To expand a bit. In high school (circa 1958) some kids tried to start a radio
club. The sponsor was the electronics shop teacher (interesting enough I never
took any electronic courses) who I don't believe was all that interested.
The school principal was also a Lt. Commander in the Naval Reserve and IIRC was
in charge of the local Navy Reserve operation. I remember that they had a
couple of 100' telephone poles and an open-wire fed antenna, that I always
drooled over. Permission was arranged for our club to tape record (reel to
reel) the Navy's code records. We started listening but only met once a week,
which meant that by the second week we had forgotten last week's letters, so we
started over. After about a month I had enough and broke out the Scout
handbook. I was the only one to get a license. I did meet one older kid, Luke
Russell, who had an expired Novice license, other than that I was on my own.
There was one ham (W7UVR-SK) about two blocks away from our house who I didn't
know but I knocked on his door and asked whether he would sign off my Novice
paperwork. These guys are mentioned on my QRZ bio (https://www.qrz.com/db/N7WS)
Wes N7WS
On 12/27/2019 10:54 AM, KENT TRIMBLE wrote:
Well, not exactly the /worst/ thing you could have used, but you're right,
visualizing a chart is adding an extra step in the learning process toward
aural copying.
And Wes is also correct. A whole generation or two of amateur radio operators
had nothing at hand but charts printed in the Boy Scout Handbook and
Signalling Merit Badge booklet. However, no one told us it was the wrong way
to go. Those charts got many of us a Novice license in addition to Merit
Badges. Later, I studied from Ameco vinyl records which got me a 13 wpm
General. Nightly work on the National Traffic System got me a 20 wpm Extra.
The bottom line is that many of those Scouts who learned by charts are today's
30 wpm and higher operators.
W4RK and I have taught code classes every Saturday morning (sometimes three)
for many years. We do not allow charts in class. What students use at home
is anybody's guess. But with today's online Morse programs there is no reason
to complicate (and slow) the learning process by consulting a printed chart.
73,
Kent K9ZTV
On 12/27/2019 7:00 AM, Charlie T wrote:
OH, yeah.....I can see it in front of me now, a little Johnson SpeedX Morse
Code chart.
WORST thing I could possibly have used........YUGE plateau at 7 WPM !
73, Charlie k3ICH
Please don't let him learn code by sight. I taught myself from the list in
my Boy Scout Handbook (still have it) and I've never overcome doing it the
wrong way. Passed a 20 WPM Extra exam but it was a struggle. Still my
favorite mode though.
Wes N7WS
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