Another exciting event to be hosted by The Radio Amateur Society of Thailand under the Patronage of His Majesty the King (RAST) is the CW Challenge. The CW Challenge is to put forward to encourage all people, no matter what the current levels of their CW proficiencies are, to develop their CW skills even further with the aim of generating more interests in CW amongst the HAM community and ultimately see more CW activities from Thailand on the air. CW is a skill that has to be acquired through lots of practice and dedication; and so with many people still following the COVID-19 restriction and opting to stay home in order to limit the spread of the virus, what better way than to spend our time at home to practice CW!

　The objectives of the CW Challenge are to;
　(a) develop the CW skills of ham members.
　(b) improve the copying accuracy.
　(c) enable the participants to improve their CW skills in a competition setting.
　(d) build a sense of community within the radio society.

The CW Challenge is split into 3 categories:

1. 1.Novice (8 WPM)
   This group is for members who have had very little or no exposure to CW before but are interested in CW as a form of communication, or for those who are preparing to sit the Intermediate License examination in the near future as CW practical exam is still mandatory in Thailand. RAST encourages participants in this group to reach out to RAST members who have CW proficiency and are willing to dedicate their time and effort to help mentor their progress as they begin their journey in CW.
2. 2.Slow Hand (20 WPM)
   This group is for members who have some prior CW skills, for example, for those who currently hold Thai Intermediate Licenses or who have already made contacts on the air using CW. RAST encourages this group of participants to continue to develop their listening skills even further.
3. 3.Open (30 WPM)
   This group is for those who are well-versed or ‘fluent’ in CW, or those who would like the extra challenge. They will be tested to the limit on both speed and accuracy. RAST encourages these members to hone their CW skills even further, and fight their way to the top spot. 

To join this CW Challenge, participants must be RAST members, compete honestly, and choose the appropriate category according to their CW skills. Each month, the CW Challenge will be held for one specific group, starting with the Novice in March, the Slow Hand in April, and the Open runs in May. This rotation will continue until February 2022, a total of 12 months. Each weekend, the participants will get together via Zoom to copy the codes. The participants must display their callsign in the app and the video mode must be turned on to record live footage. As soon as each round of competition has ended, the answers must be photographed and sent directly to RAST Admin Line Message within 2 minutes otherwise the participants will be disqualified.

The CW Challenge committee consists of RAST President Jack, HS1FVL, Champ, E21EIC, and Choon, E20HHK. The decision of the committee regarding the grouping of the participants and the competition results will be deemed as final.

This event would not have happened had it not been for the kind generosity of Rachar Perdpipat, E23FXX, who have personally sponsored all the prizes : a total of 13 Begali paddle keys, ordered directly from Italy and specifically engraved with the word “RAST”. There will be 4 prizes in each category, and 1 prize for the overall winner. What more of an incentive could one want to learn CW! Once again, a big thank you to E23FXX for sponsoring this event. We hope that this CW Challenge will ignite the passion for CW amongst the Thai HAM community once again and we look forward to seeing more newcomers on the bands.