Well done, sir ! I am totally agree with audio learning.I think this is the only method to learn very well.I learned Morse code, in the Romanian army, in the year 1985.It take one month, but, at the end of this time, all of us (soldiers), obtained the brevet.Now, I am 55 years old, and I still hear good (ocasionally), all these sounds.Respect from Romania, Bucharest ! And please excuse for my english, which is not so good.
I still remember the point where I put down the pencil. It was during my 20 WPM test 30 years ago. I was frantically scribbling when I started falling behind and knew I would not catch up. So I just started writing key words and answered the questions from those meager notes. That's not quite putting the pencil down, just loosening my grip a bit, but enough to get 'em all. N8CPA
Thank you! Wonderful advice. I had earned my Novice license over 50 years ago, I was a kid, couldn't afford a radio, never got on the air. I never lost interest and now, I can afford a radio and I'm studying for my ticket. They no longer require code, but I still want to use it and this sounds so much better than juggling individual letters in my mind while trying to listen and write. Thanks for pointing me in this direction.
Good points. I was learning it wrong by identifying code visually. I stopped practicing for a while and now I’m 100% audio learning code. Your points are spot on. Thank you. 73
Thanks a lot for your useful advises. I only don't understand why the bird in the backgroud audio has been making a lot of M and T letters....73 de IZ7VHF.
Great advise Scott, unfortunately I started completely wrong 40 years ago and I am still counting and visualizing. I wish I could clear everything from CW out of my brain and start again from scratch. 73's de ON7QF
i love how all the comments are people who were in war and had to learn morse code for the army yearsss ago and theres just me ,15 and wanting to learn morse code cause why not
I've been pondering trying to learn code, but assumed that there were likely some more efficient ways than others to approach it. Your sharing of your experience learning it and tips on how to proceed was just what I wanted. Much appreciated. 73
Thank you for your video. I'm a total novice, half way through by basic HAM licence training course and I want to take the CW test as well (so I've started studying) - but I am soooo enjoying this journey! I'm excited to say I can tap out code that should be decipherable. But my listening at this point has been limited to words or phrases that I've seen in roman characters. I am very apprehensive about starting to listening to code (that I haven't seen written down) but that's the actual objective I suppose! Your vidoe has cemented for me the importance of building my listening skills and I will do exactly that. Thank you for your time Sir.
Excellent advice. All 5 points are right-on. I started back in the early 80s and the first thing I did was memorize the code visually. I didnt realize what a mistake this was until I was progressing from 5wpm up to 7 wpm ( then to 10, 13, 15, 18 wpm, etc ). I would have moved through those stages much faster if I'd never seen a printed morse code character.
Excellent video. I'm 2 weeks from taking Technician Exam which I'm ready for. I'm gravitating to CW and you have provided very strong and wise tips for a beginner like me.
All very good, thoughtful advise. When I learned code back in the 70's I hit a "wall" at around 20 wpm until I dropped the pencil and started listening to 30 wpm and suddenly realized that at those speeds I was actually hearing words, not individual letters. By the time I took my Extra exam in 1981 20 wpm sounded slow compared to what I'd become accustomed to. Continue to push yourself above your comfort level and much greater speeds than you ever imagined become possible. Stay inspired! 73 de N9MB
I understand the uploader's intent of adhering to the hearing art of Morse Code. I was wondering if it is somehow just not doing an overall study though. I will use an analogy. The art of Music a person can learn an instrument, but how they play can be through ear, chord symbol and notes. Doing all three is great, instead of specializing on just one. Depending on what the individual's specific goals are. My view on Morse Code priority is first and foremost 1) Hearing, then 2) Light 3) Pressure and finally as an option 4) Written.
Imagine if your code class (USN airborn communications class ) was copying five charector blocks composed of letters, numbers and punctuation marks . fq4b, tdiew z0qyp ect. When you got to 8 to 12 wpm a roadblock occured and after a few days of fustration somthing happened to how we interpreted the sounds. IT was like a switch got flipped and we ended the six weeks at 18wpm copying "unwords " . Nowadays im unable to copy code at any speed without a typewitter , Its a fasinating view of the complexity of learning which is another "hobby" worth the time.
When I first took the exam at 5 wpm I almost failed because I practiced at around 10 wpm. I thought the exam was going to be easy. Wrong. I could barely copy at 5. It was too darn slow. Of course now I'm relearning but this time I started at 20. But I realized just yesterday that that was too slow and bumped it to 25. I will be taking KW4JM's advice an try out the "Wordsworth" method.
I believe most people hit a brick wall because they do not know it well enough. No matter how fast or slow the code is, you must have instant character recognition. If you do not, you will always struggle with Morse code. Whether fast or slow. To get instant character recognition requires a lot of practice. Slow and fast.
What a wonderful tutor! Great advice and motivating notes from someone who seems, he knows what he's talking about. Thank You so much Sir! Happy Dx ing. 73's de VK2xxxx
Thanks for the excellent advice, I fully agree with those recommendations. I am learning for over 5 months now according to these points and, slowly but truly, I do progress. This is an excellent way to go and study, may you be heard.
My navy training was such that I could 'read and type' Morse far better than I could write it on paper, and at greater speed. As we had a cover over our hands when we learned to touch-type, it got so that Morse reception became an almost unconscious process. Added to this, we often didn't copy plain English words but coded 5 letter groups, so there could be no guessing as to what a word is or was if we missed a letter or so. Of course, for me, all over this was more than sixty years ago. That said, I can still read and send Morse.
