In November 2009, a small group of CW enthusiasts decided to form a specialist group for those with a common interest in maintaining and promoting the use of Morse code on the Amateur Radio bands. The intention is to facilitate a number of CW events and bring together those skilled in Morse code across traditional radio clubs. This will form a critical mass of otherwise dispersed practitioners and promote use of the mode within the hobby. We also wish to provide a friendly face for CW at local clubs.

We are affiliated to the RSGB. We are members of the European CW Association (EuCW).

Callsigns: The club callsign is GX1FCW. Our special short contest callsign is G8CW
Our QSL policy is via e-QSL. As a group we do not wish to collect cards. We do not QSL via the Bureau.

Nets: The club meets on-air (using CW of course!) on the club nets. Listen out for GX1FCW and call in if you can!

There are regular 80m and 2m nets for both experienced operators at fast speeds but also slower speed nets for those starting out on the air with CW. We also hold Skype training evenings.

Bands: Our club calling frequencies are: 1822, 3542, 5354, 7022, 10122, 14042, 18082, 21042, 24912 and 28022 (kHz).

We encourage any radio amateur who is confident/competent in CW to apply for membership of the club and also for any amateur who aspires to learn CW or improve their skills.

We hope that our less local members of the club will keep in touch via on-air activities and the website, and let us know of their local CW activities (e.g. CW learning / practice etc). We are happy to promote and advertise other CW initiatives that help people learn or improve their morse proficiency in other local areas.

You can follow @ecwarc on Twitter or Facebook facebook.com/ecwarc – or email us via info@essexcw.org.uk

Membership

Membership of ECWARC is free. We hope this will encourage as many people as possible to join and be associated with the club. However some running costs are naturally incurred and we welcome any donations entirely voluntarily by any members.

A membership recognition certificate will be issued to any member who wishes to make a voluntary donation.