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CQORS

RagChew

Edition 47/2025

The view from Mike DL3YZ’s favourite antenna test range in Stuttgart - with dust blowing in from the
Sahara Desert. Photographed by Susi.

New

Falling Over Ourselves

World

Record

New Team

Members

e This Week’s

Reports

e The Glamour

of the Grey Line

e Check the Bag’s
e Trains,

Empty

Planes and Automobiles

Rotator Repair Solution

Uncle

Richard’s

Does Anyone

HexBeam

- Even

Northern

Wheatbelt Trip

Fred and the Collins Filters
Post Morsum

Copy

Know

Call-Back Report

Captain

Louis Varley?

Ugly Than

Head

Settle to Carlisle Railway - Week

Usial

Practice

Northern Victorian Travels

Spring VHF-UHF

Field Day - This Weekend

e CWOps

CW Academy

e CWOps

News

- Busting

Readable

Prosign

| hear tell....

Di-dah-di-dah-dit

10 Report

Some

Myths

Five
of the Month

e Want to Chat?
e

About

RagChew

the

QRS

Group

newsletter late again!

Sorry folks.... seems this week there were

RSS i

too many things that got between
newsletter on Thursdays.
seeing them whoosh

me and my goal.... which is to issue the

| love setting schedules and targets.... and

by!

Interesting week again for our CQQRS

Slow CW

Practice QSO

Net.

Some

reported a flood of stations heard or worked, others heard crickets.
left a bit out of his antenna, another built a new antenna.

One

One even

discovered that his paddle and antenna were 2,500 km away, another was
so retired that he slept through, one blamed

his Uncle Fred and yet

another had to console himself with hot chocolate.

What fun.

Well another world record for our net - 70 stations heard or worked
46 family members

we know of who were there on Tuesday.

And to top it off - have a read of the outstanding
have sent through!
for our team;

by the

Amazing!

reports that our folks

These really make the newsletter interesting reading

thank you so much to the wonderful contributors who put in

a special effort to write an interesting report again.
DXperiment

- Falling Over Each

Other

Each week we have a number of our team slide up to 20m to have a go at
some

long-path fun with our four EU and UK team

early to give us some targets to aim for.

members

who get up so

Mike DL3YZ selects two kiloHertz

slots for each at his end, and the challenge then is for each of them to find
a quiet frequency among

the European QRM.

many stations there just can’t hear make

Our weak signals which

keeping the frequency clear just

that more challenging at that end.
One way we can help is to try to remember to keep our overs short.

Quite

a challenge considering that rag-chews rather than UR599-TU-73-QRZ? type QSOs are what we love, what our new operators aspire to, and what
brings so many of our more experienced operators back to our net every
week.
The other challenge is for us to try to not generate our own QRM.

It’s often

tempting to say g’day to one of our team-mates that we hear calling our
EU/UK team.

And why not?

The band is there to be used... and one

frequency is as good as the next right?

So how do we still have some fun,

while minimising the effect on others’ enjoyment?

Here’s some

suggestions to think about.
e The team
space;

usually try to use the lowest frequency of their allocated

eg if Mike plans to use 14048 to 14050kHz,

come up on 14048 by preference if the QRM
avoid conversations with other members

allows.

he will normally
So perhaps try to

on those lower ends of each

slot if you can?
e

If you're going to try calling one of the DX team who you haven’t yet
heard... start with a couple of ‘QRL?’ calls (no callsign, just ‘QRL?’).
It’s quite possible that you may not be hearing the DX station, but
others elsewhere may be;

remember the grey-line is moving, and the

target may be already in QSO with one of our team.
e

If one of the team does call ‘QRL?’ and you're in QSO with the DX or
can

hear that the DX

is transmitting,

‘QRL’ (frequency in use) or ‘QRX’.

flash

back a quick ‘’

Our DX team

(wait),

may hear you

between words or letters, but they’ll know that you’re just keeping the
frequency clear.
e

Because our skeds are arranged with one station per 2kHz segment,
rather than call ‘CQ’ and risk starting a different QSO on one of the

allocated frequencies, how about calling the specific station?
example:

‘QRL? (listen) QRL? (listen) DL3YZ

For

DE VK2KI ON SKED

KN’.

KN indicates to other DX stations that you only want Mike to call

you.

Yes it’s nice to work some other DX, but other team

members

are listening-out for our guys specifically, and by accidentally starting
another QSO on the calling frequency, you may be denying them the
QSO they're after.
e

But what if, despite your best efforts, someone

calls you on one of the

lower calling frequencies, or you hear one someone who you'd like to
Say g day to?

| suggest you send a quick ‘UP 2 UP 2’ and then give

the caller a call 2kHz up (hopefully the next higher slot won't be in
use at that time).

That way, if the call was on the lower calling

frequency, our DX team
of their segment,

member will still hear you in QSO at the top

but hopefully can still use the lower frequency.

So first-world problem,

not worth stressing over.... but perhaps this will

make things a bit easier for everyone?

Thoughts?

Pauses

In the report by VK4PN

below, Sava has made a suggestion for new

operators who, between overs, need to read through what they've written
down and perhaps write down what they’re about to send.
suggested the use of sending a quick

Sava has

(wait) or perhaps R

(roger wait) when the other station stops transmitting - to give yourself
time to think, but to also let your companion
faded out etc.

Good

I’ve retained
month

know that the signal hasn't

idea Sava.
for the Prosign of the Month for much

more than a

in the newsletter - and with the mandatory sticky note near my key,

I’ve found it to be a very useful prosign for our net.
Anyway - back to the newsletter - | hope you can take some time off to
read and enjoy our offerings below this week.

New

Team

Members

Welcome this week to Darrin VK3VDP
VK4EV at Everton Park.

is well on his way on the CW
CWops

CWA

in the Moorabbin area and Ron

Darrin was introduced to our mob by Stan ZL3TK,
learning journey, and will be starting the

Beginners class in January.

Ron is keen on AM with older

tube-type equipment as well as QRP and home

brewing;

you'll find lots of

people on the net who share those passions Ron.
Welcome

to the team

Darrin

and

Ron.

Reports
After next Tuesday’s Group, please send me a
or who you heard using our web form here:

bit.ly/COORSNET

list of who you worked and /

To make your report more interesting, please consider sending a photo to be
attached.

