so ive been a tech for about 8 months and everyone keeps telling me i should learn CW even though its not required anymore. i get why, i think it sounds cool and ive heard you can make contacts with way less power which sounds great for my situation (i run QRP mostly). but every time i sit down to actually try i just feel completely overwhelmed and dont know where to start.

ive tried a few youtube videos and some app on my phone but nothing is really clicking. someone at my club mentioned the Koch method but i dont fully understand what that means or if its actually better than just learning the alphabet in order. is there like a standard way most people do it or is it just whatever works for you. also how long did it actually take before you could have a real QSO, not just copy random characters but actually like talk to someone on the air

Koch method was a game changer for me honestly. the idea is you learn characters at full speed from the start, like 20wpm, but you only add a new character once you can copy the ones you already know at like 90% accuracy. sounds counterintuitive but it means your brain never gets used to slow code, which is the trap a lot of people fall into when they learn at 5wpm and then have to basically relearn everything later.

i used the LCWO website, its free and lets you set it up properly. just do like 10-15 minutes a day consistently, dont try to cram. took me maybe 3 months before i felt comfortable enough to actually call CQ on 40m and not panic when someone answered. first few QSOs were pretty rough, lots of asking for repeats, but nobody cares. everyone on CW was a beginner once and the community is pretty patient in my experience. just dont give up after the first two weeks because thats when it feels the most useless

yeah i went through this same thing last year. what helped me was actually just listening to a lot of it passively, like i had a receiver on in the background while doing other stuff tuned to a CW portion of 40m. didnt even try to copy it, just got my ears used to the rhythm of it. probably sounds dumb but i think it helped.

also there's an app called Morse Mania i think, and another one called Ham Morse, i bounced between them. the problem i ran into was i'd get decent at copying on the app and then real on-air signals sounded totally different because of QSB and noise and stuff the app doesnt simulate at all. so at some point you just have to bite the bullet and actually listen to real signals even if you cant copy anything yet