[Elecraft] Learning CW (was: CW Program)

[Vic Rosenthal]

Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:
> 
>  He introduced himself and we chatted
> for half a minute. Suddenly he said, "cuse me.." sat down and sent "QSL"
> on the bug and started flailing away like mad on the mill, completing
> the message that he had copied in his head while he spoke with me. 

Actually, this ability wasn't so rare among professional CW operators.  The
direct ear-to-mill connection with brain buffering seems to have been developed
by the nature of day-in day-out job.  It was done by a process below normal
awareness.  Some guys could not tell you what they had just copied without
looking at it!  This is not something that I can do -- if I'm copying code and
someone talks to me I need to decide who to listen to.  I also cannot speak
while sending!

I have noticed that when copying reasonably fast cw I often don't understand ANY
of a sentence until I've heard it all.  I guess this means that my brain is
subconsciously processing it, filling in missing letters, etc.  I actually find
it HARDER to copy slow code, when I have to hear a word (or even a letter) at a
time.

Increasing CW speed seems to be a process of learning several quite different
skills or 'modes':  first you memorize the code and teach yourself to recognize
letters and write them down (less than 10 wpm), then you begin to recognize
patterns and short words ('the', 'ing', 'ert', etc. are heard as units and not
groups of letters -- maybe up to 20 wpm), and finally you start to hear whole
sentences.  The phenomenon of 'hitting the wall' at a particular speed usually
means that you are learning a new mode.

Vic K2VCO