Subscribe Past Issues Translate View this email CQQRS New Timetable RagChew Edition 40/2024 for Daylight Reports from Tuesday’s What a Great DXperiment Group Success ET Epoch The Noise The Half Square How Does How Saving Night The Sydney in your browser Floor, a Lawnmower and a Dog 12 Step Tango it Get There is Better than - the Mystery of Long Path DX Perth about 30m? My Workbench Names Oceania and Sharing DX Contest Brain Teaser Di-dah-di-dah-dit About the CQ QRS Group Another sensational Tuesday evening this week - so many go, learning, and having fun in the process; Daylight Saving people having a what a great group! v RSS I’ve put my head in the sand and tried to ignore it... but sure as eggs, Daylight Saving is with us again - bugger. Australia and NZ success on 80m There goes much of our across- except for those who can stay up for the late-late DX for another six months until sanity returns. Coordinated Universal Time Australia Western Australia Time UTC + 8 Hours 1500 to 2100 Central Australian Time UTC + 10.5 Hours 1730 to 2330 Eastern Australian Time UTC + 11 Hours 1800 to 2400 NZ Time UTC + 13 Hours 2000 to 0200 New Zealand | 0700z to 1300z Time Band 0700z to 0900z Frequency 40m 7020kHz - 7040kHz 40m 7020kHz - 7040kHz 09002 to 11002 80m 3540kHz - 3570kHz 0900z to 1300z 80m 3540kHz - 3570kHz Wednesday (VK/ZL) Post Morsum 2200z - 2300z WA FM AllStar Network (direct or via Echolink) So the new suggested schedule for daylight saving starts now. I’ve decided to keep the GMT and WA times as the stick in the sand (so as to speak) because that has a better likelihood of both 40m propagation during the get together as the Absorption drops with the setting sun; and 80m Limit Frequency if we shifted the times to align with existing Eastern / NZ times, over in the West, they'd be still having their midevening Barbies and EBs in the sunshine, while the rest of us have gone to bed. Ditto for the Post Morsum on Wednesday morning - the net will continue to slot neatly between the early yawners and the 7AMers. Last Tuesday’s Group Here’s this week’s list of the 62 stations heard on Tuesday evening’s gettogether: CQQRS Team Member cQ Worked 15m Worked 20m Heard 20m Worked 20m Worked 40m Worked 40m Heard on air. Worked 15m Worked 20m Worked 40m Tried 40m Heard on air. Heard on air. Heard 15m Heard 20m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard on air. qQso1 Qso2 Qso 3 Qso 4 Qso 5 QSO 6 Qso7 Qso 8 Heard 40m Tried 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Worked 40m Worked 80m Worked 20m Heard 20m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Heard 80m Heard on air. Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard on air. Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Tried 40m Worked 40m Heard on air. Worked 80m Screenshot Worked 15m Worked 20m Worked 40m Worked 80m Heard on air. Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 15m Heard 20m Heard 40m Heard 15m Worked 20m Heard 20m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Heard 40m Masthead Image And thanks this week to Richard VK6HRC retreat’s Bush TV in the rain; for the image of his bush no wonder he didn’t get on air from there on Tuesday evening. 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/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. The head of our software department, Nigel G4RWI has been making progress on 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 your 80m report area (separate out report from other bands of course), and when you enter the list of callsigns worked, heard or missed, please append 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 from the reports I’ve received are below: Comments: From Ross MONNK at Exeter UK [20m] ¢ | managed to work Roy VK6RR - but not much was passed between because conditions were poor. But VK3DRQ us and VK2IOW were both "loud and clear"! [See the details about Ross’ operation this time in his article in This Week’s Topic of Interest below. Also see his YouTube video about his DXperiment this week. httos://youtu.be/ZLCEINOzp7o / From Tony Morris VK3CTM at Junortoun [80m] ¢ | really