Subscribe Past Issues Translate View this email CQ QRS in your browser RagChew Edition 21/2024 e International Status e International Post Morsum e Eagle Eyed Peter e The Trouble with Transmitters e HAP e | Can’t Even e WT Charts for lonospheric 8 Amp Key Sked e Receivers Say It! e A Reverse e Callsign and Prediction Flexible Braid Soup Reminder for 28May24 Well Tuesday’s CQQRS CQ QRS Slow CW Net practice QSO compared to our record of 52 known net wasn’t a world-beater stations on... but it was still pretty good. Things are looking positive when slot on 40m Tuesday; people are discovering that our 15kHz and 30kHz slot on 80m can actually get crowded on a well, perhaps that’s stretching the imagination a bit for 80m, but for those not using narrow CW filters (and that includes me at the moment), it’s interesting to hear five QRS QSOs at once within a 3kHz passband! Imagine what it’s like for those with older gear with even wider filters? All good fun. And people regularly thank me for organising the net... which | really do appreciate every time... but it’s you that goes out, braves the cold and risks family harmony then send in your results. you to every one of you. by making time to join in or to just to listen, That’s what really makes it all happen. So thank v RSS And do you think that you don’t need to send me your results because someone else will have it covered? Nope - nearly every report identifies a new station that | didn’t know about, and of course adds to our bragging rights.... how many 52 participants? nets run every week anywhere in the world with up to Not many.... and how many of those are CW only? | wouldn’t think there’s any. This week was even more of an international affair as well.... not only Aussies, Taswegiens, Crow-Eaters, Sandgropers and Kiwis, but a Floridian member and a British member also joined the choir this time. Fantastic! We even had representatives of all four nations on Wednesday morning’s Post Morsum on the WA AllStar network. Last Tuesday’s Here’s this week’s Net list of the 44 stations heard: 21May24CQ ORS Net Total active stations Total QS0s this week (note chat this figure isn't correct because it adds duplicate lines): (note that this figure won't be correct - (505 may be counted twice or more]: 69 257 Black text - OSLed, Green text - heard but not worked, Blue text - incomplete QS0 (not QSLed). CQQRS Team QS0 2 Qs0 3 Qso4 VK2CTM VK4CCW VK3KLE VK2GAS VK6KHZ VK6FN 80m VK6HRC VK6QI VKLKVS 40m VK3KLE VK3ACU VKSPS VKSTE Member DT = Qso 1 | gs05 Qs0 6 Qso7 Qso 8 VK3CGB £L3TK VK4DRK VK3XU #L3BDG VK3DRQ VK5SA0 ZL4BDG VK3XU VKSAQ [insert CO, or Listening if mo QSOs) G4RWI MONNK 40m MONNK 40m cont MONNK VK1HF VK1IPWE VK1TE/m 40m VK1TE/m 40m cont VK1TE/m om VKLWA 40m VK1ZDJ VKZAO0E VKSCZ VKITA VK3DRQ. VKSAO? VK2ASB 40m VK4JM VK3CGB VK2AU VK3KLE VK2DLF VK3ACU VK3ABK VK3IU VK3KLE VK4DRK #L1HJ VK2ASB 80m BMARC SSB net on 3543kHz VK2BHO VK2CL/m VK2COS VK2DLF 40m VK2WP VK2DLF 40m cont VK2ASB VK2EBN VK2EMU som VK2GAS 40m VK2GAZ 40m VK3KLE VK2GAZ som VIK2IK 40m VIK2IK 80m VK3BTV VKSFD VK3BTV VK3CTM VK3XU VK6QI 2L2H) VK2A5B VKSKFG VK3KLE VK6PZT VK3BTV VK3CGB VK/TA £L3TK VK6GAL VK4DRK | VK2GAS Z£L4BDG VK2KLE VK4DRK VK3ACU VK5GG VK2ASB VKSPH VK3RU VK3DRQ | VKSCZ VKSAO VK2DLF VK3KLE VKSAO ZL2GD VK2RU VK7TA VK6FN VK2IK VK2IK VK3XU VKSCZ VK4DRK VK6FN VKSAO VKSAO VKSCZ VK4DRK VK30RQ, VK6FN Avery weak VK3 VK6PZT VK6BFN VK3CTM | VK4DRK VK2IOW 40m VK2IOW 40m VK2IOW 80m VK2KI 40m VK2KI 40m cont VIK2KI 80m VK2KJJ 40m VK2NAP VK2NV VK2NNW 4om VK2NNW 40m cont VK2NNW som VK2RU VK2RU 40m 40m cont VK2TER VK2WF VK2WP 40m VK3ACU 4om Heard on air. VK3ACU som VK3ADX 40m VK3ADX som VEK3AE 40m VK3BAP VEK3BTV 40m VK3BTV 80m | VK3DRQ VK2A0E VK3BU VK3BWN 4om VK3BWN 80m VK3BYD/2 40m VK3BYD 80m VK3CLD/p VK3CTM 40m VK3CTM 20m VK3DBD 40m VK2DLF VKSCZ VK2S5 VK3DBD 40m cont VKSCZ VK3DRQ, VKSAO VK3DBD 80m VK7EE VKSAO VK3RU VK6FN VK7TA VK3DPH VK3DRQ 4am VK6IS. VK3FG 40m VK3KLE 40m Heard on air. VIK3KLE 80m VK3KO VK3RU 40m VK3RU 40m VK3DRQ, VKSAQ VK3KLE VK2WP VK2GAS VKSCZ VK3DRQ VK6FN VK3CTM ZL2GD VKSCZ VK3ACU 2L2GD VKSAO VK5CZ ?DX VK2DLF VK2ASB VK2RU VK2WP VKSKLE VK3SACU | VK3XU VK3TBR 40m VK3TBR 40m cont VK3VMM 40m VK3 WOW VK4ALE som VK4DRK 40m 2L1H] VK4DRK 80m VK4EK 40m VK4JM VK4MFX VK2ASB VKSAO 40m VK3ACU VKSAW som VKS5SAYL VKSCT 80m VIKSCZ 40m Heard on air. VKSCZ 40m cont VEKSCZ sam VIKSET 40m VEKSET 40m VIKSET 80m VKSFA VKSFD 40m VK3KX VIKSFD 40m cont VK4DRK VKSKFG VKETA éL3TK VK6GL VKiCT VK6FN VK3KLE VKSKFG VKSCZ VK6PZT VK6IDM VK6KHZ VK7TA VK6QI VK6WE VK6IDM | VK6KHZ | VK6BEC | VK6GAZ | VKSAO | VK3DRQ VK6KHZ VK3ACU VK6QI VK6FN VKSAO VK6QI VKEJDM VK7TA | VK6WE | VK6GAL | VK6AAV VK3DRQ, VKSPH VK6PZT VK6FN VK6KHZ VKGFN VK6QI VK6HRC VK7TA VK2KI VK6GAL | VKGHRC VK6sO VKG6FN VK6FN VK6HRC VK6WE VK6QI VK6IS VK6GAL VK6PZT 40m VK6PZT som VK6QI 4am VK6IS VK3DBD VK6KHZ VK7TA VK6CZ VK6FN VK4DRK VK6FN VK6JDM VK7TA VK6GAL | VK6QI 40m VKSAO VK6HRC VK6PZT VK2KI VKSKFG VK6HZ VKG6FN VK6GAL VK5EFD som VKSHAA VK2IK 30m VKS5IS 40m VKSKFG 40m VEKSKFG 80m Heard on air. VEKSLA 4am VKS5PH 4om VK5PL VK5QA Heard on air. VK6AAV 40m VK6BEK 4om VK6BEK som VK6CK VK6DEV 40m VK6DEV VK5GG 40m cont VK6DV VK6EN 4om VK6FN som VK6GAL 40m VK6HD 40m VK6HRC 4am VK6HRC 40m cont VK6HRC gam VK6IR VK6IS 40m Calling. VK6IS som VK6JDM 40m VK6JDM som VK6IK VEK6KD VK6IS 4om VK6KD 80m VK6KHZ 40m VK6KHZ som VK6KQ, VK6KHZ | VK6PZT | VKGAAV | VK6FN ZL3TK VK2KI VK6LD VK6MK 4om VK6MK 80m VKGENW som VK6MU VK6NC VK6NT 40m VK6NT 80m VK6QI som VK6RR ZL3TK VKSCz | VK4DRK 40m VK6TY VK6XU VK6VZ 40m VK6WE 4am VEKGWE som VK6YV P47] VK7KPC 40m Fo fol WK7KPC som 49s] VK7TA4om 47S] VK7TA 40m cont ro lol VK7WW 40m "0 [O| VK7WW 40m cont ro lol VK7WWeom rafo VK7ZA Fafo Fafo ZL1AJY Fa fo ZLIANY rifo ZL1HJ rofo ZLIPX P1fsl ZL26D40m 4/4! ZL2G6Ds0m rife ZL3TK 40m P48] ZL3TK 40m cont P4607] ZL3TK 40m cont Palo] Zi3TK som 1/6] ZLaBDG 40m r1fo Fa ZLATE 40m Fa Broken VK3KLE VK5PH VKGIDM | VK6GAL | ZL3TK ZL4BDG ZL3TK VK6JDM | VK6PZT | VK3ACU | VKSAO | VK3DRQ | VK7TA | VK3ACU | VK3DLF VK2SS | VK2WP | VK4DRK | VK2GAS VKSCZ Heard on air. VK3KLE ZLATE VK3ACU VK5TE VK2GAS | ZL1HJ | VK3KLE VK5ET VK3KLE VK3IU VK6GAL | VK7KPC | ZL4BDG | VK2ASB VK2KI VK2WP | VK3CTM | VK3DRQ | VK3KLE | VK4DRK | VK4FOMP| VK4JM | VK5PS VK6AAV | VK6BEK VK6FN VK6IS | VK6PZT | VK3XU ZL3TK vK2wP | VK4ORK | VK2GAS | VK2ASB | VK4JM VK3ACU | VK3CGB VKS5AQ | VKSKFG VK3KLE ZL1HJ Heard on air. T Record Department 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/COORSNET 