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2025 19 CQ QRS RagChew

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Contents

CQ QRS RagChew

Last Tuesday’s Group

Here’s the 54 stations heard by 40 members of our team on Tuesday:

Masthead Image

And thanks this week to Jordan VK3ACU for the brilliant short video captured above – see Other News below. I think this one’s got to be a contender for the CQQRS Award.

Reports

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

Please help attract new and old team members to have a go by submitting your repor each week. Submissions close 1300 (Eastern Australian time) on Thursday.

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 Cheers, mb Mark Bosma VK2KI / VK6QI Beautiful South Bowning NSW mark.bosma@icloud.com non impsditi ratione cogitationis

Reports & Comments

The spreadsheets above show the known stations on last Tuesday’s Group; the comments distilled from the team members’ reports follow:

Comments:

When I started at 7:15 UTC checking frequencies and the conditions using the ironstone SDR, I found my signal at $5, which is great for just a dipole hanging at 4 m height from some bushes. So I already heard David – VK3DBD.

Calling me, great signal with his antenna made in 1970. We had a nice chat, and after that, there was Manny VK3DRQ answering my CQ. Unfortunately the condx were alittle weaker then, but I got him quite well. After that.

My signal in ironstone went to $2 and I decided to call it a day. Thanks to David and Manny for this great DX morning, and for being the first official VK QRS net stations on this years season, like last year -) + Greetings from sunny Germany to all of you – have a great day 73 Mike.

[Fantastic work Mike – I’m glad you managed to sneak in a bit of fun before the sal mine called. Well done also to David and Manny, and to our team member Paul VKS5PH who has set up the two Ironstone Ridge KiwiSDRs – such an outstanding resource for us to use – thank you Paul.]

[Welcome to our team James – and I hope you have fun; and thank you to Jordan VK3ACU for the vector. As someone who hated CW for my first 50 years of amateur radio, I can understand that most people don’t get it….

But for those for whom the nennv has dronned – there’s Iiist nothing like it – acnecialily ORS ORP home brew.

From Jordan VK3ACU at Meredith + Worked 11 stations: 4 on 80m, 6 on 40m, and 1 on 160M. I also heard VK3ECH working VK3KEV on 160M. Mark VK2KI and I tried for a 160M contact no luck..

+I tried 20m, 15m, and 10m to contact ‘Simon with no luck, but thanks for trying… + Really good to see the new operators having a go, James and Jared.

I must say, as of writing this, James tells me this is his 6th day of learning CW and already having contacts on the QRS group — amazing, absolutely smashing it, James, well donel. * and hana ta catch v

[40m] + Running Racal Syncal on whip antenna in new backyard. Morse key not working, problem in radio connector to be fixed.. <—-— Click for short video. [First operation from your new home Peter - congratulations for getting on air so quickly.

[40m] «Very quiet on 40m this week from my QTH Denmark WA. Only just managed to achieve 1 QSO with exchange of RSN. TU Mark VK2KI/P mone [arn fa leole id eon fH [ee

[80m] + I tested using Kiwi Rx that I was getting out ok both into Perth and Adelaide but I could not hear any stations calling but myself. I called on 3555 for a while but nothing heard. Just one of those days I guess. + Till next week, 73s.

[Thanks for hanging in there with all those repeated RSNs David.] Hope your Northwards travels are fun.]

• Good conditions on 20m and 40m. [Thanks Wayne – great to work you with such decent

• Good conditions on 20m and 40m. [Thanks Wayne – great to work you with such decent eiqnale from my ORP nortable set-in ]

From Wal VK2WP at Bathurst NSW * Spent a lot of time listening to 20M but unfortunately did not hear the DX ops.. [Yes, I also struggled with the Long Path conditions into NSW Wal. Well, there’s always next week! Nice tn work voir on 40m thoyigqh 7

[20m] + Spent lot of time trying to capture our European friends but regretfully no success apart from hearing a very weak DL3YZ at the end of his QSO with

[40m] + After a couple of weeks away I was feeling out of practice but quickly contacted VK6FN after tuning in. With a little more confidence I tackled a strange sounding call with a good signal and had a good chat with VK6/PA3EPA.

