Thanks to folks running the CQ WW contest, we now have the max rates available for the last decade. Guess who’s dominating the CW ranking for Belgium (ON)?
Yes I am pretty excited. But most of all amazed. And honestly it surprises me that it’s on 80, generally considered not to be an easy band. And with a good percentage of DX 3pt contacts. A massive run on 3505 interlaced with ten contacts on 40m. On a piece of 2.5mm² copper wire hanging skewed from the tower, and two tuned radials about 2.5m high. No ridiculously big yagi, no directional 4SQ, no 120 radials, no beverages, no remote RX.
And I generally send ‘TU OQ5M’ after each and every contact and send ‘5NN 14’ as a report, not ‘ENN A4’. Or any worse abbreviation. And in WW CW I run at 34 WPM – no QRQ. Maybe even 32 WPM on the noisier low bands.
So how does this compare to countries around here? Much to my surprise I beat the top Single Op HP CW rates in plain G-land, LX, DL, F, PA, SP, EA, I, OH, ES, OZ, SM. I stopped looking there. I find this intriguing.
Oh well, it’s not that I have superhuman skills. It’s just a matter of copying a call, typing it, send 5NN 14 and on to the next. Luckily there is a next. This would be impossible without a constant flow of callers. So: Thanks to those who call me!
Geez- 210 QSO in a single 60 minute hour releases a heavy dose of adrenaline. And it’s addictive. Imagine being in a sweet DX spot near the beach with DXCC monopoly…
As a closing note: I’m nowhere to be found in the SSB ranking. It’s not that I don’t try. Or that I couldn’t do it. It’s just that the exact same setup doesn’t cut it on phone. Let this be a proof for the non-believers. CW 4 EVER!