Subscribe Past Issues Translate View this email in your browser CQORS Cee 8121 Ra es Pa RagChew Edition 51/2025 € coe ala FE Fco=700 Hz Si erin 2 BW=300 Hz ee N\A ray Le be Thanks this week to George VK2AOE for the hybrid delight... one-tube transmitter, DX-160 receiver... and a novel use of a 5-1/4” disk drive mount for what appears to be a digital VFO RagChew Indexing DXperiment Status New Team Members Reports From Reporting Tuesday’s Perfectly Spaced Net Mistakes Oily Substance Meteor Pings or Bubbles Improving - Like the Wine Post Morsum Report Beating Band Head MW Copy Breath Both of lonisation? Closures Practice - Farewell WITW of Fresh Air Sides of the Tasman Morse Training Remotes Net in Australia Dit-Dit Bad... or Dit-Dit good? Straight Key Introduction Thoughts Course After This Week’s - Sunday Reminder Dec 28th Email We Are Sinking Final SKCC Oceania Fact-Checking Takes QRS Saunter - This Weekend! a Holiday Addictive Congratulations Andrew VK2ZRK v RSS | e Readible Five e Contests e and Automatic Morse for the Younger e Ten Commandments of Electrical e There’s No Such Thing e Prosign of the Week e | hear Tell e Di-dah-di-dah-dit e About the CQ QRS Exchanges generation Safety - Grounding Group Looks to me like on the whole, we had a pretty good CQQRS Practice QSO net on Tuesday once again. heard or worked Slow CW There was at least 61 stations by at least 43 of our team members this week. Most reported good conditions, but East-West propagation was only so-so, and later in the evening the ionosphere treated us to a goodly amount of auroral QRN. So hands up who didn’t have fun? | certainly did, and | suspect those of us who hadn't visited a dentist, or weren’t scheduled to do so also did. Must be tough being as popular as dentists seem to be! Scurry Now behind the scenes, there’s been a scurry of activity in the back rooms of RagChew Headquarters. Some readers may be aware of questions being asked and discussed about indexing the RagChew newsletter. Apparently some of our readers would like to be able to find articles and material that they’ve read in the newsletter! This is very good news to me as editor - first that the material is of interest, and second, that the effort people have made to write will be rewarded by being read many times now and in the future. So our Software Development team has doubled in size, with Lance VK7TO (our Technical Editor) joining Nigel G4RWI to work on this tricky problem. Why tricky you ask? The last 120 editions of RagChew were produced using MailChimp - a web-based HTML editor (intended to be used to generate email (spam) advertising). Not only do the newsletters not exist in some sort of accessible file form, but much embedded of the text content exists as images rather than text. Half an hour after we formed the team (we use a ‘development environment’ - a web-based repository called GitHub to coordinate development and configuration), Lance had the last 120 editions archived up on our CQQRS website bit.ly/COORSWebsite , and had a plan for producing something searchable. A day later, Lance had them searchable and Nigel was up to his armpits in a system for indexing the files using our website’s built-in search function! Meanwhile | faffed about, waving So the system is working Bloody marvellous! my arms around and nodding sagely. in a basic form - there’s lots to sort out yet (the searchable files are pretty ugly - so there’s lots more to do - stay tuned for updates in the first quarter of 2026. A huge thank you to Lance and Nigel for this outstanding effort in the run-up to Christmas. DXperiment Status Reporting And speaking of software development, down under on the other side of the globe, Mike DL3YZ and Ross MONNK have been working on the DXperiment Status Reporting tools - to allow us on the top-side to know what’s going on at their end. (the URL to access Mike is keen to get user input on the system it during the net was in the net reminder email); so if you have any comments from this week or from future nets, please send me an email which I'll pass to Mike and Ross: cggrsnet@gmail.com Straight Key Training Further down the newsletter you'll find an invitation from Jens VK4PE up in Townsville to join his inaugural Straight Key Introduction training session on Sunday December 28th. Jens is a retired maritime radio operator - so he is well-placed to teach. The session will be short (40 minutes maximum), and is intended to help new operators who are learning the code, have got to about 5wpm, Straight key operation. but would like to learn about the art of Jens would prefer small groups - one or two would be fine - so please give him a hoy if you'd like to join in. SKCC Oceania This weekend QRS Saunter sees the final Straight Key Century Club Oceania QRS Saunter being held. This is a fun event - not a contest, just an opportunity to get on air, have some QRS fun and meet other QRS fans. Thank you so much to Garry VK2GAZ for running the Saunters over the years, and I’m Sure that many of our team will be sad to see them go - however, Garry has other plans tn the wind - so stay tuned. See below for the details for the Saturday (UTC) event. Contributions And once again, thank you to everyone who contributed to this week’s newsletter - see the long list of people, just before the end. New Team Members Welcome this week to Michael VK3CMV Athens GA. at Chiltern VIC and Tom Michael has been reading the RagChew Tom at newsletter for some time, but | only recently came across him in the distribution list; Michael. N4TTU welcome is an active CW operator who Is also very keen on QRP and portable operation; welcome Tom - you'll fit right in with this crowd! 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 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 1OOKB file size). problems if your computer or phone can’t do that - just send it through anyway please. No 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 like to pass information to others about our Tuesday get-togethers, here’s the link to our website. bit.ly/COORSWebsite So here we go - please enjoy the newsletter. Cheers, mb Mark Bosma VK2KI / VK6QI Beautiful South Bowning cgagrsnet@gmail.com NSW non impediti ratione cogitationis Reports & Comments Here’s this week’s Last Tuesday’s Group Here’s the 61 stations heard by 43 members CQQRS Team Member cQ Heard 15m Worked 20m Heard on air Worked 20m Heard 20m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard on air Heard on air Worked 20m Heard 20m Tried 20m Worked 40m Heard 40m Tried 40m Worked 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 40m Worked 40m Heard on air Heard on air Worked 20m Heard 20m Worked 40m reports. qsol Qso 2 QsoO 3 Qso 4 of our team on Tuesday: Qso5 QsoO6 Qso7 Qso8 Heard 40m Heard on air Heard on air Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard on air Worked 20m Worked 40m Worked 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Heard 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard on air Worked 40m Worked 80m Worked 40m Worked 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Tried 40m Heard on air Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 80m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 20m Worked 40m Heard 40m Worked 80m Heard 40m Heard 80m Heard 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard on air Heard on air Worked 40m Heard 40m Tried 40m Worked 40m Heard 40m Heard on air Heard on air Heard on air Worked 20m Worked 40m Heard 40m The spreadsheets above show the known stations on last Tuesday’s Group; the comments in the team members’ reports (submitted via our webform bit.ly/CQOORSNET ) follow: Comments: This week’s comments from our webform us again by Patrick VK2IOW; reports have been compiled for thanks Patrick. From Mike DL3YZ at Stuttgart [20m] Tradlav tha hand wrae Anita naniow in tha haninninga Birtiusdhan tha NAY luuay WIG Valu Wad YUNG HUIay HE WIS BoYNNY. DU Wrist Wis UA window was finally open, we had some nice ragchews around the globe. The new Live Status monitor was working fine, so | think this was a successful DX Tuesday. Thanks to all stations. Have a great week ! 