Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance
There are plenty of free resources out there to learn code. I don't think profit is the reason why people learn to copy before learning to send. Not that doing it the other way around wouldn't work, as long as you make sure you are not sending so slowly as to start counting dots and dashes. That is the the single biggest mistake you can make with the code. I did learn from records though: Army Signal Corps 78 RPMs. Using them I could copy at a pretty good clip before realizing that I should start practicing sending. (The recordings are available at archive.org for free download, just search my callsign there.) I'm not necessarilly recommending these records. If I was learning the Code today I'd most llikely be using one or several of the computer software programs now available. I don't see how they could be beat for ease of learning. 73, Drew AF2Z On Fri, 30 May 2014 14:08:22 -0400, you wrote: -Original Message- From: Slava Baytalskiy [mailto:sla...@nullserv.com] Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 1:50 PM To: Dick, K2ZR Cc: W0MU Mike Fatchett; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance That's interesting... I'm currently in the process of learning CW and this is the first time I heard of learn to send first approach. You rarely hear this because there are lots of folks out there who want to sell you CD's. As I'm getting close to finishing the alphabet and can copy short 3/4/5-letter words - I'm starting to wonder how am I going to learn to send. Perhaps I should incorporate a sending session in my daily CW routine? Slava, Make sure you engage an Elmer with a good fist so you start sending with the correct rhythm from the gitgo. When I teach, my students sing the rhythm of the character as they send it on a key. They sound [ sing ] it out, they hear it, they feel it and they get it! Dick, K2ZR __ 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
[Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance
Hi All, I've taught many hams CW over the years my mantra is to first properly learn to send each character: There is a definite rhythm to each. Find a good Elmer with a quality fist to work with you. IMHO, learn to send 1st; know how it feels as the rhythm of of each character travels from your hand, up your arm into your brain. CW is a great dance once you've got it. Conversational CW at 25 WPM is fun, achievable and rewarding if you put your mind to it. Get on the dance floor get on-the-air and call CQ! CWops Academy: An excellent tool for learning CW is to participate online with the CWops Academy. Check out the link: http://www.cwops.org/cwacademy.html 73, Dick, K2ZR Niagara Frontier Radiosport FOC CWops Pounding Brass Since 1962 -Original Message- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of W0MU Mike Fatchett Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 11:32 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Learning morse code It takes time. Proportionally more time to learn the code than it takes to become proficient. I can still remember sitting at the radio club meeting at our JR High school. Listening to the gibberish and then finally getting a whole word! From there on it was pretty simple. I am decent, certainly not conversational at CW. We had a Ham Radio club during our lunch hour at school because one of the teachers was a ham. One day he had one of the guys send some code. When it was over he took my sheet and graded it and said congratulations you just passed the 5 wpm code test. Smart guy. Knowing that some many people tense up for tests, he did it under relaxed conditions. One of my friends passed that day too. We both easily passed the theory and we got sequential calls. It is funny how cw seems to have far more activity now then when it was forced. Mike W0MU On 5/27/2014 12:22 PM, David Higdon wrote: Lee, Another option is CW Academy with the CW Ops club. They offer mentors along with on air practice. Also, there is the K3UK sked page where you can set up a sked and also do a computer chat. That is sometimes helpful when you want to ask questions during on air practice. Good luck. Dave Higdon Jr KD4ICT __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to mailto:w...@w0mu.com w...@w0mu.com __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to mailto:k...@arrl.net k...@arrl.net __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance
That's interesting... I'm currently in the process of learning CW and this is the first time I heard of learn to send first approach. As I'm getting close to finishing the alphabet and can copy short 3/4/5-letter words - I'm starting to wonder how am I going to learn to send. Perhaps I should incorporate a sending session in my daily CW routine? Slava Baytalskiy sla...@nullserv.com W2RMS On May 30, 2014, at 12:30 PM, Dick, K2ZR k...@arrl.net wrote: Hi All, I've taught many hams CW over the years my mantra is to first properly learn to send each character: There is a definite rhythm to each. Find a good Elmer with a quality fist to work with you. IMHO, learn to send 1st; know how it feels as the rhythm of of each character travels from your hand, up your arm into your brain. CW is a great dance once you've got it. Conversational CW at 25 WPM is fun, achievable and rewarding if you put your mind to it. Get on the dance floor get on-the-air and call CQ! CWops Academy: An excellent tool for learning CW is to participate online with the CWops Academy. Check out the link: http://www.cwops.org/cwacademy.html 73, Dick, K2ZR Niagara Frontier Radiosport FOC CWops Pounding Brass Since 1962 -Original Message- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of W0MU Mike Fatchett Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 11:32 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Learning morse code It takes time. Proportionally more time to learn the code than it takes to become proficient. I can still remember sitting at the radio club meeting at our JR High school. Listening to the gibberish and then finally getting a whole word! From there on it was pretty simple. I am decent, certainly not conversational at CW. We had a Ham Radio club during our lunch hour at school because one of the teachers was a ham. One day he had one of the guys send some code. When it was over he took my sheet and graded it and said congratulations you just passed the 5 wpm code test. Smart guy. Knowing that some many people tense up for tests, he did it under relaxed conditions. One of my friends passed that day too. We both easily passed the theory and we got sequential calls. It is funny how cw seems to have far more activity now then when it was forced. Mike W0MU On 5/27/2014 12:22 PM, David Higdon wrote: Lee, Another option is CW Academy with the CW Ops club. They offer mentors along with on air practice. Also, there is the K3UK sked page where you can set up a sked and also do a computer chat. That is sometimes helpful when you want to ask questions during on air practice. Good luck. Dave Higdon Jr KD4ICT __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to mailto:w...@w0mu.com w...@w0mu.com __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to mailto:k...@arrl.net k...@arrl.net __ 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 sla...@nullserv.com __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance
-Original Message- From: Slava Baytalskiy [mailto:sla...@nullserv.com] Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 1:50 PM To: Dick, K2ZR Cc: W0MU Mike Fatchett; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance That's interesting... I'm currently in the process of learning CW and this is the first time I heard of learn to send first approach. You rarely hear this because there are lots of folks out there who want to sell you CD's. As I'm getting close to finishing the alphabet and can copy short 3/4/5-letter words - I'm starting to wonder how am I going to learn to send. Perhaps I should incorporate a sending session in my daily CW routine? Slava, Make sure you engage an Elmer with a good fist so you start sending with the correct rhythm from the gitgo. When I teach, my students sing the rhythm of the character as they send it on a key. They sound [ sing ] it out, they hear it, they feel it and they get it! Dick, K2ZR Slava Baytalskiy mailto:sla...@nullserv.com sla...@nullserv.com W2RMS On May 30, 2014, at 12:30 PM, Dick, K2ZR mailto:k...@arrl.net k...@arrl.net wrote: Hi All, I've taught many hams CW over the years my mantra is to first properly learn to send each character: There is a definite rhythm to each. Find a good Elmer with a quality fist to work with you. IMHO, learn to send 1st; know how it feels as the rhythm of of each character travels from your hand, up your arm into your brain. CW is a great dance once you've got it. Conversational CW at 25 WPM is fun, achievable and rewarding if you put your mind to it. Get on the dance floor get on-the-air and call CQ! CWops Academy: An excellent tool for learning CW is to participate online with the CWops Academy. Check out the link: http://www.cwops.org/cwacademy.html http://www.cwops.org/cwacademy.html 73, Dick, K2ZR Niagara Frontier Radiosport FOC CWops Pounding Brass Since 1962 -Original Message- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of W0MU Mike Fatchett Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 11:32 