The Best CW training app for Android

Morse Trainer for Ham Radio

I'm always on the lookout for useful tools to help increase my copy speed and enjoyment of CW/Morse Code.  Training applications for beginners that teach letters and letter groups are great to get started but after you're making QSOs and copying at useful speeds those apps get a little stale. 

I recently wrote about using the "Morse News" RSS reader application for PCs. What I liked about Morse News was that it would send the text of news articles as CW.  I found it useful as a natural language trainer but I didn't like being tied to my PC during training.  

I wanted a similar application for my smart phone.

Just the mobile ticket to CW training

I'm not sure how I missed the "Morse Trainer for Ham Radio" app up to now but I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and really find it useful.

Morse Trainer in QSO Text Mode

Training Modes

This app has all the standard Morse Code training tools such as letter training, letter groups, callsign training etc. It also can send the most common 500 words as well as a random sample QSO training mode.  That's all great but what I really find useful is the ability to send your own text that you type or paste into the app and even... wait for it... an ebook reader!  

I must really be a geek but I find the ebook reader makes this a must have CW training app for me.  I converted some of my ebooks into plain text (using Calibre) and placed them in the CWTrainer's application folder on my smart phone.  I then choose the ebook mode, choose a book and it will send it as CW to me and keep track of where I left off.  I use this ebook reader mode to break the monotony of my long drive time.  

ebook mode

It's great fun to witness the expression of the person beside you at a stoplight hearing Morse Code pouring out of your car.  Priceless.

I keep the speed higher than I can comfortably copy so I'm missing some of what is sent. There's nothing like reading an action novel where you're missing half of what's going on. Did Tex get shot or not? I missed that word, hehe.

While this app doesn't read RSS feeds like Morse News application for PC's the text and ebook reader modes more than make up for it. The only bug to-date that I've noticed on my phone is that if I rotate the phone while it's playing it will reset where it was reading from back to the beginning. 

Here's a video from the application's author describing it's functions...

And here's a link to the application in the Google Play store.

Update 11/2024 - It appears this app is no long in the Google Play store.  That's too bad.  I found it very useful when learning.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wolphi.morsetrainer

I have no affiliation with the maker of this application.  I just wanted to share.



That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

73/72
Richard, AA4OO

Stuck at 20wpm

Learning CW is not a sprint

I am in the 9th month of my CW / Morse Code journey and I will readily admit that in my case it has been slow, steady progress rather than a sprint.  Some weeks I think I'm doing well while at others I seem to be stuck or losing my copy skills, even with daily practice and QSOs.

During my off-air training I had raised my copy speed of news stories sent in CW to about 23wpm with 80% comprehension but as that happened I somehow reduced my ability to copy slower speeds. This was especially noticeable in on-air qsos. So I have gone back a bit to practice slower speeds. It's difficult to explain to myself how that happened. I guess I'd become accustomed to the higher speed characters and lost recognition at slower speeds.

As my copy speed has increased, my on-air sending speed has gone up which of course results in the other side of the qso being sent at a higher speed as well. I'm still very limited when I work an unusual FIST or someone who doesn't leave space between their words.  I'm normally starting more of my qsos with a paddle/keyer than straight key now at around 17-19wpm resulting in the responding stations generally working me a couple wpm faster than I send. I'm working fewer straight key operators as I work outside the SKCC frequencies  although I still seem to encounter lots of bug operators.  I happy to work a bug op because I switch to my bug for the qso.  I still enjoy the SKCC group and ops but I can't send well above 16wpm on a straight key so that is limiting me working faster ops. I generally can work the bug around 19-20 wpm on the SKCC frequencies but then I get bug operators coming back at me with 27wpm dits which I have great difficulty copying.

I began the habit of spending some time most mornings before work just listening to higher speed ops chat with each other at speeds around 25wpm on 80m and 40m.  There's almost always a couple of CW qsos going on at that speed between 6-7 AM Eastern time. I miss much of what they are saying but it's a good supplement to the machine generated copy study that I do at lunchtime and gets me used to real FISTS at my target speed of 25wpm. All this listening is of course followed up with actual qsos in the evenings and weekends as time allows at 17-20wpm.

