I'd like to wake up one morning and find that the Cosmic Tower and Beam Company left a wonderful little blessing in my back yard...other than that, I'm happy as a clam, at least as a Ham. Yeah, there are a few things I would like to see, but the way Human Nature is, we can forget about that. I mean, we all want Peace, but as long as there are idiots like Bin Laden and his buddies running around God's Green Earth, there will be no Peace.
   I'd like to see an end to homelessness and starvation. I'd like to see an end to stupidity and greed, not to mention the misuse of Power. Yeah, it is pie in the sky, I'll admit it, but you asked. I'd like to see humanity follow the Golden Rule, but that would mean the end to all problems, so that ain't gonna happen any time soon. Oh well.
   Oh, and I guess when I get that big beam, I may as well get that Henry 5K, or something like that. I would really like to try real QRO for a change. I can dream, can't I?

A friend gave me a set of these paddles, and while they aren't expensive or fancy, they work ok, and would be fine for someone just starting out. You need to take your time in dialing in the adjustments. It needs to be balanced in all the planes and angles, and adjust the contacts to close with as much surface area of the contacts touching each other as possible. I set my paddles with very close tolerances, and very light to the touch, and I run anywhere between 15 and 40 wpm, depending on what the other person is running, so you set it wherever it is comfortable for YOU, but be prepared to do some fiddling. Don't let yourself get frustrated. Above all, get on the air and make some contacts. That is where the fun of CW is anyway.

Congratulations...you gotta start somewhere, and you've cleared the first hurdle by passing the exam. Be patient and presistent. Be polite. Always send "QRL?" before you start sending CQ.  Don't get discouraged if you get blown off by self-styled CW "legends in their own minds" who refuse to slow down to your speed.  You'll find plenty of fine CW ops who will, and they'll make you feel good about yourself because you're trying to develop CW skills instead of trying to make you feel bad because you can't keep up with them. Rome was not built in a day, and some of these folks truly seem to have forgotten they were once beginners themselves.  I'm not naming names, just stating a fact. Practice your sending as well as your copying.  You will be judged by your fist before you'll be judged by your ear, and nothing will make someone on the other end want to send 73 es CUL faster than a terrible fist.  If you have an e-mail address, e-mail me, and I can send some stuff to you that will really help. Good luck, and get on the air.

Way to go folks! Be like your favorite football team, and bask in the glow of success for a little while, and get on with things and start studying to upgrade.  Don't stop now! Good luck, and you CAN learn CW. If you have to use it like a carrot on a stick, do it, because HF is where it's at, and besides, CW is FUN!

Yes, I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, and no doubt about it, you can really improve your skills over the course of a major contest like SS. It makes sense to take the long term view and just have fun, because if you aren't having fun, it's time to think about finding something else to do with your time. I'm a casual contester and as far as CW contests are concerned, I see it as a way to improve my skills for ragchewing, which is my favorite. It really feels good when you have the first realization that you ARE improving, and no doubt about it, musical ability is very helpful for anyone interested in CW...did dit.

Boy, I hate to admit it, because it's just one more example of how cynical this old world has become, but for someone who knows "nothing about the hobby", Sandy, how the heck do you know what a "transciever" is, and why do you put quotation marks around it? You can't spell simple words, but you sure know how to spell transciever, and you know enough to tell everybody about the composition and location of the building, not to mention the altitude of the "kids" apartment. You suggest he needs help with a building project, so why don't you just go ahead and suggest a K2 and get it over with? There are loads of generous Hams who would help a youngster like this, including myself, but until proven otherwise, this one stinks to high heaven. I would feel better about it if you just were honest and came out and asked everyone for donations for your own Christmas present in the form of an Omni VI+ or an FT-1000D. Sorry...

Let's just be careful not to preach to the choir here gentlemen, because I am absolutely in agreement with the "proper" usage of prosigns, but let's be honest if we can, and say that this is Amateur Radio, not Amateur Military Radio, or Professional Radio.  I'm sure you will take this the wrong way, but in the name of honesty, I have to say it...no one here, not me, not the originator of the thread, nobody on this great board is the arbiter of what should be considered "proper" prosign usage. Heck, I might well do it a way you don't like, just because I know it pisses you off. As far as I can tell, nobody here is CW God, sent down from Morse Heaven to set us all straight. I'm not trying to put anybody down, but the learning curve isn't the same for everyone, and it shouldn't have to be. I'm much more concerned about the lack of courtesy and selfishness that seems to be filtering down from the phone bands to the once tranquil world of CW. Go ahead and shoot me, I don't care.

I think you should continue to do it just as you see fit, but don't expect everyone to want to do it your way, which, believe it or not, is not the only way to do things. Remember that there are a lot of new CW ops on the bands, and yes, they need to learn the "right" way to do things. They don't do these things to intentionally anger us. I have read where some have espoused the importance of cutting things to the bone, where you send only the barest essentials. I see CW as very idiosyncratic, that is, very personal. As long as I understand what the guy on the other end means, that is all I care about. I am more concerned about the lack of etiquitte on the air, people not caring if the frequency is already in use, digital QRM coming out of nowhere, in the CW sub-band, folks that REFUSE to send at the speed of the person whose call they answer. We could find a thousand things to gripe about, and what bothers me a lot is not gonna bother you at all, and vice versa. That's the way it is.

