[CW] Flavours of Morse

Wed Feb 22 02:56:52 EST 2017

Hello Tony,

Hack, K4KP made some cootie keys in his machine shop that had silver dimes
as contacts.  He was going to make me one but became ill before he could.
A mutual friend Ralph, KM4BI who retired from the State Police was going to
find me one because they showed up from time to time at ham flea markets,
but he passed away as well. Old Ralph had a beautiful fist as well.

Here are some of my cootie keys,
http://www.sideswipernet.org/keys/n1ea-keys.php the second one is one that
was advertised in QST back in the 1980s by two Swedes, it was a kit of all
pre cut pieces, it made a darned nice sideswiper, that's my favorite.

73

DR N1EA

On Feb 16, 2017 9:31 AM, <w4foa at comcast.net> wrote:

Interesting and just goes to prove the point that we all have opinions, hi.
I enjoy hearing the "personal" touch of the straight keys, bugs and most of
all, the cooties.  I see a lot of talk about "perfect CW" yadda yadda
yadda.  Well, speaking as a CW guy for more than 60 years, I find perfect
CW quite boring.  In fact, I do my very best to avoid the keyboard CW
stations because they are generally boring, spelling out each and every
word, and most of all "dumping" their memories while they go eat breakfast,
hi.
My mentor was one of the very best CW ops in his time (Hack, W4DIJ, later
K4KP).  During my "side saddle" time with Hack, he never said "send perfect
CW" but he did stress, DO NOT run everything together. I think we can all
agree on that, right?
And finally, I've never tried sending "cootie" CW with a double lever
although I realize it could be done.
73
Tony W4FOA
PS: It might be interesting to see what other Cootie ops consider their
favorite cootie key.  Mine for now is the GHD GF601MP

------------------------------
*From: *"D.J.J. Ring, Jr." <n1ea at arrl.net>
*Sent: *Wednesday, February 15, 2017 8:52:23 AM
*Subject: *[CW] Flavours of Morse

Originally sent to the sideswiper net group.
73
DR N1EA

From: "VK5EEE" <vk5eee at vkcw.net>
Date: Feb 14, 2017 10:58 PM
Subject: [SSN] Flavours of Morse

Dear Side Sweepers whether single or double liver...

A subject that has often riled me in the past, and still raises it's head,
is the anti-bug anti-cootie, or rather, I should say anti-non-standard-CW
arguments made by operators that I myself often find inferior in their
abilities in CW -- but not always! There are those who are very skilled
operators of CW but who dislike certain styles, or any wide deviation from
standard CW.

I posted in a forum today on this subject, and thought it may be of
interest to other side swipers, so I think it worth sharing here. I am not
preaching to the already converted, but I think this subject should be
written about, and even some videos produced on it, that could do a lot to
furthering the cause of bug and swing CW... Rhythm & Blues, Reggae, Soul
and even Jazz...

I also include a link at the end to a post I made on the Flavours of CW. I
also have to confess, and I hope I'm not disliked for it, that I love
"french CW" -- I find French cootie operators have a very lovely CW, partly
assisted by the extra characters perhaps, and that when I was in England I
noted some did not like that French CW :-)

But I also like Russian QRQ CW in Russian Language, I even liked Arabic CW
which was last used in Sudan and its overseas embassies right up until the
80s and sent on straight keys. In fact, I like all types of CW -- well --
almost all: *personally* I draw the line at joining letters on an
electronic keyer like C = TR or KE, but when sent on other keys some
letters can be quasi-joined!

An example is my callsign: on an electronic keyer I would send my callsign
in perfect Gerke Code with 1:1:3 ratio: VK5EEE. But on a bug/cootie I could
make the dah in the V shorter, and the dah in the K (one or the other or
both) longer, and I could join the K to the 5 which could be sent at double
the dit-speed, followed by EEE, and that would not detract from it's
intelligibility.

What lead me today to write on this subject (again) was a criticism
levelled against AA4OO saying that his bug ration on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-DGvvrCLIE was 20WPM dah and 25 WPM dits.
WOW, seriously...!? It's lovely bug sending, nothing wrong with it, but
because it varied from Official Gerke Code (International Morse Code
actually), it attracted a criticism!?

So I thought I'd not let the machine-CW-only have the final say, just as I
would not let the Oxford-English-only have a final say over the Jamaican
"Jomehkun", Thai English "Tinglish", Trinidadian "Trinni" and other
variations, let alone other superior languages (French, Hungarian, Thai etc
;-) -- hehe I hope my fellow British friends can take a jab in the ribs now
and then haha

Please have a listen to my video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=gjqT8PSqG_w

There as we all know we can demonstrate  that it is possible, at certain
speeds, to send on a straight key, on a electronic keyer and on a bug,
"perfect" CW that would be indistinguishable from "PC sent CW" and make all
keys sound the exact same.

After showing that with a CQ call on each of the keys, I then try to show
off hot-swapping keys, with mixed success :-)

Now I come, once again, on this particular issue, to counter KE6EE with
both tripple E's having differing views. It is a horse that has been beaten
before, but in the case of those who have not heard the argument before, I
as one of those who has long "mastered CW" have a view that is held my many
CW operators, but far from ALL CW operators:

Official "perfect" CW has a ratio of 1:1:3:7 dit-inter-dah-space. Yet,
American CW has a very different ratio, again officially, and I don't know
them all, but the dit:dah is 1:2 not 1:3. This results in a very different
sounding Morse, but it is still Morse, in fact, it IS MORSE. The one we all
use today is not Morse Code but Gerke Code: See http://www.vkcw.net/cwtoday
click on the 3rd issue of CW Today for the story.

