cq_qrs_newsletter

2026 01 CQ QRS RagChew

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Contents

CQ QRS RagChew

Thanks this week to James VK7JZ who set up briefly at Montrose Bay TAS on Tuesday evening. Weather looks charming.

So many newsletters like this one start their first edition of the year with silly words like “welcome to…” etc, implying that something has changed, there’s something new, perhaps there’s something readers may be wary of?

Luckily I’m not going to patronise our readers like that! We have, dare I say it, one of the friendliest gatherings of CW learners and practitioners this side of the horizontal datum. Why?

I think it’s because we offer a place to come each week for a bit of Morse Code fun and practice, where you’ll find just the nicest of types. So to our 230-something team members – thank you – brilliant work!

In this week’s edition, we again have a bunch of contributions from 30 of our members – every one of which required quite some effort to put together – thank you on behalf of our readers who enjoy reading what you’ve written.

Some of those who in the past have told me “but I can’t write…” have discovered that in fact, they can…, and they can actually enjoy the experience… and others enjoy what they write! Doesn’t matter whether it’s a quick sentence or two, or a tomb…

Our readers enjoy what our team members write. Good eh? One thing that has changed this year is the Head Copy section from John VK2RU; rather than focusing on head-copy practice, John’s audio segments may now be used for hand-copy or head copy, noting that they now include the punctuation that John would previously laboriously manually remove from the Head Copy audio.

This will extend the value of the training, while making life much simpler for John. Well done mate. Now a serious side – below in Readable Five, I’ve written about a book that Elizabeth and I have nearly finished reading; Yuval Noah Harari’s new book, Nexus.

And I’ve asked for your help – how can we, as a cross-section of the community, contribute to solving the problems ahead? I’m stumped, and thinking ‘it’s a world governments’ problem’ isn’t the answer (he explains why).

So if you do have any thoughts, and indeed do get to work through that amazing book, I’m keen to hear from you. At the moment, all I can do is recommend the book to others in the hope that that continues, and eventually there’s enough brain-power put to the task.

Back to the present – please enjoy the RagChew newsletter below, and I hope the yvoar ahead

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/CQQRSWebsite So here we go – please enjoy the newsletter.

Cheers, mb Mark Bosma VK2KI / VK6QI Beautiful South Bowning NSW cqqrsnet@gmail.com non impsditi ratione cogitationis

This week’s comments from our members have been compiled for us by the clever software built by Nigel G4RWI and the layout perfected by Patrick VK2IOW; thanks Nigel & Patrick.

[40m] More listening than working, but a very enjoyable evening. Chanced my arm on 20m to see if I could hear my countrymer but no joy. My CW seemed better, which I attribute to Gin & Tonic. Seems to work better than red wine.

[40m] After reading the reminder about QRS Night and seeing there might be fewer stations on air (including myself), I decided it was time for a bit of a CW session. I ended up making 15 contacts during the evening, plus another 5-6 earlier in the day.

I strung about 10 metres of wire into the tree that holds my hammock — now officially named the “Hammocktenna’” — and it worked brilliantly with the KH1 on 40, 30, 17 and 15 metres. Band conditions were fantastic!

I had two contacts on 80 metres before my battery finally gave up during my last QSO with Mark, VK2KI — sorry mate! Happy New Year to everyone. Great to see some new members on air too!

[20m] Conditions started poorly, but improved as the hour progressed. Plenty of non-OC stations called despite my CQ OC de G7BED, but that’s life and I didn’t mind. I had a wonderful QSO with JJ1VEZ before VK opened up, he was booming into the UK.

VK stations were barely readable, but with the help of the Ironstone SDR, I managed to pull a few out of the noise. ZL3XDJ (Brian) was spotted on RBN landing into LZ on

40m, so I had a quick look and he was also readable in the UK. I didn’t stop to work him as he was mid- QSO and I didn’t want to lose my CQ frequency. All in all, a very enjoyable session.

Thanks to all the VK guys for their patience whilst I tuned in my ever- failing ears 🙂 … Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and look forward to working you in 2026. Thanbe 72 do RIROMH

Ree aM el ta, Yew Meer bes ~ Me Bll Pd Pee he Be al eves arr are A

[40m] a VKSRY seemed to have a very hard time ei understanding that I was in Florida but operating through the VK6SR remote therefore using the — call VK6/WB2GDZ 3

[40m] Running about 30W. My antenna is an end fed wire not all that high, sloping form about 4M up to about 7M at the end. Noise was lov at this QTH which made for a good night.

