[Elecraft] Learning CW

Wed Feb 20 12:06:59 2002

On Wed, 20 Feb 2002, Ron D' Eau Claire wrote:

> Finally, and here I'm about to spear a "Sacred Cow" among modern Hams, I'm
> not all that enamored of the "Farnsworth" system in which characters are
>
> To this OT, it's like fingernails on a blackboard. And few, if any, ops on
> the air will do that.

It seems a 1000 years ago(actually 40) when I learned the code...I had no
tapes, no elmers, just a battered old Boy Scout Merit badge book.

But, I did have a receiver...and I did my darnest to copy those weird
sounds.  As I listened, I realized that some of them sounded nice....there
was a certain rythmn that made it EASY to copy.

Mind you, I knew nothing of the proper spacing, character speed and all
the good technical stuff, but as someone who played percussion
instruments, I had a sense of what sounded good and what sounds appeared
to "work" with others.

So, as I started sending using the same spacing that I heard from the
"good" signals...and, while it's no longer true, people complimented me on
my fist.

Sorry for the long memory...but if I were to learn the code again...I'd
try to find pleasent sounding signals...

Thom

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