Subscribe Past Issues Translate View this email CQQRS in your browser RagChew Edition 31/2025 Reports from Tuesday’s Net QRS Echolink and AllStar CW Used VKS3KEV to Set-up - One Year On Artificial Intelligence Tools - How to Start Is Life Too Short for QRP? Introducing Chris VK3QB QRS Flight to Success News from NZ Morse QRS Moss Vale Learning International Morse Mania Group Flight Contest Position Report Winter 2025 A Poetic Reply Prosign of the Month Articles for RagChew Di-dah-di-dah-dit About the CQ QRS Group Boy oh boy - variable but interesting conditions on Tuesday eh? another pile-up on 20m, big signals, no signals, and Sudden We had lonospheric v RSS Disturbances on 40, busy waterfalls on 80, and all dressed up but no bananas on 160m! World Record What fun! - Again! And to top it all off - we had reports this week from 52 of our team family members, reporting contact with 76 different stations; isn’t that phenomenal... another world record for the CQQRS result is absolutely sensational net! | reckon that by any net standard, anywhere... and this is on CW... in Oceania... a region with fewer CW operators per square light year than just about any other region! Thank you to everyone of our family who had a go on Tuesday. Another First-CW QSO But it didn’t end there! night; We had yet another first-ever CW QSO on Tuesday this was Chris ZL4CTS at Te Anau, waaay down South near Fiordland, who had his very first solo with James VK3JFR at Ararat. Congratulations Chris - it’s all easy from here on (well... relatively!) and congratulations James - who is also pretty new to CW - no doubt a first for both. Artificial Intelligence So this week we’re going to start dabbling in the world of Artificial Intelligence. “Say What” | hear you mumble? What does that have to do with the gentle art of CW? Well, you'll read that at least one of our family has been using an Al tool as a work-assistant for some time and has reported a sizeable increase in his own productivity; similarly, the wonderful G4RWI software that processes your report forms and produces the spreadsheet and reports you'll see below was created in the Python language by an Al tool. And that tool has continued to be used by Nigel to debug the system and to make ongoing changes So? in response to my niggles as the user. Well | have come to recognise that many of our family members consider that they’re not particularly good at writing skills (despite their good efforts in the weekly reports that you’ll get to read this week); well, that’s where Al tools excel - the tools can help you convert ideas to goodquality prose, can help you come up with ideas for writing, and a whole bunch of similar things. But there are many downsides and risks in Al use - but that’s just part of the reason why it’s a good idea to have a go, so you can learn about those things too. | was pleased to read this week that kids are now being taught how to properly apply critical thinking skills (something that previously was learned at postgraduate university level) to get the most out of Artificial Intelligence developments and become the ‘human-in-the-loop’ to minimise the risks. Mechanisation was seen to be the beginning of the end of the world, the typewriter was thought to be the end of the art of writing, word were going to dumb-down CW! processors humanity, and SSB was going to spell the end of Well, guess what? 35 years ago | was learning how to create knowledge-based expert systems - and the benefits and risks were evident even back then. Now, many of the generic applications in my Apple MacBook have Al buttons where you can ask for assistance to create or refine what’s being written or analysed; | asked it to check my grammar in this editorial. And we've come an awful long way with the relatively recent creation of Generative Al tools driven by Large Language Models - but humans must learn to manage the tools - otherwise the dire predictions are fated to happen. So rather than shun the thought of Artificial Intelligence, | feel that for most of us, now Is the time to learn about them, start to use them, and learn to keep them and us safe. So we start this week with an article about how to get going with some of the most popular new tools easily and for free - using just your computer (or your phone) and a web browser. And you'll see a good demonstration of one of the key risks of using Al tools. And further down in the newsletter, I'll point you to some useful material to help you create or assist with articles for the RagChew. RagChews, In future