The text is the first paragraph of a voice over script that I wrote for a Field Day video that I never got around to making.

https://youtu.be/r3mHme8Kj-Y

footnote: Ron Anders K3RA, Field Day – A Mirror of Amateur Radio History, ARRL QST, Dec 1999, 28

Truth be told, I have milliwatted but a long time ago. It was actually a fluke but I will leave that story for another day and another thread.

Stupid question I am sure, but are there QRPP HF contests out there? The problem is obviously that as soon as a bigger station comes back, the other milliwatters would never get in. So I guess it would…

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One of my favorite aspects of ham radio is building transmitters running less than 1 watt and seeing how far I can be heard. Even the lowly Pixie kit has a decent transmitter.

Little transmitters are easy to build, either from kits or schematics you can find online.

I get crystals from KC9ON.com and use a low-pass filter board from Zachtek.com…

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I hear all words or even whole sentences. It’s like having a conversation with someone. The only thing I write down is the other person’s call sign.

But there’s different ways for different folks. Ask 10 hams how to lean morse code and you get 15 ways! Use what works for you and have fun!

I’m actually split. Sometimes I hear words, other times I hear letters. For instance, friends’ callsigns I hear as a word. Most Q-codes also. I also hear words towards the end of a sentence. I find myself listening to the first few letters and then ‘expecting’ certain words. Same applies to sending code. Q-codes, CQ, my callsign, all these…

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Actually, I did learn with letter groups. I learned 5 letters at a time. Yes, they created little words but mostly just random groups of those 5 letters. Gradually there were more letters added in groups of 5 and there were more words, but the random groups continued. Then there were the ARRL practice sessions. Text was from various issues of…

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Don’t over analyze learning the code. It’s nothing more than reading with your ears and writing with a key.

Did you learn to read by copying down random letter groups? No!

Once you have the basic characters memorized, get on the air and use them. Speed and head copy will come with use and exerience. It’s harder to find long conversations on the…

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I have seen on CW boards on Facebook advice to not learn to copy letters but rather go faster and learn to head copy whole words. The reason being that this will allow one to copy at higher speeds. It makes sense; I find myself “head copying” on occasion. However, this is because we speak in known words. However, it seems to me that if one…

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Hello Jim. It’s been quite a while. What is the status of the CW contest that you mentioned?

You mention 10 and 15 meters. Let’s not forget about 80 meters for techs interested in CW. 3.525 to 3.600 segment is available to techs for CW and we hold a slow speed CW round table every Saturday and Sunday morning at 0730 Eastern Time (1230 GMT) on 3.565 MHz for people learning CW or dusting off the cobwebs. We will go as slowly as…

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What a fantastic idea!
I think there are a lot of techs who are interested in learning CW, and I can’t think of a better way to establish good operating habits than to become proficient in code. Just sayin’.

73 de MaryAnn NS7X

First of all, what a fascinating title. Forgive my stupidity but I had never really associated CW with techs, and yet… As for your CW prowess and passion, I’ll be reaching out, as well as to MaryAnn, in coming months, as I develop a new mutlimode contest concept – unique, believe me – for which CW expertise will be essential.

Are there any tech class hams interested in CW? I have 99% CW in my 32 year ham career, and would like to share ideas, knowledge and operating with people interested in Morse code, CW, QRP(low power), and whatever else might come up.

There are some amazing little single-band CW rigs these days that can get you on HF for under $60. With a…

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