"Kim W5TIT" wrote in message ...
"Dick Carroll;" wrote in message
...

And it's true, I WASN'T at home-that time. But where were YOU when K0HB,
N2EY, W6RCA, AC6XG, W3RV and
I--Did I forget anyone?- held that nice rrap CW net on 40 meters???


Ooooo, demmit! I missed something good here. That's what I get for picking
and choosing posts most of the time.

It was pretty pathetic, Kim. They suckered poor Cecil into meeting up
with them on 40M CW, but treated him just as badly afterward. I would
advise you not to fall for their tricks.

Anyway, Brian, did you see a couple of
months ago where I posted the question to Dick about just what it would take
for the establishment of a disaster station for CW operation? As far as I
know, he never answered!!!!

Yeh, I never saw his reply. I guess if you shake a guy up bad enough,
he starts blurting out all kinds of stuph, like DICK just did..

And, of course, it's because he knew he was
getting set up--we all know it would actually take quite a bit to be ready
to establish a disaster response CW station--and that was the set up. I was
going to ask DICK if he was ready...

Well.....

To hear them talk, you can make an emergency CW station out of a
Wrigley's Spearmint Gum foil wrapper and an old double edge razor
blade.

They lie.


Oh, I almost forgot- you're STILL waiting for a code free license!
Right!


If DICK could use QRZ, he might discern that I've always held a coded
license, but he chooses to remain ignorant.

"Show Me" has no meaning to him.

As for emergency gear, I have all that in a pair of metal equipment
cases, ready to grab and go, if and
when needed. I'll take along a laptop just in case the need happens to be
for a digital mode. AND my
Vibroplex Iambic paddle for CW.

PAH!!!! Grab and go. All of that?! You have got to be kidding...but wait,
there's mo

I wonder where he lifted those transit cases from?

For power I have a lightweight switchmode AC supply AND an 800 watt
inverter. One does need to be
flexible doesn't one?


Oh. OK. So, uh, don't persecute me here because I am lowly slow-code
Tech+, but where you gonna get that AC and what if your car is crunched;
and/or even when it runs out of gas? And, if you've got all this "stuff"
ready to chuckle grab and go...and your vehicle is crunched, the trees are
down so much that you can't move, or any number of other quite likely
situations in a disaster, how will you choose to establish your CW station
then, Dick? Really, let's drill it.

Yeh, where's his generator, chaing saw, and winch? Or quadrunner?

After all, the need could be for something hightech and digital. But the
possibility always exists that those needing to communicat from a disaster
area will have only modest old
CW available.

The higher likelihood, and I think most seasoned EmCom folks will bear me
out on this one, is that there will be many low-power talkies available,
FRS, and the immediate disaster communications would be through simplex
frequencies on 2M and 70cm, along with APRS stations set up and
transmitting. Most disasters would have high hope of skilled CW ops for HW
traffic, though.

On Guam, we got a little FEMA grant to set up a portable 2M repeater.
Put it in a truch or van and park it on whatever peak you needed it
at.

One does need to be ready, doesn't one?

Yep. And it doesn't sound like you are.

Now, now. DICK has done more than most have.

The picture I get in my mind is
almost humorous if it weren't so sad. DICK, standing there with his grab
and go "stuff," wishing he'd thought to wheel mount those metal equipment
cases because they sure are going to be heavy to drag or pick up and carry,
with a tree or two down over his vehicle and the power lines dancing all
over the place around him...with his metal carrying cases right there...

Oh, the the pain, the pain...

Oh, the humanity!

So what's YOUR enmergency status,Slim? Do you have "permission" yet?

Dick, W0EX FISTS #3939


He probably would be up, running, established and ready to
communicate--WHILE getting the hell away from danger and to a location as
directed by the local net.

Kim W5TIT

As a husband and father, my primary responsibility is to protect my
family.

"Dee D. Flint" wrote in message igy.com...

Using a straight key in a contest would kill me if I was running a
decent rate. The goofy relics should be outlawed at least in contests
except under unusual circumstances. Do yourself a big favor and get
yourself decent paddles like a Kent and a cheap MFJ keyer and take it
from there. The paddles would work fine with the FD momory keyers.
Beyond that real CW contesters don't use any types of mechanical keys,
they use keyboards. In the end the means used to generate the output
doesn't matter, it's the ears that *always* matter . . .


