Last night, Thursday September 14th, was lesson 2 of my Level 1 CW Academy class. Not sure what happened to our Northern Indiana student but he did not make it in last night. I put in the time since Monday on the Morse Trainer app and I was feeling good about how I would perform during lesson 2. That feeling was pretty short lived.
Everything started off bad when I arrived home only minutes prior to the start of class and I had to rush around getting things set up. When I fired up the computer to get Skype rolling Windows decided it needed to do some reconfiguration after an update which cost me a couple of precious minutes. That set me off right off that bat. The instructor thankfully called me a third time on Skype and I was able to participate. My frustration became apparent as soon as he started to send words and I started struggling right off the bat.
I have come to the realization that I have to be in a quiet environment to copy effectively right now. I hope that will change down the road but right now it is what it is. I started the class with the shack window open and even with headphones on I heard the kids playing outside and my dogs barking downstairs. My concentration blown I excused myself to shut the window so I could try to resurrect what was left of the session. I did do a little better going forward once I got some of the noise out of the way but I still had some issues.
One student is sending on a KX3 with the optional paddles. His computer microphone picks up every clack of his paddles and kills the rhythm for me. Another has a tone that it seems struggles to get out. I am not sure if I will do better in the upcoming classes by not being late to start with and lowering my frustration level but I sure hope so.
Anyway, some of you are stopping by because you are interested in taking the course and you are curious how it works. Notice I put all my personal stuff at the top so you would have to read through it to get to the part you wanted. I kid. I kid.
So, here it goes. Lesson 2 added letters and numbers to the original letters of T E A and N and, as an added bonus, we started numbers. The new letters were O I and S and the numbers 1 and 4. This session started out by the instructor sending us words and the four of us raising our hand when we had it. We moved on from that to copying three word phrases sent by the instructor and then he had each of us send a three word phrase and our fellow students had to copy. Beyond the problems I already stated that I had we all had some issues with copying due to improper spacing.
At the end of Lesson 1 we were told to practice sending our call signs. We were asked to send them tonight and our fellow students had to copy. This went fairly well except for some of the students who had not learned some of the letters that were in some of the calls. Again, sending suffered some due to our spacing. The instructor suggested we start practicing using the word Asian to work on our spacing because it is easy to run together and the word be unintelligible.
We returned to sending three word phrases and copying until time for the lesson to end. We will be back for Lesson 3 on Monday. Stay tuned!
73
Showing posts with label morse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label morse. Show all posts
Saturday, September 16, 2017
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
CW Academy - Lesson 1
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Last night, 9/11, was our initial meeting for Level 1 CW Academy class. All five students and the instructor showed up so that was the good sign. There was some concern earlier in the day about the possible need to evacuate for our instructor, K2SX Dennis, as he is a resident of Pawleys Island, SC. Fortunately for him, and us, at the time of class he was only experiencing 30 to 40 mph wind gusts and the authorities had not felt the need to evacuate his area. Because the class was held on Skype we were able to hear some of the gusts in the background as we completed our lesson.
I am trying to recall if I told you in another post that I was attending CW Academy and where my fellow students hailed from so pardon me if I have. My class consists of Gerald from Canada, Craig and Tim from opposite ends of North Carolina, Joel from northern Indiana, and myself. We started out with a new round of introductions as Gerald had not been on our earlier meet and greet call to test out Skype last month. After introductions Dennis asked us to try and flip the camera around and show what our gear was that we would be using to participate in the course.
There were two or three Elecraft KX3's, which of course made me drool, and each of those students were using the KXPD3 paddles that are on option with that rig. There was also an Icom IC-706 paired with Bencher BY-2 paddles, a Yaesu FT-857D (running off a deep marine cycle battery), and my FT-991A with Bencher BY-1 paddles. You do not need anything nearly as elaborate as any of these rigs to participate in the class. If you have a key, keyer, computer for Skype, and something that will put out a sidetone then you are set.
