I am convinced that the barrier most folks have is from bad habits that
allow you to unconsciously learn double and triple conversion in your head.
when you are slow.. hear the sound, count the elements, determine what
it means, then convert to writing..
I am 100% convinced that doing anything to fix that problem is the only
solution to the problem..
My real life story, which has been applied to multiple other people and
has fixed the problem in most cases..
Back in the mid 70es I was trying to break the 13 WPM barrier to get my
General License.. I was working several stations per night but not
getting anywhere with my speed.. A friend at work who was not a ham,
but taught CW in the Army finally heard from me enough and said "are you
free tonight and do you have a code practice oscillator" I did so over
he came..
He grabbed a book from the shelf, handed me some paper and said..
I am going to transmit at 15WPM for the next 15 minutes. I want to you
write each letter down, don't worry about the mistakes I don't care
about them.. I will not stop.
After the 15 minutes he took the paper and started writing down
letters... He only wrote down the first letter I missed in a string
when done he said..
you are double translating in your head and there are 6 elements you
really don't know. So after a cup of coffee, he sent me those 6 letters
for the next hour at 20 wpm, no writing only saying the letter out loud
as I heard them. Spacing was also fast.. no farnsworth, don't even
think it existed them.. if I had it wrong he didn't say anything, he
just kept repeating the character till I had it correct then he went
on. after a break, we then spent another hour doing the same thing
with all other elements and then he went home.
The next night he came over and I not only was at 13wpm but could write
at 18 wpm 100%.
then he said.. now get on the air, from now on you are only allowed to
write name, call, address if sent, otherwise copy in your head.. you
now know all elements of the code, if you are writing you are
translating from ear to mind to hand, you do not want to translate at
all, anyone is capable of writing from memory without stopping to
translate..
problem fixed.. and have been enjoying CW since then.. I have used
this method about 10 times myself on other hams, and in all but one case
the problem was fixed...
the moral.. listen to faster code than you need, and put down the
pencil and paper.. Fred
Fred Moore
email: f...@fmeco.com
wd8...@gmail.com
phone: 321-217-8699
On 6/12/17 5:59 AM, Rick M0LEP wrote:
> I only allowed myself to buy my KX3 after I'd completed a number of CW
> QSOs. I stumbled through most of them, but I confidently expected the
> KX3 would provide me with an incentive to improve my Morse, and I'd get
> better at it quite quickly. It didn't quite work out that way, though.
> I've had my KX3 since February 2013, and I'm still mostly stumbling
> along at sub-12wpm.
>
> I don't think there is any such thing as "The Perfect Method". I was
> sold on "Koch" (with a side order of "Farnsworth"), which some folk
> swear is the One True Way to learn Morse, but the Koch incremental
> approach turned out to be a complete waste of time for me.
>
> I suspect good teaching in a face-to-face class would probably have
> worked a lot better, but that sort of thing is pretty much impossible to
> find these days. The CWOps courses seem to get quite a bit of praise,
> and while they're not quite face-to-face (as they rely on something like
> Skype) they are at least led by real people rather than machines. Their
> main drawback is that they seem to have a waiting list well over a year
> long.
>
> At the end of the day, I expect improving your Morse mostly comes down
> to practice, practice, practice. Having that practice guided by an
> experienced teacher would probably help a lot. If you can, find some
> local experienced Morse mentors, listen to their advice, and then
> practice, practice, practice...
>
> ....and try to get out and operate at whatever speed you can manage.
>
> On Sun 11 Jun Jim Sr Sturges wrote:
>> I think I learned code all wrong. Can't ever seem to get my speed up.
>>
>> Surely some of the astute among you _know_ The Perfect Method, and I hope
>> you will share?
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