[SADXA] Fwd: N6KR on CW

Tue Jul 17 15:20:38 EDT 2018

        Jerry and SADXA'ers.............110% in agreement.............Bob - 
K7BHM

-----Original Message----- 
From: Richard Schmidt
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2018 10:59 AM
To: Southern AZ DX Association E-Mail Reflector
Subject: Re: [SADXA] Fwd: N6KR on CW

Thank you Jerry. A very good read.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 17, 2018, at 9:15 AM, Jerry <jdwothe at cox.net> wrote:
>
> This essay by Wayne, N6KR, came to me via a close friend in CA. I thought 
> I would pass it along for entertainment of all.
>
> W6XI
>
>
>
>
> 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 <http://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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