[Elecraft] Re: CW recognition

[Matt Osborn]

Hi Tom,

Nice to hear from you.

On Thu, 21 Sep 2006 18:28:12 -0500, Tom Hammond <n0ss at earthlink.net>
wrote:

>Hi Matt:
>
>Sorry to hear you're having problems.
>
>You wrote:
>
>>I'm really disappointed that CW isn't working for me.  A week after I
>>received my tech license, I ordered my K2 and the Elecraft Hex Key to
>>go with it.  After building the K2, I started the CW work with Adams'
>>CW course and was happily working my through the letters before I even
>>looked at dots and dashes.
>>
>>You can imagine how I felt when I discovered that many of the
>>characters I had learned were actually the opposite of what I thought
>>they were when listening to them.
>
>Obviously, I've missed something major here... are you saying that 
>the Adams code course taught you the wrong characters?

No, no, Tom, I started listening to the course before I ever looked at
Morse code charts.  When listening to a string of 'A' for example, I
was hearing 'dah dit' instead of 'dit dah'.  I had worked my through
the first five or six characters before I realized that something was
wrong.  I recognized  A B C D & E when heard individually (as strings
of each), but when heard together, they fell apart.

It was then that I looked at the actual charts and realized that the
sounds I thought I was hearing were not the sounds on the CD. It
slowly dawned upon me that I couldn't tell the difference between the
dits and the dahs.  I could tell that they were different, that
something changed when going from a dit to a dah, but I heard an
identical change when going from a dah to a dit.

In other words, I seem to perceive only a sound, the information
necessary to know which sound (dit or dah) is lost.

>>Somewhere along the way, I tried sending CW instead of listening to 
>>it and found that I could learn Morse code and send all of the 
>>letters, but it just didn't help when listening.
>
>SENDING CW is almost always much easier than receiving it, that's 
>why, when I teach CW classes (and I've been teaching them for 25-30 
>years), I never even give my students a key until they have already 
>completed learning CW BY EAR!

That was my approach as well until I realized the errors I was making.
Then I thought perhaps if I learned the Morse alphabet first, it would
help me identify the sounds I was hearing.  That is, if I knew that an
'A' was dit dah and then listened to 'A' I would hear the 'dit dah'
instead of 'dah dit'. 

At first, it seemed to help. After awhile, though, I realized I was
simply memorizing the sequence to which I was listening.  When unknown
characters were heard, I was right back to square one, I couldn't tell
a dit from a dah.

>>I still practice CW several times every week just in case there is a
>>break through of some sort (infernal optimist), but I no longer have
>>any realistic expectation of success.
>
>Although it'll be hard to accept, I'd recommend you start again FROM 
>SCRATCH... as if you've never heard a CW character before... and 
>NEVER (EVER) even think about looking at DOTs 'n DASHes... that'll 
>kill you... I have experience... that's the way I learned Morse 48 
>years ago (age: 14) and had to completely UNLEARN it before I started 
>to learn it by ear.
>
>Generally, my students have found that learning the first 10-15 
>characters is pretty easy. To the point that they become a bit too 
>'cocky' and 1) start shirking daily training, and 2) start 'hurrying' 
>what training they do continue to pursue.
>
>They get the idea that since the first several groups of characters 
>have come to them so readily, that the rest of the characters will 
>come as easily, and as quickly. Unfortunately, this is not always the 
>case. As your head fills with newly-learned characters, there will 
>probably be more effort required to fit additional characters in 
>among those already 'learned'... and it's all too easy to become a 
>bit disheartened if/when you find that you're not making progress as 
>quickly as you once did (when you had learned the first, usually 
>easier to learn) characters).
>
>TAKE HEART!!!  This is NORMAL and just about each and every one of us 
>HAS experienced the same thing, and we ALL have managed to work 
>through the problem.
>
>Some suggestions for (hopefully) continued success:
>
>  1) Practice 2-3 times a day, for no longer than 30 minutes at a sitting.
>     After 30 minutes, your brain can tire and it sometimes seems that
>     it just flat turns to mush. TIME TO TAKE A BREAK!
>
>  2) Try to practice when you're not tired. If possible, practice in the
>     morning, and an hour or so after you're returned home from work,
>     after you've had a little change to 'decompress'. If you can find
>     time at lunch, you have a third opportunity for a short practice.
>
>  3) Learn characters in small 5-7 character sets. DO NOT move on to the
>     next group of characters until you can (in your heart) say that you
>     can copy all of the previously presented characters at an accuracy
>     level of 80%-90% each time. Smaller size sets are OK as well, go
>     what works best for you. Just DON'T STOP, GIVE UP, or CHEAT!
>
>  4) Learn to copy ON PAPER!!!  Don't learn to type in that which you
>     copy. Typing can come later, but learn to copy on paper first!
>     Also, learning to copy in your head will come a bit later, too.
>
>  5) SENDING CW is much easier than COPYING CW. This is because when you
>     SEND CW, you already know what you want to send and you can think
>     about it a bit before you actually have to pound it out. When you
>     are COPYING CW, you can't really think about it until you HEAR what
>     is sent. So don't worry about sending at the start. Sending can come
>     later... once you've actually mastered the art of copying.
>
>     If you can find someone to practice with, do so. Then you can each
>     practice both sending and receiving. You can also get a feel for how
>     will you are able to create characters by hand sending (that's using
>     a straight key, NOT A KEYER). LEARN TO COPY ALL FISTS, NOT just those
>     which are sending perfectly formed code. Just like the human voice,
>     not all of us can talk/or send CW with perfect enunciation!! Learn to
>     copy all fists, perfect or less perfect!
>
>  6) Once you get your license, bit the bullet (key fright) and GET ON THE
>     AIR!  There's NOTHING better than improving your abilities by on the
>     air activity... it is MUCH better than learning from a PC or from CDs.
>
>     You'll probably be scared spitless the first few times you get on the
>     air! This is natural. But work through your timidity can on the air!
>     You'll find folks willing to slow down (QRS) for you, and to work
>     with you. Oh, there'll be some who won't slow down... that's what we
>     have the VFO TUNING KNOB for... just thank them for the QSO and find
>     yourself another station to work... fortunately, there are generally
>     MANY more ops out there who WILL work with you than those who will
>     NOT work with you.
>
>     And, NEVER (EVER) feel ashamed to ask the other guy to QRS!!!
>
>  7) When you have problems or questions, ASK for help!!! Here, on the
>     Elecraft reflector, or elsewhere... but ASK!!!
>
>Good luck. I'm certain you'll do very well. And I look forward to 
>working you on the air some day soon.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement, Tom.  It's a fun hobby; I
enjoy building and tinkering with the gear and learning more and more
about electronics, antennas and other related stuff.  It keeps me off
the streets!