cq_qrs_newsletter

2024 52 CQ QRS RagChew

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Contents

CQ QRS RagChew

Well well – another hugely successful year for our CQQRS Slow CW Practice @SO net. We now have over 200 readers of the weekly RagChew newsletter, and most weeks have around 5 dozen people on air on Tuesdays, enjoying the gentle art of slow CW – either building their skill levels, or helping others to do so; simple pleasures!

And it was great to hear a number if folks on for our Xmas Eve CQQRS Practice QSO net this week; I knew that Kevin VKSKEY, David VK6KD/3, Simon MOKBJ and Nigel G4RWI couldn’t make it this time, but there were plenty of others that I heard.

To celebrate the success of the DXperiment series this year, Ross MONNK and Mike DLSYZ are running our HNY CW & Zoom event on Thursday January 2nd.

This is going to be a great fun way to help celebrate the new year, and recognise the efforts of our four UK / EU team members who braved the elements to get on air during our nets, or stayed up very late to join in on our Post Morsums. See below for details.

I’d also like to sincerely thank each and every one of you who has made the time to send me reports about our Tuesday nets; I believe your reports are the key to why our net has become one of the most active and popular CW nets in the world!

In- turn, the activity has provided the opportunity for our team of learners on the CW journey to get on air in a safe environment to practice and learn.

Once again, we have had a number of first CW QSOs on our net this year – and I’d like to acknowledge everyone who has made that possible – thank you for your support team!

Last Tuesday’s Group

Here’s the list of the 34 stations heard on Tuesday this week:

Masthead Image

Reports

After next Tuesday’s Group, please send me a list of who you worked and / or who you heard using our web form here: bit.ly/WCQQRSNET

Submissions close lunch time on Thursday. If you hear or work one of our team on a different band on Tuesday, please just use the 80m report area and annotate which bit applies to which band.

And when you enter the list of callsigns worked, heard or missed, please append an ‘@band’ to each callsign without a space (eg VK2KI@20 VK6QI@15 etc).

The Director General of our software department, Nigel G4RWI has continued to work furiously to produce a simple way of reporting on contacts with our team outside of 40 and 80m; I have a Beta version sitting on my pile of projects waiting to be tested.

Please help attract new and old team members to have a go by submitting your report each week.

Submissions close lunch time on Thursday.

Reports & Comments

The spreadsheets above show the known stations on last Tuesday’s Group. Comments distilled from the reports I’ve received follow:

Comments:

[40m] * Quiet night . . . ” it was the night before Christmas”: -).

From John VK5ET at Hope valley

[40m] + After the WX and the road conditions to the radio hut out in the swampy meadows are not very friendly these days, I just did some minutes of SWL on the lronstone SDR. «| heard many stations, and the X-Mas traffic was great fun to listen to.

I am looking forward being on the air again on our new years event (even I if I have to walk with all the radio equipment for about a mile trough the mud, wearing rubber boots). I think I have learned my lesson last time: I got stuck and had to

The Duoonical vertical antenna of Paul VK5PH‘s Ironstone Range KiwiSDRs.

Abandon my car out there for almost 3 weeks, till I managed to fix it out there and finally recover it :-)) Merry Christmas to all – Mike. [Wow – now that’s dedication Mike!

First abandoning your car and having to get a lift from a near-by farmer to get home, and now planning on heading out in the snow, mud and slush in your gumboots for our HNY event!]

[40m] + Not many stations heard. Happy Christmas to all..

From Donald VK6JDM at 20 km West of Esperance VK6

[40m] + Signals weak at my QRT and lot of QRN.

[80m] + Signals weak and lots of QRN.. + I have been snowed down with work and farm chores etc and neglected radio for three months. However getting back to radio at last; see On My Workbench below for my latest project.

Hope to catch up with the net properly in next two weeks.. [Wonder where hooning around fits in with the work and farm chores? See Other News below.

