Past

Issues

Translate

View this email

CQQRS

8:56 00a:

in your browser

RagChew

Edition

2/2025

oleh)

“£90m Event

RSS

ales tela del ts

* Stan ZL3TK

* DL3YZ Mike

e The flesh was willing - but....
ea

Danarte

fuam

Tiacdawle

COADC

nat

ING VV

Ketut and the guy rope

TIVE

Ppumouay

Vewwns

e Yet another First
CW QSO
e

Let’s all listen to Richard

Rag chews

Near-miss for Doctor

HNY

make

DX & Zoom

Post Morsum

Simple

Tut

on our net

us happy
Donald

Report

Portable Antenna

Couplers

e The Variductor Contraption
e

End-fed

half-wave

long wire for 40/80m

e
e

Portshead Radio GKA Celebration
External DSP Audio Filter

Morse training

Prosign

RUOK?

PARG

Brain Teaser

Di-dah-di-dah-dit

net

Crossword

Raffle and

PARGFEST

e About the CQ QRS

Group

On Monday, the Bureau of Meteorology Space Weather Services issued the
following warning:
@

SUBJ: ASWFC

HF RADIO COMMUNICATIONS

WARNING

25/05

ISSUED AT 2204UT/06 JANUARY 2025
BY THE AUSTRALIAN

SPACE WEATHER

FORECASTING

CENTRE.

Sunspot region AR3947 continues to be a magnetically complex
and flare active region. This sunspot may produce further solar
flares over the next few days. Shortwave fadeouts are possible.

DEGRADED
FROM

HF PROPAGATION

CONDITIONS

EXPECTED

07-09 JANUARY 2025

IF COMMS

DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED TRY A HIGHER FREQUENCY

SOLAR ACTIVITY FORECAST

HF COMMS

07 Jan:

R1-R2, chance R3

Possible

08 Jan:

R1-R2, chance R3

Possible

09 Jan:

R1-R2, chance R3

Possible

BAND

FADEOUTS

Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
ASWFC@bom.gov.au
www.bom.gov.au

| www.sws.bom.gov.au

The prediction was correct - band conditions were pretty average on
Tuesday for our CQQRS

Practice QSO

activity... and thunderstorms
problems.

net.

There was also a bit of auroral

in both the East and West added to the

Never-the-less, although

| didn’t hear as many stations as

normal for our nets, the reports below indicate that the flesh was willing,
but the conditions were not.

Great to see that lots of folks were back on

this week - 60 stations were heard on air;

thanks to everyone who gave it

a try.

And a huge thank you to half of our European

contingent, Ross MONNK and

Mike DL3YZ for organising an innovative and really successful

Happy New

Year event on January 2nd.
Last Tuesday’s

Group

Here’s this week’s

CQQRS Team
Member

See below for more.

list of the 60 stations

Qso 1

Qso 2

Qso 3

heard:

Qso 4

qQso5

QsO6

VK4PN

VK5A0

VKSCZ

QSO7

Qso 8

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

VK3ADX

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

Worked 40m
Heard on air
Heard on air
Heard on air
Worked 40m
Worked 40m
Tried 40m

Heard40m | VKIPWE | VK2ASB | VK3TBR |
Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Heard 40m
Heard on air
Heard on air
Heard on air
Heard on air
Worked 40m
Heard 40m

VK6HRC

Worked 80m
Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Tried 40m
Worked 80m
Heard 40m
Heard 40m
Tried 40m
Worked 40m

VKSCZ | VK3BWN

Worked 40m
Heard 40m

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

Masthead

Image

And thanks this week to David VK6KD

portable near Mansfield in the

Victorian High Country for the screenshot from his phone of some of the
participants in our HNY 20m / Zoom
more.

event on Thursday.

See below for

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 (Eastern Australian time) on Thursday.
help attract new and old team

Please

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 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 Daniel VK6WE

at Cottesloe

[40m]
e There was a chat underway

between VK6GX

and VK6HRC

when

| tuned in

but
nothing else showing on the waterfall.

| called CQ several times with no

reply then monitored the two stations to the end of their qso.
VK6HRC,

then answered

my CQ immediately afterwards.

Richard,

Unfortunately the

band
had deteriorated by then and | had trouble decoding.
able
to exchange

RST and New Year greetings..

