Hi all.
A few of us seem to be stretching ourselves in the morse department which is great. I would really like to have some morse practice and was wondering when everyone else is on air practicing. I know Ric and Tom are on but its too late in the day for me. The qrs sessions done by G3ROO etal are not easy for me to use due to small people’s bed time (harmonics not me).
Steve, when are you on with Mike? Could I gatecrash or listen in?
Is anyone already doing anything daytime, or would be willing to do so? I’m open to suggestions and would like to progress.
Cheers
Q GW3BV
I may have a little more flexibility to what times I get on to practice now. I have been told off by the trainer at the gym for working out too often! So will cut that down to 2/3 a week.
I could also get on early mornings, around 0630. Perhaps we could use this thread as a sort of alerting/spotting system for CW practice skeds for us SOTA enthusiasts?
In reply to GW3BV:
There seems to be a QRS party in April
http://www.agcw.org/eucw/euqrs.html
Otherwise there is a lot of QRS and QRP activity on the HF bands though the QSO rate may not be very high. If I hear that some QRS station really needs a QSO, I will reply to the call.
In my case the best training would be some contest or chatting with CW.
73, Jaakko OH7BF/F5VGL
Calling now on 3.551MHz.
In reply to GW3BV:
Steve, when are you on with Mike? Could I gatecrash or listen in?
Hi Q, At the moment I am still learning the last few letters and Mike is sending modulated to me on his 70cm handheld so no chance of you hearing unfortunatly. Once I start sending maybe we can find a quiet spot somewhere so we can all get together.
In reply to M1EYP:
I could also get on early mornings, around 0630.
If you ever get anything going around that time then let me know, as when I get back to work I could listen in on the way home on nights and join in on my days off over my cereal.
Steve GW7AAV
In reply to GW3BV:
Hi Q, no problem here, it would be my pleasure to do some qrs cw practice with you.
Let me know times and bands available to you. My email addy is on QRZ.com, or communicate through the reflector.
40M not always brilliant inter uk, so probably best 80M or even better still, 60M if you have nov for that band.
fine,fine…
great idea to do cw 
look forward for new calls in future.qrs no problem,but under 12wpm i have big problems and my given cw-signs becomes terrible but for a short rapport and callsign good enough i think.so,pse call in cw if you hear me in my activations.look specially for qrs at the end of the pile-up´s on 40 and 30m…so have fun with the code hope cu on the sota´s…
73 Klaus DF2GN
In reply to GW0DSP:
Hi Mike. Thats great, thanks for the offer. I imagine the best band would be 60mts (and yes I do have an nov). I will be in touch by email soon.
Looking forward to it
Thanks again
Q
In reply to GW3BV et al:
99% of home stn work is CW, but been using phone on most of my SOTA expeditions, because my XYL Eleri and the kids are usually with me and I thought it’d be more interesting for them (it worked - Eleri is now MW3NYR!).
I’m hoping to do more CW, now Eleri can have her own QSOs, also the WX is getting better & we can spend longer on the tops without freezing (hard to send CW when your hand won’t stop shaking)!
Please call in, even if it sounds fast…
Call me at the speed YOU are comfortable copying, CW etiquette dictates that I should come back to you at YOUR speed. I don’t care how slow that is, or how long it takes to complete the QSO. Or just send QRS QRS QRS - that tells me to slow down.
I’m not an expert CW OP, I’ve only been at it a couple of years, but I do know it’s great fun and still remember the excitement of my first few contacts. I only use a straight key and I have noticed my CW is a bit ropey when out /P, for which I apologise. It’s mostly the tiny key and the cold hands, plus still not used to getting a pile-up!
On receive, try switching in a narrow filter, a simple audio one will do if your rig hasn’t got an IF one. It’ll get rid of most of the noise and nearby signals and the one you want will be much easier to copy. If you have a DSP noise reducer - make sure it doesn’t have ‘auto-notch’ before you use it on CW!
73
Ian GW8OGI
Anyone fancy a slow speed CW sked sometime this evening? Thinking 80m, around 3.550MHz sometime after 9pm.
In reply to M1EYP: I’ll listen out for you, Tom, but past experience suggests that 50% copy is the best I’ll do from this location (Shrewsbury) unless conditions have improved from when you were working with Richard. Rig is FT77, antenna is an inverted ‘V’. Thanks for the post. BTW I.m at home most of the day, so I’ll check this post from time to time.
Regards, Dave, M0DFA
Made a few calls on 3.551MHz between 9 and 10pm last night. No replies, and for that matter, not a single other slow speed CQ call was found that I could try to reply to. Perhaps condx were not too good.
Unlikely to be on tonight as it’s Quiz Night for the XYL and I.
In reply to M1EYP:
Hi Tom
Myself and Quentin GW3BV are planning qrs cw skeds for 11:00, Wednesdays and Fridays on 5.403.5. please feel free to join in anytime you wish, it would be my/our pleasure to have you on board.
73 de Mike GW0DSP
In reply to GW0DSP:
Thanks for the offer Mike. I will have to decline on two counts: A full-time job, and lack of 5MHz NOV! Since when was CW introduced as acceptable on 5MHz? I seem to recall the band was USB only, but could well be wrong as I haven’t followed developments really, since its introduction.
In reply to M1EYP:
Its SSB only in USA - here its SSB and narrow band modes eg. CW DATA
Roger G4OWG
Calling now on 3.550
In reply to GW3BV:
Hi Q, I hope you enjoyed the cw practice today, you did superbly well. Your sending is very good quality and nice and easy to listen to, just practice, practice, practice now to get your speed up.
Steve GW7AAV was listening in and read approx 95% of our qso and I hope to have him doing some sending in the very near future. He has cracked the alphabet and advancing very quickly now, so you two can practice together shortly.
If anyone else wants to join in, Q an I will be on 5.291 for qrs cw on Wednesdays and Fridays approx 11:00 hours.
I will work at slow speeds to suit the slowest in the net.
It’s all good fun as far as I’m concerned and the more cw ops the merrier.
73 de Mike GW0DSP
In reply to GW0DSP:
Hi Mike
Thanks again for the qrs qso today. I enjoyed it even though it did make my head hurt! When I practised to pass my A license I did so on 2mt fm and found the transition to HF CW very difficult because of the noise, qsb etc. It seems to make more sense to practice on HF in the first place. Look forward to more practice with you and hopefully Steve in the very near future.
Anyone who hasn’t tried CW yet? Go for it, you won’t regret it!
Cheers
Q
Anyone up for a QRS sked tonight? I am calling on 80m, and looking for other stations to answer, both without success so far. Calling CQ on 3.5275 at present…
Calling now 3.543MHz
1957 UT 2057 BST calling 3.561