Lunchtime CW confusion !

It was a beautiful day here in Central New Jersey! The skies were blue, there were no clouds, it was slightly breezy and the temperatures hovered around the 70 Degree mark. It was a perfect day to head out to the park during lunchtime for some QRP.

I ended up having a nice QSO with AI4IC. Kay, who comes from Tennessee, was vacationing at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Kay was using a Yaesu FT897 to a Buddipole located in the attic. Kay had a beautiful 599 signal into New Jersey; and I enjoyed our 20 Meter QSO.

Previous to that, my CQ was answered by another 599 station; but even if my life depended on it; I would not be able to tell you who it was that was calling me. The station answering me sent a string of letters with no breaks whatsoever. It was a jumble and mish-mash of consonants, vowels and numbers. I was able to make out my own call; but that was it.

It is so very important to watch your spacing when you send Morse Code. The breaks between letter elements are SO important! They make all the difference in the world between Morse Code that is music; or Morse Code that is gibberish.

Imaginetryingtoreadanentirebookthathadallitstypelaidoutlikethis.

Boy, that was even hard to type! That is what the Morse Code I was trying to receive today was like. Unfortunately, I just couldn't make it out. I think it was a 5 station; but I thought I had copied WL5. Now THAT makes no sense whatsoever as the WL would have indicated Alaska; and I doubt there are any WL5s in Alaska.

I can understand folks wanting to up their code speed by sending fast. Please make sure you don't send so fast as to neglect spacing and thus, readability.

73 de Larry W2LJ