🇬🇧 EuCW QRS Activity Week
Few days before EuCW QRS Activity started I got an email about it. Although I am trying to build my speed at the
moment I decided to give myself a try and participate in it.
To quote the EuCW webpage this is not a contest, it is an invitation to slow down CW speeds and to enjoy plenty
of slow Morse activity for a period of five days. The goal is not competitiveness but to lower the threshold for
newcomers to give CW a try. The right spirit is to take part in this as a service to potential newcomers. This
won't get You closer to any Hall of Fame, this will help others while your patience might be stretched a little.
🖼️ The QRS Week is sponsored and organized by AGCW-DL
After reading the rules I understood that I must be a member of any of the CW clubs associated with EuCW. Well, I
am not a member of any EuCW clubs, so I contacted Martin IK2RMZ / DL1GBZ asking him if I can participate. Just a
few hours later I got an email from Martin saying that my participation is most welcome. Great! As I am also
building my CW Resume I am wondering whether my callsign will be listed in results.
The rules state that no keyboard sending or pre-programmed messages are allowed, but pre-programmed CQ calls or
CQ loops are permitted. Good news, again!
On day one I set my keying speed to 15 WPM and started sending CQ QRS DE SQ6JNX SQ6JNX K and made five contacts.
Unfortunately, I missed the rule that 14 WPM is the actual speed limit. The rules also state that QSOs should be
at least 5 minutes long and, in fact, this is just the time you need to exchange callsigns, RSTs, names and QTHs
and then wrap it with a warm greeting for another station. One of my Monday’s QSOs was over 25 minutes, but
others were just over the required 5 minutes. I think that’s OK. I have to watch my speed, though.
On Tuesday I participated in AGCW-DL QRS NET on 3556 kHz. I made 1 QSO, with net host Lothar DL1DXL, but after 45
minutes of waiting the net closed and I was not invited to the party… Pity. Good thing is I also reminded myself
of some German words I learned back in primary school. At the end of the day I had 8 new QRS CW QSOs in the log.
Wednesday for me is CQ CWT day, so I was happy to make some contacts in QRS. As always, all CW frequencies were
crowded, but I have found my luck on 30 meters band. Made 6 contacts.
On Thursday I was about to skip QRS Week, but some time after 2000 LT I decided to turn the radio on. Quick look
around on 80 meters resulted in four contacts.
On Friday, the final day, I made four more contacts. One of the stations, which is known to send at really fast
speeds called CQ at 12 WPM and we made a very QRS QSO.
Week ended with 27 contacts in 12 European countries. No DX, but that was not the case.
My final thoughts? I have very positive feelings about this activity. I know that some of my contacts were able
just to decode my callsign plus maybe a word or two from what I sent them, but that’s OK. I’ve been in that
place just about a year ago and I am still far from where I want to be. Other contacts were pushing me into
higher speeds, so I did some exchanges in QRQ, 20 WPM to be precise.
One note for straight key users. I really enjoy listening to your code, but please, if your comfort speed is 10
WPM do not try sending 15 WPM. Your code is very unreadable and even decoding your callsign is hard.
Hear you all next year!
