These operating tips are intended to help you as you work with your instructors and to make the best use of the time you BOTH invest.

1. Always be brief. Be sure what you say is relevant to the task-messages, corrections, procedure, etc. and use the least number of words to express your point clearly.
2. QRM/QRN/QSB/ and the Great Tuning Lid are facts of life-get used to it. Consider interference as a major impediment that you will triumph over as a skilled CW traffic op. Don’t be a "fair weather’ op and don’t let atmospherics/lids win.
3. Net speed is 10 wpm, and training messages are sent at 13-15 wpm or whatever is comfortable for you. If your instructor is too fast or slow for comfortable copy, ask him to adjust his speed. He is there to help you! Remember "accuracy transcends speed".
4. Please study your pink card. Q signals are your tools for brevity and clarity, so use them and soon they will be old friends.
5. Provide yourself with copies of the ARRL Radiogram form. A copy has been included in this training packet. This form gives you the Preamble, Text (in 5 word groups) and Signature block. Save your messages for review - this is your textbook for this course.
6. When you miss words or "need fills"- do not explain why you missed a word, just ask for:

1. WA (WORD AFTER) - give last word copied correctly BEFORE a missed word.
2. WB (WORD BEFORE) – give last word copied correctly AFTER a missed word.
3. BN (BETWEEN) – when you have missed several words, give last word copied correctly and next word copied correctly – whichever you believe is the more efficient way to achieve a complete message.
4. AA (ALL AFTER) - use this when you need the rest of the message. send AA followed by the last word you copied successfully.
5. AB (ALL BEFORE) - similar to AA but send the first word you copied correctly to get everything before it.
6. If you and your instructor disagree on the Check or word count – send QTB. Your instructor then will send the first letter of each word to enable you to locate missing word(s) in your text. When you have the message correctly – send QSL.