cq_qrs_newsletter

2026 09 CQ QRS RagChew

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Contents

CQ QRS RagChew

Isn’t this a beauty? Simon MOKBJ’s beautiful new 1970S vintage Kenwood TS-530SP, as used successfully on the CQQRS net on Tuesday. Everything’s right – microphone and gain controls are where they should be, narrow filter selected… woo hoo!

And thank you to Jo for that beautiful key as well!

Dah-di-dah-di-dah

Another great week for our CQQRS Slow CW Practice QSO net – at least 48, members working 66 different stations – bloody amazing despite the band full of static crashes in the East!

Phil VK8MC who was portable in SA even logged seven stations on 40m using a simple Tecsun PL-330 portable short wave receiver. Aren’t conditions great at the moment? And how’s this….

Jordan VK3ACU at Meredith (South of Ballarat) reports hearing his Pixie 40m transceiver’s local oscillator on Paul VK5PH‘s famous Ironstone Range KiwiSDR network, just East of Adelaide; see his YouTube report below.

Great to see the proliferation of QRP QSOs and attempts again this week; this is what CW is all about! I suggest to improve your chances of being heard, if you’re calling CQ using QRP, consider putting a post on our CQQRS WhatsApp Alerts group – sometimes people will hear you but may not try because they think you won’t hear them – or they may be tuning around quickly and miss your signal.

Actually, the same goes for any QRS CQ call (both during and outside the net) – a quick Alert may bring you success… and may also encourage others to listen in for some practice.

And speaking of QRP – Jordan VK3ACU has written a little article about getting out and having a bit of CW fun in a Park. His bottom line is the key – don’t do what I do – over-prepare, over-pack and over-think)…

Just get out with a transceiver, battery, key, note paper, a bit of antenna wire and have some fun! Too complex and hard to submit logs etc for the various xxOTAs?…. True, you can do that, and have a huge amount of fun with the various challenges…

Or you can just get out and have some fun! Is not submitting an xxOTS log the same as naked CW perhaps? This week we also have another take on a VBand adapter – this one by David VK4JM – sorry mate – I missed your email, lost in my Spam folder!

If you’d like more info or a board from David, send me an email and I’ll put you in touch. And speaking of home-brew, check out Stephen ZL3ABX‘s project – and he claims only limited knowledge of electronics! And there’s lots more to read; please enjoy.

And speaking of enjoying – check out the reports from our operators last Tuesday – tertific reports – thanks one and all. And also great to see it’s not just people who have QSOs – SWL reports are great.

So Ms Elizabeth and I are nearing the end of our three week pub-packing journey around the South East of Victoria by public transport, staying in pubs etc.

This week’s newsletter was started when we were in hippie-central – Fish Creek in South Gippstand, continued in Leongtha, then Broadford, and is now being finished in Holbrook NSW.

I’d like to really thank Jo and Nigel G4RWI who when visiting CQQRS Headquarters, offered to eat house-sit for us when our usual house-sitter’s plans changed at the last minute. Thanks guys and I hope you had fun…

And best wishes for the next stage of your largely un-planned travels around the East; fingers crossed with the various selling and buying endeavours.

New Team Members

Welcome this week to Graham VK4CEG who lives at Logan, South of Brisbane. Graham heard about our net from Scotty VK4BRO, and is a keen PARKS & SOTA operator, enjoying the peace and quiet.

I’d worked Graham during a previous Don Edwards Memorial Slow CW Contest and he has also joined in on our Tuesday adventures a couple of times. Welcome Graham, and I look forward to hearing or chatting to you, and also getting your Tuesday reports.

And welcome also to Eliot VK2OAG who lives at Orange and was introduced to our group by Patrick VK2IOW from nearby Millthorpe. Eliot plans to be on air in another month or so. Welcome to our family and the CW journey Eliot.

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.

WVlarK bosma 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 clever spreadsheet work, here’s the 66 stations heard by 48 members of our team on Tuesday:

The spreadsheet above shows 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 also compiled for us by Nigel G4RWI’s software tools and the layout was perfected by Patrick VK2IOW. Thanks again to Nigel, Patrick and John for the work.

And thank you very much to every team member who took time to submit a report for our reading pleasure.