The first thing makes me remember, I had a friend who had this mental thing so no matter how hard he tried he called read words at all, he knows what letters are and look like but he can't read. But he's a very fluent speaker and has good education already
I learned Morse Code back in 1989, in order to pass the Novice test. I went from studying the written portion, and learning code, to passing the test some 10 days later. However, that was no major accomplishment, at all. The written portion of the test was very basic, and I only got to maybe 7 or 8 WPM on the code, with the requirement being only 5 WPM to pass. I learned by the then much accepted method of using Gordon West's cassette audio tapes. It worked, but I had major problems trying to build speed after I passed the Novice test. The bottom line - take the great advice in this video, and save yourself a lot of time and headaches. If you wanna be acceptable at Morse Code, there's just not enough time to be thinking about 'Dits' and 'Dahs.'
I am not sure if this is considered “head send” or not but 23 years ago when I was practicing CW to take my general test (at 5 wpm) during my long commute into work on the 405 in So Cal I would practice converting to CW text from the highway signs I passed while I was inevitably stopped in traffic, this seemed to help my learning to receive. I ended up barely squeaking through my Morse portion of my general test and promptly forgot what I knew afterwards. However now I am wondering if I should learn it all over again and try and maintain the knowledge as I am retired and have some time.
Absolutely love your #1 - lose the visual. In my "prime CW years" I was able to send/receive over 25 wpm but that was only after struggling to get my brain to catch up to my keyer.
Thank you for this video, I learned a few new things, some of the others I already learned but the hard way as you did. I started with a PC computer at 5WPM, real 5WPM and progressed up to 10WPM where I got stuck for months. I gave up for some time and restarted the same way and got stuck again at 10WPM until I discovered Koch-Farnsworth with 20WPM letters. Point 1: I knew about forgetting about the visual but when you start at real 5WPM you clearly hear the dits and dahs and it is very difficult for your brain not to hear them even if you are not counting. You don't hera the letters. When you reach 10WPM your brain get lost as it does not hear the dits and dahs. Point 2: With letters at 20-25WPM you learn to hear the letters which makes it easier to shorten the spacing. It is when I started to make rapid progress. Point 3: I always tried to avoid pencil and as you said at some point you cannot write and copy at the same time. Point 4: This is a new one for me and will have to try it. I knew that being a good operator means hearing words not letters. I can regonize a few of them but until now I did not know how to do it. Point 5: This is also a new one for me. Right now my QSOs are relatively short for this reason. No rag chew at this time. When you are really good at CW: I met this ham and we were talking while he was making rag chew QSOs at 30WPM. Unbelievable!
I see your mag loop in the background, I have made three so far, they have changed my ideas about portable antennas, they are amazing for their compact size, 73's, good CW vid.👍
Thank you for sharing this info. Like most things in life, there are no shortcuts. I play with a CW phone app but now desire to take it to the next level.
I came after your review of the Te Ne Ke and the algorithms presented me this video as well. I came to the same conclusion a few weeks ago -- that I need to start hearing words and not characters. Morse Code is a language and we learn languages by words, not characters. Can you imagine learning Spanish using the a-m-i-g-o approach? Nope. Well done sir!
An excellent and encouraging video. I recently decided I need to make CW something I can enjoy and have been intimidated a great deal based on how I learned it back in the 1980's to get my first license -- and never used it again. I upgraded to Extra after code went away. Everything you've said makes sense and I will be pushing forward "soundly" using your suggestions. Thank you.
I learned CW by writing it down, it has slowed me down. My dad was a radio operator on a navy ship, he could drive a car and carry on a cw conversation
I learned the old way with a G3 friend starting at 6 wpm and in 3 months got up to 15 wpm for my 12 wpm test which I passed. I was listening to the AA9PW 25-30 wpm news bulletin but it seems to be discontinued. I can't write at 20 wpm so had to lose the pencil. I now read in my head and make important notes only; name, QTH, signal report etc. Bill, G4GHB.
Something that helped me tremendously was listening to random QSOs on WebSDR sites using a phone app when out and about. That helped me learn to deal with different fists, QRM, QRM, QSB, etc. I can copy QLF much better than some friends who trained using purely computer generated code.
I am glad I found this video! 5WPM between characters, and the individual characters sent at 25WPM is an excellent combination! It is really helping me learn code fast! I am using the app “Ham Morse” on my iPhone to implement this tempo and speed.
Learning Morse sounds just like learning typing: letters first, letter combinations, words and phrases, larger and larger groups become graspable without attending to the smaller parts.
Thank you for insightful video. I'm a new ham. I got my tech ticket a month ago. Last week I started learning Morse code after a lifetime of admiring people that communicate over long distances with CW. I've been using the techniques you've outlined but I found the Koch/Farnsworth via a small Android app. When I first started I had trouble with 5 wpm. Now I'm working through the Koch sequences at 18/5 and even that seems slow now. Thanks again for the advice. 73 de KN4KAW.
Interesting to hear so many interested in Morse code, after it is no longer required ! Fortunately, I was licensed while it was still a requirement, so it was something you did, if you wanted to become an Amateur ! Many claim that C.W. kept them from becoming Hams ! But when you listen to them speak, and share their knowledge, many Extras don't know what a novice should know ! And got their license by using a computer to memorize the answers, with little, if any, practical application ! It is what it is ! I have always felt that many are missing out, when they sell themselves short ! Many are just plain lazy, as evidenced in other aspects of their lives ! Nuff said !
I was trained as an 05b radio telegraph operator at Fort Gordon. Georgia in 1972. I had copied 31 word groups per minute and was working on 33 when I finished my training. They told me I was close to an Army record. The code was coming so fast that I would write another 12 to 15 letters after the code stopped. When I got to my duty station in Germany I was transferred to the M.P.'s and never sent or received code again! Now, 50 years later, I can only remember SOS. I don't have any interest in re-learning the code but I was hoping some of my buddies in that AIT group might see this and contact me.
