ARRLWeb: High-Speed Code Revisited

Dr Joe Gerry, W3GW/KH6
jliving2001@yahoo.com

Ever wanted to be able to copy CW on a typewriter — a “mill” — or a computer keyboard? One Morse enthusiast describes his learning curve.

I always wanted to learn how to copy code on a “mill.” [Rick Lindquist, N1RL, Photo]

The ARRL’s Learning the Radiotelegraph Code, 1955 edition.

[Rick Lindquist, N1RL, Photo]

The Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) is made up of old and new CW ops dedicated to on the air activity using straight keys and bugs.

When I got my start in ham radio as a teenager in the 1950s, learning the Morse code was the main obstacle to my getting licensed. One of my dad’s buddies, an ex-Navy radio operator, sat me down with a buzzer and J-38 key to get me started. A copy of the ARRLs Learning the Radiotelegraph Code got me up to 5 WPM, and soon the coveted Novice license was in my hands! Making contacts with my Hallicrafters S-41W receiver and my 6L6 oscillator for a transmitter — along with code practice using W1AW and press wireless stations like KPH — soon got me up to 13 WPM, fast enough to get my General class ticket.

I love the code. In fact, back then I eventually qualified for an ARRL 35 WPM Code Proficiency sticker and got my call sign in QST. I copied the CW run by hand, because in those days boys took metal shop in school, while girls learned to type. One of my fantasies over years of “pounding brass” was to copy code on a typewriter — or “mill” — just like many old-time operators did years earlier.

Recently, while rummaging through some old log books, I ran across a 1965 QST article, “High Speed CW,” by Katashi Nose, KH6IJ (SK). Katashi was a legendary high-speed CW operator, as anyone who ever ran into him during the ARRL November Sweepstakes or any DX contest during the 1960s could attest. In his article, Katashi shared his secrets on copying and sending high-speed CW and emphasizing his take on copying with a mill. The article rekindled my interest in learning to copy code on a typewriter, and it sparked my current project: Completing the ARRL Code Proficiency program by copying CW on my word processor. Okay, a word processor is not a “mill,” but I’m not sure I could have even found a manual typewriter, let alone pounded out 40 WPM on it.

My code copying skills were fair to middling, I could read 20 WPM in my head and write it down. The advent of computers at work and my son’s Apple II had years ago forced me to learn how to “type.” I recall using the program Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing Ver 1. After a few months Mavis had me blazing along at 20 WPM, which was enough for me to use the computer. I soon discovered, however, that simultaneously copying code and typing was harder than either task by itself. As soon as I started typing I lost track of the code by concentrating on my typing — or I would be copying the code in my head, and my fingers would stall over the keyboard.

Katashi described this problem in his article. My old 1963 copy of the ARRL’s Learning the Radiotelegraph Code also discussed this issue in its “High-Speed Operation” section. Both made the point that no “hunt-and-peck” typist would ever make it as a high-speed CW operator while using a mill. Fortunately, Mavis Beacon had made me a slow but accurate touch typist. This meant I didn’t have to look at the keyboard to hit the right keys. Learning the Radiotelegraph Code also cautioned against getting discouraged at the outset. I needed this encouragement, as I oscillated between copying in my head without typing, and copying a few words followed by a frantic burst of typing before getting lost and losing the thread of the CW. I could pat my head or rub my stomach but not do both at the same time!

With continued practice and as my typing became more subconscious, I got to where I could copy 10 WPM using the keyboard. Of course, 10 WPM wasn’t much to brag about. I wanted to copy 30 or 40 WPM like the old timers did and do it while carrying on a conversation with someone in the shack! I needed to increase my code speed and increase my typing speed. But how?

Back in the day I would have tuned in KPH or one of the other press wireless or coastal stations. W1AW was still sending code practice, but the low sunspots and my Hawaii QTH made copy unreliable. The Internet — in the form of G4FON — came to my rescue. G4FON has a nifty Web site, which offers a CW trainer aimed at getting newcomers off on the right foot by teaching the code as sounds rather than as dots and dashes. His approach sends letters and characters at the speed you ultimately wish to attain, rather than sending the letters and characters more slowly, then decreasing the spacing as you gain speed.

