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1AD8HY 2520725919 371622gao Anton48 beng0710 BI6NYP bravadojo bugonline DK5DS dw0303 EA4IGV ea7nj ik3zbp IU1RZS JH5ATV jk1tcf JR2MDI kibley knucker lding1316 masa3 MeyerSD ooakcw PB0ANW rertl RJK SA6TUT Spark test w3fnz

Hi folks,

about two years ago I coded a little Morse Decoder which uses the mouse as the input device in JavaScript, e.g. to be used in a browser.
Getting the mouse click events with a millisecond resolution works surprisingly well with the Firefox browser. What I didn't manage to get running well back then was a decent sidetone.

A few weeks ago I played with the code again and found that Firefox's audio capabilities have dramatically improved in the meantime, and it's indeed possible to generate a sidetone without too much delay by very simple means. It's still a bit clicky because I switch it on and off without any rise- or fall-times, but at least it's not delayed much (on a halfway modern/fast computer).

The result can be seen here (as mentioned, it will probably only work with Firefox and Chrome at this moment, possibly also with Opera):
http://lcwo.net/transmit

I have some ideas how to improve the sound, and also I am planning to implement a little Morse Chatroom with it on LCWO.net eventually.

73
Fabian DJ1YFK

Hi Fabian,

The idea is wonderful, as a matter of fact for me this was the only feature I found missing in CWOL, (I just love CWOL).
As for now I used MRX morse code to get the PC to decode my CW sending.

I just gave it a try (using Firefox here), and found it quite difficult to send CW using the mouse button.
But after a while it is working.
I'll see if I can recuperate an old mouse and solder my CW key to the left button in parallel.

I'll keep you posted.

Many thanks for your outstanding efforts.

Germain

PS:I do not mind the "bad" CW sound, on HF receiver it is far worse ;-)

Works nicely here (Firefox 18.0.1, XP). Clicks are no worse than some stations in the CQWW 160m last week end..

Display of character spacing could be helpful for beginners (in the status line where it displays eff. speed etc.)

Gruss

Gerd.

thanks Fabian
the feature is great (works well on Firefox 18.01 on Win 7 Pro 64) and really useful !!
can I also thank you for the main programme, it has really got me progressing through the code in a way that no other software has - the "Morse Machine" is especially effective !!
73, Ray, M0TRK

the slash character seems to bring up an asterisk. Other than that, I'm very pleased to see this added to LCWO... a very welcome addition to an already much appreciated site. Regards, John G7JMZ.

I thought that this was such a great idea that I added two 4mm sockets to an old USB mouse for my son so that he could plug in his Czech morse key. Dunno how much use he will get out of it, but I had a blast and it's works really well !

Thanks for the great idea Germain, & thanks for the javascript Fabian!

Regards, John (G7JMZ)

Just added the / character. When I put the script together I just quickly added the characters that came to my mind, but "/" was somehow not among them...

Great to hear that it works well with a Morse key attached to an old USB mouse. Have to try it myself when I find the time for that.

73
Fabian DJ1YFK

Hi there Fabian, Thanks for adding the slash character. Don't worry, I'm sure that no one will mention the comma, lol.

Best Regards,

John.

Haha. Comma added.

Fabian

No sooner the word than the deed. Thanks again Fabian !

Fabian;

Thanks for the site in general!!! The TX practice seems to work just fine for me! I'm using Mac OS and Safari. Took some getting used to - but I'm pretty sure it was me and not the software. :o)

Just getting my license, and this was just what I needed to get my CW component.

Thanks again!!
Tom
Vancouver Island
BC
CANADA

Fabian;

FYI: I wired my CW key into a USB mouse, and now I can use the key instead of a mouse to practice! Very cool!

One addition to the site that I would fine helpful would be the ability to hear a tone when you press the "key" key. I think it would help with remembering if I could hear it as I send it.

Otherwise- awesome!

Tom

Hi Tom,


great!

In Firefox the sound should have worked already.

With Safari in principle it should work too, but as far as I remember it only supports MP3 files (not OGG/Vorbis) with the HTML5 audio element.

I just added an alternative MP3 source to the audio element, the browser should automatically pick the right one now.

73
Fabian

Wonderful idea, Fabian! Is there any way to connect an iambic paddle to the internal keyer on my Icom Pro 3?

73, Chuck, K6ZIZ, in rural Northern California

k6ziz... wire the output of your keyer,what you normally plug into your TRX "Key" jack,
into an old mousecable.
(you may have to kill a mouse for it.)

(left mouse button cables = shortcut = beep)

Fabian, despite his great talents. Cannot "code" hardware for you :-)

fabian, consider someone is actually using a mouse for this - the "key" field is really tiny and when you key.. the mousearrow easily moves out ofthe key-field.

how about to make the entire window a "key" field
with exeption of the QRS/QRK/CLEAR buttons? Same effort - but eliminates the need to 'aim' while keying.....
------------------
additonally/alternatively... it might be a good
idea to allow for keyboard-based-keying (space key)
eliminates need for "aiming" and should improve accuracy as space-key keying is much easier than mousebutton-keying ...imho.

gruss, timo

Thanks, Timo - guess I'll use a J-38 and keep it simple. Chuck K6ZIZ

There is an easy way to wire in a key (I don`t know about how a paddle works), but you do have to sacrifice a mouse to do it. I tried simply using a USB cord, and shorting every possible pair of wires, but was not able to get it to recognize a click. (or anything else for that matter) There is a lot more in a mouse than just the circuit being completed it appears. So I broke apart a mouse($1CAD at second hand store) and removed the board inside. I found the micro-switch for the left mouse button. I soldered one wire to each side of the switch, and then went to a 1/4 inch female plug. Then I just plug in the key, use the mouse on my computer to move the cursor over the `key` button, and pound away. The cursor never moves (unless you bump your mouse) because the only thing being activated is the left button key.

