The History of SEPAR

Part 2 

https://separs.ampr.org/

The first installment in the history of SEPAR began in 1994 and covered the years through to 1997; this month will cover the period from 1997 to 2006.  The first article covered the setup of the SEPAR volunteer organization, the installation of amateur radios in the schools (receptions centers) and the management of the area teams.

In 1997, the first coordinator for SEPAR, Ken Boles, moved from SEPAR to take a position with the Provincial Emergency Program (PEP) and James Longley, VE7JMS, was appointed by the Surrey Emergency Planner to the position of SEPAR Coordinator.  James was very active with Surrey Fire as a volunteer fire fighter and was well suited to carry on the work which began in 1994.  James was an amateur radio operator, he had knowledge of the workings of Surrey Fire and he had been involved with PEP, so with this background James was well suited to take SEPAR to the next level.  As it turned out, the next level in the progress of SEPAR was not easily achieved.

In 1998 SEP decided to relocate the school radios from the gymnasium area to the administrative offices in a number of the schools.  This required removing and re-installing cables and radios into new secure enclosures located in the school offices, all of which was done by volunteers. The only school that did not have the radio station relocated was Queen Elizabeth Sr. Secondary in Whalley. This was due to an earlier removal before school construction. All schools were completed in 1996 or 1997, with Semiahmoo being completed on July 3, 1996. The school that later received a change was Whalley area’s Queen Elizabeth Sr. Secondary. The equipment was removed from this school and stored at Hall One storage lockup on September 1997 due to school construction work and the need to protect it from any damage. The plan for this equipment was a future installation at L.A. Matheson Secondary. This may have been in part because large turnover of Emergency Planners within the Surrey Emergency Program (SEP).

James had his work cut out for him but fortunately for him he had the support of Jim Hurrell, VE7HUR, who became James’s right hand man.  Jim was the SEPAR volunteer who, “got things done”. As Jim explains, “James would decide on the projects and I would make it happen”, and it worked well.

Despite the many volunteer hours put in by James and Jim, SEPAR did not expand or move forward during the years between 1997 and 2000.  Many proposals were made to the city, in which SEPAR would plan to improve existing installations, add new communications equipment and provide for improved training, however none were completed.  This may have been due, in part, because during that period of time there were six (yes six) different Emergency Planners.  The six planners, during James’s term as SEPAR Coordinator were, Jim Bale, Len Garis, Stefan Gherghinoiv, Jim MacDonald, Natalia Skapski and Tom Lewis.

From the beginning SEPAR had a seat at the quarterly ESS meetings.  These meetings, which are still going on, provided an opportunity for all players in SEP to exchange experiences and keep an accurate record of key people within the volunteer organizations. The current schedule for ESS meetings is bi-annual but the benefits of the meetings are still extremely valuable. The role of SEPAR within ESS has always been to provide communications between reception centers and the EOC.  In the early days the reception centers had their own radio installations but due to a change of policy within SEP the radio stations are now portable kits. 

In the years 1996, 1997 and 1999 SEPAR had a display booth at the Safety Fairs Fire Combat Challenge.  The booth consisted of static displays of SEPAR activities with an active demonstration of HF, VHF and UHF using SEPAR radios and antennas from the EOC package. This required a lot of time and hard work on the part of many SEPAR volunteers. It was considered good EOC setup practice, as a large earthquake may have required setup in tents under similar conditions. While some members operated the station, others gave out information on the role of amateur radio communications during an emergency.  It seems these Fairs ended around 1999.  It may be that Canada Day and CN Family day now provide the venue for displaying emergency preparedness within Surrey.  SEPAR has been a participant in both these events since 2007.

In addition to the Safety Fairs SEPAR put on demonstrations along with Surrey Fire and ESS in malls and the ice arena within Surrey.  They set up 2 or 3 radio stations as a display.

SEPAR made presentations to Delta and Langley emergency programs. During these presentations the Delta Emergency Planner Robin Gardiner complimented SEPAR on their work within Surrey.

Jocelyne Colbert, SEP Executive Assistant, was a key person in the Surrey Emergency Program.  Jocelyne kept track of many volunteer organizations including SEPAR.  To become a SEPAR member you had to register with the City, have an RCMP background check and it was desirable for you to hold a valid amateur radio licence.  The entire SEPAR roster had only one or two unlicensed members and was kept up to date by Jocelyne. 

One of Jocelyne’s tasks was to organize the annual Volunteer appreciation dinner in the fall of each year. At these dinners awards were handed out for long service, outstanding contributions and leadership roles. Over the years there were many SEPAR volunteers who received awards at these dinners.

During James’s term as SEPAR Coordinator he managed the SEPAR volunteers in an exercise named “Thunderbird”. This exercise covered the South West Region and Vancouver Island and was a two day event. Ken Boles, the previous SEPAR Coordinator, was then “Provincial Regional Amateur Radio Coordinator” and also had a role in this wide area exercise.  During this exercise the office we now know as the PREOC was the Provincial Field Response Center (PFRC) and located in an old building at the Green Timbers site.  

The Radio Room at hall number 1 came into being in 1998 and slowly added antennas, radios and operating positions.  However, as previously stated, it was difficult to complete plans for improvements so the room largely sat incomplete.

