Subscribe Past Issues Translate View this email CQQRS in your browser RagChew Edition 2/2026 se bh: = x LU APL ieee Z\ Link to our Reporting Form Noises SKCC Straight Key Month Editing RagChew Bottom of the Jar? Reports and Comments 360 Null Degree Give Up Beer? IC-7300 Knows WifeNet Intel Post Morsum Double Best Report Paddle Modes Home-Brewed Paddle QRZ? VK6MTF/MM Morgan Another CW — =m QRZ? John VK3BSE Practice Summerland My Own ARC Vintage Morse Training Prosign Remote Gear Restoration Net of the Week v RSS e Di-dah-di-dah-dit e About the CQ QRS Group Great to see and hear a good Slow CW Practice QSO number of people on last Tuesday’s CQQRS Net again. We had at least 69 stations on, worked by 46 of our team. When | started on 40m, the band was remarkably quiet - | didn’t even need to use my phasing noise canceller to deal with the normal switch mode power supply hash. | suspected the T/R relay in my 50 year-old Trio TS- 1205S... but | read with interest that at least one other of our team also noticed a remarkable lack of noise. Bit of a mystery that! And later in the evening, | was watching the Snowline (VK2) and Hoddys Well (VK6) KiwiSDRs when band noise. suddenly, both were flooded at the same time with wide- Didn’t seem to be the usual auroral buzz (little blobs of noise on the waterfall display), more like a continuous static crash! The noise lasted for several minutes, then disappeared from both sides of the country as quickly as it appeared. SKCC Straight Key Month | was pleased to hear Tim VK5AV exchanging membership numbers on Tuesday. so if you’re an SKCC member and can do the exchange on a straight key, that might be a fun thing to do on the net. team exchanging Editing Straight Key Century Club January is SKCC Straight Key Month - numbers. | hope to hear more of our Details can be downloaded here. RagChew I’m really excited about this week’s developments among editorial team. VK2RU our RagChew Details to follow, but I'd like to thank Nigel G4RWI, John and Patrick VK2IOW for spending hours together on Teams videoconferences where Nigel taught the intricacies of how our RagChew newsletter reporting system works. Thanks gents on behalf of our readers. You'll see the fruits of their labours in the Reports section below. Bottom of the Jar? And speaking of Patrick VK2IOW - he told me the other day that when receives the RagChew newsletter email, he if he scrolls down the pages, after reading about a quarter of the way, the newsletter won’t scroll any further. To read the rest of the newsletter, top to open Patrick has to click on the link at the it up in a web browser.... in which case it opens back at the start and he has to scroll down to find where he was up to. | wonder whether others have the same problem? The whole newsletter should be visible in your email browser, providing it can handle HTML - which they all do these days (I suspect not too many will be sending the newsletter via HF using WinLink). | wonder how many readers we lose at that point if it’s more common? Hopefully there’s a setting that needs setting (Patrick uses gmail). So please let me know if you’ve had this problem, and whether you found a solution. And remember, the newsletter goes all the way to the bottom of the jar, which has an image of Calvin fishing. No Calvin, means you didn’t dig deep enough... and might be missing some Link to the Reporting pearls! Form A few weeks back | moved the order of things in the RagChew newsletter - the link to our reporting form was cluttering up the start of the newsletter. I'd previously put it at the start to help those of our team who hadn’t Bookmarked / Favorited the Google Form to easily find the link. also on our website, The link is but who wants to fiddle around trying to find it (despite us now having a handy-dandy search function on the website)? Anyway the information is now down among the reports area of the newsletter - with a grey background for quick finding. But to make things easier, in the index list above, you'll see a blueish hyperlink called Link to our Reporting Form; clicking on that link will take you straight to the reporting form - hooray! 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 cagrsnet@gmail.com NSW non impediti ratione cogitationis Reports & Comments Here’s this week’s Last Tuesday’s Group Here’s the 69 stations heard by 46 members CQORS Team Member ca Qso1 DL/MONNK | Worked 20m | VK3DRQ | DL/MONNK_ reports. Qso2 Qs0 3 of our team on Tuesday: Q504 | QSO5 | Q506 | QS07 | Q508 VK3IOW [Heard on 20m DL3YZ Worked 20m | VK3DRQ | DL3YZ Heard on 20m G7BED Heard on 20 VK1RT Heard on air VK2IOW VK3DBD VK3DBD VKS3KLE VK7TA G7BED DL/MONNK VK2DLF Heard on air VK2GAS VK2GAZ VK2GAZ VK2ZIOW VK2IOW Worked 40m VK5LI Worked 40m | VK2DVA Heard 40m | VK2DLF Worked 40m | VKSAV Worked 20m DL3YZ VKZ2IOW Heard on 20m VK2KI Worked 40m | VK2DVA VK5AV VK6PZT VK3BTV | VK5A0 VK2KI Heard 40m VK3XU VK3DA VK1ICT VK7TA | VK5SCZ VK2KI Heard 40m JALIAZ VK3DRQ VK2KI Worked 80m VK4PN VK6NW) VK2KI Heard 20m | VK2IOW VKG6HRC VK2KI Tried 20m G7BED |DL/MONNK VWYIpDIt VWinelend WYCAW ADina |VK6MTF/MM VK5LI | VKIRT |VK2IOW] VKSKFG| VK7JZ VYAZMNY vVUERU VK2RU Heard 40m urn VK5C7 VK3MJ VK2GAZ VK3ACU Worked 40m VK5LJ VK3DRQ JH2RIH VK3ACU Worked 80m VK3MJ VK3BSE Heard 40m VK5CZ VK3MJ VK3KLE VK3BTV Worked 40m VK2KI VKSBTV Heard 40m VKSLI VK3CLE Heard on air VRIYIAY VK3CLE VK7TA | VK4EV | VK3RU | VK3DRQ VK3DA Heard on air VK3DBD/ZL_ |Heard on 20m VK3DRQ Worked 40m | VK3ACU VK2DLF VK3RU VK2IR | VK5A0 VK3DRQ Heard 40m |VK3DBD/ZL) VK2GAS VKS3KLE VK4PN | VK3DRQ Worked 20m | DL/MONNK VK3DRQ Heard 20m DL3Y7 VK3DBD/ZL VK3DRQ Heard 80m VK5L VK3MJ VK3SDROQ Tried 20m DL3YZ VK3SDRQ. Heard on 20m VK3KLE Heard on air VK5L) | VK3MJ | VK3RU Heard on air VK4EV Worked 40m VKS5SAV VK4EV Heard 40m VK2KI VK2RU VK2ARZ VK4EV Heard 40m VK5SLJ VK5CZ VK5KD VK5WX | VK4PN Worked 40m | VK5KFG VK3MJ VK2KI VKONW VK2RU | JALIAZ | VK2IOW|VK3DRQ} VK7TA | VK2KI VK3DA | VK3MJ | VK5A0 VK7JZ VK4PN Worked 80m VK5A0 Heard on air VKS5SAV Worked 40m VK4EV VK2KI VK2IOW VKSAV Heard 40m VK5C7 VK3MJ VK7TW VK5CZ Worked 40m | VK3AVA VK3MJ VK3KLE VK7TA VKSET Heard 40m VK1ICT VK2DLF VK2IOW VK3MJ | VK3DA | VK3RU |VK3DRQ) VK4AV VKSET Heard 40m VK5WX VKGONW VK7TA VK2IOW}] VK5AV | VK/TA VKS5ET Heard 80m VK3MJ VK3ACU VK5FD Heard 40m VK2GAZ VK2DLF VK2RU VK5FD Heard 40m VK7JZ VK2DLF VKIJZ VK4PN VK6NW VK6KHZ VK6CX VK5KD Heard on air VKSKFG Worked 40m | VK5L) Heard on air VK5CZ | VKSKFG| VK6FN Worked 40m | VK6HRC Heard on air VK6JDM Worked 40m | VK6NW VK6KD VK6JDM Heard 40m VK5LP VK5A0 VK6JDM Tried 40m VK6KFG VK6FN VK6KD Heard 40m | VK3DRQ VK5A0 VK6KD Heard 80m VK6HRC VKGONAA VK6NW VK6LL | VKS5SKE | VKGOMTF VK6KHZ Worked 40m VKGFN VK6MT VK6PZT VK6XC VK6MT Worked 40m | WK6KHZ VK6MT Heard 40m VKG6FN VK5CZ VK6XC VK3ACT VK6MTF/MM | Heard on air VK6NQL Worked 80m | VKGHRC VK6NOL Heard 80m VKENW VKENW Worked 40m VKGFN VK6JDM VK6NW Worked 80m | VK6HRC VK2KI VKGMTF/MM| VK4PN VKENW Heard 80m VK4PN VK2KI VK6P2T Worked 40m | VK6KHZ VK6XC VK2KI VK6MYF VK6Ql Heard 40m VK5SAV VK2KI VK4PN VK2KI VK6HRC | VKONW VK5KFG VK5KFZ VK6QI Heard 80m VK6EXC Heard on air VK7JZ Worked 40m VKS5LJ VK7IZ Heard 40m VK3DRQ VK3RU VK7TA Worked 40m | VK5CZ VK2IOW VK7TA Heard 40m VK2DVA VK2KI VK3ACU VK7WW Heard 40m ZLIANY ZLINZ VK2DVA VK7WW Heard 40m VK1ICT VK5SAV VK3ACU ZLIANY Heard on air 7L4cTs Worked 40m 7LINZ ZL4CTS Heard 40m VK2GAZ Thanks so much to John VK2RU VK5AV | VK7JZ | VK5CQ VK3DRQ/ VK5SAV | VK2GAZ|VK3DBD} VK2KI VK6FN | VK2GAZ|VK3DRQ | VK3MJ | VK7TA | VK5C% | VK3RU for producing the spreadsheet above. The table shows the known stations on last Tuesday’s Group (submitted via our webform bit.ly/CQORSNET ). Comments: This week’s comments from our members’ webform reports have been compiled for us by the clever software built by Nigel G4RWI perfected by Patrick VK2IOW; thanks once again Patrick. and the layout From Mike DL3YZ at Stuttgart [20m] Condx were good, but WX here was -8 C/ 18 F. But that didn’t hold us back, and when Pat called me, tried to QRP to 10 Watts, and still were able to copy each other. Great antenna, Pat. As Ross took over the key, snowfall was setting in here in Stuttgart, and that may have dampened our signals a little. Thanks for the fun and have a great week, Mike. From Nic VK7WW at Legana, Tasmania. [40m] Heard From Garry VA2GAZ quite a few JA stations too at Richmond NSW [40m] Very noisy with some QSB but most enjoyable. From John VKS5ET at Hope Valley [40m] Listening mode only tonight on Iron Stone Range signals compared From Donald VK6JDM to my antenna. at 20 km west of Esperance [40m] On 40 metres the CW sanment was fill nf sinnale Mananed KiwiSDR. Better Ne er ee eg ee momentary exchange with VK6KD ee ge a eg and had a QSO with Wayne in Bridgetown (VKENVW). Max (VK6FN) called CQ which on the superior Wotam Hills receiver was Q5 S7. However Max did not hear me which | take to mean null antenna. That unkind soul VAK6KRC he is still using his special multi- has even suggested he has achieved the first antenna with a 360 degree null. Absence of a response from Max will let us know he does not read what we say about him in the Rag Chew, which may be just as well, as he is bigger than me. From Ross DL/MONNK at Exeter UK via Stuttgart Germany 6a | ewranascape} [80m] | had a "Senior Moment" ut and unintentionally interrupted Mike DL3YZ and Manny VK3DRQ having a DX QSO. They both recovered well from my sudden appearance in their midst. Next time | will pay more attention before jumping on the key. When it really was my turn to use Mike's radio, | called "CQ VK" for 25 minutes without reply. Just as | was beginning to think that everyone had moved across to 40m, Pat VK2IOW called me. So, "thank you", Pat. From Patrick VK2IOW between Bathurst and Orange [20m] Conditions were only average but still managed good QSOs with the 3 European stations. [40m] Conditions seemed between good with lots of activity. Strong signals me and South Australia / Tasmania. From David VK6KD at Ballajura WA [40m] The 40m hand anneared tn nnen iin an crazy strana then classed PN er er Lots of QSB. ee ey Later on, 40m opened stations. Too fast for me. gy Re rere up again with lots of fast CW | called CQ on 7032 for a while but no Css. [80m] More activity heard on 80m than for the past couple of weeks. Conditions at my home QTH must be getting better. From Keiran VK3BTV at Lilydale, Victoria [40m] | gave myself a New Years challenge — give up beer, or get back onto CW at decent speed. So, | chose the tougher option and put out a CQ on 40m QRS. The omnipresent VK2KI Mark came back to me and we had a great chat at a lazy 10 wpm (while savouring my latest Choc Malt Stout HB) Mark Bosma is truly a champion of CW in Australia — his enthusiasm Thanks for the chat Mark (and sorry for calling you MARL is contagious! — | must have been slurring my CW? @) | think this is the year that I'll get back to 2OWPM 20WPM receive. Cheers, From Jim Semmens send (on a straight key) and Keiran VK3BTV VK7JZ at Hobart [40m] Fun evening with mixed results including a silly error on my part. normal. and came online for the net after concluding