Morse Code - An Update

I have been upset, disappointed, frustrated, and pretty much any other words that I can find to describe how much like a failure I feel.  There are few things in my life that I have tried as hard as I'm trying now, but those other things have made progress - morse code seems to be a brick wall...

Anyway, last night I found a group of people who, like me, share the same feeling.  They almost universally  shared exactly what I was feeling.  It's just that feeling of failure, mostly (and not maliciously) as "kind advice & support" - "Hey, just keep trying, it's easy."; "I learned it when I was a Boy Scout at 9 years old, simple!" and on and on and on...

For me, it's not easy.  It's hard, very hard.  Like I just mentioned, there are few things that I have tried that require this level of concentration and continuous effort to see very poor results.

NOW, for the good news...

I AM making progress.  I do finally believe that I have the ability to learn morse code.  I also no longer think that it'll just be "20 quick hours to memorize the code and then get on the air - it's easy!"  I know that it'll take a while for me; but that's actually OK!  I know that I'm "slowly" getting there and that my pace will be MY pace.

I guess the "discouraging" reassurance of others has really made a difference for me.  I appreciate the honesty.

73 de KJ4WLH

RARC Presentation - Remote Operation

Well, last Friday night - August 10th, 2012, I had the opportunity to present in front of the Richmond Amateur Radio Club.  Talk about intimidating!  I'm a noob, all of 2+ years in the hobby and I'm looking out at guys with 30, 40, even 50+ years of radio experience - I mean, really, WHAT in the world am I able to tell THEM?!?!?!

The group was very civil, though I was nervous, and the presentation went along fairly smoothly.  I suppose one might say it even went well, but I still know there are some things that I would have done differently (and therefore better!)

Two buddies of mine, Armand (WA1UQO) and Tom (KC4CMK), and I re-installed a 20 meter antenna that had fallen a few years previously at the church where the RARC meetings are held.  That was really nice, part of my demonstration was receiving PSK31 on 20 meters while the club members filed in and chit chatted before the meeting started.

Anyway, I enjoyed discussing my experience with Icom's RS-BA1 software package and how I use it around the house and travelling.  There was quite a bit of Q&A and the presentation was very interactive - I guess that's the kind I like best, it keeps folks engaged in the conversation.

Here's a link to the Remote Operations presentation.

73 de KJ4WLH

Icom IC-7000 vs IC-9100 receive comparison

Here's a link to my YouTube comparison.

I was messing around in my shack and got around to doing a side by side comparison of my IC-7000 and IC-9100.  I was curious as to how well or different each transceiver was - the video showed it pretty well.

I was listening to a simplex conversation, the IC-7000 showed no s-meter reading and the IC-9100 show S5 +/-.  Unbelievable!

73 de KJ4WLH