Subscribe Past Issues Translate View this email CQQRS in your browser RagChew Edition 43/2024 Lap of Luxury Video QSB or a Bad Post Morsum Connection? Report Traffic Report QCX-mini e Marine Build Parts 3 & 4 Rescue Volunteer Portable Workshop e Across Australia The QCX-mini Extra-Long e by Squid Stuttgart Clubhouse on WSPR Dahs Brain Teaser Di-dah-di-dah-dit About the CQ QRS Group Yet another outstanding Tuesday; so many operators on air or listening-in enjoying the art of CW - learning, practicing, reminiscing, mentoring.... all just having fun with this strange aspect of amateur radio. Whodathunkit that so many of us were driven away from CW after passing the AOCP Morse Code test, not only because of the many more attractive and fast-paced aspects of the hobby, but also because of the attitudes of many of the CW fraternity of the time. But look at it now... so many new and experienced operators out there just enjoying this relaxing aspect of v RSS our hobby. How good is this? Last Tuesday’s Group Here’s this week’s list of the 64 stations heard on our Tuesday evening Muster: CQQRS Team Member cQ Qso1 QSsO 2 Qso 3 Qso4 ZL3TK VK7TA VK3FG VK7KPC VK2IOW VK5SAO Worked 15m Worked 20m Worked 20m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Worked 40m Heard on air. Heard 15m Heard 20m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Heard 40m Worked 160m Worked 40m Worked 80m Worked 160m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m | VK3ACU Heard 80m Heard on air. Heard 15m Tried 15m Worked 20m Heard 20m VK3DRQ Worked 40m Heard on air. Heard 40m Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard on air. Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard on air. Heard 20m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 20m VKSKFG Heard 40m | Worked 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 80m Worked 15m Worked 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 80m Worked 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Worked 40m Unned AN qso5 Qso6 QsO7 Qso 8 VAUNL s+ nea +ulil VAZULO VAGSCIVIVY VRQARN Worked 80m Heard 80m Tried 80m Worked 80m Heard 80m Worked 40m Heard 20m Heard 40m Heard 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Heard on air. Tried 15m Tried 20m Heard 40m Heard 40m Tried 40m Heard on air. Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m New Team Members This week I’d like to welcome Simon MOKB} from Wolverhampton. Simon has been on CW for just over a year, and enjoys QRS almost exclusively. Like Nigel G4RWI, Simon at Bletchley Park. Welcome is a volunteer at the RSGB National Radio Centre Simon - perhaps we can rope you into joining the DXperiment series with Ross MONNK and Mike DL3YZ? Masthead Image And thanks this week to Roy VK6RR for the great shot of the Geraldton Marine Rescue craft in action. See the Jopics of Interest below for Roy’s article about volunteering. 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 Submissions close lunch time on Thursday. If you hear or work one of our team on a different band on Tuesday, just use the 80m please report area and annotate which bit applies to which band. 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). Help attract new and old team members to have a go by submitting your report each week. Cheers, mb Mark Bosma VK2KI / VK6QI Beautiful South Bowning NSW mark.bosma@icloud.com non impeaditi ratione cogitationis Reports & Comments Here’s this week’s reports. The spreadsheets above show the known stations on last Tuesday’s Group. Comments In The distilled from the reports I’ve received are below: Lap of Luxury - DXpedition From Ross MONNK Video Report at Exeter UK A good morning's work, which | Captured on video... https://youtu.be/hBWb-7jGrsw. Very many thanks to Pat VK2IOW and David VK3DBD for being on the other end. Before the DXperiment this week, “winter car park antenna". Mike DL3YZ and | had been testing my In reality it's nothing special - just a 1/4 wave vertical for the 15 m band using the car roof as a ground plane. But it might enable me to continue portable DXpeditions in the warm dry comfort of my car now that the horrible English winter weather Is closing in. If this antenna works, | would like to try the Long Path to Australia again during next week's QRS "Net". This is very much expect much a compromise antenna so | don't success but, as the fishermen say, "You have to put a line in the water to catch a fish". So if any of the QRS "Net" guys enjoy a challenge, this might be something for them. [Thanks Ross. Have a look at Ross’ excellent video - terrific to see what was going on at his end before and after the sked. httpos://youtu.be/hNBWb-7jGrsw / From George VK2AOE at Sydney [40m] ¢ | was so fragged from work....forgot it was Tuesday, | was working on my new "project" a Realistic DX-160 receiver from the 70's and heard some QRS on the Hermes and iene had a couple of satisfying QSO's. — calls. Jumped a eee i " isaac ae le Sse WUey Ue Glad to hear Andy is expecting soon (A TS520 Kenwood that is!). 