[40m] + Listened in and heard a few stations, including Jordan spreading some xmas eve goodwill ) Didn’t stay up too late though – Hope everyone have had a great timel.

From Mark VK2KI at Beautiful South Bowning NSW

[40m] +1I’d spent the day removing the ugly multi-band dipole that had blown down ina storm and never worked well, and also re-connecting the feedline to my 80m double extended Zepp.

The temporary 40m run of 300 Ohm tv ribbon had finally given up the ghost after only 15 months of use (go figurel).. + Great to hook up with Adam VK2NNW at Deepwater and David VK3RU at Burwood.

+ And after a bit of a drought, finally a couple of our ZL team – Pete ZL4TE near Hamilton and David ZL/VK3DBD up near the beautiful Bay of Islands.

From Mathew V VK3AFH at Wantirna

• I was also pleased to catch our new member Rob VK3ECH at Echuca for the first time. Rob was using a Kenwood TS-990 to his 160M dipole up 50′; I looked up the 990…. and got weak at the knees when I saw what it was! Great to chat for the first time Rob..

Post Morsum Net Report

From Richard VK6HRC Well the VK6RLM and AllStar/ Echolink service behaved nicely this morning. On the net : KA3BMS_ Hank VK6KD/3_ David VK6QI Mark VK6FN Max VK6HRG and our shortwave listeners.

Hank got in early to pass on his Christmas greetings and went into listening mode. David checked in from Eastern Victoria and let us know he has purchased some toroids to try and sort the gremlins with his 80MX set up and is planning to be on for next Tuesday.

Mark worked seven stations and heard another eight plus logged a new one for the net. Max was not on the net as rain stopped play this time ! (no antenna work) All being well he will be with us next week.

I worked a couple of stations on 40MX one on 80MX and generally tuned around, a fun night as usual. Numbers were down understandably, no doubt things will get busy soon. Thanks to all last night and this morning, Happy Christmas Gi 73 Richard VKeHRC

WA Christmas tree A These are a parasitic mistletoe endemic to WA and so named because they flower right at Christmas time each year.

This Week’s Topic of Interest

• HNY Special Event. Hosted by Ross MONNK and Mike DL3YZ

I’m always keen to publish articles and thoughts from team members in the RagChew newsletter. If you’d like to publish something, please let me know so we can share more thoughts and ideas; email to cqqrsnet@gmail.com

Donald VK6JDM’s power amplifier project. Here is photo of 100 watt amp module to prove I have not completely dropped out of AR. I will use it for 40 and 80. It uses the RD16 and RD100 Mitubishi FETs providing 20DB gain. Working on the filter board now.

From Jordan VK3ACU

Other News

Bogan War Horses

From Donald VK6JDM: Now since we last communicated I have to self-identify as a hoon. Attached is my story of becoming a hoon.

If you do not have an electric car yet, you have to try it – even compares favourably with driving Mini-Cooper S around corners and driving topless series one Land/Rovers over sand dunes.

[Hopefully without the torque-steer!] The air has cooled overnight and the doona is pulled up high. Sleep ebbs over me again, but then there Is the harsh resonance – 2 metres of tuned pipe roaring out the war cry of the bogan.

A sound expected from the battle horn of a Tolkien nightmare. Eight cylinders in V formation feed the monster tube and any thought of sleep is lost. The territory is occupied by the menace of bogans.

Gear changes bring sequences of rising notes and tiny silences, a sound none could love but the bogan. A harsher response comes from the cross road, rising to its peak then falling on gear shift with an explosive crack before the next how!

Like a snorting bull pawing the ground, an uplifted four wheeler’s wide tires thrash the tar, smoke filling the air, the rubber scream mixed with the throaty roar of resonating pipe. Another contender for master of the intersection.

The day has begun in Kalgoorlie. The old man rises, shaves, dresses and walks to car. Like a scrambled fighter approaching the runway, he silently slips into the narrow alley gliding to the cross. road that leads to the zone of conflict.

