Subscribe Past Issues Translate View this email CQQRS RagChew Edition 39/2024 Anticipating Good Conditions, Post Morsum Traffic Report Poor Signals Report in your browser v RSS e My Workbench e Are CW e The Nets Worthwhile? Nobleman of Ham e ParksnPeaks e Morse Training e | was Wrong e The Long SMS Alerts Net PAth e This Week’s e CW Radio Brain Teaser Di-dah-di-dah-dit e About the CQ QRS Group Well well - yet another extraordinary Tuesday afternoon and evening of slow CW practice QSOs across Australasia and across the world, with both Ross MONNK and Mike DL3YZ successfully working some of our team on 15m and 20m during the get-together. Saying I’m pleased with how our Group Tuesdays ar egoing would be an understatement - the participation continues to astound me - so many people developing and sharing their skills for everyones’ benefit... not to mention having fun and learning things in the process. And then there’s the RagChew team newsletter - just look at how many of our have taken the time to contribute - fantastic! Last Tuesday’s Group Here’s this week’s CQQRS Team Member Thank you all. cq list of the 69 stations Qso 1 Qso2 Qso 3 heard: Qso 4 qso5 Qso 6 QsSO7 Worked 15m Worked 20m Heard 20m Worked 20m Heard on air. Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Worked 40m Worked 15m Worked 20m Worked 40m Worked 80m Heard 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Heard 80m Heard 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Heard 80m Worked 80m Heard 80m Screenshot Qso 8 Worked 40m Worked 80m Heard 40m Heard 40m Heard 80m Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Tried 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Heard on air. Worked 15m Heard 15m Worked 20m Heard 20m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Heard 80m Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Heard on air. Screenshot Heard on air. Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 40m Tried 40m Heard 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard on air. Tried 15m Worked 40m Worked 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 80m Screenshot Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Tried 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Heard on air. Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m New Team Members Welcome this week to Michael VK6TU at Dunsborough, who | caught up with just before the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend; Michael told me that his lady wife was also keen to learn the Code, and | hope she'll join our team as well. Welcome both and we hope to hear you on air during the group’s fun Tuesday afternoons and evenings. Masthead Image And thanks this week to George VK2AOE for the image of his QRP Labs transceiver driving his new QRP Labs 50W amplifier. Reports After next Tuesday’s Group, please send me a list of who you worked and / or who you heard using our web form here: bit.ly/COQRSNET 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. 80m He’s making progress, but in the mean time, please just use the report area (Separate out your 80m report from other bands of course), and when you enter the list of callsigns worked, append heard or missed, please an ‘@band’ to each callsign without a space (eg VK2KI@20 VK6QI@15 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 Group Is working and attracting new and old team members to have a go. 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 Group. Comments distilled from the reports I’ve received are below: Comments: From Michael Welsh VK4CCW at Kawungan [40m] e Very quiet sigs were very weak. Qld From Ketut VKSBWN near Melbourne [40m] e Another busy Tuesday evening for the QRS CW QSO party. Keep up the good fun guys! From George VK2AOE at Sydney [40m] e Not sure if my ZL1PX counts, as | think maybe Peter thought | was VK2AO (pesky e disappears in QRN, from the end of my call). e | worked Pat VK2IOW who was using a cootie made from a hacksaw blade, which he sent so nicely on that even the auto decode on my QCX picked it up! e | worked Pat VK2IOW who was using a cootie made from a hacksaw blade, which he sent so nicely on that even the auto decode on my QCX picked it up! ¢ Tonight | put my 50 Watt QRP Labs single band amp kit build to good use, and it performed flawlessly with my QCX mini. From Tim VK3TBR at Horsham Vic [40m] ¢ Great to see the QRS Net is going strong! Great work everyone. From Ross MONNK at Exeter UK [80m] ¢ Only two contacts but they were nice chats UK VK so | was over the moon. [See Ross’ two terrific articles further down From Donald VK6JDM the newsletter. / at 20 km out of Esperance WA [80m] ¢ Great receiving practice on 40 metres.. e | looked up VK2ZAOE on QRZ. His You Tube presentation on his QRZ page IS really great. From Mike DL3YZ at Stuttgart [15m & 20m] e It was a sunny but cold morning in the meadows. The birds gathered together for their annual journey to the south, and it seemed they had a lot to discuss. This made it not easy to copy the beeps amongst all that other beeps HI. ¢ So | was really sorry | couldnt copy that