73 de VK2AOE. From Pete ZL4TE at Cambridge [40m] e great 30 minute QSO with Stan. From Stan ZL3TK at Waitarere [40m] e Except for slight QSB, 40 m was in good condition. Much hoped-for traffic from northern SA bush didn't eventuate but we did strike it lucky with the first traffic ever, that we know of, from Tasmania! From Jordan VK3ACU at Meredith [40m] ¢ Quite a few long rag chews tonight. Less stations contacted but longer QSOs Well done everyone. From Adrian VK2WF at Tallong [80m] e Primarily interested in DX on 160m, but happy to give you guys a QSO. Note the interest in the QRP Labs mini CW transceiver. | have one set up for continuous use aS a WSPR beacon. [Thanks Adrian; I'd be keen for more of our operators to give 160M a go - transmitting if their license allows, and receiving if not. of activity via our CQQRS Great to see a bit WhatsApp Group notifying of CQ calls. Lots of Challenges (license requirements, antennas, noise, Challenging propagation etc... but hey, that’s what we do isn’t it? More about Adrian’s From Mike DL3YZ WSPR beacon Is in the Other News section below. ] at Stuttgart [80m] ¢ | had a great DX time this morning out in the hut at Pit’s Meadow. e Its astounding, time was fleeting here - | was on the key the whole time (and of course madness takes its toll ;-) ). [It’s just a jump to the left eh Mike?] e Condx were really on our side today, making the VK stations sound being like around the corner in Germany. ¢ Aside to the great fun of working DXperiment’s "core" stations Manny VK3DRQ and Pat VK3IOW, ( thanks for showing welcome two new OMs: Sava ( VK4PN up folks!) | had the honour to ) and Shaun ( VK6BEK) into the circle of people who have successfully CW d around the world - big thanks to all of you! e After a nice chat with Pat on 15 m, | encountered this strange phenomena again which | had also noticed some Tuesdays Being still new to the DX long path window before. Subject, it still fascinates me: "Europe-Australia" gradually, but within some seconds. The DX doesn’t close First some slight QSB, then the noise level goes up a bit and then suddenly | get flooded with screaming calls from European stations, and all from places which the beam isn’t even closely pointing to. e Now, | wasn’t able to hear my signal on the trusty SDR at Ironstone VK any more, European so | decided to QRT after working pile-up and my way through the called it a day. | even got a Japanese station In the log. e Thank you all for joining in the DXperiment, making and a big thanks to Mark for all this possible. 73 de Mike ( DL3YZ ). [Hey my pleasure Mike.... but it’s the team members who come out most Tuesdays that makes our own Iittle time warp work for us all. Now | won't be able to get that music out of my head tonight!] From Tony VK3CTM at Bendigo e Many very strong signals on 40 metres. ta emer ad as [80m] ¢ Great fun! | will try the 10 meter band next Tuesday. | was operating my HB1B QRP CW transceiver and EFHW antenna this Tuesday. From Wayne VK6NW at Bridgetown [40m] ¢ Good From conditions lan VK7TA at this QTH. at Latrobe [40m] ¢« Propagation appeared very strange with signals dropping from S9 to S2. It turned out to be a bad connection on the feedline! | barely heard a Japanese station at the end of the evening, but am not confident | copied the callsign correctly.. From Peter VK7KPC at Evandale Tas [40m] * 1st attempt at traffic message coordinates sent. reply. Seemed ok except for non-standard Learned a bit more from the experience. Will see how | go next time.. From Daniel VK6WE at Cottesloe [40m] ¢ | tuned in to a wall of silence at 16:30 so called CQ intermittently. ¢« There was no response for 15 minutes and only one very weak signal | could not copy turned up close by. * Expecting a dull session | got a strong response to CQ from VK6IS. a short QSO with Peter, VK6FN (Max) chimed After in to complete an arrangement made on a morning voice net for a 17:00 CW chat. After working Max | answered VK6NW (Wayne's) call booming close by. This went well despite some stumbles in my sending. « It was a satisfying session but | only worked three stations in about an hour of operation. From Richard FAN.AAT VK6HRC at Padbury in L4uUITl] e mostly listened to the experienced operators on the net going ata decent pace, no time time to write much From