Please respect QRS(S)

One of the biggest and most interesting modes in amateur radio is CW. If not THE most interesting mode. With small or smallest power, connections can be made over long distances.

Do you remember your first CW QSO?

I do! It was pure hell when a station answered my CQ call. On the one hand, of course, I was hoping for an answer, on the other hand, I was completely overwhelmed with the situation and had forgotten everything I had learned before in that moment. It was over with the "anatomy of the CW-QSO". With beads of sweat on my forehead and a pulse beyond good and evil, I tried to read the Morse code of the remote station. Giving the CW characters myself was no problem, but reading them under "real" conditions was hell!

The worst thing, however, was that the remote station did not respond to my "PSE QRS". I was able to read 13 wpm, but not 17 wpm or faster. The end of the story was that after this QSO I never wanted to morse again.

It took me over half a year to get the morse key back in my hand, thanks to my good friend Hermann (DF4HI), who is a member of the HSC. He pushed me and kept reminding me how hard it was for him in the beginning. "Eventually it will "CLICK" in your brain and it will come naturally. Don't stress about it. And never try to read individual characters. " he said. "And ignore the people who don't want to give slower!!! But please don't stop CW. You'll regret it!"

Today, CW is "normal" for me. Of course, there are still many moments when I don't understand the words or call signs right away, but that's life. The most important thing is not to resign when things don't go the way you want them to. Then you just switch off and try again tomorrow. And with each successful CW QSO, no matter how slow, the fun factor increases!

By the way: ALL CW operators started slowly! Even the fastest of them!

And many CW operators may still remember their first CW QSO....

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