All stations worked were heard well, with a bit of QSB towards the end of the session. Hope to be able to join more Nets. Thanks fo the welcome.

From Wayne VK6NW at Bridgetown, which is always warmer and dryer than Maniimiun

From Wayne VK6NW at Bridgetown, which is always warmer and dryer th Manjimup

[40m] 10m was in great condition later on with eastern station ooming in to the west side of the island.

From Jim Semmens VK7JZ by the water @ Montros

[40m] After two weeks absence I was really pleased to be back. In my quest for finding a ‘good spot’ this week I set up on the shores of Montrose Bay where the MyState Bank Arena is situated.

My noise floor was $3-S4 which was so much better than my QTH, but also had wide open flat ground so could go with any antenna I like. This time I went with the portable vertical.

VVrlivecl. I could hear a few stations this week but the conditions did seem to come and go. First I had really nice QSO with Ron VK7ME, comfortable speed, and a signal that was booming in.

I am expecting we were direct wave as Ron was only in the hills behind me in Hobart. I realise now I forgot to turn my power down so hope I did not light up his screen too wide and too bright.

Then a QSO with Paul VK3KLE where the fade was starting to pick up, I missed his call sign the first time, perhaps it was more fade in my brain than the conditions.

Finally a QSO with Abhay VK1AM and then I knew the fade was both conditions and my brain combined as I had to ask for some overs to be sent twice and a bit slower.

Abhay was gracious happily re-sending, this was (in my measure) my best contact for the night as I was pulling characters from close to the noise floor that a few weeks ago I would not have bothered attempting as it would have been beyond my

Not much luck with long path to our DX team again, even with a 20m two squid pole parasitic array pointing via ZL to Europe. I could hear them via SDR in VK5 and ZL but i guess there was too much noise and attenuation to get thru to VK6.

However, turning the array around at 10PM local time I found I was getting into Europe easily. With 4 contacts including Croatia and the Swiss. All signal reports were 5-7 S points but I suspect the actual figure was S3….

I found a new method of adding longer radials to my system, so this may also have helped.

[20m] I try listening for OM Chris at about 0800Z. I noticed he was calling CQ Oceania, gave him a couple of calls but no answer. Went to the NZ Net and came back at 0840Z when Chris was a bit better, RSN 322. Gave him a call and we had a nice QSO.

Thanks for that OM Chris. OM Edi was nowhere to be seen.

[40m] This was a very busy and enjoyable night for the end of this old year 2025. We should thank all those OMs (any XYLs?) who have collaborated with CQ QRS Group during 2025.

And Special THANK YOU to those who, behind the scenes, made it possible for us all to receive week after week so much information. THANK YOU GUYS FOR A WELL DONE JOB. To all… Happy and healthy 2026. FQQI7

Ba greet heel See creme on acho rll rae PP Io ant Nn tool haha nn teatetemetca mates oh J baie hohe >

[15m] Nothing heard from Edi DO2EMR this week.

[20m] I blame Daylight Saving! For the second tim hot to trot on 20m, waiting for Chris G7BED I 14042kHz. Very quiet, so after about half an

[15m] Nothing heard from Edi DO2EMR this week.

[20m] I blame Daylight Saving! For the second time this month I was hot to trot on 20m, waiting for Chris G7BED to come up on 14042kHz. Very quiet, so after about half an hour I flashed him a WhatsApp message. Yup – Wheetabix time – getting ready to

Tote id rf tet re no ee eat fae go…. but I was an hour early! So again, I was there at 0700Z instead of 0800Z! Brain the size of a planet sometimes 🙂 Scan beta a SS eck So instead I had a quick chat to Richard VK6PZT at Dalyellup who was RSN 511 using his two element half wave vertical Yagi (end-fed half wave fed 2m off the ground, with a parasitic reflector behind).

Anyway, when the planets finally aligned, Chris was coming through RSN 411, and I listened to him chatting to David ZL/VK3DBD at Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands.

I tried calling Chris when they finished, but there was a bit of a pile-up, so I missed out this time.