[20m] Today we had an almost perfect day. Condx were on our side, bands up here quiet and the signals from VK were ea to copy. Thanks for all the nice chats, it was a pleasure beeping with you around the world again 🙂 Have a great week ! 73 Mike

20m] 1e weather forecast was wrong and so! could have gone out ortable after all. But Mike DL3YZ has a great radio that I can scess over the internet so it all worked out fine for me.

There’s no istaking the strong signal from Pat VK2IOW – only 90 watts but I ad to turn the RF Gain down! Sava VK4PN had a weaker signal but s good fist made for an easy copy. Thanks, chaps.

[80m] Very strange wide band ‘interference’ or transmission picked up on the VK6 Mt Barker SDR. Several MHZ wide Different tones to be heard, no matter what fx you tune to….Any ideas?

[40m] #1 in the CW log (apart from some dodgy computer generated/decoded QSO’s quite some time ago) was Graeme, VK5GG about 5km’s from me! Big thanks to Chris VK3QB for running the CW Academy CSE this year and if Lyn, VK4SWE and Bob W9KNI ever read this…

THANK YOU for your determination…! got there in the end!

From Phil VK8MC/5 at Lincoln National Park

[40m] Camping in Lincoln NP in SA. Listening on a Tecsun PL-330 portable using its whip antenna. Surprised by how many stations I heard. Good conditions combined with a low noise location.

[40m] I was a late starter this week tuning in after conclusion of the CWA course tonight. I heard Patrick VK2IOW calling but there was a bit of OSB for me on his signal, sometimes his call was clear, other times nothing.

Rather than bother Patrick and then fail, I moved on. I picked up on the end of a QSO between Manny VK3DRQ and Lance VK7TO. I then called Manny, who

[40m] Good chat with Phil and Sava despite pretty poor conditions. Sava was QRP. Graeme was very quick and definitely not QRS.

[80m] Good to hear him but David’s signal fought a losing battle with conditions here tonight on 80.

[40m] Late start for me tonight, long day at work. Noisy on 40m tonight, tried 80 and 15m but no luck.

[40m] For once 40m seemed to be in good condition in the west but there seemed to be lots of QRN in the eastern SDRs due to the plethora of storms that seem to pervade the eastern side of the island. Oh

BENE E BGR ENS WERE UE CHE ECE ElCaUel es Uwe

[40m] Apart from the early stations at around 1800HRS, 40m was very quiet at my location until much later around 2248 WST. From the speed of the CW on 7.0415 and higher I don’t think they were QRS participants hihi.

[80m] There wasn’t much heard at my QTH on 80m however stations responding to my CQ calls were coming in well. Just couldn’t hear too much else on the band.

My QRM eliminator has chosen not to like 80m and decided to cause a problem with SWR when using anything above 20W Tx pwr. As an interim solution, I switched off the QRM eliminator power just before transmitting.

I think my Tx power came up significantly from 15W to 90W. Wayne VKGNW came in so strong I thought he was parked in the street outside my QTH, hihi. Greg VKSKFG was a lot harder to hear due to noise floor level but yet another great QSO. 73s all.

[40m] Yes I enjoyed it. I am thrilled to get ZL3ABX Stephen at Nelson using my QCX 5 watt HB rig.

[40m] I might not be a regular participant on Tuesday nights, but this is an enjoyable activity and I know that participating mus help my Morse fluency. M

Re NASI SAT CENA ERA TOA A PIO II INNATE ADA

[80m] I didn’t hear any CW on 80m. I called CQ a few times but got no response. The whole band looked totally abandoned on the local internet SDR. Then, blow me away, an SSB conversation took place right in the middle of our recommended band segment.

So it appears the band was working well enough sometimes. Having said that though, my 80m CQs were not spotted by any RBN station.

[40m] Due to phone calls and a booked 6pm Zoom meeting only I could be on for a short time. Great to QSO with the ones I worked.

[15m] Not a sausage heard from Edi DO2EMR on 15m this week, despite his new antenna. I knew he was on air via Mike DL3YZ‘s reporting system. Keep trying Edi – one day you’ll surprise yourself and 15m will burst in to life to Oceania.

| could just about feel the pleasure that Simon MOKBJ was having, having a go with his new toy, a nice 1970S Kenwood TS-530SP.

