[UK-CONTEST] Typing skills and contesting

Tue Aug 16 03:20:55 PDT 2011

Tom

I never, like ever, use a keyboard to send CW outside of potted 
exchanges in contests. In fact I simply couldn't do so. Sure, code comes 
out but not as we know it! I DO switch from paddle outside to keyboard 
inside contests, and I now have over 10,000 hours under my belt doing that.

So it's horses for courses, combined with the flexibilty to mix and 
natch in appropriate circumstances. When you copy a callsign it simply 
MUST take place without any obvious translation process. Sort of like 
the dudes who clain perfect pitch in music. I used to believe that they 
had some ( to me ) magical skill. Quite simply they do NOT. What they 
have is a good memory, so that they know what e.g. C ( or F# or G etc) 
sounds like, and the translation is instant. I know what C sounds like 
in CW, and no thought or translation is required, it just has to be that 
way. The bad news is that you cannot do that without Gladwell's 
legendary 10,000 hours at it. The good news is that 10,000 hours will be 
the most enjoyable thing you ever did with your clothes on!

I concur with Clive that touch typing is nice but not necessary for 
contesters

73

Clive

On 16/08/2011 09:17, Tom GM4FDM wrote:
> Thats fine Clive if you always send your CW via the keyboard.  If you in
> your shack always use a paddle for CW, I'm pretty sure you are not going
> to change for a Contest.   During a Contest is not the time to try out new
> facets.
>
> My problem with CW is,     Hearing the code>  translating the code in my
> head to letters and numbers>  sending a message from brain to fingertips
> to type correctly what my brain has translated>  checking that what I
> send is what I meant to send and that a letter has not got crossed in
> the journey from brain to fingertips.
>
> Sometimes on odd occasions, I have correctly translated the incoming
> morse, but somewhere in the process between brain and fingers, I have
> crossed a wire and what comes out only manifests itself in the TX
> MONITOR facility, by which times, I have to make an edit and correction,
> trying to remember what I should have typed in the first place.
>
> Old age does not come alone!   I admire all these touch typists, I can
> get bye with two fingers (each hand)
> but i have to look either at the screen or the keyboard.  Unlike Marty
> Feldman, I cant do both at the same time, and I think thats where my
> errors come in.
>
> I would opine that an amateur radio contest is a test of your radio
> skills and not your typing prowess
>
>
> Tom
> GM4FDM
>
> On 16/08/2011 10:06, Clive Whelan wrote:
>    
>> Andy has articulated what I strongly believed to be the case. I suspect
>> that our keyboard skills are +/- the same. This then begs the questio as
>> to why it is significantly more difficult to transcribe CW onto the
>> keyboard than it is SSB.
>>
>> Well, of course it isn't in the everday of contests, in fact I believe
>> that for YT who never uses SSB that it may be more efficient; certainly
>> I am quite unaware of any " translation " being necessary. Of course to
>> the contrary, QTCs come in a format, which is not that familiar, and of
>> coure WAE comes but once a year. I don't believe that there is a
>> fundamental problem here for the born again hunt and pecker, rather that
>> it is the same as getting to the Carnegie Hall, viz, practice, practice,
>> practice.
>>
>> Chris/DL8MBS has drawn my attention to a prog. by Fabian/DJ1YFK ( who
>> enjoys the advantage of youth ) which can hone one's skills. I suppose
>> the question is, whether there is a cost/benefit dividend in doing this?
>> On paper, I'd say no, but since even in my dotage I do not want to
>> suffer from a skills deficit in any area of contesting, I may have to
>> consider my position!
>>
>> On the issue of computer/paddle sending, I would opine: if you are
>> running a>200 p.h. rate, then trying to integrate the paddle is
>> counter-productive, and will lower the rate. However having a paddle at
>> the ready synced to the computer sending speed is a get out of gaol card
>> for correcting fouls up. Even at that rate it is nice to be able to say
>> on the fly " hi Fred " or whatever, and add some humanity to an
>> otherwise impersonal process. In fact I use the paddle for e.g. "agn" or
>> "nr?", because I just don't use F keys, rather ESM, which imo is another
>> significant rate booster.
>>
>>
>> 73
>>
>>
>> Clive
>> GW3NJW
>>
>> On 16/08/2011 08:21, Andy Cook G4PIQ wrote:
>>      
