so ive been licensed for about a year now mostly doing FT8 and some SSB but ive always wanted to try CW. i know its not required anymore but theres something about it that just seems cool, like a whole other world on the bands. the problem is i have no idea where to even start. i tried youtube a few times but i just end up watching random videos and not really learning anything systematically.

is there like a method that actually works or does it just take forever no matter what. i heard some people say learn the sounds not the dots and dashes but i dont really know what that means in practice. any apps or websites that people actually use and stuck with would be helpful too, im on android if that matters

the biggest thing i can tell you is dont learn it visually, like dont sit there memorizing dit dah dah = W or whatever. your brain will try to do that and it just creates a bottleneck when you try to actually copy at speed. what you want is to hear the whole letter as a sound, like W sounds like a specific thing, not three separate elements you have to decode.

for actually doing it, LCWO.net is pretty much the standard starting point. it uses the Koch method which basically throws you in at a fast character speed right away, like 20wpm characters but with long gaps between them, then as you get better it closes the gaps. sounds weird but it works better than starting slow because you never have to unlearn anything. i spent a few months on there years ago before i ever got on the air with CW and it made a huge difference. just do 15-20 minutes a day consistently, thats honestly better than hour long sessions twice a week.

also the app Morse Mania is pretty decent for android if you want something on your phone for when youre waiting around. dont expect to be ragchewing in a month but you'll be surprised how fast the letters start to click if you stick with it

yeah im kind of in the same boat as you actually, started seriously about three months ago. what helped me weirdly was just listening to actual QSOs on the bands even before i could copy anything. like tune to 7.050 or wherever and just let it wash over you. you start hearing the rhythm of it even if you dont know whats being said. the other thing i use is the Just Learn Morse Code software on my laptop, its free and you can set it up a bunch of different ways. takes a while to feel like youre making progress but then one day a letter just jumps out at you without thinking and thats a good feeling