enjoy this net! The next time | go on a road trip | will take my HB1B transceiver, squid pole, drive - on antenna antenna - and no SSB capability!. From Andy VK5LA at Winkie [40m] mast base and EFHW OX . a —_— ¢ What a great night, 40m was alive with CW QSOs! Took my newly “7 minted Elecraft K1 for a spin for its maiden voyage on the QRS net. Absolute blast, Thanks to those who answered my CQ calls... nice to get VK6 with 5 Watts, I'll take that any day! From George VK2AOE at Kogarah, Sydney [40m] ¢ | was homebrewing a VFO kit from QRP Labs. So not much operating. Plugged in the QMX Plus Transceiver from QRP Labs and teamed it with the QRP Labs 50 watt amp and my EFHW, for one QSO with Allen VK5FD. He was also running 50 watts into a dipole. 73. From Jordan VK3ACU at Meredith [40m] e Little slow tonight perhaps | was a little early - it picked up a bit after 9PM Vic time. Contact with VK6ENW Wayne got cut short unfortunately another super fast DX station came In over the top way stronger completely wiping him out. From Mike DL3YZ at Stuttgart [80m] e It was a nice sunny morning in the hut on the meadows. All the migratory birds, that gathered together here in the valley last tuesday, are on their way. So It was silent again with no "QRN" HI. Condx were great, | was constantly busy chatting on the radio. A big thanks to all calling Stations, you guys really rock. Some signals nearly blew the top of my trusty radio :-) On my last shift | really had trouble with local european Stations again, calling me despite my "CQ VK QRS" call. So | wasnt able to fully understand VK2IS. Otherwise his signal had made it round the globe on 20m quite fine.. Thanks for the fun ! 73, and greetings from germany to all of you - Mike DL3YZ. From Adrian VK2WF [80m] e A lot of QRN! at Tallong NSW From Stan ZL3TK at Waitarere [40m] ¢e No accuracy exercises requested. exciting, epoch-making event: More traffic than previously, and an the first time traffic has been initiated by another station; very well executed by OM John VK5ET. Expect a QTC in reply next Tuesday. [80m] « Heard both VK6 stations Q5 after 1200Z. One reply to repeated CQs resulting in an informative discussion with OM Sava about the beneficial effect from improvements made to his 80 m antenna, especially good for his signal on NZ Net. From Wayne VK6NW at Bridgetown [20m] ¢ Heard DL3YZ on 20m. [40m] « Lots of QRN. [80m] « Very noisy on 80m due to storms. From Peter VK7KPC at Evandale Tasmania [40m] ¢ Good to have a chat Mark, From Roy VK6RR it had been a while. at Geraldton [15m] ¢ Unable to call DL3YZ due other stations working him!. [20m] * Thanks to VK2IOW for QSPing From Manny VK3DRQ my RST to Ross on 20m.. at Blackburn [40m] ¢ Again a well enjoyed evening and a GREAT surprise to be able to work dear OM Drew VK3XU after several years.. [80m] ¢ | did copy OM Ross RSN was surprised when 331 and | he gave me 579! « Mike gave me 569 and he was 551 at my QTH. From Mathew V VK3AFH at Wantirna [40m] * Couldn't hear many stations tonight, my internet having issues meant my online SDR connection kept dropping and phone notifications were delayed which made things difficult. Tried calling CQ but had no luck, | may have been in amongst some noise.. ¢« | have my own SDR but it doesn't yet have a good antenna for 40/80m. tested a loop on the ground recently and the noise floor was amazing compared to what | usually get, | just need to figure out the logistics of where it can sit undisturbed by the lawnmower and dog! [80m] ¢ Faint signals in amongst a high noise floor - | tried! :). From Derek VK4DRK at Wyreema [40m] ¢« Met Arthur on the band. Signals were good. Had to cut QSO short. Enjoyed the CW. From Peter VK6IS at Wundowie [40m] ¢ it did seemed to be an bit quiet, this week. [80m] e it's nice to have the odd contact on other bands, ¢ and outside of the weekly net meet. * also nice to get the odd Eqsl for an CW contact, as well.. From Ben ZL4BDG at Upper Hutt [40m] ¢ Au signals weak early early on in the evening, picking up as it got later. Still not as strong as they were in the middle of winter (reduced daylight hours?). Higher