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RagChew

Edition 10/2026

This week your editor Mark VK2KI / VK6QI was back home after three weeks at South Gippsland
Victoria.

Link to our

Reporting

Editorial

New Team

Reports and

Form

Member
Comments

e Grey

Line, Where

e The

Kenwood

TS-530SP

QRZ?

Loss of a Great

e What
e

Art Thou?

Andrew

VK1DA
/ VK2DA

Mate

| Really Learned

Review

from

of the Inaugural

my CW Academy

CW Academy

Advanced

Oceania
e CWops
e CW

5 March

2026

Practice

Readers’

Image

Not I on the Olivetti

Morse Training

Re-sizing

e Chordal
e

Mount

Comments

Ducting

Software
Net
- Your Thoughts

Barker Buy,

Swap

& Sell - this Saturday!

e WIA Technical Advisory Committee
e

Faint Beeps

BAREC

Presentation
on the 2m

Hourglass Antenna

News

Course

Course
run in

RSS

Pub-Packing
e

Prosign

of the Week

Di-dah-di-dah-dit
About the CQ QRS

Group

Dah-di-dah-di-dah
Boy oh boy!

| nearly fell off my chair when

by John VK2RU
QSO

net.

from the reports of this week’s CQQRS

99 stations

phenomenal!

| saw the spreadsheet produced

heard

by 60 team

Well and truely smashed

Slow CW

members!

Practice

This is

our record from two weeks ago of

73 stations reported by 55 members.
Obviously conditions were sensational

but for at least 60 of our team

members to have been on air was unbelievable;

on behalf of all of us who

benefit from our net as a learning experience, thank you one and all!
And to add to the joy, I’ve just been looking at the spreadsheet that John
VK2RU

compiles from the weekly reports - amazing!

of our members’ written reports are just great;
time to make some comments

And what’s more, all

thank you for making the

about what happened... and to make them

interesting as well.
| commend

the reports for your reading pleasure!

This week Ross MONNK
article.

has graced us with yet another thought-provoking

His target this week is questioning the normal

refraction model of

HF propagation,

postulating that the grey-line propagation

phenomenon

may be caused

by chordal ducting - a topic he’d tackled previously.

I’m

really hoping that readers will be motivated to comment on Ross’ thoughts,
and/or perhaps add their own experience of grey-line propagation;
started the ball rolling with a few seed thoughts.
work as much

I’ve

| hope you enjoy Ross’

as | do.

Also this week we've received three reports about the CWops
Academy

conducted

everyone;

Chris will be chatting to some of the candidates in the up-

coming Zoom
comments

by Chris VK3QB that’s just finished.

Oceania CW

videoconference

Very nicely done

meeting, and | hope that, and the

in this newsletter will motivate more people to take the plunge

and have a go at some non-QRS skill-building.
On a different topic, those who have made the time to read some of the
doctrine about our CQQRS

Slow CW

because we’re trying to encourage

Practice QSO

net may recall that

people to have a go, make some

mistakes, but learn along the way, that some of the etiquettes are waived
by necessity.

For example,

no one owns the frequency they called CQ on -

so if Someone jumps in and grabs the station who responded to your CQ,
well so be it. Number one, we’re trying to encourage people to have a
go... the etiquette can wait and will be learned in good time!
exception to this waiver of course is our DX team
usually struggling with huge QRM

The

in Europe - they’re

levels as it is, and Just moving off

frequency is very difficult for them - so if Someone

calls you on their calling

frequency - please issue an “UP 2 UP 2” and QSY.
But there is one etiquette that | would

like to start encouraging - please

avoid tuning-up on exact kHz frequencies.

More of our mob use the exact

1kHz frequencies in our net rather than the in-between frequencies.
nothing else, it makes

receiver tuning by new operators easier - those not

familiar with the CW netting procedure for their equipment (which can be
very difficult by ear with weak signals) can get it right most of the time if
they use the whole kHz frequencies when tuning-in another station.
Combine that with the fact that propagation,

local noise, the normal

long

QRS overs, etc means there’s often accidental tuning-up on the
frequencies being used for QSOs.

Remember - even if you have a so-called

automatic Antenna Tuning Unit, when you press Tune, your transmitter will
put out a carrier on your VFO frequency.

Those of us with either Pi-coupler

output stages, manual antenna couplers, or both, need to spend many
seconds tuning up - again - likely causing interference to those struggling
to have a QSO on your VFO frequency.
So something to keep in mind

please:

tuning-up on whole kHz frequencies.

if you can, please try to avoid
Nip up 500HZ - yes, you'll still cause

interference if there happens to be stations you didn’t know about, but at
least you most likely won’t be dead on frequency, so they'll have some
chance of resolving the station on frequency and ignoring the carrier
500Hz away.

Something to think about.

So back to our enjoyment.... | hope you find lots to enjoy in this edition of
RagChew, thanks again to every one of the 46 people who contributed this
week.

New

Team

Member

Welcome this week to Graeme VK3ZGA who hales from Mount Dandenong.
Graeme

is a fan of restoration - especially classic variable capacitors,

vacuum tube devices and other similar works of art.
nudged

our membership

over 250 subscribers!

Graeme

Welcome

has just

Graeme and |

hope we can help develop yet another passion!
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 ~

cqqrsnet@gmail.com

Patrick

John

Milthorpe NSW

on a track

VK2IOW

VK2RU

somewhere

non impediti ratione cogitationis

Nigel
G4RWI
our other grey
nomad

Richard
VK6HRC
Padbury WA

Lance
VK7TO
Margate TAS

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 99 stations heard by 60 members

of our

team on Tuesday:
COQORS Team

Member

qQgsoi

Qso

Qso 3

Qso 4

Qsos5
ZL3TK

DL3YZ

Worked 20m

VK2IOW

VK3DRQ | MONNK|

VK7TO |

MOKBIJ

Worked 20m

SN31ROT

VK2IOW | VK3DBD |

VK5CZ

VK3DRQ_ |}

DL3YZ

MOKBI]

