Past

Issues

Translate

View this email

CQQRS

in your browser

RagChew

Edition 33/2025

Brilliant Tuesday Turn-out
No Haka,

No All Blacks,

but still great.

Balanced Feed-Lines
Post Morsum and the Royal Visit
Alternative
Al and

Improving
Head

Post Morsum

Hand-Sent

Phasing-Type

Copy

Call-Back?

Morse
Noise Cancellers

Practice - A New

Flogging

a Dead

The CW

Ops Column

Morse Training

Net

International

Flight Contest

SKCC

QRS

Oceania

Smoke

Saunter - this weekend

Test of the 6PZT

Remembrance

Venue

Horse?

BALUN

Day Contest This Weekend

- A Learning

Opportunity?
QRQ

Rag-Chew

Readable
Prosign

Anyone?

(Watchable)
of the Month

Five - Introduction to the Straight Key

RSS

Di-dah-di-dah-dit

e Writing Articles for the RagChew
e About the CQ QRS

Some

Group

loved the conditions, some

72 stations heard or worked
CQQRS

Newsletter

Practice CW QSO

hated them - but as it turned out, we had

by 51 of our family members

Net!

on Tuesday’s

Isn’t that absolutely sensational?

to every one of you for coming

Thank you

up or reporting what you heard - this was

very close to our previous world record, numbers-wise.
Well | commend

to you

he-battstemaisste submarine Red October this

week’s RagChew

newsletter - your newsletter!

Again, we had 40

contributors - and | had to slide some contributions to future weeks
because we were full!

Thank you everyone - this is another brilliant effort

by you all.
However,

may | point out a couple of things to think about?

VK6HRC

ts looking at running a second

Wednesday

Post Morsum

evenings, as well as mornings.

Richard

call-back on

There’s several technical

articles as well as CW operational information and training opportunities,
the SKCC Oceania QRS Saunter and the RD Contest - both good learning
opportunities, and a video introduction to the Straight Key.

And for those

who would like to have some fun with higher-speed CW rag-chews - we
might be able to help there too.
Please enjoy....

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.

members to have a go by submitting

Submissions close 1300 (Eastern Australian time) on

Thursday.
Website

lf you'd like to find out a bit about our net, or would
to others about our Tuesday get-togethers,

bit. ly/CQQRSWebsite

Cheers,
mb
Mark Bosma
VK2KI / VK6QI
Beautiful South Bowning
marl,

AAemanaiclai

inl

Lf" LAW

NSW

like to pass information

here’s the link to our website.

ING

R.VYVSINAWILIVUuU

CYVIIT

non impediti ratione cogitationis

Reports

& Comments

Here’s this week’s

Last Tuesday’s

reports.

Group

Here’s the 72 stations heard by 51 members

CQQRS Team

Member

cQ
Worked 20m
Heard 40m
Heard on air

Heard on air
Heard 40m
Worked 80m
Heard 80m
Worked 40m
Heard on air
Worked 40m
Worked 80m
Worked 20m
Worked 40m
Heard 15m
Heard 20m
Tried 20m
Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Worked 80m
Heard 80m
Tried 80m
Worked 80m
Heard on air

Worked 40m

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

Worked 80m
Heard 80m
Worked 40m
Worked 80m
Heard 40m
Heard on air
Worked 20m
Heard 20m
Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Heard on air
Heard on air
Tried 15m
Heard 20m
Heard 40m

Heard 80m
Heard on air
Heard on air
Heard on air
Worked 40m
Heard 80m
Worked 20m
Worked 40m
Worked 80m

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

qQso1

QSO 2

QSO 3

of our team on Tuesday:

Qso 4

Qso5

QsO 6

Qso7

QsO 8

VKSET

Heard 80m

VKSKFG

VK4PN

Worked 20m
Worked 80m
Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Heard 40m
Worked 40m
Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Worked 80m
Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Heard 80m
Worked 40m
Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Worked 40m
Worked 80m

Heard 15m

Heard 20m
Heard 40m
Heard 80m
Heard 80m

Worked 40m
Heard 40m
Heard 40m

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

Heard on air
Heard on air
Worked 40m

Heard 40m
Tried 40m
Tried 15m
Worked 40m

Heard 40m
Heard 40m
Tried 40m

Heard 40m
Heard 80m
Worked 40m

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/CQOORSNET ) follow:
Comments:

This week’s comments from our webform
us by Patrick VK2IOW;

From

Ross

MONNK

reports have been compiled for

thanks Patrick.

at Exeter, UK

[15m]
Alat

eaneana

flim

tinalaar

uahe

nvt\

Bist

344

INUL @ DaUdaYys (II UNUIGal ao Ww wily Huy. Dut
many thanks to the operators at the Aussie end
who tried their best to contact me. If it were easy,
there'd be no satisfaction in success.

From Mike DL3YZ at Stuttgart
[80m]
Netherlands

Hello from Germany, and thank you very much for

Re
Germany

Sea

Yoh,

your Calls. Todays condx were slightly weaker than
last week. Nevertheless | was very lucky to work 4

SS stations during my 30 min shift. All your signals

a a
| were clear and easy to copy. Even louder than the
mavee Norway stations that answered my "CQ VK" call,

eeaee

when | did the intro call for the RBN HI. Great

stations and great fists; it’s a real pleasure working
you. Please forgive me being slightly confused at times. Unfortunately | forgot to
bring my glasses, so | couldn’t read my own handwritten notes. Next time | will be
better prepared. Thanks to Pat, David, Manny and Sava for regularly joining in the
transglobal fun, and being a strong backbone of the DXperiment
week, 73 de Mike / DL3YZ.

From Pete ZL4TE at Cambridge, Waikato

[40m]
Much better conditions tonight - | could hear
workable signals :)

From

Stan ZL3TK

at Waitarere Beach
TAN!

:-). Have a great

[tun

Conditions generally poor except for lively
propagation stretching from VK7 right up the east
coast. Only one VK6 heard, he is usually FB copy
but this time struggled to put his call sign together,
for the remainder he was QNP.

From Donald VK6JDM at 20 km west of Esperance
[40m]
Good signals from over east. | was more
in a listening mood than a sending mood

so just listened in on others signals which
| find more useful practice than the clean
code on teaching systems.
| could hear a ZL2 from the superior
islands to the east where they know that
football matches that are worth watching start with the Haka and end in an All Blacks
victory. However every time | tried to hear the call sign there was QRM.
Was great to see another system for ladder line being promoted. It is so cheap to
make up ladder line and if well made it outlasts coax, out performs coax and looks
great too. There is also something in the way of an ego reward when you make stuff
from simple readily available bits rather than buy some product that only a factory
can manufacture and for which the price is not right.
My ladder line has been up a few years now and would have failed by now if it were
coax with our strong winds, scorching summers and the birds that strip off coax outer
plastic.