I was initially stumped by the / and series of letters but the KX3 decoder clarified it. It was great to make a new contact but reminded me that I still need lots of practice..

[| wouldn’t get too dejected about the VK6/ callsign Daniel – ask anyone of our overseas team who’s tried operating in a different country – it’s really confusing to listeners!

I recall the first time I heard the Head of our Software Department Nigel G4RWI when he operated here in Australia the second time (the first year we weren’t using 40m – and Nigel found Aussie CW to be very lonely) – it took me many repeats before I sorted out his callsign; I don’t think I was alone!]

[40m] * Got on straight after work and had a nice chat with Wal VK2WP. 5WATTS from the K1. My turn to cook dinner, so only listened for a bit..

[80m] + Strange propagation on 80m it seems. Quite a bit

[20m] + Just to say a BIG THANK YOU to OM Mike DL3YZ for his great patience so I ‘could’ copy him..

• Band 20m, there was a lot of traffic on 20m when I tried for DXpedition stations.. « Band 40m was quieter than normal traffic but lots of QRN.. * Band 80m and 160M had a lot less noise

But no DX, VK stations only.. +l am finding that my simple 80m dipole wire is a very versatile antenna.. +l am enjoying having QSOs on lots of bands trying to escape noise.. * Good to hear some newer stations having fun and gaining confidence..

[Recent success demonstrates that the 80m dipole of yours certainly is earning its keep Kevin. Do I recall that it’s 12m up? And is it fed with coax via a BALUN or twin- feed via a coupler or BALUN?] moe On. LILZ RPE nk lM… cL!

[40m] * All quiet on 40 so I called CQ which is very rare for me, especially on CW and ZL2GD came back for a chat.

[80m] + Given all remained quiet on 40 I noted a call from Jordan on Chat QRS and tuned my AV680 down the bottom of 80 only to see it works! Its very narrow down the bottom (about 4100KHZ wide), so I gave him a call.

First contact on 80 CW – a bit rough CW on my part but we made it and I headed back to 40 only to find my old mate and mentor Manny VK3DRQ. We ended and all was quiet so I went ORT

[Interesting about the narrow bandwidth of your Hy-Gain AV-680 vertical David. If you read the advertising, you might get the impression that it covers 3.5MHz to 4MHZ… and yes it probably does…

But you need to select different taps on the 80m could to move around on the band. Bit of a problem when it’s mounted above the roof like you have! Anyway, glad to hear you got it sorted.]

[80m] + I got to a late start in the Tuesday evening QRS net, so I spun the dial around 80m band. Andy was calling CQ and I responded. He was operating QRP at 5W and the QSB was in full swing but I got a decent

Unfortunately, I got some SWR problem during the chat. I suspected some possurr were coming close to one end of the doublet on the top of the roof and that spooked me. Hey it was total fun. Andy’s rig is doing a great job with 5W. Until next time, CU..

From Greg VKSKFG at Willunga * Greetings from Willunga. * Tuesday night was the first QRS from the new shack, having moved from the house to a newly partitioned corner of the shed.

I had high hopes for the new 160M EFHW stretching from the shack to the opposite hill, but these hopes were dashed somewhat by the

• Despite terrible SWR readings, I gave it a go and reached Kevin in Seymour and Sava in Brisbane on 40. After than, a long rag chew with a roving Mark, portable in Ariah Park NSW, blistering the ionosphere with his faithful FT-817 on 80..

[Your one wavelength end-fed antenna and 49:1 BALUN sure sounded good to me Greg – up to S8; I’m guessing I was on one of your clover-leaf lobes?]

[40m] + I managed to get on air soon after 5pm local, but no sign of slow Morse, but some decent signals lower down the band a little faster. When I returned after dinner the noise was up but signals were down.

[15m] * Based on the prediction for higher-band success on the long-path, Simon MOKBJ planned to try 20m, 15m and 10m with 20 Watts from a portable location this week.