Worked 40m

G3DJB

MONNK

Worked 20m

VK2IOW

MONNK

Heard 20m

VK2KI

VK1A0

Heard on air

VK1CT

Heard on air

VKIWA

Heard on air

VK2ASB

Heard on air

VK2DLF

Worked 40m

VK2EBN

Heard on air

VK2GR

Heard on air

DJSFM

VK7WW

VKACEG | VK3DRQ

MOKBJ

MONNK

DL3Y7

MOKBJ

VK5CZ

Qso6

Qso7

Qso

VK2IK

Heard on air

VK2IOW

Worked 20m

VK2JCC

Heard on air

VK2KI

Heard 20m

MONNK

VK2KI

Tried 20m

DL3YZ

VK2KI

Worked 40m

VK3PF/P

VK3ACU | VK2WP | VKIWA |

VK5CZ |

VK2KI

Heard 40m

VK2ASB

VK3DBD | VKGHRC | VK3DRQ]

VK2WF | VK7ME |

VK3FJ

VK7JZ

VK2KI

Heard 40m

VK2DLF

VK3DA

|} ZL3ABX | VK3XU |

VK2GR

VK2KI

Worked 80m

VKSET

VK2RU

Heard 20m

VK5XDX

VKOWX

VK2RU

Worked 40m

VK3CMV

VK3PF

VK2RU

Heard 40m

VK3BWN

VK3ACU | VK4CEG | VK2DLF

VK2TIG

Heard 40m

VK3ACU

VK2TM

VK/TO

N1FG

| VK2WP | VKIWA |

VK3PF |

VK5CZ

VK2Kl

VK5CZ

VK2Kl

VK5IP

VK7JZ

VK5ET

VK7ZJZ

VK3IF

VK2GR |

VK1AO

VK2WE

Heard on air

VK2WP

Worked 40m

VK4CBP

VKIWA |

VK2KI

VK3ACU

Worked 40m

VK6MTF

VK7WW |

VK2JCC | VK3JFR | VKIWA |

VK3ACU

Worked 40m

VK7JZ

VK3ACU

Worked 80m

VK3ECH

VK3BWN

Worked 40m

VK3DRQ,

VK5ET

VK2GR

VK3BWN

Heard 40m

VK3ACU

ZL3TK

VK2RU

VK3BWN

Tried 40m

VK6XC

VK3CLD

Heard 40m

VK3BWN

VK7WW | VK3KEV | VK3ACU } VK2JCC | VKACEG |

VK3SCMV

Heard on air
DL3YZ

VK3DBD

Heard on air

VK3DRQ

Worked 20m

MONNK

VK3DRQ

Heard 20m

VK2IOW

ZL3TK

VK3DRQ,

Worked 40m

VK3BWN

VKGHRC | VK2DLF

VK3DRQ,

Heard 40m

VKACEG

VKS5ET

VK3ECH/MM |

Worked 40m

VK5CZ

VK7JZ

VK3ECH/MM

Heard 40m

VK3DRQ,

VK3ECH/MM

Tried 40m

VK3JFR

VK3ECH/MM |

Worked 80m

VK3ACU

VK3ECH/MM

Tried 80m

VK7TO

VK3JFR

Heard on air

VK3KEV

Heard on air

VK3KLE

Heard on air

VK7JZ

VK/TO
VK2AS

VK3 WOW

Tried 40m

VK3BWN

VK6MTF | VK3DRQ}

VK4CEG

Worked 40m

VK2DLF

VL2ASB | ZL3ABX

VK4CEG

Heard 40m

VK3ACW

JM8CHD

VK4CEG

Heard 40m

VK3DRQ

VK3ACU | VK4CBP |

VK3DRQ | VK3ACU | VK4CEG |

VKSET

VK2DLF | VK3DRQ]}

VK7JZ

|VK3BWN)

VK5AAR | VK3DBD
VK7WW |

JA4EVH | VKICTK |

VK3IFR | VK2WP |

ZL1PX

VK4EV

Heard 40m

VK3BWN

VK4IM

Heard 40m

VK3ECH/MM |

VKSAV

Worked 40m

VK6OMTF

VK3JFR

VKSAV

Heard 40m

VK3BWN

VKSAV

Heard 40m

VK3DRQ

VKGHRC |

VKS5SCZ

VK5CZ

Worked 20m

MOKBJ

VK5CZ

Worked 40m

VK3ACU

VK3ECH

VK7JZ

VK5CZ

VK7JZ

VK5IP

VKSET

Heard 20m

VK2IOW

DL3YZ

ZL3TK

VKSET

Worked 40m

VK3BWN

VK6FN

VK7JZ

VKSET

Heard 40m

VK3JFR

VK3ACU | VK3DRQ]|

VK5ET

Heard 40m

VK6MTF

VK7WW | VK4CEG | VK6DS

VK5ET

Worked 80m

VK2KI

VK5KFG

Worked 40m

VK3KLE

VK5KFG

Heard 40m

VK2DLF

VK3MJ

VK6FN

Heard on air

VK6HRC

Worked 40m

VK6MTF

VK3DRQ, | VKGKHZ

VK6HRC

Heard 40m

VK6FN

VK5ET

VK6HRC

Worked 80m

VK6KHZ

VK6JDM

Worked 40m

VK6NW

VK6JDM

Heard 40m

VKSMGL

VK7WW | VKGAOI | VKIMT

VK6JDM

Heard 40m

VK6MTF

VK3ECH | VK2DLF |} VK6WE |

VK7JZ | VK6GDS |

VK6KD

Worked 40m

VK6NW
VKGHRC | VK6MT | VK6WE |

VK6XC

VK6KD

Tried 40m

YHOONN

VK6KHZ

Worked 40m

VK6MTF

VK6KHZ

Worked 80m

VK6HRC

| VKGNW |

VK2DLF | VK2ASB | VKGHRC}

VK2GR | VK1ICT

VK5SET

VK3CZ |

VK6FN

VK7JZ | VKSAV |

VK6FN

VK6MT

Heard on air

VK6MTF

Worked 40m

VK3DBD

VK5AAR | VK6KHZ | VKGHRC | VK6AJP |

VK6MTF

Worked 40m

VK4MGL

VK3ACU | VK6NU | VK3PF | VK1AO

VK6MTF

Heard 40m

VK3DRQ

VK5CZ

VK6NU

Heard on air

VK6NW

Worked 40m

VK6JDM

VKG6HRC | VK3KLE | VK6PZT | VK2GBR)

VK6NW

Heard 40m

VK3XU

VK6PZT

Worked 40m

VKENW

VK6P2ZT

Heard 40m

VK3KLE

VK6RR

Heard 20m

MONNK

VK6RR

Heard 40m

VK3BWN

VK6RR

Heard 40m

VK6HRC

VK6WE

Worked 40m

VKG6KHZ

VKGWE

Heard 40m

VK6MTF

VK6NU

VK6XC

Worked 40m

VK6KHZ

VK3KLE | YHOONN|

VK6XC

Heard 40m

VK6MTF

VK2ASB | VK2GBR | VK3DBD|

VK5CZ | VK6FN

VK6XC

Tried 40m

VK3DRQ.

