[Elecraft] On CW

[Ronnie Hull]

When I was a Boy Scout and working on first class rank in 1965, you had to learn Morse, or Semaphore. Who wants to wave flags? So I memorized he code and passed first class. An assistant Scoutmaster who was a neighbor knew I was a broadcast station listener and showed up at he house one day with a cool looking old black receiver, a BC348 which he gave me
One day I was tuning around and found some really really slow code that I could sort of copy. I realized his wasn't commercial or military it was just guys talking! Mr sweet inform d they were Hams! I listened a LOT AND THE REST IS HISTORY!
I had a 15wpm sped before I even took my novice!

Ronnie W5SUN

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 31, 2017, at 1:54 PM, Alan <n1al at sonic.net> wrote:
> 
> I learned Morse code the "wrong" way.  I had built a Knight-Kit Star Roamer, a very simple tube-type shortwave receiver that was mainly for AM reception but could "kind-of" receive CW.  In the back of the manual they had the Morse code written out in dots and dashes.
> 
> So I memorized a couple of letters (E and T since they were the simplest) and started listening.  Every once in awhile I could hear a letter that sounded like a single dot or dash, so I was pretty sure those were E and T.
> 
> Then I added a few more letters hoping to hear a complete word.  I think the first complete word I copied was "THE".  Then I added more and more characters (starting with the most common ones) until I had the complete alphabet, numbers and symbols.
> 
> One advantage of this method is you never get caught on a speed "plateau" because you are listening at full speed from the beginning.
> 
> Alan N1AL
> 
> 
> 
>> On 10/31/2017 11:26 AM, rkruse at johngalt.biz wrote:
>>> On 10/31/2017 2:02 PM, engineercm wrote:
>>> Thank you so much for articulating the magic about CW.
>> As a teen I tried to learn Morse Code and never was able to get very far.  With Morse as a condition for getting a license, I never thought about getting a Ham License although I was very heavy into electronics and got my First Class Radiotelephone License.  (To show my age, the testing only had one transistor question; all the rest were tubes.)
>> When I discovered that Morse Code had been removed as a requirement (2014 or so) I began studying for my tests and made Extra within a few months.
>> I have  K3S that I am about to put on the air, on SSB to begin because that is what I currently understand.
>> I have had CW recommended, but am unwilling to repeat the head banging experience I went through 50+ years ago.
>> Now that I've given the history, my question to those of you who are gung-ho on CW is; how did you begin the learning process?  Is there some secret that I missed?
>> 73
>> Ray
>> KK4WPB
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