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RagChew

Edition 35/2025

Reports from this Week’s

Net

Swiss Gerty
The Great

Untelescoping

Affair - and other Wind

vs Antenna

Dramas
Post Morsum
TAP

- A Morse

Code Alternative?

Build Your Own

Balanced

A Portable Antenna
Head

Copy

Portable
Keep

Coupler
Dog

Coil

Practice

In My

Back Yard

It Short on 20m

Morse Training
CW

- Mad

Character

Net
Speed

Progress

Report on the QRS

Ops

News

QRQ

Anyone?

PIMBY?

BYOTA?

Readable
Prosign

AMBY?

Five
of the Month

Di-dah-di-dah-dit
About the CQ QRS

Group

International

Flight Contest

RSS

Once again this week, most people had terrific fun on the bands for our
CQQRS

Slow CW

Practice QSO

net on Tuesday.

Some good success for those who gave 20m a

Also looks like there was
try to contact our European

DXperiment team - a QRS pile-up no less!
In this week’s RagChew

newsletter, Sava VK4PN

discusses a balanced

coupler that he'd built - goes well with the build-it-yourself balanced
discussed two weeks ago in edition 33/2025.

line he

And there’s a bunch of other

technical and operational articles and comments

by our 30+ contributors.

And as we inch toward warmer weather in the Southern States, a young
operator’s thoughts turn to.... yes, portable operations (what else could
there be to think about?).

So down

in the Other News section, | ask for

ideas on some sort of portable in your own back-yard activity for later in
September;

it’s all Peter and Manny’s fault!

Anyway on-on... | hope you have time to enjoy the read this week, and
thank you so much to our editorial team and to everyone who took the
time to contribute - another great read - thank you all.
Looking forward to catching-up or hearing you on Tuesday’s net.

Masthead

Image

Thanks this week to Peter VK3WOW
them

and Manny VK3DRQ

having fun in the inaugural VK3 WOW

extravaganza

last weekend.

for the shot of

Activate My Back Yard

They reported:

“sans scones, sans contacts,

Sans everything — except a good fun afternoon, and an occasional listen to
our own signal on the VK5PH

Ironstone Range

KiwiSDR.

5.7 or so metre vertical with 9 x 4.5 metre radials;
metres ok, but inaudible in SA on 20 metres.
recommended

that Manny worked

5 Watt QMX

into a

80 metres and 40

Your editor had

best when fed scones - and you can see

the result of Peter’s omission!
See

in the newsletter

below.

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

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

Group

Here’s the 55 stations heard by 32 members

SGGNS
Team
Member

DL3YZ

Worked 20m |

G7BED

Heard on air

reports.

of our team on Tuesday:

