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
Photo: VK2IXV
I think this is the third time we’ve featured the New Zealand-made Ultimate key in NZ Net News. But when this photo arrived from Herman VK2IXV recently, I knew you would want to see it too. Herman, a keen collector of NZ keys, says:
“I refurbished an Ultimate hand key. I removed all paint, had a wooden finger rest made, and replaced all Philip head screws with slot heads. Finished it off with a lick of varnish. It came up well.
“Besides the varnished wood, the remainder on my Ultimate key is nickel-plated brass, lightly tarnished. However, I noticed that the metal underneath the bridge is pure brass with no plating, as nobody would see it anyway. Also a bit of brass coming through on the nickel-plating of the upper bridge pivot.”
This is definitely the nicest looking Ultimate I’ve seen. The varnished base is as described in the original advertising, although these are sometimes seen with painted bases.
* If you have an interesting key for this feature, please send a nice clear photo and a few words describing it.
Quick notes
The 100 Years of Worldwide CW Award is now well underway as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Z4AA-G2SZ contact on 18 Oct 1924. Award details were in NZ Net News 142 and the top-scoring operator wins a prize.
You can operate as ZM100DX. If you’re a ZL radio amateur, you can help celebrate the centenary of the first trans-world radio contact. All you have to do is sign up for a 2-hour slot which enables you to operate a specific mode on one band. It’s really easy to pop your callsign into one of the blank slots on the online roster. The callsign will be available for use until the end of the year, but it would be great to hear it getting lots of use during October.
Neil ZL1NZ will be giving a talk on the 1924 contact between Z4AA and G2SZ this Sunday at Musick Point Radio Group. The meeting starts at 1pm and any local radio amateurs are welcome. If you’re not an MPRG member, please contact MPRG in advance if you would like to attend.
The Oceania DX Contest (CW) is this weekend, from Saturday at 0600 UTC to Sunday at 0600 UTC. This contest has a new award category for the top-scoring NZ single-op all-band low-power station. Get details.
The Latvian Contest Group is running a Mechanical Key Activity (for straight keys, bugs and sideswipers) on 80 metres, 1800-1900 on 11 Oct UTC. Get details.
Photo flashback
Erecting the mast at the Frank Bell Z4AA Shag Valley station in 1924. Hocken Collections, University of Otago
Net numbers
NR45 R ZL1NZ 43/40 AUCKLAND 0800Z 1OCT24 = NZ NET = SEP QNI VK3DRQ 27 VK4PN 17 ZL1AJY 8 ZL1ANY 18 ZL1AYN 19 ZL1BDS 15 ZL1NZ 30 ZL1PX 23 ZL2GD 19 ZL2GVA 8 ZL2KE 9 ZL2LN 5 ZL2TE 11 ZL3TK 9 ZL4GW 10 ZL4KX 15 ZL4LDY 19 TOTAL 262 QTC 21 = ZL1NZ
Morse challenge
Thanks to the readers who have responded over the years to our Morse Challenge. As the response rate has declined to quite a low level, this feature has come to an end.
Answer to the final Morse Challenge
The “paddles” seen in the 1970 film This is Ham Radio are, in fact, two straight keys mounted back-to-back. This was a common hack in the early days of electronic keyers, before commercially-made paddles were widely available. Correct answers were received from G5VZ, ZL1ANY and ZL1AYN. The consensus was that the keys were a pair of J-38s.
How they did it in 1924
Operating procedures have evolved over the years, and here’s an interesting example.
Frank Bell had the callsign 4AA, with a country prefix of Z (for New Zealand), while Cecil Goyder was operating station 2SZ in London, with a country prefix of G (for England).
Country codes were a recent innovation to help avoid confusion as signals were received over greater distances. They appear to have been used only when working DX.
Nowadays, we would expect Frank’s call to Cecil to be:
G2SZ DE Z4AA
but what he sent was:
2SZ GZ 4AA
and Cecil responded with:
4AA ZG 2SZ
A bit confusing to us perhaps, but no doubt a familiar procedure to Frank and Cecil.
Video: Improving the sound of a D-104
The D-104 is an iconic item found in many ham shacks. But some operators don’t like their sound. Here’s how to improve it.
Advertising archive
Kester Solder advert in Radio & TV News, Feb 1958
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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