[HCRA] CW vs Texting

[Jim Mullen]

Gang,

I watched it last night but have to admit - I almost pulled a 'Peter' and
slept through it! I was half awake (half asleep) and didn't pick up on the
fact the young woman was part of the CW 'test'!

They were moving along at a pretty good clip. A quick analysis:

Message: "I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance"

Characters in message = 39
Average character/word = 5
Words in message      = 7.8
Time to send message   = 21 seconds

Doing the math it works out to about 22 WPM

The text massagers should have won if their speed claim was accurate. 160
characters in about a minute translates to 32 WPM - not too shabby. Were
some of the words tougher? :>)

I agree with Steve's comments, you don't get that good (either text or CW)
without practice and some skill.

And to counter the argument about how 'difficult' CW is compared to other
skills I would ask the following two questions:

1.  Does text messaging take more or less skill that CW?
2.  If the answer to #1 above is less skill, then how long do you think it
would take before you could text message at 22WPM?

I'm betting even though most people will perceive text messaging is easier
than CW it is doubtful you could text message at 22 WPM without significant
practice. And that's what it really comes down to - practice, practice,
practice. Those youngsters out there spend many hours a day sending text
messages. To expect you will be able to copy Morse code at 5 WPM with
perhaps an hour a week practice is not practical - it takes more time then
that for most people.

I always suggest 15 minutes of practice at least twice daily. More often if
possible. If you could devote an hour a day, in three or four sessions, to
practicing CW I'm certain most would be able to copy 5 WPM in a few weeks.
The most important part is to approach the task with diligence and a
positive attitude. It is so easy to say, "I don't have the knack (skill,
ear) to do this". That's the beginning of the end of your learning path.

Anyway, it was nice to see ham radio (with just a little plug by Chip) and
CW on the Tonight Show. I don't know what the public thought of the
demonstration but it certainly created some good conversation among us
amateurs!

'73 for now and good luck with your CW practice.

Jim, KK1W

-----Original Message-----
From: hcra-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:hcra-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On
Behalf Of Steve Rodowicz
Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2005 9:43 AM
To: hcra at mailman.qth.net
Cc: Peter; Jim Harrington
Subject: [HCRA] CW vs Texting


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Just so people don't get intimidated by the average of 40 years experience
of 
K7JA & K6CTW.

It doesn't take that long if the motivation is there.

I believe that at least K7JA was doing that speed in his teen & early
twenties 
(High School/College age).

Yes, the "kids" still have the advantage in learning new stuff, always have,

always will.

The rest of us can just "be all we can be".

73,
Steve - N1SR
------Hampden County Radio Association-------
An ARRL Special Services Club for over 50 years
------------http://www.hcra.org------------
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Address any comments to:
-Jim, KK1W  -  jmullen at rockys.com
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