[CW] Good Sending

[Richard Knoppow]

      That is a beautiful key.
     I totally agree.
     I learned code at about the same age but had to learn it on my own, 
with the help of a couple of handbooks and a short wave receiver.  I 
understood that sending well was important but can't tell you where I 
learned it.
    I see once in a while people saying they want a "distinctive" fist, 
meaning a swing of some sort. I've even seen this in old books on wire 
telegraphy. IMO, and I think in yours, this is just fundmentally wrong. 
Well sent code is the easiest to read, whether as tone or on a sounder.
Those who want to screw up the spacing are just asking to be ignored. 
Its like bad handwriting (does anyone write any more?). In the old days 
very office had someone who could decipher bad handwriting. I suspect 
commercial stations had an op who could read any awful fist if 
necessary. They were in the business of handling messages so had to deal 
with what was there but hams don't and many just don't have the patients.

On 10/12/2023 8:50 PM, D.J.J. Ring, Jr. wrote:
> 47 years ago, when I was 13, I asked the government’s ham radio examiner 
> at Oslo Maritime school how important sending CW was for me to get my 
> license. I had, after all, already passed the required 8 and 12 wpm 
> tests listening to groups of 5 signs and then text from a book. But now 
> he wanted me to use a hand pump, sending CW from the same textbook he 
> had used. No one had told me that I also had to SEND at the test!
> He answered: “Son, you can send poorly. I’ll still pass you, but no one 
> will answer you.” (true story!)
> 
> But, I had practiced sending, with the key in the picture, and the 
> examiner, whom was a CW enthusiast, was pleased. My grandfather – LA2PR 
> – owned a metal factory at the time, and made the key for my birthday 
> along with a home made morse code oscillator. After I had removed the 
> gift wrapping, he told me that I wasn’t allowed to use it until I could 
> receive at least 8 wpm. I was only 12 at the time.
> 
> I received the “B-license” when I turned 14, and later the “A-license” 
> when I turned 16.
> A little tip if you aren’t getting answers to your CQ calls: If you have 
> a radio with CW-decoder, turn it on and send text. See if the decoder 
> puts spaces in the right places. If not, focus to get it right, and 
> practice, practice, practice.
> 
> I hear many amateurs send CW nearly as one long string of letters and 
> numbers, without paying much attention to spaces. And sometimes there 
> isn’t even a lot of space between the signs. It is almost impossible for 
> many of us to decipher it. It's much better for the receiving station if 
> your spaces are too long rather than too short. Emphasize spaces between 
> the words and your code becomes more understandable for a wider audience 
> - hence much greater chance for response to your calls.
> 
> de LB3SA
> 
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> =30=

-- 
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
SKCC 19998