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CQ QRS RagChew
Website
Reporting
Post Mortem 18th February 2026
This Week’s Topic of Interest
QRZ?
CW Practice
Other News
CW Courage
VBand Adapter
2m Hourglass Antenna Design for Portable Ops
Morse Training Net
VK5-CW Group?
Musings of a Retired GP
Battery Reuse
Kenwood TS-50 Repair
Elecraft KH1 Touch Paddle
Looking for Something?
Prosign/Character/Signal of the Month
Di-dah-di-dah-dit
Next Tuesday’s Net
Reports & Photos
Post Mortem
Articles
Material
teamwork
About the CQ QRS Net

CQ QRS RagChew

Stephen ZL3ABX near Nelson on the South Island with his home-brewed transceiver and the IC-705 used on this week’s CQQRS Slow CW Practice QSO Net.

Would you believe we had 73 stations reported on Tuesday’s CQQRS Slow CW Practice QSO net? And we had at least 55 of our team on air or listening in. Yet another new world record for our team!

40m really strutted its stuff and our little 20KHZ segment was chockers. A fantastic outcome – thank you to everyone who had a go or had a listen.

I was really pleased to see receive-only reports from Phil ZL1PB, David VK6KD, Wayne VK6NW and Keiran VK3BTV; Keiran went so far as to advise that he couldn’t get on air because the-deg-ate-his homework his budgie had chewed through his keyer cord (sure it did Keiran!).

I also know that our UK-based SWL Adam was trying out some of the European KiwiSDRs and listening to the DXperiment team.

We figure that we may have as many listening on our net as transmitting, so I’m really pleased that those who listen-only are now starting to send in reports via our web form – fantastic!

Also noted that our Floridian member Jeff WB2GDZ was worked by Patrick VK2IOW on 40m on Tuesday – some great grey-line propagation, and I was pleased that Jeff’s very early morning efforts were rewarded!

But speaking of Floridians, I was saddened to hear of our good mate and honorary ‘Sandgroper Gary Liljegren W4GAL / VK6GAL passing away. Gary was a very strong advocate and mentor for CW, and a wonderful supporter of our QRS efforts.

See Other News below for more. Also below you’ll see an article by Stephen ZLSABX from Nelson about the success he’s had with a low-noise antenna.

Using a feed-line made from a pair of cheap TV coax lines, this shielded balanced feed may be just what the doctor ordered for those of us suffering from high noise levels due to the myriad of switch mode power supplies in our homes.

I hope to hear from others who might give this a try (hint hint Saval). This week we also meet another of our new family members – Adam VK4IM from. North Lakes Brisbane.

So this will be the last newsletter from beautiful Port Albert in South Gippsland – where this morning we saw yet another huge stingray cruising leisurely around under a wharf with the outgoing (3 metrel) tide.

The ray glided around the pylons of the jetty, folding its wing-tips to manoeuvre; we measured the gap between the uprights – 8 feet! Unbelievable beauty! Just don’t stand on one buried in the shallows!

Next week, we’ll be somewhere else on our public transport-only travels.

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 – on behalf of the CQQRS Editorial team, please enjoy the newsletter.

Niall kh DOSITa VK2KI / VK6QI Patrick John Beautiful South Bowning VK2IOW VK2RU NSW Milthorpe NSW on a track somewhere cqqrsnet@gmail.com non impsditi ratione cogitationis Nigel Richard Lance G4RWI VK6HRC VK7TO our other grey nomad Padbury WA Margate TAS

With thanks to Nigel G4RWI’s clever software, and John VK2RU’s new and improved – and very clever spreadsheet work, here’s the 73 stations heard by 55 members of our team on Tuesday – look at ‘em all this week – wow!

The spreadsheets above show the known stations heard or worked on last Tuesday CQQRS Net; the comments in the team members’ reports (submitted via our webform bit.ly/CQQRSNET ) follow.

The comments were compiled for us by the clever software built by Nigel G4RWI and the layout was perfected by Patrick VK2IOW. Thanks again to Nigel, Patrick and John for the work, and to every team member who submitted a report –

[20m] After weeks of rain, my Portable location was a sea of mud so the only place I could park was ina field gateway next to a steel gate and close toa power line. Not the best.