[40m] I got on 40m right at the kick-off this week – and was pleased to chat to Jordan VK3ACU at Meredith using his Elecraft KH1 and his Hammocktenna. Good to hear that Jordan’s crushed foot was slowly getting better…

But operating from his hammock sounded like a good idea anyway. When Jordan hobbled away to dinner, I was called by a new station for the net – Helen VKSRY at Ballarat; Helen’s 50W was very strong here.

Later I hooked up with John VK2RU portable at Blowering Dam near Tumut using his QCX+ for the first time in anger; sounded good. John was followed by Nigel VK/ G4RWI with his massive 5W from his IC-705 from Brisbane.

Nigel reported that the weather had settled down to a pleasant 26 degrees at last. Elizabeth and I disappeared for neighbour dog and chicken servicing then a nice dinner.

When I returned I had a nice chat with our new team member, Tim VKSAV at Mount Gambier – who seemed to be having a great time.

I heard several others, including Greg VK5KFG – but with an early start volunteering at FoodCare the next day, I gave it away early this week.

[80m] Around 1020Z I saw that Jordan VKSACU had posted on WhatsApp, so I tuned up on 80m for a chat. Jordan’s SW was a decent RSN 572 to me. Awhile later I heard Peter VKGIS calling CQ but he was very weak here. What fun.

AISO TrOMm YOUF EQCItOr Mark VAOU! al bDeautiTul SOUL KiwiSDR near Northam WA.

[15m] Nothing at all heard from Edi DO2EMR; he posted I Mike’s web page that he was on air – but his signal didn’t make it to this side this week.

[40m] When listening to Tim VK5AV and myself on the Hoddys Well KiwiSDR, the geomagnetic storm and

Auroral conditions were having an interesting effect. The signals had a very rapid and deep flutter – making the CW sound more like a growl than a tone. There wasn’t much sign of auroral buzz on the waterfall at that time though.

[40m] On 40m fewer stations heard and low in signal strength. Only one side of QSOs heard. I managed to contact Manny VK3DRQ despite QSB. Happy new year to the group.

[40m] Most stations that were there were fairly weak.

[80m] The bands have been fairly quiet around here, maybe not so much where you are?

[40m] Unfortunately the band was silent, I only heard one signe while I was active. Happy New Year to all!

[40m] Only local stations heard at first, as conditions improved started hearing the Eastern states.

[80m] After chatting to Peter VK6NQL on 80m called for a while but no more contacts in the log.

[40m] Only local stations heard at first, as conditions improved started hearing the Eastern states.

[80m] After chatting to Peter VK6NQL on 80m called for a while but no more contacts in the log.

[40m] My first QSO with my QCX+ and a 40m inverted V EFHW went OK. Mark says it sounded good but I _)) lost him with QSB. Later I fired up the IC 7300 with the 1/4 wave vertical and had two good contacts with Manny and Paul.

Later I changed to the Codan 9350 auto-tune antenna and found Sava coming in strong from Brisbane, but he reported very bad noise at his end. A good night on the edge of Blowering Dam. a: Canberra

40m] _ My first QSO with my QCX+ and a 40m inverted V EFHW went OK. Mark says it sounded good but I ‘ lost him with QSB.

Later I fired up the IC 7300 with the 1/4 wave vertical and had two good contacts anged to the Codan 9350 auto-tune antenna and a ree ee ea ee

[40m] I had a quick chat with Jim VK7JZ on 40m and used the opportunity to test out my shiny new QRP QMX transceiver that arrived just before Christmas. Talk about timing! Not really a proper test as Jim lives 500M away as the crow flies.

I’ll need to spend a bit more time on it and get some longer distance contacts. I also had a short QSO with James VK3JFI on Boxing Day while spending Christmas with the rellies in Mathinna, North East Tasmania using my 70

From Sava VK4PN at Mount Ommaney Brisbane

[40m] On grand-kids duty again so did not get on air until after 9:30. Not much on the band this late so just called a few CQs and to my surprise I managed two lengthy QSOs in quick succession.

Conditions appeared to be quite good, my noise was way down for the first time in months. Despite this I couldn’t see much activity on Ironside SDR so moved to 80m.

Tewereey Probably too late for anything as I couldn’t see much activity on Ironside, regardless I kept calling CW and finally was rewarded by a QSO with VK2NA. He was RSN 477 but to my surprise he gave me Rage Un RR Le eee potas teeny Pom

099 In return. I was even more surprised wnen Dave tola me he was running only 10W. Out of curiosity I logged on VK6QS SDR and could see my carrier but no oth signals.

