Subscribe Past Translate Issues View this email CQ QRS What happened e How last Tuesday, many do you e¢ Opportunities e 44 stations e The Historic e VK6QS e This e Reminder RagChew and a reminder for the next net. reckon? across the ditch last week! KPH KiwiSDR week’s Another world in your browser station challenge off air brain teaser for 27Feb24 record CQ QRS last week... 44 stations on the CQ practice net - amazing - thank you one and all. happen tomorrow QRS slow CW QSO | wonder what’s going to night? My thoughts go out to any of our team involved in or near the fires in Western Victoria - fingers and toes crossed for this tough time of year. Here’s this week’s list of stations heard: 20Feb24 CQ QRS Net Total active stations this week: Total QSOs (note that this figure won't be correct - 050s may be counted twice o1 Sal 186 Black text - GSLed, Green text - heard but not worked, Blue text - incomplete QSO (not QSLed). MY CALL a lling q Qso1 aso 2 Qso 3 aso 4 Qso 5 QSO 6 aso7 Qso 8 aso9 Qso 10 | Qs011 Ir Listening if no O50) VK1HF/p VKIKVS VK1TE/m VK/G4RWI | VKIWA VK20LF VK2IK VK2IOW VK2KI VK3RG | VK3ACU VK3ADX VK3AE | VK3BTV VK1TE/m cont VK3DBD VK3KLE VK3MJ VK3RU VK3WOW | VK4JM | VKSHAA | VKSCT VKSFD VK3FG VKSKDX VK1TE/m cont VK6BEK VK6FN VK6HRC VK6IS VK6PZT VKGWE | VK7KPC VK7TA VK7WW ZL3TK VK3MJ VKSHAA VKSHAA VK3AE | VKITE/m VK3KLE VK7TA | VK2DLF | VK3KLE VKSPH VK3FG ZL3TK VK3RU VK6FN VK6DEV VK7KPC | VK3ADX VK2IK VIK2NAP VK3FG VK2KI ZL3TK VK3BTV VKIWA VK1ZD) VK2A0E VK2BHO VK2DLF VK2GAZ VK2IK VK2iIOW VK6PZT VKITA VK3AE VK2KI 40m VK3AE VK3TBR VK3AE VKSHAA | VK3WOW | VK2KI 40m VK3MJ VKIWA VK2IOW ZLIANY VKITE/m | VK7WW | VK2KI 80m VK3ACU | VK7WW VKSHAA VK6IS VK6PZT VK2NAP VK2NV VK2TER VK2WEO VK2WF VK2KI VK3KLE VIK3KLE VK3ACU VK3ADX VK3AE VK2KI VK7KPC VK2KI | VK7KPC VK3TBR VK3KLE VK2DLF VK3RU ZLIANY | VK2IOW VK3BAP VK2DLF VK/TA VK3KLE VK3AE VK7WW = VK/G4RWI|VK3WOW | VK3BAP cont VK3MJM | VK2IOW v RSS VK3BTV VKE7WW | VK3WOW VK3BU VK3BYD VK3CLD/p VK3DBD |VK/G4RWI VK3DBD VK3FG VK3KLE VK3KO VK3MJ VK3RU VK3TBR VKIWOW VK3XU VK/G4RWI VK3WOW VKSPH VK20LF VK4JM VK6TX/4 VK7WW VK3AE VKSHAA VK6FN VK3FG VK3MJ VK3BTV VK3TBR VKSKLE VK5PH VK2KI VK2DLF VKSCT VK3MJ VKSHAA | VK3WOW VKSHAA | VK7WW VK3AE VK7TA ZL3TK VKSAO VKSCT VK5CZ VKSHAA VKSET VK3AE VKSFA VKSFD VKSGG VKSHAA VKSIP VKSKFG VKSPH VKSPL VK5/G4RWI VK2WF VKSFD VK3AE = /VK5/G4RWI| VK7WW VK3KLE VK3KLE VKLWA | VK3RU VK7ZA VK7WW |VKSWOW) VK3BTV VK2DLF | VKSHAA VK3WOW | VK3BTV | VK3KLE VK3DBD | VK7WW VK6AAV VK6BEK VK6CK VK6FN VK6IS VKEDEV VK6BEK VK2KI VK6DV VK6FN VK6GAL VKGHRC | VK6KHZ VK6IS VK6BEK VK3KLE VK6HRC VK6FN VK6IS VK6KHZ VKEWE VK6PZT VK6QI VK6FN VK6BEK VK6PZT VK6EWE VK7KPC VK3ACU | VK6HRC VK6DEV VK6IR VK6IS VK6JDM VK6JK VK6KD VK6KHZ VKG6FN VK6KQ VK6LD VK6MK/p | Listening VK6MU VK6NC VK6NT VK6NW VK6PZT VK7TA VK6IS VK2KI VK2IK VK6QI VK3KLE VK6HRC VK6KHZ VK6FN VK/G4RWI| VK3DBD VK6IS VK3MJ VK3RU VK6BEK VKEDEV VK7ZA VK2WE VK6P2ZT WK5/G4RWI| VK3BTV VK3KLE VK3RU VK4IM_) VKSHAA VK2WEF VKSFD VK3ACU | VK3ADX VK3WOW | VK2IOW VKSHAA VK6PZT VK6QI cont VK6TY VK6XU VK6WE VK6IS VK6YV VK7 WW VK7WW cont VK7KPC VK7TA VK7ZA ZLIANY VK3AE ZL3TK VK2KI And this week, | VKITE/mm | VK2IOW | VK7TA | VK6PZT VK3WOW I'd like to welcome Ben ZL4BDG at Upper Hutt, Stephen ZLIANY at Masterton, Damion VK3DPH Upper Mount Gravatt; hope you all have fun in our little team folks. at Sandringham and David VK4JM We also have one new member of the team who is just using our CQ QRS WhatsApp group - Ingrid is the YL of lan VK1HF; with WhatsApp spotting etc. with our obsession like that; Ingrid will be helping lan Fantastic that we have partners who help out my lady Elizabeth is always trying to get me to go out portable and enjoys helping me set up my gear... she particularly likes (not really!) looking for lost sinkers from throwing string up trees, or climbing up trees to catch a hung-up rope! Nice to have you on board Ingrid. Reports & Comments Here’s this week’s From David VK3RU reports. at Burwood: Great event on Tuesday night with a couple of special milestones for me. First time three contacts in one sitting for me, plus two first times outside VK3 working into VK7 and VkK2. [Good stuff David; you were coming into Beautiful South Bowning nicely, and | was also listening to you on the VK6QS SDR. three receivers, Sorry| didn't catch you - WhatsApp notifications, logging.... and only part of a brain! Cheers and ] From Nick VK6DV No contacts made at St James: (had 3w QCX Mini 40m) with broken antenna - but heard on 40m e vk6fn e vk6hrc e vk6bek e vk3ae? CQ? QSB and in noise e vk/ta e vk6is [Antenna can't have been too broken Nick. Spotting yourself on WhatsApp when calling CQ from your QRP rig might be an idea.... especially with so many strong signals around and narrow filters, calls are easy to miss when listers are tuning around.] Nick’s reply: :) Rx antenna was ok. Couldn’t achieve reasonable swr on tx.. Will spot on WhatsApp next time. :) Thanks. From John VKS5ET at Hope Valley: G'day Mark, warm over hr, warmer 2moro, 35 C +. Anyway spent a good 1/2 hr in hot box. Listened to 40mts only, 08:30 - 09:00 Z . Heard following stations . Signals did vary with some qsb.. VK3AE - VK3TXP ( ? ) or TBR ( BALLARAT ) VK3AE - VK3KLE VK5PH cq G4RWI/VK5 - VK7WW. 73's John, VK5ET [Thanks for sweating it out John; appreciated (as is everyones’, as always, your report is much to fill in the gaps in the big spreadsheet... and add to the weekly tally. ] From Craig VK3CLD/p at Thornton: Only had a few minutes for a listenin between storms: VK3DBD with G4RWI, both 5NN. in QSO Currently at Thornton, Victoria. VK3CLD [Glad you got to have a quick listen Craig - thank you for the report.] From John VK5HAA at Upper Sturt: Hi Mark, Thanks for the QSO on Tuesday and for continuing to organise the event. Was great fun splashing around in the QRS lagoon, and surprised myself by actually copying well enough to chew a rag or two. On 40m | annoyed VK3KLE Paul VK2KI You! VK2DLF Georg VK5CT Carl VK3MJ Mark VK1LWA Wimal And then on 80m VK7ZA Lance VK7WW Nic Look forward to joining in again soon. Cheers John [Outstanding report thanks John, terrific to chat to you under different circumstances from our normal PARKS / SOTA CW QSOs, and I’m glad you had fun. Also good that you hooked up with Carl - l’m hoping we’ll hear him on more often, and | hope you'll be able to join us often from now on as well. ] From Jordan VK3ACU at Meredith: Hi Mark, Just 2 contacts tonight - the band was quite noisy, but you were a good signal. | also worked Peter VK7KPC after you with his 5 watts. WW ANDERTOONS.Com | was able to copy most of Peter’s transmission but some of the static crashes made it a tricky copy. Ge A My lightning app gave me a few i OR Yeo warnings for home while | was at work (but nothing major) - seems to be lightning towards the Yarra ranges, why does this always happen on QRS night? ee eS “See that guy with the golf club standing in a puddle under the tree? Watch this...” I'd love to have been able to stay and make some more contacts, but it’d been a few big days at work with one more to come. I'll make up for it next Tuesday © Cheers Jordan VK3ACU [Thanks Jordan - better luck next week work-wise, but glad you could squeeze a couple in before beddybyes. Sorry that | seemed to lose the plot while listening to you and the VK6 SDR at the same time - your Call is really important to me.... etc - HI! | think | must have shaken my brain too much on the zero turn mower on