Thought of calling CQ and making a contact with my straight key this evening. Something I've never done before. After a few CQs on about 15 wpm (I think??) nothing was coming back to me. So I decided to search for someone to QSO with. Then I found
EA3PO unmistakingly calling CQ on 20m with a straight key on a speed slow enough that it was readable for me. I decided to key my call but he was not responding. So I tried again slowly EA3PO de PE4BAS K. Now he was coming back to me. Don't know exactly what he was keying but heard my call and a report. I thought I heard his name something like CESG, I was sure it was wrong but that is what I heard. After all it should be CESC short for Fransesc. But that is what I found out after the QSO. I hope he did hear my keying well, I think so because he repeated my name and did say something else which I didn't decode. It is so frustrating that you hear someone "talking" and you want to understand but you don't. Anyway, I did make the contact and that is what counts after all. I think I better concentrate on training words that are common in a QSO. Like TNX FER CALL UR ES RST RPT CALL NAME QTH HW? any other words? I found that many operators send BEST DX when they say goodbye.
2 comments:
Congratulations Bas! I wish there were dedicated portions of the CW bands for this type of learning. What you have described is exactly what is was like for all of us old-time CW ops when we were learning. The frustration, the nervousness - all of it was two-way. Keep at it - on the air practice is the best, and ultimately, the most satisfying way to learn.
73,
John
Tnx John, there are clubs like the SKCC that use dedicated frequencies for straight key use. Have been calling there but no one answers. Unfortunately have to tell that when I'm searching for CW on the bands that I don't hear many signals through the week. And the signals I hear are mostly too fast keying ops for me. I'm glad I finally found someone that keyed slow enough. It is a lot of fun. So different compared to digital modes most used these days. It's kind of a "back to the roots of amateur radio" feeling. 73, Bas
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