Manny VK3DRQ down but great trying head copy |! at Blackburn [40m] e The band was no too bad but the operator was not feeling the same. Gave up after 0930Z. [80m] e | try to call Mike DL3YZ@15m, he was only RSN 321 QSB but soon disappeared. From Nic VK7WW at Legana [40m] e Struggled to copy VK4 ??? (HRC?) like to listen out for ‘new’ stations . From Phil ZL1PB at Tauranga NZ [40m] e Tried to call Mark, VK2KI much but too QRM. [Sorry Phil - a challenge with so many stations on when using the 3kHz-wide receiver on my old TS1205S - I'll try harder next time!] From your Editor Mark VK2KI at Beautiful South Bowning [15m] e For the second week in a row, | was late (I'll blame Daylight Saving) to join the Group muster. hearing | listened on the VK1CM Mike DL3YZ, but | did hear Patrick VK2IOW at Millthorpe chatting I think to David VK3DBD at Yakendandah; strong solar activity was producing the 250km and 300km KiwiSDR on 15m and just missed I'm guessing the the short skip propagation over paths. [20m] e | heard Mike DL3YZ being called by Peter VK6IS on 20m briefly before he went on to work some of the local stations calling him. [40m] e A reasonable group of signals on 40m; nowhere near what we've had in the past, but still lots of activity. Grant ZL2GD Early in the muster, | heard Stan ZL3TK, and Ben ZL4BDG, weeks, and the ZLs seemed but the signals were way down on previous to disappear from the band quite early. ¢« Nevertheless, | heard a good number of stations, but had only one QSO this time with David VK3RU at Burwood before disappearing for a late dinner. [80m] ¢ Signals across Australia were really strong on 80m by the time | moved to that band. ¢ | had a nice chat to Greg VK5KFG at Willunga. thundering Max VK6FN was into NSW from his 160m doublet up 20m from Manjimup, but didn't seem to be able to hear Sava VK4PN who responded to Max's CQ; although tempted to call when didn't respond, Max | didn't want to barge in - | felt sure that Max would hear Sava... but apparently not. Perhaps some one-way propagation once again? (See the series of discussions about this apparent propagation phenomenon . Yet another QCX-Mini - this one belongs to in last year's RagChews). « Again this week, Greg VK5KFG | was amazed at how well David VK6KD/4 at Yeppoon was coming through from his portable set-up; lasts folks. enjoy the sunspot peak while it Also good to chat to Stuart VK6MK from Australind, who has finally solved his problem with RF interference to his Internet by moving to Starlink; | hope we hear a bit more about that journey when you have a moment to write about it Stuart. Also from your Editor Mark VK6QI at via the VK6QS KiwiSDR near Brookton [20m] « Mike DL3YZ was coming through get the nicely into the West on 20m, callsign of the (non-VK/ZL) station he was working; he was having lots of fun with a European but | didn't sounds like pile-up though. [40m] ¢ Early in the Group muster 40m Wayne VK6NW wasn't yet open to the East, but | heard at Bridgetown chatting to Max VK6FN a stone's throw away at Manjimup, then Shaun VK6BEK up at Quinns Rocks. | also heard Roy VK6RR up at Geraldton calling CQ then Max chatting to Richard VK6HRC Lots of good CW at Padbury. in the West. [80m] « Later in the evening as the dark settled on the ionosphere in the West, 80m was open really nicely across Australia with very good signals from VK5, 4, 2 and of course, VK6. From Peter VK6IS at wundowie [40m] ¢ was an bit quiet for an while,. ¢« then the action started around 1700wst. [80m] e it's still fairly quiet on 80m, e some From more activity would Allen VK5FD most times,. ne nice.. at Blakeview [20m] ¢ | could not hear the other stations MONNK and DL3YZ on 20m. From Andy VKS5LA at Winkie [40m] e Great conditions, worked a few before having a bit of a listen around. David 3RU terrific again on his QMX. Delighted to QSO with Peter VK7KPC, we were club mates at the South Coast Amateur Radio Club in the southern suburbs of Adelaide over 20 years ago, when he moved to Tassie and | moved to the Riverland, nice to catch up! Ran about 25 watts tonight, that seemed more than enough power. Nice not to have S9+ static crashes for once!. [80m] e Repaired the 80/40M Doublet yesterday afternoon, and went down to CW after the SSB Boat Anchor net on 3620kHz finished and had a listen around, heard a few good sigs. Called CQ for about 1/2 hour but no takers. Great conditions. Probably a bit late! From David VK6KD/4 at Mulambin creek, Yeppoon QLD (VK4 land) [40m] e Busy night with so many stations. Too many to get a QSO with everyone.. [80m] e 80m started to get active around 10PM in QLD at my QTH. My notepad laptop went flat at 11pm so had to QRT. Will look at options to keep it going when mobile. From Greg VK5KFG at Willunga [80m] ¢ A QSO with Mark, VK2KI, has the bonus of a Signal report from not only Beautiful South Bowning From Max VK6FN but also Perth. at Sunny Manjimup [40m] * Good copy David 6kd. Great Morse from Phil 6gx & Wayne 6nw. Heavy QSB with Wayne over the short hope Manjimup to Bridgetown. 