew SSB transmitter and a keyed

well his signal looked like it had two carriers on key-down -

probably one on either side of the suppressed
CW!

carrier - ie double sideband

Perhaps in his initial work to modify the transmitter for CW,

the post- balanced-modulator filter out.

he'd left

This of course wouldn’t normally

be picked up except by a spectrum analyser... or in this case a handydandy web SDR!

| reckon by removing that extra sideband,

least a 3dB improvement

he’d get at

in radiated power on the frequency desired.

Elizabeth’s rescue package... home-made frangipane tart and a drop of ice cream!

Next | heard John working Richard VK6PZT at Dalyellup, which from what |
heard may have been the only SA to WA contact on the night.
calling Richard after John - but | was being optimistic;
exchange.

| then managed

| tried

RST 169 and no

to scrape in Peter VK6IS at Wundowie

rather poor signals at RST 379 from me and 339 from Peter.

- again,

Claude then

called in to report that he’d landed successfully at Tinderry - cancel SAR;
meanwhile while listening to Claude,
AllStar network.

| heard Max VK6FN

calling me on the

| thought by now with some experience listening to two

CW conversations at once on the net, surely | could talk on the radio and
listen at the same time?

Ha!

My brain had other ideas... Max had called to

let me know that his phone battery had gone over the hill, so he could nolonger watch the WhatsApp traffic... but boy it was hard work to talk to Max
with one bit of the brain while listening to Claude with another - HI!
After working
above),

Richard VK6HRC

at Padbury on the VK6SR

Remote

(see

| sent a “last calls” message to the CQ QRS Group and Richard

responded

by responding to my call.

He was struggling to hear my signals,

sending an RST 339, and | could only hear the occasional
or meteor scatter - although

pings (QSB peaks

| didn’t notice any doppler) and gave him an

RST 159 - cheating a little for scientific research purposes by resorting to
the VK6QS

SDR to get his signal report.

Good try Richard... there’s noting

like tough conditions to train the brain to receive marginal CW.

By about

quarter past midnight, | faded away to bed - tough night, but good fun for
those who hung

in.

Other
Other things
Jordan VK3ACU
asked

I’ve received

at Meredith

News
from

answers

our 100-odd

the question

readers.
many

of us have

ourselves:
A drone for elevating

wire dipoles.

In my home station, | use a 40-meter end-fed half-wave long-wire antenna.
The UNUN

end is mounted

maintenance.

on my mast, with a pulley system for

To raise the other end of the wire | used a Mavic Air 2 drone with a dropper
mechanism

from eBay.

release mechanism

The Mavic Air 2 can safely lift a 350g payload.

The

is triggered by the drone's underbelly auxiliary light

that can be turned on or off with the controller.

The dropper has a LDR

triggered by the light and a servo motor and its own small rechargeable
battery.
| find something

laying around

like a pinecone, tie a long rope to it and then

to the sliding pin on the dropper.

| can then fly the drone over the selected

tree and release the pinecone.

This is all confined to my private property...

| do not recommend

dropping pinecones in public - Hl.

rope and pinecone over the tree | tie a 3D-printed
then tie the wire antenna to the insulator.
the tree and the antenna

Once | have the

insulator to the rope,

Once the rope is draped over

is tied to the insulator, | can pull the other side of

the rope and tie it off. The tree acts like a pully.

Twice the dropper has not let go and in both cases, this was not the fault of
the dropper unit; my rope or key ring that | use got jammed
thick to fit loosely in the dropping
challenging

mechanism.

because you need to keep some

When

as it was little

this happens

it is

light tension on the rope as

you fly back over the tree, so it doesn’t get tangled in the drone or the
tree! The weight of the pinecone helps a lot with this to keep the rope
downwards.
No major crashes yet;
e
e

preparation

is the key:

Making sure the rope is long enough - it can be shortened

later.

Making sure the rope is coiled or placed out flat so it will take off nicely
without tangles.

| know from experience this drone will actually lift up to about 500grams so
it very handy for antenna work.

| use the cheap Bunnings rope and find the

green and blue to last longer than the brown camouflage rope In the sun;
last time the rope lasted nearly 2 years before the sun and wind finally
brought it down, and of course I’m sure there are better things to use.
| tend to tie the excess up and off to the tree somewhere this lets me pull
the wire back down.
I’m thinking of ideas to perhaps add a bit of timber somehow

in the treetop

with a pully but it’s rare | need to work on this antenna.
73
Jordan
VK3ACU
[Wow - isn’t this great?

Thanks Jordan.

| use a ZS6BKW doublet for SOTA and VKFF PARKS activations - but|
usually spend the first 3/4 hour getting the ends of the antenna up as high
as /canin the trees. These days / use an arborist’s throw bag and the youbeaut poly-something-or-other light-weight tangle-free rope that goes with
it... but it’s still hard work.

I’ve also had many disasters when | previously

used 80z sinkers and 3mm

rope or 2mm

builder’s twine - some breeds of

trees just refuse to allow the rope to slide, or the weight loops-the-loop
around a branch.

Several nice ropes have been left up trees!

So I’ve often wondered if a drone would be practicable... and you’ve
answered the question!

I'd like to use one to get my antennas up higher at

home too - | now reckon | could get another 3 or 4m at the middle of the
catenary with a drone.

And perfect for replacing those so-called UV-

protected ropes every year or so.
By the way, at home,

| now use pulleys in the trees at each end, with the

antenna rope attached to a weight - so as the trees sway, the weight just
floats up and down.]

From John VKS5ET at Hope

Valley:

The change with the ZS6OBKW antenna was an experiment - | read
somewhere that this config may improve reception;
both of my 3m ends of the antenna

antenna shaped asa _ horizontal Z, | am
drooping down.

so instead of having

horizontal to fit in the block (ie the
back to the original with the ends

| don’t know if propagation was lousy at time of the

experiment but | didn’t hear much... so back to basics.

