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RagChew

Edition

5/2026

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CQQRS

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Past

Thanks

Link to our

Reporting

this week to Jordan VK3ACU

Form

e Copyright
e

New Team

Members

Reports and

First Rag

Chew

Reporting

Form

Post Morsum

Comments

Report

e A Gap

in my

e QRZ?

Mark VK4AW

Knowledge

- PIMLR

perhaps?

RSS

e CW
e

Practice

KiwiSDR

Phone Apps

e The Guessing
Buy,

Game

SEG

Swap,

Sell

Morse Training

Net

e Happy
e Arborist Throw

Line

e Auroral

Images

e CQQRS

AllStar Node

e ACMA

Assist and

Digital

e There’s

No Such Thing

Prosign

of the Week

Di-dah-di-dah-dit

e About the CQ QRS

From

the Dipped

ID
- Vband

Group

Quill of Mark VK2KI

Hooray... the geomagnetic storm was a fading memory...
returned to the CQQRS
had at least 40 team
or worked.

Practice QSO

members

and normality

Net on Tuesday night - this week we

on air and they reported 55 stations heard

Apparently it’s not only all good things that come to an end!

But... the week wasn’t without it’s fair share of challenges... due mainly to
my own stupidity!
So each week after I’ve received the DXperiment sked frequency and time
information from Mike DL3YZ,

| send out the reminder email to readers.

send the email to myself, and put the members
Bob’s your uncle.

Well this week,

as Bcc addressees... and

| sent the reminder.... but neglected to

insert the Bcc addresses... so it just went to me.

And of course, | couldn’t

tell that | was the only addressee..the Bcc addresses are hidden of course!
So as Wayne VK6NW

said by email - apparently I’m special!

Brain the size

of a planet sometimes.
So my apologies, especially to the DXperiment team - no-one else knew
what frequencies Ross MONNK and Edi DO2EMR

would

be on.... makes

ita

bit challenging!
Luckily, Patrick VK2IOW
WhatsApp

note.

recognised

my lack of effort and flashed me a

Elizabeth and | were in Canberra

having dinner.... so

convincing my iPhone to re-send the reminder email to the missing 240+
Bccs was a bit of a challenge... it just sat there with a funny look on its face
as the minutes ticked by while the Bcc addresses loaded.
see that on the third attempt,

| was pleased to

| had a Bcc line full of addresses, and

(hopefully) off it went to everyone - phew!
But my stupidity didn’t end there.

As we were leaving Canberra,

email from Ross MONNK - sure enough,

| saw an

I’d reset the reporting web-form’s

date and deleted the old data... then completely failed to switch the form
back on - bugger!

| couldn't do it from my phone,

team came to my rescue - Nigel G4RWI

switched

but luckily the editorial
it back on - phew!

Funny,

| have an alarm set in my phone five minutes before the net to remind
to check that I’ve turned the form on.

Well on Tuesday | had turned the

alarm off - because | didn’t want to disturb our nice dinner.
Wonder what else | did wrong this week?
helping out though!

Nice to have our editorial team

permission.

Most

material

published

on the Internet is

subject to the copyright law unless it’s specifically designated ‘Creative
Commons’

or similar.

| have heard that tools are being deployed to detect

and penalise internet publication of material for which permission

has not

been granted.
We can quote small portions of others’ written work providing we site the
original material and author - but published images are out.
that we need to use our own

images,

This means

not copy them from the internet

without permission.
So how do we keep our RagChew

newsletter interesting?

The only

practicable solution is to find more images supplied by their originators - ie
you, or use an Al to generate something

original.

And please help us out by regularly sending me your images for the team
to use in future editions - doesn’t matter whether or not you think they’re
interesting - others will enjoy how they lift what would otherwise be a
boring text-only newsletter.
cqgrsnet@qmail.com

New Team

Members

Welcome this week to Mark VK4AW from Sunnybank

Hills and Geoff VK3VR

(also VK1VR) from Box Hill South;

our subscribers have now topped

readers

There’s

QRZ

- who

would

believe that?

from

Mark

below

240

in the

section.

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 - on behalf of the CQQRS

Editorial team, please enjoy the newsletter.

dit-dit

Mark Bosma
VK2KI / VK6QI
Beautiful South Bowning

NSW

cqgrsnet@gmail.com

Patrick
VK2ZIOW

John
VK2RU

Richard
VK6HRX
Padbury WA

Lance
VK7TO
Margate TAS

Milthorpe NSW

on a track somewhere

non impediti ratione cogitationis

Nigel
G4RWI
our other grey nomad

Reports

& Comments

Here’s this week’s

Last Tuesday’s

reports.

Group

With thanks to Nigel G4RWI’s clever software, and John VK2RU’s clever
spreadsheet work, here’s the 55 stations heard by 40 members

of our

team on Tuesday:

CQQORS

Team

Member

asol

aso?

