My love of Morse code is no secret and the weekly traffic pass sked with Cooter , receiving his ERIN report which I relay via digital is know by many. For me, for point to point nothing beats the efficiency of Morse code. I did many decades of backpacking / military rucking and to have a tiny transceiver with VERY low power drain on both receive and transmit was essential. In military system design we used a criteria of SWAP ( Size Weight and Power ( consumption). Carrying a computer was something I have done but what a pain, keeping things charged and packing of the extra weight and etc. I am not a fan. OTOH, carrying a tiny QRP rig the size of a paperback book or less, that would run for a week on AA batteries, as an example, was GOLDEN. We'd hike all day, the string a dipole as the sun would be setting, or a slant wire, EFHW was easy. I've passed civilian radio messages to friends and families of 'crew' using 1.8 Watts from my tiny QRP rig from VERY remote wilderness areas. This was done in temperature extremes of -22F to over 100F. For me, to use a transceiver , it must be small and light enough to ADD TO THE GEAR you have stuffed into your ruck for long duration trips, often in mountain snows. That means that smaller, lighter and efficient was absolutely necessary. The radio was not the main thing, it was in addition to the trip weight required to support the actual mission. Remember, that RECEIVE CURRENT is the big determinant. I've heard people say, ' Oh, I'll just reduce the transmit power.' and that seems to make sense, until you realize that many 'small'' transceivers are made for vehicular mobile operation, and can draw as much as 2 Amps on receive, before they transmit even a single Watt. That rapidly drains batteries. To compare, the MTR series of QRP ( 5 Watt CW ) transceiver draws only 15 milliAmp on receive. That is 2000 mA compared to 15 mA.
For groups on the air, digital is King. It is so easy to have an entire group on the air at the same time using FLdigi or JS8call, is wonderful We here at Unchained Preppers have weekly traffic/SITREP meetings on the air and routinely have participants from Florida to New York to Arkansas and Texas - perfectly normal. It CAN be done in Morse, but the training burden and practiced skill for large group CW skeds is rare indeed. Digital makes all these pepper nets work, because the training burden ( time required to learn ) is low and the throughput during poor conditions is still very good. OTOH, If I were man-packing my full backpack PLUS computer, recharging system and transceiver capable of very stable SSB digital, with ACCURATE digital display, well, that can be done, but it is tough and really impractical unless you hike in , make camp and remain in a stable place to set-up a SIGNIFICANT solar recharging system.
Voice, well it has some advantages, but efficiency and ability in low noise are not them. Mainly it's a 'social' mode, and if signal to noise ratio will support it, it can be fun from the back country. Remember though that 5 Watt CW signal has roughly the same intelligence carrying capacity of a 100 Watt SSB voice signal, so you do pay for the extra fun of using voice. I do occasionally check-in to voice nets using my tiny 3 - 5 Watt QRP rig, but it's always a tough slog for the net control station and passing formal traffic is extra difficult in voice.
A compromise might be using the ANDmsg app that is the Android phone version of FLdigi. It has the modes used for AmRRON and ERIN nets, but it's more work than using a full laptop, tiny screen, thumb typing and more. It can be done and I do practice this from time to time as my last ditch digital kit. I have checked-in to ERIN net using the TR(u)SDX transceiver in digital and voice before as a test, to ensure that is I am down to my 'last ditch digital gear' it really does work. Using the 'back-up Xiego G-90, it all works VERY well; 20 Watts was plenty of power for CW, digital and even voice.
So, learn Morse ONCE PER LIFETIME and own that skill for life, or you can spend money and be STRONGenough to carry these kinds of computer, radio , battery and solar panels loads on your back. Mobility drops as you have to recharge the extra equipment. or - Learn Morse and send the messages, and even chat with friends in Morse because it's a very low burden in cash and backpacking weight.
Remember, I send 2 pieces of traffic every week to the ERIN net in digital modes, one ERIN report is mine and the second report is relayed from Cooter from roughly 650 miles away, he transmits it to me using his tiny 5 Watt CW QRP rig and dipole and he receives my ERIN report in Morse as formal traffic.
73 de Sir John Honeybucket
Ps. When I saw "Morse" or "CW" I mean hand sent, ear copied, not machine copied. Machine copied Morse is notoriously awful. If you have a computer, USE COMPUTER OPTIMISED MODES like CONTESTIA or MFSK.