30 Kilms at the most. 73S. From Ben ZL4BDG at Upper Hutt [40m] ¢ Not too much to comment about for this week. Signals still quite low into NZ, and getting stronger later in the evening. From Phil VK6GX at Gidgegannup [40m] ¢ | had nice chats with Roy, Drew and Max before having to QRT, so I'm afraid | didn't get the chance to encourage more inexperienced operators, but | hope our chats gave you good « Condx on 40m seemed reception practice. reasonable during the short time | had on 40m during the afternoon, with good signals locally and from VK3. Sorry, | couldn't stay longer on 40m and didn't even get to 80m.. * This time of year, during mid afternoon, 40m will be very quiet in VK6, barring QRN and local QRM, experiencing higher band noise with DX signals appearing and growing but eastern states operators will probably be in strength, with the likelihood of QRM. VK6 operators will also be hearing stronger signals from over east, than the eastern states stations are hearing us. It can be frustrating calling a pretty good eastern states signal, but they can't hear us. It's not their fault, just the vagaries of propagation. The same applies to 80m, but an hour or two later. ¢ | hope to catch more of you next week, [Thanks Phil - great report. Post Morsum See more if not sooner, 73, Phil VK6GX from Phil in Other News below.] Report by Richard VK6HRC Hello Mark, Another great net this morning / evening on the AllStar/ Echolink network. On the net : VK6KD/4 David VK6FN Max VK6QI Mark ZL3TK Stan VKE6ENW Wayne DL3YZ Mike VK1JT = John VK6HRC me VK6MRB Mulligan our regular shortwave listener and others. David checked in from the shores Lake Mulambin, North Queensland. of Keppel Bay @isiands Niational Park P; He took the opportunity to let us know that they had a most Yeppoon enjoyable trip out to Great Keppel Kepp, ef ‘onnectiong Island and of course still enjoying their holiday trip. On the radio front enjoyed the net but QRN making Kesoel The Keppels* oMulambin sian ga island was life difficult for him on 160 Mx. Max was relieved to have the AllStar node working and joined the net to let us know that he worked five or six stations, had a great ragchew with Phil VK6GX and also caught up with Daniel VK6WE Mark was busy as usual spotting on WhatsApp SDR nodes, and even had time for some on a pre-arranged schedule. and listening on multiple contacts ! Stan had five contacts on 40 Mx 2 traffic exchanges and more regular contacts from ZL stations than usual. This was probably because Stan joined the ZL Aprés ski net the previous evening and let them Wayne managed know. to work a few stations on 40Mx before having to report for duty at the SES training night, he is hoping to get on and do more early next year when SES has a break in January. Mike was burning the midnight oil and checked in, a very pleasant surprise - thank you. John checked via a Dstar link from Ainsley in the Capital Territory. | reported that | had two contacts on 40Mx and went into listening mode. | was treated to some excellent copy practice listening to our first class operators. Thanks to all on the net last and this morning, looking forward to the reports in the RagChew. 73 Richard VK6HRC Traffic Report for 22 October 2024 by Stan ZL3TK Three stations were expected He sounded but one bush-bound enthusiast didn't show. well prepared for the journey with his companion terrier in tow, but maybe suffered equipent failure, or perchance the coax was chewed through by a southern hairy-nosed wombat? Making up for that disappointment was the first traffic out of Tasmania - well done OM OM 581 signal: Manny's answer came through with a solid RSN NR 42 R VK3DRQ ZL3TK YOUR TOR CK 40/38 BLACKBURN 1040Z 200CT24 Peter! = = NR 146 ANSWER STOP WITH AN ELEVATION OF 1572M THE LEGGES IS THE SECOND HIGHEST PEAK IN TASMANIA COMMA COORDINATES 41R5300S 147R65500E FROM VK7KPC VK3DRQ OM COMMA AIR-LINE DISTANCE IS 34 KM AR QRU FROM VK7TA = QSL? K Peter's inaugural appearance out of Tasmania with RSN 421 and QSB, but 'Who Dares Wins!’ NR 1RVK7KPC EVANDALE ZL3TK 109 KM AND 20/18 0730 was a little more difficult 220CT24 = = ANSWER YOUR NR 146 STOP LEGGES TOR STOP 1572M QE38TL 92AE STOP VK7TA VK7KPC AR 108KM STOP VK7KPC STOP 34R8KM = K Finally, this weeks question is focused on coastal South Australia and is open for all to answer: QTC CT NR 157 R VK3DRQ ZL3TK 32/26 VIA CQ QRS FFA WAITARERE OF LIGHTHOUSE NEAR LIGHTHOUSES ON 286 KM COAST SOUTH FROM NP TO NSW ZL3TK FILLS? COL286 STOP NAME NAME THE OTHER AR ROCKS 220CT24 = GIVE DOMINANT COLOUR AND CARPENTER 0345Z NW COORONG BORDER = K Looking forward to the reappearance of our bush-basher, OM John, next week. 73 de Stan ZL3TK This Week’s Topics Interest Actually, not the Low QCX-mini Build - Part Pass of Filter 3 by Ross MONNK There’s more to do than | thought last week, so let’s leave the LPF for Part 4... First, we have to install the reverse polarity protection diode. Mike DL3YZ has built one of these radios before and he says that there’s a chance that the lead on the outside could short on the metal case, so I’ve added some insulation. | can cut it off if it gets in the way. Now the crystals. | say “crystals” plural but I’m only going to install the 20 MHzz crystal. Instead of the 27 MHz crystal, I’ll be installing the optional 25 MHz temperature controlled oscillator (TCXO) module. It’s tiny! Then there’s three trimmer resistors, a couple of electrolytic capacitors, and a trimmer capacitor. The four transistors are next and have an interesting configuration... A nut and bolt presses the heatsink washer onto the transistors and brings them into contact with the large pad on the PCB. And, finally, three sets of header pins - one for programming firmware updates, one to connect with the display board, and one to connect with the “knobs-andswitches” board. This is the main board so far... Most jobs on the QCX-mini build are fiddly and time-consuming and these were no exception. You have to enjoy this sort of thing. | do. QCX-mini Finally, the Build Low - Part 4 Pass Filter by Ross MONNK Mike DL3YZ has built a QCX-mini for 20m and offered me some advice, most of which consisted of warnings about the LPF! He says it’s a "Tschebyscheff-Filter". He’s a smart guy so I'll take his word for it. Whatever it is, it’s very sensitive to how it’s built and this will show up in the post-build calibration process. It’s easier to remove turns from the toroids than it is to add them so, to be on the safe side, you’re instructed to wind perhaps a few too many turns. For instance, Mike had to remove 2 turns from both L1 and L3. Unfortunately, when removing turns is far from easy but I'll cross that bridge | come to it. In the meantime, I’m going to build the filter exactly as instructed. L1, L2 and L3 use much thinner wire than L4 and the previously installed transformer. The turns on L2 are meant to be bunched together at this stage. They may need to be spread out during the calibration process after the build is complete, and that’s easier to do if they start bunched together. These four filter toroids are attached only by two very thin wires each so, once the calibration is complete, I'll secure them with gobs of hot glue. Many hams are understandably wary about winding toroids. But, in practice, the hardest part is overcoming those nerves and just getting on with it. The second hardest part, when you've got eyesight like mine, is counting those turns! You may have noticed that the build (generally) goes from the smallest components to the largest, and there are some next exciting episode of “The QCX-mini [Thanks Ross.... nice chunky ones in the Build”. | can’t wait until the next episode! For those interested in filters... https://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Chebyshev filter is a good start.] One of My Volunteer Jobs from Roy VK6RR at Geraldton This isn't amateur radio but thought it might be of interest. lam a volunteer radio operator for Marine A watch Rescue Geraldton. is kept on 4 marine channels from 6am to 6pm. uses a radio over the internet It system so we can either do it from the base building or, if we have a ROIP set up (a lap top, monitor, microphone & FM TX/RX unit), we can do it from home or anywhere that can provide a good internet connection. The actual radios are installed on a hill site some 20 odd km away. For the radio watch, we do a 4 hour shift. i.e. 3 ops for the 12 hours. The FM unit provides us with a small portable receiver so we can carry it with us. As you can see from the pictures the channels are shown on the laptop which has a touch screen. You can activate all the channels at once or just one. A log is kept which is shown on the monitor. Our great base at Point Moore was demolished a few months ago as the sea was "reclaiming" the land and, it was within about a metre of the base of the building. Regretfully after many attempts to save it by sand bagging etc., the sea got it's way. We are now in a temporary base in the