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CQORS

RagChew

Edition

7/2026

ao
|
Piihn

ene

ee ek ocd

ee Sl)

Thanks this week to Wayne for the image of his very neat shack and his home-brewed
Barrett 4050

Link to our

Reporting

mobile

station.

Form

Lots of New Team
Last Tuesday’s

transceiver

Members

Reports

Post Morsum
Very Slow
Cheap
QRP

Charge

- aaargh!

Controllers for Tiny LiPo Batteries

Transceiver

QRZ?
CW

Morse

VK5FR

Practice

Foundation

License Training Videos

Re-Starting the Journey
Drumming-Up

Interest

Morse Training
Update

from

First CQQRS

Net

Europe
Net

QSO

Soft Head

Protection

Readable

Five - The Art & Skill of Radio-Telegraphy

Prosign of the Week
There’s

No Such Thing

- VBand

| hear Tell
Di-dah-di-dah-dit
About the CQ QRS

Group

Answers

Take Two

keyer for his

RSS J

Boy oh boy!
would

Here was | telling Ms Elizabeth that this week’s newsletter

be out in a flash and wouldn’t interrupt our pub-packing (low-carbon

use, public transport-only, staying in local pubs, etc) holiday to Victoria at
all.

Well here it is, Friday, already a day late!

that we have yet another bumper RagChew

Oh well.

But the flip side is

edition for your reading

enjoyment (hopefully) this week - thanks once again to the huge band of
contributors... 42 would you believe!
CQQRS

What a great team of supporters our

net has!

But not only do we have a bumper number of contributors, we also has a
terriffic turn-out on Tuesday’s net;

at least 52 of our team

on air, and 59 different stations were worked.
we had as well?

members

were

| wonder how many SWLs

So a reminder - if you do listen in, please send us a note

via our web form - even if you didn’t hear any one or couldn’t yet decode
any callsigns.
Below you'll see that we’ve had eight new members join our team, thanks
largely to referrals from members - well done all!

And speaking of that,

we've had a number of people join our CQQRS WhatsApp groups (so they
hear about QRS opportunities both during and outside of the net);
however,

one of our team

members

asked me to join them to our CQQRS

WhatsApp groups - | think it was one of our off-shore members
searched

high and low and just can’t find who it was!

- but I’ve

so if you’ve asked

me and | haven’t sent you the link to join, please let me know!
cagrsnet@gqmail.com
So here we go...

New

Team

Members

| said last week that we’d had quite a jump in new team

members

due

largely to word-of-mouth

members;

thank

promotion of our net by team

you to those who are so encouraging.

this week,

I'd like to welcome

Short Wave

listener who had been

aboard our eight newest mates.

e Adam

Cummings

is a UK-based

talking to VK3DBD

from both Yackandandah

and New Zealand’s North

about his interest in radio, including a strange inkling to have a go at
CW.

David sent him a copy of our RagChew

tells me that when
schedule,

newsletter and Adam

he gets time from his busy working and travelling

he’ll start the study to earn himself an amateur license.

Welcome Adam,

| think you'll find our team of CW enthusiasts to be

very welcoming

and keen to help with either the licensing or the CW

journey.

In the mean-time,

hopefully if you find yourself listening-in

on our get-togethers and submitting
suggest you use something
who you are.

reports via our WebForm,

like SWL-Adam

as a callsign so we know

This will be a good stress test for our various software

pieces used to sort the reports for our newsletter.
e Tony ZL1TSS

hails from Hamilton and SOTA/ POTA has drawn

back to the hobby after an absence of 25 years.

him

No doubt, Tony will

soon discover the joys of being able to use CW portable as many of us
have;

challenging,

but it’s just such a natural fit.

Welcome Tony and |

look forward to hearing or working you soon on a Tuesday.
e Chris VK5FR

lives in Adelaide and is also a WWFF

who likes operating

Parks fan.

Anyone

portable and has pictures of both a helicopter and

a vineyard on their QRZ.com

page gets my vote!

See QRZ? below for

more of Chris’ background.
e Stephen ZL3ABX

Welcome

Chris.

lives near Nelson on the South Island and is keen on

CW and home

brewing.

Three people Stan ZL3TK,

Phil ZL1PB and

David VK3DBD

all suggested that he subscribe - well done chaps!

Stephen tells me that CW was a major reason he became

a ham,

but

claims that he’s not very fast yet and has been been a bit shy about
getting on the air;
encouragement.

his confidence is growing and he’s had a

| know with all those attributes, he will fit right in

and find a home with our team.
speed
e

isn’t everything...

Phil VK8MC
VK8MT.

lot of

Welcome

Stephen, and by the way,

in fact, for most of us, it ain’t anything!

lives in Darwin and was encouraged to join us by Mal

Phil gave CW a red hot go a few years ago but struggled to

get up to a decent copying

level and eventually gave up in frustration.

He’s now having another go - starting from scratch.

Phil says he will

try and listen on Tuesdays - noting that 80/40 are very difficult in
Darwin.

Although

a bit of copying

he says he is in no shape for a QSO

practice on air and via a phone app.

on portable and QRS operation - and anything
descriptions).

Welcome

he hopes to get
Phil is also keen

involving bikes (of all

mate - and | hope between you an Mal we'll

get more QRS activity from the Northern Territory on our net.

You

said Mal had convinced you to take a Morse key with your Elecraft
KX3 on your up-coming

long adventure - in turn, you may care to twist

Mal’s arm to convert our CQQRS AllStar node in Darwin into a Hotspot
so you and Mal can instantly join our Post Morsum
Wednesdays,

rather than relying on Echolink.

voice callback on

You'll also be able to

use the various KiwiSDRs to listen in - | recommend

Paul VK5PH’s

lronstone Range network or lan VK1HF’s Snowline receiver.
recommend

Nic VK7WW’s

| also

80m Slow Morse training on Wednesday

evenings on 80m to get started - again, use the KiwiSDRs or use
Jordan VK3ACU’'s recordings on our website;

see the details in Other

News below.
e

David ZL2CUP
Wellington.

lives at Levin, between

Palmerston

North and

Like several others in our team, David is a priest;

also

like several, David lives in a mobile home and guess what... enjoys
QRS!

Amazing

how many of our team share the same

vocation or hobbies.

interests, be it

| look forward to hearing you on when the band

opens across the Ditch David.
e

Peter VK6YSF

has been listening-in to our Post Morsum

callbacks on

Wednesdays,

and finally took the /f you can’t beat ‘em.... option.

