A 40m CW story

I thought I’d share some very fond memories I’ve had on 40m CW.

I know many of you do not like CW.  I do respect that and understand that.   It’s not for everyone.

For me, the mode has always been part of the magic of ham radio.  I, like everyone else at the time, had to learn CW to enter ham radio.  I remember that first code test – in fact, I barely passed! – sitting in the club shack of the Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club in 1985.  From that point on, my proficiency improved and soon after I got the ticket in the mail, I was brave enough to actually attempt my first QSO.

Using an old tube-type Galaxy III transceiver, and a homebrew inverted vee antenna I had installed on the rooftop,  I nervously browsed the novice portion of the 40m band, looking for someone calling CQ (and sending slow enough for me to copy!).  I was too scared to call CQ on my own.  Call it stage fright, or key fright!  I’m not sure what it was.  Maybe it was being 13 years old, and afraid of doing the wrong thing!  Finally, I did find a station calling CQ that I could copy.

His callsign was KA7VYS.  I think he called CQ at least twice before I was brave enough to answer.  His name was John, and he lived in Phoenix (only a few miles from where I lived, in Tempe!).  We had a short QSO, during which I found out that this was also John’s first QSO!  We were both each other’s first contact!  What are the odds of this?!  The QSO ended with words from John that I’ll never forget (and are still written in the spiral notebook that I saved), “have fun, I know I will”.

John and I ran into one another several more times on the band in coming weeks and months, and eventually we became good friends.  We competed against each other for code proficiency and station superiority.  We also competed for who would upgrade sooner.  Eventually, we both made it to extra class (he WG7K, I WF7I) and were sending and receiving code at about 30 to 35 WPM!  

John and I also both participated in our first Field Day event, sometime in the late 1980s.  The Scottsdale club was having their annual event in the woods of northern Arizona.  40m again entered the picture, as I took over the 40m contest CW station at about one in the morning one night.  Nervously, I sat down and put the headphones on.  I finally dove in, and did the logging and operating on my own.  It was a blast!  I was at the station for at least an hour, and contributed to the club’s score.  I still remember leaving the station with such a feeling of satisfaction as I stumbled through the dark back to my tent, and fell asleep to the sounds of echoing CW through the forest.

John went on to participate in community service with a local SATERN chapter (one in which I think he even helped to create).  He and I tried new modes together, like packet and amtor.  He even put up a fulltime packet mailbox.  John was always interested in trying new things and building a bigger and better station.  

Unfortunately, John passed away about 10 years ago, of a heart condition.   I miss the fun times we had.  Sometimes it’s hard to believe that I can’t just call him up, or hear him on the bands in a rag chew.  I’m glad that at least I was able to play a part in his happiness during the last years of his life.

For me, the magic of 40m CW lives on.  I remember vividly the thrill I had when I first put my homebrew 40m transmitter on the air, about 7 years ago.  Only one watt, and calling CQ till I was blue in the face!  Finally, getting a call back -- and having a brief rag chew.  What a thrill.  

And all the countless ragchews, I’m sure they number in the hundreds over the years!  So many polite and decent operators, many former radio operators from WWII, many with interesting life stories to tell.  Many having to leave because their XYLs had called them to supper.  Or they had to go do yard work.  Several managing to do code while mobile.  I recall at least one time when the guy was piloting an aircraft. It always amazes me how ham radio reaches out and connects you to such interesting total strangers, often never to run across your speaker or headset again.

Only a few weeks ago, I got on 40m CW again for the first time in over a year.  It was evening, and turning on the radio and seeing the glow of the display in the night instantly brought me back to all of my past fond memories.  I put on the headphones and got in my chair.  Not far from the spot where I made my first QSO, I heard a very weak CQ barely making it through the noise.  I copied “KH5K/MM QRPP”.  Must be real low power.  I began a rag chew with Carl, and discovered that he was on a cargo ship out at sea in the Pacific and only running ½ a watt!  He was running a QRP kit he had built himself.  His signal pulled up to an amazing S9 as the night rolled on.  It must have been around midnight when we said our 73s, and he began another QSO, still at S9.  

I emailed Carl, and he emailed me back with some more interesting info on his operation.  He even emailed me a custom QSL card!  I’m always amazed and gratified by the friendliness and hospitality I have found on 40m CW.  And every night I get on, there is always a new story to hear, a new adventure waiting to unfold.  It’ll always be my favorite band.

