[Elecraft] [OT] CW speed and decoders and SS

[Craig Rairdin]

> What blew me away trying to get into my third CW contest was the 
> speed everyone was running.  Additionally I had not dealt with 
> sequential exchanges before, and wanted to listen to one first 
> to get the "feel" of the exchange.  But it was all too fast.  

> The concept of answering folks at what they sent, was few and far
> between in my experience.  I heard some folks consistently sending
> slower (meaning 20-25) only to be answered by much higher rates.  
> They still worked them, so they were capable of higher than they 
> were sending (seems quite possible) or they had help.

I think SS almost demands computerized logging so the sequence numbers are
handled automatically. I use WriteLog and interface to the rig through a
microHam microKeyer. The nice thing about this setup is I can speed up or
slow down by turning a knob. I have trouble sending by hand above about 25
wpm but no problem turning a knob up to 40. :-)

I take pride in the fact while I call CQ at 30 wpm I crank it down to 15 if
you call me at 15. You will be able to copy my "R TU" at the end, but the
QRZ will be back up to speed. Similarly, if you're calling CQ at 35 or 40
you'll get my reply at that speed.

I've been a private pilot for about 17 years. My dad is just learning to
fly. When he and I fly together into busy airspace like O'Hare, he's always
amazed at how I handle the complex communications. The secret is that all
controllers say the same thing in the same order no matter where you go.
Once you know the pattern it's easy to understand them because you're
already anticipating it. Copying contest exchanges at 40 wpm is no
different. You know what's coming so you can anticipate it. I copy
conversational CW in the 20 wpm range (OK, maybe more like 18) but have no
problem with any speed in a contest because I know what's coming.

> Decoders must be useful, the K3 has one....
> Are they using the MFJ decoder ....

I turned on the K3 decoder for the contest and I glanced at it a couple
times when I wasn't sure I heard right. It does a much better job than the
piece of crap MFJ decoder (sorry, "piece of crap MFJ" is an oxymoron; I
shouldn've just said "piece of crap" and you would've known what I meant). 

My pet peeve are the guys who send different parts of the report at
different speeds; as if sending their call at 50 wpm is going to increase
their QSO rate. I like to pause for a little longer than normal when I reply
to them just to eat up all the time they saved. Then there's the bozo who
decided not to send his call in the exchange, apparently because I already
know it. That really throws off the trick of knowing what's coming. All of a
sudden I'm getting numbers where I expect a callsign. I had to ask for his
ck and sec again, thus eating way more time then he saved on the next 100
Q's by not sending his call. And what's with the keyers that separate the
elements by nanoseconds instead of dit-widths? They sound like a solid tone.

Enough complaining. :-)


Craig
NZ0R
K3/100 #25