Peter is a keen home-brewer - designer and builder - and also has an
outstanding website that I’ve used for reference for UNUN,
Tee and ZS6BKW

Marconi-

antenna design in the past: http://vk6ysf.com/

is also one of the builders of the Southern

Peter

Electronics Group’s VK6SEG

KiwiSDR at Hoddys Well, which | use every week on the net, and have
featured images about in the past.

Welcome

Peter... the journey

ahead is into a new and un-charted area which if the bug bites, could
well be somewhat addictive... ask any of our 240+ team members!
e After along absence (20+ years) and only a little experience with CW,
Adam VK4IM told me that I'd like to learn more - and feels that our
group and newsletter may be the way to help him along.
doubt about that mate!

Adam

heard about CQQRS

| have no

via the VK Slow

CW FaceBook page and also stumbled across our weekly Post Morsum
net recently on the VK6 AllStar network; none of those scared him
away, and he’s now one of us!

We'll feature a bit about Adam

in next

week’s RagChew.

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@agmail.com

Patrick
VK2IOW
Milthorpe NSW

John
VK2RU

Richard

Lance
VK7TO

on a track
somewhere

non impediti ratione cogitationis

Nigel
G4RWI
our other grey

VK6HRC
Padbury WA

nomad

Reports

Margate TAS

& 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 59 stations heard by 50 members

of our

team on Tuesday:
CQQRS Team

Member

Qso

QSO

QsoO 4

Qso5

QSO6

VK3MJ

VK3DBD

VK3MJ

VK4PN

DL3YZ

Worked 20m)

VKATJ

VK3WOW |

VK3ADT |

VK3DRQ

VK/G4RWI

|Worked 40m}

VK3KLE

VK7TA

VK2IOW |

VK3DBD

VK/G4RWI | Heard4om}|

ZL1HJ

VK1CT

Heard on air

VK2DI

Heard on air

VK2DLF

Heard on air

VK2EBN

Heard on air

VK2IK

Worked 40m!

VK4OLB

VK3ACU

VK6RR

VK3KLE

VK2IK

Heard 40m |

VK2XU

VK3DRY

VK5AX

VK6XC

VK2IOW

[Worked 40m}

VK3TBR

VK3DRQ | VK/G4RWI

VK2KI

Heard 20m

DL3Y7

VK3ADT |

VK3DRQ

VK3MJ

VK2KI

Heard 40m |

VK3ACU

|VK6MTF/P|

VK6RR

VK6HRC

VK2RU

Worked 40m)

VK/JZ

VK3ALC

VK6MTF

VK2RU

Heard 40m |

VK2DLF | VK3WOW |

VK2IOW

VK3TBR

VK2TIG

Heard 80m

VK7JZ

VK2EBN

VK3ACU

VK2WP

Worked 40m)

VK/JZ

VK3ACU

{Worked 40m)

7L1HJ

VJOMTF

VK2IK

VK3ADX

{Heard on air

VK3ALC

Heard on air

VK4PN

VK2DLF

VK7TA

VK3BSE

Heard 40m |

VK3BWN _

[Heard on air

VK3CAL

Heard on air

VK2IOW |

QsSoO7

QSO8

VKSNE

VK2IK

VK3DBD

VK3ACU | VK3WOW

VK3CMV _ | Heard on air
VK3DBD

Heard on air

VK3DRQ_)

[Worked 20m}

DL3Y7

VK3DRQ

Heard 20m |

VK3ADT

VK3DRQ_s

[Worked 40m)

VK2IOW

VK1CT

VK7JZ

VK5A0

VK3DRQ

Heard 40m | VK/G4RWI|

VK7TA

VK3ACU

VK40ON

VLrInpm

Una

Ati

Vly

ADKI

VK3TBR

VK5CT

VROUMiE

Pitan

VK3DRQ

Tried 40m | VK/G4RWI

VK3ECH

uit

|Worked 40m}

VRKGEFIW

VK3KLE

VK3ECH
VK3ECH =

Heard 40m | VK2IOW | VK3WOW |
|Worked 80m)
VK3MJ

VK2DLF

VK2IK

VK1CT

VK3KLE

Worked 40m]

VK3MI

VK3ECH

VK2IK

VK3KLE

Heard 40m |

VK3PP

Heard on air

VK3TBR

VK3CAL | VK/G3WS|

VK2RU

VK3DRQ

VK3ALC

Heard on air

VK3WOW

|Worked 40m) VK2DLF | VK3ADX

VK3WOW

Heard 40m]

VK3ALC

VK5A0

VK4AW

Heard 40m | VK3BGN | VK6OMTF

VK4EV

Heard on air

VK40OLB

Heard on air

VK4PN

Worked 40m)

VK2DLF

VK4PN

Tried 40m

KF/7/WX

VK4PN

Worked 80m|

VK6NKL

VK5AO
VKSAV

Worked 40m}
Worked 40m}

VK5NE
VK3PP

VK5CT

Heard on air

VK5FD

Heard 40m

VK6FN

Heard on air

VK6GX
VK6GX
VK6HRC)

VK5AV

ZL1HJ

VK1ICT

VK2IK

VK3ALC
| VK3BWN |

VK5CT
VKOMTF

VK3DRQ,
VK3MJ

VK2IK

VK2IOW | VK3DRQ |

Worked 40m}

VK6JDM

VK6FN

Heard 40m |

VK5AO

VKSNE

VK6RR

[Worked 40m}

VK6FN

VK6RR

VK6KHZ | VK6MTF
VK6KD

VK6HRC

Heard 40m |

VK6GX

VK6JDM

VK6JDM =

|Worked 40m)

VK6FN

VK6GX

VK6JDM

Heard 40m | VK6KHZ |

VK6KD
VK6KD

Heard 20m | JIZ2MED
Tried 40m | VK6MN

VK6KD

Worked 80m)

VK2ZIOW |

VK3TBR

VK6NKL
VK6XC

VK6RR

VK3KLE

VK3TBR

VK5A0

VKSNE

VK7JZ

VK6KHZ
VK3ACU

VKOMTF

VK6KD
Heard 80m | VKAPN
VK6KHZ = |Worked 40m) VKGHRC
VK6KHZ = | Worked 80m) VKGHRC
VK6MTF/P_ | Heard on air
VK6NQL

