Subscribe Past Issues Translate View this email CQ QRS What happened last Tuesday, e Lots more e Our earlier net start new e QRL? in your browser RagChew and a reminder for the next net. members A better way of net reporting? e¢ Reminder for 19Mar4 CQ QRS Lots of fun to be had last Tuesday! Net Despite the new one hour earlier starting time, the net started even 10 minutes earlier once again. it was our new team Aussies and Kiwis all trying to be the first cabs off the rank. By my count, we had at least 45 stations on Tuesday - plus who knows how many listeners getting some terrific practice. Last Tuesday’s Here’s this week’s This time member ZL4TE at Cambridge who caused a pile-up of Net list of 45 stations heard: v RSS 12Mar24 CQ QRS Net Total active stations this week: 57 Total 217 QSOs (note that this figure won't be correct- 50s may be counted twice or moi ten text - heard but not worked, Blue text - incomplete Q50 (not OSLed). MY CALL ¥ VK1HF VKIKVS VKIPWE VK1TE/m VKITE/m cont VKITE/m cont VKIWA VK1ZD) VK2A0E VK2BHO VK2COS VK2DLF VK2EBN VK2GAZ VK2IK VK2IOW VK2KI 40m cQ | Qso1 Qs0 2 Q503 aso 4 Q50 5 Q50 6 Qso7 VK4MFX | VK3XU VK6HRC VK3KLE VK2IOW VK7TA VK6DV VKLWA | VK2NNW | VK3CGB | ZL3TK = |VK3WOW)| VK3KLE | VK2NAP Qs0 8 Listening if no QSOs) ZLIAJY VK7ZA VKENT VK2DLF ZLIAJY VK2/G4RWI| VK3ACU VK2Kl VKSAO VK1TE/m | VK2NNW | VKS5CZ VK5SFD VK3KLE VK1TE/m VK3ACU ZLIAJY VKSPH VK2GW /VK2/G4RWI| VK1TE/m ZLATE VK2DLF VK2/G4RWI| VK2GW VK3ADX VK7TA ZLIAJY VK3RU VK7 WW VK2KI 40m VK4MPFX VKSKLE VKSPH ZL3EF VK6MK VK2KI 40m VK2KI 40m VK2GW VK3RU VK2NNW VKSGG VKIWA VK6NT VK3ACU VK3WOW | VK2KI 40m VK6HRC VK6KD VK2KI 80m VK2NAP VK2NV VK2NNW VK2TER VK2WEO VK6HRC VK5GG VK6KD VK3ADX VK3XU VK1TE/m VK1TE/m VK2GW VK3ACU VKSCZ ZL1HJ VK3ADX VK2DLF VK3KLE | VKITE/m | VK5CZ VKSHAA | VK2EBN | VK1TE/m | VK5CA | VK3KLE | VKGHRC VK3KLE ZL3TK VK6DV VK3KLE VK3ADX VK2WF VK2/G4RWI VK3ACU VEK3ACU cont VK3ADX VK3AE VK3BAP VK2NNW | VK2DLF VK3ADX VK6KD VK7WW > |VK2/G4RWI| VK2DLF VKLTE/m VKSCZ VEK3BAP cont VK3 WOW VK6NT VKITA VK2IOW | VK2BDL | VK3ACU ZLiHJ VEKLHF VK2IOW | VKITE/m| VK2DLF VK7ZA VKSCZ ZL3TK | VKSHAA | VK7TA VK2EBN | VK2NAP | VKSAO | VK2COS VK1WA |VK3WOW | VK3ACU | VK2NAP VKSPH | VK3ACU | VK7\WW VK3BTV VK3BU VK3BYD VK3CLD/p VK3DBD VK3DPH VK3FG VK3KLE VK3KO VK3MJ VK3RU VK3TBR VK3 WOW VK4JM VK4MFX VK6TX/4 VKSCT VK5SCZ VKSET VK5FA VK5FD VKSHAA VKSIP VKSKFG VKSPH VKSPL VK3ADX | VK3WOW | VK5GG VK2IOW VK3KLE VK7WW VKSHAA | |VK2/G4RWI| VK2COS | VKITE/m | VKIWA | VK1TE/m VKSDV | VK3ACU ZL3TK VK1TE/m VKSPH VK2BDL VK6HRC | VKITE/m | VKSHAA VK2DLF VKIWA VK2NNW VK1TE/m VK6DEV VK3KLE VK2DLF VKS5CZ VKSCZ VK3ACU |VK2/G4RWI| VK3KLE ZL3TK | VK2NNW VK3ACU | VK7TA | VK2IOW VK6AAV VK6BEK VK6CK VK6DEV VK6DV VK6FN VK6GAL VK6HRC VK6IR VK6IS VK6DV VKSHAA VK6PZT VK6WE Transmitting 100kHz high! VK6JDM VK6JK VK6KD VK6KHZ VK6KQ VK6LD VK6MK VK6MU VK6NC VK6NT VK6DEV VK3ADX VK3KLE VK3ACU | VKITE/m VK2KI VKSCZ VK6MK VK6WE VK6KHZ VK6PZT VKENT VKO6IS VK6PZT VK3ACU VKONT VK3ACU VK6IS VK2KI |VK1TE/m| VK2KI VK6DV | VK6DEV VK6KD VK6HRC VKENW VK6PZT VK6QI 40m VK6QI 40m VK6QI 80m VK6TY VK6XU VK6WE VK6YV VK7WWw VK7TA VKIPWE ZL3TK VK6IS VK6DV VKEMK VK3WOW | VK3ACU VK6IS VK6HRC VK3ADX VK6NT VK6BWE VKIPWE VK6IS |VK2/G4RWI} VK6NT VK3ADX VKITE/m ZL3TK VK6KD VKSCZ VK6DV VK6IS VK2DLF VK2EBN | VKSHAA | VK2IOW VK3ADX | VK3WOW VK7WW cont VK7KPC/p VK7TA VK7ZA ZLIAJY ZLIANY ZL1HJ ZL3TK ZL3TK cont ZL4BDG ZLATE |VK2/G4RWI) VKITE/m VK3ACU VK3RU VKSC2 VK/TA VKLTE/m | VK1HF VK2IOW VK6NT ZLATE VK1HF VK2DLF VK2/G4RWI VK3KLE VKIPWE ZL4TE VK2IOW VK3ACU VK3SXU VK3ADX ZLIAJY VK3XU ZL1HJ Check out the list from Claude VK1TE/m VK5SCZ | VK3BWOW | - worked VK6NT | VKITE/m) ZLIAY 20 stations and heard one more - pretty good for a little mobile whip on the bullbar! New team members This week I'd like to welcome Mick ZL1HJ at Te Kuiti, Stephen ZLIFS at Hamilton, Chris ZLIACY at Turangi, Derek VK4DRK at Wyreema, KJSDWA at Fort Lauderdale FL and Mark VK4MFX Changes Richard at Cardwell. This Week As | said in the last RagChew, we’re now going to start the net at 0700z rather than 0800z - this will make the net a bit more accessible to our growing ZL team, and we get to enjoy watching the band opening across the Tasman, as well as across Australia - so if you can make it on at the earlier time, so much the better. As dusk falls, the 40m band opens up to all sorts of places around the world - possibly the so-called Grey-Line propagation intuitive idea about still). (which I’ve only got a rough As such, our little portion of 40m quite busy with non-QRS stations. So although can become protocols are generally not worried about much for our training net, we should probably add one: e When call “QRL?” once or twice before launching into a CQ QRS call. the band opens up, it may also be useful to slide up 500Hz from the whole kiloHertz spots - just to reduce the risk of getting clobbered by QRQ operators around the world. However, if you’re new to CW - don’t