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professionals and amateurs

3K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  mikeg 
#1 ·
As an ex R/O I always found a wonderfull "mystic" in sending and receiving information using morse. Whilst studying for my pmg I got a ham licence and sat with awe working a spanish station using a 6L6 colpits crystal controlled oscillator running (Hopefully) 10 watts. There was a marvelous feeling that
"this theory actually works" That was 1947 and I was GM3HLD (Henry Loves
Dames".
Over the years I have worked from a variety of countries and from the Canadian arctic. Have signed GM3HLD - VE4CF - VE8TO - VE2ACH -VE8DO -
VE2AH -VE3DXR and presently as VA3CH (and normally use four dashes to confuse the great unwashed).
There must be many members of the radio room who still swing a key (And the lamp)
de chas (Pint)
 
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#3 ·
If anyone thinks morse is dead, this weekend is IARU Region 1 cw field day which must be one of the earliest amateur competitions kicking off as national field day, NFD way back in the 1920's.
73

Malcolm/GM3UIN/G3UIN/VU2UIN/TA2/G3UIN/F5VBU
Oddly enough, there seems to be a resurgence of cw over the last few years amongst younger/newer amateur radio ops... where-as, for many, it was just a hurdle to get over to get on HF and then quickly put aside for phone but now it has gone as a requirement, people are actually taking an interest and want to learn it.

It's only been 2 weeks since I gained my (ridiculously easy) foundation license but I'm already getting back to speed with cw. Slight fly in the ointment is that some newcomers to radio think PSK31 is morse, and that is the 'in' thing!!
I spend all day in front of a pc, the last thing I want to do is have a qso on a monitor & keyboard.

cheers,
Andy
 
#4 ·
Must admit that in the beginning my two greatest urges were to build a VFO that didnt drift or chirp and to get on phone, went around with lots of RF burns on my lips from trying all the "inexpensive" ways of modulating (Using a carbon mike stolen from a phone booth). Remember GM3HLQ giving me a report that it sounded as though my mouth was full of mush.

Haven't used a mike since about 1965 when I was in Viet Nam working for Page Engineering, am still quite active on CW although due to arthritus etc have become a slow poke.
73s chas(Pint)
 
#5 ·
I may get shot down in flames saying this but I feel that self taught cw operators have an edge on those who have been taught professionally.[/QUOTE]

Ham (Mostly selt taught) operators tend to have the general ability to converse at much higher speeds than seagoing operators ever dreamt of using. However the main difference is that they are merely conversing without any requirement to make "accurate copy".

Chatting with a friend at 30/40 wpm bears no comparison to passing traffic where every letter must be made into accurate hard copy.
de chas henry (Pint)
 
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#6 ·
I've always treated morse as just another language.
Up to joining SN I must have thought about it around once every ten years or so but I've never forgotten it.
It's the same with the phonetic alphabet, I don't have to think about it they just come straight back when needed.
I think the only morse characters I get confused with are the less commonly used puctuation marks but I always had problems with them. Commercial operators didn't really have any use for them because it was principally a cost saving exercise and any extras cost money.
My morse is terrible at the moment. Very smooth at about 15s but any faster than that, except when side-swiping, and it degenerates quickly.
I can't really see the point in hammering away at high speeds on an automatic key. You might as well just record it and play it back faster.
I don't seem to remember ever getting a hurry up from any of the coast stations I worked and QSOs with other sparkies were a time to relax and chat at a comfortable speed. In fact quite a few ended up on R/T.
I never thought of operating as anything but just a job and it wasn't the sort of thing I wanted to do as a hobby.

Cheers
Kris
 
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