GNI de GBTT QTC QSS 466 K (I have a telegram, my working frequency is 466), The shore stations normally had a fixed working frequency - so the ship operator would know what it is - if he had the info at hand. QSW was probably more commonly used - I’ve heard operators missing out the Q sometimes
R UP (OK change to that frequency)
Sometimes you hear…QTC 466/510 K I;m going to send on 466 and listen on 510.
QSW = I am going to transmit on…
On that recording there’s a few …CQ CQ CQ de FFL FFL FFL TFC LIST 510, ( or QSW 510 - I’m going to send it on 510khz. Ships would not always be 24/7 listening for messages/signals or telegrams if they were single operator ships so shore stations would send a list every couple of hours of the ships they’d got messages for.
That’s cool Eric. When I was working on my instrument many years ago, I had two different CFIs ‘test’ me as I’d dial in an ILS and ID it instantly - they thought I was cheating, so they each dialed in different VORs and cover the freq window on the radio with their hand so I couldn’t see the frequency. Of course the IDs are sent pretty slowly, so it was easy to decode even while hand flying the airplane. So, no excuses now - you can practice your code while at work! (and don’t memorize the written dots and dashes on the charts!!) HNY!
Isn’t that the truth! You’d think those shore stations would have
pretty clean signals… I remember working many hams with sort
of chirpy/drifty/hummy signals maybe up to the 1970s then things
started to change… Modern transceivers!
The thing I remember about “quality” of sent CW these days by comparison is most SOTA ops use a paddle type key and use the electronic keyer in the rig to generate nice CW which evens out the playing field greatly. The topic has skewed even more to telegram operators, be interested to know how many of those operators are around climbing summits. They would need there Clacker on the hill with them reading between the lines.
HNY
vk5cz …
Hello! I’m currently learning Morse Code too. Here in EI I have to sit an add-on exam to get my CW TX license and an upgraded call sign.
At the moment I am learning using an Android app called Morse Mania. It seems to be very good. So good in fact that I purchased the Pro license - it was around £8.50 / 10 EUR.
I have a key on the way from Ali Express - maybe if I win the lottery I’ll pick up a Beghali some day. Only thing is the Ali Express key is a dual paddle iambic. The EI CW test stipulates you must perform the exam on a straight key, so I’ll be looking to get one fairly soon for the exam.
Does anyone have any cheap straight keys to recommend? Must be EU/IOSS-friendly (blame Boris). Aside from the Android app, what other ways can I practice, but using a real key? Can I put my FT-891 in to some sort of training mode e.g. practice with my key but it doesn’t TX?
Why Morse? Well, I’m always keen to learn new skills but also I just don’t have the super doopa fancy kit other folks have, and I’d like to use CW as a way to get those far flung QSO’s like the recent CY9 and some .aq contacts too.
Oh! Didn’t know that. I’ll go dig out my FT-891 manual and have another look. I hadn’t spotted it previously. I’ll update this thread if I find something about it so it might help others.
I learned with an old Junker key. The exam speed in DL used to be 12 Wpm.
There are many similar keys (often from military use) … e.g. at the flea market
If you enjoy the straight key… you can also get one for /p from Bamatech
By the way: I sent myself texts from the newspaper backwards and recorded them to practice. In order to be able to hear and write them down, I tried to send them really properly. The written texts can then be read backwards and thus checked well.
The licence document says you need to pass a 5 wpm test to get a CEPT Class 1 licence but I can’t see where it says you need a class 1 licence to send morse.
Correct. I’m doing about 15-30 mins a night so far with Morse Mania. Such a good app if you don’t have the hardware to practice CW.
I couldn’t find anything in my FT-891 manual about a trainer mode. I recall that the FT-2980 has a training mode but I think it’s just audible tones to copy down on pen and paper.
Thanks for the tip on a dummy load, I found this one on Amazon which should be enough to practice CW on?
Good stuff. Looks like similar was mentioned here:
Looking at the FT-891 manual, the highlighted BK-IN setting should be disabled and the dummy load connected to the back of the radio in order for me to begin tapping away at my key without destroying the radio?
With break in disabled it won’t transmit so you don’t need the dummy load. But it might be a good idea the first time just to be sure you’ve got the right setting.
If your TX doesn’t have a built in side tone (so you are not transmitting!!) then a dummy load which connects/replaces the aerial will work well. I built a kit - they are so simple to build even `i managed… and they are only much cheaper than bought ones.
Re Morse key. Forget Begali keys. They are very pretty, shiny and so on but they don’t send better morse than many cheaper keys. Paddle or other straight keys.
Straight Keys:-
Ex military ones are cheaper and far better value for money in my opinion. This one will also likely be small and light enough to use for SOTA /P use.
Or, for home use this is an ex RAF ‘D’ type key missing its cover. These are excellent keys and one of nicest keys to use - I own one… For £18 you can’t go wrong…
For improving your morse sending you need to hear what you are really sending. Simply practicing sending won’t guarantee you’re sending readable morse.
There are many apps that can read (good) morse but none will tell what you are doing wrong if it can’t read your morse.
Using your phone to record, play/send some morse and play it back so you can hear what you’ve sent. That works, except you are likely to remember or know what you are sending. So you won’t be able to judge the quality very well.
There are a couple of ways of avoiding this.
Send random groups of letters or morse characters. Then listen to what you sent and see if it matches what the groups/characters were.
Find some 'foreign language text and use that.
Or… if you can only find plain old English to send then wait until you’ve forgotten what you sent before playing it back to yourself…
Find a friend who does morse (on or off air) And get them to give you accurate/honest feedback.
Concentrate on reading morse…Thats listening to it and not reading about it.
Learning morse isn’t rocket science and you don’t need a degree - but you DO need to put time in a few minutes a day is not enough
This is such a super useful post. The Navy story was a very interesting read and quite insightful.
I’ve found a few Soviet straight keys on eBay that ship to the EU from Ukraine. These look super cheap but don’t come wired up at all.
Is it just a case of buying a 3.5 mm audio cable, cutting one end off and wiring red and black to spade terminals then connecting the the posts underneath the key? Seems simple enough to do if so and would be a darn sight cheaper than buying an expensive pre-made modern straight key.
Are the old keys just telegraph devices that have no sounder? So no beeps to know what dits and dahs you are making? Can I monitor the transmission I’m making with a headset connected to the FT-891?
Excuse all the questions, super new to CW but very keen to get in to it and upgrade my license before 2024 is out!
Side note: I bought that 50w dummy load off of Amazon. Sure it was the same price for the same DL on Ali Express but will arrive a lot sooner. Easier than building one myself when I’ve little experience in building electrical items (and would rather remain alive than trust in my handiwork!).
You are correct in that all straight keys are just devices to send dots and dashes with and have no sounder…Except:-… If look for morse keys on e-bay you’ll come across a few ‘practice keys’, that do have a buzzer/sounder/oscillator included. The keys themselves are mostly pretty poor quality.
Connecting a straight key is a doddle - They almost all have two terminals. So all you need is a cable with two wires, You can even buy a connecting cable with a jack plug on one end from E-bay if you don’t want to make one up.
I have a bunch of spade connectors already - whacking great box of them as my LifePo4 battery has F2 terminals on it so I had to buy a fused bare wire FT-891 4 pin power cable and crimp F2 spades on the ends in order to use the thing.
So just crimp on some spades, screw them on to the underside of the key at the posts - are they polarised? - and stick the 3.5mm jack in to the back of the mighty FT-891, check BK-IN is disabled, screw in the dummy load and start tapping away like an absolute CW CHAMP?
(and don’t memorize the written dots and dashes on the charts!!) HNY!
