[CW] Ham Code Speed vs. Commercial Code Speed

[David J. Ring, Jr.]

Commercial operators operated at various speeds (my comments on the message
below my signature) - according to conditions.  The top average speed
according to a survey done at SLIDELL RADIO / WNU (Slidel, Louisiana - near
New Orleans) was 27 wpm.  The management found that by sending traffic at 27
wpm got the most messages through in the least amount of time.  If the speed
was 28 wpm, the receiving operators asked for fills more.  If the speed was
less, the words sent in a shift went down.

Concerning the so called "fast CW" operators on the ham bands, I know of
several amateurs who were Extra class hams and routinely QSO'd stations at
35 and some at 55 wpm and claimed that as their code speed.

However when they got on the commercial bands, their code speed dropped to
about 18 wpm or so (at first) because they had to copy EVERY letter or
number.

The fellow who zipped around the ham bands at 55 wpm, copied my messages at
about 14 wpm.  He could copy no faster even though to get the job he said he
could copy that fast!  I will admit that part numbers are difficult to copy
with mixed numbers, hyphens, and letters but a good commercial operator can
copy this with ease at 28 wpm.

The above notwithstanding, there are fast ham operators - usually with
Military or Commercial experience (but not always) who can copy letter
perfect at 55 wpm or higher.  But most of them say "why work so hard? - QRS
to 33 wpm or so!".

The point is that ham radio QRQ doesn't automatically translate to the same
speed of commercial traffic - and in many cases - it translates to about 1/2
or 1/3 of the bragged speed of ham QSOs.


73

David Ring, N1EA
----- Original Message -----
> > The fact that  commercial CW operators of yesteryear
> > were expected to operate at 20-30 wpm is utterly immaterial today.

> Hams *today* operate at those speeds, and much faster. Shouldn't the tests
for a license to
> operate in the amateur bands reflect what hams do?