New member from Stafford, West Midlands, UK

[anyfink]

Hi everyone and thanks for accepting me as a member of this fascinating forum which has already provided me with a wealth of information. For the moment I am currently a CB user again after almost 40 years off air because I accidentally blew up my Harvard 410T. I purchased another of the same many months ago and that functions well on batteries as does the Alba CBH2 I purchased shortly after although both of these will need a good service which I hope to do. I recently purchased a Communicators NI 440 from a friend and will be setting that up as my home base and today I received a Realistic TRC1005 that functions as it should on external power but not on batteries so that will also need a service. All three handhelds courtesy of EBay and all nice and cheap.

I'm hoping to progress beyond CB in the near future and have a desire to go Morse Code since I learned that well enough to be credible as a young boy through a toy Dan Dare Radio Station that I received one year as a Christmas present from my parents. At the time I had no-one to use this with since I was the only one in my house, area, wherever, capable of Morse Code so I never actually knew if I was up to speed on it until Morse Code was covered in a secondary school science lesson where despite me not using Morse Code for a few years was able to transmit and receive like a boss so I reckon with a bit of practice I could quite easily get back into it properly. Obviously, I would need the right rig for the job and I already have a decent key so any advice on what to get on a budget and how to go about it would be very welcome.

I also have an electronics hobby background of several years mainly in audio electronics but am pretty green regarding radio although I am a fast learner and have some decent diagnostics equipment to assist me in whatever I hope to do in that. I just wish I would have had the kit I have today back when I was a young man but everything I wanted back then cost much more than my wages and I imagine it was a similar situation for many like me at that time. So, wrapping up, hello everyone.

[DX-Digger]

Hello anyfink welcome to the Forum, Normal CB is very quiet these days, most are on the SSB freeband segment and the DX has been booming in. Ok on your progression to Morse code, it is no longer a requirement for Amateur Radio, but a lot of new hams are learning it just for the advantage of knowing and operating such a classic radio mode. If you really want to learn it there are websites on the web https://lcwo.net/ might be a good place to start. 15mins practice every day is better than 1hr once a week.
Anyway good luck with your Morse journey, and welcome to TM1

[Tin soldier]

Hello and welcome anyfink.

[anyfink]

Thanks for the warm welcome and the information regarding CW. I had a little practice just now and I am well out of shape but am determined enough to get back in shape quickly as far as Morse recognition is concerned. I'm anticipating it takes a bit of getting used to the speed of transmission so that is going to be where I need to put the work in.