so ive been licensed for about 8 months now, tech class, and ive been thinking about learning CW for a while but every time i try to figure out where to start i just get overwhelmed by all the different opinions online. some people say start with the Koch method, some say just buy a book and memorize the dots and dashes, some say use an app. i honestly dont even know what the Koch method really is, i just keep seeing it mentioned.

i dont have a key yet either so i guess thats another thing i need to figure out. is it even worth trying to learn the characters before i have something to practice sending on? i tried using one of those online sites where you just listen and copy but i can only get like 2-3 characters before i lose track of where i am. is that normal when youre just starting out or am i doing something wrong

yeah what youre describing is totally normal, dont let it discourage you. the Koch method is basically just a way of learning where you start with only 2 characters at full speed (like 20wpm) and you dont move on to adding a new character until you can copy those two at like 90% accuracy or whatever threshold you set. the idea is your brain learns the sound as a whole instead of counting dots and dashes. that counting thing is actually what trips most people up early on.

LCWO dot net is the site most people use for Koch training, its free and its pretty much the standard recommendation around here. just set it to 20wpm character speed with maybe 10wpm effective speed to give yourself gaps between characters at first. i know it feels weird sending that slow but keeping the character speed up is the whole point.

as for a key, honestly you can start learning to copy without one, reading and sending are kind of separate skills anyway. plenty of people spend the first month or two just doing receive practice before they ever touch a key. but when you are ready a cheap straight key is fine to start, no need to jump straight into paddles and a keyer until you have some feel for it.

i went through this exact same thing last year. what finally clicked for me was the Morse Mania app, i used it on my phone during lunch breaks and stuff. its got the Koch method built in and it kind of gamifies it a little which helped me stay consistent. the thing nobody tells you is that consistency matters way more than how long you practice in one sitting, like 15 minutes every day will get you further than 2 hours on a saturday and then nothing for a week.

also there are some youtube videos by a guy called the CW academy i think, or maybe its just CW ops who runs it, but they have actual structured courses with instructors and practice partners which sounds pretty great if you want something more structured than just an app. i havent done the full course myself but ive heard good things on here before.