Subscribe

Past

Issues

Translate

Walk a Mile in the Winter Snow,
The

HNY

Mud

Event is here!

100 Watt Amplifier
A bit of naughtiness
e

New Years

Day

in Kalgoorlie

Portable

QSO

Party

and

Slush

v

RSS

e

PARG

Raffle

e

Morse

Code Training

e

SKCC

Straight

Net

Key Month

e Can you

help Beth get back on air?

e

Portable

in NZ

e

Palm

Radio

Keys

e The other side of Christmas
e

Di-dah-di-dah-dit

e About the CQ QRS

Group

Well well - another hugely successful year for our CQQRS
QSO

net.

Slow CW

Practice

We now have over 200 readers of the weekly RagChew

newsletter, and most weeks

have around 5 dozen

people on air on

Tuesdays, enjoying the gentle art of slow CW - either building their skill
levels, or helping others to do so;

simple pleasures!

And it was great to hear a number if folks on for our Xmas
Practice QSO

Simon

net this week;

| knew

MOKB] and Nigel G4RWI

that Kevin VK3KEV,

couldn't make

Eve CQQRS

David

VK6KD/3,

it this time, but there were

plenty of others that | heard.
To celebrate the success of the DXperiment series this year, Ross MONNK
and Mike DL3YZ are running our HNY CW & Zoom
January 2nd.

event on Thursday

This is going to be a great fun way to help celebrate the new

year, and recognise the efforts of our four UK / EU team

members

who

braved the elements to get on air during our nets, or stayed up very late to
join in on our Post Morsums.

See below for details.

I'd also like to sincerely thank each and every one of you who has made
the time to send me reports about our Tuesday nets;
are the key to why our net has become
CW

nets in the world!

| believe your reports

one of the most active and popular

In-turn, the activity has provided the opportunity for

our team of learners on the CW journey to get on air in a safe environment
to practice and learn.

Once again, we have had a number of first CW QSOs

on our net this year - and I’d like to acknowledge everyone who has made
that possible - thank you for your support team!

Last Tuesday’s

Group

Here’s the list of the 34 stations heard on Tuesday this week:

chien
Member

DL3YZ

VKIWA

VK2KI
VK2KI

ca

Heard 40m

Heard on air

aso1i | aso2 | qso3 |

|VK4PMW|

aso4 |

asos |

asos6 |

aso7 |

asos

VK4PN | VK2KI | VK3DBD | VK2GB | VK3ECH | VK5MR

Worked4om | VK2NNW| VK3RU | ZL4TE |VK3DBD/ZL| VK3ECH
Heard40m | ZL2GD | VK4PN |VK4PWN| VK3ACU | VK2B) | VK5FA | JAGBZH | VK1WA

VK2ZKI

Worked 80m

VK4PN

VKOHRC

Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Heard on air
Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Heard on air
Heard on air
Heard on air
Worked 20m
Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Heard on air
Heard on air

Heard on air
Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Worked 80m
Heard 40m
Heard 40m
Heard 80m
Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Heard on air
Heard on air
Heard

Masthead

on air

Image

Thanks this week to Jordan VK3ACU

for sharing his Christmas present with

US.

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

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

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
G4RWI

please

etc).

The Director General of our software department,

Nigel

has continued to work furiously to produce a simple way of reporting

on contacts with our team outside of 40 and 80m;

| have a Beta version

sitting on my pile of projects waiting to be tested.
Please help attract new and old team
your report each week.

