home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
HAM Radio 3
/
hamradioversion3.0examsandprograms1992.iso
/
cw
/
morsemn3
/
morseman.txt
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1989-06-17
|
27KB
|
550 lines
M o r s e M a n P l u s
&
M o r s e M a n
"The Premier Morse Code Trainer"
copyright(c) 1988, 1989
by Robin A. Gist, NE4L
All Rights Reserved
+++
L I C E N S E
and
D I S C L A I M E R
License I - (applies only to registered users of MorseMan, who are now using
MorseMan Plus). You have the non-exclusive right to use the
enclosed software (MorseMan Plus) on one computer at a time. You
may make backup copies of the program for your own personal use,
but only one copy of the program may be in use at one time. You
may not electronically transmit the program, duplicate or copy it
in any way (except for the above stated "back-up" copies), give
copies away, duplicate the printed form of this manual (except for
your own personal use) or alter/translate the program. MORSEMAN
PLUS IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN OR SHAREWARE (IT IS A COMMERCIAL
PROGRAM) AND MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT EXPLICIT PERMISSION
FROM RENAISSANCE DEVELOPMENT. By using MorseMan Plus, you agree
to the above conditions. You will also, under the same conditions,
use your best efforts to ensure that the terms of this license are
not violated. Renaissance Development Corporation reserves the
right to revoke any license without warning for any reason it
deems necessary.
License II - (applies only to shareware users of MorseMan, who have not
registered their copy with the author and Renaissance Development.)
You have the non-exclusive right to use MorseMan as you wish for
a period of 30 days. During that time, you are stongly encouraged
to copy MorseMan and give them to whoever you wish. You may upload
MorseMan to electronic bulletin boards (BBS's) as long as ALL files
that come with the original disk are also uploaded along with it.
Shareware distributors are encouraged to distribute MorseMan as
long as they; (a), charge reasonable copying and service fees ($6.00
and under is considered reasonable) and (b) they make it clear that
what they are selling is indeed only a distribution copy and the
program itself has not yet been paid for. At the end of 30 days,
you are STRONGLY encouraged to register your copy of MorseMan with
the author and Renaissance Developement. Registration fees are only
$15.00 ($20.00 after October 1, 1989) and this will get you a
registered copy of the latest version of MorseMan Plus (add $3.00
if you would like a typeset and printed manual.) By using MorseMan
you agree to the terms and conditions of the above license, and
you also agree to use your best efforts to ensure that the terms
of this license are not violated. Renaissance Development Corp.
reserves the right to revoke any license without warning for any
reason it deems necessary.
Limited Warranty - (applies only to users of MorsMan Plus) For a period of
90 dyas, Renaissance Development Corporation warrants to the
original purchaser that the disks are not defective and that the
program is recorded properly. If a defect occurs within this
period, you may return the disk to Renaissance Development, along
with proof-of-purchase, and it will be replaced free of charge.
+++
D I S C L A I M E R
(applies to ALL users) - RENAISSANCE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION MAKES
NO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABLILITY PERFORMANCE OR FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ALL WARRANTIES, EXPLICIT OR IMPLIED,
ARE LIMITED TO A PERIOD OF 30 DAYS FROM THE DATE OF ORIGINAL
PURCHASE. FURTHER, RENAISSANCE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LIMITS THE
LICENSEE'S REMEDIES TO RETURN THE PROGRAM AND MANUAL TO ANY PARTY
FOR REPLACEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL RENAISSANCE DEVELOPMENT CORP.
BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR OTHER DAMAGES FOR
BREACH OF WARRANTY. ALSO, RENAISSANCE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBLITY FOR DAMAGES THAT MAY OCCUR TO ANY EQUIP-
MENT, MATERIALS OR PERSON AS A RESULT OF USE OF THIS PROGRAM.
BY USING MORSEMAN OR MORSEMAN PLUS, YOU EXPLICITLY AGREE TO THE
TERMS OF THE DISCLAIMER.
+++
Welcome to MorseMan and MorseMan Plus
Now that we have the legalities out of the way, I would just
like to take the opportunity to personally welcome you to
MorseMan and/or MorseMan Plus. This manual is primarily
written for MorseMan Plus, but it also applies to MorseMan
except where stated. If you are just starting out on an
attempt to learn Morse Code, I would like to be one of the
first to wish you good luck. Amateur Radio is a wonderful
hobby and after you are licensed, you will probably make
hundreds of friends all over the World! The modes of
communications that you can use are astounding. From simple
CW, which breaks the language barrier, to Amateur Satellites.