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Learning morse code It takes time. Proportionally more time to learn the code than it takes to become proficient. I can still remember sitting at the radio club meeting at our JR High school. Listening to the gibberish and then finally getting a whole word! From there on it was pretty simple. I am decent, certainly not conversational at CW. We had a Ham Radio club during our lunch hour at school because one of the teachers was a ham. One day he had one of the guys send some code. When it was over he took my sheet and graded it and said congratulations you just passed the 5 wpm code test. Smart guy. Knowing that some many people tense up for tests, he did it under relaxed conditions. One of my friends passed that day too. We both easily passed the theory and we got sequential calls. It is funny how cw seems to have far more activity now then when it was forced. Mike W0MU On 5/27/2014 12:22 PM, David Higdon wrote: Lee, Another option is CW Academy with the CW Ops club. They offer mentors along with on air practice. Also, there is the K3UK sked page where you can set up a sked and also do a computer chat. That is sometimes helpful when you want to ask questions during on air practice. Good luck. Dave Higdon Jr KD4ICT __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net http://www.qsl.net http://www.qsl.net http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html http://www.qsl.net/donate.html http://www.qsl.net/donate.html http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to mailto:w...@w0mu.com mailto:w...@w0mu.com mailto:w...@w0mu.com w...@w0mu.com __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net
Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance
Dick, thanks for the info! When you say key - do you mean straight key or paddles or is it irrelevant? I got my first paddles at Dayton, so that's all I have. The only Elmer with CW chops available to me is 15 years younger than I am :-) But I'm sure he will help me. Any chance you could do a Skype with me just so I can see/hear what you mean? Event for a couple of minutes. If a picture is worth 1000 words - then a video is worth a million. Slava Baytalskiy sla...@nullserv.com W2RMS On May 30, 2014, at 2:08 PM, Dick, K2ZR k...@arrl.net wrote: -Original Message- From: Slava Baytalskiy [mailto:sla...@nullserv.com] Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 1:50 PM To: Dick, K2ZR Cc: W0MU Mike Fatchett; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance That's interesting... I'm currently in the process of learning CW and this is the first time I heard of learn to send first approach. You rarely hear this because there are lots of folks out there who want to sell you CD's. As I'm getting close to finishing the alphabet and can copy short 3/4/5-letter words - I'm starting to wonder how am I going to learn to send. Perhaps I should incorporate a sending session in my daily CW routine? Slava, Make sure you engage an Elmer with a good fist so you start sending with the correct rhythm from the gitgo. When I teach, my students “sing” the rhythm of the character as they send it on a key. They sound [ sing ] it out, they hear it, they feel it and they get it! Dick, K2ZR Slava Baytalskiy sla...@nullserv.com W2RMS On May 30, 2014, at 12:30 PM, Dick, K2ZR k...@arrl.net wrote: Hi All, I've taught many hams CW over the years my mantra is to first properly learn to send each character: There is a definite rhythm to each. Find a good Elmer with a quality fist to work with you. IMHO, learn to send 1st; know how it feels as the rhythm of of each character travels from your hand, up your arm into your brain. CW is a great dance once you've got it. Conversational CW at 25 WPM is fun, achievable and rewarding if you put your mind to it. Get on the dance floor get on-the-air and call CQ! CWops Academy: An excellent tool for learning CW is to participate online with the CWops Academy. Check out the link: http://www.cwops.org/cwacademy.html 73, Dick, K2ZR Niagara Frontier Radiosport FOC CWops Pounding Brass Since 1962 -Original Message- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of W0MU Mike Fatchett Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 11:32 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Learning morse code It takes time. Proportionally more time to learn the code than it takes to become proficient. I can still remember sitting at the radio club meeting at our JR High school. Listening to the gibberish and then finally getting a whole word! From there on it was pretty simple. I am decent, certainly not conversational at CW. We had a Ham Radio club during our lunch hour at school because