Yesterday, I called CQ on 30m, and a station came back to me. He was sending kind of slowly, but that’s OK. I’m happy to work guys just getting their feet wet.
Unfortunately, this guy stumbled a bit sending my call the first time, tried it again and made another mistake, then disappeared altogether. I called QRZ? to get him to try again, but he was gone, apparently too nervous or embarassed to try it again. I understand the emotion; I’ve done that myself in the past. But, I’m still sorry that I didn’t get to meet the guy.
My advice for new operators is to stick with it no matter how many mistakes you make. In my book, you get points for trying, and if other ops give you a hard time, then to heck with them.
If you’re a new op or a slow op, don’t be shy. If you hear me calling CQ, call me back no matter how slowly you send or how many errors you think you’ll make. You can only practice so much on your own, and at some point, you just have to jump in and start making contacts. I hope one of those is with me.
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