Learning Morse Code, another language, can be learned quicker than the language you now speak and read. You learned to speak and read over many years of your early life. Morse Code can be learned much quicker. It requires motivation and consistent practice. Do not learn the characters with paper and pencil. Learn by sound alone. You can use the paper and pencil later to assemble the characters into a intelligible sequence that you comprehend. 1. You must be motivated. 2. You must practice, regularly. Those are the two qualities required to learn CW. You can add other traits to expound on these two qualities to better explain to a person but basically if you are not motivated to learn something new and don't put forth the effort to practice regularly then it will either take longer to learn or you will not learn at all. I have heard all the excuses, such as, "I plan" to's and the "I'm gonna" do's from people that say they want to learn CW. They are either stuck in a decision they haven't made to move forward or they want sympathy from those that have learned CW. Like my Momma said to me a lot when I was younger, "Can't never did anything" and those with that attitude will never accomplish what they say they want to accomplish. I totally agree that a schedule of practice is key to learning CW. The 'learner' should be relaxed, practice in a quiet environment free from any distraction, no more than 2 fifteen minute practice sessions per day. Soon the student will retain what the sound of the character represents completing the learning process. The CW operator can then copy individual characters, writing down the representations on paper or typing them on a typewriter on into a word processor, OR the CW operator can practice hearing groups of characters, words as he/she copies the CW at faster speeds. If the student practices hearing the CW characters at a set character speed, such as 20 wpm or 25 wpm character speed, then learning to copy at faster speeds, after learning all the characters, will be one less thing the student's brain needs to do to talk and speak CW. Before I was aware of this I learned CW at the separate speeds required for tests to obtain my license. I had to relearn CW after learning 5 wpm because it sounded different at 13 wpm and 20 wpm. Had I leaned CW at one character speed (20 wpm or 25 wpm) I could have learned CW only once.
I am a newly licensed ham in the UK. I have my foundation license which limits me to 10 watts but I can use all the HF frequencies as well as VHF and UHF, Because of the power limitations, I have been thinking of learning cw to maximise efficiency. Your video has helped and I have now ordered a copy of the book you recommend as well as making a plan for the next 2-3 months.
Greetings from Pensacola Florida 🌞 Really appreciate your advice - made a good point in skipping over a mistake instead of going back and figuring it out. It completely lets the wind out of my sails when I have to stop and go back. It’s frustrating and tiring to keep going back. Thanks once again! Love learning ❤️
Hey Trish. Well put. I too am learning CW and when I am writing it down, I some times pause and think, "Did I get that last letter correct?" This is when things go wrong. I now use Learn CW Online and in the tests, I write down the letters and then go back and enter them into the program to check the correctness. I am also learning to send as well as receive by using a paddle connected to my IC 7300, (Break-in is set to OFF so I don't actually transmit) and practice sending. Good luck and '73 / Steve (Oh, and BTW, I live in Pensacola as well.)
I tried, but it seems that some doctor sealed my belly button, so it's impossible to "breathe through your belly" in my case. I will search for alternate ways.
Moin Lucien. Nice to see you again. :-) It has been a good time to have you in my qrs net on 80m. All tipps are great, correct and helpful. Very fine that you put into a video to the folks. The book is a good recommendation and helps a lot. 73, Mike, DF2OK +
Hi Mike, many thanks for your nice comment! Yes, the QRS net was a great way to have my first QSO, thanks again for this. At the moment, I'm pretty inactive in ham radio because of other things going on, but I guess CW is a bit like riding a bicycle - you can always get back into it with some effort. Have a good weekend and vy 73, Lucien
Hi Lucien, I found your video very inspiring. I am currently learning CW ans these are advices I did not find elsewere. Thank you for investing time INTO these video. 73, Fred HB3XBA
Are learning to copy (listening and transcribing) totally different skills from coding (sending code)? Or, to learn more effectively, should you combine listening and coding at the same time to use both hearing and muscle memory in sync? What are your thoughts?
MFJ has an electronic CW tutor, it has Farnsworth, it's portable, and I have it on order. With earbuds I should be able to practice anywhere. Around $95.
