[CW] ?"Morse Therapy"

[Mike Andrews W5EGO]

On Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 12:28:58PM -0500, Mike Andrews W5EGO wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 01:01:15PM -0400, Danny Douglas wrote:
> > At around 30-35 wpm, I copy slightly behind, drink a coke and carry on a
> > conversation with someone else.  Beyond that, I pretty much have to pay
> > attenton to what the guy is saying, to get it all down.
> > 
> > All I am saying is that people saying they copy at 40 wpm, yet cannot anwer
> > a question asked, are NOT copying at 40 wpm.  They are skimming and that is
> > just fine for what it is,  but why send at 35 if one cant respond to a
> > question?  A primary rule of radio has always been, send only at the speed
> > of the slowest operator, and if you are the slowest operator, send at the
> > speed you can copy,  not at the keyboard speed you can send.  Any fool can
> > set a computer up to send at speeds, far faster than they can type.  Just
> > put the whole convrsation on a MACRO , and rip it out at 100 wpm, but dont
> > complain if someone comes back to you at the same speed.
> 
> Amen! Just remember the story about the Navy op who sent "QRQ QRV" to
> the Suez Canal station. Good thing his trick ended about 30 seconds
> later and his replacement got to field the flood.

I just found that post in my archives of this mailing list. It was our
old friend K0HB, and the subject was "QRQ". It's worth reposting, so 
here it is: 

: The Day I Learned Some Humility
: 
:            or \223Don't Ever Send QRQ To SUQ\224
: 
: 
: Uncle Sam kept me busy in my youth as a Navy radioman, sending me on many
: expense-paid cruises to all manner of exciting places, including several
: cruises to the Mediterranean Sea as part of the 6th Fleet.
: 
: After a few years at sea I fancied myself a pretty hotshot Morse operator.
: 
: Some of you out there who sailed in the 6th Fleet during the late
: 50\222s/early 60\222s may remember the famous \223Task Group Commanders Circuit\224,
: commonly called \223SIXES-ALFA\224.  This was a high speed Morse net which
: routinely clipped along at 40WPM with busy spurts somewhat faster.  It was
: a matter of some pride that only holders of an official \223Speed Key
: Certificate\224 were allowed on the circuit, and only the best of those were
: qualified as NCS.  (Yes, before you could use a Vibroplex on a Navy
: circuit, you had to pass an examination and obtain a certificate.)
: 
: Anyhow, as a qualified NCS on SIXES-ALFA, there was no doubt in my inflated
: ego that I was one of the hottest seagoing ops to ever key up a TBL.  (TBL
: was a big black 100W MF/HF CW transmitter fitted in WW-II/Cold War era
: destroyers.)  Certainly there was no mere civilian radioman out there to
: challenge my skills.
: 
: In those days the US Navy maintained a small presence in the Red
: Sea/Persian Gulf called the \223Mid East Force\224.  The Commander of this force
: was a Commodore who maintained his flag not on a warship, but on a seaplane
: tender (mother ship for seaplanes, which the Navy no longer even flew)
: docked at the Brit base on Bahrain. It was a pretty low-key military
: backwater.  His \223force\224 usually consisted of a couple of destroyers on loan
: from the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean.  These destroyers rotated to this
: duty for about 2 months by a transit of the Suez Canal.
: 
: Vessels transited the canal in convoys, northbound and southbound, which
: were coordinated to meet and pass at a \223wide spot in the road\224 at the Great
: Bitter Lake.  If there were any warships in the convoy, they were the lead
: ship, and the lead ship carried a UAR canal pilot.
: 
: Communications between the pilot and the Suez Canal Authority was via an MF
: (420 Kc/s) Morse circuit between the lead ship and the UAR station SUQ at
: Ismailia.
: 
: In early October of 1961, my ship, USS Henley DD762, drew the short straw
: and was sent off on Red Sea patrol.
: 
: After a last liberty port at Piraeus, Greece (remember \223Fix\224 beer) we
: transited to Port Said and embarked our pilot for the trip through the
: canal.
: 
: The pilot had me file a departure report to SUQ and promptly at 0700 we
: started our transit.  Periodically (at passing El Ferdan and Deversoir, if
: I recall correctly) he issued short progress reports which I sent to SUQ.
: 
: In due time the convoy entered Great Bitter Lake and anchored to allow
: passage of the north-bound convoy coming up from Port Suez.  Prior to
: weighing anchor for the remainder of the passage, the pilot was required to
: obtain updated instructions from the Canal Authority.  Turned out this
: happened just as I was due to be relieved on watch for noon chow.
: 
: Wanting to turn over a \223clean\224 log to my relief, I was somewhat impatient
: that the operator at SUQ was operating at a rather leisurely pace (perhaps
: \223only\224 25WPM).  Surely this lowly civilian operator could send just a bit
: faster?
: 
: So I slid the weights back to the reaR stop on my Vibroplex and sent\205..
: 
:    \223SUQ DE NHXW QRV QRQ K\224
: 
: What happened next still causes me regret every time I contemplate that
: short cocky transmission.  An image comes to mind of a swarthy-complexioned
: mustachioed Egyptian with a wicked gleam in his eye, chomping an unlit
: cigar, pulling the weights completely off his key, and muttering \223I'll show
: this gob some real QRQ!\224
: 
: The crisp Morse transmission which came back to me was utterly off the
: chart in terms of speed.  No operator on the vaunted SIXES-ALFA had ever
: even caused me to really concentrate, but I was missing every other
: character this fellow sent.  In embarrassment, I sheepishly unplugged my
: speed key, broke in, and on the pump handle sent\205.
: 
:    \223SUQ DE NHXW QRX OPERATOR CHANGE QRS\224
: 
: \205.. and turned the circuit over to my relief.
: 
: Never again, and I mean NEVER again, has the opsig QRQ ever passed my
: fingertips.
: 
: 73, de Hans, K0HB

One of the follow-ups, about the _approved_ uses of 9001 KHz, is worth
reading, too. 

I think I'll use MHonArc to put the CW posts up on my website. URL to
be posted when I'm done. 

-- 
Mike Andrews, W5EGO
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin