LESSONS IN MORSE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 67, 4 October 1940, Page 15

LESSONS IN MORSE

(4) Precautions Against "Clipping" HE following is a draft of the fourth lesson in Morse signalling broadcast for Air Force recruits by stations 2YC, 1ZM, and 3YL. This lesson was broadcast at 10 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, September 30, and October 1 and 2, respectively. The talk which preceded the receiving practice dealt mainly with sending, and one very bad habit easily acquired by a beginner was illustrated. This habit is what is called " clipping." The secret of good sending lies in the correct formation of letters and correct spacing. Poorly formed letters together with no sense of spacing make reception not only difficult, but exhausting to the receiving operator. The following four main points were stressed by the instructor. (1) A dot is made with one sharp movement of the key. (2) A dash is three times as long as a dot. (3) A space between each letter is the time normally occupied in sending a dot. (4) A space between each word is the time normally occupied in sending a dash. "Hold Your Dashes "" " Clipping " is the shortening of ‘dashes, particularly the final one of letters end- ing in a dash. In other words, the last dash is not given its full value. This is due to a desire to increase speed by getting to the next letter as quickly as possible. This can, in most cases, be traced to the beginner stages where the learner has tried to send at a much greater speed than he is capable of receiving with the result that the quality of his sending has suffered and bad habits have been acquired. One of these faults, known as clipping, results in such letters as "O" being sent as "G," "eK" as nt > Sug WwW as mt > Medes ad as "C," etc. A few illustrations were given by the instructor, and it was pointed out that the remedy for this fault was hold your dashes, When receiving from a clipping sender, an experienced operator can copy plain language by reading a word or two behind and thus following the sense of the message, but after a time this procedure becomes tiring. The receiving operator should be able to read the signals subconsciously. In code, however, the receiving operator has no chance whatever of copying correctly from a clipping sender. Should he endeavour to do so, the result will be errors, and this of course must be avoided. The rest of the lesson was taken up in a preliminary practice for the test which will take place the following week, and in receiving practice in plain language,