Just before my DXpedition slot opened I thought I could hear a ZL station maybe calling me, but I got no a few “CQ VK” calls, Pat VK2IOW came up on his

Response to my reply. After only a few “CQ VK” calls, Pat VK2IOW came up on his splendid Yagi antenna. He was weak but readable and I copied every word he sent. But I think he found my feeble 20 watt signal a struggle.

Nevertheless, his sterling efforts made my day so “Thanks, Pat”. Later I tried calling Mark VK2KI when the DX Monitor showed that he was listening but I wasn’t surprised to get no reply. Roll on, the summer (still another 2 months to go for that though).

[40m] I really need to work on my receive, took me a few goes to get the callsigns with far too many gaps in the conversation; PLUS the pro-signs threw me – man I’m rusty been away for far too long.

[20m] Mike, DL3YZ had a strong signal, no problems copying both ways. After we finished, Clive G3NKQ, near Cambridge England called me — we moved off Mike’s frequency and had a QSO.

Then I listened for Ross, MONNK as he was due to start, however there was a strong station, ZL/KD6XU calling CQ on his frequency. Checking his QRZ page, it appears he was operating from a sailboat in New Zealand.

After Ross moved up a bit we had an enjoyable QSO, though his portable station signal was low and fading in and out — satisfying h

[40m] Conditions seemed good with plenty of signals showing on the waterfall. Jeff, WB2GDZ replied to my CQ. He had a good signal (| gave him RST 549), though he gave me only 339.

His QTH is in Florida, however he said he was operating a remote station in Georgia. After that I had a listen to various QSOs, then hit the sack early.

[40m] 40m was quite active with many stations but not too many sending QRS. I found myself stumbling from one fast QSO to another.

When checking a selection of SDR receivers I found my CQ and TEST calls were reaching SA, North QLD, NSW, ee and New Ze: ig Pl WP aU g Ue i enc nn A 9 I 9g — ap ee as

[40m] Condx were a bit noisy at my QTH, I worked a station ona yacht and my first CW QSO with New Zealand

[40m] After working Mark VK2DI during the day at his POTA activation I decided I better make up a portable doublet, I made up a 9m length of ladder line and put it up very quickly as an inverted V; not long after that the rain started, very happy to have some rain; I packed up and operated from the shack.

Next step is to build a portable Balanced L antenna coupler. I was intending to do a POTA activation with the hope of working VK4BRO P2P KH-1 to KH-1 but the wind and rain held that idea away for another time.

[40m] I heard VK6 for the first time in a while. They were busy so I moved up a little and called CQ, and was surprised to geta call from N1FG.

From Stephen Coote ZL3ABX at Nelson New Zealan

[40m] This was my first CQQRS night. I didn’t start listening until 10:20 UTC as I’d been out trying to do some pest control (mainly looking for Aussie Brushtail possums, but didn’t see any). I only listened to the 40m band.

While I like to use my experimental home-brew gear, I used my factory rig last night. I only get 2 or 3 Watts {Sao IT ee PR PRR anderen TI mormon On CAT)

Black box. I had two QSOs. The first was with Mark, VK3MJ, but he had trouble hearing me… he gave me a report of 339, whereas he was 569 at my end. I understand that Mark isn’t an official member of the group but it was good to work him anyway.

The second QSO was with Dave, VK5PL who reported that I was 359. Because of the time difference (and summer daylight saving time) I may not be too active on Tuesday nights, but I’ll see how things go.

While daylight saving is great for some folks, I wish we’d just stick to NZ standard time all year round.

[40m] Just listening here but conditions on 40 not too bad

40m] Viaybe conditions were better, but tried my EFHW for 40m in preference to HQ’s antenna. Although the EFHW was very close to the house, there was almost zero Noise. This made listening a real pleasure.

Something for our CEO to think about when he finally returns.

[40m] There were several very weak signals when I tuned in; none of them readable by myself or the decoder in my KX3. My CQ was answered by Phil, VK6GX with a good clear signal.

