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Morse Code Day

Intern

Quiz

‘==

0845z\April 27', 2024
I

CQ QRS

RagChew

Edition 17/2024

What happened

last Tuesday,

and a reminder for the next net.

¢ CQ QRS

International

Morse

Code

Reports from Tuesday’s

CQ QRS

Practice QSO

International

Day Quiz - this

Saturday
Morse

Code

Day Chinese

e Another

Ode

Code

Learning

the Morse

e AR Exam

Questions

for 30Apr24

Reminder

CQ QRS

net

Whispers

exercise

Net

First and foremost..... Saturday April 27th is International Morse Code Day,
and to celebrate Samuel

Morse’s Birthday, we’re running the Zoom

videoconference quiz at 0845z this coming Saturday evening.

And don’t

worry - it’s all about having fun, not whether you know more about the
topic than the next person.

Please email to Richard VK6PZT

vk6pzt@gmail.com to join in the fun.

Last Tuesday’s

Net

Thank you to everyone who took the time to send a report about what you
heard on the CQ QRS Slow CW

Practice QSO

varying condition reports - 40m

seemed to be working ok, but 80m was

very quiet again.

net last Tuesday.

I’ve heard

Things might change as we head into Winter with lower

excitement of the ionosphere as the solar radiation drops in the Southern
hemisphere;

time will tell.

Here’s this week’s

list of the 40 stations

known

to be on:

RSS

23Apr24 CQ QRS Net
Total

active stations

Total

QSOs

this week

(note that this figure isn't correct because it adds duplicate lines):

[note that this figure won't Be correct - QSOs may be counted twice or more):

56
171

Black text- QSLed, Green text - heard but net worked, Blue text - incomplete Q50 (not QSLed).

COQRS Team
Member

Qso2

Qso 3

Qs0 4

Qgso5

QsO 6

Qso7

Qso0 8

VK3ACU

VK3DRQ

VK2IOW

VKSFG

VKSAAR

VK3ADX

VKSFD

VK2GAS

VK4ALE

VK2DLF
VK4JM

ZL3TK

VK2TE

VKSPH

VK3DRQ

ZL1PX

VK6BEK

VKSKFG

VK4ALE

ZL3TK

VK3KLE
éL3TK
VK5CZ

VK2DVA
VKSAAR
VK3BWN

VK3CTM
VK2DLF
VKSET

VKSQOA
VK2IOW

VK3ADX
VK3DRQ

VK3ACU
VK1TE/m

VK7KPC
VK6BEK

VKGFN
VK6PZT

VIKAWP

VK3ADX
VKSAO

VK2DVA

VK6FN

VK6IS.

VKSPH

VKSET

VK7KPC

VK2DHA

VK3CTM

Qso1

[insert OQ or Listening if mo $03)

VK1HF
VEKLKVS 40m

VK1PWE
VKLTE/m 40m
VKITE/m

Heard on the net.

40m cont

VK1TE/m gom
VK1IWA 40m

VK1ZD)
VK2A0E
VK2BHO
VK2CL/m
VK2COS
VK2DLF 4am
VK2EBN
VK2GAS 40m
VK2GAZ 40m
VK2GAZ som
VK2IK
VK2IOW 4am
VK2IOW som
VK2KI 40m
VK2KI 40m cont
VK2KI 80m

VK2NAP

VK2NV

VK2NNW
VK2TER
VK2WF
VK2/G4RWI
VK3ACU 4om
VK3ACU

40m cont

VK3ACU 80m
VK3ADX som
VK3AE 40m
VK3BAP
VK3BTV 40m
VK3BTV 80m
VK3BU
VK3BWN

40m

VK3BWN gom
VK3BYD 40m

VK2KI
Heard on the net.

VK3KLE
VKSCZ

VK3ETV

VKSPH

VK2IOW

VK3RU

£LIPY
VKSCA
VKSC2

£L2GD
VK6FN
VKSET

VKSET
2L3TK
VKSETU

VK2IOW
VKSAO

VK6BE

VK3ACO

VK2IOW
VK3ACU

VK4ALE
VKSAO

VKSC?

VKSCT

VKSFB

VK3DRQ

VK3BYD 80m

VK3CLD/p
VK3DBD
VK3DPH

VK3DRQ 40m
VK3FG

40m

VK3KLE 40m
VK3KLE 40m
VK3KLE som

VK3KO
VK3RU
VK3TBR 40m
VK3TBR 40m cont

VK3VMM
VK3 WOW

Heard on the net.

VK4ALE 40m

Heard on the net.

VK4DRK 40m

VK4DRK gom
VK4JM
VK4MFX

Heard on the net.

VKSAO

Heard on the net.

40m

VKSAYL
VKSCT
VKSCZ 40m

Heard on the net.

