The CWops CW Academy team meeting has its own challenges. I ran into some issues I was not prepared for. First of all it has to do with the keyer. I first thought of using the internal keyer from the IC-7300. But the problem is that you can't shut down receive noise in between using the keyer. So I thought of a solution by buying a cheap Putikeeg CW trainer.
I did read some reviews, saw a youtube video about it and decided it was just what I needed. Not really for the training but just to act as a keyer. However in the last meeting I couldn't get the letter "Y" out of it, and also the letter "R" was an issue. At first I thought it was a paddle issue, so during the meeting I switched to my touchpaddle. Unfortunate for me I ran into the same issues. Very annoying and after the meeting I tried both the letters again. From the 10 times I keyed the letter "Y" only two were ok. I key in iambic mode so for the Y I press the right paddle and hold it while after the first dash I press a short time with my thumb on the left paddle. Well you know how it works. But the Putikeeg keyer does not react all the time. That's a big issue for me. This CW trainer is not usable for me,. I'd better save some money to buy a good one.
Second issue on the teams meeting is my use of a headset, or actually they are earbuds and the mike is in a small block were the wire splits. This mike is not really sensitive and although I had maximum input and even +30db amplification it was still not good. Luckily I still have my USB microphone I used for FreeDV on my desktop. I use it now and it seems my modulation is fine now.
Well the keyer is still something I have to solve. Next time I will use the IC-7300 again I think. I got an old Winkeyer K12 from Gerard PA3BCB (SK) but don't know yet if that's something I can use?
No other issues, except for one computer shutdown which I cannot declare? I really enjoy the interaction with other HAMs in the meetings. Something I was really looking for. Homework goes well but will soon be more difficult I guess.
Maybe a Morserino as your next trainer / keyer?
ReplyDeleteYes, I've seen the Morserino M32 pocket at QRP labs. I think that's a lot better as this CW trainer. However it was also a matter of time. Ordering at Amazon was a fast way to get a "keyer". However after all the old K1EL K12 keyer was capable enough after diving into the manual and switching it on. More about that later. 73, Bas
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