From Jordan VK3ACU

at Meredith
[40m]

8 83~—h

\Afhat

wank

Tha

lata

ninhte

and

lana

dae

VWWHAQLA

WoC:

IIIS

1ate

IIYyIho

alu

luiiy

uayo

really caught up with me tonight during this CW
session. | even started falling asleep on the key

during my fifth contact!
Despite being exhausted, it was still a great night
on the air. I'm looking forward to catching some
of you on the air later this week.
And remember,

if you're looking for a contact, don't hesitate to reach out!

I'm always

happy to slow down to whatever speed you're comfortable with and not just on
Tuesday nights!

From George Comninos VK2AOE at Kogarah, Sydney
[40m]
40m was a bit weak but 80m seemed ok. |
was sick and not intending to play, but
came into shack and heard some
CW.....and did a little twirl on the VFO with
a ragchew resulting (with fellow
Homebrewer Jordan VK3ACU)! | ended

my evening listening on my 1970's
Realistic DX160,

single conversion

superhet on 80m and although the selectivity is a bit wide for CW it receives really
great! 73

From Peter VK6NQL

/ VK6IS at Wundowie

[80m]
Very quiet, again.

From John VKS5ET at Hope Valley
[40m]

Noisy with QRM & SSB from Asian fishermen?? Not
many stations heard. Good QSO with VKSECH/P4
[80m]
Much quieter band than 40m.

From David VK6KD at Ballajura WA

[80m]
| logged into a number of SDR receivers around WA and SA to hear activity on
different bands.

There didn't appear to be many stations which could be heard from

my QTH in Ballajura WA.

| skipped past some QSOs to come back find all stations

had moved on. | concluded after my play on the SDRs, definitely appeared to be
more stations active on the East side of Oz, however | could not hear them on my rig.
Until next week, 73s.
From Wal VK2WP at Bathurst NSW
[40m]

Good conditions last night.

ee
paevatay

From Patrick VK2IOW between Bathurst and Orange
[20m]
Ve

SNC

Pandaitinne

90m

Evirana

warn

anne

UIT

CVI

LUO

Worl

ywuu.

Mike, DL3YZ and | exchanged RSTs of
-

569.

ae au

antenna.

Both using 100 watts. Mike - GBRV

Me - 3 el yagi.

[40m]

PatiEN Ns)

Good signals from both ZL4TE in

Cambridge NZ and VK5CZ in Clare SA.

From

lan VK7TA at Latrobe

[40m]

What the ionosphere giveth the ionosphere taketh away:
VK3BTV dropped from SQ to S1 in one over.

From

Peter ZL1PX at Waiuku, near Auckland,

[40m]
| thought | had tuned up to Sava VK4PN and called him after
he called CQ but he sent me an AS (wait) and then
disappeared completely. | guess he was doing a toilet stop so
went and did one myself. But then, when | got my key going

again, he wasn't there. Later, he reappeared and apologized about something, but
the noise by then was ripping my receiver to bits and | didn't copy. Some satisfaction

though that we did exchange sig reports. Catch you next time Sava!
[80m]

There appeared to be a contest on 80m with lots of VK and ZL stations giving
numbers to each other. The number were separated by a slash. | heard ZL4SA call

CQ, matched his frequency and tried an answer. No response. Then the same
experience with ZL2ACL. When he went silent, | tried 'IS THIS QRS NET?'. There
was a baffling silence in response to that one. | got myself back to 40m after that
be ee

OL a

POP

TPL

wee

mde

eee

where

Were

Was

ACLION,

AIDEIl

WILT

IOL

NOISE

and

WobD.

ITS

Was

Only

fourth serious try at QRS NET and it only netted me three contacts so not sure if it is
worth pursuing. That said, my Tuesdays are rather dull if | don't hear a dit and a dah
so | will probably try again.

[Yes, | also saw on the Ironstone Range KiwiSDR all the activity below our 80m QRS

segment and figured there was something else going on Peter. ]
From Richard VK6HRC at Padbury
[40m]
Good to hear the more experienced operators slowing down for
newbies like myself and some coaching going on as well, thank

you.

[80m]
Enjoyed the 20m session via a local Kiwi SDR good signals from all. Unfortunately
nothing heard from Ross MONNK on 15m.

From Greg VK5KFG

at Willunga

ggg [80m]
_ | was not hearing anything on 40m so | had a quick look
_ at 20m where | heard Mike K1OV calling ata QRS
speed from Connecticut US. We were both 5 and 7 and
chatted for quite a while. This was my first true DX
contact on CW and | can thank the experience gained
with you all on this net.

[Outstanding Greg!]

From John VK3BSE

at Somers

[40m]
Tha

Crnnitte

winara

thair

mam

nlanninna

carint

ane

HIG QUUULS WoIS UIE UIGH Uwil, Plalimiy SUPE anu
scenes for their video project under the guidance
of the patrol leaders so | had a Tuesday night in
the shack / lounge room. Signals on 40 were good
for a few hours, at least a few S points above the

S6 noise floor. AFB QSO with Stan ZL3TK brought Joa

the wrist, ears and some brain into action. Having

read Stan's QRZ page (recommended reading) |
better understand the RSN

442. | wrote RST, must have been journalising.

[80m]
After 40 fizzled south of the noise floor | was
preparing damper dough when | heard lan VK5CZ
calling CQ

loud and clear on 80m. A quick wash,

don't key or write with dough on your fingers.
Another FB QSO then more listening practice
around the band.

OT Sar carr Sm are

From

Keiran VK3BTV

RAN

ree

at Lilydale, VIC

[40m]
Had one over with lan and then he faded out completely.

From Your editor Mark VK2KI at Beautiful South Bowning NSW
[15m]
Alathina

all

AnarAa

Dann

AANKINILE

tom

thin

INUILI

all

MtGalUu

MVS

IVIVJININI

UIE

PUTT

UNS

time. | heard both Kevin VK3KEV at Seymour
and Paul VKSKLE at Stawell calling, but nothing

wa"

from the other end. | emailed to Ross - who
reported hearing absolutely nothing at his end but he thanked the Aussies for trying.
[20m]
| had the speaker on my TS-120S on as | prepared for the net (I usually use
headphones for CW) and | was pleased to hear from the other end of the house (Ms
e was in the garden!)