VKSCZ 40m cont
VKSCZ som

VKSET 40m

VK5SA0
VK3GAS

VKSET 40m

VK3TBR
VK2DLF

ZL1PX
VK3DRU

VK3ADX
VK2DLF

VK3ACU
VKSFD

VK2IOW
VK3DLQ,

VK3KLE
VK3DRU

2L3TK
VK6PZT

VK7KPC

VKOBEK

VKOPZT

VKSET 40m

VK2KI

VKSAO

VKSKLE

VIEK4ALE

VK2IOW

VKSFD

VKSET som

VKSAO

VK3KLE

VKSC2

VK3KLE

VKSCZ

VK3BWN

VK6PZT

VK2IOW

VK3VMM

VK6KHZ

VK3ACU

VK6BEK

VKSFA
VKS5FD

Heard on the net.

VKSHAA 80m

VKSKFG

Heard on the net.

VIKSLA 40m
VKSPH

40m

VKSPL
VK5SOA

Heard on the net.
Heard on the net.

VK6AAV 4om

VK6BEK 40m
VK6BEK som
VK6CK
VK6DEV
VK6DV
VK6FN
VK6GAL
VK6HD 40m

VK6IS
VK6JDM

Heard on the net.
Heard on the net.

VK6HRC 4om

VK6KHZ

VK6HD

VK6JDM

VK6BEK

VKG6IS som

VKSAO
VK6GKHZ

VK6HD
VKGFN

VK6JDM som

VK6BEK

VK6PZT

VK6HRC 40m cont

VK6HRC gom
VK6IR

VK6IR
VKGIS 40m

VK6JK
VK6KD 40m
VK6KD 80m

VK6KHZ 4om
VK6KQ
VK6LD
VK6MK/p 4om
VK6MK 40m
VK6MK

Heard on the net.

VK6PZT

80m

VK6MU
VK6NC
VK6NT
VK6ENW som

VK6MK/p

VK6PZT som
VK6PZT 20m

VK2KI

VK6JDM
VKOKHZ

VK6HD

VK3KLE

VK6IS

VK3ACU

VK6QI 20m

VKSET

VK6PZT

VK6JDM

VK3BWN

VKSCZ

VK6RR 40m

VK2IOW

éL3TK

VK6JDM

VKSPZT

ZL4TE

VKLTE

VK3ACU

VK3KLE

£L3TK

VKSET

VK3ACU

VK2KI

VK1TE/M

ZL1PX

VK5A0
VK2GAS

VKSET
VK2IOW

VK6QI 40m
VK6Ql

40m cont

VK6TY
VK6XU
VK6VZ 40m
VK6WE

4om

VK6WE

gom

VK6YV

VK7WW
VEK7WW cont
VEK7KPC 40m
VK7KPC 80m

VK7TA 40m
VK7TA 40m cont

VK7ZA
ZL1IAJY
ZLIANY
2L1HJ)
ZL1IPX

Heard

ZL2GD 40m

on the net.

ZL2GD 40m cont

ZL3TK 40m

VK3DRQ,

VK3TBR

VKSAO

VK3RU

VK4ALE

40m cont

ZL1PX

ZL2EXN

Z2L2GBR

ZL2GD

VKLTE

ZL3TK 40m cont

VK3KLE

VK3V¥VMM

VKSET

ZL4TE

ZL3TK

ZL3TK 80m

ZL4BDG
ZLATE

Reports

Heard

on the net.

VKSKFG
VK3ADX

Next Tuesday’s net will be on as always from 0700z until 1300z; see the
end of the newsletter for times and frequencies.
After next Tuesday’s net,
please send me a

list of who you worked and / or who you heard using our

new web form here:
bit.

ly/COQORSNET

Getting reports from stations and
listeners is important to me - even if
you listened and didn’t hear anyone
or weren't able to copy anything the fact that you had a go needs to
get recorded so we know that the
net is working and attracting new
and old team

members to have a go.

Thanks again to Nigel G4RWI for building the Google Form, the Python
software back-end that does the processing, the new link and the QR code.

International

Morse

Code

Day

Events

Did | mention that this Saturday is Samuel
annual

riotous Quiz via Zoom.

Morse’s Birthday?

vk6pzt@gqmail.com

And.... our

for the info on

how to

connect.

Richard has done an outstanding job creating a huge range of fun
questions... some are even related to Morse Code.

Even if you don’t go for

quiz-type things, getting together for a laugh with our team will be great I’m looking forward to putting faces to callsigns for those with cameras on
their computers or phones!
And you don’t need the Zoom

application or anything any more fancy than

a computer or a phone with a web browser to join us.

International

Morse

a ha
Code

lel V}r.

0845z April 27%, 2024
l ,
Do you know your dits from your dahs?
Have you got what it takes to be the next International Morse Code Day
quiz champion?

Well, even if you don’t, why not celebrate Samuel

Morse's birthday and

International Morse Code Day by registering for our Morse Code Quiz,
hosted by the CQQRS

slow Morse code team?

