so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and mostly just do FM stuff on my handheld but i keep reading about CW and people seem really passionate about it. i dont have any background with it at all, never even tried. i know its not required anymore but i kind of want to learn anyway partly for the challenge and partly because i hear you can make contacts with like almost no power which sounds cool.

the problem is i have no idea where to even begin. like do i need to buy a key first before i start practicing or can i just listen for a while. and how long does it realistically take before you can actually use it on the air. i tried some youtube videos but they all seem to assume you already know something. any advice appreciated

okay so first thing - dont worry about buying a key right away, just start with your ears. the number one thing that trips people up is learning by counting dits and dahs instead of learning the sound of each letter as a whole unit. theres a method called Koch method which basically starts you at a fast speed (like 15-20wpm) with just 2 characters and you dont add a new one until you can copy the ones you know at 90% or better. sounds counterintuitive but it really works because your brain learns the rhythm instead of trying to decode it consciously.

LCWO dot net is free and does Koch training right in the browser, i used it for probably 3 months before i ever touched a key. also the app Morse Mania on android is decent for getting reps in on your phone during lunch breaks or whatever. realistically if you do like 15-20 minutes every single day you might be making slow QSOs within 6 months, maybe sooner. the every day part matters way more than long sessions once a week trust me on that one

im kind of in the same boat as you actually, been at it for like 2 months now. what helped me was just finding a youtube channel that plays random QSOs at slow speed and just trying to catch whatever letters i can, even if i miss most of it at first. also theres a subreddit for morse code learners which has been pretty helpful for motivation when you feel like youre not making progress. one thing i will say is it gets discouraging fast if you expect it to click quickly, it really doesnt for most people from what ive read. but apparently once it does click it kind of snowballs