From Martin VK3FG

at Mt Waverley Vic

However we were

[40m]
e A good mix of speeds.
¢ Good fun tonight.
e Tks fer your good work.

Regards,
Martin VK3FG

From

Ketut VK3BWN

at Keilor East

[40m]
e | was setting up for the CQ QRS evening

but alas my antenna

rope broke.

So
| had to run around

maneuvering

a new rope in place. Boy it was quite an

endeavor. Thankfully | was able to make

it on time. Had a great QSO with

Scott who speak good Indonesian. So it was nice to hear Indonesian
again. Tuesday evening

in CW

is always fun! Thanks guys..

[Terima kasih Ketut - bagus!]

From Clint VK2TIG

at North Sydney

[40m]
e Many thanks to VK4PN, Sava for my first very short QSO

| managed

complete along with QSB conditions.
[Wow - congratulations Clint for your very first CW QSO
cap, and another in the CQQRS Net’s cap!
award Is on it’s way!

- feather in your

The coveted First CW QSO

And congratulations also to Sava for hosting the

QSO.]/]

From

Peter VK5KPC

visiting

Aldinga SA

Peter’s excuse for missing this
week’s CQQRS

net

—>

Sorry distracted at Grandson's birthday dinner.

From

David VK6KD/3

at Alexandra Vic - Brooks river reserve camp

ground

Filter

‘

oe
Aloxenciare

m6)

(40m)

e After switching my Starlink
240vac-30vdc switch mode pwr

supply off, my QRM dropped by
Q

“Maps tan

80%.

Sanses:

e Lots of static crashes heard on
40m..

[80m]
e Like a broken record, I'm still having issues with tx on 80m. Sometimes
the
rig works, sometimes shuts down. Still more testing required, hihi..
[Hard work trouble-shooting when you're on the road!

Perhaps if a reader

sees you're in their area David, there might be an opportunity for some
basic testing using a dummy load to replace the automatic coupler?]

From Mike

DL3YZ

at Stuttgart

[40m]
¢ Hello and happy new year to all of you

! Today | was just doing some

SWLing
on the great Ironstone SDR for some
normal

From

minutes, as things are getting back to

business here. Have a great week,

Tim

Barnett

VK3TBR

at Horsham,

Mike..

Vic

, emu
72

ry
‘

[40m]
e After a bit of a hiatus due to
work/family commitments,
managed

to join in again.

¢ Had a lovely long ragchew with
Arthur, VK2ASB.
¢ Great to see the CW portion
lighting up, as always.
Cheers all, Happy New Year & 73.

From Roy VK6RR

at Geraldton

[40m]
¢ Solar wind noise, and had household

"duties" interruptions so had to

leave
early!

From Wayne

VK6NW

at Bridgetown, WA

[40m]
¢ Conditions were poor on 40m,

of QSB on the signals.

lots

[80m]
e No stations heard on 80m,

| called

CQ from about 1145z for about
30mins but
no success In landing a catch.

From Richard VK6HRC

at Padbury

[40m]
e Was calling and at least three stations came
managed

back to me at once!

But!

to pull one callsign out and keep going ... would have not been

possible for me not so long ago, thanks to all on the QRS net for the
Support making this happen.
[80m]
e Very quiet locally, fortunately Peter VK6IS came

up for a nice exchange..

[Heh heh - check out how many people listened to you on air Richard! ]

From Arthur VK2ASB

at Wentworth

Falls

[40m]
e After a frenetic day | was not really in the mood to QSO
call which was answered

but | put out a

by Tim VkK3TBR and we enjoyed a really pleasant

conversation followed by an equally pleasant conversation with Manny
VK3DRQ.

One thing | will mention

If you must tune up, move

is, people tuning up on QSOs

in progress.

1KHz above or below the signal to avoid

interfering. LKHz is not going to make

much

difference to your SWR..

[l’d request 5kHz up if possible Arthur - for those of us with rather broad
receivers!

Then again, you might be slipping into someone else’s QSO...

perhaps 2.5 or 3kKHz up, or even better, go down 1 to 1.5kHz to tune up;
most of today’s transceivers use a USB receiver for CW (irrespective of the
band in use), and with a 700 to 8OOHz tone frequency,

the lower passband

cut-off will be 400 to 500Hz below the carrier frequency.

So if you tune up

1.5kHz below the QSO, chances are you'll do less harm and be considered
a gentleman or lady of the airwaves. ]

From Greg VK5KFG

at Willunga

[40m]
¢ Good to hear 40m

nice and lively.

