AmateurRadio.com

I've been working a lot of SKCC CW stations during the holidays and adjacent stations really interfere with my ability to use the vintage Ten-Tec Century/21.  Its built-in audio filter is relatively effective if the band isn't too crowded but if I'm working a station and others pop up within a 1kHz on either side I have a real hard time keeping track of which QSO to listen to.  I wanted some relief from the relatively porous audio filtering provided by the old girl.

A kit from Elecraft seemed to be the ticket to better signal isolation for my old radio.

This kit is about $60 and is pretty easy to build  There are a couple of ICs to solder so it will be easier if you have a temperature controlled, fine tipped soldering iron. Santa brought me a nice soldering iron for Christmas so this was my first chance to make some use of it. Everything about the kit is very straightforward and Elecraft has wonderful build instructions along with a well laid out board. Their instructions list components in the order that you will be installing them on the board, left to right and even include the color coding or numbering for resistors and capacitors right there in the instructions so you don't have to keep going back to look up the coding.  I've only built one other kit previously and the Elecraft instructions are better.

My only gripe is that this kit has been out for quite some time, but for some reason they shipped me a Version "A" board that required a trace to be cut and a couple of jumpers installed to correct a board error.  I would hope that they would ship new versions of the board but apparently you can get an old version.  Next time I order a kit from them I may specify that I want the latest revision of the kit.

The board powered up and worked right as the last of the solder smoke was wafting away.  I connected it to the Ten-Tec and tried to find some adjacent station operations to test against but the bands were not terribly busy tonight. I did manage to get a decent audio test on a calling station and created a video to demonstrate the board's capabilities.

This is the first kit I've built from Elecraft.  It was a simple one.  The instructions were excellent, the silkscreen layout on the board was straightforward and all the parts were in the bag.  The kit does not come with an enclosure so it looks a bit unfinished and the knobs are a bit wobbly on their tall, plastic shafts.  That is my only negative concern regarding the finished kit.  Putting it in an enclosure would also require the battery holder to be moved to the bottom of the board to clear the shafts exiting the top of an enclosure.  Certainly not a big deal but I would be willing to pay an extra $10 for a ready made enclosure because when I've tried to make them they look like junk.

But the bottom line is that if you have an older radio that lacks good filtering or you've built a homebrew radio that you want to be more usable on the air, the Elecraft AF-1 is an excellent addition.  I think it is going to serve me well with my vintage radio.  Now to find a project box to fit it.

That's all for now

73/72

Richard, N4PBQ

I don't have many choices for my antenna at my residential QTH.  I have an 80m OCF Dipole (aka Windom) hung from the peak of my roof at about 25ft and a ladder line fed 40m Doublet folded around in my attic at about the same height.

Generally I've been using my 80m Windom for most contacts because it is resonant on 7 bands and I don't have to tune it.  I've had a number of on-air ragchews where I switch antennas and ask for signal reports but it is often a hassle and I don't like to interrupt a ragchew to ask for that sort of comparison. 

So how do I know which antenna is better for certain bands and directions?

The Reverse Beacon Network offers an objective and patient antenna tester.  I just recently learned about this resource and it's a fabulous tool.  When my CQ isn't being answered I'll often bring up the RBN and check my signal reports and then switch antennas to see how they compare.

It has been very interesting to learn that the Doublet in the attic often outperforms my Windom usually by 12db and sometimes by as much as 20db especially on the higher bands.  I'm guessing that part of it is the greater efficiency in the ladder line but that doesn't tell the whole story because the Windom offers a low SWR on most bands and shouldn't be eating up much power in the coax through SWR losses.  Antennas are magic.

Ok so here's what I do... The RBN stations will report only when they see a new frequency or it's been 15 minutes since the last report for a given station, so when I switch antennas I will move frequency slightly to trigger the new report.  Now admittedly QSB or other conditions may change between the reports so you'll need to do this a bunch of times over the course of days and compile some records to get a clear idea of how each antenna is performing in certain directions.  This isn't hard science but it's more real-world than a smith chart or the occasional signal report from a station or two.

If you make use of the RBN I encourage you to donate on their site.

That's all for now...

