DOCSLIB.ORG

ZEN and the ART of RADIOTELEGRAPHY Carlo Consoli, IK0YGJ

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
ZEN and the ART of RADIOTELEGRAPHY Carlo Consoli, IK0YGJ ZART – REV 20100209 ZEN AND THE ART OF RADIOTELEGRAPHY Carlo Consoli, IK0YGJ Rev. 20100209 - 1 - ZART – REV 20100209 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 4 Learning CW .................................................................................................................................. 6 The four stages of learning.......................................................................................................... 6 The learning roadmap ................................................................................................................. 8 The physiology behind learning ................................................................................................ 10 Learning and self-image............................................................................................................ 12 First relaxation exercise ............................................................................................................ 14 Getting started with Morse code.................................................................................................... 15 First Week ................................................................................................................................ 16 Groups of the Week .................................................................................................................. 21 Second Week ............................................................................................................................ 22 Groups of the Week .................................................................................................................. 23 Third Week............................................................................................................................... 25 Groups of the Week .................................................................................................................. 28 Fourth Week ............................................................................................................................. 30 Groups of the Week .................................................................................................................. 30 Fifth Week................................................................................................................................ 32 Groups of the Week .................................................................................................................. 33 Sixth Week ............................................................................................................................... 34 Groups of the Week .................................................................................................................. 35 Increasing speed: let’s go on-air.................................................................................................... 37 Second relaxation exercise ........................................................................................................ 40 Adjusting spacing to speed........................................................................................................ 40 A QSO in CW........................................................................................................................... 42 Increasing speed........................................................................................................................ 46 High Speed CW, going QRQ ........................................................................................................ 50 Feel the Force Luke! ................................................................................................................. 52 “Speed. I am Speed” ................................................................................................................. 53 Training to visualize ................................................................................................................. 54 Learning new words.................................................................................................................. 55 Practice, practice, practice......................................................................................................... 56 Changing the telegraph key....................................................................................................... 56 Discover your limits, and go beyond ......................................................................................... 57 The rest, coming by itself.......................................................................................................... 58 Keys and Keyers........................................................................................................................... 60 The Straight Key....................................................................................................................... 60 The Paddle................................................................................................................................ 63 The Electronic Keyer ................................................................................................................ 68 The Bug.................................................................................................................................... 71 The Sideswiper ......................................................................................................................... 74 Building a CW career ................................................................................................................... 78 Naval Clubs .............................................................................................................................. 79 High Speed Clubs ..................................................................................................................... 80 FOC.......................................................................................................................................... 82 Amateur telegraphy from a linguistic perspective.......................................................................... 84 The lexicon ............................................................................................................................... 85 The syntax ................................................................................................................................ 86 A linguistic analysis of amateur telegraphy ............................................................................... 88 CW: the Esperanto of the Third Millennium ?........................................................................... 92 - 2 - ZART – REV 20100209 About the author ........................................................................................................................... 94 Acknowledgments and Dedications .............................................................................................. 