Best wishes for the New Year to all
on
CQQRSNET.
[80m]
¢ Nothing on 80 whenever | checked
except a fair bit of QRM.

From your editor Mark VK2KI

at Beautiful South Bowning

NSW

[40m]
e After a hard day of bottling 2022 Shiraz at friend's vineyard, | took my
blackened fingers (red wine turns black on skin when

it oxidises and is

really difficult to remove - imagine what your insides must be like??) to
the key for a bit of QRS fun.

| was late to the party again, but was

rewarded with a nice chat with Jordan VK3ACU

at Meredith..

e After dindins, | had a bit of a rag
chew with Greg VK5KFG

Willunga, just
South of McLaren Vale - another
wine-growing area as it turns out.

was
watching the VK1LCM and VK6QS
KiwiSDRs in parallel, and could see
that

the Bureau of Meteorology Space Weather Service's prediction of a solar
flare
affecting propagation was correct this time;
marginal.

signals across Australia were

Greg had an S7 signal into WA, but my signal was marginal at

best..
e When

| finished up with Greg, | was called by David VK6KD

beautiful Alexandra Victoria.

Although

portable at

not strong, David's signal was

steady and we enjoyed a nice chat once again..
[80m]
e | slipped down to 80m

after 1100z;

there were no signals visible on

either
the WA and ACT KiwiSDRs.

Unusually for that time of night, my signal in

WA
was pretty weak;

in-turn, my CQs went un-answered this week..

Also from your editor Mark VK6QI

via the VK6QS

KiwiSDR near Brookton

[40m]
e | had time for only a quick listen on 40m

early in the evening;

a few stations on, but | only decoded the one QSO
VK6HRC

and

Phil VK6GX;

between

there were

Richard

sounds like | wasn’t the only one

eavesdropping!
[80m]
¢ 80m was full of static crashes this week, and although
transmission from NSW

| could hear my

late in the evening, it wasn't as strong as usual,

and | couldn't see anyone else on at that time..

From Manny VK3DRQ

at Blackburn

[40m]
e It seems to me that some operators are still on holidays. Not many were
heard. None from the West. And since early this morning was my first
medical appointment for 2K25, | decided to hit the sack early..
e Nevertheless, it was a short but enjoyable time.
e To everyone,

73&77 from

Manny..

From Peter VK6IS

at Wundowie

[40m]
e mostly local stations, were heard, this week..
[80m]
e some extra station were heard, om 80m, this week..
e no extra curricular activities, this week..

e the higher bands have seen some activity, this week,.
¢ but, nothing was worked..

From

Mathew

V VK3AFH

at Wantirna

[40m]

¢ Heard a couple of quick QSOs
early on, and some

longer ones

after dinner. |
got drawn

into listening to the long

ragchews and was happy to see
that
despite the errors/typos | made

(I've

found I'm faster typing than
writing), by the power of the English
language

it still made sense

(mostly). My new efhw seems to be

working as well, so was a good
From lan VK7TA

night!.

at Latrobe

[40m]
e Around

1830 the band was in poor shape, but when

| returned after

dinner
things were better..

From Wal VK2WP

at Bathurst NSW

[40m]
¢ Bathurst hammered

by storm cells one after the other so that was the

end of
on air activities. Another time..

From Donald VK6JDM

20 km west of Esperance WA

[40m]
e No one heard me this week, but | had a great receiving practice session
with

plenty of lighting to make

it a challenge.

| had to shut down

early due to lighting
closing in and next day had a near miss near the house with a lightning
ground strike, tree copped

it not the towers.

[80m]
¢e Did not get heard on 80m either, but more receiving practice for a couple
of hours before the storm arrived.
e Will be on again next week then tied up in Kal for three weeks of setting
up the year's teaching. 73.

HNY

Event - Thursday January

from

the editor VK2KI

2nd

Congratulations to Mike DL3YZ and Ross MONNK for organising our Happy
New Year 20m

DX and Zoom

event.

| heard the following stations sending “HNY de [callsign]” on the 20m

HNY

calling frequency at five minute intervals until acknowledged:
e

Ron VK6KHZ

at Yangebup

e Stan ZL3TK at Waitarere Beach
e

Mike DL3YZ near Stuttgart

Peter VK6IS at Wundowie

Manny VK3DRQ

lan VK5CZ at Clare

Roy VKO6RR at Geraldton

David VK3/VK6KD

Daniel VK6WE

David ZL/VK3DBD

at Blackburn

South of Mansfield

at Cottesloe
at Kerikeri!

