A Beginner's Guide to Making CW Contacts

by Jack Wagoner WB8FSV

There are dozens of specialities or activities under the broad banner of Amateur Radio. Amateur radio is also known as ham radio, why, nobody knows for certain. From working DX, to building radios from scratch, to satellite communications, to slow-scan TV, to just plain rag chewing(or talking) with new and old friends all over the world; there is something for everybody.

As a true ham radio fanatic, my personal favorite ham activity is yakking with other hams in Morse Code, also called CW(for continuous waves). Morse Code has a mystique to it, it is an extremely cool method with which to communicate. In this Beginner's Guide to Making CW Contacts I am going to try and give those hams new to CW a better idea of how to start. How to find someone to talk with, what to talk about, how to deal with QRM, how to end a CW contact, how to get lots and lots of QSL cards, and much more useful and practical information.

I wrote this Guide from the perspective of hams in the United States. Many of my references, for example to frequencies and to radio propagation, pertain to amateur radio in North America, although most of the CW operating techniques I discuss apply to worldwide CW operation.

Learning the Code

Morse Code has a way of polarizing hams, they either love it, or can't stand it. CW(or Morse Code) has been decreasing in popularity over the last several decades as voice and other digital modes become more popular. But a listen across the CW portion of the ham radio bands will find thousands of hams still using this vintage communications technique. The FCC still   requires a code proficiency test, just 5 wpm,  as part of their license to use the HF amateur radio spectrum. Besides, CW is way cool, but I'm prejudiced. HI.(HI is the telegraphic equivalent of a laugh)

I believe that learning and using Morse Code is very similar to learning a foreign language. Don't try to learn Morse Code the way I first did when I was a BoyScout: don't memorize a list that tells you "A" is "dot dash" or "B" is "dash dot dot dot". This method will stunt your progress and lead to frustration. Ideally, when you hear the "dot dash" sound in your ear, your mind will immediately recognize that as "A". Inserting a third step, where your mind first translates the "dot dash" sound into the written dot dash you learned from a list, and then into the letter "A", is one thing that makes learning Morse Code so difficult for so many people.

There are a number of techniques suggested to help learn Morse Code. Among these are:

• Learn the code in groups, beginning with letters comprised of all dits first, then on to letters with all dahs next, then finally learning letters with both dits and dahs.
• Learn the code in groups of letters that have related sounds. For example, U(dit dit dah), F(dit dit dah dit), and the question mark(dit dit dah dah dit dit).
• Learn the more frequently used letters and characters first, and the more difficult ones last.
• Listen to the Morse Code characters sent at a high speed, with long pauses between each. This is known as the Farnsworth method.

Thanks to L. Peter Carron, Jr., W3DKV and his book, Morse Code: The Essential Language, The American Radio Relay League, 1991, for this partial list of techniques.

Learning CW from a practice tape is, I believe, one of the best ways. Many companies offer these audio tapes or CD-ROMS, although they can be a bit dry and boring, and I recommend a bit of live CW listening with a shortwave receiver. Try the US novice bands 40 meters 7100-7150 kHz and 80 meters 3675-3725 kHz for practice. Conditions on the 15 and 10 meter novice band are slowly improving these days, although the current sunspot cycle 23 is now slowly diminishing.  Lots of beginning novices and technician-plus hams here using much slower CW(like 5 to 10 wpm) than you'll find on the US general CW bands. Learning CW with the personal help of another ham is also a great idea, as is taking a class in CW operation. Many amateur radio clubs offer classes for beginning hams in licensing, including Morse Code.

The Morse Code used today by amateur radio operators is also known as the International Code. By definition, the duration of the dah is three times as long as that of a dit, and the space between dits and dahs inside an individual character(such as dit dit dah or U) is equal to the duration of one dit. The space between characters is equal to three dits, and the space between words is equal to seven dits. During a CW QSO nobody is checking to see if you are using the correct spacing, just do your best. It takes practice. Code sent with the correct spacing sounds better and is easier to copy.

Forcing yourself to listen to Morse Code that is slightly faster than you are able to copy comfortably is a good way to increase your code speed. You don't need to copy every letter, just concentrate on better learning the CW letters and symbols you already know, and the others will follow. When I was first learning CW I enjoyed listening to the CW speed demons(20 wpm plus) at the bottom of each ham band, just to see if I could get their callsign. Hams often send their callsigns several times at the beginning and end of a transmission, making it easier to copy. Everything else they sent was usually a blurr. I then kept a running list of the different countries I had heard, just to see how many countries I could get. I'm sure this helped me increase my code speed.

Actual on-the-air CW contacts are probably the best way to increase your code speed and CW proficiency. And to have fun while practicing.

Finding Someone To Talk With

Answer a CQ

How the heck do you begin a CW conversation? How do you find another ham to talk with? My favorite method is to answer a CQ. Sending several CQs followed by your callsign indicates you want to start a contact with someone. Simply tune up and down the band searching for that familiar "CQ", zero beat your transmit frequency with that of the CQer(or as close as you can get), and call them when they finish their CQ. Normally a one by two call on your part is all that is needed, "N1XYZ de WB8FSV WB8FSV K". If band conditions are poor, or there is a lot of QRM(interference), perhaps a two by three or a one by four call is in order. One by two initial calls in response to a CQ are common these days, sending your call letters too many times marks you as a beginner.