Things were moving forward with PEP and it was decided in 2005 to move the then PFRC to a new facility renaming it to the Provincial Regional Emergency Operations Center. It would still be located on the Green Timbers property.  At this point James was Coordinator for SEPAR, a volunteer firefighter and station manager for the new PREOC facility as well as his role with Surrey Search and Rescue.  Moving into the new PREOC facility, selecting equipment for the new radio station and getting it all up and running was, in itself, a full time job.  James decided to step down as SEPAR coordinator in order to spend as much time on the PREOC project as possible.  I was approached by James and Jim Hurrell and asked if I would take on the SEPAR Coordinator position and I accepted.  My name was then put forward to the Emergency Planner, Tom Lewis, and finding me acceptable appointed me to the position. This was the summer of 2006. 

Having accepted the position I needed to quickly get myself up to speed on the SEPAR operation.  I needed to make contact with the SEPAR volunteers, meet with the Emergency Planner and find out what Surrey expected of the radio amateur emergency volunteer communicator. 

Next installment I will continue on, with the construction of the grab and go kits, the radio room renovation, BCWARN and the many exercises and events that followed. And what happened to the radio that were removed from the schools?  You may be interested in knowing that we made very good use of them and they are still available for emergency communications.

~Fred VE7IO

Retired SEPAR Coordinator

SEPAR produced a promotional video in 2015. You can view it at https://youtu.be/6B-qFOTtqoQ 

Surrey Emergency Program Amateur Radio

The 'Other' Surrey Amateur Radio Communications Group

https://separs.ampr.org/

SEPAR has been serving the City of Surrey for the past 20 years and it all began in 1994, when the Provincial government legislated that every municipality must have an emergency plan.  In Surrey, that was the beginning of the Surrey Emergency Program.  At the request of the City, amateur radio was included in the plan, as it is today.  

Some radio amateurs, who had been part of the Provincial Emergency Program, assembled and formalized the relationship with the Surrey Emergency Program and the organization became known as the Surrey Emergency Program Amateur Radio, SEPAR.

Ken Boles, VE7FYB, who had been actively working with the Provincial Emergency Program, PEP, took on the role of the first SEPAR Coordinator.  His team was Doug Barry (VE7WLF), Ken Clarke (VE7EZV now VE7BC) and Mike (VE7IDD).

The Surrey Emergency Program (SEP) designated six reception centres, located in schools, and gave SEPAR the task of installing amateur radio equipment at these locations.  The reception centre schools were located around the city in the south, north, west and east.  The Surrey Emergency Program required SEPAR to provide communication from the schools to the EOC located at Fire Hall Number One, 132nd Street at 88th Avenue.

The schools selected for reception centres were: Pacific Academy (Fraser Heights), North Surrey Senior Secondary (Guildford), Queen Elizabeth Senior Secondary (Whalley), Tamanawis Senior Secondary (Newton), Lord Tweedsmuir Senior Secondary (Cloverdale) and, Semiahmoo Senior Secondary (White Rock)

Funding was obtained from the city, and equipment was purchased for an EOC and six reception centers.

Amateur radio station call-signs were secured for each reception center, and EOC.

• EOC-VE7HME
• Portable EOC-VE7MOV
• Guildford Reception Center-VE7AEJ
• Whalley   Reception Center-VE7ADV
• Cloverdale Reception Center-VE7ADR
• Newton Reception Center-VE7ADQ
• South Surrey Reception Center-VE7ADF
• Fraser Heights Reception Center-VE7ADH

It should be noted that when the radios were first installed at the schools (reception centres) portability of personal calls was not allowed.  If you were using your own call in any location other than the address that was on your license you had to sign “portable”.  Therefore, each of the reception centres, the mobile unit and the radio room at the EOC required an amateur radio call so they could operate legally. 

The calls which were obtained by the founding members are still very much in use today by SEPAR members.

Due to insurance requirements, professional installers, were hired by the city to install one equipment box, antenna and, coax cable at each school per SEPAR request. A technical committee of SEPAR members, created the design and layout for a power supply/radio to be attached to each box lid! This would allow for easy unlock and deployment! A key to each site’s storage box was made available.

The EOC radio equipment was packed in several large metal boxes, and stored at Fire Hall One for portability to other possible EOC sites.
Several large mail-outs and many phone hours were spent on membership drives. This was followed by large member meetings to organize SEPAR structure. The result of these many hours of volunteer time was a volunteer organization that numbered close to 100 SEPAR members.

To allow an effective callout structure, members were assigned to the reception center closest to their address. A Captain and at least one co-captain were assigned to each areas reception center. Each reception center’s radio and antenna were VHF/UHF with on board filters for eliminating interference from other equipment. 

A program involving a Surrey Fire Department pager network was setup and key people were provided with pagers. The pagers were Motorola spirit, GE and Shinwa. They were setup on the fire department frequency. The page system was run from Hall #1, thus allowing Surrey Emergency Program to contact amateur radio operators direct, if the phone system was down. Also, since the Fire Department frequency was easy to receive on VHF, all Surrey SEPAR members could turn on scanners and 2 meter rigs, and hear a callout for SEPAR. It was considered that if an issue big enough to take the phone system out occurred, most available hams would have mobile, handheld, or battery operated base stations and listen in for instructions. This worked well, however, there were some gotchas.  Batteries had to be kept charged, the pager had to be with the person at all times while in Surrey and the pager size of the day was rather large. The program was in effect for many years.