Cool video, thanks for making it! Not quite sure but it feels like if you dont have your letters straight in your head it's hard to just copy words. The analogy is that when you're reading a book there might be words you don't know the meaning of but you can still read them and find a definition of them because you know the individual letters, just an intuition. I'm almost done with learning letters anyway so I'll finish this up :d
Was taught Morse in the British Army in the 70s. It was all encoded in 5 character cypher, with very little plain language text, so never really got beyond 18 wpm as you had to write down cypher . Still remember the rhythm of some of the more common words..... it was really a bit like being brainwashed. Was converting everything into l morse in my head for months after each of my 2 courses. Probably only take me an hour or so to get up to 12 wpm. Some good suggestions here, I'll use them if I get the urge again!
Thank you. If I am not wrong, the author of lcwo.net also wrote a command line program to convert text files (actually ebooks) into mp3 files. You can specify both spacing between letters and spacing between words, while leaving the character speed unaltered.
You are absolutely correct. I attained my General lic in 1985 or 6. I was copying code at 23 wpm when I took the 13wpm code test and still only got 70percent on the test. But, still passed. So sorry I ever let my lic expire 13 years ago.
Thanks for an interesting and informative video. I have just now subscribed to your channel. I am a DXer and occasionally use the low VHF beacons as indicators for DX signals higher in the bands on TV and FM. Many of the VHF beacons use Morse Code.
I am pretty sure that the GNU/Linux program morse is what is generating the morse code on LCWO and I think using the morse program being a command line program has even more features than LCWO and is more flexible, here are some examples of how to use it and (man morse) has good instructions or just type morse without any flags for the instructions. This will tap out the alphabet in order A to Z and repeat 20 times, in groups of 5 at a character speed of 25 WPM & effective speed of 5 WPM whilst displaying each character in morse A.- B-... C-.-. etc seq 20 | xargs -Iz echo "ABCDEFGHILKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ" | morse -lm -w12 -F25 -n5 -v0.2 Same as above but letters at random: morse -rlm -w12 -F25 -n5 -v0.2 -CABCDEFGHILKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ This will sound out and show the Morse of each letter of the alphabet at random and then ask you which letter you just heard: morse -rlmsd -w12 -F25 -n5 -v0.2 -CABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
I learned at 6 w.p.m. and worked up to probably 15 w.p.m. in 12 weeks for my test at 12 w.p.m. Passed first time. When learning I used a pencil so I could check with the text afterwards. As speed increased I discarded the pencil as I couldn't write fast enough. Listening on air is good too as I did because at some time you will need to listen through QRM, fading and other noises and it helps you to understand the make up of a typical QSO. Words do come over: the, and, they, and so on. Head copy was another stage. Now happy at 18 to 20 w.p.m. and can push 25 reasonably well and some at 30 w.p.m. My question is whether the Koch-Farnsworth method is faster? Could I have learned it in 6 weeks? Not that it matters, I was quite happy with what I did. G4GHB.
It's been a while since this video was produced and I'm not sure if you still monitor it, but I'll comment anyway. First, I found the suggestions interesting and I plan to pursue them if possible. I "learned" my Morse Code in Radioman A school back in 1967 and looking back, the method used there was absolutely the worst, but it was designed for Naval communications with a resulting hard, printed copy. I learned to repeat the dits and dahs in my conscious mind and then type the letter on a typewriter as I heard them. Looking at the text on the typewriter platen (as I received it) would cause me to completely lose my train and miss a whole string of following characters. I barely made it out of RM A school at the minimum required speed and to this day, I am extremely (extremely) poor at receiving MC. Once on active duty they were going to assign me to a CW net, but I begged so earnestly and sincerely for them not to, they (for once) had pity on me. To this day, I can't listen to MC without repeating the dits and dahs in my head and many times long characters causes me to doubt what it was and then let the next five characters go by, completely losing my place in the message. I have to use a keyboard or pencil and I can't look at the copy until after the transmission of the message. Even at my age now, I would love to be proficient enough to use MC and I have a wonderful (unused) CW QRP radio I built from a kit many, many years ago, but I'm afraid my lack of natural talent together with my unbreakable bad training will continue to doom me. As mentioned, I will follow the suggestions in your video, but if you have any specific ones you think might help, I would very much appreciate it.
Great story - thanks. I gather you are a Ham. I encourage you to do something really easy and fun. Listen for contesters who only want to log your call sign and a signal report (599 usually). You can listen to his call several times until you get it right, then chime in with your call when there is an opening. Don't worry if you muff it and have to send your call several times. They want the contact to be a success too so that they can log it. Yes it's big step up from there to "chat" with CW, but it's fun and confidence building simply to get on the air and trade call signs and signal reports. The big secret is that that's what 90% of CW on the radio is! PS: we are probably the same age. I graduated from high school in '67. Thanks for writing. Scott
@@kw4jm699Thanks so much for answering my note. I'm a bit older you Scott. I HAD to join the Navy in 1966 to escape from my cruel draft board (not being ready for college out of high school) and so I was older when I went to RM A school. It's a long story about my firm opposition to the killings in Vietnam without claiming to be something I was not, a Conscious Objector. The truth is, I am a "rag chewer" who likes a l o n g QSO where we tell something about ourselves, where we live, what it's like there and maybe even a story. What I'd really like is to be able to maintain a long and informative QSO using the Code. In truth, I absolutely HATE those quickey, exchange call and signal report contacts. I don't know if there is an exercise or SOME method of getting those dots and dashes out on one's brain and just have the letters and/or words "pop up," but perhaps if I (old geezer that I am) haven't got it by now, I never will. Yes, I'm a ham (WA6TLP), been inactive for a long time, but just ordered a multi-band, multi-mode low powered HF radio (G90) and hope to get into doing some mobile and/or portable operation (probably exclusively on SSB, but CW would be great). 73's.
An older person talk about learning morse code, makes it much more proper to me, as they may have properly learned it and had a lot of time with morse.
when I was in us navy radio school we had to learn the code and touch type in three days but we could not copy words as most of the navy signals were 5 letter coded groups pretty much only weather reports were plain language we still copied coded groups at 28 wpm and better and in the coast guard on weather patrol we mostly just sent 5 group number weather info Im just starting to copy words in by head at 80 years and having a great time
Good advice. I am back to bringing my CW skills to life with the Koch method. I like the wordsxxx approach (forgot the name). I have a program I wrote years ago to convert text to CW wav files, I can modify it to insert additional spaces automatically, thanks for this idea.
