G'day from a new guy and my first QSOs..

[2E0OZI]

G'day folks,

just thought I would pop in and say hello, I will really start reading the forums in the next few days, but up until now I have not really read them. Why not? Well....because I felt a bit of a fraud really, as I had joined the SKCC without having made a single CW contact! I can happily say that I have now fixed that little irregularity I have made 5 contacts and each one was pretty stressful and difficult but the satisfaction after each one is just increadible.

Clearly I need to practice my copying a lot more, and listen a lot more on the bands, but already I am copying callsigns far better than I was a couple of weeks ago, and picking up many of the common phrases and abbreviations a lot better as well. Maybe my method of learning CW has not been the best; I just used the program "A simple Morse Code trainer" I found on the ARRL website while I was laid up with a broken achilles tendon for 2 months...then I used LCWO callsign training for a few weeks..got myself a Czech Army key and started practising some sending.

After a while I thought I "might" be able to handle a QSO on the air, but I was very nervous and un-confident about the whole enterprise. And so what happened was the I messed up 3 qsos on a weekend in the first week of March. So I went back to computer practice. Then I went to a lecture on morse a few weeks later by M0BLO and it was a revelation - he said all first-timers were nervous, and there were techniques to help with that. It all seemed to make sense.

Straight after the lecture I went home and made my first contact with HA2PP in Hungary and I was off and running!

all the best,

Scott 2E0OZI SKCC 9008

[N6EV]

Congratulations and well done Scott! It sounds like you are on the right track to improving your copy and sending. No matter how far you go, you'll always look back on those initial QSOs with fond memories. Eventually, you will be able to regain a bit of those memories by helping someone else with their first QSO!

Keep up the good work!

[w5alt]

Scott, that's great. We've all been there and sweated through our first CW QSO. Mine was many years ago, but I can still remember the cold sweat, forgetting how to copy Morse, etc. Keep at it! Remember it really is FUN.

[2E0OZI]

Thanks for the welcome! I have yet to make another QSO as I have been busy with a few other things and have not been able to concentrate on radio at all. I will however be picking up some pretty old headphones on Thursday ("AMD-H-1" I believe it says on the earpieces) so I hope that cuts down some of the noise and helps me copy a little better.

all the best

Scott

[n3pdt]

Hi Scott,

I know this is late and you've probably already logged hundreds of CW contact by now... But as mentioned, we've all been there, forgot our own names and how to form the letter "F". I used a note card with my call, name, and city on it, plus a few Q codes and helpful stuff. Am able to operate without it now, but I still keep my call posted prominently in the shack, just in case.

Unfortunately, this nice forum is not very heavily used. You may also want to check out the facebook pages for SKCC/Straight key users of Morse Code, etc. and the KU3K sked page, http://www.obriensweb.com/sked/index.php?board=skcc for more activity.

Hope to work you soon Scott!

Doug N3PDT
6861T

[2E0OZI]

Thanks Doug,

yes I must organise myself with a little card with some common terms on it and stuff like that. I am up to a grand total of 8 QSOs now on CW - probably have not had hundreds because until this week I have had a shocking cold, and of course my operating has to work around my wife and 6 year old daughters needs. And another reason for not having a huge number is I'm a bit slow to zero beat the other guy sometimes - though I am getting far faster at it and far better at copying calls almost straight off.

I have noticed the forum does reselmbe one of those tumbleweed main streets from a Glen Ford western! I'll pop over the to the facebook page and have a look at that, and also I think I will join FISTS as well.

All up the whole CW thing has been really enjoyable so far - love my Czech Army key, and as soon as I get a 500Hz filter for my IC718 I think I will be set for life.

all the best

Scott