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learning morse code 15 WPM at age 45?
What are the prospects of learning morse code at 15 WPM at age 45?
Back in various university classes I had to photocopy other students notes because I couldn't keep up copying and listening at the same time. Odd, my mom was a courtroom stenographer. I need to get a class 2 Taiwan licence before my friend will be willing to transfer his Icom 765 to me, even though I don't plan to transmit. Here on linux I've got cwcp - curses-based Morse tutor program, so I've got a tutor program. However my dad got Alzheimer's at age 55 and died at 60, so maybe it's not worth the trouble to learn if there are only 10 golden years left. My Icom R2 can receive almost the same frequencies but doesn't have all those modes. I was thinking of listening to ships and planes at sea. Perhaps just buying a fancier receiver would be a better investment than putting my brain thru speed tests. |
"Dan Jacobson" wrote in message ... What are the prospects of learning morse code at 15 WPM at age 45? Excellent. The main thing is it takes a little time. It will probably take around 30 to 50 hours. Practice 1/2 hour per day broken into two sessions. Back in various university classes I had to photocopy other students notes because I couldn't keep up copying and listening at the same time. This is different because you will be training it to be an automatic reflex reaction. You don't read it until after you are done. If you train to do it as a reflex, it's much easier. In addition, you are copying letters not words so it's actually slower than what you were trying to do. It's as if the lecturer were spelling out each word rather than saying the word. Also if you don't get a letter, just skip it and keep copying. Even with a fair number of missed letters, you can tell what the person is trying to say. Just relax and copy. Trying too hard is what causes the most problems. Odd, my mom was a courtroom stenographer. I need to get a class 2 Taiwan licence before my friend will be willing to transfer his Icom 765 to me, even though I don't plan to transmit. Here on linux I've got cwcp - curses-based Morse tutor program, so I've got a tutor program. However my dad got Alzheimer's at age 55 and died at 60, so maybe it's not worth the trouble to learn if there are only 10 golden years left. You are not your dad. You may or may not be a victim of the disease. However if you let worries like this stop you from trying, then you are letting yourself be a victim of fear and could miss many pleasant things in life. My Icom R2 can receive almost the same frequencies but doesn't have all those modes. I was thinking of listening to ships and planes at sea. Perhaps just buying a fancier receiver would be a better investment than putting my brain thru speed tests. It depends on what you want to do. Exercising the brain helps keep our minds strong and healthy longer in life. Dee D. Flint, N8UZE |
"Dan Jacobson" wrote in message ... What are the prospects of learning morse code at 15 WPM at age 45? Back in various university classes I had to photocopy other students notes because I couldn't keep up copying and listening at the same time. Odd, my mom was a courtroom stenographer. I need to get a class 2 Taiwan licence before my friend will be willing to transfer his Icom 765 to me, even though I don't plan to transmit. Here on linux I've got cwcp - curses-based Morse tutor program, so I've got a tutor program. However my dad got Alzheimer's at age 55 and died at 60, so maybe it's not worth the trouble to learn if there are only 10 golden years left. My Icom R2 can receive almost the same frequencies but doesn't have all those modes. I was thinking of listening to ships and planes at sea. Perhaps just buying a fancier receiver would be a better investment than putting my brain thru speed tests. You don't seem to sure of what you want to do. It seems to me, if your not really interested in using the transmitter, then getting a license is silly. Just go buy a good receiver. Dan/W4NTI |
In article , Dan Jacobson wrote:
What are the prospects of learning morse code at 15 WPM at age 45? Get a copy of Code Quick. It will take you 2-3 weeks of 1/2 hour a day to learn the code. After that, it depends upon how much time you want to spend on practice. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson 972-54-608-069 Icq/AIM Uin: 2661079 MSN IM: (Not for email) |
Your chances are very, very good if you use the right methods..
