JA1NUT: Two Issues in Morse Code Learning BY DAN KB6NU

 On the Long Island CW Club’s mailing list, someone posted a link to a blog post by Shin, JA1NUT, Two Issues in Morse Code Learning. JA1NUT is a great operator, so his advice is well worth taking.

The first issue is whether or not learning code using software is a good idea. Shin writes, “I would question if it is the best or the only way to learn it. Learning through software may help people a lot to remember all characters in Morse code in the beginning. After that step, is software learning ideal way or not, I wonder.”

I agree with JA1NUT that using software to get started is fine, but at some point, you have to wean yourself off of whatever software you’re using and get on the air. I think you’ll get faster quicker if you do. Just bite the bullet and do it. After all, the point of learning the code is to make on-air contacts, isn’t it?

The second issue is whether or not it’s a good idea to advise new operators to copy words.  Shin is not so sure that it is. He writes:

I guess advising that way [learn to copy words instead of characters], the senior operators are not conscious of what’s going on in reception process. We are taking the meaning of the message at every moment. When we copy a part of the word being sent, we subconsciously try to read the latter part of the word. We guess what word should follow in the context. Reading a sentence or even a whole message, we are guessing what to come next from the context. It is done almost unconsciously.

I say something similar in my blog post, Another perspective on copying CW in your head. I think what’s going on is more complicated that copying words, and aside from some simple, common words, I don’t copy words in my head.

In another blog post, Become a CW head case, I repeat some advice from the Malta Amateur Radio League. They write,

Listen for meaning. The goal is to learn to listen to the code as you would to the spoken spoken word. Eventually the sound will trigger your consciousness just as the spoken word does.

I end that second blog post with this paragraph:

I know a lot of this advice is kind of nebulous. Much of it is anecdotal, and as I said before, what works for one person may not work for another. I know you’re all probably tired of hearing this, but the best advice, whether it be for learning the code, learning to copy code faster, or learning to copy in one’s head is to just keep practicing. It’s just like any skill whether it be bowling or woodworking or playing a musical instrument, you gotta work at it.