IZ2UUF Morse Koch CW

Learn and exercise CW anywhere

Documentation

This page contains the detailed instructions to operate with the "IZ2UUF Morse Koch CW" application.

Introduction

This application is meant to exercise Morse code reception. It works by sending over the headphones sequences of CW characters. These sequences can have various sources according to the type of exercise performed: random characters groups, random words or senteces from a text file, callsigns and so on.

"IZ2UUF Morse Koch CW" app is an engine that can be configured to create many kinds of exercises. This can be done by entering the settings screen and changing the various settings explained below.

The user can choose among some preset exercises. These presets will simply change the app settings to implement the related exercise type.

Installation

This application runs only on Android devices.

Installation is done by simply searching for "IZ2UUF Morse Koch CW" on Google Play as any other app.

Start screen

The start screen is presented when the application starts:

The two big buttons have the following use:

  • Start — Starts the last selected exercise for a new training session;
  • Choose — Enters the preset screen allow the selection of a predefined exercise;

Preset screens

The preset screen is accessed from the start screen:

"Koch" training — This is the standard "Koch" exercise, which works by recognizing CW characters at high speed. Recommended for beginners.

Read text — The app will allow selecting an ASCII text from your phone and play it from beginning to end.

Training on words — Load or type an ASCII and the app will send in CW the contained words in random order.

Text lines training [PRO] — Load or type an ASCII and the app will send in CW the contained lines in random order.

Text lines training with voice [PRO] — Load or type an ASCII and the app will send in CW the contained lines in random order; after each line, a voice will read it for confirmation.

Callsign training [PRO] — The app will generate randomly generated but realistic callsigns.

Standard QSO [PRO] — The app will generate "standard" QSO with the typical exchange of information; generated first names and QTHs are coherent with the callsign country.

User defined — Containers for user defined configurations. See User defined settings below.

User defined settings

The entire exercise can be configured by changing the program settings. In that screen everything about the exercise can be set, from the side tone pitch to the custom text to be used in the exercises.

Once an exercise has been configured, it can be saved into one of the "user defined settings" slots by clicking on the three dashes on the right and selecting "Save settings".

Each slot can be deleted, renamed or retrieved.

This feature is very useful when different exercises are to be performed in rotation.

Main screen

The main screen is where the exercises are executed.

The top red area contains the overall time counter, the usual play/pause/stop icons and the usual three-dots icon to access a further menu.

The black band below contains some further information:

  • T — the true CW time, excluding voice, starting counter and so on;
  • C — the number of CW characters transmitted so far;
  • S — the true speed in WPM (or CPM if selected) considering different inter-character spacing (Farnsworth spacing), dit/dah ratio and word spacing applied to the usual "PARIS" reference word;
  • R — the true speed in WPM (or CPM if selected) counting the actual characters sent; this depends on how long characters are (sending a sequence of "E" will look much faster than sending a sequemce pf "0")

The 🅰 icon allows a direct entry to the settings that defines the "Koch level", i.e. how many different symbols are to be used during the exercise. The icon does not appear if the selected exercise does not use Koch Level (for example, when reading a plain text).

The center white area is where the symbols appear during the exercise.

The bottom scroller can be used to quickly change the exercise speed; it has to be unlocked by pressing for some seconds the lock icon.

The area at the very botton is dedicated to advertising and disappears in the "Pro" version.

Main screen menu

The menu options are:

  • Exercise check — runs the final Exercise check;
  • Load file — loads a text file into the internal buffer; it can be used with those exercises taking data from a user text, like text or words reading;
  • About this application — shows information about the application;
  • Settings — opens the settings screen;

Exercise check

This screen appears when an exercise is terminated, either by time expiration or because the stop button has been pressed. It also appears by selecting the "Exercise check" menu option.

It proposes some ways to check the exercise results:

Read on screen — read yourself the characters on the screen and compare them with your hand written text;

Read by voice [PRO] — a synthesized voice will dictate the characters for a quick comparison with the hand written notes;

Keyboard — the received text can be typed with keyboard; the app will then compare it with the original one, evidencing every error;

Example of the "keyboard" error verification window:

Settings

The settings screen is where all the exercise options can be set.

