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CQ QRS
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RagChew

last Tuesday, and a reminder for the next net - Boxing Day.

- another YouTube

video about our net
e We

start eating the

elephant
e

Post

Sydney

Morsum

Hobart

Weather
Year’s
e ARRL

and

Frequencies

- New

Day
Straight Key

New Year’s
e

Sked

Night -

Day

Reminder for 26Dec23

QRS
e And

a whole

lot more

Well, last Tuesday was really
something!

| have visions of our

operators all aboard lifeboats
struggling against huge seas - the
band was just full of static crashes
over East all night.

We had a couple of apologies - Craig
VK3CLD who normally operates from
his motorhome

was in suburbia on

the night, and George VK2AOE
otherwise engaged
When

was

as well.

the net started, all that most

Eastern States stations could hear
were them storms that ran from
NSW,

up through Queensland to the

Northern Territory.

The

band

was

a little better in WA

RSS

start, but as the night progressed,
the noises built up.

all Telstra F<

10:07 pm

—

Propagation

ero

@ blitzortung.org

conditions weren't particularly good
either - early on the skywave signals
seemed

to be particularly weak.

However, those who stuck it out
were rewarded;

we ended

at least 19 known

up with

stations on or

listening to the net.

And what’s

more, those | heard or worked
seemed

to be having a great time

battling the conditions - terrific
practice for everyone.
See the reports below.
Quick Links
A worldwide, real-time, community collaborative lightninc
location network. © 2003-2023 Blitzortung.org
Contributors

<
Here’s this week’s

list of stations

heard:

19Dec23 CQ QRS Net
Total active stations this week:

Total QS005 jrote that this figure wor't be correct « 50s may be counted twice or mere]

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,

Ifyou can't ste the lines, expand the spreadsheet downwards by clicking on the battom of the window and dragging downwards
Move acreds te 0501 (Caluria 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,

Bue text - incomplete
O50 [not O5Led).

Repeat the O50 entry against the other station's row.
Moving to the next cell to the right in your tow for the second O50 ep

Ifyou hear someone just calling CO, find therm on the list in ColurinA and then enter CO in Column B.
Ifyou hear or work someone net in the left hand column or drep-dewn
-

list, contact Stuart or Mark and advide;need bo be copy/pasted).

We'll then update the spreadsheet (the spreadsheet has hidden formulas that need ta be copys pasted).
‘Stuart:

stujenS5
Gg mailesin

Mark:

mark. bosma@icloud.com

Cul-5 to save the spreadsheet when done.

Ifthe spreadsheet is tao confusing, send the list of your contacts and heard stations te Stuart or Mark to update the spreadsheet (to make it eady, you could take a phot af ye
New Users:
‘Contact Stuart or Mark {click on email address above] and ask for your calkign (or name if unlicensed) to be added.
Include @ fist of callsigns heard or worked, and we'lladd the O05.

MY CALL
Calling CO.
] aso1
+
fert COL or Listening
if no C50)

gso2 |

gs03

gso4 |

as05

Qso06

agso7 |

gso08

Qgs09 | Q5010 | Q5011 | Q5012 | Qs013

WKSCZ

VKSET |

VK6FN

VK6IS

VK1HF/p
VK1TE/m

WE2KI

VK2A0E
VEK2BHO
VK2BHO
VK2GAZ

WEK2KI

VR2IK
VE2KI

VE2NV
VK2WEO
VK3ACU

WK3ADX |

VK3ADX

WK3ACU | VE7KPC |

VKSFD

VR2KI
VKSFD

VEQKI

VK3BTV
VE3BU
VK3CLD/p
VK3DBD

WEK2KI

VK3KO
VKSCZ

VEFKPC |

VKSET

VK6IS

VKSET

VEFKPC |

VK5CZ

VEQKI

VKSFD:

WK3ADX | VK3ACU

VKSIP
VKSKFG
VEKSPH
VKGATB
VKGAAY

VE6FN

VESFD | VK2GAZ | VKGPZT |

VK6KD

VK6BEK

VKEKD |

VK6DV

VKGIS

VK6FN

VK6FN |

WKSCZ

VEBIS

VWESET | VKGP2ZT

VK6FN

VK6IS | VKGBEK |

VK6IS

VK6GAL
VEGHRC

VK2KI

| VKGPZT |

WKG6KD

VK6IR
WEKSCZ | VKGPZT |

VKGDV

VK6KD

VK6IS

VKGBEK | VK2GAZ | VKSADX | VKGPZT |

VKGFN | VKGKHZ |

VK2KI

VEGKH2

VEBIS

VK6JDM

VK6KO.
VK6LD
VKEMK
VEK6MU
VKENC
VK6NT
VKENW
VK6PZT

VKGEN

VEBIS

VE6QI

VKGIS

VKOFN | VKGKHZ

WK2KI

VK6KD

VKBWE
VE7TWW
VETKPC

VEZKI

| WK3ADX |

WKSCZ

VE7ZA

Reports

& Comments

So here’s this week’s
From

Richard VKG6HRC

reports.

at Padbury:

Hi Mark
Six in the SWL log last night :
e VKOFN
e VKOIS
e VKOBEK
e VK2KI
e VKO6OPZT
e VK6KD
Unlike last week,

| was in the metro and band conditions were not good,

very noisy at the start and QSB not helping.
Young

Max VK6FN

was the early bird with the others turning up later. | did

not have the confidence to join in due to band conditions, but decent
signal reports were being passed on so conditions were better elsewhere.
tried to log on to the VK6SR remote but unsuccessful there and then | tried
the VK6QS web SDR with the same
Thank you for your much

result, a really challenging

night!

appreciated efforts.

Have a great day
Richard VK6HRC...
[Thanks for your report Richard - good work.
confident??

Ha!

What’s this about not being

Rob advised the next day that there had been a power

outage at the VK6SR Remote,

and it was Off air until he was able to reset

it].
From

Allen

VK5FD

at Blakeview:

Hi Mark,
On Tues

19 Dec

| worked

and VK3ACU

- each

heard

and VK5ET.

VK5CZ

Regards,
Allen VK5FD...

579.

VK3ADX
| also

[Thanks Allen.

| heard you in among the turmoil chatting to Jordan].

From Jordan VK3ACU

at Meredith:

Hi Mark,
Despite the static crashes that was a fun night.
e VK3AXD

, Just up the road from my QTH

e VK5FD who jumped

| had 3 great QSOs tonight:

in Ballarat.

out of the static crashes half way through!

e And as you know | couldn’t help my self but wait for your to finish your
QSO and jump in and say hi!
Cheers

VK3ACU...
[And I'm glad that you did mate.

Terrific to see so many people really

enjoying the night, despite the crashing and banging.

| hear you had a nice

long chat with Nic VK7WW the other day as well - cool bananas].
From

Shaun

VK6BEK

at Quinns

Rocks:

Hi Mark,
Got on a bit late but managed

to work David VK6KD

and Max VK6FN.

| had

bad fading with David’s signal for some reason (probably me) and a quite
pleasant chat with Max.
VK6IS working

Lots of noise here but | could just make out Peter

lan VK5CZ down

in the murky depths.

| am going to be busy over the break but hopefully can still get on 80m.
And speaking of noise,
https://grm.guru

has been very

useful for me.

Regards
Shaun - VK6BEK

From John VKS5ET at Hope

Valley:

G'day Mark, lots of noise Tuesday night.... not many stations heard.
Heard VK5CZ

VK7KPC

3557

VK5CZ

lan

s 559

229

3557

VK2KI

Mark

s 589

229

3550

VK6FN

Max

s 579

rx 229

3563

Good fun getting a few QSOs,
hear | am getting good

but better with less noise about. Great to

RSTs from the antenna from other operators.

