You are right Grant, safety is a BIG concern, just as it is on cell phones
and FM repeater operation.
The secret to safety in mobile CW is being able to comfortably copy IN YOUR
HEAD, rather than on paper. If you can't do this, pull off the road and only
then enter into a QSO. Also, if in motion, just memorize the call and name
of the other station, and have a large scratch pad to write down, in BIG
letters, just the call, name, and time, when convenient to do so in traffic,
or at a stop, without looking at what you are writing. Doing this, you can
carry on a CW QSO with no more risk than if you were talking to a passenger
in the car (actually, with 2 hours of commuting a day, it saved my life many
times when I otherwise would have dozed off).
I would guess that most near-misses and accidents in which the ham is at
fault would be tied to looking at or tuning their rigs/antennas, not
operating CW. In this respect, the Ten Tec 544 Triton IV Digital, although
big by today's mobile standards, was an excellent mobile rig (I used for at
least 10 years) because of the HUGE lettered frequency display enabling one
to get all the info they needed in one quick glance and because of the great
QSK.
BTW, I just received my new Orion II about 3 weeks ago, and I actually asked
my wife earlier this week (joking of course) if I could take out her seat in
the Van so I would have room to mount it there (because it is so large)!
She looked at me in half-belief that I was telling the truth because she
knows how much I love the new Orion II!
73, de Greg, N6GK/m
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Grant Youngman
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 10:27 AM
To: 'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment'
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Ten Tec (Mobile CW Paddle)
> This is not something everyone can do, comfortably.
And probably no one can do it safely, unless you pull off to the side of the
road.
As much fun as mobile CW might be, I'm not sure I want to be driving in the
immediate vicinity of anyone actually engaged in a mobile-CW QSO :-)
Grant/NQ5T
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