Tuesday. next few days - that’ll sort me From Keiran VK3BTV at North | had two contacts on 40m Oh well, whipper snippering for the out - HI.] Ringwood: on Tuesday night - VK7WW received 5NN!) and VK3WOW Nic (running 5w and Peter. It was great to catch up with my trusted mentor Nic who runs the SLOW Morse Net every Wed at 7pm EDST on 3580 for 30 mins. He uses the callsign VK7TAZ on that net which is the callsign of the Northern Tasmania Amateur Radio Club. And Peter VK3WOW in Blackburn was a great contact. He’s like me, about the same vintage, and picking up CW again after many years. | struggled a bit with Peter because he was running normal spacing and my brain was overloading, especially when there was a procession of short characters (E, |, etc). But when | asked him to QRS pse, he did so and it made a huge difference. Thanks Peter! | really think | really need to get back to receiving practice on LCWO.net and also just sandbagging copy them. I’m really frustrated with 10-12wpm. p.s. | got Jordan VK3ACU seemed on slow speed QSOs and trying to up and running using Allstar on Sunday. He like a very happy dude. Keiran VK3BTV [Wow - outstanding report Keiran, thank you; | think most of our team enjoy reading about our other members’ adventures - | certainly do. And thank you for your reminder about Nic’s practice net on Wednesdays, and Fabian D/J5CW’s on-line CW training - terrific. Great that Jordan is up and running on AllStar as well; perhaps we’ll see you both on Richard VK6HRC’s Post Morseum call-in on the WA South West AllStar network starting at 0600 WA time (0900 in the East) - you could connect via node 51077. And for those who haven't yet discovered the joy of AllStar (either using their own Raspberry Pi node or their local AllStar-connected repeater or hotspot), Echolink to VK6RMH From will get you connected.] Richard VK6PZT Cheers Mark. at Dalyellup: FIVE contacts for me on Tuesday - including two new contacts. 1020Z - VK7TA - IAN - 55N SENT 33N RX - MY FIRST VK7 CONTACT 1140Z - VK6IS - PETER - SOLID 599 BOTH WAYS ON 7030 ON 3555 1200Z - VK2KI - 559 SENT 359 RX - MARK - ON 3555 1210Z - VK2IK - PAUL ON 3550 559 sent 22N 1230Z - VK6HRC your callsign. Also heard VK3ACA VK3KPC - RICHARD ON 3562 - SORRY rx RICHARD | kept messing up Cheers Richard VK6PZT [Great fun eh Richard? | think| was having a giggle at your trouble with Richard's callsign, and then sorting out names - CW can be quite confusing at times.... From | blame Peter the QSB HI.] VK3WOW at Blackburn: Hi Mark, My second night at this. A few interesting experiences for me in learning to work (or in one case, just failing to work) other stations who were barely readable for me, but who at least were not subject to QSB. That’s got to be valuable experience right there. Worked VK7TA, ZL3TK, VK3FG, VK3MJ, VK3BTV, Very impressed that Keiran VK3BTV asked all on 40 metres. me very clearly please to QRS. Takes courage to do that, | reckon, so I'm impressed. Still falling over myself with all kinds of sending and receiving mistakes, but have at least lost some of my initial terror — for which | have to thank this whole beautiful group! Kind regards, Peter [Outstanding Peter - and cracking ZL3TK with your in-ceiling doublet is pretty impressive! Yes, it’s interesting how easy it is to run away at the key, and start sending faster than the other station, or your own receiving ability. And yup, the PSE QRS ts part of the doctrine I’m trying to spread... so that it becomes easier when working people outside of our net. | feel that CW will die a natural death if the high-speed machine operators aren’t encouraged to slow down, and if we don’t encourage more people to have a go on QRS and discover how nice it can be. Hope your lady has also found that Tuesday nights are much better without TV!] From Claude VK1TE/m at Pearce: Hi Mark, Another busy one, but a bit quiet on 80m. Thanks again, 73s k vkite zl3tk vkSsaa vk3kle vkSfd vk2dlf vk7ta vk6fn vk3wow vk5aa vk5ct NSW ARALUEN NSW ARALUEN vk7ww NSW NSW vk2dlf NSW ARALUEN vk3kle ARARAT vk3ae vk3wow ARARAT ARARAT KIWI KIWI vkSsaa vk3kle vk3kle [Wow - amazing log Claude - thank you; NSW ARALUEN NSW KIWI KIWI NSW ARALUEN NSW ARALUEN KIWI sending me the two logs - ordered by time and ordered by callsign is useful - soeeds up the compiling of the big spreadsheet that appears at the start of the newsletter; From Brendan Hi Mark, VK3BAP cheers.] at Truganina: | had to sit this one out; my XYL has gone DX for a few weeks so this is a single operator household, with 2 harmonics generating a highly localised QRM lot of around the ‘shack’ (ie the far end of the dinner table). | was still able to listen-in while doing other chores and heard quite a few stations on 40M: VK2DLF, VK7TA, VK3KLE, VK3AE, VK7WW, VK3WOW, Cheers VK3FG, VK2KI, ZL3TK, VK3BTV, VK3MJM G4RWI/VK5, VK2IOW. & 73, VK3BAP [Wow -13 stations! Amazing for a part-time dinner-table listener - HI. Thanks for making From the effort again Brendan.] Dylan VK3AE at Ballarat: Hi Mark had a great night on the key on Tuesday. send my log to you but here it is. Cheers I’m not sure if | should Please let me know if im wrong. vk3ae. QSOs 20/02/24 for QRS CW 08:19 7032.0 CW VK3AE 599 VK2KI 599 mark 08:27 7032.0 CW VK3AE 599 VK3TBR 599 tim 08:43 7039.0 CW VK3AE 599 VK3KLE 599 paul _ stawell 09:04 7035.0 CW VK3AE 599 VK2DLF 599 george 09:40 7037.0 CW VK3AE 599 VK3RU 599 dave 10:02 7037.0 CW VK3AE 579 ZLIANY 559 stephen 10:39 7034.5 CW VK3AE 599 VK2IOW 599 pat burwood orange [You bet Dylan - yes | use the station list to compile the big spreadsheet at the start of the newsletter, and also by sending me the list of who you worked and who you heard, you provide interesting reading for our members. From I’m really glad that you had fun on Tuesday.] Richard - VKGHRC at Padbury: Hi Mark The net was fairly quiet to start with but got busy later. Not that many VK6 stations on this week, most likely the record high temperatures had something to do with it !!! Stations on 40Mx VK6FN brief QSO VK6IS VK6KHZ VK6WE Stations on 80Mx VK6PZT brief QSO VK6QI brief QSO Also tuned up and down our recommended /listening practice in. slots to get some decoding Post Morseum As usual | was using VK6RLM repeater and the associated South West AllStar network links for the Post Morseum at 6am on Wednesday. VK6FN was the early bird followed by Bob VK6KRC VK6QI. It was great to hear what the others experienced forward to seeing their reports in the next RagChew. we forgot to acknowledge our shortwave Max and then yourself Mark last night looking The only downside is listeners, busy on the road heading to work. Will give myself a stern talking to ! © Thanks to all best 73 Richard VK6HRC [Thanks for another pair of good reports Richard - much appreciated. For those who’d like to join in on Wednesday morning, AllStar node 51077 from your AllStar node or via your local hotspot or local voice repeater will do the trick. Just your normal 2m or 70cm FM gear with a touch-tone (DTMF) keypad should get you connected from 2000z on a Wednesday; hoy if you'd like a hand finding an AllStar node or connecting. ] From Chris VK2NAP at Marrickville: Hi Mark - this week's wrap up from VK2 Not Allowed Phone... Cheers Mark for the sole (soul?) entry in the log last night. Signals weren't great, but they were enough for the reply to my call being 569 but soon fell down to 429 with the QSB by the end of the QSO. Not even sending 73 improved the signal, the almost fool proof way of beating QSB. It was a work night so | missed the 40m segment. | Heard some beeps between Static crashes on 3550, or was it 3545, Paul, VK3KLE was one of those Signals... think. Others were R4, but | didn't take note who. By the time | had a coffee in my hand (I have a stupid caffeine tolerance...