I missed out on the 10m trial, and unfortunately, heard nothing of him on 15m at the designated time. Hopefully better luck next week Simon?.

[20m] * Operating portable from a community campground at Ariah Park, just West of Temora NSW, I completely buggered up the timing of the scheduled DXperiment – and was listening an hour early.

When I switched on my FT-817 it was in wide- band mode (8KHZ filter) – and I had an

SB noise level; however, switching in the narrow CW filter dropped to noise level to zero – hooray for such a great CW filter!.

+ Anyway, my early start worked out well, because I was able to have a really nice QSO with Wayne VK6NW; Wayne’s 30 Watts was RSN 581 and he reported RSN 564 from my 5 Watts to a ZS6BKW (modified GSRV) doublet up only 4m in the centre…

+ Despite my bad timing, Chris G7BED and Mike DL3YZ both managed to be on air early; signals were very weak and of course, they had no chance of hearing my responses… but it was worth trying anyway… just in case it made a good story.

Chris had some QRM on the bottom frequency of his sked ‘segment, and Wayne VK6NW was chatting to Sava VKAPN on the middle kiloHertz, so he went to the next kiloHertz up.

I got confused (again) and suggested via WhatsApp that he move back down “to his scheduled spot” when the band cleared (so others could find him) – completely missing the point that he was still within his scheduled segment.

Sorry to cause so much confusion Chris! Must have been in relaxed holiday mode! + Meanwhile I listened in to Roy VK6RR with a big signal from Geraldton chatting to Manny VK3DRQ.

+ I was watching the Reverse Beacon Network on my phone and could see Chris and Mike – but there was no sign of Simon MOKBJ; so I flashed him a WhatsApp message when I thought he would be on 15m…

And he reported that he was still setting up but would be there on time. That’s when I realised that my calculations of GMT were an hour out. Still no idea what happened there… hopefully I’ll get it sorted out before next Tuesday!

Anyway, when Simon did get set up and on air as scheduled, there was unfortunately, no sign of him here..

• | hooked up with Wal VK2WP about 300KM North East at Bathurst; Wal was bending my S-meter LCD segments.. + After giving up on 80m (see below), David VK6KD/P at Denmark and I tried to have a late-night chat on 40m. My 5

Managed to exchange reports on QSB peaks, or perhaps David gave up – not sure Thanks for having a go David!.

[80m]. * I hooked up with Greg VK5KFG, who had re-arranged his shack and was trying a brand new one-wavelength long wire, end-fed via a 49:1 UNUN.

The antenna was working nicely – his 50 Watts was RSN 581 here, and we enjoyed a near hour-long rag chew (I hope no one was waiting on the side)!. + After Greg, I tried to chat to David VK6KD/P at Denmark, West of Albany WA.

Both of our signals were ok into the VK6SEG KiwiSDR, but David was only RSN 211 to me; so my 5 Watts didn’t stand a chance with his caravan park level noise. We opted instead to try 40m. [160M].

+ There seemed to be a bit of interest on the CQQRS WhatsApp group to give 160M a try – and I was pleased that although my antenna coupler couldn’t bring the SWR of my doublet down, it was still workable. Nice signals on 160M, but not nice enough…

No-one could hear my super powered FT-817 and mis- matched compromise antenna (unfortunately, I didn’t have the wherewithal in the caravan to try the doublet configured as a Marconi-Tee – another time)…

Also from vour editor Mark VK6QI at Ariah Park communitv campcaround NSW.

[40m] + I listened to Kevin VKSKEV chatting to Greg VK5KFG – both with good signals into the Southern Electronics Group KiwiSDR near Northam; both were also coming into Ariah Park nicely. As the evening darkened, I was listening to David

CQ QRS Post Morsum Report

The WA AllStar network wasn’t connecting to the VK6RLM repeater in Perth on Wednesday morning, so our usual Perth metro listeners – and our ring-master VK6HRC – were all missing in action.