I was rather pleased as our last contact was in September so we had a short QSO before signing off and trying for c anacwarad quickly hit tha ciqnal wae vary waak and fa

[40m] The CW from Mark VK3MJ was a good pace and fairly Farnsworth. Good for some extra think time. Thanks Mark. 73 John

[40m] A big thank you to David VK3DBD for his patience with my requests for repeats !

15m] This week Elizabeth and I were still 1olidaying at Port Albert Victoria, using the /K5PH KiwiSDR network at Ironstone Range. Nothing heard from Edi DL2EMR on 15m this week, despite his new antenna; I nay have been too late.

20m] managed to miss the early part of the )Xperiment when Mike DL3YZ was on. By he time I tuned in, I think Ross MONNK may ave turned into a hedgehog; there was one ‘| didn’t catch a callsian… may have been

[40m] 40m had a slow start – not much around at 0600Z but slowly the signals started appearing; before long the band was full of goodness! Great to hear Michel VK3CMV from Chiltern who apparently wasn’t scared-off from last week’s first net Qso.

By around 0900Z the band was opening nicely across from the East to WA – both ends were enjoying the conditions that 40m turned on.

Also great to hear another new team member, Dave VK5PL having some fun chatting to Rob VK3ECH/MM at Metung at the other end of the South Gippsland lakes from me, then Scotty VK4BRO up in Brisbane.

Then yet another of our new family members, Stephen ZL3ABX had stayed up late to make the distance across the Tasman with just 4 Watts!

What’s more, Stephen was also coming through to WA, albeit only Q2 I rounded-out my list of 27 people heard on 40m with good signals from Nyoman YB1NWP from Indonesia. Unfortunately, he missed his brother Ketut (VK3BWN) who had been on eatlier in the evening.

Allin all, with 27 different 40m stations in my log (er, the inside of the envelope that I used last week), I was very pleased with the evening.

[80m] Jordan VK3ACU got on 80m early (before it opened across the Bight) and was having a nice rag chew with Merv VK3ADX, just 40KM away at Ballarat. They were both coming through nicely into the Ironstone Range KiwiSDR near Adelaide.

Later in the evening, Sava VK4PN in Brisbane tried, tried, and tried again… but from what I heard, no-one else was hearing him, despite the band being open across the country at that late hour.

Bad luck mate – but like fishing, you need to have a line in the water to catch anything worthwhile! Also from your editor Mark VK6QI at holidaying at Port Albert Victoria and listening via the Southern Electronics Group VK6SEG KiwiSDR near Northam WA.

By around 0900Z the band was opening nicely across from the East to WA – both ends were enjoying the conditions that 40m turned on.

Also great to hear another new team member, Dave VK5PL having some fun chatting to Rob VK3ECH/MM at Metung at the other end of the South Gippsland lakes from me, then Scotty VK4BRO up in Brisbane.

Then yet another of our new family members, Stephen ZL3ABX had stayed up late to make the distance across the Tasman with just 4 Watts!

Allin all, with 27 different 40m stations in my log (er, the inside of the envelope that I used last week), I was very pleased with the evening.

[15m] No luck with Edi DL2EMR on 15m into the Southern Electronics Group’s Hoddy’s Well KiwiSDR in WA this week.

Popped Up al Ne ed OF MOSS WIVINNIALS SCNneQuied appedialice, I Qiaht Catch We callsign so we’ll never know.

[40m] As I said in my VK2KI report, 40m opened nicely from the East to WA – and there was lots of activity from the Sandgropers as a result; I have a vision of hungry Koi Carp circulating in a Japanese Garden somewhere! Terrific fun hopefully.

And really good later in the evening to hear the 4000MW from Stephen ZL3ABX coming through across the 5000KM – how many hops I wonder?

[40m] Nice first time QSO with OM Merv VK3AD all the way from Ballarat! OM Wal VK2WP after a very long time, I couldn’t remember his name! Also another well-enjoyed QSO as always, with OM Mait

[80m] On 20m OM Mike DL3YZ was heard only on SDR. I called him several times but no answer came back. At one stage I could hear him calling VK2IOW but nothing else came my way.

