[Elecraft] How Morse is learned

[John Gwin]

Is there a "How To Learn Morse" reflector?

-W4SK

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "KT5X" <kt5x at cybermesa.com>
To: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 9:59 AM
Subject: [Elecraft] How Morse is learned


Background:  I am a teacher.  I learned Morse at 12 years of age, now 61.  I 
use Cw exclusively.

Not everyone can learn Morse for a variety of reasons.  Some people, 
especially a high percentage of those with dyslexia, can not discern as 
separate sounds which do not persist for relatively long periods of time, 
typically 200 ms.  That is the speed of a dit (or a space) at about ten wpm 
which is why some people get stuck forever below ten wpm.

Morse, like all languages, is easier to learn while language areas of the 
brain are developing, but it can be learned later not so much with hard 
work, as consistent practice several times a day, day after day.

Here are the neurological steps involved in the process of traditional 
learning.  Some of the newer approaches of listening to high speed early try 
to skip some of these steps with varying degrees of success for some people, 
and failure for others.

Traditional approach:

Step # 1 is to memorize the cipher.  Dit-Dah is an A.  You generally learn 
the letters in groups of five letters at a time.  Making words of the few 
letters learned, rather than code groups, may encourage moving into language 
interpretation later on rather than neurological auto-response.  Code is 
then deciphered from a "look-up table" residing in short-term memory.  With 
practice, short-term memory can interpret the cipher up to about ten wpm.

Step # 2:  Regular use across days and weeks and sometimes months eventually 
leads to the mind committing the look-up table to long-term memory.   Once 
the look-up table is moved into long-term memory, something that occurs in 
your sleep by the way, access and retrieval is faster.  Response time is 
reduced such that with further practice, speed will rapidly rise from the 
previous plateau of about 10 wpm, to a new plateau of about 18 wpm.  Hence 
the old General test was 13 wpm.  You may not have full privileges until you 
have located Morse in long-term memory.

Step # 3:  What happens next may vary with how one is trained.

Many old timers moved the look-up table into a reflexive response literally 
governed by the spinal-column.  This op could copy code groups the same as 
words.  this op typically typed the copy, and did not know what was typed 
unless they went back and read it.  Constant practice with code groups (or 
just contest call-signs) will lead to this result.  I know several contest 
ops who can copy calls, but can not carry on a conversation in Morse.

Most ham ops would prefer to move the code from a memorized look-up table 
into the language area of the brain.  It is almost an instantaneous 
response.  At first it is letter by letter.  Eventually it is by syllables, 
then sometimes even words.  the first "word" I learned to interpret 
instantly with the language center was "and" or "dit  dididit" which I 
thought was "ES" as a kid, but now know is American Morse for the & sign.

How to get it there?  Invariably, when you are copying with the look-up 
table, you print, even if you never print normally.  Once you have been at 
18 wpm for a while, and feel stuck there, it is time to move on as it were. 
You can do so by forcing yourself, and it is difficult, forcing yourself to 
change to script.  Script runs the letters together into syllables and words 
and that is what accesses the language area of the mind.

Step # 4:  Early on in the language center, you are hearing the op spell to 
you.  You will generally comprehend this up to around 28 wpm.  this "plateau 
is less hard than previous ones.  to go on past, put the pencil down, and 
just listen.  In no time at all you will copy 30, 35, 40, 45 wpm.  You don't 
copy "behind."  you simply hear the person speaking.  You either hear it or 
you don't (QSB, QRM, loss of concentration).

As the speed rises, you will struggle more and more, concentrating to 
actually hear what happened.  It isn't the speed of it, but the hearing of 
it that is limiting now.  You lean beack in the chair, eyes closed, and 
words materialize in your head, you simply know what was said.

Step # 5:  If somewhere between 45 wpm and 60 wpm the dits and dahs seem to 
blur into one another, you are normal.  For me the limit seems to be 56 wpm. 
I know precisely because when I copy calls from the contest simulators, it 
always settles on that speed.

What's it all about, Alfie?

It's about your built in "echo-suppressor," also known as the Haas Effect. 
The normal person does not discern as separate sounds which do not persist 
for at least 20 ms (the speed of a dit or space at 60 wpm).  It is theorized 
this came about to make speech understandable in an echoing environment 
(caves?).

Surround sound capitalizes on this effect by the way.  The same sound as is 
in the front speakers are fed to the rear speakers 7 ms later.  You can not 
discern it, but the ear hears it, the mind interprets it as an echo, and 
this provides the full sensation of "live."

People who copy 70, 80, and 90 wpm, and there are a few, are among the small 
percentage of people who are abnormal in a special way.  They do not have 
built-in echo-suppression.  If you have it or if you don't, you have no idea 
what the other one perceives.

But you CAN beat it!  The echo suppressor is active up to about 1,500 
cycles.  Echoes are weak at high frequencies, hence our echo-suppression is 
poor or non-existent there.  Those "stuck" between 50 and 60 wpm may wish to 
experiment with adjusting your radio to listen to high speed Morse at 
extremely high frequencies.

I have done it, and had no trouble copying 75 wpm for the first time.  I 
calmly say, no trouble.  Truth is, the ear-piercing frequency was such an 
unpleasant screech, that I have never bothered again ;-)

Experimentation with learning code by listening to Morse characters at 35 
wpm right off the bat skips the lower stages of interpretation and attempts 
to jump into the language areas of the mind.  One might wind up jumping into 
the auto-neurological response instead of language, however, and be able to 
type it without actually understanding it.  You also may not have the 
interpretive capacity at slow speeds since you don't even know the code your 
copying.  so it has to be realized that the short-cut is a mixed bag.

Choose your method, enjoy the challenge, have fun.  But if after months of 
consistent practice, you can not get past ten wpm, especially if you know 
you are dyslexic, feel no guilt, and don't let anyone put you down.  We each 
have our special abilities, or lack of them.  So what.

I can't dance to save my life!

72  Fred - kt5x (aka W5YA when QRP)
K2 # 700

P.S.  origin of "HI HI" for laughter.  You will note everyone sends the I by 
spacing the two dits of the I.  they do not send, didididit  didit.  they 
send didididit  dit dit.  slightly spaced dit-dit is the letter "O" in 
American Morse.  You are actually sending American Morse for "HO HO". 
Saying, "HI HI" on phone is, well, pathetic.  Laugh, for crying out loud ;-)
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