[CQ-Contest] CW Speed

[Cqtestk4xs at aol.com]

Good points, but not the main problem..CW is dying.  A majority of the guys 
get up to 5 wpm just to get on ssb and then seldom if ever use the code.  
Check the checks that you received...not many in the 90s or 00s.  There were 
a surprisingly large number in the 40s and 50s. This is not the case on ssb.

Cw will always be around, just like AM is.  It will eventually be in the same 
class as AM...nostalgic.  This is not a condemnation of cw, just an 
observation.

The ARRL and the FCC have sealed the fate of cw with the 5 code speed.  Back 
in the old days (the 60s and 70s), there was a place for novices (the novice 
bands) to work up to the 13 wpm which is sort of adequate for contesting.  
When someone got into the prime frequencies for contesting they had code 
experience and  might have even had some experience with contesting.  
Remember the novice roundup?  How many of us made our first contest qso there 
at 5 wpm or maybe even the speed demon rate of 10 wpm?

Nowadays, the guys have no place to build up speed.  KG4XYZ upgrades to 
general and all around him, even when contests are not going on, everyone is 
going at least 15 wpm.  Do you remember how your hand shook and how it was so 
hard to copy your first qsos at 5 wpm?  Now think what it is like make your 
first qso at 15 wpm, or worse yet, try to contest.  It's intimidating as 
hell.  Most of the guys, even if they are motivated, would be scared.

I don't have the answer.  I wish I did.  My main love is ssb contesting, but 
I would like to see new blood in the cw tests too.   Maybe we need a 'radar' 
cw contest...one in which speeds were limited to 15 wpm or less

Bill K4XS