QRQ CW over 100 wpm - tips, techniques and specialized QRQcw GEAR

[Chuck aa0hw]

This video is demo’N a setup to create a custom QRQ CW sine wave, raised cosine edged, ‘keyable’ oscillator

There are already 2 excellent programs for LINUX for a software QRQ CW KEYBOARD… FLdigi and TWQRQ...however, neither one of them are ‘keyable’ - this first video in a new video series on “QRQ CW OVER 100 WPM” uses Fldigi as a tool to build a new software QRQ CW pure sine wave, raised cosine edged, ‘keyable’ oscillator...that you can adjust weight both by TIME and by PERCENTAGE…you can also choose the raised cosine ‘window’, adjust pitch, volume, Q, bandwidth etc… NOTE: at QRQ CW over 100 wpm, many of the cw element parameters become critical for good copy… for example, the edge noise, in spite of the cw element having an 8 ms rise and fall time, increases with cw speed and must be reduced...the edge noise can get so loud as to be 50 percent of what you hear… the VSTs filter it out very well...

NOTE: headphones might be needed in order to hear the subtle cw edge changes
NOTE: only one speaker output is used for the video, to prevent 2 speaker phase issues while listening....you can use a STEREO to MONO adapter if you need to hear this video on both speakers..

first a 1000 hertz tone from Fldigi’s RT QSK CONTROL RT CHANNEL audio output goes to the input of the VST HOST’s first VST PLUGIN, a bandpass filter...which is centered at 1000 hertz...the volume of its output is CRITICAL to get the weight by TIME to work in the following plugins… [ - 1.74 db in this setup ]

the bandpass filter connects to the first REAGATE VST Plugin, where again the threshold volume(-.2 db) is critical to get the weight by TIME to work on the next plugin...another REAGATE…

the 2nd REAGATE PLUGIN is used for adjusting the WEIGHT BY TIME on the CW NOTE...the threshold slider in the middle is set to clone Fldigi’s weight and if you raise the threshold slider higher...you get lighter keying...if you lower the threshold slider you get heavier keying…

the next VST PLUGIN is called “sineCW” and is the heart of the system...where the 1000 hertz tone is used to create a new “cloned” cw element..sineCW lets you adjust the CW PITCH, VOLUME, bandpass filter bandwidth and Q, and rise/fall time

the final vst plugin is called the ENGINEERs FILTER, where we remove any remaining edge noise and select the filter ‘window’ to your preference...each window sounds a bit different...and allows more or less edge noise to get through to the audio output…

a text file from TOM’s, W4BQF, article about copying CW OVER 70 wpm is used...and demoN some of plugins while sending...
https://sites.google.com/site/tomw4bqf/copyingcwover70wpm

http://qrqcwnet.ning.com/forum/topics/home-brewed-software-code-pra...
https://www.image-line.com/support/FLHelp/html/plugins/Minihost%20M...
https://www.meldaproduction.com/MFreeFXBundle
https://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/
http://www.rs-met.com/freebies.html

[Chuck aa0hw]

Here is the AD5DZ software CW KEYBOARD sending at 151 wpm and its controls adjusted to try and make the copy by ear at this speed, a little bit easier - with all the options the AD5DZ software CW  Keyboard has to offer:

This video will demo the AD5DZ at an extreme QRQ CW sending speed = 151 wpm

some of the cw timing controls will be adjusted during the text file sending - you many notice that a tiny change can make a slight difference in how the cw sounds at this high speed....

headphones may be necessary in order to hear the subtle changes in the cw audio

the controls I thought that gave the most benefit for making copy by ear at this speed a little bit easier were:
1. the 2nd window selection
2. the compensation - trimming off just a tiny bit of time off of each cw element equally
3. the weight and ratio also provided some help
4. the amount of rise/fall time - “ramp” which adjusts both rise/fall time the same amount
5. cw pitch - a certain pitch seems to have been easier to copy by ear at this speed

here are the settings that seemed to help me the best at this speed to copy by ear a little better…
WINDOWs 1. cosine 2. gaussian
COMPENSATION - 0.7 ms
PITCH 885 hertz
WEIGHT 45.1 %
RATIO 43.3 %
RAMP 5.6 ms rise/fall time
the HP/LP/BP filter i found to be another great help to bring down further - the remaining cw element edge noise after adjusting the cw keyboard controls

the AD5DZ CW KEYER:
https://youtu.be/l8wKVnA4oGc
https://github.com/recri/keyer

[Chuck aa0hw]

Here is a VIDEO demoN a REMOTE QRQ CW OP setup where you can KEY your rig and HEAR your RIG over ip using the AD5DZ software QRQ CW KEYBOARD, a RASPBERRY PI::RIG::USB sound card interface, a simple AUDIO DERIVED PTT KEYING CIRCUIT and the "audio OVER ip" APP  ZitaNJbridge

