[Fists] Frustrated

[Ian Fulton]

Hi Dan

I'm beginning to like you, as it is not often I get someone that agrees 
with me HI HI

I was trained to 30wpm Morse but was also trained to touch type at 60wpm 
putting the two together and a good book to read, the Morse went in my 
ears and out my fingers leaving my brain to read the the book. (I was a 
lot younger then)

I think that throwing away the pen is the hardest part of Morse as it is 
like a comforter and you feel secure with it, it is only in recent years 
that I forced myself to take the QSO in my head and as you say if can be 
a bit frightening. Like yourself I take down the callsign and little 
bits of information but feel more relaxed operating. Too relaxed once 
when operating the GB2CWP station that our club runs in the Radio Museum 
at Lincolnshire Heritage Aviation Centre. We tend to get a lot of 
visitors round us when operating and I was having a standard QSO with a 
DL station, but got interested in a conversation behind me when sending 
and I completely forgot where I was in my reply to the DL station. How 
to feel a LID in one lapse of concentration.

On the theme of fast Morse over 20wpm to 30wpm (I consider Morse over 
30wpm to be a digital mode as it is usually computer generated and 
should not be considered Morse) and taking Morse in your head rather 
than write  it down. We are all getting older and slower, you can send 
30wpm to me which I can copy in my head, but you will only get 18wpm 
back as I am comfortable at that speed with my pump handle. If I am 
asked what speed should I try to attain,  my answer would be at a speed 
you feel comfortable with. Once the main characters have been embedded 
in the brain it is up to the individual how much time he dedicates to 
increasing his speeds and like you said it takes hard work and 
determination to achieve greater speeds and if the individual is not 
dedicated then he will continue to complain about fast Morse on the 
bands. Although I say this, I will reduce my own speed to encourage the 
slower operators and give respect to the older operators with whom their 
speed has slowed with age.

This is getting slightly off my main topic, but after you chuckled at me 
I have become motivated and have set up a new web site "The Morse 
Crusader" which I hope you will contribute too. The main purpose of the 
web site will be to try to bring new learners and teachers together and 
avoid the pitfalls of learning and teaching Morse where it is possible 
to count the dots and dashes and to try get the larger societies from 
promoting this practice. 5wpm  should mean 5wpm with a character speed 
of at least 12wpm then you are not providing a hurdle for the students 
who will happily continue to increase their speed.

73's

Ian G4XFC
Webmaster www.g5fz.co.uk
Member of Fists #13276, CTC, RAOTA & RSGB
RSGB Registered Morse Code Assessor