Update (as I realized while watching another one of your videos that you looked familiar). I’ve been on the air (CW) now for a month. I am trying to increase my copy speed and that is hard as I committed one of these errors about 18 years ago when I did my 5WPM General requirement. I forgot the program, but each character has a sound and that is ingrained in my head (a - “say ah”, b - “band rat a tat”, c - “catch it catch it” ...). This is what is holding me back from getting past 12-15WPM for copy...
I learned Morse code about 55 years ago. It comes to me by sound and just flows out of me thru my hand. I don't even think about the letters. About 25 years ago I had a interesting experience. During my time at the Merchant Marine academy I sat in on a blinker light course that was a requirement for deck officers. I didn't have much trouble except that I had to mentally convert what I saw to dits & dahs before I could write down the letter. DE KØRE
Completely agree with everything. Learned from the tapes at a slow rate, and got far too used to decoding by trying to translate into patterns. I was proud when I passed the 13 WPM test to get to general class back in the day, but I couldn't get past that hump to get to 20 WPM. Now I know why, and I wish I had learned it differently.
I was a Morse Code instructor for the military. Taught all 4 branches for 4 years. The requirement to graduate was 20 GPM which is around 24 WPM. They had to get 96% on the lesson 2 times within 60 minutes or 16 tries. We also required them to stick copy (pencil) at 16 GPM. They had to learn letters, long numbers, cut numbers, back slash. There was also a format that you must follow otherwise you have no chance at passing. The course was a 70 day average but we gave students up to 125 if they met standards. I was fortunate to learn fast. I graduated in 18 when I was a student. All of this was basic Morse. The advanced Morse is much more technical. Some people think it's boring. To me it's music.
That is impressive. Thank you for this comment. Would you consider doing a video on one or two of the techniques you used? I would be very interested to try them myself. Scott
@@kw4jm699 Thanks. It would be difficult to do a video. Ours were computer based training. We would identify characters that students had trouble with (mostly S and H) and create special lessons adding those letters more frequently. They sat for 8 hours a day listening to beeps. I tried to get my hands on a CD that had a similar program but no luck.
I am at the very beginning of both trying to learn morse and writing a morse app as I learn. Great info from both video and this comment. I like where you mention spacing the words out more. Just at listening stage using 30wpm char, 13-18 wpm farnsworth. Find I am not connecting the chars in words at too large char spacing, but find the word spacing too close. So thing of doing a slightly modified farnsworth, close enough char spacing to connect chars into words with long spacing between words to make word separation obvious and allow the brain time to absorb the word. Similar to what you mention where you space out the words with 8 spaces.
Absolutely essential information coming from a long time CW operator. Thank you ! Everything you talk about makes perfect sense. I am new in CW and this is invaluable information. I wonder what you think about straight key versus paddle for learning CW. George.
Hello George. i don't think it matters, it's personal pref. I started with key then discovered paddle and fell in love. But for learning either will do. Thx fer watching.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Ok RUclips algorithm, I got it, I need to learn Morse code
Same buddy
Do it!
Really! Let's do it!
_.__ . ...
.-.. --- .-..
Well done, sir ! I am totally agree with audio learning.I think this is the only method to learn very well.I learned Morse code, in the Romanian army, in the year 1985.It take one month, but, at the end of this time, all of us (soldiers), obtained the brevet.Now, I am 55 years old, and I still hear good (ocasionally), all these sounds.Respect from Romania, Bucharest !
And please excuse for my english, which is not so good.
pretty good English and technique you have here
Your English is far better than my Romanian!! 🙂
@@DirkyB13 You are too kind, sir, thank you, but I'm sure I have to learn English more, for a better level.
Thank you. I have Tirolian relatives and Romanian kinsfolk.
One month?? Wow. I've been trying to learn for 2 and a half months and haven't gotten there yet. I have only another 2 and a half months to learn it.
That was very helpful, at 82 I thought I would take up CW to keep the noggen from stagnating.
Great plan. Me too. I think it might actually help.
@@kw4jm699 Dang! You bet me to it.
I still remember the point where I put down the pencil. It was during my 20 WPM test 30 years ago. I was frantically scribbling when I started falling behind and knew I would not catch up. So I just started writing key words and answered the questions from those meager notes. That's not quite putting the pencil down, just loosening my grip a bit, but enough to get 'em all. N8CPA
Thank you! Wonderful advice. I had earned my Novice license over 50 years ago, I was a kid, couldn't afford a radio, never got on the air. I never lost interest and now, I can afford a radio and I'm studying for my ticket. They no longer require code, but I still want to use it and this sounds so much better than juggling individual letters in my mind while trying to listen and write. Thanks for pointing me in this direction.
Thank you very much for this. I must admit, though, I feel quite overwhelmed with the whole process.
Good points. I was learning it wrong by identifying code visually. I stopped practicing for a while and now I’m 100% audio learning code. Your points are spot on. Thank you. 73
I really want to learn this code because I heard it has saved many lives
-.-- . ... --..-- -- . - --- --- .-.-.-
@@CfopCubing .... ..
@@beautifulday1665 hi
I memorized the numbers and alphabets today in the morning
Now I can understand if the sound is slow
I have a long way to go
Pray for me
God bless Jireh, Good luck with your studies!
.-- .. .-.. .-.. -.. ---
--... ...-- -.-.-- / -.-
Thanks a lot for your useful advises. I only don't understand why the bird in the backgroud audio has been making a lot of M and T letters....73 de IZ7VHF.
