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RagChew

Edition 20/2024

Reports from Tuesday

Our Positive Culture

Husband1.0

Don

Chinese Whispers

Exercise Wrap-up

SKCC

Saunter

e An

Edwards

Memorial

Oceania

QRS

Unexpected

e The WT

8 AMP

Training

Morse

Contest

2024

Exercise

Key

e AR Exam

Brain Teaser

for 21May24

Reminder

Slow

CQ QRS

Net

Well this week was an opportunity of a lifetime for many to see an Aurora in
lower latitude skies to normal, and to experience the unusual effects of the
geomagnetic disturbances that go with the mass coronal ejections
expected at the peak of the sunspot cycle.
photos;

Thanks to all for the excellent

where | was was covered with cloud, so we missed out on the

visual delights, but | was pleased to see our team

members’

photos.

| expected that band conditions on 40m and 80m for our CQQRS Practice
QSO net on Tuesday would be poor and that we’d be experiencing lots of
auroral buzz, but that wasn’t to be.

Conditions were on the whole ok - we

didn’t get the strong ZL to WA 40m

path experienced

lately, and 80m

wasn’t open from one end to the other either, but most Southern stations
reported ok conditions;

unfortunately, a couple of our team adventuring

around the remote parts of Western Queensland

and the Kimberley really

struggled with the conditions - better luck next week guys.
Last Tuesday’s
Here’s this week’s

Net
list of the 45

stations

heard:

RSS

L4May24CQ QRS Net
Total

active stations

Total

Q50s

this week

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

{note that this figure won't be correct - 050s may be counted twice or more]:

Black text - QSLed, Green text - heard but not worked,

CQQRS Team
Member

Qso 1

63
165

Blue text - incomplete QS0 (not OSLed).

Qso2

QS03

VK6KHZ

VK4DRK

VK3DRQ_ | VK3BYD/2
VK2KI

ZL3TK

Qso 4

Qso5

QS0 6

Qs07

Qso 8

{insert OO or Listening if mo OS0s)

VK1HF

VKATI

VKLKVS 40m

VKIPWE
VK1ITE/m 40m
VEK1TE/m 40m cont

VK1TE/m som
VKLWA 40m

VK12ZDJ
VK2A0E
VK2BHO
VK2CL/m
VK2COS
VK2DLF 40m
VK2DLF zom
VK2EBN
VK2EMU som
VK2GAS 40m
VK2GAZ 40m
VK2GAZ 80m
VK2IK
VK2IOW 4om
VK2IOW 40m
VK2IOW som

Heard on air.

VK3ACU

ZL3TK

VK2IOW

VK2DLF

| VK3AVA |

ZL3TK

VK2GAS

VK3ACU

VK1HF/p

VK3DRQO.

VKGFN

VKSET

VK2DLF

VK/TA

VK2IOW

VK3BYD/2

VK6FN

VKSIP

VK6NT

VKOMK

Heard on air.
Heard on air.
Heard on air.

VK2KI 40m

40m cont

7N1XZB

VK2KI 40m cont

VK6QI

VK2KI 30m

VK3DBD

VK6NT

VK2DLF

ZL3TK

VKSKFG

VK1HF

VK4DRK

VKLCT

ZLATE

VKSISK

VK3DRQO

VK2DLF

VK2GAS
VKSCT

VK7KPC
VK3ADX

VK2EMU

VK7WW

VK7KPC

VKSET

VK3CTM

VK3DRQ

VK2A0E

VKSGG

VKSET

VK2A0E

ZL3TK

VK2KI

VK2KIJ 40m
VK2NAP
VK2NV
VK2NNW 4om
VK2NNW

40m cont

VK2NNW som
VK2RU
VK2RU

40m
40m cont

VK2TER
VK2WE
VK2/G4RWI
VK3ACU

40m

VK3ACU som
VK3ADX 40m
VK3ADX 30m

Heard

on air.

VK3AE 40m

VK3BAP
VK3BTV 40m

VKSET

VK3BTV 80m

VK3BU
VK3BWN

40m

VK3BWN gom
VK3BYD/2 40m

VK2DLF

VK3BYD 80m

VK3CLD/p

VK3CTM 80m

Heard

on air.

VK3DBD 40m

Heard

on air.

Heard

on air.

VK3DBD

40m cont

VK3DBD som
VK3DPH
VK3DRQ 40m

VK2DLF

VKGPZ

| VK2DLF

VK3DRQ 40m
VK3FG

VKSET

VK2A0E

ZL3TK

VK6PZ

VK1CT

VK3DBD

ZL3TK

VK2KI

VK? ACU

VK2G?

£L3TK

VK3BTV
VK3DRO

VK6FN
VK2DLF

VK6HRC?

VK4DRK

VK2GW

VK3KO

VK2?

VK2IOW

VK6FN

VK6KHZ

VK6Q|

VK6IS

VK6FN

VK6DEV

VKSET

VK6NT

VK6KHZ
VK6KHZ

VK6WE
VKGWE

VKGHRC

VK3DRQO.

VK3KO

VK6QI

VK6HRC

40m

VK3KLE 40m

Heard

on air.

Heard

on air.

VIK3KLE 40m

VK3KLE som
VK3KO
VK3RU

40m

VK3RU

40m

VK3TBR 40m
VK3TBR

40m cont

VK3VMM 40m
VK3 WOW
VK4ALE 40m

VIKLHF

VK4DRK 40m
VK4DRK 80m
VK4EK 40m

VK4JM
VK4MFX
VKSAO

40m

VKSAW

gom

VKSAYL
VKSCT som

Heard

on air.

VKSCZ 40m
VKSCZ 40m cont
VKSCZ som

VK3DRQ
VK6FN

VIKSET 40m
VIKSET 40m
VKSET som

Heard

on air.

VKSIS 40m

Heard

on air.

VKSKFG 40m
VKSKFG som

Heard

on air.

Heard

on air.

VK5SFA
VK5FD
VKSHAA 80m

VKSLA 4am
VKSPH 40m

VKSPL
VKSQA
VKG6AAV 40m

VK6BEK 40m
VK6BEK som
VK6CK
VK6DEV 40m

VK6NT
Heard

on air.

Heard

on air.

VK6DEV 40m cont

VK6DV
VK6FN
VK6GAL
VK6HD 40m

VK6HRC 40m
VK6HRC som
VK6HRC gom cont

VK6IR
VK6IS 40m
VK6IS som
VK6JDM 30m

VK6JK
VK6KD 4om
VK6KD 80m

VK6NT

VK2D1

VK2BLF

VK6KHZ 40m
VK6KHZ fom
VK6KQ,
VK6LD

VK6IS
VK6IS

VK6FN

VKG6HRC

VK6MK 40m

VK2DLF

VK6EMK 30m

VK6MU
VK6NC
VK6NT 40m
VK6NT 80m

Heard

on air.

Heard

on air.

