Got a loan of a reel to reel mini tape recording machine and the old man dragged a morse key from his big box of good aeroplane stuff that lived under the house and banged away at ten WPM for me to learn.
He had used Morse in the war years and into the fifties in Dragons and Drovers out west and was reputed to be GOOD.
A job hinged on my getting the ten WPM in less than a week. Bloody dreamed Morse after a couple of days.
When I rolled up to DCA to do the test I kept getting stonkered by the tiny click of the spark jumping across the contacts as the key was released on the record's version. It sounded like a dot.
I'd go back out under a tree and listen to the tape and write some more and front up againafter half an hour. Did that two days or so for a couple of hours each.
Hec Cooma was the DCA man and he knew the pressure was on as the week approached and I kept failing. I was regularly down to one too many mistakes I think we were allowed ten.
Finally Hec counted ten mistakes while I counted eleven and he announced, "Congratulations ya passed at last" and snaffled the exam out of sight.
SO! I've been a fraud all me career and now it's too bad, CASA. I can't be bothered flying now so ya can't pull me license. Ha Ha!