CW operating for POTA and SOTA

CW remains one of the most efficient modes for portable activations: narrow bandwidth, RBN auto-spotting, and disciplined hunters who know pileup mechanics. This page covers both sides of the key.

Deep reference: CW POTA · A Field Manual (community guide, not official POTA)

Why activators start on CW

• Reverse Beacon Network often spots CW CQs without cell data — hunters find you faster on summit and deep-park activations.
• Low power and small antennas still get contacts when SSB would be S0.
• Pileups stay narrower than SSB “wall of sound” if hunters use offset TX.

Many ops run CW until minimum QSOs, then switch to SSB or FT8 for variety and audience. Whatever your preferred openers by season, always keep FT8 (or another digital mode) in the bag for propagation problems — when the CW band is dead or the pile never forms, digital still gets the activation home. Pack the interface and cables even on a “CW-only” day.

Activator setup

Frequency

Use band-plan appropriate CW segments (example: 40 m ~7.030–7.040 MHz — your licence and band plan govern). Clear frequency with QRL? before CQ POTA DE YOURCALL.

Spot

Self-spot CW with exact frequency. RBN may duplicate — hunters still need your park reference on the spot comment when possible.

CQ script (keep it short)

CQ POTA DE YOURCALL YOURCALL K

After the pile knows you:

YOURCALL DE … 599 599 US-1412 US-1412 TU QRZ?

Send reference once if they are hunting; many already have it from the spot.

Filters and sidetone

Contest-style ops use 500 Hz or so sidetone and a ~200 Hz filter centered on your pitch. Narrower is not always better in a wide pileup — you need to hear offset callers.

When the pile collapses into one tone:

Partial call: CALL? — not another long CQ.

If simplex collapses completely, consider split: UP 1 or UP 2 — tell callers where to listen. Rare on casual POTA; common on DXpedition-style crowds.

Hunter mechanics (the hard part is silence)

From potacw.guide and POTA hunter guide:

When not to transmit

• Activator is mid-QSO with someone you do not hear — wait.
• Activator sends a partial that is not you — hands off.
• You “almost” hear your call — do not double; wait for QRZ.

Silence is not your cue. Gaps happen when the activator works stations outside your skip zone.

Never tune up on the activator

Even low-power tuner carriers wipe a CW operator’s ears. Match antenna on another frequency, then return.

Send your call once

One clean callsign at the right moment beats three copies that mash into the pile. If they send CALL?, answer with slightly wider spacing — not three repeats.

XIT / offset (golden rule)

Do not zero-beat the activator when others are calling. Three stations on the same audio pitch become one unreadable tone.

Use XIT (transmit incremental tuning) or split to transmit 50–100 Hz off the activator’s frequency — stay within their filter passband (~200 Hz). You arrive at a different pitch; they pull callsigns by ear.

Contest University material (N6TV): with low sidetone pitch (~400 Hz), a 100 Hz offset is easier to distinguish than at 1000 Hz pitch — worth tuning sidetone before a big activation.

P2P on CW

When activator asks for P2P/S2S, respond once with your reference if you are portable. Hunters not in a park stay quiet.

Logging CW QSOs

Speed matters less than accuracy:

• Callsign + RST + their park ref if P2P (SIG_INFO)
• Your park in MY_SIG_INFO on every row as activator
• Mode CW in ADIF

Polo: Send after call entry. AC Log: Tab order per shortcuts.

Filters, sidetone, and why XIT works

A ~200 Hz filter centered on your pitch hears offset callers as different tones. If you crank the filter to 50 Hz, you only hear the whale pod on your own frequency — then you complain the pile is “one station.” Open the filter until you can pick pitches; tighten it when the band is a contest.

Sidetone around 400–500 Hz makes a 50–100 Hz XIT offset easier to hear than a 1000 Hz sidetone (N6TV / contest-university habit). Set it at home.

RBN spots the CQ, not the park. Self-spot the reference when you have data so hunters are not guessing US-????.

Habits / gotchas / checklist (CW)

• QRL? then CQ POTA DE CALL CALL K. Exact frequency on the spot, mode CW.
• Hunter: XIT +30 to +100 Hz. Call once. Never tune on the run freq.
• Partial that is not you: hands off. Gap is skip, not your cue.
• P2P: their ref in SIG_INFO. Non-portable stays quiet.
• FT8 still in the bag for a dead CW band. Merge WSJT + CW in Doctor.
• Paper backup if the paddle and the phone disagree on time.

Practice path for new CW hunters

1. Hunt strong activators on 20 m weekends — listen to ten QSOs before calling.
2. Enable XIT +40 Hz before your first call.
3. Graduate to weak activators and P2P.
4. Try activating CW-only for one outing — RBN teaches what hunters experience.

CW learning path

New to Morse entirely? The practice path above assumes you can already copy a call sign. This section gets you there. It's independent advice, not affiliated with any of the clubs or sites named. Programs and schedules were checked as of Oct 2026.

Learn by sound, not by sight. Don't memorize charts of dots and dashes. Learn each character as a sound pattern at a real speed, so you never have to count elements. Two common methods:

• Koch method: start with two characters at full speed (about 20 WPM character speed), and add one more once you copy at around 90% accuracy.
• Farnsworth spacing: send characters at full speed with extra space between them, so the overall speed is slower. Close the gaps as you improve.

Most courses combine the two. The goal is to recognize characters, then whole words, by ear without decoding.

A realistic order:

1. Weeks 1–8: 15–20 minutes a day of character practice. Short daily sessions beat long weekend ones.
2. Join a class when the next CW Academy or LICW session opens. Classmates keep you going.
3. Copy W1AW slow code and on-air contacts by ear, writing only what you hear.
4. Make your first contact with an SKCC member, or answer a slow CQ. Most CW ops will slow down to match you ("QRS" asks them to send slower).
5. Hunt POTA on CW using the practice path above. Activator exchanges are short and repetitive, which makes them good practice.

Technicians can transmit CW on parts of 80, 40, 15 and 10 m. See Technician HF.

Related

• Hunt · Activate · Pileups
• Calling CQ · Ethics