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Learning CW
Copied from WB2SXY
An
Old CW Op and a New CW Op were out in a fishing boat
one
day.
The
New CW Op said "I wish I could operate CW as well
as
you."
Not
saying a thing, The Old CW Op scratched his chin,
set
down his fishing pole and grabbed the New CW Op
by
the back of his head and pushed his face underwater
outside
the fishing boat, and held him there fighting
for
a long time. After a while he released the New CW Op.
"Why'd
you do that?" the New CW Op wailed, gasping for air.
The
Old CW Op just leaned back and said,
"When
you want to learn CW as much as you wanted to breathe;
then
you will learn CW."
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Greetings
to our new members, especially those mentioning that
they
want to (re)learn CW and want to go after their desired
level
of CW operating skill!
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Learn
the Morse character sounds at the speed u will be using them.
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Warmest
greetings to all the recent new SKCC Members,
this
is a good thing you are doing!
You
may think this email is long, but it is worth it.
Here
is an updated resend of my learning CW email.
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Congrats!
and welcome to the wonderful world
of
CW.
[Tongue-in-Cheek-Mode:ON]
One
does not DO Morse Code;
One
BECOMES a Morse Code operator.
Like
learning a musical instrument or a sport,
Morse
Code does not develop character;
Morse
Code reveals it.
[Tongue-in-Cheek-Mode:OFF]
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Learn
the Morse character sounds at the speed u will be using them.
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You
will find many advantages to CW,
some
of these you may have heard before:
1.)
Some DX ops in countries you'll want to work use ONLY CW.
2.)
Some DX ops only work CW in the Extra segments; you
have
to go after them where they live.
3.)
"It's only 3am,
here!" You can go into stealth mode,
with
your key(er) and headphones, and not wake up
the
entire family in the middle of the night.
4.)
For us in the East and Central-East NA, Lowband-CW-4am
is
where you will bag the Pacific areas. There are
two
gray-lines.
5.)
Especially in CW contests, filter in on your target,
set
TX offset + or - 30 Hz and if you can hear 'em,
you
can work 'em. (think 100w and wires)
6.)
If you miss a character, just forget it; don't miss
the
next several worrying about it.
7.)
In fact, the mind is a terrible thing. You may be able
to
miss about 30% or more of a transmission, and still
be
able to communicate: "Teh oerdr of lterets in wdors
deos
not meattr if the frsit and lsat ltreets are
in
pacle."
Or,
in CW: "Th. ord.r of l.t.ers in w.rds do.s not
mat..r
if t.e first and l.st let..rs
are in pl.ce"
8.)
Your target SOLID copy speed should be no less than
15wpm.
You will be able to copy short words and call
signs
even faster before you start to miss letters.
9.)
You will learn to recognize your own callsign up to
at
least 30 wpm. At 30wpm 5NN sounds like
(quickly)
"Brrr dah-dit dah-dit."
9.)
Even if you are not interested in DXing today, if
you
work a 'rarer' country, state or province, get
a
QSL (card or LoTW) as you may want the verification
in
the future and that op may be SK then.
Ask
me how I know this.
10.)
You will probably find that 40m will be the workhorse
band,
so plan to get something that will tune on 40.
For
people thinking about going for some of the awards,
especially
the DXCC-type, you will probably find that
CW
will top the number of countries that you will
(eventually)
work, followed by digital and then phone.
Also,
if you can't run high power (read voice and RTTY)
and
big antennas, then use a protocol that digs deep!
On
the web look up 'The Art and Skill of Radio-Telegraphy'
(TASRT)
from Wm. Pierpont, N0HFF, a great introductory free
ebook
that you will find fascinating. Grab it at:
http://www.tasrt.ca/TASRT/
index.html
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THE
SECRET to learning Morse Code
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Except
in contests, about 90% of all CW contacts will be around
13
-> 18 wpm. When starting out, play cd's/tapes/mp3/computer
pgm
at about 15wpm -- NO slower -- this is your target working
character
speed anyway -- and spread out the between-character
speed
to the point you can copy. This is the Farnsworth Method.