From Sava VK4PN at Mount Ommaney Brisbane

[20m] Spent a lot of time on 20m scanning for EU QRS contingent but no luck, couldn’t hear anyone from this end calling either. Couple of EU stations came back to my calls with reasonable 569 signals so the band was not completely dead.

[40m] Very interesting night on 40m, working QRP again. Conditions must have been very good as I could see my carrier at Ironside SDR flickering red most of the time. Several traces of others on 40m could be seen as well.

Tuned to each to check the status, most were engaged in chatting QSO but VK2SB was calling CQ so I responded. Gus came back and to my surprise he gave me 599 report. Strange I was only SW. My report for him was 579 despite the noise at my QTH.

Well Gus surprised me again when he told me he was running only 4W. It was really exciting to have a decent chat both ways QRP. Two more contacts followed, VK2WP Wal running crystal locked transmitter from Bathurst, and VKSPL Dave from Barossa Valley.

Both were 567 at my QTH. I confused Wal with RSN of 567 as he asked me what was wrong with his tone. His tone was perfect but it seems that a lot of hams do not use RSN. Well the last QSO on 40m was a real gem, Rich VK6PZT. Reports both ways were 339.

This is my QRP distance record on QRS net thus far.

[80m] By the look of the waterfall at Ironside SDR I was the only station on 80m. I kept calling for at least 30 min and almost at the end of QRS time slot I could see a faint trace responding to my CQ but couldn’t copy the signal as it was buried too deep in noise.

[40m] Just a short entry to the net this week, nice chat with Mark VK3MJ on 40m, glad I was able to keep up. I leamt that it had been particularly hot in Melbourne and as I was on the key what had been a warm Tasmanian evening I was able to report light rain starting to settle in.

The rest of the evening occupied by CWA class – hoping that soon I can show off some improved head copy skills (yes Mark, I know that means you will push me harder, it’s OK.)

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 Mortem 18th February 2026

NAA IAI I ENA By Richard VK6HRC Six on the VK6RLM rpir and AllStar/Echolink hub.

NEN NEE RE ENe FE NNE CEer ee CRE VK6KD _ David VK6QI — Mark VK6FN Max VK/G4RWI Nigel VK6HRG VK6MRB Mulligan swl

David got on 40m later in the evening and heard YB11NWP VK6DU VK6PZT and VK3DBD also made use of various kiwi sdr nodes as far away as ZL.

Mark still in beautiful Port Albert also got on later using the Kiwi sdr network heard a weak signal on 20m maybe Ross MONNK ? Nothing on 15m heard 27 on 40m and was most pleased to hear new call signs through the evening.

Max worked four on 40m and as propagation improved missed a few due to QRM. Max also let us know that Gary VK6GAL/W4GAL from Florida is now SK he will be missed as he was regular on the VK6 morning net and the QRS net utilising the Souther Electronics Group remote at Jandakot.

Nigel in beautiful South Downing experimented by erecting an end fed antenna and to his joy zero noise ! Bonus five contacts in the log.

I worked some local stations on 40m and then David VKSDBD when it opened up to the East, I had no trouble with his QTH Yackandanda but his callsign eluded me until he introduced some Farnsworth spacing which helped me out, thank you David.

Thank you to all on last night and this morning 73 Richard

This Week’s Topic of Interest

A Low-Noise Antenna Balanced Coaxial Feed – Leaving the Noise Outside by Stephen ZL3ABX near Nelson

Here is some info about the antennas I have at home. When I first renewed my licence in 2023, I just had a simple fan dipole for three bands. I had a lot of local noise however, and OM Stan ZL3TK, introduced me to a low noise antenna which I took advantage of.

Lused cheap TV coax with a copper plated steel core for the feeders, and I used 1mm stainless steel cable (from Bunnings) for the radiating wires. I used screw connectors for the wires.

I took care to reduce the chances of water getting inside the coax by having the top end hanging downwards where it connects to the radiating elements. I also applied a lot of sealant around the end of the coax and the connections.

