Since we are discussing code speeds.....
Here is a secret of what the best ops do: "They vary their transmit
speed according to their rate"
That is, when rate is high and there are lots of callers that they can
pull out of the pileup, they SPEED UP until the rate slows down at which
point they slowly drop their speed until the rate moves back up again.
The same guys will naturally slow down a bit on a Sunday afternoon when
their rate drops and they need to attract anyone that they have not yet
worked including the less CW proficient ops.
This strategy works! As Mike points out, it is simple math. Now of
course this is not the only factor....
If you are in W1 and you are trying to run JA's you are NOT going call
CQ at 38 wpm, like you might during an EU run. Why? Because of the
flutter on the JA sigs over the pole. Nor are you going to call CQ at
38 wpm if you are trying to run UA9/UA0 who often have an even deeper
but slower flutter and frequently coming in multi-path where it is
extremely difficult to copy them at any speed especially on 40 in the
early AM.
Really good ops take all of this into account and constantly vary their
speeds as needed. It's the equivalent of varying the AF and RF gain
whenever needed or the RIT. Really goods ops put in the effort on
almost every qso. Average ops don't even think about it.
QRQ is no different. It is just as foolish to continue calling CQ Test
at 40 wpm and getting no answers, as it is to call CQ Test at 24 wpm,
when the pileup is supporting much higher rates.
Steve, The best way to get someone to QRS is to send at the speed that
you copy best at. So if you copy ok at 28 wpm, then reply to the CQ at
say 26 wpm. The ops might come back to you at your speed but it is more
likely that he will send at HIS speed, and if you can't copy that then
you can come back and say "Agn, pse QRS" and the op either will QRS or
he won't. Or you can wait and come back to work him if/when he is
sending slower the next day.
Bob, KQ2M
On 2026-02-08 08:31, Mike Smith VE9AA wrote:
<snipped the rest out>
K0XP sez: “…I could go on and on about this, but am already smelling of
sour
grapes, and would sooner or later raise somebody's hackles. So I'll
shut
up after pointing out that the great, late Fred Laun, K3ZO (bless
his departed soul), flatly refused to send any faster than about 24 -
26
WPM and STILL usually managed to work more people over the entire
period
of a contest than most DXpeditions manage to work over the same time
period on any band while sounding like a runaway woodchuck.
So, to repeat my question: how the hell do you get these QRQ fellows
to QRS??
Steve, K0XP…”
- - -
de VE9AA:
GM Steve & Everyone,
With respect. May Fred/K3ZO RIP. I liked Fred a lot.
Nobody is winning major contests at 24-26wpm. It's purely a contest
math
thing. There's only so much time in a contest to work with and every
second
counts. You can get roughly twice as many characters sent at 50wpm than
you
could at 25wpm.
(Of course sending at 100wpm would not work because nobody can copy
that),
but certainly most ops can copy their call at 30, 40 or even 50wpm. If
it's
a known exchange (like CQ Zone #) then it's easy to make a QSO. (SS
would
likely not work running @ 50wpm for obvious reasons)
You don’t even need to take my word for it. Please don't.
Go to the online scoreboard during or 3830scores.com very soon after
any
major contest(CQWW,ARRLDX,CW Sprint etc). Go to the RBN. Search any
callsign in the top five. The speeds are all reported by the RBN.
They’re ALL sending faster than 24-26wpm. It's just contest math.
Nothing
more. A few seem to want guys to send slower, but you can't fight the
math.
That's why SO2R is also popular. You can squeeze in more QSOs.
If 33-36wpm CW bothers you, then you need to learn to listen faster.
(BTW, I am not being belligerent; I put my money where my mouth is.)
When I
got back into contesting in 2010 after a hiatus, I was rock solid at
only
26-27wpm but found in my years away speeds in general had gone up, so I
put
a mobile rig in my car (see qrz.com) and listened to 20M CW for an hour
a
day M-F for a year, then pushed and pushed and pushed myself with
on-air
practice (home+mobile) and Morserunner so I can keep up with most (but
not
all) contest ops today. QRQ ops don't bother me like they seem to some
folks. It just drives me to practice more.
Asking QRQ contest ops (or DXpeditions) to slow down won't work. You
can't
fight the math. If they want to make more Q's, they need to send
faster (or
lose the contest or come home from that rare Island with xx thousands
less
Q's).
GL in your endeavours !
dit dit
CU (all of a sudden!) in the next one.
73 de Mike VE9AA
Mike - Keswick Ridge, NB, Canada
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