Only promise yourself 5 minutes per day(you will find out that 5 turns into 15 or 20 really quick) but only promise 5 at the same time every day. Go someplace where there aren’t any distractions, no tv, no music, no wife, kids, phone, remove all distractions. Don’t touch a key until you can copy. You will be able to send once you can copy. Copy is more important.
Well I am a little late to your UA-cam Channel, but I wanted you to know that I have just come across your Aug 4, 2018 video on "The 7 tips for learning CW: You Can Do IT" The incite you give in this video is so wonderful, I feel fully inspired and I am now using your guidance you talked about in this video. I see you have not produced any new videos for around 2 years, Hope there was no illness or other catastrophic event that took you away from this. If you are able I encourage you to start back up where you left off. Thank You Paul de KR5OG
Hey Paul, thank you for your kind words and your concern. Thankfully, I'm fine, it's just that ham radio has taken a bit of a back seat lately, and I recently moved to another country (got a new callsign!). I'm sure I'll eventually get back into it, and when I do, I'll post an update video. Good luck and vy 73, Lucien
The book ZEN and the art of RADIOTELEGRAPHY is not available on Amazon. Can someone check in this? It’s an ebook for kindle. Maybe it’s available elsewhere ?
A very helpful video, performed with admirable tranquility, awesome! Thanks a lot from a CW returnee who won't persistently give up learning Morse Code just reading / comprehending by listening only de Günther, DL9GZ
Great tips! I've been set to learn CW for some time, and plan to get started soon. I like your videos so far. Keep them coming! :)
Thanks a lot, and best of luck to you! 73s
Learning Morse Code, another language, can be learned quicker than the language you now speak and read. You learned to speak and read over many years of your early life. Morse Code can be learned much quicker. It requires motivation and consistent practice. Do not learn the characters with paper and pencil. Learn by sound alone. You can use the paper and pencil later to assemble the characters into a intelligible sequence that you comprehend. 1. You must be motivated. 2. You must practice, regularly. Those are the two qualities required to learn CW. You can add other traits to expound on these two qualities to better explain to a person but basically if you are not motivated to learn something new and don't put forth the effort to practice regularly then it will either take longer to learn or you will not learn at all. I have heard all the excuses, such as, "I plan" to's and the "I'm gonna" do's from people that say they want to learn CW. They are either stuck in a decision they haven't made to move forward or they want sympathy from those that have learned CW. Like my Momma said to me a lot when I was younger, "Can't never did anything" and those with that attitude will never accomplish what they say they want to accomplish. I totally agree that a schedule of practice is key to learning CW. The 'learner' should be relaxed, practice in a quiet environment free from any distraction, no more than 2 fifteen minute practice sessions per day. Soon the student will retain what the sound of the character represents completing the learning process. The CW operator can then copy individual characters, writing down the representations on paper or typing them on a typewriter on into a word processor, OR the CW operator can practice hearing groups of characters, words as he/she copies the CW at faster speeds. If the student practices hearing the CW characters at a set character speed, such as 20 wpm or 25 wpm character speed, then learning to copy at faster speeds, after learning all the characters, will be one less thing the student's brain needs to do to talk and speak CW. Before I was aware of this I learned CW at the separate speeds required for tests to obtain my license. I had to relearn CW after learning 5 wpm because it sounded different at 13 wpm and 20 wpm. Had I leaned CW at one character speed (20 wpm or 25 wpm) I could have learned CW only once.
Kind of what he said in the video.
Excellent suggestions and in my case, very true. You have given me a new insight and rekindled my spark to learn CW.
I am a newly licensed ham in the UK. I have my foundation license which limits me to 10 watts but I can use all the HF frequencies as well as VHF and UHF, Because of the power limitations, I have been thinking of learning cw to maximise efficiency. Your video has helped and I have now ordered a copy of the book you recommend as well as making a plan for the next 2-3 months.
which book he recommended
Greetings from Pensacola Florida 🌞
Really appreciate your advice - made a good point in skipping over a mistake instead of going back and figuring it out. It completely lets the wind out of my sails when I have to stop and go back. It’s frustrating and tiring to keep going back. Thanks once again! Love learning ❤️
Hey Trish. Well put. I too am learning CW and when I am writing it down, I some times pause and think, "Did I get that last letter correct?" This is when things go wrong. I now use Learn CW Online and in the tests, I write down the letters and then go back and enter them into the program to check the correctness. I am also learning to send as well as receive by using a paddle connected to my IC 7300, (Break-in is set to OFF so I don't actually transmit) and practice sending. Good luck and '73 / Steve (Oh, and BTW, I live in Pensacola as well.)
