Evening star., 1923-07-22
TEACHING RADIO CODE In
SLEEP PROVES PRACTICAL
Pensacola Air Students Always Make
Faster Speed After Spending Night With
) Receivers Strapped to Their Ears.

for the extremely fast senders.
Words of five letters each are used as a
basis of computation. The general
average rate of speed of transmission
by hand Is about twenty words per
minute, and consequently the average
rate of speed of reception is likewise
twenty words per minute. Some op-
orators, however, experience difficulty
in receiving at this rate of speed.
Ihey may be capable of receiving at
the rate of fifteen words per minute
with ease. for example, but become
confused when the speed Is increased
TO twenty words, and their mental
runctioning may be totally incapable
or intelligently following the charac-
terS at the rate of twenty-five words
per minute.
Student aviators at Pensacola must
acquire facility in receiving the radio
code at the rate of twenty words per
minute during their six months
training at the school, failing in
which they cannot attain their goal
Of pilots designation and are
dropped from the class. This require
ment has always been a bugbear to
the student aviators, as it has always
proved to be one of the most difficult
things for the average student to ac-
complish during the entire six months
course of instruction and training.
SubcOnSciOus Training.
With view to aiding the delin-
quent radio students. one of the radio
instructors advanced the theory OF
Unconscious" or SubcOnscious train
ing and requested that il be given a
trial
This instructor stated that during
his earlier period of training in radio
he used a. mechanical automatic
sender to enable him to acquire facil-
ity In receiving the code at higher
speeds than he was accustomed to.
AT one time he adjusted the trans
mltter to send at the rate of speed Of
thirty five words per minute, which was
considerably In excess of the speed
he could receive at that time. While
the mechanical tranSmitter was sending
to him he fell asleep in the chair
with the headphoneS over his ears
and slept for several hours. the me-
chanical transmitter continuing to
send in the meanwhile. When he
awoke he found that he was able to
receive at the rate of thirty five
words per minute without difficulty.
Although this claim. when ad-
vanced. was met with amused skepti-
cism. it was decided to give the meth
cd trial. Practical tests of the
system soon convinced the skeptics
that the method was both practicable
and valuable.
The system is now in use at Pensa-
cola not only for students who ex-
perience unusual difficulties in re-
celvlng the code at the higher speeds,
but also to assist in the more rapid
progress of the students who do not
experience unusual difficulties in this
regard
The method of unconscious or sub
conscious training in use at Pensacola
is for the students to adjust the same
receiver headphones which they use
IN the day classes on their heads
when they retire for the night. Pro-
fesslonal operator instructors remain
on duty throughout the night and
continue to send code at a rate of
speed about ten words in excess of
the students normal capacity to re-
ceiVe. The characters at this speed
are thus impressed on the students
subconscious mind while he sleeps
and in his conscious hour during the
following day he almost invariably can
receive at the higher rate of speed.
Makes Better Speed.
Thus. after having memorized the
code, and after having thoroughly
familiarized his mental faculties with
the dot and dash characters as a re-
suit of several weeks training in the
Day classes until he ACQUIRES facility
in receiving at the rate of. say, twelve
words per minute, the student aviator
can now advance to the higher rates
OF speed of reception without ap-
parent mental effort on his part
1t may be suggested that this meth
cd of training would logically keep
the student awake throughout the
night, but professional radio and land
wire telegraph operators know that
this is not the case.
Professional radio operators who
are required TO wear their headphones
on duty on shipboard and at shore
stations throughout the long hours of
the night often encounter difficulty in
Keeping awake, especially at the less
busy stations. They sometimes fall
asleep while sitting in the chair with
the headphones over their ears. In
such cases they may sleep for one or
more hours regardless of >any ordi-
nary signals being reproduced in the
headphones and in which they are NOT
interested. The reproducing of the
call letters" of their station. how
ever, Will almost invariably awaken
the sleeping operator and Instantly
bring his mind from a state of nm.
consciousness to a state of mental
alertnesS.
Likewise. a land wire telegram
operator may fall asleep in his Office
at night with a dozen telegram in
struments Gathering about him hut
II one or the instruments should sud
denly begin repeating his station call
letters 1t will likewise invariahlv
awaken him and bring his mind TO .
state or mental alertness
copyrighted. 1923 21st Century pressl