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Morse Code Ninja

My Journey


2024


The Day the Colors Escaped:

Illustration of colors painting the town. I'm thrilled to share a children's short story that will ignite your imagination and take your Morse Code skills on a vibrant adventure. It is an original story that I wrote. It is inspired by the enchanting mischief found in beloved stories like The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss.

Imagine a story that weaves the rhythmic dits and dahs of Morse Code into a rich tapestry of imagery and color, transcending the ordinary into something extraordinary. "The Day the Colors Escaped" invites listeners into a mesmerizing world where colors leap from the mundane, transforming a drab town into a kaleidoscope of possibilities. It's a tale that echoes the childlike innocence and boundless creativity within us all.

I am making it available for preview from 15 to 50 wpm — day-colors-escaped.zip (242MB download). Please let me know what you think. After reading and listening to it, I'd love to hear your impressions. (Eventually, after any revisions and corrections, I will include it on YouTube, in podcasts, and within the bulk file downloads.)

You may find reading the story before listening to it in Morse Code helpful. I have included it below.


Short Story:
In a small, quiet town where the sun rarely smiled, Sammy sat in his room, feeling quite puzzled. "Just black, just white," he sighed, looking around, At the walls, at his toys, at the whole town around.

Sammy longed for adventure, for something to do, But outside was rain, and the options were few. "Just sit, just wait," he mumbled, feeling the gloom, As the rain tap-tapped on the window of his room.

Then, peering under the bed for a forgotten toy, Sammy spotted something that sparked a bit of joy. Beside him, Muffin, his cat, purred with keen interest, As Sammy reached for a bottle, hidden from the rest.

"What's this?" he wondered, with a gleam in his eye, A bottle full of colors, under a sky so shy. "Let's see what you do," he said, with excitement quite clear, As Muffin watched closely, twitching her ear.

With a twist and a turn, the bottle opened wide, And out sprang the colors, with nowhere to hide. Reds, blues, and greens, in a dazzling display, Burst into the room, chasing the gray away. "Wow!" Sammy exclaimed, as the colors danced free, Twirling, swirling, in delightful spree. But the colors, oh the colors, didn't stop there, They zoomed and they zipped into the open air.


Conquering ICR:

playful representation of the journey needed to master Instant Character RecognitionIf you aim to conquer (I mean master. hi hi) Instant Character Recognition (ICR), I have some advice. Mastering ICR represents a pivotal milestone on the path of Morse code proficiency. It is a key skill in mastering head copy. Below is some advice to guide and support you through this learning journey.

First, congratulations on all of the progress that you have made thus far in learning Morse Code. Aspiring to master Instant Character Recognition (ICR) is a good goal after learning the 40 most common characters.

Navigating the challenges of mastering Instant Character Recognition (ICR) is a common experience. It is the most challenging skill to master. Everything after that is easy by comparison.

Achieving proficiency in ICR is a challenging but attainable goal. Below are some strategies to help you.

1. Embrace the Fluid Nature of Learning: As you progress in mastering Morse code, you'll likely notice fluctuations in your skill level. This is partly due to the interplay between two types of cognitive processing your brain uses, known as System 1 and System 2 Thinking, concepts popularized by psychologist Daniel Kahneman. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and automatic, ideal for the instant recognition of Morse code characters without conscious thought. On the other hand, System 2 is slower, more deliberate, and analytical, used for learning new characters and consciously decoding unfamiliar patterns. As you practice, your brain engages and balances using these two systems—shifting from the slow, methodical analysis of System 2 to the quick, reflexive responses of System 1. Experiencing these shifts and self-checking is a natural part of the learning process. Acknowledging and accepting day-to-day fluctuations in proficiency as normal can help you manage frustration and maintain motivation. Remember, improvement comes with practice, and this dynamic interplay between System 1 and System 2 is crucial for developing proficiency in Instant Character Recognition (ICR).

2. Accelerate Character Speeds in Practice: One of the most effective strategies to enhance ICR is to increase your character speed during practice. Higher speeds eliminate any lingering dependency on a conscious, analytical decoding process (essentially sidelining the 'decode monster'). This shift encourages your brain to recognize Morse code characters as distinct sound patterns rather than a series of dits and dahs. You will likely need to use a character speed of at least 20wpm. If you find yourself able to count, push the character speed higher. Some learners find they need to use a character speed of 30wpm before they cannot count dits and dahs. You may also find the Morse Code Speed-Racing format and practice sets helpful in learning to copy at higher speeds without getting overwhelmed.

3. Kill the Decode Monster: Actively resist the urge to decode or mentally translate Morse code into visual or textual equivalents (aka translating a visible di-dah-dit into an R). This is a deeply ingrained habit for many; overcoming it requires conscious effort. Before each practice session, remind yourself of your commitment to perceiving Morse code in its auditory form alone. And avoid getting hung up on perfection. Perfection feeds the decode monster and encourages replaying and lingering on what you have already received. This will cause you to miss even more! Learning to let things go is a skill that takes practice to develop. (Special recognition goes to Ed AG7DT for coining this term.)

4. Foster System 1 Processing: Consider engaging in a slightly distracting System 2 activity to force System 1 to take on the difficult work of recognizing characters. Consider petting a dog, cat, or hamster while practicing. Or consider watching a mindless YouTube video with the sound off, such as a beautiful series of drone shots. Alternatively, some limited passive listening sessions where Morse code plays in the background while you're engaged in other tasks can gently coax your System 1 to become more attuned to recognizing characters without active effort. It's about learning to trust the unconscious, fast-thinking part of your brain to make connections. If this later suggestion works for you, you should hear occasional letters and words pop into your mind without deliberate conscious effort.

5. Reduce Recognition Time: The biggest challenge for beginners is the need to recognize each Morse code character within the short inter-character space. Many are surprised by how short this time is—just 240 milliseconds at a speed of 15 words per minute (WPM)! This brief interval is your window of opportunity to identify each character before the next one begins. Given the brain's limited capacity for multitasking, recognizing each character within this time window is essential. The goal is to gradually decrease the time it takes you to recognize a character, aligning it with the inter-character space at your target speed.

To aid in this, I recommend trying the new and unreleased Warp and ICR-Territory practice sets (available for download [2.3GB]). These sets are designed to complement the existing Morse Code Ninja practice sets found on the practice page. Initially, the individual character practice sets allow a generous 1.3 seconds between the Morse code character and its spoken answer, giving beginners ample time to process each sound pattern. The Rapid Fire and Mind-Melt series then narrow this gap to 1 second, encouraging faster recognition. The latest Warp and ICR-Territory sets challenge learners even further, reducing the interval to just 0.5 and 0.2 seconds, respectively. This progression is aimed at incrementally training your brain to recognize characters more quickly.

I am contemplating the introduction of additional intermediate practice sets, such as 0.7 and 0.35 seconds, to ensure a smoother transition between stages. This underscores the importance of incremental progress, allowing your brain to adjust at a manageable learning pace, which is critical for effectively mastering ICR without becoming overwhelmed. I appreciate your thoughts and feedback on what is needed to help learners achieve ICR. Your input is invaluable as I refine practice sets for everyone.

6. Incremental Exposure and Consolidation: Divide your practice sessions into short, focused bursts of active learning, interspersed with periods of rest or unrelated activities. This approach facilitates consolidation—a critical phase where your brain solidifies the neural pathways engaged during learning. For example, consider practicing twice a day for 10 to 15 minutes every day.


Learning Morse code, especially mastering ICR, is a journey that unfolds uniquely for everyone. Celebrate your small victories, persist through the challenges, and trust that with time and dedicated practice, you'll achieve your goal of mastering ICR.

73 de AD0WE


Annual 8-mile Hike with Cat in the Hat:

Kurt Zoglmann on Linear TrailAmazing! It was 75F at the end of February in Kansas. I took advantage of the unusually warm temperatures to go on a long hike and listen to The Cat in the Hat. I look forward to listening to this every year. But this hike wasn't just about embracing nature's unexpected warmth. It was about rekindling a childhood wonder through the rhythmic beats of Morse Code. Yes, I spent those miles accompanied by the delightful mischief of "The Cat in the Hat" - not through the pages of a book but the immersive beat of Morse Code.

This annual tradition of mine taking place on the first warm weekend day is more than a personal ritual; it's a testament to Morse Code's boundless possibilities. It's a bridge to our past, a tool for mindfulness, and a unique lens through which we can experience the stories that shaped us. The Cat in the Hat reminds me of how I was always getting into trouble as a kid. I was the Cat, leading my brothers into trouble and just waiting for mom to get home. Can we clean up that mess before mom gets home? hi hi

I invite you to embark on a similar journey. Revisit your favorite childhood story. Let Morse Code unveil its magic in a new light. Whether it is The Cat in the Hat or a tale that holds a special place in your heart, discover how Morse can add a layer of nostalgia and challenge to your experience. (The Morse Code Ninja software is available as open-source and free, so you can render it in your favorite Morse Code Ninja format.)

What will you listen to on your hike?

I wish you all the best on your Morse Code journey! 73 de AD0WE dit dit


Exciting Launch: Morse Code Ninja Short Stories!

picture of Morse Code Ninja on a book in dusty libraryI'm excited to launch 61 short stories, spanning Beginner to Expert levels! This innovative approach is designed to make learning Morse code not just effective but also fun and engaging.

I strived to create a fun, innovative, and dynamic approach that helps students transition from copying a few words to whole sentences. These stories are told in a format that makes use of contextual priming, which is a kind of hint. Before the Morse Code in each segment is given, the student is given an idea of what will be sent. This does several things to help ease into copying less common words, more complex sentences, and concepts — it makes it easier to predict and understand the message, and it reduces the cognitive load of deciphering the meaning.

Beta Collection:
I am thrilled to share with you a curated assortment of stories. This collection is designed to cater to learners at various stages of their Morse code mastery: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert. These stories are invitations to adventures and tests of wit, promising to enrich both your skill set and your imagination. All stories are available from 15 to 50wpm.

Collection Overview:

  • 31 Beginner Short Stories: A daily dose of narrative-driven Morse code practice. — Averaging 12 minutes at 20wpm.
  • 10 Intermediate Short Stories: Stories that layer complexity and depth into your learning. — Averaging 24 minutes at 20wpm.
  • 10 Advanced Short Stories: Each piece here uniquely presents two sentences in Morse code, intensifying the depth of practice. — Averaging 36 mins at 20wpm.
  • 10 Expert Short Stories: Elaborate subjects designed for the adept, representing the zenith of Morse code proficiency. — Averaging 1 hour and 20 minutes

A Collaborative Effort:
This Morse Code Short Stories collection is in its beta phase, a foundational step toward refining the stories and the learning method. And here's where a unique opportunity lies for you:

Inside the download, you'll find the original text file used to generate these audio files. If you spot errors, have suggestions for improvements, or envisage enhancing a story, you're warmly invited to edit the appropriate text file and share it back. Your adaptations need no special formatting; differences can be easily identified. Your contribution is invaluable, especially as the Expert Level stories have a higher complexity and have been particularly challenging to create.

Future Aspirations:
While the current collection benefits from contextual priming to aid learning, I envision a future project to create stories without this scaffolding of contextual priming, offering a direct challenge to Morse code decoding proficiency. This idea, while on the horizon, awaits a fresh bout of creative energy following the exhaustive yet rewarding endeavor of creating these 61 narratives.

Download Instructions:
Download and dive into this expanding universe of Morse Code Short Stories here — short-story.zip (Revision 1 - 2.8GB file - Updated Feb 19, '24). Your engagement, feedback, and collaborative editing are not just welcomed—they're essential. Together, let's polish and improve this collection. Check back later for additional revisions.

Next Steps:
This voyage into the narrative realm of Morse code wouldn't have been possible without your encouragement and support. Thank you for being a part of this journey. As we refine, expand, and dream up new ways to delve deeper into Morse code, your companionship and insights remain invaluable. Critical feedback is welcome.

Let's work together, shaping the Morse Code Short Stories collection into an innovative cornerstone of Morse code learning that stands the test of time. Once complete, I will make them available on YouTube and as podcasts.

With deepest appreciation and anticipation for our shared next steps,

Kurt (AD0WE)





Defining ICR and Beyond:

Somewhat abstract visual representation of instant recognitionI realized that ICR (Instant Character Recognition) is increasingly and commonly used to describe the skills needed to master head copying at 20+ wpm, but surprisingly, I could not find a concise, authoritative, and comprehensive definition. So, I have created one below.

Attributes of ICR:

  • Each character is recognized by its complete sound pattern.
  • Each character is recognized effortlessly using System 1 processing. (System 1 processing is characterized by automatic, fast, and effortless cognitive operations that occur without the need for deliberate analytical thought. [Read more about System 1 and 2 Thinking.])
  • Each character is recognized without needing to mentally break down or translate the dits and dahs into each character.
  • Each character is recognized without needing to mentally repeat or replay the sound pattern.
  • Each character is recognized with sufficient speed that enables the continuous and fluid comprehension of Morse Code at varying speeds. This rapid recognition is essential for keeping pace with the flow of communication without falling behind at a given speed.
  • The ability to mentally process and assemble recognized characters into words, abbreviations, callsigns, etc., relies on the foundational skill of ICR. This process is referred to as mental dynamics and involves higher-order cognitive functions that enable the operator to understand and interpret a stream of Morse Code characters into words, abbreviations, and callsigns.

Definition of ICR:
Instant Character Recognition (ICR) in Morse Code is a cognitive ability that enables the identification of each Morse Code character by its complete sound pattern effortlessly, utilizing System 1 cognitive processing. This form of processing is characterized as automatic, fast, and operates without the need for deliberate analytical thought, allowing for characters to be recognized without dissecting or translating the individual dits and dahs. Moreover, there is no necessity to mentally repeat or replay the sound for recognition, emphasizing the instantaneous nature of this skill.

In Head Copying, proficiency with ICR is a critical foundation for mental dynamics — the subsequent cognitive task of assembling recognized characters into coherent linguistic units, such as words, abbreviations, and callsigns. While dependent on ICR's speed and accuracy, mental dynamics introduce additional cognitive demands, including memory retention and contextual interpretation, which are essential for effective communication in Morse Code.

Quantifying the 'instant' aspect of Instant Character Recognition necessitates a consideration of the practical implications for Morse Code proficiency across various speeds. For ICR to effectively underpin continuous comprehension and fluency in Morse Code, recognition must be sufficiently rapid to accommodate the decoding of characters into words, abbreviations, callsigns, and other constructs without hindrance. Consider the average rate at which characters are being received. For instance, at a baseline speed of 12 words per minute (wpm), or 60 characters per minute (cpm), proficiency in ICR would require an operator to recognize each character within an average timeframe of one second or less. As the speed increases to 20wpm (100cpm), the required recognition speed tightens to 600 milliseconds or faster. At more advanced speeds, such as 25wpm (125cpm) and 30wpm (150cpm), the recognition timeframe narrows further to 480 milliseconds and 400 milliseconds, respectively. These timeframes serve as average upper limits. In practice, the timeframe while Head Copying is shorter so the operator can recognize characters and engage in the complex cognitive process of mental dynamics for assembling characters into words, abbreviations, call signs, etc. Such benchmarks underscore the necessity for Morse Code operators to develop a level of proficiency in ICR that exceeds mere recognition, facilitating mastery of ICR and mental dynamics to achieve mastery of copying Morse code at a given speed.

There is an important nuance with the above-required average recognition times that should be recognized by beginners just learning to acquire ICR. The timing requirements are significantly shorter than what is implied above. That's because the recognition time must be less than or equal to the intercharacter spacing (aka the length of the silence between the characters). If not, beginners would be forced into attempting — and almost certainly failing at — rapid task-switching between copying the next character and trying to recognize the previous one. (This kind of task-switching may seem like multi-tasking, but it isn't; the brain is shifting attention between tasks so swiftly that it appears one is performing both simultaneously.)

For beginners, at a baseline speed of 12 words per minute (wpm), or 60 characters per minute (cpm), a beginner must recognize each character within 300ms. As the speed increases to 20wpm (100cpm), the required recognition speed tightens to 180ms or faster. At more advanced speeds, such as 25wpm (125cpm) and 30wpm (150cpm), the recognition timeframe narrows further to 144 milliseconds and 120 milliseconds, respectively. The goal for beginners is to reduce the recognition time as much as possible to below the intercharacter speed for their initial target character speed. (If you prefer the Morse Code Ninja practice sets, consider using the "Single Letters - Rapid Fire" and "Single Letters - Mind-Melt" practice sets. Then, use the Farnsworth practice series of 8x Character Spacing through 2x Character spacing for the Top 100/200/300/500 Words to incrementally close the gap from Farnsworth timing to standard timing.)

Why the difference? That is a huge difference! This reduced timing is crucial for beginners to prevent the overlap of characters from muddling the recognition process; however, as one's proficiency advances, the dynamic shifts, such as at a proficiency of 30 words per minute. Beyond the foundational skill of ICR, there's a gradual acquisition of additional related and complementary competencies that are used simultaneously. Among these is the ability to recognize sound patterns beyond single characters, such as digraphs, trigraphs, common prefixes and suffixes, and eventually, the entire sound pattern of words. These skills enhance the efficiency of Morse code interpretation, particularly for longer words where the middle characters might be identified through Instant Digraph and Instant Trigraph Recognition rather than isolated ICR—a process known as chunking. This chunking allows for the rapid interpretation of sequences of signals as coherent units, reducing the cognitive load and enabling faster processing. (If you would like to practice learning the most common 300 digraphs and trigraphs found in words, try the "Top Two Letter Combinations in Words" and "Top Three Letter Combination in Words" practice sets. You can find them quickly on the practice page by selecting the Characters filter and a fast enough speed that allows you to recognize the two or three characters as a complete sound pattern.)

Prediction also plays a key role with more experienced operators. At high speeds, where individual characters are sent in quick succession, the cognitive system leverages its experience to form expectations about future characters. For instance, certain characters or sequences of characters are more likely to follow others within the context of English language syntax and Morse code usage. An experienced operator, through repeated exposure and practice, unconsciously learns these patterns and begins to anticipate them. This predictive ability allows the operator to process Morse code signals not just as discrete, isolated elements but as part of a coherent, flowing narrative. This is why, in practical terms, most people can follow along and copy Morse Code at about 1.5 to 2x their proficiency speed if given a short set of words in advance of what will be sent to them.

Etymology of ICR:
In researching this, it made me wonder about the etymology of ICR. It appears Nancy Kott (WZ8C SK) brought forward and popularized “Instant Recognition” in her noteworthy essay on Instant Recognition: A Better Method of Building Morse Code Speed, which was further divided into ICR and IWR (Instant Word Recognition). Glenn (W4YES) coined the term ICR in 2018 while authoring the curriculum for the CW Academy program's Basic Class. Later still, special recognition goes to Ed (AG7DT). He identified the need for beginners to reduce the recognition time below the intercharacter speed at a given character speed. Finally, when I was developing the Instant QSO Element Course, I realized that there are a number of “Instant Recognition” skills that aid in the continuous copying of code: characters, words, QSO Elements, abbreviations, suffixes, prefixes, digraphs, trigraphs, etc.

Exploring Beyond ICR:
How do operators evolve from recognizing individual Morse code characters to fully understanding words, sentences, and entire messages? This advancement hinges on mastering a critical aspect of Mental Dynamics known as 'Mental Buffering and Assembly in Head Copy.' This strategy embodies a sophisticated cognitive process essential for holding and integrating rapidly received Morse code signals into coherent, meaningful communication. It marks the crucial cognitive leap necessary for operators to transition from mere character recognition to the comprehensive interpretation of complex Morse code messages in real-time. Now Let's explore the attributes and definitions of this essential cognitive strategy.

Attributes of Mental Buffering and Assembly in Head Copy:

  • Manages Morse code signals using both System 1 (automatic, fast, and effortless recognition) and System 2 (conscious, deliberate processing and working memory) cognitive processes.
  • Temporarily holds characters and words in a mental queue, allowing for their integration into coherent linguistic units with minimal conscious effort for familiar patterns while employing more focused attention for novel or complex sequences.
  • Employs contextual cues and working memory to anticipate and assemble Morse code into meaningful communication, enhancing overall understanding and accuracy.
  • Leverages both instant recognition and active mental manipulation to identify and correct transmission errors, relying on the broader context stored within the buffer.
  • Supports decoding efficiency at higher speeds by allowing the operator to focus on message assembly and comprehension without being overwhelmed by the pace of incoming signals.

Definition of Mental Buffering and Assembly in Head Copy:
Mental Buffering and Assembly in Head Copy is an advanced cognitive strategy in Morse code reception that engages both automatic, rapid character and word recognition (System 1 processing) and deliberate, conscious mental manipulation and integration (System 2 processing). This strategy enables operators to maintain a mental queue of received Morse code characters and words, facilitating their assembly into coherent messages. Through this dual-process approach, operators can seamlessly integrate familiar patterns using minimal conscious effort while actively employing working memory and focused attention for less familiar or more complex sequences.

This cognitive buffering allows for the continuous intake and processing of new Morse code signals, bridging the gap between the speed of signal reception and the pace at which information can be consciously understood and internalized. By balancing automatic recognition with active processing, operators can enhance their comprehension of Morse code, manage and correct errors more effectively, and maintain high levels of decoding efficiency, especially at higher transmission speeds.

Developing proficiency in Mental Buffering and Assembly in Head Copy requires targeted practice that gradually increases in complexity and speed, challenging both automatic recognition abilities and working memory capacity. As operators become more adept at employing this strategy, they find themselves able to decode Morse code more fluently, at higher speeds, and with an enhanced ability to anticipate message content, correct errors in real time, and derive meaningful communication from the stream of Morse code signals. This skill represents a pinnacle of Morse code proficiency, combining rapid character recognition with the sophisticated cognitive management of information for effective communication.

If you would like to practice with just Buffering and Assembly without the additional difficulty of copying with Morse Code, you are welcome to try the Letter-by-Letter practice. Sometimes, practicing the mental dynamics in isolation can be more efficient than trying to learn Morse Code simultaneously. You may want to try working in 5 minutes of Letter-by-Letter practice into your daily practice routine. To put everything together. Consider working with the Build A Word practice series. It is designed to help beginners transition from individual letters to words and master ICR. It allows incrementally copying 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 letters as a group with incrementally longer words. Start with the practice set that is not too easy nor hard, then incrementally move to more challenging practice sets with longer words, copying with more characters at a time, and faster character speeds.

A Practitioner's Insight into Mental Buffering and Assembly:
The formal articulation of "Mental Buffering and Assembly in Head Copy" lays the groundwork, but it's the firsthand experiences that truly highlight its practical impact. Dan (WA1QZX) offers a glimpse into his personal journey with this nuanced cognitive strategy:

Mastering mental buffering and assembly transformed my approach to Morse code, particularly during high-speed head copy and even at slower paces. Articulating this internalized process is complex, as it began for me as a conscious effort to 'visualize' each letter, creating a mental buffer for just one word at a time. Once recognized, I clear this buffer for the next word.