>>> Clive asked about how SSB ops cope with QTCs if they're not a touch typist. I'm not a touch typist though through 30 years of spending a lot of time in front of a keyboard I'm a fairly quick hunt and pecker but I do look at the keyboard much of the time. QTCs on SSB at full speed are not a problem...
>>>
>>> 73
>>>
>>> Andy G4PIQ
>>>
>>> On 15 Aug 2011, at 17:34, Clive Whelan<clive at gw3njw.net>    wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>        
>>>> Hi Stewart
>>>>
>>>> Good to have a touch typist's perspective.
>>>>
>>>> I am certainly not a touch typist, and feel it is way toooo late to
>>>> learn now. However, and interestingly, I have no issues whatsoever with
>>>> normal contest operation, and can say that in the vast majority of
>>>> situations touch typing is NOT a pre-requisite. If required I can even
>>>> forego the type ahead function, although I won't be quite as fast as
>>>> with it. In that situation, my 50+ year CW copying skills and short term
>>>> memory are sufficient, even to make corrections on the fly at 35wpm (
>>>> using N1MM) for instance where I have mistyped. I cannot be sure of
>>>> course, since one cannot assert a negative, but feel that the legendary
>>>> 10,000 hours syndrome is standing me in good stead. However, where I
>>>> signally fail is in the entry of QTCs at 30wpm+. I suspect that this may
>>>> be because the format is not as natural, as the callsigb, serial number
>>>> routine. What happens is I find myself playing catch-up, and making
>>>> errors which I cannot correct on the fly. Sadly, being a self taught CW
>>>> student all those years ago I never did learn to " copy behind ", and I
>>>> feel sure that this is a valuable asset when transferring stuff from the
>>>> brain to the keyboard. Naturally there is no problem in copying to paper
>>>> in any circumstances, and I suspect this is because that was the way I (
>>>> we?) took the stuff down originally, and of course we were all competent
>>>> in that department before learning CW.
>>>>
>>>> Again, I cannot be sure, but in view of the difficulties you- as a touch
>>>> typist- have, I suspect that the only way to be comfortable with the
>>>> process, is if one were already a competent typist before learning CW,
>>>> but that if it it is the other way around, then the process may never be
>>>> perfected. Of ourse this has to be conjecture on my part, and it would
>>>> be good to have the views of somebody who was a typist before learning
>>>> CW. I'd guess that they may be a rare breed. What would also be
>>>> interesting is how a  competent SSB operator but non ouch typist fares
>>>> with QTCs
>>>>
>>>> I may be a cynic, but knowing the dificulties that the average Joe has
>>>> copying my exchange at>30 wpm in conventional contests, the difference
>>>> in WAE leads me to believe that many are actually using audio recording
>>>> or even decoders ( although how the latter could work I don't know ). I
>>>> used to love WAE and QTCs in the old days when sending on the paddle and
>>>> copying on paper, but I confess I now find it a chore to have to ask (
>>>> beg even ) for QTCs, so I tend to chill out in that one. Also the
>>>> default use of clusters does not now endear it to me. ymmv.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 73
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Clive
>>>> GW3NJW
>>>>
>>>> On 15/08/2011 11:32, Stewart Rolfe wrote:
>>>>
>>>>          
>>>>> Some interesting comments in the latest thread about typing skills.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm a self taught touch typist but don't seem to have the confidence to use it properly in a contest. Nevertheless I can keep up with most situations I find myself in and am happy enough for example to press Enter to start sending before I've finished entering the call ('type ahead'..?).
>>>>>
>>>>> However, I spent some time in WAE cw at the weekend and for me QTCs are a totally different matter; there's no way I'm going to type these in real time when you're normally talking 30wpm minimum. I'm afraid I'm writing them on paper and entering them post contest with all the dangers of reading my own rapidly scribbled letters; in fact I discovered a pdf form in my old files that DARC used to produce for just this purpose so presumably I'm not alone, though it doesn't seem to be available now.
>>>>>
>>>>> So is touch typing to be considered an essential tool in a contester's armour?
>>>>>
>>>>> 73,
>>>>>
>>>>> Stewart, GW0ETF
>>>>>
>>>>> PS I did half intend to get tooled up with audio recording for the purposes of checking my QTCs but never got round to it - feels a bit like cheating anyway?
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>>>>>
>>>>>            
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