Exercise type

Select what kind of exercise is executed.

  • Koch (G4FON sequence) — play a random sequence of characters at the current Koch level using the G4FON program letters sequence;
  • Koch (LCWO sequence) — play a random sequence of characters at the current Koch level using the LCWO site letters sequence;
  • Koch (chars from custom string) — play a random sequence of characters at the current Koch level taken from the string set in the "Custom string" option described below; this feature replaces the old "Chars from custom string" (see where has "Chars from custom string" gone?);
  • Custom string — play the string set in the "Custom string" option; this allows playing any text;
  • Words from custom string — randomly play words or sentences taken from the "Custom string"; make sure to read ASCII text preparation to know how to setup words and sentences;
  • Words from custom string and G4FON — same as above, but some words will be randomly generated using the G4FON squence;
  • Words from custom string and LCWO — same as above, but some words will be randomly generated using the LCWO squence;
  • Lines from custom string — randomly transmits entire lines from the custom string; each line is transmitted entirely, but the lines are shuffled randomly;
  • Koch training on words — this feature takes the words listed in the custom string (or loaded from a file) and plays them randomly; this exercise is designed to memorize entire words at once at high speed;
  • Callsigns [PRO] — generates callsigns
  • Standard QSO [PRO] — generates standard QSO

WPM

Speed of CW characters in WPM (Words Per Minute) if in the "Speed unit" setting WPM is selected.

CPM

Speed of CW characters in CPM (Characters Per Minute) if in the "Speed unit" setting CPM is selected.

Speed unit

Allows the selection among WPM (Words Per Minute) and CPM (Characters Per Minute).

Length of the exercise

Duration of the exercise when generating random sequences.

Word length

Number of characters per group when generating random groups. Can be fixed or variable.

Koch level

Koch defined in which order characters should be learned. With this setting, you can choose how many Koch characters you want to use.

Hard letters

This setting allows to mark the letters that are harder for us to understand. The program will insist on them, proposing them with a much higher frequency.

Auto hard letters

If set, the last two letters of our current sequence are treated as "Hard letters". In this way, we get an higher frequency for the letters that have been just added to the sequence.

Custom string

This is the buffer where text loaded from the device memory are stored. The user can also manually type text or pasting it from the clipboard. See the ASCII text preparation chapter for further details.

Repeat words/sentences [PRO]

If set to more than 1, the program will repeat each word or sentence the requested number of times. The voice, if enabled, will read the word or sentence only once.

Simplify accents

If checked, the accented letters will be transmitted without accent. For example, À will be sent in CW as A but il will be printed and read by the Text-to-speech voice as À.

Generate callsign prefixes

Used by 'callsign' exercise, if enabled it allows generation of callsigns with prefixes like "HB9/IZ2UUF"

Generate callsign suffixes

Used by 'callsign' exercise, if enabled it allows generation of callsigns with suffixes like "IZ2UUF/P"

Character spacing

Spacing between characters. Standard setting is 1.0X, which means that every character is spaced the time of three dits (Farnsworth method). Enlarging the gap between letters makes recognition much easier.

Word spacing

Same setting as "Character spacing" but applied to words.

Sidetone frequency

Setting of the frequency of the side tone.

Tone attack

Time the sound takes to go from zero to maximum (attack ramp). A smooth ramp will avoid clicks.

Tone release

Time the sound takes to go from maximum to zero (release ramp). A smooth ramp will avoid clicks.

Volume settings

Set the relative volume of the CW sidetone, the standard speeling voice and the Text-to-speech voice.

Dot pitch

Allows setting a different pitch for dots (dit) to distinguish them from dashes (dah).

Start pause

Time it takes from the pressure of the "Play" button and the transmission of the first note; allows settling the phone and getting ready.

Dash/dot ratio

Dash/dot ratio other than the standard 3:1.

Group print

If checked it will prints the letters on screen only at the end of each group or word.

