My CW Experience KD2FTA SCARCNJ LESSONS LEARNED WHILE LEARNING AND RESOURCES TO HELP YOU GET STARTED

Agenda What is CW? A little History How to get Started Resources for help

What is CW?  CW stands for continuous wave  A continuous wave or continuous waveform (CW) is an electromagnetic wave of constant amplitude and frequency  Continuous wave is also the name given to an early method of radio transmission, in which a carrier wave is switched on and off  Information is carried in the varying duration of the on and off periods of the signal, for example by Morse code in early radio

A Little History  Very early radio transmitters used a spark gap to produce radio- frequency oscillations in the transmitting antenna  The signals produced by these spark-gap transmitters consisted of brief pulses of radio frequency oscillations which died out rapidly to zero, called damped waves  The disadvantage of damped waves was that they produced electromagnetic interference that spread over the transmissions of stations at other frequencies  Damped waves were the first practical means of radio communication, used during the wireless telegraphy era which ended around 1920

A Little History The Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi used a spark-gap transmitter in his experiments to develop the radio phenomenon into a wireless telegraphy system in the early 1890s. In 1895 he succeeded in transmitting over a distance of 1 1/4 miles Every time the induction coil pulsed, the antenna was momentarily charged up to tens (sometimes hundreds) of thousands of volts until the spark gap started to arc over. This acted as a switch, essentially connecting the charged antenna to ground and producing a brief burst of electromagnetic radiation

How to get Started  Traditionally, Morse code has been taught by struggling through all the codes at a slow speed and then (slowly) progressing towards higher speeds.  Koch's method, on the other hand, dictates that you should start learning at the desired speed - but you start with only two characters. Each session is five minutes long, and whenever you get 90% or more correct, you add another character. 

How to get Started  Traditionally, reducing the speed of Morse code has been done by making everything take longer, i.e. both the sounds and the silent periods between them.  Using Farnsworth timing, characters are sent at the same speed as at higher speeds, while extra spacing is inserted between characters and words to slow the transmission down. The advantage of this is that you get used to recognizing characters at a higher speed, and thus it will be easier to increase the speed later on.  So which method to choose!?!  I used the Koch method, but after awhile I realized that there’s a rhythm to code, and the letters just pop into your mind as you listen to the rhythm instead of fixating on letters

How to get Started  Straight Key  Iambic Key

Resources  Some links to view videos that will help you get started       