Part One – Learning the Morse Code

Chapter One        How to go about it efficiently

Chapter Two        Principles of Skill Building and Attitudes for Success

Chapter Three      Let's Begin With The A-B-C's - Laying the Foundation

Chapter Four       Building the first floor on the solid foundation

Chapter Five        Practice To Gain Proficiency

Chapter Six          How Fast? The Wrong Question - How Well!

Chapter Seven     Listening or "Reading"

Chapter Eight      Copying- Getting it Written Down

Chapter Nine       Sending and the "Straight" Key

Chapter Ten         Other Keying Devices and Their Use

Chapter Eleven    Further Development of Skills

Chapter Twelve   How Long Will It Take To Learn?

Chapter Thirteen  The Role of Memory in Telegraphy

Chapter Fourteen The "Ear"

Chapter Fifteen   Timing

Chapter Sixteen   Other Methods

Chapter Seventeen Common Errors and What to Do about Them

Chapter Eighteen Computer Programs and Tapes for Learning and Improving Skill in Code

Part Two – Chapters on Subject of Morse Code …

 

Chapter Nineteen                 A Brief History of Morse Telegraphy

Chapter Twenty                   Learning the American Morse Code

Chapter Twenty-One           Methods Not Recommended

Chapter Twenty-Two           Word Lists for Practice

Chapter Twenty-Three         Making Sure You're Understood

Chapter Twenty-Four           Bandwidths and Key Clicks

Chapter Twenty-Five           Code Courses and Devices Advertised in the Older Days

Chapter Twenty-Six             Speed Contests

Chapter Twenty-Seven        Abbreviations

Chapter Twenty-Eight         Letter Frequency Counts

Chapter Twenty-Nine          The Koch Researches

Chapter Thirty                      The Candler System

Chapter Thirty-One             The So-Called "Farnsworth" or Spacing Method

Chapter Thirty-Two             Other Alphabets

Chapter Thirty-Three            A Brief History of United States Operator Licensing Requirements and Military Training

Chapter Thirty-Four             Examples which Illustrate the Nature of Real Skills

Appendix                              Sources of Material

Appendix Two                     High-Speed Appendix

 

 

A French translation of this book is available courtesy of Maurice, F6IIE.

Edited by Fred Adsit, NY2V.

Typography by Michael Dinelli, N9BOR.

 

The Art & Skill of Radio-Telegraphy

William G.Pierpont N0HFF

-Third Revised Edition-

Preface

 

The first edition of this book was prepared under a strong time-pressure to collect and preserve the results of years of reading and research into the best ways to learn the code initially, to gain skill -- how the experts say they do it -- together with a number of other associated aspects of interest. The urge was to get the major principles and features organized before they got lost or buried in my files.

 

Diskettes of that first edition were shared with a very few people. It was soon replaced by a revised first edition in which a number of accidental errors were corrected and some clarifications made in wording. It was also produced under considerable pressure, leaving quite a number of additional items of general or specific interest lying unincorporated in the files.

 

Many diskette copies of the second edition were distributed. A thousand diskette copies were made and distributed free by the Virginia Beach Hamfest and Convention. It was copied and printed by the FISTS CW Club of North America and by several others, including my friend James (Jim) Farrior, W4FOK, who has reproduced it in his MILL code learning programs.

 

This Third Revised Edition fills in selected new items, and adds a new High-Speed Appendix. It is hoped that this new edition will be welcomed by those who love the subject of telegraphy and will continue to be helpful to those wishing to learn or perfect this fascinating and worthwhile skill.

 

It is my hope that you, as the reader, will find it both interesting and useful. I make no claim that it is complete, perfect or final, or that it contains everything of possible value or interest. I have had to leave out some interesting items, especially of history. Perhaps some of these, plus anything you, as reader, may wish to contribute, could be added in further editions.

This book may be freely reproduced and published, but only on a no-profit basis in order to make it as widely available as possible to those who need it...

 

N0HFF

Introduction

 

The research behind this booklet would probably never have been done at all if I had not been so eager to learn the telegraphic code, but made such a terrible flop of it. I just barely qualified for a license in early 1930, and for a very long time could not receive it well enough to really enjoy using it. Like most others in those past days, I memorized the "dots and dashes" from a printed table.

 

A good teacher might have helped, but.... If only I could have had just the following key paragraph from the QST article of July 1923, it would have at least gotten me off on the right foot:

 

"The first step in learning the code is to memorize the dot and dash combinations representing the letters. They must not be visualized as dots and dashes, however, but rather should be "auralized" as sounds. There is no such word as auralized, but if there were it would express the correct method of grasping the code. The sound dit-dah (meaning a dot followed by a dash) in the head telephones must impress your mind directly as being the letter A, for instance, without causing black dots and dashes to float before your eyes for an instant. This is a point that always troubles beginners, but if you learn from the first to recognize the sounds as letters immediately without reverting to dots and dashes, you will make much better progress."

More succinctly: "Don't try to teach the Ears through the Eyes." (Wireless Press 1922)

 

I was not alone in making this first false step: very many others did it that way, too, and probably some today still do. It was and is the inevitable reason why most people who start this way get stuck at some speed, around ten words per minute or less, and can't seem to get beyond it.

 

The second mistake, even in learning by hearing, is in hearing the characters sent so slowly that the learner tends to analyze each one into dits and dahs, and even counts them mentally. (It is wise indeed for the beginner never to hear code characters sent at speeds below about 13 wpm.) These two errors largely account for getting stuck at higher speeds also -- they mean we have not really learned the characters.

 

Today, there are many tapes and computer programs available which teach the Morse code in ways that avoid making either of these basic errors. This booklet has been written to share the results of this research of the literature -- also including talks with skilled operators -- with those who want to learn or teach the Morse code, or to improve their own skills. It majors on the methods that have proved most successful, but also discusses some, which should be avoided. It offers guidance for those just beginning, and help for those who are stuck and want to improve. It also tells how those who are proficient and those who are experts operate.

Some history and related items are included in the later chapters for those who are interested in telegraphic communication. My hope is that you will find it not only interesting but helpful. This is a "How To" book, not a scientific treatise. Source credits for individual items have rarely been noted. Many a contribution has come from multiple sources. Most of the significant sources are listed under Sources.

 

"I have never known a person who was truly proficient with code to dislike it: on the contrary, the more proficient they are, the more they love it." The Morse code is a means of communication, a new way to enjoy expressing yourself.

N0HFF

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