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Safety Part 2 and more Technicians pool questions.

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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].

Books.  I love books.  Books and reading are a love that was passed down to me from my Mom. When my sister and I were little kids, my Mom would "treat" us with a trip to the local public library. We would bring home stacks of books to read, and I loved every minute of it. A trip to the library, or even better - the book store, was always enthusiastically welcomed.

That habit stayed with me all my life. When I first became interested in Amateur Radio as a teenager in high school, my "bible" was "The Radio Amateur's Handbook" by Collins and Hertzberg. That book was my constant companion in my teen years and I must have read it, cover to cover, at least a half dozen times. It fueled my wishful dreams of becoming a Ham Radio operator, making contacts with people from all over the world.


I still have that book, and it holds a place of High Honor on my Amateur Radio book shelf.

A few weeks ago, I came home from work to see a rather large package sticking out of my mail box. As I was bringing it into the house, I noticed it was from Schiffer Publishing.  I thought that this was kind of odd, as I hadn't ordered anything from Schiffer. After dinner, I opened the package to find a most wonderful book entitled "Compendium Of Automatic Morse Code".  I couldn't believe my eyes! The book was sent for me to look over and to offer a review.  It is a wonderful piece of work by Ed Goss N3CW.  The amount of work and detail that he put into his book is phenomenal.


Granted, this is a niche book. Not every Amateur Radio operator will gravitate towards an edition like this. If you have a love for Morse Code and for the keyers, paddles and other devices that produce it, then this book is for you.

It is exhaustive in its content and detail and everything about this book screams "quality". From its size, 9 X 11 inches, to the feel of the heavy stock of the pages, to the rich and highly detailed color photography, everything about this book says, "Coffee Table Book for Ham Radio".



The table of contents includes chapters on

Chapter 1: An Overview of Telegraphy and Early Keys - History
Chapter 2 - Code Readers, Oscillators and Morse Trainers
Chapter 3 - The Electronic Keyer
Chapter 4 - The Single-Lever Paddle (Without a doubt, my favorite chapter!)
Chapter 5 - The Dual-Lever Paddle
Chapter 6 - Portable/Miniature/QRP Paddles (My second favorite chapter!)
Chapter 7: Commemorative Paddles
Chapter 8 - Combination Key and Paddles
Chapter 9 - Convertible Paddles and Paddle Modifications
Chapter 10 - Automatic Mechanical Keys
Chapter 11 - The Elements of Paddle Design
Chapter 12 - Paddle Adjustment and Maintenance
Chapter 14 - Telegraph Machines, Keyboard Keyers and Terminals
Chapter 15 - Computer Interfacing and the Internet

And various appendices and a bibliography as well as a list of recommended reading.

Pretty exhaustive, eh?  If you're thinking,"Well really, how much is there to write about on this subject?"  I'll answer that question by saying, "Over 300 pages, as a matter of fact!"

It's not hard to tell that writing this book was a labor of love for N3CW.  It's one of the best if not THE BEST book to come down the pike on the subject.  It has earned an honored place on my book shelf, right next to my beloved Hertzberg and Collins. However, I can tell you that it doesn't stay on the shelf for long. It has been in my hands a lot and will be for a long time to come.

I would highly recommend adding the "Compendium of Automatic Morse Code" to your Amateur Radio library if you're as much as a devotee of CW operating as I am. I can see this book as a golden answer to that age old question that every Ham gets asked every now and then ....... "Honey, is there any Ham stuff that you'd like for your birthday? Or Christmas, or Hanukkah, etc, etc, etc.

Thanks to Ed N3CW and Schiffer Publishing for sending me a copy!  It was a very pleasant surprise and is appreciated more deeply than you will ever know.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

Dit, dit!
Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Vibroplex "Blue Racer"

Ever since earning my ticket as a teenager back in '63, almost all of my on-air activity has been focused on CW ... I've always loved it.




For my first year on-the-air, I used a nice brass hand key purchased locally for just a few dollars but once I had mastered that and I was just unable to send any faster with it, I purchased a Vibroplex 'Original', for, if memory serves me correct, around $40. I used it exclusively until building a homebrew memory keyer in the mid-70's and the Vibroplex saw little service for several years.

The Vibroplex 'Original'

Back when I first got on the air there were very few amateurs using keyers. Most used bugs and the remainder used the brass hand pumps. It was very easy to tune across the band and identify any of the locals just by the sound of their fist ... like snowflakes, no two were the same. The same went for most stations that were very active. DX or otherwise, one could usually tell who it was long before the callsigns were heard.
So much has changed now with the almost exclusive use of electronic keyers and everyone pretty much sounds the same, which is rather a pity I think.

Once my interest in building vintage-style vacuum-tube transmitters evolved, my interest in bugs was reactivated and over the years I have purchased a few more.

I'll do anything I can to promote and encourage the use of CW and especially hand-generated CW. That's why I was excited to read a recent e-mail from W6SFM, posted to several lists that I read, announcing the Bug Roundup!
 
It looks like a fun event and might make another good reason to fire-up your old boatanchors on CW once again. It looks like you can keep track of activity and possibly set up skeds via their chat-window page during the BR.
In any event, my biggest decision will be to choose which bug to use as I have five at last count. I think I'll be brave and try the Blue Racer but will probably have to dampen it down a bit as they are really quite fast.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Vibroplex "Blue Racer"

Ever since earning my ticket as a teenager back in '63, almost all of my on-air activity has been focused on CW ... I've always loved it.