It`s a great way to improve accuracy!

Tom

Oh, and I forgot to mention - the sound is working under Firefox and Vista, and somewhat in OSX (10.6) and Safari. It clips the sound on the first character somewhat, but is usable. Since I have a PC to use, I`m not pushing for a possibly complicated fix for a small number of users. (I can`t believe I just said that!


I`ll try it in Linux and let you know how it goes in the next couple of days.

Tom

Hi, Fab idea. Really loving this and your whole site. I can't prase you enough.

I can't seem to get it to work on IE8, XP just gives page error, works lovely with chrome so i'm a happy chappy.

Yep, the TX training won't work in IE8. As far as I know, HTML5 support (and therefore the ability to play the side tone) came with IE9+, but I have not tested it.

73
Fabian

hello Fabian,
idea of TX sending with mouse is great!
I tested with Firefox Mozilla 14.0.1 & chromium 18.0.1025.168 under ubuntu:
in general TX with mouse works, but it sounds incorrectly: dots and dahs are not splitted with silence: just a continuous sound without pauses. but chars are determined correctly and this is funny.

thanks for lcwo.net and 73!
Dmitry

TKS to You, Fabian! It's a nice function - TX-training.
1. All works good: Win7, Chrome ver. 25.0.1364.172 m
2. Is it possible to use a keyboard key as a CW Key? Is it good idea? Or may be You already tried this case and decided to use mouse button?
3. TKS to germain - Germain for good idea to connect a CW key in parallel to computer mouse's button.

Sir ! I tried that TX-training and it is not good to me. Maybe two different knobs to write dih and dah
is better ? But nice where and when it works !

ur5rks: I did some experiments with the Space bar to send CW, but the timing in the browser doesn't seem to be precise enough for keyboard events

OH1FQZ: That's something to consider, but I am not sure if e. g. the right mouse button can be used for this purpose like the left mouse button (i. e. if it generates a similar event in the Browser)... I will have a look at it, thanks for your input.

73
Fabian

works great! I love it.

hey great site. the cw tx practice works good. it's about the only practice i can find for sending morse code since i don't have a real key yet. good to practice with until i get a real transceiver. very helpful site, good work! 73 - kg4aos

Hi Fabian. You did a really great work. I thought I'd never learn CW because seems to be too tedious, but Im already knowing all the characters! Im a rookie in ham radio and I don't have radio stuffs, (neither an old mouse wired to a bencher). In the TX Trainer Im using the mouse button to click the Key button, but is not confortable. To improve a little this I think it could be nice to has a keyboard button as an alternative to click the Key icon with the mouse button (maybe the space bar). Maybe it not the best solution but a good improvement without welding cables o mouses. Many thanks

Camino on OSX works! I notice that it is not identical to the receive trainer, as the "=" is translated as a "*". Is this a different dialect or a bug or is it sloppy sending? (using a Junker straight key connected to a mouse here)

What would be nice is to record the key up and down times as timestamp, so you can play the code back in a chat session as if it was sent live. By multiplying time you can even go slower/faster.

I would also like to see some statistics which should be helpful in improving sending. Maybe the recognized character overlayed with the sent times:

Detected an A: --- ---------
Your timing: - --------

Keep up the good work!

hello Fabian, i am 75 y old and passt my cw 50 y ago(PA3AHA)12 wpm.
I have searched the whole web to find this transmit thing. Nice , very nice.Because of my laptop without a serial input and windows 8 a cannot use other transmit training programs.
On ours it is excelent. OK the mouseclick is not a wonderfull thing to learn transmitting morse
The idea of tom c938 is a very good one. I shall buy one of those cheap mouses
windows 8 pro, Firefox, laser wireless mouse
thanks and continue
guy van der velden

I really like the Tx Training. It is the one thing that I felt was missing from lcwo.net. I hope you get your chat working sometime.

Good job! Like the stats!
Is easier to key on a notebook - - sorta like using a flat mouse.
Can't see word and sentence separation. Guess my fist needs work.

RE: stats
What does "ratio" mean?
Can guess at "eff. speed". :>)
Does program work best when "speed" = "eff. speed"?

"ratio" in this case is the dot-dash length ratio, which ideally should be 1 : 3. But with some browsers, the click events seem to have a poor resolution, leading to strange calculated values.

Yes, ideally your speed should equal the effective speed, that would be perfectly spaced code. Normally the effective speed will be a little lower though, since people tend to make spaces a little longer than they "should" be.

73
Fabian

I would like to see a keyer mode. The left mouse button as dit and the right as daa.

73 de OE2WHP

I would like to see a keyer mode. The left mouse button as dit and the right as dah. This would be really helpful.

73 de MW1RES

Apologies too Fabian for not saying "what a great idea" the sending is. I am sure with a bit of tweaking you will have the ultimate Morse training system!

73s de Frank MW1RES

Hi Fabian,

thank you for running and continuously working on this site. The TX training is great, as well. I use a key wired via an old USB mouse. This requires to keep the mouse pointer over the button "Key", and after some time of coding my real mouse moves away. So it would help to make the button somewhat bigger.

Cheers, Kurt

I'd like to see a program that graphs out transmission sending timing such as the army's old RD-60 machine as seen in this youtube video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59a-yLIJLyQ (6:25) and have it displayed in this navy's training film on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC5RQNSSZH0 (2:39).

My difficulty for sending is not knowing how well I'm doing with my timing and spacing.

For listening I'd like to have the ability to select the time interval of each dit so as to give me time to mark it down until I have the entire message written out in dits and daws. I first need to discern between dits and daws before I can hear letters.