worry too much about protocols... the net is all about having a go and having some fun! a mistake, get muddled-up If you get it wrong, make part way through, or just plain can’t decode what the other operator is saying - no-one’s going to worry - it’s all about having a go in a Safe and friendly environment. And by the way - join me in this campaign... if the other station is just plain too fast for you, send “PSE QRS” or “AGN?” until the soeed CQ QERS matches your ability. It’s what we do in the Net.... and many of our operators have gone on to feel confident doing the same at other times - woo hoo! RagChew Thanks to those who responded to my plea for help writing the RagChew newsletter once per month. However, so far, no luck finding three more editors to share the love for one week each over a one month Summary cycle. Spreadsheet One thing though that would really help me get the newsletter out is a quicker way of compiling the spreadsheets (built by Stuart VK6MK - thank you mate) depicting who worked or heard whom each week; they’re the ones at the start of each RagChew (above). | compile the spreadsheet manually from my log, the WhatsApp feeds and the reports that everyone sends in (thank you team) - the spreadsheet shows not only what each person reports, but also if there was a QSO, the reporter’s callsign gets recorded in each of the other stations’ lines as well... this takes some time to compile of course. Is there anyone interested in building something better / quicker/ nicer that would allow every one to enter their data in some sort of database input form that populates a visual depiction like the spreadsheet. something like Google Forms - a shared database. I’m thinking | don’t want to use the spreadsheet (eg via a shared Google Drive) - it’s too easy for different people to mess up any spreadsheet unless it’s locked down - eg if there’s several editing at the same time - and having data replicated against the other stations’ lines could be complicated - and pivot tables are also easy to bugger up! Any volunteers to have a crack at building something for the Group? Banner Shot And thank you this week to lan VK1HF for our masthead overlooking the town of Bombala photo - /m in the South East corner of NSW. Cheers, mb Mark Bosma VK2KI / VK6QI Beautiful South Bowning NSW mark.bosma@icloud.com non impediti ratione cogitationis Reports & Comments Here’s this week’s The spreadsheets above show the Known Comments reports. stations on last Tuesday’s net. distilled from the reports I’ve received are below; the spreadsheets above for each station’s contacts or heard: cross-refer to Comments: e From David VK3RU Donna at Mount Buang: ° That’s two for the day with Patrick VK2IOW, Mt Donna QRP from Buang with Martin VK3FG this arvo then tonite from home TU. © QRT now a e From ° big day. Max VK6EN at Manjimup: | was there and ready to go early on Tuesday... but sure enough: =» | couldn’t get my Palstar coupler to tune.... luckily | had a Spare that could be swapped # in at the last moment. | was calling and calling, and responding to other people’s calls, but no-one seemed to be hearing me. = On the fly, | just couldn’t work it out! Turned out to be finger trouble here (I hope you're surprised!). I’d left my brand new Flex Maestro remote control in split-frequency mode.... in my ignorance, band. © e From | was transmitting happily 1OOkKHz up the | wonder if anyone responded? Luckily, there’s always next week. Chris VK2NAP at Marrickville: e Had a celebrity QSO tonight VK3XU himself! Mr Drew Diamond He always signs off with cherio. e He is has a really slick fist. Immaculate sending e | mentioned our QRS Net/ Party to him. Only a quick QSO; maybe catch him on a Sunday on 40m when he has some time -) e VK2NAP - continued: ° /[/'ve been trying to find an email address for Drew for some time to send him the RagChew so he knows what all these QRS stations are about for... no luck so far!] © |’ll ask around. I'll see if he’s in the FISTS discord. Hit him up for the team! © | was crawling along calling CQ at 9WPM me. | was up at L5WPM and he came back to in short order. Straight key allows you such luxury :-) o From © From # Paul VK3KLE at Stawell: | had Drew QSO with David VK3RU = Just happens on 160m last nite. at Burwood: | know Drew VK3XU quite well and we had a chat re QRS on Thursday. = To say the least he is very pleased to hear the activity on Tuesday evenings, WhatsApp however he has no desire to monitor or emails in volume. Drew tells me he would be quite keen to work stations in the evenings, especially Tuesday on 40m and 80m, as for QRS and | can quote “it would be his privilege” to QRS to the sender or responders speed. = | think you know Drew is the polished professional, possibly the best hand key operator around and this can be confirmed using my QCX 40M QRP rig decoder. Morse from Drew is the only hand sent Morse where my QCX decoder delivers a very