Elmers Corner – June 2024

 by James – KW5CW

 

The GCARC Intermediate CW Course is finally getting under way. It’s had a slow start as people that want to attend the course had a few weeks of priority projects to get done before the class, so it was delayed by a few weeks. Instead of the originally planned class location at Michael Higgins’s home in Sherman, the class is now being held at my home in Anna. Week 1 of the course has already blown by. The goal of the class is to advance and be able to send and receive Morse code at 20 WPM. It is not a beginner’s class, as it would be very helpful to already know 13 WPM, which is the starting speed of the course. As a refresher, I will begin the class at approximately 11 WPM, with several practice sessions at the start to get everyone up to speed for 13 and 14 WPM lessons in class 2 of the Intermediate course. 

Head copy begins at 17WPM, which will give you the ability to copy code without writing the words down on paper. The files and other information that were put out on Google Drive for the last basic class is still available for the students of the basic class, and it will be continuously updated with more practice exercises. A new directory of files is now present on Google Drive for the Intermediate Class students.

I’m still debating if there is time before the end of the year in the fall for another Basic Class. If you think you may be interested in taking a future Basic CW Course in September or October, send me a note, along with a day of the week that would be best for you to attend. If you think you can catch up in the present Intermediate Class course for trying to reach your personal  goal of 20 WPM, you are welcome to attend the class in week #2 that commences on Thursday, June 13th. Contact me directly on my cell at 469-879-4209 and let me know of your interest in taking the class. . Presently, the classes are Thursdays each week.

This is an in-person course, and the classes are free, but most of the studying within the course will be done from home, with practice files on Google Drive, so it is important to have the ability to access Google Drive files on your computer. Owning a Google G-mail address works best.  If anyone attending the class has issues with accessing the Google Drive files, that will be corrected at the class.

Give yourself at least the option to find out if Morse Code is for you.  It surely is not for everyone, but maybe you should keep your mind open and at least give it a try, and you may be surprised by your new-found interest.