The quiz will be lots of fun and very informal - we don’t take ourselves too
seriously.
We have lots of easy multiple-choice questions, aimed at both novices
and experts alike.
So, if you’re interested, then please send me an email to
vk6pzt@gmail.com

, and | will reply with the details, and a zoom

link to

join the quiz.
Once again, the quiz will be held on International Morse Code Day Saturday April 27th, via Zoom.
If you would

like to register, send an email to vk6pzt@gmail.com
Quiz Calendar

Link

Chinese Whispers
Well this coming Tuesday will be the last CQ QRS net for April - which
means the last net before the Chinese Whispers practice message
exercise finishes.

Of course, you can exchange

handling

messages outside of the

net, but it all finishes on Tuesday.
See Stan

New

ZL3TK’S

Team

article below.

Members

Welcome this week to Jon VK4ALE

at Carseldine,

Peter ZLIPX at Waiuku

and Dave VK2NA at Charlestown - | look forward to hearing you all on our
Tuesday get-togethers.

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:

Comments:

From Grant ZL2GD
o

at Oxford:

Peter ZL1PX had just arrived home from Jacobs Well on the Gold
Coastapparently the midges are a bit nasty there?

[In the 80s, Queensland used to advertise that it was “Beautiful one day,
perfect the next”.

From

Tim

Wonder what happened?

VK3TBR

:) |

at Horsham:

A great night again,
unfortunately only had time for
one, but passed on a whisper to
Mait VK5AO

and had a nice long

chat.
e

| last worked

Mait in Nov ‘22 (|

could probably barely string a
QSO together back then!)
e Great to see the waterfall so
busy again in the CW
e

From Jordan VK3SACU
0 Whata
o
o

region.

73 all.

at Meredith:

night!

| turned the radio off just before 9 pm after starting at 6 pm.
| discovered that 3 hours of non-stop CW

is my limit; beyond that,

| become CW drunk.
o

| was gearing up to exchange whispers with VK5AO
QSO

when

mid

my brain went QRT. Maitland could tell and suggested we try

again another time.
o Truth be told, it might have happened
more whispers.

after Mark sent me a few

| had a good laugh as we both had a bit of

confusion at the start of our QSO; for some

reason, we both

thought we each had to go to dinner? Hana - all good.
o

| really enjoyed the night and I'm keen to pass some whispers on.
If
anyone's interested, drop me an email; you can find me on QRZ
to
organise a time.

nights with

on 3.580.

o Thanks to everyone who joined, and a huge shout-out to Mark for
organising the rag-chew every week. Well done, mate!
[Received loud and clear Jordan... unlike our hilarious pre-Whisper
conversation - H/!]

From

Ketut

First 80m

VK3SBWN

at Keilor East:

QSO on my ~20m

length doublet :)

[The doublet worked well Ketut - | was copying you ok on the VK6QS
KiwiSDR when you were chatting to lan VK5CZ. /

From
©

Donald VK6JDM

| was using about 4 watts from a Paraset on transmit. It uses a
cathode-keyed

at Dalyup:
6v6.

| used my home-brew transceiver for reception because the
Paraset receiver section is hard to tune and not very sensitive.

| was at the bottom end of the part of the 80 metres that we use
for the QRS CW

nights, because the only ancient crystal | have for

80 is 3540KHz.

| gather these sets break the modern

styles of

crystals.
°

| will see if | can get some others from the QRP club and so
move up where everybody else is.

| was still expecting to hear Bob VK6KRC who promised

he would

be listening out for my signal but surprisingly... | did not hear
him. | am sure he was there somewhere
[Great to hear you Donald;

as he did promise!

your frequency was 3539.2kHz,

which as you

implied, many of our tune-arounders with narrow filters may not listen that
far down.

| wonder whether a small sneaky NPO capacitor in series with the

crystal might pull it higher and into the band?

Say 20pF or maybe a

trimmer capacitor - depending on how tolerant the oscillator is - the lower
you go with the capacitor (ie higher in frequency), the less reliable the
oscillator will be of course. ]

From

Roy VK6RR

at Utakarra:

e Could only listen for 15 mins.
.

| heard VK2IOW and ZL3TK.

Didn't hear any others.

Utter

‘as

[Hi Roy.

‘ae

Thank you for the report, and glad you picked up the two stations;

! look forward to our next CW QSO - you may

recall we chatted on CW

during the last International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend when you
were out portable].

From Stan ZL3TK at Waitarere Beach:
eo Another very busy night with further evidence of improving skills.
©

Conditions reasonable, slightly higher noise than usual but made
little difference with a notch filter.

Nothing heard on 80 m.

From John VKS5ET at Hope Valley:
o 40m
© 40 mts is booming & I’m getting plenty of practice listening to
other stations making contacts as well as getting few on my own.
©

Much

better conditions compared to 80 mts.

° A lot of overlapping CW from background

stations on this band.

Matter of picking out best signal.
°o By the time 22:00, local time rolls up | now have a dozen or more
stations heard & made a few QSOs.

o Tnx to you opening
o

up the 40mts QRS Net.

