This is incredibly helpful. New ham learning CW with hopes of using it for POTA/SOTA and this breakdown helps!

I was a novice in '63. Nobody had a keyer, so you could extend the final dah of the K to indicate that it meant "over to you" rather than "k". So you wouldn't mistake it for part of someone's call. You could even do this with a bug because you still were self timing the dahs. "K" with the extended dah was widely used, and "BK" was not. Now that we're all using electronic keyers, we don't have an easy way to extend the final dah, so BK is popular. K is probably still an alternative, strictly speaking, but I agree it should be preceded by space. Another older convention was to end your first transmission in answer to a CQ with the procedural AR instead of K (at least according to my ARRL learn Morse booklet). The logic was that you have not yet established communication until the CQing station sends your call, confirming that things are working two ways. And that first responder transmission is sent only in hope of a contact, so "and that's the end of my message to you" is more appropriate than "over" (or, according to the book, "invitation to transmit"). This, too, would not be confused with his call. But it would probably confuse most ops today, and is unnecessary extra time in a pile up type situation. Just having sent your call covers you legally, without need of any terminator. Another confusing to newer ops option for other transmissions within the QSO is the procedural KN (over to the station I'm working, no break ins please), which is what we typically mean anyway. And "R R", or even just "R", is a faster option than "BK" at the beginning of your transmission after someone turns it over to you. So while we can't send dadidaaaaah now, there were well thought out solutions to these problems at least 70 years ago, if not all the way back to telegraph days.

At 75 , dusted off my old straight key, and working to get into CW. Thank you for this excellent guide for exchanges for POTA.

Your videos have been (are) a colossal resource in my CW journey. Thank you, Thomas.

Thanks Thomas... I try to play along at home when I can see the screen of the KX3. Your videos keep inspiring me to learn.

Thomas, thanks to your videos and especially this one regarding the standard POTA exchange, I finally got brave enough to do a cw activation today at K-4098. I set out to get 10 make it an official activation and was then gonna switch to SSB or FT8. Ended up with 30! The hunters were great and patient and it went much smoother than I expected. Thanks again, Gary, NY9R

I did 3 CW in my previous activation and there were some things you've explained that tripped me up. I'm getting it though, thanks!

Thank you.. cw is something I'm mic shy on and I realize POTA is probably the best way for me to jump in because everyone's very helpful and patient

as someone just learning CW, this is immensely helpful!

Many thanks Thomas for another immensely useful video. I especially appreciate that you take the time to explain in detail what you do and why. Although I've been licensed since the mid-1980s I had not realised the impact that things like the RBN have had, I will now try to make use of it. It's a beautiful day here in SE England and I don't have to work so I'm off out on the motorbike to do some portable operating! 73 DE G0CIQ . .

Very helpful info Thomas. Thanks, and 73!

Thank you for posting this. I am hoping to use CW in POTA later this year so this video is helpful as I prepare to know what to expect.

I just made my first couple of CW contacts today and yesterday. It's still a struggle but so much fun. Hopefully I'll add some POTA contacts soon! Thanks for the great video!

Great video! I do a lot of CW POTA hunting, and you video is exactly the way it is done. Thanks for your time producing a fine POTA intro using CW!

Thanks for the help - it's very nice to see it this way

Love your videos Thomas, this one is especially helpful in understanding CW conversations! Thank you and keep the great content coming.

Very helpful. I am going to need this pretty soon!

Enormously helpful. Thank you. I'm just getting enough CW in to try to get on the air and hunt some parks, and this is just what I was looking for.

Great help. Thanks very much!

Thank you! I just ordered an IC-705 to start playing with CW QRP and was thinking about POTA CW exchanges so this was perfectly timed for me and exactly what I was looking for!

A+ video and explanation. Thank you, sir.

Thanks, Thomas. Very helpful!

Excellent video. I am getting started in CW and this video was super helpful. I am very familiar with POTA and hunt (phone) daily. Thanks so much.