bands were good on Tuesday night as well with 20m still going after sunset.. From your Editor Mark VK2KI at Beautiful South Bowning [15m] ¢ | missed the first DXperiment skeds, so | didn't hear Ross on 20m. The Tecsun KiwiSDR now has a time limit of 1 hour in 24 hours (after a | South East Asian operator repeatedly occupied all four channels continuously on FT8 for several weeks), so | opted to use the VKICM KiwiSDR with occasional use of the Tecsun one.. « Mike DL3YZ was coming through nicely at RSN 552, and | heard him working Patrick VK2IOW 150km at Millthorpe, who | was surprised to be copying over the path.. [20m] ¢ When Mike moved to 20m, he was very weak into NSW RSN 311.. [40m] ¢ | was pleased to work Andy VK5LA using his new 5 Watt Elecraft K1 that he'd built; this was the transceiver that we saw under construction two editions ago in RagChew 38/2024. Good to also chat to both Richard VK6PZT and Peter VK7KPC, neither of whom I'd heard for some months.. [80m] ¢ Good to work David VK6KD/4 at Airlie Beach whose transmitter had returned to full power on 80m - tough to do fault-finding when you're on the road; have fun with the sailing Maties. the night with a chat to Sava VK4PN After David, | rounded out at Mount Ommaney. Sava had been on the ZLCW net on 80m QRS QSOs, and as usual was calling, calling, calling hoping for some particularly rag chews. | suspect that the static crashes from central WA that | could see on the VK6QS New Zealand KiwiSDR, plus Daylight Saving in meant there wasn't as many on 80m this time. By the time we finished, it must have been getting late; at one stage it took me several goes to send his callsign correctly - what fun!. Also from your Editor Mark VK6QI at via the VK6QS KiwiSDR near Brookton [15m] ¢ 15m was working the VK6QS nicely on the long path with Mike DL3YZ rolling in to KiwiSDR at RSN 451.. [20m] ¢« Mike DL3YZ was a lot stronger in WA on 20m long path than here in NSW; | wonder how his signals RSN 551 in WA and RSN 311 in the East. were in ZL? Funny listening to Mike quickly batting off the UK and European callers who were responding to his CQ VK QRS calls - hard work | imagine. | think Mike's signal was better than either the UK or the Italian stations that | heard - possibly because he was beaming long path (despite his Yagi pointing into the hill on LP).. [40m] ¢ Nice to hear Andy VK5LA's 5 Watts from his new Elecraft K1 kit Q5 into WA.. [80m] ¢ When | worked David VK6KD/4 on 80m from home in NSW, crashes had abated and we were both copyable on the VK6QS but not the static KiwiSDR, strong this week.. From Patrick VK2IOW between Bathurst and Orange, NSW [15m & 20m] e Didn't work 40 or 80 metre bands this week. However had nice QSOs with Ross, MONNK and Mike, DL3YZ. From Max VK6FN at Manjimup [80m] e The conditions were extremely noisy. There was a storm brewing up in the vicinity of my location.. e Not wishing to endure any consequences of the WX i had an early night.. Traffic Report for 01 October 2024 From Stan ZL3TK Believe it or not, question QTC, ZK3TK, our third traffic handling station has already initiated a so now you have three options: answer VK5ET, answer or answer both! Since plenty of examples of printed answers have been provided, there's really no need to labor the point so from now on only ‘as sent’ traffic will be shown. If anyone needs help just email for assistance or book an echolink training session with your questions prepared in advance. zl3tk@qsl.net Two answers from the previous week: QNC CT ZL3TK YOUR NR 36 R VK3DRQ CK 11/9 0633Z 29SEP24 AR QRU QSL? QNC NR7R VKSET CT ZL3TK 34R52S 138R46E COMMA 34R400 GIGALITRES PFR9Y5ID 25SEP24 = 138R/815 STOP K 14/12 0205Z = REPLY NR 137 COORDS FOR LOOKOUT LAKE CAPACITY 19R1 GIGALITRES NR137 34R866E = K All are invited to answer these two questions for next Tuesday, being John's inaugural offering as a Look carefully and critically, QNC CT ZL3TK WHO NR14R VKSET the first traffic initiator. it's a text-book presentation: 20/18 PFR95ID 0405Z 30SEP24 = = WERE THE A.A.T.T.V. COMMA VIETNAM VK5ET = = NR 137 ANSWER VK3DRQ QSL BLACKBURN COMMA AR QSL? WHO K WHEN