An Amateurs Journey into the Lands of CW

 It pains me greatly to give you this secretive information. I know that this may send you into a deep depression, but it is for your own good. Have no fear! It will not hurt me more than it will hurt you so you don't have to worry about me. Here is the truth and since it is the truth then it has to be true, so I am not fabricating the truth. Ok, I'm now ready to tell you. 

I AM FLAWED

I know that it is very difficult for you to comprehend this but I'm afraid to say that it is true. I do have a flaw.  

I got my ham radio license waaaay back in the cold dark ages of 2013. Well actually it was a warm spring morning but I'm the one telling this story. In 2014 I upgraded to General Class and in early 2015 I started to learn CW. When they say that anyone can learn the code I was swept up and started studying it. I was logged on to LCWO for hours every day. In about 15 days I had already blown through all 40 lessons. Then it was time for me to get a key and pound the brass. My dreams were big. I would toss together a Michigan Mighty Might QRPp Transmitter 

Schematic for a Michigan Mighty Might

Then within a week I would have WAS and by the end of the year, I would have my place of Honor in the world of DXCC. That was my plan and not a soul could stop me! Hehehe 

Well, then reality hit me harder than a sumo wrestler hits a doughnut shop. I can't send worth a darn. Seriously though, my sending is impossible to decode. My hands and brain do not have a very reliable line of communication. Some of you may know that I suffer from one screwed-up back. Well, some of that has given me many forms of neurological damage. I can easily decode in my head and in fact a lot of times CW has a musical quality that can be really relaxing. Even so, I can get easily distracted by the television in the other room being too loud, the XYL saying something to me about me not paying attention to her, a squirrel running on top of the fence, a twig that I saw at the park last week. 

As I was saying if the quarterback would have done a quarterback sneak instead of a play-action he would have gotten that first down instead of having to bring out the punting team. 

You get my point. For me, the perfect device would be like the K3NG Keyer, or a K45 CW Modem w/USB Keyboard I/F or the MFJ-945 Memory Keyer/Keyboard. However, those are more expensive than what I can afford. Now the K3NG isn't expensive but it is a pretty serious Arduino project and I'm not ready to tackle something like that. 

I have heard of people running CW with a keyboard using FLDigi, Signalink, a CW Interface, and all kinds of other witchcraft. My problem is that I am just having trouble figuring that stuff out. I need something like a step-by-step. 

My ultimate goal would be to build a K3NG Keyer. It pretty much checks every box and then some with the features that it has. For me, I mainly want to send CW with a keyboard and have something that decodes the incoming CW. I know that it can be pretty tough on decoding CW but I don't need something that decodes perfectly. I prefer to decode in my head but would like a device that can help a little bit in case I need it. 

I'm going to start exploring different affordable ways for one to step into the world of CW by a keyboard. I know that there are going to be purists saying that sending by keyboard or having a decoder is cheating. To each his own view. Would you rather have a QSO with someone that has real disabilities and needs some help or would you rather not have anyone to rag chew with.

I do hope that you follow along with me. If you see that I'm doing something wrong or you see a betty way then please let me know. You can leave a comment in the comment section below or you can email me at Aaron@K5ATG.com

Until Next time

Be safe and radioactive

Aaron K5ATG