Cheers,

members

to have a go by submitting

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 follow:

Comments:

From John VKSET

at Hope valley

[40m]
* Quiet night..."

it was the night before Christmas"

From Mike

at Stuttgart

DL3YZ

[40m]

Duoconical Antenna

¢ After the WX and the road

Mees cli eM ells (=)

conditions

:

- ).

to the radio hut out in

the swampy
meadows

are not very friendly

these days, | just did some minutes
of SWL on
the Ironstone SDR.
¢ | heard many stations, and the XMas traffic was great fun to listen
to. | am looking forward being on
the air again on our new years
event (even | if | have to walk with
all the

.
radio

.
equipment

for

about a mile trough the mud,
wearing

The Duoonical vertical antenna of Paul
VK5PH’s Ironstone Range KiwiSDRs.

rubber boots). | think | have

learned my lesson last time: | got
stuck and had to

abandon
there

my car out there for almost 3 weeks, till | managed

to fix it out

and finally recover it

:-) ) Merry Christmas to all - Mike.
[Wow - now that’s dedication Mike!
to get a

First abandoning your car and having

lift from a near-by farmer to get home, and now planning on

heading out in the snow, mud and slush in your gumboots for our HNY
event!]

From ROY VK6RR

at Geraldton

[40m]
¢ Not many stations heard. Happy Christmas to all..

From Donald

VK6JDM

at 20 km West of Esperance VK6

[40m]
e Signals weak at my QRT and lot of QRN.
[80m]
¢ Signals weak and lots of QRN..
e | have been snowed

down with work and farm chores etc and neglected

radio
for three months.

However getting back to radio at last;

Workbench

below for my latest project. Hope to catch up with the

net properly in next two
[Wonder

see On My

weeks..

where hooning around fits in with the work and farm chores?

See

Other News below. /

From Mathew

V VK3AFH

at Wantirna

[40m]
e Listened in and heard a few stations, including Jordan spreading some
xmas
eve goodwill :)

Didn't stay up too late though - Hope everyone have had a

great time!.

From Mark VK2KI

at Beautiful South Bowning

NSW

[40m]
e I'd spent the day removing the ugly multi-band dipole that had blown
down
in a storm and never worked well, and also re-connecting the feedline to
my
80m

double extended Zepp.

The temporary 40m

run of 300 Ohm

tv ribbon

had
finally given up the ghost after only 15 months of use (go figure!)..
¢ Great to hook up with Adam

VK2NNW

at Deepwater and David VK3RU

at

Burwood.
e And after a bit of a drought, finally a couple of our ZL team - Pete ZL4TE
near Hamilton and David ZL/VK3DBD

¢

up near the beautiful Bay of Islands.

| was also pleased to catch our

new member

Rob VK3ECH

Echuca for the first time.

at
Rob was

using a Kenwood TS-990 to his
160m

dipole up 50';

| looked

up the 990.... and got weak at the
knees when

| saw what it was!

Great to

chat for the first time Rob..

Rob VK3ECH

[80m]
¢ When things got quiet on 40, | had a listen down on 80m.

Sava VK4PN

was on
duty there once again from Mount Ommaney

, and it was interesting for us

to

compare our signals into the VK6QS

KiwiSDR near Brookton..

e After Sava, | could see our Post Morsum
Padbury on the SDR calling CQ.

net controller Richard VK6HRC

We struggled to have a QSO - | was only

in

readability 3 with Richard, and he was buried in the noise here, so |
relied on the SDR

From

Mark

for the QSO..

VK6QI

at via the VK6QS

KiwiSDR

near Brookton

[40m]

e | had a quick listen on the VK6QS

KiwiSDR near Brookton

before the band

opened to the East from WA, and heard Roy VKO6RR in Geraldton chatting
to
Richard VK6HRC

Post Morsum

at Padbury..

Net Report

From Richard VK6HRC
Well the VK6RLM

and AllStar/ Echolink service behaved

nicely this morning.

On the net:
KA3BMS_

Hank

VK6KD/3

David

VK6QI

Mark

VK6FN

Max

VK6HRC
and

our shortwave

listeners.

Hank got in early to pass on his Christmas greetings and went into
listening mode.
David checked

in from Eastern Victoria and let us know he has purchased

some toroids to try and sort the gremlins with his 80Mx set up and is
planning to be on for next Tuesday.

Mark worked

seven

stations and

heard another eight plus logged a
new

one for

the net.

