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Day

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3/2025

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Selecting the HNY

Event

River’s Edge

Camp

Roughing

Bush

Frequency

it - Portable at Kerikeri

Wednesday

Morse Training

Practice CW Traffic Net

Brain Teaser

Net

Di-dah-di-dah-dit
About

the

QRS

Group

Interesting conditions on Tuesday's CQQRS
some experienced

Slow CW

Practice QSO

net;

reasonable propagation, others had a tough time.

didn't hear any of our ZL friends, and most signals out of WA didn't make
to the South Eastern end of Australia, let alone NZ.

activity from places DX which added to the challenge - a bit of QRM
our 20KHz 40m

There was also a bit of
made

slot pretty crowded - especially for people like me without

narrow receive filters.

| also checked twice to make sure my 80m

double

extended Zepp doublet and it’s flimsy 300 Ohm TV ribbon feeder was still
up after the recent storms.
Anyway,

despite the challenges, we had a reasonable turn-out - not the

usual 60+ stations, but enough to keep the activity interesting.

International

Morse

Code

Day

Quiz

It’s time to think again about this year’s International Morse Code Day quiz,
held via Zoom

tn April.

Richard VK6PZT has been running these events

each year, and the participants all had a scream - great fun.

The event is

anything but a serious event - It’s about having fun, not showing
much you do or don’t know.

However,

up how

I'd

like your feedback about whether
or not youll have a go this year if
we do run it again.

Please let me

Know by email to
cgarsnet@gqmail.com

CQORS

Corroboree

I'd also like Opinions on whether or not to run another CQQRS
a simple contest aimed to encourage

new operators to Nave a go - perhaps

just simple callsign, RST and serial number exchanges?
bit of fun and some CW exercise.

Corroboree -

No prizes, just a

Perhaps we might run It In conjunction

with, or as an alternative to the International Morse Code Day quiz?
Thoughts?

CQORS

cgarsnet@gmail.com

Website

I'm always looking at how we can reduce the length of the RagChew
newsletter - recognising that most subscribers just don't have the time to
wade through all those words!

Last weeks edition for instance - if you’d

printed it out one page per A4 sheet - you would Nave nelped destroy 35
pages worth of trees - most editions run to 35 to 45 pages!

However,

some of the information is repeated every week - particularly the info
about the net and the Post Morsum

- which would sit better on a website.

Are you interested in helping to set one of those up using say Google Sites
- which is a basic system that’s not too difficult to learn by doing?
Additionally or alternatively, do you already have a web hosting service
that you haven’t used all of the hosting slots and could donate one URL to
the team?

This shouldn’t cost you anything and the website would still be

physically located on the Google Site - you’d be donating one URL redirection (aka Web

Last Tuesday’s

Hosting).

Group

So back to this week’s

eA
team
Member

VK1DA/P

Heard on air

VK2DLF

VK2GAS
VK2GAS

VK2IOW

VK2KI
VK2KI

VK2KI

VK2NNW
VK2NNW
VK2TIG
VK2WP
VK2WP

Thoughts?

net;

here’s the list of the 48 stations

aso1 | aso2 | aso3 | aso4 | asos | asos | aso7 | asos

Heard on air

Heard40m | VK2NNW | VK3DRQ | VK2GBR |
Heard 40m
Heard on air
Worked 40m

VK3DRQ

Heard 40m

VK5A0

VK2KI

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

VKSKFG

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

Heard 40m

VK6BEK

Tried 40m
Tried 80m
Worked 40m

VK6HRC

Heard 40m

VK6HD

VK6MK

Worked 40m | VK6HRC

VK6IS

Worked 80m
Heard 80m

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

VK6JDM

heard:

Heard 40m
Tried 40m

VK2Kl

VK2GAS

VKOKD/3

Worked 40m

VK6HRC

VKZKI

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

40m

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

Masthead
And

Image

thanks this week to David VK3RU

for this nice shot of his antennas

Burwood.

