CW


It means Continuous Wave and is the way telegraphy can go on the air, transmitting short carrier pulses (dots), and longer ones (lines). Hams use Morse code, with very few modifications. With CW the bandwidth is minimal (only a few dozen Hertz!), the transmitter is used at best and the reception sensitivity is the greatest, even better than SSB.
For these reasons, with CW it is possibile to make QSO that otherwise would have been impossible and is the method of choise when signals are very low, such as in DX activity, on VHF bands and up, in EME, MS and so on.
In Italy, and most other countries, you need to pass a CW exam in order to have a license valid also for HF bands. CW is used on all ham bands, without exceptions, from MF to microwaves.

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