Morse Code practice (Part 1)

[W9VNE]

I saw a question posed here on the reflector. I will repeat it for those with short memories.

HOW CAN I COPY IN MY HEAD ?

It is irrelevant to SOTA. It was a simple inquiry soliciting information. As i have been using Morse Code for more than 70 years I thought I would share me experience.
Regrettably the naysayers came out of the woodwoork.

The first thing you do to copy in your head is to do away with writing down what you are hearing. It is normal to do that at very slow speeds. Why ? Because after copying 10 letters at 8 wpm you forget the word’s beginning as that was 30 to 40 seconds ago.

So to eliminate the need to write you need to increase your speed. Stop and reread what I have just written.

Human in their conversations use 125 wpm to communicate. Well that is a pretty fast speed. To check me get a book and read at normal speed for a minute, Calculate the number of words you read at normal speech in a minute.

When you converse with people you do not write down letter for letter what is spoken,

Lack of thought to the question is sad. How do you copy in your head ? Do it like you do when you have a conversation . Thrown away the paper. But you need to increase your speed,

The analogy between common speech and using Morse Code is the same. Noise your hear and your brain converts it to words, THINK about that.

My injecting SPEED was necessary to show how you copy IN YOUR HEAD,

I am of the opinion that if you ask a question you THINK about the ANSWER, Nobody at least not me is advocating SPEED in SOTA, The question had no connection to SOTA except it was on the REFLECTOR,’

THINKING seems to be missing these days.

Yes I tried to help. Naysayers prefer to strut their supposed knowledge, I was giving sound advice based on experience.

The world never ceases to amaze me

73
JIM W9VNE

[EA2IF]

Hi Jim,

I really was missing an answer and I was fearing it was because you might have felt upset with my post. I’m very sorry to realise that this seems to be actually the case.

I’m very sorry that you see me as a naysayer. I’m NOT at all. The problem is that you seem to have completely missunderstood my post.

The fact is I started my post with “I have a question here” and I finally asked 3 questions, but you haven’t answered to none of them and the only purpose of my post was asking these questions to a very experienced and highly skilled morse operator because I just want to know it from someone like you.

My 3 questions were these:

1. What’s the interest in working towards reaching a 50 WPM speed when the truth is that almost nobody ( a very minimal % of the ham radio community) will be able to have QSOs at that speed?

2. How do copying words handle the many errors we hear everyday when sending at fast speeds like 25-30 WPM? (i.e. sending 6 dots instead of a number 5; sending H instead of a 5 or a S; sending a T instead of an O; etc, etc)

3. What about sending that fast, how do you get to that?

In case you were so kind to answer to these questions, I’d be very grateful and may start an interesting conversation/discussion/exchange/debate. (call it as you like)

Thanks in advance.

73,

Guru

[W9VNE]

My 3 questions were these:

1. What’s the interest in working towards reaching a 50 WPM speed when the truth is that almost nobody ( a very minimal % of the ham radio community) will be able to have QSOs at that speed?
2. How do copying words handle the many errors we hear everyday when sending at fast speeds like 25-30 WPM? (i.e. sending 6 dots instead of a number 5; sending H instead of a 5 or a S; sending a T instead of an O; etc, etc)
3. What about sending that fast, how do you get to that?

I never advocated a speed for its own sake. Speed eliminates the need to write down letters.

If you are copying someone who is making errors speed has no effect on that, It is not a cure

How do you get to send fast. First FAST is a relative term. But the answer is complex.
It is like learning a different language. You need to hear it before you send it.
About 40 years ago a friend of mine bought a keyboard that did not use software. The key you struck send the letter in Morse. So I bought one too. That is 40 years ago. After a few months someone asked me a question: has your RECEIVING SPEED increased ? Yes it had. I got to know what specific words in my vocabulary sounded like. I did away with the keyboard after a few months. I use a paddle and keyer,

It was not your questions that I initially replied to. It was someone who asked HOW DO I COPY IN MY HEAD>

You replicate what you do with normal SPEECH in conversations. That requires speed so you do not forget the BEGINNING of the word some 40 seconds before. At speed the gap from start to finish of a word is drastically reduced so paper and pencil is not required,

I always reply to an operator at their speed.

