[NLRS] Help choosing a CW key / paddle for Rover and Home

[Brent Casavant]

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003, Jonathan Fox wrote:

> I have been leaning against the straight key because I figured I could send
> readable CW sooner with a keyer/paddle than a straight key.  If the amount of
> time it took me learn to copy CW is any indication then this will be a long
> process.  I was hoping to short circuit the process a little by having a keyer
> actually form the dit and dahs vs. my brain.

In my experience and informal polling, most people who learn to copy
CW have no trouble at all sending CW at an equal or greater rate.  In
fact if you look at the ARRL license manuals, they essentially say
as much; the reason most VE sessions only require you to receive CW in
a test is that it's been found that if you can receive it, you can
almost always send it.

Now, I'm no CW maven (I also missed a lot of possible points in January
because of my poor CW skills, something I also intend to remedy before
June).  However I found that an excellent way to get the code memorized
is to practice sending "random" words by pronouncing the dits and dahs.
As a source of "random" words I would just spell out any sign I saw
along the highway/street while driving.  So if I saw a sign that read
"Stop" I'd audibly say "di-di-di dah da-da-dah di-da-da-dit" as I passed
the sign.  To improve my speed I'd start trying to get the whole thing
out before the car passed the sign in question (you know you're getting
really really good if you can do "Lyndale/Hennepin" in time!).  This was
the single most effective technique I found to learn CW.  This worked
well for me as I always drive alone -- if you have others in the car they
may look at you as if you're crazy.

Hope that helps,
Brent (KD5EMB)

-- 
Brent Casavant            http://www.angeltread.org/
44.9067N 93.0558N 907F    -.- -.. ..... . -- -...