Great advise Scott, unfortunately I started completely wrong 40 years ago and I am still counting and visualizing. I wish I could clear everything from CW out of my brain and start again from scratch. 73's de ON7QF
When in the Royal Navy, I could not ditch the pencil, as we had to write down the messages to show the command, but awesome idea.
This is EXACTLY what I was hoping to find today!
73
Wow...this is a bit of a revelation. Thanks for taking the time to make the video. Beautiful house by the way ... ...
i love how all the comments are people who were in war and had to learn morse code for the army yearsss ago and theres just me ,15 and wanting to learn morse code cause why not
How did you do learning?
Same 😅
Same 😅
I've been pondering trying to learn code, but assumed that there were likely some more efficient ways than others to approach it. Your sharing of your experience learning it and tips on how to proceed was just what I wanted. Much appreciated. 73
Thank you for your video. I'm a total novice, half way through by basic HAM licence training course and I want to take the CW test as well (so I've started studying) - but I am soooo enjoying this journey! I'm excited to say I can tap out code that should be decipherable. But my listening at this point has been limited to words or phrases that I've seen in roman characters. I am very apprehensive about starting to listening to code (that I haven't seen written down) but that's the actual objective I suppose! Your vidoe has cemented for me the importance of building my listening skills and I will do exactly that. Thank you for your time Sir.
Excellent advice. All 5 points are right-on. I started back in the early 80s and the first thing I did was memorize the code visually. I didnt realize what a mistake this was until I was progressing from 5wpm up to 7 wpm ( then to 10, 13, 15, 18 wpm, etc ). I would have moved through those stages much faster if I'd never seen a printed morse code character.
Excellent video. I'm 2 weeks from taking Technician Exam which I'm ready for. I'm gravitating to CW and you have provided very strong and wise tips for a beginner like me.
All very good, thoughtful advise. When I learned code back in the 70's I hit a "wall" at around 20 wpm until I dropped the pencil and started listening to 30 wpm and suddenly realized that at those speeds I was actually hearing words, not individual letters. By the time I took my Extra exam in 1981 20 wpm sounded slow compared to what I'd become accustomed to. Continue to push yourself above your comfort level and much greater speeds than you ever imagined become possible. Stay inspired!
73 de N9MB
I understand the uploader's intent of adhering to the hearing art of Morse Code. I was wondering if it is somehow just not doing an overall study though. I will use an analogy. The art of Music a person can learn an instrument, but how they play can be through ear, chord symbol and notes. Doing all three is great, instead of specializing on just one. Depending on what the individual's specific goals are.
My view on Morse Code priority is first and foremost 1) Hearing, then 2) Light 3) Pressure and finally as an option 4) Written.
Imagine if your code class (USN airborn communications class ) was copying five charector blocks composed of letters, numbers and punctuation marks . fq4b, tdiew z0qyp ect. When you got to 8 to 12 wpm a roadblock occured and after a few days of fustration somthing happened to how we interpreted the sounds. IT was like a switch got flipped and we ended the six weeks at 18wpm copying "unwords " . Nowadays im unable to copy code at any speed without a typewitter , Its a fasinating view of the complexity of learning which is another "hobby" worth the time.
When I first took the exam at 5 wpm I almost failed because I practiced at around 10 wpm. I thought the exam was going to be easy. Wrong. I could barely copy at 5. It was too darn slow.
Of course now I'm relearning but this time I started at 20. But I realized just yesterday that that was too slow and bumped it to 25.
I will be taking KW4JM's advice an try out the "Wordsworth" method.
I believe most people hit a brick wall because they do not know it well enough. No matter how fast or slow the code is, you must have instant character recognition. If you do not, you will always struggle with Morse code. Whether fast or slow. To get instant character recognition requires a lot of practice. Slow and fast.
What a wonderful tutor! Great advice and motivating notes from someone who seems, he knows what he's talking about.
Thank You so much Sir!
Happy Dx ing.
73's de VK2xxxx
Thanks for the excellent advice, I fully agree with those recommendations. I am learning for over 5 months now according to these points and, slowly but truly, I do progress. This is an excellent way to go and study, may you be heard.
I am studying how before attempting to learn and this video sums up the best of the best of all I have found, Thanks for sharing your tips.
Most helpful CW video I've seen yet
My navy training was such that I could 'read and type' Morse far better than I could write it on paper, and at greater speed. As we had a cover over our hands when we learned to touch-type, it got so that Morse reception became an almost unconscious process. Added to this, we often didn't copy plain English words but coded 5 letter groups, so there could be no guessing as to what a word is or was if we missed a letter or so. Of course, for me, all over this was more than sixty years ago. That said, I can still read and send Morse.
I'm glad I found this video early on in my CW training. So many bad habits I don't have to break!
Thank you very much for this tipps! I am now 52 years old and want to learn CW to keep my brain alive :-)
The first thing makes me remember, I had a friend who had this mental thing so no matter how hard he tried he called read words at all, he knows what letters are and look like but he can't read. But he's a very fluent speaker and has good education already
Thank You. I just beginning to explore this. Work smart not hard, especially if smart makes more sense
I learned Morse Code back in 1989, in order to pass the Novice test. I went from studying the written portion, and learning code, to passing the test some 10 days later. However, that was no major accomplishment, at all. The written portion of the test was very basic, and I only got to maybe 7 or 8 WPM on the code, with the requirement being only 5 WPM to pass. I learned by the then much accepted method of using Gordon West's cassette audio tapes. It worked, but I had major problems trying to build speed after I passed the Novice test. The bottom line - take the great advice in this video, and save yourself a lot of time and headaches. If you wanna be acceptable at Morse Code, there's just not enough time to be thinking about 'Dits' and 'Dahs.'
