Hi all,
A good source of current Morse info is the FIST Club (see www) that has been running in the UK for 40 years, I have been a member for 30years, my number in 550, they are currently up to 20K+ numbers. Practice your code on or about 7.028 MHz.
I agree, with others, for mountain topping, purchase a double paddle and learn how to send iambically. I use a cheap Hi Mound manipulator with shortened paddles, strapped to my right leg. I have also covered the contacts and mech. with a see through plastic box that was once a spare component drawer. This keeps the mist and rain out.
For a straight key (SK) I like the American J38 design for simplicity and cost. With this type of key you have your arm flat on the bench not in the way British WW2 keys are used. There are some excellent US army trainings videos to support the J38 style.
See my QRZ page for my home made SK based on the J38 with a number of design changes.
Am I the exception? I like to hear unusual electro-mechanical Morse on the air – be it a distinctive straight-key ‘fist’, a cootie (sideswiper) or a bug (semi-automatic key).
At home, if I hear one, I’ll reply using my Kent KT-1 Pro SK instead of the default Begali twin paddles. You don’t hear the very distinctive ‘chirpy’ sound of those two-valve (vacuum tube) tx’s much anymore. What happened to those eccentrics we used to have on air (and elsewhere in life)? I find listening to quirky Morse makes my ‘CW ear’ more resilient – a bit like hearing one’s own language spoken with a strong regional/foreign accent.
Occasionally I take my Palm Portable Key (PPK) on a SOTA activation but it’s a big effort to send well - a short-lever SK needs more force and my on-knees operating board or my handmade thigh-strapped key plate aren’t stable enough for the up/down motion. A pity.
I wish someone (less lazy than me) would organize a SOTA electro-mechanical Morse week or month.
I guess I’m somewhere in the middle. I found the perfectly-regular perfectly-timed Morse sent during the W1AW practice broadcasts to be … tedious? … soul-less? … boring? … dead?
Conversely, if there’s more than slight chirp or swing or whatever other irregularity, then I get lost quickly…
Hi Andy, you are not the only one to appreciate a good fist, but I have come across SOTA Code that is very difficult to read due to excessive chirp or smudged letters and given 477 reports. Surely the first requirement on a SOTA activation is to satisfy all of the chasers as effectively and accurately as possible, by whatever means is most appealing and/or appropriate.
Hi David, yes, of course, readability is key [no pun intended!]. We should all aim to send as accurately as possible. I appreciate good sending by chasers especially if the fast ones slow to something like my sending speed.
By ‘distinctive fist’ I didn’t mean ‘poor fist’. I for one, tend to leave slightly longer gaps between characters than standard especially my callsign when calling CQ. Many ops run the characters of their own callsign together due to over familiarity.
As for cooties and bugs, the few I hear on air nowadays, the operators are very competent, but I can always tell them by their distinctive ‘accents’.
The photograph next to my call has on it an Englishman (me) Danish, German , & an American op, behind me. As far as I can tell, we’re all resting our arms on the table as much as we could (I recall the tables were rather on the small side)
The key I’m using is so called, "NATO’ key used by the RN. Its similar in design to my RAF type D key I use at home which was made, I think during the war and certainly in the years following it.
Keys on RN ships were often fixed to the edge of desks if they were older keys but the NATO key was always on a long enough lead to allow you to place it where you wanted - it is a heavy key with rubber foot pads, and unlike the older keys did not slide around in rough weather. I almost always used it with my arm resting on the desk. I can’t remember what others did.
I never heard the term American or European style sending. It was never mentioned or discussed and I certainly cannot remember being instructed to use your arm supported or unsupported.
You might never find an answer to that question. I found descriptions even video clips of both styles but not the origin of the terms. It doesn’t surprise me that you’ve not heard of the terms until recently. From what I’ve read the different techniques of holding the key, placement of arm, etc probably date from WW2 or earlier. So, the US military would have their own training schools and their prescriptive keying method [see YouTube video of US-Mil Morse training, link below] and the UK [other EU countries] would have theirs. Effectively, two different worlds.
EDIT UPDATE:'WW2 USN ‘style’ from 3m 40s …
By the time you were being trained (mid ’60?) perhaps training schools were less prescriptive especially as you said you used a range of different keys (NATO, RN). You mentioned the international mix of trainees, which is another factor.
