‘Key Fright’ - The feeling of anxiety, nervousness, and excessive worry about making mistakes sending and receiving Morse code. Most often afflicting new CW operators immediately before attempting their first QSO.

Every CW operator remembers their first on air QSO. Sitting in front of your radio, hoping you’d be able to copy code… and praying the other operator sends it slow enough for you to handle. It was really stressful and really exciting all at the same time! And those feelings of relief, joy, and pride you felt swelling in your chest afterward have rarely been matched since.

The anxiety and uncertainty we feel doing something new for the first time is a very common experience. It’s part of what makes us human. It isn’t unique to any particular group of people, nation, or continent… we all get anxious and nervous from time to time.

In this episode, I talk with five CW operators spanning three continents about the jitters, anxiety, being nervous and their first CW QSO experience.