Morse
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Morse
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Although I have a UK class A
license, having passed a 12 wpm morse test. I have done almost no cw
operating.
I
always put this down to the way I'd learned morse as a child i.e. dad
gave me a table of the code, and I learned it starting from A and
ending with Z.
I
was also very nervous of completely screwing up QSLs live, so I moved
on to other modes at the time which were more related to computers
which I had a strong interest in.
That
said, I have always
wanted to relearn morse such that I could operate qrp long distances
(well I can dream...), and since I retired early, have had a bit of
time to revisit HAM (mostly the newer digital modes which I find
fascinating), and the possibly of cw operating.
I knew
that
there were better ways to learn the code, and so started researching
possible software that could help me (just love the Internet as a
seemingly endless supply of information) and came across good PC
Windows based program from ZL1AN (Gary). ZL1AN - Teach 4.1 Learning Morse Program
After
playing about
with it, I had a thought... It would be nice if this was on my Android
phone, so that I could practice learning when any opportunity arose
e.g. on a train, bus, or doctors waiting room..
I
contacted Gary to
see if there was an Android version available, but unfortunately there
wasn't. Having 'dabbled' with Android development a little, I thought I
might have a go at creating a facsimile of Gary's program in my Nexus 7.
Gary
(kind sole that he is) was good enough to email me the original PC
based code for me to peruse, which has certainly helped me along in
my quest. The original program was developed under Delphi, and although
I'm not familiar with Delphi or have a version upon which to run it,
just having the main code has been enough to get a grips with the main
trust of how the teaching program works.
So
far I have been working part time on this for a few months, of which
most of it has been about learning how to do things under Android, such
as:
- Not
having a full sized keyboard to provide input
- The
sound system calls not working as advertised (and changing with Android
updates, V5 for example)
- Differences
between devices (namely Asus and Samsung) for sound and external storage
- Dealing
with different screen size i.e. phone versus tablet
- System
text editors changing text files in ways not prediced
I
have now got to the point where I have something that works, and needs
some user testing to see if it breaks...
Here's a couple of screen shots captured from my Samsung Galaxy S3
phone:
Lanscape mode on the S3 has been much more of a challange to fit everything in:
And in File mode (Start screen and Running):
I
have posted a couple of test videos on YouTube which I made mainly to
show progress to Gary, but it gives your idea of where I'm going with
this:
Link
to Morse app download page.
On the morse side itself, I have continued trying to relearn morse, but
I still find it hard to read...
That
said I'm still keen to get myself back to a point where I can
try
a few CW QSOs, asuming I can find someone who is willing to go slowly
:o)
I've even dug out and dusted off my old morse keys ready for action:
Having talked to Gary ZL1AN regarding autospace, and the FT-767gx's
lack of such. I've ordered one (well two actually) of Bryan's (ZL1NI)
morse keyers, and looking forward to wiring it up once it lands here in
the UK. Update: Keyers have arrived, and I have one 'lashed up' to a CR2032 3v battery for testing, and it's working fine. I've
ordered some CR2032 battery holders from Chine, so I'll have to wait
for these to arrive before I look at what type of enclosure I'll use
(i.e. need holder sizing).
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