I am not a genius but I have been at Morse for a fairly long time (1951) and I have been able to understand how I got to copy faster. At 12 and 13 years old you had a goal and then in those days speed was the criterion to judge how good you were.

I copy Morse as I copy any language. My brain has LEARNED to interpret certain sounds (Morse) and I know what it means just like a WORD has a meaning,
Does it take effort / work ? You bet it does. It was an evolution for a kid of 13 years old. I could do things (copy CW) at speeds faster than ops who were 20 and 40 years older than I was. This was 1950s and 1960s,

Yes not many left. But there are some and I enjoy conversing with them at 45 and 50 wpm. Because we can. I have my own library of MP 3 files that I listen to. It is like a PHYSICAL WORK OUT. You need to keep at it or you lose speed,

People now have software and code readers. I have a skill not an instrument.

No hard feelings just thinking and explaining. Reread my thoughts and I hope you understand i was responding originally to someone else. HOW CAN I COPY IN MY HEAD<

73

Jim W9VNE
since 1952

[W9VNE]

One of the most important aspects of copying quicker is a good memory. Here is why. There are two speeds to the human brain. The first is called a reflex. It is fast because you can not allow time to respond. You are in danger and your body needs to react. The other speed is where you do not need to REACT IMMEDIATELY. That part of the brain is called the HIPPOCAMPUS. It contains memories. That is where you store MORSE sounds that can be reflexed into your consciousness. It takes repeated use to develop the memory of that word. I have found that listening to that word at speed helps in retaining it for recall. It does help to read the text while you listen to the word. It does seem counterintuitive but it is not.

[EA2IF]

Thanks, Jim, for the detailed posts. I see very well the answers to my questions.
I want to comment on this but I can’t do it now and I’ll try to do it some time later.
73,

Guru

[G8CPZ]

@W9VNE

I hope you understand i was responding originally to someone else

Hello Jim, that someone else was me on the reflector topic I created …

Techniques for head copying CW QSOs

I got interested in head copying Morse some months ago and have been working with other local amateurs here in south Cumbria who are also learning to head copy. We’re making fair to good progress so far but I would like to hear from SOTA expert head-copiers for their experiences and advice about the effectiveness of different techniques or methods. My motivation: since I my passed the Morse test about 25 years ago and got my ‘A’ licence (M0ALC) I’ve been transcripting everything to paper. I unc…

You replied on that thread but went on to create a new topic (this one).

We do need some context about my original request for advice because, in reply to Guru @EA2IF, you wrote …

@W9VNE

It is irrelevant to SOTA

Maybe you just looked at my topic title and didn’t read my original post or the subsequent posts because SOTA is relevant here. After 25 years of transcripting everything to paper, I want to end up writing down only those things I need for my paper log (callsigns, reports, names …) and head copy the rest - so I can’t throw that pencil away.

And this is for use at windy SOTA summits using my QRP radio with sub-optimal portable antennas straining to hear weak signals and where high speed Morse (30+ wpm) is not often used for obvious reasons.

So, you see it’s not going from 100% copy-to-paper to 100% copy-to-brain. For a typical SOTA QSO it’s probably an 80%/20% mixture of the two. After practising head copying for 3 months now I’ve gone from about 5wpm to 18wpm and hope to be in the 20-25wpm range by the summer.

Thanks for your comments and advice.

73 Andy G8CPZ

[W9VNE]

Andy

Thank you for taking the time to write.

I am new to SOTA. Old to Morse (70 years)

I do not write anything down. I have a keyboard which I use to log my QSOS.

Skills will always be different. I do not claim than my way of doing something will work for you or anyone else. It has worked for me. So try my suggestions. You may find some that work.

