Past

Issues

Translate

View this email

in your browser

CQ QRS

RagChew

Edition 29/2024

e The
e

Rare White-Spotted

Mr Farnsworth

e Tree-Climber
e

Remote

Bumblebee

e VK6RR

Checks

Cartus

Shoppii

Needed

Station

Follies

Contest?

Shack Visit

SKCC

Oceania

QRS

Saunter - This Weekend

Morse Training

Net

Reciprocal

Reminder for 23Jul24

Callsigns - or NOT

Be careful what you wish for!
that’s self-sustaining - when

- as the Circumstances

CQ QRS

Net

My wish has long been a QRS practice net
people want to have a go on air ina safe

environment, they’ll know, Tuesday night’s 40m
to be.

When

Dictate

and 80m

net is the place

| started the net three years ago, | wouldn’t have imagined

that we’d have close to 200 people in VK, ZL, the USA, UK and Europe all
interested in getting on when they can - either for practice or to help out
for those who are trying to gain experience and confidence on air.
Wonderful!
Of course, the down-side is that we now have lots of people on air in peaks
and troughs during the evening - busy times get like Bourke Street which
can be daunting for a new-comer....
80m

activity later in the evening

than we've had in the past.

but there’s also quiet times, and the

is getting better, but still much

quieter

With my 35 year old Kenwood TS-50 (with its

narrow filter) awaiting attention, I’ve been using my nearly 50 year old TS1205S - with only the 3kHz filter - tough work when there’s so many CW
signals all crammed

into our chosen space, especially on 40m.

RSS

But, | think most of us had a ball on Tuesday - well done to you all.
Last Tuesday’s

Net

This week there were 55 callsigns reported by the 35 of our members
were on the net on Tuesday.
team

who

Here’s the list of the stations heard by each

member:
COORS
Team
Member

qsoi1

Qso 2

DL3¥Z

Heard 40m

VK2KI

DL3YZ

Heard 40m

ZL3TK

VK/MONNK | Worked 40m
VK/MONNK |

Heard 40m

VK/MONNK | Worked 80m

Qso 3

aso4 |

asos5s | aso6 | aso7 | gsos

VK2TM

VKSCZ

VK6RR | VKSGG |

VK6BE

VK/MONNK

VK6RR

VK6KHZ

VK6HRC

VK6Ql

VKSCZ

VK6BEK

VK2ACU

VK2KLE

VK6IS

VK6KHZ

| Worked 40m

VKSLA

VE2ZICC

VEKSC?

VK2A0E

| Worked 80m

ZL2AUA

VK2ASB

| Worked 40m

7LIGD

VK2ASB
VK2DLF
VK2DLF

Heard 40m
| Worked 40m
Heard 40m

VK3DRQ
VK3XU
VK5SGG

VK3RU
VK3HK

VK2TER
VK3ACU

VK3NK | VK2DLF
VKSKLE

VK2ZEBN

| Heard on air.

VWK2EBN
VESLA
7L3TK

VK6KD/4
VK2A0E

VK2JCC

VKGHRC}

ZLIASY

VK3KLE

VKSLA

VK2DLF

Heard 40m

VK2JCC

Heard on air.

VK2KI
VK2KI
VK2KI

Worked 40m]
Heard 40m
Tried 40m

VK2NAP

| Heard on air.

7L3TK

Heard on air.

VK3ACU

| Worked 40m

VK3ADX

Heard on air.

VK3BAP

Heard 40m

VK3SADX

VK5CZ

ZL3TK

ZL1IPH | VK2DLF | VK3XU

VK3DRQ =| Worked 40m

VKSRU

ZL3TK

VKSRU

VK2NAP

VK3RU

Heard on air.

VKSCZ

Worked 40m)

VK3AVA

VKSHK

ZL1HJ

VKSADX | VK2A0E

VKSLA

Worked 40m)

= WK2AOE

ZL3TK

VK3ACU

|VK6KD/4|

VK6BEK

| Heard on air.

VK6IS
VK6KHZ
VK6QI!

VK6FN
VK6RR

VK6WE | VK6FN |

VK6FN

Heard on air.

|Worked4o0m|
| Heard 40m
[Worked 80m)

VK6BEK
VK3ADX
= VK6PZT

VK6HRC

Heard 80m

VK6KD/4

VK6IS

Worked 40m

VKG6KHZ

VK6IS

Worked 80m|

VK/MONNK

VK6IS

Heard 80m

VK6KHZ

VK6BEK

| VK6KHZ

VK6Q! | VKGPZT

VK2TER

VK6HRC
VK6HRC
VK6HRC

VK6IS_"

VK6IS.

