Subscribe Past Issues Translate View this email CQQRS in your browser RagChew Edition 35/2024 VOACAP Online for Ham Radio — 0:52:05 UTC (10:52) Select TX QTH: [G London Select RX QTH: [ VKé Perth e DXperiment Success Live Stream QSO Acquired v] or set Grid: v] or set Grid: or Latitu or Latitu Taste - Like Blue Vein Crisp Hunter Valley Semicolon Traffic Report Post Morsum Hearing Reports from our Foreign Correspondents Things? My First DX Reminder for 3Sep24 CQ QRS Net Yet another excellent Tuesday of QRS CW bringing so much practice, which seems to be pleasure to so many new operators, those learning the art and those who enjoy brushing up and helping out - thank you all for being there. v RSS And congratulations to Ross MONNK for his QRP from the Swamp and Mike DL3YZ for providing the interesting and successful DXperiment. Those who read the RagChew somewhat scant; through newsletter will notice that this one is my own stupidity, | lost the entire day’s work on the newsletter late on Thursday when the Mailchimp system decided to lose what | was working on. So this one is a rapid re-hash, minus the normal editing and images. Last Tuesday’s Here’s this week’s CQQRS Team Member cQ Worked 15m Worked 20m Worked 15m Tried 15m Worked 20m Worked 40m Worked 40m Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Worked 20 m Heard 20m Worked 40m Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 80m Heard 80m Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Worked 15m Worked 40m Heard on air. Worked 40m Worked 20m Heard 20m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Tried 40m Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 80m Worked 40m Worked 40m Worked 40m Worked 20m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Heard 80m Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard on air. Worked 40m Worked 80m Heard on air. Heard on air. Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Worked 40m Worked 10m Heard 20m Wiorked 80m Heard 80m Net list of the 61 stations Qso 2 Qso 3 heard: Qso 4 qQso5 QsSO6 QsO7 Qso 8 40m 40m Heard 40m 40m 80m 80m 15m on air. on air. 40m 40m 20m 15m Heard 20m 15m 40m 40m 40m 40m Masthead Image The image this week is the VOCAP-Ham circle long path ionospheric prediction of the VK6 to UK path, showing to get through. The VOCAP-Ham how lucky we were on Tuesday prediction is a web-based system available free on-line and allows details of the station configuration (including noise level) at each end to be factored-in. 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/COQORSNET As our team outside of Australasia grows, we've seen lots of interest in expanding our activities to other bands to catch our overseas members. head of our software department, Nigel G4RWI The has been working furiously to produce a simple way of reporting on contacts with our team outside of 40 and 80m. But in the mean time, please just use the 80m (separate out your 80m report area report from other bands of course), and when you enter the list of callsigns worked, heard or missed, please append ‘@band’ to each callsign without a space (eg VK2KI@20 VK6QI@15 an etc). 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 Cheers, members to have a go. 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 Brendan VK3BAP at Truganina [40m] ¢ | sat down at the radio early in the evening and jumped straight into a POTA with Peter VK3PF who was on 7032. ¢ Soon afterwards | answered George VK2DLF and we had a very nice QSO. « It's been a while since I've made a QSO on QRS Net so it was great to work George who has always been on air whenever I've listened in on a Tuesday night. ¢ Unfortunately | had to leave the radio but came and listened in for a while, heard back later in the evening 13 stations in all. ¢ | didn't get a chance to make another QSO due to numerous distractions in the household but was glad to get at least one run on the scoreboard. From Ross Waddams MONNK at Exeter UK [80m] ¢« Very many thanks to the seven operators who made this a very special day for me. * Having my very first DX contacts is a radio high-point for me. [See this week’s Topic