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

Please help attract new and old team
your report each week.

members

to have a go by submitting

Submissions close lunch time (Eastern Australian

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 use the instructions to annotate which bit

applies to which band.

Cheers,
mb
Mark Bosma
VK2KI / VK6QI

Beautiful South Bowning

mark.bosma@icloud.com

NSW

non impediti ratione cogitationis

Reports

& Comments

Here’s this week’s

reports.

The spreadsheets above show the known stations on last Tuesday’s Group.
Comments

from the reports I’ve received follow:

Comments:

From Ketut VK3BWN

at Keilor East

[40m]
e My electronic keyer is being serviced+updated,

so | missed the CQ QRS

net

tonight. However,

| managed

to listen to the band and heard pretty good

amount of activity. Good job guys!

From Keiran VK3BTV
Nueva

at Bibiclat,

Ecija, Philippines

[40m]
e Sitting on our front porch ina
village in Northern

Philippines,

drinking
San Miguels and getting eaten by
mozzies

while waiting for my XYL

to return from

the market.

Listening via VK5PH

«Malolos City

5 ply

Ironstone

SDR.

From Donald VK6JDM

20km

west of Esperance

[40m]
e It was good to have QSO with the man who has led me down the path of
Morse
depravity.

Unfortunately the path was not great and a strong station came

Up
right on top of Mark.
¢e Apologies to Peter VK6IS - we managed

to connect but

| was interrupted and lost the contact. | was so sure that VK6KRC
join us tonight that when VK6HRC
you Richard (VK6HRC)

would

called | called him KRC in my reply. Mind

and | are both sure Bob KRC was somewhere there

in the
background

as he promised..

e Lots of stations to practice reception of Morse with..
e The keyed amp seems to be working OK - pushing

it just to 50 watts at

present as | finish it off. On the analyser it has 60 dB suppression of
backwave and all harmonics are 50+ dB down. On scope the keying looks
a
reasonable shape.

Hopefully it sounds OK to the receiving ear..

e Will miss next week but looks like | have the week after off, so excuses
have gone..
[Multiple examples of the proverbial leading horse to water in your report
Donald!]

From David VK6KD/3

at Echuca

VIC (Murray Riverside camp)
[40m]
e Very busy on 40m. Was hard to
find a clear frequ. Had to call ita
night
early as the mozzies were eating

alive,

hihl..

From Armin VK2GAS

at Norwest (Sydney)

[40m]
¢ Sorry Mark, you went down

into the noise during the QSO.

[All good Armin - thanks for the chat once again.]

From Wayne

VK6NW

at Bridgetown, WA

[40m]
¢ QSB on the band.

From Wal VK2WP

at Bathurst N.S.W

[40m]
e Usual storm static but signals generally good.

From

Richard VK6HRC

at Padbury

[40m]
¢ Band conditions not great - some QRM

but a fun night all the same,

thanks to
all..
[80m]
e Thanks to the operators that spared the time to come

From

Roy VK6RR

up..

at Geraldton

[40m]
e Another noisy band - not many

heard..
From

Manny

VK3DRQ

Blackburn
[40m]
e | was only on and off. The QRN
clashes were very strong, having
to ask
several times for rpts but
nevertheless, it was another well
enjoyed

night..

e My favourite SDR was out on
holidays, SO no many stations
were heard with
the NOISE and QRN..
¢ Thanks to all, 73&/77.

From

Peter VK6IS

at Wundowie

[40m]
¢ still mostly WAs on 40m this week.
[80m]
e an few stations on 80m this week,.
¢ but

not much

extra curricular activity. either, this week..

e and still have difficulties in getting into Perth, from this location...

From Daniel VK6WE

at Cottesloe

[40m]
e There were no signals when

tuned in about 5 pm and, having
other duties,
decided to try again later.
e At 7:30 | tried 80 metres with no
luck but found 40 metres was
tinkling with signals.
Unfortunately they were mostly
fairly weak and at speeds way
beyond

my decoding ability.

¢ As | was about to switch off
VKONW's signal sounded

loud and

clear at just the right speed.
answered

quickly and enjoyed a

QSO with Wayne.

