Morse Tutor is a tutorial practice program to help in learning to copy Morse code. The program can generate and emit random sequences of characters, or will send entire files in Morse code. The program contains help dialogs that should help you get started.
The rule of use of the program is, in general, try it! For example, pressing character keys will cause the character to be emitted in Morse. Thus you could carry on a conversation in Morse by simply typing what you want to send on the keyboard. It is possible to connect the mac to your transmitter to use the Mac as a Morse keyboard. You would have to connect the speaker jack to the Mic jack on your transmitter (and manually key the transmitter) or add a circuit (use your imagination) to convert the tones into a DC voltage to key the transmitter directly. Be cautious in doing this, however. Transmitters tend to have large voltages that are incompatible with the Mac. Use of a relay to provide isolation is HIGHLY recommended.
Files can also be sent in Morse. Use the "send" selection under the file menu. You will be prompted for the file to send. The file will then be sent after you have selected it. Be sure the file has plenty of plain text characters. If Morse Tutor doesn't understand a character, it simply ignores it. Characters the program understands are listed in the "Character help" selection from the Groups menu.
The character groupings have been chosen to agree with the ARRL's code course. Normally, selecting an individual group will select that group and all above it. If the OPTION key is pressed when the selection is made, the group will be added to the selected groups, or removed if it is already in the group. For example, if you wish to practice only the ZVXJ and KPBGWL groups, you can select the ZVXJ group, then go back and select the undesired groups WHILE HOLDING THE OPTION KEY DOWN.
The second new feature is the Custom group. Selecting the Custom group gives you a dialog with a text box that contains characters that will be sent in the custom group. You can enter any valid Morse character, all others (along with blanks) will be ignored. The program will not allow you to enter a blank custom group; type in a character or more if you get the warning alert. You may enter a character several times. This will increase its chances of being selected to be sent.
Please send your comments, requests and suggestions. This new features in this version are a direct result of user comments. There are more changes on the way that should be in version 1.3. Among these are a scrollable window and buffer so that you will be able to see what was previously sent, the ability to change the delay before sending starts, and additional durations. I also will look at better ways to generate the sound so that faster and more accurate speeds can be used.
If you are interested in Packet radio on the Macintosh, give us a shout, either by mail or on the phone (but not by ham radio - the license is too precious to risk losing by carrying on potential commercial converstaions). We have a package called MacPacket that may be of interest!
