Subscribe Past Issues Translate View this email CQQRS your browser RagChew Edition e 59 Stations On Tuesday’s e in 31/2024 Net 200 Subscribers e Another e 80m First CW Remote QSO to Remote e The Wheel Falling Off e Portable Professor Explained e Artificial Intelligence for Practice Callsign Generation e Patagonia to ZL & VK on 80m e QRS Germany e More milliWatts e Reminder for 6Aug24 to Australasia CQ QRS Wasn't last Tuesday’s CQQRS Net Practice QSO over the six hours were recorded net just a pearler? And what’s more, we’ve had yet another First CW Tuesday, 59 stations by our team - how good is that? QSO on our net; on Kevin VK3KEV at Seymour enjoyed the sweaty palms, most ably assisted by Jordan VK3ACU from Meredith - congratulations Kevin and well done Jordan. We’ve also had a surge of new team have 200 subscribers to the RagChew members this week - and we now newsletter - outstanding work team! v RSS &\ Last Tuesday’s Here’s this week’s COORS Team Member cQ VKIWA, |Heard on air VK2DLF [Worked 40m) Net list of the 59 stations heard: QoS01 | g802 | aS03 , a804 VK2GAS | ZLITK | VKIWA | | Q@s05 | as06 | Qs07 | aso8s VK7TA #L1PX VRKSAE VK6IS VK6FN | VK3SACU | VKSKEV VK2DLF | Heard4om | VK2RO VK2EBN [Worked 40m) ZL3TK VK2GAS |Worked 40m VK2DLF | VK3CU ZL1PB VK2JCC | Tried 40m | VK3ACU VK2KI [Worked 40m) VK2KI | Heard4om| VKIWA | VK2KI |Heard40m | VK3DRQ| VK2KI [Worked 80m) ZL3TK VK2KI_ | Heard 80m] WKSET VK2RQ_ ZL2PB ZL2GD | VKSET ZLSTK | VK2EBC | VK2DLF | VK2GAS| VK7ZA VKSLA VK6QI |Heard on air VK2TEV | Heard40m| VK2KI VK3ACU Worked 40m) VK2GAS | VKSKEV | VK6FN VK3ACU [Worked 80m) VK6IS | VKSKFG | VK4IAN VK3AE Worked 40m) VK3ACU | VK3DLF | VK6KD/4 VK3AE [Worked 80m) VK3AE ZL3TK VK3AFH | Heard40m| ZL3TK | VK2EBN | VK2DLF | VKSDBD| VK2KI VK3AFH | Heard40m] VKSLA | VKSDRO) VK7ZA VKSLA fL3TK VKSRU | VK3DED VKICT VK3DRQ| Heard 40m | VK3AI?? VK3DRQ |Worked 80m VK3KEV VK3RU [Worked 40m) VK3ACU [Heard on air VK4EK [Heard on air VKSET [Worked 40m) VK2KI £L1PX VKSLA VKSET | Heard4om| VK3AE |VK3ACU|) ZL3TK VKSET [Worked 60m) VKSLA VKSET | Heard80m) VKSLA VK6QI VK3AE VKSFA [Heard on air VKSFD [Worked 40m) VKS5FD | Heard 40m} VKSKFG |VK6KD/4) VK6QI | VK3DRO ZL3TK | VK4IAN | 2L3TK VK2DLF | VK2EBN| VK2KI | VK2GAS) VKSFA JASTX VKSET ZL3TK [Worked 20m) VK3ACU VK6Ql 7LIPB | VK2RQ | VK3DRQ| [Worked4om) VKSET VKSLA | Heard40m} ZL3TK | VK3ACU] VKSLA | Heard40m| VK3GG | VK3KEV VKS5LA [Worked 20m) VKS5LA | Heard 80m) VK6Ql VKSET VK3ACU | VK6IS VKSLA VK3AE | VK3KLE | VK3AE | VK5LA | Tried 20m | VK6JDM VK6BEK VK6EN |Worked 20m) VK6KHZ [Heard on air VK6HRC [Worked 80m) VK6Ql VKG6IS [Worked 40m) VK6KHZ | VK6FN | VK6NW VK6IS | Morked 20m) VK6KHZ | VK6FN | VK3ZACU VK6JDM | Heard 80m | VK6HRC | VK6KD/4|Worked 40m) VKICT VK6Ql VKSLA VK2KI VKIPX | VK2RA | VK2DRO | VK2DLF Heard4om | VKSET VK6KD/4| Heard 80m | VK3AE | VK4IAN VK6KHZ [orked 40m) VK6NW | VK6IS VK6KHZ Worked 80m) VK6BE VK6IS | VK7ZA | VK7TA | VK2DLF | VKSDBD VK2KI VWK3AE VK6KD/4| VK6FN Watching |Heard on air VK6QI | Heard40m | VK6NW | VK6KHZ | Worked 80m) VK6IS | VKSDBD| [Worked 40m) VKSGG VKSLA | VK6GHRC VK6QI | Heard 80m | VK3ACU | VKSKFG | VK3AE | VK6RR VK7ZA : VKS5LA VK6QI VEKSET VK2TM VKSKFG | Heard 20m| VK6LD 2L1PB |Heard on air VK3DRQ Worked 40m) VKENW | VKIWA | VK6WE | VKICT | VK6LD VK6RR | Heard 40m} VK2DLF | VK2ACU | VK3FU | VK3RU | VK3DRQ| VKG6RR | Heard40m) VK7TA VKGWE VK6RR [Worked 40m) ZL3TK VK2KI VKYZA £L1PX ZL3TK JASTX VK3KLE | VKSET VESLA VEV7TA 4L3TK | VK6FN | VK2DLF | JASTX VEV7TA | Heard40m) |Worked40m) ZL2GD | VKSET | VEZZA VKSKLE | VKGRR | VKSDRO Worked 40m) ZLIAJY |Heard on air ZLIPB | Heard on air VK2KI ZLIPX |Heard on air ZL2GD WWorked40m) ZLATE VE2KI ZL2GD | Heard40m | VK2KI £L2PB | VKSACU/ VK2JI ZL2GD | Heard40m | VK2DLF | VK7TA | VK3ACU | ZL2GD Worked 80m) VKSLA VKSET | VK3DRQ| VKSLA ZL3TK | VKSDROQ VK3AE VK4IAN ZL2GD | Heard 20m | VK4IAN | ZLIAIY ZL3TK [Worked 40m) JKLOYL | VKICT | VKIWA | VK2DLF | VK2EBN | VK3ACU | VKSDROQ| ZL3TK | Heard40m] VKSET | ZL3TK | Tried 40m | 7N4QUK| VK4EK | VK6FN | VKGHRC | VK6KHZ | ZL3TK [Worked 80m) VK2KI VK4IAN | ZL3TK | Heard80m|/ New VK6Q! VK6IS ZL3TK | Tried 80m | VKGHRC | LLATE [Heard on air Team VK7TA VKSLA | W6EOQW VK6QI Members This week I’m pleased to welcome a whole bunch of new team e Kevin VK3KEV from Semour e Mathew VK3AFH e Richard VK5AAD from Blackwood members: from Wantirna South e Alan