"Leo" wrote in message
...


Dee,

That makes perfect sense - I wasn't aware that word associations could
cause a problem later on.

I guess that we belong to different schools of thought regarding the
CW testing for HF band access - you see the goal as continual
development of CW skills, with the test being a measurement of
progress towards that goal. I viewed it more as a hurdle to be
overcome so that I could gain full access to HF - and do not plan on
becoming proficient in CW past that goal (may change, however - I'm
getting rather fond of CW, especially when working DX in marginal band
conditions....).


This is not an unusual phenomena by the way. People who thought they would
never use it end up falling in love with it. The next five years or so are
going to have those marginal band conditions on a regular basis. Plus if
the QRP (very low power) bug bites you, code goes hand in hand with it. Low
band work (80 and 160 meters) can also draw a person into code for similar
reasons.

I think that your approach is actually the right way to go - in
retrospect, it would have been better for me to 'aim high and miss,
than aim low and make it", if I do decide to go on and build speed.

Enjoyed the dialogue on this - thanks, Dee!

73, Leo


Me too. I wish more dialogues could be like this. Look forward to hearing
you on HF.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE