[Elecraft] K3 CW text decoder

Mon Jul 23 16:38:49 EDT 2012

Bad habit??? Actually, I have found it to be a great device for helping me in increasing my code speed. It allows me to enter into QSOs where the speed would be a problem and as a result as I copy along with the decoder and am beginning to copy words not characters in my head. I use a keyboard for sending quite a bit. As one of advanced age with the accompanying joint problems as well as coordination issues, after a short interval on the paddles I am afraid my code becomes erratic. With the keyboard, I am good to go.

I had to copy 20WPM to graduate from Radioman School (USN) and go on to CT School for my secondary training. Fortunately the Navy recognized I would never be a great CW operator and I was placed in the non-morse "O Branch".  Since O Branch guys had to pass the 20WPM code test to advance in grade, I had to wait quite a while until the forces that be decided that was bit of a stretch for us, and dropped that requirement. So instead of banging on a typewriter, I finished out my tour in a R&D position at Cheltenham, MD. Great fun, new toys, and learned a lot that has stuck with me throughout the years.

The desire to be proficient in code has never left me and at 79 (almost) and 58 (almost) years as an amateur operator I am still looking for improvement. :-))  The decoder is helping me achieve those goals.

73s Jim, W4ATK

On Jul 23, 2012, at 3:15 PM, dmoes at nexicom.net wrote:

> Coming from a guy that is trying very hard to learn code,  Its hard to 
> resist the text decoder but have only used it as a crutch in contests. 
> When I am just having day to day QSOs I plod along without the 
> decoder helping me.  After well over a year of learning CW I find that 
> I would have been part of that 70% going off to cook school.   I am 
> struggling and sometimes feel like giving it all up and throw out the 
> key.   I made the mistake of starting slow and I think that is part of 
> my problem now.   so for the last little while, at same advice of a 
> local CW champion, I have been listening to other QSOs plus and using  
> the learning program "just learn Morse Code"  sending at least 20WPM 
> or faster either random words and abreviations or some text files.   I 
> did have a text file of some 500 plus QSOs  that were great to use for 
> learning but cant find it.
> 
> As for the CW decoder  its nice to have in contests for a beginner but 
> I think it could also become a bad habit.
> 
> 
> David Moes
> VE3DVY
> 
> 
> On Monday 23/07/2012 at 9:43 am, Guy Olinger K2AV  wrote:
>> In the later years, since the no-code decision in USA licensing
>> particularly, I have noted an increase of contest QSO's where the 
>> other end
>> obviously copies 25 WPM somehow and only sends 8-10 wpm, and that 
>> clearly
>> on a hand key.
>> 
>> The flurry of complaints, when 4.51 partially unglued the CW text 
>> decode on
>> the K3, further confirms it.
>> 
>> As someone who could copy 20 WPM at age 14, and can still copy 50-60 
>> wpm in
>> my head, it is hard to imagine listening to code and not simply
>> understanding it, like someone talking to me.  I've asked some folks 
>> why
>> the difficulty learning code, and they relate something that usually 
>> sounds
>> like the "13 WPM barrier" tale.
>> 
>> As it turns out, the old way to learn code is all wrong as a universal
>> method.  Code needs to be learned like a language, and at 20 wpm to 
>> start
>> with.   But that's not how it's done the old way.   The old way has 
>> been
>> around since WWII and the Army Signal Corps. Memorize the alphabet 
>> with
>> visual dots and dashes beside it.  Then just keep at it until you 
>> don't
>> need the card any more.  Do it with a typewriter from the get go.
>> Eventually a sound in the ear is directly linked to a typewriter key,
>> copied autonomically, and you can carry on an unrelated conversation 
>> at the
>> same time.  Buggers don't know what they've copied until they read it 
>> on
>> the page.  Really.
>> 
>> OF COURSE that worked, FOR THEIR PURPOSES.  People CAN learn code that 
>> way.
>> But quite MORE CANNOT.  What did army do?  They sent 100 draftees into 
>> a
>> class and then kept the 30 best in the signal corp and sent the other 
>> 70
>> back to the infantry.  That WOULD work for an army.  But it clearly is 
>> not
>> a universal method, and using dash dot cards prevalently in hamdom all
>> these years produces a 70% who gave up on code, and now use CW 
>> decoders in
>> CW contests because CW contests are FUN!!! and CW covers distance way
>> better than SSB.
>> 
>> So what's this cr*p about learning code at 20 WPM?  NOBODY can 
>> translate 20
>> wpm sound to dididahdahdidit and then to question mark by looking at 
>> the
>> card, at 20 WPM.
>> 
>> Well, you're exactly right, of course they can't, and that's the 
>> point.
>> THAT METHOD is doomed to failure for 70% of those who try it.
>> 
>> CW needs to be learned from 20 wpm code SOUNDS.   The *WORD* "and" at 
>> 40
>> wpm has a distinctive sound that has nothing to do with letters.  The 
>> WORD
>> "and" has the same exact sound at 20, 35, 50 and 75 wpm, if the 
>> sending and
>> receiving hasn't mushed the sound and made it indistinct at  higher 
>> speeds.
>> Not hearing it at 75 is a matter of INDISTINCTNESS or not 
>> concentrating,
>> it's not copy speed.  If it's distinct the word "and"  sounds the same 
>> at
>> any speed.
>> 
>> One will not be able to copy German at 50 wpm, if you don't know the 
>> SOUND
>> of German words in CW.
>> 
>> It's like listening to an auctioneer talking really fast.  The issue 
>> is
>> making your mind stay up with him and how clearly he ennunciates his 
>> fast
>> words.
>> 
>> New way.  Code learners hear the sounds of most common letters at 20 
>> wpm
>> right off the bat.  E  T  A N.  You memorize the SOUND,  no visual 
>> dots and
>> dashes, no repeating dits and dahs to oneself.  You learn the SOUND of 
>> the
>> letter, first off.  Then learn words:   eat   tea   net  at  an  ten
>> Speed is never an issue.  Ever.  Almost nobody fails in this method.
>> 
>> You don't need to text decode that code.  You just listen to it, just 
>> like
>> listening to SSB.  Except CW has that 10 dB advantage and you get a 
>> lot
>> more signals in the same space.
>> 
>> Contact W0UCE.   See w0uce.net   Life can be good.  Listen to a CW QSO 
>> as
>> you walk around the room doing something else.  Keep firmware 4.51.
>> 
>> 73, Guy.
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