[ILQSO] slow speed cw

Sat Oct 25 13:32:54 EDT 2008

COMMENTS IN CAPS.  NOT YELLING, HOWEVER :)

-----Original Message-----
From: ilqso-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:ilqso-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Danny Pease
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2008 12:13 PM
To: 'Illinois QSO Party'
Subject: RE: [ILQSO] slow speed cw

I agree with Hank, CW decoders are very poor as a general rule. 

I CAN'T IMAGINE A DECODER BEING VERY EFFECTIVE IN CROWDED BAND
CONDITIONS.

And asking a station to QRS seldom gets a station to actually slow down
to the slower stations speed (I know this from experience). Like I said
in an earlier post, most ops tend to just space out their characters
more when they try to slow down, rather than actually cutting the speed
back. With most memory keyers it is a very simple adjustment. With some
of the logging program that send CW, a simple keystroke or two works.

ONE POSSIBLE REASON FOR THIS (I SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE) WHEN MOBILE IS
THAT CHANGING THE "SPEED KNOB" IS ONE MORE ADJUSTMENT TO MAKE WHEN I AM
ALREADY "MAXED OUT".  I *NEVER* CHANGE THE SPEED ON MY MOBILE RIG FOR
ONE SIMPLE REASON: I OFTEN CANNOT HEAR MY SIDETONE AND SEND "BY FEEL".
ROAD NOISE IS VERY NEAR THE SAME TONE AS THE SIDETONE!  

Now, a question for you cw ops, in a typical ILQP or any other QSO
party, how many times do you call CQ? 

YOU MEAN BEFORE MOVING?  "IT DEPENDS".  HOW LOUD DO I THINK I AM IN THE
TARGET AREA?  IS THERE A POSSIBILITY THAT THERE IS ANOTHER STATION CQING
AND I CAN'T HEAR HIM? HOW FAST AM I WORKING STATIONS IN SEARCH AND
POUNCE? HAVE I PRETTY MUCH WORKED ALL THE CQING STATIONS I CAN FIND?
HOW MUCH ACTIVITY IS THERE? ARE THERE A LOT OF MOBILES?

IN ILQP, AS A FIXED STATION, (WHICH I HAVE NOT BEEN FOR A LONG TIME), I
WOULDN'T CALL CQ MORE THAN 5-10 TIMES WITHOUT A RESPONSE UNLESS I FELT I
COULDN'T DO BETTER S&P.  AS A MOBILE, (AND A WEAK MOBILE AT THAT....), I
MIGHT NOT STICK AROUND THAT LONG.

AS AN OUT-OF-STATE STATION IN A QSO PARTY, I USUALLY SPEND 2/3 OF MY
TIME S&P.  IT DEPENDS UPON THE NUMBER OF MOBILES AND HOW ACTIVE THEY
ARE, AND HOW GOOD THE PROPAGATION IS.  MOST MOBILES SPEND MOST OF THEIR
TIME CQING, AND I WILL NOT WORK THEM VERY OFTEN IF I AM CQING.  HOWEVER,
IF I CRUISE THE OPEN BAND (S) AND RUN OUT OF STATIONS TO CALL, I WILL CQ
A FEW TIMES.  SOME STATIONS NEVER CALL CQ, AND YOU WILL MISS THEM IF YOU
DON'T CALL CQ.

Out of that huge number of times, how many times do you get a response? 

HOW LOUD ARE YOU?  

I am going to guess 80% or more of your CQ's go unanswered during a
smaller contest like most QSO parties. 

THAT MIGHT BE ABOUT THE "BREAK-EVEN POINT".  MORE THAN 4 OF 5 CQ'S
UNANSWERED PROBABLY MEANS:
1) I AM NOT STRONG IN THE TARGET AREA
2) I'VE WORKED A BIG PERCENTAGE OF THE TARGET AUDIENCE
3) I'M BEING QRMED BY A STATION I CAN'T HEAR
4) IT MIGHT BE TIME TO TAKE A BREAK AND MOW THE YARD.

I CAN CALL CQ FOUR OR FIVE TIMES A MINUTE. ("CQ IL TEST N9JF/BOND") IF
ONE OF THEM GETS A RESPONSE, THAT'S 60/HR. NOT TOO BAD IN A QSO PARTY.

I realize when the rate is high, you do not want to mess with having to
slow down, but how about when the rates are way low? What do you do
then? Change bands, change modes? Take a break? How many of you actually
try slowing your speed down to 10 or 15 wpm for a while to see if you
pick up a few of the slower ops? This is the same idea as stopping
during a good run and asking for weak mobiles that you may miss before
they move on. When rates slow down, we tend to look for something that
works better. Slowing down from 30 to 15 or 10 WPM may pick up a few Q's
you could have missed otherwise.

GOOD SUGGESTION.  MAYBE ONE REALLY SLOW CQ AT THE END OF A SEQUENCE *IF*
YOU CAN DO IT. (I WOULD HAVE TO JUST MAKE THE SPACING REALLY WIDE....)

I am not really pushing more CW activity for the ILQP (I think almost
everyone will agree the current activity is predominately CW now), 

TRUE, AND WE DON'T WANT TO BE JUST A "CW CONTEST"

but I would like to see more operators that want to try CW to have a
good experience with it. If they find it too hard to do, they may never
try it again.

I AGREE.  GOOD ARGUMENT.

73, JIM N9JF

Danny  NG9R

-----Original Message-----
From: ilqso-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:ilqso-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Hank Greeb
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2008 11:45 AM
To: Illinois QSO Party
Subject: Re: [ILQSO] slow speed cw

When replying to a CQ, just send your call, NOT the other's call.  And, 
DO send at YOUR speed.  If the other op doesn't slow down, consider him 
a LID, which he is.

And, whilst CW decoders work, none that I've seen are as good as the ear

in the midst of contest QRM/QRN, and LIDS who send on top of other 
stations.  Practice, practice, practice maketh perfect.

73 de n8xx Hg

James Funk wrote:
> For those with an "effective CW speed" of around 10 wpm, there are
some possibilities:
>
> 1) Search and Pounce, find a station calling CQ, listen to some
exchanges from him,  get a letter or two at a time, call *AT YOUR SPEED*
when you "have it", work the guy. (Note: we ALL started this way!!)
> 2) CQ *AT YOUR SPEED*.  Callers should slow down to *YOUR SPEED*.  If
they don't, either ask "PSE QRS" or ignore them.  
> 3) Use one of the software programs that decodes CW.  I've never tried
them, but they apparently work fairly well?
>
> In most of the QSO parties, most stations send 20-30 wpm.  One
exception is K8MR, who is more like 40 unless he gets rolling, then the
sky is the limit.
>
> In some of the DX tests, some DX stations send so fast I can't copy
them. One HC station whose call escapes me at the moment (HC2G?) is
probably above 50 wpm.....
>
> 73, Jim N9JF
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