Geraldton near Francis Street boat ramp. Multi purpose facility It is planned for the future that a new base similar to our original one will be built by the Batavia Marina were our 2 rescue boats are moored. They are the "Nashira" and "Mimosa"; Nashira is shown at the top of the newsletter this week. Our rescue group can be found at and on face book. Volunteering http://www.marinerescuegton.com info is found on there. For a radio operator you have to have either the Long Range Operator Certificate of Proficiency or the Short Range Op Cert. This is regardless of what other radio operating qualification's you have. | have UK, German, Marshall Islands, Panamanian Australia one! etc radio certificates - but still had to get the When | started we used to watch keep on HF and CB. Being HF you had to have the Long Range cert. Both the HF and CB channels are no longer watched at our base. Therefore you only have to have the Short Range Cert. It is a shorter exam. We do the training and exams here at the base. | am one of the 5 invigilators' that are able to do it. It is free, apart from the $10.00 yearly sub to the Rescue group. You also have to do on-line training for DEFES prior to going for the radio side of it. Thanks again for the interesting news letter each week. Oh | didn't hear the DX guys at all this week. 73&77 Roy. VK6RR a_i Sp ra a rN re | alee On What's on my My Workbench Bench. From John VK2RU Well it would be good to have a bench, but that's not possible in a caravan where space and weight are critical. All of my electronics gear fits into this cardboard box. My bench Is a camping table with a piece of corflute on it. The one good thing about working out of a box is that | never have a messy bench. It gets cleaned up every day. I've only just started building kits and | bought a few cheap soldering practice kits on Ebay to play with. After building the first kit | decided to upgrade my soldering iron and after some research | bought a Hakko FX888D soldering station and a few other bits and pieces from Mektronics. Mektronics are very good to deal with. Their prices and service are very good, and their product range is amazing. After doing a few kits with through hole components | did an SMD kit and successfully managed to solder components down to 0402 size. | found that the 0.7mm 60/40 solder | was using was a bit big so I'm now using 0.46mm 63/37 Multicore wire and it seems to be going well. I've also settled on using a 2.0mm chisel tip at 340deg Currently I'm building a QRP Labs QCX+ C. for 20m. This is a 5w single band CW only kit. It appears to be a relatively easy kit to build and much for a first attempt than the QCX mini which has a much better higher component density. The instructions for all of the QRP Labs kits are the best you will find anywhere. For what you get, these kits are cheap. So | also bought another QCX-+ for 40m. That one will be the next build. | eventually want to get the QMX+ which is a multiband transceiver but | thought it might be better to wait until that kit has been out for a while so that most of the bugs get ironed out before | try it. Anyway, here's my bench, in all its glory. I'm in no rush and | only do about ten components in a session. That's enough to keep me happy and gives me time to study the build instructions for the next stage. I'll try to put an update in every now and then. 73 John [Thanks John - excellent article - a great motivator! My workshop Is a shambles... and my stack of projects and broken things just keeps piling up - your article is a breath of fresh air! Soldering irons.... after having a Weller TCP for around 55 years and needing to build AllStar node USB interfaces which involved de-so/dering surface mount devices and soldering to tiny pins of other SMDs, | decided | needed a solder re-work station - so/dering iron and tiny heat gun combination. After receiving two 110 Volt units via Amazon them?) | bought another one by mail order. (anyone want Heat gun works Just fine on SMDs and heatshrink, but the soldering iron (which seems to be the current popular Chinese design) is pretty much unusable... and then there’s lead-free solder... that plain doesn’t work! So would anyone like to write an article about how to buy a decent soldering iron these days?] Other Other things Across Australia News I’ve received from our 200-odd readers. by Squid from David VK6KD/4 near Yeppoon Hi Mark My portable antenna setup appears to be working well so | have attached ome photos of my Squid-pole setup adjacent to Mulambin Yeppoon creek near QLD. The loosely wound Insulated conductor on the Squid-pole has been connected to the top of my 5' HF antenna whip on the vehicle. In this way the antenna length Is a non resonant connected to an autotuner which is mounted ade, 7 mr length however it Is on the roofrack. long enough for the autotuner to tune in 160m. Connected Length Is Appears to be working great on 40m and 80m. ground No additional plane has been connected. Just the vehicle. Hope to have a QSO with as many operators as possible from my next exciting location in QLD. Our nest stop will be the towns of Agnes Waters and 1770 in QLD (VK4 land). 