The ingredient to the equation includes time. I have spend more time learning Morse then anyone who might read this writing. Maybe not.

I shared my experiences. Years ago we would tune the band and we could find a friend by just listening to their “fist”, did not need for them to sign their call signs.

There are like there are in spoken languages a slight difference which will come from spacing. Accent is what we term it with spoken language.

Now we do not have much of that. Keyers can be adjusted.

Morse is a language to me. After 70 + years it should be. I do not criticize anyone. My experience is mine alone. I am a devoted CW operator. I applaud those who are just starting to use it. You can master it if you keep at it.

There was a TV program years ago. Contestants would attempt to name a TUNE with very little playing time. They started with a single note. No winner they went to 2 notes. Pretty soon there was a winner between several of the players. So part of our skill is building up a vocabulary in your brain. It will be triggered but you have to construct that memory which requires a lot of time. It does help to read text while it is being sent at a speed faster than you normally copy. It works for me.

I have library of MP3 files at very fast speeds. I listen to them and keep my brain working on copying fast Mores. It is like your muscles. Do not use them you will lose them.

Email and what we type here is not the best medium to exchange our ideas either. In person back and forth is better. We use what we have.

Have a good Weekend

cheers

73

Jim W9VNE

[M6GYU]

@W9VNE

It was not your questions that I initially replied to. It was someone who asked HOW DO I COPY IN MY HEAD>

I copy Morse as I copy any language. My brain has LEARNED to interpret certain sounds (Morse) and I know what it means just like a WORD has a meaning,
D<

73

Jim W9VNE
since 1952

1. You’ve got a problem if you’re having to copy something in a foreign language you don’t speak. Do you remember whole words and sentences then?

2. How do you manage to remember non words. Such as callsigns, References for SOTA, WOTA, HUMPs Bumps et, names of foreign mountains , and other references? Are you familiar with these?

3. There are experienced cw SOTA operators on here and some who have been professional commercial operators and at least one or two whose spent their careers monitoring & copying Russian? military traffic.

Good Luck and thanks for the advice.

Dave P. Ex something or other.

[W9VNE]

I wonder about people. Here is a post that is nonsensical.
He has been a ham for 4 or 5 years.
How do I remember NON WORDS ? the same way I do in a conversation.
The analogy to speech at 125 wpm evades him.

I set out to share my experience of improving your ability to copy Morse without having to write down what you are hearing. At 10 to 15 wpm or so there is a gap between the start of a word and its end. As you increase your copying speed that is eliminated.

When I sit with someone and they talk to me I do not write down the letters of the various words they speak. Yes speech at 125 wpm shows you what your mind can do.

These responses show lack of thought.

I will no longer comment as the purpose of helping others has been degraded.

How sad.

W9VNE

[MM0FMF]

When your only tool is a hammer all problems are nails.

[AE9Q]

@W9VNE

JIM W9VNE

Jim W9VNE, I appreciate your recommendation to listen to the ARRL code files while reading the text. I am going to give that a go. I activate and chase SOTA at 13 wpm and only write down what I need for the QSO. Unfortunately, sometimes folks will send other information and since I’m not writing it down, most of the time I cannot copy it. Being able to head copy (even at slow speeds) would make code much more enjoyable for me.

73,

Dave, AE9Q

[VK3ARR]

@W9VNE

I wonder about people. Here is a post that is nonsensical.
He has been a ham for 4 or 5 years.
How do I remember NON WORDS ? the same way I do in a conversation.
The analogy to speech at 125 wpm evades him.

Hi Jim,

I’m sure you’re trying to be helpful, but starting a post like this openly attacking someone who has a lot more than 4 or 5 years experience using morse without attempting to understand his experiences prior to obtaining a ham call isn’t a great way to get people to your point of view.

