Whats happenned

On the Bands
41

Hi Karl & all,

I passed the RAE in November 1993 (Still a Newbie really) & after receiving my pass certificate several weeks later I sent it off & eventually received my shiny new G7 call in February 1994. I first started learning Morse later in the evening after sitting the RAE. I made a very basic practice oscillator out of a couple of drawing pins, a paperclip & the musical chip from a greetings card. Fortunatlely the tune the greetings card played had a long note at the start, long enough for a dah at 5WPM. If you held the paperclip down long enough though, my first practice oscillator would actually play a tune :wink:

With lots of practice & some excellent over the air tuition from Colin G4OTN (SK) who sent the GB2CW practice Morse in my area I eventually became competent enough to apply for the 12WPM Morse test. Before sitting that test you really needed to be up to around 15WPM when relaxed to take account of nerves which do affect your speed under test conditions.

My examiner was Bill G0JWB who I already knew quite well from my local repeater group, but regardless of whether I knew Bill or not, under test conditions I did get extremely nervous. Very similar to my driving test where I thought I had made a fundamental error just after leaving the test centre. After that I thought I must have failed so I relaxed & just drove as normal. I sailed though that test :smile:

My New call G0VOF arrived just before New Years eve 1994 & in the first few years that followed I did use CW but not very much.After a bit of break form Amateur radio in the early 2000ā€™s my interest was rekindled by SOTA & I began chasing summits more actively from about 2007 on-wards. At first I mostly used phone, & as Karl said early on in this thread, it can be frustrating when there are only CW activations showing in the spots.

Rather than get annoyed I started chasing using CW, quite slowly at first as I had pretty much forgotten most of the alphabet, but having passed the test once I thought I could pick it up again. Certainly I made mistakes, but gradually I became more proficient & thanks to many activators, who were more than happy to work chasers who may not be able to send at their speed, I did improve.

Now, I am pretty confident at any reasonable speed for short SOTA type QSOā€™s & as a consequence I am now getting better at rag-chewing at a speed that means I am not asking the other station to slow down. In my experience, with CW once you reach a certain speed something just clicks in your brain & everything becomes clear. For me that happened at around 26WPM but for others that may be faster or slower.

In any case, I am now appreciating CW in the way old-timers told me about when I was first starting out.

Would I recommend CW to other amateurs? Yes.

Would I expect other amateurs to use CW to satisfy my need for chaser points? No.

An activator can use whatever mode / band they want & if I have the equipment & ability to use that mode / band I will have a go at chasing them.

If I donā€™t have that capability, then, like fishing, it will be one that got away.

I donā€™t see myself as a CW evangelist, although I do love the mode. I would no sooner ask Mike 2E0YYY to use CW than I would ask Gerald F6HBI to use SSB. Each activator has his / her preferred mode & as chasers we have to accept that. If they use a band / mode you cannot use, then see that as a challenge to improve your station / capability.

At the end of the day, SOTA, & amateur radio is what you make it yourself.

Enjoy it, I certainly do.

Thanks & best 73,

Mark G0VOF

5 Likes
42

ā€œBā€ licence 1978. Never intended to use either the HF bands or Morse.

Came back to amateur radio 2007. Amazed to find I was now allowed on the HF bands. Tried it, donā€™t find it very interesting. Will find it more so once Iā€™ve got an entirely home brew rig to use there! But it will be a wee while until Iā€™ve finished it.

Still have no intention of using Morse for communication (apart from identifying microwave beacons). Ever. Life is too short.

But power to all of your elbows, CW fiends, SSB fiends, FM fiends, digital fiends, whatever. Amateur radio is a fantastic broadly based hobby where you can have fun in so many different ways. SOTA is a brilliant scheme - use it however suits you best! Vive la difference!

