I was under the impression that Farnsworth was a type of spacing but
that the actual numbers weren't relevant -- only that the word speed
is often much less than the character speed. The test I took had a
word speed of five words per minute and a character speed of eighteen
words per minute. The practice files I'm building for my web site
have a word speed of five words per minute and a character speed of
twenty words per minute.

Stacey By the time one becomes proficient enough to copy Morse Code,
Stacey counting out the dits and dahs is moot at best.

In my limited experience, I learn more characters faster with
Farnsworth spacing, but I'm concerned that I'm building a lookup table
instead of reflexes. It's the difference between "dahdidah, hmm,
that's K, dahdah, hmm, that's M" and "dahdidah (K) dahdah (M)". I
learned eight or nine characters with Farnsworth spacing, but I can't
repeat the performance at full speed, so I fear that I'm learning
something that won't be useful if I continue to use Farnsworth
spacing.


Stick with the tried and proven Jack and just get on with the job like
tens if not hundreds of thousands of us have already done. There is no
point to reinventing the wheel.

I've sed it before I'll say it again: The W1AW code practice sessions
and getting on the air ASAP are the best methods out there for
learning the code. The 1AW sessions are reliable, they're not
repetitive and you can pace yourself without breaking a sweat
depending on your own set of learning curve variables. Yes it's
Farnsworth and 1AW Farnworth has obviously worked for decades. Now go
copy 1AW 5wpm sessions until you "get it".

I'm not sure I'd advise getting on the air with 5wpm these days but
getting on the air with 10wpm absolutely will accelerate your move up
the code learning curve. There is nothing which can simulate the
experience and stimulation one gets when snagging real CW QSOs early
in the code learning process. Nothing. Sweat, sweat, tremble, into the
deep end . . Been there, done it and it WORKS. The mix of 1AW and The
Deep End worked twice for me and I not only enjoyed all of it but also
got to 20wpm+ via logs full of actual QSOs to boot.

And CW contests are lousy code practice.



Jack.
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w3rv