Why CW? Over the past couple of weeks, I have been operating CW as a POTA Hunter. Many times, the contacts I made were at the S1 level or just above the noise floor. Making the contact would not have been possible using Voice SSB. Also, it takes less power than voice. I normally operate CW between 5-65 watts. During EmComm this means less battery drain. Other digital modes require a computer of some sort to operate with. Computers require power, and that means more power that must be consumed. This is okay when there is plenty of power available, but when you’re in the middle of a disaster, with one battery, that power becomes finite. Even doing a POTA/SOTA activation, draining the battery too fast could mean an early trip home.
How CW? When I first started CW as a Tech+ in the mid 90’s, we had cassette tapes that you would play over and over. Eventually you would good enough to pass the 5 wpm and 13 wpm code test. Back then I maxed out at about 18 wpm.
Today there is so much more available websites, and apps on your phone or computer that generate random sequences to help you along. I had dropped CW for about 20 years, while I was working, raising kids, and going to school. When I got back into CW, I tried several different methods. I used a phone app called Ham Morse to get the code back into my head. I then used the resources at CWops.org. I didn’t sign up for one of their classes, but I did use their resources which can be found here: https://cwops.org/cw-academy/cw-academy-student-resources/
That helped me quite a bit and got me back to around 15 wpm. The real way to improve is get on the air and make contacts. You will mistakes, I made mistakes, I made lots of mistakes. As I got better, I started making less mistakes. I still make mistakes but, they are fewer. On POTA anyhow, the CW ops are very forgiving of your blunders. Why? Because they like every other CW op they had to go through the same process. I had paddle fright. It took a little courage to make that first contact. One day I let my reptile brain take over and sent my call out. I am glad I did. I’m still no speed demon, but I am at least in what I call an acceptable range now at about 18 wpm.
One of the other benefits of getting on the air, is receiving. My copy skills have increased rapidly, listening to ops that are running from 16-25 wpm. I’m not a 100% copy at the faster speeds, but each day I can understand a little more. So, get out there and do it! Hope to work you on CW.
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