My First K1USN Slow Speed Test: I May Be At the Bottom Of The List…But I Am On The List!

I have decided to get serious about CW. With a newly ordered Venus SW-3B QRP CW transceiver shipping out tonight, I want to solidify my morse code skills. So, between receiving a great tip about Morse Runner (thanks Joe!) and having a bit of free time now on at least some Sunday evenings for the K1USN SST, I plan on stepping up my game.

I added the K1USN “User Defined Contest” to the N1MM logging software. And I used the extraordinarily helpful Android phone app “Morse Expert” to help me decode. Yeah, yeah, I know, use the CW decoder between my ears. Using a decoder has been the key to allowing me to get on the air however. It is not that it decodes perfectly (it doesn’t). It gives me hints as to what I am listening to. Between Morse Expert, and my cerebrum, I am able to participate in CW contests. Even if my contact rate is only 7 qsos an hour, lol…

There are a few reasons for my focus on CW. The first is simply weight. I have ordered a QRP radio kit that is composed of the SW-3B, a Kanga QRP Pocket Transmatch (tuner), two 15 feet lengths of ABR316 (RG-316) coax, and a 2 foot ABR058C (RG58 C/U) coax jumper. For the 15 foot coax, I ordered one with a right-angle BNC male end and a straight BNC male end. And the other I ordered with a straight BNC male end and a female bulkhead connector end. I am uncertain about using the female bulkhead connector, but it was my only choice of a female BNC at ABR Industries. My goal is to be able to connect one 15′ jumper directly into the second 15′ jumper when I need longer coax. This kit, minus an antenna for now, weighs around a pound and a half. For an antenna, I am considering a 20M/30M/40M linked speaker wire dipole with a bnc-to-double banana plug jack centerpiece. I have been really pleased with my 20M speaker wire dipole in general. I already have a 3ah Bioenno battery. And I am happy with my BaMaKey travel paddle. I need to get a suitable case, and then a markedly paired down SOTA kit is ready to go. And as I always say, I do not get sponsored on this site in any way. This is just my stuff and I want to talk about it.

The second reason for my increasing interest in acquiring CW proficiency has to do with its non-verbal form of communication. This one is a bit harder to explain. Probably because I am trying to use words to explain what I mean by communication which is not, well, talking.

The roller rink is my own personal best example of this. Some of us have been skating for decades together. We don’t often talk too much to one another. But there is still a closeness amongst this core of wheelers. I liken our communication to something more animalistic, something to do with proprioception or a sense that has been yet to be discovered. We are a lot like a flock of birds in flight or a school of fish gliding through the ocean. We talk physically. We know where we are in space, at lease the ones of us who have skated together the longest. We communicate through touch in a way that has been sterilized out of most of society. You can’t hear “hello” very easily on the crowded loud floors of adult nights. So instead, clasping of hands or hugs are our greetings. Strangers, friends, and the in between alike. We always know we will see each other again in due time at some future session. The pandemic, with the rinks closed and many regular skaters fading away, greatly disrupted our flow. However, in recent months, as the social media trendies move on from their fad pandemic hobbies, the core skaters are left rolling around as they always were. And always will.

What does this have to do with radio and morse code? The stripped down transmission of CW reminds me of the physical communication of the roller skaters. This is not a perfect analogy. In fact, possibly more of a feeling or sensation. But to me, I am left sharing the same sense of satisfaction. I cannot explain it better. At least not yet. Maybe never.

Think of me fondly.

KM1NDY