Some observations learning code

[Fred Kemmerer]

I have been practicing with our class files almost daily and I have learned most to the alphabet at this point (up to the letter v). I can decode the 5 character tests that are part of our corse pretty well at this point so I decided to try some of the ARRL code practice files at 7.5 WPM. It turns out to be quite a bit harder to decode random length words in text. I did a little practice using callsigns at 12 WPM and had pretty limited success on the first try. Some of this is a result of not know the complete alphabet yet (I still have numbers and punctuation to learn. I also think there is a second step in learn to hear “words” and developing skills to decode words of different lengths with a somewhat shorter spacing between the letters and words than I am used to.

The net of all of this is that I plan to continue with the ARRL and other practice sessions to augment my learning the alphabet from the class disk. I believe that the additional set of skill that I need to learn from the ARRL and other more “real world” practice sources is an essential step towards being ready to get “on the air” and use CW.

I hope that these thoughts might help others in our class.

73,

[KU1V]

Thanks for sharing Fred,  Thus far my biggest stumbling block is my old habits.  The old dot and dash keeps jumping in when I miss the sound and try to recover I end up missing a couple letters.  I am over coming, but progress is slow.  The key and oscillator  is a definite help in sound development.

Thanks to  this class I feel I have made good progress.

Mike

 

 

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