[Elecraft] CW Contest and Elecraft K3s decoder

[Gary Smith]

Another thing about hearing and knowing 
the code is the errors you get if you use 
the calls posted to log. I usually don't 
go "assisted" but did this contest because 
I wasn't in it to compete but to give Q's 
to those in competition and I was on a 
time constraint.

One call, I don't remember which it was 
was spotted in N1MM with a final suffix as 
"T" but whoever posted it was incorrect, 
it was a "N". The guy was sending pretty 
quickly, about 40 WPM and it was easy to 
miss but if I hadn't been listening to 
every letter and relied on the spot or the 
K3s reader, I wouldn't have gotten it & 
they were too faint (I think) for the CW 
reader to pick up well. Don't know, wasn't 
using it.

That said, I'd rather have someone wanting 
to know CW use the reader than not 
participate in the contest because they 
still haven't become truly skilled at 
copying overly fast CW in a contest. As 
long as they're stressed enough to be in 
it, they will get better to where they 
don't need it. It's a crutch but sometimes 
we need to use crutches in life.

My 2 pence.

73,

Gary
KA1J


> Absolutely correct.  Successful contest operators rely almost entirely
> on their CW ability other than the use of the programmed messages.
> 
> I just saw another post about not sending over 30 wpm to have better
> rate,  TI7W was sending much faster had a rate of about 210 per hour
> for the entire 48 hour contest.  I did hear him slower as well but
> mostly was a lot faster.  ZF2MJ was in the same mode as well. 73
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Brown" <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com>
> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Sent: Monday, November 27, 2017 11:00:20 PM
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] CW Contest and Elecraft K3s decoder
> 
> On 11/27/2017 4:52 PM, Jim Cassidy wrote:
> > Just when did the totally incorrect fact that the high speed contest
> > operators are using CW decoders get started??  NO truth to that at
> > all
> 
> You're absolutely right, Jim. It's those beginning CW ops who don't
> know CW, or haven't developed their copying ability to contesting
> speeds, or who don't feel confident about their copying ability, who
> are using code readers.
> 
> Most serious contesters, including me, let their logging program SEND
> repetitive things. Some great contest operators still send a lot with
> a paddle, but let the computer call CQ. And some ops send a lot more
> with the paddle than they should. :) I used to have a pretty good
> fist, but it's declined with age. So when we let the computer send for
> us, we're doing others a favor by producing cleaner, well-spaced,
> error-free CW that makes easier copy for both their brains and their
> readers.
> 
> As a founding member of CWOPS, I'm proud of our members who have done
> such a great job developing and executing a mentoring program for hams
> who want to learn CW and build their skills.
> 
> 73,Jim K9YC
> 
> 
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> -- 
> Jim Cassidy   
> 
> KI7Y
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