} aso3

|; aso4/
VK2GR

DL/MONNK

|Worked 20m]

OMS3CAZ | VK3DRQ|VK2IOW]

DL/MONNK |

Heard 20m

VK5PH

VKZA0E

Worked 40m

WK5A0

asos |

asoé6

aso7 ,

asos

VK2A0E

Heard 40m |}

VK2DLF

Heard on air

WK2NAP

VK2IR

VK2GAZ
VK2GAZ

Worked 40m)

WK2NAP

VK5LI

Heard 40m

VK7TO

VK2GAZ

Tried 40m

VK7TO

VK2GR

Heard on air

VK2IOW —

{Heard on air

VK2KI

Heard 20m

MONNK

VK2KI

Heard 40m |

VK2AOE

VK2KI

Heard 40m |

VK5SKFG

VK2KI

Worked 80m)

VK6GNW

VK2KI

Heard 80m

VK4PN

VK2NAP

{Heard on air

VK2RU

Worked 40m)

VK2WP

VKS5AV |

VK2RU

Heard 40m |

VK2TM

ZL3XDJ | VK2DLF | VK4PN | VK3ACU | VKS5KFG)

VK2TIG

Heard 40m

VK2WP

ZL3TE | VK5GG |

| VK2IOW]

VK5PH

VK5A0O | VK7TA | VK2DLF|

VK4PN | VK7TO | 7N2X7B}

VK3YE

ZLIPX
VK5LJI | VK3ACU]

VK3MJ

VK3YE

VK2WP

Worked 40m

VK7TA

VK2RU | VKSAV | VK/TO | VK3KIH | VK3SKLE

VK3ACU

Worked 40m

VK3YE

VK3JFR | VK7TA | VK5AV

VK3BSE

Heard 40m |

VK2AOE

VK5A0 | VK4PN | VK5SAV | VK3ACU

VK3BSE

Heard 80m |

VK3ACU

VK3CLD

Heard 40m

VK2DLF

VK5AV | VK/TA | VK3JFR | VK5A0 | VK2A0E

VK3DBD/ZL | Heard on 20
VK3DROQ_—

| Worked 20m]

DL/MONNK

VK3DRQ

Heard 20m | VK3DBD/ZL]

VK3DRQ

Tried 20m

VK3JFER

Heard

VK3KEV

Worked 20m|

VK3KIH

Heard on air

VK4PN | IN3TWX|

VK2IOW

INSTWX

on air

VKAPN

VK3KLE

Worked 40m)

VK2WP

VK4BRO-

[Worked 40m|

VKAPN

VK4BRO

Heard 40m

VK3YE

VK4PN

Worked 20m]

VK3KEV

VK4PN

Worked 40m)

VK5A0

VK3ACU
| VKGNW | ON4KBE|

INSTWX

VK4PN

Heard 80m

VK2KI

VK6NW

VK5A0

Worked 40m)

VK3JFR

VK2AOE |] VK4PN

VKS5AV

Heard 20m |

VK2IOW

VKSAV

Worked 40m)

VK2WP

VK2RU | VK7TO | VK/TA | VK3ACU | VK2DVA

VK5AV

Heard 40m

VK5A0

VK3JFR | VK3MJ | VK2AOE)

VKSKFG

Worked 40m

VK3YE

VK3MJ

VKSU

Heard on air

VK5PH

Heard on air

VK6FN

Worked 40m)

VK6HRC

Heard

VK6JDM

Worked 40m)

VKGHRC

VK6JDM

Tried 40m

VK6KHZ

{Worked 40m]

VK6WE

VK6ENW

Worked 40m)

VWK4PN

VKENW

Worked 40m]

VKG6FN

VKENW

Heard 40m

VK3KIH

VK6ENW

Worked 80m

VK2KI

VK6QI

Heard 80m

VK2KI

VK6RR

Heard 40m |

VK6KHZ

VK2DLF | VK6NW | VK3KIH | VK2NAP

VK6NW

on air

VK6WE

|VK2DVA|

VK5AV | VK3ACU

| VK6GHRC

VK6NW |

VK4PN

| VKGHRC | VKONW

VK6RR

Tried 40m |

VK6KHZ | VKGNW

VK6WE

Worked 40m)

VK6KH?7

VK6XC/1

Tried 40m

VK2WP

|VK7TO/P|

VK7TA

Worked 40m]

VK5AV

VK2WP | VK2DLF | VK3ACU

VK6XC/1 | VK3JFR | VKSAO | VK2AOE|

VK7TA

Heard 40m |

VK7TO/P

| Heard on air

VK7WW

Heard 40m

VK2WP

VK7WW

Heard 40m

VK6XC

ZL1PX

Heard on air

VK2DLF}

VK7TO | ZL5MKE|]

VK5SAV | VK7TA | VKS5AO | VK3JFR
VK3MW

ZLINZ | VK5AV | VK2RU | VK3KIH | VK2DLF

Comments:
The spreadsheets above show the known stations heard or worked on last
Tuesday’s CQQRS

Net;

the comments

(submitted via our webform
camonilad

far

tic

the

claver

in the team

members’

bit.ly/COORSNET ) follow.
caftware

hilt

Minal

reports

The comments
GARWI

and

the

were
lavatiit

VENI

SIN

was perfected by Patrick VK2IOW.
for the work, and to every team

Thanks again to Nigel, Patrick and John

member who submitted a report -

HU
From George VK2AOE

at Sydney

[40m]
First day back at work
arghhhh!!!! Got one with Mait in
SA, then off to bed!
—_

i :

hada! |

“Wyuna” - This was The Australian
| Maritime Colleges training Vessel in
the 80's (I was at AMC 1987/88 )

From Nic VK7WW

at Legana,

Tasmania.

