[Ham-Mac] cocoaModem and CW

[Doug Forman]

Hi Mike,

Just wanted to thank you for your posting...  I use an almost identical 
setup (cocoaModem, MLDX, & DX Toolbox) routinely with my iMic, Keyspan 
USB adapter and SingaLink SL-1+.  The radio is an Icom IC-7000.  It is a 
very sweet setup.  I'm a Mac user since 1984, a Mac developer since 2001 
(worked for Apple for awhile back then) and a ham since 1970.

Kok (who lives locally to me) was telling me in a recent email about the 
WinKey emulation he has tucked inside the cocoaModem project and his 
plans to improve the CW features in cocoaModem...  very exciting stuff.  
I have a microKEYER on my other radio, and Kok is especially liking his 
digiKEYER right now for digital modes (low noise built-in audio chip 
does away with the need for iMic, etc.).

If it wasn't for my "real life" (2 businesses, 1 wife and 7 kids all 
wanting my full and complete attention), I could happily immerse myself 
in this very neat technology...  Fortunately for me (and for all of us), 
Kok is recently retired from his Apple gig and can devote large chunks 
of his time to this...

Anyway, nice to meet you!

73,

Doug  N7BNT/AAR0OL
Vancouver, WA

Michael McShan wrote:
> Hello, all...
>
> This is my first post to this list, so let me introduce myself.  I'm a 
> long-time Mac user (>15 years) and licensed continually since 1984, 
> but I just recently starting putting them together.  So far, I've been 
> really happy with MacLoggerDX, cocoaModem, and DX Toolbox.
>
> I've been using cocoaModem for PSK31 and RTTY, and was really 
> interested when W7AY added CW to the list of modes in this week's 
> update.  I operate a lot of QRP CW and so this seemed of useful to 
> me.  My setup is:
>
> Rig: Yaesu FT-817 (5W max)
> 1.3 GHz iBook running OSX 10.4.8
> Griffen iMic for audio in and out
> Keyspan USB to serial adapter
> Homebrew interface between the rig and computer
>
> If you haven't looked at version 2.0 ver. 0.30 of cocoamodem yet, I'll 
> tell you that it doesn't use the key line to generate morse code. 
> Instead, for CW transmission, cocoaModem implements emission type J2A, 
> so you don't set your transceiver to CW but rather to whatever setting 
> you use for PSK or FELD HELL (in my case, "Digital").
>
> When, I first used the CW mode, I immediately was struck by how well 
> the program decoded received CW (assuming that what was being sent was 
> at least reasonably good fist, moderately strong signal, and not too 
> much QSB).  I would say that cocoamodem's ability to decode was about 
> as good as I have seen for the better PC programs and much better than 
> the other Mac program I've tried (MultiMode).  There is a monitor 
> function that allows you listen to the DSP signal through the computer 
> speakers or headphones either in narrow mode (just the station you're 
> copying) or wide mode (everything with 2 kHz). A waterfall display 
> shows all of the signals present over this 2 kHz range.  Still, I was 
> a little reluctant to try out something other than the "usual" CW 
> sending.
>
> I tuned to 18.068 MHz, a popular CW hangout, and heard VE6QX calling 
> CQ... very nice signal and nearly 100% copy by cocoaModem.  I got 
> brave and gave him a call (the program supports full QSK which is 
> nice).  He immediately came back to me and we had a nice QSO.  When I 
> told him that I was trying out some new software he reported that it 
> had a "very good fist."  In fact, you can alter a lot of the sending 
> parameters to shape the signal and code spacing to your liking. I just 
> left it in the default setting.
>
> Anyway, I think that this new mode will be a real winner, and I urge 
> anyone who is interested to give it a try.   cocoaModem has got to be 
> one of the best pieces of freeware on the planet. W7AY's url is 
> http://homepage.mac.com/chen/index.html .
>
> 73,
> Mike N5JKY
>
>
> Michael McShan N5JKY
> Oklahoma City, OK
> EM15fl
>
> n5jky at mac.com
>
>
>
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