Some

good, others NOT SO GOOD

In the photo of the ZSOBKW,

the two 3 mt ends now hang down

nights are

at about 30

degrees & about 2.5 mts above the ground. You will see another HF
antenna

below the ZSOBKW

BALUN.

The BALUN

- a 6mt s/steel wire with a jiffy box housing a

was made from a kit from a VK2

radio club a few years

ago & thought | would put it to use on standby with the FT 85/7D, rather
than have it laying idle. That & the 2mt/70cm
the only added

Diamond

vertical whip are

items, with the six mt yagi & six mt whip being up here for a

few years.
Yes it'd be nice to have an acre plus block to string up more antennas
BUT, we make do with what we have, sigh ! ! !
73's
John

[Thanks John.
much fun
From

Without antennas, amateur radio wouldn't be nearly as

:) |

Peter VK6YV

Hi Mark.
Cheers
Peter
VKOYV...

at Beldon:

Many thanks - |am another Perth Northern suburbs listener.

...

[Hi Peter.

Terrific to hear from you.

it up and

found that you live in the suburb right next to Edgewater....

| see you live in Beldon - | had to look

where | lived in the early 80s... | didn’t recognise the name.
Great that you're able to listen in on the net on Tuesdays.

It'd be terrific if

you could send me a list of who you heard when you do get to listen in...
and then I'd be able to add yet another station to our number for that week.
Even an ‘I listened but didn't hear anything’ report would be good!
Are you building up your receive speed or are you an existing CW user?
Cheers and much appreciated Peter].
From

Andrew

Hi Mark,

VK2ZRK

at Tarago:

I’m still trying to get on 80m for the net;

not yet but! do havea

plan. | am going to build a square horizontal loop for 80m - essentially this
one:
https://www.dj0ip.de/my-favorite-antennas/my-favorite-all-band/
| just need to get the coin for four Hills Antenna

FB164A

12m Telomasts,

which are $600 each!
My other problem

is actually having a Tuesday night off to get on the air

with you all.
Cheers
Andrew

VK2ZRK...

[ Hi Andrew.
Sheesh.

The horizontal loop will be good;

$600 fora Telomast?!

Is that from Bitek in Hume?

Perhaps have a chat to all of the TV antenna people on Goublurn,
Queanbeyan,

Bungendore,

Braidwood,

etc... as peoples VHF antennas on

Telomasts or little towers give up the ghost and they move to UHF
antennas,

they may take down and dump their masts.

Cheers, and good luck - hope we hear you on soon Andrew].
From

Richard VKG6HRC

at Padbury:

Hi Mark.

As usual thank you for your support and hard work with the QRS

net.
| am receiving two follow up emails following the Newsletter each week
might be that you have more than one address on record for me ?
| have been keeping an eye on the www.parksnpeaks.org

page and have

worked one park in VK4 so far just a quick TU RST 73

but it is a start,

and a confidence builder.
Cheers have a great day
Richard VK6HRC..
[Hi Richard.

Thanks for the heads up about the duplicate follow-up email -

yeah, just what we need - more emails!

Duplicates should be fixed for

everyone now - I'll send just one check call from now on.
Allen Harvie’s www.parksnpeaks.org page works really well - and you can
configure it to send you an SMS whenever there’s a CW station Spotted brilliant!

If you have an iPhone, you could also try Sue VK5YL’s excellent

jparksnpeaks phone App - it’s fed by Allen’s parksnpeaks.org website, but
has terrific tools for finding the locations on maps, route to access SOTA
and PARKS sites, and even a logging program that generates the logs for
uploading to the SOTA and PARKS systems should you become serious as
an Activator or a Hunter.
Yes, | used the simple CW SOTA and VKFF Parks exchanges to gain
confidence after 50 years of no CW - just outstanding for that, and most
operators either QRS already, or will slow down when they hear a QRS call knowing that many callers are new or returning to CW].
From

Steve

Hi Folks.

VK6VZ

Forrest:

| thought you might enjoy the video/audio download

of a multi-person QSO
G3YPZ,

at Glen

(see below)

| had yesterday on 10m AM (29.030MHz) with John

Howarth GW3TMP,

Andy G4OJY and Glenn G8NOF.

It really shows

how good AM signals on 10m can be. The recording was made by John
G3YPZ using his RCA AR-88 and 4-element Sirio 10m yagi at 7 metres high.
The QSO, which started at 0930Z,

lasted for about 39 minutes and signals

climbed steadily in the first half of the recording, with the ones from John
and Howarth

peaking at R5 $9+10dB

about 0945Z or 15 minutes into the

recording. The other Gs had simpler antennas, so their signals peaked
around S7 here.

My signals also reached R5 S9+10dB

levels with John and

Howarth, who were both using old Heathkit DX-100s and AR-88s.

Howarth

had a 5-ele trapped yagi at about 15 metres. At this end | was using my TS5905S at 5W output, driving my FU-728 valve linear to about 120W
output, and the homemade

2-ele spider quad up at 17 metres.

John was receiving the other Gs on backscatter so their signals are very
week.

| think the slightly submarine sound from his AR-88 is because he

has an old DSP filter on its audio output, to help with weak signals.
However, you can clearly hear the phase distortion on my signals and the
rolling QSB so typical of AM signals on 10m - which totally takes me back to
my teenage years and having loads of fun listening on my old HRO
the 1969/70 sunspot peak, using a dipole in the house loft.

MX in

One day soon |

hope to drive the linear with a few watts from my Panda Cub transmitter
(many

10m AM
Vy 73

thanks to Nick VK7WW).

is such fun! And as John says, 10m

is the true Magic Band.