I am not sure if this is considered “head send” or not but 23 years ago when I was practicing CW to take my general test (at 5 wpm) during my long commute into work on the 405 in So Cal I would practice converting to CW text from the highway signs I passed while I was inevitably stopped in traffic, this seemed to help my learning to receive. I ended up barely squeaking through my Morse portion of my general test and promptly forgot what I knew afterwards. However now I am wondering if I should learn it all over again and try and maintain the knowledge as I am retired and have some time.
Sounds like excellent advice. I'm just starting out, so will try and follow your tips. Thanks!
Excellent points in a consice video. Many thanks
Absolutely love your #1 - lose the visual. In my "prime CW years" I was able to send/receive over 25 wpm but that was only after struggling to get my brain to catch up to my keyer.
Thanks. I am a new technican and will try and follow your advise to learn CW.
Thank you for your words of wisdom. Much appreciated from an old dog trying to learn new tricks. God bless you.
Great video. I just picked up my first keyer and have started the journey of learning morse code. Thanks. George KB3WAQ
Thanks, very much for this video. That writing plateau is real and I'll be re-looking my own practice. Thanks again.
Jim, I've been studying code for a week and have experienced the frustration with trying to copy it. Thanks for the words of experience.
Thank you for this video, I learned a few new things, some of the others I already learned but the hard way as you did. I started with a PC computer at 5WPM, real 5WPM and progressed up to 10WPM where I got stuck for months. I gave up for some time and restarted the same way and got stuck again at 10WPM until I discovered Koch-Farnsworth with 20WPM letters.
Point 1: I knew about forgetting about the visual but when you start at real 5WPM you clearly hear the dits and dahs and it is very difficult for your brain not to hear them even if you are not counting. You don't hera the letters. When you reach 10WPM your brain get lost as it does not hear the dits and dahs.
Point 2: With letters at 20-25WPM you learn to hear the letters which makes it easier to shorten the spacing. It is when I started to make rapid progress.
Point 3: I always tried to avoid pencil and as you said at some point you cannot write and copy at the same time.
Point 4: This is a new one for me and will have to try it. I knew that being a good operator means hearing words not letters. I can regonize a few of them but until now I did not know how to do it.
Point 5: This is also a new one for me. Right now my QSOs are relatively short for this reason. No rag chew at this time.
When you are really good at CW:
I met this ham and we were talking while he was making rag chew QSOs at 30WPM. Unbelievable!
I see your mag loop in the background, I have made three so far, they have changed my ideas about portable antennas, they are amazing for their compact size, 73's, good CW vid.👍
This is the 3rd time I have watched this, thanks for sharing this with us.
Thumbs up! I completely agree with all of these.
Thank you for sharing this info. Like most things in life, there are no shortcuts. I play with a CW phone app but now desire to take it to the next level.
I came after your review of the Te Ne Ke and the algorithms presented me this video as well. I came to the same conclusion a few weeks ago -- that I need to start hearing words and not characters. Morse Code is a language and we learn languages by words, not characters. Can you imagine learning Spanish using the a-m-i-g-o approach? Nope. Well done sir!
this is really of great help , in learning, and understanding the learning process,
An excellent and encouraging video. I recently decided I need to make CW something I can enjoy and have been intimidated a great deal based on how I learned it back in the 1980's to get my first license -- and never used it again. I upgraded to Extra after code went away.
Everything you've said makes sense and I will be pushing forward "soundly" using your suggestions. Thank you.
J
I learned CW by writing it down, it has slowed me down. My dad was a radio operator on a navy ship, he could drive a car and carry on a cw conversation
I learned the old way with a G3 friend starting at 6 wpm and in 3 months got up to 15 wpm for my 12 wpm test which I passed.
I was listening to the AA9PW 25-30 wpm news bulletin but it seems to be discontinued.
I can't write at 20 wpm so had to lose the pencil. I now read in my head and make important notes only; name, QTH, signal report etc.
Bill, G4GHB.
Thanks for the advice and encouragement!
Thank you very much friend! I’m still early on in my cw learning and I’m planning on implementing these ideas.
Something that helped me tremendously was listening to random QSOs on WebSDR sites using a phone app when out and about. That helped me learn to deal with different fists, QRM, QRM, QSB, etc. I can copy QLF much better than some friends who trained using purely computer generated code.
I am glad I found this video! 5WPM between characters, and the individual characters sent at 25WPM is an excellent combination! It is really helping me learn code fast! I am using the app “Ham Morse” on my iPhone to implement this tempo and speed.
Learning Morse sounds just like learning typing: letters first, letter combinations, words and phrases, larger and larger groups become graspable without attending to the smaller parts.
thank you for sharing your knowledge
Thank you for insightful video. I'm a new ham. I got my tech ticket a month ago. Last week I started learning Morse code after a lifetime of admiring people that communicate over long distances with CW. I've been using the techniques you've outlined but I found the Koch/Farnsworth via a small Android app. When I first started I had trouble with 5 wpm. Now I'm working through the Koch sequences at 18/5 and even that seems slow now. Thanks again for the advice. 73 de KN4KAW.
nicely done. Thank you for scripting the narrative and sticking to it. TT
Interesting to hear so many interested in Morse code, after it is no longer required !
Fortunately, I was licensed while it was still a requirement, so it was something you did, if you wanted to become an Amateur !
Many claim that C.W. kept them from becoming Hams !
But when you listen to them speak, and share their knowledge, many Extras don't know what a novice should know !
And got their license by using a computer to memorize the answers, with little, if any, practical application !
It is what it is !
I have always felt that many are missing out, when they sell themselves short !
Many are just plain lazy, as evidenced in other aspects of their lives !
Nuff said !
I didn't find an interesting home in Amateur Radio until I took up CW. I can't explain why it's so fun but it is.
I was trained as an 05b radio telegraph operator at Fort Gordon. Georgia in 1972. I had copied 31 word groups per minute and was working on 33 when I finished my training. They told me I was close to an Army record. The code was coming so fast that I would write another 12 to 15 letters after the code stopped. When I got to my duty station in Germany I was transferred to the M.P.'s and never sent or received code again! Now, 50 years later, I can only remember SOS. I don't have any interest in re-learning the code but I was hoping some of my buddies in that AIT group might see this and contact me.
