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CQ QRS
What happened

last Tuesday,

Expanding

School

our 40m

net!

segment

of fish?

SKCC

CQ QRS

QRS

Saunter - this weekend

team

wins at PARGFest

e Why

are the High tension

e The

Rybakov

RagChew

and a reminder for the next net.

e 40 stations in Tuesday’s
e

in your browser

Reminder

pylons falling down?

antenna

for 20Feb24

CQ QRS

Well well well.... we cracked at least 40 known stations on or listening in to
the CQ QRS Slow CW practice QSO net last Tuesday! Congratulations
team, and thank you to everyone who came up - even just to have a quick
listen and report - excellent news for the people we're supporting - the
ones who are looking for somewhere
perhaps those who would

safe to have their early QSOs, or

like to arc the rust off their Morse keys after a

period of non-activity.
40m

Prelude expanding

So this coming Tuesday, we’re going to expand the 40m
to 7025KHz to 7040KHz,

prelude segment

because:

7028 is a common

QRP crystal frequency,

it’s getting crowded, especially for those who’re using older or home-

brewed wider receivers, and
e the overflow has already happened.
See the details at the end of this week’s RagChew.
In this week’s RagChew,

Brendan VK3BAP

is going to tell us about his

Rybakov (say, what?) antenna, along with a whole bunch of other hopefully
interesting and distracting things for our avid reader (NB purposefully
singular.... at least I’ve read

it - Hl).

Here’s this week’s list of stations heard in our Tuesday net:

RSS

13Feb24 CQ QRS Net
Total active stations this week:
Total

QsOs

(note that this figure won't be correct- Q50s may be counted twice

145

Black text- QSLed, Green text - heard but not worked, Blue text - incomplete QS0 (not QSLed).

MY CALL ‘iting ¢
Of

qso1

Qso2

Qso 3

Qso4

aso5s

Qso 6

Qso7

qQso 8

qQso9

aso 10

VK2IOW

Fr Listening if mo G50)

VK1HF/p
VK1KVS
VK1TE/m 40m|

VKIWA

VK2TER

VK3KLE

VK7ZA

VK3DBD |

VKSPH

VKLIWA | VK3BTV

VK2DLF

VK1TE/m 40m

VK7TA

VK2GAZ

|VK5/G4RWI|

VK2DLF

VK3RU

VK2KI

|VK3WOW]

VK3ADX

VK2IK

VK1TE/m 80m

VK3BYD

VK2KI

VK3WOW

VK6IS

VK6BEK | VK2NAP

VKIWA

VK2KI_

| VK1TE/m

VK7TA

VK2GAZ

VK2IK

VK1ZDJ
VK2A0E

VK3DBD

VK2BHO
VK2BHO
VK2DLF

VK1TE/m|

VK2IOW

VK2GAZ

VK2DLF |

VK7TA

VK2IK

VKITE/m|

VK2KI

VKZ2IOW

VK7TA

VK2DLF

VK2TER

VK2KI

VK2KI 40m

VKIWA |

VK2IOW

VK7TA

VK2TER

VK7ZA

VK7KPC

VK3BAP

VK2GAZ

VK2KI 40m

VK3RU | VKITE/m |

VK2A0E

VK3DBD | VK3BTV

VK2IK

VK6BEK |

VK6DV

VK2KI 80m

VK1IWA |

VKSFD

VK3KLE

VK3BYD

VK3KLE | VK3BAP |

VKSFD

VK2IK

VK6GAL

VK2KI

VK2IOW

VK9SE?

VK3ADX

VK7TA

VK2NAP

VK3KLE | VK2DLF
VK6IS |

{Listening

VK2NV
VK2TER

VK3KLE

VK2WEO
VK2WF
VK3ACU

| Attempted to listen - abandoned due to storms and lack of KiwiSDR system.

VK3ADX

VK7ZA |

VK3DBD | VK3WOW

VK3AE
VK3BAP

VK2KI

VK3BTV

VK3WOW|

VK2KI

VK3BU
VK3BYD

VK2KI

VK3CLD/p

VKIWA

VK2KI

VK3DBD

VK7ZA |

VK2AQE |

VK3ADX | VK3WOW

VK3KLE

VK6BEK |

VKSPH |

VKITE/m |

VK2TER

VK3KLE

VK3DBD

VK6NT

VK6JDM

VK2IOW

VK7TA

VK2DLF | VK2TER |

VK5FD

VK2KI_

|VK3WOW

VK3KO
VK3RU

VK2KI

VK3TBR
VK3WOW

VK3BTV | VK3ADX |

VK3XU
VK6TX/4

| Listening

VK5A0
VK5CZ

VKSET
VKSFA
VK5FD

VK3KLE

VK2KI

VK5GG
VKSIP
VKSKFG
VKS5SPH

VK3KLE

VKSPL
VK5/G4RWI

VK7TA

VK6AAV
VK6BEK

VK3KLE |

VK6DV

VK6DEV

VK6IS

VK6GAL

VK6DV

VK6BEK

VK6IS

VK6CK

VK6FN

VK6BWE

VK6GAL

VK6DEV |

VK2KI

VK6HRC
VK6HRC

VK6FN

VK6WE

VK6IS

VK6DEV |

VK2KI

VK6BEK

VK6JDM

VK3KLE | VK3BYD

VK2KI

VK6BEK

VK3BAP

VK6KD

VK6BEK | VK6GAL

K5/G4RWI

VKG6IR

VK6JK
VK6KD

VK6KHZ
VK6KQ
VK6LD
VK6MK/p
VK6MU
VK6NC
VK6NT

VK6BEK

VK6NW
VK6P2T
VK6QI
VK6QI

VK6IS

VK6DEV

VK6TY
VK6XU
VK6WE

VK6FN

VK6YV
VK7WW
VK7KPC

VK2KI

VK7TA

VK7ZA | VK2IOW |

VK2DLF

VK2GAZ

VK7ZA

VK7TA |

VK3DBD

VK2KI

VK3ADX |

|
T

It’s certainly not a competition (quality exchanges or ragchews are more

important than numbers after all), but look at how many stations Claude
and others heard or worked
New

team

last Tuesday... fantastic!

members

This week I'd like you to make welcome another five new operators - Zac
VK6AAS from HMAS Stirling, Wimal VK1IWA from Bonner,

Mike VK6TX/4 from

Hervey Bay, Partick VK2IOW from Millthorpe and Stan ZL3TK from across
the ditch at Horowhenua
Palmerston

North.

(try sending that in CW from your head - HI) near

Welcome to our little team folks, and | hope you enjoy

being with us.
SKCC

Oceania

Slow

Saunter

Oh, and a reminder... somewhat

late - the SKCC Oceania Slow CW Saunter

is on today from 0000z until tomorrow 00002z.... hopefully you already got
the reminder earlier this week from me.

See later in the newsletter for

more from Garry, VK2GAZ.

Reports

& Comments

Here’s this week’s
From

Craig VK3CLD

40m

Net

portable

Bonnie

reports.

Doon:

Listening only (via SDR) - caught in the Victorian storms so pulled the
antennas down.