Please do not reply to a CQ if the CQer is transmitting too close(within one kHz or so) to an ongoing QSO. Doing so will likely cause unnecessary QRM to the ongoing QSO, you may even drive them off the air. Not cool. Common ham courtesy says do your best not to cause unnecessary QRM. Occasionally I will hear a CQing station that I would really like to answer, but the CQer is too close to an ongoing QSO, as I mentioned above. The best thing would be to not answer the CQer, but I have been know to answer the CQer at least one or two kHz away from the CQers frequency. My hope is that they will hear me and move their transmitting frequency to mine. Then I can have my contact and not cause QRM to the ongoing QSO. Sometimes this works, but likely the CQer will not even hear you, or will not change their transmit frequency when they answer you.

Sometimes when you answer another ham's CQ, they may not hear you well enough to get all of your callsign. Or they may not hear you at all if the band conditions are bad. There is such a thing as one way skip: you may hear West Coast stations fine, but none of them hear you. Not uncommonly more than one station besides you will reply to the same CQ that you did. You may even hear the other station(s) answering the same CQer that you are, at the same time. The CQing station may hear a mixed jumble of several stations answering him or her at the same time. The CQing station may then send "QRZ?" or "QRZ de N1XYZ?" Meaning, who the heck is calling me, please call again. Or the CQer may send nothing at all, perhaps they are just overwhelmed by more than one answer at a time, or by all the QRM. Many times I have found that if a CQer does not respond to my first reply and I hear only silence, if I call him(or her) again, they may well return to me.

Not uncommonly, when you begin to reply to another ham's CQ, you will hear other stations besides yourself calling the CQer at the same time that you are. I usually continue transmitting and then see if the CQer answers me or one of the other stations. If the CQer chooses you over the other stations, you can assume your signal was likely stronger or more interesting. If you do not have a competitive nature, then stop transmitting as soon as you hear other hams answering the CQer. Let them have the contact. Should you really want to make the contact yourself, continue calling and then drag out your call by sending your callsign once or twice after you hear the other answering station(s) finish their call. This trick, often used by DXers, sometimes works. Also, if while answering a CQer, you hear the CQer return to another different station, stop transmitting. You lost. Continue your search for another CQer. If you really want to contact this CQing station you could simply wait for them to finish their current contact and then tailend them.

Occasionally as I scan the band looking for a CQ to answer, I may come across a ham sending their callsign two or more times, before they sign, "N1XYZ N1XYZ K". I believe it is safe to assume this ham has just finished sending a CQ, and often, if I like their callsign, I will listen a second, then go ahead and call them. Since I heard only their callsign and not the actual CQ, it is possible that this is not a CQ(maybe they were calling another ham instead). Listen a few seconds to ensure you are not interrupting a QSO, then assume that it was a CQ. I have found that sometimes if I wait for this suspected CQer to send another separate CQ, by that time they will have attracted a few more replies to their CQ, and I may lose out on what could have been a good contact. In the same regard, you may be in contact with another ham and end one of your transmissions by sending your own callsign two or more times(perhaps you repeat your call a few times because the other ham has copied it wrong). Then as a result, in the middle of your contact, you may be called by a third ham, who incorrectly assumes you have called CQ. Simply ignore the interrupting third ham.

When answering a CQer you should zero beat the other ham's frequency, or set your transmit frequency as close to theirs as possible. Many hams today, in order to deal with the increasing QRM, make use of very narrow receive filters. The CQer may have their narrow filter turned on and not hear you answer if you are more than a few hundred cycles away from their transmit frequency. This is a quite common occurance on the CW ham bands, and points to the importance of correctly zero beating with your ham rig. By the same token, should you be calling CQ, do so with your narrow CW filter turned off, or you may well not hear several answering hams. Many hams are uncertain how to correctly zero beat their rigs on CW.

If you are fortunate to have a newer transceiver that has dual VFOs, it can simplify your search for a CQ to answer. While scanning for a CQ, if you come across something interesting, such as someone tuning up(a potential CQer), a clear frequency(that you may wish to use later to call your own CQ), or an interesting QSO(that you might want to tailend when it finishes), then leave one of your VFOs on that spot. As you then continue scanning for a CQ, you can periodically, at the press of one button, switch to your second inactive VFO and see what's happening on your other interesting frequency. Having two VFOs built into your radio can greatly enhance the ease and convenience of your CW operation. Sometimes I wish my rig had three or four VFOs. HI. If your ham rig does not have dual VFOs, you can simply remember, or write down, any interesting frequencies you come across while scanning.

Call Your Own CQ

Tuning around searching for CQs can tend to be frustrating. At times there just don't seem to be many folks calling CQ, and the ones I do hear are jumped on by a much stronger or faster station than me. Never fear, there are other productive ways to find a CW contact. Obviously another method would be to find a nice quiet unused frequency and call CQ yourself. Before you fire up your transmitter and send a CQ, listen a few minutes to the frequency to ensure that you are not going to stomp on another conversation. It is very possible that another ham is transmitting on the same frequency but their signal is skipping over you. It is highly recommended that you send a "QRL?", or better yet send a "QRL de WB8FSV?" to see if the frequency is clear. Technically the FCC requires you identify each transmission, and an unidentified "QRL?" is frowned upon. Although everybody does it. Or, if you have the patience, an even better method is to simply listen to the frequency in question for at least 5 minutes. Even then I would still send a "QRL?" before I cut loose with my CQ.

An old fashioned and rarely heard equivalent of "QRL?" is "dit-dit dit", or the CW letters, "I E". It would be sent before a CQ to see if the frequency was clear. Just like "QRL?". The correct response is the same as that to "QRL?" If you happen to be listening and hear someone send an "I E", if the frequency is not busy the correct response is to say nothing or to perhaps send an "N" for "no". If the frequency is busy, like you are having a QSO on the frequency, the correct response would be to send a "C" or "yes". "C" is often used as a CW abbreviation for the word "yes".

