[Elecraft] Fwd: Re: [OT] increasing CW copy speed: practice slow -v- practice fast

[Robert Harmon]

I noticed that musically inclined folks seem to learn morse quicker.
I wonder why that is ?
BTW I hope we havent been on this non elecraft topic too long on the forum !

73,
Bob
K6UJ

On 12/7/15 8:44 PM, Kevin Stover wrote:
> Absolutely there are differences in how peoples brains are wired.
>
> My brother got his license 15 years ago.
>
> He was a music major and is a band director, all of the rigs in his 
> shack have the side tone set to 440 Hz, A above middle C. It's been a 
> musical tuning standard for ages. Once he got the tone of the cw being 
> received and sent set to a standard he knows quite well his CW 
> abilities just exploded. He moved past me like white lightning in his 
> copy ability. He's doing 40 wpm without breaking a sweat, is net 
> control for the Iowa 80m CW net and mastered the Vibroplex bug inside 
> of a month.
>
> I'm coming up on my 25th year licensed.
> I'm an IT guy, network engineer.
> I've always been math/logic and  mechanically inclined.
> I can sub-net IPV4 networks in my head.
> I struggled learning code. I bought both the ARRL and 73 magazine tapes.
> My first try on a morse exam was a flaming failure. 5 wpm test set up 
> in a huge auditorium at the local hospital.
> We all sat at the front listening to a boom box...and the echo off the 
> back wall 60' away. I locked up.
> I did finally learn enough to pass the 13wpm test and later the 20 but 
> it took a lot of work.
> I found the Koch method and the G4FON software 10 years ago. I can now 
> do 30 wpm comfortably, 40 in a contest.
>
> The Vibroplex bug my wife bought me still taunts and insults me. I'm 
> much more comfortable with the single lever paddle I have and my 
> Winkey USB.
>
>
> On 12/7/2015 8:12 PM, Robert G Strickland wrote:
>> Don...
>>
>> For sure, individual differences make for a big difference, both in 
>> the rate of learning and the appropriateness of any one approach. I 
>> think we all agree that "stretching your current copying speed" is 
>> the only way to get faster. That's certainly my experience. I think 
>> my curiosity comes down to how much "stretch" is the sweet spot 
>> [individual difference aside]. Lots of stretch - few characters/words 
>> copied, versus some stretch - most characters/words copied.
>>
>> Speaking of individual factors... I was just practicing with Rufz and 
>> noticed how long I "hang" on the first character which inevitably 
>> leads to subsequent errors. So, I pushed myself to almost "ignore" 
>> the first character and move right along. Overall error rate dropped 
>> significantly. So, yes, lots going on. Nothing beats practicing, for 
>> sure. Have a good day.
>>
>> ...robert
>