7.035

VK1WA

and VK2KI

massive QRM
7.035

VK3DBD

calling CQ

7.035

VK2IOW

and VK7TA

7.020

Too much QRM

QRS net
to

correctly identify (VK3EST??)
7.035

VK2IOW

and VK2DLF

7.031

VK3? Gone to the

QSB Gods
7.040

VK1WA

7.035

VK2TER and VK2IOW

and ?

7.030

VK2DLF

7.025

VK3DBD

calling CQ

7.025.85

VK3ADX

and

VK2DLF

and VK7TA

and VK9SE

VK3DPD(?)
7.032

0940 UTC stopped

listening.

Cheerio,

VK3CLD/p
[Thanks Craig - terrific catch this week.
fact worked the VK9;
week.

Bonnie Doon

| wonder whether Georg VK2DLF in

unfortunately | didn’t get a report from Georg this
WX looks like Grey Nomads’ nightmare!]

From James VK2TER

at Terrigal:

Hi Mark,
Three contacts tonight: VK3KLE, VK2KI and VK2IOW.
the first hour of the 40m

| could only operate for

net due to existing commitments.

Will hopefully

be able to operate longer during next weeks net.
Regards
James (VK2TER)
[Thanks James - good stuff. ]
From

Nick VK6DV

at St James:

Hi Mark
Thanks for letting us Know that Shaun and | were coming through to VK2 on
40m.

Nice QSO, though

| had to keep short;

| was using 20 Watts.

Pushed for time again tonight but heard quite a few others on 40m.
Cheers
Nick
VK6DV

And from Shaun VK6BEK in reply:

Hi Nick,

Mark,

Thanks for the QSO

Nick. | heard

your 20w just fine. Sorry about the
keying.
a

| have only recently gone to

paddle and it was moving around

a bit.

It will be nailed down

week.
Regards
Shaun - VK6BEK

[Thanks Nick and Shaun.

From

Phillip VK6DEV

from Shaun

below. ]

at Dalyellup:

Hi Mark,

Not a lot of time available tonight but got a

little in.

2 Contacts
80m

is still not great. | don’t have a

13/2/2024

good
80m antenna at home
Thx

Phillip Jubb

but 40m

1231

VKGGAL

13/2/2024 0941 VKeIS

was great.

Gary

80m

40m

3,563.0

7,081.0

559

579

«599.559

VK6DEV - Bunbury Western Australia
vk6dev@gmail.com...
[Thanks Phillip;
Saturday.

nice to chat on AllStar on your way to PARGFest on

I’m pleased that you’re having some fun on 40 now.

Keep

working on the IC-705 switching for that noise canceller - as you know,
an advocate for improving signals through antenna
transmitted
skywave

10 Watt 80m

improvements,

I’m

but your

signal is fine, once the Near Vertical Incidence

happens after dark;

| can hear you on the Brookton SDR no

problems. ]
Also from

Dalyellup,

My apologies all;

Richard VK6PZT:

| was really looking forward to tonight's QRS, but my

mother in law has arrived from the UK and we had trouble with the elcheapo safe in the guest room;
squealing

it refused to open and was making an odd

noise - not conducive to a good night's sleep.

The backup key

was missing so | had to pick the lock... took me ages but | do confess | did
enjoy the challenge.

| RECKON

A LARGE AXE

HAVE GOT THE JOB DONE A

WOULD

—ChR

LOT FASTER.
I'll be doing some research tonight
in preparation for our International
Morse Code Day Quiz on Zoom. |
sure there will be some instructional

Colle

International

Morse Code DEN
OWT
—

of
2S

08452
April 27", 2024
ae

videos on Polling via Zoom on

YouTube to allow our contestants to
respond.

‘Ya

Richard

[Thanks mate - sorry you missed the fun.

Shaun may have a hammer for

the safe. ]
From

Gary VK6GAL

/ W4GAL

in Melbourne

Florida:

Hi Mark.
This evening,

| worked VK6DEV

and VK2KI on 80 meters via the Southern

Electronics Group Remote at Bedfordale.

-)
Gary
[Thanks Gary - sorry it was a bit quiet when you were on, but great that you
caught Phillip - who was feeling a bit lonely at the late hour | reckon.

80m

conditions to here weren't great either - lots of static crashes from the
thunderstorms coming through here, but the late-night signals weren’t as
good from you as I’ve come to expect from the Remote.
the Remote

| snuck across to

while you were transmitting because | thought you were on low

power - and saw the old problem of the 8Om SWR jumping from 1:1 to
higher that seems to have plagued the Remote for the past many months.
But thanks so much for getting up early to have a go, and | hope for more
luck next time. ]

From

Claude

VKI1TE

at home

and

mobile

at Pearce:

Hi Mark,

A busy one this time!
It seems that 40m

is getting some traction...

| wonder if adding

more bands could incite even more to join the net. How

about including one more band to try out of curiosity...
10m

maybe?

735s
Cheers,
k vkite/vk2cl
[Wow!

| reckon you've taken the cake Claude - that’s one hell of a list of

stations for Tuesday!

Thank you so much for the report... it’s pushed the

number of net stations to a new record high - and I’ve even excluded the
ones calling outside our net frequencies in our count!
Any other thoughts from others on expanding to other bands, or do we just
let the WhatsApp CQ QRS net create on-the-spot nets on the other bands?]
From

Peter

VK3WOW

at Blackburn:

Hi Mark,

| was pleased to take part in the Feb 13 CW QRS net, my first time as an

active participant. My first contact for the night was only my third QSO
forty years, SO as you Can imagine this was both a nerve-wracking

and

exciting experience for me!
| worked

Around

four stations.

0920Z

| worked

Keiran VK3BTV on 7022

learn he was only in Ringwood,

kHz, and was surprised to

a few kilometres from me in Blackburn.

was during that call that a hell of a lot of DX signalling suddenly appeared
all around and behind us. | have no idea what that was all about. Seemed
to be some
Around

kind of event.

0947Z

a somewhat

| worked

Merv VK3ADX

in Ballarat on 7039 kHz, and we had

longer chat, particularly about antenna setups and our

respective
locales.
Around

1016Z

| had a very brief QSO with VK3KLE

on 7039 kHz, and to be

honest | could not copy him very well at all. | think he may have given his
name

as Paul.

Around

1030Z

| had a chat with David VK3DBD

in Yackandandah,

me a 569 against a lot of noise (for him). He suggested
sending would be easier to copy if | reduced
Between

1058Z and 1130Z

who gave

(I think) that my

my spacings between

letter.

| called CQ QRS repeatedly on 3035 kHz, but

got no takers.
All in all, this was an excellent night for me. | certainly didn’t either copy or
send anything

like perfectly throughout (far from it), but I’ve got my toes in

the water now, and | enjoyed that. I’d really like to commend

you, Mark

(and everyone else responsible) for getting this group going in the first
place, and then nurturing it so lovingly. I’ve certainly been one beneficiary
of that now.
With

best wishes,

Peter Dann
VK3WOW

[Hi Peter.

Congratulations on taking the step - it’s all downhill from here!

Claude

VKITE heard your QSO with Keiran and | noticed that you were on

7022 - a bit below our net band (although from next week,

we’ll expand the

band a bit to give us a bit more wriggle room - especially those with wider
receivers);

this may have explained the mass of DX signals around you.

