CQ CQ CQ de VE3SVQ
Thank you for stopping by. Anyone who has tried to learn morse code will understand the title "The Shaky Key".
I have been licenced since 1990, life and work limited my radio time from 2003-2021. Getting back into the hobby I experienced what a lot of newly licenced hams also experience. I was contacted by a ham who remembered that I used to write a column for "The Canadian Amateur" magazine in the 1990's . He pointed out how helpful it was for him as a new ham. So I am doing that again and I reactivated The Shaky Key as a video channel.
The idea is to keep this pretty basic and fun. Some videos respond to a question I am asked, others will just be me having fun doing things that might interest a Ham. I do a lot of POTA (Parks On The Air) it is fun and a great way for beginners to experience this hobby. Get on the air and have fun.
Thanks for stopping by- please like, share and subscribe.
73, VE3SVQ
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Thank you. Appreciate the comment
Thank you Peter. Looking forward to seeing you either in class or on the air.
Great stuff ! Peter Hume ON3VCF LICW 5992 I like your videos and what you say made sense and helps. I am working to get to GOTA. That's why i joined. Very likely you will see le in a class Good on you Peter in Brussels Belgium
Saw you. Recognised you. Knew you had something meaningful to share !
I agree, even though sometimes hands do their own thing, a harm up before transmitting always helps!
That's very useful information. One thing I hadn't thought off is to listen for my own call being returned. I've been struggling to get my CW back for a very long time. I still don't have the confidence to do so but your information is very well worth knowing. 73. HS0ZLQ. G0MIH.
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Your video has certainly convinced me to come back to CW and to join the SKCC. I had about 12 words per minute years ago, but am very rusty, so find the typical QSO's intimidating. Now I know where to go to get better! Your humbleness and willingness to show a QSO with all the warts left in is very inspirational. Fine work! 73
Thank you, that is really why I do them. I definitely am still learning and it can be intimidating to anyone new to CW. I like to let them see we all make mistakes and to keep at it. I was 12 wpm back in 1990 and didn't touch it again until 2023. But really enjoying it now.
I'd like to take the Long Island cw club course but unfortunately with exceptionally poor internet service and an ancient computer that has no video conferencing geegaws on it and no budget to upgrade, it's unlikely I'll be able to do that.
While you will miss out on the class practice sessions and Qs and As, the main club page in the top right has a link to their practice page- same one we use in class. Start with student BC1 That will help a bit.
Made my first CW contact with the help of a club Elmer during Indiana QSO Party. Hope to work you on the air from my own call sign soon! I took part on the local club net last night and I had to correct my call sign twice, it's just how it is--I wanted to be there and I made sure they copied correctly... It's the same on CW and even more relaxed for the elmers in my short experience. Thanks for your insights VE3SVQ!
Thanks! Great tips.
Thx for commenting. Always appreciated
Gotta tell ya, as a novice I worked a lot of Canadian's on CW. My Elmer and my dad installed my antenna one day while I was at school. It was oriented East West which meant the main lobes went North Sout. I didn't understand his comment when he left, "Don't work any Canadians". LOL. Had many a QSO with them!
We had fun back then the USA was 5 and 10 wpm. We could never understand why we had to be 7 and 12 wpm. But in the end we all had a lots of fun. Even today most of my contacts are US amateurs
@@ve3svq-theshakykey440 When I was licensed in the USA in the 1980s, we had 5wpm, 13wpm, and 20wpm. I passed 5wpm and 13wpm, but I could never make it to 20wpm. Even so, I enjoy working CW and around 10-15wpm is fine for me.
It takes awhile. I ended up North American because that was the type of key I bought in 1990. It was what I could afford back then.
Yes, still figuring it out
congrats!!
I have the same straight as you. The nye viking master key. By chance do you know when they were made.? I picked up one at hamfest. Its pristine shape. Good video also. Dave, KQ4CW
Thx for the comment. I really like that key. I bought mine when working on my licence so that would be 1989/90.
Very useful information. Thank you for taking the time and effort to bring us this helpful presentation.
Glad it was helpful!
I never got above 5-6 wpm. I barely passed my novice test back in '88. I then immediately got my technician license, but had to wait a really long time to upgrade to general. To me, once you get much above 5 wpm, it just becomes an unintelligible mess. None of those "guaranteed to work" methods worked. I have never used code on the air, and have no desire to do so.
