Tutors
This page gives a brief introduction into all tutors currently implemented. Each tutor provides specialized means to learn or practice Morse code.
The Koch tutor is the central tutor of this program (hence it is called KochMorse). It allows you to learn Morse code quiet fast, directly with the desired target speed (I recommend a speed of 18-20 WPM with 15 WPM effective speed). This allows you to learn the sound of the symbols at a high speed while leaving sufficient time to write the symbols down (a lower effective speed just increases pause lengths between symbols but not the speed of the symbols and therefore their sound).
Each lesson sends five lines of 5 groups of 5 random symbols each (can be configured). The Koch tutor provides 43 lessons starting with lesson 2 which contains only two symbols "K" and "M". You will try to copy these symbols repeatably and once you are able to copy 90% of the symbols correctly, you can increase the lesson number, which will add a new symbol (in this case "R" in lesson 3). In my Experience, you will be able to complete the first 10-ish lessons quiet fast. This does not mean that you really learned these symbols. You rather just learned to distinguish these symbols. Distinguishing more than 10 symbols is hard. Hence, you will slow down with higher lessons numbers as you start to actually learn the symbol patterns.
The image below shows the settings dialog for the Koch tutor.
Beside the obvious lesson settings, there are several additional options that will alter the behavior of the tutor. With increasing lesson numbers the number of symbols the tutor can choose from increases. Consequently, the frequency of occurrence of the newest symbol will decrease. By enabling prefer last chars, the likelihood of picking one of the newer symbols is increased. This allows to practice these symbols more intensely.
The repeat last char option just repeats the newest symbol five times before starting the lesson. This might help you to recognize the new symbol more easily.
The min/max group size specifies the size of the symbol groups in the lesson. If they are equal, e.g. 5, the tutor will always send groups of this size. If they differ, the tutor will pick a random group size in the specified interval.
The Infinite lines and Line count options allow to specify the number of lines to send in a lesson.
The final option enables a simple summary at the end of the lesson.
From time to time you may notice that certain symbols are easily confused, for example (s,h,5), (u,v,4) or (7,z,8). To practice some specific symbols more intensively you can use the random tutor. This tutor is similar to the Koch tutor but allows you to select specific symbols to practice. This tutor actually helped me to overcome typical mistakes I made.
The settings of the random tutor allows you to select the symbols to practice from a list of characters, numbers, punctuation symbols and prosigns. Like for the Koch tutor, it is possible to configure the grouping of the symbols send. That is, it allows you to select the minimum and maximum group size, and specify the number of lines per lesson. If the show summary option is enabled, a brief summary is shown at the end of the lesson.
Once you learned the code you may notice that reading QSO on air is still difficult even if carried out in a relatively slow speed. This is due to the fact that experienced CW operators do not read single symbols but rather complete words. You may already be familiar with a frequently used word: "CQ". When you hear it on the air, you do not read "C" and "Q" and then recognize it means "CQ" but rather recognize the complete pattern of the word. Typical CW QSOs follow a relatively strict pattern consisting of a small set of frequently used words. To practice reading complete words rather than single characters I implemented the Generated Text Tutor. As its name suggests, this tutor allows for generating different texts randomly specified by a set of rules. There are several pre-defined rule sets for practicing to read QSOs, Q-codes and words, and call signs. There is also the possibility to send a text file or to send a text generated from your own set of rules.
The best way to learn the most commonly used words, is the Generated QSO tutor. This tutor will generate a random QSO from a set of rules and send it. The objective of this tutor is to practice the common form and frequently used words in QSOs on air. You will notice that you are be able to follow QSOs without writing everything down quiet quickly. This is the level of profession you want to achieve for having fun with CW.
This tutor just sends random words and Q-codes for practicing to read entire words instead of single characters. The best way to use this tutor is to try to read an entire word before writing it down.
Similar to the Q-codes & words tutor above, this tutor just sends a series of random call signs for practicing.
Once you master reading you may practice transmitting. You may as well start practicing transmitting before learning to read. The transmit tutor allows you to practice transmitting.
Connect your training generator to the microphone input of your computer and adjust the input device and detector threshold in the Devices settings tab. You are now ready to transmit. The decoder is relatively forgiving regarding your transmission speed. It should be around the speed set in the Morse Code settings tab.
The chat tutor is a combination of the transmit and QSO tutor. This tutor tries to simulate a real QSO. That is, call CQ with your training generator and KochMorse will answer.