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Welcome to OH3CUF!
My name is Jouni. I'm radio amateur from Tampere, Finland. My radio station call is OH3CUF. My station maidenhead locator is at KP11WL.
My intrests
Currently mostly active in HF - especially CW & SSB in Worldwide Flora & Fauna. I've activated few parks already and hunting like crazy on my home station where I use The Awesome WRC. I Started learning CW in 2024.
Contact me
Send me email to cq (at_mark) cuf (dot) fi.
My activity
My Mastodon (@OH3CUF@mastodon.radio)
My Parks-On-The-Air (POTA) activity
Park activations (Worldwide Flora & Fauna)
3.3.2024 OHFF-1608 "Kirkkoharjun lukot" in Kangasala, Finland
9.3.2024 OHFF-0268 "Halimasjärven luonnonsuojelualue" in Tampere, Finland
28.3.2024 OHFF-1254 "Makkarajärvi-Viitastenperän LS-alue" in Tampere, Finland (not full 44 QSOs)
31.3.2024 OHFF-1144 "Peltolammin-Pärrinkosken Luonnonsuojelualue" in Tampere, Finland
13.4.2024 OHFF-0201 "Soukonvuoren luonnonsuojelualue" in Tampere, Finland
22.4.2024 OHFF-1254 "Makkarajärvi-Viitastenperän Luonnonsuojelualue" in Tampere, Finland
28.4.2024 OHFF-1636 "Hevoshaan luonnonsuojelualue" in Tampere, Finland
4.5.2024 OHFF-0278 "Pyynikin harju" in Tampere, Finland (not full 44)
18.5.2024 OHFF-0201 "Soukonvuoren luonnonsuojelualue" in Tampere, Finland
19.5.2024 OHFF-0278 "Pyynikin harju" in Tampere, Finland (40 CW QSOs!)
26.5.2024 OHFF-1635 "Villilänsaaren luonnonsuojelualue" (only 21 QSOs)
4.6.2024 OHFF-1635 "Villilänsaaren luonnonsuojelualue" (full activation)
8.6.2024 - 9.6.2024 OHFF-0162 "Hämeenkangas" in Jämijärvi, Finland (overnight, read story here)
18.6.2024 OHFF-0597 "Myllypuro" in Tampere, Finland
1.7.2024 OHFF-1210 "Koipitaipale" in Tampere, Finland
3.7.2024 OHFF-1236 "Kirkkojärven alue" in Kangasala, Finland (POTA also)
CW practicing tips
First of all: CW and morse code aren't difficult. Only thing that might be difficult is your own motivation. With good motivation you will find time for practice. The code might first feel confusing & gibberish but by practicing it becomes less and less strange. Learning CW is like learning new language; first you don't understand anything but after continous practice you start to understand more and more. Learning will happend gradually in proportion to time spent on practicing. There are no shortcuts or cheats.
Then some practical tips:
- Habit stacking: connect daily practice to some other habit you do every day; lunch, commuting, stretching?
- Practice daily: 5 minutes is enough if that is all you've got to spare. Most important: make it an daily habit. It is 1000x more effective to use 5 minutes daily than nothing.
- Be kind to yourself: this is _very_ important. If you cannot recognize character? Just keep going on. Made a mistake while sending CW? Try again. You will miss thousands of characters and make same amount mistakes. Do not concentrate on your mistakes, misses at all. Just keep going on!
- Do not make up mnemonic for characters. This will slow you down eventually. Just listen what the character sounds like as a whole. Do not count dits & dahs.
- Never listen character speed under 25 WPM. Yes, this sounds crazy speed. Use pause after character to let your brain to do the work. Speed up when you feel like so. If you need urge to slow down character speed, do not do it. Keep going on. It feels frustrating but eventually it will pay off. The point here is that it shouldn't be possible to count dits & dahs with this speed - you are forced to hear the whole character. If this feels hard, start with only few letters. The whole point of learning to receive characters is to instantly translate the sound pattern to character.
- Listen. Listen. CW is about learning to hear. You can only learn to hear by listening.
- App? Morse Mania is one of the best ones. Use it daily. Listen to "practice tapes" on background while you walk etc.
- Check your motivation and target. Stick to these. If you don't feel like you have motivation, try another time. Learning CW requires high motivation. Do not distress yourself.
CW is fun and it opens so much more working possibilities. You will feel good, proud and amazed once you start making QSOs in CW.
CW RBN
Useful links
Tropospheric Ducting Foreecast
Finnish HAM repeaters sorted by your location or all in one easy list
Finnish FF activations at Mastodon
NOAA D Region Absorption Predictions (D-RAP)
Space Weather in Finland (fmi.fi)
Other HAM-webpages
OH3BHX - great web pages for experiments with radio balloons and other posts
Hämeenlinnan radioamatöörit - aktiiviset verkkosivut ja paljon kiinnostavia tapahtumia
Weather sondes
I'm interested in chasing radiosondes. Here in Finland we have few stations that launch Vaisala radiosondes.
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