When you first power up Mr. Rags, it knows that you have not configured any settings so it will automatically enter the configuration mode and the following menu will present itself:
1-USER SETTINGS
2-USER MACROS
3-KEYER SETTINGS
PRESS LONGER TO EXIT
The secret to navigating menus is the single Function Button. This button sticks out off the edge of the PCB next to the LEDs. It is very convenient to use because you can press it down or rock it any direction, front or back left or right, to activate it. There are also header pins on the board that you can use to connect your button if you chose to create an enclosure for the keyer.
Make sure that you have either plugged in headphones or have attached a speaker to the header pins on the board. You will need to hear beeps when you hold the Function Button down. You will count the beeps and release the button after the desired number has been reached. This means that you hold the button down for one beep to edit User Settings, two beeps to edit User Macros, and three beeps to edit Keyer Settings.
The last line: “PRESS LONGER TO EXIT” simply means that if you hold the button down for four or more beeps, you will exit this menu. This is the only menu where this instruction is provided, but the same is true of all menus. If you hold the function button down for more beeps than those listed, you will back up one menu.
Backing out at this point will just put you here again. Mr. Rags will keep coming back to Configuration Mode until you have set up one important user setting. That is your call sign. Once Mr. Rags knows that, you can have access to everything. Let's enter your User Settings. Press the Function Button and release it after a single beep. This next menu will appear:
1-myCall
2-myName
3-myQTH
4-CONFIG EVENT CQ
Start by storing your own call sign. Hold the Function Button down again for one beep. You will see the following prompt:
STORE YOUR CALL:
Now, using your keyer paddles, send you call sign in CW. Don't worry about speed or gaps between letters. Each character will appear after you send it. If you make a mistake, hold the Function Button down for three beeps. Please note, that whenever you are entering data with your paddles, three beeps is the same as backspace. When you have finished entering your call sign, give Mr. Rags just one more beep and your call will be stored in nonvolatile memory. Mr. Rags will remember it forever, even if your power down.
Now hold the Function Button down for two beeps and enter your name the same way. Give it one beep when you are done.
Next let's enter your QTH. As you guessed, start with three beeps. Now enter your QTH. As always, three beeps is a backspace. You might want to put a space in your QTH. You do that with two beeps.
This one two three command set will work the same way through all of the configuration options.
The fourth option: “CONFIG EVENT CQ” is something we will look at later. Instead, hold the Function Button down for 5 or more beeps and we will return to the original menu.
Let's begin with “KEYER SETTINGS.” Hold the Function Button down for three beeps. The following menu will appear:
1-NEXT KEYER MENU
2-CW TONE: 440 Hz
3-SPEAKER: ON
4-PADDLES: NORMAL
The paddle mode is selected here by holding the Function Button down for four beeps. Try it. You will see that each time you give Mr. Rags four beeps, the paddle mode cycles through: “Normal”, “Reversed”, “Straight Key” and then back to “Normal.” In normal mode, the left paddle will send dits and the right paddle will dahs. You will want to set up your paddles the way you like them before you try to enter your User Settings.
Item 3 toggles your speaker on and off. If you have a speaker attached to Mr. Rags you will hear a side tone of the CW that you send. The speaker will also produce the beeps from the Function Button. If you prefer to hear your own CW from your transmitter's monitor feature, toggle your speaker off. Your CW will not be played through the speaker, however, the beeps will still come through. If you are using headphones, the speaker mode will work the same way with audio that comes through them. The good news is that you can hook Mr. Rags up to the “phones” jack on your radio and the audio from your receiver will be mixed with the beeps from your Function Button to make operation easy.
Mr. Rags is a great practice tool for developing your keying skills. You can practice CW with either the speaker or with headphones. Everything you send will appear in print on the LCD screen. You can prefect your timing and character spacing and see how well you are doing. We will look at changing the keying speed later. It is easy to do and can even be done while you are engaged in a QSO on the air. Speed is not a setting that is changed while you are in “Configuration Mode.”
Item 2 on this menu let's you pick a frequency of your side tone. Hold the Function Button down for two beeps. The following will appear:
Left Paddle: tone +
Right Paddle: tone -
440 Hz.
As you can guess, you change the tone up or down in frequency by pressing the paddles. Mr. Rags changes tone in steps of 110 Hz. Find the tone you prefer and then simply hold the Function Button down for one beep.
Finally, this menu tells you that one beep will take you to the next set of options. These are items you are less likely going to change. Give us a beep and let's look at them.
