This is a free fortnightly newsletter about the New Zealand Net, which meets daily at 2100 NZT on 3535 kHz.
If you would like to be notified by email when a new edition is published, please contact ZL1NZ.
Browse our Newsletter Archive and List of Net Tips.
Featured key
By Bede ZL4KX
I have had this Vibroplex “Iambic” paddle for quite a while. It’s really a dual paddle of course. The electronic keyer to which it connects supplies the iambic features.
I never really liked it, as the finger pieces were small and a bit too high for relaxed sending.
Then I saw the Vibroplex Conversion Paddles on DX Engineering’s website.
The K6JW large finger pieces were just what I needed. I suggest anyone who has this paddle thinks seriously about getting these. I think they look pretty good too.
Thanks to another order being made by my friend Ron ZL4RMF, I was soon the proud owner of an upgraded key! And Ron wouldn’t even let me pay him.
* Ron was a well-known DXer who became a Silent Key in July.
* If you have an interesting key for this feature, please send a nice clear photo and a few words describing it.
Quick notes
The cartoon was published in 1923, the year before the first trans-world radio contact (between NZ and England). There’s lots more about that momentous event – and a chance for you to win a prize – later in this edition.
New Zealand clocks will go forward one hour, this Sunday morning as we switch to Daylight Time. NZ Net will continue at 2100 hours local time, which will become 0800 UTC. And did you know that NZ was the first country to adopt a standard time? Here’s the story.
Next Monday is Straight Key Monday on NZ Net. We dig out the straight keys on the first Monday of every month. To ensure that all signals are clearly heard, please press your key extra hard!
Photo flashback
Science building at Mill Hill School, with radio aerial
Celebrating the dawn of mass global communication
In October 2024, radio amateurs in New Zealand and the UK will celebrate and re-enact the first trans-global two-way radio communication. Special callsigns will be active, and awards and QSL cards will be available for those who make contact with these special stations.
At the turn of the last century, radio communication was in its infancy. The properties of Hertzian Waves – what we now call radio – were only just beginning to be understood. In that age of technical discovery, many everyday people experimented with radio. These were the early radio amateurs and their work was at first largely unregulated. When it became clear that radio amateurs could cause interference to emerging commercial radio services, the decision was made to restrict their experiments to wavelengths shorter than 200 metres – corresponding to frequencies above 1.5 MHz, as it was felt that such frequencies were worthless for long-distance communication.
And so, radio amateurs began to experiment with short waves. It was not long before they began to realise that, far from being worthless, these wavelengths held the key to low-power long-distance communication.
In 1923, tests were conducted to span the Atlantic with radio. In 1924, as both transmitter power and receiver sensitivity improved, the dream was to span the entire globe by radio. Then, on 18 October 1924, that communication dream was finally achieved when radio amateur Frank Bell (callsign Z4AA), a sheep farmer in Shag Valley, Otago, made contact with Cecil Goyder (callsign G2SZ), a former pupil operating the station at Mill Hill School, North London (pictured above). The world had been shrunk, and things would never be the same again.
To mark the centenary of this historic contact, radio amateurs in New Zealand and the UK will be operating four special event stations.
Two amateur radio stations will operate from the original locations in New Zealand and the UK, contacting other stations around the world and re-enacting that historic first radio communication:
- G2SZ, the callsign Goyder used, will be on the air 14 – 20 October, including operation from Mill Hill School.
- ZL4AA, reflecting the callsign Bell used, will be on the air 12 – 20 October, from Shag Valley Station.
At Mill Hill and Shag Valley station on 18 October, radio amateurs will re-enact the first contact, hopefully on a wavelength close to that used in 1924 (Z4AA had transmitted on about 92 metres).
In addition, two other amateur radio stations with callsigns reflecting the centenary will be active:
- GB2NZ will operate from 29 September 2024 to 26 October 2024 from a number of UK locations.
- ZM100DX will operate from the end of September 2024 to 26 December 2024 from a number of New Zealand locations on CW, SSB and other modes.
Awards will be available to radio amateurs around the world making contact with these stations. For details, and heaps of interesting stories about the Z4AA-G2SZ contact, see GB2NZ.com.
QSL for all four calls via M0OXO.
NZ Net marks trans-world radio centenary
NZ Net is sponsoring two special activities to commemorate the 1924 contact between Z4AA and G2SZ:
1) Send at least one QNC during October sharing an interesting fact about the 1924 contact. There’s plenty of information to be found online, or in books such as Ham Shacks, Brass Pounders & Rag Chewers. Send up to five QNCs during the month (no more than one per week per originating station) and please try to limit each radiogram to 25 words.
2) 100 Years of Worldwide CW Award. This event will supplement the Goyder-Bell Award by adding a category just for CW operators in New Zealand and Australia. And you could win a prize!
Simply log your contacts and points as usual for the G-B Award. Work the four special event stations on as many bands as possible, scoring as follows:
6 points for each band on which you work G2SZ
6 points for each band on which you work ZL4AA
2 points for each band on which you work GB2NZ
2 points for each band on which you work ZM100DX
Remember, for the 100 Years of Worldwide CW Award, you must be operating from ZL or VK and you can only count 2-way CW contacts made during October 2024 (UTC).
To enter, send your log to ZL1NZ no later than 7 November. Logs can be on paper or emailed in plain text or spreadsheet form (no computer log files please). Be sure to clearly show the points for each contact and your total score.
The ZL or VK operator with the highest score will win a signed copy of The Art & Skill of Radio-Telegraphy by William Pierpont N0HFF, kindly donated by Vaughan ZL1VH. In the event of a tie, the winner will be selected randomly from the top-scoring stations.
Too busy to bother
A high-ranking railway official one bitterly cold day walked into a small country depot, which was almost as cold as the outdoors, and bawled out the station agent because there was no heat in the stove.
The station agent, not recognising the brass collar, snapped: “Look mister, I’m too damn busy sending telegrams to bother with stoves!”
The visitor picked up a telegraph blank and wrote a message to the division superintendent: “Fire this station agent immediately,” and shoved the message through the ticket window.
A few seconds later, the agent appeared with kindling and a scuttle of coal. The official asked: “Did you send my message?”
“Look, mister” was the reply, “I’m too damn busy building fires to send messages.”
(Railroad magazine, 1969, quoted in Morsum Magnificat 2 – Winter 1986.)
Illustration: Train pulled by two AB class locomotives of New Zealand Railways, stopped for refreshments at Springfield. Photograph taken July 1931 by John Dobree Pascoe
Morse challenge
Please send your answer via radiogram or email to ZL1NZ.
Answer to previous Morse Challenge
The net was the Radio Relay International East Area Net, abbreviation RRIE. Correct answers were received from VK3DRQ and ZL1ANY.
Video: Cool kids and other hams
I’m guessing that Sharon didn’t do much QSYing on that TR-4 in the back seat of her convertible.
Advertising archive
QST magazine, Dec 1935
Suggestions?
If you have suggestions on how to make the NZ Net better, or things you’d like to see covered in these updates, please contact ZL1NZ. You might even like to write something for the newsletter.
Thanks for reading, and I hope to hear you soon on the NZ Net!
—
Neil Sanderson ZL1NZ, Net Manager
New Zealand Net (NZ NET)
3535.0 kHz at 9pm NZT Daily
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