Phillio VK6DEV and | both noticed
the mass of signals around 7025 +/that, over the next hour or so moved
up the band and into our little
sandpit.

Phillip described the

waterfall display on his IC-705 as
looking like a school of fish!

thought it was some sort of
frequency-hopping transmission that
had intruded the band, but when |
listened to a few of

the individual transmissions carefully, | realised it was actually a mass of
stations on CW, all on slightly different frequencies (1 heard JAs).

/t turns

out that there was a Ugandan station in the DX segment calling CQ and
operating split-frequency - listening up higher, where we were.

Amazing to

watch on both the Tecsun and VK6QS SDR waterfall displays!
You were getting out on 80m ok from your in-ceiling antenna by the way;
Claude

VKITE heard you on the Tecsun SDR at Araluen NSW.

So thank you for your terrific report again Peter;

welcome and

congratulations once again for taking the step.]
From

Garry VK2GAZ

Good

morning

at Hobartville:

Mark VK2KI,

A little stormy near my QTH

however | came on around 09:40 UTC and

could hear George VK2DLF

and lan VK7TA having a QSO.

At 09:45

| made

exchanged

contact with

lan VK7TA

( alias VK2TTT

) on 7.032

and

RST of 589 & 559.

After calling CQ on 7.037 George VK2DLF

came

back to me at 09:54. We

are only 20 or so kilometres apart so our RSTs are always 599.
| also got a call from what | think
was a VK3 station, however | could
not make out his call correctly. We
made several attempts at making
the contact but to no avail. | think
the other station could hear me far
better than | could hear, so | copied
"OK tks for trying
That was

73"

all | had time for but all

very interesting just the same.
Thank you Mark for calling us
together on Tuesday nights. Best
regards,
Garry
VK2GAZ.

[Thanks for the nicely written report Garry;
From

Brendan

VK3BAP

glad you had some fun.]

at Truganina:

Hi Mark,
It was a quick QRS for me last night as the XYL, 2 harmonics and | had a
few off-air things to attend to.
As you're well aware, | had a FB QSO with you before going QRT for the
evening. Thanks for the info re my signal into the WA SDR.
Static, it looks like we had some
seems that 40M

Despite the

nice propagation again last night and it

has been pretty good recently.

We had some serious winds and electrical storms in parts of VK3 during
Tuesday so | had my dipole disconnected
connected

most of the day and | only

it briefly to call CQ. Hopefully the other VK3s were unaffected

the weather but if numbers were down, that might have been the reason.
Cheers,
Brendan

VK3BAP.

[Thanks for your nice report Brendan.
team

were impacted by the storms.]

From

Donald

VK6JDM

Fingers crossed that none of our

at Dalyup:

Dear Mark,
| listened at 1000 UTC but the QRN was drowning

all signals.

At 11.30 heard VK3KLE calling CQ on
3544,

but that station

could

not hear

me.
Then

heard

VK1

and

VK3BY

at 11.40

and

VK2KI

in a QSO
a QSO

witha

between

on 3555

At 11.50 UTC had a brief QSO with
VK6BEK (Shaun) and managed
exchange

names

but QSB made the

contact at times difficult. | have
often heard VK6BEK but not
managed
Shaun

to have a QSO.

has a lot of QRM

| gather he
at his QTH.

am fortunate to have almost no
QRM.
Nothing was heard of VK6KRC

(Bob)

but

| am

sure

he was

out there!

73,
Donald

Howarth

[Great to have you back on the net Donald - nice report.
operational on 40m as well?
From

Lance

VK7ZA

Are you

I’ve forgotten.]

at Margate:

4 QSOs

last night in the short window

VK3ADX,

VK3DBD

and VK2KI

before dinner time.

| worked VK7TA,

last night.

[Thanks Lance - terrific to work you again - I'm glad you found an
opportunity to get on at that time this week.]
From

our Padbury

40m

Report

monitoring

station - Richard VK6HRC:

Hi Mark

| was only on for a short while last night, tuned around and heard Max
VK6FN

chatting with Daniel VK6WE

recommended
worked

40m

then headed to the upper end of our

slot and started calling CQ.

before it was time to head off, maybe

Wednesday
| jumped

Morning

Post Morseum

on the Post Morseum

morning

- SouthWest AllStar net

net via VK6RLM

at 06:00 WA local time on Wednesday.

Unfortunately no stations
better next week.

repeater and the AllStar link

There were five people on this

including myself:

VK6QI Mark
VK6FN Max
VK6KD/m David
GARWI Nigel
VK6HRC
| was already in the shack but got distracted trying to sort out an ailing
computer!
Just as well you gave a call to remind me Mark and after that we kept the
repeater busy until it was time to hand it over to the 07:00 crew.
One of the topics of this morning's net was how our much
experienced

operators passed the original 10 wpm

test to get licensed and

then not using CW for quite a while before taking it up again plus the
reasons why.
Looking forward to the next net, thanks to all
73 Richard.
[Thank you for the fine reports Richard.

What a pity that you didn’t catch

anyone on 40m, and that you had to depart early;
mate.

better luck next time

Thanks very much for sharing the load by conducting the net on

Wednesdays,

and it was great to have Nigel join us from the beautiful

Fleurieu Peninsula, SE of Adelaide....

via a remote-access node near London

- amazing.]
From

Shaun

VK6BEK

at Quinns

Rocks:

Hi Mark,

| managed

to get home a bit earlier than expected and had the following

contacts:

Paul - VK3KLE

on 40m

Nick - VK6DV on 40m
Lin - VK6NT on 80m
Donald - VK6JDM

on 80m

Peter - VK6IS on 80m
My adventures with using a paddle
continue.

Apologies to the above

hams for the odd mystery
character.

Shaun VK6BEK
will try and lock the paddle down

next week.

Regards
Shaun - VK6BEK
From

me, VK2KI

Zepp

antenna

at Bowning

from

home

using

and

my TS-50 and

Double-Extended

also using the Tecsun

SDR at Araluen

NSW:
40m

Prelude

Last Tuesday started well for me.

Even before the net started | was really

pleased to hook up with Wimal VK1WA
from Bonner;

(previously 4S7WI

and VK1MWI)

Wimal joined us after working Jordan VK3ACU

the previous Tuesday.

at Meredith on

We then did an experiment by zipping down to 80m

(I use the term loosely... | have a manual
requires a bit of tuning of course).

antenna

matching

unit which

Wimal was RST 599 with QSB from his

trapped inverted-Vee dipole and reported my signal as 579 on 40m;
80m

at 0800z, he was S9 + 20dB with no QSB, and gave me RST 599 in

return.
Interesting to look at the attached

ionospheric prediction chart and

consider the effect of the dropping Absorption
decreasing

ionisation of the

eau

Date:

F-layer, on the assumption that the

2024

ue a

sat

NSW

latitude:

Bonner

ACT

Latitude:

name:

SWS GRAFEX

HF FREQUENCY

-34.82
-35.16

Longitude:

148.78

Longitude:

149.14

40m

PREDICTIONS

NSWBonner

ACT

Date:

Bowning

Bearings:

139

319

8.3

3.8

3.5

AFFFF%%

Q@4

8.4

3.7

3.4

FFFFF%%

7.8

2.9

2.8

7.9

8.5

6.8

FFFFFFFS..

