Earning my Straight Key Century Club Centurion Award

Earlier this week, I submitted my application to the Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) and was awarded Centurion. This award is given to club members who make contact with 100 other SKCC members and exchange SKCC ID numbers and names.

The email announcing my achievement reads, “Chris Farnham, W1YTQ, SKCC# 27956, has achieved the coveted 1st generation SKCC member achievement known far and wide as the Centurion Cx1 award.”

Selfie of the author, W1YTQ, edited to look as if he's wearing a Centurion's helmet

The Straight Key Century Club

“The Straight Key Century Club is the most active group of mechanical-key Morse code radiotelegraph operators in the world. Founded in January 2006, we have thousands of members around the globe.” 1 Members of this club make HF radio contacts using any of the three early original types of manual telegraph keys: Straight Key, Bug, and Cootie.

Below is a photo of my CWMorse Camel Back Straight Key.

Straight Key Night

I decided to go for SKCC Centurion after participating in the ARRL’s “Straight Key Night”. Held every year on New Year’s Eve, on Straight Key Night radio operators celebrate our heritage by getting on the air and making casual contacts with a mechanical straight key using Morse Code, amateur radio’s earliest mode.

After the fun, I posted a festive photo to my Mastodon feed at mastodon.roundpond.net/@chrisfarnham and declared that I would work towards SKCC Centurion.

In my Mastodon post, I wrote, “I’ve decided to keep the momentum going and go for my Centurion award with the Straight Key Century Club. If I get at least 2 QSOs a day then I’ll have 100 QSOs within two months.”

Journey to Centurion status

I began logging SKCC style QSOs on January 7th. Here’s a graph of my progress towards 100 unique SKCC contacts needed for Centurion status.2 As you can see, I maintained a fairly steady pace along the way.

And here’s a map of the contacts I logged for SKCC Centurion.

To find SKCC contacts to reach out to, I would go to the SKCC sked page at sked.skccgroup.com. The sked page is a live online message board where members can announce they’re on the air along with a brief message.

A lot of my contacts were made by calling CQ SKCC de W1YTQ on the air with a status message of CQ 14.054 (if I was on 20 meters) so that SKCC members could find me.

The SKCC exchange requirements for Centurion are informal and basic. You’re expected to share your name and SKCC number.

If someone answered my call, W1YTQ de KA1ZPR, I would respond thusly:

KA1ZPR TU es GE  UR RST 599 MA  
MY NAME CHRIS  MY SKCC NR 27956 27956C BK

The above would be received as, “KA1ZPR - Thank you and good evening. Your signal is loud and clear in Massachusetts. My name is Chris. My SKCC number is 27956. Back to you.”

They would respond similarly and then the exchange would end with a typical farewell such as GL 73 K.

The SKCC website has guidance for beginners.

Straight key appreciation and progress

Before this journey I wasn’t a fan of straight keys. My sending was rough and didn’t sound good to my own ear. I often use the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) while working CW. In the beginning the network wouldn’t pick me up because my fist was poor and it couldn’t decode my call sign.

I began sending at around 15 words per minute. Now, after two months of practice, I send at about 17WPM and the RBN picks me up with no issues.

I like the relaxed pace of back and forth that a straight key encourages. I now like the sound of my own unique fist. I’ve been told that I’m easy to copy. I also like that with a straight key I can speed up or slow down naturally to match the receivor and that I can slow down for specific, critical information such as my SKCC number.

Thanks to all the SKCC members who worked me during this journey. Especially in early January when my fist was a little rough.

Centurion and beyond

Now that I’ve earned Centurion I can append a C for Centurion to my SKCC number. I am now SKCC# 27956C.

With warmer weather on the way, I’ll likely return to more Parks on the Air and field operations where I prefer to use an electronic keyer and paddle.

I really enjoy working with a straight key now and my mechanical sending is much improved compared to when I began. I plan to continue to use my straight key at home in my shack while using a keyer and paddle in the field.

Thanks to all the SKCC members who worked me so I could earn my Centurion status

  1. From the SKCC website, www.skccgroup.com ↩

  2. Graph created using my ./process-adif.py Python script at github.com/chrisfarnham/ham-radio-utils ↩