72/73

Richard N4PBQ

My 80m OCF Dipole has been a surprisingly good antenna and I've made contacts with it on all bands except 6m and 160m.  Based on my past experience trying to tune up short antennas on 160m I really hadn't considered trying to use this Windom for 160m.  But through some email exchanges with another ham in Illinois who had recently put up a 160m antenna we decided to try a scheduled QSO on the top band.  So it was time to give the Windom a shot on 160m.

Amazingly my 80m Windom / OCF Dipole has  4.5:1 SWR native around 1.8 mHz and it matches easily with a tuner across the entire 160m band.  That was a surprise. 

Within a minute of calling CQ I had a faint QRP station from Maine tried to work me.  After about 4 tries I finally copied his call correctly but then lost him.  Immediately another station called me and we exchanged the niceties of signal reports, location, rigs and weather.  I received a nice 579 report for my 5w and I gave him a 599+ report for his thundering kilowatt station.  He needed to work my County so I was glad to be able to provide him with the contact.  Following that call the former QRP station from Maine was back in there and finally we worked each other.  We had a nice QRP to QRP QSO on the top band.  He gave me a 549 report but he was using a 400 ft beverage receive antenna.  I was struggling a bit more to copy him through local QRM on my side and a less qualified receive antenna and reported his signal as 339.

Those were my first two contacts on 160m using CW.  Who'd have thought my cloud burner antenna and QRP power would get me such quick results on the top band.  I just figured no one would hear me.  

I had to quit right after those two QSOs but when I later checked my email the original station with whom I'd planned the scheduled QSO reported that although he had not heard me he said I was getting out and sent me a link to something called the reverse beacon net showing a couple of stations that were hearing me on 1810 kHz.

You mean I can find out in near realtime if and where my signal is being heard by an automated system? No way!  That is cooler than a Ronco Pocket Fisherman.  Recall that I'm relatively new at this stuff and this may be old hat for a lot of you.  But the ability to toss out your call and in real-time check where your signal is getting to just warms the push-pull final transistor in my heart.

The Reverse Beacon Network can give you the last 100 reports of your station. So I took a look and saw some of my weekend activity where I was shooting some fish in a barrel (I mean working contest stations) and there were beacon reports of my call from such places as far South as the Antilles and as far West as Utah.

So the reverse beacon network report tells you what station heard you, the frequency, the signal to noise ratio (higher is better) and your word per minute (wpm) speed.  

Being a new CW dude my word per minute speed is of interest to me.  Most of my QSOs in the past week have been at 15-16 wpm.  I'm using a Vibroplex Bug I received last weekend and have slowed it down with a home-made weight attached to a drywall anchor pressed on the end of the pendulum.  I found it interesting that some beacon stations reported me at 19-23 wpm.  I looked at the time and the frequency and realized that the higher speed was from my first on-air QSO using the Vibroplex Bug with N4HAY before I slowed it down with my junk box bug tamer.  

So if you are using a manual key and don't know what speed you are sending just check out a beacon to see what speed they are reporting.

This reverse beacon stuff has been around a while. So unless you're a newbie like me you probably already knew about it.  But if you haven't used before it's very cool, especially with regard to knowing how your QRP station is being heard. Are you making it 1000 mile per watt?  Is your antenna propagating East, West, North or South.  How and where is the skip?  This answers many questions that I had been wondering about as I'm operating.  A shiny new toy, just in time for Christmas

So that's all for now.

73/72

Richard N4PBQ

Since starting to work CW on-air a few months back I became familiar with the sound of other operators using Vibroplex Bug telegraph keys.  I have been curious to try one of these semi-automatic keys even though I know that they are not recommended for new operators.

The Bug uses a sprung pendulum to automatically send DITS.  The action of moving the lever to the right starts the pendulum in motion and it creates evenly timed DITS automatically.  DAHS are created by manual timing moving the key to the left.  Using the key requires quite a bit more practice that using a straight key or paddles. 

Used Bugs in decent working condition can often be had for under $70.  This one was advertised as being "un-used new in box".  Indeed, when I received it, it still had the shipping bumpers on the main spring and still had shipping grease.  The glue on the nameplate had deteriorated and come loose and there was significant oxidation on the parts.  This bug is a few decades old but that doesn't matter because Vibroplex bugs haven't changed much in design since 1907.  The history of their creator, Horace Martin is interesting.  He created the bug to help deal with his own degraded sending ability due to long hours operating a straight key as a renowned telegrapher.

