The Weighting selections session allows the graphical display of characters
by frequency of occurrence for the selected weighting. It also permits the
student or instructor to set his own weightings to emphasize particular
characters within the text sent.
The (W)eight key selects different frequency patterns of sending of
characters and displays the result graphically. The graphical display is
useful in helping the student visualize the effect of weighting on the
frequency of transmission.
Weightings allow the student to control repetition percentages of characters
to stress those that require more practice. Each time the key is pressed one
of following four options is successively selected and graphically displayed:
When the Student's option is selected, three additional functions are
provided to allow setting character weightings. These are:
The algorithm used to select weightings assumes the selected characters will
be sent 67% of the time while the others being learned will occupy 33%. If
only one character is selected it will be sent very frequently - two-thirds
of time! If six characters are chosen then each will be sent 11% of the time
and the remaining letters will be sent 33% of the time.
Weightings are displayed graphically so the student has a pictorial
representation. The characters being learned are displayed as a bar graph
showing the frequency of selection vertically by character horizontally.
ESC can be pressed while in (W)eighting edit mode to return to the sub-menu
and again to return to the main menu.
Figure 9. Weighting Selection Menu
Random - the character weight will be random (each character having
the same probability of being sent).
Text - the character weight approximates that of English text
with the vowels occurring more frequently. (This will cause
the average speed to increase since these characters are
short in Morse code.)
History - the characters missed during the last complete Receive Game
will be sent more frequently.
Student's - the character weight set by the student will be used to
control the frequency of selection.
(I)nitialize - sets character weightings equal so all characters have an
equal chance of being selected, i.e. random selection.
(+) - requests the input of characters whose weightings are to be
increased.
(-) - requests the input of characters whose weightings are to be
decreased.
By Joe Speroni
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