Heard on air

VK6NU

Heard on air

VK6Ql

Heard 20m)

VK3MJ

VK3DBD

VK6éQl

Heard 40m | VK6HRC

VK6FN

VK6KHZ | VK6JDM

VK6RR

VK3ACU

|VK6MTF/P)

WKICT

VK6Ql
VK6QI

Heard 40m | VK3DRQ |
Heard 40m | VK3BWN |

VK6NU
VK5A0

VK2IK
VKSAV

VK3KLE | VK3ECH
VK3MJ
VK4PN

VK6WE

VK7JZ

VK3CMV

VK6KHZ |

VK6MTF

DL3YZ

VK3ADT | VK3DRQ |

VK6QI

Heard 80m |

VKA4APN

VK6NQL

VK6RR

Worked 40m]

VK6FN

VK6HRC |

VK6RR

Heard 40m | VK3ACU | VK3DRQ

VK2IK

VKV7JZ

VK6RR

Tried 40m |

VK6WE

Heard on air

VK3ACU

VK6XC

Worked 40m}

VK6KHZ

VK3XU

VK3MJ

VK6XC

Heard 40m |

VKG6GHRC |

VK6JDM

VK6GX

VK6XC
VK7JZ
VK7JZ
VK7JZ

VK7TA

Worked 40m} VK3CAL

|VK/G4RWI

VK7TA

Heard 40m |

VK2EBN

7L1HJ

Heard on air

VK7JZ

VK7TA

VK3DRQ
VK2WP | VK2IOW | VK3ADX

VK4EV

VK3MJ

Also on this week was Scotty VK4BRO

VKAICT

VK3KLE | VK3DRQ | VK3ACU

and Ketut VK3BWN,

both of whom

were very sorry to report that life got in the way, and they didn’t get to
submit their reports in time.
John VK2RU

Sorry gents - but the web form closes so that

and Patrick VK2IOW

can do their magic, in time for newsletter

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

Net;

the comments

(submitted via our webform

in the team

members’

bit.ly/COORSNET ) follow.

The comments

compiled for us by the clever software built by Nigel G4RWI
was perfected by Patrick VK2IOW.
for the work, and to every team

mmnn

—s

some

were

and the layout

Thanks again to Nigel, Patrick and John

member who submitted a report OU

=—

reports

From

Mike

DLSYZ

at stuttgart

[20m]
Today condx on 20m were great.

The band was quiet, and

the DX window was open for quite a long time. | was an S5
into the famous

Ironstone SDR at 7:00 UTC

my last chat this morning with David VK3DBD
our signals still were easy copy.
these stations this Tuesday.
pleasure.

already, and on
at 9:10 UTC,

So it was fun to work all

Thanks to all callers and listeners, it was a great

73 Mike.

From Donald VK6JDM

at 20 km west of Esperance

[40m]
| was using a 5 watt paraset which uses a 6v6 crystal
oscillator keyed at the cathode as the transmitter. |

managed to have 2 QSO's. One was with Max VK6FN
whose multi-null antenna usually cannot hear me when |
use 100 watts. Both Max, VK6FN

and Phil, VK6GX

noted the chirp of the transmitter which | guess is
inherent in a transmitter that is really just an oscillator being turned on and off by

keying the cathode to ground.
East coast signals were weaker this week.

From Jordan VK3ACU

at Meredith

[40m]
| was running 2 watts on the internal battery on the
FT818 with no CW filter installed. Hope to have a bit
more time next week

From David VK6KD

at Ballajura WA

“061 —
ate

of activity

40m

with

lass

OSR

than

last week

bree

LER

Peak

vee,

sending speeds were too fast for me to copy accurate
callsigns unfortunately.

More practice at my end

| guess.

At one stage | confirmed my CQ calling on 40m was
getting into the Ironstone SDR

in SA.

Good

indication of

conditions at the time.

[80m]
80m opened
get a QSO
boat.

up for a short time but found more activity on 40m tonight.
in with Morgan

(VK6MTF)

Chat group suggested

translation.

on 3.555 while he was floating around

Morgan was in Albany, which

Good contact between Ballajura and Albany.

From Tim VK5AV

Managed

in his

| may have missed

in CW

73s to all.

at Mount Gambier

[40m]
Late to start again tonight. Good
worked, some QSB
VK3PP

signals from the 4 stations |

evident at times. Great to work Matt

again from Hamilton who is in the early stages of

morse code journey. Also my first VK6 since being part of this

group in Morgan VK6MTF, who was in a POTA park | believe.
Ketut VAK3BWN

and Mark VK3MJ

were very good sigs here. |

will be MIA for next couple of weeks as | will be away for work, but will try and listen
in through Kiwi SDR's and provide a report.

From Wal VK2WP

at Bathurst NSW
[40m]

Despite much calling no more responses. Noticed a

lot of

lightning storm activity on the eastern seaboard.

From your editor Mark VK6QI

at Port Albert Victoria via the VAKGSEG

KiwiSDR at

Hoddys Well WA.
[1

om]

Lai,

aN.

This week Elizabeth and

| found ourselves at

Port Albert, a nice little spot in South
Gippsland Victoria.

We were on another

low-carbon

public transport only (nearly)

pub-packing

holiday, this time exploring the

Gippsland area.

How much

can we

squeeze into our backpacks?

Enough...

but

no radio this time (| had ordered a QRPLabs QMX

Promontory
National Park:

kit, but (perhaps luckily) it had

not yet been sent in my direction);

so | was

—

)

receive-only using KiwiSDRs for the net.

Not a peep heard from Edi DO2ZEMR on
15m this week unfortunately.

[20m]
Long path to Europe was percolating nicely for the DXperiment this time.
Mike DL3YZ was coming through OK into the VK6SEG

KiwiSDR near Northam WA,

although what I'd previously thought was auroral noise, seemed to be an intermittent
roughness in the receiver's tone, associated with jumps in signal strength.

Adjusting

both the receiver RF gain with the AGC off and adding front-end attenuation didn't
change the problem;

| sent a question to the SDR's Southern

Electronics Group

parents, Rob VK6LD and Peter VK3YSF (both of whom now get the RagChew
newsletter as it turns out).

