[CQ-Contest] When is speed not speedy?

[KU7Y]

> Show some gratitude and slow down, guys.

I spend a good bit of time on a couple of QRP email lists.  There are many 
folks there that are both new to ham radio and to contesting.  One of the 
things that seems to always come up is how contesting is too hard to break 
into due to all the fast CW.

Now I understand that speeds do need to be up there a bit to be able to make 
a good score but.... when we think about things to do to get more people 
interested in contesting we need to also think about those new folks trying 
to "get up to speed" and just giving up because they can't copy most 
stations.... even one letter/number at a time.

I'm not sure just what the answer is but it's seems like a shame to pass up 
this pool of "recruits".  Maybe if more people would move up the band and 
cut their speed down to 15ish or so wpm during some of the low rate times, 
would this help "welcome" the new folks??

After all, these new folks are a good portion of tomorrow's scores if we can 
get/keep them interested while they get their CW skills up.

OK, back in my hole,

Ron, KU7Y
SOWP 5545M
Arizona Outlaws Contest Club
Silver Springs, NV
ku7y at qsl.net
http://www.hatpinsandmore.com
KX3 #0062
DM09ji