SEPAR held a weekly net on Tuesdays. The net control operator was Mike Brolich, VE7IDD, who had a very good station set up with excellent coverage on VHF.  The net ran on a simplex frequency of 146.550, the same as we use today for net control.  It was not uncommon to have more than 20 check-ins.  The purpose of the net was to improve and sharpen communications ability, and as a way to increase member participation.  

Testing of the EOC package occurred during flood watch callouts and Safety Fair setups. Each reception center setup, was put to the test during a system wide exercise. This exercise required Fraser Heights, Pacific Academy reception center to act as EOC and net control using 146.550 simplex. It was very successful as all stations could reach EOC and net control. 

In the next chapter, in our look back at SEPAR, we will look at how the reception centres functioned, why SEP wanted to change the locations of the reception centres and what replaced them. 

Our portable kits have been written up in QST, TCA  and have had a place in the respected ARRL Handbook.  Our kits have been used in a number of training exercises, past field day events and public demonstrations.  The kits are a complete station and, because of the foresight of the SEPAR team, are still on the leading edge of communications technology.

Over the years we have had many inquiries into the construction of the kits and now it looks like the YouTube video is popular as well, as it has surpassed 10,000 views.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E-a0yC--k6Q

~Fred VE7IO
Former SEPAR Coordinator

The June 2019 Communicator

Projects, News, Views and Reviews... 

Here is the June SARC Communicator newsletter: http://bit.ly/SARC19-06.  This month just short of 60 pages of projects, news, views, and reviews from the SW corner of Canada. 

http://bit.ly/SARC19-06

This is the last Communicator of the season. We will be on summer break and will have the next issue for you in September. We always welcome contributions of news, stories and your Amateur Radio experiences. The deadline for the September issue is August 20th.

Have a great Summer, see you in the fall!

73,

John VE7TI
Communicator Editor

So You Want To Learn CW III

A Communicator Reprise: Part 3

Last month we had the first of three parts of an article on Learning to Send CW. In this post we conclude the series.

Improving Your Fist

Once you have done enough practice with your paddles to be able to be comfortable with them, you will want to set the keyer speed to 15 wpm (if it isn’t there already). The faster rate of characters will force you to recognize characters at the 15 wpm rate. This is the first step to getting your code sending speed up. 

Certainly at the 15 wpm rate you are likely to make many more errors than you have been used to. Don’t slip back, however: continue sending each character at 15 wpm, but allow more time between characters so you are able to focus on making correct single characters only.

As you continue over future sessions you should find that you are able to allow somewhat less space between characters. Continue, for now, allowing extended space between words. 

Gradually, you will find that certain character strings (e.g. “ing”, “the”, etc.) occur repeatedly, and you are able to send the sequence almost as if it were a single unit. This is the time to become concerned about inter-character spacing. I find fldigi to be a very useful tool for decoding CW, and like to use it to help develop correct inter-character spacing. (http://www.w1hkj.com/Fldigi.html) The program is free and has versions available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. 

After installing the program, connect an inexpensive microphone to the microphone port on your computer. If your computer doesn’t have a microphone port, but does have a built-in microphone (common with modern laptops) you will have to try to put the speaker from your code practice oscillator near the built-in microphone.

Configure fldigi to take its input from your computer microphone port. Set fldigi in CW mode (under Op Mode on the tool bar) and start sending CW for about 10 seconds. Now look on the waterfall display (bottom of window) and position the marker with the red lines so it spans the line running down the display, which will be at the frequency of your code practice oscillator. Now send some more code and you should start to see some characters in the upper yellow display (the receive window). If any of this is unclear, refer to the program documentation.

If you have things set up correctly, the characters in the yellow display should bear some resemblance to what you intended to send. If in doubt, try sending a series of “V”s with extended spacing. You should see a series of “V”s on the screen. If you have additional noise (garbage characters) showing up, refer to the program documentation to turn on and set a squelch level that permits decoding of only your sending (not background noise).
When you are convinced this is working correctly, start sending from your reference (book, newspaper, etc.). Send with extra inter-character spacing in the beginning. If you are forming your characters correctly, the correct character sequence will appear on the fldigi display. Once you have this working, now move to your usual sending rate but with extra spacing between the words.

Examine the characters showing up on the screen to see if they still match what you intended to send. Likely you will have some which will be incorrect, not because you sent the wrong character, but because you ran two or more characters together. You can experiment with this by sending the word “the” with accentuated inter-character spacing, and then reducing the inter-character spacing. When the spacing is adequate (or too much), there should be a clear “t” “h” and “e”. If the spacing between the “t” and “h”, for example, becomes too small, fldigi will interpret the two as one character and display a “6”. When this occurs you can see your inter-character spacing is inadequate and work on improving it to the point where the “t” and “h” are immediately adjacent, with no intervening spaces, but not run together as a “6”.

Continue, in this way, working on inter-character spacing for each successive word. You want each word to appear as a word with no extra internal spacing, and do not want any two characters to run together.

Once you have your inter-character spacing reliably correct, you can begin to reduce the inter-word spacing, as much as you are comfortable. If you find your words are running together, as shown by fldigi’s display, concentrate on adding just enough additional inter-word spacing until the words reliably appear as separate words on fldigi’s display.
You are now well on your way to developing a clean, understandable fist.

