Jim Massara, N2EST, is a talented artist. I’ve never met him in person, but hope to one day.

I’ve created this post because if you’re an amateur radio operator who loves the QSL card aspect of our hobby, then you need to know about Jim.

Just a little under three weeks ago I became aware of his work. Jim creates unique one-of-a-kind QSL cards using cartoon art. He extracts from you what your passion is about the hobby, your favorite colors, etc. and uses that to create a vibrant card that screams to the recipient who you are.

My passion happens to be QRP outdoor radio in New Hampshire. Fall is also my favorite season. I love to take my dog with me on adventures when possible. I do primarily CW. That’s pretty much all Jim knew about me. Look what he created:

Here’s the crazy thing. When you do the math, it costs less than a penny per card extra for Jim to create a unique one-of-a-kind QSL card that undeniably gets the attention of any operator you send it to.

My guess is that many of the cards that Jim has created adorn the walls of radio shacks all over the world while standard beige manila cards languish inside dark drawers or shoe boxes or end up in trash cans.

Let’s do the math. At the time I wrote this post, Jim charges a one-time fee of $200 for a color cartoon of you.

If you order 1,000 QSL cards that means you’re paying just two TENTHS of a penny extra for your one-of-a-kind card.

Don’t you feel it’s worth that to get a stunning QSL card when you don’t seem to hesitate to spend $1,000 or more on a radio, antenna, or who-knows-what?

CLICK HERE now to get your own special card from Jim. Once again, I’ve got no pecuniary interest in Jim or his business. Be sure to contact me after you get your card from Jim. I’d love to see what he did for you!

I spent the better part of yesterday with three other club members, Jim Cluett – W1PID, Glen Aldrich – KC1AAI, and Jim Robinton – N1CRZ in a classroom at the Belmont Middle School in central New Hampshire.

We were invited to the school to participate in the STEM day of fun learning. Over twenty regular citizens like us came to the school to enrich the children’s live with all sorts of things ranging from glider planes, amateur radio, speaking Gaelic, operating drones, sitting in a real helicopter and any number of other real-world things that incorporate the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) the kids are being exposed to in the classroom.

Here’s a one-person glider that costs about $30,000. Photo credit: Glen Aldrich – KC1AAI

I’m the current president of the Central New Hampshire Amateur Radio Club and we were approached by one of the STEM teachers, Ms. Karen Gingrich late last year. She wanted to know if we’d be willing to share our passion for the hobby with the Belmont Middle School students.

The club vice president, Glen Aldrich, loves to do public service events and he immediately decided to take ownership of this opportunity. He visited the school, met with Karen and a fellow teacher Joe Werning. We decided to do three 45-minute presentations, two in the morning and one immediately after lunch.

We arrived about an hour early before the first presentation and set up our equipment. Jim Cluett has the most operating experience and we tried to snare some long-distance (DX) radio signals from the air, but a solar storm must have been in progress.

Jim Cluett, W1PID is on the left and Tim Carter, W3ATB is trying to sooth a headache caused by too much laughter. Photo credit: Glen Aldrich – KC1AAI

The ionosphere was in a very cantankerous mood and we only were able to make one wretched contact with K3SEW in Pennsylvania. This happened before the kids came to our first presentation.

We did our best to explain our complex hobby in a language sixth and seventh-graders could both understand so as to maintain their interest. It helps to ask them if they can burp and if they’d like to have recliner chairs instead of hard-plastic chairs!

Jim Robinton in the teal shirt on the right has the kids wrapped around his finger with an animated answer to a question. Tim Carter on the left, looks on in awe! Photo credit: Glen Aldrich – KC1AAI

The four of us did a tag-team approach to teaching with each of us talking about different things and injecting interesting commentary when we could. We discovered the best way to keep the attention of the polite and well-behaved students was to simply answer their excellent questions.

Much to our surprise each of the three groups of students were most interested in Morse code. Just about everyone of them wanted to hear Jim Cluett spell out their names in Morse. This demonstration brought lots of smiles to their faces.

The three sessions seemed like they were only ten minutes long even though 45 minutes had passed. I had a blast and I’m quite sure that Bella, one of the sixth graders in our first session, will become an accomplished operator one day. She asked so many great questions, I lost count!

This afternoon, after I finished taping a video about installing expanding foam under a concrete slab, I opened my email to discover a letter written by André Erkelens who lives in Arnhem, Netherlands.

