Dee,

That makes perfect sense - I wasn't aware that word associations could
cause a problem later on.

I guess that we belong to different schools of thought regarding the
CW testing for HF band access - you see the goal as continual
development of CW skills, with the test being a measurement of
progress towards that goal. I viewed it more as a hurdle to be
overcome so that I could gain full access to HF - and do not plan on
becoming proficient in CW past that goal (may change, however - I'm
getting rather fond of CW, especially when working DX in marginal band
conditions....).

I think that your approach is actually the right way to go - in
retrospect, it would have been better for me to 'aim high and miss,
than aim low and make it", if I do decide to go on and build speed.

Enjoyed the dialogue on this - thanks, Dee!

73, Leo

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 16:20:10 GMT, "Dee D. Flint"
wrote:

Leo,

It looks like you are one of the lucky ones who shake the word associations
easily and move on. Other people do hit a barrier as they find it hard to
get rid of the word associations. So in my opinion (and I freely admit it
is an opinion) that it is better not to risk the word association approach
even though it may take a little longer that way.

By the way the 30 hours is an average so that is what I quote to people so
they don't get prematurely discouraged. Some will take less (like you) and
some will take longer (like me). The good thing is that once a person gets
to 30 hours they can see visible progress even if they are one of the people
who needs a little more time. So once they are at a point they see
progress, they are willing to take the time to finish as they know they can
do it.

And I like to teaching things from the point of view that the real goal is
to provide the basis for future advancement and use rather than setting the
goal as passing a test. Tests are merely a tool to check the effectiveness
of the teaching and to check the effectiveness of the learning. Although
there are other ways to do this checking, tests are the most efficient.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

"Leo" wrote in message
news
Dee,

Well, it does support your point on not trying to learn the code a a
series of dots and dashes - but agreed, it may not be as good as
method as straight letter association for high speed operation.

Guess it depends on the end goal - if you intend to go above 15 WPM,
then this may not be the best method. If you want to pass a 5 WPM
test and get on the air, it can be done using this method in well
under 30 hours. (that's how I did it - 1/2 hour a day for three
weeks).

With practice, I no longer find myself using the word associations as
much as I did initially - I'm just writing down the letter received,
and hearing words like "the" as words, not letters. So, is there
really a disadvantage to learning by this method? Perceived, perhaps,
but I haven't hit a wall yet. Passed the test, though - that was the
goal!

73, Leo


On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 14:48:49 GMT, "Dee D. Flint"
wrote:


"Leo" wrote in message
.. .
Dee,

There are a few excellent articles which support your theory of code
learning at:

http://www.cq2k.com/articles.htm

73, Leo

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 13:26:02 GMT, "Dee D. Flint"
wrote:

snip

Using a method that encourages people to count the dots and dashes
erects
a
barrier to going on to higher speeds. Why use a method that creates
hardships that will cause a person to have to start over with a new
learning
process if they should want to use it? The teaching and learning of
any
subject should be approached from the point of view that the person
may
someday want to use the material taught not from the viewpoint of
passing
a
test on it.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE


No that page does not really support me. It advocates the "sounds-like"
method which is also poor and creates another barrier. The "sounds-like"
approach will get you past the 5wpm easily but then blocks you at about
15wpm more or less. As discussed in "The Art and Skill of
Radiotelegraphy,"
I advocate learning by direct association of the letter to the sound to
build a reflex. Any method that requires additional associations, will
create a plateau at some point. To get past that point, you've got to
ditch
the association.

Also the page says nothing about how often and how long to practice. I
note
that they talk about taking a year to get to 5wpm. That's way too long
and
will discourage people. With proper methods and the proper frequency of
practice, it should only take about 30 hours to get to 5wpm (see "Morse
Code, The Essential Language").

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE