All - I'm about to write a president's letter for our local club
publication on learning CW, and this entire thread is a good
source of ideas. Thank you.
Peter -
I learned 5 WPM in 1960 for my novice license, but never used
it. I learned 5 WPM again in 2001 for my extra, but didn't start
using it until 2013. TX5K is the first CW QSO in my log and
W6SQQ is the 2nd QSO and first rag chew. My learning CW at age
70+ is definitely an example of old dogs and new tricks.
Now I am mostly operating in contests and chasing DX with about
the same abilities as you have. I can use a straight key up to
about 18-20 WPM, but I haven't gotten the timing right for a
paddle. Most of my sending is from K3 memories or my contest logger.
My survival strategies are:
In contests I only search and pounce. I can hear the other
op's call many times and get it right. I'm working on getting
good enough to run.
With my 100W and wire antennas, I get a lot of chances to
listen to DX stations handle other callers. It is good practice
to try to decode the call signs they're working. (It also helps
locate the caller in the pileup.)
I use the K3's decoder and display in the P3's SVGA. That
keeps the decoded data from disappearing off the screen before I
read it. (Note that the SVGA display can't be used if the
computer is also reading the decoded data via the K3 utility or
some other program.) The K3's decoding acts as a check on my
head decoding.
If the DX is only rarely identifying, I see if I can find him
on the QRZ.COM DX spotting network. It is a lot easier to verify
a call sent faster than you can read than it is to copy it.
LS is absolutely correct (below). When you get to 20+ WPM, CW is
no longer an encoding system. It is a language of its own and
should be approached like any foreign language. The big win for
contesting and DX is that the vocabulary is so small. For things
like 5NN, TU, CQ, DE, TEST, UP etc., I don't even think of the
letters. The CW sequence is a spoken word and understandable as such.
I'll keep hanging in there and hope you do too.
73 Bill AE6JV
On 3/28/16 at 8:10 AM, lstavenha...@hotmail.com (lstavenhagen) wrote:
As for copying in one's head, I know I'm drifting slightly off topic, but
just a couple tips for free that helped me:
- the key to getting above about 25 wpm on plain language is to start
learning the CW for entire words or parts of words: "the", "and", and
segments like "tion", "ing", etc. Instead of discrete letters, learn what
entire words or frequent endings sound like. Then in a pinch you can decode
individual letters that you may have missed by not having to decode the
familiar-sounding ending or even guess from context what the entire word is.
- for call signs, which are basically just code groups, be familiar with the
patterns - 1-2 letter/number/2 or 3 letters, etc. That will help you store
those and limit the amount of brain power you have to devote to decoding a
call at high speed. Not infallible but it helps.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Frantz | Ham radio contesting is a | Periwinkle
(408)356-8506 | contact sport. | 16345
Englewood Ave
www.pwpconsult.com | - Ken Widelitz K6LA / VY2TT | Los Gatos,
CA 95032
______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
