CW Progress

I am making some headway with my CW (Morse code). I am pretty much staying between 10 and 13wpm. I try to send between a 13 and 15wpm character speed and space it out so I have more reaction time between letters. I have found, though, that going too slow is just as bad as going too fast. If the spacing is too far then I can get the letters but I can't subconsciously hear the words. I am stuck "sounding out" the words and don't comprehend the message being sent. If I am at the right speed and miss a letter then I get discombobulated and mess up the word, or worse, the whole sequence. If the transmitting station is going too fast then all I hear are occasional letters. I can't seem to find a happy medium between the two. I can pick out names, signal reports, and states pretty easily at up to about 25wpm - mostly because they are repeated or are standard.

One thing I find interesting is the variability in how people reply to my CQ's. I send my call sign in my CQ's the exact speed and spacing I want someone to reply with. However, I get everything from someone sending 3-4wpm slower than my character speed with long spacing to someone sending much faster - both character speed and spacing. I might be a picky CW operator, but how hard is it to match someone else's speed/spacing? HI.

I have found, though, that it is very easy to ask someone to change their speed. Everyone I QSO with, that I have done a speed adjustment with, has been very helpful. This is one of the great aspects of Ham radio - experienced operators take the time and effort to help the non-experienced operators (myself with copying CW).

Since I cut the use of my computer for decoding I have had quite a few QSO's (I think a couple log pages, at least 1.5). I have not had any help with decoding and I have not had an SSB QSO since Thanksgiving. Now I just have to keep things rolling!