95 Bibliographic References.............................................................................................................. 96 Copyright Notices......................................................................................................................... 97 - 3 - ZART – REV 20100209 Introduction This book is the result of several years of experience in amateur radiotelegraphy. It suggests, for the first time, a learning methodology based on an integrated and multidisciplinary approach designed to accompany the apprentice from the first steps in ham radio all the way to a world-class proficiency in telegraphy. The book introduces, ad-hoc tailored to amateur radio, techniques used successfully by competitive athletes, including extreme sports such as free diving, adapted to the difficult process of learning telegraphy. This book is not only written for the benefit of amateur radio operators who want to learn this beautiful art, but it also meets the urgent need felt by the author to narrate his own path of development that has radically transformed him and the many friends with whom he shared the pleasure of such a long learning process and the immense joy of the discovery, both from the technical and from the human point of view. Wireless telegraphy is the discipline of sending and receiving signals in Morse code and, although it started “only” as a technical tool, it soon proved to be an art. Definitely a special kind of art: like a butterfly, it had a shiny but short life, rising and falling throughout the 20th century. The first implementation of Morse code was created in 1832, employing a numeric code for the most common English words, and the numbers translated into a sequence that used just two symbols: dash and dot. Morse code, as we know it today, i.e., encoding letters and numbers in a series of dots and dashes, is actually an invention of Alfred Vail, an assistant to Samuel Morse in 1844. It is a historical reality that Morse, in fact, stole the idea from Vail. Morse code was created initially as a combination of dots, dashes, long dashes, short and long spaces. We had to wait for wireless telegraphy, and therefore the twentieth century, to find the definition of the standard Morse code or “International Morse”, made of dots and dashes, spaced according to standard criteria. It was only thanks to the genius of Guglielmo Marconi that telegraphy "took
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Samuel Morse's Telegraph
    1 SAMUEL MORSE’S TELEGRAPH (The Start of the Communications Revolution) Steve Krar We live in the information age where more and more information is required at all times. There never seems to be a time when information is so readily available, but this has not always been the case. The today’s communications revolution includes radio, telephones, television computers, fax machines and satellites. So fast is the change in communications that we sometimes forget the machine that started it all. The Telegraph The telegraph was born at a time when few grasped even remotely what electric current was, let alone what it might do. The telegraph was a landmark in human development from which there could be no retreat. For the first time messages could routinely travel great distances faster than man or beast could carry them. Samuel Morse In October 1832 Samuel Morse, an early pioneer of the telegraph, on his way home from Europe met Dr. Charles Jackson who asked whether electricity took much time to travel over a long wire. The idea began to obsess Morse and before reaching shore, he had sketched the basic elements of a telegraph instrument and a crude version of a code based on dots and dashes. News from Europe in early 1837 told of the great strides being made in telegraphy; Morse realized that if he did not finish the invention soon, his efforts might be wasted. Finally, in February 1837 Congress directed the Secretary of the Treasury to ask for proposals for a telegraph. Morse’s Telegraph Morse thought that if he could perfect the electromagnetic telegraph that he had designed, in 1836, it would answer the government's needs.
    [Show full text]
  • SOUNDS of MORSE CODE (Version 2) NUMERALS (10)
    SOUNDS OF MORSE CODE (Version 2) NUMERALS (10) Using dots and dashes to represent the sounds of 1 di-DAH-DAH-DAH-DAH Morse code is HIGHLY discouraged. 2 di-di-DAH-DAH-DAH Morse code is a language of SOUND, and by 3 di-di-di-DAH-DAH converting SOUND into dots and dashes, THEN 4 di-di-di-di-DAH converting dots and dashes into the letter the 5 di-di-di-di-dit SOUND represents WILL shoot you in the foot when you try to pick up speed. You can count on it. 6 DAH-di-di-di-dit (Continued next page...) 7 DAH- DAH-di-di-dit 8 DAH- DAH- DAH-di-dit FCC 43 CHARACTERS: 9 DAH-DAH-DAH-DAH-dit LETTERS (26) 0 DAH-DAH-DAH-DAH-DAH A di-DAH PUNCTUATION & PROCEDURALS (7) B DAH-di-di-dit C DAH-di-DAH-dit BT DAH-di-di-di-DAH = (Note 1) D DAH-di-dit ? di-di-DAH-DAH-di-dit E dit / DAH-di-di-DAH-dit F di-di-DAH-dit , DAH-DAH-di-di-DAH-DAH G DAH-DAH-dit . di-DAH-di-DAH-di-DAH H di-di-di-dit AR di-DAH-di-DAH-dit + (N0te 2) I di-dit SK di-di-di-DAH-di-DAH (Note 3) J di-DAH-DAH-DAH K DAH-di-DAH PROSIGNS NEEDED FOR GOOD CW OPERATING, NOT IN THE FCC 43 L di-DAH-di-dit M DAH-DAH BK DAH-di-di-di-DAH-di-DAH (Note 4) N DAH-dit KN DAH-di-DAH-DAH-dit (Note 5) O DAH-DAH-DAH AS di-DAH-di-di-dit (Note 6) P di-DAH-DAH-dit @ di-DAH-DAH-di-DAH-dit (Note 7) Q DAH-DAH-di-DAH error di-di-di-di-di-di-di-dit (Note 8) R di-DAH-dit NOTES S di-di-dit T DAH 1.
    [Show full text]
  • The Story of Subsea Telecommunications & Its
    The Story of Subsea Telecommunications 02 & its Association with Enderby House By Stewart Ash INTRODUCTION The modern world of instant communications 1850 - 1950: the telegraph era began, not in the last couple of decades - but 1950 - 1986: the telephone era more than 160 years ago. Just over 150 years 1986 until today, and into the future: the optical era ago a Greenwich-based company was founded that became the dominant subsea cable system In the telegraph era, copper conductors could supplier of the telegraph era, and with its carry text only — usually short telegrams. During successors, helped to create the world we know the telephone era, technology had advanced today. enough for coaxial cables to carry up to 5,680 simultaneous telephone calls. And in today’s On 7 April 1864, the Telegraph Construction and optical era, fibres made of glass carry multi- Maintenance Company Ltd, better known for most wavelengths of laser light, providing terabits of of its life as Telcon, was incorporated and began its data for phone calls, text, internet pages, music, global communications revolution from a Thames- pictures and video. side site on the Greenwich Peninsula. Today, high capacity optic fibre subsea cables For more than 100 years, Telcon and its successors provide the arteries of the internet and are the were the world’s leading suppliers of subsea primary enablers of global electronic-commerce. telecommunications cable and, in 1950, dominated the global market, having manufactured and For over 160 years, the Greenwich peninsula has supplied 385,000 nautical miles (714,290km) of been at the heart of this technological revolution, cable, 82% of the total market.