Because of my narrow back yard, I decided to cut the antenna wires to suit the 40m band and above; I didn’t have enough room to erect a decent 80m version. I found that the new antenna made a

Antenna made a el significant improvement in lowering the noise level on 40 metres. After a while I missed having an 80m antenna, so I hastily rigged a long end-fed half-wave below my main antenna.

I had to sling it from several poles to make it change direction so it would stay within our property. At one end it is supported by the house. At the far end it slopes down to the top of a wooden fence.

I have a tunable matching unit for the multi-band antenna in the shack. The matching unit for the 80m antenna hangs under the house eaves, so I have to rush outside to alter the tuning if necessary.

| have three aluminium poles, and one bamboo pole. I’ve found that bamboo is quite durable and it works well. I don’t have any guy wires on my poles.

The centre pole is made from a four metre length of 38MM diameter aluminium tubing, with a two metre extension of a slightly smaller tube which fits inside the bottom tube. The poles are simply lashed to either a wooden post or the wooden boundary fence.

I have taken down the antenna when we’ve had strong winds… the poles bend to a worrying degree, and the wires whip about wildly. However last time we had a storm I left the aerials in place and nothing bad happened.

——————— In the past when I used a single, insulated, tinned copper wire for the radiating elements, the wire broke within the insulation near where it was connected to the coax feeder.

I’ve had no trouble with the stainless cable, and the insulated single-strand copper wire end-fed antenna has lasted well. I don’t have purpose made insulators at the ends of my wires.

I used monofilament fishing nylon to connect the wires to the fastening points. My ‘shack’ is in a small room at the front end of the house, but my multi band antenna is in the back yard.

So the twin coax feeders, which are laid in the root space, are about 25 metres long. Here’s a link to the magazine article that Stan told me about, describing how to make the antenna. Cheers from New Zealand Stephen ZL3ABX

Alternatively, 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?

| stumbled across the VK Slow CW FacePlant page and saw a reference to the CQQRS Net there. I also came across the Post Morsum while linked into the VK6 repeater network via AllStar a while back while working from home.

I was fist licenced in 1996, I did the Morse to get my licence all those years ago and kept it up for a while too, but I was never a solid CW op. I could receive maybe 8- 10WPM at a push (enough to pass the test back then).

My sending was good but receive was below par. Some time after, I left amateur radio due to work and family commitments and it all fell in a heap.

| came back in 2020 and have been building my station since, I still work for a living. But I’m looking forward to getting back to some of my other interests. I’m relearning the code and hopefully I can master it a bit better this time round…

Head copy would be nice because I write slow 🙂

As an aside, I see you have a few Hamfests advertised in RagChew. You might like to include REDFEST in one of the upcoming issues, its run by the Redcliffe and Districts Radio Club here in Brisbane in April. See this page https://redfest.org/ for info.

Thanks for adding me to the RagChew newsletter list. Cheers Adam VK4IM

So, would you be willing to share some thoughts about yourself? Please let Mark VK2KI know: cqqrsnet@gmail.com For guidance on writing for RagChew, see Articles below.

CW Practice

This year we’re using Aesop’s Fables for CW audio practice. These are short moral stories, often using talking animals, that illustrate simple truths about human behaviour and character.

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

The fables are generally smaller files of two to three hundred words that have been recorded at 15 wpm and run for about 15 minutes.

If 15 wpm is a bit quick for you, load it onto your phone and set the playback speed at 0.75 X or even 0.5 X- whatever works for you. 0.75 X will play the MP8 at a bit under 12 wpm. Itis suggested that you read the text file before listening to the audio file.

That will make it easier to follow the audio file and prepare you for any unusual words. Any punctuation that is not usually used with CW has been removed. This week’s fable is ‘The Frogs Who Asked For a King’, and the MP3 and TXT files are attached here –

If you prefer a different speed or tone you can create your own MP3 files by converting the text file with the Ebook2CW app — https://fkurz.net/ham/ebook2cw.html.

You can either play the MP3 files in any media 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 Morse 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).

