Raising Your Typing Speed
Fred tells how he improved his sending and reduced the number of errors at speeds over 70-wpm on the keyboard. He experimented and found that it took about ten days of practice to exceed 100-wpm.
He began his experimenting and practice at his then present 70-wpm. Successful changes were:
1) He turned the side-tone off completely, and.
2) Stopped looking at the screen, except maybe a glance when his fingers tell him he has made a mistake.
3) He did not look at the keyboard either.
These three changes eliminated the distractions, so he could concentrate on his gingers;
Although he does not look at the keyboard, he “visualizes” it, so he can mentally concentrate on it and direct where his fingers are going to go next. He just “wills” his fingers to go there and they do. It is rather hard to describe.
He compared it to this: “When I was seriously into playing the piano, although I was aware of the presence of the piano keyboard, I never looked at where the fingers were going to go. Even if I was jumping several octaves quickly, I could hit the proper note(s) exactly without ever turning my head. Looking to the keyboard to see where the fingers were supposed to land would have made good piano playing impossible.”
Within a couple of weeks of experimenting and practicing, he found he could send as easily at 100-wpm as he had before at 70. But what most surprised him was that now he could chat just as easily at 100-wpm as he could before at 70. He said “I can get the thoughts organized in time to keep the fingers busy at these higher speeds. When I had mastered this technique, I found to my surprise that getting the thought-flow going at 100-wpm became very easy.”
One further thing -- he needed to improve the cadence of his sending -- sending each letter at exactly the same rate. He said: ”Errors that I make, such as sending “adn” for “and”, are due to hitting the “d” finger out of cadence too quickly to allow the “n” finger to type. I concentrate on keeping the cadence constant, something that I have never done over the past 50 years. I had thought that would be the really hard thing to master. But it wasn’t.”
How observant and thoughtful he was. Are these suggestions I need to follow?
He has noted that in his 53 years of hamming he has not operated a great deal—typically less than an hour or two a week. Even now he is fortunate to find one week in a month when he can communicate with a truly high-speed operator. High-speed operators in the US are rare today.
#13 Ted J. Newport (b. 1919-09-11) First person account.
“I learned code when I was in flying school l during WW-2. We had to send and receive 12-wpm before we could start our flying training. After the war I bought my son a short wave receiver. I heard CW on it, and relearned the letters I had forgotten. I taught myself code with tapes and with friends helping me on the air. I owe what speed I have to the help of two friends, both now deceased, who worked with me on the air for years, helping get my speed up. They were Jimmy Moss W5GRJ and Gene W4JKT who kept pushing me.
“First you must have the desire to learn CW, and to like/love CW, and have the desire to increase your speed, instead of staying at a plateau.
“Next, practice, practice, practice. When you can read solid at one speed, then you must have the desire to want to go up to the next level of speed. Tapes are fine, but the best practice is to get on the air with friend who will push you to the next level, and who will send to you on a regular basis.
“Gene taught me how to increase speed. 1) When I got to one solid reading speed, he would increase his sending speed. 2) When I could not read solid at the increased speed, 3) He would then send to me at a still higher speed. I was not able to get too much of that, but 4) when he dropped back to the one I could not read solid before, it would then sound slow and I could read it solid.
In other words, he would not slow down when I wasn’t getting it solid, but would go to a still higher speed and let me listen to it, even, if I could only get a word or two. And then, when he dropped down to the lower speed, it would seem slower then and I could read it.
“I cannot read, copy and send as well as Tom Alderman and the others do I don’t get on the air much any more and my reading (not copying) speed is in the range of 60 to 70-wpm.
#14 Rodney L. Whitten W4BI (b. 1912-04-22) is one of our oldest available examples of very high-speed operators. His interest began in 1924 when he was 12.
Spark was beginning to lose its rough, noisy thrill and sense of power (like a motorcycle), and was going out of use, displaced by the tiny vacuum tube with its peeping CW signals. And the rapid increase of DX occurred, as “short waves” became shorter and shorter - into the ”useless” range.
He was interested and wanted to learn.
He joined the US Navy and was selected to be a CW operator. He was trained as one of that special “crypto over the roof gang” operators, an elite group of guys trained to learn various codes (he learned to copy 8 different national codes) before and during WW-II. Altogether that group included about 178 men who were so trained. Their work included QRQ copying.
He spent most of his time in the South Pacific and was at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed.
#15 Melvin L. Whitney K0PLX (b. 1946- 03-05).
He learned the Morse code from his Father, W4BI, and (see above) who started teaching him when he was about 9 or 10 years old.
Since his Father-teacher was a QRQ expert, Mel was never troubled by first “memorizing” the code visually as printed dots and dashes, but rather heard it as it is, as patterns of sound. Furthermore, he must have had no concerns as to whether it was “hard” or “easy” to learn. It was just to be learned like anything else. If there were any difficulties along the way, his Father encouraged him to keep on, with something like: “Look how much you have learned and can do already.”
