From a review by Esde Tyler, G0AEC 'Novice News', RadCom, Feb. 1995, p32 "Are you ready to practise sending? Full instructions on attaching a key are included - and if a computer accepts your Morse, it must be pretty good. Again, you can include punctuation marks, procedural abbreviations, etc. One thing a friendly amateur can do is send a letter for the student to copy (send back on the key) - and so does this program now! In fact it does it with words etc. also. It tells you if you are (right or) wrong and lets you try again. "For those amateurs who spend valuable time preparing mock tests for learners, help is at hand. The program can tell you how long tests (that you have) 'prepared earlier' will take to run - whether at Novice or full speed, or any speed, come to that. It will count the character frequency for you within the passage, showing instantly which - if any - characters are missing. For busy Morse teachers these facilities` must be time saving. "There are over 125 simulated tests (now 150 in QSO format; D.B.) with the option to add more. All the receiving tests last the correct length of time and each one contains each of the 26 letters and all the numbers at least once (plus procedures etc.; D.B.). "I discovered that I have the basic fault of anticipating the rest of the word from the shape of the beginning. With this program this absolutely impossible - take my word for it! A conventional word begins - apparently, but does not end as expected; all perfectly good words but not predictable. "Derek has worked out that his efforts so far have paid him the princely sum of 1p per hour, which tells you the scope of the finished product!" | Top of page |

From another review by Esde Tyler, G0AEC, 'Novice News', RadCom, Feb. 1994, p34 "Here is information on a tutor for those who have IBM (or compatible) computers. Derek (G4UXD) sent a disk which has given a great deal of much-needed practise to me. "From the initial learning of the characters to full test standard - both Novice and amateur - this program caters for all. You can set the character speed at anything between 10wpm and 100wpm and the space speed from 1 to 100wpm depending on how much thinking time you need. You can have Q-codes and amateur abbreviations included in your practise along with numbers and punctuation. There are over 4000 words (now 4260 - DB), carefully chosen so that pre-reading and anticipating what is coming next is practically impossible; this overcomes the biggest handicap. "There are 130 sample tests, some the new "QSO-style" and some plain text type (now 150 in QSO format + 100 plain text - DB) which are interesting to read and give good practise. You can type in your own text and save it to disk. When recalled it returns as beautiful computer-generated Morse - a boon for busy Morse teachers who can have passages 'that they prepared earlier' for instant use. These can then be received by students at different levels by setting the speed and spacing to their individual requirements. "The program can also receive your Morse - instructions for connecting a key to the computer are given. In fact, I couldn't find any omissions in the facilities in the times that I have used it. And there is more that I haven't explored yet!" | Top of page |

From a review by Ian Keyser, G3ROO, 'Novice Notebook', RadCom, Mar 1994, p35 "For teaching Morse I use on my PC a Morse tutor program from G4UXD, but it would also be very good for the person learning Morse from scratch. It will teach you the Morse characters, then go on to send sample text to you and finally up to 100 sample Morse tests, 70 of which are in the new (QSO) style (now 150 QSO tests! - DB). Further (sets of) 30 memories can be added and accessed to help training even further. "It is also possible to key text into the keyboard and the computer will send Morse; this saves a lot of work for an instructor sending to a group! If the computer is used to key Morse direct it can provide sidetone". | Top of page |

From two reviews by Ron Broadbent, G3AAJ Oscar News, June 1988 / April 1990 "I have been fortunate to receive a new Morse teaching program from AMSAT-UK member Derek Brandon. I say 'fortunate' because not only is it an excellent program for the beginner but is really fun to use for old so-and-so's such as I! The program is fully compatible with the IBM clone range, in full colour and very user friendly. "The program certainly lives up to all claims made by the author. There are such variations as speed, pitch and character (passage) length, all controlled from the keyboard. The program gives you an opinion as to why your sending is NOT good, HI! And yes, you can connect your favourite key into the I/O ports of both micros. "Over the years I have played with various Morse practise programs at rallies and found most of them to be lacking in the real sound of a well-oiled fist and good CW transmitter, but to me this one comes out 99% perfect. "With the disk comes a short information sheet although, to be honest, everything you need to know about the operation is on the start-up menu with complete guidance at every stage. "At just under a tenner I don't think that anyone is being robbed if they buy this program, which must have taken a few hundred hours to put together. I would suggest that many 'old-timers' would like it on their list of software, even if only to show a visitor what Morse code really should sound like from a good fist. "Thanks, Derek, a pleasant surprise; I had some fun reviewing this one!" Ron Broadbent, G3AAJ | Top of page |

From a review by Graham Cluer, G4AVV RadCom, June 1986 This is a review of the BBC version (now discontinued), though the comments and principles referred to apply equally to the IBM version. "There are a number of ways to approach writing a Morse tutor program. Some send letters as you type them in; this is useful in the early stages so that you can get the 'feel' of the letters. Some may send the sound to you as the computer displays the letter on the screen for a similar effect. (In addition) One program, G4UXD's, has a mode whereby one sound is sent then the student has to type the response on the keyboard. This can improve your typing as well as your Morse and I found it surprisingly helpful. "A more useful mode is for the computer to send random words or phrases followed by a display of what was sent so that you can check your own attempts at reading. Variations here are whether continuous strings of letters or letter groups, random English words or complete sentences are sent. It may seem that it would be better to learn using only random characters but many students find, as I did, that the chance of predicting a word actually adds another distraction and is more difficult in the early stages. Most programs allow you to add your own text and some have a large example of text provided by the software author. Mention must be made again of G4UXD's program which comes with five hours-worth of Morse text plus the ability to add your own. (Now has 150 QSO format tests as well as 100 plain texts - DB). "I would rate highly the ability of the program to send characters at normal speed but with a longer-than-usual spacing; this facility enables the student to learn the right sound of the letters but gives more thinking time. Only Scarab System's and G4UXD's programs will really allow this. "Surprisingly, I have not come across a program which truly enables you to ask for extra frequency of some letters which you find difficult (Mine now does: D.B.), though many allow you to ask for a restricted alphabet to be sent. "As a final utility some Morse tutor programs allow you to send code to the BBC which then attempts to decode it. I must admit to some scepticism as to whether such a facility would be really helpful, but I was pleasantly surprised by programs from Binary Star and G4UXD. These not only decode the Morse, but also report on dot/dash length and inter-letter gaps, etc. Having said that, I would strongly advise anyone to avoid this facility until they are proficient at receiving Morse code. The program from G4UXD gave slightly more information as to what was wrong with my Morse and for a number of reasons this is the one that I would recommend." | Top of page |

| Write to Derek G4UXD |