Hi Tom, Nice to hear from you.
On Thu, 21 Sep 2006 18:28:12 -0500, Tom Hammond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Hi Matt: > >Sorry to hear you're having problems. > >You wrote: > >>I'm really disappointed that CW isn't working for me. A week after I >>received my tech license, I ordered my K2 and the Elecraft Hex Key to >>go with it. After building the K2, I started the CW work with Adams' >>CW course and was happily working my through the letters before I even >>looked at dots and dashes. >> >>You can imagine how I felt when I discovered that many of the >>characters I had learned were actually the opposite of what I thought >>they were when listening to them. > >Obviously, I've missed something major here... are you saying that >the Adams code course taught you the wrong characters? No, no, Tom, I started listening to the course before I ever looked at Morse code charts. When listening to a string of 'A' for example, I was hearing 'dah dit' instead of 'dit dah'. I had worked my through the first five or six characters before I realized that something was wrong. I recognized A B C D & E when heard individually (as strings of each), but when heard together, they fell apart. It was then that I looked at the actual charts and realized that the sounds I thought I was hearing were not the sounds on the CD. It slowly dawned upon me that I couldn't tell the difference between the dits and the dahs. I could tell that they were different, that something changed when going from a dit to a dah, but I heard an identical change when going from a dah to a dit. In other words, I seem to perceive only a sound, the information necessary to know which sound (dit or dah) is lost. >>Somewhere along the way, I tried sending CW instead of listening to >>it and found that I could learn Morse code and send all of the >>letters, but it just didn't help when listening. > >SENDING CW is almost always much easier than receiving it, that's >why, when I teach CW classes (and I've been teaching them for 25-30 >years), I never even give my students a key until they have already >completed learning CW BY EAR! That was my approach as well until I realized the errors I was making. Then I thought perhaps if I learned the Morse alphabet first, it would help me identify the sounds I was hearing. That is, if I knew that an 'A' was dit dah and then listened to 'A' I would hear the 'dit dah' instead of 'dah dit'. At first, it seemed to help. After awhile, though, I realized I was simply memorizing the sequence to which I was listening. When unknown characters were heard, I was right back to square one, I couldn't tell a dit from a dah. >>I still practice CW several times every week just in case there is a >>break through of some sort (infernal optimist), but I no longer have >>any realistic expectation of success. > >Although it'll be hard to accept, I'd recommend you start again FROM >SCRATCH... as if you've never heard a CW character before... and >NEVER (EVER) even think about looking at DOTs 'n DASHes... that'll >kill you... I have experience... that's the way I learned Morse 48 >years ago (age: 14) and had to completely UNLEARN it before I started >to learn it by ear. > >Generally, my students have found that learning the first 10-15 >characters is pretty easy. To the point that they become a bit too >'cocky' and 1) start shirking daily training, and 2) start 'hurrying' >what training they do continue to pursue. > >They get the idea that since the first several groups of characters >have come to them so readily, that the rest of the characters will >come as easily, and as quickly. Unfortunately, this is not always the >case. As your head fills with newly-learned characters, there will >probably be more effort required to fit additional characters in >among those already 'learned'... and it's all too easy to become a >bit disheartened if/when you find that you're not making progress as >quickly as you once did (when you had learned the first, usually >easier to learn) characters). > >TAKE HEART!!! This is NORMAL and just about each and every one of us >HAS experienced the same thing, and we ALL have managed to work >through the problem. > >Some suggestions for (hopefully) continued success: > > 1) Practice 2-3 times a day, for no longer than 30 minutes at a sitting. > After 30 minutes, your brain can tire and it sometimes seems that > it just flat turns to mush. TIME TO TAKE A BREAK! > > 2) Try to practice when you're not tired. If possible, practice in the > morning, and an hour or so after you're returned home from work, > after you've had a little change to 'decompress'. If you can find > time at lunch, you have a third opportunity for a short practice. > > 3) Learn characters in small 5-7 character sets. DO NOT move on to the > next group of characters until you can (in your heart) say that you > can copy all of the previously presented characters at an accuracy > level of 80%-90% each time. Smaller size sets are OK as well, go > what works best for you. Just DON'T STOP, GIVE UP, or CHEAT! > > 4) Learn to copy ON PAPER!!! Don't learn to type in that which you > copy. Typing can come later, but learn to copy on paper first! > Also, learning to copy in your head will come a bit later, too. > > 5) SENDING CW is much easier than COPYING CW. This is because when you > SEND CW, you already know what you want to send and you can think > about it a bit before you actually have to pound it out. When you > are COPYING CW, you can't really think about it until you HEAR what > is sent. So don't worry about sending at the start. Sending can come > later... once you've actually mastered the art of copying. > > If you can find someone to practice with, do so. Then you can each > practice both sending and receiving. You can also get a feel for how > will you are able to create characters by hand sending (that's using > a straight key, NOT A KEYER). LEARN TO COPY ALL FISTS, NOT just those > which are sending perfectly formed code. Just like the human voice, > not all of us can talk/or send CW with perfect enunciation!! Learn to > copy all fists, perfect or less perfect! > > 6) Once you get your license, bit the bullet (key fright) and GET ON THE > AIR! There's NOTHING better than improving your abilities by on the > air activity... it is MUCH better than learning from a PC or from CDs. > > You'll probably be scared spitless the first few times you get on the > air! This is natural. But work through your timidity can on the air! > You'll find folks willing to slow down (QRS) for you, and to work > with you. Oh, there'll be some who won't slow down... that's what we > have the VFO TUNING KNOB for... just thank them for the QSO and find > yourself another station to work... fortunately, there are generally > MANY more ops out there who WILL work with you than those who will > NOT work with you. > > And, NEVER (EVER) feel ashamed to ask the other guy to QRS!!! > > 7) When you have problems or questions, ASK for help!!! Here, on the > Elecraft reflector, or elsewhere... but ASK!!! > >Good luck. I'm certain you'll do very well. And I look forward to >working you on the air some day soon. Thanks for the advice and encouragement, Tom. It's a fun hobby; I enjoy building and tinkering with the gear and learning more and more about electronics, antennas and other related stuff. It keeps me off the streets! _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. 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