Horace was a professional telegrapher so he designed the bug for professionals who sent at speeds well above what is normally used in amateur radio.  The slowest speed this bug can send DITS without modification is about 25wpm and goes well above 40wpm.

As a beginning CW operator you will generally be well below that speed in your copy skills and likely your sending speed as well.  But when experienced hams work you with a bug they will slow their DAHS down to your speed, however without special added weights there's not much they can do to slow down their DITS to your speed.  This gives their FIST a unique sound.  The DAHS are sent slowly but the DITS are zinging by.  When you first hear this style your brain will not know how to interpret what you hear but give it some time and you will learn to copy them.

You can slow the Bug down by adding weight to the end of the pendulum.  An inexpensive method is to wrap the weight with some solder.  I've wrapped mine to bring it down to about 22wpm.

Here is a little video letting you hear a bit of the cadence of the bug.  Now I just received this thing today and I practiced with it for about 30 minutes before making this video so I'm no bug operator for sure but it will give you some idea of the bug "swing"...

So don't "bug out" when you hear one of these on the air.

That's all for now

Richard - N4PBQ

Samuel Morse was a painter. Yep, a portrait painter. Ah, you're thinking he must have painted numerology into his portraits thus developing a "code".  Nope, nothing so cloak and dagger. The motivation for his invention was due to a sad event in his life.

While he was painting a portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette in Washing DC he received a message delivered by a messenger on horseback telling him that his wife at home in New Haven Connecticut. was sick. He received another message the following day informing him that she had died. He immediately returned home but she was already buried. Morse was heartbroken that his wife had been ill for days before he could receive a message. He decided to explore a means of long distance communication. Along with his assistant Alfred Vail they developed the primary language used in telegraphy across the world and collaborated with other men to design the mechanism to deliver messages in Morse Code over long distances.

The rest is, as they say, "history"

Why learn Morse code?

---

So you want to learn "the code"

Methodology

Morse Code was a requirement for my General amateur radio license in 2006, but I only had to prove copy skills at 5 words per minute.  Someone recommended a set of tapes that employed mnemonic phrases to memorize each letter.  Basically each letter "sounds" like some phrase. I'm going to tell you one of the mnemonic phrases as an example but please immediately erase it from your memory because it takes a long time to un-learn this method. The letter "Y" sounds like the following phrase said out loud "Why did I die?"  OK, now just imagine you've memorized some phrase like that for every letter of the alphabet and punctuation mark.  Now every time you hear a letter in Morse Code one of these phrases runs through your head and you have to let it run its course before the letter pops out on the other side of your consciousness. You can understand how crippling this becomes when the speed goes above 5 words per minute.  Trying to counts DITs and DAHs hits the same wall.

One right way

Farnsworth Method

Learn the sound of the letters at the full target speed you wish to be able to copy.
Keep the speed of the letter spacing (silence between the letters) to be at your current learning speed to give you thinking time.  I.e. you're letter spacing may be set at 8-10wpm to start out with while you're actually learning the characters at a target speed of 20wpm.

This method is recommended by the ARRL and is implemented by many applications used for Morse Code training.  This allows you to learn the sound of the letters at the full target speed you want to operate at.  If you learn the sound of the letters at 13wpm then you will find yourself stuck there until you relearn them at a higher speed because you're learning to recognize sounds, not DITs and DAHs. Our brain has an easier time of slowing a sound down than speeding it up so if you start at the target speed the slower speeds will work themselves out.  I started with a target speed of 18wpm and I am kind of stuck there right now, while learning the sound of the characters at a higher speed to progress.  I wish I had originally chosen 20wpm as my target speed because in my experience that is a common speed in many QSOs.

Your training should also incorporate the Koch Method which directs the order in which you learn the letters, numbers and punctuation and determining when to progress to the next element.

Koch Method

Begins with just two characters (K, M). Once strings containing those two characters can be copied with 90% accuracy, an additional character is added, and so on until the full character set is mastered.