There were bound to be others who | couldn’t hear sending their simple
HNY calls.
| also heard HNY exchanges with Mike DL3YZ at the meadows

clubhouse

with:
e Stan ZL3TK
e

Manny VK3DRQ

me VK2KI

and

| hope we'll get a full report from
Mike and Ross about who they
heard and worked through all the
European QRM.
Mike reported via the Zoom
videoconference that once again he
had to trudge through the mud
From

Ross:

20m

busy with

European

stations during

foot

for

about

kilometre

Ca rrying

our HNY event

all his gear, along with a heater on a

muddy track that Mike tried to get

huge gas bottle and an Aussie flag.
This was the same

through in his car a few weeks
ago, and ended

up Naving to

abandon the bogged vehicle, and
scrounge a lift home from a local
farmer until the car could be
recovered.

Check out the gear

that he lugged up there outstanding effort Mike.

lt was terrific to see so many of the team on Zoom

- great idea!

Unfortunately, several of our team were unsuccessful at connecting to the
meeting.
e

Roy VKORR

up at Geraldton reported that for some

get on to the Zoom

meeting.

does a lot of Zoom

conferences,

e And David VK3DBD

at moment)

but missed out this time.

portable at Kerikeri in the North Island of Far

Eastern Australia reported:
EU contingents

reason he couldn't

Normally he’s able to connect as he

| was Intrigued by the postings about the

experiments on 20m.

watching the freq

| spent some time

around that

(here in ZL

stated as 14060.5 ( If

that was not a typo meaning

14065?

But that alone was nota

problem, on my dipoles here.

| currently have two for 20m

in different

places as an experiment in locations due to a distinct lack of signals
over the last 3 weeks. | did hear the odd signal pop out of the QSB for
brief seconds but nothing readable - disappointing indeed. Best DX
on 20

logged lately from here has been France, Switzerland, Italy and

Spain, but very little heard indeed on Thursday.
been interested in Zoom

Having

never used or

| did in fact try the link supplied.

The

apparent complexity of it put me off ever dabbling in such things
again;

might as well have been written in Chinese.

Wil be QRV

again on next Tues’ session | hope - straight key Morse only (KISS).
73 David VK3DBD/ZL
[Bad luck about 20m;

yes the frequency was 14060.5kHz.

| heard

you a couple of times calling and alerted Mike on Zoom - but he could
hear nothing of you, nor any of the VK6s as it turned out.

However,

he did get through to Stan at the South end of the North Island
perhaps 3/4 hour earlier;

the band may have closed.

Happy to do

some testing on 20m between your antennas some time David - or
perhaps do something on Tuesday night so you get other reports from
the team as well?

Thoughts about Zoom.

Once it's set up, it works

very well.... here's a thought... perhaps ask the people you're staying
with (your daughter | think) to help you set Zoom

up on your phone.

Once set up, you can use It to stay in touch with them when you're
back in Australia.

The free subscription gives you 45 minutes at a

time - perfect for a family get-together;

the paid version is unlimited.

| know of others who have found that once set up, Zoom Is just
fantastic to stay in touch with distant family;
in our group could do the same

perhaps you and others

with your family and fellow QRSers?]

So congratulations to Ross and Mike for this excellent initiative, and to the
on-air and on-Zoom

Post Morsum

participants - outstanding work all around.

Report

The gremlins were at it again on
Wednesday

morning.

All but one of

the Echolink gateways

into the WA

AllStar network were down - so the
AllStar node owned
VK6NRA

by David

at Port Headland was

working overtime.

Then to add to

the troubles, Richard our Post

Morsum

net controller was calling, calling, calling on the VK6RLM

repeater in Perth.... but the link into the AllStar network was also down...
sO no One outside the Perth metro could hear him.
However,

on the bits of the WA AllStar network that was working, the rest

of the team discussed the Tuesday net.
Alexandra

North East of Melbourne

and chatted to Max VK6FN

David VK6KD

at Manjimup, Wayne VK6NW

Chris VK2NAP at Marrickville and Mark VK6QI
Most reported that 40m

and 80m

portable at

became the surrogate Net Controller,
at Bridgetown,

mobile in Canberra.

band conditions weren’t good and the

static crashes were bad - but they all had fun on Tuesday never-the-less.