The course follows the Morse Trainer on scphillips.com. Morse Trainer is a program that was developed specifically for the CW Academy courses. You can find it here. The typical course involves meeting twice per week covering two lessons during that time. The meeting nights are determined by the instructor after polling the students to find the two nights during the week that work for everyone. My class is on Mondays and Thursdays and runs approximately one hour, beginning at 1930 EDT or 2330 UTC.
The first class centered on the letters T E A and N. Dennis started by sending the letters in random order and asked us to raise our hands when we were able to copy. He likes to call on the last person to raise their hand or the last person who is unable to copy. After a few minutes of this he asked us to send the four letters in random order as well and our fellow students had to copy. We moved on to sending short snippets of two to three words using the letters for the lesson. This pretty much ended the session.
I think the biggest struggle for many of us was copying some of the sending of the others. Spacing seemed to be the most prominent problem we were having during sending which caused us problems copying at different points throughout the lesson.
I hope to write a little review of every session as long as it does not interfere with my studying for the next lesson. If all goes well I will see you in a few days.
--... ...--
Last night, 9/11, was our initial meeting for Level 1 CW Academy class. All five students and the instructor showed up so that was the good sign. There was some concern earlier in the day about the possible need to evacuate for our instructor, K2SX Dennis, as he is a resident of Pawleys Island, SC. Fortunately for him, and us, at the time of class he was only experiencing 30 to 40 mph wind gusts and the authorities had not felt the need to evacuate his area. Because the class was held on Skype we were able to hear some of the gusts in the background as we completed our lesson.
I am trying to recall if I told you in another post that I was attending CW Academy and where my fellow students hailed from so pardon me if I have. My class consists of Gerald from Canada, Craig and Tim from opposite ends of North Carolina, Joel from northern Indiana, and myself. We started out with a new round of introductions as Gerald had not been on our earlier meet and greet call to test out Skype last month. After introductions Dennis asked us to try and flip the camera around and show what our gear was that we would be using to participate in the course.
There were two or three Elecraft KX3's, which of course made me drool, and each of those students were using the KXPD3 paddles that are on option with that rig. There was also an Icom IC-706 paired with Bencher BY-2 paddles, a Yaesu FT-857D (running off a deep marine cycle battery), and my FT-991A with Bencher BY-1 paddles. You do not need anything nearly as elaborate as any of these rigs to participate in the class. If you have a key, keyer, computer for Skype, and something that will put out a sidetone then you are set.
The course follows the Morse Trainer on scphillips.com. Morse Trainer is a program that was developed specifically for the CW Academy courses. You can find it here. The typical course involves meeting twice per week covering two lessons during that time. The meeting nights are determined by the instructor after polling the students to find the two nights during the week that work for everyone. My class is on Mondays and Thursdays and runs approximately one hour, beginning at 1930 EDT or 2330 UTC.
The first class centered on the letters T E A and N. Dennis started by sending the letters in random order and asked us to raise our hands when we were able to copy. He likes to call on the last person to raise their hand or the last person who is unable to copy. After a few minutes of this he asked us to send the four letters in random order as well and our fellow students had to copy. We moved on to sending short snippets of two to three words using the letters for the lesson. This pretty much ended the session.
I think the biggest struggle for many of us was copying some of the sending of the others. Spacing seemed to be the most prominent problem we were having during sending which caused us problems copying at different points throughout the lesson.
I hope to write a little review of every session as long as it does not interfere with my studying for the next lesson. If all goes well I will see you in a few days.
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Wednesday, August 23, 2017
USS Indianapolis
Perhaps my most rewarding experience in amateur radio so far occurred the first weekend in June of this year. The annual Museum Ships on the Air event took place June 3rd and 4th and a few friends and I decided to accept an invitation to operate from the mock station located inside the Indiana War Memorial.