Yeah if you are out to win or be a high scorer, you are correct.

For better or worse I was "brought up" in that niche. I'm one of these
animals:

http://www.gofrc.org/

However if
you just want to be a casual contester, a straight key is fine.

I just have a silly "thing" about straight keys Dee so maybe I'm going
a bit overboard here.

I fiddled with surplus J-38s long before I got serious about actually
taking the Novice test. Every radio kid did that 'Wayback. Eventually
I got to visit an experienced dx contester (which was what I wanted to
become) who used a bug (those guys ALL used bugs) and he let me futz
with his bug "offline" so to speak. Forthwith I immediately got
irrevocably hooked on bugs vs. straight keys. Net result was that the
nite WN3YIK hit the airwaves for the first time it was with a
well-greased, polished and tuned old USN Vibroplex. I've always had a
straight key or two floating around the shack, they're kinda "core ham
objects" and maybe I've had some straight key QSOs but I don't
specifically remember any of 'em.

Also if you
are doing the "hunt and pounce" instead of "camping on a frequency," it
doesn't make quite as much difference. I like to get out there in a
contest and just see what the variety is. I don't intend to make any run at
a large number of contacts. The last CW contest I was in, I was quite happy
to make 77 contacts and then go do something else.

100% on the button, all of it. It's all in what one wants out of a
contest and/or is willing to put into contesting. The simple fact of
the matter is that if it wasn't for the brigades of casual contesters
like you contests simply would not be worth getting into.


Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

w3rv

(Brian Kelly) wrote in message . com...
"Dee D. Flint" wrote in message igy.com...

Using a straight key in a contest would kill me if I was running a
decent rate. The goofy relics should be outlawed at least in contests
except under unusual circumstances. Do yourself a big favor and get
yourself decent paddles like a Kent and a cheap MFJ keyer and take it
from there. The paddles would work fine with the FD momory keyers.
Beyond that real CW contesters don't use any types of mechanical keys,
they use keyboards. In the end the means used to generate the output
doesn't matter, it's the ears that *always* matter . . .


Yeah if you are out to win or be a high scorer, you are correct.

For better or worse I was "brought up" in that niche. I'm one of these
animals:

http://www.gofrc.org/

However if
you just want to be a casual contester, a straight key is fine.

I just have a silly "thing" about straight keys Dee so maybe I'm going
a bit overboard here.

If you speakum sum Engrish, it wood be better.

I fiddled with surplus J-38s long before I got serious about actually
taking the Novice test. Every radio kid did that 'Wayback.

Probably a lie, but we'll indulge the grate Kelly.

Eventually
I got to visit an experienced dx contester (which was what I wanted to
become) who used a bug (those guys ALL used bugs) and he let me futz
with his bug "offline" so to speak.

Yep, all dx contesters use booogs.

Forthwith

Not to be confused with Farnsworth.

I immediately got
irrevocably hooked on bugs vs. straight keys. Net result was that the
nite WN3YIK hit the airwaves for the first time it was with a
well-greased, polished and tuned old USN Vibroplex. I've always had a
straight key or two floating around the shack,

No doubt one of those anti-gravity devises.

they're kinda "core ham
objects" and maybe I've had some straight key QSOs but I don't
specifically remember any of 'em.

Can't remember "core Ham objects," huh?

Also if you
are doing the "hunt and pounce" instead of "camping on a frequency," it
doesn't make quite as much difference. I like to get out there in a
contest and just see what the variety is. I don't intend to make any run at
a large number of contacts. The last CW contest I was in, I was quite happy
to make 77 contacts and then go do something else.

I wonder how David Heil would characterize your inability to stick
with a 7 second QSO?

100% on the button, all of it.

On what button? PTT button?

It's all in what one wants out of a
contest and/or is willing to put into contesting.

Is it?

The simple fact of
the matter is that if it wasn't for the brigades of casual contesters
like you contests simply would not be worth getting into.

Huh? Try that in Engrish sumtime and we'll relook it.

(Brian) wrote in message . com...
Jack Twilley wrote in message ...
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

"Brian" == Brian Kelly writes:

[...]

Brian One will get ya ten that Farnsworth was an expert on the
Brian subject BEFORE he/she invented that wheel and took it public. I
Brian find the concept of you, admittedly struggling to get off a
Brian notch above ground zero in this game, "facilitating" the
Brian learning process for others just a tad problematic.