VK7JZ

Worked 40m | VK3ECH/MM]

VK6MTF | VK3KEV | VK3ACU]

VK7ME | VK5CZ |

VK5SET

VK7JZ

Heard 40m

VK3BWN

VK3DRQ

VK7ME

Worked 40m

VK3FJ

VK7JZ

VK7TA

Worked 80m

VK2EBN

VKSET | VK/TO |

ZL2GD |

VK3MJ | VK6XC | VK6KD

VK2GBR | VK3MJ | VK6KD
VK3DRQ | VKSKFG |} VK3XU | VK5CZ |

VK5ET | VK6GFN |

VK2IK

VK6NW

VK7TO

Heard on air

VK7TWW

Worked 40m

VK3ACU

VK2DLF

VK7WW

Heard 40m

VK4CPB

VK2JICC | VK2WP | VKIWA

VK7WW

Heard 40m

VK2BHO

VK6WE | ZLIANY | VK/ME |

VK8MC/6
WB2GDZ

Heard 40m
Worked 40m

JA6BWD
VK3MJ

ZLIANY

Heard on air

ZLIDRS

Heard on air

ZLIPX

Heard on air

ZL2GD

Heard on air

ZL3ABX

Worked 40m

VKACEG

ZL3ABX

Heard 40m

VK3BWN

VK3KEV | VK3JFR | ZLIDRS |

ZL3ABX

Heard 40m

VK3DRQ

VK6HRC

ZL3TK

Tried 15m

DO2EMR

ZL3TK

Worked 20m

DL3YZ

ZL3TK

Tried 20m

MOKBJ

ZL3TK

Worked 40m

VK3JFR

ZL3TK

Heard 40m

VK3BWN

ZL3TK

Tried 40m

ZL3ABX

VK7JZ

ZL3TK

VK5CZ

VK7JZ

ZLIPX

MONNK
VK3ACU | VK3DRQ|

VK4CEG |} ZL1DRS | VKS5SAV |

ZL1IPX

Comments:
John’s spreadsheet above shows the known stations heard or worked on
last Tuesday’s CQQRS

Net;

(submitted via our webform

the comments

in the team

bit.ly/COORSNET ) follow.

members’

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

[20m]

at Stuttgart

were

and the layout

Thanks again to Nigel, Patrick and John

member who submitted a report -

HU
From Mike DL3YZ

reports

The conditions were really fine again, but today the air was
literally burning with dozens of stations being on the air.
There was no contest so | wonder why. | was starting a
little earlier and found a good path to Tasmania and New
Zealand this morning. At the end of my shift, a VK2 station
was Calling me. But there were too many strong EU signals

overlaying, to have a chance to copy it; sorry.. Have a great week and thanks for all
your calls 73 Mike.

From Nic VK7WW

at Legana,

Tasmania

[40m]
| was trying a brand new out of the box assembled

sBitx V3

rig, which developed a problem - cycling through all modes
continuously, unable to stop it. Perhaps

it’s the pi inside!!

[80m]
Oe

Cheers to George VK2DLF

for sticking with me as | had

keying problems on the new rig. Ahhrgah!

From Ross

MONNK

at Exeter UK

[20m]

Each time | say to myself "How ridiculous to expect
your 20 watts to get all the way to Australia through
that pathetic 2.85 m whip antenna.

It'll never get

there. No way." But it does :-)

From Jordan VK3ACU

at Meredith
[40m]

Rieti

Great

ninht

40m

and

contact

ROM

hit the

aver

See re ee

Cre

horizon radar made

it tricky. QRP

activated AU-8140

Bamganie

ee Ce

ee re ee

5 W tonight. | also

State Forest that had

suffered from the recent fires.

Great to get many QRS

members

today (not included in

in the log for POTA

the night time log).

From Adam

VK4IM

at North Lakes QLD

[40m]

Lots of contesters about tonight but despite that
some good signals into Brisbane. VKSCZ

VK7JZ (599) VK3ECH/MM
VK3DRQ (339 QSB).

From Jim Semmens

(589)

(339) VK2DLF (599)

VK7JZ

at Hobart
[40m]
Wow,

big night, 7 stations worked and 2 heard,

at time of pen down
notes.

| had taken

Tonight was so much fun.

11 pages of
| could have

gone a smidge faster, but | did not want to

encourage speed demons to run me over.
Coming off the back of the CWA course | am
really pleased

| was asking for a lot less

repeats than usual, working more stations than usual, and just having a bucket load
of fun.

Thanks for those who were patient when

brain was in pause while thinking 'What am

| going to say next?'.

QRQ just a smidge and see if | can still keep up.

From Stan ZL3TK at Waitarere Beach
[15m]
Annarently

Fadi

DNONFMR

heard

145

| was a bit sloppy on the key, or my

Next week | will

Thanks all for a top night.

yee

but | did not hear him.
[20m]

Extremely lively with contest stations making a
very full and sparking waterfall.

[40m]
Now

have new long-wire, all-band HF antenna.

performing the old EFHW

Testing shows so far it is out-

cut for 80 m, due to much

reduced

losses rather than off-

set harmonic relationships. Indications were that trans-Tasman

conditions on

Tuesday were mediocre on 40 m.

[80m]
Called CQ until 1200Z but no signals seen or heard on 80 m, just the usual regular
bursts of QRN.

Even on this band, the SWR

antenna which was specifically cut for 80 m.

is lower than presented
The LDG

RT-11

by the previous

coupler at the top of

the tower is doing a remarkable job.

