ADVENTURES IN CW
One of the first things that interested me once I got into amateur radio was CW. I remember the day that I was introduced to radio: my buddy KK4GJY's dad W1KSO powered-on his radio, and within 20 seconds, we were in a 59 SSB QSO to a station in Vermont. That absolutely blew my mind.
But then, W1KSO keyed-up on a straight key at about 35 wpm, and just blew me away. It honestly looked like something out of the movies. That moment got me started wanting to dive-in to Amateur Radio, with an eventual goal to learn CW.
Then, Ducie Island's DXPedition proved it to me that it's a skill I need to have: out of all of the QSOs logged, 52% were CW, 21% were SSB, and 27% were Digital (FT8/RTTY).
It's now very apparent: it's time to get down with CW!
Biff K4LAW is hosting his world-famous CW class: 1x 90-minute meeting per week for 6 weeks, with tons of practice in the middle using Just Learn Morse Code, starting in March. Also working on the code with JLMC prior to the class, so I can go-in with a little bit of knowledge.
Going off recommendations from others, I've started procuring gear. I have a deal-in-process for a Bencher BY-1 Iambic Paddle, and also have an MFJ-407D Electronic Keyer inbound. As you may know, my beautiful IC-7300 (pictured below, using an IC-7600 as a stand) has a built-in keyer for straight keys or paddles/bugs:
So you may ask: "Joe, WTF do you need an electronic keyer for, you damn noob lol roflcopter." Well, good question! Since the first 4 classes will be sending code in a non-RF way (ie: dits and dahs played over a speaker in the room to make "eyeball QSOs"), the MFJ-407D is great because:
But then, W1KSO keyed-up on a straight key at about 35 wpm, and just blew me away. It honestly looked like something out of the movies. That moment got me started wanting to dive-in to Amateur Radio, with an eventual goal to learn CW.
Then, Ducie Island's DXPedition proved it to me that it's a skill I need to have: out of all of the QSOs logged, 52% were CW, 21% were SSB, and 27% were Digital (FT8/RTTY).
It's now very apparent: it's time to get down with CW!
Biff K4LAW is hosting his world-famous CW class: 1x 90-minute meeting per week for 6 weeks, with tons of practice in the middle using Just Learn Morse Code, starting in March. Also working on the code with JLMC prior to the class, so I can go-in with a little bit of knowledge.
Going off recommendations from others, I've started procuring gear. I have a deal-in-process for a Bencher BY-1 Iambic Paddle, and also have an MFJ-407D Electronic Keyer inbound. As you may know, my beautiful IC-7300 (pictured below, using an IC-7600 as a stand) has a built-in keyer for straight keys or paddles/bugs:
So you may ask: "Joe, WTF do you need an electronic keyer for, you damn noob lol roflcopter." Well, good question! Since the first 4 classes will be sending code in a non-RF way (ie: dits and dahs played over a speaker in the room to make "eyeball QSOs"), the MFJ-407D is great because:
- Don't have to cart-around the 7300, it's power supply, and a dummy-load (to be safe!) to every class session. Just have to carry the paddles and the keyer. It even runs off of a 9V battery!
- It has a built-in speaker and keyer adjustments on the front, and also the option for external speakers on the back
So, I'mma rock this shiz! I've set JLMC at 18wpm character speed and a 5wpm overall word speed (so it sounds like this: here's my callsign repeated 3 times). Hey, baby steps...
I'll post some pics of my training set-up, once I get the gear in place.
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