poor VK6 station. Please take my regrets buddy, | really tried. Next time, Ill bring headphones. :-) * Have a great week, 73 - Mike. [Thanks for continuing this really interesting set of experiments Mike & Ross. Interesting local QRM from the birdlife! No headphones? Wow - | can’t imagine trying to pull CW signals out of the mire without a set of cans on... headphones make a huge difference to my receiving when there’s any interference. And as you can see, it was Shaun VK6BEK who you couldn’t quite copy well enough on15m.] From Mathew V VK3AFH at Wantirna [40m] ¢ First Tuesday in a while that I've been mostly free from work, | decided that my goal would be to be more prepared than last time, and try to answer a CQ instead of calling. | didn't get that second CW QSO in my log, but | certainly heard many different callsigns (probably the most I've noted down in one night so far).. ¢ | was ready with my logging program going, and entering callsigns - may not have saved anything but feel like I've learnt from my first QSO where | was searching for the frequency and time after the fact! Getting into the habit of having my computer save it automatically will hopefully serve me well, at least until | attempt to go portable (which is probably a little ways off). ¢ | think | was probably too slow/hesitant in throwing out my callsign - | was either beaten to it by someone moved else, or whomever | was listening to on. I'll try to be quicker next time, practice makes * Two QSOs perfect?. in particular had me listening for a while tonight, the first being between VK2AOE/VK2IOW and hearing about the hacksaw blade cootie. | had to google that to see some something (something pictures, and am a little inspired to build less dodgy than my fuse holder, aluminium and duct tape paddle that's fun to play with but little else hihi)! * The second was between VK2ASB/VK3BTU, | followed along with the whole QSO (it was one of the CQs | was about to answer). Signal and speed was easy for me to copy, and there were some parts | was correctly anticipating the next characters to be sent - and not just because | heard some of the details repeated more than once! * Haven't heard much on 80m but | can reliably swap between 40/80 now. | have some more time off coming up, | shall try and be more active, maybe take inspiration from Jordan and try to call CQ each day. | won't have much excuse, and the more | do it the easier it'll get, right? :-). ¢ Many thanks to all! [Well done mate. Good luck trying to log on a computer while copying CW - that’s really hard for us older folks who weren’t brought up with a computer in our cot... much easier to scribble on a bit of paper, then transfer the info after the QSO for us. And trying to do that whilst portable.... good luck with that mate! Oh, and be vewwy vewwy careful of the trap of “...there were some parts | was correctly anticipating the next Characters to be sent...” - as soon as you hear a Character that you weren't expecting your concentration will surely go West for the next few Characters / words. From Stan ZL3TK Happens to us al/!] at Waitarére [40m] ¢ A brilliant traffic exchange with OM Manny VK3DRQ and OM John VK5ET. No training exercises were requested or sent. From Roy Jones VKO6RR at Geraldton WA [40m] ¢ Good selection of QSOs all improving each week. Some QRM from SSB Stations though. From Manny VK3DRQ at Blackburn [40m] e The conditions, from this QTH on 40m were good readings but the Noise level was not comfortable with S6 to S7. [80m] e No Dentist's visit this week, so | had some time to ENJOY on the extra 15 and 20m. [Il still owe you the details of the simple and inexpensive Chinese copy of the VK5TM phasing-type noise canceller Manny - for less than $100 mine works a treat - often being able to knock the noise down by 60dB! Future article still coming. ] From David VK6KD/4 at Bowen Queensland e The photo shows the set-up last week using a squid pole to extend the 5' helically wound whip - QTH Halifax QLD. Rx was great but tx was playing up. Next week I'll try the squid again. e TX was great this week but only 1 station from the Bowen From lan VK7TA at Latrobe could copy me Caravan Park. [40m] ¢ | was reflecting on how successful the ‘slow food' movement has been. Maybe now is the time for “slow Morse' to be similarly embraced? It looks like it! [Agreed lan... you never know, both could help you live longer. ] From Peter VK6IS at Wundowie [40m] e Little traffic, untill well ¢ Then into the afternoon lots of YC stations to contend session. with. [80m] « Still need some more WAs to come up, on this band. From Ben ZL4BDG at Upper Hutt [40m] * It’s weird, and maybe just my location but even though propagation is on the up, VK signals are weaker and there is lots of QSB now. [Here’s a hypothesis to experiment with Ben: high sunspot number could mean stronger ionisation with the that the D-layer is so strong, that it starts attenuating even 40m signals (= the Absorption Limit Frequency remains above 7MHz) and remains in place longer than usual. Like most things, I’m probably wrong with this