What blew me away trying to get into my third CW contest was the speed everyone was running. Additionally I had not dealt with sequential exchanges before, and wanted to listen to one first to get the "feel" of the exchange. But it was all too fast.
The concept of answering folks at what they sent, was few and far between in my experience. I heard some folks consistently sending slower (meaning 20-25) only to be answered by much higher rates. They still worked them, so they were capable of higher than they were sending (seems quite possible) or they had help. Decoders must be useful, the K3 has one. With the many years of being licensed that copied that I copied in the exchange, I completely believe that many folks are sending and copying at the higher speeds. But I have a hard time buying that "all" of them are. Are they using the MFJ decoder or the various software programs? Is there one that works better than the other? I have every intention of continuing to build my code speed, but if I am going to continue to try to do CW contesting I need to do something to reduce the frustration factor. There were stations that I passed over as too fast to even start getting the info. Others I asked for QRS. Most did, some didn't. Overall it was a learning activity, I'm glad I took the time to experience it, but frustrating because I couldn't fully participate. -- David Wilburn [EMAIL PROTECTED] K4DGW K2 S/N 5982 _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