1-PREV KEYER MENU
2-BEACON MODE: OFF
3-SIM FIST MODE: OFF
4-RESTORE SETTINGS
Beacon Mode is a feature that will allow you to set up a CW beacon and repeatedly send a string of text over and over until you stop it by pressing the Function Button. The text is a special macro that you must first enter. We will talk more about that later.
Item 3 on this menu toggles a feature that you might like. When it is on, Mr. Rags will try to send CW with a very slight variation to the timing between characters and words. This is designed to simulate the natural sending of a human instead of the perfect sending of a computer.
Item 4, as the listing suggests, is like a factory reset. It puts the keyer back into all of its original default settings.
To leave this menu you can either do one beep to return to the first keyer settings or five beeps to go back to the main configuration menu. Hold the Function Button down for five or more beeps and let's look at the “USER SETTINGS.”
========================
You have done enough to start playing with your keyer. You will proably want to practice with it and get used to the way the Function Button and your paddles work together before you want to put it on the air. You have already learned how the Function Button works in Configuration Mode, let's see what it does as if it was on the air.
Notice now that the screen shows only: “MR. RAGS MACRO-KEYER”
This prompt tells you that you are in “CQ Mode.” We will talk about “QSO Mode” in just a bit. CQ Mode, like Configuration Mode, makes use of the Function Button. Unlike Configuration Mode, however, CQ Mode does not display menus. This means that you must learn the number of beeps for various settings and functions or print up a “cheat-sheet” and keep it handy. The good news is that most of what you do, will be done with either one or two beeps. That is because Mr. Rags keeps track of what you are doing and a single beep will be all you need to do the most obvious next thing.
Having said that, let's look at the most obvious thing you would want to do when you are in CQ Mode. Make sure that your transmitter is set up so that it will not transmit, that is you have “break-in keying” turned off. Hold the Function Button down for only one beep.
Mr. Rags is now sending a macro. A macro is a string of text that it will send automatically for you. There are two types of macros: Hard Macros and Soft Macros. Hard Macros are hard coded into the software. You can not edit them. They are a group of several strings of text that hams commonly send in normal CW QSOs. Soft Macros are strings of up to 90 characters that you have stored. We will look at Soft Macros later.
Press the Function Button again. Notice that Mr. Rags calls CQ every time you press the button for one beep. It knows your call sign because you stored it earlier. Press the button again while it is sending either the C or Q. You can see that this will abort sending the macro. Notice the lower tone you hear when you abort sending. Start the CQ again, but this time try to abort while it is sending your call. The sound is different, it does not stop sending and look at the display. Mr. Rags sends your call an extra time.
When you configured the User Settings, you entered your call, your name, and your QTH. These things are called token strings. If you press the Function Button while Mr. Rags is sending a token string, he will repeat that string an extra time. Send the CQ again, but this time hold the button down longer while it is sending your call. Ah, you can abort the macro while it is sending a token string. You simply hold the button down until you hear the lower tone.
What about changing the speed of your sending? We were able to set the side tone frequency in Configuration Mode, but there was no option there to set the speed. Speed is one of several options that you can change while you are on the air. These options are things that you won't change often so they will require more than just a few beeps. Hold the Function Button down for six beeps.
Mr. Rags will display the following:
Use your paddles to set the speed
Left Paddle +
Right Paddle -
18 WPM
As you adust the speed up or down, the keyer sends the letter V at the new speed. When you release the the paddle, the new speed is displayed on the screen. When you get to the speed that you want, simply hold the Function Button down for one beep. This speed is stored in memory. It is one of the settings that will always be used whenever you restart your keyer.
If you have set up your radio so that it can, the V is also transmitted. This is so that if you need to change your speed while you are in a QSO your contact will know what you are doing and not think that you have disappeared.
Some times when you are having a QSO, your contact will ask you to QRS. Maybe band conditions are changing and the noise floor is getting higher. You are being asked to send slower. Mr. Rags knows a short cut that will let you do that quickly without having to go through the steps described above. Send CQ again with a single beep and notice that it is sent at your preferred speed. Now hold the Function Button down for five beeps and you will see that the speed has automatically dropped. We call this QRS Mode. QRS Mode is toggled on and off with five beeps.
OK, this seems easy to understand, but what happens after someone calls us back or what if we hear someone else calling CQ and we want to answer a station? This is when we enter QSO Mode. Mr. Rags will know we are in QSO Mode when we store our contact's call sign. Here is how you do that.