 

Man, you know it!  My story is similar, first licensed in the mid 60's with several other school friends
We all received consecutive calls (wn5sox, wn5soy(me), wn5soz, and wn5spa). Three of us
are still in contact (mostly email and phone) after almost 50 years!! I just talked by phone
to one of these guys (wa5sox) a week or so ago and we're gonna try to meet on the air soon.
We both prefer CW. My favorite mode is QRP CW and I love to build things. It was ham radio
that pointed the direction of my life in that it focused me on Electrical Engineering and I ended up
with a degree in it (though I've done mostly software).

I have fond memories of driving 150 miles (to Dallas) to upgrade to General (it actually took
two attempts).

I don't have a near-by buddy as you did with John, but I can certainly appreciate it and wish
I did. It's amazing the comaradery in this hobby.

Best Wishes,
KAC
WB0E

 

There are so many ways to "spell" amateur radio. This post reminds me of the joy and good feeling of my early years.  It actually tempts me to get back on the air.  73,

 

I sure wish I had a nice story to tell, but nothing so fancy here.  When I decided to really get serious with CW, I told myself it was only fair to spend a minimum of a month doing nothing but CW before I could say if I liked it or not. People say they don't like CW, but they never tried it, actually had any QSO's, and I didn't want to be that way.  The first place I went was the novice portion of 40m, and no doubt, it was the place to be.  Folks were going speeds I could copy, and they wanted to work ME for a change, plus, the propagation distances were close enough that I could work and get to know people in my area.  Even though I eventually got my speed up enough to get into the DX window on 20m, to this day I still work 40m, and I still have some of the best QSO's there.  My favorite thing in all of Ham Radio is to operate the old timers, the REAL old-timers in their 80's and 90's, and you'll run into them on 40m. What a joy!  The noise is unbearable at times, but it is worth having to wade through just for the great people you run into.  No great stories here, just a lot of super contacts with great Hams.  When 40m is quiet, it is a real pleasure, and believe it or not, sometimes it is, hi. If you haven't spent any time on 40m, do yourself a favor and give it a try.

 

How fondly we remember those early days on CW. In 1965, my dad and I built a one tuber for 40M CW and we figured it had 7 watts input. In those days, novices were limited to crystal control and hoarding those precious crystals was of paramount importance. Like Del, I was very nervous about calling CQ. Lordy, someone might actually answer! I don't have my original logbooks anymore unfortunately, but I still remember the call of my first contact. It was Dale, WN5NEB (now WA5NEB) who heard my puny signal in New Mexico. Still have his qsl card too. But my goodness, how CW has proven itself. We live in a condo and for 4 years I struggled to make contacts using a little mag loop. 40M was not a good option. Now I have a 40M dipole on the roof and evenings you'll find me usually around 040 with my K1. But think I'll go on up to the Novice portion again and shoot some slow cw cqs and see what happens.
73 all
Paul NG7Z

 

After reading some of the comments made regarding 40m I couldnt resist adding my two cents worth Hi...I am originally from Philadelphia Pa and was licensed as a 15 year old back in 1966 as WN3GLX and of course upgraded to WA3GLX a year later...40m cw has always been a magical band for me..right from the early days when novices were crammed into 7.150-7.200 MHZ and crystal controlled..amongst the foreign broadcasters etc..but with a simple dipole or whatever and a few watts you were able to communicate through all of this QRM and of course working the West Coast was the epitahy of hamdom for this op and his DX40 Xmtr and piece of wire....There were of course alot of young people on the band then...Now of course living in ZL land and still a 40m cw op...the band has opened up alot of challenges...although many people may not like cw or say you need a KW and a yagi on 40...well everyone is entitled to a opinion but where's the ham spirit anymore of trying to do something with a few watts and a piece of wire? From ZL on a 100w and a 40m dipole the DXCC total stands at 205...Im still having a ball on 40m after 36 years!