[40m]
My ‘shack’ is in the eaves of the house, heat rises;
consequently listening time is limited to the heat | can bear!
@

From Garry VK2GAZ

even with all windows

and roof vents open!

at Richmond

[40m]
As usual, only a short time to spend

on the radio tonight,

however it is always enjoyable.

From Ross

DL/MONNK

at Exeter UK via Stuttgart Germany

[20m]
| anolonise

- I'm

honeless

at Sinnal

Ranorte

Peper

yee

er per

erp

eae

I'm so busy trying to decode your transmission
that | just make
into my head.
Ediswan

Manny VK3DRQ

up the first numbers that come
| exaggerate for effect but my

point is that my RSNs

W392E

and RSTs

might not be

terribly accurate. Take this week, for instance.

was weak and barely readable and yet | gave him an RSN

of 533.

My award for "Strongest Signal of the Week" goes to Allan VK2GR

- he gave me an

improbable RST of 599 so! gave him 599 back (he was booming

in though) :-) Near

the end of my session, | heard someone
callsign. | was later told that it was

calling me but couldn't make out their

Paul VKSPH,

owner of the Ironstone Range

SDR.

Sorry we missed the contact, Paul. So, four contacts in the one-hour slot (three of

them DX) was a fine morning's work.

From Scotty VK4BRO

at Gold Coast

[40m]
While I've done a bit of POTA

now, tonight was my first rag

chew CW QSO! Thanks so much Sava VK4PN.
be back for more.

From Donald VK6JDM

| will definitely

at 20 km west of Esperance

[40m]
Plenty of signals tonight. Only had a
on radio due to my son visiting.

From Tim VK5AV

at Mount Gambier

[40m]
Same

OSR

earlier

in the

aveanina

for

brief time

ber

ery

particularly with VK7. The weather was a
topic of conversation.
using his home
worked

Colin VA2DVA

brew SW rig, which

was
| have

a few times in January as part of Straight Key Month

club. We exchanged

SKCC

numbers.

| am still working on my rag chew copy beyond
appreciate everyone's patience.

the standard exchange and

Certainly enjoying the Tuesday evening activity.

Forgot to send log in last week, but wasn’t much

From Paul

VK3KLE

(SKM) for the SKCC

in there, 2 contacts from memory.

at Stawell

[40m]
Some

good strong stations on 40m

around 8pm EDST. Also quite a few
detectable in the noise floor. Much better
conditions from last week. Unfortunately

in the radio room the temp had slowly got
away in the arvo so | retreated to the

cooler lounge and hydrated instead.

From Jordan VK3ACU

at Meredith

[40m]
Not as much activity as | expected tonight all the
same

made a few contacts. Called for about 30

mins on 80m

nota single contact.

| was 5w QRP

on 40.

From Roy VK6RR

at Geraldton

[15 & 20m]
Heard

a sinnal

145m

the

91048

50 slot but could not make out the
caller. Nothing heard on the 20m slot

[40m]
Called VK6KHZ,

no reply, called VAKGNW

- Wayne

replied then went off air as did all

signals! Just the sweeper and noise very strange condx. Gave it up went and looked
at my antenna to see if it was still there!!!

From Ben

Koh VK6XC/11

at Canberra

[40m]
Maybe

my QRP

2-3w or vertical antenna

is not performing or antenna is not high
enough. But that is a challenge with QRP.
Rig is Elecraft KX1, 2-3watts and vertical

Buddipole antenna.

From Kevin VK3KEV

at Seymour

[80m]
| came on early to catch the DXperiment,
luck, | did find VK4PN,

but had no

Sava, and we had a brief QSO.

He was calling CQ to check his signal on the RBN. We
are moving

house at present and could afford no more

time to QRS this week. Next week!!

From lan VK7TA

at Latrobe

[40m]
| turned

the

radin

littla aftar

Anm

and

the

annd

naws

was that the noise was

err

low, the bad news was that there

were no signals! | called in vain, but then heard VK2WP
calling a little up the band and we had a QSO
signals but good copy. When

with weak

| returned after a dinner break

the band had improved. Jordan's 5W gave a good signal with
easy copy here.

From Greg VK5KFG at Willunga

[40m]
After a couple of days blistering heat, a cool gully
breeze made the shack habitable.

QRP

with the QCX

came through

mini.

Peter, VA3YE

again

remarkably well with a 1w homebrew

TX he had

made that day. Good tone, no chirp.

Mark,

VK3MJ

was very strong even after reducing to 5w

- the benefits of a dipole on 80.

From Manny VK3DRQ at Blackburn
[40m]
| am terribly SORRY.