Thank you! This is something I had asked you about as well and this is exactly the explanation I needed. I was always confused by the “5N”. Makes perfect sense now.

Thanks Tom. I don't always do it that way, but I will follow your example from now on because it's faster. Very Best to you and yours!

Hey Thomas, this is great info and very helpful for me as I am just beginning to learn CW. Thank you for the great content.

So glad you did this vid, Thomas! It is hugely helpful and timely for me anyway.

That was most informative. THANK YOU! ❤

Thank you Soooo much for doing this video. I refer to it often as I continue to learn CW. Your channel is an awesome reference and keeps me inspired to copy CW better. Got my second CW park QSO today.

Another great, detailed video Thomas. Subbed. My first pota activation was cw / qrp, and was successful in spite of my lack of knowledge on how it actually should have been done!

Thanks much for this explanation. I am learning the code and watch your videos often and since I'm not fast as you, this helps to tell me what you have been doing in the exchanges.

Older CW OP here. I haven't done POTA yet and wasn't active when it became popular. Kudos to you all, and thanks for the detailed explanation!

Thank you, I needed this information.

Thank you, Thomas. Very informative. I recently completed the Basic class of CW Academy. This will help me once I feel confident and comfortable to try POTA using CW. 73

Thank you, this is big to us learning cw

excellent explanation. thank you . 73

Very practical advice! Thx!

Thank you, Tom!

I just started with cw and did half an activation with cw last month. It was pretty rough and I was kind of making it up on the fly using a similar script that I use for ssb. This video was help explainging the cw bits I forgot about in my nervousness. I'm going to write this down and have it to reference next time I try a cw activation.

Thanks Thomas - I had a lot of this after listening to your other videos, but it is nice to have it written out and understand the thoughts behind the exchange structure. 73 de KI5GX

Nice video and thanks for posting! I watched this last year, and then posted a question on the POTA FB page asking this exact question and someone was kind enough to tell me about this video. I had totally forgotten about it. This is a good little primer for the exchange. I plan on writing a little cheat sheet for when I activate for the first time in the 2023 season just to get back into the swing of things. 73

Thomas - Nice explanation. This should be really helpful to new CW operators. Anything to demystify and remove fear can help. Of course, once you try it, it quickly becomes addictive, hi hi. 73 de Brian - K3ES

Love your videos! Thank you.

Thanks for the explanation. Being very new to HAM radio and CW, this is great! The BK for Back to you surprised me. I thought it would be KN. But reading more I do see where it is used the way you have it. Thanks again.

Love your work....

Thanks Thomas! I am just beginning POTA and learning the basic exchange. This video was extremely helpful! Also enjoy your other POTA videos

Remember too, hunters may call you only because your spot told them where they could find a new state, county, grid square, etc. on the band. Try to know those things before you get to the park. Also, "TU" is sometimes sent as "TNX." (TNX for this great video!)

Thanks for sharing these examples- very helpful. I'm trying to get to a point where I can get on the air with CW

GA K4SWL ES TU FER THIS DE AC1NO! I've been studying CW for about 6 weeks and I just had my first QSL with K4CAB at K-5516 in VA. I watched this video and had a notepad open with the exchange you reviewed @11:15. Having the notes there gave me the confidence to key up, and I almost understood the entire exchange as it was happening. I recorded it and got the rest of the info after the QSL was complete. This was the most rewarding and nerve-wracking QSL I've had to date - My hands were shaking as I was keying. What fun! Thank you again for posting this and all your other vids. Hopefully, I can catch you one of these days on the air. 73s, Ed - AC1NO

I found this video via the POTA website docs, this is a very helpful guide, thank you Thomas. Once my Venus arrives I will be scheduling my first park activation, CW only, at K-2999. Can't wait, it's going to be a blast.

Goo vid to help know what to expect. Especially for those like me just learning. Still takes me about 3 tries to get a good read on a transmission.