For common words, my reliance on this buffer diminishes, leaning more towards anticipation. Yet, with longer and more complex words, the buffer proves essential, though piecing together a lengthy and unfamiliar word can be daunting. Over time, this buffering becomes an almost subconscious act. Confronted with complex words, my mind now opts to bypass them, preserving momentum over perfection. This shift towards accepting imperfections has rendered head copying far more serene, shifting the focus away from flawless copying.

Reflecting on this evolution is quite intriguing. — de WA1QZX

Dan's narrative vividly illustrates the transformative journey from deliberate practice to an almost instinctive skill in using Mental Buffering and Assembly for Morse code comprehension. He highlights a crucial lesson in flexibility and self-acceptance, showing how adopting this mindset not only improves efficiency and understanding but also makes the Morse code experience significantly more enjoyable and stress-free.

ICR and Transcription:
The practice of 'Copying Behind' emerges as a bridge between the cognitive agility developed through ICR and the practical demands of transcription. This technique leverages the mental acuity and pattern recognition honed by ICR to manage the inherent challenge of transcription: keeping pace with the flow of Morse Code while recording it accurately. 'Copying Behind' allows operators to utilize a mental buffer, holding Morse Code characters or words momentarily in the mind before transcribing them. This buffer provides a brief but critical window to process and confirm the accuracy of what was heard, facilitating a smoother transition from reception to transcription.

'Copying Behind' embodies a practical application of the mental dynamics discussed earlier. It requires not only the instant recognition of characters and words but also the capacity to assemble and understand them within the context of an ongoing message. This technique, therefore, does not stand apart from head copying but rather complements it, representing another facet of Morse Code mastery.

The journey from mastering ICR and Mental Buffering and Assembly to proficient transcription, underscored by techniques like 'Copying Behind,' encapsulates the holistic skill set that defines Morse Code excellence. It underscores the continuity between different modes of Morse Code practice, highlighting how skills in one area enrich capabilities in another. As operators develop their proficiency in head copying, they simultaneously lay the groundwork for superior transcription abilities, making the mastery of Morse Code a more comprehensive and rewarding endeavor.

I have included this section for completeness even though there has been a recent trend to focus on learning head copy from the start because it enables an easier transition to copying above 20+wpm, it tends to be more fun, and outside of traffic passing there are few situations that require transcription. However, even if you are a fan of Head Copy (and I am a big proponent!), practicing Copying Behind while receiving call signs is worthwhile. Copy Behind can be especially useful while learning to copy call signs at higher and higher speeds. Call signs sent during contests often exceed our ability to write or type out the callsign as fast as it is being sent.

Attributes of Copying Behind:

  • The mind acts as a buffer, holding several characters or words just heard, before writing them down, while still listening to incoming signals.
  • This method smooths out the rate discrepancy between receiving Morse code characters and writing them down, reducing mental strain and improving copy quality.
  • Enables operators to anticipate and correct for errors in transmission, utilizing context to fill gaps caused by QSB, QRM, and QRN.
  • Facilitates a more polished transcription, allowing for proper formatting, capitalization, and punctuation based on heard content.
  • Copying behind is adaptable, starting from copying a single character behind and potentially extending to several characters or words as proficiency increases.
  • The technique counters the tendency to anticipate prematurely, promoting a focus on listening comprehensively before committing to writing.

Definition of Copying Behind:
Copying Behind in Morse Code is a cognitive process that trains the operator's mind to function as a short-term memory buffer, holding received Morse code signals for a brief duration before transcription. This approach enables the continuous intake of new information while processing and recording the previous input, effectively bridging the gap between listening and writing speeds. By employing this technique, operators can mitigate the mental strain of direct copying, allowing for a smoother, more accurate transcription of Morse code transmissions.

Proficiency in Copying Behind enhances the operator's ability to manage and transcribe Morse code. The practice of Copying Behind can be learned by starting with simple exercises, such as random two-character groups, and gradually increasing complexity and difficulty. The key is the operator must delay the transcription of heard characters or words until they are fully received, thus promoting a deeper, more contextual understanding of the message being communicated.

Incorporating Copying Behind into Morse code practice offers advantages, including producing neater, more accurate copy and adjusting for transmission errors, fading, and interference. Most importantly, it alleviates the pressure to keep up with the transmission letter by letter, allowing the operator to focus on the overall message and context, which is invaluable at higher speeds.

Epilogue:
If you have questions, you are welcome to reach out. Wherever you are in reaching your proficiency goals and mastering Morse Code, I wish you all the best on your Morse Code journey! 73 de AD0WE


Major Release:

Morse Code Ninja Celebration - fireworks over looking the Grand CanyonI'm thrilled to announce the release of 72 innovative Morse Code Ninja practice sets! The largest release ever! After a few months of development, overcoming challenges, and harnessing insights from our community, these materials are designed to elevate your Morse code proficiency to new heights.

Build A Word:
I’m especially excited about the Build A Word practice series. It is designed to help beginners transition from individual letters to words and master ICR (Instant Character Recognition). It allows incrementally copying 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 letters as a group with incrementally longer words. Start with the practice set that is not too easy nor hard, then incrementally move to more challenging practice sets with longer words, copying with more characters at a time, and faster character speeds. Learning ICR is one of the most difficult skills to master, and this practice series is another tool in the toolbox.

Contextual Priming:
I’m equally excited about the new contextual priming (aka hints) practice sets. This is a first in self-study material. In this format, context is given immediately preceding a word or sentence in Morse Code. The idea behind this format is that it can lessen the cognitive load and provide an incremental stepping stone to copying without much or any context. Keep in mind that anticipation is a double-edged sword. It can help when your intuition or guess is correct and make it harder to copy if your intuition is wrong. The idea is to strive to keep an open mind. The context isn’t so specific that you are likely to guess the word without hearing it in Morse Code, but it does orient your thinking to a range of possible words.

I also crossed Speed-Racing with contextual priming to create the "Easy Words - Speed-Racing with Hints” and "Difficult Words - Speed-Racing with Hints”. I’d love additional feedback. If enough people find it helpful, I will create additional practice sets. It is time-consuming, so we’ll see.

How It Works: Speed-Racing with Hints:

  1. Set the Stage: I provide a tantalizing General Hint/Context.
  2. Speed Challenge: Morse code sent at 1.3x the base speed - catch it if you can!
  3. Extra Help: An Additional Hint/Context to nudge you closer.
  4. Steady Learning: Word(s) sent in Morse code at a comfortable base speed.
  5. Clear Confirmation: The Word(s) spoken aloud for clarity.
  6. Speed Recap: Word(s) sent in Morse code at 1.3x speed again for reinforcement.

Explore Now:
Quickly find the new material on the Ninja Practice page. Use the Build, Hints, Words, and Sentences filters to dive right into what interests you most. All new material is also available as individual downloads, included in the bulk downloads, and available in the Ninja podcasts.

I’m eager for you to try these out and share your experiences. Your feedback drives innovation, helping create even more effective learning tools. If you have ideas, let me know. Several of the practice sets came from requests.


CWvox:

Kevin (KB9RLW) has innovated to make CW more accessible and convenient: the CWvox! This device, is a unique blend of technology and creativity that allows keying by voice! It's designed for Morse Code operators who may find traditional keying methods challenging for various reasons, including physical limitations.

Concept and Design:
The CWvox is an ingenious solution that leverages the ability of Morse Code operators to vocalize Morse Code using "da" for dashes and "dit" for dots. This practice isn't just a novelty; it's a skill that, when done correctly, mirrors the proper length ratio of dashes and dots in Morse Code. Recognizing this, Kevin posed the question: Why not convert this spoken Morse Code into actual keying signals for radio transmission?

Initially, the project embarked on an analog path, employing transistors, resistors, and capacitors. However, the challenge arose with the natural tail-off in the human voice when saying "da." This tail-off didn't abruptly stop as required in clean Morse Code transmission, leading to issues in accurately keying the radio.

Digital Solution and Schematic Overview:
Morse Code Ninja Celebration - fireworks The solution? Going digital with an Arduino Nano, a small yet powerful microcontroller board. This shift dramatically simplified the design and improved the accuracy of the device. The final schematic, which is not overly complex, revolves around the Arduino Nano and a handful of additional components:

  • Microphone Input: Utilizes a condenser microphone, commonly found in headsets, requiring a power supply provided by the CWvox.
  • Amplifier Stage: Amplifies the small signals from the microphone to a level that the Arduino can detect.
  • Signal Processing: Involves DC blocking capacitors and a diode to create a positive waveform for the Arduino to sense.
  • Sensitivity Adjustment: Achieved through a linear potentiometer, allowing users to set the threshold for audio detection.
  • Keying Circuit: A simple transistor switch acts as the keying mechanism, compatible with most modern solid-state radios. For older tube-type radios, a reed relay is suggested.
  • RF Bypass and Transient Protection: Essential components to protect the circuit from radio frequency interference and transient spikes.

Operation and Application:
In practice, the CWvox is remarkably user-friendly. It features a microphone input, keying output, power switch, an LED indicator for power and keying, and an enable switch to prevent accidental radio keying. The sensitivity of the device can be adjusted to accommodate different speaking volumes and distances from the microphone. The creator demonstrated its effectiveness through successful on-air contacts, highlighting its practicality.

Significance and Potential Impact:
The CWvox isn't just a technical achievement; it's a potential game-changer for Morse Code operators who face challenges with traditional keying methods. Whether due to injury, age-related issues, or preference, this device offers an alternative way to participate in Morse Code communication.

Resources:
The CWvox stands as a remarkable blend of innovation and practicality, providing an alternative method for sending Morse Code by voice. For those interested in building their own CWvox, resources like schematics and Arduino software are available on Kevin's Blog. This device is more than just a tool; it's a testament to the enduring adaptability and evolution of Morse Code in the modern era. Please check out Kevin's 22-minute YouTube below.





Guest on All Portable Discussion Zone:

I was a guest on Charlie's (NJ7V) All Portable Discussion Zone podcast, which was also simulcast to Charle's Red Summit RF YouTube Channel. It was a lot of fun! Charlie is a great guy and inspires many people to be active on the radio in the great outdoors! We talked about many Morse Code-related things, including contextual priming, which will be the basis for a lot of new upcoming Morse Code Ninja practice content.


Thanks, Red Summit RF!

I wish everyone all the best on their Morse Code journey! 73 de AD0WE


Breakthrough:

Image of list of the Top 8 Most Common Word Phrases on the left and the Top 9 Most Common Word Phrases on the right.Exciting news! I embarked on a mission to bridge a gap in Morse Code learning. The goal? To create practice sets for the most common six to nine-word phrases. This initiative is helpful because it helps learners transition smoothly from copying individual words to whole sentences. While the existing two to five-word phrases were a great start, several people expressed the need for longer common-word phrases to support them in leaping to sentence-level proficiency. (Copying common word phrases tends to be easier than sentences of the same length because you can often guess the parts you missed, and it is easier to hold in your head.)

The original Sets of Two through Five Word phrases were relatively easy to come by! Years ago, I discovered Google's Book Scanning Research Data, which allowed me to quickly identify the Top 500 n-grams for the most common two, three, four, and five-word combinations. The longer six through nine n-grams are not publicly known.

The ideal solution seemed like a Herculean task - downloading the entire internet or all the English books worldwide! That's not just impractical, it's impossible for an individual! But, in this era of advanced Large Language Models (LLMs) and the spirit of open data sources, a breakthrough occurred. I managed to find and download an Open Web Text Corpus based on all of Reddit before API access was restricted. (I greatly appreciate open data initiatives and University of California, Irvine's efforts to make this dataset available!)

Armed with this data, I embarked on a coding adventure. Using Python and the Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK), I dove into the massive 53GB, 8 million file treasure trove. The mission? To sift through and identify the most common six to nine-word n-grams.

The final, crucial step involved meticulously filtering these n-grams to identify the most common 250 n-grams. My commitment to providing a positive learning environment meant removing anything potentially offensive or inappropriate. This included political, hateful, trolling, Reddit-specific, and news-related content.

The Sets of 6, 7, 8, and 9 Word practice sets are now available. You can quickly get to them from the Practice page by clicking the Sentences filter button. Next, select the practice set of choice and speed, and then your browser will be redirected to the appropriate YouTube video in a new tab. Let me know what you think of them!

73 de AD0WE


2023


Holiday Card Exchange:

I celebrated the third annual holiday card exchange! For every holiday card received, I sent one back. Each holiday card included a Morse Code Ninja sticker, personalized message, and 2023 Ninja winter photo. This year, the Ninja is pictured pounding brass, making SOTA and P2P QSOs.

I hope everyone had a very merry holiday season and a Happy New Year! I wish everyone all the best on their Morse code journey!

I have a lot of new exciting content planned for 2024!

73 de AD0WE   dit dit


Celebrating Ninja Anniversary:

Morse Code Ninja Celebration - fireworksI am celebrating the fourth anniversary of launching the Morse Code Ninja website and YouTube channel! If you would like a free Morse Code Ninja sticker, let me know your callsign and I'll use your address on QRZ — (<Mouse over for Email address...>). Or send me a message with your mailing address. (Limited to US mailing addresses. Offer good until the end of July 2023.)

I released the first Morse Code Ninja YouTube video on May 21, 2019. And the website went live on July 28, 2019. So far, I have created four courses and 300+ unique practice sets with over 20,000 hours of material available on YouTube, as podcasts, and for direct downloads! And so far, people have practiced over 214,000 hours on YouTube! That is a mind-boggling number! It is equivalent to someone practicing for 24 years continuously!

I wish everyone all the best on their Morse Code journey!

73 de AD0WE dit dit


Morse Code Ninja as a Resource:

This website provides a comprehensive resource for everyone interested in Morse Code, from beginners to experts. It has been described as a gigantic CW superstore containing anything you could be looking for related to CW — especially CW training resources, including Software, Interactive Online Training, On-air Practice, Hardware, Books, and Instruction and Advice.

Check out the Advice and Learn pages for those who are just beginning to learn Morse Code.

Advice:
The Advice page is structured with advice for beginners at the top of the page. It gets more specialized for those seeking expert advice on mastering QRQ speeds. When getting started, the Do's and Don'ts section at the top of the page is essential reading. This is to avoid making beginner mistakes that are difficult to unlearn, such as counting dits and dahs. A short distance further down the page, The Morse Code Speed vs. Proficiency essay has been a compass for those planning their Morse Code journey, providing deep insight and putting into words what expert CW operators have had difficulty articulating as they master Morse Code.

At the bottom of the Advice page, you will uncover a QRQ white paper that provides a structured, self-paced approach to achieving QRQ speeds within a year. I co-authored this white paper with Jack (AA0IZ) and Terry (WB0JRH). To our knowledge, this is the first-ever such course.

Learn:
The Learn page provides several resources for those aiming to learn Morse code.

Morse Code Course1) A Morse Code Course and guide are provided for those seeking to learn the characters. The course materials are available on YouTube, direct download, and through podcasts. The course is structured, so you can begin copying words and call signs as soon as you have mastered the requisite characters. The order of the characters mirrors the CW Academy's course enabling the course to stand on its own or be used as a complement to the CWA's curriculum.

It may be more challenging initially, but I recommend trying to head copy everything. Copying callsigns might be the exception since most hams record the callsigns in their logbook, but it will help you if you can master it. The course is incremental and provides an opportunity to develop this skill from the very start!

Learn To Follow Letter-By-Letter2) Spoken Letter-by-Letter practice is provided as a diagnostic tool and an aid to those struggling to master the mental dynamics necessary to follow a ragchew. ICR (Instant Character Recognition) is not enough to learn to head copy sentences. It also requires developing the cognitive dynamics to follow letter-by-letter to form words and then build up sentences and infer meaning. If one's ICR is too slow or consumes mental/conscious bandwidth, then there is not enough room to determine words, sentences, and meaning. If you find these practice sets easy but struggle to copy a sentence in Morse code, you must focus on improving your ICR proficiency. (Sentences from Top 500 Words - Fast - No Repeats is a good one to use as a litmous test.)

While working with someone who has dyslexia, I realized that head-copying involves two skills and not just one: ICR and the mental dynamics of following letter-by-letter to form words, sentences, and meaning. If you find this practice difficult, you may find it more efficient to spend some time practicing with these practice sets compared to struggling to learn both skills simultaneously.

Taste of IWR Course3) The Taste of IWR Course is an innovative system that introduces you to IWR (Instant Word Recognition). It is the first course to provide a structured approach to building up your vocabulary of word sound patterns and ease you into head copying at QRQ speeds.

This course can accelerate your learning of ICR (Instant Character Recognition). IWR and ICR are similar. Rather than recognizing the sound patterns of individual characters in ICR, you hear the entire word as a complete sound pattern and instantly identify the word in IWR. You can start this course even if you haven't mastered ICR or started learning the characters! Don't be intimidated by the 40 wpm speed! It is entirely doable.

Why 40 wpm? This is fast enough for beginners not to recognize characters and fast enough that even the longest word can be learned as a sound pattern. (ABOUT takes 1.17 seconds to send at 40wpm, while WOULD requires 1.08 seconds to send. These are the two longest words in the course; ideally, words are easiest to learn when they are one second or shorter.) 40wpm is also a middle-of-the-road speed. IWR is easiest between 35 and 50 wpm for most people. Beyond 50 wpm, the sound pattern tends to sound muddled because Morse code loses its signature tone and takes on more of a pulsating sound.

Taste of IWR Course4) The Instant QSO Element Course Series teaches you the 100 most common QSO elements using IWR (Instant Word Recognition). Learning these QSO elements will reduce the burden of copying an entire QSO using ICR (Instant Character Recognition).

To accelerate the learning process, all Morse Code Ninja courses and practice content use a format that provides immediate feedback. A key aspect of learning efficiently is knowing whether you got something right or wrong and knowing the answer. Here are a couple of quick tips. 1) If you use the Ninja YouTube videos, you may want to turn on closed captioning. Visual reinforcement helps and adds clarity to the spoken word. 2) After hearing each character/word/sentence sent in Morse code, you may want to pause the practice and immediately send what you heard. This will build your sending skills while learning to copy.

Practice:
The Practice page is helpful for anyone seeking to improve their Morse Code proficiency. As of May 2023, there are over 300 unique practice sets of incremental difficulty at speeds of 15 to 50 wpm! I have strived to ensure that there is something for everyone, no matter your current proficiency level.

Practice FiltersBecause there are so many practice sets, finding the one that is most helpful for you can be difficult. I approached resolving this issue in two ways. First, there are filters. These buttons dynamically reduce the list to a particular kind of practice set. For instance, the Contest filter reduces the list of practice sets to those related to contests. Second, I created a Recommendation Engine. If you choose this option, you will be guided through a series of questions. As you answer questions, the list is updated and constrained to those relevant to your answers.

If you find yourself struggling to master Morse Code Ninja incrementally and cannot find a practice set to help you, there may be a gap in the available practice sets. If you need assistance, please don't hesitate to contact me. About half of the practice sets came into existence because someone reached out to me with a problem or an explicit request to create a particular practice set. For effective progression, you want to strike the right balance in choosing the next step to reach your Morse Code proficiency goal(s).

Resources:
If the Morse Code Ninja practice materials don't fit your needs to learn and master Morse Code, there are far more options out there! The Resource page provides a curated list of Software, Interactive Online Resources, On-air Practice, Hardware, Books, Instruction and Advice, and Games! Please explore the breadth and depth of what is available. If you discover a helpful resource that needs to be listed, please let me know, and I will add it to the page!

Under the Interactive Online Resources, you will find references to the CW Academy and Long Island CW Club Training. Both are excellent options for those seeking online guidance and mentorship. Most people find it practical to leverage one of these options and supplement it with self-study options.

Epilogue:
After documenting my journey and sharing my experiences on QRZ, I quickly realized that comprehensive resources were lacking for those who wanted to learn Morse code. And it didn't take long for me to outgrow my QRZ page. There was only so much I could put on one page! So, with a stroke of inspiration and creativity, the Morse Code Ninja website was born.

The website has become a place where people come to find all the information they need to get started with Morse code, as well as ongoing support and encouragement as they progress in their learning. From beginner guides and practice resources to advanced tips and techniques, this website is a one-stop shop for all things Morse Code. The website is a celebration of the art and skill of Morse Code. It is also my way of helping others discover the depth and breadth of our fantastic hobby and passion.

If you're ready to join the Golden Age of Morse code and dive in, let's get started!


LICW Haptic CW Decoder:

LICW Haptic CW DecoderThe LICW Club has developed an innovative and impressive device! A haptic vibrational device with LED lights that delivers decoded CW to the hand and eye. The device's purpose is to provide hard-of-hearing individuals with vibrational and visual sensations of CW to facilitate and compensate for their inability to hear Morse Code. The device will also benefit those with normal hearing because it can create alternate white matter pathways in the brain, combining aural and vibrational cues. Thanks to Rob (K6RB), this device is patent-pending. The release of this product was a significant undertaking with thousands of dollars in development costs.

For more information, visit CW for the Hearing Impaired - Long Island CW Club.

LICW philosophy: One of the main tenets of LICW is to give back to those not as fortunate as the majority of us, and we hope this device will be successful and a boon to those with hearing impairments.

Price: We would like to price this unit at $275.00 shipped in the continental USA. There will be a 30-day money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied.

Ordering: If you would like to order a unit, please get in touch with LICW using this email address: info@longislandcwclub.org.




2022


Holiday Card Exchange:

A collage of three images. On the top is a picture of the 2022 Ninha Holiday picture. On the bottom left are all the Christmas and holiday cards that I received. On the bottom right is a close-up picture of the Morse Code Ninja sticker in a Christmas tree. work-area work-area work-area I celebrated the holiday season with a Christmas card exchange. This was our second annual holiday card exchange! Each card came with a Morse Code Ninja sticker, a personalized message, and a 2022 Ninja winter photo.

In all, I sent 126 cards to 37 states and five countries! It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun. It is a small joy to receive personal mail in our ever-digital world. If you missed out, I plan on doing another exchange next year!

I hope that everyone had a terrific and merry holiday season! As the year came to a close, it was fantastic reflecting on significant milestones in 2022. It was an epic year, including attending OzarkCon QRP Conference, Hamvention, releasing the QRQ Course and Taste of IWR Course, and receiving the Award for Advancing the Art of CW!

I wish everyone all the best on their Morse code journey!

73 de AD0WE


Morse Code Ninja Inspired Art:


Kurt Zoglmann as Morse Code Ninja What would the Morse Code Ninja logo look like as a 3D render? With Stable Diffusion and Photoshop, I recreated the Ninja logo in photo-realistic detail. Although there are some shortcomings, it is still pretty neat! Yes, that is me! But don't worry. I'm not changing my logo. hi hi.

Stable Diffusion is an exciting machine-learning technology that allows you to generate an image from a short text description! Most people won't be able to run it locally without a powerful workstation and the technical know-how to set it up. You might consider using getimg.ai to experiment from your web browser. I have used it extensively with great success.

