KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Another perspective on copying CW in your head

Posted: 06 Jun 2017 10:25 AM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email


Yesterday, I blogged about N7AGKs ad in the Ham Ads section of the June
2017 QST. The ad read:

CW Operators Learn to copy Morse code in your head. n7agk.com.

Thats always a hot topic among CW operators, especially those who are
striving to get better.

My post sparked a couple of emailsÂ*from readers. Bill, W3MSH, wrote:

I was a CW op for many years and discovered something fascinating.Â*I first
began to hear dots and dashes, then letters, words, sentences and at
35+Â*WPMthoughts in my head.

I replied:

I like the ideaÂ*that copying code in your head is more akin to
generatingÂ*thoughts than it is to copying individual characters or words.
Everybody talks about how getting faster is about moving from copying
individual characters to copying words to copying entire sentences. I’ve
never thought of it that way, although I was at a loss as to how to
describe how I do it.Â*
You have really hit the nail on the head, though, with the idea that the
code is creating thoughts in your head.Â*That’s a beautiful way to put it.

Isnt thatÂ*what’s happening when we talk to someone? When someoneÂ*talks to
me, I dontÂ*consciously parse the sentences and then analyzeÂ*them to see
what wasÂ*just said. Its more of an unconscious process. The sounds being
uttered are creating ideasÂ*in myÂ*head.
We shouldnt approach head copy as the process of writing down the
characters on an internal blackboard, to be read later. Instead, it should
be about translating the sound of the Morse Code directly into concepts.
The sounds dah diÂ*ditdahÂ*dahÂ*dah.dahÂ*dahÂ*dit,Â*should conjure up the image
of a poodle or a pitbull, not the letters D O G.
How that translates into a program or a method for learning to copy the
code in ones head is another matter. It might be worth thinking about,
though.

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