    [Show full text]
  • Morse Code (Edited from Wikipedia)
    Morse Code (Edited from Wikipedia) SUMMARY Morse code is a method of transmitting text information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment. It is named for Samuel F. B. Morse, an inventor of the telegraph. The International Morse Code encodes the ISO basic Latin alphabet, some extra Latin letters, the Arabic numerals and a small set of punctuation and procedural signals (prosigns) as standardized sequences of short and long signals called "dots" and "dashes", or "dits" and "dahs", as in amateur radio practice. Because many non-English natural languages use more than the 26 Roman letters, extensions to the Morse alphabet exist for those languages. Each Morse code symbol represents either a text character (letter or numeral) or a prosign and is represented by a unique sequence of dots and dashes. The duration of a dash is three times the duration of a dot. Each dot or dash is followed by a short silence, equal to the dot duration. The letters of a word are separated by a space equal to three dots (one dash), and the words are separated by a space equal to seven dots. The dot duration is the basic unit of time measurement in code transmission. To increase the speed of the communication, the code was designed so that the length of each character in Morse is shorter the more frequently it is used in the language. Thus the most common letter in English, the letter "E", has the shortest code, a single dot.
    [Show full text]
  • Mnlilslffislßl SIGNAL BOOK UNITED STATES ARMY
    Uifh '^r MnlilSlffiSlßl SIGNAL BOOK UNITED STATES ARMY v 1916 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1916 NOV 0 8 1988 WAR DEPARTMENT Document No. 500 Office ofthe Chief Sijnal Officer ADDITIONALCOPIES OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM THE•SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE "WASHINGTON,D. C. AT 20 CENTS PER COPY V War Department, Office of the Chief of Staff. > Washington, April15, 1916. The followingSignal Book, prepared by the Chief Signal Officer of the Army,is approved and herewith issued for the information and government of the Regular Army and the Organized Militia of the United States. It supersedes Signal Book, United States Army, 1914, and its provisions willbe strictly observed throughout the service. order of the Secretary of War: H.L. Scott, Major General, Chief ofStaff. 3 CONTENTS. Page. Part I. General Instructions for Army Signaling 7 11. The American Morse Code 9 111. The International Morse or General Service Code. \u25a0 12 IV. Visual Signaling ingeneral 15 V. Visual Signaling by Flag, Torch, Hand Lan­ tern, or Beam of Searchlight (without shut­ ter) 17 VI. Signaling with Heliograph, Flash Lantern, or Searchlight (with shutter) 18 VII.The Ardois System 19 VIII.Signaling by Two-ArmSemaphore . 21 Stationary Semaphore 21 Hand Flags withTwo-ArmSemaphore Code. 21 IX.Letter Codes: Infantry .' 23 Cavalry. 24 Field Artillery ..... 24 Coast Artillery , 26 X. Conventional and Preconcerted Signals with Rockets, Bombs, Small Arms, Guns, Coston Lights, Very Pistols, etc 2828 XI.Flag Signals by Permanent Hoist. 31 XII.Conventional Telephone Signals 33 XIII.Emergency Signals '.. 34 XIV.Additional and Improvised Codes. 38 XV.
    [Show full text]
  • Morse Code [10Pt] History
    Morse code History 2013-June-11 Code pre-Morse Polybius, Greek historian from 150 BC, sent messages with torches, with numbers standing for letters. 1 2 3 4 5 1 ABCDE 2 F G H I,J K 3 LMNOP 4 QRSTU 5 VWXYZ that tied together to make national networks. Invention of telegraph In the Napoleanic wars both the French and the British set up towers Invention of telegraph In the Napoleanic wars both the French and the British set up towers that tied together to make national networks. Heartbroken to know that for days he was unaware of his wife's failing health and her lonely death he first began to think about how to do rapid long distance communication. The code as part of the telegraph: Morse Samuel Morse was a well-known painter. S F B Morse 1791-1872 In 1825 he was asked to paint the Marquis de Lafayette in Washington DC. Mid-way through he got a note that his wife was ill. He hurried home to CT, but was too late. The code as part of the telegraph: Morse Samuel Morse was a well-known painter. S F B Morse 1791-1872 In 1825 he was asked to paint the Marquis de Lafayette in Washington DC. Mid-way through he got a note that his wife was ill. He hurried home to CT, but was too late. Heartbroken to know that for days he was unaware of his wife's failing health and her lonely death he first began to think about how to do rapid long distance communication.