Then, because the FCC office was 150 miles away at the time, he used his Father’s call sign for a couple of years until he finally managed to get to the FCC office for the test and to get his own license and call in 1958.
He was able to copy 40-wpm up until somewhat more than 20 years ago when both he and his Father got electronic keyboards. His sending speed began to go up and along with it his copying speed rose to 45 then 50 and finally reached 55, where going to higher speeds seemed like work -- above that he must sweat up to his absolute limit of 60-wpm. His comfortable range is 45 - 50 wpm.
He says he owes his “QRQ” to 35 years of QSO’s with his Father who has long been able to copy over 60-wpm.
He feels that if he would work at it, he is sure he could increase it even more. “It just takes a lot of practice.”
#16 Ira I. Silverman, No data other than that he is a very fast operator, can type into the 140-wpm range and receive at least to 100.
#17 OSCAR (Ozzie) Levin W5RK. (b. 1918-12-4)
This is one of the most interesting cases, for it illustrates ”normal” learning.
He “got interested in Ham radio back in the mid-thirties after visiting a Boy Scout friend that had a ham station.” -- He was more than just “’interested.”
1) He wanted to learn the code and had no preconceived ideas about it. We may say he loved it already.
2) He started from the concept of the code presented as sound – “spoken” dits and dahs - not printed dots and dashes. He had no visual roadblocks. What did he do? -- He “learned the code on his own” because he “had no mentor or anybody to send code to him.” He learned it by looking at a newspaper and saying the dits and dahs to himself for all the letters and numerals in the story he was reading He took the examination in 1937 and passed both the 10 words a minute code test and the theory test.
3) He had no initial mental blocks—that it might be “hard” -- but rather just “that’s the way it is”, something, like everything else that he wanted to learn. He enjoyed learning it. It was fun.
Without the excess misdirected baggage so many unwittingly carry, he reached a 50-wpm copying ability within three years. His evidence joins the rest of that relatively small group who did it right from the very beginning and had nothing to have to relearn. That is why it seemed ”natural” to him.
4) He “entered the Coast Guard in 1941, just before we got into WW-2, and was assigned as an apprentice Seaman operating the high-speed circuits along with veteran operators. After another assignment, he left the service in 1946.
For ten years he was inactive, though he continued his license. In the late 60’s he ran into the Chicken Fat Operator’s Club [CFO’s} where one of the operators observed he had been copying the high-speed and asked him if he wanted to join them. He did, but soon found he could not keep up his sending speed with just a paddle, so he built an electronic keyboard.
5) The use of a keyboard, which is only a tool, is the almost universal newer hardware, a key which gives that boost to pass the frequent “plateau”, the speed “barrier” around 50 - 60 wpm.
Some kind of internal change in mental approach seems generally needed (is it a change that is hidden from our conscious understanding?). He could now practice well-sent code at home or during QSO’s with others using keyboards. (Bug or keyer sending is a special skill that not many achieve at those speeds).
This change resulted in a noticeable increase of his receiving speed and he was soon sending 70-wpm. “It was a wonderful experience.” Today he finds few hams using these high speeds.
#18 Florence C. Majeras W7QYA, b. 21-10-1915.
Bill Eitel said, “She is a very talented and practical woman. Her accomplishments are many and unknown to most people, because she is a modest and sincere person. She is a pilot, musician, schoolteacher and a top CW operator.
She does not have to take a back seat to any one when operating CW. She can send it, read it in her head, or copy it down on a manner, which people do not realize because she is no show-off. She is the kind of person I formed the 5-Star Club to recognize.” I have no information as to how she learned or when she started into ham radio.
#19 Gary Bold ZL1AN is the only known New Zealander who belonged to the CFO club.
He says: “In this area 40 - 45 wpm is as fast as we ever go. Keyboards are not in general use. He was quite astonished to learn that some hams in America were conversing in Morse code at 100 wpm. Gary had himself written computer programs to read code at fair speeds, and using them, managed to reach his present limit at 55 wpm.
#20 JESSE W. CARAVELLO, JR W8MCP b. 1936-06-07
The following comments are from Gary Bold ZL1AN.
In 1985 I visited Ann Arbor on Sabbatical leave and encountered him on the packet system. He invited me to visit his home. He told me he was also a CFO Club member. I thought it was defunct. Learning that I was without a rig, Jess lent me a SWAN transceiver, power supply, tuner and filter which at our rented house, put me in regular contact with other CFO members and nets whenever possible. He also connected us home to our teenage children through the ZL packet system. When I went back to ZL, we kept schedules on 40 when conditions were right. Later when I returned to Ann Arbor several times, each time I enjoyed his and his wife Brenda’s hospitality. They became very dear friends to me.
I know virtually nothing of his early Morse experiences. I am sure that he would have told me everything. A couple of years ago Jess passed away, I think due to a massive heart attack.