VK2AQE

VK2A0E

VKSCZ

VK3RU

VK6QI

VK/MONNK | VK6PZT

VK6KD/4 =| Worked 40m

VKSLA

VK6PZT

VK2KI

VK6KD/4

Heard 40m

VK3DRG

VK3ACU

VK6IS

VK6KD/4

Tried 40m

VK3KLE
VK6RR

VK6KD/4

Tried 80m

VK6Q!

VK6KHZ

= | Worked 40m

VK6BEK

VK6/MONNK

VK6KHZ

= | Worked 80m|

VK6/MONNK

VK6FN

VK6KRC

Heard on air.

VK6PZT =| Worked40m)
VK6PZT
Heard 40m
VK6PZT | Worked80m}
VK6QI
Worked 40m]
VK6QI
Heard 40m
VK6Ql
Heard 40m
VK6QI
Worked 80m)
VK6QI
Heard 80m

WK3ADK
VK6BEK
~VK6HRC
VK/MONNK |
ZL3TK
VK6IS
VK6HRC
VK6P2ZT

VK6IS

VK6KD/4

VK6QI
VK6HRC
VK3CK
VK6FN

VK6RR
VK6RR
VK6RR

Worked 40m]
Heard 40m
Heard 40m

VK/MONNK
VK2DRF
VK6FN

VK6KHZ
VK2NAP
VK6IS

ZL2GD
VK3XU
VK6Q!

VK3ADX | VK3DRQ|
VK6HRC |VK6KDI/P}

VK6WE

Worked40m|

VK6KRC

VK6WE

Tried 40m

VK6FN

VK7KPC

Heard 40m

ZL3TK

VK6KHZ

VK3ADX

VK3KLE

TLIAIY

Heard on air.

ZL1HJ
6WATTS
VK3KLE
ZL2LN

VK2KI
VK2GBR

VK2NAP
VK3KLE

ZLiHJ

Heard on air.

ZL1PB

Warked 40rm

ZL3TK

ZL1PB
ZL1PB
ZL2GD
ZL2GD

Heard 40m
Tried 40m
Worked 40m|
Heard 40m

VK3XU
VK2DR
VK2ASB
ZL4TE

Z7L2GD

Worked 80m

LUT7YS

ZL3TK
ZL3TK
ZL3TK

Worked 40m]
Heard 40m
Heard 40m

= VK2JCC
VK2DLF
2L2GD

ZLATE

Heard on air.

Masthead

Image

VK6IS

| VK3ADX | VK6FN

VKSKLE | VK3TDX | VKSCZ
VK6PZT | ZL3TK

And thanks this week to Richard VK6PZT for the image of his nice
restoration of a Clipsal key.

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.

ly/COQRSNET

Thanks again to Nigel G4RWI

for building the Google Form and the Python

software back-end that does the processing;

this weeks

he’s added a

couple of new enhancement that cuts the time taken for me to compile the
newsletter even more.... it’ll do it itself once Nigel incorporates some
Artificial Intelligence!
And speaking of processing - when filling out the report form after the net,
please check that you’ve put only callsigns in the Worked,

Heard and

Missed entry areas - any other information, notes, comments

etc are now

purposefully ignored by the software and | won’t get to see them;

please

keep comments

and

etc for the thoughts and comments fields for 40m

80m.
| really like receiving the reports every week - so even if you don’t hear
anyone

next Tuesday,

please let me Know that you were there;

if nothing

else, | need to know that the net is still useful and attracts listeners.

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

reports.

The spreadsheets above show the known stations on last Tuesday’s net.
Comments

distilled from the reports I’ve received are below:

Comments:

From Mike
[40m]

DL3YZ

at Stuttgart Germany

e After a week off, | was listening to Ironstone SDR near Adelaide.
e Great to see the CQ QRS

net

prospering, and there are constantly

new
stations joining in every time.

From

Ross

VK/MONNK

at Exeter UK via Perth WA

[40m]
e The interesting thing about CW is that half the time you miss stuff
and
have to guess what the other guy has just said, so it's a rolling headpuzzle!

[80m]
e | was on half an hour after the
start of the 80m window and
conditions were
good but only VK6 stations heard..

[Not to mention rascally operators who should know better than to take
over control of the Remote you're trying to use... twice!
the image... | can almost hear David Attenborough

By the way - love

“..and here... right out

in the open warming itself in the summer sunshine of this lonely woodland
trail, we find one of the rare white-spotted cartus shoppil.

And what’s

more, this one Is displaying the exotic green mating plumage,

and there

appears to be a member of the polus get-caught-on-overhanging-treell
that’s come along for a look as well.

