Time to get busy on CW

[KI4WCA]

Ever since I learned of amateur radio I wanted to be a ham.Age 8 or so.I posted the code on the wall of my bedroom in a futile attempt to learn it.I passed a general written test when I was 15(I am 46 now).....But the code eluded me.While dxing lowfers between 160 and 190 kc and hunting aero beacons I noticed I was getting it, I did not have to write down the dots and dashes longhand and then decode them.That was in 2000.Since then it fell away.I decided I would have to learn it since it is so fun to build your own transmitters for it and I cannot afford a HF rig.There was no sense of urgency however.Until last night.I was telling my dad about seeing an old railroad telegrapher make his vibroplex sing.I was catching single letters I knew at 30 wpm speed he was using.I found the whole thing amazing.Then dad told me what his mothers father did for a living.Railroad telegrapher.I was floored.I vaguely remember her telling me as a very small boy about him working for the railroad in western pennsylvania, but at that age it was the steam locomotives I was focused on!
So now I feel inspired to carry on the tradition in a whole new way.Time to get a good key.Time to learn morse code.Time to build a cw transmitter.I have a tri-tet 6L6 rig but I think a solid state rig will be more fun, since I can drag it to quiet locations on a battery.I did not see this development coming!!

[N8CPA]

Very cool story.

I got interested in AR because my Grandfather was a ham. He was a boilermaker for PA RR in the Panhandle Division. And he played on the company owned football team, the Columbus Panhandles. His coach, Joe Carr went on to found the NFL. And his son, John, my uncle, played football for my OSU Buckeyes, who are going to beat the Wussconsins today.

See how that thread works? From telegraphy to railroad to football to ham radio to bashing cheese lice! Who said it couldn't be done?

Badger? I don't know. Maybe a rat trying to convince people it's a bear?



:rock: http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[KI4ODO]

That is great, you will be glad you did. I started using CW back in March, and it has given me much, much enjoyment, and some frustration lol. One thing I learned is to get a good quality key or paddle set. My first set of paddles after learning on a J-38 straight key were MFJ paddles. Now I did a little work on them to make them seem more solid, but the further along I get with the code the more I can tell that I have very cheap paddles. I have developed more of a "squeeze" now instead of slapping them, and cheaper paddles make this difficult. I will get better paddles after the expense of Christmas is passed lol.
Welcome to the great world of CW. I don't do it because it makes me a "better ham", or to earn brownie points with anyone, I do it because it's fun, and has such a feel of tradition and nastalgia. In this fast paced world of everything getting faster and more technical, it's nice to sit down and pound brass with an old timer who is thrilled to hear a new person. Have fun.

[n3ef]

Similar story here. I was encouraged to get my ticket by Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, which I did in 2002. I was not interested in cw at the time. Then in the spring of 05, my dad told me that his dad was a ham cw op in the 20's and 30's. He even still had his Bunnell Radio Key (http://home.comcast.net/~fairbank56/key.html) and a bunch of qsl cards. I was intrigued and decided to really give it a try. I was immediately hooked. Had my first on air qso in June of 05 and have made over 2,000 qso's since. I practice every day and get on the air every day. Never knew what I was missing!

Eric N3EF

[n4cd]

Quote[/b] (KI4WCA @ Nov. 03 2007,07:37)]I found the whole thing amazing.Then dad told me what his mothers father did for a living.Railroad telegrapher.
Back 80-100 years ago, the job of 'telegrapher' was a fairly well paying blue collar job - it came with some prestige - and wages were fairly decent for the times.

The railroads had a tremendous need for operators for secondary and tertiary stations off the main line - every small town had a Western Union office, and every train lne required telegraphers to keep the trains running. There were literally tens of thousands employed.

Even with the invention of the telephone 30 years later, the railroads still relied on 'train orders' sent by telegraphers. In many cases, they served both WU and the railroads at small depots throughout the country.

For women, being a telegrapher was one of a few occupations with status. Other than office worker (clerk) or factory worker, there weren't many occupations available to them that did not require large amounts of physical labor (maids, etc).

There are books on the subject in case you are interested in following it up. (start at the Telegraph Office by Neal McKewen).

Of course, with about 99.9% probability, your mother used American Morse, which was the standard on telegraph systems. It is slightly faster than International Morse (what hams use). In addition, there were hundreds of common abbreviations, and train orders were extremely concise.

On the press lines, telegraphers used the Phillips Code. There were thousands of abbreviations. Many are still in use today, such as SCOTUS and POTUS - Supreme Court of the United STates and President of the United States.

[ky5u]

I was one who resisted learning CW therefore delaying becomming an amateur. When I actually sat down and began to practice, I found out it was fun. Wasn't long before I could tune in the SW radio and listen to the novice bands and actually understand. That was exciting.

Got my ticket and since I invested the time to learn morse, I promised myself to make at least 1 CW contact per day for the first two years. Actually spent first 4 years 95% CW on the air. Well now I am about 50/50 cw and phone mainly to develop phone skills having concentrated on the keyer for so long.