Re: Re: [Elecraft] CW recognition
Not to derail the thread, but you just sent me into the way-back machine. I haven't thought about the USS Neversail or grinders in years. I booted there in 1982. I can still remember standing on that grinder at 0500, staring at the traffic light on Rosecrans Ave, wondering what I was going to do when I could get to it!! Thanks for the pause Now, back to Radio & CW (Now that the RTTY weekend is over ) -Pete wd4lst (DS2-SW) > I was just the opposite of you in basic training in San Diego. (July of > I don't know where you went to basic but I was back in San Diego last year > and all that is left of the boot camp there is the adminstrative buildings > and the training destroyer escort USS Neversail. All the barracks and > classrooms have been torn down and the grinders are now covered with brand > new low income housing. > Pete Axson WD4LST 17901 NE 18th Ave Citra, FL 32113 ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] CW recognition
Doug: I was just the opposite of you in basic training in San Diego. (July of 1958) I was able to copy solid 35WPM with a pencil, thanks to a vocational course in high school that taught basic and advanced electronics and an instructor that allowed us to work on our ability to copy code for 30 minutes a day. I took the exam for my Novice license in Nov 1956 during my first year of vocational school and then upgraded to General in March 1957. We also had to pass the 3rd Radio Telephone the first year and the 2nd Radio Telephone in our last year. The FCC tests were are final exams. (No pressure at all...LOL) I wanted to make sure that I went to ET school instead of RM school so I intentionally missed every question on the CW recognition exam. I didn't go to ET school but lucked out and was assigned to AT school at Millington, TN. I might note that because the instruction was so good in my high school vocational courses that I never had to study in AT school until we got into radar principals in the final few weeks. I aced AT "A" School. I don't know where you went to basic but I was back in San Diego last year and all that is left of the boot camp there is the adminstrative buildings and the training destroyer escort USS Neversail. All the barracks and classrooms have been torn down and the grinders are now covered with brand new low income housing. One other note, when I was discharged I went to work for Federal Electric Corp in Paramus, NJ as a Field Engineer and my entry electronics exam for employment was waived because of my Navy electronics training. 73 Jim Younce K4ZM exK4LXU ___ 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
RE: [Elecraft] CW recognition
Dave N1IX wrote:
We copied 5 character groups so there was very little comprehension.
My first time passing the commercial radiotelegraph test back in the 50's
required copying 5-letter code groups. As a Ham that was bad enough, but the
commercial test at that time involved all the punctuation Hams never use. I
still remember choking on something like ":;!?(" That put me about two
groups behind. My memory must have been working that day because I passed
with the required 1-minute copy with no errors.
After fiddling around at other things and not keeping up with the
expiration, years later I discovered that I had a lapsed and out-of-date
license just as I was once again climbing gangways to ships so I had to go
sit for the test again. That time was plain language, and there I was all
ready for those nonsense characters.
Ham licensing wasn't the only thing that got easier over the years .
Ron AC7AC
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Re: [Elecraft] CW recognition
CW - Different learning methods for different situations My call: WA4MQW Ham license Novice Class/Conditional Class 1963 - Memorized "dots and dashes" visually then upon hearing code would play a mental matching game to match the letters and then write the results down. Very difficult time at first but within about 3 months was able to pass the 13 wpm code test for the upgrade. 63 -69 code speed slowly got up to about 15-18WPM 1970 entered US Army Security Agency and was sent to code school. Had to relearn using their method. All copy was done with a typewriter (keyboard to the younger ones). Think everyone had to already know how to touch type (i.e. no looking at the keys). First week was spent learning to recognize the sounds of each letter in morse code and learning to make our fingers respond automatically to that sound so that in a short time we were no longer trying to mentally think of what character was being sent. This process increased our speed dramatically. Think that in some ways my prior cw experience made it harder at first as I had to stop trying to think of what character I was going to type but quickly adapt to using the "Army way". 70 to 73 Copied code 8 to 12 hours a day when on duty depending on our work schedule. During this time most all of the operators could easily copy 24 to 26WPM almost without error. As one previous poster said about their Navy experience, we for the most part never understood the messages we were copying since they were coded groups. The whole cw copying process became so automatic that we even have light conversations with others standing around us while copying the fast cw and I frequently daydreamed. At times I felt like I was in some kind of trance and was removed mentally from what I was doing with my hands. Weird but true. 73 - present:All CW work has been on the ham bands and even though I personally have copied 100% at over 40WPM using the keyboard or what was know in the trade as the "mill". My code learning method had to change again so that I could actually give intelligent responses during a QSO. At first I just wanted to use a typewriter but that meant that at the end of the transmission from the other station I would have to quickly read all that was sent and formulate a normal reply. This was hard to do so I went back to trying to think of the letters as I was copying them and write it all down. I was not very good at higher speeds using this method at first. Now, after all these years, I just try to copy all the code in my head and only write down key items during a qso and this works for me up to about 25 -28WPM which is really my top end for good copy and retention. OK, guess I should have told all this to a shrink but it is the truth. Got to go to theorpy and start building my Elecraft KXB-3080 to expand my newly completed KX1. 73 Bob WA4MQW __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] CW recognition