In this 4th video in this series...which is a follow up to this:
https://youtu.be/AyWewt3kejc

This setup is basically the same software APPs used ON THE PI shown on this 2nd video: https://youtu.be/aTrEnIDFB9E but this time the CW APPs are on the REMOTE OP's computer...giving the PI some breathing room...

to route the audio to be transmitted by the PI::RIG:USB soundcard interface, and to receive the RIG's receive HF RX AUDIO and the RIG's TX input audio monitor(which is the CW you will hear) ZITAnjBRIDGE is used...zita has near zero latency and near zero network jitter on the LAN ...so it is the "perfect" APP for remote AUDIO OVER IP - where you need precise and consistent timing...
https://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/

BASIC idea for this video was to test a high QRQ CW speed 125 wpm, and see how well QRQ CW above 100 wpm would work with this REMOTE QRQ CW OP to HOME BASE RIG setup...

NOTE: the AD5DZ QRQ CW KEYBOARD...has some significant features that give it quite a few advantages when you are trying to create a well designed CW NOTE for 100 wpm and above...
https://youtu.be/l8wKVnA4oGc

[Chuck aa0hw]

better QRQ COPY using a COSINE & GAUSSIAN window instead of the HANNING WINDOW - here is a video example:

in regards to edge shaping using raised cosines....and the typical, usual, HANNING WINDOW that is used to shape the QRQ CW WAVE forms by many cw APPs... INSTEAD - by using CW REGENERATION of the FABIAN's QRQ APP's audio output via the RECRI KEYER and the TRIGGER MIDI MONO APP....a DOUBLE WINDOW is used inside the RECRI KEYER to produce a COSINE::GAUSSIAN window that is a tiny bit lighter than the HANNING and at the higher qrq speeds, it seems to make a slight difference in lowering the edge noise, and making a tiny bit more breathing room between the CW ELEMENT CHARACTERS...perhaps making it just a tad easier to copy

an example is used by sending random WORDS using FABIAN's QRQ APP...at 130 wpm...to go back and forth between QRQ APP's HANNING window..and the REGENERATED RECRI KEYER's COSINE::GAUSSIAN window..
https://fkurz.net/ham/qrq.html

both are using the same RISE/FALL TIME = 6 MS and the SAME PITCH = 970 hz

RECRI KEYER
How to install the AD5DZ RECRI KEYER SOFTWARE:
https://youtu.be/l8wKVnA4oGc

TRIGGER MIDI MONO:
http://lsp-plug.in/?page=manuals&section=trigger_midi_mono

[Chuck aa0hw]

Here is another LIVE VIDEO example of keying an ELECRAFT K3S at 130 wpm and still being able to get QSK - with RX AUDIO between words -  this video example is done using a REMOTE RIG OPERATIONS setup:

Brief DEMO of using a Raspberry PI as an interface between the RIG's audio input and RIG's audio output to connect over the internet with the remote OP...both using all free LINUX SOFTWARE

when the REMOTE OP sends cw TO the PI::RIG interface to be transmitted, 2 channels of audio are used....the LEFT CHANNEL is used to key an AUDIO DERIVED PTT KEYING CIRCUIT: http://qrqcwnet.ning.com/forum/topics/what-circuit-for-computer
the right channel is what is being used for TRANSMIT CW AUDIO on the RIG - using AFCW MODE...the CW TRANSMIT AUDIO is delayed by 20 milliseconds, to give the PTT AUDIO DERIVED PTT KEYING CIRCUIT enough time to activate fully, before the very first millisecond of the first cw element arrives to be transmitted - the 20 ms is "just" enough delay to prevent any first bits of audio from being chopped off, due to the RIG's inherit Push to Talk timing delay to activate fully... the PTT HANG TIME is adjusted by an app called ZAMGATE - https://github.com/zamaudio/zam-plugins The actual whole software setup is covered many times by other videos in this channel and won't be addressed here...there are slight differences and improvements made as the system is improved experiementally...each video covers a little bit more of the learning curve required to get this to operate successfully...

the emphasis of this video was to determine how well the performance of using this software APP chain would be in conducting remote qrq cw operations from afar over the internet...and still be able to get reliable 2 way full duplex CW audio TRANSMISSION with the CW NOTE intact...AND also be able to get FULL QSK with RECEIVE AUDIO between words(optional of course by adjusting the ZAMGATE RELEASE CONTROL - PTT HANG TIME)
at a very high qrq cw speed - 130 wpm...which the ELECRAFT K3S is not capable of keying on its own by keying the CW JACK...so using this AFCW MODE system enables the K3S to key cw over 100 wpm and using this software provides a way to get FULL QSK RECEIVE HF audio between letters, words, or phrases...according to how much RELEASE TIME you set on ZAMGATE