[40m]
| listened on 40m at the start of the net this week - nothing
Electronics Group

KiwiSDR

heard via the Southern

near Northam, so we decided the time was right for a

nice walk around Port Albert.
By the time | returned, 40 was starting to jump in WA with a nice collection of WA
stations chatting happily to each-other.
When

| returned from the DXperiment on 20, 40m was opening from the West to the

East, and | tuned in to Morgan VK6MTF

who was activating a Parks On The Air

location at King River in Albany on 10 Watts, catching lots of interest;

the requisite number of QSOs

on CW

in only 35 minutes, and despite reporting brain

fade, went on for several more hours with the good
Lots of signals were coming

he'd achieved

band conditions.

in to WA, so | was kept busy enjoying copying the

QSOs.

| came across Michael VK3CMV

from Chiltern (one of the locations we'd

passed through by train on Saturday), and Ketut VA3BMW
have been Michael's first CW QSO;

reported that this might

if so, his fist sure sounded

confirmed, there'll be the hallowed CQQRS

First CW

QSO

good to me!

award

heading

Once
in Mike's

direction.

[80m]
80m was very quiet when
was sending TEST

| listened this week;

Sava VK4PN

- no-doubt checking the Reverse Beacon

propagation, before calling CQ.

at Mount Ommaney
Network for

Eventually Sava was found by Peter VK6NQL

Chittering, but it was bed time here, so | didn't hear if any others came

up on 80 this

week.

Also from your editor Mark VK2KI

at Port Albert Victoria via the Snowline KiwiSDR

[15m]
Unfortunately,
DO2EMR

nothing heard from Edi

on 15m this week.

[20m]
Really nice conditions for the longpath to Europe this week.

Port Albert
Plain in the NSW
Japanese

Mike

DL3YZ was a nice steady RSN

into the Snowline KiwiSDR at Dry

Southern Alps.

541

Unfortunately, he was competing with a strong

portable station on the same frequency - and of course, they couldn't hear

each-other.

However,

Mike responded to my comment

system on his website, and moved
let others know via our CQQRS

on the DXperiment reporting

up the band a couple of kHz;

| was able to then

WhatsApp Alerts group - so hopefully Mike had a

successful morning, while suffering through the flu.

[40m]
Kicked off on Tuesday listening on the Snowline KiwiSDR from our holiday location at
Port Albert, Victoria.

After the 20m

Very quiet... apart from the static crashes.

DXperiment, there was a good number of stations on the SnowLine

KiwiSDR, but | was still having trouble loading the web page on my MacBook.
has been a regular problem for me - lan VK1HF's
hiit

ie vary

varv

elaw

lnaad

MacRook

This

page loads easily on my phone,

- it treially

etalle

whila

Inadina

dacnita

RRA

WE YO

OWN

YIN

PVA

MANA

trying both the default Safari web browser and Google Chrome. In the past it's
sometimes sat loading for many minutes, then suddenly burst into life; no such luck
on Tuesday this week.
So | was juggling with my phone in one ear, and using my computer to monitor the

VK6 SDR.

Great to hear the band open so nicely from WA, with Morgan's portable

10 Watts, Roy and Richard coming through nicely into VK2.
However,

like last week when

| was using my phone with Bluetooth earbuds, the

phone dropped out every few minutes and the SDR

needed to be re-loaded, so in the

end | gave up and just listened to WA.

From Jim Semmens

VK7JZ

at Hobart

[40m]
Had a really enjoyable night.

Had been a day off work so a couple of

hours of CW practice during the day, then CQ QRS net with CWA class
in the middle of it.

cooked.

Not sure if by the end

| was warmed

both reporting high noise but it only proved to make

carefully.

up or brain

Had a QSO with Ron VK3AVA in Melbourne and we were
Then a QSO with Brian VK2EBN

me listen more

in Newcastle, Brian was telling me about

his visits to Hobart and | was chatting about how | used to visit Newcastle on the Iron

Ships, long before my adventure into amateur radio and CW. Lastly, after CWA
class had a good long QSO with Manny VK3DRQ. Manny ever the gentleman
offered to go slower, but when | explained | was OK with faster characters, just need
a bit of gap in between, he nailed it at exactly where my brain was at so | copied
most on the first go.

Other stations | listened to but they were mid QSO

as | was

scanning around so | took some notes, and when it sounded like they were deep in
chat | moved

on.

Really enjoyed the evening, thanks everyone.

From Peter Dann VK3WOW

BESO

Nid
- | work

at Blackburn

Mike

3VY7

oan

metres

not?

I'm

really

not

sire

Mer

PrP

NeM

ere

Certainly | called him. Certainly | could JUST

make out him calling

someone,

to end with a W.

someone whose callsign seemed

Improbably,

| heard him give a signal report of 579. My report to

him was RST 249. Going to file this under "Ghost QSOs" for now,

| think...

From John VK3BSE

at Beechworth

[40m]
| was absent last week as | went to the Albury Wodonga
ARC

meeting. Last night, 10/2, yielded 4 1/2 pages of copy

which included a

callsign VK/G4.

| think that's what it was,

heard a couple of times during the night. Did anyone else
hear a call sign like that? 73 John

[John, see further down for report by Nigel VK/G4RWI]

From Phil VK6GX at Gidgegannup
[40m]
Cramped for time, but two nice
conversational QSOs
Max.

with Donald and

(Many Happy Returns Max - 4

score on Wed

11th)!

CanSpeakers

From Roy VK6RR

Graat

hear

at Geraldton

eavervone

chattina

awav

dé

ee,

From Nigel VK/G4RWI

at Beautiful South Bowning

[40m]
First week operating solo from CQQRS
supervision. Band seemed

with no adult

pretty lively later on and it was

great to work some old friends.

From Manny VK3DRQ at Blackburn
[20m]
When

trying to QSO

QRM

conditions. We couldn't QSO

Mike DL3YZ we started with very

there we did enjoy our QSO.

until we QSY 2up and

Thanks OM

Mike. It was nice to

hear you again on 20m.

[40m]
It looked like there were plenty of station on air, but with
some

unusual readings. When | first hear VK/G4RWI

| thought he was on the other

side of the planet, very hard to copy, | call him, just in case but no answer was heard.
Yet, later on when
having a QSO

| was about to hit the sack, | could hear VK2IK RSN

with OM

Sava, but VK4PN

| did have a very nice and enjoyable QSO

592: he was

was no way to be copied.
with OM

Mait VKSAO,

his signal was very

strong and very stable.