Other News

CW Courage

From Richard VAK6HRC Really enjoyed this video, reinforcing the advice to just have a go: https://youtu.be/tDWZUAW-6V8? si=xyp5fj40_ B7YMYH- And yes, the CW is in English (et oui, la chaine CW est en anglais)! Di-dit Richard VK6HRC

VBand Adapter

RCA CA IVICAEINS Great article in the newsletter Dave, VBand has been such a help for me. Chris Chapman VK3QB put the group onto a ~$20 Arduino board from Jaycar and Arduino code to build the VBand adapter to connect your own paddle to VBand via your own PC.

2m Hourglass Antenna Design for Portable Ops

2M MOUrgiass AMLCMNa Mesign 10! From the other VK1 Andrew… VK1AD. Roman DLSTU has shared his construction method of a portable 2m Hourglass antenna, which is an excellent lightweight candidate for portable operations requiring horizontal polarisation.

Https://di3tu. wordpress.com/2026/02/15/the -hourglass-loop-antenna-for-2-metres/ The design was originally published in ARRL QST Dec 2018. Peter VK3YE has published a similar design at his YouTube channel. Regards Andrew VK1AD

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.

VK5-CW Group?

| was wondering the other day whether the VK5-CW Group was still going? The group used to have a weekly on-air get-together (Wednesdays from memory?), frequent coffee mornings and had a fairly active email group.

Dave VK5PL tells me that he hadn’t seen any emails since 2023; does anyone know if it’s still going? cqqrsnet@gmail.com

| was saddened to hear fron Rob VK6LD that our old friend Gary Lillegren W4GAL / VK6GAL has passed away in the past few days. Gary was a wonderful advocate of the gentle art of CW, having started on CW as

WNOZAQ back in 1955. Gary has been an honorary Sandgroper and regular attendee on the daily 80m Shaver’s’ Net for many years via the Southern Electronics Group VK6SR Remote station.

He has also used that Remote to come up on our CQQRS Net, and the various contests we’ve held over the years. He was also one of the keen participants in Richard VK6PZT’s International Morse Code Day quizzes, held on April 27TH via Zoom.

A mentor to many (including his son who is now licensed), Gary has encouraged many to give CW a go, and has also been an ARRL examiner, testing and supporting new entries into amateur radio from his home in Florida.

We’ll certainly miss Gary on the CQQRS net – please join me in pausing for a moment to remember our old mate, Gary W4GAL.

John Moyle National Field Day Contest is on again soon. This year it will be held on Saturday-Sunday March 21-22. You’ll find the contest information here. If we were clever about this, our CQQRS family could have quite an impact on the CW category!

Musings of a Retired GP

From Donald VK6JDM near Esperance Hello Mark. Retirement number three feels permanent. It is good to be able to get on with things that used to keep being put off.

At 77, I was finding the 800 km return trip to Kalgoorlie every two weeks, with a packed week of work each time I went up, a bit tiring. Loss of the old academic values made separation from the teaching phase of my career easy.

I did not get on air this week. Anne (who has also retired) and I went to Perth to buy more solar panels to add to our arrays. We were totally ripped off and had to pay $20 each for 265 Watt panels that were near-new. $420 for 21 panels seemed a bit steep.

Jam shocked at how many good panels are taken off roofs when people increase the size of their solar systems. There is no technical reason why a second system of the same Voltage cannot be added via its own charge controller.

The contractors seem to want to maximise their profits at the cost of good panels going to scrap. To see 5 year old panels selling for less than 10 cents a Watt offends me.

We have some of the original BP solar panels that finally started to deteriorate after well more than 40 years. Half of them still put out their rated current and voltage.

Some later panels are over 30 years old and put out their rated power, they will shortly be powering a solar water pump at our soak to keep the garden tank full in fire season. In Perth now there is a business selling second life solar gear.

We need more efforts of that type. We have a 5 kW array that charges the EV. It is angled to optimise power produced in winter. However that angle results in a reduced output in summer. Extra panels will ensure it produces adequately in summer.

So some of the panels will go to the EV charging array. The rest will be used to boost the output of the home panel array. That array has just managed in recent times as we have added a freezer and other things we seem to all feel the need for these days.

