Hi Rick,
Everyone has made very good suggestions for the basics. Certainly after
learning the all the characters reasonably well at a decent speed, the
suggestion of Morse Runner is a good one. It is a lot of fun, but not as much
as a real on the air contest.
One thing that no one mentioned but is important if you were physically working
out or running or playing tennis, etc. is stretching your muscles beforehand.
When I was studying for my Extra Class code test at 20 wpm in early 1990, I
stretched my mental muscles beforehand. I sat down at the computer and set the
speed at about 30 to 35 wpm and sat back for about 3 to 4 minutes and just
listened, not writing down anything, and not even trying to decode in my head.
Just listen to the rhythm, it gets your brain 'synced' to a faster speed. Then
I set my speed at 25 to 27 wpm, and I could then copy and write easier than I
could doing it cold. I got my speed up much quicker than I thought I would.
Passing the test at 20 wpm was a piece of cake. Then got into contesting and
my speed is up to 35 to 40 or more on receive, less on sending because I don't
practice that as much.
Good luck, it is very much worth the effort, and see you in the contests.
73, Gerry, K8GT
-----Original Message-----
From: cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Rick Kiessig
Sent: November-09-08 5:03 PM
To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Learning Morse
I've decided to learn Morse, mainly with an eye toward contesting. I tried
and failed many times years ago, using the approach recommended to me at the
time - cassette tapes. I recently discovered the Koch method, and have been
using the G4FON software, but I have some questions:
-- Since the Koch technique has you learning at full-speed from the
beginning, what's a reasonable speed to aim for? What's the range that you
might see in a typical contest?
-- I've started at 22 wpm, and find that the speed of my handwriting is
often not fast enough to keep up, and keyboarding is even worse. The only
way I could imagine going faster is to copy entirely in my head. How did do
you get past that hurdle?
-- Are there any other approaches to learning that I should consider, or
perhaps better implementations of the Koch technique?
Thanks,
73, Rick ZL2HAM
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