So I recently passed my Class 1 Morse Code exam and my callsign is now changed today from EI6JHB to EI3LH.
Forgive me if I have the IQ of a bubble in a Malteaser but I can’t find where to change my callsign in my profile.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
73 DE EI3LH (Formerly EI6JHB)
Contact the MT via the contact page on the website (click SOTA home on Sotawatch) and someone will work the magic for you! 
Congratulations on the morse exam! 
Thanks a mil! I tried all Sunday to get my first CW QSO but I made a balls of it. Had an SP callsign try to answer my CQ calls but I said QRS about 8 jillion times and he/she/they gave up and moved on!
Have a QMX ordered for months now so can’t wait for that. Won’t ever give up my FT-891 though. I’m being buried with it! 
Bad luck!
The good news is that there are lots of really patient sota cw chasers out there, so I’m sure you’ll have better luck next time. 
I’m determined to get there. Wasn’t the chasers fault, I just couldn’t copy. It’s so different live on air and I panicked. Kept trying but had to QRT eventually.
Might try again this weekend if I can get out to try an activation.
Anyone looking for study tips, I mainly used the paid version of Morse Mania on Android and the LCWO Website.
I have a straight key from Amazon and a Putikeeg silver paddle thing from Ali Express.
If I win the Euromillions I’ll buy a Begali, the Rolls Royce of CW keys apparently!?
It certainly is different live! I remember using a PC program called morse runner (I think) which is a pile-up simulator for contests. It does a good job of varying the speed and pitch of the callers which is good practice for real life operating.
This weekend is the CQWW CW contest. Even if you hate contests it’s a great way of practising sending and receiving. You only need to be able to send your callsign and 5nn14 (that’s the CQ zone at the end).
Oh nice! So I have that right, it’s just:
I never take part in contests. They seem to be super fast, blunt and smothered by people with 487 gigawatt stations with Yagi towers taller than the Burj Khalifa screaming at each other and stuff.
I’d sooner hop on 80m and have an argument with a gatekeeper about who has the worst gout.
It’s similar to a SOTA exchange but with no pleasantries:
Other station: TEST G9ABC
You: EI6JHB
Them: EI6JHB 5NN14
You: R 5NN14 TU
Them: TU TEST G9ABC
And often the R and TU will be omitted.
Try SOTA chasing in CW, this is how I did my first CW QSOs. It will also help you become familiar with how an activator handles pile-ups. It can be frustrating with QRP but wait for things to quieten down then jump in and send your callsign once followed by K (what I do) or BK if you prefer.
Very good point. I did try that on Sunday but couldn’t find anything. I might give the contest a try if I can get out this weekend.
Can’t wait to make my first CW QSO. It will happen if I keep trying!
Changed it for you. Congrats on the upgrade.
It’s a great feeling when you do. 
But… don’t do what so many people do call CQ faster than you can receive when starting out. If you call CQ at 15wpm but can only copy 10wpm people will reply faster than you can copy and tears before bedtime results.
If you can only do 10wpm then call at that speed… people will know to slow down and they wont tell you they live in Mississippi and grow Chrysanthemums and Rhododendrons for a hobby but they will be simple and say they live in MS and grow flowers. 
Oh cool. Thank you, you saved me a bit of faffing there!
That was the first thing I did. TX at about 97jillion wpm then got my backside handed to me and all i could do was send QRS over and over.
Everyone jogged on and I got nowhere!
Don’t send a K. In this context it’s not necessary.
One of the worst things I hear on the air is
G9ABC G9ABCK
You should only send your call once. The K isn’t needed and running it into the end of the callsign can be confusing if copy is poor.
On the other hand, another bad thing I hear is
CQ SOTA G9ABC
In this case there should be a K at the end. I don’t know if they’ve finished sending or not as CQ calls often send the call several times or could even include the reference.
Congratulations on the new call sign. I hope that you call in during my winter activations. A call sign and a simple signal report is all I need. A 73 to finish.
Yes, working CW live can be very nerve-wracking. I find that sometimes I’m called by people whom I would consider to be friends and I want to say so much to them but then I get in a real mess! The genuine pleasure of the friend calling in upsets my flow. It’s just a weird characteristic that I’ve developed. To combat this, I keep my interactions short, which possibly seems a little rude, but I hope that my ‘friends’ understand. ‘Friends’ because some of them I’ve only met on air.
73, GL
Colin
Congratulations.
I’d suggest listening - and listening and more listening to exchanges between hams on the air. You’ll achieve a number of things`;-
Begali keys… I think I’d call them ‘click bait’ for many hams. Bright, shiney and expensive. Oh, and not brilliant keys. I’d not buy one.
My favourite key is Second Hand NATO Morse Key Made by Marconi - radioworld. but they seem over priced.
Very close 2nd is this RAF KEY MORSE TYPRE D.
Military keys are generally very good. They were built to be used and abused. For activating I use a very small Russian army key known as a ‘spy key’ because its on the tiny side. Its not quite as nice to use as the Navy key but no matter how much you spend on a key you won’t find you can suddenly send better morse. It just feels nicer to use…But you are unlikely to notice the difference at the moment.
A bit like learning to drive. You only notice the different comfort, driving/handling capabilities and performance difference is cars when you;ve been driving for a while.
Sacrilege!! As the great Christopher Lambert once said in Highlander…
“There can be only one.”
That honour belongs (imho) to the legendary FT-891. Built like a Cromer Shirehorse, as attractive as an airport duty free Toblerone, more menus than a Chinese takeaway and designed with more love than British Leyland’s art department.
If Carlsberg made radios…
Sage advice though and all noted and taken on board. 
My Rig is a rather elderly Ten-Tec Argosy. I don’t really ‘follow’, or have an interest in rigs, so I just made up the model name/number in para 6. Is there such a radio? I have no idea.
Good luck with the morse. Don’t give in - many hams seem to give up too soon. I spent ages and ages listening to hams before I braved myself for my 1st QSO. And I was an RO in the Royal Navy, although rather a long time ago!!!