reliable representation of the data sent, to say the least its bloody good. = Happy to pass on any messages but | feel sure members the group will benefit from working Drew and he will derive pleasure in working stations you have rallied to QRS. as [Thanks David. Good to hear that Drew is keen to support our efforts, but a pity that he doesn’t want to get our emails; we have no other way of letting him know about changes with the net - frequencies, times etc, plus of course things like our up-coming International Morse Code Day quiz etc. © e Cheers and much appreciated. ] See below for more about Tuesday from Chris. QRS party wrap up from Chris VK2NAP at Marrickville: ° This week’s Tuesday for me kicked off with a Masterclass QSO with Graeme Morgan VK5GG. Graeme was on a nice and very shiny chromed Vibroplex Original. Smashing around 20WPM with a dit rate that was closer to 23 WPM. than twice the legal speed Graeme along somewhere More limit for this casual saunterer! is quick and clean... but just a little too quick for me; but | could pick out enough of what he is sending and it improved © my copy... character-building. Graeme was the first one ever to return my callsign when | first got on the air with a key; | remember it well. Being right on dusk, and with my freshly minted callsign and my proto “Poke-Out-TheWindow-Tenna” right next to the adjacent power lines, | heard his CQ, and replied to his call at a trepid but steady 12WPM. replied with a GE OM noise jumped He ES TNX FER.....then out of nowhere the 3 S points and his signal dropped off a cliff in the matter of around 15 seconds never to return. | was devastated... but | got over it. | knew from that point on, it wasn’t going to get any worse than that. A good when learning experience. These days, | hear Graeme and I’ve got 5 mins, I'll always do a quick signal exchange and short rag chew about secret hams You know WX, © business, RIG. KEY etc Back to Tuesday. Following that, | enjoyed a nice long form QSO with Merv VK3ADxX, and of course, | couldn’t ignore the glowing tube notes from Paul VK3KLE. o After carefully crafting a steady 9WPM managed VK3XU. CQ spot on the local RBN, | a celebrity QSO with the irrepressible Drew Diamond, Drew’s fist is immaculate. So consistent and easy to copy. Drew was another ham who really helped me along with my code early on, and stuck with me on some longer rag chews. Always good to catch up. e Tried a QSO with VK1TE/M a few times but couldn’t beat the conditions. Hung around on 40m for a while after. Heard JHIUSR on 7023 at a cosy 13WPM or so, but sadly couldn’t get through. QRS DX would have been nice but | decided to call it a night as | had an early start....which | missed anyway! e From Stuart VK6MK © at Australind: Big night planned for CW... then my kids arrived for a meal so Richard VK6HRC e From Nic VK7WW was my only contact. at Legana: ° An interesting night, a quick QSO - leap off for tea, then visitors and back into it! © 5W tonight - only worked TWO o Bit of a struggle for Peter VK3WOW o Heard © [Thanks Nic - a good haul from your SWL with my 5W (QRO next week ©)) e 10 others - see the spreadsheet. From Peter VK7KPC nets this time.] visiting SA: © Sorry not on tonight, out for dinner with 3 of our grandsons. © Should be home next week e From © Donald VK6JDM at Dalyup: | spent an hour on 80 metres starting at 10.50 UTC and heard plenty of stations despite quite strong QSB. Stations heard are in the spreadsheet. There was also a VK 5 and a VK2 their callsigns down but | did not manage to write before the auto erase function of an old brain kicked in. | replied to several of these stations calling CQ but was not heard, | shall have to attach the afterburner when | am home again in two weeks and see if | can rattle a response. It is great to hear so many stations sending Morse at a speed that | can follow. You have really started something safe place for the CW challenged among [Great report mate - thank you. and established a us. | did hear from two VKé6s that there was a high noise level over that way on the night (aurora perhaps?) - but I’m surprised you didn’t raise anyone. Does your home-brewed gear go up to 40m for the earlier session?] | will try to complete the 100 watt CW transmitter | am working on by next session, It will do 40, 80 and 20 metres and uses a VFO so is frequency agile. | am still trying to get Bob VK6KRC to get on air on the slow CW nights. He offers many excuses. | have told him if he does not get his act into gear | will have to spread scurrilous rumours about why he is not on air. Hopefully this threat will add one more to our fold. [Well it must be working... Bob admitted on AllStar this week that he was soldering a connector on his key! up Louis VK6O!I from Kalgoorlie too! You better start revving He's threatened to break his no CW vows as well!] Interesting to hear VK6KRC long lost key. is actually soldering the leads to the | heard a rumour he was working on a project to combine two of his favorite activities, namely exercise and radio by building an exercise bike based generator to power his transmitter. As he uses QRO not to be TOFAQSB, he will need to pedal hard if there is (transmitter operator fatigue associated QSB). | am thinking of threatening Bob with spreading that rumour in both the amateur and the medical literature. | have no idea where the rumour originated, | generally steer clear of rumour mongers as | am Sure you also do. [>] From Stan ZL3TK at 4265 ° e km on bearing 115 true from Alice Springs: | worked seven stations on Tuesday and heard another three. Thanks for letting me know that there were a number of ZLs on Tuesday night - | heard only one other; good to know that the publicity IS working despite some message language difficulties getting the understood. Thank you for the Enigma publicity in a recent RagChew. Fingers crossed that Thursday's SAS Net might see the first trans-Tasman Enigma traffic being passed. simple message Nothing too controversial, including a call sign and punctuation. just a Should be exciting - this must be approaching the ne plus ultra exercise in handling unexpected characters! The newsletter, honestly, I've never seen anything brilliant for keeping up with folks experiences; work and no doubt much like it - a hell of of lot of appreciated. [Thanks for adding the twist to your QTH on the night Stan - for us Western Islanders, many NZ place names are tongue twisters already!] e From Claude VK1TE/m at Mawson: oO Judging by your WhatsApp/CW juggling you must have been a Philharmonic orchestra conductor in your previous life! ;-) We had some variety to play with on this session, as you'll see on the attached log. This time, | used another transceiver and checked the antenna connections. It seems that the TX side of it might have improved a bit. We'll see when | hit the bumpy dirt roads... On the RX side, | have the impression that the previous radio was better. Not sure yet, as it can be subjective without proper testing. The little FT857D can achieve a lot, but | still prefer the TS-480 and can't wait to turn it back on. Thanks again for your tenacity. e From John VKS5ET at Hope Valley: Oo | listened on Paul’s Ironstone Range SDR - much holiday QTH. e All the best and CW agn sn. cooler inside our | heard eight stations on 40 Mts as listed. From Nigel VK2/G4RWI at Mimosa Rocks: e Before the net started | almost worked a French station on 40M CW, he could hear that a VK was calling him “VK AGN?” But never got further than that; can’t claim it as a contact, but quite chuffed to being heard (almost!) on 10W from a bit of wire strung up in the bush. e Reasonable haul with seven Stations this week. Using a pie dish as a base for my magnetic key... . that’s why | needed to QRT during dinner on Tuesday. e From Richard VK6HRC at Padbury: oO Five stations worked on Tuesday. oO The usual disclaimer... info retrieved from shorthand / scribbles on my notepad! Quiet to start with. VK5PH | put out some calls and then listened on the KiwiSDR at Ironstone Ridge for a while then back to the key. I’m enjoying the WhatsApp facility, but | still missed a few from the alerts ... not fast enough! Thanks for your hard work. We had five on the VK6RLM Wednesday / AllStar Post Morseum morning - 6am WA time. David VK6KD rolling with the others joining in after a while. on got things A great round up of last night's net, varying conditions and finger-troubles testing us out etc. © e Looking forward to next week's net! From Stephen ZL1FS at Whatawhata: © Sorry Mark | had to go out this time. BUT next Tuesday | should be available. 73s, Steve ZL1FS e From o Mick ZL1HJ at Te Kuiti: Hi Mark | heard Pete ZL4TE working VK3XU and when he finished | called Drew but he didn’t hear me, so | had a quick one with Pete. o Then worked VA7MG, G4RWI, DL8FBH, and EZ5RQ - so there was plenty of DX about. o As my wife and | had been working in the garden most of the day (rebuilding a limestone wall) and was a bit knackered in my Lay Z Boy chair. Then after a bit of tv and a drop of Appletons Estate light brown to bed around e | fell asleep rum with lemonade and ice, | went midnight which is usual for us. From Jordan VK3ACU at Meredith: o What a great Tuesday night | made contacts in to VK1 235 &6- all with 20 Watts and a long wire. °o I’ve just realised looking at the list (my goal was 10 Stations) it would be great to get a contact from all States but that’s going to be like rare dx. e o Thank you everyone who came up for a contact such a great group! °0 [Anyone know anyone interested in CW in the Northern Territory?] e From Richard VK6PZT at Dalyellup: © Just two contacts for me on Tuesday night, including another new contact for me, Nick VK6DV at st James. o The last two weeks have been a short sprint for me, rather than a long night of code due to family and other professional