Amazing

how a

recognisable signal lifts your
Spirits!.
[There you go Daniel - well said!]

From Geoff Hart-Davies VK6HD
at Mandurah
[40m]
¢ Very quiet on 40 and about S/
on 80.

From your editor Mark VK2KI

at Beautiful South Bowning

NSW

[40m]

e Interesting conditions on 40m
down

on Tuesday.

The band opened

up and

the

East coast and across to SA, but signals weren't strong here until later in
the evening.

There was plenty of DX operating in the designated segment,

particularly Japanese stations - which made things interesting with my
TS-120S with only a 3kHz filter..
e | chatted

to Armin

VK2GAS

at Norwest then Andrew

portable at
Mount

Coree

near Canberra..

e After taking a break for dinner |
came

back and was excited to

hear John VK3BSE;

John had

participated in our Corroborees
and International Morse Code Day
Quizzes in the past - so it was
terrific to hear him on again.
And as an added

bonus, John was

VK1LDA who

was

nied

operating portable up at Maryborough
Jamboree

using

in Queensland

at a Scout

an off-centre dipole - but he had a big signal into

Beautiful South Bowning.
e | was then called by Gerry VK3ZXC
with me

who had had his first ever CW QSO

on our net back in November;

the QSB - and could

however,

| was struggling with

only give him an RSN 232 report on peaks;

great

to hear Gerry on again..
e | came across Donald VK6JDM

West of Esperance calling CQ and testing

his
new amplifier at 50 Watts;

he was RSN 342 on QSB peaks, but despite

many
requests, | could only get bits and pieces of his report to me - sure
enough the QSB was Selective and the QRM

frequent!

Donald was the only

VK6
making

It across the Nullarbor this time..
e | rounded out the evening with
the regular chat with David
VK6KD/P, this time at
Echuca.

David's signals were

marginal, peaking at RSN 552
when the QSB and
QRM

allowed;

annoyed

like Donald,

David with multiple

requests for RPT
AGN

until | finally got it on a peak;

sorry to keep you out in the
mozzie zone mate.

Also from your editor Mark VK6QI

via the VK6QS

KiwiSDR near Brookton

[40m]
e Using the VK6QS
a good signal.

KiwiSDR,

| heard Wayne VK6NW

calling CQ with

So! decided to have a go with the VK6SR Southern

Electronics Group Remote

HF station at Bedfordale again.

it coupled to the antenna adequately,
respond to my Morse key?

Nope!

provides side-tone only - nothing.
up at Carnarvon;

Unlike last time,

but do you think | could get it to

| also tried the Test function which
Ok, let's try the SEG's VK6CRO

Remote

for the first time for yonks it wasn't being used for 6m

FT-8, but once again, | couldn't get the thing to key;

looks like | have a

problem with my serial-to-USB adapter that goes between the key and the
computer here.

Sorry, Wayne

e Later in the evening when
Maryborough,

- no luck this time!.

| was chatting to John VK3BSE/4 at

Saw that he was coming through to WA, but there was nothing from any of
the
other far Eastern staters further South, including me (VK2KI).
to

ponder why that was??
e A bit later though

| heard Shaun

VK6BEK up at Quinns Rock
chatting to MaityVK5A0O Interestingly Maity was marginal
copy on the SDR - yet Shaun who

Interesting

normally struggles with local
switch mode

power supply and

solar inverter noise was able to
work him; hopefully that meant
that Shaun was well on the way to
solving the noise problem
perhaps?

From

David

VK3RU

at Burwood.

[40m]

| looked around 40 and worked
old friend Drew VK3XU,

Peter VK3YE and then waited for my

but at changeover Drew was grabbed

by a

VK5 for a long chat.
e So | tuned around and heard VK2KI
found my CW

Elmer Manny VK3DRQ.

At that point it seemed
becoming

Post Morsum
From

having a lengthy chat but then
Always good to chat with Manny.

Drew had gone QRT and the band was

quiet, so | switched off and SK.

