I've been a Ham for a number of years, but never got into CW (Morse Code) for various reasons: No time to learn, other more important things to do, no requirement for licensure, etc....

Well, the bug bit me a few weeks ago and I decided to jump in with both feet. I signed up for a two month long beginner class at CW Academy . It's an online Zoom format class meeting twice a week. While perusing their website, I found the lesson plans for the class, decided to get a head start, and am doing much better than I expected. I may even cancel my registration for the beginner class and take the intermediate one instead.

They have a link for a fully adjustable web-based trainer that has been a fantastic tool. After only a week, I've learned the whole alphabet, 1-10, and two punctuation marks (?,/). That's pretty good I think.

I've also purchased a dual paddle keyer and am getting really good at sending (15-20 WPM pretty easily). Unfortunately, not so good at copying (only about 4-6 WPM), but that'll come with practice.

I've been listening down in the CW areas and am blown away by how fast some of those guys are going (30-40 WPM). I have no illusions of ever being that fast, but who knows? My goal is good fluency at 20 and we'll see where it goes from there.

I have to say that it's pretty cool and it really gets your brain working, which is something that we all could use. Plus, I no longer have to suffer the indignation for not having to know CW for my Extra ticket.

Anybody else into CW? Any tips for a newbie?

Interesting, always been curious, but never thought to look for classes in it

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Anybody else into CW?

Used to be, ages ago. Could copy solidly at 25 WPM and follow at least 30 WPM.

At somewhere around 25-30 WPM you begin to no longer hear and decode individual letters. You start hearing code in terms of complete words. But, still, you have to be able to distinguish individual characters, pick them out, because not everything is words and sentences.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Any tips for a newbie?

Yeah, and they relate to these comments:

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I've also purchased a dual paddle keyer and am getting really good at sending (15-20 WPM pretty easily). Unfortunately, not so good at copying (only about 4-6 WPM), but that'll come with practice.

1. Dump the keyer for now. There's no way you should be messing with that at your stage of development. Get a straight key and learn how to send with it well.

2. You're putting the cart before the horse. Learn how to copy before learning how to send.

I built my own keyer well before I took my General and Advanced tests, but, I did not use it until after I'd passed those tests. I stuck with a straight key. (I know I still have the keyer. I'm pretty sure I still have my old straight key, too.)

I think I first learned to copy from an LP record, then spent a lot of time copying traffic. I seem to vaguely recall there having been broadcast "lessons," at different speeds, over the air, too?

I spent way more time copying than sending (in practice or otherwise). When I did practice I worked more on cadence and rhythm than on speed, and let the speed come naturally. As a result my sending speed rarely outstripped my copying speed by very much.

^^^^^^ To be honest, I was kind of thinking of getting a straight key to start with, but the class that I signed up for doesn't allow them. That's the only reason I bought this one.

I fully admit that I may be going about this in the wrong way, but I'm basically following the syllabus from the class. They recommend doing both together. I don't know, I'm just taking their word for it.

Copying is definitely the hard part.

quote:

At somewhere around 25-30 WPM you begin to no longer hear and decode individual letters.

I've had others tell me the same. I'm finding that even with individual letters, where I'm not hearing the dits and dahs, but rather the whole sound of the letter. "CQ" for example, is almost a melody rather than counting out dits and dahs, if that makes sense. It's kind of funny how the brain works.

Uncle paid me to learn code back in the day 1980 while being a puddle pirate. I have tried to forget all the dits and dahs but, sometimes I remember to just so I can tap a response to stupid folks who think I am just fidgeting. Good LUCK it is an adventure to get fast and accurate... VI

Both my Dad and brother were HAM operators. Back that long ago you got your novice license first. Morse code only. Then you got your general license which allowed you to talk.

At one time I could copy between 12 and 14 wpm.

Never did get much practice in sending. I had downloaded a program off the net that I used to learn. It started off with 2 letters and when I was able to get that 100% 3 times in a row, the system would add another letter at random. Once I got all the letters it did numbers and then characters.

I should probably go back and learn it again. It’s a perishable skill.

As for keyers, I have both of Jim Allen’s paddles

If you go to the CW Academy site I linked, click on student resources, and click on Practice and Homework Assignments, you can scroll down to a link to the trainer. On there, you can go to ICR (Instant Character Recognition).

I set the character speed to 25 and the Farnsworth speed slower (for now) at 5. It'll give you the code, pause for an adjustable amount of time, then say the letter, then give you the code for that letter again. Set at random, it just goes through everything over and over again.

I just put in my earpods as I'm doing stuff around the house and listen. It's a pretty cool tool that'll allow you to do individual letters, words, or sentences.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Any tips for a newbie?

