[Elecraft] OT Learning Morse anew

[KENT TRIMBLE]

I thoroughly agree with Kev about "getting on the air."

I teach two and sometimes three Morse Code classes every Saturday 
morning.  The students all KNOW the code.  They can accurately copy 10 
WPM and above, and can send quite decently.  But no matter how much I 
encourage, cajole, or "coddle," they resist my pleas to get "on the air" 
for all kinds of reasons, but primarily two -- either no one comes back 
to them or all they can find are speed demons who won't slow down.

The worse thing the FCC ever did for amateur radio (in my opinion) was 
the elimination of the non-renewable Novice license with the concomitant 
doing away of the Novice sub-bands.  Those were safe-harbors for 
neophytes to find each other, work each other, and improve each other 
without feeling intimidated.  The non-renewable aspect served to 
motivate those who were desirous of deeper involvement in 
communications, and to give a graceful exit to those who weren't.

All the computer programs and well-structured academies in-the-world are 
simply no substitute for good old-fashioned one-on-one Morse Code work 
between two eager and nervous operators.  That's how you learn best and 
how you learn quickest. And an even greater dividend is that you learn 
about propagation, procedures, tuning skills, how receivers work, signal 
paths, solar effects, antenna fundamentals, and a host of other things 
that can't be learned on a laptop, no matter how well the application is 
executed or the content designed.

73,

Kent  K9ZTV



On 6/12/2017 9:43 AM, Scott Manthe wrote:
> How in the world is someone learning something in a way that most 
> suits them "coddling?" People learn things differently, even Morse. 
> Finding the way that best suits someone is not coddling them, it's 
> helping them to learn efficiently.
>
> Scott N9AA
>
>
> On 6/12/17 8:18 AM, Kevin - K4VD wrote:
>> ​I learned code by memorizing 5 wpm and then getting on the air and 
>> having
>> as many contacts as I could. Nothing fancy, no coddling. Just do it.
>>
>> 73,
>> Kev
>> ​