I've been calling cq for over a week now for about an hour or two per day on 30/20/17 when propagation is good and have yet to get a reply or to hear anyone else doing cw except for a couple beacons.

There haven't been any problems with phone, but I do keep seeing and hearing the same ops over and over. Is cw dead on HS4? Is it generally dead in the daytime through the week? I'm considering moving over HS3 but that will be disappointing if I have to.

Again today. Poop tons of contacts, especially from Russia on the phone but I called CQ for hours on 20 and 17 with no replies. I verified I'm modulating properly too and used both a straight key with the plugin and also USB with a software keyer.

What's going on? Doesn't anyone do CW anymore? The whole reason I subscribed was to practice CW and do contests.

There are only a few here in the states and they are not always on. I used to do CW, but like you, was frustrated with the lack of CW operators. I am not a fan of of the keyer or the interface that Hamsphere makes you purchase. I tried external keyers, but they did not seem to interface well. For the time being I do CW on the CQ-100 Ham VOIP program (also not a lot of operators, but more than Hamsphere). I hope that the Hamsphere management will devise a keyer that uses the letter and number keys on a keyboard in the future. IF THEY DO, they will likely see more CW operators (my opinion - make it easier and cheaper to purchase and use a real-time keyer).

CW Always!

73,
W6KAY - Mike

KI0K Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Again today. Poop tons of contacts, especially
> from Russia on the phone but I called CQ for hours
> on 20 and 17 with no replies. I verified I'm
> modulating properly too and used both a straight
> key with the plugin and also USB with a software
> keyer.
>
> What's going on? Doesn't anyone do CW anymore?
> The whole reason I subscribed was to practice CW
> and do contests.

Hello,
I have just joined a few days ago, and would like to do CW, but not via keyboard, I wanted to try modulated CW using my MFJ keyer for tone and my bencher paddle via the mike on Version 4.0, I hear so many problems with these plug ins that I'm not prepared to waste more money and yes I have never heard cw on this version either, it seems totally dead for all modes, secondly I cannot get any audio no matter what I seem to try, at this stage I have given up, I do hear some CW on V3.0 but again each time I log on I get different problems, at times no audio, and other times I can't TX, I have no problems with Echolink or Skype so my system works okay with these modes, I am very disappointed and think I will probably give up on Hamsphere, in the real ham radio world conditions are very poor, this was the only reason I tried Hamsphere, and I must say what CW I have heard, the audio is not good, compared to the real world with good CW filters etc, the audio here is very difficult most times, maybe when I have a break from trying it might all fall into place some time, and probably being spoilt with good CW gear this is a bit of a shock, but maybe if I persevere I can train my ears to copy thru all the junk, macro style CW is not really all that appealing, I would like to say like Arnold, " I'LL BE BACK " not sure when though.

43HS1314

Ugghhh... This makes me sad.

Hamsphere is so freakin' great with the exception of all the frustration I'm hearing from people regarding CW work. I mentioned this in another forum and will do so again here to try and get the word out.

If you are a CW op and use a straight key, bug, paddles, etc., you can very easily get those to interface with Hamsphere by taking any old USB mouse, pulling out the circuit board, and either removing the left click switch or soldering two wires to the pads and then connecting those two wires to your key. This method does require you to purchase the CW plugin from Hamsphere but it works great and it lets you choose Mouse (straight key) or iambic A or B (paddles). As a side note, if you select one of the iambic settings, you can use the left and right arrows on your keyboard as a paddle. I've tested this with the plugin and it also works pretty well one you set the speed properly for how you operate.

I use the same MFJ straight key and select the "Mouse" setting so that every time I key down, the system sees it as a mouse click. You have to have your mouse cursor in the middle of the CW plugin screen to modulate!
My humble advice is to not fool with trying to send side tone through a mic. It will come out as garbage. I've also tried using CWType on USB/LSB via stereo mix like I did in the old days of CQ100, but I can't verify if that sounds good on the other end or not. It appears to modulate fine on the S meter but.... since I've yet to make a contact, I have no official report.

Invitation to anyone reading this:
PM me if you want to sked a test with me to tinker and get things figured out. I'm happy to help anyway I can to make CW come alive on 4.0!

73 de KI0K
Derek

Derek, if you are still using Hamsphere, I can make time in the evenings between 21:30-22:30 to Contact you via CW. I am usually trying to send on either 7.020 or 10.120. I am using 20W with the log periodic antenna and I use USB rather than CW. So if you want a detailed signal report (and I’ll give you some feedback on the audio, not just a 599 report) then beam your antenna towards Southern California and listen for me in the evenings.

CW Always,
73,
Mike - W6KAY

Dear friends,
Yes, Unlike HS3, the HS4 has badly disappointed me on CW mode. HS3 is the mode where CW is still partly and poorly alive.HS4 is totally dead for CW. I am not computer savvy, I have spent most of my time on real ham radio in cw only. Have all the 50 US states as WAS award, taking almost 30 years with 35 watts and a dipole antenna for 20m. Hi.
Any simply method of switching to HS4 CW is welcome.

Best 73
de arasu VU2UR

Hello Arasu,

I answered your other posting in this forum where I gave some ideas for getting cw going here on HS4. Yes, there are not very many cw ops at all here. I am here, XE1YJL (Jose), NA1NA (Daniel), N2ADI (Dan), WL1B (Brandon), and W3ATT (Brian) also do cw. There are a few Russian stations on cw also. I am sending according to a schedule I listed in the other posting. Please my response to you in the other posting and let me know if you have any questions.

73,

CW Always!

Mike - W6KAY

Hello Friends,

I often work cw mode on HamSphere 4.0.

Please look at my post: CW users by I0RNK