Mike DL3YZ started calling five minutes early - RSN 511.

Nice to hear Mike having some fun chatting to Patrick VK2IOW near Orange and
David VK3DBD at Yakandandah.

Patrick was mostly in the skip zone for me and

beaming away - but was RSN 511 - about the same as Mike.
Mike finally had to say he had to go QRT half an hour after he'd planned - so we

exchanged QRQ "73 TU" - not a confirmed QSO, but near enough for Government
work - and | didn't want to be blamed for keeping him from getting to work on time.
[40m]
After calling it quits on 15 m and 20m, | came down to 40 and hooked up with Rob
VK2COS operating as VI100SIG, commemorating 100 years of operation of the
Army's Royal Australian Corps of Signals. | also chatted with James VK7JZ/P who
was testing his new linked dipole from a local park.

Good to hear a number of other

QSOs underway as well.
[80m]
| came down to 80m early for James VK7JZ's test of his new portable linked dipole.
Signals were down a bit compared to 40m, but the D-layer probably hadn't finished
evaporating - sunset on the ground between here and there was around an hour
earlier; and less for the D-layer (50 to 90km up). After that | chatted to Paul VKSKLE
at Stawell - this time he was using his refurbished FT-901.

After dinner, | listened in to the numerous QSQs going on on 80m and tried calling
Wayne VK6NW after he finished with Richard VKGHRC (Richard wasn't copyable

here). Anyway, Wayne wouldn't talk to me, so | took my bat and ball and went home.
| got over it though, and later | had a chat to Sava VK4PN.

Once again, | asked Sava

to describe his antenna - Sava puts in a very reliable signal around Australia and

New Zealand on 40m and 80m, so | was interested to learn more of his secrets.
a promise of more articles for the RagChew

With

newsletter, Sava described his antenna.

If | copied him correctly, it's an offset-fed random-length long-wire approximately 56m
long, fed via a balanced feed-line (see the blue Rawlplug and cable-tie article in last
week's edition). The feed is offset from centre by about 3m, and the wire is in
inverted-vee configuration - 8m high at the centre and 5m high at the ends. The
balanced feeder has a current BALUN at the shack end - which will be described in a
future edition of the newsletter.

Judging by Sava's consistently good signals in the

region, I'd suggest that this configuration would be terrific for others in our team to try
out at home.

We just need to twist Sava's arm to give a phase-cancelling noise

canceller a try as well to help with his S8 noise level!

From Also from your editor Mark VK6QI at Beautiful South Bowning via the VK5PH
and VK6SEG KiwiSDRs at Ironstone Range and Hoddys Well
[15m]
Kevin VKSKEV at Seymour was coming through nicely to the
VK6SEG

KiwiSDR,

but not the VK5PH

ones.

Interestingly not

long after, Paul VKSKLE at Stawell was coming through ok in
& SA but not WA.

Interesting to postulate about why that was.

Absolutely nothing heard of our DXperiment's Ross MONNK.

knew via email that Ross was there (we'd asked him to QSY a bit because of a
strong digital signal on the chosen frequency) - but he heard nothing of the Aussies.
[20m]
Mike DL3YZ was S4 into the VK5PH
VK6SEG

receiver near Northam;

KiwiSDR

at Ironstone Range, and $1

into the

Patrick VK2IOW was S2 into WA and S3 into SA.

[40m]
When

| worked James VK7JZ on his new dipole,

he was romping in to the VK5PH SDR network in
SA and was a decent S5 into WA;

amazing for the

low-angle propagation, considering his dipole was doing a reasonable impression of
a beverage antenna.
[80m]

James' linked dipole was a ripping S8 into South Aus.
After dinner, | really enjoyed listening in to the various rag chews going on around
Australia.

Despite some Post Morsum reports of nothing heard,

ok when | listened.

the band seemed

Just lucky | guess?

From Manny VK3DRQ at Blackburn
[80m]
Even though OM Mike's signals were very poor, only
RSN 222 with QSB in downtown Blackburn, we
managed to have a nice chat with those beeps going
back and forth LP around the Globe. Thanks for you
patience dear Mike.
On another token, | wish to sincerely congratulate
the Author of the Very Nice CW Poetry.
[Thank you Manny, yes | liked it too... but | can't take any credit - the Al application

ChatGPT was the poet!]

From Roy VK6RR at Geraldton

[40m]

Plenty chatting, regretfully due to other jobs couldn't stay
long and unable to hear anyone on 20m,

From Kevin VK3KEV at Seymour
[40m]
;
Liad

owas

any

nfiar

eclinnar

AnniaAana

ait

haanl

iil

}

Mau

vuoy

uay,

a@ILGI

UNNI!

| UGUIUGU

OIL

VAL,

relax and enjoy head-copying some longer QSOs.
Rob, VK3ECH/p, talked about his outback adventures.

Jordan, VK3ACU had a long QSO with George VK2AOE
about home brew antennas, ladder lines and amps.

Sometimes it is good to just listen and get the gist of the
conversation. 40m became noisy with DX QRM as the evening progressed. 80m was
much quieter.

From Sava Magazinovic VK4PN at Brisbane

[20]
Got on 20m a bit late so before checking propagation on the Reverse Beacon net |
had a quick scan between 14.04 and 14.05. There was a slow morse at 14.048,
unmistakably Manny VKSDRQ. The advantage of using a straight key is that it gives
you a personality, by now | can identify quite a few QRS participants by their Morse
style and rhythm. Conveniently Manny was finishing with Mike so | did not have to
wait long. Mike responded to my first call but his signal was weak and | was
struggling to copy, OK for a basic QSO but certainly inadequate for any meaningful
chat. After a while and exchange of RSNs | gave up, told Mike | would try the

following Tuesday. After the QSO with Mike,

and out of curiosity, | called CQ a couple of

PAY

;

—-

times to see if | was heard anywhere and to my
surprise | could see multiple paths to EU, US,
JA and around Australia! | wonder why | had so
much trouble copying Mike.
[40m]
A bit quiet from down south but plenty of Kiwis with good signals. Couple of longish
QSOs with ZL1PX and ZL38TK so my keying fist started to cramp and troubled me for

the rest of the evening. Managed to catch up Rob VK3ECH/P4 somewhere west of

Targomindah he is travelling in the back of beyond probably on dirt roads. He expects
to be back at Echucha for the next Tuesday's QRS Net.