From Morgan

Flower VK6MTF

at Albany, WA

[40m]
Having no means

of operating at my temporary

QTH, | have been enjoying operating ‘Toyota
Corolla Portable’ from a POTA location for the
last few Tuesday CQQRS Nets. This week |
operated from Billa Boya Reserve (AU-8494),
tiny POTA

Operating using my Icom
an EFHW

for 40m and 80m. The antenna, manufactured

Antennas’ is 44m

park close to Albany in Southern WA.
10 W

into

by a Chinese company

IC-7300 and

'73

in length and was strung up between two trees with the feed point

at approximately 4m and the end of the wire at approximately 6m.
Conditions this week were pretty good with very low QRM
slight QSB.

in my location and only

The only exception being some strong radar signals on 40m.

| was pleased to log 13 QSO's,

VK6HRC, Jordan VK3ACO,

many of whom

| work regularly including Richard

Max VK6FN. It was great to get Jim VK7JZ in the log

despite some fading, probably as a result of my 10 W signal. | gave him a 599 for a
vary

etrana

and

claar

cinnal

intn

vuly

whi

Oni

wiwci

igi

icar

bau

ww...

Hopefully | will once again be maritime mobile in the next few weeks. Thank you to
Mark and his dedicated team for making the QRS

net happen. 73 de VKGMTF

Portable.

From John VK5ET

at Hope Valley

[40m]
Good conditions. Many stations heard.

[80m]
80, 20 & 15m noisy. 80m much noise & QSB, struggling to
copy QSO

with VK2KI

From Donald VK6JDM
Perth

| ca

2 York

20 km west of Esperance

F af

eHyden_

cn
‘ oe%
:

£5

i
vy

re
(A

Pasa

[
rsem:

40m

]

The 40 m band lit up, a radio
phenomenon that occurs on
.

‘Tuesdays and will eventually
4

become known as the Bosma
effect; a regular periodic
effusion of signals on 40
metres.

It will join other strange

radio phenomena
radio Luxemburg

such as the

effect, Max's 360 degree null antenna and long delayed echoes

the annals of mysterious things that happen in the world of wireless.
| was using just 4 to 5 watts from the Paraset that | have just finished building. The
transmitter stage is the most minimalist crystal locked Tx possible and does chirp but

the spectrum analyser shows it is otherwise clean. | had a Paraset already that had

been built some time ago by a chap in the superior islands to the east. It inspired me

to make my own replica. Collecting and using antique parts as much as possible
made the project interesting.

The Paraset was designed at Whaddon

Hall near Bletchley Park in the UK. The sets

were very compact for their time and became the main means of SOE
occupied

operatives in

Europe to communicate with the UK.

| was receiving on a homebrew set that is much easier to use than the receiver in the
Paraset which is a regenerative receiver with an audio amp stage. It has a 3.5 to 7.6
frequency range all in one band which makes

receiver tuning a job for those with

fingers more dexterous than mine.
Managed

to get heard by VK6NW

in Mt Barker and had a nice QSO,

| notice since the war in the Middle East began

that the "K" Russian

thanks Wayne.
beacon on 7.039

kHz has become a much stronger signal. | believe that beacon is in Vladivostok.
73, Donald

From Phil VK8MC/6 at Orleans Bay WA
[40m]
Using the Tecsun
time with a 10m

PL-330 again this week but this
piece of wire to assist with

reception. Good conditions in the west camped
under the partial eclipse. Great to hear enthusiastic
CW ops.

[80m]
Had a listen on 80 but nothing heard.

From Wayne

VK6NW

at Bridgetown

[40m]
The 40m

band was in reasonable condition so

managed

to work a few. | tried on 20m

and could

just hear Mike but then got swamped by a JA
contest that suddenly popped up. Nothing heard
on 15m from the EU folks.

[80m]
Had a quick listen on 80m

but was very noisy so didn't spend

much

time there.

From Simon

MOKBJ

at Wolverhampton,

[20m]
As we approach the equinox, long-path
propagation seems to be improving even
further. | had three VK contacts from home for
the first time. Many thanks to Patrick, David
and lan for the chats. Re-tuning the TS530SP for band-swaps

isn't a

still takes me five minutes.

trivial task and

I'd rather be

careful than fast.

From Stephen

Coote ZL3ABX

at Nelson New Zealand

[40m]
| heard Stan, ZL3TK, for the first time in ages.

he finished his QSO
confused me.

| called him.

| copied 'u2'.

When

| got a reply that

| satin silence

wondering what that meant, then | heard a VK calling
QRZ?.... so | figured maybe

Stan was telling me there

are two stations on the frequency, so | stopped

transmitting to let the others continue.

| later had a 'keyboard QSO' with Stan, and he

informed me that he'd been telling me to go up ‘two' (kilohertz).

He'd gone up in

frequency and called me... but | was unaware of it. Stan has taught me quite a bit,
and this was another useful lesson.
It was good to work Graham, VK4CEG,
using a QCX

QRP

transceiver.

again.

| have a QCX

in the hope of having a 2,400 km QSO
heard him | had the antenna plugged

When

| worked

him last week he was

also, so | set it up earlier in the evening

using our small, 5 watt rigs.

But when

into my bigger factory rig set to 7 watts and |

didn't want to miss the opportunity so | called him on that.

Next time maybe....

[80m]

Didn't hear a single CW

station on 80 m.

There was some fairly strong interference

and | saw a message on WhatsApp indicating that it might have been radar.

| sawa

sideband signal appear briefly in the middle of our recommended

band, but that's all.

Tha

enmea

hand

wae

ecrawdad

moetly

with

waak

cinnale

| haard

elawar

RAN

WAI

DDN

Morse, but did not clearly copy any call signs. I'd pulled my Xiegu G90 out of the
cupboard and set it up to give me the full 20 watts to try on 20 m DX contacts, but
didn't get the opportunity.

From Jeff WB2GDZ

in Florida (where | live) and

| was using the W8RJ

remotehams.com remote in Michigan for the contact.

[40m]
For me it's not evening, but morning!

Also, Mark (VK3MJ)

was very weak using the remote so | was listening to him
with a KiwiSDR

in Tasmania while transmitting from the

remote in Michigan.

This probably does not count as a

completed contact because of this.

From Manny VK3DRQ at Blackburn

‘

[20m]
| was very excited when
Stan just greeting OM

| heard after a long time QRT,

Mike. Stan was 572 with some QSB,

very FB.

It was a very nice starting on 20m with good signals coming
through and copying OM

Mike 552, never had | heard him so

well but that enjoyment didn't last long. Soon after
exchanging our reports, the band became INUNDATED wid QRM. My request
sending QRL, pse QSY felt on deaf ears and we had to abort our so enjoyable QSO.