On-Air CW QSOs

When you are able to send code at an average rate of 10 wpm, you are ready for your first on-air CW QSO. This will be much harder than sending from a book, however, which is why you want to reach 10 wpm from a book before starting on-air.

As mentioned earlier, there are four steps in sending CW, and the techniques given to this point address only the last step. It is now time to address the first three steps: 1) What to say (the idea to be conveyed); 2) How to say it (the choice of words and syntax); and 3) How to spell the words. The pressure of a live QSO will make all four steps harder, but in particular, the pressure on you to address the first three steps in “real time” will force you to improve your CW skills the most.

When you begin to practice CW on the air, enlist friends who are at your level, or somewhat beyond, to join you for regular on-air rag-chews. There is no substitute for working together with at least one other person. Ideally, that person will be a non-critical partner who is developing their skills just as you are developing your skills. (Hence the desire of the SARC executive to have an active CW Interest Group.)

As you listen to the CW bands, you will often hear casual “HI, HOW COPY?” type short contacts, which follow a scripted series of exchanges: call signs, signal reports (RST), operator names, QTHs, and transceiver and antennas used at both ends. Then come the local weather reports if both parties wish to continue. After that it’s some variant of “TNX FER FB QSO ES 73” (CW-speak for “thanks for the contact, best wishes”). 

In this kind of contact you can write down the appropriate responses on a cue card and work your way down the list, much like sending from a book. To a large extent, you can even pre-program the responses in a memory keyer (as is commonly done for PSK31 contacts). But not with a rag-chew.

Just as is the case when in casual conversation, in a rag-chew your brain is forced to work on each of the four steps simultaneously. Just as chatting with someone you’ve just met at a party is a test of your conversational skills, rag-chewing is a real test of your CW skills. You are forced to think on the fly, in real time, and hope to avoid sounding like a total fool.  This is a critical step in the process of developing your CW skills.

It doesn’t matter for our purposes whether or not you are a natural rag-chewer. I, for example, would never engage in a rag-chew on SSB, but on CW I’m looking for the practice in the four steps of sending, and particularly the first three. When you are able to rag-chew in CW, freely sending whatever comes in to your head (with, we hope, some judgment applied), and have it come out in crystal clear, perfectly timed CW, you have arrived! (In case you are wondering, I’m no-where near that point yet, but I greatly admire those I hear doing just that a few kHz down the band.)

In your rag-chews, don’t worry if you think you don’t have anything to say. To simplify Step 1, I started by jotting down some notes before the scheduled QSO on the topics I would discuss. If necessary, describe the weather in some detail (but in your own words), or describe what you did since getting up in the morning. Describe the room you are sending from. Describe the clothes you are wearing. Detail what you had for your last meal, and why you chose that. It really doesn’t matter what you send, since you are practising sending, and your partner (one at a time for now; working several in the same QSO is harder and should be left for later) is practising receiving. Don’t send for longer than 60 seconds at a time before you go over to your partner to take a turn. 

Here are some tips for your on-air CW practice

Learn the basic structure, abbreviations, and pro-signs of standard CW QSOs. One basic reference is http://naqcc.info/cw_qsos.html.

As with any on-air activity, before starting make sure the frequency isn’t already in use, first by listening, and then by calling “QRL?”. Wait, still listening, and then about five seconds later (when anyone on frequency has had a chance to respond) again send “QRL? DE Your Call”. If there is still no answer, the frequency is yours.

Try to keep your individual transmissions short so you can develop a conversational style between you and your partner. Ideally you’ll get to the point where one of you will be able to ask the other a question and get a quick-turnaround answer, just as you would on a telephone.

At this stage of your skill development, send “KN” rather than “K” after each transmission, which indicates to other CW ops who might be listening that you don’t want other participants. (This won’t guarantee you don’t get other people calling you, but it will help. And be sure you understand this rule yourself so you don’t butt in uninvited on someone else’s QSO.)

The regulations in Canada require you to send your call sign at the start and end of a QSO, and every half-hour in between. So for short fast interchanges you can use “<BK>”, without signing, to invite your QSO partner to come back, and your partner can do the same with you. Just remember that, if you go beyond 30 minutes, you’ll each need to sign with your call, followed by “KN”. And don’t forget to sign again at the end of the QSO.
Unfortunately, my fingers sometimes keep sending when my brain gets busy trying to think of what to say next (Step 1), and so has stopped feeding them correctly spelled words (Steps 2 & 3). This is about as useful as the random characters that show up on your RTTY receive screen when listening between transmissions, and it can be very confusing to the other party in the QSO. Instead, train your fingers to send “<BT>” (the pro-sign for “ummmm”) when your brain is overloaded.

Sometimes you want your QSO partner to stand by for a short period of time while you “get your act together”. When this happens, send “<AS>”, the pro-sign for “hang tough buddy”. (Just don’t get so wrapped up in something else that you forget to go back to them.)

Sometimes my brain is so busy trying to select words and syntax for the part of the thought I haven’t started sending yet (Steps 2 & 3) that I leave out a few key words (or characters in words) in the part I’m sending. That can be embarrassing if the missing words or characters result in my message conveying a meaning quite different from my intention. Just as, when copying CW, you “copy behind”, when sending you “send behind”. We talk that way also, but after years of practice they seem to happen simultaneously and effortlessly. This is still difficult for me when sending CW, but I believe the solution is to relax and slow down, sending what I have already formulated and then sending a few “<BT>”s until I know what I want to say next.

