"N2EY" wrote in message
om...
Alun Palmer wrote in message
. ..
Almost all contests have separate CW and 'phone weekends. (FD and ARRL
160 are the exceptions that prove the rule). The ham population can
choose to operate one, both, or neither. CW participation is UP while
'phone is flat.

That puzzles me.

It's a fact.

I honestly don't think it's due to new hams preferring
CW.

Why not? I know lots of new hams who prefer CW, once they get a
reasonable set of skills. That doesn't mean everyone will like it.


Work the next November Sweepstakes on the CW weekend. Since the year first
licensed is part of the exchange, you'll see that there are indeed some new
hams working CW. I worked it in 2001 (skipped 2002 due to OM's birthday
being that weekend) and there were people who had only been licensed a
couple of years out there working it.

Maybe there are people who used to only contest on phone that are now
doing the CW leg as well.

Perhaps.

Or perhaps the declining sunspots and proven superior performance of
CW are drawing more hams to use it.

Perhaps the simple fact that CW is unique is the attraction.

Perhaps it's just the rising number of hams.

But the fact remains that for whatever reasons, HF CW USE by hams is
increasing in at least some measurable ways.

This fact puts the lie to the claim that "young people" and "new hams"
aren't interested in the mode. At least some of them are.


It's probably a combination of all the above. However I've known several
new hams who are fascinated by the mode and see the CW contests as a way to
both master the mode and have fun.


Dee D. Flint, N8UZE