[SADXA] Fwd: N6KR on CW

Tue Jul 17 15:30:31 EDT 2018

Sounds ok if you are an accomplished op like Wayne @ 50 wpm but for me CW  
is hard work.

On Tue, 17 Jul 2018 10:59:34 -0700, Richard Schmidt <k7nsw at ispud.net>  
wrote:

> 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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