[SCCC] CW Skimmer in Contests

[Daniel Severance]

Hi,

As a newbie (1.5 years a ham in spite of my white hair!), I have tried it and other code readers and indeed participated in a few CW contests (not seriously - A) don't have the station for it and B) one can only S&P with CW Skimmer - no use if a straight key or a less than perfect fist answers my CQ - the readers just can't deal with it.   One can't expect to be serious in a contest unless one runs a significant amount of time...

Anyway - I initially found CW VERY intimidating - the exchanges and Q codes are almost like a foreign language even if you are using a reader...  The few contests I've hopped into have helped me get over that (and DXPeditions).   I've not used CW Skimmer per se in a contest, but it's not a big help if you only have 3Khz of bandwidth - you have to be on top of the guy to see him.  It's got a 24Khz bandwidth if you are on a radio with a panadapter.

So to Larry's point, newbies (especially the ones WITHOUT grey hair hi hi) have been raised with computers, etc., and are not likely to see it as a big deal to set up - if they are into contesting one would expect them to want to get into CW contests as well (otherwise those weekends can be pretty quiet!).

Since I have done it I've gotten better at recognizing my call, CQ, 5NN, etc..., and it's just a matter of time before I can make the time to start studying it more seriously and eventually will be less dependant on the readers (no clue about sending yet!).   

Cheers and 73
Dan
N6ERD




----- Original Message ----
From: Ken Widelitz <widelitz at gte.net>
To: H Lawrence Serra <hlserra at sbcglobal.net>; bhorn at hornucopia.com; sccc at contesting.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 10:13:29 AM
Subject: Re: [SCCC] CW Skimmer in Contests

I agree with Larry, N6NC, about 99%. I don't think newbies will go through
the effort to set up a skimmer in order to try CW contesting. But that is no
reason to do anything other than what Larry suggests.

73, Ken, K6LA / VY2TT


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