Re: creating a "keyer" mode:
There are two ways to capture a right-click event in JS. The easy way would be to use the oncontextmenu event, though I'm not sure if that picks up the "up" event very well. The other is to check the value of the button in the function (your "down()" and "up()" functions).

More detail can be found here:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4235426/how-can-i-capture-the-right-click-event-in-javascript

Hope that helps.

Love the keyer, though it's horrid trying to use with a laptop touchpad....

73
KB3ZOP

Hi, Great tool for a little practice between lessons. Thank you,
Can you add the equal sign =
It only works when I click the "key" button. It is easy to move off the button and then nothing happens. Can you make the key button larger or a large one elsewhere on the page?

Great bit of work. I initially glued a knob onto a second mouse, and blacked it's eye so it couldn't move the cursor. Parked my first mouse cursor over the "key" button and away I went. cannot fault the system, however the mouse is a bit sloppy. Pulled the mouse apart and used a jumper lead to tap out some cw and it is great Will solder a couple of terminals/or a connector in for my key which should arrive next week. Thank you very much for LCWO, it is great. You can die with a smile on your face having served mankind so well.
VK3ABM

Hello,

great tool.

Please can you check: I miss the letter "=".

Thanks a lot
Volkmar (DC8VS)

"=" -...- is the new character in lesson 16, Volkmar. All lessons above lesson 15 have it, but I believe it is nowhere in the word training word lists (whereas "-" -....- is contained, like "Sachsen-Anhalt").

73 -- Georg

Hi Fabian,
Great cw tx learning tool you've made. It works great on my MacBook pro OSX 10.9.1 with Firefox and Chrome but it doesn't work with Safari. But for me that's not an issue.
I use a morse key but I guess it will work with an iambic keyer with an SSR outlet as well. But I haven't tried this yet.
74 - Ralph

hi fabian !
Test results for writing morse code with mouse :
-slow speeds under 8 WPM working well
- mobile net connection can cut out part of the letter .
hopefully cw-chat is coming soon.
OH1FQZ juha

ie 11 works windows 7
nice idea, maybe arduino set up as hid unit would work for iambic key, would defo work as normal mouse key will look into it, if i can get it working ill post code on here

tried the cw trainer on android phone, (Samsung Galaxy) buttons are to small, and the screen keeps zooming on touch, maybe a mobile screen? this would be brilliant.
Also on the main page as well buttons are too small for mobile users. Brilliant website though, have recommended a few fellow re-enactors to use it to learn morse.

add a iambic paddle
ie: number 1 and 2

Thanks for the site. I have tried on various occasions to learn CW and failed miserably. Knowing how difficult developing software can be I truly appreciate the work and effort you have put in.
I'm only just starting to learn but what I have seen/tried so far is great. Thank you.

Thanks for providing this site, as a early learner [less than a week] using your TX sim is a great brake from listening to the incessant beeping, I would just like to echo others comments saying the button is small, and looking forward to the possibilities of an online cw chat system. [once I can copy more than 4 letters]

Greetings from South Africa :-) First a "thank you" for excellent service - APPRECIATED! Experimenting with using an old PS2 mouse with connection to straight key for sending using Opera and regret that delay is problematic. I will try Firefox browser (and Chrome) later and report back as idea of being able to practice sending with 'intelligent' feedback is a very good idea! Till the next time remember to KEEP SMILING :-) 73 Nigel ZS6RN

Hello again :-) Further testing using Chrome browser is MUCH better! Have not tried Firefox. Wondering if development will include 'keyer' (using left and right mouse buttons)? Thanks again for hosting the site and providing learning aid for those of us wishing to become proficient in using CW. Recently I came across a new CW Yahoo group that could be of interest to users of LCWO: cwragchewers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Till the next time remember to KEEP SMILING! 73 Nigel ZS6RN

Hello Fabian,
I'm working on my handmade straight key that I want to connect on an old mouse to use your TX training...in the meantime could you add "spacebar" as key? I generally use a notebook and the bar is more realistic instead capacitive pad.
tnx

Thanks for a great site, Fabian. One of my sons just donated an old, mostly-dead mouse. I'll try to sire my Czech key into it. Bonus: I get to practice my soldering skils too!

alexsgv: I remember there were some pitfalls when using the space bar, but I don't recall exactly what they were... I will look into it when I have checked some other things from the todo list.

In the meantime, maybe this would do:
http://www.bennadel.com/blog/2267-decoding-morse-code-with-javascript.htm

It is actually using the space bar and on a first glimpse it appears to work well.

73
Fabian

What about interfacing to the cwcom protocol? Recently I have discovered that there are open source implementations, i.e. https://github.com/8cH9azbsFifZ/irmc

73
Gerolf

A way to interface a key or paddle would be great.

Hi,

would it be possible to add a letter prompt and scoring? Pick a few (or a lot) of symbols and the page prompts a random one. You then tap the CW and the page evaluates. Similar to Morse Code Trainer on Android. I really like that app but the tapping on the screen doesn't work real well.

thanks!

Sander W1SOP

Hello Fabian,

thanks for improving this great website step for step. I like to suggest something. Would it be possible, to use a USB/Comport adaptor to connect a real morse key.

A 9-pin comport has 4 handshake inputs and 2 handshake outputs. The outputs RTS and DTR can be used as a self containing power source. If activated, they provide a positive voltage between ~6...12Volt and some mA. The inputs CTS and DCD, for example, could be used, to read the status of a key or a paddle. Nevertheless, for me it would be already perfect, to connect a straight morse key.

The USB framerate is as high as 1 kHz, so the longest delaytime can be expected in a 2ms range. If i remember right, this is a lot faster, than any keyboard or mousebutton can deliver it's data.

