Straight Key night 2011 may well have been my favorite yet. The 80 m, 40 m, and 20 m bands were full of CW signals, and I never have to call very long before someone responded. I had 10 very enjoyable QSO's with stations across the United States and Canada, and all of them had very good fists.

I learned from my QSO with VE3LAF that my straight key, which I purchased from eBay with make and model unknown, is in fact a MESCO key, probably produced just prior to 1900. My thanks to Daryll for a very enjoyable and informative QSO.

Although it may not be considered technically relevant in this modern age of communication, I still think that CW is the best contest mode, DX mode, and all around fun mode. When I bring perspective new hams, or hams that are considering upgrading to my shack to demonstrate HF, I consistently find that they are the most fascinated with CW of all of the modes that I demonstrate. I try to play on this fascination by convincing them that it is well worth their time to learn CW, and that they will make an honest effort to learn CW and improve their speed, it will become their favorite mode as it has long been mine.