[40m]
All the three QSOs

were well-enjoyed and it was also nice to hear from OM

Ketut

after some time in the quiet line.

From lan VK7TA

at Latrobe

[80m]
| had

ta an

aut

and

missed

the

net

axceant

| couldn't

haln

ery

checking to see if | could hear anyone with my new 80m
antenna. When
forgot where

| heard Brian | might have got overexcited and

| was, and used the paddle as well as the straight

key.

From David VK6KD

at Ballajura WA

[40m]
40m band was more active than other bands for
the period | was on air. Quite a lot of QRM and
small amount of QSB. | probably need to get on
air a bit earlier in the evening,

hihi. 73s all.

[80m]
Unfortunately, not much activity on 80m

From your editor Mark VK2KI

last night from my area in WA.

at Beautiful South Bowning

NSW

[15m]
| didn't hear Edi DOZEMR
have been Stan ZL3TK

on 15m this week, but | thought | heard DL3TK,

but it may

perhaps?

[20m]
When

| tuned-in and checked

Mike DL3YZ's DXperiment status page,

to see that Mike had already finished, and that Simon
frequency to tune around.
start of the DXperiment!
Anyway,

| then realised that once again

| heard Ross MONNK

peak in his QSO

| was surprised

had also left the

| had managed

to miss the

Bugger.
in and out of the noise with QSB, despite a

antenna feed-line problem here.
QSB

MOKBJ

At one stage

with a DL station.

| copied "XIEGU

likely

G90" clearly ona

| then listened to Mike DL3YZ chatting to

Ross, whose signal had dropped

into the noise.

finished, but he was down to RSN

311

| tried to work Mike after they

in the QSB;

Mike had responded

but | didn't

get a report, and shortly later he disappeared - reporting on his status page that I'd
been drowned by some QRN.

Meanwhile

| used our CQQRS

have another try.

He swung

Alerts page to tee-up with Simon

the dials on his mighty TS-530SP

MOKBJ

to come back to 20m,

but by the time | finished the attempt to work Mike, Simon was barely audible in the

noise - except on the occasional QSB peak.
with lan VKS5CZ.

| was pleased then to hear him hook-up

Considering the suspected antenna feed-line fault (see below),
heard anything at all on 20m.

Nevertheless, sounded

| was surprised that |

like everyone had some fun

exploring the long-path / grey-line propagation - see Ross MONNK's

article below on

his theory on grey-line ducting.

[40m]
If you'd read the reports from Nigel G4RW1I who

had been house-sitting at CQQRS

HQ in

Beautiful South Bowning for the previous weeks,
you may recall that before | left, we suspected a
fault with the 300 Ohm

TV feed-line to my 80m

double-extended Zepp doublet (the manual

Pi-

coupler that | use was tuning with different
settings to normal);

| expect one of the balanced

feed conductors had broken.

Also due to my stupidity, Nigel had tested the antenna-

side FET in my noise canceller, and confirmed that indeed,
Watts or RF.

canceller either.
Nevertheless,

it wasn't rated for 10

So not only did | have a dodgy feed-line, but no phasing noise
Amazing

that | got out and was heard by anyone actually!

| still managed

to hear and work a few people - although

that signals were well-down compared

others were reporting.

to the VK1HF

Snowline KiwiSDR,

| could hear
and what

Still, six QSOs and 10 stations heard across the evening was

good for me.
My last QSO

on 40m was with Lance VK7TO

who

had remembered

to post a

reminder about the lunar eclipse on our CQQRS WhatsApp Rag Chew group; |
reckon many of our team would have missed out otherwise, distracted by the on-air
activities.

Although

my antenna problem, and slow but deep QSB

made copy difficult

for me, | was pleased to hear Lance use our previous prosign of the month a
couple of times.

Lance

is a pretty experienced operator, so he probably knew that

one already, but | was pleased 1. to hear it in use and 2. to recognise it myself.

[80m]
As the evening progressed,
check 80m;

so when

| was using the A/B function on the Snowline KiwiSDR to

| heard John VKSET

sending his nice ambling CQ on 3550kHz,

| went through the motions of trying to match the odd feed on my two x five-eighths in
phase (with only half a balanced feed-line), and tried in vain to get the noise canceller
cancelling.

John was only RSN

232 with the QSB

so | ended

Snowline to get something out of the conversation.

up reverting to using

Thanks John.

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

KiwiSDR near Northam

[15m, 20m, 40m, 80m]
| didn't get much time to listen on the Southern
Electronics Groups’ Hoddy's Well KiwiSDR this
week;

there didn't seem to be much WA activity

when

| listened earlier on, until the lower bands

opened to the East.

| couldn't hear myself from

VK2 on 20m during the DXperiment, but then
again, who knows what my antenna was trying to
do?

KiwiSDR satellite view

On 80m when working John VKSET from home at Beautiful South Bowning

NSW

could see that he had a decent signal into VK6 so | attempted to bring up the SEG's
VK6SR
won

Remote at Jandakot;

unfortunately the Gremlin

In Charge of the Remote

- | couldn't even launch the Remote from the RCForb application, despite a

couple of tries.

Oh well, perhaps next week?

From Graham

Vayro VK4CEG

at Logan Village

Queensland

[40m]
Another enjoyable evening thanks.

| used my home assembled

QCXmini 5 watt radio and again impressed with its performance
hearing JA, VK7 and ZL plus many VK3 and VkK2.

From Roy VK6RR

at Geraldton

[20m]
Could

inst canvy

MONNK

hit

tinahle

call

him

eee

[40m]
Good to hear everyone chatting away. Regretfully due

to other commitments | couldn't join in!

From Richard VK6PZT

at Dalyellup

[40m]
Spent most of the evening listening on 40m and helping
my daughter get a doof picture of the lunar eclipse!!

[A doof picture?!

New word for me Richard, | guess | don’t have teenage daughters.

According to one internet source: ‘A “doof picture” refers to photographs taken at
Australian outdoor electronic music parties known as "bush doofs"’]

From Sava VK4PN

at Mount Ommaney

Patrick, VK2IOW

Brisbane

[40m]
Last Tuesday

| did not get on air at all. My conscience

prevents me from having fun while the war is raging on. Sky

over Tel Aviv is not fireworks and smoke over Teheran is not
from home stoves, bombs and missiles are raining down

civilians. People are dying and that is distressing. 160
primary Zeheal

girls killed in Iran no MSN

mention

here, total news censorship

Israel so we have no clue how many died there, this is awful. | cannot comprehend
how any mentally undisturbed leader can start a war. Two wars last century took over
100 million lives and we still have not learnt. For some

a while before | get on air again.

