First CW activation tips needed?

Yeah, great advice. SKCC activities are lots of fun and have been instrumental in my learning cw op. I’m a few contacts away from my C (100 unique SKCC contacts).

One problem I did run into was transitioning back and forth from a straight key (home op) to a paddle and keyer (SOTA). I am sure this comes naturally at some point, but as a newb it was a problem. Since I used a straight key more often, it was my activations that suffered. I finally enacted a solution a few weeks back: I bought a snazzy vibroplex lightning bug. It’s not quite the same as a paddle/keyer obviously, but it’s much closer. I’ve done two activations since I switched over to it and it seems to have completely solved the problem.

Lots of good advice in George’s post…

This! Also works for chasers! Keep your answers short, and repeat the important stuff (like SOTA reference!).

Sometimes, at least over in Europe, the trailing /P they’ll have on their callsign will be the give-away…

A few hundred Hertz can be enough. I find working too close to the n.0 kHz lines increases the chances of being trampled on, too.