I only made it about one third of the way into it before I got choked up. A tsunami of emotions overwhelmed me. Awe, thanks, wonder, and joy were all tumbled together.

I’m not ashamed to say André’s letter caused more than a few tears to roll down my cheeks.

Once I collected myself I forwarded André’s letter and email to my very good friend and CW mentor, Jim Cluett, W1PID. He’s a professional writer and very much in tune with how humans should act towards one another. I knew he’d appreciate what André had to say.

Please read André’s letter. The video he talks about is just below his words so you can see what he was talking about.

I can’t begin to tell you the enormous pleasure this hobby of amateur radio has brought to me. It’s even more perplexing that a disjointed talk I gave at my radio club was able to provide inspiration to a man thousands of miles away.

Thanks André for taking the time to write to me and believe me, your English is far better than my Dutch!

Arnhem- The Netherlands April 2016

Dear Tim!

After a long period of almost 28 years I picked up my radio hobby again. And it makes a lot of fun!

First of all I asked back my old SWL number which I have had when I was 18 years old. Then I could buy a Kenwood R-5000 rx (only 250 euro!) which really was something I only could dream of when I was young. It´s an amazing receiver!

Then I also started to learn for my novice licence. I got it in September 2014 and that was also a boy’s dream that came out! Now I can transmit on 40 meter (7.050-7.100khz)(5watt), on 20 meter (14.000-14.250khz)(2,5 watt) and the whole 10meter band.

For that last band I don´t have a transceiver. I am saving money for it now.

The reason why I write this mail is to say THANK YOU for your YouTube movie about CW. I think you gave a lecture there for other hams and it really inspired me!!

I really really like to learn CW and now I am more inspired than ever!!

I have an app on my I-pod touch which is cw light an that works really nice. I practice on 18 wrts per minute.

I read some articles from your hand on your website they are also good! For a few months I also bought a CW key from tsechoslowakia and it feels very nice. But I can’t use it yet. I will build myself a little rig for CW for 20 meter band maybe something like tuna tin or similar.

A picture of me and my rig is on qrz.com so you can take a look on it. My Call is PD9ZM, the last letters are the initials of my wife’s name.

We are married for 24 years in Hungary, there she lived and there I met her when I worked there as a volunteer for Youth for Christ in a home for mentaly ill boys. She was a nurse there. We have four children: Noémi (23), Henk (21), Hannah (19) and David(almost 16).

I am 47 years old and work as a teacher (German language) at a secondary school. Before that I worked in a factory and repair welding machines, before that I worked as a service technician for BP gas stations and before that I worked as a nurse with mentally ill people and before that I seld an repair laboratory equipment. You see that I have switched a lot with jobs but I al enjoyed it very much!

Sorry for my English ist very poor I know.

Thanks again Tim and al the best for you and your family!!

73, de PD9ZM André Erkelens

Arnhem, The Netherlands

In my last post I mentioned how I made a new goal to do at least one QSO a day. So far I’ve had no trouble meeting the goal. Surprisingly I’m getting lots of great DX contacts.

It really helps to keep the radio on while I’m working and when I hear a strong station calling CQ, I answer her / him as long as I feel I can keep up with their code speed.

Two days ago I had the pleasure of hearing LZ2RS,  Rumi who lives in Bulgaria.

I can’t remember now if I was calling CQ or he was. It doesn’t matter. What matters is I once again was in awe of the magic intertwined with this hobby.

My very good friend Jim Cluett, W1PID, likens it to ” …sitting in a room by yourself and talking with people you can’t see”. He’s not far off.

But sometimes you get to see these new acquaintances and the beauty they surround themselves with. Today was one of those days

Lately I try to send an email after a QSO when I experience fading, interference or deteriorating conditions. Once my QSO with Rumi was underway, all of a sudden the band dropped out from under us. Fortunately I had clearly heard my RST, Rumi’s name and a few other parts of the QSO. It was an official one I could log.

I logged Rumi and proceeded to email him. About thirty minutes later I received a special gift. What you’ll see below is one of the powerful draws of this hobby. I say this because I’m a very social person and love talking to people and hearing / seeing what creates their daily reality.

Rumi over delivered.

Are you as proud of your country as Rumi is his? Would you invest the time to write all what’s below to a complete stranger you’ve never met before? Would you send photographs to help tell your story?

This is just part of what makes this hobby so fascinating to me.