Hard to catch up with other ops on the band, yourself included as
its all go, good fun & practice never the less.

e 80m
e Still good to hear that some ops
are popping

up now & then.

e Also great to hear &
occasionally work ZLs.

[Noisy on 80m and sometimes DX stations in the mix on 40m - what fun!]

From Richard VK6HRC
°o 40m

at Padbury:

was quiet to start with but picked up later.

From Manny VK3DRQ

at Blackburn:

to have a

little

time to spare, so | called CQ QRS CW on 7/026.
°0 From 0921Z to 1029Z | worked VK5PH
and VK3RU
©

the OM

Paul, VK2IOW the OM

Pat

David.

Unfortunately | still couldn't unload any Chinese Whispers. When
it
comes to asking someone

°0 Tomorrow

it will be my QNN

air every Wednesday
©

a favour, | am too ashamed.
time on the VKCW

at 06032 on 14049

Net which goes to

kHz.

Have a good night OM and keep up the good work.

°0 73&/7

Manny VK3DRQ

[Fingers crossed that you pass those Whispers on before the calendar turns
Manny.

There’s lots of us keen to receive them while there’s still time. /

From Peter VK6IS

at Wundowile:

°0 SO many stations on 40m that you were trounced,

before your sig

was heard.
0

Still not that much

From Paul VKS3KLE
©o VK5AO

activity on 80m tonight.

at Stawell:

was a dream to copy - nicely spaced

and he was very relaxed in the QSO.
o

Not enough ops on 80m.

[There you go!
same

Farnsworth timing

Just like chatting to a mate.

Hopefully most of our team enjoy chatting to the others the

way Paul.]

From David VK3RU

at Burwood:

o Very special to work Manny VK3DRQ.
o CW

Is his entire amateur life, yet he is Kind and skilled enough to

QRS for us.
[Lots of people had told me that about Manny - great to have him on the

team

now eh?]

From me VK2KI

at Beautiful South Bowning:

o 40m
©

| tried to crank up the Tecsun

KiwiSDR at Araluen

NSW as usual,

but
the unit wouldn’t respond all night;

so instead | used the VK1CM

KiwiSDR at Farrer to monitor the goings-on.
©

| heard Paul VK3KLE at Stawell working Colin VK2DVA and Tony
VK3CTM

who haven't joined our team yet.

Craig VK5QA/p (VK3CLD

in disguise) was putting in a nice signal

from his portable set-up.
°

| then listened to Jordan VK3ACU
VK3ADX

at Meredith chatting to Merv

at Ballarat then Peter VK7KPC

Paul working

Max VK6FN

at Evandale, followed by

at Manjimup and Stan ZL3TK at

Waitarere Beach.
©

Next up | listened to Georg VK2DLF

at St Marys chatting to Arthur

VK5AAR who hasn't yet joined our team, Manny VK3DRQ
Blackburn working

Patrick VK2IOW

at Millthorpe and Claude

VKI1TE/m chatting to Merv.
©

| hooked

up with Jordan for what turned out to be a fun pair of

Chinese Whisper exchanges;

as he explained above, confusion

reigned while we both thought the other needed to rush away
after a final dinner call... but it turned out that | had mis-heard
what Jordan

had said, then he thought | was saying | needed to

QRT... what fun!

Just shows to go how easy it is to completely fail

to understand what’s going on when

using CW when your head-

copy is as bad as mine - HI!
°o After recovering from the two Whisper exchanges,

| heard Shaun

VK6BEK from Quinns Rocks chatting to Patrick before | hooked
with Richard VK6PZT at Dalyellup for another Whisper pass.

| had

to QRX in the process to squirt more contact cleaner into the
13.8V line fuse on my Kenwood TS-50;
transmitter dies on key-down

hate it when the

during a Whisper pass!

pre-set my Tee-coupler, set my SWR

adjust the coupler for minimum

swap

bridge calibration,

reflected power/ maximum

forward power, then very carefully adjust the noise canceller
(which for 80m

means - antenna gain to zero, adjust noise pickup

antenna gain and phase to a complete null, increase antenna
gain a bit, re-null noise phase and gain, increase gain a bit more,
re-adjust null, etc - aiming to try to get a reasonable null while
maximising the antenna gain).

None of this fancy press the ATU

button and Bob’s your uncle business - HI!
°

80m

| spent

most

of the 80m

time

listening

in on the VK6QS

KiwiSDR

but |
did hear nice signals from both Ketut VK3BWN

at Keilor East and

John
VK5ET at Hope Valley chatting to lan VK5CZ at Clare.