This Week’s Topic of
interest
Simple

Portable Antenna
from

Last week’s RagChew

Couplers

Geoff VK6HD

included images of a couple of the simple portable

antenna couplers that I’ve built.

Here’s some

more information on them.

Peter VK3YE’s Amateur Radio page
httos://vk3ye.com/projects/projcoupler.Atm
has information collected about a number of simple coupler designs.

=) Seem Wie
Antenna

Radio

There are a number of projects on

3YE

this page - | used the “very small

vouplers

L Match antenna coupler “ asa
guide.

galore!

POWERTEG

Pa ie iT)

FL!

Lithium Deep-Cycie Batte

| recall Mark (quite rightly)
warning

me against using the

axial inductors which don’t have
Known electromagnetic
characteristics and may be lossy,
but they are still going strong admittedly only QRP levels.

QRP L-match Project

| Bae em

Andrew VK1AD
15 watt QAP HF L-matcn for portable operations. Peter VASYE published a ORP /¢ MHz
to 52 Mrz (40m to 6m) L-network ATU project and circuit diagram in VK'’s Amateur Radio

magazine , Edition 5, May 2017. | have constructed the L-match ATU and added a Sth
inductor L5 4uH for matching on 3.6 MHz (S0m).

All credits to VASYE

and Amateur Radio maaazine. Edition 5. Mav 2017.

;

CCST

Aue power off

™

wdLR
—

VKGYE 40m L-match ATU circuit diagram

L-match antenna coupler
32 tunis
ts

22 torn
r04

16 turns

11 tures
1

10 140 pF

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the L-match antenna coupler.
AR May

17 — VK3SYE L-match Gircult Diagram

And credit to VK1AD for adding the 5th inductor to get 80m
https://vk Lnam.wordpress.com/2019/09/15/qrp-l-match-project/
[Thanks Geoff.

Now we just need to drag you out kicking and screaming to

a convenient nearby park on a Tuesday evening for some QRS fun again!]
I’m always on the lookout articles from team
interest to readers.
and ideas;

members that might be of

Please let me know so we can share more thoughts

email to cggrsnet@gmail.com

My Workbench

Variductor Contraption
From

Ketut VK3BWN

| thought | ‘d share with you the photo of a contraption that has been
keeping me busy over the holidays.

Just an FYI in case someone

to replicate this simple variable inductor and use it for some

may want

radio projects.

This is a variable inductor (I call it
“variductor contraption").

It uses an

M4 screw in a plastic project box.
Copper wire is 0.8mm
Is wound

on 20mm

diameter and

dia (electrical)

PVC pipe. It is not a roller inductor
but | think it works reasonably OK (a
bit noisy when we turn the dial).

Here is a more detailed picture of the slider. The slider is made of a thin
metal piece bent around

in the shape of the greek letter Omega.

The slider has a PCB witha “probe”
soldered on loil The probe makes
connectionfo the “tap” surface of the

The slider has another piece of metal
soldered to work as a spring to push
down the probe assembly

coil.

TTT |

i HN

POT

The slider has a piece that extends ip
the backwall of the box. This piece hold
the assembly so the nutcan stay when
the screw ts rotated.

,
M4 screw,80mmilong

|—

There is an M4 nut glued inside the slider and the legs of the letter Omega
are extended to the back wall. This holds the screw preventing

it from

turning as we turn the screw. The slider has a spring made of the same
metal sheet. At the end of the spring is a PCB that provides isolation from
the probe. The probe is the one making contact with the surface of the coil.
The coil itself is made of 0.8mm

enamelled

copper wire. | scrape the

surface of the coil so the probe can make contact.
| can see on my VNA that the $21 measurement

(with a LOOpF capacitor

helper in parallel) runs across the screen as | turn the dial albeit a bit noisy
as the probe slides across the coi. However, we can see in whichever
application that we use (eg. antenna tuner, VNA, et) when the coil is
making good contact with the probe.
This is still a work in progress but | think this "Variductor Contraption"

usable at this point.
Building this contraption does provide a lot of entertainment,
will continue this project with some

HIHI.

Maybe

kind of symmetrical antenna tuner.