13°«7.2

«8.5

8.8

FFFFFFF%.

5.8

@.5

@.@

FFFFFRS.

4.5

8.5

8.8

FFFF%S

2207.4

3.2

3.1

Distance:

February,
58

2824

T-index:

AFFEPA
FFT.

was
.

caused

either

the

of the Near-vertical

incidence skywave and ground wave

151

#85 ha 2s
06 7.8.33 31

QSB

combination

Circuit:

Layer Frequency and

(over the 50km path); the E-layer

AFFFFS%..

=
06

skywave path at that time. My low
(ie high take-off angle) 80m double-

extended Zepp antenna

89 2.2 8.5 0.0 FFrrFrrre.

may have

12 72 05. 0.8 FFFFFFFS.

made a difference, but | would have

eed 6 st a

‘s

expected the 80m end-fire nulls to

be North-South

- ie pointing toward

Canberra;

who

knows

that the

radiation

pattern

from

It would

FFFFS..
7

22
ere

aia wear.

|S SECOND HODES ONLY

(c}

13-Feb-2024

BoM

Space

teaetewes|

(CWE EMUE

ALP

fn eee

{A HIGH ABSORPTION

Weather

eae feowe |

Services,

Sydney

40m.... but I'd expect some form of

|X COMPLEX MODES

Australia

multiple

+61-2-9213-8008

clover-leaf?

Thanks

for the

test Wimal - very interesting.
When

| returned to 40m,

VK2IOW

| heard lan VK7TA at Latrobe chatting to Pat

up at Millthorpe (welcome

Patrick) via the Tecsun SDR at Araluen

NSW, while James VK2TER at Terrigal and | had a QSO through the QSB.
Pat went on to chat to Georg VK2DLF

at St Marys, while Paul VK3KLE called

CQ with his characteristic tiny warm-up drift from his Drake TR3.
| went on to chat with Lance VK7ZA
at Margate through the increasing
static crashes and QSB from his 10
Watts.

Then followed a QSO with

Peter VK7KPC who was a solid RST
599, despite his 5 Watts;

quite

amazing what a difference the
distance from Northern to Southern
Tasmania

(or the N-S orientation of

Lance’s end-fed half wave antenna)
made.

VK7ZA

Next up | heard Georg chatting to lan before | hooked
VK3BAP at Truganina;

Shack

up with Brendan

Brendan’s Rybskov vertical / inverted L was doing a

Superb job at RST 599 to me, and he was also putting a good early signal
into the VK6QS

SDR at Brookton;

see Brendan’s article on this surprising

antenna

Meanwhile,

hooked

below.

Georg

up with Garry VK2GAZ

over at

Hobartville out West of Sydney, and it was nice for me to chat to our new
team

member,

David VK3RU

at Burwood for the first time.

| then caught up with Claude VK1TE/m;

looking at his log report above,

surprised he had time to work anyone - wow!
David VK3DBD

I’m

In parallel | heard George

VK2AOE

at Kogarah working

hooked

up with Keiran VK3BTV at North Ringwood.

at Yakandandah

before |

Keiran’s signal wasn’t

as strong as normal (RST 479) but the QSB was amazingly sharp and deep;
| was convinced that it was VK3BT who called me - the V completely
disappeared on his first call.

After than, Paul VK2IK at Moss Vale hooked

with Claude, and just after 1100z,

| noticed some of the VK6s starting to

come through into VK2 at last before moving down to 80m;

Shaun VK6BEK

at Quinns Rocks was chatting to Nick VK6DV at St James.
So from this side of the country | heard
Known

and unknown

18 stations on 40m,

plus our usual

listeners.

80m

When

| slid over to 80m,

VK5FD

| heard Paul VK3KLE at Stawell chatting with Allen

Blakeview, and | hooked
|

VK3BY

oer

Warren VK3BYD

Aide
A ctl he catdial ceil

cat yee

feet e
lee

—

up with

at Wangaratta...

after initially getting his name wrong
(which was funny, because

worked Warren

I’ve

many times

portable, and in fact, | had his QSL
card sitting on my shack table, right
in front of me.... must have been
getting tired).

Next up | worked

Mister Reliable, Peter VKO6IS at
Wundowie through the
QSB and the increasing static crashes from the line of thunderstorms that
were coming through.
| then hooked

up with Paul followed

by Brendan VK3BAP - however, we
lost each-other in the QSB -

al! Boost >

storms that forced Brendan off air all

(@ Strikes

of a sudden.

Instead | had a chat

with Allen who is one of the longerterm members

of the team - and has

Ca46%8)

10:35 pm

hopefully it wasn’t the Victorian

mo
2.65

Detectors
@) Sound

Era

been a regular for the past couple of
years;

long service awards

perhaps??

| then chatted to Paul

VK2IK at Moss Vale whose

FT-710

and 32m doublet up 15m was
putting solid nice signal into the
VK6QS

SDR at Brookton.... about

one S-point stronger than my 100+
metre long double-extended Zepp
up 7m.

To round out the evening | had a
chat to Gary VK6GAL
Melbourne....

located in

Quick Links

Florida, who was

operating the Southern

Electronics

Group VK6SR Remote at Bedfordale;
the static crashes and QSB were

Important Advices
Disclaimer
A worldwide, real-time, community collaborative lightning location
network. © 2003-2024 Blitzortung.org Contributors
@ blitzortung.org

taking their toll (Gary was RST 259
to me, whereas

| was 559 to him (the Remote

has a superbly low noise

floor), and | resorted to using the Brookton SDR to copy.
the antenna with the passing thunderstorms,

After grounding

| heard David VK6KD

calling

CQ via the Tecsun SDR at Araluen, but couldn’t respond of course.
10 stations plus listeners heard or worked on 80m all up for me here in
NSW this week;

thank you all.

Also

VK6QI

from

Remote

via the

at Bedfordale

and

VK6QS

SDR

the VK6CRO

at Brookton,
Remote

the

VK6SR

at Carnarvon:

From the West | heard six stations
using the VK6QS
this week;

SDR at Brookton

again, | just didn’t have

time to get on the VK6SR

Remote

and transmit from VK6.
First up | heard Peter VK6IS cat
Wundowie
VK6DEV

chatting to Phillip

at Dalyellup on 40m.

| heard David VK6KD
Ms Elizabeth’s Morsle rescue delivery

80m

Later

at Ballajura on

and Shaun VK6BEK at Quinns

Rocks, but also noticed Lin VK6NT
listening in on the SDR.
Finally, | noticed Gary VK6GAL come
up on 3563 for his morning

(his

time)

him

stretch,

chatting to Phillip.

Having

not had much opportunity to

listen in to the SDR, I’m looking

and

heard

forward to reading the reports from
WA this week.

CQ QRS

Traffic from the CQ QRS
In addition to the CQ QRS WhatsApp
members

Group.

group being used to Spot team

and other QRS opportunities both during and outside the Tuesday

net, it’s become
projects.