[80m]

A few nice QSOs on 80m as well, all lengthy. Rob VKSECH/P4 was very strong into
Brisbane we had a
el

nice chat and by this stage my keying was getting a bit erratic,
PR ee

eon

cramping was paintul. Swapped to F 16 Tor a wnile to gel some reel trom pains. un
return | logged on Araluen SDR to do a

bit of spotting and managed another long

QSO with VK2KI. Painful experience again my speed and spelling were all over the
place but miraculously Mark copied everything. Another enjoyable evening.
[Sorry to hear it was such a painful night for you Sava.

| asked the question some

months ago about our family members' ideas on reducing wrist pain (carpel-tunnel
syndrome and similar arthritic-type conditions) - but didn't get any replies.
your cries might bring a few thoughts this time?

From Andy VK5LA at Winkie
[40m]
Condx seemed great! Jordan VK3ACU was a
massive 10 over SQ. All others armchair copy as
well. Never got to 80m

Post Morsum - 13th August 2025
From

Richard VK6HRC

Take care mate.]

Perhaps

Seven checked in on the South West AllStar / Echolink and Repeater Hub.
f

VK6KD David
VK6NW Wayne
VK6QI
Mark
VK6FN
Max
VK5ET John
VK6HRC
VK6MRB swi Mulligan and others.
David mostly listened on a Kiwi sdr over East on 40m as he was not hearing
much direct, then tried 80m later on. He had a couple of overs with us before he
had to sign off as he had arrived at his workplace..
Wayne worked four on 40m and then on to 80m not much activity though, too
cold for some ? There is a possibility he might be active through the week if time
avails.
Mark monitored the activity on 20m and 15m, nothing heard from Ross M@NNK
unfortunately but a full hour from Mike DL3YZ and the crew on 20m. Worked two
on 40m heard seven, heard twelve on 80m tried calling Wayne VK6NW but no
response ! The master of multi tasking spotting / chatting on WhatsApp as well.
Max enjoyed the evening in SWL mode making sure everyone behaved. He is
very happy to report that most of the electrical gremlins have been sorted with
the help of Rob VK6LD.
John enjoyed the session, happy to catch up

Rob VK3ECH

portable VK4.

| had three contacts on 40m and one on 80m and enjoyed the 20m traffic on a
local Kiwi sdr.
Thank you to all on last night and this morning, stay safe.
Richard VK6HRC

FYI
As we were signing off WA6ZFT Steve
from La Mesa California called in - a very
interesting fellow indeed. Steve was the
co-inventor of the AllStar network that we
use for the call-backs, and was the the

second node on the network at the start.
He was also heavily involved with the early California repeater and remote station
systems and still homebrews HF rigs for
fun when he has the time. Steve's QRZ
page is well worth a look.

Post

Morsum -

For our Sandgropers, getting up at 6am
Morsum

call-back after a late CQQRS

in the morning for the Post

net may not be everyone’s cup of

tea.

And for those of us in places afar from Richard our Post Morsition,

some

have to work, others have better things to do at that time of the day.

So, here’s a suggestion - how about we run two Post Morsums for a
period?

One at the original time of 6am WA time on Wednesday

(2200z

Tuesday in places meridian), and one at say 7pm WA time, 8:30pm
and 9pm

trial
SA time

Eastern (1100z Wednesday)?

Would you be interested in calling in from time to time if we did that?

there a better time that would suit you perhaps - Richard isn’t available
from 5 to 5:45pm

his time when

he listens to Nic VK7WW’'s

training net, but apart from that, he’s flexible.
your phone or computer - and you’re in.

brilliant CW

All you need is Echolink on

Please let Richard know your

thoughts vk6hrc(at)gmail.com and Cc me cgqqrsnet@qmail.com

This Week’s

Topic of

Interest
This week,

Nigel G4RWI

continues his dive into his research into using

Artificial Intelligence tools for amateur radio.
give us some

He’s jumped

ahead a bit to

insight into the capabilities of these new tools - in this case,

tackling imperfectly sent and received CW.

Artificial Intelligence and
Morse
Let’s learn some

new

Hand-Sent

Code

acronyms

by Nigel G4RWI

Artificial Intelligence and Hand-Sent Morse Code.
From Nigel G4RWI

- great for parties

Given that Al is a rapidly developing technology, and nearly everyday we read of

another industry or company taking advantage of it, how could it be relevant to
Amateur Radio, and specifically to our shared interest in Morse code?
One thing that Al is very good at is
pattern recognition. Think face
recognition. Al can recognise faces in

an image, not because its seen that

Decoding Morse in the

image before, but because its learnt

something about that face.

Digital Age: Al
Applications

I've thought for a long time that Al
should be able to decode Morse code.
If you think about it, thats what we are training our brains to do, recognise patterns,

often in a noisy environment, and often when the dots and dashes are not perfectly
formed or timed. Also or brains get good at auto-correct. Someone sends QTS but
we know because of the context he meant QTH, and they just miss-sent the H
So | thought | would pose the question to ChatGPT. Here is what | asked it:
“With Human sent Morse the timings vary slightly plus
when received via a radio there is a lot of noise and other
unwanted signals. Ai should be good at recognising the
underlying patterns, as a good human operator would”
This is what came

back!

You're absolutely right — and you've hit the key insight.
Human-sent Morse is imperfectly timed, and over-the-air
(OTA) reception introduces noise, fading, key clicks, splatter, QRM, and QAN. These
all make strict rule-based decoding brittle — but they’re exactly the kind of variability
Al can learn to deal with, just like a skilled operator.

Why Al Works Well for Human-Sent Morse + Noisy Conditions
.

Human brains recognize relative patterns, not exact timings.

Al models can be trained the same way: to detect temporal shapes in

sound waves, not fixed durations.
°

Neural networks (esp. Convolutional Neural Networks and Recurrent

Neural Networks) are great at this kind of sequence/pattern recognition under
distortion.

