Once you have gained some familiarity and speed in copying the JLMC characters using your computer
keyboard, it's time to get serious and start some real CW practice using the
exercises below with pen and paper.
The first thing you will want to do is forget about
practicing the alphabet and dive right into numbers and
punctuation. As previously mentioned, along with
troublesome letters, the main cause of stumbling with Morse code
can be attributed to poor familiarity with numbers and
punctuation. These characters are longer and more difficult to
master, and for that reason alone, you need to apply about three
times the practice effort
to recognize them with the same reliability as alphabetic characters.
However, once you have learned to recognize these longer characters
as easily as letters,
you will come to realize that their added length tends to slow down the overall
phrase or sentence, which is an advantage. You may
eventually discover that the real challenge of dealing with
numbers is not necessarily the recognition of these characters
themselves, but the momentary mental lapse caused by shifting
from alpha to numeric. Some people experience this lapse
and some don't, but the small element of "surprise" in hitting a
number in the middle of a sentence is eventually mitigated by
the added time requirement of sending digits. The same
goes with punctuation.
I have never been a big fan of abbreviations, simply for the fact that fading and
interference play havoc with them. If you miss a letter or two of a six-letter word, you
can probably guess at the rest from the context of the sentence. If you miss a letter or two
of an abbreviation, you're pretty much left with nothing.
No doubt, they are useful in a standard QSO or for contesting.
It would seem as though they were developed for this very
purpose. But for meaningful communications, unlike
shorthand, there are not enough of them and they are not much
shorter than the words they replace.
That being said, everyone seems to use them to some degree, so it's best that you struggle
with them.
One annoying shortfall of the JLMC program is that it only
recognizes a single space between characters or words. If you
type 10 spaces between a character or word, it will only respect
the first space and then go right to the next character.
Therefore, if you want more time between each word you need to
create it with filler characters, such as in this case, where I
have used periods between the abbreviations in certain
exercises. However, if there is a particular punctuation
character which you are trying to drill into your head, you can
modify this exercise by replacing the periods with your
troublesome character.
The best way to practice abbreviations is to develop your own stumble list which repeats the ones
that you have the most trouble with. Each time you practice the entire list, you should
run over your stumble list at least three times.
In the same way, you will want to develop your own troublesome punctuation list as I have done
below. Simply decide which five or so punctuations give you the most trouble and repeat them
over and over the same number of times in a random pattern so that you do not become familiar with
the pattern. Of course, your list will be somewhat different than mine.
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RCD . ANT . OPR . GND . SRI . HW . WUD . R . XYL . QRP . K . VY . TT . SIG . BCNU . CK . WL . GVG . QSY . STN . XCVR . CUAGN . TXT . AGN . QRV . NM . DR . QSL . HW? . QRQ . CUM . TTS . RFI . XMTR . GM . SN . ABT . WA . PX . QSB . HIHI . 88 . QTH . MSG . WDS . UR . CONDX . RST . QRO . RPT . VX . HV . RX . DLD . WD . WKG . NR . BRB . URS . OB . N . FB . WX . CLG . QRM . C . ND . CS . OP . VX . 99 . CUD . QRL . GG . U . GN . NX . CUZ . NIL . BTU . FREQ . CUL . CS . GESS . REF . CLR . LID . QTX . QRS . ARND . DIF . DN . ENUF . SEZ . OK . ADR . MNI . CFM . HR . TMW . QSZ . B4 . YR . GV . II . PKG . YL . QSP . CLD . PSE . HPE . RCVR . AR . QRW . W . TU . GUD . FM . OC . 73 . GA . LVG . WB . GB . OM . FWD . PWR . GL . TNX . QRN . GD . SED . RE . QRJ . FYI . ES . QRT .