From Patrick VK2IOW

between

Bathurst and Orange

[40m]
Coanditinns

saamed

anod

with

nlantv

of sinnale

shoawina

the waterfall.

gee

| had a few nice QSOs,

alternating between

straight key and sideswiper.

From Richard VK6HRC

at Padbury

[40m]
Enjoyed the better conditions and the faster paced contacts pushing
me to my limits!

As Mark posted on WhatsApp

| can't write that

fast, time to drop the pencil?

From Sava VK4PN at Mount Ommaney Brisbane
[40m]
Due to an early evening appointment | couldn't get on
air until 20:30 so missed EU DXperiment completely.
Still had a bit of fun working QRP on 40 m. Two
contacts stand out though, VK2IK who gave me an RST
of 599 despite my QRP

of SW. The second one was

with KF7WX who gave me an RST of 119 and did his absolute best to copy my call
sign but no luck. | am grateful to him for trying and VK2DLF,

VK1CT

and ZL1H4J for

digging me out of the noise.

[80m]
Last half hour of the QRS net | always work 80m, by this time of the evening VK6
path is usually open. The only signal | could see at Ironside Kiwi SDR was myself

and plenty of noise. FT8 slot was very busy as well so the band was open. It was
close to 23:00 hrs and | was ready to quit when a reasonable signal appeared on
lronside SDR. | thought may be one of regulars (Mark or Wayne ) and tuned to
frequency and to my surprise it was VAGNKL whom | never heard before. He gave
me RST of 339, at my QTH he was 377 with deep fades every few letters apart. It
took me three overs to copy that k between n and |. Fades were perfectly
synchronised to sink it into the noise repeatedly. | wonder why copying under duress
is fun rather than being frustrating?

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/COQORSNET

[m]
|

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 11" February 2026
From Richard VK6HRC.
Seven on the cantankerous Echolink hub this morning. ( AllStar link down )

VK6FN

Max

VK6QI

Mark

VK6KD

David

VK/G4RWI

Nigel

VK6LD

Rob

VK6HRC
and swl VK6MRB

Mulligan,

Max enjoying the better conditions again worked four on 40m with a notable rag
chew with Phil VK6GX at the end.
Mark called in from waterfront Port Albert Victoria,zneard heard twenty on 40m
and two on 80m making use of the Snowline sdr in VK2 and the Hoddyswell sdr
in WA also did a fine job of spotting on WhatsApp.
David caught up with Morgan VK6MTF doing a POTA stint from King river near
Albany WA on 40m then into swl mode as the pace from the enchroaching JA

stations more QRQ than QRS was a challenge ! Nothing heard on 80m.
Nigel solo in Mark’s shack worked four on 40m made some observations on the
antenna and high noise levels. With the motorhome work and extra cleaning
duties complete he will no doubt have time investigate more thoroughly.
Rob VK6LD/m was on his way to catch up with birthday boy Max.
| put out a call on 40m was spotted by Max and it was fast and furious for a while,
as | signed with Max Roy VK6RR came up and to finish off Ron VK6KHZ. Later
on managed to get a POTA contact in the log thanks to Morgan VK6MTF.
Thank you to all on last night and especially this morning for putting up with all
the Echolink drop outs etc.
73
Richard.

This Week’s Topic of
Interest

Very Slow Morse - aaargh!
(why it’s so hard for me to head copy very slow Morse code)
by Ross MONNK

Speed
Standard Morse sent at moderate speed (say, 20 wom) has a wonderful musical
quality that, whilst few radio amateurs these days can understand it, has attracted
many of them onto the long hard road of learning. You, dear reader, must surely
know what I’m talking about.
But Morse learners, and I’m sure that you can back me up on this too, don’t send

“musical” flowing standard Morse. They make many mistakes; they struggle with
timing so that their dits sound the same as their dahs; they run letters together into
weird fake prosigns; they run words together into strange German-like composite
words. Hopefully not all in the same Over though!
But those are not issues that affect only slow Morse - they plague even the faster
senders.
No, | want to address that hypothetical, perfectly sent, but Very Slow Morse. This
type of Morse is problematic because:

1. Very slow dits and dahs don’t sound like Morse letters.
This is one of the reasons why the Farnsworth technique is encouraged - the
pace is slow but the letters still sound like Morse.
2. It can be verv difficult to remember which letters have alreadv been sent.

—

wore

ree

rr =

ery

The letters sent first have a tendency to drop out of my short term memory.
Slightly faster Morse assembles itself better onto a ‘Scrabble tile rack' in my
mind’s eye.
3. It can be very difficult to tell where one word ends and the next begins.
Standard Morse sensibly requires a longer gap between words than between
letters, but with Very Slow Morse the gaps all seem much the same.
When I’m writing my decode down (or using a decoder), | can usually work around
items 2 and 3. And most learners try to send individual letters at a decent speed,
which makes item 1 less common. No, it’s when I’m Head Copying (or trying to) that |
notice these things most.
Of course, learner’s minds need time to process the thinking required so there’s
nothing they can do about any of this apart from using Farnsworth spacing. Don’t get
me wrong, I’m not complaining - it’s all part of the fun of Head Copying. And “/et he
who is without sin cast the first stone” anyway. | know a very experienced CW
operator who loves these sorts of challenges. | hope one day that | will too. In the
meantime, | hope you can understand why it’s so hard for me to Head Copy Very
Slow Morse (with the emphasis on “Very”).
I’ve deliberately been using the personal pronoun because | know that at least one
Ragchew reader disagrees with me on this. | encourage anyone with an alternative
opinion to speak up - maybe I’m doing something wrong!

If you have an article or two that you think might be of interest to our
readers, please let me know so we can Share more thoughts and ideas;
guidance on writing for RagChew,
material to Mark VK2KI:

see Articles below.

cgqqrsnet@gmail.com

My Workbench

Cheap Charge Controllers for Tiny LiPo Batteries
by Simon MOKBJ

Please email

for

Lithium Polymer (LiPo) batteries have revolutionised our hobby and while most
people want to find the biggest capacity for their budget, I've been eager to buy the
smallest possible size for a Morse-related project. I'll tell you about the project on
another occasion. Meanwhile, | learned a lot about LiPo charging.
| found a 30mAh 3.7V battery on
Amazon that fitted my project

perfectly. It's battery QRP!

| learned that a sensible charge

current would be 0.5C, so about

15mA. Now | had already bought
ten TP4056 LiPo charge controller
modules for less than a fiver from
an ebay seller. The only snag was
that they came ready to charge
a 18650 battery at a whopping 1A.
From a discussion with my favourite
large-language-model assistant |
learned about the risk of entrusting
charge protection to the final circuit
inside the battery pack. It's far safer to tell the TP4056 charging chip to limit its output
current. This is achieved by setting an appropriate value to resistor R3 on the board.
| was now ready with an 82K quarterwatt resistor.
The challenge was to remove the

factory-fitted part. | pressed my

soldering iron onto a desoldering
braid and 'wiped' the tiny surfacemounted component off the board. It
was far easier than | predicted. It was
a bit more fiddly to solder the new

resistor but | managed and it all

works.