Despite that, we had four callers-in: + David VK6KD portable at Denmark on the WA South coast + Max VK6FN operating from the laundry in Manjimup WA, trying to sort out his new computerised washing machine + Wayne VK6NW representing the amateur population of Bridgetown WA + Mark VK2KI / VK6QI calling in from the community campground at Ariah Park, just West of Temora in NSW.

David reported that he got on late and didn’t hear a sausage – except for Mark VK2KI/P who he struggled to have a QSO with; with repeated signal reports over and over, the exchange was completed as the signals hovered below the noise level except for QSB peaks.

David and Pauline were planning to visit Max and hopefully Wayne later in the week. Max reported very good conditions on Tuesday’s net – with caller after caller vying for his attention.

Max also reported that he had a QSO with John VK6TEA – who was a potential new chum for the net. Wayne also had a good night – working VK2KI/P with reasonable signals on 20m, hearing Mike DL3YZ, and working Max, Sava VK4PN and Ron VK6KHZ before having to choof off to the Bridgetown SES for the usual Tuesday training night.

Mark reported another fun night, despite operating QRP with only 5 Watts. Although he heard Mike DL3YZ and Chris G7BED, he reported no sign of Simon MOKBJ/p on either 20m or 15m; of course, neither Chris nor Mike could hear Mark’s 5000MW.

Mark also reported a push by several of the VK3S to have QSOs on 160M – but he couldn’t make himself heard on that band. So all in all – another good night was reported by all.

On My Workbench

The Corroded Tower Base – Update

From Roy VK6RR Not strictly on his workbench, Roy VK6RR discusses the repair of his corroded towe base below in the / Hear Tell section.

Other News

Click on the image & then the right arrow to start the video ——>

The Don Edwards Memorial Slow Morse Contest 2025

From Rob VK3ECH Dates: Next weekend on Saturday 17 May 2025 and Sunday 18 May 2025 Contact contest@sgars.org In recognition of Don, the St.

George Amateur Radio Society will be holding the Don Edwards Memorial slow Morse contest on the weekend of the 17TH and 18TH of May 2025.

The contest will be in two sections, 80 metres on the Saturday evening from 6pm to 9pm Eastern (0800 – 1100 UTC) and 40 metres on the Sunday afternoon from 1pm to 4pm Eastern (0300 – 0600 UTC). Amateurs can enter either or both sessions.

The contest will be open to all VK and ZL amateurs. Many amateurs have rarely or never used Morse code since they passed their exam or never needed to lean Morse code for their licences.

This contest is to encourage inexperienced or rusty operators to try their hand or fist at Morse. For this reason, the contest will be a slow Morse contest with a speed limit of 10 words per minute, no keyboards or screens – all sent by hand and received by ear.

To encourage those amateurs who never sat for or passed a Morse exam for their licence, they will be able to claim an extra 2 points per session.

For more information and contest rules can be found here: https:/Avww.sgars.org/index.php/downloads/1- contest-and-field-days.

Location: In your shack or out in the field www.sgars.org Have fun, Rob VK3ECH [Thanks Rob – A few years ago Elizabeth and I were out and about in our AVan and when parked at the Manildra NSW Showgrounds, I had some fun in the contest.

I couldn’t remember whether it was actually last year, or the year before. “Check your

The Don Edwards Memorial Slow Morse Contest 2025

Have fun, Rob VK3ECH [Thanks Rob – A few years ago Elizabeth and I were out and about in our AVan and when parked at the Manildra NSW Showgrounds, I had some fun in the contest. I couldn’t remember whether it was actually last year, or the year before.

“Check your log” reminded Elizabeth, “isn’t that why you keep it?” Oh yeah – right again! As it turned out, it was back in 2022! On the Saturday night, while I was happily tapping away, Elizabeth wandered over to the Golf Club next door to pick up a pizza….

And of course have a chat with the locals. Of course, she bought meat raffle tickets as we always do to support the local footie team. Now we don’t eat all that much meat – and you guessed it – she won a meat tray.