of Interest below for more from Ross about the test.] From Ketut VK3BWN at Near Melbourne [40m] ¢ There is a windstorm tonight in Melbourne. e« My transmission line is blown around and reception is very erratic. * There is probably a loose connection somewhere, along with static crashes it is a pretty bad condition tonight. [80m] * YBINWP was 339 in Melbourne. ¢ | had to take care of the family so | only had a chance to peek into 15m for a minute. ¢ Hopefully better timing and condition next week. From George [40m] VK2AOE at Sydney ¢ | had a very crude attempt at a live stream on Youtube. « Managed only one QSO but it was the man himself Mr Bosma VK2KI. Link to that video here:. https://www.youtube.com/live/j5JIDeDweiY ?si=t-T-Bs]kKRWHWb860. i From Donald VK6JDM mobile 20 km west of Kalgoorlie [80m] ¢ Was trying to work with a mobile whip antenna tuned for low end of 40 metres. ¢ was able to hear multiple stations but having tried to get out last week with the whip, | restricted myself to just listening. ¢ After an hour had followed the conversations of 6 stations but the mosquitoes arrived in squadrons and ignoring my bushman's air defense system, inflicting multiple hits on face and hands. A photo of my operating position 20 km west of Kal. Great receiving set up with the whip, but no one could hear me so just used the time to sticky beak on everyone's QSO's. Will use a better antenna next time. | think the signal | was putting out (10 W) into the whip was probably just a bit weak. Did not matter as | am finding | can now concentrate on CW for up to an hour and get enough of it to be able to fill in the lost letter here and there and know what is being said. Just listening when no one can hear you Is great practice and makes one more enthusiastic about using CW as ‘missing letter anxiety’ diminishes. | will be back in Esperance next week so hope to pop up using the 100 W afterburner on the rig and of course have a much | switch out the final power amp when | am beginning to see why CW better antenna at home. mobile to spare the battery. is such an addiction for some. | used not to understand the enthusiasm displayed by so many in the CW and especially the QRP CW communities. | suspect | am getting to the point where | could enjoy it. A bit of an acquired taste like blue vein cheese. Kind regards, Donald Howarth From Nic VK7WW at Legana [80m] * VK3CYD running a CW beacon asking for RST to be sent to 0427 262 064. ¢ | sent one asking if it was QRP, but got no response. From Mike DL3YZ at Stuttgart [15m & 20m] ¢ Thanks to all stations calling me today, | heared you under lots of strong european traffic running on the same QRS frequency ( 14.054 ) today. ¢ Sorry, | had no chance to copy your calls, as their signals were so strong. ¢ Did anybody finally have a chat with Tom ( F4GOU ) ? ( He heared you as well and tried to answer,,,, ) Now | went down to 14.053, but | guess nobody found me there, as | had troubles with my power source ( lead acid battery ), so was just running on 50 Watts. ¢ | will definitely need some LiFePo4 for next time. ¢ And hey - what a big success for Ross, doing portable below "sea level" Chapeau mon ami ! :-). From Michael VK4CCW at Kawungan QLD [40m] * Signals last night were good little noise and easy QSO. [80m] © Nil. From lan VK7TA at Latrobe [80m] «| used my 40m 1/4 wave vertical on 15m, running 100w. ¢ | struggled to copy call signs only as signals were very weak. From David VK6KD/4 at Newell QLD. (10km NW of Port Douglas) [40m] ¢ Lots of stations to choose from. ¢ Good decoding practice while stations are having a good ragchew on CW. [80m] ¢« VK6 started to come through into far North QLD around 1200 UTC. ¢ | had to QRT. * Hope to catch all next week. From Daniel VK6WE at Cottesloe [40m] ¢« | had my most productive session to date calling CQ and getting replies from several stations. « It seems to be getting easier even though | occasionally consult my code sheet. ¢ The band was quiet with a single weak station after my last QSO so | tried calling it but did not get a response. ¢« A good time to end a satisfying session. From Lance VK7TO at