“Humans are the only animals who create and solve puzzles—for the sheer pleasure of it.” Will Shortz, Crossword Editor, The New York Times
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I enjoy crossword puzzles, sudoku and those metal entanglement puzzles…you know, the kind where you try to get a ring separated from a pair of horseshoes, etc. Some psychologists believe that a puzzle’s primary function is to provide comic relief from unanswerable larger questions.
Yeah, okay…
Whichever misfiring nuerons are responsible for such a fruitless task are, I believe, also responsible for my addiction enjoyment of CW pile-ups.
Imagine being an outside observer of someone working on a puzzle – any type of puzzle. To someone unfamiliar with it, the person immersed in solving the puzzle may appear to be working at random without a strategy. In fact, if he’s a beginner at that type of puzzle, he probably is working without a strategy - just bulldozing his way through as best he can. Continue reading 'The puzzling attributes of the CW pile-up'»
The running thread on the Elecraft reflector at the moment concerns a number of complaints regarding the K3′s performance during certain conditions during CQWW (CW). Specifically at issue is the complaint by some (quite a few?) that when 4 or 5 weakish signals…say, S3, S4 and S5 – are within the passband of the filter in use, the receiver turns them all into “mush” making each signal indistinguishable from the others.
Said one:
I personally know at least two top-tier contesters that are seriously
considering replacing their K3s with a different rig because of this
single issue, and I personally know two others who did not buy a K3
because of it. If I knew then what I know now I would not have bought
my K3 either. I spent a lot of money (tower, antennas, amplifiier) to
be able to put a strong signal into various DX locations, and it is
simply embarrassing to be working a pileup with a half dozen weak
callers that obviously can hear me fine and not be able to pick their
callsigns out of the mush.
The same problem is mentioned by other experienced contesters/DXpeditioners including ZK2V’s comments of the same problem on SSB from Nov 4 here.
Turning off the AGC alleviates the problem thus allowing each of the signals to be heard individually. This of course presents the potential problem of overload in the event a strong station begins transmitting in the passband.
Elecraft is already on the issue, attempting a fix and offering additional capacitors to be placed in parallel with one currently being looked at as the possible culprit.
As may be seen from my previous post, I don’t hesitate to give negative virtual ink to a product when it rates such criticism, but in this case, Continue reading 'The K3 and contesting – when ignorance is bliss'»
How’s your CW?
The Kansas City DX Club puts on what must be a fun (but hectic) competition at hamfests – a chance to see how you might fare on the business end of a CW pile-up.
Various sound files are online so anyone can try their hand at separating the callsigns from each other and from QRM. I’ve tried it several times
and am happy to report consistent results - consistently pitiful. Continue reading 'CW pile-up competitions'»
I’ve wondered, over the years, what possible reasons may account for my ongoing interest in Morse Code. Other hobbies have come and gone but ham radio, or more specifically, CW, has remained a steadfast interest since I was a teen.
As a newly-minted Novice in 1978, I struggled with the Code at speeds greater than 7 wpm or so - except when copying W5COH, who used a bug and drew out the dashes, creating his own Cajun-style Farnsworth that was pure music. His dashes weren’t created equally – the final dash in the O of his callsign was drawn out more than the others, then four staccato dits for the H.
It was distorted, yet musical; imperfect, yet easy to copy.
It appealed. Continue reading 'The Appeal of CW – Part 1'»
Click for mas grande
My WKUSB keyer kit arrived today and I’m surprised at how much functionality is fitted into so few parts.
I didn’t order it because I need a keyer but rather because I don’t want to sound like a lid during CW contests. I always use logging/keying software from N3FJP during ‘tests and, regardless of set-up parameters, I can’t teach my computer how to send good Morse.
Dashes get truncated, spacing gets fubar’ed and strings of dots sound like Al Capone’s ’28 Thompson. Continue reading 'K1EL’s WKUSB keyer'»
I recently downloaded CW Freak as a method of honing my skills during the slower (and for me, less active) summer months. In addition to MorseRunner and RufzXP, I think this will keep the noggin in shape while waiting for the contest season to roll around.
While looking for further info and results of CW Freak users, I happened across this YouTube video. Continue reading 'A CW op’s CW op'»
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