 

I first got licenced at age 12 and I am 22 now. CW is my favorite mode but it wasn't always my favorite. When I took my novice test I passed and decided to sit in for the general code element. I got lucky =) and passed it. Dropping the code requirement was the worst idea in ham radio as after you suffer through learning it u never forget it! Where the magic is at. It took several years before I attempted my first qso as I felt I'd be a lamer for not abreviating and such. My first CW QSO was with my uncle bob K1HQ and cousin dan N1ONV but I still would never think of calling CQ or answering. I baught a kantronics and use that for a while for CW. My brain tripped out and I started seeing the letters. hihi. Currently I attend umass amherst and need CW on the 40 novice to relax from the inhuman conditions we deal with in electrical engineering! Having ADD, it also helps me get focused to do homework. 73 de Jack, KE1DW

 

A nice story. I will never forget the terror--immediately followed by the joy, of passing the code for my General license those 20-odd years ago! Seems odd that there is so much opposition to the code in an age in which there are so many convenient aids to learning it.
It will be ultimately dropped as a licensing requirement, and we will be the poorer for it.

 

Great Story!

KG6HUF,
Tyler.

 

WF7I de WN7FIK (my Scottsdale call in 1966). My story is almost identical. When my license came, Rick Olsen, WA7CNP (now N6NR), brought over a Globe Chief 90 that only worked on 40, because all I had was a receiver up to then. I hooked it to my inverted vee at 20' and he went home so he could be my first QSO. Man was I nervous! I think I only copied about half of what he sent. And I remember thinking how rude he was to call me a lid -- he sent "solid copy" and I wrote down "so lid copy".

We were both members of SARC, along with Mike Wright, WA7HRE (now N7MW), Bob Wright, WA7ISP (now K7RW), John Williamson, WA7IFD (now K7CG), and many more. The friendly competition each day really motivated all of us to keep it up. We are all still CW ops today.

I remember being able to work only Arizona and California until I built a decent transmitter from the '66 Handbook and put up the 2-el beam described in the Sept. '66 QST. (See my article in July, 2001 QST for a tribute to that antenna). Course, as soon as I did, I had the "honor" of being one of the first to fight CC&R's in court in Phoenix. Hopefully what I went through back then helped other Phoenix area hams for a long time.

 

Forty meter CW brought me the world.  Back when I had just received my Novice ticket, in June, 1956, I had no transmitter.  Dee Stone, W4HTW, then a fellow high school student, loaned me his ARRL handbook designed 40 meter homebrew CW transmitter and two crystals.  It ran about 10 watts input to a 6L6, and I attached it directly to 300 ohm twin lead, so the mismatch was horrible, but it worked 11 states or so for me.  By the way, you'll note my vanity call sign today is in thanks to Dee, as I am now W5HTW, after many years with other call signs.

One night in November, 1963, I was on 40 CW in the afternoon, from my beach cabin in Delaware (I was at that time K3SSP)   The fellow I was talking with asked me if I had heard the news, and when I said I had not, he advised me President John Kennedy had been killed.  We said our goodbyes and I switched on the little black and white TV.  (I had not even seen color tv back then&#33   I learned of the assasination via ham radio - 40 CW.

That same fall, in that same cabin, an off season hurricane came by, and as the waves crashed near the cabin and water came over the seawall, we, my wife and I, tried to leave, but the car was wet and wouldn't start.  It was a long ways down a dark and already underwater road, in high winds, and walking out would be impossible. I fired up the Eico 720 and called "CQ Dover" on 40 CW.  The chances of hearing anyone that close by were slim, but I did - a fellow ham named Ed Brown, whose call I have since forgotten.  I told him the problem and he called my parents in Dover, Del, and they came and rescued us.  

A year later, in November, 1964, and no longer in the beach cabin, I spent a couple of hours on the air, 40 CW, one night.  My final QSO of the evening was a relatively short one, perhaps ten minutes.  He and I chatted a bit and then he said "I have to get some rest.  I have a busy day tomorrow."  Only then did I put the call sign with the name.  It was Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, K7UGA (though he was using his second station call in Washington, DC) and he did indeed have a busy day tomorrow, as that was election day, 1964.  Barry lost to Lyndon Johnson.  

In 1965 I accepted a job with the US government, my qualifications based on three things: My high security clearance from the military; my basic knowledge of electronics (from ham radio) and, my ability to copy 15 WPM Morse, the entry requirement for the job.  Almost all of my CW work had, up till then, been on 40 meters.  After that, it was on government frequencies.

In the last few years the majority of my good DX has been on 40 CW, and it is still where I hang out, though these days I am no longer limited to a crystal controlled rig and a single antenna.  

Last week I met a 15 year old ham on the 40 meter Novice band, reminding me of my own teen days as a new ham.  

