Click a link of the underlined A1A Breaker.zip, you will be redirected to a web-site of Vector, which is a well-known and reliable download-repository in Japan.
Application Software for Radio
Amateurs
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Morse Code Practice Software
GUI
A1A_Breaker_0187.zip --- Ver. 0.18.7 --- January 24th, 2012
November 15th, 2011
March 25th, 2012
-- A1A Breaker Setup ---------------------------------------------
Let's get started by downloading and installing the software product, which is done from a linked web-site above.
[Downloads]
Click a link of the
underlined A1A Breaker.zip, you will be redirected to a web-site of Vector, which is a well-known and reliable
download-repository in Japan.
Your Internet Explorer will display a Warning
Bar (just below the address bar) where you can see information about downloads,
potential security risks and so on. The Warning Bar asks you for directions.
And the IE would not deal with downloading without your permission. Judging
from the web-site's reliability,
you might give permission to download the A1A Breaker.
The downloading
begins.
I wonder if you could finish the downloading?
[Installation]
After unzipping, paste
a folder of A1A Breaker at any place you like.
If you are using Windows
Vista or Windows 7, it would be better for you to save the A1A Breaker in one of
the user's folders, such as "Documents", "Downloads", "Videos", or "Saved
Games".
Don't put the A1A Breaker into any folder under the "Program
Files"if your OS is Windows Vista or Windows 7. Because UAC (User Account
Control) of them will often block its execution.
A1ABreaker.exe does not
need registry-entries
.
[Uninstallation]
Uninstalling is as
simple as erasing a folder.
Remove the A1A Breaker directory and all its
subdirectories from your PC.
[Preset Procedures for Windows Vista and Windows
7]
Click on A1ABreaker.exe with your right-mouse, and go
to --> Property --> General Tab --> Unblock --> Apply.
Click on
"A1A Breaker J Help.chm" with your right-mouse, and go to --> Property -->
General Tab --> Unblock --> Apply.
[Setup]
You could make the A1ABreaker.exe display most of the captions and messages
in English.
(1) Do double-clicking on an icon of the A1ABreaker.exe.
When an A1ABreaker.exe is executed for the first time,
a new file of A1ABreaker.conf is automatically created in a folder
of the A1A Breaker.
(2) Close the A1ABreaker.exe.
(3) Open the A1ABreaker.conf with a simple text editor.
(4) Find a line of Lang=J or Lang=N in the conf file.
(5) Rewrite it as follows: Lang=Eng
Notice that this is case-sensitive.
(6) Save the A1ABreaker.conf as the same name, that is, overwrite the
previous A1ABreaker.conf.
(7) Execute A1ABreaker.exe once again.
(8) Most of the captions and messages of the A1ABreaker are displayed
in English.
(I have made sure that they are displayed in English on Windows 7 Ultimate
English Edition + SP1.)
It is on Windows 7 Ultimate English Edition + SP1 that I have made sure
that they are displayed in English.
Figure 3. The A1A Breaker on Windows 7 Ultimate x64 English(USA) Edition
+ SP１
[Screen
Resolution]
A Screen Resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels or the higher ones are recommended
on Windows XP Japanese Edition.
A Screen Resolution of 1152 x 864 pixels or the higher ones are recommended
on Windows XP English Edition.
A Screen Resolution of 1360 x 765 piexels or the highter ones are recommended
on Windows 7 English Edition.
Desktop --> Right-Mouse Click --> Properties ---> Display Properties Dialog
--> Settings -> Screen Resolution --> 1360 x
765 pixels.
[To set Pitch of
Tone]
You can practice Morse code in two tones as well as in a single tone.
Try to input two frequencies by the unit of Hertz in the "Pitch of
Tone" Edit Box as follows: 880 / 440.
So the A1A
Breaker generates both of the sound data of 880 Hz and 440 Hz in a sinusoidal
waveform, and then makes a linear superposition of them with the same amplitude.
The A1A Breaker sounds two tones of 880 Hz and 440 Hz. This will keep you from
a monotonous code practice in a single tone.
In addition, the A1A Breaker can be set a decimal value as an audio frequency,
like 1000.1 Hz.
[To start a practice]
A1A
Breaker sounds Morse code one by one while reading a text in an editor at the
left side of the main form of the A1A Breaker.
When you press a button of
Start or a key of F2, the
A1A Breaker starts sounding the codes. While listening to the codes, you are
expected to write down the received letters on a sheet of paper. You may type
the letters with Notepad.
[Unknown
characters]
The unknown characters means all the characters
that are of no use in Morse Code. They are *, #, <, >, !, | , and so on.
The A1A Breaker regards each of them as a space.
For example,
Some
asterisks ******** are often used in place of a password.
The A1A Breaker
interprets the text as follows:
Some asterisks are often used
in place of a password.
[Compression of Spaces]
The A1A Breaker compresses a
succession of spaces into one space while reading a text. For example,
The
light emitted by a TV set makes a good stroboscope.
The A1A
Breaker sounds as follows:
The light emitted by a TV set makes a good
stroboscope.
The succession of spaces between the word of "light" and the
word of "emitted" in the text has been compressed into one space. Another
succession of spaces between "set" and "makes" has been also compressed into one
space.
For another example previously described,
Some asterisks
are often used in place of a password.
The A1A Breaker sounds as
follows:
Some asterisks are often used in place of a password.
The train
of spaces between "asterisks" and "are" in the sentence has been compressed into
one space.
[Convenient
Signs]
When the A1A Breaker finds out a <BT> in the text
editor, it sounds dah-di-di-di-dah as a double dash.
Don't put any spaces
between a pair of angle brackets such as < BT> or <B T>.