Hobart - [40m] ¢ | enjoyed two lovely rag-chew contacts into SA with VK5AO and VK5KFG at over half an hour each. ¢ Thanks for the long conversations, ¢ With respect to CW Maitland and Greg. learning doctrines. ¢ | would like to raise the discrepancy between apparent widespread agreement on the benefits of learning with the Kock-Farnsworth method, contrasted with the lack of hearing learners using it on air. ¢ Groups such as CW Acadamy and the Long Island CW Club train hundreds of ops each year, in addition to countless online tools, with this method employing a character speed of around 25 WPM * This is still QRS operation, with longer letter spacing. but with a better foundation to increasing speeds with experience. ¢ Yet because it's not heard on the air in Australia, people may be reluctant to be the odd one out, and so force themselves to use slow character speeds to fit in, thereby making ¢ | know that when despite my American common it harder for themselves in the process. starting out, | never heard Farnsworth operation on-air, and European course colleagues saying it was very in their regions. ¢ | would like to see our net's learners feel comfortable calling with the Farnsworth speeds they've learned with. ¢ Under the "About the CQ QRS Net" -> "Speed" would heading of the newsletter, it be worth noting that as long as the effective soeed remains QRS, ops are encouraged to call with whatever character speed they're comfortable with?. ¢ | would be interested in hearing others' thoughts. e Lance, VK7TO (former VK7ZA). From Roy Jones VK6RR at Geraldton [40m] ¢« Volunteer work and domestic chores took up most of the evening so could't participate as much as usual. From Stan ZL3TK at Waitarere [40m] ¢ A ‘low-noise’ night all told. ¢« Few contacts without any exercises passed, however we had avery successful formal traffic exchange without any repeat requests - a noise-free first! No one other than OM Manny came up with an answer to NR 113. * It still staggers me that training opportunities are being missed weekafter-week because folks either don't read 'RagChew' or can't understand the information therein. * It's got me beat!. [80m] ¢ Truth to tell, OM « However good Richard was QRP, only just detectable. info was gained which gave a prescient explanation for the AllStar links on VK6-HUB not connecting for Post Morsum the next morning. ¢ No evidence of any other stations except VK2WI on 3.699 MHz. From Richard VK6HRC at Padbury [40m] * Quiet at the start locally so listened on the Ironstone Range Kiwi SDR until propagation changed and we started hearing the Eastern states here. ¢ We were treated with a wide variety of fists and speeds, thanks to all. ¢ Unfortunately some ssb activity came up and messed up the formal exchange hoping for better conditions next week. [80m] ¢ Good to catch up with Peter VK6IS after a bit of a drought how many times | messed ! Lost count of up Marks VK6QI / VK2KI callsigns ! So back into the corner for me. From Manny VK3DRQ at Blackburn [20m] ¢ | was very excited when at about 0725Z | could copy Mike DL3YZ coming RSN 431 QSB and he was calling Ross MONNK who was 541 QSB. ¢ When they interchanged info, | called Ross and for my delight he came back giving me 569 and telling me that | was his first DX contact. ¢ | think, we will remember the occasion for some time. * Being a DXPeriment, | suppose, we should limit our QSO so to give others the opportunity for a QSO. Ross So | was a bit upset hearing one VK giving to every possible detail of himself, his station, his antenna, WX and | think, he « Thanks OM even gave his grandmother's his name. Mark for the ENORMOUS JOB you are doing fir the benefit of CW, our HOBBY. From Peter VK6IS at Wundowie [40m] e it does get noisy after 1800 wst. [80m] * very quiet on 80m this week. From Mathew V VK3AFH at Wantirna [40m] ¢ | had to work this Tuesday night (Banking software upgrades) so | was only listening in. « | was Surprised to see some YouTube notifications from VK2AOE where he was attempting to live steam the QRS net, it looked like he was having some struggles getting it going but A for effort. ¢ Soon