[CW] ARRL survey.

[Mike Hyder -N4NT-]

A current (working) link to "So You Want to Learn Morse Code" is:

http://primera.tamu.edu/people/TAES/mgautreaux/code1.html 

73, Mike N4NT

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerry" <cybergeezer74 at hotmail.com>
To: <ka4inm at tampabay.rr.com>; "cw" <cw at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 11:57 AM
Subject: Re: [CW] ARRL survey.


> > ... I learned it as dots es hyphens on paper not as
> sounds...
> 
> Aha!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> My guess--  The Lookup Table is the reason you're unable to
> increase your copying speed.
> 
> A guess I'd bet my house on, based on my own bitter
> experience.
> 
> Before you read the rest of this, read Dave Finley's article
> "So You Want to Learn Morse Code" at
> http://www.ees.nmt.edu/sara/sara/finley.morse.html
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
> 
> I too learned the code "the wrong way"--
>     --first, I "memorized" it from a printed list of dots and
> dashes.  (I did know enough to sound them in my head as dits
> and dahs, but still I was looking at the dots and dashes)
>     --second, I'd practice sending.  It didn't seem hard,
> since I had it "memorized".  e.g., If I wanted to send "S" I
> knew that was di-di-dit.
>     --then I tried to copy.  It DID seem hard (unless the
> speed was glacially s*l*o*w).  e.g., if I heard di-di-dit I
> did not know BY REFLEX that that was "S"--  I'd have to
> consult the "table" I'd memorized, sort of like "Let's see,
> that's dot-dot-dot--  is it A (dot-dash)?...no...is it B
> (dash-dot-dot-dot)?...no..." and so on until "is it S
> (dot-dot-dot)?...YES!!).
>     --through practice I got to where I could use this method
> to copy 5 wpm and I got my Novice ticket (back when it was
> one-year non-renewable).  I got on the air, and through brute
> practice I got to 13 wpm and passed General.
> 
> Did you ever wonder why the test was at 13 wpm and not a nice
> round number, such as 10 wpm or 15 wpm?  (And why Canada's
> test was at 12 wpm?)  Because 13 wpm has been found to be the
> "plateau"--  the absolute maximum speed at which one can copy
> using The Lookup Table--  the speed beyond which you CANNOT GO
> using The Lookup Table.
> 
> My advice--  START OVER--  learn the code "the right way"-- 
> build reflexes in your brain that respond to the SOUNDS of the
> characters.
> 
> Morse code is not something you SEE.  It is not something you
> READ.  It is something you H*E*A*R.
> 
> Learn to copy at a speed that is too fast for The Lookup Table
> to work.  20 wpm.  Build the reflexes.  Erase The Lookup
> Table.
> 
> Two ways you might go about this--
>     --the one I recommend is to download Ray Goff's very fine
> (and free!) program from
> www.qsl.net/g4fon.  It employs the Koch method (mentioned in
> Dave Finley's article). You start copying at 20 wpm, but with
> only two characters.  When you're getting them by reflex you
> add a third, then a fourth ... until you've got 'em all.  (The
> program offers slower speeds.  DO NOT USE THEM.  You'll only
> reinforce The Lookup Table.)
>     --another way I've heard recommended is to copy general
> text at 20 wpm.  At first you might only get one character out
> of every thirty, but stick with it and you'll start getting
> one out of twenty-nine, one out of twenty-eight, one out of
> ....... .  And you'll start recognizing whole words like
> "the" as WORDS, not as a series of letters.
> 
> You've expended great effort burning the The Lookup Table into
> your brain.  It's BURNED in.  It's not going to give up
> without a fight.  When you try copying at 20 wpm, when you
> miss a character (which you certainly will at first) you will
> probably find yourself powerless to avoid holding the
> character in short-term auditory memory and running it through
> The Lookup Table--  by which time you'll miss the next ten
> characters.
> 
> Fight The Lookup Table, and eventually you'll get rid of it.
> 
> 73 de W3GERry
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