DE K2CWC QRP

My brother (KE2DFG) and I are practicing continuous wave (CW) and Morse Code with a weekly chess game QSO (conversation) on 40 meters. We’re about 140 miles away from each other and using 5 watt QRP (low power) radios. So, this is a fun, regular way of powering up, checking our antennas and fumbling our way through Morse Code with some friendly competition.

We’re using Google Sheets to keep track of the chess board between QSOs. I found a great template Ben Collins made for automatically walking through a match log. But, I wanted something that was simply the board and a move log. So that is what this is.

How to Use The Google Sheet Template

1. Start by opening the link
2. Make a copy of the file for your own use – File / Make a Copy

1. Make a copy of the sheet / tab for each match you want to play. Right Click on the tab name / Duplicate.

1. Move pieces by entering their code in the destination cell and then deleting their code from the source cell. DON’T USE COPY/PASTE. That will mess up the formatting. For example to move the white pawn in d2 to d4 (i.e. “d4” in algebraic notation)
   • Enter “wp” in cell D4
   • Delete “wp” from cell D2

• You can use the log below the boards to record your moves. I like Algebraic Notation, but you can use whatever you like.

The nice thing about playing chess to practice Morse Code is that it covers a good chunk of the letters and number common in HAM Radio CW QSOs in North America anyway (e.g. K, N, 1, 2 are common call sign starts, Q for Q codes, C and Q for “CQ”, B and K for “BK”, R for “Received or Roger”). The transmissions are also relatively short so it makes for good “copying” practice. The person moving repeats the move transmission 2-3 times and then breaks. The receiver sends back what they heard. If they received and copied accurately, the original sender sends an “R”.

Even with only 140 miles between us, we experience plenty of QSB (signal fading) and QRN (natural interference) especially because we are transmitting on a weekly schedule regardless of conditions. So, this approach has been helpful for us.

I hope you find some of this helpful. Enjoy!