Let's say you hear a station calling CQ and want to answer it. You need to get ready to record the call sign the first time you send it. Hold the Function Button down for three beeps. The display will show:
SEND THE CALL SIGN NOW:
It is OK to do the beeps while you are listening to the station call CQ. As soon as you start sending, Mr. Rags will record the characters you send. And just like you did when you were storing your own call sign in Configuration Mode, you press the Function Button for only one beep at then end of the call sign and it will be stored. Notice that the top line of the LCD changes. You will always see the call sign of your contact in the upper left corner of the display as long as you are still in QSO Mode.
Try this out while you are still off the air. Hold the Function Button down for three beeps and send a friend's call sign. Store it with a single beep. Now press the button for another single beep. Instead of calling CQ, Mr. Rags now sends your friend's call, “DE” and your call. A single beep sends the IDs.
Both call signs are token strings. This means that you can press the Function Button while either one is being sent and Mr. Rags will repeat it. So if you are answering a CQ, you can record the call the first time you send it. Press the button again and it will start sending it a second time. Press it again before it is done and it will send it a third time. Wait for Mr. Rags to start sending your call and press again to repeat your call. Repeat your call as many times as you want. And then finally send the letter K manually and you have answered the CQ.
When the station turns the QSO back over to you, all you need to do is press the Function Button once and Mr. Rags will respond with the call signs. You can manually send an RST report and then you are ready to tell your contact about yourself. We have several Hard Macros that are there for you to use. Let's talk about sending macros.
First we need to let Mr. Rags know that we want him to take over and send a string of text for us. We do this by holding the Function Button down for two beeps. You will see a “>” appear on the display. This assures you that all is ready for you to start the macro. Next you tell it which macro you want to send by manually sending the first character. We call this character the segue. Try it out. Hold the button down for two beeps and then send the letter O.
Mr. Rags takes over and sends “OP HR IS” and then sends your name twice. Try two beeps followed by the letter Q. Take some time to experiment with this. You can send other Hard Macros with the following segues: V, S, 7, Q, and O.
Beacon Trick:
If you want your beacon to start with one of the restricted characters (V, S, 7, Q, or O), first send a non-restricted character, such as a Z, and then backspace over it. This will defeat the routine that prevents you from starting a macro with one of the reserved characters.
1-USER SETTINGS
2-USER MACROS
3-KEYER SETTINGS
PRESS LONGER TO EXIT
The secret to navigating menus is the single Function Button. This button sticks out off the edge of the PCB next to the LEDs. It is very convenient to use because you can press it down or rock it any direction, front or back left or right, to activate it. There are also header pins on the board that you can use to connect your button if you chose to create an enclosure for the keyer.
Make sure that you have either plugged in headphones or have attached a speaker to the header pins on the board. You will need to hear beeps when you hold the Function Button down. You will count the beeps and release the button after the desired number has been reached. This means that you hold the button down for one beep to edit User Settings, two beeps to edit User Macros, and three beeps to edit Keyer Settings.
The last line: “PRESS LONGER TO EXIT” simply means that if you hold the button down for four or more beeps, you will exit this menu. This is the only menu where this instruction is provided, but the same is true of all menus. If you hold the function button down for more beeps than those listed, you will back up one menu.
Backing out at this point will just put you here again. Mr. Rags will keep coming back to Configuration Mode until you have set up one important user setting. That is your call sign. Once Mr. Rags knows that, you can have access to everything. Let's enter your User Settings. Press the Function Button and release it after a single beep. This next menu will appear:
1-myCall
2-myName
3-myQTH
4-CONFIG EVENT CQ
Start by storing your own call sign. Hold the Function Button down again for one beep. You will see the following prompt:
STORE YOUR CALL:
Now, using your keyer paddles, send you call sign in CW. Don't worry about speed or gaps between letters. Each character will appear after you send it. If you make a mistake, hold the Function Button down for three beeps. Please note, that whenever you are entering data with your paddles, three beeps is the same as backspace. When you have finished entering your call sign, give Mr. Rags just one more beep and your call will be stored in nonvolatile memory. Mr. Rags will remember it forever, even if your power down.
Now hold the Function Button down for two beeps and enter your name the same way. Give it one beep when you are done.
Next let's enter your QTH. As you guessed, start with three beeps. Now enter your QTH. As always, three beeps is a backspace. You might want to put a space in your QTH. You do that with two beeps.
This one two three command set will work the same way through all of the configuration options.
