Ink About your Steno Machine

Here are some tips for economical and efficient use of your steno machine ribbon cartridge.

So what does a court reporting student do when only the tops of your letters print on the paper of one's Stenograph machine? It's probably one of two things. If it's just a letter here and there, the individual key contact switch may need to be adjusted. I never seem to have my owners manual on me when this needs to be done, so follow the directions at this link to for a refresher course on which way to turn the allen wrench.

If all the letters print partially or are just printing really lightly, you probably need to re-ink your ribbon. "Re-ink your ribbon?" That's right. I said it. You don't need to keep buying $24 ink cartridges every time you start not being able to read the letters on your steno paper. All you need is a bottle of steno machine ink like the one pictured below which can be found at numerous online court reporting supply stores for around $10 or under.

If you look at where the red arrow is pointing in the picture below, there's a little sponge next to the wheel where you can put a few drops of ink at a time and then wait for it to absorb. Put the tip of a pen or similar tool in the hole indicated by the green arrow and spin the wheel around several times to work the ink into the ribbon. You may need to repeat the process to get your letters to show up again, but just err on the side of caution. And voila, a money-saving solution that all steno students can benefit from as long as your machine uses a Stenograph ink cartridge. This article is also quoted over at GDW's site, too, for and other money and time saving tips.

Court Reporting Internship Experiences


It's been a little while since I last updated you on how my court reporting internship hours are going, so let me me get you up to speed. What I'm working on right now for school is the 40 hours of writing time in court, depos, etc. that I have to get out of the way before I start my official internship.

A few weeks ago, I hauled my steno machine downtown and sat in on a jury trial. It ended up being a really interesting substantial battery case.  If I were to continue working in this town after I get out of school, I suspect that would not be the last bar fight case I'd report.  My writer's memory filled up at about the 2-hour mark, but I stayed and took more testimony down until I had three hours under my belt for the day.  I eventually had to leave to move my car, but it was like trying to get up and turn the TV off when your favorite show is on.The judge in the case spoke clearly and slowly, so I could really keep up during the judge's charge to the jury and with his rulings.

The time after that, I went with another steno student to court for a barrage of motion hearings and pleadings.  That day was really fast-paced, and at times it was hard to hear the parties because we were at the back of the courtroom and nobody was speaking into their microphones.  I just wrote whatever I could and did my best.  The cases were always changing, and it was tough to keep the names and party designations straight, so that was the challenge for the day. We also introduced ourselves to the court reporters and asked them some questions, and they seemed excited for us and wished us success. 

Last week, I wrote another jury trial with the same judge. This time involved a domestic disturbance, and the courtroom was full to the brim. When I first got there, I sat in the media room behind two-way glass where they piped in the audio. People were going in and out the whole time, and once the judge forgot to turn the audio back on after a sidebar, so I moved out into the gallery until the lunch break. I thought I'd give the media room a try again after lunch, but it turned out that a bunch of comedians decided to call a play-by-play of the proceedings in there, so I went back out in the gallery at the earliest break in the proceedings.

Last but not least, I had my first CART experience during the career spotlight day for the judicial reporting program.  Area high school students came to listen to what our profession was all about, and I took down what my teachers were saying as best I could, and my writing was projected on the big screen at the front of the classroom.  I also demonstrated my virtual piano/steno machine abilities by playing Let it Be, Fur Elise, and Bad Romance by Lady Gaga for them, and they completed a code-breaking/steno worksheet that I created. When all was said and done, I felt like I had a big part in the success of the presentation that day.

That's all that's fit to be written for today. If you just can't get enough court reporting internship stories, check out this link to read another student's experiences or this link to continue reading mine. 

Steno Machine Blues: Trouble Under the Hood


When you're living the steno student life, there's going to be ups and downs. The last few weeks, I've been telling fellow students and other people in my life that I'm going to start looking to buy my first professional steno machine real soon.

Well, today I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that it may happen sooner than I thought. The bad news? If I do, it'll be on account of my attempt to be cheap/go green and having been writing paperless on my Stenograph 400 SRT paper machine for the past few weeks.

I went to take some speed tests this morning only to find that my ribbon cartridge no longer fits in my machine, I assume, because I take it out when I write paperless. Some thin cylindrical metal piece running underneath the key contact switches has somehow slid askew and neither it nor the cartridge goes back in. So a word to the wise: Don't write without your ribbon cartridge until further notice unless you're monetarily and emotionally prepared to upgrade at this time.

Thankfully, my state fall convention is coming up soon.  There's supposed to be someone that does machine repairs/service there, so I'm going to see if they can A) fix it for a nominal fee, or B) pronounce it dead, and I can move on to greener pastures, a new professional steno writer. I'll keep you posted on what happens.

Update: The steno guru at the convention was able to fix my machine for free. Yay!

Practice Technique -- Speed Charts Method

Here is a speedbuilding practice technique our teachers told us about in school, but I've turned it into chart form for easy comprehension.

In the first example, you'd practice the audio track at 100% the first time through, and for the second repetition, you slow it down to 90% with your variable speed player (I use the play speed settings in Windows Media Player. Click here to learn how. Or some fellow students use ExpressScribe.) Repetition #3 would be at 80%, etc.

Choose the appropriate speed chart to go along with the difficulty of the track and whether it's a trail speed, push speed, or goal speed. You can even print it off and check off each repetition as you go. Happy speedbuilding!


Taken from my response to a comment on this post, here's a breakdown of which chart would be good for which type of material.

The second one down would be a good one to push your limits. I think the ones that have a large range of speeds, like #3 and #4, if we're counting top to bottom and then over, would be good for less dense material and can therefore be practiced over a large number of speeds.

#1 and #5 might be good for more dense material, and then #6 would be a good one to practice control speeds on.

Reading Raw Steno Notes - Make Haste Slowly

  

Here is another excerpt from Practical Pointers for Shorthand Students continued from the last reading steno notes blog post. I also slightly modified it to apply to machine shorthand. Hopefully these installments will help us all reach our speed goals faster by getting better at reading our notes! The English translation appears at the bottom.


     The old Latin proverb, "Festina Lente" -- make haste slowly -- should be taken seriously to heart by the shorthand student.  Don't be overanxious or in too great a hurry, but "make haste slowly."

     The blues alluded to previously are generally caused by the fact that as soon as the average stenographic student touches fingers to machine in the study of shorthand, he makes a mistake.  He usually gets the fallacious idea that from the beginning his sole purpose should be to write rapidly.  Forget that there is such a thing as speed in shorthand, and typewriting until you can write and read fluently.  When you can do this, speed will come almost without effort.

     The better you can read your notes, the better and the more rapidly you will write in future.  It will take you fully three times as long to learn to read your shorthand notes with facility as it does to learn to write them.  Then think -- of what use of your shorthand notes if you can not read them!  Write accurately first, last, and all the time, and speed will surely follow.  Bear this in mind now and always -- "make haste slowly."