a CW Academy The conditions at my QTH were far better than wae Session. | am a regular complainer about QRM hear lots going on. VK3RU and in my shack but not tonight, | could | had a good listen to Manny VK3DRQ chatting with David and was copying more than usual. Mannv\ | was operating from my QTH it wae eaminna thraiiah One of them was only on 5w (I think it etrana and claar in Hohart | than had a chonrt Ves WHEEL 7 IR WL CU Gyn Cun Ce Ure re Fr rr ee Sr re QSO with Lawrie VKS5LJ in the Barossa Valley, | copied most and think | could ‘brain fill’ what | missed. Then a longer QSO with Greg VKSKFG, we got chatting about location and the weather, hot in Adelaide at the moment. | think | almost had Greg persuaded to move to Hobart where it was 15 degrees cooler then my radio cycled off while sending. The first time is shut down for 10 seconds then powered up, a minute later is shut down for 30 seconds. | ended up sending Greg an apology email. Last week | think | have sussed my problem. on a different antenna and tuned accordingly. | was using the radio portable | had very high SWR tonight, realised | failed to tune, and | think the radio was shutting down to protect itself - so totally operator error on my part. | will be back next week. From your editor Mark VK6QI at Beautiful South Bowning NSW via the VAK6SEG KiwiSDR at Hoddys Well near Northam WA [15m] Not a peep heard from Edi DO2EMR week. on the VK6SEG KiwiSDR near Northam this Thanks for trying Edi. Also from your editor Mark VK2KI at Beautiful South Bowning NSW [15m] Nothing heard from Edi DO2ZEMR on the Snowline KiwiSDR this week. [20m] | came in late and missed the first DXperiment session with Mike DL3YZ. G7BED was coming through around RSN 311; week. Chris | tried calling but missed out this Sliding up the band a little to Ross MONNK who was using Mike's station as a Remote, signals from Stuttgart were lower than those from Northamptonshire this week. Ross was RSN 111 recognisable characters). (ie | knew he was there), peaking to 211 (ie occasional | called just to annoy Ross - and he appeared to respond, but | couldn't be sure - so | was glad to hear Patrick VK2IOW from near the town of Millthorpe gave Ross a decent signal to enjoy. [40m] pretty | blame John VK2RU for me being late this week; videoconference while we talked spreadsheets. my 50 year old Trio TS-120S; switch mode 40m sounded too much fun ona So at around 0630z | had a listen on remarkably quiet - no sign of the normal power supply hash - so | didn't even need my phasing noise canceller. Very strange - and as | was using it, the band noise seemed to come and go. either very strange conditions, or abittacrap on my transceiver's T/R relay. Patrick VK2IOW So Luckily had recently sent me a spare 120S so there might be a bit of Dr Frankenstein-inspired work needed. Anyway, | heard a nice signal from Colin VK2DVA Blacktown from his home-brewed at 5 Watt transmitter and horizontal loop antenna. After coming down from this week's 15m & 20m DXperiment, 40m seemed to have a reasonable number of QSOs in train. | caught Tim VK5SAV at Mount Gambier who was getting used to the rag-chews on our net by sending Straight Key Century Club numbers for the Club's Straight Key January. Luckily | | VK9SDVA rig was able to scratch around and find my membership number in reply, just as | was responding. A bit later the band started cracking open into WA Quiz, Richard VK6PZT QSB. After Richard, at Dalyellup; - and | hooked we exchanged up with Mister Hard reports ok despite the deep | heard more rare DX - Keiran VK3BTV down at Lillydale - my old transceiver's S-meter very rarely goes over S9 (there's probably abittacrap in that movement too) but Tech's signal was S9+10 - amazing. | rounded-out 40m with a nice chat with Maity VASAO at Banksia Park, who assured me that Val would be onto the task of writing up the report for the newsletter this week; thanks Val. [80m] | was pleased to see a couple of traces on the Snowline and Hoddys Well KiwisDRs and started tuning up on 3553kHz. Sava VK4PN flash, and we enjoyed a nice chat. | had to ask him to QRX was on to my carrier and Vs like a and added a fewwhile | adjusted my noise canceller to phase out the hash. canceller out of the circuit, Sava was RSN With the noise 596 and with it in he was RSN very roughly, the S/N went from 24dB to 30dB); 572 (so doesn't seem like much difference on paper, but by ear, it's still a huge improvement from my <$100 Chinese copy of Tarrv \V/KATM'e nhacina nniea cancallar dacian (| etill have hie kit waitina for a Nr YO WN we Ne PA Pe Ny WRAL I Bt miracle to occur). While chatting to Sava, my spare brain was on the KiwiSDRs listening to aQSO a couple of kiloHertz up between Richard VK6HRC at Padbury and Wayne VK6NW at Bridgetown. Wayne then QSYed and started calling CQ, and | know Richard was called by another station (sounded like Peter VK6IS.... but | can only listen to two QSOs at once, not three... and besides that would require another instance of the KiwiSDRs running). Wayne was about to head off to slumberland when | called him after sending TUs to Sava. swapped Wayne was coming through nicely at RSN transceiver mid-QSO to compare chatting to him on the Richard's Wednesday morning's CQQRS back, Wayne 542 and his Barrett and Yaesu transceivers; reported that the Barrett's receiver seemed when Post Morsum call- better than the FT-891 (Rob VK6LD will have been sagely nodding with one of those "I told you so" nods). The clock was approaching the bewitching hour (the local police Inspector says nothing