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 Thanks again to Nigel G4RWI members to have a go. for building the Google Form, the Python software back-end that (will eventually - snigger) do the processing, the new link and the QR code. New Team Member We're joined this week by Mark VK2DI from Sydney who was heard during the previous week’s net by David VK6KD. who had worked Mark is a retired Radio Officer at an OTC Coastal Radio Station, but now spends much his time as a volunteer guide at the National Maritime Museum of at Darling Harbour, and also enjoys operating the radio room on the HMAS Vampire (VK2VMP) on Monday afternoons. Mark is also a VKFF Parks and VBand operator - who’s always happy to help newcomers with their CW Welcome learning. Mark. Although we have over 180 CQQRS members, we need to keep bringing in new and old operators every week to keep it interesting. So for those operators who are now able to have the occasional rag chew, happen to be working someone if you QRS who’s not on the spreadsheet list, why not ask whether they’re in the Tuesday CQQRS group? We’ve had lots of new members through that question being asked. Not all 180+ come members are listed in the spreadsheet... just the ones who've up on air in the recent past. email address to them: can get in touch and let them Masthead know what we’re all about. Image Isn’t that a beauty! amazing If they’re interested, please pass my cqqrsnet(at)gmail.com or ask for their address so | And thanks this week to Damien VK7SD for that shot. Cheers, mb Mark Bosma VK2KI / VK6QI Beautiful South Bowning NSW mark.bosma@icloud.com non impeaditi ratione cogitationis Reports & Comments Here’s this week’s reports. The spreadsheets above show the known stations on last Tuesday’s net. Comments distilled from the reports I’ve received are below: Comments: e From Ben ZL4BDG at Upper Hutt: [40m]. o Started 7:30 pm NZ Time and 40m was a bit quiet © Got more active towards 8:30 pm o NZ time Heard some nice old school rigs early on couldn't quite catch the Call signs though. e From Grant ZL2GD at Oxford North Canterbury: [40m] © Good sigs across the pond tonight, pity | had to get up early Wednesday! e From David VK4JM at Brisbane: [40m] o My first contact with VK2ASB this evening o | was using a remote Flex running 30W and conditions were good e From Jordan VK3ACU at Meredith: po a) a eee ee [40m] se | ag °o Great night made a few contacts thanks all ° | was calling CQ and VK6FN came back but the QSO taken over hehe all good ° Catch you all again next week. e From Richard VK6PZT at Dalyellup WA: [40m] o Had some bad intermittent QRM on 40m S9 then down to S1, then back up to s9 [80m] o Very quiet on 80 m again e From Ross KiwiSDRs: [40m] MONNK in the UK, but using the Tecsun and VK6DV ° This was NSW © my first listen-in to the QRS net (via the KiwiSDRs in and WA) | don't have much experience of radio Morse - | soend most of my time on Vband - so this was good practice for me for the rare occasions when ° | go out portable e Head copying was hard work and after an hour | was tired (I'll probably come © back later when | don't have much I've had a rest) experience on the air so this was a good workout for me 0 My ability to head copy was dependent on clarity of sending rather than speed - some of the quite slow morse was very clear and easy to listen to © Some guys send their own callsign fast and sloppily (because they know it so well?) but that makes it hard to copy © VK3KLE's old radio had a very distinctive Chirp until it stuck in constant transmit, drifting in frequency slightly; | wonder what happened there? e [80m] ° | was listening to two stations on 80m VK6DV (via the KiwiSDR) at 1230 UTC when | heard my callsign mentioned! VK6HRC VK6QI Richard and Mark were talking about me! Now that was : r : sg creepy given that I'm on the other side of the world! [Great report thank you Ross. air - HI! Heh heh, can’t get away with anything on Great to hear you on the WA AllStar network as well mate; I’m happy to chat to you on the WA AllStar network about how that network works too if you, e Ron VK6KHZ or Mike DL3YZ would like.] From John VKS5ET at Hope Valley: ° G'day Mark, bit quiet tonight, maybe everyone ° is feeling the cold? | had a heater on so | was fairly comfy. Heard lan, VK5CZ with one station who | couldn't get a call sign, bit later lan & this station were hiking along , too fast for me to copy. ° | did make QSO with lan who told me he was on to a Vanuatu station & a Japan station before this one. Mentioned that Dx was getting good. © PS: good to hear & make contact / QSO with the ZLs 0 73's till next time. e From George Comninos VK2AOE at Sydney/ Kogarah: e | got my new, mish-mash home brew monstrosity called the AOE monster on the air (40m). e Tried a few stations but zero beating and understanding if I'm in the correct place always confuses me on direct conversion rigs! As | was about to give up lan VK5CZ gave me a o 459 report! Elation....| replied but no response. It was at this moment | noticed the power needle was dead. o The PA transistor had died!!! Luckily AliExpress sent me 150 of these for 20 bucks (NEC D882's). | might need them all?? o Tried my Kenwood - it also lost smoke and Is now In hospital :( Parts on their way from the USA. o All part of the fun! ° Long live CW!! Thanks Mark for the QRS net... makes Tuesdays special. e From Stan ZL3TK at Waitarere Beach: [40m] © Conditions not the greatest, a noticeable lack of beacons and DX Stations o Worked o only three stations and each worthwhile Heard another 19 stations, an unusually high number, mostly quite weak o Ran off to check QRZ for VK4FOMP weren't playing tricks, to make sure my ears then had a particularly informative QSO with Gary VK6GAL who was operating remotely from his home... in Melbourne Florida. o All told, a splendid night o Am waiting to be confronted by a ‘Today in History’ QTC from some adventurous OM, be nice to 'balance the books' next week; any takers chaps? e From Donald VK6JDM at Esperance WA: [80m] o VKO6FN was buried in the noise o That is despite the low noise conditions at my QTH and the use of my superior Mark 4 Wotam o VK6FN © VK6KRC antenna null in my direction (who | have no doubt was also buried in the noise as he did promise he would © Hills receiver has previously said he has an antenna be on the net) says however that VK6FN's has a 360 degree null Hopefully the erection of two 65 foot towers at FN's QTH will negate the null e From Keiran (Bad Tempered Victorian) VK3BTV at Ringwood: [40m] ° | was recovering from 2 days of hayfever/cold so | was mostly listening o However, | eventually replied to Paul, VK2IK and had a great qso - 559 each way o Paul's speed to me was perfect on his 3D printed keyer, and he © seemed to copy my old 1973 Brown Bros UTL keyer very well | was leaving biggish gaps between letters and Paul mimicked that. o Great contact - thanks agn Paul [80m] © Heard nothing on 80 until | saw a blip on the IC7300 scope, and worked VK2IK Paul agn e o He had me 588 initially fo) ° This time he was 599 originally, but then severe QSB A quick QSO! From Paul VK2IK at Southern Highlands NSW: [80m] © 80M QSB this evening. © Key was 3D print home brew straight key with roller bearings. e From Peter VK7KPC at Evandale, Central TAS: [40m] °o Interesting history snippet from Stan ZL3TK about Manchester Canal opening by Queen Victoria in 1894. © Went upstairs for a break only to have power failure, not back til midnight © Note to self: Investigate off grid operation for shack and tv (for significant other) e From lan VK7TA at Latrobe: [40m] © | usually hear better on my OCFD than my vertical, but last night | heard VK6 better on the vertical. °0 When I called CQ (slowly) | got an answer from VK2SS. © Chuck did not know of the net, but he said that this was his first CW QSO in a long time, so it was good to get another station on the air using CW. [Woo e hoo - well done lan - that’s what its all about! From Richard VK6HRC :] at Padbury: [40m] © Good to hear so many stations, very busy net at times °o [80m] © Good to catch up with Mark, lucky for him | stopped torturing his ear drums after ten minutes or so ! Thanks Mark [Sounded good to me mate!] e From Manny VK3DRQ at Blackburn: [40m] © Conditions were not bad tonight © Not quantity but quality ° Time enjoyed e From John VK2RU 100km NE Alice Springs: [40m] © | managed to have three QSOs ° All went reasonably well but for some reason all QSOs had fading and interference towards the end o This appears to happen o At around 9:30pm every time and | don't know why everything went quiet and that was it for the night e From Daniel VK6WE at Cottesloe: [40m] °o | called three stations, the most | have managed o It did take a while but there is incremental in a sitting progress is my CW ability and less fear and trepidation ° I'm starting to copy signals better when the sending has the right rhythm to it o Without that even very slow Morse is more difficult to interpret [I’m glad that the net Is helping Daniel - very soon, there will be zero trepidation.... being able to relax and totally enjoy a rag chew Is just the ducks guts! You're not alone; like QRM, QRN, QSB, etc.... incorrect or changing rhythm Is very distracting to everyone - but it’s par for the course, especially with people like me that only use a straight key. Every week | have to pull my socks up and concentrate when | hear that my sending is getting sloppy; for me, some weeks are worse than others it seems]. e From Arthur VK2ASB at Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains NSW: [40m] o It was very noisy on air which prompted which will be presented ° me to write an article later in a future RagChew newsletter. | suspect if more people know about how easy it is to overcome the worst of white noise, the more people we will have on the air when the conditions are noisy ° [80m] ° | went into 80 metres a couple of times but didn't hear any signals at all. ° | did notice that the BMARC SSB net was still running on 3.543MHz. = | used to run that net before | went over to CW exclusively ° so it has been going a long time. 80 metres is a good band but it is hard to convince people of this because it is inherently noisy and people haven't read my article yet (HI)! [Thanks Arthur - and in particular, thank you for the great article; your work will appear as an Other Topic of Interest - most likely in edition 23/2024 - very much appreciated mate. Perhaps a quiet chat with the BMARC when you next go to a meeting about considering moving the net out of our netspace? ripples or put noses out of joint of course; CW/ SSB allocation, Don’t want to cause the frequency used is a shared we do have plenty of room and can play nicely together - but many of our team use QRP / home-brewed / re-built surplus gear that’s crystal locked and can’t move.] e From David VK6KD at home QTH Ballajura: [80m] o | started late as usual around 8:30pm WST but found after listening toa number of QSOs the band went quiet. ° | ended up practising my manual Rx decoding on 3.70053 MHz. think this frequency regularly transmits at different send speeds just for people to practice receiving. [Thanks David; what a pity no one was around; alert via our CQQRS perhaps try sending an WhatsApp group if it happens again - you never know who may be around in Australia or New Zealand (or on a Remote from anywhere) to say g’day. The VK2WI beacon at Dural (I think) runs continuously on 3699kHz with 30 Watts to a dipole. Of course in WA you'll only hear it at night when the band is open (ie the D-layer has disappeared and the F-layer is strong enough to support one or two hop propagation. Where | am (about 300km away from the beacon), it’s present a lot of the time - and has a very strong signal. / agree - it’s a very useful practice beacon as well - it sends plain text including numbers at various pre-specified Farnsworth speeds for a few minutes, before changing speed. about 25. | think I’ve heard around 5wpm up to There’s also another CW beacon up toward the top end of 80m that’s owned by the Hills Amateur Radio Group in WA, | think it only runs at night, but | don’t know the schedule]. e From Peter VK6IS at Wundowie: [40m] ° Lots of stations, and tricky to catch them, as so close to each other. [80m] | Oo e From Need some more Derek VK4DRK VK6s on this band. at Wyreema: [40m] © | was on until about 9pm local; 4 good contacts ° Thanks everyone e From me VK6QI Oo ° via the VK6SR Remote and KiwiSDR: [40m] | listened-in to 40m Remote using the Southern Electronics Group’s HF station at Bedfordale, and the co-located KiwiSDR under test on a temporary antenna. First up | heard Ron VK6KHZ between Max VK6FN way down calling CQ, followed by a chat at Manjimup and Donald VK6JDM at Dalyup near Esperance. | don’t think I'd heard Donald on 40m before so when they finished chatting | gave Donald a call; Maxwell wasn’t paying full attention and responded. We then