Cool video, thanks for making it! Not quite sure but it feels like if you dont have your letters straight in your head it's hard to just copy words. The analogy is that when you're reading a book there might be words you don't know the meaning of but you can still read them and find a definition of them because you know the individual letters, just an intuition. I'm almost done with learning letters anyway so I'll finish this up :d
Thank you. Great advice that I will pursue.
Was taught Morse in the British Army in the 70s. It was all encoded in 5 character cypher, with very little plain language text, so never really got beyond 18 wpm as you had to write down cypher . Still remember the rhythm of some of the more common words..... it was really a bit like being brainwashed. Was converting everything into l morse in my head for months after each of my 2 courses. Probably only take me an hour or so to get up to 12 wpm. Some good suggestions here, I'll use them if I get the urge again!
No worries, I'm not using my visual to even watch this video, just listening and looking out the window.
Farnsworth method is the absolute best way.
I was not aware of this method until about 30 years after being in Ham radio.
Great video, great voice, great advice
Great video! Thank you! I. Am starting my very first step today and I am really quite intimidated. I found this helpful
Thank you. If I am not wrong, the author of lcwo.net also wrote a command line program to convert text files (actually ebooks) into mp3 files. You can specify both spacing between letters and spacing between words, while leaving the character speed unaltered.
Great video. I regret that I learned it at seven words a minute to pass my exam... It's tough to relearn but I'm working on it.
THANKS FOR THE GREAT ADVISE!! YOU EARN ANOTHER SUBSCRIBER
You are absolutely correct. I attained my General lic in 1985 or 6. I was copying code at 23 wpm when I took the 13wpm code test and still only got 70percent on the test. But, still passed. So sorry I ever let my lic expire 13 years ago.
Very good video, thank you for posting. I am currently learning CW, struggling at 15WPM now, but progress is happening. 73
Thanks for an interesting and informative video. I have just now subscribed to your channel. I am a DXer and occasionally use the low VHF beacons as indicators for DX signals higher in the bands on TV and FM. Many of the VHF beacons use Morse Code.
I like the mag loop in the background, great birdies too....
Great advice.
Thank you for this information.
@1:55, did anyone notice his notification tone is the same as letter U in Morse Code......!!!!
Very nice video, Scott! Great advice. 73, Doug
Thanks Doug! See you on the summits.
I am pretty sure that the GNU/Linux program morse is what is generating
the morse code on LCWO and I think using the morse program being a
command line program has even more features than LCWO and is more
flexible, here are some examples of how to use it and (man morse) has
good instructions or just type morse without any flags for the
instructions.
This will tap out the alphabet in order A to Z and repeat 20 times, in
groups of 5 at a character speed of 25 WPM & effective speed of 5
WPM whilst displaying each character in morse A.- B-... C-.-. etc
seq 20 | xargs -Iz echo "ABCDEFGHILKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ" | morse -lm -w12
-F25 -n5 -v0.2
Same as above but letters at random:
morse -rlm -w12 -F25 -n5 -v0.2 -CABCDEFGHILKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
This will sound out and show the Morse of each letter of the alphabet at
random and then ask you which letter you just heard:
morse -rlmsd -w12 -F25 -n5 -v0.2 -CABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Thank you, I found this fascinating
Thank you very much, that was helpful. I am just discovering this hobby and I am glad I saw this video before going in too deep :)
The youtube algorithm has decided I need to learn morse code.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and seasoned advice ... you can well imagine that a call sign like N5HH offers a few challenges! 73
yikes! a Ditathon! glad you like it. I still enjoy trying to improve. Scott
I learned at 6 w.p.m. and worked up to probably 15 w.p.m. in 12 weeks for my test at 12 w.p.m. Passed first time.
When learning I used a pencil so I could check with the text afterwards. As speed increased I discarded the pencil as I couldn't write fast enough. Listening on air is good too as I did because at some time you will need to listen through QRM, fading and other noises and it helps you to understand the make up of a typical QSO.
Words do come over: the, and, they, and so on. Head copy was another stage. Now happy at 18 to 20 w.p.m. and can push 25 reasonably well and some at 30 w.p.m.
My question is whether the Koch-Farnsworth method is faster? Could I have learned it in 6 weeks? Not that it matters, I was quite happy with what I did.
G4GHB.
KF would not be faster. Well done.
@@kw4jm699 O.K.
Perfect timing mate!! Thank you ! 👌 I'm just bout to start 👌👌👌👍👍👍😁😁😁
It's been a while since this video was produced and I'm not sure if you still monitor it, but I'll comment anyway. First, I found the suggestions interesting and I plan to pursue them if possible.
I "learned" my Morse Code in Radioman A school back in 1967 and looking back, the method used there was absolutely the worst, but it was designed for Naval communications with a resulting hard, printed copy. I learned to repeat the dits and dahs in my conscious mind and then type the letter on a typewriter as I heard them. Looking at the text on the typewriter platen (as I received it) would cause me to completely lose my train and miss a whole string of following characters. I barely made it out of RM A school at the minimum required speed and to this day, I am extremely (extremely) poor at receiving MC. Once on active duty they were going to assign me to a CW net, but I begged so earnestly and sincerely for them not to, they (for once) had pity on me.
To this day, I can't listen to MC without repeating the dits and dahs in my head and many times long characters causes me to doubt what it was and then let the next five characters go by, completely losing my place in the message. I have to use a keyboard or pencil and I can't look at the copy until after the transmission of the message. Even at my age now, I would love to be proficient enough to use MC and I have a wonderful (unused) CW QRP radio I built from a kit many, many years ago, but I'm afraid my lack of natural talent together with my unbreakable bad training will continue to doom me.