All the best for the Festive Season to Elizabeth, you & all other Slow Morse
Net Operators.
73'S

John, VK5ET

Should be back on air 2nd week of Jan. 2024

[Cheers John - catch when you're back on].
From

Richard VK6PZT

at Dalyellup:

Four contacts for me on Tuesday
Mark. Got a late start due to it being
my turn to cook tea.
- VK6FN,

Max 599 sent 579 received

3555 KHz 19:00 hours.
- VK6IS, Peter, 589 sent 579
received 3555 KHz 19:16 hours.
- VK2KI

Mark 559 sent 379. Received

3563KHZ

20:10 hours

Good signal this way as the sun
went down

but lots of noise your

end im guessing.

Lots of repeats

but got thete in the end
- VK6KD,

David,569 sent and 569

received on 50 Watts
20:22

hours

Thanks

mark

3563KHz

Richard

[Thanks for being patient on Tuesday Richard.

Yes you were up to S-7 on

QSB peaks but the static crashes made it a challenge.
From

Nic VK7WW

Great fun though!]

at Legana:

Hi Mark,

Last night was a

static noise

disaster, crashes up to 30 over 9, so
| disconnected and gave it away. I’m
also busy with the silly season!
Just had a nice conversational CW
contact with Jordan VK3ACU

earlier

on 80m.
| will take this opportunity to wish
you a lovely Christmas too; and
share this pic of my static
[What a lovely Xmas card!

Gotta

be better than reindeer and the

(adjustable) spark gaps for the DEZ
open wire feed line.

like! And I’ve always wanted a

static (adjustable) spark gap for
Xmas too - HI :-) ]

Nic...

From

Paul

VK5PH

at Glen

Osmond:

Hi Mark

| think that there was a CME and things seemed

very flat on the bands.

1937

VK1HF

lan on 3550

1939

VK2KI

You

but lots of QSB

The KiwiSDR does a good job

listening on both CW and SSB and |

2 oe — ol

can get stations that most people
can’t hear from home

however | can

use Catsync to mute the computer

speakers with SSB
but is doesn’t ;
;

always work with CW and there is
t h e

| a te

n cy

j SS Uu e

14226.00

|kHz

{AB

|[A=B

Filter: 2.40 kHz | narrower || wider

eases Gaerckn Grote cn —

The CAT Tool for WebSDRs

CATSync allows you to synchronize public WebSDR receivers with your real rig connected via CAT
control to your computer. It supports the classical WebSDR, Kiwi SDR as well as Open Web RX:
* Control any public WebSDR

server by means of your real RIG...

* Supports a wide number of RIG’s (it uses the popular OmniRig engine)
| wi

| |

try

a g a j n

n ext

wee

* Supports WebSDR, KiwiSDR and Open Web RX browser-based SDR receivers
* Tune the VFO

of your radio and see the web SDR follow in realtime !

® Click on the WebSDR waterfall and retune your rig in realtime.

Keep safe and | hope that you and

your family have a safe and happy
Christmas

and

* Synchronizes both, frequency and mode changes (CW, USB, LSB, AM, FM)

Se
ad at
Cantrack RX or TX VFO

(e.g. to find that splitof a DX station) if radio CAT command set of your

rig supports both independently
« Canbe interfaced with popular logging software using OminRig or via VSPE port splitter.

New Year.

This software can help you to bring you back into ham radio when you are suffering from local
temporary or permanent high noise levels in an urban QTH location.

73
Paul
Paul

Hoffmann

VK5PH
Glen

Osmond,

South

Australia

[Hi Paul.
/ suspect the stations you hreported were last week - | didn't think 1HF was
on this week. Interesting that he was S5 as was /- he was /o where as | was
using my 2 x 5/8ths in phase!
/ use a little stereo audio mixer and headphones - the main signal I'm
listening to comes through both ears while the two SDRs say are separate
in the left and right ear - that was | can hear what's going on and if | want
to concentrate on it (eg to copy callsigns in a QSO) 1 can turn the other two
down easily.
Did you now have one of the new Version Kiwis? Hoy if you want to sell an
old one - HI!
Hope you have more luck next Tuesday mate].
From

David VK6KD

at Ballajura:

G'day Mark
Another great night on 80m

CW QRS night.

and with high levels of QRN

and QRM

challenge but that’s what its all about.

| didn’t get the time | wanted

the QSO to VK2 was a bit of a
A nice clear non-fading signal is all

well and good but | feel the practice during lesser than ideal conditions
helps me prepare for contact with the most isolated and remote HAM
operators.

My summary from Tue 19 Dec 2023
Qso

3.560MHz

6:25pm
vk6bek (shaun)
ur rst 599
6.34pm

break for dinner

LISTENING

ONLY.

(Lots of fading)

3.552Mhz
7.36pm
vk2gaz with vk2ki
vk2ki (Mark) de vk3adx

LISTENING

ONLY

3.563Mhz

8.06pm

Listening to QSO:

Qso

vk2ki ( Mark)

de vk6pzt (richard)

3.563MHz 8.20pm
vk6pzt

(richard)

ur rst 569. 50 w
8.37pm finished.
QSsO 3.
3.555MHz
8.47pm
vk2ki Mark
UR RST 389
8.58pm finished for the night.
Good chance | will miss Boxing day CW

night as my wife and | will be with

family having a catchup.
Hope to catch you and rest of the CW crew early next year.

Thanks for

keeping the focus on CW alive.
73
VK6KD
David
Ballajura, Perth WA....
[Hi David.

Great report.

Thanks for hanging-in there on Tuesday

to get through under such challenging conditions.

- terrific

My pleasure keeping the

art of CW going - the obvious enjoyment in the reports | get is what it’s all
about!
From

Cheers.]
Peter VK7KPC

at Evandale:

Hi Mark,

| heard you early in the session though don’t remember who you were in
contact with.
Running about 20 W with Racal into multi band dipole, | had a QSO with
VK3ADX

and gave him 599 with 359 received with QRN

on 3555;

QTH was

Ballarat or very similar name.
This was followed by contact with

lan VK5CZ and received 529 from
him.

Tried to reply with RST by my

fingers seemed to go off the rails
and | gave up after several
attempts.

Apologies lan.

Called it quits after that.

Cheers and Happy Christmas
Peter VK7KPC
[Re your fingers not cooperating.... a quote from the movie - The King’s
Speech:
e

Lionel Logue : Oh, surely a prince's brain knows what its mouth’s
doing?

King George

VI: You're not... well acquainted with royal princes, are
your]

From

Peter

VK6IS

at Wundowie:

Hi Mark,
This week

QSOs

were with:

vk6fn,, vk6khz,, vkK6pzt,, vk6dv - Nick from St James.
Hot News:

It was 40 years ago, in December

was issued to some

1983 that a Novice Licence

NOOB... the only mistake, was Not doing the 10wpm

the same time.
peter

[Hi Peter.
VK6DV,

Great work catching a new net participant - welcome Nick

and I hope we hear you often on the CQ QRS slow CW practice net -

we're on every Tuesday from 0900z until late - and you'll get to meet a
great bunch of slow CW fans - new operators and old.
And speaking of old - congratulations Peter - 40 years on the amateur
bands!]
And

the AllStar Post-Morseum

report from

Richard

VKGHRC

Padbury:
Hi Mark,

| put a call out at O600 on Wednesday on the South West AllStar network
via VK6RLM
VK6PAW

as planned.

David VK6KD

one of our RagChew

was there to compare

notes.

Glynn

recipients also joined and we had a good chat

before they had to get on with the business of salt-mining.
We were all in the Perth metro area last night and band conditions were not
good - noisy with QSB taking signals down to zero. David managed
on later in the evening,

to get

but was struggling with noise and was using an SDR

to help out.
Good to catch up with you and Rob VK6LD

a short while later before flat

batteries and work got in the way.
Cheers have a great day.
Richard VK6HRC
[Thanks Richard - great report, and thanks for being there.

| was out doing

rural chores at 6am your time, so unfortunately | missed your earlier chat
with David and Glynn.

Hope to hear other team members on at that early

hour around 6 or 6:30am
depending on commute
From

VK6QI

at Bedfordale

WA time plus or minus about half an hour,
times].

via the VK6QS

and

SDR

the VK6CRO

Remote

The internet gods weren’t smiling on
me at all on Tuesday.
the VK6QS

at Brookton,

the VK6SR

Remote

at Carnarvon:

| couldn’t get

KiwiSDR to cooperate -

the receiver seemed to freeze-up

Perth

with a very slow flow of data all
night.

The SDR wouldn’t accept

frequency inputs for a long time, but
when

it finally responded, the

resolved display was well behind,
and the resolved audio came only in
short bursts - a letter or two ata
time.
Too much time was spent trying to get the receiver going - however,

| was

able to see that there were stations on in WA and could hear enough

of the

occasional letters and fists of the first QSO to guess the callsigns.
So by 0930z the SDR was sort of working and | heard Peter VK6IS at
Wundowie

chatting to Max VK6FN

work Ron VK6KHZ

at Yangebup.

at Manjimup

before Peter moved

flat-out operating from VK2 and the SDR just wasn’t co-operating.
the Southern

on to

However, for the rest of the evening, | was
| tried

Electronics Group Remote at Bedfordale - but there had been

a power outage during the day, and the Remote was still off air - so no 9pm
WA time one-way propagation check, and that also meant | missed out on
chatting to whoever was still up in WA at that time.
-TY

LOOK, IT'S ALMOST

1995 Watterson Distributed by

WOW, THE LAST TWO

W O'CLOCK!

HOURS

REALLY FLEW BY!

HOPE

THE TEACHER

and

Double-

DIONT

SAY
ANYTHING
=
)

3
WEN 1.29

Also From

me, VK2KI

at Bowning

Extended

Zepp antenna

at Araluen

NSW:

from

using

home

my TS-50

and also using the Tecsun

SDR

Boy oh boy - those of us who braved the static crashes sure had an exciting
night - relentless.
The storms had mainly passed
Beautiful South Bowning

by net

time,

but the static crashes

remained

all night.

Telstra
__g

——

While | was trying to get the VK6QS

8:13 pm
@7O@
@ blitzortung.org

49% (m1)

| Sound
Delay:

SDR going | was calling CQ from
VK2;

4.2

after half an hour | was

Starting to think it might be a quiet
night (at least contact-wise) when

last | heard a tiny signal in amongst
all the chaos - it was Claude
VK1TE/m

and it sounded

like he may

have been parked at home

in his

Faraday-shield driveway at Pearce,
Sheltering from the storms.
| then heard Peter VK7KPC

Evandale chatting away to Merv
VK3ADX

at Ballarat before | was

called by David VK3DBD
Yakandandah;

Quick Links

phew, at last a big

Dees

Signal from David that was

nena

a ce

A worldwide, real-time, community collaborative lightninc
location network. © 2003-2023 Blitzortung.org
Contributors

competing with the lightning noise.

While chatting to David, | could see Jordan VK3ACU
through the Tecsun SDR and calling CQ.

at Meredith coming

| heard Peter move on chat to lan

VK5CZ at Clare before lan worked John VK5ET at Hope Valley.

Merv then

chatted to Peter across the Strait before | hooked

John’s

up with John.

Signal was a nice RST 589 with me, but John was struggling to report 229
the other way.

The Tecsun SDR at Araluen NSW was
alive with static crashes all night.

Meanwhile on the SDR | could see lan trying to work Peter VKO6IS at
Wundowie,

largely without success.

Meanwhile Allen VK5FD chatted to

Merv before working Jordan, and | heard John working someone
been Max VK6FN

- may have

at Manjimup.

Ms Elizabeth’s Morsle rescue delivery
colloquially known as a poo-bar.

| tail-ended on the frequency and
was called by Garry - so perhaps it
was him who John was talking to?
Terrific when we have school
holidays so people like Garry can get
on our net;
The QRN

good to hear you Garry.
and QSB was relentless,

and | was struggling to copy Garry,
even though the VK2WI

beacon on

3699kHz was coming through nicely.
After Garry, | was called by Merv
who from the sounds of things had a

nice busy night.

And | then chatted

to Jordan who was putting in a nice
599 signal, although he could only
give me a 339 report.
And about that time, my temporary 300 Ohm TV ribbon feed line which was
cable-tied to a supporting rope for half of it’s 45m
complaining.

span, started

The rain-soaked synthetic rope had changed the feed-line

impedance or most likely, the velocity factor (thanks Owen VK2OMD);

Pi-coupler settings were different to normal... and as the rope dried out or
got wetter, the coupler needed to be adjusted to allow the transmitter to
produce full power.
Well it sounds like I’d stressed the feed line beyond

a joke (TV ribbon is not

made for transmitting... and |’d installed it only as a temporary test (back in
early October!) before making a proper balanced feed-line!).
often the forward power indication on my SWR
Kenwood TS-50’s SWR
sounded

Every so

meter would jump, and my

protection would activate for part of a character;

interesting on the SDR - so my CW sounded even worse than

usual!
After chatting to Jordan, | was called by Richard VK6PZT.
RST 559 (many times as it turned out - AGN?

Richard gave me

PSE RPT? etc but finally |

confirmed that in fact Richard was copying me Q-5 - amazing - | could see
the static crashes building up in WA.

Richard had an S-7 signal on QSB

peaks, but the lightning was playing havoc and | kept missing the report.
Richard went on to chat to David VK6KD
down the band to give some
finished with Richard;

at Ballajura and | disappeared

last CQ calls.

David responded

after he

like Richard he peaked S-7 here, but the readability

was poor with all the commotion.

| resorted to listening on the VK6QS

to round out the QSO - it was just too late here to struggle with a pure
pukka QSO - HI!

So, despite what started out as a
quiet but noisy night, actually ended
up going really well.
heard seemed

Everyone that |

to be having a great

time, despite the tough conditions -

Sp fof aL

excellent!, excellent.

Other
Other things
A Second

Hi Mark.

YouTube

Made

News

I’ve received from

our 100-odd

video about our net from George VK2AOE:

another video:

https://youtu.be/cKUpTPVIK94?
si=crxcttajHSAWnVW_
73 George VK2AOE

Merry Christmas

in oe

...

readers.

SDR

[Wow!

How good is that - thank you George.

And re your opening

comment that you'd only been on the net twice, but were hooked
already..... you know how to solve that - HI
Next week we’ll have a profile story of George

From

VK2AOE].

Herman

VK2IXV

at Kiama:

Hello Mark,

| am

5 “

only collecting and doing-up Morse

not on the air anymore.

Now

code hand-keys and bugs, and

writing the occasional story about
them.
Cheers,
Herman

[Thank you Herman.