Sometimes I forget how to spell words longer than five characters (Step 3) because my brain is juggling Steps 1 & 2. Like many of us, I spell by putting a word on paper and then fixing it when I recognize it doesn’t “look right”. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work with CW (although the CW text display on my Elecraft radios helps me see what I’ve just sent, which isn’t always what I planned). One way to address this is to learn the standard CW abbreviations for longer words (like “tomorrow”). This also speeds up the flow of conversation. For example, by the time a QSO-partner has sent “tomo” I can fill in the rest without listening, unless they are about to use the one other word my dictionary shows that starts with those characters, “tomography”, a word which doesn’t turn up often in my QSOs. Better to send just the CW abbreviation “TMW”. Abbreviations are good, if used properly.

In my experience, and that of a friend who is at about the same level of experience as I am, a form of Farnsworth keying, where the characters and words are sent at a higher rate and longer spacing is used between words, is easier to copy for developing CW ops. This is particularly true when you reach the level where you are copying the received code in your head, without pencil and paper.

Becoming Comfortable

With practice and familiarity, you will gradually gain comfort with CW rag-chews, and that will greatly improve your CW sending skills. Originally I would only work people I know. Then I found myself getting calls from people I’d never heard of but who wanted to work me (for whatever reason) while I was trying to contact my first regular on-air partner, Jay VE7KC, for our scheduled daily QSO.

Initially I felt uncomfortable using CW with someone I didn’t know, so I would try to politely explain I’m trying to make a sked with a friend, so couldn’t chat with them at that time. I’d give them a quick signal report and perhaps name exchange, say 73, and go back to calling Jay.

As time went on, occasionally strangers would break into our conversations (despite our use of KN). Often I’d let Jay, or later Deme VE7CRT and Jay, carry on the conversation with the stranger. I’d just sit and listen. But as my comfort with on-air CW has improved, I’m now finding that I am as likely as any of us to reply to the ham trying to break in, and do the initial RST, QTH, name exchange.

As mentioned earlier, there is no substitute for working with a friend when you begin. I started this way with Jay, VE7KC. Looking back in my (paper) log, I find that my first attempted QSO with Jay (when he was VE7OFH) was 6 May 2013. Initially we had a lot of trouble trying to work NVIS between our two physically close locations. My log shows those (initially, many futile) attempts until we learned the tricks of reliable NVIS. I strongly recommend keeping a paper log of your first CW QSOs as a record you can easily browse later.

My log also shows that on 10 January 2014 we added another friend (Deme, VE7CRT) to our regular QSOs. Lately we’ve added another ‘semi-regular’, Walt, VE7BGJ, who is often heard checking into our weekly SARC 2m net. And on occasion, hams we don’t know but who hear the QSO and just want to stop in and say “hi” join us for a visit. It has become fairly common, now, to have a four-way QSO going. 

And as this has developed, the continuing experience has helped both Jay VE7KC and I become much more comfortable letting the words and ideas flow freely from our “fists”. For my part, I no longer have to make notes to get through Step 1. Mostly I can manage Step 2 in real time. And I’m working on Step 3, with the help of strategic abbreviations (and occasional re-wordings!).

Good luck in your journey toward comfortable CW QSOs.

The Continuing Saga Of The µHam MicroKeyer II

A Communicator Reprise: December 2014

I expect that everyone will remember all the difficulties I was having before FD getting the audio portion of the MK-II working properly with the K3 radio.  In particular, I found the manual to be very unclear and poorly organized. For example there are several references to a station mic (as well as one to a radio mic which turns out to be the station mic) but it isn't clear what constitutes a station mic. I have at least 6 microphones, some dynamic and some electret. Which one is the station mic? I asked the uHam rep (W4TV) to clarify and he said it's the mic the radio came with. Well, I did order mics with the K3s so that answered my question. As things were a little testy I didn't ask the obvious question, "Say I hadn't ordered mics with the radios? What then?"

I have a pretty strong background in documentation so this kind of thing drives me up the wall, especially after having paid some pretty big bux for the two interfaces.

So, the station mic is the K3 mic which is an electret mic (high output level). The actual mic to be used is a Heil HC4 which is a dynamic (low output level).

I followed the instructions (and info from W4TV) as best I could. They start with using the "station mic" plugged directly into the radio to establish the correct mic gain level for the radio. Then the station mic is plugged into the RJ45 connector on the back of the MK_II box and a trim pot is adjusted, to what purpose wasn't clear to me. We weren't going to be using a hand mic so why am I doing this?

Next was to (finally) plug the Heil headset mic into the front panel Ext Mic input and adjust a different trim pot to get the desired ALC level. Hmm... I don't like things plugged into the front panel - I expect to have everything plugged into the rear panel.

IIRC, wasn't able to get sufficient audio to drive the K3 to full output.

One of the things which came out of the discussions with W4TV was that if the "station mic" output was particularly high or the dynamic mic output was particularly low then it might not be possible to drive the K3 to full output. Well, geez. Time to ask for a refund?

So, we didn't use that K3 for FD and I have avoided the issue ever since.

Hmm... contest season is upon us and I want to get this resolved before CQ WW SSB.

OK, it's Wed and contest starts Fri pm. Should be plenty of time to resolve this.