If your CQ is answered by more than one station, usually the best practice is to reply to the strongest station. The strongest station is more likely to copy you stronger also, and you will be better able to copy each other should you both be attacked by QRM, QRN, or QSB. If you are able to copy the callsigns of both hams who answer your CQ, and the weaker station has a more interesting callsign, certainly you could answer the weaker/more interesting ham. Since the weaker station is answering your CQ, obviously they can hear you as well. Should two stations respond to your CQ, you can answer them both and try a three-way contact. Three-way contacts on CW are difficult to do.

Send your CQ at the speed you would like to be answered. A three or four by two call repeated twice should be sufficient, "CQ CQ CQ de WB8FSV WB8FSV CQ CQ CQ de WB8FSV WB8FSV K". There are many variations. You will hear some beginners sending 15 or 20 CQs before their callsign, not a good idea. If you scan the band and find it active and full of ham signals, a shorter CQ should work. At times when I know another ham is listening on the frequency(perhaps I just heard them tune up), I may get them to answer with a simple one by one, "CQ de WB8FSV K".

After sending your CQ you may get an instant response, or you may get no response at all. It may also take some hams a moment to respond to your CQ. They may need to tune up their rigs, zero beat your frequency, or take a few seconds to run to their desk from across the shack. These folks may answer you five or ten seconds after your CQ. Be patient. After sending a CQ myself, I may tune around my transmit frequency a bit using my receiver's RIT(receiver incremental tuning). Because some hams may have trouble zero beating my transmit frequency correctly. Perhaps they are still using crystal control - not uncommon with homebrew QRP radios.

If I get no response after a couple 3 by 2 CQ calls, or I can tell there is very little activity on the band, I may then send a 6 by 2 CQ. The more CQs you transmit, the greater the chance that another ham scanning by will hear and answer you. I believe a pair of 6 by 2 calls is more than enough CQs. Should you still get no response to your own CQs, maybe the band conditions are just plain lousy, maybe you are transmitting too close to another QSO that you can't hear, maybe no one wants to talk to you. Try another frequency, try another band, listen for someone else calling CQ, or turn off the radio and go feed the cat.

Tailend Another QSO

A third major way to find someone to talk with on the ham bands is tailending. To tailend a conversation is to wait until another contact is completed, and then call the participant you want to talk with. This may work about half the time. Not uncommonly you will get no answer. The station you call is probably not expecting a call, they may have already turned off their radio, or may simply have something else to do. But sometimes tailending works. As you scan across the band looking for CQs or for a clear frequency on which to call your own CQ, you may hear an interesting conversation that you wish to contribute to, or you may hear a ham friend you want to say hello to.

The polite way to tailend another QSO is wait until the other stations are completely finished. This is easy to determine if you are able to hear both of the stations talking. But sometimes due to radio conditions you will hear just one of the stations. For example, you hear the end of a QSO between KH6XYZ and WB8FSV. You would like to work KH6XYZ and are unable to hear WB8FSV. When you hear the first station send something like, "HOPE TO CUAGN 73 WB8FSV de KH6XYZ TU K", wait. Wait a minute or two until the first station KH6XYZ acknowledges WB8FSV's last transmission, perhaps by sending a final "73" or a "dit-dit". If instead you call KH6XYZ as soon as you heard them sign, "de KH6XYZ TU K", you may well be transmitting at the same time and on the same frequency as WB8FSV, who KH6XYZ is trying to listen to. This is a good way to make KH6XYZ dislike you and decide not to answer you. This polite advice does not generally apply to tailending a rare DX station. Calling and working rare DX stations is usually a mean and cut throat procedure. Another reason I much prefer friendly domestic CW QSOs over fighting for rare DX.

At times you may be waiting to tailend a ham QSO, when the station you would like to talk to ends their last transmission with a "CL" for "closing" or "clear". This indicates that person is signing off and leaving the air, turning off their rig, and will accept no other calls. If you call the CLing station anyway, they may still reply out of politeness, but they are probably anxious to leave. If you just have to talk with them, don't keep them too long.

Breaking In

Breaking into an ongoing conversation is also possible, although rarely successful. Breaking into a QSO on CW is much more difficult than on phone. It is rarely done on CW. Some folks will think you impolite and ignore you, many newer hams will have no idea what's going on and consider you to be QRM. If you want to try, the standard method on CW is to wait between transmissions and then send "BK" for break, or better yet send, "BK de WB8FSV" if you have enough time. Allowing a third person to break into your contact can be confusing, especially for new hams. These "roundtable" QSOs are easier to manage on phone, or in the controlled environment of an organized net, like an NTS traffic net. But don't worry, breaking in is rarely encontered on CW. For those new hams who later move from CW to phone, be careful about using the word "break" on phone or SSB. On phone many hams use "break" to interrupt a net or a conversation when they have an emergency to report.

"Break in" has another meaning in CW. It refers to the time it takes your receiver to recover after you stop transmitting. Most modern transceivers have what is called full break in, meaning that you can receive instantly after transmitting on CW. You can even receive in between the dits and dahs of individual letters. Full break in CW even has its own Q signal, QSK. Years ago radio receivers had a several second delay before you could receive after transmitting, in order that your sensitive receiver was not overloaded by your nearby transmitter. Full break in CW is taken for granted today, but it is one of many technological innovations that today make ham radio so much easier. Such as dual VFOs, digital readout, automatic tuning, or one of my favorites: direct frequency keypad entry.

