[HCRA] CW vs Texting

Sun May 15 13:01:20 EDT 2005

I have operated a lot of CW over my 47+ years in ham radio, and my ear
tells me that Chip sent that message well in excess of 22 WPM, math
calculations aside. In any event, that would be pretty slow CW for guys
like Chip and Ken to use, especially in a competition like this. I
conduct typical CW QSOs these days at speeds of 30 WPM or better. 

And while I was drafting this response, I saw Steve's forward of Ken
Miller's posting indicating they'd decided to use 28-30 WPM, which, he
said (in case you missed that post) was the fastest he could write
legibly.

Jim makes a good point about practice, however. It took me MANY years to
get good at CW, and it was only persistence that got me there. 

73, Rick, N1RL 

-----Original Message-----
From: hcra-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:hcra-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Jim Mullen
Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2005 10:11 AM
To: HCRA Mailing List (HCRA Mailing List)
Subject: RE: [HCRA] CW vs Texting

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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
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