As the conditions were reasonable on 80m I had a quick check on 160M as well — no activity but I could see my trace at Ironside and just detect FT8 traffic at 1840 kHz.

The attached snippet of Ironside waterfall shows my faint signal at 3550 kHz and a very empty CW section around a buzzing FT8 at 3573 kHz. All the FT8 signals were DX (worked a few of them a bit later), so propagation on 80m is very good later at night.

I am really puzzled why so few QRS net members ever venture to 80m any more.

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:

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: cqgrsnet@gmail.com So, please help attract new and old team members to have a go by submitting your report each week.

Submissions close 1300 (Eastern Australian Summer time) on Thursdays.

POST MORSUM 31st December

From Richard VK6HRC. Seven on the South West repeater and AllStar / Echolink hub this morning.

VK6FN Max VK6QI Mark VK5AV— Tim VK6KD David VK6NW = Wayne VK6HRC VK6MRB Mulligan swl.

Max managed to get on and had a contact on 40 m and then went into listening mode and enjoyed following along. Mark listened out on 15 m for Edi DO2EMR but nothing heard unfortunately, worked VK6PZT on 20 m and heard Chris G7BED.

Worked five on 40 m heard four, worked Jordan VK3ACU on 80 m and heard Peter VK6IS. Mark also had a contact with Helen VK3RY first time on the net, hopefully a regular in future.

Tim first time on the net enjoyed 40 m and got eight in the log, enjoyed the contact with Matt VK3PP. David was not on as he had a social event which kept him away but is looking forward to getting back on early next year.

Wayne had six contacts on 40 m tried 80 m later on but nothing heard. He also commented on the interesting conditions on 40 m caused by latest solar storm.

I got three on 40 m and one on 80 m, only local stations heard at first but started hearing the Eastern states as conditions improved. Abig thank you to all on last night and this morning, wishing you a happy and healthy New Year all the very best.

This Week’s Topics of Interest

| don’t know whether this app will remotely controlling the 1C7300 mk1, but an announcement says it has been set up to interface with the mk2 version of the 7300 as that radio has an Ethernet port you can connect directly to your shack router or hub.

| had some contacts yesterday on 40m via the iPad, one of them was while connected to the internet via my phone. There seemed to be no problem of delays or distortion.

As the audio channel is digitised there should be no distortion introduced by connecting via internet. I had contacts on SSB and CW on 40 and 80m. The app costs $77 or so, which is much more than some other options.

But for the convenience of being able to remote into your home station using an iPad you probably had with you anyway, itis half way between the cost of icom’s RSBA1 and the free Wtview. I don’t often pay for apps so this makes up for it.

The user interface is stunning. And it caters for CW with a decoder and keyboard sending, includes ft8 and RTTY and SSTV etc.

As discussed in previous RagChew newsletters, the other app I’ve used is WFView, it also connects similarly but for the 7300 you’d need a local computer which can connect to the radio via the USB socket. One local I know of uses a raspberry Pi for that purpose.

In that case you can install the windows version of wiview on your remote pc or laptop, or the Linux version on whatever hardware you like. Or the Mac version on a Mac.

As discussed, WFVIEW suffers from latency delay on CW, making keying almost impossible unless you use a keyboard. Ifyou are interested in remote control, to access your home station when not at home (or in the lounge or dining room), you might find this interesting.

Andrew VK1DA

I Use Ultimatic!

From Ross MONNK I spent my first four months of Morse entirely on copying practice, as that was the recommended way. In that time of tedious practicing, I had plenty of opportunity to think about how I would be going about my sending.

Morse sending hardware evolved over time, as you would expect of any cutting-edge tech. The early days of straight keys, cooties and sideswipers gave way to bugs and automation once the waste of human talent due to “glass arm” (or telegrapher’s paralysis, now known as Repetitive Strain Injury RSI) was recognised.

The apotheosis of manual sending arrived with the double paddle and “squeeze modes”, reducing hand and arm movements to trivial levels whilst increasing speed considerably. Not only that, they look strange – more like alien tech than human mechanicals.