For others thinking about solar power systems, may I suggest you use Victron gear as it is nearly radio silent. It also is reliable and not expensive.

‘So my excuse for absence from the net this week has been presented, but as you can see, I have been suitably punished by being roundly ripped off on the cost of solar panels. QSO next week 73, Donald VK6JDM.

Battery Reuse

And speaking of recycling solar panels, this from Pickles (the automobile auct house).

How the Sunshine State is Building a Circular Economy with Batteries With EV adoption increasing year on year, the desire for salvaged EV batteries has naturally risen with it.

Over the past few years a new wave of buyers has emerged in the second hand market, specifically targeting written-off electric vehicles (EV) for their batteries.

The opportunity for renewal and reuse, combined with Australia’s shift toward sustainability, has seen a boom in battery demand due to their electric vehicle and energy storage applications.

Queensland is leading the charge on this front, with battery recycling taking a hold in the Sunshine State. Seen as a vital step toward building the foundations of a circular economy, battery reuse offers an alternative to securing material supply chains in the decades to come.

Read on to learn why Queensland is geared up to become Australia’s hub for renewable energy.

How Queensland is Embracing Battery Reuse As the world decarbonises, Queensland has focused on delivering clean economy jobs in battery technologies and manufacturing.

Though the state is known for its commitment to adopting eco- friendly initiatives, nm rnruaArhnAlicsA

Friendly initiatives, the Sunshine State turbocharged their push to be Australia’s green powerhouse when announcing their $570 million investment into a significant battery reuse strategy.

Debuting in February 2024, the strategy marked a concemed effort by the state to recognise the potential of second hand batteries and has led to the adoption of a variety of schemes since.

The five-year action plan is part of the state’s broader plan to become a globally competitive investment destination. Since then, initiatives such as the Cheaper Home Batteries Program have encouraged Australian households and small businesses to add battery storage to their rooftop solar systems.

As a result, the high upfront cost of batteries is no longer an obstacle for Queensland residents, making batteries more accessible to more households and businesses.

Within a month of its introduction from 1 July, over 1,700 Queenslanders were reported to have used the federal rebate to install a battery. Now, one in 24 households have a battery connected to the solar photovoltaic (PV) systems.

These batteries are multi-purpose, and have the capacity for storing solar energy for grid stability and helping households reduce bills, avoid blackouts and lower emissions.

Queensland’s Electric Future Success in implementing the battery reuse strategy will allow Queensland to position itself as a reliable participant in global battery value chains and, crucially, an adopter of low future energy costs from renewable energy.

In addition, the state’s proximity to Asia and emphasis on strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials gives it the foundations to connect its investment to the world market. oe nee,

Flow Batteries), it has committed to investing $10 million into an Australian-first commercial-scale vanadium electrolyte facility in Townsville.

Though EVs are commanding the most battery demand, as of 2025 ongrid stationary storage has become the fastest growing segment within the battery market with 37% annual growth across the decade.

Ultimately, wherever they are utilised, repurposing used EV batteries into new stationary storage systems ensures that valuable resources remain in circulation far beyond their first application.

As Queensland strives for an electric future and energy independence, it is anticipated the rest of the country will follow suit.

With demand for used EVs on the rise and Australia’s electrified fleet rapidly expanding, Pickles’ reputation for transparency, innovation and trust in the auction industry will be important going forward as sustainability reshapes how we commute with EVs and understand EV use.

Kenwood TS-50 Repair

| wonder if you know of anyone who is capable and willing to do a repair on my TS-50? A couple of years ago I found a repairer in UK (when I was there with the radio) There was no shortage of repairers there!

The fault was in the filter unit, and it worked afterwards of course but now is dead again. I am not incapable of doing many repairs but the unit construction of the TS- 50 (miniaturisation in its day (circa 1996?) when that rig transformed mobile for me.

I rather like it (in fact I have two of them… other does work…. !) I just filled in a report form on the 17TH Feb QRS evening, as I heard and worked several VK6 stations – rare for me to even hear VK6 on any band.

