CW Slow Speed Test - Every Sunday night Eastern Time

Every Sunday evening I try to join K1USN’s slow speed CW test. This weekly event is “for those who prefer a more leisurely CW pace or are new CW operators or contesters”. This weekly event is just my speed and has been great for me to move beyond just doing CW POTA hunting.

This weekly event is just my speed, 20 words per minute or slower

Note that the SST CW tests are scheduled on Universal Time, so it starts 7PM Eastern Time or 8PM Eastern Time depending on whether we’re in Daylight Savings Time or not. I missed it last Spring so I made sure that it’s on my calendar with the timezone set to “Coordinated Universal Time”

The recommended SST exchange is documented on the site linked above. In practice I’ve found that most participants make the exchange shorter. They just exchange their call-sign, name and state. Like so:

CQer: CQ SST KA1ZPR
Responder: W1YTQ
CQer: W1YTQ Will ME
Responder: TU Chris MA
CQer: GL MA 73 de KA1ZPR

I exported the contacts that I’ve made in the CW SST so far.

If you want live help while participating in the the Slow Speed Test, I recommend joining the Long Island CW Club. During the weekly event there is a group that always jumps into classroom “Zoom B” to support each other and help new operators participate.

There are two SST events per week. If you’re in North America they’re every Sunday and Friday. I only do Sundays as that works best for my schedule.