Learning CW

[greenacres113-2]

Just my opinion guys....... Most radios have  an electronic keyer built
in . My K3 does & I use it. So it's straight key [ UGH] or electronic
key. If you want to send the letter A. It's DIT DAH. With a keyer it's
tap one side then the other. The keyer sends DIT with the proper spacing
& then DAH. With a straight key anyone sending especially if they're
just learning will send five As & every one will have different spacing
& DAHs of a different time length. Why not just start with electronic
keying. You can even use the keyboard to send. Receiving or copying code
is the real job.
I've been on CW  55 yr.s. I can still 'head copy' 45 WPM but so what. A
person  making a contact with another CW stn. at 10 WPM is having just
as much pleasure as a contact at 40 WPM. I speak a little Spanish. Very
little. But I speak another language. CW. From the time I was 13 yr.s
old I've felt I speak  a language other than English. Sense of pride in
that.
If you want to use machines to work CW that's how you see it. Like JT65
or RTTY. Machines doing the work. Nothing wrong with that. If you want
to actually send CW why waste yr.s on an old way of sending when the
modern way is easier & easier on the ears of those copying your CW.
In my opinion if you really want to learn to send get an electronic key
& use the keyer built into your radio. You can practice off air. If you
want to  later try nostaligic straight keys at least you will know what
letters should sound like on CW. You can match your straight key sending
to what you know the CW should sound like. My opinion.

K9IL
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[KEN-3]

To each his own, whatever you enjoy.   But for a different perspective, I certainly enjoy being able to have a longer QSO and “chat” and do more than just the quickie 599/QTH/73 type of contact.   Running 20 wpm lets me do that a lot more readily than running at 10 wpm.   35 wpm is even better because, in my experience, it becomes more like a normal person to person conversation than a very limited slow speed minimal contact.

So while I don’t want to discourage anyone from running 10 wpm or whatever they want, I do want to let people know that moving up in speed does open totally new possibilities for CW contacts.  

73, Ken WA8JXM

> On Dec 1, 2014, at 9:03 AM, r miles <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> I can still 'head copy' 45 WPM but so what. A person  making a contact with another CW stn. at 10 WPM is having just as much pleasure as a contact at 40 WPM.

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