asoi | aso2 | aso3 | aso4 | asos | asoe | aso7 | asos
VK3MJ | VK3DRQ]}

VK6RR | VK3KEV | VK3DBD

VK2DLF

Worked 40m | VK3KLE |

VK7TO

VK3ACU

Worked 40m |

VK7TO |

VK6NW

VK3BWN

Worked 40m

ZL3TK | VK6NW

VK3BWN

Heard40m | VK3ACU |

VK3XY | VK6JDM

VK3CLD

Heard 40m

VKSWB |

VK3DBD

Heard on air

VK3DRQ

Worked 20m

DL3YZ

VK3DRQ

Heard 20m

VK3MJ

VK6RR | VK3DBD | VK3KEV

VK3DRQ

Worked 40m

ZL1PX

VK3RU | VKSKFG

VK3DRQ

Heard 40m

VK7TO

VK7TA

VK3JFR

Heard on air

VK3KEV

Worked 20m

DL3YZ

GONXA

MOCIN

VK3KEV

Tried 20m

G7BED

VK3KEV

Worked 40m | VK2DLF
VK6ENW

ZL3TK

VK7TO

VK7TA

VK5AO

VKSLA

VK3KEV

Heard 40m

VK3KEV

Worked 80m | VKSKFG

VK5AO |

VK3KLE

Worked 40m

ZL1PX

VK3KLE

Heard 40m

VK3JFR

VK3KLE

Worked 80m

|VK3WOW

VK3RU

Heard on air

ZL3TK

VK3JFR

| VKSKDO |

ZL1PX

|VK3WOW
VK3RU

VK3 WOW
VK3WOW
VK3WOW

VK3RU

VK2GR

VK5A0

Worked 40m | VK3KLE | VK6NW |

VK5KDO

Worked 40m | VK3ACU

VK5KDO
VK5KFG
VKS5KFG
VVEVEr

VK2GR

|} G7BED

VK2GR

VK6RR

VK7TO |

VK3KEV | VK2DLF |

F5VV

F2GL

VKS5SLA | VK3BWN|

VK3JFR

VK3KLE

Wik

WUInce

OUT

VARIA

eLgIn

VKSLA

Heard on air

VK6GX

Worked 40m | VK6WE

VK6GX

Heard 40m | VK6NW | VK6JDM |

VK6HRC

Heard on air

ZL3TK

VK6IS

VK6KHZ | VK3ACU |

VK6IS

Heard on air

VK6JDM

Worked 40m

VK6JDM

Tried 40m

VKSAO |

VK6JDM

Heard80m |

VK3KEV | VKSKFG | VK3DRQ | VK6KHZ | VK6NQL

VK6KD

Worked 20m |

VK3MJ

VK6KD

Heard 20m

VK6RR

VK3XW

VKSNW

| VK2BNG

VK6KD

Worked 40m | YHOONN

VK6KHZ

Worked 40m | VK6WE | VK6HRC

VK6KHZ

Heard 40m

VK6KHZ

Worked 80m | VKG6NQL

VK6IS

VK6NW |

VK6RR

VK5AO |

YD3CPI

VK7TO

| VK3ACU

VK6NQL

Heard on air

VK6NW

Worked 40m | VK6KHZ | VK3ACU | VK3BWN|

VK6NW

Heard 40m

VK6QI

Heard 20m

DL3YZ | VK3DRQ

VK7TA

ZL1PX

VK6QI

Heard80m

VK6RR

Worked 20m |

|VK3WOW
DLL3YZ |

VK6RR

Heard 20m

VK3DRQ

VK6RR

Worked 40m | VK3ACU | VK6HRC | VK6KHZ | VK6NQI

VK6RR

Heard 40m

VK2GR

VK3MJ

VK6RR

Heard 40m |

VK6NW

ZL1PX

ZL3TK

VK2GR

G7BED

VK6WE

Heard on air

VK7TA

Worked 40m

ZL1PX

VK3KLE |

VK7TA

Heard 40m

VK3RU

VK5SAO | VK3DRQ |

VK7TO |

VK2DLF

VK7TO

Heard on air

VK4NW |

VK4RR |

VK4NO |

VK3JFR

VK2CR

VK7TA_ | VK3DRQ

VK7WW

Heard 40m | VK3BWN|

ZL1PX

Worked 40m |

ZL3TK

Worked 40m | VK3ACU | VK3BWN |

VK7TO

ZL3TK

Heard 40m

VK3RU

ZL3TK

Worked 80m | VKSKFG

VK3JFR | VK3KLE |
VK2GR |

VK3KLE |

VK6GX

W1PL

VK3XU

ZL1PX

VK5A0O | VK6JDM |

VK2DLF |

VKS5AO

VK7TA

ZL1PK

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;

reports have been compiled for

thanks Patrick.

From Mike DL3YZ at Stuttgart
[20m]
I think

thie

wae

ana

tha

monet

fayunirahla

annditinne

win

<>,

ever had. Sun flux at 175 sfu, | had VK stations over here
with up to S8 at times. No problem for easy chatting along. |
had quite a pile-up at the beginning of my shift, and maybe |
didn’t copy them all. So, if you didn’t come through today,
please feel free to send me an email
(di3yz@sandersinformatik.de) and we will arrange a private
chat for next Tuesday. Thanks to all stations joining in our

DXperiments today, it was a great pleasure to work you.
Greetings from sunny Germany, DL3YZ— Mike.

— PS:

Didn’t manage to set up the quad loop yet due to some
unpleasantries with "Swiss Gerty" chopping knife — see
photo. But we still remain best friends on the constant

crusade against blackberries and antenna-hating neighbours
HI.

From Donald VK6JDM at 20 km west of Esperance
[80m]
Was all ready to get going when there

was a strange sound outside and a
glance outside showed the tower holding
up the 80 metre dipole had slipped its
winch handle and dropped the upper

section down; the feed line was now lying
on the ground and both arms of the

dipole were touching the ground. Signals dropped somewhat.

Went outside - the All Mighty noticed and in a demonstration of a proof of the
existence of God a rain cloud just happened to tip its bucket on me as | wound up the
winch cable to untelescope the tower. | know some pedantic reader is now looking up

untelescope in the Oxford dictionary and going tut tut. Anyway tower extended and
wires where they were meant to be, | came

in and answered a call from, | thought,

VK3XU but it was VK3XW whom | believe to be a Colin Smith - sorry about that

mate. Anyway, managed to send awful CW for the poor chap to hear.

Decided then it was time for a drying-off break followed by listening rather than
sending and heard quite a few conversations despite a lot of QSB.

From Stan ZL3TK at Waitarere Beach
[40m]

40m was in really good shape. A pity it wasn't like
that on Saturday for SKCC Oceania and
RandomGram when zero contacts were made.
Can anyone identify the data(?) mode about 500
Hz wide on 7.0315 MHz?

Sounded a bit like varAC

handshaking but that mode is supposed to be only
on 7.105 MHz. Short but strong bursts with no discernible digital pattern, repeating
in sequence 1 son, 3s off. Any info appreciated.

From David VK6KD at Ballajura WA
[20m]
| heard most activity on the 20m band.

My quick

fix of the wires on my Hex beam yesterday paid

off as | had a QSO with Mark (VK3Mv) like he
| was parked next door on 14.053MHz.

| made it

i an early night as | spent Tues completing network
switch programming training prior to jumping onair. Not before a quick QSO with Orari on 40m whose callsign YHOONN was like a
tongue twister for my fingers. Just couldn't get his callsign out without delays, hihi.
73 to all until next week. VK6KD

[40m]
| could not hear much activity on 40m from my QTH.

My QRN was very low S1.

From Roy VK6RR at Geraldton
[80m]

Good conditions, had good QSOs.

From Wayne VK6NW at Bridgetown
[40m]
It was lovely to chat with Mait and also very nice to catch up with
Fajar near Jember, Indonesia. Very little QSB at this location

' though a couple of eastern states were complaining about QSB
| from the west.
[80m]
: | called CQ for a while on 3550 but no replies, and did not see any

) other stations on the waterfall.

From

lan VK7TA

at Latrobe

[40m]

| got on air late for a short session, but still heard a few
stations. Some were maybe

not on the net, others

definitely not. | heard VK2DLF and VK7TO QSO,
George was booming in at 599 whilst | could barely
hear Lance. My vertical isn't very local-friendly.

From Greg VK5KFG at Willunga
Ree

oma

[40m]

OM Manny was 5 and 9 during our first over and then
disappeared into the noise after that.

| am not sure

what happened and had not experienced such a
sudden loss of signal before without the antenna
coming apart. A cold front was moving between us at
the time with a fair bit of rain.

Maybe that affected

f propagation. | then listened to a contact between
VK6NW and, on my reading, YB2CPU although | could

1 not confirm that call sign in QRZ.
[80m]
Solid contact with Kevin VK3KEV.
to fade toward the end.

Stan ZL3TK was just above the noise and started

From Phil VK6GX at Gidgegannup

[40m]
Good condx, but had to attend to other matters,

hence only 1 good QSO with Daniel VK6WE.

From Peter VK5KDO at Encounter Bay SA

[40m]
| thought | heard FK8HM working VK3DBD but not 100% sure
of callsign. Did not get back to shack to try 80m after dinner
duties.

From

Paul

VK3KLE

at Stawell

[40m]
Nice quiet band, activity and conditions
seemed to fade earlier than last week.

From Manny VK3DRQ at Blackburn
[40m]

vaene

VVe started a nice chat we OM Greg VK5KFG and less

Sim than 15 minutes into a good QSO RSN 592 +40, we both
became QNP. Hard to believe how quickly condx can
deteriorate to that extreme.