It’s called the Koch method after Ludwig Koch, a German psychologist, who devised the method in the 1930s. G4FON’s program is a real beaut, with code speeds variable up to 50 WPM. Just what I needed! To mimic the on-the-air experience, the program even lets you introduce such artifacts as chirp, static and fading — or make the CW sound as though it was sent with a straight key.

One feature of G4FON’s program really helped me to increase my CW speed. I had run into a phenomenon that KH6IJ and Learning the Radiotelegraph Code had described well. I found I needed to develop a “vocabulary” if I was going to become a high-speed operator. For example, at speeds of up to 25 WPM I could copy letters, but as my speed rose the letters began to blur, and I started hearing short words, prefixes, and suffixes — “the,” “and,” “ing” and the like — as single sounds, not groups of letters. No longer could I rely on random characters to get my speed up. Katashi was right. But what would be the best way to increase my vocabulary? G4FON again came to my rescue by including a file of common words in his Morse trainer. I would listen to them at speeds 10 WPM higher than I could copy solid. Once I got the common words down, I had more time to concentrate on the less common ones. I wouldn’t get flustered when a word like “uncivilized” came along, because “the,” “is,” “was,” etc had become part of my subconscious vocabulary. This gave me the time to concentrate on the uncommon words without getting derailed.

My typing speed also increased somewhat while working with G4FON’s program, but soon enough I realized that I’d have to work on my typing speed independent of my code practice. I found I could type some words at 40 WPM, while others I couldn’t accurately get down at 20 WPM. For example, “the,” “ing” and “er” had became part of my subconscious typing vocabulary, just as they had my code vocabulary, and these gave me no trouble. But other words containing certain vowel combinations would throw off my typing, and I would crash. I made a list of these words, then practiced typing them without listening to them in CW. A big help here were the code practice tapes on the ARRL Web site under the W1AW schedule. I would pick taped sessions at speeds that were 5 WPM above what I could copy well, then write down the words I flubbed when I tried to type them. I soon discovered that vowel combinations (diphthongs) in words like “amateur,” “amplifier,” “European,” and especially “quietly and quickly,” to mention a few, would end up as “amature,” amplire,” “Eiropean,” or “qiclkley,” which caused me to choke as soon as I realized my error. I made a list of these word and typed them over and over until I could render them as rapidly as my basic vocabulary words. My old copy of Learning the Radiotelegraph Code also helped by listing common words. I would type these repeatedly until I could type them rapidly without thinking.

One nice option of G4FON’s program is being able to program letters you want to concentrate on. I found myself mixing up “e” and “i,” “ei” and “ie,” “s” and “h,” and finally “h” and “5.” So, I set the program to send just “dit” characters randomly at high speed. This helped increase my ability to copy these characters correctly as well as to type them without tying my fingers up in knots.

How have I done so far? Well, I just got my 25 WPM Code Proficiency certificate from W1AW. Another pearl of wisdom I have learned copying CW on the air is to just keep copying if you miss a word or two and leave a space. Veteran CW traffic ops do this, then ask for a “fill” at the end of the transmission.

My Web travels also have turned up some gems of interest to lovers of Morse code. A free, downloadable e-book, The Art and of Skill of Radiotelegraphy by William G. Pierpont, N0HFF, is available from the Radio Amateur Educational Society site. It’s chock full of good advice for beginners and advanced operators alike. I especially enjoyed the stories about the old timers and what CW was like in its heyday.

My on-the-air operating introduced me to the Straight Key Century Club (SKCC). The group is made up of a bunch of old and new CW ops dedicated to on the air activity using straight keys as well as bugs. The SKCC has a Yahoo discussion group too.

Will I ever reach the point where I could imagine myself copying high-speed press runs, under contract, producing perfect copy for hours on end as KH6IJ and my friend Ben, N6SL, did in years past? Hardly. But I now a have greater appreciation for the skills these operators needed to accurately copy CW on a mill at sea or on land, with the accuracy of their copy sometimes being a matter of life or death.