From the files of the ARRL Automated Mail Server, (info@arrl.org): Prepared as a membership service by the American Radio Relay League, Inc., Technical Information Service. file: codetips.txt updated: 03-08-95 Reprinted from: September 1993 QST "You Can Copy Thirty Words Per Minute!" Copyright 1993 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All rights reserved. Thank you for requesting the following information from the ARRL Technical Information Service or the ARRL Automated Mail Server (info@arrl.org). ARRL HQ is glad to provide this information free of charge as a service to League members and affiliated clubs. For your convenience, you may reproduce this information, electronically or on paper, and distribute it to anyone who needs it, provided that you reproduce it in its entirety and do so free of charge. Please note that you must reproduce the information as it appears in the original, including the League's copyright notice. Note!: This information package provides introductory information only. Additional information on this subject and related topics can be found in the following ARRL publications: The ARRL Handbook (#1727) The ARRL Antenna Book (#4734) The ARRL Operating Manual (#1086) If you have any questions concerning the reproduction or distribution of this material, please contact Michael Tracy, American Radio Relay League, 225 Main St., Newington, CT 06111 (email: mtracy@arrl.org). ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW HAM COMPANION QST Magazine You Can Copy Thirty Words Per Minute! Are you finding it difficult to increase your code speed? Use these techniques to go as high as 30 words per minute--or beyond! By Lee Aurick, W1SE 1043 Deer Run Winter Springs, FL 32708 I qualified for an ARRL 30 word-per-minute code proficiency certificate in 1954. In the nearly 40 years that have passed since then, it's been my pleasure to help more than a thousand people pass their code tests. After so many years of teaching, I've managed to accumulate a small collection of helpful tips. I've also observed a few things that, in my opinion, you should avoid. Let's start abolishing the notion it's only necessary to practice 15- or 20- minutes at a time, a couple of times a week. I have one word for that idea: nonsense! By the time you get around to your next practice session, you may slip back to where you were before. At this pace, progress is slow--tantalizingly slow. Code instructors should be honest with their students. They should tell them that it's going to require some effort and dedication. A coach doesn't tell his basketball hopefuls that the road to the NBA is lined with velvet. He tells them that there are tough times ahead. Why are they less truthful with aspiring hams? The Farnsworth Method Should a code student begin at five words per minute and work upward from there? How about starting at 50 words per minute instead? (I can hear the gasps now.) No, I'm not suggesting that we bombard them with CW conversations at that speed--just characters! This technique is put to good use in what has come to be known as the "Farnsworth Method." The letters are formed at anywhere from 15 to 18 words per minute, but are sent with 5 word-per-minute spacing. It may seem like an unusual method, but it works. You begin by learning each character. As soon as you're confident that you know each letter, number and punctuation mark, start decreasing the spacing between them. The sounds of the characters remain the same, only the spacing changes. Within a short time, you'll reduce the spacing from the 5 WPM level to 18 WPM. During this process you don't need to relearn the characters--you already know them at 18 WPM! In other words, they're the same characters you learned the first time around. They're just coming at you faster. Why don't we take this idea farther? Why not start by forming the letters at 20 words per minute? Moving from 5 to a solid 20 words per minute would be a snap. As an experiment, I taught my 9 year-old grandson the code in less than a day with the letters formed at twenty words per minute. Upon returning to his home in Wisconsin, he entered a class and qualified for his Novice license before the class was half-over. He is now KA9SNP. His mother had her Novice ticket at age nine and was, for a time, one of the youngest female hams in the country. This was in the late 50s, before the era of club-sponsored schools. Her elder sister qualified at age ten. All of them profited by means of code-teaching techniques that are sound and easy to apply. Code Practice Tapes Some of the worst tapes in existence are those which purport to send code as though you are listening to two stations having a conversation. Many use very poor procedures, and that's reason enough not to use them. As a new ham, the last things you need to learn are bad habits. In addition, these tapes are easily memorized, making them nearly worthless for instruction. On the other hand, tapes that use the Farnsworth Method are fine learning tools for new hams and I encourage you to use them. (ARRL practice tapes employ the Farnsworth Method.) Tapes not withstanding, if you have already have a Novice or Technician ticket, I have four very important words for you: GET ON THE AIR. Seek out stations working just a bit faster than you can copy. So what, if you have to ask the other station to repeat his or her name? The code practice available from W1AW is an excellent way in which to determine just how fast you're capable of copying. Use W1AW to measure your progress as you practice. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The members and HQ staff would like to thank the following people for their contributions to this information file: WB8IMY Send any additional information or changes to mtracy@arrl.org. 73 from ARRL HQ.