| am told it's genetic) and was ready to roll, it had all dropped away. just perceive pips in the background the RST scale...meaning | could on 3562KHz of the VK6 stations. R1 on | could be hearing a signal, or | could be imagining things....has anyone done a study of schizophrenic maritime radio officers ?? What they hear in their heads ?? I'll refer that one over to George VK2AOE. He may be better qualifiedSo just the one QSO for this week folks. [Thinks Chris. Any ex-RO comments? Is it just the coffee? | think you're right though.... for simple callsign and RST exchanges, I’m finding with the very weakest of signals, I’m just about intuitively copying - even if I’m not hearing 100% of each character. heads when trying to go to sleep! From Nic VK7WW Some of us can’t get the CW out of our More from Chris below...] at Legana: Here’s last Tuesday’s effort © Started on 40m with 5w KX2 and Paddle Key CONTACTS “Knocked my socks off” called CQ and a G station came straight back to me! @G4RWI/VK5 Nigel in Mt Gambier VK3BTV Keiran VK3KLE Paul VK3RU Dave VK4JM David VK1TE/M HEARD Claude (both stations) VK2IOW working VK7TA VK3WOW working VK3BTV VK7TA working VK6PZT 80M with 60w IC-751A KENT Straight Key CONTACTS VK5SAA John My apologies to whoever called me at the end of my QSO with John, sorry we couldn’t make it. The OTH Radar came up and made you Signal very difficult to copy. HEARD (both stations} VK3KLE with VK2WEF VK3KLE with VK5FD A really enjoyable evening! 8 stations worked, 10 stations and heard. Thanks Mark! How did your Morse presentation go? Is there a link to it? 73 Nic VK7WW [Thanks for your excellent report and photos Nic - and | was pleased to see you had a really nice evening - and that you're able to chat to some of the people you've heloed train. My presentation to PARGFest went ok - but in the excitement, no / didn’t record it off Zoom as / should. | didn’t end up talking about training, beyond the barest mention and a list of options that our team had provided - just didn’t have time. captured for future editions of RagChew, From Peter VK7PKC aU By : P Ff y « ss i é ; ‘23 ae wy build once, re-use many times. / Hi Mark, No luck on 40. Tried qrpp on 3.550 later and could see my tx — : @. Be "ep? Gor ea = ; i oe on vk5arg sdr but no contacts. a UL ht La { | have the info Evandale: nh as aay A” eno0ead a Bs from However, a oOo \ @ Changed F i = rig to vk3xu tx from Nic's Sale (SW) and rxd 339 from Jordan 3acu and 379 from Merv 3adx. Pics are of tx used on 3.55 and 80m beacon which used same tx board. Were used as 80m foxes as we don't Nave any real ones down Cheers here. de Peter. [The QRP gear just keeos on coming - thanks Peter. Re foxes.... you don’t want any down there mate!] From Shaun, VK6BEK at Quinns Rocks: Hi Mark, Managed Regards to work Max VK6FN, Peter VK6IS and Phill VK6DEV - all on 40m. Shaun - VK6BEK [Thanks for your 40m report Shaun, cheers. ] From Max VK6EFN Hi Mark and at Manjimup: all others. Had excellent conditions here last Tuesday night. Forty was great and 80m was also ok although | did not spend 1st contact was Ron vk6khz. much time there. RST 599 both ways. Good chat Thanks Ron 2nd was Peter RST 599 and mine was 559. Thanks Peter, and good readability. 3rd Thanks, Shaun vk6bek. forward to next week RST was 559 both ways. Good copy. Looking ATh Was vk3kle. Unfortunately, poor copy this end . Next time hope we can do better. All above were on 40M On 80M Peter vk6is agn RST 599. Ron. VK6khz agn RST 579 Thanks all for being there. 73's Max de 6fn [Thanks Max; Friday on From catch you on Tuesday on CW, YassFM www.yassfm.org David VK4JM at Upper Wednesday on AllStar or > Listen Live.] Mount Gravatt: Hi Mark Yes, | was on 40m Tuesday night. | had a brief QSO with VK7WW but was operating a remote Flex radio and had a few internet issues that caused some grief. | would be very interested in receiving the newsletter each week and being added to the WhatsApp session where | can. 40m group. Will try and join in the Tuesday night Currently have no 80m antenna at my QTH but have and a few options with rigs, keys and paddles etc. Thanks for your email and running the net, look forward to getting involved. Regards David VK4JM [Thanks David, and welcome to the CQ QRS team. Joined the group. | started the net with some Terrific that you’ve WA stations 2-1/2 years ago, and we now have an excellent number of VK6s, a nice hand-full of VK5s, VK3s, VK7s, couple of ZLs and a few VK2s... but only one and a half (now two and a half) VK4s so far. in Cairns; One is Matt VK4MKV a Foundation licensee up I’ve been hoping to attract more Queenslanders so that he has some success with single-hop skywave propagation, and maybe if we get some more in FNQ, Near-Vertical Incidence Skywave. Do you happen to be a member of any of the AR groups in QLD, and if so, would there be a way of letting others know about our team - newsletter perhaps? is actually a Sandgroper, Our other VK4 Mike VK6TX now living up at Hervey Bay. Anyway, great to have you on board - would you believe we now have 140 subscribers, and I’m still counting the number we had on last Tuesday... but it’s over 40! Amazing for an Australian net.... especially the revival for CW for lots of newcomers and old-timers. Cheers, and | hope to hear you on Tuesdays when you can David. ] From me VK6QI at Bedfordale 40m (0800z via the VK6QS and to the VK6CRO SDR at Brookton, Remote the VK6SR at Carnarvon: 1100z) This week | decided to try to concentrate on listening on the VK6QS Brookton Remote (while also listening on the Tecsun SDR at Araluen SDR at NSW and my home transceiver of course - see below for the Eastern States report). First up right on cue | heard Paul VK3KLE from Stawell coming in to WA nicely calling CQ on 7035. down 3kHz | also heard Richard VK6HRC from Padbury also calling, followed by calls from Ron VK6KHZ Yangebup answered at by Max VK6FN at Manjimup. VK3KLE’s TenTec Triton used on Tuesday’s net Shortly after, | heard Nigel VK/G4RWI VK3DBD over at Yakandandah, and | could see Claude VKLTE at Mount Gambier chatting to David then Peter VK6IS at Wundowie on with Max, listening in to the action on the SDR. Nigel G4RWI/p at Mount Gambier Peter VK3WOW at Blackburn and Keiran VK3BTV at North Ringwood were chatting only 6km apart, but were coming in nicely 2500km Brookton, as were Paul and Georg VK2DLF at St Marys. away at Next! heard John VK5HAA at Upper Sturt chatting to Mark VK3MJ at Geelong; hear John enjoying the net - John’s well known in the SOTA and VKFF PARKS community, it was terrific to but | don’t think he’d joined us for some QRS fun until now... l’ve also invited Mark to join our team. John and David VK3RU at Burwood tried unsuccessfully to hook-up over the 600km path without success, but they were both Q5 into the VK6SR SDR. Shaun VK6BEK at Quinns Rocks had more luck with Peter VK6IS at Wundowie before chatting to Phillip VK6DEV at Dalyellup. The VK6QS SDR busy, busy, busy. 80m (after On 80m, 1100z) | heard John VK5HAA chatting to Lance VK7ZA at Margate and Adrian VK2WF at Tallong chatting to Paul VK3KLE. Later on | heard the Richards VK6HRC and