Report

Richard VK6HRC

I’m happy to report that the AllStar/Echolink
better shape for this week’s Post Morsum

and VK6RLM

network was in

net on Wednesday.

On this morning:
VK6KD /3

David

VK6QI/M

Mark

VK6NW

Wayne

VK6HD

Geoff

VK6HRC
and VK6MRB

Mulligan, VK6KRC

Bob our regular SWLs checked

in before the

net.
David checked

in from Echuca/ VK3 land where it has been hot,

prompting the need to spend quality time cooling down

in the Murray river.

David had a good evening until the the mozzies took over!

David and

Pauline were about to get back on the road heading on to the next camp,
hopefully fewer mozzies there.
Mark checked

in from the mobile shack to report that he had fun working

the Eastern states, tried to operate from the remote stations in WA but
unable to unfortunately.

No doubt there will be more about that in the

Ragchew.
Wayne

iwa enjoying his time off from his regular duties with SES to have

fun on 40 Mx and 80 Mx and also get a bike ride in between sessions.
Geoff called in while on his regular morning walk around the
Mandurah

Estuary to let us know that he tried 40 Mx but was unsuccessful.

On the bright side he hopes to on air next week with his new QMX and
linear.
| managed

to get on and annoy a few very patient operators in spite of the

Savage QRM!

| think a nearby solar installation might be the culprit, luckily

it was not there all the time.
Thanks
73

to all on the net

Richard

VK6HRC

[Thanks again for running the call-back and running up the report Richard. ]

This Week’s

Topic of

Interest
UK Amateur

Radio Callsigns

by Nigel G4RWI

Our beloved

leader asked

licences work in the UK;

if | could shed some light on how amateur radio
you might be (incorrectly) assuming that they

work in a similar manner to licences in Australia and New Zealand.
no means an expert, but | am

I’m by

in the UK, and do hear UK callsigns every

day, and of course have a UK callsign, so | have a

little experience!

To help decipher what’s going on, there are two important things to bear in
mind.
1. UK Amateur Radio licences are not recycle;

once issued they are gone

forever! There is a possibility of claiming an old callsign, for example a
callsign once used by your grandfather,

but in general you get issued a

brand new one. One reason for this is that the licence is free and for life.
The regulator (Offcom) has no idea once it’s issued a licence whether you
still want it or are even alive. The only obligation on the licensee is to
revalidate their licence every 5 years (online and free).
2. Like Australia, the model

has been tweaked

over the years, but the

tweaks are not retrospective (your licence is for life), so it can be a little
confusing!
Like all countries, the UK has a number of prefixes allocated to it for
licensing things like radio amateurs,

ships, planes etc. You will probably

recognise G as a UK prefix, but because of my first point, we have now run
out of G callsigns to issue.

M3 + 3 Letters|
M6 + 3 Letters
}2E0 + 3 Letters
2&1 + 3 Letters
G1
(G2
(G2
(33

+ 3 Letters
+ 2 Letters
+ 3 Letters
+ 2 Letters

(G3 + 3 Letters

(G4 + 2 Letters

IG4 + 3 Letters

4920

1921
| 1936

(1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1946
| 1963 | 1964 | 1971 | 1981 | 1983 | 1985

1986 | 1988 | 1989 | 1997 | 1996

|
|

ee ee
|

|
|

ClassA

1999
| 2007

| 2002 | 2003 | 2008 | 2010

5 + 2 Letters

cil

us
=
tp

6 + 2 Letters

0 +3 Letters

0 + 3 Letters

Mi+ 3 Letters

5 +3 Letters

So - what
There

is the current

model

(since the 1990s)?

are 3 classes of Amateur

Foundation

Intermediate

Full

Radio

licences

Your privileges increase as you move through the classes, for example
power levels.
A typical UK callsign has the format:
[Prefix] + [Region Number]

+ [Suffix]

1. Prefix
* The prefix indicates the type of license:
¢« M - Modern

prefix used since the 1990s - full Licence

¢ G - Older prefix; often associated with licenses issued before the 1990s full Licence
¢ 2 - Used for intermediate license holders.
¢ M6 / M7 / M3 - Used for foundation
2. Region

license holders.

