Nyheter från EUCW - European CW Association

Från vår kontaktperson i EUCW Krister SM5KRI kommer följande information:

EuCW Bulletin No 2022/04 (October 7th, 2022)

    

    

1) EuCW has as previously been informed of a new Chairman.  RM2D (SM6LRR)

    

Mats is representing U-QRQ-C as Chairman for the next three years. If you

    

would like to contact Mats, please send him an email to: sm6lrr@gmail.com

    

We would needless to say, also like to thank IZ2FME, Miki, for his good

    

efforts as Chairman during the past period.

    

  

    

2) ICWC (International CW Council) was founded with EUCW as one of the

    

initial founders. Today ICWC consists of 32 member associations with

    

a total of 95000 CW operators around the world. The council actively

    

supports many activities that promote active usage of CW. Just to mention

    

a few:

    

    

Creation of a webpage with all associations included (with logos) and

    

the online calender https://internationalcwcouncil.org/cw-events-calendar/

    

    

Support the effort to make CW part of the UNESCO Cultural Heritage program

    

TOP9 Activity with focus on making minimum five minutes QSOs in the top 9

    

kHz of each CW band to show overall activity and protect the CW-sections

    

form digital encroachment

    

    

MST (Medium Speed Contest) was established at three separate times weekly

    

on Mondays and Tuesdays to give more opportunities to operators in the

    

20-25 WPM speed range and to populate the CW bands on those days.

    

 

      

    

3) AGCW reminds about the following activities in Q4 (and for 2022 as

    

a whole):

        

https://www.agcw.de/contest/sta/ 90 minutes Bug-Contest on Oct 19.

    

https://www.agcw.de/contest/freundschafts-aktivitaet/ Permanent activity

    

for ragchewers. All QSOs must be longer than ten minutes.

https://www.agcw.de/contest/tzap/ For stations interested in the AGCW

    

Bulletin on 80m

https://www.agcw.de/contest/bug-und-cootie/ Permanent activity for Bug

    

and Cootie operators.

    

URLs are in German but all activities are open to all. If translation

    

is needed, please contact Mats SM6LRR, who will ask relevant documents

    

in English from AGCW.

    

 

    

4) OK QRP Club, http://okqrp.fud.cz/ organize every year in February a

    

short QRP contest on 80 meters with 5W and 1W categories. The contest

    

is open to all amateurs. A DXCC ladder up to 5W is published on the

    

homepage. Yearly participation with a booth during the international

    

Ham Radio meeting in Holice. Also close cooperation with HAMIK (Little

    

Ham) that focuses on children and young operators. HAMIK Corner contains

    

various articles such as small CW transmitters & receivers, CW keys and

    

paddles, methods for learning CW (suitable for younger as well as older

    

perople). The book HAMIK MAX can be ordered at info@hwkitchen.cz

    

 

6) EuCW history.  You can find the EuCW history at:

    

https://www.eucw.org/eucwh.html.

 

    

7) The associated club LICW (Long Island CW Club) is based in the

    

USA. They teach Morse Code and related Ham Radio topics through Zoom

    

with 75 classes weekly. The membership count now exceeds 3100 members

    

in 50 states and 47 countries (many of our members are also members of

    

the club. They would like to expand the activities to Europe and also

    

give classes at suitable times for our time zones. More information can

    

be found on the website: longislandcwclub.org

    

 

8) EuCW Bulletins.  Everyone can download the EuCW bulletins at:

    

https://www.eucw.org/qtc.html.

    

    

9) The new sunspot cycle looks promising. With increased SFI and

    

sunspot numbers, even 10 and 12 meter bands have lately started to

    

become alive. The first real openings to North America as well as

    

the Pacific have become possible. Last time was probably in 2014

    

when we could consider stable transatlantic propagation on 12/10

    

meters. Please make use of these openings and remember to also

    

spread the activity to the upper 9 kHz of the CW bands. That means

    

24.906-24.915 kHz on 12 meters and 28.061-28.070 on ten meters. Do not

    

forget to log those QSOs and submit them for our own program Snakes

    

and Ladders (rules:  https://eucw.org/sl3.html ) and to TOP9 (rules:

    

https://internationalcwcouncil.org/top9-activity/ )

    

 

Best regards and 73!

 

RM2D (SM6LRR) Mats

EuCW Chairman

   

 

Ämne: [EuCW] Personal Introduction

 

Dear CW friends,

I am reaching out to you, with a short introduction of myself. As you personally might be aware of, I will take over the position as EuCW Chairman for the next three years, representing UQRQC.

It is first of all a true honor to be selected by UQRQC as their representative to lead EuCW for this upcoming period of three years. Thank you for the trust and nomination! I will put my best efforts in strengthening EuCW and the close interaction with all Membership Clubs and our International Associated Clubs.

