[Elecraft] CW Program

[Wallace, Andy]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doug Person [mailto:DougPerson@attglobal.net]
> 
> I will grant you this:  there is a great and wonderful challenge to 
> make contacts using the most minimal of all equipment.  Like my SST at 1.5

> watts out using a straight key. 

Absolutely! I don't have an SST but I do have a little KnightSMiTe,
an SMT version of the Pixie 2 transceiver put out by the KnightLites
QRP club. About 150 milliWatts out on 3.686 MHz. Best DX so far was
about 175 miles, and he answered my CQ, even. (Couple of 2N2222s and
an op-amp...do a web search.)

Now what I feel is most important is that I wish people would just
get out and USE the CW bands, at whatever speed, power, or software
assistance they please. The more I tune around the more I hear dead
air. It's important to retain the CW portions of the bands if we want to
keep them. 

I used to have a Drake 2-B receiver by the bedside. Excellent CW rx, by
the way. Anyway I was listening to 80m CW one night and I heard a teenage
boy and teenage girl talking at about 20 wpm and it was obvious they were
both using bugs, and very well. THAT was very encouraging to hear.

Get on the air and have fun with CW, your way.

-Andy