From

Peter ZL1PX

at Waiuku, near Auckland

[40m]
Kas

Anet

ninht

wat

iunith

ODOC

Alat

Alana

NI f Boy

tal and

IVIY MGOL IYI YGU UTE UH

WI GE

ING. INUIIG UL Ly

contacts was a 599 but | copied most of what they sent
me. (‘most' meaning around 90%).

So a good night for

me and i went back to my XYL with a smile on my face
at the end of the session. That could have been related
to the fact that Manny VK3DRQ kept referring to me as

Gayle

OM - aterm that indicates skill and experience | just
don't have. But thanks anyway, Manny.
[80m]
Conditions were that good on 40 M that | could hear ops keying away on either side
of my contact's frequency, albeit at a reduced amplitude. That provided concentration
skill while copying so that | only listened to the tone | wanted. Good learning
experience.

From Jordan VK3ACU at Meredith

a [40m]
Excellent band conditions tonight with Stan booming in
from over the pond!

From your editor Mark VK6QI at Beautiful South Bowning NSW via the VK5PH
Ironstone Range KiwiSDR
[20m]
This week, Elizabeth and | were in Canberra during the net, so playing radio really
wasn't de rigueur.

However,

at around 0600z we were in the National Gallery of

Australia enjoying a cuppa and | managed to
have a quick listen to the VK5PH KiwiSDRs at
lronstone Range using my phone.
eee

Mike DL3YZ
nd

Ww.

Was

COMING

WrOUGQN

MICely

dl o4,

anda

ivianny

VK3DRQ who he was talking to was readable
but much weaker.

| thought it better to not

stretch the friendship, so my phone was
pocketed before too much damage was done.

Ons:

[80m]

A little later in the evening when Elizabeth went to the bathroom, | managed to sneak
another listen to the KiwiSDR using my phone during dinner.
good number of people on 40m and a

There seemed to be a

nice signal from Peter VASWOW

calling CQ on

80.

From

Ketut VK3BWN

at Keilor East

[40m]
It is nice to be able to back on-air after 3 weeks of absence; work, family, and other

things can get in the way of Tuesday night's net. | made several CQ calls and Stan
called me so quickly. We had a good rag chew despite me
trying to re-train my ears again on, well, about 10 WPM

(apparently 3 weeks absence will do that to me). After saying
73, | tuned a bit and heard VK6NW

chatting with Jordan

a= VKSACU. | decided to try my luck with another "DX" station (for
= me at least). It turned to be pretty tough. VK6NW asked for
QSY DN 2K and luckily | was able to copy it. As | moved down
2K, | saw his signal QSBing and becoming faint. So that was a
difficult DX for me but thankfully he stayed there. | just can't imagine what kind of
copying he has at his end.
Last night, the wind had been very gusty and pretty damaging. | lost both guy ropes
holding the mast and another rope holding the end was cut. This is part of a rather
complex rope system holding one end of the doublet on the roof. Unfortunately, this
weekend looks like another busy weekend for me helping the Balinese community
organization. Oh well, | will wait and see how things will play out and whether | can
put the antenna back in operation. | will see you guys soon.
tale sets mea rn

ala

Nothing from Sava this week - hopefully he’s enjoying his time away
visiting family.

VIMIIIVIIVVIVIVIVIVIVIV

Post Morsum-26th August 2025
from Richard VKGHRC.
Fioht checked

in on the SouthWest

Reneater

and AllStar / Echolink

hub.

VK6KD
VK6QI_
VK6NW
VK6FN
VK6HRC

David
Mark
Wayne
Max

Our SWL
VK6MRB
VK6XLZ
KA3BMS

crew :
Mulligan
Mark
Hank

ten -

David tuned through 20m caught up with Mark VK3MJ and then on to 40m to
work the ORARI (Indonesian Amateir Radio Association's station YHOONN.
Nothing heard on 80m.
Mark had to do some stealthy SWLing from Canberra the cultural Capital?
Monitored 40m for a while and then on to 80m to hear Peter VK3WOW calling
but no response.
Wayne had fun working stations on 40m, called on 80m to no avail - crickets or
the RF equivalent. Still recovering from a heavy duty SES stint in the Collie
area.
Max relaxed in SWL mode fine tuning head copy, getting better all the time,
might even get on the key next week if he can find it ! Nearly forgot, Max has
just collected a Chamelion 17m telescopic antenna to go with the Big Dog coil
- POTA activations planned.
| started the session listening on a local KiwiSDR to Chris G7BED on 20m
good signals and nice code from him and Roy VK6RR all seemed to go quiet
after that. Worked

Ron VK6KHZ

and Roy VK6RR

on 40m, went into SWL

mode and heard Donald VK6JDM working an Eastern state station. Tried 80m
later on, no response.
As usual thanks to all on last night and this morning.
73 Richard VK6HRC

This Week’s

Topic of

Interest
A Morse
Incase You

Attached

Alternative

find Yourself in Jail Some

by Roy VK6RR

is a very complicated

time

(to me anyway) way of communicating.

But as we both know from last week my brain is not the brightest!!!
Thought you may like to see it - if you haven't already.
73 &77

RoyVK6RR
TAP
A Morse

alternative

mode

for the ham,

with no need for training

From an article written on 19-May-2022

by Kostas SV3ORA

Introduction
The thinking of this new mode, came to me when someone posted
that he quit the ham hobby because he did not learn Morse code and
he did not want to use computers to do the job for him. Some time |
faced a similar situation and

| believe many

So | thought that I had to do something

do one day or the other.

about it. It is too bad

people

quit the hobby or missing the fun of the KEY operation, because of the
obstacle of Morse code.

No matter what CW

operators that already

learnt Morse might say, the fact is that Morse requires patience,
continuous practice and most importantly time. After all military had
dedicated

courses on it in the past, so it must be more than true.

These are things not all people can, or are willing to do. An alternative

that gives the same pleasure like Morse and operates with the same
techniques,
the TAP

Mode

but requires no training and time must exist. Meet

mode!

description

This mode

has its roots to ancient Greece. You

in Wikipedia for more
was used

information

may

read the article

on the Polybius square. A form of it,

in the previous century in war times, for in-prison

communication.