VK1AO from Narrabundah e Matt VK2RQ from Belrose e Martin VK3MLT from Berwick e Steve VK2TEV from Macksville e Sava VK4PN at Mount Ommaney Kevin (another rotary wing enthusiast like me) has returned to amateur radio after a long absence and is teaching himself the Code... and as | said, on this week’s net Kevin had his first ever CW QSO - with Jordan VK3ACU - how good is that? Mathew has already been listening in to our net and is starting to gain confidence on his learning journey as well. over 50 years and now that he’s cracked promised himself that CW will be next. Richard has been an SWL for his Advanced Alan VK1A0 operator who I've heard on air a few times; place around 100km Justa hobby”. he puts a nice signal into my away, and | like his approach: As another AllStar node owner, him on Wednesday’s “and remember- it’s | hope we'll catch up with Post Morsum call-in as well. Matt VK2RQ was on during our net a couple of weeks by David VK6KD; license, he’s is a pretty active back and was heard Matt also returned to amateur radio recently and doesn’t yet have much in the way of antennas, during our net. Matt’s also keen on QRP operation - so | reckon he’s come but is hoping to have some luck to the right place! Martin has also just started on the CW journey and has already joined the Straight Key Century Club (ready for a future Oceania QRS saunter hopefully) and equipped himself with a nice Begali key already - jealous! While Steve tells me that the Coffs Harbour & District Amateur Radio Club runs a half hour CW practice session at every weekly meeting - how good is that? Good luck with the learning journey as well Steve. And Sava has been a CW enthusiast since he was licensed over 60 years ago, and is really pleased to see the resurgence that our net has produced. Welcome to the team guys and | look forward to getting reports from you each week about what you heard on the net. Reports So, after next Tuesday’s net, please send me a list of who you worked and / or who you heard using our new web form here: bit.ly/COQORSNET Getting reports from stations and listeners is important to me - even If you listened and didn’t hear anyone or weren't able to copy anything - the fact that you had a go needs to get recorded so we know that the net Is working and attracting new and old team Masthead members to have a go. Image Mister Farnsworth keeping an eye on proceedings in Richard VK6PZT’s shack. 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: e From Kevin VK3KEV at Seymore (QF22NX) [40m] e First time transmitting CW, been learning to copy for 2 months. e Exhausted and happy. e Listening on air so different to machine code, static, different tones and lots of nerves. e Will Keep practicing and sending VERY slow morse on Tuesdays. ¢ | hopefully will improve. e Thanks to Jordan for being very patient with me and to Mark for coordinating this session. e Like flying, your first solo is your hardest - long time pilot here. e Thanks again Kevin VK3KEV. [Congratulations mate. Here’s how it all unfolded via our WhatsApp Alerts group on the night - after a bit of arm-twisting by Jordan] @ Jordan VK3ACU Clarke @Kevin - VASKEV Epps I'm on air give me a message here if you want to have a super slow contact ready when you are uz @68 @ Kevin - VASKEV Epps What frequency Jordan? 6:34 pm Jordan VK3SACU Clarke 7030 work for you? Kevin - VASKEV Ok 6 3 ,... Epps 6:36 pm Jordan VK3ACU Clarke Tell me to qrs if you need even slower mate I'll call you when your ready 6:36 pm ,..,. Well done Kevin nice sending mate! Thanks for the qso § 49 pm oO ~~ Kevin - VASKEV Epps Wow, | am exhausted, first time sending cw. lots more to learn. Big Thankyou. talk again next week? 6:51 pm % & 3 & Jordan VK3ACU Clarke For sure. | remember my first qso drained me but honestly you knocked the ball out of the park! Anytime you want a slow qso just send a message doesn't have to be Tuesdays ue e From Jordan VK3ACU meet tan: at Meredith [40m] e Fun night tonight, Kevin's first CW QSO - well done Kev honestly your sending was great! Had a great rag chew with VK3AE who is just down the road from me in Ballarat. e Sounds like we need to chat about 160m e | started to get tired after the awesome Dylan. QSO with Dylan and was just about to take a rest, | then had a call from Stan that started off ok but we experienced some strong QRM