POTA/SOTA CW QSO Lingo: What does all of that nonsense even mean?

This video was the result of a conversation several of us had on a CW Discord server today (The QBL Club Lid Lounge to be specific. IYKYK). Aaron Bowman W4ARB mentioned he'd had people ask him to put subtitles in his videos, but doesn't because the amount of work is nuts (it is). I had literally just finished uploading a video where I had put one entire QSO exchange in the video so people could see what was being sent. We all joked that "BK RR TU ES GE UR 5NN 5NN MN BK" would mean nothing to anyone who wasn't a CW op. I figured I'd throw a video together with the basics of what you're actually hearing in a POTA or SOTA exchange, and what it all means. This most of what you're going to hear in a basic POTA/SOTA QSO is included in the video, along with subtitles for everything. Putting subtitles in the videos of our activations would actually be detrimental to learning to copy the code, much like CW decoders are. I figured it'd be better if I sent the actual components of the QSO and explained what they mean, so that when you hear them on the air, you have a basic understanding of what's going on. Hopefully this is helpful to some of you new hunters, or folks who are just working up the courage to hunt your first park or summit on CW. Thanks for watching and 73!

Evan
K2EJT
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