so i got my tech license last year and been thinking about upgrading but honestly the code thing always kinda scared me off even though its not required anymore i still want to learn it, feels like something i should know you know? anyway i tried one of those apps a while back and i just couldnt get it to stick, like i'd learn a letter and then forget it two days later and start over. is there a better way to go about this or is it just one of those grind it out kind of things. im not in a huge rush but i dont want to spend another year randomly poking at an app and not really getting anywhere

yeah the app thing can be a trap honestly, you just end up drilling the same few letters forever without any real progression. the method that worked for me and a bunch of people i know is the Koch method, basically you start with just two characters at full speed - like 20 wpm - instead of learning everything slow. the idea is your brain learns the sound as a whole rather than counting dots and dashes. G4FON has a free trainer for it on PC, thats what i used. takes a few weeks before it starts clicking but once it does it really does click. also just listening to actual QSOs on 40 meters helps a ton, even when you cant copy most of it yet, your ear starts picking up rhythms without you really trying.

i went through this exact same thing lol. what finally got me moving was just committing to like 15 minutes every single day no matter what instead of doing an hour one day and then nothing for a week. also lcwo.net is pretty good, its free and does the Koch progression and tracks where you are. took me maybe 4 months to get to where i could kinda follow a slow QSO, im still not fast but at least now i can actually use it which feels pretty good