Group print delay

Delay in seconds between the end of each CW word and its display on the screen; this time can be used to mentally repeat the decoded chars before reading them.

Speech mode

Select the way the voice will read the text after it has been sent in CW.

  • No speech — no voice is used;
  • ITU phonetic spelling — the playback voice will spell the text using ITU phonetic alphabeth, like "alpha", "bravo", etc.;
  • Short letters spelling [PRO] — the playback voice will spell the text using short letters like "A", "B", etc.;
  • Short letters spelling [PRO] — the playback voice will read the text using the Android internal Text-to-speech subsystem; this means that it will be able to read the words instead of spell them; see also "Text-to-speech language";

Text-To-Speech language

Select the language used by the Text-to-speech feature to read the text.

Time before speaking

Length of the pause between the last CW tone and the following spoken words.

Time after speaking

Length of the pause after the last spoken words.

Font size

Size of the font on the main screen.

Keep screen on

Keep screen always on during playback.

Hide speedbar

Hide the speedbar on the main screen.

Large speedbar range

Normally the speedbar on the main screen ranges to up to 50wpm to enhance resolution. This check enables it up to 100wpm.

Hide end of exercise dialog

Hides the dialog box that appears at the end of every exercise asking how to check the results. The dialog can be hidden also by clicking it's "Don't show at exercise end anymore" checkbox.

Force English interface

Activates the English interface instead of the one translated in the local language.

License key

Enter here your license key if you joined the "Pro" program.

ASCII text preparation

The application accepts extrnal texts saved in pure .TXT ASCII format with the following rules:

  • all characters unknown to the applications are ignored;
  • accented characters are played with their own CW sequence;
  • prosigns can be inserted using the form <xx>; the supported prosigns are <AA>, <AR>, <AS>, <BK>, <BT>, <CL>, <CT>, <DO>, <KN>, <SK> and <SN> ;
  • underscores are interpreted as spaces, but they are considered letters when counting words;

The underscore allows specification of multiple words that are to be played as multiple words but considered as a single word altogether when the words are shuffled for randomization.

Comments can be added to custom text by enclosing them in braces: {this is a comment}.

In this example, dog cat king_cobra lion, the words "king cobra" will always be played together.

From version 2.0.23736, the application supports "line mode" by selecting "Lines from custom string" in the Exercise type option. With this feature, separate sentences, to be played back as a whole, can be added as single lines:

{This is a free-text comment. This text will not
be considered by the application}
Two wrongs don not make a right
Actions speak louder than words
Beggars can not be choosers

Supported international characters

The application supports the following characters coding:

