poor practice or totally acceptable?

Very nice!

 

Why would anyone complain???????

................... perhaps because 144.200 is the SSB CALLING freq

 

He is calling for SSB contacts.

 

See, as I said, some people would no doubt complain. I still think it's a great idea. My IC7000 has a built in voice keyer - I might try it the next time I'm out and about...

 

As long as you are calling CQ and are there to answer same.

Don't just keep it running if you're not at the switch....

 

Its hard on the radio!!!
I have burnt up 2 10Meter radios running a beacon 24/7. Rigs are expensive. Don't know of a rig that will hold up to beacon service!

 

I don't think eleven meter radios modified for ten are actually built for that.
Now if you took one of those and turned it down to one watt it should be fine.
Maybe that is what I should do with the Sears Road talker I got from my Dad...

 

its only on when i'm driving. as soon as i key the mic the beacon goes silent.

144.2 may be the ssb calling freq and i may be calling with cw. however, we all know that cw is often the fallback on 144.2 when the copy is difficult.

 

It's obvious you recognize the advantages of CW and the people responding to your beacon can copy CW. Let's see now, what's the next logical step for you to take?

 

8 characters.
90% accuracy.
15wpm.

i actually think i can learn it in a few weeks. i may try building myself a key this weekend.