Thanks

Sincerely
Ketut, VK3BWN

[Thanks mate

- good

coupler perhaps?]

work.

| look forward to the next step - a nice antenna

Shack

From

VK3TBR

—

a
‘ +
a ;

—

r
=r!

—
aa

an a

yD bel bole

ym) im

——

—

oe
hb hha alelelieth lh

a) 4

wees7

——e

at Horsham

- OR:

Tim’s

e
Cal
oo
il
~
e
o

—

———s
—
x

| ol

——
ad

tind

ae
=F

a
e,

4
_
at

“a
~

;

And thanks this week to Tim VK3TBR’s sister for this terrific Image of Tim in
his shack.

Tim’s been busy recently and hasn't been on the net as much

as he'd like - so it was good that he was able to join in again on Tuesday.
Wonder what that thing hanging on the left hand side of the IC-7100 Is
for?

End-Fed
from

Half Wave

Mathew

VK3AFH

The 40/80m

End-Fed

for 40m

& 80m

Half Wave

long wire was originally going to be an

wih,

inverted-V, but raised at one end.

| have speaker wire held up with a
squid pole, and the BALUN

is near

the ground.
| cut and tuned the 40m

band

section to length (repeatedly

)

raising and lowering while

ih
Pt:
rs
a
Bl Fal.
ages
ae a
wha

checking the nanovna, - fun
| then added a coil (the

oe ,

times).

ogee

black thing) that | built with
enamelled copper wire, coiled
around the plastic spool the wire
Came on. | then added

the last length for 80m

band with fold-back (lazier option than cutting at

that point). Not sure on the exact lengths or coil inductance it ended
| did some

up as,

rough calculations at the start and went from there.

Seems to pick up more than | could before (plus it gives me all the HF
bands | can use in one), but always interested to hear what | should try

instead
Happy new year to all.

I’m looking forward to getting some

logged this year... my confidence has been growing!

more CW QSOs

Feel free to let me

Know if there are any queries or if you want me to come

back with some

better pictures/measurements ©
[Thanks Mathew - good job;

life’s good with a nanoVNA

eh?

I'll be

interested to see how it performs in the weeks ahead compared to your
previous antenna (a long wire helically-wound on a sguid pole | think?]

Other

Other things

Portshead
From

News

I’ve received from

our 200-odd

readers.

Radio GKA

Roy VK6ORR

https://www.facebook.com/share/
p/1XkHot|WNE/

4 Safaris

3:03pm

portisheadradio.c...

AO 75% a)

PORTISHEAD2
RADIO™
~
GKA
—_—_

™

A website celebratine
i)

Srv att

May. @-

the world's largest longeaet= Mirela nda l- mee

communications eT}

External

DSP Audio

GKA
HNY

GKA

Filter

From Ross MONNK:

“ry
DSP

Audio

Noise

See this video regarding a Xiegu
audio filter.

Cancellator & Filter

https://youtu.be/LkWDdclimjZg?
Si=v2pzyOE75EIK24Rm
>

009/925-inod

fe}

CI)

Looks like it might be just the job for old school radios without a CW filter.
Ross
[Thanks Ross.

Garry Cratt VK2YBX at Tecsun Radios Australia lent me one

of the Xiegu DSP audio noise filters for evaluation on CW.

| tested it some

time ago on my Kenwood TS-50 which already had a narrow CW

filter

(before it developed an unrelated fault, and had to be added to the repair
skyscraper pile).

On the narrow receiver, the filter was somewhat

redundant - the receiver had already rejected signals outside the narrow
CW passband.

| didn’t test the unit on SSB (ess-ess-what?), but

interestingly on CW, the continuous CW tones totally confused the digital
processor;

| think the Digital Signal Processor treated the tomes as

unwanted heterodynes, and notched them out automatically.

Terrific for

phone in a crowded band with people tuning up, carriers from broadcast
stations and out-of band front-end overloads etc, but not good for CW!

The

filter was effective at completely notching out even desired CW signals!

I’d

packed the box up ready to send back to Garry, but Ross’ note has
reminded me that | should give it a try on my 3kHz wide-as-a-barn-door TS1205S, to see if it handles things better on that one.]

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.
One of the many
e

listeners on Wednesday:

| have been following the activity fromVK7TAZ

on Wednesdays

for a

fair while now. | make use of the SDR in Stowport normally but would
like to try the audio stream to see how it compares.