A modified version

perfectly the ham

is presented

here by me, that fits

radio. This modified TAP code scheme,

is dedicated

to ham radio and includes the numbers and the letter "k”.
l12
3
4 5

This is all you need to know in order to send and receive TAP. It is easy
to follow and easy to generate on paper. This is a 6 by 6 table, with
the first six alphabet

letters placed

in the first line, the next six in the

second and so on. After the alphabet ends, the numbers are put in the
Same

manner.

Thats it!

Sending TAP
It is better to describe the sending

procedure with an example.

To send the letter "i" you send two dots ("i" is on the second

row), wait

a bit and then send

In other

3 more dots ("i" is on the third column).

words, you first count the number

of rows where the letter exists, then

wait a bit and then you count the number

of columns where this letter

exists. Before sending the next letter, leave a bit of more time, so as
to distinguish that this is a separate

letter and

not the time between

rows and columns. Thats it!

Try it now without any transceiver! Write the TAP table on a piece of
paper (you do not need to write the row and column

numbers),

or read

it from the website. Tap on your desk with your finger and send some
words to the coleague

near you. See how easy it is?

There are actually four spacings
adjacent dots, the spacing
spacing

between

involved. The spacing

between

the row and the column,

letters and the spacing

PARIS spacing,

like Morse code does,

for it. However,

in practice,

manual

just two spacings, the spacing

between

words.

and the

Follow the

if you intent to write a software
operators would

between

need to consider

rows and columns

and the

spacing between letters. These are the most important. Just make the
one bigger than the other and communication should be achieved
without problems.

Receiving TAP
It is better to describe the receiving
To receive the letter "i" you

then a short scilence time and then
third column).

procedure with an example.

listen two dots ("i" is on the second

row),

listen 3 more dots ("i" is on the

In other words, you first listen for a number

of dots (this

is the row where the letter exists), then sense the scilence and then
you

listen for the next number

of dots (this is the column

letter exists). The silence time between

where the

two letters is greater than the

silence between rows and columns and this can be distinguished
easily. Thats it!

Try it now without any transceiver! Write the TAP table on a piece of
paper (you do not need to write the row and column
it from the website.
and you should
columns

numbers),

or read

Put your coleague to sent you some TAP words

be able to decode them

by counting the rows and

in the TAP table.

A programmer that may

need to implement the mode

in software,

should follow the PARIS spacing to distinguish the different parts of the

code, as described above.
TAP

advantages

Here are some
e

advantages

| can think, of TAP in comparison

No training is required, start using

it imemdiatelly,

even

to Morse.
by non-

ham people and kids. This probably is the greatest advantage and
this is why

most would want to use TAP in ham

e The encoding/decoding
to remember

square can be drawn

how to draw

radio.

easily, it is very easy

it.

e Decoding by hardware or software means, becomes very easy, as
there are no dashes to account for. Dot lengths can be anything
and can be even varying from dot to dot, it does not matter.
e All you count,

is how

rough timing

between

letter. Because

many

(taps) there are and the
a row-column

or a

of this independency from dashes, the code can

be used on any means,
e

ON-states

them, to decide between

radio, light, pipes, walls, desks etc.

If dot lengths are kept very short (up to the point where
noise allows it), RF amplifiers can be pushed

beyond

channel

their limits

(due to limited duty cycle), or otherwise
limits. There are some

mediums,

run cooler within their

like light communication,

bright pulses of light can be produced

where

easily (eg. xenon tubes),

but not kept for duration and TAP is ideal on them.

TAP disadvantages
Here are some disadvantages | can think, of TAP in comparison to
Morse.
Speed

limit issues probably. TAP beginners achieve for sure faster

speeds than

morse

beginners.

However,

a trained Morse

ham,

can

achieve greater speeds with Morse.
Learning the table by heart, can be tricky in comparison

to morse.

However war prisoners had tricks to learn by heart the 5x5 TAP

square.
Not known
Why
TAP

(yet) among

the ham

community,

not change that by let hams

common

There are some

like any new

mode.

know about it?

points to Morse
common

points shared

between TAP and Morse code.

Both are relatively slow modes.

Both are ON/OFF keying modes, efficient class-E amplifiers can be
used.
Both share the same channel bandwidth and noise-related
characteristics.
Both are human-oriented,

although TAP does not require training.

Both share the PARIS timing when

implemented

in software.

Both allow for the "joy of the KEY". You send TAP with the same

equipment as morse.
Both are ideal for home-brew
transceivers simplicity.

Kostas

SV3ORA

QRP,

due to efficiency and

JAN

6 |

HY 7 7a

wet ae

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.

for

Please email

cqqrsnet@gmail.com

My Workbench

Build Your Own

Balanced

Coupler

From Sava VK4PN
Continuing on from my previous article about making
using common

hardware

a balanced feeder

materials, finally | found documentation

the Sunshine Coast Amateur Radio Club members

| left to

in case they needed to

repeat the Club’s balanced tuner project.. The information below is fairly
cryptic as | did a lot of talking during the construction phase.
If anyone is interested and needs help | am

happy to correspond

by email.

Details for the auto-transformer are in the notes on the circuit diagram.

Notes.

4@ turns
Jom copper
em pitch on a 42 om PYE pipe
Pipe is slotted ferpt tudinal ie
for aligator clips termination

2t1,T2
3

3m311

Torminals

4 Tellow

toroid
4,5

1@Hz

and

taps

cores

turns

aligater

clips

at 4 and 5,

abowe

furn
alow

tap

selection

18 MHz

taps

18 turns

S Tap at 6 usually between 2 and 6 turns
be adjusted to B reflected power 2
6

Both

variable

caps

are

x 566 pF as

from CT select
found

VE@PN

VSWR
sm

CUsers\SavalDesktop\balanced

tunerivswr meter ILsch

old

of CT
¢ can

valve

Home

Bridge
Rew

side

for best VSMR

either

receivers

Brew

Lod

and

Tuner

LPB EB?

Page

- Sheet1

Pictures show my prototype (1 made sure all bugs were cleared before
offering this as a workshop

project). | do not use this particular tuner

myself just the auto-transformer and a Kenwood

AT200 unbalanced tuner.

Also all adjustments on my coil are done with alligator clips slightly
modified to fit 1 mm

pitch without shorting.