All good – somehow itl fit in our little campervan’s fridge surely – we were nearly home, so the fridge was nearly empty. Well wouldn’t you know it – she won a second meat tray – and donated it to the people at the table she was at. Phew! Then…

She won a third one! Common sense prevailed… she donated it back. Wonder what will happen this year – we’ll be out camping somewhere – so who knows? Hope to catch lots of our team this coming Saturday and Sunday.)

A Couple of Interesting Propagation Tools

From Jordan VK3ACU

Fantastic rag chew – really enjoying the videos coming in from others; Richard VK6HRC’s International Morse Code Day Al key and Ross MONNK’s setup was great to see. Hopefully our newest members James VK3JFR and Jared VK2LDJ are up for a few contacts.

I’ve been trying to have daily contacts with him and he is improving every single time! Cheers DE VKSACU

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 is recording this round of training lessons – you’ll find the link to the YouTube recordings on our website here:

Bit.ly/CQQRSWebsite then navigate to: useful-resources-and-links 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.

VK3ACU at Mount Beauty VIC

Cabot Tower in Newfoundland

From Wayne VK6NW Some years ago my good lady and I were on a 5 month trip across Canada and when in St Johns, Newfoundland we visited Cabot Tower on Signal Hill.

From the Parks Canada blurb:

Abot Tower is one of the best examples illustrating the evolution of communications in Canada from the earliest aural and visual systems, through to the long-distance, wireless transmission of the human voice.

The tower housed signalling functions until 1958, and is associated with Guglielmo Marconi who received the Nobel Prize in 1909 for physics and communication and who received the first trans-Atlantic transmission of the human voice at Signal Hill in 1920.

It was built as a monument to John Cabot’s 1497 voyage to North America and to the 60TH anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign. Sabot Tower has an amateur radio station which a visiting amateur can operate upon producing a valid licence.

As I am a licenced Canadian amateur radio operator I took he opportunity to have some CW contacts using the station on Signal Hill. Visitors to abot Tower were quite taken with someone actually using CW in real life, so to peak.

I had several contacts into the US from there.

Cabot lower nas an amateur radio station which a visiting amateur can operate upon producing a valid licence. As I am a licenced Canadian amateur radio operator I took the opportunity to have some CW contacts using the station on Signal Hill.

Visitors to Cabot Tower were quite taken with someone actually using CW in real life, so to speak. I had several contacts into the US from there.

Anyway, shameless self promotion but I figured that others may be interested. Regards Wayne Douglass VK6NW/VE6ETE [Thanks Wayne – you never know… you may have sown seeds of future interest among the visitors?

Nicely written article which I hope inspires others to send me items of interest like this.]

Regards

Home Sweet Home

From Simon MOKBJ Hi folks, Jo and I got back home on Thursday after a marvellous grand tour. Over the five weeks, I drove 7000KM in my little car – if it were a radio, it would definitely be QRP.

We’re working our way through washing and all the work that comes after being away. By Tuesday morning, I was ready for more radio! Simon MOKBJ

Readable Five

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

Keymanship 101 – The Beat and Rhythms of Morse

Starting with concepts introduced in presenter Chris Rutkowski’s book, The CW Way of Life, Keymanship expands those materials with details and analyses omitted for space reasons or revealed by subsequent research.

The Beat and Rhythms of Morse, re-examines Morse code from the perspective of the “fist”, the hand and key that make the Code, rather than its dit-Dah signals.

International Regulations specify that Morse signals should have a “3:1 dit/dah ratio,” but not how to create those ratios. Many Morse students and experts find it difficult.

Beat and Rhythms redefines Morse’s signals in the context of its beat, the “dit-train,” and introduces the concept of “key-cycles” to show how rhythmic keyin¢ can automatically create the desired 3:1 signals.

Rhythmic consistency allows both operators to sync to the same “dit train,” promoting maximum communications.

Watch here – https:/Awww.youtube.com/watch?v=noBXQRrx5rg

If you’ve read something that you think might be of interest to our readers, please let me know so we can share more thoughts and ideas; email to cqqrsnet@gmail.com

There’s No Such Thing…

Inis weeks questions. I think the first lesson in Teachering 101 is to always tell students “There’s no such…” (I’m sure you know the rest) and “…the only dumb questions are the ones not asked”.