DID THEY ARRIVE WAS THE COMMANDING IN OFFICER QUERY = = Then another from the ‘Focus on Australia’ series, this time VK8-land: QTC CT NR143 VK3DRQ R ZL3TK VIA CQ QRS FFA GIVE ORIGINAL PURPOSE 12R4406S 130R8778E IN CHARLES DARWIN EACH = ZL3TK AR FILLS? K COL As promised 29/23 WAITARERE 0550Z 1OCT24 = = OF STRUCTURES AT 12R4402S 130R8762E AND NATIONAL PARK NT STOP GIVE RED NUMBER 12R4402S 130R8762E, 12R4406S in the reminder version of RagChew, 130R8/78E. NW the eight accuracy training exercises were offered again on the hour between 1100Z inclusive, five hours! ON 0700Z and There were no takers, not even for Ping Pong. 73 de Stan Post ZL3TK Morsum Hello Mark, Six on the VK6OREC rptr and AllStar/ Echolink net this morning. Reporting from the portable retreat up in Gidgegannup where the rain on the tin roof made for a difficult copy! VK6QI Mark VKONW Wayne ZL3TK Stan VK5ET = John VK6KD/4 David VK6HRC and our shortwave VK6MRB swl checked listeners. in before the net. Mark had fun as usual but troubled somewhat with the electrical activity on the band, also doing a fine job spotting for us on WhatApp. Wayne had fun on 40 mx in spite of the QRN Stan had two good contacts on 40 mx interlopers sending 44 repeatedly? but nothing on 80mx. and commented on some Ross was just heard but nothing from Mike unfortunately on the 20/15 test. John is still making the most of more lengthy exchanges and presumably having a great time on the QRS net. David from Airlie Beach Queensland in North had a squid pole up and worked 40 mx also battling the QRN. So thank you and as usual looking forward to the comprehensive reports in the RagChew. 73 Richard VK6HRC Rain set in so just kicking back and watching Bush TV This Week’s Topic Interest Ross’ The Half Square From MONNK Remarkable Research of Refuge “12 Step Tango” 1. Unload the car and struggle out to the operating site (those water-filled beach umbrella stands are heavy and cumbersome). 2. Set out the umbrella stands * 10m apart * Facing in the correct direction (sideways on to the Long Path) * Allow 7m either end for the guy lines * Find a place for “Base Camp” (camp chair, radio, etc)Fully extend both 6m fishing poles 3. Fully extend both 6m fishing poles 4. Attach one guy line to the top of each pole 5. Insert the poles into the umbrella Stands and place the guy line anchors in roughly the right place 6. Remove the poles from the 7. Unwind the antenna wire and lay it out so that the transformer umbrella stands and place them on the ground is nearest “Base Camp” 8. Tape each antenna corner to the top of it’s pole; tape the transformer to the bottom of that pole 9. Raise both poles and place them in their umbrella stands 10. Adjust the guy lines so that the horizontal element of the antenna is not sagging 11. Attach the RF Choke end of the coax to the transformer; attach the other end to the radio 12. Turn on the radio and scan for SWR (in this case, close to 1:1, Yippee!) a> i MG ac ¢ SWR a ri i a. 3rrt ete a Se ce SCANNER ana ce ge Se FAST 2 a aeig 14.127 td QUIT e eg BO, | ' a ‘ Phew! But you haven’t finished yet - now you need to flop into your camp chair and start assembling the spaghetti of wires at “Base Camp”. However, I’m pleased to report that | was successful again on today’s DXpedition, using this Half Square antenna. https://yvoutu.be/ZLCEINOzp7o (Reverse Beacon Network spots immediately before working the QRS “Net”) But the Half Square antenna does seem like a lot of hassle compared to my previous foray with the tripod-mounted coil, mil whip and elevated radials (not that that was trivial, either). As you can see, this Portable lark is not for the lazy - the “operating” is the easy Dit! How does it get there? The mystery of Long Path DX From Ross MONNK I've been trying to figure out how on earth I'm managing to have DX contacts with you chaps in Australia. From some believe that the maximum ground internet research, | distance for a ground to F layer and back to reflective hop is 4000 kms, but let’s call it a more-realistic 3000 kms. The Short Path distance between London and Sydney is 17,000 kms, so about six hops. Doing the maths, | think that makes the Long Path distance 23,000 kms. So about eight hops... | London see to Sydney . 