Steve, VK6VZ
Download

link

httos://wetransfer.com/downloads/1b63a04b63320c167/76f56d68257199db112

0231204122322/a0191085/78bd8f8abd00476da840a59720231204122349/
d97f15
[Thanks Steve - nostalgic listening to AM like that eh?
AM - there used to be an AM net on 52.586MHZ,
crystals used in the original Swan

| started out on 6m

the sixth multiple of the

Taxis Low Band AM radios;

and as it

turned out, the other crystal could be made to receive on the same
frequency in the vibrator-driven Pye Reporters of the day].

From

Owen

Hi Mark,

VK2OMD

at Bowral:

| Saw your comments

Water affects them

in the last RagChew

about wet TV ribbon.

more so if it the ribbon is not windowed.

It also affects

your antenna... so not all of the changes are due to the feed line.

experience is that two wire lines with larger spacing and few spacers are
less affected.

This article has some

pics of the feed line | have been using

for some years now: https://owenduffy.net/blog/?p=10864
small changes in matching,
so tweaking the match

. Rain causes

| suspect mostly due to the nearby pine trees...

point is going to happen

anyway.

Some

studies of wet clean windowed

ladder line suggest the changes are

more by way of velocity factor than increased
different for a line that is dirty, covered

loss... though that may be

in lichens etc.

73
Owen
[Hi Owen.

Thank you.

Yes, it’s strictly a ‘temporary, quick trial only’ - HI!

I’ve got all

the goodies to make a proper feed-line for my double extended Zepp;

fact my wife asked me today whether perhaps I'd like to build the feeder
and assemble and install the TET Emtron current BALUN kit and the
lightning arrestor as a Christmas project!
Thanks for the link - | use 1.2mm Stainless Steel MIG wire - and I got
excited with those little SS clamps you’ve used.
you recall?

Where do you buy them do

Ditto for the marine grease - | hadn’t heard of its use for sealing

antenna joints.

In the 80s when | lived in Melbourne,

| treated myself to a

Chirnside Antennas 5BTV (the manufacturer (I can’t remember his call) was
only 15 minutes drive away).

When assembling it, | thought - self |

thought... how do / stop corrosion and maximise life expectancy?

Brilliant

mind at work.... | decided to use silicone grease on all the sliding joints and
clamps!

What a dill :-/, How to be reminded about resistive losses in low

radiation resistance antennas!

| still have the antenna bits which I’ve used

in different parts of the world, and put up in various configurations.... No
corrosion, but boy those joints with the thinnest smear of silicone remaining

are hard to ensure proper conductivity!
Interesting about the change in velocity factor.

I’m still amazed that it

works at all with 70 Watts (and the feeder is over half a wavelength long,
so there’s going to be both a Vand | peak along the way).
Cheers and thanks for reading!

| know most folks just don’t have the time

or patience - so / get really excited when someone comments about
something buried deep in the text

:)].

Hi Mark,

eBay and Aliexpress have the stainless steel wire clamps in a few sizes.
you would like some of the Aluminium
would

MIG wire and pass through

Bowral, |

be pleased to give you some to try.

Another option for sealing the antenna connections is white waterproof
grease. Be careful, the Americans use the term white grease to mean
something that is not necessarily waterproof. Some experts opine that
Lithium grease is NEVER waterproof,

but you can get Lithium based grease

that is waterproof... marine grease is usually of that type.
Here’s a link to my article Refurbishing aluminium antenna parts affected
by weather/ corrosion:
The problem

https://owenduffy.net/blog/?p=28054

is that there are large surface areas and only moderate

clamping force... so pressure is not very high and some silicone greases are
high viscosity. This is where the compound
particles is good... but messy.

with embedded

But don't use it on copper.

sharp zinc
Try to use a

stainless scratch brush, and small stainless brushes in a Dremel work
wonders.
73
Owen

[Thanks Owen,

stainless steel wire clamps ordered.

refurbishing antennas.

Terrific article on

I'll have a look at the different marine grease

options].
From Jules VK3JFP
Education

at Werribee:

is a very important part of our hobby. Without education and

encouragement,
our member

we would

not attract new members to the hobby. Sadly,

numbers are falling as we age, so | feel we need to be offering

education and training to anyone interested.

To this end, | have developed

a fee-free and advertisement-free web site for anyone to help them

prepare

for their amateur examinations.
The site is: https://www.julesworkshop.net/Amateur%20Radio.html
The Advanced material is based on the syllabus and the Foundation
material is based on the Foundation Manual. | was requested to include
audio and video sessions in the preparation

material and this in under

development.
| encourage feedback and tell me how to improve the site and expand

any critical information | missed.
Let me know if you have members

or anyone interested who may use the

site.
Thank you.
Jules Perrin JP
0457585974

VK3)FP

[Thanks Jules - terrific initiative and well done.

Thank you also for putting

information about the CQ QRS Practice QSO net on your website.
For more on this, see Brain Teaser below].
From

Shaun

VK6BEK

at Quinns

Rocks:

Hi Mark,
Well a strange night last Tuesday with transmit working on the new spiral
loop but receive not working.

You can see signals on the VK6QS

SDR but

nothing on the IC-7300 except the light blue increased noise where the loop
comes

into resonance so you can see the bandwidth.

Signal comes

When

| transmit my

up on the SDR normally S5-7.

;
fo
polos
ao

0:43
cis)

peeretic newer }—|-}-1 0/5
Feo
i

rh)
<1>

The spiral loop is based on a design by Harry SMOVPO
around for a while.

EDGE

rT)

Pr]

HOLD

CENT/FIX

|
EXPD/SET

which has been

| based my loop on an article by Frank N4SPP who has

an excellent website including this long article on magnetic

loops.