Jess was, indeed, a first class CW man. I know he had spent time as a sea-going operator. I don’t know how fast he could receive, and I never saw him use a keyboard, but he could read anything. He could copy noisy, weak signals covered in static and QRN from which I was gleaning mere letters and occasional words. Strange fists were no problem to him.
Nor do I have any information on the following names who are supposed
to be very high-speed operators:
David H Freese Jr. W1HKJ wrote software for 99-wpm and on Bill Eitel’s request revised it to run at 160-wpm.
FRED C. CLARKE W9AMC, CHRIST C. KOVACHEFF K9AMC, David H Freese
Jr, W1HKJ, CHARLES F. VAUGHN, III, AA0HW, b: 1958-01-18, J PHILEMON
ANDERSON W9TP b: 1929-05-31, RAYMOND H. LARSON, W0GHX, b: 1936-08-01, CHARLES F. VAUGHN, III, AA0HW b: 1958-01-18, J PHILEMON ANDERSON, W9TP b: 1929-05-31, WILLIAM SEPULVEDA, K5LN b: 1944-08-01 , CARLOS DALE HAMM, W5LN, MELVIN J. LADISKY W6FDR, CHARLES H. BROWN, JR, W4AFQ, b: 1928-05-28, WELLS E. BURTON, N4EE b: 1919-07-14
Other older operators for whom we have no data on their leaning methods: Frank J. Elliott, Cpl. James Ralph Graham, at 60-wpm or more:--A.J Burkart (1913), E. Proctor, W5FDR Earnest L. Sitkes (W4AFQ), W5GET,W9RUM, William L. Gardiner, Wells E. Durham (N4EE), Cpl G. Schaal, others in Europe, who used these speeds daily
There were nearly one thousand listed members of the Chicken Fat Operators club, which required at least 45-wpm for entry, before it faded out as a club a few years ago.
I suspect that the number of highly skilled commercial operators and hams around the world who can or could receive at over 45-wpm would add up to many thousands, with a large number of them capable of well above 60-wpm.
Appendix E
Further Thinking
Telegraphy Was a Highly Respected Profession
for Almost a Century
In 1845 the first short telegraph line was built between Washington DC and Baltimore MD and opened. From then on, many a young man and some young women chose it as a thrilling and honorable and greatly respected profession. It was an opportunity to do something worthwhile in the world.
For the first fifty years telegraph lines were built over longer and longer distances, installed along railroad (RR) lines for communication, to facilitate scheduling, control, and safety in the operation of the railroads.
For many years the arrival of trains had been the local source of news from other communities along the RR line. With the telegraph the RR telegrapher’s desk brought much nation-wide news. It soon began to connect newspapers with sources of news, which formerly were delayed for days or weeks by lack of rapid communication. In addition, important personal messages now began to travel widely. (Even the youngest telegraphers were scrupulously careful not to divulge any personal or business message contents to outsiders.)
Some home electrical experimenters made or bought their telegraph equipment and strung up wires to friend’s homes in their neighborhoods. Throughout the American Civil War, the telegraph was used extensively by both the Northern and the Southern armies to coordinate their troops and overall and local attacks, to obtain supplies, etc.
From ancient times when a ship left harbor it had no communication with its home port until it returned (if it did return). In the 1860’s undersea cables began to connect many seaports and sometimes a ship’s arrival could be verified from port to port through cable telegraphy. That was a huge improvement. It also made possible rapid two-way diplomatic and business communications to and from distant places around the world, as well as news.
Beginning with Marconi’s development of the first practical wireless telegraphic transmitters and receivers, ships were now usually able to communicate while in transit. Long distance communication opened up independently of the expensive long wires and cables. It was not quite as reliable as wire telegraphy because static and man-made interference often prevented or garbled it.
Invention of the telephone in the latter 1800’s partially replaced telegraphy. In time continuing developments in electronics began to replace the need for professional telegraphers—by the end of WW-II.
The airplane as it became a useful means of commercial and military transportation introduced another new need for wireless. Some few early aircraft in the WW-I period began to be equipped with radios. The pilot needed weather and other information related to scheduling, routing and safety. This was met first by the use of radiotelegraphy and later by radiotelephone.
Shipboard radio-telegraphers continued on until the invention of the almost automatic communication systems now predominantly in use. Skilled radio and telegraph operators are said to be no longer needed. However, these automated systems are very expensive and are not perfect, often making erroneous emergency trouble reports (false alarms), and sometimes cannot handle a severe emergency at all.
The ships operated by many small nations cannot afford these new systems and still have their older radios and telegraphers aboard. A recent article (in Morsum Magnificat #74) listed 55 such transmissions within two or three day’s time from 22 different ships in just one northern European location.
Manual telegraphy is still very useful and may sometimes be imperative for safety.
Today in our modern European-Western culture telegraphy is almost altogether a hobby confined to the amateur radio world. It is an honorable and useful hobby in times of emergency when nothing else can be made to function. It should never be allowed to die.
The ‘High-Speed’ Circuits of Commercial Telegraphy
