First QSO with Fellow YouTuber!!! CW Morse Code Best Ham Radio Mode!

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My favorite ham gear:

Solder Station

My Favorite Camping Gear

CW is the best ham radio mode bar none.
Learning Morse Code is not that hard. Now simply called "CW", radio communication by Morse code was the only way to communicate for the first decade or more of Amateur Radio. Radiotelegraphy, the proper name, descends from landline (wired) telegraphy of the 19th century, and retains some of the old culture, including a rich set of abbreviations and procedures. Morse sent by spark gap transmitter was the first wireless communication mode. These "damped waves" were very broad and inefficient for communication.

They were soon replaced by "Continuous Wave" (CW) transmission, using vacuum tube oscillators that were capable of a very pure note. Today, modern Amateur Radio transceivers use solid state components and microprocessors to support a variety of communication modes including CW, voice, image and many digital data modes.

A continuous wave or continuous waveform (CW) is an electromagnetic wave of constant amplitude and frequency; a sine wave. In mathematical analysis, it is considered to be of infinite duration. Continuous wave is also the name given to an early method of radio transmission, in which a sinusoidal carrier wave is switched on and off. Information is carried in the varying duration of the on and off periods of the signal, for example by Morse code in early radio. In early wireless telegraphy radio transmission, CW waves were also known as "undamped waves", to distinguish this method from damped wave transmission as effected by early spark gap style transmitters.

Very early radio transmitters used a spark gap to produce radio-frequency oscillations in the transmitting antenna. The signals produced by these spark-gap transmitters consisted of strings of brief pulses of sinusoidal radio frequency oscillations which died out rapidly to zero, called damped waves. The disadvantage of damped waves was that their energy was spread over an extremely wide band of frequencies; they had wide bandwidth. As a result they produced electromagnetic interference (RFI) that spread over the transmissions of stations at other frequencies.

This motivated efforts to produce radio frequency oscillations that decayed more slowly; had less damping. There is an inverse relation between the rate of decay (the time constant) of a damped wave and its bandwidth; the longer the damped waves take to decay toward zero, the narrower the frequency band the radio signal occupies, so the less it interferes with other transmissions.

As more transmitters began crowding the radio spectrum, reducing the frequency spacing between transmissions, government regulations began to limit the maximum damping or "decrement" a radio transmitter could have. Manufacturers produced spark transmitters which generated long "ringing" waves with minimal damping.

It was realized that the ideal radio wave for radiotelegraphic communication would be a sine wave with zero damping, a continuous wave.

[Ron_C]

I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciated that QSO. I've only made...3, or 4 CW contacts and the others were chasing a SOTA activator...this was a bit of a challenge for me since I am new and very inexperienced. We noobs need a push like this get over the fear of on the air screw ups. This was indeed a lot of fun! Thanks again, brother! de K4SFC

[dennispeake]

G'day TOM, gee I am so happy for you now you have a new CW mode buddy I'm feeling you're really enjoying the hobby now and you can now share it with your friend on YouTube.73 young fellow de Dennis vk4oc.

[kgyts]

Great video. I am trying to learn CW as well as get my extra. Hopefully I can get you some time on the air when I have an HF radio and CW setup. --... ...-- -.. . -.- --. --... -.-- - ...

[remotelycontrolled]

Man, you guys are making me jealous. I am at Koch Level 29 so I know most of the letters. I hope to catch you all soon. I am looking forward to some SOTA in the future. 73 W8SJ

[OldF]

You both have good clean fists After a long time off I am trying to get the rust off my cw.
To all just getting started spacing between letters and words is everything.
Speed is nice but accuracy is better. Would you like to copy something like this?



No doubt there are some rare birds out there that could copy that in there head at 30 wpm while doing their taxes.
But for the rest of us mortals we need spacing ; )

[timkeene]

You need to remember the meaning of "CQ". It means calling ANY station. If you have a "sked" and call them directly with their call sign you do not send CQ. If I were listening to you on the air instead of youtube it would have been confusing, to me anyway. 73's and keep "pounding the brass". original digital mode. K5DEZ

[dongibbskkqam]

Nice video Tom. CW works 99% of the time, no matter what the power. Post a frequency when you get back on CW. I would like to join in is i am available. KK4QAM