As I've found many times over the years, leaving something alone for some time seems to make things clearer. (Why did I have such a hard time with Physical Chemistry? Looking at the textbook now it seems pretty straightforward. It hasn't helped with my understanding of thermodynamics, though. Might need another lifetime for that - including a stop-over in Hell?)

Two things which dawned on me in the interim were:

1) The setup procedure is based on having a handheld mic, typically electret and possibly with various control buttons, plugged into the back of the MK-II and a headset or boom mic, typically dynamic, plugged into the front.

2) If you're not going to use a hand electret mic there is absolutely no point in using it as a reference as in the "station mic" instructions.

So, I redid everything using my Heil headset with the HC4 dynamic mic for every step in the setup procedure. Still lots of puzzlements due to lack of manual clarity and also a lot of time spent on family matters so didn't actually get on for WW SSB until Sunday.

When I listened to myself talking using the K3 monitor function I was blown away by how clean the audio was. During WW SSB two stations bothered to take the time to comment on how good my signal sounded. That's never happened before.

When transmitting RTTY with MMTTY you see in the spectrum display a signal with a sharp peak which falls away on either side of the peak but has a bunch of uniformly spaced spikes in the part which falls away. I believe these to be distortion products. I note with interest that the magnitude of these spikes is much less with the MK-II sound card than with the on-board card in my computer.

The take-away is that the MK-II documentation is really poor but the hardware is really good. Guess I'll just ask for a refund on the documentation. Just kidding.

Guess I've joined the ranks of the Mk-II believers.

~ Jim VE7FO

So You Want To Learn CW II

A Communicator Reprise: Part 2

On 2019-04-12 we published an article on learning to copy CW (Morse Code). At that time we committed to following up with another article on learning to send CW.

Like the first article, this one is based on recent personal experience. The methods and tips that have been working for me may not work for everyone, but they will give a committed learner a place to start, with the knowledge that these methods have worked for at least one other person.

The methods described in this article are ones I used to become comfortable in daily CW QSOs with old friends and a few new friends. These “rag chews” normally last from 30-45 minutes and are at a speed of around 18-20 words per minute (wpm).  
This article will not prepare you to participate in CW traffic nets. Nor will it prepare you to work CW contests without using a computer or CW memory keyer to do the sending. But these are things you can grow into, if you choose, after developing the basic sending skills that are addressed in this article.

What You Need to Know Before You Start

Just as you can’t sing “Auld Lang Syne” if you don’t know the tune, it is essential to know the sound of good CW in order to send clear, readable code. 

Practice at copying good code is thus critical preparation for learning to send. If you have not yet learned to recognize well-formed, well-spaced words in CW, put this article aside until you have had more practice listening.

The minimum useful character speed (not necessarily the same as the average text speed) is 10 words per minute (wpm). (This is my opinion—I have read an expert opinion that learners should start at 25 wpm.) Below this the brain hears too much dead space between the dits and dahs and can’t get a sense of the sound pattern. (Although 5 wpm has been used in the US as a minimum code speed, all authorities I have come across have condemned this speed as being so low as to inhibit progression to higher, practical speeds.)

The average code speed can be effectively reduced (for beginners) by adding extra space between successive words (and, for very beginners, between characters, although this slows recognition of standard words and character groups).
Since CW conveys information using only two lengths of sounds, and all the information is in the sequence of these two lengths of sounds and the spacings between the sounds, timing is everything. The only difference between “5” and “SEE” is the spacing between the dits of the “S” and two “E”s.

There are standards for spacing between dits and dahs in a character, between letters in a word, and between words in a phrase. You can find the details at URL: http://www.kent-engineers.com/codespeed.htm, but basically the spacing between the dits and dahs in a character is the length of a dit, the spacing between two characters is the length of a dah, and the spacing between two words is the length of the character “H”.

Getting Ready: Decisions, Decisions

Before you can begin you have several decisions to make.

First, you will have to make a choice of sending apparatus, commonly called a “key”. Actually you have several choices, including the classic straight key (“pump”), the bug, dual paddles and keyer, and the single paddle and keyer. 

I’ve seen a variety of odd-ball sending devices, including the up/down microphone buttons on my IC-7000, the buttons on a recycled two-button mouse, a piece of bent metal and a thumbtack, etc. I strongly recommend purchasing a good quality commercial produced paddle to start, however. You can find some advice at URL: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Morse/Learning%20Morse%20Effectively-Prior-N7RR.pdf,  but be warned that the highly praised Begali paddles are very expensive. I don’t recommend you start there (unless you want to sell it to me very cheaply if you decide to give up on CW, in which case I hope you buy the Begali Adventure with the mounting bracket for the Elecraft KX3 J). I started with a basic black body Bencher BY-1, and still use that for my base station.

If you choose a straight key, you will be unnecessarily limiting your speed, and a future transition to a paddle will be difficult since the hand and finger action is very different. 
A bug, on the other hand, is an invitation to malformed characters (and I’ve heard some doozies on the air). With a bug, the dahs are sent at manual speed, and the dits are sent at automatic speed. There is not necessarily any correlation between the two speeds, or even between the lengths of successive dahs. 