Dipping the Plates on the 6146B Wolverhampton shack warmers, etc was producing a reasonable RSN 321 signal into the Snowline KiwiSDR as he chatted away with Patrick VK2IOW at Millthorpe.

Further down the band, Mike DL3YZ was a decent RSN 541 from Stuttgart while chatting to Manny VK3DR@Q at Blackbur (which we were passing on a coach as I wrote this on Wednesday.

After the change of shift, Ross MONNK at Budleigh Salterton was heard using Mike’s remote chatting to Patrick then Sava VK4PN up at Mount Ommaney.

[40m] I listened-in on the Snowline KiwiSDR at the start of the net using my phone; a band of thunderstorms was passing through Victoria and Southern NSW – the SDR’s waterfall display looked like a box full of resistor colour codes.

Anyway, despite the noise, I heard lan VKSCZ calling CQ at a hair on fire pace. Jordan VK3ACU (who I think had more hair) responded matching his pace and away they went; a pleasure to head-copy for me (| couldn’t write that fast)….

Applying Ross’ MONNK’s Guessing Game paradigm of course. Next I heard Arthur VK2ASB from Wentworth Falls calling CQ – nice signal but no nibbles unfortunately.

Following that Armin VK2GAS called CQ from Norwest and had a chat with Jordan To round out my listening pleasure, I heard Maity VK5AO calling and Rex VK5FA chatting to VK3FC before I headed over to 20m to see what the DXperiment team were up to.

Also from your editor Mark VK6QI at Leongatha Victoria via the Southern Electronics Group’s Hoddy’s Well KiwiSDR near Northam WA.

[15m] No luck from Edi DO2EMR into WA this week.

[20m] The propagation gods weren’t smiling on the pea- gravel of Northam this week; signals from the Eas were good, but there was nothing heard from our European area colleagues this time. TANm!1

| Se et EE I Daniel and Morgan VK6WE at Cottesloe and VK6MTF/P at Bakers Junction Nature Reserve near Albany were putting good signals into Northam this week.

However, after dinner Ms Elizabeth and I concentrated on arranging the next legs of our public-transport only pub-packing adventure. We’re surprised at how few and far between budget pub accommodation along the tracks between Melbourne and Albury has become.

And teeing-up travel from some of the smaller towns also part of the challenge. Anyway we opted for an early night this week, which had its rewards.

[40m] I was late starting, so good propagation to the east coast, but no ZLs heard. N4QR from NC called in, 35W HB Tx, Drake 2B Rx, Ant low EFHW, close to his SR, 549 on my east Beverage.

A good session with some very enjoyable longer QSO’s, despite east coast stations suffering from QRN.

[40m] Got a bit of a jolt when Graeme VK5GG answered my 18 wpm COQ at 25 wpm, but rather surprised myself. Was able to increase my paddle speed (and, more importantly, brain speed) to match for a briefish QSO that was more than just an exchange of the basic, and didn’t make a complete fool of myself.

Nice to see the work I’ve been putting in on my Morse lately (after enrollir

[40m] Had not much free time on my hands, so only managed thre¢ QSOs but, yes all of them very enjoyable.

[80m] Was very happy to hear OM Mike all the way from Stuttgart but his signals were only RSN 332 QSB at Blackburn.

[20m] I picked up a beautiful 1987 Kenwood TS- 530SP for £150 (285AUD) last week and have had lots of fun learning how to use a hybrid rig (valves in the transmitter amplifiers, solid-state receive).

I hadn’t operated it on 20m or at full 100W power until today, so didn’t quite know what to expect.

What to expect. _TS-530SP_ I gota reply, but not from Australia. Manabu JI2MED is my first Japanese contact. He’s in the town of Shima, Mie prefecture, which is only about 100 miles from the factory in which my Kenwood was made.

Manabu has proved what can be done with investment into antennas. He pushes 500W into a self-bullt loop-fed array Yagi. This would explain why he did better to receive me than I did to hear him.

We managed the QSO with me listening through the Australian web-SDR. We exchanged emails and Manabu confirmed that he was beaming on the long path. That means that my signals reached him after a 19,000-mile (30,000km) journey from my half-size GSRV antenna.

That’s a new distance record for me – about three-quarters of the Earth’s circumference. Old friend Patrick VK2IOW joined in the fun and was very clear copy: a good 559 signal with no fading. He was using his yagi antenna and amplifier.

I finished up with Gerhard DJ2GS in Feldberger, Germany.

[15m] Spent a good 15 min on 15m scanning and calling between 21048 and 21050 but no luck. Reverse Beacon reported decodes at ZL and JA and quick check of the FT8 slot showed few EU stations working southeast Asia so the band was open.

09:00 UTC seems too early for EU VK working.

[54 I Managed to work both Mike and Ross but both QSOs were at the end of their respective slots so QSOs were relatively short.

Although the same equipment was used by both of them, Ross was coming through at much lower level than Mike and the time difference between QSOs was only about 30 min. Maybe some issue with remote control.

[40m] Got on air just after 07:00 UTC and 40m was noisy with no signals in the QRS slot. Scanned around the band for about 10 min then gave up for a good while.

On return from sessions on 20 and 15m at around 10:00 UTC there was some activity on band managed only 3 contacts all QRP at my end so I am grateful to VASKFG, VK3MJ an VK2GUS for doing a good job to copy my puny signal.

I always struggle for time on 40 and 80m; by the time the EU DXperiment slot is finished and my compulsory evening walk not much time is left for lower hands.

Managed to work both Mike and Ross but both QSOs were at the end of their respective slots so QSOs were relatively short.

Although the same equipment was used by both of them, Ross was coming through at much lower level than Mike and the time difference between QSOs was only about 30 min. Maybe some issue with remote control

[40m] Got on air just after 07:00 UTC and 40m was noisy with no signals in the QRS slot. Scanned around the band for about 10 min then gave up for a good while.

On return from sessions on 20 and 15m at around 10:00 UTC there was some activity on banc managed only 3 contacts all QRP at my end so I am grateful to VESKFG, VK3MJ an VK2GUS for doing a good job to copy my puny signal.

I always struggle for time on 40 and 80m; by the time the EU DXperiment slot is finished and my compulsory evening walk, not much time is left for lower bands

[80m] Total flop! I could see my carrier at Ironside SDR quite strong but the noise was horrendous, deep green or orange hardly any blue. There were a few faint traces though which I tuned on, but couldn’t decode anything at my QTH.

From Patrick VK2IOW between Bathurst and Orang

[20m] I enjoyed QSOs with Mike, Simon and Ross. Mike’s station had the stronger signal.

[40m] The band was noisy with static crashes. I had a few QSOs and listened to others.

[40m] I heard Paul VK3KLE calling so I replied. Received a 599 from him at Stawell. Attemptec to reply but VSWR suddenly jumped and TX power dropped in response.

By the time I located and replaced a dodgy coax lead and tried calling again, Paul seemed to have changed freq. Been a while since I was participating so I had better recheck everything before next time. Cheers, Peter

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: cqarsnet@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 25th February

From Richard VK6HRC. ‘Six on the VK6RLM rptr and AllStar/Echolink hub this morning. VK6FN Max VKENW Wayne VK6QI Mark VK6KD David VK6HRG and swl VK6MRB Mulligan.

Max was in SWL mode, hearing the locals to start with and as conditions improved more from the Eastern states. Wayne was already out walking his dog caled in with his report, he worked three on 40m and then finished up with David VK6KD on 80m.

Mark called in from Leongatha Victoria in the midst of packing up getting ready for the next step homeward bound now. Using the VK6SR and Snowline Kiwi sdr nodes heard nine on 40m and six on 20m.

Our DX crew Simon,Mike and Ross were there enjoying the better conditions as well. Ross was making use of Mike’s remote set up which is working well. David tuned around for a while, caught up Wayne on 80m later on for a chat and generally enjoyed the evening.

Had four contacts on 40m and one on 80m, fairly quiet to start with but much better once we started hearing our Eastern states friends as conditions improved. Thank vou to all on last night and this morning

This Week’s Topic of Interest

3. Choose a Park

• Pick a park a map can be found at https://pota.app/#/map * Checking access using google maps is helpful Start simple — a local park if you have one nearby is perfect. Remember you’ll need that park number when logging and notifying others of your activation.