Willemsen

VK2IXV

I’ve always enjoyed your terrific articles about Morse

keys, Samuel Morse and the various maritime adventures you've written
about in OTN over the years.
George

Thank you and welcome to the CQ QRS team.

VK2AOE (see the other article in this section) Is a retired maritime

radio operator as well, Richard VK6PZT is an avid key restorer, and | reckon
that Jordan

VK3ACU will be seeking your advice on key restoration as well].

A question from

Herman:

I’m still chasing this small J-37/RM28 key. As soon as | get it, | will
write a story about them.

Can you

ask your readers if they have seen a
J-37 with RM-28 cover

The key was used with 4U (4 units
or 4 panels) RCA radio installations
on Victory ships as per attached
picture.

| sailed on 2 Victory ships

with those radio installations and
keys.
Cheers,
Herman

Willemsen

VK2IXV

former junior Deck Officer Dutch Shell Tankers,
former Marine R/O Dutch Merchant Marine,
former Coast Radio Operator Papua New Guinea and
Australia,
former Teacher/Examiner

[Can anyone help Herman
From

Leigh VK6WA

with the J-37/RM-28 key?]

in Padbury:

GMDSS

TAFE

Ultimo

NSW...

Hi Mark,

Thank you for the RagChew
moment

newsletter;

| found it very interesting. At the

| am QRT but hope to get back on HF CW shortly. | need to get an

antenna first...
| bought a 9A5N

paddle key at Friedrichshafen

Ham

Radio and hope to fire

it up. I still have my straight key but both keys and my brain will require
dusting off and some practice.
Have a great Christmas and Happy New Year
Cheers
Leigh VK6WA / G4CLP
[Hi Leigh.

We have just the thing to help with the dusting off process - HI!

If it’s been a while since you’ve been on 80m, you'll be surprised at the
switch mode power supply hash - but as you'll see in the next few
newsletters,

there’s helo available - and we have a number of people on

the team who have overcome much of the problems.

Hoy if you need a

hand - we have team members in the area!]
From

Rob

VK6LD

at Bedfordale:

Hi Mark & Rich,

Thanks for the QSO on the way into work this morning.

| just restarted the

RemoteHams.

Just wondering

Mark if you have seen or used the TDOA (Time Difference of

Arrival direction finding) feature on the KiwiSDR - it is quite interesting and |
discovered

it via a Youtube video.

It's not always 100% correct, but many

times has got the location close.
Also, if you Know of a spare KiwiSDR or when the V.2 model

is released,

SEG will buy at least one to setup, so please let me know if you hear of any.
Regards,
Rob
[Hi Rob.

No | didn’t know about the DF capability of the KiwiSDR network.
It'll work for static crashes?

Wonder if

So much capability in such a little package.

Without looking at the video | tried making it work but ran into various
errors and things I'd done wrong.
! reckon there'll be a queue for the KiwiSDRs - I’ve been interested in
getting one for some time for our back paddock - but then again, it’d just
be added to the huge pile of projects that aren’t being done - HI!

understand from Paul VK5PH that the new version is imminent - or in fact
he may

have received it already for his lronstone Range SDR site.]

Hi Mark.

The KiwiSDR needs a frequency and about 30 secs of signal to

give you a possible location.

You can find a demo on Youtube or | can

connect via Teamviewer and show you how it works.

Not every KiwiSDR

has the functionality, | think it depends on it being GPS equipped.
Cheers,

Rob...

[Fair enough.

Thanks for the offer - I'll look at the YouTube info - you've got

better things to do than coaching me

- HI!]

ARRL Straight Key Night 2024
The moment VOTA: Badges on the Air ends, another popular event gets
started:

ARRL Straight Key Night (SKN) is held on January 1, 2024, from 0000
UTC through 2359 UTC.
Many hams look forward to SKN as one of the highlights of their operating

year.

Operators participate using Morse
code (CW). All you need is your
favorite straight key or bug. Many
participants dust off vintage radios
and keys and put them back into
service each year just for this
event.
SEN is not a contest, so there's no

need for quick exchanges.

However, all hand keys, regardless

ARRL Straight Key Night (SKN) is January 1,

2024, from 0000 UTC through 2359 UTC.
of age, are welcome. The number
of contacts you make is not
important. The reward is meeting new friends as you get together on the

air.

Send a

list of stations contacted, SKN

stories and photos, and your votes

for Best Fist and Most Interesting QSO to straightkey@arrl.org by January
31, 2024.
More information is available at www.arrl.org/straight-key-night.
And what’s more... it starts at such a decent time on New Year’s Day.
http://www.arrl.org/straight-key-night
Straight Key Century Club Straight Key

Welcome to Straight Key Month 2024!

Month

SPC

Area

None selected ~

Easy
a)

None selected

Maker

Good

morning all,

1
Te

Meg ste

Registrations for the 2024 SKCC

K3Y

event are now open.

‘eat

“Be
o

are

‘

]

“AMI

The SKCC

K3Y event is a once a year

occasion,

details can

be found

at:

(Coane
keke}s|
QSOs:

Keyboard shorteuts
q ¥j=<50

q ¥)= 50+

Mapdata@2023

4 1000 kmL__4 :

9 ¥)= 100+ 9 ¥i= 250+ q ¥)= 500+ 9 ¥)=1,000+

SKCC SKM STATIONS JAN 2024 Locations are approximate to city centers. Click on
markers for info. See the Op Calendar or Op List. View the full-sized map. (rev: 23/Dec

httos://www.skccgroup.com/k3y/k3y.

php

If you would

Starting on January 2nd SKCC

members

ing only straight key, bug

cootie

and

around the world will be operating special event CW stations
keys.

These

three key types

are the

original instruments

early radiotelegraphy, which this event celebrates. This is our 18th Straight Key Month

like to register for the event, please send an email to our team

mamber Garry VK2GAZ

at:

vk2gaz.auz@gmail.com

If you are already registered you will be able to view your registration
details on the SKCC

website.

Best regards,
Garry VK2GAZ / VK2ZP
SKCC #5460C

event and the

18th anniversary
of SKCC.

K3Y-OC

Coordinator

Email:

vk2gqaz.auz@qmail.com...

Peel Amateur

Radio Group

- HamFest

and

Raffle

The Peel Amateur Radio Group invites you to
PARGFEST 2023!

Peel Amateur Radio Group
Heo

PARGFEST Swap-Meet
10** February 2024

Beet pes Os

See you

10 Feb 2024. This year, we'll be holding another huge Raffle with big

e |

a te

| S|

U r

d | O

ro U { )

| e

Ra ffl

demonstrations and guest speakers.

PARGFEST 2024 will be held at the Mandurah
Street Mandurah

0800).

available for the

Peel Amateur Radio Group Inc Raffle

The Peel Amateur Radio Group will be holding the Annual PARGFEST on
prizes, a swap-meet,

Tickets are now

Bowling Club, 89 Allnutt

on Saturday 10 Feb 23 from 0900 to 1230 (sellers from

Now - for the raffle....

The ten Raffle prizes include a Yaesu FT-891 portable transceiver, a
Yaesu

FTM-200

DR mobile transceiver, a Yaesu VX-6R

transceiver, a uBITX V6 transceiver, five TET Emtron
Australian Ham

Radio Handbook.

The combined

Pete r VK6

PB S

hand-held
gift vouchers and an
PARG

prize pool is worth over $3000!