GSTREAMER COMMANDS for the RASPBERRY PI(2b used in vid)
*********************************************************************
TRANSMIT receive HF audio from the RIG::PI interface to the REMOTE OP's laptop sound card using GSTREAMER PIPELINES (AOIP)
gst-launch-1.0 -v alsasrc device=hw:1 ! audioconvert ! audiorate ! audioresample ! opusenc bitrate=256000 ! rtpopuspay ! udpsink host=(ip address of remote OP) port =5001

RECEIVE audio from the REMOTE OP to be transmitted to the RIG::PI interface - arriving audio is routed to the RIG's LINE INPUT jack and the QRQ CW is being transmitted using AFCW MODE on LSB
gst-launch-1.0 -v udpsrc port=5002 caps="application/x-rtp" ! rtpjitterbuffer ! rtpopusdepay ! opusdec ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! alsasink device=hw:0

GSTREAMER COMMANDS for the REMOTE OP to use to connect with the RIG::PI interface over the internet:
*********************************************************************

send TRANSMIT CW AUDIO to the RIG::PI interface over the internet - the PI receives the audio over GSTREAMER and the PI's external USB SOUND CARD has an audio cable going from the PI's USB SOUND CARD's LINE OUTPUT to the RIG's LINE INPUT:
gst-launch-1.0 -v jackaudiosrc ! audioconvert ! audiorate ! audioresample ! opusenc bitrate=256000 ! rtpopuspay ! udpsink host=(ip address of the RIG:PI interface) port =5002

receive the RIG's HF RECEIVE AUDIO & the RIG's TRANSMIT INPUT AUDIO MONITOR audio over the internet - The RIG's PI interface is using a USB SOUND CARD...the RIG's LINE OUTPUT connects to the PI's USB SOUND CARD LINE INPUT using an audio cable:
gst-launch-1.0 -v udpsrc port=5001 caps="application/x-rtp" ! rtpjitterbuffer ! rtpopusdepay ! opusdec ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! jackaudiosink

GSTREAMER:
https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/

[Chuck aa0hw]

Here is an experimental way to KEY QRQ CW on the ELECRAFT K3S over 100 wpm

1, using AFCW MODE
2. using LSB
3. using a 6khz tone sent ahead of the actual cw tone to activate the K3S VOICE VOX PTT circuit and get the RIG ready for TRANSMIT
4. get as much qsk receive audio between "words" as possible
5. the K3S vox turn OFF hang time, delay, was set to its lowest setting(10 ms)

The 6 khz tone is just enough volume to activate the K3S VOICE VOX transmit circuit to get the PTT to turn ON...this 6 khz tone is TOO HIGH in pitch to be transmitted by the RIG's transmit circuits...it is also very low in volume compared to the actual CW TONE that WILL be transmitted...
(NOTE: at 100 watts, only 0.00025 milliwatts makes it out the antenna) However, the 6khz tone is as effective and as fast - at activating the RIG's PTT as using an external hardware method

this is an advanced software setup....more details to follow...in future video demo's...

One unique advantage of sending QRQ CW on the K3S this way, is you only need to use the K3S own USB SOUND CARD...in this demo, the USB K3S JACK on its rear panel, was connected to a Raspbery Pi 2B
The audio was transmitted over IP to the PI into the K3S USB SOUNDCARD directly and the RECEIVE audio in the reverse direction to the REMOTE OP's station etc..

[Chuck aa0hw]

Here is a video example of using the ArtyFX plugin called  FILTA - to filter out the cw element edge noises on QRQ CW

Brief demo of removing cw element edge noise from High Speed CW

http://openavproductions.com/
http://openavproductions.com/doc/artyfx.html#filta

the AD5DZ CW KEYER:
https://youtu.be/l8wKVnA4oGc
https://github.com/recri/keyer

here is a playlist for more videos about:
- copying QRQ CW by ear at over 100 wpm speeds:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfFan4sDonOfYgekqoqcLClSBF1q...

Spectrum Analyzer used in this video:
https://www.voxengo.com/product/span/

[Chuck aa0hw]

CW EDGE NOISE above 100 wpm -  how much is there ? & how can you get rid of most of it ?

brief demo of the CW EDGE NOISE that is present when sending a QRQ CW TEXT file at 151 wpm using the AD5DZ software CW Keyboard

A simple CW AUDIO BANDPASS filter plugin helps greatly to reduce the amount of cw edge noise below and above the cw sending pitch https://calf-studio-gear.org/

here is a playlist for more videos about:
- copying QRQ CW by ear at over 100 wpm speeds:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfFan4sDonOfYgekqoqcLClSBF1q...