Out of curiosity, have you seen the page or are you still blocked on
the concept of a student assisting other students?

Jack, "students teaching students" is at the core of the FCC's
mandated Novice subbands. I hadn't been aware that Kelly was against
this concept and the implementation of it.

That's correct Burke.

Expanding a bit on the subject it's a *helluva* lot more difficult
today for a newbie interested in becoming CW-proficient today than it
was 'wayback. And that includes 5 wpm Extras like Jack. It'll become
even more difficult if/when nocodes gain access to the HF bands on a
broad scale and decide to get into CW. I don't mean "newbie" in any
derogatory sense, I mean anybody coming from any direction entering
the CW learning process. The mandated Novice bands as you put it were
almost a separate service in my mind, slow code galore, every student
booted evey other student along, unbeatable experience as a learning
exercise with fellow students. And it was all on the air too, was not
this lame computerized "imitation radio" crap newbies have to plod
thru today to get up to useful speeds.

Net result of the demise of the Novice bands as an educational
resource is CW newbies today having to flail around on their own per
the pushups Jack is going thru. Us OFs had it *much* easier in
comparison and we had a helluva lot more fun too. The concept and
implementation of the Novice license was one of the best ideas the FCC
ever had and you bet I support it.

Brian/N0iMD

w3rv

"Dick Carroll;" wrote in message ...
Brian Kelly wrote:

You're a good candidate for one of the quick-up portable HF antenna
packages. Run a search on "DK9SQ", I've heard they're pretty decent.
Also check http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/75


Maybe a St Louis Vertical?

You bet. Nice compact portable package, sets up anywhere in ten
minutes, easy to tune anywhere in the HF spectrum, etc. Short
verticals will deliver the goods rumors to the contrary. Given some
decent operating smarts and patience. A local here has worked well
over 200 countries mobiling with goofy little three foot Hamsticks.

Dunno anybody who has a Ramsey keyer but both of my MFJ keyers work
fine with every Kenwood rig I've used it with including a TS-950, a
TS-440 FD clunker, my TS-940 and TS-50 and also my Yaesu FT-847 and an
ancient hybrid FT-101.

I wonder if he tried reversing the polarity of the keyer's output.

Beats me. I've had and/or used a gazillion keyer/rig combinations and
I've never had the kind of problems he's described going back to
cathode keying days. Somethin' ain't right at KC2ELS . . .

Dick

w3rv

=2D----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

"Brian" =3D=3D Brian Kelly writes:

[... Dick mentioned a St. Louis Vertical ...]

Brian You bet. Nice compact portable package, sets up anywhere in ten
Brian minutes, easy to tune anywhere in the HF spectrum, etc. Short
Brian verticals will deliver the goods rumors to the contrary. Given
Brian some decent operating smarts and patience. A local here has
Brian worked well over 200 countries mobiling with goofy little three
Brian foot Hamsticks.

I'll show it to SWMBO and see what she thinks.

[... Dick wondered if I tried reversing the keyer's polarity ...]

Brian Beats me. I've had and/or used a gazillion keyer/rig
Brian combinations and I've never had the kind of problems he's
Brian described going back to cathode keying days. Somethin' ain't
Brian right at KC2ELS . . .

I corresponded with Ramsey and they weren't as helpful as I wish they
had been. Someone on Ramsey's BBS emailed me saying they had the
exact same experience and suggested a mod to fix it, but I decided I'd
rather use a straight key.

Brian w3rv

Jack.
=2D --=20
Jack Twilley
jmt at twilley dot org
http colon slash slash www dot twilley dot org slash tilde jmt slash
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dIBgy5qKo8uDuhbw0xkqsUM=3D
=3Dc8FD
=2D----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

(Brian) wrote in message . com...
(Brian Kelly) wrote in message . com...
"Dee D. Flint" wrote in message igy.com...

Using a straight key in a contest would kill me if I was running a
decent rate. The goofy relics should be outlawed at least in contests
except under unusual circumstances. Do yourself a big favor and get
yourself decent paddles like a Kent and a cheap MFJ keyer and take it
from there. The paddles would work fine with the FD momory keyers.
Beyond that real CW contesters don't use any types of mechanical keys,
they use keyboards. In the end the means used to generate the output
doesn't matter, it's the ears that *always* matter . . .