¡U+00A1INVERTED EXCLAMATION MARK− − · · · −
¿U+00BFINVERTED QUESTION MARK· · − · −
ÀU+00C0LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH GRAVE· − − · −
ÁU+00C1LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH ACUTE· −
ÄU+00C4LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS· − · −
ÅU+00C5LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE· − − · −
ÆU+00C6LATIN CAPITAL LETTER AE· − · −
ÇU+00C7LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA− · − · ·
ÈU+00C8LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH GRAVE· · − · ·
ÉU+00C9LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH ACUTE· · − · ·
ÌU+00CCLATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH GRAVE· ·
ÍU+00CDLATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH ACUTE· ·
ÐU+00D0LATIN CAPITAL LETTER ETH· · − − ·
ÑU+00D1LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH TILDE− − · − −
ÒU+00D2LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH GRAVE− − −
ÓU+00D3LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH ACUTE− − − ·
ÖU+00D6LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS− − − ·
ØU+00D8LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH STROKE− − − ·
ÙU+00D9LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH GRAVE· · −
ÚU+00DALATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH ACUTE· · −
ÜU+00DCLATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS· · − −
ÝU+00DDLATIN CAPITAL LETTER Y WITH ACUTE− · − −
ÞU+00DELATIN CAPITAL LETTER THORN· − − · ·
àU+00E0LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE· − − · −
áU+00E1LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH ACUTE· −
äU+00E4LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS· − · −
åU+00E5LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE· − − · −
æU+00E6LATIN SMALL LETTER AE· − · −
çU+00E7LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA− · − · ·
èU+00E8LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH GRAVE· − · · −
éU+00E9LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE· · − · ·
ìU+00ECLATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH GRAVE· ·
íU+00EDLATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH ACUTE· ·
ðU+00F0LATIN SMALL LETTER ETH· · − − ·
ñU+00F1LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH TILDE− − · − −
òU+00F2LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH GRAVE− − −
óU+00F3LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH ACUTE− − − ·
öU+00F6LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS− − − ·
øU+00F8LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH STROKE− − − ·
ùU+00F9LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH GRAVE· · −
úU+00FALATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH ACUTE· · −
üU+00FCLATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS· · − −
ýU+00FDLATIN SMALL LETTER Y WITH ACUTE− · − −
þU+00FELATIN SMALL LETTER THORN· − − · ·
ĄU+0104LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH OGONEK· − · −
ąU+0105LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH OGONEK· − · −
ĆU+0106LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH ACUTE− · − · ·
ćU+0107LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH ACUTE− · − · ·
ĈU+0108LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH CIRCUMFLEX− · − · ·
ĉU+0109LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH CIRCUMFLEX− · − · ·
ĐU+0110LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D WITH STROKE· · − · ·
đU+0111LATIN SMALL LETTER D WITH STROKE· · − · ·
ĘU+0118LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH OGONEK· · − · ·
ęU+0119LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH OGONEK· · − · ·
ĜU+011CLATIN CAPITAL LETTER G WITH CIRCUMFLEX− − · − ·
ĝU+011DLATIN SMALL LETTER G WITH CIRCUMFLEX− − · − ·
ĤU+0124LATIN CAPITAL LETTER H WITH CIRCUMFLEX− − − −
ĥU+0125LATIN SMALL LETTER H WITH CIRCUMFLEX− − − −
ĴU+0134LATIN CAPITAL LETTER J WITH CIRCUMFLEX· − − − ·
ĵU+0135LATIN SMALL LETTER J WITH CIRCUMFLEX· − − − ·
ĹU+0139LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L WITH ACUTE· − · ·
ĺU+013ALATIN SMALL LETTER L WITH ACUTE· − · ·
ŁU+0141LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L WITH STROKE· − · · −
łU+0142LATIN SMALL LETTER L WITH STROKE· − · · −
ŃU+0143LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH ACUTE− − · − −
ńU+0144LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH ACUTE− − · − −
ŔU+0154LATIN CAPITAL LETTER R WITH ACUTE· − ·
ŕU+0155LATIN SMALL LETTER R WITH ACUTE· − ·
ŚU+015ALATIN CAPITAL LETTER S WITH ACUTE· · · − · · ·
śU+015BLATIN SMALL LETTER S WITH ACUTE· · · − · · ·
ŜU+015CLATIN CAPITAL LETTER S WITH CIRCUMFLEX· · · − ·
ŝU+015DLATIN SMALL LETTER S WITH CIRCUMFLEX· · · − ·
ŠU+0160LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S WITH CARON− − − −
šU+0161LATIN SMALL LETTER S WITH CARON− − − −
ŬU+016CLATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH BREVE· · − −
ŭU+016DLATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH BREVE· · − −
ŹU+0179LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z WITH ACUTE− −
źU+017ALATIN SMALL LETTER Z WITH ACUTE− − · · − ·
ŻU+017BLATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z WITH DOT ABOVE− − · · −
