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International Ham Radio News & Opinion

Taking steps forward.

7 February 2020 | by Mike VE9KK | Leave a Comment (0)

My last post of December had to do with some goals I wanted to get working on in 2020. It's now 2020 and as has happened to me in the past I soon will be looking back on 2020 seeing my goals worked or did not work out. One of my goals was to improve my CW and get involved with the CWops CW academy program. At this point in time, my code is not to my satisfaction. On the internet, the other day I came across a very interesting document entitled " Improving Morse code proficiency Tricks of the Trade Overcoming common problems". The author of the document is W0UCE.
He highlights 12 common problems and how to overcome them so please if you want to improve your code read over the document and see any issues come to light.
Of the 12 common problems, I was able to identify with 6 and they were:

1. Anticipating what is being sent. This is done when you copy with a pencil and paper and copy one letter at a time and not by the rhythm of a word. For example when you hear someone calling CQ most of us don't write down the letter C and Q. We know the rhythm of CQ and know the word. I have to learn the rhythm of CW and not writing letters. Learn the code as a language.

2. The inability to copy behind. This was a new one for me I never really had heard of it. You hear one or two letters and let them float in your head once you hear the 3rd letter you write down the first and second letters. In the past, if this happened to me I would panic as I figured I was getting behind in the copying.

3. Unable to increase my speed. I hit a plateau and become frustrated. The suggestion is to increase the code you are receiving by about 2 wpm above your plateau speed.

4. Lack of confidence. This for sure has been an issue with me I have found once a contact gets rolling I can get lost because of some of the issues mentioned above. Once this happens I just want to pass along 73 and TU and end the QSO.

5. Not able to hear complete words. This is just done with the practice of copying complete words and not each letter.

6. Writing each letter as it is heard. This for sure is an issue with me. I find as the speed increases I just get lost as I can't write things down fast enough. I have tried using a keyboard as I can type very fast but I have found that at a certain speed the letters are coming at you so fast you get lost between hearing the letter and then transposing it to the keyboard key.

The bottom line from what I have been reading is I have to learn how to put the pencil and paper away and copy in my heard with just writing down selective information. I really believe it's retraining your brain on how CW is understood. I relate it too when I first was learning to type and when I was to type "the" I would type "t" "h" "e" but now I don't even think about it.......well it's more like I think it and it appears on paper. I am not even thinking of were my fingers are going on the keyboard. I have to train my brain this way regarding morse code.

The CWops is a very popular program and spaces fill up fast and at this point in time, the class enrollment is for April/May or Sept/Oct. I am trying to see if the April/May works out for me. Until I am accepted into either time slot for the class I wanted to work on my code. So I am going to work on the above issues I have mentioned.

Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

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LHS Episode #324: The Weekender XLI

7 February 2020 | by Russ K5TUX | Leave a Comment (0)

It's time once again for The Weekender. This is our bi-weekly departure into the world of amateur radio contests, open source conventions, special events, listener challenges, hedonism and just plain fun. Thanks for listening and, if you happen to get a chance, feel free to call us or e-mail and send us some feedback. Tell us how we're doing. We'd love to hear from you.

73 de The LHS Crew

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

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Space in Morse Code

7 February 2020 | by Richard AA4OO | Leave a Comment (0)

Silence is Beautiful

The space between characters and words is just as important as properly forming the characters.

If you're rushing your characters the elements of one character will not be easily discerned from the next and the person your sending to will find it indecipherable and respond with a 73 and spin the dial. I have a number of comments in my logs about operators who ran their characters and words together. I tend to avoid those contacts down the log.

But, many of us, including myself, are guilty of rushing when we send, especially as a ragchew moves into the 3rd or 4th exchange. I think the problem is that as the person sending the code, I know what I am sending and in the excitement of wanting to get out all the things I want to say and turn it over, I start to rush and begin compressing the space between my sent characters and words. After all, it's very clear in my head what I'm sending, it must be just as clear to the listener, right? Wrong.