If you have a photo that you'd be happy to include, please email it

to:

cqqrsnet@gmail.com
To make

it even easier for Patrick and Mark, see if you can compress or

reduce the size of the image (preferably to less than 100KB file size).

problems if your computer or phone can’t do that - just send it through
anyway please.
So, please help attract new and old team
Submitting your report each week.

members to have a go by

Submissions close 1300 (Eastern

Australian Summer time) on Thursdays.
Website
If you'd like to find out a bit about our net, or would
to others about our Tuesday get-togethers,

like to pass information

here’s the link to our website.

bit. ly/CQQRSWebsite

Dit-dit,
mb
Mark Bosma

VK2KI

/ VK6QI

Beautiful South Bowning
cgarsnet@gmail.com

NSW

non impediti ratione cogitationis

Reports

& Comments

Here’s this week’s

Last Tuesday’s

Group

Here’s the 70 stations heard by 46 members

eauhe
cam
Member

Qso 1

DL3YZ

Worked20m | VK2IOW |

DL3YZ

Heard 20m

G7BED

Worked 20m |

reports.

ZL3TK

VK5LJ

Qso 2

Qso 3

VKAPN
VK4PN | VK2IOW

Qso 4

of our team on Tuesday:

aso 5

Qso 6

Qso7

Qso 8

Worked 20m
Heard 20m
Heard on air

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

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

Ann

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

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

wawwe

eee

wows

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

The spreadsheets above show the known stations on last Tuesday’s Group;
the comments

in the team

bit.ly/CQOORSNET ) follow:

members’

reports (submitted via our webform

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

reports have been compiled for

thanks Patrick.

From Ross MONNK at Budleigh Salterton
The Glamour of The Grey Line

6 am. The alarm clock sings its unwelcome greeting. Time to rise and shine.
6:15. Having disturbed the whole household, my porridge comes out of the
microwave. It’s still inky blackers outside. I’m retired so why do | put myself through
this?
6:45. | turn the key in the ignition. It still seems rather dark - | hope | haven’t got my
times wrong. But as | drive out of the village, | see the sky lightening in the east. Then
it hits me - WORKING THE GREY LINE IS SOQ ROMANTIC! You are waiting for the
earth to turn into place so that your signals are carried safely around the dark side of
the world to your friends in Australia. You can see the planet slowly revolving into
position. But you must be patient - timing is everything when you’re collaborating with
Gaia. She won’t be rushed.
6:53. | arrive at my portable location. You can’t see it in this photo but the car
thermometer says 1 c. It’s nippy out there so I’m glad that I'll be in the car, not
crouched outside in a camp chair.

7:19. I’m all set up (there’s not much to do with this rig) so | send a few beeps for the
Reverse

Beacon

Network, and see that Mike has been getting on the air. The

distances suggest we’re both making the first skip anyway. It’s looking promising.

7:35. Five minutes into my shift and | hear Pat VK2IOW calling me. Excellent. But no
reply from him. Twelve minutes later, | get an email from him asking me to go up 2
(due to Manny and Stan working on the frequency). Five minutes later, he makes my
day by coming in RST 539 (he gave me 429). We have a good chat and his nice
sending allows me an easy copy.
8:20. There being no response to my “CQ VK’ calls, | pack up and head home for a
restorative hot chocolate.

Propagation wasn’t the best today but, hey, | got round the world with 20 watts into a
2.85 metre whip antenna (with a little help from Pat’s Yagi and planet Earth). That’s a
good morning’s work.

From Mike DL3YZ at Stuttgart Germany
[80m]
These

times

the

window

nnens

at ahouut

4°45

ITC

sol

eee

was a little earlier on the air to see when my signal is finally
getting to the great SDR in Ironstone. Finally DX kicked in and
| had some nice chats with Pat VK2IOW and Sava VK4PN. All
easy copy and great signals up here. Have a great week,
Mike.

From Stan ZL3TK at Waitarere Beach

[20m]
Spent a good part of the day building a 20m POTA
PERformer in the back yard anticipating better

POTA PERformer (Portable, Elevated, Resonant) Antenna by KJGER

conditions than last week, but it was not to be.

There

were no RBN traces extending outside Europe for the
three stations of interest, and no traces whatsoever

showed for any Oceania stations. Really grim
conditions. VK stations were much weaker than
usual too, could work only OM Manny however was
able to recognize OM

Sava, not by his call sign which was too weak to be heard, but by

his unique characteristic of sending a hyphen instead of = for new paragraphs. That
one extra dot every so often always gives the game away, the sort of thing that would
have absolutely delighted the RSS!
[40m]
40m was delightfully devoid of noise but trans-Tasman propagation was rather narrow
geographically speaking. Due to BIG VK3 signals my RF gain was turned down which
is likely why | didn't hear a portable QRP VK3 wanting to pass STC traffic. Deep
regret, don't want to let him down after all the hard yards he's put in, he sure deserves

the bonus 10 points for doing the job on-air,

so rescheduled for Thursday.

From David VK6KD at Ballajura WA
[80m]
| eould

hear

awn

calls

the

Iranstane

SNR

eee

ree

eee

from 100W down to 5W on 3555khz but no takers
tonight. | should have posted my attempts on the
WhatsApp chat group as | have done on previous
QRS evenings. There must have been lots of storm
activity near the Ironstone SDR as | could hear lots
of cracks and crackles of QRN. | heard a very strong
station on 20m transmitting clear and slow from my
home QTH, but | wasn't sure if the callsign was

legitimate (F6FUI). Once confirmed on QRZ page |
went to respond but the station had moved on.

QRZ

database shows the station located in France.

;

Bottom waterfall - my ICOM7610, top

waterfall - my own 3555kHz CW call signal

on the Ironstone SDR in SA. At least my rig

well, a missed opportunity for next time. 73 till next

fea

ue:

week.
PATS Se ere a a

From Jordan VK3ACU

SS eo

at Meredith

[40m]
Great to see so many sigs on 40m tonight. Feeling a little under the
weather so did not stay long but had some great contacts all the
same.

EE SSCS a

From Manny VK3DRQ at Blackburn
[20m]
| could hear G7BED
asked VK3???

Chris 332, | called him, but he

a few times, so | had to abort.

From Jim Semmens VK7JZ at Rosny Hill (Hobart)

, [40m]
.

Fniovahle

ninht

of listaning

| heard

& statinns

in total

heinn

7 an

err

egy

meters and 1 on 20 meters.

eee

erty

meg

Meroe

| called a bit, even with a bit of

encouragement from Mark to "hit the paddle harder" but no QSOs for
me. | had gone to a local hill to get away from the noise floor at my
QTH and it made all the difference to being able to hear signals, in
-@*
fact it was a pleasure to not have to concentrate on lifting dits and
& dahs in the noise. | was scratching my head, why no QSOs? The
reason became clear when | went to pack up my antenna and there
was a rather important section still in the bag and not fitted. So | may have been able to
listen, but | was not really getting much signal out, likely radiating along the ground.
This hobby provides lots of learning lessons, | will be back next week.

