First manual QSO

Hooking up the computer to my Xiegu G90 is not very hard with the accompanying DE-19 kit and I’ve used it to get some FT8 QSOs around Europe and get a feel for the kind of range available with only 5W. I know the rig can go up to 20W (ie 6dB), but most other modulation isn’t as efficient as these digital modes so I don’t want to get my hopes up of reaching that same distance with voice/SSB.

CW

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Anyway, I am learning CW using an app on my phone¹, LCWO² and QRQ³. This is going pretty well, and I know all of the letters, digits and important special characters (?,./=) by now, so I try to follow along on the air every once in a while. Dialing across the lower part of the bands between 10 and 80 meters, trying to find someone calling CQ with both a strong signal and not going too fast is excluding a large part of the population. I’ve tried calling CQ at my speed (about 10-12 wpm) number of times, with no response other than a ?.

CW key

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So to send CW, you need a key… A way to make and break a contact so the rig knows you want to send. Online, most keys (even the small ones) are pretty expensive. Mostly 30€ and up, far too expensive to start out with for something that’s basically a switch.

After some experimentation, and finding an appropriate AUX audio cable, I salvaged it together with three paperclips and four screws to create the abomination above. The paddles are pretty flexible, which I don’t think is normal, but what else could you expect from a paperclip.

QSO with HA8WZ

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After my work day, I did a last sweep across the 40m-band and noticed a pretty strong signal calling CQ. After listening for a few cycles and making sure that nobody else was trying to call back, I noted down his callsign, dialed in the automatic decoder function and called back…

HA8WZ DE PE8T PE8T PE8T K

I’ve tried this before, but usually get no response.. I am likely too weak a signal or keying too slowly, or maybe they just don’t want to work me at that time.

PE8T DE HA8WZ

Oh no..

The automatic CW decoder on my rig saved me.. Even when he slowed down by request (HA8WZ QRS PSE = ...) I had a hell of a time trying to follow along. We exchanged our RST (5NN both ways), QTH and names and called it a day (73). I just forgot to note down the exact frequency we had the QSO at but I think the other info should be enough for an official QSO? It is good enough for me, anyhow.

And now?

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Apparently I need to learn to copy CW a lot better, and I will keep practicing. Seeing the other party slow down enough so that I could kind of follow along was nice, so I will probably try get some more contacts in the log in the near future. Obviously making sure that I pick the strong and slow signals.

73 de PE8T