I’ve found that learning CW is hindered by my preconceptions I’ve had about Morse code. When initially starting on the Koch Method using HamMorse, I would turn the sound I heard into a mental picture of dots and dashes, then I’d do an internal lookup of what that picture in my mind was against the alphabet. As you can imagine, this takes way too long, and takes too much concentration to effectively work in real-time CW translation. After many hours of trying and listening, I realize now what others have said all along about Morse: Just relax, and let the sounds come in on their own. The sounds need to… Read More
Continue ReadingGot my General!
Passed the General License exam this morning in Granite Bay, California. I’d been studying for about a month. But last night I thought to cram for it since there was an available exam going on in the morning about 50 miles north of me. I went through the whole General Exam question pool. I was unsure of so many answers, and not even halfway through all questions, that I thought, “I’m never going to pass this thing.” There’s a bit of math and frequency allocation memorization needed, as well as understanding schematic diagrams and figuring out ohms, picofarads, and millihenries. But I did power through the studying, referring often back… Read More
Continue ReadingBeing a Ham Means Figuring Things Out
A setback day today, as I finally received a USB audio cable for my attempts to use fldigi with my mac laptop (one of the few SDR programs that works on macOS). I was so looking forward to CQ’ing on my available bands with CW in an automated sense, but no luck. The USB audio cable I ordered (manufactured in Greece, no less), doesn’t seem to work. It is quite frustrating to wait forever for the requisite parts only for me to once again face the world of failure and non-support on Apple Mac computers. The ham software world is very driven by Windows software, something hams really need to… Read More
Continue ReadingHam Code Guide
Spurred by the previous post, I’m using the Koch method for learning Morse code (CW). I’m attaching here a document I made back when I first became a ham in 1999 that is a quick reference for prosigns and Q-Codes. Morse is also there, but I do not recommend CW by sight, has to be reflexive by sound. A good iOS mobile app for this is Ham Morse by AA9PW. Here is my reference document: Ham Code Guide by KF6UJS.
Continue ReadingHello world!
Hi folks! I got into ham radio in 1999, but mostly just worked in VHF hitting SF Bay Area repeaters on 2 meters. I wanted ultimate portability, but never knew what it would be like to have a powerful rig. In 2017 (yes, 18 years later of my handheld talkies gathering dust), I finally got moved to find out more about HF and higher-wattage rigs, and got a Yaesu FT-857D. This opened up what hams have known all along: There’s a big world of radio out there to learn about and explore! This site will have some of my learnings and notes about new contacts, as well as some of… Read More
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