so ive been licensed for about 8 months now (technician) and i keep reading about CW and how a lot of older hams swear by it and i got kind of curious about trying to learn it. i dont have any background with it at all, like i genuinely dont even know the alphabet yet. i tried looking up some youtube stuff but theres so much out there and i cant tell whats actually useful versus just people talking about it.

is there like a method that actually works for beginners or does it just take forever no matter what. someone at my local club mentioned something called koch method i think but i dont really know what that means. also do i need any special equipment to practice or can i do it on a phone or computer first before worrying about a key and all that

the koch method is basically where you start learning at your target speed from day one instead of going slow and then trying to speed up later. the idea is your brain learns the rhythm of each character as a sound rather than counting dots and dashes. counting is a trap, seriously dont do it, you'll just have to unlearn it.

for actually getting started i'd say just use the LCWO website, its free and its set up specifically around the koch method. you just work through the characters one at a time and it wont move you to the next one until you hit like 90% accuracy on the current set. its kind of tedious honestly but it works. i also used the Morse Trainer app on my phone during commutes and stuff, any practice time adds up. you really dont need a key at all in the beginning, just focus on copying what you hear. most people spend weeks just on receive before they even touch a paddle

it does take a while but its not as bad as people make it sound if you're consistent. like 15 minutes a day is way better than an hour once a week

yeah i just went through this last year, was totally lost at first too. i ended up using an app called Morse-It or something, honestly cant remember the exact name but there are a few good ones. the thing nobody told me was that plateaus are completely normal, i got stuck around 10 words per minute for like two months and thought something was wrong with me lol. then it just kind of clicked one day

also just listening to actual on-air CW even before you can copy it helps weirdly, just tune around 14.050 or wherever and let it wash over you