weeks’ you'll learn more about these new game-changers. enjoy the journey. | hope you Please let me know what you learned. RagChew So back down to Earth! Our newsletter is yet another bumper edition - with so many articles and so much interesting material. You'll see a number of reports this week where our contributors have gone out of their way to write interesting accounts of their Tuesday night - fantastic work - thank you - more like this please! Ross MONNK has an interesting perspective on getting out portable but working absolutely no-one on CW, you'll meet a new member and learn a bit about the CWops organisation, you'll even get some second week in a row, you'll learn about a CW Zealand using Echolink, John has produced poetry for the learning group in New more Winnie-the-Pooh head- copy practice audio, and lots more! And, thank you to our 44 contributors this week (yep - 44! How many newsletters can say that, | wonder?) - and a particular nod to our editorial team of John, Patrick, Nigel, and Richard - | tip my hat to you. 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/COORSNET Please help attract new and old team your report each week. Thursday. members to have a go by submitting Submissions close 1300 (Eastern Australian time) on Website If you'd like to find out a bit about our net, or would like to pass information to others about our Tuesday get-togethers, here’s the link to our website. bit.ly/COORSWebsite 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 Last Tuesday’s reports. Group Here’s the 76 stations heard by 52 members CQQRS Team Member ca Worked 20m Heard on air Heard on air Heard on air Heard on air Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Worked 40m Heard on air Worked 20m Heard 20m Tried 20m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Worked 80m Worked 40m Worked 80m Heard 40m Heard 80m Worked 80m Worked 40m qQsoi Qso 2 Qso 3 Qso 4 of our team on Tuesday: qQso5 QsoO6 Qso7 Qso8 VK3CTM Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Heard on air Worked 20m Heard 20m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Heard on air Tried 20m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Tried 160m Worked 40m Heard on air Heard on air Worked 80m Heard 80m Heard on air Worked 20m Worked 40m Worked 80m Tried 160m Heard on air Worked 40m Heard on air Worked 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 80m Worked 80m Heard 80m Worked 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Tried 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Heard 20m Heard 40m Heard 40m Heard 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Tried 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m VK3MJ VK5GG VK7WW Heard 40m VKLHF VK4NW Heard 80m Heard on air Heard on air Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Heard 160m Worked 40m Heard on air The spreadsheets above show the known stations on last Tuesday’s Group; the comments in the team members’ reports (submitted via our webform bit.ly/COORSNET ) follow: Comments: This week’s comments from our webform us by Patrick VK2IOW; thanks Patrick. From Mike DL3YZ at Stuttgart / Germany [20m] \AlaAvas uashint A omarninal Tha wusrasan uinen reports have been compiled for VWVWUW, WHat a HII: biG Waves WoIe very good to us today, and | had a lot of fun working all your calls. | even had some little pile-ups. So please forgive me if| didn’t hear you amongst all the others. | think | must have missed at least 3 stations. All your signals were quite strong down here in Germany (considering the distance), and easy to copy when we took it nice and slow. Thats the best way to eliminate the influence of that multipath signal issue that makes dits to dahs sometimes :-), and my humble CW skills Hl. Thanks for all the calls! | hope to hear you again soon, beeping around the world again. 73 Mike. From Chris Shaw ZL4CTS at Te Anau NZ [40m] My first CW QSO. Thanks to James VK3JFR for putting up with me. Noise levels very variable. Te/Anaur [Wow! Congratulations Chris! | hope you enjoyed your first CW QSO - as you know, it gets better and better from here on! One of the coveted CQQRS First CW QSO awards will be heading your way shortly!] From Nic VK7WW [40m] at Legana Ha! Great to hear VK1,2,3,4,5,6,7 tonight ey From Jordan VK3ACU at Meredith [80m] m Had a good time on 80 meters; the band was in excellent shape. | was planning on dropping down to 160 meters, but by 9 PM, | was well and truly ready for bed. | had great QSO with VK3KEV. We got chatting, and he reminded me that it was one year since we had our very first contact (Kev's first ever on air QSO!). Can't believe it's been a year already! Your CW is top-notch, Kev thanks for the QSO. From Stan ZL3TK at Waitarere Beach [40m] A healthy-looking waterfall indicated 40m was in the best condition for a long time, and it delivered. [160m] Both stations heard on 160m were RSN surprising from an 214, hardly EFHW cut for 80m fed by a 49:1 unun. All things considered, not bad but could do a lot better. From Joe VK2KuJ at Wagga Wagga rane! pov Great conditions From David VK6KD at Ballajura WA [40m] Sorry, | didn't get a chance to listen on 40m tonight. 