Morse Code Ninja inspired artwork using Dall-E Morse Code Ninja inspired artwork using Dall-E work-area work-area work-area work-area work-area work-area work-area work-area

I spent a couple of hours using DALL·E 2 to create Morse Code Ninja-inspired art, as pictured above. DALL·E 2 is an alternative to Stable Diffusion. DALL·E 2 is easier to use, while Stable Diffusion gives you more creative control. There are pros and cons to both technologies.

I am astonished by what can be achieved by man and machine working closely together to produce art! As a person provides direction and hints, the artificial intelligence does its darndest to flesh out the idea based on everything it has seen and learned. This is some of the most fun I have ever had! The process of exploring ideas for a ninja in different contexts of amateur radio was a joy.

Even if you don't consider yourself an artist, I encourage you to give it a go. By no means am I an artist — creating the Morse Code Ninja logo took every ounce of my soul. Using DALL·E 2 and Stable Diffusion was liberating. I could quickly explore creative ideas and almost instantly coax them into existence.

What will you create? An image you make could be the basis for your next QSL card!


Awesome Gift:

DW3TRZ Gift Collage work-area work-area work-area I received an awesome gift from Ma. Theresa Cruz Aniceto (DW3TRZ)! Thank you!! That made my day! The cross stitch was done with exacting caring precision and arrived in perfect condition from the Philippines. I will hang it up next to my station.

The Filipino greeting "Mabulay" means "Long Live!" Theresa participates in contests and strives to win DX awards. Around the world, she has made many friends!

73 de AD0WE!


Learning Morse Code as a Language:

Secrets of learning a new language Have you ever wondered what the secret is to polyglots, people who learn to speak multiple languages? Or even people who seem to pick up Morse code much more quickly than others? I invite you to listen to this 10-minute inspiring TED Talk, The secrets of learning a new language, by Lýdia Machová, PhD.

Enjoyment:
Making your Morse Code Learning Journey enjoyable is the most important key to success. If it isn't fun or at least enjoyable, it will take a lot of willpower to sustain the necessary practice over time to become fluent. Willpower is a renewable resource, but you can quickly exhaust it with the other things in life that you need to do or accomplish. Once that happens, you'll stop practicing and break your commitment to learning Morse code and improving your proficiency.

Whenever you get bored with one method or approach, try another. There are a TON of options! (We live in the Golden Age of Morse Code!) If you are new to the Morse Code Ninja format, check out the Morse Code Ninja Course and Practice. If you are bored practicing with computer-generated code, try listening to the ARRL W1AW Broadcast, finding and practicing with a code buddy, or receiving guidance and mentorship through the Long Island CW Club classes or CW Academy program. If you have learned the characters, get on the air to practice!

Have you exhausted those options? Check out the Ninja Resources page. You will find a comprehensive list of Software, Interactive Online Resources, On-air Practice, and Hardware for learning Morse Code.

Just enjoying Morse Code practice isn't enough. To become fluent, you also need Effective Methods, Systems, and Patience.

Effective Method:
When starting out, choosing an effective method for mastering ICR (Instant Character Recognition) is crucial. With ICR, the unconscious mind is doing the hard work of instantly recognizing each letter as it is sent. The characters are recognized instantly and effortlessly. This skill will allow you to copy faster than 15wpm and avoid the pitfall of getting stuck at less than 10 to 13 wpm copy.

ICR is the most challenging and essential skill to master. Once learned, it will allow you to master IWR (Instant Word Recognition) and achieve speeds of at least 50wpm when combined with head-copy.

Effective methods to learn ICR will discourage students from decoding the dits and dahs consciously. A common approach is to use the Farnsworth method, starting with a character speed of at least 20wpm and an overall speed of 10wpm. If you can count the dits and dahs, you need to go faster. A character speed of 25wpm is not uncommon, but it may be necessary to start at 30wpm.

If you aren't sure which methods are most effective to learn Morse code and reach your proficiency goals, ask a mentor, take classes with the Long Island CW Club, or go through the CW Academy program. There are known effective methods for every phase of the learning process.

System:
Create a system for practicing. When are you at ease and not under time pressure? When are you more likely to be in a learning mindset and can stay focused? And when will you consistently have time to practice? Do you have time to practice on your commute to work or perhaps when you first get up?

Create a plan, turn it into a habit, and make it a part of your everyday life. Be realistic, and don't overdo it. An aggressive routine will lead to burnout and suck the enjoyment out of the practice. The best Morse Code practice is the one you will do!

Consider frequent, consistent practice. It takes repetition over time to develop long-term memories and improve your proficiency. In general, more frequent practice for shorter periods is more effective than fewer, longer sessions. Ideally, practice twice a day for at least ten minutes each time.

What is not effective? Spending a lot of time trying to learn Morse code over a few days or weeks. As an analogy, we all know that it is not effective to memorize a bunch of facts the night before a test. You may pass the test but quickly forget what you learned.

Patience:
Be patient and give yourself grace. Learning Morse code as a language takes time. It is not difficult to learn, but it requires practice and dedication to become proficient. Incremental success and achievement are a source of motivation to continue your journey of learning. Consider keeping a log of your practice and proficiency. Look back on it when you fail to see all the progress you have made. Persistence and patience pay off.

I find that Morse code becomes a language and not just an encoding once you can head-copy at 30wpm or faster. Achieving this level of proficiency will not happen in weeks and months. It may take a year or two. If you have higher aspirations, know that reaching those lofty proficiency goals could take years. It wouldn't be uncommon to take three to five years to head-copy a general QSO at 50wpm.

However you approach learning, I wish you all the best success on your Morse Code journey! I hope you found this helpful.




Why CW is So Cool:

CW is cool It's 11 pm EST, and you're listening to the last few CW signals remaining on the band for the night. Things are very slow, and it's about time to turn the radio off and finish up the day before sleep. Of the three things you hear, they are mostly longer conversations, at higher speeds, between operators that have obviously spoken together many times. The conditions aren't great, and things are fading in and out.

Then it happens. Out of the void you hear a solitary CQ call, at only 10wpm. It's the third repeat of the CQ now, and you know from experience that there is only a small chance that someone will respond at this hour, on a night like this, at that speed, with conditions being a bit marginal.

You have a thousand reasons not to respond:

  • Your code has sucked today, and you're really struggling.
  • You're tired and stressed, and the accuracy in your characters showed it when you practiced a bit.
  • You have some key fright because you don't want to embarrass yourself (again).
  • You still need a decoder on some QSOs, and if the conditions fade too much - you'll be left with no backup - just your tired brain and a hard-to-hear signal.
  • The other station is at 10wpm, and your iambic keyer gets very easy to mess up on when you get down to those sending speeds.
  • The other station is a straight key - and while their CQ is easy to copy - you fear that the actual QSO might be much more difficult.
  • The list goes on...

But you haven't made a single QSO today, and it's your last chance to fit one in before the end of the day. So against all of your doubts and urges to just sit this one out, you hit a few buttons, set a few parameters, and start keying their callsign.

Once this happens, there's no going back. It's only forward from here. No matter what. Like that first jump from the high dive when you were a kid at the public pool - with everyone watching. This is the stuff of nightmares.

Will they even hear you? Will they hear you well enough? Will they immediately know that you are a beginner and the QSO will be a mess? Perhaps they won't even respond.

But they do. You hear your callsign coming back to you.

Then something amazing happens. The QSO is paced perfectly. The conversation is positive and great. The typical lines are there for the signal report, name, and rig information, with a little extra room for a joke or comment. Both operators are somewhat new to CW, having a great time, and the messages at the end of the QSO are grateful, uplifting, and sincere. Both operators truly appreciate having notched a good contact for the night and having practiced their new skill just a little more.

You sit there dumbfounded as you realize that you just had your best QSO, after all that doubt. You couldn't see it coming. Yet there it was. It was somehow waiting out in the ionosphere for your antenna to reach out and grab it.

That feeling is very difficult to describe. Now that I'm older, I also realize how rare that type of feeling is. It's something that mostly exists in childhood. It's really something special.

That's why CW is so cool. Deceptively simple, difficult to master, and so very cool.

(Reprinted with permission — Author is a new member of a popular amateur radio sub-reddit, /r/amateurradio.)


3D Ninja Logo:

3D Ninja logos work-area work-area work-area work-area work-area I am excited to present the 3D Morse Code Ninja logo! You can download the files and print your very own today! (If you don't have a 3D printer, many public libraries offer inexpensive access to 3D printers. If that doesn't work for you, contact me, and I'll print and ship one to you at cost — $15 includes materials and shipping within the USA. It is sized to fit in a USPS Flat Rate Shipping Box — 6.41" x 4.92" x 1.18". You can choose between Black or Galaxy Grey.)

I recommend printing no smaller than about 3.54" x 2.72" x 0.65" or 90mm x 69.1mm x 16.62mm. You can scale the print arbitrarily large or small, but if you go too small, the printer won't have enough resolution, and parts of the model will be too fragile. Use your slicer to print with supports and have the Ninja's backside facing the first print layer. I print with a brim, but it isn't strictly required.

Thanks, Jack (AA0IZ), for refining the initial prototype! It was difficult to remove the support structures from the original model without tearing away the arm of the Morse code key. And the Ninja needed to be trimmed down so he wasn't so husky looking.

Jack has also designed a bobblehead version that is available for download. (A small spring is the only extra hardware you will need.) My sincere appreciation is extended to Jack! He printed and sent one to me. I have it sitting on my Icom 7300, as shown in the picture.

Guardian of the KeysGuardian of the keys? hi hi. As a surprise gift, I gave away the initial prototype print to Cathy (W4CMG). It made her day! And it goes to a deserving home to someone who passionately gives back to the CW community. She named him Guardian of the Keys and stands watch over her growing collection of keys.

Amateur radio is an umbrella hobby with many hobbies embedded within it. I had been considering a 3D printer for the last couple of years, but it was Joe's (K0NEB) presentation at the 2022 OzarkCon QRP Conference that convinced me to get one. I went all-in with a best-in-class Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ 3D printer. It has worked out great, considering all the things I have printed over the last few months and have had only one failed print.

This project has been a lot of fun, and I have learned a lot too!


Hamvention and Award:

A photo of Kurt Zoglmann receiving the CWops award at the award banquet. I am proud to have received and share the 2022 Award for Advancing the Art of CW along with the Long Island CW Club and Neil (ZL1NZ). It was a great honor. This is an annual award given by CWOps to recognize individuals, groups, and organizations that have made the greatest contribution(s) toward advancing the art or practice of radio communications by Morse code.

It has been my pleasure to give back to the amateur radio community and those aspiring to learn Morse code and improve their proficiency.

My website has been described as a gigantic CW superstore containing anything you could possibly be looking for related to CW — especially CW training resources, including Software, Online Training, On-the-air Practice, Hardware, Books, Instruction, and Advice. (If I'm missing something, please let me know!)

Ninja StickerCelebrate with me and enjoy a Morse Code Ninja sticker on me. In June and July 2022, send me an email telling me a little about yourself and your Morse code journey and request a sticker. If you would like to save me a stamp, please send SASE to my QRZ address.

Accomplishments:

  • Developed a popular and efficient format for Learning Morse Code — 1) Morse Code, 2) Spoken, and 3) Morse Code repeated
  • Developed comprehensive Morse Code course — Uses same character order to complement CW Academy program
  • Developed 200+ unique practice sets of incremental difficulty
  • Developed innovative Speed Racing format to accelerate learning to copy faster Morse Code speeds
  • Developed and open-sourced the Morse Code Ninja software
  • Developed Morse Camp with Petru (CT7AZH)
  • Provide 10,000+ hours (Course + Practice Sets) of Morse code practice content on YouTube, podcasts, direct downloads, and bulk downloads for free — provide flash drives (at cost)
  • Developed Closed-Captioning for Morse Code Ninja Practice sets and Course on YouTube. Helps enable those hard of hearing to learn Morse code.

Interesting tidbits:
Hamvention and Award Ceremony Collage work-area work-area work-area work-area work-area

  • People have listened to over 100,000 hours of Morse code on my YouTube channel!
  • 40% of people listen to my YouTube videos with closed-captioning turned on
  • I don't monetize my YouTube channel
  • I offer a total of 166GB worth of audio files for download for free
  • People download 1TB per month of audio files!

Hamvention:
It was fantastic to attend Hamvention this year and meet many friends for the first time! As pictured in the top right of the collage picture, I had an excellent conversation with Charlie (NJ7V - Red Summit RF) and Brian (W7JET) on ideas to help newcomers. And pictured in the middle right of the collage, I was delighted to meet Cathy (W4CMG) and Anne (KC9YL) — they accepted the CWOps award on behalf of the Long Island CW Club. If I didn't have a chance to meet you this year, let's plan to meet at Hamvention 2023!

I wish everyone all the best on their Morse code journey! 73 de AD0WE


Phonic Copy:

The following article is reprinted with the author's permission, Paul Carreiro (N6EV) Originally published in 2009 and last updated February 4, 2017. This article complements the recently released QRQ Course.

I also started practicing using this method without realizing there was a name for it! Amazing! I use IWR (Instant Word Recognition), some Phonic Copy, and a bit of ICR (Instant Character Recognition) to copy at QRQ speeds. Because the spelling of English words is not entirely phonetic, I suspect many people will also rely on multiple methods of copying Morse code simultaneously. I encourage you to learn and give it a try! I also welcome your feedback to learn more about your experience!

Thanks again, Paul! I know others will find it thought-provoking!

Introduction:
Sound WaveAs with any processes, there are alternate methods to achieve an end goal. Since I hadn’t seen it depicted yet in the various discussions about head copy, I want to share the method I use. Like many have testified, my transition from written to head copy came by operating true mobile CW operation (in motion.. as opposed to portable operation) where written copy is impossible / impractical.

Before we break down the phonic method of head copy, let’s first consider basic code reception with the following concept from Steve, N8CPA: "Letters are graphic representations of sound. Code is an aural representation of graphic representations of sounds." At the beginner level of code reception, code elements are received audibly; mentally converted to a letter representation of that code element; then that letter representation is written down. Comprehension of the content of the message occurs only after the written letters are constructed into words and sentences. As proficiency increases, the speed of this conversion improves, and perhaps the method of writing down each letter becomes more efficient. But the basic process is unchanged as speed increases. Various speed plateaus are reached due to bad habits, poor writing techniques and ultimately, the limit induced by the time required to mentally convert from audio element to letter representation to written form.

Most head copy methods that you see described involve learning to recognize word code patterns rather than individual letters. Variations also include using a mental ‘blackboard’ to queue up letters until a word is recognized. Comprehension occurs after each word pattern is completed and recognized. These word recognition methods have been used by countless operators successfully over the years. Since the written portion of the process is removed, copy speed naturally is improved. And while I understand the concept of recognizing word patterns… I often wonder what happens when a word arrives that you haven’t yet learned to recognize pattern wise? Comprehension, while vastly improved over written copy, is still stuttered. I want to be clear, I’m not saying the word pattern method is wrong or invalid. To me, it just seems less efficient (and comfortable) than the method I’m about to describe.

The Phonic Copy method can be summed up by altering Steve’s concept above to read: "Code is an aural representation of a phonic sound." Each Morse Code element represents the phonic sound of a corresponding letter, not the letter itself. This means, as elements (letters / numbers) are received, they are phonically pronounced in the speech / aural portion of the mind (the auditory cortex) rather than visualized graphically as letters or whole words in the written / visual portion of the mind (the visual cortex). One universal principle to increasing copy speed is to remove the number of steps or conversions it takes from reception to comprehension. By eliminating the conversion from aural representation to graphic representation, phonic copy allows instant comprehension, many times even before a word is completed. As Drew, AF2Z aptly states: "You can hear a word building to completion as it streams by, not as a unit word sound that pops into your mind …. (and) not as individual letters that you have to assemble either. It’s more like spoken words that are being pronounced rather slowly."

To expand on and better demonstrate the Phonic Copy concept, let’s use the word "PRONOUNCED" as an example. I doubt this would be a word that many using the word pattern recognition method would have practiced and learned before hand as it is not a common word used in QSOs. Look at the word ‘P R O N O U N C E D’ and step through it phonically letter by letter in the speech / aural portion of your mind. Each letter has a distinct phonic sound associated with it. This Phonic Copy method (thanks to Walt, W5ALT for helping give it a name) is the same process, except instead of visually stepping through the word as you just did, the phonic sound elements are recognized (verbalized in the speech / aural portion of the mind) as each code element is audibly received. There is no visualization, letter queuing or pattern recognition involved (other than converting the code elements into phonics). Numbers are simply recognized as you would speak them. Punctuation and pro-signs are recognized easily by their pattern.

Copying this way, there are no unrecognized (not yet learned) patterns or words to worry about. Nor is there a queue of letters to keep track of (blackboard method). In fact, using this method, I can listen to two CW stations conversing in Spanish, and ‘hear’ the conversation as if they were in front of me. Granted, comprehension is limited in this example as my Spanish is marginal! The code simply flows as a phonically pronounced stream of words and numbers in the mind. Comprehension is instantaneous (assuming you understand what the word means!), as opposed to waiting for a pattern (word) to be recognized. As with other head copy techniques, this method is easier to use the faster the code is sent. So it doesn’t lend itself to extreme QRS speeds. It also lends itself to conversational CW where apprehension and the mind’s own error correction kick in. You wouldn’t use this method to copy random five letter code groups.

You could compare these two head copy techniques to, on one hand, seeing a stream of written letters or words pop up on a computer screen (visual / graphically recognized pattern method), versus having words spoken out of a speaker of that computer (Phonic Copy method). Or more simply, the difference between reading text versus listening to speech. Admittedly, I have not experienced the visual / pattern recognition head copy techniques that have been discussed and used by the vast majority of CW ops. But it would still seem to me that Phonic (pronounced) Copy would be a more fluid and easily learned method. It simulates an audible conversation with someone, as opposed to a chat room conversation. From personal experience using this technique, my head copy speed skyrocketed to over 45 wpm, and has easily translated down to slower speeds. Copying ‘Conversational CW’ at QRQ speeds using the phonic method is truly effortless, relaxing and achieves that nirvana state where the Morse becomes a language, not just a code representing letters and numbers.

I offer Phonic Copy as an alternative method / perspective for head copy that has worked for me and others. For whatever reason, it has not been well documented to my knowledge compared to the word recognition method. And near as I can tell, a very small percentage of CW operators practice this method. Take it or leave it. Your mileage may and will probably vary. No warranty expressed or implied.

What ever method you use… ENJOY CW! As long as we communicate, and have fun while doing so… we’ve achieved the ultimate goal.

Your thoughts are welcome.

Learning the Phonic Copy Method:
A simple illustration of a boy reading a book and imagining amazing adventures I’ve been asked many times since writing this article back in 2009 how to learn the Phonic Copy Method. Initially, these were tough questions to answer as I didn’t intentionally set out to learn this method. It came quite by accident without recognizing exactly what process I was using. So I went back and analyzed the circumstances in which I learned to head copy phonically. The key to this method, as mentioned above, is the use of the speech / aural sections of the brain (the auditory cortex, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s speech area) versus the written / visual sections used in other head copy methods. I learned while driving long highway distances. While driving, the brain processes the road and potential hazards ahead via the visual stimuli presented. This leaves the aural / speech section of the brain available to process the auditory Morse Code into phonic speech sounds.

My advice for learning this method is to set yourself in an environment where your eyes are occupied by some visual stimuli, while your ears are left without distraction to process the incoming Morse elements. As with other head copy methods, the code element speed should be at or above 18-20 WPM and the content should be plain conversational text, not random letters or words. During initial training, it will be easier to start with Farnsworth style code, with plenty of space between each code element. Start by consciously equating the sound of a code element to its corresponding phonic. Don’t worry about catching every code element, words or comprehending the context of the text. Then just keep the code in the background while occupying your eyes. You can do this while driving if you have a receiver, or MP3 player. Or, at home, start a long video with the audio turned down. Pick something interesting. Perhaps the many ham related videos on YouTube. Be sure the video’s audio is turned down, then start your Morse audio input. It’s a bit like walking and chewing gum at the same time, but the brain has an amazing ability to multi-task like this. As you gain more experience in converting the code elements to phonic sounds, progressively shorten the extra Farsworth spacing until it’s removed.

Keep at it and eventually you will pick up strings of phonic sounds that form words. When you get to this point and start stringing words together you will start to comprehend the context of the conversation. That’s when the other aspect of this method kicks in to assist… that of anticipation. Just as with normal speech conversation, there are logical patterns to sentences (nouns / verbs / adjectives, etc), and there is logical flow to the context of conversation. The language area of your brain (the Broca’s area) has already been trained to do this when you were a child learning to speak and understand speech. It’s okay if you anticipate the next word wrong. We’re not copying forward here. The brain will auto-correct when it hears speech it wasn’t expecting. It’s an amazing muscle. Exercise it!

To further reinforce the process of linking aural code elements to phonics, do the following. In between the sessions of listening to plain text code described above; mix in some sessions where you send words from a key / code practice oscillator while sounding them out phonetically in the mind. This too can be plain text by conducting a mock conversation / QSO. Don’t read text while doing this. Keep the process entirely aural. Before sending each word, sound the word out slowly in your mind. Then repeat the word, again in your mind phonetically as you send each letter on the key / code practice oscillator. As you progress, you can eliminate the pre-sent sounding of the entire word. At this point, just progress from word to word sounding them out phonically in the mind while sending each corresponding letter.

Please contact me and let me know if you have attempted to learn the Phonic Copy Method. I’m curious what others results are like. I’m available for advice and encouragement also.

73, Paul N6EV

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OzarkCon QRP Conference:

OzarkCon QRP Conference Collage work-area work-area work-area work-area work-area I had a lot of fun at the OzarkCon QRP Conference! It was fantastic to have the conference back in person! Ninety-three people came from 20 states. If you couldn't make it this year, consider going next year. QRP and CW go together like peanut butter and jelly.

I was transfixed by the announcement of the T41 Plus QRP Transceiver by Jack (W8TEE) and Al (AC8GY). It is a modular, low-cost, five HF bands (80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters), up to 20watts, Software Defined Transceiver that is open-hardware and open-source and doesn't require a computer. The Four State QRP Group will sell it as a kit. The price is still being determined, but the components cost about $150. Astonishingly Jack and Al poured six man-years into the design of this QRP radio! Check out their companion book, Software Defined Radio Transceiver: Theory and Construction of the T41-EP Amateur Radio SDT! Also, check out their slide deck.

Bryan (K0EMT) and Joe's (K0NEB) presentations were inspiring. Bryan's QRP equipment, operations, and software development survey highlighted the vastness of our hobby and invited us all to try something new — Slide Deck. And Joe's presentation on the intersection of 3D printing, ham radio, and the pandemic kindled my latent interest in buying a 3D printer. I was inspired to bite the bullet and ordered a best-in-class 3D printer — Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ 3D printer.

I was delighted to see a few entries in the Wacky Key Contest! The Lego Key won the competition and was my favorite. The "Key" paddle was a clever play on words and my second choice.