VK6MK

VK6ENW 80m
VK6PZT 40m

VKSKFG

ZL3TK

VE2IK

VK6FN

VK6QI 40m

VK6KHZ

VK6HRC

VK6IS

VK6FN

VK6DEV

VK6QI

som

VK6BEK

VK6NT

VKB6RR 40m

VK6FN

VK3KO

ZL3TK

VK2DLF

VK3DRQO

VK2IOW
VK1CT

VK21IOW

VK4DRK

ZL3TK

VK6PZT 80m
VK6ENT

VK6TY
VK6XU
VK6VZ 40m
VK6WE 40m

Heard

on air.

VK6WE 30m

Heard

on air.

VK6YV
VK7KPC 40m
VK7KPC 80m
VK7TA 40m
VK7TA

VK3ACU
VK3ACU
ZL4TE

40m cont

VEK7WW 40m

VK4DRK

ZL3TK

VK3XU

VEK1HF

VK2GAS

VK3KO

VEK7WW 40m cont

VK3DBD

VKARR

VK3BYD

VK3DRQ

VKSET

VK2IOW

VK7WW a0m
VK7ZA

VK3ACU

VK2ZEMU

VK2DLF | VK3DRG

ZLIAJY
ZLIANY
ZL1HJ

Heard

on air.

ZLIPX
ZL2GD 40m
ZL2GD 80m

ZL3TK 40m

VK2DLF

VK2GAS

VIK2IK

VL2KI

VK2IOW |

VK3KLE |

VK3XU | VK6PZT

ZL3TK 40m cont

VK6RR

ZLATE

VK2A0E

VK3DBD

VK3DRQ

VK3KO

VK5GG

ZL3TK 40m cont

VK6SRC

VK7TA

ZL4BDG 40m

£L3TK

VK3XU

ZL4TE

ZL1HJ

ZL1HX

ZL3TK

VK7TA

Team

Members

VKSKFG

ZL3TK 80m

New

This week I'd like to welcome
team;

Scott VK4MGL from Wellington

Point to the

Scott is a keen SOTA/Parks operator, who I’ve heard and worked a

number of times from various portable locations.
Arthur VK2ASB who joined in on Tuesday;

I'd also like to welcome

like several others on our net,

Arthur has been involved in promoting QRS for many years, having run the
FISTS Tuesday night CW

net and the Wednesday

night QRS nets for five

years some years back.
Welcome

Masthead

Scott and Arthur.

Image

And thanks this week to VK7WW,

VK3AE, VK3ACU,

G4RWI, VK6MJ and

VK5ATQ’s daughter for the spectacular aurora images.

A virtual almond

croissant goes to the first person to correctly identify which image was not
of Aurora Australis (the person who provided the image has excluded
or herself from this quiz!);

him

cqqrsnet@gmail.com.

Reports
After next Tuesday’s net, please send me a list of who you worked and / or
who you heard using our web form here:
bit.
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

ly/COQORSNET

and old team

members

to have a go.

And if you have any trouble with the form, please let me know - | may be
able to help
cgarsnet@gmail.com
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.

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 Pete ZL4TE

at Cambridge:

e
e

[40m]
| used my Czech Army straight
key this evening.

From Nic VK7ZWW

at Legana Tasmania:

e
e

[40m]
Love not having any filters
switched in!

Hearing three stations at once
and being able to switch from
one to the other, using my

brain as the ‘focus filter’

LT
sg een
IST
Ae cre Ceti

From Jordan VK3ACU
°

at Meredith:

[80m]

up.

From Roy VK6RR
°

at Geraldton WA:

[40m]

From John VKS5ET at Hope Valley:
°

[40m]

From Stan ZL3TK at Waitarere Beach:
°

[40m]

accepted the experiment

of a single sentence ‘Today in History’ QTC, along the lines of a
Whisper but without the attendant responsibility.
o

For five of the ten OMs, sufficient interest was raised to extend
those QSOs surprisingly well.

[See below for more information about the ‘Today in History’ exercise.
Thanks for the initiative Stan. ]

From Derek VK4DRK

at Wyreema:

[40m]

| had 3 QSOs, all on 40m;
between

0800z and 0930, and

then | came

back late for

another one after 1200z.
e Thanks everyone;
night of CW.

it was a good

From David VK6KD
o

at Ballajura WA:

[80m]

o Tuned

my receiver to 3.563MHz and was listening in on a CW

QSO when

| noticed my noise floor was an S1

o This never happens at my home QTH
°0 What had changed?

| hadn't tuned my antenna yet

o After tuning my antenna the noise floor was back to normal S8
[Bugger!

It was nice while it lasted!

Oh well... time to try a cheap phasing

noise canceller?]

From lan VK7TA

at Latrobe TAS:

[40m]

| wasn't on the net for so long this week.

From Richard VK6HRC
o
o

at Padbury WA:

[40m]
Fairly noisy conditions but good to hear signals in spite of the
activity on the sun.

From

Peter VK7KPC

[40m]

Running

at Evandale Tasmania:

5W on Racal Squadcal on 40m

into an MF] end-fed.

[80m]

e Squadcal again with 7W on
the 80m
e

band.

Pat VK2ZIOW was very patient
with my slow rx
Speed - tnx.

From John VK2RU

100kms West of Boulia QLD:

[40m]

| had very poor signals coming

| could make out call signs after a few repeats

tn all night

| wasn't confident that | would be able to copy properly and didn't
make
any contacts.

[80m]

°o 80m was dead for me again.
[Strange conditions John.

Others seemed to do ok on 40m, and some had

some luck on 80m, but Stuart VK6MK in the Kimberleys also heard very

little;

see below].

From

Ketran VK3BTV

at Ringwood:

°o [40m]
o Got started late
© Could hear a number of very light stations, but there were only 4
that|
could really copy successfully
©

| guess that's what | get for running an 8m

long 40m

dipole at

4.5m elevation :)
©

Enjoyed

my QSO with John VK5ET - he remembered

my name and

even spelt it correctly - bonus!

From

Peter VK6IS

at Wundowie:

[40m]

Some

missed opportunities in

there, somewhere.
e

[80m]

Still not much

action on 80m

tonight.

[Tell us about the interesting looking display Peter.]

From Stuart VK6MK

at Mandangala

Community,

[40m]

No contacts low conditions up here.

[Interesting that both you and John

ce ere

VK2RR/7

rues

If)

the

lower

latitudes

cos

Date:

an 5 2024

Rx name:

reported really poor conditions.

research

the

Way

needed

:
ionosphere

the

works at those latitudes as the tilt of
the

earth

,
SUNS

Increases

"
"
radiation

:
EQuUITIOX....
ar
activity

the

around

the

throw

the

:
high

The

:
:
prediction

then

:
Into

exposure

the

:
MIx!

solar

for
Kununurra
to . Melbourne
shows
a
a
Ab
L
F
b

sorption

ayer

requency

above
A

(one

the

op)

40m
d

and

band
d

SECOr)

modes

Until

between

09002.

