so i just got my tech license a few months ago and i know i dont need morse code anymore to get on HF or anything but ive been reading about it and honestly i kind of want to learn it anyway. seems like it would be cool to be able to use it and i hear people talking about CW contacts all the time on here and i feel like im missing out on something.

the problem is i have no idea where to start. like do i just memorize the dots and dashes by looking at a chart or is there a better way. i tried that once and it felt completely wrong, like i was just trying to remember patterns visually instead of actually hearing it. is there an app or something people actually use. ive seen lcwo.net mentioned somewhere but i dont really understand how it works or if thats the right approach for a complete beginner. any advice appreciated, even just pointing me in the right direction would help

yeah dont do the dots and dashes chart thing, that way lies madness honestly. what you want is to learn by sound from day one so your brain associates the letter with a sound not a visual pattern. the Koch method is what most people recommend and thats basically what lcwo does — it starts you with just two characters and adds more as you get them right. the key thing is to set your code speed higher than you think you should, like 15 or 20 wpm character speed even if the overall word speed is slower, because that way youre hearing the rhythm of the letter not counting dit dit dah in your head.

i used lcwo for a few months and it got me to where i could copy slow QSOs. just do like 10-15 minutes a day consistently and dont skip days, thats really the whole trick. there's also an app called Morse Mania that some guys swear by if you want something on your phone for the commute or whatever. just be patient with yourself, some letters will click right away and others will haunt you for weeks, that's just how it goes

im kinda in the same boat as you actually so take this for what its worth but i started with an app called Ham Morse and its been pretty decent. also found some youtube videos where someone just reads through common QSO phrases in CW which helped me start recognizing real on-air stuff instead of just random letters. the thing that surprised me is once you get maybe 20 letters down it starts feeling less impossible, its really the first couple weeks that feel hopeless lol