On Wed, 20 Sep 2006 21:07:48 EDT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >In a message dated 9/20/06 6:29:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time, >[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > >> My conscious brain only reports differences, not absolutes. > >How can that be, assuming you were able to learn to read and write, speak and >understand speech? > > > The >> >> result is that 'dash dash dot dash' is heard as 'something something >> change something'. That's exactly the same as 'dot dot dash dot' is >> heard. >> > >I see a clue. > >If you are hearing individual dots and dashes as separate elements, you're >probably listening to code charaters that are too slow for you. > >We don't teach babies to talk and understand speech by speaking v-e-r-y >s-l-ow-ly. We don't expect them to hear "cat" as 'consonant k >sound'......'short >vowel a sound'.....'consonant t sound'. Instead they hear "cat" as a unit, >even >though it has three parts. > >What we *do* when teaching speech is to separate the words clearly. >"The......cat........is.......on.....the.......mat'. So there's lots of >recognition/process time and the words are clearly separated. And we start >with a very small >vocabulary, then build on it. > >The same principle applies to learning Morse Code via the Koch/Farnsworth >method. > >Consider the following thought-experiment: > >Suppose you had the task of listening to a series of common words spoken >clearly and distinctly. And after each word, you were expected to write down >the >last letter of the word. Would that be difficult? > >Receiving Morse Code is basically the same thing except that the words are >replaced by a series of short and long sounds.
I listen primarily to Chuck Adams' K7QO CD. I'm not sure at what speed the code is being sent but believe it to be 13 to 15 words per minute. I've also used the G4FON Koch method trainer at speeds of up to 25 characters per second I do hear the rhythm of the characters, but the rhythm of opposite sequences sounds the same. That is, 'dit dah' and 'dah dit' has the same rhythm. Likewise 'dit dit dit' and 'dah dah dah' . I can't tell them apart. Short word sequences (2 to 3 characters) come through somewhat better, as the rhythm of words tend to be unique and can be memorized and duly recognized (as is spoken language). Long word sequences are almost impossible due to memory limitations. Random character sequences lack any intelligibility at all. The brain is a powerful tool, but each is different in how it filters input, calculates and generates output. The brain of the barn owl, for instance, so highly optimizes visual input for motion detection that the owl is virtually blind if nothing is moving. The owl has move his head to create enough relative motion so it can orient itself to its surroundings. As a result, the owl can see a mouse creeping along the floor in dark barn, but can't see the barn door 20 feet away. The human brain filters out CW from normal language processing, just as it does the roar of a jet engine, a bird chirping, and even background conversations. If it didn't, it wouldn't be possible to hold a conversation at a party, let alone in noisy bar. I'm not sure what advantage, if any, my filtering offers me. Perhaps it is rapid threat or food source identification, but the downside is abundantly clear, CW is most likely outside my reach. _______________________________________________ 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