opinion. ] From Max Faulkner VK6FN at Manjimup Western Australia [40m] * 6JDM was very weak here this evening. | tried to work VK3ACU 599 both ways however my ATU power supply failed in the middle and so ended the contact. From John VKS5ET at Hope Valley [40m] « Very noisy, weak signals fluctuating. Lots of crashes around. [80m] « Very noisy, weak signals fluctuating. Lots of crashes around. From Richard VK6HRC at Padbury [80m] ¢ Thanks to Mark spotting on WhatsApp; | had forgotten that Donald VK6JDM operates lower down managed to catch up with him. in the band ( crystal locked homebrew rig ) so From Peter VK7KPC at EvandaleTasmania [40m] e Nice QSO with Arthur VK2ASB the Blue Mountains. In He was using Yaesu FTDX3000 From your Editor Mark VK2KI Tecsun 1O0W into G5RV.. at Beautiful South Bowning and via the KiwiSDR at Araluen NSW [40m] ¢ | was too late to catch any of the DXperiment this week, but pleased to hear that Ross and Mike had some success working some of our team via the Long Path. ¢ When | joined in, 40m was jumping with lots of QRS QSOs in train - very pleasing. | listened to Roy VK6RR working a DX station (the callsign was too fast for me to copy but turned out to be a JH1); there was a Significant auroral-type warble on the Japanese signal - perhaps we were hearing his signal long-path over the poles? Check out Kikuo's key collection on his QRZ page! ¢ | was pleased to hear so many people who had been away for a while, including Arthur VK2ASB antenna down at Wentworth Falls who had been off air when blew down, and Claude VK1TE/m whose house-building his project at Tinderry had kept him away from the radios for a while. Claude had been able to get on air only rarely of late with CW from his vehicle, but was Slightly embarrassed to report that he had even given SSB a try and had a number of good reports from the US from his vehicle. [80m] ¢ Good to hear a number of stations venturing back down to 80m on Tuesday a bit later in the evening. Signals were coming through nicely from all over Australia, but nothing from New Zealand this time. ¢ | heard Donald VK6JDM near Esperance calling CQ on his crystal locked Paraset, once again just below our designated segment on 3539kKHz. | was Struggling with the strong SSB signals from the Blue Mountains net that operates on 3543kHz using my wide Kenwood TS-120S; | hadn't tuned up yet and also didn't have the VK6SR Remote connected, so | was pleased to hear that Richard VK6HRC jumped overboard and came to Donald's rescue again. Must keep twisting Donald's arm to get his home-brewed VFO rig going again... or to add an NPO capacitor in series with the crystal to pull the Paraset up into the segment. ¢ A while later Sava VK4PN VK6KD/4 at Bowen up at Mount Ommaney Queensland hear him up frequency in the passband e and | had a chat. David also tried to catch Sava, but later | could of my receiver calling CQ. After listening to several other late-night QSOs it was time for me to hit the hay after another fun Tuesday. Also from your Editor Mark VK6QI at via the VK6QS KiwiSDR near Brookton [40m] ¢ Although there was a fair amount of static crashes from a band of thunderstorms through central Australia, the band was open nicely across Australasia when | listened. [80m] ¢ As | mentioned in the VK2KI report above, | heard Donald VK6JDM calling CQ on 3539, just below our segment. | didn't have the VK6SR Remote up and ready, so | missed out on the contact with him, but was pleased that Richard VK6HRC took pity on our man overboard. ¢ Later when | was chatting to Sava VK4PN that he was also RSN 367 on the WA SDR because of the static crashes. Sava uses | told him KiwiSDRs in ZL to check propagation, and | was pleased that he was going to same from here in NSW, start using the VK6QS purpose - and hopefully provide more one for the pan-Australia opportunities for the Sandgropers. From Patrick VK2IOW between Bathurst and Orange [15m and 20m] ¢ Good conditions to Mike, DL3YZ on 15 metres and Ross, MONNK on 20 metres. | followed Manny, VK3DRQ who had the first QSOs with them. [40m] *« Conditions were good. Had some good rag chew QSOs using straight key, paddle and sideswiper. [80m] ¢ Nice long QSO with lan, VK5CZ Wednesday Morning on 80 metres. Post Morsum on the WA AllStar Net Run by Richard VK6HRC Via the VK6RLM repeater and AllStar/Echolink this morning : MONNK ZL3TK VK6QI VK5ET VK6KD/4 VK6FN VK6HRC and our shortwave listeners. Ross M@NNK was very happy to report that he had two contacts on 20 metres with Ragchew his vertical antenna and 20 watts. More to follow in the ! Stan ZL3TK worked five stations but no advanced traffic / training contacts unfortunately. Mark VK6QI mostly tuned around monitored the KiwiSDR receivers after a late start and posted on WhatsApp to help out as usual. John VK5ET one of the original members of the QRS group, managed to check in via Echolink and let us know he had a busy night on the key. David VK6KD/4 from Bowan in Queensland had a good evening and is happy that his rig is behaving after some TLC and was going for a swim at 9am after the net ! Max VK6FN had two contacts before the gremlins put a stop on proceedings and he wisely decided to tackle the problem in the morning. | also had a late start worked two stations and generally listened in, thanks to all on the net last night and this morning. 