commitments. e From o Peter VK3WOW at Blackburn: Last Tuesday evening turned out to be very much an adventure, for me, in distinguishing weak signals against a background hash of noise — a very different experience indeed from listening to nice clear CW audiobooks of Conan Doyle or John Buchan stories! o With almost every contact where | could get a report, | found | was being heard much more easily by the other station than | could hear myself. My ant all evening was a 12 metre random length end fed vertical, and | was transmitting 100 watts. | failed to copy significant parts of each of the five QSOs. © Wondering if others in this group formally log any of their contacts? I'm a relatively new returned-to-the-game ham, and not sure how people handle this. Have been logging most of these contacts to grz.com, if only for logging practice right now. Other options? © [Thanks Peter. You were using a non-resonant horizontal doublet up in the ceiling previously were you not? Sounds like the vertical may be more noisy on receive than the internal horizontal antenna, which was doing so remarkably well! Are you able to use a coaxial switch to swap from one to the other (noting you'll need to adjust your antenna coupler each time to compare apples with apples)? We'd be interested to learn more. If you find that the vertical transmits better but is noisy (often the case for verticals - low take-off angle but pick up noise), a noise canceller might be the go. s The VK5TM kit, » a <$100 Chinese copy in a nice case (what| use), =» avery cheap Chinese copy not in the box (VK2NAP uses one) ® a ridiculously expensive MF/-1026 (| have a second hand one that | can’t get to work on 80m, © and can’t yet find the fault). Re logging - how about you use the WhatsApp Poll function to run a Poll in our WhatsApp Rag Chew group to see what people use? =» For me - | was brought up in the days when logging was mandatory - we needed to be able to produce a written log on demand when the Radio Inspector knocked on the door. still have my paper logs that went back to around 1972 when I was first licensed.... just in case! » /now use an Excel spreadsheet. = For portable operation, I’ve tried various options including the nice logging that comes with Sue VK5AYL’s iParksnPeaks iPhone app, and the Notes application that comes with my phone. However, when up to my arm-balls in wind and rain on top of a mountain or in the bush, it’s just too hard to log electronically with CW - so now | just use a printed A4 page folded in half and hand-write the callsigns, then transfer them manually to my log spreadsheet at home. ] e From Brendan VK3BAP © Again this week, at Truganina: no opportunity to transmit on Tuesday night - but | did listen in to 40M sporadically over the course of the evening and heard e From 11 stations. me VK2KI at Beautiful South Bowning: © Well the proposal from the Shaky Isles to start the net an hour earlier seemed 0700z to be a hit. start, 40m from Cambridge, was 10 minutes before the scheduled alive with signals. Pete ZL4TE and there was an immediate called pile-up; CQ | could hear at least three stations calling including Nigel VK2/G4RWI pedalling as hard as he could with 10 Watts portable at Mimosa Rocks and Merv VK3ADX at Ballarat... all chafing at the bit. | came like the first QSO of the net was between back, it sounded Pete and Paul ZL1AJY at Birkenhead. When | In all | heard five ZLs, four of which were already members QRS team; of our CQ | don’t have an email address for the fifth (ZL2EF), so I’m hoping that one of the Kiwis can help there (it’s such a tiny place, surely everyone knows each-other don’t they? Hl). The cat was not impressed with me using my iPad at the dinner table to listen on the Tecsun SDR! e VK2KI cont... © I'd been working Claude VK2CL/m noticed what sounded in the previous week and like an intermittent fault in his keying... but there was also an echo on his signal - indicating some sort of propagation anomaly. » On Tuesday, Claude (as VK1TE/m) on his signal at around 1130z. seemed Then to have a ripple | noticed over the next half hour that both VK3TLE and VK5AO also had the same warble (ripple, but without any frequency shift), and | later | heard others make the same comment. Auroral phenomena at work again. °o 40m was jumping once again, and | was having so much fun that | ended 40m up mainly listening for the rest of the night... only one and two 80m contacts, plus another 31 stations heard. e Also from the other me - VK6QI listening via the VK6QS KiwiSDR at Brookton: o 15 stations heard via the VK6QS SDR - boy is that one sensitive bit of kit - thanks Matt! Despite (or perhaps as a result of??) the BOM Services alpha-beta-delta-gamma advised Space Weather alphabet solar flare warning in Tuesday’s pre-net reminder), by 0900z, (as Eastern States signals were thundering-in to the SDR in WA - so a good night was on the cards. =» WA stations said the