[CW] CW training software...

Wed, 21 May 2003 11:07:18 +0200

Hi Gene

Congratulations on passing the test, and welcome! I passed the test a couple
of years ago and have been operating CW and loving it ever since. So I'm not
that wise or experienced yet, but perhaps I can give some comments from a
newcomer's perspective.

I learnt to write CW because that is how I was taught, and how we had to do
it in the exam(The exam in South Africa requires the candidate to write the
text verbatim, rather than asking questions about the content as is done in
other countries). I later found this one of the biggest obstacles for me
when I was trying to improve my speed. Ideally you need to learn to hear the
CW and form it into words and phrases in your head, without having to write
everything down. Otherwise you'll evntually find that the CW gets too fast
for you to write, and yet your learning has ingrained the
cw-to-written-words process and it is quite difficult to change it to a
cw-to-mental-concepts process! I still struggle with that, I have to force
myself _not_ to write it down, and then I can copy faster cw although I do
still miss some things that way and have to admit that I still revert to
writing it verbatim sometimes. (Confessions of a CW addict).

The one time when CW to typing (not writing) is useful is in a contest, when
you capture the callsign directly into a logging program. I use a freeware
DOS program called RUFZ to practise this, it sends real callsigns (not just
random groups) and you have to type them in. If you get it right they keep
on getting faster, which is quite stressfull!

I certainly don't think that practising with Nu-morse will hurt. But it will
be best if you can get it to send you full sentences, and then don't try to
write the text verbatim, just make short notes about the main points as
though you will have to answer questions on it afterwards (or think of
something sensible to say in reply, which is more to the point).

I hope this helps.

73,
Andrew ZS1AN

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On
Behalf Of Gene Buckle
Sent: 20 May 2003 23:24
To: [email protected]
Subject: [CW] CW training software...

I purchased a copy of Nu-Morse Pro (http://www.nu-ware.com) to help me
learn the code so I could pass the test.  Now that I've passed the test,
is this a good package to continue on with?  Am I looking at problems
using a system that requires I type the character as opposed to writing it
down?

Oh, while I'm thinking about it, what is FIST?

tnx!

73 de kc7afe
gene

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