[QCWA] Fastest CW Opr Ever???

[Jeffrey D Angus]

And speaking of fast CW ops.... Back at Signal One when they were in
Gardena, CA back in the early '70s, I used to watch Frank W6AOA
get into code speed contests with the others. You could always tell when
he copied the code correctly. The other would pre-record some filthy
comment about Frank and he would turn bright red and start sputtering.

Norm Gertz wrote:

> During rap sessions regarding copying speed it was commonly assumed
> that you had to be at least partially under the influence of alcohol to be
> able to copy at those superspeeds. 

A second hand story from an engineer I used to work with at TRW back in
the mid '70s.

As a young man, he was a station operator at a small rail road depot.
He had an elderly woman who was their code operator. He said that she
was amazing to watch. Having made the three sounders for the land line
sound a tad different from each other. She could apparently copy all three
at once, and maintain the required conversation with them without making
any mistakes.

One day, coming in early, he spotted her downstairs. Taking a healthy
swig of Gin off of a bottle she'd kept hidden in a drawer. When asked,
she replied, "How the hell do you THINK I can copy all three at once?"

I miss working with him. But He'd have to be at least 95 now, and the
woman he had for the land line operator would probably be 140.

Jeff
wa6fwi


-- 
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin
"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."
Tara Morice as Fran, from the movie "Strictly Ballroom"