CW / SSB Effectiveness

Started by RadioRay, January 24, 2013, 02:28:31 PM

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RadioRay

Gil & I have been enjoying daily contact on CW, with his PAR wire antenna to my simple 'halfsquare' wire beam or dipole.  Power levels with Gil now range from 10 Watts down to a half a Watt on CW, using such 'monster' rigs as the RockMite or the DC-20B kits. We make contact daily, usually chat for a half hour, then sign-off.  This is using simple , wire antennas on battery powered rigs and only a few times have we decided that conditions were too noisy to ENJOY the contact, but we were able to explain this ove the radio and then sign-off. 

In short:  CW on HF frequencies at "QRP" power levels, using highly portable equipment is entirely practical for basic communication and message delivery on a repeatable basis.

Military/'spook' transceivers with Morse power levels of 5 Watts (PRC-64) up to 15-20 Watts (PRC-74, GRC-109) were used as lifelines, usually from 'denied areas' to home stations hundreds and even thousands of miles away.  This being the case, we as hams can CERTAINLY do this for basic disaster reporting & etc.  I would HIGHLY encourage everyone to get on the air in Morse, enjoy your time doing it and 'own your skills'.
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SSB has been fun at lower than usual power levels also, though not nearly as effective.  Occasionally, Gil & I will slide up into the voice portion of the bands and chat in voice. This has been at 14 Watts and most recently 10 Watts.  Voice requires MUCH more power than CW, for the same reliability over a given radio path. It's fun to use voice occasionally, but when you go from essentially 99.9% copy in CW down to fadng and noisy voice at the same power level, you DO notice the difference - immediately!  We've often decidede to return to CW so that we could more easily continue the conversation.  We have NEVER asked the other station to switch TO voice because CW was not getting through.

If you do not have commercial infrastructure, it's MUCH easier to keep a small battery powered rig operating, than the large power hungry transceiver.  The idea that you can just turn down your big rig to save power is not really that effective - though it helps.  You see, you'll do more listening than anything else, at 100% receive duty cycle.  Therefore, your RECEIVE current is what eats most of your power.  A QRP rig generally draws very LITTLE receive current and in Morse, your average 'duty cycle' during transmit is 25-50%, depending upon how you send: very energy efficient.


If you're thinking that 'Oh, my code is not good enough for that.' : remember that Gil had NO code when he started this, not very long ago.  Now he truly 'Owns' his skills'.  If you have ANY code - that's a great place to (re)start!

Go Forth & Conquer!


de RadioRay ..._ ._
"When we cannot do the good we would, we must be ready to do the good we can."  ~ Matthew Henry

gil

Very well said Ray,

The amazing thing is that we have made contact every day regardless of power level. If I hear you, I get through, whether I use 500mW or 12W. I was recently talking with a guy on 40m who was using 1KW. He could hear me fine.. So, why send more money to the power company? Not to mention the more expensive gear, tuner, antenna, power supply, etc. I can do with $100 what some do with $5000. With the same result. Of course, when it comes to contesting or DXing, 1KW will stomp the small guy (me). You all know what I think of contesting though, and I couldn't care less about "busting a pileup." Those words are not part of MY hobby.

The 500mW 20m rig by the way is the "DC20B" from qrpkits.com.

I say it all the time, there is nothing better and simpler than CW.

QuoteWe have NEVER asked the other station to switch TO voice because CW was not getting through.

That would be the day! It is very obvious for anyone who has done any amount of CW. It just goes through, period.

We all hope that if we have to face an emergency it will be in the comfort of our own homes, reclining in front of our favorite radio and computer, sipping a hot chocolate.. Maybe, maybe not.. Maybe we'll be on the road, on foot, traveling at night across fields, drinking filtered water from puddles, hungry, with bleeding feet, no food and the constant threat of being robbed.. How in these conditions do you forward a message to your family in a better-off state? How do you find out which cities or roads are safe and which ones are not? Will you be lugging arounf your 30lbs Icom? The first mile maybe, if you're strong.. A Rock-Mite fits in a box of Altoid mints! It only needs a handful of AA batteries to operate.

QRP radios are not toys; they work. It's like firearms. A QRP radio is not ike a .44 Magnum. It's like a .22. It might take a few more rounds to do the job, but your target ends-up just as dead! And a .22 is lighter to carry with a lot more ammo.. I'm not promoting .22s mind you.. So, let's not go on a tangent here.. You get the analogy..