From Patrick VK2IOW

between Orange and Bathurst

[20m]
| didn't

stav

lona

Tiesdav

avanina —

reason

| feel guilty. It may be

OMEN

ree

worked only the 3 DXperiment stations of
Mike, Simon and Ross.

Conditions on 20m

were the best they have been in the last
few weeks and | had good copy on all
three, though Mike was the strongest as
usual.

| did try to listen for Edi, DOZEMR

on 15m, but did not manage
anything.

to hear

| heard Stan, ZL3TK calling Edi,

though without any response.
strong signal at my QTH,

Stan hada

Diag

Ras

oe ae

not that surprising since he is just aacross ; the ditch from r me

and my yagi was pointed SE towards New Zealand, long path to Europe.

From David VK3DBD

at Yackandandah
[20m]

At about 14036 kHz | Called CQ and had good 579 both
ways QSO

with FSGPE.

Then of course as usual, a

cacophony of callers popped

up when

contact and | escaped the QRM

| signed. DK8LG

by a slight move

case there might be one of the QRS

first

to 14048 in

friends around a quiet

freq; a CQ brought 9A2UU, followed by DK4AN, then a large
pile up.

In the background

| picked out a weak signal that seemed

to click in my

memory XZ and M3 and bits.

| use full BK-IN so do hear folk calling while |

transmit.

and the reply came

who

| sent Pete ?? M3 ?

back.

| have worked a number of times over a year or two.

Yes it was
Pete

M3KXZ,

Pete

goes off to work

early usually, sets up his vertical aerial by the side of his Jeep in a quiet spot
and radiates 5 watt from his FT 717.

| seldom

have a problem

in copying him,

although QRM

(of folk calling me without listening when | am in QSO!!) is the

bugbear.

had a reasonably good chat and | found out that he was actually at

home today with a piece of wire hung up in a tree (hidden as his XYL did not approve
of wires in garden) but it worked; he was about 439 and | got 579 back again.
on yer" Pete!

It was meal time. | signed but was called by OH9UA

"Good

and we had a

short QSO - well | don't hear Finland every day.

Then

it was time for a meal and some

14048 and found Simon

MOKBJ

50mins later | returned to the radio, looked on

with a 449 and 559 QSO.

Then

planted a ?> In my brain and we had a “rubber stamp" QSO.

was 449 at best, where the heck was 32?7; he sent me 599.
and got 599. | requested

his name and got 73 so | assume

599 at all (Surprise surprise!).

Afterwards

SZ30A

called which

They annoy me;

| supplied my name

he was not reading me at

| looked up and found it was Greece (they

are all SV's to me).

[40m]
Last but not least | had a quick look on 40m and was pleased to hear VAGMTF and
we had a nice QSO, which culminated in me looking at his interesting QRZ

page.

fellow Landrover Nutter and yachtsman too. Obviously more successful than Me in
that dept.

73 to all, David in Sunny Yack.

Post Morsum 4" March 2026
By

Richard VK6HRC

Seven on the VK6RLM

rpir and AllStar/Echolink hub.

VK6QI

Mark

ZL3MH

Murray

VK6KD

David

VK6FN

Max

VK6ENW

Wayne

VK6HRC
VK6MRB

Mulligan swl

Mark back home now with an ever increasing job list managed to get on and
have fun. Listened out for Edi DO2EMR on 15m unfortunately nothing heard and
on 20m one partial contact and was only just hearing Simon MOKBJ but no

problem with lan VK5CZ. On 40m worked six, heard10 and on to 80m to work

John VK5ET.
Murray checked in from his frosty property near Christchurch comenting on the
lovely green pastures and snow on the mountains some 70 kilometres away |
David listened to the activity on 20m and worked Wayne VK6NW on 40m later.
Max took delivery of a new Paddle made some adjustments and worked two on
40m and is very happy with his new toy .
Wayne worked eight on 40m heard some of DL3YZ Mikes transmisson through
the noise and nothing of Edi DOZEMR on 15m. 80M very noisy.
| worked four on 40 and one on eighty also listened out on the Ironstone Rage
Kiwi sdr and was hearing Mike DL3YZ, not a strong signal but easy copy.
Thank you all for being there last night and this morning.
Stay safe.
73

Richard

‘SK

¥ CC

Reporting
After next Tuesday’s Group, please remember to send me a
worked

list of who you

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.

This Week’s

Topic of

Interest
Grey

Line,

Where

Terminator

Art Thou?

Ducting

by Ross

Theory

MONNK

Grey Line, Where Art Thou?
From Ross MONNK
The sum total of my knowledge of propagation can be written on the back of a QSL
card.
Nevertheless, and in keeping with very many of my fellow license holders, that
doesn’t stop me speculating about it. My current speculations revolve around the
propagation required to make our DXpeditions happen during our beloved QRS Net.
There are two theories in play ("theories’, because | don’t think anyone really knows
what happens out there). Both are equally improbable. But then so too are QRP
contacts between EU and VK, and we've had those, proving that (like the Green
Flash at sunset) sometimes the improbable is true.
The theory that | first subscribed to involves the classic “bouncing off the lonosphere
and the surface”. I’ve written in Ragchew about this before, so regular readers may
remember this diagram:
¥

The sea surface on

London to Sydney
one

WN. surface

a mirror for radio
waves but the

| pericrtions

attenuation of my

lonosphere

measly 20 Watts at

F Layer

each of the seven

3000 kms hops

<
“.!

The Long Path
might well constitute

reflections

reflections would

o”

hoe

surely kill my signal

before it arrived in

as
___35pW

Australia.