73S David VK6KD/4 [Thanks David. | see things haven't Changed much... except perhaps your hairstyle? —_—> Your antenna continues to astound me performance-wise. | think of an off-frequency helical as a long Choke... and with only the vehicle as your ground the resistive [oss Is interesting to contemplate - but you sure seem to be able to make It work. | look forward to catching you again on Tuesday. / The Stuttgart Clubhouse From Mike DL3YZ lt was nice to hear you on phone and listening to the stations on the Post-Morsem on Wednesday morning (0130am Wednesday here!). | was using the *VK6-HUB* conference via echolink. Being new to HAM radio, | didn’t Knew the liturgy and missed the enrollment procedure. But that wasnt bad, as |am a much than speaker. Just wanted to say hello to everybody. better listener Coming back to your question about access to the Clubhouse for the DXperiments: The landslide at Pit’s Meadow the beginning of the year. happened during a period of heavy rain at The site is halfway up the quite steep side of a hill, and the road to get there is at the bottom of the valley - parallel and on the same level to some small river that likes to flood the road when the ground water level rises... like so during the last 2 weeks. Today | was lucky and so was able to motor to the foot of the hill, even with my non-off-road Peugeot because it’s been dry for some days now. But rubber boots for the ascending to the hut and a car wash afterwards are mandatory HI. The location is not an easy place for this purpose, advantage: there is no QRM but has one big around for nearly 2 miles, so the radio is extremely quiet there. | was really amazed how his setup worked so great today. | don’t know if our group manages to make the hut a shack again before winter. If not, |°d have to think about a better antenna for my home, or find a mobile solution, like Ross. “natural way" | could work remote, but | think doing it the is more fun. Have a nice day and pls send greetings and my apologies to Richard VK6PZT for not making phased verticals. 73 - Mike. it to the clubhouse the previous week to try his Another QRPLabs QCX Mini From Adrian VK2WF at Tallong | | note the interest In the QRP Labs QCX mini transceiver. 1 | use one on | 160m as a standalone WSPR beacon Cae 7 | nw bili Adrian Adrian Van Der Byl VK2WF Lee ce iy he Pe Pee Peis Lh ae ae eA ay — 73 Aad Oe UL en ti =i [Cheers Roy and thank you for the really interesting read. At least one of our team Is also involved in Marine Rescue - Nigel VK6N/ at Denmark, and| know that Bruce VK6CX down in Mandurah does the same.. there’s sure to be others. Perhaps some of our team might be interested in finding out more about volunteering; potentially it could be done from anywhere | guess, not just the seaside resort towns. ] Extra-Long Dahs from Phil VK6GX at Gidgegannup | hope you all had a good practice session on Tuesday and that some of my ad-lib abbreviations didn't confuse people, they made sense to me at the time! One thing that new operators may notice is that some of us old timers using straight keys, Cooties or bugs, particularly ex-marine operators, occasionally accentuate letters with an extra long dah during a character, e.g. "R" will sound normally means like di daaaaaah dit, instead of di dah dit. "R" "roger", or | received your last over or message correctly, but in this case will also indicate great approval or enthusiasm about something the other operator may have said. It may also be sent twice to accentuate ones approval even more and may even be mistaken for "e t e" as it's usually sent slower than the rest of the over. It's not the key getting stuck, but intentional QSD, old habits die hard!. | hope to catch more of you next week, [Thanks Phil - 1 reckon if done if not sooner, 73, Phil VK6GX well, individual fists add to the fun... even helping identify stations!] 