Jim Johns

Male

Tioga, TX

United States

Profile Information:

Your Call Sign
KA0IQT
How many years have you been performing QRQ CW
27 Years (Licensed since 1968)
What speed do you like to run QRQ CW
Right now I max out at around 45 WPM but I'm working on increasing my speed by creating MP3 files and listening to them on my phone. Found this group when I searched for QRQ practice.
Your favorite key, paddle or bug
HCD Chevron paddle made by M0AGA. I also have a number of other high performance paddles including a Begali Sculpture, a March (K4QU) R3 paddle and an original N2DAN Mercury paddle.
Your favorite cw keyboard
I'm currently using a W5UXH Fubarino keyer that was constructed by W5UXH. (This is a great keyer with lots of bells and whistles.) Since I don't touch type, I can send with a paddle about as fast as with the keyboard.
Your favorite cw sending software
I'm not using any CW sending software on the air but have found ebook2cw which I'm using to convert ebooks to QRQ CW for practice.
Your Rig, Antenna and RF Power
Ten Tec Orion II HF Transceiver into a vertical antenna (Cushcraft R8.) Ten Tec Centurion Amp (1 KW) when I'm trying to break into a pile up.
Your QSK preferences
Full Break-in.
Your favorite headphones or speakers for listening to cw
Bose QC-15 noise cancelling headphone. I haven't had any RFI issues even at 1KW.
What has been your most effective way of training practice, to copy and send qrq cw
Playing ebooks on my phone when I'm away from the shack. (Usually I'll listen to one of the Radio Boys books converted to CW @ 40+ WPM using ebook2cw.) Otherwise I try to push beyond my comfort zone speed on the air either chasing DX or ragchewing.

Comment Wall:

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  • Brett Miller

    Jim,

    I too am always looking around for a display case for my keys, since I usually only have 3 or 4 on the operating table at one time. I have decided to go for it with single lever, and now a Begali Sculpture Mono is on the way to me at this very moment. I have his Simplex Mono, and I like it a lot, but there are some things that aren't quite right and it seems like they affect my sending. I am hoping the simplicity and precision of the Sculpture single lever will provide for easier sending at the speeds I want, with much greater accuracy. I don't really care about sending faster than 35-40 wpm at the most, and most times around 33 wpm is fine, but I want to be able to do so accurately and without great expenditure of effort during long rag chews. I can send fine on a bencher and similar, but find that as I go up in quality the effort to send good code goes down, and proportionately, so does fatigue during long rag chews.

    -my 2 cents

    Brett - KI4DBK

    Jul 11, 2011

  • Brett Miller

    I had meant to say also, that faster than 35 wpm on the paddle, the preferred sending device is the keyboard, and I don't really have an interest in using hand devices to send faster than about 40 wpm. I don't know if that will change in the future, but the art of conversation with The Morse is best served by the keyboard for me.

    Jul 11, 2011

  • Ken K5WK

    Thanks for the note.  I will be silent for a while, trying to learn what this is all about.  I am not quite sure why I joined, other than looking into something new.  I will likely be the least prepared member.  I am sure I will have to investigate keyboards in the future.

    Mar 9, 2017