Here’s what he sent and once I read it, I immediately asked for his permission to reprint it here along with his stunning photographs. I thought you’d enjoy it too:

Dear Tim in NH,

It was nice to meet You on 20 m CW   – Your QRP signal was good here / even some QSB / – at the Balkans, Eastern Europe!

Today I was 5 watts -Elecraft K3 and a A4S by Cushcraft – 4 el 3 band at 32m.

Later I wkd W2WC – Dick from NY- I was 1 watt only and got RST 559 QSB.

I can send QSL via the Bureau also.

I am most the time on QRP, on CW. I use my home brew one-paddle key 1976 – then I found an old German relay “Siemens” 1938 and on that base I made my one paddle – still I use the same key and like QRQ to 38 – 40 wpm.

Have already confirmed all of the US states on CW – two way power below ONE watt. I am also US County hunter on CW QRP – 1273 to now.

QRP contest man – I have got very good places last year in WPX,WWDX, IARU HF, Russian DX, German DX and other contests – also in QRP category.

===============================

Just about five years ago, in June of 2011, I was re-introduced back into amateur radio. For the first two years I used my Technician’s privileges at outdoor public service events.

I had never done any HF and was unaware of its mystic power. That all changed in February of 2013 when I saw a Morse code demonstration put on for a small number of Boy Scouts.

Since then I’ve traveled far down the amateur radio pathway with a great friend who’s helped me become an HF operator who enjoys Morse code. A few years ago I sat for the General exam and recently I was fortunate to earn my Extra privileges.

Each day I’m discovering more happiness and magic that’s out there in the ether. A tiny wire high above my roof snags it and delivers it into my radio at the speed of light.

Last night was one of those nights. It was just before dinner and I was finished working for the day. I decided to turn on my radio to try to get three QSOs completed before it was time to bound down the stairs from my man cave / ham shack.

I’ve been attracted to low power, so I adjusted my IC-7000 to five watts and started calling CQ on 14.060 MHz. I tried for three minutes and pretty much gave up. The reverse beacon network report was pretty dismal.

About twenty seconds after stopping, I heard a faint station calling me! I clearly heard his call sign the first time and sat straight up. It was GM0LVI.

I scored a nice DX contact with the amount of power the night light in my hallway puts out!

The QSO was not too long and there was some fading. I signed off and sent Dave a quick email thanking him. Here’s what I got back minutes later:

Hi Tim,

Just a quick email to say thanks for the QSO this evening. It may not have been anything special for you, but for me it was the first time I’d used a pump key for about 20 years. No doubt it showed too!!

The key was a Czech army key about 50 years old that arrived today in the original wax packing and I’d just finished adjusting the gap and tension and decided to give it a try. I still need a good few hours to get back to where I once was on a straight key, but will keep plugging away.

You were a good 559 on peaks, but QSB and latter QRM made things a bit difficult. I was running 5 Watts from a KX3 to a 2 el Quad.

Anyway, thanks for an historical QSO!!!

73,72, – Dave GM0LVI

First and foremost, I feel emails like Dave’s add so much to the overall radio experience. They often fill in some very important details one might never know that are surrounding the dits and dahs or voice QSO you might have.

I felt quite special to be the one-in-a-million operator that would make the historic QSO with Dave. I had never even heard of a pump key before.

How much magic is out there to still to experience? My guess is more than you’d ever expect. Here are two photos of that special Czech army pump key Dave was using.

Thanks Dave for allowing me to publish your photos!

Yesterday Dave Benson – K1SWL, Jim Cluett – W1PID, and myself traveled once again to the peaceful Saint Gaudens National Historic Site. We were there just over a month ago when the harsh New Hampshire winter was interrupted by a warmer day. CLICK HERE to read about that adventure.

The large white house on the right is where the sculptor lived. We operated in the parking lot about 300 feet to the right of the house. Photo credit: Tim Carter – W3ATB

Typically it would be 41-43 F in early March here in this part of the Northeast. It’s not uncommon for 2 feet of snow to be on the ground. Yesterday there were just small patches of snow, mostly in places where it had been plowed into piles or shaded from the increasingly intense rays of the sun. Believe it or not, the temperature climbed to 70 F by mid-afternoon.

We decided to work 20 meters and do phone or single sideband. Our last time we did CW and it was thought it would be nice to give the phone, or voice, operators a chance to score a relatively rare location on the NPOTA list of activation sites.

