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# CWONDR
Project "CW on da road":
low-power pocket-size CW transceiver for direct amateur radio contacts in the 430 MHz band
*Zusammenfassung in Deutsch* [hier]( zusammenfassung.md ) *verfuegbar*
*Resume en francais disponible* [ici]( resume.md )
## The Motivation
*You're strolling through the city on a warm summer evening, chatting with your friends, when all of a sudden you hear a faint Morse signal out of your pocket. You take out the small device, plug in the earphones, and key a QRZ DE YOURCALLSIGN?*
*There's a response from your buddy who seems to be in town as well, and you quickly exchange some greetings and QTH information, so that you can meet in a nearby coffee shop in half an hour.*
*After you've finished, you receive a call on the same frequency from a ham visiting your city, and you invite them along for a coffee. You may just have made a new friend through the air.*
*You set your device to beacon mode, unplug the earphones, and put it back into your pocket, while explaining to your friends you just did the CW equivalent of a local social web exchange.*
All of this should well be possible, except that to my knowledge,
such a device is not (yet) available commercially.
If you know about something similar, please [write me][contact] ASAP!
## The Problem
- CW is mostly used on HF (except for beacons) and for contesting and DX, rarely for chatting
- CW has disappeared from everyday use, and we need to fire up rather complicated rigs for working it
- HF requires big antennas and is not suited for operation "out of pocket"
- cheap and simple portable VHF/UHF transceivers are only available for FM voice transmission
## The Solution: pocket-sized, USB powered 430 MHz CW transceiver
- 5 V power is widely available in USB supplies and batteries
- 430 MHz is a not too crowded band suitable for short range contacts with antennas easy to carry around
- cheap and small RF systems for 70 cm are widely available (PMR, ISM band remote controls)
- Arduino and similar solutions provide low-power control facilities
## The Dream
- mobile-phone sized device
- powered by external USB source, low power consumption in receive mode
- direct key button for CW transmission included, external possible
- small loudspeaker included, main operation through earphones
- user interface through buttons and Morse sidetone, i.e no display required: can be controlled just by pressing buttons and listening to sidetone)
- transmit power up to 5 W, reduced levels for short range QSOs
## Participation
This is a very young project, and your participation is highly appreciated,
by [e-mail][contact] or by pull requests to this repository!
- [wishlist]( wishlist.md )
- [parts of the system]( ./Parts/ )
- [planning]( planning.md )
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[contact]: mailto:
[email protected]
_(2018-July-19 HB9KNS)_
