Bill,
I am with ya on this! I have had the same experience - usually it isn't a
problem because I have moved the station to another band and I know the
call and exchange and can pick it out even when it is being sent at 20+
wpm. Random qso's are more difficult for me and my cw is more proficient
at 15wpm or so. One thing that good cw op's should remember is that there
are a lot of VHF+ ops who only know cw at the 5-10 wpm rate and slowing
down for them will probably result in a couple of more qso's.
One more thing about cw in vhf contests... I have had many situations
where I have moved stations from 6 or 2m to 222MHz and up and signals will
be marginal on phone and I have asked the station I'm attempting to work to
try cw only to find out that there is no key available, or the key is on
the other radio etc. On microwaves especially, cw is a much more reliable
mode and many more qso' can be made by using cw when the path won't support
ssb. My suggestion is to have a key or keyer ready to go on your microwave
gear and even if your cw skills are weak most of us will be patient and
slow down enough to make that 2, 3 or 4 point qso!
See you on vhf+.
73,
Ed K3DNE
At 01:17 PM 7/31/2003 -0400, Bill Burgess wrote:
>Greetings all,
>
>I am willing to work both ssb and cw in contesting. But if a cw operator
>goes so fast I cannot identify the call it is hard to work him. Likewise,
>I have found a few who would not qrs when requested and thus a contact was
>lost. My code speed was much better from 1958 to 1968 than it is now and
>I hope to improve it so I can keep up to you. Meantime, please qrs if cw
>is your preferred medium when you hear me calling you.
>
>Thanks muchly.
>
>Bill
>
>Email: braillist@sympatico.ca
>
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