[CW] Really Fast Hand Sending
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
Sat Feb 9 21:56:46 EST 2019
I understand about that. I could not type when in my teens,
taught myself much later. I wrote it down the Army way with
print. Very slow. I don't think it was meant for more than 15WPM
tops. I learned later than old time Morse operators took it long
hand. My mentor, a former ship op did the same. Much faster but I
had the same thing with printing, at 20 my hand just sort of
cramped. I also taught myself to take it all down. Probably a
mistake that limited me until I learned to take it in my head. I
think is an entirely different process.
I know there are/were commercial ops who could take down
anything on a mill with one headphone while carrying on a
conversation. Couldn't tell you later what they had written. I
can about walk and chew gum at the same time.
On 2/9/2019 6:18 PM, Benny K5KV wrote:
> WHEN I WAS GOING FOR MY 20 WPM EXTRA, I HAD QSOS AT 30 WPM AND 35 WPM
> USING HEAD COPY. I HAD PASSED 13 WPM GENERAL TEST IN 1966 THINKING I
> HAD ALL HAM LICENSE PRIVILEGES AND QUIT USING A PENCIL. AFTER
> INCENTIVE LICENSING IN 68 WITH COLLEGE STARTING IN 69, MY STUDIES
> WERE NOT CODE OR RADIO FOR A FEW YEARS. STILL ACTIVE AS AN ADVANCED
> DURING THAT PERIOD MOSTLY ON CW, I BEGAN WORKING ON THE EXTRA AFTER
> COLLEGE.
>
> ONE NIGHT WITH A W1AW CODE PROFICIENCY RUN GOING AT 20 WPM, MY PAPER
> COPY WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. NOT EVEN CLOSE. WHEN IT ENDED I THOUGHT
> I NEED MORE PRACTICE GETTING THE CW DOWN AND STARTED COPYING THE 25
> WPM RUN. AMAZING WITH 5 MINUTES OF COPY DOWN ON PAPER AND ONLY 3
> ERRORS, I SENT THE PAPER IN TO ARRL FOR THE 25 WPM CERTIFICATE. I
> HAD THE ARRL 25 WPM CERTIFICATE BEFORE I OBTAINED THE 20 WPM EXTRA.
> THE NEXT NIGHT I WAS BACK AT IT FOR THE 20 WPM CODE PRACTICE. I THEN
> REALIZED I COULD COPY CODE WAY BEYOND 20 WPM BUT COULD NOT WRITE 20
> WPM. SOMETHING ABOUT THAT RHYTHM AND MY NERVES. AFTERWARDS, I
> CONCENTRATED ON ONLY 20 WPM SESSIONS WRITING EVERY LAST THING DOWN.
> I WAS PRACTICING WRITING AT 20 WPM AND PASSED THE 20 WPM TEST BY ONE
> MINUTE SOLID COPY AT THE HOUSTON FCC OFFICE IN 1976.
>
> AMAZING BUT COPYING CODE WAS NOT THE ISSUE BUT WRITING AT 20 WPM PACE
> WAS MY PROBLEM.
>
> 73
> BENNY K5KV
>
> On Sat, Feb 9, 2019 at 7:41 PM Richard Knoppow <1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>>
>> I am very interested in the experiences in this thread.
>> Mostly because it isn't must me who has problems with getting
>> speed up. The idea that code speed on a mill is half your typing
>> speed makes sense and makes me feel less discouraged.
>> I have a theory that reading in your head and writing it down
>> are two different skills, maybe using different parts of the
>> brain. Typing it may be yet another. Certainly sending and
>> receiving are different skills. It is well known that someone may
>> be very good at one and no good at the other. I can send better
>> than I can receive. These days learning to receive is easier
>> because there is a lot of practice material available on the web.
>> When I was first learning there was W1AW (not always receivable
>> on my S-38B) and various commercial stations as well as the Navy.
>> Mostly much too fast for me. I used to record the Navy on a tape
>> recorder and play it at half speed but it was still pretty fast
>> and was code groups, not plain language. I also tried this for
>> press transmissions, which was better. In any case I am happy to
>> find out that not everyone could learn to read 20 or 30 WPM in a
>> couple of weeks, an impression I had as a teen. Too easy to get
>> into the thought that I was just not very good at it. I am no ted
>> McElroy but can manage up to maybe 30WPM and sometimes faster.
>> But these days have impaired hearing which I am sure interferes,
>> it sure does with speech.
>> Anyway thank you to David and others on this list for sharing
>> their experiences. I love CW I just wish I were better at it.
>> However, like some people with short hand I keep practicing
>> because it is an accomplishment to be able to know it at all.
>>
>> On 2/9/2019 4:27 PM, D.J.J. Ring, Jr. wrote:
>>> CODEX or CODEZ is the measuring group for alphabet cipher groups - GPM
>>> - Groups Per Minute.
>>>
>>> As you know, the 2nd class radiotelegraph license (now the T or
>>> Telegraph license) had a code test of 20 WPM plain English and 16 GPM
>>> of code groups. The 1st class radiotelegraph license had a code test
>>> of 25 WPM and 20 GPM of code groups. The code generating machine was
>>> set up identically, The FCC used a machine with paper tape and they
>>> ran a calibration run before administering the test. For Amateur
>>> tests, they played PARIS for 13 times in 60 seconds, for 13 WPM
>>> General examination, and PARIS for 20 WPM for Amateur Extra class
>>> telegraphy tests.