73
John GM8OTI (proud ex ā€œBā€ licence holder!)

2 Likes
43

You wonā€™t find me working CW any time soon. Iā€™ve tried and tried to learn the damn code (using several methods) and simply canā€™t do it. A relative even attempted to encourage me years ago by offering me an IC-781 (when they were new, $$$, ultimate radio of its day) should I become an ā€œAā€ class licencee at the time. Even that couldnā€™t make me learn the code and that was a proper incentive.

Before anyone says anything, itā€™s not because Iā€™m thick. I passed the RAE at the age of 14, Iā€™m a successful software engineer, I type at 140 wpm AND Iā€™m good at a million other thingsā€¦ I guess some people just donā€™t have the ability in that particular area.

You might find telephony activity increases from 1st December when the bonus period starts (he says, nervously looking at the alerts and realising G7LAS/P is the only operator out that day!)

Rob G7LAS/P

44

Morning folk

Blimey what a response

love the one using the rig while in MOT shop that would have been interesting
and a good laugh

But like end of day what ever is the favoured Mode of transmission is not going to change for any one and yes the post was in Jest for sure

Times have changed for sure too
Certainly easier to get into the Ham radio nowadays and the restrictions are good idea provided people stick to them but many donā€™t hear many a KW king and yet am only 1% of there power and wot I have done since back on air in august is nigh on 600 contacts nearly 200 sotas and 73 DXCCā€™s
on 80 40 20 15 and 10m SSB all on 10W and a G5 .

Yet in a sense am lucky where am located smack on ridge of a hill here and can see out onto the moors nigh on 10 miles away with the Atlantic ocean not far behind me and if I cut the hedge down even can see G-DC-003 from here about 10 miles away. Donā€™t think it counts if i operate from here more than 25m drop from summit let alone from it :smile:

Puts on his tin hat :wink: and grabs his shovel

Karl

45

Iā€™m sure you are right, Rob. I remember talking to an ex serviceman, who told me that they selected people for radio op training by sending Morse characters at speed to a room full of hopefuls, and asking them to make a mark each time they heard a pattern repeated. Those who could do that went on for training, those who couldnā€™t went on to other things. Nothing to do with being thick or lacking motivation, as you say.

I am hoping to be Activating on Monday, but not sure where or what time yet. I will try to get on more than one band, and more than one mode :o).

Adrian
G4AZS

1 Like
46

OOOhhhh thats better sotas worked :smile
another 19 points clocked up

47

In my experience, those who are naturally gifted musically pick up, what is after all a musical rhythm, very quickly.

This was never more apparent then a couple of years ago when my youngest sister accompanied me on a SOTA activation.
She is much younger than me and I left home while she was in her early teens, so she was not really familiar with my strange radio hobby at that time! She is a gifted musician, and can pick up and play a variety of instruments with ease. Anyway, on this activation she was quite astounded that I was going to use morse code! I apologised and told her that Iā€™d try to keep things relatively short so as not to bore her. She said she was interested in hearing what was going on so I plugged in my little portable speaker.
Within the first few minutes she was asking ā€œwhat is da de da dit_ da da de daā€?.
CQ I said.
A few minutes later:
What is ā€œdit dit dit_ da da da_ da _ de daā€?
SOTA.

So it went on with my callsign, 73, BK, R, and TU!

In a lull in proceedings she asked what L and E were. With that she now rattled off her name! (Claire).

By the end of the activation, and on the way home in the car she was busy singing (in morse), CQ CLAIRE 73 TU dit dit!

So in the space of about an hour she had learnt, without any effort, over a dozen letters and a few figures. and was reciting them at 25wpm!

She still knows them all to this day and she normally greets me with a CQ SOTA (da dit style)!
It truly is music to her (and my) ears.

So yes, certain people have a natural ability to pick up the rhythm with little or no effort.
Others are gifted in other areas :smile:

Personally I donā€™t think Iā€™d ever have pursued amateur radio if it had not been for Morse.
(I took my morse test at least 6 months before the RAE)
Its the very essence, that for me, glues all the other bits together (construction, SOTA, QRP).

But itā€™s a broad church. There are enough opportunities for everyone to dabble in their own little part without having to take snipes at one another. One size does not fit all!