I recommend using a paddle and keyer. The keyer helps ensure characters are correctly formed.  A keyer used with paddles solves the “bad timing” problem—often heard from bug-users—by generating sequences of correctly timed and spaced dits and dahs. With a keyer, holding the dah paddle too long will generate more dahs, not a long dah (which, in CW-speak, represents the “cut” number for zero), as happens with a bug.

A decision you’ll have to make with the paddles and keyer option is whether you want a single or dual-lever unit. 

With dual paddles you can use Iambic keying. Iambic keying generates alternating dit-dah patterns when the two paddles are pressed at the same time. It requires good thumb-finger coordination and fine muscle control. I am convinced it is more mentally demanding that non-Iambic, since the brain needs to consider the particular pattern of muscle movements required for each character, and getting set up for these movements between characters can be challenging (it is for me when I push my speed up). However, there is a small efficiency advantage in using Iambic keying. 

I use Iambic keying, although I have read that high-speed CW operators commonly prefer single paddle keying, which is necessarily non-Iambic. You can find much more on Iambic keying in an opinion piece, from a negative but useful perspective, at URL: https://cwops.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/iambicmyth.pdf.   The explanations are very good, and some of the negative points are good ones. (One particularly pointed argument is the following: “In practice, anybody who can send at 5 wpm with a paddle can “squeeze key” effectively. At 20wpm it takes a lot of practice and some people just can’t do it. Above 40wpm the more complicated squeezes are forgotten about even by operators who “squeeze” everything at slower speeds.”)

In the rest of this article, I will assume you are doing Iambic keying with dual paddles and a keyer. (If you choose not to use Iambic keying, however, I will forgive you: just skip over those bits.)

Once you’ve selected and acquired your new paddles (and I’m going to assume you have selected paddles from here on), you will need to adjust the spacings and tension. You should start with the manufacturer’s recommendations, but you can also find very good information at URL: http://www.morsex.com/misc/keyadj.htm.  However you set things up initially, you will likely be fine tuning those adjustments for some time until you become comfortable with them, so be sure to learn the correct procedure for your unit.
Next you will need something to generate the sounds you need for code practice. You can find suggestions in the article by N7RR referenced earlier, or a “build-it-yourself” design at URL:  http://www.arrl.org/learning-morse-code (bottom link).  I purchased a PicoKeyer Plus at first. You can also get (as I did later) the widely supported K1EL Winkeyer WKUSB-SMT, which, afterwards, can be very useful for getting your rig to send CW from your computer (very useful for CW contesting). Both are easy to build kits for those who like to solder. 

If you have a modern HF rig, this will likely be your least (additional) cost option. Modern HF rigs generally can act as a good code practice oscillator if the QSK (sometimes called VOX) setting is turned off, so the transmitter does not generate a carrier automatically when the key or paddle is pressed. (When setting this up, test it by connecting the transmitter to a dummy load, and turning the power down to the lowest setting available.) Keep in mind, however, that you may not have as much flexibility in Iambic keying options as with the specialty keyers.

A modern specialty keyer can be set in one of at least three common modes: Iambic A, Iambic B, and Ultimatic. With both Iambic A and Iambic B keying, pressing both paddles simultaneously causes the keyer to output a sequence of alternating dits and dahs. The technical differences are described in an authoritative article (by John Curtis, President of Curtis Electro Devices) that can be found at URL: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~malcolm/radio/8044.ps. Iambic A is easier to learn, since, when the paddles are released, the keyer completes the current dit or dah element and then stops.  With Iambic B, if the paddles are released during generation of an element, the keyer will follow whichever element it is currently sending with the alternate (dit or dah) element, so the timing of the paddle action is more critical and must be much more precise (which can be tough for beginners). 

Ultimatic keying is less commonly supported (except by specialty keying chips, such as that from K1EL). With Ultimatic keying the last paddle pressed determines whether the dit or dah is repeated. If the dah paddle is pressed last, for example, the current dit will be completed and then the keyer will generate a recurring series of dahs.

My ICOM IC-7000 supports only Iambic B, so that was how I started and continue today. However, if you have a choice, and choose to use Iambic keying, Iambic A may be easier to learn.

A final decision you will have to make is which hand to use to send. Although I am right handed, I send with my left, which leaves my right hand free to make notes. This is useful when doing fairly fast contacts that are being logged on paper, such as for Summits on the Air (SOTA) activations. It is generally easier, however, to use the dominant hand to send with, since muscle coordination will be better developed and muscle control will be more precise. Whichever choice you make you will likely have to live with, although I know at least one CW op who can send well with either hand.

If you decide to send with your left hand, I suggest you learn, as I did, with the paddle configured for a right-hander, where the left paddle sends dits. The advantage is that you can be a guest op in a right-hander’s shack without having to reconfigure their rig’s paddle settings (a step which is likely to be forgotten and so will confuse one or both of you).

Sending Practice

We’re finally here: you now get to send CW!  You have done your preparations, and obtained, assembled and tested the necessary equipment.

In the beginning you should concentrate on sending one letter at a time, with lots of spacing between letters. Start sending a few standard things, such as your callsign, and those old typing standbys: “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”, and “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party”. “My Fair Lady” fans might even try “The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain.” But these quickly become boring, so you’ll need other material.

I’ve found simple books (hint: this is not the time to pick up that book you were reading on Maxwell’s equations, Laplace transforms, or string theory) and newspaper articles can be useful.