On 08/09/2011 14:41, NA7U wrote:
> Sending CC's may delay your post. If you feel that your post needs to go to more than one destination please send them separately.
>
>
>
> Couldn't agree more with Ian that Morse should be learned primarily by
> an auditory method, nothing else makes much sense. All the methods I
> listed imply that.
>
> In an ideal world you wouldn't even write the letters as G4FON
> recommends (and how do you do that above 20 wpm anyway?). You never
> really become proficient (conversational) with Morse until you learn to
> head copy. Even more frightening than my first CW QSO was the first time
> I forced myself to lay down the pen and only head copy, hi! Of course, I
> still write the call, the name, a few notes, but not letter per letter,
> word per word.
>
> I envy the folks who have an innate musical ability and can pick up
> things like languages and Morse easily. For me, it's work and
> determination, else it doesn't get done.
>
> 73,
>
> Casey, TI2/NA7U
> cloud-warmer.blogspot.com
>
> On 9/7/2011 7:22 PM, Ian Fulton wrote:
>> Sending CC's may delay your post. If you feel that your post needs to go to more than one destination please send them separately.
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi Matt
>>
>> You say you learnt Morse the traditional way counting dots and dashes,
>> but is there a traditional way?
>>
>> Morse code is a language and it is like saying I learnt to speak english
>> by spelling the words, but you actually learnt how to speak by listening
>> to the words from your parents and you did not bother about the
>> spelling. Using the Koch Method you actually learn the characters by the
>> sound of the character not by the dots and dashes. I with 30 others
>> learnt from scratch using the Koch Method and none of us had any real
>> problem learning. The whole point is you learn 4 characters and when you
>> are happy with them you add another and when you are happy with that you
>> add another one and this is what Ray G4FON  has done with his program.
>> when you have completed all the characters you then start to shorten the
>> spaces between the characters.
>>
>> With Ray's program, the slowest character speed is 15wpm but you can set
>> it for a word speed of 3 words per minute. If someone came to me for a
>> Morse assessment at 5wpm but with the character speed of 15wpm I would
>> be happy to do it because I know he would not be hampered with counting
>> dots and dashes and all he would have to do is to keep decreasing the
>> space between the characters to improve his Morse speed.
>>
>> I agree with Casey that you must look at other sources of Morse but
>> would only recommend that when you have mastered all the characters.
>>
>> I think I can say that I am fairly experienced with Morse code and by
>> teaching and examining Morse for years I know the pitfalls and heartache
>> it can cause in the learning process also the frustrations of trying to
>> increase your speed which can be a mountain to climb for just a speed
>> increase of 5wpm. I am certainly not an expert in the subject and always
>> open to suggestions, but with a few years of operating under my belt, i
>> can see pitfalls and it is frustrating to find that people are teaching
>> others in such a way that you know the poor student is going to struggle
>> because the tutor was not experienced enough.
>>
>> When the RSGB decided to re-introduce Morse tests I was asked by the
>> Regional Manager to register as an Assessor, and was appalled by the
>> fact that they still wanted to do the 5wpm Morse test. It was ony after
>> two months of pressure from the RSGB Regional Manager that I finally
>> registered with the RSGB. and my views on the 5wpm test are well documented.
>>
>> It was nice of Dan to agree 100% with me and can see why he had a
>> chuckle as I know my frustrations will continue if nobody makes a stand,
>> but would it not be nice if a bunch of experienced old fogies were
>> consulted and some sort of standard was reached making Morse a pleasure
>> to learn, though the student has to be dedicated as well, rather than
>> someone passing the 5wpm Morse test and start teaching it.
>>
>> On another tact which Dan mentioned I was talking to a G3... tonight
>> about the "Music of Morse" and although my average speed on the pump
>> handle is 18wpm I am willing to work at 12wpm though any slower my arm
>> starts to ache. I send Morse with a Scottish accent and he said that if
>> everyone sent good Morse with correct spacing you would take the
>> pleasure out of using Morse and lose 80% of Morse operators on the band.
>>
>> Make your own minds up
>>
>> 73's
>>
>> Ian G4XFC
>> Webmaster www.g5fz.co.uk
>> Member of Fists #13276, CTC, RAOTA&   RSGB
>> RSGB Registered Morse Code Assessor
>>
>> On 07/09/2011 19:14, NA7U wrote:
>>> Sending CC's may delay your post. If you feel that your post needs to go to more than one destination please send them separately.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Matt,
>>>
>>> I probably made the most progress with the Koch method, but I would