At about 19:55 AEST

and when

| was

almost ready to start on our QRS CW Net, we had a power
failure and with 42 degrees C

it wasn't fun to be without AC.

This lasted until 3 o'clock in the morning.

[80m]
| do like the picture of the Semaphore.
memories.

It brought back nice

Nice way to send Morse Code.

From Max VK6FN

at Manjimup

[40m]
The

Rand

whan

| triad

tise

it was

daad

Looked at 40 for nearly four hours before
calling it quits for the night.

[15m]
Edi DO2ZEMR advised via Mike DL3YZ's
status reporting system that he wasn't able to
get on 15m this week.

Better luck next time

Edi.

[20m]
After sorting out the shambles

I'd created with

the lack of an email reminder and lack of a reporting form, | decided to not push my
luck by listening to the KiwiSDRs on my phone while at a restaurant with Ms

Elizabeth.

Probably wise on all counts.

However, she was driving home so | could have some fun listening to the VK1HF
Snowline KiwiSDR and the VKG6SEG

Northam

KiwiSDR - despite my phone dropping

the Bluetooth connection to my earbuds whenever the car's GPS

announced

a turn

(in French as we do).
| could hear Ross MONNK
Millthorpe.
dramas,
Range

Between

coming through ok chatting to Patrick VK2IOW

changing SDRs,

posting alerts on WhatsApp

| heard the callsign of Paul VKSPH
KiwiSDR

network).

and my Bluetooth

(the godfather of the famous

Ironstone

| couldn't hear Ross reply to him - a check of Mike's

status reporting system showed

that Ross had posted an

- taking a break -

that'd be right!

[40m]
When Ross indicated on Mike's status system that he was QRT, | swapped to 40m
for the rest of the drive home.
there were a few QSOs

| was really pleased after last week's quiet net that

in train this time.

[80m]
Once at home

| dropped straight down to 80m;

Jordan VK3ACU

had said things

were a bit quiet there (I don't particularly like crowds, so quiet seemed

like a good

fit!).
No sign of Jordan, but my CQ was responded-to by Wayne
Bridgetown.
hour.

VK6NW

from 38 degree

Well, what a fun marathon... we nattered about antennas for a whole

Actually, at my speed, 60 minutes isn't all that many overs!

propagation gods were smiling - Wayne was RSN

Luckily the

433 to start, but his signal

increased over the hour to RSN 453 - Q4 because of the QSB, but great to see my
S-meter so busy across Australia on 80.
When

we signed, | could hear Sava VK4PN

on WhatsApp

- however,

down on 3550kHz and posted an alert

| was pooped and tracked off to the hay.

Also from your editor Mark VK6QI at Beautiful South Bowning via the VK6SEG
KiwiSDR

[80m]
The auroral buzz came up as the long rag-chew with
Wayne VK6NW
Again

this week, it was nicely packed

mentioned

last week,

| zoomed

went on, but luckily it wasn't too bad.

into from (about) 3510 to around 3550.

out on the VK6SEG

drifting up or down, getting wider or narrower.

Nothing this time - it just sat there like

a blob!

| did notice that there was a second

around

3610kHz - so | wonder why the digital segment of the band was quiet?

Perhaps

auroras don't like digital either - HI?!

From John VK2RU

KiwiSDR waterfall to see if it was

blob of noise from around
More experimentation

3570 to
required!

at Tumut

[40m]
Another 40C+

day here so time was short on the radio

as the choice between

radio and 12v fans was a no

brainer. Some good signals from all around the country.
A bit of QSB

across the ditch to NZ but still completed

the QSO with Peter.

From John VK3BSE

at Beechworth
[80m]
Wall

the

Reechworth

listanina

nost

had

several

sianals

wey Sr re

PEE rr CU ree Cage

to listen to, hooray! Earth is back on the right tilt and

ionospheric layers are back in place. Most signals were
S7 - 9 into Snowline SDR. Thanks for keying there 73,
John

From Sava VK4PN

at Mount Ommaney

Brisbane

[20m]
Managed

to get on 20m around 4:30 pm and

checked usual spots 14042 and 14048 KHz but
nothing heard. Called numerous CQs on 14045 kHz
while frequently checking the two usual EU QRS
frequencies but managed

only two QSOs

locals (VK3KEV and VK6NW).
network showed

both with

Reverse beacon

only one report from JA with a very

poor SN ratio. | was convinced that conditions were poor and moved to FT8 to check
and to my surprise the FT8 segment was full of EU stations some very strong.

Managed with ease 4 EU contacts and one to Chile within 10 minutes so conditions
must be OK. Returned to our EU DX window and checked the two usual frequencies,

nothing heard so called CQ again on 14045 KHz. The reverse beacon lit up this time
with multiple paths to EU. Couple of EU DXers came

our EU QRS

back to my calls but no trace of

boys.

[40m]
Got on 40m around 9 pm local and the band was deserted. Regardless | stuck to my
QRP

and called a number of CQs

but no takers. After a while | could just hear

VKSAO in a QSO a couple of kHz lower (my QRP rig selectivity is poor) and | waited
for him to finish before making a call. To my surprise he came straight back, and we

had a nice chat. Mait was not as strong as usual so | was quite happy with the report
he gave me which must have been fair as he copied everything.

