[Elecraft] Yippee, M0KWV finally gets on air with K1-K1-4 #1534

[John J. McDonough]

----- Original Message -----
From: <Martin.Evans@simoncarves.com>
Subject: [Elecraft] Yippee, M0KWV finally gets on air with K1-K1-4 #1534

> 4)    My CW sending is fine and I get compliments on it but my copy speed
> is slow (10WPM approx). Copying live on the air is a different kettle of
> fish to doing it from a tape. I get nervous and mind goes blank. Some ops
> have great slow speed CW and I've got everything, but others either can't
> slow down, won't slow down or when they do it looses all the rhythm and
> becomes a jerky mess.

Martin

Some folks do have trouble at slow speed, myself included.  Copying real
fists is a real challenge because there is so much variability.

Two things have helped me a lot.  The first is to operate contests.
Contests generally involve very high CW speeds, but you pretty much know
what the exchange will be, and the code is perfect.  If you dive into one of
the big contests, the first hour or two will be awful, but pretty soon you
will get into the swing of it.  The code will mostly be perfect because most
contesters will be using computers.  This doesn't help in copying "real" CW,
but it will break you of that business of freezing when the dits come too
fast.  It's frightening at first, but it's amazing how quickly you can get
accustomed to hearing 35 words a minute and getting most of it.

Once you have that down, join a CW traffic net.  This does two things,
first, it gets you copying on a schedule almost every night.  Secondly, it
gets you copying varied messages from some very different fists.  It will
take a little longer, but after a few months you will find that your ability
to copy almost anyone is greatly improved.  A lot of nets have training
sessions to help you get down the net procedures a slow speed, but most of
the nets really don't go all that fast.

There are still a few ops out there with truly awful code.  Be tolerant of
them.  Often they have physical disabilities, or sometimes they are just
plain very old.  A lot of these old guys with unsteady hands have some great
stories to tell, and learning to copy less than perfect code can be very
rewarding.

72/73 de WB8RCR    http://www.qsl.net/wb8rcr
didileydadidah     QRP-L #1446 Code Warriors #35