Welcome to All Things Morse Code. This web site is all about the Art and Skill of Radio-Telegraphy. My hope is to share the things I have learned in the past 16 years of enjoying CW on the Amateur Radio Bands. Over the years I have really enjoyed sending Morse Code manually. That is with a Straight Key, Bug, and lately with a Side Swiper. I hope to share the fun I have had on this journey.

Morse Code with a personality is what I really enjoy. When you send with a manual key it is all about you and your Morse signature. One of the things I have tried to be diligent about is my sending. Spending time in practice has been essential from the very beginning. I feel you must practice before you even attempt getting on the air. I just recently started using a Side Swiper (Cootie Key) and there is no doubt that practice is the key. I am right-handed and I taught myself to use the Cootie Key left-handed. You really would be very surprised at how easy it really was. Let me say this, I practiced for one month with the Cootie Key before I even got on the air. One of the fellow hams who was a great help to me was Jerry/KD0CA. Check out his write up on Side-Swipery
http://www.mtechnologies.com/cootie.htm The whole Side Swiper thing opened up a brand new excitement in sending for me.

I wish when I started out with the CW thing I would have know what a Cootie key really was. I thought a side swiper was just a key mounted side ways. Well I had it half right. If you put two keys side by side, now you have a Cootie. I do enjoy my keyers and paddles, but I could have saved a whole lot of money if I had learned to cootie at first. I can vary the speed that I send, from 5 wpm to 20 wpm no problem. I guess I am sold on the Cootie Key, and they are fun to use and you can make one cheaply. As I stated in one of my threads, it is all about the right gap, and Practice! That rule applies to all aspects of CW operation.