żU+017CLATIN SMALL LETTER Z WITH DOT ABOVE− − · · −
ǴU+01F4LATIN CAPITAL LETTER G WITH ACUTE− − ·
ǵU+01F5LATIN SMALL LETTER G WITH ACUTE− − ·
ǸU+01F8LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH GRAVE− ·
ǹU+01F9LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH GRAVE− ·
АU+0410CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER A· −
БU+0411CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER BE− · · ·
ВU+0412CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER VE· − −
ГU+0413CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER GHE− − ·
ДU+0414CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER DE− · ·
ЕU+0415CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER IE·
ЖU+0416CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER ZHE· · · −
ЗU+0417CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER ZE− − · ·
ИU+0418CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER I· ·
ЙU+0419CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER SHORT I· − − −
КU+041ACYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER KA− · −
ЛU+041BCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER EL· − · ·
МU+041CCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER EM− −
НU+041DCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER EN− ·
ОU+041ECYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER O− − −
ПU+041FCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER PE· − − ·
РU+0420CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER ER· − ·
СU+0421CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER ES· · ·
ТU+0422CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER TE
УU+0423CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER U· · −
ФU+0424CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER EF· · − ·
ХU+0425CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER HA· · · ·
ЦU+0426CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER TSE− · − ·
ЧU+0427CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER CHE− − − ·
ШU+0428CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER SHA− − − −
ЩU+0429CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER SHCHA− − · −
ЪU+042ACYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER HARD SIGN− − · − −
ЫU+042BCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER YERU− · − −
ЬU+042CCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER SOFT SIGN− · · −
ЭU+042DCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER E· · − · ·
ЮU+042ECYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER YU· · − −
ЯU+042FCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER YA· − · −
аU+0430CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER A· −
бU+0431CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER BE− · · ·
вU+0432CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER VE· − −
гU+0433CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER GHE− − ·
дU+0434CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER DE− · ·
еU+0435CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER IE·
жU+0436CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER ZHE· · · −
зU+0437CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER ZE− − · ·
иU+0438CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER I· ·
йU+0439CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER SHORT I· − − −
кU+043ACYRILLIC SMALL LETTER KA− · −
лU+043BCYRILLIC SMALL LETTER EL· − · ·
мU+043CCYRILLIC SMALL LETTER EM− −
нU+043DCYRILLIC SMALL LETTER EN− ·
оU+043ECYRILLIC SMALL LETTER O− − −
пU+043FCYRILLIC SMALL LETTER PE· − − ·
рU+0440CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER ER· − ·
сU+0441CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER ES· · ·
тU+0442CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER TE
уU+0443CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER U· · −
фU+0444CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER EF· · − ·
хU+0445CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER HA· · · ·
цU+0446CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER TSE− · − ·
чU+0447CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER CHE− − − ·
шU+0448CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER SHA− − − −
щU+0449CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER SHCHA− − · −
ъU+044ACYRILLIC SMALL LETTER HARD SIGN− − · − −
ыU+044BCYRILLIC SMALL LETTER YERU− · − −
ьU+044CCYRILLIC SMALL LETTER SOFT SIGN− · · −
эU+044DCYRILLIC SMALL LETTER E· · − · ·
юU+044ECYRILLIC SMALL LETTER YU· · − −
яU+044FCYRILLIC SMALL LETTER YA· − · −
ѢU+0462CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER YAT· · − · ·
U+1E30LATIN CAPITAL LETTER K WITH ACUTE− · −
U+1E31LATIN SMALL LETTER K WITH ACUTE− · −
U+1E3ELATIN CAPITAL LETTER M WITH ACUTE− −
ḿU+1E3FLATIN SMALL LETTER M WITH ACUTE− −
U+1E54LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P WITH ACUTE· − − ·
U+1E55LATIN SMALL LETTER P WITH ACUTE· − − ·
U+1E80LATIN CAPITAL LETTER W WITH GRAVE· − −
U+1E81LATIN SMALL LETTER W WITH GRAVE· − −
U+1E82LATIN CAPITAL LETTER W WITH ACUTE· − −
U+1E83LATIN SMALL LETTER W WITH ACUTE· − −
U+1EF2LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Y WITH GRAVE− · − −
U+1EF3LATIN SMALL LETTER Y WITH GRAVE− · − −
U+212BANGSTROM SIGN· − − · −