John VK2RU reckons that there’s lots of questions out there among both our new and our experienced operators – about CW, amateur radio operating and about theory.

So John didn’t step backwards quickly enough when asked to volunteer to compile readers’ questions; thanks mate. So here we go…

From Stan ZL3TK In RagChew Edition 18, OM Ketut VKS3BWN raised an oft-asked question, “Do you write down everything in a CW QSO?” When that question has appeared in forums, I’ve never seen it attract an inclusive answer because the rare few who respond address the only scenario they know, that of a casual Qso.

By casual QSO, I mean inconsequential chatter, the definition used by national authorities for amateur activities. Since the original purposes of AR, scientific education and experimentation hardly exist since commercialisation, these entrenched bureaucratic attitudes now render the bands allocated to the amateur service vulnerable to being chipped away bit-by-bit, in favour of ‘moneyed’, licence- buying commercial interests.

Back to OM Ketut’s question. Let’s explore three scenarios. The first scenario is the most common, a one-on-one casual @SO. When the operator is capable of doing so, head reading will be the most efficient, i.e. no hard copy is made.

Unless a log is being kept, absolutely nothing needs to be written down. Legally you have no obligation to mention the other chap’s call sign at any stage, so there’s not really any need to write that down (although it comes in useful initially to attract his attention).

However, and this happens only in the amateur service, most are caught in a vast web of time-wasting habits. The other guy will needlessly remind you of your call sign every time he IDs at ten minute intervals.

With tongue-in-cheek, you of course being a true CW-phile, will ID with only your own call sign, because logically he already knows his call sign and there’s no need to keep reminding him.

Ifa casual QSO gets a little more serious and occasionally a technical detail needs jotting down, then it makes sense to take notes. Human memory is notoriously fallible, filing with regret when salient facts cannot be recalled later.

The second scenario is a Net environment. Net Control Stations (NCS) definitely need paper and pencil to keep track of proceedings, especially when the net is conducted in a star formation, but also should the NCS need to remind stations of their position in a ‘round robin’.

It’s not just call signs either, most net controllers will take notes in order to reflect on participants’ contributions to show a little appreciation and adding to cohesion.

Net participants will decide on the fly which subjects they wish to comment on, so may intermittently take notes. Listen carefully to most nets; the majority of AROs like the sound of their own voice or key and ignore everyone else’s tidbits.

Unlike in earlier decades, most AR nets are now parochial and seem to have no purpose other than to keep club members loosely connected. Finally the third scenario, that of demanding situations.

These are when every character must be written down and none allowed to go AWOL. Sound like a tall order? Not really because we have good tools available: QRS, repeat requests and digital sound recorders.

Recordings are terrific for verifying what was actually sent. So what are these demanding situations? There are three, one is when handling emergency traffic on which lives may depend; the second when handling third-party or other traffic; and the third when dealing with encryption.

In the first two cases, failing to write down every character perfectly may not constitute a mortal sin if the meaning can be clearly and logically assumed derived from the context. That is not the case when digits are involved or there is no context.

The third case, when handling encrypted traffic, no compromises or guesses are acceptable, period. The message will be rendered meaningless, unable to be decrypted and both operators’ accountability brought into question in the absence of 100 % accurate hard copy.

The demand for 100 % accuracy was accepted as quite normal in the days of yore when the wire telegraph was being used in a commercial environment.

American railroad companies pioneered encrypted traffic, not just for passenger safety but also in their symbiotic relationship with Wall Street.

Millions of stock-trading dollars were at stake so the importance of both accuracy and secrecy could not be emphasised. Achieving that level of competency was much easier when only a key and copper wire, Morse sounder and earth return were involved, there were none of the vagaries we experience today with noise-plagued amateur radio.