enough stream! | was both listening on my radio as well as watching the live (and working). ¢ | was very longingly casting glances at my key while listening to George call CQ a number of times - it would have been a perfect second CW QSO for me but the Digital Card issues | was troubleshooting had to take priority (unfortunately). ¢« There will be a next time :). ¢ Very entertaining night, was more good ¢ Thanks all!. practice at copying in my head. From Chris Wilson VK2NAP at Marrickville - Craft Beer capital of The Universe [40m] ¢ It got off to a great start by vicariously participating via George VK2AOE's Art of Engineering Googletubes Livestream whist | cleaned up after dinner. « Accompanied by the better part of a bottle of a crisp Hunter Valley Semillon (Why does autocorrect want me to have drunk a semicolon), and after my duties had been attened to, George and | sat down for a solid key pounding marathon rag chew on 7041KHz, where both George's and my fist was put to the test with the FLDigi decoder. ¢ While character spacing was "fluid" our letters were, for the most part, on point. « However, | noted some spelling issues crop up as we progressed. * and as the wine was consumed. ¢ We had a quick post QSO chat on the phone and | sent a short video of his signal as interpreted by FLDidgi. * Not to be deterred by the dwindling bottle,. ¢ | managed to get an instant response to a call on 7026KHz with Greg VK2KFG, in one of my favourite parts of SA. ¢ One that grows grapes. ¢ A bit of a fight with the local hash and a bit of QSB, 20+ but we had a good minutes discussing antennas and and such. ¢ There was time for one more. ¢ Smashed out a CQ and pulled in a very very faint David VK6KD in Newell QLD. * He was so far down in the thick mush of the electromagnetic soup that comes with living on an Inner city block, so | deferred RX to a KiwiSDR located the home of my bottle's viticulturist to complete the QSO. e It was still a challenge. ¢ Did a quick tune around after we wrapped up and heard a QRS Japanese station calling, but it slipped away shortly after. e With a quarter of a bottle remaining, | decided to pull up stumps. ¢ | will say that it brings me joy to hear so many stations on a Tuesday night and the community that's building up brings a smile to my face. ° 73. ¢ Chris VK2NAP. ¢ dit dit. From Jordan VK3ACU at Meredith [40m] ¢« Wow, it's Tuesday already! Where did this week go?. « Just a few contacts tonight a the wind was extreme so | decided to shut down the station. ¢ | could hear my ladder line banging From Clint VK2TIG in to my house and tower outside. at North Sydney [80m] ¢ With strong winds affecting QSB and not quite ready tried as best as | could to hear the group. to get on the air | From Tony VK3CTM at Bendigo [40m] ¢ Although | worked only two stations | found the CQQRS satisfying. It net very appears to me to be the ideal format to learn CW Skills. [80m] ¢ | heard no stations on the 80 meter band but listened only briefly. * | will attempt to join the net on a more frequent basis. Regards, Tony From David VK3RU at Burwood, suburban Melbourne [40m] ¢ | finished my QMX in time for last Tuesday and finally took it out fora run for real last night. « Its a great little box with just short of 5W available on 40, 30 and 20, solid 5W on 80. ¢ Strangely the keyer did some odd stuff at one point with George but we will work it out. ¢ Also first outing for my (new to me) Galbraith key, so there was a bit of getting used to the available adjustments and hopefully we will fine tune with some improvement to both soon. ¢ Lots of fun and as the WX improves, looking forward to comparing the QCX and QMX for a real test in the parks during the coming months. [80m] « My antenna is not resonant on 80 (or 30) at this time of year, Summer time shack only. From Nyoman YBINWP at West Java [40m] ¢ Very high noise floor on 40m (S9+), had to move to high band to work DX. ¢ Thanks for everyone who has worked with me. ¢ CU AGN. From the Editor VK2KI at Beautiful South Bowning [20m] ¢ This week | concentrated on the DXperiment with Ross MONNK's epic feet stuck in the swamp (see