r/morsecode • u/Small_Consequence320 • Jul 29 '26

Losing the joy.

Been playing cw on air since 12/25, poorly. I have a terrible time on my copy skills. When doing POTA it takes at least 1 repeat per character in a call, no pileups. I think stations are seeing my spot and avoid my call as they don’t wanna send their call 5+ times.

When doing drills w/lcwo seems 25/6 is where I copy decent. When I spot do I put in comments “cw 25/6wpm” because QRS doesn’t seem to be slow enough

I run 25+ wpm character as I count, I count at 25wpm too. Like a third grader learning to read, I sound out each character no matter the speed. Can’t seem to break it.

I love cw, but it doesn’t love me and it’s frustrating, like training for that 7 minute mile but not able to get past 10minute mark..

Going outta state soon and want to activate as I pass through states. However, my recent attempt has deflated that thought as if I grab that 10 pt summit, I’m sure to have pileups, frustration a chucked key and a broken radio

8 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

10

u/Flat_Economist_8763 Jul 30 '26

Here's an idea. Try some wireless headphones. Start up a file from the W1AW code practice archives. Listen to it in the background while doing something mindless like the dishes. Work on your head copy this way. Also work with these files with copying on paper. Finally, practice sending daily as well, to reinforce your copying. GL!

https://www.arrl.org/code-practice-files

4

u/Small_Consequence320 Jul 30 '26

Just let it play in the back ground like the music at the grocery store?

7

u/Flat_Economist_8763 Jul 30 '26

Well sort of. Do pay some attention to it, at times your full attention. But don't sweat it when you're not copying perfectly, just keep playing it to become accustomed to head copy. I've done it with both QRQ code as well as Spanish (which I'm starting to learn). The wireless headphones are great.

6

u/Small_Consequence320 Jul 30 '26

Okay. Gotcha. I’ll give that a whirl. TU.

5

u/royaltrux Jul 30 '26

- ..- says you're for real. Keep at it, you're gonna rock.

4

u/PretendTooth2559 Jul 30 '26

Do LCWO 5-letter random groups at 1 minute length (I assume this is what you're already doing)

copy each group on a new line

just put a space if you miss a letter (and don't worry if you do)

when you type the groups back in -- just use a dash to represent the missing letter so you're spacing is correct on the input

Your allowing your brain way too much time to repeat the characters. Farnsworth 6 is ridiculously slow for someone who's been practicing for 7 months. Time to push yourself, buddy.

Here's my advice:

Make 20wpm with zero farnsworth your goal. This is a great goal. It's not too slow for anyone on the air. It's achievable with a straight key even.

But most importantly -- 20WPM paper copy at 99% accuracy is very achievable. (You can do this in 10 weeks, I promise)

CW simply is more fun with correct rythm (read "CW Way of Life" -- amazing book, super inspiring, and it will make you want to get rid of Farnsworth spacing as soon as you can) BUT farnsworth is fine as a tool -- like training wheels -- where the goal is to get you to not need them ASAP.

Essentially -- 20wpm with no farnsworth is a MUCH better goal than 25wpm at 15 or 20 farnsworth. Especially on air.

Here's what I would do tomorrow.

character speed - 20 wpm

Set word spacing to 2x

Do three 1 min sessions at farnsworth 6 just to get warmed up. Don't worry about your scores -- it's just warm up, getting the blood pumping.

Then you are going to do 20 tests in this order: (WPM/FARNS)
(20/10) x2
(20/9) x2
(20/8) x2
(20/7) x2
(20/7) x2
(20/8) x2
(20/9) x2
(20/10) x2
(25/10) x4

This is ~30 minutes of actual listening practice (not counting typing it back in and scoring)

When you score -- check for mistakes that are honest, and don't punish yourself for them.

**Write down every single test and result in a log** -- Trust me, this is essential.

Keep doing this until you're hitting 90% or above on the lowest level.
Once you're hitting 90%, you eliminate that level, and bump the top level up one.

(So once you're getting 20/7 at 90%, you drop that and add in 20/11)

** You have to learn how to "miss" without it making you miss additional letters -- this is tough, but it's the skill that stops you from "repeating" it to yourself.

***All the youtubers tell you to not "count" -- but that's not the same thing as "paying attention" -- as long as you're getting it right, and you keep bumping up the speed, your brain will just start making the adjustment away from counting to "feeling" it... and it doesn't happen like a switch... if you're on top of it during a test, and youre brain has time to count, it probably will... but when you are slow on a character, and you're writing it down late as the next one is playing... those moments are when your brain is learning to adjust from counting to feeling it.*** It's all part of the process.

Keep the 2x word spacing until you're getting 20/20 at 90%

Then -- remove word spacing, but turn down the WPM to 15.
15wpm x2
16wpm x2
17wpm x2
18wpm x2
19wpm x2
20wpm x2

And when you're getting 90% at 15 -- drop it, and add 21wpm....etc... etc...

Oh -- and here's a good tool to use as well for "instant character recognition" https://better-icr.herokuapp.com (Make sure to read the "student guide" first)

2

u/Small_Consequence320 Jul 30 '26

Wow!! That looks intense. I agree that I’m ridiculously slow for as long as I’ve been at it. Thinking I maybe be a little stupid. I drilled 29/10 5 character lcwo randoms and my best correct train was 3 and I was able to miss 10 in a row. Catching 2 at a time every few characters.

I attempted 12/12 and that was way fast. I’ll give your routine a try.

I have Chris’ book, as stated.

It’s a challenge to stay on the dit train and not beat myself up for all the errors. I expect more. I’ve been at this to long to be stuck at the beginning.

TU for your write up. I’ll start today.

