so ive been a tech for about 8 months and i keep reading that learning CW is worth it but every time i look into it i just get confused about where to start. theres like the Koch method and Farnsworth and LCWO and some app called Morse Toad and honestly i dont even know what half those things mean yet. is there a "right" way to learn or does it just depend on the person

i guess my main question is how long did it actually take you to get to a point where you could actually have a QSO. not like perfectly, just like... functional. i keep seeing people say 3 months which seems fast but maybe im wrong. also does it matter if you learn to copy by ear vs writing it down vs just reading it in your head, someone told me not to write it down but i dont know why

the writing thing -- yeah there's a reason people say don't do it. if you train yourself to write every letter as you hear it, your brain gets stuck waiting to write instead of just processing the sound. the goal eventually is to hear "dah dit dah" and just know it's K without thinking. writing creates this extra step in between that you have to unlearn later and that's annoying.

Koch method on LCWO is what i used and it genuinely works if you actually stick to it. the trick is you start with just two characters at full speed -- like 20wpm -- and you dont move on until you can copy them at 90% accuracy. sounds brutal but it means your brain actually learns the sounds as sounds instead of as patterns you count. Farnsworth is similar but adds spacing so the letters come fast but there's more time between them, which some people find easier at first.

realistic timeline honestly varies a lot. i was at a functional ragchew pace maybe around 5-6 months of daily practice, but i was only doing 10-15 min a day which some people say isn't enough. if you grind it harder probably faster. just dont skip days if you can help it, consistency is like 90% of it

im kind of in the same boat as you, been at it for maybe 6 weeks now. im using an app called Morse Mania and also the LCWO website and honestly the combo has been working okay for me. i do the app when im just sitting around and the website when i want to actually practice copying. still making tons of mistakes but i can do like 10-12 characters reliably now which felt impossible a month ago so i guess its working lol

one thing i did not expect is how much it helps to just listen to actual CW on the air even when you cant copy any of it yet. just having it on in the background while i do other stuff, idk if thats doing anything scientifically but it made the sounds feel less alien faster than just practicing alone