Morse Code Easy Setup for bob???

[HoldingAg]

Hello my gim friends,

I read the 2nd book by James Wesley, Rawles book Survivors, not Patriots although I've read that one too.

Anyway, he mentions in the second book Survivors that the characters (brothers) Andy and Lars Laine would communicate, or at least try to, by Morse Code every thursday with Lars at home in the US and Andy moving around the world from Afghanistan all the way to the US to meet up with his family during a SHTF senario.

They mention a very simple contraption run on a couple of AA's and a decent size length of wire as an antenna.
They (the brothers) have several good connections and it seems a perfect way of communication at distance. All's you would do I suppose would be make two of these, learn Morse, and give the one to the person you needed to communicate with.

Has anyone here done this with any success? I suck with a soildering iron... was never taught right, but am pretty useful with my hands and have some mechanical understanding. Can anyone show me how to build a pretty solid one, like one that I can stick in a project metal dish thing you get from radioshack?
So it would hold up to jostling around and such.

Thanks as always for any help you guys can provide,
HoldingAg

[Silver Buck]

There are many kits available and a lot depends on the range you are looking to transmit. Any transceivers over a certain wattage (200 mW I believe) requires an FCC Amateur Radio license to operate in the US.

For a simple two-way communication setup that you are looking for you want something that requires no tuning.

Here's is the ARRL Site

It will give you more than enough information about the world of Amateur Radio and that link will give you an idea about what prices you may expect to pay for a kit.

Here's a Morse Code Transceiver in an Altoids tin to give you an example of how small today's kits can be.

A great place to look at equipment and ask questions is a Hamfest.

Here's ARRL's Search Page for Hamfests in your area. You can also look for Radio Clubs in your area. Even if you have no intention of getting your license, most Radio Clubs offer classes (usually for free) on various aspects of the world of radio.

You can practice Morse Code online.

Here's Just One

I learned Morse Code by listening to lessons on tape.

Here's a list of available resources.

I was able to get up to 5 words a minute in a month by listening to Gordon West's lessons on my way too and from work.

The world of Morse Code is best learned with a friend and practice can be done across a kitchen table with a simple kit. One person sends the code while the other copies it and then you switch. Eventually you won't be hearing separate dits and dahs, you'll be hearing groupings of letters, and with practice, they will sound like words to you.

I hope this helps.

[HoldingAg]

Wow, THANKS SILVER BUCK! I bookmarked all the links you were kind enough to embed. It's helpful people like you that make this forum such a great place/resource!

Thanks again,
HoldingAg

[anotherdave]

I've been a fan of FCC Part 15 license-free LowFER, MedFER, and HiFER operation. You'll have to know your stuff, but did you notice, it's license free?

If you're serious about learning, you just can't beat "W1FB's QRP Notebook". But for survival comms, how are you gonna beat CB, or PRS?

.

[<===Foolsgold]

I like this free program to learn morse code, or as hams call it CW (continuous wave).

http://www.justlearnmorsecode.com/

[Professur]

I've been looking at Morse recently too ... Found a good program that teaches it like you would learn to touch type. Starts with 2 characters, gets you up to speed on those (12wpm) then adds a 3rd when you're sufficiently accomplished. The reasoning is sound ... if you learn morse by memory, you'll block at 5wpm, because that's as fast as you can think. And 5wpm is just too damn slow to be really of any use. Touch typers can manage 70+wpm because they're typing by reflex .. they couldn't tell you where a letter is on the keyboard to save themselves .. but their fingers know.