Number

This number can mean
always M6/M7

something, for example foundation

or M3, but as the licensing model

licences are

has changed

several times

you cant reliably infer anything from it. A bit like VK7 always used to mean
Tasmania

- but that may not always be true after the Class license was

introduced in Australia.
3. Suffix
The suffix is unique to the operator and typically consists of two or three
letters. Examples:
© G4XYZ - A full license holder in England.
¢ M1ABC

-A

full license holder with a modern

prefix.

e 2EODEF - An intermediate license holder in England.
¢ M7GHI

- A foundation license holder.

There used to be a requirement (no longer required by the regulator) to
add a regional designator after the prefix to show where you were
operating from. So G4XYZ operating in Wales would become

GWAXYZ. This

is now entirely optional but most amateurs still use it. So G4XYZ
anywhere

in the UK, whereas GW4XYZ

is valid

is only used when operating

Wales. Just so England can join the party, G4XYZ could use GE4XYZ

England. This most useful on VHF and up. These regional designators can
be used on all licence types, but are entirely up to the operator if they
want to do so.
All callsigns issued before the current system (which also did away with the
Morse test) became full licences.
Special event callsigns always start with GB.

Adding a/p or /m etc to designate you are a portable or mobile station is
entirely optional now, and indeed you can invent your own suffix if you
want. So G4XYZ/QRP

is entirely legal under the current licence

Region

So in summary,

G-prefix

M-prefix

Intermediate

G-club prefix

M-club prefix

Special event

England

Guernsey

Isle of Man

Jersey

Northern Ireland | Gl

Scotland

Wales

if you want to learn the entire Morse alphabet and

numbers, work the UK!

And thanks to the South Bristol Amateur Radio

Club for the images.
[Phew!

Thanks so much for the research Nigel!

Tres compliqué, non?

You'll recall | fell over when you visited here and told me that the Office of
Communications

would not re-issue disused callsigns;

| guess the RSGB

has run out of puff trying to fix that that rather quaint and unique bit of
bureaucracy?

Lots of (l’d suggest most) amateur operators in Australia

and New Zealand consider both countrys’ regulators’ decision to
disconnect the callsigns from regions (NZ) and States (Australia) to be just
plain stupid!

Oh and by the way speaking of that, considering you're

planning on spending considerable time in Australia again, perhaps it’s
time to consider getting an Aussie callsign, similar to our member Gary
W4GAL / VK6GAL has done so that he can operate the VK6 Southern
Electronics Group Remote station without causing too much confusion?
There’s lots of VK1,

VK7 and VK8 two-letter callsigns available.

Thanks

again Nigel. ]

If you'd like to contribute something

of interest to the QRS community,

please let me know so we can share more thoughts and ideas;

to cqqrsnet@gqmail.com

My Workbench

David VK3DBD’s

set up at KeriKeri

Here in Kerikeri | have a dipole for 20m
Supported on a bamboo

and one for 40m the centres

pole which as you may Know are pretty well

almost weeds here in New Zealand - they grow to about 50-60 ft. The Kiwis
plant hedges of them for windbreaks - prolific growth and very effective.
Just a couple hundred yards away a clump grew and two years ago when
last here | asked

permission from the owner - he said help yourself

got two plus three in stock.

They were green then and | trimmed

the surplus growth and chopped /planed sawed

- so |
off

most of the knots off -

which was no easy task - tough as old boots.
The poles were laid behind the sheds to dry out for future possible use.

