Bert Hyman wrote:
In oups.com
wrote:

http://online.wsj.com/public/article...206850468.html

This was a front page article.

"Like all Morse experts, Mr. Adams rarely breaks signals down into
letters, instead hearing complete words much as readers recognize words
on a page. When he transcribes a message at high speeds, his fingers are
five or 10 words behind his ears."

I've been licensed since 1961, and I've heard and read things like this
ever since.

I operated strictly CW for most of that time and I've never come close
to being able to copy like that.

I can copy by ear at 30-35WPM, but can only transcribe at about 20WPM
because I write down each letter as I hear it; copying behind is an
absolute mystery to me, as is the idea of hearing words instead of
individual letters.

It's probably way too late for me to get over 45 years of bad habits,
but how do people achive this state?


I don't think it's too late for you at all. You simply need to make
some adjustments to your method. I run mobile CW and the thing which
makes that possible while in motion is that one never writes anything
down. The pen or pencil is what's getting in your way.

If you don't write it down, you're forced to remember the fellow's call,
name, QTH and the like. When I operate from home, I type a callsign
into my log. I might write down his weather or the type antenna he's
running, if I plan to ask more about one of those items.

Try finding a couple of speed merchants on 80 or 40m some evening and
don't even pick up your pen. Sure, you're likely to miss a few things.
Go ahead and miss them. You'll get better at it in a short time.

Dave Heil K8MN