4. Basic Equipment (Keep It Simple?) You do NOT need an expensive radio. You can activate with: + Asmall radio + Abattery + Asimple length of wire or dipole + A tuner or balun (if needed) + Away to log contacts paper or the fantastic free PoLo application from HAM2K Ifyou operate CW, even better — low power works brilliantly.

10-20 metre wire in a tree can absolutely get you contacts.

5. Optional – Put a Spot Out

Before or after you start calling: + Log into pota.app, www.parksnpeaks.org, the iparksnpeaks app or similar * Self-spot your frequency and mode Spots tell hunters you’re on the air. Without a spot it can be slow.

With a spot, you might get pile-ups immediately.

6. Call CQ POTA

7. Log at Least 10 Contacts

8. Upload Your Log

After you get home: + Upload it through pota.app (webpage) * Wait for it to be processed Then you’re officially an activator!

A Few Tips

• Put a spot out — it makes a huge difference. |’ll tell you about this in a follow-up article. * Don’t overthink antennas to start with — wire in a tree works. + CW + low power = magic. * Start simple. + Just go and try it.

Give It a Go

Your first activation doesn’t need to be perfect. Throw a wire in a tree. Call CQ. See who comes back. You might be surprised how addictive it becomes.

If you have an article or two that you think might be of interest to our readers, please let me know so we can share more thoughts and ideas; for guidance on writing for RagChew, see Articles below. Please email material to Mark VK2KI: cqqrsnet@gmail.com

On My Workbench

An Arduino VBand Adapter

From David VK4JM at Upper Mount Gravatt I saw your request for info on VBand. Attached is a presentation I gave to the Bayside District AR Society a few years ago, that summarises VBand and what is required.

I made an adaptor using a TRS socket, Arduino board and pcb. I’m sure I’ve got a few pebs left that I would be happy to distribute if anyone is interested. Also have copies of the Arduino code, pcb design etc that I can share.

Regards David VK4JM [Thanks David. Apologies for the delay in publishing your work – this one was lost in my Spam email folder. Amazing what you find there sometimes!

So for readers: * Click on the top left image above to see the full-sized presentation and the bottom right to load the link. * If anyone would like one of David’s boards, please let me know eggrsnet@gmail.com |

| made an adaptor using a TRS socket, Arduino board and pcb. I’m sure I’ve got a few pcbs left that I would be happy to distribute if anyone is interested. Also have copies of the Arduino code, pcb design etc that I can share.

Regards David VK4JM [Thanks David. Apologies for the delay in publishing your work – this one was lost in my Spam email folder. Amazing what you find there sometimes! So for readers:

From Stephen ZL3ABX The aspects of amateur radio which most interest me are Morse and seeing what car be done with simple, home-

Home-Brew Gear

UDR) Ca Peet OU CLUS UAL be done with simple, home- brewed equipment that can be made relatively cheaply from readily available components.

I appreciate what sophisticated factory rigs can do; I have a nice little Icom which sits on the shack bench, works well and enables me to test and calibrate the gear I experiment with.

I’ve attached photos showing both my latest home made transceiver and a pile of stuf indicating how much solder I’ve melted lately. My understanding of electronic theory and calculations is very limited and fairly basic. However I think I’m learning slowly.

I’m very grateful for the help I’ve had from hams who actually do understand what goes on inside a radio and who have either helped me in person, or who have published books or uploade

My latest transceiver is a 40 metre single- bander. It has an output of maybe 2 watts. The receiver uses ideas I got from Peter VK3YE, Eric ZL2BMI and Todd VE7BPO and I think it is the nicest home brewed direct-conversion receiver I’ve listened to so far.

The receiver uses an LM386 audio amplifier chip, but it is connected in a lower amplification mode that is less likely to

Scream and pop in your headphones. The VFO is fairly darn stable. It is based around a JFET and has its origins in ARRL publications.

The transmitter is an OXO (designed by OM George GM3OXXX), but instead of using a crystal, I fed the output of the VFO into the place where the crystal should be.