73 Richard VK6HRC [Thanks for running the terrific net on Wednesday Richard, and for the good report. If others would like to join in or listen via AllStar or Echolink and can’t sort out how, please give me a hoy.] cqgrsnet@qmail.com Traffic Report for Maybe some 24 September noticed a welcome 2024 new addition this week, with his traffic-gun cocked and ready to fire, target in grand style. VK3DRQ a third station which he did and hit the So two replies to NR 133, one each from OM Manny and OM John VKS5ET. Here's Manny's answer as sent, then printed on an official telegram form: QTCR VK3DRQ = 31/29 NR 133 ANSWER STOP TO WATCH 23SEP24 NR34 BLACKBURN 0306Z = ZL3TK = YOUR AND PARTICIPATE IN THE 5 DAYS OF DINKUM AUSSIE WINTER UNIQUE QUILTON STOP TEAMS ARE MADE UP OF SIX PEOPLE VKDRQ QSL? AR QRU K = AUSTRALIAN DUNNY DERBY [ VK CQ QRS Group 3 ay MR osve Tuesday 09402 WIRELESS TELEGRAM PREC HX STATION OF ORIGIN: } CHECK. LACT OF 7.0384 MHz ORIGIN TIME } DATE | OTC | 34/R VE3DRQ ees | 31/29 BLACKBURN G386Z 23SEP24 ZL3TK MESSAGE: YOUR NR 133 ANSWER STOP TO WATCH AND PARTICIPATE IN 5 DAYS OF DINKUM AUSSIE WINTER UNIQUE QUILTON AUSTRALIAN DUNNY DERBY STOP TEAMS ARE MADE UP OF SIX PEOPLE FROM: ae RECEIVED AT FROM ZL3TK VE3DRQ | TIME | DATE @949Z| SENT FROM | ro TIME | DATE 24SEP24 OM John's answer as sent, then printed on an official telegram form: QTC 15/13 PF95ID 0050Z NR 2 R VK5ET 19SEP24 = ZL3TK = REPLY NR 133 PROMOTE AWARENESS OF BOWEL CANCER AND CLAIM GOLDEN PORCELAIN BOWL VK5ET AR QRU = K [ad VK CQ QRS Group : ro] MR oOsve QTC PREC Tuesday 09402 WIRELESS TELEGRAM HX STATION OF ORIGIN: } CHECK. PLACE OF ORIGIN 7.0384 MHz TIME | DATE. i] 2/R VESET a | 15/13 PF9O5ID GA58Z 19SEP24 ZL3TK MESSAGE: REPLY NR 133 PROMOTE AWARENESS OF BOWEL CANCER AND CLAIM GOLDEN PORCELAIN BOWL FROM: RECEIVED MESES AT FROM ZL3TK | TIME VESET I @959Z| Here is this week's question, BATE SENT FROM | To TIME } DATE 24SEP24 first exactly as sent, then printed on an official telegram form: QTC NR 137 R ZL3TK 38/32 RE79OK VK5ET VIA CQ QRS GROUP GIVE MAP COORDINATES LOOKOUT WHAT ON ROUTE 0125Z 24SEP24 = OF THE KANGAROO B31 GORGE ROAD CREEK RESERVOIR SA COMMA IS LAKE CAPACITY IN GIGALITRES QUERY = ZL3TK AR QRU K } VK CQ QRS } | QTC RR PRES Os Group Tuesday 09402 WIRELESS TELEGRAM HX | |137 | RB STATION OF ORIGIN | ZL3IK a CHECK. | PLACE 29/23 OF OR 7.0384 MHz | DGIN RE790K VKSET TIME DATE #1252 24S5EP24 J VIA CQ ORS GROUP MESSAGE: GIVE MAP COORDINATES OF THE KANGAROO CREEK RESERVOIR LOOKOUT ON ROUTE B31 GORGE ROAD SA COMMA WHAT IS LAKE CAPACITY IN GIGALITRES QUERY FROM: [RECEIVED ZL3IK AT | FROM TIME DATE [_SENT FROM To TIME | ZL3TK DATE VESET | @951Z | 24SEP24 The three examples above show exactly how traffic is handled, so there's no need to be shy. This week's QTC, intended as a QNC net (to which everyone is invited to reply), but this is nota is focused on OM John's general vicinity in South Australia. Traffic is sent by all three stations very slowly, averaging it easily readable, and therefore able to be answered 10 wom, making by almost everyone! Everyone is invited to dip their toes into traffic by answering the question in NR 137, even if the reply sent is only message text, devoid of preamble. Seek help if you need clarification on any point in order to advance your skills. zl3tk@qsl.net The time to call ZL3TK with your answer is immediately after the current week's question has been confirmed by the addressee on ~ 7.0347 MHz. Please note the change of frequency. Again this week, none of the wide variety of training exercises were requested or able to be executed. Training exercises will remain available for the time being, but will not be actively offered. It's up to individual participants to decide if training for accuracy is going to benefit them, and to request accordingly. To this end, ZL3TK will listen on 7.0347 MHz, the hour between 0700Z and 1200Z inclusive, for any requests. with traffic at 1000Z, then will listen at 1030Z. on If busy If no requests are received during the next two weeks, all training exercises will be withdrawn, 73 de so the future is in your hands, can't say fairer than that. Stan. My Workbench QRPLabs QMX+ from Nigel VK6NI Hope you are both well! I’m not active on CW Rag Chew each week. Had to smile when but enjoy going through the | saw the lead photo of Andy, VK5LA’s Elecraft build last week, as it is similar to my bench at the moment with a QRPLabs QMX+ =} be kt oe acme — re eres — = = | =) a ee S ee =! ae on re Oe ee oe i ec —e a =e tis ee a — 1 =, Fe ee ee a te ag eer : = Me es ae iF = “it a nen ee Perhaps you might like to start a “What’s on your bench” photo segment? 