New Morse training tape
 

In light of the likelyhood that all US Amateur Radio testing may soon become
code-free, this 16-year-old article from WA6ITF has new applicability.

GEARVAKf Research Basis of No-Code Tape
---------------------------------------

Turlock, California-- April 32, 1989 - In a surprise announcement that has
completely rocked the foundation of the educational community, the Wet-Link C.B.
Radio Network has prematurely introduced a new "No-Code CW Training Tape
Cassette' which was developed using lack of research material supplied by the
world famous Gorbinsky Learning and Forgetting Center of Ohio.

This GEARVAKf-sponsored facility is the hub of the GEARVAKf-funded research
into "things."

In a 1955 report authored two decades before the center was opened,
it'sformer Director of Research Into Things, Dr. R. U. Kidding, PhD. (phud),
posed the question: "Why is the sky blue and what does this have to do with
learning morse code?"

Using grant monies provided by the GEARVAKf Grant Monies Institute to
Research Things, Dr. Kidding attempted to contact the late Samuel F.B. Morse to
ascertain the answer. By 1966, Dr. Kidding had discovered that Morse had been
dead for several decades and therefore was not a plausable source for garnering
his information.

While Dr. Kidding never did learn why the sky is blue, his 1979 paper titled
"To Code or Not to Code--Is That a Question?" went unnoticed by the
communications community for almost two decades, mainly because it as written in
a VIC-20 computer, printed in 23-letter columns, and looked like a grocery list.
The paper was resurrected about four days ago by the production staff at
Wet-Link C.B. Radio as an excuse to put out a useless tape cassette to teach
people No-Code at 0 WPM. Hosted by Niles East, the cassette is designed to
instruct the listener and impart enough knowledge so that he or she can pass the
Morse Code portion of the FCC No-Code ham radio exam.

Since nobody in their right or left mind would buy such trash, the only way
to get one is at the WESTLINK REPORT/220 NOTES booth at the 1989 Amateur
RadioVention in Dayton, Ohio. The tapes are almost for free, but not quite.
GEARVAKf members are advised to show their lack of ID cards while non-members
need not.

-- WA6ITF

K=D8HB wrote:
In light of the likelyhood that all US Amateur Radio testing may soon bec=
ome
code-free, this 16-year-old article from WA6ITF has new applicability.

GEARVAKf Research Basis of No-Code Tape
---------------------------------------

Hans, perhaps now amateurs can learn Morse Code without having
unnecessary distraction/hurdles to jump through like the 5WPM, 13WPM,
or 20WPM barriers.

How long will it take the code teachers and code advocates to catch on
to the concept, or will they coninue on with the stepped hoops?

"b.b." wrote

How long will it take the code teachers and
code advocates to catch on to the concept,
or will they coninue on with the stepped hoops?

"Stepped hoops"? In my experience, people tend to learn Morse not in steps, but
by gradual increases. Granted that there are some "plateaus" (approximately
10WPM and 25WPM) but these are found to be related to the "mental mechanics" of
learning.

Up to about 10WPM trainees can still "count the dits", so moving beyond that
speed requires them to learn to recognize the "sound of the character" without
deliberate "counting the dits". This is what makes the Farnsworth training
method effective, in that the trainee is early acquainted to the "sound of the
character" at the higher speeds.

The 25WPM plateau seems related to sublimating copying to a "middle conscious"
level, where the characters flow at an almost sub-conscious level from the ear
to the fingertip without active thought about the actual characters heard.

73, de Hans, K0HB

K=D8HB wrote:
"b.b." wrote

How long will it take the code teachers and
code advocates to catch on to the concept,
or will they coninue on with the stepped hoops?

"Stepped hoops"? In my experience, people tend to learn Morse not in ste=
ps, but
by gradual increases. Granted that there are some "plateaus" (approximat=
ely
10WPM and 25WPM) but these are found to be related to the "mental mechani=
cs" of
learning.

Up to about 10WPM trainees can still "count the dits", so moving beyond t=
hat
speed requires them to learn to recognize the "sound of the character" wi=
thout
deliberate "counting the dits". This is what makes the Farnsworth traini=
ng
method effective, in that the trainee is early acquainted to the "sound o=
f the
character" at the higher speeds.

The 25WPM plateau seems related to sublimating copying to a "middle consc=
ious"
level, where the characters flow at an almost sub-conscious level from th=
e ear
to the fingertip without active thought about the actual characters heard.

73, de Hans, K0HB

Like I said...

Maybe Morse can go back to being an encoding scheme, and Farnsworth can
go back to being a teaching method. And maybe without artificial
testing steps, Morse can develop more along the lines human learning
and consciousness.

b.b.:

The internet is wonderful. I just completed an exhaustive search and located
that CW training tape in question, I downloaded it in .mp3 format and listened
to it.

Don't bother with getting it yourself, when I played it, all it said was, "Grab
a BEEG RADIO (cb & leen-e-air) and go to it, if you want to have fun.