VK6PZT exchanging names, and | thought I’d cause some AC havoc by seeing If the VK6SR Southern International Morse Code Day Electronics Group Remote at Bedfordale still worked. Quiz As it i turned out, its previous problem of — | + aD ers April 27, 2024 La 2 not loading properly into the huge . ee | rae a | 12m high by 60m across MarconiTee antenna was still there; the Ane’ yo , “e7 SWR was varying from 1:1 to 2:1, despite trying various tricks to fool the automatic coupler in the Remote’s FT-991A. So 1 wound the output power down as far as it would go, and had a chat with our long-suffering correspondent and Post Morseum coordinator, Richard VK6HRC. Also From me, VK2KI Extended Zepp at Araluen NSW: 40m at Bowning antenna from using home my TS-50 and Double- and also using the Tecsun SDR (0800z to 1100z) | hooked up with Dylan VK3AE at Ballarat who was pounding South Bowning with a solid 599 signal; into Beautiful Dylan was also coming in nicely into the SDR in WA at S 4. On the Tecsun SDR at Araluen, | heard Dylan hook up with Tim VK3TBR at Horsham, before | hooked up with John VK5HAA at Upper Sturt; John went on to chat to Georg VK2DLF VK3WOW at St Marys, while Peter at Blackburn had good luck with his in-ceiling non-resonant doublet working lan VK7TA at Latrobe. Having less luck was Stuart VK6MK up at Broome; despite raising his end-fed The Tecsun SDR at Araluen - busy, busy, busy. antenna, Stuart advised via our WhatsApp Group that he just wasn’t hearing anything of the net. up | heard Paul VK5PH Osmond Next at Glen chatting to Paul VK3KLE at Stawell, Georg chatting to Dylan and Peter working another of our new team VK6MK’s antenna getting some air at Broome. members, Martin; Martin VK3FG at Mt Waverley; great to hear you on the net interesting that despite Peter’s in-ceiling doublet, he was coming into the VK6QS SDR ata solid S 6. | then caught up with our new (and first) ZL team member, Stan ZL3TK who was putting in a solid RST 599 from his 80m end-fed half wave (oriented East/West) up 9m, to my 80m South); double-extended Zepp (oriented North- Stan reported RSN 551 - we'll publish info on the RSN scale in the Other Topics of Interest section next week - in the mean time - see Stan’s QRZ.com page: https://www.grz.com/db/ZL3TK According to an article by LB Cebik WARNL (SK), if we ignore the height above ground, Stan’s antenna Ph OB ee ee may radiate per the image - with E-W (toward Australia on a Great Circle projection) on the vertical axis - ie radiation about 10dB down on the main lobes. So that should bode well for Stan to join in with us regularly. Next up, | heard our new team member Wimal VK1WA at Bonner chatting to Mark VK3MJ at Geelong, who I’ve also now invited to join. On the Tecsun SDR at Araluen, | heard Patrick VK2IOW at Latrobe; at Millthorpe chatting to lan VK7TA Patrick was also a solid S8 into the VK6QS SDR at 0940z. Dylan VK3AE was the second of the team to work into New Zealand, catching as much as he could of Stephen ZL1IANY at Masterton’s QRQ; done Dylan - | was challenged our team, Stephen Stephen! well by Stephen's speed, and having now joined has said he’d try to do better next time - HI... welcome Next up | heard Dylan | then listened to Max VK6FN Manjimup working Horsham, in Paul VK3KLE at before trying my luck (and Phillip’s patience) with VK6DEV; RST 249 was the best | could send with just the occasional letters coming through on the QSB peaks chatting to Patrick, Georg working Claude VK1ITM/m working and Nic VK7WW David VK3RU at Legana at Burwood. Ms Elizabeth’s Morsle rescue delivery... 80m after On 80m 1100z | caught up with Jordan VK3ACU home from work. at Meredith who had just arrived | also heard Nic VK7WW chatting to John VK5HAA at Upper Sturt and Richard VK6PZT at Dalyellup working Wundowie, NSW. both coming through Peter VK6IS at nicely into the Tecsun SDR at Araluen In parallel, | heard Jordan chatting to Peter VK7KPC went on to catch Merv VK3ADX at Evandale, who at Ballarat. | then caught up with Richard VK6PZT who was mostly RST 359, but was up to Q 5 on the slow QSB. Richard had more luck with Paul VK2IK with his nicely elevated doublet at Moss Vale. | rounded out the evening with a chat with Chris VK2NAP at Marrickville before hitting the spreadsheet (at the start of this newsletter) to do a count of just how many people I'd heard. Would you believe, in all | actually heard 40 stations on during our net - an amazing turn-out once again; thank you everyone for being there and supporting the QRS effort! Other Other things KPH Maritime I’ve received Radio 2023 News from our 140-odd Crypto Challenge - VK3BTV: | finished my Python Project after two weeks on and off! Python programming/exercise readers. My first real project was coding a solution for the KPH Maritime Radio 2023 Crypto Challenge event promoted in the RagChew newsletter - even though | know they will change the rules next time to make things interesting. When | was testing my program, | discovered that their CodeBook was flawed. They shouldn’t have used [0]000 for “ABORT” because 000 also translates to the number 0. In fact, they shouldn’t have included any CODES sequence 0000 would life that would below [0]010. The code have caused total confusion in the message. have resulted in dangerously ambiguous messages In real :-o But at least my first Python project was a success, and decrypts the message < 1 sec! Re your sending speed creeping up Mark, that was CONGRATULATIONS a reprimand. not Both you and Jordan are sounding slick on the key these days! The only reason that I’ve been consistent 10wpm is because that’s what the keyer in the 7300 is set to for the QRS Net. | hope my Straight Key wasn’t too dodgy last week - | thought I’d better try traditional style just for once. It certainly gave the old wrist a work out.... and | want edto race on the SK, Slow DOWN! Cheers, Keiran A Bad Tempered Victorian [Thanks Keiran. Interesting the Raspberry Pi programming challenge. have the manual sheet here for the KPH encoded transmission, | still waiting for a moment spare (ha!) to have another go after falling at one of the numerical code hurdles; | know that Richard VK6PZT got it decoded, and there may have been others who had success. On the speed, my intention is to keep the speed down to give something for our new operators t ochew on, irrespective of how fast the other station goes. However, perhaps when / get tired, | forget and start to rattle away at a speed that | couldn’t copy in a fit! ] With thanks to Stan From Steve VK6VZ ZL3TK / VK6BA at Glen Forrest: Hi Mark Nice work! Your summary of times post document is very useful. | can only get on the air here from 1600 to 1700 (occasionally 1600 to 1730) on Tuesday because of other commitments, so including 40m main activity time (rather than just in the prelude period) would excellent idea. Please, is this possible? 