Unfortunately most cw conversations don't use plain English as this would be laborious and tedious to send in full. If a word can be shortened it will be and if there is a Q code for the sentence it will be used. The results can sometimes be confusing for the first time listener. Here is an example of a two way standard (rubber stamp) cw conversation:
*************
CQ CQ CQ CQ (general call) DE (this is) GM0ELP GM0ELP K (over)
GM0ELP DE M0GBK KN (prosign, back to you)
M0GBK DE GM0ELP GM (good morning) DR OM (dear old man) UR (you are) RST (Radio Signal Tone) 599 599 BT (prosign, break) OP (operator) Doug Doug ES (and) QTH (location) is Hamilton Hamilton BT So hw (how copy)? AR (prosign, end of transmission) M0GBK DE GM0ELP KN
GM0ELP DE M0GBK GM (good morning) DR OM Doug UR (you are) RST (Radio Signal Tone) 599 599 BT (prosign, break) OP (operator) Simon Simon ES (and) QTH (location) is Meltham Meltham BT Condx (working conditions) hr (here) rig Flex 6600 es pwr (power) 1KW es ant (antenna) OFCD 10m up BT Wx (weather) is wet es cloudy temp is 9 degrees BT so BTU (back to you) Doug AR GM0ELP DE M0GBK KN
BK (Break-in, now that calls have been established no need to repeat) OK Simon TNX (thanks) fer (for) condx (you conditions) hr rig is ftdx101d es pwr 10w es ant dipole 10m up BT Wx hr is sunny es temp is 15 degrees BT TNX fer FB (fine business) QSO (chat) es HPE (hope) CUAGN SN (see you again soon) 73 (good wishes) AR M0GBK de GM0ELP KN
BK es tnx fer INFO (information) dr om Doug es all CPY (copy) BT Hpe cuagn sn 73 TU (thank you) AR GM0ELP DE M0GBK KN
tu . .
..
*************
Don't worry about this as most conversations are rubber stamp and vary little from the above. Most constructs can be guessed and you will always get some sort of understanding.
Some tips:
1) When decoding don't write everything down, just the important things like name etc.
2) Don't write down capitals, a lower case scrawl is faster (it's not a quality record!).
3) When starting out listen to beacons (28.2 to 28.3) and slowly decode the repetitive message they send.
4) Always tune to the higher end of the cw segment of the band as this is where QRS (slow speed) cw is always sent.
5) Don't listen on cw contest days (weekend) as high speed cw is the norm and can be off putting for the beginner.
6) Always wear headphones to cut out distractions and close your eyes to help concentrate.
7) Don't be frightened to ask for a repeat "SRI (sorry) PSE (please) AGN (again) UR (your) name QSB QSB (fading) BK".
Doug GM0ELP
Sunday, 8 December 2019
Saturday, 7 December 2019
CW for beginners, Lesson 2
You will hear a lot of nonsense from old timers who have forgotten that there is one thing you have to do before anything else and that is.... simply learn the morse code alphabet!
This preceeds everything else...bar none!
We have 26 letters to learn, ignore the old timers (prosigns, koch method, just recognise the tune blah blah blah) and lets just cut to the chase as fast as possible by using simple association and memory techniques to try and fast track the code into those "little grey cells" believe me this step is unavoidable.
Firstly lets do all the letters that only consist of di's or ( . )s, **remember the letter group "eish"**:
e ( . )
i ( . . )
s ( . . . )
h ( . . . . ) That's 4 out of 26!
"Every Indian Shoots High" imagine the arrows coming towards you.
Second, lets do all the letters that only consist of dah's or ( _ )s, **remember the group letter "tmo"**:
t ( _ )
m ( _ _ )
o ( _ _ _ ) That's 7 out of 26!
"Totally Massive Ohms" imagine a PCB track circuit with small breaks, the ohms become massive with more breaks.
Third, lets do all the letters that start with di's and end with a dah, **remember the group letter "auv"**:
a ( . _ )
u ( . . _ )
v ( . . . _ ) That's 10 out of 26!
"Autonomous Underwater Vehicle" imagine the di's are the rope with the dah being the vehicle slowing going up the alphabet.
Fourth, lets do all the letters that start with a di and end with dah's, **remember the group letter "awj"**:
a ( . _ )
w ( . _ _ )
j ( . _ _ _ ) That's 12 out of 26!
"Awful Woolly Jumper" picture wool being pulled from a single point on a badly knitted woolly jumper, the dit being the single point on the jumper and the dah's being the wool.
Fifth, lets do all the letters that start with dah and end with di's, **remember the group letter "ndb"**:
n ( _ . )
d ( _ . . )
b ( _ . . . ) That's 15 out of 26!
"No Dust Bins" picture a bin lying on it side and the litter spilling out.
Sixth, lets face it if you've listened to any cw, you'll definitely hear this pattern all the time, **remember the group letter "cqdx"**:
c ( _ . _ . )
q ( _ _ . _ )
d ( _ . . )
x ( _ . . _ ) That's 18 out of 26!