A red light arrests him next a throbbing Tojo, metalic paint, exhaust burbling, clutch half engaged revs rising anticipating green starters light. The old man’s foot hovering over the accelerator on green plunges the pedal thumping on the floor.

50 metres are cleared beyond the cross road before Tojo makes it through the lights. Small square image of Tojo reflects from the car’s mirror as the old man U-turns to line up next to a ram dressed in polished black, Jet pilot draped across rear window.

Again an ego damaged. In the office, the old man reaches for the rubber stamps, takes calendar off wall and places a Tojo and a Ram stamp on that day’s square, where they sit like kills symbols on an ace fighter’s nosecone.

The electric car has arrived in Kalgoorlie.

From Andrew VK1DA This is to remind everyone of the January 1st S2S- fest or QSO party we usually run on New Year’s Day before and after 11AM EDST, ie before and after the rollover of the UTC new year.

How to participate: Nominate your summit early, remember if you activate it and qualify (by making 4 contacts) before and after the new year, you get points for each year. 2 activations for the price of one. Put up an alert on sotawatch.

If your phone app does not post alerts, either use sotawatch.sota.org.uk via your web browser on your home computer, or get a better app. You can use SOTAgoat on IOS, ParksnPeaks on IOS or other apps on android.

Impact of the 10m challenge 2024 Contacts made on 10m in 2024 qualify for the 10m challenge which means they have to be made before 0000 UTC on 1/1/25, or 11AM local time. Contacts after 0000 UTC are valid for your SOTA log but not for the 2024 challenge.

Apart from 10m, which not all activators can use due to equipment or antenna limitations, a lot of operation will occur on 146.5, 146.526 and 146.55 MHz. in the VK! area. We cannot all use one frequency at the same time.

If you don’t have those channels programmed into your radio, set them up today. Let’s not hear people on the day saying oh, I can’t remember how to use VFO mode, or how do I save anew channel, so read the manual for your radio today and get yourself set up for multi channel operation and practice using the extra channels (preferably 3, but at least two for use on 1 January).

My HT is set up for 146.5, 146.525 and 146.550. I don’t know anything about your radio so don’t ask me.

New Year’s Day Portable QSO Party

Nominate your chosen summit and reserve it by posting an alert (not a spot) on parksnpeaks.org and don’t forget to let the CQQRS Group know (those who use the CQQRS WhatsApp group can post an Alert). Operate on one band or ten.

Make contacts on multiple bands, just to make more noise on the bands, it helps others make contact with you. Get some practice in using your chosen bands by, guess what, activating in the preceding week or two.

On the day, use the sotawatch (Android), iparksnpeaks (iPhone) apps or www.parnsnpeaks.org to periodically to check for other activators and spot yourself. Again, if you have forgotten how to self-spot, practice in advance.

Joint activations with others are another useful practice. If you want to activate but don’t have all of the equipment or experience, just ask. In advance! Often others have all the gear and would appreciate the help in navigating or just the company.

Good luck on New Year’s Day, see you on the air. Remember to operate past 0000 UTC to kick the new year off in your log, claim more chaser, activator and S2S points by making more contacts. The 2026 challenge? We don’t have any details yet…

Andrew VK1DA [Thanks Andrew, if I can, I’ll be watching the parksnpeaks.org CW SMS Spots, and will re-transmit any I notice onto our WhatsApp Group, and Ill listen out for you and other team members.]

The annual Peel Amateur Radio Group Inc Mega Raffle is now live at Peel Amatet Radio Group Inc Fundraising Raffle I RaffleLink Tickets are for sale in NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, WA Tickets are priced at $5 each Just in time for Christmas, the prizes include ….

Raffle Terms & Conditions

This raffle is being held for Peel Amateur Radio Group Inc 1/12 Brackenridge Lane, Meadow Springs, WA, 6210. The raffle commences on the 16TH of November 2024, closes on the 15TH of February 2025 and will be drawn on the 15TH of February 2025 at Mandurah Bowling Club.