Great video Thomas! Being new to CW this has taken a lot of confusion out of what I hear on the air. I may even have the guts to try some POTA hunting this weekend to get my feet wet.

I've watched quite a few of your videos now and your use of dit dit at the end of a QSO confused me but clearly not any of the hunters who always seem to respond in kind. Thanks for explaining it!

Thanks for this Thomas it answered all the 'why does he do that' questions I think of while watching your videos. De M7RMF in England.

Thank you so much for this video, I have been watching when you use your KX2 what you have been sending while you activate the park. I noticed a couple video's ago I could see what you was sending on the screen of the radio.

This was a great help! Not a real big CW OP. With your tips (and a little encouragement from the kind folks at the LICWC) I decided to give it a try as a hunter. I managed to work 7 parks without embarrassing myself too badly.

Thanks Thomas, I was under the impression I had to send the park number/designator. It makes a lot of sense to spot yourself. Either by the Reverse Beacon Network or by other means. I’m going to take your advice and look for POTA on CW as a hunter.

Great video! I do have to say (for myself), I don't like our current format of not giving out the park on CW. I have stumbled across POTA stations, but I have no clue where they are! When I have activated my 4 parks (and attempted a couple others), I try to give the K#### every or every other QSO because I like knowing that the other person (and any listening) can without a computer know my QTH, figuring they can look up the number later. I understand I am in the total minority, I can't even remember the last time I heard someone give out the park. But it feels like we do it out of convenience, a bit too much for me. Thanks for all the great CW content on KZfaq!

You're a wealth of knowledge. Thanks for taking the time to do these videos 73 NE5U

Fellow Carolinian here. You hadn't gotten to saying you were doing a POTA activation at Lake Norman and I already heard the Carolinian accent and thought, "oh yeah... this is going to be good." 73s KN4FVH.

Thanks for the rundown on the POTA system and how it works not on with CW yet but following the Ham Whisper morse course and enjoying it this is about my 3rd try. I am also now trying to copy morse on your channel to try and get the new paths in the brain to connect the dots or should I say the Dits and Dahs. :)

Thanks Thomas - a great refresher! I'm going to listen on the bands to catch this in action. TU de N1ACW

Thanks for taking the time and explaining this. Very helpful! I am new to CW and I have been wanting to start chasing CW POTA... after I get this down, then I can start activating CW POTA. (MTR5B w/N9SAB Dipole in the POTA pouch ready to go)

Thanks Thomas! That was really great information. I have a much better understanding of this, now.

Well done!

Man, this was exactly the video I was looking for and by someone I have been really enjoying learning from.

Thanks, my next job! Get POTA Activation to do what you do!

Thanks! This was extremely helpful. I just made my first CW contact today, and I've been wanting to hunt some POTA (eventually I want to activate on CW, but that'll be a while). Knowing what to expect in the exchange is very helpful, especially for a CW newbie like myself.

Based in large part to your videos, I have just signed up for POTA and looking forward to my first activation. THANK YOU for taking the time to explain the CW exchange - very helpful! 73 de K4BLB

Super handy. Close to getting on the air or attempting. biggest draw is grabbing a few of those hard to reach states via CW.

This is great thank you! I took screenshots 😎🙏🙏🙏

Excelente clase, cada dia es un nuevo apredizaje TNX 73

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I have been inactive for many years and just getting back on the air. I keep hearing "cq pota" and figured it was a contest and I am not a contester at all. Now I will take the plunge and give a qrp call back to a activator and perhaps someday I will take my HW-8 rig to a park and give it a try 😀 73 de WA4JAT se coastal NC

Thank you I never new what to do,POTA was not how it was done. SSB just standard voice. 73 ..

