[CW] G4FON Morse Code Trainer Version 10

Thu Mar 18 07:23:33 EDT 2021

https://www.g4fon.net/CW%20Trainer2.php

Ray, G4FON says:
In 2018 I was invited to give a lecture at the RSGB Convention about
techniques for learning Morse which was recorded by the RSGB and they have
given me permission to reproduce it here. As well as giving useful tips on
learning Morse, the video talks about the operation of the new version and
which is, I am told, well worth watching.

https://youtu.be/jBmuoLUV1LM

Audio Books in Morse Code

One of the more effective ways of learning to copy conversational Morse in
your head is not by listening to random words, but by listening to whole
sentences. And what better way to do that than listening to an audio book
in Morse Code?

Version 9 was able to convert text to Morse, but this version makes it even
simpler. Note, that like many other options, this one only becomes
available once you have learned all of the built in characters and any that
you have defined yourself.

To get started, visit The Gutenberg Press <http://www.gutenberg.org/>,
chose a book from their large selection and download it in 'Plain Text
UTF-8' format.

Next open the downloaded text file in Notepad and remove any text which
does not form part of the story, for example the index, and which you would
not wish to listen to. *Make sure that you save the file as ANSI and not
UTF-8 for the software to work correctly*.

Now click on 'Record Text File' in the 'Files' menu of the Morse Trainer
and a window should open as in the image below:
Audio Books in Morse Code

One of the more effective ways of learning to copy conversational Morse in
your head is not by listening to random words, but by listening to whole
sentences. And what better way to do that than listening to an audio book
in Morse Code?

Version 9 was able to convert text to Morse, but this version makes it even
simpler. Note, that like many other options, this one only becomes
available once you have learned all of the built in characters and any that
you have defined yourself.

To get started, visit The Gutenberg Press <http://www.gutenberg.org/>,
chose a book from their large selection and download it in 'Plain Text
UTF-8' format.

Next open the downloaded text file in Notepad and remove any text which
does not form part of the story, for example the index, and which you would
not wish to listen to. *Make sure that you save the file as ANSI and not
UTF-8 for the software to work correctly*.

Now click on 'Record Text File' in the 'Files' menu of the Morse Trainer
and a window should open as in the image below:
[image: Version10FileRecord.png]

Finally either drag the text file of the book onto the popup window or use
the File button and browse to it.

You should see the window turn red and the progress bar move steadily
across the window as the Audio Book is created. You have the option to
create an MP3 file for an MP3 file player or a WAV file if you want to burn
the result onto a CD.

You should now have a Morse Audio version of your chosen book to listen to.
It will be in the same folder as the original text file.

I have found and also had it confirmed to me that you should listen to the
book for several hours as you go about your daily routine. You do not have
to concentrate all the time on the Morse as your subconscious brain is
working hard to learn what it hears.

Oh, and by the way, if you simply want to listen to a text file in Morse
Code, drag it onto the main window and it will be sent for you with each
word appearing in the output window after it is sent. Again, this only
works after you have learned all of the built in characters and any that
you may have defined.
Sending Trainer

One of the new features of Version 10 is the Sending Trainer which becomes
available once you have learned the 40 built in Morse characters and any
new ones you may have defined.
[image: Version10Sending.png]

My philosophy in designing this addition to the software is firstly that
words should be presented to you as closely as they would come into your
head during a QSO and secondly that you should be using your radio's keyer
for practicing as this replicates exactly how you would send Morse during a
QSO.

To achieve the first goal, the software will speak words to you. That way
you have to work out the spelling in your head - exactly as you would do on
the air.

To achieve the second goal you will need to connect the sidetone from you
radio to your PC's sound card input. Adjust the input level until you see
approximately the same display as the screenshot above. There are two
windows of interest, the oscilloscope display of the incoming signal and
the FFT display showing the pitch of the sidetone.

Once you are all connected up, choose a practice speed, the number of
attempts you want to make to send the word back and finally the words you
want to practice and away you go.

The software will speak a word which you must then send back correctly to
move on to the next word. As you finish each letter it will be echoed in
the main window. If you make an error then the word will be spoken again
and if your Morse does not match any of the characters you have learned
then the dots and dashes will be displayed to help you.

Microsoft supplies a number of different voices with Window and you have an
option to select the voice that suits you best.

At any time you can ask for the word to be spoken again by sending a ? and
to move on to the next random word, send a /.

You can also use the software to read the Morse that you send which will
appear in the window. Note that the software is not designed to read Morse
off-air!
Limitation

I had originally planned to play the Morse sidetone from your keyer to the
sound card output, but I soon discovered a Windows limitation that I have
not been able to resolve - the latency between the sound input card input
and the sound card output. It amounts to about a dot period at 25 WPM which
makes it impossible to play back Morse sidetone into the headphones along
with the spoken words and still make it usable.

This means that you will have to come up with a way to hear both the Morse
and the spoken words!

I shall be continuing in my research into this problem and if I do resolve
it then I will obviously make the results available here.
<https://www.g4fon.net/CW%20Trainer2.php#V10.7> Version 10.7 updates.

Practice Session Logging

The major changes in Version 10.7 resulted from a number of email and Zoom
conversations that I had with Bob Condor, K4RLC, who I met through the Long
Island CW Club (LICW).

Bob is a neuropsychologist and I reached out to him to discuss better ways
by which Morse might be learnt with the notion of modifying my software
accordingly.

In the end we decided that Koch's approach is about it as good as it gets,
but Bob suggested what was needed to keep people motivated was some form of
session logging which keeps track of the time they spent using the software
and their progress.

You will see in this release that there is now a Practice History menu
item. Clicking on it opens a new window which can either show a timeline or
a calendar of practice sessions.

Practice sessions are coloured according to the lesson being undertaken
with the width of the bar showing the duration of the lesson and the height
of the bar the number of Morse characters in the session.
[image: Practive Session Timeline.png]

Clicking on an individual bar will populate a set of fields giving more
details about the session, including, for example, the actual and effective
speed in use.
[image: Practive Session Details.png]
Random Character Selection

Anne, KC9YL, contacted me to say that her LICW instructor was recommending
practicing with random groups of characters, but that it was impossible for
her to randomly create then and could I help. So I added a new feature
where you can choose the size of a random group and the software will
decide on the characters for you without your intervention. This feature is
shown here:
[image: Random Character Selection.png]

Enable the Random Selection and choose the number of characters you want to
practice with and then click the Ok button. The next time you open the
window the last set of random characters will be displayed. If you simply
click Ok you will continue with the same set, but enabling the Random
Selection will create a new set.

GUI changes to help the visually impaired

Finally, I have been working with Howard, WA9TOP, and other visually
impaired hams to improve the responsiveness of the screen readers that they
use with the software. As well as subtle changes to the GUI to accommodate
screen readers, I have broken out the About menu into a number of Help menu
items which in turn open PDF files. I will be working to improve the help
contained within the PDF files over the coming weeks.
Installation issues

It has come to my attention that there is a problem with running the
software when it is installed as a 'standard' user.

If you need to install the software by providing an administrator password
then you will also need to run the software as that administrator for it to
work correctly.

The problem is caused by the installer installing the data files under the
administrator password's documents folder and not the standard user's
documents folder.

A workaround is to copy the files from the administrator's account to the
standard user account. Unless you do that, the software will not run
correctly for anyone other tnan the administrator account.

I am currently looking into the problem and will update the web site if and
when I have a solution.

*DOWNLOAD LINK
<https://www.g4fon.net/Executables//G4FONMorseTrainerInstaller.exe>*
https://www.g4fon.net/Executables//G4FONMorseTrainerInstaller.exe
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