Mesh

870

9 5 3 5 2 3 5 8

0432718026
Tem cUTRON

TRT-RMTRON

pacers

2 TET-EMTRON
Australian Antennas for

Australian Amateurs

Frequencies for Sydney to Hobart

Race from Tecsun

Radios

Australia
As we bid farewell to 2023, here's a treat for your radio adventures!

Did

you know that for 78 years, the Sydney to Hobart yacht race has graced
our airwaves?
This iconic event kicks off on Boxing Day, December 26, with the cannon
roaring at 1 pm

Eastern, setting sail until December 31, 2023.
Curious about tuning into the action?
Explore Tecsun’s latest blog post on

SYDNEY TO

HOBART
YACHT RACE

Fee

.
-

eaten =

how to catch the Shortwave
broadcasts and the sked frequencies

and times to tune into the positions

and weather reports.

https://tecsunradios.us11
listmanage.com/track/click?
u=6da0ffe5ca671ecc582c504924Gid
=e4adb3f3c8&e=c2ee5cl1/777

From

David

VK3DBD

at Yakandandah:

Hi Mark
Knowing your enthusiasm for the Kenwood TS-50 - and it is strange that
there are not many you hear on the bands these days - | found among

collection of radio stuff a nicely printed advert on heavy card and in pristine
condition - copy attached.

| guess it must have been ina
magazine or something
at a hamfest.

| picked up

Obviously before the

days of lcoms answer

to that

IC-706 so | suspect around

- the

1996/7

perhaps. The reverse side is printed
with a dealers info: Eastern
communications

in Happisburgh,

Norfolk.

They are no longer trading to the best of my knowledge.
places in uk - the place name
Said

is not pronounced

Like a few other

as you might expect... it is

as "Hazeboro" with a strong Norfolk accent.

It takes me back to my SWL days in the late 40s when

| used to listen to the

Shipping around the coastline all the lifeboat stations and GPO
GKZ.

At Noon on every Sunday

like our local

Humber radio (GKZ) would call all these

stns and the lightships for a Radio check on 2182
But | digress, back to the TS-50.

kcs - happy days!

The other day | had QSO with an

enthusiastic station in NZ who apologised for his Morse (| have heard plenty
worse) saying it was some years since he last was QRV and he was using
“an ancient TS-50" his words).

He sent me a nice email saying | had

restored his faith in the hobby as he had just not had the guts to call folk
who were rattling away and sending 599 73 .. end of QSO.

It is true that so

many are just clocking up "scores" and as for FT8, well | am speechless (in
polite language at least) - its not ham
dinosaur).

radio in my book (and yes | ama

| enthused over computers once and started in the days of DOS

- fascinating. But now they have gone from a useful tool to taking over the
| still think the TS-50 is an excellent radio, very stable and simple to use.
There must have been very many
wonder why Kenwood

made and where have they all gone to?

did not pursue the model concept and get ahead of

the IC 706 etc, which frankly was more popular.
| had thought of fitting a small keyer inside but do not really need it as |
use a KQ9

(By KLEL) kit keyer | built years ago - if | want to use a paddle.

That takes some
WWW

beating among

keyers | think. There are

to do that and perhaps more too.

called) and other

www.DKMods.de

mods on the
(I think it is

ideas for most other rigs too.

The only thing | changed

in my TS-50 was the back-up battery, to which

| fitted a holder (ex PC motherboard) so the 2032 could be just plugged
not soldered.

in,

The other fault | had was that the SO 259 socket centre pin

was originally soldered direct to the PCB.

This has very slight movement

and plugging and unplugging a connector cracks the

joint. So | put a short

bit of flexible wire between the board and the centre pin - something the
manufacturers ought to have foreseen.
You might give me a hint as to how the menu

and power settings can be

accessed without having the mic plugged

in. Guess | ought to have worked

it out but not the manual

in uk?

info handy when

might never need it

again but

guess | ought to know...

Kenwood

is an odd company which is perhaps are more interested in its

domestic food mixer sales and the like.

Even in UK they do not seem to

have a proper repair facility for their ham stuff. However plenty of other
repair places in UK cope well with most makes.

While in Uk when

my Elecraft KX3 gave trouble

and | contacted

for help / advice - which they are superbly speedy at offering.
they suggested

it was an unusual

minimum

Eventually

problem within the DSP filter

section which "only they could fix".
great expense

Elecraft

| duly shipped

it off to California at

like £31, equating to around A$70.

| noted they charge a

of US$250 for repairs, but offered a small update modification

costing about US$40;

| paid return carriage to VK from the USA, so it will

not be a cheap experience.

The KX2 has been away now for well over two

months and recently | queried progress.

| was told that was normal

- a

two month wait before it gets to a service technician’s bench was normal
they said - AARGH;

good job | am

[Great story David - thank you,

not desperate for it.

well done.

! also have the original TS-50 brochure that was used in Australia;

the little

transceiver was a sensation at the time that's for sure - a worthy successor
to the TS-120 (which | still have) and 130 models.
Yes I’m a bit of a dinosaur as well when it comes to digital modes;
count AllStar as a digital mode - selective hearing - HI!

| don’t

50 years ago | had

a Creed 7B teleprinter which was upgraded to a flash Model 15... using a
pretty simple home assembled ST-5 modem

it would chug away at 45.45

Baud, and! did do a bit of packet radio in the 90s - all very interesting to
learn about TCP/IP, but.....
Would you be able to forward the RagChew to your new mate in NZ, and
invite him to join the distribution?

CQ QRS International - HI!]

Ok will QSP the suggestion to ZL but | feel not many ops even with
his limited proficiency are going to be keen on the extreme QRS that
prevails.

| really think if folk do not make say 10 wpm

on air and MOST

before they go live

IMPORTANT they keep up regular practice to improve...

which in my book means daily at least... they could be a long time getting
to a sensible speed for actually having a QSO.
But | have been there and got the T-shirt.

Just my opinion of course.

[Of course | don’t necessarily agree about your suggested 10wom baseline
speed to get on air David;

our outstanding net had at least 19 people on

last week... and they all had a ball;

if they felt that there was a minimum

speed to have a go, | think:
e

some

would transmit faster than they can receive very comfortably (I

advocate that we should transmit at about 75% of our comfortable
receiving speed on the net... to make the receiving fun, rather than a
sweat-inducing experience);
e

some

wouldn't even try to transmit, feeling they might be judged if

they make mistakes, or can't follow the other station’s CW;
e

and

we'd end up with listeners rather than transmitters - and the net would
soon die in the bum.

However,

| understand what you're saying about needing to have a level of

tension to encourage the brain to learn the Code and to overcome the
learning plateaus.

Personally I'd rather have a bunch of enthusiastic

learners than people who’ve got over the challenge to learn quickly, then
decide to move on to something less challenging - like the wham-bam
thank-you ma’am

CW QSOs to which you refer - HI/!]

On the TS 50 by the way | have two of them.
now and just after | bought that | showed

My original, which is in ZL

a friend and he rushed out and

got one too.

A year or three later he decided to sell it and offered me his

for a price | could not refuse!

| have the auto tuners for both of them which

are also excellent. So you see | have a slight surplus
alC-7000

and alIC-7100

too, not to mention the

of radios for back up,-

2 metre ones which are

really gathering dust as there’s no one on the bands... and especially not
with the gentlemens’

mode!
Here is a photo you might like to
use:

It is history now but shows my

two grandchildren on a visit to the
Muckleburgh Tank museum

on the

North Norfolk coast where there was
an excellent radio museum.

G4FAI

was a prime instigator of that radio
part establishment, which | believe
is no-longer there.