73's Nigel, VKONI [Thanks for the Workbench idea - excellent (of course it’s also a reminder of what I'm not doing.... but | really like that we have so many people in the group who enjoy tinkering and building). Bloody great idea Nigel - here we go! / like your Raspberry Pi at work In the background there. / The RPi makes a good desktop for jobs like bringing up documentation. also have it rigged for WSPR when | feel like doing some New Keys From HF work. Richard VK6HRC Two recent additions to my collection. The little straight key was purchased from an Ebay seller in Ukraine - a very basic unit most likely used tn training. | did not realise it is mostly hard plastic construction and probably would not have purchased it if | had known that. GAB First contact witha paddle! 2:24Pw Jordan VK3ACU IC) Clarke What do you think of the Paddle 9 2:45 pyjy Peter VK6IS Scales Nice Toy 2:45PM Nice QSO too Cy 2:45pM You available Jordan? Richard VAGHRC ae seems fine, 2:47p\M Campbe!l-Morrison a lot more practise needed light tension ... e. Tim - VK3TBR Richard ! Mag return very 2:47 PM Barnett VKGHRC Campbell-Morrison © Photo = | have that same paddle, straight key “£ they're not bad but | prefer my 6719 PM | Jordan VK3ACU’s From our CQQRS | bh - in on a i Remote WhatsApp Controlled Group: Balanced-L Match Ketut VK3BWN / Wiadnyana Jordan VK3ACU Yesterday Clarke ©) Photo | am guessing a T-match network? = 47:30 AM Jordan VK3ACU Clarke Ballanced L 11:43 AM Feeding double extended zepp cut for 80m 11:43 AM Ketut VK3BWN Wiadnyana How is the RF-in-the-shack / RF feedback situation in the shack? | would like to hear everyone's experience is exorcising this menace. Any silver bullets? 1:50PM Jordan VK3ACU Clarke So far so good when | had my efhw | had a bit of rf in the shack but this seems good I've got a 1:1 balun | made up tried two types air wound coax and coax on a ft240-43 both work ok but | think the one on the 240-43 is slightly better 2:21PM | also spent some time with an oscilloscope on each leg of the antenna at the output of the inductors and manually aligned my inductors until the legs were balanced, which actually wasn't much. Just about a 1/4 turn at most. 2:21PM Still very much in the building stage last night was it's first test run. Lots of work to go 2:23PM = Jordan VK3ACU Clarke Li . Adrian VK2WF Van Der By! My 80m feeder is buried under ground for about 100m, then it pops up under 118 radial to feed the vertical. & @& Jordan VK3ACU Clarke Interesting I've thought about burying it 2:24PM 3:20PM uy Interesting I've thought about burying Ketut VKSBWN it 3:20PM Wiadnyana www.djOip.de https://www.djOip.de/antenna-matchboxes/symmetricalmatchboxes/ So you think capacitively coupling (along / to) earth ground kinda helps then? Interesting. My recipe right now is: XCVR > Pi-network tuner > then coils of RG58 coax onto massive ferrite clamps (Wurth Elektronik 742-712-51) as 1:1 balun > then 300-ohm line. ladder This seems to be in line with what is discussed here: hitps://www.dj0ip.de/antenna-matchboxes/symmetricalmatchboxes/ so mine is another anecdotal evidence ee supporting DJOIP's write up. ¢ Adrian VK2WF Van Der Byl The earth / underground feed decouples the feedline from the feeder. | prefer matching to be done at the antenna anda dedicated antenna for each band. 4:30 Pt x [If you'd like to join our CQQRS Edited 4:05PM WhatsApp Alerts (notification of who’s on what frequency for QRS QSOs) and Rag Chew groups, please let me know] cqgrsnet@qmail.com Other Other things Are CW Stan ZL3TK Nets I’ve received News from our 200-odd readers. Worthwhile? The answer depends on your goal. In my experience ordinary CW need a lot of tarting up before they could become attractive. disappointing fact of life that participants in CW less to say than those in SSB nets, obvious, nets It’sa nets generally have even the reasons for this are pretty especially since third-party traffic has been killed off by the ubiquitous cell phone. The result is that CW nets seem to crop up from time-to-time to provide a bit of training, often only one-way without any sending practice, for announcing while for others a CW net might provide a meeting one’s callsign every night of the week, place but nothing else happens and nothing is achieved. Although it’s not a net but a free-for-all, Group FFA, it takes someone with imagination splendid RandomGram Code. in a similar sense to the CQ QRS events Drew AF2Z with his Without something to drive nets, give them a purpose and stimulate activity, they seem Yet with a modicum largely pointless, dare we suggest obsolete? of imagination, CW nets can be made fulfilling and deeply interesting with a range of purposes, knowledge, e.g. to fine-tune one's attention to detail, to teach new fact-finding skills, ability, like OM to give a purpose back to Morse to build concentration, to sharpen one’s sending and receiving to learn formal Morse procedures, make friends and of course that old chestnut, Those nine good to broaden general to develop self-discipline, reasons are enough to justify the demonstration handling on Tuesday nights, to basic CW training. of traffic to show that Morse can still have a real purpose. But where to go and what to do after the Tuesday demo? Why, the Thursday night SAS Net of course. The SAS Net is to fill