Dave registered us on the NPOTA page telling the world we’d be there operating between 16:00 – 18:00 UTC. We decided it was best to use his call sign so as to not cause confusion.

We used Dave’s 1/4-wave antenna made with a Buddipole collapsable whip attached to the end of a fiberglass painter’s pole with two dandy bare copper radials sloping down at a 45-degree angle. The tip of the antenna was a good 27 feet up in the air and it worked well. We were able to log chasers all across the USA and into Europe. All told we had 92 QSOs, almost all of them SSB.

About two weeks before this activation I had taken delivery of a very nice 12-volt 15 amp-hour lithium iron phosphate battery from BioennoPower.com. It’s very light and we wanted to see if it would power Dave’s ICOM 706 100-watt radio. We only transmitted at 25 watts and the battery did a magnificent job for the one hour and fifteen minutes of hard work.

Here’s the great Bioenno battery and Dave’s IC-706. CLICK the image to BUY Bioenno batteries.

Dave was on the air first and being a pro he marched right through the pileup we knew would happen once Jim spotted us. Dave’s been an operator for decades and it shows.

I didn’t operate the last time we were out and I’ve done very little HF phone work so far in my amateur radio career. This would be a first for me.

The chasers calling us were very patient and I only stumbled from time to time using Dave’s call sign instead of mine. I can tell you it’s very important to have a good logger with you and as the control operator, you should be writing down the call signs of those stations you’re working. That helps you confirm the chasers’ call signs.

Left to right: Jim Cluett – W1PID, Dave Benson – K1SWL and Tim Carter – W3ATB Photo credit: Canon S-95 on flat sign post with 10-second timer

Many chasers are taking this event seriously and within 18 hours of Dave posting our log on Logbook of the World (LOTW) we already had 62 chasers confirm QSOs. That’s remarkable!

I like to add a little spice to conversations and at the end of one of the short QSOs with a man who lived in southwest Indiana, I said, “Thanks and  keep growing corn for us!”

Jim got an odd look on his face and said, “Corn?”. It became the joke of the day. Corn was on my mind as it was the topic of discussion as Jim and I drove to the Saint Gaudens site. We were wondering about imitation and real kettle corn. I’m tasked today with trying to discover the first use of the phrase kettle corn.

That’s what these outings are all about. They’re supposed to be adventures, they’re supposed to be filled with laughter and they’re supposed to be relaxed.

We scored on all three yesterday. Realize we can still get snow here in New Hampshire this time of year, but with it being March already it’s just an annoyance as the sun will send it back to the ocean in no time. The warming rays of the spring sun are much anticipated here in New England and believe me we soaked them up.

We’ll be activating more sites here in New England as the year progresses, but any in Massachusetts will be sans Jim. He doesn’t like going south, unless of course you want to go north to Maine.

Yes, that’s another inside joke and nice-to-know information, not need-to-know. There’s nothing more to see here, so kindly move along.

Today it was 54 F in central New Hampshire at Profile Falls, just south of Bristol, NH when Jim Cluett, W1PID and I decided to take my new Elecraft KX3 radio out for it’s outdoor christening.

Normally the outdoor temperature would be 20 F or lower and there could be 3 feet of snow everywhere you look.

Experts say it’s been the warmest winter in living memory. Overnight a strong storm blew through the area bringing heavy rain and rising temperatures.

We decided to set up in the nice picnic shelter knowing the tables would be dry. The Smith River is immediately adjacent to the shelter and it was swollen with icy raging water from all of the overnight rain and melting snow.

We used Jim’s 29-foot wire antenna and 9:1 unun. It was hanging from a branch right over the shelter. Fortunately the air temperature was warm so Jim’s fingers didn’t get cold as he was putting up the antenna.

Prior to leaving for the outing, I had contacted Carter Craigie, N3AO and asked if he was going to be around. He responded he would and he’d listen up for us on or around 14.060.

After a few minutes of me hunting for anyone on the air and calling CQ a few times, I heard N9ZXL calling. I answered back, but he didn’t hear me. Such is outdoor radio!

Here I am copying what N3AO is sending. Photo credit: Jim Cluett – W1PID

Jim took over and made a few adjustments on my radio.

I got up and stood in the glorious sunshine looking down at the raging water of the Smith River.

