GB2CW Morse Corner 20.02.25
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Morse Classes.

These are all going well.

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KEY OF THE WEEK

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This week, it features a stainless steel paddle. It is a dual lever paddle and receives quite complimentary reviews. As paddles go it it reasonably priced at around £45. It does look unconventional however and might not appeal to everybody. However, you pays your money and takes your choice as they say! Link here to eBay item

1.The key connector is a 3.5mm socket.

2.The key body is made of stainless steel, full of metal texture, small and durable.

3.The base is made of three neodymium magnets, which can be easily adsorbed on iron objects such as radio shell and automobile cover, so as to facilitate outdoor platform erection.

4.The distance between key dials is adjustable and can be adjusted to the appropriate position according to personal habits

5.The key paddle is magnetic return force

6.The key is equipped with a left-hand and right-hand switch, which can be switched freely from left to right and from right to left.

Specifications:

Size:90mm65mm4mm

Weight: 110g

Type:3.5mm audio jack

Packaging includes:

1Pcs*CW double paddle auto key

1Pcs*3.5mm audio cable

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The NARC CW Monday Night Net.

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This takes place on 3543 at 8 p.m. on Monday evenings. We have a Net controller each week and the idea is to encourage you to take part in conversational Morse. If you can read and send at 23wpm, do come and join us. 23wpm is the speed at present and we may be increasing that as time goes by. The overs are short but protocol is adherred to and just a few comments from each attendee is all that is needed. Give it a try!
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Surely there are a few more quite capable of joining the net to try your hand at conversational Morse. I think there are a number of locals who, although capable, use Morse to crack a pile-up with the use of macros and very rarely use a paddle in long QSOs.
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There is no need to be shy. Learning conversational Morse is a skill in itself. Anybody can work a DX pile-up by using macros or sending their call and 599 TU. Try holding a conversation for about an hour and see how you get on. If you aspire to CWOPS or FOC it’s the only way you will get in to those clubs, by showing and proving your proficiency with a paddle.
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Not only that, but it really is very satisfying to be able to hold a conversation for that long at around 25wpm with minimal mistakes. PLUS of course you can then monitor the CW end of the bands and hear just conversations and not just dits and dahs.
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CW OPS

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Certificates: You can download your certificate for 2024 from https://cwops.telegraphy.de/certificate/

Medallions: If your certificate was a Gold, Silver or Bronze Medal certificate, you are eligible to request a medallion. To defray part of the costs of purchasing and mailing your medallion, there is a $15 USD fee, payable through PayPal. If you qualified and are on the list of medallion winners, either as published in the CWT column in the January 2025 issue of the Solid Copy newsletter or in the file “CWTmedals2024.txt” at https://cwops.groups.io/g/main/files/CWTmedals2024.txt, you can order your medallion from the payment button at the bottom of the CWT web page on the CWops website (direct link: https://cwops.org/cwops-tests/#medpay).
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Note however the payment has to be made before the end of February. After that time the ordering window will close in order to allow Rob K6RB to prepare a bulk order for the medallions from the supplier. Once the medallions are received, they will be mailed out, probably some time in May or June. The costs of mailing are included in the $15 fee.
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The mailing addresses used for sending the medallions will be the addresses on file with the CWops Membership Secretary as of the time of mailing (May-June, 2025). If your mailing address has changed or will have changed from the mailing address you reported at the time you joined CWops, you should make sure that your address on file is up to date; you can contact the Membership Secretary at membership (at) cwops (dot) org to update your mailing address.
If you have a question about your participation score or believe you should have qualified for a different medal level than is shown on the list, you can contact VE3IAY at ve3iay@gmail.com

General CW Operating.
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For those of a nervous disposition, try joining FISTS. FISTS caters for the more casual, laid back operator who does not feel comfortable at more than 23 wpm. They also have a LADDERS competition on 40m which is good practice. Actually for what you pay for membership it really is a great deal with a quarterly magazine too called Keynote. It contains lots of interesting articles.
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David 2E0JGV tells me of a 2 metre net most evenings on 145.050. If you have 2m capability try taking a listen and join in. Stations from as far away as Bristol are taking part.

That’s it, open the cage, play the music.
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If you have any input, please email me.

73 de Roger, G3LDI GB2CW Coordinator. roger@g3ldi.co.uk May the Morse be with you.

Author Roger Cooke