Despite being a Morse operator, I really do like modern tech, so that had to be the way for me. With the Koch character set under my belt (albeit at only 8 wpm), I started my paddle sending practice the way everyone else does – with lambic A.

Oh dear, that didn’t go at all well. I just couldn’t get my head round that lambic dit-dah-dit. I tried lambic B, but it was essentially the same. Would I have to give up with the double paddle?

My wife regards my biggest fault (naturally, I have many) as “thinking too much”. But, in this case, I put my thinking cap on and decided to try Ultimatic mode.

To my mind, it seemed so much more logical than the lambic modes – dits are always done with your thumb and dahs are always done with your index finger. And the proof of the pudding was in the eating – I took to it like the proverbial duck to water.

Things didn’t go entirely smoothly though – I always had difficulty with the letter C, the full stop, and the prosign . These are exactly the dit-dah-dit combinations that the lambic modes excel at!

Fortunately, a wise old ex-RN telegraphist advised me to try a single paddle (one that repeats dits when held one way and repeats dahs when held the other – so, like Ultimatic but without the squeezing).

This was a great idea and my error rate dropped markedly due to fewer mental gymnastics. Much later (relatively recently, in fact), I decided to have another go at Ultimatic on the double paddle.

This time, though, I had done some more of that dangerous thinking. My plan was to use the single paddle technique for those pesky dit-dah-dit characters. In other words, I would rock my hand from side to side for those, rather

Than squeeze them. Bingo! It worked. So now, although I say that I use Ultimatic mode with my double paddle, I’m really using a somewhat hybrid technique.

I have this sneaking feeling that many operators of double paddles don’t use any squeeze mode – they use their double paddle as a single paddle. Not that it matters – whatever works for you is the best technique. And nobody else will know (nor care) anyway.

Hopefully you’ll understand now why it drives me crackers when people refer to the double paddle as an lambic paddle. It certainly can be an lambic paddle but it is not solely thus – it can also be an Ultimatic paddle, or even used as a single paddle if you forgo the squeezing.

After much arm-twisting by that editor of ours, I’ve agreed to a follow up article about the differences between Ultimatic and the other paddle modes. In summary, and you have been warned, if anyone accuses me of having an lambic paddle, it’s “pistols at dawn”!

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; for guidance on writing for RagChew, see Articles below. Please email material to Mark VK2KI: cqqrsnet@gmail.com

On My Workbench

Bluetoothing a Morserino M32

Biuetootning a Morserino Noz From lan VK1HF I made this for people with a m32 pocket morserino to see how much they could do with it. Ross suggested to share it with you as it might be of interest for our newsletter.

Here it is : https://youtube.com/watch?v=1Awazi9dgnc&si=3edMNitlquiWJik-r Cheers, lan e: lan.vkihf@gmail.com

BaP BREN CR BE EEE ED CE BURNIE OWE BEEN EVES From lan VK1HF I made this for people with a m32 pocket morserino to

See how much they could do with it. Ross suggested to share it with you as it might be of interest for our newsletter. Here it is : https://youtube.com/watch?v=1Awazi9dgnc&si=3edMNitlquiWJik-r Cheers, lan e: lan.vkihf@gmail.com

Beefing-Up my DX Antenna.

From Richard VAOF ZT I have had a lot of success with an 80-15m horizontal dipole for local contacts and a 20-10m vertical end fed dipole for DX to the Eastern States and USA.

The 20m vertical end fed dipole has a great low angle radiation pattern when fed about 2m above ground. It’s easy to build, just 10m of wire up a 12m squid pole, fed with a 64:1 UNUN. Radials are not required, just a counterpoise around 1-2m long.

Hence, it makes a great DX antenna for a back yard like mine with limited space. Mine is located in the center of a small 5X3M lawn.

I use a 65MM plastic pipe with end caps to protect the squid pole when not in use, and this supports the bottom of the mast when in place. The whole assembly then slots into a larger 80MM Poly pipe sunk about 35CM into the center of the lawn.

And for me it has worked well working VK 1-7, ZLand USA. Although radials are not required, the addition of around 20 radials did improve performance a little and allowed the same setup to be used as a quarter wave vertical for 40 -10m with a 1:1 BALUN.

However, after many failed attempts to contact our DX team in the UK and Germany I have decided to beef it up a bit; Santa delivered a second 12m squid pole this Xmas.

