At least it seemed fast to me. I'm a cw noob and I've made a handful of contacts at 5-7wpm. I just made one the other night at about 20 wpm. My heart is still beating fast from the rush.
So how does that work? A lot patience, and working up the nerve! Gary, N5PHT was activating a park for WWFF. Becasue I saw the spot I knew the frequency and call to listen for. As he called CQ and others answered I just picked away at what I could copy, until after several go-rounds I pieced together that he was calling "CQ POTA DE N5PHT."
And then the baby woke up, so I had to go help him get back to sleep. When he was settled back down, I went back to the radio, and Gary had moved to 20 meters, where I could copy him very well - awesome!
I knew from experience and from other cw pros that you can always send faster than you can receive because of how the brain works. I never actually tried, so while I listened to some of Gary's QSO's I put my rig in CW practice mode, and tried my call and exchange at about 20 wpm. At that point it dawned on me that I just might be able to do this...
So, at the next opportunity, I threw out my call. FAST (or so it felt.). Then I heard him answer! I missed a good portion of his answer, but I got the important bits, so when he ended his transmission I sent back his signal report and closed out. Boom.
I think for myself though, the lesson here is to keep listening faster then I'm comfortable. Even though it took me several rounds to copy his CQ, once I did, and knew what to expect, it felt easy!
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