Bcrn

124icm

eeicrn
Feed loop

fedcm

Cable

connector

188Grnm

a
ae

[

boone

Mote:
11

See
text

Sn coax
feeder

The difference between

25pf capacitor

(ackson aes)

&0 meter Frame Antenna

my loop and the above is that although

set it up with a 25pf capacitor, | moved to a trimmed

| initially

piece of RG213

coax

to tune the loop. The capacitor can have several thousand volts across it
when

resonant and my 25pf was not going to handle that.

The next photo shows the old Tet-Emtron TB-11

balun | used to feed the

loop.

The problem

| had on last week’s net may lie with an impedance

mismatch

or loss of efficiency on the inner loop, or there might be a problem with the
balun or my coax capacitor.

| will do some

and try to adjust the inner loop.

receive tests without the balun

This is all a bit tricky because the

capacitance of everything changes unless | push it back up the pole which
is a bit of an effort.

Another problem

is the lack of something to listen to on 80m during the

day.
Regards
Shaun - VK6BEK
[Thanks Shaun,

what fun.

Weird though that it transmits but doesn't receive. Not just a mis-adjusted
noise canceller?
Even if you had something to listen to during the day, you'd only get
ground wave - low angle - which may not relate to NVIS performance |
guess.

But a thought - options for a day-time ground wave signal source:

e Join the Southern Electronics Group for $30 per year and use the
VK6SR Remote.
e Join the CQ QRS WhatsApp Group and send a message asking for

someone to come up when you want a test.
e
e

Ditto on the AllStar network - except by voice.
Contact people likely to be at home by SMS or phone - Max, Padbury
Richard, Geraldton Terry, me (via the Remote) etc.

Get up early and make any changes,

then use the 0830 Shavers' Net

3610 or 3605 - something like that to test compared to the SDR or the
SEG Remote (you can listen on the Remote

without being a member;

HARG also has a Remote - but | don’t know whether or not you need
to be a member to listen.
Interesting looking at noise across the waterfall - often during the net,
there's limited frequency ranges on the SDR

with it’s broadband antenna,

with more noise than the rest of the band. | suspect auroral or other solar
radiation-induced source].
The antenna

bounces around in the wind, so anything could be going on up

there! Loose wires, buggered

BALUN

etc.

Probably no further testing by me until the weekend.

| have finally figured

out | can use my FT-818 to generate a test signal of various strengths using
a short loaded vertical with counterpoise | have stored in the garage. When
that works | will use the local nets for testing.

; ip
wes

[Did you have your noise canceller in the circuit when it wasn’t receiving on
Tuesday night?

With my noise canceller, sometimes tuning for lowest noise

doesn’t produce the best S/N - I’ve often had to increase the main antenna
gain and re-null to hear signals.

These days, do you now use the noise

canceller with your DX-Commander etc in preference to your Minikits active
loop?]
The noise canceller is not connected as | currently have removed
antennas until the tree cleanup is done.
only 10-20km

away.

have that thin reserve between

A small area about 300m

all other

The recent Wanneroo fires were
us and the beach.

south of us went up a few years ago. | will be a lot

happier by the weekend.
BTW

| was originally thinking of using the new loop primarily as a receiving

replacement for the MiniKits albeit with narrow bandwidth. The transmit
capability was secondary.
something

| was not looking for a better loop just

cheaper than a replacement preamp for the MiniKits one at

$180. | can’t do fine circuit board home

brew any more so building the kit is

out. | literally had all the bits needed for the spiral loop lying around.
Regards
Shaun - VK6BEK
From

Richard VK6PZT

at Dalyellup:

| have a couple of questions,
Australis

You mentioned

what does that sound

like ???

QRN

related to the Aurora

And if we heard it are we likely

to see any lights in the sky ???
Regarding the question from Jordan VK3ACU
restoring keys:

| would

recommend

in last week’s RagChew

about

using a hot pot of white vinegar and

water on the stove and a buff with some wire wool to restore the Brass
parts

For the wooden

it’s hard to come

by.

base, | have used oil from roasting coffee beans, but
| have used bog standard

olive oil too, but only ona

really gnarly old base.
Kind regards
Richard
[Thanks Richard.
e

This year I’ve heard two forms of auroral buzz sounds.

What I've heard is /ike a constant buzzing noise that is heard over
large parts of the band.

It’s quite different to the slightly melodious

hash produced by switch mode power supplies;
e

I'll have to listen more

closely in future and describe the sound in future RagChews.
We've also had the situation where signals to and from VK7 were
distorted - and sounded like a very rough tone (low frequency mixed
with the high tone frequency).

! don’t know whether there’s a relationship between the noise and visible
aurora.

Did anyone listen during the recent sightings in WA or elsewhere?

Thanks for the coffee roasting oil hint - just to add the fifth sense to our
QRS CW - HI!

Recently | had a local craftsman make a big heavy rolling pin

from recycled timber for Ms E;

the maker recommended coconut oil to

keep the timber from cracking (although it was well aged when turned).
What do you think of coconut oil on key bases?]
From

Terry VK6CK

at Geraldton:

[Like me, you may have been wondering how our team mate Terry VK6CK
up in Geraldton is going after being unwell for quite some time].
Hi Mark,

Have been doing ok health-wise, apart from tiredness.....been a bit slack
with radio and with my sleepiness | tend to go down

hill fast come

sundown....lol
Cheers
Terry

[Thanks for the heads-up

Terry;

hope we hear you on again soon, or if

nothing else, hear reports about what you’ve heard.
From John VKS5ET at Hope

Cheers, mb]

Valley:

G'day Mark, hope is well. Great newsletter last week.
Some

of my thoughts for people who want to improve their CW.

