[Hallicrafters] CW training?

Sun Aug 25 19:20:22 EDT 2013

Actually they are doing you a favor by putting you out on the back 40. Less interference to and from! Our group this year wanted everyone to be in a big party tent so they could have everyone linked on a wireless router to make scoring easier, believe it or not. Well Ken and I fought and kept our spot about 800 ft from the "circus" not to mention my laptop would not run their "latest" software. Had to hand log, oh darn! We still whupped 'em. A good SB102 with its bulletproof front end and an intelligent operating plan kept us CW boys operating with practically no interference despite operating adjacent bands in the same tent.

Howie WB2AWQ

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 25, 2013, at 3:28 PM, "Mike Everette" <radiocompass at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Field Day... ain't it amazin'!  CW qsos still count double points (YeeeeESSSSS!).  
> 
> I worked FD in 2005 for one group, the only CW op, and racked up more than half their number of Qs in 2A class.  Was invited back the next year... but they set me up as their GOTA station (!!??!!).  Was it because I'd embarrassed them the year before?  As GOTA, you're under a separate call, remember?
> 
> The group I've operated with for the past few years likes the points a longtime friend and I rack up... (we are "the CW team") but they want us to be set up a distance away from everyone else because they "don't want to have to listen to it."
> 
> The sound of GUILT perhaps?
> 
> 73
> 
> Mike
> W4DSE
> 
> 
> From: Howard Holden <holden7471 at msn.com>
> To: "Charlie T, K3ICH" <pincon at erols.com>; hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net 
> Cc: Ken Holden <djdoublexl189 at gmail.com> 
> Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2013 1:15 PM
> Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] CW training?
> 
> There are any number of methods to learn code, some good, some not so much. 
> When my kid wanted me to teach him Morse, I threw a key, oscillator, and 
> paper with the Morse alphabet and numbers at him and said "go learn it". The 
> next day we were communicating in Morse, and a month later he had his Novice 
> ticket in hand. These days he uses Morse only once a year (with a keyer and 
> paddle, and he's pretty good at it) but KB2SFS and I make a pretty good tag 
> team on Field Day, racking up most of the local club's FD score.
> 
> WB2AWQ/7
> 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Charlie T, K3ICH
> Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2013 9:32 AM
> To: hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] CW training?
> 
> When I with (the original,  RTTY/CW video terminals) Microlog Corp. in
> Gaithersburg Maryland, we were contracted by "a gov't agency" to automate
> their method of teaching Morse code.  They start with the long letters
> first, Q, P, J, L, F etc. The instruction would start by sending only those
> characters, then gradually progress through to the shorter characters.  That
> way, the impulse to count characters would be diminished.  It also resulted
> in eliminating the "change-of-mind" for example upon hearing a "1".  Is it
> A, W, J or finally 1?  If you learn 1 first, it mentally forces you to wait
> for the word space before making the decision.
> 
> The system sent the characters at a minimum of 15 WPM, which I thought was
> called the Farnsworth method.
> 
> I won't go into the details of how we implemented this, but my 15 yr old son
> went from zero code experience  to solid copy at an overall 5 WPM rate in a
> matter of about 3 to 4  total hours with 15 - 20 min. sessions!  When asked
> to send the code, after a little mechanical practice, he would send the
> letters as he heard them, at 15 WPM.
> 
> My own personal experience of learning Morse by the worst possible way, of
> looking at a Johnson Speed-X printed sheet, made it extremely hard to get
> past that 7 WPM barrier.
> 
> However, since Microlog was a very small company,  we all had multiple
> duties.  I handled customer calls, as well as testing every single receiver
> system on the air that we shipped.  It would hear the code, but the screen
> display would be delayed until the start of the next character.  In order to
> verify it's proper operation, I had to identify the character before the
> screen displayed it.  After about a year of doing this, maybe 3 hours a
> week, without my realizing it, my copy speed increased to over 25 WPM.
> This became evident, and a complete surprise to me,  when I handled the 432
> MHz station of K3LNZ/8 during that June's VHF contest.
> 
> 73, Charlie k3ICH
> 
> 
> 
> .
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Glen Zook" <gzook at yahoo.com>
> To: "Waldo Magnuson" <magnuson at mac.com>; <hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2013 10:44 AM
> Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] CW training?
> 
> 
> If one treats learning the International Morse code as learning a new,
> foreign, language that has only about 50-words, learning the code is,
> generally, pretty easy. Unfortunately, many people try to learn the code by
> "counting" the dits and dahs. Frankly, that is a sure way to failure,
> especially getting the code speed much above 5 to 7 wpm.
> 
> In this regard, the Koch method, which requires sending each letter /
> character at between 15 wpm and 20 wpm but spacing the characters so that
> the effective speed is much slower, really helps.
> 
> I have taught code classes for well over 50-years and the method that I use
> starts with the letter "A", the "B", etc. That way, one doesn't get into the
> habit of "counting". The method that uses E, I, S, H, 5 and then T, M, O,
> and 0, is a sure way to insure that people will "count" the dits and dahs!
> 
> If one listens to the "sound" of each letter the subconscious mind will
> start recognizing each letter without the need for "counting"!
> 
> Glen, K9STH
> 
> 
> Website:  http://k9sth.com
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: Waldo Magnuson <magnuson at mac.com>
> To: hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
> Cc: Skip Magnuson <magnuson at mac.com>
> Sent: Friday, August 23, 2013 6:17 PM
> Subject: [Hallicrafters] CW training?
> 
> 
> Hi, A recent comment to the forum from a younger member stated "he couldn't
> learn CW." I'm older (80) and my speed receiving can't seem to get above 5
> or 7 wpm. I was wondering for those older CWers, how many of you got your
> training in the service. Just wondering. I guess I just need to practice
> more often - that's what I'm told.
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