[Elecraft] CW copying speeds

Tue Feb 18 15:40:00 2003

Hi Dave and all,

That's been me goal since mid December, getting my CW proficiency where
I would like it. I've been using Ray G4FON's Koch method training
software, and it works wonderfull! You can get a copy of it here:
http://www.qsl.net/g4fon/ . It has helped me a lot! I've been practicing
with it about 15 to 30 minutes each day and am now up to around 18 WPM
100% copy. Still have to write it down, but I am finding that I am
starting to "Hear" words now. I'd like to be head copy to at least 20
WPM by the end of the year. If you are like me and learned code at 5 WPM
when you were a Novice, you probably have the same problem I did (along
with a lot of ops) in that you've built a "look up table" of characters
in your head that you have to compare each charater with when receiving.
This is totally the wrong way to do it. You should be able to instantly
recognise what is being sent with out having to think about it. What I
finally did to get better, was to just relax, put the trainer in play,
and copy whatever I could at higher than normal speed. I didn't worry
about what I missed, just wrote down what I could hear. After a while I
started hearing all of it. At this point I increased the speed. Don't
start it at a speed less than 15 WPM. Anyway, there is some good text on
his web page describing the method. It made a lot of sense to me and has
been working wonderfully. I find that when I'm in the shack doing
something with the rig tuned to a QSO, that I can hear bits of higher
speed qso's now. I agree with the sentiment that learning CW at 5 WPM
should be illegal, Hi! Hope this helps...

73's Trev KG6CYN
http://home.earthlink.net/~kg6cyn
http://www.qsl.net/kg6cyn

----- Original Message -----
From: David Gropper <[email protected]>
To: Dave Sergeant <[email protected]>;
<[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2003 8:06 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] CW copying speeds

> On my behalf, trying to get faster than 10 WPM
>
> > would you write everything down word for word
> > if you were listening to somebody speaking?
>
> Yes, especially if they were speaking in a foreign language
> which I was trying to become proficient.
>
> Dave KK7SS
>
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