And
o

also from
40m

VK6QI

using the VK6QS

KiwiSDR

at Brookton:

e Using the VK6QS

KiwiSDR at

Brookton, | listened-in to Geoff
VK6HD

Erskine working

Ron VK6KHZ

Yangebup.
e

Last week Geoff had tried using
his magnetic loop indoors
without much

luck, so this week

he’d quickly assembled a
temporary 8m
UNUN

Ryakov with 9:1

and his home-brew

coupler.

| also heard Paul
VK3KLE coming through early from Stawell, followed by Jordan
VK3ACU

at Meredith working

Merv VK3ADX

at Ballarat, and both

Craig VK5QA/p (aka VK3CLR/p) from Victoria and Peter VK7KPC

Evandale calling CQ.
o

Next up | heard Paul working Max VK6FN

at Manjimup, Geoff

chatting to
Peter VK6IS at Wundowie

and Jordan hooking up with Peter.

Chinese Whispers and later in

the evening Shaun VK6BEK at Quinns Rocks was heard chatting
to Richard VK6PZT at Dalyellup
eo | then heard Shaun work Patrick VK2IOW

at Millthorpe, while

Richard and | exchanged Whispers before sliding over to 80m.
°

80m

On 80m,

| listened to John VK5ET coming through

nicely from

Hope
Valley as well as Richard VK6PZT from Dalyellup.
°

Next up | heard a solid signal from Donald VK6JDM

at Dalyup near

Esperance who was crystal-locked on 3539.2kHz.

| tried to crank

up the Southern

Electronics Group VK6SR

Remote;

however

while the Group’s new KiwiSDR II was being tested, the Remote
was on a temporary bit of wet string, which | couldn’t get the
SWR

low enough to use.

up at Carnarvon,
nevertheless,

| also tried the Group’s VK6CRO

but as usual, it was in use on 6m

Remote

FT8;

Richard VK6PZT slipped down to the frequency

and had a chat with Donald.
°

| also heard lan VK5CZ at Clare chatting to our new team
Ketut VK3BWN

member

at Keilor East then to John VK5ET at Hope Valley.

and because | couldn’t come

up on
either of the Remotes,

| gave it away around

1300z and

continued doing
my tax - what fun!

Post Morsum
From Richard VK6HRC

at Padbury:

A good group on the South West AllStar link on Wednesday

morning

(22002).
Seven all up:
VK6KRC

Bob

VK6FN

Max

VK6KD/m

Dave

VK6QI

Mark

ZL3TK

Stan

KA3BMS

Hank

our shortwave listeners and myself VK6HRC
Reports varied from unable to be on the net to eight stations worked and
twelve heard by ZL3TK - well done Stan.
Also mentioned

by Stan they are working on emergency

backup RF links

using Winlink etc to be available if ever the Internet goes down
inevitable earthquakes
Max VK6FN

in the

in that part of the world.

reported that he had taken delivery of another you-beaut Flex

radio system and gave it a run last night. They might have had Max in mind
when asked how many radios do you need?
“one more”!

Max’s answer would surely be

Of course we talked about Chinese Whispers (I’m keeping
warm

mine nice and

here) and especially importantly, the International Morse Code Day

Quiz this coming Saturday.
Thanks
73

to all

Richard

VK6HRC

[Thanks Richard - very well managed net, and another great report mate. ]

Chinese

Whispers

- International
Month
Hosted

Sentence

Morse

Code

Day

Event

by Stan ZL3TK

How

One

sent a Whole Town

Fleeing

When

one scratches one’s head to the point of looking like either New

Zealand’s prime minister or a sufferer of alopecia, questions need asking.
Firstly, why is the scratcher scratching?

Secondly, can the stimulus to

scratch be mitigated?
Answers

may be found in the expressions of reticence, even fear, when so

many of those who appear to be quite capable of conducting a sensible CW
QSO, albeit slowly (that’s no crime), figure that being asked to pass one,
plain-language sentence is a bridge too far.
Considering that these same folk have been constructing sentences in their
heads for months, some for years, then converting their thoughts to muscle
movement,

makes

it all the more bemusing.

They have also been able to

understand other folks’ thoughts perfectly well after they’ve been carried
by electromagnetic waves from hundreds or thousands of kilometres away
and converted to audible compression waves.
receive a single sentence is somehow
The phenomenon

is all too common

Yet the concept of having to

seen as too much of a challenge.
and frankly, beggars belief.

What’s going on here?

What has triggered a CW-literate population the

size of a small town to flee from the prospect of receiving, then sending
one sentence in Morse Code?

Hasn't sending and receiving sentences in

Morse Code been their goal all along?
This is about the Whispers project.
scratching?
sentence,
group.

Please?

Is anyone willing to help stop the head

The instructions are simplicity itself:

receive one

increment its serial number then send it on to one other in the

When the whisper you receive bears serial number 5,

zi3tk@qsl.net.

email it to

Yes, it’s as simple as that.

An excuse given for not accepting a whisper was,
What sort of a display of defeatism is that?

‘I might muck it up’.

