+ CW FROM THE RIGHT -
To begin I taught radio Morse Code in the U.S. Navy School class A in
Norfolk, Virginia, and all radio operators learned the code and how to type at
the same time. I will try and explain how the left lobe of the brain upsets the
concentration of the right lobe.
Competition between the two lobes become intense when doing certain things and learning is one of them. How we attempt to learn something is very important.
Training an operator to copy and send Morse code must be done in a manner that stops hemispheric left and right brain interference especially during the beginning training phase.
The same situation exists when a person learns to use a
typewriter and must achieve speed. You must have accuracy first, (was that B or
6 that I heard?), and speed second, (I know that was
a B or 6 that I heard)
To learn the Morse code, the Dot/Dash input should be presented to the student as sound only, (aural, hearing), experience. The vision system the most dominant of our senses should NOT be involved in a learning process that is aural.
You learn by beginning at a very slow speed to learn to RECOGNIZE THE SOUND of letters, numbers and punctuation marks. As these characters become recognized, and practice continues, you will begin to hear the unique sound of whole words. You will hear, it, she, name, that, the, and many more small words.
Now the source of conflict.
When a student copies code as words on paper, a conflict occurs between the left and right brain. The left tries to read the message as it is on paper and it begins to anticipate the incoming message. As this anticipation becomes dominant, the Left tries to tell the Right what the next letter is, which most of the time is not correct.
The right brain is easily confused during the early learning of CW and can not concentrate and misses most of the message. This left and right conflict is the most problem in the learning stages of Morse code. Experience shows that the right brain does not anticipate or draw conclusions, in reality it is all objective.
Many who learn the code never achieve high speeds or even moderate speeds because the left and right brains are in conflict during the receiving phase.
During the war instructors learned that the only way to
keep the left brain from interfering is to never let it see the letters on
paper. You have to learn the code by sound only. Well this in reality does not
work, as you have to deliver a written message. We need a solution.
The Solution:
The solution was to send gibberish, or groups of five letters, numbers
and punctuation that are not words. The left brain would not try to understand
these meaningless groups. Therefore, not having anything to anticipate, it does
not interfere. That is what we received in the U.S. Navy Radio School, 8 hours a
day of groups of letters, numbers, and punctuation.
Once the right brain has learned the code and can not be disturbed, a
normal sharing of the input to both brains is resumed, and real messages could
be received, not groups.
Next week I will show you how to test yourself and see if you know the
Morse Code, and also if you are surprised, how to begin to re-learn the code or
learn as a beginner. You no-code Techs get ready, as you can learn the
code easily. - Ed Ewell K7DXV 73