[karc] Re: KARC Tuesday Night Net CW Practice and Contest (Results)
- From: "Robert Schofield" <rgscho@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <karc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Robert Clarke" <rvclarke54@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:36:12 -0500
Well, I need some work.
Congrats to Bob (SWLer) at least now I know you have a flaw, for all these
years I thought you were flawless.
I thought for sure I only made one error at 40 WPM. But I see I made two. But
then I always knew I was not perfect.
However your 50 WPM is by far better than mine. I am sure I recognized most of
the characters, but thought more than reacted to what I heard. Guess I need to
practice my typing more.
For those listeners out there, I copy the CW on a keyboard. I would have
trouble copy\ing 30 WPM with a stick.
I would suggest that if you have it available to learn to copy CW via a
keyboard rather than a stick. Just a suggestion.
-------------
Phil I think to increase your returns, maybe you will have to do longer
messages, 5ltr groups or even words at the slower speeds. Say 5 - 10 WPM with
characters at the 20 to 25 WPM speed with the spacing to reduce it from 5 - 10
WPM.
I find copying 5 ltr groups much easier than words. With words I tend to read
as I copy and very quickly second guess what is coming or loose my spot. Then
with words you could build in false errors to ensure folks are copying what
they hear rather than what they think they heard.
Then some shorter sessions between 10 - 20 WPM. A ten WPM jump is quite the
gap between speeds and does not do much to build confidence. Maybe stepping in
2 or 3 WPM increments may bring more folks to send in their responses.
And if you wish and have the audience some higher speeds for those speed
daemons out there.
I don't mean to brag, but Bob (SWLer) and I almost grew up doing CW. Let's say
for 30 plus years of our military careers we copied CW, and for the first six
years or more of our careers all we did was copy CW. So it was entrenched like
learning a 2nd language. And we kept up the odd practice over the years, so we
have kept the skill, just the speed has dipped some. It is like a second
language to us. Bob of course is more gifted than I. I was very surprised at
my copy on 40 WPM. Not sure how I would have held up over 1000 characters, but
it would be nice to see.
It was nice to attempt 40 and 50 WPM, but this out of most folks leagues. I
would suggest, and only if the interest is there to try and encourage the
listeners to work hard at grasping the slower speeds, and then build themselves
up with some attempt at the higher speeds. Doing very high speeds is not going
to do anything to build confidence.
As much as 30 WPM is not a challenge to me, it is more than a challenge to our
other listeners. I think that if the club is interested in this, then by
practicing every week at the slower speeds, and building their confidence, it
will show in the returns and soon, the slower speeds can be decreased in length
and there for the beginners, and the faster speeds, say 10 - 20 WPM can be
increased.
Learning CW is not an easy task, it takes a lot of individual work and
practice. These exercises can be used to assess one's improvement. And as a
guide to see where extra work is required especially if some are having
problems with certain characters like: S and H, or B and D, or U and V. They
will see this and then can work on those areas.
I have no real helpful hints on how to learn CW. There are lots of practice
means available on the internet.
Best I could suggest, is, if you are truly interested in learning CW at say 25
WPM, then as has been discussed on the net, download a program, set the
character speed at 25 to 30 WPM. Learn what the characters sound like at that
speed, and then start with Characters being sent at that speed and adjust the
character spacing to eventually get you to 25 WPM. And set aside daily or if
you can't do daily then at least two or three times a week to practice your CW.
I guess then the next question to ask yourself is, do I want to learn CW to
rag-chew or contest?
For contesting I would suggest to listen on the air during the CW contests and
I bet that you will get the call signs very quickly, even if it takes you two
or three attempts. Getting it a character at a time. Don't worry about your
sending most folks will respond at the speed they hear coming back to them.
That is the gentleman thing to do. Contesting is easy if you can get the C/S,
the response, although all reports are lies it a simple 599 or 5NN, for most
contests. Getting the call is the toughest part for most contests. In some
contests you may need to grab the persons name, or maybe even the power, or
section. But then K - Kilowatt and boy a lot of contesters use K or KW. I
enjoy CW contests and try to take part in most of them, and I generally only
work contests at about 22 WPM, mostly because if I have to send a response with
the Key vice the Keyboard (I cheat), I would send at not much more than 22 WPM
give or take.
As well I often even slow down to 16 WPM or slower to try to get the slower
folks out there who don't want to respond to those speed daemons' Believe it
or not it works. I don't understand why some Ops out there send their Calls at
very, very high speeds. I am sure if they would slow down to half of what they
are sending they would get even more contacts.
Then again, a lot of folks I believe use "CWGET" to copy CW during contests. I
don't. But CWGET is a freeware program and will copy most types of CW very
well at very high speeds. When a person calls at high speeds and the guy
responds at 15 WPM or so, I truly believe that person did not copy the call
without assistance. Or has been listening to the call and after several
minutes managed to get the full call.
If you are learning CW to rag-chew, well that will take more time and effort,
and you should also try to head copy. Most things like name, rig, antenna,
weather, QTH, etc are all easy to recognize and unless you want this for your
log, just listening to what the person is sending is sufficient enough. Then
again if you are going to talk about things not common to HAM radio, then you
like me would have to jot down what you hear so you know what your response
would be.
I would love to rag-chew but my sending needs work, as I have to think more
than react to the character I am sending. So I do very little rag-chewing on
the air. If I do rag-chew I still copy what the person is sending and then try
to formulate my response. Thinking of what I am going to say or want to say,
while I am sending is still one of my trouble spots.
As mentioned earlier, I have been receiving CW for nearly 35 years, but only
sending off and on since 1996 and most of that is in Contests. Very limited
time spent rag-chewing.
Maybe it is time I participate in Bill's rag-chew, CW checking nets.
Great fun, enjoyed this and look forward to the next session. Although I won't
be here next week, I will be Quebec.
I would like to have this continue, however, Phil is likely not going to
continue this without getting more responses back from the practice session.
I believe your feedback to him on what it will take to get your results fed
back to him are needed. Otherwise this will quickly fade away.
Now if we can only get out a join Bill's HF CW Net. Guess I must put this on
my schedule.
Bob, VE3GLO
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