Mucking

it up is the only path

to a humorous conclusion, everyone will learn from it.
So quit fleeing the town, please mitigate the head scratching on or before
the 30th April by accepting one or more of the five remaining virgin
whispers, or one of the 20-odd still in circulation.
zi3tk@gsl.net

Send an email to

to arrange a sked on HF or echolink

- the choice is yours

it really is that easy.
Stan ZL3TK

Other
Other things

From

Richard

I’ve received

News
from

our 175-odd

readers.

VK6HRC:

Hi Mark, just some

more QRM

from me.

The first beginners BC1 class from
the Long Island CW club was on at
1000 UTC last Monday - timed to
suit people in Oceania and some
early birds in other time zones. It
went extremely well with twenty
three attendees!
Another item that may be of interest is that the April edition of Silicon Chip
has an article by VK3DSM

on becoming

a Ham,

a lot of very useful

information for anyone interested in taking their interest further.
| have also been diverted from my regular activities with some family work
so a fair amount of time is being taken up with that, but I will get on air in
any spare moment.
Enough QRM

for now, as usual thank you for your time and hard work.

Cheers
Richard

VK6HRC

[Thanks Richard - wow,
us down-under.

what a terrific turn-up for the LICW training to suit

Thanks for all you do for the net mate, and | hope you can

get on air again soon.]

From

Stan

ZL3KK:

Quatrains are adaptable, succinct and can be quite addictive.

Thanks to

David VK3RU, the quatrain in 'RagChew' for week 15 triggered a fond
memory.... only some of which is true.
The Royal Navy established a wireless telegraphy station at Irton Moor in
North Yorkshire in 1912.
GCHQ

It was relocated in 1943 eventually to become

Scarborough. With the advent of encrypted voice communications,

the old boys' usefulness to Britain's security disappeared and in his
retirement, one wag wrote a quatrain.

To get a real feel for his lament,

read it in a North Yorks dialect and be sure to sound the glottal stops.
Let's set the scene.

Imagine a well-lubricated cohort of old-time Morse

operators reminiscing in t'local.
An old chap struggles to his feet,
In t'days of old when

a hush descends and he speaks ...

ops were bold

And traffic were handled thrice daily
Words were passed

by pounding t'brass

Aye, and he on t'key were reet gradely.
There's loud applause from the whole clientele

... then the buxom

barmaid

brings over a round of best bitter raising another burst of applause.

Here

From

our wanderer

it is with the correct accent!

George

VK2AOE

Dear Mark
I’m missing the Morse QRS fun. Presently in beautiful Prague and Germany.
The local museum
station

in Munich

has a dedicated amateur radio display and

(since the 1940’s!!!).

Below is a link to a Morse practice project | think is pretty useful.
Magic Morse Box
https://youtu.be/bHkILOg-6c0
See you all on my return!
73 de VK2AOE
[Ah ha!

George

Now we know why George has been so quiet of late!

Cheers mate

and thanks for the update. ]

Morse Training
Nic VK7WW

Net

runs a Slow Morse training net every Wednesday at 7pm

EDST

on 3580 for 30 mins. He uses the callsign of the Northern Tasmania
Amateur Radio Club VK7TAZ on that net.
Many of our team

learned Morse code with the support of Nic, and the

weekly training session comes

highly recommended

to learn the Code, or simply brush up.

for anyone who wants

Everyone’s welcome - 3580KkHz at

7pm

Eastern time every Wednesday.

The NTARC also feeds the CW

live via

the Discord phone / computer audio stream, and previous weeks’
recordings are available.
Contact Nic VK7WW

for more info nicholaschantler@hotmail.com - or just

join in on Wednesdays.

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
.
Co,
.;
QRS team listening-in via the Live

Mark Bosma
SMS: 0418161773
Presenting on Yass FM:

4pm

Live Stream:

Stream on the internet.

1pm until

Ca eee

NSW time | have a guest, my

mate Dennis who has a Vineyard in

wwow-yassfm.ong

yass {m100

Yass is a great classical music fan -

3
.

and he brings his music to
share from 1pm

until 49m.

And from 4pm

until 59m,

| do the Your Shed

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
Learning
In last week’s RagChew,
Morse Code.

Topic of Interest
the Morse

Richard VK6HRC

on 3580kHz and via the DISCORD
using the callsign VK7TAZ.

outlined his journey to learn the

This week, we’ll hear from Nic VK7WW

Tasmanian Amateur Radio Club’s Wednesday

From

Code

who runs the Northern

evening CW training sessions

phone App at 7pm Tasmanian

local time

Thanks Nic.

Nic Chantler VK7WW

Learning the Morse Code
Complete

Immersion

My preferred approach

is ‘Complete Immersion’,

initially, with no pen and

paper; and no Morse code chart at all!
e You are told what the letter is and then you hear it being sent and
repeated, several times using the Farnsworth
being sent at 7 to 10 wom,

method - characters

but with larger spacing between characters

which works out at about 5 wom.
e

Pause, to let it ‘sink in’...(no talking - just thinking/‘resting’) then move
on to the next character.

Max of 5 letters and 2 numbers

Personal

Meaning

in first session/day.