Yeah if you are out to win or be a high scorer, you are correct.

For better or worse I was "brought up" in that niche. I'm one of these
animals:

http://www.gofrc.org/

However if
you just want to be a casual contester, a straight key is fine.

I just have a silly "thing" about straight keys Dee so maybe I'm going
a bit overboard here.

If you speakum sum Engrish, it wood be better.

I fiddled with surplus J-38s long before I got serious about actually
taking the Novice test. Every radio kid did that 'Wayback.

Probably a lie, but we'll indulge the grate Kelly.

Eventually
I got to visit an experienced dx contester (which was what I wanted to
become) who used a bug (those guys ALL used bugs) and he let me futz
with his bug "offline" so to speak.

Yep, all dx contesters use booogs.

Forthwith

Not to be confused with Farnsworth.

I immediately got
irrevocably hooked on bugs vs. straight keys. Net result was that the
nite WN3YIK hit the airwaves for the first time it was with a
well-greased, polished and tuned old USN Vibroplex. I've always had a
straight key or two floating around the shack,

No doubt one of those anti-gravity devises.

they're kinda "core ham
objects" and maybe I've had some straight key QSOs but I don't
specifically remember any of 'em.

Can't remember "core Ham objects," huh?

Also if you
are doing the "hunt and pounce" instead of "camping on a frequency," it
doesn't make quite as much difference. I like to get out there in a
contest and just see what the variety is. I don't intend to make any run at
a large number of contacts. The last CW contest I was in, I was quite happy
to make 77 contacts and then go do something else.

I wonder how David Heil would characterize your inability to stick
with a 7 second QSO?

100% on the button, all of it.

On what button? PTT button?

It's all in what one wants out of a
contest and/or is willing to put into contesting.

Is it?

The simple fact of
the matter is that if it wasn't for the brigades of casual contesters
like you contests simply would not be worth getting into.

Huh? Try that in Engrish sumtime and we'll relook it.

You overdosed on yer get-stupid pills again din ya?

"Dick Carroll;" wrote in message ...
Brian Kelly wrote:

(Brian) wrote in message


The simple fact of
the matter is that if it wasn't for the brigades of casual contesters
like you contests simply would not be worth getting into.

Huh? Try that in Engrish sumtime and we'll relook it.

You overdosed on yer get-stupid pills again din ya?

Doncha think the guys in the white coats took him away? He was really getting on some sort of psycho high.

He's completely whacked, I told him not to smoke the stuff they sprayed.

(Brian Kelly) wrote in message . com...
S. Hanrahan wrote in message . ..
On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 11:22:58 -0700, Jack Twilley
wrote:

It took me a little over 6 months to go from nothing to 20 WPM. I
passed the 20 WPM code before I took the General written exam.

When I "did" my Extra ya had to pass both the writtens and the code
test at the same sitting or wait a month and go back and do *all* of
it all over again.

Heck yes. In fact it went something like this:

First, ya had to have a General or Advanced for at least two years
before they'd even let ya try the Extra.

Then ya had to pass the receive test with at least 100 correct
consecutive legible characters. No going back and fixing things after
the code stopped, either, after the last dit it was PENCILS DOWN or ya
flunked right there.

If ya passed the receive, they let ya try sending with their straight
key or *your* speed key. You sent until the examiner was satisfied.

Only then did they let you try the written. Mess up at any point -
even one character or question - and it was "go home and study some
more and don't come back for at least 30 days". No CSCE, no partial
credit, nada, do it all first try at one sitting or it doesn't count
at all.

Dinosaur? Who ME?

Naw.

73 de Jim, N2EY

W1AW also sends Morse Code practice on VHF, if you live close enough.
But I don't think 8-land is close enough.

If not, Jim can tell you how to build an Elecraft K1 out of junk box
parts, or something like that.

"Ryan, KC8PMX" wrote in message ...
Yeah, that might be true if you have HF capability........

I've sed it before I'll say it again: The W1AW code practice sessions
and getting on the air ASAP are the best methods out there for
learning the code. The 1AW sessions are reliable, they're not
repetitive and you can pace yourself without breaking a sweat
depending on your own set of learning curve variables. Yes it's
Farnsworth and 1AW Farnworth has obviously worked for decades. Now go
copy 1AW 5wpm sessions until you "get it".


w3rv