Has anybody ever done morse over FM (Modulated CW)?

O

OC71

Star Member
I need motivation to learn sending morse out and I have no room to install an antenna for HF. As a possible alternative to morse over Internet, I was thinking of buying a cheap disposable Baofeng and start a local morse over FM net.

I know a couple of folks from my ex-radio club who could be potentially interested. I wonder if this is technically feasible. They would be about 10-15 miles away from me. I wonder if the Baofeng would be powerful enough to reach them without using repeaters. Just for the record, thee are no repeaters in my area.

Please be brutally honest. It's probably a stupid idea.
 
It?s not a stupid idea, as others have thought about it. Check the link below:

http://www.rason.org/Projects/fmkeyer/fmkeyer.htm

The problem with this, I think, is the need for a continuous FM carrier, as the article explains, but if it?s for short distances should be ok with low power. Also, the tone will not be a sinewave tone and it will sound harsh, like a digital beep, I think.

It?s a possible route, but how limited are you in reality for an hf antenna? I am very limited too, and with just a string sloping down the balcony I make contacts all over Europe. A mag loop, a mobile loaded whip, a wire hanging out the window, are any of these a possibility in your qth? This way you don?t have to limit the qso possibilities to just your friends.

There?s lots of info about stealth antennas, it?s a fun part of the hobby, too. I would try to go that route, if it?s possible to you in any way.



 
Thanks. That circuit also doubles down as a side tone oscillator and, possibly, also a practice oscillator.
 
ottavio said:
I need motivation to learn sending morse out and I have no room to install an antenna for HF. As a possible alternative to morse over Internet, I was thinking of buying a cheap disposable Baofeng and start a local morse over FM net.

I know a couple of folks from my ex-radio club who could be potentially interested. I wonder if this is technically feasible. They would be about 10-15 miles away from me. I wonder if the Baofeng would be powerful enough to reach them without using repeaters. Just for the record, thee are no repeaters in my area.

Please be brutally honest. It's probably a stupid idea.
Click to expand...

Nope, not a stupid idea at all. Years ago it was actually illegal for any operator who had not passed a Morse test to use Morse on air (in the UK at any rate). Then the powers that be realised it might be an advantage for folks learning Morse to be able to practice on air, on the bands they were legally allowed to use already (in the UK, VHF and UHF).

Back in the 80's when all of this was going on, most VHF/UHF rigs were FM only, the few that could do SSB and CW were prohibitively expensive. Also, even though learners could send Morse on air, they were not allowed to use true CW, I.E. you were not allowed to use a carrier keyed on and off. So, the idea came about of using MCW (Modulated CW), where you could send a keyed audio tone via your FM Phone radio.
Also, you still had to apply for a Notice of Variation (NOV) to your licence to allow the use of MCW. Yes, things really were that strict back then! Just for reference, I still have my NOV for using Morse from all those years ago ;D

In response to this need, G4DFV came up with a design to allow MCW to be performed, and his design was published in Ham Radio Today magazine, April 1985.

I managed to find a PDF version of this magazine online. The MCW unit starts on page 16 of the magazine.

https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-DX/Ham-Radio-Today/80s/HRT-1985-04.pdf

I built one of those units at the time, and found it worked great. It produces a very nice tone due to the use of a multistage LPF which turns the square wave output from the oscillator IC in to pretty much a sine wave.

Other aspects of his design meant that it was easy to switch back and forth between phone and MCW.

73, Mark...
 
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