Max was not on the net as rain
stopped

play this time ! ( no

antenna work )
All being well he will be with us next
week.
| worked a couple of stations on
40Mx one on 80Mx and generally
tuned around, a fun night as usual.
Numbers were down
understandably,

no doubt things will

get busy soon.
Thanks to all last night and this
morning,

Happy Christmas

73
Richard

VK6HRC

WA Christmas tree
These are a parasitic mistletoe endemic to
WA and so named because they flower right
at Christmas time each year.

This Week’s Topic of
Interest
HNY

Hosted

Special

by Ross

MONNK

Event

and

Mike

DL3YZ

We're taking a break from our DXpeditions for a while but we’ve enjoyed
them so much that we’re going to have a one-off “Happy New Year” (HNY)
special event
0900-1000
We'll be on the 20m

UTC

on Thursday

2 January

band on 14.060.500, or close by if that particular

frequency isn’t workable.
To make this as fun and as easy as possible, all you have to do is send “de
your_callsign your_callsign” followed by the letters “HNY” on our
frequency.
speed

Nothing else please, just your callsign twice and HNY. Slow

is good. Repeat the message

if you make a mistake.

If we hear you, we will respond with “your_callsign de our_callsign HNY”.
That’s it. Don’t reply.
If we don’t respond, try again in another 5 minutes as there might have
been someone

else transmitting at the same time as you. If we hear you,

we'll find a way to send you our special event QSL card.
But that’s not all!

We also invite you to take part in our Zoom

conference by clicking on the

link below
https://usO5web.zoom.us/j/2686952995?

owd=bTlybkZkSUdGOHFab2twZ2RBcFVVOTO9
You don’t need Zoom

installed on your computer for this link to work - it

works through your web browser or on your smartphone or tablet.
If the link doesn’t work, enter these details manually:
Meeting-ID:

268 695 2995

Passcode:

This Zoom

4AH7ks

invitation extends to everyone

in the QRS CW group so, even if

you can’t reach us on HF, please say “Hello” on Zoom if you can - we’d
love to see your ugly mug and so put a face to a familiar callsign.
Finally, if we don’t make any sort of contact with you, we wish you a Happy
New Year anyway,

and hope to beep with you in 2025.

[Thanks Ross and Mike for organising this fun event and for all your efforts
this year.

| look forward to seeing you guys and as many of our team

members as possible on Thursday evening our time.]

l’m always keen to publish articles and thoughts from team

members

the RagChew

please let me

newsletter.

If you’d like to publish something,

know so we can share more thoughts and ideas;

in

email

to cqqrsnet@gmail.com

>

On

My Workbench

Donald VK6JDM’s power amplifier project.
Here is photo of 100 watt amp
dropped out of AR.

module to prove | have not completely

| will use it for 40 and 80. It uses the RD16 and RD100

Mitubishi FETs providing 20dB gain. Working on the filter board now.

From Jordan VK3SACU

So laser cut this today turns out rf changes it's colors =
9:01PM

Jordan VK3ACU

Clarke

Other

Other things

Bogan

War

I’ve received

News

from

our 200-odd

readers.

Horses

From Donald VK6JDM:
Now since we last communicated

| have to self-identify as a hoon.

Attached

a hoon. If you do not have an electric car

is my story of becoming

yet, you have to try it - even compares favourably with driving Mini-Cooper
S around corners and driving topless series one Land/Rovers over sand
dunes.
[Hopefully without the torque-steer!]
The air has cooled overnight and the doona Is pulled up high. Sleep ebbs
over me again, but then there is the harsh resonance - 2 metres of tuned
pipe roaring out the war cry of the bogan. A sound expected from the
battle horn of a Tolkien nightmare.
Eight cylinders in V formation feed the monster tube and any thought of

sleep is lost. The territory is occupied by the menace of bogans.

Gear

changes bring sequences of rising notes and tiny silences, a sound none
could love but the bogan.
A harsher response comes from the cross road, rising to its peak then
falling on gear shift with an explosive crack before the next howl.
Like a snorting bull pawing the ground, an uplifted four wheeler’s wide tires
thrash the tar, smoke filling the air, the rubber scream mixed with the
throaty roar of resonating pipe. Another contender for master of the
intersection.

