For those that don't know what CW is, it is the transmission of information via radio using a single tone. That may not be the technical definition, but it is a simplified way of explaining it.  Actually the information is transmitted by turning the tone on and off, with the on periods being either short or long periods. The short periods are called dits and the long periods are dots, or in the new  definitino the shorts are called di and the longs called dah since that is more the way they actually sound. A combination of the di's and dah's represent the individual characters. This is the morse code  that is most widely used, though there are other codes that use CW. The advantage of using CW is that it will get through bad conditions with less power than voice modes. The reason being that you only have  to be able to hear the tone and tell if it is on or off.

A lot of people don't like CW for a lot of different reasons. Probably one of the reasons given most often is that you actually have to learn it!  Well, you have to learn to do anything before you can do it so I tend to narrow that down for most people to they don't want to take the time to learn it. There are some people that for one reason or another  cannot learn it. Some people just don't like it, the same way some people don't like apple pie. I don't fault anyone that doesn't like CW, but it does have it's advantages.

The main reason I like CW is  that it allows me to compete in the pileups with more of a chance of getting the contact than I have using SSB. Running 100 watts with a wire antenna I can usually forget about breaking a really large  pileup, or sometimes even a medium sized one on SSB. I've tried it so believe me I know for a fact that I get through more often using CW. There are a few things that I do to improve my chances though. I  have a simple a simple hand key to send CW with, and I could at one time send pretty good code with it, at slow speeds. I also use an old computer to send code. The reason for the computer is simple, it  sends perfect code at nearly any speed I want. Time after time after time. I don't have to worry about flubbing my call the one time that I do actually get through the pileup. Sound like cheating? Well, I  still have to be able to understand what the other station is sending so I still have to know the code. Since I have been off the air for about 8 years my copy speed has fallen way down and now I have to  work to get it back up. Another use for the computer, use it to "send" practice code while I work on getting my speed back up.

Hopefully I will get some more information added to this page later on.

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