[Elecraft] Whaddayaknow... passed the Extra

[gdaught6 at stanford.edu]

James wrote...

> Just so you all know, I am in the process of learning CW.   

Good on you!!

> Hopefully within a few months, I'll be proficient enough to send and copy at
> 15wpm.  I'm actually learning at 25wpm, but I don't want to burn myself out
> too quickly.

A couple of weeks should have you completely familiar with Morse code and going 
10 wpm or more.

> Interestingly enough, I actually find it easier learning the alphabet for
> how it sounds as a complete letter, and not as dots and dashes. 

Very definitely!!!! Don't even think of dots and dashes, or of shorts and longs.  Think 
of it as learning an alphabet (which you already know!) of sounds which is all you 
have to learn  Instead of a visible written symbol for the letter, you're learning an 
audible pattern for the letter.  

An "e" sounds like "dit".  A "t" sounds like "dah".  An "i" is "didit" and NOT "dit 
dit".   "didah" is an "a"... etc.

Some people learned by little phrases that sound like the characters.  Example: 
"Charlie got it" (dahdidahdit = "c", or "charlie")  This requires translating the sound 
into a phrase, then translating the phrase into the letter.  That's an extra mental step 
and I don't recommend it. 

>  Hopefully
> if I get good enough, I can decipher entire words just by how the string of
> code sounds instead of listening for each letter and copying that way.

That will come eventually, once you are completely familiar with the alphabet, 
numerals, and a few punctuation marks.

Most of all, it's practice that makes perfect... unfortunately true here, too.

GL es 73,


George T Daughters, K6GT
CU in the California QSO Party (CQP)
October 3-4, 2009