First CW QSO

What is being simulated

Three things are generated, and none of them are recordings:

• The station. Callsign, name, location and report come from a seed - a single number. The same number always produces the same station, which is why the link you share reproduces the exact contact you had.
• The hand. A real operator does not send like a machine. Depending on the level, the dashes run short, the letter gaps drift, the speed wanders through the transmission. That is not decoration: reading perfect Morse and reading a person are different skills, and only one of them is useful on the air.
• The band. Noise underneath, slow fading over the top. At the higher levels the signal comes and goes exactly as it does on shortwave.

Four levels

Guided shows the text while it is being sent. You are not being tested; you are watching a contact happen and hearing what each part sounds like. Start here even if you can already read a little.

Assisted gives a hint about what to listen for and shows the text after you answer. Normal takes the help away and adds some noise. Hard gives you an unsteady operator, real noise and fading - which is what an ordinary contact on a busy band actually sounds like.

Getting something wrong costs nothing but a point. The station repeats as often as you like, and asking for a repeat is normal practice on the air: AGN PSE.

After the simulation

When the shape is familiar, the remaining step is small. Listen to a real contact on a web receiver, follow it with the phrasebook open, and you will recognize every part. Then answer a CQ at a speed you can handle.

The first real contact goes badly for everybody. It goes less badly if you have already heard fifty of them.