73 Mike. From Ross MONNK at Exeter UK [20m] Great signal from Pat VK2IOW again, © and an enjoyable chat too. Mark VK2KI said that he only heard a few of my = beeps and that those had probably reflected off meteor trails. If true, what a wonderfully romantic way to reach Australia! From Nigel VK/G4RWI at Oxley nr Brisbane [40m] Bit a rush to get set up at the new temporary QTH nr Brisbane. This is a small property so squeezing a 40m EFHW in was a challenge. Given the density of population | thought noise was going to be much more of a problem. Best bit was | am now reunited with my paddle, so | can send perfectly spaced mistakes again. From David VK6KD at Ballajura WA = ‘o Marna etatinne nniilda Aa hanrd thie urinal an ANm than lact wnal Ao i Wil olauVils VYUUIU VO NCA US WOON VII SVIIT Ld! Idol WOON. [80m] From Perth to Manjimup area, propagation looks to be working § well on 80m. From Sava VK4PN at Mount Ommaney Brisbane [20m] Started a bit late by checking 20m first. The EU DX window was quiet, not a squeak so | camped on 14045 kHz and called a few CQs. RBN looked reasonable | could see spotters both in EU and around the Pacific. ZL and southern states were booming in but VK6NW who responded to one of my calls was feeble. Most of the EU DX who called me were also solid signals as well as Mike DL3YZ who was just above the noise. | often wonder when noise is say S6, does that mean all signals detectable are S6 and higher. [40m] Again worked QRP only on 40m. Only one QSO this time but what was surprising is that RBN reported my puny signal was detected in ZL with a respectable RSN. Makes it even more puzzling why | am having so little success working QRP. [80m] Last 30 min of the QRS time slot | spent on 80m. First, as usual, is a check of lronside SDR. Boy did it look ugly, strange pulsing noise wall to wall. Regardless | called CQ at 3550 KHz and could just see my carrier between the noise bursts. Mark VK2KI came back floating in and out of noise, which at my place was steady S8. We struggled for a while but meaningful rag-chew was impossible. Five or ten minutes after | finished QSO with Mark the noise at Ironside SDR cleared and few faint carriers were visible but | could not hear them at my QTH. Kept calling as there were alll A one Pete AOA PPO 2. wee eee eed 2 we 2 et AAO LISLE RAWINAL OT Oe SUH IU TINIE tO 2S.uU AMS aldo Was rewdlged WIT anomnler Wou, signal on 80m was far better than in our QSO on 20m. | gave him VINOINVV. AIS RSN of 568, does this make sense? If noise is S8 so should be the signal, | need to refresh my understanding of Shannon's law again. From Wayne VK6NW at Bridgetown [40m] 40m seemed to be in reasonably good condition for a change. On 20m no propagation from EU to VK6 was detected, though the eastern stations working EU were heard here in VK6. From Peter ZL1PX at Waiuku, New Zealand [40m] Listened to four conversations on 40 which took so looooong to end. Is there a 'breaker' CW code ops can use to let people know someone wants to join their conversation - or at least prompt them to finish their present one and let others make a QSO. From Roy VK6RR at Geraldton [40m] After 2 weeks absence, due to other commitments, | happily fired up my dear old IC730 went to call VK6FN and pop came out from the power supply and smoke!! On inspection oily substance dripping out the bottom. Suspect a blown capacitor big time!! Can't complain it has been working since the 70's!! Happy Christmas to all 73 & 77 From lan VK7TA at Latrobe [40m] | replied to VK7ME and another station then replied to me, so it got } a little confusing and | lost Ron. Maybe next time. From your editor Mark VK2KI at Beautiful South Bowning NSW [15m] Nothing at all heard of Edi DO2ZEMR via the excellent Snowline KiwiSDR at Dry Plains in the NSW Alps this week. [20m] At around 0630, Mike was coming through to SNSW RSN 411 - better than Manny VK3DRQ who was RSN 311 here in the skip-zone. Signals got better as Mike worked Sava, and | was pleased to hook up with Mike right at the end of his scheduled half hour... before he traipsed sadly off to work. When it was Ross' turn, | was off chopping vegetables (as you do); when | got back, at around 0820z, | gave him a couple of calls - and heard a couple of very weak replies - RSN 111 - except | heard the occasional character (on meteor pings perhaps - but more likely just bubbles of ionisation) - but not even enough to call RSN 211. | suddenly heard a signal though and got all excited... but it was Mike calling Ross! | sent a few calls Ross' way, and could hear him responding (or was it my imagination?); | picked out an M, an N and a 73 from the QSB bubbles. [40m] Kicked off at O600z - the band was very quiet in the East and | could see on the VK6SEG KiwiSDR that Wayne VK6NW was calling CQ; nothing from him visible on the Snowline KiwiSDR or here at home. | tried calling Clive ZL1CJB in Auckland however, sounds like he couldn't hear me. Terrific to catch up with John VK2RU down at Mundaroo (between Tumbarumba and Jingellic on the Murray) again. After dinner, | came across Max VK6FN calling CQ - great to welcome him back to transmitting on the net after work commitments had kept him away for weeks. Max worked Lance VK7TO, and at the end of the QSO, | sent "UP 5 LANCE". Of course, | forgot what frequency they were on... and guessed wrong; Lance found me, but | had to send "DN 2" to clear some QRM. So after much VFO work, we had a nice chat before | slipped down to 80m for a nightcap. [80m] 80m was both quiet and noisy! terms of auroral buzz. Quiet in terms of stations, but amazingly noisy in Q ee vas VBI CQQRS Net 19:16 Loca The buzzing was about S5 at my location, and really strong on the VK6SEG KiwiSDR in WA. In fact the waterfall display could be described as picturesque! It's amazing to thing that such a repetitive noise could be produced bya —im natural process (apparently related to the waves-like nature of the energy coming from the sun). Anyway, Sava VK4PN was strong enough with me to make a go of a QSO which was a nice way to round out the evening for me before hitting the hay. Also from your editor Mark VK6QI at Beautiful South Bowning NSW via the VK6SEG KiwiSDR at Hoddys Well. [15m] Ve =)! .. Nothing at all heard of Edi this week on 15m in the West either. fonrm! pevilly Also, nothing heard of Mike or Ross on 20m in WA. [40m] | heard Wayne calling on 7034 early in the net- nothing heard KiwiSDR Hoddys Well of him in the East at the time though. aN Luckily, the band opened ok later. [80m] | think the auroral buzz may have driven everyone away from 80m this time. From Paul VK3KLE at Stawell [40m] Good conditions, a few stations on before 18:30 AEDST, then nothing much till later on after dinner with a fairly full band of CW from then on. From Manny VK3DRQ at Blackburn [20m] | had only limited time and also it seems to me that OM Mike was the only brave one to face the WX on 20m, he started RSN } and then he was 331 and improving like the wine. From John VK2RU at Munderoo [40m] Ndve firet Trinedaw: ninht fara fous manthe oetartad with 9 231 Wly Hot PUGouUay TI WW aA IGW TIVO OLaANlGU WILT & stations | had worked before, followed by 3 new ones. Generally reasonable signals all night except across to WA. Too much noise and fading for both Max VK6FN and myself and we couldn't continue the QSO. Good to catch up with Peter VK3AGX, and Greg VK5KFG later in the night. From Phil VK6GX at Gidgegannup [40m] Luckily my antennas survived another violent thunderstorm event on Sunday arvo. Good conditions on 40m today on a very quiet band. Jeff, WB2GDZ was using a remote station in Georgia and was 559 on my phased Beverages and S2 on my too weak to work on my delta loop. From Lance VK7TO at Hobart [20] When | first came on air, no-one was calling and | got no takers for my CQ calls so popped up to 20 m to see what was happening. There was only one signal, a very strong SMOBRF, Ron. We've had several QSOs before and with the great conditions was able to enjoy a very relaxed QRQ QSO as we caught up and compared our experiences of dealing with snow, though | feal