Feed

a favourite chat area for all sorts of topics and shared

This week,

I’ve run out of time to Summarise any, except for the

discussion about the collapse of high tension power pylons - which I’ve
moved

to the Other Topics of Interest.

re
ia
oy
e
<
x
hee

fe)

ES
®

See

few

\ “J

s&s
-

Lots of good discussions about noise cancellers, AllStar nodes and various
projects on the go.

Please let me know if you'd like to be in the WhatsApp

group - I'd really like all of our net participants to join in the fun
mark.bosma@icloud.com
And by the way, I’m still looking for a volunteer or two to help copy/paste or
Summarise the WhatsApp feed and photos to a file, for me to import into
the RagChew

newsletter each week.

Please let me know if you'd like to

help.

Other
Other things
Basic CW

I’ve received

News
from

our 135-odd

readers.

Protocols

More suggestions from Peter VK6IS on what prosigns to learn:
e

PSE QRS = Slow Down

e AGN

PSE = Send Callsign Again

e WX to signify that you wish to talk about today's weather
e

RIG to signify that you wish to talk about your station

e end your over with a K & when completed
e check fcy clear with ?
e

(response R

UP 5 or DN 5 tf someone

a contact use K dot dot

(ie not clear - please QRX)

calls on someone

else’s fcy

e SK if you’re clear of the fcy
[Thanks Peter.

Also,

at the end of the newsletter,

there’s always a link to

the hints page where you'll find the basic prosigns and conventions listed. ]
From

Phillip VK6DEV

at Dalyellup on growth

of our net:

On the question of whether or not a bigger net is better for new comers most people would say the more the merrier, but would a bigger net scare
newcomers

away?

| do like the 40m
me in Summer,

| don’t know;
Prelude though.

and like many

good antenna for 80.

time will tell | guess.
80m

propagation comes

people on suburban

in too late for

blocks, | don't have a

| note your comments
would

about not owning the frequency on our net, but |

have expected a seasoned CW OP to listen first and not reply to a

station repeating his call for me.

| know these things happen

unintentionally on our net, but it was the last straw after it had also
happened just 10 minutes before.
Phillip Jubb
VK6DEV - Bunbury Western Australia
vk6dev@gmail.com
[Thanks for your thoughts Phillip - | very much appreciate that you’ve taken
the time to comment.

A busy busy net where newcomers may be scared

off by the number of stations on one hand, and the frustration of a quiet
band where people call and call and call, but no-one responds to them on
the other.

Glad you like the Prelude - it’s certainly popular over this side of

the island.
On the protocols - yes, it’s also a dilemma.

Do we try to put in guidelines

encouraging the disciplines you’d expect on amateur bands in Australia,
again at the risk of scaring the newcomers (and perhaps making things less
relaxed and friendly), or do we leave our net as the training sandpit as
originally intended?

There are those who say we should apply the protocols

up front so we all learn the correct ways from the get-go, and others say,
don’t create un-necessary barriers to entry - let people learn at their own
pace.

In the same

way, there are those who believe that the only way to

learn is to become proficient at 15 to 20wpm
air;

on receive before getting on

others believe we should let everyone have a go at whatever speed

they can, and then learn at their own pace.
Thanks for your thoughts Phillip.

I’m interested in team comments on this

and any other aspect of our net that we could improve.]
SKCC

Oceania

QRS

Straight Key Century Club

Saunter

SKCC

The SKCC Oceania QRS Saunter will

OoQas

take place this Saturday,

ee
ee nent.

eae

aturday,

17th

February,

17th

February, 2024 from 00:00 UTC until
i

11:59 UTC the new 12 hour event.
.

All are welcome to join in!!
All the details for the Oceania QRS Saunter (OQS) can be viewed on the
SKCC website at: httos://www.skccgroup.com/operating_activities/oqs/
Please make use of the SKCC Sked Page and the CW Club RBN Spotter.
https://sked.skccgroup.com/
httos://ron.telegraphy.de/
| look forward to contacting you during the event.
Best regards
Garry
VK2GAZ/VK2ZP
#5460C
Manager - SKCC Oceania QRS Saunter

QRS

Team

| mentioned

Wins

at PARGFest

in the last few RagChews that the Peel Amateur Radio Group’s

PARGFest was on last weekend.
team

| know that quite a few of our CQ QRS

braved the 44 degree heat and headed down there on the Saturday

for a look-see.
| gave a 20 minute presentation
about the CQ QRS net via Zoom

- we

had some technical problems with
Zoom

(doing PowerPoint things I’ve

done many times before with PARG looks like software updates have
taken their toll - including stopping
my Mac from working with Zoom,
and causing us problems running
full-screen presentations!), but
luckily our very own

Martin VK6M}

was on-hand to spend the 90
minutes before-hand sorting the
problems out;

thanks Martin!

But it seems that the CQ QRS team
also had a bit of luck with the annual
major PARG

raffle;

at least three of

the 10 prizes went to CQ QRS
members
From

- woo hoo!

David VK3DBD

at Yakandandah

(just try sending

that from

your head!):
| missed out last week for reasons! cannot remember
helping others to improve their Code in every way.
increased to almost unimaginable
managing

a such slow

now. But | enjoy
Now the net has

proportions and some are still only

transmissions which, if the character

spacing

(within each letter) is not closed up makes for hard reading.
around this evening

(Feb 13th) mainly on 40m

as it seems,

Hope to be
in general a

better band and easier for many to have a good dipole, which frankly takes
a lot of beating - “simplicity is the essence of reliability".
lam wondering

due to the progress of some to higher speeds,

if there

might be a way to split the group Into say two or more sections? | still
Stress that the quick way to improve your speed

Is to listen to Morse In

excess of your comfort level even if only for a few minutes, copying as
much

as you can.

You will then learn to ignore the stuff you miss and not

spend time thinking about it thus missing even more. The voice of
experience......

CU on the Wireless .

73 David
VK3DBD

[Thanks David.

Interesting thought on splitting the net;

the other side of

the coin Is that because the net Is growing, listeners will probably have a
variety of listening options soeed-wise.

And of course,

with out terrific CQ

QRS WhatApp Group, our team is regularly posting notifications looking for
QSOs outside of the net - some of which are faster than QRS - which give
the opportunity for listeners to tune in (from home or via one of the many
KiwiSDRs around Australia, including the Limestone Ridge one belonging to

net member Paul VK5PH.
Which

Any thoughts from other members?]

one?

| received

an email from

Mitch VK3ZT

after the last newsletter went

out:

Dear Mark,
| have been receiving your emails for a little while and will be a new chum
to CW. | am curious could a poll be taken to see what equipment members
are using as | am in the market for a radio and am undecided between a
FT-991A,

FTdx10,

Any thoughts?

IC-7300 or just stay with my FT-897D.

Warm

regards,

Mitch VK3ZT
Well, | responded to Mitch as follows:
Hi Mitch.
Yes, I'll put your question in the next newsletter - let’s see what replies we
get.
I’m not certain you'll get definitive answers thought - not too many people
will have or have had several of the transceivers allowing a side-by-side
comparison.
them,

They might be able to tell you what they like and dislike about

but not necessarily in a way that allows you to compare.

