Sandy, those are *great* points! I have had a lot of new ops say that they have a very hard time "chewing the rag" on CW because they can't really formulate things to say AND concentrate on sending good CW. I suggest they write down some mini-bios that would fit into a transmission that they can just copy as need be and append an "open ended" question to the comment! For example:
BN POUNDING BRASS FOR 5 YRS NOW ES LOVE IT X HW DID U GET INTO HAM RADIO? Or (for the "Married with Children" fans) IM AN EX SHOE SALESMAN X MY TV SERIES WAS CANCELLED, MY KIDS GREW UP ES MY XYL WANTED ME OUT OF HER LIVING ROOM SO I GOT MY HAM LICENSE X SHE LIKES CW BECAUSE I CANT SEND AND STICK MY HANDS IN MY BELT AT THE SAME TIME X HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE HOBBY? Of course, one of my favorites is "RIG HR ELECRAFT K2 X BUILT IT IN 2000. LV BUILDING. WHATS UR FAVORITE HAM ACTIVITY?" I got a reply once, "RIG HR KX1. BUILDING. BUILDING. BUILDING. DON'T KNOW WHAT'S NUMBER FOUR YET." For folks out there who have a hard time thinking and sending each one on a card so you can pick one out quickly. And, I can tell you from experience, one day you'll realize you aren't using the cards any more. You're just talking with a new friend on the air... Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- Can't agree with you more Ron! I think I've had more polite QSO's with QRPers than other random contacts. Another bunch that will spend some good QSO time with you other than the: "Good meeting you", RST, QTH, "Op", 73 QSO, is the FISTS group. Way too many fellows these days who plain don't want to "talk" and "ragchew" on CW. I have run into a lot of "shooters", pilots, ship operators accidently while laying out fragments of my "bio" on CW QSO's. I feel VERY uncomfortable getting a 589/599 report when running 5 watters, then finding out the guy on the other end, who is maybe 349 or 459 is running 100 watts! 72/72, Sandy Mostly W5TVW/QRP _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net 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