I'm only out to state some facts and my own opinion and that of many bug
users and cootie users regarding dit:dah ratios. First, look at the font of
this email: it's a font and it works, right? But it is not the only font,
there are many fonts with different ratios, and they all work, though for
some people a particular font is favoured and easier to read while others
find that same font obnoxious at worst, or less than ideal at best.

And so it is with music, and so it is with CW. I am one of those who
believe that Morse is music and rhythm and what matters is -- between the
operators on a particular circuit -- intelligibility and easy of sending
and reception. Radio amateurs are generally not qualified to pass judgement
on such matters as those that operate for 8 hours non stop these days in
contest only push buttons, they are button pushers.

Those who ARE qualified to talk on this topic are those of us who have in
various services had to receive and/or send CW non-stop for 8 hours. And
there are many different services: military, police, maritime, etc etc and
each of these services had their own versions of "Morse" or rather "Gerke"
code. The military, of which there are several ex members probably among us
here too, by necessity generally had to use the OFFICIAL EXACT ratio in
order for their to be zero sigint or little sigint to enemy that could be
used.

That does not mean that it is only military types who favour official Gerke
code in its perfect form, no matter which key it is sent on, and advocate
for the type of sending I have demonstrated in the above video- which, by
the way, I ALSO ENJOY. I like the sound of keyboard CW but I also like the
sound of various extreme fists, and even this Ludwig Van Beethoven -- great
practice to try to emulate it in sync on your cootie:
http://www.zerobeat.net/morse505.html

But I can tell you that if you have to listen to endless CW for 8 hours
non-stop and take it all down accurately, official Gerke code actually
sends you to sleep!!! Unless you drink endless cups of coffee or chew a
cola nut. On the other hand, a different type of Morse that evolves within
a particular closed network of operators using cooties and/or bugs, at
25-30WPM even, but which has a variation of ratios depending upon the
letter, is less stressful over long durations.

This is why police networks, to take one example of a closed network of
operators, developed their own styles. In fact, I'd say some of those
styles notably that by INTERPOL LYON on cootie keys was the best CW ever,
to MY ears.

So yes, I could add the cootie to that video and also do a perfect CW Gerke
Code transmission same as the other keys... but when I use cootie I used a
different style, shorter inter-character gaps, some rhythm and swing, and
when I use a bug the same, I vary that style, and I dare say some of my
dit:dah ratios will be 1:7 not 1:3 -- and would NOT be understandable by
many of the CW operators who were raised on Perfect Gerke Code and/or
electronic keyers.

Yet those of us who find that handwriting very easy, and pleasurable, find
it VERY easy to copy such, and often much more relaxing and therapeutic (as
with styles of music) than official Gerke Code. I should produce a video of
this to PROVE that we send such code DELIBERATELY and I can easily do this:
as I showed in the above video that I can send perfect Gerke Code, I can
also send perfectly-repeatable bug-EEE-code: I can send each word twice in
EXACTLY the same manner with a completely different and variable
inter-character spacing and dah-durations.

I think I should produce such a video at some point as I believe that a
great many who hear bug CW (even cootie CW) simply assume we don't know how
to send code, and we are SLOPPY and that our sending the way we do is
because we can not do it perfectly, whereas for most OPs the very opposite
is true: EVER dit, space, and dah, is deliberately CRAFTED. Don't some of
you also get the feeling or impression or feedback or criticism from some
who hear our sending and think we can improve it, even though we are
sending (not necessarily always, but most of the time!) EXACTLY as
intended? And crafting very detail deliberately?

Yes, it means very often that our audience who can copy our (often
non-standard CW) is severely reduced as only those who have truly mastered
CW in all its forms can follow us when we use more severe variations, and
even those that can often find our styles to their disliking. To be honest
I am quite sure if there was a competition to decode a huge variety of CW
styles including foreign CW, many of us here would be one of the winners,
it's not something most CW operators have had to do, copy non-standard CW:
those who operated in closed networks (military vs police) often find
difficulty with other types of CW. However I do believe that ship sparks
(R/O) are generally more skillful (unless they only worked on British ships
and ONLY worked GKA:) at decoding a variety of fists, and also QSD from
rolling ships, drunk sailors, etc.

So in conclusion I am of the firm opinion, nay knowledge, that there IS NO
ONE CW -- yes there is the Gerke Code that most of us use and it has an
official version, and even that official version changed in most of our
lifetimes from a 4 dit-duration interword spacing to a 7 dit-duration
interword spacing, and most amateurs don't use that official "International
Morse (Gerke) Code" as their interword spacing is often too short and their
inter character spacing is often too long -- yet it MATTERS NOT. There are
many legitimate CWs, languages, even different codes (American vs
International), and styles, and they are valid.

What matters is: can you read this?

And: are you having fun?

All best wishes,
Lou VK5EEE

Here are some more posts on Flavours of Morse and also a video of a cat
sending Meourse (CatW): http://www.vkcw.net/forum/t-
1366733/flavours-of-morse

-- 
-- Appeal: maintaining the VKCW.NET <http://vkcw.net/> site and furthering
the interests of CW in Australia
has been an expensive exercise for me in terms of time and loss of
earnings, but worth it.
There is now an Appeals Tab at VKCW.net. Donations however small will help
me to help you
enjoy your hobby more. *Please visit http://www.vkcw.net/donate
<http://www.vkcw.net/donate> and consider a donation. *

73 es 77 de VK5EEE
Lou.

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