The old YouKits HB-1B is going great. I saw Gerald @G4OIG was on 10.114 on GM/SS-060 as GM4OIG/P just now. He had a respectable pile up too. Propagation must have been just right for us - I got through on the 3rd attempt and we exchanged 579 reports. The HB-1B will do 4 watts on 30m, the same on 80m.
Thank you Gerald @G4OIG!
73 Phil @G4OBK
Will be looking out for you Phil.
Just heard u work GM4OIG on 10.114, I worked him a little later with my HB1B @4 Watts, but not after hearing the âgoodâ chasers calling on top of the activator (why?), and even @F4WBN giving him a 599 report, while Gerald was working a DL station ⌠and thinking he worked him.
If you hear someone 599, you would not send at the same time as the other station I would think.
What happened to the word LISTEN in some peoples dictionaries �
73,
Luc ON7DQ
Yes Luc, it was using the HB-1B, delighted it still works. Thatâs 3 DXCC countries today - I just enjoyed a pleasant QSO with Andy @G8CPZ over the other side of the Pennines on 10120. He peaked 599 and I had to put in the attenuator on the rig as it does not appear to have any AGC, so when the signal is strong you get some clicking on the tone. I know that the HB1B or a similar China built radio is also used by Dave @M6GYU to good effect.
73 Phil
Hi Phil, We are probably on the boundary of the skip distance so lots of QSB on your signal, but always readable peaking at 579. 30m is quiet compared to the lower band even at my QTH so your 4W was doing the business. I had the Kx2 on mains PSU so enjoying 12W for a change.
Hi Luc ON7DQ,
Check before you write anything about someone, itâs better.
73
Chris F4WBN
Thanks for the various comments to my queryâŚjust tried the arrl 20wpm files and I am finding them much easier than 25wpm.
The specificity of training on morse is really strong, and has caught me out before. Your brain only gets trained to do the morse task you practice. I will vary my practice sessions more. Although I got up to 27wpm using phrases from the top 2000 words in ditto cw, I have been concentrating on that method too much.
In December I was listening to The Hobbit in morse, at about 20wpm, and found that this too was too specific (although if anyone wants a qso to discuss goblins, orcs and wizards, let me know)
At the start of learning, almost exactly one year ago, I used the iz2uuf app for groups of 6 random characters. At that time I was typing into my 'phone (exclusively) so that I could monitor accuracy. When I had learnt all the characters I tried my first sota activation and suddenly realised that my learning method had given me absolutely no head copy whatsoever. I had to whip out my phone and start copying into a text editor so I could do the activation. I just hadnât realised how my brain was only learning to copy by typing.
So, I think I will mix up the training a bit more.
I do find copying atop a hill more tricky than at home, and as soon as I start concentrating in order to compensate my head copy deteriorates further. The same effect occurs when I hear a S2S, I think
âmust concentrate on this one nowâ
and I saddles all ability to copy.
Also if tired my ability drops away
Anyway, CW has given me a whole new world of things to spend money onâŚkeys. I never would have guessed how expensive a two pole momentary switch could be!
And add âgetting coldâ based on my recent activations. 
But I think you are right about getting tired, particularly mentally tired.
On Friday I activated two summits, which was a first for me, and though my CW went reasonably well, which is as good as it gets for me at the moment, my keying was very poor on the second summit. I wasnât cold but I think my brain was beginning to fade.
But the answer just has to be more practice, to get the rain used to longer activations.
As well as the weather, distraction may come in the form of passers-by (whether human, avian, canine, feline, equine, bovine, ovine, caprineâŚ). I wonder whether thereâd be any benefit in using a very obvious pair of headphones rather than the earbuds I usually useâŚ
I wear an obvious pair of Seinnheiser headphones 100% of the time when activating, not ear buds. I find this helps discourage walkers visiting the summit from engaging in conversation with you when you are busy. In the shack I probably wear my Radiosport headset 80% of the time, the other 20% is when I am using FT8 - who would want to listen to that!
