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Whilst twittering / tweeting / wasting time on twitter (delete as applicable) I came across a group @lids_cw . This is an informal twitter based group of CW and low impact data mode fans in the UK that seem to have their heads screwed on. The idea behind it is that the group encourages general radio chit chat then suckers you into having a go at CW.

Morse is not something I decided I wanted to do when I started out in radio, Hence the G7 callsign (For those unsure, G7’s in the 1990’s were VHF only because we couldn’t be bothered with CW. Hence the 19th Century rules at the time kept us away from HF as were weren’t proper or some such daftness). But over the years I’ve hankered after at least one QSO in CW. I’m only browsing, for research purposes, I wont be giving up VHF officer!

Sunday at 16:00hrs GMT see’s their net on 40m. I listened in and attempted to decode what was beeping through the speaker an got the occasional character. I cheated a bit and used HRD to decode some more of the text and fill in the gaps. It wasn’t until I let slip on Twitter I was listening in I heard my callsign being called by MW0IAN. Fortunately I had no way of returning the call (otherwise we might still be at it exchanging signal reports now!).

For those of us who struggle with CW but are too scared to admit it, there are others like you. For those of you who had the 5wpm RSGB cassette and never got further than ‘it’,’meant’,’mine’ and ‘nineteen’ but fancy spending hours listening to bleeps but secretly want to have a go. Watch out LIDS  or Less Involved Data Society as it’s known will get you. Keyer at the ready for next Sunday. Snails will be faster.

Alex Hill, G7KSE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, UK. Contact him at [email protected].

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 74 is now available for download.

Tommy Presents the IRCDDB Remote App to make D-Star easier, Shortwave Radio Shootout with Peter, George shops for Cool Stuff, and Chat Room fun.

The first episode of a great 2015.

1:05:28

Download
YouTube

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].

I made my first QSOs of the year this past weekend. Haven’t been on air since late last year, mainly due to the sun not cooperating when I spent a few minutes in the shack. But – true to my suffix – Any Bloody Thing goes, so I did some medium wave listening instead. Still good to be back on air and conditions were not too bad so VK5CZ on 10 meters was my first contact of the year. Ian had a wonderful signal and we had a pleasant conversation, so cheers to him.

And as an SKCC member I tried to gather some points during the WES and contact some K3Y stations. Andy E50A and Jerry DW3GKT are in my log for Saturday and Lyn VK4EI on Sunday. Rather a successful weekend.

I don’t think I will top the 614 QSOs I made in 2014, anyway. Late last year we found a house with a garden, in a location that we liked, and thanks to the excellent negotiation skills of the realtor our bid was accepted. The only downside: it is a very old house and noy vert well maintained. It needs a lot of work (and money) before we can move in there, but we already had architects, contractors and designers to look at what can and has to be done. Precious radio time has to be spend on getting things in order. But with our own house there are also possibilities for better antennas and so sacrificing some radio time now is going to be rewarded. At night in bed I already dream of stacked monoband yagi antennas on 40 meter masts in our garden. The reality will be a bit different, though, but more about that later. 73

Hans "Fong" van den Boogert, BX2ABT, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Taiwan. Contact him at [email protected].

Special event, “K3Y,” the Straight Key Century Club’s annual January celebration, commemorates the Straight Key Century Club’s founding in 2006 following the American Radio Relay League’s “Straight Key Night” (SKN). A small group of participants wanted to extend the fun of SKN throughout the year. The Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) is the result.

For the first three years, the club’s founders used the special event callsigns of K1Y, K2A, and K3Y as the celebration’s special-event calls. But, someone cleverly noticed that a ‘3’ is nothing more than a backwards, curvaceous ‘E’. This “KEY” event has operated under the special event callsign of ‘K3Y’, ever since.

The on-air party is open to members and non-members alike. It runs from 0000 UTC Jan. 2 through 2359 UTC Jan. 31. It’s a great time to introduce others to the joys of hand-crafted Morse code using straight keys, bugs, and side swipers.

In this video, you can “sit in” with NW7US, the control operator of the regional activation of special event station, “K3Y/0”, during one of the many shifts during January (2015).

+ The SKCC website is at http://skccgroup.com

+ The K3Y special event page is http://www.skccgroup.com/k3y/index.php

+ The NW7US website is at http://NW7US.us

+ Some more CW/Morse code resources can be found at http://cw.hfradio.org

Visit, subscribe: NW7US Radio Communications and Propagation YouTube Channel

Don Wilbank's report as seen on Ham Nation on January 14, 2015

Don Wilbank's Report on Ham Nation as seen on January 7, 2015

Interest in Canada's newest ham band, 630m, continues to slowly grow. Toby (VE7CNF) in Burnaby, BC, has made his first and second CW contacts on the new band!

Both myself and John (VE7BDQ) had the pleasure of working Toby on 473.000 CW on Thursday afternoon. Here is Toby's description of his station at present:


"I have put together a low-power 630m WSPR transmitter here. I have a USB-TG44A signal generator clocking a phasing-type SSB modulator with WSPR audio coming from a laptop. The modulator gives 45db suppression of the carrier and lower sideband. This drives a ZHL-32A 1-watt linear amplifier. I have a matching transformer and loading coil at the base of my 80-meter inverted-L antenna. Wire height is 10m.

Courtesy: VE7CNF

Courtesy: VE7CNF

Toby has indicated that he will soon start construction of a dedicated DDS-based transmitter, with more power to work with. Situated on a normal-sized suburban lot, and base-loading his 80m inverted-L, is proof once again that fancy antennas and a few acres are not needed to have fun on 630m. Toby's initial night WSPR tests were copied by WH2XGP (W7IUV), near Quincy, Washington, at a little over 200 miles (325km) and on the other side of the rugged Cascade Mountains!



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