For my first year on-the-air, I used a nice brass hand key purchased locally for just a few dollars but once I had mastered that and I was just unable to send any faster with it, I purchased a Vibroplex 'Original', for, if memory serves me correct, around $40. I used it exclusively until building a homebrew memory keyer in the mid-70's and the Vibroplex saw little service for several years.

The Vibroplex 'Original'

Back when I first got on the air there were very few amateurs using keyers. Most used bugs and the remainder used the brass hand pumps. It was very easy to tune across the band and identify any of the locals just by the sound of their fist ... like snowflakes, no two were the same. The same went for most stations that were very active. DX or otherwise, one could usually tell who it was long before the callsigns were heard.
So much has changed now with the almost exclusive use of electronic keyers and everyone pretty much sounds the same, which is rather a pity I think.

Once my interest in building vintage-style vacuum-tube transmitters evolved, my interest in bugs was reactivated and over the years I have purchased a few more.

I'll do anything I can to promote and encourage the use of CW and especially hand-generated CW. That's why I was excited to read a recent e-mail from W6SFM, posted to several lists that I read, announcing the Bug Roundup!
 
It looks like a fun event and might make another good reason to fire-up your old boatanchors on CW once again. It looks like you can keep track of activity and possibly set up skeds via their chat-window page during the BR.
In any event, my biggest decision will be to choose which bug to use as I have five at last count. I think I'll be brave and try the Blue Racer but will probably have to dampen it down a bit as they are really quite fast.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, Martin M1MRB / W9ICQ is joined by Leslie Butterfield G0CIB, Edmund Spicer M0MNG and Matthew Nassau M0NJX to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief, and this episode’s feature is Dummy Loads

• 50 MHz Band Experimentation
• 5 GHz - RSGB Respond to Ofcom
• Israeli Students Build CubeSat
• UKQRM Launches New Campaign for UK Election
• Amateur Radio Duo Honoured
• Hungarian 5MHz Beacon HG7BHB Closed Down
• D-STAR Gateway Version 3 ('G3') Software Available to UK Repeater Keepers
• FCC Proposes $400,000 Jammer Fine

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, Martin M1MRB / W9ICQ is joined by Leslie Butterfield G0CIB, Edmund Spicer M0MNG and Matthew Nassau M0NJX to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief, and this episode’s feature is Dummy Loads

• 50 MHz Band Experimentation
• 5 GHz - RSGB Respond to Ofcom
• Israeli Students Build CubeSat
• UKQRM Launches New Campaign for UK Election
• Amateur Radio Duo Honoured
• Hungarian 5MHz Beacon HG7BHB Closed Down
• D-STAR Gateway Version 3 ('G3') Software Available to UK Repeater Keepers
• FCC Proposes $400,000 Jammer Fine

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

Today was a busy day with a lot of commitments and a lot of chores and not much time for Amateur Radio. So what does an intrepid Amateur Radio op do?  Put his tail between his legs and slink off into the distance?  No, he does the next best thing  - he engages in related activities.

I had a class this morning that meets one Saturday a month. It started last September and ends next month, and it runs from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. You can see that that's a good chunk of the day. So it was SOTABEAMS WSPRLite to the rescue!  It's kind of like a Ronco counter top oven - "set it and forget it". So I hooked up my WSPRLite to my W3EDP, set it up for 200 milliWatts on 20 Meters and let it go to town!


I figured that I'd let it run, see how the W3EDP gets out and still do the things I had to do today.

This WSPRLite is so cool!  It's a software defined WSPR beacon in a package about half the size of an Altoids tin.  It's powered by the USB port of your computer.  You pick the band and power output and hook it up to your antenna.  You wait until 2 seconds past any even minute and you press the little black button on the right to kick things off.  The beacon transmits for 110 seconds and then waits for the next opportunity when the frequency is clear.  I set it so that it would randomly transmit about 20% of the time; and you can let it run for up to three days if you want.

In the meantime, yesterday, while checking my e-mail, I saw that Joe Everhart N2CX co-founder of the NJQRP Club was going to be activating Edison State Park for Parks on the Air.  It's designator is KFF-1615 and it's all of about 15 minutes from my house. So I e-mailed Joe back with my cell phone number and told him to text me when he got there; and I would come out and meet him.

After class I came home and broke out the lawnmower and got the front yard done. As I was walking to the backyard, I felt my pocket buzz. I whipped out my phone and read a text that Joe was on site and setting up. I dropped the lawnmower like a hot potato and high tailed it to the park. After all, what QRPer in his right mind would miss the opportunity to talk with a QRP Legend, right? When I got there, I saw Joe had finished setting up and was operating from his car.


It was getting out all right!  Into the midwest USA and into Europe on 200 milliWatts!  The W3EDP seems to be doing OK!


It turned out to be a good day, after all.  I got to attend my class, got my chores done and got to hob-nob with a QRP giant - while giving my wire antenna a check out at the same time!

And here I thought the day would be a bust, Amateur Radio-wise!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!



Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].