one of the teachers was a ham. One day he had one of the guys send some code. When it was over he took my sheet and graded it and said congratulations you just passed the 5 wpm code test. Smart guy. Knowing that some many people tense up for tests, he did it under relaxed conditions. One of my friends passed that day too. We both easily passed the theory and we got sequential calls. It is funny how cw seems to have far more activity now then when it was forced. Mike W0MU On 5/27/2014 12:22 PM, David Higdon wrote: Lee, Another option is CW Academy with the CW Ops club. They offer mentors along with on air practice. Also, there is the K3UK sked page where you can set up a sked and also do a computer chat. That is sometimes helpful when you want to ask questions during on air practice. Good luck. Dave Higdon Jr KD4ICT __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to mailto:w...@w0mu.com w...@w0mu.com __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance
When I started to learn CW 2 years ago, I started with paddles. Most people will say to start with a straight key. What starting with paddles and a keyer did for me is that I didn't have to worry about the correct length of dit and dah and could focus on characters/ words and spacing in between. This helped (me at least) to better get a good rhythm and made moving to a straight key easier for me. YMMV based on your personal preference. I used G4FON software to get me started and also made one key (no pun intended ) move in locking away the microphone. 73 de Michael K5TRI Sent from Windows Mail From: Slava Baytalskiy Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 1:46 PM To: Dick, K2ZR Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Dick, thanks for the info! When you say key - do you mean straight key or paddles or is it irrelevant? I got my first paddles at Dayton, so that's all I have. The only Elmer with CW chops available to me is 15 years younger than I am :-) But I'm sure he will help me. Any chance you could do a Skype with me just so I can see/hear what you mean? Event for a couple of minutes. If a picture is worth 1000 words - then a video is worth a million. Slava Baytalskiy sla...@nullserv.com W2RMS On May 30, 2014, at 2:08 PM, Dick, K2ZR k...@arrl.net wrote: -Original Message- From: Slava Baytalskiy [mailto:sla...@nullserv.com] Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 1:50 PM To: Dick, K2ZR Cc: W0MU Mike Fatchett; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance That's interesting... I'm currently in the process of learning CW and this is the first time I heard of learn to send first approach. You rarely hear this because there are lots of folks out there who want to sell you CD's. As I'm getting close to finishing the alphabet and can copy short 3/4/5-letter words - I'm starting to wonder how am I going to learn to send. Perhaps I should incorporate a sending session in my daily CW routine? Slava, Make sure you engage an Elmer with a good fist so you start sending with the correct rhythm from the gitgo. When I teach, my students “sing” the rhythm of the character as they send it on a key. They sound [ sing ] it out, they hear it, they feel it and they get it! Dick, K2ZR Slava Baytalskiy sla...@nullserv.com W2RMS On May 30, 2014, at 12:30 PM, Dick, K2ZR k...@arrl.net wrote: Hi All, I've taught many hams CW over the years my mantra is to first properly learn to send each character: There is a definite rhythm to each. Find a good Elmer with a quality fist to work with you. IMHO, learn to send 1st; know how it feels as the rhythm of of each character travels from your hand, up your arm into your brain. CW is a great dance once you've got it. Conversational CW at 25 WPM is fun, achievable and rewarding if you put your mind to it. Get on the dance floor get on-the-air and call CQ! CWops Academy: An excellent tool for learning CW is to participate online with the CWops Academy. Check out the link: http://www.cwops.org/cwacademy.html 73, Dick, K2ZR Niagara Frontier Radiosport FOC CWops Pounding Brass Since 1962 -Original Message- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of W0MU Mike Fatchett Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 11:32 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Learning morse code It takes time. Proportionally more time to learn the code than it takes to become proficient. I can still remember sitting at the radio club meeting at our JR High school. Listening to the gibberish and then finally getting a whole word! From there on it was pretty simple. I am decent, certainly not conversational at CW. We had a Ham Radio club during our lunch hour at school because one of the teachers was a ham. One