Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
of
Radio-Telegraphy
“For those who are interested in telegraphy, for those who would
like to learn it, for those who love it, and for those who want to
improve their skills in it.”
William G. Pierpont NØHFF
The art and skill of telegraphy is unique. The psychologists who have
seriously studied those who have developed this skill have been fasci-
nated and challenged to try to understand it. Isn’t the very idea of
being able to communicate your thoughts to another by means of in-
termittent tones something intriguing in itself?
The Art and Skill of Radio-Telegraphy currently has the following known trans-
lations and web adaptations
French: Third Revised Edition: Editor Maurice Colombani-Gailleur
F6IIE, http://f6iie.free.fr/booknØhff.htm or
http://www.uft.net/titre_web.htm
Danish: Editor: Jens Henrik Nohns, ØZ1CAR, Laerkevej 11, DK-7441
Bording, Denmark
Japanese: 2nd Edition 1997, Published 1Ø August 2ØØØ in Tokyo by
the JARL A1 Club, Editor: Atzu Taniguchi, JE1TRW, with assistance of
other JARL 1A Club members.
http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~a1c/Art&Skill/Art&Skill.htm
English: Second Revised Edition, First adapted for the World Wide Web
by Jon Oates GMØVIY for MEGS,
http://www.geocities.com/gmØrse/nØhff/index.htm
English: Second Revised Edition, Second adaptation for the World Wide
Web by Ronal G. Bellamy VE6SIR for RAES
http://www.raes.ab.ca/book/index.html
English Third Revised Edition, last edited July 6, 2ØØ1, Editor, Dave
Clarke, VE6LX
English Third Revised Edition, last edited July 8, 2ØØ1, is now avail-
able for download at the following: http://www.qsl.net/n9bor/nØhff.htm
Editor, Fred Adsit, NY2V
Preparation and distribution of the text files by Jim Farrior W4FOK along with his
program “The Mill”
http://www.net-magic.net/users/w4fok/
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... NØHFF
Contents
Contents 3 Building The First Floor On The Solid
Foundation 32
Preface 8
Instant Recognition 32
Introduction 8
Anticipating 32
Is the Radio-Telegraph Code What Kind Of Material To Practice 33
Obsolete? 10
Other Ways 34
Learning the Morse Code - An
How Long And What Kind Of Practice 34
Overview 11
Getting Stuck 36
Where we are going 11
The 1ØØ Most Common Words In English 36
Chapter 1 13 Passing Examinations 37
How to Go About it Efficiently 13 Chapter 5 37
This Chapter Is A Summary To Prepare You To
Learn 13 Practice To Gain Proficiency 37
How Long Will It Take Me To Learn 17 How Far Do You Want To Go 37
Make Each Practice Period A Step Forward 39
Chapter 2 17
Kinds Of Practicing 39
Principles of Skill Building and Attitudes
for Success 17 Listening Practice 39
McElroy’s Course and His Claims For It 106 Learning To Read By Sounder 125
American Morse - An Art 125
Chapter 17 106
Some Further Comparisons 125
Common Errors and What To Do About
Them 106 Some Practice Materials For Learning 126
From the MILL ØØa Operational Notes 127
Chapter 18 107
Chapter 21 128
Computer Programs And Tapes For
Learning And Improving Skill In Code Methods Not Recommended 128
107 Doing It the Hard Old Way 128
Morse University 107 The student 128
SuperMorse By Lee Murrah, WD5CID 108 Other Discouraging Processes 129
Morseman+ By Robin Gist NE4L/ZF2PM 108 So: 130
GGTE Morse Tutor Gold 108 The Futility of Wrong Practice 131
The Mill. by James S. Farrior, W4FOK 108 Chapter 22 132
The Morse Tutor Program 109
Word Lists For Practice 132
NuMorse by Tony Lacy G4AUD 110
The 1ØØ Words Grouped By Function 132
Code Tapes For Learning And For Other
Purposes 110 Some sentences composed of these words alone
are: 132
Chapter 19 111 The Rest Of The 5ØØ Most Common Words
132
A Brief History of Morse Telegraphy –
Part I 111 Some Common Prefixes And Suffixes 133
William G. Pierpont N0HFF” 1932-2001 5
The Art and Skill of Radio-Telegraphy
Some Common Phrases For Practice 133 Sending Tests 155
Some Long Words For Practicing 133 Receiving Tests 155
Chapter 23 134 Analysis And Criticism Of Previous Teaching
Methods 156
Making Sure You’re Understood 134
Tests To Establish A Better Teaching
From The Originator’s Standpoint 134 Method 157
Feedback And Redundancy 134 Character Speed For Initial Learning 157
