How to copy letters at 15 wpm ?

[BOJANY]

Hi all,

I am trying to learn CW with G4FON at 15 wpm but have hard time trying to write down the letters at this speed. How  do you do it at even higher speed ?

Thnx for any help or sugestion,

                       Bojany  

[WA4MJF]

Well, although, if you write behind
what you are copying you can keep up that
way.  Most folks use a mill (special
typewriter with all caps) for copying
at high speeds.  I once an IBM Selectric
with a mill ball.

73 de Ronnie

[WB2WIK]

Why'd you want to write them down?

Unless you're copying a very special message containing a phone number or street address, or something else you'd be unlikely to remember very long, there's really no reason to write down "code copy," ever -- and there really never has been.

Most all fluent code operators don't write anything down except an occasional notation.  BTW, those occasional notations are more than sufficient for passing the amateur code exam (Element 1), since you only have to answer questions and it is not required to hand in a sheet of "code copy," at all.

Although many actually can print pretty legibly at 20 or 25 wpm, and maybe write longhand a bit faster than that, nobody can write legibly at 50 wpm, but thousands of operators all over the world easily "copy" 100% at that speed.  Obviously, they're not writing it down -- impossible.

The "mill" (typewriter) copy is much easier with a computer keyboard than with an old-fashioned typewriter, even an electric one.  I can type 120 wpm, so this is surely a possibility if for some reason "hard copy" of all text is required.  But to pass an exam, or to operate on the ham bands, "hard copy" simply is *not* required, and I wouldn't bother with it.

I operate CW pretty much every day, and other than writing down the other station's callsign and name in my logbook (also not required, I just do this because I want to), I don't write anything down at all.  

It's actually a bad habit, and a hard one to break once started.  *Listening to and understanding code* is far more important than using paper, and is the way most high-speed code operators learned.

WB2WIK/6

[N6PEH]

Eventually head copy is possible.  I can easliy copy at 15-18 wpm.  I must write it down though.  When I head copy, I hear the character and shove it aside in my head.  When someone sends me their qth for instance, I copy all the letters, but then have to recall them all and spell the word.  While this process is going on I am missing the characters currently being sent.   BUT, evntually I have started to hear words like "NAME" "IS" "CALL" and others.  I imagine with experience, this list will grow.  So practice, practice, practice.

[AB0SI]

Some people can "head copy," some people can not. Those who can have a huge advantage. Want to see if your brain is wired the right way to do this? Simply have someone read out something letter by letter to you at 15 or 20 wpm. If you can put it together into words and phrases, you should be able to, with practice, head copy morse code.

I can't do it with letters or morse (or numbers for that matter). I am quite new at morse but what seems to work best for me is keyboarding (typing). I find this much easier than printing or writing for whatever reason. (As a pure guess, this might be because I am used to "reading ahead" when typing which is similar to "hearing ahead" when listening to morse code.) I use the ; key for an element I missed. I find it easier to mentally "let go" of a missed character by hitting a key rather than merely a <space>. Why the ; key? Why not? If I hit shift ro shift lock by mistake it's a colon -- another character you are not likely to hear in morse .. and I won't recognize the ; or the : in code anyway. <grin>

Paul  AB0SI

[WB2WIK]

Let me correct one misconception: *Everyone* can "head copy" code.  Impossible that anyone's not able to do this, unless that person is seriously disabled and has other obvious issues.

The *problem* is this: People try to "learn" code by copying it letter by letter, and writing it down.  If you *don't* begin that way at all, and never write anything down beginning with the first letter, you'll never rely on writing it down.  And that's an absolute fact.

Having someone read text to you letter by letter isn't even close to copying code.  Properly sent code leaves critical spaces between characters, between words and between thoughts (or "paragraphs," so to speak), whether specific punctuation is used there or not.  Unless everybody's sending 20-letter words all the time, which they're not, the average word takes just a couple of seconds to send.  No reason to pay attention to each letter, when you copy the whole word.  It's not a matter of "some can, and some can't."  Everyone can, if that's all they've ever done.

I've taught numerous (several dozen, over about 25 or 30 years) code classes to beginners, and Rule #1 is, "no pencils, and no paper, period."  Rule #2 is, "no listening to code just for the sake of copying code."  Students must interact with code, beginning with the first letter they learn.  One student sends to his partner, who "copies" what was sent (in his or her head) and then sends back a reply to his partner, and so forth.  Simple sentences can be made with just a few letters.  By the end of Class #4, there isn't anybody in the class who can't both copy and also send at least 10 wpm, and nobody's written any of it down.

It works 100% of the time if the students attend the classes.  Practicing code by "listening" and passively copying, without having someone to reply to, doesn't work very well and this is the major handicap people have when trying to learn individually.

WB2WIK/6

[W4YA]

Try writing in "long hand." I think you will find that is easier than printing. Unless you have a physical problem, 15 or 20 should be easy to write out. Or you might try and increase the space between letters in G4FON to give you more time. In any event, don't give up on G4FON. It is the best code teaching program out there.