"CQ DX" just listen to some cw on air.
Seventh, dah or dah's encapsulated with di or di's
r ( . _ . )
l ( . _ . . )
p ( . _ _ . ) That's 21 out of 26!
"Right Lazy Person"
Eighth, multiple dah's ending in di or di's
g ( _ _ . )
z ( _ _ . . ) That's 23 out of 26!
"Giant Zebras"
Ninth, lets face it if you've listened to any cw, you'll definitely hear this pattern all the time, every general call ends in a 'k' and also a repeater sends it after you unkey.
k ( _ . _ ) That's 24 out of 26!
"CQ DX DE GM0ELP K"
Tenth, think of this as forming the letter 'f' with the first di being the tail of the letter and the dah being the strike through of the letter.
f ( . . _ . ) That's 25 out of 26!
as follows:
.
_
.
.
This leaves us with y, no help here
y ( _ . _ _ ) That's 26 out of 26 and we are done!
Now we need to practice recalling the alphabet in cw, if you stumble, punish yourself by going back to the beginning. Enjoy!
Doug GM0ELP
This preceeds everything else...bar none!
We have 26 letters to learn, ignore the old timers (prosigns, koch method, just recognise the tune blah blah blah) and lets just cut to the chase as fast as possible by using simple association and memory techniques to try and fast track the code into those "little grey cells" believe me this step is unavoidable.
Firstly lets do all the letters that only consist of di's or ( . )s, **remember the letter group "eish"**:
e ( . )
i ( . . )
s ( . . . )
h ( . . . . ) That's 4 out of 26!
"Every Indian Shoots High" imagine the arrows coming towards you.
Second, lets do all the letters that only consist of dah's or ( _ )s, **remember the group letter "tmo"**:
t ( _ )
m ( _ _ )
o ( _ _ _ ) That's 7 out of 26!
"Totally Massive Ohms" imagine a PCB track circuit with small breaks, the ohms become massive with more breaks.
Third, lets do all the letters that start with di's and end with a dah, **remember the group letter "auv"**:
a ( . _ )
u ( . . _ )
v ( . . . _ ) That's 10 out of 26!
"Autonomous Underwater Vehicle" imagine the di's are the rope with the dah being the vehicle slowing going up the alphabet.
Fourth, lets do all the letters that start with a di and end with dah's, **remember the group letter "awj"**:
a ( . _ )
w ( . _ _ )
j ( . _ _ _ ) That's 12 out of 26!
"Awful Woolly Jumper" picture wool being pulled from a single point on a badly knitted woolly jumper, the dit being the single point on the jumper and the dah's being the wool.
Fifth, lets do all the letters that start with dah and end with di's, **remember the group letter "ndb"**:
n ( _ . )
d ( _ . . )
b ( _ . . . ) That's 15 out of 26!
"No Dust Bins" picture a bin lying on it side and the litter spilling out.
Sixth, lets face it if you've listened to any cw, you'll definitely hear this pattern all the time, **remember the group letter "cqdx"**:
c ( _ . _ . )
q ( _ _ . _ )
d ( _ . . )
x ( _ . . _ ) That's 18 out of 26!
"CQ DX" just listen to some cw on air.
Seventh, dah or dah's encapsulated with di or di's
r ( . _ . )
l ( . _ . . )
p ( . _ _ . ) That's 21 out of 26!
"Right Lazy Person"
Eighth, multiple dah's ending in di or di's
g ( _ _ . )
z ( _ _ . . ) That's 23 out of 26!
"Giant Zebras"
Ninth, lets face it if you've listened to any cw, you'll definitely hear this pattern all the time, every general call ends in a 'k' and also a repeater sends it after you unkey.
k ( _ . _ ) That's 24 out of 26!
"CQ DX DE GM0ELP K"
Tenth, think of this as forming the letter 'f' with the first di being the tail of the letter and the dah being the strike through of the letter.
f ( . . _ . ) That's 25 out of 26!
as follows:
.
_
.
.
This leaves us with y, no help here
y ( _ . _ _ ) That's 26 out of 26 and we are done!
Now we need to practice recalling the alphabet in cw, if you stumble, punish yourself by going back to the beginning. Enjoy!
Doug GM0ELP
CW for beginners, lesson 1
The following is an explanation of sending the word "paris" in cw to help the beginner understand the sending cadence required to allow someone to decode it properly at the other end. The word "paris" is used as the standard for determining the speed of sending in words per minute (wpm) i.e. if you send the word "paris" 12 times in a minute, you are sending at 12 WPM.
Definitions:
1) Element : A length of time equivalent to the length of a "." (di or dit) in cw. The actual time used in sending a "." changes depending on words per minute being sent, so we just refer to this time duration as an element for this explanation.
2) Dah Symbol: ( _ ) equivalent to 3 time elements.
3) Di Symbol: ( . ) pronounced "di"(mid-letter) or "dit"(located at end of a letter), equivalent to 1 time element.