The group kit building is always worthwhile, and this year did not disappoint. We built the Cric-Key, a low-cost entry-level paddle and keyer. The kit has 19 parts to solder and went together smoothly. The paddles are slightly tricky to put together but straightforward with the help of a partner who could provide an extra pair of hands to hold everything together.

Prizes and more prizes! I won four kits this year — Bayou Jumper Transceiver (40m QRP rig), Cric-Key, N6ARA TinyPaddles, and a big bag of resistors, capacitors, and diodes. Bryan (K0EMT) also gave me an N0SS Noise Generator, which will be my first surface mount kit! I'm always amazed at how many prizes are given away at Ozarkcon. They strive to ensure that everyone wins at least one prize.

I hope to see you next year! In the meantime, feel free to join the Four States QRP DMR Talk Group (TG31654) and discuss QRP, ask questions, or rag chew. Or join the voice net on the DMR talk group Wednesday at 9 PM Central (Thursday 0300 UTC).


A Learning Approach to Achieve QRQ:

A stylized illustration calling attention to the QRQ course.We have developed a learning approach to achieve QRQ using a structured high-speed curriculum! It is self-paced and should take about a year to complete. To our knowledge, this is the first-ever such course.

The structured approach to achieving QRQ is a starting point, open to refinement. With additional feedback and collective experience, our goal is to make QRQ accessible to as many people as possible.

Working with Jack (AA0IZ) and Terry (WB0JRH) on this project has been a delight! We appreciate all of the critical feedback while developing the course.

We wish you all the best on your Morse code journey!


A Case for "Book Copy":

A photo of John Silzel (N6HCN) at his amateur radio station.Author John Silzel (N6HCN) — Reprinted with permission. Originally published in the May 2018 edition of Solid Copy. This article compliments the recently released QRQ Course.

It may be that there are two different CW dialects. The "symbolic" dialect, so fluently spoken by contesters and commercial ops, is far more efficient than voice for the accurate transmission of data: formal traffic, call signs or serial numbers, even ciphered military communications. In symbolic CW, anticipation of the next character is a no-no, since the traffic consists of compressed data of high information content and little redundancy. Every character is crucial, and copy must be perfect.

The other CW dialect may be newer and reflect the rise of CW as an art: the use of code as an auditory language. This "conversational" CW is more like speech or silent reading: concepts and context ride naturally on a fuller vocabulary. Neither sender nor receiver may remember the exact words sent, and neither is conscious of characters at all. This CW dialect comes closer to reading than data transmission, and in fact brain mapping research1,2 shows that the brain processes "head copy" much the same way as it does speech or printed text during fast, silent reading.

We know that learning a second language begins awkwardly, with symbols and sounds, mechanical grammatical rules and memorization of seemingly infinite vocabulary. But at some point, the mind assimilates the new tongue, and the mechanics of the language become internalized and unconscious. This process appears to involve a rewiring, or "neuroplasticity" of the brain, involving new connections between sensory and cognitive centers, and a detectable increase in gray matter density.

It seemed to me that expertise in conversational CW, like fluency in any language, would benefit from immersion. But my family and work could not accommodate hours and hours at my rig hunting up a ragchew or listening to W1AW sessions, only a portion of which were of interest or at useful speed, anyway. Making matters worse were poor propagation, QSB, and nighttime QRN at my home. If only, I thought, I could listen to... a good story... sent perfectly, anywhere, hour after hour in CW, at a speed always high enough to stretch my copy skills.

The Solution: CW e-Books
I found the answer on my first internet search: a free, open-source software application called "ebook2cw". This code runs on Windows, MAC OS, and best of all on Linux, my favorite OS. The work of champion QRQQ operator Fabian Kurz, DJ1YFK (CWOps #1566), ebook2cw does just what it says: converts any ASCII text file to a collection of audio .mp3 files that can be loaded on an inexpensive player or your smartphone, burned to CD, or played however you normally listen to digital music. Converting a full-size novel takes about 40 minutes on a laptop, and just slightly longer on a $35 Raspberry Pi computer, an amazing unit worthy of its own article. My solution is to drag-and-drop the converted audio files to a cheap Coby 8Gb MP3 player, which fits in my pocket and holds enough CW for months of nightly "reading".

All of this is great, but until book publishers start releasing CW editions (we won't hold our breaths, will we?) you’ll need a way to get your reading material in ASCII form. Fortunately, the good folks at The Gutenberg Project have provided more than 50,000 ebooks, virtually copyright-free, with more added all the time. Acquiring a CW library is as simple as downloading the "plain ASCII text" version of your chosen book. Even "War and Peace" is only about 3 Mbytes, smaller than an average music download.

It’s of course optional, but I like to use an editor to "search and replace", making some CW- friendly edits to the downloaded book: I replace "and" with "ES" for example. I used to remove quotation marks, but I’ve found that copying that unusual character has become second nature. In fact, ebook2cw handles more punctuation than we use on the air and has means for you to insert prosigns as well. Ebook2cw will optionally insert a BT at the end of each paragraph, which I like very much. (Fabian Kurtz tells me it will even handle some special Greek, Cyrillic, and Hebrew characters!) While you’re at it, check your book to see what text is used to delineate chapters. Ebook2cw can break the book into chapters based on "hits" to a particular search string, like "CHAPTER", and I add this keyword to books whose chapters were ambiguously marked in the original file. This whole editing process takes only about 15 minutes for a typical novel.

At this point, you're ready to feed the edited book into Ebook2cw. I use the no-frills command-line version of the app, but there is a version of the code that includes the familiar "GUI" window interface. It is a simple process and there are good instructions on the website listed above. There are separate speed settings for characters and WPM. I set the program to chop the book up by chapters, and limit each MP3 file to 30 minutes, so they’re manageable for me in one reading session. (Longer files mean more work to find my place if I fall asleep while listening!) I set ebook2cw’s QRQ feature to give me 3-4 WPM of QRQ per 30 minutes, so each file begins at my current comfortable "base" speed and ends up pushing me a bit. Any time I am not stretching a bit to copy the last QRQ, I will reconvert the remaining chapters, bumping things up 3 WPM or so. But I never let it get frustrating — my goal is a relaxed but focused reading experience, not a sweat -breaking adrenaline meltdown! (Save that for CWTs...)

Rewiring Your Brain: From CW "Guinea Pig" to Speed Reader
Your first CW book might seem like slow going. At first, I thought I’d wear out the "rewind" button on my mp3 player. Books are, after all, more eloquent and complex than our on-air QSOs. Strange spellings, dialog, contractions, and sections of oddly spelled vernacular can be challenging at first. Stick with it, and don’t be tempted to peek at the text! If you like Westerns, the books by Zane Grey stick to a fairly common vocabulary and style that helped me adapt to "book copy". When I started out, my (rusty) base speed was about 15 WPM, I still needed a pencil and paper, and I was accustomed to Farnsworth timing. My first goals (besides enjoying the books) were to toss my pencil "cold turkey" and wean myself to normal CW word and character spacing. Then I began to build WPM. As any op knows, this is an irregular process, with plateaus and periods where progress seems nonexistent. But with a good book, it is easy to be patient and "stick with the program".

Once hooked on a good book, you'll be motivated to practice. And with regular practice, learning is inevitable. Your brain is pre-wired for language and cannot help but become more and more fluent. Relax and enjoy the book, speed will come inevitably and effortlessly. After a few books, the unconscious head copy will have you wondering just how fast you can go! I believe anyone can eventually pass 30 WPM by spending 30 minutes per day doing "book copy".

You’ll probably spend several months reading a novel in CW, so you’ll want to pick good reading material. No matter your tastes, there are fine books out there just waiting to be converted to CW. Some favorites of mine are "Riders of the Purple Sage", "The Heritage of the Desert" and "Mysterious Rider" by Zane Grey. "Two Years Before the Mast" by Dana, and "Log of a Cowboy" by Adams are great picks. If a novel sounds daunting, try short stories, like the Sherlock Holmes cases by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the military nonfiction vein, you might enjoy "Blood Brothers", by Colonel Eugene C. Jacobs, and if you’re a geek like me, or just want to practice numbers, you can read government technical reports like the declassified "Project Trinity" documents detailing the first atomic tests. All of these and more are downloadable via the Project Gutenberg site. And of course, you can convert any text file, email, or webpage text — even this issue of Solid Copy! I’ve tried scanning and OCR of printed books, but the process takes too long for me.

The Payoff
Why try this admittedly eccentric pastime? Well, for one thing, enjoying a good book in bed with your eyes shut is very relaxing, and there is no book light or page turning to disturb the XYL. There is no SDR to tweak, no panadapter to scan, no QSB, no QRM, just Fabian’s computer-perfect fist, solid copy, and no speed limits. A suspenseful plot unfolding in rapid CW reminds me of listening to a radio drama, and the pace, though slower than reading or an audio book, has become surprisingly enjoyable.

Like other ops, I have been startled to find that the neuroplastic "rewiring" of my brain has some strange side effects, as well. The ears automatically "lock" onto CW almost instantly and unconsciously, and seem to find code everywhere, on and off the bands. You might find yourself distracted by the odd things being "said" by birds, dishwashers, squeaking machinery, and the vari- ous beeping devices all around us. During ragchews you might be unaware that you are copying code rather than voice. You might find yourself copying more than one QSO at a time.

Has it been a while since you enjoyed effortless CW as a true language, a mental connection, hanging on every word to see if the "good guy" was going to win, or leaning back at the paddles, eyes shut, enjoying a rapid-fire QSK back-and-forth, telling jokes or yarn-spinning with one of the fine ragchewers on the bands? I’m sure that "book copy" will give even the most crazy-fast op a new level of fun and fluency in our wonderful "second language". You might find yourself waxing eloquent on the air, adopting the gritty prose of Hemingway, or the sly humor of Twain in your next ragchew. If you need help converting that first book, drop me an email and I'll be glad to assist.

References
1. Schlaffke L, Leemans A, Schweizer LM, Ocklenburg S and Schmidt-Wilcke T, Learning Morse Code Alters Microstructural Properties in the Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus: A DTI Study. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 11:383, (2017). https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00383

2. Maier J, Hartvig, NV, Green AC, Stodkilde-Jorgensen H, Reading with the Ears, Neuroscience Letters, 364, 185–188, (2004). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2004.04.040


QRQ = Fun:

W4BQF stationThe following article was written by Tom (W4BQF) SK. We will remember his passion and enthusiasm for QRQ (high-speed). I thoroughly enjoyed reading his thoughts and advice. I hope you do too! I hope it inspires you to aim high when you set your Morse code proficiency goals! If not today, perhaps tomorrow.

(Note that the following article was edited for grammar and clarity. You can find the original here. It is unclear how long it will be available.)

70wpm:
I am often asked, "How can you copy CW at 70wpm and higher?" Since it's pretty insulting to answer by saying, "Practice, practice, practice," I usually end up emailing back a synopsis on how I learned to do it.

What I have to say on this subject is only my personal opinion, which generally does not agree with everyone else! I don't believe in the various methods of learning code. I think learning to copy high-speed code is much simpler than following someone else's method of learning to copy QRQ. What I am sharing with you are things that I found to work for me. Others have used different methods of achieving QRQ to copy by ear.

Basics:
There are some basics I think one MUST learn, and the very first one is you must learn to copy ONLY in your head. That's very important! From there, you can begin to increase your copy speed. So copying in your head is a MUST. Jotting down notes or 'keywords' is okay to remind you of something you want to respond to during your QSO.

QSO'ing at 70 to 120wpm is no different than having a conversation on the telephone; you are just doing it using a different language! No sending call signs (except as required) and no sending <BK>. You don't do that on the telephone! And speaking on a telephone is operating duplex. So why not do the same thing using CW?

The second most important thing you must do is have a radio with excellent full QSK (full break-in) at high speeds. Simply because when operating QRQ, you MUST do it in duplex! You don't stop and take notes when conversing on the telephone, so why do it when you are operating QRQ? The radios that I know of that can run full QSK at speeds over 100wpm are the Ten-Tec Corsair II and the Icom IC-781, and they do it flawlessly. In my opinion, full QSK is not at what speed you can hear another signal between dots, but at what speed you can hear your fellow ham trying to break you! Hearing between dots is an acceptable criterion for speeds below 40wpm but is inconsequential over 60wpm. Unfortunately, the more digital circuitry that is added to modern transceivers, the less high-speed QRQ capable they become.

Keyboard Sending:
MFJ-464 CW Keyer/ReaderAll high-speed code (above 55wpm) is sent with a keyboard/keyer or a computer keyboard simply because one cannot consistently send 'clean' code by hand on a key. Consistent 'clean' code makes for easier copying! I've been a CW operator for over 55 years, but I am not one of those 'old goats' who claim that sending CW by any other means than using your hand is not 'real' CW. 'Real' CW is a dot and a dash, no matter how you send it. The idea here is how you copy QRQ, not how you send it!

Most computer programs that are capable of generating CW, for some reason, are not designed to exceed 99wpm. And most computer programs generate CW via a serial or a parallel port. Using these I/O ports causes an inherent problem for smooth CW generation. A computer's CPU produces random (to us) interrupts, which almost always stops activity in any I/O port FIRST! This leads to a 'stutter' sound in generated CW coming from these I/O ports. VE6YP, the author of the program I've been using for close to 10 years, is the only author I know of who has found a solution to this problem. In his program, YPlog, he generates CW via the computer sound card, which is never interrupted by a computer's CPU 'house-keeping.' The user will need to build a very simple audio detector and a transistor switch to key his radio. This system works very well to over 160wpm.

Head-Copy:
You first want to learn to copy in your head only because when you get to speeds around 50 to 55wpm, you have to teach your brain literally to change its method of interpreting code. (And it takes a while to do this!) Below about 50wpm, you still hear a dot and a dash to form a word. When copying at 60wpm and higher, you do not consciously hear a dot and a dash. You literally hear a word. Also, at that time, you begin to have a 'flow of conversation,' just like you are when you're talking on the telephone. If you send me code groups at 70wpm, I could not copy most of them, but if you and I are in a conversation at 70wpm or higher, THEN I can copy pretty solid.

Although you will not be conscious of copying dots and dashes, if the sender misspells a word, but somehow, you will notice. For instance, if the sender sends the word 'will' as 'wEll,' your mind will catch that one dit was missed. But your trained mind will ignore that one missed dit, and it will continue copying.

I'm not entirely sure, but above 70 to 80wpm, your mind is in the 'flow of the conversation' and will not likely copy every word sent to you. But your brain is copying enough to make sense of what is being sent!

Code Reader:
A screengrab of MorseCoder running on an iPhone.To increase your copy speed, I recommend a code reader. And don't be shocked by that! I recommend a code reader because the process of learning to copy from about 50 to 60wpm is where you have to teach your brain to copy code differently. The problem at these speeds is if you miss a word, your brain automatically freezes and tries to 'guess' the missed word. While the brain is trying to decide what that one word is, many more words go flying by, and you get very confused and lose track of what is being sent to you. When you start using a code reader, you're going to just read the screen, but subconsciously, the brain is associating the dots and dashes with what you're reading on the screen. The more you do this, the less you read the screen. You will only need to glance at the code reader when you miss a word! This will get you over the 'brain freeze' caused by missing just one word! Once you get to copying around 60wpm, when you DO miss that one word, your brain realizes it but then continues to copy, ignoring or filling in the missed word.

Don't worry about a code reader being a crutch, simply because when you get to where you can copy around 60wpm, you will find that you can then copy code better than a code reader! A code reader is not very good at handling high-speed code in the presence of normal band noise of your receiver. Beyond 60 to 70wpm, the readers cannot keep up anymore because of noise crashes, but your brain can easily filter out the noise. A code reader is an 'aid' to helping one learn to copy code faster. It is NOT a crutch!

Two big things about QRQ: 1) You HAVE to make it just another FUN thing you want to do with your hobby. 2) You are not going to learn to do it overnight! But anybody can learn to do it.

Tom's Story:
I started doing QRQ sometime in the late '60s when I heard two hams talking to each other on their regular skeds on 40m, at 100wpm. I thought it was fascinating and just decided that was something I WANTED to do. And it took me about a year to go from 30wpm on my keyer to over 60wpm. That includes the time it took me to change from a QWERTY to a Dvorak keyboard layout. The neat and fun thing I found is that once you get to where you can copy between 60 and 70wpm, your mind seems to open up to copying QRQ. Going from 60 to 100wpm appeared to be a breeze compared to retraining my brain to get through the 50 to 60wpm 'brick wall' we all have to go through.

I really don't know how fast I can copy, but I used to have QSOs with KB9XE and NU2C at 120wpm and could fully understand what they were saying. NU2C tested me once, and he would send me two questions, which I had to answer both, then he would go up 5wpm. Finally, at 145wpm, I got only one of his questions! I have recently read that a German ham copied a call sign being sent with RufzXP (a high-speed competition program) at 200wpm! Copying CW at high speeds, either 145 or 200wpm, is one thing. Having a conversation at those speeds is something entirely different.

Again, two things. You have to make this a fun thing, you have to want to do it, and it can get pretty frustrating at times. You have to be willing to spend the necessary time on the air working at improving your copy. That is the only way I know of that you can do it, as there are no shortcuts. Interestingly, of the maybe ten hams that I know operate at high speeds, none of them have any interest in records or recognition for their QRQ ability. They all simply do it for the enjoyment of it.

Epilog:
I relate to many of the things Tom has to say. I am currently practicing at 55wpm, having reasonable success, and intend to switch to 65 or 70wpm in a few months. My long-term goal is to read a book at 40wpm. I once read that your enjoyment with Morse code is proportional to your proficiency. I wish I knew where I read that! I have found it to be true in my experience.

I strive for efficient Morse code practice. In my experience and research, rapid and continuous feedback will enable the quickest path to mastery. It is the idea behind the Morse Code Ninja format — Sent in Morse code, Spoken, and then Repeated in Morse code. Tom's suggestion to use a code reader may be controversial for some people. But used well, it will provide instantaneous feedback at a glance.


Star Trek Crossover:

I am smiling ear-to-ear after receiving a surprise gift from someone that knows me very well. To say that it made my day would be an understatement.

Daniel Davis was hired on Cameo to lift my spirits. Daniel was a guest actor on Star Trek: The Next Generation and played the role of the holographic Professor James Moriarty. He appeared on the second and sixth season episodes "Elementary, Dear Data" and "Ship in a Bottle."

Daniel claiming to have run into Samuel Morris and knowing that he is delighted by my efforts is a marvelous and fantastical thought!! It makes me giddy and laugh out loud every time I think of it.

This is a personal video and something that I waited almost a year to share. I hope that it brightens your day too. (Note that I removed a couple of personal segments to retain for my enjoyment.)

My very best regards and thanks to Daniel,

Kurt


2021


Ninja Card Exchange:

Morse Code Ninja sticker Collage work-area work-area I celebrated the holiday season with a Christmas card exchange. Each card came with a Morse Code Ninja sticker, personalized message, and a Ninja winter photo.

In all, I sent 109 cards! It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. It is a small joy receiving personal mail in our ever digital world. If you missed out, I plan on doing another exchange next year!

I hope that everyone had a terrific and merry holiday season! As the year came to a close, it has been fantastic coming to know so many wonderful people in the CW community.

I wish everyone all the best on their Morse code journey!

73 de AD0WE

TR-25 Transceiver Build:

TR-25 Transceiver Build Collage work-area work-area work-area I am excited to have successfully built the TR-25 transceiver! At $200, it is an excellent QRP 2-band CW transceiver. It provides operations on 20 and 40-meters and supports RIT (transmit frequency offset from receiving frequency).

I love the feel and aesthetics of this transceiver. It has a nice heft without being overly heavy. The OLED display is bright and can easily be seen outside in full daylight. All functions are accessible with physical controls, there are no complicated back menus, and the controls are intuitive and not crowded. You can quickly tune to the desired frequency; depressing the frequency knob cycles the frequency-step through 10 Hz, 100 Hz, and 1 kHz. The headphone jack has enough amplification to drive a small speaker! And as a bonus, there are separate ports for a straight key and paddles.

Half glass full perspective? 1) The built-in keyer does not support multiple iambic keyer modes. Depending on your muscle memory, this might take some practice getting used to. Or you may prefer to utilize an external keyer. 2) You cannot completely turn down the sidetone volume. At its lowest setting, it is just at my comfort level. Any louder, and it would be too loud for me. 3) For portable operations, it would be convenient if the transceiver did not require an external battery pack. Unfortunately, the case does not have a holder for three 18650 Lithium-Ion batteries.

The minor limitations are just that, minor. This is a fantastic little rig!

Build:
WA3RNC did an excellent job with the kit! The instructions are clear, detailed, and divided into four parts: 1) Upper Board Assembly, 2) Lower Board Assembly, 3) Preliminary Checks and Tests, and 4) Final Assembly. There are 55 components to solder, which include six toroids. The components and two PCBs fit into the case with tight tolerances. Take your time during assembly to ensure a proper fit.

I was impressed with the packaging of the parts! Typically, I undertake a process of inventorying, checking the values of each component, and labeling and laying out all of the parts affixed to a piece of paper. However, that isn't needed for this kit. There are three long polybags associated with the Upper Board Assembly, Lower Board Assembly, and Final Assembly instructions. And the parts for each step are sectioned off within each polybag. This style of packaging saves a lot of time and potential mistakes!

Although the instructions are excellent, I have one suggestion. Set the side-tone level to the lowest setting by turning pot R38 counterclockwise before keying the radio for the first time. Then key the transmitter and slowly increase the sidetone level to the desired volume. I about blew my ears out initially because pot R38 was randomly set at the highest setting. Depending on when you plan to attach headphones, you may want to do this in the "Preliminary Checks and Tests" or the "Final Assembly" section.

Bottom Line:
The TR-25 transceiver is an excellent portable radio for POTA and SOTA operations, and it is a lot of fun to build! (Depending on the antenna, you may also need an external antenna turner.) And this transceiver is a reasonable first radio for a newly minted amateur radio operator on a strict budget and solely interested in CW.



Soldering Workshop:

Workshop group picture It was a fantastic experience leading a soldering workshop at the Kansas State University Sunderland Foundation Innovation Lab. While students put together the K1EL Morse Tutor Keyer Kit, Kristopher "Mac" Lewison gave an exciting presentation on the historical intersection of Morse code and espionage, along with his own experience. Mac is a retired FBI agent and current K-State instructor.

It was awesome seeing a diversity of students outside of STEM-related majors. This was their first exposure to soldering and hands-on experience with electronics. Everyone had bated breath as they inserted batteries for the first time and were quite excited as their board came to life with the music of dits and dahs filling the room. A couple of boards required troubleshooting, but we eventually figured it out!

I learned that it is much easier to desolder a component with two people working together! Once the component is out, prepare the PCB by having one person suction up the solder while the other person applies heat from the opposite side of the PCB.


Radiogram:

Radiogram to AD0WEWow! I received a radiogram from Lane (WK4WC). That made my day! And my first ever! I appreciate James (KI0BK), Larry (WB9FHP), and anyone else involved in getting the message to me.