Regards,
Bernd

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232

Hello Fabian,

I was skimming through the comments and I thought instead of hooking a key through a usb port, why not plug it in to the mic port? I don't know how hard it would be to program but it would be easy to hook up.

73-.. .

Sorry -.. . Peter KEØANY

Hello Fabian
a great touch to the program, it would be unique to be able to chat in morse in a chat room, great idea were waiting when you have the time. Just soldered wires to the micro switch in an old mouse, put my key on, it worked a treat.73 for now

I normally use a USB trackball. So I found and old Microsoft PS/2 serial mouse, six pins in a green jack. After rebooting, Windows 8.1 picked it up and used it in parallel with the trackball. So far so good! The left button microswitch had 5.0 volts across it, perfect for connecting to my touch keyer (cwtouchkeyer.com, Model P1BS). I cleaned the filthy insides of the mouse, drilled a hole in the case, and soldered a cable across the microswitch. I was lucky. It barely fit. The keyer worked perfectly. Two problems: I measured the latency. It's a huge 80 milliseconds, which is not surprising with later versions of Windows. Musical keyboards are practically unusable. So I have to use the side tone coming from the keyer, and mute the sound coming from the computer. Another problem with an easy fix: I have to set the expected speed to about half the real speed coming from the keyer. Otherwise most characters are not recognised. For example, keyer at 15 WPM and expected speed at 8 WPM works fine. After I install Windows 10, I'll measure the latency again.

It was a struggle getting Windows 10 to work. I had fix the flashing desktop bug by using msconfig to disable Windows Error Reporting Service. Then I measured the latency again. It's much worse. Windows 8.1 was 80 milliseconds. Windows 10 is about 180 milliseconds.

I tried again measuring the latency on Windows 10 using an easier, more accurate method. It is not nearly as bad as I reported above. I now think it is about 55 milliseconds on my old computer. That's actually usable.

Hi Fabian,

Would it be possible for you to add in a function whereby a character (or string of characters, sentences, common QSO phrases etc) are generated, that the user must then correctly send?

The users transmission would then be checked against the original phrase.

Thanks

Jake

Works good on Linux kernel 3.18.11-gentoo, but would it be possible to add possibility to use button by pressing keyboard, let's say, space keyboard button? I would make html "Key" button focused by pressing Tab / pushing down with mouse and moving mouse out of the button while holding left mouse button, and then just use space to send Morse.

Hi
I have a problem with "=" in "TX training".
The result is always "*". I don't know if it is problem with me or the software.
73
Vito

Mobile internet connections are problematic to this service because nature of those are that sometimes there is very short connection pauses and in the long run results are frustrating mixes of mouse writings of the morse code.
i found out that first time when i listening sdr-radio CW and some letters of the radioham Callsigns were variable because of the reason of those pauses and esp letter U can be heard I or A .

how about having the option to choose between other buttons other then the mouse.

Hey there,

I went with the solder-cable-to-left-key-microswitch way and was very impressed with the way it's working. As reported above there is a certain latency involved. You might consider bottling this up into a Java App that gets down loaded to use the local JVM to offset the latency issues. Just at thought. Spectacular work!!
I hope this keeps up as I'm seeing more folks coming back int the CW realm.

Yours,
David, KE0IPR

Looks like this forum is silent keyed...

lá, estou gostando muito de me preparar usando o LCWO, e com esta ferramenta de poder praticar a transmissão é muito legal. Parabéns.

what I would like is another function of the lesson system, which would output random text, instead of a cw sound file, with the lesson's characters only, that I could use to practice tx.

Hello, is it possible to add the "="?
wonderful tool, I use it with a CW key soldered in parallel to the left click of the mouse. Bye.
Claudio

I would like to be able to use a keyboard key for the tx practice.

There is a program out there called cw decoder. It will send and decode cw. If there were some way to incorporate the send side of this program into lcwo, maybe this would make all of this work. Also check out this website:

internetcw.weebly.com

Reality check; we all recognize the importance of proper sending technique. Using the mouse of my computer to send code via the experimental TX here, I find that it is useful to get the timing down to send cq de call sign what ever.
However, whether we choose to use a straight key, paddles, bug, or iambic paddles... the use of a mouse is more like a straight key. Personally I use paddles and recently acquired a straight key. I would like to have an interface oscillator that I could plug into and use with this site as a practice medium. I like the RX lessons here but we should use our own paddles or keys to send with so that we develop the consistency we need for good TX on the air.

a code practice oscillator is a pretty neat thing.

Thanks for the great program. I'm working my way through the receive side and am hoping to learn to transmit the characters as I learn each new one through receiving. Having an Koch style transmit trainer would be great. Having a visualization like Precision CW Fistcheck would be helpful.

To use the spacebar for keying, paste the following snippet into the browser's address bar, then hit :

javascript:(function()%7Bdocument.onkeydown%3Dfunction(e)%7Bif(e.keyCode%3D%3D%3D32)%7Bdown()%3B%7D%7D%3Bdocument.onkeyup%3Dfunction(e)%7Bif(e.keyCode%3D%3D%3D32)%7Bup()%3B%7D%7D%7D)()

Some browsers will redact the leading "javascript:", so you may need to type it manually after pasting.

A Iambic keyer by using two keys could work fine or two separated touchfields like

dit dit x dah dah
dit dit x dah dah

Great page!

I come from China and not good at English,so please ignore the gram error.
I think it will be batter that add the training of alphabet, words and little article. And if change the mouse action to keyboard(Space key) it is more fun in training.

Great work!

I use left click part of the touch pad.

6 years later...
And still no morse chatroom.
I'm trying to stay positive, but I feel like the owner of lcwo.net left us along time ago for other projects.