Interesting although

he was not his usual big signal there was no fading at all.

[80]
Empty-handed this time despite good propagation. | could see
my carrier at Ironside (SA) and in WA. VK2KI and VK6NW were
in a lengthy QSO at 3555 so | camped at 3550 kHz and kept
calling CQ while watching the carriers at 3555 KHz. No one
came back to my calls but RBN reported my signal was detected in ZL, Fiji and
southern VK states so propagation was fine. VK2KI and VKGNW kept chirping until
11 pm and finished abruptly, | was hoping one of them would have called me but it
seems they were not checking any Kiwi SDR and were unaware | was around. Hope
for better luck next week.

Reporting
After next Tuesday’s Group, please remember to send me a list of who you
worked and / or who you heard using our web form here:

[=
bit.ly/COORSNET

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:
cqarsnet@gmail.com

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.

AVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAYAYAVAYAY,
TAT

Post Morsum 28th January 2026
From Richard VK6HRC.
Six on the VK6RLM

repeater/ Echolink hub this morning. ( AllStar link down )

VK6NW

Wayne

VK6KD

David

VK6QI

Mark

VK6HRC
and swl’s VK6MRB

Mulligan, G4RWI Nigel.

Wayne had three contacts in the log 20m/40m and an hour long QSO with Mark
chatting about antennas on 80m.
David managed to to get on late in the session but by that time the QRQ crew
were active so he tried 80m but no response there.
Mark was in Canberra so made use of the Kiwi nodes until he got home,heard
ten on 40m had great session with Wayne on 80 and did a grand job spotting on
WhatsApp.
| started the session listening out for Ross on a local Kiwi sdr and heard him
calling, up to s 5 at times. Thank you for the spot on WhatsApp Mark. | had a
contact with Ron VK6KHZ on 40m, heard Wayne VK6NW and Max VK6FN but
signals not strong so went into SWL mode. Enjoyed listening in on Mark and
Wayne on 80m.
So once again thank you to all on last night and this morning.
Stay safe
73 Richard VK6HRC.

This Week’s Topic of
Interest
A Gap

in my

Knowledge

by Ross

MONNK

When | was just getting started with Morse, | was fortunate enough to have the
advice of an ex-Royal Navy Signaller. One nugget he presented me with, was to
dome

web.

Lous

bela

les

WILT

HOW

DIY

(UI,

INUre

ALCUTALELy,

NOW

SITMall)

WIG

COMMACL

Yap

UIT

ITNY

IVIUISe

key should be. His view (and probably that of the Navy) was that it should be
the thickness of an ordinary sheet of paper. Paper comes in all thicknesses but
we're talking here about standard cheap 80 gsm printer paper, which is typically
0.1 mm thick (equivalent to 100 microns, or 0.0039 inches if you’re oldfashioned enough to still be working in Imperial units).
Incidentally, he also told me that a good way to clean my contacts and give
them a nice polish, is to pull a strip of that same printer paper through the gap
whilst applying very light pressure on the key.
| have many faults but ignoring advice from experts is not one of them, so |
began by setting my gaps with printer paper. However, we each develop our
own style and methods, and so, later on, | came to reduce my gaps still further.
Now | have my straight keys set to the smallest gap that gives reliable keying.

“The smallest gap that gives reliable keying” does vary across my three straight
keys though:
e the Marconi Maritime 365 has the smallest gap;
e the Ediswan W392E (shown in the photo above) has the largest;
e and the WT 8 Amp comes somewhere in between.
My 9A5N paddle goes one better by being touch-sensitive - no gaps
whatsoever!

We Morse operators exist in partial isolation from our fellows so | was

wondering what the range of opinion on “Optimum Contact Gap Spacing’ is. Do
you have it set wide so that it makes a nice clattery sound on key-down and
key-up (the authentic Hollywood Telegraph Office vibe)? Or are you as tight as
the proverbial camel’s **** in a sandstorm? Can | even say that in Ragchew?
We will see what the editor has to say HI HI.

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;
what’s going on on your workbench for example? For guidance on writing
for RagChew,

see Articles below.

Please email material to Mark VK2KI:

cqgrsnet@qmail.com

QRZ?
Who’s

calling

me?

Who’s

on the other end?

Mark VK4AW from Sunnybank Hills has joined us this week.

Mark has had his licence for many years, but has been inactive for the past
couple of decades.

Approaching

retirement,

Mark is starting to get back

into the hobby again.
Mark had a couple of contacts as a Novice in the late 70s - but he found
CW to be so nerve-racking that he became an SSB-only operator.
However he reports that for some reason he has developed an interest this
time around, and is looking forward to the challenge.
[Thanks Mark and welcome.

Our group consists of both newcomers (or re-

starters) and long-term operators who enjoy helping others along the
Journey, or just enjoy the opportunity for the relaxed slow-speed rag-chews
you'll often hear on the net.
| was a bit like you - | passed the AOCP 10wpm

test after a number of tries

- and declared that I’d never use the Code again;

not only did | find the

learning (from an LP record in the early 70s) tough work, but the higherthan-thou attitude of many amateur CW operators at the time put me off there was too much fun to be had among more welcoming people.

