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Brett Miller
- Male
- Ooltewah, TN
- United States
- Blog Posts
- Discussions (12)
- Photos (6)
- Photo Albums
- Videos (3)
Brett Miller's Discussions
Add a line out to your Triton IV, Corsair, or Omni VI
Here's an excellent web site I ran across recently which explains how to add a line-out to your classic Ten-Tec rig: …Continue
Started Jun 20, 2011
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Profile Information
- Your Call Sign
- KI4DBK
- How many years have you been performing QRQ CW
- Been doing CW since 2004, but distractions and obligations in life took me away for several years. But I always enjoyed the faster stuff the best, as I could get my thoughts out at a realistic rate of speed and have better conversations.
- What speed do you like to run QRQ CW
- Whatever I can get comfortable, relaxed copy (in my head)...and that speed varies from day to day. But lately 45-55 has been easier for me than ever before. Flawless copy is the goal, but holding up my end of a conversation is a more than adequate compromise. This is conversational QRQ CW.
- Your favorite key, paddle or bug
- Lately I've found that using the bug takes away most of the frustration and stress from sending. I have grown tired of the perfection that paddle sending requires, as it tends to pique my temper, hihi.
- Your favorite cw keyboard
- The keyboard hardware I use is an old 1980's PC keyboard made by a company called Expo. It had tactile feedback due to mechanical action in the keys, which I like, since I could feel if I was actually sending the letters and words I was endeavoring to send, and with such feedback, I felt I could improve my sending at a more rapid rate. I have been using that keyboard with my FB W5UXH keyer, which was designed, built and coded by Chuck Broadwell.
In the past I used used a DOS program to talk to W5UX and a few times I attempted to join the FOG sked...I believe it was CW500.exe. I also played around with CWType a bit too, but I recall it had just came out around that time, or I had just found out about it. I recall a distinct moment one day of sending some 105 wpm to Chuck AA0HW via those DOS programs, and being amazed at him finding no problem answering my questions fired at him at that mind numbing speed, even when I messed up and shot him a few extra letters occasionally due to performance anxiety.
- Your favorite cw sending software
- FLDigi, cwtype.exe, cw500.exe, cw101.exe....however, I prefer to cut out the computer when sending on HF and use my W5UXH keyer. And if you haven't tried it, please contact Chuck Broadwell and let him know you'd like to buy one of his keyers. They are the best in the biz.
- Your Rig, Antenna and RF Power
- Ten-Tec Omni D (series B), 2 Triton IVs, and a Corsair II Antenna is G5RV up about 35 feet.
- Your QSK preferences
- Full break-in. 1970's era Ten-Tec Solid State...or tube (with QSK circuit).
- Your favorite headphones or speakers for listening to cw
- Kenwood HS-6
- What has been your most effective way of training practice, to copy and send qrq cw
- QSK/break-in conversation at all speeds with a good friend on HF. Failing that, iCW, and when that isn't available, I listen to recordings of QSK qsos of close friends or acquaintances. People whose conversational style and vocabularies I am certain to run into soon on the air. After training a bit with the .mp3 files, perhaps I'll give myself an edge.
However, the fastest way to learn, for me, is to get on the air and *do it*!
Brett Miller's Photos
Brett Miller's Videos
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Telegraph Key Collection
Added by Brett Miller
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Comment Wall (8 comments)
Hi Brett !
Welcome to the site and thanks for joining !
I really like FLdigi too !
It is the best and I am now able to send perfect RAISED COSINE cw on my
old ICOM 735 - using FLdigi's AFCW mode of sending with its uber cool QSK FUNCTION via the FLdigi modem.
Thanks again Brett, and hope to cw with you soon !
Check out our new iCW GROUP and join us there if you can sometime !
Chuck
aa0hw
Welcome back Brett - let the fun begin! Hope to hear you on iCW & the air
QRQ of course
I think many of us find it's fun to practice/strive for 60+ but in reality we settle back down to a more comfortable 40 for conversation. At least for me, it's hard to sustain 50-65 for any length of time. Guess I should be practicing more...!
73
Andrew
NV1B
Welcome back, Brett. I got interested in QRQ in 2008 during the great sunspot minimum between Cycles 23 and 24. The lack of sunspots for so long left this Maui ham looking for something interesting to do instead of listening to static on dead HF bands. I stumbled across this website and got to know Chuck, He set up the iCW net and helped all of us get the software up and running. Setting up for iCW looks harder than it really is. Come join us on Saturdays for the on the air net followed by the iCW net. The FOG and CFO groups are still active and as friendly as ever. I have been using Chuck's Icom as a remote station. Not enough sunspots to make it to the Mainland from Maui on 40 and 80 meters at mid afternoon!
Join us!
Joe, KH6/W3GW
Maui, Hawaii
Hi Brett! Thank you very much for your interest and the informative comments. I have tried various antenna options, but with the very high electrical noise levels in this area together with the need to keep the installation invisible nothing really worked well enough to attempt contacts. I am now listening with a small MFJ multi-band whip inside the house and reception is passable, but again not usable for two-way communications. Pleased to hear I am not the only one experiencing variations in CW performance from day to day! Internet is perhaps an option, but I will have to get a better and more reliable system going. In the meantime I will try to improve my CW skills :-) 73.
Jan ZS6BMN, near Pretoria, South Africa
Brett -
I understand the "crazy line." I've passed it a number of times over the past few years. My gold plated Chevron and dropping $$$ everytime I bump into Pietro Begali with his paddles and keys are two examples. Next step is buying an illuminated display cabinet for the keys / paddles I'm not using at the moment.
73
Jim KA0IQT
Hi Brett!
I had a QSO with Chuck, W5UXH via AA0HW Chuck's remote station.
It was a fantastic experience, and he also recorded our QSO.
You can listen to it here:
http://sites.google.com/site/k3lineoutrecordings/home/ha7ap
I hope to work with you too, on air or on icw :-)
73 Imi HA7AP
Imi,
Hello! It would be great to work CW with you too, and you may be interested to know I own a Frattini key as well...it is his Semimagnetico, which is like a combination of a paddle and a bug. You are probably familiar with it already, mine is serial number 0080, and he built it for me sometime around 2004-2005. It has a nice feel, but I still need a lot of practice to master it and its adjustment. For hand sending, I typically prefer 25-35 wpm, with an occasional foray to 40 for short bursts if I am feeling confident, but typically switch to a keyboard for 40 and above. Hope to hear you soon...as I am still working on a convenient iCW solution and will probably settle on a hardware/software combination.
73 de KI4DBK
Brett
Hello Brett!
Oh yes! I know all of Alberto's key's.
He has a real great taste for key's, and all are beautiful instruments.
I just ordered a new AGA Chevron, which will arrive sometimes around in August :-)
About practicing.........I've been practicing sending cw by hand all my life and am still not good :-))
I would say 25-35 wpm is the best conversational speed by using a paddle or bug.
Unfortunately I am a lousy keyboard operator, since i find out that I can type with two fingers and my max speed on keyboard is around 27 wpm. :((((
I really hope you will manage to assemble your iCW set up soon.
73 de HA7AP
Imi
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