Adding your ‘Personal Meaning’ to help remember characters.
See resource #1 below.

Conventional

Training

‘Conventional Training’ - rote learning of characters.

This is what
Learning
1.

I| try to cover especially in a Face to Face setting:

Rules

Do not send CW/use a key, until you have learnt all the characters and

can receive ok.
2.

If you don’t recognise the character - do not dwell on it;

focus on the one that’s coming.

let it go and

Stopping and thinking about it will throw

you and you will probably miss the next couple of characters!
3.

Don’t try and guess the next letter thinking you know the word that’s

coming!

This is called journalising and if it’s not what you guessed,

it will

throw you and you will probably miss the next couple of characters!

Better

to be slower and accurate, than fast with mistakes.
4.

Never send faster than you can comfortably rx. If a station comes

back

too fast; ask them to ‘QRS PSE’. There are some CW ops who don’t know
the polite way to operate.

In fact many don’t know Morse code at all, but

their PC does!
Way way back when

| was learning CW,

| had just built up enough

confidence to go on air. | called CQ on 40m at 10 wom and a ZL came back
at 25 wpm. First, this knocked me for six, being so impolite. When | went
back to him | asked PSE QRS. He came
with larger spaces.

back to me at the same speed

| was now completely thrown.

but

But then | realised he

was probably using a computer and didn’t know how to change the speed.
| sent ‘73’ and sat there so annoyed
However,

and disappointed;

but | got over it.

it has tainted my view of some ops, especially the LID who called

me that day.
Training
1.

Content

Intro - what the code is, Samuel

Morse, transmission advantages,

QRP,

simple TXs...a simple CW station to work the world!
2.

Learning the Code. (5 letter groups not words at this stage)

Accurate reading and recording - writing fast block capitals or use a

keyboard

(or even a typewriter!).

4. Abbreviations, Q Codes, prosigns, (SOS notS O S!).
LIDS
5.

Sending,

Keys, correct way of holding, developing

habits! ‘Learnt’ before?

Changing

hands for logging!

key (hum, whistle, finger tap, CW keyboard.
TX.

Include SWLF and

rhythm.
Arthritis?

Also bad
Sound to

Have a cheat sheet of what to

Practice & resources (Apps, on-air, online etc).

beacon.

VK2WI

3.699 MHz slow

Having an Uncle Elmer - someone who will come up on air to

have an initial/training contact with.
7.

Software CW readers and senders - know how to operate them

properly!

How to have a contact/QSO/CQ - protocols, contests, rubber stamp

contacts and conversational/rag chew QSOs.
9. Nets:

QRS,

QRP

Awards,

SKCC,

VKQRP

and

GQRP

Clubs

etc.

Starting
This is Great with a Classroom

Situation.

To build up confidence | show how easy it is to ‘read’ a CW

message even if

you don’t know the code, by sending various characters that students can
decode using the following sheet. | explain how to use the sheet.
only done once to demonstrate that everyone

This is

has the ability to read CW.

use an audio oscillator plus key to send CW; characters sent at about
7wpm with huge spaces between them - probably works out at about 2 or 3
wpm.
This is the revised “Manual

CW Decoder” AR March 2002

p21 (Article by

Steve VK6BGN).
-

The Rules

1) Pisce your fingeraf the contre start
position

2)
ms

ff.

v
—

—

—.«

|
Co

Wf you

bear

]

—

)
|
)

your

|
—_—

3) 0 you beer o “dash” move your
finger down.
4) Uf your first move was up, (a dot)
and you hear another "dol", move

up again, otherwise it's a “dash
and move

—
R

and you bear another "dash" move

|
a

right

§) Wyou first move was down, (a dash)
PB

down

again,

otherwise

it's a “dot

and move right.
6) Uf you bear o short break, then the
letter is complete, quickly write the

letter down with the pen or pencil

in the other hand and reture your
finger to the start position and wait

|
Start |

for the naxt letter.

(I'm sure you've

got the idea by mow)
Obviowsly

« “dot”,

finger up.

code and

very

—

for

slow

code,

probably somewhere in the vacinity of
6 wpm or even less. Maybe even for
some one who doesn't even know the

this

low
a

would

just like to decipher a

CW mossage.

Z
=e

——

c
pi

| )

iia

The Manual Morse Code Decoder

Amateur Radio, March 2002

Success

Think I’ve trained about 15 people that | Know of

since | started in 2020.

What is interesting is | get people coming out of the woodwork telling me
how they listened to the slow Morse course, but never called in - and they
now use CW.

