Work the World With CW
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SEE WHO'S ON THE CW HONOR ROLL!
For more than a year after I gained HF privileges, I was scared stiff of CW. Aside from attempting to call CQ at 6 WPM (as slow as my ICOM-718's built-in keyer would let me go) a few times, all of my HF contacts were on phone. Phone was just easier than CW. I had just barely passed the 5 WPM Morse code test and I was not very confident in my CW ability. Tuning the HF bands and hearing CW sent at 30+ WPM made me run from the CW portion of the band to the comfort of SSB.
As time went on, I was a little embarrassed that I had been a ham for over a year and was still awaiting my first CW contact. One day I decided I was going to bite the bullet and make a CW contact. After calling CQ a few times with no response, I was about to give up when I heard K2KNB calling CQ. He was sending slow enough where I could copy his callsign, but I was not sure I could copy an entire contact at that speed. After a deep breath, I decided to call K2KNB. I confirmed that my keyer speed was at its lowest setting and gave a 2 X 2 call. K2KNB came right back at the speed I was sending! Once the contact started, I could not believe how easy and fun CW was. After I made that first CW contact, I was so excited that I operated CW only for at least a month.
There's more to the story of my first CW contact. I decided I wanted a QSL from K2KNB to remember my first CW contact. So I sent him my QSL card with a note to please QSL back because he was my first CW contact. About a week later, I received not only a QSL card from K2KNB but the very nice certificate shown below. Thanks Richard, K2KNB, for the certificate and the very memorable first CW contact!
After the excitement of my first CW contact had died down, it did not take me long to find out how much better CW is for DXing than phone. For one thing, CW, unlike phone, does not have to be modulated. This means that a CW signal takes up way less bandwidth than an SSB signal. Because CW signals are so narrow, the power you put into the signal is concentrated in the signal's narrow bandwidth. You can think of it this way: which is more efficient, a 100 watt SSB signal spread out over 2,000 hertz, or a 100 watt CW signal spread out over 500 hertz? The answer is the CW signal, of course.
When I had operated phone only, I had a lot of trouble working DX stations with my 100 watts and attic antenna. When I started working CW, I found that working DX is a lot easier than on phone. I was amazed at how much DX was on CW, too. DX stations usually attract only a small pileup and I get through in only a few calls. In my first CW DX contest, I worked so many new countries that I had never even heard on phone. I even used CW to work Jacky, 3B8CF, on Mauritius Island for my farthest contact ever! If you enjoy DXing and have a very modest station like I do, I think CW is the way to go!
Here are some excellent CW links I have found.
AA9PW Morse Code Practice Page– practice copying letters, numbers, punctuation, QSOs, and FCC exams
MorseRunner– practice running huge CW pileups in a pretend DX contest
Morse Code Generator– a neat program that turns CW text into a .wav file