@@K4SRF
What? Wow- it is a small world indeed. Very cool as well!
Tip #5 is the most valuable among all; nailed it. 👍
Tip #7 is really the answer on how to do after goes through the fifth point 😜
I tried, but it seems that some doctor sealed my belly button, so it's impossible to "breathe through your belly" in my case.
I will search for alternate ways.
Moin Lucien. Nice to see you again. :-) It has been a good time to have you in my qrs net on 80m. All tipps are great, correct and helpful. Very fine that you put into a video to the folks. The book is a good recommendation and helps a lot. 73, Mike, DF2OK +
Hi Mike, many thanks for your nice comment! Yes, the QRS net was a great way to have my first QSO, thanks again for this. At the moment, I'm pretty inactive in ham radio because of other things going on, but I guess CW is a bit like riding a bicycle - you can always get back into it with some effort. Have a good weekend and vy 73, Lucien
Excellent points! Exactly what I have learned from my own experience.
Hi Lucien, I found your video very inspiring. I am currently learning CW ans these are advices I did not find elsewere. Thank you for investing time INTO these video. 73, Fred HB3XBA
Are learning to copy (listening and transcribing) totally different skills from coding (sending code)? Or, to learn more effectively, should you combine listening and coding at the same time to use both hearing and muscle memory in sync? What are your thoughts?
This is a very late post but I have to thank you for a great video that I stumbled across when I need it most.
Peer pressure is a big thing, even tell one person that you're going to learn CW, it will motivate you to accomplish it, 73 !
MFJ has an electronic CW tutor, it has Farnsworth, it's portable, and I have it on order. With earbuds I should be able to practice anywhere. Around $95.
How did you make out with that tutor?
Danke für die Tipps!
Thanks a lot for the tips
Thanks for the tips. Very motivated to get on with it now. 73's from VK land.
Only promise yourself 5 minutes per day(you will find out that 5 turns into 15 or 20 really quick) but only promise 5 at the same time every day. Go someplace where there aren’t any distractions, no tv, no music, no wife, kids, phone, remove all distractions. Don’t touch a key until you can copy. You will be able to send once you can copy. Copy is more important.
Well I am a little late to your UA-cam Channel, but I wanted you to know that I have just come across your Aug 4, 2018 video on "The 7 tips for learning CW: You Can Do IT"
The incite you give in this video is so wonderful, I feel fully inspired and I am now using your guidance you talked about in this video.
I see you have not produced any new videos for around 2 years, Hope there was no illness or other catastrophic event that took you away from this. If you are able I encourage you to start back up where you left off.
Thank You
Paul de KR5OG
Hey Paul, thank you for your kind words and your concern. Thankfully, I'm fine, it's just that ham radio has taken a bit of a back seat lately, and I recently moved to another country (got a new callsign!). I'm sure I'll eventually get back into it, and when I do, I'll post an update video. Good luck and vy 73, Lucien
Insight.
The book ZEN and the art of RADIOTELEGRAPHY is not available on Amazon. Can someone check in this? It’s an ebook for kindle. Maybe it’s available elsewhere ?
Never mind. Found it free on PDF.
Great tips and advices. Thanks 😊
This is how I learned, 15 minutes practice per day, and have fun, may I say if my German was as good as your English I'd be very happy, 73 Paul M0BSW.
A very helpful video, performed with admirable tranquility, awesome!
Thanks a lot from a CW returnee who won't persistently give up learning Morse Code just reading / comprehending by listening only de Günther, DL9GZ
great video
Very accurate information. Best of 73 from Alabama USA. AI4QT
Great tips.Vielen Dank Lucien
José CX5BDE
Nice video and tips. Please do more videos of cw! Tnx de LU9FJA
Very good message! 73s de IU0EUI (fmr IK0RKR)