1600Z means in the be an Even in winter, working on 80m at it is hard for VK6 to work anything outside of their own state, except perhaps at midwinter. On the other hand, using 40m opens up all kinds of possibilities in terms of both VK6 working VK6 and working other Australian states and into ZL. My suggestion is also using 40m for the QRS activity may prove more attractive than just 80m - and you may attract even more people. By the way, |am a member but sometimes known of the FOC (the First Class CW Operators Club, by its members as ‘the Funny Old Club ©) as area number of other keen Australian CW operators. You may attract some of them to take part, by using 40m wpm as well as 80m. contacts (and lower) today from above 7032kHz. Hope to run into you. What you have done with the activity night is really, really great. Vy 73 Steve, VK6VZ/VK6BA more I'll be looking for 12 [Thanks Steve - yes, that’s the idea - so the CQ QRS net runs on 40m for three hours, then 80m; | guess ! can drop the Prelude name - it’s all the same thing now. ] More about the KPH cryptography event - VK6PZT Hi Mark As you know, the Maritime Radio Historical Society KPH K6KPH, another cryptography event last month. held And, | thought! would have a crack at it again (pun intended). It kicked off at 5am WA time, so excited as | was, | woke up at 0330 hrs and | could not get back to sleep. So | tried to receive the KPH station directly on my IC 7200 with no luck. | had previously set up a link to an SDR Based in the USA, ready to go, and this worked a treat, right up to about 12 seconds into the transmission of the encrypted message, when the link was disconnected - | guess the operator gave up or QSYed. "Bollocks" said I, and shortly after the transmission On waking, | listened to the recording | made, | went back to bed. but alas it was close to useless at the transmission kept dropping out every few seconds. Fortunately, a clever chap in NSW had made a recording of the transmission on his phone and he sent me a copy. | simply had to decode the CW in 5 letter code groups and apply the "one time pad" and code book to decrypt the message. The first draft made some sense but there were obviously some errors. So | rechecked the ciphertext with particular attention given to the dodgy parts of the message. And here is the final decrypted message. 447 447 447 = CURRENT OP COMPROMISED. | ABORT. This certificate oi proudly procued lo RICHARD AYRE Sf succesfully Drancisee (tire Radia, decrypting the Numbers message dent by KA , ‘on . January RD Richard Dillman 20, 2OP4. elle, | A C O S W | S Z SEAL...” “1, Py KaKes ww Nl mm ws “OMAN N TA CT DANGER, ‘2te. geEO : S Pp A S S Pp FE N T O RT . AG MV AX INSIST ON MOSCOW RULES. y a. recoguuian Jan A In V VK6PZT > : BURN AFTER READING. = AR DE KPH KPH KPH SK I'm looking forward to the next event. Just wish | could copy KPH without using an SDR. Kind regards. Richard VK6PZT [Hi Richard - thanks for your report about the event. I’m pleased that you were able to use the rough speaker-to-microphone recording. in a previous RagChew, As reported Keiran VK3BTV also cracked the code and | published the slightly redacted version; however, because the entries for the certificate are well and truely in, I’ve published your decoded message; as you can see above, Keiran has used the opportunity to program a Raspberry Pi to decrypt the one-time-pad message as well. Our new team member Stan ZL3TK also has a group of Kiwis who have a go at the KPH transmissions, including the previous Enigma-encoded one that you received a certificate for. As previously reported, | had a go at decoding the last transmission, but gave up after getting odd results from some of the three digit codes (numbers for which there was no decryption). Send us a copy of your certificate when you get it from KPH Richard. I'll advertise future similar events as they come up. GO Cheers.] QRP Stan ZL3TK has provided the following about Go QRP - the Monthly QRP event featured on his website. 80m Go QRP is 12-month on the last Saturday of every month long QRP contest on (except February, when it takes place on the first Saturday in March, to avoid doubling with the Jock White Field Day). Details are here: https://qsl.net/zl3tk/gqn/gqgn It's a difficult job to raise any interest in CW here, so those who do participate in the CW section, are also NZ Net operators who are happy with 20 ~ 25 wom. entire CW QSOs Ergo, consisting of letter and number strings are usually done-and-dusted in less time than the equivalent SSB contact. problem to accommodate though, It's no QRS any station running < 10 W is eligible. At the bottom of the GQN webpage are a bunch of links apropos other QRP activities as well. [Thanks Stan. Perhaps a regular reminder in RagChew in the week before each month’s event might bring up some more CW activity?] More The from $25 managed Chris eBay VK2NAP X Phase QRM at Marrickville: eliminator kit | purchased to get it assembled, tested, boxed, back in 2022, | modified to detect TX RF and switch when you hit the TX, as well as build a PTT control relay thing for the Xiegu X108G to switch the X Phase. All | have to say is "Why didn't | do this sooner ?" While it certainly isn't park quiet, | can pull that spiky S8 noise on 40m wide and pull it down to S1 and a half. The signal that was S9 is now only S5, but the dynamic range is so much greater. And that is with the wide SSB filter, not the narrow filter which improves things more. You can tell its working as there is a point where this blanket of sharp noise drops away revealing more atmospheric noise and more audible signals that stay relatively constant. You can test that result against turning off the noise detection and just reducing the RF gain and the difference is noticeable, and in some instances quite marked. The main antenna | use is a 10m vertical. While it has good throw, it also catches everything. Hence the S8 noise on 40m. The noise detection antenna has been various lengths of wire hung in various locations inside and outside. The nice thing, is you can turn off the main antenna and just focus on getting the noise antenna to maximum noise without picking up the signals you are trying to keep. It has certainly made the whole on the radio experience much except.... Monday more bearable. night had some wide band radar (?) noise across the entire 40m CW segment from 7000KHz to 7080KHz. Phase QRM Eliminator did not help. | can tell you that the X That was pretty relentless and rude. Only ever seen it 50KHz wide. Never that wide. Had a play with things to see if | could null things out, but sadly not with that setup.... But back to QRN..... lam in an inner city block, and whilst | have many more craft brewers in staggering distance than S points of noise, even when | kill the power to my own Up to now, mag house, the noise stays relatively constant. loops, which appear to knock 2 - 3 S points off the overall noise, seem to have the best noise to signal ratio (yes... | am aware of the order of that ratio) When | get some time, | will try it with one of my mag loop designs, and see how it works with the X phase and a vertical noise antenna. Mag loops are good at rejecting noise in the near field. Verticals take what they can get. Might give me some more dynamic range to pull those weak stations in that will never ever hear my signals if | reply....but that folks, is the current state of the hobby DE Chris VK2NAP 73 dit dit ps: | have attached a revised PDF cheat sheet | made for CW with common Q codes, prosigns and a bunch of abbrevs we use regularly. Might be useful for some. CW Tip Sheet Common CW Abbreviations Commonly Used Q Signals AA AB All after All before GA (GE) GM (GN) Good Afternoon (Evening) Good Morning (Night) \Signal QNI Used As a Question May | join the net Used As a Statement You may check in ABT About HI (HEE) Laughter IQRG What is my/ their frequency? Your / Their frequency IADX Address HR Here / Hear IQRH Does my frequency Your frequency varies AGN ANT IBCNU BN Again