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GB2CW Morse Corner 07.02.25
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Morse Classes.
These are all going well.
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There is still time for new beginners to join my class on Friday evenings. No need to worry even if you haven’t started yet. Please call in on GB3NB at 7.30 p.m. and I will be pleased to see you. Providing you do the necessary practice you can soon catch up.
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Martin G7RXR sent information on this web page. It could prove very useful for the raw beginner coping with learning all the characters. Do take a look and make use of it. Thanks Martin
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https://morsecode.world/international/trainer/character.html
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Martin had some comments about the site:
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There’s lots of interesting stuff there, I found the Instant Character Recognition page particularly useful. There are several parameters you can adjust. I configured it to send characters one at a time followed by a pause of about a second after which it would speak the character in English. My theory was that if I hadn’t recalled the character myself after a second it would implant the anwer in my memory!
Thanks for all your help and support so far, the journey continues!
73 de Martin G7RXR
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KEY OF THE WEEK
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These are special edition paddles for WRTC 2026. They are an example of a “printed” key and cost £69.00 each, both twin and single lever types.
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This is a special opportunity to obtain a Limited Edition, specially designed WRTC UK 2026 CW Paddle Key!
This paddle comes in Union Jack colours and is issued with a serial number.
What better way to celebrate WRTC 2026 than to display this attractive piece in your shack – or maybe even to use it on the air for qualifying QSOs!
What’s more, WRTC benefits from a donation with every key sold.
Produced by CT1ILT, this item is available for shipping to anywhere in the world.
Inspired by the Key of EA7HVO
More practice and a video to watch. Chris NW6V has posted this one.
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The first video of a three-part series, “Keymanship 101,” is now available on the MorseBusters Zoom channel.
YOu can find it here: https://youtu.be/noBXQRrx5rg (39 minutes).
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These videos expand on material introduced in his book (The CW Way of Life) with details and analyses omitted there for
brevity and/or appropriateness to the volume’s intent. Subsequent research with Morse students and experts has provided
valuable extensions to the original model.
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Part 1, “The Beat and Rhythms of Morse,” reexamines Morse code from the perspective of the “fist,” the hand and key that make the code,
rather than its dit-Dah signals. The mystery is taken out of how to make “perfect 3:1 dits and Dahs” with manual keys, and its rhythmic base,
“The dit-train,” is fully explored.
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Part 2 will focus on the perception and experience of Morse, including learning plateaus (This is your brain on Morse), while Part 3
presents Code-talking and manual keys as parallel pathways connected to the language centers in of your mind, with the goal of
“key independence” for “the keyer in your brain.”
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The NARC CW Monday Night Net.
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This now takes place on 3543 at 8 p.m. on Monday evenings. We have a Net controller each week and the idea is to encourage you to conversational Morse. If you can read and send at 23wpm, do come and join us. 23wpm is the speed at present and we may be increasing that as time goes by. The overs are short but protocol is adherred to and just a few comments from each attendee is all that is needed. Give it a try!
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Surely there are a few more quite capable of joining the net to try your hand at conversational Morse. I think there are a number of locals who, although capable, use Morse to crack a pile-up with the use of macros and very rarely use a paddle in long QSOs.
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There is no need to be shy. Learning conversational Morse is a skill in itself. Anybody can work a DX pile-up by using macros or sending their call and 599 TU. Try holding a conversation for about an hour and see how you get on. If you aspire to CWOPS or FOC it’s the only way you will get in to those clubs, by showing and proving your proficiency with a paddle.
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Not only that, but it really is very satisfying to be able to hold a conversation for that long at around 25wpm with minimal mistakes. PLUS of course you can then monitor the CW end of the bands and hear just conversations and not just dits and dahs.
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CW OPS
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Certificates: You can download your certificate for 2024 from https://cwops.telegraphy.de/certificate/
Medallions: If your certificate was a Gold, Silver or Bronze Medal certificate, you are eligible to request a medallion. To defray part of the costs of purchasing and mailing your medallion, there is a $15 USD fee, payable through PayPal. If you qualified and are on the list of medallion winners, either as published in the CWT column in the January 2025 issue of the Solid Copy newsletter or in the file “CWTmedals2024.txt” at https://cwops.groups.io/g/main/files/CWTmedals2024.txt, you can order your medallion from the payment button at the bottom of the CWT web page on the CWops website (direct link: https://cwops.org/cwops-tests/#medpay).
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Note however the payment has to be made before the end of February. After that time the ordering window will close in order to allow Rob K6RB to prepare a bulk order for the medallions from the supplier. Once the medallions are received, they will be mailed out, probably some time in May or June. The costs of mailing are included in the $15 fee.
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The mailing addresses used for sending the medallions will be the addresses on file with the CWops Membership Secretary as of the time of mailing (May-June, 2025). If your mailing address has changed or will have changed from the mailing address you reported at the time you joined CWops, you should make sure that your address on file is up to date; you can contact the Membership Secretary at membership (at) cwops (dot) org to update your mailing address.
If you have a question about your participation score or believe you should have qualified for a different medal level than is shown on the list, you can contact VE3IAY at ve3iay@gmail.com
Lots of new members are joining each week so it is quite a busy hour if you stay for the full period. I just attend for 30 minutes and usually
have around 30 or so QSOs.
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General CW Operating.
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For those of a nervous disposition, try joining FISTS. FISTS caters for the more casual, laid back operator who does not feel comfortable at more than 23 wpm. They also have a LADDERS competition on 40m which is good practice. Actually for what you pay for membership it really is a great deal with a quarterly magazine too called Keynote. It contains lots of interesting articles.
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That’s it, open the cage, play the music.
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If you have any input, please email me.
73 de Roger, G3LDI GB2CW Coordinator. roger@g3ldi.co.uk May the Morse be with you.
Author Roger Cooke