This is unfair on Fabian. He's been providing this site for free for years.

With regard to online Morse chat rooms, I'd like to see one, there are some already on IRC but they are always empty.

I don't mind donating money. But I don't think money is the issue here. He's already stated he will never collect money. So his motivations are obviously coming from something much deeper, perhaps a profound love of morse code.

He also stated he was planning on implementing a "little morse chatroom" 6 years ago. I'm just really sad that it hasn't happened yet. And I am trying to express that sadness. I love morse code too and was really excited about this announcement.

Maybe I am being childish. But I don't care anymore. If a few sincere tears help, I don't mind crying in front of such an esteemed group of people as this. Fabian is like a guru or role model to me. I will cry again in 2025 if I haven't met him or you all using morse code by then.

I would appreciate to have a user-defineable keyboard key or joystick button as input.
How about the idea, to use 2 side-by-side keyboard keys to simulate an elbug?

On my PC the detected speed changes very fast.
This gives a large amount of wrong decoding.
It would be helpful to slow down the time constant of speed detection.

In my surely not so humble opinion it would be wise to eliminate this cripple experiment from this website.

It is frustrating because it is fixed speed, not adaptive, complrtrly wrong becsuse hen you sent perfect with the wrong speed you get a lot of errors presented.

and above that learning sending Morse code with a mouse is contra productive.

In general learning to copy is much more important. When you know how correct code sounds, you are in the position to create it because you hear what you create and you know what is wrong in your rhitm.

So when somebody want to exercise sending, use a real Morse key, a cheap one a childs toy will do the job, together with an adaptive decoder. that is a decoder that adjust automatically to your speed, and makes the best guess of your keying.

A better way is to produce an mp3 Morse code of some text at 10 or 12 wpm, normal code, so NOT 20/5 OR 20/10 BUT 10/10 play it repeatedly, and key it synchronous with the sound you hear from the mp3.

Use a beeper and a battery to make your key sounding your cripple QSD. That is the fastest way.

Forget about the cripple feature with non adaptive speed and a mouse on this website.

It is even much better than using an adaptive decoder on your key.

Forget about the cripple feature with non adaptive speed and a mouse on this website.

It is even much better than using an adaptive decoder on your key.

Those two sentences must be interchanged in the posting above+.

I can't edit my posting myself, because I am black listed. SRI

Hi Fabian,
I am making a second attempt to learn Morse thanks to your website. I have an idea and do not know if it is good or not, but you can attach a key to a USB to RS232 converter. One of the wires fron the key to 5V in the USB side, and the other to the CTS pin on the RS232 side, pin nr.8 of the DB9. Then attach the USB to the PC. You would have to make some kind of code to listen to the CTS of com port whatever, and this is the key. This works well as a PTT on the Echolink, and I think it would be useful here aswell.
TNX 73
FELIX EA4GZV

Hello Fabian,
Just discovered this tx training facility, it's a wonderful idea - just wondering if it is possible to use one of the keyboard keys instead of the mouse, as the mousepad on my laptop is not sensitive enough to tap out accurately no matter what speed I try to do it. I'm having a lot of fun trying, but not getting anywhere!
Thank you so much for everything you have done on this entire website, it's just amazing :)

Hi,

Probably you can use an USB external mouse in your laptop.
Two other things you can do:
1. From an old telephone hook unscrew the carbon microfoon and the telephone hearing element. Place the microphone against the telephone, such that the sound from the telephone enters the microphone. Electrically make a series circuit telephone-microphone==key and a battery.

2. Use some beeper, I got one out of a defect magnetron oven. Put the beeper in series with a battery and a key, and you are all sat.

As a novice and have much to learn but I have found it a great tool to learn and practice how each character should sound and be keyed, rather than learn the dahs and dits and dots and dashes or mnemonics. Great for tuning in the ear and understanding the time aspect of morse sending, as at the moment I struggle with C's as I tend to swing it a bit and need to tighten up my timing. Time to solder my cootie key into my mouse button tomorrow! Great tool, I find it very useful and good fun! Very much appreciated. Thank you!

It needs a button for a key.

Thanks for this very useful software. Just discoverred the TX option.

Just come onto the site and this system. Its really excellent and thank you for it! Following the suggestions here, I've modified an old mouse and have the thing running brilliantly with my Kent key!

Two suggestions:
Make the KEY button bigger so that the arrow stays on it better (I think this one has been suggested already); and
Allow ESC to clear text - this would be easier and quicker than moving the mouse to clear it then return it to hover over the (small) KEY area.

Thank for a great tool ... really appreciated.

Ian

@ M7IGN - Ian Neal:
The mouse you're using for "sending".
You will remain on "key" IF you;
Disable the tracker/mover function.

If using a laptop, use the touchpad to put the cursor in place.
If using desktop, roll the mouse into place, then cover (somehow) the tracker infrared.

This sorta works.

...or fix the mouse in place with Blutack...?

https://git.fkurz.net/dj1yfk/lcwo/commit/f0aedcb4cc64302c92776c1d6d3eb666744d06f9

2020-08-05:

    * TX training: Make key button larger. Same key for mouse and touch
      events. ESC clears text. Space bar can be used as an alternative
      input method.

Blimey!!! That was fast. Thanks - brilliant!

Ian

Advantage of working at home, due to Cocid-19

Thank you Fabian. Fantastic. It has made all the difference!

Very nice page, I hope someday a "writing/sending" course be integrated in LCWO.
I recently finished the 40 lessons at 20/11, and came to test this page and dig into its code.
I have come to realize that some information that is shown misleads you or drives you to practices that are not suitable for learning.(speed instead of quality).
With the audacity that my profound ignorance gives me, I would like to propose a couple of features to comment on.