160 _—i5OW

sow

305

The next theory was Chordal Hop, and I’ve written about that too. To quote myself:
“Chordal Hop propagation uses the night time F-layer. This is when the F-layer loses
its ionisation density and thus its ability to reflect signals back to Earth. At these
times, the F-layer may be just dense enough to reflect the signal but at a less steep
angle, causing the signal to hit the F-layer again as the layer dips down around the
curvature of the earth (a “chord” is a straight line between two points on an arc,

hence where the name “Chordal Hop” comes from). It’s a bit like laser light in a
curving fibre optic cable.”
Acs vnit

ean

caa

from

the

dianram

ahove

The!

ann

Path

travale

arrnes

the

ninht-tima

SA ey

SARE

CA re

Gee

side of the Earth, joining the two stations by the shortest route over the surface of a
sphere. For reasons that probably have more to do with poetry than science, | now
suspect that our DXpedition signals are experiencing Chordal Hop along The
Terminator, the fabled Grey Line, the boundary between day and night, dawn and
dusk.
The interesting thing about this “Terminator Ducting theory” (my invented term) is that
the position of The Terminator will shift as the Earth moves around the sun. So, in the

winter the Earth’s shadow will be wider, and then narrower in the summer, regardless
of which hemisphere you’re in. When | lived in Scotland (57.5N), there was no true
night in June - just an almost-darkness and the sky pale in the North. And in
December, it was only light from 8 am till 4 pm.
So, now that Spring is here and the mornings are getting lighter, how far away can
The Terminator be and yet still capture my DX transmission? And what about the
position of the opposite Terminator at the VK/ZL end?
Let’s assume that the average Skip Distance on the 20 metre band is 3000 km.

| hope you
can make
sense of this
diagram. It
suggests
that The
Terminator

8s.

should be
no more
than 1500
km away to
the West (otherwise my signal will be reflected back to the surface rather than

‘ducting'). The Earth rotates at 15 degrees an hour and my latitude is 50N.

Unfortunately, my maths is not up to the calculation and life is too short, so | asked
Google Gemini. The result is that | might reasonably expect the latest time for
Chordal Propagation to be 1 hour and 24 minutes after the passage of The

Terminator overhead.

At the time of writing, the period of my 'Civil Twilight' (when I’m under The Grey Line)
is heatween 6:28 am and 7:01

am local. Therefore mv latest time for DX (if mv theorv

eee

me meme
me me

mem

is correct) should be 8:25 am local (0825 UTC, 7:25 pm in Sydney).
Apparently, night falls slightly quicker in Australia because Civil Twilight in Sydney
(latitude 34S) is only between 19:34 and 19:59. So, if | send a “CQ VK” as late as
possible, The Terminator will be almost upon the Eastern seaboard.
Actually, this theory of mine must be a load of cobblers because DL3YZ Mike’s
radio is 1000 km east of here and he’s had successful DXpedition contacts as late as
0930 UTC. Maybe our signals do one bounce in the Atlantic before reaching The
Terminator. Maybe our signals drop out of the lonosphere when they reach the
distant Terminator (hopefully within 1500 km of their target). Anyway, whatever is
happening, it can’t be purely “Chordal Hop along The Terminator’. | do rather think

this one’s gone for a Burton.
Does anyone else indulge in these idle speculations? Or am | going round the twist?

[Thank you Ross - this ts brilliant;

you won't believe the joy your articles

bring to our readers, especially those who like me enjoy the challenge of
thinking outside the box!

| just wish that| could think this clearly when

questioning our poor understanding of such things like propagation.
The Scientific Process starts with questioning current understanding,
creating a range of alternative theories, then using experimentation to
disprove them.

I'm hoping this article (and your previous one on the topic

in RagChew 39/2025) will bring some comments and counter-views based
on different operators’ experiences and knowledge.

Comments to

cggrsnet@gmail.com please.
I'll kick off those comments

in Other

News

be/ow. /

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, see Articles below. Please email
material to Mark VK2KI:

cgqqrsnet@gmail.com

My Workbench

for

The Kenwood TS-530SP
From Simon MOKBJ

I'm very thankful for being introduced to the TS-530SP. Will GMOHKS, who

introduced it to me after we had a long CW rag-chew and email exchange, very

kindly sent me four S2001A final tubes and a 12BY7A driver, asking nothing for them.

The radio is pretty much immaculate.
Our editor Mark asked
whether this model
automatically corrected the
digital display to show the

zero-beat frequency when a
CW signal was correctly

s—@

tuned.

The answer is no -

= the display shows the VFO

. frequency on receive and the

CW zero-beat frequency on
transmit.

= | The display is reading about
_ 300Hz low, so | need to
___
recalibrate that.
The stability is pretty amazing. The VFO will drift about 100Hz in the first 15 minutes
of receiving and a similar misalignment of the VFO/TX frequency takes about the

same when transmitting. That's easily overcome for local QSOs by using the XIT
control while monitoring signals on a web-SDR.

I'm also learning to be a bit more relaxed about
precision and embracing the analogue era. | often
pause and wonder at the myriad of shifting voltages,
phases, charges going on inside the box. My Xiegu
G90 is brilliant but inside, it's all numbers!

One of the nicest features on the SP model is the IF
SHIFT control: "By adjusting two local oscillators in

perfect synchronisation, the operator can attenuate
adjacent-channel interference without altering the
audible pitch of the desired station. This creates a
tuneable "electronic window" that provides a
sophisticated level of analogue signal processing for
rejecting unwanted "splatter" or noise." It works
extremely well.

| picked up an AT-230 ATU to complement the radio
and an SP-520 speaker to sit on the shelf above. It

@ TRIO
cst= a tS
pe

—

“

all works nicely.

=~
‘§ee4
| | 44

ws
Cue.

)

| studied electronics from 1981-1984 but our course
and textbooks had all moved on from valves. | was
eager to learn at the cutting edge and didn't want to

bother with the old-fashioned stuff so | have only

had a basic understanding of valve technology. It's

_ been really fascinating to spend time learning about

, its development and | am in awe at the delicate

processes that went into producing these beautiful
and reliable things.

The worst of my cold is over, so | should be able to do my shift at Bletchley Park on
Saturday. Jo's still recovering from her broken arm, which she sustained in a fall on
the ice at the start of the year. We're enjoying the first hints of warmer weather.

Yesterday's high of 15C was the warmest of the year so far.

Simon
MOKBJ

[Thanks for the chat about your new shack-heater Simon.

My father (Bob VK6SB

now SK) bought a second-hand TS-520 from Doug VK6SP., not long after that model
came out; Doug (now SK) later became VK6OI, and Doug's son Lewis how has the

later callsign... is one our our team members. The 520 had a remarkable speech
processor which added an S-point on SSB; | bought my father's all-valve Yaesu
FT-200 which served me well for many years. Lewis had an FT-200 remote
controlled from the boot of his Mazda

Capella...

