CW/Morse Code

Coffee, kitties and CW

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Yup, a nice Autumn day. It is 18C outside and overcast. A good afternoon to sit here sending CQs to the world. I started out on 10M on the frequency of 28.050MHz and worked a station in Arizona. I changed to the 12M band on 24.910. Nothing. That is the way it goes. I sought a lower frequency to work. I went to 18.085MHz to try my luck. The 17M band can be a good on at times, lots of DX or West Coast. I did have a ham tell me he could hear my signal down in Alabama very strongly. I am also seeing spots on the RBN and other spotting pages. Things may be looking up as I go down in frequency. I worked a station in Colorado. Not too shabby. I refilled my coffee and gave vittles to the livestock (my fish, my hermit krabs and my kitties). Sent out another series of calls on 18.085 MHz. Then I worked a ham from Texas who I had last worked back in 2007. Tempus fugit. Went to my old standby band, 40M. I can always find someone to work on 40M. Sent a series of calls on 7.113MHz. It is in the old Novice portion of 40 but I often find people on here. Of course when I am the FIST Sprints I tend to hang around on 7.059 to 7.062 if I am not on 20M. I am glad they started the Sprints back up and I hope they become popular again.

Well it has been an interesting couple of hours but I am going to take a break from radioing. I think I will design my next batch of been.

Namaste, kidlets

There’s a cat chewing on my arm!

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Bet that got your attention. 🙂 I am sitting by the window watching a beautiful day go by. My cats are nearby including Mayhem, my little sweet girl who was chewing on me a minute ago. My big motional sports cat, Marley, is laying down by my feet and taking up a shitload of floor space. Basically I am chilling. I just finished 3 days in a row at work and only have tonight off before I have to work another 2 days. It is no biggie. I am used to it. I also have to look at my work sched and figure out when to schedule a dentist appointment, a doctor appointment and a routine blood draw. Lots of fun. I also have to consider when I am next going to brew some beer. That is not a chore, it is fun. I have some kveik yeast in my fridge (Lutra strain) and I will make a starter before I brew. In a few minutes I am going to go upstairs and ride my exorcise bike while killing stuff on my PS4. It is a way of distracting myself from the fact that I am exorcising. Tonight I will get on my radio for a few. I will try to make some SKCC and FISTS contacts. What are those? Well SKCC is Straight Key Century Club and FISTS is the international Morse Code Preservation Society, both fun groups to belong to. I will include links to their web pages below. Here is a link to a page which tells me what propagation conditions are like on the ham bands: https://hamradiofornontechies.com/current-ham-radio-conditions/

It explains very nicely what the numbers mean. SKCC page is: https://www.skccgroup.com which describes the group and FISTS is: https://fistsna.org

Well enough for now. I am going to pet Mayhem and let her chew on me before I go exorcise.

Namaste y’all

Ahhhh …. Autumn

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Well it is Autumn again. I just got done beating Satan’s Putting Green back into submission and I am looking forward to the seasonal die-back. In any event, running a lawn mower reminds me of safety. Thinking of safety reminds me of the annual Simulated Emergency Test. What is that, you might ask? Well :

The annual Simulated Emergency Test (SET) is a training exercise involving the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and the National Traffic System (NTS), a message-handling service of amateur radio. The American Radio Relay League is a prime mover in this event, which is organized somewhat like a contest. Its primary purposes are to evaluate strengths and weaknesses in emergency preparedness and communications, and to demonstrate amateur radio to the public.

During the first full weekend of October of every year in the United States, a nationwide radio communications network is set up that links every major city and most of the geography of the country. This technological infrastructure is set up from scratch within a few hours at locations that vary from state and local government Emergency Operations Centers to isolated areas without utilities of any kind. Every mode of radio communications is utilized including analog, digital, voice, data, simplex, duplex, satellites and even automated relay stations launched on aircraft and with weather balloons. For no more than 48 continuous hours, this nationwide radio communications network is exercised with the primary objective of proving the system’s readiness and capabilities. Then as quickly as it was set up, the system is dismantled and stored in preparation for when it is needed. The system has demonstrated its value time after time during earthquakes, hurricanes, forest fires, terrorist attacks and other disasters. All of this capability is provided by volunteers who continuously hone their technical skills and acquire, build, and maintain their own equipment. These radio engineers and operators, along with their equipment, combine into an important resource for emergency communications.