1º-The set of buttons qrq, qrs and the label speed are used to identify the dots and dashes and should be grouped and labeled as such (detector setup?)
2º-The feedback part of the page must encourage good sending.
Eff. speed is calculated with the average length of the dashes. A correct calculation of the speed should involve the average time of the dots and spaces.
The page is already calculating the average time of dots (avgdot) and dash (avgdash), if the silence/space time between dots (avgdspace) and in between letters (avglspace) are gathered
the effective speed could be calculated by "simulating" a sending of the word PARIS.
something like:
eff.speed = Math.round(1000/(10*avgdots+4*avgdash+10*avgdspace+6*avglspace));

In the page "ratio" gives avgdash/avgdot but once again spaces are left out.
Somehow it would be necessary to involve these in the quality criteria of the sent code.
Ratios could be added for each pair of averages and perhaps a global indicator that could be calculated as follows:
Speed_dots = Math.round(1000/(50*avgdots));
Speed_dspace = Math.round(1000/(50*avgdspace));
Speed_dash = Math.round(10*3600/avgdash)/10; // as is done now.
Speed_lspace = Math.round(10*3600/avglspace)/10;
In a perfect code all these speeds are equal and more defective the more differing the values.
The indicator could be:
Quality_penalty = [-] (Math.abs(Speed_dots-Speed_dspace)+Math.abs(Speed_dots-Speed_dash)+Math.abs(Speed_dots-Speed_lspace));
0 being the perfect code

I leave it here. This post is already too long. Sorry.

Hola, una petición que hago es poder implementar en el ordenador una llave morse, sea vertical o de paletas, y que el programa detecte la llave y puedas practicar con ella en vez de con las teclas del ordenador. ¿Podría ser posible?
Un saludo a todos.

Hi Fabian,

We have been using this option to perform an 'on-line' CW-examination with respect to the BIPT regulations.
It worked out very well and are planning to use it in the future.

Kindest regards es best 73

Gust, ON7GZ
Presient of VRA in Belgium
Honorary President of EURAO.

Hi Fabian,

with a PK4 connected to a cheap mouse leftclick microswitch, doing tx in lcwo works okay. the chat could be nice, if someone has no radio yet or is afraid of TX on the bands in the beginning

Maybe it would be easier to use the mouse if the left button generated dots and the right dashes ...

GOOD EVENING,

At first, I want to say thank you for this great tool.

In the Koch Method CW Course appears "=" for the code "-...-", but in the TX Training "-" appears for the same code.

Thanks
DieAxtimWalde

tx training completely worthhless when using (latest version of) Firefox as browser.

Starting speed is obviously 8 wpm.

When I try to use it with space bar speed is going to a negative value.
after reset: a simple test with E and T at abt 8 wpm:
an E becomes T and a T becomes E

Advice to DJ1YFK: make it speed adaptive, or even better disable this option at all, for me it is impossible to use it at any speed.

example: Speed: -5.9WpM; Ratio: 10.6; eff. Speed: 22.3

when I send a string of dits, the sound is didahdidahdidah

sending speed abt 12 wpm and decodedd as T T T T T

Requires a fair amount of practice, but it's a lot of fun at any rate. Different mice, different rigs provide different experiences, yet all are able to be tweaked. A hug thank you to the dev!

Es una lástima que no se puedan subir imágenes aquí, si pudiera hacerlo mostraría como he implementado una llave morse vertical para escribir morse, utilizando un ratón como intermediario, lo voy a explicar: He comprado una llave morse y un ratón barato, a continuación he desmontado el ratón, y en su placa electrónica he desmontado el interruptor izquierdo. A continuación he soldado dos cables muy finos a los conectores de la placa donde iba este interruptor y los he sacado y conectado a los terminales de la llave morse. He montado nuevamente el ratón y he probado todo este experimento. He conectado el ratón al ordenador y he manipulado la llave. Ha funcionado a la perfección, ahora la llave actúa como si fuera el interruptor izquierdo del ratón, y estoy escribiendo morse directamente utilizando la llave morse vertical. Estoy muy satisfecho.

Compatibility testing with MCPT.
A few observations after a quick look.

1- May be its my keying, but I can send X and -, but not a aka =, I always get the *. Is it my timing? Or not decoded?

2- Creating some practice text in a file, and then sending that it TX; I copy the TX window via cut-and-paste (no save to file like some other trainers) but ok. The problem is Prosigns save as text only, so practice like: Y (2 sounds) will save as SKY (three sounds) which will not compare (this is done in VBAND as well, but not consistent with "Convert Text to CW".

BTW I used a converted mouse/straight key.

Tnx 73

Thank you for making this, I've spent some time sending as I'm working my way though the lessons. I like to practice both sending and receiving new characters.

I'm on lesson 16 (=) but it seems the decoder doesn't understand this character. Any chance of making the decoder support all 40 characters used in the lessons?

Thanks!

Pues es verdad, no reconoce el signo (=). Yo estoy ya en la lección 40 de recepción, pero en la lección 9 de envío y no había llegado al signo (=). Es una gran contrariedad. Por favor Fabian, ¿puedes arreglar esto?
Muchas gracias

(This works in Chrome): If you open up developer tools and paste "code['-...-'] = '='" (what's inside the quotes) into the console, = will work. It's just missing in the definition of characters it tries to decode. I pasted it and it works great.

= is now added, thanks for the heads-up :)

"= ahora se agrega, gracias por el aviso"

Muchas gracias Fabian. Te rogaría que revisaras los demás caracteres por si falta alguno.
Gracias de nuevo.

I'm a new General working on my Extra and trying to learn CW. LCWO.net is a great resource and I think the TX Training it's an awesome feature! As I progress through the lessons I can practice keying what I learned. Makes it more interactive and helps reinforce new letters learned and allows two way communication practice. Plus I can start to key and hear words.