Stuck at 20wpm

Stuck and need help from friends

20wpm seems to be a wall of sorts. I have difficulty reliably having real qsos at and above 20wpm. I've been stuck at this speed for a couple months now and would appreciate suggestions at moving beyond the wall as I find myself still having to ask stations sending above 20wpm with tight spacing to slow down.  Some days it seems to click, but when I think back I believe it has more to do with a good FIST of the other operator than my copy skill. 

All I can reliably say is real people rarely sound like machine generated CW and all the off-air machine practice in the world doesn't reveal my real ability to copy, or not copy, like real qsos do.

So the journey continues. I plan to occasionally blog about my progress and copy speed as much for my own record as anything else but maybe it will be of some encouragement to others as well.

That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

73

Richard, AA4OO

Bum Rap

How the End-Fed antenna get's a bad reputation

I regularly use an end-fed antenna when I operate portable because it's so easy to just get one end of it up in a tree.  I then only have to get some coax to the balun and attach a couple of counterpoises to the radio ground for the band I want to work and voila I have an easy setup/tear-down antenna solution. The higher the feedpoint the better the antenna will perform, and as long as I have a good tuner I can work a lot of different bands. 

However when used in a shack you hear all manner of stories of how the end-fed random wire antenna absolutely wreaks havoc with RF at the station.  So what's the deal?

What's going on with an end-fed antenna?

I'm still learning about this stuff so here's my simple minded understanding along with some results of my own experimentation.

So when you put some fire in the wire (remember this is alternating current at a particular frequency) the RF will run down that wire and when it gets to the end it will run back.  Part of the power will be radiated, the part that does not will come back and want to push against something.  

In a dipole the power runs out one leg and when it runs back it has the other balanced leg of the dipole to run to and repeats the process until it's radiated either as a signal or heats up your coax. The end fed wire doesn't have that balanced leg to push against so it will flow back into your equipment and radiate from there along with anything it can find to get into that your equipment is attached to.

When your portable, operating low power, this isn't very noticeable and since I'm generally operating from a battery that returning RF isn't heading off into a power supply and into the mains, etc.  But when operating from a shack and especially if I'm operating at QRO levels (gasp!) that RF can generate a hum in your equipment, distort your signal,  bite you on the hand or lip depending on paths to least resistance.  Worst case it can fry something in the shack or nearby sensitive electronic equipment.

Thus the bad rap.

Background

Here's my experience...

At my QTH I reconfigured my external 40m Windom (aka OCF dipole) to an 80m OCF Dipole.  When I was using the 40m Windom I could tune the 30m band without difficulty but the high impedance nodes occur in different places on the 80m OCF and make 30m over 10:1 SWR.  Certainly not efficient and impossible to tune for some internal tuners.  My attic doublet can tune 30m but my attic seems to be an especially noisy place for 30m and it was really limiting my ability to work 30m.  I've discussed the woes of getting antennas outdoors at my QTH previously so I was looking for an easy way to get back on 30m.

I thought I'd give the much maligned end-fed a try

I cut about 150 feet of wire and attached it to the long-wire post of my trusty MFJ Deluxe Versa Tuner II and ran it up around my room and out out my 3rd story window to a tree in the front yard.  It is very stealthy and doesn't raise the ire of the neighbors.

The MFJ matched the end-fed easily on 30m and reception was about 2 S-units less noise than with the attic antenna.  So far so good.  I made some contacts using 5w but was hearing some hum in my headphones so I knew something was rotten in Denmark (sorry Denmark).

I have some counterpoise wires running from the back of the tuner but when I took stock of what I had I realized none of them were 1/4 wavelengths for 30m.  This afternoon I cut some of my surplus insulated 18 gauge wire 23ft long, insulated the end and attached it to the back of the tuner.  I ran the counterpoise into the attic clear of other wiring and what do you know.  No more hum.

I then tried the wattage up at QRO levels and still no hum.  The RF just wanted something to push against to keep it out of the station wiring.  I got good reports from RBN stations so the antenna is working for 30m. 

End Fed performance on 30m

I know that a single counterpoise will likely create directivity to the signal so I'll need to add some more counterpoise wires but the moral of the story is that end-fed antennas are not evil, they are just misunderstood.  Like a vertical, the RF just needs something to push against.  In the case of a vertical if you have insufficient counterpoise at the feedpoint you just warm the earth. But in the case of the end-fed your equipment becomes the other side of the antenna.  Not good.