A rare find indeed!”]

From Stan ZL3TK at Waitarere
[40m]
e If you're wondering

about the log entry VK5CZ-pirate,

well, | replied

toa
CQ ostensibly from VK5CZ,
whom

but when

| greeted

him by his name,

lan,

remembered

clearly from the previous week,

the operator informed

me his
name was Steven and sent "'| AM

LEARNING ALSO OK",

then

vanished.
e The genuine VK5CZ's

keying was heard more than an hour later.

e Any ideas?.
¢ Conditions not that great on 40 m,

passed two-way traffic with the

OM
Manny successfully but sent only two 'Today in History’ QTCs.
[80m]
e Nothing

From

heard or seen on 80 m.

Richard

VK6PZT

at Bunbury

[40m]
¢ Great to hear VK6OKD operating
mobile from VK4.

Mr Farsworth is listening on the SDR...
SO watch your spaces people |

From Daniel VK6WE

at Cottesloe

[40m]
e Late again after an afternoon of house painting but heard VK6FN
saying 73
to someone

| didn't catch.

e | tried to call Max with no answer;

| guess he knocked off for dinner.

e Just to try my luck | called CQ and VK6KRC

popped

up for a nice

QSO.
e You never know what or who might come

up.

[Wow - VK6KRC - two weeks in a row... well | never!]

From George

VK2AOE

at Sydney

[40m]
e Was cleaning and renovating the
Shack, whilst listening out.
e my happy place!

From Grant ZL2GD

at Oxford, North Canterbury

[40m]
¢ Good conditions tonight.
e Lots of DX about.
[80m]
e No VKs to be heard - listening around

From Andy VKSLA

1100 hrs UTC.

at Winkie

[40m]
e First time I’ve been on for ages, really meaning to come

up on QRS

and
finally got there! Started off listening and heard lan, VK5CZ working
VK3ADX? At around 8:05 UTC, then fired up and called CQ.
e Was soon answered

by George VK2AOE

on his Hermes at 5 Watts,

nice!
Condx seemed

ok so | decided to go QRP as well and busted out the

QCX mini at 5 Watts.
e What - A - Blast!.

¢e QSOs with Stan in ZL, Jordan in VK3, David portable in QLD and a
busted QSO with David, VK3RU

after we QSYd due to QRM,

my battery

died!
e After | got back on the air there seemed

to be a lot of QRM

around

(YB
voices in the CW

portion of the band) and no 3RU, so! pulled the plug

around

11:30 UTC.

¢ | was also pleasantly surprised that my ability to copy seems to
have
improved after honing my skill with CW

park activations.

e I’m in the throws of putting up
something

decent on 80m for the

upcoming

Trans-Tasman

contest so

| will be QRV on that band as well
for QRS.
Andy, VK5LA.

[Great to hear you back on the net Andy - terrific to hear you had a ball;
fun eh?]

From

Peter VK6IS

at wundowie

[40m]
e plenty of weak stations, that couldn't work.

[80m]
e still little activity here in WA land.

e thus - it needs some

more promotion on vk6arn hint hint.

From

at Ilfracombe VK4 QLD

David VK6KD/4

[40m]
e Lots of activity on 40m

combined

with fading.

[80m]
e From my vk4 remote position not much

From

Richard VK6HRC

coming through last night.

at Padbury

[40m]
e Fairly quiet to start with but got really busy at one point and lost
Max
VK6FN

amongst the QRM

at the end of our QSO.

[80m]
e Saw the WhatsApp

alert from Mark VK6QI

regarding

him trying the

VK6CRO
Carnarvon

remote so headed to the nominated frequency not

expecting to hear much

but was pleasantly surprised to hear Mark.

e Thanks for the contact Mark.

e From Roy VKO6RR at Geraldton

[40m]
¢ Good conditions and plenty on
QRS, also heard USA calls working
each other.
¢ Our QRS members

are improving

each week.
¢ Great to hear.

[See later in this week’s RagChew,

where Roy has described his station for

us.]

From Brendan

VK3BAP

at Truganina

[40m]
e Another busy evening with work and meetings so | was unable to
participate
in the net.
e | had a quick listen early in the evening while waiting to join my first
meeting and heard a couple of ZLSs coming through pretty clear
despite some

intermittent QRM

From Arthur VK2ASB

at my end.

at Wentworth

Falls NSW

[40m]
¢ My G5RV was down, the halyard broke so few people could hear me
and | could only hear a few stations.
e Since |am

no expert at climbing trees, it might be a while before |

can
get back on the air.
[Bad luck Arthur!