so! sent back | was going to have a quick break (not sure if you could hear me at this stage Stan). e | came back a few mins later to call you back but lost you in the sideband stations. [80m] e By the time I got to 80m | should have packed the key up, falling asleep at the key as usual but was having too much fun. ¢ | do have a bit of RSI in my right hand, writing and keying even with a paddle makes it worse so darn annoying, | some times key left handed to help the situation but it can sometimes lead to a few mistakes. ¢ The cause Is all the computer work at work. e Thanks everyone for coming up. e Hope to see you all again soon. [Good job - well done mate.] e From Mathew VK3AFH at Wantirna ¢ Thanks to all, | enjoyed listening in. [40m] e There was much QSO QSB and | could often only copy one side of the but that was a perfect opportunity to learn and use some features on my radio I've never touched! e | have enjoyed reading through the newsletter and seeing the notifications; | took the time tonight to write down everything | heard ina somewhat orderly fashion, and submitted my report. I've only made contacts with FT8 until now so doing that and learning how to deal with the not-ideal reception conditions here tonight was good practice | think. e I've spent about 4 months using Icwo.net and | think | am okay at lOwpm but have recently been practising using my straight key to send at that or slower (and not start soeeding up). Whether | have all my prosigns correct and can work my way through a QSO is yet to be seen but | have fairly high hopes haha. | can work the VBand QSO bot online so practising with a real person sounds like the next challenge! ¢ | will be on holiday next week so if all goes to plan someone may hear me on 40m :) next Tuesday e Thanks again! 73, hope to talk soon :-). Mathew Van de Loop [Terrific report Mathew. | wouldn’t get too wrapped around the axle about the prosigns - 1 still don’t know most of them - as long as you're prepared to ignore them when they happen, and keep going with the decoding, you'll be all right. I’m certainly no expert, but when you're ready to transmit - perhaps just bone up on (or make a card with) the basic ones... e dah-di-dah e CQ this one should be fairly obvious - you'll hear it quite a lot! e DE from e 73 (of course) e 7U e GM GAGE (K) invitation to transmit thank you good morning / afternoon / evening Then when you’re ready to move on to some fancy stuff - start practicing: dah-di-di-di-dah hyphen - often used as thought-separator or to buy some time.... bit like the dreaded “aahhhh” on phone di-dah-di-dah-dit end of message dah-di-di-dah-dit slash di-di-dah-dah-di-dit question mark As the end of the newsletter is a link to an article that a couple of us in the Peel Amateur Radio Club put together about basic CW QSO protocols. Most important... enjoy the challenge and have fun mate.] e From Grant ZL2GD at Oxford [40m] ¢ Most of the VK signals were a bit watery tonight, possible auroral effect. [80m] ¢« Heard Jordan VK3ACU giving someone e on 3555khz a 339 report.. From Andy VKS5LA at Winkie [40m] ¢ Hi Mark, | found condx not as good as last week although | did snag a contact with Mori San JA5TX. ¢e VK5ET started strong but by the end of our QSO he was starting to fade badly and sound like he was coming down a drain pipe with some weird multipathing. « It was good to see many stations on the 7300's waterfall in QSO! [80m] ¢ A bit of a struggle on 80m, hard going with VK6QI who was buried in my noise. * VK5ET pounding in 599+++. ¢ | heard VK6JDM calling and answered, but unsure if he was having trouble with his gear or his sending, or both? Decided to have an early night,. « See you next week! [Thanks Andy; perhaps time for one of Terry VK5TM’s noise canceller kits (or the Chinese copy from AliExpress) for 80m? enough on your plate!] As if you don’t have e From Stan ZL3TK at Waitarére Beach [40m] ¢ Conditions pretty good, successfully passed two-way traffic again, grateful thanks to OM Manny VK3DRQ. ¢ Two TDIH sent and both returned. ¢ Of the 7 VK stations worked, only one op had heard (read) about TDIH - that's because he'd taken the plunge long ago when he courageously accepted the (mild) challenge - the others, 86 % of last night's 40 m contacts, admitted they do not read RagChew. ¢ A bewildering and shocking indictment. [80m] ¢ Conditions fine between ZL and VK eastern states, but very poor with watery flutter into WA. e From lan VK7TA at Latrobe [40m] ¢ | had a short QSO with ZL3TK before dinner, and a longer one afterwards, so propagation in that direction not bad. ¢ | finished the evening with a call from JA5TX, whose signal was down in the noise here. e From Richard VK6HRC at Padbury [80m] ¢ Was late for the net but luckily Mark VK6QI was still there and after a shaky start on my part we had a decent exchange. ¢« We then decided to try a remote to remote contact, Mark activated the Carnarvon k NOT ALL HAMS ce remote and | got onto the Bedfordale remote, the results were great apart from high noise levels at the Carnarvon station. ¢« Mark mentioned that the signal levels between us were good enough to continue with the QSO. ¢ Many thanks to Mark with his help and advice setting up a straight key interface. e From Roy VK6RR at Geraldton [40m] « Everyone busy exchanging info - so good to hear the band busy with CW. * Some e SSB QRM From Donald and a bt of QSB but conditions were good overall. VK6JDM 20 km West of Esperance [80m] ¢« Heard Richard VK6HRC from his home station and later using a remote station. ¢ Signal was Q 5 with both but about 20 dB stronger on the remote. ¢ The situation was very similar with Mark's signals from VK2KI and VK6QI. e From Manny VK3DRQ at Blackburn [40m] ¢ Another enjoyable night but a bit short of QSOs. [80m] e Frustration. e From Daniel VK6WE at Cottesloe [40m] ¢ | tried using a paddle tonight calling CQ which was immediately answered by VKO6RR. ¢ So far so good but then the wheels fell off as | got confused with the paddle and sending got erratic. * That took my mind off decoding and | lost most of the reception except an rst report. ¢ After blundering around with some sort of response | called 73 and gave up for the night. ¢ Perhaps | should stick to the straight key. e From Peter VK6IS at Wundowie [40m] ¢ there was few ES stations, heard, this week. [80m] * there was still little 80m activity, this week. e From Greg VK5KFG at Willunga [40m] e ¢ | tried qrp on 40m but did not make From Colin VK2JCC at Pennant Hills it into the ether. [40m] ¢ | was on 7.030 and called with out any luck. ¢ | was using my qcx mini cw transceiver with an output of 5 watts. ¢ Tried to work vk3acu jumped a| i —— ald aa bs but others in. « Mark asked why am | called "Professor Portable "? In South Africa, teachers are referred to as professors. A friend asked what do | do on Fridays mornings? operate HF portable. | told him | “Ah Professor Portable” he replied. ° 73. e From me VK2KI at Beautiful South Bowning NSW [40m] ¢ Another terrific night with lots of people on from what | could see. NSW | heard Stan ZL3TK at Waitarére Beach chatting to Brian VK2EBC ¢ On the Tecsun up at Newcastle then Georg VK2DLF hooked KiwiSDR at Araluen at St Marys working Armin VK2GAS up with Wimal VK1WA at Norwest before | at Bonner using his trapped inverted- tee up 10m. ¢ Wimal then went on to chat to Georg and Stan, while | heard Max VK6FN at Manjimup chatting to Peter VK6IS at Wundowie. ¢ | then had a chat to Phil ZL1PB at Tauranga, and while trying to concentrate on that conversation, hearing the QSO | couldn’t help but be distracted by between our new team Seymour and Jordan VK3ACU CW QSO congratulations Kevin and well done *« The coveted CQQRS member at Meredith; Kevin VK3KEV at this was Kevin’s first-ever Jordan. First CW QSO award will be heading in Kevin’s direction. « After getting over the excitement, ZL2GD | had a nice chat with Grant at Oxford then John VK5ET at Hope Valley before disappearing for nosebags. ¢ When | came back | heard an interesting QSO at Margate and Manny VK3DRQ between Lance VK7ZA at Blackburn. ¢ There was a little auroral ripple on Lance, but Manny’s signal was quite weak and his carrier was deeply broken-up by very strong and rapid QSB; sounded what | imagine a spark transmitter might have sounded like ona coherer receiver. ¢ There was a little auroral ripple on Lance, but Manny’s signal was quite weak and his carrier was deeply broken-up by very strong and rapid QSB; sounded what | imagine a spark transmitter might have sounded like ona coherer receiver. e [80m] * On 80m | listened to the QSO (as VK6QI on the VK6SR between Andy VK5LA at Wilkie and me Remote at Bedfordale), before Andy went