, Al-Powered Approaches That Mimic Human Decoding
1. Use a Pretrained Deep Learning Model
These are designed exactly for what you described:

(3 DeepMorse
°

Deep CNN trained on audio with realistic noise

Input: WAV files with Morse

Output: Decoded text

Includes synthetic and real data, can be fine-tuned with your own

recordings
°

Handles variable timing and noise better than traditional decoders

Uses raw audio and deep learning to decode variable-speed Morse

Includes Jupyter notebooks

‘

Good starting point for experimentation

&@ 2. Train Your Own Model
If you have specific kinds of signals (e.g. noisy HF SSB vs clean CW), you can train a
custom model:

@ Steps:

1.
Collect Audio Samples: Record real-world Morse (multiple operators,
variable speeds).
2.

Preprocess:

Convert to spectrograms or Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients using
librosa (a Python languge audio analysis program)
Optionally filter out low/high-frequency noise
Label:
Annotate using something like Audacity or Praat
Label dots, dashes, intra-character gaps, letter gaps, word gaps
Train a Model:
Use a CNN (e.g., for spectrograms) or RNN/Transformer (for sequences)
Frameworks: PyTorch, TensorFlow, or even Keras for fast prototyping

@ Example Architecture:
Input: Spectrogram slice
CNN layers: detect tone bursts
ANN layers: learn sequences over time

Output: ., -, or space, followed by decoding into letters

*€ If You Want a Shortcut (Prototype):
You can combine:

Audio Preprocessing with librosa
Basic CNN+RNN architecture
Greedy decoding or CTC (Connectionist Temporal Classification) if
aligning audio to text

Happy to walk you through code for any of this, or even adapt a pretrained model if
you share a short WAV file of your Morse (especially if it’s noisy HF).
So all very interesting if a little

VIFCC Explained

incomprehensible in parts. | have no
idea what CNN and RNN means, but
a quick follow up question gave me a
basic understanding of differences.
So what did | learn. Firstly | was
probably right. It seems to be a
characteristic of all Al’s in that they
like to inflate your own ego “You’re

absolutely right — and you’ve hit the key insight.”!
Secondly its given me some existing examples to experiment with, and some
pointers as to how | might roll my own.
Could | have got here with Google and YouTube? Probably, but with a lot more effort
and clutter to wade through.

Cheers,

Nigel G4RWI

If you have an article or two that you think might be of interest to our
readers, please let me know so we can share more thoughts and ideas;
guidance on writing for RagChew,
material to Mark VK2KI:

see Articles below.

Please email

cqqrsnet@gmail.com

My Workbench

for

Improving the Performance of In-Line, Phase-inverting

Noise Cancellers by Adopting a

Different Approach to Noise Pick-Up
from Stan ZL3TK
The secret to optimizing the performance of RF phase-inverting noise cancellers is in
delivering to the auxiliary (AUX) antenna input as near-perfect facsimile as possible
of the noise one wishes to cancel.
Users of such devices have often lamented the
perceived need to hunt down the source of the offending
noise then install a customized noise pick-up antenna as
close as possible to the actual noise source.
In reality, even if there was only one noise source, such an endeavour is usually
considered impractical for a range of reasons. But in an urban environment there is
never only one noise source, so to deploy a separate pick-up antenna for every
source and trunk their signals into the operating room is clearly impossible.
Amazingly, an aggregation of all those noise sources is already on hand. Whether
picked up by the main antenna or on the shield of the main antenna’s coaxial feed
line, noise currents will flow down the braid of the main antenna coax on their journey
to ground at the transceiver end.
What if an exact facsimile of the aggregated noise which your antenna system is
picking up could be delivered directly to the noise canceller’s AUX antenna input?
Surely that would eliminate the myriad of frustrating variables encountered when
trying to discover by experimentation a compromise between polarization, length and
orientation of a single random wire AUX antenna.
Allegedly, it can be done very
easily by simple capacitive coupling to the main-antenna feed line’s braided copper
shield.
Find an off-cut piece of coaxial cable 1.5 m in length with a diameter at least that of
the antenna’s feed line.
Carefully slit the outer jacket lengthwise to half its
thickness, ensuring no damage to the copper braid beneath, then tear along the slit
to remove the jacket. Now, bunching the braid slightly will allow the dielectric and
inner conductor to be withdrawn.
Depending upon the diameter of your station coax and whether it already has a
connector fitted, it may be necessary to carefully insert a wooden dowel, or mandrel,
into the piece of copper braid increasing its diameter sufficiently to allow it to be slid
onto the main antenna’s coax. Now stretch the braid for a tight fit over the main
coax jacket leaving the near end of the braid about 500 mm from your noise
canceller’s main antenna input socket.

Select a 700 mm length of insulated wire to reach from the near end of the new
copper sleeve and the noise canceller’s AUX antenna, input socket. Strip off 100
mm of insulation from one end and wind the bare wire three or four times around the

sleeve’s near end, cinching it to make good contact with the sleeve. Add a bananastyle plug to the free end for a snug fit in the noise canceller’s AUX antenna socket.
Finally, the original piece of slit jacket may be ‘clipped’ back over the 1.5 m of bare
braid and secured with heat shrink tube for a neat finish.
Now your noise canceller should be receiving as a voltage waveform, an almost
perfect copy of the RF noise currents travelling down the main antenna’s coax braid.
Adjust the noise canceller for a null in the usual way. Reportedly, the null is likely to
be deeper than previously obtainable and won't cause any reduction of the wantedsignal, which of course when operating with a low VSWR, will be carried entirely
within the main coax.
r

Wire to AUX ANT input ——e

of noise canceller

Capacitively-coupled
noise pickup sleeve

From
antenna

1.5 m of copper braid slipped
over the main coax jacket

To ANT input
of noise canceller

The original article was published in the August 2025 newsletter from ‘The Antique
Wireless Association of Southern Africa’.
Credit goes to the author Warren
Akerman, ZS6AKW, who wrote, “I used this hack while living for four years in an
area suffering from a constant S7 to S9+ noise floor. Even though my noise floor was
this high, | could null out the noise and work DX.
This little project looks like it is based on sound theory.

the article has been considerably edited by Stan, ZL3TK.

To improve flow readability,

Stan doesn’t own a noise

canceller so he has not been able to test the device. For those who see possible
merit in it and decide to try one, please carefully evaluate any improvements then
write a report for RagChew detailing your experience.
73 de

Stan

Thank you Stan.

For those who haven't tried the phase-type noise

cancellers to reduce or get rid of the switch mode power supply hash that
these days is the bane of our existence on the low bands, | recommend
that you do.

Terry VK5TM makes an excellent kit, or you could buy a copy

(complete with pick-up antenna) from China for under $100,

| don’t

recommend the ridiculously expensive and poorly made MF] one - email
me for my previous articles in RagChew).

They can be tricky to adjust and

as Stan said, rely on pick up of noise from a suitably placed noise antenna
(/ use the little whip on the back of mine - and the S9 noise drops to S zero
on 40m and S1-2 on 80m).
will be giving ita try.

| like the approach proposed by Warren and

Thanks to Stan from bringing it to our attention.

