Along the idea of this thread (and Frank, it's all good advice but the only IMPORTANT advice is to get on the air, no matter how shaky, not matter how much you stumble, and start having fun!) I ran across something that reminded me of the frequent discussions about 'good' CW here.
Commercial stations are often held up as some example to strive for in sending crisp code anyone can read. IMX, a good operator - especially a commercial operator - is one who can read any darn fist that ever hammered at a key, no matter how bad. For those of you who are interested and who can do a 11 mbyte download, click on the link below and listen to the CW sent here by professional operators. It's all commercial stuff from the heyday of Morse, if not CW, because most of it is not CW but spark. Good old quenched spark transmissions from ships to shore and ship to ship from the 1920's. Simple stuff. Traffic lists (lists of calls, etc.) and some messages/news, but I wonder how many of today's operators can copy those fists or even tell the dits from the dahs. And there's a sample of what the 600 meter marine band sounded like on a typical receiver of the time. Talk about QRM, but it wasn't a serious problem for those ops most of the time. It's a audio file created by W5JN of the OOTC (the really OLD, old timer's club). http://www.ootc.us/W5JN%20QCWA%20Ch41.mp3 He provides some narration and a few hints about what you're hearing during the ten minute program. Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
