aldo, cw and xcwcp are programs that are designed to train telegraph reception by ear.

If training in the Morse code alphabet is completed successfully, the next stage is listening training. At one time, I learned to receive and transmit text at a speed of 18 words per minute (18 WPM), which is not enough to work on the air without tension; the speed in the 40 and 20 meter ranges rarely drops below 24 WPM.

To “pull up” your reception speed, there are programs in which you need to practice, training to receive text and character sets (“mixture”) by ear. Even if the reception speed does not increase as a result of training, the legibility of telegraph words and phrases will certainly improve.

aldo console utility

aldo- a command line utility (text mode) for training in Morse code.

Installation:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install aldo

aldo main menu:
Aldo 0.7.7 Main Menu
1: Blocks method
2: Koch method
3: Read from file
4: Callsigns
5: Setup
6: Exit
Your choice:

The program offers 4 training methods:

*block method*- through headphones or speakers, 3 blocks of letters are displayed for recording and you are asked to write them down, then enter them and check with what was transmitted.
Koch method- learning and improving the use of Morse code using lessons using the Koch method - first, simple and contrasting letters k, m, r are used in the program, then more complex s, u, a are added until all the letters of the English alphabet are learned. The training consists of recording transmitted groups, followed by verification. The Koch method is used by the site lcwo.net, which has many positive reviews from radio amateurs.
read from file- read and write the specified file, for example "123.txt"
call signs**- call signs are generated (without repetitions), which need to be recorded on the fly

To set the transfer speed, go, as usual, to menu 5: Setup and answer the program’s questions.
To exit the program - step 6: Exit

Advantage of the program aldo: small size 142 kB, works on any computer (without a graphical shell, on weak netbooks, etc.)

cw utility

Command to convert any text to Morse code.

Installation cw:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cw

This program takes code from stdin and outputs it through headphones. For example, you can display a command description via cw:

man ed  | tr -s ' '  | cw -w 18

where -w 18 is the speed in words per minute (WPM)

In the case of cw there is a problem: finding suitable text to reproduce as telegraph.
I found the following method: 1000 most common words. You need to install the pandoc package for text processing.

sudo apt-get install curl pandoc

Calling a command to "read" a web page in CW form (only English text is supported):

curl -s https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_1000_basic_words | pandoc -f html -t plain | awk '(NR>78)' | tr ',' ' ' | cw -w 20

where 78 is the number of lines from the beginning that need to be skipped, -w 20 is the speed.

To work offline, first download the words, then use the file in the input of the cw command:

curl -s https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_1000_basic_words | pandoc -f html -t plain | awk '(NR>78)' |  tr ',' ' ' > abcdef.txt
cat abcdef.txt | cw -w 20

Other sources of texts: news sites. For example, TASS website:

curl -s https://tass.com/ | pandoc -f html -t plain | awk '(NR>110)' | tr -s ' ' | tr -dc '\0-\177' | cw -w 15

where tr -s ' ' removes extra spaces, tr -dc '\0-\177' removes non-ASCII characters.

xcwcp - graphical utility for telegraph training

The program is an analogue of the text utility cwcp, but with a graphical interface (hence the prefix "X").

Installation:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xcwcp

Compared to aldo, this program has more training options:

• Letter groups
• Number groups
• Alphanum groups
• All char groups
• English words
• CW Words (service abbreviations used in telegraph e.g. QSY)
• and other ways to generate text for CW training.

Conclusion

Even a weak computer can be adapted for telegraph training. Knowledge of Morse code will be useful for recognizing what radio amateurs are talking about in the telegraph sections of the ranges. Good ear reception will help a radio amateur feel confident when conducting a QSO.

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