Update: G4FON easy to learn Code Site

G4FON, Ray, has made a couple of improvements to his already great program for the easy way to learn the code. His orignal download (free) would unzip in your temporary file , and this caused a bit of a search to find it.  He has changed the program for it to download into its own temp. file (KOCH) and that makes it even easier to install.

Ray is also making an addition to the program where you will be able to type the  code you hear on the computer instead of writing it down manually.

He has done both of these changes to accomodate suggestions from his current users.  This program starts by sending you 2 characters at 20 wpm, and when you can copy these at 90% correct, you add the next letter.  It's called the Koch Method, and there is more info on his site.

  http://www.g4fon.co.uk/

thanks again Ray, and its still free!!   tom N6AJR

 

I have this program it works ok but I do like the idea of typing in the code the only system I found to work a little better for me is the method written by K90X a personal friend of mine that is also free it use to be on his web site but it is no longer there e-mail him he might tell you if it still exists.

 

Hi,
This is my first reply to any kind of post. I am sure the website and method are excellant. I once tried out a program much like yours were you typed in what you heard. It was well designed, with the ability to change the speed of the dots and dashes as well as to change the speed of the spacing. The method I used was simply learning the code (which I actually learned it by paper) and then listening to it everyday on 80 meters. This method had me passing the code test on a solid copy and the VEs claiming that I was an undercover FCC agent. I also use CW as my main (and most of the time only) means of hamming. I'm not someone who didnt go anywhere with it. And I have heard many hams say I have an excellant fist (maybe all hams say that, I dont know .
Maybe I am just old fashioned (and that claim would go undisputed amoung many people who know me), but maybe simply listening to the code is the best way. Just a suggestion.

 

NoCall,
Not sure about how the code test in your area is given (tapes or computer), but in my area, the characters were sent at 18 WPM - the spacing between characters generates the 5 WPM speed of the test.

All,
I upgraded this year and currently can copy at about 15 WPM - my problem is sending. I listen to code QSO's, but am hesitant to send - I can barely understand myself  LOL. Morse Academy, available at http://www.speroni.com/AH0A.html , was a great way to learn to copy code. Is there something to help learn to send, or do I just need to jump in there and do it? I definitely would not consider myself a "good fist"...
Thanks,
Alan - KD5NLB

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (kb1hoy @ Aug. 23 2002,15:21)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Hi,
This is my first reply to any kind of post. I am sure the website and method are excellant. I once tried out a program much like yours were you typed in what you heard. It was well designed, with the ability to change the speed of the dots and dashes as well as to change the speed of the spacing. The method I used was simply learning the code (which I actually learned it by paper) and then listening to it everyday on 80 meters. This method had me passing the code test on a solid copy and the VEs claiming that I was an undercover FCC agent. I also use CW as my main (and most of the time only) means of hamming. I'm not someone who didnt go anywhere with it. And I have heard many hams say I have an excellant fist (maybe all hams say that, I dont know .
Maybe I am just old fashioned (and that claim would go undisputed amoung many people who know me), but maybe simply listening to the code is the best way. Just a suggestion. [/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Learning styles will determine the best tool for the learner to use. That is why there are so many different types of programs (computer and otherwise) for code learning. It seems that each of us has a "perfect method" that worked for us. The key is that we found the method that fit our particular style. I used a combination of tools to get me through the testing.

Like another poster I can copy acceptably but am not good at sending. That is this winter's project. I have an elmer and will be having a CW sked with him daily. I do look forward to this, and will be much more accomplished by spring. In fact I plan to do a CW station next field day.

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (N0CALL @ Aug. 23 2002,21:56)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I have a question about the 5 wpm code test.

I have been learning using the koch method with the sending speed at 20 wpm, so far I have about half of it down.