73
Jim W4YA

[VE3XDB]

Run the program at the speed at which you would like to ultimately operate.  I would suggest 20 wpm.  Change the settings on the program to send words, not letters.  Listen, don't write.  Put the words together in your head.  Then when you are comfortable copying in your head, you can practice writing down every second word.  In an actual QSO, you will only need to write down a few words to remember so you can update your log (Name, QTH, RST, etc.)

Practice, practice, practice!  

Keep at it, and good luck!

Best regards,

Doug Behl VE3XDB

[W5WJP]

When you take your 5 wpm code test, you can use a typewriter of computer to copy the code. You must supply the computer or typewriter. If you don't get the questions on the quiz right, you can still pass by having a string of 25 characters copied correctly. Numbers, puncutaion and prosigns count as 2 characters. So for the test I would still copy the code character by character. I am a VE and have seen many people pass by having a string of characters copied correctly. Our VE team will allow the use of typewriters or PC's to copy the code too.

On the air, my code is not very good but I write down call signs, names and qth's and little else.

73,
W5WJP

[N8UZE]

1. Relax.  This is the hardest part.  Just let it flow.

2. Most people find script (long hand) is faster.

3. Most people find that using all lower case is faster than upper case or mixed case.

[OZ8AGB]

HI,

I'm actually experiencing the exact same thing!
I also use G4FON's software. It uses the Koch method, and states that one should use at least 15WPM and write down 5 minutes of random letters, starting out with just 2 different characters. If one has 90% correct written down add another character.
I simply cannot write that fast, especially when we get to t's and e's and i's after one another.

I tried to set effective speed at 10wpm still with character speed at 20wpm. But G4FON warned me that it will become a plateau because I will tend to do the "lookup table" when copying the letters.

So I'am practically back to square one and about to give up on learning it.

73
Michael
OZ8AGB

[AB3BK]

I cannot tell where you are from.  If you are studying for the test here in the US, it's only 5wpm.  Set your character speed to 15wpm, and you overall speed to 5wpm.  This is how the test will sound.  If you cannot write at this speed, there is something wrong.  It's like having a full minute to write "my dog has many fleas".  Write that down, and see how long it takes.

I agree with Steve, I don't think writing everything down is a good idea.  You can build up your speed alot faster by learning the sounds of the words and treating it as someone talking to you.  Of course, to get to this point, it takes operating time.  Get on CW everyday, and you will soon notice how you can "hear" what they are saying.

Good luck!
Dave

[N8UZE]

More tips.

1.  Don't try to add a new letter too soon.  If you can keep up at the chosen speed, it is still too soon even if you can correctly distinguish the letters.  Writing the letter needs to be automatic upon hearing the sound.  If you hear the letter, think the letter name, and then write it down, you are slowing yourself down unnecessarily.

2.  Don't worry about neatness.  What's important is that you copy it not how neat it is.  As you get good at it and less nervous, neatness will return.  When I took my 20wpm test years ago, I was so nervous that I scrawled the letters so large that it took me 5 (yes five) sheets of paper to copy the material sent.  Many people having trouble keeping up are simply trying to be too neat.

3.  Spend some time separately writing letters as quickly as you can when you are NOT copying code.  Find what works best for you (printing, writing, lower case, whatever) and practice it.

[KH6TX]

Can appreciate the problems in writing out the code -- trying to get back into CW after a very long layoff, and the G4FON progam is a superb way to get back into it!

A long-gone SK who had done commercial, military and maritime CW for years offered this idea to me if you're set on writing out what you hear:  write it out in longhand/script BUT use a felt tip pen with a very soft/flexible tip.  This minimizes the effort to write the characters/words which you face when using a pencil or ball-point pen. You can literally drag the pen across the paper without having to push -- he also recommended that you NOT look at the paper as you write -- just stare at the radio or into 'space' and let the ear/hand coordination take over. With this method, as your ear/brain/hand synapses start firing, you'll find less need to write anything beyond esentials such as call-sign, QTH, name or complex words and thoughts.

73,

Frank, KH6TX/7
Tucson Arizona

[K2MVR]

Hi everyone.

I also used and still use G4FON's program. My problem is that no one wants to slow down for me on the air.

I hear that there are slow code nets out there but I cant hear them. I can send and copy from 10 to 15 wpm.

I wonder if anyone has come up with some sort of way to gather  CW apprentices like me into a sort of web chatroom with some kind of software where you can actually practice with someone who has the same needs.

Yes I know (before anyone screams) I am not by any means suggesting a new form of IRLP CW or nothing like that. Perhaps a yahoo instant message group where you can actually use your computers mike and connect it to your cw practice oscillator and practice with someone.

At this point I am suggesting this because trying to get someone on the radio to slow down is useless and no one I know has the time to practice on air with me.

Just a thought.