VK8MT - Amateur Radio projects and Other Stuff by an Introvert Communicator
Whilst the concepts was good the practicalities proved problematic. System latency was just enough to cause CW sending errors and when your CW is average at best, it can make all the difference. On a faster PC it may not be noticeable, but my Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2120 CPU with only 4GB of RAM was struggling.
We live and learn!
I have been a licensed Amateur Radio operator for over three decades. I can still remember sitting the CW test at 5 wpm, which turned my Limited Call VK6ZGM into a Combined Call (VK6KGM). A couple of months latter I sat for the 10 wpm, which gave me my Full Call (VK6ML). This call was short lived as it was already issues to Mount Lawley Technical College (as a special ATV license). Hence I ended up getting VK6MT and subsequently VK8MT (in 2017 on moving to Darwin).
This is a rather long introduction to the fact that I have never used CW over the airwaves, that is until now! Spurred on by my good friend Phil, I have started to address this oversight by venturing into the handcrafted digital world, of CW (or Morse Code).
I was invited to a practice session over Zoom and managed to rig something up to do the job, but it wasn't very satisfactory, so a little research was called for. I ended up downloading VB-Audio's VoiceMeeter Banana. After some teething issues I managed to mix the Audio from my USB Headset (mic) with the Audio from my QCX (set to practice mode) which was connected to the line-in on the PC. This mixed audio was then sent to the sound input on Zoom. The audio from Zoom was then routed to the headset (speakers), along with the audio from the QCX, (thus allowing me to hear the side-tone).
The screen shots below may provide assistance if you ever decide to do something similar.
The following screen shot shows the audio settings for my Zoom setup.
This set up has yet to be tested in an actual CW practice setting but I think it should do the job nicely.
Cheers for now!
Who would have thought that WSPR would be explored in the search for Flight MH370's final resting place?
But, yes, that is the case!
Mr Godfrey, seen as one of the world's leading investigators of the MH 370 disappearance, says applying the WSPR technology to the search for MH370 could provide "credible new evidence that was not available during the previous underwater searches" by the Australian or Malaysian-run searches.
For an interesting read see the links below.
ABC - Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 left 'false trails' before disappearing, new research suggests
Airline Ratings - MH370 pilot made many turns and speed changes new report reveals
Southgate Amateur Radio News - Using WSPR data to detect MH370