“kurt zogimann

Google

morse code speed vs proficiency” - | found it interesting as

well as helpful.
Kurt has a long list of various speeds & characters to learn from. | set up
my hand voice recorder to record his CW sessions from my computer &
come

back an hour or so later with plenty of CW. | can then play it back in

the background whilst driving or plodding about in the garage, etc.
you learn & copy at a faster speed,
hear how slow 10 wpm

14 +

wpm,

as an example,

Once

you will

is, BUT, it is good practice to encourage others to

participate, plus less likelihood of making too many errors . Have a go at
learning at a faster speed. Nothing

is impossible,

it only takes practice,

practice and more practice.
Took me eight attempts to pass my receiving exam!

When |

received the

letter from the WIA, | got my wife to pinch me to make sure it was a Pass,

not another Fail @.
When | finally did Pass, NO WAY was i going to give CW up, after ALL that

hard yakka i put in.
| occasionally hear the VK2WI
signal as il would

have resurrected a CW
VK5PH

beacon on 3699, but not as strong a

hear years ago. Members

programmed

beacon on 145.650

of the VK5 North East Radio Cub
MHz which runs 24/7;

the sessions. The VK5VF

Paul

beacon sends all sorts of text

& numbers from a variety of literature etc at soeeds from 14 - 24 wom

with

each session lasting about 5 minutes before continuing on to the next
speed & then restarting at 14 wpm.
& head copying.
73s,

John, VK5ET

Good

receiving practice, both written

[Thanks John.

Probably worth collecting a list of CW practice beacons

around Australia in the operating suggestions for newbies (see the link
toward the end of the newsletter);

anyone else know of similar beacons to

the VK5VF one and the VK6ASR one on 3585.7?

And of course there are

various web and phone-based applications like:
e

Morse Mania

The Ham

Whisperer

e Just Learn Morse]
Tecsun

SDR

at Araluen

Back

in Service

Garry Cratt VK2YBX the owner of Tecsun
https://www.tecsunradios.com.au
KiwiSDR at Araluen

NSW

Radio Australia

has advised that the company’s

public

is now back in service after a hacker attack.

[Thank you for your efforts to get out to the site and get it back on air
Garry.

I’m really pleased to have access to the SDR in a nice quiet location

for the CQ QRS net once again].

This Week’s

Topic of Interest

Phased

| started running the Slow CW

Antenna

Paradox

nets as a Peel (WA) Amateur Radio Group

initiative in early July 2021 - having run a number of PARG
Corroborees;

reminders as the event grew beyond
between

Slow CW

the reminders about the monthly nets became weekly

nets.

PARG

The reminders became

and we had only six sleeps

newsletters and as they matured,

I’ve tried to include CW and non-CW articles of interest to our team.
Recently we’ve looked at what appeared to be a Winter phenomenon,
apparent one-way propagation

between

NSW and WA;

the

most recently we’ve

looked at how static crashes appear to propagate differently than our more
orderly (well mostly anyway) electromagnetic emissions.

If anyone

has a

topic or two that you'd like to explore or share, please let me know
mark.bosma@icloud.com

So this time I'd like to discuss an apparent paradox in my thinking about
phased antennas.
So my understanding

is that all things being equal (ha!), feeding two

correctly spaced antennas in- or out- of phase changes the radiation
pattern, and (all things still being equal) could be considered to add about
3dB in gain in a direction dependant on the phase relationship, spacing,
etc.

Soa

pair of dipoles might go from OdBd gain each to +3dBd

single two element Yagi might go from 4dBd gain to 7dBd.
As some of you Know,
station in Yass NSW
www.yassfm.org

I’m a presenter on YassFM,

a Community

(Friday afternoons 1pm to 5pm

and click Listen Live);

some of the RF aspects at the station.

gain;

All good so far?
radio

NSW time -

| also help out where | can with
So recently our signal level dropped

considerably - really only line-of-sight reception.

Now the transmitter is

located on a small hill with a tough access track - after wet weather it’s
pretty much

inaccessible.

Guess what - we’ve had wet weather recently,

making access only by foot - at least a half-hour walk up if you’re young
and fit... which our Technical Manager was and did.

Sure enough, when

read me the Forward and Reflected Powers, we recognised that the

transmitter was ok (phew) but the antenna wasn’t.

To preserve the MOS

output devices, the power was reduced to minimum

(around

100 Watts

indicated - but that was into a high SWR - so it was probably much

less),

and | started thinking about antenna work, lower gain circular or multipolarisation versus higher gain vertical antennas etc!
The station’s existing antenna

is a pair of folded dipoles.

In amateur

circles, a pair of dipoles would be fed via a phasing harness - which allows
the dipoles to be fed in phase if broadside gain is required, and by use of
quarter wavelength line of the correct impedance, the pair can be matched
to the impedance of the feed line.
phasing

All good so far - power goes in to the

harness and is applied to both antennas to produce an increase in

effective radiated power.
However,
phasing

in the FM broadcasting world, it seems that instead of tricky
harnesses, a thing called a Power Divider is used.

PZ
Pi

| |2-Zo
ES
4

V2-Zo

So in broadcast use, N-connectors are only used up to a maximum
Watts;

above that, hefty hardware

is used for coaxial coupling.

of 500

So let’s say

out cable has N-connectors - limiting us to 500 Watts output power.
However, the Community

Radio station is licensed to transmit 1500 Watts

effective radiated power - we either need to up our game and upgrade our
cable connectors to allow more power, or increase the antenna gain.
So let’s see what we can do with 500 Watts?

If for instance we have a pair

of folded dipoles fed with a power divider, and apply 500 Watts to the
divider, the power from each of the two output ports is 250 Watts.
250 Watts to each of our dipoles.

power of 3dB above 250 Watts - ie 500 Watts?
our +3dBd

We feed

Doesn’t that give an effective radiated
So we apply 500 Watts to

array and get only 500 Watts effective radiated power!