good happens after midnight), but | listened to Wayne VK6MTF/MM along-side in Bunbury. Morgan's chat to Morgan 10 Watt Barrett transceiver and 10m mast back-stay was RSN 422 here, and | was pleased to work him ok before heading off to places darker. From Peter VK6NQL at Wundowie [40m] The band was very noisy tonight, and few stations were even heard. [80m] This band is very quiet during the week, thus, it would be nice, to see some Fridays in WA. From Manny VK3DRQ at Blackburn [20m] OM Fdi wae anain nothina heard of him and OM Rose oniv CW activity on Ra rg ee ee Ma New rrr ry RSN 332 QSB. From Greg VK5KFG at Willunga [40m] Conditions good on 40 tonight with many stations on air. Cheers to Jim in Hobart, George in Sydney and Sava in Brisbane. From lan VK7TA at Latrobe [40m] | had a quick listen around 1830 local time and only heard vk2dva and vk2ki. When picked up a | returned after dinner things had bit. From John VK3BSE at Beechworth [40m] Halln ORS aroun Havina moved tn Reachwoarth 4 BPN Ne weeks Rg rp eg ee er te ne eo ago the aerials and coax are still rolled up but the shack at least "looks functional" with radios, key and test gear about. So far unpacking | manage to fill in my time boxes, cutting back many weeds and shrubs, some of which is to make space for the tower. Cleaning gutters and drains, one drain still blocked. Inside is also getting cleaner. | think this house had become "low maintenance". So in the absence of a useful interface to the EMF SDR in NSW. | listened to the Snowline Kiwi Signals were generally S9 with a sprinkling of QSB time. Most of the QSOs were really chewing the rag, good CW From Ron Everingham VK4EV after 8.30 VK3 practice for all. at Everton Park Brisbane [40m] Had the QSO using a paddle thinking all would be fine after done plenty of practice. Well | started OK with VKSAV make a few mistakes. | kept the QSO and then started to short and have decided | need more on air practice. | will contact a friend to do some on air practice. From Tim VK5AV at Mount Gambier [40m] 40m was noisy at my QTH, however with the exception of the JA station, all were easy to copy. Thank you to those stations that exchanged a their SKCC number with me. | am participating in the Straight Key Month (SKM) event throughout January. Even contacts with non SKCC members count. https://(www.skccgroup.com/k3y/k3y.php | had another good time and am enjoying participating in the net, and also the chat on WhatsApp is both helpful and enjoyable. From Richard VK6PZT at Dalyellup [40m] Mostly working local VK6 stations on 40m, with one DX contact with Vk2KI, great for weak signal copy practice. My last contact with VK6MTF confused me a bit when my wife returned home during the contact and asked was chatting to Morgan. that? WTF? if | How did she know Turns out Morgan’s friend, Gary told his wife, who then messaged my wife on her way home. relay system than ours!! From John VK2RU Sometimes Clearly my wife’s NET has a better | wonder if she actually works for ASIO! at Murray River near Corryong [40m] Only one QSO tonight with VKSAV with SKCC number exchange. | had to choose between using the radio or keeping the 12v fans running. Given the heat, the fans won. From Sava VK4PN at Mt Ommaney Brisbane [40m] Very late to get on air again so completely missed the EU DX experiment. 40m was rather quiet by 20:30 QLD time so | just kept calling CQ. | was running QRP as usual and was pleasantly surprised to see RBN reports from ZL. | managed two nice QSOs. VK5KFG gave me a massive 579. After | told him | was running QRP he dropped BN spotters- 40m & 80m his power to 10 W and his signal was still RSN 577 at my QTH (more about RSN latter). The second QSO was with VK3MJ who gave me RST of 439, at my QTH he was RSN 577. The last-half hour of the Rag-Chew net | always devote to 80m. [80m] Just two QSOs on 80m, both with regulars. VK2KI was 577 so it was a struggle again but we had a lengthy and enjoyable chat. It was already after the end of the net when we finished our chat and | was about to QSY but noticed some activity at 3540 KHz. Tuned in to check and it was VKGNW in a QSO with Mark. So our VK6 contingent is active even after net officially finishes. Something to keep in mind. QSO with Wayne VK6NW was brief and | decided to give him RST report rather than RSN. Wayne gave me 559 | could only give him 439. RST is a subjective report and based on experience as S meter reading is totally useless in a high noise environment. Al report on signal to noise states that Morse requires CW signal to be about 1dB above noise to be perceptible. | could have given Wayne 477 (by the S meter) which would mean his signal was S7! To me (subjectively) he was only around S3. So RSN makes sense only if the difference between signal and noise is couple S points otherwise it is misleading. Reporting After next Tuesday’s Group, please remember to send me a AY LAA AKA I Ariathan vinni KARA TIeIiAnN ALirniarAh Ffarnn hara. list of who you WUIKECU QIU / UI WIIU you TICa@lU USITIY VU WEY IVT Here. bit. ly/CQORSNET Even if you didn’t hear anyone, we’d still like to Know that you had a go. And to make your report more interesting, please consider sending a photo to be attached. If you have a photo (compressed if possible) that you'd be happy to include, please email it to: cagrsnet@gmail.com So, please help attract new and old team members to have a go by submitting your report each week. Submissions close 1300 (Eastern Australian Summer time) on Thursdays. VIMIMIIIVIVVIVIVIVIVIVIV POST MORSUM 07th January From