day he had one of the guys send some code. When it was over he took my sheet and graded it and said congratulations you just passed the 5 wpm code test. Smart guy. Knowing that some many people tense up for tests, he did it under relaxed conditions. One of my friends passed that day too. We both easily passed the theory and we got sequential calls. It is funny how cw seems to have far more activity now then when it was forced. Mike W0MU On 5/27/2014 12:22 PM, David Higdon wrote: Lee, Another option is CW Academy with the CW Ops club. They offer mentors along with on air practice. Also, there is the K3UK sked page where you can set up a sked and also do a computer chat. That is sometimes helpful when you want to ask questions during on air practice. Good luck. Dave Higdon Jr KD4ICT __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft http://mailman.qth.net
Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance
How come I have no problem with CW but I can't dance? Tony KT0NY __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance
Because you dance with your feet. Try QLF and you fill find your CW and dancing are about the same level. They are for me. Eric KE6US On 5/30/2014 1:59 PM, Tony Estep wrote: How come I have no problem with CW but I can't dance? Tony KT0NY __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance
Being left handed and I guess 'left brained', I always had trouble with left and right. That caused me many demerits in the Army when I started cadence marches on the wrong foot, and for the same problem, I have trouble with dance steps. YMMV. There are other things I do well, so I consider it a minor handicap. 73, Don W3FPR On 5/30/2014 6:18 PM, EricJ wrote: Because you dance with your feet. Try QLF and you fill find your CW and dancing are about the same level. They are for me. Eric KE6US __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance
I'm left-handed and I can square dance, but only because some guy up on the stage is telling me exactly what to do next. I also can't sing, however I can paddle CW with either hand and often do. My wife is right-handed and has yet to thoroughly master the concept of right vs left. 73, Fred K6DGW - Northern California Contest Club - CU in the 2014 Cal QSO Party 4-5 Oct 2014 - www.cqp.org On 5/30/2014 3:34 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote: Being left handed and I guess 'left brained', I always had trouble with left and right. That caused me many demerits in the Army when I started cadence marches on the wrong foot, and for the same problem, I have trouble with dance steps. YMMV. There are other things I do well, so I consider it a minor handicap. __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance
Slava and others learning Morse ot trying to get better. Listen to all the advice you get, most of it is right on the money! But, when itch comes to scratch, scratch where it itches, which means that if the best advice you have is to do something that you don't want to do, do something else that you do want to do. The absolute worst thing you can do is to force yourself to do something you find odious. Anything you do with Morse is better than doing nothing. Keep it fun and if you don't want to do a particular thing, do something else. We have been practicing code for a long time and it does not work well. Sending and receiving information by Morse Code can be fun, should be fun and if you are having fun, you are learning and getting better. Willis 'Cookie' Cooke, TDXS DX Chairman K5EWJ Trustee N5BPS, USS Cavalla, USS Stewart On Friday, May 30, 2014 12:49 PM, Slava Baytalskiy sla...@nullserv.com wrote: That's interesting... I'm currently in the process of learning CW and this is the first time I heard of learn to send first approach. As I'm getting close to finishing the alphabet and can copy short 3/4/5-letter words - I'm starting to wonder how am I going to learn to send. Perhaps I should incorporate a sending session in my daily CW routine? Slava Baytalskiy sla...@nullserv.com W2RMS On May 30, 2014, at 12:30 PM, Dick, K2ZR k...