[CW] K6KPH Code proficiency transmissions

[kremper4-mailman at yahoo.com]

FWIW:
   
  While in USAF radio school (Biloxi, MS) back in the late '50s, graduation required the ability to send and receive Morse at a minimum speed of 20 WPM; sending was by straight key (J-38) only. No "bugs" or electronic keys allowed. 
   
  At about the 10 - 15 WPM level, we were required to transition from penciling copy to using a typewriter, the aim recognizing the difficulty of penciling speeds of 20 WPM and higher and receiving for extended periods. Hand-written characters were proscribed to be made in a particular fashion to lessen the number of strokes required to form a character. The typewriters were, of course, mechanical (I preferred an Underwood), requiring much greater finger strength than that used on a computer keyboard. 
   
  Line breaks and line spacing required subliminal attention to the forewarning "ding" of the carriage-return bell, then moving your right hand from the keys, reaching up to the carriage-return lever and giving it a push to the left. No carriage return resulted in one big, black blob of overtype. Not good.
   
  Microsoft Word will deliver automatic "carriage returns," the line length determined by the font you choose.
   
  73,
   
  Paul / N1FB
   
   
   
   
  

Ken Brown <ken.d.brown at hawaiiantel.net> wrote:
  K6KPH was Q5 on 15, 20 and 40 meters, here in Hilo today. I did not 
check the 80 meter frequency. I got interrupted just as the 15 WPM 
transmission was ending and the 20 WPM was beginning. Twenty WPM is the 
level at which I have an endorsement sticker back in 1988. I have tried 
for higher speeds, without quite making a solid minute of copy, so far. 
When I got back to the receiver, they were up to 30 WPM and I found that 
handwriting was giving me more trouble than copying the code, so I tried 
to use the PC keyboard. This is the first time I have tried using a 
keyboard to copy (except just call signs and grid squares in contests) 
and I do not do very well. With practice I think I could get better, and 
it would be preferable to handwriting. I started using "notepad" which 
did not insert carriage return/line feeds automatically. I wonder what 
other people prefer as a word processing program for copying code using 
a computer keyboard?

DE N6KB

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