4) Symbol space : (') duration equivalent to 1 element.
5) Letter space : (,) duration equivalent to 3 elements.
6) Word space : (/) duration equivalent to 7 elements.
The word "paris" consists of the following letters (given with cw equivalents in symbols with time duration in elements):
P (. _ _ .) = 2 Di symbols (2 elements), 2 Dah symbols (6 elements).
A (. _) = 1 Di symbol (1 element), 1 Dah symbol (3 elements).
R (. _ .) = 2 Di symbols (2 element), 1 Dah symbol (3 elements).
I (. .) = 2 Di symbols (2 elements).
S (. . .) = 3 Di symbols (3 elements).
A total of 22 symbol elements, however we need to include symbol space elements:
P (.'_'_'.) = symbols (8 elements) + symbol spaces (3 elements).
A (.'_) = symbols (4 elements) + symbol space (1 element).
R (.'_'.) = symbols (5 elements) + symbol spaces (2 elements).
I (.'.) = symbols (2 elements) + symbol space (1 element).
S (.'.'.) = symbols (3 elements) + symbol spaces (2 elements).
A total of 31 time elements,however we must also include 4 letter spaces and 1 word space to complete the understanding that we are sending a 5 letter word:
P (.'_'_'.), = symbols (8 elements) + symbol spaces (3 elements) + letter space (3 elements).
A (.'_), = symbols (4 elements) + symbol space (1 element) + letter space (3 elements).
R (.'_'.), = symbols (5 elements) + symbol spaces (2 elements) + letter space (3 elements).
I (.'.), = symbols (2 elements) + symbol space (1 element) + letter space (3 elements).
S (.'.'.)/ = symbols (3 elements) + symbol spaces (2 elements) + word space (7 elements).
A total of exactly 50 time elements. So to send the word "paris" takes exactly 50 time elements.
Example: To define the time duration of 1 element when sending at 12WPM:
12 words x 50 elements = 60,000 ms.
element = 60,000ms/600 elements
element = 100ms.
The purpose of this exercise is that now you will understand why sending cadence is everything when sending cw successfully. You will also now appreciate that a computer will send perfect cw whereas a human will send cw with imperfections. This is why the majority of serious cw contesters use the computer to send cw 90% of the time.
Doug (GM0ELP)
Definitions:
1) Element : A length of time equivalent to the length of a "." (di or dit) in cw. The actual time used in sending a "." changes depending on words per minute being sent, so we just refer to this time duration as an element for this explanation.
2) Dah Symbol: ( _ ) equivalent to 3 time elements.
3) Di Symbol: ( . ) pronounced "di"(mid-letter) or "dit"(located at end of a letter), equivalent to 1 time element.
4) Symbol space : (') duration equivalent to 1 element.
5) Letter space : (,) duration equivalent to 3 elements.
6) Word space : (/) duration equivalent to 7 elements.
The word "paris" consists of the following letters (given with cw equivalents in symbols with time duration in elements):
P (. _ _ .) = 2 Di symbols (2 elements), 2 Dah symbols (6 elements).
A (. _) = 1 Di symbol (1 element), 1 Dah symbol (3 elements).
R (. _ .) = 2 Di symbols (2 element), 1 Dah symbol (3 elements).
I (. .) = 2 Di symbols (2 elements).
S (. . .) = 3 Di symbols (3 elements).
A total of 22 symbol elements, however we need to include symbol space elements:
P (.'_'_'.) = symbols (8 elements) + symbol spaces (3 elements).
A (.'_) = symbols (4 elements) + symbol space (1 element).
R (.'_'.) = symbols (5 elements) + symbol spaces (2 elements).
I (.'.) = symbols (2 elements) + symbol space (1 element).
S (.'.'.) = symbols (3 elements) + symbol spaces (2 elements).
A total of 31 time elements,however we must also include 4 letter spaces and 1 word space to complete the understanding that we are sending a 5 letter word:
P (.'_'_'.), = symbols (8 elements) + symbol spaces (3 elements) + letter space (3 elements).
A (.'_), = symbols (4 elements) + symbol space (1 element) + letter space (3 elements).
R (.'_'.), = symbols (5 elements) + symbol spaces (2 elements) + letter space (3 elements).
I (.'.), = symbols (2 elements) + symbol space (1 element) + letter space (3 elements).
S (.'.'.)/ = symbols (3 elements) + symbol spaces (2 elements) + word space (7 elements).
A total of exactly 50 time elements. So to send the word "paris" takes exactly 50 time elements.
Example: To define the time duration of 1 element when sending at 12WPM:
12 words x 50 elements = 60,000 ms.
element = 60,000ms/600 elements
element = 100ms.
The purpose of this exercise is that now you will understand why sending cadence is everything when sending cw successfully. You will also now appreciate that a computer will send perfect cw whereas a human will send cw with imperfections. This is why the majority of serious cw contesters use the computer to send cw 90% of the time.
Doug (GM0ELP)
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