[Elecraft] Re: CW

[Julian, G4ILO]

"Stuart Rohre" <rohre@arlut.utexas.edu> wrote:

> There are many modes in amateur
> radio, that is what makes it so interesting.  If you cannot handle one, 
pick
> another.  The Elecraft K2 works well for PSK 31 as well as CW and SSB

Yes, but there are many more ops using CW than PSK, and it's easier to work 
QRP CW than QRP SSB. That's the motivation for persevering with it.

> I think I have observed those best with code also have an easy time with
> foreign languages, and there may be a correlation there.

There may be truth in that. I failed both French and German exams when I 
was at school, though I got an 'A' in English...

> Hope this does not show my ignorance too much.   For those who use 
keyboards
> to send CW, do they mostly head copy, or do they use a mill, 
(typewriter)?
> Or do they use a decoder program?
> 
> I have a decoder board under construction and should finish that thing to
> see if it is going to be adequate as a detection scheme.  It is the 
Velleman
> kit version.

I'd be very interested to know more about this kit, and how well it works 
when it's finished. My guess is that it won't work any better than any of 
the PC sound card programs, which I've found to be even poorer than me at 
copying most hand-sent morse. It might even be worse than PC software, if 
it doesn't have use DSP to filter out unwanted noise. Computer decoders 
only seem to work on perfectly-sent Morse in QRM-free conditions. I'd be 
interested to know if anyone actually uses them except to copy machine-sent 
fast CW in contests. If there was a computer decoder that could read 
ordinary Morse in normal conditions, I'd give up the struggle of trying to 
learn to copy at decent speeds in my head. The best PC decoder I've found, 
by the way, is CWGet.

73.

--
Julian, G4ILO. (RSGB, ARRL, G-QRP, K2 #392)
G4ILO's Shack: http://www.qsl.net/g4ilo



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