There you have it. The SET will be held this weekend, OCT 1 and 2. The SET is held this time of year because it is near the end of hurricane season and is a good way of evaluating performance under stressful conditions. Right now, Florida and other areas in the South are being pummeled by Hurricane Ian. There are traffic nets set up on the HF bands to pass health and welfare messages into and out of the affected areas. Ham radio has been a major part of emergency communications and will remain so.

Slash and Chop

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Well yesterday I continued my perpetual war with Satan’s Putting Green. I finished the mowing and weedwacking and was trimming the white mulberry trees back to bonsai size when the first drops of rain fell. I was glad to get it all done and it does get unruly and I start to fear the demons inhabiting the tall grass.

I recently have started to get more active in one of the clubs I belong to. FISTS is a club dedicated to the preservation and use of Morse Code. The name of the club refers to the fact that every operator sending with a straight key has a distinctive style of “fist”. It is as distinctive and individual as a finger print. During WWII one indication that was used to determine that an operative was turned to a double agent was to listen for differences in their sending. A change could indicate the operator was under an unusual amount of stress. In any event, FISTS is a (free membership) club for promoting the use of Morse Code on the ham radio bands. They even have 4 mini-contests (sprints) during the year: spring, summer, autumn and winter. All information dealing with them can be found at http://www.fistsna.org

Again with the Namaste, folks

Summer Musings

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It has been over a week since I posted. I am sitting here marveling at how fast the summer is going. Soon it will be that time of year when I get stuck behind school busses on my way home from work. Joy. I looked at Satan’s Putting Green today and realized it needs mowing. I won’t be able to do it until the weekend. Oh well, my neighbors won’t care. Usually my one neighbor mows his yard the day after I mow mine. Almost a symbiotic relationship.

I was able to work the final (of 3) special event station run by W9IMS. I qualify for their certificate. Every year they run 3 specail events: the Grand Prix, the INDY 500 and the Brickyard. You can get a qsl card for working any of these events and a certificate if you work all 3. Now I am looking forward to the Route 66 On The Air event which happens in the beginning of September.

Namaste y’all

A Fine Summer Evening

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Here it is, the eve of St Swithin’s Day. We should all be hoping for a great weather forecast tomorrow! Satan’s Putting Green (my yard) is brown and crispy since I mowed it. We have not had much rain yet this month (about 5.56mm) but that doesn’t bother me much. I have been watering the EarthBox that my tomatoes are in every other day. They are about 1 meter high now and still growing. Looks like I might have a decent crop. I guess it is a bit strange that I grow tomatoes as I don’t eat them except in sketti sauce and catsup. I just like to grow them. I am considering making my own sauce as I also have growing oregano and thyme. It might be interesting. I also have some cayenne peppers growing and I might theow them into the sauce.

I was on the radio this evening and worked a couple of stations. Relaxing, it is. I send my signal out over the air and wait for a return. Sometimes I get several, sometimes I only get a few. Either way I enjoy it. I live next to the old bed of the Newport and Shermans Valley Railroad (actually it runs down the border of my property) and I think that will legitimize me running a special event commemorating the railroad. I just have to work out a few details. Instead of a QSL card I will provide an e-mail address and will reply to contact information with a printable certificate.

Events, Special and Otherwise

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I am now sitting at my radio trying to work some special event stations. Special events are when a ham operator or a bunch of ham operators work as many stations as they can over a day, weekend or week. They usually have certificates or cards available to the hams who contact them. The one I am currently working on is the 13 Colonies Special Event which runs from 1 to 7 July 2002. It is a yearly event and they have nice certificates. I work the stations mostly in morse code (CW) but some using SSB (voice). It is fun hunting down the statins and then trying to break a pile up and be heard. Some people get almost obsessed about it but I see it as fun. I try to work all 13 states but some years I just can’t. In any event you can get a certificate for working any of them … you don’t need all. Right now I have worked 11 of the stations. It is a bit amusing. I was going to write that one of them was iffy as I didn’t think the operator copied my call sign correctly and I heard them come back on on a different frequency. I worked them with no problems so now I am at a count of 11. Lol I just worked my 12th station and am only in need of 1 for a clean sweep. That is how the events go, sometimes lots of activity, sometimes not so much. The next event I am looking forward to is the W9IMS Brickyard 400 event at the end of July. Anyway, back to playing radio.

