[CW] CW re: 3rd finger..]

[Mike Hyder -N4NT-]

You said: I can think of no practical use for this in Ham Radio. Any ideas?

Yes.  A single-lever key has three contact states.  A dual-lever key has
four contact states and some think it is easier to use.  These same people
might want to put contacts on each fingertip and have an even greater number
of contact states.  Ultimately one could send absolutely effortlessly with
an infinite number of contact states...

Mike N4NT

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "George Maurer" <kiteman at vom.com>
To: "CW" <CW at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2004 7:34 PM
Subject: Re: [CW] CW re: 3rd finger..]


Scott,
One - touch thumb to little finger - 1 binary
Two - touch thumb to ring finger - 10 binary
Three - touch thumb to little and ring fingers - 11 binary
Four - touch thumb to middle finger - 100 binary
Five - touch thumb to little and middle fingers - 101 binary
Six - touch thumb to ring and middle fingers - 110 binary
Seven - touch thumb to little, ring and middle fingers - 111 binary
Eight - touch thumb to index finger - 1000 binary
Continue pattern for nine through fourteen - 1001 through 1110 binary
Fifteen - touch thumb to little, ring, middle and index fingers - 1111
binary
Sixteen - thumb is 10000, but don't forget that later!
Seventeen - touch thumb to little finger - 10001 binary
And so on, for as many "thumbs" as you want.
Or use both hands to get to 255 decimal, 1111 1111 binary.
Whew! I hope you really wanted to know how I do that.

With practice you would be able to do this without thinking
about it, and, by keeping your thumb and fingers in contact,
you can check, or continue, your count later.

I used this system when I needed to do head counts, while I moved
through several different areas, and where I often had to stop for
several minutes at a time to exchange information with co-workers.
It worked fine for me, others preferred to "remember" or carry pen
and note book. Of course, you have one hand dedicated to the count,
not a secure system, if you need both hands during an emergency.

I can think of no practical use for this in Ham Radio. Any ideas?
73,
George k6ite



On 20 Aug 2004 at 16:32, N8VCL wrote:

> George Maurer wrote:
>
> >Using the thumb to mark my count on the four fingers, until I arrive
> >at 15, then naming the thumb 16, is the method of my one handed binary
count.
> >
> >
> How do you do that?
> Scott