The Art & Skill of Radio-Telegraphy

-Second Revised Edition-
William G. Pierpont N0HFF

Chapter 17 - Common Errors and What To Do About Them

Both in sending and receiving errors are sometimes made.

Good operators make very few if any while sending, but "errors" do occur both during sending and especially while receiving under various adverse conditions. These make it necessary for us to keep in mind letters that may be mistakenly formed or because of poor conditions appear to sound alike:-

Dotting errors - too many or too few dits are made or thought to be heard:- H/5 S/H B/6 V/4 Z/7
Initial or final dits or dahs missed or confused. (On the receiving end there is a tendency to hear signals as being shorter than they are):- J/1 C/Y P/J Z/Q W/J W/P
Other characters which beginners may confuse, particularly:- F/L G/W Y/Q 6/5 Errors that the beginner or trainee experiences in his own work can be turned into advantages.

Specific errors that are often repeated show us where we need to give special practice. If we tend to confuse two characters, we can eliminate it by hearing them one after another until their differences in rhythm become obvious to us.

When we look over our copy and find non-sense or obvious missed out areas, the correction can often be made simply from examining the context. (This will generally not work for numbers, scrambled letters or call signs, where there is no repetition to help out.) Normal procedure when you catch yourself making an error while you are sending may be handled something like this: -

stop, indicate error by "?" (or by eight dits), then repeat the last correct word (especially if it is short), and then the one sent wrong and continue on, or
in ragchewing unimportant matter, simply stop a moment and restart with the word mis-sent,
similarly, if it is a long word and the first syllable or so has been correctly sent, and it is a word which the receiving operator surely will immediately understand, just pause a moment and then go on with the next word.

(The pause will indicate to him the problem.)

The Art &Skill of Radio-Telegraphy-Second Revised Edition-
©William G. Pierpont N0HFF
This page last updated August 02, 1998

Modifications and compile by Thom LaCosta - K3HRN - December 2004