Namaste, kidlets.

Weird Coincidence

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Ok. The last post I made in this blog was the last time I mowed. Today I mowed again and I am posting again. It must be fate! Actually, Satan’s Putting Green was getting wild and I had to subdue it. The demons were getting brave and creeping out. My neighbor came over last night and asked if he could borrow my wheel barrow as he needs to cart away some rocks. I hear him hitting them every time he mows and he told me he had to get his mower fixed. Go figure.

Anyway, I am on my way to a VE session tonight. I volunteer with a VE team testing folks who want a ham license or to upgrade their license class. I see this as a way of giving back to the hobby. Basically I sit and monitor until someone needs their test graded. As I am an Amateur Extra Class operator, I can grade any level of test. It is very simple. I remember when I first started as a VE, Morse code was still a part of the tests. The leader of the VE team used to have me verify the tapes to make sure he had copied corrrectly. His hearing was going so he wanted to be double checked. Now it is just a written exam. Well I am going to end this entry now and wish you all a great day

Namaste, kidlets.

The Power Is Yours

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I had the opportunity to do some troubleshooting the other day. I was operating my HF radio on 10.111 MHz and suddenly it turned off. It came right back on and I continued. A short while later it turned off and stayed off. Hmmm … A small table light stayed on (plugged into the same power bar as my power supply) so I knew the issue had to be either the power supply or my radio. I turned on my VHF radio and it came on. I did observe one of my cats in the general vicinity of the back of my desk where my wiring is. I turned the power supply off and looked around the back where the radios attach. Sure enough, the positive wire from my HF rig was disconnected. It turned out that the spade connector had come off after being interacted with by one of my catz (bad crimping on my part). I crimped on a new connector and attached it to the power supply. When I turned everything on, the HF radio powered up and has had no further issues. Problem solved. Why am I sharing this? Maybe to illustrate the point that it is always best to check the simple solutions before you dig yourself in to much deeper territory. If I had started with the radio as the issue, I would have spent several hours testing and finding nothing. Instead I looked at the simple things first and fixed the problem in just a few minutes.

Namaste, Y’all

Almost Tax Day

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Yup, it is almost Tax Day. Mine were done ages ago but I guess a lot of people wait until the last minute to file. No matter. I file early because I don’t like things hanging over my head.

Is this entry going to be about taxes? No. Tax Day falls in the middle of April. The weather is getting better and thoughts are turning to outdoor activities. Soon it will be time to plant the garden and, more importantly it will be time to expand outdoor operating. In fact, a club I belong to, Perry County Radio Amateurs, will be activating a state park. There is a programs called Parks On The Air where hams can go to a park and operate. Parks are assigned a number and people can get certificates for working them. I know this may not sound fun but for the hams out there, it is. It is an opportunity to test your equipment under less than ideal situations and to test out new portable antennae. It will also provide other hams with a chance to work Perry County PA. Some hams (called County Hunters) like to make contacts in counties all over the US. Though our county is not extremely rare, it is sought after.

Another outdoor activity coming up is Field Day. A lot of hams see Field Day as a contest but it originally was an exercise to test out portable and emergency operating. In an emergency, knowing what works and what doesn’t ahead of time lets you concentrate on the task at hand.

Finally, there are a lot of prosigns, abbreviations and jargon in use on the radio. If you listen in on a QSO (conversation on the radio), you will hear these cryptic phrases and 3 letter codes sprinkled into the exchange. Back in the days of telegraphy, operators came up with shortcuts and abbreviations. Some of these became official. In the early 1900’s, the British Postal Service (they were in charge of wired and wireless communications at the time) came up with a series of “Q” codes. These are 3 letter codes which all start with the letter Q. Some of them have changed over the years but some are still the same as when they were first originated. Below is a list of Q codes for your enjoyment.