- You are done entering
- To enter a space
- To backspace
The fourth option: “CONFIG EVENT CQ” is something we will look at later. Instead, hold the Function Button down for 5 or more beeps and we will return to the original menu.
Let's begin with “KEYER SETTINGS.” Hold the Function Button down for three beeps. The following menu will appear:
1-NEXT KEYER MENU
2-CW TONE: 440 Hz
3-SPEAKER: ON
4-PADDLES: NORMAL
The paddle mode is selected here by holding the Function Button down for four beeps. Try it. You will see that each time you give Mr. Rags four beeps, the paddle mode cycles through: “Normal”, “Reversed”, “Straight Key” and then back to “Normal.” In normal mode, the left paddle will send dits and the right paddle will dahs. You will want to set up your paddles the way you like them before you try to enter your User Settings.
Item 3 toggles your speaker on and off. If you have a speaker attached to Mr. Rags you will hear a side tone of the CW that you send. The speaker will also produce the beeps from the Function Button. If you prefer to hear your own CW from your transmitter's monitor feature, toggle your speaker off. Your CW will not be played through the speaker, however, the beeps will still come through. If you are using headphones, the speaker mode will work the same way with audio that comes through them. The good news is that you can hook Mr. Rags up to the “phones” jack on your radio and the audio from your receiver will be mixed with the beeps from your Function Button to make operation easy.
Mr. Rags is a great practice tool for developing your keying skills. You can practice CW with either the speaker or with headphones. Everything you send will appear in print on the LCD screen. You can prefect your timing and character spacing and see how well you are doing. We will look at changing the keying speed later. It is easy to do and can even be done while you are engaged in a QSO on the air. Speed is not a setting that is changed while you are in “Configuration Mode.”
Item 2 on this menu let's you pick a frequency of your side tone. Hold the Function Button down for two beeps. The following will appear:
Left Paddle: tone +
Right Paddle: tone -
440 Hz.
As you can guess, you change the tone up or down in frequency by pressing the paddles. Mr. Rags changes tone in steps of 110 Hz. Find the tone you prefer and then simply hold the Function Button down for one beep.
Finally, this menu tells you that one beep will take you to the next set of options. These are items you are less likely going to change. Give us a beep and let's look at them.
1-PREV KEYER MENU
2-BEACON MODE: OFF
3-SIM FIST MODE: OFF
4-RESTORE SETTINGS
Beacon Mode is a feature that will allow you to set up a CW beacon and repeatedly send a string of text over and over until you stop it by pressing the Function Button. The text is a special macro that you must first enter. We will talk more about that later.
Item 3 on this menu toggles a feature that you might like. When it is on, Mr. Rags will try to send CW with a very slight variation to the timing between characters and words. This is designed to simulate the natural sending of a human instead of the perfect sending of a computer.
Item 4, as the listing suggests, is like a factory reset. It puts the keyer back into all of its original default settings.
To leave this menu you can either do one beep to return to the first keyer settings or five beeps to go back to the main configuration menu. Hold the Function Button down for five or more beeps and let's look at the “USER SETTINGS.”
========================
You have done enough to start playing with your keyer. You will proably want to practice with it and get used to the way the Function Button and your paddles work together before you want to put it on the air. You have already learned how the Function Button works in Configuration Mode, let's see what it does as if it was on the air.
Notice now that the screen shows only: “MR. RAGS MACRO-KEYER”
This prompt tells you that you are in “CQ Mode.” We will talk about “QSO Mode” in just a bit. CQ Mode, like Configuration Mode, makes use of the Function Button. Unlike Configuration Mode, however, CQ Mode does not display menus. This means that you must learn the number of beeps for various settings and functions or print up a “cheat-sheet” and keep it handy. The good news is that most of what you do, will be done with either one or two beeps. That is because Mr. Rags keeps track of what you are doing and a single beep will be all you need to do the most obvious next thing.
Having said that, let's look at the most obvious thing you would want to do when you are in CQ Mode. Make sure that your transmitter is set up so that it will not transmit, that is you have “break-in keying” turned off. Hold the Function Button down for only one beep.
Mr. Rags is now sending a macro. A macro is a string of text that it will send automatically for you. There are two types of macros: Hard Macros and Soft Macros. Hard Macros are hard coded into the software. You can not edit them. They are a group of several strings of text that hams commonly send in normal CW QSOs. Soft Macros are strings of up to 90 characters that you have stored. We will look at Soft Macros later.