There are idioms in every language ( not IDIOTS, hi ) and I don't see it as a matter that "We" changed anything. There is no "we". Some use a period, others use a pause. So what? With age differences from teens to nineties, do you really expect everyone to use prosigns the same way? I don't. There are a of things that bother me more, for example: The other day I was sending CQ on 40 meters, and I heard this guy come back to my call, and not only did he not care to take the time to even half-way zero beat my frequency, he sloppily sent his call only one time. Jeez, I copied his call, and adjusted my frequency to his, and we completed our QSO, but how inconsiderate that this clown was too lazy to send his call twice as is considered good practice, and heaven forbid he could be on frequency enough that I could copy him. I'm thinking, if you are too lazy to even tune me in, go take a nap or something and we can work after you get rested up. This kind of inconsiderate behaviour bothers me a heck of a lot more than the fact that someone might prefer different prosigns than I use.

That's what makes this interesting...I am not in the Digital portion of the sub-band. There have been occasions of this kind of interference around 14.035-14.040, and on 40 meters at 7.035. I am not in the digital portion of the band. Beats me. People are gonna fire it up wherever they are going to fire it up. One time the digital signal totally covered up a fellow I was working who was an honest 599 +.

It seems that lately I've had problems with digital QRM that appears on a clear frequency out of the blue. As someone who tries to be a "polite" CW operator who always asks "QRL?" before starting to work on a frequency, I'm wondering if any of you have had the same experience? My thought is this: If modes like PSK 31 have such resistance to QRM, are users of this mode just firing up on a frequency regardless of what may be going on there? If my close proxmity to them doesn't interfere with their "copy", could they just not care less that they are interfering with my copy? Human nature being what it is, I can see this happening. You talk about wiping out a QSO. Any thoughts?

Bullroar...they'll have to pry my paddles from my cold, dead hand. I'm a burned out, half-deaf rock and roll guitar player with dyslexia, and I can learn the code, so if I can become skilled at it, so can almost anyone.  I don't have any problem with the 5 wpm as a starting point, but most naysayers do not want to invest the time to learn CW. They just don't know what they are missing. Ham Radio ain't Rocket Science, and the theory end is hard enough. You shouldn't have to be an EE or a bench master to be a Ham. It is about getting on the air and talking to people and pounding brass with them. Even if they do eliminate CW, there are hundreds of thousands of us out there, and we are not going away.

I am in absolute agreement with the statements regarding using a hand key in the beginning. If you want to be a good CW op, you must make the characters properly, and you must space them properly, and you must also put a little space between the words. If you start with a straight key, you will be FORCED to learn how to make your characters properly, and use good spacing, or else you will sound so bad you won't believe it, and nobody will be able to copy you. Think about it, you are going to be judged by your fist, not your ear. If you can copy the basics, enought to get through a QSO, you will still have the reigns turned over to you, and if you can't send reasonably, the station on the other end will be saying "TNX, es 73 dit-dit before you can get comfortable.
It takes work to be a good CW operator. Practice your sending off the air so that when you are on the air you will have more confidence. Sending good code is sorta like playing a musical instrument...I don't know if you play anything, but what I am getting about here is rhythm, tempo, and speed. Don't even worry about speed. If you try to go faster than you can comfortably go, you will screw up so fast you won't believe it. Speed will come with experience. I don't achieve it, but my goal is to have a perfect QSO, with no errors. That is a pretty lofty goal, and sometimes I get there, usually I don't, but if you do that you will improve. Another thing I like to do is when I end up catching someone with a crazy fist, the faster and crazier they send, the more disjointed it sounds, the more sedate and even I try to send, and you know what often happens? The guy on the other end often settles down and becomes more readable. I'm pleased you want to be a good CW op, yes I am, but be prepared for the long haul, because anything worth having or becoming doesn't happen over night. Take the long term approach. Good luck!

All of the above methods work, but what always amazes me from doing CW testing for 3 years is how no one seems to have figured out that the most important thing other than knowing the characters and practicing every day, is knowing what the elements of a CW QSO are. What do Hams talk about when they have a QSO? Calls, names, locations, signal reports, kinds of radios and what kind of antenna how high, how much power, the weather at your location, what kind of work you do, the temperature, how long you've been a Ham, why you have to QRT, thanks, and calls again. The rest is just fill.  If you can get a clue about this, you will make it much easier on yourself in anticipating what is coming. After you pass your test and are ready to get on the air, at first it helps to even write these things down, so you don't flip out when you freeze up, and you will for the first month or so. If you know the elements of a QSO, and learn how to anticipate them, and you must learn to recognize the prosigns, because they tell you what is coming next, then you can relax and just copy. First things first.

All of the above methods work, but what always amazes me from doing CW testing for 3 years is how no one seems to have figured out that the most important thing other than knowing the characters and practicing every day, is knowing what the elements of a CW QSO are. What do Hams talk about when they have a QSO? Calls, names, locations, signal reports, kinds of radios and what kind of antenna how high, how much power, the weather at your location, what kind of work you do, the temperature, how long you've been a Ham, why you have to QRT, thanks, and calls again. The rest is just fill.  If you can get a clue about this, you will make it much easier on yourself in anticipating what is coming. After you pass your test and are ready to get on the air, at first it helps to even write these things down, so you don't flip out when you freeze up, and you will for the first month or so. If you know the elements of a QSO, and learn how to anticipate them, and you must learn to recognize the prosigns, because they tell you what is coming next, then you can relax and just copy. First things first.