NO5NN Blog: Comments Welcome!

Dear Readers,

We’ll be posting more content to the NO5NN Blog part of the NO5NN.org website and hope that the posts will be interesting and generate some comments and discussions.

NO5NN is a site for all those who love CW but do not like only a “5NN TU” and consider this unsatisfying. We thus cannot avoid also addressing the elephants in the room: modern day contesting and “DX expeditions” and so also expect some more critical posts on those activities.

That said, it should be clear that this author is NOT “anti contest” nor “anti DX”. I myself am in favour of both activities and all aspects of the hobby to be enjoyed by whoever wishes to, even if I’m no longer drawn to modern day contesting and “DX” for reasons that will become clear.

We do have the “World’s Greatest Hobby” with all its wide variety of interests and activities, and we must be as tolerant as possible to all the various activities. At the same time, we must respect the rights of those minorities who, for example, consider “CW the Greatest Mode of All Time.”

In some upcoming posts therefore we’ll address the difference between a “Contest” i.e. a “Radio Sport” and a “Con Test” i.e. testing who is the con, as well as the harms created by “Con Tests” both to themselves and their reputation, as well as to others.

As promised, we have some real news regarding a very clear “Test Case” — pun intended — and while we had kept an open and hopeful mind toward its outcome, it looks clear to drive a final nail in the coffin of con-testing which can no longer be called a radio sport but just a fun activity.

We’ll also have a lot more to say about “DX Pedos”, that is to say, the abbreviation for so-called “DX Expeditions” of modern type, and the harms that they too create. Let it be known that we have close personal friends who are involved in both these types of activities and so we invite them and others to leave their comments in regards to those activities under the relevant blog posts.

At NO5NN we’re only beholden to one rule: “NO 5NN” — although we do accept that if a signal knocked you off your chair you are allowed to give it a 5NN or even an ENN! However, anything less than that truly deserves only a 589, since the S-meter is not what you go by for 599.

We’ll also continue posts on other subjects of interest to CW such as operating, learning, issues that seek a solution or clarification, encouraging the preservation of CW as well as its proliferation, its relationship with modern technology and otherwise, all things CW are most welcome.

This author has experience and love of ALL keying modes: straight key, side swiper, bug and electronic keyer. ALL of these methods of sending are used on a regular basis and with joy. Everything is enjoyed from a short to a long QSO, from QRS to QRQ, from QRP to QRO.

I am someone who has been proficient at CW for over 50 years now and enjoy all methods of keying and almost all types of CW reception from QSD to QLF, have used plenty of QRP and will also happily run 5kW if required, have participated in contests since my teens, and operated a rare DX location as only OP for years handling pile ups, and had 6 hour non-stop QRQ QSK QSOs.

I do believe that this makes me perhaps rare among CW Operators, although I’m by no means the only one with all those skills and experience, it allows me to write on a number of subjects with conviction born out of experience. Therefore I hope my blog posts will continue to be interesting.

While it helps to be able to air personal views born out of such experiences via this blog, and comments are encouraged so as to not to be a one-way conversation, the site itself is not intended to be only a blog with controversial views or otherwise, but a repository for information and advice to the newcomer to CW as well as activities and information of use to both new and old.

Please subscribe to the site via Email so you can receive updates and kindly comment whenever you can because it is much like graffiti on a clean wall: no one likes to write or draw “art” on it first, but once a few have done so then everyone feels encouraged to jump in. And if you like the site in general, even if you don’t agree with many “personal” opinions, this is the best way to support it.

Only by increasing our readership can we reach more people and bring them into the many fun activities, rich history and developments of the world of CW and perhaps even help to bring about a reset and return to the original principles and ethics of amateur radio, a subject which may also be covered in some of the posts.

So let’s start the bowl rolling with a few comments please, and be prepared for some more posts!

Or, at the very least, please click the like button so we know which articles you enjoyed reading.