ARRL radiograms are messages routed by a network of amateur radio operators through traffic nets, called the National Traffic System (NTS). It is a system used to route messages throughout the U.S. and Canada.

While everyday messages are a delight to send and receive, NTS works closely with ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) to provide emergency communications. Routine messages are sent to ensure that everyone is coordinated, well-practiced, and ready when emergency communication services are needed.


10GHz Rain Scatter:

RF Scattering diagramMorse code with no tone?!? Under certain conditions, such as in a thunderstorm, a 10GHz signal will become so scattered that it sounds like pulses of white noise. Take a listen to this short video below, courtesy of Pete (N0OY). Note that the radio shows 144.100 Mhz. But that is only the IF (Intermediate Frequency). The received signal was at 10.3681 GHz, and the remote station was 650km away, line of sight.

The 10GHz band lends itself to rain scatter and enables communication over hundreds of miles. This is possible because scattering occurs more strongly as the particle size increases or the wavelength gets shorter. And it just so happens that resonance occurs because raindrops are approximately 1/10 the wavelength of a 10GHz signal, which has a wavelength of 3cm.

The larger the angle between stations and the higher the thunderstorm, the longer the potential communication path becomes. Under ideal circumstances, 700km direct line-of-sight paths are possible.

To learn more about this fascinating topic, please take a look at Tom William's (WA1MBA) Rain Scatter, SHF and EHF paper.



Limits of Human Perception:

speed

I stumbled across a thought-provoking 11-minute video — What is the fastest music humanly possible? — that may have exciting implications on how we perceive Morse code at high speeds. Music and Morse code share an underlying rhythm, and our internal clock governs our perception of that rhythm.

In my experience, Morse code loses its signature tone as the speed reaches 50wpm or more, which can make it initially difficult to learn to copy. Yet still higher, at 70wpm, I notice something distinctly odd that makes Morse code incredibly difficult to copy. It just sounds different, and I can't explain it. However, this video may provide some insight.

In music, the inter-onset interval (IOI) is the interval between onsets of stimuli, or more specifically, the time between the perceived beginning of one note and the next one. The faster the rhythm, the shorter the IOI.

Research shows that as IOIs shorten to 50ms, human perception begins to shift from perceiving a beat/rhythm to pitch.

At 50wpm, a dot is 24ms, and the dash is 72ms long. The average of these two numbers is 48ms. It is hard to imagine that this is just a coincidence that Morse code begins to take on a different sound at this speed! I'm far from alone in noting that Morse code takes on more of a pulsing sound at 50+wpm.

At 73wpm, both the length of a dot and dash fall below 50ms — the dot is 16.4ms while the dash is 49.2ms. Very few people ever develop proficiency beyond 75wpm. Perhaps 73wpm represents a natural speed barrier. It isn't insurmountable, but it keeps most people from going faster. It would be great to see more research into this area.

How fast can you copy? And how fast do you want to go?   :)


Released Ninja Software:

GitHub screenshotI have open-sourced the software used to generate Morse Code Ninja practice sets. It has been released under the GPLv3 license. Check it out on GitHub!

The software has a lot of opportunities for improvement. It is far from user friendly! It requires many libraries and other utilities to be installed. And it requires setting up an AWS account to make use of AWS Polly, a high-quality text-to-speech service.

The initial priority will be to improve the documentation and bring the user interface up to a level that would be expected for a command-line utility. The software is known to work on macOS but should also work on Linux.

There is interest within the Long Island CW Club to make the software more accessible to a general audience. If you have the time and talent, I welcome contributions. Feel free to open a pull request.


Insights on ICR:

Magic Eye DinosaurSteve (K9NUD) is making excellent progress in mastering ICR (Instant Character Recognition) and has made insightful observations on his journey. With his permission, please enjoy his thoughts on the matter.

Have you ever messed with those "Magic Eye" images? Some people can't see the intended hidden image, but many can, though it requires effort to transition into the required state of visual perception. The image to the right jumps out as a 3-D dinosaur. I mention this because I am learning how my brain works when it comes to CW.

After switching to 25 WPM two-character random sets, I have identified at least four states of perception:

  1. I totally got that wrong. This usually happens when my attention is not fixed on the task. I hear two characters, and I try to do a quick translation before the announcement. I often get one or both wrong.
  2. I got the first character, but I spent a moment translating it and subsequently missed the second character.
  3. I got both, but it took a moment. I still think or say it before the answer is given.
  4. I know the character the moment I hear it, understanding its meaning before I hear the second character, which I also decode and perceive the moment I hear it.

All of this helps me discover how my mind works, or more specifically, how my attention works. When I am in the right state of perception, the characters just flow. Getting into that state reminds me of achieving the visual state needed to perceive the magic eye stereograms. Interestingly, I can expend effort and remain in the fourth state, but a slight pause in my thoughts will cause me to drop into the third state momentarily. The fourth state is also helping me identify characters that I have not completely mastered, such as the letters Z and X. I haven't begun numbers, punctuation, and prosigns yet. I wonder how many people who can copy fast code have mastered the ability to bounce between 3 and 4. I suspect there are more states I have not yet discovered. Words are probably the fifth state.

Anyway, this has been a remarkable exercise in self-discovery. I intend to keep pursuing it. As an interesting side-effect, I actually lost some weight since beginning my journey. I was once obese but lost 70 lbs in recent years through lifestyle interventions. I know that the brain consumes upwards of 20% of our energy, so it only makes sense that intense mental activity will consume more of the available energy. Without increasing energy intake, weight loss just happens. Others have noted this anecdotally when it comes to cramming for tests and term papers, among other things. I can only assume the effect will diminish as I learn to enter the more efficient states of perception.

I have yet to discover how to store what I'm decoding in a region of memory that remains separate from the decoding area. I actually struggle more with 5-10 WPM CW, almost needing to write it down. Rather than being frustrated by it, I'm learning to observe my learning process and gauge my progress. I practice yoga and mindfulness meditation, both of which have helped me identify a kind of "higher mind" that oversees and orchestrates my train of thought. Sometimes I feel like Timothy Leary, sans the LSD.

I am thankful for the Morse Code Ninja practice sets for facilitating this fascinating self-discovery journey. The compilations are like plugins for the 3D modeling tools of the brain. I wish all others all the best on their Morse code journey!

Best regards,

Steve, K9NUD


Practice Over Time:

Illustration of hamster and Morse Code NinjaI started my Morse code journey 3 years ago! To this day, I have spent a little over 500 hours learning Morse code and improving my proficiency. My long-term goal is to head-copy an audiobook in Morse code at 40wpm comfortably, and I am making excellent progress toward that goal.

Illustration of hamster and Morse Code NinjaI have kept a detailed log of my practice, which allows me to indulge in data analysis and visualize my practice. To the right, you will see two graphs that show the same data in slightly different ways. The top graph, "Practice Over Time: Day vs. Speed," will give you some insight into when I started practicing at a given speed and how that increased over time. Along the x-axis is the day of practice. Day 1 is the first day of practice.

The colored graph, "Practice Over Time: Month vs. Speed," gives you an idea of where and how much time I have spent practicing at a given speed. It is a heat-map, and along the x-axis is the number of months since begging to learn Morse Code. It is interesting to note that I spent a lot of time at 30wpm in the first couple of years and then largely transitioned to practicing at 40wpm in the last 6 months.

To meet my long-term goal of reading a book at 40wpm, I am expanding my vocabulary of words so that I can instantly recognize their sound-pattern (aka Instant Word Recognition) without needing to spell them out letter-by-letter. Books make use of a large vocabulary, so it is an awesome challenge! It is like learning a new language! Literally!

You may have noticed that I have a lot of practice sets available. I have created a series of practice sets — Sentences from Top X Words, where X currently goes from the Top 100 Words to the Top 1,500 Words. Each practice set is intended to teach the sound pattern of 100 new words at a time. I have found that learning any more words at one time can be overwhelming, and I don't find it efficient practice to encounter multiple words in a sentence that I don't know.

Because the Top 1,000 Words are some of the most common even in a ragchew, I have gone back and created an extensive collection of review practice sets to ensure that every single word is used in a sentence at least 20 times! Hearing a word in a sentence 20 times is the magic number for me to learn them! Hopefully, your experience will mirror mine. Also, in my experience, it is most efficient to learn words at a speed no less than 30wpm. And I find longer words such as INFORMATION easier to learn at 40 to 45wpm. There is a maximum length of time that a word can take up before I can no longer recognize it as a complete sound pattern.

I really enjoy the learning process itself, and I hope you enjoy the journey too!


2020


Stickers are Available:

Morse Code Ninja sticker Collage work-area work-area work-area Morse Code Ninja Stickers are now available. They are four by two inches. And they are UV resistant and waterproof so that you can put them on your car window or even just your laptop/computer.

I'll send you one if you send a smaller-sized self-addressed envelope to my address below.

Kurt Zoglmann
3107 Lundin Dr Apt 12
Manhattan, KS 66503

In December, I sent out a lot of stickers over the Christmas break! I ran out of stickers initially. But by January 19th, I was able to send everyone on the waiting list a sticker. I have plenty of stickers left over for anyone who wants one!

Happy New Year to all!


Practicing with Daisy:

Illustration of hamster and Morse Code NinjaNew skill unlocked — playing hand-over-hand with a cheek-filled hamster while copying Morse code sentences at 40wpm for 30 minutes! It is akin to patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time.

It was a fascinating experience. It was just distracting enough that I often let go of consciously copying each word and merely focused on the meaning. To my surprise, I often got the practice sentence correct in those moments. For reference, these are the Levels of Morse Code Proficiency.

  1. Conscious decoding of Dits and Dahs
  2. Instant Character Recognition
  3. Instant Word Recognition
  4. Focus on the Meaning

At 40wpm, I rely heavily on IWR (Instant Word Recognition) and typically pay close attention to each word as I copy it. Letting go is not something I have done before with success.

Daisy requires a lot of attention. She begs to be pet, held, and played with. She refuses to be ignored when I practice Morse code in the evenings. I'm sure she will increasingly be a part of my practice routine.



Portable Satellite Tracking Presentation:

First slide of Portable Satellite Tracking slide deckI appreciated the opportunity to speak to the Grayson County Amateur Radio Club in Texas. Their club is planning a satellite-related project to build together as a club. And I have been researching different options for building a portable and inexpensive satellite tracking system, so it was a good fit. Eventually, I would like to make a CW contact via one of the amateur radio birds!

In my research, there are three published options.

  1. Autonomous Satellite Tracker (Elwood WB0OEW)
  2. Tricked-Out WRAPS Satellite Antenna Rotator (Mark WA8SME)
  3. Repurposed Telescope Alt/Az Mount (Dwayne NA6US)

Each of them has its pros and cons. Feel free to check out my slide deck, which has links and details for each project. I tried to make the slide deck useful on its own.


Halloween Fun:

Mike N1CC with Julia KJ7QIO dressed in Halloween costumesThe Long Island CW Club hosted a Halloween CW Game Night over Zoom! They used Morse code to play games, such as Bingo, word unscramble, joke-telling, and snowman (aka politically correct hangman)! The grand prize was a Moserino-32 donated by Willi (OE5WKF) and Rob (W2ITT).

This year Mike (N1CC) made an appearance as the Morse Code Ninja!! That's amazing and hilarious! Joining Mike and also pictured was his daughter Julia (KJ7QIO). On a side note, Mike has been using Morse code Ninja practice and recently received his 25wpm proficiency award! Congratulations, Mike!

It sounds like everyone had a blast, and there was great attendance! I plan to participate next year!


Dear future wireless telegraphers,

Morse Code Ninja silhouetted at sunsetRemember why you started. Think about all the friends, your mentors, the people you look up to, and all the memories you have made. Think about your first QSO. Think about why you practice, your goals, and what you want to achieve. Those moments — think about the adrenaline rush of that special contact. Not everyone gets to experience that. And it is something great to be a part of. Think about how much pride you take in it.

Think about all the hours you have put in and all the sacrifices to be proficient. Don’t think about it like you have to do it. Take pride in the fact that you’re willing to sacrifice. And take pride in the fact that you’re willing to do the things that a lot of people aren’t willing to do.

Be appreciative. Not many people get to experience the joy of Morse Code and the awesome CW community that spans the world.

Just think, one day, you could be writing to future CW operators to inspire a new generation. — The Morse Code Ninja


HecKits Step Attenuator:

HecKits 50 Ohm 62db Step Attenuator build work-area work-area work-area work-area work-area I had fun putting together a HecKits 50 Ohm 62dB Step Attenuator. It is easy to solder and assemble. The kit contains 21 metal film resistors (hand-labeled), 7 DPDT toggle switches, 2 BNC connectors, and an aluminum box. The only difficult part is carefully following the directions to ensure all the switches, BNC connectors, and PCB board fit correctly into the enclosure. If you make a mistake, things will not line up correctly with the pre-drilled holes!

This stepped attenuator will come in handy while locating nearby RFI or participating in a fox hunt! It allows selecting any attenuation between 0 to 62 dB in 1 dB steps. I tested out the kit in my apartment, and it works flawlessly.

Darrel Heckendorf (WA7OIB) shipped the kit quickly and included the instructions with the shipping notification. QST Magazine has an in-depth analysis of the attenuator in the October 2020 issue, pages 43 to 46. With 6 dB selected, the SWR is very close to 1:1 through the 2-meter band. And the attenuation is flat through the HF range and rising to about 6.4 dB in the 2-meter band.


Letter and postcards from Paris:

Eiffel Tower with statue on the right Eiffel Tower at sunset Kids skating in front of the Eiffel Tower I received a letter and postcards in the mail from Serge (F4HYY) in Paris! He sent me a nice letter thanking me for all my YouTube videos and this website dedicated to learning Morse code. It made my day, and I especially appreciated the handwritten note. It was an awesome surprise to find in the mail.

The Eiffel Tower is iconic. One day I hope to see it in person! Serge notes in his letter that as an antenna, radio saved the Eiffel Tower from being destroyed! I didn't know that.

A bit more research showed that "Since Gustave Eiffel footed 80 percent of the tower’s construction costs, he was permitted to have the structure stand for 20 years in order to recoup his investment before it passed into the hands of the Parisian government, which planned to disassemble it for scrap metal. Seeking a way to prove the structure’s strategic utility in a bid to save it, Eiffel erected an antenna atop the tower and financed experiments with wireless telegraphy that began in 1898. The value of the tower in sending and receiving wireless messages, particularly for the French military, caused the city to renew Eiffel’s concession when it expired in 1909. Today, more than 100 antennae on the tower beam radio and television broadcasts around the world."

It is awesome to be at the right time and place to give back to the amateur radio community. My YouTube channel averages 200 visitors watching 100 hours of content every day! And those who wish to practice offline download about 300GB/month from my website.

Thanks Serge!


ICOM 7300 Panadaptor:

I am excited to get the RadioAnalog Panadaptor module for the ICOM 7300 radio. It is fantastic to see the entire band at one time in high resolution and easily and quickly control the radio from my computer. The panadaptor module is easy to install, and it provides a significant boost in experience and enjoyment listening to the radio. Watch my 4-minute video for a quick demonstration.

I also discovered that SDRUno version 1.3 is now able to output 192kHz worth of Raw IQ to CW Skimmer! (But it does require cheap virtual audio cables.) The feature allows me to quickly decode everyone on the band at the same time, which is impressive during contest conditions! The only downside is that it taxes my laptop to the limit, almost to the point of being unusable! Perhaps I will have to upgrade my computer sometime this summer. I'd love to build a custom PC that can handle SDR with ease.


Morse Code Revival:

Google search trend for Morse Code from 2004 to 2020, showing an upward trend towards 2020.I discovered something exciting! According to Google Search Trends, their data shows a resurgence and growth in the interest of Morse Code in recent years. In the graph, the blue line represents Google searches for "Morse code" by month, while the black line shows a rolling average. This seems to match what many people have noticed in recent years. I am sure that the CW Academy and the Long Island CW Club's online classes have played a large role in making this happen!

Google provides data from 2004 until the present. In the data, you can see the revival starting around 2015 and reaching highs not seen since the beginning of the 2000s. For context, the FCC eliminated any Morse code requirement for licensing at the beginning of 2007. Interest in Morse code sharply fell off around the same time, so it is awesome to see a come back.

It will be interesting to see where interest goes over the next few years. I believe we are in the golden age of Morse code!


Research during WWII:

Research paper on Morse code laid out on a deskI spend an afternoon restoring a fascinating research paper on Morse Code from Harvard University released in the Journal of Psychology in July 1943!

The outbreak of World Word II created a massive demand for the United States to train men in the use of the International Morse Code, perhaps as many as 10,000 men per month! The problem was that 30 to 60% of men entering radiotelegraphy schools failed to become proficient operators. The author, Donald Taylor, carried out experiments to determine aptitude and ways to shorten the length of time necessary to train men to become proficient with Morse code. The results are fascinating! And some of it goes against commonly held beliefs in the amateur radio community even today! The sample size was relatively small, so there is that.

What I found fascinating is the predictive power of The Initial Learning Test for aptitude. It had an adjusted correlation coefficient of .73 between the results of it and the speed test given during the 22nd hour of practice. It was also interesting that the results didn't find any statistical difference in what character speed was used in learning Morse code. That seems to fly in the face of going advice for those who aspire proficiency above 12wpm. However, no matter what speeds they used, the format of instruction helped the students avoid decomposing the sound pattern of characters into dits and dahs. And that might be the most crucial key. But from a practical perspective, it would seem increasingly difficult with slower character speeds to avoid hearing the sound pattern as dits and dahs instead of the sound pattern.

The restoration of this document was more time consuming than I had expected. I used OCR to convert the text. But it required a lot of proofing and formatting to restore the document to its previous glory. It is so much easier to read than the original!

If you have a bit of time, I invite you to give it a read!


Exploring Satellite Radio with SDR:

Screen capture of MacDopler showing an RS-44 pass over KansasI had fun exploring Software Defined Radio and Amateur Radio Satellites! On the morning of May 10th, there was a great opportunity to catch a bird. RS-44 (aka DOSAAF-85), a satellite built by students at Siberian State Aerospace University and launched in December 2019, passed nearly overhead and would transit the sky for over 21 minutes from horizon to horizon. The Amateur Radio transponder had been activated only a couple of weeks prior.

The satellite is in orbit at an altitude of 775 miles! For a low earth-orbiting satellite, the satellite has a vast footprint and can be seen across North, Central, and parts of South America at the same time! It is one of the best opportunities to work DX, given the currently available satellites in operation.

At 11:13 am, I pointed my handheld arrow antenna at RS-44 and hit the record button on my SDR software, SDRUno. While recording, it captures 2MHhz worth of raw spectrum as I/Q data.

Back of a car showing portable reception of satellites using SDRUno and Software Defined RadioAfter a few minutes, I could see and hear the satellite beacon on my laptop. The doppler shift from the speeding satellite was quite noticeable on the Morse code sidetone. (Think about how a train sounds as it blows its whistle approaching and then passing you.) And almost immediately, I could see that the satellite passband was filled with amateur radio operators contacting each other using SSB voice! (The satellite has a 60kHz inverting transponder. Uplink 145.965 MHz +- 30kHz and Downlink 435.640 Mhz +- 30kHz.)

It was difficult to watch the trajectory on my phone, keep the antenna pointed to where I thought the satellite was, adjust the antenna's polarization by twisting it one way or the other, find a station to listen to, and continuously adjust the frequently for doppler shift! That is a lot of multi-tasking, but I managed to listen to a couple of amateur radio operators working each other!

Finally, at 11:33 am, the satellite passed below the northeastern horizon. But the best part was yet to come! As soon as I got home and got everything put away, I began to re-play the recorded I/Q data. I could tune anywhere within that 2Mhz! So I listened to XE1KK for a while. Then I backed the recording up and listened to W5CBF on a different frequency, and then again to hear other QSOs. I had no idea how useful it could be to record raw RF and play it back later! For example, it was helpful to experiment with different filters while listening to the same station and adjusting for doppler shift. There was no time pressure.

Toward the end of the pass (but not shown in the video), there was some CW traffic. There was also a lot of fading, so I couldn't quite make out any particular calls. It would have been neet to catch a CW QSO! Perhaps one day, I will even work CW on an amateur radio satellite. Until then, I need more automation to track and adjust for the doppler shift before I'd personally attempt to contact a bird with CW! That is just too much multi-tasking for me.

If you would like to hear the pass for yourself, you are welcome to download an 8.4GB Zip file with the I/Q data. You will also need to download and install SDRUno. Once the SDRUno is installed, unpack the Zip file and load the first .wav file into the program. As you listen, SDRUno will automatically move to the following files.


Joy of Hiking with Morse Code:

Kurt Zoglmann (AD0WE) with sunglasses and listening to Morse code on a hikeIt was a treat to go out on a hike and listen to a short story in Morse code! The warm, bright, spring afternoon sun made for the perfect opportunity to go on an 8-mile hike along Linear Trail and enjoy listening to How the Grinch Stole Christmas at 30wpm.

I hadn't had an opportunity to listen to it since creating the audiobook last December. It turned out to be surprisingly tricky to head-copy in certain parts of the story. Dr. Suess makes use of uncommon words in some passages! And I heard many words for the first time in Morse code, such as Who-ville and clucked.

It was great to get out into the fresh air and enjoy the warm springtime temperatures. I was a bit tired by the end of the hike. But it was good for the soul, and I am looking forward to the landscape turning green again.

Discover the joy of hiking with Morse code too! Autumn and springtime are some of the most temperate in Kansas, even if they don't last long. Perhaps they are too in your part of the world? Be sure to use earbuds. Wind and other nearby sounds can make it challenging to hear Morse code clearly and easily outdoors.


DX: The Easy Way:

How to Chase, Work, and Confirm DX The Easy Way book laying on a coffee tableIt was a great day to spend inside and read a book! The weather was bad, and the roads were treacherous.

How to Chase, Work, and Confirm DX The Easy Way by Craig Buck (K4IA) was a great short read. Rarely do I read a whole book in a single day! It is chalked full of practical advice and tips for working DX. It was exciting reading about OQRS (Online QSL Request System) and GlobalQSL (offline 2021) as options for getting QSOs confirmed. I wasn't familiar with either. I was already familiar with other options — direct, QSL managers, QSL Bureau system, and LOTW (Logbook of the World).

I also learned about the NCDXF/IARU Beacon Network, which has 18 worldwide beacons that broadcast on a rotating schedule across 14.100, 18.110, 21.150, 24.930, and 28.200Mhz. I tuned into the 20m beacon frequency and heard nothing. So I checked a remote station on the east coast and was only able to hear LU4AA. I guess propagation wasn't that great this afternoon on 20m!


DitDit Interview:

DitDit.fm podcast logoIt was an awesome opportunity to be interviewed for Episode #29 on the DitDit.fm podcast, the most popular podcast dedicated to amateur radio operators using and learning CW. Bruce (N9WKE) is a wonderful guy and a lot of fun to talk to! It was a joy talking to him about my love and passion for Morse code. We talked about my Morse code journey, my Morse code Ninja website, and tips for learning Morse code.