Tony who

became SK only a few weeks ago
was one of the originators of the
Morsum

Magnificat magazine which |

am sure you are familiar with.

The museum

had hands-on things for youngsters to do and the photo

shows Henry and Laura ages approx 8 and 61 guess doing their test and
sending their names
on.

in Morse to get a certificate;

Ann their mum

is looking

Neither has followed it up | regret, but both were amazingly quick at

learning the letters of the alphabet in a very short time - | taught them that
of course.

Henry is now 28 years old!

Seasonal greetings etc, and CU agn on the bands soon.
David
[Thanks David - great stories].
From

Baz VK6MU

Season’s greetings.

at Calista:
I’m looking forward to my Xmas

something to play with.

pressie, a new X6100 -

I’m also waiting for 2 whip antennas ordered

couple of weeks ago for my van.
When | finish working on my 1961 Triumph T21, that will be the last one (|
have said that before!) and | hope to get back to amateur radio.
Heading off to Port Denison for a few days and | will try 80m

and 40m

while

there.
Have a good Xmas over there and a good

New Year

Baz

[Great to hear from you again mate.

Very nice of you to buy your van a

Christmas present | must say Baz.
[f you’re still up at Port D on Tuesday and can swing it, it’d be great to hear
you on the net - 59m on 3540-3570kHz (but of course the band will open
for NVIS after dusk and hopefully skywave to the South)... assuming you've
connected your key to the new radio of course.
While at Port Denison, perhaps call-in to see Mark Rawlings VK6MOA

of TET

Emtron - Mark avidly reads the RagChew.

/f nothing else, Mark has an

AllStar hotspot on 439.300 MHz FM simplex with a 123Hz sub-tone for
access - can try your new whip at the same time or a hand-held should
work too.

Give me a call on it - I’m often listening here with the volume

turned down... SMS if you don’t hear me reply.
Cheers both and take care mate.
Cheers].
Merry Xmas

Mark & net team.

I've been a bit busy lately and at the moment we're in a little village abt
130km

NE of Manila, at my mother-in-law's house, sans HF. | 've got Allstar

access to VHF/UHF

back home using DvSwitch on my phone, but that's it

for now.
If the net is on Tue 9 Jan, I'll aim for that one.
Keiran

VK3BTV

portable DU3

[Hey Keiran - of course the net will be on on January 9th, as well as
December 26th and January 2nd!
Just for fun, how about coming up from DU3 on the AllStar Post Morseum on
Wednesday morning around 6 - 6:30am Ish Manila time?

Richard VK6HRC

will host, and I'll be there, along with others from our net.

AllStar Node

42482 will work - and you'll be connected all over WA - and to my HotSpot
node here in NSW.
Ciao, have a peaceful Xmas mate and keep cool!]

This Week’s

Topics of Interest
Noise

In last week’s CQ QRS RagChew
scourge of 80m - switch mode

Cancellers

newsletter, | started discussing the
power supply hash.

So over the next few

Ragchews,

I'd like to discuss options for dealing with the noise.

| mentioned

last week that Garry

VK2YBX

at Tecsun

Radios Australia

had on special the PL-365 hand-held
HF SSB receiver with an external BC
/ LF ferrite rod antenna, that might
be useful for DFing switch mode
power supply hash.

| ended

buying the next model up - a PL-368
rather than PL-365;

the 368 allows

keyboard entry of frequencies which
| thought would be more useful.
Turns out that indeed the ferrite rod antenna does have some directivity on
the 80m

band, so | expect the receiver will be part of my efforts to track

down the hash at my home.

So back to noise cancellers.

operators have always known that
80m
— Static crashes are part of the fun.
= When the band opens to the tropics... we hear
the Tee

* Today - switch mode power supplies dominate
(ee

aest

urb .

and 160m

are great for local

contacts under 500km

* 80m has always been a noisy band

beyond,

and for DX

but the reality is that they

are just plain noisy bands.

Static

crashes, power line hash, TV line
output radiation used to be the bane
of the low band operators’ lives.
Now, switch mode

power supplies

are the dominant parties.

The little plug-pack that powers
everything these days is a
marvellous device - small, light
weight and cheap as chips... but
that comes at a cost.

Quality varies.

Traditional DC power supplies (these
days called linear power supplies)
use a transformer to drop the mains
voltage to a lower value, which is
then rectified, the ripple removed
and usually regulated using some
sort of solid state circuit.

Big, heavy, inefficient... but quiet.
However, the switch mode

power supplies rectify the applied mains to a

high DC ripple, then use pulse-width modulation circuitry to turn on the
rectified mains, charging a capacitor to just the right voltage, then turning
off the mains until that voltage drops under load.
produces a square wave at several hundred

The resulting switching

kHz - and it’s the harmonics of

that witching process that we hear on 80m
A few years back, | was chatting to
Tony VK6DQ

from the Peel Amateur

Radio Group about the switch mode
power supply hash on 80m, and
lamenting that perhaps by clever
¢ Martin VK6EEE:

“VKSTM

has a noise canceller

use of coaxial phasing
cancelling antenna

kit”

Tony replied:
those”!

might be built.

“I’ve got a couple of

| didn’t know that there

were commercial

phasing-type noise

cancellers available.

The noise cancellers work by having
a separate ‘noise antenna’ that
picks up the hash in and around the
location.

The circuitry allows the

phase and strength of that noise to
be varied;

the resulting signal is

then added to the signals from our
main antenna.

By varying the phase

lines, a noise

to 180 degrees out of phase with the
main antenna and balancing the

Noise Cancelling

levels, it’s possible to cancel out that
part of the main antenna signal

* Noise Cancelling
— RX antenna

picked up by the noise antenna.

oxsipnalénlse

—Noise

antenna

XP \

_____

maim

* noise (no signal)
— Noise antenna

signal

* adjust phase & amplitude
to exactly cancel noise

Here’s the tricky bits:
Ideally the noise antenna should pick up the undesired
the desired signals (otherwise, the wanted
So a simple indoor antenna
usually come with a
plugged

hash, but not

signals could be cancelled).

is usually best.

The commercial

ones

little whip antenna on the box or able to be

in - often that’s all that’s needed.

| have four different

antennas selectable via an antenna switch - sometimes one works,
other times a different one works.
The adjustments can be quite tricky - especially on 80m and especially
with a slow-reacting digital bar-graph type S-meter with AGC and in
among

static crashes.

Sometimes the best noise null also knocks out desired signals adjusting for best signal-to-noise ratio is the aim - sometimes at the
expense of signal strength of the desired signal.
The phase relationship between the noise and what the main antenna
picks up varies with frequency;
away on 80m

going more than a few hundred

requires a re-tune of the noise canceller.

kHz

Adjusting your

antenna coupler also changes the phase relationship.
Switch mode

power supply harmonics aren’t good operators;

they

have a tendency to drift around the band causing havoc.... especially
during weak signal contacts.

When

a sprog drifts onto your frequency,

the noise canceller may need adjusting, the noise antenna
to be changed,

or sometimes,

may need

nothing works.

Cancelling the noise after it’s got into your antenna and feed-line isn’t
anywhere as good as getting rid of the sources of the noise.
as soon as the next plug-in device is adopted
Some are cheap, some are expensive.

A new MFJ-1026 will set you

back half a kilobuck, despite being not very complex,
all that well built!