80m was going so well. [80m] 80m was going well with many stations heard from my QTH in Ballajura WA. Surprisingly noise floor was down to S3 without the QRM Eliminator connected. While | did not have any QSOs with VK5 stations, 80m was open clear to South Oz Ironstone Range SDR. I'm disappointed | could not stay up later than 20:27 WST as my eyelids were getting heavy and another early start to work in the morning. Will be on the road by 06:00 WST tomorrow ready for the Post Morsum Net. Until next week -738. From Bad Tempered Victorian VK3BTV at LilydaleVIC [80m] Condx were pretty gud - just a little bit of QSB from time to time. From Wayne [40m] VK6NW at Bridgetown, WA Nice contact with Stan in NZ, no QSB on his signal at all. From Roy VK6RR at Geraldton [20m] Very loud QRN on 20m. [40m] From Richard VK6HRC at Padbury [40m] Great to work Andy VK5LA/ QRP for the first time. From lan VK7TA at Latrobe [40m] Panclitinna anamnad annnaroalhs nnanr hort intarannrana unt anma VULIUILIVINDS SCCIICU YCICIAly PUUI, VULIINLCISVCIocU WIL! SUITIC very good signals. Normally VASACU has a good signal here, but was barely readable last night. Then VK5AO boomed in at a steady 599 finishing off 10dB over. From Peter VK5KDO at Encounter Bay SA [40m] Had a nice chat with Pat VK2IOW. RST 579 from him and 589 to him. Antenna behaving better after finding and repairing dodgy crimp connection to 3 band counterpoise. This runs = THTTIAT (| | ) 6around the fence line so | don't trip over it. Just about to give final 73s etc when PC had a hissy fit and locked up IC-718 —4 radio. PC is normally connected to TCVR for WSPR operation. Finished QSO via WhatsApp. dy for tomorrow. 3: From Max VK6FN at Manjimup W.A. 6258 [40m] 8 Conditions again were very favourable tonight. Many stns were available to be worked. QRM not heard and only a little QSB noticeable. From Stuart VK6MK at Australind [TANrnl [tunity 40 minute QSO with VK2OP was outstanding reliving life in Perth back in the day. From your editor Mark VK2KI at Beautiful South Bowning NSW 07:07 nh [20m] Kicked off with an early alert from Geoff PA/VK6HD at 0507z advising via WhatsApp of great propagation in the Northern hemisphere. os ——————— ===='— Ez At 0600z, f coming in nicely to SNSW at RSN 521. When Mike finished with VK4TJ, a pile-up Mike DL3YZ at Stuttgart was followed, with Manny triumphing over the other Oceania callers. | then managed a QSO with Mike - sent RST421 received 569, with signals slightly down compared to earlier. Mike was battling some QRM - but we made it! His opening “GDAY MARK” made me smile - he'll go far with that lingo! Fingers crossed for stable conditions come Geoff's sked 60 minutes later. At the designated time, | heard the faint QRS call which was just riding the noise floor at 0730z - ditto for Geoff - he advised by our WhatsApp group that could only just hear me in the noise. | hoped to find someone with a gain antenna to try to reach Geoff - but most had ducked off for suda makan | think; Paul VK3KLE gave it a go no dice from Stawell this week. [40m] Had a nice chat with James VK3JFR about the weather with solid siqnals - but approaching 0900z, he suddenly faded right down - Sudden lonospheric Disturbance perhaps? | then heard Stuart VK6MK calling James with a good signal... but he too suddenly disappeared as well; or perhaps my old TS-120S's VFO jumped because a while later | noticed it was 1kHz lower than before - oh well! [80m] After dinner here, it was really nice to see the SDR waterfalls in VK5 and VK6 with lots of QSOs going on. | had a nice long chat with Peter VASWOW. He asked a question about our Wednesday morning Post-Morsum call-backs. As it turned out, he had just registered on Echolink but had not used it. So all via slow CW, we worked through getting his phone to connect to my VK2KI-L Echolink/AllStar node - and fairly quickly, we had it working and! was able to have a cross-band/cross-mode chat from my _ . 