Hi kids! I had an epiphany the other day. I was reading a ham radio group on a social media page. One person asked a question about doing off-the-air code practice on a Yaesu FT891. The person wanted to know how to practice sending without a signal going out over the air. He received several great answers and they were very helpful for a new ham who was enthusiastic and desired learning. The easiest way to do this is to go to the CW settings menu and disable the Break-in (BK-IN). By doing this your radio doesn’t transmit when the key is pushed but you can hear the side tone through the speakers or over headphones. Just make sure you turn it back on when you want to send over the air.

The above was an example of hams giving good answers and helping a newbie. I have also seen too many cases of the newbie being verbally assaulted by sad hams for not having the knowledge and for not just reading the manual. Have3 these people forgotten what it is like to be new? No one opens the top of your head and just dumps in knowledge; there is a learning process to everything. One of the worst things you can tell a newbie is “Read The Manual”. Most manuals are clearly written and are easy to understand … if you know what you are looking for. Using the above example, in the FT891 manual there is a section on CW operating. One part of the instructions is to turn the BK-IN on. It doesn’t tell you why or how to use the rig for code practice without transmitting.

My hat is off to those who are patient with newbies and offer good advice and support. I believe the term is mentoring. If you advise someone to RTFM, give them the tools to understand what they are reading. For those sad hams who must make their opinion heard no matter how useless or obnoxious it is, have a nice day.

Ok, I am off the soap box. Today SWMBO and I did an activation (after having to work 4 days in a row, it was my only chance in the past week). We went to Michaux State Forest US-5471. Band conditions were very bad, A 18, K 5. Amazingly I was able to work 16 on 40M and got stations in LA, GA, FL and MO which was a bit surprising for the band and time of day.

So, kidlets, namaste and keep your stick on the ice.