One of the ‘staff’ kindly carrying a 40 foot
bamboo

| had made

Toroid? Avocado? Nope - bamboo - 6 inch

pole back home

diameter at the base, but unbelievably light

use of one and lashed it up to an existing post to support my

wires, but that one was taken down some time ago tn the interests of
keeping the place tidy (??),
40ft of usable height.

so this time | used a dry one which at about

It is hard, unbelievably light and was so easy to rear

up to a vertical - amazing.
So this time | made

up a pair of resonant dipoles one for 20m

40m - fed with same coax.
a 1/4 wave - the GDO

and one for

1 used 234 divided by freg to arrive at feet for

( dip oscillator actually, as it’s solid state) said they

were about right, but something

seemed

amiss - although

| have logged

around 70 QSOs from here, | am not happy and have added another dipole
for 20m

- an inverted-vee on a raised veranda for comparison - and it is

just a shade better that the high one.

The 40m _

dip is giving

me suspicious readings and | have a hunch something

is wrong;

justa

suspicion but contacts have been made, which almost restores my faith but not quite.
So | spent most of the day removing

checking and

a couple of feet, which | had calculated it needed.
know the good advice

changing the length by
As a flyer you will well

"Always believe your instruments"

but today mine

have baffled - the suspicious readings were completely unchanged

in the

least after all the time | soent out there with a soldering iron an a very long
mains cable.

| even changed the coax length as | am aware that certain

lengths can cause confusion.
decision has to be made:

It was most of a day wasted

scrap the lot and do it all again!\

So | have a dipole | made for 80m
for 30 and 40m.

| feel and now a

probably two years ago with traps in that

Often these sort will also load up reasonably well on other

bands with an aerial matching
DO NOT tune aerials);

unit (I hate calling them ATUs as they just

my Elecraft K3 has a very capable one built in.

3D Printed

Kneepad

for Portable Ops

From Geoff VK6HD
The other day | bought a cheap 3D printer from Jaycar - $250 for a brand
new Crealty Ender 3 V3-SE.
What fun, and got it across the
line because

| promised to design

and print outdoor table cloth clips
for the Plucky Little Memsahib.
Have printed up wire winders, a 4
x HT holder and am now doing a
very nice aviator style knee pad
for my new QMX et al.
Ciao,

G VK6HD

Update

on the Home

Brew Amplifier

from Donald VK6JDM
On Tuesday evening

| was driving the my new home

brewed

amp

(see

RagChews

52/2024 and 1/2025) with a Direct Digital Synthesis oscillator.

The amp

has two stages that are keyed in the preamp stages. It accepts

tens of milliwatts and puts out 100 watts. | am just running it at 50 watts
currently while | check all the heat sink temps stay cool etc.

It looks clean on spectrum analyser - back wave -60dBc, harmonics all
50dB or more down

and key shaping

oscilloscope. Hopefully it sounds OK.

looks OK to my non-CW eye on the

It has been a few months

in the making.

| decided

it was silly having power

amp stages for 100 W in each of my single-band rigs so | have built this to
cover 80, 40 and 20 and | will drive it with low level transmitters from now
on.
| have built the SWR

meter into the amp and despite being housed

saturated environment it performs correctly when

in a RF

run forward and back

with test mismatches.
73
Donald

Howarth

VK6JDM

Other

things

I’ve

received

from

our

200-odd

readers.

RST vs RSN?
from

Mark VK2KI

David VK3DBD

/ VK6QI

recently asked about the new-style signal reports he’d

heard on our net.

Rather than the common

heard people sending

RST - eg 599 reports - he’d

reports of 594 or even 590, and wondered

what that

was all about.
Well, perhaps we should ask Stan ZL3TK who introduced the style to the
CQQRS

net some time back?

Stan said it was actually an Aussie idea that

made sense to him, and he suggested that the CQQRS

net might be a good

way of floating it.
The thought of changing what had become
telegraphy seemed
made sense;

a rusted-on tradition of radio

to me to be a “very brave move

Minister”.

However,

instead of sending a Tone report of less than 9 once in a six-

sigma, why not replace the Tone score with a more useful bit of data - the
strength of the background

noise.

This would give a bit of an indication to

the sending station just what sort of signal-to-noise ratio he or she was
achieving at the other end.

