[Nashua Area Radio Society]

One step I forgot to add:

1) when you know what you want to send, just spell it out directly in Morse and avoid even thinking about what the letter your sending will be… you’ll instantly know what it is immediately after you have sent it.

The reality, your just spelling your words out using an alternate alphabet of Morse Rhythm characters. Sort of like using a different set of FONTS on your computer but still using the same keyboard keys to enter the text.

Hope my explanation makes some sense to you. Be at one with the Morse Code Rhythms.

Mike 🙂

[Nashua Area Radio Society]

Correction… I forgot to regenerate the PDF file after performing a quick document cleanup… Use this one instead.

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[Nashua Area Radio Society]

Paddle selection is really a personal choice. Just like choosing the type of car or truck you want to buy. Many factors must be considered.

Cost, construction, performance, style, special design features, operating feel, etc. and your long term usage.

Good operation is important even for low cost solutions. Assuming you can play with the key you might try “wiggling” each paddle to see how much play they exhibit and can you live with that. I looked at one low cost key at the ARRL Boxboro convention and was disappointed at its sloppy construction. Mechanical slop was evidenced when wiggling the paddle side to side, up and down and when slightly rotating the paddle arm. I looked to see if the problem was simple alignment error or loose hardware.

Some good designs can also feel bad if they are not properly adjusted. Many people may have examined and played with a display model or the factory may not have been too meticulous in its setup before packaging it for delivery.

As Fred noted, The Bengali keys are excellent in their quality and function. But other models will work as well and might be a good intermediary step. Consider their intended usage… you usually wouldn’t want ot take a Bengali out in the field and risk scratching a fine finish or contaminating the mechanical bearings and contacts.

I believe a song written by Three-Dog-Night went: “One is the Lowliest number that you’ll ever do..” (Sorry if your unfamiliar: -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22QYriWAF-U ).
So perhaps at least a couple of keys is a good long term solution. Keep the best one at home and use the lower cost one for more casual or general use or portable operations. Besides, you be able to say you have a key collection.

The Chuck Adams – K7QO CD contains a good document on paddle keys that may offer some good suggestions for those learning the code and anxious to get started. Several students have asked about keys and Chuck’s write-up may be very helpful. Some students have already purchased a key, some have fabricated something to practice with. For most of us, we’ll own at least a couple during our lifetime.

[Nashua Area Radio Society]

I just did a quick listen to the N1FD segment on the Podcast… Fred’s interview starts just about 43 minutes 15 seconds into the audio stream.

Great club interest story that will inspire other clubs and perhaps draw more local interest and membership to our club. The club is gaining lots of good publicity.

[Nashua Area Radio Society]

TANFASTIC!

[Nashua Area Radio Society]

Note: Prosign /BT is a good “filler” to send a couple of times while your composing your next sentance or thought in your head.

[Nashua Area Radio Society]

Prosigns – Procedural signs or codes that help the flow of information during a QSO. Prosigns are formed by merging two or more characters together into a single series of dits and dahs with noa space between the letters that are sent.

Example: if you send the letters “A” and “S” normally it ill sound like dit,dah,,,di,di,dit (note I added the “,” to help you judge the “off time” between code elements (dits and dahs). When you send the prosign “/AS” (the bar or line is usually written above the letter pair to show it is a prosign), it would be sent as dit,dah,dit,dit,dit. No extra space between the letters. Note: “/AS” advises the other station to WAIT.

You can learn more about prosigns at the following location: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosigns_for_Morse_code
Note: scroll down to find the summary table “Memory Aid” column to help you understand their function.

You only need to know a handful of these to help you manage your QSO exchange… /BT, /AS, /KN, /SK, and /HH (indicates you made and error and are about to repeat the bad character or word.

G4FON can help you learn the sounds of these prosigns and compare them to there normal letter text.

I have generated a couple of PROSIGN.TXT files that you can save and use G4FON to play.

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[Nashua Area Radio Society]

Great job Fred – Your example should encourage others in the Morse Code class to get some On-The-Air CW QSPs into their logs.

Have a safe trip and enjoy All of the CW contacts.

[Nashua Area Radio Society]

I forgot to mention it, but if you examine the Left Hand menu on the ARRL page you’ll find the Code Practice broadcast archive.

Files are sorted by speed and the archive goes back to about 2013.

Lots of good listening – also, the TEXT files for the message sent are included – so you can check your work.

[Nashua Area Radio Society]

Just a reminder, the W1AW Code Practice MP3 Files are available online and can be downloaded to your PC or MP3 player.

LINK: http://www.arrl.org/code-practice-files

All the speeds are there, don’t forget to scroll down to see all that is available.

Enjoy

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