I only recently got my (British) Foundation license, and it was while using the WebSDR receiver at Hack Green, I found myself unexpectedly and inexorably drawn towards the CW end of the bands. When switching the receiver bandwidth to "Narrow CW" it sounds like a calm oasis compared to the chaos and racket of SSB. And I thought I needed to learn Morse so I could actually join in. I started with the Morse Toad app on my phone and I'm now using lcwo.net and doing the word training at 20 wpm (basically increasing the maximum length of the words as I get better, I'm up to 5 letter words at 20wpm). A friend lent me his old Drake TR7 along with its huge power supply, and last weekend I started building a transportable inverted V random wire dipole so I can use it at home and on one of the local hilltops. Once I had made the balun, put connectors on some coax, and set out the two wires, I thought I'd see if I could receive anything on the TR7 with the wire dipole just laid on the floor indoors. It really brought to real life that question on the exam paper "CW may succeed where all other modes fail". Didn't hear any intelligible voice, but I could receive many CW stations as clear as a bell even though they barely deflected the S meter. I'm probably still a few weeks away from making my first CW QSO, I want to be able to reliably do long words on lcwo.net at 20wpm before I try...
I thought the same thing. You definitely need to either cut the power back or start using a dummy load. I used to be totally QRP and worked 135 countries running 1.7 watts out. You'd be surprised what 5 watts will do. 73 and keep after the CW de W5LXS
My first cw contact was on 40 meters novice portion, because I was a novice. What a thrill a contact from Connecticut to Ohio. The old Heathkit HW-100 was making the trip and I got a reply of RST 579. Name is Tom Tom. Wow I copied it! From there I got his local wx report. When I finished sending 73 and cul I could not wait to enter it in my log book. I kept at it night after night after night. 3 months later I passed my 13 wpm at the FCC office in NYC. 8 months later 20 wpm for my extra. Now almost 39 years later and still pounding brass! Still a thrill I learned a foreign language that everyone around the world understands. I am NO geru, if I could get threw it ANYONE CAN! The 104 sits on the left of my rig with a dust cover on it, but the key gets polished and used just about everyday. I hum along about 16 wpm and will respond at the speed sent. CW FOREVER, KK4ITN,SKCC 10050.