As some of you may know, the USS Indianapolis was hit by a Japanese torpedo at 0014 on 30 July 1945. At 0026 the ship was fully submerged and on the way to the bottom of the Phillipine sea. The ship's crew, 1,196 men either went down with the ship or were left floating in shark infested water. It is estimated that 900+ were floating in the water, hoping for rescue. Because this was a top secret mission with no escort the ship was not missed and the men were not discovered for four days, and then by accident. When discovered, the survivors of the shark infested water numbered 316. This top secret mission, which cost an extraordinary amount in human life, let alone the cost of the ship, was to deliver key components of the atomic bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima one week later. The USS Indianapolis accomplished her mission.
So, it was with great honor to operate as WW2IND for the Ships on the Air event. I spent about 3 hours on the air running SSB making 71 contacts from all over the US. My vantage point was behind this fine rig, the Icom IC-756 Pro III and we pushed the 40m signal out through a dipole mounted at 110 feet. Power was supplied with an Ameritron AL-80B pushing 450 watts.
The other amateurs that operated split the time on CW working 20m. Both of these guys are extremely proficient CW operators and you may remember them from my post about the very low power WAS contest they decided to have. You can get an update on their progress by clicking on their blogs to the right. On the left is Brian, KB9BVN, and on the right at the controls is Ivin, W9ILF. Both of these guys are great elmers and really love for people to learn morse code.
I decided to write this post for two reasons. One, the USS Indianapolis wreckage was discovered this week after 72 years. And, two, to bring this yearly event to your attention and encourage you to get involved next year and volunteer to operate. I want to leave you with a couple of pictures inside the mock radio room. I decided to watch the movie, "USS Indianapolis" last night and I was shocked to see that it looked so close to the actual. If you get a chance, check the movie out and definitely watch for the next Museum Ships on the Air event.
73
As some of you may know, the USS Indianapolis was hit by a Japanese torpedo at 0014 on 30 July 1945. At 0026 the ship was fully submerged and on the way to the bottom of the Phillipine sea. The ship's crew, 1,196 men either went down with the ship or were left floating in shark infested water. It is estimated that 900+ were floating in the water, hoping for rescue. Because this was a top secret mission with no escort the ship was not missed and the men were not discovered for four days, and then by accident. When discovered, the survivors of the shark infested water numbered 316. This top secret mission, which cost an extraordinary amount in human life, let alone the cost of the ship, was to deliver key components of the atomic bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima one week later. The USS Indianapolis accomplished her mission.
So, it was with great honor to operate as WW2IND for the Ships on the Air event. I spent about 3 hours on the air running SSB making 71 contacts from all over the US. My vantage point was behind this fine rig, the Icom IC-756 Pro III and we pushed the 40m signal out through a dipole mounted at 110 feet. Power was supplied with an Ameritron AL-80B pushing 450 watts.
The other amateurs that operated split the time on CW working 20m. Both of these guys are extremely proficient CW operators and you may remember them from my post about the very low power WAS contest they decided to have. You can get an update on their progress by clicking on their blogs to the right. On the left is Brian, KB9BVN, and on the right at the controls is Ivin, W9ILF. Both of these guys are great elmers and really love for people to learn morse code.
I decided to write this post for two reasons. One, the USS Indianapolis wreckage was discovered this week after 72 years. And, two, to bring this yearly event to your attention and encourage you to get involved next year and volunteer to operate. I want to leave you with a couple of pictures inside the mock radio room. I decided to watch the movie, "USS Indianapolis" last night and I was shocked to see that it looked so close to the actual. If you get a chance, check the movie out and definitely watch for the next Museum Ships on the Air event.
73
Sunday, August 6, 2017
Visiting HRO - Anaheim
One of the biggest drawbacks in amateur radio is the fact that the places to put your hands on equipment are few and far between. In the past I have visited HRO Milwaukee and R and L in Hamilton, OH. I totally prefer to put my hands on gear before I buy it but I do not have a place in any major city in Indiana to do so. R and L is my closest chance and it is around two hours away in the Cincinnati area. The hams in Ohio are pretty lucky as they have a few stores to choose from with R and L in the southwest corner, Universal Radio in the west central region, and DX Engineering in the north east portion of the state.