I've had a couple of people tell me how they stumbled across

the net; a nd, though they knew the CW characters, they had no clue about
protocols, abbreviations,

how to have a QSO...etc and because of the

additional info, they now use CW.
There’s one guy who in his words was much

more comfortable using a

keyboard and decoder now that he understands
he’s a keen QRP SOTA fan!

more about using CW -

| think some of these people are lacking confidence to try CW, worried that
they will stuff it up... so one-on-one confidence building (usually starting
with phone calls) is important. This has also happened

with a couple of old-

timers coming

back to CW.

| always make

myself available for a guided one-on-one series of ‘your first

CW QSOs’ to anyone who wants to have a go.
Hope that helps,
73, Nic VK7WW.
Resources
1. LEARN

MORSE

CODE

from

a MEMORY

CHAMP

(in 15 minutes)

https://youtu.be/D8tPkb98Fkk?si=L6LRVbBGbI_F7dpu

2. Learn Morse Code in 20 minutes: Classic US Army Training (1966)
https://youtu.be/walFtVodHHM?si=AnOYIAXNfiCK3Ggx
3. US Navy Training Video - Technique Of Hand Sending

Morse Code (1944)

https://youtu.be/YOyP7ViqvgE?si=NCxjYxXyplp2}odgP
plus plenty to be found on YouTube!

[Thanks Nic - excellent work!

The number of people you know of, that

you've trained or helped attests to your dedication;

many of them are now

part of the CQ QRS team as well].

If you have a topic of interest, thoughts or ideas that you'd like to share
through the newsletter,

please let me know;

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
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:

Amateur

Radio

Exam

Questions

What is the unit of frequency?
One

KHz

is the same

10 Hz
100 Hz
1,000 Hz
10,000 Hz
The bias used in this amplifier circuit is:

fixed bias
grid leak bias
cathode bias
e combination

bias

A station using the callsign VK1NSR/4

is indicating that:

It is an ACT station temporarily operating in Queensland
The operator's licence has now been held for four years
A Queensland

station is operating mobile temporarily in the ACT

VKI1NSR also holds three other callsigns
Answers

next week.

Answers

from

last week’s

Quiz:

What do the following readings mean?
e

6omv

Eg 1kV means

Lkilo volt or 1000v

Answer:
e

10MQ

6 millivolts or .006 volts

Answer:
e

10 megaohms

or 10,000,000 Ohm

66uA =
Answer:

66 microamps or .000066 amps

Long distance high-frequency communication

at night is normally via the

ionospheric
e

D layer
F layer
E layer

N layer

Answer: F

layer

To increase the efficiency of a simple electromechanical
(motor) is wound
e

relay the relay coil

aluminium

e soft iron
e

ceramic

lead

Answer:Soft

iron

Which callsign could be issued for the operation of a Standard station?
(a)

VK4NG

(b)

VK2NKA

(c)

NK3BKM

(d)

VNINRP

Answer:

(b)

VK2NKA

How did you go?

Di-dah-di-dah-dit
Here

So back to the Slow CW QSO
Next Tuesday’s

go.

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 via our Reports form bit.ly/COORSNET 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 23 contributors this week:
VK2GAS, VK2GAZ
VK3BWN,

(this is going to get confusing!), VK2IOW,

VK3DRQm

VK3ACU,

VK3KLE, VK3TBR, VK5ET, VK6BEK, VK6HRC, VK6IS,

VK6JDM, VK6MK, VK6PZT, VK6ORR, VK7KPC,
VK7WW

VK2DLF,

ZL2GD,

for the Learning Morse Code article.

ZL3TK, VK3JFP and

Thank you team - very much

appreciated.
Don’t forget the Quiz on Zoom

this coming

Saturday!

€Y CW on Tuesday,

mb
Mark

Bosma

VK2KI / VK6QI
Beautiful South Bowning NSW
mark.bosma@icloud.com
non impediti ratione cogitationis
An Ode to CW - thanks to David VK3RU:
In days

of old, when

ops were

bold,

And sideband was not invented,
Words

were

And

passed

all were

by pounding

- Unknown

About

author

the CQ
Here’s

brass,

quite contented.

the

QRS

Net

details.

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

Net.

Frequencies

and Times

Practice

CO ORS

NET — WINTER

TIMETABLE

‘Coordinated Universal Time
Westen
Australia

New Zealand

13002

UTC+8

1500

2100

CentralST

UTC+9.5

1630

2230

Eastern ST

UTC +10

1700

2300

1900

04100

NZST

Time
a7oor ~

o700zZ

UTC +12

Band
11007

Frequency

40m

7.025 MHz

7.040 MHz

40m

7.025 MHz

7.040 MHz

80m

3.540 MHz

~ 3.570 MHz

80m

3.540 MHz ~ 3.570 MHz

40007 ~ 11007

41007 ~ 13002

So tune around and call anyone you hear, or find yourself a quiet spot in
the designated segment,

send “QRL?” and if the frequency is quiet, 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). If
we’re on 40m

and you can hear that the band is open outside Australasia,

perhaps consider calling 500Hz above each

1kHz slot - to minimise the

chance of having to copy our team through QRQ

QRM

that’s often dead-on

the kHz markers.
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!

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.
Landing

Zone

If the band goes really quiet, call and listen on 7032KkHz 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.
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.

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.

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