First learn all the symbols by sound... Do not expect to memorize the dots and dashes you see written on paper and expect to get more than 5 wpm.. I got to 30 wpm after I couldn't get past 7 wpm because I tried to do double translations1 So I had toi relearn by sound and it worked.. good luck comes with pracitce nearly every day for at least 10 to 15 minutes... 73 hank wd5jfr "Dan Jacobson" wrote in message ... What are the prospects of learning morse code at 15 WPM at age 45? Back in various university classes I had to photocopy other students notes because I couldn't keep up copying and listening at the same time. Odd, my mom was a courtroom stenographer. I need to get a class 2 Taiwan licence before my friend will be willing to transfer his Icom 765 to me, even though I don't plan to transmit. Here on linux I've got cwcp - curses-based Morse tutor program, so I've got a tutor program. However my dad got Alzheimer's at age 55 and died at 60, so maybe it's not worth the trouble to learn if there are only 10 golden years left. My Icom R2 can receive almost the same frequencies but doesn't have all those modes. I was thinking of listening to ships and planes at sea. Perhaps just buying a fancier receiver would be a better investment than putting my brain thru speed tests. |
Dan
I got it after several years of trying and thinking I was spitting in the wind. I buckled down and worked on it at least 2 or 3 times a day and some days 5 or 6 times toward the test time. Practice 20 or 30 minutes at a time then rest for a while. Get some tapes or a computer program to start off to learn the, characters. Then try the MFJ code trainer. It can be set up to almost any speed conbination and send from beginner to expert groups of letters numbers or QSOs. It will display what it sends so you can check what you hear. After a while you will not even look at it as you can hear it. I used mine while at work and listen to code while driving and let it be in the background all of the time. It is amazing what you will pick up this way. It may not work for others but it worked for me at 48 years of age... The last effert that I put my heart in to it took about 30 days to sucess. Pratice Pratice Pratice. Start out at 15 wpm with 8 to 10 wpm spacing and as you pogress graduly reduce the spacing to 5 wpm. The code test will be given at 13 wpm with 5 wpm spacing. You need the extra speed for when you take the test the 13 wpm will sound like slow motion and it will click in your head. I took a code test just to see how things were to be like to help me prepare for it when I was ready to pass it. Taking the ARRL testing you will copy 1 minute of code for a pratice then the test will start and you will be hearing 5 minutes of code. After copying (writing the 5 minutes of code on paper) you can answer the 7 of the 10 questions to pass or have 1 minute of perfect copy (20 chactares, letters numbers and punaction. Letters count as 1 and numbers and puncation count as 2) character. Do not worry about what the message is as you copy it just hear each character and write it down and cover it with your hand to keep from looking at it. If you miss one skip it and go on because as you try to figure it out you will miss the next two or three ane get way behind. If you do miss a letter or letters after the QSO is complete read over what you have written and a lot of times you can fill in the blanks. What ever you do DO NOT GIVE UP, you can do this...... Good luck............ C. Pratice Pratice Pratice Keep the code alive................... In article , "Henry Kolesnik" wrote: Your chances are very, very good if you use the right methods.. First learn all the symbols by sound... Do not expect to memorize the dots and dashes you see written on paper and expect to get more than 5 wpm.. I got to 30 wpm after I couldn't get past 7 wpm because I tried to do double translations1 So I had toi relearn by sound and it worked.. good luck comes with pracitce nearly every day for at least 10 to 15 minutes... 73 hank wd5jfr "Dan Jacobson" wrote in message ... What are the prospects of learning morse code at 15 WPM at age 45? Back in various university classes I had to photocopy other students notes because I couldn't keep up copying and listening at the same time. Odd, my mom was a courtroom stenographer. I need to get a class 2 Taiwan licence before my friend will be willing to transfer his Icom 765 to me, even though I don't plan to transmit. Here on linux I've got cwcp - curses-based Morse tutor program, so I've got a tutor program. However my dad got Alzheimer's at age 55 and died at 60, so maybe it's not worth the trouble to learn if there are only 10 golden years left. My Icom R2 can receive almost the same frequencies but doesn't have all those modes. I was thinking of listening to ships and planes at sea. Perhaps just buying a fancier receiver would be a better investment than putting my brain thru speed tests. |
Dan Jacobson wrote:
What are the prospects of learning morse code at 15 WPM at age 45? [details, and lots of replies snipped] I learned Morse code when I was a kid (Cub Scouts), and it was like a "secret code." I met many great friends on the air while I was a teenager, in fact, one of whom had to sneak his CW key and speaker into his closet in order to make our daily sched because his report card got him 'grounded' in 7th grade. Then, I used it as a way to get a high score on CW contests, where so many people never go -- and that weakens the competition. I also use it to see what they are saying on the WW2 movie clips that show people sending Morse light signals on ships at sea. The point? I never used a computer program to learn code. Fortunately, they didn't exist. But it's not a video game; it's interaction with another human! Find a way to make it interesting, and not a way to become a modem savant: learn the letters, and then try to decode a conversation between two people. Just like if you want to learn a new language, you study a little, and then turn to the Spanish channel! You get one word out of a hundred, and then two, and then three...... It's interesting, and fun. Something is happening, and you can join in. You will never learn and/or love something new until you trick yourself into enjoying it ahead of time. Hope this helps. And Dan, If you want to reply to me personally, it is my callsign (kz1o) at arrl.org All the best, and 73, Dave KZ1O |
"Dave Bushong" wrote in message et... Dan Jacobson wrote: What are the prospects of learning morse code at 15 WPM at age 45? [details, and lots of replies snipped] I learned Morse code when I was a kid (Cub Scouts), and it was like a "secret code." I met many great friends on the air while I was a teenager, in fact, one of whom had to sneak his CW key and speaker into his closet in order to make our daily sched because his report card got him 'grounded' in 7th grade. Then, I used it as a way to get a high score on CW contests, where so many people never go -- and that weakens the competition. I also use it to see what they are saying on the WW2 movie clips that show people sending Morse light signals on ships at sea. The point? I never used a computer program to learn code. Fortunately, they didn't exist. But it's not a video game; it's interaction with another human! Find a way to make it interesting, and not a way to become a modem savant: learn the letters, and then try to decode a conversation between two people. Just like if you want to learn a new language, you study a little, and then turn to the Spanish channel! You get one word out of a hundred, and then two, and then three...... It's interesting, and fun. Something is happening, and you can join in. You will never learn and/or love something new until you trick yourself into enjoying it ahead of time. Hope this helps. And Dan, If you want to reply to me personally, it is my callsign (kz1o) at arrl.org All the best, and 73, Dave KZ1O I do all of the above.....I just feel sorry for all those that will miss what you and I have. What a waste. Dan/W4NTI |
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