The VK5TM

However,

into your home....
and actually, not

kit will cost you $55 plus postage and

the cost of a metal box, coaxial connectors etc... but you get to build
and know it so much

better than if you just bought a ready-built one,

and it’s from Australia.
about the same amount,

The Chinese copy of the same unit will cost
comes

in a nice steel box with all the

accessories - plug in a power supply, your antenna, your PTT line from
your transmitter and off it goes.
However, for all their challenges,

| think a noise canceller is the quickest

way to come to a workable arrangement with your switch mode
supply hash on 80m.

power

Removing the sources is obviously better, but a noise

canceller will get you on air at least.
Next week,

I’ll outline the circuitry inside the noise cancellers and look at

the various uses - a correctly configured

noise canceller can do more than

just get rid of hash!
I'd like to hear more

from

our readers

who

have

used

noise cancellers -

please let me Know so we can share more thoughts and ideas;
to mark.bosma@icloud.com

Brain
How

Teaser

did you go?

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
This week’s quiz questions from Jules’ Workshop example test questions

What

is the difference

between

a conductor

and

insulator?

e Acorrectly operated Standard transmitter causes severe interference
to one television set in close proximity but not to others in the same
location. The problem

is probably due to

radiation

front-end overload of the television set

cross-modulation with an "off air" broadcast transmitter

harmonic

radiation of parasitics

increases in danger with increase in frequency

can cause tissue damage

can cause cumulative eye damage

all of the above

in the short term

Has priority over all other traffic except the Urgency signal

May only be transmitted

In telephony, comprises the words CQ Distress, and the station

by operators holding Advanced

identification
o

May be heard on any frequency

Licences

Answers

next week.

Answers

from

last week’s

Quiz:

Complete the sentence. An electric current IS ............:00608
Answer:

...the ordered

to a positive point.
home...

movement

of electrons from a negative point

[We could debate the answers until the cows come

but exam technique applies... answer the question per the

doctrine being taught, correct or incorrect!]
To prevent radiation of radio frequency signals when a transmitter is
being tested continuously, you should use
1.

atransmission

an artificial antenna

an indoor antenna

astanding wave

Answer:

line

ratio (SWR)

meter

2. an artificial antenna.

Owen VK2OMD

has pointed out the

folly of this answer - just about all antennas as we know them are
artificial - HI.
To convert microFarads to nanoFarads
1.

multiplication by 1,000

division by 1,000

multiplication by 10,000

division by 10,000

Answer:

requires

multiplication by 1,000.

1 x 10%-9 Farads - so 1 x 10*-6

luF is 1 x 10%-6

by 1000 x 1 x 10*-9.

Farads;

I1nF is

Hmmm,

MailChimp doesn’t do exponentials - HI!
What is the Urgency Signal in radiotelephony?
(a) PAN

PAN

PAN PAN

(b) MAYDAY

MAYDAY

[Another interesting answer!

| think you'll find that the

Urgency signal is actually PAN-PAN;

so for instance in ICAO

aeronautical use, the call is PAN-PAN,

PAN-PAN,

but it’s

sometimes abbreviated to PAN-PAN-PAN... which sounds more useful
to me.

Air Traffic Control in Australia will also ask “Are you declaring a

PAN?” - as happened

once for me so far as a private pilot.

How did you go?

Tuesday’s

CQ QRS

Net

Reminder.

Well, it’s 0130 hours on Christmas
Day- and I’ve been keeping an eye
out on the chimney - watching for
Santa.

No luck so far - so | reckon it

might be time to hit send, and get
the RagChew

on the road.

Next Tuesday’s

Net

Our CQ QRS Net will be on as always on Tuesday from around 0900z;
below for details.

Stations in the West,

see

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.

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
(still checking that you’re awake) sufficiently for the D-layer to start fading;
in the West where the sun won’t set until around

1115z (and later for the

ionosphere), tough conditions might be expected early on.
conditions somewhere

in between

| imagine.

And who Knows whether the

crescendo of static crashes we've experienced
challenge.
Post

SA will have

lately will add to the

One way or other, we’ll have fun.

Morsum

And for those who are within earshot of an AllStar node, we hold a quick
Post Morsum

hosted by Richard VK6HRC

0830 - 0900 SA

at around 0900 - 0930 Eastern /

/ 0600 - 0630 WA time (+/- 30 minutes) on the South West

AllStar net (via repeaters and hotspots all over WA).

All you need is an FM

2m or 70cm transceiver and an AllStar node nearby;

or you can have a

listen via Echolink.

If you don’t Know whether you're within range of an

AllStar node, let me know ( mark.bosma@icloud.com
help;

) and I'll see if | can

or if you’d like to find out how to connect your local AllStar network

to the South West network, or how to access the network via Echolink, drop
me a

line.

Teamwork

So thank you so much to our outstanding team of 22 contributors (some
submitted several articles too) this week!
VK3ACU, VK6BEK, VK5ET, VK6PZT, VK7WW,
VK2AOE,

VK2IXV, VK6WA,

VK6MU,

VK3BTV and VK3JFP.

Thanks to:

VK6HRC,

VK5FD,

VK5PH, VK6KD, VK7KPC, VK6IS,

VK6LD, VK2GAZ, VK6PBS, VK2YBX, VK3DBD,
Wow, thank you once again team - a superb

effort - it’s the thoughts of the team

plus the photos that makes

so interesting to the 110-odd (perhaps 110-plus would

RagChew

be safer)

subscribers.
Reports
So for everyone,

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.
CQ QRS

Group

And a reminder about our CQ QRS group on WhatsApp - we’ve now got a
good bunch who have fun exchanging

alerts and comments

and also spotting QRS stations on at other times.
is below;

I'd like you to join in on the WhatsApp

Stuart VK6MK stujen55@gmail.com
your mobile phone number,
€U CW on Tuesday,

during the net,

The feed from last week
group if possible. Please let

or me mark.bosma@icloud.com

and we'll add you to the group.

know

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:

About

the CQ
Here’s

the

dah-dah dit!

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!).

Frequencies
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).
Speed
And if you’re proficient at CW and can race along at 20 or 30wpm - terrific,
but please remember, the net’s aim is to encourage,
can hammer the Key.

not show how fast you

| often forget to do this - but please try to send

slowly where you can and concentrate on rhythm - listen to your side-tone,
get that wrist action going and make a special effort to make
perfect CW;
many

it sound

the longer we go with our net, the more | understand just how

non-transmitting

listeners we have!

If you’re an experienced

operator, please try to send nicely balanced slow CW to give them a chance
to practice and gain confidence.... they'll reward you one day by coming
on air to say g’day and thanks - how good

is that?

And if you’re new or like

me, just rusty.... ignore the above... just have a go - the lather of sweat will
be worth it and there’s plenty of time to get the details sorted out as you
practice.
And also for the oldies like me, when you hear someone
their sending speed - or slower.

new, please match

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

And if someone

copy - “PSE RPT PSE QRS” or “AGN?

is sending too fast to comfortably

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,
Whose

before replying.

Frequency?

The aim is to give everyone a go at contacting others - no-one owns their
calling frequency on this net.

So unlike working

DX, if you hear someone

Signing off - jump in and call - doesn’t matter who was first on the
frequency - we really are all good

mates on this net.... and besides, at the

speed we’re sending, after a QSO

most of us will have forgotten who was

first!

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.
Tips
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-aqrs---slow-cw-qso-practice-net.
There's usually people around
catch someone.

until after 13302 - so keep calling until you

| 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 itn WA and NSW

CQ QRS

respectively.

Traffic from the CQ QRS

Feed

Group.