    [Show full text]
  • Morse Code and the Information Age Morse Code, Invented by Samuel F. B. Morse in the 1830S, Is a Method of Transmitting Textual
    Morse Code and the Information Age Morse code, invented by Samuel F. B. Morse in the 1830s, is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment. The International Morse Code encodes the Roman alphabet, the Arabic numerals and a small set of punctuation and procedural signals. The original telegraph system had an apparatus on the receiving end that spat out a string of paper with indentations on it. Short indentations were called “dots” or “dits,” and the longer ones “dashes” or “dahs.” Because many non-English natural languages use more than the 26 Roman letters, extensions to the Morse alphabet exist for those languages. Morse code has been in use for more than 160 years—longer than any other electrical coding system. What is called Morse code today is actually somewhat different from what was originally developed. The Modern International Morse code, or continental code, was created by Friedrich Clemens Gerke in 1848 and initially used for telegraphy between Hamburg and Cuxhaven in Germany. Gerke changed nearly half of the alphabet and all of the numerals resulting substantially in the modern form of the code. After some minor changes, International Morse Code was standardized at the International Telegraphy Congress in 1865 in Paris, and was later made the standard by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Samuel Morse's original code specification, largely limited to use in the United States and Canada, became known as American Morse code or railroad code.
    [Show full text]
  • Letter Circular 45: Construction and Operation of a Simple
    ' «i -•aif -ISe • 1-b Publication of the Letter DEPARTMENT OF COM'lERCE Circular BUREAU OF STANDARDS LC 45 WASHINGTON, D. 0. CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF A SIMPLE RAD IOTELEGP.APHI C CODE PRACTICE SET.* (Prepared at request of the States Relations Service, United States Department of Agriculture for use by Boys 1 and Girls 1 Radio Clubs.) Introduction This pamphlet describes apparatus which may be used for the pur- pose of learning the radio telegraph code. The apparatus is very easy to set up and operate. It is intended to be used at radio club meet- ing places or in places where a number of radio students are accustomed to assemble. Those who construct the simple radio receiving sets des- cribed in the first two pamphlets of this series will probably hear many signals which are in code. The Code Practice Set is therefore made a part of this series so shat the international Morse Code may be learned. The cost of the complete outfit will be about $5*70 or, if one constructs the telegraph key, she. cost will be reduced to about $3«b0 It is assumed that those who use this outfit have radio receiving sets and can bring their telephone receivers (“phones") to connect to the other apparatus. It is also assumed that it will not be necessary to purchase the table upon which the parts are mounted. It is desirable *This is the third of a series of pamphlets describing the construction of radio equipment. The two publications which nave been issued are Letter Receiving Circular 43 , "Construction and Opera-cion of a Very Simple Radio Equipment," and Letter Circular 44, "Construction and Operation of a Two- Circuit Radio Receiving Equipment with Crystal Detector." These describe the construction and operation of simple receiving sets.
