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 Previous: AO-40 Command Team Plays the Waiting Game |  Next: Amateur Radio Antenna Bill in Play in Vermont |
By Jane Wodening, AA0ZR
February 5, 2004
CW contacts made from a remote cabin in the Colorado Rockies bring fun and friendships.
Even on my dear old 2 W Heathkit HW-8--my base rig for the first five years of my ham radio life--I ragchewed a lot. My home is a tiny cabin in the mountains with only a couple of solar panels to keep the radios going. I ragchewed from 5 to 13 WPM using the little straight key given to me by Jim Wiley, W6TJU, the one he learned on at the age of 12. "One QSO a day and you'll be up to 20 WPM in a year," said Tom Walsh, W2CO, who sold me the HW-8 in 1991.
 Wodening makes a Morse contact with her Heathkit HW-8 from her Colorado mountain cabin. [Ron Ruhoff, N0ZYM, photo] |
My Morse code learning was done alone and vigorously. Springs would fly and heat was generated, so much so that when I joined the Colorado QRP Club (as Charter Member Number 9, when my call was KB0HPH), they watched my keying and laughed. They called me "The Hammer." Bill Mason, K5IMP, made a workable key out of an actual carpenter's hammer and they presented it to me in a grand ceremony. A picture was taken and I got into QST's "Up Front" in September of 1996.
For me, CW operating is simply fun. Even at 5 WPM, with the sweat running down your brow from the effort, there's the achievement itself and the undeniable magic of radio--"Oh! His name is John! He lives in Dallas! And I'm 559! I wonder what he looks like? What he does for a living?" As the speed increases, so do the possibilities of finding out about each other. Following are a number of brief anecdotes illustrating some of the wonderful experiences I've had using Morse code on Amateur Radio:
Talking With Code: One friend I made at this time was Wes Farnsworth, KE0NH, who had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) and other complications. He used a wheelchair and often had medical emergencies. At one point he was unable to talk for several months, so Larry Feick, NF0Z, put together a computerized gadget that would allow Wes to do Morse code at 25 WPM. The words came up on a little screen attached to the handle of his wheelchair so he could talk with the nurses and with friends when we'd visit.
No Blather: I'll never forget my first great ragchew at 13 WPM. I was at a place in my life where I could finally talk about some difficult times I had gone through. Using CW, one is obliged to be succinct--there's no place for blather--so there's a clarity that can be found nowhere else. It was after that ragchew that I realized real communication could happen while operating with CW. And it was then that I determined to increase my code speed.
An Extra Scoop: Larry Feick, NF0Z, was my code speed Elmer. Sparkling humor and fascinating information would rattle rhythmically my way at 13 WPM, slowly increasing to 15 WPM. Then one day he said at 15 WPM, "I'm going to 20 now."
"Well, make it short," I said, in considerable terror, and listened with everything I had.
"What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?" he sent at 20 WPM.
I cannot describe to you the pride and joy with which I answered--at 15 WPM--"double chocolate." I felt like I'd just received a medal.
 Wodening's cabin sits at approximately 10,000 feet elevation in the mountains above Boulder, Colorado. [Carlos Seegmiller, WD0CKP, photo] |
Fond memories: With increase code speed, a world opened up that I could hardly believe existed. Calling CQ at 25 WPM is asking to speak with people who have mastered this form of communication, for whatever reason. I've found that some of the best fists belong to World War II veterans.
"Where were you stationed?" I asked a veteran.
"Guam," he sent back.
"What was Guam like?"
"Hot and lots of bullets."
A Grand Tradition: I'll never forget talking with a Lakota Indian in California named Chuck, who may have been in a wheelchair. "When the bands are bad, I do beadwork," he said. I asked him about the great porcupine quill patterns in the Lakota tradition and he was pleased that I knew about that. He also had a friend who was setting up a solar house in Colorado. When the band changed and I lost him, I about cried.
Only In Morse: There was a fascinating guy in Canada who, after a long and delightful contact, informed me that he had a degenerating condition of the ears such that now he could hear and converse only in Morse.
Out At Sea: One of my most interesting single contacts was with a man who owned a fishing boat in the North Pacific, using the wire backstays for his antenna. He loved the ocean, cared a lot about sea life and worked for a while with Greenpeace, but he found the fieldwork too scary and he chose to stop.
Good Manners: I've been a member of a weekly roundtable schedule for a few years now. Every week a few of us get together on 80 meters and gab about whatever is going on in our lives. Once during the roundtable, I was given complicated instructions to a picnic at 20 WPM. I got there and made it on time--that's when I knew I could copy the code. Being in this group has also taught me some of the ethics and graces that keep good Morse operators from bumping into each other. Good manners take time to learn and good manners are a lot of what differentiates ham radio from the free-for-all of other public radio services.
Friends Made: Some people I've met again and again on the air and gotten to know them and become friends with them. It began, I think, when I was driving up the East Coast and found myself on a ferry going to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Naturally, being the ham that I am, I spent the entire boat trip in my car, calling CQ and signing AA0ZR/MM--something I'd always dreamed of doing--and I gabbed the whole two hours with half a dozen or so different hams. And at least three of those hams kept track of me on the rest of my trip--we still keep in touch. When the ferry docked at the town of Ocracoke and I got out of my car, an older man in a car near me, with a big smile on his face, asked how fast I was going? He had World War II written all over him.
"About 25," I said.
"A bit too fast for me," he said, "but I could tell you were just having a lot of fun."
"Oh gosh," I said, still aglow with the thrill of meeting all my new friends, "if I'd known that and that you were listening, I'd have slowed down!"
 Small chickadees don't mind taking a rest at Wodening's cabin, neither on her antenna guy wires nor in the palm of her hand. [Carlos Seegmiller, WD0CKP, photo] |
The personality of each individual operator shines out through his or her fist. After the straight key, I learned how to use a bug, partly because of the wonderful musicality of how Mike Mussler, AI8Z, works his bug, but I now stick with paddles and a keyer because I can go faster with them. I feared I'd lose my fist, my identity, with the electronic keyer, but somehow a lot of personality still shows through. I can tell Tom Chisnell, W6XF, of Reno, Nevada from Jim Gray, W1XU, of Payson, Arizona within seconds, even if they're talking to each other at 40 WPM . While I can't send at 40 yet, my ear can often differentiate the dits. Unfortunately, my hand can't.
Mike Atlas, N7FC, of Tucson, Arizona has one of the cleanest fists I know. The next time I find him on 30 meters, I'll have to ask him if he plays the drums. I've always thought of using Morse code as talking with the drums, ever since I first heard it, slow and smooth with a fantastic rhythm, on my HW-8. CW seems to reach straight through my heart and back to times when information was sent across the land with drums and beacon fires. But with ham radio, and good CW operators, the drumming flies around the world.
A lot of the joy of Morse is its musicality. Sometimes operating with it feels like flying. How wonderful it is to spread those CW wings and soar through the ionosphere, meeting both old and new friends with the medium of Morse.
Jane Wodening, AA0ZR, began her ham radio career in
1990 on the occasion of her move to a tiny cabin to live alone a few miles from
the nearest electric or telephone wire. "The ham radio is for emergencies," she
soothed her family and friends, but she knew it was more than that and she dove
into Morse code. With the help of many friendly hams from miles around, she set
up a nice little station with solar panels to keep the ham radios going, became
a charter member of the Colorado QRP Club and an early recipient of the coveted
QRPp award. She has written over a hundred short stories published in six
volumes and included this story in the latest collection--with a glossary as
long as the article to explain the Amateur Radio jargon! Visit her Web site.
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