so ive been licensed for about 8 months now (general class) and i keep seeing people talk about cw on here and on the air and honestly it sounds really cool but i have absolutely no idea where to begin. like i dont even know the alphabet in morse yet. i tried googling it and theres like a hundred different methods and apps and courses and i dont know which ones are actually good vs just whatever comes up first in search results.

someone at my club mentioned the koch method? and someone else said just use an app. my main question i guess is do i need to buy any hardware to practice or can i do most of it just from my phone or computer before i even touch a key. also how long does it realistically take before you can actually copy a QSO on the air, not trying to be competitive about it just curious what to expect

Koch method is solid, thats what i used and what most people recommend these days. The idea is you start with just 2 characters but you learn them at full speed like 20wpm right away, which feels weird at first because youre only doing 2 letters but it means your brain learns the sound patterns instead of counting dots and dashes. thats the trap a lot of beginners fall into, counting, and then you hit a wall around 10-12wpm that you cant get past.

For software just use lcwo.net on your computer, its free and its basically the standard Koch trainer online. There's also the Morse Toad app if you want something on your phone, and honestly just_learn_morse_code app on android is fine too. You dont need any hardware at all to get started, just speakers or headphones. I'd say give it like 15 min a day consistently and after maybe 2-3 months you might be copying simple QSOs depending on how your brain takes to it. some people faster some slower, dont stress the timeline.

yeah the app route works fine, i was in the same spot as you like a year ago. one thing nobody told me that i wish someone had -- practice copying by writing it down with pencil and paper, not typing. I dont totally understand why but it clicked way faster for me once i switched. something about the physical act of writing i guess. also dont skip the common prosigns and Q codes early on because youll hear those constantly on the air and it helps to recognize QRN and QRM and stuff before you even try to follow a real QSO