[CQ-Contest] W1AW's QRQ was a beautiful thing to hear - I stopped to listen!

[Pete Smith]

Interesting.  A couple of years ago I was one of the proponents of QRS
CQ-ing in SS.  I wrote on this reflector of slowing to 14-20 WPM CQing down
in the extra portion of the band, and the feeling that it produced contacts
I would not have gotten otherwise.

This year, I semi-intentionally took a different tack.  I didn't CQ below
23 WPM once (if these speed numbers seem weird to you, talk to N6TR -- it's
HIS software).  I then immediately QRSed to match the speed of those
calling if it was below mine, without waiting to be asked.  

I was very gratified to discover that almost nobody who answered at my
CQing speed - typically 26 WPM - couldn't copy the SS exchange at that
rate.  Now some of them may have been listening to me before our contact,
and some may have had to listen to the next one to get it all right.  I'd
like to think, though, that the stretch helped improve the CW skills of the
less-skilled ops, and that's a good thing. 

73, Pete Smith N4ZR

Contesting is ... Extreme Radio

The World Contest Station Database 
is back up and running at
http://www.qsl.net/n4zr 



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