Thursday, March 17, 2016

Easy listening

I had a wonderful experience today during my lunch time QSO.  Not hearing any NPOTA or SOTA station on 20 Meters, I decided to go on up to 17 Meters.  There was not much activity there, so I decided to call CQ around 18.086 MHz.

I was answered by Benny K5KV - who I can only describe as "The Master Bug Fist".

His fist was as smooth as melted chocolate on a hot fudge sundae on a Saturday in August. At first I thought he was using a keyer and paddles. But when he came back to me and said, "I switched to a slower bug for you ......", I was like "Oh .... wow!" (I was loafing around 20 WPM.)

It's not often you hear a bug fist as smooth as Benny's. Most bug fists (mine included) have a swing to them, as it's really, really hard to get that dit to dah changeover and the timing ratio down. Like many people, I tend to accentuate the dahs, as they are totally manually generated. As a result, my bug fist is not as smooth as I would like it to be.

Benny's is as close to perfection as you can get.  In fact, Benny's fist is so smooth as to be musical. He had the spacing and rhythm down pat. His is a fist you could listen to all day .... where the words just appear on a piece of paper that's inside your brain. The definition of armchair copy.

I wish that I had a recording device with me so that I could share the experience with all of you. It was THAT good.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

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