Code Trainer

I looked at a number of different code trainers.  I tried PC applications, mobile device apps and internet based applications.  I live in a very internet connected place and I nearly always have access to the internet.  I don't always have my PC with me but I do usually have access to a guest PC or a mobile internet capable device so I chose a website that has a training application  that incorporates both the Farnsworth and Koch methods and would keep track of my progress.

Learn CW Online  http://lcwo.net/

Learn CW Online is a really nice Morse Code tutor. You create a login for it to keep track of your progress and settings for character speed and effective speed.  It has multiple ways to train so try the different ones out to find out what works best for you.  I used the Koch Method CW Course which is accessible after you log in.  It starts out with two letters and keeps track of your accuracy, making suggestions as to when you should add an additional letter. There are 40 lessons in that course which include the alphabet, numbers and punctuation.  I've read that other people really like the MorseMachine application on that site.

After you've gone through all 40 Koch lessons you may still have trouble with a particular set of characters.  Use the Code Groups application to work through your stumbling blocks.  Lastly natural language training is provided in the plain text training application which sends real sentences at your speed settings.  You can also paste text into the convert text to cw  application and download the resulting MP3 to practice off-line.

Listen to real QSOs

A word about Morse Code translators

Pace yourself and have fun

Sending Morse Code

What kind of key

Straight key

Straight Key (manual key)

Straight keys are simple, inexpensive and can work with many inexpensive practice oscillators such that you don't need a radio to practice sending.  The disadvantage of straight keys is that your reflexes are entirely responsible for properly spaced DITs and DAHs in addition to intra-character and word spacing.  The advantage is that after some practice they become an extension of your arm and simply repeat what you're hearing in your head.  I personally started with a straight key and still like to use one for the majority of my QSOs but it's a personal preference.

Paddle with electronic keyer

Paddle -- requires electronic keyer

A paddle works with an electronic keyer. The disadvantage of a paddle is it requires additional equipment and that you will be learning a different reflex from the actual code that is in your head. I.e. when you send an I or an S or an H you are not reflexively sending the DITs that make up the letter but are instead training yourself how long to depress the paddle for the string of DITs.  This is a new skill and doesn't directly correspond to what you hear in your head.  The advantage to using a paddle with an electronic keyer is that the keyer will send perfect length and ratio DITs and DAHs every time so your reflexes don't have to be as quick or precise.  Also it requires far fewer movements of your hand to send code with a paddle and you won't tire as quickly as you would with a straight key.  I won't go into the concept of squeeze keying here.  For now don't worry about it.

As to the specifics of using a paddle with a keyer:

The electronic keyer may be external or built-in to the radio. If it's external then it will normally have a speaker or mic jack to provide a sidetone allowing you to practice without connecting to a radio. If you don't have an external keyer and want to practice with a paddle you will need a radio with a built-in electronic keyer and be aware how to set it to not transmit for practice. Usually this is accomplished, strangely enough, by turning off VOX (which stands for voice activation) in the radio's menu. Keyers have a speed setting and weighting. Speed seems pretty obvious. Weighting is the ratio of the length of the DIT to the DAH in length. In general the weighting should be set to a higher value when you are sending at a slow speed and set to a lower value as your speed goes up.

Your first on-air QSO

You are ready to venture into your first, heart pounding, fight or flight response on-air QSO

If none of those options present themselves then just go for it on-air.  Find an ongoing QSO that you feel you can copy or is moving just slightly faster than you can copy.  Copy the call-sign of the station you can best copy and wait for them to sign with each other (they will each send their 73s / 72s and send a DIT DIT at the very end).  Then call that station.

AA4XX AA4XX DE N4PBQ N4PBQ N4PBQ PSE QRS KN

If you've been listening to regular QSOs you'll recognize the form above.  The repetition of the other station's call is to get their attention.  You repeat yours for their benefit.  The PSE QRS is asking them to slow down and the prosign KN means you're asking only them to respond.  Have a prepared QSO text ready in terms of what to send.  The SKCC beginners corner has a good sample QSOs.

Here is a sample QSO from when I was just venturing onto the air.