What Do You Talk About? The Art of Rag Chewing

Now that you have established contact with another ham via CW, what the heck do you talk about? Every ham contact, CW or phone, consisits of at least three basic items: your name, your location or QTH, and a signal report(RST) for the other station. What order you send these three items is unimportant, although commonly today you will hear signal report/location/name. When I started in ham radio 30 years ago, the order was almost always signal report/name/location.

The Standard name/location/RST/73 QSO

These three items are the essential minimum required for a QSO. While it is true that in working a DX station in a pileup you may only exchange callsigns and a signal report, in a "real" contact the name/location/RST are standard, and you continue from there. The next most commonly discussed subjects in CW QSOs are usually the weather(WX), the radio equipment people are using, the hams' ages and how long they have been hams. For many CW contacts that will be the extent of the contact. The other ham will sign off and end the contact. Most likely because the other ham is new to CW conversation making, and simply doesn't know what else to say. Or perhaps the short-winded ham isn't into making conversation. Personally I enjoy longer CW contacts, called "rag chews".

QSO Template for Beginners

When first starting out on CW, many new hams will often use a template or model, to make sure they send all the essential information. For example:

 

Just fill in the blanks to fit the QSO, inserting your own callsign, name, QTH, and rig. And go on from there as a starting point if you choose. By the way, that strange BT is used in CW as a spacer, a device to separate your thoughts. Some folks will use a period instead. BT is sent in CW as (dah dit dit dit dah). The CW letters B and T sent together.

I feel that a more professional CW technique is to limit the amount of punctuation used during a QSO. Some new hams may send four or five BTs in a row while they think about what they will send next. One or two BTs in a row should be enough. Here is what I mean by limiting punctuation, "TNX DAVE UR RST IS 579 579 MY NAME IS JACK JACK ES  MY QTH IS HILLIARD, OH HILLIARD, OH BT HW? N1XYZ de WB8FSV  K". There, I got away with using just one BT.

Other Stuff to Talk About

For some beginning hams, and for some experienced hams too, that is all the information they will willingly send to you. You may have to draw out more conversation from them. Kinda like pulling teeth. HI . When I work a new ham on CW I often end each of my transmissions with a question to give the other guy(or girl) something to talk about, to draw them into a conversation. For example, "How many states have you worked? Any DX?" or "Is it raining at your QTH also?" If the other ham mentions something such as their age and how long they have been a ham, you can take that as a hint they would like you to send them back the same information about yourself.

If you live in a small town, describe where it is in relation to a much larger city. Does the area where you live have any unusual characteristics that other hams might find interesting? I often tell other hams that I live on the edge of town - two blocks from cornfields. Or that central Ohio is a flat as a pancake due to glaciers scraping it level 15,000 years ago. Or that Hilliard is Ohio's fastest growing city. What is your town's population? Any famous or semi-famous people born there(besides yourself)? How large is your yard? Where is your radio shack located in your house?

Over the years I have developed a number of topics that I may bring into a CW contact in order to keep the conversation going. Even for me sometimes I just run into a wall, my mind goes blank, and I can't think of what to send next, so these commonly used topics of mine can come to the rescue at times. For example, I'll describe how my cat Rasta often naps on top of my TS 450 rig and I believe that after all these years I suspect my cat understands CW. Or I'll describe what I see at that moment out my basement window. Or talk about how I enjoy collecting stuff(stamps, baseball cards, radios, QSL cards). Or ask the other ham if they have access to the Internet to see if we share a common interest about computers.

I try to send the name of the other ham I am in contact with at least once during each of my transmissions. This frequent use of the other person's name makes for a friendlier QSO and tells them you care who they are. Don't get carried away with this personalizing your comments. Using the other ham's name once per transmission is enough.

When you first start out, any CW contact is fun. It's cool to see how far your equipment will reach, how many states you are able to work. After you have made a number of CW contacts you may discover that the best contacts are those that are different. Not the standard name/location/RST/rig/WX/age/73 type of contact. You may meet another ham who just loves to gab(like me) or who is involved in a different ham activity(such as satellite or packet) and would love to tell you about it, or another ham who may have a lot in common with you such as age, work, or other hobbies. One of the fascinating things for me about making ham radio contacts is you don't know what the other ham is like or how the conversation will develop until you begin.

Standard Operating Techniques

Correctly Reporting RST

Here I am including a few useful topics that didn't fit in elsewhere. For example, what is this RST thing? It is a method of giving another ham a signal report and stands for readability, signal strength, and tone. R is on a scale of 1 to 5, and both S and T on a scale of 1 to 9. An RST of 599 would be the strongest cleanest report possible. For really incredibly strong signals some hams will refer to a 20 or 30 over S9, reflecting an S-meter reading. Readability is self-explanatory, R5 is normal, R4 to me means you copy more than half of what is sent, and R3 to me means you only hear a word or two. I have never given another ham an R of 2 or 1. Signal strength is pretty subjective, just use your ears to judge. Some new hams use their rig's S-meter to determine the S they report. I don't think this is a good idea. Tone is the most misunderstood and misused report. Only rarely will I give a report less than T9, and then never lower than T8. For example, if someone has a bad AC hum on their signal, key clicks, chirp, or is drifting badly in frequency, I may give them a T8. Giving a tone report of less than T9 may really get the other ham worried about the quality of their transmitted signal, so be prepared to explain what you mean.

The RST report that one ham gives to another often influences the RST report that is received in return. If, at the beginning of a QSO, the other ham first gives me a good 599 report, I find myself more likely to send them back a good report also. I believe we do this subconsciously, it is human nature. As an optimist, my RST reports generally tend towards the positive. Even if it is a contact during which I send the first RST, I may well add an S point or two to the other ham's RST. An S point or so above what I might give if I were brutally honest. I want to begin the QSO on the right foot and make the other ham feel good about continuing the contact.

