19 Apr
2011
19 Apr
'11
7:41 a.m.
On Apr 18, 2011, at 11:05 PM, Rod Smallwood wrote:
I use Morse on a daily basis and am completely self
taught (over 50years
ago). I don't think it?s an "I can/can't do it situation." Learning it
is
another matter. If you can't pick it up yourself then find somebody
qualified to teach you.
That's not universally true. I struggled with Morse code, and never got much better
than a sloppy 5 WPM. And, it's not a matter of "somebody to teach": one of
my elmers was Gordon West WB6NOA himself (I'm originally from Southern California, and
was a member of a radio club that had Gordon as a member for a while).
We had this exact same argument with SMD soldering a few months back. Some people just
can't do it for whatever reason, and it's not always because they lack desire or a
teacher. Some skills are just simply out of some people's reach. And that's OK:
I'm sure some of the skills I have are out of other's reach. It's part of
being human. We all have different abilities and maximum levels of achievement.
The irony: I can hear and decode touch tones at the maximum key pulse speed with the same
accuracy as most telephone switches. I can also "play by ear" after only
hearing a musical piece one or two times. I would never tell somebody else that struggled
with either musical skill that "if I can do it, anybody can." It's
insulting not only to them, but to myself and my musical "talent."