The
Koch method starts with 2 characters using Farnsworth speeds,
and
then adds new characters to the ones you already know.
HINT
- always listen to practice and on air code at a speed
slightly
faster than u can comfortably copy. Over learning and
instant
recognition are critical here.
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Learn
the Morse character sounds at the speed u will be using them.
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I
know the reason why they did it, but who ever started teaching
Morse
at 5 wpm should be shot. More aggravation and headaches have
been
caused by hitting plateaus then by going for the correct
working
speeds in the first place. Besides, most of us old guys
feel
very comfortable hand-keying 12-->18wpm, and may have problems
with
straight-keying much faster than that. Think the word "Paris"
in
4 seconds.
For
me, the daily work commute was a great listening time,
but
please, copy in your head! First you will just pick out one
letter,
then another, soon most, which means it's time for
faster
practice. Try listening occasionally to 20 to 25wpm
practice
too. Most students prefer learning with the Koch
method,
which lives inside the Farnsworth method
Check
out: lcwo.net, http://lcwo.net/ this
is a cw learning website,
pretty
useful, remember 15wpm character speed, net speed lower -- what
ever
u can copy. You will be able to create Morse MP3 practice
files
from this website too.
Do
most of the copying in your head, write down ONLY the
important
stuff -- call, name, location. When u do write down info
from
the other op, call, name, club #, etc, use 8 1/2 x 11 paper
folded
to 4 1/4 x 11 so u only have to move ur pencil 4 inches back
and
forth - saves time * AND * space on your operating table! I use
the
backs of folded scrap paper.
When
u get a good handle on the code, tune around 7115 kHz, a
slow-code
band, for exposure to some QRN/QRM and real live
listening,
contacts and excellent practice, although by this
time
they may sound too slow; the mind begins to wander.
Use
the straight key up to speeds of 12-15wpm and a bug or iambic
keyer
above that. My radio allows them all to be used at the same time
as
it has connectors for them. A reason for going to iambic paddles
and
keyer, cootie or bug: even an SOS on a straight key has nine
movements,
on a bug five, and a Bencher three, so conservation of
energy
and less tiring. Remember, some CW clubs want u to use a
straight
key, cootie, or bug and that is good. The slower speeds
require
a straight key as your timing will be thrown off too much for
iambic/bug
keying. Besides, to me, bugs sound pretty poor under
about
25wpm, their designed-in bottom limit. Bugs were designed
for
commercial operators' use up to about 40wpm.
A
good introduction on iambic keying methodology starts
about
half way thru, (pg 6):
http://www.morsecode.nl/
iambic.PDF
I
don't agree with everything that Chuck Adams, K5FO, says but it's
still
an excellent article.
Punctuation:
use the slash / and ? error .. .. the other guy knows
that
I made a mistake.
The
only time I have heard a comma is between city, state, and not
recently.
I haven't heard a period over the air in the last year.
Pro-Signs
AS, SK, BK. If you don't have anything else to say, send
this:
"c u l om tnx es 73"
Over
learning and instant recognition are critical here;
I
cannot overemphasize that.
Just
my opinions; other opinions, suggestions and ideas welcome.
What
works or does/did not work for you??
Some
Morse Code Resources:
http://www.qsl.net/ik0ygj/enu/
ZART_r20101008m.pdf
(Underscore
after ZART)
http://www.g4fon.net/CW%
20Trainer.htm
http://www.tasrt.ca/
TASRTVersions/TASRT.pdf
http://lcwo.net/
http://www.morsecode.nl/
iambic.PDF
I
have no business with the above listings, just a happy reader/user.
Hope
to work you on the air!
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Learn
the Morse character sounds at the speed u will be using them.
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tnx
de Bill WB2SXY sk dit dit SK2244T
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