8 hop Long Path : - Oe Mil | by a Ca be, grace reflections | There's going to be signal attenuation at each ground contact but | believe that the sea is more reflective than land. Given that the Long Path is completely over the sea except for a short crossing of South America, this might explain why we're having such success with the Long Path. You can also see (from the grey area in the map) that transmitting at 0700 UTC means that most of the signal path is travelling through the night when the D-layer has dispersed and the F-layer is most reflective. One of the things that | find very strange about the F-layer is that the free electrons in these layers tend to re-radiate signals coming into them - so they effectively act as micro-amplifiers. This must be why my paltry 20 watts makes it all the way to Australia - the F layer is boosting my signal after every attenuating contact with the surface. "You learn something new every day". [Bloody interesting analysis Ross - thank you.] Sydney is Better than Perth from Ross MONNK Whilst looking at the Propagation forecast for 20m for Tuesday's QRS "net", | came across the interesting difference between the Long Path from Exeter (UK) to Perth and the Long Path from Exeter (UK) to Sydney. The chances of me getting a contact on the east coast seem to be significantly better than getting one on the west coast! In case you want to look at it yourself on the VOACAP Ham website: e The transmitter power was set to 25 watts (the default power level is 1500 watts!). e The transmitter antenna was set to a 1/4 wave vertical with a very good ground. e The receiving antenna was set to a dipole at 5m. How about 30m? From Ross MONNK Too close in for 40m? 20m band not open yet? Have a go at 30m then! Yes, yes, yes - | Know that you haven't got an antenna for 30m. favourite antenna is a 42 foot Random My Wire antenna. As the name implies, it's non-resonant. "Non-resonant!", | hear you say. "How can that possibly be any good?", | hear you splutter. Non-resonant antennas use a forgotten technology called Magic to achieve impressive results across several bands. My Xiegu G90 has an excellent Antenna Tuning Unit which pulls the SWR down to practically 1:1 across the 20, 30 and 40m bands. To change bands, just press "Tune" and wait 10 seconds. But, really, how difficult can it be to put up a resonant dipole or EFHW for 30m? 30m is a small (short? narrow?) band which makes it easy to dial across if you haven't got a spectrum/waterfall display. It's shared with the digital guys but they don't take up much bandwidth. There's no SSB and, even more importantly, there are no contests to saturate the band at convenient times. It always seems to be open and I've had a lot of success with it. I'm not a DX guy so! can't comment on how good it is for world-girdling though, if that's your thing. In my humble opinion, 30m is the band that really deserves to be the home of CW. So, splash out half an hour of your time to Knock up a dipole (or what other flavour of antenna tickles your fancy) and give 30m a go. You may be pleasantly surprised. 30 metre band — Advanced licensees only 10.10 10.11 PELL 10.12 10.13 10.14 LEE LE 10.15 Li secondary Service SSB CW 10.100- 10.150 10.120 - 10.135 10.130 - 10.150 CW SoB recommended segment (see below) Digital data modes (Note 1) NOTE: SSB OPERATION To reduce interference between SSB and CW stations, it is recommended that SSB stations operate above 10.120 MHz whenever possible. Also to reduce interference between SSB and digimode stations (especially FT8 stations on 10.131 and 10.136 MHz) it is recommended that whenever possible SSB activity should not extend above 10.130 KHz. For USB this corresponds to an indicated suppressed carrier frequency no higher than 10.127 MHz. The Australian 30m Band Plan [Thanks Ross - outstanding articles once again.] If you'd like to contribute to the fun, motivation & learning via a RagChew article, please let me know - happy to help; email to cgqqrsnet@gmail.com wy a