And yes, | know, that with Automatic Gain

Control in the receiver, the difference between the signal strength and the
background

noise bears little resemblance to S/N in the listener’s shell-like

ears - but you get the drift I’m sure.
Some examples

might help.

e An RSN of 554 indicates that the signal is S5 and the background
noise is S4 - so there is still a 6dB fade margin available.
e An RSN of 355 indicates that the signal is at about the noise level, and
hence the readability is 3 - marginal (especially in QSB).
e

RSN

354 might indicate either QSB or QRM

is causing the readability

to drop.

So on the CQQRS

net, | now often use RSN

instead of RST;

| usually

precede the report with the letters RSN to indicate that I’m using that
system.

For a new operator, | may revert back to RST to make

decode the report - most ops having practiced RST when
Similarly, the other time | use CW is for SOTA/VKFF

it easier to

learning the code.

Parks contacts - and if

conditions are marginal or I’m working someone who | think may not be
familiar with RSN, I'll revert to an RST with its redundant 9.
So when you hear UR RSN

574 RSN 574 RSN

to refer back to this article to be reminded

574 on the net, you'll be able

about what

it means.

Cheers,
Mark VK2KI

/ VK6QI

HNY

Event

From

Ross

Frequency
MONNK

In the last edition of RagChew,

David VK3DBD

asked

if the published

frequency of the HNY DX Event (14.060.50) was a typo. The Editor replied
that it wasn't but | thought I'd briefly explain why it was chosen.
We were operating on the 20 m band (one of the most popular bands with
European

stations) between

10 am and 11 am on a European

morning.

That meant that, at our end of the Long Path, the band would definitely be
crowded.
Lower down the CW

portion of the band is often occupied

contest mayhem. The European

QRS frequency is 14.055 so we didn't want

to block that. Instead we went even higher in the band. That strange
frequency was intended to fit in between

operators using the exact KHz

frequencies - with a narrow CW filter, you can easily squeeze

into the gap

between those, and they're not so often used.

As it turned out, there was a lot more activity around us than we expected.
In retrospect, we should have chosen something

around

14.045

MHz.

In fact, Mike DL3YZ and | were using 14.045.50 a few days ago for a DX
experiment and, despite the band being busy all around us, we weren't
troubled by other stations at all. So there's a lot to be said for organising a
sked on one of those odd (not a typo) frequencies.

Ross
MONNK

From

David

VK6KD/P

near

Echuca

Victoria

A quick snapshot of my camping
site at River’s Edge bush camp,
min out from Echuca.

We had some

friends camping with us in their
Troop carrier/camper. They were on

there way back from Tasmania to

Perth.

izpotisy1
ee

73s

David

VK6KD/3

Portable set-up at Kerikeri

from David VK3DBD
| have rather too much
happened

gear here at my sister’s home

in Kerikeri, which

purely by chance.

;

eRe or be

”

SELECRAFT

;

vote
Fr

Ree aL stay
ia panes
ue

MALL
aad

“a

So this is my preference - the Elecraft K3, surely the most user-friendly
ergonomic
added

radio ever made for a CW op.

long ago, in a mad

With it is a "gimmick" that |

moment - the P3 visual display, which to my

Surprisel | found so useful that | bought another for my K3s.

| can glance at

the screen and see any signals over about 12 KHz of the band or much -

more or less - my choice.
You can also see my touch key (left), the USA flameproof and one of my
brew paddles.

Left of main radio is a UTC clock and behind is a VHF

dual band (IC-2720)

home

monitoring the local repeater (nothing heard on it in

the last month!).

Sundry items behind on the shelf are a Palomar HF amp

(not working-

another pending task) and tucked away out of sight a TS-50 and an IC7000 - the neatest most compact all-mode all-band 160m to 70cm
Watt radio... and the most difficult to use that | know of!

100

Time l hada

disposal sale maybe?
If any other user of the K3 notices the shiny tuning knob, it too is a home
brew add-on - solid alloy and an exercise in milling... it does not work any
better than the original black one, but it looks nice!
All these things keep me off the streets.
Slainte:-

David

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.