The picture shows the old resistor
next to the Queen's nose!

And this picture shows
the new resistor, with the
old one next to the
modified board

Now

I'm all set for the

final project build. I'll
write more soon.

[Thanks Simon - looking forward to hearing about the project.]

QRP

Transceiver

From

Sava

VK4PN

Another QRP rig (an old project) being modified.
more out of the PA to bring it up to 5 Watts.

Trying to squeeze bit

The PA Is resting on my QSL

for insulation, cooling

fan removed to
optimise pot-core
inductor wiring.
Still a bit of tidying
up required, may be
ready for the next
week QRS Net.
Cheers,
Sava

VK4PN

What’s going on on your workbench?

If you Nave an article or two that you

think might be of interest to our readers, please let Mark VK2KI know;
email to

caqrsnet@gqmail.com

For guidance on writing for RagChew,

see Articles below.

QRZ?
Who’s
This

week

calling

me?

- Chris VK5FR

Who’s
from

on the other end?

Hallett

Cove

G'day Mark,
Thanks for the welcome!
| first heard of a ‘slow CW net' on 40M from Andy
VK5LA when we were activating Flinders Island (no,
not that one....this one https://www.vk5fil.com/).

have recently

Chris VKSFR

(January) commenced
Chapman

the beginners CW Academy with VK3QB,

and one of the chaps on course mentioned

Chris

it.

| currently only have a 40M dipole up in a challenging position in Hallett
Cove, VK5 and | did log into the AREG

KiwiSDR the Tuesday before last to

have a listen but found that they were still shooting along a bit quick for
me, and | only had a KX3 available so ‘mic fright’ (is 'keyer fright’ a thing?)
got the better of me and | just listened picking up some

random

letters

here and there.

| have subsequently made a contact with WA3SCM

Dave on VBand

and

made a real hash of it but Dave was very understanding and assisted me
through taking his time, even though quite late at his QTH.
him and thanked

| have emailed

him for his support and mentioned the CQQRS

net. As he

is trying to help newbies on CW

he has replied asking for some info on it

and | will reply to him after this and forward

him a link.

| did get this weeks newsletter and it was interesting (trying) to line up
some callsigns | was copying with the newsletter....now | understand why |
thought | was going crazy (not copying correctly) G4 callsign!
Since retiring | have been trying to slim down the social media so | have
ditched Whatsapp
‘on air' QSO

(amongst about five others) however,

I'll certainly consider it going forward.

| have a mixed relationship with CW

having struggled with it as a teen to

try to get a licence. When the Foundation
jumped

if this aids my first

on it only to be roundly abused

licence became

available |

in my first ever amateur contact by

an OM who let me know what he thought of those who didn't know the
code.
Nevertheless,

here | am

now and | could tell you that back story one day

involving a contact (voice) with W9KNI,

Bob Locher, owner of Idiom Press

and Bencher paddles at the time while operating as 4W6FR...story for
another time!!!
Anyway, thank you for the CQQRS

net I'm sure as | practice more and gain

confidence | hope to assault one of the teams ears and get that elusive
first CW QSO after some 40 years of radio (CB and amateur).
73
Chris
VK5FR

[Great story Chris, and I’m really pleased that a couple of our team have
helped steer you in our direction.

Most of our team will slow right down

when they hear that you're now to the key - and in fact, many of our folks
have had their very first CW QSO in the safety of our net... either randomly
or pre-arranged with one or two of our welcoming committee.

And oh by

the way... that bloke VK/G4RWI has been carefully selected and Is highly
paid to cause confusion among our group...

when | first came across hima

couple of years back, it took me about four goes to get his callsign... and |
even knew he had joined our team!

Now we’re best mates so I’ve been

forced to get used to his call - Hl! And as for Andy... and as for those guys
who told you about our net... well! Welcome again Chris - | know you'll
love it here among

QRZ?
From

Who’s

friends. ]

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?

Please let

Mark VK2KI know:
RagChew,

cggrsnet@gmail.com

For guidance on writing for

see Articles below.

Practice

This year we're 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 wpm

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 wpm.
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 Ants and the Grasshoppers’,
files are attached

and the MP3 and TXT

here -

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

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.

Foundation

License Training Videos

From Jules VK3JFP
Videos for Foundation

licence training are uploaded to

My
website www.julesworkshop.net.
Corrections and updates were made to the training material during the
video production.
https://www.julesworkshop.net/Amateur%20Radio%20Group/3%20Foundat
lon%20licence%*20page.html
The first five videos for the Advanced
Advanced

licence are also available.

licence videos will be uploaded as production continues.

https://www.julesworkshop.net/Amateur%20Radio%20Group/1%20Advance
d%20licence%20page.html
Any constructive comments

would

be appreciated.

My hope Is that this free material will encourage

new and younger people

to get involved with the service of amateur radio.

Jules Perrin JP
0457585974
VK3JFP
www.julesworkshop.net

Support

Re-starting the Journey
From

Nigel VK6NI from Denmark

Hi Mark,
Found your email in the soam otherwise would, have
responded sooner.
No problems,

it was fun going through the old stuff

looking for suitable photos!

| like the “postcard”

format of the pictures in the newsletter.

our veterans.

lam waiting on a Morserino M32

Pocket by Willi

OE1WKL to try and blow away the cob webs and
revive my CW, see https://grp-labs.com/morserino.
There has been supply issues with components,

etc

and my order is outstanding since September.

Will let

you know how it goes when | finally get it.

All the best and

73’s

Nigel
[Thanks Nigel.

