[Elecraft] Bad fist

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

There are a lot of bad fists out there, but there is NO excuse for what I
heard on 40 meters one day last week while I was at the work bench...A
station in Canton, Ohio was working 7.037...He got a straight key reply to
his CQ that was too weak for me to fully copy...His reply was "Your sending
is choppy, your fist is terrible, and I cannot copy...73"...The poor guy did
not reply...Fortunately I did not have a key hooked up...I was sorely
tempted to give this guy a piece of my mind...

Jerry, wa2dkg

-----------------------------------

I'd have been upset too. Reading your story makes me sad. 

>From The Amateur's Code:

The Amateur is Considerate... never knowingly operates in such a way as to
lessen the pleasure of others. 

The Amateur is Friendly...slow and patient operating when requested;
friendly advice and counsel to the beginner; kindly assistance, cooperation
and consideration for the interests of others. These are the hallmarks of
the amateur spirit. 

I'd suggest talking to the station who was listening. The station you could
hear definitely wasn't listening, nor could he copy code. Maybe he is just a
bad character. Maybe he was just embarrassed to realize he couldn't copy CW.


I've noticed that happens more often these days as ops get on the air after
learning Farnsworth code. It's wonderful that they are able to learn CW more
easily and enjoy it more quickly, but several ops I've known who learned
Farnsworth had to stop and learn to copy all over again once they got on the
air. The problem is that in normal operation most ops on the air don't leave
the exaggerated spaces between letters that the Farnsworth system allows
when you set the Farnsworth speed well above the actual sending speed.
They've been studying Farnsworth CW at 20 WPM and when they got their
receiving speed up to, say, 10 wpm, they try to get on the air. Suddenly
"real CW" at even 10 or 15 wpm sounds like a run-together jumble to them
until they learn to follow the proper spacing and rhythm of CW. 

To me sending that way is like playing music off key, but if I run into one
of those ops, I'll stretch out my spacing so they can copy. 

After all, some wise wag said that anything worth doing is worth doing badly
at first, if necessary. 

Clearly, the guy who was listening in the QSO you heard was the station
"down in the mud" at your QTH that day. If I'd have gotten his call I'd have
sent him a letter reassuring him. 

Ron AC7AC