The First 100 Years Are The Hardest

The Straight Key Month special event (aka SKM) celebrates manual Morse radiotelegraphy using straight keys, bugs and cootie keys. It runs from Jan. 2nd through 31st.    Individual operators schedule time to be the special event station K3Y for their call areas, and only one station can operate for that call area at a time (usually in 1-2 hour blocks).   Hunters chase as many K3Y stations across as many bands possible for bragging rights.    Real time updates are on the SKCC SKED page, and the group even has a SKCC SKIMMER to that monitors your local log file to keep track of who you need to work. Working all 10 US stations is your basic "SWEEP"... add in KP4, KH6, KL7, NA, SA, EU,  AF, AS and OC for the Grand Sweep.  Logs are submitted by the K3Y operators, and the results are posted ever day to track Sweeps, Station Statistics and Participant Standings.   This year more than 200 stations operated as K3Y, logging 52,695...

Wikipedia CW Rererences for Q-signals and Prosigns. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QN_Signals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosigns_for_Morse_code _____________________________________________________________________________________ The SSN is a group of Radio Amateurs using Morse code have established several informal radio nets to promote the use of the sideswiper, so called "cootie" key. https://www.sideswipernet.org/ COMMON PROSIGNS AR = Means end of a transmission. It is not necessarily an invitation to transmit. AR is used after calling a station with which  contact has not already been established. AS = Wait, stand by for a short time BT = Separation, or break, between address and text; between text and signature in a radiogram. Also used between topics in a  QSO. IMI = Yes, this is a standard CW question mark. But it also can be used to ask for a repeat of difficult words as well as to indicate  a query (?). SK = The communications is concluded or clear. End of Wo...