[CQ-Contest] CW Speed Choice (was: ROTTEN OPERATING)

[Bill Coleman]

On 12/31/01 11:06 AM, K0LUZ at k0luz at topsusa.com wrote:

>But maybe there are enough people out there who would venture into a cw
>contest if the speed was slow enough!  Perhaps if there was a contest with a
>maximum cw speed allowed of 20 wpm (or whatever),  we could begin to
>generate some new blood into the cw contesting ranks.

I know I've told this story before, but it bears repeating.

In 1999, I was part of the #1 USA M/M WPX CW team at NQ4I. Since I'm only 
a mediocre CW op, Rick put me on 10m, and he swapped out with me. We did 
the entire contest calling CQ, with virtually no S & P.

Since I'm so mediocre (ok, I'm a little better since then), I preferred a 
CW speed no higher than 28 wpm. Mostly, I'd go around 24-26 wpm. Yes, I 
know, that's really SLOW for most of you CW types.

Rick, however, being a much better CW operator, would set the CW speed 
around 32-36 wpm. So, every time we switched operators, we would change 
the speed by around 8 wpm.

I noticed something after a while. Every time we switched operators, we'd 
get a flurry of calls. The rate would go up just a bit for the next 5 
minutes or so. Every time.

This tells me that changing CW speed attracts the attention of a 
different group of operators. If you want to attract the most operators 
to work -- you need to think about varying your CW speed.

Naturally, if you are working stations one after the other at 40+ wpm, 
there's no need to slow down. 

But when you're going for the F1 key for the 10th time in a row with no 
answers, may it is time to try shifting the CW speed down closer to 20 
wpm.

Maybe contest software should have a RUFZ-like feature, that slows down 
every time you press F1, and speeds up every time you work someone....



Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
            -- Wilbur Wright, 1901


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