Now when I listen to my scanner, one of the local repeaters id's with about 5 wpm cw and I can't make heads or tails out if it. It's just toooooo slow. So while taking the test can you ask for the code to be sent faster?[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
That is one of two major problems with learning the code with the characters sent at very slow speeds. The first is the most-discussed problem of counting dashes and dots, an automatic block to getting past around 8-10 wpm. But the second is, as you get faster at receiving, and you hear someone send the letter "o" for example, you write down "TTT" - because, as such slow speeds, it sounds like three "T's"

There is a third, and lesser, problem, but still noticeable. That is if the code is learned at slow speeds, the actual sound of it is not learned. This relates to the counting problem, but it goes a bit further in that one doesn't know what a code letter actually 'should' sound like. So, they can copy 4 WPM and they grab a bug or keyer, and start sending at 18-20 WPM (practicing, not so much on the air&#33 And they think they are doing fine. But because they don't know the sound of the characters, they are sending code that is almost unreadable, and frequently IS unreadable - and they think it soundsgood. I heard, just a couple of days ago, a guy sending code in such a way that his "B" was a dash and six dots, and his "6" was a dash and just a long string of dots. It means guessing at what he is trying to say because he doesn't know what those - and other - characters should sound like. I say this is a lesser problem because I don't hear a lot of it on the air, but I hear enough to know it is simply not lack of rhythm and timing.

Ideally the code should be learned by sound of the entire character, which is what the Farnsworth method tries to teach. I never heard of Farnsworth (or never paid attention&#33 until the last few years or so, but that is the method our amateur clubs in the early 60s were using, with the old TG34 keyer and the inked tapes, as well as by manual methods. It is, in fact, the same method used by the military and US government (and probably every other government in the world) in the 40s and 50s. Persons drafted into the Army and sent to the Signal Corps school, and who had never even heard of Morse code before, were pushed into learning it by sound, and at substantial speeds, in short periods of time. Of course, they key was they did it for hours a day, not a half hour a week. I went through such a school which began at 15 WPM and in two hours a day, five days a week, in four weeks had us copying solid at 25 WPM without effort, and 90 percent copy at 30 WPM.

The object is to hear the character as a character, not a combination of dits and dahs. Comparing it to a word, we hear the word "and" as a word, and we don't have to think "a, n, d" - we just hear the word. Any method that doesn't teach that is either going to fail, or is going to take far longer to reach even limited success.

Whatever method you use, the key is in two parts. (1) Learn the code by sound, and (2) dedicate the time to it.

And (3) - have fun on the air!!

And by the way, why on earth a repeater would ID at under 15 WPM is beyond me! Takes far too long to ID otherwise, and standard commercial ID is 18 WPM, though some go to 20 and even 25 WPM. On a busy repeater, a 5 WPM ID would make most of us grit our teeth, even if we didn't know code at all, as it just takes too long.

I remember when I took the Extra test at the FCC office in Washington, DC, the Engineer seated the few of us that were there for the test and then started the machine. No headphones, just the tape machine in a corner, in a acoustically poor room. And it floored us. And then he stopped the tape after about a minute, and said, "Whoops, that was a commercial tape at 25 words a minute. Sorry." I don't know if he did this deliberately or not, but when he then put the 20 WPM tape on, it sounded darned slow! If he did it deliberately, it certainly put us at ease, for the reduction to 20 WPM made it far easier to copy than if we had just started cold at that speed. Maybe that was his intent. Or maybe he made a real mistake. Or maybe he was just kidding around. Whatever, getting through that 20 WPM was a breeze after a minute of the 25!! (And, to top it all off, I was a government radio operator using CW regularly in my work, and I should have been able to copy the 25&#33

73
Ed

 

which beer is better to drink while learning morse code? Domestic or imported?

lol

 

NOCALL it is up to the VE's giving the exam.Most VE teams do not have the old tapes any more but if you request ahead they just may acconidate you with tapes from the good old days.If you are doing good at 20 wpm stay with it you will be able to improve your speed and profiency quicker.The current test is given at 15 wpm charicter speed spaced at 5 wpm.If by chance you are in the Dayton,Ohio area I would be happy to accomidate you with a faster test as I still have the old tapes.Good luck and keep up the good work.Dave AE8U