So with some extra 30CM lengths of 80MM polypipe sunk into the ground around the perimeter of the lawn, I can now use the second pole as a reflector with a wire element 5% longer than the driven element.

To steer the array, I simply move the reflector from one side of the lawn to another. I have about 8 choices of reflector positions with long- and short- paths to Europe, USA and VK4 -3- and ZL.

This Tuesday’s DX experiment was again unsuccessful with way too much noise to hear our DX team all the way to VK6. However, later the same evening 1430-18002, 2200-0000 local WA time, the antenna came alive with short-path contac!

Reports of 539, 559 and one 579. A very promising r vertical Yagi.

That evening 1450-10002, <~2UU-U0UU local VWWA. The antenna came alive with short-path contacts to Europe, with excellent reports of 539, 559 and one 579. A very promising result for this 2-element end-fed inverted Vee

The next step is to add a director and then learn how to tune the 2 or 3 elements to maximize gain or front-to- back ratio. 73 Richard VK6PZT

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 know; email to cqqrsnet@gmail.com For guidance on writing for RagChew, see Articles below.

QRZ?

Tim VK5AV

Titl VWiNwWAY from Mount Gambier Hi Mark and thanks for the welcome.

I’ve been doing CW for some time now, although not to the level I would like. Consitency with practice is probably my downfall. I handle quick exchanges like SOTA and Parks easily, but I’m not much of a rag-chewer yet.

Lam a SKCC member and look forward each year to SKM in January. I listened around on last Tuesday, but could not get into the shack until near the end as I had visitors. I did hear a few QSOs for about 30 minutes at the end.

Regards, Tim VKBAV [Thanks Tim and welcome; I look forward to hearing you. Hopefully you’ll quickly start to enjoy longer chats with the team – no hurry of course – please enjoy!]

Regards

QRZ? Who’s on the other end? From your editor Mark VK2KI / VK6QI Key to the success of our net is helping to make it a get-together that people enjoy returning to each week.

But when you’re on the key, it’s really hard to find out a bit more about the person you’re chatting to. So I’m really keen to share the backgrounds of some of our team members – it’s really nice to know who’s on the other end of the QSO.

How did they come to amateur radio and when, and what on earth was the motivator that got them interested in CW? How’s the journey been so far, and what’s planned? 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 me (Mark VK2KL) know: cqgrsnet@gmail.com For guidance on writing for RagChew, see Articles below.

QRZ? Who’s on the other end?

Other News

More Xmas Cheer

From John VK5ET I’d like to pass on my best wishes to the QRS operators / listeners for Christmas ¢ the New Year. I look forward to hearing from our members in the New Year. Tnx again – catch you in 2026 …@) 73, John VK5ET

World Domino Collective 2024

From Jeff WB2GDZ I have never in my life seen something like this! https:/Awww.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=qjqMEOm-I7c

Variable Capacitor Plate Slots

Morse Training Net

Our team member Nic VK7WW runs an on-air Slow Morse training net every Wednesday at 7pm EDST on 3580 for 30 mins. He uses the callsign of the Northern Tasmania Amateur Radio Club VK7TAZ 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 Eastern time every Wednesday; you’ll hear lots of the CQQRS team on that net. Jordan VK3ACU has recorded the complete set of lessons which you can now find here:

Https://www. youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHsQmZz6fBXO7swAfbT mutrbbEL17fUQL Contact Nic VK7WW for more info nicholaschantler@hotmail.com including how to join the NTARC DISCORD group to follow the action, or just come along and join in on Wednesdays.

VHF/UHF Summer Field Day

From Andrew VK1DA via the VK1 SOTA Reflector

On Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th the WIA VHF/UHF Summer field day is on. All bands from 50 MHz upwards. A number of locals in VK1 have plans to operate from Mt Ginini, Snow Gum Mtn, Mt Cowangerong and Mt Coree.

Repeat contacts after 2 hours on each band and both phone and CW are legit. Event starts at 12 noon Saturday (Eastern Australian Summer Time) and runs for 24 hours. Just add a serial number to the usual report. Hoping for increased CW activity in these events.

Siemens Brothers Key

From Chris VK3KIH at Forest Hill This is the key I used on the 30TH. It was made by Siemens Brothers apparently in the 1880S.

