Completely understand that it can be more fulfilling, especially at the moment. Almost had my first CW rag chew last night but conx really hampered me as my friend on the other end M0VVC kept dropping out/being submerged in noise. I really need that 500hz filter but no idea when I will be able to afford it at the moment. 

8 contacts now - I was ill for a whille with such a bad cold I could not concentrate. Things are going OK and I hope to get a lot more contacts in the next few weeks....

Hi Rick, I forget - have you had any CW QSOs yet? If you have not learned the character set thats cool. However once you have learned the letters and numbers get on the air - the other ops are only too happy to help you along. Don't wait for perfection before giving it a go.

Ahhh a fellow IC718 user. I intend to busk on my banjo bluegrass style in the high street so that I can raise the money for that CW filter.... 

As my freind above said, the thrill of just getting the first QSO will drive you on to more listening, picking stuff out, and then being less afraid to jump in for QSO number 2 etc etc. I know because I am only at number 5 . But I can tell you despite bad conditions and heavy self imposed QRM (yeah I only have a wide filter at the moment) the actual morse code part of that contact was the easiest so far.

It surely ain't going dead. I know that because I use it, and I'm not dead, and, I met a ham last weekend about 14 year old and he's part of a bunch of young hams his age learning it. 

Hi mate, same thing happened to me as well I completely lost the plot and later emailed an apology for messing up the contact. The other ham was cool with that, and explained another 2E0 had answered just before me and he came back to him first. Thats what put me off...

The guys are giving you the right advice, such as make sure you get all the call first before you respond etc. I would also add (from my own experience of a grand total of 5 QSOs in the last 2 weeks or so);

Have 3 pens and a pencil handy, and a scratch pad thats big enough to NOT move when you write on it!
If you have not got narrow filters get them - I wish I had them last night!!
Wear headphones
Try and arrange a time free of distractions - if my wife or daughter come in and talk to me or ask me a question I just give up at this stage - theres no point. I need 100% concentration just to make the contact.


If you fancy a sked drop me a line.

Scott

http://c2.com/morse/

If you go to that page you will find a very simple Koch trainer that you could run on your laptop on the way too and from work. Dont do it all the way there an back to start with - it might burn you out! 

Its the one I used for about 8 weeks and then moved onto callsign training at LCWO, at the same time started really listening to QSOs on the bands.

The idea was to be ready for my first QSO on 1 March 2012, well I almost made it! I have done 4 very simple rubber stamp QSOs now, and as they say the more you do the better you get. I was sweating like a pig during the first one, talking to myself......

This is a good page;

http://www.netwalk.com/~fsv/CWguide.htm

once you are nearly ready to go!

Made my 4th CW contact this morning with GB3RN.    First one was with HA2PP, then a UK station, then RA1TV. Need to work on my copy as I am missing some things. I have enough to do a contest type QSO, but thats never been my goal.

Thats a fair summary Joe! I like mine but then I am very inexperienced in CW and have not tried anything else. I can imagine for rough field use they would be very good.

Well I have now made a total of 3 contact with mine.  Still like it a lot. And to continue the nostalgia trip, I have just reserved with a friend at a hamfest today what appears to be a 1940s high impedance US Army Air Corps headset! I'm keen to give it a go in a few weeks time when I pick it up.

Spacce 1999 and UFO were two of my favourite shows as a kid. Oh and The Thunderbirds.

Ah yes thanks Bob - I forgot about that! 

I found LCWO best when I switched to callsign training. Set it for no long or weird calls, and set to it. After say 2 goes a day for a week, if you listen to the bands the calls will start to come to you. Remember you are not training to be perfect Portishead Maritime Station class - its just a fun hobby. People will help you, and will repeat or slow down. I probably do far worse than you on LCWO with random groups of 4 letters and numbers - but I can pick calls out OK, signal reports, and a lot of the abbreviations.

all the best

Scotty

I agree. I had my first CW contact a few days ago and it was as exciting as my first ever ham radio contact.