Antenna Be seeing you All between; Been BTR Better ic Yes BTU BTW B4 HW? NR OM OP. P2P Back To You By The Way Before PSE PWR RIG / Correct CFM Confirm; CK Check | confirm CNT Can't ICONDX Conditions CPI Copy (also CP or CPY) CU(L) \CUAGN See QRI IQRJ laRK How is the tone of my transmission? Do you want to make a voice contact What is the readability of my / their signals? Park 2 Park (POTA) IQRL Is this frequency busy? Please Power Rig; Equipment RST Signal RPT Report RX Receive; Report Receiver Transmit; Transmitter U You you (later) IQRP Can | IQRQ_ Shall IQRS _— decrease power? | decrease | send faster? Send faster. Shall Shall | stop sending? Have you anything for me? Are you ready? | send Send IQRX When will you call me again? IQRZ_~ ~Who is calling me? Could Because From (station callsign) UR VY WX Your; You Are Very Weather lasa ee pons distance - —— QSD FB Fine Business ie Best regards FER For 88 Prosigns ‘AA AR New Line End of Message AS Wait/ | must pause ‘ASAR Wait for extended BT BK CL CQ and Procedural Love and kisses (OSK QSL Signals. period Break / Line Break Break / Back Closing Down Station General call to any station IQSP Hand Will you with relay to a “Over” KN “Over” to specific station over QSO Received / Acknowledged End of work. End of QSO Understood Distress Signal are being ? | can hear between (Ey break in) | can communicate signals. 79 with | will relay to kHz? Send a series of V's lam listening to | change frequency? Change IQSZ_ — | send Send each word twice? my | acknowledge receipt IQSY = Shall Shall at called by Your signals are distorted (defective) = Can you acknowledge receipt? communicate WPM Your / their strength is (1)barely perceptible (5)very good Your signals are fading . you WPM | will call you again You SIS OU SCI Key g IQST — Calling all radio amateurs. IQSV Shall | send a series of V's? IQSX_ ~—_— Will you listen to on K R SK SN SOs ee power slower Stop sending | have nothing for you lam read Gan you hear between your signals? IQ@SO = Can Sent as a single character CT Start of Transmission HH Error slower? What is the strength of my / their signals? Are my signals fading? IQSB_ as is in use | am interfered with | am being troubled with static l increase power IQRT IQRU IQRV_ CUD CUZ DE is Your tone is 1 (good) 2 (variable) 3 (bad) _| want to make voice contact Your / Their readability is (1) unreadable to (8) perfect This frequency IQRM Are you being interfered with? IQRN Are you troubled by static? IQRO~ = Must | increase power? S2S Summit to Summit (SOTA) TU (TNX) Thank you (Thanks) nu That See you again vary? How did you copy ? Number “Old Man” Operator / Your name 'QTH = What is your location? QTR Whats the time? IQTU At what times are you operating? IQTX___Will you keep your station open ? on frequency to each word twice My location is The time is | am operating from ... to ... hours. Lwill keep my station open Chris Wilson VK2NAP August 2022 I'll put it up on a website with a URL if people what such a thing. Let me know if there are any changes. | can send you the original Libre Office document -- Sent by my carrier pigeon Bruce. Please ensure he is well rested and watered before replying.Learn [Hey Chris. more at https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfcl149.txt Great article - thank you. Yup - I’ve found the noise canceller to be a game-changer here too. Yes, | should (will!) find and eliminate the sources here, after all, we’re in the country here and there should be no excuse), but in the mean-time, my less than $100 Chinese copy of something like the VK5TM noise canceller kit works well most of the time. completely, I’s sometimes possible to null out the noise only to find there’s no signals either... but with lots of experimentation and switching in and out, it can be very good. somewhere | read that matching the polarisation of the pick-up antenna with that of your main antenna may make a difference - experimenting with that at the moment. | have a selection of antennas via a Heathkit (sigh) five- position coax switch, and for most things, the little 60cm whip that came with the unit at the back of my equipment among the cable forrest works well - bottom line, don’t try for fancy pick-up antennas until you've tried your multimeter probe. Nice cheat sheet - good job. Interesting how the first Q-code | learned - QRA - what it the name of your station - has dropped out of common phone) use. For CW in tough conditions, (ie when you're struggling to be heard, if you call QRZ because you haven't got the other station’s callsign, others (esp some / most DX stations who by definition (nearly), don’t listen) could mistake it for an opportunity to call you.... exactly what you don’t want when struggling to get the weak signal’s callsign. I’m going to start using it to see if we can regenerate some interest in the CW realm. Thanks for the avian mode ZL CW thoughts DEEEElighted - from article as well!] Stan ZL3TK at Horowhenua to hear about three ZLs joining the CQ qRS team. Surprised to the point of passing out at the mention of OM Stephen ZLIANY. my one and only Enigma currently expanding buddy in the southern hemisphere; He's we're on the utilisation of One Time Pad encryption as well https://qsil.net/zl3tk/sas/sas Tuesday has turned out to be way too busy time-wise for me; ease it off I've moved Thursday, CW meanwhile the ZLIAM Improvers' Stephen ESM SM aC OM for which starts at 2000 NZT, followed immediately by NZ Net at 2100 NZT, followed by YKW. MNS e SH: Tait ps Stephen and members, net, has been a very long-time enthusiast, A aaen nearby ll Reman nenarvanaing oh Nien so to our SAS Net to he never speaks - everything contributions when the sender would is by far the fastest sender unlike all other is in CW - so after his text normally read out his contribution, the Net Control Station has to read out what Stephen sent for the others to check their copy! Hard case, our Stephen! If Stephen shows up it will be quite miraculous, not only because of his busy schedule, but also because he is a 'driver', he drives folk hard without Farnsworth on NZ Net. lately I've convinced him to slow down of his because much Just interesting traffic was over their heads and going unanswered; now he's put on the brakes he's getting replies in addition to mine. S109) Cielo ee IIO MINORSoA CN MU SUM LIC UILOL (HUTS ONE aeele) (1 i100 (0) ealUTA Mae] est - ea mice IOs ATES} (euaT Ulcer between 1953 and 1968. Specifications are base 150 mm x 70 mm, net weight 404 g. Should you see value in adding a further option, Traffic httos://gsl.net/zl3tk/mt/mt check out Mini MT is fully explained by clicking on "Read all About it!" By the way, your goals are looking attainable I'd say, as long as you’re careful not to burn yourself out. 73 de Stan [Thanks Stan - thanks for spreading the word - I’m sure that we can do a bit of cross-pollination across the ditch. For example, there’s at least four others of us here in the team who’ve had a go at the KPH Enigma or One Time Pad decryption; you'll see two comments about the recent OTP transmission in this edition. ] From Stephen Thanks Mark ZLIANY at Masterton It would be nice to receive the newsletter. Sorry if | was too QRQ on Tuesday with Dylan. I’m usually on NZNet 3535 0800z weekdays. Would be fun to rag chew some more VKs .. on holiday at moment but back at my QTH next week. 73s and tnx for inviting me Regards Stephen ZLLANY [Hi Stephen. Welcome to the