Douglas Adams' Life, the Universe and Everything) experiment form near Exeter South West of London, and Mike DL3YZ's how fast can | flatten the battery test from Stuttgart in the South of Germany. * From VK2 | heard Ross on 20m but only RSN 311 on my 106m 6m and nearly 50 year old Kenwood TS-120S with no CW filter; Phil VK6GX at Gidgegannup doublet up Ross was working and lan VK5CZ at Clare. [40m] e After dinner, | came the Tecsun ¢ | was pleased to hear News back to 40m and could see lots of activity on KiwiSDR as we've come to expect on our net. James VK2TER below) as well as Manny VK3DRQ re-claiming his callsign (see Other at Blackburn chatting to David VK6DBD at Yakandandah and Maity VK5A0 at Banksia Park working VK1CT. ¢ | also noted a couple of Japanese stations calling and working at nice QRS speeds; I'll be writing to them soon to let them know about our net. « So please let me Know if you hear any other QRS stations on the net frequencies so | can let them know what we're up to. ¢ As | was about to wrap-up on 40m, by George VK2AOE | gave a final CQ which was answered at Kogara. ¢ I'd seen a note from Jordan VK3ACU on the CQQRS WhatsApp Rag Chew group advising that George had been conspiring with Chris VK2NAP and was livestreaming his QSOs via YouTube aiming to encourage demonstrating more CW ops by how easy slow CW QSOs can be. ¢ So while chatting to George, | brought up his YouTube transmission, and was able to listen to my poor attempts at CW via the slightly delayed video. ¢ What fun - thank you George and Chris for the initiative. ¢« Georges recording of what he heard and worked is here:. « https://www.youtube.com/live/j5JIDeDwelY?si=gGVgcSFBm9gk)J-vs. [80m] e After the excitement of 40m, | had a go on 80m. ¢ | had another nice chat with Richard VK6HRC at Padbury - it was nice to be able to work Richard across Australia on 80m despite the apparent one- way propagation that been common lately; Richard was RSN 433 but replied with RST 599 (of course this might have also been my old wide receiver compared to Richard's swept-up IC-7300 receiver). e And after Richard | had a chat to Phil Vk6GX at Gidgegannup who was a solid RSN 593 from his delta loop up 20m. ¢ By the time | caught up with Phil, | was getting pretty tired and noticed that our speed had crept up - so apologies to any listeners who were looking for QRS copying practice (which is after-all, why we're here!). Also from the Editor VK6QI the VK6QS at via the VK6SR Remote at Bedfordale and KiwiSDR near Brookton [20m] * To start this week's Europe to Oceania DXperiment using the VK6SR Remote at Bedfordale at 0730z | heard Ross MONNK/p using 20 Watts from his bottom-loaded whip at the River Exe swamp near Exeter coming through nicely on 20m chatting to Manny VK3DRQ ¢ | then hooked at Blackburn. up with Ross and sent him RSN 421 and was surprised that he reported RST 569 back to me from the 12m Bedfordale! After that Ross and Ron VK6KHZ high Marconi-Tee at hooked up which was great to hear at last. e At 0820z | caught up with Mike DL3YZ at the Club station at Stuttgart. « Mike was RSN members 521 and reported RST 569; of the Europe to Oceania terrific to have caught both DXperiment, and interesting to hear that both stations were about the same signal strength (albeit that they were 45 minutes apart), despite Mike's 100 Watts and Yagi antenna. [15m] ¢ At 0805z | hooked up again with Ross MONNK/p on 15m; Ross's 20 Watts and loaded whip was a really nice RSN 521 and reported RST 569. ¢ Ross went on to work lan VK7TA at Latrobe while | moved back to 20m to look for Mike DL3YZ. « When | came back to 15m, Mike was RSN 511 (not quite as strong as Ross 40 minutes earlier), and reported RST 569 via the Long Path. ¢ Mike said that the solar-powered dropped battery was again going flat and he had his power to 50 Watts (same power as me). ¢ He then tried turning his antenna around to favour the Short Path and signals were weaker, indicating that we were off the back of his Yagi and that as predicted, the Short Path wasn't working. * lan VK7TA then came up and had a chat with Mike as well; so lan was also successful catching