From Paul

VK3KLE at Stawell
— [40m]

= From my QTH in Stawell, propagation was weak as

= observed from about 1600 EDST onwards but
ae improved after 1830 ESDT. Had fun working VK2WP
also using vintage equipment. My setup was the

~__

tube-based TR switch. Bug was a Vibroplex with arm

. y

Johnson Valiant TX with Drake R4A receiver and a

extension and extra weights. Looking forward to better propagation and more
consistent solar activity from gentle sunspots. Regards, Paul

From Chris G7BED

at Northampton,

England

[20m]
Despite sleeping in - oh the joys of retirement ©

... | finally fired up the rig and called

CQ. Conditions were not great from my side, but my signals were being heard down-

under, and with the help of the Ironstone SDR,

managed to work VK2IOW (Patrick), VK4PN (Sava)
and VK5LJ (Lawrie). The last call was new to me, so it
wae

nraat

nat

naw

rnantart

tha

Inn

~ a

nira

wroawo

yivar

Ive

ICaw

quick rag chew at good speed too.
Thanks for the Net chaps - always good to work CW
DX.

From

Daniel VK6WE

at Cottesloe

[40m]
There were good signals with some QSB and | managed
three contacts, but my head copy failed me and | lost much
a of the exchanges. Wrist coordination degraded too so |
made many errors. It wasn't a satisfying session.

From your editor Mark VK2KI at on a train somewhere.... via the VK1HF Snowline
KiwiSDR.
[20m]

This week Elizabeth and | were on a

train heading to Sydney - one of my four least-

favourite Australian capital cities. The XPT which travels between Sydney and
Melbourne is among Australia's most travelled long-distance train journeys - but the
ageing rolling stock although very comfortable, is sadly lacking some of the things that
could make it a terrific journey.... internet and device charging for instance. We're
proponents of carbon-use reduction including the ideal use of public transport where
possible - which poses an interesting question - would the carbon cost of replacing the
fleet be outweighed by the decrease in vehicle emissions from an increase in
popularity?

Victoria has a nice modern fleet of country trains.... and low fares (I can

travel all day on the Victorian network for a maximum of about $10) - no wonder the
Victorian country trains are usually full!

So back off my soap box.... the cellular network was in the main only available in our

Faraday carriage when we had stopped at a station. That meant very sporadic use of
the VK1HF Snowline KiwiSDR at Dry Plain; despite that, | still heard lots of activity.

Stan ZL3TK was strong into the Snowline SDR
weak;

at the start, but Mike DL3YZ was very

| only knew he was on from the Reverse Beacon

Network.

However, by the time

we got to Exeter (isn't it funny how so many English places are named after Australian
towns?), Mike was up to S4 when he was chatting to Sava VK4PN.
By the time we had got to the Northern end of the Southern Highlands, Chris G7BED
had charged with a morning cuppa and was on with Patrick VK2IOW at Millthorpe. Both
were S3 into Snowline.
My phone battery was complaining, so Elizabeth and | went back =— sw sew Marea
oy Tur urnon

to reading Yuval Noah Harare's latest book, Nexus - very

Yuval

insightful reading for us, and not unexpected, having lapped-up
four of his previous books.

Harari —
wa
*

Noah
:

Sapiens

[40m]

| checked 40m regularly when | could on the train, but the band
was pretty quiet. However, after arriving in Sydney and having
had a bite to eat, | had a listen and was pleased to log 17
stations. Signals were rolling in from the West, despite Wayne

A Brief History of Information Networks
from the Stone Age to Al

VK6NW's comment about what he called the 'Faraday Curtain’,

the apparent one-way propagation we have often noticed between the East and West
(possibly as the arriving solar radiation and ionisation decreases at lower altitudes).
Wayne had a nice signal when he was working Daniel VK6WE, but when our team
member Lin VK6NT came up on the Northern Corridors AR Group's station VKGNC (so
many VK6N callsigns!), Lin was around SQ into Snowline.
Representing the Southern island, James VK7JZ headed out portable and was putting
a nice signal into Southern NSW before a long family phone call put paid to the plan.
C'est la vie!
Although | was only able to receive this week, | was really pleased to hear so many of
our team on air and having fun.

Some

are able to make the net every week, others can

only get on rarely. But thank you to every one of you for being there - | only wish | had
been able to say g'day to you myself... another time hopefully!

[80m]
80m was decidedly quiet whenever | listened this
week. Peter VASWOW was calling, calling, calling...

and likely agrees with me!
[160m]
Nothing heard on 1855kHz when | listened a couple
of times.
From Patrick VK2IOW between Bathurst and Orange
[20m]

The Yaesu rotator on my yagi antenna malfunctioned a
few weeks ago — it would rotate in only one direction.
After some head-scratching | eventually managed to get
the Yagi down to ground level and removed the rotator.
| found a repairer on the internet, Peter Hastings of Duoro
Services in Sydney, henceforth known to me as Mr
Rotator - nothing he doesn’t know about rotators.
Apparently there is a known fault of the Yaesu rotators,
where they used a grub screw which is too small, which

works loose. He did an excellent job of repairing,
servicing and also recalibrating it.
Sometimes one has to wonder whether a tower and Yagi are worth the effort and
expense, when one can do pretty well with wire antennas, hi. | managed QSOs with all
three of the DXperiment. Mike and Chris had strong signals, while Ross, operating ‘car
portable’ was fairly weak, but nevertheless a successful QSO.
[40m]

There seemed to be plenty of activity. | had a few QSOs, including one with Wal,
VK2WP, just down the road in Bathurst, but retired relatively early.

From

Peter VK6NQL

| «

at Wundowie

[40m]
Still quiet at first, then the band did get more activity, later on.

From Donald VK6JDM at 20km west of Experance
[40m]
Spent the evening listening and trying to follow the code
while soldering up a new IF stage for my 40 metre
receiver. | have been slowly rebuilding the receiver which
| built about 25 years ago using Rockwell Collins filters.
There is a bit of a story to those filters.
| bought them directly from Collins in USA. A Mr Cornell
was a very helpful chap in their sales section. | had
emailed him from an email address | had with Hotmail. |
had chosen the Account name Fred WOTAM. This was
based on the name of my fictitious uncle Frederick Wotam. Now Fred was a very useful
uncle for we had a neighbor who had a habit of wandering onto our farm uninvited to
offer friendly advice and ‘have a look around’. His unnerving visits seemed to diminish
after | pointed out that uncle Fred had taken up occupation of the hut on top of the hill
behind the house. | pointed out Fred was not the sort you would want to share the
house with hence his abode on top of the hill.
The top of the hill would suit Fred for he liked to keep an eye on things and did not want
anyone sneaking up on him unawares. Fred was after all described by his old military
comrades as a crack shot when sober. Our neighbor seemed to realise our farm was no
longer a safe place to wander. Fred gradually became part of the family and would add

his name to Christmas cards. The farm became named

in his honour Wotam

of course needed an email address and so the Fred WOTAM
born.