Richard VK6HRC. Six on the South West repeater and AllStar / Echolink hub this morning. VK6KD_ David VK6NW Wayne VK6QI_ Mark VK6FN Max VK6HRC VK6MRB Mulligan swl David called on 40 m but no response so checked on various Kiwi sdr nodes to make sure he was getting out. There were few humorous theories from the group as to why he was not getting any response to his calls ! Wayne worked two on 40 m and a few more on 80 m one of them being Morgan VK6MTF Maritime Mobile in the Bunbury area. Mark listened out on various Kiwi sdr nodes, nothing from Edi DO2ZEMR on 15 m and on 20 m was only just hearing weak signals from Chris G7BED and Ross DL/MONNK remote from the DL3YZ station of Mike. Worked five on 40 m heard ten, enjoyed a contact with Colin VK2DVA who was using his home brew 5 Watt rig and loop antenna. On 80 m Mark worked several stations and even heard some activity from the West. The subject of SKCC exchanges came up as a result of a contact with Tim VK5AV something to be aware of as it is a special straight key event for January. Max braved the poor conditions at the start of the net, got some contacts in the log on 40 m and then went into swl mode. Nothing for me on 40 m was just following along as signals were very varied, the band improved later on though. Happy to work two on 80 m before the end of the net. Thank you to all on this morning and last night. SK 7 CC Straight Key Century Club HFS tae 73 Richard. This Week’s Topic of Interest Double Paddle Ultimatic In the RagChew Modes vs lambic by Ross MONNK Newsletter 1/2026, 1 & 2 Ross MONNK wrote about his ah-ha moment when he discovered the Ultimatic mode for electronic paddles. In fairly normal ignorance, your editor thought Ross was referring to a particular paddle type - rather than a mode of operation. Which of course then led to more arm-twisting (not really) for Ross to tell us more about the various modes that modern squeeze paddles can be used in. What follows is the result of Ross’ work; thanks mate - nicely done! Vouble Paddie Squeeze From Ross MONNK Modes This article assumes you're right-handed. Software can reverse things for lefthanders, but here we'll cleave to the majority. Unlike the simple straight key, double paddles generally require some software to interpret your paddle presses for the transmitter. This, however, makes double paddles into flexible critters - with the right software they can be used in several ways: e By rocking your hand back-and-forth, they can act as a single paddle (sending a stream of dahs when pressing the right paddle with your index finger, and a stream of dits whilst pressing the left paddle with your thumb). e Most software will also allow your paddle to mimic a cootie/sideswiper or a semi-automatic bug key. But these use cases are using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Double paddles really come into their own when you use a "squeeze mode" for certain characters. That is, when you squeeze both paddles together to create Morse shortcuts. Let's talk about what those shortcuts look like and how you use them to reduce arm strain and speed up your Morse. Ultimatic is a good place to start because (for me, at least) it’s the easiest to explain. Ultimatic In Ultimatic, the keyer will repeat the last paddle that was touched in the squeeze. Son. e If you hit the left paddle first and then squeeze the right you get dit-dah-dahdah-dah... e If you hit the right paddle first and then squeezed the left you would get dah-ditdit-dit-dit-dit... e When you stop squeezing, you continue to get whatever paddle is still pressed. To send the letter “p”, e hit the left paddle with your thumb (dit); e then squeeze with your index finger for two dahs; e then release your index finger; e wait for the dit and then release your thumb. The prosign is done in a similar way, but just a tap with the index finger and hold the thumb for three more dits. As you can see, Timing is everything with squeeze modes. But then the same could be said for any Morse technique. Ultimatic is good for those characters with repeating dits or dahs. For instance, the punctuation “,” and “?”, the letters “x” and “p”, and the prosign . lts weakness is the alternating dits and dahs of “c”, the full stop, and the prosign . Those happen to be the strengths of the lambic modes though... lambic lambic A and lambic B are the most common squeeze modes by far. In the terminology of poetry going back to ancient Greece, an "iamb" is a short-long syllable combination. Let's have a geeky moment. The famous poetry line "The boy stood on the burning deck whence all but he had fled" is an example of "lambic Heptameter" because it consists of seven iambs in a row. de-DUM, de-DUM, de-DUM, de-DUM, de-DUM, de-DUM, de-DUM. You can see where I'm going with this - an iamb is dit-dah in Morse (otherwise known as the letter "a"). The letter "c" is two iambs; a full-stop is three iambs ("lambic Triameter"?). Conversely, the letter “n’, dah-dit, is a trochee. With your double paddle in hand, press-and-hold the left paddle with your thumb and immediately press-and-hold the right paddle with your index finger. A stream of iambs sounds. Now try it but starting with the right paddle. A stream of trochees sounds. lambic mode is sometimes called Curtis mode, presumably because squeezing generates trochees as well as iambs? The difference between lambic A and lambic B is what happens when you release both paddles simultaneously: e In lambic A, the keyer will finish with the last dit or dah that it was sending at the time of release. e In