70cm hand-held on FM and 80m CW, followed by two-way voice. Bloody amazing that we got it working via slow CW - very satisfying! Peter's efforts at building his head-copy skills using CW translations of books (like the Winnie The Pooh series that we're running) was clearly evident - satisfying stuff! | sseehieiahiiataeiiaiesieniain ileal Also from your editor Mark VK6QI at Beautiful South Bowning via the VK5PH lronstone Range and VK6SEG Hoddys Well KiwiSDRs [20m] Mike DL3YZ was coming through S3 into the VK5PH KiwiSDR network at Ironstone Range and S2 into the VK6SEG receiver near Northam. D[Urele el alles) melee —alals| [40m] pieDe ce Great to hear so many on. erst] Slipped down to listen to the VK5PH and VK6SEG KiwiSDRs after Mike signalled that he was QRT on 20m, before Geoff's scheduled turn at the ionosphere. Daniel VK6WE was chatting away happily to Max g VK6FN and Phil VK6GX was chatting to Roy VK6RR. [80m] Terrific to see half a dozen QSOs or calls on the 80m waterfall displays in VK5 and VK6. | was working Peter VK3WOW at the time and didn't get to check who was on - but great to see 80 coming alive again. Wrap-up: So much fun - thank you all! Let’s hope the propagation gods smile kindly next week as well. From Phil VK6GX at Gidgegannup [20m] Propagation to EU long path seemed very poor, with only a handful of stations heard, but none of the CQ QRS Net participants. | was unable to hang around for eastern states 40m propagation late arvo, or 80m during the evening. From Peter Dann VK3WOW —T tt at Blackburn, Victoria ranrm! pour S Leaflet | . Timisoara OpenStrestMap contributors other gear. | sat comfortably in my camp chair, tapping away. And afterwards | packed up and came home feeling quietly satisfied with my morning’s work. | think the difference between my older and younger selves is that now | can do QRP as a choice rather than as the only way of operating. And I’ve learnt to have very low expectations with regard to making contacts. For me, QRP is a means to get out portable with some very simple radio gear and enjoy the overall experience. Critics might say that the whole point of radio is communications but I’m not sure that | agree with them - the whole point of any hobby is to enjoy yourself, and QRP is oddly enjoyable despite the lack of 'success'. And if you find making contacts stressful, you might want to give QRP a go, as you won't be troubled by many of them! Life is not too short for QRP. [That’s what life should be about - love it - thanks Ross. For those who aren't as patient and relaxed as our Ross, there’s a couple of leverage opportunities to improve the rate of QSOs. Our WhatsApp Alerts group Is an easy way to let the team know that you're calling on such-and-such a frequency. Seems to work pretty well here in Oceania - more often than not, someone in our team will have a listen. The other option of course Is VKFF (in VK/ZL) or WWFF in the rest of the world for national and State parks, SOTA (Summits on the Air), Parks on the Air, and a whole raft of similar on-the-air places where you can Spot (notify your frequency or report other portables you hear) using your phone. And here in Australia the parksnpeaks.org website collects such posts and can be set to send an SMS alert of CW Spots to those who want to receive them (like me). Not as relaxing and fun as Ross’ model, but at least if you’re out in the sleet in a blizzard, you may be rewarded with a response or 10. Thanks Ross - I’m feeling more relaxed already!] What’s going on on your workbench? think minht AA Af intaract tA Ain If you have an article or two that you rARAANre KnIlARNeAR IAF Marl VID) LAAs LITTEIN THY Ve UE HILePeosotl LU VUUT email to TEAUCTS, VISCGSS ICL MIGIKR VNZWNI RETOV, caqarsnet@gmail.com For guidance on writing for RagChew, see Articles below. QRZ? Who’s This week calling me? it’s Chris VK3QB Ambassador Who’s on the other end? who talks about his role as the CW Ops for Oceania Hello everyone, Mark has invited me to contribute to the newsletter, and | hope that with your feedback and support, | can provide some hints 'n tips, guidance, and options for learning and developing skills in the mode we all love. I'm writing this column from Venus Bay, about 150km SE of Melbourne. I've been having some fun (well, frustrations) on the beach with 2 Watts. Yesterday | worked Pete M3KXZ, but It only just qualified as a QSO, with us exchanging RST 229 both ways. A quick little bit about myself and CW Ops..... I've been an amateur for about 40 years and Morse code has been