If you listen to the episode, I hope that you enjoy my excitement, enthusiasm, and hope for a brighter future. We live in the Golden Age of CW! There are so many resources and opportunities available to anyone willing to learn and use Morse code.


Two Year Anniversary:

Over the last two years, I have had a wondrous adventure learning Morse code, making my first CW contact, making many friends along the way, and giving back! It all started with a desire to fulfill a dream when I was a teenager of learning Morse code.

Aerial view of Kansas State University looking down on Anderson HallMany years ago, in 1996, I received a $2,000 scholarship from the Dayton Amateur Radio Association. At the time, I was looking forward to studying electrical engineering at Kansas State University. I had high hopes of becoming an RF engineering and designing cool new radios.

That didn't happen, but I hope that whoever made the scholarship possible would be proud to know that I graduated cum laude from the College of Engineering at Kansas State University with a B.S in Information Systems, a degree closely related to computer science. And proud I would later go on to pay it forward and give back to the amateur radio community by using my expertise as a software developer and my passion for Morse code.

After becoming proficient at 25wpm, I was nominated and accepted into CWops. And then, I became an associate advisor for two CW Academy classes — Level 2 class with Mark Tyler (K5GQ) Spring 2019 and now a Level 1 class with George Burger (W0PHX) Winter 2020. Both have been remarkable experiences. Meeting students online, seeing their excitement and progress, and being a small part of their success is a delight.

In the summer of 2019, I created this website, a Morse code course, and a vast repository of practice content from 15 to 50wpm! At the beginning of 2020, I now have 979 YouTube videos and 2,000 hours of content! I also made this content available for download at no cost, but donations are always appreciated to offset hosting expenses.

Creative Spark:
Cover of Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

Where did the inventive spark come from to create all this content? It started with reading Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel. The book lays out many ideas for improving learning outcomes, both from the perspective of students and instructors. The authors do not merely present good advice. Instead, they present practical approaches to learning that are backed by evidence and decades of peer-reviewed research. A good portion of the book is dedicated to summarizing all of the references! If you have the time and are a life long learner, I highly recommend it. I wish that I had read it much earlier in life!

Important ideas from the book

  • Spaced retrieval practice, of at least one day, halts forgetting, strengthens retrieval routes, and is essential for hanging onto the knowledge and skills you want to gain.
  • If you're going to become an expert, utilize deliberate practice, which entails self-discipline, grit, and persistence. Realize that it often takes 10,000 hours or ten years of training with high-quality and immediate feedback from coaches and experts.
  • Strive towards learning goals as opposed to performance goals. If your goal is to increase your ability, you pick ever-increasing challenges, and you interpret setbacks as useful information that helps you to sharpen your focus, get more creative, and work harder.
  • Making mistakes is part of learning. Recognize that mistakes are not a sign of failure, but of effort.
  • If you think you can, or you think you can't, you are right. — Henry Ford

After reading the book and using RufzXP and Morse Camp for an extended time, I realized first hand just how useful and vital it is to practice every day and get immediate feedback. Immediately knowing whether you got something right or wrong and seeing the answer is a crucial aspect of learning efficiently and effectively.

Hale Library fire aftermath at Kansas State University The second insight came in response to a disaster at my workplace. May 2018, the roof on K-State's central library caught on fire, and local firefighters poured thousands of gallons of water into the building to douse the blaze. This disaster compromised our datacenter, which was located in the basement! And it has forced us to migrate our applications to the cloud.

In preparing for this migration, I studied for the AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification and stumbled across a cool service called AWS Polly. This service turns text into lifelike speech, and it is the technology that powers Alexa. It allows any developer to create voice-powered applications inexpensively.

So putting this all together, reading Make It Stick, using RufzXP and Morse Camp, and discovering AWS Polly led to my signature format of 1) Sent in Morse code, 2) Spoken, 3) Repeated in Morse code, and 4) a courtesy tone. On a side note, I am very thankful for the generous free-tier provided by AWS. I have yet to pay anything for my usage of AWS Polly. However, I have had significant expenses creating many 100s of hours of video to post to YouTube. I use ten large servers at a time, to render in a day what would take my iMac an entire month!

Innovation:

CWops logoAfter going through CW Academy Levels 2 and 3 as a student, I was proficient enough to be nominated and accepted into CWops. But it wasn't because of my ability to head-copy. Instead, I typed everything as I heard it. And it took monumental effort to maintain speeds close to 30wpm despite being able to type at over 60wpm! I practiced hard and frequently, but my ability remained capped at 30wpm. This finally convinced me to take up head-copying wholly and enthusiastically. Joe KK5NA, my CW Academy advisor, was right after all! Hmm. I hate being wrong!

I changed the way I practiced and left my hands off the keyboard. I had early success learning to head-copy individual words, but I struggled to string those words together to form ideas, phrases, and complete thoughts. This was a problem to overcome, and this necessity became the mother of invention!

N-grams
To ease the cognitive load of remembering a string of words, I recalled an idea from computer science and located a source of the Top 500 n-grams containing the most frequent 2, 3, 4, and 5-word combinations used in contemporary English. N-Grams in this context are sequential words found in a sentence where n is the number of words found in the sequence. For example, "on top of the" and "I was going to" are common four-grams.

On my practice page, you will find these labeled as Sets of X Words, where X is a number between 2 through 5. For each practice set, I randomly selected each entry twice for a total of 1,000 practice opportunities creating many hours of practice content!

I then used the n-gram practice sets extensively and was able to get up to 40wpm with consistent practice. That was great! But...

Sentences from a limited vocabulary
Book cover for War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy The second source of innovation came from my difficulty in stringing a larger number of words together to form a complete sentence and thought. I knew there had to be an intermediate step between the short common phrases that I created from n-grams and complete sentences. The key was to remove the cognitive difficulty of encountering a lot of new words while acquiring this skill.

So I came up with creating practice sets with sentences made up of the Top 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 words. Each sentence would be between three and twelve words long and of limited complexity. This practice would be useful for anyone, including myself, who had acquired ICR (Instant Character Recognition) and could easily copy the Top 100 Words or more. This also lets students quickly transition to practicing with entire sentences! It doesn't take long to get familiar with the Top 100 words once proficiency is reached with ICR.

But how would I find these sentences matching this criteria? I am creative, but not that creative! So first, I downloaded two dozen public domain books, such as War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. Then I wrote a script to parse the books into sentences, located sentences between 3 and 12 words, identified the least frequent word in each sentence, and then filtered and ordered the sentences for review. Finally, I carefully went through the list and picked out sentences that were easy to understand in isolation.

For each practice set, I identified around 275 unique sentences. But for the sentences made up of the Top 100 Words, I was only able to come up with 190 sentences. So, in that case, I provided plenty of material to work with by randomly selecting each sentence twice.

I have enjoyed practicing with these sentences made from the Top 100 to Top 500 words, and I have had much more success in head-copying entire ideas and sentences!

The Future:

I don't know what the future holds, but I know that the future is bright and full of opportunity. I have a lot of optimism. I will leave you with a short story and video that will hopefully bring a smile from me to you.

At the end of 2019, I have made a lot of progress, but I am still a ways away from being able to reach my long term goal of head-copying a book easily at 40wpm. I know with continued practice, I will get there one day.

While I don't have a goal to head-copy at extremely high speed, I have made significant strides towards it in recent months. This became obvious when I noticed that five-gram practice seemed unusually easy at 40wpm. So, of course, I had to put myself to the test.

In this video, you see me for the first time copying three-grams in Morse code at 50wpm!! I could clearly and easily hear the separation between the characters for the first time! My excitement was genuine. I was astonished because I had been focused on head-copying sentences and on building up my vocabulary of sound patterns to recognize words. This latter part of that is known as ICW (Instant Word Recognition).

Perhaps more astonishingly, since then, I have continued to test myself on occasion. And I have even had some limited success head-copying three-grams at 70wpm! Morse code sounds a lot different beyond 60wpm. It loses much of its tone and takes on more of a pulsating sound.

If I have any immediate advice to give, it is to practice, practice, and practice some more. I keep detailed logs of my practice. If you can believe it, I have practiced 19,022 minutes over two years, which works out to be an average of 26min/day.

I wish you all the best on your Morse code journey! If there is anything I can do to help you, please do not hesitate to reach out and contact me.


Inspired on the First Day of the New Year:

N0OY station's 28-foot satellite dishN0OY EME station during a demonstration of solar noise when pointed at the sun

I spent the first day of the year at Pete's (N0OY) Open House. His 10GHz EME station is just outside of Salina, Kansas. Amazingly, there are only 100 world-class amateur EME stations such as his.

I thoroughly enjoyed visiting! It was a lot of fun meeting other area hams and seeing familiar faces. I especially enjoyed a personal tour of the antenna farm, industrial projects, and his amateur radio station. Pete is a really great guy!

Walking up to Pete's 28-foot dish is awe-inspiring! It is mounted on a battleship gun turret, which is positioned above the shack! The station sits atop a hill looking down on the treeless countryside, and the dish has an unobstructed view of the sky.

Kurt Zoglmann (KB0TMQ) in portable setup for VHF QSO Party in 1995

Seeing such an EME station reminded me of a humorous incident when I was a teenager and just getting into amateur radio in 1995. My uncle, N0ZHE, came out to our farm to work the June VHF QSO Party. It was hot that summer weekend, but a lot of fun. Right before we tore down the station, I noticed that the moon was rising over the eastern horizon. I had heard of EME and thought we should give it a try! My uncle laughed and said, "No, that will never work!" We had a single 13 element 2-meter beam up 15ft and 100watt out. I was undeterred and kept pestering him. And finally, he relented and said okay, let's do it.

We carefully lined up the beam and called out CQ over 2m SSB. And of course, we heard nothing but static. Not even a hint of an echo! My uncle just smiled. Little did I know how difficult it is to bounce a radio signal off of the moon and hear yourself on SSB. However, I still have an inkling to do it! But perhaps with CW!


2019


Hike with The Cat in the Hat:

The underside of a bridge on Linear Trail in Manhattan, KSKurt Zoglmann (AD0WE) on hike listening to Morse code

I went on an 8-mile hike and listened to The Cat and the Hat in Morse code at 30wpm! It had been about a year since the last time I enjoyed this childhood favorite.

It was a great day to embark on a playful adventure. The temperatures were in the low 60s with a gentle breeze, an occasional crunch of leaves under foot, and the sun poking out between the clouds. There are not many days left before it turns off cold.

Cat and the Hat was delightful. It is an easy listen. It has a limited vocabulary, and many words are repeated. I missed a few words here and there, but I did much better than last year! Perhaps next year, I will be ready for the story at 40wpm!

Linear Trail in Manhattan, KS

For comparison, here is my account from a year ago.

Learning to read again. Or at least that is what it feels like as I "read" Cat in the Hat. I walked 5 miles yesterday and today. Both times I listened to the story in Morse code at 25wpm. It took 1 hour and 50 minutes to get through the whole story each time. On the first read, I got 70% of the words. Occasionally I would get a whole sentence or two. I only got a little of the story because all my effort was on hearing the words. On my second read, I got 90% of the words and was able to follow the story.

The funny thing is that I haven't read this story in 30+ years. And I didn't remember a lick of it. So it was surprisingly satisfying, slowly figuring out what the story was all about. I had plenty of time to use my imagination to paint a vivid picture.

This experience strongly reminded me of when I was a little kid trying to read for the first time. I struggled to read the words AND follow the story. It took a year for me to catch up to the other kids at school.

Worked All States CW Goal:

Progress on Worked All States Award using CW

My goal for 2019 is to work every state using CW. It is a celebration for all the progress I made last year to learn Morse code. Ideally, QSO's will be confirmed through LoTW so I can get an official award. Any method of confirmation is appreciated!

I plan on regularly getting on the air and participating in contests. This spring and summer I will go portable and activate several state parks with POTA. (Parks on the Air is an excellent opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors and amateur radio!)

I am anticipating that Alaska and North Dakota will be my most challenging states. It took quite a while to work and get them confirmed using JT65 and FT8!

As I make progress, I will periodically update the graphic. If you would like to help me, I am always up for a scheduled contact. Feel free to email me!


First Book in Morse code:

iPhone screen capture of listening to a homemade audio bookCZUR book scanner laying on top of kitchen table

Patience finally paid off! And now I have a full-length book to listen to in Morse code over the coming months! After an expansive seven month journey, I listened to the first hour of it today.

Last fall I had success listening to The Cat in the Hat. It was a delightful experience. Afterward, I made a long term goal of being able to read a full-length book in Morse code at 40wpm. Since that time, I have been practicing Morse code every day.

To make my goal happen, I was not interested in listening to public domain books from the turn of the 20 century or earlier. So I had to find a way of scanning in an entire book. Coincidentally a book scanner became available on Indiegogo for $175, which is less than half of the retail price of another model CZUR sells on Amazon. So I went for it. I didn't think it would take seven months to get here! Their original estimate was three months. It turned out they had a ton of problems scaling up. They were not anticipating needing to manufacture 10,000+ units.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to find just the right book. I wanted a science fiction book, but the word choice couldn't be too extensive, and the sentence structure had to be reasonably simple. Constantly encountering new words in every sentence is a bit frustrating, so an easier read is what I was looking for. I considered The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. While at the book store in the mall, a helpful customer recommended it to me. I nearly got it, but at 662 pages, the length seemed excessive for my first real book in Morse code.

Scanning in a book using CZUR book scanner

Undeterred, I went to the library to check out the young reader's section. Having never looked for a book at the Manhattan Public Library, it took a bit of time to find just the right book. But I finally found it — The Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede. It is about a young girl who finds herself out on an old west-like frontier crossed with the fantasy of magic. It is highly rated for the demographic and it is only 320 pages!

Once we got home, it took about an hour to scan the book and correct the OCR (optical character recognition) errors. It took another hour to extend my script Perl and Python scripts, which is used to convert the text of the book into Morse Code. I had to deal with some peculiarities. Once everything was ready to go, I kicked off the program and let it run overnight. It ended up taking 13 hours to create five versions of the book at 25, 28, 30, 32, and 35wpm. The 28wpm version is 118 hours long!!!

I ran into some unexpected problems trying to transfer the audiobook to my phone. Some trivial corruption had taken place in the process of concatenating 11,000 individual MP3 files together. To correct the problem, I ended up converting each of the final MP3s to AAC and then repackaged the AAC files into M4A files. After a few more hours of processing, I was able to get it on my phone and finally hear the sweet sounds of success.


First CQ WW WPX Contest:

James (KW5CW) at W0QQQ station working the CQ Worldwide WPX ContestKurt Zoglmann (AD0WE) at W0QQQ station during the 2019 CQ Worldwide WPX Contest

I participated in the CQ Worldwide WPX Contest with James, KW5CW. He drove up from Texas, and together we activated the Kansas State Amateur Radio Club (W0QQQ)!

It was fun and a grand experience seeing James work one station after another all across the world. He worked 501 stations while I did the logging! I have no idea how he got by on so little sleep! But I learned a lot and know what I need to work on to gain proficiency in contesting.

Map showing all of the contacts made from Kansas State University club station (W0QQQ) during the 2019 CQ Worldwide WPX Contest

It was also great meeting James in person for the first time. It isn't often that I find someone who is so excited and passionate about CW.

Two years ago, I made a routine FT8 contact with James on 40 meters. I could not have known at the time, but it was a noteworthy moment that would lead to a great amateur radio friendship. We have exchanged numerous emails, and I have had the opportunity of contributing to the Grayson County Amateur Radio Club Newsletter in Texas.

As I have progressed on my Morse code journey and gained proficiency, James has taken an interest in my progress. I would like to think he has seen the same kind of passion that has led him to many years of passionate CW operations.


Moserino-32:

Soldering and assembling the Moserino-32 on the kitchen tableMoserino-32 assembled and working

I love the Morserino-32! It is a multifunctional Morse code device that can be used as a practice trainer, keyer, file player, and Morse code decoder. It also functions as a CW Transceiver using the LoRa (Long Range WiFi) on 430 Mhz, which allows nearby Morserino-32 users to practice with each other. I would not hesitate to recommend it to others. I have had it a couple of months now and use it every day for Morse code practice! (See this short video for a quick demonstration.)

I bought the Morserino-32 for its Echo Trainer (Challenge / Response) functionality. In this mode, you select either random character groups, CW abbreviations, English words, callsigns, or random. You get three attempts to get it right by default. First, it plays a selection. Then you immediately send it back using the built-in capacitance touch paddles or an external paddle. If you get it right, it continues to another round. If you get it wrong, it repeats. If you get it wrong too many times, it shows you the answer and moves on. This functionality enables me to conveniently practice sending.

In my opinion, this is one of the best hardware Morse code trainers on the market. It is 85Euro ($99USD) and ships from Austria. The unit can also run from a battery. Please note that the kit does not ship with a LiPo battery since it is onerous to ship internationally. A set of batteries and charger can be picked up for $20 on Amazon. (The charger is not necessary since the Heltec microcontroller has an onboard trickle charger. If you don't want to purchase a battery, the Moserino-32 can run off of USB.)

Assembling the Morserino-32 is straight forward and took about an hour and a half for me to put together. The assembly instructions are detailed and provide closeup pictures to avoid making mistakes. Most of the parts are surface mount and are already mounted onto the PCB board, but the Heltec microcontroller and larger components are left for the end user to assemble. 1) First, the phone jacks, trimmer resistor, rotary encoder, and sliding and push-button switch are soldered into place. 2) Then the Heltec microcontroller is placed into an IC socket and soldered onto the board. 3) Next, a position for the Lithium-ion battery is determined, and the connecting wire is trimmed and attached to the PCB. 4) Finally, the case is put together and the LoRa antenna connected to the Heltec microcontroller.

If you are a software developer, you will be happy to know that the Morserino-32 is Open Source. You can get the documentation and microcontroller software on GitHub. If I can find the time, I have thought about adding a feature or two.


Parks on the Air Adventure:

Kurt Zogmann (AD0WE) at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge participating on POTA (Parks On The Air)

I am excited to have activated Quivira National Wildlife Refuge K-0294 with my uncle Greg, N0ZHE. I will not soon forget the adventure and challenges!

Quivira is a hidden gem in south-central Kansas (30 miles to the west of Hutchison). At 22,000 acres, it is the only salt marsh in Kansas and attracts vast numbers of migratory birds. There are 20 miles of roads that closely wind around the water and afford excellent opportunities to view wildlife on your own personal safari. The salt marsh is created by groundwater percolating up from salt deposits near the surface. Some parts of the marsh have salt concentrations high enough to support salt-tolerant plants. Coronado even visited the area in 1541 in search of gold!

Parks on the Air is an awesome program that brings together the great outdoors and amateur radio! The goal is to make a minimum of 10 contacts with other amateur radio operators while enjoying fresh air, wildlife, and beautiful scenery. A month ago, I realized that there was a perfect spot to set up and play radio. At the head of Migrants Mile (a paved .75 mile trail midway in the refuge), there is an open parking lot next to Park Smith Lake. It is beautiful, quiet, and spacious. I made plans to supply the power and antenna, while Greg would provide the radio and antenna tuner.

Park Smith Lake at Quivira National Wildlife RefugeQuivira National Wildlife Refuge entrance sign

Wherever challenges are encountered, ingenuity is not far behind! Once we arrived and began to set up, things did not go according to plan. I provided half of the gear, while my uncle had provided the rest.

1) We quickly discovered that we didn't bring along the tool bag. Uh, oh! The Grasshopper vertical antenna has three hose clamps holding the segmented pole in place. If we could not extend the antenna, it would be too short and prevent us from getting on the air. With a moment to ponder, I asked Greg if he had any change. He said yes. There were quarters in the dashboard, and they worked for a makeshift flat-head screwdriver!

Greg Wycoff (N0ZHE) at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge setting up an antenna for POTA (Parks On The Air)

2) Next, we realized that the heavy-duty zip ties needed to be cut. If we could not unroll the antenna radials, we would not be able to transmit using the vertical antenna. We looked and looked, and looked some more. Without success, Greg even tried ripping the zip ties apart with a key. We were stumped. We did not have a pocket knife or anything sharp to cut through the plastic. Eventually, Greg spotted a Cotter Hairpin and realized that he could use it to twist the zip ties until they broke.

3) Then the wind started blowing! The tool bag also had the guy wires to hold the antenna in place and prevent it from toppling over in the wind. Fortunately, the base plate was just big enough to load it down with weight. And the nearby trees provided just enough protection from the wind to get away using 5lbs of dead weight. If it were any windier, we would have had to find heavy rocks.

4) Lastly, we learned that we did not have a way to power the antenna tuner! Without the antenna tuner, there was no way we were going to transmit on that Grasshopper antenna. By design, it is non-resonant on all amateur radio bands! This predicament required carefully looking at what we had and problem-solving together. We ended up with a precarious solution. We took apart the existing power cord for the antenna tuner. That left us with two open wires. We connected each end to another length of wire that had a battery terminal clamp on one side and an Anderson power pole on the end. Finally, we plugged that into an MFJ power box. Fortunately, the break out box included fuses and protected us from a short!

Kurt Zogmann (AD0WE) thinking and listening to Morse code at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge

After a lengthy setup, I reached out to Julia, KF8JBB, via text message for an exceptional contact. I met Julia a year ago in my CW Academy Level 2 class. And we have been practicing Morse code once a week for a year. We have tried several times in the past to make a QSO, but have been unsuccessful. She operates QRP and lives in Columbus, Ohio. And while at home in Manhattan, KS, I have a fairly high noise floor. The two circumstances have hindered our efforts. But we wanted to try again before calling CQ and spotting myself on the POTA reflector.

I called out to Julia on 20meters using CW. After several attempts, she texted back asking if I could increase power. She barely heard my signal. I was not optimistic about our chances. I was already transmitting 50 watts, and she was going to come back to me with 10 watts. I upped the power to 100 watts and hoped for the best.

I tried again and got about 20 seconds into calling her when the radio abruptly shut off. What the heck! In our haste to power the antenna tuner, we overlooked the fact that we plugged the transceiver into an outlet on the MFJ power breakout box with a 10 amp fuse! The radio was pulling close to 20amps when I keyed up with 100watts of RF power. Luckily, there was an outlet with a 25amp fuse. With a quick switch of outlets, I was back up and running again.

Greg Wycoff (N0ZHE) working SSB at Quivira National Wildlife Refugeblown fuse

I called Julia again. This time she heard me! And when she called back to me, I could hear her! We exchanged signal reports and thanked each other for the QSO. I was excited, and Julia was overjoyed. She texted me back and said, "AWESOME!!! Like a Friggin drug. It is the highlight of my weekend already!!" I was also on cloud nine.

After a couple more QSOs, I handed off operations to Greg. He found an open frequency on the upper end of 20 meters and called CQ using SSB. Over the next hour, he made eight contacts. It took a while even though propagation seemed to be reasonably decent. Most operators were giving Greg a signal report of 57 or 59.