Because the A1A Breaker does not recognize them as a double dash of <BT>.
So the A1A Breaker interprets each of the brackets as an unknown character, and
it replaces each of them with a space. As a result, the A1A Breaker sounds BT
or B T each.
This rule is applicable to <HH>, <AR>, <KN>,
<BK>, <VA>, and so on.
This rule can be applied to the following abbreviated numerals,
too.
[Abbreviated Numerals]
<1> ---> di-daah
<2> --->
di-di-daah
<3> ---> di-di-di-daah
... ...
<9>
---> daah-dit
<0> ---> daah
The daah means a long dash, which sounds twice as long as a usual dash in
time duration.
[To comment a whole
line or partial line.]
The A1A Breaker ignores all characters
between two forward slashes(//) and the last end of the line while it sounds
codes. All the characters the A1A Breaker ignores in this way is called a
comment.
[To comment more than one
line.]
The A1A Breaker ignores all characters between /* and */ in a text while it
sounds codes. All the characters the A1A Breaker ignores in this way is called
a comment. The comment starts with /* and ends with
*/ as in C/C++ programming language.
There is a sample file of qsoOubun.txt in a folder of A1A
Breaker. Open the text, and click on a button of Start or press F2 key with a
sound audio amplifier on, you will get to understand how well the A1A Breaker
works under the rules.
Open a sample file of qsoWabun.txt and try it, if you are good at Japanese Morse Code.
The qsoWabun.txt is a sample of
qso in Japanese Morse Code. You will get to know how well the A1A Breaker deals
with both /* and */ .
//------------------------------------------------
[Experimental Demo]
The A1A
Breaker has already gotten a PCM sound engine inside. I am planning to add a
few functions to it in the future for its user to perform some experiments on
desktop in his PC.
[Desktop Experiment]
Here are
some simple experiments with using the A1A Breaker itself and a clock in daily
use. They will show you that 0.1 in the last digit of 1000.1 Hz is
effective.
You might say that 0.1 in the last digit is uncertain. It is
true in a sense.
What I am going to do here is to tell something certain from
what are called uncertain. *
[Experimental Target]
To make
sure that the A1A Breaker sounds a tone of 1000.1 Hz.
[Physical Principle of this Experiment]
If two tuning forks with
frequencies 1000 Hz and 1001 Hz are struck equally soft at the same time, there
is every second a rise and fall of sound corresponding to the coincidence or
opposition of their vibrations. This phenomenon is called beats. The number
of beats heard in a second is equal to the difference of the frequencies of the
the tones. This relationship between them is useful for determining relative
frequencies and absolute ones of the vibrating bodies.
[Preparatory
Settings]
1. Double-click an icon of the A1A Breaker.exe
to execute.
2. Get the Tone radio-button checked in theTone and WaveformCheck-Box of the A1A Breaker.
3. Click
the Run menu item, and then click the
PCM menu item to open the PCM(Pulse Code Modulation) Settings form.
4. Set (Channel, Sample Size, Sample Rate) =
(Mono,
16-bit, 44.1 KHz). Press the OK
button.
5. We need a clock to measure time: a wristwatch or an alarm
clock.
[Experiment 1] ...
[Experiment
2]
1. Input 1000 /
1001 (Hz) into the Frequency Edit Box of the A1A Breaker.
2.
Click on a button of Start with an
audio amplifier on, the A1A Breaker will start to sound a note which is
composed of the two tones.
We should hear the total sound as two separate
tones with slightly different pitches. However our brains and ears no longer
recognize them as different tones because of their small difference in pitch..
We do not hear them as a note made up of the two tones, but rather as a single
tone with a rapidly varying amplitude one time every second. Therefore we get
to know that the A1A Breaker is surely sounding two tones of which their pitches
differ by 1-Hz.
Their beat frequency
is one Hertz, which is easily detectable.
[Experiment
3]
1. Input 1000.0 / 1000.1 (Hz) into the
Frequency Edit Box of the A1A Breaker.
2. Click on a button of Start with an audio amplifier on, the A1A
Breaker will start to sound a note which consists of the two tones.
There occurs every ten seconds a rise and fall of sound corresponding
to the coincidence and opposition of their sound wave vibrations. So their beat
frequency is zero point one Hertz, which is easily detectable.
[The results] ...
[Additional Home
Expreriment]
To make sure that the A1A Breaker has an
ability of sounding a tone of 1000.01 Hz.
1. Input 1000.00 / 1000.01 (Hz) into the Frequency Edit Box at the upper
right side of the A1A Breaker.
2. Click on a button of Start with an audio amplifier on, the A1A
Breaker will start to sound the two tones. .
[Physical Prediction]
There will occur every one hundred
seconds a rise and fall of sound corresponding to the coincidence and opposition
of their sound wave vibrations. The phase of silence,
corresponding to antagonism of equal and opposite vibrations, is extreamly well marked.
So
their beat frequency is zero point zero one Hertz, which is easily
detectable.
//--------------------------------------
[Utility]
The A1A Breaker has a feature of
generating a sound-wave file for cw practice. iTunes
7(Apple Computer Inc.) could convert it into a MP3 sound file. So you
can learn Morse codes with iPod anytime, anywhere
such as in a commuter
train.
//-------------------------------------
Let's take a five
minute break here when you get tired of code practice.
Japan Video Clips in English at a
web site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
I have recently
found this web site in a newspaper article. It seems to me there is not any
exaggeration in the vide contents.
http://www.mofa.go.jp/index.html
//-------------------------
[Note]
This software is provided
by the author on an "AS IS" basis and any express or implied warranties are
disclaimed. In no event shall the author be liable for any direct, indirect,
incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages caused in any way out
of the use of this software.