so i've been licensed for about 8 months now mostly just doing some local 2m stuff and a bit of HF with SSB but ive been really curious about CW lately. i know its not required anymore but theres something about it that just seems really cool and like a whole other world of operating. the problem is i have absolutely no idea where to start. like do people just memorize the dots and dashes on a chart or is there some other method that actually works? i tried looking at one of those charts once and my brain just kind of shut off. is it realistic to learn this as an adult or is it one of those things thats way easier when youre a kid. i feel like ive heard people say the Koch method or something like that but i dont really know what that even means. just looking for how people here actually did it, not like a textbook answer

yeah so the chart thing doesnt really work, or at least it didnt for me. you dont want to be translating dots and dashes in your head because youll never get fast enough to actually have a QSO doing it that way. what actually clicked for me was learning each letter as a sound, like you just hear dah-dit and your brain goes R without thinking about it. took a while to get there but once it happens its kind of wild.

Koch method is basically where you start with just 2 characters at full speed, like 20wpm character speed, and you only add a new letter once you can copy the current ones at like 90% accuracy. there's a free program called LCWO dot net that does exactly this and thats honestly where id start. some people use the Morse Trainer app on their phone too which is pretty decent for commutes or whatever. just dont do like 5 wpm from the start, that slow stuff actually builds bad habits because the characters sound different at full speed.

im kind of in the same boat as you actually, been at it for maybe 3 months now and its slow going but its coming along. i use LCWO like the other guy said and also been watching some youtube videos just to mix it up. the one thing i'll say is dont try to do it for an hour straight, like 15-20 minutes a day seems way better than cramming. my brain just stops absorbing it after a certain point and i start guessing. also i heard about something called the G4FON trainer which people seem to like but havent tried it yet myself