Then we took a short break to move the pickup truck into the shade. I reapplied sunscreen and took to the air again using CW. To avoid the on-going contests I set up on the WARC bands. I tried calling CQ on 17meters for a while, but no one came back. So I switched to 30meters and made four more contacts over the next half hour.

Greg Wycoff (N0ZHE) enjoying pizza after POTA activationKurt Zoglmann (AD0WE) enjoying pizza after POTA activation

By this time, the sun was starting to beat down on us, and my laptop was almost out of power. I switched to SSB on the upper end of 20meters and over the next 15 minutes, I made three more contacts. I was delighted when I crossed the ten QSO's needed to count for a successful park activation. Greg considered getting two more contacts, but creature comforts and home were calling to us.

We drove 2 hours back home and treated ourselves to a well-deserved pizza. Relaxing in the shade and on the patio was great. It had cooled off a little by then. The dogs entertained us as they ran around and begged for a bite of pizza.

Greg and I hope to activate another park in June. We learned valuable lessons and will plan better next time! It was a fun and awesome experience.


OzarkCon QRP Conference:

2019 OzarkCon QRP Conference session

Toby (KE0KUY) and I had a blast at the Ozarkcon QRP Conference! Amazingly, Toby won the grand prize!! What a remarkable experience for our first time!

The atmosphere reminded me of a large family reunion — everyone was exceptionally friendly and social. We made several new friends and were implored to come back next year. It was a treat meeting so many passionate and enthusiastic amateur radio operators.

The conference schedule was jammed packed with sessions and activities. My favorite was the Kit Building session. Toby and I signed up to build the Cricket 40, which is a minimalist 40M crystal controlled CW transceiver. We only had to pay a small additional fee and bring several tools, such as a soldering iron, needle nose pliers, and a tray to protect the table.

By coincidence, I sat next to Joe Eisenberg (K0NEB). That was a neat experience! Joe is an expert kit builder and has written many articles for CQ Magazine over the last ten years! Joe puts together two to three kits every month and writes about them. And because he helps coordinate and oversees group kit building sessions, he was delighted to be a mere participant this time.

Assembled Cricket 40 transmitter at the 2019 OzarkCon QRP ConferenceJoe Eisenberg (K0NEB) assembling Cricket 40 at the 2019 OzarkCon QRP Conference

Joe flew through the assembly of the Cricket transceiver. Oh my! To say that he is adept at handling a soldering iron would be an understatement. He was more than generous to stop and help me when I had some hesitation on a couple of steps.

Toby and I finished building the Cricket at nearly the same time — nearly 3.5 hours later. It was nearly 11 pm, and I was exhausted by that point. I wasn't confident when I brought my radio up to the front of the room to be tested, but it worked on the first try! And so did Toby's!

Bob Heil's (K9EID) Pine Board AM Transmitter Kit on display at the 2019 OzarkCon QRP Conference

My second favorite activity was looking at all the homebrew equipment that was on display in the vendor area. I fell in love with an 80-meter spiral loop antenna that someone had put together. It was a work of art, and it looked as if it could have been made during the early days of AM radio. I was also taken with Bob Heil's (K9EID) Pine Board AM Transmitter Kit. It is renown within some circles in the amateur radio community.

Despite 200 people attending the conference, everyone won a prize! Yes, everyone! I won an 80 meter Low Pass Filter kit. But Toby won the grand prize, an Elecraft KX2!! I don't know how, but I just knew moments before they called out the winning ticket number that either Toby or I was going to win. And sure enough, Toby won! Everyone was delighted with the outcome. Toby is a relatively new ham and has been evaluating several portable HF transceivers over the last few months. Toby had rejected the KX2 because of cost even though it is considered to be one of the very best portable HF transceivers on the market.

Coincidentally, I bought a KX2 just two weeks prior! After the conference, we spent an extra day sightseeing. We packed the day and made the most of every moment. We did a ton of things! I hope to come back again.


My First Ragchew:

Map of United States showing contact between Mike (KK7N) in Troutdale, Oregan and Kurt (AD0WE) in Manhattan, KansasI had my first rag chew (aka log conversation) using Morse code! I talked to Mike (KK7N) in Troutdale, Oregan on 20-meters. Signals were strong with just a touch of QSB. For 20 minutes we talked about the weather and other small pleasantries. We jokingly complained to each other about all the snow and cold temperatures this winter. I wanted to keep conversing, but my mind began to tire, and my accuracy in copying started to suffer. So I gave Mike my best regards and let him go. This achievement is a noteworthy milestone in my Morse code journey!

I made several other CW contacts this weekend including one with a special event station WA1WCC. They are celebrating the centennial of the Radio Corporation of America's incorporation on October 17, 1919. In November 1919, RCA acquired the assets of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company.


K1EL Morse Tutor Board:

Assembled K1EL Morse Tutor BoardSoldering and assembling K1EL Morse Tutor Board on the kitchen table

I let the fun out of two identical kits, the Morse Tutor Board by K1EL. After a few hours of soldering and assembly, I had both of them working! The manual has clear, but brief instructions on how to assemble the kit. If you have experience with other kits, this one will be a breeze to assemble.

It is a neat little board. The capacitance keying is fantastic and perhaps the best feature! It has a nice tactile feel that is entirely different compared to a paddle. And yet it feels comfortable and natural. I will have to try it on air sometime soon. I don't think it will take too long to master this style of keying. I might even try it while working portable. It is light, and I won't have to worry about it sliding around left and right.

There are a couple of other notable features. 1) With two kits hooked together, you can practice Morse code in person with a friend across the table or room! 2) By yourself, you can practice playing a Simon-like game. The game works by sending one character. You repeat it back. If you are right, it sends the same character, followed by another one. Every time you are right, it adds one character with a maximum of 5 characters. If you get the character sequence wrong, it sends the letter X and starts over with a new character group. 3) The kit can also be used as a keyer with built-in memory functions.

As a follow-up, a couple of months later, I bought and assembled two more! I have given three away as an inexpensive gift. It has been a great way to excite the right person about Morse code.


First CW Contest:

Plaza West apartment complex parking lot in early winter showing snow on the ground at sunsetMap showing AD0WE contacts in the 2019 ARRL International DX Contest

I am thrilled to have participated in my first Morse code contest, the ARRL International DX Contest! It was a great learning experience! I spent several hours searching and pouncing. Next time I will spend more time operating the 2-day event.

I made a total of 15 contacts. Most of them were international — Germany, Scotland, Azores, Bonaire, Belize, Barbados, Jamaica, and Mexico. On my second contact, I spent 10 minutes trying to decode a callsign being sent at 40wpm while listening to a weak signal. I finally figured out that it was 6Y3M! I did not cheat and use the Reverse Beacon Network. That was the highlight of the contest!

I was surprised to work several Hawaiian stations. They were strong, and they heard me on the first try. I am delighted that my callsign is easy to recognize in Morse code even with a weak signal. Almost all of my QSO's were on 20-meters. The noise level was fantastically low at S1, which is unheard of at my home QTH! I made one contact on 40-meters, but I gave up on the lower band after a while. The majority of the stations sounded mushy with the high S8 noise level and low signal strength.

I look forward to the next contest. By all comparisons, many stations will have made 100's if not 1000's of contacts! Some people live for radiosport. For my next one, I will focus on breaking my record of 15 QSOs.


QCX 20m transceiver:

Kurt Zoglmann (AD0WE)

I am excited to have successfully built my first transceiver and made my first QRP contact! There is a long and proud tradition of building your own radio in the amateur radio community. It is was a great learning experience and a lot of fun! It has rekindled my interest in electrical engineering and tinkering.

At $50, the QCX transceiver is one of the cheapest full-featured QRP CW kits on the market. Kits are available with your choice of a single band, 80 through 17m. It has a 200Hz filter, an on-screen S-meter, CW shaping to remove key clicks, and 3 to 5 watts on transmit. It supports split operation and even decodes stronger CW signals! The internal keyer supports iambic and straight keys. And the kit has built-in test equipment to assist in troubleshooting and calibrating the transceiver without additional expensive equipment. Hans Summers (G0UPL) has done a marvelous job in designing this kit! Perhaps the best part is the detailed and clear instruction manual for putting it all together.

My QCX transceiver sat unassembled and in a box for nearly a year! I considered putting it together earlier, but instead, I prioritized learning Morse code starting from no proficiency. (See below for how I learned Morse code and was able to copy at 30wpm in less than a year. I am very appreciative of CW Ops and the opportunity to take their CW Academy Level 2 and 3 classes. They were invaluable!) But enough was enough. The anticipation was mounting! So this winter I set a goal of assembling the QCX. Short days and cold temperatures are a great time to work on indoor projects.

Day 1 - Preparing for the Build:

Parts laid out neatly on the kitchen table in preparation for soldering and assembling the QCX 20m transceiver

Before getting too serious, I inventoried the parts and made sure that nothing was missing. Next, I affixed the capacitors, resistors, and other small parts to a sheet of paper and clearly labeled them. This step saves time in locating capacitors and resistors with specific values during the build. And it reduces the likelihood of parts getting lost. Avoid using tape on any components, such as integrated circuits, that are sensitive to ESD (electrostatic discharge).

Then I read through the first part of the manual and discovered that I needed a jeweler's magnifying loupe. As the manual suggests, you will want to inspect and verify each soldering joint closely. It is easy to get a cold soldering joint or accidentally bridge two joints together. While I have had some prior soldering experience, this was the first time soldering so many parts so closely together! I also decided to purchase an antistatic mat and strap.

If you are considering building this radio, you will also need a fine-tipped temperature controlled soldering iron, fine soldering wire, and a PCB holder. While not strictly required, you will want a digital multimeter for checking continuity and a de-soldering tool to correct any mistakes.

Day 2 and 3 - Building:

QCX 20m transceiver partially soldered and assembled

After I received my shipment of tools, I was ready to begin the project in earnest. And as luck would have it, it was just in time for the weekend!

The first soldering step was to install all of the IC's onto the PCB. This made me a little nervous since it had been several years since I last touched a soldering iron! You have to balance applying just enough heat to the IC pin and PCB pad to avoid a cold solder joint, but not so much heat that you burn up the integrated component. I set the soldering iron to 375C, which required a few seconds of heating to melt the soldering wire in place.

The ATmega328, the primary microcontroller, was a little more difficult to solder in place. It required first soldering the 28-pin DIP socket, and then carefully inserting the chip into its holder. The pins have to be bent gently and just slightly so that the IC can slip into the socket. If you are not careful, it can result in breaking off a pin! The rest of the IC's were relatively a piece of cake since they were soldered directly onto the PCB.

Next, all of the capacitors are soldered in place. I made sure to double and triple check the value of each capacitor and its placement on the PCB before soldering them into place. The jeweler's loupe made it easy to read the tiny print on the capacitors.

Things did not go so smoothly. Difficulty started when I created a cold solder joint. I had trouble getting the leads on one capacitor heated back up to melt the solder quickly enough without excessively heating the component. Turning up the iron 25C to 400C took care of that problem.

QCX 20m transceiver mostly soldered and assembled

Then after the numerous capacitors, I soldered a handful of diodes and two crystals into place. Next, I started to solder the abundance of resisters onto the PCB. Once I got to resistor R12, I did a double take. Wait, what? Despite carefully checking the position of each component before soldering them into place, I discovered I had reversed the position of capacitor C18 and resistor R18! They were firmly soldered into place. What should I do?

For a while, I thought I might have to purchase a new kit and start over!! It was extremely difficult to correct. I slightly damaged the capacitor, but it checked okay — 978pF versus the expected 1nF. I also ruined one of the PCB pads getting them desoldered. So after getting them swapped, I checked and re-checked the electrical conductivity between the traces to the other connecting components from C18 and R18. I was relieved when everything checked out. I was very fortunate! Learn from my mistake. All of the capacitors are annotated on the PCB with a rectangle! C18 and R18 are right next to each other, which is unlike any of the other ones.

Next, I soldered a multitude of components onto the PCB — potentiometers, electrolytic capacitors, transistors, .1" male pin headers, a voltage regulator, and power connector. All of these were straightforward and easy to install. By the time I had gotten to this step, I had put in 15 hours into the build and had 141 components soldered together!

QCX 20m transceiver soldered, assembled, and powered on for the first time

Next, the toroids and transformer need to be assembled and installed onto the PCB. I made sure to stop right before this step and get a good nights rest. These are difficult and critical steps in the build.

The first torrid was the most difficult one to assemble and solder since it was my first one ever. The instruction manual indicates that the number one cause of problems with building kits from QRP Labs is the failure to remove wire enamel before soldering toroids and transformers into place. It is bold and in red! I used fine-grit sandpaper to remove the enamel from the leads coming off the torrid. Before soldering them into place, I used a digital multimeter to ensure continuity between both leads. Then I soldered them in place and re-checked continuity between the two PCB pads. It didn't take too long to repeat the same steps for the remaining three toroids.

Then I took on the granddaddy of build steps — correctly wind and solder the transformer onto the PCB. The manual dedicates seven pages and many diagrams to help you avoid problems! There are four windings on the transformer. They must all be wound in the same direction, and each winding needs to be soldered onto the correct PCB pad.

Despite taking my time with the transformer, I ran into a problem. I didn't scrape enough of the enamel off of the wire on one of the windings! I had significant difficulty getting conductivity on the two leads after I had everything soldiered in place. Persistence and patience with the soldering iron paid off. I was able to burn off the enamel with each lead still partially soldered. It required the highest temperature setting on the iron! Then it was a matter of re-tinning the two leads and soldering them securely to their respective PCB pad.

Finally, I soldered a handful of remaining components into place — the rotary encoder, microswitch, potentiometer, and female header to the LCD module. By the end of Sunday night, I had completed the initial build and was ready for the moment of truth. I was exhausted, but I had to know. As you can see in the video, I plugged in the QCX transceiver and no magic smoke was let out!! The screen was blank, but I was relieved. Hours of work were not in vain!

I spent the next 30 minutes following the manual to initially adjust the contrast on the LCD screen and calibrate the receiver. Before propagation went away on 20-meters for the evening, I hooked up an indoor dipole antenna and was able to catch the end of a CW QSO. I took a break and ate dinner.

Even though the band had died, I called out CQ and confirmed that the transceiver was transmitting a small amount of power. I don't have a QRP watt meter so unfortunately, I cannot accurately see how much power the radio is outputting. However, it appears to be about 1 watt.

The radio isn't perfect. There is a loud clicking sound that occurs randomly when the VFO dial is turned or pushed in. It happens more frequently when I turn up the audio gain more than halfway. It is more of an annoyance than anything. Later, I discovered that the clicking noise is a design flaw which allows RFI generated from updating the LCD to be picked up by the audio amplifier. It doesn't bother me too much.

Day 4 - Testing:

View at sunset from the balcony of Plaza West Apartments in Manhattan, Kansas

I verified that the transmitter is operational. If you can imagine seeing a night light in my living room from several 1,000 miles away, you can understand why I was delighted and amazed. I estimate that 1 watt of power was making it out from my indoor dipole antenna.

First I tested the radio by calling CQ. After several minutes with no one answering back, I checked the Reverse Beacon Network and confirmed that my signal was making it as far away as Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. My signal wasn't very strong. And only a handful of automated listening stations spotted me. With better band conditions and persistence, I'm sure I will make my first QRP contact with this radio. I am motivated to try again soon!

Next, I tested the built-in WSPR functionality and checked WSPRnet to see who heard me. After two successful test transmissions sent 10 minutes apart, I was being heard as far away as Iceland and Brazil! Propagation was beginning to close up as the sun went down, so I was not surprised to see that I was primarily being heard to the west and southwest within the United States.

WSPR contacts from Manhattan, Kansas using the QCX 20m transceiver

I was successful with WSPR, but not on the first try! Initially, I had difficulty finding the right transmitter frequency. Part of it was my fault for not reading the manual, and part of it was a calibration problem with the radio. The published WSPR frequency for 20meters is 14.0956MHz using USB (Upper Side Band) with audio inserted at 1.5KHz. Setting the QCX to that frequency won't work since there is no CW offset. The correct frequency is supposed to be between 14.0970 to 14.0972Mhz. That would be the right. However, the timing of my radio was slightly off by +200Hz (approx). I was finally heard once I set the frequency to 14.0970Mhz. Anything higher and it didn't work.

Once I realized the display frequency was off slightly, I committed to building the corresponding QLG1 GPS Receiver Kit that plugs into the QCX transceiver. It will allow me to finish calibrating the radio and ensure that the displayed frequency is accurate. The timing error comes from slight operating deviations in the 20Mhz and 27Mhz crystals.

Day 5 - Building the GPS Receiver:
QLG1 GPS Receiver Kit soldered together and assembled

Next, I built the $23 QLG1 GPS Receiver Kit. It was not nearly as hard to solder and assemble compared to the QCX 20-meter transceiver! There were far fewer parts. However, the instruction manual could have been slightly better. It is not nearly as detailed as the QCX manual. On the positive side, it is straightforward to assemble the GPS receiver.

I was a little disappointed that the GPS kit did not come with the necessary 4-pin male header and corresponding cable to connect the GPS and QCX transceiver together. So I ordered the parts from Sparkfun for a few dollars and waited until the following weekend to verify that the GPS receiver worked.

Day 6 - Making my first contact:

Orange County Amateur Radio Club members on ARRL Field Day

I was very excited to have made my first contact using the QCX 20-meter transceiver! It was with W6ZE, the Orange County Amateur Radio Club in California. Pretty cool for 1 watt of power! Orange County is 1,991 miles away from Manhattan, KS!

I didn't initially realize that the yearly Winter Field Day contest was going on when I called CQ. Silly me! After a confusing and failed contact, I realized my mistake. I looked up the expected exchange so that I could participate in the contest. Next, I searched the 20-meter band and found a relatively strong station calling CQ WFD. I waited for the right moment and provided my callsign. On the first try, the operator picked up my callsign. I was surprised! He didn't even ask for a repeat on the contest exchange. I'm convinced he was receiving me much more weakly than I was receiving him!

Map showing the distance between Manhattan, Kansas and Orange County, California

Later I finished calibrating the QCX transceiver. The display frequency was slightly off. The calibration entailed soldering a 4-pin header to the GPS receiver, waiting a little bit for the GPS receiver to lock on to enough satellites to provide a highly accurate 1-second tick, and running through a couple of documented steps on the QCX. The transceiver was able to determine that its 27Mhz crystal was oscillating at 27,004,112 cycles per second while the 20Mhz crystal was oscillating at 20,006,486 cycles per second. That was just enough to cause the displayed frequency to be off in the neighborhood of 200Hz. After the calibration, I used WSPR to confirm the accuracy of the calibration. It appears to be spot on.

On a side note, the GPS receiver worked for the calibration procedure, but it didn't work well enough in my apartment to resolve its location. I placed it next to our sliding glass door. The GPS receiver was able to hear and track more than a dozen satellites at one time. And I gave it more than an hour to resolve its location for the first time. Maybe at some point, I will have to try again when it is dry and warmer, and when I have a portable battery for the transceiver. Perhaps it is a matter of taking it outside to have an unobstructed view of the sky.

Day 7 - Tempt fate?

Graph of expected QCX transceiver power output versus power supply voltage

I am undecided on whether I should try and increase the radio's transmitter power. With the 12 volts I am supplying the transceiver, I should expect 3 watts.

A simple solution is to provide a higher power supply voltage. For context, the graph on the right shows the relationship between power supply voltage and transmitter power. The manual indicates that the transceiver can safely be driven with 15 to 16 volts. Any more voltage and I risk overheating the small BS170 MOSFET transistors. A related option is to short the reverse polarity protection diode (D3 1N5819), which would avoid lowering the supplied voltage by 0.3 to 0.4V.

Another solution is to remove 1 or 2 windings from the Low Pass Filter toroids — L1, L2, and L3. For context, the transceiver uses a class E amplifier. And like all amplifiers, it produces harmonics that must be suppressed to avoid harmful out of band transmissions. A Low Pass Filter is the last stage of the transmitter circuit. It attenuates frequencies greater than the target frequency. It might be the case that the inductors I wound by hand have too high of inductor values. Ideally, I would have measured the inductance values and made any fine adjustments before soldering them onto the PCB. This solution is not without its dangers. As I found out the hard way, removing any component might result in damaging a PCB pad and ruining the radio. The recommended procedure is to desolder the toroid, adjust the winding, and resolder it to the top side of the PCB.

For now, I am happy with the estimated 1 watt of output. Before making any adjustments, I will purchase an accurate QRP RF power meter. The LDG AT-600PROII and its segmented display that I am using do not offer enough precision to evaluate changes made to the QCX.



2018


CW Academy:

CWops Logo

I had a lot of fun, made new friends, and significantly improved my proficiency in sending and receiving Morse code. I highly recommend the CW Academy! Find out more and signup for free.

I completed Level 2 and 3 CW Academy classes. It was an awesome experience! Thank you, Joe (KK5NA) and all my classmates. I appreciated your advice and patience. And thanks to CW Ops for putting together the CW Academy program. Each year it continues to grow and get better!

After ten months of practice and two academy classes, I can reasonably keyboard-copy Morse code at 30wpm. I routinely practice copying up to 42wpm. I can head-copy common words at 25wpm with extra word spacing. And I can comfortably send pre-composed messages at 27wpm on iambic paddles. Despite that, I have not reached my proficiency goals. I am not as proficient in real-world conditions. I know with practice, I will get there. Morse code is not hard to learn, but it does require a lot of practice. It is like learning to play the piano. Practice. Practice. Practice. Thankfully it takes a lot less time!

A few weeks after my Level 3 Academy class, I was nominated for membership to CW Ops. It was my pleasure to support the organization with a lifetime membership. CW Ops is an international organization working hard to preserve and perpetuate the art of CW. For example, they teach Morse code for free to hundreds of other amateur radio operators through the CW Academy program.

I am also looking forward to giving back and teaching a Level 1 CW Academy class, hopefully, I will find an opportunity to teach in 2019.


The Thrill of QRP:

I am excited to have worked Gary (W0ITT) using CW. It was one of the most challenging QSO's I have had! He was right at the noise floor, and there was deep QSB. I have a high noise floor on 40-meters, and band conditions were not great that evening. After struggling for several minutes, I discovered that Gary was QRP (transmitting 5 watts or less). That made me smile. I was amazed and delighted. Imagine being able to see a nightlight flicker 100's of miles away. Crazy huh? That's why I am amazed!

I had a sneaking suspicion that I should slow down and call CQ at 17wpm instead of 25+ wpm. Initially, after calling CQ, I wasn't sure if I even heard someone there or not. I sent AGN AGN (again) and carefully listened. Sure enough, I heard just a small part of a call sign. And from there, the challenge was on. Part of my success was staying cool and not rushing to transmit. I did not know with certainty when it was my turn to transmit. That was unnerving.

Even though Gary was only 232 miles away from me, I will remember this QSO for a long time. It is a milestone in my Morse code journey. Without hesitation, I will send Gary a QSL card.


