This was brilliant and inspiring, thank you! And it's truly wonderful what you've done here. I'm definitely going to join up. I dabbled (very loosely) with learning code when I was a kid, as I'd loved hearing it on my old SW receiver. There was something about it that I found to be as exotic and romantic as hearing all those faraway SW broadcasters using AM. I swore that someday I'd finally get my ham license and really learn CW. Well, I've had my license for over a decade now; I think it's time to get 'serious' about CW. Truth be told, I was a bit afraid of it. What you've demonstrated so well here is that you've set up a context designed to make the learning experience as stress-free as possible. So now I have no more excuses. I'm ready. Cheers and 73!
Fantastic presentation Howard, Mike and Jim! Even as a member of our club, I enjoy hearing you all describe our fantastic club and even learning more about its history. Thank you Jim for creating this video!
A wonderful presentation gentlemen. The updated course structure and content is impressive. Congratulations to the developers of the practice page, it's a pleasure to use and addictive in the right sort of way. Y
As Ludwig Koch was German, the 'ch' is pronounced as [χ]. Americans would probably write 'kh'. Koch rhymes with the Scottish word "loch", as in Loch Ness.
OK - Thank you for this. I am just starting, elderly 74, it is of course hard. I found this very useful - mixing opposite characters and similar characters, I thought it was just me ! Over study - yes I have thought that of myself. I shall be more than happy to get to 20 wpm in the end. I found this presentation to re-motivate me, I will not get so anxious any more and concentrate on the FUN. I have tried being on the air, on occasions despite loads of free space on our bands here in the UK, some nice people have sent over the top or carriers. They have not put me off by the way, just sometimes the air in the shack goes "blue" for a bit. So again THANK YOU.
While recognizing that most people never complete anything they start, and acknowledging whether or not they complete your program is not actually your responsibility, what is the actual effectiveness of this approach in folks ultimately becoming proficient in CW? I suspect it is very low. I easily learned CW when studying for my Novice license when I was 10 years old, using the most inefficient way possible because that was in 1960 and we just brute force drilled until we got it. But, that was the benefit of an agile 10 year old brain. Bottom line, I guess, is whether in the end your method actually leads to a higher number of folks sticking to the process than any other method. It is clearly more efficient, but is it more effective?
We constantly see operators moving from the BC classes into Intermediate and into Advanced. Folk keep coming to classes, often attending a comfortable level class and a "stretch" class simultaneously. The immense flexibility of the program, between the carousel structure and the sheer number of classes each week, means that people are able to attend where and when they are able, and so, they really grow as operators.
It's really fun. I've been taking part for a few weeks now and always look forward to the next lesson. I am not a native English speaker and yet I can follow and participate well. When mistakes happen, nobody makes fun of or criticises. It's a relaxed way to learn. I am glad to have found the licw. Thanks guys. Tobias DL5ZAT