settled into a really nice long rag chew - talking about who knows what. Meanwhile, Donald couldn’t have been too dismayed; | heard him just up the band chatting to lan VK7TA at Latrobe. A bit later | heard Gary VK6GAL (also W4GAL) from Melbourne Florida chatting to Stan ZL3TK at Waitarere Beach, then lan VK5CZ at Clare chatting to Derek VK4DRK at Wyreema. | heard Max having a chat to Maitland VK5A0O at Banksia Park, and then | decided that for once, I’d slide down to 80m within the allocated time block. [80m] 80m has been a challenge for me lately with the VK6QS KiwiSDR at Brookton still out of service despite owner Matt’s efforts, and the VK6SR Remote being difficult to couple to the Marconi-Tee antenna. Here’s what happened on the Remote when using the automatic coupler to tune up: m 3555kHz SWR of 2.4:1; = Let’s try 3500KHz =» Hmmm, » hmmm. 1:1 - oh and 3600kKHz 1:1. ok, let’s try sneaking up on it: 3510kHz 1:1, em 3520kHz 1:1, » 3530kHz 1:1, » 3540kHz (the bottom of the CQQRS segment) 2.4:1. =» Ok, let’s try the other way. = » 3590kHz # 3580kHz 1.2:1, # 3570kHz (the top of our segment) » 3560kHz 1.9:1, 3550 2.1:1. Bugger. 1:1, 1.7:1, Ok, lets try another approach... tune up on 3530kHz - 1:1, then sneak vewy vewy quietly (like a fish) up to 3540 - the bottom of our segment... hold breath.... key down..... 1:1 - voila! =» Here we go, dah-di-dah-dit dah-dah-di-dah.... o My call was answered by Richard VK6HRC up at Padbury and we had a nice chat - woo hoo! o Then some time later, after chatting to Greg VK5KFG from home here in VK2, | could hear us both in WA, so tried him from the VK6SR Remote and we were able to have a QSO; my signal from VK6 to Greg wasn’t as good as from VK2, but considering the receiver | was using in NSW, Greg was much nicer copy on the Remote. e Then some time later, after chatting to Greg VK5KFG from home here in VK2, | could hear us both in WA, so tried him from the VK6SR Remote and we were able to have a QSO; = ——— Z i> my signal from VK6 to Greg wasn’t as good as from VK2, . but considering the receiver | was using in NSW, Greg was much nicer copy on the Remote. e From me VK2KI o at Beautiful South Bowning: Elsewhere in the newsletter you'll find my tale of woe about my transceivers at home; so for Tuesday’s net, | was using my 50 year old Kenwood TS-120S, for the first time in about 30 years. o What a joy to have a VFO that moves so fast - tricky to net though... but | did appreciate the ability to key down without transmitting to allow zero-beating the mixed sidetone. a My normal Kenwood TS-50 transceiver won't do that easily because by default, it operates in break-in mode. = Looks like I'll have to see if | can find a way to use one of the programmable buttons on the microphone to disable break-in on CW, allowing the sidetone to help net onto others’ frequencies.... =» Another job on the list of to-dos. © Lots of fun using the old transceiver - without a CW filter - boy when the band gets busy with our net, listening on a 3kKHz wide receiver becomes quite a challenge; five conversations at once - what fun! o Made me appreciate the fun our team members have with vintage gear or with equipment without narrow filters. © So using the Tecsun home KiwiSDR at Araluen and my TS-120S from | heard Tony VK3CTM at Junortoun and Mick ZL1HJ at Te Kuiti calling CQ from the get-go. Stawell, Chris VK3CGB | also heard Paul VK3KLE at at Stanley, Stan ZL3TK at Waitarere Beach, Derek VK4DRK near Toowoomba and Armin VK2GAS at Norwest. © Ben ZL4BDG at Upper Hutt was chatting to Drew VK3XU Yarra Valley; one day, | hope one of our team will find an email address for Drew - who would in the make another fine member of our little team! ° By around 0800z, the band was starting to open to WA, and | was able to listen to Max VK6FN Remote). home and myself (as VK6QI via the | also heard Donald VK6JDM brew gear working near Esperance on his lan VK7TA at Latrobe, who went on to work Richard VK6PZT at Dalyellup. o | took a break untuk masa team makan member Arthur VK2ASB and returned to hear our new at Wentworth Falls thundering in - welcome Arthur, terrific to hear you on and having some fun. ° | then heard Gary VK6GAL who had got up very early in the morning to fire up the VK6SR Remote and have some fun; terrific to work you from VK2 again Gary. © So because | wanted an early night, as things started to slow down just slightly on 40m, | dropped down to 80m. °0 [80m] © On 80m could hear my signals from VK6QI, and my CQs were answered again this week by Greg VK5KFG at Willunga, South of McLaren Vale. o Nice to have an easy chat with Greg, before he turned the Yagi around and chatted to me from VK6. ° In parallel, | also heard Keiran VK3BTV giving some late night calls - but didn’t hear any response to our mate from North Ringwood; bad luck mate - the band was open, but no-one was home. e Conclusion © Good to hear Arthur VK2ASB VK6JDM on for the first time since joining, on 40m for the first time for me | think, and our early riser, VK6GAL on from Melbourne Florida. ° The next day, MONNK at Budleigh Salterton (let’s just call it Exeter for CW purposes) stayed up until midnight to call in to our AllStar Post Morsum. Ross told us that he’d had some fun listening in to our net on some of the Australian KiwiSDRs. =» Great stuff to have people in different parts of the world having a go and having some fun via our little get-together each Tuesday. =» The KiwiSDRs are a little tricky to use with a mouse at first, but with experience, they’re unbelievably good. =» Deep narrow adjustable filtering. = Glorious waterfall display which is unbeatable for watching the whole band. = And they’re free to use! =» Wonder where the technology will take us next? oe a B85 | e From Tony Morris VK3CTM ee ee ere ee LL a ee at Bendigo: [40m] © One great advantage of CW over SSB is that when sending you will not be disturbing others. oe Another advantage privacy. is that CW provides a reasonable level of e From Kees VK1LKVS at Wanniassa: °o Listening only on 7032/7033 e From David VK3RU before having to go out. at Burwood VIC: ° Still testing positive to COVID for the third week, so a short time in the shack this Tuesday. Other Other things International From Post I’ve received News from our 180-odd readers. Morsum Richard VK6HRC Hi Mark, As you know gremlins were having fun with the WA AllStar network on Wednesday morning for our Post Morsum. transmit for me. So the net was no-go on In spite of that a decent