The day has begun in Kalgoorlie.

The old man rises, shaves, dresses and walks to car. Like a scrambled
fighter approaching the runway, he silently slips into the narrow alley
gliding to the cross road that leads to the zone of conflict.

A red light arrests him next a
throbbing Tojo, metalic paint,
exhaust burbling, clutch half
engaged revs rising anticipating
green starters light. The old man’s
foot hovering over the accelerator
on green plunges the pedal
thumping on the floor.

50 metres are cleared beyond the cross road before Tojo makes it through
the lights. Small square image of Tojo reflects from the car’s mirror as the
old man

U-turns to line up next to a ram dressed in polished black, Jet pilot

draped across rear window. Again an ego damaged.
In the office, the old man reaches for the rubber stamps,

takes calendar off

wall and places a Tojo and a Ram stamp on that day’s square,
sit like kills symbols on an ace fighter’s nosecone.

where they

The electric car has

arrived in Kalgoorlie.

New

Years

From

Andrew

Day

Portable QSO

Party

VK1DA

This is to remind everyone of the January 1st S2S- fest or QSO
usually run on New Year’s Day before and after 11am

EDST,

party we
ie before and

after the rollover of the UTC new year.
How to participate:
Nominate your summit early, remember

if you activate it and qualify (by

making 4 contacts) before and after the new year, you get points for each
year.

2 activations for the price of one.

Put up an alert on sotawatch.

If

your phone app does not post alerts, either use sotawatch.sota.org.uk via
your web browser on your home computer, or get a better app.

You can

use SOTAgoat on IOS, ParksnPeaks on IOS or other apps on android.
Impact of the 10m challenge 2024
Contacts made on 10m

in 2024 qualify for the 10m challenge which means

they have to be made

before 0000 UTC on 1/1/25, or 11am

local time.

Contacts after 0000 UTC are valid for your SOTA log but not for the 2024
challenge.
Apart from 10m, which not all activators can use due to equipment or
antenna

limitations, a lot of operation will occur on 146.5, 146.525 and

146.55

MHz. in the VK1 area. We cannot all use one frequency at the same

time.

If you don’t have those channels programmed

them up today.
remember

into your radio, set

Let’s not hear people on the day saying oh, | can’t

how to use VFO

mode, or how do | save a new channel, so read

the manual for your radio today and get yourself set up for multi channel
operation and practice using the extra channels (preferably 3, but at least
two for use on 1 January).
146.550.

My HT is set up for 146.5, 146.525 and

| don’t know anything about your radio so don’t ask me.

Nominate your chosen summit and
reserve it by posting an alert (nota
spot) on parksnpeaks.org

and don’t

forget to let the CQQRS

Group know

(those who use the CQQRS
WhatsApp

group can post an Alert).

Operate on one band or ten.

Make

contacts on multiple bands, just to
make

more noise on the bands,

FT817 on

left for 1296 mhz, kx3 for HF, TR751A for 2m ssb

it

helps others make contact with you.
Get some
chosen

practice in using your

bands by, guess what,

activating in the preceding week or
two.

3el Arrow antenna for 2m, 10 el yagi for 23cm

On the day, use the sotawatch
or www.parnsnpeaks.org
spot yourself.

(Android), iparksnpeaks (iPhone) apps

to periodically to check for other activators and

Again, if you have forgotten how to self-spot, practice in

advance.
Joint activations with others are another useful practice.

If you want to

activate but don’t have all of the equipment or experience, just ask.
advance!

In

Often others have all the gear and would appreciate the help in

navigating or just the company.
Good

luck on New Year’s Day, see you on the air.

Remember to operate

past 0000 UTC to kick the new year off in your log, claim more chaser,
activator and S2S points by making
The 2025 challenge?

more contacts.

We don’t have any details yet...