on to chat to John VK5ET at Hope Valley. ¢ | got busy on the VK6 Remotes and only are back to my home station late in the peace. ¢ | then worked Stan ZL3TK at Waitarére Beach after midnight his time , and declined his offer of receiving a set of five character codes, and instead sent a This Day in History. e Stan asked a question in response, but it was getting late - despite repeating the question, | still couldn’t make out what was being asked and deferred until the next morning’s Post Morsum. e Also from me VK6QI Southern at via the VK6QS KiwiSDR near Brookton and the Electronics Group's Remotes at Bedfordale and Carnarvon [40m] * On 40m using the VK6QS KiwiSDR near Brookton | heard Ron VK6KHZ from Yangebup, then | listened to Wayne VK6NW at Bridgetown chatting to Peter VK6IS at Wundowie. « | also heard David VK3DBD at Yackandandah working VK5GG before heading off for dinner. [80m] ¢ By the time | got to 80m, Jordan VK3ACU VK5KFG at Meredith and Greg at Willunga we’re coming ¢ Using the Southern Bedfordale, | hooked to the chat between into WA nicely on the VK6QS Electronics Group’s VK6SR KiwiSDR. Remote at up with Andy VK5LA at Willkie and also listened Dylan VK3AE at Ballarat and Chris VK1CT then Jordan, before | called Richard VK6HRC at Padbury. ¢ Richard had just sorted out his key-to Remote interface and we decided to give ita try. * | slipped up to the VK6CRO on 6m Remote at Carnarvon which was in use FT8. « However, when the two operators didn’t respond to requests, | took the liberty of taking the Remote down to 80m. e Like last week, the Space Museum’s display lighting was causing havoc on 80m - with S9+ of noise, but despite that, Richard and | had a nice QSO Remote-to-Remote - Richard’s signal being S9+20aB. e¢ Of course, after | finished, | put the Remote back on the 6m frequency and hopefully kept the digital mode users happy. e After finishing up with Richard | decided it was time to hit the hay, but listened to Stan ZL3TK working me (as VK2KI); both had pretty decent Signals into WA - a pretty good haul from Stan's location. ¢ | did notice some Auroral cirrus clouds on the KiwiSDR, but there was no Impact on the New Zealand signals that | could hear. e From David VK6KD/4 at Charters Towers QLD [40m] ¢ A notch filter would be handy as many stations were close together and hard to differentiate. ¢ Only trick | have is using CW REV function on my Yaesu 85/7 for receiving. [80m] ¢ Sorry no 80m contacts this week. ¢ | was limited to LOW as my radio kept shutting down. e May have been due to low battery voltage or poor antenna SWR. Investigation still underway, Post Morsum hihi. Report from Richard VK6HRC Random ramblings from Wednesday morning’s Post Morsum on the AllStar network. On the net this morning via VK6RLM VK6KHZ Ron VK6QI Mark ZL3TK Stan VKO6OFN Max KA3BMS Hank VKOZLZ Christine our shortwave listeners and myself repeater and AllStar/ Eccholink links: VKOHRC. Ron did not have as many contacts as last week but a decent amount In spite of the high noise levels of the rain on the roof even drowning out his Side tone at times! Ron also let us know that Ross MONNK is still away camping and Mike DL3YZ is hoping to be able to access a remote station over this way soon. Mark was gracious enough to interrupt that he had seven contacts on 40 mx his breakfast and check in to report and 80mx and noted the interesting influence of the solar storm on 40mx. Stan was hearing everyone on 80mx tried calling but apparently was not being heard, 40mx was not behaving. more comprehensive Max VK6FN Looking forward to Stan's much report in the RagChew. called in but before he could report the jolly network failed at his end again! Hank KA3BMS dropped in to say hello and catch up with his Australian lessons © Christine VK6ZLZ called in to say good morning and give us a weather warning. | managed to catch up with Donald VK6JDM and he did not do that well last night. ended on 80mx ssb before the net He put out a call on 80mx and up with a pile-up but when the initial rush died down they all disappeared so no contact! He also reported that he was hearing good signals from Mark VK6QI/VK2KI from wherever he was operating at the time (Bedfordale remote, Carnarvon remote or home) | only managed to get on towards the end of the net and caught up with Mark on 80mx. We tried a VK6CRO surprisingly to