Learning CW in the 21st Century

As mentioned in a previous post, I'm wanting to get my CW up to a reasonable level, for actual on-air use. 

When I first went for my ‘Full Call’ in the late 80s, I was greatly indebted to Rod (VK6BRH) (now SK) who ran CW practice sessions on one of the local Perth repeaters.  Each week I would tune in and Rod would send CW at various speeds.  A group of us (with Limited Z or Novice Calls) would report in and share our progress (or lack thereof). But that was then, and this is now!

Today we have the interweb thingy and that has changed almost everything, including how to learn CW.  There are several Web based sites that seek to assist in receiving, and the one recommended to me is called ‘Morse Code World’’, its URL is simply: -  https://morsecode.world/ .

On this screen you can set the characters you wish to work on and some other settings. further down thee page you can set the character speed etc...

 

This site is great for practicing receiving, (as are a number of other tools and phone apps).  

To practice sending there wasn't much around, at least not until fairly recently.  On doing a web search a few weeks back I found two sites that are setup for two-way CW conversations over the net. The first is called VBand (Virtual CW Band) it can be found at https://hamradio.solutions/vband/. The second site is called Vail and is at https://vail.woozle.org/#. However, I'll just mention VBand for now.

VBand has a several channels on which you can conduct QSOs with other on over the net.  The Practice Channel does not TX over the net but only decodes locally.  You can however conduct a QSO with a bot.

You can turn the bot on in the settings tab, (where you can also set the speed and tone, etc). Then you simply call CQ or send something to activate it. QSOBot will respond and attempt to carry out a standard QSO.

It is at this point that you will be asking the question, ‘how do I connect my key or paddle to the computer’. Fair question.

Firstly, if you are using a smart phone, tablet or iPad you can enable the ‘Touch Pad’ option. (This option is available on both the VBand and Vail sites.) However, I would recommend using a real key or paddle and then interface these to the computer.

There are adapters that you can buy from eBay and several other online outlets, but I also found some code to make my own. All that is required is an Arduino or something similar.  I had an AtTiny85 in stock and with a bit of modification to the code, I had it up and running in no time.    The AtTiny85, once programmed, simply acts like an external keyboard, that sends a ‘[‘ for a Dit and a ‘]’ for a Dah.  The paddle (or key) can be connected directly to the board, with no other components required!

Well, that's a short introduction to my latest project and challenge.  Maybe we will see you on-air or maybe on the net.

73 de VK8MT

 

Links to Code

MorsePaddle2USB Arduino code for key or paddle interface
https://github.com/mgiugliano/MorsePaddle2USB
AtTinyKeyer Arduino code for key or paddle interface
https://github.com/batica81/AtTinyKeyer
 

Note: I mashed the two lots of code together to create my own.

A Birthday Paddle

I've been working on getting my CW up to a usable standard, and thought I should treat myself to a new paddle for portable use. The QMX is an amazing radio and it required a suitable paddle.  I bought a cheep one (Whiterook Products - Model MK-44) a year or two back, but it more of a toy and wasn't up to scratch.  

 

My next effort was to make one using two Capacitive Touch Sensors .  The concept worked reasonably well.  The CW purist would hate it but for a novice like me it worked well enough.  However the capacitive nature of the sensors meant that even if your fingers came close to the sensors it would trigger which meant that there was a real lack of tactile feedback.

Time to spend up big. Well not really.  I settled on a PUTIKEEG  paddle from China, for about $54.00 (AU).  Not the BaMaKeY TP-III - ultra compact twin paddle at 161,00 EUR plus postage.  Maybe later!

The PUTIKEEG paddle, I find, is a great for the price and I'm very happy with its build quality and performance.

I just need to connect the antenna and go for it!