[Elecraft] K3: An Observation for Struggling Brass-Pounders

Ron D'Eau Claire ron at cobi.biz
Fri Nov 9 23:46:38 EST 2007


Tnx Rob!

He sent me this e-mail privately and I encouraged him to post it here since
my comments were made with zero experience with such devices in learning the
code. Back in 1950 a few enterprising folks had devised relatively simple
tape "inkers" that printed dots and dashes on a strip of paper. That was
about it, and they didn't work well even of one could afford to buy or build
one. It wasn't until I could actually recognize and write the characters
that I first decoded what those Morse signals were saying, not just Hams but
the shortwaves were filled with them back then. 

It's easy to make a tool become a crutch. I am genuinely pleased with his
observations. 

I'm reminded of learning to fly back in 1956. After about 10 hours of flight
time with an instructor sitting behind me, his hands ready to touch the
tandem controls of the little Aeronca 7AC (like a Piper "cub") if I needed
help, I was feeling pretty good about my ability to get us off the ground,
make some turns and get back onto the ground again in one piece. Then came
the day he said, as we taxied down the strip ready to make another take-off
and landing, "stop here". I did and he got out. I was sitting there with my
jaw hanging down to my knees. NO WAY was I ready to fly this thing without
him in the back seat. 

All he said was, "It's time you did this alone. Just remember she's a little
livelier without my weight in the back seat". Before I could reply he
latched the door and stepped back. 

That is one of life's moments one never forgets. The run down the runway,
holding a little rudder to compensate for the engine torque, the takeoff,
yes, a little quicker than usual, the climb a little faster than usual,
turns through the pattern and then floating, hanging in the sky a bit more
than usual "over the fence" at the end of the runway without his weight,
before the landing are all lost in a maze of thousands of such landings over
the years, but that moment when it was me and the sky alone for the very
first time I'll never forget. 

Those are lifetime memories, just like the first QSO on CW. 

Forget the fear. It's natural and meaningless. Go after the experience and
embrace it. 

Thank you Rob! He's another of many thousands of true Hams who will
patiently help you through those first CW QSO's. After all, the difference
between your first solo flight and your first CW QSO is that you can
*always* walk away from your first QSO! But don't be surprised if your legs
aren't just a little rubbery just the same! 

Ron AC7AC 



-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Rob Locher W7GH
Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 3:50 PM
To: Elecraft Discussion List
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3: An Observation for Struggling Brass-Pounders


On Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:08:24 -0800, Ron D'Eau Claire <ron at cobi.biz> wrote:

> This is a great feature for anyone who wants to hone their CW skills 
> from the most basic level on the air. As a  Novice myself back in '52 who
> could
> barely get through a short signal exchange before my arm 'fell off' or my
> last pencil point broke in my nervous hand I believe that actual on-air
> experience is the fastest way to build CW confidence and skill.

Hi Ron,

Last weekend I had an hour or so to operate in the Sweepstakes.  After
having been licensed about a year, and on the air for nine months, the 2006
Sweepstakes was my first ever contest: talk about jumping into the deep end
of the pool!  (I ended up getting massacred with five QSOs for zero points;
I had mis-copied something in every QSO.)

Anyway, this Sweepstakes I was starting to get the hang of it.  My
comfortable ragchew copying speed is about 15-18 wpm, and my contest speed
is as high as 30 wpm for a simple exchange, or about 22-25 wpm under
Sweepstakes conditions.

Someone had given me a Morse decoder based on IK3OIL's design, which has a
NE567 decoding the tones and a PIC translating the Morse.  Usually it
doesn't work very well, because a crash of static will be interpreted as a
dit.  But when I was working some of the loud stations last weekend with the
RF gain of my K2 turned way down, I noticed that my decoder box was working
perfectly!

Well my new-found toy became a crutch very quickly.  I soon found myself not
even listening, and instead watching the text scroll by.  I switched it off
after ten minutes, and was much happier.

My opinion is that a Morse decoder does more harm than good for a learner.
Maybe it might be helpful for those first few terrifying QSOs (which are
still quite vivid in my memory), but I think that the learner would be far
better off learning to trust his or her own decoding apparatus.

73,
- Rob W7GH

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