Thx for your comment. My Canadian licence was 1990. Needed 7wpm then 12 wpm for full HF. Made 3 contacts and didn’t use again until a little over a year ago. Like you tried all sorts of sites etc. came across the Long Island cw club and took their courses. It worked. On the air now around 12 wpm and having fun. My mic is rarely plugged in now.
You have a contest call, do you have a rag chew call, a net call, a traffic call, a ssb call, an FT8 call?
Nope. VE3SVQ was my original call in 1990. In the 90s I did a lot of contesting and those were the days of paper logs. VA3KEI became my contest call easier to track and qsl with people. VE3SVQ is still my primary call for most things ham radio.
Great Video ! I love mine I also work 40 and 20 meters on Pota your right they do great DX I worked Australia , Sweden, BC, Alberta, Portugal , Alaska, Colombia and so on happy DX Pota on brother ! Sal / KM4PPV
Thank you for commenting. I agree I use mine all the time for POTA and from eastern Ontario have French, UK and Spanish POTA hunters and often get out as far as South Dakota etc.
Hi, I still use one after 40 years it helps 😊
It sure does, I use mine all the time
What?
Incredible thanks a lot for this
How do you get to have two VE3 call signs?
I am not sure what it is like now but in the 1990s we could ask for a 2nd call primarily for contests etc. which is what my VA3 was primarily used for and still is.
@@ve3svq-theshakykey440Sometimes we forget that call signs identify stations not people. My first license had two parts. One was the station license with my street address as the location for the “fixed” operation. The other was my operator’s license which listed my P.O. Box as the mailing address.
I don't care about your tips, really. No one cares.
I got a lot from this video, so maybe you are just too good for CW and should stick to operating your microwave dinners.
I fell over laughing at @jmac217x comment!!! No license necessary to operate in the microwave dinner band! Since I do care about his tips (1 person), you are wrong, @marcisberzins. I care!
Super! Thanks for the encouragement. 73 K6KRG
Thanks for this video. Several thoughts: 1) A script was absolutely crucial when I first got on the air with CW. I didn't write mine down, however, I just practiced it until I memorized it, and could send it confidently. Sure, I was still nervous, but eventually the script was second-nature to me, and could use it for any QSO. It has changed over the years, but I still use most of the elements that I had in the original. 2) Joining SKCC was absolutely the BEST thing I could have done to get on the air with CW. Because there was a set exchange that every SKCC contact had to have, you knew EXACTLY what was coming from the other operator, and exactly what you needed to send. It was great; it made it easy to copy. It really gave me the confidence to get on the air with CW. It even gave me the confidence to call CQ - especially during Week-end Sprintathon. 3) When I had the 'brain freeze', what eventually ended up helping me was the good ol' prosign of 'BT'. I would send BT several times until I could think of what to say next. That really helped calm me down. So, again, thanks for the video. I'll have to remember to share this kind of stuff when people ask me what I do when I get on the air with CW. DE K7RLN (SKCC #19199)
Can you please share the template of those scripts ? 73's /ct1bsd
I have added a few videos looking at each one I suggested in this video. I will add more when I have the time. 73
Excellent video and great info. Thank you for posting.
Thank you for this down to earth kind of info. I’m into my learning journey right now with LICW and I’ve started listing more on the radio and is a beautiful thing how our brain starts picking some characters where a few weeks ago it was just indecipherable code. 73 de VA6JLG
@k8byp_542
Thanks for sharing Keith! Looking forward to giving this a try.
This is one of the beauties of the Reverse Beacon Network, you can set your freq, set the speed and see what's about.....great for a newcomer!
I needed this! I'm learning CW currently on LCWO and am monitoring POTAs from my shack. Getting on the air is still really intimidating but I feel like with this script I may give it a shot this week since it's so simple. Thank you! 73
I hope it helps the LICW trainer is free and can be found on their main page top right
@@ve3svq-theshakykey440 I've made 3 Pota Hunting contacts with your script! Really grateful you shared this it gave me some confidence to get on the air! Obviously got a ways to go with copying but the joy of some CW QSOs has been amazing! :) Thanks!
Thought I’d follow up with an update! Your script gave me the courage to get on the air. In the 2 weeks since I watched your video, I’ve hunted 61 parks in 20 different states. The feeling of getting on the air has been amazing and has given me a lot of confidence with CW. After my first 10-15 QSOs I had the script memorized and no longer needed to read off the paper. I still have a ways to go with copying but I feel like I may be able to activate a park soon. Just wanted to say thank you!
That is wonderful. I am thrilled for you. Keep hunting and enjoying CW. The other scripts will help to expand your cw skills too
I had internet issues while this was uploading yesterday. Final edits done this morning with correct title plus added links to the script and two other excellent KZread CW sites. Ed W4EMB and Evan K2EJT
great and helpful video. tnx 73 Ron
Thanks Keith!
Thank you for your comment. Good luck with cw. It is a lot of fun.
Thank you so very much for sharing this information. I am still in the process of learning CW but, I have been on the KIUSN website and was a little confused about the learning process. Thank you for making this clear. I can't tell you how excited I am to be learning CW and can't wait till I can actually use CW to communicate, even on the KIUSN website. Thank You KO4UWU 73
It's a good idea. I did this to be sure what I wanted to say and get the spelling correct. I learned it to get my G4 call but was nosey and wanted to know what people were saying anyway. Having learnt it I was not letting it get away. I got my ex army key about 50 years ago and still at school aged 15 or 16 and paid 7/6d or 37½ new pence in today's money. G4GHB.
Great video Keith. I'm looking forward to making my first contact. Hopefully in the near future.
Just keep practicing it does come together
Thank you. Yes they really do, I regularly get dx European contacts from POTA activations
They do indeed work! From Maryland, with either 5 or 10 watts and hamsticks, I’ve worked all manners of DX, as well as many POTA activators. I have the Shark models. 73, Mike K3CXG.
Thank you. I will keep yours in mind for when I activate a park. Much appreciated
Great script! Thanks for making videos like this, Keith. These kinds of videos help create more CW operators for us to communicate with. Here’s my POTA script… A: CQ CQ CQ POTA DE VA2NW VA2NW K H: AC1PH A: AC1PH GA UR 5NN 5NN BK H: BK TU UR 5NN 5NN VT VT BK A: BK TNX VT ES 73 DE VA2NW E E H: E E
Hi Keith, another great video for new CW operators. This is spot on with my experience since getting up the nerve to make that first contact after watching another video of yours about 3 weeks ago. Since then I have made 58 CW POTA contacts according to my hunter log on the POTA website. For those wanting to get that first contact, just follow Keith's advise in this video. From the decoding side you will need to be able to make out your call sign and the <bk>. That is really all that I could do on my first couple of contacts. I am improving but still can't make out everything that is sent my way, but that really doesn't matter at this point. I am making contacts and I am improving every day. Sometimes I will tune into a frequency where somebody is calling CQ POTA and I will follow along with the script to practice decoding what the activator is sending. This is a lot of fun and you will be hooked when you make that first contact. My goal is to be able to activate a park, but I have a long way to go with improving my copy. Thanks again Keith for another great video and 73 for now...
I am thrilled for you. I know the effort it took to take that leap and get on the air.
I remember those days. Lots US novice ops at 5 wpm. It helped Canadians as we were 7 or 12 wpm.
I used to write down a tiny script when I was starting out contacting others radio amateurs by Morse. It couldn't be very long because I only sent at 5 words per minute which is 25 characters per minute! That was back in 1965.
I remember those days. In Canada we started at 7 wpm and had to go to 12 for the next level.
Tnx was great in all respects very helpful. Ron KI5USR
I don't use 75/80 either. I know there is a more seasoned crowd down there that talks about declining health and it's one of the few ways they can still feel connected, so I leave it alone since I'm just not ready for that. Also, the band is not useful during the daytime when I am usually able to get on the air. As for 40-10, everything I'm seeing and hearing says it is a really good antenna. I bought one over at MFJ a couple of years ago, but I have not strung it up yet, since I use a Hustler 6-TV as my only antenna. I have a good antenna switch, so I may put it in line with my backup transceiver that is hooked up to the MFJ Cobweb...another STELLAR performing antenna. MFJ (Starkville, MS) is only a thirty-five minute drive from my front door, so I buy a good bit from them. Nice informative video, Mr. Keith. Thanks so much for sharing it with us! K5SFC
I still love mine. Use it everyday. My MFJ-1796 is rarely used anymore. With the wire antenna the only problem I have heard of is when they pull it tight and don't leave a bit of sag in the middle. Under different conditions it needs a bit of flexibility.