Looking the dings it has received reminds me of how when as a child I used it as a hammer!!! It came via my father who always wanted to be a ham but never did… family etc. But I still have his key and his copy of the 1957 ARRL handbook.

He worked before and during WWII maintaining telegraph circuits across northern Queensland. It must have been a bit

Tough as he never talked about it save the odd comment of how he had visited some remote location mentioned on the news. Regards Chris VK3KIH

More on Kids and CW

From Patrick VK2IOW and Nigel G4RWI I went on Vband a few days ago; I find it good for straight key practice. I had a nice QSO with a high school teacher from Wick, in far north Scotland. Chris MMOWIC. teaches computer science at Wick High School.

The school started their own amateur radio club about three years ago – the callsign is GMOWHS and they are listed on QRZ.com. Chris said the kids think CW is cool and they were the ones who got him on Vand.

Probably not many schools in Australia have radio clubs any more. Actually I think there is one college near Melbourne that I’m aware of. Well it’s what I understood from Chris, the high school teacher. Patrick VK2IOW

second half of this video:

Update from Tumut

From John VK2RU Hello Mark We’re still at Blowering Dam, although last night it would be better named Blowing Dam. Big wind coming through with the storms causing a bit of mayhem.

The photo with the Chev shows all the antennas up. On the bullbar is a 7m squid pole supporting the EFHW. I was stuck for something to attach the far end of the wire to so it ended up being an offset inverted V.

On the front of the van is a 10m squid pole with 1/4 wave wires. And just to the left of that is the Codan 9350 autotune antenna which has been getting a bit of work lately.

The Codan 9350 works well with the 1C7300, all you have to do is join up a couple of wires and it’s good to go. I get plenty of questions about

The EFHW transformer is the Richard VK6PZT design. Double 18X10X6 (Jaycar LO 1230) toroids with 3 primary turns and 20 secondary using the Holmans retic wire from Bunnings. The SWR is about 1.7, but the QCX+ and the QMX+ seem to work ok with that.

IC-7300 Tricks

From John VK2RU Jordan’s advice below on Tuesday night re the IC 7300 CW Synchronous Tuning makes me wonder what else I’m missing. It looks like there’s a few of us here using the 7300 and it would be interesting to see what settings are being used.

If you’ve read something that you think might be of interest to our readers, please let me know. For guidance on writing for RagChew, see Articles below. Please email material to Mark VK2KI: cqqrsnet@gmail.com

Readable Five

What have you been reading lately? Compiled on the track somewhere by John VK2RU

Navigallihg te Al FrOnuier. INSIQMUS IrOM) TUVal NO

From Mark VK2KI / VK6QI Yuval Noah Harari is a historian who has written a number of books, including his 2011 best-seller Sapiens – A Brief History of Humankind.

In his new book Nexus – A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to Al, Harari delves into the transformative power of artificial intelligence (Al) and its profound implications for human society.

Why?

So what has this to do with QRS CW, and why on earth am telling you this? I think this is one of the most important books of our time; Harari has a pragmatic writing style and Nexus is no lightweight read, but his book provides a deep insight into what is likely to change the course of human history – and r positive direction.

The writing is structured nicely and defin still fairly voluminous – what he describes needs to be exple like me. and he does a areat iob as a mentor. The hook is °

Readulation

So Nexus is not merely a reflection on our technical progress, nor is it an exponent of a conspiracy theory; it’s a call to action.

As Al continues to evolve, societies must grapple with fundamental questions about control, ethics, and the future role of human intelligence in decision-making. Harari’s work serves as both a guide and a warning as we navigate this uncharted frontier.

By advocating that as many people as possible read this book, I hope that together we may be able to do something to steer our future. Left to its own devices, who knows where we’ll end up.

With thanks to Pixar Animation Studios for this image from the very apt movie, WALL-E.

So – what do you think? Please let me and other readers know your thoughts. In particular please tell us if you’ve bought or borrowed this game-changing book, and what you think as you read through. cqqrsnet@gmail.com

If you’ve read something that you think might be of interest to our readers, please let me know so John and I can share more thoughts and ideas. For guidance on writing for RagChew, see Articles below. Please email material to Mark VK2KI: cqqrsnet@gmail.com

CW Practice

This year I’m using Aesop’s Fables. These are short moral stories, often using talking animals, that illustrate simple truths about human behaviour and character.