my passion all these years. There's something that keeps me coming sometimes magical about HF and the code back - I'm active at least 4-5 nights a week, more. DXpedtions are also a passion, and I've operated from YJO, VKON, VKQL, VK9C and 3D2 18 times over the last 16 years. Working pileups from these locations Is a load of fun. About 6 years ago | discovered CW Ops and CW Academy. The club has a true international footprint with about 3,000 members and volunteers can be found all around the world. and its Directors It's inclusive and offers education, contests, awards and support for CW operators at all levels. Progressively, I'll explain each of the offerings and also delve into a few activities in more detail. Most importantly, I'd like to hear your questions. What hurdles have you faced learning the code and developing your skills? What general questions do you have about the code and how to explore new skills, such as using a Straight key, paddle, or bug. Maybe you'd like to Know more about boilerplate QSOs, Dxing, contesting, or simply how to further develop your Skills. Please feel very welcome to join my monthly Zoom sessions where we host a relaxed forum to hear from CW operators and their interesting stories. To learn more about these session visit this website and click on the Zoom Sessions menu item. https://morsecodesessions.wordpress.com/about/ Lastly, I'll try to offer at least one tip each week, and answer questions you ——— \ \ oe might have. Just drop me an email at = : - vk3qb(at)hotmail.com . iC nal a a - — =— 2 | ) = Sects : = rn ‘ = = : = ; = — ee : : , a ee = —————— a ——— S| ome +6 = ; i ——————————— = = em NE = s —= om, P — oats = = = oe eee Ss “ = a P — ani - a ——————— = = i Ses atl | look forward to hearing you on afr. 73, Chris VK3QB CW Ops OC Ambassador https://cwops.org/ [Fantastic - thank you for your first segment in the RagChew news/etter Chris. Depending on the content, Other News, we may put Chris’ contributions here, in There’s No Such Thing or perhaps Other Topics of Interest in future editions - something exciting to look forward to!] QRZ? Who’s on the other end? From your editor Mark VK2KI / VK6QI Key to the success of our net is helping to make people enjoy returning to each week. it a get-together that But when you’re on the key, it’s really hard to find out a bit more about the person you're chatting to. I’m really keen to share the backgrounds of some of our team it’s really nice to know who's on the other end of the QSO. So members - How did they come to amateur radio and when, and what on earth was the motivator that got them planned? interested in CW? How’s the journey been so far, and what’s Perhaps, what they get out of the net and the newsletter, and how it can be made better? So, would you be willing to share some thoughts about yourself? Mark VK2KI RagChew, know: cggrsnet@gmail.com see Articles below. Other Other things QRS Please let For guidance on writing for News I’ve received from our 220-plus readers. by Peter VK3WOW, Balled, No Flight to Success from Garry VK2GAZ | read with interest the poem penned Parachute. Peter has in my opinion quite a jaundiced take on the QRS International Flight Contest given to us by Stan ZL3TK. | came across this intriguing contest in week NR O2 and have participated in all the remaining flights, the last one being NR 07. Now | am not saying that all fell into place with ease for me, | have had ni re Pe - many email exchanges with Stan clarifying points of uncertainty, however | persisted, not giving up or throwing in the towel. Exhausting and tedious it may have been at times, more for Stan than me but he never gave up on me, although he certainly had reason to. | was looking for problems that were not there, | could not see the forest for the trees. Well the good news is, come Stan | discovered just where conundrum Flight NR 06, with a little more nudging from | was going wrong and now what was a is so very clear. Bring on the rest of the contest. | encourage others to stay the distance and enjoy the rewards of success. Garry VK2GAZ Update from Paul VK2IK from Moss Vale Hi Mark, Thanks for the newsletter again, there is lots of good information in there and also to see there is still CW training on air. It was great to get on the net again after not having much time for radio over the last few months. Good Signals heard all round tonight and | could copy strong signals from VK3, VK7 and VK4, as well as reasonable signals from ZL and VK6 on both 80 and 40 and even down to the noise floor. | found my