Anyway back to the rhythm!
Enjoy the music, the companionship, the desolate hilltops and the winter bonusā€¦
72
Pete

3 Likes
48

This is not necessarily the case. Before I continue I have to say without boasting that I was quite a good musician playing saxes and clarinet, both classical and jazz, and also composed and orchestrated. The problem that I found (and still suffer from to some extent) is that the Morse code is non-metrical, it does not have a repeating rhythm analogous to bars, if I try and treat it as music I find myself producing what you would probably hear as an atrocious swing! Actually in a way it is more like the rhythms of Stravinski, and I cope with it best by using the techniques that I would use for him. Think of the Rite of Spring and you may see what I mean! From another point of view, musicality is an advantage as I find it easy to isolate one signal when the receiver bandwidth is wide enough to accept several at once, an ability similar to picking out one instrument in an orchestral tutti. So, sometimes musicality can be a hindrance as well as an advantage!

Brian

49

The (sometimes suffering) activator is KING, they dicate the activity Karl, why not give it a try sometime, you may enjoy itā€¦

As a sometime activator who has been doing it for almost 10 years these are my thoughts:

If I want to make QSOs as an activator on FM on 2m I will
If I want to make QSOs as an activator in CW on HF I will
If I want to make QSOs as an activator in SSB on HF I will
If I want to make QSOs as an activator mixed mode I will

It all depends where I am operating from, how cold it is, how much time I have to spare, how many summits I am trying to cover in a day, if I am accompanied by a non-ham companion (as I often am), how much equipment (which dictates my poer level) that I am prepared to carry based on how challenging the climb isā€¦I could go on.

As a chaser I will work anybody on any modeā€¦ so train yourself, youā€™re just starting out, you could learn CW, it doesnā€™t cost a penny - most of us have taught ourselves, build up your station to be the most efficient you can within your budget, get the skills, and most importantly be there when the activator is QRV and you can do it also!

The activator is KING a motto we should never forget, but we need the Chasers tooā€¦

73 Phil

2 Likes
50

Phil, this is the latest in a string of sermons on the theme that ā€œthe activator is kingā€ and since he was told as early as the third post in the thread that activators do it their way, they are all superfluous.

Chill out everybody, it was clearly intended as humour, and this was confirmed later in the thread. We donā€™t need any more lectures, and if any more appear I shall wield my red pencil!!! We also do not need any more lectures on the superiority of one mode over another, so unless you guys can come up with something uniquely funny on the subject, please just refrain.

Iā€™m not closing the thread at this stage but I am prepared to do so.

Brian (wearing the moderators hat with the big spike on top of it!)

51

There will always be the old CW v SSB, ā€œargumentsā€ I am quite happy to use both!

52

HI Mark (G0VOF)

Colin G4OTN (SK) - a great chap who I used to work with when I lived in my home county. I recall Colin lived in Houghton, smashing chap and a real enthusiast for CW - we got our Class A licences at the same time. Prior to Colin starting up I used to send the slow morse transmissions myself on Sunday nights. I did it for a couple of years in the mid 1980s when I lived in Whittle le Woods. Iā€™m glad Colin was able to help you out long before i knew you.

Ref this long thread - I am now working my way through it now after replying to the intial correspondent Karl. Iā€™m sorry Brian if you saw my reply as lecturing. You get out what you put in to anything and saying that should not discourage newcomers.

73 Phil

53

Any democracy has its enforcers, Victor, without them it isnā€™t a democracy, its an anarchy, but in any case SOTA is an oligarchy!

Brian

54

Phil, I take part in or lurk at a number of ham radio sites, and I have learned that if there is one topic that will quickly become bad-tempered it is CW vs SSB! So, I am alert to nip such things in the bud before this place starts to get like the Zed or even the Island! (Heaven forfend!)