Kununurra

for

(

both
A

first

op)

O800

and

Perth

and

Circuit:

Melbourne

SWS GRAFEX

Understand

latitude:

Rx latitude:

HF FREQUENCY
Kununurra

-15.78

-37.83

OWE EMUF

@2 32.2

ALF [oce|ecrs| seonfecne|
SS SSXXMMMMMM
AS SSXXXMMMMM
0.0 13.4
S SSSXXMMMMM

a4 38.9
85 38.9
86 30.6
87 38.1
Q8 26.3
89 23.3
1819.4
1116.6
1? 14.8
1314.8
1412.9

0.8
8.8
0.8
0.8
0.0
6.8
8.8
8.8
0.8
8.8
0.8

13.3
12.9
12.8
10.6
7.2
6.0
8.0
0.0
6.0
0.0
8.0

8.8

0.8 XXMMMMMMMF

1611.5

17 18.6

0.0 13.5

longitude:

128.73

Date:

2024

Rx Longitude:

144.98

May,

T-index:

Distance: 2924 km
|-____—- Frequency
(MHz}————— |
1
oo;
le
15
28
25
38
35
48

9081 32.2
0.0 12. 2
32.1 0.8 12.9
@3 31.2

PREDICTIONS

Melbourne

Bearings: 158 323
First oe
IF 3-5
iE 48

NE Kimberley WA

acca )ocne]
MMMMFFFFFF
MMMMFFFFFF
MMMMFFFFFF

scnaece.] OWF ENUF
FPA&&S.... 21.9 14,
FPS. ... 21.8 15.4
FF&%.... 21.9 15.9

S%%....
%%%%....
St...
S&iec....
Si...

le8.8 ce0.0 meee
on.
XXMMMMMMMF Fake,

18 18.2 0.8 8.0 XXMMMMMME
19 9.8 8.8 8.0 XXMMMMFS
28 9.1 8.8 0.0 XXMMMMMMPS
2111.7 8.8 0.0 XXMMMMMAMM
22 23.8 0.0 8.0
ASXMM
23 28.8 0.8 10.8
SSS
UT OWE EWUF ALF ficcfsess|

28.9
20.7
20.7
20.4
18.2
14.6
12.5
11.3
9.0
9.4
B.7

15.6
14.8
13.3
10.7
8.0
2.4
2.4
2.4
2.4
2.4
2.4

9.2
8.9
8.4
7.6
6.1
8.8
@.8
0.8
0.8
6.8
8.8

7.t

2.4

O18 17

Sa. ....
6.9 2.4
ae...
6.3 2.4
S%....
6.3 2.4
FARA...
$.2 2.4
MMMMMMMFFF FFM...
15.7 68.2
XXMMMMMMMM MMFFFFFF&% %%.. 0.
20.2 12.6
sxccpscce| sose)eaes] saceeses| OF EMF

8
|F
|S

(c)

16-May-2824

Space

Weather

Services,

Sydney

Australia

+61-2—-9713-8808

Thanks for trying mate.]

me VK6QI

via the VK6SR Remote at Bedfordale:

°o [40m]
°o The VK6QS

8.6
6.8
8.8
@.8
5.6
7.2
ALF

BoM

KiwiSDR at Brookton

04
05
06
87
08
89
18
11
713
13
14

Sean
B.8 2.4 @.8 16

Sie...

mode ALF lowering a little bit earlier.

From

9.1 @2

20.8 16.8 9.2 03

Ilsa to Melbourne have the second

ALF UT

4 8.2
02
8.8 81

S SSSXXMMMMM MMMFFFEFFF Fa¥&....

S SSSXXMMMMM MMMFFFFFFF
AS SSXXMMMMMM MMMFFFFFFF
SS SXXMMMMMMM MMMFFFFFFF
ASS MMMMMMMMMM MMMFFFFFFF
SMM MMMMMMMMMM 6 FFFRFFFRS%6
XXMMMMMeM MYMMMMFFFF FFFSAad%..
XXMMMMMMMM MMMMFFFFFS i...
XXMMMMMMMM MMMFFPS&&.
XOMMOPOM MFFFAR...
XXMMMMMMMM MPFR,
XXMMMMMMM FRR...

122

Second Mode
2F 15-19 2E 3

had been down for a few days;

Matt the owner did a great job trying to get it back up and

18
19
20
21
22
23
UT
|
|
|
|

running in time for the net, and advised me just before the start
that he’d re-connected the cellular network data, but hadn’t been
able to get the SDR back on air - thanks very much for trying
Matt.

So instead | used three other
KiwiSDRs tn WA - our team
member

Nick VK6DV at St

James has one, the Southern
Electronics Group has one
being tested at the location of
the VK6SR

there was another one at Baldivis;

Remote,

and

| didn’t get to try the

AusTravelSafetyNet one at Yarloop.
First up on 40m

| heard Ron VK6KHZ

went back to him from the VK6SR

at Yangebup

Remote;

calling CQ and

unfortunately once

again Ron couldn’t hear my call despite his big signal.
However,

| also saw Richard VK6HRC

and we hooked

calling CQ from Padbury -

up for a nice QSO.

Peter VK6IS called in from Wundowie
establishing comms,

exchanging

at the start as we were

RSTs etc - and by the time we

called him in, he’d headed off to find more interesting pasture.
Meanwhile,

Max VK6FN

at Manjimup

had hooked

up with Ron

then Phillip VK6DEV at Dalyellup, and Peter had hooked-up with
Oo

Richard.
| did manage to solve a problem though.
=

|’d experienced

really lousy sounding audio from the Remote

over a long period of time - CW sounded

like a raspy buzzer,

which had been a mystery to me and to Rob VK6LD who
built the system.
same

Most of the time, others didn’t have the

problem.

=» Well Tuesday was my lucky night... after playing with all the
Remote’s settings | discovered that knocking the RF gain
down, fixed the problem... and explained why when

| worked

Richard, he wasn’t moving the S-meter... Sure enough the
AGC was turned off!
=» When

| use the Remote,

| usually put it on frequency using

one of the memories where I’d saved 3555kHz and 7032kKHz
CW
=» Looks like the memory

setting had the AGC switched off - so

strong signals were over-loading the receiver... simple as
that!
=» You'd think after playing with shortwave receivers for 60
years, I’d be a bit quicker on the uptake - HI!
o

In listening to the various SDRs, it was interesting to note that
local signals (ground wave or high incidence angle skywave) were
well down on normal;

possibly a result of the geomagnetic

storms.

By around

1000z, the band was starting to open up from the East,

and | listened-in to Manny VK3DRQ

at Blackburn chatting to John

VK5ET at Hope Valley, then later Georg VK2DLF
working Warren VK3BYD

portable somewhere

at St Marys
in NSW.

=» As it turned out, Warren was camping at Jugiong, just down
the Hume
o

Highway from me.

| also listened to Max working VK5IP at Kadina.

=» The South Australian signal had a very pronounced

echo - so

strong that it was impossible to distinguish the CW
characters.
=» On the SDR his signal was just a burble of stronger and
slightly weaker characters.
# An interesting Auroral effect | reckon.
=» | spoke to Max the next day and he said the echo was not
heard at all at Manjimup.
Next up | hooked

up with one of our early team

VK6NT at Hamersley;

members,

Lin

it was good to chat to Lin again on one of

the rare Tuesdays when

he could get on air.