Here’s what went on on the CQ QRS WhatsApp

message group this week:

[8:45 pm, 19/12/2023]

chatting on 3555. VK1TE/m

Mark Bosma: VK6IS and VK6FN

and

VK2KI just finished on 3555.
[8:48 pm, 19/12/2023]

Mark Bosma: VK2KI calling CQ on 3555.

[8:51 pm, 19/12/2023]

Peter Scales: Band has some qrn ATM

[8:53 pm, 19/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

Here too - really tough conditions.

[8:53 pm, 19/12/2023]

Mark Bosma: VK6KHZ

calling CQ on 3555.

[8:54 pm, 19/12/2023]

Mark Bosma: VK6KHZ

and VKOIS chatting on 3555.

[9:06 pm, 19/12/2023]

Mark Bosma: VK3ADX and | think VK6KPC struggling with the

QRN

on 3555... but still having some semblance of a QSO!

[9:09 pm, 19/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

Wow

S9 noise crashes

[9:10 pm, 19/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

[9:10 pm, 19/12/2023]

Mark Bosma: VK3DBD

Great fun eh Jordan?
calling CQ on 3550

[9:14 pm, 19/12/2023]

Mark Bosma: VK3DBD

and VK2KI having a chat on 3550.

[9:15 pm, 19/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

I’m calling on 3560

al!

Telstra

8:13 pm
@70e49%@ )
@ blitzortung.org

|) Sound
Delay:
4.2

Quick Links
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location network. © 2003-2023 Blitzortung.org
Contributors

[9:15 pm, 19/12/2023] Mark Bosma: These might have something to do with the
racket over East!
[9:23 pm, 19/12/2023] lan - VK5CZ:

CQ QRS 3.557 vk5cz. QRN

pretty bad.

[9:30 pm, 19/12/2023] Mark Bosma: VK5CZ and VK7KPC chatting on 3557. VK3ACU
calling CQ on 3560. VK3DBD

and VK2KI chatting on 3550. All despite the tough

conditions.
[9:45 pm, 19/12/2023] lan - VK5CZ: WoW

no wonder condx crap.

A index 28.
[9:47

pm,

19/12/2023]

Mark

Bosma:

VK5ET

and VK5CZ

chatting

on 3557.

[9:48 pm, 19/12/2023] Mark Bosma:

Oops, now VK5CZ calling CQ on 3557.

[9:51

pm,

19/12/2023]

Mark

Bosma:

VK3ADX

[9:58

pm,

19/12/2023]

Mark

Bosma:

VK5ET

[9:59 pm, 19/12/2023] lan - VK5CZ:

and VK7KPC
and VK2KI

chatting

on 3560.

on 3550.

Sri Peter just not pulling out of qrn

hpe condx

next week. vk5cz
[10:00 pm, 19/12/2023] Peter Scales: Okay on that
[10:02

pm,

19/12/2023]

Mark

Bosma:

VK5ET

calling

CQ on 3550.

[10:04 pm, 19/12/2023] Peter Scales: NoGo
[10:05 pm, 19/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU: Tricky but half the fun
[10:05 pm, 19/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU: Although I'd say closer to impossible just at
the moment
[10:08

pm,

lol
19/12/2023]

Mark

Bosma:

VK3ADX

chatting to VK5FD

on 3560.

[10:11 pm, 19/12/2023] lan - VK5CZ: Thanks folks 3 qso tonight.
Hpe condx better next week and we can work off the pudding.

Mri xms..gn vk5cz

[10:11 pm, 19/12/2023] Peter Scales: Cheers
[10:41 pm, 19/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU: VK2KI and
[10:49 pm, 19/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:
that managed

VK3ADX

Chatting on 3563

GN All Early start | must be off. Thanks all

a QSO and thanks all for coming

up.--....

0... --

and VK2KI

chatting

[10:50 pm, 19/12/2023] Mark Bosma:
[11:00

pm,

19/12/2023]

Mark

Bosma:

VK3ACU

on 3563.

| think

Jordan is transmitting from bed - he was supposed to go QRT some time ago!
[11:01 pm, 19/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU: Yes | should be in bed but can’t help my self!
I’m falling asleep in the shack sorry for the mistakes hi!
[11:05 pm, 19/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

Ok GN all (for real this time)

[11:09 pm, 19/12/2023] Mark Bosma: VK6PZT and VK2KI struggling on 3563.
[11:20 pm, 19/12/2023] Mark Bosma:
repeated
[11:20

Richard gets the patience award for the

RSTs!

pm,

19/12/2023]

Mark

Bosma:

VK6KD

and VK6PZT

chatting

on 3563.

[11:23 pm, 19/12/2023]

Mark Bosma: VK2KI calling CQ on 3560.

[11:30 pm, 19/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

Now if you two would just turn your 80m Yagis

to the East, | might be able to copy you through all the static crashes!
[11:36 pm, 19/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

[11:37 pm, 19/12/2023]

Richard Ayre: dit dit

Dit-dit from me too!
thanks mark and david

[11:40 pm, 19/12/2023]

Mark Bosma: VK2KI calling CQ on 3555.

[11:46 pm, 19/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

to the VK6SR

Last calls from VK2KI on 3555.

sk
| can't connect

Remote tonight - so no signals from VK6QI this week

[11:49 pm, 19/12/2023]

Richard Ayre: New Iphone mod works gud for QRS
€>

Richard Ayre
a

Richard

[12:00 am, 20/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

Ayre

Nice stand;

hope you made

it yourself.

Your

iPhone has an extendable antenna?
[12:00 am, 20/12/2023]

Mark Bosma: Thanks for the QSO

David;

catch you at 6:30

tomorrow for the AllStar Post Morseum

perhaps?

[12:02 am, 20/12/2023]

Richard - are you on leave tomorrow or working?

Mark Bosma:

lf the former, perhaps connect to one of the Bunbury AllStar hotspots and join in the
Post Morseum tomorrow at zero-sparrow's-30?
[12:15 am, 20/12/2023]
tho

Richard Ayre: working tomorrow

sri

may be able to listen in

what time is zero spuggy 30

[12:16 am, 20/12/2023]

Richard Ayre: Nah stand is from IKEA 2 bucks = antent Is

gagga taped to the back

ive told the the girls at work that it gets a better signal

[12:17 am, 20/12/2023]

Richard Ayre: gaffa tape

[12:28 am, 20/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

AllStar net.

0630 for the Post Morseum

Hope your family has a nice Xmas

[1:03 pm, 20/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU: Anyone

Richard.

Ciao.

on the South West

Dit-dit.

in vk3 do you know of lightning in Vic

lastnight?
[3:10 pm, 20/12/2023]

Mark Bosma:

Hi Jordan.

If you go to www.pblitzortung.org and

click on Historical Data, you'll be able to wind the clock back to look for strikes in
Victoria.
[3:10 pm, 20/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

Cool didn't Know you could wind back

[3:10 pm, 20/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU: Thanks

[1:03 pm, 20/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU: Anyone

in vk3 do you know of lightning in Vic

lastnight?
[3:10 pm, 20/12/2023] Mark Bosma:

Hi Jordan.

If you go to www.blitzortung.org and

click on Historical Data, you'll be able to wind the clock back to look for strikes in
Victoria.
[3:10 pm, 20/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU:

Cool didn't know you could wind back

[3:10 pm, 20/12/2023] Jordan VK3ACU: Thanks

The

opinions expressed

The

opinions

Send

in the

RagChew

do not necessarily

comments

newsletter are those

of the individual contributors.

reflect that of the editor or of the CQ

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