RRFBCPYALLWXHRISSUNNYES88FRIGISIC756PRORUNNING100WINTODIPOLEUP66FTDESM8ERW8BJOK

The exchange above isn't far from reality and that's assuming the character spacing was good. When the character spacing is rushed two characters become a different character or no character at all, and you sit there with your head tilted thinking "what in the world are they saying?"

Proper Space (Timing)

What is considered proper spacing? Let's review some basics. A DIT is counted as a single Morse Code element (think of it as a unit of time). A DAH is counted as 3 times longer or 3 Morse Code elements (3 times the DIT time unit).

Of course the length (time) of a sent DIT or DAH will change with the speed you are sending. As the word per minute speed rises, the length of of DITs and DAHs decreases accordingly and vice-versa. Unless you're using Farnsworth timing, but that's a different discussion...

Space between DITS and DAHS in a Character

Characters other than the E and T are made up of more than a single DIT or DAH. Between each DIT and DAH making up a single character is space. The space between each DIT and DAH making up a single character should be as long as a single Morse Code element... a DIT. So there's a DIT's space of silence between every DIT and DAH in a character.

"R" = DIT.DAH.DIT (where the '.' is the length of a DIT)

Space between characters within a Word

There should be 3 Morse Code elements of silence between each letter in a word, or silence the length of a DAH, at the speed you are sending.

"WORD" = W-O-R-D (where the '-' is the length of a DAH)

Space between Words

There should be 7 Morse Code elements of silence between each word you send.

"HERE<>ARE<>SOME<>WORDS" (where the '<>' is the length of a the M character)

The length of an "M" ?? Yes. I was corrected about this in a video I made. In that video I was counting the DITS and DAHS only, and said to count the inter-word space to be the length of the 'W' character because it is made of a DIT and two DAHS, but I was forgetting the space between the DITS and DAHS that make up the character. A 'W' character contains 9 elements. An 'M' contains 7 elements since it is 2 DAHS (3*2=6) plus the inter-character element that spaces them (1-element of silence) equals 7 Morse code elements.

How to Practice

If you use an electronic keyer it will take care of the inter-character spacing between the DITS and DAHS of your sent characters. If you use a manual key you'll have to take care of that yourself. You can practice by sending strings of DITS, listening to see if you are placing the same space between each DIT as the length of the DIT itself.

To practice spacing letters in a word, get used to the length of a DAH (a 'T' character). Send a T over and over making sure you have the space of the character and the space of silence equivalent. This gets a bit more complicated with different characters. An 'E' character is of course much shorter than a 'Z' character but you need to have the same amount of space after each before sending the next character. I find that I tend to rush into the next character after sending a long character like an 'F 'or an 'L' and add too much space after short characters like an 'E' or 'T'. If you use a decoder of some type it can be helpful in showing you timing mistakes. Send into a decoder and see if it turns two of your characters into a different character (you rushed the timing), or see if it spaces the word out as if there's a word break (you're putting too much space between the letters). It is a very humbling experience to send into a decoder.

Similar to working on letter spacing, spacing for words is potentially an even more important skill. When we listen to Morse at speed the rhythmic sound of the characters in a word as a whole tends to tell our brain what we've heard. If the next word is rushed then we don't process the first and miss the beginning of the next. Practice sending the 'M' character at your preferred speed and get used to the amount of time it takes to send.

One thing I've tried that works pretty well is setting the break-in timing of my transceiver to match the space I want between words. At 20wpm the DIT length is between 50-60 milliseconds depending on the measurement you use. So if I want to be sure I'm spacing properly I should have 7 time-units or 7*50 = 350 milliseconds break-in set in the transceiver. Both my Elecraft KX3 and Ten-Tec Eagle support setting the break-in in milliseconds. By being sure that I hear break-in occur between every word I know that I'm putting in a good minimum amount of spacing. If I don't hear break-in occurring, it reminds me that I'm rushing my words.

When I hear break-in occur between every word I know that I'm putting in a good minimum amount of spacing

Conclusion

The silence you send is just as important as the signal. Silence is golden

DE AA4OO

Richard Carpenter, AA4OO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from North Carolina, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

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Icom IC-705

5 February 2020 | by George W5JDX | Leave a Comment (7)

Ray Novak, N9JA came for a visit with a great new QRP Radio that’s soon to be released.