Andrew VK1DA
[Thanks Andrew,

if 1 can, I'll be watching the parksnpeaks.org CW SMS

Spots, and will re-transmit any | notice onto our WhatsApp Group, and I'll
listen out for you and other team members. ]

Peel Amateur

Radio Group

- Raffle & PARGFest

Peel Amateur Radio Group

_ - /PARGFESTSwap-Meet

Saturday 15th February 2025

ve

@

Mandurah Bowling Club

89 Allnutt Street, Mandurah WA.
:

Se

Doors Open:

’

if

0200 — Exhibitors & Sellers
0300 —1230 Buyers

Entry Fea- 35.00 per person
See you there amongst the raffles and bargains

Please check www.parg.org.au/whatsnew for last-minute updates.
Call-in to VKGARG in PARG1 — AllStar & 146,850Mhz with 91.5Hz sub-tone
For more information call Pater 0432718026 or email parg.secratarydiamail.com

The annual Peel Amateur Radio Group Inc Mega
Amateur Radio Group Inc Fundraising

Raffle is now live at Peel

Raffle | RaffleLink

Tickets are for sale in NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, WA Tickets are priced at $5 each
Just in time for Christmas, the prizes include ....

1st

Prize valued
Icom

2nd
Icom

dual

dual

band

(VHF/UHF)

mobile

(VHF/UHF)

Prize valued

6th

by Fred Swainston

at $100

voucher

Prize valued
Tet Emtron

7th

Prize

radio voucher

at $132

Prize valued
Tet Emtron

radio voucher

at $300

handheld

Radio Theory Handbook

5th

at $700

Prize valued

band

4th

HF radio voucher.

Prize valued

3rd
Icom

at $2,000

at $100

voucher

valued

at $90

Learning Morse Code with Hypnosis

8th

Prize

valued

Tet Emtron

9th

Prize

Australian

valued

Ham

at $50

voucher

Radio

at $25
Handbook

The raffle prizes will drawn at the conclusion of the annual PARGfest Swap
Meet on Saturday 15 February. Mandurah
Mandurah

WA.

6210.

Bowling Club. Dower Street.

(Just up the rise from the Mandurah

Railway

Station).

All welcome to attend. Entry only $5.
Raffle Terms

& Conditions

This raffle is being held for Peel Amateur Radio Group Inc 1/12 Brackenridge Lane, Meadow

Springs,

WA, 6210.
The raffle commences

on the 16th of November 2024, closes on the 15th of February 2025 and will

be drawn on the 15th of February 2025 at Mandurah

Bowling Club. Dower Street. Mandurah WA at

12pm. The draw will be conducted using a RaffleLink System draw process. Ticket buyers do not
have to be present at the draw. Winners will be contacted by email or phone within 2 days after
draw. Details of the Winner(s) will be displayed at www.parg.org.au/ and rafflelink.com.au/parg2025.

State(s)

where

tickets are on sale NSW,

QLD,

Jordan VK3ACU

a family Xmas

From Peter VK7KPC

enjoying

SA, TAS,

WA.

at Lake

Eppalock

near Bendigo.

at Aldinga Beach SA

Peter - VK7KPC Dodd
Merry Christmas All. No room at Inn for rig and key.
8:30PM

Peter - VK7KPC

Dodd

Sticky ribs

8:30PM

S ©

Morse

Code Training

Nic VK7WW

runs a Slow

Net

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

on that net.

Many of our team

learned Morse

code with the support of Nic, and
the weekly

training session comes

highly recommended

the Code, or simply brush up.

for anyone who wants to learn

Everyone’s welcome - 3580KHz at 7pm

Eastern time every Wednesday.

The NTARC

also feeds the CW 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.

Straight Key Century Club - Straight Key Month
From

Ron VK4AJE

The 2025

K3Y Straight Key Month

event starts on the 2nd of January

2006

and runs through until the 31st of
January.

ss as |
ne
SKCC 19th Anniversary © Straight Key Month

K3Y is the special event callsign that was used by our US members

since

2009. We decided to stay with K3Y because it resembled the word KEY.
However, we used other special event callsigns before that. Also, in later
years we added

non-US members

to the mix for the continental regions

(AF, AS, etc.), who could not use the K3Y call sign so were not strictly
speaking

"K3Y operators".