Dower Street. Mandurah WA at 12PM. The draw will be conducted using a RaffleLink System draw process. Ticket buyers do not have to be present at the draw. Winners will be contacted by email or phone within 2 days after draw.

Details of the Winner(s) will be displayed at www.parg.org.au/ and rafflelink.com.au/parg2025. State(s) where tickets are on sale NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, WA.

Morse Code Training Net

Nic VK7WW runs a 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.

The NTARC also feeds the CW live via the Discord phone / computer audio stream, and previous weeks’ recordings are available. Contact Nic VK7WW for more info nicholaschantler@hotmail.com – or just join in on Wednesdays.

The 2025 K3Y Straight Key Month event starts on the 2nd of January and runs through until the 31ST of January.

“SKM” rather than K3Y. But people still call it “K3Y” out of habit. i nn ae Ihave Registered the following operators, Lawrie VKSLd #115257 John VK2RU #27064 Gary VK4WTZ #29060 Mark VK2KI #27669 Hans VK4ANS #11817 Mike VK4EF #14903 Phil VK6GX #5399 Adam VK2NNW #20432 Alan VK4AAN #16662 Jim ZL1ARW #16633 Mike ZL1RA #24654 Nick VK2ZNF #16667 Colin VK2DVA #23507T Bill VK1MCW #15215 Bob VK3GF #27877 Philip ZL1 PSH #24820 Chris VK3QB #22351C Mike VK4EF #14903 Darrin VK8VDP #20721 Dave VK5PL #13144 Tim VKBAV #26928 Peter VK7KPC #26832 Milan VK2PP #24180 Garry VK2GAZ #5460C Allan VK2GR #78238 If your details are NOT listed above and you wish to have your details Registered now is the time to let me know.

This will be the last email that I will send out to ALL SKCC Members in the OC region as I am fully aware that un-solicited emails are very annoying.

Ihave compiled a separate email ist of OC SKCC members who have Registered for the 2025 KY, I will use this new list exclusively for future emails regarding the 2025 kay. Ihave attached the SKCC_K3Y – 2025 Non US Operators Guide for your perusal.

To make sense of this Guide, I suggest you also read the Users’ Guide, which you’ll find To register for the 2025 K3Y event, please email me at vk4je@vk4j mm The 2025 K3Y Map is now available to view here: I have noted that VK2RU is out of place and requested a fix.

Ihope you will find the time and courage to participate to some degree in this annual event. For those that feel they are not ready to take to the Air Waves this will be a fantastic time to practice your receiving skills.

Ifyou have any questions regarding the 2025 K3Y event, please do not hesitate to contact me. Cheers, Ron VK4JE SKCC # 24961 SKCC K3Y 2025 OC Coordinator vk4je@vk4je.com 73 Ron VK4JE Maleny. Queensland. Australia.

Ron VK4JE SKCC # 24961 SKCC K3Y 2025 OC Coordinator vk4je@vk4je.com 73 Ron VK4JE Maleny. Queensland. Australia.

Can anyone lend Beth VK2A0 a hand?

Hi Mark, Ihave moved to Lithgow and keen to get an antenna up and Morse going. I am in need of assistance and wondered if you could put the word out and ask if anyone could spare a Saturday or week day to help me put an all band inverted V up and a pole to put it up in the air.

I would be willing to pay for their time and put a lunch on with a beer or two. Cheers, Elizabeth beth.langley@bigpond.com [Can anyone help Beth get back on air? If so, please send her an email; I also have her phone number if you’d prefer to call her direct.

Thanks in advance – I’m really looking forward to hearing Beth back on air on CW. We have three other YL members and it’d be terrific to attract some more to the simple pleasures of QRS cw]

Portable in New Zealand

From David VK3DBD. Hi Mark, Tues is not often a convenient evening for me to spend much time on the radio However I have managed the odd contact either late or early and over a period of time I really do think some of the ops who were struggling with anything other than rs are improving.

