[CW] Morse Training

[jack]

i memorized the code by flash cards i made. then i would sound out the
letters of a word or name or sign as i saw it on the street or
wherever. 

then i listened to a paper tape machine for practice until i could read
at about 7 wpm. 

then i took the 5 wpm test and Novice and Tech tests.

jack 
AK70

On Mon, 2010-07-19 at 10:50 -0700, John Westerlage wrote:
> 
> 
> I'm curious about some of the advice about learning Morse.
> 
> 
> I no longer remember exactly how I learned Morse, or how long it took,
> since I've been using it daily since 1956.  But I do remember that it
> was a kind of hit or miss type thing - no formal training.  And one
> day I just realized that I was head copying.
> 
> 
> Nowadays, some of the newer online or pc-based trainers have help
> files advising not to practice for more than 5-15 minutes at a time.
>  To me, that sounds like WAY too little.  They also advise not to
> practice when too tired, too frustrated, too sick, or too whatever.
> 
> 
> But I wonder about the old commercial Morse training schools in the
> heyday of Railroad or American Morse telegraphers and the military
> training in International Morse.  
> 
> 
> What kind of time schedule did these training regimes maintain?  Was
> it eight hours per day?  How many breaks, and how long were the
> breaks?  How many days or weeks did the training last?  What was the
> attrition (dropout) rate?
> 
> 
> It just doesn't seem feasible for a commercial or military school to
> pamper students the way these modern trainers advocate. 
> 
> 
> I sometimes, now that I'm retired, put in a 10 hour day on the air,
> and never get tired of Morse.
> 
> 
> I'd sure like to be able to accurately tell these new guys how it
> happened in the "old days."  Any thoughts?
> 
> 
> john, n5dwi
> 
> 
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