CW sked

[cooter]

A public thank you to Sir John HB.  He offered to set up a sked with me to do some CW work.  So we met up on 40 meters yesterday evening.  He has a nice fist and slowed down for me, so I was able to copy most of what he said (and figured out the rest from context .)
It was fun.  I think it was also my longest CW qso since radio school in the 70's.  Now to get out for some portable ops.
Mike

[Sir John Honeybucket]

It was an absolute pleasure, Mike!  For the other teammates here, I'd like to point-out :

1.  Cooter and I are roughly 800 miles apart, we had interference from thunderstorms and Spanish language voice, yet Cooters' signal and steady hand made copy easy. I could EASILY have taken a word-for-word report from him in Morse and either acted upon it or relayed it to ERIN in digital, or forwarded it to friends an family if he had been camping..

2.  We are both using basic wire antennas.

3.  He was using an LNR Precision MTR4b, operating on 8 AA batteries at 5 Watts output. This picture is a stock pic and uses a 9 volt 'transistor' battery, for size comparisson. You ABSOLUTELY have room in a backpack for this.
     3.1  Cooters' transceiver is extremely portable, you could likely fit it into a shirt pocket.


4.  No computer required; perfect for backpack portable and extremely low power requirement.  ( re: A )

5.  Maybe we should meet a few times per week on a regular schedule so that conversational Morse will become even easier?


Great job, Cooter and if you go portable, let me (us?) know and I'll be happy to act as 'Mother' station to meet you on-air to relay your traffic to/from camp.


Sir John Honeybucket  ..._ ._
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A. Specifications:

80 meter, 40 meter, 30 meter and 20 meter operation.
Receiver sensitivity : ~ 0.5 uV
Receiver audio bandwidth: ~ 400 Hz centered at 600 Hz.
Receiver current: ~ 27 ma
Transmit output power: 5 watts typical at 12.0 Volt input
Transmit current: 750 ma Max with 5 watt output
Transmit spurious outputs: -50 dBc or better
Supply voltage 5.5 volts minimum, 13 volts maximum. 6 to 12 recommended.
Antenna Jack: BNC
Power Jack: 5.5mm with 2.5mm pin
Dimensions: 5.150″ Length x 3.0″ Wide x 1.075″ Thick
Weight: 7.95 oz

[FeedingFreedom]

Good stuff, guys. I have a Youkits HB-1B, which I like because it has a built-in lithium battery pack and can receive SSB and AM, although it can only transmit CW. I usually carry it with the CW Guys end-fed or a link dipole. Great to throw in the pack, and be able to listen to SW or Ham bands while in camp.

Main radio is a Yaesu FT-991A, but my CW radio is a Ten-Tec Omni VI Plus. I always wanted a set of the Schurr Profi paddles, then when Herr Schurr died, Scheunemann started making them. When I finally decided to buy them, of course Scheunemann is out of business, as is the US importer! Found a like-new set on QRZ and jumped on them, and I'm glad I did. Not exactly portable though! With the QRP radio, I printed a set of paddles that I found on Thingiverse, I'm OK with them but not thrilled.

My CW is pretty awful, but getting better slowly.

I can't really set up a sked right now, but if I'm getting on I'll post here as far in advance as I can.

[Sir John Honeybucket]

FF -

I do like like the HB1B series: so many very good QRP rigs out there, some optimised for very portable, :Trail Friendly" use. When you are ready for a sked, do post it and maybe some of the other Morse ops and those who would like to be Morse ops, will do so as well.  It would be good to pass SITREPS to a digital ready station an hour or so before ERIN Digital begins, so that the SITREPS from non-computer stations can be passed.

73 de Sir John

[JohnyMac]

WOW, this is awesome gentlemen! 

Once the snow starts to drop, I will have nothing to do but keep the wood stove full and work on my CW. Looking forward to both.