CodeQuestionAnswer
QRAWhat is the name (or call sign) of your station?The name (or call sign) of my station is …
QRBHow far are you from my station?The distance between our stations is … nautical miles (or km).
QRGWill you tell me my exact frequency (or that of …)?Your exact frequency (or that of … ) is … kHz (or MHz).
QRHDoes my frequency vary?Your frequency varies.
QRIHow is the tone of my transmission?The tone of your transmission is (1: good, 2: variable 3: bad)
QRJAre you receiving me badly?I cannot receive you, your signal is too weak.
QRKWhat is the readability of my signals (or those of …)?The readability of your signals (or those of …) is … (1: bad .. 5: excellent).
QRLAre you busy?I am busy. (or I am busy with … ) Please do not interfere.
QRMDo you have interference?I have interference.
QRNAre you troubled by static noise?I am troubled by static noise.
QROShall I increase transmit power?Please increase transmit power.
QRPShall I decrease transmit power?Please decrease transmit power.
QRQShall I send faster?Please send faster (… words per minute).
QRSShall I send more slowly?Please send more slowly (… words per minute).
QRTShall I cease or suspend operation?I am suspending operation.
QRUHave you anything for me?I have nothing for you.
QRVAre you ready?I am ready.
QRWShall I inform ___ that you are calling?Please inform ___ that I am calling.
QRXShall I standby? / When will you call me again?Please standby. / I will call you again at … (hours) on … kHz (or MHz).
QRZWho is calling me?You are being called by … (on … kHz (or MHz)).
QSAWhat is the strength of my signals (or those of … )?The strength of your signals (or those of …) is … (1: very weak .. 5: very strong).
QSBAre my signals fading?Your signals are fading.
QSDIs my keying defective?Your keying is defective.
QSGShall I send ___ messages at a time?Send ___ messages at a time.
QSKCan you hear me between your signals (while transmitting), and if so can I break in on your transmission?I can hear you between my signals (while transmitting); break in on my transmission.
QSLCan you acknowledge receipt?I am acknowledging receipt.
QSMShall I repeat the last telegram (message) which I sent you, or some previous telegram (message)?Repeat the last telegram (message) which you sent me (or telegram(s) (message(s)) numbers(s) …).
QSNDid you hear me (or …) on … kHz (or MHz)?I did hear you (or …) on … kHz (or MHz).
QSOCan you communicate with … direct or by relay?I can communicate with … direct (or by relay through …).
QSPWill you relay a message to …?I will relay a message to … .
QSRDo you want me to repeat my call?Please repeat your call.
QSSWhat working frequency will you use?I will use … kHz (or MHz).
QST–Here is a broadcast message to all amateurs.
QSUShall I send or reply on this frequency (or on … kHz (or MHz))?Please send or reply on this frequency (or on … kHz (or MHz)).
QSVShall I send a series of “V” on this frequency (or on … kHz (or MHz))?Please send a series of “V” on this frequency (or on … kHz (or MHz)).
QSWWill you send on this frequency?I am going to send on this frequency.
QSXWill you listen to … on … kHz (or MHz)?I am listening to … on … kHz (or MHz).
QSYShall I change transmission frequency (to … kHz (or MHz))?Please change transmission frequency (to … kHz (or MHz)).
QSZShall I send each word or group more than once?Send each word or group twice (or … times).
QTAShall I cancel message number ___?Cancel message number ___.
QTCHow many telegrams (messages) have you to send?I have … telegrams (messages) for you (or for …).
QTHWhat is your position in latitude and longitude (or according to any other indication)?My position is … latitude, … longitude.
QTRWhat is the correct time?The correct time is … hours.
QST–General call preceeding a message address to all amateurs and A.R.R.L. Members. This is in effect “CQ ARRL”.
QRRR–Official A.R.R.L. “land SOS.” A distress call for emergency use only.