a perceived Morse back to the days when need to elevate contemporary, casual professional maritime, coast station and aeronautical operators earned their crust manipulating a key. Those operators were serving paying customers who were paying by the word, meaning accuracy and efficiency was paramount. SAS Net is to go Actually, the aim of the further back to World War II and the cold war, when encryption was also part of almost every telegrapher’s daily life. The SAS Net provides a platform for today’s more adventurous CW operators to come to grips with some aspects of pre-mid-20th century history. It must have been noticed that the traffic demonstrations on Tuesday’s FFA concentrate on subjects relating to Australia and Australians. around familiar matters is quite deliberate, international topics. Although Discussion whereas the SAS Net is open to intended to use encryption as much possible, such as Enigma and One Time Pads, in-clear traffic to gain familiarity with the traffic-handling process. is no room for idle chatter, it is a strictly down-to-business about it at https://gsil.net/zl3tk/sas/sas.htm Thursdays @ 0940Z CW Nets Worthwhile? 73 de Stan From Sava on 7.0674 MHz +/-2 as participants may also pass net. There Read then listen kHz. Backtothetop: Are There's only one way to find out. VK4PN: Thanks for the link to the VK6SR KiwiSDR.. | used it last night and it was helpful to see activity on the band. My signal into WA was OK, VK2FT even better but no takers at the other end. | stayed up late just to give some VK6 chaps a chance to chat but there was not a single VK6 on air, a bit disappointing. Conditions seemed to be a bit noisy in Perth a lot of static. | use the KiwiSDRs a lot for ZLCW the CQQRS Net work but never thought to use it for Net. These KiwiSDRs are really a great tool! Nice chatting with you last night. Cheers The Sava VK4PN Nobleman of Ham Radio From Adrian VK2WF Re-printed from the DXing Newsletter Last night all hell broke lose: it was them! Yes, those precious little ones; the most special, most skilled, most important amongst us all - the CW chasers! "We don't want to be bundled with FT8 robots, with those lazy digital mode chasers. We are real people who only use the real mode. We demand a category of our own!" Hear, hear! Happy to oblige. Here is the deal: DXing ONLY category for 2025 is more than happy to open a CW DXer of the Year competition. Show us what you are made of, go hard, have fun. First prize in CW ONLY category: a trophy and an NC1 headset valued at $488. | am yet to have a chat with Ranko, 403A about sponsorship, he has other plans, the headset will be donated but if by DXing. The prize is secured. Now, taking into consideration the value of the prize, | need a reciprocal commitment. The minimum number of participants is 10. Get your noble Morse friends on board, invite them to join us and register. 1. PayPal $29 to 5990SY@qmail.com 2. Accept the fair play clause (which is the same as the current competition): [see here] 3. Stay subscribed to this newsletter throughout 2025. Quite frankly | doubt that you would muster a pitiful ten participants ina country where CW is as dead as a dodo. But if you do, | will publicly apologise. There you go: early registration to our special CW friends is now officially open. As you losers would say: CW4EVER Q&A: “Would we still have our own category if the total of registered participants is less then ten?” - Hell no. The registration money and prize will be allocated to the FT8 crowd. You are special, so get off your CW bum and make “What is an appropriate present to Gemma, it happen. as appreciation for her hard admin work?” - Chocolates. Plenty of chocolates. “If we fail to attract ten CW participants, would you make fun of us?” - Absolutely not. But the rest of ham community surely will. DXing is an Australian amateur radio equipment retailer in Sydney. you'd like to subscribe to the Australian DXing If Newsletter, send Gemma an email mail@DXing.com.au [Thanks to Adrian for forwarding the DXing newsletter - good idea. ] ParksnPeaks CW SMS Spot Alerts From Ketut VK3BWN Hi Mark, what do you use to post a spot on our WhatsApp interesting format. Group? It has an Like the one below: [23-09-24 13:26:03] VK2NAP on VKFF-1980 - 7.031 CW. Hi Ketut. These come from an SMS generated by the parksnpeaks.org website built by Allen VK3ARH CQQRS team members. When someone who is one of our posts a CW SOTA or Parks Spot, the website sends an SMS, which | manually copy and paste to WhatsApp. Head to the www.parksnpeaks.org member, complete the Registration. your mobile phone number, website and if you’re not already a Once registered and you've included log in from the home page, then click on Options, scroll down to SMS Options and tick on Receive SMS on CW activity. So when someone posts a CW Spot on the website (eg using VKPortaLog, the parksnpeaks iPhone App, directly on the website, or from a linked Reverse Beacon Network responding to a CQ call), you’ll receive an SMS alert. It'd be terrific if more of our team register, and when they can, copy/paste