[charles henry]

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

[de paor]

left the sea as an R/0 in 1973 having joined Marconin 1959 as an 18 year old who knew everything. its amazing looking back how little I knew

[R651400]

I sometimes regret not taking advantage of amateur exam exemption when I got my PMG in '56 and waited till '65.
Chas Henry, a licence contemporary of yours, the late Lawrie McIntyre/GM3HIU was the only amateur in our town. I got my inspiration from listening each Sunday to the trawler and amateur bands with a swl friend our local postman.
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

[Andy]

Originally Posted by R651400

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

[charles henry]

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

[R651400]

Originally Posted by Andy

Oddly enough, there seems to be a resurgence of cw over the last few years amongst younger/newer amateur radio ops... Andy

The resurgence is probably down to one fact Andy. It is no longer a mandatory exam requirement and therefore generates curiosity. From this curiosity comes
something akin to playing a musical instrument for the first time, you either grasp it or not. 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.

[charles henry]

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

[R651400]

Originally Posted by charles henry

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

I was thinking more of memory retention. I still have contact with contemporaries who have forgotten the code entirely. I doubt this will be the case with self taught operators. Two I know are both superb operators one an accomplished musician. Whatever, any resurgence in cw is a bonus not only to amateur radio but the world at large keeping an old craft alive.

[K urgess]

Originally Posted by R651400

I was thinking more of memory retention. I still have contact with contemporaries who have forgotten the code entirely. I doubt this will be the case with self taught operators. Two I know are both superb operators one an accomplished musician. Whatever, any resurgence in cw is a bonus not only to amateur radio but the world at large keeping an old craft alive.

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

[mikeg]

Originally Posted by R651400

I was thinking more of memory retention. I still have contact with contemporaries who have forgotten the code entirely. I doubt this will be the case with self taught operators. Two I know are both superb operators one an accomplished musician. Whatever, any resurgence in cw is a bonus not only to amateur radio but the world at large keeping an old craft alive.

Dunno, it's to me like learning to swim or riding a bike - it never goes. I tested myself out before sending this and I can remember all punctuation
() / - ,. = etc. and numbers but not the accented letters because I think I only used those once or twice throughout my seagoing time ..and then I had to look it up beforehand

I once had a nightmare that someone had handed me a message that was all mathematical formulae with infinity symbols etc.

[K urgess]

Can't remember the curved brackets but got all the rest.
You missed out ..--.. Mike.
Never had cause to use accented characters very much either.
In fact, I can't even imagine what they could be and now I shall have to hunt out the bible to find out.

Kris

[BA204259]

Never hear PCH being called as P barred H?? ( .--. ---- )

[K urgess]

Can't remember that at all, BA.
Must've gone in one ear and out the other,

Cheers
Kris

[BA204259]

It's what happened this morning that I have trouble remembering.... I'm OK on things that happened 45 years ago... (I think...).

[mikeg]

Originally Posted by Marconi Sahib

Can't remember the curved brackets but got all the rest.
You missed out ..--.. Mike.
Never had cause to use accented characters very much either.
In fact, I can't even imagine what they could be and now I shall have to hunt out the bible to find out.

Kris

Open Bracket KN Close bracket KK (run together like SOS)

Mike

[mikeg]

Originally Posted by Marconi Sahib

You missed out ..--.. Mike.

Kris

Yes, I'd heard that sending ( ) was a hug, only met one female R/0 though

Mike

[charles henry]

Originally Posted by BA204259

Never hear PCH being called as P barred H?? ( .--. ---- )

When on the ham bands I use _ _ _ _ very often when signing or when calling a general CQ, it confuses the "Great unwashed masses" and brings back a surpringly large number of ex commercial operators.
de VA3CH (My initials) Chas Henry

[R651400]

Originally Posted by mikeg

Open Bracket KN Close bracket KK (run together like SOS) Mike

Other way round Mike??

P---- was a quick way to get hold of PCH on both MF and HF.

CH being the Greek "H"

[mikeg]

Don't think so. Just found this by goooogling..

http://home.alltel.net/johnshan/cw_ss_list_punc.html