There are four basic steps in sending: 

1. What to say (the idea to be conveyed);
2. How to say it (the choice of words and syntax);
3. How to spell the words; and
4. How to send the letters in the words. 

Note that the first two steps are common to speech, and so will be familiar. The third step is common to writing and typing, but can be a stumbling block for CW (more on this to come). The fourth step is the one you want to practice first, and using a book as source material will allow you to focus on this step. This step is where you will develop the brain-finger muscle coordination that you’ll need to “talk” in CW, just as, when very young, you learned to coordinate your brain with your tongue, lips, and larynx to speak.
One tip: when sending from books (or other written material), don’t bother with the commas, periods, dashes, and oddities like exclamation marks and quotation marks. You hardly ever need these in real life. 

In real QSOs you can manage very well by abandoning all but a few punctuation marks and pro-signs. Especially useful are the forward stroke used for portable operation (“/“), the question mark (“?”), the pause (<BT>), “73”, the “go ahead” K, the “go ahead only the one station I’m calling” KN, and the “that’s it from me for this QSO” <SK>. 
Finally, you will make mistakes. (If you think you aren’t making mistakes then you aren’t listening closely enough to what you are sending.) 

The formal way of correcting an error is to stop, send a string of eight dits, and then re-start the word in question. In practice the number of dits doesn’t need to be exactly eight, as long as it is clearly more than five (code for the numeral five) and isn’t absurdly large. This is the method I generally use.

Three other methods you might encounter are:

1. A short series of spaced dits (e.g. dit, space, dit) followed by the corrected word.
2. A question mark, followed by the corrected word. (Also used to repeat a word where there may have been confusion, such as with an abbreviation such as “SARC”.)
3. For errors which are obvious (e.g. clear mis-spellings such as “tommorow”), just ignore the error and keep moving, which respects the fact that the operator at the other end can figure out what was intended.

So, with your paddles, keyer, code-practice oscillator set up, and your book in front of you (with adequate lighting), start at Page 1 and work your way through 2-3 pages per session. Keep it up—you are training your brain to make your fingers do the talking.

One final tip: Unless you live alone, you may want to use headphones. (Otherwise in a couple of weeks you may find that you are living alone.)

Keep practicing...

SARC Fox Hunt

Our Annual Hidden Transmitter Hunt

The annual SARC "Fox Hunt" has long been an established event on our calendar and was recently held on Saturday, May 11th in the now usual location of Crescent Park in South Surrey.  A fox is a hidden transmitter. Fox hunting is a recognized Radiosport, and it has been compared to the ‘Amazing Race’ for Amateur Radio enthusiasts, but instead of getting clues, we use radio direction finding techniques to search for the 5 transmitters hidden somewhere in a large forested park. When one is found, by following a Morse code beacon, we use the identifying paper punch to verify the location. The faster time back to the start with all 5 foxes is the winner. There are annual World ARDF Championships for fox hunting.

SARC members, guests and friends have supported this event and it continues to grow in popularity. This year there were with 27 Hams participating in the actual hunt, along  with 5 unlicensed 'friends'. It was also encouraging that we had several young people participating.

It was a dry and sunny day, participants were divided up into teams of "Expert"  and "Novice" class. Where there were not enough receivers, participants "buddy-up" to share equipment.  After a brief intro  and training session by Amel VA7KBA and Jeremy VE7TMY, and with adrenaline flowing, the  groups were enthusiastically dispatched in 10 minute intervals.  Much fun was had by all .

With the popularity of 80m, we did away with the 2m foxes and five 80m foxes were hidden throughout the park. Participants were allocated 90 minutes to find them. 

 

 

  
The social half of the event was the informal BBQ, providing an opportunity to engage in  stories, an exchange of lessons learned  and challenges overcome. Warm camaraderie prevailed over burgers and hot dogs. 

In any planned event such as this, there are many moving parts and I extend recognition and greatest of thanks to Amel VA7KBA, Jan Voslenik VA7VJ, John Schouten VE7TI who  handled  all the set up and the technical aspects of the "foxes".  Much  appreciation  to Brenda (XYL of Anton VE7SSD) for food shopping, John Brodie VA7XB for ice and the BBQ and the able chefs, Stan VA7NF, Nell VE7PE and  Pam VE7PFH for expertly staffing the grill.  Special mention is made of Les Tocko VA7OM, who, through a conflict in schedule, was unable to attend. His support throughout the year is acknowledged.

The results:

Expert class 

1st place: Jan Vozenilek VA7VJ 5 foxes 44 mins 

2nd place: Henry Dahl VE7HRY 5 foxes 50.5 mins

Novice class  

1st place: Jeremy Morse VE7TMY 5 foxes 78:50 mins  

2nd place: Ken Patenaude (unlicensed)  5 foxes  80:20 mins 

3rd place: Paula Struthers VE7PSP  5 foxes 80:45 mins 

An informal “prize” ceremony, bragging rights and the 'crystal fox' trophy were awarded to the winner, Jan Vozenilek  VA7VJ.  The stuffed musical bunny was awarded to Jeremy Morse VE7TMY.   

Mark your calendars (tentatively) for the same weekend next year, Saturday May 16th, 2020, as we look forward to another annual SARC FoxHunt.

A video of the event is available for viewing at:

 http://bit.ly/FoxHunt2019

More photos

~ Fox-Hunt co-ordinator :
  Anton James  VE7SSD