Nearly

50 years later | reversed my vow, started the net.... and now most of my
gear doesn’t have a microphone plugged in!
These days you don’t even need equipment to listen in on the net;

the

fantastic KiwiSDRs around Australia will get you going once you're used to
them.

Three excellent receivers run by members of our team are:

fAtto:/snowlinesdr.vklhf.com:8073/?user=70CQQRS%20Net

/Atto:/sdr.ironstonerange.com:8073/7user=720CQQORS%20Net

Atto:/sdr.hamradio.org.au:8073/7user=20CQQORS%20Net

Hoy if you want a hand getting the KiwiSDrs going or with getting on air;
you'll also find lots of people among the team who'd like to help.
Oh and by the way -

if you listen in, please send us a report using our

handy-dandy web-form - even if you didn’t hear anything or couldn’t make
out the code, the fact that you had a go Is useful.

Here’s the link to our

webform:
Link to our Reporting Form /

QRZ?
From

Who’s

the

other

your editor Mark VK2KI

end?
/ VK6QI

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

it a get-together that

But when you're on the key, it’s

really hard to find out a bit more about the person you're chatting to.
I’m really keen to share the backgrounds of some of our team
it’s really nice to Know who’s on the other end of the QSO.

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

see Articles below.

Please let

For guidance on writing for

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

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.
Any punctuation that is not usually used with CW

has been removed.

This week’s fable is ‘The Fox and the Grapes’, and the MP3 and TXT files
are attached

here -

If you prefer a different soeed 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,

1.5x, 1.75x).

Other
Other things we’ve

News

received

from

our 230-plus

readers.

KiwiSDR
From

Phone

Apps

lan VKLHF

G'Day Mark,
Did you know there are phone Apps for KiwiSDRs?

I have been using one - QIWIQ.

VERY interesting indeed. I'd be surprised if there are not iPhone ones also.
73, lan.

snowlinesdr.vklhf.com:8073
estesi

QIWIQ 2.05

IME

SDR Software-Defined Shortwave Radio for

Android.

FFT

BAND

COLOR

ana

/ n

ADPCM

wessex.zapto.org:8074
=|21 dBm

SSUES USE
BLY

TS:

Wey

NR CMP

mye

Titi

inet
Vol 50%

SQL 0 dB

SOL

MHz

Villond

AM
LSB
eh
14.259 MHz

The Guessing

Game

From John VK5ET

venocu

perry

|
sat bever ett
ea

way of looking at this...

a couple of graphs in explanation:

|
press

EDS

Interesting article by Ross MONNK
4/2026 regarding slow CW.

in RagChew

Slow Morse Is easier to copy accurately in my
~~ PRIA
T RIA

i
COMP

ELD)

me)

OPIIIOTI.

As mentioned

by Ross, professional ops of old,

strove for 100%

@ second graph:

accuracy, eg. telegrams , etc.

One chap reminded

me of the consequences of

NOT sending or receiving accurate Morse.
Should this happen

in time of conflicts,

disasters etc, it could

cause

chaos

Interpretation of the message.

game",

due to mis-

A "guessing

indeed.

Perhaps these d ays Morse operators are more careful in using Morse, or
has the skill faded

Comparing

of Morse

world

wide?

Ross’ graph to my personal experience... on attempting

Call (10 wom,
attempt...

due to the ‘abandonment’

send/receive).

| passed

Different story with receive.

my sending exam

my Full

on the second

EIGHT attempts later, | passed;

after receiving “ Fail” 7 times, | had to ask my XYL to pinch me In case | was
dreaming.
With all that hard yakka to achieve a Pass, NO way was | going to give up
CW... great ince ntive to get better and actually enjoy CW.

73 John, VK5ET

SULa

Bateauewe

Saturday 7" March 2026
+

11.00am - 3.00pm (Sellers from 9.00am)

Frost Park (Mt Barker Racecourse)
McDonald Ave, Mt Barker
Entry: $5.00 for buyers & sellers.
* Sellers reserve your table by emailing reservations(@hamradio.org.au
before 28 Feb 2026

** Food & Drinks are available at local Mt Barker cafes & bakery (900
metres) and support local businesses.
Callin on VEGRAA Mt Barker 70cm repeater — 439.950MHz (-7.00MHz offset)

southern Electronics Groupine.

Morse Training

Net

Our team

Nic VK7WW

member

every Wednesday

at 7pm

www.hamradio.or.au

vk6srahamradioc.org.au

runs an on-air Slow Morse training net

EDST on 3580 for 30 mins. He uses the callsign

of the Northern Tasmania Amateur Radio Club VK/7TAZ on that net.
Many of our team

learned Morse code with the

Support of Nic, and the weekly training session
comes

highly recommended

for anyone who

wants to learn the Code, or simply brush up.
Everyone’s welcome - 3580kKHz at 7pm
time every Wednesday;

Eastern

you'll hear lots of the

CQQORS team on that net. Jordan VK3ACU has

a ada i
cop. ania

——

recorded the complete set of lessons which you
can

now

find here:

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

for more info nicholaschantler@hotmail.com

tncluding

how to join the NTARC

DISCORD

group to follow the action, or just come

along and join in on Wednesdays.