Time to investigate a string with a weight attached to

get the new rope up there?

/ use an arborer’s throw-line that | bought off

eBay, but an 8oz sinker on a 3mm

nylon rope will also work.

Then again -

any grand-kids around, or perhaps safer, kids with drones? Jordan

VK3ACU

has had great success using a drone with an add-on hook with remote
release.... | think | need one too!]

From

Manny

VK3DRQ

at Blackburn

[40m]
e It did sounded

like conditions were not that good tonight.

¢ | had a listen around the band and was nothing but noise.
[80m]
e After a quick listen along the band, again, as per 40m,

nothing |

heard,
apart from noise and some QRN.
e Made a call but no one answer.
e A bit disappointed.
[| hope Chris VK2NAP isn’t too down in the mouth that you forgot about the
Chat you had with him!

Several stations heard you, so there’s no hiding

Manny - HI/!]

From

[40m]

Phil ZL1PB

at Tauranga

¢ | was

QRP

6 watts

but not heard,

so | think condition

were

not too

good.

[40m]
e | was QRP 6 watts but not heard,
so | think condition were not too
good..

From me VK2KI

at Beautiful South Bowning

[40m]
e Again this week, the ever-popular Tecsun

KiwiSDR at Araluen NSW

was full
when

| connected

at 0700z;

nearer to my home,

| tried the VK1CM

KiwiSDR which is

but the noise level was pretty high, so | slid over

to the Ironstone Ridge KiwiSDR of Paul VK5PH.
e It was good to hear Andy VK5LA on again from Berri chatting to
George
VK2AOE

up Kogarah.

¢ | also heard Brian VK2EBN

up at Newcastle who | hadn’t heard for a

while.
¢ So after re-tuning my Tee-coupler and my phasing noise canceller
for 40m, |
pressed

my trusty old Kenwood TS-120S into service (actually, it’s the

only
transceiver working

here at the moment).

e | received Brian’s RST/ RSN
were then hammered

report and sent my own to him, but we

with a pile of QRM;

my TS-120S only has a

3kHz filter and our net has become so popular,that | was hearing
everything from DC to daylight - all piled-in on top of Brian... so |
didn’t get a QSL back from him.
e | then heard a QARL? call and replied with one or more As (in
hindsight | probably should have sent QAL or QRX).

| then heard what

| thought was Brian sending Q2 Q2 or similar - probably indicating that
he’d lost me as well.
¢ However,

| then heard UP2 UP2 - and figured that was Brian telling

me to
QSY up;

however when

| did, | was being called by Stan ZL3TK from

Waitarere Beach on the new frequency.
¢ But | still hadn’t received the QSL from Brian - difficult to sort out
with
CW.... so | QSYed
¢ We all ended

back down to try to find him.

up losing each-other tn the QRM... what fun!

The next

day
during our Post Morseum,

It was clear that what Stan heard from his

end was a quiet frequency that he called QRL? on, but then heard my
callsign which he took to mean

| was calling him.

e Stan then sent UP2 UP2 and proceeded to call me on the higher
frequency
before being drowned

in the QRM.

e Just goes to show how, despite the best of intentions, things can
easily go

pear-shaped when trying to communicate with our beloved Code.
¢ Still fun though!.
¢ | went on to listen to Colin VK2JCC at Pennant Hills working George
VK2AOE

at Kogarah;

it was good to hear Colin having a go after being

away from the art for three years.
¢ | also listened to Richard VK6HRC

working

me VK6QI

before |

disappeared for nose bags.
¢ When

| returned | was pleased to hear Richard VK6PZT at Dalyellup

working
our intrepid explorer, David VK6KD/4.
¢ | was then lucky to hook up with David who was making

huge

progress on his around-Australia grey nomad

David was

expedition.

at Ilfracombe, just East

of Longreach - right in the centre of
Queensland...

or if you believe what

they tell you a Blackall, 150km
North West of the Black Stump
(noting that we’ve come across a
number of places around Australia
that claim ownership of said burned
tree remnant).

e Also from me VK6QI

at via the VK6CRO

remote HF station at

Carnarvon
[40m]
« First-up on the VK6QS

KiwiSDR near Brookton

| heard Stan ZL3TK at

Waitarere Beach and Richard VK6HRC from Padbury.
¢ | also heard lan VK5CZ from Clare chatting to VK3HK then Mick
ZL1HJ at Te
Kuiti.
« | cranked up the VK6SR

Remote at Bedfordale and started fiddling,

changing frequency, tuning up etc... then saw a little cry from Ross
MONNK

in the Chat box.... for the second time in about a month,

jumped

on the Remote and hadn't noticed that both Ross and Mike

DL3YZ were connected to the Remote already!

