so ive been licensed for about 8 months now, tech class, mostly just doing some local 2m stuff but ive always been kind of curious about HF and every time i read about it morse code keeps coming up. i know its not required anymore obviously but it seems like people who know it really swear by it and i guess i want to understand why.

anyway i dont even know where to start. like do you just memorize the dots and dashes on a chart or is there some other way people learn it. i tried doing that once with a printed chart i found and it honestly just made me more confused because i couldnt hear what it was supposed to sound like in my head. is there an app or a website or something that actually works for beginners who have zero background in this. also how long does it take realistically, i dont want to set some crazy goal i cant hit

okay so the chart thing is actually kind of the wrong approach, at least thats what most people will tell you. the whole idea behind learning CW the modern way is you train your ear to recognize the sound of each letter as a whole sound, not count out dots and dashes. if you start counting youll hit a wall pretty fast once speeds go up even a little.

the thing most people recommend now is the Koch method, theres a free program called LCWO dot net that uses it and you just work through letters one at a time starting at like 20wpm from the beginning which sounds insane but it works because your brain learns the rhythm not the pattern. also G4FON has a free trainer for windows that a lot of older hams still use. honestly just pick one and use it every single day even if its only 10 minutes, consistency is way more important than marathon sessions. took me probably 4 or 5 months to feel comfortable enough to actually try making contacts but i wasnt super diligent about practicing every day either

im in the same boat as you actually, just started trying to learn a few weeks ago. im using an app called Morse Mania on my phone and its pretty decent for just starting out, you can do it while youre waiting for coffee or whatever. the LCWO site the other guy mentioned is good too but i find it a little dry tbh. one thing that helped me was just listening to actual QSOs on websdr even though i cant copy anything yet, just kind of getting used to what it sounds like on the air vs the clean tones in the apps