[VHFcontesting] CW ops, pse qrs when contesting

[Lee Scott - AA1YN]

At 02:06 PM 7/31/2003 -0400, Ed Kucharski wrote:
>Bill,
>I am with ya on this!  I have had the same experience - usually it isn't a 
>problem because I have moved the station to another band and I know the 
>call and exchange and can pick it out even when it is being sent at 20+ 
>wpm.  Random qso's are more difficult for me and my cw is more proficient 
>at 15wpm or so.  One thing that good cw op's should remember is that there 
>are a lot of VHF+ ops who only know cw at the 5-10 wpm rate and slowing 
>down for them will probably result in a couple of more qso's.
>
>At 01:17 PM 7/31/2003 -0400, Bill Burgess wrote:
>>Greetings all,
>>
>>I am willing to work both ssb and cw in contesting.  But if a cw operator 
>>goes so fast I cannot identify the call it is hard to work 
>>him.  Likewise, I have found a few who would not qrs when requested and 
>>thus a contact was lost.  My code speed was much better from 1958 to 1968 
>>than it is now and I hope to improve it so I can keep up to 
>>you.  Meantime, please qrs if cw is your preferred medium when you hear 
>>me calling you.

Have to put my 2 cents in here. Even though I'm an Extra Class, I'll admit 
I'm one which used the 5wpm to get my license.  I am not a good CW copier. 
I've always had a dyslexic problem when it comes to CW but I am always 
willing to give it a try and I have been getting better.  I was listening 
to 144.200 yesterday and heard a W1?? station calling CQ on CW and he was 
doing about 10wpm but his key speed was set to at least 40wpm. It took me 4 
minutes of concentration to figure out what his last two letters were of 
his callsign. During a contest, I wouldn't even spend the time. I've heard 
a few during the contest which were weak signals and passed them up since 
they were sending much too fast to copy. Later I talked to a friend who 
also operated during the contest and even though this friend can reliably 
do 30wpm, he didn't bother either with the fast weak signals as they would 
be too much effort to bother.  The weaker your signal is, the slower the CW 
must be to be copied. Since most all of us work with weak signals, you 
would think we'd understand.

As far as CW being the choice of weak signals, there is another 
alternative.  JT44 by Joe Taylor is proving to be much better and I can 
reliably work stations twice as far as I can by CW on any given condition. 
Having not only a CW Key on the higher band rigs but having a laptop with a 
Rig Blaster connected is fast becoming a requirement. It is as good as 
adding a stacked antenna array or 6db of amplification and 0db NF pre-amp 
to your station. I have it available for all bands 6-->1296 plus 10g and 
wouldn't be without it.

If anyone wants to know more about it, email me and I'll be happy to help.


Lee Scott - AA1YN
Home of the VHF & Up Register http://www.aa1yn.com/vhf
Hooksett, NH
FN43gc52