Hills. Fred

at hotmail account was

Now back to Collins filters. Correspondence with Mr Cornell of Collins filters resulted in
an order being placed. | was then informed that | would first have to sign an end user
certificate which would have to be done by real mail. An envelope arrived addressed to
Mr F Wotam care of the surgery and my secretary placed it on my desk with a quizzical
look. The end user certificate was attached to a list of countries to which the filters must
never be sold - | did not till then understand just how many countries were enemies of
the USA.
The certificate was prefilled with my name - you guessed it Fred Wotam. So | duly
signed F Wotam got a bank cheque and sent off for the filters which some weeks later
arrived in a parcel addressed to F. Wotam .... This time the secretary said she thought
the Fred business was going too far as he was now receiving parcels. | opened the
package, looked up at her and said missile parts. | closed the hotmail account soon
after that and a good nurse friend, deciding Fred was liable to get me in trouble with the
authorities, managed to get Fred's obituary in the paper. Luckily the neighbor does not
read the paper.

From Wayne VK6NW at Bridgetown

[80m]
Lots of QRN

from the thunderstorms over the WA

wheatbelt.

From

Peter Dann VK3WOW

at Blackburn

[40m]
Great

lana

chat

(nearly

hour

| think)

with

Will

Oey

ney

eee

Meee

ow ee

VKS3NAP, who is one very neat sender indeed on a straight
key. My difficulty in understanding the significance of the long
number he sent me several times (including after a repeat
request from me) sure was a wake-call to me about the
quality of my decoding skills — and this at only about 14
wpm. Tuesday nights: when all my fond delusions are forced to look in the mirror!

From Jared VK2LDJ

at Canberra

ave =

[40m]

ir“g Canberra

Strong signal from Manny. First time we had worked
each other. About an hour long QSO.

From Greg VK5KFG at Willunga
[40m]
who was operating maritime mobile. A first for me. He was
R5 at my end, but | was only R3 at his end, so the contact
was short. His QRZ post disclosed a QTH south of
Tasmania in a 35' yacht. Respect!

From Sava VK4PN

at Mount Ommaney

Brisbane

»*
.

z=
Pn eae
,

wal

Mananed
_
twa NX OAs this time - Mike DI 8V7 and Chris

Dw IRE

G7BED.

ee ee

Both signals were pretty solid around S5.

Unfortunately both QSOs were cut short by events out of
my control, midway through the QSO with Mike my wife
needed me urgently so | asked Mike to stand by (AS) and
went outside. As the break took longer than | expected,
Mike started calling me back, | could hear him across the house and managed to return
just in time to exchange QSO greetings. Pity conditions were good for a decent regchew!
Similarly with Chris we started the QSO at around 18:55 HRS too close to 19:00 HRS,
time for me to QSY to 40m for the ZLCW net. Between the two DX QSOs Rob VK3ECH
responded to one of my CQs. He was rocketing in with a big signal, other VK2, 3 and 6
stations | could copy on 20m at the time were barely readable. Rob's QTH is Echuca so
he must be on a good wet patch of ground close to the Murray river.
[40m]
Proceeding on 40m started at 19:00 HRS by checking into ZLCW net at 7.030 MHz
using QRO. After net finished | changed the rig to my Rat's Nest QRP, mighty 3W.
Called a lot of CQs but no takers. Better result this time responding to CQs by others.
Managed two enjoyable QSOs with Wal VK2WP who was running only 30 W and Rob
VK3ECH. Conditions were pretty good first time for a while, noise at my QTH was
reasonable just around S4.
One suggestion for those who need to write contents of their overs before responding, a
quick AS (abbreviation for please wait) would be helpful, otherwise it is hard to
determine whether the call has dropped off due to propagation or the QSO has finished.
Also it seems that finally | have sorted out my CW offset problem as both QSOs were
conducted after tuning to somebody else's frequency. Very happy with the outcome, no
need for hardware changes just a software tweak!

[80]
A surprisingly quiet evening on 80m this Tuesday, DX conditions were great.

| logged on VK6QS Kiwi SDR to see if | was heard there and yes | could see my carrier
but that was the only carrier on the waterfall. So our VK6 contingent was dormant.
Regardless | kept calling CQ expecting somebody from WA to come up after 20:00 HRS
Perth time but no luck. Still managed a couple of QSOs, Calvin VK3CAL who was solid
594 into Brisbane and lvan VK3ALC who was only 554 with deep fades. In Perth on the
VK6QS Kiwi SDR both of them appear to be about equal strength - propagation
quirkiness again.
Out of curiosity | checked FT8 segment and the two strongest stations there were
VK6ABC and VK6JX so propagation to WA was definitely on. Pity our VK6 contingent
did not turn up.

From lan VK7TA at Latrobe
[40m]

| got on air around 1830 or so and started at the top of the 40m

. «Devonport

segment and almost got to the bottom before | heard anything.
“Latrobe
Near the bottom | found Drew, VK3XU. Around 1900 | wound my
va
way back up and came across Chris VK1CT. After this | continued
‘onwards and upwards’ and heard some good sigs from ZLs
checking in to their net, but no QRS net to be found. Time for dinner. Returning after a
meal break there were more stations to be found. Conditions were good enough for a
reasonably leisurely QSO with Lin, VK6NC. | didn't catch the name of the radio club, but
have just had a look on QRZ.com: wow!

From Ron VK7ME at Bundaberg
in

‘ue

=a).

[40m]

Offline for a couple of weeks while visiting family in Bundaberg.
In keeping up with CW practice, | brought along my nice new
shiny BaMaKey and Arduino phone interface for the Morse
Mania app to fill in a bit of spare time on the flight.
at 37,000 ft!

From Richard VK6HRC at Padbury
[40m]
Had some stray RF problems in the shack to start with but had
fun after that was sorted.
[80m]
A big electrical storm made life rather difficult at times.

