Straight Key Night

Operating Notes, January 5, 2026

January 5, 2026 By Dan KB6NU 1 Comment

Screen shot of an IC-7610 band scope. — I’d recognize this signal anywhere.

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.

Operating notes: Straight Key Night 2025, freezing rain halts operation, are end-feds poor receiving antennas?

January 2, 2025 By Dan KB6NU 3 Comments

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone!

Straight Key Night 2025: 10 QSOs

I was going to start this portion of my blog post with a little of the history of Straight Key Night (SKN). Unfortunately, there is none to be found on the internet. Perhaps that’s some thing that someone at the ARRL can remedy by the time SKN rolls around next year.

A Bunnel #9 straight key, like the one on I used for this year’s Straight Key Night.

This year, I operated SKN with my Bunnell #9 key (see right). This is a great little key, with a very nice action. I’m not sure how old my key is, but it still operates flawlessly.

First, I had to find a cable for it. Fortunately, I already had a two-conductor cable with a 1/4-in. phone plug on it, so all I had to do was crimp a couple of terminal onto the bare wires at the cable’s other end. In about 15 minutes, I was on the air.

Conditions were a little up and down on 40 meters, due to a geomagnetic storm, but even so, I managed to make eight contacts Tuesday night. I even “ran” the frequency I was on for a bit. Twice I called “QRZ?” after ending a contact and had someone come back to me. Wednesday morning, I got on again and made two contacts before deciding to call it quits.

The highlight of SKN for me was my contact with KE4GBE. He said that listening to my previous QSO had prompted him to dig out his straight key and that it was his first straight key QSO in over 25 years!

Freezing rain halts operation

About a week ago, we had some freezing rain here in southeast Michigan. Normally, when my 450 Ω window line feedline gets wet, I have to adjust my antenna tuner. This time, though, I couldn’t get SWR down enough to be comfortable operating. I just shut things down for the night.

Several years ago, I purchased a 43-ft. vertical antenna, but never did put it up. I’m going to have to set that up, so that I can get on the air even when there’s freezing rain.

Are end-feds poor receiving antennas?

I’ve never been a big fan of end-fed antennas, but I can certainly see their appeal. They are easy to set up, don’t require a long feedline, and can be quite stealthy.

I think that one disadvantage might be that they don’t receive as well as center-fed antennas. I have no science to back this up, but more times than not, when someone gives me a report where my signal strength is less than what I give the other station, they’re using an end-fed half-wave antenna or an end-fed random wire antenna.

I’d be interested in hearing what your experience has been. Does this hold true for you, too?

Operating notes: Straight Key Night

January 2, 2021 By Dan KB6NU 1 Comment

Straight Key Night (SKN) has come and gone again. This year’s was kind of fun. I managed to make six SKN contacts—three on Thursday evening on 80m and three on Friday morning on 40m—before I decided to call it quits.

I used my KX-3 with a Bunnell Nr. 9 straight key (see above). The key has an old-style, 1/4-in. phone plug on it, while the KX-3 has an 1/8-in. jack, so I had to adapt somehow. I have an adapter, but the old-style phone plug didn’t really fit well, so I decided to just use a couple of clip leads.

When operated from an AC supply, the KX-3 is capable of 15 W output. I thought perhaps that might be a problem, but band conditions were pretty good, and I worked everyone I called (except for W1Aw; I just couldn’t crack that pileup). I even called CQ a couple of times and got replies.

I made a couple of interesting contacts. One of them was with K9TJL. He was using a J-36 bug, and we had a nice discussion about that key and the J-37 with leg clamp (a key I’ve used in previous SKNs).

Another interesting contact I had was with Howard, WB2UZE. He’s one of the cofounders of the Long Island CW Club. He was using a 1940s-vintage Vibroplex bug.

Finally, although I didn’t work him, I heard Don, W2LID. I first worked Don in 2005, when he was 82 years old. He’s had that call since the age of 15. By my calculations, he’s now 97 years old and has been a “LID”