End-fed antennas can be a useful solution

If you have limited options for deploying wire antennas, the end-fed is about the easiest type to deploy.  I don't think it will give you the propagation of a dipole or doublet but it shouldn't be dismissed out of hand as an option.  Just be sure to cut 1/4 wavelength counterpoise wires for the bands you wish to work and attach them to the ground of the tuner or ground side of the balun you are using for the long wire.

Safety considerations

Keep in mind that the entire length of the end-fed wire is radiating starting right at the point where it exits your tuner/balun so position it in such a way that you or others will not accidentally touch it during operation.  Also take care in how its routed so as not to put it near or run in parallel with house wiring.

Ok so end-fed antenna's get a bad reputation for some good reasons and if you have other options use them first but don't completely put it out of the running if it can solve your antenna problem.

That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

73/72
Richard, AA4OO

Bugging Out

Vibroplex Bug QSO

Sometimes I'm in a mood to use my bug.  I'm still a relatively new CW operator and using my Vibroplex Original Bug is both novel to me and a challenge compared to my Kent Straight Key or using paddles.

The key lineup with the Bug in the center

I purchased my bug used on a well known auction site for about $65.  It dates to sometime in the mid 1970s but it doesn't differ much from bugs made in the past 75 years.  I have added some weight to slow it down to around 19 wpm DITs by taping a heavy spacer onto the factory pendulum weight as well as adding a heavy metal spacer to the end of the pendulum.  The weight on the end of the pendulum is held on by a simple plastic drywall screw anchor.  I can pull the weight off the back quickly if I want to let it go up to about 25wpm DITs.  Without the extra weights this bug sends at around 27wpm at it's slowest speed and up to... well I don't know how fast because I can't control it at the fastest speed yet and I certainly can't copy others at that speed so I usually keep it below 20wpm for now.

If you haven't used a bug I encourage you to give it a try.  It's a challenging key to get the hang of but the effort to learn it is fun and rewarding. I especially enjoy the tactile feedback from that swinging pendulum and the the click-clacking of the pendulum against the hanging damper.

I was using my Ten-Tec Eagle (model 599) purchased used from a local ham.  The Eagle is a super little QRO radio although in this QSO my output is 5w.  If you have sharp eyes you may see that the power level is set to 7w but that is actually 5w output according to my external meter.  The 100 number under the CW symbol is the bandwidth that I was using.  I generally keep the bandwidth at 500 Hz but there was a station operating above us that I wanted to mask.

Ten-Tec Eagle 599

The Eagle is a great CW rig.  This model has 3 front end crystal filters 2400Hz, 600Hz and 300Hz giving it nice selectivity for any mode. 

I was working Ed, KG4W in VA who is an SKCC member.   If you want to work other manual key stations 3550 kHz is a calling frequency for the SKCC.  Ed told me during the QSO he was using a VIZ vertical bug which is a unique and interesting bug design.  

He reported my signal as 599 and he was 599 as well.  I was running 5w output power to my 80m OCF Dipole. He was using an Yaesu at 100w to a fan dipole.  5w was sufficient for this QSO but if he had reported me as 559 or weaker I would have raised my power to 20w to make copy for him easier.  I enjoy using QRP but when I rag chew I don't want to make it difficult for QRO stations to copy me if I can help it so having the Eagle allows me to raise my power if necessary for the communication.

The QSO

So here's the qso between two bug operators.  I hope you enjoy it...

That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

72/73

Richard, AA4OO

1 Watt in the Great Outdoors

Taking the 1Watter 40m portable

This past Saturday I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Paul AA4XX, Dick N4HAY, Marty W4MY and Marc W4MPS.  We hung drywall at the new shack at the Excalibur antenna site.  During our most excellent lunch break replete with Dominos pizza provided by N4HAY I decided to try out the 1Watter I'd built for portable operation.

I pulled the 1Watter radio out of my backpack and attached it to the 40m Doublet we'd put up a couple of weeks ago and used my BLT+ as the antenna tuner.  

I could tell the little radio was just bursting with anticipation so I pulled up a couple of plastic chairs for an impromptu operating position.

