[CW] Morse Training

Mon Jul 19 18:31:17 EDT 2010

We were drafted in Jan 1956 into the US Army. Everyone was given at CW test, 3 letters I...N.. and T ...  based on how 
you scored you were selected to attend the Intermediate Speed Operators School at Ft Dix, NJ after 8 weeks of basic training....  

We had been a Novice for about 6 months.. WN1GDB. 

It was a 12 week training course. After a few days learning the letters and numbers we received CW 4 to 6 hours a day.. 
These hours were broken up into 15 minute periods of CW copying with a break of 5 minutes between each .... 
5 letter word groups were sent.....No mill, copied on paper .. starting at 5 WPM. The other hours were spent learning the to use the 
Radios.. AN/GRC-9 H.F. ... AN/PRC-8..9.. and 10 FM back pack radios .....and message handing and how to use and encryption machine ... To pass you had to copy 12 WPM ...There were about 30 in each class ..
Very few flunked out, but a few got thrown out for cheating .. 
The highest CW speed in the training was 18 WPM... which we passed in about 3 weeks ..
We ended up running the code tape machines for the remaining 9 weeks during the CW hours ......  

After the radio school I was assigned to the Washington-Baltimore Air Defense center at Ft Meade Md ..
Where I spent the remainder of my 2 year obligation to Uncle Sam as a long range (280 mile) surveillance radar operator for the 24 Nike sites around the two cities. 

I never used CW in the Army again. I was married and we lived in an apartment off base in Washington DC...  But we used CW ..
We put together a QRP transmitter from an article in CQ magazine, it was called the Mighty 4 Watter, a single 50L6 tube xtal controlled...  We built a Regen receiver kit, The Ocean Hopper from Allied Radio... 
Cost $10.85, these Ocean Hoppers have sold for over $300 on eBay !!!!  We used a J-38 for sending CW.... 
We strung a 40 meter dipole through the apartment taped to the ceiling .... We worked most of the east coast states 
and as far west as Chicago .... we recently re-built another Mighty 4 Watter and worked across the pond with it and 
have used it in several SKNs..

CW is STILL FUN .... 

Whitey K1VV 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John Westerlage 
  To: CW at mailman.qth.net 
  Sent: Monday, July 19, 2010 1:50 PM
  Subject: [CW] Morse Training

  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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