turn up for those that managed to get on... a real international event eventuated. On this the Post Morsum: e ZL3TK Stan e VK6FN Max e VK6QI Mark e VK6GAL Gary e VK6KRC Bob e Ross MONNK and, e our shortwave Some listeners. items of interest from today's net: e Stan had some success with his introduction of the "this day in history” exercise. e Max being kept busy with one of his many day jobs but still managed to enjoy the net. e Mark and Gary discussed operating the VK6SEG Mark had been using the VFO all wrong; remote. Apparently Gary agreed to teach Mark how to use it more easily. e Ross discussed making use of the online Kiwi Software Defined Receivers. I’m looking forward to next week's net... thank you, have a great day Cheers Richard VK6HRC [Thanks Richard. Wednesday, We really missed your leadership and control on our rudderless ship flailed around without your usual guidance and direction. | hope you get the problem with your FM transmitter sorted for next week. ] Pondering From Stan ZL3TK Is a Ponderosa something to ponder? When If yes, then here's a Ponderosa. folks ask “what's a Post Morsum?”, there's no easy way to explain it. It fulfils quite a number of roles. Could it perhaps be called a 'Coroner's Court’, or is that too bland? Maybe it's more of a 'Pathologists' Playtime', because all the participants are experts in their own way. Both monikers are equally moribund whereas the Post Morsum is more of a care-taking event, as held in the days of yore. So could 'Wireless Wake' be the most apt descriptor? [Heh, heh... thanks for the Ponderosa Stan. Perhaps we might hear an opinion from Richard VK6HRC the host of the Post Morsum net in a future RagChew?] Eagle Eyed Peter VK7KPC: Well, who noticed my pop quiz question about the auroras in last week’s RagChew? The first and best-dressed entry was from Peter VK7KPC at Evandale. Peter correctly identified that the image that was not of an Aurora Australia, was the right hand top one; an Aurora Borealis which was provided by Nigel G4RWI. | trust we’ll get a picture of Peter eating his virtual almond croissant in time for the next RagChew edition. The Trouble with Transmitters and Receivers. It’s really great to have an opportunity to use radio transmitting and receiving gear - especially when you can build, modify and/or fix your own gear. But sometimes, just sometimes, it can be a bit of a pain! First-world problems! For some years, my lovely litthe Kenwood TS-50 has had occasions where the power output wasn’t constant on key-down. A few years ago, | pulled it all apart and chased what | thought was an ALC problem. via YouTube (rolleyes) that the TS-50 was prone to this problem was a bit of gunk (ie some components. Finally, | found if there resistance) in any of the 13.8 Volt supply The LCD display is illuminated by LEDs from a regulated supply, so any moderate drop in supply voltage isn’t noticeable. Bit of squirt, and it was away. However, on occasions the symptoms started to return. There’s two in-line blade fuses in the power supply line in case of reversal of the supply connection - two additional places where the problem could occur - so | removed one... still the same - occasional power waiver. However, during last weekend’s St George Amateur Radio Society Don Edwards Memorial Slow CW Contest, the problem Oh well... QSB! became worse - and | was struggling to complete a QSO without bits of characters disappearing... and it had got bad enough that sometimes on key down, the transceiver would shut down drastic action. The 40m completely and re-start. Hmmm, time for segment of the contest wasn’t until the next day.... lots of time to sort it out! So | have three Kenwood no change; transceivers with the same power cable. Swap, swap again, no change... squirt contact cleaner here and there.... hmmmm. Ok, | also have three 13.8 Volt high current power supplies - swap, swap, swap.... hmmmm. Right-oh.... desperate times call for desperate measures. What if the power connector on the back of the TS-50 has some corrosion on the contacts? Ok, how to get the pins out of the socket? Not all that easy - open the box, remove the filter board, remove the connector (inwards), then have lots of fun removing the connector’s four pins without the correct pinremoval tool... dental instruments and pliers. Amazingly, no electronic or electrical items were harmed in the making of this drama. Down to the second layer to remove the DC connector. Pins out (one at a time matie!) restraighten the locking tabs (for the first time in living history.... none broke), buff buff, squirt squirt, push back in - click... phew! Re-assemble Sad face! it all, power up, key up.... instant shut-down of the TS-50. Cat learns some new words. Ok, how to get on air on 40m for the second part of the contest? Ah ha... trusty FT-817 from my portable backpack. And what’s more, managed to buy a used CW filter for I'd the unit (memo to me, if | ever buy another new transceiver that has optional CW filters... buy the filter hen’s teeth when the gear goes out of production... then again, these days it’s all done with software.... buy the biggest memory, hard disk etc instead). This marvellous CW filter knocks out most of the normally S9+ switch mode power supply hash - amazing! to build an interface cable for my phasing So that solved the weekend CW QSO practice net? cut the mustard? So | didn’t need noise canceller - woo hoo. problem.... what about Tuesday’s CQ QRS Slow Surely 5 Watts from my FT-817 just isn’t going to Hmmm... ok, well I’m staring at other transceivers (hence the two spare 13.8V DC cables with Kenwood plugs).... | wonder? So first up, | fired up the Kenwood TS-430S that a friend had loaned to me; it had been his father’s and hadn’t been used for many many years. Well it seemed to work ok on receive.... and tx - yup ALC... but wait, no Collector current... and no power output on key-down. Ok, well what about my old friend, my Kenwood TS-120? Sad face. | bought it 50 years ago, and gave it to my father (VK6SB at the time) when TS-50 about 30 years ago. Powered believe.... 