me all went well. remote to VK6SR remote contact and Thanks Mark with your help setting up my serial-to-USB straight key interface. Looking forward to more CW activity already. Thanks to all 73 Richard. Traffic from on Stan the CQQRS Net ZL3TK Today in History Report 30 July 24 QTC 1. TODAY COMET IN HISTORYHALE BOPP THE BRIGHTEST 1995 IN CONSTELLATION SAGGITARIUS DE ZL3TK KN FOR DECADES BY ALAN DISCOVERED TODAY HALE AND THOMAS BOPP. Sent to and returned by VK7TA 2. THE FORD DOLLAR MOTOR COMPANY INVESTMENT WHEN HAD SPENT ALMOST ALL ITS 28000 TODAY 1903 IT SOLD ITS FIRST CAR, A MODEL A. Sent to and returned by VK4IAN Well done guys! Formal Traffic Report 30 July 24 Exactly as planned, formal traffic was exchanged 0940Z at ~ 11 wpm a few minutes after so that everyone had the opportunity to copy it down. OM Manny sent his reply to the previous week's QTC which asked about a water-passage in the Scottish Western Isles, with only its Gaelic name provided. VK CQ QRS Group , ay MR Orc | PREC oOsve Tuesday ~09402 WIRELESS TELEGRAM HX STATION OF ORIGIN: 22|R VE3DRQ ae ZL3TK CHECK SLACT 11/9 OF ~7.0277 MHz OR MIN TIME BLACKBURN | G418Z [)ATE } 27 JUL2Z4 MESSAGE: ENGLISH NAME SOUND LEWIS AND HARRIS OF HARRIS EDNOTE THIS REPLY IS TO NR 95 RECEIVED AT VK3DRQ 23JUL24 DURING COQRS VK3DRQ FROM: RECEIVED AT FROM | TIME |_ BATE ZL3TK VK3DRQ /g949Z | 38JUL24 Then Stan sent this week's QTC, T a SENT FROM TIME | DATE which may also be interpreted as a QNC, in that it is available for anyone to reply, on-air. STOP even if it wasn't copied directly This provides an opportunity to dip your toes into warm-traffic water, this week with a distinctly Aussie flavour. [ i VK CQ ORS Group : aE QTC PREC Oasve Tuesday ~09402 WIRELESS TELEGRAM HX STATION OF CRIM |1g@@ ) R ZL3TK TO: VE3DROQ | CHECK. PLAC! CM | 30/26 “1.027 M2 ORIN TENE RE7TSOKR } 86482 MESSAGE: J & GIVE DISTANCE AND BEARING TO NEAREST RFDS BASE TO CARDIAC PATIENT AT MELANGATA STATION COMMA WHY IS RECENT WEATHER KNOWLEDGE FROM: RECEIVED AT GATE 29JUL24 Ss Ceres FLY FROM ARREST WA o& s e rsh Fo Pos, © IMPORTANT QUERY Pow < Es) ee S ZL3TK FROM | TIME [_DaTE ] SENT FROM To TIME ZL3TK VE3SDROQ |@951Z | 38JUL24 | DATE ] Plain-language traffic questions are based upon readily available information accessible from search engines. not be immediately obvious, The answer you want may but keep digging and try a different search engine if unsuccessful at first. 73 de Stan ZL3TK Other Other things I’ve received News from our 190-odd readers. Artificial Intelligence for Generating Morserino Callsigns by lan VK1HF | have a morserino - it has an echo trainer - for practicing more code. Great for the off season by the fire. You can upload a custom list of stuff for it to send you(which you need to correctly send back) - | want to get better at recognizing VK/ZL callsigns and | suck at the /P add on. random Have list of callsigns... | thought, So! wanted a let's see if ChatGPT can do this... a look : httos://chatgot.com/share/521e2b64-9b7d-45b4-810b- afec1c/5898b Pretty neat - you can just keep modifying the question you ask until you get what you want back. Feel free to copy/use/modify to suit. 73, lan - VK1HF [Thanks lan - ] From our new Patagonian member, Sergio LU7YS | share with you videos of QSOs with Australia and New Zealand on the 80 meter band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7jcV1694l&ab_channel=SergioLandoni https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=VUdGqdrM8c4&ab_channel=SergioLandoni | share with you videos of QSOs with Australia and New Zealand on the 80 meter band ‘i-aasne Sergio - LU7¥S Landoni ZLINZ 80 meters QSO from LU7YS in Patagonia Argentina QS0O with Neil ZLINZ from LU?¥5 in PatagoniaStation Elecraft K3 + KPA5OO 7O0W. antenna inverted L 5/8 lambdaQTH in San Martin de los https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7jcV1-694|l&ab_channel=SergioLandoni 11:33 pm Sergio - LU7¥S Landoni VK4PN 80 meters QS0 At local 09:15 | contact in 80 meters band with Saba VK4PN | good Signals from LU?YSRIG Elecraft K3 & KPA500 7OOW, antenna 5/68 https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=VUdGqdrMésc4&ab_channel=SergioLandoni YESTERDAY lan VK1IHF Gilchrist Sergio - LU7¥S Landoni https://wwwe.youtube.com/watch?vs_/jcV1694|Sab_channel=SergioLandoni nice! - love the elecraft radios From Andy VKS5LA at Wilkie