CW599 · MORSE LAB
Back to CW Room
English

GUIDE & RULES · v1.1

CW Room Design Guide and Civil Conduct Rules

Learn the design, operation, QSO confirmation, callsign verification, privacy, and civil conduct rules of CW599 CW Room.

1. Purpose

CW Room is an online CW contact space that simulates an amateur-radio band. It does not transmit RF and is not an official proof of licensing. It helps operators practice tuning, listening, hand sending, roundtable contacts, and proper QSO endings.

Browsers synthesize audio locally from realtime key events. The server does not transmit audio or permanently retain decoded content.

2. Callsign accounts and verification

Anyone may register a CW599 account using a callsign. New callsigns are marked Unverified, become Pending after evidence is uploaded, and become Verified after administrator review.

  • Guests and unverified or pending users may listen.
  • Only signed-in users with a verified callsign may transmit.
  • A transmitter must use the verified callsign on the account.
  • Approved license images are retained permanently in encrypted private storage under the consent given at submission and are visible only to authorized administrators.

3. How to use CW Room

  1. Tune the simulated 7.000–7.050 MHz band in 1 kHz steps.
  2. Watch the spectrum and waterfall, then listen on the selected frequency.
  3. When the frequency is clear, send with Space, Enter, mouse, or the mobile key button.
  4. Each frequency has three transmit seats; additional visitors remain listeners.
  5. At the end of a contact, actually send CFSK to confirm it.

4. QSO and CFSK

CFSK is the CW599 confirmation sequence for ending a CW Room contact. Each participant must send C, F, S, and K. The final S and K may also be joined as the standard <SK> prosign, producing CF<SK>. Sending SK or <SK> by itself ends a transmission but does not confirm a saved QSO summary.

  • At least two callsigns must independently send CFSK before a QSO summary is created.
  • The first confirmation opens a five-minute confirmation window.
  • Disconnected or unconfirmed callsigns are excluded.
  • The summary contains only callsigns, frequency, UTC time, duration, and rules version.

5. Civil conduct rules

Use CW Room with the same respect expected on a real amateur band.

  • Listen before transmitting. Do not intentionally cover another signal or cause deliberate QRM.
  • Do not impersonate callsigns, harass, threaten, use hateful language, or send illegal or dangerous content.
  • Do not advertise, spam, or use automation to occupy a frequency.
  • Do not evade seat limits, rate limits, sanctions, or callsign verification.
  • Do not transmit private contact details, passwords, document numbers, or other sensitive information.

Listeners can mute and report stations. Administrators may temporarily disable transmission, suspend access, revoke verification, or permanently ban an account.

6. Data and privacy

  • Realtime key events, waveforms, and decoded content exist only briefly in browsers, service memory, or short-lived Redis state.
  • The server does not permanently store decoded content or raw key sequences.
  • Confirmed QSO metadata summaries are public.
  • Reports contain reporter, reported callsign, frequency, time, and reason, but no decoded content.
  • License images are re-encoded, stripped of EXIF, encrypted, stored outside the public site, and protected by administrator access auditing.

7. Versions and upgrades

The current protocol and conduct rules are v1.1. This release changes the QSO closing confirmation from CFM SK to CFSK. Major changes to protocol, data retention, or user rights use versions such as v2.0 and v3.0.

Historical documents are never overwritten. Every QSO summary records its protocol and rules version. Users must accept updated rules before transmitting again.