CW Ragchewing 101

CW ragchewing… the idea makes some CW operators weak in the knees. The good news is it’s a lot easier than most CW operators think it is. Gary Stone, N5PHT, would like you to go beyond the basic QSO and start having more CW conversations.

Gary has 170,000 QSOs, 150,000 of those are CW QSOs, and at least 4,000 of those CW QSOs have been ragchews. A CW ragchew is just a conversation or, as Gary likes to say, you’re just sharing a little more of yourself. After exchanging the basic QSO information, instead of saying 73 ask a simple question, “What do you do?”, “Are you retired?” Put your feet up and spend a little time talking. Learning to ragchew adds a whole new level of enjoyment to operating CW!