Excellent video. I have a 2x1 call and sometimes the receiver is expecting more after my suffix and I will receive a "?". What works for me is I send my call followed by a space and then "KN" (K means over and "KN" means back to the named station only) The "KN" is pronounced as one word with no space dah-di-dah-dah-dit. It lets them know that, that is all there is and prevents an additional exchange. I'm just getting back into CW and even though I am rusty, I am having fun. The best way to get better, is get on the air.

Thank you

Very helpful.

Excellent

I don't do CW yet due to nervousness so this helps greatly

Great stuff Thomas! Night Owl CW Activation this evening planned. I was going to change that sentence but kinda sounds (YODAish) As a newbie I have the AGN and ? Down pat! I will say that anyone thinking about jumping on CW but doesn’t think there ready DO IT. No sailor builds skills sitting at port!

Thanks

Courtesy is a must.

You did not overtalk this. :) Thank you for this - I hunted my first parks yesterday by CW and this guide was extremely helpful!! Thank you! kq4cwk

Well done, thanks. Might add links in the description for pota, sota, where to find park numbers, reverse beacon network.

Awesome video my man!!! Trying to re-focus back on good ole CW. I bet the analytics for this video have show the whole video being watched ... a LOT. Fantastic work! Hope to get you in the log. You just got a new subscriber as well. 73 - KO4KKX (long but easy)

Windy? Rubber band on the clipboard... brilliant!

Nothing like listening to *12* CQs followed by a callsign. This has actually happened to me. Make them short and sweet!

I follow this script almost to the tee. I use the full signal followed by a repeat with cut numbers. In my final with a Texas station, I typically send “TU TX 72 de K9NUD dit dit, though sometimes I skip the callsign if I’m navigating a pileup.

15 Ahours, that’s a ton of power!

This is an invaluable resource for the rest of us. I’m one of those who are P2P though I’m not out there activating, I simply setup and hunt in parks because QRM is lower and happened to be hunting activators that happen to be activating parks. I never really tell them unless they ask. I hope to be working CW soon, I can key it, my ears just don’t pick it up and I am aided by a decoder. I’m sort of relieved that it’s not involving keying whole words. Saying “Good morning” on a J38 as compared to “GM” on 13wpm will probably wear me out before my tenth contact anyhow. Thank you for the pointers, hope to work you some day. 73 de KN4GEI

Great video thank you. Was someone raking?

So, I have not heard of sending the BK at the beginning? This is new to me. I just copied at 15 wpm with no spacing this evening so thats a HUGE step forward for me. If you're out there thinking you will never get it, keep going, I really surprised myself tonight.

Older CW operator here. I recently returned to ham radio after a 25-year break and have heard of POTA/SOTA. I don't understand the brevity in POTA CW QSO's. Why the rush? The rapid operating style, and lack of prosigns, just seems to encourage bad CW operating habits.

I don't work a lot of cw, but I USUALLY use the end "K" to mean "over". So, its UR 5NN K, or DE VO1JA, VO1JA K. But to each their own, n'est-ce pas? By the way, we drove the Blue Ridge Parkway a number of years ago, it is beautiful. In North Carolina, the Smithfield Chicken & Barbecue is ALWAYS worth a visit, LOL! Do we presume correctly that your recent visit to la belle province de Quebec was an opportunity to try poutine? Just teasing, really enjoy your videos! 73, de vo1ja, Harry.

I'm a new ham on hf and the only operating I do is cw SOTA activations. S2S is the hardest

That what useful. So you don’t really need to send ur park number except for P2P. Tnx VO1OK

This is great. Can you send a grid square if the park covers multiple counties/sates?

DD means “this is” BK means “break”

Thanks again for another great video (I'm late to the party) Can you recommend a high quality portable paddle that is much higher precision than the Cwmorse key. I have one and even with adjustment it's just too sloppy. thanks

is this a typical qso format in the UK? Ive been learning CW for ages and will try for my first contact when my xiegu x6100 arrives. Would i just send 'UK' in place of where you declare your State? Really enjoy your videos BTW