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Featured key
Photo: BaMaTech
The BaMaKeY TP-III is an ultra compact dual-lever paddle that is popular with SOTA operators. It’s a magnetic key with ball bearings and it weighs just 70 grams.
The BaMaKey range also includes the larger TP-11 dual-lever paddles and the EHT-1 straight key.
Sadly, BaMaTech, the company that made these keys, along with a few other amateur radio accessories, announced its closure a few days ago, following the sudden death of founder Markus Baseler DL6YYM.
Markus was a dedicated QRP CW operator who had been planning to operate from Greenland last month. Poor health forced him to cancel that trip.
BaMaTech says it will sell the remaining stock through its website, then close permanently.
Markus DL6YYM (SK), founder of BaMaTech, with a set of TP-III paddles
Quick notes
Are you ready for 40 metres? Just a reminder that NZ Net is scheduled to switch to our summer frequency of 7030 kHz on Sunday 28 September (when NZ changes to Daylight Saving Time), so now is a good time to make sure your 40-metre aerial is in good shape. Greg ZL4GW and I had a quick chat on 7030 a few days ago, and he was telling me the band’s been quite good. We had S9 signals between Auckland and Dunedin. There’s DX too, of course, so we may get some interesting check-ins. 🙂
Picture: “You don’t need a scanner if you have enough receivers.”
Photo flashback
Betty Wilson W6REF with her bug key and Johnson Viking I transmitter in 1964
CW operation from RF-unfriendly places
Photos: ZL1ANY
By Stephen ZL1ANY
CW Hotline from Ham Radio Solutions is a WiFi-connected CW tool.
It is designed to provide a way to key a remote radio station in CW mode, but it can be also used as a private Morse code link to friends. Once it is configured with the local WiFi information, you just power up, and it will link with selected peers and be ready to send and receive.
It also works with VBand.
The device is available in kit form (see review in QST), but I built two from scratch using the firmware which is freely available in binary form on the website.
To use it, you need a device key and Ham Radio Solutions kindly provided me with two such keys which allow me to link my CW Hotline boxes via the internet.
Network latency is low but noticeable.
The way it works is as follows:
Box 1 is local to the transceiver and its PTT output drives the key input of the transceiver. It links to a local WiFi Access Point as setup on its micro, either via their website or using a serial terminal.
Box 2 is remote and can access the same or an alternative AP meaning anywhere the internet is available is OK. I used the hotspot facility in my cell phone to demonstrate keying over the internet. (The tone output from the box can be disabled in the menu setup). It has a key (straight or paddles) input.
No control of other transceiver functions is provided but at the advantage of minimal keying latency. Wfview and other remote transceiver control software could be used on an accompanying PC or laptop which could use Kiwsdr as a remote receiver.
This means that Morse transmission access is available wherever the internet is, with the proviso that some network security features might impede the flow of IP traffic.
So, if any of us find ourselves living in a rest home with no antenna allowed, we may still be able to check into the NZ NET. 🙂
Net numbers
NR27 R ZL1NZ 39/36 AUCKLAND 0900Z 1SEP25 = AUG QNI E51KEE 3 VK1WA 1 VK3DRQ 25 VK4PN 13 ZL1AJY 4 ZL1ANY 29 ZL1BDS 20 ZL1NZ 31 ZL1PX 24 ZL2KE 2 ZL2LN 18 ZL2TE 4 ZL4GW 14 ZL4KX 12 ZL4LDY 15 TOTAL 215 QTC 16 = ZL1NZ
Police investigating after news company reveals radio communications
By Neil ZL1NZ
News company Stuff is being investigated after it published information picked up via police radio in the minutes before fugitive father Tom Phillips shot a police officer in the early hours of 8 September. Phillips was then shot and killed by another officer on a roadside near the Waikato town of Marokopa.
The website stuff.co.nz has also posted a recording of police communicating by radio as they closed in on Phillips, including the moment when Philips opened fire.
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers says Police are considering legal action under Section 133a of the Radiocommunications Act, the relevant portion of which is:
133A Offence to disclose contents of radiocommunications
(1) Every person commits an offence against this Act who receives a radiocommunication and who, knowing that the radiocommunication was not intended for that person,—
(a) makes use of the radiocommunication or any information derived from that radiocommunication; or
(b) reproduces or causes or permits to be reproduced the radiocommunication or information derived from that radiocommunication; or
(c) discloses the existence of the radiocommunication.
“It is extremely frustrating to have to take this step but it is crucial that sensitive operational matters are protected at this time,” said Chambers.
Stuff has not taken down the audio recording, or its summary of the police radio communication, so it will be interesting to see whether they are prosecuted.
About a year ago, the Government announced a 10-year project for a fully encrypted national radio system for all first-responder agencies.
The McCarthy mystery
Two styles of key with the McCarthy label
You might have noticed the key shown at left above which is currently being auctioned on the Trade Me website. It has a plastic nameplate on the base with the name A. & W. McCarthy, Dunedin & Invercargill.
What’s interesting about this key, is that it looks very different to the McCarthy key that appears in the NZ Morse Key Directory (photo at right above), which bears an identical nameplate.
The key on the left appears to be a fairly standard Post Office style key with the usual three terminals (front and rear contacts). The base looks like oak.
The key on the right, which has a Minstrel label under the lever (a brand associated with the McCarthy stores) looks more like a rimu base and the design is different, particularly with respect to the terminals, of which there are only two.
The knobs on the two keys appear to be identical, although the key on the left has a disc below the knob.
The discovery of the PO-style key may mean I need to update the NZ Morse Key Directory, and I’d appreciate any help from our readers:
- Have you ever seen a key like the one on the left, with a McCarthy nameplate?
- Do you have any information about this type of key?
Thanks,
Neil ZL1NZ
Video: BaMaKeY TP-III review
Net tip: QNT
We continue our look at Q signals with QNT.
It means: “May I leave the net (for ___ minutes)?”.
If the operator does not know how long they need to be away from the net, then they would just send QNT? without indicating a time.
Net Control will respond with QNX (You are excused).
Regardless of whether or not a time is indicated, when the station returns they will check back into the net when NCS asks for check-ins.
The A-Z of Q Signals
A well-run CW net is a lovely thing to experience. Communication between stations is quick and concise, and the net business is conducted with minimal time wasted.
As CW operators, we have many techniques to communicate quickly and efficiently. And if we know and use these techniques, we can often match or exceed the speed and accuracy of voice communication.
One of our most important tools is the set of Q Signals (or Q Codes), and in this series we look at the “essential” ones, in alphabetical order.
Advertising archive
Break-In magazine, Mar 1983
Suggestions?
If you have suggestions on how to make the NZ Net better, or things you’d like to see covered in these newsletters, please contact ZL1NZ. Articles and photos will be gratefully received!
Thanks for reading, and I hope to hear you soon on the NZ Net!
—
Neil Sanderson ZL1NZ, Net Manager
New Zealand Net (NZ NET)
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