Saturday, April 28, 2007
Greetings all,
I've been working CW seriously a bit over a year now, with a couple multi-month gaps due to real life getting in the way of the hobby.
I'd set a couple goals and it's time to assess where I stand against them. The overall objective is to get to the point where I can "head copy" like an OF at about 30-40 WPM and/or be able to run a frequency, at speed, in a standard CW contest.
The goals?
500 CW contacts
My log currently records 302. Initially contest QSOs weren't going to count, however; since they force me to improve my speed, they count now.
100 different FISTS contacts
There isn't any automated way of checking this at the moment. My guess is between a dozen and two dozen. I haven't been making it a strong focus of QSOs. It turns out that I've worked a lot of FIST members without getting numbers on the air. Working a FISTS contest would probably help.
WAS CW
34 worked / 31 confirmed. Still need the following: AL, AR, CT, DE, GA, ID, MD, ME, NH, NY, RI, SC, SD, VT, WV, WY. Contesting is probably the best way to pick those up.
I've picked up two more goals along the way: DXCC CW and WAS RTTY.
DXCC CW
Very early on for this one. It is a friendly competition between AE6RR and me. Who can get to DXCC CW first. Worked 11 with 7 confirmed.
WAS RTTY
Pretty much a target of opportunity due to having fun RTTY contesting. 47 states with 46 confirmed. I still need the following: DE, ME, VT, WY.
My record on RuftXP is 37 WPM and 24 valid QSOs in 15 minutes on Morse Runner.
I am reasonably confident in my CW skills for normal QSOs, but fast contest exchanges and/or fast DX stations still leave my head spinning.
On the whole I'm still having fun and still motivated. We'll have to see what improvements the following months bring.
73 all!
I've been working CW seriously a bit over a year now, with a couple multi-month gaps due to real life getting in the way of the hobby.
I'd set a couple goals and it's time to assess where I stand against them. The overall objective is to get to the point where I can "head copy" like an OF at about 30-40 WPM and/or be able to run a frequency, at speed, in a standard CW contest.
The goals?
500 CW contacts
My log currently records 302. Initially contest QSOs weren't going to count, however; since they force me to improve my speed, they count now.
100 different FISTS contacts
There isn't any automated way of checking this at the moment. My guess is between a dozen and two dozen. I haven't been making it a strong focus of QSOs. It turns out that I've worked a lot of FIST members without getting numbers on the air. Working a FISTS contest would probably help.
WAS CW
34 worked / 31 confirmed. Still need the following: AL, AR, CT, DE, GA, ID, MD, ME, NH, NY, RI, SC, SD, VT, WV, WY. Contesting is probably the best way to pick those up.
I've picked up two more goals along the way: DXCC CW and WAS RTTY.
DXCC CW
Very early on for this one. It is a friendly competition between AE6RR and me. Who can get to DXCC CW first. Worked 11 with 7 confirmed.
WAS RTTY
Pretty much a target of opportunity due to having fun RTTY contesting. 47 states with 46 confirmed. I still need the following: DE, ME, VT, WY.
My record on RuftXP is 37 WPM and 24 valid QSOs in 15 minutes on Morse Runner.
I am reasonably confident in my CW skills for normal QSOs, but fast contest exchanges and/or fast DX stations still leave my head spinning.
On the whole I'm still having fun and still motivated. We'll have to see what improvements the following months bring.
73 all!
