Thanks for the kind words, Pat; but I use the straight key only for straight-key activators, or to make an exaggerated thank-you, like dah, di di daaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, dit dit.
I’m so glad to hear that not every one of the regular CW operators is as fluent with CW as I might have imagined.
This is not, however, to poke fun at anybody - least of all at you Tom - but simply to say that it’s encouraging to hear that, despite the professed lack of “fluency” in the mode, you and others like you still manage to perform impressively well at getting CW SOTA QSOs.
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Me neither, rhough I do literally bash brass of the straight key kind. Personally I do like to mix modes and 2m SSB (a challenge in itself) with 30m CW fits the bill nicely. I don’t recall ever having purposely set out to do an HF CW only activation, but I’m fairly certain I’ve achieved a few in my time. The Trans-Atlantic S2S event was almost such an activation, but for the temptation of a quick exchange with Simon GM4JXP on 10m SSB.
Well done Paul on your first mic-less activation. More of the same to come I’m sure 
.
73, Gerald
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Paul,
A big hardy congratulations and welcome to my world. I saw your post and thought surely that was a mistake. CW? Good for you. Keep it up.
Don
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…curious to see how a dyslexic old phart might manage.
[/quote]
I can give you a preview, Rob. Not the old part or the phart part, but the dyslexic part. W6PNG has that, and my brother had that. I told Paul ten years ago that my brother hit a plateau at 10 wpm and that is what he could expect. Paul said he would never try. Apparently, never say never. I’m elated that it’s happening, and I’m not even related to him, other than appointing him as AM in California years ago. Chapeau bas.
Elliott, K6EL
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I knew the rot has set in and he was up to no good when he stuffed a handful of Euros into Hannes hand at Friedrichshafen and hid the bright green Palm Paddle in his bag. Now he has BamaKey TP III in that photo. I bet he’s ordered a Begali as well 
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Hope springs eternal, Elliott!
One of the few benefits of aging is a better appreciation of what is significant to usl!!
It was simply an investment…I’m sure it’s worth twice what I paid…
Joking aside it and the BaMa paddles are, as many know, beautifully built and each has its own unique tactile experience. I really do like the “tight” feel of the BaMa. As to a Begali…who knows, I sprung serious pounds to buy a Cirro Mazzoni Baby Loop for Berwick.
I missed this question earlier and as Elliott shared I was/am dyslexic. I didn’t enjoy it in the slightest as a kid but ultimately prevailed but a day never goes by where I am not thankful to be a native English speaker as languages have always been tough. However, like you I was a software engineer and I found CS/Math to be easy, so in the karmic order of things life balanced out. Fred (@KT5X) has been visiting SoCal and he knows a lot more about dyslexia than me and helped me understand how it can make attaining a basic competence in morse harder.
It you really are serious then I suggest the entry level CWA course but there are some aspects of the CWA method that really tripped me up but the entry level class, tools exposure etc, twice weekly meetings were a game changer.
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I’m totally in the ‘not really very good at CW but just about good enough to do an activation and chase’ camp. Same as Tom, if people try and start an interesting conversation I stare blankly at the rig and reply with a cheery 73 TU I am trying to get better though.
Even on ordinary SOTA exchanges I sometimes ask for (many!) repeats. I hope maybe the caller thinks I’m heroically pulling them out of a monster pile-up, or QRN. But in reality their signal couldn’t be any clearer, it’s just my little brain struggles with the decoding. I’m having lots of fun though and I hope they are too.
Love morse activating, don’t think I’ve got the mic out on HF since I got just about good enough to activate in morse.
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The incredibly cool thing, that not many people realise, is that you don’t need to be good at CW to do CW. SOTA activating & chasing, and CW contesting, is totally accessible to anyone from very basic levels of CW upwards. Many times I’ve heard “I need to practice at home to get a lot better before I try a CW activation”. I’d flip that, and do CW activations in order to get better!
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Oh good, glad it’s not just me that falls into this category! I do feel a twinge of guilt in these scenarios, but like you, hope to do better in the future! Sorry to anyone reading this who has experienced a rather brutal end to an attempted conversation!
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I wish I could like this more than once! Tom told me this probably a coupel of years ago when I mentioned that I needed to practise more to do a CW activation. Looking back, Tom is 100% correct, doing a SOTA activation is a great way to improve your CW skills.
I’m mildly dyslexic and its taken hours each week of practise and on-air time but I’m starting to make progress now. I’ve gone from sweaty fingered SOTA chaser trying to send my callsign correctly to just the other week having a ragchew at ~24wpm sending/receiving totally in my head. The dyslexia still hits me occasionally in a rag chew - I can get half way through a word and realise I have totally forgotten how the remainder of the word is spelt! This used to worry me a lot and hold me back, but once I realised the goal is to get the gist across rather than necessarily be 100% accurate sending or receiving it suddenly got a lot easier to deviate from the standard SOTA or QSO exchange. And funnily enough, once I stopped worrying about it I found I was making far less mistakes!
Never feel embarrased about being a beginner in CW - all CW operators have been there, we know exactly what it feels like and welcome new ops with open arms - its a great feeling when you know you’ve helped someone on their CW journey.
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I am too.
This shows up on FM and SSB QSOs where I sometimes swap letters writing down the chaser’s callsign, e.g. G3YXZ instead of G3XYZ. Oddly, I’ve never had this problem with copying Morse. My theory is that’s because the brain decodes each character and you unconsciously write it to paper as a single operation. Where as with voice, you take in the whole callsign before writing it down.
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Congrats!
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Congratulations! CW is very fulfilling. Keep after it and your comfort level will continue to grow.
73/72,
Ron
KF4GNV
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I like how Paul doesn’t go out and knock out his first CW activation. Instead he works a stack of 15 QSOs!
Paul showed me last year how easy QRP HF phone activating can be. And I’ve continued to. (But with RBN, CW is sooo easy, and I sometimes slip back to not taking the mike out of the pack. 
)
FB Paul!
Drew
n7da
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Congratulations Paul!!! Pure chance that happened to see your spot and get to work you from my rooftop patio with the KH1. You were doing fine, and it will get easier. By the by, the paddle you have chosen to use is a GEM, thanks for letting me try it the other day.
CU on some more summits by CW !!!
fd kt5x WS0TA
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Most excellent, Paul!
Welcome to the CW fold.
I, too, was puzzled to see your spot the other day. No radio to be had at the time, unfortunately.
Have fun!
72, David N6AN
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Congrats, Paul!
It was a very pleasant surprise to be chased by you using CW when I was on Bohemotash Mountain, and super-satisfying to also be part of your first CW activation as a chaser!
73,
Rex KE6MT