After that chat, it was time to slide down to 80m to cast a line
[80m]
Again this week, the Southern

Electronics Group VK6SR

Remote

station refused to play the game for me on 80m.
=» The magnificent 12m

high x 60m top-hat Marconi-Tee used

to be a very effective antenna for both local and DX on 80m.
=» But something

has changed

in the last year or so, and it just

doesn’t want to play ball any more.
=» The FT-991A is connected to an automatic antenna
coupler (the so-called and mis-named
antenna tuning unit) which would
even
=

1:1 SWR

automatic

produce a 1.5:1 or

in the middle of the band.

However on Tuesday,

as soon as | moved

below

3574kHz, the SWR shot up.
=» A 1kHz change and the SWR would go from 1.5:1
to about 7:1
=» | suspect a problem with the coupler - and understandably,
Rob VK6LD

(the SEG’s do-everything

member)

has had too

many other priorities to think about it.
So, because our net’s segment

is from 3540 to 3570, | couldn't

TX from VK6 on 80m on Tuesday.
Instead on 80m

| concentrated on operating from VK2 (see

below), but | also used one of the plethora of KiwiSDRs in WA to
watch the band
However,

because | was late to the game,

night QSO

between

| only heard one late

Shaun VK3BEK at Quinns Rocks and Lin

VK6NT at Hamersley
And unlike last week, there was no sign of any signals at all from
over East, so by 1300z | headed to bed

Also

From me VK2KI

at Beautiful South Bowning:

[40m]
First up on 40m

| heard VK3AVA calling CQ, but | hooked

Stan ZL3TK at Waitarere Beach who was romping
(the noise level would

up with

in at RSN583

have been 9 if not for my cheap Chinese

phasing-type noise canceller).
Stan was trying a new messaging

experiment...

sending a short

‘on this day in history’ phrase - this time the topic was Australian
football, with the first recorded game on April 14th.

See below

for more from Stan about this exercise.

In return, | was having
transmitter problems again;
the output power

intermittently dropping off.

couple of years back |
completely disassembled

nice little Kenwood TS-50
chasing what | thought was
either a poor solder joint in the
PA, or a fault in the ALC loop.

o Turned out to be a problem with a bit of intermittent resistance in
the 13.8 Volt supply;

because the LCD illumination is powered

a regulated supply, the dropping

off

DC voltage wasn’t visible on the

display.
© So on Tuesday when

it happened

again, Stan waited patiently

while | squirted contact cleaner here and there, replace the blade
fuse, continually re-tightened the terminals on the power supply,
tightened the contacts in the DC plug on the transceiver and
even swapped
o

power supplies.

Meanwhile on the Tecsun

KiwiSDR at Araluen NSW

| heard our

new team

member Armin VK2GAS

VK3ACJU

at Meredith, then lan VK1HF/p at Mount Coree chatting

to Manny VK3DRQ
o

More work needed - what fun!
at Norwest chatting to Jordan

at Blackburn.

By 1000z, the band was starting to open across Australia and |
heard Manny chatting to John VK5ET at Hope Valley, then CQ calls
by 7N1XZB

(a Japanese callsign apparently) and Georg VK2DLF

St Marys.
o

| heard Patrick VK2IOW

at Millthoroe worked

lan VK/7TA at Latrobe

then Stan ZL3TK, while Georg went on to catch up with our
traveller, Warren VK3BYD

portable somewhere

in NSW... just

down the road from me as It turned out.
o

| also listened in to the QSO

between

Max VK6FN

at Manjimup

and VK5IP - there was no Auroral echo on VKSIP’s signal coming
back to NSW, despite his CW being unreadable when

| listened in

WA due to the very strong echo.
o

| then listened to my VK6QI QSO with Lin VKONT at Hamersley
before we tried from VK2;

Lin was a solid Q5 with slow rolling

QSB, but he was struggling to hear me the other way.
o

By then it was time for us both to slide down to 80m.

[80m]

e On 80m

| listened to David

VK3DBD

spelling his QTH

(Yakandandah) to Lin VKONT;
figured that the first few times
David operated from there, he
orobably had to write the name
down

| then hooked

before sending it by CW!

up with Georg VK2DLF who | thanked for his efforts

to promote our QRS activities;

Georg explained that he’d been

actively promoting and running QRS activities for the past 20
years;

well done Georg.

at Willunga

Learning, Living and Loving Morse

book review was in the last RagChew.

In parallel | could hear Stan ZL3TK calling CQ a bit further down
the band - and | thought | was burning the midnight oil!
day on the Post Morsum
at 2:45am!

The next

net, Stan reported that he’d hit the hay

Good thing his wife Ruth is also an amateur, and

understands these things - HI!
©

So all in all, it sounded to me like there wasn’t as many stations
on as last week’s record effort of 52 stations (I reported 51 in the
newsletter, but | chatted later to Trevor VK5ATQ

and learned that

he had also been listening in last week... and no-doubt there
were many others we don’t know about too);

but time will tell -

let’s see what the reports tell us.

From

Manny

VK3DRQ

at Blackburn:

[40m]

o After the NZ Net, | almost forget the CQ QRS CW and started
tuning and preparing everything for Wednesday’s VK CW

Net on

14049 @ 0603Z.
° All of a sudden,

| just realised, and tuned everything back to

7032.
eo After a couple of calls, | started to get the benefits.
© As per the previous times, it was fun to have three OMs coming
and none of them

| can recall have met before on my 42 years of

CW as a Radio Amateur.
° They all were RSN 595 with a +10 to 30 dB margin.
eo After just under two hours of tapping and just one day after my
visit to the TORTURER

(aka the Chiropractor),

my body started to

ache, so slowly, slowly | was getting ready to hit the sack.
©

| tried but was sorry to miss VK6PZT

but by then the noise level

was creeping, reading already S6 and VK6PZT was only RSN

366.

Oh well, another time hopefully.
°

From

Happy CQ QRS CW,

Manny VK3DRQ+

Richard

at BUNBURY

°o

[40m]

Worked

VK6PZT

three on 40m

- VK5KFG,

73&77 to you all.

ZL3TK

and VK2IK.

°o [80m]
°

Called

on 80 for a while

but it was

Other
Other things

Post

Morsum

from

Richard

I’ve received

dead.

News
from

our 180-odd

readers.

VK6HRC

Only a small group called in on AllStar Wednesday

morning.

| was ready to

go well before the 06:00 start time and Stan ZL3TK called in and got the
net going on time.

As it turned out, the WA AllStar network was

suffering from gremlins so others like Max VK6FN

were not able to hear the

net.

On this morning :
ZL3TK

Stan

VK6QI

Mark

our short wave

listeners and

myself.
Stan has come up with another very interesting idea to keep us on our toes,
a simple message

handling exercise that he kicked off last night.