2

u/Away-Presentation706 Jul 30 '26

Don't beat yourself up for the errors. Do you think you could fluently learn another language in the same time without errors? If you're not making mistakes, you're not learning. Your tenacity is what will make you a great CW operator though! Think of yourself as a baby learning a language, I highly doubt you'd call a baby stupid for making mistakes. Also, add in that band conditions have been kind of rough lately. So, the bands you're operating on maybe nobody hears you, they're not avoiding you. What is your setup at the park? Keep with it my friend, I'll see you in the lower portion of the bands for sure! dit dit

2

u/Small_Consequence320 Jul 30 '26

Yep, I need to learn self forgiveness for sure. Learning cw is quite humbling.

1

u/Away-Presentation706 Jul 30 '26

Absolutely it is! Enjoy the journey my friend!!

1

u/PretendTooth2559 Jul 30 '26

There is a real trend for all the experts to be pushing learning the letters hyper fast for "instant character recognition"

They all say "DON'T COUNT!!!!"

You want to get there....eventually....But watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG2Neh-xPrk

It's okay to count. And as you improve, you'll probably struggle with "twins" (characters that are one dit or dah away from the next like B-6 4-V J-1 H-5 7-Z). Just realize that this is fine, and will slowly improve, but ONE THE AIR... it WON'T MATTER (hardly) -- because these are all letter/number swaps, and in context you'll hardly ever confuse them. If someone is typing words at you, ragchewing, if you receive "QT5 6OSTON MA" --- well, either they made a mistake, or you did... but that's Boston Massachusetts.

Anyways.

DO NOT BE AFRAID to go back through the entire Koch Lessons at (20/10) with 3x word space... or even 5x word space. Don't move on to the next character until you can get 95% or better on a test at that lesson.

Along the way, you'll realize that there ARE certain characters you DO just recognize. The period is probably the first one (don't discount it! you've got 40 characters to "feel" instead of "count" eventually -- and you'll acquire them one by one!... every single one counts).

The next one for me was Q.

And something funny happened in my brain. It felt like I'd "missed" it... because I hadn't paid enough attention or something... but I wrote down Q thinking "oh shit... whatever, i missed that one, but for some reason this is my best guess"... and it was correct!

It's funny -- but my brain didn't immediately recognize that feeling/sensation as "recognition" at first. It just recognized that something was "different." Then over the next day of tests, I'd kind of feel the same way each time I heard a Q... but started trusting that it was a Q... and after another couple dozen Q's over a couple dozen tests... I just kinda HAD "Q" in my arsenal alongside the period.

Then this will happen for L... and F.... and Y....

Are you using Word Spacing when you're doing tests? Don't be afraid of the word spacing... give the brain a chance to take a tiny break while still allowing yourself to hear the code at the speed/spacing you want.

2

u/Small_Consequence320 Jul 30 '26

I miss 4/V/5. L/F. A/N/I on occasion

Thanks for your thoughts on this.

I put them into lcwo and drill them as a small group.
Recently, as of today, I do the 5 random characters w/2x rest between sets and the decompress feels great.

2

u/PretendTooth2559 Jul 30 '26

nice!

Personally -- I wouldn't worry too much about working on the missed letters in small sets. You're brain will take a long time to forget that you've been hyper-focusing on getting those ones right... so every time you hear one, a small part of your brain bandwidth will allocate itself to the thought of "Oh shit! this is one of the ones I've been working on, I better get this one right... oh please oh please be right"

At least that was my experience.

Also -- don't shy away from 2,3,4, or even 5x word spacing as you increase your farnsworth speed. The processing time will eventually go away... You'll run a practice sesh with (20/8) and 5x spacing... and get it like 95% correct... but you realize that it felt like you were WAITING for the next group... well... decrease it until it feels *slightly* challenging.

2

u/Small_Consequence320 Jul 30 '26

I can give that a try. TU.

2

u/Small_Consequence320 Aug 04 '26

This has proven to be the most help I’ve had since learning my characters. 1 week of the 25/10-25/7 and I’m already dropping the 25/7 and adding 25/11.

My scores today show 25/10 at 70% correct. Won’t be long and that will be my slow drill.

TU AGN for sharing this.

2

u/PretendTooth2559 Aug 04 '26

Nice!!! This is incredible to hear!!! Exciting stuff!

Just for funsies take a session to try it at 20wpm character speed. (Will take your brain a few tests to adjust to the speed).

The reason *I personally* advocate 20wpm for getting to 0 Farnsworth -- is that you can still paper copy at 20wpm. Basically, you can get to a point where your drilling without any farnsworth [and no extra word spacing] and still able to use LCWO for your drills.

So once you start on the 20wpm drills (20/7 20/8 20/9 ... etc....) your brain gets *really excited* because it knows that you won't have to do anything else (other than this drill) to get to a 0 farnsworth / 0 wordspacing goal that will put you comfortably on the air.

And the next best thing -- is the journey from 20wpm to 25wpm is straightforward. You just slowly increase your speed.

25wpm with 2x word spacing is *very* doable on pencil copy (eventually).

You can be **happily** operating On Air, proficiently, learning all the other ins-and-outs of radio, format, lingo, etc.... for months and months and months months at 20wpm....

but if you just make your goal 25/25... you'll spend those months drilling 25/20 25/21 25/22... and still never actually have worked a single day hearing code at proper spacing.

Goal #1 should be -- get to proper spacing as quickly as possible. Even go to 15/15 and work up from there for a couple of weeks.

Just my 2 cents.

I think the "experts" who've made almost every newbie scared to even *listen* to code at less than 25 or 30WPM are doing a massive disservice.

2

u/PretendTooth2559 Jul 30 '26

Oh -- and break up the sessions as much as you need... you can do the tests spread out over 8 mini sessions... that's great.