In order for you to get to know me a bit better, here is a short personal summary:

I was born in Sweden 56 years ago (1966), and grew up near Gothenburg (Göteborg). My first contact with shortwave radio was through my grandfathers old Schaub-Lorenz AM receiver. While doing my first BC DX-ing,

I also heard signs of CW and immediately told myself: This language I need to learn in order to decode all the secret messages that must be hidden on the bands.

In 1979, as a 13-year-old high school student, I was introduced to Ham Radio for the first time. At the school we had a club station (SK6JQ) and this was during a time when 10 meters was in a super shape due to approaching sun spot maximum. What actually interested me mostly at that time was to develop my English language skills by talking to US stations on 10 meters SSB.

However, the requirement to be able to do so from an own station, was of course at that time to also learn CW. I did so during the winter 1979/80, and in September 1980 I was the lucky guy to receive the callsign SM6LRR.

Ten years of intense activity followed, and I still remember the day when I became a member of my first CW club HSC. This was in 1983. SSB interest was more and more replaced with the love for CW, and even during the long QRT-period 1990-2005, I kept the CW knowledge alive. Once you learn to ride a bike, the ability
never disappears.

In 2006 I was selected for a position as Centre Manager for a large IKEA Shopping Centre and moved to Russia. I then realized it would be interesting to also be active as a Swedish Ham in Russia, but the rules for foreign hams in Russia at that time were very unclear, and it took me nearly three years until I finally was awarded with a temporary Russian call R3/SM6LRR (May 2009). In 2012, I got my permanent RM2D callsign.

Ever since, I have been very active on the bands with a keen focus on mainly different CW activities. I appreciate all kinds of Ham Radio directions and some of them are: CW (QRQ and QRS to support newcomers), DX-ing, Contesting, RDA-hunting (and activation).

Approximately 80-85% of my time on the air is CW, with some occasional SSB in between. I have tried digital modes some five years ago, but never got hooked. Although I am not fanatically
trying to be member of all CW clubs there is,

I am still a member of a few (in alphabetical order): CWOps, FOC, HSC, RCWC, SCAG, SKCC, U-QRQ-C. Sometimes I bring my radio along on holidays and business trips, and occasionally I have participated in some DX-expeditions. Calls that I have activated during such occasions include: 5B/SM6LRR, 4S7LRG, XV2LRR, XV2D, 4U70UN, RM2D/0, XV9D, TI9A, 8Q7MS, JT4RR.
 
My home station RM2D is located west of Moscow (100 kms from the Red Square) and consists of a few different radios:  TS-590S/Elecraft K2/Elecraft KX-3, Lab599 TX-500. My antennas are: SP7IDX Hexbeam at 18 meters, vertical for 40 meter, Inv Vees for 80, 30 (and 160 meters to come).

I work CW using Bencher and Bamatech paddles with WinKeyer as well as straight key (Swedish key from 1979). Lately I am trying to also master a vertical bug but take very small and slow steps so far. The Iambic pattern has deeply penetrated into my brains and have issues to switch to sending beautiful bug characters so far.

Last but not least, I am a dedicated believer in Ham Spirit, and Ham Radio as a bridge between people belonging to ANY nation, ANY culture, ANY religion or ANY sexual orientation. We indeed have huge geopolitical challenges, not the least in the country where I chose to live (and plan to live for many years).

Emotions are strong, opinions not less. But my motto is that Ham Radio is, and shall remain an APOLITICAL hobby. Therefore, I am stubbornly resisting any attempts to make me state opinions or take sides in ANY conflicts of the world.

I was raised by my Elmers in 1979-1980 to NEVER talk politics on the bands, or when wearing my Ham Radio Call on a cap or on a t-shirt.

I have friends in many, many countries, and I intend to continue this way to lead EuCW through a challenging time. This, just to straighten any questions marks, and to understand my Ham Spirit view, leadership style and commitment to Amateur Radio as such.

Now to another important topic:  

EuCW is an organization that is supposed to interact as umbrella for lots of independent CW organizations. We are not on top of CW clubs. We are instead (or should be) the glue between clubs, that ensures that CW is always  remaining as the backbone of Amateur Radio in Europe (and elsewhere).

But for EuCW to be efficient and strong defender of CW, I also need YOUR personal help to support me. Every quarter, I am responsible for issuing a newsletter. The quality of that Newsletter partly depends on the input I get from you, as ECM for your CW Club (or Liaison officer for our international Associate Clubs).

My schedule for the newsletters will be the following:

Publication of newsletters not later than seven days from the beginning of each Quarter:

- Latest Jan 7th

- Latest April 7th

- Latest July 7th

- Latest October 7th

This means that I will ask you as ECMs and Liaison Officers to provide your important points beforehand. Let us make things easy. Deadlines for next quarter should be delivered not later than March 25th, June 25th, September 25th and December 20th (Christmas should be peaceful without additional disturbing tasks).

