Topband: My experience using CW speakers

[kq2m at kq2m.com]

Since we are discussing code speeds.....

Here is a secret of what the best ops do: "They vary their transmit 
speed according to their rate"

That is, when rate is high and there are lots of callers that they can 
pull out of the pileup, they SPEED UP until the rate slows down at which 
point they slowly drop their speed until the rate moves back up again.

The same guys will naturally slow down a bit on a Sunday afternoon when 
their rate drops and they need to attract anyone that they have not yet 
worked including the less CW proficient ops.

This strategy works!  As Mike points out, it is simple math.  Now of 
course this is not the only factor....

If you are in W1 and you are trying to run JA's you are NOT going call 
CQ at 38 wpm, like you might during an EU run.  Why? Because of the 
flutter on the JA sigs over the pole.  Nor are you going to call CQ at 
38 wpm if you are trying to run UA9/UA0 who often have an even deeper 
but slower flutter and frequently coming in multi-path where it is 
extremely difficult to copy them at any speed especially on 40 in the 
early AM.

Really good ops take all of this into account and constantly vary their 
speeds as needed.  It's the equivalent of varying the AF and RF gain 
whenever needed or the RIT.  Really goods ops put in the effort on 
almost every qso.  Average ops don't even think about it.

QRQ is no different.  It is just as foolish to continue calling CQ Test 
at 40 wpm and getting no answers, as it is to call CQ Test at 24 wpm, 
when the pileup is supporting much higher rates.

Steve, The best way to get someone to QRS is to send at the speed that 
you copy best at.  So if you copy ok at 28 wpm, then reply to the CQ at 
say 26 wpm.  The ops might come back to you at your speed but it is more 
likely that he will send at HIS speed, and if you can't copy that then 
you can come back and say "Agn, pse QRS" and the op either will QRS or 
he won't.  Or you can wait and come back to work him if/when he is 
sending slower the next day.

Bob, KQ2M


On 2026-02-08 08:31, Mike Smith VE9AA wrote:
> <snipped the rest out>
> K0XP sez: “…I could go on and on about this, but am already smelling of 
> sour
> grapes, and would sooner or later raise somebody's hackles. So I'll 
> shut
> up after pointing out  that the great, late Fred Laun, K3ZO (bless
> his departed soul), flatly refused to send any faster than about 24 - 
> 26
> WPM and STILL usually managed to work more people over the entire 
> period
> of a contest than most DXpeditions manage to work over the same time
> period on any band while sounding like a runaway woodchuck.
> 
> So, to repeat my question: how the hell do you get these QRQ fellows
> to QRS??
> 
> Steve, K0XP…”
>  - - -
> 
> de VE9AA:
> GM Steve & Everyone,
> 
> With respect. May Fred/K3ZO RIP.  I liked Fred a lot.
> 
>  Nobody is winning major contests at 24-26wpm.  It's purely a contest 
> math
> thing.  There's only so much time in a contest to work with and every 
> second
> counts. You can get roughly twice as many characters sent at 50wpm than 
> you
> could at 25wpm.
> 
> (Of course sending at 100wpm would not work because nobody can copy 
> that),
> but certainly most ops can copy their call at 30, 40 or even 50wpm.  If 
> it's
> a known exchange (like CQ Zone #) then it's easy to make a QSO. (SS 
> would
> likely not work running @ 50wpm for obvious reasons)
> 
>  You don’t even need to take my word for it. Please don't.
> 
> Go to the online scoreboard during or 3830scores.com very soon after 
> any
> major contest(CQWW,ARRLDX,CW Sprint etc).  Go to the RBN.  Search any
> callsign in the top five. The speeds are all reported by the RBN.
> They’re ALL sending faster than 24-26wpm. It's just contest math. 
> Nothing
> more. A few seem to want guys to send slower, but you can't fight the 
> math.
> That's why SO2R is also popular. You can squeeze in more QSOs.
> 
> If 33-36wpm CW bothers you, then you need to learn to listen faster.
> 
> (BTW, I am not being belligerent; I put my money where my mouth is.) 
> When I
> got back into contesting in 2010 after a hiatus, I was rock solid at 
> only
> 26-27wpm but found in my years away speeds in general had gone up, so I 
> put
> a mobile rig in my car (see qrz.com) and listened to 20M CW for an hour 
> a
> day M-F for a year, then pushed and pushed and pushed myself with 
> on-air
> practice (home+mobile) and Morserunner so  I can keep up with most (but 
> not
> all) contest ops today. QRQ ops don't bother me like they seem to some
> folks.  It just drives me to practice more.
> 
>  Asking QRQ contest ops (or DXpeditions) to slow down won't work.  You 
> can't
> fight the math.  If they want to make more Q's, they need to send 
> faster (or
> lose the contest or come home from that rare Island with xx thousands 
> less
> Q's).
> 
> GL in your endeavours !
> 
> dit dit
> 
> CU (all of a sudden!) in the next one.
> 
> 73 de Mike VE9AA
> 
> 
> Mike - Keswick Ridge, NB, Canada
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _________________
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