It’s possible the terms ‘American style’ and ‘European style’ may have come about in amateur circles as we pick up on differences between us (like the much-discussed ways of holding your knife and fork).
Thanks for those comments. I’m not sure there is any difference between American v European styles of sending anyway. But "m sure your comments are correct. There doesn’t appear to be any ergonomic design difference in American and/or European designed keys, but `i’m no expert.
Here’s an American Ham, Steve Morris/W5BIB, EX USN op, and one of the American team at the NATO Naval Communications Competition the year before `i took part in 1970. He’s clearly NOT read or taken notice of the ‘correct’, (American) style of transmitting and is clearly NOT resting his arm on a table. :crazy_face
Perhaps the difference between the “low” key button on my WWII US Lionel J38 (left) and the more traditional UK-style of “high” key button on my Hi-Mound HK 709 (right) explains some of the difference in sending techniques?
My own selection, first two are Russian, I’ve made the paddle off the Russian relay as well :). The paddle is for my regular daily use. Not using the straights too often these days, but both are working great still. The one in the middle is from my childhood, when I was just starting in radio.
Unfortunately there’s more factors which influence the method of use.
Keys in naval and merchant marine ships were quite often fixed to the front of the operating position or desk. You had to use these with elbows off. This includes both European and American ships. Operating desks were quite often of limited space. Both the keys in EI4JY’s photo were made to be screwed down.
The hight of the operating desks could also vary, as could the seat/s. My last ship had a fixed key alongside each of the two teleprinters - the desks being quite low, as the teleprinter keyboard was quite high so to make them ergonomically efficient to type on the desks were much lower as was the key. You had to use them 'elbow off. The main operators desk was a good few inches higher and it was rather too high to put a typewriter on to use comfortably. But it was great for operating a morse key as it was just the right hight and of course the key could be moved anywhere you wished.
I’m not sure the hight of the key ‘button’ above the desk makes any difference either as Marconi (so called ‘NATO’ key) made for the RN along with the RAF D type I use, both have relatively high off the desk heights and both were used on leads capable of being put in any operating position you wished. I’ve not noticed any ergonomic issues resting arm/elbow on or off the desk regardless of the type of key.
The video of Steve W5BIB clearly show him not resting his arm . He spent a long time in the USN & Coast Guard, represented the USN at morse sending, and probably more experience than most operators (since 1965 if I recal)
. Have a look at the inside of any USN radio room (U-~Tube has lots) and there isn’t much room to put arms on table ).
And all those Europeans - and the American sat behind me all look to me like they could be resting their arms on the desk…
At the end of the day, it just doesn’t make any difference which style you use as long as it is comfortable, and I’m putting my money on Andy’s /G8CPZ’s point about the American V European style being something hams have probably labelled erroneously.
73 s…
That’s interesting David and good to learn more about the different circumstances in the world of commercial and professional CW as opposed to the recreational CW we enjoy today. 73 Mike
Its a pleasure. ~When I first started activating, i t took me a while to get used to sending morse in the open air AND without any desk. It felt really quite strange.
Thank you David for sharing your professional experiences on here. All very valuable. I understand your strange feeling when operating in the wild.
Morse becomes an art form when sending whilst wearing gloves and being aware that the snow is steadily building up behind your back.
Have enjoyed the whole thread! Bona-fide old guy here, complete with damaged hearing. RF bandwidth sometimes down to 50 Hz chasing really weak ones. Most fun: operating mobile with WW2 J-45 leg clip (key itself is a J-37, a really nice straight key).
I hope the SOTA CW community will be understanding during my first CW activations. Should I add a note to my SOTA post to let chasers know I’m a beginner? Do people typically read comments?
Unfortunately @SP6SUD Romain, these helpful “PSE QRS” comments don’t appear in my clickable SOTA Cluster Spots (kindly provided by @MM0FMF Andy) window, which is part of my my logging program:
As a chaser I try to go back to activators within around 1-2 WPM of the speed at which they are sending, alhough I note that some improver-learners send faster than they can receive. Maybe I ought to look at the SOTAwatch comments field then more often before I start calling…
I am hoping to work @F4LEK Remy on CW anytime soon.
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