straight key that George VK2DLF made it had been packed away in storage for many years. around 2000/2001 after It is still going well and | had some great contacts lon Tuesday starting with VK5CZ, VK2ASB, VK4CCW and NF7N on Sunday. again - thanks George. It is a pleasure to use George’s key on air | was able to operate QRP portable briefly from Berrima on the weekend with an FT-818 on CW with the tiny Comet HFJ-350 tapped whip antenna that works very well considering around it is only 1m or so in length (+ 4 short radials quickly run out over the ground) . It was a rather brisk and overcast 5C with a typical Southern cutting through, Highlands wind however | was able to make a contact on CW with VK2SB in Walcha with around 2 W before moving on. Its certainly a compromise antenna but it always surprises how well it works for such a small antenna that is quick and easy to set up and pack down with out much effort or a big tangle of rope and wires (that always get the strange looks at the picnic table). 73 and thanks for running the net, it is great to hear so many stations on CW. Paul VK2IK [Thanks Paul - good question - fiddle around for an hour putting up a decent antenna and also risk the strange looks and inevitable questions (which actually isn’t a bad thing... except mid-way through a QSO with headphones), effort. New or go for something that gets you on air with a minimum Nice looking key from Georg! Zealand Morse Learning of | like the high-tech connection too.] Group From Peter ZL1PX in Waiuku, just South of Auckland Hi Mark FB on your efforts to encourage CW newbies to have a go. | have joined the QRS Net for some time now. It’s hard work finding QSOs but | make the attempt every Tuesday night. The stations | most find are Sava VK4PN these two on the NZ nightly CW and Manny VK3DRQ. net on 80m | also hear at 0900Z but resort to using one of the SDRs most nights. We have run a Morse months. learning group here in NZ for the past eighteen We played around with HF on 80 and 40 but too many people were unable to copy. Now, we run on EchoLink using my call-sign ZL1PX or Node 104996. The audio quality is excellent. We run Speed take Mon, Wed and Fri at O800Z - sessions is currently character speed of 18 WPN it down are around 15 minutes. Our with Farnsworth spacing to to 7 WPM. All welcome. Best regards Peter ZLIPX [Thanks Peter - excellent news about the learning group on Echolink - great idea - so easy for folks to use their phones to listen in and chat. Please keep us updated on the group - so! can keep reminding our readers, ditto for any of our team who has a go - please let us know how you went. / Morse Training Our team Net member Nic VK7WW every Wednesday at 7pm runs an on-air Slow Morse training net EDST on 3580 for 30 mins. He uses the callsign of the Northern Tasmania Amateur Radio Club VK/7TAZ on that net. Many of our team 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 time every Wednesday; Eastern you'll hear lots of the CQQORS team on that net. Jordan VK3ACU has eae pe anal — Yo Ue recorded the complete set of lessons which you can now find here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist? list=PLHSOmZz6fBXO/7swAfbTmutrbbEL1 7fUQL Contact Nic VK7WW for more info nicholaschantler@hotmail.com how to join the NTARC DISCORD group to follow the action, or just come along and join in on Wednesdays. Progress report on the QRS International Flight Contest Flight NR 07 took off on a north-to-south transit of the North Sea onWednesday OOO0O0Z. The North Sea has long been known as one of the most dangerous stretches of ocean world. tncluding A combination of factors including frequent storms, strong and unpredictable currents, shallow waters in the averaging only 95 m depth that amplify wave action, and harsh winter weather have moulded this reputation, however it is no impediment to an aircraft at 10 000 m ASL, you're guaranteed a pleasant journey! Seats are unlimited, anyone is welcome to board for the final four flights. All QRS IFC information is available at bit.ly/qrsifc 73 de Stan CWops Morse Mania - Winter 2025 Morse Mania - Winter 2025 Objectives: This eight-week event has the following objectives: o To promote regular on-air QSOs primarily between VK and ZL operators. Other DX operators and contacts are welcome. o For CW operators to have as many QSOs as possible whilst meeting the minimum criteria for a QSO. o ©. To provide an event that meets the needs of different types of CW operators. © To use these sessions to build on existing skills and satisfy