C U on 40 CW

73
Ed

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (WF7I @ Aug. 08 2002,16:29)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">His callsign was KA7VYS. I think he called CQ at least twice before I was brave enough to answer. His name was John, and he lived in Phoenix (only a few miles from where I lived, in Tempe&#33. We had a short QSO, during which I found out that this was also John?s first QSO! We were both each other?s first contact! What are the odds of this?! The QSO ended with words from John that I?ll never forget (and are still written in the spiral notebook that I saved), ?have fun, I know I will?.

John and I ran into one another several more times on the band in coming weeks and months, and eventually we became good friends. We competed against each other for code proficiency and station superiority. We also competed for who would upgrade sooner. Eventually, we both made it to extra class (he WG7K, I WF7I) and were sending and receiving code at about 30 to 35 WPM![/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
It certianly sounds like you've had fun out on CW. My condolences on the loss of your friend. He sounds like "Good People".

I myself never thought I'd like CW. I'm Dyslexic, and have a very hard time copying.

Then I found CWGet, which I use to help me fill in the gaps when I trade a P for an X, or an L for a Y, or an A for an N, etc, etc, etc.

Now, without the pressure of wondering if I'm copying what's being sent properly, I'm enjoying it alot. I'm finding that my sending is almost at 17 words per minute. I'm still barely copying at 5 WPM, but the computer helps me out with that. When I miss things, it catches me up, and the QSO goes on.

I've found that this, old, antiquated mode that I thought was just a hurdle to me getting on HF is in fact becoming one of my favorite modes. Besides, it's nice to see the looks on the faces of the people who knock on my door, hearing all these beeps coming from my 706Mk][G, wondering what that 31 year old truck driver is doing in there.

Maybe we'll work someday, OM. I'll look forward to it.

73 de AB8LR, Chris

 

What a great story...as many have said, it reminds me of my little pilgrimage into ham radio. After sitting for hours listening to a military tape recording with simulated QRM and QRN, I finally broke over 7 wpm. Trouble was I didn't have a key, so my Dad saw that I was serious and he got me a key. Passed the Novice test which was administered by W0GFU. I had built a little regen receiver from Allied Radio called the Ocean Hopper a year or so earlier. Again my Dad helped my little savings account and I got a Hammarlund HQ-100. Wow. By that time, I was KN3IYK in Maryland, age 13. I had an old 2E27 tube hb xmitter, which ended up not ever working. So again, after being licensed now for several months, my dad helped me get a used WRL Globe Chief 90. Man, full power on novice cw! A friend of my father said he knew a ham, so that fellow came over one cold winter night and helped me make a 40 meter dipole at a temporary location. I had one crystal--7.177 kc. About 8:30 p.m., the new "elmer" said lets go fire it up. I began sending a very timid CQ, and there it was...my first QSO after about 4 months of being licensed. Within a few more months, less than a year from being licensed, my dad drove me one hundred miles to Denver where we were visiting and I passed my General class at age 13 in 1958. While I am not a great cw op, I still go to 40 meters regularly and I always remember 7.177 KC (not mhz then&#33, and I remember "that night"! The thrill is still there after many band, many countries, many rigs, and many modes. You can't beat this hobby! 73 to all!

 

I would add to my own story that in 1975 my rig was a Johnson Viking Valiant transmitter and it wasn’t able to work in SSB. Then my only antenna was also a 40 meters dipole. Early in the mornings (when none of my neighbors was supposed to be watching TV), I had wonderful rag-chews on 40 meters with many hams around the world (most from the US), who didn’t care to spend their time with a newcomer at 5 wpm. All of them congratulated me for my CW even though they had to transmit each word twice many often. They encouraged me to keep doing the “good” job. Perhaps because of them I’m a CW instructor now. I can’t remember their calls but I do remember their spirit. It is the same spirit of many other enthusiast fellow hams who always are available to share with someone else whatever they know about Amateur Radio. That’s an important part of this hobby.
73 de José

 

Glad to hear you are still active- and that SARC was your original radio experience . I well remember some of those 80's Scottsdale ARC FD's. I was licensed as WN2SLZ in NJ in 1957. First got on with a borrowed DX20  and SX99. Later got my own rig, DX40 and BC779, a WW2 surplus receiver, based on the pre-war Hammarlund Super-Pro. I still remember why most of the early op time was CW- the DX20 was low level screen grid modulation AM- my usual replies were -QRZ the W2- I know you're there, but can't make out what you are saying. Good DX was Hawaii and EL4A- Liberia. Keep enjoying this great hobby. Peace, Bob J. K7TR