both DXperiment stations. [40m] ¢ Early in the net | fired up the Southern Electronics Group's VK6SR Remote at Bedfordale and had a nice chat with Richard VK6HRC. * On the VK6QS KiwiSDR near Brookton VK3DRQ | heard Ron VK6KHZ at and Manny at Blackburn. e After dinner before sliding down to 80m, | heard John VK5ET at Hope Valley chatting to lan VK5CZ at Clare with nice signals into WA. [80m] ¢ Things got so busy on the other bands that | didn't get to have a go on 80m from VKé6 this time. ¢ | also needed an early night with an early start the next day, but | was really happy with the QSOs | had in the time available. ¢ Thanks to everyone for making this a terrific Tuesday evening of QRS once again. Traffic Report for 27 August 23 By Stan ZL3TK Here is OM Manny's well-researched answer to the previous week's QTC. First exactly as sent then printed formally. QTC NR26 R VK3DRQ 28/26 BLACKBURN 0104Z 24AUG24 = ZL3TK = YOUR NR 113 ANSWER STOP CG-4A AND LEAKING LOUISE TOOK OFF FROM FANLESS FAGGOT AND THEY WERE VK3DRQ AR QRU QSL? K C-47 STOP HOLLANDIA TOWING DEPLOYED AT HIDDEN VALLEY = _ VK CQ QRS Group } ay MR osvec QTC | PRES Tuesday 09402 WIRELESS TELEGRAM HX. | 26/|R STATION OF OR 1GIN | VE3DRQ os CHECK. | | PLACE 28/26 | OF 7.0277 Me OR DOIN TIME BLACKBURN ATT B1G4AZ Z24AUG24 ZL3TK MESSAGE: YOUR NR 113 ANSWER STOP CG-4A AND C-47 LEAKING LOUISE TOOK OFF FROM HOLLANDIA TOWING FANLESS FAGGOT AND THEY WERE DEPLOYED AT HIDDEN VALLEY FROM: _ STOP ZL3TK | RECEIVED AT FROM ZL3TK [TIME | DATE_ VESDRO ) 2142 ] (Gastron Tt | TE DATE |27AUG24 Traffic was sent by both stations very slowly, ca. 8 wom, readable, and therefore able to be answered by (almost) everyone! This week's QTC making (to which everyone is invited to reply) The lamp post will be familiar to a nearby CQQRS First exactly as sent then printed formally. it is focused on VK6. member. Serial numbers reset to NR 1 for the first QTC sent from your station in any calendar year. QTC NR 116 ZL3TK VK3DRQ = 18/16 USING GOOGLE AR 0107Z STREET VIEW GIVE NAME LAMP POST LOCATED ZL3TK WAITARERE COL AT 32R11408S 32R11408S 27AUG24 ON FINGERBOARD 115R82110E 115R82110E | = QRU Fo] MR osve QTC PREC |116 Tuesday 09402 WIRELESS TELEGRAM HX. R | STATION OF ORIGIN ZL3TK any j CHECK. | T PLACE 18/16 | OF TO K VK CQ QRS Group : ATTACHED = 7.0277 MHz OR DGS WAITARERE TIME EATT @187Z 27AUG24 VK3DRQ MESSAGE: USING GOOGLE STREET VIEW GIVE NAME ON FINGERBOARD FIXED TO LAMP POST LOCATED AT 32R114985S 115R8211@E FROM: _ RECEIVED AT | ZL3TK | FROM Tie DATE, |] (Gexstros 710 ZL3TK | TiME VE3DROQ 2155 ‘BATE ] | 27AUG24 Everyone is invited to dip their toes into traffic by answering the question in NR 116, even if the reply sent is only message text, devoid of preamble. Seek help if you need clarification on any point while advancing your Skills. zl3tk@qsl.net No exercises were sent or requested, and again it was disappointingly obvious how few read the detail presented on'RagChew'. It's simply not feasible to explain at 10 wom, several times a night, structure and benefits of participating in training exercises. That's one important purpose of the nesletter! the 73 de Stan. Post Morsum Report By Richard VK6HRC Hello Mark, As you Know it was a non-event for me this morning with the Echolink /AllStar nodes not connected to the VK6RLM traffic on 80mx repeater and no . Fortunately both OM Stan ZL3TK and Ross MONNK came to the rescue with their RF-free apres-ski report, thanks once again. From Stan ZL3TK: An eerie silence was the only greeting on both the Mandurah nodes at 2200Z Tuesday for the weekly Post Morsum Things livened up by ~2208Z MONNK, VK6KHZ and and VK6-HUB Net. after three check-ins on Mandurah from ZL3TK, all on echolink so not a lot of RF happening, at least on the repeater's input! An enthusiastic discussion and hearty congratulations ensued on the 20 m contact between OMs Ron and Ross, with only 20 W and a 'salt-water' amplifier at the UK end. That's just the sort of adventurous ether-probing more AROs could well do to emulate. and 1.5 (his words) on 15 m, was pleased as Punch!". OM Ross worked five VKs on 20 m which he summarized with the