Exciting news... fantastic and have fun

anything any of the team can helo with.

hoy if there’s

If you like, you could start now

pending arrival of your Morserino by listening-in to Nic VK7WW’'s CW
training on 80m on Wednesdays - or the recordings by Jordan

VK3ACU on

our website - see below.]

Drumming-Up

Interest

From Jeff WB2GDZ
Hi Mark,
| wanted to mention something that could possibly be of use tn regards to
drumming

up interest in CW.

| have been a CW operator for a long time (since 1968).

| realize that there

IS NO practical use for it, even in the ‘shit hits the fan’ scenarios.
other hand, it is part of history, and | certainly encourage
historic traditions alive.

On the

people to keep

| could even see a group that does smoke signals

on a regular basis for the fun of it and keeping that part of history alive.
CW was used a lot with wires before radio so | see nothing wrong with
doing it over the internet as well as radio.
even need a ham

In fact, young

people would not

license to learn the tradition of CW over the internet.

see nothing wrong with separating CW from the radio part of the hobby.
| have a limited setup here in Florida and can barely be heard in Australia
using CW.
That is why | have been using the two Remotehams

remotes in the VK6

area when joining your Tuesday morning groups.

But as you know, those

two remotes continue to have issues.

With one of them,

if the rig is on the

wire antenna the external tuner often does not function causing an
unacceptable high SWR.

With the other remote,

if the power is turned up

above about 25 watts the server connection drops and sometimes will not
come

back.

| am sure that these problems could be solved - if | lived in the

area where the remotes are located | would certainly help out solving the
issues so that the problems could be resolved.

| am retired and have

plenty of time and love solving problems like these.
The main remote | was using over here was the N4GYN

high power remote

on Remotehams

in Georgia.

Ray, the owner, mentioned that he Is getting

too old to keep his nice remote going and may have to eventually take it
down

and move somewhere

where he can get some

problems, which | find very sad.

help for his health

He has done a great effort in having his

remote on the air over the years for us all to use.

Anyway, | am aware that CW can be done

GRE

directly over the internet just requiring a low

ORP Labs Shop

| tee
Morserino
M32 Pocket

cost interface to the
computer.

Of course someone

could send with the computer keyboard and

listen by ear which in itself is not a bad thing. Personally, | enjoy listening
to well sent high soeed CW more than sending
getting arthritis in them

it.

My old fingers are

but listening to CW has always sounded

like music

to me (| am also a music lover).
Anyway,

| just thought | would put this idea out there.

with giving itatry.

| see nothing wrong

Sure, it is not ‘real’ radio but does that really matter in

keeping the CW tradition alive?
Thanks - Jeff Pohl (WB2GDZ)
[Thanks Jeff.

As it turns out, in RagChew edition 6/2026 we had articles

from David VK5PL and Ross MONNK about the VBand internet CW system,
and further down in this edition David has written more about how it’s
keyed.

The QRP-Labs Morserino-32 Pocket mentioned above by Nigel

VK6NI/ can also be used on VBand./

Morse Training

Net

Our team

Nic VK7WW

member

every Wednesday

at 7pm

runs an on-air Slow Morse training net

EDST on 3580 for 30 mins. He uses the callsign

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

learned Morse code with the

Support of Nic, and the weekly training session
comes

highly recommended

for anyone who

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

Eastern

you'll hear lots of the

CQQRS team on that net. Jordan VK3ACU has

Sea
—_

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

along and join in on Wednesdays.

including

group to follow the action, or just come

eee

SOUTHERN ELECTRONICS GROUP

oer

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.
Call in on VEGRAA Mt Barker 70cm repeater — 439.950MHz (-7.00MHz offset)

Southern Electronics Groupinc.

Update

from

wew.hamradio.org.au

vk6srathamradio.org.au

Europe

From our DXperiment Coordinator,

Mike DL3YZ

Hi Mark.

Carlos CT7BPZ

has received his Elecraft K3 100 W radio and is getting to

explore it this week. We tried to make contact, but he didn’t hear me for
some

reason. | heard him quite well, but a little off-frequency. Think he will

eventually be with us on the net
next week.
| also met another operator Paolo from Bologna, Italy who has showed
interest in joining our gang.
| looked at proppy, and saw that for them short path would be their
preferable
DX window to Australia / New Zealand,

but that would

UTC.

When looking at the map, from Italy

Think its very late for your side.

be around

17:00

or Portugal
to Australa there is only the Middle East in the way, the rest is water, and
the distance is shorter too. Funny, I didn’t expect that this sight
difference in location would be that significant. Great hobby, always

something to learn.
path somehow,

So I think Carlos and Paolo cud also make it long

but their DX window will be really short compared to DL-

VK which was open for almost 2 hrs on Tuesday.
Do you think there would

be interest in the community to

have a short path time-slot as well ?
73
Mike DL3YZ
CQQRS

DXperiment Coordinator

Stuttgart, Germany
[Thanks Mike - it’d be great to have more European and UK operators on
the net - so keep up the good work.

I’m keen to see a local Region 1

CQQRS net similar to ours if we can get enough interest going there.
me know Paolo’s details if he’s interested in what we’re doing.

Let

For the

current short path time, yes 1700z is 0400 in the East, 0100 in WA but 6am
in New Zealand.

So if any of our team are interested in trying some early

morning European QRS on 20m

via the short path, please let us know

cqgrsnet@gqmail.com/

THE RADIO BULLETIN
a

Updating Articles

USBRig

14/10/2025 - 3:01 PM

(CALA es
+

Aes te

iM AN As)

F
Ya a

;

programming

Fes
%

cables

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

A,
ae,

Subaru Coax Install

the,

Portable Power

15/04/2024 - 8:04 PM

10/11/2023

- 10:56

First CQQRS
From

Michael

Net
VK3CMV

QSO
at Chiltern

Hi Mark,

Yes, Tuesday’s QSO with Ketut VK3BWN

was my first QSO on the net and

my first on CW for about 10 or more years;
It was my favourite mode when

I'm returning to CW!

| first got my Novice licence in South

Australia, in 1980. | had life, house and kids intervene for too long. I'm very
rusty but am determined to change that.
I'm running an Icom 7410 into a Comet 300w manual tuner and then into
an extended,

end fed half wave wire on 80m, to give me all HF bands

above 80, including WARC

bands.

3" aluminium tube topped

by a squid pole with a wire zipp-tied to it. That

| also have a 14m vertical built of 7m of

doubles as the pole for one end support of my end fed and the vertical is
fed at the base with a remote auto tuner, desk top controlled with 12v
power fed to the tuner via the coax.