All of it is there for you to enjoy! And hopefully, you will
take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to broaden your
horizons and make new friends by learning the Morse Code and
obtaining an Amateur License. The world is yours to explore
from your own home when you get your first station on the air.
And from there, the sky is the limit!!!
+++
What is MorseMan Plus?
In your hands, you hold the manual for one of the most
powerful Morse Code trainers available. It is designed
not only to teach you the international Morse Code, but
to also help you achieve expert efficiency, quickly and
easily. MorseMan Plus will take you from learning the
code, getting a Novice license, all the way through the
Extra code, and beyond.
The reason that MorseMan Plus is different from other
trainers is because they put you out on your own after
they teach you the code (if they can do that). MorseMan
Plus is just getting warmed up after you learn the code.
From that point, MorseMan Plus will let you choose your
own method to help you increase your code speed. You
can pick between random characters, random words, or
realistic random callsigns. You can even select the option
to allow the callsigns vary is speed and frequency so that
it sounds like you are listening to stations on the air.
Aside from the random features incorporated into MorseMan
Plus, there is the ability to send code characters as they
are typed from the keyboard. You can also send code from
any ASCII text file, or create a file to send from within
the program. And last, but not least, MorseMan Plus is
CPU independent. Most CW trainers lose their accuracy
when run on machines other than the one it was designed on.
MorseMan Plus uses a simple, but effective, speed measurement
algorithm that insures CPU calibration, regardless of what
machine you are running.
MorseMan Plus is the ultimate trainer program and it will
get even better. There are already plans to incorporate
a QSO generator, among other innovations, into the program.
Look for future versions soon.
Use of MorseMan Plus
MorseMan Plus is a tool intended for use by amateurs, aspiring
hams or anyone else who wishes to either learn the
International Morse Code and\or improve their performance
and code speed. MorseMan Plus will take you through the
procedure of learning the morse code (or CW as called by
hams) and help you to increase your speed. You can start
with the easiest characters and work through a small group,
later going back to the ones that you had trouble with.
MorseMan Plus is written with repetiveness in mind, as the more
often you hear the character and associate it with the
sound, the easier it will be to recall it.
+++
TIPS FOR LEARNING MORSE CODE
If you already know Morse Code, then you should skip onto the
next section, but it is recommended that you go over the
following section if your code speed is a slow (under 10 wpm).
While learning and practicing, keep the following suggestions
in mind:
1> Keep your sessions short. Never go more than 30 to 40
minutes in a single session. After that time, your mind
tends to wander and you are actually learning very little,
if any past this point. Let it rest for a few hours, or the
rest of the day and come back to it later.
2> Concentrate! Keep your mind on what you are hearing and
what it means. If you feel that you can't give it the
proper attention at the time, then by all means give it a
break or don't attempt to learn characters then. Wait till
you can give your undivided attention.
3> Don't get discouraged! If you feel that you are not
learning as fast as you'd like or if you just can't seem to
remember a character, don't give up. Every ham who has a
license today had to learn the code and they all went
through exactly what you are going through now. Just keep
on chugging through it. You probably are remembering more
than you think. DON'T GIVE UP!!
4> Pace yourself: You don't have to learn it all in one
day! Give yourself some time. A lot of people have learned
CW in three days and for some it will take a few weeks or
even a month or so. Give yourself ample time to learn it.
Also set aside some time EVERY DAY to practice code. At the
beginning of each session, go over what you have learned up
to that point. The reinforcement of previous learned
characters will dramatically increase the speed of your
learning.
A special note: If you can schedule your sessions to come
right before your normal bedtime, do it. If you can work on
the code for 20 or so minutes before you retire, your mind
will work on it while you are asleep. This would amount to
better retention and an increase in speed occuring a little
faster (normally). If you are usually "worn out" at bedtime,
don't schedule your normal session at that time. Schedule
it earlier in the day and brush over the characters at bed-
time.
+++
Operation of MorseMan Plus
(At this point, make sure that you have made a backup copy of
the main disk. Make sure that all files are present on the new disk.)
The MorseMan Plus program is very easy to operate and requires
very little computer experience to use. Place the disk in
the appropriate drive (after properly booting the machine)
and type MMPLUS at the DOS prompt. Shortly, you should see
the introduction screen. After a few seconds, the main menu
window will appear. Just use your arrow keys to move to the mode of
operation that you desire and press enter.
OPERATING MODES
Keyboard Mode
In the Keyboard Mode, the program sends Morse code characters
for the letter that you hit on the keyboard. You do not have
to press <enter> for the text to be sent. When you get through,
press <=> to exit back to the main menu. Ending signals (AR, BK
ect..) may be sent by pressing the following keys:
[ BT
] SK
; AR
' KN
These keyboard symbols may also be incorporated in text files.