73 Phil G4OBK
I would like to add:
Chasers wonât realise why I have âdisappearedâ or why my sending has suddenly gone wonky.
I normally take clip-over earbuds (for minimum volume and weight) and so I often suffer wind noise / tarp noise etc. One transatlantic S2S event was ruined for me because the tent was shaking like crazy in the storm and I couldnât hear the faint stateside signals clearly enough to decode them even on max volume. Full headphones would have helped.
First world problems? 207 ZL3 summits activated. Total of 5 people encountered (on 3 occasions).
Now, back to learning how I can finally learn morse âŚ
Too right! My local SOTA area, the Lake District National Park is only 2362 square kilometres (912 square miles) yet gets an estimated 15.8 million visitors per year. You have to get up pretty early in the morning to have a popular summit all to yourself. On the other hand, there are summits (particular those far from roads) which feel pretty lonely.
Practice. You need to practice to get about 8-10wpm and then Iâd start calling CQ SOTA. Proper gents will slow down and help because they want you to keep doing this and they want the points. Idiots will call you showing of their super speed, ignore them. Yes thatâs hard but you just need to gain confidence in the wild and keep practicing. Speed will improve. Itâs hard to explain the rush you get when you first work enough CW QSOs to qualify the summit.
I myself had an ursine distraction a few months ago while activating. I was working through a mild pile-up when suddenly a young American black bear, Ursus americanus appeared. I yelled it away (the poor animal was already afraid and being chased by hunting dogs, as I learned when one of them appeared a minute or two later) and I sent BEAR BEAR over CW. Iâm donât think any chasers understood unfortunately.
I really like the âsandwichâ method that ditto cw uses, i.e. it sends text as Morse, speaks the text and displays in on the screen, then sends the Morse again as reinforcement.
As a died-in-the-wool Apple iPhone user, I decided to go over to the dark side and re-purpose an old Android phone (with cracked screen) of my sonâs which was gathering dust and install ditto cw.
The app has a powerful customization feature - you can add in your own text files to be sent as Morse and voice. I transferred a text file (excerpt below) from my PC to the Android phone via Bluetooth file transfer. The app sends it as Morse, speaks whatever you have in square brackets, then repeats the Morse again. I now have the app doing it for my (invented) SOTA chaser exchanges.
e.g.
KX0R 52n 52n k [KX0R]
HB9CBR/P 54n 54n ref hb/sd052 hb/sd052 tks s2s 73 [HB9CBR/P hb/sd052]
K1JD gm 549 54n 73 e [K1JD]
F6HBI/P 57n 57n sota f/gl102 f/gl102 tu [F6HBI/P sota f/gl102 f/gl102]
If any of the CW improvers want 90 minutes practice and they have a home TRX station, or even just a receiver I suggest you spend 90 minutes useful practice in next Wednesdayâs night RSGB CC CW Contest from 2000-2130z next Wednesday night. The rules are here:
You can be a 10 watt or 100 watts section station. I will enter as a 100 watt station, unassisted. I donât need the CW practice so much as I am a daily user (as anyone learning Morse also ought to be if they want to achieve success!) however Iâm using the contest to train myself up on N1MM+ Contest logging software.
If you arenât up to doing 25+WPM, no need to worry as the area from 3565-3570 KHz is restricted to operating at 15 WPM maximum speed. I hope to work some familiar SOTA callsigns in the 90 minute session. Give it a go!
I may slip away from 80m and go onto top band for a few minutes if Ben, Kevin and Adrian are on one of their 160m nightime madness evenings on Wednesday if they happen to be QRV between 2000 and 2130!
73 Phil G4OBK
Whenâs that happening?
!
Kinda self explanatory:
As stated in my message to all Tom. Now corrected. Thick fingers⌠Might be a bit parkie on Cloud!
