[CQ-Contest] Code readers

[ktfrog007 at aol.com]

N1MM+ has code reading capability which can be used with  Fldigi, CWGet or a TNC.  

I use CWGet with N1MM+ on CW when the contest rules allow (usually it's forbidden when running Unassisted), but it doesn't work all that well in QRM and with weak signals.  I ran it last weekend in the CQMMDX and it was useful a handful of times.  There are times when I flub up and maybe CWGet will rescue me.  Not always, however.  Usually we fail in tandem.

You can always run standalone CW readers, too.


I ran some tests once using various CW readers: CWGet, MRP40, Fldigi, and the CW Skimmer.  The CW Skimmer was best but sometimes too slow.  The rest were of a group with good and bad points depending on their use, like ragchewing versus contesting.  Interestingly, if signals were good, some decoders worked better on faster CW than slower.  I ran MRP40 up to 80 WPM with good results.

IMO, though, you can never be a serious CW contester until you can copy contest CW yourself up to 35 WPM or more.  You don't have to be fluent at 35 WPM, just be able to copy calls and contest exchanges.

The CWT contests and the K1USN SSTs are great ways to learn contest CW.

Between the CWOps and K1USN activities, code readers and the RBN, CW contesting will live on indefinitely, even if CW use generally continues to decline.  

73,
Ken, AB1J



-----Original Message-----
From: Stanley Zawrotny <k4sbz.stan at gmail.com>
To: ko7ss at yahoo.com <ko7ss at yahoo.com>
Cc: Reflector Cq-contest <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Mon, Apr 19, 2021 3:40 pm
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Please Explain This...

You don’t need to know CW to operate with a code reader and a CW keyer. It’s just like operating RTTY. If N1MM+ would incorporate a CW reader with their logger, just as they have done with MMTTY, there would be a large increase in CW ops, fewer requests for repeats and everyone could go at 50 wpm.

I have run into ops using voice recognition and voice keyers on SSB. Using that, you don’t t need to know how to talk. Add a language translator and you don’t need to know English.

Stan, K4SBZ

"Real radio bounces off the sky."

> On Apr 19, 2021, at 1:01 AM, ko7ss--- via CQ-Contest <cq-contest at contesting.com> wrote:
> 
> Code readers.....
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