But trying to follow the instructions on the form to complete – might have worked or might not. Funny things happened whilst doing so. There must be a simple way! I did hear the cat-sitter QRV, but did not work Nigel that evening.

Although I checked 20m as usual nothing doing there at all. 73 from VK3DBD David in Yack City

But really satisfying to repair), but now has an ALC fault that has beaten me on several open-heart surgery attempts. But it’s such a terrific transceiver that I’ll persist.

However, it sits on a huge pile of un-started / un-finished repairs and projects that is getting higher faster than I’m ageing… so I can’t offer help you myself unfortunately.

However, is there any of our readers who’d like to challenge of helping David with this interesting project? cqgrsnet@gmail.com if so.]

But really satisfying to repair), but now has an ALC fault that has beaten me on several open-heart surgery attempts. But it’s such a terrific transceiver that I’ll persist.

However, it sits on a huge pile of un-started / un-finished repairs and projects that is getting higher faster than I’m ageing… so I can’t offer help you myself unfortunately.

However, is there any of our readers who’d like to challenge of helping David with this interesting project? cqgrsnet@gmail.com if so.]

Hobbling around Talong Slipped over on ice in the US – broken bone. Didn’t know the bone was broken since last week! Tyre tracks in snow make slippery ice! [Trying to keep up with Jordan perhaps Adrian?]

Slipped over on ice in the US – broken bone. Didn’t know the bone was broken since last week! Tyre tracks in snow make slippery ice! [Trying to keep up with Jordan perhaps Adrian?]

Elecraft KH1 Touch Paddle

Looking for Something?

If you’re looking on your computer, in the top right corner of the screen click on the magnifying glass and type in a word or words that my have appeared in the article.

When the menu (shown here on the left) opens, click on Embedded files and you’ll see the results of the search of our archived newsletters.

If your words don’t come up with an link, try other words. If you still have no luck, that may mean that what your looking for may have been in the newsletter as an image rather than text (the weekly reports and many articles are actually inserted as images rather than text for a number of reasons).

Our software team are working on making these searchable – but for the moment, only the text can be searched. In that case, your best option is to go back to the home screen and click on the word Home, and then RagChew Newsletter in the drop-down menu.

Scroll all the way to the bottom and you’ll find the RagChew Archive where you can open each individual back issue.

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

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!]

Di-dah-di-dah-dit

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.ly/CQQRSNET 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: cgarsnet@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 Mortem

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 afact!

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. Oh, and one more thing (actually two) – copyright material: * please use your own images – don’t use images copied from the internet unless you have the producer’s permission, or they’re marked ‘Creative Commons’ or similar; * if you include other peoples’ written material, unless you have permission, you may only include small snippets (unless it’s marked ‘Creative Commons’ or similar), and you’ll need to site the source and author.

For more guidance on writing for the RagChew newsletter (including help with using an Al), head to our website bit.ly/CQQRSWebsite then click the menu on the top right and then click RagChew Newsletter.

Material

A reminder; 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 40 contributors: DL3YZ, MONNK, VK/G4RWI, VKIAD, VK2KIJJ, VK2RU, VK2WF, VK2WP, VK3ACU, VKSBSE, VKSBTV, VK3BWN, VK3CLD, VK3DBD, VK3DRQ, VK3ECH/MM, VKSKLE, VK4AW, VK4BRO, VK4EV, VK4IM, VK4PN, VK5FD, VK5FR, VKSKFG, VK5PL, VK6FN, VK6HRC, VK6JDM, VK6KD, VK6KHZ, VK6LD, VK6NW, VK6WE, VK6XC, VK7UZ, VK7TA, WB2GDZ, ZLIPB and ZL3ABX.

And a special thank you to our editorial team, Nigel G4RWI (head of software development), Patrick VK2IOW (reports coordinator), John VK2RU (spreadsheet guru), Richard VK6HRC (Post Morsition) and Lance VK7TO (software advisor).

Great work alll UY CW on Tuesday, mb Mark Bosna VK2KI/ VKEQI Beautiful South Bowning NSW ‘eqarsnet@gmail.com non impedit 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 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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