Not uncommonly when you hear a ham send an RST report, for example 599, they will send the letter "N" in place of the number "9". Or 5NN in this case. This number code is another time saving device used on CW. Or you may hear the letter "T" sent in place of the number zero, "MY POWER IS 2TT WATTS". Each "T" is usually sent several times in length longer than the actual letter T to distinguish it from a T. There is a number code for almost every number, even though the N and T codes are virtually the only ones you will ever hear. Although during the 1998 CQ WW DX Contest I heard many European CW stations report their zones as "a4" or "a5" instead of sending "14" or "15". It saved them several milliseconds of time I suppose. Here is the entire number code, for the interest of those old timers reading this. Its use probably dates back half a century in CW.

 

How to Zero Beat Another Station

CW stations should always try to zero beat each other. That means to adjust your rig's transmit frequency to exactly match the transmit frequency of the other ham you would like to talk to. Hearing two CW stations conduct a conversation a few hundred cycles apart is a waste of frequency space, and is inviting QRM. How does one zero beat another station? Easy to do on phone or SSB, just tune so that the other fellow's voice sounds normal. But trickier on CW because when you put your receiver exactly on a CW station's transmit frequency, you hear nothing, zero. In modern transceivers, in the CW mode, the receiver's BFO is offset from the displayed, transmit frequency in order to produce an audible tone. In other words, the transmit and receive frequencies are far enough apart for you to hear a pleasantly pitched tone when your transmitter frequency is tuned to exactly that of the ham you are listening to. This frequency offset is frequently about 600 Hz or Hertz.

Here is how I zero beat another CW station with my own rig, a Kenwood TS 450. I tune into, or sweep through, the other CW signal, the pitch going from high to low, until the other ham's CW signal disappears. Now my receiver is zero beat with the other ham's transmit frequency. But I want my transmit frequency to be zero beat with the other ham's transmit frequency. So then I tune again, with the other ham's pitch going from low to high, until I am 600 Hz away. For example, if the other ham's transmit frequency is 7137.90 kHz, I would tune my transceiver to 7137.30 (7137.90 minus .60 equals 7137.30.) to transmit exactly on his transmit frequency. The direction you tune or sweep, the pitch going either from high to low or going from low to high, is rig dependent. On Kenwood ham radios you would tune the pitch from high to low as you tune higher in frequency, to reach the 600 Hz offset and be zero beat with the others ham's transmit frequency.

I wrote the above paragraph several years ago, and currently I zero beat using a different method. I still have my Kenwood TS-450, but now as I tune around looking for a station to contact, I leave my RIT(receiver incremental tuning) turned on. Leaving your RIT on while tuning goes against convential wisdom, but I find it works for me. I leave my RIT on about 500 to 600 Hz up. When I discover another station I wish to zero beat, I tune by ear so that their CW tone drops down in tone to almost nothing, meaning that my transmit frequency is now approximately zero beat with theirs.  Then I reset my RIT back up a few Hertz so that I can hear the other station.  Takes me one or two seconds. Tuning by ear for an approximately 600 Hz tone just comes with experience. I have found that this method of zero beating works best for me. Recently I have become a DXing nut, and I find this new method faster for me. There is no one best method for zero beating. Whatever works best for you and for your rig.

This zero beat frequency stuff is pretty weird, it confuses me at times, and I hope I explained it correctly. The frequency offset for CW in most transceivers explains why when you are listening to a CW signal in the tranceiver's "CW" mode, and you switch to phone, to "LSB" or "USB," you loose the CW signal and have to go search a bit for it again.

Using CW Abbreviations and Q Signals

Abbreviations are very commonly used in CW. They save time and are, I think, one reason why CW is so cool. Once you have learned many of the abbreviations as well as CW operating techniques, you are "in", you're a member of the CW using fraternity. Knowing and using CW correctly is kinda like belonging to an exclusive club. Anbody can pick up a microphone and talk on the ham bands; doing CW requires skill and finesse.

Lists of abbreviations and Q signals used on CW are available many places, I will just mention a few of the most commonly used.

 

And the International "Q" signals, recognizable in any language:

 

Don't get worried about using abbreviations when you are starting out with CW. It is perfectly OK to spell out every word during a QSO. It's just easier using abbreviations. There are many more CW abbreviations and Q signals, but those should keep you busy. There are also a whole series of QN_ signals for use on CW traffic nets. Also used commonly on CW are punctuation marks; the period, comma, question mark and BT being the most common. To separate thoughts or topics during a CW contact a period or a BT ( dah dit dit dit dah) are commonly used. You'll hear the slash symbol sometimes ( dah dit dit dah dit) to note portable or QRP operation for example. Like WB8FSV/9 or WB8FSV/QRP.

The "K" letter used at the end of each CW transmission indicates, "end of transmission - go ahead". When two hams engaged in a CW conversation do not wish to be disturbed by anyone else breaking in, they may send "KN" instead of "K" at the end of each transmission. Or if a ham wants to limit the extent of his CQ, he may also use KN. For example, "CQ VT CQ VT de N1XYZ KN" says this ham would like to be answered only by hams in the state of Vermont.

Here are a few other commonly heard CW expressions that are actually combinations of letters sent as a single character. You will encounter these CW symbols on the air.