Alternatives:
e

Do a Google search “Compare

FT-991A vs FTdx10” etc - you may find

written articles and perhaps YouTube videos with side-by-side
comparisons.
e

Find other amateurs

nearby who will let you come and have an actual

play with each piece.
Seems that the 897 is a pretty good bit of kit - covering HF through to
UHF... but of course, it doesn't have the waterfall display like the 991A;
and of course, the FTdx10 and IC-7300 are both HF only - depending

your interest and future aspirations for
VHF & UHF.

What you don’t know

with the options is how well the
waterfall display works - is it big
enough,

is the resolution good

enough to be useful, is the dynamic
range adequate etc.

Hence the

thought about actually looking at
friends’ rigs, and looking for internet
tests - especially YouTube where
you can see how fiddly the functions
are you use.
By the way, how did the loan of the MFJ-1026 noise canceller go?
actually work on 80m?

kit or the Chinese knock-off copy one?
articles | wrote about them in RagChew?

Did you see the three or four
The MF]J-1026 | bought from an

Estate still doesn’t work adequately on 80m,
one does;

Did it

Did you end up buying one, or perhaps the VK5TM

whereas the cheap Chinese

I’ve checked the FETs and transistors, and done some signal

tracing, but no luck so far;

each stage seems to have the right amount of

gain, but the phase cancellation doesn’t seem to want to work.

I'll try with

a sig gen next using either a dual trace oscilloscope (allowing the phase
shift to be tested) or my spectrum analyser.

I’m still looking for someone
80m,

who has an MF/-1026 that they know works on

to take mine and do a comparison test;

borrow one to do the side-by side test.

or alternatively, for me to

Hopefully something will turn up.

Cheers and | hope to hear you on one of these days Mitch.
Well Mitch took my suggestions and responded

as follows:

Dear Mark,
Thank you for your thoughtful

reply.

| apologise for taking so long to reply,

as we only had power resupplied this morning.
| did borrow an MFJ-1026 from a friend and experienced excellent results on
the 10-metre band where | am using a CB 1/2 wave vertical as a sense
antenna.

As for other bands, | took down

my 80-metre band end-fed as |

was receiving poor results from the nets that | was trying to communicate
with.
The friend from whom

| borrowed the 1026 informed

have a sense antenna

in the same

me it was critical to

polarisation as the antenna that you

wish to cancel noise from, and | do not have this capability for any other
band than 10 and 6 metres.

With the reinstallation of the 80-metre end-fed

| am hoping of having a good
this will work with your CW

North South line of propagation and hopefully

RagChew

net.

| am

located in South Gippsland

Victoria and only have a few radio friends around but surprisingly | received
some feedback about my radio question.
| did eventually purchase an MFJ-1026 from Amazon,
Ham

had none in stock.

metres.

as Ross from Strictly

The only band | have tried so far is 10 and 6

Alas, my FT-897D

is in the shop for repairs, and | have been

waiting four weeks for its return, though

| am told another week and a half

to go.
| have gone through a lot of YouTube videos on the radios | mentioned,

and

the desire for FT-991A was to use the radio’s two-metre capabilities for an
SSB net which appears to have died down

here on the Bass Coast.

One of

the YouTube videos stated that unless you have high-gain antennas, you
are possibly better suited for the FT-991A, though
waterfall display.
premium,

Also, as we have downsized,

not impressed

by its

desk space is at a

and fitting the FTdx10 and any other radios in the Radio

Computer room will be difficult, though
all my requirements, though
modern

| am

our home,

not impossible.

The FT-897D does

| have been taken by the eye-candy of the

radios as | await the return of the FT-897D.

Also, the one CAT

output is used for the FC-30 antenna tuner on the 897D, which | use for the
changeover relay in the 1026, and | do not want to be pulling the CAT cable
in out to change

bands to use the tuner.

My dear wife has given me

permission to purchase another radio, and time will tell.
| hope | have covered everything

in my reply.

One last thing | have been informed of in my email question to a few hams
here on the Bass Coast is that the IC-7300 is easier to drive yet the FT-10D
has a slightly better noise reduction.
This is all for now;
Mitch
VK3ZT

warm

regards,

[Thanks Mitch - terrific reading, and | hope you get your FT-897 back soon
and we hear you on the net before too long.

Any others’ thoughts on the

transceiver comparison, and availability of the MFJ-1026 test?]
From

Patrick VK2IOW

at Millthorpe:

Thanks for your email Mark,
Yesterday was the first time | tried the QRS net.
George (VK2DLF).

| heard about it from

| heard you during the net chatting to a VK1 station.

Good on you for encouraging

more people to use CW.

Yes, you can add me

to the email list and WhatsApp.
73
Patrick
VK2IOW

[Thanks Patrick.

Great to hear you on Tuesday

- thanks for seeking out the

net... and again, a huge vote of thanks to Georg VK2DLF for yet another
successful referral to our little get-together. ]
High tension

power

pylon collapse

Discussion on our CQ QRS WhatsApp group:
[7:12

am,

14/02/2024] Jordan

VK3ACU

Clarke:

| missed

the QRS

last night

wild weather around
[7:13 am, 14/02/2024] Jordan
VK3ACU

Clarke: Even saw some

power line towers ripped out of the
ground on the way home from work!
[7:13 am, 14/02/2024]

Mark VK2KI

Bosma: What a pity you missed it
Jordan - t'was a good night.
[7:14 am, 14/02/2024] Jordan
VK3ACU

[7:17 am,

Clarke: Many VK3 around?

14/02/2024]

Mark VK2KI

Bosma:

[7:15 am, 14/02/2024]

Mark VK2KI

Bosma: Why are the pylon collapses

happening

suddenly | wonder?

| heard

six VK3s.

Recently it's happened

not infrequently....

yet never before!
[7:16 am, 14/02/2024] Jordan VK3ACU

Clarke: | guess they are using the

Same cement to hold the towers down as they are to build our roads
[7:19 am, 14/02/2024] Jordan VK3ACU
everywhere.

Clarke: Power lines down

| had sparks coming off the coax with one side grounded

lots

of static in the air last night. Had a quick listen on a local SDR but it was
silent maybe they disconnected. The few | use in Melbourne also
disappeared off the map. Also the link system was down. So quite a bit of
damage

around

[7:20 am, 14/02/2024] Jordan VK3ACU

Clarke: Not sure why the lightning

always falls on Tuesday lately.
[8:43 am, 14/02/2024]

Nigel G4RWI

Spear:

Morning all. What is the AllStar

Bosma:

51077;

node number you guys use?
[8:44 am, 14/02/2024]

Mark VK2KI

Richard will be on in

about 15 minutes for the Post Morseum

- will we see you there Nigel?

[8:45 am, 14/02/2024]

Nigel G4RWI

[8:46 am, 14/02/2024]

Mark VK2KI Bosma:

Spear:

[8:47 am, 14/02/2024] Jordan VK3ACU

I'll do my best!
Or Echolink to VK6RMH.

Clarke: What are you guys using for

an All-Star node? | spent quite a while setting up a radio-less Rpi (to turn in
to RF) once | knew it worked well but having some
[8:54 am, 14/02/2024]

Nigel G4RWI

Spear:

issues.

Im using a radio less node

running on a virtual debian server in the cloud (actually a server
somewhere

near London on Vultr)

[8:56 am, 14/02/2024]
Richard VK6HRC
8:30am

Mark VK2KI Bosma: The Post-Morseum

every Wednesday at 6am WA time;

9am

net is run by

in the East and

in between.