phrase, "I And so he should be. OM Ross also picked up on a couple of VK stations bucking the obsolete RST signal reporting tradition by using the much-more useful RSN protocol. OM Upon request, Stan delivered a few words of explanation. Ron reported three contacts on 40 m, that he had worked five stations. and ZL3TK omitted to report A rather productive RF-free apres-ski, all told. From Ross MONNK: Last night's/morning's "Post Morsum" was a rather informal affair. Three of us found the *VK6-HUB* deserted but found each other on the Mandurrah repeater. We then took it in turns to chip in our threepenny worth. e Stan ZL3TK said that he couldn't quite pull the Euro stations out of the noise on 20m because his antenna is not optimised for frequencies as high as those. e Ron VK6KHZ said that he'd had a disappointing session with only three stations in his log for the net, but one of those was myself (just). e Both congratulated me (Ross MONNK) into Australia on the 15m session and basked e and 20m on my successful DX session bands. | was still aglow from that in the applause! Finally, Stan explained the origin of the RSN signal report and its differences from the "standard" RST signal report. That was interesting as I've been given a few RSN on the net now. There being only three of us (where was everyone else?), we wound up after a pleasant half an hour. [For reasons unknown, the hubs of the WA AllStar network had become disconnected from each-other. | was driving in to Canberra at the time listening to Stan, Ross and Ron on the Mandurah Repeater via Echolink on my phone. However, because | wasn’t at home | couldn't do anything about temporarily patching the nodes together to the Mandurah node. Oh well, it was terrific to hear the excitement of the DXperiment anyway, even If Ross couldn't share it with the team.] Other Other things Hearing I’ve received News from our 200-odd readers. Things? On Monday, James VK2TER he was hearing someone let the team group that on 7144kHz (the SOTA/Parks SSB calling frequency) using his callsign on 40m Jordan VK3ACU know via our WhatsApp CW. and | listened in, appreciating how James was feeling at the time listening to his callsign being used to work a bunch of SOTA / Parks stations. However after some sleuthing, Jordan and James think there's an explanation for what we all heard on 7144.4KHz: e The callsign was VK2TER/p. e The QSOs came in rapid succession with no breaks between callers. e The operator knew some of the other station operators’ names. e There was some music played on occasions on LSB between the CW. e The transmission would occasionally stop instantly in the middle of his callsign. e The music was the same music that James uses on his YouTube videos. With some clever deduction, Jordan proposed that it was actually some of James' YouTube videos that they were listening to. James agreed - it sounded like someone was watching his YouTube videos while having their transceiver VOX on - so the CW and music was being transmitted as the videos were being watched! Wow - phew! James is signing a huge sigh of relief! Mark VK2KI 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 My First Ever DX by Ross MONNK Before | don’t mind admitting that, with the help of Mike DL3YZ, weeks of preparation went into this attempt. We tried out different antenna set-ups and different locations. Mike gave me loads of accurate signal reports so that proper comparisons could be made. The winner was the “Salt Water Amplifier” with a % wave vertical, and 8 radials in a tight fan for some directional gain. | confess that | was rather sceptical that 20 watts would reach the Antipodes using such simple equipment. But you see it done on YouTube with even less power so | figured it ought to be possible. Finally the stars lined up - equipment configuration, decent weather, good propagation, tide times aligning with the QRS Net times. Now it was SHOWTIME! For the curious, here’s a short video of the set-up | used: https://youtu.be/ZOV9tQe3P1E Sorry about the wind noise (I’m not a proper YouTuber). This DXpedition used the Long Path, with the estuary of the River