lambic B, if it was sending a dah when you release the paddles, it will add one more dit. If it was sending a dit, it will add one more dah. It has been suggested that lambic B is by far the most popular squeeze mode. | would be delighted if someone out there could tell me in which bizarre universe the mental gymnastics of lambic B makes any sort of sense. But, hey, I’m an Ultimatic guy, what do | know? Why bother? Having read the above (you are still with me, | hope), those of you who haven’t tried squeeze modes are probably wondering why on earth anyone would go through the mental torture of getting to grips with them. I’m also a straight key man so, like you, | appreciate the simplicity and directness of that technique. But apart from the previously stated benefits of technical speed and reduced RSI, | can compare squeeze sending to touch typing; or riding a bicycle downhill; or running along an airport travelator. One feels exhilaration, the miraculous thrill of flying along effortlessly. And | only send at 25 wpm. | can only imagine what it must be like at 30+ wpm. | love my straight keys but sometimes it’s sooo good to feel the adrenaline rush of a paddle. Like learning to copy Morse, the juice is definitely worth the squeeze. Ross MONNK 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 Home-Brewed From Paddle Ron VK4EV Here’s my new homebrewed paddle. The base is a piece of steel and the adjustable contacts are from a telegraph relay; the arm is 2 pieces of circuit board glued together. Regards Ron VK4EV 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 know; cgqrsnet@gmail.com For guidance on writing for RagChew, see Articles below. QRZ? Who’s Morgan calling me? Who’s on the other end? VK6MTF/MM from Quindalup WA This week Morgan takes us over his Duncanson reproduced from our CQQRS Morgan - VK6MTF Flower WhatsApp groups. 33’ sail boat. This was The antenna | was using tonight was the rear stay that hold up the sailboat's mast. It's approximately 10m in length of 8mm 1x19 stainless steel wire. It has two structural insulators in it top and bottom and a feed line from insulated solid core spark plug wire that is separated from the metal railings by some reticulation tubing stand offs and cable ties. A very common solution on yachts. It is fed from a Barrett 911 auto tuner that is mounted just below the deck of the yacht. The radio is a remote head Barrett 2050 commercial radio that has the option to be reprogrammed from the front panel. | have programmed a few frequencies in each amateur band along with the Austravel HF Safety Net and marine HF Frequencies. Every time | want to change mode, frequency or power level | need to reprogram the radio from the front panel. Not great for quick VFO adjustments but okay for planned skeds. My intention is to figure out how to connect my Icom 7300 to the Barrett auto tuner so | can enjoy the VFO a4 12:26am Jordan VK3ACU Clarke @Morgan - VKGMTF Flower depending on the auto tuner | have heard it's possible to do. | know the Barrett mobile auto tune antennas can be interfaced with yaesu and icom. That would be win if you could. 8:45am Should have some great results with that antenna and the salt water amplifier @Morgan - VKGMTF Flower looks fantastic! 8:46 am Morgan - VK6MTF Flower Thanks Jordan, it works well on the low bands 40-80 but does struggle on 10-15 as the wire is too long. | need to do some more reading about the tuner connections on the Barrett 911 and what pins it connects to on the icom 10:32am = Thanks for the info Morgan; RagChew readers will be interested as well. There was discussion on this morning's Post Morsum about your set-up; Wayne VKGNW who you worked last night at Bridgetown has Barrett gear in his shack and in his vehicle. He did a swap last night when | worked him, and he reported that the Barrett receiver performed better than the Yaesu (891 | think). | forgot to suggest last night that while you're in port, you could have hooked into one of the AllStar Hotspots in Bunbury and called in on this morning's Post Morsum call-back at 6am your time. 10:36am / a Jordan VK3ACU Clarke | don't know about the 911 but | do know my neighbor managed to get a eprom file (I flashed it in to the radio eprom chip) for his Darratt far uta fran tina mada AdaAuA nAcoikhla tan a Datel I VI Tee Morgan - VKGMTF LUI TIME, WidayWe PuooIMVvIt wy 1)-44 am Flower Jordan VK3ACU Clarke | don't know about the 911 but | do know my neighbor managed to get a eprom file (I flashed it in to the radio eprom chip) for his Barrett for vfo free tune mode. Maybe possible too | believe this Is the case for the Barrett 980 and older. | can program this on from Barrett software on PC. Unfortunately the 2050 doesn't have a free time VFO. | believe some keen amateurs have come up with something. 