So, imagine my excitement when I found out that the Anaheim Ham Radio Outlet store was only twelve miles away from the house we rented in Santa Ana. We were in town for my daughter's softball tournament and I was hoping to find some free time to make it to the store. Of course 12 miles in Southern California means at least a 25 minute drive for the most part but we did have a break where the others had beach plans and I did not want to sit in the sand. So, I made my way over one afternoon.
This location made a comeback of sorts as it was destroyed by a fire in 2000 and had to be rebuilt.
In the store there is a reminder of the fire and a tribute to the employees who worked hard to get the store back together again. The owl in the following picture was, from the explanation, a lone survivor.
When I first entered the store the staff seemed a little stand offish, although they did greet me, but I came to realize that they were in the middle of trying to do inventory while running across the room to answer the phones and take orders. I walked around the store and browsed and was taken aback at their vast inventory.
There was so much more that can not be seen in just these pictures but this was just the accessory items. They also had some old equipment for sale and I thought this old Heathkit linear amp was pretty neat and was in great shape too.
So, imagine my excitement when I found out that the Anaheim Ham Radio Outlet store was only twelve miles away from the house we rented in Santa Ana. We were in town for my daughter's softball tournament and I was hoping to find some free time to make it to the store. Of course 12 miles in Southern California means at least a 25 minute drive for the most part but we did have a break where the others had beach plans and I did not want to sit in the sand. So, I made my way over one afternoon.
This location made a comeback of sorts as it was destroyed by a fire in 2000 and had to be rebuilt.
In the store there is a reminder of the fire and a tribute to the employees who worked hard to get the store back together again. The owl in the following picture was, from the explanation, a lone survivor.
When I first entered the store the staff seemed a little stand offish, although they did greet me, but I came to realize that they were in the middle of trying to do inventory while running across the room to answer the phones and take orders. I walked around the store and browsed and was taken aback at their vast inventory.
There was so much more that can not be seen in just these pictures but this was just the accessory items. They also had some old equipment for sale and I thought this old Heathkit linear amp was pretty neat and was in great shape too.
But, the really impressive display was the wall of HF and VHF/UHF transceivers that took up most of one entire wall of the store. Milwaukee had a similar wall but did not seem to have but about 2/3 the amount of radios on display.
As I walked the line of transceivers my eyes spotted every transceiver I have owned and currently own. But there was one that really stood out and it was the first time that I ever saw it in person. I heard the trumpets blare and the lighting seemed to intensify. There it was in all its glory. The Kenwood TS-990S.
What an awesome rig. I am sure it is as fun to operate as it is easy on the eyes. So, after browsing for a few the guys got an opening in their busy day and told me to help myself to some coffee that was brewing in the corner. I got into a conversation with one of them about learning morse code and he provided some good advice. My stay was coming to an end and I felt I could not leave without making a purchase. Since I was about $6500 short for the Kenwood I decided to buy a clock that I had been looking at for the shack.
That pretty much ended my visit. I completed this post here in cool, overcast Indiana. We arrived back this morning around 1 a.m. and my hopes were to work on my antenna so that I could get the 991 on the air today. Looking like a little rain so that is out. I may just sit down at the bench and solder up the 4 State QRP tuner I purchased awhile back.
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Monday, May 1, 2017
The Struggle Is Real
I am fortunate to have many fellow amateurs encouraging me in my quest to learn code. Many have offered to meet me on air and have a qso but I feel I am far from that. I have one elmer that offered to trade mp3 recordings with me so that I could practice decoding his and he could critique my sending skills. Every new ham should be so lucky as to have elmers who help explain whatever new mode that is being tried. We should all be willing to help in this way.