Buenos días Fabian, releyendo tu introducción inicial, terminas diciendo que estabas pensando poner "una pequeña sala de chat Morse". Por favor, te ruego que retomes la idea porque me parece muy buena. Te animo de forma encarecida para que esa sala de chat Morse se vuelva algún día una realidad.
Un saludo y gracias por todo.

Hi Fabian,
Thanks for you excellent platform. I would suggest a CW keyer in the keyboard were it would sound a "dit" pressing the (.) key and a "dah" pressing the (-) key. That is how the online ham tests are been done in Brazil, during the pandemics. It would be very helpful for those training to the test.

Hi Fabian,

Another idea would be to use the right and left arrows in the keyboard as a iambic bug. Do you think it is feasible?

Have you been to https://hamradio.solutions/vband/ ? That site uses the left and right Ctrl keys.
Please take a look, and if you are willing, add the left and right control keys in addition to space bar and mouse click.

Then I will be checking back frequently for the status of chat room.

Having a conversation with people from these forums is what I am looking forward to.

Thanks for lcwo.net.

Hi Fabian, today the TX training is faulty, it joins all the letters and symbols automatically into a single line, cannot write morse. Please can you fix it?
Thank you.

Hi Fabian,

I would also vote for using an interface that is compatible with vband by Hamradio Solutions. Vband uses left and right control keys for dit and dah and there is an available paddle-to-USB adapter to enable using a Morse code paddle or straight key.

73,

If your not using an actual piece of hardware (straight key, bug, paddles, etc.) that you will use on the air, you are creating muscle memory that will be useless and maybe counter productive. Just an opinion. Add a usb-comport, converter mouse, etc. as done by Fistcheck, vband, cwcom - forget the keyboard.

I agree with WA2NFN
use a beeper with a straight key or a vibroplex, or a single or dual paddle Iambic B with a keyer.

Don't anyway bother about sending, after learning receiving it is a question of a week or so.

Buenos días Fabián, vuelvo a insistir en lo mismo. No me funciona el entrenamiento TX. Cuando intento escribir morse, todas las letras y símbolos se juntan en un solo grupo. Por favor,¿ puedes indicarme qué me ocurre, por qué ocurre esto?
Muchas gracias.

If Fabian is willing to do some recoding on the character decoder, a relatively simple algorithm could depict an auto-adjusting keying speed tracking. I'll fill in my original notes that I've got in the year 1989. I'd implemented it in BASICA on a pre-historic IBM PC XT (Intel 8080 CPU) and it worked flawlessly!

I'm sorry, but I can't remember the genuine source.


---snip---

ZEICHENERKENNUNG

1) Neues Zeichen mindestens doppelt so lang wie das unmittelbar vorhergegangene ==> neues Zeichen ist ein Strich

2) Neues Zeichen kürzer als die Hälfte des unmittelbar vorhergegangenen ==> neues Zeichen ist ein Punkt

3) Neues Zeichen mindestens halb so lang, jedoch kürzer als das Doppelte des unmittelbar vorhergegangenen ==> neues Zeichen ist das gleiche wie das unmittelbar vorhergegangene

4) Ist ein Zwischenraum länger oder gleich lang wie 3/4 des letzten Striches, so ist ein Buchstabe aus

5) Ist ein Zwischenraum mindestens doppelt so lang wie der letzte Strich, so ist ein Wort aus

---snip---

[quote=haupte]If Fabian is willing to do some recoding on the character decoder, a relatively simple algorithm could depict an auto-adjusting keying speed tracking. I'll fill in my original notes that I've got in the year 1989. I'd implemented it in BASICA on a pre-historic IBM PC XT (Intel 8080 CPU) and it worked flawlessly!

I'm sorry, but I can't remember the genuine source.


---snip---

ZEICHENERKENNUNG

1) Neues Zeichen mindestens doppelt so lang wie das unmittelbar vorhergegangene ==> neues Zeichen ist ein Strich

2) Neues Zeichen kürzer als die Hälfte des unmittelbar vorhergegangenen ==> neues Zeichen ist ein Punkt

3) Neues Zeichen mindestens halb so lang, jedoch kürzer als das Doppelte des unmittelbar vorhergegangenen ==> neues Zeichen ist das gleiche wie das unmittelbar vorhergegangene

4) Ist ein Zwischenraum länger oder gleich lang wie 3/4 des letzten Striches, so ist ein Buchstabe aus

5) Ist ein Zwischenraum mindestens doppelt so lang wie der letzte Strich, so ist ein Wort aus

---snip---

Nachtrag: Wenn ein Zeichen oder ein Zwischenraum kürzer als 1/10 des letzten Punktes ist, so handelt es sich nur um Tastenprellen und das Element sollte ignoriert werden.

LOVE LCWO, TNX Fabián.

I tried it with the space bar and after a little practice it worked well.

thank you.
km2b

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On movil phone it's not practical.

i may find a little problem
Oh,it seems sometime when i press my space for a bit long time my machine will beep with non_stopping until i press my F5
(so sorry about my poor English)

oh,dear Fabian.ur work runs well,tnx 73

Vielen Dank Fabian
eine feine Sache....

I'll vote for that as well, just have been looking at that device. Adding a speed-recognition algorithm as suggested in a later post in this threat will complement the trainer.

I will also vote for the usb adapter!!, as I just got one and would be great to use it on this website.

speed-recognition would certainly complement the trainer.