>>>
>>> With the machine set up for 20 WPM, the examiner could then put a code
>>> group prepared examination tape on the machine and it would be a
>>> perfect 16 GPM speed.
>>>
>>> That is because Morse code was purposefully designed for English
>>> language, E and T being the most common letters are the shortest
>>> letters. Q, J, Y, Z and X aren't used that often and they're made of
>>> longer sequences of dots and dashes.
>>>
>>> So at a certain dot speed (dashes are three times as long) English
>>> language comes out faster than random code groups.
>>>
>>> 16 character per minute speed when sending code groups becomes 20
>>> words per minute counting five letters per group and five letters per
>>> word.
>>>
>>> I agree 50 wpm typing on a MILL error free is tough to copy because at
>>> least with me, I jam the keys trying to type so fast.
>>>
>>> People say your code copying speed on a MILL (typewriter) is one half
>>> of your typing speed. That is if you type 60 wpm, you would be able
>>> to copy 30 wpm Morse.
>>>
>>> So that means that McElroy who copied 77 wpm must have had a typing
>>> speed of 154 wpm - which is darned fast. He was known as a very fast
>>> typist, thus his Morse reception speed was fast. He could probably
>>> copy faster, but he could only type so fast even when he could type
>>> over 150 wpm.
>>>
>>> 73
>>>
>>> DR
>>> N1EA
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Feb 9, 2019 at 4:24 PM <n7dc at comcast.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Yes. Actually, the station I was testing out had been using CODEX as its test word. But when we tested it with the word PARIS, it was just sending almost 3 wpm slow for our texts, I think. Its been almost 50 years. We were using a tty baudot tape through it, to measure both our transmit speeds, and operators ability to copy set speeds that they had to copy for specific rank measurements. I had learned high speed, using military magnetic tapes, up to 25 wpm, but each tape could be sent twice as fast, so we could actually test up to 50 wpm. It wasnt until I got on a high speed circuit for several weeks, that I could maintain that rate for a few minutes at a time. Of course,we were typing on a MILL It ruined me for trying to copy in my head.
>>>>
>>>> N7DC at ARRL.NET
>>>> Ex WN5QMX,WA5UKR,ET2US,ET3USA,SV0WPP,VS6DD,N7DC/YV5/G5CTB
>>>> QSL Bureau, DIRECT, LOTW Preferred, eQSL used but upload at a courtesy only, as do not use the system for awards.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On February 9, 2019 at 3:46 PM Richard Knoppow <1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Another word is CODEX. PARIS is used for plain language and
>>>>> CODEX for five letter code groups. There is a slight difference
>>>>> in the baud speed, not very much. PARIS assumes the distribution
>>>>> of letters in English.
>>>>> I can set up the G4FON Koch trainer program to send a text
>>>>> file of either combination and set it for speed from 15WPM up.
>>>>> However, the trainer will not send individual letters slower than
>>>>> 15WPM.
>>>>> You can test for sending speed by sending the group PARIS
>>>>> over and over for a period of time. See how many you can do in a
>>>>> minute but the spacing, etc, must be reasonably good. I used to
>>>>> be quite fast on a hand key when young but these days get
>>>>> fatigued pretty fast even at slow speeds.
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2/9/2019 11:58 AM, n7dc at comcast.net wrote:
>>>>>> I passed a 25wpm test back in the day, but with my uncle Arther Ritics, cant come up with it anymore. Sitting an automatic keyer so that it cranks out PARIS 25 times, gives you 25wpm, etc. Counting WPM, as most know, can beany sort of word from one letter, to a dozen or more in a sentence, as long as the keyer is set for PARIS. I had never heard that, until I had to come up with a test speed to set up a keyer, and after a couple of days playing around, measuring each letter, found the PARIS name fit. Later I saw I had rediscovered gravity.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> N7DC at ARRL.NET
>>>>>> Ex WN5QMX,WA5UKR,ET2US,ET3USA,SV0WPP,VS6DD,N7DC/YV5/G5CTB
>>>>>> QSL Bureau, DIRECT, LOTW Preferred, eQSL used but upload at a courtesy only, as do not use the system for awards.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On February 9, 2019 at 2:40 PM "D.J.J. Ring, Jr." <n1ea at arrl.net> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I don't know if I sent this to the CW group before, I found this link.
>>>>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW99OmWvr9A&feature=youtu.be
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> It is very impressive.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I keep on saying that I want to find a recording of a person sending
>>>>>>> over 25 wpm, well this certainly is it.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Ray VR2UW observes:
>>>>>>> If the dot duration is 62 ms, then his speed is 38.7 WPM, i.e. he
>>>>>>> could pound out 967.5 dots per minute. This means he could transmit
>>>>>>> 38.7 numbers of "PARIS" per minute with 7-dot length as inter-word
>>>>>>> space. === 73's de Ray, VR2UW Hong Kong
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks to Ray, VR2UW who's a wonderful expert at Morse himself.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This boggles my mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rrlHjy9K9c
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> MISSISSIPPI SHIPS = SHE IS 55 ES SHE IS HIS SISTER
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Another person pasted in this link. I don't know if it's manual CW
>>>>>>> but it's fast.
>>>>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWytW_of510&feature=youtu.be
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> But this one sent by Ray VR2UW is surely hand sending.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 73
>>>>>>> DR
>>>>>>> ______________________________________________________________
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>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Richard Knoppow
>>>>> 1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
>>>>> WB6KBL
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>>
>> --
>> Richard Knoppow
>> 1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
>> WB6KBL
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--
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL
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