Sunday, February 8, 2009

Learn CW Online

A new website to learn and practice Morse telegraphy has been launched: http://lcwo.net/ - Learn CW Online

There are already hundreds of training programs, MP3/CD courses and practice aids available, but LCWO follows a radically different concept: While sticking to well-proven methods for learning and practice, all you need for using LCWO is a web browser!

This gives the user the liberty to practice CW wherever an internet connection is available, always retaining the personal settings, scores and statistics.

Currently the site, which is available in 17 languages offers a complete Koch method Morse course, code group practice, callsign- and plain text training modes and also allows to convert random text to Morse MP3s.

A high score list is available to compare results with other users, personal statistics help to track training progress.

LCWO.net is a non-commercial project. Creating a free account only takes a few seconds, and you can start practicing CW right away!

Fabian Kurz, DJ1YFK

Sunday, February 1, 2009

SolderSmoke NUMBER 100

SPECIAL CENTENARY EDITION
A look back to the beginning
Rome Travelogue: Palatine Hill
Fixing my old freq counter: Trials and Tribulations
Empire of the Air:
More great history, but more tech faux pas
"The radio art"
An historical precedent for our GONG
Lake DeForest?
A. Frederick Collins
Understanding Beta Independence
Understanding Feedback and Distortion
SPRAT 137: Minimalist Radio:
The FETer/ET-1: "Haiku from Solder"
Regens: Not for the faint of heart

ARRL: Bird's Eye Viewing

Go to the ARRLWeb's FCC License Data Search page and lookup the address of an Amateur Radio station you want to check out (type the station's call sign in the call sign field, then click on the "Submit Query" button).

When the search engine comes back with the results, copy the address to your computer's clipboard (select the address with your computer's mouse, then press the Ctrl-C keys).

Go to Microsoft's Live Search Maps page, paste the address in the Live Search field (press the Ctrl-V keys) then press the magnifying glass button.

More at http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2009/01/30/10601/