POST MORSUM
From

19th November

Richard VK6HRC.

| call this CQ

Eight on the South West repeater and AllStar / Echolink hub
this morning.
VK5KD

David

VK6FN

Max

ZL3TK

Stan

ZL/G4RWI

Nigel

VKENW

Wayne

VK6QI

Mark

VK6HRC
VK6MRB

Mulligan swl and others

David called in before heading to work to let us know that he was hearing Mike

DL3YZ on 20m via the Ironstone Range KiwiSDR but nothing heard in WA. He could
hear a French station and gave a call - unfortunately no response.
Max was still busy in downtown Manjimup vacating his commercial premises so
another no-show on the QRS net. Max promised back to normal operations soon!
Stan was working on a 20m vertical with one radial which did not deliver on the
evening, so he switched back to the end-fed for the rest of the session. The Settle to
Carlisle railway check-in did not eventuate due to conditions and was rescheduled to

Thursday.

Nigel reported that he was back in the Southern Hemisphere for a while.

He was a

bit distracted by motorhome battery problems after landing in Australia... and

discovered after arriving in New Zealand that he'd left some crucial AR components
back in Aus! However, with the help of our team member Nev ZL2BNE in Blenheim
and several Nelson locals, Nigel will be on next Tuesday with his mighty lcom 705
and some borrowed gear. He said he was also hoping for a promotion from head of

CQQRS IT up to a much better-paid position in the organisation.

Wayne eventually made himself heard after getting repeatedly getting cut off by
trigger fingers on this morning's call-back (sorry Wayne... note to self, leave bigger

gaps between overs). Wayne worked Daniel VK6WE on 40m and Sava VK4PN on
80m, but heard Mike DL3YZ via a KiwiSDR.

Mark called in from an echo chamber up in a high rise building in Sussex street

Sydney after a train ride from Yass.

Mark made use of the new VK1HF

Snowline KiwiSDR from the train during

the QRS net and followed the fun on 20,

40 and 80m when mobile phone coverage
appeared when arriving at stations along
the way. He also did a fine job of spotting
on WhatsApp for us.
After enjoying the view from a couple of

meeting venues, Mark and Elizabeth were

on their way to some place called
Macquarie Street.

| set up before Tuesday's session and all was well... or so | though. On keying up,
stray RF caused havoc so had to QRT until the problem was isolated.
After that, | went and found a quiet frequency and was doing some tests when Phil
VK6GX spotted me and we were away after a very shaky start.

Worked a few more on 40m before going into listening mode. As conditions changed
| started hearing traffic from the East but a massive electrical storm was making for
unpleasant listening. Nevertheless, but an enjoyable session overall. Thank you to
all on last night and this morning.

73
Richard.

This Week’s

Topic of

Interest
Does Anyone

Really Know

Captain

Louis

Varney?
Ok - How

About

G5RV?

by Stan ZL3TK
It’s fair to say that few have the faintest idea who this amazing man was or
what he did, apart from maybe recognizing his erstwhile call sign, G5RV.
However, Kenneth Hill G3CSY, shows that he knew quite a lot, yet fails to
mention two absolutely remarkable features of Louise Varney’s life in his
copyrighted quasi-biography. It makes very interesting reading
nonetheless.
cf. https://qsl.net/zl3tk/profile-louis-varney.pdf
Firstly, Louis Varney was a superb CW operator and worked during WW2
for the RSS (Radio Security Service) at Hanslope Park, ten miles north of
Bletchley Park.
He was head of the Engineering Section of SCU3 (Special
Communications Unit), which specialised in interception and direction
finding, much of the garnered information then sent to Bletchley for

decrypting and collation.
cat-morse-part-2

cf.

https://www.keymilitary.com/article/game-

SS Operator Capt. Louis Varney setting up a DF Unit
Secondly, it is commonly known that during WW2, British amateur radio
licenses were cancelled for the duration. Virtually unknown is that an elite
group of nine selected operators were authorised to take part in ‘Plan
Flypaper’. They were granted restricted transmitting rights and given G7
call signs. Captain Louis Varney was issued G7F).
These operators were mandated to communicate only in CW on the 80, 40,
20 and 10 m bands. Another example of ‘Morse with a Purpose’, if ever
there was one, but this was an abortive attempt by RSS to get German
DASD amateur operators who had retained their AR licences throughout
the war to divulge tid-bits, and also to provide a comms channel with
Britain for any who wished to change sides.
The twenty-three rules imposed on the Brits were stringent,
was never to be mentioned for obvious reason. cf.
https://qsl.net/zl3tk/flypaper.pdf

e.g. weather

After demob in 1946 Varney modified a 1937-design multiband antenna for
optimum performance on the 20 m band in his small back yard. The
design was first published in 1957, after which the so-called G5SRV antenna
became very popular but has forever been misrepresented.

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

HexBeam
From

- Even

Ugly Than

Usual

David VK6KD

So my 20m

Rx signals were nonexistent on the previous Tue night’s sked.

| think | found at least one reason other than the solar flare.

There was

some wind damage to my six-band hexagon

This isa

beam

antenna.

regular repair as the wiring lugs don't like the consistent buffeting from the
Wind.
All home

made with scrap materials and some

store. 20m

bits from the hardware

band fully operational again.

73 to all and hope to exchange a QSO with you.
David VK6KD
Ballajura WA

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 know;
email to

caaqrsnet@gmail.com

For guidance on writing for RagChew,

see Articles below.

QRZ?
Who’s

calling

me?

Who’s

where

on the other end

and

are they?

Again this week, we've featured one of our team, Wayne VK6NW.

Wayne

has taken the time to tell us about his recent caravan tour around the
Northern Wheatbelt of WA.

Thanks mate;

nicely integrated transceiver in

your vehicle!

Northern Wheatbelt Trip Oct 2025

The wife and | decided to hook the caravan on and take off to the northern wheatbelt
to have a look around and complete parts of the Wheatbelt Way during the trip.
The vehicle is fitted with a Barrett 4050 HF with a Barrett 4090 autotune antenna.

Barrett 4050 HF Radio

Barrett Autotune Antenna

The radio is mil spec so very hard to break, which suits me. | regularly checked in to

the Austravel Radio Network by sending the GPS position via HF. This can be done
at any time (apart from during sked times) so is a convenient way for friends or family
to see locations via the Out n About App. That way you don’t have to call into the
skeds if it is not convenient (eg Sundowner time etc). It is also a very good way to
check propagation by beacon test calling the various bases around Australia.
So back to the trip; from the Wheatbelt Way website (https:/Awheatbeltway.com.au/)
“The Wheatbelt Way self-drive trail will lead travellers on an adventurous interpreted
journey to the nine regional communities of Dowerin, Wyalkatchem, Koorda,
Bencubbin, Beacon, Westonia, Mukinbudin, Nungarin and Trayning. It also highlights
24 unique sites ranging from natural attractions to sites of historical importance.
There will be many opportunities to stay and experience the best the Northern

Wheatbelt has to offer.”

Day one we travelled from Bridgetown to Goomalling. We did a walk around town
looking at the sights. An interesting fact about the Goomalling Shire is that only 5% of
original bush remains.

