since I am becoming a CW fiend  , whats the price of a K1?

Made my first QSO in a while on SSB last night, as I am having so much fun on CW. It was with a freind though, and good to hear his voice.

Glad to hear you pulled through your heart attack mate! Its not always as depicted, as you say..

Short one last night - but my best CW DX so far - PY2WC in Brazil. I'm amazed he gave me as a good a report he did (449) with my 25w and saggy W3EDP....

If you were at GKA you must have been a real pro! I found a few videos on the HF service, featuring GKA and they were fascinating. And also sort of gives a lie to the fact that all "pros" sent using the American way of resting thier forearm on the table. 

Aha I learn something new every day in this CW adventure! Must always send the "?" after my QRL. My technique is to listen for maybe 5 minutes to see if I hear anyone, then do "QRL de 2E0OZI" and leave it a minute, then repeat that....leave it a minute, if I hear nobody then call.

Mind you since I have only ever been answered in my CQs ONCE in the last 2 months..... - leaving out the guy qho started sending QRL right on top of me last week then proceeded to send anyway.......

I'm just starting out so I just try and send clearly and thats about it. Straight key and cant imagine using anything else really.

I went to a presentation on CW by M0BLO in March and he dealt with anxiety quite a bit - which helped me a lot. His tips were;

1. Use previous QSOs (assuming replying to a CQ) to get the information you need, such as name, QTH. This might be called cheating but also might be called "listening"  Then you can concentrate on getting the other OPs call, RST and one other piece of info. Still copy the other stuff, but you know what to expect so you can relax a little.

2. Dont be afraid to keep it really simple even if the other guy want a long chat. At this stage I can handle a simple QSO but not a rag chew. Thats OK.

3. Get on the air - its a hobby nobody will have a cow if you make a mistake.

4. Be fully prepared at the op position - do not (like I did) be scrabbling around for scraps of paper looking for a pen that works!!

5. Get comfy.

Tried 2 today one with W9ZA and one with S51WO  - both times my daughter interrupted me to get me come with her and do something, so lost both contacts. But hey, its her birthday. Both would have been cool - but I suppose there will be other times.

Thanks guys, that about explains it!!! 

I keep hearing people sending a series of rapid Vs - whats that all about?

all the best,

Scotty

Dude you want to switch over to steeplehammer, jessopjessopjessop and clarky cat.  Much cheaper. or even cake gives a good high but unfortunately caused a massive swelling of the neck, known in the UK as "Czech Neck". 

No memory keyer here John, just a Central Coast boy on the end of a Czech army key My approach to my first QSOs (which is what I am doing these last few weeks) is "accuracy over speed" and keeping each exchange short and sweet. I also am such a newbie that I use whole words as in a normal conversation from time to time.

I'm loving CW as well, and one thing I realised a few weeks ago is that its so effective that a compromise antenna designed for stealth and cheapness can still work fine. Of course G0KYA says that straight off the bat in his book "Stealth Antennas" - something like most successful stealth antenna users are on CW.

Sweating. Yep. Nervous. Yep.

Fun yes indeedy! 

What came to mind straight off were Lord Howe Island, Ascencion Island.

Hi John,

I wasn't really copying 27wpm code but I was copying calls at 27wpm on a LCWO - well that was my BEST result anyway. Of course the program will repeat for you so that helps (but then again most hams do a 3x3 call so that helps too!) but i have only come out of the worst cold I have had in years - it lasted about 8 weeks - and that really affected my enthusiasm for code practice on the computer. Especially after I had my first couple of QSOs, actually making contact seems a lot more exciting, because it IS a lot more exciting.

And as you say in the real world on the air its much tougher than on the computer.

The plan at the moment is this;

1. Go back to trying to get in some code copy practice from the W1AW site, of stuff thats NOT just calls, but at the same time,

2. Keep going on the air both with my code practice freind M0VVC and with any contacts I can make.


3. Do more practice on LCWO copying calls.

4. Get the money to get that 500hz filter and get my WW2 headphones hooked up too.

Every contact I am making at the moment is a huge thrill, and I am still amazed that my very first proper contact that I made 100% was with a ham in Hungary.