I was called by a US guy who could hardly converse on CW, even though he told me QSB made it for him tough to read me. Otherwise, the band has been silent and no one has ever called me while I went on calling CQ for 30 or 40 minutes.
Calling CQ with the paddle, Begali, a gift from Bill W6QR, I was thinking of old timers in the past, whom I could not hear any longer. Some went SK while the others got inactive possibly due to their age or health issues. W6JAL, W6VIJ, W6CMY, W6VTK, WA6IVN and so forth. I could name dozens of them if I am asked. Surprisingly many guys have gone away. They are still in my memory as if at scenes of a movie or on a kaleidoscope. Whether they were night owls or early birds, they came on and chatted with me for a while and then went off. That is the way we enjoyed CW from '60s through '90s.
Giving up 40m, I came on 20m later at night. Rod K5BGB has given me a call. The same style of keying as in '80s when we used to talk on 40m early in our evening hours. He has moved to a house 10 years or more ago where he could put up only a low G5RV. We could scarcely talk on 40m like we used to in '80s or '90s. He told me he had still kept a sked with Maurie VK3CWB on 40m, on 7003KHz at 1230Z every Friday. I have been wanting to check in them but not done yet. This sked has been kept maybe for 20 years or so. His signal at that night was good enough. Rarely making mistakes. I wish it were from his old S line which used to sound so beautiful on CW.
Anyway, his operation and keying style is unique. Whenever I meet him on this old mode, I could not help feeling beauty in the style both in his operation and in keying. Exactly appropriate pauses between words. It is related with the context. As if punctuation given at the right places in the sentences or in the paragraphs. His style sure convinces me communication on CW is comparable to correspondence. His sentence, whatever it might be related with, is properly punctuated and given pauses. That style always makes me feel fascinated. It is a different world of CW from CW with decoder or computer sending.
His style is characterized by use of old International or American code. I used to learn in a QSO with him back in '80s that four continuous dashes meant CH. He sent like "CH"EERS or "CH"IAKI, my wife's name etc. These usage of old codes sure have been an aspect of his style, which I loved so much. I don't know of anyone who uses these old code in elegance like he does. This style might sound trivial to some people who emphasize efficiency or speed in commuication. But it sure is a pleasure for me to appreciate that style.
I thought there had been a couple of things for pleasure of CW. One is that reward sensation when we could achieve right expectation for words, content of messages etc. I have compared it with the same sensation in music in this blog. There seem to be findings from psychological as well as brain physiological researches as for the pleasure of music. Hopefully, this simplest tool for communication, CW, would be investigated in the same way as for its pleasure.
The 2nd, and in my belief, the ultimate goal or pleasure of this communication mode is friendship with those CW operators who love this old fashioned mode. It always lasts a long time, mostly, through our lives. It is the basis for pleasure which CW gives to us.
And, this beauty of the style is another esthetic aspect of CW, which attracts me a lot. Listening to rod's smooth and beautiful CW, I was thinking of this last but not least kind of pleasure in this communication mode. Unfortunately, this kind of pleasure is being lost in the actual world.
I still enjoy it in the era when CW itself is becoming extinct. I enjoyed listening to Rod sending "CH"EERS to me in the end of QSO.
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