User name:
Password:

Forgot password? - Sign up

1Tifoso2 BG5ARO BG6HNF bmgxyz dgdahl DL3SRH dl4wp DL5FS EA4HJL F31hbhcw hope Igor2005 JJ1NKI jk1tcf js2mrs Kaften M0PIK NickGret OE3TBU R2HP R9OBD sketchP Takumim Tanowski test xaffi

Besides the standard 26-letter English alphabet and 10 numbers, what other symbols are actually used with regularity on-air?

I don't want to focus my fluency efforts on anything rarely used.

Period
Comma
Apostrophe
Question mark
Semicolon
Colon
Quotation mark
Exclamation point
Forward slash
Addition sign
Subtraction sign
Equals sign
Opening parenthesis
Closing parenthesis
At symbol
Prosigns

Thank you.

Essential:
- Question mark
- Forward slash (used in callsigns)
- Equals sign (-...- often used as a separator instead of punctuation, also often written as prosign BT)
- Prosigns (mainly BT, SK)

Period/Comma are used in plain text QSOs but you can get away without knowing them for quite a while.

The other signs are really rarely used, especially in English language QSOs. French stations use the apostrophe regularly on the other hand.

Thank you. This greatly reduces my study load.

What about: <AR> ?

Thank you! Great topic I had not thought of in my early learning stage. And thank you Fabian for giving context to why these prosigns and puncuation are important in CW.

Why would so many symbols be so early in the lessons? I was really surprised to see an = in lesson 16, and frustrated that X isn't until the very last lesson. I'd rather get proficient with a letter so often used as D (not 'til lesson 37!) before worrying about a slash. Is there a reason to muddy up the lessons with symbols before learning the alphabet and numbers?

In amateur radio operation = is much more used than x. x is used in abbreviations like tx rx xmas thx.

Common CW AbbreviationsAA = All afterAB = All beforeABT = AboutADX = AddressAGN = AgainANT = AntennaBCNU = Be seeing youBK = Break, Break inBN = All between; BeenBTR = BetterBTW = By The WayBUG = Semi-Automatic keyBURO = BureauB4 = BeforeC = Yes, CorrectCFM = Confirm; I confirmCK = CheckCKT = CircuitCL = I am closing my station; CallCNT = Can'tCONDX = ConditionsCPI = CopyCQ = Calling any stationCU = See YouCUAGN = See You AgainCUD = CouldCUL = See You laterCUZ = BecauseCW = Continuous waveGG = GoingKHZ = KilohertzMHZ = MegahertzOT = Old TimerOM = “Old Man”PSE = PleaseRTTY = RadioteletypeTNX = ThanksTT = ThatTU = Thank youU = YouVY = VeryWX = Weather

Yes Fabian hit the nail on the head. In my experience those pro signs are used most frequently however once ur on the air new ones will begin to pop up. Wx,es,ar,tnx,n,t and many more.I did all 40 lessons then was on the air enjoying what I learned from this fabulous site. Learning other pro signs during my daily qso’s have fun and enjoy de Wd3dx 73 . … (and) -.-. ..- .-.. (cul)

Grrr, I guess it's just my OCD that wants to learn letters first, then numbers, then symbols. But yeah I get it.

Amy do not get discouraged. Work thru the 40 lessons. Fabian has laid out a great foundation to learn cw stick with it. I myself have a cheet sheet when I hear a pro sign I don’t recognize I go to my cheet sheet . Trust me when u have ur first cw qso u will want to tell the world u did it like I did hi hi 73s and keep up the good work

ok thanks for the encouragement :)
i'm on lesson 29, so far so good.

what's really hanging me up is having to use shift for the question mark, and that's only lesson 32! might be what sends me over the edge

U can do it . Iam a paper and pencil man myself it took me over a year to get on the air . However I’m 61 the brain is slowing down hi hi . Keep practicing

Be careful complaining - else you will start feeling entitled.


Nonag's generation ( 1930s) had to learn by switching on a radio and listening to commercial code with all the abbrevs, at commercial rates, in all the QRM/N.

You can sit on a traffic jam and make use of 5 mins here and there, and you have a feedback system telling you how well you are doing..


,./?= are all long chars with a single meaning - so soon you will see them as a rest period.

As you will with double letters when you start speeding up ...


Negative thoughts are what will tip you over the edge.


In my view you need to get through exercise 40 whatever it takes before you blow up, melt down , doze off or just move on . . .


After that it's just about improving - which means listen to lots of morse - mp3 books, the bands - whatever, so you can relax a bit . . .

cb

i was actually just wondering yesterday about what most people do when they're actually on a qso. do most people still just jot messages down on paper, or do most people type them out now? or are there people who are just good enough that they don't write anything down at all??

Can I (hopelessly) reiterate my request for "%" which is a prosign for "end of contact"?

Hi Amy.
I think they keep a log.

https://www.arrl.org/keeping-a-log

Sorry for oc, but LCWO should not do that, because code for "%" is not defined in the ITU standard.
Adding % in LCWO is misleading people...

However Fabian made it super easy to run LCWO in Docker, so you can make your own customized version of LCWO and run it locally.

oh ok, i was under the impression people were having conversations.

People are having conversations, and many operators decode it mostly in their heads, without writing everything down. It's fairly common to keep notes, like writing down the callsign and name of the other operator, along with other information that might be relevant for the conversation.

Decoding cw in your head is often referred to as "head copy", and you'll find much material searching this term! :)

You obviously don't operate online, because % is everywhere in any QSO. That you took the time to speak on behalf of the site owner speaks volumes about your good faith.

wow it would be nice to get to that point someday! and cool, good to know, thanks!

Thank you! Because I have the same question!