The anatomy of a CW contact: how a QSO goes
This page does not teach the alphabet. It teaches the order: what follows what in a CW contact and what each formula means. The letters here are only a way of showing how it sounds. If you want to get to grips with the code itself, that is the neighbouring tool.
A contact with your own callsign
Enter a callsign, a name and a QTH, and the contact runs as it would on the air. Six transmissions: you call, someone answers, you exchange reports, you sign off.
You set both sides. The other station's callsign is a field like your own: type the one you actually want a contact with, or press «another» to take a ready-made one (those callsigns are made up to the right format and belong to nobody). Nothing is picked at random.
Names are written in Latin letters — there is no Cyrillic in the international Morse alphabet, so Віталій goes out as VITALIY.
Every transmission is broken into parts: above is what goes on the air, below is what it means. The part being sent at that moment is highlighted, and on the board the letter currently going out lights up.
Type in your callsign and the contact runs as it would on the air: the call, the answer, two reports, the farewell. You set both sides, and nothing is picked at random. Every transmission is visible and audible, and on the board the letter going out at that moment lights up.
The rule everything rests on
Every transmission starts the same way: to whom — DE — from whom.
UT1XYZ DE UR3PKI means «UT1XYZ, this is UR3PKI speaking». Then comes the content, and at the end a sign saying whose turn it now is:
| Sign | What it means |
|---|---|
K | over to you, go ahead |
KN | over to you only — nobody else break in |
RR | received everything — sent far more often than a single R |
CFM | I confirm |
OP | operator — that is what a name is called on the air, not NAME |
UR RST 599 | your report: Readability, Strength, Tone |
HW? | how did you copy me? |
TU | thank you |
GL | good luck |
73 | best wishes (not «goodbye» — wishes) |
EE | «dit dit» — what people actually sign off with most often |
SK | end of contact — the formal sign, heard far less often than EE |
AR | end of transmission |
TKS / FER | thanks / for |
5NN | 599 in cut numbers: N for 9, T for 0 |
CQ TEST | a contest call; TEST at the end instead of K |
This is not etiquette but a protocol. It works because both sides know the order in advance — and that is exactly why CW is readable where a voice can no longer be heard: you are not making out arbitrary text, you are recognising an expected formula.
So a beginner should learn not the alphabet in alphabetical order but this dozen formulas as whole sounds. A callsign, DE, RST, 73, K — heard as single shapes, they get you a first contact far sooner than an alphabet learnt from A to Z.
The same contact, only fast
In a contest nobody sends greetings or a QTH. What is left is the skeleton — and it is the same one:
CQ TEST DE UR3PKI UR3PKI TEST
UT0UI
UT0UI 5NN
5NN TU
TU EE
Everything has gone except the callsign, the report and the thanks. Even the to whom — DE — from whom header has collapsed to the callsign alone, because both sides already know who is speaking.
Push the speed slider to 25 WPM or above and the trainer switches to this form by itself. That is how it goes on the air too: at contest speeds there is simply no time for long phrases.
5NN is 599 written in cut numbers: N for 9, because it is half the length of the full nine, and T for 0. In a contest the report is always 599 anyway, so nobody spends time on it.
And that is the main argument for learning the structure rather than the letters. A full contact and a contest contact are the same sequence, with everything inessential thrown out of the second. Whoever hears the order recognises both.