George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

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LHS Episode #323: Sloppy Seconds

4 February 2020 | by Russ K5TUX | Leave a Comment (0)

Welcome to the 323rd installment of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, the hosts discuss amateur radio and the fires in Australia, state QSO parties, Brexit and CEPT, new extra pool questions, CERN, Facebook, Jericho, UNICEF and much, much more. Thank you for downloading and listening. We hope you have a fantastic week.

73 de The LHS Crew

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

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‘Barn Door’ CLE

4 February 2020 | by Steve VE7SL | Leave a Comment (0)

The next CLE, coming up at the end of the month, will be another ‘barn-door’ event where listeners are encouraged to use wider bandwidths than normal ... typically something that will allow you to hear beacons at least 2kHz each side of the frequency that you are tuned to.

Your ears will be the only filter that you need!

This will be the first winter event of this type and results could be very interesting! In the past, many participants have used their homebrew regens including the popular ‘1AD’ (1 Active Device) MOSFET regen, built for the NDB part of the spectrum.

The last time this event occurred, I whipped together a 1AD regen in a day which proved amazingly effective in spite of the mid-summer propagation.

There is still plenty of time for you to put something simple together and you can find some helpful suggestions in my previous '1AD' blog here.

I will have more details later, before the event, so please stay tuned and consider getting something ready ... maybe all you need to do is wind a new coil for your favorite regenerative receiver!

Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

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Weekly Propagation Summary – 2020 Feb 03 16:10 UTC

3 February 2020 | by Tomas NW7US | Leave a Comment (0)

Here is this week’s space weather and geophysical report, issued 2020 Feb 03 0217 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 27 January – 02 February 2020

Solar activity was very low. Region 2757 (N05, L=089, class/area Cso/100 on 27 Jan) decayed to played before rotating around the W. limb. No Earth-directed CMEs were observed in available coronagraph imagery.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at normal to moderate throughout the reporting period.

Geomagnetic field activity range from quiet to active. Isolated active conditions were observed on 30 Jan while unsettled conditions were observed on 28-27 Jan, 31 Jan and 02 Feb. Solar wind measurements suggested all enhancements in geomagnetic activity were in response to intermittent influence from the Southern Crown coronal hole. The remainder of the reporting period was quiet.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 03 February – 29 February 2020

Solar activity is expected to be very low throughout the outlook period.

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to range from normal to high levels. High levels are expected on 07-13 Feb, in response to a negative polarity CH HSS. The remainder or the outlook period is expected to be at normal to moderate levels.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to range from quiet to active levels. Active conditions are likely on 06 Feb and 26 Feb; unsettled conditions are likely on 07-09 Feb, 25 Feb and 27 Feb. Enhancements in geomagnetic activity are in response to influence from multiple, recurrent, coronal hole high speed streams. The remainder of the outlook period is expected to be at quiet levels.

Don’t forget to visit our live space weather and radio propagation web site, at: http://SunSpotWatch.com/

Live Aurora mapping is at http://aurora.sunspotwatch.com/

If you are on Twitter, please follow these two users: 1. https://Twitter.com/NW7US 2. https://Twitter.com/hfradiospacewx

– – – – – – – – – – – – –

Be sure to subscribe to our space weather and propagation email group, on Groups.io

https://groups.io/g/propagation-and-space-weather

Spread the word!

– – – – – – – – – – – – –

Links of interest:

+ Amazon space weather books: http://g.nw7us.us/fbssw-aSWSC
+ https://Twitter.com/NW7US
+ https://Twitter.com/hfradiospacewx

Space Weather and Ham Radio YouTube Channel News:

I am working on launching a YouTube channel overhaul, that includes series of videos about space weather, radio signal propagation, and more.

Additionally, I am working on improving the educational efforts via the email, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, and other activities.

You can help!

Please consider becoming a Patron of these space weather and radio communications services, beginning with the YouTube channel:

https://www.patreon.com/NW7US

The YouTube channel:
https://YouTube.com/NW7US

Visit, subscribe: NW7US Radio Communications and Propagation YouTube Channel

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