Apparently well received by all accounts, there will be an update in
this RagChew.

Mark gave us a quick report on how he got on but numbers

recorded seemed

below last week's 52 stations on air, and conditions were

not that great.
Thank you Mark, hope the Handy-Dandy

software behaves.

73
Richard VK6HRC

Thoughts

From

Donald

VK6JDM:

Dear

Mark,

| am

not surprised you had 52 on air last week.

Amateur radio needs the

enthusiasm and positive culture you have driven your project with.
After the factional war that occurred

in WIA a few years back and the

animosity shown to those who dared to set up RASA,
amateur community felt drained of energy.

| think a lot of the

We turn to the political pages

of the news if we want to see supposedly adult people brawling over trivia,
we do not need

it in our area of interest.
For AR to survive it needs projects
such as our net.
CW is seen by some as a preserve of
those who are skilled in CW.
made

That

many who wanted to develop

skill over time in a friendly
environment feel excluded.
G-QRP is another group that has a
positive culture and seems to be
thriving.

Some

local electronics and

amateur groups in Australia likewise
seem to be floating well.

Your contribution to AR is significant and | hear people on air who have not
joined yet talking about it. Some

| am aware are listening in to our clumsy

attempts at the code.
Culture is the glue that makes or breaks groups. You have triggered a great
outbreak of positive culture - do not under-rate your achievement.

Talking

of achievements,

when

| get that KRC chap on the net

- that will be an

achievement.
73
Donald

Howarth

VK6JDM

[Why,

thank you Donald.

| know you're a busy man, and / appreciate that

you took the time to pen your thoughts.

Yes, it’s great to see the positive

response, new team members joining most weeks, and the fun the team Is
having.

| think you’re right;

we’re lucky to have a terrific positive culture.

/ also experienced the divisive exclusive CW culture when | was first
licensed in the early 70s.

But now we have lots of people on air at different

speeds and abilities - on-air mistakes and difficulty are par for the course
and no-one gets their nose out of joint, because someone’s learning from
the problems.

Hopefully we're giving newcomers some confidence and

opportunities to have a go in our safe sand pit. And while you’re revving up
that KRC fellow.... keep the pressure on that other CW learner - Six Oscar
India too.]

Husband1.0

A young woman

submitted the tech support message

below.

She gota

reply from Tech Support that was way too good to keep to herself.

Dear Tech Support,
Last year | upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband
distinct slowdown

in overall system

performance,

1.0 and noticed a

particularly in the flower

and jewellery applications, which had operated flawlessly under Boyfriend
5.0.
In addition, Husband
as Romance

1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such

9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable

programs such as: NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1.

Conversation 8.0

no longer runs, and House cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.
note that | have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems,

Please

but to no

avail.
What can | do?
Signed:

Desperate

The response (that came weeks

later out of the blue):

Dear Desperate,
First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while
Husband

1.0 is an Operating System.

Please enter command:

| thought you loved me.html! and try to download

Tears 6.2. Do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.
works as designed,

Husband

If that application

1.0 should then automatically run the

applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. However,
the Tears application can cause Husband

remember,

overuse of

1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence

2.5, Happy Hour 7.0, or Beer 6.1.
program that will download

Please note that Beer 6.1 Is a very bad

Snoring Loudly Beta version.

Whatever you do, DO NOT, under any circumstances,

install Mother-In-Law

1.0 as it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of
all your system

resources.

In addition, please do not attempt to re-install the Boyfriend 5.0 program.
These are unsupported
In summary,
memory

Husband

applications and will crash Husband
1.0 is a great program,

but it does have limited

and cannot learn new applications quickly.

buying additional software to improve memory
recommend
Good

Cooking

1.0.

You might consider

and performance.

3.0.

Luck

Tech Support
[Thanks to our Team’s Software Support, Nigel G4RWI - now back in the UK
for six months. ]

Don

Edwards

Memorial

Slow

Saturday 6pm
Sunday

Morse

Contest

2024

- 9pm

(Sydney time) on 80m

1lom - 49m

(Sydney time) on 40m

The Don Edwards Memorial Slow Morse Contest 2024
From Saturday 18 May 2024

To Sunday 19 May 2024

byadmin

Contact contest@sgars.org

In recognition of Don, the St. George Amateur Radio Society will be holding the "Don Edwards

Memorial slow Morse contest" on the weekend

of the 18th and

19th of May 2024.
The contest will be in two sections, 80 metres on the Saturday
1pm to 4pm

(0300 - 0600 UTC). Amateurs

Many amateurs
encourage

evening from 6pm

to 9pm

(0800 - 1100 UTC) and 40 metres on the Sunday afternoon from

can enter either or both sessions. The contest will be open to all VK and ZL amateurs.

have rarely or never used Morse code since they passed their exam

or never needed to learn Morse code for their licences. This contest is to

inexperienced or rusty operators to try their hand or fist at Morse. For this reason, the contest will be a "Slow Morse contest" with a speed limit of

10 words per minute,

no keyboards

or screens - all sent by hand and received

by ear.

To encourage those amateurs who never sat for or passed a Morse exam for their licence, they will be able to claim an extra 2 points per session.
information

and

contest

rules

can

found

For more

here.

Location In your shack or out in the field
WWwW.sgars.org

Are you going to join me and have
some fun this weekend

in this

friendly annual event from the St
George Amateur Radio Society?

Here’s the rules:

https://www.sgars.org/index.php/downloads/1-contest-and-field-days/146the-don-edwards-memorial-slow-morse-contest-2024-rev3

[Thanks to Peter VKZEMU for running this event again].

International

Morse

Code

Day Month

Chinese Whispers

Exercise Wrap-up

To help our CQQRS

Community celebrate International Morse Code Day,

Stan ZL3TK offered to run an exercise called Chinese Whispers.
e The event went for the entire month
e

of April.

Stan created 26 short phrases and passed them to the the team and
other CW operators.

e The phrases were passed from operator to operator as accurately as
possible.
e Any phrase that had been passed five times was sent back to Stan for
comparison with the original, a-la the Chinese Whispers game.
Well lots of us had fun trying to both copy accurately and send accurately;
surprisingly, it wasn’t as easy as it first appeared;

concentration was

required, especially for those used to head copying.
Well, what happened?

Chinese Whispers Color-Coded Result,
EL St eM

start, not passed
ee ard

19%

eects tet dt

ema teymee in ety
eet te

26 Dispatched,

100%

Completed
a ee
ec

eri em ee
Returned

Ti™%

46%

You can see from the summary:
e Stan sent out all 26 messages over the month when

people asked.

Five weren’t able to be passed on by their first recipients.

Seven

made a second or more hops, but didn’t make

e Two messages actually made

it to the end.

it all the way around, and found their

way back to Stan after five hops.
e

12 messages are still out there... lost and lonely!

So of the ones returned, how did they compare to Stan’s originals?