like a lightweight in that department relative to his Swedish winters. [40m] What a wonderful evening. Very aood propagation to my station in Hobart. allowing a — 7 . ' — ¥ . “ rare treat of armchair copy. VK2DLF, George and | kicked the evening with our differing interpretations of what constitutes a heat wave. | don't think he was much convinced that 28 C represents a suitable threshold. Next up was a great ragchew with VKSDRQ, Manny. We shared our various Christmas plans and changes brought about when children depart the nest. | must admit that keying "Christmas" several times got old rather quickly, so adopted Manny's quicker "Chrisy". A nice treat was hearing VK6FN, Max chatting to Mark. It's been a while since copying a VK6 clearly enough to QSO so waited until they signed before calling. Conditions held for a couple of overs, but then faded quite severely, leading us parting ways earlier than either of us would have liked. With a couple of great ragchews and a VK6 in the bag | was just thinking about calling it a night when VK2KI, Mark called me. Another most enjoyable ragchew followed with discussions about bottling wine and a fellow CQ QRSer's tooth extraction. From Mike VK6AAV at Forrestfield With a couple of great ragchews | managed to work Max and Wayne “am from Bridgetown on Tuesday night | with good signals. Now that the Ko - Reuse —/Ear POST MORSUM holidays are here | should be a < ™ regular on the net. All the best for "the season. 17th December From Richard VK6HRC. Eight on the South West repeater and AllStar/ Echolink hub this morning. VK6FN Max VK6ENW Wayne KM7CVW Darren VK6KD a David VK6QI ZL3TK VK6HRC VK6MRB i tee Mark ee —Stan ant eee 8 Mulligan swil and others. Another lively and chaotic get together! Darren called in from Washington State just before start time and he was brave enough to stay the distance. Max was back with a vengeance and made the most of the better conditions this week with twelve in the log on 40 m before going QRT. David heard five on 40 m signals fairly weak though and went on to work Wayne VK6NW on 80 m where conditions where much better. Looking forward to retiring early next year and having more radio time. Wayne made use of a KiwiSDR over East at the start, heard six on 40 m and worked David VK6KD and Sava VK4PN on 80 m later on. Mark listened out for Edi DO2ZEMR on 15 m but nothing heard. Worked Mike DL3YZ on 20 m giving him an rsn of 421, tried Ross MONNK only heard a 73 as signals dropped away. Worked three on 40 m heard four and on 80 m worked Sava VK4PN. Also noted that the Aurora was creating some very interesting patterns on the waterfall display. A timely check in from Stan ZL3TK as | was getting the Post Morsum draft together for our all suffering editor! Stan has had some computer problems but all nearly back to normal. The HF antenna is down for maintenance and will be operational early next year, so very quiet from Waitarere Beach. | was AWOL so nothing from me. Thank you to all on this morning, stay safe. 73 Richard. 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: On see Articles below. Please email cqqrsnet@gmail.com My Workbench for Just the Thing When the ABC Closes its AM Transmitters in Perth. From Martin VK6M} lam making a valve AM broadcast band mW transmitter to send voice and music to a 1932 radio receiver which will be restored after | am finished with the PhD. Valves are a 5Z4G full wave rectifier, 6AU6 and a 12AX7. | had to wind a 5volt heater source for the rectifier tube. Here is the Airzone radio. 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 For guidance on writing for RagChew, QRZ? From Who’s on the other your editor Mark VK2KI know; cgqrsnet@gmail.com see Articles below. 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 it’s really nice to Know who’s on the other end of the QSO. So members How did they come to amateur radio and when, and what on earth was the motivator - that got them planned? interested in CW? How’s the journey been so far, and what’s Perhaps, what they get out of the net and the newsletter, and how it can be made better? So, would you be willing to share some thoughts about yourself? Mark VK2KI 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. In 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 final chapter of Wind in the Willows - Chapter 12 - The Return of Ulysses. 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 included in last week’s Newsletter with the Ebook2CW app - https://fkurz.net/ham/ebook2cw.html. Because of MailChimp’s size limits, I’ve split Chapter 12 into four parts, and all four parts are attached below. Each part is over 1 hour playing time @ 16 wpm. 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 are: e Chapter 12 parts 1, 2, 3, e Chapter 12 text file and 4 MP3 files You can either play the MP3 files in any media in last week’s Newsletter 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. Breath of Fresh Air From Jeff WB2GDZ in Seminole Florida Hi Mark, That is quite a newsletter and | have read a large part of it. What an effort you and your guys have put into it and | commend you for doing so! | wanted to say to you and the others (I may have already said this but at 70 my memory is going lol) that it is a breath of fresh air joining your group. It is very sad what seems to me to have happened to ham radio over here in the USA. The contesters don't seem to be too bad in regards to having retired, intelligent hams in radiosport. One of the reasons | joined your great group in VK land was that | really felt the need to get away from some of the nonsense in the USA especially in our ham community. In regards to ham radio, | literally wished | lived in VK land and would find the hobby more enjoyable in your country. Thanks again - Jeff Pohl (WB2GDZ) Across From the Tasman David ZL/VK3DBD Good Morn Mark (and of course Elizabeth!) Having just skimmed thru your lengthy missive this morn, | am reporting that Thursday evening | arrived in the "Land of the Long White Cloud" and will be spending about the next eight weeks up in the Bay of Islands area with my daughter and family. Here | have a section of the house | can call mine and needless to say a radio shack set up complete with a display of collectable (and very useable) Morse keys, a hardly ever used VHF/UHF rig or two, a Elecraft K3 and a TS-50. Friday of course was soon spent connecting wires and fittings in some semblance of order after virtually a year of non use. After a break and visit to the local Farmers Market nearby in Kerikeri (seemingly, a Sat morn routine for the occupants of the residence) | can now report that a dipole for 20m is now in service, supported in a sort of inv vee with a fibreglass fishing pole producing a good SWR. Scanning all the HF bands on receive in the afternoon showed - as | expected - a lot of absolutely nothing to be heard. That seems to be a normal situation in Oceania........ Round about early evening (circa 0500z or UTC whichever you wish to call it) there were just a few signs of life and a few CQ calls using ZL/VK3DBD brought replies of a few "??" ... to which | sent my call... with no response. Now | digress - as this '?' habit a large number of folk seem to have these days is something which makes little sense. If you hear someone calling CQ say or are not sure, sending a question mark and no call sign IS NOT THE SOLUTION.... 'QRZ ?' followed by your call would be correct and usually effective. Then at least one party will know who the other one is!! Does not take much effort and a big improvement on two stations sending each other "??" In the above instance | did return my call to the ? stn (s) but had no reply. A few mins later ZL2AIM lan was heard calling CQ from his QTH on the Coromandal and was a full S9 signal; we had a good chat......