@arrl.net wrote: Hi All, I've taught many hams CW over the years my mantra is to first properly learn to send each character: There is a definite rhythm to each. Find a good Elmer with a quality fist to work with you. IMHO, learn to send 1st; know how it feels as the rhythm of of each character travels from your hand, up your arm into your brain. CW is a great dance once you've got it. Conversational CW at 25 WPM is fun, achievable and rewarding if you put your mind to it. Get on the dance floor get on-the-air and call CQ! CWops Academy: An excellent tool for learning CW is to participate online with the CWops Academy. Check out the link: http://www.cwops.org/cwacademy.html 73, Dick, K2ZR Niagara Frontier Radiosport FOC CWops Pounding Brass Since 1962 -Original Message- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of W0MU Mike Fatchett Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 11:32 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Learning morse code It takes time. Proportionally more time to learn the code than it takes to become proficient. I can still remember sitting at the radio club meeting at our JR High school. Listening to the gibberish and then finally getting a whole word! From there on it was pretty simple. I am decent, certainly not conversational at CW. We had a Ham Radio club during our lunch hour at school because one of the teachers was a ham. One day he had one of the guys send some code. When it was over he took my sheet and graded it and said congratulations you just passed the 5 wpm code test. Smart guy. Knowing that some many people tense up for tests, he did it under relaxed conditions. One of my friends passed that day too. We both easily passed the theory and we got sequential calls. It is funny how cw seems to have far more activity now then when it was forced. Mike W0MU On 5/27/2014 12:22 PM, David Higdon wrote: Lee, Another option is CW Academy with the CW Ops club. They offer mentors along with on air practice. Also, there is the K3UK sked page where you can set up a sked and also do a computer chat. That is sometimes helpful when you want to ask questions during on air practice. Good luck. Dave Higdon Jr KD4ICT __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to mailto:w...@w0mu.com w...@w0mu.com __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to mailto:k...@arrl.net k...@arrl.net __ Elecraft
Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance
Well, in the four grade my Italian teacher would come down on my left hand with her 18 ruler every time I used my left hand. So by the time I got to 8th grade I could write my name equally poor with either hand. AS the result, I can send on a bug with either hand... Some can recognize my code sending, but only when I use my left hand. BTW, I taught code at Fort Gordon, GA. Signal School. It was VERY interesting to see the problems some had and with my background we were able to get most of them through the course. Mel, K6KBE On Friday, May 30, 2014 4:09 PM, Fred Jensen k6...@foothill.net wrote: I'm left-handed and I can square dance, but only because some guy up on the stage is telling me exactly what to do next. I also can't sing, however I can paddle CW with either hand and often do. My wife is right-handed and has yet to thoroughly master the concept of right vs left. 73, Fred K6DGW - Northern California Contest Club - CU in the 2014 Cal QSO Party 4-5 Oct 2014 - www.cqp.org On 5/30/2014 3:34 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote: Being left handed and I guess 'left brained', I always had trouble with left and right. That caused me many demerits in the Army when I started cadence marches on the wrong foot, and for the same problem, I have trouble with dance steps. YMMV. There are other things I do well, so I consider it a minor handicap. __ 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 farrerfo...@yahoo.com __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance
All this advice is good. However, code sound is a method of communicating that requires you to think of it as a language. Yes. Remember as a child we learned the ABCs then made words then constructed sentences. Code is the same thing. First you learn the sound of the letter. Then you start putting them together into words. The best operators the military service had, were the ones who learn the sound patterns as words. Albeit nonsensical 5 letter code groups are words with a sound. Each one is unique. The great ones could listen to the signal and type the letter without thinking about it. Like short hand, it is a learned automatic response. When you think you have problems coping code, try the random 5 letter code groups. It stops you trying to sound out the letters as words and concentrates on transferring them into groups of letters. One of the things that got most of the hard military trainees over the huddle in speed was to send them 5 letter code groups at the highest speed they were having trouble with and toss out the middle character. Yep, copy the first two skip the next then grab the last two. Before long they were filling in the blank Next speed please.. Mel, K6KBE On Friday, May 30, 2014 4:37 PM, WILLIS COOKE via Elecraft elecraft@mailman.qth.net wrote: Slava and others learning Morse ot trying to get better. Listen to all the advice you