    [Show full text]
  • The Failure of Fax: When a Vision Is Not Enough
    The Failure of Fax: When a Vision Is Not Enough Jonathan Coopersmith TexasA&M University In the lastdecade, fax machineshave revolutionized communications. We have becomeused to and dependentupon instantaneousinformation. Many peoplecannot conceive how theyworked without a fax machine.The question, however,arises: If the conceptis so good,why did nearlya centuryand a half elapsefrom the first patent in 1843 until rapid commercialdiffusion in the 1980s? In actuality,attempts to commercializefacsimile technology extend back to the 1860s[5]. Its promotersspanned the spectrumfrom individualinventors, suchas Thomas Edison and Arthur Korn, to massivecorporations, such as Xerox and AT&T. Their most common feature until the mid-1980s was failure. The few successesoccurred not in generalcommunications but in dedicatedniche marketsand, evenhere, failuresflourished. Perhaps the questionshould be: In view of the dismalhistory of failures,why did so manypeople and companies pressahead? What motivatedindividuals and ill-msto commitresources to createnew marketsand technology,given the dauntinghistory that lay behind them? Failure,the lack of technicaland commercial success for a productin the marketplace,is endemicto innovativetechnologies. Failure is worthyof study if only to betterunderstand success. Historians of businessand technology acceptthis, but tend to focusmore on success. This lack of coveragedistorts our knowledgeof the businessprocess because failure is an integral,if not dominant, theme in the existenceof companies. Much scholarlywriting
    [Show full text]
  • Transocean and German Wireless Telegraphy, 1914-1922
    "The Path to Freedom"? Transocean and German Wireless Telegraphy, 1914-1922 The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Evans, Heidi Jacqueline. 2010. "The path to freedom"? Transocean and German wireless telegraphy, 1914-1922. Historical Social Research 35(1): 209-233. Published Version http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-285403 Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:11375397 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA “The Path to Freedom”? Transocean and German Wireless Telegraphy, 1914-1922 Heidi J. S. Evans ∗ Abstract: »„Der Weg ins Freie”? Transocean und die deutsche drahtlose Te- legraphie, 1914-1922«. This article examines the early years of Transocean, a news agency owned and run by the German government, and its use of wire- less telegraphy from 1914 to 1922. This investigation of the infancy of wireless technology demonstrates that technology plays a constitutive role in defining news. The German government used the new possibilities innate in the medium of wireless to carve out their own sphere of operation in the seas and on conti- nents where German telegraph news had never played a major role, in particu- lar East Asia. Wireless telegraphy enabled the German government to circum- vent the British communications blockade in World War I. Afterwards, Transocean’s wireless transmissions to East Asia and ships en route caused an uproar in Britain disproportionate to its circulation.
    [Show full text]
  • A Short History of Radio
    Winter 2003-2004 AA ShortShort HistoryHistory ofof RadioRadio With an Inside Focus on Mobile Radio PIONEERS OF RADIO If success has many fathers, then radio • Edwin Armstrong—this WWI Army officer, Columbia is one of the world’s greatest University engineering professor, and creator of FM radio successes. Perhaps one simple way to sort out this invented the regenerative circuit, the first amplifying re- multiple parentage is to place those who have been ceiver and reliable continuous-wave transmitter; and the given credit for “fathering” superheterodyne circuit, a means of receiving, converting radio into groups. and amplifying weak, high-frequency electromagnetic waves. His inventions are considered by many to provide the foundation for cellular The Scientists: phones. • Henirich Hertz—this Clockwise from German physicist, who died of blood poisoning at bottom-Ernst age 37, was the first to Alexanderson prove that you could (1878-1975), transmit and receive Reginald Fessin- electric waves wirelessly. den (1866-1932), Although Hertz originally Heinrich Hertz thought his work had no (1857-1894), practical use, today it is Edwin Armstrong recognized as the fundamental (1890-1954), Lee building block of radio and every DeForest (1873- frequency measurement is named 1961), and Nikola after him (the Hertz). Tesla (1856-1943). • Nikola Tesla—was a Serbian- Center color American inventor who discovered photo is Gug- the basis for most alternating-current lielmo Marconi machinery. In 1884, a year after (1874-1937). coming to the United States he sold The Businessmen: the patent rights for his system of alternating- current dynamos, transformers, and motors to George • Guglielmo Marconi—this Italian crea- Westinghouse.
    [Show full text]
  • The FOC Guide to Morse Code Proficiency by Gary Hinson, Zl2ifb Version 1.4 January 2019
    The FOC Guide to Morse Code Proficiency by Gary Hinson, ZL2iFB Version 1.4 January 2019 Contents Introduction Speed Ti ming is ever y thing Pitch Q-codes, abbrev’s, punctuation & prosigns Swings and fists Morse quality metric Hinson tips Sending better CW Copying CW better Conclusion Reader feedback References Bibliography (other useful resources) Introduction Properly-formed Morse code is a delight to hear when strong, and copiable by ear even when signals are quite weak. Despite being monotonic and irregular, good Morse has a curiously musical quality, far from monotonous. However, on the air we typically face QRM, QRN, QSB, weak/marginal signals leading to errors and gaps in the copy, confusion, fatigue and frustration. Throw in badly-sent CW such as mis-sent characters, uncorrected errors, spelling mistakes, stray dits and missing dahs, variable timing with seemingly random spacing, plus off-frequency transmitters, drift, chirp, ringing filters and so on, and making contact may become, let’s say, challenging. Prompted by a lively discussion around W1RM Pete’s sage “One of the goals of every skilled comment ⇒ this guide offers advice on improving proficiency in CW operator is to send well. That Morse code for those already using CW (= Continuous Wave, not means good character formation Can’t Work!) on the amateur bands. After explaining the key and character spacing. It makes issues, you will find tips for both sending and receiving. Both little difference what you use to do aspects are important and can be improved - no matter how good, the sending, be it straight key, bug, we can always do better.
    [Show full text]