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   A unique amateur radio operating event!

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The eXtreme CW World-Wide Challenge

Wireless telegraphy has been in use for over one hundred years.  During this period, telegraphers have often been required to send and receive important messages in emergency circumstances - on land, at sea, and in the air.  Such circumstances have often involved operating their station under life threatening situations, and in extremes of temperature and physical discomfort.  Examples being: operating with cold hands or water-logged message pads and copying weak signals through high levels of QRM and QRN.

This operating event is an opportunity to remember the bravery and dedication of the countless unsung heroes who, over the years, have manned their radio stations for as long as it took to ensure that important morse code messages reached their destination.  Central to the objective of this operating event is gaining an appreciation of what it's like to maintain effective morse communication under stressful and difficult circumstances for long periods of time.   

It is hoped that this event will appeal to both beginners and experienced operators, including SWLs—especially those who would like to try simulating their own idea of what, for them, constitutes difficult operating circumstances.  Ideas for typical eXtreme CW (XCW) operating conditions include:
- using a simple straight key and paper logging throughout the event;
- operating from a cold, unheated shack;
- using a morse key strapped to your leg;
- using an unusual source of power;
- taking part in this event despite high levels of QRM, or restricted antenna space; or
- using vintage station equipment typical of an earlier period.

The choice is yours—but do have fun!  Above all—do it safely.