MTs

}

Pictures show my prototype (1 made sure all bugs were cleared before
offering this as a workshop
The coil, apart from

project).

ensuring

the resonance,

autotransformer and can be used
tuner;

also acts as an

by itself with any unbalanced

in fact, | do not use this particular tuner myself just the auto-

transformer and a Kenwood

AT200

unbalanced tuner.

Also all adjustments

on my coil are done with alligator clips slightly modified to fit 1 mm

pitch

without shorting.
When

using this tuner (or in fact any other tuner) make sure that the

transceiver power is turned down to 10 W or less before
sequence.

the start of tuning

On most modern transceivers SWR detectors will limit the

power to a Safe level if mismatch

is detected. This will always be the case

until the tuner is close to a match.

It is therefore very difficult to find the

initial

tuner settings when the transceiver’s SWR detector is interfering.

1OW or less initial power will generally be under the transceiver’s SWR
detector threshold and a correct dip in VSWR
circuit on the tuner.

will be detected by the VSWR

Once initial tuner settings are found power can be increased to full and
tuner fine tuned for minimum
power will

VSWR

reading. In most cases reflected

be miniscule 1% or less, virtually unreadable.

If a perfect

match

is not possible the tap at 6 (number of
turns adjustment between

CT and the

tap position) should be moved. Generally
the tap will be somewhere

between

and 6 turns.

73 VK4PN

Portable Antenna
From

- Mad

Dog

Coil

Peter VK3WOW

Continuing the Portable in My Backyard theme,
;atest creation.

Peter VK3WOW

Dann

here’s Peter VK3WOWs

Removed the threaded part of existing tripod. Used
10 mm bolt, nut and 2 washers | bought in store from
Cost Less Bolts Industrial Supplies in Ringwood
(great personal service). Coil is Mad Dog Coils “Little
Dog" model. These photos don't show radials set up.
| followed method shown on a Mad Dog Coils video of
stacking two (stripped) banana plugs.
7:36pm

Peter VK3WOW

Dann

Peter VKSWOW

Dann

© Removed the threaded part of existing tripod.
Used 10 mm bolt, nut and 2 washers | bought in
store from Cost Less Bolts Industrial Supplies in Ri...
Ha!

Peter VK3WOW

| thought it was a baked

beans can!

7:39pm /

Dann

When you buy Mad Dig coil you have choice of two
threads for mounting. | chose 10 mm. Forgot to say | also
got 10 mm female/female adapter from that supplier. That
adapter is what is visible above the washer and nut. It’s
covering a 10 mm bolt coming up from below.
7:40pm

ae
Peter VK3WOW

Dann

You
Ha!
PD

| thought it was a baked beans can!

Too much

QRF with that approach!

Ketut VK3BWN
&

Wiadnyana

Peter, what kind of "whip"
Peter VK3WOW

7:41pm

do you use?

7:49pm

Dann

$20 Chinese cheapie, 5.7 metres. Shortened a tad, makes
quarter wave on 20 metre band with loading coil bypassed.
7:59pm

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;

Head Copy Practice
Compiled

on the track somewhere

by John VK2RU

This week we start the second chapter of The Wind in the Willows, The
Open

Road,

where Toad, Ratty and Mole go on a caravan trip.

Because of MailChimp’s size limits, I’ve had to split the Chapter 2 audio
into four parts. If you’d like the full chapter in a single file, you can use the
complete text of Chapter 2 attached
Ebook2CW

below, and convert it yourself with the

app - httpos://fkurz.net/ham/ebook2cw.html.

I’ve made a few small adjustments to the text to keep it “Morse friendly”.
Uncommon

punctuation

has been removed

(the Ditto CW app doesn’t

recognise some of it), and contractions have been simplified (for example,
we’// becomes
This week’s

we wilh.

attachments

include:

e Two MP3 files which contain the first half of Chapter 2. Each file plays
for about 1.25 hours at 12 wom.
e Two text files matching the MP3 segments.
e One text file with the complete Chapter 2.
Click on the images to load each.

(eae

Sci

La]

”

You can either play the MP3 files in any media
into the Ditto CW:

player, or load the text files

Morse Player app - https://dittocw.andro.io/.

Both work well, but Ditto CW gives you complete control over all Morse
settings, while a normal

media

player only allows changes to playback

speed, and does that in steps (e.g. +1.25x,

1.5x, 1.75x).

More detailed instructions can be found in previous issues of this
Newsletter.

Other
Other things we’ve

News

received

from

our 220-plus

readers.

Enjoying the glorious pre-Spring weather in Horsham

and inspired by Peter

and Manny’s Activate My Back Yard attempt, Tim VK3TBR
Buddipole antenna for a bit of Back Yard on the Air fun.

Tim - VK3TBR

Barnett

broke out his

Great day for BYOTA

4:42 pm

=
Keep

it Short on 20m

From Chris G7BED
Chris G7BED

is one of our DXperiment team who has become

a regular on

the the 20m entrée to our weekly net, using 20 long-path:
“My suggestion

is to keep the QSOs short (RST, QTH) to try and get more

contacts in the log... If that's OK.?
See you Tuesday.
Thanks
Chris

[Excellent idea Chris.

Not only does this allow more

VK/ZLs to say g’day to

our European friends, but also helos the common problem of local stations
coming up on the frequency in use and calling CQ because they can’t hear
the weak signals from up top.

This will also reduce the problem of the

signals fading-out as the conditions change during long overs.

So even

though much of the pleasure of our net comes from the rag-chews, let’s
keep the overs short when we’re on with our down-under stations in the EU
and UK?

Morse Training

Net

Our team

Nic VK7WW

member

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

eae
a

CQQRS team on that net. Jordan VK3ACU has

_—

_ 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

how to join the NTARC

DISCORD

including

group to follow the action, or just come

along and join in on Wednesdays.

Character Speed

From

Paul VK3KLE

Over the past month

| had a reminder message from another operator that

has triggered a very constructive thought on the format of our groups
activities.
When

| went to radio school and class at what is now Victoria University

back when

| was 16,

characters.

| remained stuck at the slow speed for years - not helpful at

all.

Ray the instructor tried to use Farnsworth,

Although

to 5 wom

the tapes played were all at 5 wom

by half the class.

the best method

dead slow
he was voted back

It's my opinion a good teacher often does know

and not the students.