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. For Sale QRPLabs QCX Portable QRP Transceiver from David VK3RU If anyone is looking for a QCX, mine is surplus. During winter, | built a QMX which | now use during our Tuesday nights for the last few QRS sessions. | am looking for $100 for the QCX. It is built for 40m, in a case and was used in our earlier QRS sessions. Great little rig. Cheers David VK3RU From the DXing.com.au Newsletter: We are struggling to get ten CW participants for the 2025 CW DX Chaser of the Year. Exactly as I’ve predicted. So far, only 8 brave souls have put their hand up (depriving themselves of $29) which is still 2 short from the bare minimum of ten participants. | would like to think that it is the administration / prize fee that is preventing our most skilled form joining the fun. Surely they are not the last remaining Morse ops left in a county of 15,000 licensed operators? To get yourself on the list, send $29 to QSY599@gmail.com and notify us in writing so we can add you on to the list. Brain Teaser How 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: Convention has it that VHF, UHF and mobile signals are transmitted on a vertical antenna. What antenna polarisation should the receive antenna be? This circuit diagram shows: e resistor and capacitor in parallel e resistor and capacitor in series e resistor and inductor in series — Paes a Cie py | -——- e capacitor and inductor in parallel A television receiver suffers ghosting interference, a possible cure for this is to: e fit a high pass filter to the receiver antenna e change the direction of the antenna e install an RF choke to the antenna lead input ® use a smMall by-pass Answers next week. Answers from Capacitor last week’s across tne antenna Quiz: What do the terms horizontal, vertical and circular polarisation mean with regards to antennas? Answer: Horizontal signal level with horizon, vertical at right angles to horizon and circular is twisting. The RMS value of a sine wave can be calculated by e peak x 2 e peak + 2 e peak x 0.707 © peak x 1.414 Answer: peak x 0.707 Image interference in a superheterodyne communications caused e by an unwanted receiver is signal operating on half the frequency to which the receiver is tuned e the same frequency as the local oscillator in a dual conversion receiver e twice the frequency to which the receiver is tuned e twice the intermediate-frequency away from the desired signal frequency Answer: twice the intermediate-frequency away from the desired signal frequency 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. The report form closes at lunchtime on Thursday. Post 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 34 contributors: DL3YZ, MONNK, VK2AOE, VK2ASB, VK2DLF, VK2RU, VK2WF, VK3ACU, VK3CTM, VK3)JFP, VK3KEV, VK3VMM, VK3DRQ, VK5A0O, VK5FD, VK5KFG, VK5LA, VK6BEK, VK6FN, VK6GX, VKGHRC, VK6IS, VK6KD/4, VK6MK, VK6NW, VK6RR, VKOWE, VK7KPC, VK7TA, VK7WW, Thank you team. ZLI1PB, ZL3TK, ZL4BDG, ZL4TE. The Joy of Daylight Saving There's usually people around until after 1300z on the Tuesday Group - so keep calling in the segment of the band designated you catch someone. in the table below until | should be on as usual from home in NSW or 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. Hope to hear you there. €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 To MAU 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 Western Australia Time Australia 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 Queensland Time UTC + 10 Hours 1700 to 2300 NZ Time UTC + 13 Hours 2000 to 0200 New Zealand 7 0700z to 1300z E 4 Frequency Time Band 0700z to 0900z 40m 7020kHz - 7040kHz 40m 7020KHz - 7040kHz 80m 3540kHz - 3570kHz 80m 3540kHz - 3570kHz 0900z to 1100z 0900z to 1300z Wednesday (VK/ZL) Post Morsum re, = es 2200z - 2300z WA FM AllStar Network (direct or via Echolink) QRL? 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). And if you are already having a QSO and someone sends “QRL?”, respond with “R”, “C”, “Y”, “YES” or QRL to let the caller know that the frequency is in use. If we’re on 40m and you can hear that the band is open outside Australasia, perhaps consider calling 500HzZ 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? Rhythm? 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 participation and learning, not show how fast you can hammer the key. 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 perfect CW; how many it sound like the longer we go with our Group, the more | understand just 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’ reward you one day by coming good up on air to say g’day and thanks - how 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” PSE or “AGN? 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, Whose frequency before replying. 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. 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 or unsubscribe INTUIT mailchimp members.