Here’s Jim pounding brass. He’s pretty good – to put it mildly. Photo credit: Tim Carter – W3ATB

Within a few minutes, Jim was on the air with Carter Craige.

“Where’s Tim?” Carter sent.

He wanted to chat with me, not Jim. Jim’s worked him countless times.

I sat down and Jim handed me my mini Pico Paddles.

Carter slowed down for me and I could hear every character.

After our quick QSO ( an amateur radio acronym / slang for conversation) ended, Jim took over and tried to work a very strong DX station from Kuwait, but it was not to be. Jim had worked the operator before, but today he couldn’t hear Jim’s return signal.

We decided to pack it in and it’s a good thing we did. Within the hour a brief rain shower was upon us.

It was exciting to work Carter Craigie, a new friend I met eighteen months ago at the ARRL Centennial Convention.

If all goes well, my new KX3 is going to get lots of exercise in the upcoming warm months that are just ahead!

A little over a month ago the plans to activate Saint Gaudens National Historic Site as part of the ARRL’s National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) year-long event were proposed by Dave Benson, K1SWL and Jim Cluett, W1PID.

Here we are after the successful activation. From left to right: Jim Cluett – W1PID, Tim Carter – W3ATB, Dave Benson – K1SWL Photo credit: 10 second timer on Canon S-95 and tilted tree branch

When the NPOTA announcement came out, Dave was quick to recognize there were two, maybe three places in all of NH to activate. We thought we’d have to wait until spring when the warmer weather wandered into our fair state. But Mother Nature served up a tolerable day yesterday as part of her ongoing El Niño performance gifting us with one of the mildest winters in living memory.

You may not recognize the name Saint Gaudens, but you’ll surely recognize some of the creations of this supremely talented American sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens. He created hundreds of pieces of art that are on display around the USA, but his most famous work, many believe, is what he did for the US Mint. He created the design for the historic $20 gold piece.

“Guys, look at the weather forecast for next Thursday, 49 F and sunny!” I sent that email about six days ago to Dave and Jim. Both agreed that we should attempt the activation.

We decided to use my humble 6 x 10 x 6 covered utility trailer to keep us out of the weather. Two small propane heaters were employed to take the chill off.

Jim’s in the red jacket moving about and Dave is making sure the halyard will not get tangled. You don’t want to get halyards tangled – EVER. Photo credit: Tim Carter – W3ATB

It turns out it worked far better than we thought. The trailer was the perfect size for three people and my two small propane heaters made it feel like April inside our portable ham shack on wheels.

Because we decided to do a low-powered operation, it was important to get the antenna as vertical as possible. The trees surrounding the trailer provided plenty of perfect branchs and Jim made sure he got the exact one to give us the best results.

Here’s Jim launching the halyard. It takes supreme concentration to get the right branch. You can see the water bottle weight in the air just above his throwing hand. Photo credit: Tim Carter – W3ATB

Our antenna was just a simple 29-foot piece of 20-gauge wire connected to a 9:1 unun. Dave suggested we install a thin counterpoise that stretched about 25 feet out along the ground. The combination of the two elements worked well as we logged two European stations and made it out to the west coast of the USA as well!

It only took us about twenty leisurely minutes to get set up and transmit. We used Jim’s Elecraft KX3 and set the power at 8 watts.

Jim’s sitting down and Dave’s checking some information. We’re just minutes from getting on the air. Photo credit: Tim Carter – W3ATB

For the first few minutes, Jim tried calling CQ. Someone was occupying 14.063 that we had advertised on the ARRL website. Jim moved to 14.062 and no one came back after fifteen or twenty CQs.

“This is fun.” Jim is the master of deadpan humor.

Dave took over the key and Jim decided to put a spot out on the DX Cluster website.

Here’s Jim spotting us. Be careful what you wish for. One of the nifty propane space heaters is next to the trailer door.  Photo credit: Tim Carter – W3ATB

Days before it was decided to use small laptops to do all the logging. Jim was unfamiliar with the keystrokes required to log call signs in Dave’s program. Frustration bubbled up moments after Jim successfully spotted us.

Within 15 seconds of Jim creating an entry for us on DX Watch, all hell broke loose.

“We let the tigers out of the cage,” was the way Jim described the mayhem that ensued as we drove home later in the day. Watch the video below to feel the intensity of part of the pileup.

Jim and Dave quickly changed seats with Jim on the key and Dave logging. In a period of just 40 minutes we logged 55 QSOs.