Many thanks for your welcome

and | enjoy reading your emails. | anticipate

being more active on CW as my concentration and skill improves.
Best regards,

Michael

VK3CMV

[Welcome back Michael.

| know you'll love it again like you did before, but

now you also have a wonderful community of mates, most of whom
bit of a natter.

No more

enjoy a

“UR 599 73 SK”.... unless you particularly like

that! And great that you're able to get on 80m too;

we started the net on

80m and only relatively recently took up 40m... 80m opens up nicely to
New Zealand, SA and WA on many Tuesday nets, once the D-layer
dissolves after the sun sets on the ionosphere.

We need more late

nighters on Tuesdays on &Om!]

Soft

Head

From

Igor VK6ZFG

Protection

The ball/oom-pom found on top of beanies was
Originally used by sailors to give them

head

protection
from the low deck-height used in sailing ships.

It was not a decoration, it

actually served a purpose.
73
Igor
VK6OZFG
From the WAHAMS

email group discussion about the original installation of the 6WF broadcast tower

- soft head protection was the go (not quite the Safety Thongs as we saw when we lived in KL;
image from Will VK6UU.

lf 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:

Readable
What

Compiled

have you

been

see Articles

cagrsnet@gqmail.com

Five
reading

on the track somewhere

lately?

by John VK2RU

The Art & Skill of Radio-Telegraphy
From Jens VK4PE
This is a good free classic public domain CW book.
| recommend

it because it is a good handbook for

beginners and experts.

The 3rd edition on this page Is free to download.
clearly marked
httne: //ananvar

as a Public Domain

nOhnr

11¢c/inday

Inside the pdf file it Is

book.

nhn/marca-conda/the-art-ckill-af-radion-

PiUupywisy f

RAY

WAY

NANA

AZT

TRY

LIA

NAAN

UAT OB

YING

OWI

WAM
I

telegraphy

The other option is a printed version. It is about $30 with shipping. | have
this version and it is one of my favourite books.

Today it is rare to get

something for free and it is a good read.
Cheers
Jens vk4pe

If you’ve read something that you think might be of interest to our readers,
please let me know so John and | can share more thoughts and ideas.
guidance on writing for RagChew,
material

to Mark VK2KI:

There’s

see Articles below.

For

Please email

cgarsnet@qmail.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 questions
are the ones

not asked”.

So here we go...

VBand

- Answers

In RagChew

Take

Two

6/2026, David VK5PL

and Ross MONNK

both provided

VBand

There’s no such thing...
This week's questions.

In a previous RagChew, a reader

MPa Eee nanneitiee at esnetnitesttarreared

asked about VBand - what it was and

Gal
cai eeai

how is it accessed.

We’ve been

flooded with responses... well, two
actually. So over to those with
knowledge.

answers to the previous question
about VBand

- what Is it and how

is It used?

This is VBand
From Dave VK5PL
VBand is a way of sending CW over the internet.
You can talk to anyone anywhere in the world if they are on the same VBand channel
as you. You don't even need a radio or even a

Well this week,

David has

licence.

Go here https://hamradio.solutions/vband/ to find out

provided more information about

about it.

this interesting option for CW
QSOs and practice via the
Internet.

VBand - continued
From David VK5PL
Whan

tieinn

VVnand

anart fram

not

neaadinna

a liranra

nr a radin

wou

alen dann

naad

a key!
“Then how am | going to send code?" you ask?
In paddle mode, use your computer keyboard:
* the [ key for dits and
* the ] key for dahs.
Left and right control keys can be used in place of the [ key and the ] key.
In straight key mode, use either of those keys to send.
But if you do have a key, you can buy a Vband adapter from the Ham Radio
Solutions website.

You plug your key into the adapter and plug the adapter into a USB slot on your
computer.
Beware of clone versions available on eBay, they may not work and are not

supported by the website.

Dave
VK5PL

Ross

MONNK

will also continue

down the log.

his series of articles about VBand

further

Thanks to both David and Ross.

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

How about a

Please let me know cqgrsnet@gmail.com

and I/’// pass

them to John VK2RU for compilation each week. ]

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

Prosign:

Meaning:

Stand

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

Tell us how you went!]

| Hear
You

never

know

Congratulations to Max VK6FN

Tell...
who’s

listening!

who turned 80 on Wednesday;

| trust that

Rob VK6LD who attended the celebrations brought one of the special
edition CQQRS

Birthday cakes!?

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

or even yourself...

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

Di-dah-di-dah-dit
Here we

So back to the CQQRS

Next Tuesday’s

Slow CW QSO

go.

practice net.

Net

Our CQQRS Group will be on as always on Tuesday from around 0600z until
about 1200z; see https://bit.ly/COORSWebsite and navigate to the Net
Details page for details.

Coordinated Universal Time
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.

4om

TO20KHz - 7O40KHz

3535kHz - 3560kHz

160m

1855kHz (-5kHz for QRM)

0600z to 1200z

7o00

7o20
l

40 mi

ORO

3500

CO ORS Net

3535

80 m EF
1800

Sle.

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 42 contributors:

DL3YZ,

MOKBJ, MONNK,

SWL-Adam, VK/G4RWI, VK2IK, VK2IOW, VK2RU, VK2TIG, VK2WP, VK3ACU,
VK3BSE, VK3DRQ, VK3ECH, VK3JFP, VK3KLE, VK3WOW, VK4AW, VK4IM,
VK4PE, VK4PN, VK5AO, VK5AV, VK5FD, VK5FR, VK6GX, VK6HRC, VK6JDM,
VK6KD, VK6KHZ, VK6NI, VK6RR, VK6XC, VK6YSF, VK6ZFG, VK7JZ, VK7TA,
VK8MC,

WB2GDZ,

ZL1TSS, ZL2CUP and ZL3ABX.

to our editorial team,

Nigel G4RWI

And a special thank you

(head of software development),

VK2IOW

(reports coordinator), John VK2RU

(spreadsheet man),

VK6HRC

(Post Morsition)

(bit wrangler).

and

Lance VK7TO

Patrick

Richard

Great work all!

€U CW on Tuesday,

Mark Bosma
VK2KI / VK6QI
Beautiful South Bowning

cqgrsnet@gmail.com

NSW

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

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