received alerts from known CQQRS members to our CQQRS y ercts - | Can C alWayS SMSs to do the transfer team WhatsApp get to Spots tne Activity Tools Alert: History Help Eee Status epi OK LSTA : Last Update - Thu, 26 Sep 2024 7:52 UTC - Thu, 26 Sep 2024 17:52 AEST : SOTA Login Add Spot Re Spot Delete Enel ca ae as Spot Add Alert Edit Alert Requests Options Logout . Active Blq C nt Spot UTC Thu,26-09-24 C h UTC Thu, e mM e rs } WWFF . The Knoll Conservation National Park Park (VKFF-0937) (AU-0535) - VK7MPB UTC Thu,26-09-24 6:15 POTA Tasman National Park (AU-0535) - VK7MPB M. on 7.086 . SSB Calling CQ. Posted by VKSMPJ VK3 VK5BJE on 7.000 SSB QRT. Posted by VK2IO VESEAS on 7.144 SSB Praj calling CQ now mParks. Posted by VKIAO VK b ce Morse Training Nic VK7WW Net runs a Slow Morse training net every Wednesday at 7om 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 VK7/WW for more info nicholaschantler@hotmail.com - or just join in on Wednesdays. This Week’s Topic interest | Was of Wrong From Ross MONNK This week, the tide was going to be covering my preferred ‘saltwater amplifier’ location so | told Mike DL3YZ that | would give the DXpedition a miss. He suggested that | was obsessing about the sea water effect and that, given the right propagation, an inland location ought to be good enough. Reluctantly, | decided to give it a go (‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’?). With only 20 watts at my disposal, | need to stack the odds in my favour. So | chose an elevated location with a good view towards the south-west Grou VKCW.net Slow CW N VK QRP Cy (the direction of the Long Path to Australia). I’ve seen videos on YouTube extolling the virtues of elevated radials and, despite my previously expressed dislike of them, 20m band. Even better, arranged | made a couple for the in a V-shape, they’re supposed to have a good amount of directional gain. The operating site was a disused car park with a surface as hard as concrete so guy lines were out of the question. Therefore | chose my Slidewinder coil and 2.85m mil whip antenna on a tripod. That antenna (with 8 ground radials) had worked fine last time out so... fingers crossed for this time. The Short Path propagation forecast was mixed. VOACAP said “no chance” but another one was more optimistic. i eae 8UT ee eee Oe eee eee 20 m nay vo HF Pelee 8On-40n Bits mek | Conditions LETT ae Bete 1/7n-i5n 1?n-10n Tuesday dawned cool and moist from overnight rain, but no rain was forecast and the wind was light. Game On! After a couple of quick CQ calls using my paddle, the Reverse Beacon Network showed only that my signal was getting out backwards into Europe and Scandinavia. That didn’t bode well for VK. But once | started pounding the brass, Manny VK3DRQ came back to me and we had a very nice chat. Once we'd signed off, Pat VK2IOW called me and | had a nice chat with him too. Lessons learnt are: 1. | was wrong and Mike was right about location not being so important 2. | was wrong to dismiss elevated radials - they did a good job 3. Propagation forecasts are only a rough guide - call CQ anyway and see what happens 4. The RBN is only a rough guide - CW is a wonderful DX mode If you want to get a feel for what it was like at the location, here’s my video report https://youtu.be/DMhcPG-wZLA It’s a truly wonderful experience to have a QSO around the world - you should try it some time! [1 just love the second photo Ross beautiful view! After receiving the article, and at risk of being accused of telling Ross how to suck egg, | suggested he try running the VOACAPHam prediction for the Long Path rather than the Short Path. Voila... 68% likelihood on 20m (albeit without specifying antenna types, power and noise levels etc). Luckily, Ross being a very relaxed, confident and worldly gent, not only was he not upset... he promptly followed-up The Long with the next article! Thanks Mate.] Path By Ross MONNK If any of you have read my DX reports or watched my videos (you have done that, haven’t you...?), you will Know that both Mike and | have been working the Long Path to Australia during our DXpeditions on QRS Tuesdays. The reason for working the Long Path even though (as the name suggests) the signals have to go further to reach their destination, is that propagation is much better in that direction during the period of the QRS “net”. The best time for Short Path on 20m is 2:30am to 6:30am (Alice Springs’ time) and not many of you are going to get out of your beds to give that a try! My Xiegu G90 only puts out 20 watts and, being portable, my antennas are not sophisticated. So any directional gain is very welcome. But the downside of Directional Gain is that if you are not pointing in the right direction, your signal becomes even weaker than an omni-directional antenna. Therefore | have to know where my target is and use a compass to align my antenna. Plotting Long Path (aka “Great Circle”) tracks used to be a complicated and time-consuming activity but fortunately we have computers to help us these days. In particular, the VOACAP (https://www.voacap.com/hf/) Ham propagation