Press the Function Button again. Notice that Mr. Rags calls CQ every time you press the button for one beep. It knows your call sign because you stored it earlier. Press the button again while it is sending either the C or Q. You can see that this will abort sending the macro. Notice the lower tone you hear when you abort sending. Start the CQ again, but this time try to abort while it is sending your call. The sound is different, it does not stop sending and look at the display. Mr. Rags sends your call an extra time.
When you configured the User Settings, you entered your call, your name, and your QTH. These things are called token strings. If you press the Function Button while Mr. Rags is sending a token string, he will repeat that string an extra time. Send the CQ again, but this time hold the button down longer while it is sending your call. Ah, you can abort the macro while it is sending a token string. You simply hold the button down until you hear the lower tone.
What about changing the speed of your sending? We were able to set the side tone frequency in Configuration Mode, but there was no option there to set the speed. Speed is one of several options that you can change while you are on the air. These options are things that you won't change often so they will require more than just a few beeps. Hold the Function Button down for six beeps.
Mr. Rags will display the following:
Use your paddles to set the speed
Left Paddle +
Right Paddle -
18 WPM
As you adust the speed up or down, the keyer sends the letter V at the new speed. When you release the the paddle, the new speed is displayed on the screen. When you get to the speed that you want, simply hold the Function Button down for one beep. This speed is stored in memory. It is one of the settings that will always be used whenever you restart your keyer.
If you have set up your radio so that it can, the V is also transmitted. This is so that if you need to change your speed while you are in a QSO your contact will know what you are doing and not think that you have disappeared.
Some times when you are having a QSO, your contact will ask you to QRS. Maybe band conditions are changing and the noise floor is getting higher. You are being asked to send slower. Mr. Rags knows a short cut that will let you do that quickly without having to go through the steps described above. Send CQ again with a single beep and notice that it is sent at your preferred speed. Now hold the Function Button down for five beeps and you will see that the speed has automatically dropped. We call this QRS Mode. QRS Mode is toggled on and off with five beeps.
OK, this seems easy to understand, but what happens after someone calls us back or what if we hear someone else calling CQ and we want to answer a station? This is when we enter QSO Mode. Mr. Rags will know we are in QSO Mode when we store our contact's call sign. Here is how you do that.
Let's say you hear a station calling CQ and want to answer it. You need to get ready to record the call sign the first time you send it. Hold the Function Button down for three beeps. The display will show:
SEND THE CALL SIGN NOW:
It is OK to do the beeps while you are listening to the station call CQ. As soon as you start sending, Mr. Rags will record the characters you send. And just like you did when you were storing your own call sign in Configuration Mode, you press the Function Button for only one beep at then end of the call sign and it will be stored. Notice that the top line of the LCD changes. You will always see the call sign of your contact in the upper left corner of the display as long as you are still in QSO Mode.
Try this out while you are still off the air. Hold the Function Button down for three beeps and send a friend's call sign. Store it with a single beep. Now press the button for another single beep. Instead of calling CQ, Mr. Rags now sends your friend's call, “DE” and your call. A single beep sends the IDs.
Both call signs are token strings. This means that you can press the Function Button while either one is being sent and Mr. Rags will repeat it. So if you are answering a CQ, you can record the call the first time you send it. Press the button again and it will start sending it a second time. Press it again before it is done and it will send it a third time. Wait for Mr. Rags to start sending your call and press again to repeat your call. Repeat your call as many times as you want. And then finally send the letter K manually and you have answered the CQ.
When the station turns the QSO back over to you, all you need to do is press the Function Button once and Mr. Rags will respond with the call signs. You can manually send an RST report and then you are ready to tell your contact about yourself. We have several Hard Macros that are there for you to use. Let's talk about sending macros.
First we need to let Mr. Rags know that we want him to take over and send a string of text for us. We do this by holding the Function Button down for two beeps. You will see a “>” appear on the display. This assures you that all is ready for you to start the macro. Next you tell it which macro you want to send by manually sending the first character. We call this character the segue. Try it out. Hold the button down for two beeps and then send the letter O.
Mr. Rags takes over and sends “OP HR IS” and then sends your name twice. Try two beeps followed by the letter Q. Take some time to experiment with this. You can send other Hard Macros with the following segues: V, S, 7, Q, and O.
Beacon Trick:
If you want your beacon to start with one of the restricted characters (V, S, 7, Q, or O), first send a non-restricted character, such as a Z, and then backspace over it. This will defeat the routine that prevents you from starting a macro with one of the reserved characters.