SSeeeeae Re ST NNR ey 7 ay ELECRAFT eben tee ie ee ae] 4 er soa ee aS ; Soe Andy VK5LA’s completed Elecraft K1 kit transceiver. Couple of our characters brewing up a scheme. Jordan VK3ACU’s Direct Conversion RX & TX. Other Other things Names and I’ve received News from our 200-odd readers. Sharing From Stan ZL3TK Man-O-man (ooops sorry), | keep forgetting this is 2024 and we've discovered 99 somehow-equal again. Person-O-person, and interchangeable genders! Edition 37 ... what a Bosma No reason to change the FFA's name from net, although to me, Starting of a read! FFA sounds good just so long as everyone understands, as you've tried to point out, it's not a net, in fact bears not the slightest resemblance to a net. Question: except for contest environments where every fleeting contact consists of 599 wham-bam thank you ma'm, has there ever been sucha large gathering of like-minded AROs in the world engaged QSOs, as on could 40Tuesday? Aaaah, that be a new in real-deal name for Tuesday's FFA? As for RagChew editorship, might need respite. it comes as no surprise that such big feet The challenge will be to find another set, or sets, of feet to fill those huge boots. feet make beautiful Could it be done on the principle that How about dividing RagChew tasks into roughly equal thirds, possibly the notional chief, of the newsletter: Ed B by members material/articles along with the one-off features such as, collates the ever-increasing EdA, and he maintains the general structure collates and filters new from the 2024 Remembrance Day Memorial Contest Report’; load of ‘Reports and Comments' those magnificent photos of serious-looking guys, there's another potential name: ‘Abstract Ed 3 and slips in they even look human and would never have thought were capable of sending Hey, e.g. updates the fluid data such as the QSO table which changes from week-to-week, submitted 'many wine'? broken tones. catch you on 40broken-tones, or Sounds almost aboriginal. 8Obroken-bones! The logistics for collection and distribution of RagChew material would need to be worked video and sound, out. With Zoom's full 'pentaplex' coordination between the three Eds need not be tedious. well inside the 40 minute free-allowance. Each and-tell, then email their product to the chief. would be able to 'show- Would need to try it then maybe adjust the load ratios to ensure rough equality. 73 Stan de Oceania DX Contest The Oceania We are counting down the days to the next Oceania DX Contest event! Are you ready? 120ct24. DX CW Contest is on next weekend, Saturday starting at 0600z. https://www.oceaniadxcontest.com Could all be over The Phone contest will be held on Saturday 5th October, starting at 0600 UTC The CW contest will be held on Saturday 12th October, starting 0600 UTC This is the 79th running of the Oceania DX Contest, and with the solar conditions the way they are, we are expecting some big things from all of our contestants this year! Solar conditions are the best they have been in more than a decade, so your opportunity to make contact with stations in Oceania has never been better! We look forward to seeing you all on the air on both weekends, and expect many stations from Oceania to be calling CQ Contest looking for your Might be a bit of fun, good calls! practice... and a good promotion for the success of our Group if we have a bunch of QRS operators out there demonstrating how much fun CW can be. members our direction. CW Perhaps also an opportunity for our team in the US, UK, EU, Indonesia and Argentina to have some fun in Bletchley Park Group activity perhaps Nigel? Popularity From Graham VK6RO via the Hills Amateur Radio Group email. Millions of Aussies listen to CW every night. At the very beginning of the ABC TV news every night there is CW. This is right at the beginning within maybe 1 to 4 seconds? Made by some type of musical instrument TextisABCT Probably at about 20 words per minute? de VK6RO Jordan VK3ACU continuing his CW every day September challenge. Jordan VK3ACU j Clarke | A F @0:09 Quite a few mistakes keying left handed and trying to keep my book from blowing away and attempting to record but managed 5 contacts in about 20 mins © thanks all Edited 6:20PM ee? 