I bought some salvaged 2SC1971 power transistors, and I used one of them in the OXO, although other transistors will work including the cheap BD139. I use a double-pole, double-throw switch to switch the antenna and the power between transmit and receive.

| like to keep a modest stock of components for experimenting. I have been given some components, and I’ve bought a lot from various sources including TAYDA and Aliexpress.

In a fit of FOMO (fear of missing out), I recently hit the buy button on over a hundred tiny surface-mounted (now obsolete) 5486 JFETS.

I prefer to work with big discrete components and I’m a bit stuck in an eighties mentality, but I grabbed these miniature JFETS because they are meant to be good for the type of thing I do.

I also bought some adapter boards I could solder them to and give them ‘legs’. And I got an illuminated magnifying headset to help ensure that I solder them effectively.

I would be very happy to provide more information on the various circuits I’ve used if anybody is interested. Cheers from NZ… Stephen ZL3ABX srcoote @gmail.com

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?

QRZ? Who’s on the other end?

CW Practice

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

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

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

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 Donkey in the Lion’s Skin’, 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

Last Week’s 40m QSO with Patrick VK2IOW

From Jeff WB2GDZ in Seminole Floridé I wanted to mention that my 40m grey line QSO with VK2IOW last week ended in stress on my end. I was using the N4GYN remote on remotehams.com in Georgia which is an Elecraft K4 with KPA1500 amp.

I had the amp on and it was putting out 1300 watts (the power could not be adjusted). I had it tuned up I believe correctly and all of a sudden while

Transmitting during the QSO with VK2IOW the high SWR warning started flashing on the amp (the whole amplifier panel seen on my computer screen started flashing “HIGH SWRI”).

I was concerned and stopped transmitting immediately, tried re- tuning and then continued sending. Pretty soon it started flashing again. I tried re- tuning, and after a bit of sending it flashed again I just stopped sending and could not continue the QSO.

I don’t know what VK2IOW was thinking about all of this but that is what happened. I may not use that remote again at least on high power because maybe the duty cycle for CW is too high for the setup.

Others that use the remote usually use it for SSB which overall has less of a duty cycle. also wanted to mention that I had a bit of a dilemma during the QSO with VK2IOW. As usual, I had a KiwiSDR in Australia up at the same time as the remote.

This time, because I was transmitting from Georgia instead of the VK6CRO remote I signed WB2GDZ instead of VK6/WB2GDZ. I gave VK2IOW an RST of 339 because that was how he was listening to him from Georgia.

On the other hand he was 579 into the KiwiSDR in Australia so I actually listened to him mainly using the KiwiSDR because it was a better copy. Obviously this is a bit of cheating if I am mainly listening to him right in Australia.

This remote thing sure can be a conundrum! In fact, if I could not hear him at all on the remote but he could hear me, that would count only as a one way contact from me to him, but not from him to me because I was listening in Australia.

I never could explain to him what was going on because the amp was going haywire. Going forward I am going to mainly use the VK6CRO remote during the net.

If I do try to transmit from the United States I will probably use either the W8RUJ remote in Michigan which has no issue with the amp on (900 watts).

I may also use the KC7C remote in Spokane, Washington which is around 300 watts and also has no issues on CWas well. Thanks again for the nice net and newsletter. Jeff Pohl (WB2GDZ)

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.

Southern Electronics Group – Mount Barker Buy, Swap & Sell

• outmnern Electronics Group – Mount Barker Buy, swap & oell

From Rob VK6LD Just a reminder that there is less than two weeks to go until the SEG Mt Barker Car Boot Sale — Saturday 7 March 2026. If you wish to request a sellers table, please do so before 28 February 2026. Look forward to seeing you there.

Local Oscillator DX!

From Jordan VK3ACU (click below to view)

Incidentally the ART13 oscillator can be heard on the sdr also but a LOT louder. I think its LO is about 5w on the ART-13

From Chris VK3QB. Hello Mark, Happy (belated) New Year. I’ve been off-line for a few months with holidays, Christmas, New Year, visitors and all the activities which accompany that time of year.

Sliding in right behind that was CW Academy, which began on 5t” January 2026. So, I’m back to it, and very busy with CWops Academy Classes. This January and February I’ve been delivering classes for Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced level students.

