Ham!! (Radio that is)

AV8R_87 said:
I wonder how many people still know how to use a mechanical bug.
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I know how, but never used one on the air. When I owned one, it was way too fast for me (yes, I know you can add extra weights to slow it down). I eventually traded it for something else. I'm a paddle user now. Single or dual, doesn't matter. I can't even begin to count the hours I spent with both testing and developing keyers. Right now I'm down to a Kent twin paddle and a couple of straight keys (a J37 and one of the ubiquitous ball-bearing Japanese keys).

I got my Novice with 5 WPM, then much later on (the Novice ticket had long expired without my ever logging a single QSO) got my Tech, then upgraded to General with the 13 WPM test. By the time I upgraded to Extra they had dropped the requirement to 5 WPM across the board, but I was typically running 18-ish. Now I'm struggling to copy 10. I just need more time with it; it's not exactly like riding a bicycle but it is coming back.
 
For the OP's benefit, pretty sure there's no morse code requirement for any of it anymore, or at least up to general which gives you HF. Not positive and too lazy to google. When I did mine I barely learned it, 5 wpm, enough for general at the time so I could do HF, and promptly forgot it.
 
Albany Tom said:
For the OP's benefit, pretty sure there's no morse code requirement for any of it anymore, or at least up to general which gives you HF. Not positive and too lazy to google. When I did mine I barely learned it, 5 wpm, enough for general at the time so I could do HF, and promptly forgot it.
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Nope, no code required for any level.
 
It's a fun hobby and offers both technical and social aspects. Personally I have always gravitated to the technical side. My highlight was working my Dad on 20M from Moscow, ID while he was on a 767 off the coast of Nova Scotia on the way to London.
 
I had a keyer but I wasn't that much into CW that I used it much. When I was first licensed in 1974 bugs were all the rage. I always figured if I had some device that would send three dits in a row easily, that it would be great for my original call (WN3SBS).

We used to have a decent station at home, but I really got into working SSB in the car on my way to and from work.
 
Albany Tom said:
For the OP's benefit, pretty sure there's no morse code requirement for any of it anymore, or at least up to general which gives you HF.
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When I did mine in the early 90s I think they called it “tech plus” if you did the Morse, which gave you HF capability…but I could be remembering wrong.
 
MauleSkinner said:
When I did mine in the early 90s I think they called it “tech plus” if you did the Morse, which gave you HF capability…but I could be remembering wrong.
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That sounds kinda familiar. When I took my first written test, the examiners looked at the score and asked "want to try the general written too?", so I did that and I think that gave me something else lower than general. Then about a year or so later I studied code enough to barely pass - I mean barely - and got the general. It was always distinct dots and dashes to me, and as I understand it to hear it faster you have to hear whole letters or in some cases words at a time. I can hear "cq" as a word, I've heard it enough, but that's about it.
 
Albany Tom said:
When I took my first written test, the examiners looked at the score and asked "want to try the general written too?"
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Similar here, but there was only the written, no CW.

Passed Tech, the VEs looked at the score and asked if I wanted to try the General. Passed that, so they asked if I wanted to try the Extra. Sure, why not? Passed it. Zero to Extra in under 2 hours.

If there'd been a code test I'd still be practicing.
 
I got a fcc technician class ...I fly long haul wide bodies and sometimes tune the HF radios to ham bands. on some of the older planes you could even tune to CB radio freqs on AM which are widely still in use in many countries, especially Caribbean and Latin America. new planes radio don't have the wide bands but still can tune some ham stuff
 
I got the 13 wpm for my general with “one minute of correct copy” which started in the middle of a word, and ended in the middle of a word! Didn’t even get those words right, but had how ever many characters define one minute!

I took the. 20 wpm test a half dozen times… got 6 of 10 questions right or within a character or two of “one minute…” but never passed it… always passed the written.

My dad is aging… but still going strong… but he mentioned he’d love it if someone could take over his WI0V…. So seeing no code anymore, finally upgraded to extra a few years ago.

Took the advanced many years ago, college I think… when you typically tested at a hamfest or swap meet. I entered the testing area and the VEC asked to see my calculator to make sure I hadn’t programmed it with answers and it’s then I remembered what I forgot… hmmm. Lots of math on the advanced. They said no worry another meet in a couple of weeks. I politely told them it wouldn’t matter, I’d pass anyway, they didn’t believe me. Was the first one done in less than 10 minutes, missed one or two… they were flabbergasted. How? They PUBLISH the Qs and As, just memorized them all… just like a faa test.

Also just started setting up the shack again.

de N0KKJ
 
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