 

At the very end of a CW contact you may hear the two stations sending dits at each other, this derives from the old expression, "shave and a haircut, two bits". It sounds like dit dit-dit dit dit, dit-dit. The first station will send the dit dit-dit dit dit and wait for the second station to send dit-dit in return. This was more popular on CW years ago, but you will still hear it today. Today it may be shortened to sending just the final dit-dit, as in "73 N1XYZ de WB8FSV GN dit-dit". New hams more frequently use the full dit dit-dit dit dit, dit dit expression than more experienced hams. Not uncommonly when I end a QSO on the novice bands and trade dit dits with the other ham, I may hear a third, or even a fourth station add their own dit dit. They were listening along in silence to our QSO, and decided to add their two bits as well. This is an unprofessional operating habit. If the eavesdropping station wants to make their presence known with a few dits, I believe they should go ahead and tailend one of us, and start a legitimate QSO. Just goes to show that as you transmit on the ham bands, there are likely more than just a few folks listening.

Obscure, Rarely Used CW Characters

To be honest, I have never heard any of these CW characters in 29 years on CW, but it is still fun to know they exist. Do not use them on the air, other hams will not have any idea what you are sending.

 

To transmit a fractional number in CW, send a slash[/](dah dit dit dah dit) between the numbers in the fraction. One half is transmitted as 1/2. To send a number that includes a fraction, transmit a hyphen between the whole number and the fraction itself. 5 2/3 is sent as 5-2/3. To indicate the percentage sign, transmit the figure zero followed by the slash and the figure zero again. Similar to the fraction, a hyphen is used to transmit a whole number, or a fraction, followed by a percentage sign. For example 2 % is transmitted as 2-0/0. To send the minute sign['] or the second sign["] used in latitude and longitude coordinates, use the apostrophe once or twice as appropriate. There are also 12 or more Morse Code characters for letters used in certain European languages which use the Latin alphabet. Thanks again to L. Peter Carron, JR., and his book, Morse Code:The Essential Language, The American Radio Relay League, 1991, for these obscure CW characters.

Here are a few of the auxiliary CW characters used with some European languages, thanks to Chuck, KB2E, in his letter to the FISTS Keynote newsletter. "...the German A with two dots over it, Ä, (dit dah dit dah); the Spanish-Scandinavian A with an accent mark, or a dot, over it, Å, (dit dah dah dit dah); the German-Spanish CH (dah dah dah dah); the French E with an accent over it, É, (dit dit dah dit dit); the Spanish N with that wavy line over it that we all know now because of the infamous El Nino, ñ, (dah dah dit dah dah); the German O with two dots over it, Ö, ( dah dah dah dit); and the German U with two dots over it, Ü, (dit dit dah dah)." I am uncertain of the precise linguistic terms attached to each of these diacritical marks, whether they be grave, umlaut, or circumflex, but you get the idea. I have never heard them used in CW, but then again I don't work very many Europeans on 40 and 80 meters.

Taking Notes During a QSO, Logging, Using GMT/UTC Time

While I am in contact with another station CW station, I take notes. In fact I write down every word sent by the other ham. Mainly this is because I have a memory like a screendoor in a submarine! But I recommend at least noting the main points made by the other station, so that you will remember what to comment on during your next transmission. I circle with my pen those items I want to remember to bring up next go around.

I am kind of strange in that I save all these notes I've taken during my QSOs, going back 30 years. Really. It is absolutely fascinating to go back through my notes and read, word for word, what I talked about when I was a novice 29 years ago. Kinda like a ham diary. By FCC regulations we are no longer required to keep a log of the radio contacts we make, but I highly recommend it. Not only for QSLing purposes, but so that you can look up when in the past you worked a familiar callsign. And looking through your old logbooks will bring back lots of pleasant memories of QSOs gone by. I keep copious notes in my logbook, beyond the standard date/time/frequency/callsign/RST/name/location, to help me remember what was special about each contact.

I fill out as much information as I can in my logbook at the very beginning of each QSO. This saves me time and, if I accidently bump the VFO dial during the QSO and change frequency, I can use my logbook to look up my original frequency. Or you can use your frequency lock control if your rig is so equipped. My cat Rasta has been known to jump up on my desk while I am QSOing and rub against my VFO before I can stop him. Perhaps my cat did not like the other ham's fist. HI.

After you have been on the air a while, another ham will someday surprise you during a QSO by using your name before you give to them, or asking if your old Heath DX 60B transmitter is still running. How did they know your name or about your rig? Turns out you have worked this ham before but forgotten, and they either have a very good memory, or they keep their log on a computer. I would love to put all 29 years of my ham contacts in a computer database, but whew! The data entry would take months. If you are just beginning your ham career and have a computer, then get some logging software.

Hams should always use GMT or UTC time when logging and keeping records. Try to keep a schedule set up for 8 pm with another ham who lives in a different time zone. Do you meet at 8 pm your local time or 8 pm their time? No problem if you both use UTC time. Always fill out QSL cards using UTC time. Do not use 24 hour military time. Confusion often arises when you make a ham contact close to 0000 hours UTC. Because in UTC the date changes at 0000 or midnight UTC. What date do you put on your QSL card? Use the UTC date. I frequently receive QSL cards from new hams with the correct UTC time but the wrong date. They have grown up accustomed to the date changing at midnight their own local time.

Keeping track of the current time in UTC takes practice. You could tune your receiver to a time standard station like WWV or CHU to determine the current UTC. Clocks are available that tell time in UTC format. Or you could, like me, just memorize your local/UTC equivalents. You can make a little chart with your local/UTC equivalents. You will need to make two such charts since local/UTC equivalents change twice a year, with the switch between daylight time and daylight savings time. This twice yearly switch pretty much takes place all over the world, not just in the United States.

If your browser is JavaScript enabled, here is a clock to convert your local computer's time to GMT/UTC.