It is only recently

that | have installed Discord and have been kept in the loop thanks to
Jordan, Keiran and

Phil enabling me to log on.

So with our QRS net

and Nic's net | am spoiled by being exposed to a lively and
encouraging CW community.

And Nic’s Icom 706 topic is very

interesting to me as | have one and hope to keep it in good condition.
Stay safe
Richard
VK6HRC
Contact Nic VK7WW
DISCORD

for more info about the Slow CW training net and the

chat: nicholaschantler@hotmail.com - or just join in every

Wednesday

on 3580kHz at 0800z.

Prosign
from

Wikipedia definition:

Crossword

Kees VK1KVSS

and

Hermann

VK2IXV

Procedural signs or prosigns are shorthand signals

used in Morse code telegraphy, for the purpose of simplifying and
standardizing procedural

protocols for landline and radio communication.

The procedural signs are distinct from conventional

Morse code

abbreviations, which consist mainly of brevity codes that convey messages
to other parties with greater speed and accuracy. However,

some codes

are used both as prosigns and as single letters or punctuation

marks, and

for those, the distinction between

is ambiguous,

even in context.

a prosign and abbreviation

eee

Across

Message about to begin
Unknown

station (NATO

use)

Stand by, wait

End of contact
All received OK
End of contact
Invite a specific station to transmit
All between

Down

Invite receiving station to transmit
All after
End of message
Understood;

verified

Understood;

verified

End of transmission - only called station to respond
Pause;

Break for commencing

transmission of text

How did you go?

Straight Key Century

Club - Straight Key

Month

- January

2025

Rae MEX

Welcome to Straight Key Month 2025!

Straight Key Month
User's Guide
Sweeps & Stats
Op
Schedule

(Calendar)

Op Schedule (List)
NON-US

None sele...

US Operators Guide

Operator's

Guide
Log Search
QSL Design Contest

Easy

Area

SPC

‘

Mop
Maker

None sele...

i
°

C®
ASA

©)

QSL Card Request

Atlas

Annual
Print
Calendar
Operator Certificate
Sweep

;

Certificate

Admin Login

‘

Coordinators’
Emails:

(Schedule Request)
Please use "K3Y" in
the subject line to

= Keyboard shortcuts

asos: F¥e=<50 Pm=50+

1000 km:

, Terms

w= 100+ 9 a= 250+ ? a= 500+

Y = 000+
SKCC SKM STATIONS JAN 2025 Locations are appproximate to ci
centers. Click on ethers for info.
ene pe calee
3172) or Op List. View
the full-sized map.

avoid spam filters.

Call Distric
=
K3Y-0:
ADOAB,

Starting on January 2nd SKCC members around the world will be
operating special event CW stations using only straight key, bug and

Nava
ae 10
K3Y-2: AF2Z
K3Y-3: AF3Z,AC2C
AH6AX,

cootie keys. These three Key types are the original instruments of early
radiotelegraphy, which this event celebrates. This is our 19th Straight Key
Month event and the 19th anniversary of SKCC.

fais

WID\,

areas using call signs K3Y/0 through K3Y/9, plus K3Y/KH6, K3Y/KL7 and

pee

KJ7GNS,

KSEW

K3Y-5: ADSVC
K3Y-6: A/GW

NITX

Official event stations in US jurisdictions will operate from 13 regional call

K3Y/KP4. Additionally, S{CC members from various countries in six IARU
continental regions will participate as special event stations using their

wn call signs and sending "CQ SKM". All event stations are listed on the
Operator Map and in the Op Schedules (see Index links).

Click on the image or contact Ron VK4JE the SKCC K3Y 2025 OC
Coordinator vk4je@vk4je.com for more info

RUOK?
Life's ups and downs

happen to all of us. People can experience things like

relationship breakdowns, financial difficulties, health issues or periods of
major change at work, home or in life.
The people in your world won’t always tell you if something’s troubling
them, so it’s important that you make asking, ‘are you OK?’ a part of your
everyday relationships with friends, family, teammates
The earlier you give someone

and colleagues.

an opportunity to open up to you, the sooner

they can find appropriate support or, if needed,

professional help and the

greater the chance that together, you can stop small problems from
becoming

bigger ones.