Next morning the GoKart track immediately behind the caravan park commenced full
operation at 0800 hrs with the obligatory noise and dust, so that was the incentive to
we

move

up tne

roaa.

From there we headed via Koorda to Billiburning Rock, about 30kms north of
Beacon, where we stayed for a couple of nights, relaxing and doing some walks.

The camp at Billiburning Rock

Billiburning Rock

The next stop was Mukinbudin which is a great location from which to do day trips to
the various sights.
Day 4 places visited were - Wattoning Homestead site and gnamma hole,
Elachbutting Rock, Beringbooding Rock, Marshall Rock and Pergande Sheep Yards.
A long day with a well-deserved Sundowner at the caravan park with fellow travellers.

Deb atop of Beringbooding Rock

Beringbooding Rock

Day 5 places visited were Eaglestone Rock, followed by lunch in Nungarin.

has a military museum which is well worth visiting.

Nungarin

Rock withThe view from the top of Eaglestone -

Lake Campion in the background.

Each of the Rocks have well appointed free campsites with various facilities.
Whilst | did not have CW fitted to the HF rig (yet), | had a number of amateur radio
contacts throughout the trip, as well as Austravel and VKS737 contacts.
Regards,
Wayne
VK6NW

QRZ?
From

Who’s

the

other

your editor Mark VK2KI

end?
/ VK6QI

Key to the success of our net is helping to make
people enjoy returning to each week.

it a get-together that

But when you're on the key, it’s

really hard to find out a bit more about the person you're chatting to.
I’m really keen to share the backgrounds of some of our team

members

interesting stories - it’s really nice to know who’s on the other end of the
QSO.

How did they come to amateur radio and when, and what on earth

was the motivator that got them

interested in CW?

been so far, and what’s planned?

Perhaps, what they get out of the net

and the newsletter, and how it can be made
DL3YZ last week and Wayne this week,

better?

How’s the journey
Or maybe

like Mike

interesting things that you’ve been

up to that others might like reading about.
So, would you be willing to share some thoughts about yourself?
Mark VK2KI know:
RagChew,

cggrsnet@gmail.com

Please let

For guidance on writing for

see Articles below.

Head
Compiled

Copy

Practice

on the track somewhere

by John VK2RU

Anyone who is just starting out with head copy should look at edition 23 2025 where we first started with Winnie the Pooh recorded at 12 wom.

edition 23, and for a few following Newsletters, there are instructions on
how to use these files, and edition 25 - 2025
CW

has information on the Ditto

: Morse Player app.

This week we have the first part of Wind

in the Willows Chapter 9 -

Wayfarers All.
It is suggested that you read the text file before listening to the audio file.

That will make

it easier to follow the audio file and prepare you for any

unusual words.
The MP3 files have been recorded at 16 wom

and 650 Hz tone. If you

prefer a slower speed or different tone, you can create your own MP3 files
by converting the text file with the Ebook2CW

app -

httos://fkurz.net/ham/ebook2cw.html.
Because of MailChimp’s size limits, I’ve split Chapter 9 into 5 parts. Each
part is over 1 hour playing time @ 16 wpm.

Parts 1 and 2 are attached

below.
Uncommon

punctuation

has been removed

(the Ditto CW app doesn’t

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

will.

attachments

are:

e Chapter 9 parts 1 and 2 MP3 files
e Chapter 9 in one text file

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

player, or load the text file

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

Both options work well, however 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,

Other

1.5x, 1.75x).

News

Other things we’ve received from our 230-plus
readers.

Settle to Carlisle Railway,

Week

10 Report

From Stan ZL3TK

Last week two more tiny villages gave up some of their secrets in the
liquid-hop department.

An inspired answer correctly pointed out business

was not as brisk as it could be in Kirkoswald, one public house we planned
on visiting was temporarily closed.

Oh boy,

it's getting exciting now!

week the penultimate STC QNC
public houses.

Ever heard of Armathwaite?

This

NRO9 takes us to two of Armathwaite's

No danger of intoxication, it's the physical features we're

exploring, well, at one of them anyway.
the station has some

And the level crossing north of

interesting statistics:

35 trains and 297 road

vehicles pass over it every day, that's 3.794 million potential crashes per
year, yet there has never been any, not even one in the entire history!
po

—<—<—

G08

woo

ii -

onni

MA
Mh

ise

Mill

Ruth ZL4KA, voluntary contest auditor, is finding the marking an
interesting task and is doing rather well.
Before marking the QTCs she's had to research in order to make educated
judgements,

in the same way contestants have had to.

It's looking like a

very fair regime to me and we're all learning a lot about the green and
pleasant land that is rural England.
73

deStan

Northern
From

ZL3TK

Victoria

Travels

Peter VK2GN

Hi Mark,

| received, and am

reading with interest, your latest publication.

It was with interest that | read that you and yours have been camping
northern-central Victoria.

Ruth, my wife, and | have also
been holidaying very close by just near Greta, at Upper Lurg.
What a picturesque area although they could do witha
little more rain just now.

When

we finally return to Crookwell, one of my first jobs is to complete the

installation of my OCFD

antenna. Then

| can finally join the Tuesday

session.
Cheers

for now

Peter
VK2GN

Spring VHF-UHF

Field Day - This Weekend.

The Spring VHF/UHF Contest will start on this
Saturday, 22nd

November,

and run through until

Sunday 23rd November - details here:
https://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/vhfuhf/documents/2
025%20Spring%20VHF-UHF%20Field%20Day%20Rules.
pdt

Even if it’s too late to get out and have some CW fun,
perhaps have a listen around - you never know what
you might hear - and if you can transmit - they'll
certainly appreciate the call.

Perhaps try a CW

invite -

you never know!

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 - 3580kKHz at 7pm
time every Wednesday;

Eastern

you'll hear lots of the

CQQRS team on that net. Jordan VK3ACU has

a aahi
me

ees

recorded the complete set of lessons which you
can

now

find here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?
list=PLHSOmZz6fBXO/7swAfbTmutrbbEL1
7fUQL
Contact Nic VK7WW

for more info nicholaschantler@hotmail.com

how to join the NTARC

DISCORD

along and join in on Wednesdays.

tncluding

group to follow the action, or just come

CWops

Academy

From

Chris VK3QB

Good

morning

Mark,

Its really positive I've had a fair bit of interest in the CWA

classes.

They'll

definitely be kicked into play in 2026.

