[CW] cw operator's age

[Anthony W. DePrato]

>. I _like_ CW, though I'm not as good at it as I'd like to
>be, and may never get there.
>--
>Mike Andrews, W5EGO
SNIP
Mike:
it really does not matter how good you are at cw. you get better the longer 
you use it. i started out on a hand key in 62 got good at it. then the 
keyers came along i jumped on the wagon. used a keyer for many years. loved 
the perfect cw i was sending hi hi... was not really me it was a machine 
that was making me sound good. so i spent 95% of my air time on ssb or 
rtty. well now all my keyers are in a box. got that old viberplex  1964 std 
bug that had set in a box for 30 yrs out. hummm a good friend gave it too 
me years ago he is now an SK. guess i should put his key on the air again. 
jezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz talk about horrid sending. hi hi.. spent a few days 
with the power turned down on the rig sending book. now. i have 6 bugs and 
that is all i use other then my NATO hand key that VP8LP gave me last time 
i was in the Falklands. this hand key has a real war story behind it. but 
that is for a later time. so now 95% of my time is on cw with either a bug 
or my handkey. my sending is getting better and i hope it will improve more 
but the main fact is i am on cw have dxcc cw in a yr and over 250 total 
count and all with a bug or my handkey.i guess i grew into cw for the most 
part as my younger years of ham radio were spent on AM then SSB then RTTY 
now CW.

73
ZUT
DE WA4JQS SK