Listen to the pile-up I had on 20m. It actually was like this all the time on any band. Imagine that for a beginner CW operator this is all a bit overwhelming. I could not do CW for longer as about 30-45 minutes, it was just too much. When I listen to it I wish it could be more smooth, I try to listen carefully but it is hard to pull a call out of the pile. Please comment if you feel I could do better. I want to learn from my mistakes.
This is also for archive purposes. I want to compare with the next PACC. Will there be a lot of progress in one year of training?
I did some CW practise as well last weekend. Partaking in the ARRL CW international contest working USA/Canada. It went very well although I only did S&P. Worked 50 in one hour on Saturday afternoon and worked another 50 early Sunday morning also in one hour. Wish I had some more time but since it was my XYL her birthday we had visitors till late in the evening. And although radio is my passion my family will always be on first place.
2 comments:
Good morning Bas and thanks for sharing the sound bite of your CW pileups. Learning CW in a way is an art and does take time and when it comes to pileups that too is an art. I find it to be another mind training exercise. Our brain has to be trained to hear a manageable call sign, block out the rest. You either hear part of it (most times) and send back a part call or you are lucky and can pick out the whole call. (this takes lots of practice). Also in pileups ( I noticed this in yours) a lot of station are sending there call at a fast speed, it's part of the frenzy. There are times (which I hear in your recording) when everyone is just on everyone and even the best op cannot figure it out. In that case I just wait and send nothing not even "?". I find someone will just jump in and you can hear the call. For practice I use a program (free) Morse Runner and set it to send 3 calls. I also use G4FON and have it send 3 calls.
Pileups can get frustrating as it seems at times no one is listening to you calling a certain station, folks calling over each other and the speed at which some came back to you at.....welcome to pileups in contesting. Its an art Bas that take practice and brain training to cut out all but one call. Enjoy it and look at it as an advanced part of contesting. As always if you have anymore questions ask and I will do my best to answer.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Tnx for your comment Mike. Of course I know it is a matter of training, training, training. I really like morserunner for training. This recording is also for myself for archive purposes. I can look back in a year (or years) and tell if I made progress. I was keying 22 wpm. Overall I think the majority uses 24-30 wpm. But faster is not always better. I'm lucky I do know how to master a SSB pile-up so I use the experience for CW as well. Actually I do the same as you do. Sometimes not sending a ? but keep quiet till I can figure a call out. 73, Bas
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