noise level was quite high there; | didn’t notice it on the KiwiSDR - but the waterfall display parameters may have been dynamic, and signal-to-noise ratios were good, meaning the noise wasn’t so obvious. =» Later in the evening, | saw that there were patches of auroral buzz on 80m - but only in patches of the band, not the whole lot. | was a little worried at the lack of stations calling during the 80m segment of the net, both in WA and over East; fingers crossed that our 40m fun hasn’t scared our original big team of friends away; time will tell | guess. Well well.... another hugely successful CQ QRS QSO dusted. Did you have fun? | sure did! Practice net done and CQ QRS WhatsApp Traffic from the CQ QRS The CQ QRS WhatsApp e CQ QRS Community Feed WhatsApp Groups. has two sub-groups: Alerts - for spotting CQ calls and QSOs during the net, and for QRS alerts and members’ CQ calls (QRS or QRQ, simple exchanges or rag chews) at other times. e Rag Chews - for chats and photo exchanges between team members about who knows what - current projects, technical questions, in fact, anything of interest to CW operators... excluding religion and politics of course. You can set different notifications on your phone - eg a sound when there’s an Alert, and silence when there’s a rag chew message. There’s been lots and lots of traffic on the Community - rag chews and CQ call alerts both in and outside the net. RagChew Most of the pictures in each week’s comes from our team on WhatsApp. images shared by team through what our mob Here’s some of the other members this time around... enjoy the amble has been up to. hy . a . i. A 4 a" “nd a i al, mn mi rf tai oy ; ee Mi A fe tisHt ayty Mal Vike IH tsi yy y Hit tr CaYt , i aH mT oy ri een Ava at is ye aiece yy Wea one dh rh / itd | Hy liad sin ry bi nesti / cme) Mt Ri ti i) sy! hh Wr Wy Ye ah Hh A ty i ik hyMi the Ha urh i ny ie Hy A ie Hh thy MY my i Var PAPAL HaHa Di ih Wy is i ee Wl H iy! asid yy) Nh i mh by Wy fyBp a hy, tee Wi ifi sna il ees if ah way tn Hel a i uel VFO-A rw 4) (eat 5 | | MARKER | | GUA ’ ef 13.5. 88 ay Pi, ANYHy HOLD aia 1 + +4 Kua | > WIDE eT M.SCOPE EXIT/SET CONGO BRIGHT Leen Moyet tea AT IF +8 || a STL RITMOD Mea) +10k ard Ua ry I TRI: | Ai nv an y mi ( 4 Please let me know if you'd like to be in the WhatsApp group - we’ve now got most of the active team on there, but I’d really like all of our net participants to join in the fun mark.bosma@icloud.com Other Other things I’ve received News from our 150-odd readers. Morsle From Nigel G4RWI: | don’t know if the Wordle craze hit VK, but the CW equivalent is Morsle. Quite addictive https://morsle.fun/help [We're daily Wordle fans - and share with a group of friends - none of Whom spoil it for others with hints or Jokes about the target word. ! do Morsle occasionally but in Settings, select QWERTY keyboard and Hard Mode to make the wom realistic. ] all! Boost 4G 5:38pm 4973% =) & © O P @) From Richard VK6PZT > morsle ch Play at 40 WPM a 21 remaining Q W E R TT YY U t Switch to Alphabetical AA @ morsle.fun < Oo CW om oO Hotline. From CW Cc lan VK1HF: paddle intercom! The lead is just USB power... and they are talking to each-other via a USA server! USA Team Members? e From lan VK1LHF: @Mark VK2KI Bosma any thoughts on adding in some +1 members? le USA etc. be nice if they wanted to chime in somehow on the QRS nets. e [We have two in Florida at the moment - one W4GAL has been on often using a Remote in WA and his Aust call VK6GAL. The other one Is also in Florida and has only just joined... fingers crossed that he'll come up when the band Is open or listen onan SDR; times area Challenge - the net starts at 3am there at the moment. But yes, if we can get some interest that would be very interesting. ] lan VKLHK/p at Green Cape Lighthouse e From Stuart VK6MK: Clubs like the Long Island CW club are more US-centric but have members from all over. So | don’t see an issue at all with adding interested parties from where-ever. You just wouldn’t want outside VK ZL to outnumber the more local Net concept. get some Might interest on higher bands into the future... we just have to be mindful of not messing too much with a winning formula. From lan VK5CZ at Clare: Thanks for the article on SOTA and Parks in last week’s RagChew VK7ZA. most on 10m From Lance QSO with 22 JA ops on summits today plus 2 x ZL, 1 x BX, CW. Good diversion from 39deg Derek VK4DRK 1 x N6- C outside. at Wyreema: Hi Mark, Thanks for your invitation. 10:30pm Most Tuesday evenings I'm out until 10:00pm or local time - so | guess I'd be good for the late night QSOs on the net, if there are still people about on 80m then (maybe those in WA)... and, that's if I'm not heading straight to bed when | get home! I'm fairly new to CW (2 years), but already, with the benefit of contacting DX stations more easily with CW, I'm just one country away from applying for a mixed or open DXCC award (I'm on 99 confirmed on LOTW)! 