so ive been licensed for about 8 months now (general) and keep hearing people talk about CW and how great it is and i kind of want to learn but i have no idea where to start. like do people still use those paper charts or is there an app or something. i tried just looking at the dots and dashes on a chart and it made zero sense to me, felt like trying to memorize a random list of letters and numbers with no connection to anything

also how long does this realistically take, i dont want to commit to something that takes years before you can even have a basic qso. someone at the club mentioned the Koch method but i couldnt really follow what they were explaining. is that better than just trying to memorize it off a chart? sorry if this is a dumb question

not a dumb question at all, everyone starts from zero with this. the chart thing almost never works, you end up counting dots and dashes in your head and that completely falls apart once you get to any real speed. the Koch method is basically learning each character at a fast enough speed that your brain just recognizes the sound as a whole unit instead of trying to parse it out piece by piece. LCWO dot net is the go-to site for that, its free and it walks you through it character by character. theres also an app called Morse Mania which a lot of people like for drilling on the phone while waiting in line or whatever.

realistically if you put in like 15-20 minutes a day you can be having slow QSOs maybe in 3 or 4 months, something like 5 wpm is not that hard to get to. going from 5 to 15+ is where it takes a while. but honestly even at 5 wpm on the air people are patient with you, just put QRS in your call or send it at the end and most guys will slow right down

i learned last year using just the morse code ninja videos on youtube, guy has a whole playlist that goes through the alphabet then starts doing random letter groups and words. I did it mostly during lunch at work with headphones, took me probably 5 months before i felt comfortable enough to actually call CQ on 40m which was terrifying but worked out fine lol. the hardest part for me wasnt learning the characters it was actually sending, i borrowed a straight key from someone at the club to start but honestly a paddle and a keyer felt easier once i tried it. anyway yeah skip the chart, just listen to the sounds from day one