The very slow leaners did not make eventual good operators of any level in
amateur radio and perhaps could have enjoyed other activities.
It's my belief and that of many others ts that the

progression

competency that may eventually result in good speed and accuracy is
better learnt by using the Farnsworth
sending each letter at least LOwpm

method

at good character speed -

or faster, but with more space between

letters and words to allow the recipient to process and decipher the code
semi comfortably.
| don't believe any CW

learning should ever be at that dead slow 5 wom

speed unless it's the objective to forever operate at 5wpm

on a permanent

basis.
lam concerned

history may be repeating itself at 5wom

within the group

for some. Thankfully over the many months some ops have progressed a

lot including myself.
I'm lucky enough to have been doing CW for a good while, the experienced
ops kindly push my receiving speed to my overall improvement.
So assuming

| have not upset anyone already, | have a Q-code suggestion

for Our group.
lf say | was sending CW at 10wpm

Farnsworth effective say 8wom

and the

recipient really couldn't decode 50 percent of the message, they could
send “QRS 5 WPM”

or better “QRS F7”.

Short-cut if needed to send.

It helps if it's written down as a

A short cut sheet itself is handy on the wall

near the operator.
The other sensible option for an inexperienced op is just to have a very
Short QSO with good rest in-between the next QSO. They will have
hopefully gained a little practice quite uncomfortably at a better speed on
a properly sent short QSO from an experienced and kind operator.
ones with potential will persist and improve.

No harm

The

in the others

enjoying what they can get from it. We do have various Apps to validate a
call sign if the beginner can't copy it.
DX call signs

with QSB.

| have several attempts myself on

It's not ment to be easy, but it’s a decent

challenge ©.
Once the call sign is copied down

| can match a fast speed and get enough

of the QSO copy to be satisfied the bi-directional communications were
enjoying by both operators.
Eventually a good many of us may then get up to 20wpm.
our methods

restricted the growth of any fine CW operator.

in CW is that those without much
CW

I'd hate to think
My experience

potential don't persist in any case.

is not an easy or simple activity.

Done well and fast it's up there with

any sport or musical endeavour performance at the highest standards.
| can say Jordans sending is very easy to copy.
words are very compatible at this end.

His timing and choices of

| have a guess | could copy his

style at 18wopm currently on a short QSO.

I've had the odd email or QSL

card from some operators saying that was the speed our QSO was at.
Also another point - short overs and QSOs can be very enjoyable at a faster
than comfortable speed.

You only need to obtain a few expected details

like the op’s name, callsign, RSN or RST and QTH

perhaps.

basically fill.

soon , or TU TU etc, just

Some send the fill info like work AGN

The rest is

long enough for most to all to understand.
Some operators use long words and quite non-standard content and
format.

Often with random

difficult for me to copy too.
working

spacing and varied speed. Those are often
| hope to improve in that area and | find

DX helps with me being able to copy out-of-VK callsigns.

l’d also like to discourage the use of BK at beginning or end of the over.
doesn't seem

like it's used in other countries.

far more common.
to reply.

I'm getting to

| use KN where | want a specific op

As you recall something we host 3 or more in a QSO,

feel all warm

Ract

K at end of over is

| add AR at end of a CQ call to announce

the finish of calling CQ, followed by K.

DanaraAc

and fuzzy lol.

makes

VWTOL

NTYGIUDS

Paul
VK3KLE

Progress

report on the QRS

From

Stan

ZL3TK

When

Is a flight not a flig ht?

International

When

it is bonus

Flight Contest

11, that's when!

Deal with it in the same way as the others, it is just another QNC
conveyed

by sound file.

The grand finale offers 20 bonus points,

10 points for each of two

tasks which draw on your experience gained from the previous 10 weeks.
The next IFN report will be asummary.
all been waiting for.

It will reveal what you've

To avoid embarrassment,

only the top place-getters

with scores of more than 100 out of a possible160 points will be
published.

Certificates of Achievement will be issued soon after.

As an enthusiastic proponent of independent thinking in this age
of woke stupidity, | will not be asking permission before publishing
names and callsigns. If any contestant doesn't want his epic
achievement revealed please let me Know in advance.

‘f,

All QRS

IFC information

iy
Peale

Fe I (

available at bit.ly/qrsifc

C ands

ee Ee

AeFhe
Pa

Courses

Monthly Meeting July - Two-tone audio

; adie

3
a for.

i
NS

“

}

Ke 8

“T
\+—_—

in your own time

YouTube

ming

weeks

Vere

fe
Wt
if

oe.

aa
“a
Li y
\~
i} w Ge
}

Links

generator

saa t

er.

International Flight Contest 2025

THE

.
:

oes —

160points potential

Groups

AN
(
PN

»
‘3

10 flights

7 \

ene

Eo
@
Award Certificate
_? ts
@ > QRM and stress-free
r
\
‘ @ 3 Great CW experience

”

The Radio Bulletin

So“

QRS

Club Information

ra eS
SS

aie

“E79

Home

s
’

A re

Boo J a

74S

A
-—

ae
ty
s ree t
hp
Ly

Stan

ores

See

REA

\
ma,
Ss
a

; Me

;

MemberLogin

RADIO

BULLETIN

USB Rig programming cables
and Windows 11

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

21/04/2024 - 7:57 PM
Subaru

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

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?

bk.

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

Ops

News

From Chris VK3QB

for 29 August

2025

- CW Ops Oceania Ambassador

As we leave the doldrums of Winter it’s great to see some steady
improvements

in the bands. | thought I'd talk a little bit about working

this week.

Maybe you’ve had some good QSOs locally and have built up

some confidence with the basics: signal reports, exchanging
maybe

name,

QTH,

a little about the wx and your station.

Hint ‘n Tips - working

You're ready to dip your toe in the water and chase some

DX?

Let’s start with some fundamentals and generalisations:
For most of us the money

bands for DX will be 40 and 20 metres.

Both

these bands are good all-rounders and offer up a regular serving of DX
most days. Don’t discount the higher bands, but they can be less
predictable and quite fickle with openings.

For those with access to 30

metres, take a look from around sunset for a few hours. It’s also a great
daytime back for intra-VK QSOs.

I'll soeak on behalf of those of us on the

East coast of VK and maybe ZL - | know conditions are a little different
over West.

