so i finally bit the bullet and decided to learn morse code. been licensed for about 6 years and always told myself id get around to it eventually. downloaded the lcwo.net lessons and been doing the koch method for about 3 weeks now, im somewhere around 12 characters in and its going okay i guess.

anyway my question is really about paddles vs straight key to start with. i borrowed an old straight key from a guy at my club and ive been using that but everyone keeps telling me different things. some say start with a straight key to really feel the rhythm, others say just jump to a paddle and iambic keyer right away so you dont build bad habits. i honestly cant figure out which camp is right.

also if i do get a paddle eventually whats a reasonable budget for something that wont drive me crazy but doesnt cost a fortune either. i saw those bencher paddles come up a lot but then people say the cheap ones are fine to start. genuinely unsure what to do here.

I went through this exact same debate a few years back when I started. Honestly the straight key first argument has some merit but I dont think its as critical as people make it out to be. I jumped straight to a cheap single lever paddle I found used for like 25 bucks and it worked fine. The iambic thing is kind of its own skill to develop but it clicks pretty fast once your brain figures out the squeeze.

For budget paddles the MFJ-564 gets a lot of grief online but for learning it honestly does the job. The tension and spacing adjustment is a little fiddly and the magnet feel isnt amazing but you can make it work. If you want to spend a bit more the Begali Simplex is incredible but thats like 200 bucks and probably overkill until you know you're really into this. A used Bencher BY-1 would be my actual recommendation, they show up on QRZ classifieds pretty regularly for 50-70 dollars and they're solid as a rock, mine has been going for probably 15 years with zero issues.

Stick with the Koch method, it actually works. Most people quit too early or try to rush through characters before they're solid. 3 weeks in with 12 characters sounds about right honestly keep going.

im in basically the same boat lol, been at it about 2 months now. one thing that really helped me was using the G4FON trainer in addition to lcwo because it puts the letters in realistic qrm and QSB which is more like what youll actually hear on the air. kind of humbling at first but it speeds up recognition way faster i think.

my elmer told me not to worry too much about the paddle vs straight key thing and just pick one and stick with it for a while. i went with a straight key to start and im glad i did just because sending slow is easier to control but i dunno if it actually mattered in the end