FOC - FOCUS75 Magazine
During the month of May 2013 the First Class CW Operators' Club hosted a CW QSO Party, FOC75, to help celebrate the Club's 75th Anniversary. This turned into a major CW fun event for the whole month. Over 60 stations around the world signed with the *FOC prefix, making over 200,000 CW QSOs and leading to over 1,600 applications for our commemorative certificate - well beyond our wildest dreams. This was a major tribute to Samuel Morse, Alfred Vail and to the Club's motto: "A man should keep his friendship in constant repair" (Samuel Johnson, 1709-1789).
FOC publishes a quarterly magazine for its members called "FOCUS", a high-quality magazine edited by Gabor, S57WJ. But this FOC75 event met with such huge success that we have decided to publish an extra edition, called "FOCUS75". FOC is pleased to share this special edition of our magazine with not only members but also anyone who enjoys CW. Just go to http://www.g4foc.org/ to down-load it. Read the whole story of this month-long celebration of Morse Code, especially the operating experiences around the world, and see photos of those who made it happen in a pull-out poster.
CW is alive and well and will remain so for at least the next 75 years - FOC will see to that!
73 de Roger/G3SXW,
FOC Committee Secretary.
QSL Bureau - a big shame?
[DXNL 1821 - February 27th, 2013]: Changes in the USKA QSL bureau:
QSL cards for non-members of the Swiss IARU society USKA will no longer be returned with a "Not Member" stamp, but silently discarded, to save work and money.
What a shame! This is known problem for many years: the QSL Bureau is roughly abused by a national Ham Radio Society (mostly IARU member) to force hams in the country to join. On the other hand, the Ham radio society officers whining about declining ham-spirit and operating skils. Isn't something rotten there with the IARU and ham radio generally? Why a QSL Bureau can't serve at non-profit basis for an acceptably small fee to ALL HAMS IN THE COUNTRY, regardless of membership?
A particular ham may have a half dozen of reasons to NOT be A MEMBER of the local Ham Radio Society but such ham is excluded from the common QSL exchange. This is an usual practice in many countries for years.
Anyway, my QSL card is MY PROPERTY until delivery to the recipient. I pay for a QSL card (printing, labels, my postal or QSL Bureau expenses etc.) in good belief that it will be delivered to the recipient. The Ham Radio Society decides to silently discard my property without informing me about my waste money.
How much QSL cards discarded do I need to initiate a lawsuit to get a compensation? Where should I get a proof that they actually made such nasty act?
WE NEED A CHANGE!
W4RNL Antenna Site back!
While surfing over the internet I found the original version of W4RNL's (L. B. Cebik) site at http://w4rnl.net46.net/. The site seems to be complete (including downloads) although some external links are broken (probably obsolete). The W4RNL site is a prime source of antenna info. A must see!
Winkey USB works in Linux
It is an UDP server allowing operation of the Winkey USB by K1EL with any Linux program with UDP keyer capability. It works in the same way as the popular cwdaemon. With Winkeyer USB server expands the useability of this excellent product to all Linux program with UDP keyer capability (TLF by PA0R etc.).
Downloads:
Just for the case of problems with your current distribution, the older version may work for you.
CW Academy
The CW Operators' Club announces its CW Academy, a program aimed at increasing the fun of using CW in the world of Ham Radio. The program addresses all levels of enthusiasts; from those aspiring to become licensed operators with a desire to learn Morse Code, all the way to veteran operators wanting to increase their CW activity, skills, and code speed.
Those wishing to participate will register here. A CWops member/advisor will be assigned to each registrant as a mentor and on-air contact. We will use "sub-bands" similar to the Novice bands of yesteryear for all Academy students, CWops advisors, and CWops members to communicate with one another worldwide (e.g. 3.550-3.570, 7.050-7.070, 14.050-14.070, 21.050-21.070 and 28.050-28.070).
So, if you've always wanted to join the fun of using Morse Code over the air, or want to become a better CW operator, we welcome you to the CW Academy. Just sign up here and we'll contact you, shortly.