[UK-CONTEST] M0BEW - WAECW 2002

[Cooper Stewart]

I would agree that the simulators (PED, RUFZ, etc) are one of the best ways
to increase CW ability, and (more importantly in my opinion) keyboard
skills. I remember in an article by OH2BH a few years ago ("Contesting at
the start of a New Millenium" in CQ, I think) he highlighted one of the most
important skills a proficient contester should have is computer keyboard
'usage' skills.
I know, from experience at my work, that touch typing skills can be learnt,
even by those who have used two fingers for years.
I have also noticed that when I did multi-multi WPX last year with the local
club at my place, the biggest problem the guys had wasn't operating the
sometimes unfamiliar radios, it was actually using a keyboard. I have even
seen two operators on one radio at NFD simply because one could send CW and
the other could type!
It's a plain fact, that it doesn't matter how good your knowledge of
propagation or CW skills are, if you can't type, you can't effectively log
the QSOs. Added to this, I believe that familiarity with all the keyboard
shorcuts in a logging program saves a hugh amount of brain power. Especially
at 0300z.
(Just wish I could proctice what I preach!)

Stewart
GM4AFF

Quote Trey HC8N:
o Know the code.  50 WPM conversational is a nice milestone --
  note:  don't try this at home with pencil and paper.


-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Sergeant [mailto:dsergeant at connectfree.co.uk]
Sent: 14 August 2002 08:52
To: uk-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] M0BEW - WAECW 2002


On 13 Aug 2002 at 21:39, Donald Field wrote:

> But for Ian, I'm afraid it's bad news. Like learning a language, Morse
> seems to come most easily when you are young. Something to do with
> pathways in the brain. Just as adults can rarely become totally fluent
> in a new language (sounding like native speakers), so the younger you
> learn Morse, the better.

Well I learnt CW in my first year at University (1968) so not really 
that young.  But I taught myself touch typing somewhat earlier when I 
was 15 and have never regretted it.  Touch typing from CW however is 
slightly harder and it took me a little while before I could do that 
proficiently.

Excellent for improving your CW copying and typing skills are the 
various contest/CW simulators (or 'stimulators') which are available. 
I quite like PED by JE3MAS 
(http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/softped.htm#PED, or elsewhere) which is 
a real contest simulator.  A true DOS program, but I have run it OK 
under Windows 98.  I find it more useful on computers without a sound 
card (when it defaults to the internal speaker) as the multi signal 
stereo simulations are a bit too realistic!

The trick with PED is to set the speed to slightly faster than you 
can copy reliably - I have mine at 36wpm at present.  Set it too slow 
and you quickly get bored!  Excellent to pass the time when the hf 
bands are dead...

The other one I have is RUFZ by DL4MM 
(http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/softrufz.htm), which was on show at last 
year's HF convention.  This just pumps callsigns at you which you 
have to copy correctly.  It increases the speed each time you copy 
correctly (and reduces if you make mistakes).  Unfortunately this 
means that it very rapidly goes far faster than you can copy, which 
for me is around 40wpm.

I guess many of you on here can copy far faster than that anyway...

Have fun
73s Dave G3YMC

dsergeant at iee.org
dsergeant at btinternet.com
http://www.dsergeant.btinternet.co.uk


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