As mentioned, I will follow the suggestions in your video, but if you have any specific ones you think might help, I would very much appreciate it.
Great story - thanks. I gather you are a Ham. I encourage you to do something really easy and fun. Listen for contesters who only want to log your call sign and a signal report (599 usually). You can listen to his call several times until you get it right, then chime in with your call when there is an opening. Don't worry if you muff it and have to send your call several times. They want the contact to be a success too so that they can log it. Yes it's big step up from there to "chat" with CW, but it's fun and confidence building simply to get on the air and trade call signs and signal reports. The big secret is that that's what 90% of CW on the radio is! PS: we are probably the same age. I graduated from high school in '67. Thanks for writing. Scott
@@kw4jm699Thanks so much for answering my note. I'm a bit older you Scott. I HAD to join the Navy in 1966 to escape from my cruel draft board (not being ready for college out of high school) and so I was older when I went to RM A school. It's a long story about my firm opposition to the killings in Vietnam without claiming to be something I was not, a Conscious Objector.
The truth is, I am a "rag chewer" who likes a l o n g QSO where we tell something about ourselves, where we live, what it's like there and maybe even a story. What I'd really like is to be able to maintain a long and informative QSO using the Code. In truth, I absolutely HATE those quickey, exchange call and signal report contacts. I don't know if there is an exercise or SOME method of getting those dots and dashes out on one's brain and just have the letters and/or words "pop up," but perhaps if I (old geezer that I am) haven't got it by now, I never will.
Yes, I'm a ham (WA6TLP), been inactive for a long time, but just ordered a multi-band, multi-mode low powered HF radio (G90) and hope to get into doing some mobile and/or portable operation (probably exclusively on SSB, but CW would be great). 73's.
An older person talk about learning morse code, makes it much more proper to me, as they may have properly learned it and had a lot of time with morse.
when I was in us navy radio school we had to learn the code and touch type in three days but we could not copy words as most of the navy signals were 5 letter coded groups pretty much only weather reports were plain language we still copied coded groups at 28 wpm and better and in the coast guard on weather patrol we mostly just sent 5 group number weather info Im just starting to copy words in by head at 80 years and having a great time
Good advice. I am back to bringing my CW skills to life with the Koch method. I like the wordsxxx approach (forgot the name). I have a program I wrote years ago to convert text to CW wav files, I can modify it to insert additional spaces automatically, thanks for this idea.
Update (as I realized while watching another one of your videos that you looked familiar). I’ve been on the air (CW) now for a month. I am trying to increase my copy speed and that is hard as I committed one of these errors about 18 years ago when I did my 5WPM General requirement. I forgot the program, but each character has a sound and that is ingrained in my head (a - “say ah”, b - “band rat a tat”, c - “catch it catch it” ...). This is what is holding me back from getting past 12-15WPM for copy...
Great advice for a newbie! Thanks!
I learned Morse code about 55 years ago. It comes to me by sound and just flows out of me thru my hand. I don't even think about the letters. About 25 years ago I had a interesting experience. During my time at the Merchant Marine academy I sat in on a blinker light course that was a requirement for deck officers. I didn't have much trouble except that I had to mentally convert what I saw to dits & dahs before I could write down the letter. DE KØRE
Happy to find you Scott
The rest of us learned before computers, phones and aps.
Than you for your insights. Very helpful
Studying for my Tech exam and intend to get into CW. Thanks for the tips from someone who IS going to be starting from zero.
Very nice video. I would only add that Practice makes improvement, so practice practice practice and remember nobody is perfect.
I had to go back and start again with a purely audio experience, now I amble along at around 18-20 wpm 😊
Thanks! I just got my tech. And what made me want to get into radio was purely QRP and CW
Completely agree with everything. Learned from the tapes at a slow rate, and got far too used to decoding by trying to translate into patterns. I was proud when I passed the 13 WPM test to get to general class back in the day, but I couldn't get past that hump to get to 20 WPM. Now I know why, and I wish I had learned it differently.
I was a Morse Code instructor for the military. Taught all 4 branches for 4 years. The requirement to graduate was 20 GPM which is around 24 WPM. They had to get 96% on the lesson 2 times within 60 minutes or 16 tries. We also required them to stick copy (pencil) at 16 GPM. They had to learn letters, long numbers, cut numbers, back slash. There was also a format that you must follow otherwise you have no chance at passing. The course was a 70 day average but we gave students up to 125 if they met standards. I was fortunate to learn fast. I graduated in 18 when I was a student. All of this was basic Morse. The advanced Morse is much more technical. Some people think it's boring. To me it's music.
That is impressive. Thank you for this comment. Would you consider doing a video on one or two of the techniques you used? I would be very interested to try them myself. Scott
@@kw4jm699 Thanks. It would be difficult to do a video. Ours were computer based training. We would identify characters that students had trouble with (mostly S and H) and create special lessons adding those letters more frequently. They sat for 8 hours a day listening to beeps. I tried to get my hands on a CD that had a similar program but no luck.
I am at the very beginning of both trying to learn morse and writing a morse app as I learn. Great info from both video and this comment.
I like where you mention spacing the words out more. Just at listening stage using 30wpm char, 13-18 wpm farnsworth. Find I am not connecting the chars in words at too large char spacing, but find the word spacing too close. So thing of doing a slightly modified farnsworth, close enough char spacing to connect chars into words with long spacing between words to make word separation obvious and allow the brain time to absorb the word. Similar to what you mention where you space out the words with 8 spaces.
Absolutely essential information coming from a long time CW operator. Thank you ! Everything you talk about makes perfect sense.
I am new in CW and this is invaluable information. I wonder what you think about straight key versus paddle for learning CW.
George.
Hello George. i don't think it matters, it's personal pref. I started with key then discovered paddle and fell in love. But for learning either will do. Thx fer watching.
thank you very much, this was an eye opener for me. hope you're doing fine out there. 73, SA6SKM