HI all:
This is what worked for me... Listen to CW at a speed that is impossibly too fast for you. If you are currently at 20 wpm, try listening to 60 or 70 wpm. If you copy 15wpm, try 45 wpm or 40wpm to start. Because you know that you have zero chance of copying anything at all (even telling dits from dahs), all you have to do is just sort of sit there and listen and definitely not try to copy...but do listen! Do about 5 minutes of this. Then turn the speed down 5 wpm and keep listening for another 5 minutes. Keep doing this until you can finally hear "the dits and dahs." Then listen to that for 5 minutes and again turn it down another 5 wpm. Do this every day for at least 20 minutes in a row. If you can do it two or more times per day (spaced hours apart), even better. You will amazed how well this works at increasing your speed. The trick is knowing that you simply cannot copy anything at the "super" (relative term) high speeds. When I was kid studying for my general class, I did this using Ameco LP records. They were 33 rpm and (showing my age), I ran them at 78 rpm or 45 rpm. Now, I stay tuned up by using an MFJ trainer. I crank it up as high as it will go (99wpm?) and, knowing I'll never cpy that, I listen as outlined above. It keeps me in shape during low activity times (due to lousy sun spots). The thing fits into my pocket so I can take with me to the park to watch my kids (my youngest is still in HS...old dad) or whatever. You really won't find too many guys doing qrq any more, so for me, this is the way to go. I am very proud to be living fossil. de Doug KR2Q PS...I am really rusty on "the phone" though. _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
Doug and all,
I use a lesser variant of this for a few minutes just prior to getting on the air. My fastest comfortable speed is about 23 wpm, so I'll "send" (transmitter off) at 28 to 30 wpm to practice and get used to the sounds at that speed. Then when I drop down to my normal speed it's nice & easy. I've had a few 25 wpm qsos this way & did fine, though I have to admit the steam was rising from my head afterwards! Personally I've found helpful the combination of listening to too-fast-for-me code gets my head ready, and then - contrary to what most have recently said - I just bump the wpm up by 1 or 2 wpm every now and then. Sure it's slow progress but I'm not in a hurry, so the gradual and comfortable increase is fine by me. It would've been interesting to track my progress by date over the past 3 or so years being a ham to see if the increases are linear, logarithmic, or what - or if I've transitioned from the saturation to active regions. :-) Though I often feel saturated! 73, Mike ab3ap DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL wrote: > HI all: > > This is what worked for me... > > Listen to CW at a speed that is impossibly too fast for you. If you > are currently at 20 wpm, try listening to 60 or 70 wpm. If you copy > 15wpm, try 45 wpm or 40wpm to start. ... > de Doug KR2Q > > PS...I am really rusty on "the phone" though. _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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