11:54 am at Morgan - VKGMTF Flower Mark Bosma Thanks for the info Morgan; RagChew readers will be interested as well. There was discussion on this morning's Post Morsum about your set-up; Wayne VK6NW who you worked last night at Bridgeto... - [had planned to call back on the post morsum but didn't wake up in time. Maybe next time. 11:55am John VK3BSE Now from Beechworth Dah di dah di dah This is the current view of my shack as of 7/1/26. But what's a shack without feedlines.....? Well there’s always KiwiSDRs to listen-in on! also use It to listen to the Sunday morning Snowline SDR is a beauty; | broadcast from VK/7 at 9.30 on 7140KHz. | have now retired from training at Cerberus which should give me more time for my community activities, mainly Scouts, environmental groups, AR, Petanque, family and.... look for a house. | moved to Beechworth in mid-December and am now in the process of crafting it to suit its future better... along with a lot of cleaning up. opinion the house was not ready to sell. favourably and well presented Cupboards and wiped In my But the glossy brochure showed (on the surface). If | opened it more more surfaces | would have had a better idea of what | was in for. But anyway, It's a nice house, with a cottage to boot, and will support various RF activities. The block is long enough for 80m half wave, tower and come what may. | do need to get feed lines through the wall for which I'm thinking of 50mm PVC pipe with a packing of towel to allow for changes, that will be, any ideas? | might add, and should have mentioned it in my CQQRS report that while talking with the local Scout leader, he mentioned that Beechworth wait for it... a Telegraph Office! How good has a... is that! | have spoken with the volunteers there and when the dust settles here | will do some volunteer work there. They have quite a good display and there is a lot of interest, particularly from younger visitors who love codes. 73 de John VK3BSE Di dah QRZ? From didah dit Who’s on dar di dar 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 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? Please let Mark VK2KI know: cggrsnet@gmail.com For guidance on writing for RagChew, see Articles below. CW Compiled Practice on the track somewhere by John VK2RU This year I’m using Aesop’s Fables. These are short moral stories, often using talking animals, that illustrate simple truths about human behaviour and character. Aesop’s Fables originated in ancient Greece, traditionally attributed to the storyteller Aesop who is thought to have lived around the 6th century BCE. The fables are generally smaller files of two to three hundred words that have been recorded at 15 wom and run for about 15 minutes. If 15 wpm is a bit quick for you, load it onto your phone and set the playback speed at 0.75 X or even 0.5 X - whatever works for you. 0.75 X will play the MP3 at a bit under 12 wom. 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. You will hear some unusual punctuation here. In addition to. , and ?, listen out for di dah di di dah dit - inverted comma (also Known as quotation marks), dah di dah di dah dah - exclamation mark, and dah di dah di dah dit - semicolon. This week’s attached fable is ‘The Fox and the Lion’, and the MP3 and TXT files are here - lf you prefer a different speed or tone you can create your own MP3 files by converting the text file with the Eobook2CW app https://fkurz.net/ham/ebook2cw.html. 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 Other things we’ve 1.5x, 1.75x). News received from our 230-plus readers. Summerland From ARC Remote Access Radio Status Report Cirmmarlanan fAlartharn Ross MONNK Tha AIC\A/\ P1iIC YQJULIIIICPIGIGIU LINUPELIICIITTE club’s ICOM-7300 INOVV) is now up and ee running again for SSB (but who WELCOME TO SARC as ee cea iyer wants to use that uncivilised Serving the Northern Rivers of NSW _ aa events : O d e ? ) V | a RC F O rb C | | e a t software. Unfortunately, | can't get it to transmit any Morse yet. I'm working with the radio custodian (also called claim Ross), but | have no idea when we'll be able to success. Ross MONNK My Own Vintage From Jeff WB2GDZ Gear Restoration from Seminole FL | own two vintage transmitters. One is a KnightKit T-60 that works great and Is in fantastic condition. The only thing | had to do was replace the power Supply caps. | also have a Johnson Adventurer transmitter and matching Johnson VFO that both need restoring. Model 122 | am using ‘Wireless Girl’ for tips on how to do it. https://www.wireless-girl.com/ | really am new to restoring equipment and even though | made a a power electronics technician, | now only own a Fluke DVM living as and no other test equipment. A week ago | picked up a Drake 2-C in an estate sale for $70 in perfect, museum quality condition inside and out. way In the mail. | have the "re-cap kit" on the Obviously this receiver could be harder to get going than the simple Johnson Adventurer transmitter because it is more complex. | should note that | learned the hard way that not all FT-243 crystals are the same. | have a real vintage 7.1mhz crystal that the guy who sold me the T-60 included with it and it works fine in the T-60 with just a bit of chirp at 7.LMHz which gets a bit worse at 14.2MHz. Known | went online to a well ham crystal website and purchased a crystal for 7.03mhz which would then be 14.06mhz on 20 meters. This crystal, although looking the same as the other one, actually has a much smaller crystal installed in the FT-243 holder. current heated the smaller internal crystal up much Therefore the crystal more and the chirp and some drift at key down were unacceptable. | read online to try a series resistor with the crystal that is not so large so that oscillation stops completely. | ended up using a 300 ohm 2 Watt resistor in series with the crystal (| soldered it inside the T-60) and that did the trick. 