so ive been a tech for about 8 months now and i keep reading that learning CW is worth it but every time i sit down to actually try i just feel completely lost. like do i learn the alphabet first and then try to listen or do i just listen to actual QSOs and hope my brain figures it out eventually? ive tried a few apps but i cant tell if im doing it right or just memorizing patterns wrong. also not sure if i should be aiming for a certain WPM to start or just not worry about speed at all. any advice would be appreciated, especially from people who came to it late cause im in my 40s and not sure if thats going to make it harder

okay so i went through this exact thing a couple years ago, also started in my 40s so dont worry about that part at all, the brain can still do it just takes a bit longer maybe. the biggest thing i can tell you is dont learn by memorizing what the letters look like on paper, like dont study the dit dah patterns visually. you want to learn each letter as a sound from the start. the Koch method is what worked for me, theres a free program called LCWO dot net that does it properly, you start with just two characters at a target speed like 20 wpm and you dont add a new one until you can copy the ones you have at like 90 percent accuracy. it sounds slow but honestly within a few weeks you start to have actual letters in your head instead of counting dits and dahs. the farnsworth timing thing where the characters are fast but theres extra space between them is also really helpful early on. i probably spent 15-20 minutes a day just doing the LCWO lessons and that was enough. dont try to listen to real QSOs yet, too much going on and youll just get frustrated

yeah what the other guy said about not counting is huge, i made that mistake for like the first month and had to basically unlearn everything. also just throwing this out there but the app Morse Mania on the phone is pretty decent for squeezing in practice when youre waiting around somewhere, it wont replace actual sitting down practice but its something. one thing nobody told me was that copying by hand is really diffrent from just recognizing letters in your head, so even when you think you know a letter you might fumble when youre trying to write it at the same time. i had to slow way down when i added the pencil into it. anyway dont stress the WPM thing yet, just get the letters solid first