Then it asked for a "donation" to be sent to the arrl for the tape!

There was also a disgusting ad on the tape (the background sounded like it had
been recorded at a flea market), some old ham trying to sell bicycle seats
which had only been sniffed one time before!

Keep your money!

John

"b.b." wrote in message
oups.com...

KØHB wrote:
"b.b." wrote

How long will it take the code teachers and
code advocates to catch on to the concept,
or will they coninue on with the stepped hoops?

"Stepped hoops"? In my experience, people tend to learn Morse not in steps,
but
by gradual increases. Granted that there are some "plateaus" (approximately
10WPM and 25WPM) but these are found to be related to the "mental mechanics"
of
learning.

Up to about 10WPM trainees can still "count the dits", so moving beyond that
speed requires them to learn to recognize the "sound of the character"
without
deliberate "counting the dits". This is what makes the Farnsworth training
method effective, in that the trainee is early acquainted to the "sound of
the
character" at the higher speeds.

The 25WPM plateau seems related to sublimating copying to a "middle
conscious"
level, where the characters flow at an almost sub-conscious level from the
ear
to the fingertip without active thought about the actual characters heard.

73, de Hans, K0HB

Like I said...

Maybe Morse can go back to being an encoding scheme, and Farnsworth can
go back to being a teaching method. And maybe without artificial
testing steps, Morse can develop more along the lines human learning
and consciousness.

"KØHB" wrote in message
nk.net...

The 25WPM plateau seems related to sublimating copying to a "middle
conscious" level, where the characters flow at an almost sub-conscious
level from the ear to the fingertip without active thought about the
actual characters heard.

73, de Hans, K0HB

Sigh, I hope to get to this level eventually. I'm at the point where I'm
just starting to "hear" words like tnx, abt, the, fer, qsl, qsb, name, op,
rst, etc. rather than spelling them in my head.

--
Vy 73 de Bert
WA2SI
FISTS #9384/CC #1736
QRP ARCI #11782

Bert casually remarked at the "self-improvment session", "I'm at the point
where I'm
just starting to "hear" words..."

My gawd man, we are making progress.

The first step is always the hardest--admitting you have a problem.

For right now, we have some meds to stop the voices, while we work on that
little problem.

John

"Bert Craig" wrote in message
...
"KXHB" wrote in message
nk.net...

The 25WPM plateau seems related to sublimating copying to a "middle
conscious" level, where the characters flow at an almost sub-conscious level
from the ear to the fingertip without active thought about the actual
characters heard.

73, de Hans, K0HB

Sigh, I hope to get to this level eventually. I'm at the point where I'm just
starting to "hear" words like tnx, abt, the, fer, qsl, qsb, name, op, rst,
etc. rather than spelling them in my head.

--
Vy 73 de Bert
WA2SI
FISTS #9384/CC #1736
QRP ARCI #11782

"Bert Craig" wrote in message
...
"KØHB" wrote in message
nk.net...

The 25WPM plateau seems related to sublimating copying to a "middle
conscious" level, where the characters flow at an almost sub-conscious
level from the ear to the fingertip without active thought about the
actual characters heard.

73, de Hans, K0HB

Sigh, I hope to get to this level eventually. I'm at the point where I'm
just starting to "hear" words like tnx, abt, the, fer, qsl, qsb, name, op,
rst, etc. rather than spelling them in my head.

--
Vy 73 de Bert
WA2SI
FISTS #9384/CC #1736
QRP ARCI #11782


Excellent Bert....CW is like music when sent well. It ebbs and flows like a
river. A thing of beauty.

Think of it this way....no many folks can talk with their fingers.

Dan/W4NTI

Bert Craig wrote:
"K=D8HB" wrote in message
nk.net...

The 25WPM plateau seems related to sublimating copying to
a "middle
conscious" level, where the characters flow at an
almost sub-conscious
level from the ear to the fingertip without active
thought about the actual characters heard.

Sigh, I hope to get to this level eventually. I'm at the point where I'm
just starting to "hear" words like tnx, abt, the, fer, qsl,
qsb, name, op,
rst, etc. rather than spelling them in my head.

You're talking about two different skill sets.

Hans is talking about written copy - specifically,
copying on a mill (typewriter). Those who get
good at that skill set reach a point where they
really don't think about the incoming copy - it
just flows.

In some cases the op literally doesn't know the
content of the copy.

What you're experiencing is the beginnings of
conversational Morse Code. This is where you
understand the incoming Morse "directly", like
listening to someone talk.

Similar skill sets occur with sending.

--

Morse Code is much more than "an encoding scheme".

--

73 de Jim, N2EY

313

"b.b." wrote

Maybe Morse can go back to being an encoding scheme, and Farnsworth
can go back to being a teaching method.

Thus it is, thus it always has been.... I don't understand "go back to"....

73, de Hans, K0HB