Aargh!

I’ve been

using this thing for years, and I’ve had several occasions when
did the same thing when

| think | need a period in the Southern
What!

can’t work out is why the really

annoying “May | tune the remote” window that comes up when
transmitting and someone

others

| was using it... but now I’d done it to Ross

and Mike twice ina month!
Electronics Group sin-bin!

I’d

I’m

else logs in (yet the side-tone keeps going

so it’s east to not know that you’re no-longer transmitting), didn’t
come up and stop me from doing things that | shouldn’t have!

well...
« Most humble apologies Ross and Mike.
¢ By way of apology to Ross and Mike, | sent an SMS to Rob VK6LD
who runs the Remote and asked

him to do a RemoteHams

software

re-boot because the audio that Ross and Mike were listening to was
really poor;

Rob did that when

he got home,

hopefully making things

a bit nicer for our distant friends.
* Having

retreated to the bin, | listened to Ron VK6KHZ

calling and

Georg
VK2DLF
Richard

at St Marys chatting to Drew VK3ZU,

and Ross chatting to

VK6HRC,

while lan VK5CZ was working

e Meanwhile

Merv VK3ADX

| zipped up to the other Southern

at Ballarat.

Electronics Group

Remote
(VK6CRO)

at Carnarvon.

« | couldn’t get the Remote to respond to my key - and while | fiddled
around
with port settings etc, | had some sort of exchange with Ross on the
other
Remote,

using the keyboard CW generation function (that probably

only
barely qualifies as a CW QSO,

but it was better than nothing);

great to hear good signals from Carnarvon down
to Ross the next day on our Post Morseum

in Perth.

it was

According

voice callback, somewhere

along the line | sent an apostrophe, semi-colon or some other
character that had Ross scratching his head... who knows what
character I’d typed in!
e | listened to Peter VK6IS at Wundowie

chatting to Richard VK6HRC

before
sorting out the key-interface and having a chat with Richard myself.
¢ | heard Richard then go on to chat to Max VK6FN

at Manjimup,

and

Peter
hook up with the other Richard VK6PZT at Dalyellup.
e | heard Richard working

David VK6KD/4 as mentioned

in the VK2KI

report, and then | was pleased to hear the return of Chris VK2NAP at
Marrickville
chatting to Manny VK3DRQ

at Blackburn.

[80m]
e When

| slid down to 80m,

| listened to the two Richards VK6PZT at

Dalyellup
and VK6HRC

at Padbury just finishing up.

e | threatened them with a threeway QSO

(which can actually get

tricky for
uS apprentice CW operators), but
instead had a normal chat with
VK6HRC;

three-way for another

time - HI!

From Colin VK2JCC

at Pennant Hills:

| had a shaky CW contact with VKSAOE with QSB.
out about this friendly CW

George was how | found

net.

My head was very busy by the time we have had a few overs and | just
wanted to sign-off to take a break.

I’m enjoying the slow Morse

opportunity, returning after a long break of 3 years.
going and become

proficient.

Anyone can pick up a mic... not everyone can do CW.
73
Colin
Aka Professor Portable

Determined to keep

Post Morseum
from

Richard

Report

VK6HRC

Hello Mark,

Another lively net on Wednesday on the
Australian
Called

VK6RLM

repeater and the West

AllStar/ Echolink network.

in:

ZL3TK

Stan

VK6KHZ

Ron

M@NNK_

Ross (who staying up until midnight to call in)

VK6QI

Mark

KA3BMS

Hank

VK6KD/4

David

VK6FN

Max (who was unable to make himself heard - having network

problems)
our shortwave

listeners and myself.

The net went very well and we even ran out of time as we try to clear the
network for the follow-on group of regulars.
chat or Apré Ski as Stan calls it, maybe

So no time for general chit

next week?

There was a lot of information passed-on about message handling from
Stan and another topic from our friendly group was punctuation; great to
get feedback.
Hank also gave us a list of letters as part of a practise drill, very handy for
people just starting out.
No doubt we will be getting a lot more from our members
Ragchew

in the future

newsletters.

Thank you

Richard VK6HRC

[Thanks Richard - another good session with lots discussed;

sorry it took

me so long to report in properly, using Echolink from the car as we headed
toward Canberra for an appointment. ]

Today

in History Report for July 16th,

2024

by Stan ZL3TK
16JUL24

NWA

MESSAGE

QTC

TODAY

IN HISTORY

ZL3TK

USA TESTED

TODAY

FOR YOU,

FIRST ATOMIC

1945, THEN

PSE REPEAT BACK OK?

