Is it possible that I've become a CW op???

Up until this year I worked exactly fifteen countries on CW; ten of these were worked in 1996 during a single day when I got brave enough to make a few contacts in a CW contest. Despite managing to pass the 13 WPM test for my General license, I lived my first 26 years as an amateur in fear of Morse Code. I just never came easy to me as it does to so many others.

I always suffered from CW Envy, though -- a secret wish that I could copy code easily so I could start playing around in CW contests and have a shot at working the big DXpeditions, all of which seemed unable to hear my puny SSB signals in the pileups. I was determined to make it happen -- I bought a Bencher BY-1 at Dayton in 1993; it was merely a shack decoration for years. I used to keep ARRL code practice MP3s loaded on my iPod and listened to them while driving 3 hours a day while commuting from Sussex to Bergenfield when we were still living in Jersey. I installed optional narrow CW filters in every radio I bought. But it just never took hold.

Fast-forward to June 2008. I got back on the air after being inactive since 1999. I had purchased and assembled the K3 in 2007 while still in New Jersey but was SWL due to a lack of antenna. After moving to TX I got the Tarheel screwdriver that remains my only HF antenna and began chasing WAS and what little DX I could manage on phone and digital modes. At the end of 2009, I resolved to work CW in 2010, but within a few months I was QRT for over three years after another move. I did work 3 countries on CW in January 2010, but my CW resolution was clearly as binding as my perennial resolutions to quit smoking.

Along comes 2013. After missing the meaty part of Cycle 24, I pulled the antenna out of the garage in June, fired up the K3, and slowly started working a wee bit of CW. Then a fair amount of CW. Now, it's almost 99% CW. Not joking -- of over 270 contacts in November, only 5 were on phone, 1 on PSK31.

The Mic: Still good for something.

Not sure exactly what clicked but I'm copying better than I ever have in the past, even though I'm still shaky whenever a QSO strays from a simple 5NN exchange. I'm relying less and less on cluster spots to ID stations, too. Just since getting back on the air this past June I've worked (as of now) 101 countries on CW and have 40 of them confirmed on LOTW. Nineteen of these are all-time new ones for me. My mic has become simply a place to hang my headphones. These aren't impressive numbers for most people, but knowing that I've done this after being in mortal terror of CW for two and a half decades gives me no small amount of satisfaction.

As I write this, I'm sitting on 43 DXCC CW countries confirmed on LOTW (plus one Ukrainian station that I got a card from in 1988) out of 106 worked. And the day ain't over yet. Having just reached my goal of DXCC Mixed on LOTW, I am now setting my sights on DXCC CW, something that I never thought possible until now. Dit dit.