In a few weeks, I will send another letter with small, desired expectations from you guys. We need to ensure that we get better to streamline the quality of information from all member clubs, so we can give a professional picture of EuCW and its members on the homepage. Today, there is a bit of undesired quality and content variations, being my first impression.

Together, I am sure we will be able to make this gradually change in a positive way. Any time you have some questions, always feel free to contact me by email:  sm6lrr@gmail.com or via any of the messaging systems

WhatsApp/Signal/Viber/Telegram/Botim on my number +79150258381

Looking very much forward to working together in EuCW to strengthen European CW in particular as well as International CW!

73 de Mats    RM2D   (SM6LRR)

AGCW-DL Friendship Activity 2022
===========================

Dates: 1st January to 31st December (permanent activity)

Goal: Encouragement of friendship among telegraphers. This activity is about
friendly conversation free from the flurry and noise of contests, and for
the most part only on frequencies which are protected from contests by the
IARU band plan.

Participants: All licensed radio amateurs are invited to take part in this
activity.

Power Categories: up to 10W, up to 100W, over 100W.

Frequencies: The upper 5kHz on all CW bands

Mode: CW/A1A only, no decoders. The slower operator determines the speed.

Exchange: No specific exchange is required. This activity is the opposite of
a contest. Not competitive thinking and 599TU type QSOs but friendship
cultivating rag-chews are called for, the longer, the better.

QSO Duration: Each QSO lasts at least 10 minutes. Consecutive 10-minute-QSOs
with the same station may follow without a break.

Bonus contacts: Participating in the AGCW Net on Mondays (3563 kHz, 1800
UTC, check-in about 30 minutes earlier) including ZAP traffic counts the
same as one QSO. ZAP means that stations in the net confirm the receipt of
the bulletin on air.

Awards: The participant with the highest number of QSOs in a power category
will receive a voucher.

Logs: Date (once per day is enough), UTC time (start and end times are
required), call sign of station worked, frequency (rounded to kHz). 
Logs may be submitted at any time. If a log arrives before the 8th of the
current month, it will enter into the intermediate result list of the
previous month. ADIF logs are accepted, provided all required details are
given.

Manager: fsa@agcw.de
Monthly results will be transmitted in the AGCW Net mentioned above, on
agcw.de, and on the AGCW mailing list.

AGCW-DL Bug and Cootie Activity 2022
===============================

Goal
----
To promote the use of semi-automatic bugs and side swipers (cooties) in a
relaxing manner, far away from contests and pile-ups. A secondary goal is to
foster a culture of respect for the IARU band plan.

Entrants
--------
All radio amateurs being able to use a mechanical Bug or a side swiper.

QSO Format
----------
Free format, i.e. normal contacts with a duration of 5 Minutes at least.
Entrants must use a mechanical bug or a side swiper over the entire qso. The
qso partner may use any method to generate CW.

Times/Dates
-----------
No time limits. Get on air whenever you wish.
1st round: January through June.
2nd round: July through December.

Frequencies
-----------
All ten kHz segments at the high frequency end of the CW bands from 10m to
80m including WARC bands but excluding 60m (The IARU band plan for 60m does
not allocate particular frequencies to CW, and it discourages rag-chewing).
Please avoid traditional bug and cootie skeds and frequencies in order not
to disturb well-established returning events. 
Likewise, refrain from using "directed" calls such as "CQ BUG" because
inclusion is always better than exclusion. We recommend a calling frequency
of 5 kHz below the top end of each CW band. e.g. 7035 kHz or 14065 kHz. CQ
calls on these frequencies should be done using mechanical bugs or cooties
in order to preserve the "swing" or cootie sound. Apart from these calling
frequencies electronic CQ loops are encouraged. This should avoid operator
fatigue before a QSO has even begun.

Scoring
-------
Divide your QSO in blocks of 5 minutes. Each completed block is worth one
point. 
A QSO of half an hour is worth 6 points because it contains 6 entire five
minute blocks. A QSO of 4 minutes scores zero points.
Outstanding operators will receive an award after each round.

Logs
----
Send the log of the previous month before the 8th of the current month.

Implicit declaration
--------------------
The submission of a log implies the statement that the entrant used a side
swiper or a mechanical bug for all listed contacts.

Manager
-------
Lothar Grahle, DL1DXL, August-Bebel-Str. 15, 01468 Moritzburg. Email:
bugcootie@agcw.de 

AGCW will publish the monthly standings on agcw.de and on the air (3563 kHz)
on Mondays at 1800 UT.