I got my general license when I was 12--K2OFP--but lost it a long time ago due to inactivity. I'm so sorry I didn't at least keep my call sign. My father, who got me into the hobby at the same time as he was getting into it, kept his call sign--K2OKF--until he died two years age. Always had it on his license plate.
What's "de"?
DE means "from". Normally used in CW.
Must go QRT now!
Gary
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Hey! Aren't you supposed to be working?
Interesting how my long (ago) term memory works. I remember keying "dahditdit dit" a gazillion times as a boy and know what it means, but forgot that it was composed of the letters d and e. Must have known cw pretty well then. I didn't have to go through the intermediate step of translatiing the pings into letters to understand the meaning.
What do people use for keys in this high tech age? I started with your basic Samuel Morse key. Then we got a "bug". It worked horizontally with the contacts on the end of a spring shaft. Are these things still around or have they been superseded by modern technology?
I don't do much CW, but most folks I know use a keyer. Here's a page with some paddles http://www.bencher.com/radioequip.html . The paddles are actuated with the thumb and index finger. This closes a set of contacts and tells the keyer you want dots or dashes. The keyer may be built into the radio, or a separate unit
Some folks use a PC hooked to the radio to send CW. Just type on the keyboard and the PC sends the correct signals to the radio. The PCs can also decode the incoming CW signal and display the text on the screen.
Gary
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Hey! Aren't you supposed to be working?
<font color="purple"> Some folks use a PC hooked to the radio to send CW </font color>
To my purist's eye, that is "cheating" [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] But, I can see its utility in contesting. When I used to do CW, I looked forward to "straight key" night, where only keying was permitted. Something about actually talking to someone else using this low-keyed, low-bandwidth method.
A lot of folks feel the same way about it.
During a contest, particularly with RTTY, most folks program the PCs function keys to send messages. Click on the calling stations call with the mouse and that captures his callsign. Then hit F4 to send his call DE your call. Then when he responds, hit F5 to send the message exchange. When he answers, hit ENTER. This puts the information into the logging program and it's on to the next station!
We joke and ask one another "how many stations did your computer work during the contest?"
Gary
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Hey! Aren't you supposed to be working?
Howdy folks, Contesting was never a big thing for me. I did field day but that is about the limit of that sort of thing. I liked to DX but wasn't rabid about it. Snagged a lot of unusual stuff like a lady lawyer in Jonestown shortly before they drank the Koolaid. Not minutes, several weeks.
I liked to talk to far folks like the boys down Antarctica way. I was a maritime mobile for 9 years and that helped create interest in getting a QSO. Used to like to work other yachties. talked to a bloke sailing between Hawaii and Tahiti for hours one night while sailing between San Diego and Santa Catalina Island.
I like CW and used to go down to the novice end of the band to give the new troops some action. I used to carry a QRPP rig (3 wattts) on buisness trips, pickup camping and even backpacking. It was a Heathkit tribander, CW only. Way smaller than a breadbox. I still have it. Great fun. Toss a string over a tall limb and hoist up some skywire and have at it. Have a itsy bitsy tuner for loading up a random wire. Have QSOed hundreds of miles with it. Got it before solar cells were in the budget. Nowadays I could run it solar or at least recharge batts with solar.
I used to like to run aeronautical mobilel too. I used duct tape to attach a magmount to a wing strut (couldn't find a good aluminum magnet!) I could work cars well over a hundred miles on '52 (National simplex 2 meter 146.52) Having an antenna height of 9-10,000 feet helps.
My bud and I used to take our handy scratchies with us when we went soaring. That used to create some interest as well.
We took the handhelds, water (you get dry fast at altitude talking a lot), human element range extenders (AKA relief bottles), and a sack lunch and would spend 3-4 hours thermal soaring and working 2 meters.
We used to work the marine duct and talk to a mountain top repeater in San Diego from as far away as 150 miles or so in the channel islands. Great for calling in air support. One of my ham buddies who used to SCUBA and fly with me came out and made deliveries of provisions a couple times. Unfortunately he forgot the one plane he flew was 24 volt and he plugged into the cigar lighter with his 12 volt Kenwood. He got weaker and weaker and weaker as the voltage regulaltor circuits over heated and shut him down. He dropped a dozen lemons next to us while we were anchored at Santa Barbara Island. I had complained to him earlier that day on our radio schedule that I remembered to take the ripe papaya but forgot the fresh lemons.
You don't have to be crazy to be a ham, but doesn't it help?
Patrick
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
I have ben in the hobbie about five years.my call sign is KC0CNY.I have a son and daughterinlaw in the hobbie also I have no intrest in cw might try aprs in the futher.
HI
K5OHU here, not active now, Gotta get an antenna up
Got my novice and tech in 1951, Advanced in 1980 I think.
Located in Seguin, TX
Well, let's see. So far we have:
KE4MBN
WA1ZPD
N4IMO
KE3VB
WA1JNK
W0GOM
KD5ILS
N4JK
N6AYR
KB8IDY
N8EMR
KCOCNY
K5OHU
Add 'em if you got 'em. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
<font color="red">So others may live</font>
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