I’m working on getting my listening speed up, but the fact is the ham world is full of people with their own true way, all based on years of experience and “this is how the brain works” and “this is how XX taught me back before dirt was invented”, and all typically contradictory. In that environment, it’s then clear that there are many paths to success.

Likewise, in music there are many ways of reaching high skill levels. For example, if you learn violin, Suzuki method often teaches martele bowing very early, whereas something like say Doflein focuses more on positioning and detache, while martele comes much later on. Students of either method can reach high levels of achievement (although not me, largely due now to not having much time to practice and deciding as a teenager that being a piano player would be more popular with the ladies)

[G4AZS]

As evidence of rare side effects emerges, WHO investigate the risks and benefits of different bowing techniques…

[EA2IF]

Dear Jim,

As I wrote I would do, I’m going to write a proper answer to your previous kind post with the answers to my questions and I’ll comment what’s my point of view about this matter. I may also end up asking you some new questions too.

First of all, thank you very much for taking the time to answer to my questions. Thank you also for the link you’ve sent me by email.´

I fully understand that working towards a 50WPM morse reading is something that surely stimulates our brain and will surely be beneficial is many different ways, not only for loosing weight or possibly helping to prevent Alzheimer disease.
I really admire people achieving such level and although I don’t feel interested right now, I don’t say I may be one day in the future. Who knows…

My personal experience with morse is of a perfect way to make QSOs in a much more efficient way than using voice modes and also without speaking out anything, which is something I personally find far more tyring than making CW and definitely far more disturbing and annoying for my family living with me. I learn the morse code in 1985 when I was 20. Since then, I’ve made thousands of ragchewing QSOs and I’ve also taken part in several contests, often with pretty good results.

I have found that I can do ragchewing quite well for standard QSOs on morse code with typical exchanges like greetings, RST, name, QTH, RIG, ANT, WX and farewell at really high speeds like 40 WPM, but, at such high speed level, my sending is what really limits me rather than copying. I guess that in order to be able to send at +40 WPM, I should probably get a different paddle or adjust the gaps and paddles tension differently.

Yesterday, during my SOTA activation, I changed my FT-817 keyer speed to 50 WPM and I was unable to even produce a CQ correctly. I guess not only my brain and fist, but also my Palm paddle is not well suited for such speeds.

I would like you to tell us if paddles for sending at 50 WPM are the standard ones of they must be some specificly designed ones for that purpose.

What you recomend about repetition of listening to words while you are seeing it on the screen makes a lot of sense to me, as I think it’s a way to settle the sound of that word in morse together with the photograph image of the word written in plain text. The same applies at learning languages, when having the picture of a car next to the written word “car” is far more effective than having coche = car for a Spanish student or voiture = car for a French student.

In previous threads, I have already said that the best way to become proficient in morse is making QSOs, standard ragchewing QSOs with the classical exchanges I mentionned above. Repeating and repeating QSOs will help you learn the typical words and prosigns by heart and they will automatically copied in your head without needing any writing on paper, so only the specific pieces of information like RST, name, QTH and RIG/ANT may need to be written down. In my case I don’t even write down the RIG/ANT information, I just copy it in my head and I don’t write it down because it’s something that can change at any time and it’s not worthwhile for me writing it down. It’s something “forgetable” and no big deal with that.

Other thing is having conversations about any matter in morse code at high speeds. I have had some but in a foreign language like English is for me, it becomes a very difficult task.

The method of learning words by listening to them several times becomes harder when someone, like myself, is trilingual and can also have very basic communications in 2 or 3 more languages. I find that even when chatting in morse with Spaniards, we keep using many abbreviations coming from the English words. For example PSE for please, instead of POR FAVOR in Spanish, which we could perfectly abbreviate as PFV, or AGN for again instead of DE NUEVO in Spanish. Having high speed morse conversations in English is difficult for a foreigner, not only for the morse itself, but also for the English language. Having high speed morse conversations in Spanish is difficult for me because many words are too long and there’s a mix of plain Spanish language words with abbreviations based in the English language.

