On Wed, 24 May 2006 20:29:28 -0500, Tom Ring
wrote:

Roger wrote:


There are few people who can type that fast. However on CW you type
your response while listening to the other station so the transmission
speed can be well above your typing speed.

I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people I've met
in school and industry who could even approach that 100 wpm.
The old electric portables used to jam the keys at much over 60 while
the "selectric" could go a fair amount faster. When in college my
daughter wore out one of those and she could out type it.

My father was NY state champ at over 100 wpm on a manual typewriter in
about 1940. I always figured Bucky the milkman must have been my real
father, since I was at 15 wpm before typing class, and 12 after a year
of it. I still type with 4 fingers, and have to use my eyes to figure
where they should go. And I have typed for a living for the last 30+
years.

If I have to look at the keyboard I'm in trouble. My fingers know
where the keys are, but I don't. :-)) If I'm on the telephone and
taking notes it'd be faster to use a pencil. OTOH I can at least read
my typing.

I was net control for a weather watch net with tornado warnings out
all around us (Lower Michigan). When I did the summary after the net I
realized I need a head set with VOX built in so I can have both hands
free.

When I was a kid I bought a typing book, borrowed an old mechanical
type writer and taught myself. It really didn't take all that long.
I'd guess It took about the same time to get to 60 WPM on a mill as it
did 20 on a key.

My wife remarked that having worked in clerical and administration for
the state she knew a number of people who could type 100 WPM. I asked
if that was mistake free as corrections take time. It turned out they
were considerably slower when mistakes were taken into account. OTOH
when I was a sysadmin for a large corporation one of the system admins
could type so fast the keyboard buzzed. You could watch the
characters flow across the screen and in both directions. If he made
a mistake it might take him two words to recognize it, go back and
retype. I think he still was making over 100 WPM.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

tom
K0TAR