[Lowfer] LEARNING THE CODE

[Lyle Koehler]

Regarding the character speed:  As Dex points out, it is difficult to gain
speed if you start out with long element times. But there's an even more
pressing reason for starting with faster characters. The code test will be
given with the "Farnsworth" method, in which characters are sent at a higher
speed but with the spacing adjusted to yield an effective rate of 5 WPM. If
you start out with the character speed set too slow, you will essentially
have to re-learn the sounds of the characters in order to pass the test.

Quoting from the ARRL VEC manual:

"The National Council of VECs adopted a Morse code testing standard at its
July 1999 meeting announcing that by July 1, 2001, all Morse code test
messages must use the Farnsworth code generation method, and that the
character speed must be between 13 and 15 WPM."

I believe the ARRL VEC team exam tapes now use a character speed of 15 WPM
and a pitch of 720 Hz. Those would be good settings for the code practice
software.

Lyle, K0LR