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Lessons
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| The object of the Lessons is to teach you Morse code systematically using a tried and true method. A new letter is introduced with every lesson. Each lesson contains series of drills of increasing difficulty. When you pass the drill marked End you can advance to the next lesson.
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| Before you start your lessons, you must set up a Lesson Plan. A Lesson Plan is set up from the New Lesson Plan Dialog Box which appears automatically when you first select lessons. An essential part of setting up a Lesson Plan is to decide where to start. For a new user it is a good idea to start with just the first three letters (A, R and E) which is the default setting. Each time you complete a lesson one more letter is added. The fourth letter is "AR" which is Morse code for "End of Message." By convention this combination letter is entered using the "+" key. You will find a table of the complete Morse code (including the other combinations) here.
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| More advanced users can start with more letters. One thing you need to know about setting up a Lesson Plan is that once you have set it up, the starting letter and order of the letters cannot be changed. This is deliberate. If you have a plan you should follow it. If your plan is wrong, start a new plan.
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| Once you have set up your Lesson Plan, you move to the Main Lessons Screen. You can return to Lesson Plan Dialog Box by clicking the Plan icon.
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| The Upper Panel (above) shows you which lesson you are on and shows you which drill is next. You can change the drill by clicking the appropriate button. Each lesson emphasizes a given letter -- the drills in the top row strongly emphasize the current letter and those on the bottom row mildly emphasize it. You can advance through the drills in order or skip them if they are too easy. You can not advance to the next level until you pass the drill marked End. The first drill in each row marked Free lets you go at your own speed -- the others present groups of letters at a fixed speed (which can be set in the Lesson Plan Dialog Box).
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| You start each drill by clicking |
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| Lower Panel
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| If you prefer to transcribe on paper, proceed as before. When the drill is complete click |
| Each time you complete a drill successfully you advance to the next one. One error is permitted. If you give up by pressing Enter or clicking |
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| Progress Display
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| Each time you complete a drill with fewer than five mistakes, a green light comes on in the progress display. It is a good plan to continue practicing until all the lights are green -- after that it may be a good time for a break. You can reset the number of lights in the progress display from the Existing Lesson Plan Dialog Box. The default value is 15.
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