_ Visit. The first entry in my log for this ZL Todays activities will be the erection of more wires to provide a few more bands and to that effect | have a previously used dipole with some traps in it. I've used in the past, it's been laid out on the lawn for checking. | have permission to help myself to one or two of the tall bamboo poles growing nearby, so by later today the wires will surely be radiating some RF on 40, 30 and perhaps omer Dandgs - one Nas to Try en ¢ Tues evening | hope to hear - and QSO with some of the QRS contingent. on at least 20 and 40m. At risk of waffling on too long... a problem | notice on Tuesday evening is knowing who wants to listen to QRS and at what speed? Agreed to listen to experiened ops send QRS to each other might - just MIGHT - be of interest to someone wanting rx practice. But! often get the impression that far too many new ops seem to think they need to practice their sending.... With respect | say in general that is wrong. They need to practice receiving and | stress the Morse they listen to should be well sent as we learn by listening and copying. Which means each letter character really MUST be sent as a sound recognisable as a letter. NOT dots and dashes to be interpreted to a letter. A Farnsworth character speed of preferably 18-20 WPM with reasonable spaces between each would be good for learning. But the way to make rapid gains in rx speed Is to regularly listen to good Morse ata speed faster than comfortable - writing what makes sense and ignoring the failures. Then go back to a happy speed and it will invariable be noticed it has become much easier. Doing this on a daily basis for just a few minutes will show big speed improvements in a week or less. Twice a day is even better. If that fails all | can say is you are doing something wrong! Very 73 David ZL/VK3DBD, VK3DBD/ZL or even ZL/G3SCD if | feel inclined...... Morse Training Our team Net member Nic VK7WW every Wednesday at 7pm runs an on-air Slow Morse training net EDST on 3580 for 30 mins. He uses the callsign of the Northern Tasmania Amateur Radio Club VK/7TAZ on that net. Many of our team learned Morse code with the Support of Nic, and the weekly training session comes highly recommended for anyone who wants to learn the Code, or simply brush up. Everyone’s welcome - 3580kKHz at 7pm time every Wednesday; Eastern you'll hear lots of the CQQRS team on that net. Jordan VK3ACU has cea copii. ae a 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 including group to follow the action, or just come along and join in on Wednesdays. Remotes in Australia From Jeff WB2GDZ By the way, are any of those other RemoteHams Australia available for use for hams remotes listed for in the USA? | was looking at https://narg.org.au/ but really don't know which clubs in Australia limit the use to the VK guys only. | would of course pay the club dues and limit my operating on it to certain times if that is in the rules; | certainly follow "remote etiquette". Generally over here | just bring up a remote, one is using it | just operate. If someone hit the "Ask" button and if no breaks in saying they would like to use the remote for a net or some other activity | just hand it over and disconnect. After learning the schedule of the remote users, | Know when not to operate. | really don't want to get in the way of hams who really need the remote on a schedule. [Hi Jeff. Thanks - Jeff (WB2GDZ) I’m a member of the Southern Electronics Group that operates the three Remotes in Western Australia (VK6SR HF at Jandakot South of Perth, VK6CRO HF, VHF and UHF up in the tropics at Carnarvon and VK6SEG & UHF beaming East across the Great Australian Bight from Albany. VHF As you've found, these are excellent, but occasionally the systems need a reboot to connect - however, Rob VK6LD (one of our avid readers) is usually able to respond very quickly and do a re-boot - probably from his Dick Tracey watch - in response to an SMS request (I'll send you his SMS number if you don’t have it already). Most times that I’ve asked, Rob has been able to bring the system back up in a few minutes. I’m also a member of the Hills Amateur Radio Group which as you’ve found has a Remote - VK6AHR. However, use a straight key on the Remotes, | think it’s not configured for CW; | only and last time | checked, it didn’t have an SK interface - butI think it also doesn’t have the keyboard interface set up. Rob can probably help with that one too if needed (he’s one of WA’s centres of all things Remotes/AllStar/repeater and just a helluvaniceguy!) There is one Club Remote at the Summerland Amateur Radio Club in Northern New South Wales that Ross MONNK has used in the past; Ross did have some problems with the CW interface, but hopefully that’s been fixed by now. There’s others that are also publicly accessible in Australia and New Zealand, but | don’t have any experience with them. with more information? Down Can anyone help Jeff this way as far as | know, the clubs that operate the Remotes limit transmit to Club members only - but there’s no limitation on where those members are operating from - and nor should there - a member’s a member, and discrimination on the basis of where their ISP is located would seem a bit narrow-minded!] Dit-Dit From Bad... Ross or Dit-Dit Good? MONNK | remember very vividly my first Morse code ‘lightbulb moment’. | had heard for the first time, the closing “73 73”, and suddenly understood what Morse code was all about. To all the very many voice operators out there, “73 73” is just an obscure two-digit code for wishing the other operator well at the end of a QSO. But when | heard it in Morse, | realised that it wasn’t just a two-digit code - it was a delightful little rising-and-falling tune. “73 73” is collectively a sound in itself, and a lovely one at that. Those old-time operators had certainly chosen it for its musical qualities. It was a (probably obvious to you) revelation - Morse code is aural. Later, when | started fumbling my way through radio QSOs, my heart would give a flutter when | heard the tune “CQ CQ”. It wasn’t just letters “c” and “q’”; it was a fanfare heralding an exciting/ frightening new contact. Much, much later, | started to pick up more tunes, but the ability to hear most words as complete sounds looks as if it will be forever out of my reach, alas. Before | get to the point of this article (hurry up, Ross, we’re getting impatient), | want to say a very quick word about the on-air protocols we use. These are derived from the standard operating practices of yore (of which Stan ZL3TK is such a strong advocate). But, like any vibrant modern language, these protocols are evolving with the society that uses it. And, these days, that society consists solely of amateurs. It is a curious thing that these protocols are only lightly codified by the ITU and the various national authorities. The purpose of Morse code now is recreational communications between amateurs, so presumably they leave it up to us to be mutually understood. In last week’s Ragchew, Andrew VK1DA/ VK2DA expressed his frustration at the non-logical use of “dit-dit” at the end of QSOs. In many ways, | agree with him. | certainly use ‘dit-dit' in the logical way. For example, “tu e e” at the VERY end, or just “ee”. BUT | also love the musical quality of “73 73e e” - it’s such a melodious way to end an enjoyable QSO that | simply can’t resist it. My hand positively dances on the key when | send it. Sorry, Andrew. wy Club Information Courses The Radio Bulletin YouTube Groups Links Member EMDRC Christmas BBQ Login Member Shop THE RADIO BULLETIN 6 December- Saturday - 12 noon. a Updating Articles 14/10/2025 + 3:01 PM f USB Rig programming cables and Windows 11 Hg 21/04/2024 - 7:57 PM Subaru Coax Install ee 15/04/2024 - 8:04 PM Portable Power 10/11/2023 - 10:56 AM It is that time of year, a time that seems to come around so quickly in some respects, when we can hopefully pause and reflect upon the year just passed with fellow members at the clubrooms. EMDRC - IMPORTANT This year, we will have the mandatory snags and drinks. We would be grateful if you DATES could bring asmall plate to share eg a salad or something festive. We members favourite BBQ also encourage to cook their own cannot who wish to bring their own on one of our two BBQs that will be available. cater for food allergies or restrictions in such exercise your discretion as you We look forward need to