Happy
From

Richard VK6HRC

| enjoyed the VK7TAZ CW session run by Nic VK7WW

via Discord last night.

Di-dit

Arborist Throw

Line

From John VKSET

In reply to the article about throw lines, | found a good

Info.

Aussie website arbormaster.com.au , with plenty of

—

Eee
-

My response:

| purchased two throwing lines & weights following my
last QRS episode at Humbug

Scrub... trying to get a

line up a tree
which resulted in my line being stuck in a fork of a tree (it’s still up there).
Watching YouTube videos of hams giving a demo with two lines/weights to
reduce any chance of this happening or snagging elsewhere,

| liked the

idea - so | bought two hoping to have greater success & no further
frustration.
Check
it out.

73
John ,VK5ET

Aurora
From

Images

Nic VK7WW

Last week,

looking South toward the lights of Launceston,

15km

away.

was very surprised to see the striations dancing. The colours could be seen
with the naked eye, but | have to say the phone picks them
better than the err... 10 year old iPad!
Cheers,

Nic.

up better....

Home

ClubI/nformation

i eee, waos

i
ath

Senet

Courses

aot “9 ft

ee Pe
= aire

tT See

The

Radio

Bulletin

YouTube

Pl
Ve

CMM

UNE

Groups

Links

ee cot

'
Pe

ed 5

MemberLogin

rn Fee

GL!

ei}

| ee or
|

Inc

practice, experimentation and enjoyment of amateur radio!
THE RADIO BULLETIN

ros
.

the

PLAAG Glut

When, Tian
aera

ee
vA eo, VATA

;

CFLi SAL LA iS
é

Radio

Pea

y,
/

CLA LA

aol.

Cnaleun

erat

:
,

;

CALA Eg A OA AA
yi
i
:
yy,
ad ia bh ee e

Updating Articles

USB Rig

14/10/2025 - 3:01 PM

i
i

i |

OLAS

‘

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

hoe

to all

Subaru

Coax

Install

aie

15/04/2024 - 8:04 PM
Portable

Power

10/11/2023

- 10:56

CQORS

AllStar

Mal VK8MT

Node

has made

one of his AllStar voice

nodes

available to the CQQRS

team.

wlll 28600

VK8MT

CQQRS

AllStar Node 28600

VK-Hub /

Rapid Creek NT

Darwin Data Centre

2026-01-29 08:39 UTC

is there for our use via either direct connection

already have an AllStar node, or via Echolink if not.
members’

if you

We're looking for

ideas about what we could use this resource for - eg regular or

occasional get-togethers of groups of members
fact, perhaps some sort of MCW
VK7WW’s

OD &

(say via Echolink) - or in

activity - eg a non-RF outlet for Nic

weekly CW training net on Wednesdays

perhaps?

lf nothing else, the node connects to the WA-wide AllStar network on
Wednesday
team

mornings for Richard VK6HRC’s CQQRS

members

anywhere

Post Morsum

- allowing

in the world to call-in via Echolink.

So - thinking caps on... we’d love to hear your ideas.
cqarsnet@gmail.com

ACMA

Assist and

Digital

Courses

Merch’

From John VK2RU

‘~.

HAM

RADIO

Shop

Deals&Discounts

ForSale

Blog

About

Get Your Licence

Search
SEARCH

Beatie
ee eee

Reconfirm

eee (Ret

About

aa
AMATEUR
Hi, I'm Hayden

RADIO

BLOG

(VK7HH) — an amateur

radio operator based

in Hobart,

Tasmania, Australia. | also hold a US
Technician license (KD9SSB).

IMPORTANT: Changes to ACMA Assist for ALL

| post

sccenshor resular Youtube videos on al things
ham radio, so hit subscribe!

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:

There’s

see Articles

cqgrsnet@gmail.com

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

reckons that there’s lots of questions

both our new and our experienced operators - about CW,

amateur radio operating and about theory.
quickly enough when
thanks

questions

So John didn’t step backwards

asked to volunteer to compile readers’ questions;

mate.

A few weeks back we had a

There’s no such thing...

question about Vband.
I’m still hoping one of our
many Vband

This week’s questions.
In the WhatsApp Alerts last Tuesday night, ragchew on Vband was mentioned.
What is this? How do | join? What additional programs or equipment do | need? What
else do | need to know?

users will pop

< VET

up with an answer to the

| think | need to send you all out in search of my brain. It looks like mush and is clearly
absent from my QTH. |
iG
ct
Hl
k to me. Grerr

question about what It Is,
{

how to get on it, etc.
cggrsnet@gmail.com

Jemves VI7IZ

if you can help please.

[Do you have a question or two that are worth sharing?
discussion-starter?
them

to John

How about a

Please let me know cqgrsnet@gmail.com

VK2RU for compilation

each

and /‘// pass

week.]

