Use full break-in, read the common Q signals and prosigns, and answer a CQ at the right speed and frequency.
Syllabus: CW operating procedures and procedural signals; Q signals; full break-in
Compendium articles on the ideas in this lesson, beyond what the exam asks.
Practise the 11 pool questions for this group. Answers are shuffled, and every one comes with a one-line "why".
With full break-in (QSK) the receiver comes alive in the gaps between characters and elements, so you can hear the other station interrupt you. Without it, you flip a send/receive switch before you can listen.
RememberQSK: receive between code elements.
Memory hookQRL? asks "is this frequency in use?" Ask it before calling on a clear-sounding frequency.
Technician review: QRM is man-made interference, QRN natural noise (static), QSY change frequency.
AR closes a formal message. KN means go ahead, only the named station. In a signal report, a trailing C flags a chirpy signal.
RememberAR = end of message. KN = only the named station. C = chirp.
Reply at the fastest speed you can copy comfortably, but no faster than the CQ. Then zero beat: tune your transmit frequency to match the received signal, so they hear you right where they listen.
RememberNot faster than the CQ. Zero beat = same frequency.