so ive been thinking about getting into CW for a while now but every time i look into it i get overwhelmed with all the different methods and apps and stuff. some people say learn with the Koch method, some say just start copying QSOs off the air, some say flashcards. i honestly dont even know what the right speed to start at is or if that even matters.

i got my general a couple years ago and never really bothered with morse since its not required anymore but there's something about it that keeps pulling me back. watched a guy at a hamfest just rattling off a QSO on his key and it looked almost meditative. anyway does anyone here actually learn it as an adult and have it stick? feels like the kind of thing where if you didnt learn as a kid youre kind of behind the 8 ball

Koch method is genuinely the way to go if youre starting from scratch, just use the LCWO website, its free and walks you through it character by character at a speed that actually trains your brain to hear whole letters instead of counting dots and dashes. that counting thing is the trap that gets everyone, you DO NOT want to learn it that way, you'll plateau and have to unlearn it later.

the key thing people mess up is they start too slow. like 5 wpm feels more comfortable but your brain just starts counting. most people recommend starting the character speed at 20 wpm even if the overall word speed is slower, thats the Farnsworth method basically. sounds weird but it works because you start associating the sound with the letter instead of breaking it down. i started in my mid 40s and after about 3 months of 15-20 minutes a day i was pulling calls out of a pileup. not perfectly but enough. just dont skip days, consistency matters way more than long sessions

yeah im kind of in the same boat as you, been at it for maybe 6 weeks now using an app called Morse Mania which is pretty decent for drilling individual characters. honestly the hardest part for me wasnt learning the sounds it was just getting my hand to actually send cleanly on a straight key. like my head knows what i want to send but my fist does something else entirely lol. might try a paddle at some point but i feel like i should at least get the basics down first. anyway not sure i have much advice but you're definitely not alone in finding it confusing where to start