[CW] US Navy has returned to teaching Morse to select trainees:

[David Wescombe-Down]

DR & crew, I concur. 

Morse code is not a language per se, though learning to read it responds well to some of the preferred language learning strategies, viz

Aural - speaking it & hearing it aloud so that all of one's exposure to Morse is audible not written. We all learned to hear, understand and speak our first language by mimicking repetitively from a very young age: we didn't/couldn't write everything down. The same applies to Morse code.

Frequency - repetitive practice "Perfect practice makes perfect!" 5 minutes every day or maybe two, three, five times a day develops the associated neural pathways more than three half hour sessions per week.

Minimise the writing of code. No longer are there career paths, promotions, prestige or financial rewards that depend upon manual or keyboard copying of Morse. The intermediary step of converting aural Morse to trigger the appropriate handwriting or keyboard response brings mental transfer delays that obstruct or restrict the learning process for many. Incentives for learning the code no longer resemble the universal incentives of the 90 years prior to GMDSS etc.

Speed as a digit is irrelevant & receives excessive attention. We all have bad days and good days in various aspects of our daily lives, with the handling/learning of Morse (or a language or music) similarly affected. Just do the best one can at any particular session without bringing expectations or departing with baggage about the session. Miss something? Let it go and keep reading. Those episodes will shrink in frequency with repetition.

We no longer have professional benchmarks of 20 (Second Class Cert), 25 (First Class Cert), 30-45wpm (surveillance) etc to which we must attach our minds. We can now learn and use the code for FUN: so learning stress is evaporated.

Those who learned the "old" or military way may reject the above comments and continue to perpetuate learning modalities that are no longer appropriate for the above rationale. They mean well and I am sure that some benefit results.

Learn to read by words not symbols as soon as the symbols have been learned 100%, thus removing the temptation to journalise.

Once reading by words has been mastered, move into learning to read by phrases: two words, three, four etc

Remember those of our fraternity who could carry on a conversation while reading what was happening on not just the calling frequency, but also the working frequency?? The ops who could read & hold in their brain an entire =A= or =TR= and QSL for it before typing it up??? The op who could stop typing to light a smoke and then catch up on the keyboard??? It is all about mindset, relaxation and heightened focus.

Anyone is capable of doing that, though Morse learning styles/habits usually present barriers (for any/all the above reasons): if you keep doing what you have been doing, you will keep getting what you were getting. Logically change the approach. 

Aren't we lucky to be comfortable with manual Morse and apply it in our hobby? We performed at high levels when it was truly a highly active international communication medium. I say let's keep it that way and help nurture newer arrivals enjoy their new mode as much as possible. 

😊


73 to all our readers, de Doc/VK5BUG


 

-----Original Message-----
From: cw-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:cw-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of pa0wv
Sent: Tuesday, 14 November 2017 9:49 PM
To: CW Reflector <cw at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [CW] US Navy has returned to teaching Morse to select trainees:

D.J.J. Ring, Jr. schreef op 2017-11-14 06:04:
> Corrected URL:
> 
> http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=92864

Morsecode is not "a language" and the relation between learning another language and learning Morsecode is probably apporaching zero when you exclude hearing impaired people and idiots.

Morsecode is a mono alphabetic substitution.

73
> 
> 73
> 
> DR
> N1EA
> 
> On Nov 13, 2017 22:25, "D.J.J. Ring, Jr." <n1ea at arrl.net> wrote:
> 
>> US Navy has returned to teaching Morse to select trainees:
>> 
>> http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=98 [1] 64
>> 
>> Amazing.
>> 
>> 73
>> DR
> 
> 
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=98
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