[Elecraft] On CW

[F5vjc]

YES!
 Well said Wayne.

I have always loved CW from being a small boy with an old straight key and
buzzer, learned Morse before I knew of amateur radio.

Short Wave Wireless will never lose its fascination for me and
to communicate via the ionosphere with another by Morse code is the
ultimate thrill.

Today, despite having all the best equipment to hand together with computer
assistance internet and all the latest gadgets and aids.

The original concept of visualising the remote OP hand on key, sending a
signal, 'instantaneously' arriving in my receiver is still magic, and to
hear your own call come back to you in CW just can't be bettered.

Of course, I do appreciate all the modern digital modes, I get them
working, try them but then rapidly lose interest and return to CW, the
personal mode requiring some degree of aptitude, perseverence, and skill to
be part of the club and call yourself a CW OP.

Still 'just a boy and his radio'

73, F5VJC



On 31 October 2017 at 05:26, Victor Rosenthal 4X6GP <k2vco.vic at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Wayne,
>
> Thanks for this and for everything else you've done for CW, and especially
> for making good CW functionality an objective for all Elecraft rigs.
>
> For me, nothing in amateur radio can possibly beat the thrill of hearing
> my own call in a weak and fluttery CW signal from the other side of the
> world. It's the same feeling I got 61 years ago when a guy across town
> answered my call for the first time.
>
> Judging by the display on my P3, there is often more digital activity than
> CW these days. I've tried it and I'm impressed, but I'm impressed by what
> my smartphone can do, too.
>
> My feeling is, "great, that is so cool, now back to REAL radio."
>
> CW is special and I hope it will stay around for many more years, despite
> the technical "superiority" of other modes.
>
> 73,
> Victor, 4X6GP
> Rehovot, Israel
> Formerly K2VCO
> http://www.qsl.net/k2vco/
> CWops #5
>
>
> On 31 Oct 2017 04:37, Wayne Burdick wrote:
>
>> I find that CW has many practical and engaging aspects that I just
>> don’t get with computer-mediated modes like FT8. You’d think I’d be
>> burned out on CW by now, over 45 years since I was first licensed,
>> but no, I’m still doin’ it :)
>>
>> Yes, FT8 (etc.) is a no-brainer when, despite poor conditions, your
>> goal is to log as many contacts as possible with as many states or
>> countries as possible. It’s so streamlined and efficient that the
>> whole process is readily automated. (If you haven’t read enough
>> opinions on that, see "The mother of all FT8 threads” on QRZ.com, for
>> example.)
>>
>> But back to CW. Here’s why it works for me. YMMV.
>>
>> CW feels personal and visceral, like driving a sports car rather than
>> taking a cab. As with a sports car, there are risks. You can get
>> clobbered by larger vehicles (QRM). Witness road range (“UP 2!”).
>> Fall into a pothole (QSB). Be forced to drive through rain or snow
>> (QRN).
>>
>> With CW, like other forms of human conversation, you can affect your
>> own style. Make mistakes. Joke about it.
>>
>> CW is a skill that bonds operators together across generations and
>> nations. A language, more like pidgin than anything else, with
>> abbreviations and historical constructs and imperialist oddities. A
>> curious club anyone can join. (At age 60 and able to copy 50 WPM on a
>> good day, I may qualify as a Nerd Mason of some modest order,
>> worthless in any other domain but of value in a contest.)
>>
>> With very simple equipment that anyone can build, such as a
>> high-power single-transistor oscillator, you can transmit a CW
>> signal. I had very little experience with electronics when I was 14
>> and built an oscillator that put out maybe 100 mW. Just twisted the
>> leads of all those parts together and keyed the collector supply--a
>> 9-volt battery. With this simple circuit on my desk, coupled to one
>> guy wire of our TV antenna mast, I worked a station 150 miles away
>> and was instantly hooked on building things. And on QRP. I’m sure the
>> signal was key-clicky and had lots of harmonics. I’ve spent a
>> lifetime making such things work better, but this is where it
>> started.
>>
>> Going even further down the techno food chain, you can “send” CW by
>> whistling, flashing a lamp, tapping on someone’s leg under a table in
>> civics class, or pounding a wrench on the inverted hull of an
>> upside-down U.S. war vessel, as happened at Pearl Harbor. Last
>> Saturday at an engineering club my son belongs to, a 9-year-old
>> demonstrated an Arduino Uno flashing HELLO WORLD in Morse on an LED.
>> The other kids were impressed, including my son, who promptly wrote a
>> version that sends three independent Morse streams on three LEDs. A
>> mini-pileup. His first program.
>>
>> Finally, to do CW you don’t always need a computer, keyboard, mouse,
>> monitor, or software. Such things are invaluable in our daily lives,
>> but for me, shutting down everything but the radio is the high point
>> of my day. The small display glows like a mystic portal into my
>> personal oyster, the RF spectrum. Unless I crank up the power,
>> there’s no fan noise. Tuning the knob slowly from the bottom end of
>> the band segment to the top is a bit like fishing my favorite stream,
>> Taylor Creek, which connects Fallen Leaf Lake to Lake Tahoe. Drag the
>> line across the green, sunlit pool. See what hits. Big trout? DX.
>> Small trout? Hey, it’s still a fish, and a QSO across town is still a
>> QSO. Admire it, then throw it back in.
>>
>> (BTW: You now know why the Elecraft K3, K3S, KX2, and KX3 all have
>> built-in RTTY and PSK data modes that allow transmit via the keyer
>> paddle and receive on the rig’s display. We decided to make these
>> data modes conversational...like CW.)
>>
>> Back to 40 meters....
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Wayne N6KR
>>
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