get, most of it is right on the money! But, when itch comes to scratch, scratch where it itches, which means that if the best advice you have is to do something that you don't want to do, do something else that you do want to do. The absolute worst thing you can do is to force yourself to do something you find odious. Anything you do with Morse is better than doing nothing. Keep it fun and if you don't want to do a particular thing, do something else. We have been practicing code for a long time and it does not work well. Sending and receiving information by Morse Code can be fun, should be fun and if you are having fun, you are learning and getting better. Willis 'Cookie' Cooke, TDXS DX Chairman K5EWJ Trustee N5BPS, USS Cavalla, USS Stewart On Friday, May 30, 2014 12:49 PM, Slava Baytalskiy sla...@nullserv.com wrote: That's interesting... I'm currently in the process of learning CW and this is the first time I heard of learn to send first approach. As I'm getting close to finishing the alphabet and can copy short 3/4/5-letter words - I'm starting to wonder how am I going to learn to send. Perhaps I should incorporate a sending session in my daily CW routine? Slava Baytalskiy sla...@nullserv.com W2RMS On May 30, 2014, at 12:30 PM, Dick, K2ZR k...@arrl.net wrote: Hi All, I've taught many hams CW over the years my mantra is to first properly learn to send each character: There is a definite rhythm to each. Find a good Elmer with a quality fist to work with you. IMHO, learn to send 1st; know how it feels as the rhythm of of each character travels from your hand, up your arm into your brain. CW is a great dance once you've got it. Conversational CW at 25 WPM is fun, achievable and rewarding if you put your mind to it. Get on the dance floor get on-the-air and call CQ! CWops Academy: An excellent tool for learning CW is to participate online with the CWops Academy. Check out the link: http://www.cwops.org/cwacademy.html 73, Dick, K2ZR Niagara Frontier Radiosport FOC CWops Pounding Brass Since 1962 -Original Message- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of W0MU Mike Fatchett Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 11:32 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Learning morse code It takes time. Proportionally more time to learn the code than it takes to become proficient. I can still remember sitting at the radio club meeting at our JR High school. Listening to the gibberish and then finally getting a whole word! From there on it was pretty simple. I am decent, certainly not conversational at CW. We had a Ham Radio club during our lunch hour at school because one of the teachers was a ham. One day he had one of the guys send some code. When it was over he took my sheet and graded it and said congratulations you just passed the 5 wpm code test. Smart guy. Knowing that some many people tense up for tests, he did it under relaxed conditions. One of my friends passed that day too. We both easily passed the theory and we got sequential calls. It is funny how cw seems to have far more activity now then when it was forced. Mike W0MU On 5/27/2014 12:22 PM, David Higdon wrote: Lee, Another option is CW Academy with the CW Ops club. They offer mentors along with on air practice. Also, there is the K3UK sked page where you can set up a sked and also do a computer chat. That is sometimes helpful when
Re: [Elecraft] Learning Morse Code is Like Learning to Dance
I was 14 years old when I got the ham bug, and found a HS class to learn for my Novice test. The instructor became my elmer, though that term was not yet invented. He allowed me to borrow the instructograph between weekly classes so that was my first practise. I produced clicking and not a tone, of course. Later I built my first receiver and was able to put into oscillation to work as a code practise oscillator using a straight key. So I alternated from listening to 40m CW to sending code to myself. I am sure that helped me start hearing words vs characters. First words I learned were: CQ. de, my call, test, name, RST, etc. I am not a great CW op and very rusty at more than 10wpm. But listening to 15wpm signals is the quickest way to get back up. I used to have a great fist at 18wpm on my straight key. I make a few mistakes these days! I bought a Bencher paddle but it is so foreign to me vs a straight key I just haven't mastered it. Perhaps if I used a keyer that allowed me to use it like a bug it would help. Iambic just is strange. http://www.kl7uw.com/kn8mwa.htm will give you a little trip to the good ole days! 73, Ed - KL7UW http://www.kl7uw.com Kits made by KL7UW Dubus Mag business: dubus...@gmail.com __ 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
