, when you are told why. You see it requires power
to send out transmission waves and therefore to do it you have to
employ a high-pressure current. Receiving, on the other hand, demands
delicately adjusted instruments which are equipped to catch every
faint, incoming wave. Should you let the strong charge of electricity
used for transmission pass through your fragile receiving apparatus
you would ruin it in no time."

"I can see that," replied Dick.

"Grasp that notion and you have one big principle of the difference
between sending messages and receiving them," said Bob. "Skill in
learning to take messages either in code or cipher comes with
practice. The more you work at it the faster you can go. You have a
keyboard all installed and the only thing standing between you and an
expert operator is patience. Speed comes sooner than you think, too,
if you practice persistently every day. As for the Morse code you
press the key lever down quickly and instantly release it to make a
dot. A dash is equal to three dots; the space between the parts of the
same letters is equal to a dot; that between two letters to three
dots; and between two words to five dots. You must train your ear
until the span of these intervals becomes unmistakable. When you get
some skill and are ready to try out what you can do, you will find
that there are several ways of getting wider practice. There are, for
example, local clubs that broadcast in code and send messages limited
in speed to an amateur's capacity. Such centers are considerate enough
to transmit at the rate of not more than five or ten words to the
minute. It is persistence and a willingness to go slowly and carefully
that win out in the end. A moderately delivered message that is
without errors is worth a dozen fast, inaccurate ones; for when you
blunder and have to go back and repeat, you not only waste your time
and that of the man at the other end of the line but you annoy and
usually confuse him. You will never gain anything if you are content
with being a sloppy operator since above everything else radio
messages must be correct. That is their chief value. Therefore, if
after trying with all your might you find you cannot qualify as a
topnotch, high-speed man be content to drop into the class below and
be an accurate, slower operator. There are always certain things we
do better than others. Speed may not be one of your gifts. That is no
sign you have not other talents, however.