So there it is OM Ketut (and all who wish to economise on pencil lead), initially write down everything then begin to make decisions based on individual increasing ability, faknalmtoccounttthetsrenariotincdictsscesettakehichttrellmfonnaliontyodirecsivel

By casual QSO, I mean inconsequential chatter, the definition used by national authorities for amateur activities. Since the original purposes of AR, scientific education and experimentation hardly exist since commercialisation, these entrenched bureaucratic attitudes now render the bands allocated to the amateur service vulnerable to being chipped away bit-by-bit, in favour of ‘moneyed’, licence- buying commercial interests.

73 de Stan ZL3TK [Thanks Stan. If you’d like to find out a bit more about traffic handling, including the challenge of encrypted traffic, check out Stan’s resources here: https://qsl.net/zl3tk/index.htm]

Question: What 36 letter word is bakelite short for? Answer: Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride – the first man-made polymer composed entirely of synthetic chemicals! Poly – oxy – benzyl – methylen – glycol – anhydride!

Created in 1907 by Belgian Leo Baekeland! So there you go!

[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.]

I Hear Tell…

Grandfathers at Play!

Is it the role of grandfather to lead the grandson astray? Finn finds the practice kit good for learning the code and notes in passing, the sound can be used to annoy parents. Donald VK6JDM

We have the grandies staying for a bit and this is me taking one of the twins for a bit of CW learning. Push this side and it goes dit, dit, dit and the other side dah, dah etc. You gotta start them early. AR VK3RU

Wonders Never Cease

| hear tell that someone was telling one of the team that these days you can take photos with a telephone; he wanted to know if they were teasing?

He reckoned that next they will be telling him that we can communicate just by speaking into a device without a telegraph key! [Pah]

A Disturbance in the Force?

| hear tell that Richard VK6HRC has finally thrown caution to the wind and got Echolink going on both a computer and a phone.

Echolink can be used to connect to some configured AllStar nodes – including several on the WA AllStar network (including Mark’s VK2KI-L node – despite being in NSW). A good backup for when the Perth repeater VK6RLM won’t connect to AllStar!

Good work Richard and highly recommended as a backup (despite the rather below-par audio on systems like Echolink, DMR etc.

Nomads No More

From Craig VK3CLD / VK5QA_ Gidday all, Big news ….. no longer PORTABLE! We have bought a lovely old house in Alexandra in the Victorian High Country.

The old house came fully furnished as it was an Air B&B and very helpful when one doesn’t have any furniture or whitewoods, etc. You could say that we used our travel to find a new place to settle down.

Love it here, have travelled through this area many, many times …. now home! Ciao Craig VK3CLD

Tower Repair – Update

From Roy VK6RR Just sending these photos to show that my new mast support has been completed, we didn’t need to lower it as it was supported while we cut away the old fittings (which are lying down at the side), then placed the base plate in position, dyna bolting and chemically gluing it onto the original cement slab.

The support was then welded to the base plate, all painted and then cemented over. Should see me out !! Looking forward to QRS 73 Roy VK6RR

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

Di-dah-di-dah-dii

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 0700Z until about 1300Z; 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 1300Z – 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.

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 (Eastern Australian time) 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).

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.

Teamwork

Thank you so much to our team of 29 contributors: DL3YZ, G7BED, MOKBJ/P, VK2GAS, VK2RU, VK2WP, VK3ACU, VK3BWN, VK3CLD, VK3CTM, VK3DRQ, VK3ECH, VK3JFR, VK3KEV, VK3RU, VK5KFG, VK5LA, VK6HRC, VK6JDM, VK6KD/P, VK6KHZ, VK6NW, VK6QI, VK6RR, VK6WE, VK7KPC, VK7TA, VK7WW and ZL3TK.

And a special thank you to our editorial team, Nigel G4RWI (head of software development), John VK2RU (WhatsApp spy and research) and Richard VK6HRC (Post Morsition and spy). Great work alll UY CW on Tuesday, mb.

Mark Bosra VK2KI/ VK6QI Beautiful South Bowning NSW mark,bosma@icloud.com non impediti ratione cogitationis

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 CQ QRS Group members.

Any material and images received by the editor or published on the CQQRS WhatsApp groups may be published in this newsletter unless specifically requested otherwise.

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