[Elecraft] Re: CW recognition

[Matt Osborn]

On Thu, 21 Sep 2006 21:31:29 +1200, Ron Willcocks <ron_w at clear.net.nz>
wrote:

>Hi Matt,
>              I know how you feel about not "hearing" CW ......I have a 
>very good friend who I spent months with, trying to teach him CW, and he 
>tried listening to all the "good" CW methods in an attempt to learn. He 
>just couldn't, for exactly the same reason you mention.
>At that time here, CW was a requirement for Grade 1 (your Extra I guess) 
>and he was eventually given a dispensation from having to sit the CW after 
>a report from me and an interview with the head CW Tester here in NZ. It is 
>a real fact that there are some who just *can't* read CW how much they 
>try....which is a pity, but certainly not the end of the World as some 
>might think [G]
>They have dispensed with the CW test here now. You can still sit it and get 
>the paper work if you need it for other Country licensing requirements, but 
>the sky didn't fall as some thought it might, when the test became redundant!
>Cheers.......Ron ZL1TW 

Hi Ron,

I'm really disappointed that CW isn't working for me.  A week after I
received my tech license, I ordered my K2 and the Elecraft Hex Key to
go with it.  After building the K2, I started the CW work with Adams'
CW course and was happily working my through the letters before I even
looked at dots and dashes.

You can imagine how I felt when I discovered that many of the
characters I had learned were actually the opposite of what I thought
they were when listening to them. Somewhere along the way, I tried
sending CW instead of listening to it and found that I could learn
Morse code and send all of the letters, but it just didn't help when
listening.

I still practice CW several times every week just in case there is a
break through of some sort (infernal optimist), but I no longer have
any realistic expectation of success.

As you know, the FCC is studying the CW issue, but has received a
great deal of pressure from the community to keep the testing, so
that's undecided at this point.

I can still listen world wide on my K2 and I've had the pleasure of
building all four of the XV Transverters so I can operate the K2 on
the high bands.

With the 6 meter openings this year, I've managed to work stations
from Maine to New Mexico from my QTH in Minnesota, but it sure would
be nice to reach Europe and Asia,  even if only to demonstrate that I
built the K2 properly.