OARC has a channel on the Discord server for those interested in telegraphy, with a focus on Morse code, commonly referred to as CW. There are CW operators of all levels, from absolute beginners to the very skilled within the OARC, with help and advice shared constantly to help everyone improve their ability.
This page is an a resource for those in the community to refer to, and drop useful snippets of information,
Morse code not only covers letters and numbers, but also punctuation, abbreviations, prosigns, and Q codes to enable communication.
One of the first questions that people ask on their CW journey is “Which CW key should I buy?”. There are generally two types of key, mechanical or electronic; mechanical don't use electronics to form their code but the others do.
Mechanical keys include the straight key, sideswiper, and bug keys. Timing of the Morse code elements, the dots, dashes and spaces are all down to the skill of the operator. Because of that these keys produce a distinct sound dependent on the operator, two operators using the same key will sound different.
Electronic keys, or paddles, have either one or two paddles and rely on electronics to produce the Morse code elements. This makes them very easy to use and they enable the operator to make well timed code. There are many electronic keyers available all with a whole list of parameters that can be changed but they generally boot up with parameters set correctly, and all the operator needs to do is set the speed.
There are two main stages to learning CW, learning the characters, then getting faster (both in sending a receiving) but everyone gets to the point when they realise that accuracy is more important than speed. Poorly spaced elements, letters, words can make it almost impossible for the operator to understand what is being sent; aiming for accuracy is more important than going faster.
There are a vast amount of resources available on the internet listed in the online learning section below. But characters, and pangrams are available here.
The following organisations have online learning systems
Most online training systems suggest practising for 30-60 minutes per day, and the OARC Discord Morse channel is a useful place to talk about learning, Morse keys, paddles, keyers, speed, CW philosophy and pretty much anything that will get people on the air.
Like all audible (rather than visual) languages we must train our brains to hear a noise and understand what we've heard. When learning Morse code we generally learn the letters and numbers individually, often through learning the dits and dahs. But it's more important to learn the sound, and modern teaching encourages students to learn the sound of characters and words at speeds upwards of 25 words per minute. Initially this appears to be quite impossible, but it will have benefit in the long run. When learning dits and dahs it is very tempting to count them whilst working out what a character is; this will eventually have to be unlearned.
The aim of ICR is to hear a sound and just know what it is that you heard rather than going through an internal translation process. People are often asked whether they have to internally translate when they're learning another country's language, the same applies to Morse code. The best way to improve ICR is through practise, practise, and more practise. Short form contacts such as the Parks on The Air, Summits on the Air and other 'OTAs along with contests provide a great opportunity to hear known QSO formats repeated over and over again. These on air activities are excellent for anyone wanting to improve their ICR, and there isn't actually a need to send any CW.
There are a number of weekly sprint contests at progressively faster speed limits that can provide a weekly framework to ICR improvement. These include:
| Name | Description | Link | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morserino-32 | Self contained battery powered keyer, CW decoder and practice aid. Has LORA and WiFi capability | Morserino-32 | Great for head copy and keying practice anywhere. Let's you plug in a straight key or paddle. |
| Funtronics K3NG Keyer | An open source Arduino based CW (Morse Code) keyer with a lot of features and flexibility | K3NG Keyer | |
| K1EL WinKeyer | WinKeyer is a low-cost full featured external Morse keyer capable of being fully controlled via a USB interface | K1EL WinKeyer | Needs new UK Vendor |
| Name | Description | Link | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| cwmorse.us paddle | Lightweight CW Morse Pocket Paddle Key | ebay link |
The standard, canned, or rubber stamp QSO involves exchanging signal reports, names, QTHs, and setups. This information is generally group into packets of two, so RST and NAME, then QTH and SETUP but can be exchanged one item at a time if the conditions are poor, or the experience of one of the operators suggests that it might be helpful. The lead for how a contact is conducted comes from the station calling CQ.
This canned QSO can be made shorter by removing the “MY INFO is” and using NAME [name], it can also be expanded by adding all sorts of pleasantries and exchange info on the weather etc.