For these reasons it is more accurate to refer to the event as Straight Key
Month or "SKM"

rather than K3Y. But people still call it "K3Y" out of habit.

| have Registered the following operators,
Lawrie VK5L) #11525T
John VK2RU

#27064

Gary VK4WTZ

#29060

Mark VK2KI #27669
Hans VK4ANS

#11817

Mike VK4EF #14903
Phil VK6GX
Adam

#5399

VK2NNW

#20432

Alan VK4AAN

#16662

Jim ZLIARW

#16633

Mike ZL1IRA #24654
Nick VK2ZNF

#16667

Colin VK2DVA

#23507T

Bill VKIMCW

#15215

Bob VK3GF

#27877

Philip ZLIPSH

#24820

Chris VK3QB

#22351C

Mike VK4EF

#14903

Darrin VK3VDP

#20721

Dave VK5PL #13144
Tim VK5AV #26928
Peter VK7KPC

#26832

Milan VK2PP #24180
Garry VK2GAZ
Allan VK2GR

#5460C
#782358

If your details are NOT listed above and you wish to have your details
Registered now is the time to let me know.
This will be the last email that | will send out to ALL SKCC

Members

in the

OC region as | am fully aware that un-solicited emails are very annoying.
| have compiled a separate email list of OC SKCC
Registered for the 2025

members

who have

K3Y, | will use this new list exclusively for future

emails regarding the 2025

K3Y.

| have attached the SKCC

K3Y - 2025

Non US Operators Guide for your

perusal. To make sense of this Guide, | suggest you also read the Users’
Guide, which you’ll find in the K3Y Index at the top of the K3Y webpage
https://skccgroup.com/k3y/
To register for the 2025
The 2025

K3Y event, please email me at vk4je@vk4je.com

K3Y Map is now available to view here: | have noted that VK2RU

is out of place and requested a fix.
| hope you will find the time and courage to participate to some degree in
this annual event. For those that feel they are not ready to take to the Air
Waves this will be a fantastic time to practice your receiving skills.
If you have any questions regarding the 2025 K3Y event, please do not
hesitate to contact me.

Cheers,

Ron VK4JE
SKCC # 24961
SKCC

K3Y 2025

OC

Coordinator

vk4je@vk4je.com

73 Ron VK4JE
Maleny. Queensland. Australia.

Can anyone

lend

Beth VK2A0

a hand?

Hi Mark,

| have moved to Lithgow and keen to get an antenna
| am in need of assistance and wondered

up and Morse going.

if you could put the word out and

ask if anyone could spare a Saturday or week day to help me put an all
band inverted V up and a pole to put it up in the air.

| would

be willing to pay for their time and put a lunch on with a beer or

two.

Cheers,
Elizabeth
beth.langley@bigpond.com
[Can anyone helo Beth get back on air?

If so, please send her an email;

also have her phone number if you'd prefer to call her direct.

|

Thanks in

advance - I’m really looking forward to hearing Beth back on air on CW.
We have three other YL members and it’d be terrific to attract some more
to the simple pleasures of QRS CW.]

Portable
From

in New

Zealand

David VK3DBD

Hi Mark,
Tues is not often a convenient evening for me to spend

much time on

the radio
However | have managed

the odd contact

either late or early and over a

period of time | really do think some of the ops who were struggling with
anything other than grs

are improving.

mean

even 10 mins sessions can make fast progress

daily or twice daily

regulate practice of rx and |

very quickly.
This tues

| will do my best to be qrv on 40m _ and even on 20m.

Kerikeri,

far north of ZL

and will be signing

| have 100 watts from my K3
air.

