[Elecraft] Learning CW

[Bill Coleman]

On 2/20/02 10:48 AM, Jeff Stout at w5jfs@yahoo.com wrote:

>I finally have the time and inclination to upgrade from TECH to GENERAL and 
>maybe even EXTRA! 

These days, so long as you are good at taking tests, such an upgrade is 
easily accomplished with a bit of study.

>Is there a good/better/best/preferred/proven way to learn CW 
>accurately and quickly?   Tapes?   CD? Online Study Practice Sessions?   

Depends.

What's your goal for the CW? Are you just trying to learn 5 wpm so you 
can pass the test, and then hereafter forget CW altogether, or are you 
intending to use CW as a mode of communication?

Frankly, 5 wpm is next to worthless as a mode of communication. It's 
darned slow. If you tune the bands, you'll find that most CW is somewhere 
around 15-20 wpm. If you want to use CW as a mode of communications, then 
you should target a speed of at least 15 wpm.

That said -- there are many ways of learning CW. Tapes and CDs are pretty 
rare these days. Your best bet is probably to find a computer code 
practice program. There are many of these available.

>And should I practice sending and 
>receiving to pass the test...does sending help receiving? 

Unfortunately, no, sending doesn't really help receiving, although it 
make help you to learn the letters by doing a little sending at first.

Many CW beginners can send CW a lot faster than they can receive. I 
suggest you hold the sending practice off until after you've passed the 
test -- but before you actually get on the air with any CW!

>Based on my current schedule and obligations, I could safely dedicate 
>about 1 hour a day to practice, maybe split between 1/2 hour in the 
>morning and 1/2 hour at night...

Practice is the key. Daily practice of 30 minutes or so -- take it in 
groups of 5 minutes each -- should be sufficient to catapult you to 5 wpm 
in a couple of weeks, at most.

>Is it better to learn at 5, then enhance your 
>speed.....or just learn it at say 13 WPM?

No, start right out at 13-20 wpm. That way, you'll learn the code by the 
sound, not the patterns.

Seems to me there's a program around now that teachs via the Koch method 
(which is a 60-year old German technique). Might be worth looking into.



Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr@arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
            -- Wilbur Wright, 1901