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. 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: What device would you use if you wanted to test the output power of the transmitter without sending a signal up the antenna? The mixing of audio and radio frequency signals is e e e e The frequency multiplication frequency mixing detection modulation hfe or beta e of a transistor is: noise figure e current gain ® operating speed e breakdown voltage Answers next week. Answers from last week’s Quiz: With regards to antennas, what do the following terms mean? e Directivity e Gain e Beamwidth e ERP Answer: Directivity is the ability to focus the signal in a given direction. Gain is achieved by focusing the signal in a given direction. Beamwidth the width of the signal beam from a directional antenna. ERP is the perception of increased power by a directional antenna. is The mode of operation of this amplifier is known e common emitter e common collector e common drain e common gate Answer:common as a emitter A power gain of 30 dB is an equivalent power ratio of 1,000 10,000 100,000 e 10 Answer: A power gain of 30 dB is an equivalent power ratio of 1,000 How did you go? Di-dah-di-dah-dit Here So back to the Slow CW QSO Next Tuesday’s we go. practice Group. Net 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 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 report from the other bands), and 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 29 contributors: DL3YZ, MONNK, VK2AOE, VK2ASB, VK2GAS, VK2IOW, VK2NAP, VK2NNW, VK2WF, VK3ACU, VK3AFH, VK3BWN, VK3CTM, VK3DRQ, VK3JFP, VK3KEV, VK4DRK, VK5ET, VK5FD, VK5LA, VK6BEK, VK6FN, VK6HRC, VK6IS, VKENW, VK6RR, VK7KPC, ZL3TK and ZL4BDG. VK6PZT, VK6RO, In particular I'd like to thank and congratulate Ross MONNK for his continuing series of terrific thoughtprovoking articles about his activities and research. Frustration My editing dramas with MailChimp, the system that’s used to publish and distribute the RagChew is web-based newsletter continued again this week. and automatically saves every time a change The system is made - the editor can’t save a copy - it’s all done via the magic of the internet. losing the lot on a number of occasions, After like previous weeks, today I’ve been religiously exiting the system and replicating the saved version, then editing the replication (this was MailChimp’s recommendation after | lost the lot the first time). However, today I’ve been not only losing several iterations either when exiting, or even on the fly but to add insult... some of the previous replications have simply disappeared, so I’ve had to back track several hours and re-create what’s been written. me, but it might be! Hmmm.... | don’t think it’s just So here we are again, late on Thursday night... tapping away on the computer, re-writing what I’ve already written... instead of doing all the jobs that are piling up However.... why haven’t | spat the dummy comments while. and given it away? in the reports from the team So many that make It’s the it all worth people are finding such joy in our Tuesday evening meet- ups - learning, chatting to QRS team friends, having a go, making mistakes, getting frustrated, just having so much fun.... and | can just about hear it in their key clicks on air - it’s infectious. €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 Coordinated Universal Time Australia Western Australia Time UTC + 8 Hours 1500 to 2100 Central Australian Time UTC +10.5 Hours 1730 to 2330 Eastern Australian Time UTC + 11 Hours 1800 to 2400 NZ Time UTC + 13 Hours 2000 to 0200 New Zealand | 0700z to 1300z Time Band 0700z to 0900z Frequency 40m 7020kHz - 7040kHz 40m 7020kHz - 7040kHz 09002 to 11002 80m 3540kHz - 3570kHz 0900z to 1300z 80m 3540kHz - 3570kHz Wednesday (VK/ZL) Post Morsum 2200z - 2300z WA FM AllStar Network (direct or via Echolink) 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 (or send slower to their comfort level). If we’re on 40m 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