When | was old enough to drive, |

came across a huge solid state inverter which | bolted to the passenger-side floor
allowing my FT-200 to be bolted under the steel dashboard of my $300 HD Holden.
A friend of mine bought a 530 when they came out - one of the first mid-priced
transceivers to have a digital frequency display (there was a really ugly Uniden that
pipped Kenwood to the digital post - but the Kenwood was a much nicer bit of kit).]

What’s going on on your workbench?

If you have an article or two that you

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

know;

cgqrsnet@gmail.com

For guidance on writing for RagChew,

see Articles below.

QRZ?
Who’s

calling

This

Week

- Andrew

From

Canberra

and Yass

Weakening

me?

Who’s

VK1DA

/ VK2DA

NSW

in the onslaught of Mark’s

entreaties for items for the CQQRS
newsletter,

on the other end?

| have

decided

net

to write a few words

about my history with Morse code.

My Morse story started at the age of about 12, when
wanted

my older brother

someone to be on the other end of a room-to-room QSO.

He was

14 at the time and was building his Morse skills in preparation for the AOCP
exam

he would

be able to take once he turned

15.

Such were the rules at

the time, the mid-60s. There was only a ‘full’ licence and a limited licence
which did not test CW skills and did not allow operation on HF bands.
The practice setup was simple, a tone oscillator and amplifier (a 6v6)
driving a pair of speakers and Morse keys in series.

One speaker and

Morse key was in one room and the other was in the second

room.

closing the shorting bar on your key, you allowed the other operator to
reply to your questions with his key.

Typically you would send a question

to the other operator, send BK and close your shorting bar.
his shorting bar and send a reply and a new question.

He would open

This was good

practice for on-air QSOs.
The Morse exam for the AOCP was at 14wpm,
language and 2.5 minutes of sending
and minimal

punctuation.

An important factor was starting your sending

test by sending the CT symbol
didn’t send that.
accepted.

and we were told we would

be failed if we

Also error corrections were 8 dits, nothing else was

You had to learn how to send 8 dits, my method was to send SSI

as one string.

| still count out my dits if |am a bit rusty.

were conducted
When

5 minutes of receiving plain

plain language text, with numerals

The Morse exams

by PMG telegraphists who were very good at Morse.

| did my test, | started sending

my 14wpm

Morse text, maybe a bit

fast, and after about 20 seconds, the examiner said “that’s enough”
gave me a pass.

Incidentally the theory exam

questions, in essay and circuit diagram format.
exam.

“Using a circuit diagram

component,
works”.

and

was to answer 7 out of 9
It was much

like a physics

marked with the values of each

explain how a 100 Watt plate-modulated transmitter stage

None of that multi choice stuff.

One of the important sources of receiving practice on the East coast of
Australia was a nightly Morse practice broadcast on 80m
VK2BWI.
8,10,

by VK2AWI,

later

This broadcast contained 5 minutes of plain language at 5, 6, 7,

12 and 14wpm.

Some senders added a segment at 16 wom.

There

was a roster of operators and some of the callsigns who volunteered for
that were Frank VK2ACQ,

Doug VK2AUC,

once he had his licence, Roger VK1RD.
recognised

Don VK3AKN,

Ernie VK2EH

and

Another operator who may be

by readers was Allan VK2GR.

In time | got my licence in 1965

and took over the Saturday night Morse transmissions from Roger who had
uni work to do.
wpm

My enthusiasm got the better of me and | added an 18

segment using a bug, which | never really liked though other

members

of the voluntary net said it sounded ok.

Sending

Morse on a hand key in an uninsulated garage in suburban

Canberra Was

not easy in Winter.

At about the 20 minute point in the 45

minute broadcast | used to stop and try to warm
because it was freezing-up.

up my sending

hand

The outside air temp was -2 and | think in the

shed it was -4.

The texts we used for the broadcast were bland text cut out of a magazine,
with the 15, 30 and 45 second

points marked

each minute marked with the 1, 2, 3 or 4.

in blue or red ink dots, with

The technology was pretty

basic.

I think | had about 30 or 40 different text cards which had the

Original article glued onto it and the breaks for callsigns between
minute block.

each 5

| logged the identification number of each card sent so |

could avoid sending the same one too soon after it was transmitted.
and paste technology was alive and well.

O oe
=<
BS
Canberra

copy

—

pe
City,

But here

UV K1CF

[enn

1 4ov-a St

QSO on
ef >

sigs

FTLOO
\

Ant.

were

Gre

Mi
Pm

SL card, a

MRIOR te weil

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.

Daylight Saving Timetable
Coordinated
OPA Dd,

Pee

en ee ed

Universal Time

eee

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

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)

TOoO0o

To20
I

40 mi

QRO

3500

160 m

CO ORS Net

3535

80 m EF
1800

Sle

7046
]

ORO

CO ORS Net
1855.

Thanks to Lance VA7TO for the COQRS

Se
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 46 contributors:

DL3YZ,

MOKBJ, MONNK,

VK1DA, VK2DI, VK2DLF, VK2IOW, VK2RU, VK2TIG, VK2WP, VK3ACU,
VK3BWN,

VK3CLD, VK3DRQ, VK3ECH, VK3GRK, VK3QB, VK3WOW,

VK4CEG,

VK4EV, VK4IM, VK4PN, VK5AV, VK5CZ, VK5ET, VK5GR, VK5KFG, VK6HRC,
VK6JDM, VK6KD, VK6KHZ, VK6LD, VK6MTF, VK6ENW, VK6PZT, VK6RR,
VK6WE, VK6XC, VK7JZ, VK7ME, VK7TA, VK7WW,
and ZL3TK.

(head of software development),
John VK2RU
Lance VK7TO

VK8MC, WB2GDZ,

And a special thank you to our editorial team,

ZL3ABX

Nigel G4RWI

Patrick VK2IOW

(reports coordinator),

(spreadsheet pilot), Richard VKGHRC

(Post Morsition) and

(archiving

bit wrangler).

Great work all!

€U CW on Tuesday,

mb
Mark

Bosma

‘

“A

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 brass,
And all were quite contented.
- Unknown

About

author

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/COQQORSWebsite

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: