W4/VP9KF - CW Links

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
Morse (de) Morse (fr/PDF) Morse (MoIP) Morse (IARU Region 1)

Good reading
The Art & Skill of Radio-Telegraphy William Pierpont, N0HFF (SK)
Zen and the Art of Radiotelegraphy Carlo Consoli, IK0YGJ
Massive collection of Morsum Magnificat magazine !!!

A school project summary by Corrine Jackson for a 'Famous Inventors and Inventions' project on Morse code. Well done :-)

Morse Code (Wikipedia) High Speed Telegraphy (Wikipedia) and the opposite QRSS

Save CW!
It was once feared that 'scrapping the morse test' would 'do in' both the HF bands and CW. This has proven, on the whole, to not be the case. However, one thing that has changed is the limiting of CW to smaller and smaller recommended segments of the bands, instead of the regime where CW could go anywhere. This is definitely a step backwards.
However, good break-in QSK CW is more at threat because of the next generation of rigs. The Flex and Elecraft SDR radios have some pretty awful turnaround times on CW. This appears to be because of the vast strings sent over the API interface between external control (PC or 'panel') and the 'radio' or simply bad design at a hardware and software level. This latency needs to be addressed in other new rigs before degradation is allowed to go too far. There should be absolutely no reason why CW at 30wpm+ should tax the interface of either the computer inside the rig or any that are external, provided the API is thought out properly. Before it's too late you should e-mail manufacturers and make sure that CW isn't defeated by digital (SLOW!) modes. The horse has bolted on some of these; Flex and Elecraft K4, while some others may be saved before they finalise their architecture.
Others: IC7610, IC7300 (both not much use above 28wpm). Anan (Apache Labs) - fantastic QSK. Expert MB-1 'out there' but I don't personally know how it performs.
We can now add: SunSDR2 DX, Elad Duo-X, more coming......

CW QRP (and QRS) Frequencies (MHz)
Band	160 m	80 m	40 m	30 m	20 m	17 m	15 m	12 m	10 m	6 m	2 m
Primary	1.810	3.560	7.030	10.106	14.060	18.096	21.060	24.906	28.060	50.060	144.060
EU preferred	1.843		7.090
Alternative			7.122	10.116						50.096
QRS		3.555			14.055				28.055

CW Clubs - everything about CW clubs can now be seen at this link.

Club images/logos on this page © Copyright original owners

I'm a member of the following clubs:
Club membership

I operate
only CW

CW Links

30CW

4SQRP

9AQRP

A1A

A1 Club (JA)

CCT

CQC

CQCW

CTC

CWJF

ECWARC

FFQRP

FISTS

FoCocw

FPQRP

GRT

Notes on QRQ

No. 236

No. 1945

No. 161
& 162

No. 253

No.1745

No. 200

No. 1029

No. 571

No. 3224
& 3225

No. 790

No. 450

No. 102

No. 19223

groups.io
-only-

No. 4128

No. 1442

HTC

LIDS

MORSE

NAQCC

NEQRP

NOC

NZQRP

PROCW

QRQcw

RCWC

SAMOC

SKCC

SOC

SSN

TBDXC

WAB

YOMARC

No. 387

No. 231

No. 020

No. 9881

No. 855

No. 1

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No. 120

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No. 1211

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No. 20141

No. 1000

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No. 900

No. 1496

No. 144

Morse Practice Software

Moved to the Latest Applications page (Ham area - Applications - Morse)

Morse Practice (Online)

(I'm currently at callsigns: 44wpm and approaching my on-air [noisy] rate of 48wpm)

Zoom and Skype are used for one-on-one tutorials by some groups
Also OVSV CW School Graz

CW Contests Calendar

Different keying methods	Different copying methods

It's pretty hard to find "one key does all".	The brain learns in steps.
Plateaux points during learning

There are 'sticking' points in the learning process	more coming

These plots are generated using LibreOffice 7.5.4.2

June, 2022. Like a lot of things, much of the hardware which follows may be unavailable or back-ordered. Others may disappear due to post SARS.Cov.2 company closures....
Items marked with orange are discontinued products but may be available used. Other suppliers have stopped using PayPal and stopped shipping outside the USA.

Morse Practice Hardware

Simple Oscillators (CPO): Kent kit, MorseX kit, 555 oscillator diagram, K1EL Code Practice Oscillator kit,
G0TDJ osc. Breadboard Radio Pacific Antenna Super Simple CPO [this is great - made one of my own with 2N3904. Worked first time. All junk box components, cost $0] Phoenix [Kanga] NT7S circuit
A seriously clean Oscillator: KF7CX circuit (based on Smooth Tone Osc). Also Twin T CPO.
More complex trainers: Morserino, K1EL Morse Tutor/Keyer kit, MFJ (various, quite expen$ive), Arduino CW Trainer N4TL (simplified)

Electronic Keyers
With USB interface: Mortty v4 Mortty v5 nanoKeyer (+Arduino Nano v3.0/FTDI) K3NG info TinyKeyer K1EL Open CW Keyer (hamshop.cz) Funtronics K3NG
No USB interface: Ultra PicoKeyer PicoKeyer Plus Logikey 4SQRP Tortukeyer N1KSN PIC Phoenix
More: Microham Mtechnologies Jackson Harbor Press MFJ QRPworks Ham Radio Solutions

Software Keyers
Software keyer Remote software keyer (IW7DMH) Be SURE to read about audio driver latencies before considering!

Keys, Bugs, Sideswipers and Paddles
CW everywhere......
Quite a few make their own keys (here are some [W6FIF, NA6O, NV1Q & WB2LQF]). Many go on to be on sale.
W.R. Smith
Schurr -Scheunemann Vibroplex / Bencher Begali Kent G4ZPY N2DAN (SK) Chevron Imel M1 RA Manufacturing Bulldog
WK4DS I1QOD LC Variable N3ZN Keys American Morse Equipment NT9K Plastic Concepts STAMPFL hamshop.cz KC9ON Nye/Viking uniHAM
UR5CDX Paddlette HA8KF CT Hand Keys Whiterook IK1OJM VizKey W1SFR GHD CWMorse QRPGuys K8RA (SK)
March Magnetic Paddles GM0EUL Te-Ne-Ke N6ARA Tiny Paddle BaMaTech

Coastal Radio stations
Maritime Radio Historical Society (USA)
Maritime Radio NZ (ZL)

Telegraph (not radiotelegraphy)
Telegraph History 3D printing taken to ridiculous lengths!

Morse Online (live)
Virtual channel (CWCOM)
iCW (via QRQcw)

HST - High Speed Telegraphy
HST 2020 World Championship - August 2020 Cancelled due to COVID-19
HST 2023 World Championship HST 2024 World Championship

CW Club membership statistics

CW Club stats

Interesting? 'Minority' interest clubs dominate - *Straight key and QRP.
*Paid-for clubs are held back - notably CWops. *Speed, size or other limitation.