IN AUGUST

BOMB

NEAR ALAMOGORDO

DROPPED

BOMBS

NEW

QSL?

MEXICO

HIROSHIMA AND

NAGASAKI.
Sent to:
2.

VK3ADX

THE BRUTAL

RULE OF IRAQ BY SUDDAM

TERRORIZED THE IRAQI PEOPLE

BEGAN

HUSSEIN

TODAY

DURING

1979 AND

WHICH

LASTED

YEARS.
Sent to:

VK2NAP

Despite QSB and QRM,

both chaps who responded

returned all numbers

correctly and due to context, the message was easily readable with better
than 90 % accuracy.

Other
Other things

Bumblebee

I’ve received

News
from

our 190-odd

readers.

Contest?

by Denis VK6AKR
President WA VHF Group Inc
Hello all.

Have a look at this URL

hittps://ars-grp.com/

which describes a friendly

contest held in North America on HF.

Quite similar to SOTA / WWFF

without specific location registrations.

It is QRP and they use CW which

but

might not get as many starters here as something similar using other
digital modes.
Or, can we take a leaf out of Mark's VK2KI / VK6QI
journey into CW?

| know that he is not the only proponent of CW and that

some other clubs, notably HARG
running.

NCRG

book and begin a

have / had a CW

also has a strong CW contingent.

practice beacon
(Maybe this old dog can

learn a new trick!)

Anyway, the idea is to include portable stations and home stations with a
scoring system that is biased towards the portable stations.

You will read

that the portable stations (running QRP CW) call themselves

"bumblebees"

| guess because of the small "size" and buzzing sound of CW.
So who wants to take the idea and morph
VK6 can use to encourage

it into something that we here in

more activity on air?

73
Denis VK6AKR

[Terrific initiative from Dents the President of the WA

VHF Group Inc...

especially considering back in the dim dark days the VHF Group was
formed when the local WIA Division wouldn't recognise Z-calls (ie people
with full license qualifications, minus the CW proficiency)!

We might need

to ask our resident historian Will VK6UU for more about that.

| reckon we

could provide some good support for this initiative Denis - would you
believe that there’s 52 WA CQQRS team members.... so you might be
surprised how popular the proposal is.

WA certainly needs more portable

CW ops - it’s unusual to see parksnpeaks.org CW Spots from people in the
West - especially compared to what happens over this side.
for more Denis.]

VK6RR
Hi Mark.

Shack

Visit

Standing by

| thought your readers might like to know a bit about the photo of my
shack you’ve used in the newsletter.

The first one (from left to right) with the long arm is my favourite.
"AMPLIDAN"
was on.

Itis a

as used with a Sailor HF radio fit-out on one of the oil rigs |

The powers that be decided to rip the whole station out while |

was on leave - result was a wonderful fully operational Sailor HF console
which contained the main TX, emergency TX,
power supplies, antenna

radio-room and sent ashore to be dumped
When

main RX & emergency

RX,

patch and switching - all was ripped out of the
in a

skip bin!

| got back it was too late to salvage anything

Heart breaking.

but they had left the

Morse key.
All we used after that were GMDSS,

VHF equipment and aeronautical gear

plus satellite coms.
Next key is a a Vibroplex bug, a standard NATO-issue key, then a Vibroplex
side-swiper.
The radios are, again L to R - Icom-2KL linear

with the Icom AT500 tuner

above it, Icom 730 with a TenTec tuner above it, then my Yaesu
Icom power supply and the Yaesu

power supply.

Great report to read every week - | don't know how you manage
Thanks.

FT879D,

it!!

And Yes, | will be at the Point Moore lighthouse again for the

International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend

in August... all registered

and on the list.
73 & 77 ( =CW for ever)
Roy
[Thanks very much Roy - how many tragedies have happened because
stuff was thrown in a skip!
August 17 & 18;
Mandurah

Great that you'll be on the ILLW again on

I’m hoping that the Peel Amateur Radio Group in

will find some CW ops to add

interest to its activation of

Woodman

Point lighthouse... if not

we may be doing a whip-around to
find that group a local CW op or
two!]