[4:34 pm, 15/02/2024]

Mark VK2KI Bosma:

Hi Jordan. I'm using a Raspberry

Pi which drives my shack 70cm transceiver as a hotspot. I'm also having
some

problems lately (flakey audio and CM-108

interface that stop for no

apparent reason occasionally - but | have an expert on tap in WA who's
built many for the South West AllStar network.
[9:30 am, 14/02/2024]

lan VK1HF

K: Crazy...my mum

was telling me about

the pylon failures as | am ex VK3. Any ideas on why they failed..so many of
them? They have been up for like 35 years or so...I'm thinking metal fatigue
and domino effect..?
[9:58 am, 14/02/2024] Jordan VK3ACU

Clarke: Apparently it's caused

by a

convective downdraft
[9:58 am, 14/02/2024] Jordan VK3ACU

Clarke: But | don't know a lot about

it
[10:01

am,

14/02/2024]

lan VK1HF

K: We've

had those

many

past 35 years...but now, they fail...and not just one..many..!
[10:12 am,

14/02/2024]

Peter VK3WOW

times

over the

.. interesting

Dann: Are these things susceptible

to rust at all?
[10:21 am,

14/02/2024]

Dylan VK3AE

Cator: Doubt it - they’re normally hot-

dip galvanised
[10:22

am,

14/02/2024]

lan VK1HF

K: Seems

nothing

will not be reclaimed

by the earth without continuing maintenance and inspections. | suspect
there will be a big project quickly stood up to inspect each of them,

root

cause analysis and a repair/replacement project. | recalled reading an
article that the aluminium smelter at Portland was not so cost viable these
days...they may just decommission

it all if costs are to great to fix.

[10:24

am,

14/02/2024]

lan VK1HF

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.smh.com.au/business/companies/thisthing-is-in-trouble-future-of-alcoa-s-energy-hungry-smelter-looks-bleak20191017-p531nr.html
[10:24

am,

14/02/2024]

lan VK1HF

Not sure if it's still valid. Anyways..

K: That's what

| read

a ways

enough

of this subject!!

Bosma:

Welcome

back

now.

But negative

tbh.
[1:54

pm,

14/02/2024]

at Millthorpe.

Mark VK2KI

Patrick hooked

to Patrick VK2IOW

up with both lan VK7TA and Georg VK2DLF

last night.
From our retired metallurgist Nigel VK6NI at Denmark (who apparently is
still searching for his old Morse Key):
Hi Mark. Yup, saw those photos as well and do have some thoughts ©.
Keep in mind all of these powerlines were probably built in the 60’s and
70’s and they are getting on for over 50 years old. The engineering
standards at the time probably were not as sophisticated and did not
account for events such as we now seem to be getting on a regular basis. It
is unlikely that poor materials (but not impossible) or skimping on
engineering (as was understood at the time) is a cause. The photo | saw
showed two towers side by side toppled which tends to rule out

deterioration or fatigue failures, more likely extreme
would

local overloading.

be interesting to know the original design life of these powerlines,

might well have been 50 years!
Galvanising

is not a cure all for corrosion protection. It is not particularly

good in maritime environments and as it is a sacrificial coating it will
eventually wear out. Loss of zinc can be accelerated

by stray currents,

abrasion, acid rain, etc. As to the towers with all over rusted steel this is
likely to be Corten Weathering steel,
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weathering
steel. | saw extensive use of it
in Tasmania for their inland power lines. Its use is limited to places where
conditions are favourable for the patina to develop - wetting followed by
drying, low humidity, etc. The Australian interior is ideal for the use of this
type of steel.

Changing the subject, | did have a

listen to the CW net last week and
am currently setting up fidigi so that
| can send CW. | am not going to
attempt to hand send! Listening to

the net made me very aware of just
how rusty my CW
Cheers,

Hundreds of Victorian
transmission towers are

rusty and at risk of damage
By Josh Gordon, Kieran Rooney and Broede Carmody

is.

Nigel

Almost one-in-seven of Victoria’s 13,000
electricity transmission towers are

[7:29 am,

16/02/2024]

Peter

VK3WOW

Dann:

out

Turns

rust

damaged by patchy or extensive rust,
may

be an issue after all.

with experts warning the state’s ageing
network remains increasingly vulnerable
to extreme

weather.

And and update from Nigel:
You have probably seen this:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-15/weather-power-lines-electricityfall-over-explainer/103471752?
utm_campaign=abc
news web&utm_ content=link&utm_ medium=content_
shared&utm_source=abc_
news web
Blame is on old design standards!
Cheers,

Nigel

[Thanks all - Nigel in particular for the sage comments....
e

weathering steel is an interesting thing in terms of public concern
about whether or not responsible organisations are keeping an eye on
corrosion in high risk structures

/ wonder why down-draft type failures are happening now, but not in
the past?

Interesting discussion.]
RagChew

International?

| forwarded the last RagChew to a couple of New Zealand CW operators this
week.
I'd used the quote from Charles
Dickens “Please sir | want some
more” when

referring to my wish to

expand our net into New Zealand,
which appealed to Stan ZL3TK down

at Horowhenua
North.

near Palmerston

He responded with the

slightly modified George Cruikshank
artwork image at the left, and said:
“Your use of a Charles Dickens
character-quote is a bit of a
masterstroke!

It introduces a depth

of relational symbolism
commitment

in terms of

rarely seen in the

amateur radio environment.
all CW

If only

newbies

Please sir, I want some more ...

were like Oliver Twist!

Hehehehe,

it's no great mystery in this altered

context who 'The Master’ represents!

My imagination is running out of

control, but do ya reckon Oliver Twist could be recast five years after
leaving the workhouse,

as the first holder of England call sign 1OT,

before

country codes were introduced?”
Stan is a keen SKCC operator who | had met in a previous SKCC Oceania
Slow CW Saunter - (reminder - the QRS
weekend!).

Saunter

is on again this

He has run several CW training activities and nets over the

years, but feels that the interest in CW

has bottomed-out in NZ.

Notwithstanding Stan’s advice about the lack of interest in CW
Isles, I'm still very keen to see if we can dredge up some
ZL stations joining our team

regularly;

in the Shaky

interest and have

after all, wno would

get three dozen stations on CW every Tuesday over here?

believe that we
Stan has

forwarded the RagChew to a few in NZ who might be interested.
A check of the ionospheric prediction indicates that 40m
from the Eastern

States to New

WA before we move to 80m,

Zealand

should be open

from the start of our net, and from

buy which time 80m

might be viable;

fingers

crossed.

However,

if any of our team

know any ZLs who might be induced to have a

go in our CQ QRS Slow CW practice QSO

nets on Tuesdays,

please forward

the newsletter and see if they’re interested at least in receiving the
RagChew

each week for a

start.

Facebook

As you may have read, Georg VK2DLF
encouraging

has been very successful in

operators to join our Tuesday arvo / evening

tricks has been to re-publish the RagChew

net.

each week - and we've had a remarkable uptake as a result.
despite his philanthropic nature and doctrine of making
to everyone,

One of his

on the Facebook Slow CW

page

However,

Facebook available

Mark Zuckerberg’s organisation has decreed that Georg’s

posts breach Facebook’s rules, and his posts have been removed.