My aim is to keep this place open and friendly, let the threads be free-wheeling to go where they will, but often when somebody loses their temper and the thread descends into a slanging match we finish up with somebody being excluded, an outcome that I loathe and am prepared to be proactive to prevent. So, Iā€™m sorry if the word ā€œlectureā€ hurt a bit but my intentions are good!

Brian

55

You do a great job Brian - I should have read the whole thread first so my response may not have been entirely appropriate, I could see where you were coming from, so no worriesā€¦

73
Phil

56

Hi Phil,

Colin was indeed a great bloke & an excellent GB2CW operator. Your broadcasts were a bit before my time as an amateur / listener as I only started to do anything about my lifelong fascination with radio in the early 1990ā€™s. I listened to Colinā€™s transmissions on 2m FM before I had my G7 call & once I had my licence I could finally call in & join other local Class Bā€™s looking to gain access to HF. I think Colinā€™s transmissions were on a Tuesday or Thursday evening.

It took me a while to get my brain working well enough to be confident enough to have a QSO on the air & my first practice was with Colin using 2m FM & the sidetone of another radio. Once Colin thought we were ready he would suggest applying for the 12WPM test, & as I said earlier you really needed to be comfortable at around 15WPM to account for nerves at the test itself.

Of course Colin wasnā€™t the only amateur who helped me learn Morse, others were also very helpful, including Frank G4XHZ who also helped me practice using proper CW on 144MHz. Frank actually asked me if I would be interested in joining FISTS, but as I wasnā€™t that proficient then, I declined. I wish I had taken up the invitation now.

Colin also taught Morse to the local Sea Cadets & once I had my ticket he invited me along to assist him in assessing the cadets in their Morse. I felt quite honoured to be asked to do that!

After a break from amateur radio in the early 2000ā€™s I found that I had almost forgotten Morse but similar to what Karl mentions in his first post on this thread, it can be frustrating when all the spots are for a mode you cannot use. As all my HF radios are capable of CW, the only limiting factor was my confidence & at that time my ability. I listened, listened a bit more, & some more, then when I felt confident enough I tried my hand & was rewarded with a CW chase. Of course, I had learnt Morse before, but since that first CW chase my confidence has grown & I managed to find where my CW ability had been buried at the back of my mind. I now use Morse more than ever with my logbook now split 85% CW / 15% Phone.

As musician since I was 6 I agree with the comments that natural musicians tend to find Morse easier than those who are not, but that does not mean you have to be a musician to learn Morse.

For Brian,

I never intend any malice in my posts & none was intended in my earlier post in this thread. In a nutshell I am simply trying to put across that whatever frustration you may have in eg, not being able to chase CW activators, can be more than counteracted by the pleasure gained from achieving a personal goal. The CW portions of the HF bands are absolutely full of stations this weekend having tens of thousands of QSOā€™s in the CQWW DX CW contest.

I can guarantee that every single CW QSO I have had is worth more to me than any that the contest stations may have this weekend. To me each & every QSO is a contact with another human being.

With SOTA, you set your own goals & targets, be that Activator or Chaser. Regardless of what others do, you can take pride in your own achievements against those goals.

In my experience Brian does a fine job as moderator here & problems generally only arise due to misunderstandings due to the limits of text communication.

Amateur radio is a hobby primarily devoted to communication via radio, sometimes things posted on the internet do not come across as they may have originally been intended, so please donā€™t take everything written here literally.

Have a nice weekend & best 73,

Mark G0VOF

57

Well said Mark.

Regarding CW, when I was licenced some 33 years ago it was a mandatory requirement to get on HF. Most people struggled to learn Morse as did I, however unlike the majority I fell in love with it and have been using it ever since, but I also use SSB and other modes. Over the years my log is probably around 70% CW, unfortunately my favourite data mode AMTOR disappeared many moons ago.

SOTA has given me a lot of pleasure both as an activator and chaser. Itā€™s a fantastic programme and hats off to those behind the scenes who keep the wheels in motion. Like anything else in life there will always be times when itā€™s not possible to please everyone, (including me) but long may it survive!

73
Victor GI4ONL