[Elecraft] Learning CW

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

After working a lot of ops who learned with the Farnsworth system, I've
found that I am no fan of the system and never recommend it to someone =
who
wants to be able to send good CW over a range of speeds with minimum
frustration.=20

The Farnsworth system seems to have been FB for getting people ready to =
pass
the CW tests more quickly, but it doesn't prepare many ops for real CW =
on
the air.=20

CW has a rhythm that is based on the length of each element and the =
various
spaces between them, including the words and letters. There are very
specific ratios involved that Farnsworth ignores and the students don't
learn.=20

Learning that rhythm is very important! I know several ops who had to =
learn
CW twice. Once with the "Farnsworth" method with un-naturally long
inter-character spaces and high character speeds, and again with the =
proper
rhythm to have actual QSO's on the air.

To me, listening to someone using Farnsworth spacing is like hearing a =
band
play a favorite piece of music at double-speed, stopping for a long =
pause at
the end of each bar so the time it takes to finish the whole piece is =
the
same as it would be if played properly. I find it jarring to hear,
un-natural and often hard to follow. Also, since they never learned the
proper intervals, if they speed up they start mashing characters =
together in
a mess. With modern keyers the logic at least forces a minimum spaces =
but if
they try to use a manual key the results are often comic, if not =
downright
sorrowful.=20

Maybe it took me longer than others today to get my 35 wpm Code =
Certificate,
but I can deal with anyone from 5 WPM on up to at least 30 and I can =
send at
any speed with ease and CORRECTLY.=20

I take pride in that. But it's really tough when I run into someone who
learned the Farnsworth way and they want me to spit out letters and =
leave
un-natural spaces. I feel like those musicians I mentioned. It isn't fun =
and
it's hard, not to mention bad "practice".

My recommendation is to start at whatever speed you can recognize =
letters...
Five WPM or less is fine, and slowly increase your speed as your ability =
to
recognize the letters improves.  But do it with the correct spacing and
element lengths from the beginning so you only need to learn once. =
Listen to
and emulate lots of CW sent with the proper spacing and cadence and =
emulate
what you hear. Record yourself and see if it sounds the same.=20

If, in time, you want to become a real "high speed" conversationalist on =
CW,
you can learn to hear words instead of characters. That's easiest done =
over
20 WPM, I think. There are groups who enjoy working 30 or 40 or more =
WPM,
but they are a TINY segment of the total CW population. It can be fun. =
I'm
no "high speed" 40+ WPM op, but I enjoy a QSO at 25 or 30 WPM from time =
to
time, and at those speeds I hear words as much as characters.  Keep in =
mind
that almost every one of us starts out learning characters. After all, =
on
the old commercial circuits CW ops were biological machines, duplicating
exactly what we heard on paper, character-by-character. IF the message
spelled SHIP "SIHP" we darn well put SIHP on paper. The operator might =
ask
to confirm if something was sent and heard correctly, but never made
changes. Of course, that's graphically demonstrated when the test is to =
send
and copy five-letter code groups that are meaningless. That's what my
commercial CW tests required.=20

Just like a musical instrument, I recommend that you learn to play it
properly from the beginning, and embellish and add to your skills after
you've mastered the basics. And the basics include the proper timing =
over
your whole range of speeds.=20

There are those who quickly point out that it has been proven that the
Farnsworth system will create a 35 WPM (or faster) op more quickly than
working up your speed over time. That's probably true. I'm not disputing
that. It is also true that some early radio and wireless systems used =
that
approach to CW training. What is also true is that those circuits =
operated
at ONE SPEED! Some companies even welded the weights on their bugs in =
place.
The weight controlled the operator's sending speed. That way everyone =
had to
work at exactly the same speed. Learning code was a matter of learning =
to
send at the "company speed" in the shortest time. It seemed to me that =
was
what made it popular in Ham circles. Ops wanted to get up to 5, 13 or 20 =
wpm
to pass the tests in the shortest possible time. That was back when CW =
was
required for ALL Ham licenses. Many of those ops never intended to touch =
a
key again.=20

That's like learning to drive a car at only 5 MPH. Once you do that, you
can, indeed, drive. But you still have a LOT to learn if you get into a =
car
on the roads where you must operate it properly at all different speeds. =
In
spite of the latest "fashion" being Farnsworth, it's still just a =
fashion
and not one that necessarily serves the needs of today's average Ham
operators best.=20

Ron AC7AC