Thanks

for your continuing work to promote our net Georg - your efforts are very
much

appreciated.

This Week’s
The

Topic of Interest
Rybakov Antenna

Brendan

Your note in last week’s RagChew

VK3BAP

about the Rybakov antenna was Indeed

correct.
It's a non-resonant random wire
vertical connected to a 4:1 un-un
with radials, the more the merrier.
The un-un is exactly as per the
design in the GOKYA article, built
onto a [200-2 toroid;

probably good

for 50-100W

but | only need it to

nandle LOW.

As with all random

wires, the length isn’t actually
random

and Is chosen so that it’s

non-resonant on any band It’s to be
used on.
The antenna

requires the use of a

tuner, although

it may present a

SWR of 2:1 or lower on some of the
higher frequencies.
There are many variations but the
main ones are:

40M thru 6M using a 7.6M radiator and as many radials as possible of
around the same

length, however the length of these Isn't critical.

80M thru 6M using a 16M
possible but many

radiator and as many ground

radials as

people will use a couple of 1OM ground

radials with

good results. Due to the length of the radiator, this is usually deployed
as an inverted L. This is the version I’m using.
| already have a dipole for 40M

but | don’t really have room for one for 80M,

plus the low height would probably reduce its effectiveness.

However,

I'd

like to have the option of 80M and having a vertical that also does 40M Should give me a different take-off angle to the current dipole. Multi-band
Capability is another plus but as a Foundation

licensee who doesn’t spend

much time higher than 7MHz, that’s a bonus but not a must-have.
This isn’t the most efficient antenna, something
considering that I’m limited to LOW;

I’m well aware of,

however | only plan to use it for CW

and possibly digital modes, so it’s not a bad compromise for someone with
limited space.
I’m currently using mine with a 9M
squid pole and a 16M

radiator, so

the first half is vertical and then It
runs horizontal to one of the hockeystick masts at the end of my dipole.
The photo shows the squid pole
(Sans antenna)

in situ with the

dipole beside it. The hockey stick at
the far end of the dipole is where |
run the horizontal component of the
Rybakov's radiator.

Note the 6ft metal fence.

Frankly

| was surprised by my RST to you
but | suspect it's not all down to the
antenna

but a quirk of where It's

located at my QTH.

I'm guessing the

metal fence Is reflecting some of my
Signal in your
direction. Those 2 fence sides face north and east and that's pretty close to
the direction your QTH would be from mine. Who

Knows,

RF Is mysterious...

| lay out 8 x 5M radials and 2 x 10M
radials. It’s temporary so | only erect
it when

| plan to use it then take It

down afterwards.

This is a bit ofa

pain, especially with the radials, but
| plan to make something

permanent

months.

in the coming

lll run it up from the ground to the
central mast of my 40M dipole then
run it across to a new hockey-stick
mast that I’m yet to erect. That
would also allow me to connect it to
a lightning arrestor and connect to
my existing ground

rod that’s used

for the dipole. A coax switch will be
required as well and I'll Just pin or
bury the radials into the lawn.
| first heard about the Rybakov on Walt K40OGO’'s YouTube channel, Coastal
Waves and Wires (https://www.youtube.com/@COASTALWAVESWIRES
Tim G5TM
channel

and

also does an in-depth review on his

https://www.youtube.com/@timg5tm941.

Rybakov means

“fisherman”

in Russian, referencing the use of the fishing

pole. It’s widely credited that IV3SBE / 5Z4ES created the concept and the
name.
It's a very simple antenna to make,

including the un-un and there’s a lot of

information

a few

out there;

I’ve included

|inks below for articles and

videos.

nttps://youtu.be/akiMmt3d910?si=LRO5Ja9l2rEyxJOH
nttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8esOsVTLyc&t=0s
nttps://www.learnmorsecode.com/iv3sbe/rybakovantenna.htm|
nttps://gOkya.blogspot.com/2009/02/rybakov-vertical.htm|
nttps://wo3gck.com/2018/12/09/revisiting-the-rybakov-806-vertical
Cheers,
Brendan

VK3BAP

[l’m amazed!

Fora compromise antenna and QRP, your station Packs a

pretty substantial ounch!

RST 599 up here on 40m.... and for the last two

Tuesdays, you were coming in to the VK6QS SDR in WA

very nicely (low

radiation angle and West) - so much for your fence hypothesis)..... / reckon
/ might make one for portable use;

| have a couple of ZS6BKW doublets

(also non-resonant, but matched via a specific length of balanced feeder)

that work very well portable, and I'll keep using that antenna when | can but the inverted-L configuration would be far easier and quicker to put up.
The use of non-resonant antennas Is interesting.
resonant antenna (eg a quarter-wavelength

A low radiation resistance

vertical) fed against a poor

ground will lose substantial effectiveness because of the proportion of
ground loss compared to radiation resistance.

| think of radiation

resistance as the equivalent load that converts the applied electromagnetic
energy on transmit into a radiating electro-magnetic field;

and any ground

or feeder loss appears in series and that proportion of the applied energy
disappears as heat.

So a non-resonant antenna may under some poor

ground circumstances be more efficient than a resonant one.

Of course,

the ability to transform the reactive feed impedance of the antenna to
match your feed-line, or the feeder loss associated with the mis-matched
load will also affect things.
! recall when | lived in Melbourne a couple of times during the 80s, | had a
Chirnside Antennas five band trap-tuned vertical at ground level;

ground

level with the soggy Eastern suburbs’ low loss clay soils just worked so well
- better than any of the many other ways I’ve set it up in different locations
around Australia and elsewhere.
Cheers, and thanks for taking the time to pen such a well-written article
mate - and the references will be very useful - thank you Brendan. ]
Thanks Brendan.
I’m always on the lookout for topics of interest to our team.

So if you have

something that you could share, please let me Know so we can share more
thoughts and ideas;

email to mark.bosma@icloud.com

—~
e

Brain

Teaser

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 voltage can a single carbon zinc cell generate?
The feed impedance of a centre fed half wave dipole is free space is

300 ohms

50 ohms

72 ohms

32 ohms

The term "horizontally polarised electromagnetic wave"

refers to a wave

which the
e

magnetic component oscillates vertically

electric component oscillates vertically

magnetic component

electric component

An Advanced

has been eliminated

station using CW (Morse code) is restricted to a power output

of:
(a) 10 watts pY
(ob) 30 watts pX
(c) 120 watts pY
(d) 400 watts pX

Answers

next week.

Answers

from

last week’s

Quiz:

DC circuits are polarity critical. What does this mean?
Answer:|f the battery is connected with the wrong

polarity, the circuit can

be damaged.
The

ratio of the collector current

Ic to the base

current

Ib of a transistor is

called

resistance gain

e voltage gain
e

power gain

current gain

Answer:Current gain
When

tuning a mobile antenna the test instrument being used to measure

the amount of RF radiated is a:

Transmitting

noise bridge

e antenna

impedance

meter

e field strength meter

e digital frequency meter

antenna
+

ia $F

Test

Jirsrtiment