Repeating And Counting Words 135 Can The Rhythm Patterns Be Enhanced 158
Using Redundancy Intelligently 135
What Letters Should Be Taught First 159
At The Receiving End 136
When To Introduce A New Character 159
Chapter 24 138
Should Practice Be By Groups Of Letters
Bandwidths and Key Clicks 138 159
Chapter 25 139 Troublesome Characters 160
Code Courses and Devices Advertised in How Long Should Lessons Be And How
the Older Days 139 Distributed In Time 160
The Omnigraph 139 New Philosophy For Teaching 161
Recorders And Computers 143
Designing An Efficient Teaching
Chapter 26 144 Program 162
Speed Contests 144 Summary 164
Chapter 27 147 Chapter 3Ø 165
Abbreviations 147 The Candler System 165
Some Of The More Common Abbreviations In Background 165
CW Work 147
Abbreviations Used In Traffic Handling 148 The Course 166
Examples Of The Phillips Code 148 The Essential Principles 166
A Few Useful Z- Signals 151 Critique 167
When Marconi entered the scene The March 1926 Wireless Maga-
with his wireless, the “Continen- zine refers to the 1923 Transat-
tal” or “International” Morse lantic signals of (F)8AB as flut-
code was in wide use everywhere tery 25 cycle with
except in America. Wireless was “dahdahdahditdit didah dahdit-
then primarily - in fact, almost ditdit”. Were there earlier exam-
solely - used where wire lines ples? With a sounder, instead of
could not be strung. That meant “dits” there are “iddies” and for
that it was almost entirely ship to “dahs” “umpties” to distinguish
shore or ship to ship. American the two types of clicks. Another
operators were American-Morse description was “klick, kalunk”.
trained, and soon had to add In addition to this, of course, was
“Continental” code to their rep- the spacing between words. Good
ertoire, using both codes: Ameri- sending had to be relatively pre-
can Morse among themselves and cise.
“Continental” with other opera- Accuracy was demanded of
tors. Many became highly profi- commercial operators: they were
cient in both codes, using them rated on the quality of their
interchangeably as needed, on a sending. A sender or receiver who
moment by moment basis. had to repeat or to ask for repeats
28 F 1Ø1Ø111Ø1ØØØ 12 336
27 P 1Ø111Ø111Ø1ØØØ 14 378
26 U 1Ø1Ø111ØØØ 1Ø 26Ø
25 M 111Ø111ØØØ 1Ø 25Ø
19 Y 111Ø1Ø111Ø111ØØØ 16 3Ø4
16 G 111Ø111Ø1ØØØ 12 192
16 W 1Ø111Ø111ØØØ 12 192
15 V 1Ø1Ø1Ø111ØØØ 12 18Ø
1Ø B 111Ø1Ø1Ø1ØØØ 12 12Ø
5 X 111Ø1Ø1Ø111ØØØ 14 7Ø
3 Q 111Ø111Ø1Ø111ØØØ 16 48
3 K 111Ø1Ø111ØØØ 12 36
2 J 1Ø111Ø111Ø111ØØØ 16 32
1 Z 111Ø111Ø1Ø1ØØØ 14 14
1ØØØ Ave. Structure length 11.23 Ave. 9.Ø7 9Ø76
The letter frequency counts (left- 2Ø.3% longer than normal Eng-
most column) are taken from one lish word length.)
of the common books on cryp- A similar analysis of numbers will
tanalysis, based on number of oc- show that the average length of a
currences per thousand of normal number is 17 units (minimum 12,
English text material. Each char- maximum 22) or a group of five
acter is analyzed (“structure”) numbers takes about 1.78 times as
into units, 1 for minimum signal long to transmit as a five letter
duration (one dit), 111 (three word.
units duration) for a dah, and
each equal unit of silence denoted Comparing these calculations will
by!Ø (zero). The required three show some of the reasons why
units of silence separating each receiving speeds vary with the
character is added (ØØØ) to each kind of material being sent.
one below. As a matter of interest, we list here
From the above, if we take five the letters from the shortest to the
times the above average letter longest by the number of units
length and add the space required (less letter space) -- notice that all
for word spacing (seven total or lengths are odd numbers:
ØØØØØØØ) we arrive at the 1 - E;
normal English word length as 5
x 9.Ø76 + 4 = 49.38. This is just 3 - I, T;
a bit less than 1% shorter than 5Ø 5 - A, N, S;
units per standard word. (By con-
trast, a random five-letter group 7 - D, H, M, R, U;
averages 6Ø.15 units. This is 9 - B, F, G, K, L, V, W;
William G. Pierpont N0HFF” 1932-2001 153
The Art and Skill of Radio-Telegraphy
11 - C, O, P, X, Z; Hochschule, Braunschweig, Ger-
many, reported in Jan-Feb. 1936
13 - J, Q, Y. (see Sources), seem to be virtually
Foreign Adaptations Of The In- unknown outside of Germany.