[|
cw"

cw"

on Aprili

Sent

Chinese Whispers Color-Coded Result,
Pele

SENT

5
2

vKO

VK2

VK1

VK3

vKa

VK1

VK3

ZL4

VK2

Wie

VK5

VK2

VK4

VK3

VK5

Passed on but

Ci Rieymme

tittc

five Jumps

27%

19%

26 Dispatched,

100%

Pee

+
aes

i
Tes

77%

46%

CWA1

DOMINIC BECAME KING ONLY BECAUSE QUEEN DOMINIQUE APPROVED HIS ASCENT.

CWA3

YDOMINIC BECAME KING ONLY BECAUSE QUEEN DONINIQUE APPROVED HIS ASCENT

CWB1

SOMEBODY WHO TELLS YOU MONEY CANNOT BUY HAPPINESS OBVIOUSLY NEVER HAD ANY

RSL
CWC1

IF TWENTY TIMES FIVE EQUALS ONE HUNDRED WHY DOES FOURTEEN NOT EQUAL ELEVEN?

toy [or

IF TWENTY TIME” FIVE EQUALS ONE HUNDRED WHY DOES FOURTEEN NOT EQUAL ELEVEN?

CWD1

EGYPTOLOGY AND MATHEMATICS GO HAND IN HAND LIKE PYRAMIDOLOGY AND GEOMETRY.

ACL
CWE1

THE SWEATSHOP SOLD NO SWEAT AND WOODSTOCK SOLD NO WOOD

BUT DID SELL MUSIC.

CL
CWFI

IF RADIO WAVES REFLECT OFF THE F2 LAYER WHY DO BALLS BOUNCE OFF THE GROUND?

ACL
CWG1

PARENT ADULT AND CHILD CAN

MAKE A HAPPY FAMILY THROUGH TRANSACTIONAL ANAYSIS.

CL
CWH1

THERMIONIC. EMISSION HAS BECOME SO LAST CENTURY NOW THAT HOLE MIGRATION

IS FASHIONABLE.

ACL
cwlt

WOULD A DOGGED

DOG BE MORE LIKELY TO RESCUE A DROWNING

DONKEY OR A SINKING SWAN

CL
cwJ1

THE MARCHING

SONG COMPOSED

BY HORST WESSEL WAS BANNED IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA IN 1945.

ACL
ALEXANDER SCOTLAND WAS FAMOUS FOR HIS INTERROGATION

VK2

aul

start, not passed

SKILLS AT THE LONDON

CAGE

CWK4

ALEXANDER SCOTTLAND IS FAMOUS FOR HIS INTERROGATION SKILLS AT THE LONDON CAGE.

CWL1

FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT STATED IN 1933 THAT THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF.

FRANKLIN “ ROOSIVEDT STATED IN 1933 THAT THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSSELF

CWM1

SEND A WHEEL OUT IN THE MORNING AND IT WILL RETURN SQUARE BY LUNCH TIME

CWM5

SEND A WHEEL

CWN1

MARK TWAIN

OUT IN THE MORNING AND IT WILL RETURN SQUARE BY LUNCH TIG.
SAID THE WORLD DOES NOT OWE ANYONE A LIVING BECAUSE IT WAS HERE FIRST.

7
MARK TWAIN SAID THE WORLD DOES NOT OWE ANYONE A LIVING BECAUSE ~~ WAS HERE FIRST.

cwo1

THE GREAT THING ABOUT LEARNING

IS THAT NOBODY CAN EVER TAKE IT AWAY FROM YOU

cwo1
CWP1

FRAN LEBOWITZ ASSURES US THAT IN REAL LIFE THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ALGEBRA.

co a
cwai

WHEN | HAVE FIVE BEANS IN ONE HAND AND A SKITTLE DOWN MY SHIRT, WHAT IS MY NAME?

(oa!) Tek}

WHEN | HAVE FIVE BEANS IN ONE HAND AND A SKITTLE DOWN

cart

MY SHIRT WHAT IS MY QTH*

QUAKER BOTANIST AND PHYSICIAN JOHN FOTHERGILL WAS BORN IN BAINBRIDGE YORKSHIRE

CQR2

QUAKER BOTANIST AND PHYSICIAN JOHN FOTHERGILL WAS BORN IN BAINBRIDGE YORKSHIRE

cwSs1

THE HALF LIFE OF URANUIM 238 IS 4 DECIMAL 5 BILLION YEARS RESULTING IN LEAD 206.

CWS2

THE SHELF LIFE OF URANIUM 238 1S 4 DECIMAL

CWT1

WHEN YOU DISCOVER A NON CARBON BASED LIFE FORM PLEASE REPORT THE ALIEN IMMEDIATELY.

CWT1

WHEN YOU DISCOVER A NON CARBON BASED LIFE FORM

cwut

CARBYNE IS THE STRONGEST KNOWN MATERIAL AND IS A ONE DIMENSIONAL ALLOTROPE OF CARBON.

* BILLION YEARS RESULTING IN LEAD 206

PLEASE REPORT THE ALIEN IMMEDIATELY

eR CL)

cwv1

REPORTING OF LONGITUDE IS TOTALLY DEPENDENT UPON ACCESS TO AN ACCURATE CLOCK.

CWV3

REPORTING OF LONGITITUDE IS ENTIRELY DEPENDANT UPON ACCESS TO AN ACCURATE CLOCK.

cww1

THE GUERRA DE MALVINAS WAS WON UNDER POLITICAL LEADERSHIP OF BRITAINS IRON MAIDEN.

Tem CLU

CWx1
Tem

IF THE AMAZON RAIN FOREST IS THE LUNGS OF THE EARTH WHY DO WE ALLOW IT TO SMOKE ?

C LU

cwy1

BOTSWANA IS THE WORLDS RICHEST SOURCE OF DIAMONDS PRODUCING 24 MILLION CARATS IN 2022.

Tem CLU

cwz21

NEAR HALTWHISTLE A MAGNIFICENT SYCAMORE TREE NO LONGER STANDS NEXT TO HADRIANS WALL.

CWZ1

NEAR HALTWHISTLE A MAGNIFICENT SYCAMORE TREE NO LONGER STANDS NEXT TO HADRIANS WALL.

| was surprised to see that despite being sent letter-by-letter, changes still
happened

along the way.

Just goes to show eh?

Thank you to Stan for coming

up with the idea, compiling the messages,

managing the activity in April then compiling the results.

And in turn, thank

you to all recipients of the 26 messages for having a go, and an especial
congratulations if you handled one of the messages that progressed
completely or even partly around the loop.
here:

The results can also be found

https://gsl.net/zl3tk/whispers/whispers.htm

Thanks Stan - your efforts were
much appreciated by everyone who
had a go.

Now...

what are we going to do to

celebrate Alfred Vail’s Birthday in

September | wonder?

;

wor”

of Chad
In memory

Straight

Key Century Club Oceania

QRS

Saunter

from Garry VK2GAZ
Greetings to all,
The SKCC Oceania QRS Saunter will take place this Saturday,

18th

May,

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/
httpos://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

Key

Century

Club

Straight

_oas

Key Century

Oceania
Saturday,

QRS

18th May,

12 Hours

Club

Saunter

2024 @ 00:00 UTC

00:00

- 11:59

UTC

[Thanks Garry - I'll be there].