73, Chris VK3QB

CW Ops #2949
FISTS

TTS

an)

CW ACADEMY

BOS

#9085

Pee

Home

Clubinformation

Courses

Guiding Better CW Operators

The Radio Bulletin

YouTube

Groups

THE RADIO

BULLETIN

USB Rig programming cables and
Windows 11

21/04/2024 - 7:57 PM

3 October - Friday 8:00pm - Club Rooms Burwood & Zoom

—

MemberLogin

’

Monthly Meeting - Experiments with Quadrature
mixers and DSP microcontrollers
a Spectrum + Waterfall Disp..

Links

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

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

pee fgg
or oS RS.
de

EMDRC

03/06/2023 - 3:53 PM

- IMPORTANT

DATES

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
FORM - JOIN NOW

Experiments with Quadrature mixers and DSP microcontrollers: Birth of the PAQH SDR 2m transceiver. Paul VK3PA

CW Ops News for 21 November 2025

CLUB’S

INTERNET

SPONSER

Well, my wife and | had a great time in ZL. | managed only one session on-air and

only one QSO with Andy VK3OU. But signals were good and it was a fun QSO. | was

using an Elecraft KH-1 (5W) and PAC-12
portable antenna. We were also fortunate
to meet Chris ZL4CTS and his wife, Viv who live in Te Anau.

Interest in the CW Academy Classes scheduled for January 2026 has been excellent.
I’ll definitely be holding a Beginners Class and am looking at how | can sort out the
logistics for an Intermediate Class as well. If you haven't yet registered, read on and

complete the online survey.

MythBusters
-

‘|

MYTHBUS:
|

With apologies to the real MythBusters, | wanted to bust a few myths and challenge a
few long-held axioms — some of which have held many of us back as we have learnt
and developed our CW skills.
Myth: Morse Code is very difficult to learn
Fact: Morse Code is NOT difficult to learn if proper methods are employed. Some
people will learn faster depending on their background, health, and personal
situation.

Myth: | am too old to learn or improve my skill in Morse Code
Fact: Almost anyone can learn and improve Morse Code skill if they are willing to do
commit to a training plan with proven methods. In fact, there are a lot of credible

studies that suggest learning a second language (including Morse Code) is a great
way to delay or slow aging diseases such as dementia.
Myth: Memorising all the Morse Code letters and numbers is the only way to learn

Fact: Memorising letters and numbers is an inefficient way to learn Morse Code. The
old “look-up tables” many of us used in years gone by are inefficient and will

ultimately hold back your progress and lead to frustration. Morse code is an aural
language, not a visual one (unless you’re sending semaphore or a heliograph on a

ship!)
Myth: Slow speed Morse Code is the only way to learn
Fact: Slow speed Morse Code is inefficient - students can learn at 20 WPM

or more,

and this is a proven approach to efficient learning. Many (including myself) will have
suffered through those WIA 5WPM Tapes in the 1980s and 90s — and this approach
leads to frustration and difficultly in skills development.

Myth: | must learn all the letters and numbers before | can learn Morse Code
Fact: Students can learn to hear complete words as soon as T, E and A are taught.

Myth: | must learn to receive before | can send Morse Code
Fact: Students should send as soon as they learn the first three letters. Using more
than one medium is a proven success factor in effective memory retention and
learning efficiency. Like learning a musical instrument, you must learn the practical

elements whilst learning to read music. Sending code reinforces the neural patterns
for each character or word in your brain.
Myth: | don't have time to learn Morse Code
Fact: lf you have the desire and fifteen to thirty minutes a day to devote, you can
learn Morse Code.
Myth: | can learn Morse Code on my own

Fact: Perhaps you can but interactive learning with an advisor, mentor, or teacher is
the best way to learn

CW Ops
CW Academy is a great learning environment, and CW Ops runs these classes three
times per year. If you’re at all interested, the next intake is in January 2026. I’m

running a survey until the end of November to confirm the demand for classes here in
VK and ZL at VK/ZL friendly times. If you are at all interested in a class in January/

February 2026, please complete the survey.
https://Aiorms.gle/j6Y CUcgdDARDFxnZ9
Courses are eight weeks long and no matter your level,
CW Academy

you'll come out the other side with better skills and more

enjoyment from the code. CW Academy is immersive,
engaging and fun.
https ://cwops.org/cw-academy/
There will definitely be a Beginners Class — commencing 12th January (pending
confirmation) and running for 8 weeks. I'll almost certainly be running an Intermediate
Class as well. Email me if you’d like more information.

As always, if you have any questions or feedback, please drop me an email.

73, Chris VK3QB
CW Ops OC Ambassador
vk3qb@ hotmail.com or vkicwo @outlook.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:

see Articles

cqagrsnet@gmail.com

Readable

Five

What have you been reading lately?

Sapiens
From

Compiled

on the track somewhere

by Yuval

Noah

Harari

your editor Mark VK2KI

In my CQQRS

by John VK2RU

/ VK6QI

Net report above, | mentioned that Elizabeth and | are

reading Yuval Noah Harari’s latest book Nexus.

Elizabeth and | read books

aloud to each-other - not only is that a nice way to share time (we don’t
ever watch

broadcast TV - we don’t even have one hooked up), but it helps

improve my slow reading / comprehension

speed.

Nexus is a fascinating

and concerning future-looking take on humanity, dealing with the world’s
problems in 2025 - politics, conflicts, the full works - and explains them
with amazing

clarity for lay-readers like us.

But | wonder whether the new

book may be slightly challenging for the first bite at reading his work?
Perhaps you might find his first book Sap/ens to be a good lead-in?
In Sapiens, Yuval Noah
.

humankind

from

Harari traces the journey of

unremarkable

animals

Yuval Noah

on the African

savannah to the planet’s dominant species. He argues
that our true superpower isn’t strength or speed, but

>
Sapiens

the ability to create and believe in shared stories -

religions, nations, money, and laws - that allow vast
numbers of strangers to cooperate.

The author breaks human

Harari

A Brief
History of

Humankind

history into key revolutions,

beginning with the cognitive revolution, when early
humans

developed complex language and imagination, enabling myths and culture
to flourish.
From there, Harari explores the agricu/tura/ and scientific revolutions,
showing

how each transformed society and the human

in unexpected ways.
much

Farming,

experience - often

he suggests, may have domesticated

as we domesticated wheat, while the modern

us as

pursuit of knowledge

and technology has reshaped everything from economies to ethics.

Throughout Sap/ens, Harari encourages readers to step back from the
everyday and look at humanity with an almost anthropological
detachment,

prompting thought about who we are, how we got here, and

where our collective stories might lead next.

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,
material to Mark VK2KI:

see Articles below.

Please email

cgqqrsnet@gmail.com

Or do you have a question or two that are worth sharing?