For

those who have noise cancellers and want to give this a try, please let us
know how you went cqgrsnet@gmail.com

What’s going on on your workbench?

If you have an article or two that you

think might be of interest to our readers, please let Mark VK2KI
email to

cgqrsnet@gmail.com

For guidance on writing for RagChew,

see Articles below.

know;

ricau
Compiled

VUpy

Frrattite

on the track somewhere

Last week we waved

by John VK2RU

goodbye to Winnie and friends. This week we’ve

drifted into a new adventure, though

probably not very far. Surely it can’t

be too great a distance from the Hundred Aker Wood to the riverbank.
Our new journey is 7he Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. A
riverside tale of friendship, mischief, and the quiet beauty of life along an
English river. First published

in 1908, it follows Mole, Rat, Badger, and the

irrepressible Mr. Toad. Beneath the laughter and escapades

lies a

celebration of loyalty, the natural world, and the comforts of home.
It’s a slightly more challenging

book for head copy, but after ten weeks in

the Hundred Ake Wood, we should be ready for it.
I’ve made a few small adjustments to make the text Morse friendly. | have
removed

less common

punctuation that the Ditto CW app doesn’t

recognise, and simplified contractions (for example,

“we'll” becomes

“we

will”).
Chapter 1 is quite large, so due to MailChimp’s size limits, we’ll be
spreading

it over two weeks.

This week’s files for Chapter 1 include:
e One .txt file with the full chapter—perfect for use with the Ebook2cw
app if you'd like to make your own single .mp3 file. https://fkurz.net/ham/ebook2cw.html
e Two .mp3 files, each containing about a quarter of the chapter.
e Two text files matching the .mp3 segments.
Click on the images below to download.

You can load the .txt files into the Ditto CW:

Morse Player app -

httos://dittocw.andro.io/ , or simply play the .mp3 files on your media
player. Both will work fine, but the Ditto CW app lets you adjust every
Morse setting to your liking, while a standard
change

media

player will only allow a

in speed, and it will be in steps such as +1.25x,

Other
Other things

I’ve received

Flogging a Dead Horse?

From Ross MONNK

1.5x, or 1.75x.

News
from our 220-plus

readers.

This Tuesday | got nowhere trying UK-VK on 15m, but not for any good reason other
than maybe Propagation.

TL One
c
fee enn
ett

12.1

ore.

Cee
a
oo Poceelhee ete -+40--+60

rei

AGC--

| was Portable on a perfect English summer morning, at a quiet rural location. So my

noise floor was as low as it can be:

i ; {

v8
ar OY
ee, ee

AGC--..

IRS

rae

19.9

Bae

Se lediteeat ae etter
ee ee

HF TRANSCEIVER

| feel for all you operators with a noise floor of S5 and above. Less than S1 is my
norm.
On transmit, the Xiegu G90’s 20 watts is far more useful than QRP but it does lack a
bit of punch for DX.
Still, as in Life, we have to work with what we’ve got. And the G90 is a great radio for
Portable.

The T2LT antenna may have been the culprit, but | tested it in this location a couple
of weeks ago and it worked fine then. So, who knows.
Anyway, | have an exciting idea for next week’s DXpedition so watch out for news of
that!
Ross
MONNK

CW Ops Column - 14 August 2025
From Chris VK3QB
CW Ops OC Ambassador

Hello again, | hope everyone has had some great on-air activity this week and you
are fighting your CW gremlins, whatever they may be. I’ve been assisting one
member with some tips on improving his CW; both sending and receiving. If you’d
like to share your challenges, just drop me an email and we can either chat via email
or have a phone call/Zoom.
Sked?
Would you like a sked outside the Tuesday sessions (ideally Monday night) - where
you can get feedback and ask questions? Email and vkicwo can help!
Vk1cwo @outlook.com

CW Ops Academy
CW Ops offers a great training program. It’s called CW
Academy and caters to all levels of capability.

CW Academy

Beginner: For those with limited or no experience —

really catering to the beginner

Fundamental: Once you’ve mastered the basics and want to improve your skills this
is your course. You are pretty confident with the alphabet and numbers and can send
and receive at 6-10 WPM.
Intermediate: For those in the 10-15 WPM
contesting, DX, and ragchews.

range looking to improve skills for

Advanced: If you’re confident with sending and receiving at 18-20WPM this is your
class to achieve 25WPM and start the journey towards full head-copy and really get
the best out of our mode.
You can read more and complete a questionnaire to better determine which class

would best suit you here: htips://cwops.org/cw-academy/

Classes run for eight weeks — they are hosted twice a week on Zoom. You need to
apply yourself and be committed if you want to get the most out of these courses.

If you’d like to know more, please drop me an email. I’m more than happy to send
you my phone number and we can have a chat.

Helpful Hint
As noted last week, before getting on air, spend 2-3 minutes doing some practice.
start with "v v v" and "test" and then your callsign. For some more thorough practice,
try sending Pangrams off-air every day. You can download a PDF here: hitps://
morsecodesessions.wordpress.com/resources/
Pangrams are a great way to ensure you're confident with all characters and can
send a complete sentence with good timing and rhythm. Again, record your sending
and listen — how does the timing sound? If you’d like some feedback, please send
me a recoding.
Next week I'll share a really useful tool to help you with copying callsigns.
Remembrance Day Contest
Lastly, don't forget the Remembrance Day contest
this weekend. Its starts O300Z on Saturday and goes
for 24 hours. (NB. 0O300Z means O300UTC. UTC is
the universal time we all work to — makes life so
much easier than trying to reference humpteen
different time zones — | can provide a reference to an
article on UTC next week). Read more about the RD
Contest here:
https :/Awww.wia.org.au/members/contests/rdcontest/

Give it a go... even for 2-3 hours — it’s a friendly

contest and there isn’t any pressure to QRQ. Email
me if you have any questions.

Vit i i
. 290 ee)
FEE © a ay BOSSE

Messe

earth

As always, local CW Ops members are here to help. Some are on-air regularly and
more than happy to have practice QSOs with you. Just send me an email and we can
go from there.

73, Chris VK3QB

CW Ops OC Ambassador

\ | ops/

www.cwops.org

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 - 3580kKHz at 7pm
time every Wednesday;

Eastern

you'll hear lots of the

CQQORS team on that net. Jordan VK3ACU has

a aahi
copii. “eee

Yo Ue

recorded the complete set of lessons which you
can

now

find here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?
list=PLHSQmZz6fBXO/swAfbTmutrbbELl
7fUQL
Contact Nic VK7WW

for more info nicholaschantler@hotmail.com

tncluding

how to join the NTARC

DISCORD

group to follow the action, or just come

along and join in on Wednesdays.