Default Parameters
In this window, you can set the MorseMan Plus defaults, such
as speed, tone, ect. In order to select a setting, move the
arrow keys up and down until you have the cursor bar over the
desired parameter, and then press return. You are then
prompted by the parameter window the enter a new setting. If
you change your mind and decide not to alter the setting, just
press return, without a response, and the setting will remain
unchanged.
Speed - sets the default speed of the characters. The
setting that you select must be between 5 and
99 words per minute.
Freq(uency) - sets the default tone of the characters.
The setting that you select must be between 200
and 1500 kilohertz.
+++
Spacing - sets the spacing between characters and words.
10 is the default setting and it doesn't alter
the spacing between characters. Any increment
of 10 (up to 100) doubles the spacing between
characters. For example, a setting of 40 has
four times the amount of spacing between words
and characters as 10 whereas 5 has half as much
spacing as 10. The spacing parameter must be
between 1 and 100.
Random Freq(uency) Range( APPLIES ONLY TO MORSEMAN PLUS
RELEASE 2.0 AND LATER) - sets the range for possible
tone frequencies that a random callsign may have.
This feature was implemented in release 2.0 of
MorseMan Plus. It allows you to choose the range
of frequencies that randomly generated callsigns
may have. You will be prompted for two frequencies;
"Lower Frequency Limit" and "Upper Frequency Limit".
Your lower frequency can be any frequency between
200 and 1500 kilohertz but the upper frequency must
be above the setting for the lower one. If this
feature is implemented with a wide range, the
random calls generated in the random call mode
(a.k.a. "Pile-Up Man") sound realistic - almost like
listening to the callsigns in a pileup!
Random Speed Range (APPLIES ONLY TO MORSEMAN PLUS REL. 2.0
AND LATER) - sets the range for possible speeds
that a random callsign may be sent. This feature
was also implemented in release 2.0. It allows you
to choose the range of possible speeds that the
random callsigns can be sent. The same rules apply
as for the Random Frequency Range: the lower speed
can be anything between 5 and 99 words per minute
but the upper speed has to be above the lower speed.
If you choose an illegal frequency, you will be
reprompted (in all cases) for a new parameter.
This feature coupled with the above random frequency
feature can make Pile-Up Man sound very realistic.
You'd almost swear that you were listening to a
real pile-up (except there is no static or QRM - but
we are working on that!!!)
Write Random - If set to on, MorseMan Plus will keep
track of all characters, words and callsigns
sent in the "Random" modes. This feature allows
you to write everything that is randomly generated
to an ASCII text file. This is great for when
you want to make a friend, or yourself, a code tape
and want an accurate record of what is actually on
it. If you do not want to keep track of your code
on a file, toggle this setting to off by selecting
"N" at the "File Random Words" window (activated
by selecting this option).
EXIT TO MAIN MENU - This will take you back to the main
menu. If any changes have been made, you will
be prompted as whether you wish to make them
permanent or not.
+++
TUTOR MODE
The Tutor Mode of MorseMan Plus is where a newcomer may learn
morse code in steps or an experienced amateur may practice
his CW in order to upgrade. If you are an experienced
amateur who is competent in Morse code, then you may skip to
the next section.
If you enter the Tutor Mode, then you will be prompted with
a new menu that will allow you to choose which group of
characters you desire. It is STRONGLY recommended that you
learn the characters by groups and in their logical order
(I.E. Group One, then Group Two). After learning each
group, you will be ready to practice the group. If you do
not leave the group that you are in, you can learn all of
the characters in the group and practice that group. If for
some reason you must leave the practice session, you can
enter it again at the point you left.
All practice is via random characters. When you are
learning characters (in the "Teach Mode", you will be sent
the character you are learning nine times. After the
computer is through, you will be sent the next character
nine times. Try to remember these by sound (dits and dahs)
and not by sight (dots and dashes). You will then be prompted
again and you will be sent 25 random characters, each being
one of the two that you just learned. You will do this for
each character. (Groups of four or six and subgroups of two).
Practice each group until you are comfortable with them,
then proceed.
You will most likely never see the same group of characters twice.
This way, you won't be able to memorize that characters in
any practice set. That is a common problem when learning from
code tapes, as the character order never changes and it is
easily memorized.
After you get through learning a group of characters and
practicing it, you will be placed back into the Tutor Menu.
From here, you should go back to the group you were practicing
and select "practice all". From here, you can practice all the
characters that you have learned up to this point. It is
strongly recommended that you do this before you retire from
the session and before beginning a new session.
