[UK-CONTEST] ARRL CW

[Chris G3SJJ]

Steve, I guess you are confirming what I said in my response to Colin 
G3VCW that each contest has its own character and that different times 
in a contest will require a different approach. From that point of view 
I agree with Dennis F5VHY and Clive GM3POI that having the flexibility 
to adjust the overall speed of the CQ or Exchange is important. This is 
why I don't agree with speeding up just sections of a "canned" message 
and then spending all the contest sending at those same speed settings, 
irrespective of whether stations are being worked or not.

You need the flexibility to increase speed and rate, and I prefer to do 
it the same as Clive and Dennis by using Page Up Page Down keys to 
control overall speed as and when required, but like you say the rhythm 
is important also.

Something else I have found is that I prefer to link the key (paddle) 
speed with the "canned" message speed, and again use PageUp/Down if 
required. At one stage I used to have external keyer speed different but 
found that it often resulted in a high error rate whilst mentally trying 
to adjust from one to the other.

Chris G3SJJ




Steve Wilson, G3VMW wrote:
> In message <mailman.24311.1267001215.3373.uk-contest at contesting.com>, 
> uk-contest-request at contesting.com writes
>   
>> From: "Dennis Andrews, F5VHY" <f5vhy at wanadoo.fr>
>>
>> I have to disagree with Gerry on this one. I rarely send at more than 30wpm in contests and never use speeded up CW. I have the PageUp and
>> PageDown keys progammed to change the sending speed - and use this a lot. This way, there is a minimum amount of failure to copy. With higher
>> speeds, there is far more ? ? where others can't copy your call or the exchange. It also will put many people off calling all together - unless
>> they are responding to a packet spot - in which case, they are all zero-beat on the same frequency (having hit F6 or whatever to transfer the
>> spot freq to the transceiver) apart from the smart ones who realise that they need to offset by a fraction.
>>
>>     
>
> Dennis,
>
> Sorry, but I have to agree with Gerry GI0RTN, whom I thought articulated 
> the case perfectly.
>
> As Gerry say, it all depends on the situation, i.e. where you are in the 
> world and the type of contest, but from my experience 28-30wpm is way 
> too slow to achieve the really good rates, i.e. over 200/hour. Optimum 
> rates when operating, especially from more exotic locations I've found 
> is usually with the CW speed around 36-38wpm (sometimes a bit faster) 
> and usually never below 32wpm - even from home. I think one key issue is 
> message exchange consistency and rhythm so that callers know what to 
> expect next.
>
> Sometimes it is necessary to use CW speed as a pile-up throttle. When 
> the pile-up gets way too big, higher speed definitely regulates the 
> chaos and slowing down again later usually brings back the callers. The 
> odd slow speed caller isn't usually too much of a problem.
>
> To be honest, I've not noticed loads of "? ? ?" responses at the higher 
> speeds. In a pile-up situation, I always set the TX on VFO B and tune 
> around with VFO A picking off the callers, who are rarely on my exact 
> frequency.
>
>
>   
>> I don't consider this, in any way, detracts from QSO rates. In the ARRL last weekend, my 10-minute rate meter was frequently up to 300 and I
>> had plenty of instances of 5 QSOs in the same minute.
>>
>>     
>
> Even from G, I found it wasn't too hard to achieve 10 minute rates above 
> 300 in last week's ARRL DX contest. The American guys are pretty good 
> operators in my experience and they don't waste time on padding the 
> exchange with unnecessary info like some of the EUs. Whilst I'm not in 
> any way knocking your excellent effort at TM6X. If you seriously intend 
> to try to win any major contest, then what really counts is a 
> consistently high hourly Run rate. AFAIK, the likes of CT1BOH, RW3QC and 
> 4L5A et al usually opt for CW Run speeds higher than 28 wpm in the major 
> contests.
>
> Also, I agree with EI5DI and GI0RTN about speeded up reports. 
> Personally, I don't see it as a problem and sometimes do it. I know 
> G3SJJ dislikes the practice, but if some people see it as a means of 
> achieving a few extra QSOs in a contest, maybe we should judge on 
> results?
>
>   
>> I think you will find that Clive - GM3POI subscribes to the same ideas.
>>     
>
> That's thing isn't it? We all have slightly differing views and it helps 
> makes this hobby so much fun. It would be dead boring if we all thought 
> the same way.
>
>   
>> 73 de Dennis - F5VHY/TM6X
>>
>> PS - my trusty FT1000MP didn't seem to notice too much problem from "wide" signals - heaven forbid that the K3 has a problem!
>>     
>
> I used my Ten-Tec Orion this year, which I think is click free and 
> noticed people getting much closer e.g. with 200Hz.
>
> 73
>
>   

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