your own goals. o For aperson who normally operates POTA/SOTA, this might mean extending their QSO vocabulary to include a few new words or phrases. o For an operator comfortable at 12WPM and basic QSOs, this might mean aiming to increase speeds by 2-3 WPM once a week. o For acontester this might mean exchanging station details they don't normally exchange. Participants are encouraged to notify the Event Administrator of their personal goals prior to the event. When: Start date: Tuesday 17 June 2025 End date: Sunday 10 August 2025 This is an eight-week event aimed at our CQQRS family, with one-hour sessions commencing 17 June 2025 and taking place on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays at 0930-1030z. And there's a bonus for QRS operators as well. How about having ago? Read more and review the rules here: httos://morsecodesessions.wordpress.com/morse-mania-winter-2025/ W/ Home f . Courses The Radio Bulletin YouTube Groups Links MemberLogin Q =h ae Ci ClubInformation . r | / Y ] By | | Monthly Meeting July - Two-tone audio THE ft genera uy or RADIO BULLETIN USB Rig programming cables a and Windows 11 “f a) Subaru Coax Install 15/04/2024 - 8:04 PM uy Portable Power 4 July - Friday 8:00pm - Club Rooms Burwood & Zoom Richard VK3ZCL - Presentation on how to use a two-tone audio generator ee for transmitter testing. 2 Are youa member? Not getting your monthly news? Not getting any updates? Perhaps log in and check that your email address is current. We still have a few whose In reply to Edition 30 'Bailed, 4) 10/11/2023 - 10:56 AM si Antenna Launcher Exemption Ibo. 03/06/2023 - 3:53 PM emails are No Parachute' Translated as 'Suicide-by-Imaginary-Swat' Thank you for visiting my parlour Said the spider to the fly But no swat do | harbour And no desire | have to try. Hard though it may appear Unfair in the extreme Let’s make it crystal clear Only for good exists my scheme Delight comes from achievement Morse Code is such a goal Abandonment means Proper training brings a Generous bereavement stroll hints willingly provided What has revelation ever taught? The entitled must be clearly guided And conundrums solved by thought Decisions to stay and play my game Rest in entrant’s hands alone Running away brings no fame Ensuring solutions remain unknown The Altruistic Spider Hats Off From Chris G7BED from Northamptonshire North of London Mark, Just a quick note to say what a great job you do in putting all of this together. That’s what’s generating the interest and building such a vibrant and active community. Hats off to you for the time you spend Cheers in doing all of this. Chris G/BED [Thanks mate - appreciate your appreciation! I’m astounded at our success... | Just wave my arms around - the effort to make it work comes mostly from our terrific family - we have over 220 now! mentioned that we had /6 stations heard this week? And did / 7/6! Bloody amazing! / hope you enjoy Provence - and why wouldn't you?] If you've read something that you think might be of interest to our readers, please let me know. below. For guidance on writing for RagChew, Please email material to Mark VK2KI: see Articles caqqrsnet@gmail.com Head Copy Practice Compiled on the track somewhere by John VK2RU Over the last two months, each newsletter has contained a chapter from A.A. Milnes classic, Winnie the Pooh. This week, we have Chapter 9 where Winnie uses some interesting watercraft to rescue Piglet from a flood. The book, ‘Winnie the Pooh’ was chosen for head copy practise because it contains simple, familiar, and sometimes predictable words that makes learning to head copy a bit easier. Previous ‘Winnie the Pooh’ chapters and suggestions on how you might use them can be found at the CQ QRS website - hittps://bit.ly/CQQRSWebsite . Here are this week’s files. There is one .txt file with the whole chapter, three .mp3 files with about a third of the chapter each, and three text files containing the text for each .mps file. We have to split the .mps files because of size limitations in Mail Chimp. -the- The original text contains some punctuation that is not normally used in morse today. This punctuation is not recognised by the Ditto CW app, and it also causes the ebook2cw app some headaches, so I’ve removed it. Where a word contains an apostrophe such as * wont’ | have removed the ee ee re ee ee ee ee ee ee ee eee a é amv FEE C Cerra ee eee Se ee ee oe ee dh, me é se * a a-miee o-§ db me oe eee or ol aposlropnie. SOMe WOrGs SUCIIdaAS Well , lave Deer Changea lo wewll lo avoid confusion. I've found that