[Elecraft] Another CW question (was: CW Mistakes)

[Brian Lloyd]

To be very honest, I have not used CW much. I used it a bit when I got  
my first tech ticket in 1976 but not much since then. Now I find  
myself teaching it to my students. I am finding this discussion on CW  
mistakes to be WAY off-topic for this list but WAY useful too.

I do have the ARRL operating manual and I am using that to start to  
guide the kids through proper procedures. On voice they have cue cards  
with pieces of the QSO they can use; i.e. how to call CQ, how to  
answer a call, how to give a signal report, how to "brag" the station,  
how to clear, etc.; and that has helped them a lot. I bet that cue  
cards for a CW QSO would be really helpful to noobs as well. Put the  
most-used abbreviations and Q-sigs on there for reference.

My question concerns the use of Farnsworth sending on-the-air, i.e.  
sending the letters at a much faster speed than the overall rate and  
then inserting greater spacing between letters and words. Is that an  
OK-practice for working new CW ops or should I have the kids slow down  
the keyer so that all intra-element, intra-word, and inter-word  
spacing is proper?

As soon as they can send/copy 5WPM I plan to push them to actually get  
on-the-air to have some CW QSOs. I want to be sure I am giving them  
good advice.

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73 de Brian, WB6RQN
Brian Lloyd - brian HYPHEN wb6rqn AT lloyd DOT com