Copying or Guessing ?

[RadioRay]

As ham radio is being changed from a technical and communication service to a "radiosport" hobby, many aspects have degraded. One which is being pushed recently is to not really learn to copy Morse but rather to gain speed by quessing what the other station is about to send . I have one word for this : WRONG.  A fellow I know and enjoy his exploits was recently passing this off as good advice , with idea like "if the other station sends MALM... I know his QTH is MALMÖ." And stuff like that   Again , I say wrong.  If contest points is the only point, I suppose it does not matter, because contests are meaningless and by nature; disruptive of actual communication.

I just had a bad -partial- CW contact this morning with a code-guesser . When starting a conversation about the usual weather and plans to go to the park later, he come back with how great my signal is from the park. - uh, you're guessing ,'not copying.  Name - wrong, location -wrong most of these were similar in the first few letters. He was not copying - he was guessing. It was not a conversation .

Nobody outside of a professional telegrapher expects 100% copy.'However, this "guessing is good enough" attitude while perfectly fine in the artificial game world of contests, makes an actual conversation impossible. Fortunately , my transceiver has a button to solve this : the OFF button. I made an espresso and read my book in the sun outside.

Please - strive to copy code. Turn off the code reader "feature"'and use your mind. Morse can be very satisfying, and guessing is not the same as copying.

De RadioRay. ..._  ._

[KK0G]

Please - strive to copy code. Turn off the code reader "feature"'and use your mind. Morse can be very satisfying, and guessing is not the same as copying.

What is this "code reader feature" you speak of and how do I "turn it off"? 8)

[gil]

You turn it off by drinking three shots of Cognac..

Gil

[KK0G]

You turn it off by drinking three shots of Cognac..

Gil

That'd do it I suppose.

[cockpitbob]

It depends.  There was an older guy at our club who's code skills were legendary.  The only problem was he had to be mostly drunk to do 40wpm.  Sober, he was just average. :o

[RadioRay]

There may be some truth in this alcohol and telegraphy idea. It is an historical
Fact, that shortly after the Royal Navy stopped the issuing of grog , they generally abandoned radio telegraphy.  Hmmmm .... I see s trend here. I'll get some fine , Imperial
stout on the way home before sked time ;-)

De RadioRay ..._ ._