sometimes when the text file is added to Ditto CW, some spacing between words is missed, and some sentences are repeated. I’ve checked the text files and they are correct so | don’t know what’s going on there. It’s not a big problem. Most of it plays perfectly. If you've read something that you think might be of interest to our readers, please let me know so John and | can share more thoughts and ideas. For guidance on writing for RagChew, see Articles below. Please email material to Mark VK2KI: cgqqrsnet@gmail.com Prosign/Character/Sig nal of the Month See if you can use this one on Tuesday! Character: Code: ?orperhaps = gam mmue [Suggestion - put it on a sticky note near your key as a reminder for Tuesday. Tell us how you went!] Di-dah-di-dah-dit Here So back to the CQQRS Next Tuesday’s Slow CW QSO we go. practice net. Net Our CQQRS Group will be on as always on Tuesday from around 0700z until about 1300z; see https://bit.ly/COORSWebsite and navigate to the Net Details page 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 Reports respectively. Hope to hear you there. Please let us know via our Reports form bit.ly/COORSNET who you work or hear on Tuesday’s Group. The report form closes at lunchtime (Eastern Australian time) on Thursday. And by the way, a reminder; if you send me any information by email, our report form or WhatsApp - unless you specifically state that material is not to be published, I'll assume that you're happy to see your thoughts in the RagChew Post newsletter. 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). See https://bit.ly/COORSWebsite and navigate to the Net Details page for details of how you can connect via Echolink or even possibly via your local FM repeater. Articles for RagChew The newsletter is interesting to readers because of the material contributed by so many people - be it the reports each week or the various articles. Could you write a short article or articles for RagChew? Writing not your strong point? much You bet! Don’t worry, I'm very happy to help as or as little as needed. Here’s a thought - perhaps have a go at using a Large Language Artificial Intelligence tool such as ChatGPT, Model Microsoft Copilot or Google Gemini to do some research, to check your writing or even to actually draft the whole article in a relaxed easy-to-read manner! You can find out more about how to do that on the Newsletter page on our website bit.ly/COORSWebsite Please remember though - you must fact-check anything that an Al tool drafts for you - it’s quite probable that it will be 100% perfect-looking and be 100% wrong! responsible for fact-checking. You as the submitter are But it’s a learning experience - please let us know how you went if you had a go with this new generation of tool. For more guidance on writing for the RagChew newsletter, website bit.ly/COOQRSWebsite then click the menu head to our on the top right and then click RagChew Newsletter. Teamwork Thank you so much to our team of 44 contributors: G7BED, DL3YZ, VK2GAZ, VK2IK, VK2IOW, VK2KI, VK2KJJ, VA2RU, VK3ACU, VK3AFH, VK3BTV, VK3BWN, VK3CTM, VK3QB, VK3WOW, VK4PN, VK5A0O, VK5CZ, VK5KDO, VK3DRQ, VK3ECH/VK4, VK3KEV, VK3KLE, VK6FN, VK6GX, VK6HRC, VK6KD, VK6KHZ, VK5KFG, VK5LA, VK6MK, VK6NQL, VK6QI, VK6RR, VK6WE, VK7JZ, VK7TA, VK7WW, development), (Winnie-the-Pooh Patrick VK2IOW €U CW on Tuesday, (head of (reports wrangler), John VK2RU reader) and Richard VK6HRC work all! VK6IS, VKENW, ZL1PX, ZL3TK and ZL4CTS. And a special thank you to our editorial team, Nigel G4RWI software MONNK, (Post Morsition). Great 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, ‘5 Pa WT eae a Words were passed by pounding brass, And all were quite contented. - Unknown About the CQ author QRS Net Here’s where you’ll find the details. For the current schedule and more information about the CQORS net, please go the the Net Details page on our website: https://bit.ly/CQQRSWebsite The opinions expressed in the RagChew newsletter are those of the individual contributors. The opinions do not necessarily reflect that of the editor or of the CQ QRS Group members. Any material and images received from members by the editor or published on the CQQRS WhatsApp groups may be published in this newsletter unless specifically requested otherwise. The values, doctrine and guidelines for the Group and for the newsletter are published on the Principles page of the group’s website https://bit.ly/COORSWebsite Copyright (C) 2025 CQ QRS. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences )eau GoW enti) or unsubscribe