[Elecraft] CW Mistakes
Sandy
ebjr37 at charter.net
Fri Apr 25 21:22:27 EDT 2008
I think Ron has hit quite a few key things below.
One of the things I find VERY lacking is, no one has taught some of the
"newbies" to CW the "proper" protocol of procedures that used to be taught.
Exchanges omit a lot of stuff no doubt copying procedures common in
contests.
A few examples are people calling CQ 5-10 times and DE their callsign once
or twice, then repeat this procedure again 1-2 times!
Another common thing is after I call a CQ thusly: CQ CQ CQ DE W5TVW W5TVW
W5TVW K. I hear someone usually a little off frequency, delayed a bit and
among other stations 1-2 khz. away just send: W1ABC. This can be VERY
annoying. Is this station calling me? Why didn't he AT LEAST send: W5TVW
DE W1ABC K?
Stations sending a 3 X 3 CQ call ending in KN!
Is this because ARRL saw fit to stop putting this information in the
"Handbook" and make more money selling you another "operating" manual? They
used to publish a concise small booklet with proper CW procedures, the "Q"
code, abbreviations and other niceties for 10-25 cents. Most of the time
they would send one to you free if you requested it. It was sort of a
"Manners & etiquette" book for the radio amateur.
Some of the new "band expanded" Technician guys are trying their hand at
really doing some CW operation. There isn't a plethora of old timers around
these days who teach them what's polite and what's impolite.
I agree wholeheartedly about people trying to send too fast, skimping on
inter word spacing, garbled or badly timed sending and mistakes galore. If
you slow these guys down a bit, most of them send very copyable CW without
all the mistakes.
There are a lot of newer hams out there really trying and I think they
should be encouraged to preserve our now ancient art of Morse
telegraphy....which is, by the way....still very useful in spite of it's
antiquity!
73,
Sandy W5TVW
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron D'Eau Claire" <ron at cobi.biz>
To: "'Frank MacDonell'" <kd8fip at gmail.com>; <Elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2008 7:02 PM
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] CW Mistakes
Yep, there are no mistakes bigger than:
1) Being afraid to get on.
2) Letting a self-important bad operator discourage you because he/she can't
or won't QRS to your speed or tells you that you don't have the skills to
get on CW, or to operate on a specific band. (I worked a guy who told me he
never used 20 meter CW because he was told by some idiot that it was a
expert operator's band and folks there didn't tolerate anything less!) The
rule is that the Amateur Bands were created for "newbies". That's one reason
why we call it "Amateur": You don't have to pass a professional competency
test to get on the air.
Let's turn it around and point out good operating practices. These apply to
newbies and OTs alike. (One of the advantages of having been pounding brass
for well over half a century is that I have personal experience with both.)
2. Send at the speed at which you can copy well.
3. Within your range, always match the other station's speed.
4. Listen and listen. After CQ, listen all AROUND your frequency, especially
if you're near one of the QRP "watering holes" (e.g. 7030, 7040, 14060,
etc.). There are a significant number of crystal controlled rigs out there
who can't "zero beat" you. Also some simple rigs don't compensate for their
receive BFO offset, so they're several hundred Hz off their transmitting
frequency. And there are those still trying to figure out the controls on
their rig ;-)
5. If you missed something, don't be afraid to ask for a repeat.
6. Give HONEST signal reports. If the other guy doesn't like it, he's not
worth your time anyway. I get my OT ire up when some guy says my sig is 589
but too weak to copy well! (That's often excused by saying he has a huge QRN
level. That's fine, but then the R - readability - is NOT 5. The correct
report might be "389 hvy QRN OM".
7. Remember that the T in RST refers to modulation on the station's carrier,
not to chirp, clicks or any other aberrations. If present, they deserve
separate comment. A station with chirp might have a signal report of 569C
meaning a clean tone but chirp. If anything else is amiss please tell the
guy in plain text (that's true for phone too).
Did you notice that I skipped number 1? That's because it's too important to
put anywhere but last:
1. Have fun!
Ron AC7AC
-----Original Message-----
Before I get on the air. What are some of the most common errors for
beginning CW Operators. Thanks
--
Frank KD8FIP
_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.23.4/1397 - Release Date: 4/25/2008
7:42 AM
More information about the Elecraft
mailing list