How about a

For

discussion-starter? Please let me know cqgrsnet@gmail.com
them to John VK2RU for compilation each week.

and /’// pass

Prosign/Character/Sig
nal of the Month
See if you can use this one on Tuesday!

Prosign:

Meaning:

Stand

[Suggestion - put it on a sticky note near your key as a reminder for
Tuesday.

Tell us how you went!]

| Hear
You

never

Tell...

know

who’s

listening!

Which one of our team travelled 16,500 km around the world and brought
all the goodies for three months touring in Australia.

Transceiver, antenna,

key etc - all good to go!
So a small diversion of 2,500 km to New Zealand should be pretty painless
right?
Getting ready for this week’s CQQRS
but wait!

net.... transceiver, mast, all good....

Oh no.... the antenna and the paddle got left behind in the

motorhome
Quick CQQRS

back in Brisbane!
WhatsApp

minutes away - help!

Bugger!

note to Nev ZL2BNE

over in Blenheim,

about 90

Nev found a quicker solution for our adventurer, and

put him in touch with the President of the Nelson Amateur Radio Club....
will it all come together in time for this week’s net?

| hear that Doctor Donald VK6JDM

We'll see.

has retired - again.

University of WA’s medical campus at Kalgoorlie.

This time from the

If any readers want his

new email address, please let me know cqgrsnet@gmail.com
forward your request to him.

and I'll

Best wishes for retirement number 2 (...3, 4?)

Donald and | hope that unlike some of us, retirement actually gives you
more time to do fun hobby things.

[lf you have some intel about other team members...

or even yourself...

that’s worth sharing, please let me know cqqrsnet@gmail.com

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 0600z until

about 1200z;

see https://bit.ly/COORSWebsite and navigate to the Net

Details page for details.

Coordinated

Universal Time

0600z to 1200z

(Note - 20m DXperiments will start at a different time if required)
Western

Australia Time

UTC

Central Australian Time

Australia

1400 to 2000

+ 8 Hours

UTC +10.5 Hours

1630 to 2230

Eastern Australian Time

UTC + 11 Hours

1700 to 2300

Queensland Time

UTC + 10 Hours

1600 to 2200

NZ Time

UTC + 13 Hours

1900 to 0100

New Zealand

0600z to O800z

20m

14039-14051 kHz

Note - 20m times and frequencies will be allocated by Mike DL3YZ prior to the net.

0600z to 1200z

7020kHz

ati

3535kHz - 3560kHz

160m

1855kHz (-5kHz for QRM)

7TOoo00

T7To20
I

40m

7040kKHz

}

7040
|

ORO

3500

CO ORS Net

3535

1800

3560

1855

Thanks to Lance VA7TO for the GOQAS

1875

band-plan

=
Wednesday (VK/2ZL)
Post Morsum

Callback

22002 - 23002

(Tuesday UTC)

WA FM AllStar Network

(Use AllStar to connect to Node 42482 or use
Echolink to connect to VK2KI-L)

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 1200z - so keep calling in the
segment of the band designated

in the table below until you catch

someone.

| should be on as usual from home

in NSW or via the Remote at

Bedfordale WA, and I'll also be watching the proceedings using the VK6QS
and Tecsun SDRs in WA and NSW

Reports

respectively.

Hope to hear you there.

& Photos

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 how about helping to make the reports even more interesting by
sending a photo?

If you have a photo that you’d be happy to include,

please email it to:
cqarsnet@gmail.com

To make it even easier for our Reports editor Patrick VK2IOW,

see if you

can reduce the size of the image (to less than 100KB file size by
preference).

No problems if your computer or phone can’t do that - just

send it through anyway please.
And of course, I’m always on the lookout for more photos for the
newsletter, so if you have something that might be of interest aside from
the reports, please send it through as well - | always enjoy the photos that
our readers send - and I’m sure our readers do too.
cggrsnet@gmail.com

Email them to

please (reduced size if possible - but whatever you

send will be great).
Oh and by the way, | recommend
website open

that you don’t keep the Reports Form

between submission of reports from one week to the next.

you’re unlucky, there’s an undocumented

feature in the software that

could cause your current week’s report to be combined

with your previous

report - it’s happened to your editor several times - much to the chagrin of
our Reports editor

Post

Morsum

Richard VK6HRC

will run our phone Post Morsum

on the South West AllStar

net (via repeaters and hotspots all over WA) from 0600 WA time, then from
0700 WA time on 80m

(3605 LSB).

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.|ly/COQORSWebsite. Our website also includes a
suitable prompt (the command

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.

Material
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

newsletter.

Teamwork
Thank you so much to our team of 33 contributors:

DL3YZ, G7BED,

VK2GAS,

VK2IOW, VK2LDJ, VK2RU, VK2WP, VK3ACU,

VK3ALC, VK3CAL,

VK3DRQ,

VK3ECH, VK3FG, VK3KLE, VK3QB, VK3WOW,

VK4PN, VK5AO,

VK5FD, VK5KFG, VK6HRC, VK6JDM, VK6KD, VK6KHZ, VK6NQL,
VK6WE,

VK7JZ, VK7ME, VK7TA, ZL3TK, ZL4CTS.

our editorial team, Nigel G4RWI

And a special thank you to

(technical wizard).

but |

(the wrangler of your reports),

(Chief Head Copy Officer), Richard VK6HRC

Herder) and Lance VK7TO

VK6NW,

(head of software development...

hear, hoping for a pay rise), Patrick VK2IOW
John VK2RU

MONNK,

(Western Cat

Great work all!

And if you want to have a non-CW chat to your RagChew
you'll often find me on the VK6 AllStar network.

editor on air,

Easiest way to access the

network is using Echolink via my AllStar node - use Echolink on your
computer or phone then search for VK2KI-L.

Connect and give me a

call -

either callsign works - if I’m in the shack I'll hear you.
Alternatively, if you'd like a bit of a laugh, tune in to my community

radio

programs

The Vineyard Selection and

lpm

and 5pm

Eastern Australian time.

to say g’day if you're listening.

Your Shed on YassFM

between

Send me an SMS or WhatsApp

You'll be able to hear YassFM

message

on your

Smart speaker, the various broadcast receiving Apps on your phone, the
YassFM website https://www.yasstm.org/ or by clicking here:
https://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/api/livestreamredirect/2YAS.mp3

€U CW on Tuesday,

Mark Bosma
VK2KI / VK6QI
Beautiful South Bowning

cqqrsnet@gmail.com

NSW

non impediti ratione cogitationis

From

Peter VK3WOW

quoting

VK3M}J:

aC oye,

WAL.

About

"The faster they send,
the

the CQ

Here’s where
For the current schedule

and

less

they

have

QRS

Say!"

Net

you'll find the details.

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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