One final note, when you are first starting out with the tutor,
(assuming that you don't already know the code), set your speed
to a setting between 14 and 18 words per minute and the spacing
between 60 and 80 (speed at 15 wpm and space at 80 yields about
5 words per minute). When you practice the code at higher speeds
with a lot of spacing, you get the lower net speed but you hear
the characters fast enough that you have to learn the sound of
the character instead of learning to count dits and dahs.
+++
CREATE TEXT FILE
In the create text file mode, you can create an ASCII text file
from within MorseMan Plus to be sent later. Most people would
probably rather do this with their favorite word processor (in
ASCII mode) or text editor, but this feature has been implemented
to allow you create one if you don't have a text editor, or rather
not use one.
To use, just type in your file (try to eliminate blank lines and
unneeded blank spaces - they take time to "send"). You may send
the prosigns by placing their keyboard equivalent in the text (they
will be printed out as a prosign, not punctuation, which is what
they actually are.)
When you are finished, just type <CTRL-X> (control key-x) on a blank
line. You will then be prompted for a filename. If you don't
give one, your file will be given the default filename <UNTITLED.CWT>.
If you decide that you do not want to save this file, or that you
want to quit this mode, just type <CTRL-Y> on a blank line and
press return. You will be returned to the main menu.
SEND FROM TEXT FILE
This option will allow you to send any text file in Morse Code.
When you enter this mode, you will be asked for a filename. If you
cannot remember the filename, just press return and a listing of all
files on the disk (or subdirectory, if on a hard drive). After the
listing, you will be prompted again for a filename. Enter the full
filename. If you decide not to send a file, just press return and
you will be placed back at the main menu.
RANDOM CALLSIGNS - Pile-Up Man
(Only in MorseMan Plus release 2.0 and later versions)
Pile-Up Man is a full-fledged true random callsign generator
within MorseMan Plus. This allows the program to generate
realistic random callsigns (Both W/VE and DX). It is a fun
and challenging way to increase you code speed quickly and easily.
After you select the "Random Callsigns" option at the main menu,
you will be prompted "Enable Random Frequency <y/N>". If you
would like the callsigns to vary in frequency then type "Y".
This will make them sound more like you are listening to an HF
rig, and actual stations in a pile-up! You will then be prompted
"Enable Random Speed<y/N>". This will make the speed of the
callsign vary within the parameters set in the default option of
the main menu. With both of the options on, the calls sound
very realistic.
+++
The options that you have set will be printed at the top-right
hand corner of the screen. "FRQ" means that the random frequency
setting is toggled on. "SPD" means that the random speed setting
is on and "WRT" means that all callsigns are being written to a
file.
If you have the "Write Random" mode ON (setable in the
DEFAULT PARAMETERS window), you will be prompted for a filename
upon exiting Pile-Up Man. If you don't give one, the file with
the callsigns will be called "UNTITLED.CAL". It is highly
recommended that you name the files that you want to save as
you can very easily write over them by not naming them anything
but UNTITLED.CAL.
RANDOM WORDS
(Only in MorseMan Plus release 2.0 and later versions)
MorseMan Plus allows you to send random words (up to 1500
different ones on a single list). MorseMan Plus loads up the
vocabulary list when the program is booted up. You will be
sent words randomly from the list. If you have the "Write
Random" mode ON, you will be prompted at the end of the
session for a filename. If you don't enter a filename, the
word file that was sent will be named "UNTITLED.WRD".
RANDOM CHARACTERS
MorseMan Plus allows you to send and record true random characters.
You will be sent random characters in groups of five. This mode
is great for practice because you cannot anticipate any characters
like you can when you are being sent words or sentences.
You can also save the character sequence to a file in this mode.
If you have "Write Random" set to ON, you will be prompted for a
filename at the end of your session. If you don't give a filename,
the file will be named "UNTITLED.RC". Again, it is strongly
recommended that you name all of your files.
EXIT
When you are through using MorseMan Plus, just select this option
from the Main Menu. You will then be bid 73!
+++
CONCLUSION - A personal note
If you are just starting out with morse code, then I wish
you the best of luck! Ham radio is a very exciting hobby
and today, with the Novice license in hand, you are no
longer limited to using just CW. You can also use phone,
radioteletype, packet radio and repeaters.
Above all, don't let the code stand in the way of getting a
license. If you are like I was, you will start out disliking
the code, because it is then considered an obstacle to a
license. Later after you get used to it, you may develop a
love affair with CW that lasts a lifetime. Take the advice
of a ham who has been there: don't look at the code as an
obstacle, look at it as entertainment, a new language or (as
I did several years ago) something that no one else in my
neighborhood knew!
73 and see you on the air! ...Robin Gist, NE4L
+++