When I had to learn to copy CW to go further up the licensing ladder, I used a CW cassette practice tape and a small portable player. I would eat lunch in my truck and use it there, plus at home and anywhere else I could. The options were more limited back then and the technology was different, as it was pre-www.

I’ve read that adept CWers can recognize each other’s hand.

Congrats on getting the CW bug. CW is my favorite mode but it's been over half a century since I first learned it. Back then, it pretty much consisted of rote memory. You would sit down with a sheet of paper with the alphabet, numbers, and common punctuation and each would have its CW characters listed. From there, it was first memorizing and then sitting down with what was called a code practice oscillator and becoming familiar with how each character sounded.

I belonged to a radio club sponsored by the local YMCA and each Saturday, we met at the club station. We had an adult adviser who was an EE and worked for Westinghouse. He taught newbies theory with the FCC testing in mind as well as doing code practice with the same goal.

Since the novice test at that time required proficiency at 5 WPM, that's what speed the lessons started at. An important distinction with regard to that speed was that the characters were sent at a higher speed, usually somewhere in the 10-12 WPM range with the spacing adjusted to 5 WPM. If you've ever listened to CW at 5 WPM with each character sent at 5 WPM, you'll see why it's good practice to learn this way. You can fall asleep trying to copy code at low speeds otherwise and it's very helpful when you're ready to advance to higher speeds to already be very familiar with how the characters sound at higher speeds.

At that time, the ARRL maintained station W1AW and one of its primary uses was for sending out code practice at various speeds on different bands. The information regarding times, speeds, etc. was published in QST every month. Instead of listening to the perfect volume, perfect pitch CW generated by a good op on the code practice oscillator, this method gave newbies the chance to practice copying code under actual conditions the average operator could expect to encounter. You would pick a band based on time of day, propagation, distance from W1AW, etc. Remember that this was back in the time of receivers which used vacuum tubes, many of which were less than stable. This meant that you would often be trying to copy code with your dominant hand while holding the receiver dial with the other hand to allow for receiver drift. I'm not sure if W1AW still offers that service.

I started with a straight key and stuck with that until I hit the 15 WPM plateau. Back then, military and commercial service radio gear was in abundance and was particularly popular with hams. The J-38 straight key was everywhere and got many a new ham into CW. After I hit 15 WPM and decided to pursue even higher speeds, I saved up for a Vibroplex bug which had a sliding weight on a shaft which was adjusted by the operator to produce dits at the desired speed as long as the paddle was depressed to the right. Dahs were made by depressing the paddle to the left but the operator was responsible for creating each dah individually as well as adjusting the length of that dah based on the speed.

I used the bug for a relatively short time before converting it for use with a keyer. I ended up with a homebrew keyer based on the commercial Hallicrafters TO keyer. It utilized a mercury-whetted relay and was one of the finest keyers I've ever used. Like so many things, it just mysteriously disappeared into the ether at some point. Before it disappeared, it got me and several others from the club up to somewhere between 25-30 WPM reliably. We then joined and participated regularly in a few high-speed CW nets which handled message traffic in the days before cell phones and the Internet. The nets provided great practice and also great real-world operating experience as well as serving a purpose.

One thing I did while learning was to take random short words or phrases and send them to myself in my head (when I could do so safely). For instance, while a passenger in a car, you might approach a STOP sign and silently send dit dit dit, dah, dah dah dah, dit dah dah dit. All these years later, I still find myself doing this on occasion.

Good luck and 73!

quote:

I’ve read that adept CWers can recognize each other’s hand.

That was true back when straight keys and bugs were in use. With the advent of electronic keyers with programmed spacing, not so much.

As a new operator, it was very rewarding when an experienced operator would make the comment, "nice fist" with regard to your sending ability during a QSO (radio conversation).

The way old time telegraph or radio operators were able to use Morse Code always amazed me.

I learned a few letters for aviation navigation, back when ground stations broadcast a 3 or 4 letter morse identifier. The pilot was supposed to listen and identify before relying on the signal. And if the station was under maintenance it would broadcast T E S T. So woe be to the pilot who heard beeps on the broadcast but didn't recognize it was TEST rather than the correct letters!

A few of the common letters were easy to remember. "I" is the first letter for ILS instrument approaches. Stations we frequently used were memorized.

Many accidents or positional errors had been caused by lazy pilots not listening and positively identifying the station. Nowadays almost all nav is GPS based, and if using terrestrial stations the digital receivers in the aircraft do the identification. At the airline I don't recall needing to listen to a Morse identifier since maybe 2006.

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
Both my Dad and brother were HAM operators. Back that long ago you got your novice license first. Morse code only. Then you got your general license which allowed you to talk.

