You should have heard me this afternoon practising my temporary callsign F/M0WIV from Brittany. It would have cheered you up immensely! The first few attempts drew a blank on RBN. I got it eventually but it took a few tries. Sadly the aire/stellplatz we are on only had room for a very compromised antenna and I couldn’t do any chasing. I must find a summit. 
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Haha! I got into a complete muddle the other week when I was trying to send out G/CE summit refs. My poor old brain just couldn’t cope with “/” and “C” as consecutive characters! 
Hope you enjoy your time in France. Are you planning to operate from any summits whilst you’re there?
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I plan to attempt an activation of the Mènez Hom FL/NO-021 later this week. I haven’t worked out when yet but I’ll post an alert a day or so in advance. I’m tempted to stay overnight on the summit in our campervan, which is tolerated, and try 80m in the evening. The only problem is the CW will be non-existent after a few glasses of wine.
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Good luck!
You never know, it might help!
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A friend of mine does exactly this. But he’s a good op who is aware of the potential of him causing problems, and in my experience, he doesn’t. MGM morse probably works better in a contesting scenario than a SOTA/DX chasing scenario having said that.
But I agree with @F5JKK - CW is the most fun when you understand it and can do it yourself!
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Get a rig with a built in memory keyer or an external one and learn to use the memory buttons to smooth the flow and allow you time to write the log while it sends the TU/73 and the QRZ/CQ. You’ll make less sending errors as well. Although I have to admit then it could be said you have become a semi-MGM sender!
73 Phil
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Popular summit that one John - I chased it 7 times but not yet activated. Hoping to go there myself in September along with the other SOTAs in that part of Brittany around it.
73 Phil
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I did use it today, just to check the set was actually transmitting! But I hadn’t thought of adding the 73 call. I have it programmed for CQ de M0WIV but don’t normally use it on a summit as I need the practice (!) but I might use it here - F/M0WIV/P is going to be a challenge.
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Last year I was starting to become concerned for the welfare of a chaser on one activation. It was like a robot that had gone rogue. Random bursts of the call sign, sounded like they were “working themself” etc. I think their machine/robot had gone rogue and I’ve not heard it again from that chaser.
@f5jkk Thanks for all the qsos last week. I got highly confused during two activations ( GM/SI-033 and GM/SI-014) - there was someone calling “/P” straight after your callsign (including during our QSOs) and bang on your frequency. Thankfully whoever it was continued to send “/P” through other QSOs so I was able to figure out. I was reminded of Guru’s excellent help sheet.
Regarding Morse tests, quality of sending etc. I like to think that I achieve a consistent standard (far exceeding my 5 wpm test standard that I passed) during most of my activations. Occasionally, I deviate from this and on such occasions I can only apologise to chasers if I am not at my normal standard. Such deviations might be, I might send their call correctly first time or not need three repeats of their call. Thankfully, these deviations in qso quality only happen on sunny days with no wind, so they aren’t frequent. 
73 Matthew M5EVT.
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HI Matthew - NO apology needed!
It’s not surprising all of us from time to time deviate from our usual standards of sending when operating as a SOTA activator. Most of us are sending Morse when hunched up on the ground with a lightweight Morse key in one hand or the key is fixed to a movable object, or like some operators such as John @G4YSS who presses either a toggle switch or his Yaesu microphone buttons to send the code into the ether. The weather is a factor as well of course, as are members of the public who may ask questions of what you are doing whilst you are sending to the chasers. It’s incomparable to operating at a desk sat in a chair in your shack with all the home comforts and better antennae and generally better equipment at your fingertips.
73 Phil
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Armin,
If one would really personalize it, use a straight key, and put in some banana-boat swing!
Ed, W1EJ out in California, does this; he’s quite recognizable, and I’m left with a big smile every time I chase him!
I always chase him with the straight key, of course!
Ken
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Yes, I do the same, it’s odd isn’t it. When operating from home, if I hear a station calling using a straight key or a cootie I switch from my usual iambic paddles to a straight key. It could be a show of solidarity or a chance to practise my straight-keying.
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Hi Friends,
Is it sometimes interesting when I activate and somebody chase me.
I answer his callsign and can hear quite different transmission after that - like different operator.
Then I always think: maybe different station wrongly treated my answer and doing QSO instead of that one that I sent my answer to.
When I chase I sometimes use the keybord instead of paddle but in that case (very seldom one) I use it up to end of QSO to transmit.
To receive only ear - this is main difference between CW and data, must use ear to receive - such is my opinion.
73, Jarek
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I use a rig memory to send my callsign, and a paddle for the rest. Occasionally my paddle plays up, I think because dust gets between the contacts one side or the other. Takes a few seconds to sort out, and must sound a bit daft at the other end until it is sorted…
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Hello to all, I don’t understand how you can be an efficient chaser if you use a computer to decode the activator. Lot of my contacts are made near the noise (perhaps because I have a poor FD3 antenna) where a computer is not able to decode. This can motivate Ham to give up the computer and learn a little Morse. 73 Nico
PS : MGM means Machine Generated Modulation i.e. PSK31 where human is not able to code/decode the modulation ……
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Eric, I agree with you 100 %…
But not only on SSB the PC make the answers, on CW too, several times the same two words automatically trying to get logged… BOTHERSOME, BOTHERSOME and some times BOTHERSOME.
Carlos IK1YRA (ex ik2yra)
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I’ve just read a product review article in RadCom (April, p34-36) - a reprint of one in ARRL magazine I think - on the DMX-40 “Morse Code Transceiver” - a new term to me - for folk who don’t know Morse. It produces Machine Generated Morse (MGM) from the keyboard and displays incoming Morse via a decoder.
I’m surprised there would be much of a market for such a product but it’s fine by me if using it helps the user learn Morse Code - as the author implies - by associating the displayed text with the sound of Morse.
If however the operator treats CW as just another keyboard/display mode (like FT8) then I share the concern expressed earlier about MGM chasers who don’t know Q codes and CW abbreviations, protocols and etiquette. CW mode is more than sending and receiving Morse.
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Oh dear… you’ll get the elitist police complaining about your attitude now Andy! Even though you are correct.
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There are two approaches to the issue of undesirable operating procedures from SOTA chasers.
- Try to educate them via the Reflector.
- Don’t work them.
One of these is highly effective. One has negligible effect.
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I try the
1/ but don’t know if they reading the reflector because they continue after 20 days I posted this first discussion !
2/ never worked them as activator but like a chaser they QRM always when I’m on their skip (20m and 30m) …