73 Derek, VK4DRK [Thanks Derek. There’s no problem with coming late to the net - there’s usually people around even up to 1300z - 11pm Queensland time.] ICQ Podcast Hi Mark, would you have any objections if | forward this email chain to the ICQ podcast? news items Its mainly UK and US based, but they are always looking for 73 Pete zl4te [Thanks for your help Pete - no objections what so ever - the more promotion, the better chance of attracting more interest and hopefully more new operators. Great idea.] SKCC - this weekend QRS Saunter The SKCC Oceania QRS Saunter will take place this Saturday, 16th March, 2024 from 00:00 UTC until 11:59 UTC for the 12 hour event. All are welcome to join in!! All the details for the Oceania SKCC website QRS Saunter (OQS) can be viewed on the at: https://www.skccgroup.com/operating_activities/oqs/ Please make use of the SKCC Sked Page and the CW Club RBN Spotter. httos://sked.skccgroup.com/ https://ron.telegraphy.de/ | look forward to contacting you during the event. Best regards, Garry VK2GAZ/VK2ZP #5460C Manager - SKCC Oceania QRS Saunter SKCC SK % CC Straight Straight Key Century Club oas Key Century Oceania QRS Club Saunter Saturday, 76th March, 2024 @ 00:00 UTC 12 Hours 00:00 - 11:59 UTC From Stan ZL3TK afer seeing photos of Claude VKITE / VK2CL’s mobile set-up: Back in the olden days...1960s when the bands were wide open all day every day, | used to run 2 W of 80 m AM motor scooter. Never managed noise, but managed motor half a log book of contacts all over ZL from the side of road. Battery life was 15 minutes! 73 Stan. de into a centre-loaded whip on my a mobile contact, far too much From Jordan VK3ACU: If anyone in the group is new or still coming up to speed, I’m always happy to slow down to any speed (don’t care how slow you are) have a a= al crack [That’s what it’s all about Jordan good stuff! ] as, Community Radio Many readers know already that | do a stint as a volunteer presenter on the local Community radio station, YassFM on Friday afternoons NSW time. We usually have a number of the CQ QRS team oo, . listening-in via the Live Praseriiig da Vaan EMG: . Vineyard Selection - Fridays 1pm to 4om NSW time Stream on the internet. lpm until 40m Your Shad = Fridaye dom to Som NBW time Live Stream: NSW time | have a guest, my mate Dennis who has a Vineyard in Yass Mark Bosma SMS: 0418161773 wow yaessim.org ie ass 1m100 is a great classical Yass Lik 3 . music fan - and he brings his music to share from 1pm | do the Your Shed until 49m. And from 4pm until 50m, program - things of interest to local rural businesses primarily. To listen, www.yassfm.org and click on Listen Live. Send me an SMS to say g’day if you’re listening in. This Week’s Topic of Interest Parrot-proof Antenna Wire Richard VK6PZT The parrots finally finished off the cheap reticulation wire for my end fed half wave dipole. So | have replaced it with some 1.5 mm stainless steel wire from Bunnings. | have read that this does not work FS ye Ue eo nM a ay ot ss \ fe well with low impedance centre fed dipoles, however, as it only cost $20 | thought | would give it a crack with my end -ed half-wave. I’m hoping the high end fed impedance ‘ would help. 040206 Itam no. AGSO20 Made in China So far it tunes up just great with very low VSWR on 80 and 40 m and around 2 to 3:1 on all of the bands. Easily tunable with my manual tuner. However with only two contacts to test it with so far, I'll reserve judgement until | can gauge how it radiates. Kind regards, Richard. [Very nice looking wire Richard. The stranded wire might give some low skin effect resistance which may offset the slightly higher resistance of SS perhaps. | use single-strand 1.2mm 306 stainless steel MIG wire (I bought a huge heavy roll - just in case | decide to replace the fences as well!) and have also read that SS isn’t good resistivity-wise. work, and it’s tough as the proverbial; However, it seems to the stranded stuff will be better of course - won't kink as easily, can go around pulleys etc. Our team member Owen Duffy VKZOMD suggests use of these little stainless steel clips to make the connection to SS or aluminium https://owenduffy.net/blog/?p=1934 You can get them on eBay etc. Owen also suggests the use of Marine Grease or conductive joint paste https://owenduffy.net/antenna/misc/cpec.htm moisture out and reduce corrosion further. over the connections to keep With his usual thoroughness, he’s done a seven year review to see how the Marine Grease-treated dissimilar metal joints (in that case aluminium and SS) fared as well https://owenduffy.net/blog/?p=28865 Thanks Owen. ] Got an idea to share? and ideas; Please let me know so we can share more thoughts email to cqgrsnet@gmail.