Today

in History - an Unexpected

Training

Exercise

from Stan ZL3TK
It’s always the unexpected, the out-of-context, the unfamiliar, which
catches us out.

Standard QSOs consisting of a signal report, name, QTH

and rig are great for practice, but offer no real challenge for more
experienced operators;

after a few months operating on small get-

togethers, everyone knows everyone else and only the weather changes.
There’s the odd Alzheimic exception of course.
The ‘Today in History’ experiment carried out on the CQQRS
14th, was done to provide the unexpected,

Net on May

in the same way as old Maritime

and Coast Station operators were confronted every day by commercial
reports from ships’ captains and personal traffic between
their land-based correspondents.

passengers and

A ‘Today in History’ message consists of

a single sentence and a 4-digit year.

Unlike our Chinese Whispers, they

come without any requirement to be passed on.... they’re simply for selfassessment.
To make the most of this training opportunity, after receiving a ‘Today in
History’ sentence read it carefully;
using the standard

if it doesn’t make sense ask for a repeat

non-contiguous prosigns:

WA, WB, AA, AB or BN.

Here are the ‘Today in History’ sentences distributed on 14 May:
e

THE NETHERLANDS
TODAY
to

SURRENDERED

1940, THE FIFTH EUROPEAN

TO INVADING

BENGURION

DECLARED

1948 AND

THE ESTABLISHMENT

BECAME THE COUNTRYS

e THE CEO OF META MARK ZUCKERBERG
PREFERS

MAKING

DELEGATING.
DLEGATES

DECISIONS

GATHERED

to VK2GAS

BORN TODAY

HIMSELF AND

DOES

IN PHILADELPHIA TODAY

FOR A NEW AMERICAN

EDWARD JENNER TODAY

FIRST VACCINATION

SMALLPOX.
e AUSTRALIAS
TODAY

FIRST PRIME
1984 SAYS HE

NOT BELIEVE IN

1787 TO DRAW

GOVERNMENT.

Sent

& VK2IK

UK DOCTOR
WORLDS

OF THE STATE OF

Sent to VK2IOW

THE CONSTITUTION

Sent to

VK3XU

TO AN 8 YEAR OLD BOY, AGAINST

FIRST AND OLDEST

1859 IN MELBOURNE.

as receiving, so everyone

1796 ADMINISTERED THE

& VK2DLF
FOOTBALL CLUB WAS

FOUNDED

Sent to VK2KI & VK6PZT

It has been noted that accurate sending

is almost as much

of a challenge

is invited to create their own ‘Today in History’

exercises for transmission to their contacts.
e

Sent

Sent to VK6RR

MINISTER.

FORCES

VK3KLE & ZL4TE

DAVID

ISRAEL TODAY

GERMAN

COUNTRY TO BE OVERRUN.

It’s real easy to set up:

simply Google the phrase ‘Today in History’ and construct appropriate
sentences from the information provided.

Read them carefully to ensure they make sense.

e The more the merrier.
DIY training like this can be spread

Morse Training
Nic VK7WW

right through the CQ QRS Group.

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

for anyone who wants

to learn the Code, or simply brush up.

Everyone’s welcome - 3580KkHz at

7pm

The NTARC also feeds the CW

Eastern time every Wednesday.

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.

This Week’s

Topic of Interest

The WT

8 Amp

Key

cs
«¢
%,

a
C

*,
e y 8

aed Pd v7 VF dd
PM

, Px

br®, ms é;
Pe Pd a
a

‘“
AA

ee
.
s

‘sv i *

id
a

ee
a

Pod
\

Ls
G ef ad

by Ross MONNK at Budleigh Salterton

»,@:
Ce
eye:
xi
ih
°
D: Oe
OY sf OMe ae
, be wee"
(iden
aa) hd
Pe eS
aver: 4 O28e Me ae
]

SERA SEN ars Papel y oA
Sy SA
kd POC
ew?

a ee

PRE

punt

is pent

if)

wart

wer ha 5) he LE A
ae PK Ce a os oh

ee”. wv?

cos

POM

‘
‘\

ih ) Abi

A id

o*e*

| did some

OU
19

7/
F

y. Lg
als

A a on

ae)

¢,¢

if) , o%

nae

9%) avy

hyWANN

Th “ ye

. LOY

ote
oe

A sn

igh

ere:

BAIS

Ss fae,

Nad tad

RRS

Poy

eo:

Ser

Sir,

ee ris

Wel 7S re oy"
, ‘.
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ra*, ry Ps
oS’.
tS Ry e. o9 Py a
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‘gaa

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Me
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sedis

research after | bought my WT 8 AMP key recently and below are

my notes.
Key, Signalling, WT
Called the
Amps,

8 Amp

No.3,

mk1

(wireless telegraphy) 8 Amp

because it was rated for 8

being tested for 10 minutes of normal operation with 12 Amps

applied to the contacts.
An unusual feature of its construction is that the main contacts are at the
back (well away from the knob). One contact is located on the top of the
rocker arm; the fixed contact is on a screw attached to a stirrup-shaped
piece of metal ("bracket").

The bracket closest to the knob supports a

further contact that can, if required, send a signal to turn the receiver off
and the transmitter on when the rear contact is made

(the opposite of

QSK?).
Uses

WT 8 AMP keys have appeared

in numerous

pieces of equipment and

Casings, such as:
hand signalling lamps
e

‘KEY & PLUG ASSEMBLY

radio transceivers

Unit Operator No.1 cases

‘Buzzer, Signal, Training’

practice oscillators.

No.9!

assemblies

The list is almost endless.
Wireless Set No.19 was the workhorse of the Allied Forces in WW2
later. It was the natural partner of the Key WT 8 Amp.

and

In the UK, most were

used for Army applications, a few being used by the RAF and a very few by
the Royal Navy.
Manufacture

Over 100 variations of this key were made during WW2
different countries, so the final total manufactured

by makers in six

probably ran to several

million.
Australia:

e Amalgamated

Wireless Australia;

Gerard

Department of Defence Australia;

Electric Manufacturers Ltd. of Adelaide (aka "Clipsal"?);

EWT (DoD contractor);

LC (DoD contractor);

Postmaster-General,

Postal Workshops,

Melbourne (after the war the

Workshops converted some of these keys for use on PMG

landlines).

Shortly after the introduction of this military key (possibly due to pressures
of war and

scarcity of materials) several design changes took place - a

change of bearing type from taper pin to parallel pin, and of spring
tensioner from the PO-style to a simple screw and locknut tensioner.
Identification

While some keys have various forms of lever insulation (depending on the
use to which they were put), other identical keys may or may not have such
insulation. The most common

insulation is a simple sleeve of square section

that slides over the arm of the key and is secured

by the knob screw.