Weeks are very busy but it’s a rewarding experience and I’m sure there will be some stories to share in the coming weeks. I know Peter VK3WOW has already shared some feedback in the QRS newsletter.

With just one week to go, all students are reporting tangible improvements in their skills, which is a testament to the material and techniques CWops have developed over the years.

I have three Advanced students, three Intermediate students, and eight Beginners. It takes up a fair bit of time, but the results are worth it.

In other news, FISTS Down Under, the VK & ZL chapter of the Morse Preservation Society has kicked off a weekly activity, the Wednesday Wrap. This replaces the Friday night QSO Party which was up for some fresh energy.

Everyone is welcome and you can read more here: https://www fdu.org.au/events/ FDU publishes a monthly newsletter which contains articles which may interest everyone. Joining FISTS Down Under is free and easy — just head to their website and follow the links.

Members automatically receive an email when the newsletter is published. All newsletters can be accessed on the website as well. https://www.fdu.org.au/ Next month there will be an interesting article on VBand, republished from the CWops Newsletter, Solid Copy.

I’m sure this will be of interest to many newcomers and those looking for some resources to assist with learning. That’s it for now. I hope to get back to a reasonably regular contribution now things are a little less hectic.

Next week I’ll provide a summary of CW Academy and what’s in store for the rest of 2026. 73, Chris VK3QB vk3qb@hotmail.com Celebrating the unique fash te ta

CWops 25 February 2026

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. Or do you have a question or two that are worth sharing? How about a discussion- starter?

Please let me know cqqrsnet@gmail.com and I’ll pass them to John VK2RU for compilation each week.]

Prosign/Character/Signal of the Month

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

Di-dah-di-dah-dit

Next Tuesday’s Net

Our CQQRS Group will be on as always on Tuesday from around 0600Z until abou 1200Z; see https://bit.ly/CQQRSWebsite and navigate to the Net Details page fo. 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.

Please let us know via our Reports form bit.Jy/GQQRSNET who you work or hear on Tuesday’s Group. The report form closes at lunchtime (Eastern Australian time) on Thursday. ‘And how about helping to make the reports even more interesting by sending a photo?

If you have a photo that you’d be happy to include, please email it to: cgqrsnet@gmail.com To make it even easier for our Reports editor Patrick VK2IOW, see if you can reduce the size of the image (to less than 100KB file size by preference).

No problems if your computer or phone can’t do that – just send it through anyway please. And of course, I’m always on the lookout for more photos for the newsletter, so if you have something that might be of interest aside from the reports, please send it through as well – I always enjoy the photos that our readers send – and I’m sure our readers do too.

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

If you’re unlucky, there’s an undocumented feature in the software that could cause your current week’s report to be combined with your previous report – it’s happened to your editor several times – much to the chagrin of our Reports editor 🙂

Post 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.

Areminder; if you send me any information by email, our report form or WhatsApp – unless you specifically state that material is not to be published, I’ll assume that you’re happy to see your thoughts in the RagChew newsletter.

Teamwork

Thank you so much to our team of 39 contributors: DL3YZ, MOKBJ, MONNK, VK2DI, VK2GAS, VK2IOW, VK2RU, VK3ACU, VK3DRQ, VK3QB, VK3WOW, VKACEG, VKAEV, VK4IM, VK4JM, VK4PN, VKBAO, VKBAV, VK5CZ, VKSED, VKSFR, VKSKDO, VK5KFG, VK6GX, VK6HRC, VK6JDM, VK6KD, VK6KHZ, VK6LD, VK6NW, VK6PZT, VK6RR, VK6WE, VK7JZ, VK7TA, VK7WW, VK8MC, WB2GDZ and ZL3ABX.

And a special thank you to our editorial team, Nigel G4RWI (head of software development), Patrick VK2IOW (reports coordinator), John VK2RU (spreadsheet wrangler), Richard VK6HRC (Post Morsition) and Lance VK7TO (resident softie). Great work all!

UY CW on Tuesday, mb Mark Bosna VK2KI/ VKEQI Beautiful South Bowning NSW ‘eqarsnet@gmail.com non impedit 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 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. Please provide only original photos, or those not otherwise copyrighted.

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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