ternational Morse Code His goal was to discover the most
efficient way to teach the Morse
If the same kind of calculations code to prospective radiotele-
are carried out for several foreign graph operators to meet the Inter-
languages, the following results national requirements for com-
are obtained for the average char- mercial radio operators.
acter length: (Frequency data These requirements were:
from Secret and Urgent, Fletcher
Pratt l942 Tables II to IV, p. 253 _ send 1ØØ words in five
ff.) minutes,
German 8.64Ø, _ copy a 1ØØ word telegram
in five minutes, and
French 8.694,
_ copy 125 words of ordi-
Spanish 8.286 . nary text in five minutes,
These range on the average from one word being reckoned
5 - 9% shorter per character than as five letters
in English. There seem little Koch’s researches involved: de-
doubt that if the code were some- termining what competent opera-
what redesigned and adjusted to tors are doing,!examining teach-
optimize it for English a reduc- ing methods in current use, then
tion of about 5% could be made. devising better methods, and test-
ing them in actual classes. His
For the Original American conclusions and recommenda-
Morse code tions seem to be the earliest real
Mr. Ivan Coggeshall made an research into how best to teach the
analysis of American Morse com- Morse code. They agree on the
paratively, using the same normal whole with the best methods of
dah lengths and word spacings today, and may offer some fur-
one unit shorter, and arrived at an ther ideas of value to us. They are
average letter (frequency) length summarized!here.
of 7.978 (as compared with
9.Ø76)!and average number Tests To Determine What Com-
length of l4. As noted in Chapter petent Operators Are Doing
16, American Morse timing is He ran three series of tests to de-
open to considerable variationtermine how the code is compre-
hended and for this purpose used
Chapter 29 four competent, actively-
The Koch Researches practicing radio telegraphers.
Three of these operators had
The obviously extensive re- learned the code solely by sound,
searches of Ludwig Koch, Psy- while the fourth was self-taught
chologist at Die Technische from printed code charts.
154 William G. Pierpont N0HFF” 1932-2001
The Art and Skill of Radio-Telegraphy
about 1Ø wpm character rate all
Sending Tests four operators were forming
For the first test each operator was fairly accurate patterns of sound
to send by regular hand key the (nearly to the International Stan-
series of ten letters b c v q f l h y z dard), except that the letters them-
x at various speeds while moni- selves were somewhat faster and
toring his sending with a pair of the spaces between letters were
headphones to satisfy himself as somewhat longer than standard.
to its quality. Out of his sight and By about 12 wpm all sending had
hearing a recording system made become quite consistent with the
an accurate timed graphical re- standard. (Only the well-known
cord of his sending, so that the individual peculiarities of sending
actual timing of signal and space by hand were obvious. At 1Ø
durations could be examined in wpm and above these deviations
detail. He was instructed to send, were always very small.)
using standard International The three operators who had
Morse timing, at each of six dif- learned by sound obviously
ferent speeds ranging from about showed no real sense of sound
2Ø to 8Ø characters per minute. patterning (Gestalt) at these very
Standard International Morse low speeds: no sense of unity, but
timing, as described in Chapter rather just a series of separate
12, was then used to compare elements strung together. Only by
their sending at all speeds. about 1Ø wpm were the code
Below about 1Ø wpm the only characters now felt to be entities
operator who closely conformed of sound in themselves, patterns
to standard timing was the one which were clear-cut in each op-
who had visually learned the erator’s mind,!no longer shattered
code. The three others deviated elements, disjointed parts.
considerably from “standard”
timing. At 5 wpm these deviations Receiving Tests
were appreciable: Test number One: - Each operator
_ The dits were too short, was to copy the 3Ø German
Morse characters sent by a ma-
_ The dahs tended to be chine in perfect “standard” tim-
longer than 3 times dit ing!at each of four different
length, and speeds over the same speed range
_ The spaces between char- as before.
acters were too long. At about 5 wpm these experi-
However, spacing between the enced operators hardly recog-
components of a letter was almost nized a single character correctly!
perfectly equal to their dit At 7 wpm only 4Ø% to 6Ø% of
lengths. the letters were correctly identi-
fied. At 1Ø wpm all operators
At successively higher speeds this were getting about 95% correct.
situation changed slowly and By 12 wpm all of them correctly
somewhat irregularly until by identified every character.