Update from
Hi there

Garry VK2GAZ

Mark VK2Kl,

Unfortunately circumstances
on the net for some time.

have arisen which means

| will not be around

Blease keep me informed of what is happening

on the Tuesday Net.
You are doing a fantastic job keeping the art of Morse Code alive and well.
Very best regards,
Garry VK2GAZ
[Thanks for the heads-up Garry;
team

mate. ]

SKCC

Oceania

QRS

Saunter

thoughts are with you on behalf of the

- This

Weekend

on behalf of Garry VK2GAZ
Greetings to all.
The Straight Key Century Club Oceania QRS Saunter will take place in VK/
ZL this coming Saturday, 20th July, 2024 from 00:00 UTC until 11:59 UTC ie a 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/
You don’t need to be a member of SKCC to participate, but if you join
(membership

is free) you’re welcome to make use of the SKCC Sked

Page and the CW Club RBN Spotter.
httos://sked.skccgroup.com/
httos://ron.telegraphy.de/

| trust you enjoy this event and that you send some comments

on what

you heard or who you worked to Mark for the next RagChew:
cqgrsnet@gmail.com

Best regards,

Garry VK2GAZ/VK2ZP
#5460C

Straight

Key

Century Club

SKCC
Straight

OQS

Key Century Club

Oceania

Manager - SKCC Oceania QRS

QRS Saunter

Saunter

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
Reciprocal

Topic of Interest

Callsigns - or NOT - as the Circumstances

Dictate

by Stan ZL3TK

The OM

Ross MONNK

raises a good

point about reciprocal callsign use in his

recent article for Ragchew.
Let’s go back to the basics:
1.

Amateur radio callsigns are issued by any given jurisdiction’s licensing

authority for the sole purpose of identifying radio transmissions.
2.

Call signs are succinct, consisting only of a country prefix, a number

often to indicate a region within that jurisdiction, and finally a unique suffix
to identify the individual station.

The suffix may also indicate an operator’s

license grade.
Problems arise with this simple system only when
signs have been issued choose to modify them.
ignorance or some personal

individuals to whom

call

Whether through

motive, there are a number of ways in which

we hear these illegal modifications.

Arguably the most common

of callsign regulations is by the appending of a suffix,

violation

/M, /MM, /P, /QRP

or /QRS.
Has a callsign ever been issued with such a suffix?
are illegally appended to indicate a MODE

No.

of operation.

All such suffixes
Has authority ever

been delegated to individual operators by any jurisdiction to modify their
legal callsign?

Again,no.

Let’s discover what these post-modification callsigns actually indicate.
Under international reciprocal licensing agreements, /P appended to a VK
callsign must mean that the holder of that callsign is either from or in
another country, such as the Netherlands,

Korea of even PapuaNew

Guinea, or any of six other /P options.

How about /M?

Well, the operator is

obviously visiting from or transmitting in the UK or Northern Ireland.

Since

there are no country prefixes beginning with Q, one is left wondering what
could possibly be their home country.

The place for discussing one’s mode

and/or operational status is after contact has been established.
information has no place in a callsign.

Such

Ergo, all such appendages to

callsigns are not only ill-advised, but illegal.
There is an exception to the callsign rules which comes

into play when one

is operating within their home country but outside the specific region for
which the license was issued, though even this will no longer apply in
Australia before long;
/5 to his callsign.

eg a VK2 traveling in VK5

That /5 mean

may often illegally append

she is operating from any one of 15

possible jurisdictions around the world which have a country prefix
beginning with 5, but which one?
/VK5 it would

be deemed

Whereas

if the operator had appended

legal because he has made

it clear that she is still

within the ‘Lucky Country’.
Now let’s examine
when

Ross’s belief that he should append VK to his callsign

he is working through an Australian repeater via Echolink, while

physically located in and ‘transmitting’ from the UK.
places at once?

Non, c’est impossible!

Can Ross be in two

Therefore adding a VK prefix or

suffix while not actually on the Australian continent would

misrepresent his

location, and that applies to everyone who uses Echolink;

eg ZLs do not

prepend their callsigns with W, K or AC or another of the many variants
now common

in the US, when working

into the United States via Echolink,

because their ‘transmissions’ do not originate in America.
It's a different matter when
the OM

Ross does.

one uses a remote HF station in Australia, as

Then one is obliged to ID the RF transmission as

originating from Australia, logically he is IDing correctly with the prefix VK/
in that circumstance.
Why

believe any of these assertions?

Frankly, ones houldn’t accept

anyone’s opinion at face value, no matter how well intended it may be.
Instead one should get the real oil by consulting the experts, the licensing
authority, to find out exact callsign compliance

requirements... only then

will you know whether it’s worth starting an argument on the subject.
may find that through the introduction of the New Zealand General

You

User

Radio Licenses in numerous categories (GURL), standards have been
allowed to fall so low that personal operator responsibility has been prettymuch voided and authorities really don’t care any more.
swearing as a prime example.

Take on-air

This may not be a popular notion, but it’s

actually been left up to us, those on the air, to police and maintain a high
standard of compliance and behaviour within amateur radio.
[Well - Stan’s opened another can of worms to get us thinking!

