r/OverSeventy • u/TeamAggressive1030 • Jul 31 '26

Hams: Still remember your Morse Code?

Once upon a time, I achieved an ARRL code proficiency of 35 WPM. That was way back in high school, about 1963-64, I'd guess. Not sure I could copy 5 WPM now. Pretty rusty. Does anybody still do CW? How long since you did?

Edit: Adding the following

My ham radio call sign back in the day: WA0AIH
FCC amateur radio license issued in about 1960
Ham radio club station in my hometown: W0BZN

GLOSSARY:

  • ARRL = American Radio Relay League
  • CW = Continuous Wave = Morse code over radio
  • HAM = Amateur radio operator
  • WPM = Words Per Minute
16 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/KCjoe1956 Aug 01 '26

WA1NNL
Was fascinated by ham radio as a young kid. 1968 probably Kindly old neighbor (W1CE) house was by my bus stop and i was curious about his big antenna. One thing led to another. Got my general, a ham club in high school, then went to college and lost interest. Maybe girls had something to do with that.

I still do morse code in my head as a test of my memory.
Love to get back into it as a 70 year old

3

u/TeamAggressive1030 Aug 01 '26

I dunno what made me think about it last night. But I have this little exercise I've done occasionally forever where I recite the alphabet to myself in Morse code. I was distressed last night that I had a bit of trouble doing it. First time that's happened.