Due to the lousy prop on the higher bands of late, I have been spending a lot of time on 30M. Probably, due to the same reason, so have a lot of New Ops just getting their feet wet on CW and Older Ops getting back on the air whose CW is a bit rusty.
About 90 % of the time I have found that these New Ops and Older Ops are sending around 5 WPM faster than what they can copy. If during a QSO, a sta told me my CW was too fast and I was sending at the same speed he was sending, I politely told him so, and added the remark that his CW speed was what the other Op almost always used as a guage for his send speed. So, I said, please adjust your send speed to what you can copy. I of course went QRS to say this. Many stas thanked me for this tip, while other stations, even with strong signals, never came back to me after this suggestion. I really did not mean to humiliate anyone or make anyone get upset, I just thought it was a helpful tip. Not once, however, did I hear PSE QRS from the other sta. QRS has always meant "Please decrease your send speed to ____WPM", or today just simply decrease your send speed. If you are a New Op just getting your feet wet with CW or an Older Op just getting back on the bands and your CW is a bit rusty, please adjust your send speed to what you can comfortably copy. Most experienced CW Ops are very congenial and obliging. Even if you happen to make out the call of a CQ faster than you can copy, call the sta and give a PSE QRS. Bet the other Op will slow down for a QSO with you. Don't ever feel bad about having to tell the other station to QRS. I can't copy 45 WPM anymore, so I often have to say QRS myself !!! Thanks all and DX-Chat, Larry K4WLS Subscribe/unsubscribe, feedback, FAQ, problems http://njdxa.org/dx-chat To post a message, DX related items only, [EMAIL PROTECTED] This is the DX-CHAT reflector sponsored by the NJDXA http://njdxa.org