Randolph State Park:

Kurt Zoglmann (AD0WE) at Randolph State ParkI had a wonderful time at Randolph State Park playing amateur radio this afternoon. Despite propagation not being all that great, I made two CW contacts after calling CQ many times. I talked to Jim (W6LFB) in Denton, Texas, and Keith (KA4KPB) in Walhalla, South Carolina. Each conversation lasted about 10 minutes, and we conversed at 17wpm. Keith and Jim were using straight keys, and I managed to copy them! I still tend to struggle with slight variations in timing. These were my 6th and 7th Morse code contacts.

For this adventure, I focused on unaided Morse code copying with some assistance in sending. I used the Begali machine to allow me to type and send perfect code. I am still working on becoming proficient with the Bencher paddle. I didn't want to inflect my troubled fist on others, especially with poor conditions. hi hi.

I also had an opportunity to work my uncle Greg (N0ZHE). We made contact on 7.255Mhz using SSB. Despite band conditions, we were able to talk briefly. I was excited because ever since I first went to college 22 years ago, I had always dreamed of using amateur radio to make contact back home to Conway Springs, KS!

Kurt Zoglmann (AD0WE) at Randolph State Park making a POTA (Parks on the air) activationMy Bionenno 60Ah battery worked flawlessly! Today was the first time that I tested the LiFePO4 battery in the field. It weighs a LOT less than the deep-cycle lead-acid battery that I was previously using, and I don't have to worry about it spilling in my car! It can handle up to a 60-amp continuous load without sagging, which allows me to operate at full power (100 Watts) on my ICOM 7300. And running the radio for hours this afternoon barely discharged the battery.

Randolph State Park is becoming my favorite location to play radio and test my Morse code skills. I love how the park overlooks the surrounding area. It was a little warm, but not too hot — It was close to 90F. I was darn sure to put on sunscreen. Getting sunburnt is one of my least favorite things in life, and it tends to happen at least once in the springtime.

I packed up just as a small storm system moved through the area. It very lightly sprinkled as I packed everything away. It was neat seeing heavy rain about a mile away across the valley. It was raining hard enough that I could hear the rain pounding the lake. Luckily I was prepared for the rain. Nothing got wet except the antenna.

Incoming thunderstorm at Randolph State Park during early spring


First mini-contest (CWT):

I was exhausted after participating in my first Morse code contest. CWT is a mini one hour contest that is held every week. Three times a year at the end of each CW Acadamy session, a special event is held in honor of recent graduates. The speed is kept to a maximum of 20wpm, and the exchange is simplified. These limits help newcomers adjust to the challenge and pace of radio-sport. I took up this opportunity to give it a try!

I made six contacts in that one hour! I had a lot of fun, I struggled, and I learned a lot! I was not prepared for so many people to be transmitting nearly on top of each other. Even on the narrowest filter on my radio, I could frequently hear other people that I wasn't trying to contact. This made it difficult. It was like listening to a single voice in a crowded room. The extra challenge was the hurried nature of the contacts. I had not experienced that frenzied rush before. Lastly, I stayed a little too long on 40 meters when 80 meters appears to have been a better choice — band conditions were better, and there were more people to work. I did not check the other bands until the last 10 minutes of the hour. I will try again soon!

I had to laugh a little at the end of the contest. Literally, dozens of people stopped transmitting within seconds of each other. And I noticed that there was one person still transmitting. So I spun the dial to listen in. I caught him sending AGN AGN…(long pause)... WHOEVER YOU ARE 73 UNTIL NEXT TIME. He was left hanging. Aww.

After that, I heard another station up about 15kHz. He was calling CQ, so I answered back. I chatted with Larry (N5MEP) in Arkansas for a little over 15 minutes! I was challenged to copy him for such an extended period. He was just above my noise floor, and there was significant QSB. His speed was a little under 25wpm.

I’m not sure if it was a more significant achievement participating in my first contest exchange or holding an extended QSO with someone just above my noise floor! I was exhausted at the end of the night!


Visualizing my progress:

After 10 months of diligent practice, I had a blast visualizing my progress using Just Learn Morse Code. Even if you don't plan to analyze your practice in this way, it is helpful to keep a log. At some point in the learning process, everyone gets discouraged with how fast they are learning. Diligent practice and keeping a log will allow you to see consistent gains over time, even when they aren't apparent.

In this video, I use Python and R to create a three-dimensional graph of my progress using Just Learn Morse Code. Specifically, I used Python to parse my log file into CSV. Then I used R and the Plotly package to create a 3D representation. If you would like to visualize your progress, you may download my Python script and R script. Unless you happen to use the same format for tracking your progress, you will need to modify these scripts to suit your needs. (If you are going to modify them, take a look at the CSV file generated by my Python script. Also, note that the input file names in both scripts are hardcoded and need to be changed.)


Morse Camp:

Screenshot of Morse Camp software

If you are interested in learning to practice copying Morse code in your head, take a look at Morse Camp. It is a free standalone web application. It runs well on handheld devices and on desktop computers. It should work in any modern browser. Morse Camp initially challenges you with short, common, and easy words. As you become more proficient, it automatically increases the difficulty to include longer, less common, and multiple words.

I am continuing to work with Petru Paler (HB9GKP) to develop and enhance the web application. Petru graciously open sourced the application. If there are features you would like to see implemented, feel free to send me an email. The list of open requests can be found on GitHub.

I have extended the application to be more configurable. Users can customize which parts of the dictionary are active. In the future, I plan to enable users to define a custom dictionary. Users will be able to create a custom dictionary by cut-and-pasting an article or short book into a window that will then analyze the text for unique words. The motivation is to help users learn the sound pattern of words in an article or book so they can later practice head-copying it. There are a number of other features that I plan on implementing too.


First CW QSO:

Kurt Zoglmann (AD0WE) at Randolph State Park making first CW contact

I am excited to have made my very first Morse code contact April 22, 2018! And portable at that! I forgot the microphone at home. I kid you not! It helped me overcome my hesitation to get on the air after months of practice.

We went out to Randolph State Park, which is at the North end of Tuttle Creek Lake near Manhattan, Kansas (Grid square EM19PK). I appreciated that my XYL came with me. He had fun painting with watercolors and listening to podcasts while I played amateur radio. My uncle Greg, N0ZHE, listened intently 300 miles away to the South and encouraged me via text message to keep trying after an initial failed attempt. I welcomed the moral support!

Unfavorable band conditions did not deter me. I called CQ for about 5 to 10 minutes on 14.035 Mhz using 75watts. Then VE7UBC, the University of British Columbia Amateur Radio Society, came back to me. They were in Vancouver Canada! We had a short QSO. I gave my name, mentioned that this was my first CW contact, and provided the weather conditions at my location. Dan gave his location, radio, antenna, and indicated that my first QSO was going much better than his first one from years ago. That made me feel better.

What I wasn't anticipating was how nervous I became when someone back to me. I was able to copy just fine, but my nervousness caused me to make a lot of mistakes in sending. I especially valued Dan's patience! He mentioned that QSB was making it extra hard for him to copy me. His signal was 559 with little to no QSB. I would have loved to rag chew, but I did not want to test his endurance. hi hi. I thanked him and was left smiling ear-to-ear.

As pictured, you can see that I am transmitting with my ICOM7300 radio into an MFJ magnetic loop antenna. To the left of me, I am sending code with the Bencher BY-2 paddle and using the Begli CW Machine as a keyer. The Bencher paddle isn't the most portable paddle, but it worked splendidly. I was happy to have brought the battery boost. It enabled me to send more than 20 watts using the deep cycle lead-acid battery.

I am hoping to participate in POTA (Parks On The Air) spring and summer 2019. I am looking forward to many more Morse code contacts! I am also forward to using my Lithium-Iron-Phosphate battery. It will be lighter and won't sag under high amperage draws.

Watercolor painting at Randolph State Park overlooking the lake in the distance  The University of British Columbia (VE7UBC) QSL card confirming first CW QSO with AD0WE


Morse Code and the Call of the Hambone:

AD0WE QSL card titled The Call of the Hambone, which depicts a hamster sending cheese in Morse code

On my journey to learn Morse Code I have practiced every night. On most nights the rhythmic code has been heard in our living room. I practiced sending code with a paddle and often practiced copying without headphones.

Hamsters are nocturnal. But whenever I practiced in the evening, our hambone, Waffles, would rise several hours before she would normally wake up. She would then proceed to look around with great curiosity and playful vigor.

At first, I thought it was a coincidence, but then after a while, I realized that little Waffles was likely mistaking the stream of swift dits and dahs for a nearby hamster that was extraordinarily happy. If you don't know, hamsters make the cutest little-chirping noises when they are happy and content. Waffles must have been surprised because this neighboring hambone would continue on for more than an hour every night!

Perhaps the frequency I used was close enough to be mistaken for hamster talk, especially when practicing at higher speeds. I am most comfortable practicing Morse code using a tone of 700Hz, and at the time I was practicing at a character speed of 30wpm. About a month ago, Waffles passed away. We miss her dearly! She loved to play on the couch with me and beg for cheese. She even grew to tolerate if not enjoy our affection to hold and pet her.

A cute sleeping hamster named Waffles nestled in shavings

Her memory lives on. A couple of weeks after her passing, we filled the void in our heart with another little hambone, Gus. He is a Roborovski hamster and is the cutest little bean. Gus is exceptionally afraid and likes to hide when the lights are on. But you know what? He also begins to stir every evening as soon as the music of Morse code fills his little ears.

I asked Jason to illustrate this story. As you can see, he exceeded my expectations by delivering a 5"x5" painting! It will become a part of my amateur radio work-space, and I will smile every time I see it. And as pictured above, I created a QSL card to commemorate our hambone and will send them when out I make contacts with others using Morse code. 73's to all the little hambones out there!

(This Hambone article garnered national attention after I posted it to the 100 Watts and a Wire Facebook group. It was picked by Amateur Radio Newsline on March 23, 2018. Feel free to listen to the broadcast.)


Initially Learning Morse Code:

A screenshot of Just Learn Morse Code

I did not have anyone to mentor me initially. But through a bit of research, I discovered an excellent book — The Art and Skill of Radio-Telegraphy by William Pierpont (N0HFF). It is a free book available for download as a PDF. I highly recommend it. It is filled with history and practical advice. And it is a fun read!

In his book, I discovered the importance of leveraging the unconscious mind to do the heavy lifting of copying Morse code. And I learned it takes significantly more time to learn to copy than to send Morse code.

Many people start by learning the letters as a sequence of dits and dahs. As they copy Morse code, they count the dits and dahs that make up each letter. With this approach, people will start at 5wpm and slowly increase their speed until they reach 10 to 13wpm. The problem is that they are unable to go any faster despite ample practice or even with heroic effort. Sometimes this ceiling can persist for years! The problem with this approach is that counting relies on the conscious mind. And the conscious mind is much slower than the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind can easily handle 60+ wpm with sufficient practice!

A screenshot of RufzXP

With that in mind, I took the book's advice and focused on acquiring instant character recognition. This means that when I heard a particular sound pattern, I instantly recognized it as a specific letter associated with that sound pattern. To avoid counting while copying, it is recommended to begin learning at a character speed of 20 to 25wpm. If you are still able to count while copying, go faster. For me, this meant starting the learning process at a character speed of 30wpm! It seemed crazy fast!

The next step was to figure out whether the Farnsworth or Koch method was better suited for me. With the Farnsworth method, the character speed is kept above 20wpm, but extra spacing is introduced between the letters and words. The alternative is the Koch method, which starts the learning process with two characters at a standard 20wpm. Once two letters can be copied randomly with 90% proficiency, another letter is added. The process repeats until all the letters, numbers, and prosigns have been learned.

After trying both methods for a couple of days, I settled on the Farnsworth method. I felt too overwhelmed with the Koch method. So I started out at a speed of 30/10wpm — a 30wpm character speed with an overall speed of 10wpm. Like the Koch method, I started out copying two letters send randomly. Once I scored 90%, I added another letter. It took several weeks before I was able to copy all 40 characters. The tricky part was switching to standard timing. I started at 15wpm and then worked on learning to copy faster.

Once I felt that I had some level of proficiency in copying Morse code, I started working on sending. What I learned in the book is that no matter if you learn to send with a straight key, bug, or a paddle, you need to focus on learning proper timing. Without proper timing, you will make it that much more difficult if not impossible for someone else to correctly copy your code even in the most ideal of band conditions. If you don't have someone to help you, use software to check your sending. I was spoiled and used the Begali CW Machine to check my timing.

To sum up, I dipped my toes into learning Morse code using Morse Toad (available for iOS). I did all of my initial learning using Just Learn Morse Code. It a Windows program, but it also works well on a Mac using CrossOver. Then I used a variety of programs to assist in my practice. I used Morse Runner to practice participating in contest-like conditions. I used RufzXP to practice copying call signs. I used ebook2cw to convert short articles and paragraphs into Morse code. And I used Morse Camp to practice learning the sound pattern of entire words.


Practice Log (From 0 to 50+ wpm):

A screenshot of AD0WE's Morse code practice log

<Download> — Last uploaded November 21, 2021

I have kept a detailed journal of my Morse code practice. It starts three weeks after the start of my Morse code journey. At a high-level, I have strived to practice every day for at least an hour. I try to train at uncomfortable levels at some point in my daily practice sessions. In the log, unless otherwise specified, I am using Just Learn Morse Code and keyboard-copying (meaning I am typing what I hear as I hear it). Things that are bolded are new personal bests as of that date.

If you have an interest in looking at it, there are two take ways that I would like you to have. 1) If you practice every day, it will lead to consistent improvement over time. 2) Consider keeping a log of your practice. When it felt that I was not making progress, it was helpful to look back through my log. At times it did not seem like I was making progress. At others times, it was not happening as quickly as I wanted. In each case, it was helpful to see improvement over time. It was motivation to keep with it and remain persistent.

It is not necessarily a good idea to try to follow my exact path in learning Morse code. You may have different goals than mine. And there are differences in learning preferences. For example, I initially learned using the Farnsworth method, and yet other people will learn better using the Koch method.

I have had many people interested in looking through my log, so I am making it more widely available. If you have any questions about it or find it helpful, feel free to email me. I will try to remember to upload an updated file periodically.


Sharing the joy of ham radio:

Kurt Zoglmann (AD0WE) and Greg Wycoff (N0ZHE) at 2018 Dayton Hamvention

My uncle Greg (N0ZHE) got me interested in Amateur radio as a teenager. His passion for working amateur radio satellites was infectious. In 1995, it was the driving force for me to get my no-code Technician class license as KB0TMQ. Greg has positively shaped my life and helped me become interested in computers, software development, photography, electronics, and astronomy.

After my grandfather (KA0OXY) passed away in 2012, my uncle's interested waned, and he sold all of his amateur radio equipment. They had enjoyed amateur radio together since the early 1990's.

After I got relicensed in 2016, I increasing enjoyed the hobby and wished to share my enthusiasm for amateur radio. Perhaps it was destiny to come full circle and rekindle my uncle's passion for amateur radio. In 2017, for Christmas, I gave Greg a special gift. I wrapped up an ARRL General Class License Manual with a small note attached. At first, Greg did not say anything. And that was okay. But it turned out to be a seed.

Greg began to study in 2018. And a couple of months later, he passed the exam and upgraded to a General class license. In May we traveled hundreds of miles together to attend our first Dayton Hamvention. Greg then took up an interest in POTA, started studying for his Extra class license, and has even begun to practice learning Morse code!

I suspect many amateur radio operators share the hobby with at least one family member. It makes amateur radio that much more fun and enjoyable when shared with those we care about the most.


2017


First portable operations:

AD0WE portable HF radio setup at Stockdale campsite overlooking Tuttle Creek LakeI had an epic weekend playing Amateur Radio! For the first time, I went portable with my HF gear at Stockdale, a campsite at Tuttle Creek Lake. I was astonished at what I could hear in the absence of electrical noise. At my apartment, I typically hear S9 white noise caused by all sorts of RFI. At this campground, it was S1! I heard signals from Japan, Europe, South America, and the US. However, I could not transmit as well as I could hear others. The deep-cycle lead-acid battery could only sustain 35 watts. But while I was out there, I made two contacts using JT9 to Massachusetts and Texas. And I had a lot of fun. I can't wait to do it again!

Second, I made my 1,000th QSO since getting relicensed! It took me one year and two weeks to reach it. I have worked 15 countries, with Japan and Spain being my most distant contacts. Most of them were made using JT65. I have worked every state in the United States, and most of my contacts have been on 80, 40, and 20 meters.

And finally, I started to learn Morse Code. I am learning at a character speed of 30 wpm and an overall speed of 10 wpm using the Farnsworth method. So far, I am making good progress. I look forward to my first CW QSO!

On a personal note:

Outdoor portrait at sunset of Kurt Zoglmann (AD0WE)

Some of us work very long hours, but we continue to do it even if we realize how stressful it is. Why, because in a sense we are weak and we seem not to care at times. But then all of a sudden when a 'life event' occurs, say for example, having a heart attack, then you realize just how wrong you were to continue to do things that work against your health. In some cases, you may be too late to admit to being wrong.

On November 27th, 2017 I had a heart attack. I am thankful for so many people and things that happened on the day of and the after my health concern.

I have kept a gratitude journal since March of this year. I do it to reflect on all the good that happens throughout the day. It is a personal moment and not something that I typically share with others. However, I want to share with you my entries for Monday and Tuesday. I hope that it will encourage you to take a moment and reflect on the positive and good things in your life. If you are open to sharing, I would love to see a comment on something that you are grateful for.

November 27, 2017 (Monday)

  1. I am very very thankful to be alive after my heart attack. Things could have gone so much worse.
  2. I am thankful that Jason took me to the emergency room with haste and care. I love Jason with all my heart. If I had to leave this world, there is no other person whom I would want more to be at my side when I took my last breath.
  3. I am grateful to the emergency room staff for their professional and empathic care. Despite other difficult concerns in the ER, their performance was exemplary.

November 28, 2017 (Tuesday)

  1. I appreciate the head nurse that stopped by and visited me at 2 am. She kept me company for half an hour, answered every question, shared a little of her own life, and expressed such deep empathy and compassion. Words cannot adequately describe how much it meant to me when Jason had to leave for a while.
  2. I am very appreciative of the head of the Cath lab team. As I cried before going into surgery, she gave me the biggest hug and comforted me. In that moment, I saw the best in humanity. We make the world a better place when we care for each other.
  3. I felt so much love, compassion, and care from others that I am indebted to everyone. I appreciated everyone's concern and keeping me in their thoughts.
  4. I am very thankful to learn that there is no evidence that I have any permanent damage to my heart and that I should make a full recovery.
  5. I am thankful to my mom who took time off of work to be with me. I share a deep bond with my mom. And I love her so much.
  6. I am thankful that I was able to come home and slowly walk on my own last night.

This incident gave me great pause. It helped me realize the need to spend time away from work and to make time for family, friends, and to enjoy hobbies. And it triggered a renewed desire to achieve a dream as a teenager of making contact with another amateur radio operator using Morse Code. I had tried once before right after college to learn the code, but I gave up too quickly and did not put the time into it.


2016

Getting Started Again:

AD0WE QSL Card showing beautiful winter sunrise at Tutte Creek LakeAD0WE amateur radio HF station in an apartment

At the end of 2016, I got started again in Amateur Radio after an 11-year vacation. SDR (Software Defined Radio), DSP (digital signal processing), and new digital techniques have ignited my interest and imagination. Initially, I spent a lot of time using JT65, JT9, and FT8 on 80, 40, and 20 meters. But I have started to focus on learning and using Morse code. I also like to have longer rag chews using Olivia 500/8 or 500/16 depending on band conditions.

I designed both the front and back of my QSL card. I took the photo on the front of the card January 2016. Photography is my other hobby.

I started out with a modest setup for D-Star: an Icom ID-51A Plus handheld transceiver, a 70cm DVAP, and a Raspberry Pi 2B running D-Star Commander. I enclosed the DVAP and Raspberry Pi in a DHAP Mini enclosure so I can take my D-Star set up anywhere there is mobile service.

As pictured below, you can see I have gotten started with HF operations. I really enjoy the Icom 7300 HF radio. And I am using homemade dipole antennas. I use banana plugs to create a resonate antenna beyond 40m. If you can believe it, I can even get on 160m. No one ever said a dipole has to run in a straight line! And because I am on the third floor of an apartment building, I use an artificial ground.


RFI:

A massive daisy chain of RFI chokes on a plasma TV

When I first got started with Amateur radio, I was compelled to learn a lot about RFI! I had no idea the adventure that I was getting myself into as I got into HF amateur radio again.

For hunting RFI, I used a handheld AM/FM radio, the MFJ-856 Directional Line Noise Finder, and the MFJ-5008 Ultrasonic detector. I read The ARRL RFI Book Practical Cures for Radio Frequency Interference and the AC Power Interference Handbook by Marv Loftness. Both books helped me understand the fundamentals and get practical information on finding and resolving RFI issues.

My biggest problem was a neighbor with a plasma TV. It was giving off broadband RFI from 1.8 to 10MHz. Luckily, they moved out after a few months. Our landlords forced them out when they refused to replace their TV. It wasn't just interfering with my beloved hobby; it was causing intermittent problems with the Cable TV internet service. (And even going to ridiculous lengths with RF chokes, the RFI could not be stopped since it was being emitted directly from the screen!)

Burned out streetlight causing RFI

I got our local electric utility to replace two sparking insulators and one burnt out street light across the street. I am left with broadband noise that I have yet to identify and resolve completely. Now I am down to S7 to S9 white noise depending on the band. I can identify no structure to this white noise. If I don't hear you as well as you hear me, RFI on my side is likely the reason. I can knock the noise down S3 to S5 by using an MFJ magnetic loop as a receive antenna. It is inconvenient to set up in our living room, so I don't often get it out.

On a side issue, I worked with a friend and fellow ham to resolve his RFI problems. We worked together to get his electric utility to replace one sparking insulator and one hot wire that was dangerously and loosely connected to another electric pole in his front yard. We also identified a problem with his hot tub and with a long CAT5 ethernet cable. We are still tracking down RFI problems at his place, but we have made significant progress!


2010

A precursor of things to come:

I became interested in microcontrollers and electronics using an Arduino. I built many small projects, including this one involving Morse code! It was a precursor of good things to come! My amateur radio license had expired several years before, and it would be several more years before getting engaged with ham radio again.

I set up the Arduino to listen for input on the USB-to-serial interface connected to a computer. Once I input a message and hit return, the Ardunio sends the message to the buzzer as Morse code and echos it out on the serial port as dots and dashes. The project idea came from Practical Arduino: Cool Projects for Open Source Hardware by Jonathan Oxer and Hugh Blemings.

This project helped me to understand the principle of transistors used to amplify a small signal coming from the Arduino and turn on and off a 3-volt buzzer. It is mildly humorous that I made a mistake in the programming and would not catch it until ten years later! The letter Y is mistakenly encoded as the letter Z.




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