But

| amin

VK3DBD/ZL

and at the moment just a 40m

dipole in the

to my surprise it will load up on several other bands

using the

very effective built in AMU

in the K3

| even had a 559 x 2 way with a French stn

two days ago on 20m

and that

is about the worst combination you can have. It just ought not to happen.
benees but it worked!
also

Once again on Tues eve | will be looking on 40 and

20m for the hardy folk in UK and across the channel who are

prepared to forsake their comfortable beds and brave the

cool winter wx

early mornings.

| will be in this location for approx 8
weeks... during that period the
antenna

might even get a face lift

(or at least an addition )of another
band or two
73

David

VK3DBD /G3SCD/ ZL .
Member of :-

Fists, SKCC, G-QRP,

FOC, RAOTA,

RAOTC

[Thanks David.

Palm

Radio

from

Pete ZL4TE

(vk)

Terrific to work you from Kerikerl on Tuesday. ]

Keys

Have 3 new keys, all original Palm Radio keys.
paddle and a Pico Paddle.

A straight key, single lever

| also have had the dual paddle for some years.

They were made

in Germany

and really are great keys.

hens teeth and they don't come

up often on second

They are rare as

hand sites.

They are

rugged and superbly engineered.
I'm popping over to Melbourne for 3 days, between

Christmas and New

Year to keep the fregent flyer miles up as I'm off to Europe next
December.
You are the only contact | made or heard this week.
Have a great holiday and new year
73s
Pete
[Thanks Pete - good to chat with you again on Tuesday;
nice time in Melbourne;

hope you have a

Elizabeth and | were there last week on our way

home on our public transport only trip to Lorne on the Great Ocean Road
and Portarlington on the South end of Port Philio Bay;

pity our paths

couldn't have crossed!]

And

Finally...

The Christmas / New Year period is promoted

as being peaceful and full of

joy for people in the Western world.

However, the reality is that for
many

people, it can be a really

difficult and lonely time.

Associated

with this is an increase in family and
domestic violence.

For victims of

family and domestic violence, the
traditional Christmas shutdown
presents a chilling reality. While

many companies close their doors

for weeks, this enforced isolation

Not Such a Happy Holiday for FDV Households
Sooner tarrliss ORS

from support networks can heighten
fear and

anxiety for those trapped

in abusive environments.

Click on the image

above for more information.
Geoff Hard-Davies VK6HD
CEO

of the Stronaer

is one of our founding team

Families

oraanisation

in Western

members

and is the

Australia.

Stronaer

rg

me

Families is a non-religious
become

wry

ewe

me

i

ee

eee

~~ évttgé:

not for profit organisation that is helping men

better dads and preventing family and domestic violence through

evidence based support programs.
info@strongerfamilies.com.au_

Contact Geoff

if you'd like to find out more about this

important initiative.

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 via DTMF codes, or you can

connect via Echolink.

On Echolink, search for one of the following Nodes:

e *VK6-HUB*
e VK6ZGN-L
e VK6RMH-R
Let me know (cggrsnet@gmail.com)
or Echolink.

if | can help with connecting via AllStar

If you’re in WA and can’t connect, give Richard a call on

3605kHz SSB from 0700 (23002).
Teamwork

Thank you so much to our team of 18 contributors this week:

DL3YZ,

MONNK, VK1DA, VK2A0, VK2NNW,

VK3ECH,

VK3ACU, VK3AFH, VK3DBD,

VK4JE, VK5CZ, VK5ET, VK6HD, VK6HRC,
ZL4TE.

Thank you team.

VK6JDM, VK6RR, VK7KPC,

and

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,

i

——

Waa

oS

a

Words were passed by pounding brass,

aa

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

°C

Ao

Coordinated

Crrinn

opr

Ag

=

wae

Arak

@,

.

ian nae)

Va yi igi it ovaVi

Universal Time

Western Australia Time

1g

hides

eet

= F ton

limetabie

0700z to 1300z
UTC

+ 8 Hours

1500 to 2100

Australia

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

Time

|

/

0700z to 0900z

40m

7020kKHz - 7040kHz

40m

7020kHz

- 7040kHz

80m

3540kHz

- 3570kHz

80m

3540kHz

- 3570kHz

Wednesday (VK/ZL)

2200z - 2300z

0900z to 1100z
0900z to 1300z

Post Morsum

Frequency

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

ere

lona ie

mailchimp

members.

or unsubscribe