[Boatanchors] code speed

[Chuck Mabbott]

Here is a copy directly from a web site:
".....Ted McElroy started manufacturing keys in 1934.
McElroy was a master of both American and
International Morse code and he promoted telegraphy
most of his life, first as a telegrapher and later as
a manufacturer of keys, bugs, and related equipment. 

"By age 15, McElroy was a leading telegrapher
(Wirechief) for Western Union. In 1922, he won the
world championship in Asheville, NC by copying code at
56.5 WPM. That record was beaten in 1934. So, he went
back the following year (1935) and beat the world
record again. On July 2, 1939, McElroy broke the world
record code speed at 75.2 WPM, which remains
unsurpassed today. For the record, there is an
individual ham radio operator who claims to have
beaten it, on the basis that 75.2 wpm in 1939 currency
is only worth about 65 wpm today. 

"Anyone considering the nature of the record should
recognize that the 1939 contest was a PROGRESSIVE
test, with around a dozen candidates, but only two
surviving to the final round. Each round consisted of
a 15 minute transmission of text from a newspaper.
Speed calculation was about as scientific as you could
get-- they cranked up the speed a couple notches, and
at the end of the 15 minutes they counted how many
words had been sent....." 


--- Ed Berbari <eberbari at indy.rr.com> wrote:
> I don't think any human can copy 90 WPM regardless
> of the method of
> transcribing.  It is not humanly feasible.
> 
> Ed, W9EJB
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "William L Howard" <wlhoward at verizon.net>
> To: "boatanchors at qth.net"
> <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>; "armyradios"
> <armyradios at yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 8:12 PM
> Subject: [Boatanchors] code speed
> 
> 
> > >    In WWII, England had hundreds of monitoring
> radio sites listening
> > >to  the German military communications.  Most of
> the information was
> > fed
> > >to  Bletchley Park, the secret and famous code
> breaking installation NW
> > >of  London.   CW (Morse code) was primarily used
> for these
> > >communications and  mostly, maybe all, of the
> English operators were
> > >female.    I recently read that the MINIMUM speed
> required for the
> > >listeners was  90 wpm.  Was code being sent at
> that speed and could
> > >large numbers of  people copy at that speed?   As
> I struggle with my 5
> > >to 7 wpm, 90 sounds awfully fast. 73,  Skip M 
> W7WGM
> > -----------------------------------
> > One of the problems would have been that any
> operator can send Morse
> > faster
> > than he can receive it. An army signaler just has
> to bear that in mind
> > and
> > keep his speed in check. But if these ladies were
> taking messages from
> > agents in occupied Europe, they would have been
> dealing with some
> > lonely,
> > very nervous people.
> >
> > I'll try and dig out our old Morse manuals to see
> what speed was
> > required.
> > SF was still using Morse for HF transmissions in
> the 1980s. I assume its
> > all
> > finished now with burst transmission ability.
> >
> > Cheers
> > Mike Mitchell
> > ---------------------------------
> > My Dad was a radio operator on B24's.flying out of
> England in late 1944
> > and 1945.  He was trained to send CW at 15WPM and
> receive at 30WPM. He
> > said that much of the limitation on receiving was
> the ability to copy
> > the code.  He was copying 15WPM with a pencil and
> paper.  He said that
> > much higher copying speeds could be done on
> typewriters.  90WPM is not
> > unreasonable if copying was done by typewriter.
> >
> > Mike Lewis
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Boatanchors mailing list
> > Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
> >
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/boatanchors
> > ** List Administrator - Duane Fischer, W8DBF/W9WZE
> **
> > ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **
> > $$ For vintage radio info, see the HCI web site $$
> > http://www.w9wze.org
> >
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Boatanchors mailing list
> Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/boatanchors
> ** List Administrator - Duane Fischer, W8DBF/W9WZE
> **   
> ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **         
> $$ For vintage radio info, see the HCI web site $$  
>    
> http://www.w9wze.org    
> 


=====
Chuck Mabbott   
http://www.aa8vs.org/aa8vs


Whoever says, "money can't buy you happiness" 
should turn their savings over to me, then stand
back and be prepared to stand corrected.


	
		
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Friends.  Fun.  Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger.
http://messenger.yahoo.com/