This may have been after that time (dunno how old you are), but, as I climbed the ladder it was:

• Novice: Novice Rules & Theory, 5 WPM code: Code only use
  
• Tech: General Rules & Theory, 5 WPM code: Code only use on low bands, phone on VHF/UHF
  
• General: General Rules & Theory, 13 WPM code: Code and phone on all bands, save some restricted low-band use to higher classes
  
• Advanced: Extra Rules & Theory, 13 WPM code. Additional low-band space? (Not certain of that.)
  
• Extra: Extra Rules & Theory, 20 WPM code. Additional low-band space.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
I’ve read that adept CWers can recognize each other’s hand.

Once-upon-a-time: Yes.

quote:

Originally posted by FiveFiveSixFan:
As a new operator, it was very rewarding when an experienced operator would make the comment, "nice fist" with regard to your sending ability during a QSO (radio conversation).

Indeed.

Imagine getting that complement from an FCC Examiner during the code portion of your General test--with a straight key (IIRC: The FCC did not allow the use of keyers in license exams at the time.)

quote:

quote:
Originally posted by FiveFiveSixFan:
As a new operator, it was very rewarding when an experienced operator would make the comment, "nice fist" with regard to your sending ability during a QSO (radio conversation).
Indeed.

Imagine getting that complement from an FCC Examiner during the code portion of your General test--with a straight key (IIRC: The FCC did not allow the use of keyers in license exams at the time.)

That happened to me. I took my exam at the FCC office in lower Manhattan which I believe was on Christopher Street. The examiners were mostly dressed in short-sleeved white shirts with black clip-on ties. Mine also wore black horn-rimmed glasses and had a pocket protector filled with short pencils (for use by applicants for the receive portion of the code test). It was a rather nerve-wracking experience for a teen but they did their best to make it less stressful.

After telling me I had a nice fist, the examiner encouraged me to keep at the straight key and then he told me about the surplus electronics places on Canal St. and gave me directions. It turned out to be a great experience and I ended up returning to Canal St. many times.

quote:

Originally posted by FiveFiveSixFan:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by FiveFiveSixFan:
As a new operator, it was very rewarding when an experienced operator would make the comment, "nice fist" with regard to your sending ability during a QSO (radio conversation).

Indeed.

Imagine getting that complement from an FCC Examiner during the code portion of your General test--with a straight key (IIRC: The FCC did not allow the use of keyers in license exams at the time.)

That happened to me. I took my exam at the FCC office in lower Manhattan ...

Cool story

Here's mine:

I took my General and Advanced tests at the FCC office in downtown Detroit. I'd been up to a solid 17-20 WPM copy. As I was copying during the receive test, breezing right along, all-of-a-sudden it occurred to me where I was and what I was doing and I panicked. I could still get what was being sent, but, I could not get my hand to write it down! Finally I grabbed my right wrist with my left hand to steady it and got the tail end of the send written down.

I just >< barely had enough to pass!

Then, during the sending test the examiner complemented me on my fist After I was done he asked me if I cared to take the Advanced Rules & Theory test while I was there. I demurred, telling him I wasn't certain if I was ready for it. "Won't hurt to try. If you miss you can come back in thirty days and try again." So I did and I passed.

As I said: I was up well over 20 WPM not long after that. I could have gone back down and taken the code portion for my Extra. Just never got around to it.

Thought I'd post a little update.

Making progress...slowly.

Did this this morning. Character speed of 25wpm, PARIS speed at 10wpm, and groups of two for 1 minute. Doesn't sound like much, but damn it's fast!



Got 'em all!

While it seems like not much progress on the one hand, I never thought I'd be able to do this roughly six weeks ago. So, I'm pretty happy.

Now I'm going to slow it back down and increase the "word" length to three and move up the speed, then four, etc....

It's a slow process for the aging brain, but I'm getting there.

I've been spending time down on the CW bands and it's pretty cool being able to understand some of the slower guys. Still haven't made my first QSO though. Pretty soon.

I learned Morse Code back in the 1950's when in Boy Scouts.
Unfortunately, I remember none of it now.

Thanks for the update. Makes me want to get back into code and learn it again.

Might be easier the second time around

Yeah, right

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
Might be easier the second time around

Yeah, right

I don't know about that.

As you know, knowing the code and being able to decipher it is one thing, and pretty easy to do. The hard thing is doing it at speed. Brutal and frustrating as all get out. I can tell you what a "J" is all day long, but send it to me fast, mixed in with other letters, and it's awfully tough to hear whether it's a "J" or a "1", or if it's a "B" or a "6". Then you find yourself thinking about it for a second, and having to count it out, and by then you're two or three letters behind. I'm getting there though. Most of the characters are beginning to sound like one sound rather than dits and dahs.

Despite the frustration, I'd encourage you to do it. I see a lot of QRZ pages where the CW folks talk about having done it years/decades ago and then got back into it. So, it's do-able.