[Elecraft] Farnsworth Method

[G4ILO]

I'm glad it's not just me that has this problem. I struggled with Morse for
years due to the way I learned it to pass the test, running each letter
through a "lookup table" in my head, which was too slow a method for
anything above 12wpm.

Thanks to using what I understood was the Koch method (which seems pretty
much like your Farnsworth method) I have re-learnt the code so that I can
now instinctively recognize letters, numbers and common punctuation at
around 20-25wpm. But I still get hung up converting the letters to words at
that speed.

If you spelt something out phonetically to me, I would copy it letter by
letter and would have to have a second look at the whole thing when you
finished, to get the word itself. It's the same in CW, and by the time I
have done that I have missed the first couple of letters of the next word
and get flustered and it takes a while to pick it up again. I don't seem to
be able to copy letters AND be working out what the word could be at the
same time. (The XYL says it's because men can only do one thing at a time,
women can multi-task...)

It's easier copying on the air because the actual vocabulary used in most
contacts is quite limited and you recognize words like like NAME, QTH, RST
and so on. But I can get thrown if someone has a QTH I've never heard of. I
stick to contests or working DX where the exchange is predictable. I'm
afraid to return to a CQ, never mind call CQ myself, in case I get someone
who wants to chat and I can't follow the conversation.

-----
Julian, G4ILO  K3 s/n: 222 K2 s/n: 392
G4ILO's Shack: www.g4ilo.com
Zerobeat Ham Forums: www.zerobeat.net/smf
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