Appart of this, the method of repetition, repetition, repetition by making many, many ragchewing QSOs is, in my opinion, the perfect way to learn by heart the most common words and that will allow the morse operator to head copy the whole QSO just needing to write down the key specific pieces of information he/she doesn’t want to forget.

I’ll finish saying that being myself able to work on morse code at 35-40 WPM, I find this is far enough for me and nowadays since I quit contesting and all I do now is standard ragchewing QSOs and SOTA chasing/activating, I don’t even do anything faster that 25-30 WPM.

At the moment, I don’t feel worthwhile the effort and time dedication to achieve 50 WPM or more, as it will only give me the chance to practise with very, very few people in the ham radio community and probably none because I’m sure that really good steady signals must be necessary to maintain a morse code conversation at 50 WPM, something only achievable by chatting to local hams and very few more.

But who knows, may be in the future, before too many of my brain neurons had died, I’ll accept the challenge of getting to 50 WPM.

Thanks again, Jim, happy Easter and best 73,

Guru

[EA2IF]

I played this game with my kids some years ago…

…and found a close parallelism between memorizing and reproducing the sequence of sounds and coloured lights of that game with hearing callsigns in morse and reproducing them by myself when getting back to the caller ham.
I now often find myself hearing a chaser callsign calling me in an activation and then reproducing that full callsign from memory of the sound of that callsign I just heard to later convert that sound into letters and numbers, when he is coming back to me and I’m writing that callsign down on my paper log.
It’s a good mental exercise that I enjoy a lot playing.

73,

Guru

[SP2RM]

Hi,

You can take a look at Practice · Morse Code Ninja

[K5DEZ]

Yes!! Me too Guru. My wife and I bought Simon for our 2 kids years ago. We still have it in a closet somewhere. Nice Toy.
Tim - K5DEZ

[M0MZB]

Dragging up an old thread…I have been learning morse for the past year. Have got up to head copy at 27wpm using the cw ditto app…i can copy phrases comprised of the top 1500 words at 27wpm.

However. I struggle with the arrl morse practice files at 25wpm. The problem seems to be the long and unfamiliar words that are used. I read some of the unfamiliar words, when they are composed of certain letter groups, but really struggle to get much out of the 25wpm file.

I find it confusing that I hear mention of “instant word recognition”, but surely this cannot work for rarely used words. So for those copying at 25wpm plus, how do you copy long and unfamiliar words? Are you still able to assemble individual letters in your mind at this speed even for very long words?

Thanks for any help

[M0WIV]

For me anything longer than GM or 73 is a long word!

But I can only assume it is simply a matter of practice. I had a QSO with EG5GURU last week and RBN said they working at 30 wpm. I was pleased I could read their callsign although it probably helped I knew what I was looking for from SOTAWatch! However, we did manage a S2S.

I’m not sure the following applies but there may be some truth in it for CW. If you can reach this level it will be a doddle.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

[G8CPZ]

@M0MZB

i can copy phrases comprised of the top 1500 words at 27wpm

Hello Matthew, I am truly impressed by the amazing progress you have achieved in such a short time - much more than I’ve done in 25 years of CW ops.

During the first covid lockdown, I started to learn head copying and got up to about 19 wpm. However, I soon realized all those most-used English words didn’t do me much good for SOTA QSOs where the exchanges are not much more than contest QSOs and contain SOTA references and signal reports which need to be written down anyway (for my log). So, I de-emphasized head copying and focused on writing down callsigns at ever increasing speeds.

BTW: I had exactly the same problem head copying very long words. I couldn’t use the ‘every word has a unique Morse sound’ technique. Instead I would assemble the word from the incoming letters in my mind’s eye, but would forget the front end of the long word before I got to the end. Frankly, unless 90% of one’s QSOs are ragchews, I question the ‘return on investment’.

The cw ditto app looks intriguing from the Google Play trailer but sadly I don’t have an Android device.

Well done & 73, Andy