Exe as the “salt water amplifier”. | had tried the local beach for the Short Path but it slopes steeply so the waves crash onto it creating a lot of ambient noise. Also, in late August, it’s very popular with holiday-makers. So | decided to move to the quieter estuary between Exmouth and Exeter even though it meant using the Long Path (there are no suitable sites on the west bank of the estuary). So,how did it go? Well, | was amazed! | got five contacts on 20m (three in VK6, one in VK3, and one in VK5), all at a good signal strength and easy to copy. And then | got another easy contact on 15m. | almost got a second copy the morse (if that was you, lan VK7TA, but struggled to please let Mark know). As you can imagine, given that this was my first ever DX, | was over the moon! Thank you so much to the seven guys in Australia who made this possible for me - you are Stars! What’s next? | was particularly pleased to have had a contact with my good friend Ron VK6KHZ, whose QTH suffers from QRM. | can’t say that we copied much what the other sent but a contact is a contact. However, I’m sure we can do better. | want to try a more-directional antenna and have in mind a of “Half Square” on that beach at the mouth of the estuary, which will enable use of the Short Path. That’s the thing about this radio game - the possibilities are endless if you put your mind to it. Thanks Ross - fantastic! And if like Ross you'd like to write a short article for RagChew, please drop me a line so we can share more thoughts and ideas; email to cqgqrsnet@gmail.com a >) Fm af ¢ 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 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: Name five types of antenna. The purpose of the AGC in a superheterodyne receiver is to: e maintain a constant current drain from the power supply ¢ maintain a constant output level with wide input variations e provide a small variation in receiver tuning e keep the local oscillator frequency constant A linear repeater station accepts e FM signals only e SSB signals only e SSB, FM and CW signals e RTTY signals only Answers next week. Answers from last week’s Quiz: Why should antennas be fitted with lightening protectors? Answer: To stop damage to equipment and injury to operators. Crystal oscillators are often used for frequency control in receivers because they e have more output than other oscillators e are more stable than L-C oscillators radiate fewer harmonics than other oscillators e generate more harmonics than other oscillators Answer: are more stable than L-C oscillators A capacity hat or capacitive top loading is used on a vertical antenna to to increase the bandwidth of the antenna make the antenna more stable in high winds e to decrease the electrical length of the antenna e to increase the electrical length of the antenna Answer: to increase the electrical length of the antenna 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. Reports Please let me know via our Reports form bit.ly/CQQRSNET who you work or hear on Tuesday’s net. For stations on other bands, please just use the 80m report area (Separate out your 80m report from the other bands), and when you enter the list of callsigns worked, append VK6QI@15 Post heard or missed, please an ‘@band’ to each callsign without a space (eg VK2KI@20 etc). Morsum Richard VK6HRC will run our phone Post Morsum on the South West AllStar net (via repeaters and hotspots all over WA) from 0600 WA time, then from 0700 WA time on 80m (3605 LSB). For the 0600 (2200z) net, 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. and if you can’t connect that way, give 3605kHz SSB a try from 0700 (23002). Teamwork Thank you so much to our team of 36 contributors: DL3YZ, MONNK, VK2AOIE, VK2DLF, VK2GAS, VK2NAP, VK2TER, VK2TIG, VK3ACU, VK3BAP, VK3BWN, VK3CTM, VK3DRQ, VK3AFH, VK3JFP,VK3KEV, VK3RU, VK4CCW, VK4EK, VK5AO, VK5CZ, VK5ET, VK5FD, VK5KFG, VK6BEK, VK6HRC, VK6IS, VK6JDM, VK6KD/4, VK6RR, VK6WE, VK7TA, VK7TO, VK7WW, ZL3TK YBINWP, 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, 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 ere lana’ ine mailchimp or unsubscribe