[South Florida DX Association] Zen and the Art of Radiotelegraphy, By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU (or The Psychology Of Learning Morse Code)

[Mike Williams]

Every year at Dayton, the displays sponsored by Vibroplex, Begali, and Morse 
Express are 2 or 3 deep, and that's not all due to the Begali gals that are 
there.  That should tell us all something about how
"dead" the mode is on the ham bands.  See you on the low end and the  CW 
contests...

Good DX!


73 de W4DL   Mike




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill" <bmarx at bellsouth.net>
To: "aSFDXA" <SFDXA at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2010 9:24 AM
Subject: [South Florida DX Association] Zen and the Art of Radiotelegraphy, 
By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU (or The Psychology Of Learning Morse Code)


Zen and the Art of Radiotelegraphy

By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU

One thing that I find amusing about Morse Code is that the more people claim 
that it’s dead, the more people there are that rise up to defend and promote 
it. Note that I said "defend and promote it," not actually use it, but that 
topic is for another column.

Having said that, let me direct you to a new tome on our ancient art, Zen 
and the Art of Radiotelegraphy by Carlo Consoli, IK0YGJ. This book is 
available as a free download in the original Italian 
(http://www.qsl.net/ik0ygj/enu/ZART_ita_v20100826.pdf) and in an English 
translation (http://www.qsl.net/ik0ygj/enu/ZART_r20101008m.pdf).

What makes this book different from others is that instead of concentrating 
on the mechanics of learning and using Morse Code, the author spends a good 
deal of time talking about the psychology of learning this skill. To succeed 
in learning Morse Code, Consoli advises that we need to change our approach 
to learning:


"When learning CW, therefore, we must establish a new component in our 
self-image and, when doing so, we need to be relaxed. Always practice during 
the same time of day and in a place where you can experience positive 
feelings of comfort and pleasure. When we make a mistake we are always ready 
to blame ourselves. This is the way we learnt from our environment during 
childhood, often accepting any fault as our own error or weakness.

This potentially destructive mechanism can be used to build a positive 
self-image, rather than demolish it. A mistake must be considered a signal, 
pointing us in the right direction. If you fail, let your mistake pass away, 
with no blame or irritation. Learn CW in a relaxed mood, enjoy the pleasure 
of learning something new, repeat your exercises every day and be confident 
in the self-programming abilities of your self-image. Just a few minutes a 
day: you can take care of your 'more serious' stuff later on."

Consoli also has some interesting things to say about getting faster. He 
agrees with me that it’s essential to abandon pencil and paper and start 
copying in one’s head. We also agree that at this point, you need to start 
using a paddle instead of a straight key.

He has analyzed the situation a lot more than I have, though. When hams ask 
me how I learned to copy in my head, all I can do is to relate my own 
experience, which is that one day, I just went cold turkey. I put down the 
pencil and paper and never copied letter-by-letter ever again.

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to work for a lot of operators. If that 
doesn't work for you, Consoli says that what you need to do is to program 
yourself to copy in your head. You do this, he says, by relaxing and 
visualizing. Visualize yourself as a high-speed operator, and one day, you 
will be one.

That seems to have worked for him. He is a member of the Very High Speed 
Club (VHSC), First Class Operator’s Club (FOC), and has been clocked at 
copying over 70 wpm.

Will it work for you? I'm not sure, but if you haven’t been successful with 
other methods to improve your code speed, then Consoli's methods are 
certainly worth a try.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
When not pondering the psychology of operating CW, Dan actually operates CW. 
You'll find him almost every day on either 40m, 30m, and as we transition to 
winter here in North America, 80m. You can e-mail him with comments or 
questions atcwgeek at kb6nu.com.

______________________________________________________________
SFDXA mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sfdxa
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:SFDXA at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html