Last night, my friend Mike (N3LI) and I made our first-ever CW QSOs. In ham-speak, that means we chatted using Morse code.
It wasn’t fast, and we didn’t copy each other completely. But we exchanged meaningful information using a classic communication mode that is no longer a requirement for licensing but is still going strong. It was great fun, and we plan to keep practicing and plan to meet-up again next week.
Re-learning Morse code has reinforced several things for me. Patience and persistence are the most important qualities for long-term mastery of any difficult skill. And it’s good to give older brains a tough, but realizable challenge. Especially when there are concrete and visible measures of success.
So any no-code hams out there who haven’t taken the plunge, come on in!