Operating Notes, January 5, 2026

It used to be that you could recognize an operator by the sound of their fist. That is to say the distinctive way that they sent dits and dahs while operating Morse Code. With the advent of the electronic keyer, fists have become less distinctive, but it’s still possible.

But, there’s another way you can now sometimes recognize an operator. You don’t even have to hear them send a single dit or dah. The key is what their signal looks like on your waterfall.

Yesterday, just after I turned on the radio, I saw a signal around 7022 kHz. Immediately, I knew who it was. I tuned it in, and sure enough I was right. This signal is a little more recognizable because it’s from a homebrew rig, but even so, other signals can probably be determined from how they look on the waterfall if they’re strong enough.

Straight Key Night 2026

As I’ve mentioned before, the only time I use a straight key on the air is Straight Key Night. This year, I only made four contacts before I put the Bunnel #9 back on the shelf. Even though I made only four contacts, two were notable:

• I1MMR. If you live in the eastern U.S. and operate 40 meter CW at all, chances are you’ve worked Mauro, I1MMR. This was my 42nd contact with Mauro. This wasn’t strictly an SKN contact, but I’m counting it.
• N0AX. Ward Silver is one of those hams that everyone seems to know. He’s the author of Ham Radio for Dummies and has edited the ARRL Handbook. Signals were S9 both ways and we had a nice chat before my wrist started to quit on me.

Short skip on 40 meters

Every once in a while, I get some really short skip on 40 meters in the evening. A couple of days ago, I worked a fellow who lives near Lansing, MI that QRZ.Com said was about 50 miles away. That’s gotta be too far away for ground wave, so it must be really short skip.

Right after that contact, I worked a guy near Bad Axe, MI, which is in “The Thumb.” (Take a look at a Michigan map, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.) He was only 110 miles away, according to QRZ.Com. Both stations were S9 here in Ann Arbor.