team - I’m keen to share the ZL CW adventures with us West-/slanders, and | hope to hear you on as often as you can. From Cheers.] Damion VK3DPH at Sandringham: Hi Mark, It was great to read your email. Also it's fantastic to read about others active in CW operations. | would be happy for you to add me to your newsletter, but I'm afraid I'm not a WhatsApp user. More broadly the existence of this net is a reminder to always QRS when hearing a slower stn. My engagement with the hobby might be a bit different to some - I'd always wanted to learn CW since a kid and never found the time. The pandemic and associated lock downs provided the perfect basis to get the ham licence and learn cw. My first ham Sandringham radio QSO was operating on the beach at in Melbourne, at night, on a 20W portable with a dipole over the beach cliffs, on CW. A great memory. I'm a pretty active bloke and unfortunately on most Tuesdays I'm either rock climbing or bouldering, but whenever I'm free on a Tuesday I'll keep an ear out on the bands. Okay that's it for now - GL and 73. Regards, Damion VK3DPH. [Hi Damion. Welcome to the team, and / hope you can get on from time to time on a Tuesday evening - cheers. ] From Matt VK4MKV at Cairns: Hi Mark, | haven't had a chance to get transmitting on the air on a Tuesday night yet. | have been checking out the SDRs while you all were sending the past few weeks. It has been quite encouraging as I've been able to pick up quite a bit. I'll be sure to spot myself via the WhatsApp group once the stars align for me to get things organised on a Tuesday evening. Cheers, Matt VK4MKV [Cheers Matt - hopefully the planets will align soon. start attracting more VK4s (the number doubled this week!) so there’s more folks within a single-hop of you on Tuesday. ] From James VK2TER at Terrigal: Hi Mark, Link below is a video of my activation last Sunday. Our QSO starts at 13:35. https://youtu.be/I76JFBp5Nlo? si=YLKEpCMuXMrb7tww Thanks again for the contact. 73 James (VK2TER) I’m also hoping we'll [Wow! What an outstanding 40m QRP activation Ukraine, vertical of yours is amazing! ground stake? VK6QS USA... that little | can’t remember - ground radials as well as a How did you extract the stake afterwards?] SDR at Brookton - Off the Air Just letting anyone who is a user of the VK6QS is not responding. kiwisdr that the remote radio Hoping to get to the site near Brookton in next few weeks to see whats up. Regards Matthew VK6QS [Heads-up to those of us that use Matthew’s Kiwi SDR at Brookton that it’s Off air at the moment. ] This Week’s KEY WT8 Topic of Interest No2 - WER 1929 by Stan ZL3TK at Horowhenua Hi Mark. The photo of the WER response. 1939 you use on air triggered an immediate In case you're not aware, that style of key had very wide distribution under many different names. The attached PDF deals with the NZ version with which | was familiar in younger days ca 1964. of the borrowed army surplus ZC1 It was part kit | used exclusively for quite some time. Apprentices were paid a pittance so had no money in those days, you see. Of course Collier & Beale had no need to fit a finger guard disc such as yours, because there was no danger of RF burns from 2.5 W out of a 6V6GT final.More to come 73 de Stan later, plenty to digest in the meantime. ZC1 key ... one out of 100 known versions of this key! : oo WT 8 Amp No 2 Morse key, as used on New adhe: “rs Bi gee” Zealand ZC1 transmitter/receiver This key is more commonly known overseas as the WT 8 Amp No. 2 Key. However, in New Zealand it is usually referred to asthe ZC1 key after the World War II ZC1 General Service HF Transmitter/Receiver to which it was fitted. In 1993 Tony Smith G4FAI published in Morsum Magnificat (edition 28) the initial results of a worldwide survey into the WT8 Amp key. He reported that there were over 100 known versions of this key. Five of these versions had the markings “NZ” either under the base or on the side of the arm under the knob. The WT 8 Amp Nr 2 keys made in New Zealand are labelled ‘NZ’ on the bottom. “The first maker of the ZC1 key was Collier & Beale, aradio design and manufacturing company based in Wellington. They designed the 2C1 Army radio sets, including the associated Morse key, headphones and microphone. In 1942, Collier & Beale was given the go ahead for the initial production of only 165 ZC1 Mk1 sets. However, the mass production of the ZC1 Mk2) was carried out by Radio (1936) Ltd, Auckland the NZ Government. You Mk1 (and around and Radio Corporation ofNZ Ltd, Wellington Therefore, there were three manufacturers of the ZC1 might like to contact this Herman 1943 the on behalf of key.” Willemsen VK2IXV to ask about the origin of version WER 1939. [Thanks for taking the time to compile the info about the Kiwi version of my two WER 1939 keys Stan. | know nothing of the origin of mine, except that ! bought my main one at a non-amateur SwapMeet about 40 years ago, and my portable gear one via VK Classifieds more recently. Not that | have any extpertise in key use, but they feel fairly nice (mine could do with some love and care, but work) and the portable key Is unlikely to be damaged in transit - built like the proverbial. Yes, Herman VK2IXV Is one of our team, and has contributed lots from his knowledge of keys and maritime operations. As discussed, Herman writes fantastic articles for the Old Timers News, and I’m sure you'll enjoy the RAOTC magazines if you join.] Any more articles or thoughts from readers? share more thoughts and ideas; Please let me know so we can email 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: Draw the Ohms law triangle and enter the units. The standing wave ratio (SWR) on a transmission line is related to the: e voltage at the ends of the antenna and the voltage at the feed point ¢ maximum e power fed to the antenna and the power reflected back from the voltage and the maximum current in the antenna antenna ¢ maximum voltage and the maximum current in the transmission line If the voltage across a resistor is tripled the power dissipated is multiplied e oOo fWN by The maximum permitted iS: (a) 10 watts pX (bo) 30 watts pY (c) 120 watts pY (d) 400 watts pX How did you go? power for a Standard station using FM telephony Answers next week. Thank you to Baz, VK6MU for inspiring the use of Jules’ questions in the form of a Quiz for the RagChew Answers from last week’s newsletter. Quiz: What voltage can a single carbon zinc cell generate? Answer: Approximately 1.5V The feed impedance of a centre fed half wave dipole is free space is e 300 ohms e 50 ohms e 72 ohms e 32 ohms Answer: 72 Ohms The term "horizontally polarised electromagnetic wave" refers to a wave in which the e magnetic component oscillates vertically e electric component oscillates vertically e magnetic component e electric component Answer: has been eliminated has been eliminated magnetic component oscillates vertically An Advanced 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 Answer: C 120 watts pY [Heads-up folks, I've heard more than one Australian amateur say that they’re running 400 Watts output on CW - the mean restricted to 120 Watts. output is actually How the period part of the mean calculation is applied is an interesting question - over one millisecond, one second, one minute, one hour or one day - all give vastly different answers! future discussion - is it an ARPANSA Topic for a electromagnetic radiation exposure (which is probably a cumulative