On Sunday, November 22nd, 2025 my older son and—without exaggeration—the best CW student I’ve ever had, 8-year-old Kirian, completed his third POTA activation and, even more impressively, his very first XOTA activation in CW. Here’s a short story about how it happened.
Kirian has often accompanied me on XOTA outings and has even activated a few XOTA references with me on FT-8, but he never wanted to go near the microphone. The breakthrough came in February 2025 during the 2m FM Beginner Contest (organized by the DARC Chapter L33), where he was allowed to operate as DD1LD/T and “compete” with other children and radio amateurs. This practice contest is laid-back and beginner-friendly. From home, he made 17 QSOs on 2m FM, exchanging serial numbers, locators, and operator names. He was nervous at first and needed my guidance, but it all went far better than either of us expected.
He had just turned eight—it was his very first phone experience as a ham radio operator and his first “contest”. He enjoyed the pace and flow of contesting (especially the name exchange), and we agreed to join the next one. Unfortunately, the following contest dates didn’t fit his or my schedule.
Shortly afterward, I asked if he’d like to learn CW to become a “real” amateur radio operator. Okay, let’s try it, Dad! he said. At the end of March, he and my younger, 6-year-old son began learning Morse code. Both enjoyed it—the youngest could copy code even before he could read properly—and after the summer break, Kirian’s progress accelerated so quickly that I eventually had to split their training sessions.
By October, Kirian was already copying letters and numbers at 30+ WPM, and he began practicing paddle keying. He wasn’t ready for a long ragchew QSO, but I felt confident he could handle his first CW XOTA activation in November.
For his first CW activation, I chose POTA. Signals are typically strong, and German operators are used to /T and adjust accordingly. Plus, Kirian already had POTA experience and enjoyed it. On October 4th, 2025, he activated two parks and made 91 QSOs in SSB. His first-ever POTA activation (16 SSB QSOs) had been challenging—but the second one was a complete success. He got a small pileup on 40m SSB and handled callers one after another with my assistance. After 75 QSOs in German and English, the pileup faded, and we went QRT. Kirian was tired, but glowing. That was cool, Dad! It reminded me of myself when I first caught the contesting virus at DQ4W—and clearly never recovered from it. With that first experience under his belt, he was ready.
The Big Day: November 22nd
We headed to our home park, Bergfeldpark, POTA DE-0969, just around the corner. Kirian was visibly nervous. We decided to start on 40m SSB to warm up. After 26 QSOs, I asked if he wanted to continue—but in CW.
He hesitated.
“Dad, what happens if I make a mistake?”
Nothing.
“And if I make a few more?”
Still nothing.
“…Okay, let’s try.”
The beginning was rough as we experimented with the CW speed settings. Too fast or too slow both increased his error rate. Around 20 WPM turned out to be his sweet spot. He started calling CQ CQ DE DD1LD/T on 40m, and I spotted him on the POTA cluster.
His first QSO was nice and smooth with the fellow POTA/WWFF chaser, IK3GER. TU 73 EE and the next one was already calling. The beginning was challenging, but he quickly found his rhythm. The next dozen QSOs went professionally and confidently. I was pleasantly surprised by his abilities. But then the freezing weather caught up with him; his fingers got cold, and he began making more corrections. After 18 CW QSOs, he switched back to SSB for about ten minutes, and also to show off amateur radio to his school friends and passersby.
He wrapped up his third POTA activation with 53 QSOs in total.
How was it?
“Tough and cold.”
Congratulations, Kirian—that was your very first XOTA activation in CW! And in fact, it was even a GoGreen one.
"Thank you, Dad! I like SSB more..."
He smiled from ear to ear. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t incredibly proud of him. He may very well be the first 8-year-old to successfully complete an XOTA activation in CW. I’m certain this won’t be his last in CW.
Thanks for reading and 73 de Dzianis, DD1LD
