[CTSARA] CW Training

[James Freire]

The Koch method the way to go.  I last had to learn CW when I was much
younger via the 'painful' way of memorizing the dits & dahs.
With the Koch method you learn at the WPM that you want to be profecient in.
 It is all about hearing the the patterns as complete sounds, which the
other methods do not utilize using solely your ear.

You learn to associate the entire 'sound' of each individual morse phrase to
a letter. In a lot of ways I find it similar to learning musical notes or
even drum patterns. Like it has been said about the method, just start from
the beginning with 2 letters and as you score 90% or more, add
another. Also, being able to hear each CW pattern as a complete letter is
easier if you actually learn at a faster WPM, say 20 WPM. Otherwise you just
tend to hear out and think of the individual dits and dahs because they are
spaced so far apart.
Further, it is even more beneficial that while you are learning the CW
patterns via this method that you never look at an accompanying chart
showing the dits and dahs in print. Just learn to associate pure sound with
each letter, so as with the program I mention below, when a new character is
added you can just click on the letter and listen to it.

G4FON is great because it can add QRM into the mix and even modulate the
tone of the simulated CW making it even more realistic.  I use 'Just Learn
Morse Code' which also utilizes the Koch method
http://www.justlearnmorsecode.com/

Another learning tip... Using the 'just learn morse code' program,  I also
create hour long WAV files of random recorded CW that is identical to the
practice sessions, but I then load it onto my iPod Nano. This way I can
practice whenever I have a free moment and transcribe mentally. Nice thing
with the ipod nano is that it has a tiny speaker built in allowing playback
without headphones. I can even just hold it up to my ear if I want, and it
fits in my pocket without being obtrusive.

Let me know how it goes.

James
KB1UHP




On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 5:24 PM, Jon Perelstein <jperelst at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I've never been able to get past 13 wpm even with a lot of practicing.  As
> a
> teenager it kept me from the Extra class because I could never hit 20 wpm
> despite operating almost solely in CW for months at a time.
>
> Hugo (AA1XV) from GNARC was telling me about the Koch method and the G4FON
> software for learning Morse.  The Koch Method was developed by a
> psychologist (Ludwig Koch) and is based on starting to learn Morse at the
> speed you want to copy (e.g., 20 wpm or 25 wpm) rather than starting at a
> slow speed and then trying to get faster.  Here's a link to an article
> about
> the Koch method
>
> http://www.qsl.net/n1irz/finley.morse.html
>
> I've been doing some reading up on the method.  As Andy has said, there are
> almost religious fervors about different methods of learning Morse, but
> this
> one seems to get high marks for working fairly well.  People who don't like
> it seem to mostly object to it because of who invented it (a German
> psychologist of the 1930s) rather than any actual metrics about whether or
> not it works.
>
> The G4FON software is a Morse trainer based on the Koch method.  I just
> downloaded the software and I'm going to give it a try.  The G4FON software
> is at this link
>
> http://www.g4fon.net/
>
>
> Jon
> KB1QBZ
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> CTSARA mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/ctsara
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:CTSARA at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>