IIRC, we were pre-sorted by an aptitude test in boot camp before assignment, so if you went to that training, you'd already shown some ability to copy. Me, when I took that test, I lost badly. I did get a Novice while in AT school, and many years later sweated blood to get up to 13WPM for HF privileges. And I'm useless at CW. I was honorman in my AT classes, and later, when a bunch of us, including the shop CPO, studied for the FCC exams, I was the one who explained much to others, and walked away from the tests with a 1st Radiotelephone. 73, doug ATN2 1965-9 Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2006 20:11:44 -0400 From: "DAVID LEDUC" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I was a radioman in the Navy back in the late 60's. We copied 5 character groups so there was very little comprehension. I was totally immersed in CW during radioman school and at the end of 6 months could copy 26 WPM. I was the top man in the class but got beat out for first place by a WAVE. I wish that I could remember the method that they used to teach code. Most of the people in the class learned to copy code so it did work. I went almost 30 years without copying a single "dit" when I got back into the hobby. It took me a month to get back up to 20+ wpm. Dave N1IX ___ 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
RE: [Elecraft] CW recognition
I was a radioman in the Navy back in the late 60's. We copied 5 character groups so there was very little comprehension. I was totally immersed in CW during radioman school and at the end of 6 months could copy 26 WPM. I was the top man in the class but got beat out for first place by a WAVE. I wish that I could remember the method that they used to teach code. Most of the people in the class learned to copy code so it did work. I went almost 30 years without copying a single "dit" when I got back into the hobby. It took me a month to get back up to 20+ wpm. Dave N1IX -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of John Wiener Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2006 2:38 PM To: Elecraft email Subject: [Elecraft] CW recognition > A mistake I see too many hams making is that they will practice > at one speed until they are 100% at that speed before trying > anything faster. Very True. You know, on CW, I kinda like being at about 65 to 70% comprehension. Can't take it for long but it's more "exciting" (too strong a word). Actually, I feel the same way about reading technical material. That way, at a later date you can look back and see what you've mastered. Being puzzled for a time is half the fun. Besides, it's what motivates you to learn. John AB8O > ___ 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 ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] CW recognition
John is right, there is a certain "excitement" in falling behind in the copy and trying catch-up/figure-out what the qso is all about (at least that's the reasoning I use...hi). Great thread. Tom, WB2QDG K2 1103 operating 99.9 % CW (comfortable at 15 wpm, ok at 20, lost at 25) -- My picture is on God's refrigerator! - Original Message - From: "John Wiener" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Elecraft email" Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2006 2:37 PM Subject: [Elecraft] CW recognition A mistake I see too many hams making is that they will practice at one speed until they are 100% at that speed before trying anything faster. Very True. You know, on CW, I kinda like being at about 65 to 70% comprehension. Can't take it for long but it's more "exciting" (too strong a word). Actually, I feel the same way about reading technical material. That way, at a later date you can look back and see what you've mastered. Being puzzled for a time is half the fun. Besides, it's what motivates you to learn. John AB8O ___ 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 ___ 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
[Elecraft] CW recognition
A mistake I see too many hams making is that they will practice at one speed until they are 100% at that speed before trying anything faster. Very True. You know, on CW, I kinda like being at about 65 to 70% comprehension. Can't take it for long but it's more "exciting" (too strong a word). Actually, I feel the same way about reading technical material. That way, at a later date you can look back and see what you've mastered. Being puzzled for a time is half the fun. Besides, it's what motivates you to learn. John AB8O ___ 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
Re:[elecraft]cw recognition etc
I suppose I am one of those fortunate cw-men that have morse as a 2nd language. I joined Cable and Wireless in the UK in 1943 at the tender age of 15, and was immediately plunged into a morse enviroment. I was taught morse and operating techniqes for 6 months, both on tone and sounder (I can read key clicks). After this period of indoctrination, I has happy listening and understanding morse up to 45wpm, and beyond. Now, after 60 years or so I can still perform, though my fist is tired now after a TIA, [google it] and I stumble a little. But the important thing was practice, practice and yet more practice. I use to spell out in my head anything I saw on a billboard, etc. All it needs is dedication. 73 de Bryan GM3AKF ___ 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
