As a kid, once I "knew" the code, I sounded out license plates and signs
whenever we were going somewhere...I think I may have made WAS by (then)
current plates...
--- On Wed, 5/26/10, jerome schatten <romers@shaw.ca> wrote:
From: jerome schatten <romers@shaw.ca>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] wither CW
To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Wednesday, May 26, 2010, 3:15 PM
Richard... When I was a kid in NYC and trying to learn the code, my CW
guru was W2QFH (long gone) who worked the great lakes vessels as a radio
op. His instructions to me were: memorize the letters, numbers, and
standard punctuation and then, while riding the subway or the bus, sound
out the adverts (in your head) in morse code for the whole trip. If you
cant read those adverts to yourself in morse without mistakes or
hesitation, you haven't worked hard enough on the memorization.
He listened to me 'speak' the code and corrected me. We listened
together to folks sending on the air and discussed what we were hearing.
Finally, he had me send to him with a code practice oscillator and made
me keep at it, sending me home to practice. He sent near perfect code
with a bug, but you could always detect a slight 'Lake Erie Swing'. I
inherited both his bug and his swing ;).
If you can't produce code with well formed characters, well spaced in
your head by sounding it out, you will never send clean, well spaced
code with any kind of sending device except a keyboard (providing you
can type fast 'nuff to fill the buffer).
In other words, you need to KNOW what good code sounds like in order to
send it. If you're not sure that what you're sending is good code, get
someone who knows to listen to you and correct you if necessary.
Why all the emphasis on sending? Well, if you think about it, if you can
send good cw by hand pump at say 15 wpm and know it's good code, you
most likely would be able to receive good code at 15 wpm -- if not, you
wouldn't know you were sending good code. The reverse may not be true
though, as I know more than a few folks who can copy well and can't
send anything understandable.
It does help if you are musical, but it's neither a necessary nor
sufficient condition for success. Yeah... open 'G' for banjo players.
You're going to be OK. Where's my old Gibson Mastertone? If you play
that banjo, you should be able to play the telegraph key.
I spent months after I got my license in '52 sending to myself and
copying press CW and W1AW before I ever issued my first CQ. In those
days, if you were a lid, no-one came back to you -- it was that simple.
Nowadays, it seems anything passes for CW, after all you don't want to
damage someone's self esteem by telling him/her their code is crap.
Learn to send with the hand pump first. Learn what perfect code sounds
like and learn to imitate it.
Remember, what one fool can learn to do, another can also - it ain't
that hard!
Best,
jerome - va7vv ex k2axs
On Wed, 2010-05-26 at 15:07 -0400, Richards wrote:
> Rick - Jim - Jerome - and the rest ... THANKS FOR THE "STRAIGHT" KEY
> advice.
>
> I have a cheap Chinese straight key, and an old Nye Viking key I
> collected up over the past few years when I was just a mere SWL and l
> planned for retirement and ham radio. I also have a Black Widow paddle
> kit I made, and I have Ser. No. 006 of the Ten-Tec 40th Anniv Bencher BY
> key - but I have not had it out of the box for fear I will destroy its
> collector value (if any...) using it before I know how. I use the
> straight key as a PTT switch. . . it is SUPPOSED to remind me to
> practice every day.
>
> The difficulty was ... what to use or try first... and you have solved that.
>
> I am not asking for any other advice... because I know I will get ten
> answers from the next nine hams I ask ! So I will just trust this
> is correct. ;-)
>
> Oh... yeah... I also have an old toy key thing from when my father was
> a kid, and that was featured in an article by Dave Ingram, in CQ
> Magazine, in June or July 2007. That was fun getting my name in print
> in such a serious ham publication. Dave has published a series of
> books on keys and paddles, etc.
>
> So... I will start out shooting "straight" and move to a paddle. I
> will check out the Vibroplex line as Scott Robbins was VERY nice to me
> when he as at TT and I would like to return the favor and buy something
> from his new venture.
>
> Frankly, the single paddle with two finger pieces appeals to my inner
> logic (or more likely ill-logic) but the whole notion seems most
> straightforward to me. It appears a dual paddle is very close to that
> in operation.
>
> Thanks, again, ... now I just need to establish a regular training regimen.
>
> SIDEBAR -- As for music, I think I like the key of G... as it seems
> easiest to fashion Bluegrass licks and bass runs in that key. ;-)
>
> ===================== JHR ==================================
>
>
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