Regulate practice of rx and I mean daily or twice daily even 10 mins sessions can make fast progress very quickly. This tues I will do my best to be qrvon 40m and even on 20m.

Iam in Kerikeri, far north of ZL and will be signing VK3DBD/ZL Ihave 100 watts from my K3. and at the moment just a 40m dipole in the air.

But to my surprise it will load up on several other bands using the very effective built in AMU in the K3 leven had a 559 x 2 way with a French stn two days ago on 20m and that is about the worst combination you can have. It just ought not to happen. ……

But it worked! Once again on Tues eve I will be looking on 40 and also 20m for the hardy folk in UK and across the channel who are prepared to forsake their comfortable beds and brave the cool winter wx early mornings.

| will be in this location for approx 8 weeks… during that period the antenna might even get a face lift (or at least an addition )of another band or two 73 David VK3DBD /G3SCD/ ZL . Member of :- Fists, SKCC, G-QRP, FOC, RAOTA, RAOTC (vk)

Palm Radio Keys

Raim nadio Keys from Pete ZL4TE Have 3 new keys, all original Palm Radio keys. A straight key, single lever paddle and a Pico Paddle. I also have had the dual paddle for some years.

They were made in Germany and really are great keys. They are rare as hens teeth and they don’t come up often on second hand sites. They are rugged and superbly engineered.

I’m popping over to Melbourne for 3 days, between Christmas and New Year to keep the freqent flyer miles up as I’m off to Europe next December. You are the only contact I made or heard this week.

Have a great holiday and new year 738 Pete [Thanks Pete – good to chat with you again on Tuesday; hope you have a nice time in Melbourne; Elizabeth and I were there last week on our way home on our public transport only trip to Lorne on the Great Ocean Road and Portarlington on the South end of Port Philip Bay; pity our paths couldn’t have crossed!

And Finally…

The Christmas / New Year period is promoted as being peaceful and full of joy for people in the Western world.

However, the reality is that for many people, it can be a really difficult and lonely time. Associated with this is an increase in family and domestic violence.

For victims of family and domestic violence, the traditional Christmas shutdown presents a chilling reality. While many companies close their doors for weeks, this enforced isolation from support networks can heighten fear and

Anxiety for those trapped in abusive environments. Click on the image above for more information. Geoff Hard-Davies VK6HD is one of our founding team members and is the CEO of the Stronger Families organisation in Western Australia.

Stronger Families is a non- religious not for profit organisation that is helping men become better dads and preventing family and domestic violence through evidence based support programs.

Contact Geoff info@strongerfamilies.com.au if you’d like to find out more about this important initiative.

Di-dan-ali-aan-ait

So back to the Slow CW QSO practice Group.

Next Tuesday’s Net

Our CQ QRS Group will be on as always on Tuesday from around 07002Z until about 1300Z; see below 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.

Please let me know via our Reports form bit.ly/CQQRSNET who you work or hear on Tuesday’s Group. The report form closes at lunchtime on Thursday.

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).

For the 0600 (22002) net, if you’re in WA all you need is an FM 2m or 70CM transceiver and an AllStar node nearby. If you’re elsewhere in the world, you may be able to connect your local AllStar-enabled repeater to the net via DTMF codes, or you can connect via Echolink.

On Echolink, search for one of the following Nodes: « *VK6-HUB* ¢« VK6ZGN-L ¢« VK6RMH-R Let me know (cqqrsnet@gmail.com) if I can help with connecting via AllStar or Echolink.

If you’re in WA and can’t connect, give Richard a call on 3605KHZ SSB from 0700 (23002).

Teamwork

Thank you so much to our team of 18 contributors this week: DL3YZ, MONNK, VK1DA, VK2A0, VK2NNW, VK3ACU, VK3AFH, VK3DBD, VK3ECH, VK4JE, VK5CZ, VKS5ET, VK6HD, VK6HRC, VK6JDM, VK6RR, VK7KPC, and ZL4TE. Thank you team

The Joy of Daylight Saving

There’s usually people around until after 1300Z on the Tuesday Group – 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.