50 Watts output! Woo friends? | bought the up - yup. Keyed up - and | couldn’t hoo! Not 100, but what’s 3dB between This transceiver had always had an occasional intermittent fault where the ALC indication jumped and the power dropped, and it didn’t disappoint... but it was still usable... with an occasional bit of QSB. Unlike my TS-50 and FT-817, this old girl didn’t have a CW filter, so it was noisy as anything on receive on 40m and 80m; so! made up an interface plug and socket to bring the TX relay out to my phasing noise canceller. Boy oh boy, the noise canceller is so much easier to adjust with the real S-meter on the TS-120, rather than an LCD bargraph display on the newer radio. So for the net on Tuesday, that’s what | used - my 50 year old TS-120S what fun.... | could move from one end of our 40m half a turn of the VFO knob. segment with just over And unlike my TS-50, with the break-in turned off, | could use the CW side-tone from the speaker to zero-beat and net onto stations. And, another undocumented feature... the 3kKHz bandwidth meant that | could listen to several QSOs at once during our busy net! What fun. So what was | saying about the joy of being able to fix your own gear? Cheers, Mark VK2KI In the Sticks In last week’s RagChew | commented to Stuart VK6MK “Interesting that both you and John conditions”. VK2RR/7 in the lower latitudes reported really poor My brain must have gone to lunch - of course | meant ‘...and John VK2RU/4 in the lower latitudes...’! witi the comment | mentioned the mistake to John “Boy you are out in the sticks aren’t you!” Reply from John: Thanks for the email Mark. No need for an apology for a minor error in an excellent newsletter. We enjoy it out this way. The redder the dirt is the better. If there's no one within a 100kms of us we think it's rather good. But it's not really as remote as it once was. I've got a 4G connection probably coming from a nearby aboriginal community. We've gone about 700kms west of Boulia and there's only been about 300kms road. here, of good dirt All the rest is bitumen. Slowly but surely the outback is becoming accessible to everyone, and that will bring its own set of problems with people being under prepared for what is a very hard environment. We've been fortunate to date. years. We camp problem. We have been on the road full time for 11 in the bush say 90% of the time and have never had a But we're cautious about what we do, and don't advertise exactly where we are.... parked behind a hill or sand dune and no one Knows we're there. I'm getting nothing in on HF at the Space Weather Seveey moment. J Mle | can't get 12m on the Codan 9350 with the whip I've got on. mee eS ee —«_* Sininipigtezetnurscabpeauninieeietniesninenernetnini And if I'm reading this chart correctly that's what might work across to the east coast. a I'll keep listening on 15m and see what comes up on the scope. Just hearing VK1AM | mea ??? Very low down. nt comme to add nts that to last while wee 40m ks was TNGBE not Oe IE DE WE SSE MOE HEE BOE SEE WE TOE SEO car coeien Created at 16/05/2024 03:07:45 UT Bones data at 16/05/2024 0302 UT) the best, the K beacon was booming in on 7.039.300. [l haven't studied that sort of prediction chart; | thought it depicted the predicted reflection from vertical incidence signals - and if so, | don’t know how to translate that to predicted propagation between two places; learning needed - HI! more | use the GRAFEX point-to-point predictions which provide info on which layers are involved, OWF, ALF, take-off angles etc.] Regarding the HAP charts, | don't know a lot about this. I'm just going off the documentation on this site - https://www.sws.bom.gov.au/HF_ Systems/1/1 ... maybe I'm reading it wrong: e Hourly Area Prediction (HAP) charts are designed for communications between a specified base and mobile within a nominated area. e Each chart shows colours which represent the recommended HF frequencies for contacting the base or mobile within the area bounded by the chart for a particular hour. e The HAP chart is a guide to frequency selection for HF communications recommended between mobiles and a specified base station. The frequency for communications with the base at a given hour is read off from the point in the map corresponding to the mobile's location. The predictions are made from real time data which are updated each hour. [Wow - thank you John. | thought that chart only showed the reflection frequency for vertical incidence; apparently | was completely wrong. That's very useful - I'll have a look]. | Can’t Even From David Say It! VK3DBD Twas You Mark, | assume, who lifted my photo from QRZ.com or a QSL card and quoted my QTH Yackandandah as a notable location, few would easily spell. There is/or was a popular tee shirt sold here emblazoned Spell with: Yackandandah? | can't even say it! | think Australia has more of it's fair share of place names which are memorable, that is, if you can say and spell and indeed remember! You are quite right regarding sending it on the key, at my usual speeds of 20-25 wpm | do it now by muscular memory printed YACKANDANDAH but | still have a prominent Just above the radios, so if | need to send it slowly without missing a letter, | can look at it and get it right... a letter at a time, it is too easy to wonder if the letter A is being sent for the first, second or third time...... | note you too failed to copy it letter perfect Mark - the C is missing! On a more serious note; one of the recent QRS QSOs | had, with Paul VK3KLE was notable probably for being the longest of all the ones | have had on the QRS net. He replied at length with the usual details and according to my log was QRV with me for about 20 mins. | find all too often when Well done Paul! a contacted station replies to me, | send the usual details if appropriate and even when a question has been asked, often the other station will end the contact briefly with "thx QSO 73". Now this may be due to the fact that they have not copied or understood what | sent or were ending the QSO for other reasons. or ask for a repeat; Never be afraid to send "PSE QRS" | am aware that my speed can easily creep up higher than intended. Most new ops tend to send a little faster than they can copy. This is fine except that sometimes the Morse is not quite up to scratch. Listening to good Morse, is the best way to learn exactly what it should sound like. very young You will then copy that just as we learned to say words when by listening... long sending at any speed common is much before we could read or write. Good easier to copy than poor code. Most faults are with the timing, either broken letters or the opposite, run together letters and insufficient gaps between words. experience, | can usually read, but broken least.... especially at QRS speeds. The latter with letters are confusing to say