>>> hardly recommend that you use it to the exclusion of other methods. I am
>>> using it again to try and move my speed up from about 18 wpm to 25 or
>>> more, but I mix it with other methods such as:
>>>      - listening to samples QSOs (you can find these in text form or mp3
>>> form on the 'net)
>>>      - listening to QSOs on my rig or using a WebSDR site to use their
>>> radio (easier to spot CW)
>>>      - listening to just words.
>>>      - The ARRL code practice sessions are good, also.
>>>
>>> I think G4FON has the best software for learning as you can use Koch and
>>> also listen to word files or sample QSOs (you have to bump the letter
>>> count to 40 to turn on these latter methods in the program).
>>>
>>> Next runner-up would be CW Trainer, both free programs.
>>>
>>> 73,
>>>
>>> Casey, TI2/NA7U
>>> cloud-warmer.blogspot.com
>>>
>>>
>>> On 9/7/2011 7:43 AM, Matt Maguire wrote:
>>>> Sending CC's may delay your post. If you feel that your post needs to go to more than one destination please send them separately.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I learnt morse the traditional way, counting dits and dahs, and passed the 5wpm sending and receiving test required for the Novice licence many years ago. I wonder now, if I went back in time and learned the code using Koch method with its 20wpm character speeds, would I have still been able to pass that 5wpm test ok? Has anyone here learned CW by Koch method only? How hard is it to send and receive at 5wpm? (Actually, for the sending test, I don't think there was a limit to how fast you could send. You just had to complete within the time given, which meant you had to send at least 5wpm. I think you had to do it on a straight key though).
>>>>
>>>> 73,
>>>> Matt VK2ACL.
>>>>
>>>> On 07/09/2011, at 9:59 PM, Ian Fulton wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Sending CC's may delay your post. If you feel that your post needs to go to more than one destination please send them separately.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> As the UK National Hamfest gets closer, my frustration peaks about slow
>>>>> Morse and the 5wpm Morse test. To preserve Morse code, as a society
>>>>> should FISTS not concentrate on the ethics of learning Morse code and
>>>>> speak out against bad practices, especially to national societies who
>>>>> promote them.
>>>>>
>>>>> In 1965 at the tender age of 18 I joined the RAF and was trained as a
>>>>> Wireless Operator Special and after 10 months passed out of the training
>>>>> school able to receive Morse at 20wpm and later upgrading to a Special
>>>>> Operator Telegraphy at 30wpm. /Please note the "receive" as I never
>>>>> touched a key till I was taking the Morse part of my amateur licence./
>>>>>
>>>>> I have not taught Morse for years but when I did, I always taught the
>>>>> Koch Method, as this was the way I had been trained in the RAF and I had
>>>>> found it fairly easy. Today with computers when asked for advice I
>>>>> recommend Ray G4FON's Morse Trainer as it covers the Koch Method and I
>>>>> recommend a daily intake using it.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have talked to a few M5's who took the 5wpm Morse test in the late
>>>>> 80's who would really like to progress but have found it difficult to
>>>>> get away from counting dots and dashes so have not really progressed. My
>>>>> advice to them is to re-learn Morse Code using the Koch Method. /(I was
>>>>> a Morse examiner then and objected when they brought out the 5wpm test
>>>>> also David Finley agrees with my views)/
>>>>>
>>>>> The extract below from the website of David Finley N1IRZ at
>>>>> http://www.qsl.net/n1irz/finley.morse.html"So You Want To Learn Morse"
>>>>> (/which is well worth a visit) /confirms my views.
>>>>>
>>>>> /"I fell in love with radio in grade school, but was kept off the air
>>>>> for 30 years because I found traditional code training just too
>>>>> frustrating. During those decades, I tried several times to learn Morse,
>>>>> but every time gave up in frustration and disgust -- my progress was
>>>>> just too slow./
>>>>>
>>>>> /In 1991, I became one of the first 500 people to enter ham radio by way
>>>>> of the no-code Technician license. After becoming bored with repeaters
>>>>> and HTs, I decided to make one last attempt to master the code.
>>>>> Fortunately, I stumbled on information about Koch's method, and found
>>>>> that it was the only thing that would work for me. In 1993, after
>>>>> diligent work at my computer, I took my first code test and passed the
>>>>> 20 wpm exam on the first try."/
>>>>>
>>>>> Although not an active member on air, I am always promoting Morse as it
>>>>> is my main mode of operation and I operate GB 2CWP and other special
>>>>> event stations and will also be taking my part in operating GB11NH at
>>>>> the National Hamfest as well as conducting Morse Assessmentsthere.
>>>>>
>>>>> 73's
>>>>>
>>>>> Ian G4XFC
>>>>> Webmaster www.g5fz.co.uk
>>>>> Member of Fists #13276, CTC, RAOTA&     RSGB
>>>>> RSGB Registered Morse Code Assessor
>>>>>
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