GU CW on Tuesday, mb Mark Bosma VK2KI / VK6QI Beautiful South Bowning NSW mark.bosma@icloud.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 author

About the CQ QRS Group

Frequencies and Times

QRL?

So tune around and call anyone you hear, or find yourself a quiet spot in the designated segment, send “QRL?” and if the frequency is quiet, start calling CQ QRS at about 75% of the speed you’re comfortable receiving at; hopefully responders will match (or send slower to their comfort level).

And if you are already having a QSO and someone sends “QRL?”, respond with “R”, “C”, “Y”, “YES” or QRL to let the caller know that the frequency is in use.

If we’re on 40m and you can hear that the band is open outside Australasia, perhaps consider calling 500HZ above each 1KHZ slot – to minimise the chance of having to copy our team through QRQ QRM that’s often dead-on the kHz markers.

Speed? Rhythm?

If you’re proficient at CW and can race along at 20 or 30WPM – terrific, but please remember, the Group’s aim is to encourage participation and learning, not show how fast you can hammer the key.

Please send slowly where you can and concentrate on rhythm – listen to your side-tone, get that wrist action going and make a special effort to make it sound like perfect CW; the longer we go with our Group, the more I understand just how many non-transmitting listeners we have – and they will most likely appreciate your QRS!

So, if you’re an experienced operator, please try to send nicely balanced slow CW to give them a chance to practice and gain confidence…. they’ll reward you one day by coming up on air to say g’day and thanks – how good is that?

And if you’re new or like me, just rusty…. ignore the above… just have a go – the lather of sweat will be worth it and there’s plenty of time to get the details sorted out as you practice.

Matching

And also for the oldies like me, when you hear someone new, please match their sending speed – or slower. The person you’re replying to may not be as deft on the decoding as you – it may be their first ever CW QSO – remember your first?

Lather of sweat, key that refuses to send that you tell it, brain that refuses to decode those complex letters that were right there half an hour ago, etc!

PSE QRS

And if someone is sending too fast to comfortably copy – “PSE RPT PSE QRS” or “AGN? PSE QRS’ will make life easier for everyone…. and might just encourage other listeners to have a go themselves.

The other thing to remember – most operators are writing down what they hear… so when you put it back to them, expect a delay while they read your words of wisdom, before replying.

The aim is to give everyone a go at contacting others – no-one owns their calling frequency in this Group. So unlike working DX, if you hear someone signing off – jump in and call – doesn’t matter who was first on the frequency – we really are all good mates in this Group….

And besides, at the speed we’re sending, after a QSO most of us will have forgotten who was first!

If you really want to move off frequency (eg because of a spurious switch mode power supply signal that’s just drifted into the conversation), you could try sending an abridged callsign of the person you’re after, followed by “UP 5” or “DN 5” then K; then call that person on the designated frequency and keep your fingers crossed, they may have understood you and followed…

Landing Zone

If the band goes really quiet, call and listen on 7032KHZ (7028KHZ secondary) or 3555KHZ. If you catch someone, there’s no need to QSY – enjoy the frequency.

But don’t forget to tune around if it’s quiet – we have lots of operators with crystal locked transmitters – and they could be anywhere within the segments.

For those who are locked, or can only transmit outside the segments, send a message on our WhatsApp CQ QRS – Alerts group advising of your current frequency.

And of course, put the frequencies in a memory so outside of the Group, if you’re not tuning around, leave your receiver on one of the primary frequencies – you never know who you’ll hear (7032 is used in VK and ZL for SOTA / PARKS during the day so you’ll often hear activity there).

CW Tips

As always, for newbies, operating suggestions are available from the operating hints link here: https://www.parg.org.au/_files/ugd/ebe236_ 3ca5ca08bb38429db4eee524bda2f97a. pdf. mb VK2KI / VK6QI

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