RFI XMTR GM SN ABT WA PX QSB HIHI 88 QTH MSG WDS UR CONDX RST QRO RPT VX HV RX DLD WD WKG NR BRB URS OB N FB WX CLG QRM C ND CS OP VX 99 CUD QRL GG U GN NX CUZ NIL BTU FREQ CUL RCD ANT OPR GND SRI HW WUD R XYL QRP K VY TT SIG BCNU CK WL GVG QSY STN XCVR CUAGN TXT AGN QRV NM DR QSL HW? QRQ CUM TTS CS GESS REF CLR LID QTX QRS ARND DIF DN ENUF SEZ OK ADR MNI CFM HR TMW QSZ B4 YR GV II PKG YL QSP CLD PSE HPE RCVR AR QRW W TU GUD FM OC 73 GA LVG WB GB OM FWD PWR GL TNX QRN GD SED RE QRJ FYI ES QRT
RST . XCVR . ENUF . SIG . CUL . SEZ . ARND .
DIF . HR . FYI . STN . FWD . ADR . SRI . WUD . STN . AGN . CUM .
SRI . ARND . ENUF . SEZ . HPE . XMTR . STN . MSG . RFI . XMTR .
BCNU . XYL . XCVR . WDS .
ENUF . XCVR . XMTR . HPE . BCNU
. ARND . ADR . XYL . ENUF . XCVR . XMTR . ARND . ADR . XYL .
ENUF . XCVR . XMTR . HPE . BCNU . ARND . ADR . XYL . ENUF . XCVR
. XMTR . HPE . BCNU . XCVR . XMTR . HPE . BCNU . ARND . ADR .
XYL . ENUF . ENUF . XCVR . XMTR . HPE . BCNU . ARND . ADR . XYL
. ENUF . XCVR . XMTR
73 Best regards . 88 Love and kisses . 99 Get lost! . ABT About . ADR Address . AGN Again . ANT Antenna . AR All right, you can stop copying . ARND Around. AS# Stand by # minutes . B4 Before . BCNU Be seeing you . BK Break . BRB Be right back . BT Break in text, New paragraph . BTU Back to you. C Yes . CFM Confirm . CK Check . CL Closing my station . CLD Called . CLG Calling . CLR Clear . CS Callsign. CONDX Conditions . CU See you . C UD Could. CUL See you later . CUAGN See you again . CUM Come . CUZ Because. DIF Difference . DLD Delivered . DN Down . DR Dear . DX Distance . ES And . ENUF Enough. FB Fine Business . FM From. FREQ Frequency FWD Forward. FYI For your information . GA Go Ahead . GB Goodbye . GD Good day . GESS Guess . GG Going. GL Good luck. GM Good morning . GN Good Night . GND Ground . GUD Good . GV Give . GVG Giving . HIHI Laughter . HPE Hope . HR Here . HV Have . HW How . HW? How do you copy? . II I say again. K Over. LID Poor Operator . LTR Later . LVG Leaving . MNI Many. MSG Message . N No . ND Nothing doing . NIL Nothing . NM Name . NR Number . NW Now; I resume transmission . NX Noise. OB Old boy . OC Old chap . OM Old man . OP Operator . OPR Operator . OT Old timer . PKG Package . PSE Please . PT Point . PWR Power . PX Press . R Received as transmitted . RCD Received . RCVR Receiver . RE Regarding . REF Referring to, Reference; Refer to . RFI Interference . RPT Repeat . RST Readability; strength ; tone . RX Receiver . SED Said . SEZ Says . SIG Signal . SK Silent Key; Closing station . SN Soon. SRI Sorry . STN Station . SUM Some . TKS Thanks . TMW Tomorrow . TNX Thanks . TT That . TTS That is . TU Thank you . TX Transmitter . TXT Text . U You UR You are . URS Yours . VY Very . VX Voice. W Watts . WA Word after . WB Word Before . WD Word . WDS Words WKD Worked . WKG Working . WL Well; Will . WUD Would . WX Weather . XCVR Transceiver. XMTR Transmitter. XYL Wife . YL Young lady . YR Year
QRJ weak . . QRL busy . . QRM interference . . QRN static . . QRO increase power . . QRP decrease power . . QRQ send faster . . QRS send slower . . QRT stop . . QRV ready . . QRW inform . . QRZ who's calling . . QSB fading . . QSL acknowledge receipt . . QSP relay . . QSY another frequency. . QSZ send twice . . QTH location . . QTX keep station open . .