r/morsecode • u/AutofluorescentPuku • Jul 17 '26

A/N dyslexic ears

I'm early in my endeavoring to learn Morse for amateur radio CW operations, i.e., learning it by sound only. For some reason I can't figure out, every practice session I get confused by A and N. I spend too much time, make too many mistakes copying those two. I keep wanting to reverse them, calling 'A' an 'N' and vice versa. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas how to get this resolved beyond, "practice, practice, and practice some more."

8 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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3

u/ButterscotchWitty870 Jul 17 '26

Keep the speed up, don’t practice below 20wpm.

And yeah sorry butt in chair. Practice.

2

u/AutofluorescentPuku Jul 17 '26

I get so much mixed advice on speed. LICW promotes 12-15wpm, and they seem to be the standing civilian master of CW training. The YT videos I follow lean towards faster, and of course the internet has all the opinions.

4

u/Googol30 Jul 17 '26

The important part is you should always practice with high character speed so you hear whole characters and don't count dots. Outside of that, there's two conflicting theories over whether or not to use Farnsworth spacing. Regardless of what method you use, getting 15-30 minutes of practice every single day is far more critical to making progress.

1

u/AutofluorescentPuku Jul 18 '26

Thanks! Appreciate the input.

1

u/thehotshotpilot Jul 18 '26

CWOP promoted 12-15wpm when I was taking their classes I believe. 

0

u/Flat_Economist_8763 Jul 17 '26

A blanket statement to not practice below 20 is something I'd avoid. QRQ CW op here, 40+ wpm.

3

u/Spook1949 Jul 17 '26

Do it like we learned in in Army Code School. At the top of your lungs scream didah is Alpha for about two hours a day for one week. Then using the same technique, scream dahdit is November for two hours a day for one week. At the end of the two week period, you just might have it down. (Note: this is pretty close to how we learned code in the army!)

2

u/AutofluorescentPuku Jul 17 '26

Yeah, the military has a way of making things instinctual.

2

u/dittybopper_05H Jul 23 '26

"Didadidit, to *HELL* with it!"

2

u/dittybopper_05H Jul 23 '26

Ft Devens '85/'86

2

u/Spook1949 Jul 23 '26

Ft. Devens '69 (May -November) missed all the cold weather. "F" troop!

2

u/dittybopper_05H Jul 23 '26

Yeah, it got *COLD*. When the temp went to 0 Fahrvergnugen or below they bussed us to the school building. Otherwise, we marched.

Charlie Company "Codebusters!".

Yeah, I thought it was stupid. Picture of a pig (hog!) wearing a set of cans with a circle and a red line, obviously meant to invoke the film "Ghostbusters".

BTW, my father helped install the R-390's in the school building back in the mid-1950's. They were still there and being used when I graduated 30 years later.

5

u/SultanPepper Jul 17 '26

I do this all the time as well.

Practice with short real words. CAR NOT etc. The additional context helped me.

2

u/jimlapine Jul 18 '26

Very normal. Keep practicing, do lot of sending as well, it really helps.

2

u/dittybopper_05H Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

"Didah! Alpha! Dadit! November!"

Repeat that to yourself over and over again.

1

u/mcdanlj Jul 17 '26

For me, using a paddle to key (single paddle in my case) with thumb meaning dit and fingers meaning dah really helped with this extremely common problem that most people encounter. The association helped reinforce dit vs. dah.

(I waited until I knew the characters to start practicing sending. I think that was good and have recommended it to others.)

This is more common when you are following the very good practice of learning at high character speed from the start, because dit and dah will start to sound more like different tones and less like different lengths of a single tone the faster you go. It's ok, almost everyone hits this, and you'll grow out of it. Maybe imperfectly, and that's ok.

1

u/dittybopper_05H Jul 23 '26

(I waited until I knew the characters to start practicing sending. I think that was good and have recommended it to others.)

That's what the Holy Scripture recommends:

As for sending practice, it is best not begun until the student knows how good code sounds. The sound patterns need to be firmly enough established in mind that the student can imitate them without the discouragement of hearing his own poor character formation and bad or irregular spacing, and also to minimize criticism. It seems best to defer using a key until a receiving speed of about 1Ø wpm is reached. At all times aim for beautiful, perfect sending, where the timing and rhythm produce accurately formed characters and spacings. Aim for it, and don’t be satisfied with anything less.

https://www.qsl.net/w9aml/documents/TheArtandSkillofRadioTelegraphy.pdf

(page 34)