seeing as many treat and Obviously, we MEMBERSHIP circumstances so please APPLICATION to. JOIN as possible and if you are coming, Fe Wireless Solutions Sunday 28 December 2025 for Sunday 28 December to be held at the clubraoms in Burwood. Straight Key Introduction CLUB'S INTERNET SPONSER (a KernWi-Fi EMDRC - Foundation Course course is scheduled - drop us an email at vk3er as usual with Christmas BBQ in the subject line so we have a chance to allow for snags and sundries. The FORM NOW KernWi-Fi - Refer a friend $50 Credit Code: VK3ER2024 Course From Jens VK4PE lam vlannina to aive the straiaht kev introduction course on the Sundav J 28.12.2025 at 7 p.m. Brisbane time (0900z) on Zoom. 2 to 4 participants would be perfect. The participants need a cpo code practise oscillator and a straight key. eee iy - phphone ono dificul thi as Phonetic Alphabet let conditions, words and callsigns may parucul ary under adverse operating rt ; a y, nme Code Code ALFA BRAVG CHARLIE DELTA Spoken CHAH lee or SHAA lee DELL tah ECK of FOKS trot GOLF hoh TEL IN DEE AR S Phonetic Numbers No Spoken Code ‘Spoken Pe SIERRA see AIR rah TANG go OO YOU nee form or OO nee form FO-WER Word As o Word g es BRAH von ViAc alphabets are used. The following is the one recommended for use by ACMA , snovrozaras ~— TEEret As JULIETT JEW lee ETT KILO KEY loh TANGO UNIFORM MIKE MIKE no VEM ber vicTOR —- Vi tah WHISKY _WISS key ROW me oh as LIMA NOVEMBER OSCAR PAPA EBEC ae LEE mah OSS cal : nok “RAY YANKEE ' THUH-REE FLYIV six —--ECKS ray YANG key ZOO Ioo SHORTWAVE Also needed WUIN HANDBOOK Is a NATO Spelling alphabet (above) and the two page "How to master Morse code" instructions - (click vist to download). Zoom Ie! “d"" dah, : : thi . MEMORISE THE CODE The first step ik to momiorike th meetings are limited to 40 minutes if you use the free version of Zoom. This short course Is for people who like to learn and to send Morse code with a straight key. The participants should know Morse code 5 WPM or better, because we will not learn code in this short course. We will have some jokes and fun along the way; people without humour are not allowed to join the course! Those interested, please contact me by email jensgrigull@gmail.com will send you the Zoom videoconference and | invitation. Cheers Jens VK4PE [Terrific initiative - thank you Jens. I’ve had two Zoom two days where we’ve had trouble connecting. videoconferences in Zoom now has an Al assistant - however, | suspect the assistant isn’t yet! Probably worth Checking the Zoom connection with all of your participants before the 28th; you don’t want to lose all 40 minutes (which by the way goes very very guickly in videoconferences!) trying to get everyone connected. / Thoughts After This Week’s Reminder Email After the tragic attack at Bondi Beach yesterday, we're probably all wondering about why the human race can be so unpleasant. Well, | guess we'll just concentrate on the things we can actually control and make a difference to... such as getting on air and having some fun and practice engaging with some particularly nice people on the CQQRS net tomorrow. Shall we? Yes, let's. Certainly better for you than watching television or getting trapped in the bias of social media that promotes hate-filled material rather than peace. James VK7/JZ: | am saddened that another community we in Tasmania experienced in 1996. is now experiencing the grief that The plan of terrorism, no matter it's flavour, is to disturb society, to sow fear, cause us to change, and to have internal division and internal hate. While we cannot forget these tragic events, the way to prove we will not be defeated is to continue what we did last week, do it next week, do it the week after, our families, our gatherings, our CW. If we remain who we are then terrorism can never prevail. Jeff WB2GDZ: | feel so sorry for the shooting in your country. country about the shooting. It seems | just saw a video from your like you Aussies have some sanity about this in regards to considering additional well thought out gun regulations. Over here tn the USA probably more people rush out to buy MORE after something tragic like this. become cult-like. guns In America, gun culture can almost I find all of this both sad and stressful. | really feel embarrassed to call myself an American I would say that at this point. My SWL Neighbour Jack It's all So very sad. There isn't one star in a trillion where life such as ours could evolve. We are sucha miracle. Yet here we are killing each other and our planet. ASTROBIOLOGY Volume 21, Number 3, 2021 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/ast.2019.2149 Research i Articles The Timing of Evolutionary Transitions Suggests Intelligent Life Is Rare Andrew E. Snyder-Beattie,’ Anders Sandberg,” K. Eric Drexler? and Michael B. Bonsall" Abstract It is unknown how abundant extraterrestrial life is, or whether such life might be complex or intelligent. On Earth, the emergence of complex intelligent life required a preceding series of evolutionary transitions such as ahionsenesis. enkarvogenesis. and the evolution of sexual renroduction multicellnlaritv. and intellisence itself We Are Sinking From Jens VK4PE https://m.youtube.com/shorts/PzlImJy35PTO Straight Key Century Club QRS Saunter From Garry VK2GAS NOTE: As a consequence in the SKCC Oceania QRS event will be run by me. of diminishing interest and participation Saunter this will be the last time the The last SKCC Oceania QRS Saunter will take place this Saturday, December, 2025 from 00:00 UTC until 11:59 UTC a 12 hour event. All are welcome to join in!! All the details for the Oceania SKCC 20th website QRS Saunter (OQS) can be viewed on the at: httos://www.skccgroup.com/operating_activities/ogs/ Please make use of the SKCC Sked Page and the CW Club RBN Spotter. httos://sked.skccgroup.com/ httpos://ron.telegraphy.de/ Regards, Garry VK2GAZ/VK2ZP #5460C Manager - SKCC Oceania QRS Saunter SK % CC Straight Key Century Club : SKCC _ooas _— Straight Key Century Club Oceania QRS Saunter Saturday, 20th December, 2025 @ 00:00 UTC 12 Hours 00:00 - 11:59 UTC Fact Checking takes a Holiday, Imagination pays a Visit. From Stan ZL3TK This editorial comment followed the results presented at the conclusion of the Settle to Carlisle Railway Challenge. Except for two correctly-identified participants, everything else seems to have been drawn from the International Flight Contest [Wow - congratulations Stan and Ruth for this superbly crafted and executed challenge. And well done to John, Kevin and Armin plus the six other participants (and no-doubt, those who participated but didn’t submit reports) - I’m sure that the expenence would have been great] Four errors and one non-experiential opinion out of six purported facts are presented. It is a shining example of today's sensationalist reporting and everlowering standards of editorial responsibility. 1. Of the three participants, none were named Armin. (An apology is due to Garry) 2. Where did the "six other participants" suddenly come from? None were alluded to in any of the weekly STC reports. 3. Who are the undoubted participants who didn't submit 'reports'? of these were alluded to in weekly STC reports either. None 4. Reports? date 5. No reports were required from or have been submitted - to - by the three, and only three participants. Without actually participating, how is it possible to be "sure that the experience would have been great"? Looks no better than tabloid-quality reporting to me, and probably not written to deliberately deceive, but are the Ao/ po//o/ to be unsuspecting victims of serious liberty-taking again? Stan ZL3TK Addictive! From Mark VK2KI From Jack SWL at Beautiful South Bowning Some [40m] report in a previous RagChew Hi Mark, Bought this comms radio at the HRSA meet from my neighbour Jack who had from the fellow who made the modifications, which are described in the attached schematic. Tuned in last night thinking | had your broadcast picked up Jordan VK3ACU sae at 7.0xx MHz(?) but it turned out to be your mate down in Meredith (I thought it was a bit Lafayette shortwave Well this week, Jack dropped home-made receiver. by for a cup of coffee and to pick up some sauerkraut from Ms e (Jack likes Ruben sandwiches too!). he walked | had warned during our net, using his classic Lafayette KT-340 weak!) When readers may have seen the in he said “di-di-di-dit him that this CW di-dit”. business can be just a tad addictive! Congratulations! Congratulations to Andrew VK2ZRK from Tarago for passing the Advanced license. Now where did you put that nice new paddle Andrew? 