Aesop’s Fables originated in ancient Greece, traditionally attributed to the storyteller Aesop who is thought to have lived around the 6th century BCE.

The fables are generally smaller files of two to three hundred words that have been recorded at 15 wpm and run for about 15 minutes. I suggest 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. All punctuation is included in the MP3 files, and it is not limited to , . / ? This week’s fable is ‘The Wolf and the Lamb’ and the MP3 and TXT files are attached AL

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 player, or load the text file into the Ditto CW: Morse Player app — https://dittocw.andro.io/.

Both options work well, however Ditto CW gives you complete control over all Mors: settings, while a normal media player only allows changes to playback speed, and does that in steps (e.g. +1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75x). 73 John VK2RU

[Do you have a question or two that are worth sharing? How about a discussion- starter? Please let me know cqgrsnet@gmail.com and I’ll pass them to John VK2RU for compilation each week.]

Prosign/Character/Signal of the Month

[Suggestion – put it on a sticky note near your key as a reminder for Tuesday. Tell us how you went!]

[If you have some intel about other team members… or even yourself… that’s worth sharing, please let me know cqqrsnet@gmail.com J

Di-dah-di-dah-ait

So back to the CQQRS Slow CW QSO practice net

Next Tuesday’s Net

Our CQQRS Group will be on as always on Tuesday from around 0600Z until about 12002; see https://bit.ly/CQQRSWebsite and navigate to the Net Details page for details.

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 in the table below until you catch someone.

I 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 respectively. Hope to hear you there.

Reports & Photos

Please let us know via our Reports form bit.Jy/GQQRSNET 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: cgqrsnet@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 – I always enjoy the photos that our readers send – and I’m sure our readers do too.

Email them to cqqrsnet@gmail.com please (reduced size if possible – but whatever you send will be great). Oh and by the way, I recommend that you don’t keep the Reports Form website open between submission of reports from one week to the next.

If 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 (8605 LSB).

See https://bit.ly/CQQRSWebsite 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? You bet! Writing not your strong point?

Don’t worry, I’m very happy to help as much or as little as needed. Here’s a thought – although our readers will much prefer your own writing, perhaps have a go at using a Large Language Model Artificial Intelligence tool such as ChatGPT, 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/CQQRSWebsite. Our website also includes a suitable prompt (the command you feed to the Al to make it do what you want).

Please remember though – you must fact-check anything that an Al tool drafts for you because Als ‘hallucinate’ – ie if an Al can’t find what you’re looking for, it will make up an answer and present it as a fact!

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

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 – lam very concerned about our future in a world of Al – but I’m pleased to see that school and university curriculums now focus on understanding the risks – for instance, kids are now learning critical thinking something that used to be taught mostly at post-graduate level.

When the typewriter was invented, people predicted the downfall of handwriting; when the word processor was invented, the art of writing was thought to be on the way out – ditto for the spreadsheet and arithmetic, AM, SSB and FT-8 for amateur radio etc.

We can ignore Al and hope that it just goes away… or we can learn to handle it through experimentation and use. For more guidance on writing for the RagChew newsletter (including help with using an Al), head to our website bit.ly/CQQRSWebsite 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 30 contributors: G4RWI, G7BED, MONNK, VK1DA, VK1HF, VK2IOW, VK2RU, VK2TIG, VK3ACU, VK3CLD, VK3DRQ, VK3ECH, VK3KIH, VK3RU, VK5AO, VK5AV, VK5FD, VK6HRC, VK6IS, VK6JDM, VK6KHZ, VK6NQL, VK6NW, VK6PZT, VK6UU, VK6WE, VK7JZ, VK7ME, VK8MT and WB2GDZ.

And a special thank you to our editorial team, Nigel G4RWI (head of software development), Patrick VK2IOW (reports coordinator), John VK2RU (CW Practice coordinator), Richard VK6HRC (Post Morsition) and Lance VK7TO (technical editor and bit wrangler).

‘Mazing work all – thank you! UY CW on Tuesday, mb Mark Bosna VK2KI/ VKEQI Beautiful South Bowning NSW ‘eqarsnet@gmail.com non impedit ratione cogitationis

Spotted on this week Richard VK6HRC’s HamClock display:

About the CQ QRS Net

For the current schedule and more information about the CQQRS net, please go the the Net Details page on our website:

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/CQQRSWebsite

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