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 Eastern , ia Learn Morse Code - Slow Morse time every Wednesday; you'll hear lots of the CQQRS team on that net. Jordan VK3ACU has te ae Cs recorded the complete set of lessons which you can now find here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist? list=PLHSQmZz6fBXO/swAfbTmutrbbELl 7fUQL Contact Nic VK7WW for more info nicholaschantler@hotmail.com how to join the NTARC DISCORD including group to follow the action, or just come along and join in on Wednesdays. W Home A ClubInformation ee oy a ae Meh) Courses ae eleset ey The Radio Bulletin CURSO eee CS YouTube CL Groups Links MemberLogin Vitae em @ Mere hile THE RADIO @ Updating Articles BULLETIN 14/10/2025 - 3:01 PM Wha OVI ATALA ee ap Fe J CLT AY, ae —— 2 ye 4 , V PN CEMA es VAM NM A fom / eA oe LOE Aly f ed ey # USB Rig Pir ERE AS programming cables eee . Fo “~ 9 AzA and Windows 11 a 21/04/2024 - 7:57 PM ' - ae oy # Y.- . Subaru Coax Install 15/04/2024 - 8:04 PM dye Ny r Portable Power 10/11/2023 - 10:56 AM lf 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. For Please email cgqaqrsnet@gmail.com Or... do you have a question or two that are worth sharing? How about a discussion-starter? and /’/l pass Please let me know cgarsnet@gmail.com them to John VK2RU for compilation each week. Prosign/Character/Sig nal or the Montn See if you can use this one on Tuesday! Prosign: Meaning: Stand = ee by [Suggestion - put it on a sticky note near your key as a reminder for Tuesday. Tell us how you went!] Di-dah-di-dah-dit Here we So back to the CQQRS Next Tuesday’s Slow CW QSO go. practice net. Net Our CQQRS Group will be on as always on Tuesday from around 0600z until about 1200z; see https://bit.ly/COORSWebsite and navigate to the Net Details page for details. alasian Coordinated Universal Time ‘Rik AH Pea oe a ee a EE a 0600z to 1200z (NOLE - 2UM VADEMIMeNLS WII Western Australia SLIT al a OINTErenL UME Australia Time IT required) UTC +8 Hours 1400 to 2000 Central Australian Time UTG + 10.5 Hours 1630 to 2230 Eastern Australian Time UTG +11 Hours 1700 to 2300 Queensland Time UTC + 10 Hours 1600 to 2200 Nz Time UTC + 13 Hours 1900 to 0100 New Zealand (jams Time Frequency 0600z to 0900z 20m 14039-14051 kHz Note - 20m times and frequencies will be allocated by Mike DL3YZ prior to the net. 0600z to 1200z 40m FO2ZO0KHz - 7O40KHzZ _ 3535kHz - 3560kHz 160m 1855kHz (-SkHz for QRM) 7To00 7o20 | 40 m/: ) | | ORO )_ | ] | 3500 | | | ] CO ORS Net | | 3535 80 m = 1800 Sle 7O40 | ORO | | CO ORS Net 1655. | Thanks to Lance VKTTO for the COQRS @ 3560 le | | | = 1875 | band-plan e 2200z - 2300z (Tuesday UTC) RRL) WA FM AllStar Network ee (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: 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 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. suitable prompt (the command Our website also includes a you feed to the Al to make it do what you want). Please remember though - you must fact-check anything that an Al tool drafts for you because Als ‘hallucinate’ - ie if an Al can’t find what you’re looking for, it will make up an answer and present it as a fact! This is one of the dangers of using Als - it’s quite probable that the tool will create a very readable and convincing draft that is 100% wrong! submitter are responsible for fact-checking. You as the But it’s a learning experience - please let us know how you went if you had a go with this new generation of tool. And by the way - | am very concerned about our future in a world of Al - but I’m pleased to see that school and university curriculums now focus on understanding the risks - for instance, kids are now learning critical thinking something that used to be taught mostly at post-graduate level. When the typewriter was invented, handwriting; when the word people predicted the downfall of processor was invented, the art of writing was thought to be on the way out - ditto for the spreadsheet and arithmetic, AM, SSB and FT-8 for amateur radio etc. We can ignore Al and hope that it just goes away... or we can learn to handle it through experimentation and use. For more guidance on writing for the RagChew newsletter (including help with using an Al), head to our website bit.ly/COORSWebsite then click the menu on the top right and then click RagChew Newsletter. 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. Chat? And if you want to have a non-CW chat to your RagChew editor on air, you'll often find me on the VK6 AllStar network. 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 program The Vineyard Selection on Fridays on YassFM between 4pm Eastern Australian time, or Your Shed between 4pm Send me an SMS or WhatsApp You'll be able to hear YassFM radio 1pm and and 5pm. message to say g’day if you’re listening. 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 Teamwork Thank you so much to our team of 33 contributors: VK2GAS, VK2GAZ, VK2IOW, VK2RU, VK3ACU, DL3YZ, MONNK, VK3BSE, VK3BTV, VK3DRQ, VK4EV, VK4PN, VK5AV, VK5CZ, VK5ET, VK5FD, VK5KFG, VK6FN, VK6HRC, VK6JDM, VK6KD, VK6KHZ, VK6MT, VK6MT, VKOMTF, VK6NQL, VKENW, VK6PZT, VK7JZ, VK7TA, VK7WW, WB2GDZ and ZL4CTS. And a special thank you to our editorial team, Nigel G4RWI software development), (spreadsheeterer), Patrick VK2IOW Richard VK6HRC (technical editor and bit wrangler). €U CW on Tuesday, mb Mark Bosma VK2KI / VK6QI Beautiful South Bowning PAA AREAsil HAN NSW (head of (report production), John VK2RU (Post Morsition) and Lance VK7TO Great work all! LUYISHUEUWYITIGILCYVIII non impediti ratione cogitationis peo Our editorial team About at it. the CQQRS Here’s where For the current schedule hard and 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 CQQRS 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 https://bit.ly/COORSWebsite Copyright (C) 2026 CQ QRS. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Want to change how you receive these emails? 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