~
a

A
Ls
yp

1. Ask

2. Listen

Yon
| if
\

{|
an

3. Encourage
action

:
+,
Ss

SIMPLE STEPS THAT COULD CHANGE
4. Checkin

ALIFE

It’s not always easy to keep the

ROLEPLAY AN RU OK? CONVERSATION

conversation going when someone
Says they’re not OK, but it could
change a life. RUOK has released
interactive conversation

role-play

videos to help you

learn what to say after R U OK?

Click the image above then click play on

the video and choose one of the five scenarios to get started and learn
how to ask R U OK?, listen, encourage action and check in.
And if you suspect that you are not in a good space yourself, please
consider having a chat to a GP, me or one of the other CQQRS
friends with, or contact Beyond

team you're

Blue and have a chat by phone (1300 22

46 36) or on-line https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/talk-to-acounsellor/chat

ir Beyond
Blue

You can talk to the Beyond

Blue

Support Service whenever you need
brief telephone or online
counselling. We’re here to listen.
You might:

be having a really bad day
feel overwhelmed

and not know where to start

have diagnosed anxiety or depression
need help to support a partner, family member or friend.
Beyond

Blue can also help you find the right mental health services for you

if you need extra support.

Peel Amateur Radio Group

PARGFESTSwap-Meet

‘Saturday 15* February 2025
Mandurah

Bowling Club

89 Allnutt Street, Mandurah WA.

Doors Open:
0800 — Exhibitors & Sellers
0900 — 1230 Buyers
Entry Fee- $5.00 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

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:
httos://jwww.julesworkshop.net/Amateur%20Radio.html!
Foundation

Questions:

What is the difference between telegraphy and telephony?
What is the distress signal in telephony and telegraphy?
What is the urgency signal in telegraphy and telephony?
What are the three features in a receiver?
Signal reports can have three levels. What are they?
What is an RF burn and where can you get it?
What is an isotropic antenna?
Explain what SWR
If an antenna

is.

is cut for a frequency range the SWR

is higher only at the

bottom end of the amateur frequency band, what can you do to fix this?
If an antenna

is cut for a frequency range the SWR

is higher only at the top

end of the amateur frequency band, what can you do to fix this?
What

are the colours

of the wires

in a 240v

cable?

What is the purpose of the chassis earth?
To measure voltages at the power point, how would you set the multimeter
range?
Answers

next week.

Di-dah-di-dah-dit
Here

So back to the Slow CW QSO

Next Tuesday’s

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.

There's usually people around until after 1300z - so keep calling in the
segment of the band designated
someone.

in the table below until you catch

| 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.

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.
Hope to hear you there.

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 (Eastern

Australian time) 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 (22002) 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, if

you have an AllStar node (or you may be able to connect your local AllStarenabled

repeater to the net via DTIMF codes), connect to node 42482,

51077 or 42732 - these are the hubs that tie the network of repeaters and
nodes together in WA.

If you don’t have access to AllStar, you can connect

to the network via Echolink.
Nodes:
e *VK6-HUB*
LarsenaA

On Echolink, search for one of the following

VKOZGN-L

e VK6RMH-R
e VK6NRA-L

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 32 contributors:
VK1KVS, VK2ASB, VK2FG, VK2GAS,
VK3BWN,

VK3CTM, VK3DRQ,

DL3YZ,

MONNK,

VK1AD,

VK2IXV, VK2TIG, VK2WP, VK3AFH,

VK3FG, VK3JFP, VK3TBR, VK3YE, VK5A0O,

VK5CZ, VK5FD, VK5KFG, VK6HD, VK6HRC, VK6IS, VK6JDM, VK6KD/3,
VK6NW,

VK6RR, VK6WE,

VK7KPC, VK7TA.

Thank you team.

€U CW on Tuesday,

mb
Mark

Bosma

VK2KI / VK6QI
Beautiful South Bowning NSW
mark.bosma@icloud.com
non impediti ratione cogitationis

Ode

to CW

- thanks to David VK3RU:

In days of old, when ops were bold,
And sideband was not invented,

AINCan:
eee
a

te a

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

APC

Crrine

WJQHS spring
Coordinated

DMaulinht

Vaylight

Cauinn

saving

Universal Time

Western Australia Time

Timatahkhia

limetabile

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

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,

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.

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

QRS

Group

Newsletter.

Our mailing address is:

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You

can

update

your preferences

eran

anne inn

mailchimp

members.

or unsubscribe