Identifying as per FCC Regulations

Speaking of FCC regulations, amateur radio operators are required to identify themselves on the air by transmitting their callsigns. At least every ten minutes. I believe it is also a good idea to identify at the beginning and end of each of your transmissions as well, even if less than ten minutes has passed. You will hear some experienced CW operators taking turns transmitting during a QSO without IDing. For example:

• first station "WHATS UR WX LIKE? BK"
• second station "SUNNY ES COOL. HW ABT U? BK"
• first station "MONSOON HR, RAIN ES 70 DEGS..."

No problem as long as they ID every ten minutes. If band conditions are poor or there is lots of QRM, IDing at the beginning and end of each transmission is wise, or the other station may not realize you turned it over to them. Easy way to completely loose one another. To save time I will sometimes end my transmissions with only my own callsign, like "HW COPY? de WB8FSV K". Cool, as long as every ten minutes I start or end one of my transmissions with something like, "WHAT SAY FRED? N1XYZ de WB8FSV K"

Dealing With QRM and QRN

Characteristically, when listening to shortwave radio frequencies, which include the most popular ham radio bands, you will hear noise, static, interference, and fading. They sometimes make reception of ham radio signals difficult, sometimes downright impossible. I view them as a challenge. I call them the three dreaded Qs: QRM(interference), QRN(noise and static), and QSB(fading). With experience and practice you can learn to deal with the three dreaded Qs and enhance your enjoyment of amateur radio.

First let me discuss QRM, probably the most frequently encountered and most disturbing of the three Qs. And the only one you yourself can help reduce by your own radio operating habits. QRM is a fact of life on the ham bands, get used to it. Try to plan your operating methods so that you cause as little QRM to other hams as possible, and everybody will be happier. There are technical means to help alleviate QRM: passband filters, audio filters, DSP and RIT. For example your RIT(receiver incremental tuning) can be used to "tune out" QRM. You can move your RIT away from the interfering signal until it is nearly out of your receiver's passband tuning range, leaving just the signal you want to hear. I have found that even when there is no QRM, moving my RIT a little bit changes the tone of the signal I want, often improving reception.

With practice you will be able to eventually, with your ears alone, "tune out" many of the interfering stations and concentrate on the signal you want. Most QRM from other hams is unintentional. If you find someone intentionally QRMing you, playing games with you, the best advice is to ignore them. Do not acknowledge their presence in any way or you may encourage them to continue. Ask for a repeat, change frequency, sign off if you have to. I would not mention anything about "QRM" or "SOME LID".

Sometimes when I answer a CQing station and that station is unable to copy me, perhaps due to QRM near our frequency, I will then call them a second time after changing my transmit frequency a few hundred Hertz. That small change may allow the other ham to now hear me through the QRM. The same thing is true if some QRM suddenly appears during your QSO. Although don't QSY too far, or the station you are talking with may lose you.

You and the other station may both agree to QSY(change frequency) to escape some QRM. Be careful. Successful QSYing on CW is quite difficult. For me it works about fifty percent of the time. Quite often you will lose each other. QSY during a CW QSO with caution. Be careful to state exactly where you would like to QSY, say up 2 kHz, or to 3715 kHz, rather than simply stating, "let's QSY up" somewhere.

Another practical use to having dual VFOs in your ham rig is that you may be able to use them to chase off QRM. Sometimes during a QSO I will put both of my transceiver's VFOs on my same operating frequency. Then tune the inactive VFO a few hundred cycles(or Hertz) up or down in frequency. Whether you tune up or tune down a few hundred cycles depends on the direction that your rig's receiver "sweeps" as you tune. My Kenwood sweeps or changes pitch from high to low as I tune higher in frequency. During my QSO if I hear another ham call "QRL?" to see if the frequency is clear, I will interrupt my own QSO for a few seconds, switch to my second inactive VFO, and transmit a quick "C", meaning, "yes this frequency is in use." I could have remained on my original frequency and sent my "C" in answer to his "QRL?" But it is likely the QRLing ham would not have heard my answer due to the narrow passband of his receiver(in other words he is too far away from my transmit frequency) or due to the direction of the sweep of his own receiver. By leaving my second inactive VFO a bit off of my own transmit frequency, I can protect a larger area of frequency space around myself from potential QRM. Again, please do not answer a CQ if the CQer is too close(within a kHz or less) to an ongoing QSO in order to avoid QRMing the other QSO.

One very annoying, for US hams, form of QRM is the shortwave broadcast stations found most evenings throughout the 40 meter novice band. We have to share the band with them, I like to view it as a challenge. There will be times during a QSO when one of these broadcasting stations will sign/on and begin transmitting on or very close to the frequency you are talking on. First you will hear their unmodulated carrier as they tune up, followed by their interval signal. Then usually at the top or bottom of the hour, the broadcast station will begin their official broadcast with their national anthem. Then the news. Quite often you will lose all trace of the other ham you were in QSO with as soon as the broadcaster opens up with their carrier. Sometimes you can still hear each other through the unmodulated carrier, but you had better quickly say your 73s before the music starts. A few times I have been able to continue a contact as long as the broadcast station does not transmit music. If the broadcast QRM on 40 meters is just too much for you, there is always 80 meters. Or switch your ham receiver to the AM mode and delve into the fascinating world of shortwave broadcasting.