Insulating sleeves found on key arms were used when

a key was fitted ina

‘Key & Plug Assembly' - protective cases covering the key for field use,
having thigh straps which enable the key to be located on an operator's
leg. Many keys have had these original protective cases removed

but

nevertheless retain the insulation. Lever insulation does not, therefore,
appear to be a useful identification characteristic.
This same qualification applies to finger plates or knob skirts - some

keys

have finger plates of various sizes and materials while other similar keys
are without them.
My variant is distinguished by its:
e three brackets
e

simplified spring tensioner (compression spring)

parallel bearing pin

plain simple knob, no lever insulation

My particular key has the serial number **ZA4605** which denotes that it
was manufactured

by Ericsson Telephones

Ltd, Beeston,

Nottinghamshire

(later part of Plessey and GEC), probably in 1941.
Two or more versions were made

by this company:

No.2,

serial

number

ZA4511,

1940

No.3,

serial

number

ZA4605,

1941

SPECIFICATION

**(this one)**

MANUFACTURERS

Description
A single-current key with tungsten contacts,
connection,

brass lever,

ebonite

knob and guard;

mounted

Overall dimensions:

5 13/32 ins long

x 2 1/4 ins wide

flexible

on an ebonite
x

base.

1 13/16 ins high

approx.
Materials
e

Brass

- To

70/30

from

splits

and

Brass

castings

other

defects.

hard

other
- To

drawn

rolled

best

blow

holes,

quality,

free

pitting

and

defects.
70/30,

free

from

Ebonite

Steel

- To

Steel

for

springs

e Wire

- To

electric

conform

stainless
- To

R13,

the
and

latest

B.S.

quality.

best

Mk.1-To

best

quality,

conform

specification
hard

drawn.

the

latest

No.234, 45

R.S.

specification,
Screw Threads

& Nuts

To conform to the latest

BS Specification No.93 for BA threads;

even

numbers only to be used.
Construction
Base - to be of ebonite.
Front bracket, centre bracket,

back bracket, lever- each

brass.
e

Contacts - to be of steel, faced with Tungsten, the latter to be welded
to the former in such a manner that neither of the metals will develop
rust.

Spring - steel wire No.22 SWG.

When

stretched by 3/8 ins and released

it must return to its original length. The metal shall not develop rust.
e

Connection, flexible - to be Wire Electric R.13 mk1, securely soldered
to 2 No.8 BA lugs, holes of lugs to be 1 3/4 ins apart.

Resin only to be

used as a soldering flux.
e Axle pin, axle pin screw, spring adjusting pin, spring adjusting screw,
spring retaining pin - to be of Stainless Steel.
Finish
Ebonite

- to be finished smooth and dull

Brass

- to be finished smooth

Spring

- to be dull nickel plated

Contacts

and dull nickel plated

- to be finished flat and their surfaces burnished

Markings
The key to be engraved

on the front edge of the base in No.8 characters.

The makers initials only are to be marked.

Any other marking called for is

to be adhered to.
It's good to see that the WT 8 Amp
key with a bit of history to them.

is popular in Australia too.

They're a

Like a British equivalent of the J-38. Maybe

we should start a WT 8 Amp fan club!

Ross
MONNK
[Thanks Ross - fantastic work!

Ross has also provided a document by

which followed a world-wide survey of WT 8 Amp keys - this is an amazing
document - which | think will be agreed by anyone with even the vaguest
interest in keys.

Click on the button below to download the document.

Enjoy...]

Morsum

Magnificat - World-wide Survey of WT 8 Amp

Thank you Ross.

If you have something you'd like to
share with others via the RagChew,

Keys

please let me know;

email to

cgqrsnet@gmail.com
The Morse Magazine
Key WT 8 Amp
Worldwide Survey Results

Op ~Os
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:

Why do we have dedicated amateur bands?
An interfering signal from a Standard transmitter appears on 56.6MHz. This
could be due to the:
e crystal oscillator operating on its fundamental frequency
e second

harmonic of a 10 metre transmission

e third harmonic of a 15 metre transmission
e seventh

harmonic of an 80 metre transmission

The maximum
modulation

frequency deviation in an FM transmitter is 3000Hz. The

index, when the highest modulating audio frequency is 1000Hz

IS:
e

0.3

el
e

e 30
A log book must be kept:
(a) For use at the licensed address, but it is not necessary for mobile

operation
(ob) To be shown to a police sergeant on request
(c) To record any distress messages
(d) By club stations

How did you go?

Answers

next week.

Answers

from

What

band

Answer:

last week’s

would
VHF

Quiz:

or 144MHz

band

fall within?

band

To extend the range of an ammeter

it is necessary to use a:

resistor in series with the meter

resistor in parallel with the meter

rectifier in series with the meter

capacitor in parallel with the meter

Answer:

resistor in parallel with the meter

The time constant of a 500 microHenry inductor and a 50 ohm
e

0.2 microsecond

5 microseconds

10 microseconds

125 microseconds

Answer:

resistance is

10 microseconds

A television picture is required to be identified:
(a) By having the callsign shown

permanently in one corner of the picture

(6b) By showing the callsign at least once every 10 minutes and at the
beginning and end of a series of transmissions
(c) By having the callsign shown

in the frame blanking pulse in digital form

(d) By showing a picture of the amateur station and operator at least every
10 minutes
Answer:

(b) By showing the callsign at least once every 10 minutes and at

the beginning and end of a series of transmissions
How did you go?

Di-dah-di-dah-dit
Here

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 via our Reports form bit.ly/COORSNET who you work or
hear on Tuesday’s net, along with any comments.
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 (cggrsnet@gmail.com) if | can help with that.
Teamwork

Thank you so much to our team of 33 contributors this week:
VK2GAS, VK7WW,

VK3ACU, VK6RR, VK5ET, ZL3TK, VK6BEK, VK4DRK,

VK6KD, VK1HF, VK7TA, VK6HRC, VK6KHZ, VK3BYD,
VK3BTV, VK6IS, VK6MK, VK3DRQ,
VK2GAZ,

VK2EMU,

ZL4TE,

VK7KPC, VK2RU,

VK2DLF, ZL4BDG,VK6PZT,

MONNK, VK3AE, VK6MJ, VK5ATQ, VK6JDM

G4RWI,
and VK3JDM;

special thank you to Ross MONNK for the excellent research into the WT 8
Amp

key.

Thank you team - €YU CW on Tuesday,

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

quite contented.

- Unknown

author

brass,

About

the CQ
Here’s

the

QRS

Net

details.

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

Practice

Net.

Frequencies

and Times

CQ QRS

NET — WINTER

TIMETABLE

‘Coordinated Universal Time
Westen
Australia

New Zealand

13002

UTC+8

1500

2100

CentralST

UTC +95

1630

2230

Eastern ST

UTC +10

1700

2300

1900

0100

NZST

Time
avoor ~

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
we’re on 40m

(or send slower to their comfort level).

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

VK2KI / VK6QI

respectively.

The

opinions expressed

The

opinions

Send

in the

RagChew

do not necessarily

comments

newsletter are those

of the individual contributors.

reflect that of the editor or of the CQ

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