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 With thanks to Baz VK6MU for he idea, and Jules for the good learning website, here’s this week’s quiz questions from Jules’ Workshop example test questions: Calculate the following: R= 10000 E=500v |=? The zener diode in this diagram: # 10 Volts e is reversed biased e is forward biased e has positive voltage applied to its anode 6.2 Volts - e is not conducting An unterminated iS long wire "V" beam antenna has a radiation pattern which omnidirectional bidirectional dependent on the ionosphere unidirectional Before transmitting, receiver gain should be maximised proposed to be used. This is to: on the frequency (a) Monitor the bandwidth of the licensee's own transmission (ob) Ensure that a reply to the call will not be missed (c) Ensure that the frequency is not already in use (d) Check propagation characteristics of the frequency in use How did you go? Answers next week. Answers from last week’s Quiz: Calculate the following: E= Answer: 20vl1=0.2A 1000hms The ability of a communications receiver to distinguish between signals that are close in frequency is known as its: e selectivity e sensitivity e stability e bandspread Answer:selectivity The sensitivity of a meter with a full scale deflection (FSD) of 300V and an internal resistance of 300,000 ohms e 100 ohms/volt e 300 ohms/volt is: e 1,000 ohms/volt e 3,000 ohms/volt Answer: 1,000 Ohms/Volt An emission designation e includes 6M25 which means: (a) ATV signal with six monochrome (black and white) dots for every 25 colour dots e (b) Six metre band transmission with 25kHz bandwith e (c) Intermodulation e (d) It has a bandwidth of 6.25Mhz Answer: limits or 6dB to 25dB D How did you go? Di-dah-di-dah-dit Here we go.... 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 0700z until about 1300z; 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. Reports Please let me know by email to cggrsnet@gmail.com who you work or hear on Tuesday’s net. Post Morsum 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 in the world, you may be able to connect your local AllStar-enabled repeater to the net, or you can connect via Echolink. Let me know (mark.bosma@icloud.com) if | can help with that. Teamwork Thank you so much to our team of 26 contributors this week: VK3RU, VK6FN, VK2NAP, VK3KLE, VK6MK, VK7WW, ZL3TK, VK1TE, VK5ET, G4RWI, VK6HRC, VK3WOW, €U CW on Tuesday, mb Mark Bosma VK2KI / VK6QI Beautiful South Bowning NSW VK7KPC, VK6JDM, ZL1FS, ZL1HJ, VK3ACU, VK3BAP, VK5CZ, VK6DV, VK4DRK, Thank you team. VK1HF, ZL4TE, VK2GAZ VK6PZT, and VK3]FP. 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 dah-dah dit! Net details. The team will be on again for our usual Tuesday arvo / evening QSO Practice Net. Frequencies and Times With thanks to Stan ZL3TK for the neat and clear formatting, here’s the good gen: VK CQ QRS NET TUESDAYS || 0700Z ~ Australia SA Summer Time Eastem SummerTime New Zealand = NZ Daylight Time orooz ~ 11002 40m 10007 ~ 171007 11007 ~ 13002 | 1730 ~ | 1800 ~ 2400 | 2000 ~ 0200 7.025 MHz 2330 ~ 7.040 MHz 40m 7.025 MHz ~ 7.040 MHz ose Seeaseensers 80m 3.540 MHz ~ 3.570 MHz 80m 3.540 MHz ~ 3.570 MHz So tune around and call anyone you hear, or find yourself a quiet spot in the designated segment, send “QRL?” and if the fcy is quiet, start calling CQ QRS at about 75% of the speed you're comfortable receiving at; hopefully responders will match we’re on 40m (or send slower to their comfort level). perhaps consider calling 500Hz above each 1kHz slot - to minimise the chance of having to copy our team through QRQ the kHz markers. Landing If and you can hear that the band is open outside Australasia, Zone QRM that’s often dead-on 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 - Alerts 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, hammer the key. Please send slowly where you can and concentrate on not show how fast you can 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! listeners we 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 up on air to say g’day and thanks - how good is that? And if you're new or like me, just rusty.... ignore the above... just have a go - the lather of sweat will be worth it and there’s plenty of time to get the details sorted out as you practice. 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. The other thing to remember - most operators are writing down what they hear... so when you put it back to them, expect a delay while they read your words of wisdom, before replying. Whose frequency 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. CW Tips As always, for newbies, operating suggestions are available from the operating hints link here: https://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 VK6QS and Tecsun SDRs in WA and NSW respectively. mb VK2KI / VK6QI The opinions expressed The opinions Send in the RagChew do not necessarily comments newsletter are those of the individual contributors. reflect that of the editor or of the CQ about the RagChew Copyright (C) 2024 QRS Group Newsletter. CQ QRS. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences 7 @ 3 mailchimp members. or unsubscribe