Just found a great way to practice with https://hamradio.solutions/vband/
by installing Microsoft PowerToys and modifying keyboard buttons to get the left and right ctrl next to each other :) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/ and I modified the right alt to be left control so I can tap between with the regular fingers I used on my paddle. Now i can paddle on the go :)

Thank you for this great peace of work! Even more so for keeping it free/libre. I can use it without any single peace of unfree software. Most cordial thanks and all the best for 2023!
73 de Mike OE1MOJ

https://vail.woozle.org/ uses webmidi a fairly easy to build morse key to control the website. One particularly pleasant feature is the window doesn't have to have focus to work, so I can always use the key.

Adding support for that in the eventual chat feature would be ace.

I found that it won't stop beep if I press the space button for just a little longer and release it. Is it a bug?

Yes, it appears to be a bug. Will fix it during the weekend, thanks for the heads-up!

Fabian

Fixed.

Just built a iambic keyer with an oscillator and jack socket to connect to a radio. I don’t have a radio to test it, so used the TX training page. I hacked a mouse and connected it to the keyer’s jack socket and the mouse to my iPad and loaded the TX training page. I had lots of problems and thought there was something wrong with the circuit I’d made. I made loads of changes to the components with no luck. Just couldn’t send a Y or other mixed ditdah pattens reliably. It was ok when I used the oscillator. Eventually found out that the problem was that I was keying late due to the delay in pressing the paddle and hearing the sound from my iPad. The solution was to mute the iPad and alter my circuit so that the output went to both the internal oscillator and through the jack, mouse to the iPad. I hear the sounds form the keyer’s oscillator and see the decoded text on the iPad. Works great now. Thank you for making the TX training page.

Hi Fabian,

ich habe LCWO einem Bekanntem empfohlen, der mich dann fragte, ob man mit LCWO auch Geben üben kann. ... und daraufhin das "Experimental TX training" mal (mit Leer- und Maustaste) ausprobiert.

Es funktioniert eigentlich ganz gut - abgesehen von der Verzögerung, wenn man schneller wird.

Folgende Beobachtungen:

(A) - Tastaturfokus auf Schaltflächen QRQ, QRS, ...
Die Schaltflächen QRQ, QRS oder CLEAR scheinen "einzurasten" (bzw. - obwohl nicht sichtbar - den Fokus für die Tastatur zu behalten) und jede Betätigung der Leertaste (zum Geben) triggert die letzte Funktion erneut. Der Tastaturfokus kann nicht durch Mausklick auf die Key-Fläche dorthin geholt werden, sondern soweit ich das feststellen konnte nur durch Mausklick in einen leeren Bereich.
(Browser: MS Edge)


Damit kann man sehr schnell den im Folgenden beschriebenen Effekt triggern, bei dem Speed "Infinity" oder negative Geschwindigkeiten angezeigt werden. (funktioniert auch mit "QRQ")

(B) Speed "Infinity" oder negativ
Mit der QRQ - Schaltfläche (oder der Leertaste erreicht man von 20WPM ausgehend mit 11 Klicks 240WPM.
Dann folgt Infinity und negative Geschwindigkeiten -240WPM, -120WPM ...
Es scheint sich dann asymptotisch nach sehr vielen Kicks / drücken "-0.x WPM" zu nähern.
Eine Zeichenerkennung erfolgt spätestens mit dem "Infinity"-Übergang nicht mehr. (-20WPM != +20WPM)
Eine passende Begrenzung wäre wohl sinnvoll.

[code]
Speed: 240WpM; Ratio: 3.2; eff. Speed: 23.5
Speed: InfinityWpM; Ratio: 3.2; eff. Speed: 23.5
Speed: -240WpM; Ratio: 3.2; eff. Speed: 23.5
Speed: -0.6WpM; Ratio: 1.1; eff. Speed: 69.4
[/code]

73, Joe

Hi Kim, I am trying to do the same but connecting the mouse directly to MacBook and the key directly to the mouse, however I am able to use only a Vertical Key, could you send more information about your design in order to use a iambic keyer? Thanks

Fabian,

It works well for me and what I send shows up decoded. Working as designed I would say!

Bravo.

I added a jack to my mouse for the hand key. Works perfectly.
de K9LD

It would be rather nice if the TX training could somehow be integrated into the received text box.

This way one could receive (and write down) then send and check.

Nick

I'm a beginner. For some reason, when I send R, it often thinks its a W. What should I do so that it copies it as R?

Из угла почетника у телеграфији ја сам презадовољан...

I just somehow found the transmitter via a google search. I had difficulty with the mouse button, but the spacebar worked well. It is very sensitive (which I need!) but I totally like it. Will it ever be added into the menu buttons on the side? I would love to do everything here on this site.

Thanks so much for this site. I do love it so much! Ramblinbec

Dear Fabian, please insert this function in the "TX Training" page, Jambic key type, for double paddle simulation

Right Mouse Click: Dah
Left Mouse Click: Dit
(or reverse)

thanks

Funciona muy bien el decodificador, modifique un mouse y uso mi manipulador vertical.
estaria muy bueno un chat en morse, seria genial y atraeria a muchos a realizar entrenamiento, a veces cuesta encontrar corresponsales a baja velocidad.
Omar LU9EOE

There is a fundamental flow in the TX training and I hope that Fabian will take this on board.

In my view, the software will have to offer either a single character or a word, then the user will have to key it back and the software will have to check if the keying is correct or not, according to the chosen speed.

As it is, this doesn't help much because the user has all the time in the world to correct the keying.

In real life you want to be sure that you are typing correctly at a certain speed and without interruptions.

If LCWO achieved that, it would be epic.

Can you add an option for a paddle or a straight key to be added to the USP port. For example my paddle is connected as I use VBAND and if I press the key in this application both sides send dits.

+1 for this idea, but 'fundamental flaw'is a bit harsh - let's say improvement request.

If you can switch the pitch that would be better.