Shown is a way of training Morse Code at speeds above 25 wpm.
Illustrated is the application of some files and tools in exercises
to get (1) to higher accuracy and (2) to higher speeds
in conversational QSOs.
The main idea behind the training that I am doing is to
keep exercises as close as possible to real–world conversational QSOs.
While sending, I am not reading my
message from a screen or from a sheet of paper.
While receiving, I do not write down a message sent to me.
Consequently the exercises are "audio–only".
An audio stream of one or several spoken words is used when training sending.
A stream of Morse Code audio is used when training receiving.
Once an exercise is started, it will continue until stopped — there
is no need for any user interaction.
Lists of Words
To support the training of Morse Code (sending/receiving),
Randomized Lists of Common English Words ESL[3]
are provided. "ESL" stands for "English as a Second Language".
The files "A..." to "T..." in the zip-archive are plain text files.
The lists are based on
the 2800 words of "The New General Service List" NGSL[1] by Browne, C., Culligan, B. & Phillips, J. (2013)
and on the 1200 words of "The TOEIC Service List" TSL[2] by Browne, C., and Culligan, B. (2016).
One of the goals pursued during the creation of the NGSL[1] was
"...to create a list of
the most important high-frequency words useful for second language learners of English,
ones which gives the highest possible coverage of English texts with the
fewest words possible."NGSL[1].
All files, except files named "T...", contain one word per line.
The files named "A..." or "C..." contain increasing
numbers (100, 200, 300, ..., 4000) of the most frequent words.
The files named "A...", "G...", "K..." or "T..."
are based on the NGSL[1] list only.
The file named "C40..." and the file named "M10..." are based on a combination
of the NGSL[1] list and the TSL[2] list.
The files named "G..." contain 400 words each. They are organized
according to the range of frequency of words contained, as reflected
in the complete names of the files (rank).
The complete NGSL[1] list
(2800 words) is mapped onto seven "G..." files.
The files named "K...", "M..." or "T..." only
contain words of a certain minimum and maximum length (number of letters) as
reflected in their complete names.
Some of the files named "T..." contain more than one word per line
as reflected in their complete names.
The files named "T..." are
only used for training sending.
Training
Training sending is destined for achieving accuracy and a
pleasant flow of the code. Accuracy in sending
means to strive after a neglegible error rate
and to strive after the standard timing of Morse Code.
Listening a lot to error–free
and perfectly timed code, gives a hint to what should be
achieved.
One part of training receiving Morse Code is vocabulary building.
To increase the range of recognized words, I first listened to a
file containing the 100 most common English
words "A01...".
After a while I felt that I would like
to increase the range of words, so I went
to the "A02..." file ...and so on.
The "G..." files are highly efficient for training specific
segments of the NGSL[1] vocabulary.
The "K..." files are easy to handle in comparison with
the general files "A06..." to "A28...", which
include some relatively long words.
Another important part of training receiving
is to listen to continuous texts.
Morse Code audio books (E-books)
or high speed CW QSOs are suitable for that part.
Training Companions[4] (example shown)
accompany me during training periods of up to eight weeks (WK).
In the top table the status at the begin; in the lower table
changes to speeds are marked down.
For each day of a training period, the central table
contains three cells — a first to indicate a sending exercise,
a second to indicate a receiving exercise,
and a big one for a check mark.
A Training Companion is set up before the begin of a training
period. Challenging, but not frustrating
exercises and training speeds are chosen according to the present skills.
The main area of interest for the training period
— accuracy, vocabulary building or speed —
being considered as well.
Training Companion (Example)
The archive DF7TV Morse Code Training Companion[4]
contains blank templates of various file formats and a sample
for the Training Companion.
A printout is placed
on my desk as "gentle reminder".
It's a daily pleasure, after having done the
planned exercises or after a number of
QSOs at the present speed limit, to insert a check mark 😇
A training session consists of 15 minutes
for training sending and
then of 15 minutes for training receiving.
I begin with
a preparatory warm–up exercise
for sending
for about 3 minutes;
afterwards I train sending with one of
the "T..." files
(converted to speech–files)
for about 12 minutes.
Then I start training receiving using
one of the files "A..." to "M..."
for about 15 minutes.
When I go for a walk I listen to one of
the files "G..." to "M...".
In that case I let repeat every word
once after a short pause to have a
second chance in the noisy
city environment to copy words which
to me are unfamiliar in Morse Code.
Regularly I listen to Morse Code audio
books (E–books). Plain text files
are converted to
Morse Code audio files using
ebook2CW[10] by Fabian Kurz, DJ5CW.
I enjoy attempts to copy
Audio Recordings[7, 8] of high
speed CW nets
provided by groups like CRSnet, CFO
and FOG.
Training Sending Morse Code
To prepare for the daily training,
a Sending Practice Warm–Up file[5]
is used. An improved sending of the sentence
"The quick brown fox..."
when it occurs for the second time
further down the document
— That's the main purpose
of this preparatory exercise.
Sending Practice Warm–Up File
After the warm-up, I continue to train sending
Morse Code by listening to
a spoken word (or to a sequence of spoken words)
and then sending it.
Speech–files
DF7TV-T-2256-Words-NGSL-Spoken-MP3[6]
are provided for that purpose.
The speech–files include long
pauses foreseen to practice sending.
For playback of these speech–files, an audio player
saving the playback state (currently played track and position)
when closing and resuming on next startup is advantageous.
During a training session, I first listen completely to a
single word or to a sequence of up to four words. Then,
during the long pause, I try to send it (or them) as accurately
as possible.
Here is a short sample speech–file (from "T01...") for
single–word training.
Words are separated by pauses of five seconds:
And here is a short sample speech–file
(from "T04...")
for training sequences of four words.
Sequences are separated by pauses of twelve
seconds; words by 300 ms:
The article Using a Dual–Lever Paddle[12] by Chuck Adams, K7QO
shows some techniques that can be used for sending the
International Morse Code with dual–lever paddles.
Training Receiving Morse Code
Ditto CW Player[9] by Billy Francisco,
WB1LLY is an
outstanding Android Morse Code player app
to train the receiving of Morse Code.
The files named "A..." to M..." of
Randomized Lists of Common English Words ESL[3]
are saved as "ADDED" files via Ditto CW's menu
"Exercise selection - ADDED - ADD NEW FILE".
During a training session I listen to the code, try to recognize the word,
and then Ditto CW Player[9] will speak the word.
Here is a short recording of the output of Ditto CW Player[9].
Practice file is "A01-100-WORDS-NGSL.TXT" at a speed of 35 wpm:
Apart from the training of single words, listening to a
continuous and meaningful stream of
high speed code (QSOs or Morse Code audio books)
is a very rewarding exercise.
A short text passage of the book "The Art and Skill of Radio Telegraphy"
by William G Pierpont, N0HFF (2002) concerning "overlearning" has been converted
to Morse Code audio using ebook2CW[10].
This audio file is an example of a continuous and meaningful stream
of Morse Code at 35 wpm:
Finally...
There is no magic bullet for improvements in
Morse Code proficiency.
So I enjoy having QSOs and doing exercises
presented here.
I would like to express my deepest
appreciation to Keith Chambers, G0HKC
and Christian M Bravo, W4ALF for
being my advisors in CW Academy[11]
courses in 2020 and
to Christopher Mason, G4UZE for proofreading
of the August 2021 version of this page.
