First, I believe this is "on topic" because it relates to good Amateur practice on the air.
You are quite right, Doug. I was talking about the guys who report they ran a 50+ wpm day after day, sometimes faster. I understand that is true in a select number of circuits, but definitely was not common or typical, especially in the maritime industry and in military communications, just as it is not true on the Ham bands. I wouldn't want any CW operator today to think that speeds of 40+ wpm were common in "real" CW communications because both commercial and military services knew that faster speeds equals slower messages, overall, especially when dealing with a variety of operators with a variety of skills. That is the same in Amateur communications using CW. The good operators I knew in the shore stations did their best to accommodate whatever the shipboard operator wanted to do. After all, as I said, the ship was the "customer" and the customer is always right. Like the rest of us, I'm no longer active commercially with CW but I still hold that practice. As long as I can copy well and handle their speed, I'll do my best to accommodate the other stations sending at whatever speed is best for them and copying likewise. Sometimes it's up around 30-35 wpm - my comfortable top - and sometimes it's with a learning operator at 5 or 10 wpm. Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- Doug W7KF wrote: We handled all traffic at speeds between 25 and 30 WPM and it was rare for a fill either direction. And since we both had full QSK and knew how to use it, fills were nearly instantaneous. I don't know but I suspect the WLO guys were using electronic keyers -- I know I was. ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