International

Flight Contest

It’s not too late to join this interesting Morse Code exercise.
Progress
From

report on the QRS

Stan

International

Flight Contest

ZL3TK

Our penultimate journey has begun.
Northbound

on Wednesday

13 August at 0000Z,

Flight NR 09 departed

from Runway 36,

a 1.4 km strip at 2.8 km AMSL in one of those infamous,

criminal-infested

narco countries of South America, en route for the fourth-

richest city in North America.

Any suspicions about what might be

stashed away in passenger luggage for CBP

officers to discover?
All QRS

IFC information

available at

fu f ms

bit.ly/qrsifc

160 points potential
Award Certificate
QRM and stress-free
Great CW experience

73 de Stan

>fi
Qrs

Home =

10 flights
{
Ls
11 weeks
DK aml
In your own time Lp“.
he,

Club Information

Courses

The Radio Bulletin

YouTube

Monthly Meeting July - Two-tone audio

Groups

Links

MemberLogin

RADIO

BULLETIN

USB Rig programming cables

and Windows 11
21/04/2024 - 7:57 PM

Richard VK3ZCL - Presentation on how to use a two-tone audio generator for transmitter testing.

Subaru Coax Install
15/04/2024 - 8:04 PM

Portable Power

10/11/2023 - 10:56 AM
Antenna Launcher Exemption

Are you a member?
Not getting your monthly news?
Not getting any updates?

(Yo.

03/06/2023 - 3:53 PM

Perhaps log in and check that your email address is current. We still have a few whose emails are

Oceania

QRS

Saunter

- This

Weekend

From Garry VK2GAZ:
The SKCC Oceania QRS Saunter will take place this Saturday,
August,

to join in!!

All the details for the Oceania
SKCC

16th

2025 from 00:00 UTC until 11:59 UTC a 12 hour event.

All are welcome

website

QRS

Saunter

(OQS)

can

be viewed

at:

httos://www.skccgroup.com/operating_activities/oqs/
Please make use of the SKCC
Spotter.

4 July - Friday 8:00pm - Club Rooms Burwood & Zoom

SKCC

) oe

i ie

Flight Contest 2025

THE

generator

= S A
oo
=]
Ls
f
fe

Sked

Page and the CW

Club RBN

on the

https://sked.skccgroup.com/
https://ron.telegraphy.de/
| look forward to contacting you during the event.

Best regards,

SK%7CC

Garry VK2GAZ/VK2ZP

SEE rE ee

#5460C

Manager - SKCC Oceania QRS Saunter

VK6PZT

BALUN

- Smoke

SKCC

oas

O emiin
ens amirter

coe ae

Test

From John VK2RU
I'm pleased to report that | had my first QRP QSO today with Mark VK3M).
2000kms

on 5w going out of a bit of el-cheapo hookup wire. Mark gave me

a 539. Very happy with that.
My rig today:

e QCX+,

powered

Anker 24,000mAh
power bank through a
PD trigger set on 15v.
e 49:1 transformer built
to Richard's VK6PZT
design in the previous
RagChew

Newsletter -

Jaycar LO 1230 toroid
x2 stacked, Jaycar WH
3011 hookup wire.

e Ant - about 10m Jaycar hookup wire going up to a 7m squid pole.
e JBL speaker.
e WT 8 Amp

No 2 key.

Contest

- This

Weekend

Contests | hear you say?

Pah!

Well yes - it ain’t nearly as much fun as QRS rag chewing on a Tuesday...
but it can be a good
Pretty much
73 dit-dit.

training opportunity.

a fixed format callsigns, report/serial number,

maybe

name,

Not very meaningful... and probably done at lightning speed....

but because the format is pretty well fixed, no matter how well advanced
your CW reading Isn’t, you might find it useful.
If you’re not sure, perhaps try listening in - and if you

SO QRP CW

find that you’re

ist VK3ACU

able to get a Surprising

amount

written in your log, well perhaps try transmitting?

Look at last year’s QRP results - anyone we know?

Note

250

2nd VK7WW 172

3rd No Entry

1. Suggested Call: “CQ RD”, “CQ Contest”, or “CQ Test”
2. Exchange: A valid exchange consists of RS(T) followed by a number as
follows:
a. For a single operator, the number of years you have been a licenced
Ham.

For example,

if this is your 1st year as a ham then you will sign RS(T)

O01. Round off to the nearest whole number. All zeros are not accepted.
b. For a multi-op or club station, the number of licenced years of the
longest licenced Amateur present at the start of the contest.
3. On all bands, stations may be contacted at intervals of not less than
THREE

hours since the previous contact on that band and mode.

a. FM & SSB count as one mode, as does CW & RTTY count for the CW
mode. Therefore one cannot QSO with a station In FM and work them on
SSB on the same

band before the three hours is up.

4. No cross band contacts are allowed.
5. Exchange of contact information via satellites, telephones,

repeaters,

Echolink, IRLP, or the internet is not in the spirit of the contest and is
banned;

however,

Remote stations can be used - see the Rules for details.

6. Contacts via satellites are not allowed for scoring purposes.
7. Contacts within the same call area are permitted.

And

tf waist

Aacrida

tan

hava

aan

far

cAmMaA

noaninte

_— C\Al

ANU

YUU USING

LU Have @ yu tur suIiS PUL

contacts count as double points!

- Saw

So irrespective of

your speed, the QRQ dudes will still really want to
exchange

numbers with you.

Here’s the details:
httos://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/rdcontest/

Maybe

in a future year, we might consider a QRS push during the RD

Contest - with the double points, imagine the impact if a whole bunch of
QRSers submitted

logs.

It’d be great advertising for this outstanding

sapect of our hobby, that’s for sure!

QRQ?
Now we know that one of the secrets to the huge success of our net is the
fun and relaxation that can come from a
chew.

lovely rolling slow-speed

For those who are comfortable with CW,

rag-

it’s just so much fun and so

relaxing (think gliding, compared to flying helicopters!).

And for those

early on the learning journey - it’s a great target to aim for - to be able to
relax and enjoy a nice long rag-chew.
Rag-Chew

Maybe we should call it the QRS

net - HI!