“Guys, that was the first pileup I’ve ever worked!”

I couldn’t believe that was coming out of Jim’s mouth. No way was that possible.

“I’ve been one in a pileup trying to get through many a time, but never been the one trying to pull out call signs.”

We took a short break for lunch. Jim and Dave needed to regain energy after pounding the brass for nearly an hour. For the time being, all who wanted to log us had pushed back from the feeding table and the frequency quieted down.

After a few chocolate chip granola bars, Dave jumped on the radio, and it didn’t take long to get us up to eighty or so QSOs.

My CW listening skills are not that well developed to be able to do what Jim and Dave were doing, so I just sat there and soaked up the entire experience. I also helped with the logistics and all of the creature comforts.

After two hours of operating, we decided to pull the plug and head home. We were excited about the adventure and we believe we made another eighty chasers quite happy to have Saint Gaudens in their logbook.

Jim didn’t come down from the clouds for about six hours. He was thrilled with working the pileup.

We plan to go back when the weather is warmer and operate from a fantastic arbor-shaded side porch that’s part of the Saint-Gaudens mansion up on the hill.

The side porch is on the left and gets lots of warm sunshine. Photo credit: Tim Carter – W3ATB

If you’re just getting into amateur radio and Morse code, then you’ll need to get up to speed on what RST means and how to use it properly.

The acronym RST stands for: Readability – Signal Strength – Tone

If you’re operating phone or voice, you’ll give just the first two, the R and the S.

Perhaps you’ve heard a fellow operator come back to you saying:

” (Insert your call sign here) you’re five by nine here in Pie Town, New Mexico.”

Or he might say, “You’re five nine here in Pie Town, New Mexico.”

The first number, “five” is a measurement of readability. It’s how clear your voice is.

Here’s where you can get confused. A completely clear transmission doesn’t have to be strong at the same time. The incoming transmission could be very weak, but you can understand each word said – as if someone’s whispering in your ear. That’s why the operator would deserve a 5 on the readability scale.

The second number “nine” is a measurement of the strength of your voice to the other operator. A nine, the highest value you can assign, would mean your voice was as strong as if you were in the same room with him and talking at a normal volume.

You can see those  “S” scale markings in the photograph below.

Modern radios tend to have digital readout signal strength meters. They can help you with the S component of the report. Here’s a photo of the digital meter on my ICOM 7000 radio picking up a Russian station sending Morse code that was producing an eight for signal strength.

See the green lines and where they stop between the 7 and the 9? That means the signal strength is an 8. Photo credit: Tim Carter – W3ATB

When you decide to do Morse code, you add another component – Tone.

As you might expect, assigning values to something you hear is subjective. You may have young ears that didn’t get damaged by 20-plus years of working with screeching circular saws like mine. Back when I was a young carpenter, no one told us about ear plugs or ear muffs so I’ve got both hearing loss and significant tinnitus.

This means that your signal to two different operators sitting is the same room listening to the same speaker might produce two different reports!

Use the following tables that I borrowed from the Straight Key Century Club. They are an excellent source of information if you’re just discovering the magic of Morse code.

Study these and do your best when giving a realistic signal report. Don’t ever embellish a report. Most operators want the truth and they want to know how band conditions are between your station and their location. There’s no shame in giving an operator a 329.

Oh, one more thing. As you enter the world of contesting, the RST report goes out the window. It seems everyone, no matter how weak their signal, gets a perfect report of 599!

R: Readability
1 — Unreadable
2 — Barely readable, occasional words distinguishable
3 — Readable with considerable difficulty
4 — Readable with practically no difficulty
5 — Perfectly readable

S: Signal Strength
1 — Faint signals, barely perceptible
2 — Very weak signals
3 — Weak signals
4 — Fair signals
5 — Fairly good signals
6 — Good signals
7 — Moderately strong signals
8 — Strong signals
9 — Extremely strong signals

T: Tone
1 — Sixty cycle A.C. or less, very rough and broad
2 — Very rough A.C., very harsh and broad
3 — Rough A.C. tone, rectified but not filtered
4 — Rough note, some trace of filtering
5 — Filtered rectified a.c. but strongly ripple-modulated
6 — Filtered tone, definite trace of ripple modulation
7 — Near pure tone, trace of ripple modulation
8 — Near perfect tone, slight trace of modulation
9 — Perfect tone, no trace of ripple or modulation of any kind