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A nice way to spend an hour each week.
5 January 2022 | by For you CW buffs out there, a great group is the CWops. This is an international organization and their main goal is to promote continual improvement of CW proficiency across a broad range of activities. They have a CW academy which moves people along toward improving their CW skill level. They have a monthly newsletter (which can be found on their site) called Solid Copy which is all things CW.
Have ever been on the air and all of a sudden a section of the CW band becomes alive with action? Most likely if it's a Wednesday or Thursday it's the Weekly running of the CWops Tests or as it's also known as CWT. This is a mini 1-hour contest. Everyone is welcome in these mini contests, and it's a great way to improve your CW skills.
Today was the first time I took a dive into the CWT. The hours went by very fast and in this contest I was in Search and Pounce mode and not Running. I made 14 contacts for 196 points, not a record by any means. But I was getting my feet wet.
I encourage you to have a look at the CWops site and for sure have a look at their newsletter Solid Copy.
4 Responses to “A nice way to spend an hour each week.”
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- Matt W1MST, Managing Editor
Just started relearning my CW skills again . Used to be with pencil & paper , gee did I start out all wrong.
Even tried using a Mill and not my brain . This is going to be painful as I started out in 1953 , so many years ago !
Bill
Good morning Bill very nice to hear from you, I can remember just learning the code at 5 wpm just to get my ticket. Later on, in my ham career, I was living in a townhouse and SSB wiped out radio and TV of those around me. So the best thing for me was CW at QRP levels. The interesting part was I had not used CW for years and years. I like you basically had to relearn the whole deal again.
Bill, it did take time but for me, it was the only way for me to get back on the air.
I hope you are able to keep at it and enjoy morse code once again.
You may want to look at an organization called the long Island CW club. They have a very extensive website and you can read all about the ways they get hams back into code. I am a member with them and they are very dedicated to getting hams back into code. I am very sure this group will be a great help as you dig back into code again.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
There is also (twice per week) the SST sponsored by the K1USN Radio Club. CWOps members are part of K1USN and the LICW Club.
Pace is a bit slower, exchange is Name / State (Province). Many of the CWT regulars participate to help support the CW operators.
Plenty of additional “di-dits” amongst the many regulars. Details are at their website below.
http://www.k1usn.com/sst.html
Good afternoon Nolan and very nice to hear from you, I had a smile on my face as I read your comment because yesterday was the first time I took part in the SST contest. I was reading the latest Solid Copy from the CWops page and low and behold this contest was mentioned right off the bat.
Thanks for the plug and I can also attest that this is a very slow-paced contest and great for those who want to get their feet wet regarding contesting or just getting on the air.
Thanks for the plug Nolan and have a good weekend,
73,
Mike
VE9KK