Newcomers to CW often have difficulty finding stations to work at slow speeds. To address that problem there is a small group of dedicated radio amateurs who regularly help beginners to take that 'Giant Leap' and use CW on air for the first time.

They have a Facebook page ‘SLOW CW UK’ and invite members from all parts of the world to join them.

For those interested in taking their first steps into what might be referred to as the 'Dark Art' of CW communication, have a listen out around 3.555MHz plus or minus QRM most evenings from around 1930 to 2030z.

The group has specific activity nights on Wednesday and Saturday evenings but one or two of them can be found around those frequencies most evenings often calling "CW SLOW".

These amateurs take some of the fear out of using Morse code on air for the first few times. So, if you feel you can copy CW at around 10 words per minute or more then answer their CQ calls or arrange a sked. Most of them are retired so daytime skeds can be arranged as well as evening ones.