[CW] ?"Morse Therapy"

[Ron Zond]

Hi David

Ican agree with Gary and you. Many times I just listen to the speed merchants
on the low end of 40(7020->7030). The more I relax, the easier it is to auto-
decode the higher speed in my head.  

Ron
K3MIY

-----Original Message-----
From: cw-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:cw-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On
Behalf Of David Ring
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 12:47 AM
To: CW Reflector
Subject: [CW] ?"Morse Therapy"


"Morse Therapy"
by Gary Bold, ZL1AN - originally from Morsum Magnificant


Many times, over the years, I've finished writing a lecture
late at night. The house is asleep, but my mind is wide
awake. I know that if I go to bed now, I'll just lie awake
and the ideas I have to propound in the morning will rush
madly about, echoing and muttering in my brain. My
solution has always been to fire up the TS-520, limber
up the Brown Brothers paddle, put on the cans and
exchange CW for a while with someone on 20 metres.

After a while the Morse begins to decode itself automatically.
My pulse-rate slows, and the network theorems and Fourier
transforms of my professional life go away. I have almost
become one with the radio, a bionic post-processor tacked
on the end of the audio chain.

CW is the purest form of communication I know, a
'mind-to-mind' linkage. The words appear right inside
my head, words that were never spoken; uncorrupted by
accents, verbal peculiarities, oddities of vocal intonation.
They leave no room for other thoughts. Almost like a form
of meditation. Very therapeutic. After thirty minutes of that,
my metabolism has been slowed right down and I'm relaxed.
I can go to bed and sleep comes.

All of us who have been hams for a long time go through
phases. That's one of the nice things about our hobby,
there are so many outlets for our nuttiness. I've been an
antenna nut, a Dx hunter, a transmatch experimenter, a
keyer builder, a phasing SSB enthusiast, a CW keyboard
freak.

All these phases have passed, but my first love is still CW.
Its the mode I go back to whenever I need to wind down and
recharge the batteries. There's something about the essential
simplicity and purity of Morse that, for me, all the other modes
lack."

Not my words, but certainly reflects my amateur radio
experience! I usually "copy" CW using the computer
keyboard, copying to the Notepad of Win 95. However,
after awhile, it seems easier just to watch the words
forming in my mind, as the above author has stated.
That IS very relaxing, and quite simple after one follows
the proper CW learning methods, e.g., the Koch method,
and listening to CW daily, for a half-hour or so at a time
at speeds, say 5 wpm faster than you can comfortably
copy with a pencil or keyboard. In a few weeks or months,
there they are, the words in your minds eye!