However, there’s also lots of our
team who learnt CW when

Noah

was a lad - and for are more
comfortable with 15-20+ words
per minute

than

sub-10wpm

equate that to dancing (Ms e was
originally my dance instructor that’s how we met by the way!) for me (and my poorly-lubricated
arthritic hip joints) it’s always
been easier to dance
fast steps than slow).
some

regular QRQ

| know some of our family would just love to have

(ie non-QRS

rag-chews).

on air can be a challenge (UR 599, name
So, how about we crank up a QRQ

net on a

But finding people to chat to

is Flash, 73 dit-dit).
different night of the week, just

for those who would enjoy a rattling-along rag-chew or three?

I’m thinking

we find a litle segment of 40m for a start (eg 7030 to 7035 - specifically to
include the common

SOTA calling frequency),

pick a night and a time (eg

Thursday or Saturday at say 1100 - 1130z) and see what happens?
To keep it rolling though, we’d need a coordinator - someone who will be
there often and could write a report for the RagChew
week.

If it becomes

newsletter each

popular, we could run up another Reporting system

like we use for the QRS net - but we’re getting ahead of ourselves!

Who's

up for such a net, and in particular, who could take on the coordinator role
to promote it?

Thoughts?

cqgrsnet@gmail.com

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:

Readable

see Articles

cqgrsnet@gmail.com

(Watchable)
Five

What have you been reading lately?
Compiled on the track somewhere by John VK2RU

In Newsletter

19 - 2025,

| reviewed

Chris

Rutkowski’s

MorseBusters

YouTube video Keymanship 101 - The Beat and Rhythms of Morse Code httos://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noBXORrx5rgq&t=1898s

Chris followed up with Keymanship 102 - Perception and Experience of
Morse Code - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=|PszqUgIIM8&t=1560s

which is a continuation of the first video and adds a few extra tips on
technique, timing, and smooth
This week,

sending.

I’m looking at the latest in this series, Morse Code Basics-

Introduction to the Straight Key- https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=iSVA80g6G"M

This latest video is exactly what the title promises - a no-pressure
introduction to one of the simplest and most classic ways of sending
Morse.

It starts with a quick look at the key itself - how it’s built, how to hold it
comfortably, and how to set it up so you're not fighting the spring tension.
From there, you'll get clear demonstrations of sending dots and dashes,
with the emphasis on proper spacing and rhythm. The approach

is calm

and encouraging, and there’s none of the “you must get it perfect from day
one” pressure.

Key adjustment
1.

—

Just grab it and
wide, narrow,

move

it.

Does

it feel ‘stupidly’ hard,

soft? If so, correct

it. Try something

else

Experience it. Choose a comfort point at which you
can move

up and

down

easily. That's your

starting

point

DRILL

—- key cycling up and down

Up just as important

2.
3.

Not tentative, deliberate
The arm controls the key — not ‘the key controls the

as down

arm.

Towards the end, the video moves

into some

handy practical tips: how to

keep your sending consistent over longer practice sessions, ways to avoid
fatigue, and simple exercises to develop a steady rhythm.

dit = 1 key-cycle.
i

‘

j
j

;
|

i
\

Dah = 2

via

i
"

,»

Named

DIT LENGTH
1 KEYCYCLE

i;
|

Thanks John.

suggested we get others’ opinions too.

you think? caqqrsnet@gmail.com

but

So what do

reenter:
ABSORBINGLY

Nic also suggested this as an interesting reference
manual -->
So, this week let’s go with :
Character:

Prosign:

[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

INTERESTING

Here

So back to the CQQRS
Next Tuesday’s

Slow CW QSO

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

respectively.

Hope to hear you there.

Reports
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

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 - although our readers will much
perhaps have a go at using a Large Language
tool such as ChatGPT,

prefer your own writing,

Model Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft Copilot or Google Gemini 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.lv/COORSWebsite.
suitable prompt (the command
want).

Our website also includes a

you feed to the Al to make

it do what you

Please remember though - you must fact-check anything that an Al tool
drafts for you because Als ‘hallucinate’ - ie if an Al can’t find what you’re
looking for, it will make up an answer and present it as a fact!

This is one

of the dangers of using Als - it’s quite probable that the tool will create a
very readable and convincing draft that is 100% wrong!
submitter are responsible for fact-checking.

You as the

But it’s a learning experience

- please let us know how you went if you had a go with this new generation
of tool.
And by the way - | am very concerned

about our future in a world of Al -

but I’m pleased to see that school and university curriculums now focus on
understanding the risks - for instance, kids are now learning critical
thinking something that used to be taught mostly at post-graduate level.
When the typewriter was invented,
handwriting;

when the word

people predicted the downfall of

processor was invented, the art of writing was

thought to be on the way out - ditto for the spreadsheet and arithmetic,
AM, SSB and FT-8 for amateur radio etc.

We can ignore Al and hope that it

just goes away... or we can learn to handle it through experimentation

and

use.
For more guidance on writing for the RagChew

newsletter (including help

with using an Al), head to our website bit.ly/COORSWebsite then click the
menu

on the top right and then click RagChew Newsletter.

Teamwork

Thank you so much to our team of 40 contributors:
VK2AOE, VK2ASB, VK2GAS, VK2GAZ,
VK3ACU,

VK2IOW,

VK3BSE, VK3BTV, VK3CLD, VK3DRQ,

DL3YZ, G4RWI,

MONNK,

VK2KJJ, VK2RU, VK2WP,
VK3KEV, VK3QB, VK3WOW,

VK4PN, VK5CZ, VK5ET, VK5KFG, VK5LA, VK6BEK, VK6HRC, VK6JDM, VK6KD,
VK6KHZ,

VK6NQL,

VK6IS, VK6NW,

ZL3TK, ZL4CTS and ZL4TE.
Nigel G4RWI

(head of software development),

wrangler), John VK2RU
VK6HRC

VK6RR, VK6WE,

VK7TA, VK7WW,

Patrick VK2IOW

(reports

(researcher and Head Copy Facilitator) and Richard

(Post Morsition).

Great work all!

€U CW on Tuesday,

Mark Bosma
VK2KI / VK6QI

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

Thanks

ZL1PX,

And a special thank you to our editorial team,

to Stan ZL3TK for this one

—->

Odd-ball crystals for
CW frequencies?
Yeah, | can tell you
where to get

plenty of those ...

EMPORIUM

About

ROCK

the CQ

QRS

Net

Here’s where you’ll find the details.
For the current schedule

and

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 hitps://bit.ly/COQORSWebsite

Our mailing address Is:

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You

can

update

your preferences

lene las

mailchimp

or unsubscribe