Hi Lynn, Duke! Funny hearing you guys talking about me & Ritchie! I will try to snag him for playing on 80M. His antenna pulls in a lot of QRN -he is copy able, but no ears. More on email, tnx!
What speed do suppose that is? I'm just starting to gain ground on head copying, and this is about as fast as I've copied to date. I practice A LOT! But only lately have I started keep from falling back into hearing the dits and dahs. I've been listening to ICR at 45-47 wpm character speed, with the same spacing. That has helped tremendously, but is only lately translating into being able to head copy with longer words and callsigns. I have to tell you, after 3 months or maybe more since getting back into Ham Radio after a 25 year layoff, it's very exciting. I never head copied before, especially in the USCG, as we had to type everything into the log. If I looked up and tried to read what I was typing, I was immediately a word or two, at least, behind! When I got into Ham after getting out of the Guard, I never thought I'd be copying code again, but analyzing my logs for the last three months, 2/3 of my qso's are CW. So, thanks so much for what you are putting out there. 73, Jeff, KF0PQR
Jeff, thank you for that nice comment. To answer your question, at the beginning of the video Duke is going about 20 words per minute and I answered him at about 17 words per minute. I also liked your comment about copying code in the USCG. I suppose copying military messages necessitates hardcopy as opposed to head copy. Since the military radio operator is not the intended recipient of the message, but just the brains behind getting the code converted into text. And that reminded me of how I brought my code speed up to 13 words per minute to pass the general. I used a paper tape machine with an optical sensor that spit out code in five character, random groups. That’s somewhat harder than copying casual conversation. 73, NG9D
@@NG9D I actually learned code on a paper tape machine, I believe it was called the Instructograph. As I recall...(this was in the mid 60's!) it had a contact that would connect through the gaps in the tape. It's possible it was optical. My mother borrowed it from a friend and it was an old machine at that time. My brother and I both used it to learn code. He went on to get his Novice license, but never went on with it. (I used a LOT more paper tape on CGC RUSH/NLVS, but it was RATT (rtty) on the old school machines). I got my general after I got out of the CG. It did give me a serious leg up on the others in Radioman School. I just upped my ICR up to 50wpm 52 Farnsworth. That has helped with hearing JUST the character and not dits and dahs. I also spend a lot of time trying to find QSO's at around your speed or higher to head copy. I don't get all of it, but most of it usually. In the CG, we used straight keys exclusively. With a few exceptions. Moving to a paddle has been fun, but occasionally frustrating. I still use the straight key for SKCC, but I'm looking into getting a bug. Cootie seems like an unnatural act, probably punishable by God. 73 and tnx for your reply! Jeff KF0PQR
Oh man I miss ten-tec. I remember obsessively watching your videos back in 2011 of all the different sets. Such nice looking rectangular talkie boxes on the desk.
Yes, you need to be able to decode CW with your ears, if you can‘t, why not learn it ? I think it is good that there are no subtitles, it forces you to use your ears rather than your eyes like it should be. If I was able to learn CW, so can you. 73!
This was a good kit - I wish I hadn't sold mine! Only problem I found was that on some bands, it wasn't possible to reach the regeneration point (known as "reaction dead spots"), perhaps due to quirks of the antenna system in use.
Hmm, not sure why transmission ended in the middle of the sentence. Only learned CW less than 2 months ago. Thanks for the fun practice. Had to backtrack to keep up, even writing it out (not head copy). SPACE IS ALREADY CROWDED, BUT NOW THERE ARE AT LEAST 1,500 TRACKABLE FRAGMENTS AND, POSSIBLY, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF SMALLER, YET STILL THREATENING, PIECES OF DEBRIS IN LOW EARTH ORBIT, BANKSTON SAID. WHILE SPACE STATIONS HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO MOVE OUT OF THE WAY, WITH SUFFICIENT NOTICE, MOST SATELLITES IN LOW EARTH ORBIT, INCLUDING THOSE DESIGNED, BUILT, LAUNCHED, AND OPERATED BY AMSAT, DO NOT. AS SUCH, THEY BT END OF 13 WPM TEXT BT QST DE W1AM AS
There's something still appealing about that Drake gear - glad to hear it on the air! Also - congrats on the new arrivals in the birdhouse - I hope you get to see them fly! / N0DET
Sir, do you think an N.O.S. IC-750A from the late 80's never touched inside and never been used and in good working condition still last for how many more years in your honest opinion? Someone is selling his for around $430. I'm not really fond of modern radios and I am contemplating wether to buy it or not. Thank you.
Francisco, if “it has never been used” how could it be proven to be “in good working condition?” I would be skeptical, unless you personally know the seller.. 73. Lynn MG9D
Nice.... Unfortunately, I failed my morse code test back in the day when my brother and I were interested in shortwave commutations, after which I lost interest. The problem I had was I was a terrible speller (still am to a degree), as you know part of reading code is comprehension or interpretation of words as there are being coded, at least that's what my brother told me he did when taking the test, he pasted and had many years of enjoyment in the field.... I simply lost interest because of my failure.... I know it shows a weakness of caricature but in my defeness, it was my brothers desire more than mine.
I find it really neat that you're still pumping out videos for all these years. I still remember watching some of your videos when I got licensed 15 years ago! 73's