Prosign/Character/Sig

nal

or the

Montn

See if you can use this one on Tuesday!

Prosign:

Meaning:

Stand

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

Tell us how you went!]

Di-dah-di-dah-dit
Here we

So back to the CQQRS

Next Tuesday’s

Slow CW QSO

go.

practice net.

Net

Our CQQRS

Group will be on as always on Tuesday from around 0600z until

about 1200z;

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

Details page for details.

Coordinated Universal Time
OPA Dd,

a ee eed ee

a ee

en nll

0600z to 1200z

(NOE

= 4UIT

WV APEIIMENtS

Australia

StI

al a ONPeErent UME

i required)

Western Australia Time

UTC + 8 Hours

1400 to 2000

Central Australian Time

UTC + 10.5 Hours |

1630 to 2230

Eastern Australian Time

UTC + 11 Hours

1700 to 2300

Queensland Time

UTC + 10 Hours

1600 to 2200

NZ Time

UTC + 13 Hours

1900 to 0700

New Zealand
wx
Time

Frequency

06002 to 09002

20m

14039-14051 kHz

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

0600z to 1200z

4om

TO20KHz - 7O40KHz

—

3535kHz - 3560kHz

160m

1855kHz (-SkHz for QRM)

7o00

7o20
I

40 mis

ORO

3500

CO ORS Net

3535

80 m EF
1800

7O40
]

ORO

CO ORS Net
1855.

Thanks to Lance VA7TO for the COQRS

3560

=
1875

band-plan

e
22002 - 2300zZ
(Tuesday UTC)

Wednesday (VK/ZL)

nae

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:
cqarsnet@gmail.com

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

see if you

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

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

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

Email them to

please (reduced size if possible - but whatever you

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

that you don’t keep the Reports Form

between submission of reports from one week to the next.

you’re unlucky, there’s an undocumented

feature in the software that

could cause your current week’s report to be combined

with your previous

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

Post

Morsum

Richard VK6HRC

will run our phone Post Morsum

on the South West AllStar

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

(3605 LSB).

See https://bit.ly/COORSWebsite and

navigate to the Net Details page for details of how you can connect via
Echolink or even possibly via your local FM repeater.

Articles
The newsletter is interesting to readers because of the material
contributed by so many people - be it the reports each week or the various
articles.

Could you write a short article or articles for RagChew?

Writing not your strong point?
much

You bet!

Don’t worry, I'm very happy to help as

or as little as needed.

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

prefer your own writing,

Model Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft Copilot or Google Gemini to check your

writing or even to actually draft the whole article in a relaxed easy-to-read
manner!

You can find out more about how to do that on the Newsletter

page on our website bit.|ly/COQORSWebsite. Our website also includes a
suitable prompt (the command
want).

you feed to the Al to make

it do what you

Please remember though - you must fact-check anything that an Al

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

This

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

You as

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.

Oh, and one more thing (actually two) - copyright material:
e

please use your own images - don’t use images copied from the
internet unless you have the producer’s permission, or they’re
marked

‘Creative Commons’

or similar;

if you include other peoples’ written material, unless you have
permission, you may only include small snippets (unless it’s marked
‘Creative Commons’

or similar), and you'll need to site the source and

author.
For more guidance on writing for the RagChew

newsletter (including help

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

on the top right and then click RagChew Newsletter.

Material
Areminder;

if you send me any information by email, our report form or

WhatsApp - unless you specifically state that material is not to be
published, I'll assume that you're happy to see your thoughts in the
RagChew

newsletter.

Teamwork
Thank you so much to our team of 32 contributors:

MONNK, VKI1HF,

VK2AOE, VK2GAZ, VK2IOW, VK2RU, VK2TIG, VK2WP, VK3ACU, VK3BSE,
VK3CLD, VK3DRQ,

VK3KEV, VK3KLE, VK4AW,

VK4BRO, VK4PN, VK5A0O,

VK5AV, VK5ET, VK5KFG, VK6FN, VK6HRC, VK6JDM, VK6KHZ, VK6LD,
VK6NW,

VK6ORR, VKE6WE, VK6XC, VK7TA and VK7WW.

you to our editorial team,
Patrick VK2IOW

Nigel G4RWI

(head of software innovation),

(wrangler de les reports), John VK2RU

extraordinaire), Richard VK6HRC

And a special thank

(Post Morsum

(RagChew search expert and beach comber).

(spreadsheeter

ddude) and Lance VK7TO
Great work all!

So on behalf of the Editorial team...

€U CW on Tuesday,

mb
Mark

Bosma

VK2KI / VK6QI
Beautiful South Bowning NSW
cgagrsnet@gmail.com
non impediti ratione cogitationis

An Ode to CW - thanks to David VK3RU:
In days of old, when ops were bold,
And sideband was not invented,
Words were passed by pounding
And all were quite contented.
- Unknown

author

brass,

About

the CQ

Here’s where
For the current schedule

and

QRS

Net

you’ll find the details.
more

information

about the CQQRS

net,

please go the the Net Details page on our website:

https://bit.ly/COQORSWebsite

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/CQORSWebsite

Our mailing address Is:

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