QRN refers to noise heard on shortwave radio. There are basically two types of QRN, natural and man-made. Natural QRN is the static generated, for the most part, by thunderstorms. The radio static, or QRN, generated by thunderstorms travels great distances via skip, just like radio signals on shortwave. At any given moment you may be able to hear the static from dozens of storms, hundreds and thousands of miles away. At a given distance from a radio station on shortwave there is a dead zone, which the radio signal skips over. Same thing is true for thunderstorm static. I have been on 40 meters CW while I knew there was a thunderstorm nearby, and heard no static. I was in the thunderstorm's dead zone, its static was skipping over me. Other hams I then contacted were barely able to copy me through the static, although I heard them fine. Pretty weird. There are many more thunderstorms during the warm summer months, meaning that winter provides the best reception on the 40 and 80 meter ham bands. Both thunderstorms and static decrease in number and intensity with nightfall. Rarely, during a particularly intense solar disturnbance, the shortwave radio frequencies will go dead. All you may hear is a continuous rushing noise or QRN caused by the solar disturbance.

Man-made QRN comes from many sources, including automobile engines, electric motors, fluorescent lights, electric fences, loose wires on electric power lines, and lawnmowers. Other QRN is purposely broadcast on shortwave radio frequencies, such as over-the-horizon radar and high speed RTTY. It becomes what we call QRN when it is broadcast by nonhams on ham frequencies. A good noise blanker or a ham radio equipped with DSP may help reduce this noise. Before I purchased my current home, I walked the property with a portable SW radio receiver tuned to 80 meters, to determine if there was any man-made QRN inherent to the site. I heard no local QRN, so I bought the house.

Oh yes, and then there is QSB, or fading. This is a natural phenomenon, one of the mysteries of radio propagation. Check out my Radio Fundamentals Homepagefor an explanation of how fading works.How QSB works is not difficult to understand. Why it occurs is the mystery. There seems to be at least a little fading present on most shortwave frequencies, particularly at night. The duration and depth of the fades can vary widely. Just another challenge to make your ham radio operating and shortwave radio listening more interesting.

Repeating Info Due to QRM

It is important to ensure that the ham you are in contact with is able to copy at least the three essential items of the QSO: your name/location/RST. So normally in any CW contact these items are repeated twice, "UR RST IS 579 579 BT MY NAME IS JACK JACK" etc. If the band conditions are stinko, three repeats might be in order, of at least the name and RST. For the rest of the contact, in bad QRM, QRN, or QSB, hams have been known to employ one of two other repeating techniques. One would be, "MY MY WX WX IS IS CLOUDY CLOUDY" and the other technique is, MY WX IS CLOUDY MY WX IS CLOUDY". I normally use the latter.

You can tell that the other ham you are in contact with is experiencing QRM if they tell you, if they ask for lots of repeats, if they get your name or callsign wrong, or if they hesistate long seconds before returning to you after you complete a transmission. If the ham you are talking with sends many more repeats than normal, you can assume they are hearing QRM on your signal, and they probably would like you to use many repeats as well. If I believe my signal is being stepped on, I will send the other ham's name more frequently than I normally would, to assure them that at least I can copy them. For example, "TNX DAVE BT MY WX IS LOUSY BT DAVE HW IS UR WX? HW COPY DAVE? N1XYZ de WB8FSV K". Even in very heavy QRM folks are more likely to pick out their own name or callsign out of the muck. Occasionally you will work another ham on CW who refuses to copy your callsign correctly. Usually you can correct them by repeating your callsign frequently at the beginning and end of your transmission. Or if that doesn't work, try, "MY CALL IS WB8FSV WB8FSV NOT WD8FSU". Amazingly a few hams on CW will continue to use your incorrect callsign regardless of what you tell them.

Correcting Mistakes in CW

Everyone occasionally makes a mistake while sending their Morse Code. Sometimes your key or keyer seems to have a mind of its own. The most common method to correct a mistake is for the sending station to send a rapid series of dits, like the number five with a few extra dits added. Eight dits is the recommended number of dits, although no one is counting. And to then send the correct CW character or word. This is fine. Personally when I send a mistake in the middle of a word, I don't see the need to emphasize it with the rapid dits. I simply pause and then send the correction. The station you are talking with is copying along with you, letter by letter, and they probably realize as soon as you that you have made a mistake. I feel it is more professional to use a pause rather than the rapid fire dits.

But, if I make a mistake at the beginning of a word, the other ham copying along with me has no idea I have made a mistake. So in this case a device is needed to signal that a mistake has been made. I prefer to use a question mark rather than the rapid fire dits. Another CW device you may hear less often to indicate a mistake is "dit-dit", like the CW letter I, sent once or twice after the mistake and before the correction.

You will hear some hams use a question mark to signify that they are going to repeat a word, even if they have not made a mistake. For example, "MY NAME IS JACK? JACK". This use of a question mark is frequently employed to indicate the repetition of a difficult or unusual word in a CW radiotelegram by CW traffic handlers.

How Long Should the Contact Last?

Talk as long or as short as you like. Most CW contacts on the novice bands seem to last about half an hour or so, which mean that they rarely get beyond the standard name/location/RST/rig/WX/73 stage. That is perfectly OK. I myself like to talk a bit longer. For me, a good CW rag chew generally lasts around an hour, sending and receiving at about 13 wpm. My longest CW contact ever was a 3 1/2 hour marathon, but after the second hour we began trying to stretch it out to see how long we could go! At about 10 wpm(words per minute), a common speed on the novice bands, it can easily take half an hour just to send the name/location/RST/rig/WX/age/73 info. Normal human verbal conversation is around 120 wpm, so a SSB or phone QSO of half an hour would cover a lot more ground than a CW QSO of half an hour at 10 wpm.

How Fast/Slow Should You Send CW?

Normally, adjust your code speed to match that of the other ham you are talking to. This is especially true if you answer another ham's CQ or tailend a conversation. People commonly send a