Practice

from

ZL3TK

Stan

Traffic

Net

Every Tuesday, traffic with an Australian flavour is still being exchanged
on

7.0257

MHz

starting

As has always been the case,
painfully slowly,

0840Z.
traffic is sent slowly,

some would say

and carries an invitation for QRS members to send

answers to each week's traffic the following week.

Anyone

needing a

repeat need only ask using the previously publicised protocol.

In future there may be additional
traffic in the form of AQRs
(answer quality reports),
intended to raise standards
further as well as provide general

knowledge.

wo move

e¢

| etna, af po
Chad

73 de Stan
ZL3TK

Brain
How

Teaser
did you go?

Jules Perrin JP VK3JFP has created a terrific resource to help guide learning
for all levels of amateur radio licenses:
https://www.julesworkshop.net/Amateur%20Radio.html

Answers

from

last week’s

Foundation-level

questions:

What is the difference between telegraphy and telephony?
Answer:

Telegraphy is Morse code and telephony (as in phone) is voice.

What is the distress signal in telephony and telegraphy?
Answer:

Mayday and SOS in morse code

What is the urgency signal in telegraphy and telephony?
Answer:
What

XXX and pan

are the three features

Answer:

in a receiver?

Sensitivity, selectivity, and stability

Signal reports can have three levels. What are they?
Answer:

Readability, signal strength and tone

What is an RF burn and where can you get it?
Answer:

Burn from an RF signal. Transmitter, transmission lines or

antenna.
What is an isotropic antenna?
Answer:

A theoretical

standard

antenna.

Explain SWR.
Answer:

Standing wave

If an antenna

ratio is the ratio of power up to power back.

is cut for a frequency range the SWR

is higher only at the

bottom end of the antenna frequency band, what can you do to fix this?
Answer:

Antenna

If an antenna

is too long

is cut for a frequency range the SWR

is higher only at the top

end of the antenna frequency band, what can you do to fix this?
Answer:
What

Antenna

is too short

are the colours

Answer:

of the wires

Active - Brown,

Neutral

in a 240v
- Blue,

cable?

Earth - Green

Yellow

What is the purpose of the chassis earth?
Answer:

If a component fails and allows the chassis to become

earth wire will prevent the operator getting electrocuted.

live, the

To measure voltages at the power point, how would you set the multimeter
range? Answer:

240v or greater and AC.

Di-dah-di-dah-dit
Here

So back to the Slow CW QSO

Next Tuesday’s
Our CQQRS

go.

practice net.

Net

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.
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.

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 (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, 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 VK2KI-L
*VK6-HUB*
VK6ZGN-L
VK6RMH-R
VK6NRA-L

On Echolink, search for one of the following

When

you connect to one of those stations on Echolink, you'll be

automatically connected to the WA AllStar network, and you should hear us
on soon after the hour;

let me Know (cggrsnet@qmail.com)

with connecting via AllStar or Echolink.

if| can help

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 27 contributors: G4RWI,
VK2GAS,

VK2NNW,

VK2TIG, VK2WP,

VK3BTV, VK3BWN,

MONNK,

VK3DBD,

VK3DRQ,

VK3)JDM, VK3KEV, VK3RU, VK5AO, VK5KFG, VK6BEK, VK6HD, VK6HRC,
VK6IS, VK6JDM, VK6KD/3, VK6MK, VK6NW,

VK6RR, VK6WE, VK7WW

and

ZL3TK. Thank you team.

€U CW on Tuesday,

mb
Mark

Bosma

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

An Ode to CW - thanks to David VK3RU:
In days of old, when ops were bold,
And sideband was not invented,
Words were passed by pounding brass,
And all were quite contented.
- Unknown

author

About the CQ QRS
Group
Here’s

the

details.

The team will be on again for our usual Tuesday arvo / evening Practice
QSO Group.
Frequencies

Qian

and Times

actad

suggested
a

Ae
enri oc

CQQH®S5

. Conn

Coordinated

Minwliah?

spring —_ Daylight
aod

Cawvinn
=

saving

Universal Time

Western Australia Time

—rmatmkia

Timetable
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

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