Hi mate, | just wanted to drop you a line to say how much newsletter, it’s a credit to you and has now become I’m enjoying the required reading in le Shack de VK5LA! Thanks for taking the time to put it together, it’s much appreciated! Andy Williss VK5LA/VJ5Z/VK5KAW/VK5TIL/VK5FIL VK-QRP #752 GQRP #17085 FISTS #21741 Winkie, South Australia [Hey thank you Andy. And in-turn, thanks to all our contributors who make the RagChew - and out net - just the ducks guts!] QRS Germany From Mike to Australasia DL3YZ: Hello Mark, Today | come up with a bit of an ambitious thought. | really like SWLing on the CQQRS net, but of course I'd like to take part more actively. My experiments have shown that sometimes there Is a RF window opening up on 20m from Germany to Australia, about the same time the QRS net Is taking place on. | was even able to chat with Ross over the remote and Ron even with my home station on LOOW and a G5SRV antenna, some last week, hanging low in bushes. So | thought it could be a fun for the crew to try to get some log next Tuesday. DX in the Maybe the ether waves are benevolent, and some stations will listen and try and send me a few beeps around the globe. | will be calling CQ VK QRS on 14.051 MHz ( +/- 2 ) and keeping my ears open wide :-) at: 6:45 UTC 7:00 UTC 7:15 UTC 7:30 UTC 7:45 UTC 8:00 UTC 8:15 UTC Of course my humble appearance” wrong, "special could all go terribly and for sure | will embarrass myself badly. But no risk, no fun. Have a nice day ( and sorry for my bad english ) Mike DL3YZ. os Of course there is no need to drill out Nigel G4RWI’s web logging scripts, we could just put it In as 40 m. [What a terrific opportunity to enjoy the fruits of our sunspot cycle peak Mike - great initiative! Let’s see how it works this coming Tuesday - and I'/| repeat the announcement on future Tuesdays when you're available. fun! Perhaps you’d consider using our CQQRS What WhatsApp Alerts group (oossibly with the notification sound off or with a nice low sound so you don’t get disturbed at odd hours? updates on the fly?] Morse Training Net That way you could provide coordinating Nic VK7WW 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 More milliWatts by Ross MONNK A few weeks ago, RagChew carried an article about a very simple 5 mW transmitter tried on air by Jordan VK3ACU (see Edition 27 “Size Matters”). anleand Vv > 3 Mo Ce 10.145 =e MHz | was intrigued and, “nothing ventured, lo0K nothing gained”, | 160 nF | dug out of my Spares box: A crystal (the only one | had was for 10.244 MHz) An NPN transistor (1 don’t have that many so | chose a 2N3904) Two capacitors (100 pF and 100nF) e Two resistors (1K and 100K) e A mono jack socket for my straight key A PP9 9v battery and a battery connector A BNC connector for the antenna A small square of perfooard The only thing | bought was a small red plastic project box to put it all in. A pleasant hour of soldering yielded... HF | put the crystal and transistor in sockets so | could change them And, as an addition to the original circuit diagram, if needed. | added an 100nF isolating capacitor to the output. As you can see from the screen capture of my oscilloscope, it works! Oscilloscope faooo Adva = RS232 | ~ (0000 5 cee BB | FT LL - 20 ~| (108 cae LDphase l only have a cheap 20 MHz USB oscilloscope so, with a signal of 10 MHz, it’s fairly close to its Nyquist Frequency, the waveform. hence the data point dots along The FFT display looks nice though. Having got it working on the bench, | then took it out to the woods to test it with my RTL-SDR dongle as the receiver. | made a dipole antenna and connected that directly to the BNC. No UnUn... no coax... the battery dangling from the red box - everything went up to the top of my fibreglass mast with just a 2-core wire coming down to the Morse key. Mike DL3YZ suggested using only a “rostige Buroklammer” (German: rusty paperclip) antenna for the SDR and I’m jolly glad | did because, being sat right under the dipole, the signal came booming in even with the RF Gain dialled back to zero. OC a ke a minus 20 dBFS 10.225 MHz Ui, ail Tn man MtTT nil NT i! al| | i . H RF Gain = 0 dB | can’t claim to understand the significance of what I’m seeing on this display. But for a transmitter using just a single transistor with zero output filtering, it looks impressive to me. I'd like to give a big