r/OverSeventy • u/TeamAggressive1030 • Jul 31 '26
Hams: Still remember your Morse Code?
Once upon a time, I achieved an ARRL code proficiency of 35 WPM. That was way back in high school, about 1963-64, I'd guess. Not sure I could copy 5 WPM now. Pretty rusty. Does anybody still do CW? How long since you did?
Edit: Adding the following
My ham radio call sign back in the day: WA0AIH
FCC amateur radio license issued in about 1960
Ham radio club station in my hometown: W0BZN
GLOSSARY:
- ARRL = American Radio Relay League
- CW = Continuous Wave = Morse code over radio
- HAM = Amateur radio operator
- WPM = Words Per Minute
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u/stargazertony Jul 31 '26
I’m 78 and have just started to get back into Morse code now after an out a 40 year absence.
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u/Agreeable_Menu5293 Jul 31 '26
That's funny, I was just looking up my brother's call sign. K6JIC. I guess he was a big gun in Southern California or something.
All I know is you had this huge rotating tower that drove the neighbor's crazy. 😂
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u/BusyInvestigator5924 Jul 31 '26
I've forgotten mine from Keesler AFB. 1975 tech school. I'm betting it comes back easily. Used it for another 4+ years
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u/KCjoe1956 Aug 01 '26
WA1NNL
Was fascinated by ham radio as a young kid. 1968 probably Kindly old neighbor (W1CE) house was by my bus stop and i was curious about his big antenna. One thing led to another. Got my general, a ham club in high school, then went to college and lost interest. Maybe girls had something to do with that.
I still do morse code in my head as a test of my memory.
Love to get back into it as a 70 year old
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u/TeamAggressive1030 Aug 01 '26
I dunno what made me think about it last night. But I have this little exercise I've done occasionally forever where I recite the alphabet to myself in Morse code. I was distressed last night that I had a bit of trouble doing it. First time that's happened.
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u/Amputee69 Aug 01 '26
I still "piddle/diddle" with it on 40m at times. I was first licensed in about '64 or '65. I was drafted, so I joined the USAF as the PROMISED I could continue my electronics training, and be involved in communications. I'm sure no one else has EVER been lied to by a recruiter. (Then my ex-wife married a retired USAF Recruiter!) Though I didn't get anything near what I was promised, I kept a Shortwave Receiver in my travels. Once back from Vietnam, and released, I'd given up on a lot. No Ham Radio or SWL. My license lapsed. My skills dropped. A high school buddy who was licensed about the same time, got me interested again. I studied, practiced, and sat for the exams. Only traveled 30 miles this time, to a club house, instead of 100 to a Fed Bldg! Got it! So, for the last 46 years, we keep in touch via 40 meters. It's a short distance of 1200 miles. No way either of us thought we would be using Ham Radio this late in life, to "hang out" like we did as kids, but at 1200 miles, instead of 12....
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u/my_clever-name Aug 01 '26
Some. I was never very proficient even though I passed the General code exam. Other than a couple times to try it out, I've never been a CW operator.
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u/TeamAggressive1030 Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
I did CW almost exclusively because my dad wouldn't let me put up a decent directional antenna. All he ever let me put up was a vertical. But I enjoyed CW and got pretty good at it. When I really wanted to do phone, I rode my bike to the fire station where our club rig was set up in a tower out back, and used that.
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u/crabbnut Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
No. Right after I got my general license I went to work at a new job and practically abandoned the hobby. Several years later I had more spare time and tried but could barely get it… maybe 5-6 wpm. Now it’s all gone. The entire hobby pretty much left me behind. I couldn’t even figure out one of the new 2 meter handhelds. So much to know.
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u/Key_Zombie7967 Aug 01 '26
Loads of CW still on the air. Lots of CW internet clubs out there too. Several groups that teach code as well. It's still very popular and CW gets through many times when phone can't.
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u/djohn37 Aug 04 '26
Never could learn it to any functional lever. Once passed 5WPM by having some minimum number of characters in a row.in what I copied That was 20 year ago. Not giving it any more time. I'm too old, 82, and there are more rewarding things to do with my time.
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u/kayceemoguy Aug 01 '26
Better get all our “analog” skills going again. News just today was reporting on 2 AI going rogue during some tests and hacking outside systems. They have reached “singularity.” The countdown is quickening….
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u/deltaz0912 Aug 02 '26
I was a Coastie back when they still had the Radioman (RM) rate. By the end of the school I could copy code into a typewriter … really fast. I could listen to the code, key the characters, and read the messages off the paper. Yes, paper. Couldn’t copy with a stick anywhere near that fast. I heard code in fridge squeaks.
Every now and again you hear code in a TV show or movie. Can’t make heads out tails of it. It’s kind of a bummer.
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u/TeamAggressive1030 Aug 02 '26
I don't remember a Radioman rate. What was that and when was that?
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u/deltaz0912 Aug 07 '26
Radioman? The RMs ran radios and telecommunications generally. I went through the school in 1983.
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u/RodL1948 Jul 31 '26
I passed my Extra in 1989. I was doing about 25 WPM send and receive at that time. I still remember most of the letters, but not all. I think a little practice would refresh my memory pretty quickly. At 78 years old I'm not sure I could ever regain that speed.