thing over a longer period of time) question, or is it what your averaging power output indicator reads, or is it the original 150 Watts DC input regulation, modified based on the expected efficiency a Class C Power Amplifier for much solid-state devices?] How did you go? easier measurement with Tuesday’s CQ QRS Net Reminder. Teamwork Thank you so much to our outstanding team of 27 contributors this week! Thanks to: VK3RU, VK6DV, VK5ET, VK3CLD, VK5HAA, VK6PZT, VK3WOW, VK3ACU, VKITE, VK3BAP, VK3AE, VK6HRC, VK2NAP, VK7WW, VK7KPC, VK6BEK, VK6FN, VK4JM, ZL3TK, VK6VZ/VK6BA, VK4MKV, VK3BTV, VK2TER, VK6QS thoughts of the team and VK3JFP. ZLIANY, VK3DPH, Superb - thank you - it’s the plus the photos that makes RagChew so interesting to the 140-odd subscribers. So back to the Slow CW QSO Next Tuesday’s practice net. Net Our CQ QRS Net will be on as always on Tuesday from around 0800z; see below for details. Doesn’t matter whether you're brand new and want to try just exchanging callsigns and RST reports, or you're ready for a good old rag chew. We'll have fun. dah-di-di-di-dah For those who | work on Tuesday night, please accept my apologies in advance for the pauses, repeated dah-di-di-di-dahs etc during our QSO, while | attempt to pick up and log callsigns that | hear on the SDRs and sending WhatsApp notes, etc. QRA As mentioned above, it’s interesting that with phone being the most common used in amateur radio today, the term ‘QRA?’ has gone out mode of favour. QRA means use QRZ, but on CW ‘What is the name of your station?’. On phone we if you’re trying to drag a weak station out of the noise and can’t quite get the callsign, the last thing you’d want to do is send ‘QRZ?’ which so easily could be mis-read as an invitation for someone to jump in and call you. else So, let’s give it a try - if you need to get someone's callsign, either use: e? e AGN? CALL AGN? or QRA? What do you think? Reports Please let me know by email to hear on Tuesday’s net. mark.bosma@icloud.com who you work or The reports are important - because during the net, | 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 Also send me anything for the RagChew that you think might be of interest to our group. newsletter And by the way, when you send reports material to me, please address it to mark.bosma@icloud.com email; depending rather than replying to the RagChew newsletter on your email application, sometimes what | get is either unreadable by my iMac Apple Mail application, or attachments don’t come through; if nothing else, any attachments are right down the end of the email... and if | don’t happen to scroll all the way to the bottom, I'll miss your pearls of wisdom... and that’d be bad n’kay! Post Morsum And for those who are within earshot of an AllStar node, Richard VK6HRC will run our Post Morsum on the South West AllStar net (via repeaters and hotspots all over WA) from 0600 WA time. If you’re in WA, all you need is an FM 2m or 70cm transceiver and an AllStar node nearby. If you’re elsewhere, you may be able to connect your local AllStar-enabled to the net, or you have a listen via Echolink. mark.bosma@icloud.com ) if | can help with that. CQ QRS can WhatsApp Let me know repeater ( Group We've now got a good bunch on our CQ QRS WhatsApp Group who have fun exchanging (phone messaging) alerts, comments and photos during the net, and also spot QRS stations on at other times. If you’re not already in the Group, I’d really like you to join in if possible. Please let Stuart VK6MK stujen55@gmail.com or me mark.bosma@icloud.com Know your mobile phone number, and we'll add you to the group. Other QRS Opportunities Keiran has reminded Wed at 7pm us that Nic VK7WW runs the SLOW Morse Net every EDST on 3580 for 30 mins, using the Northern Tasmania Amateur Radio Club callsign VK7TAZ. Thanks Keiran and thank you Nic for the outstanding effort that has helped so many. €Y CW on Tuesday, 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 QRS details. dah-dah dit! Net The team will be on again for our usual Tuesday arvo / evening QSO Net. CQ QRS will start at 0800z until about 1300z+. 1600 - 2100+ WA time, 1830 - 2330+ Practice This translates to SA Summer time and 1900 - 2400+ Eastern Summer time. e For the first three hours (0800z to about 1100z) we’ll be on 40m from 7025kHz e to 7040kHz. For the last two hours (around 3540kHz 1100z to 13002), we'll be on 80m from to 3570kHz. So tune around and call anyone you hear, or find yourself a quiet spot in the designated 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). Landing Zone If the band goes really quiet, call and listen on 7032kHz or 3555kHz. catch someone, there’s no need to QSY - enjoy the frequency. forget to tune around If you But don’t if it’s quiet - we have lots of operators with crystal locked transmitters - and they could be anywhere within the segments. For those who are locked, or can only transmit outside the segments, send a message on our WhatsApp CQ QRS group advising of your current frequency. Speed 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, not show how fast you can hammer the key. Please 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 it sound like perfect CW; net, the more | understand just how many the longer we go with our non-transmitting have - and they will most likely appreciate your QRS! ZL3TK’s QRZ.com listeners we Quote from Stan page: Real CW Operators strive to make their straight key sending indistinguishable from electronic Morse! spacing, err on the side of generosity, Attend assiduously to those extra few milliseconds are always appreciated. Accuracy supersedes speed in all circumstances. Nicely said Stan. So, 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 and thanks - how good is that? up on air to say g’day 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.... that’s why we're here! Matching 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! PSE QRS And if someone is sending too fast to comfortably copy - “PSE RPT PSE QRS” or “AGN? PSE QRS” will make life easier for everyone.... and might just encourage other listeners to have a go themselves. I’m pleased to say, | hear many of our team doing just that! 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 pearls of wisdom, Whose frequency before replying. is this anyway? 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. And if someone jumps in and calls the station you’ve just worked on your favorite frequency.... smile and enjoy the fact that you've just helped them have a QSO that they otherwise may not have had. CW Tips As always, for newbies, operating suggestions are available from the operating hints link here: httos://www.parg.org.au/ files/ugd/ebe236 3ca5ca08bb38429db4eee524b da2f97a.pdf. There's usually people around until after 1300z - so keep calling until you catch someone. | should be on as usual from home in NSW and via the Remote at Bedfordale WA, and I'll also be watching the proceedings using the Kiwi SDRs in WA (probably the VK6QS one near Beverley, with the Brookton one out of action) and the Tecsun one at Araluen NSW. mb VK2KI / VK6QI The opinions expressed The opinions Send in the do not necessarily comments RagChew newsletter are those of the individual contributors. reflect that of the editor or of the CQ about the RagChew QRS Group members. Newsletter. Copyright (C) 2024 CQ QRS. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences ZF INTUIT Es mailchimp or unsubscribe