G0HYN - Robbie Robertson

Android - Interactive Learning Morse app [Learn Morse]

WARNING: Please be aware that I have found the Android Chrome browser does not react well to the download request (continuously opening new tabs and I had to stop the browser app manually).

It does work ok with the standard 'Internet' browser built into my Samsung devices, the Firefox browser (which installed on my Nexus 7 from Google Play), and also via email attachment install.

To install this test version you will have to enable 'Unknown sources' in your Android devices Security settings. I'd suggest enabling, installing the app, and then disabling to be safe.

Note: There are no in App downloads, purchases, or any attempts to communicate with anything external to the device it's installed upon i.e. once installed the app is completely self contained. The only permission it requires is read/write to external storage so that it can access the editable text file (morse.txt).

Ok, after all that scary stuff, if your still reading and interested in downloading the app, here's the link to the latest release...
 Link for G0HYN - Learn Morse latest version APK file 

You can of course download the .apk file via PC/Mac, transfer the file via USB connecting, and then use a file browser to locate/install it.

If all else fails, I'm more than happy to email you the .apk file as an attachment, which you should be able to download/install from your mail app.

Documentation: Link to G0HYN-Morse latest detailed document 

• Farnsworth speed - 14
• Words Per Minute - 05
• Characters in use - 1
• Frequency of tone - 800
• Mode - Learn
• Samples file  - P9 (ZL based QSOs)
• Character introduction sequence  - Cunningham
  

 Learn mode - Used to learn morse code, and should be used by novices to learn the various characters
 Listen mode - Used to listen to random passages from inbuilt and editable files, or generators

Learn mode
If you are learning morse from scratch, then it is advised that the default setting for 'Characters in use' should be used i.e. 1.  You can also adjust the frequency of tone and the Farnsworth speed at this point, but you can get a feel for what's best for you as you go along, and they can be changed 'on the fly'.

• Active - Learn mode is ready to go once the Play button is pressed (black)
  
• Running - Play pressed, characters are being sent, and responses processed (green)
  
• Paused - Pause pressed, sending is interrupted, and can be continued by pressing Pause again (blue)
  
• Stopped - Stop pressed, sending ceases, Learn progress is displayed, plus letters used on Histogram

You will find that the Play, Pause and Stop buttons are enabled/disabled in line with the above states e.g. Play is disabled in running and paused states. 

So that your progress can be noted and used as the new starting point the next time you open the app, the current Characters in use is saved (along with Farnsworth, WPM, Tone, and mode) whenever the app is closed.  You can of course set the slider manually to any value between 1 and 40, and then press Start button.

Histogram

This is a graphic representation of the progress being attained through the learn sequence i.e. how you are doing.
Each vertical bar represents a character (A-Z, 0-9, plus some punctuation characters), and will be updated as the app is running through the learn sequence.
Basically a full bar means  a character is not yet learned, and a low bar means you have successfully responded to it when it has been sent.
When Start is pressed, the app check the Chars setting and updates the histogram accordingly, so if you set Chars to say 10, then the first 10 bars will be dropped, and update according to your future responses.
If you respond correctly to the character sent, then its corresponding bar will be reduced (if not already at min).
If however you respond incorrectly, then the bar will be raised (if not already at max) and the character will be resent.

Note: Histogram is only displayed in Learn Mode.

Listen Mode
This mode is design to practice listening to morse, which can be sent at the desired Farnsworth, WPM and Tone.
It is suggested that you have paper and pencil at the ready, and try to write down what is being sent without looking at the display.

Note: In Listen mode the Characters in use slider control is disabled, as it has no effect.

Which file is to be used can be selected from the menu, with most being fixed, but morse.txt can be edited as it is stored on the devices 'external storage' (see later section on how to edit morse.txt)
There is also a 'on the fly' QSO generator option, which creates random like QSOs.

Once you have Farnsworth, WPM and Tone set how you want them (you can change them whilst mode is in running state, but it is likely to effect the sound briefly) press Play.
A random entry from the current file will be selected and sent a character at a time.
Pause can be used to suspend or continue sending if desired, and Stop will of course do just that i.e. stop sending.
Once the current entry has been completely sent, and another entry will be randomly selected and then sent. This will continue until Stop is pressed.

Note: The app tracks the last entry sent when selecting the next one, to avoid resending the same entry twice in a row.

Menu
If menu is selected (via either a physical key or soft option), then a list of the available sample text files is presented, with the currently active one 'checked'. Any file can be selected, but only one file can be active at any one time. Check mark will match users selection (and a 'Toast' notification will indicate successful load of selected file)

These files contain textual entries of varying subject mater:

• Morse.txt - This text file is user editable, and resides on the devices 'external storage' (See note 1 below)
• P1 - Mixed subjects, mostly sport. Includes numbers, but no punctuation
• P2 - Mixed subjects, mostly sport. Includes numbers, but no punctuation
• P3 - Mixed subjects, mostly sport. Includes numbers, but no punctuation
• Fortunes - Fortune Cookie sayings. Includes some punctuation
• Confucius - Confucious quotes. Includes some punctuation
• Gen RND - Instead of reading from file, random words will be generated and sent (See note 2 below)
• Gen QSOs - Instead of reading from file, random QSOs will be generated and sent (See note 3 below)
• Lyrics - Top 100 music quotes. Includes punctuation
• ZL QSOs - Sample QSOs. Callsigns are currently NZ related (although imaginary)

The menu also contains the Help option, which brings up the separate help screen and it's associated text (see later Help section for more details)