the The whole letter should always be sent "as one" at a decent speed and | would strongly suggest for starters, that needs to be 18 or 20 wom. A few pre-written out phrases for almost every QSO -is a good learning tool. Every new op ought to make these; look at whilst sending... on small cards which are handy to no need to think what to say; it is so easy to copy your own clear writing with no more than a sentence on it - for instance: "My QTH is located in a rural area, and | have nearly an acre of garden for my antennas". interesting. smooth A few similar to this can make a QSO so much more And most importantly, copying a print-out like that makes for and better timed sending on your key, without a doubt. Don’t forget the gaps either... they need sending too! 73 David VK3DBD Yack-and-and-ah! [Thanks for your thoughts David - much appreciated. The cards idea Is good too - especially for people who have had their first few RST & QSOs, and are starting to relax and enjoy the journey. Names On the question question... yes I’m trying to learn to head-copy... and enjoy relaxing and letting the received characters flow, then piecing together the conversation by what actually sinks in. Great, until the other operator asks a question.... more often than not I'll reply with QUES AGN? or AGN?, really concentrate. Great fun. then The other thing is that this is purposefully an uncontrolled training net...the idea is that we make mistakes and gain experience... no-one’s allowed to get wound up if the other station doesn’t do it exactly right... we’re all here to learn. I’d much rather have people on air and making mistakes, than being shy of the key because they fear being shown up as an inexperienced or rusty operator. about. That’s what it’s all Thanks again David.] From Richard | passed KJS5DWA in Paris Texas: my general yesterday! [Congratulations Richard; does your callsign change with the change from Technician Class to your new General Class license?] WT 8 Amp Key - Flexible Braid From Kees VK1KVS Many thanks to Ross MONNK for his article about the Key W.T. 8AMP. | have quite a few of them, in most of the configurations Ross describes. Tony Smith G4FAI (recently SK) Morsum Magnificat Worldwide Survey is indeed a great resource. The one for mobile use with the leg straps, the ‘Key and Plug Assembly’, also mentioned by Ross, has its own write-up which can be downloaded from https://royalsignals.org.uk/key-plug/index.html (navigate to the download button below the picture of the (printed) book cover, at the right of the web page. | attach a picture of the flexible copper braided wire that assists with the connectivity between the lever and the middle bracket of the key, which is not correctly fitted in Ross’ picture. Not a connectivity issue, but rather aesthetic. If Ross detaches the two small screws and uses a thin rod (I use the end of hobby craft paint brush) to twirl the braided wire around, it will achieve the ‘pigtail’ curl visible in the image, then re-attach. | meant to send the picture to him directly, but could not see an email address in his QRZ page. 73 Kees VK1KVS [Thanks Kees. /t sure is a popular little key - several members sent me images of theirs. My main one came from a public Junk sale back in the early 80s, and got mounted on a bit of Jarrah firewood when | moved to WA. Uh-oh... mine failed the curly braid test too! Cheers and thanks for the insight. ] People put all sorts of components on keys to eliminate scratchy dots, but it should not be necessary if the contacts are properly cleaned. Happy to bring it back to life for you if you want to send it to me, no charge. lam also always mortified by people using the wrong size screwdrivers, causing gouging the soft brass of the terminal screw slots beneath the nickel plating. Horror again! | got myself a set of gunsmith screwdrivers, with different interchangeable bits which allows for making correct choices, see https://lawgear.com.au/wheeler-26-piece-space-saver-gunsmithingscrewdriver-set.html A worthwhile investment if hams want to look after their keys. 73 Kees VK1KVS [Thanks Kees; yes, this old key has seen lots of use over the years - it has lots of character... aka - gouges on the soft knurled screws. And yes, | added the low pass filter to reduce the harsh keying of my solid state transmitters. Appreciate your offer of some key care and attention mate!] Reverse Sked From MONNK Ross After our get-together earlier on the VK6RMH-R access to the WA AllStar network, Ron, Mike and | were chatting on Vband (using morse). Ron said that it's possible to have a 2-way direct (private) contact on Echolink. then asked us if it's possible to have a 3-way direct contact. agreed to try and see if that worked He Mike and | (it didn't). ‘Normally’ one might expect to arrange a CW sked using voice but this was one of those rare occasions when We found that amusing. CW was used to arrange a voice sked. | thought you might too. I'm not sure why Ron and Mike can use the *VK6-HUB* hear me but | can't hear them or see them normally and can listed on the right-hand panel. I'm not experienced with Echolink. Do you have any ideas about what | might be doing wrong? Ross [Hi Ross. | asked our team member is Rob the WA AllStar network, and many VK6LD (who has built much of of it’s AllStar nodes) about the access problem that you and Stan reported with the *VK6-HUB* Echolink node; Rob ts the guru behind the Southern Electronics Group’s technical systems. Rob tested the *VK6-HUB* Echolink node using the Parrot - it worked ok for him. | was also able to connect from my phone and could hear myself through the network and vice versa. Rob’s comment in his usual character manner was: “Echolink is the explanation - sits next to the recycle bin icon on my computer. I'd just move EchoLink in there . RepeaterPhone its a much better app for iPhone on Allstar. ] 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 Many of our team on that net. 