If you have a good quality basic station comprising

modern transceiver

with filtering, good earthing, and either a dipole (say % to % wavelength
off the ground) or a well-grounded vertical you're “station ready” to get
some

DxX in the log.

Let’s move to band and time of day considerations.
For most of us who don’t sport a 15-metre tower, 3-4 element beams, and
an amplifier, the most reliable opening are as follows:
1.

20 metres Long Path Europe: typically, from early to mid-afternoon
through to just after sunset. You may also get some Short Path North
America

later in the day.

40 metres Short Path North America: typically, from mid-evening
through to the wee hours (say 1-3am).

If you have a grey line map,

watch for sunrise as it hits the East Coast of North America and then
3.

marches across to the West Coast.
If you’re an early riser, you'll be listening for EU Short Path and NA
Long Path.

Conditions may vary considerably between

(for example) VK3 and

VK4... soend a few days listening to get a feel for your local
propagation conditions.
Next... do you call CQ or Search and Pounce (S & P)?
It’s much

less intimidating to start your DX chasing by searching and

pouncing. This strategy offers a number of benefits:
1.

You'll start to learn about propagation and what signals you’re
hearing on what bands and at what time of day.

You can listen whilst you build confidence. This will help you
understand

DXing

protocol and some of the variations based on

different cultures.
3.

You can choose when you'll call someone...

hopefully everything will

feel right. The CQ speed and Morse Code quality, signal strength, lack
of QSB, QRM,

QRN

etc... and you'll be confident of his/her callsign.

You may already have copied his/her name and QTH from listening to
previous QSOs for a few minutes.
You're ready... the ducks are all lined up, you’ve listened for a few hours
over a few days and now you are copying a European station on

14.023Mhz with a nice 579 signal. The band is in good condition, and he
isn’t overwhelmed

with other stations returning to his CQ.

Now usually, but not always,

DX QSOs will follow a pattern, and unless one

of the parties wants to ragchew, the QSO will be fairly “vanilla”.
Below is a short but typical example of how the QSO

e You hear “CQ CQ CQ dx DK1ABC
e

DK1AB

de VK1ICWO VK1CWO

e VK1ICWO

de DK1ABC

DKIABC

might play out.

DK1ABC

”

- ge om es tnx fer call - ur rst 569 569 - op tom

tom - qth berlin berlin - hw cpi? k
e

DKIABC

de VK1CWO

- gm tom ur rst is 579 579 - op is chris chris es

qth nr melb melb - tnx fer fb dx qso - - btu bk
e

rrtnx chris es gud cpi - Gud dx es cu agn - 73 73 - VKICWO
DK1ABC

rrqsl tom es tnx fo qso - GL es 73 AR DK1ABC

de VK1CWO

SK tu tue

e
And just like that, you've got that first DX QSO

in the log. There will be

variations of course and many international operators will limit their QSOs
to the basics, as in many cases their conversational

knowledge of English

may be limited.
A few quick pointers:
e

Keep your overs short and simple - consider having a boilerplate QSO
written down

e
e

ready to follow.

If you missed his QTH

(for example) ask again “ur qth qth pls? ? BK”

North American stations will nearly always give their QTH

as a 2-letter

state designator (e.g. AZ for Arizona).
JA stations may provide their Prefecture or nearest city as their QTH.
Most EU stations will provide a city name.
Ending an over...
1.

Send

there are a few ways you can finish an over.

both callsigns followed by “k” or “KN”. “KN” signifies you are

specifically passing over to your QSO

partner. “k” on its own

means

you are passing it over without limitation (i.e. other stations might
break in - although this is unlikely). Using “KN” is most formal and
regarded as procedurally correct; however,

many ops are far more

relaxed these days.
2.

If your overs are short, maintain the rhythm and don’t use callsigns.

Simply finish with “hw?” (how copy), or “btu” (back to you) and then
“k” or “kn”.
3.

Instead of using “k” or “KN” you can use “bk” (break). You will hear
“bk” a lot in simple,

vanilla

DX QSOs.

If you have any questions or would like some

more pointers, please drop

me an email.
CW

Ops

CW Ops runs all sorts of awards, contests, and activities to encourage
members

and non-members to be active and develop skills. If you’re still

getting your head around CW you probably aren’t ready for some of these
activities yet. But as a primer, check out some of the offerings on our
website.

https://cwops.org/

Support
Firstly, I’d like to thank Peter VK3WOW

for his kind feedback in last week’s

newsletter.
If you are facing hurdles or just not making

headway

in any element of

your CW journey (sending, receiving, callsigns, memorising the sound of
CW,

breaking a speed

barrier, making that first QSO)

please feel welcome

to send me an email. Similarly, if you’d like a QSO just drop me an email
and we can arrange a sked.
I’m working with another reader presently to help him with his sending.
Until next week,

73, Chris VK3QB

& VKICWO

CW Ops OC Ambassador
vk3qgb@hotmail.com

or vklcwo@outlook.com

[Thanks Chris - nicely done.]

QRQ

Anyone?

Mark,

| think that you suggested/considered
to practice at a higher speed.

having a second evening for people

Probably | would be there if there was

another time, but nonetheless | am not sure that it is a good idea.
Perhaps it is worth starting by considering why the Tuesday net is sucha
great success.
Maybe one reason is that it caters for different operators.
conventional

Unlike a

net we don't all sit on one frequency waiting our turn. If one

wants to only try and exchange call-signs and RST at 5 wom
fine... in fact | wish we had more.
wpm

then that fits in too

then that is

If one wants a long gossip at maybe

(Stan, ZL3TK, was recently

asking me about pub

quiz topics and | waffled on about that). If one takes a break for dinner (as |
always do) then one can duck out at any convenient time.
Another key to success Is critical mass:
on Tuesday evening then a QSO

you know that if you get on 40m

is (almost) guaranteed.

This in itself is an

incentive to be there.
If we run a second

night we risk becoming

fastand s/ow (ie them and

us)

and thereby also losing our critical mass.
It is my interpretation of the rules/spirit that Tuesday night welcomes
everyone however slow, so all operators are more than happy to go as
slow as necessary.

