Do you speak SSB?

[gil]

Hello,

Just a quick note today; something I have noticed in many posts and articles, not necessarily here, but I wanted to set the record straight:

CW is a mode, like SSB is a mode. You don't speak SSB, right? You speak English and use SSB to send English though the airwaves. Same goes with CW. You can't learn CW! You learn Morse Code and send it through CW. You could also send it through AM or FM, though of course that would be a waste of bandwidth.

Those terms are two very different things and IMHO we should be careful not to use them indifferently to avoid confusion.

Gil.

[KK0G]

Very true Gil. CW and Morse code are so closely tied together that it's easy to confuse the two especially for someone new to the mode, I've even been guilty of it myself a few times.


Along the same lines, a keyer and a paddle are not the same thing; a paddle, or set of paddles, is nothing more than a SPDT (on/off/on) switch. A keyer is an electronic circiut that takes those on/off signals from a paddle and forms evenly timed and spaced dits and dahs.