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 - 3580KHz 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 Callsign Soup Call Sign Soup By Stan ZL3TK - Upsides and Downsides It was a bright and sunny day when the annual amateur radio license fee in New Zealand was abolished. But celebrations were quickly dampened on a dark day when the powers-that-be decreed amateur call signs need no longer be district-identifiable. The tradition had been: e ZL1 was allocated to stations ene e ZL2 south of Taupo plus the Nelson-Marlborough region in ite ——— north of Taupo, the South Island, — 23 e ZL3 north of the Waitaki River and e ZL4 south to Stewart Island. Suddenly call signs became mixed up in a free-for-all number soup. Why? The original reason seems to have been to reduce administration costs. Since license fees were abolished there was no outside funding from call sign holders themselves. Then evolution came into play and responsibility for registering call signs and any changes shifted from ‘the Authorities’ entirely to authorised agents, some being very reasonable with their fees, while others demonstrated greed. It makes sense to avoid any such fees by simply keeping one’s call sign when moving between districts. The loss of identity from being mandated to change one’s call sign is offset by the ability to continue as an identifiable ‘personality’ regardless of location. The loss of district-identifiable callsigns is a tiny cost in the quest for administrative efficiency in a country the size of New Zealand, same policy implemented different matter. but the across continental-Australia is an entirely For example, when discussing non-reciprocal propagation as occurred on a recent Post Morsum, instead of using the typical ‘between VK6 and ZL’, State names will need to be be used, as in ‘WA to NZ’. And in case you're wondering, only became NZ used to be considered a state of Oz and a separate colony after 1 July 1841. We muddle on... see you in the soup. Stan Vause ZL3TK [Thank you Stan; I’m sure | wasn't the only one confused about the callsign prefix allocation in ZL. In the 70s in Australia there was a relevant bumper sticker. ] If you have a topic that might be of interest to readers, please please let me know so we can share more thoughts and ideas; to cgqrsnet@gmail.com email 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 website, for he idea, and Jules for the good learning here’s this week’s quiz questions from Jules’ Workshop example test questions: Describe the wavelength of a signal. The main reason for earthing mains powered e reduce RF interference e reduce eddy currents e e reduce shock hazards reduce stray coupling equipment is to A pi-coupling network used at the output of the final power amplifier stage in a transmitter e doubles the output frequency and improves neutralisation e suppresses parasitic oscillations and enhances spurious sidebands e matches the PA output impedance to the antenna load and suppresses harmonics e enables a half-wave dipole antenna to be voltage fed Which of these is NOT allowed to be sent as an amateur television image? (a) An image of your house (bo) An image of equipment you have for sale with prices (c) An image of a group of unlicensed (d) An image of your antenna system How did you go? persons around your barbecue Answers next week. Answers from last week’s Quiz: Why do we have dedicated amateur bands? Answer: So the radio spectrum can be shared with other users. An interfering signal from a Standard transmitter appears on 56.6MHz. This could be due to the: crystal oscillator operating on its fundamental frequency second harmonic of a 10 metre transmission third harmonic of a 15 metre transmission seventh Answer: harmonic of an 80 metre transmission second The maximum modulation harmonic of a 10 metre transmission. frequency deviation in an FM transmitter is 3000Hz. The index, when the highest modulating audio frequency is 1000Hz is: e 0.3 el e 3 e 30 Answer:3. A log book must be kept: (a) For use at the licensed address, operation but it is not necessary for mobile (ob) To be shown to a police sergeant on request (c) To record any distress messages (d) By club stations Answer: (d) By club stations How did you go? Di-dah-di-dah-dit Here So back to the Slow CW QSO we go. practice net. Next Tuesday’s 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/CQQRSNET 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 (cggrsnet@gmail.com) if | can help with that. Teamwork Thank you so much to our team of 37 contributors this week: ZL4BDG, ZL2GD, VK4JM, VK3ACU, VK6PZT, VK5ET, VK2GAS, VK6JDM, VK3BTV, VK2IK, VK2DLF, VK7KPC, VK7TA, VK6HRC, VK3DRQ, VK2RU, VK6BEK, VK6WE, VK5FD, VK4DRK, VK3DBD VK2AOE, VK2ASB, VK6KHZ, VK6KD, VK6IS, VK5A0O, VK6FN, VK3CTM, and VK3JFP; MONNK, VK7SD, VKLKVS, VK6AAV, VK3RU, and a special thank you to Stan ZL3TK for his Callsign Soup article and Nigel G4RWI for taking the early morning panic notifications about the reporting software, and his on-going development of the reporting system. Thank you team. €U 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, aa Words were passed by pounding brass, Coy”, MUN And all were quite contented. - Unknown About the CQ Here’s the author QRS details. Net The team will be on again for our usual Tuesday arvo / evening Practice QSO Net. Frequencies and Times CO ORS NET — WINTER TIMETABLE ‘Coordinated Universal Time Westen Australia New Zealand ~ 13002 ST 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 we’re on 40m (or send slower to their comfort level). If 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, can hammer the key. not show how fast you 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; the longer we go with our net, the more | understand just how many non-transmitting listeners we have - and they will most likely appreciate your QRS! 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 there half an hour ago, etc! PSE QRS letters that were right 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 someone DX, if you hear 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 7032kHz or 3555kHz. catch someone, there’s no need to QSY - enjoy the frequency. If you But don’t forget to tune around 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: httos://www.parg.org.au/ files/ugd/ebe236_ 3ca5ca08bb38429db4eee524b da2f97a.pdf. There's usually people around until after 1300z - so keep calling until you catch someone. | should be on as usual from home in NSW and via the Remote at Bedfordale WA, and I'll also be watching the proceedings using the VK6QS and Tecsun SDRs in WA and NSW respectively. mb VK2KI / VK6QI The opinions expressed The opinions Send in the do not necessarily comments RagChew newsletter are those of the individual contributors. reflect that of the editor or of the CQ about the RagChew QRS Group members. Newsletter. Copyright (C) 2024 CQ QRS. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences ea @ & mailchimp or unsubscribe