William G. Pierpont N0HFF” 1932-2001 155
The Art and Skill of Radio-Telegraphy
Test Number Two - Here the student is required to memorize
length of the spaces between the this as a mental picture before
letters was doubled. This time the going any further. After that, the
operators recognized almost all characters are sent to him in stan-
letters correctly at all speeds. That dard timing, at first very, very
is interesting. slowly. This means they are sent
with long drawn out dits, dahs and
From these tests it was concluded spaces. The speed is then very
that experienced operators recog- gradually increased in tiny steps.
nize a code character by its over-
all acoustic pattern (Gestalt), and The faults with this system are:
that this pattern stands out clearly _ To begin by learning visual
only when sent at a minimum symbols creates a useless
character speed of about 5Ø char- detour
acters per minute. At lower speeds
it is heard simply as a disjointed _ Slow sending destroys any
series of signals. --!Koch con- unity, or coherent sound-
cluded that these operators could patterning
recognize the too-slowly sent let- _ The disjointed signal
ters only when letter spacing was doesn’t meet our need for a
doubled, because this increased sense of unity
interval gave them time to inte-
grate the sound and mentally _ Learner can hardly help
speed it up to where they could counting the dits and dahs
recognize it. (A beginner would _ The long spaces between
not have the skill to do this.) letters distract his attention
The operator who had learned from listening by:
from a printed code chart appar- _ Encouraging him to
ently formed better proportioned think and try to put the
characters at very low speeds be- shattered parts together
cause his visual mental picture was to make sense of them,
so strong. However, the price paid a shaped unity, (Ge-
for this was that it limited his stalt), or
maximum speed of copying: he
could barely meet the minimum _ Guessing what may
requirements - a marginal opera- come next
tor. (See below.) _ At each increase in speed
everything sounds different,
Analysis And Criticism Of Pre- and he virtually has to start
vious Teaching Methods over again.
The “Analytic” Method intro- In short, the student is sidetracked
duces the student to the code us- and severely penalized all the way
ing some sort of systematic ar- along: needlessly translating from
rangement, or chart, where the bits and pieces of sound to try to
code characters are arranged by put it together into a meaningful
number and type of related ele- whole, then converting that to vis-
ments, etc., in a visual form. The
156 William G. Pierpont N0HFF” 1932-2001
The Art and Skill of Radio-Telegraphy
ual form and then finally to the Analyzing these methods, two
letter. classes of errors can be seen:
The “Sound-Pattern” Method _ Errors which hinder the
first introduces the Morse char- building of a sense of
acters to the student at a character acoustic!unity
speed fast enough for them to be
perceived as an acoustic unity _ Detour through an op-
(Gestalt), but with wide spaces tical symbol.
between the characters. However, _ Disintegration of the
the student has usually already acoustic form of the
visually mastered a code table or character.
is encouraged to do so as he
learns. _ Errors which prevent going
d i r e c t l y f r o m acous-
Unfortunately, visual mental pic- tic!impression to the letter:
tures are usually very much
stronger and easier to recall than _ Thinking about the
auditory sound patterns. Thus the signal during long
student tends to convert the signal pauses.
pattern he hears into the corre- _ Guessing what may
sponding visual representation, come next.
break it into its component parts, _ Converting or trans-
and then finally into the letter. lating from sound to
This complex action tends at least visual and from visual
partially destroys the wholeness of to the letter
the acoustic impression.
_ Converting or inte-
This series of actions is encour- grating into a total
aged by the long pauses between rhythm pattern.
characters, giving adequate time
for thinking, speculation and the The remedy is obviously to elimi-
cumbersome translation proc- nate all visual references and as-
esses. With increasing speeds the sociate the sound directly with the
pause time becomes too short to letter, to send fast enough from
go through all this, and so the the very beginning so that coher-
student gets stuck below or ent sound patterns are immedi-
around 1Ø wpm, just as with the ately sensed, and to eliminate
analytic method. non-normal spacing between let-
ters.
So this method tends to suffer
about the same faults as the ana- Tests To Establish A Better
lytical method. Both generally Teaching Method
lead directly to that troublesome
plateau at around 1Ø wpm, where Character Speed For Initial
the distinct change in perception Learning
from bits and pieces to coherent The obvious goal was to meet the
unity of each signal occurs. International requirements. The
question is how best to get there.