forecast website has a map on which you can drag the TX and RX positions and it plots the Short Path and Long Path routes between them. Doing this throws up an interesting aspect of UK to Australia Long Paths - the destinations are so close to being exactly on the other side of the world that a small offset of destination location requires a large change in transmission direction. To illustrate, here are my Long Paths to south Western Australia, Queensland, and Auckland. So, if | was using a very narrow beam, that would mean that I’d be unlikely to be able to work operators in both WA and QLD (it would have to be one or the other, or | could point at Alice Springs and hope for the best). And there’d be no chance of working a New Zealand operator if | was pointing anywhere in Australia. Equally, any operator in Australasia hoping to work into Europe with a tight-beam antenna has to take care that it’s pointing in the right direction. Fortunately, I’m not using a very narrow beam and, anyway, any signal is going to be subject to horizontal scattering as it bounces off the ionosphere and the surface of the earth. But the price | pay for that is a dilution of my signal. For any of you guys who would like to work stations on the other side of your continent, obviously you don’t need to be so concerned Circle tracks. But | can recommend using the VOACAP about Great Ham website to see the best times for achieving success. Then you just need a buddy to wake up in the middle of the night and turn his radio on. Good luck with that! Ross MONNK [Excellent work Ross - thank you once again. | can’t help but wonder about the aviators of old setting off between the UK and Australia or New Zealand - obviously they'd track via the fuel locations, but still..., intuitively from the UK they'd probably want to head toward Spain, the Middle East and onward.... but that probably was a false assumption. Wonder what Phileas Fogg did? Used to be that good shacks had a Great Circle map, and if they were lucky, it would be centred on their location. | guess you can generate a Great Circle map these days on the internet - anyone know? The intuitive direction probably ain’t right!] = 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: With regards to antennas, what do the following terms mean? e Directivity e Gain Beamwidth e ERP The mode of operation of this amplifier is known e common emitter e common collector e common drain e common gate as a A power gain of 30 dB is an equivalent power ratio of 1,000 10,000 100,000 e 10 Answers next week. Answers to last week’s Quiz: What does ATU stand for and what does it do? Answer: Antenna Tuning Unit. May make it possible to match output of the transmitter. The total resistance of four 68 ohm e resistors in parallel is: 272 ohms 12 ohms e 17 ohms e 34 ohms Answer: 17 Ohms In this circuit R1 dissipates 10 watts. What power is dissipated in R2? e 10 watts e 5 watts Ri e 2.5 watts e 20 watts Answer: 258 258 t---+ 10 Watts. (this took some head scratching... and | needed to scratch some areas that hadn’t been used for nearly 50 years... so | may have got the answer wrong!) How did you go? Di-dah-di-dah-dit Here So back to the Slow CW QSO we go. practice Group. Next Tuesday’s Group Our CQ QRS Group 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 Group. 80m For stations on other bands, report area (Separate out your 80m report from the other bands), and when you enter the list of callsigns worked, append heard or missed, please an ‘@band’ to each callsign without a space (eg VK2KI@20 VK6QI@15 Post please just use the 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 32 contributors: DL3YZ, MONNK, VK2AOE, VK2ASB, VK2DLF, VK2IOW, VK2WF, VK3ACU, VK3AFH, VK3BWN, VK3CTM, VK3DRQ, VK3JFP, VK3KEV, VK3TBR, VK4CCW, VK4PN, VK5A0O, VK5ET, VK5FD, VK6BEK, VK6FN, VK6HRC, VK6IS, VK6JDM, VK6KD/4, VKEMK, VK6NI, VK6RR, VK7KPC, VK7TA, VK7WW, ZL3TK, ZL4BDG €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 author About the CQ QRS Group Here’s the details. The team will be on again for our usual Tuesday arvo / evening Practice QSO Group. Frequencies and Times CQQRS NET - DEEP DEEP WINTER TIMETABLE Coordinated Universal Time Australia 0700z to 1300z Western Australia Time UTC+8 1500 to 2100 4Central Australia Time UTC+95 | 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 9002 to 11002 frrrrrrrrereeereretrereseeepeseecesscncenteseesescesenersneasestassasensnanesrestsnsaney 80m 3540kHz - 3570kHz | 3 090021013002 =i] 80m =| «35 40kH2-3570kKH2 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 Group’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 Group, 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 in this Group. 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 in this Group.... 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 Group, 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 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 Copyright (C) 2024 QRS Group Newsletter. CQ QRS. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences ore lonn’iny mailchimp members. or unsubscribe