[Chuck aa0hw]

YPLog CW Keyboard - QRQ CW over 100 wpm test using Gstreamer's CW audio bandpass filtering

same setup as before - only some of the Gstreamer bandpass filter settings have changed to make improvements for copying CW above 100 wpm - also - some YPLog CW TIMING settings have been changed as well to help improve copy at these speeds above 100 wpm... (this is a TEST & TRY method...which will be different for each CWop, since the preferences for copying qrq cw vary widely from one CWop to another...the settings chosen in this video, are what sounded best to me...today)

see previous videos for the setup
https://youtu.be/AZzvZjV0E18

HERE IS THE MODIFED Gstreamer script on Windows 10 Transmitter
C:\gstreamer\1.0\x86_64\bin
gst-launch-1.0.exe -v wasapisrc device="\{0.0.1.00000000\}.\{2a585bea-c938-449c-b348-2642e72b5a9a\}" low-latency=true ! queue ! audioconvert ! audiowsincband mode=band-pass lower-frequency=682 upper-frequency=1182 length=400 window=hamming ! audioconvert ! audiorate ! audioamplify amplification=1.86 ! opusenc bitrate=512000 frame-size=2.5 ! rtpopuspay ! queue ! udpsink host=192.168.1.101 port=3457

(the YPLog CW TIMING settings that were modified for better copy above 100 wpm, were shown on video, towards the end)

[Chuck aa0hw]

QRQ CW over 130 wpm, word copy TRAINING using FABIAN's "qrq" APP - special audio filtering demo

when copying CW over 130 wpm - the CW ELEMENT EDGE noise is significant - so... a special audio bandpass filter is demo'D in this video that may offer some help to reduce greatly, this CW ELEMENT edge noise - helping to bring out more of the pure CW audio tone...

A Gstreamer script is used to perform a CW AUDIO bandpass filtering and still preserve the raised cosine wave shaped edges while reducing to NEAR ZERO - all of the CW ELEMENT edge noise

HERE IS THE GSTREAMER SCRIPT used in this example:
gst-launch-1.0 -v jackaudiosrc do-timestamp=true ! audio/x-raw, endianness=1234, signed=true, width=32, depth=32, rate=48000, channels=1, format=F32LE ! queue ! audioconvert ! audiowsincband mode=band-pass lower-frequency=810 upper-frequency=1010 length=400 window=hamming ! audioconvert ! audiorate ! audioamplify amplification=1.33 ! queue ! jackaudiosink buffer-time=800000

ALSO: i found it to be helpful, to use CW REGEN to the PULSEAUDIO QRQ app's output and then reconstruct a custom designed CW NOTE using the AD5DZ CW OSCILLATOR..which also allows a tiny bit of trim, off the note, to make it sound just a bit lighter in weight...
https://youtu.be/l8wKVnA4oGc

NOTE: above 130 wpm, there is not much room to reduce edge noise by increasing the RISE/FALL time...so even at 5 milliseconds rise/fall time...the edge noise is very high(demoD on video) so additional audio filtering is necessary to reduce this edge noise...you have to decide how much - by how "tight" you adjust your bandpass filtering & Q etc...

https://fkurz.net/
https://fkurz.net/ham/qrq.html

[Chuck aa0hw]

Here is a video demo of a new CW BANDPASS FILTER for EXTERME QRQ CW speeds - test at 140 wpm - LIVE DEMO of the RECRI KEYER AD5DZ CW BANDPASS FILTER:

testing the QRQ CW BANDPASS FILTER from AD5DZ's RECRI KEYER apps...at 140 wpm...testing the QRQ CW BANDPASS FILTER from AD5DZ's RECRI KEYER apps...at 140 wpm...https://github.com/recri/keyer
you have to modify the RECRI "KEYER" File for bandpass settings:*************************************************************** } filt {     start { keyer -start {filter-overlap-save@filt} -filt-low 708 -filt-high 908 }     info { overlap save bandpass filter } }
**************************************************************
you have to modify the RECRI "KEYER" file for filt-length:*******************************************************************
{* -length} { $self describe $option enum -values {64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 } }*******************************************************************

then the terminal command to bring up CW bandpass FILTER~/keyer/bin$ ./keyer filt
adjust the cw rise/fall time to 1 ms RAMP setting~/keyer/bin$ ./keyer -start 'keyer-tone@CW'
bring up keyboard~/keyer/bin$ ./keyer -start 'ascii@CW_Keyboard'

PLAYLIST for more videos on CW over 100 wpm:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfFan4sDonOfYgekqoqcLClSBF1q...