But, back to me. I am frustrated. Part of me says to give up. In my head I hear, "You will never get it." I am struggling. I received an mp3 a week or so ago and it was way too fast for my skill level. So, like a great Elmer, Brian sent me another. This time I heard the first part pretty clear. W9BRI de KB9BVN. That much was easy because I use my friend's call signs in my sending practice often. After that I continuously hit rewind to try and decode each word. Even more discouraging is the speed he sent it seems, at least in my mind, to be about 5 wpm. And I am struggling!
Tell me to send a letter and I can do it no problem. To ask me to decode a letter I struggle. I do not understand. Am I counting? Am I anticipating the word? I don't know, all I can tell you is that I am not hearing the sound even on letters I have worked on for quite some time. The struggle is real.
73
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Code Learning Choices
For those who want to learn morse code there are many programs out there. They have different methods on how to aid you in your learning process. Some are on paper and some are auditory and you have to decide what works for you. But, I buy into what many operators say and that is that you should not learn code by counting dits and dahs and that is the problem with the paper process. Counting dits and dahs seems to slow down your words per minute (wpm) capabilities. I am learning right now at 18 wpm but if I had to learn by counting I think I would be closer to 5 wpm or less. I buy into what I believe is the best method and was suggested to me by two elmers KB9BVN and W9ILF and that is to learn by the sound of each letter. Ivin, W9ILF, plays the cello and he is very proficient in operating cw. He attributes that to the fact that he has always associated reading cw with playing music. This seems the most logical way to learn to me.
So, my learning started with the program from K7QO. Unfortunately, the files have been pulled down for site maintenance and I allowed myself to take a rest. BIG mistake. I stopped for a couple of weeks and finally downloaded the program from G4FON. I continue to work with that one and I also recently signed up for CW Academy. My course does not start until September so I have plenty of time to prepare. I found out that the Morse Code Trainer is based on the training program written by one of the CWOps academy facilitators so I am using a mixture of that, to be ready for my class, and the G4FON depending on which device I am using. Search around and find out what is best for you. There are multiple programs to choose from.
73
So, my learning started with the program from K7QO. Unfortunately, the files have been pulled down for site maintenance and I allowed myself to take a rest. BIG mistake. I stopped for a couple of weeks and finally downloaded the program from G4FON. I continue to work with that one and I also recently signed up for CW Academy. My course does not start until September so I have plenty of time to prepare. I found out that the Morse Code Trainer is based on the training program written by one of the CWOps academy facilitators so I am using a mixture of that, to be ready for my class, and the G4FON depending on which device I am using. Search around and find out what is best for you. There are multiple programs to choose from.
73
Saturday, March 11, 2017
What Do I Want from Amateur Radio?
I want what this ham has. A smile on my face. I have truly found that so far in my adventure. I find enjoyment from listening in on a ragchew while I am doing work for my second job as Riding Academy Manager at Southside Harley Davidson in Indianapolis. I like to join in on those occasionally and I frequent the OMISS net to get a few contacts here and there. I get a thrill while chasing contacts on JT65, especially when it is a new state or country.
And, I want a challenge. I find challenge in learning a new mode or method of operation. I am trying to learn the nuances and protocols of PSK31. I plan to work heavily on QRP adventures over the summer. My daughter plays fastpitch softball all over the US and this summer I will set up the Buddipole in the outfield and run the FT857D and see how many contacts I can make. We have a tournament the weekend of ARRL Field Day so I plan to work from there.
I am also in the process of learning morse code. I believe that knowing this may pay off in the long run. As frustrating as it is, I find great enjoyment in it and believe it will just add to the fun factor I take away from ham radio. The coming posts will probably deal alot with my learning adventure. It is going to be a fun ride.
So, what do you want from amateur radio? Take the time to throw it in the comments and let me know. A little food for thought for next time...how can you give back?
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