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: cqgrsnet@gmail.com Readable What Compiled Contests have you been Five reading on the track somewhere and Automated see Articles lately? by John VK2RU Exchanges From Jeff WB2GDZ | really am not a contester myself but do like to follow along using the online live scoreboards. The ARRL 10 meter contest is this weekend and | will be following the scoreboard especially for the FCG (Florida Contest Group) members. The issue of "bots" in contesting has come up. Personally | like the idea of young, smart hams trying their hand at automated contesting although | certainly think that there should be a "bot assisted" category for this in the results. Totally automated contesting | think is fascinating in regards to the advanced software involved using CW skimming software and everything else that goes into a program that does such a thing. httos://groups.google.com/a/hamclub.org/g/tarc/c/CH9ARZ5dQ8Y httos://www.facebook.com/lu9esd/posts/bots-vs-humans-a-wake-up-call-tooreserve-contestingi-would-like-to-share-public/10239243588764131/ Thanks again Seminole Morse - Jeff Pohl (WB2GDZ) FL for the YoungerGeneration From Geoff VK6HD Hi Mark Just sitting reading Dec issue of (UK) Practical Wireless and found this article which actually makes a good argument for young CW. Thought you might like it for RagChew. Ciao G Morse Mode | people to learn Roger J Cooke G3LDI roger@g3ldi.co.uk F ollowing the October column which | aimed mainly at the youngsters coming into the hobby, | received a few emails saying how much this was needed and that | presented the case fairly well in order to influence as many as | could. Well, | am not sure how many youngsters read PW let alone my column, but | am a stubborn old man and don't give up easily. So, | am having a second bite at this cherry in order to stir the passion that | hope exists in the younger generation. | shall attempt to wean you away from mindless scrolling, reading constant drivel that has little relevance to life. | might even lay down a challenge to you all! | need to see some responses from the younger amateur that | am aiming at! Whythis‘0ldMan’s Game’is actuallyyoursecretweapon An 86-year-old’s challenge to the TikTok generation. “Dear Young People Who Think us oldies are Irrelevant, "You're probably right. At 86, | use words like ‘wireless’ and remember when phones had dials. | get excited about radio frequencies while you get excited about WiFi speeds. We're from different worlds. "But here's the thing about being old - sometimes you spot patterns that young eyes miss. And I've spotted something huge that your generation is walking past without noticing. “You're being played.” Thesetup Every generation gets sold the same lie: “This new technology will make everything better and easier!” Your parents believed it about personal computers. You believed it about smartphones. Your younger siblings believe it about Al. But here's what actually happens: The easier the technology gets, the more helpless you become when it breaks. Right now, your entire social life depends on: * Cell towers that fail in storms + Internet connections that companies can cut off + Apps that get banned or shut down + Devices that brick with one bad update + Platforms controlled by billionaires having midlife crises You've been sold convenience, but what you actually got was ‘digital dependency’. Therebellionyoudidn’tknowyou needed Want to know what real digital rebellion looks like? It’s not another app or platform. It’s learning something so fundamentally unbreakable that it Morseforthe | younger generation Roger Cooke G3LDI continues the topic of encouraging young people to try learning Morse. works the same way whether it's 1924 or 2024. Morse code is punk rock for the digital age. Think about it: + No corporate overlords - Nobody can ban dots and dashes * No planned obsolescence- A key fram 1950 works exactly the same today + No subscription fees - Learn it once, own it forever + No privacy concerns - You control every bit that gets transmitted + No infrastructure dependency - Works when everything else fails + While your friends are panicking about TikTok bans and Instagram outages, you'll be tapping out messages that can reach across continents with equipment you can build in your bedroom. “Butlt’sTooHard!” Really? You mastered: + Multi-layered video game control schemes + Complex social media algorithms + Programming languages * Guitar Hero on expert mode And you think dots and dashes are beyond you? Here's the secret old-timers won't tell you: Young brains learn Morse code faster than old ones. Your pattern recognition is better. Your reflexes are quicker. Your neural plasticity is off the charts. I've watched 19-year-old Jenna (blind, by the way) blow past operators with decades of experience. I've seen teenagers hit 40 words per minute in months while us old guys took years. You're not at a disadvantage - you're at a massive advantage and don't know it. Therealreasonwewantyoutolearn Here's the honest truth: We old-timers are terrified that when we die, this knowledge dies with us. But that’s not your problem. Your problem is that while you're busy consuming content, you're not learning skills that give you actual power. Morse code gives you power: + Power to communicate when systems fail + Power to send messages nobody else can intercept + Power to build your own communication network + Power to connect with interesting people worldwide * Power to know something your peers don't Thechallenge I'm 86. | learned this when the world was different. You live in a world | barely understand. But | bet you can’t do what | can do. | bet you can't tap out a message on a table that someone across the room can understand. | bet you can't build a transmitter with £20 worth of parts that reaches another continent. | bet you can't have a real-time conversation using nothing but light flashes. Prove me wrong. Howtoactuallydothis Stop reading articles about learning Morse code and just learn it: * Download a free app (try ‘Morse-It’ or ‘Koch Method’) + Start with 5 letters: ET | MS (most common) + Practice 10 minutes daily (less than one TikTok session) + Join r/morse on Reddit for community support + Set a 30-day challenge to reach 10 WPM + In 30 days, you'll have a skill that 99.9% of your generation lacks. Thereal prize Here's what happens when you actually learn this: You join a global community that spans every continent, every generation, and every background. The 70-year-old retired engineer in Japan treats you as an equal. The mountain climber in Switzerland becomes your regular contact. The teenager in Brazil becomes your practice partner. You become part of something bigger than social media drama and algorithmic manipulation. You gain a skill that: + Will never be obsolete + Can't be taken away by corporate policy * Works in emergencies when everything else fails Connects you to real people having real conversations + Gives you actual stories worth telling Myrealmessagetoyou | don’t need you to validate my hobby. At 86, I'm way past caring what people think. You ask the locals here in Norfolk. | say it as itis and | don't pull punches! But you need skills that make you more than Sign up to our FREE email newsletter at www.mvmagazinesub.co.uk/practical-wireless/ 54 ARTICLE PRACTICAL WIRELESS December 2025 Morse Mode just a consumer of other people's content. You need knowledge that gives you power rather than taking it away. You need to be part of communities that exist because people choose to be there, not because algorithms decided to connect you. Morse code is waiting for