Chasing Morse
So I spent the better part of last night in search of CW. I was pleasantly surprised to hear countries I had never heard like ZF (Cayman Islands), V7 (Marshall Island), JA (Japan), LZ (Bulgaria) and OH (Finland) just to name a few last night. I can’t say I was not in search of my first CW QSO, it would have been a wonderful stepping stone, but I don’t think I am quite ready for that step.
I did however try to answer V73NS at one point during the evening on 14.021 (20m). He was pounding out “QRZ de V73NS,” which leads me to believe he was working a pile up and was working split frequencies (transmitting on one, while listening on another). I never did figure it out, I did tune up and down the band just a bit to see if that were the case, but never did hear a pile up.
So being he LID I am, I put my best fist forward and tried to answer his “QRZ” call with my call sign. Based on what I saw on MRP40, the software decoder demo I started using I think my call sign came out as a string of dits and dahs representing nothing more than the letters ‘e’ and ‘t.’ I continued to listen even after my futile attempt, sending at about 17 WPM.
After experiencing that I settled in on 14.009.50 and decided to send, “CQ CQ CQ DE W6ONV K” over and over, in the off chance someone would answer, but to also practice sending. There was an interesting thread started on QRZ.com by W4INF titled, “Best CW lesson Ive used” in regards to learning or improving your receiving speed.
Chuck Adams, K7QO developed this program in which you learn one letter per lesson at increasing speeds. After learning ‘A’ and ‘B’ you have a test on those letters, you learn ‘C’ and ‘D’ and then test on “A, B, C and D.” This continues through the entire alphabet, numbers as well as two, three and four letter words, call signs and QSO related pieces.
One aspect of learning CW that cannot be overlooked is the practical application, not only listening to MP3s of CW or using CW trainers in order to learn, but learn by doing! WB2WIK/6 argued,
“I’ve taught code classes for 20 years. It’s interactive, we set up in pairs with one student sending and the other receiving. We start out with one letter. We add more letters over the course of two hours, and at the end of the first session, we have E, I, S, H, T, M, O, A, N, U and D. I’ve absolutely never, in 20 years of teaching hundreds of students, had anybody who could not master those 11 letters in the first 2 hour class. Both sending, and receiving, and recognizing the letters instantly when they heard them. No “visualizing,” no tricks, no funny phonetics, just instant recognition. That can only happen when you use the code, and almost never happens when you just listen to it.”
Maybe I just picked an inopportune time to attempt a QSO last night. I do believe I have the skills necessary to make that first CW QSO. My fist is still shaky and I am sure I will make a mistake or two, but CW operators are patient people who are willing to help a newcomer to the sounds of dits and dahs. I will continue using Chuck’s program and supplement that learning with on the air application. Together I should be a strong CW operator when I have finished the program.