The reason people don't want to learn Morse code is the same reason why they don't exercise: It's not easy. Sometimes you just have to kick yourself in the behind and get to it. So my best advise is: Put your heavy boots on and don't hold off!

Gil.

cownose

i like what you two said it encourages me even if theres no much people in my area who knows and decodes cw my last contact was Nov and it was like 70 miles using 3 watts but sometimes i can slip a signal or two as far as malaysia from where i am in the philippines

gil

Welcome aboard Cownose, where are you in the Philippines? I spent two months there 20yrs ago, really liked the place..

Gil.

cownose

thanks i am in iloilo city panay island near boracay island our place gets flash floods all the time during storms

KC9TNH

<Cue Seals & Crofts> Noted the slight solar 'breeze' this AM, up to 734 (from a quiet 200-300), that put all kinds of funny red colors on the desktop propagation gadget. HF was in the tank (usually associated up this way too when the aurora starts getting into the 50? latitude) or was it...?

Had the rig on in the background while doing something else, and 30m was certainly alive. Some robust signals to be sure, can't postulate efficacy of low-power in those situations but, as a mode, CW was still truckin' along. Things will get better over the next few hours, but no one was shut out of CW if they had a reasonably competent antenna. Less auroral effect for those living close to the equator I suspect, just a guess.
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KC9TNH

Quote from: KC9TNH on March 17, 2013, 02:38:44 PM
<Cue Seals & Crofts> Noted the slight solar 'breeze' this AM, up to 734 (from a quiet 200-300), that put all kinds of funny red colors on the desktop propagation gadget. HF was in the tank (usually associated up this way too when the aurora starts getting into the 50? latitude) or was it...?

Had the rig on in the background while doing something else, and 30m was certainly alive. Some robust signals to be sure, can't postulate efficacy of low-power in those situations but, as a mode, CW was still truckin' along. Things will get better over the next few hours, but no one was shut out of CW if they had a reasonably competent antenna. Less auroral effect for those living close to the equator I suspect, just a guess.
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Similar conditions tonight; other than a few of the usual 1.5kW usual suspects, not much on the voice bands. It doesn't seem to have stopped the CW though. Horrid conditions tonight, but I hear regular slow & conversational QSOs, contesters, speedsters back & forth across salt-water.

Music to drift off by...

KC9TNH

Background: I'm not into alot of desktop clutter on the laptop (shortcuts eat RAM & gadgets eat CPU), but I do have one gadget that stays there, the hamsql solar prop gadget that has proven pretty reliable. With some very generalized predictions run already for June I can have a general idea of what's LIKELY to be going on across most bands.

This AM early with some java it was Japan on 30m. Bounced back to see how 40m SSB was gonna play for a later morning net I help with and... dead. Gadget told the story; lots of red, major geo-mag storm, aurora down to 51? latitude. Nada, zip. Bounced back to 30m and the JA station was stilll trucking, although he eventually faded. But he was the last to go.

I use both the Aussie prop source and VOACAP online; the latter is convenient for a 1-page general prediction that can sit on the desk. I keep a few general pages sitting around which I relate to in terms of Ray with 50w (if needed), Gil at 10, Chris at 5, a friend out west SSB at 100, etc.

Just remember that predictions are only that; like the enemy on a 2-way range Mother Nature gets a vote.
Multi-mode capability is good, y'all know I'm not a "this mode or none" person - tools in the bag.
But CW is the last to go & the first to come back.
:)

KC9TNH

Sittin' around doing ruck tweaks, 20m CW background music after plugging back in.  The poor folks up the road at the fairgrounds (Grand National Tractor Pull) took a shellacking last night every hour on the hour from the t-cells. (More wx on tap for tonight than a 3-fer at yer local Doghouse Saloon.)

Heard a plaintive '1' call still callin' for FD (which for that area I would've thought was over.) Never judge a QTH by its call. So I took the only radio I currently have & just for grins turned it down to 10w. One suffix repeat and I can say I finally connected to AK using CW. Have had QSOs all over the planet but oddly never AK. As a wage-slave I'm probably in the sack when AK is busy; dunno. Not a wall-paper collector but was nice that she picked me up in Anchorage, 2600+ miles away, and confirms another direction the little 36' end-fed in the backyard is playing.

After ditching the dirty 'w-word' thing next week I think I'm gonna like having some time on my hands.
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