This post was written by guest-blogger, Jeff, WN1MB. I got him to write this after he commented on my post about decoding callsigns. Thanks, Jeff!
My Elmer, Ted, guided me through the process of learning Morse Code back when I was a teenager. Ted’s method was a “modified for self study” system, based on how he learned code in the military. It required only a half an hour a day for a week using just a key and a code practice oscillator, which I made with a doorbell buzzer.
Ted said the drill went something like this. A single character was sent, probably by machine, and the guys would all write the character on their paper and shout the phonetic for that character (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc.) at the same time. This single character was repeated over and over again, and the writing and shouting, too. After an unspecified amount of time, they’d then move on to another letter. And on. And on.
I don’t recall how long it took for them to learn the alphabet, but what I do remember is Ted saying that I could learn the code in a week with just a half hour a day of study. My then teenage mind thought that was reasonable.
Ted’s method was a variation on the military method. There being no machine to send the characters, I built a code practice oscillator from some batteries, an old household doorbell buzzer, and a hand key. Pretty primitive and definitely not a pleasant, pure sine wave – but it worked. I already had a rudimentary idea of what Morse sounded like, so didn’t stress out on dit-to-dah ratio and such.
The idea was to learn 5 letters a day – five minutes per letter and then five minutes of review of the letters learned. An important key was to choose the letters carefully so they were all different sounding. None of that “A, W, J” or “A, U, V” grouping.
It was benevolent brainwashing. I’d send “A” and audibly say out loud “A!”. And do it again. And again. And again – for five minutes. Then I’d move on to another letter and repeat the drill with that letter for five minutes. When it came to review what I’d learned during the last five minutes, I discovered that I knew all five characters. To quote that great philosopher, Gomer Pyle, “Surprise. Surprise. Surprise!”
The next night I taught myself five more characters and then reviewed the ten characters I had learned. Lo and behold, by the end of the week, I had learned the entire alphabet. Numbers and punctuation came later. I picked them up one by one while copying Novices talking on the air.
Having a receiver and being able to eavesdrop on hams talking to one another in Morse Code really opened up a whole new world for me. It was a huge turning point, as it wasn’t just characters that I was copying, but letters, which were part of words, which were part of sentences of real, human conversations on the radio.
I wish I knew Ted’s whereabouts so I could thank him, but I don’t even think I ever knew his last name! His method sure set me straight and was instrumental in attaining that Novice Class license and all the wonderful ham radio experiences that I have had over the years.
By the way, here’s a video of me (in the derby) copying Morse CODE BEFORE using Ted’s method:
Jeff Bauer says
Feeling terrible about nobody leaving a comment, so I’ll leave one myself.
That was clever with that Three Stooges clip, Jeff!
Why thank you! I thought so, too.
Dan KB6NU says
Hah! Don’t worry about not getting any comments. Most of my posts have no comments. Personally, I loved the Three Stooges clip.
Ed says
Long Island cw club teaches that way, say the letter, say the ditds and dahs, and send it at the same time with your (preferably) straight key