That

doesn’t make sense - if we just fed a single dipole with 500 Watts, we’d get
the same ERP.
Ok, a quick check on the ZCG
website.

Scalar (Australian antenna

manufacturer)

That company sells an FM broadcast power divider with a 7/16”

DIN style up to 1kW input, with 500 Watt N Connectors on the output - so
the power divider really does reduce each output by half for a two port
divider, one third for three port, etc.
So what am!

missing here.

If | think of a phasing

harness feeding a pair of

dipoles in phase, I’d visualise the same

RF voltage being applied to both

antennas - ie the same output power is being applied to both antennas and our effective radiated power (in the gain direction) is about twice what
we get if we apply the power to only one antenna.
divider as is common

Yet, using the power

in broadcast - only half the power is applied to each

antenna, so our +3dBd

array gain is applied to only half the power -

effectively cancelling the gain.
Ok, | give up... what am | missing here?
VK30E?

Owen VK2OMD?

Any thoughts folks?

Max VK6FN? Garry VK2YBX?

Andrew

Mark VK6MOA?

Anyone?
Please let me know so we can share more thoughts and ideas;

to mark.bosma@icloud.com

Brain
How

Teaser
did you go?

As discussed above, Jules Perrin JP VK3JFP has created a terrific resource to
help guide learning for all levels of amateur radio licenses:
https://www.julesworkshop.net/Amateur%20Radio.html
And what’s more, Jules has agreed to include a link to our Slow CW

Practice

net on his amateur radio page - thanks mate.
In addition to the syllabus guides, one thing on Jules’ page that caught the
eye of our team

member

Baz VK6MU

at Calista was the practice exams for

each level of license and the regulations:
Hi Mark, 57 years since | passed the Amateur Radio exam.
have a go at the new exams attached to Jules’ website.

Thought I'd

Passed Ok, 84%. |

fell down on some of the newer bits of kit which | have never used.

Happy

though!
| have been checking out some of the other samples.

Lost now on

logarithms - so many years since | used them and no calculator then... only
allowed a Slide rule.

In- depth use of ABs also lost to time.

Some of the

maths, particularly AC theory maths, are also a distant memory.

Used to

think nothing of it.
So Baz got me thinking (ouch!).

| propose to start including a practice

question from Jules’ pages at each level plus regulations in each week’s
RagChew newsletter. The answers will be in the following week’s blurb.

So why bother | hear you ask?
e

Personally, | think we should never stop being curious - knowledge

gained through curiosity.
e

Our Foundation and Standard

members

might be spurred to take on

the next level - I’d get excited about that - might need to create a new
certificate for them.
e Things do change - there’s material in here that’s new compared to
the (written) tests | did in the early 70s.

e You may actually have forgotten some of this material, and a soft
reminder does no harm.
e

Like a crossword

in the newspaper (or Wordle or Morsle on your

look forward to each week’s RagChew
actually skim through each one, hunting for each week’s
questions or answers from the previous week (perhaps | should
disguise them and move them around each week)?

As an example of how things change or get forgotten - here’s one | made
up:
e What is the maximum

power allowed for an advanced

amateur

station?
°

120 Watts mean

100 Watts output
150 Watts DC input

output

400 Watts output

I've heard our net members

say they run the maximum

150 Watts input

and I’ve heard others say they run 400 Watts output - who’s right?

Perhaps

you'll be surprised to learn that the regulation now says that the maximum
power allowed is Py = 120 Watts;
mean

Py - what the hell is that?

Well, Py is the

power output.

So how do we measure

mean

power | wonder?

If you take the average five

letter word (eg PARIS) with a space after, if my adding-up is correct, that
takes 47 dits time-wise to send 22 dits worth of carrier (dahs being three
dits long).

So to get a mean

output power of 120 Watts for that word, by

my rough calculations we’d need to put out 256 Watts on key down.

But

when the Radio Inspector (ha - remember those days!) is looking over your
shoulder when you're sending non-Farnsworth
power indication showing

QRS and she sees the output

256 Watts on key-down from your Heathkit (those

were the days!) SB-1000, do you think they'll be thinking of mean

power?

And what if you’re running Farnsworth QRS - ie sending each letter at 15 to
20 wpm

and allowing a 700ms to 1 second gap between

letters... add up

the dots in the gap and see how the mean power regulation now doesn’t
make any sense at all. And what if you consider it from the perspective of
Electro-magnetic Radiation safety, where the means are established over
long body exposure times - ie minutes or hours - wow!
Not suggesting you run any more than what your output power meter tells
you as a rough guide, but it’s an interesting question to think about - HI!

This

Week’s

Quiz.

Did we just fall down

a huge rabbit hole?

You betcha!

So back to this

week’s quiz questions from Jules’ Workshop
https://www.julesworkshop.net/Amateur%20Radio.html

e You get zapped touching a machine after walking on carpet. What sort
of electric charge is this?
e The distance from a transmitter to the point where the signal first
returns after refraction from the ionosphere is called
©

multi hop

skip zone

skip distance

ionosphere prediction distance

e The approximate forward
°

0.2 volt

0.6 volt

0.9 volt

1 volt

bias value for a germanium transistor is

e An amateur operator hears a distress call on 3725
reasonable time no acknowledgment

kHz. After a

is heard. What should the

amateur do?
a) Call the station in distress on 3725

kHz, acknowledge the call and

offer assistance
(b) As 3725

kHz is not an amateur frequency,

no help can be given

(c) As 3725 kHz is not an amateur frequency, take down the
information supplied and pass it to the relevant authority
(d) Nothing. Only authorised distress or disaster stations are permitted
to assist in a distress situation
See - told you they might be interesting!

Tuesday’s

Answers

CQ QRS

next week.