1Watter connected to BLT+ tuner which is connected to a ladder line fed 40m doublet

I powered the 1Watter with the same 3ah 12v battery I've used for the past couple of weeks.  The 1Watter is such a power frugal radio that a battery seems to last a long, long time.  It would probably be a good candidate for solar operation.  

What a great little rig

Using the 1Watter and BLT+ together

The BLT+ tuner has a Tune/Operate switch.  When the switch is the Tune position it presents a 50 Ohm match to the radio to protect a home-brew radio final transistor.  The LED SWR indicator lets me know when a match has occurred by going dim to off.  The RF from the radio powers the LED indicator light.  

I found a clear frequency near 7030 kHz to tune.  

The 1Watter has a number of commands built into the internal keyer.  The commands are accessed by pressing the Command button on the side of the enclosure above the key input.  Pressing the Command button sends a 'R' on the sidetone indicating it's ready for a command.  I sent the letter 'X' placing it in Tune mode which generated a continuous carrier and illuminated the BLT+ SWR indicator LED.  Obtaining a match to the antenna was quickly achieved by observing when the LED indicator light dimmed while turning the tuner knobs.  I then sent a Dit, taking the 1Watter out of Tuning mode.

I  flipped the Tune/Operate switch on the BLT+ to the Operate position and sent out my call a couple of times.  

I was promptly answered by Pete - N4KXG who gave me a 589 report into Florida.  He reported using an Icom 718 running 90w into a wire antenna so neither of us had antennas with much if any gain on 40m.

Sending using the fine little Palm Single paddle key

During the QSO Pete commented on the nice performance of the little 1 watt radio.  

After the QSO it was time to get back to work on the shack so I put the little rig away in the backpack for another day.  

The weather wasn't really conducive to operating outdoors.  A cold front was moving in and the wind was really whipping the antenna around with gusts up to 40 mph.  I ran the ladder line through the slats in the back of the chair while keeping my foot on the chair leg to prevent it from yanking the tuner and radio away as the antenna danced in the air and tugged on the feedline.  We still don't have the ladderline suspended yet so about 20 feet of it was laying/writhing around on the ground during the QSO.

But the moral of the story is...

Operating portable with a 1watt radio is more than a possibility; it's a piece of cake.

That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

73/72

Richard, AA4OO

P.S.

I want to offer my sincere thanks to Paul - AA4XX for taking the pictures while I operated.

Giving tests is more fun than taking them

Yay, I'm a Volunteer Examiner (VE)

After passing my Extra Class license exam I wanted to take the next step and give back to the hobby by serving as a Volunteer Examiner.  I took the open book test and sent in my paperwork to the ARRL to become accredited.  

VE accreditation 

Since receiving my VE accreditation I had a privilege of serving as a VE at a testing session today (No photos from the test session in this post because the results of the testing sessions are private).  

I enjoyed being able to personally say congratulations to new hams and those getting their upgrades. Those who failed to pass were heartily encouraged to not give up.  There was also fun camaraderie amongst the VE's there.  One of them was a fellow CW operator (W8WZ) who shared some good information with me.

If you have an Extra ticket I encourage you to serve the hobby in this capacity. 

So lower your power and raise your expectations

73/72

Richard, AA4OO

Get your news the old fashioned way

Morse News

I'm always looking for ways to improve my CW copy skills.  When I'm away from the radio and have some spare time I use a program called Morse News.

Morse News interface displaying a "Top 100 words" feed scrolling at the bottom

It's an application that pulls RSS feeds and translates them to Morse.  It has useful configuration options and even allows different "sounders" to be used. 
For instance: you can listen to Morse the way railroad and Civil War telegraphers heard it via the clacking Telegraph sounder, or the early 20th century spark gap transmitters.

The application is free but only runs on Windows computers.  I'd love to see something like this for my phone.

As with all software downloads from an untrusted source use your own best judgement whether to install this software and protect yourself from malware.  I haven't detected any malware from my install but that doesn't mean it's not there.

 
Here's the link: http://sourceforge.net/projects/morse-rss-news/files/Morse%20Code%20Tools%203.2/MorseTools32Setup.exe/download

That's all for now

So lower your power and raise your expectations

72/73

Richard, AA4OO