Morse Code

seandive

Any advice on the best way of learning it.
using it for ham radio.
thanks
Sean

pixbyjohn

Print/write the code for each letter/number on a small card. Start off by using 4 cards only. Have them with you everywhere for 1 week, take out 1 card and say what you see on it, ie di dah for A, keep repeating di dah every time you see an A anywhere. Follow on for each letter until you have it automatically in your mind. Then if you can download a morse code tutor off the internet and play it to increase your speed. I used a Datong Morse Tutor back when I was learning it and I still have it and often use it to bring up my speed.
Don't try and listen to morsecode until you use the cards, just my advice.
If you can sing it to yourself then you will pick it up in no time. Saying that never give up. Practise a little everyday, don't try to learn it all at once.
Stick with the cards using only 4 of them each time until you are blue in the face singing it to yourself.
Best of luck.
John
Download tutor program here http://www.justlearnmorsecode.com/download.html

watty

Learn it at whatever speed you want to use it. Learn it too slow and you'll have to relearn it to do it fast.

mordka

And no more than 30 minutes a day on your start .... but every day! GL

brownmini

seandive wrote: »

Any advice on the best way of learning it.
using it for ham radio.
thanks
Sean

As others have already said PLUS


1. Do not learn opposites. Do not learn the letters as pairs of opposites. This will only mix you up later on.

2. Learn the dits and dahs for each letter/number/punctuation but learn them as if they were aline of poetry or a brief section of a waltz.
Each character has a rhythm.

3. Do not say the dits and dahs in a 'sticky/choppy' way. This is related to number 2.

4. Dont worry about sending just yet. learn the characters first.
and be fluent enough to rattle them off quickly as if you're flying through the recall of a poem.

5. When you get morse key, get someone who really knows how to send to show you how hold it and more importantly how each letter/number etc should sound. (there are old Youtube videos from the US Army on this too)
Watch how most of the sending is doen with the wrist not with the fingers.

6. When you are sending say to yourself or say out loud the dits and dahs as you send.... make sure your wrist moves up/down in the same way as you say the dits and dahs.

7. Get someone to send you various styles of morse.
You can have short/sticky morse with big gaps or long morse with no gaps and everything in between.
You can have a morse bleeper with a half-flat battery where as the sender holds the key down...the tone goes up in frequency!
e.g. the letter M will sound normal but the number 0 will be all over the place!


8. when you are good enough....record yourself and replay and try and decode what you sent.

9. when you are good enough....send into a morse decode program and see if you can send the word COMMUNICATION properly.

I suggest that the first O will come out as a K or a W then M's will come out and N's and the second O will come out as something else!!
As you send plain text to the computer, you will see on the screen which letter you need to adjust the dit or dah in order for the letter to come out properly.

10. If you learn your morse from an old sea-dog (ship radio officer), you will probably end up with an accent on the morse key...do not be afraid of this.

11. The morse key you get, should be comfortable to use. Do not spend loads-a-money on your first one though.

12. Do not be afraid of morse code. It is only another language.
Some people pick it up very fast and within a short time are flying along.
Others take longer but all can get there with a little(30 minutes here/there) practice each day.





How's that?