Net

Reminder.

So back to the Slow CW QSO

practice net.

always on Tuesday from around 0900z;

Our CQ QRS Net will be on as

see below for details.

Stations in

the West, East and in-between will start coming up on various frequencies

between

3540 and 3570kHz, calling CQ QRS and listening out for new and

old CW operators - simple exchanges (eg callsigns, RSTs and perhaps
names) for new stations, rag chews for old.
In the East, near vertical
incidence skywave and low angle skywave should be starting around that
time as the sun will have travelled around the Earth (just checking that
you’re awake) sufficiently for the D-layer to start fading;
the sun won’t set until around

conditions might be expected early on.
in between

| imagine.

in the West where

1115z (and later for the ionosphere), tough
SA will have conditions somewhere

And who knows whether the crescendo of static

crashes we’ve experienced

lately will add to the challenge.

One way or

other, we'll have fun.
So thank you so much to our outstanding team of 20 contributors (some
submitted several articles too) this week!
VK6MU,

VK3CLD, VK6HRC,

VK6FN, VK7KPC, VK6IS, VK5PH, VK6PZT, VK2OMD,

VKITE, VK3ACU,
VK2YBX.
team

Thanks to:

VK6KD, VK5ET,

VK6YV, VK2ZRK, VK6VZ, VK3JFP, VK6BEK, VK6CK and

Wow, thank you team - a superb effort - it’s the thoughts of the

plus the photos that makes

(perhaps 110-plus would
So for everyone,

RagChew

so interesting to the 110-odd

be safer) subscribers.

please let me know by email to

mark.bosma@icloud.com

who you work or hear this coming week on Tuesday’s net, and also send
me anything that you might think might be of interest to your fellow QRS
fans.

The reports are important - because during the netl can only attempt

poorly to listen-in and log QSOs while having QSOs

myself - so | really want

your comments

newsletter interesting.

each week to make our RagChew

And again for those who | work on Tuesday night, please accept my
apologies in advance for the pauses,

repeated dah-di-di-di-dahs etc while |

attempt to pick up and log callsigns that | hear in parallel, send WhatsApp
notes, do one-way propagation tests, etc.
And don’t forget our CQ QRS group on WhatsApp - a terrific way to
exchange alerts and comments during the net and also to spot QRS
stations at other times. The feed from last week is below; I'd like you to
join in on the WhatsApp
stujen55@gmail.com

group if possible. Please let Stuart VK6MK

or me mark.bosma@icloud.com

Know your mobile

phone number, and we'll add you to the group.
Cheers,

mb
Mark Bosma
VK2KI / VK6QI
Beautiful South Bowning NSW
mark.bosma@icloud.com
non impediti ratione cogitationis
“Without antennas, amateur radio just wouldn't be the same” - author:

PVRRe

dah-dah dit!

About

the CQ
Here’s

the

QRS

Net

details.

The team will be on again for our usual Tuesday arvo / evening

Practice

QSO

This

Net.

CQ QRS will start at 0900z until about 1100-1400z+.

translates to 1700 - 2000-2230+
and

2000

2400+

Eastern

WA time, 1930 - 2330+

Summer

time.

SA Summer time

(I think!).

So tune around and call anyone you hear, or find yourself a quiet spot in
the 3540kHz to 3570kHz segment and start calling CQ QRS at about 75% of
the speed you're comfortable receiving at;

hopefully responders will match

(or send slower to their comfort level).
When

you hear someone

slower.

new, please match their sending speed - or

The person you're replying to may not be as deft on the decoding

as you - it may be their first ever CW QSO - remember your first?

Lather of

sweat, key that refuses to send that you tell it, brain that refuses to decode
those complex
someone
“AGN?

letters that were right there half an hour ago, etc!

And if

is sending too fast to comfortably copy - “PSE RPT PSE QRS” or

PSE QRS” will make

life easier for everyone.... and might just

encourage other listeners to have a go themselves.

The other thing to

remember - most operators are writing down what they hear... so when you
put it back to them, expect a delay while they read your words of wisdom,
before replying.
The aim is to give everyone a go at contacting others - no-one owns their
calling frequency on this net... even Monsieur trois cing cing cing :) So
unlike working

DX, if you hear someone

signing of - jump in and call -

doesn’t matter who was first on the frequency - we’re all good

mates on

this net.... and besides, at the speed we’re sending, after a QSO
will have forgotten who was first!

most of us

If you really want to move off frequency

(eg because of a spurious switch mode

power supply signal that’s just

drifted into the conversation), you could try sending an abridged callsign of
the person you’re after, followed by “UP 5” or “DN 5” then K;

then call that

person on the designated frequency and keep your fingers crossed, they
may have understood you and followed... or not.
As always, for newbies, operating suggestions are available from the
operating

hints link here:

https://sites.google.com/a/parg.org.au/www-parg-

org-au/training-and-practice-sessions/cq-qrs---slow-cw-qso-practice-net.
There's usually people around until after 1330z - so keep calling until you
catch someone.

| should be on as usual from home

in NSW and via the

Remote at Bedfordale WA, and I'll also be watching the proceedings using
the VK6QS

and Tecsun SDRs in WA and NSW

CQ QRS

respectively.

Traffic from the CQ QRS

Here’s what went on on the CQ QRS WhatsApp

Feed
Group.

message group this week:

[8:00 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK6BEK

[8:04 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK6FN

calling CQ on 3562.

[8:04 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK6FN

nd VK6IS chatting on 3565.

[8:07 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK2KI

calling CQ on 3555.

[8:14 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK2KI

and VK1TE/m

calling CQ on 3565.

chatting on 3555.

VK6KHZ

calling CQ on 3556.

[8:18 pm, 05/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

VK3ACU

[8:23 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK2KI

[8:33 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK6KHZ

[8:41 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK6FN

mistaken

- VK6HRC

chatting on 3550.

calling CQ on 3556.
calling CQ on 3565

Big signal.

- and

if I'm not

is there too!

[8:44 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK1TE/m

[8:49 pm, 05/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:
good

calling on 3550

and VK3ACU

calling CQ on 3555.

Awsome

thanks

Mark great contact and

conditions | might give the little century cent a go

[8:50 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

[8:53 pm, 05/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:
Faulkner:

Calling qrp on the century cent 3578

[9:02 pm, 05/12/2023]

Max

Max calling cq

on 3.565

[9:04 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK6HRC

calling CQ on 3562.

[9:11 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK3ACU

on 1 Watt on 3578kHz.

[9:15 pm, 05/12/2023]
your QRP

Mark Bosma:

Congratulations Jordan - Q5 at the end from

rig. Cheers.

[9:15 pm, 05/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

Awsome

[9:15 pm, 05/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

Fantastic!

[9:16 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

Mon

Mark Bosma:

VK6FN

contact Mark TU

plesur.

VK3ACU

calling CQ on 3578

with his QRP TX.
[9:17 pm, 05/12/2023]

[9:17 pm, 05/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:
[9:18 pm, 05/12/2023]

Max

Faulkner:

calling CQ on 3560 - very lonely.

I'll switch rigs and find vk6fn
Looking

at 3.560.00

de fn
[9:20 pm, 05/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:
station

Far too low down

| can Just just

tell a

is there but thats it

[9:21 pm, 05/12/2023]

Max

[9:24 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

Faulkner:

VK1TE/m

Rgr rgr Jordan

[9:24 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK5PH

and VK5FD

calling CQ on 3560

[9:28 pm, 05/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

Opps

[9:28 pm, 05/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

| was having

[9:28 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

chatting on 3555.
Max and Jordan.

not me on 3560

Were you

a listen but no contact yet

hearing

Paul 5PH

calling on 3560

Jordan?
[9:28 pm, 05/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

| did but | herd another station try to call

back
[9:29 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK5ET calling CQ on 3562.

[9:30 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

Paul's calling you on 3560

[9:30 pm, 05/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

vk5et and vk7kpc

[9:30 pm, 05/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

What

[9:32 pm, 05/12/2023]

Max.

rig is that | wonder a bit of chirp

Mark Bosma:

VK5ET coming

into Perth calling CQ on

[9:33 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK2KI

[9:47 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

Max flattened the battery in his ute -

3562.

apparently there can be too much

calling CQ on 3558.

CW!

[9:51 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK5ET and VK3DBD

chatting on 3558.

[10:14 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK6JDM

and VK2KI

struggling on 3555.2.

[10:20 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK5ET

and VK1TE/m

[10:20 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK6IS and VK6AAV

[10:31

Richard Ayre: struggling to here you over qrm vk5et

pm, 05/12/2023]

[10:40 pm, 05/12/2023]
ambitious!

Mark Bosma:

You're only Q1 here - and

on 3550.
chatting on 3560.

Sorry Richard - that was me being
| can see you've got lots of TS activity

there.
[10:40 pm, 05/12/2023]

Richard Ayre: horrible noise here tonight

anntenna

whats

came

down

[10:41

pm, 05/12/2023]

Richard Ayre: ?

[10:41

pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma: ThunderStorm

[10:41

pm, 05/12/2023]

Richard Ayre: ah

[10:41

pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

[10:42

pm, 05/12/2023]

Richard Ayre: no

hence the horrible noise

or was

it my sending?

i could only copy you on the SDR

[10:43 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

[10:44 pm, 05/12/2023]

Richard Ayre: my

[10:44 pm, 05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

[10:45

Richard Ayre: every 2khz

pm, 05/12/2023]

and my

TS activity

VK6KD

and VK6IS chatting on 3560.

strange QRM

Strange?

is back

[10:46 pm,

05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK2KI

[10:54 pm,

05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK6IS and VK2KI

[11:01 pm,

05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

Thanks

slow QSB

- you were Q5 sometimes then

calling CQ on 3555.
struggling on 3555.

Peter - tough conditions tonight -

unreadable at other times. Cheers,

[11:01 pm,

05/12/2023]

Peter Scales: Tough

for sure

[11:01 pm,

05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK6KD

calling CQ on 3560.

[11:02

pm,

05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK6IS and VK6PZT

[11:03 pm,

05/12/2023]

David

Potts: Hi Mark.

chatting on 3556.

Is your qrm

at the remote or your

local vk2 end ?
[11:04 pm,
home

05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

Hi David.

S9 but my noise canceller is taking

at Richard

PZT's place.

[11:05 pm,

05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

[11:05 pm,

05/12/2023]

David

05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

| have the usual QRM

it down

VK2KI

to $5-6.

here at

The strange QRM

was

calling CQ on 3558.

Potts: Rodger that Mark, got my wires crossed,

hihi.
[11:07 pm,
when

Heh

heh!

| was working VK1TE/m

on CW

Max called me on AllStar to report his flat battery - talking on FM and

listening / sending

is very wires-crossing

- HI!

[11:37 pm,

05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK6QI

[11:50 pm,

05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK6HRC

calling CQ on 3558.
and VK6QI

chatting on 3558.

[11:56 pm,

05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK6QI

calling CQ on 3558 - Last call.

[11:59 pm,

05/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

VK2KI

calling CQ on 3558 -

last calls.

[6:38 am, 06/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU: VK3ACU calling on 3.550
[8:24 am,

06/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

Any luck Jordan?

[8:24 am,

06/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

Not this morning

[8:25 am,

06/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

| did get on the am

09/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

Callin on 7037

net on 7125

quite well
[9:27 am,

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