What is going on in the radio

As far using Morse Code in radio communication  is concerned; a transmitter modulates a 100Hz to 150Hz wide signal called a Continuous Wave or CW at a particular frequency.  The time the signal is transmitted corresponds to the length of time the trasnmitter key is depressed.   When listening on a receiver you hear a tone whose pitch is determined by your offset from the frequency of the transmission. If you are listening exactly on the same frequency you will hear nothing because there will be zero Hz offset.  So most modern receivers offset the receiver frequency above or below the signal and offset their own transmit frequency by the chosen offset.  So if the offset is 750Hz you will hear a 750Hz tone if you are exactly on frequency with the other station.  Confusing?  Good, you're well on you way.

Summary

So you know as much as I know now... well admittedly I don't know a lot, I'm just learning this stuff myself but I can almost promise you that it will be fun if you have some patience with it and you will meet some of the nicest people in ham radio... well meet them virtually, well meet them as monotone beeps, well meet them as decoded signals sent from one human computer to another human computer, but trust me; after you've had a 15 minute conversation with them and only exchanged your names, where you live and what the weather is you'll feel as though you've known them your entire life.

I've jotted down my thoughts on the ins and outs (mostly outs) of learning Morse Code as part of my QRP Ham Radio adventure.  I think it is relevant enough to visitors to the Ham Radio QRP website to make it a static page available from the main menu: 

73 / 72

Richard - N4PBQ

EA8TL's Hexbeam in the Canary Islands

As a relatively new CW operator my copy skills are still relatively weak, especially at higher speeds.  DX stations seem to send their calls at 25wpm or faster so I often can't copy them without listening to them over and over and usually there are so many other stations working them that it gets confusing.

Well this morning I wasn't having much success getting an answer to my calls on 40m, and 20m seemed dead.  So I popped up to 17m and there was a good signal coming in that no one else was answering.  I listened over and over and finally copied EA8T (op name Jorge) located in the Canary islands off the coast of Africa.  I replied to him and worked him at my relatively slow 18wpm sending speed.  I wasn't very graceful in my response and he got my call wrong on the first go 'round but resent it correctly after that.  The entire time no-one else answered him even though there was plenty of activity elsewhere on 17m.  Are the Canary Islands considered blasé as far as DX?

Anyway I was happy to get the response.  I know (or surmise) that my 80m Windom has some fairly pronounced gain nodes in different directions on the higher bands but I didn't know which directions they pointed.  I guess one of the nodes points toward Africa (yaaay!)

Path from N4PBQ to EA8TL in the Canary Islands

My copy speed is slowly increasing as I've been operating CW for about 3 months now, but I wonder if there are DX stations on some segments of the band plan for slower speed operations.  I spent about 20 minutes sending my call at 18wpm down to 12wpm on the QRP segment of 17m (18.096 MHz) but no one answered.  I know I was getting out given the previous contact.

Do DX operators just not want to bother with newbies such as myself?  I wonder.  I'd appreciate suggestions in the comments section.

That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

73/72
Richard N4PBQ

The KX3 will match the end-fed wire on about any band other than 160m but on 80m you could likely throw the radio farther than the signal travels.  The KX3 auto tuner is pretty amazing and I believe it could tune a piano if you hooked it up correctly.

Key wise, I was using the Palm Single Paddle.  It is a great little key when you don't have a table to operate from and you don't want to strap something to your leg.  I get strange enough looks from passer-by's without them wondering why I have some mechanism strapped to my thigh and the Palm Single is very inconspicuous.

The Palm key has a clip-on, magnetic base which I use to temporarily attach it to my clipboard when I'm not sending.  When I'm ready to send I simply pull it off the clipboard and hold it in my left hand. As I noted in an earlier review of the Palm Single Paddle it can be used as a straight key if you turn it on its side.  The long ragchew I had on 30m was with a gentlemen who sent me his SKCC number in the first exchange so I quickly turned off the electronic keyer in the KX3's and turned the Palm Single on its side.  That station sent me a nice compliment on my straight key FIST; so the little Palm Single key can serve duty as a paddle into a keyer or (in a pinch) as a straight key.  I far prefer to use my Kent Hand Key if I'm operating manual key but it's too big to bring along for portable operations and I can't quite picture myself trying to hold onto the giant Kent Hand Key with one hand whilst operating it with the other like I can the Palm Single.

I made a silly little video of my trip to the park...

So enjoy some nice fall weather if you still have it and have a Rock 'N Radio adventure.

That's all for now...

73/72

Richard N4PBQ