When you hear a station calling CQ & someone else answers him, listen to their QSO. When they finish, jump in & call the station that originally called CQ. He was the one on the frequency first & you will probably have already copied his information. If you come across a QSO already in progress (& you don't know who was on the frequency first) when they finish with each other, just send your callsign once or twice & the station who was there first will probably call you! It's easy to get discouraged when no-one answers. Many nights I've called CQ for 20 or 30 minutes with 20 or 30 spots on RBN with a decent signal & NO replies. If the RBN is spotting you correctly, there's nothing wrong with your sending. 73
Ah, well then if it isn't unusual to call out for a half hour, get decent RBN decodes and not hear anything, I don't feel so bad now!! Think I was basing the speed of a station returning on my experiences with PSK31 a couple of years ago. Seems like CW is a very different beast. Mind you it sounds a lot like fishing and getting a decent catch, put in the grind and the first QSO will feel all the more better for it. This weekend I'll get the 40m antenna up and give it a beasting, one shall not give up that easily lol. Thanks for all the helpful replies and for not flaming a noob!
Remembered what happened to me once trying to participate in a contest. Answer the call after looking up her call on the qrz page. Tried three or four times and got back "go away". Maybe some contesters don't want to qrs for a slower op.
not likely. WHo would take the time to send 'go away' instead of just sending the exchange? as to the OP - at least over here, there is decent slower speed CW about 7.035 and even above 7.100 (where techs can operate on HF) Just keep calling - someone will answer - but you'll have better luck calling someone already on frequency
It suprised me too but it sure did happen. I think she was irritated that I kept answering her contest cq at a slow speed and interfered with her ability to get other calls. It was certainly her right to say this of course.
Ummm...although that seems like a senseless waste of time (for someone to send GO AWAY when it's faster just to send 599 and complete a contact), there are some contests where YOU won't count for a point at all, so to work you does waste several seconds for the op. Example of this is DX contests where U.S. stations can count contacts only with DX stations, and "domestic" stations don't count for anything. In some cases, U.S. stations can work other U.S. stations only to get a new ZONE in the log (those do count) but once you've worked one station in each zone, any other domestic contacts with that zone count for nothing. It pays to look up the "rules" and "scoring" for any contest before jumping in. They're almost all on-line a long time before each contest.
Hey Steve... are there certain rigs that don't do this well? Or maybe it's my rig settings? I have an Icom 7300 that will key up to 48wpm, but the dits move so fast that they are pretty much impossible to hear, at 45wpm. Unless there is some volume setting for the dits and dahs that I haven't found, other than AF gain? It's like the machine does make them well. Is the 7300 just not a great radio at such CW speeds? Not that it's probably ever going to be a worry for me -- but just curious. Thx.
Well, I had some success at last!!! I bought a new HF rig with a bit better receive than my shack in a box. Tried it out with the paddle and called cq to get a station come back to me on 20, happy days! Could just be the shiny new Icom effect though lol. Bit of qrn so I didn’t quite make out the full call sign. I’m ashamed to say though that in the heat of the moment after nearly knocking my drink over in shock as a station came back to me, my sending went to pot, like I was trying to work the paddle with a hand made of jelly. So I lost him, probably thought I was a proper lid. Honestly it was like the first time I made a phone qso as an m6 lol. Still to whomever came back to the hapless M0KBO, thanks for your patience and maybe I can work you another time when the jelly hand has subsided!
Beats me, I don't have a 7300. Most keyers and rigs handle it fine. However, I must say...I "could" send 45-50 wpm when I was younger, but today at age 67 I have a hard time doing that. My upper limit without many mistakes is probably about 40 wpm. But, "copying" is a lot easier for me. It always was. If someone sends "computer sent" 50 wpm code, I can copy it fine. My ears seem to be way better than my fingers. It's an age thing, and I'm not so happy about it.