However, the reality is that we don't have many

absolute beginners. Some of our

absolute beginners have enjoyed CW so

much that they are now quite proficient:

which is of course great.

| use a Straight key on Tuesdays, which limits my sending speed, and my
receiving speed

isn’t very high anyway,

but when

| know that the operator

at the other end is more than capable | do use speeds of (I guess, since |
don't use a keyer) around

15wpm.

| n the past | have had a fun QSO where

| have asked the other station to increase speed until we reach a point
where | can't copy much, after which we revert to a comfortable speed.

it is understood what we are doing then this can be fun.
So, just as | hope everyone would send QRS when needed, maybe we could
encourage calls of ‘QRQ (desired speed)’ for those who are interested?
Of course, the more people that enjoy Tuesday nights the more people we
should have calling CQ at other times. So we should have more CW activity
anyway without scheduling another time.
Once again, congratulations on the success of the Tuesday net, | certainly
enjoy it and | am sure that everyone else does too.
lan (VK7TA)
[Well thank you lan;
of our net!

you’ve done an excellent job of distilling the essence

So much so that I stole some of your words for our website!

hadn't thought about the secondary effect of diluting the Tuesday fun by
spreading our family among two separate sessions.

Thank you.

Any other

thoughts - one way or the other - out there? cqgrsnet@gmail.com

PIMBY?
From

BYOTA?

AMBY?

your editor Mark VK2KI

/ VK6QI

Following on from Peter, Manny and Tim’s exploits this week, and of course
the frequent prodding by James, Jordan, Mark, Simon,

Mike, Ross, lan,

Andy, Geoff and other notables, perhaps we should start thinking about
preparing for Spring... when an operator’s thoughts turn to ....?

It seems

that whenever | go out portable with my QRP CW gear, there’s a bunch of
things that have either broken, don’t work, or could be done better.
Without fail, | fail to address these things until the morning of departure
for the next portable foray.
Soooo.... how about we have some sort of a get ready event in late
September where we encourage as many of our team as possible to set up
in their back yard for a bit of portable fun... and to force the issue of
getting everything, tested, modified or

fixed-up in time for the Spring and

Summer ahead?
We could just have a get-on-air type event, or if there’s interest, we could
try something

like exchanging

Maidenhead

locator codes to see who can

work an aggregate of the most distances-per-Watt?

Any thoughts?

cqgrsnet@qmail.com
Now - where did my NanoVNA,

soldering iron and all those broken things

go?

If you have something that you think might be of interest to our readers,
please let me know.
cagrsnet@gmail.com

Please email material to Mark VK2KI:

Readable

Five

What have you been reading lately?

Compiled

on the track somewhere

by John VK2RU

Heroes of the Telegraph byJ. Munro is a tribute to the inventors and
pioneers behind the telegraph. Written in the late 19th century, the book
captures the excitement of a time when
being transformed

long distance communication

was

before people’s eyes.

TIEROES
Fd habaeavai
a

SIR CHARLES WHEATSTONE,

THOMAS

ALVA

EDISON,

Munro’s writing has a friendly, almost storytelling tone as he introduces
readers to the key figures like Morse, Wheatstone,

and others, who pushed

the boundaries of science and engineering. While it’s a bit dated in style,
that actually adds to its charm, offering a glimpse into how people back
then viewed technological

progress.

It’s a quick and enjoyable read for anyone curious about the human

side of

scientific breakthroughs.
Heroes of the Telegraph can be down-loaded

here -

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Heroes
of the teleg
raph_%28IA_cu31924031222494%29.
pdf

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.
guidance on writing for RagChew,

see Articles below.

material to Mark VK2KI:

For

Please email

cqqrsnet@gmail.com

Prosign/Character/Sig
nal of the Month
See

if you

can

use this one on Tuesday!

Our resident CW trainer Nic VK7WW

(see Other Notes

above for the link to Jordan VK3ACU’s

recordings of

Nic’s latest training transmissions) was asked about a
Standard two-or three-letter designation for an
exclamation

mark.

Nic has always used

suggested we get others’ opinions too.

you think? caqgrsnet@qmail.com

but

So what do

Cer
ABSORBINGLY

INTERESTING

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
Here we

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 hitps://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.
have

We'll

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

Our website also includes a

you feed to the Al to make

it do what you

want).

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 30+ contributors:

DL3YZ, G7BED,

SV3ORA, VK2DLF, VK2IOW, VK2RU, VK3ACU,

VK3BWN,

VK3KEV, VK3KLE, VK3QB, VK3TBR, VK3WOW,

VK4PN, VK5AO, VK5KDO,

VK3CLD, VK3DRQ,

VK5KFG, VK6GX, VK6HRC, VK6JDM, VK6KD, VK6KHZ, VKENW,
VK7TA, VK7WW,

ZL1PX and ZL3TK.

team, Nigel G4RWI

(head of software development),

(intrepid coordinator of reports), John VK2RU
VK6HRC

(Post Morsition).

VK6RR,

And a special thank you to our editorial
Patrick VK2IOW

(head-copy dude) and Richard

Great work all!

€U CW on Tuesday,

Mark Bosma
VK2KI / VK6QI

Beautiful South Bowning

NSW

mark.bosma@icloud.com

non impediti ratione cogitationis

It will

{

nzver work !
Heinrich Hertz,
In

1889,

a Herr

Huber enquired

there was any possibility of
for telegraphy or telephony.
following raply:

of Heinrich

Herts

Bonn,

Dec,

3rd,

1889.

have

pleasure

Hertzian waves being
Herts sent him the

used

DEAR SIR,
Replying
in

giving

you

your
the

kind

letter

following

ist,

particulars:

Magnetic linea of force may be propagated just as
well as electric, as rays, if their vibrations are
aufficiently rapid;
in this case they proceed together,
and the rays and waves dealt with in my exveriments
could be designated magnetic as well as electric.
However,

telegraph

the

vibrations

are far

too slow;

take,

"Transformator"

for example,

a thous-

and in # second, which is a high figure, then the wavelength in the ether would be 300 kilometres, and the
Total length of the mirror must be of the same magnitude.

If you could

construct

a mirror as large

as a Continent,

you might succeed with such experiments but it ig
impracticable to do anything with ordinary mirrors,
there would not be the least effect observable.
With

Thanks

About
Here’s

kind

regards
earns

Yours

again to John VK2RU

ORS

where

the

find

neg

HERTZ.

for these terrific finds each

the CQ
vou’ll

details.

week!

Net

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

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