Do you mean that you can't read CW at ANY speed Paul? Assuming that you know the Morse characters, I'd suggest the W1AW code transmissions for copy practice or one of the CW "tutor" programs, or both. If you use a tutorial program I recommend that you do NOT use a "Farnsworth" type program in which characters are sent very fast, but with large spaces in between them. That's an excellent system to learn CW quickly, but it can backfire on the Ham bands. The idea behind the Farnsworth method is that the spacing between letters is diminished until you are receiving CW with the correct spacing at the speed you wanted, but in real life on the Ham bands one must be able to read any speed from less than 10 to 20 or so for casual operating. Of course, you can find faster and slower ops, but I'm speaking of the 90% of 'casual operating' and rag-chewing on CW.
I have met several ops who learned the Farnsworth method to pass the test, then had to relearn CW almost from "scratch" before they could operate on the air. They would read CQ sent at 8 wpm as T E T E T T E T. Doesn't work! I have always advocated getting "on the air" as quickly as possible. In my experience, nothing whets the receiving skills with more enjoyment than real life contacts at whatever speed you can handle. Just be sure you are sending at the speed you want to receive. Any good operator always matches the other station's speed as long as he/she can do it competently. So if you want to receive at 10 wpm, be certain your aren't sending at 15 wpm! And don't be afraid to ask the other station to QRS PSE. One of the things many ops tell me gets in the way of their receiving is simply on-air jitters. I can understand that. Shoot, I had on-air jitters on the old Novice bands in the early 50's so bad I can still remember them! And the Novice bands we had then were wonderful; A chunk of the band filled with newcomers all thrashing around trying to figure out how to operate (and get out of our own back yards - almost every rig was homebrew and no one had heard of an SWR meter!). I can imagine that it's a little more intimidating today without that well-defined playground for getting started. Still, it's the rare op who won't make time and QRS for a newcomer. Just be sure you are sending at your receiving speed, and if the other station doesn't match it, ask QRS PSE. I'd suggest 40 or 80 meters for initial operating. The reason is that the cdx on those bands are usually more stable for short skip or ground wave contacts - the easiest way to get steady good signals. That's not to say you must have any particular skill level before trying any band. I occasionally hear of a newcomer who says an OT warned him to stay away from 20 meters until he had "experience". Utter nonsense! But the higher bands are more likely to experience quick propagation changes that make copy go from perfect to impossible in a matter of seconds. That can be very frustrating when you need to get repeats of his name or QTH. It's perfectly all right to make your QSO's simple REPT, NAME, QTH exchanges if you find it hard to think while operating. I've been pounding brass for over half a century so far, and I'd forgotten just how hard it can be for some new ops to think of what to say while at the key, and that raises the stress level and interferes with copy too. I have a hunch that my first 100 QSO's were nothing but: RPT, NAME, QTH 73 OM, SK. If that's the case, try writing down some information you can simply copy, such as a description of your station, information about your QTH, etc. You can even write down some info about learning the code that you can send was needed, e.g.: NEW CW OP HR OM. PSE BEAR WITH ME. TRYING TO GET ON AIR PRACTICE TO IMPROVE MY CW. Put this stuff on cards so you can refer to it as needed during a QSO so you can just sit at the key and copy it. I have a buddy who had learned Farnsworth and he overcame that training by spending many hours puttering around his house and shack just listening to CW on his K2. Listening to W1AW, listening to any strong QSO he happened to find, trying to pick out letters. That helped his ability to follow CW at a range of speeds in spite of QRN and QSB and helped him start to copy words "in his head". Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Paul Bartlett Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2004 9:26 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net; Second Class Operators' Club; E-Q&A Subject: [Elecraft] CW Hi all, I've mumbled on about this on a couple of occasions on several lists. I'm trying to bring my Morse up to an acceptable standard. I've tried a number of approaches but so far nothing seems to work for me. Oddly, I can send at modest speeds but seem to be almost completely unable to read incoming. My nice K2 is sitting forlornly at the back of the bench. Any suggestions? Paul _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