you. The question is: Are you brave enough to learn something that actually matters, or are you going to keep scrolling through content that disappears the moment you close the app? The dots and dashes don’t care how old you are. They only care if you're willing to learn. | have been using Morse Code for over 70 years. | have watched technologies come and go, but the dots and dashes remain unchanged. If you take this challenge, email me at roger@g3ldi. co.uk ~ | would love to hear from you. PS. Still think it’s just an ‘old man’s game’? Check out these young operators crushing it: Jenna, N4JEH (19, blind, 40+ WPM): [YouTube channel QRQmaniacs] High-speed CW competitions dominated by young women SOTA/POTA operators using CW in wilderness locations worldwide The challenge stands. Prove this ald man wrong. The younger you start the easier itis. Incidentally you are missing out on over 40% of our amateur allocations by ignoring the Morse end of the bands. Not only that, but there is a nasty rumour going around that the Morse end of 20m is being considered for investors / brokers using it for encoded data between themselves. We should not let this happen! Chris NW6P has some YouTube videos that will help you get started and although I never advise anybody to learn how to send before they can receive, this video might help you with the actual mechanics of using a straight key. www. youtube.com/watch?v=iSVA80g6GrM Although most amateurs these days use a paddle of some sort, the technique of using a straight key is always a very useful one to master. Most CW Clubs have what is called ‘SK night’ when everybody is using a straight key. You can always tell those that have mastered this technique, with some users getting to a reasonable speed with accuracy too. | have four straight keys myself and my favourite is my model D that | have had for decades. Another very nice one with a long neck is the Swedish Key, Fig. 1. The one in the picture does not have a skirt but mine does. | suspect it was an addition, but all straight keys should have a knob and skirt. Usingakeyboard When is it acceptable to use a keyboard instead of a Morse key? Well, | received this email from Bruce G4EUW and | think he is a case in question: ‘As you know that before joining the RN in early Fig. 1: The Swedish Key. Fig. 2: MRP40. 1960) already knew the Code, over the next nine months besides learning many other life at sea skills and reading CW, at the time still the main method of radio DX comms, was brought up to well above the pass mark of 25wpm 100% copy onto a sit up and beg typewriter. 18wpm sending. “My problem at an older age (83) is that after two spinal operations high in the neck almost at the base of the skull | am having great difficulty with dexterity and mobility, signals brain to muscles being interrupted by spinal cord compression | am being told, “My CW sending is appalling now so contests are about the only on-air activity | take part in and enjoy. My point is that us old uns battle on and somehow enjoy amateur radio. | would love ta. go out portable and am really envious of the reports of expeditions etc. As you say, practice makes perfect, my practice is ‘head reading’ now, which | never did at sea.” Bruce should not feel guilty by using a keyboard. He was obviously trained that way in the first instance. | think it would be better than just taking part in the odd contest. | did find this however from someone in a similar situation: “Let me start out this post by saying that! ama huge fan of Morse code/CW. | love the fact that CW signals will ‘get out there’ when other modes will not, due to band conditions, power and equipment limitations, etc. CW just absolutely amazes me with how efficient it can be and! never cease to be impressed by how well it works fora technology that is over 180 years old. “But, | have been studying and practising Morse code for the past three years and even after all that time, | still can barely hand send or copy/ decode by ear. Something in my brain just refuses to allow me to break through on this, no matter how hard | keep trying. “Which brings me to the heart of this post: | have a CW keyer/decoder and keyboard rig that allows me to send CW simply by typing it in, just as if |was texting with someone on my cellphone. It works really well and it allows me to still experience the joy and fun of sending and receiving CW. | feel that this method is anice alternative and a good modern improvement on the older technology. “However, | have found through personal experience that the majority of the people who answer my Morse code CQs often will absolutely refuse to engage with me once they discover that | am not sending by hand, even though | do everything / can to be mindful that | still need to abbreviate as much as possible for the benefit of the person who is hand sending and copying by ear. “Again, | love CW and | don’t want to give it up. | totally appreciate how those CW hand-sending, ear-decoding ‘purists’ feel about this, and want to avoid creating any kind of conflict, while still being able to enjoy using the mode myself. So, | started wondering if there might be some kind of method of signalling in a CQ that would let others know that| am not hand-sending, so as to give them an option not to answer my CQ and avoid annoying anyone. “My main question here is this: Would it be proper etiquette for me to send out a CQ that lets other hams know that the person calling for a contact is using a keyboard? (And if the answer is yes, that’s perfectly OK, what would be a good, abbreviated way to phrase that in a CQ call?) “Or, does everyone think that | will still be persona non grata for attempting to do this? “In a perfect world, there would be a readily available community of other hams who are also sending Morse by computer and keyboard, and just waiting for me to call CQ so that we can chat keyboard to keyboard. “I'd really like to hear the thoughts and opinions on this by others in the amateur community who, like me, love CW, but just can't get it going without ‘cheating’ by using computer technology. Thanks, W9SPY." As far as | am concerned it's the USE of the code that matters most. As we age we lose some abilities, speed, but Morse has a way of levelling the playing field. | am talking to somebody using Morse. Do | care really if he cannot manage a Morse key? NO!!! He is at least using Morse Code. Take a look at this: www. youtube.com/watch?v=C-rpDJKQoqY See the Morse decoder, MRP4O, Fig. 2. It might be the answer for both of you! Please send all your comments, offerings, information and especially pictures to: roger@g3ldi.co.uk 73 and May the Morse be with you! Roger G3LD!. PW Buy back issues and archive CDs at www.mvmagazinesub.co.uk/practical-wireless December 2025 PRACTICAL WIRELESS ARTICLE 55 ICH VUITITIAMUMICIIlLS Ul Electrical Safety COURTESY OF A NAVAL SAFETY MANUAL From this month’s Townsville Amateur Radio Club’s Back Scatter Magazine Acknowledgements to the unknown Sailor! The Townsville Amateur Radio Club Inc. “an affilliate club of the Wireless Institute of Australia supporting Amateur Radio and Technology since 1949 1) Beware of the lightning that lurketh in seemingly uncharged capacitors, lest it cause thee to bounce upon thy buttocks in an unseamanlike manner and cause thy hair to stand on end, thereby exceeding regulation length. 2) Cause thou the switch that supplieth large quantities of juice to be opened and thusly tagged, that thy days may be long in this earthly vale. 3) Prove to thyself that all circuits that radiateth and upon which thou worketh are grounded and thusly tagged, lest they lift thee to radio frequency potential and cause thee to radiate with the angels. 4) Tarry thou not amongst those fools that engage in intentional shocks, for they are not long of this world and are surely unbelievers. 5) Take care thou useth the proper method when thou taketh the measure of high voltage so that thou dost not incinerate both thee and thy test meter. For verily, thou art not on charge and can be easily replaced, but the test meter is, and as a consequence, bringeth much woe unto thy supply officer. 6) Take care thou tamperest not with interlocks and safety devices, for this incurreth the wrath of thy department head and bringeth the fury of thy commanding officer on thy head. 7) Work thou not on energised equipment without proper procedures, for if thou dost so, thy colleagues will surely be buying beers for thy widow and consoling her in certain ways not generally acceptable to thee. 8) Verily, verily | say unto thee, never service equipment alone, for electrical cooking is a slow process, and thou might sizzle in thy own fat upon a hot circuit for hours on end before thy maker sees fit to end thy misery and drag thee into his fold. 9) Trifle thee not with radioactive tubes and substances lest thou commence to glow in the dark like a lightning bug and thy wife be frustrated and have no further use for thee except for thy wages. 10) Commit thou to memory all the words of the prophets which are written down in the first chapter of thy bible which is the weapon and electrical engineering practice (br 2553) and giveth out with the straight dope and consoleth thee when thou hast suffered a ream job by thy division CPO. 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. Please email For material to Mark VK2KI: There’s cqarsnet@qmail.com No Such Thing... This week’s | think the first lesson in Teachering questions. 101 is to always tell students “There’s no such...” (I’m sure you know the rest) and “...the only dumb are the ones not asked”. John VK2RU out there among questions reckons that there’s lots of questions both our new and our experienced operators - about CW, amateur radio operating and about theory. So John didn’t step backwards quickly enough when asked to volunteer to compile readers’ questions; thanks mate. So here we go... What’s this funny knob for? | have a Xiegu G90 radio. It has a metal case. On the back of it is a knurled nut labelled with the symbol for “Earth” (or is it “Ground”?). | have two questions: 1. What's it for? 2. If | was to take a wire from that to a steel tent peg hammered into the ground, would it improve the performance of the radio? Most commercially made amateur radio transmitters have a ground stud, wing-nut, etc; the connection shack to common ground conductor a ground stake. is meant to be used to bond all items in the point - ideally via a heavy (but not braided) The single-point grounding is for safety (in case of nearby lightning strikes or mains faults) and to minimise stray RF in the shack which could be hazardous and cause RF feedback problems. If two pieces of gear are at different RF potentials (to ground for instance) but are connected together (eg via a piece of shielded cable which has both resistance, series inductance and capacitance to ground), the potential difference across the two ends of the shield may induce an RF current. RF in the wrong parts inside your transceiver, power supply, household appliences etc can cause all sorts of interesting and usually undesirable effects. So the best approach from the get-go is to bond everything to a common ground point and go from there. Now - if you’re out in the field with your 20W transceiver, should you worry about the grounding? Well... that depends on your antenna! For example, if you have just a quarter wavelength of wire connected to your antenna socket.... you'll be trying to feed a low impedance/high current point against nothing. Your ground losses will exceed your radiation resistance.... an you’ll be wasting your power trying desperately to heat what capacitive and resistive connection it might find to ground. ground stake will make a big difference in that situation. antenna So your However, if your has it’s own other side (eg it’s a doublet, or perhaps it’s fed at a high impedance point in your feedline), the grounding may make no difference. For more information, find your favourite ARRL, and look up Grounding, when our Technical RSGB or other Handbook Earthing, RFl, EMR Safety, EMC etc. Editor Lance VK7TO Alternatively, returns from his travels, we might twist his arm for a more in-depth review of this really interesting topic perhaps? [Do you have a question or two that are worth sharing? discussion-starter? How about a Please let me know cqgrsnet@gmail.com and I/’// pass them to John VK2RU for compilation each week. ] Prosign/Character/Sig nal of the Month See if you can use this one on Tuesday! Prosign: Meaning: Stand nm EH by [Suggestion - put it on a sticky note near your key as a reminder for Tuesday. Tell us how you went!] [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 (Note - 20m Universal . DAperiments will start Time Western Australia Time Central Australian Time Eastern Australian Time Queensland Time NZ Time Australia New Zealand —— . at a different time UTC +8Hours | | UTC 410.5 Hours | UTC +11 Hours | UTC +10Hours UTG +13Hours ep 06002 to 0900z 0600z to 1200z if required) 20m Quen 1400 to 2000 1630 to 2230 1700 to 2300 1600 to 2200 1900 to 0100 ic Wy 14039-14051 kHz Note - 20m times and frequencies will be allocated by Mike DL3YZ prior to the net. 0600z to 1200z ws 7020KHz - 7040KHZ - 3595kHz - 3560KHZ 160m 1855kHz (-5kHz for QRM) 7To00 7o20 | 40 m/s ) | | ORO ; jf Jj | 3500 | | l | | CO ORS Net 3535 80 m = 1800 Sle 7O40 | ORO | | CO ORS Net 1655 | Thanks to Lance VA7TO for the GOQAS | | = 1875 band-plan 2200z - 2300z (Tuesday UTC) Wednesday (VK/ZL) ee ee 3560 l& | | 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 someone. in the table below until you catch | should be on as usual from home in NSW or via the Remote at Bedfordale WA, and I'll also be watching the proceedings using the VK6QS and Tecsun SDRs in WA and NSW Reports respectively. Hope to hear you there. & 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: cqgaqrsnet@gqmail.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 If 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.lv/COORSWebsite. 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, people predicted the downfall of handwriting; when the word 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 amazing team of 36 contributors: G3LDI, G4RWI, MONNK, DL3YZ, SWL Jack, VK2GAZ, VK2IOW, VK2KJJ, VK2RU, VK2WP, VK3ACU, VK3DBD, VK3DRQ, VK3KLE, VK4PE, VK4PN, VK5AO, VK5FD, VK5KFG, VK6FN, VK6GX, VK6HD, VK6HRC, VK6JDM, VK6KD, VK6KHZ, VK6M), VK6NW, ZL1PX and ZL3TK. VK7TO And a special thank you to our editorial team, Lance and Nigel G4RWI department), VK6ORR, VKOWE, VK7JZ, VK7TA, VK7TO, WB2DGZ, (our burgeoning software development Patrick VK2IOW (gestionnaire de rapports), John VK2RU head copy department) and Richard VK6HRC work all! €VYe CW on Tuesday, mb Mark Bosma VK2KI / VK6QI Beautiful South Bowning NSW cqgrsnet@gmail.com non impediti ratione cogitationis Sey eee RRS Seer aus at iF i in| a i o£ aN " r (berger de chats). Great (head About the CQ Here’s where For the current schedule and QRS Net you'll find the details. more information about the CQORS net, please go the the Net Details page on our website: https://bit.ly/CQQRSWebsite The opinions expressed in the RagChew newsletter are those of the individual contributors. The opinions do not necessarily reflect that of the editor or of the CQ QRS Group members. Any material and images received from members by the editor or published on the CQQRS WhatsApp groups may be published in this newsletter unless specifically requested otherwise. The RagChew newsletter is considered to be exempt from the Australian Government’s ban on social media for under 16 year olds because it is a service that has the primary purpose of enabling users to share information about products or services, engage in professional networking or professional development services or of supporting the education of users per the Australian Government eSafety Commissioner FAQ webpage “Which platforms have been excluded from the age restrictions” dated 10Dec25. 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 Copyright (C) 2025 CQ QRS. All rights reserved. Our mailing address Is: Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your fre @ & preferences or unsubscribe \NTUIT mailchimp