shout-out to Ron VK6KHZ and to Mike DL3YZ for their advice and encouragement with this project. I’m not as clever as | like to appear and they were a big help. So...QRS QRPP DX anyone? [Absolutely outstanding mate! Jordan.... What have you started?! Ross, | think what you're seeing on the receiver is some sort of aliasing / driving into non-linearity causing intermodulation distortion from the strong signal. The KiwiSDRs do the same on marginally strong CW signals.... a broad band of stuff around the carrier, bounded by a stronger peak at each edge. Opportunity to get a 7023 movement going for the next International Pixie Day in the UK / Europe?? Jordan’s milliWatts on 80m were heard in Tasmania - over 500 km away, and Richard VK6PZT’s 1 Watt on 40m was heard two weeks ago by Stan ZL3TK in New Zealand - over 5000km away. Thanks mate! Bloody outstanding.] | just love getting articles like this for RagChew, and | know many of our readers look forward to them too - thank you Ross. So, if you’d like to have a go at writing something of interest for the newsletter, please let me know so we can share more thoughts and ideas; email to cqgrsnet@gmail.com LY ») ms Pe Cl al re 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 Jules for the good learning website, here’s this week’s quiz questions from Jules’ Workshop example test questions: Exam Questions: What do transmission lines do? These are also referred to as feedlines or feeders. In fitting an amateur transceiver to a motor vehicle an important matter to consider is? whether there is voltage available to power the transceiver the placement of a laptop computer for logging purposes potential interference to the engine management system signal reflections from the wing mirrors On entry to a power supply the active lead of the mains should be connected to a indicator lamp filter capacitor transformer e fuse Answers next week. Answers from last week’s Quiz: What is the final stage of a transmitter? Answer: The RF amp. The purpose of the capacitor in this filter circuit is to: pass the low frequency EL. bypass the high frequencies Li: attenuate the low frequencies amplify the high frequencies Answer: | attenuate the low frequencies. In an SSB transmitter the balanced modulator suppresses both sidebands e the carrier and one sideband e one side band e the carrier Answer:the carrier. How did you go? Di-dah-di-dah-dit Here So back to the Slow CW QSO Next Tuesday’s we 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. And don’t forget, Mike DL3YZ will also be calling CQ VK QRS on 20m at the times specified above. 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 32 contributors to this week’s newsletter: DL3YZ, LU7YS, MONNK, VK1HF, VK2DLF, VK2EBN, VK2GAS, VK2JCC, VK2TEV, VK3ACU, VK3AE, VK3AFH, VK3DRQ, VK5ET, VK5FD, VK5KFG, VK5LA, VK6BEK, VK6HRC, VK6KD/4, VK6KHZ, VK6PZT, VK6ORR, VK6WE, VK3JFP, VK3KEV, VK6IS, VK6JDM, VK7TA, VK7ZA, ZL2GD, ZL3TK - bloody outstanding work all! €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, Words were passed by pounding brass, And all were quite contented. - Unknown About the CQ Here’s the author ORS Net details. The team will be on again for our usual Tuesday arvo / evening Practice QSO Net. Frequencies and Times CQQRS NET - DEEP DEEP WINTER TIMETABLE Coordinated Universal Time Australia 0700z to 13002 Western Australia Time UTC+8 1500 to 2100 4Central Australia Time UTC+9.5 | 1630t02230 —EasternTime =—suTC+10 | 1700to2300 New Zealand NZ Time UTC +12 1900 to 0100 Time Band Frequency 07002 to 0900z 40m 7020kHz - 7040kHz se 4om | 7020kHz-7040kH2 O900Z2 to 11002 frrrrrrreseeeesereereresresperreeesscscanteseseesresenerateaseseassassasnanescastaneaney 80m 3540kHz - 3570kHz | 3 090021013002 ~=siéd|:S 80m =| «5 40KH2-3570KH2 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 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. enjoy the frequency. If you catch someone, there’s no need to QSY - 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. mb VK2KI / VK6QI The opinions expressed The opinions in the do not necessarily RagChew newsletter are those of the individual contributors. reflect that of the editor or of the CQ QRS Group members. Send comments about the RagChew Copyright (C) 2024 Newsletter. CQ QRS. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences Ae lonn elie mailchimp or unsubscribe