I'd be

interested in hearing others’ thoughts / knowledge on this topic
cqgarsnet@gqmail.com /
If you have something you'd like to share with others related (even
vaguely) to CW operation, please let me know so we can share more
thoughts and ideas;

email to cqgrsnet@gmail.com

Brain
How

Teaser
did you go?

Jules Perrin JP VK3JFP has created a terrific resource to help guide learning
for all levels of amateur radio licenses:
https://www.julesworkshop.net/Amateur%20Radio.html
With thanks to Baz VK6MU
website,

for he idea, and Jules for the good learning

here’s this week’s quiz questions from Jules’ Workshop example

test questions:

Exam

Questions:

Three aspects of a receiver are sensitivity, selectivity and stability. What
does each term mean?
Four 10 ohm

resistors are connected

in series. The total

resistance

2.5 Ohms

e 40Ohms
e

10 Ohms

e 40 Ohms
Tropospheric ducting may
e cause high frequency signals to fade suddenly
e allow long distance VHF communications
® occur as a result of meteor showers or auroral activity
® occur more frequently at HF than at VHF
Answers

next week.

Answers

from

last week’s

Quiz:

What is a detector and a discriminator?
Answer:A detector is used to remove

information from an AM signal and a

discriminator is used to remove the information from an FM signal.
The amount of forward bias required to enable a germanium transistor to
commence

conduction

is approximately

e 0.2 volt
e 0.6 volt
e 0.9 volt
e

1.0 volt

Answer:0.2

Volt

A five-eighth wave length antenna

is made with a loading coil at its base to

make the antenna electrically three-quarters of a wavelength
reason for the antenna
long

being electrically three-quarters of a wavelength

is to

e allow for easy matching to a 50 ohm transmission
e

long. The

line

increase the radiation angle

e decrease the radiation angle
®

increase the bandwidth

Answer:

of the antenna

allow for easy matching to a 50 ohm transmission

line

How did you go?

Di-dah-di-dah-dit
Here

So back to the Slow CW QSO
Next Tuesday’s

go.

practice net.

Net

Our CQ QRS Net will be on as always on Tuesday from around 0700z until
about 1300z;

see below for details.

Doesn't matter whether you’re brand new and want to try just exchanging
callsigns and RST reports, or you’re ready for a good old rag chew.

We'll

have fun.
Reports
Please let me know via our Reports form bit.ly/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 (cgagrsnet@gmail.com)

if | can help with that.

Teamwork

Thank you so much to our team of 24 contributors:
VK2AOE, VK2ASB, VK2DLF, VK2GAZ, VK3ACU,
VK5CZ, VK5LA, VK6AKR, VK6HRC,

DL3YZ, VK/MONNK,

VK3BAP, VK3DRQ,

VK6IS, VK6KD/4, VK6KHZ,

VK6RR, VK6WE, VK7KPC, ZL1PB, ZL2GD,

VK3JFP,

VK6PZT,

ZL3TK

€U 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 passed by pounding brass,
sw te

LRA See

ey ee

And
- Unknown

About

the CQ
Here’s

the

all were

author

QRS

quite contented.

Net

details.

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

Net.

Frequencies

and Times

CQ QRS NET - DEEP WINTER TIMETABLE

Coordinated Universal Time

Australia

New Zealand

07002 - 09002
09002 - 1100z
09002 - 1300z

13002

WestemST

UTC+8

1500

2100

Central ST

UTC+95

1630

2730

Eastern ST

UTC +10

1700

2300

1900

0100

NZST

UTC +12

40m

7.025 MHz ~ 7.040 MHz

40m

7.025 MHz ~ 7.040 MHz

80m

3.540 MHz ~ 3.570 MHz

som

3.540 MHz ~ 3.570 MHz

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

the designated segment,

send “QRL?” and if the 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,
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

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
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 7032KkHz (7028kHz
secondary) or 3555kHz. If you catch someone, there’s no need to QSY enjoy the frequency. 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.
And of course, put the frequencies in a memory so outside of the net, if
you’re not tuning around, leave your receiver on one of the primary
frequencies - you never know who you'll hear (7032

is used in VK and ZL

for SOTA/ PARKS during the day so you'll often hear activity there).
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.

VK2KI / VK6QI

The

opinions expressed

The

opinions

Send

in the

RagChew

do not necessarily

comments

newsletter are those

of the individual contributors.

reflect that of the editor or of the CQ

about the RagChew

QRS

Group

members.

Newsletter.

Our mailing address is:

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You

can

update

your preferences

or unsubscribe

eile
mailchimp